Swimming Lessons

Tyleigh going off the diving board!


Carsyn's dive!

I just have to tell the world how proud I am of my three girls when it comes to swimming! They are little fish, and they worked their little fannies off in swimming lessons this year! A huge thanks to Jan Lamb and all of her teachers too - there are no better instructors out there!

Camryn did so well last year that she got advanced to a level called strokes. It is more or less a prep class for swim team. They practiced every stroke imaginable for an hour every day, and by the end of the week, she was required to swim each stroke a minimum of four times back and forth across the pool! She did it! She also got comfortable enough with her diving that she dove off of the high dive at the outdoor pool several times. Her favorite is still flips off the diving board though.

Carsyn got put in Sharks II, even though she was a little bit younger than the average age they take. She took the challenge and ran with it! Her dives and strokes improved drastically! She did so well that she will also be advanced to strokes next year! Carsyn also got brave enough to dive off of the outdoor pool high dive a couple of times! She likes jumping off feet first better for now, but she is getting brave!

Tyleigh started out in Guppies, and soared right through! She LOVED the diving board, and couldn't have cared less about being completely submerged underwater! She still needs a little work with floating on her back, but for only being three, I thought she did pretty darn well!

She especially liked practicing her jumps at Gram's pool this summer.

Good job my little mermaid girls!

Round-Up!

Every year in June, our little family looks forward to attending the festivities of Round-Up Days! We have lived in our little town for six years now, and haven't missed a single event of the week yet! This is exactly what living in a small town is all about - a great sense of community and family. We love the parades, the rodeo, the events at the museum, the 5K, and especially the people who get involved in all of it right along with us! The only problem this year was the brainless mother forgot to bring the camera along, so the only pictures we have are these ones of the kids watching the stock parade!

Camryn, Carsyn, Rhylan and Tyleigh

Wasatch Back Relay

What an AMAZING experience this was! Jayna McAdams, for some crazy reason, thought I might be able to run with her team for the Wasatch Back Relay this year. I had heard of the race, but never in my wildest dreams considered running it. I'm turning 30 this year, so this can be my big woo-hoo for the year right?!? I had no idea how big it was really going to be! 181 miles of the most gorgeous backcountry in Utah I have never seen before, and have a new found love for! All the mountain ranges and lakes from Logan to Park City! It was awesome! My sweet husband decided to be my own personal support group, and drove one of our vans for us the whole time. He became our "Sexy Driver, Hot Rod." I was so glad he was there! We had twelve awesome team members, who each took three legs of the race, which means we each averaged about 15 or more miles total. Some of the legs were INTENSE, especially considering we didn't exactly sleep - hence the theme of the race "Run, Drive, Sleep? Repeat!" Our team did better than any of us expected, coming in at
15th in our division, and 65th out of 546 teams, and finishing in 25 hours 22 minutes! Not bad! That made an 8 minute 24 second average per mile! The camraderie was worth it all! Thank you for putting together an amazing race and an even better team Jayna! Don't forget to check out our team mascot, Corum, on the slideshow. It was definitely a "Party in the front", and we were beyond "Sexy in the Back!" Jayna says anyone is welcome to join our team, but that Corum's outfit may become mandatory for all of us, so choose wisely!

Thanksgiving Point

Ty and Rhylan - cheesy as always!
Who doesn't have Thanksgiving Point pictures? Aren't they kind of like the zoo pictures you just have to take no matter how many times you've been there?! We always have a great time when we visit Thanksgiving Point!

Camryn getting wet in the fountains at the

Children's Discovery Garden

Camryn, Chloe, Ty, and Carsyn

Being "afraid" of the bears in the bear cave!

Silly faces in the bear tunnel!

Mountain Church

Every once in a while you gotta have "mountain church!" We talked our very dear friends, Jason and Kim Oviatt and their five cute boys, into sluffing church with us to go up American Fork Canyon and play a little "corn hole." We love "mountain church!" Enough said!

The kids made their own house up in the rocks

and played there for hours!

Hunter, Jax, Camryn & Ty

Tyleigh's boyfriend, Jax

Kim winning at Corn Hole

Jason and Dagen

Uncle Dave's Ranch

We got to spend an amazing day as a family up at Dave's Ranch just above Heber. He is so good to us and our girls! He let the girls drive the four-wheelers all day (and of course they thought they were big time!), go fishing in the pond, and play with all of the animals up there! The girls love being up there because you are surrounded by the mountains, trees, and beautiful nature - not to mention every one of their favorite animals - deer, horses, cows, chicks, rabbits, dogs, peacocks, etc! They also love hanging out with "Uncle Dave!"

DISNEYLAND!!!

It finally happened! The Madsen's made it out of Utah and all the way to Disneyland!!! What a dream come true for three little princesses - and what a magical trip for Rod and I to watch our little girls take it all in! We drove (which I don't highly recommend - even though the girls were angels) to Mesquite for a night, spent a day in Las Vegas, and on to Anaheim, California! We had an extra day in our plans, so we went to Los Angeles and spent the day with Rod's parents, who are on their mission at the Los Angeles Temple. They took the girls to the famous Santa Monica Beach which the girls loved because it was their first time seeing the ocean.

Carsyn, Ty, and Camryn at M 'n M World in Las Vegas

Ty finding seashells on Santa Monica Beach

Rod and the girls

Grandpa Jerry, Grandma Sally and the girls

in their mission apartment in Los Angeles

Three days in Disneyland and California Adventure - and all the girls could talk about were the big rollercoasters - Tyleigh included! The faster the rides went, and the more upside down the girls were, the more they loved it! Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, California Screamin', Big Thunder Mountain, the Matterhorn, and the Rollercoaster (Goofy's rollercoaster?) in Toon Town! The other favorites were of course the princesses, and it was all about Tinkerbell for Tyleigh! What a magical place for any kid and adult!

We drove to San Diego on the seventh day of our trip and spent the day at the San Diego Zoo (amazing!), and a day at Sea World! Our hotel in San Diego (thanks to Linds Millward's brother-in-law, Steve) was beautiful! The girls were sure that our room was bigger than our house - which it very well could have been! It was the perfect way to finish off an incredible trip!

The girls and Shamu!

Camryn

Tyleigh

Carsyn

There were so many fun pictures to share that we decided the only way to do it was in a slide show! Hope you enjoy!

Camryn and Tyleigh at the SanDiego Zoo

Rod and Carysn at the SanDiego Zoo