in summer school / school in summer

in summer school

For the second year in a row, Riverton Park Elementary has opened its doors to one and all who want a little bit of education in the middle of their summer vacation. Well, "education" might be stretching it a bit, but it's a good excuse for a bunch of friends to get together in our backyard for a couple hours.

This year Ben had to cram it into four days--most of his friends around here are on year-round school, so they only had 3 weeks off of regular school in July, two of which we were in California. This left us with one week to get it in, and we did the best we could.

day one--getting to know you

Ben--the homeroom teacher

After making their folders, the kids found some shade under the trampoline to fill in their "All About Me" sheets. These are some funny kids!! Below, Gregory is trying to figure out what to write for his book report. I think he ended up drawing a picture.


I had to include this rare Adam moment--looking at the camera AND a hint of a smile. This has never happened before when I've taken his picture.

day two--lego day


If you use your imagination, pretend these candies represent square and rectangle legos...I know, it's kind of a stretch. Of course, then Dani tells me that our local grocery store has the lego-like candies in the bulk bin section. I'm guessing that Starburst and Jolly Ranchers tastes better, though.

The lego building contest was a favorite

Will working on his masterpiece

Thomas really concentrating on his work

Not bad on the creativity part. The lego dude in the shark's mouth cracks me up. The picture just above is Will's finished product (pictures thanks to Jake, cuz I was too busy outside talking to Maryanne). Ben was very impressed at Will's creation. "No way in a million years could I have been that creative and come up with all that." --said Ben to Will

day three--titanic day
The theme days were starting to kill me at this point. I would stay up way too late each night helping Ben get ready for the next day, but it was worth it. This year wouldn't be complete without a Titanic day. Yes, they are all still crazy about the Titanic--that's Will drawing one as I was taking the picture.

The schoolhouse turned into the R.M.S. Titanic for a day

Captain Smith, aka: Will, handed out the boarding passes to everyone and said, "Welcome to the Titanic. We are happy to have you here." Sooo cute!! He was so excited for this day he had a hard time going to sleep the night before.
Once everyone was on board, they learned about the Titanic from their very knowledgable teacher, Ben, while the "first-class dining table" was being prepared. Just below, Ronnie is looking over the afternoon's menu.



I had a hard time being the server and the photographer, so this picture will have to do--it's the best I could come up with for the "fresh fish and a roll" entree. Good times!!

day four--beach day






There were a couple things planned this day, but for the most part it just took on a life of its own. Between the water fights, water games, water balloons, and some chocolate donuts (hey--it was Donut Friday!), the kids had a great time. These school days bring together all the neighborhood kids like nothing else can. Ben did a great job putting it together (and thank goodness it was all done in less than a week!!).

school in summer

This week Will started first grade, right smack in the middle of summer. I have been so nervous and excited and worried for him. A year and a half ago when Will was diagnosed with ADHD, I don't know if I could have envisioned how far he would come in this short amount of time. Back then he was difficult to control in a classroom and could not sit still for the life of him. We started him, somewhat reluctantly, on medication, which turned out to be such a blessing--for him and us. We also took an awesome class on ADHD last fall, which helped us understand him and ADHD better. Will went to diagnostic kindergarten last school year and qualified to be mainstreamed back into regular school. It was a no-brainer that he would go to Riverton Elementary, where they had the best school psychologist, Dr. Terry Illes, and (from what I had heard), an amazing first grade teacher, Mrs. Payne.

In the spring I visited with Dr. Illes who recommended Mrs. Payne for a teacher for Will this year. It was because of him that Will is in her class this year, and I am so grateful for that. Just over a month ago I got a text from a friend that Dr. Illes had passed away that morning from complications during his treatment of lymphoma cancer. That's one of those times when you really wonder why someone who was doing so much good for so many people was taken away, and life just didn't seem fair. I am so sad he isn't there this year, but I will be forever thankful that I knew him and was able to learn what I did from him.

And so Will started a new school year, without Dr. Illes but with Mrs. Payne, and he really seems to love it so far.

fire watch...

The majority of the runs a firefighter goes on are medical calls. Sometimes they are called on to actually save lives and property. But sometimes they just have to sit and watch burned structures...which is where Daren is now...sitting with his crew...keeping watch over two homes which burned in Salt Lake City today...making sure no more flames ignite over night. Highly exciting, no doubt. :) He's coming home tomorrow, so I hope he gets some sleep tonight! This is him in "action" tonight on Fox 13 News. He's in the driver's seat of the fire engine behind the reporter.

outdoor adventure

"Ragnar was a 9th century Norse King. He was a pirate, a raider, a conqueror, an explorer, and a wild man. The tough, fearless, rugged attributes of this Norse King are shared by all who participate in a Ragnar Relay. In much the same way, a Ragnar Relay provides runners the freedom to roam, to explore - a free-spirited curiosity to get out there and experience outdoor adventure."

--from the ragnar website

I have been on a race hiatus for a year-and-a-half, but I was talked into running this crazy 170-mile, 2-day relay race with all my running friends. This is another race I hadn't done yet and wanted to cross off my list, like the marathon I ran two years ago--been there, done that, don't have to do it again.

This is the first half of our team, and we were van #1. No, we aren't posing by our van.

This, below, was our sweet ride. It was very comfy and very fun.

leg one--Suzie

leg two--me (through the south part Cache Valley--it was so beautiful)

leg three--Kim

leg four--Julie

This is what it looked like at one of our exchanges--crazy!!

And there was always a line for the "honey buckets"

We ran through the most beautiful countryside, from the Cache Valley (above)

to the Morgan Valley (below).

leg five--Nan.

She ran a killer run, almost 8 miles, uphill, on a very dusty dirt road

leg 6--Gerie.

She ran the backside of the dirt road

After Gerie was done and handed off to van #2, we got a much needed break and got some real food. Then we went up to wait at Snowbasin where I met up with my sister, Brenda. She was running on another team, and she totally kicked butt!! Seriously, she ran a 9-mile run, uphill, in one hour and 20 min. At night. After that, we met up with most of our other friends from van #2. The bummer about this race is that you don't really get to see your friends in the other van much.

Just finishing my second leg in the evening through the north part of Morgan Valley. We finished our second round just after midnight and went to the next exchange to sleep and wait for van #2. We finally crashed out in the van around 2am, and tried to get some sleep until we were woken up around 5am. I slept in the drivers seat, which was actually quite comfy. It was better than sleeping out on the grass.

This was the only time our two team vehicles were together.

They got even less sleep than we did.

My third leg was Saturday morning, and it was a beautiful run through Heber Valley.

This was the sign everyone looked forward to seeing.

It was nice to be able to relax once our van was done. At the exchange point with van #2, there were showers, so we cleaned up a bit before getting some food (Mexican--yum!) and headed to the finish line.


Van #2 didn't make it to the finish line in time, and they were too tired to care, so we ran across the finish line with Rochelle, got our medals, and finally headed home. We had such a great time together--thanks girls!!

These are some of our memories from Ragnar--some team names, vans and participants I am not able to

include in this blog post, because, after all, it is a family-friendly site!! Kind of. ;)

Will I repeat? Perhaps, yes.

p.s. Most of the photo credits go to Julie--thanks for bringing your sweet camera and taking so many pictures--it was nice for me to catch a break. And, I don't think I've been in this many pictures for years!!