Tennis

Jared has been playing on a tennis league in Idaho Falls this summer.  His team has done really well, they qualified to go to "state" and represent Idaho Falls.  That was while we were in Washington.  They won state which qualified them to play in the sectional tournament.  There were teams from Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Colorado.  The sectional tournament was held in Salt Lake last weekend.  It is played in a Round Robin format, and the winner goes to nationals.  It was a very good tournament and Nevada, Utah and Idaho were basically tied at the end, each one having only lost one match.  When it got down to brass tacks, Nevada ended up winning because they had lost less sets in their five matches.  It was fun to watch tennis on that level.  We stayed at a Residence Inn, in downtown Salt Lake.  Brian, Celia and Maden came down to watch, too.  Randy, Julie and Tanner were able to come and watch the Saturday morning match, it was fun to see them, but silly me didn't get a picture of them!

This match was played at the Salt Lake Swim and Tennis club, it was a very nice facility.  Some of the matches were played at Liberty Park, which was also very nice.

Here's Celia watching Maden crawl around on the grass outside the courts, it was on a hill so he could go really fast down the hill, but was a little slower coming up.

                                      Playing with Maden after a match.

Blake has started playing in another league this fall.  It is a mixed doubles league, he is playing with a someone he had never met, but he is enjoying the playing time. 

Brian, Celia and Maden came to watch Blake play.  This is how Maden watches, by crawling away!  He's like the energizer bunny, he just keeps going and going....

So cute!

Jared's on the move...

On August 16th, Jared moved to Twin Falls to start college at CSI.  We loaded both our cars and I followed him.  He lives on the 3rd floor and it was hot, so we were both sweating pretty good by the time we got the cars unloaded. He has 5 roommates, but they all have a private bedroom, so that is nice. I didn't get very good pictures, so what you see is what you get.

Here he is carrying stuff up the stairs.

In his bedroom, trying to figure out where to put stuff.

Birch Bay Washington

Blake, Diana, Randy, Courtney, Brian, Celia and Maden took a little vacation and drove in two cars to Blaine, Washington.  We left just before midnight on July 27th, it took about 14 hours to drive there.  It was kind of a long night/day.  We arrived at the Worldmark Resort on the Birch Bay of the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, July 28th at about 4:00 Pacific time.  Blake, Brian, Celia and Randy played tennis some of the mornings, they found out that you can't use high altitude tennis balls at sea level.

Thursday, we rested and went to the beach when it was low tide.

Maden is working real hard at crawling, he almost has it down!

We all did a lot of playing with Maden.  He was soooo good!

We also did a lot of eating!

Maden's just "hanging" around.

Blake found a crab down at the beach.

They had a grand time digging for clams.

Maden loved the water, and didn't mind the sand.

Can you see the sand on his face?  He did try to eat some, but mostly just splashed.

The boys went out for a long way, maybe just a little too far, because they had to swim back and there was an undercurrent, but they made it back safely.

Celia made a sand castle, using Maden as one of the spires!

Maden loved knocking over her sand spires.

Clams!

Looks like Maden is going to get Courtney a little dirty!

On Friday, we all piled into one car and drove into Vancouver, B.C., Canada.  We went to an aquarium, Chinatown, and to see the Olympic Caldron.

Courtney in a frog pond.

Maden checking out some fish.

A very large lego looking whale on the dock by the olympic caldron.

The 2010 Winter Olympic Caldron

What a happy boy!

We had to wait quite a while at the border to get back into the United States, so I got out and took a picture of the Canadian Flag in flowers.

The American Flag in flowers!

Saturday, we went Miniature golfing.

Even Maden went golfing with us.

Sunday, August 1st, we helped Courtney celebrate her 22nd birthday!

Then we drove to White Rocks, BC and walked out on a long pier.

We came back to the States at different crossing, and this is the sign that greeted us. 

Monday, we chartered a private whale watching tour.  It was awesome!  The boat driver/tour guide said we probably saw 50 different whales! 

On the boat, ready to go!

Maden wasn't so sure about the noise and bumpy ride for a while, he didn't fuss, but just kind of sat real still.

Randy and Courtney watching for whales at the back of the boat.

Brian and Celia at the front of the boat.

This was a huge one!  It is so hard to get good pictures, but so fun trying!

Randy love the whale watching!

This is our little boat!

On Tuesday, the kids rented this "Surrey".  It was pretty hard to pedal!

Wednesday morning, we packed up and headed for home.  We stayed the night in Missoula, Montana.  Thursday we made it home!  It was a great trip!

Family Pictures

While Cindy was here, we had one night that we could all get together to take some family pictures. We had Brandi Simmons come and take them for us at Freeman Park in Idaho Falls. I love family pictures and it's not very often that we are all together!

Blake and I with the four kids.

Here's the whole bunch!

Cindy, Brian, Randy & Jared

Blake & Diana

Ken, Cindy & Sydney

Brian, Celia & Maden

Randy & Courtney

Blake & I with the GRANDKIDS!