Track 2023

Jared finished his track season, going out with a bang!  He had been working this season to break 5 minutes on the mile and finally got a 4:56 at the last race.  He started out with a 5:15 for the season, then a 5:09, 5:06, 5:03, and 5:01.  He had a few other races in there, but these were the PR's.  Prior to the last race, which was league finals, he found out that only the top 32 runners would compete in the race.  He was in spot 36... so he didn't think he'd get the chance to break 5 minutes.  Even with a 5:01, he hadn't quite qualified (the top guys in the event had 4:08 to 4:10 PR's).  Not everyone who qualifies signs up to run the race though, so we prayed he'd get a spot.  A couple days before the meet, he found out he made it in.  I was so happy he got the chance to run, and then it was up to him to break 5 minutes.  I watched closely the times on each lap.  He ran the first one really fast (almost too fast I thought), the second one was right on pace, and the third lap was at 3:45.  I knew he'd do it at that point, because I knew he'd have the adrenaline and kick on that last lap to carry him through.  He took spot 19 out of 30, so he proved that he deserved to be there.  I was really proud of Jared for his hard work and grateful for the little tender mercy in allowing him to accomplish his goal.  

Jared also ran the 300m hurdles again this season.  He kept about the same time with each race, with a PR of 48.4 seconds.  I made a video about his season.  I couldn't resist the music for the last race, because it did feel like an epic finish to his season.  

Jared won the "Most Reliable" award at the track banquet.  He has received an award for every season of cross country and track so far highlighting his great character as an athlete.  He has great character on and off the track!

Field Trip

Weston got to go on a 3-day field trip to Catalina Island with his class.  They left at 4:30am on Wednesday and returned on Friday around 7:00pm, so they had a 2-night stay there, with lots of activities during the day.  Some of the activities were rock climbing, snorkeling (saw an octopus), and touch tanks in the aquariums to explore the sea life.  He had a great time, and he apparently took the 3-day no shower challenge... which I think is pretty gross!  

Youth Activities

We've had some great youth activities recently.  We did an Easter egg night where we hid filled eggs outside of a few homes with young children (they got "egged").  After that we came back to the church and decorated sugar cookies.  

Another night we made pioneer skirts since we have a youth pioneer trek coming up this summer.  Alex and I are serving as a Ma and Pa again, so I made a skirt for me.  We just finished up our trainings as well, since we are in charge of all the Mas and Pas.  We did 5 trek presentations earlier this year and then 3 in-person trainings for Mas and Pas.  We may still do one final zoom training for those who missed their training.  

We had our fun girls night - this one involved different dare challenges, such as blowing up a balloon until it pops, doing ballet, or sorting skittles with tongs while they are being jiggled around on the plate. 

We had another Bishopric dinner for the youth, which is just a Sunday evening get together to hang out, eat breakfast food, and have a short spiritual message at a member of the Bishopric's home.  Cameron and his wife made lots of bacon and waffles for all the youth.  

A couple of other activities was indoor volleyball, which was a hoot, and a bonfire at the beach night with games, roasted marshmallows, and cinnamon rolls.  

The young women won the spring family history challenge for the 3rd time!  This one was an indexing challenge, so we did an indexing activity in March.

Spring flag football

Owen finished his spring flag football season.  They didn't win any games... but Owen always played hard.  He mostly played wide receiver or running back, but he did play a little bit of quarterback.  He has a great arm, but he was needed more to catch the ball than to throw it.  He and Chase (#3) worked well together and were valuable for their team.  Chase is the QB in the video while Owen is receiving it, and Owen is QB part of the time.  Owen scored 5 of the 8 touchdowns for the season.

Prom

 Jared went to a church sponsored prom recently and had a great time.  Jared and a few of the guys got together and made the corsages the night before.  He went with a girl named Grace from our church congregation (and we're good family friends too so we knew that Jared snagged a great date).  They went with our good friend Nathan and his date, so we took several pictures of them before the dance.  I loved the beautiful modest dresses the girls wore.  That was the great thing about the church prom - much more likely for modest dresses and not the current trend that seems to be looking more like lingerie these days.  The girls looked so pretty and the guys looked pretty good too.  They went to a dinner before the dance.  Jared's only complaint was they only played ONE slow song the entire night!