Westmoreland Asays

Aaron and I both raced at the Bush Park Trophy Night Cross Country Runs (Edward and Meg said they want to run next year). Aaron completed a perfect season, winning each of the three races he entered. He moves up to a new age group next year, so he probably won't have the same level of success as he has had this year. Aaron crossed the line in about 2:55, about 10 seconds faster than his last race three weeks ago. He excelled at maneuvering through a multitude of kids who started too fast, then slowed down before the straightaway, but really pushed hard to the finish--passing several older kids before finally finishing out-of-breath (but not so much to cause an asthma attack). I was racing when he received his award, but I understand that he was all smiles. It's still hard to believe that Aaron has one more year at home before public schools will admit him. I, on the other hand, finished well behind the leaders (overall and my age group) and didn't meet my goal of 19:5...

We went back to Gateway this morning to visit the stuff we didn't have time for yesterday--the Clark Planetarium and the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum , which we got in for free because we are members at the Gilbert House. Meg and I both fell asleep during the 30-minute "Zula Patrol" show on the Dome Theatre, but the kids said they enjoyed it. In between museums, we hit the California Pizza Kitchen for lunch--worst part of the trip. Neither boy would touch the food that he specifically ordered (drinks don't count). At one point, the Manager walked by and asked if everything was all right. We said no and explained that our kids refused to eat. So the Manager told Aaron that he needed to make up for not eating his meal by accompanying him to the kitchen to wash dishes. Aaron trusted the manager completely, and walked away with him to the kitchen. The manager brought him back a few minutes later and told us that Aaron was all set to wash some dishes--w...

My mom took the day off from teaching public school cherubs to accompany us on a tour of Salt Lake City; Lil Meg also came, and we all fit in our "plush" mini-van. We visited the Conference Center and got a custom mini-tour (they won't let you walk around by yourself--my Dad got escorted out by security one time for doing just that). The boys didn't really care much for it, and they were especially hard to control once we made it to the roof. We ate lunch (Edward ate from everyones plate, as did I (the garbage disposal)) at the ZCMI Centre and then happened to make it just in time for the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie playing at the Legacy Theatre. It was good to see, and even better that the boys sat through the entire thing without much fuss or disinterest. Aaron said he liked it, although it was sad at the end. We tried to scale the Church HQ Building, but it was closed for renovation. So we took lots of pictures around Temple Square. We rod...

I started the day by running about seven miles; it should have been easy, but it is tough to find much oxygen in this high mountain air. We then drove over to our vacation house and worked on it for several hours; I spent my time sweeping the front porch/carport and cleaning out the root cellar. All-together, I swept up like 20 pounds of dirt--which didn't include all of the dust I inhaled while sweeping. We spent the late afternoon and evening at Seven Peaks Water Park --the perfect compliment to working and getting dirty. The boys absolutely loved the park--even after nearly four hours of non-stop fun, they didn't want to go home, and after every trip down a water slide Edward would shout "Again! Again!" Aaron felt comfortable going down all of the slides on his own, although he doubled up with Meg and I on occasion. Meg and I both felt exhausted from climbing the stairs and ramps--we were ready to go home. I went down one of the scarier slides, but after getti...

A few weeks ago Meg tried to coax me into going to Education Week (at BYU); I built my wall and stood my ground. But then a few days before we left on this trip, she noticed that Don Aslett would be presenting--not just once, not twice, but three times in a row. So I agreed to accompany her--and I'm glad I did. Our first session was by the founders of Joy School, which Meg (and my two younger sisters) actually did as a small girl. Aaron still has another year before he can begin kindergarten, and Edward has who-knows-how-many-years left, so maybe Meg can put some of what we learned to good use. We split for the next session; I barely got in to what I thought would be good, but the guy talked a lot without saying much. We then jetted for the CougarEat, where we had reasonably priced food for lunch. The next three hours we basked in the glow of Don Aslett. Our front row seats were totally worth the wait. I won a prize (squeegee tie-tack) for knowing where Don built his self-cl...

Going to church at 9:00 a.m. (compared to our usual 1:00 p.m. start) didn't prove too challenging. We walked about 10 minutes to my parent's ward building; the boys enjoyed primary and nursery (a member of the bishopric told me that Aaron was an all-star and MVP in the primary), and weren't too bad during sacrament meeting. We had to take Edward out a couple of times because he was simply too giddy. He eventually calmed down while sitting with grandpa. Afterwards we all drove to Springville to see my sister Maren's new baby, Ben, be blessed in her home. We are also staying the night here so we can go to the first day of Education Week at BYU tomorrow, and Seven Flags on Tuesday. More to come later . . . Maren's house also has a basement, and this is where we're sleeping tonight. I just can't get over how useful a basement is; I'm very envious . . .

Meg again headed to Springville to work on our house, while my Dad drove we-three-boys to Cabela's, a hunting and fishing store, just across the Salt Lake county line. The store was huge (like everything here in Utah) and had a neat fish-filled aquarium. The boys enjoyed watching the fish, and Aaron reminded grandpa that he wanted to go fishing for the big fish next time. At night Meg and I drove north to Farmington to pick up one of her best friends from high school, Shannon, and her husband Jeff (his mom's an Asay, though distantly related). We then spent the evening at Lagoon . Even though it isn't as big as the well-known amusement parks, the rides scared the crap out of me: Wicked , Wild Mouse , Spider , Colossus , and the worst of all, The Rocket . The first ones were all just different roller coasters, but the Rocket gradually lifts you up to over 200 feet (I was screaming even before we got near the top of the ascent), waits five seconds, then drops you back to...

I wanted to show Megan what the town of Logan looked like, so we drove about 90 minutes from my parents' house to visit Cache Valley. It's much the same as it was nearly 10 years ago (when I graduated from Utah State), but a number of new retail chains and housing developments have expanded its borders somewhat. While driving around, Aaron spotted this park in River Heights , and kindly asked if we could stop and play--so we did. It proved a well-needed break after another long ride in the van. We drove around different neighborhoods to give Meg a sense of the town, and finished the day eating oh-so-creamy and tasty Aggie Ice Cream . Aaron got two scoops of strawberry, and Edward got one scoop of cherry-chocolate--both of which proved to be way too much for them to handle. On the way home we got caught in the middle of another desert storm; this one brought rain and oh so much lightning. That night my dad took Aaron and I fishing on the lake. We first borrowed a canoe (fre...

Our wedding anniversary celebrations have always been odd; this year was no different. Meg woke up early so she could drive down to Springville (just south of Provo) and work on our investment property, while the he boys and I explored my parents' neighborhood ( Daybreak ). We left the house around 10:00 a.m., and it was already hot. We walked five minutes to a neighborhood playground , where the boys spent 30 minutes or so. We walked back to the house, ate some lunch, and then went to explore Oquirrh Lake . We walked around most of the lake, with the boys most eager to find a rocky beach from which to throw rocks in the water--their favorite water-side pastime. We spent the late afternoon splashing at the wading pool, which is right next to the playground. We spent nearly two hours (myself included) wrinkling and tanning our skin in 1.5 feet of clear, cool water--a nice contrast to the hot, dry air. We all returned home around 5:00 p.m., and after we cleaned ourselves up Meg...

Day 1 of our trip to Utah began at 4:07 a.m., when we departed from our house in Salem. The boys woke up when we loaded them in the van, but they quickly returned to sleep. We stopped near Hermiston for a bathroom break, Baker City for gas, Boise for lunch, Tremonton for gas, and that was it. It took exactly 14 hours, but the only long part to me was the two hours in Utah. We drove through a storm in SE Idaho, where tumbleweeds blew all over the road and hard rain pounded us from above--Meg and I both love storms in the desert. The boys both behaved well. When they weren't sleeping, they enjoyed watching several hours of kiddie movies on a portable tv/vcr unit that Meg had found at a garage sale. Aaron asked several times, "When are we going to get there?" but he eventually learned to stop asking. Meg actually drove the entire distance, as she has the tendency to get sick on long trips if not driving, while my sister Megan played co-pilot, and I sat in the back whe...

Aaron ran 3:04 for the 500 meter race this week, probably about 20 seconds faster than last week. He took first place in his age group again. We'll be away for the next two races, but he is excited to be able to run at trophy night. I was going to run, but I didn't know lil' Megan was going to come with us. I'm hopeful to run anything under 20:00 at trophy night. I ran two hard workouts this week, which is a first in about three years; however, I felt pretty slow and it was harder than it should have been. I plan on brining my running equipment with me on our trip; maybe training i n the mountain air for 10 days will pay off.

Aaron won the 3-4 age group for the first week of the Bush Park Summer Fun Runs (Edward has to wait another year to race, but that's good because he slept the whole time in his stroller--he falls asleep almost any time he rides in the car). He took his asthma medicine before the start, which seemed to help a bunch. Last year, he had trouble finishing; this year, he ran fast and steady the whole time and didn't complain about breathing at all. I thought he had finished in second place, but boy was he excited when they called his name last. He was so happy and excited, especially because he couldn't wait to tell Meg that he had won (she had to leave right after the race).