temple triathlon

(written by sadie)

yesterday, my young women's group did a temple triathlon. we had been preparing for this day for a few months: physically and spiritually.  it is about 26 miles from midway to the provo temple. my leaders saw this opportunity and have been planning this day for almost two years.  they wanted to teach us that you can't just show up to the temple. you have to prepare and have that be your main goal: to be ready to enter into the lord's house.  everything about this triathlon went along with this and there was a ton of symbolism behind everything we did.

we started off at 7:30 am with mountain biking 8.5 miles along the back side of deer creek reservoir. along this trail, there are many hills and other obstacles that you must face. we compared the hills to trials and hard things we must face. even though it doesn't seem like there is an end, every hill has a hilltop. as you come down the other side of the hill, you have to cautiously use your breaks. if you get going too fast, you can crash and fall. as we biked over the lake, we saw many water skiers and boaters on the clear lake having so much fun in the cool water. we decided the lake represented the world, and the trail we were on was like the straight and narrow path. we all encouraged each other and cheered others on. as young women came to hills, they would yell "break!" as a warning to the bikers behind them. at one point, my chain fell off my bike and it was stuck. the bishop happened to be right next to me and helped me get started again. this all can relate to our lives in so many ways.

when we finished biking, we were ahead of schedule: it was around 9:30.  we all got a snack out and started eating while we waited for the last few to finish up.  a little while later, there was one girl who hadn't finished. one of our young women leaders said "okay guys. there are two options: go to the river and start getting ready to raft. or go and cheer them on as they finish biking" a few people wanted to go start rafting, but we all decided to go cheer them on. it was really cool to watch as the last girl rode her bike down the last hill. 

at every stop, we had a short little devotional where a parent would teach and encourage us. they all bore testimony of the blessings of the temple. after a short snack stop, we all got our life jackets on and were separated into rafting groups. each raft had about 8 people in it. one captain, four rowers, and two passengers who got to enjoy the ride! we all took turns trading from rower to just relaxing. the captain sat at the back of the boat: he would steer and yell out commands like "left row" or "back paddle". our leaders found comparisons for the river too. the captain is kind of like the holy ghost: always there steering us in the right direction and giving us commands. they said that the river was also kind of like the world. we were in it but above it. our life jackets represented jesus christ and the atonement. 

throughout rafting, we had multiple water fights and some people got pulled into the water by other rafts. a few times, we almost hit rocks but at the last second, with teamwork from our captain and the rowers, we would steer away from the rock. by the end of the rafting, we were all soaking wet and pretty cold. but we made it 6 more miles closer to the temple!

we changed out of our wet clothes into our matching triathlon shirts and had lunch and a popsicle followed by a short devotional.  

the hardest part came next: enduring to the end! we started off walking the final stretch of 10.5 miles on the provo river trail. it was so cool to see all the girls in matching shirts all walking and laughing and having fun together! at about the 3 mile point, we stopped at a park to use the restroom and refill water bottles. i could feel two blisters coming on. walking made me realize what the pioneers went through. as we continued on, it got harder and harder as we got closer. it reached 105 degrees and the last few blocks were slightly up hill. as we got closer, we had more water breaks. we would all soak our bandannas in ice cold water and tie it on our heads. then we would pour water down our shirts and over each others heads. by the end, my feet hurt and my legs hurt and i was over heating. as soon as we turned onto the road that the provo temple is on, an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment came over me. we had made it 26 miles to the temple. all of our preparation had payed off. the temple had a new beauty to it. our families all were there to walk the last few steps with us. it was so cool. this was definitely a memorable experience and i am so grateful i got to be a part of it!

birthday day

for kai's birthday celebration we spent the day at the museum of natural history at the university of utah and then we headed to our town fair.

the museum was amazingly well done. 

(sadie is scared and abe is posing as mckayla maroney--too much olympic viewing at our house)

 this see through floor was awesome.  

i told the boys they looked like a boy band and without missing a beat they each struck a pose.

 kai loved the ant farm

creating a building to test in an earthquake

 watching to see if the building survives the shaking floor.

when dave was sixteen, he worked at the 49th street galleria where he ran the gravitron.  

it was by far the favorite ride at the fair.

winners!

max and kai both made a basket and won a lizard stuffed animal.  

 a fun day celebrating with kai!

prepare

my parents do a kid's camp for the grandkids each year.  this year's theme was:

for the last couple months, my mom has been sending assignments to help 'prepare' for camp.  things like reading the book of esther, finding the scripture that says, "for such a time as this" or finding out what speaker in general conference said, "With all that is going on in the world, with the lowering of moral standards, you young people are being 
raised in enemy territory."  

through these parties, my mom wanted her grandkids to feel that they have been saved for this time, that they are in 'enemy territory', and that 
they have been prepared and they can do it! 

the army themed parties started at our house this year.  we had breakfast and swam.  then we headed to the heber valley girl's camp, where we played and stayed over night.  we went on the lake in canoes and did a few challenge courses.  

max found a fox...

and caught a chipmunk and kept it in this garbage can:)

we listened to bash'n tunes (a mix of all the cousins favorite songs), sadie shadow danced and played her guitar.  we had the birthday bash with the traditional pinata.  we had an outdoor movie night and we watched a movie my mom found on esther.  it was like a glorified road show.  the kids thought it was pretty funny.  everyone took turns preparing meals and we especially loved uncle kelly and aunt connie's kneaders french toast.  yum!

 the challenge courses became even more challenging when my dad started timing everyone.   it was fun to watch the big cousins get competitive.  sadie and abe cruised!! 

this is abe way up high, walking across the wire to the platform, where he got on the zip line down.  i made myself do it....it was fun, wobbly and really high!

wouldn't be kid's camp without a little b-ball.

we spent sunday at my parent's house.  

after church we had four "battle stations".  since we are in 'enemy territory', my mom invited a few grand children to teach ways we can beat satan.  sadie taught one about being tight and not letting satan in. i once told tyler something was 'hip' and he told me to never say that word again.  he gave me a list of words to use and one was tight:) so she focused on "are you tight?"  she referenced the brother of jared and how the waters were really rough, but it couldn't hurt them because their boats were tight.  if we are tight and determined to keep the commandments, it doesn't matter how much evil is out there.

tyler's battle station was about the best athlete, manny paquiao, a boxer from the philippines (where he served his mission).  ty showed a highlight youtube video of the guy punching his opponents.  it was a great visual, especially for all the little boys.  satan wants us to lose.  he said satan tries to get us in lots of ways and on his mission satan would get to him by making him feel discouraged, but he would "punch" satan by choosing to love.  he talked about how satan wants to destroy individuals and especially families, but we can punch satan when we strengthen our families and choose to love.  he had us write down on a picture of boxing gloves three things we would do to punch satan.  each of the kids got to punch his bag.  my kids really got into the idea of punching satan and tyler's punching bag.  i have thought about this a lot since then.  satan does want us to be miserable and is so happy when we are.  when we were in the middle of transitioning to this new town and schools, sadie was discouraged and one day, really discouraged.  i remember looking at her and saying, "satan wins when we are miserable."  to which she responded, "well, he is winning!"  then we cried/laughed.  we talked a lot about having faith that when we do our part, heavenly father will do his.  she has chosen to be happy and make things better and heavenly father has blessed her immensely.  i am so impressed.  since tyler's battle station,  i have tried to love myself and others, be less critical of myself and others,  and choose to love.  we have talked many times as a family about being on the winning team and punching satan.

my mom even gave it a go.

jaicee taught about choosing to be happy.  she did an awesome job.  she talked about how one of the signs of the last days is that 'the hearts of men shall fail them'.   the hearts of men meaning their confidence and how satan uses discouragement and depression.  we can fight satan by choosing to be happy.  happy is a choice.  we wrote down when we feel happy.  i appreciated that sus took kai aside on his baptism day and told him that she noticed how much he smiled at his baptism and when we feel like smiling, it's usually because we are making a good choice.  i was so interested in what jaicee taught about hearts of men failing them that i later found this youtube video.   don't demand unreasonable expectations, but demand improvement.  improvement sounds more doable than perfection sometimes.  jaicee gave everyone a little notebook with a happy face on it.  she told the kids to write down a few things each day that made them feel happy.  gratitude helps everyone feel better and helps us realize that heavenly father has a hand in our lives.

the cousins love staying up late with grandpa.  grandpa is famous for his ice cream runs and making malts.  everyone orders the flavor of malt they want and he enjoys having them sit by him while he makes them all.   

i talked my sister into staying a few extra days at my house.  we went to the community outdoor theater and saw "fiddler on the roof".  we swam and played tennis and absolutely enjoyed being with them.

i appreciated kid's conference this year.  my mom was inspired with her theme and the kids (and i)  really felt her message.  her hard work payed off. 

grandma's 5k

my mom invited abe and kai to sleepover, get up early and walk a 5k with her, and then go to the parade.  totally my mom's kind of fun.  

 lovin' the medals!!

my mom always took me to the parade when i was little.  i probably had the same face as abe, but i'm so happy my mom makes memories...i'm also glad that my boys can now say they have been to a parade.  

kai's baptism

kai was baptized by his dad on saturday. 

it was such an important, great day.

it's amazing how much the holy ghost can be felt at baptisms.  when i walked in the room, his aunt holly was playing prelude primary songs, our family was there, and i immediately felt so much peace.  

abe gave a great talk about baptism.  it was the first talk he has really written and he was nervous, but he did it anyway because he loves his little brother kai so much.  

sadie sang and vivian smiled so big through her song.  i think she thought sadie was singing for her, like she always does.  sadie was so willing to sing and she sounded beautiful.

i gave a talk on the holy ghost and dave baptized and confirmed kai a member of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints.

later, when i was tucking kai in bed, we talked about the day.  i noticed he was smiling a lot and was glowing.  he said he felt the spirit... not so much in the water, but he did when he felt the hands on his head to be confirmed.  also, during the talks and song, especially the opening song.  when he came up out of the water his cute hair was sticking straight up in a perfect fohawk.  

abe teared up and max told me he almost cried, happy tears, of course.

i appreciated the family that came to watch kai's special day

grandma and grandpa

aunt susanne and uncle dave gave kai some samoan leis made out of airheads.

 they were a hit.

    we had a sandwich bar at our house afterwords.
i'm so proud of kai and i'm grateful for this spiritual experience for our family.

 little vivian even loved it!

(after vivian's blessing, holly asked me if kai would also get a "shrine"--so we decided yes.

then sadie asked if she will ever get a shrine.  

this just might be the beginning of something.)

infinity kaboom

eight is my favorite number.

when you look at it sideways it means infinity.

today, my kai guy is a big eight and i'm so glad he is mine for infinity!!!  

 he woke up to his birthday table.  

even though he "accidentally" found his birthday stash, he was still super excited about these dragons.  kai loves shoes.

dave somehow found time (i think he is pushing 95 hours at work since wed with a small trip to colorado in there somewhere) to research and order this "dad's gift" for kai.

the morning was really fun.  i love when we all have a moment together to celebrate someone in our family.

and here is a play-by-play of when it got really exciting:

i was trying to take a picture of kai.  abe was in the background doing gymnastics poses (olympic viewing is big at our house).

this led to us taking a few "fab five" pictures....

dave was behind me being crazy (can you picture it?) trying to get vivs to smile....

but i think she watching the awesome eight catch on...

 FIRE!!!  

dad to the rescue!

 pheuuufff!

well, we are off to get ready for a baptism and do some major birthday celebrating!

in the words of max, 

happy birthday, kai...

we love you "infinity kaboom!"  

that's a lot!!!

great to be eight