Dan documentary made by Tyler

Courtney's last swim meet of the season

Courtney did great in her JV conference swimming championships yesterday. She got 1st in 50 yard freestyle and 2nd in the 100 yard freestyle, which was pretty cool. She's the one in front in this picture.

Dold for Congress

Yesterday we met Dold the republican candidate for the House of Representatives. I love the pic. of Dan and Dold. Dan has a very discerning look on his face. As if he is not convinced that he should vote for this guy. However, Dold definitely has my vote. Go Republicans!!!

Trunk or Treat

The kids had a wonderful time Trunk or Treating this year. Dan wanted everyone to be a Mario character. Dan did his best to convince Hal he needed to be Donkey Kong and Court should be Princess Peach. But Court had a Swim meet and Hal is getting to "cool" for dressing up. He is more into being the candy man, which IS a huge help.

Halloween Hustle

Harry and Hal ran the Halloween Hustle 5K on Saturday. They did awesome. Hal came in 34th and Harry came in 61st out of 469 runners. The race was supporting a program called "Fathers Supporting Fathers". There were lots of fathers and sons running. The weather was perfect... a little crisp but sunny. We all had a great time.

Allie's First Violin Concert

Allie started orchestra about 4 weeks ago. This was their first concert of the season. All the kiddos were soooo excited to show off all they had learned. It was fun! Allie is using one of the violin's Grandma Linda gave us. Hal used it and now Allie. It's getting lots of good use:)

Dan and Harry's little project.

Pumpkin carving

Pumpkin Patch

Hal finishes off the Cross Country Season

Things I Learned about Cross Country Runners this Season.

1. They are very dedicated. They are often on the track and ready to go by 6am.
2. They need a ton of food to fuel that much running. Also the food needs to be ready to go the second they walk in the door or the frig. will be emptied in a matter of seconds.
3. Cross Country Runners have lots of leg injuries:(
4. Cross Country Runners have THE worst feet. Blisters on blisters. Missing toe nails. Blood blisters and the list goes on.
5. Cross Country Runners are some of THE best sportsmen. They tend to compete more with themselves than other players.
6. Cross Country Runners develop a strong brotherhood. Hal's team had a learning disabled boy on their team. At every meet this boy ran, the team would gather at the finish line and cheer him in. Impressive young men!

Kid's Club

Dan started Kid's Club last week and he loves it. He goes into school 40 minutes early 4 days a week. The bus comes to pick him up! It's a club to work on feeling more comfortable in a large group. His teacher says he does really well talking and working with an adult but tends to be very reserved around all the other children. This kind of surprised me. He definitely is not reserved at church or anywhere else for that matter. His teacher feels that Kid's Club might help him become more comfortable in the classroom. There are 14 students and two teachers and it sounds like Dan is enjoying it. I'm grateful for his teacher. It is always nice to have the insight of another adult when raising children.

Ty receives the "Thumbs Up" Award

Every Friday in Ty's Middle School they give "Thumbs Up" awards. They give it to children that are caught in the act of doing some sort of random kindness. Ty was helping someone pick up some items they dropped. I'm proud of many things my kids do but this type of award makes me the proudest. Way to go Ty!!!!

Courtney Takes First Place in the Free Style 50

Tonight Court had a swim meet. There was a mix up on the roster and she somehow got put on a Varsity match up. She was the only JV swimming against 7 Varsity girls. She took first place with 27secs. in the Free Style 50. The JV couch was jumping up and down with excitement. The Varsity couches were not nearly as enthused about getting beat by a JV girl. In fact, they were rather hot under the collar about the whole incident. I was going to put Court's pic. up but for some reason she doesn't want one on here of her in a swimsuit:)

The Awakening of Teresa Jones

Since I was a teenager I've been told that for someone of my height I should weight 125 pounds. There have been times in my life with extreme exercise and dieting I have weighted in at that amount and lower but have never been able to maintain that weight. I have felt really bad about this. Yesterday I went to have a ShapeScan Body Analysis. This measures how much Lean Body Mass and Body Fat you have by sending an electrical current through your body. It is proven to be one of the most accurate and less invasive ways to measure Lean Body Mass. My results said that I have 125 pounds of Lean Body Mass. This means that if I weighted 125 pounds like the charts say I should weight, I would have zero body fat. Women my age are recommended to have 21-25% body fat..... This means that for over 27 years I have felt bad about my weight and have been trying to achieve something that is extremely unhealthy. Gosh-Darn it THAT REALLY STINKS!!! The funny thing is the weight that my body has always been very comfortable with(if I don't overeat) is actually my ideal weight but I always dieted because it wasn't 125 pounds. Life certainly is interesting:)