After the events the parents were able to spend about an hour with their boys. The graduation was in the morning but they allowed the parents time to tour the facilities with their sons. The boys had to stay with their platoons on the field until their parents found them. When I walked to his platoon Jonny came running out with the biggest smile and gave me a big hug. I was afraid he would be too embarrassed to give me my big hugs, but he wasn't at all. He was one happy boy to see us.

We hugged, talked and started walking around when we thought he would probably want to talk to Rachel, Nicole, and Vika. They were back in Utah and were anxious to hear from him so he made his first call back in a month back to the girls in Utah.

My military boy with his shaved head.


Marine Military Academy is adjacent to a large memorial of Iwo Jima. The soldier in the front of the memorial was from this area and is buried here behind the memorial.

Jonny walked us around the school and showed us all the different obstacle courses that they did. This one was part of the leadership course where they had different things to accomplish as a group.

As we walked around Jonny explained all the cool stuff they got to do. He said that he was the only one in his platoon that could climb the ropes to the top. All those thousands of dollars spent on gymnastics I guess paid off here.

Again, his gymnastics training helped him with upper body strength to be able to do this part of the course with no problem at all.

Our little boy isn't so little anymore. He had grown at least an inch in height and was one ripped boy or young man.

This is part of the mud course. Jonny said this was the funnest course because they were able to get wet. It is really hot and humid in this part of Texas, so I totally can understand why they enjoyed this part of the course.
This is the uniform all the boys had to wear for their PT (Personal Training) and workouts. They only had two choices, this and their camo gear. We had to say goodbye for the night but knew that the next time we saw Jonny, we could take him home.
The next morning all the parents were seated to watch the parade of boys in front of the Iwo Jima monument. There were about 400 boys here all dressed in camo uniforms, marching in formation with their platoons.
This is Jonny's platoon but we were too far away to be able to spot which one was him.
The platoons all marched by the stands as they exited the field. Jonny is in the third row from the back closest to us. He is right behind the tall kid. Again they couldn't look at us as they marched by. Jonny took this very serious, as did most of the boys.

After the parade at the monument, we all headed over to the barracks for the official graduation ceremony. Each boy received a certificate of completion. Their name was called and they had to walk in formation to their Platoon Leader where they saluted as they received their certificate. Very military like.
Jonny was part of the E Troop. This was taken outside of his barracks which were very bare. They only had a bed, desk and closet. They shared a bathroom with another room. Each room had two boys in it who had to be together 24/7. This was a great experience for him where he learned team work, responsibility, and lots of discipline. He really left us as a boy and came back a man.

After the ceremony we had about a 4 hour drive to San Antonio where we were flying out to Salt Lake City. All the flights out of Harlingen were booked for that day and we really wanted to get back home so we drove the four hours. Jonny chose to stay in his camo uniform the entire day for the flight home. He looked so handsome in his uniform and was very proud to be wearing it.
After leaving the school, we made a stop at the convenient store where the only thing Jonny wanted was a large Diet Mountain Dew. Of course he got the biggest one they had because it had been a month since he had one. Soda was a privilege at the camp which they only had a few times.
We got to San Antonio and had a few hours before we had to be at the airport. We drove over to the Alamo but decided to just drive by. Even though it was a part of history, it didn't mean much to us. Gavin and Jonny were more interested in going by the Alamo Dome where the Spurs play. As we got closer to the Alamo Dome, we noticed there were crowds of people walking toward the dome. Something was going on and we wanted to know what. We stopped and asked some people who were headed that way. They said that there was an open practice for the Dallas Cowboys. They use the Alamo Dome as their practice field during the summer. Of course Jonny and Gavin wanted to stop so we did.

We were able to see Tony Romo practice a little. We were a little far from where he was practicing but our zoom camera was able to get this shot.

Family times

Back to our Summer in Utah.....

Oma and Opa were in Provo for about a week so we were able to spend time with them. We took them up to Sundance to enjoy the scenery. With Opa's bad knee we didn't hike around but were able to walk the path along the river through the resort.
Vika of course always has to pose. She if our "Top Model" and when the camera points her way she quickly gets into her modeling mode.
We were able to get together with some family members we haven't seen in awhile. My cousin Brandon, Jim and his kids, and Bart with his family; joined us for dinner at Chuck O Rama. Ranell was down in Salt Lake for a workshop and was able to meet us along with Lars, Lauren, and Colton. What started as a small dinner with Ranell, turned into a group of 20+. It was fun to catch up on everyone's lives and just sit around and talk.

Craziest Thunderstorm Ever!!!!

I'm still trying to update our blog from this summer but I had to post about the crazy thunderstorm we had the other night. I was trying not to blog things until I was all caught up so that things could be kept in some type of order but that might mean that I don't get things posted.

Anyway, a few days ago we had our Open House at school and I was walking home at about 8:30 at night. It was so hot a muggy that it really seemed creepy. The air was so thick and still. I was thinking how strange that was and it felt really gloomy like something bad was about to happen. I came home and just wanted to go to bed after a long day at school followed by a VB game then the Open House at night.

I went to bed pretty early thinking I could get a good nights sleep. About 11:00 I heard some rumbling in the distance and in my half awaken sleep, thought how strange it sounded. It wasn't sporadic bursts of thunder, it was more like a constant rumbling of a freight train headed our way. I drifted in and out of sleep as I heard the rumbling get louder and louder. I finally awoke around midnight as the blasts approached us. The sky was lit like fireworks bursting in the sky. Gavin counted about 10 per second which calculated to 60 flashes per minute. It was like being in a dance club with a strobe light. Add the thunder to those 60 or so lightening strikes and you end up with an amazing combination of booms and bangs. The thunder was indescribable. It wasn't a boom of thunder with breaks in between, it was one huge blast that wouldn't stop.

I usually love thunder storms but this felt different. It was like doom was headed our way. The blasts were like bombs going off right over our head. The freight train had hit in a huge way. I was literally scared at times with the windows and walls shaking with the blasts of thunder. It wasn't the pleasant rolling thunder sound, it was the sound of war. I felt like we were right in the middle of a bombing raid. I tried to think of ways that I could explain it, but words just can't. It was like being in the middle of the grand finale of a fireworks show but 100 times the noise and intensity. The rain was coming down in sheets. The wind blew the rain against our window which sounded like popcorn popping. The whole experience was terrifying yet amazing.

The intensity of the storm lasted for about 20 minutes then it slowly moved on to find some other fearful soul. I layed awake for about an hour after thinking of how this would be a great descriptive story for my Writing I class. I tried to think of different ways to describe the events using figurative language. It was such an amazing, fearful event that I felt it needed to be recorded.

Last night we had an encore but not quite as intense. Right now I can hear thunder in the distance with flashes of light in the sky. The freight train is on it's way again. We will see what it has to bring tonight.

Alpine Loop

Our favorite thing to do in Utah was to hike. There are so many different hikes you can do and every one of them is absolutely beautiful. This hike was up on Alpine Loop. We used to come up here all the time when we lived in Orem, even when there was snow.
Every place you looked was just breath taking. We love the mountains and enjoy being out in nature. The only bad part of the hike were all the flies. There are a lot of people that ride their horses on this trail which of course brings the flies. These were pretty nasty flies that liked to bite but as long as we kept moving we were fine.

Pioneer Day Race

July 24, 2010

Rachel had set a goal to run in the Pioneer Day 10K race. She takes after her father in that she enjoys running. Gavin and Rachel started training by running for an hour every morning. The race started at Timpview High early Saturday morning on July 24.
Rachel was anxious for the race to start as she was surrounded by hundreds of other people.

race cont.

While we waited for the race to end, Vika and Nikki enjoyed the bouncy play center. Leave it to Utah to create a very family friendly environment with lots of things to do for the entire family.

We caught up with Rachel and Gavin to take a picture while they ran. Gavin stayed with Rachel the entire time to give support. This was about a mile from the finish line.
They both finished at 54 minutes. Rachel's goal was to finish under and hour which she easily did. Next time she said she wants to make it under 50 minutes. They both acted like it was no big deal.

Way to go Rachel. You achieved your goal and did it with a smile. We were so proud of you.

It's the women who make you look so good.

Gavin one day kept saying how "good" he looked so it became a running joke in our house that he looked so good because of the women that surrounded him. We were what was making him look good so we had to take a picture to prove it.

Sundance Hike

We love exploring and spending time up in the mountains. We went up to Sundance for a short little hike. Just the drive up there is beautiful. Sundance is the sky resort about 20 minutes from Provo where we had spent many winter days skiing down the slopes. During the summer it becomes a great place to hike and ride mountain bikes.
They have done a lot of work around the resort area with new paths along the river, bridges of the water and new convention halls. We decided that this would be a great place to have a wedding reception for Rachel someday. Of course she will choose but this would be a great option.

We just had the two little girls with us this day so we hiked around the trails along the slopes. It looks so different without snow but brought back many good memories.

Yes, I can remember skiing down this slope. Awe....the memories.
While we were hiking around we heard them practicing for the outdoor dinner theatre that was going to start the end of July. They were doing a musical theatre version of Huckleberry Finn. We didn't even know they had a little theatre up there.

We LOVE Utah.

Hiking the "Y"

Thanks to our friend Chris, we were able to stay at his house which is right under "Y" mountain. This was our view every morning. This year I made a goal of finally hiking up to the "Y". Rachel, Chris and I started up one morning but we had started from his house which is about a 2 mile hike just to the base of the "Y". So I was extremely tired before we even got to the start of the "Y" trail. I only made it half way up that morning.
A few days later we decided to go again but starting at the base of the mountain. Gavin, Nikki, Vika and I started out about 7:00 at night. The trail is about a mile of switch backs all up hill. Vika was nice enough to stay back with me while Nikki and Gavin were up ahead.
The views are amazing from the trail. It was still pretty hot at 7:00 at night but well worth it for the views.
Nikki and Gavin had to stop quite a bit to wait for Vika and I. Fortunately they have these nice benched rest spots all along the way.

I kept going and finally made it. My old wornout tired body was able to hike the "Y". Not saying much since my 5 year old easily made it to the top.
The view was beautiful. We made it to the top just in time to enjoy the sunset over the valley. The "Y" is painted and is about a football field in length. Looks like snow. Wish it was.