Extreme Makeover Kelsee Edition

I found these pictures on the camera.  They are priceless.  Kelsee said she did crazy makeovers..

Karlie has been working hard to be able to do the splits.

She has almost got it down.

The designer herself!!

Kelsee's Surprise

We received a card in the mail saying Kelsee would be getting an award at school.  Of course I tried to keep it from her.  She had no clue until....she walked in and saw us sitting at there for the assembly.  We just couldn't blend in.  It was cool anyhow.

She received the award for respectful attitude.

Way to go Kelsee..We are so proud of you!!

On to State

The State cross country meet is held in Pasco, Washington, which is about 4 hours from home.  Luckily, the school let us have one of their reserved rooms so we did not have to make the trip in one day.  We arrived to see this:

I wonder which room Kody is in??? We did see him for about 30 seconds that night..

We had lots of time to kill before his race... The girls enjoyed the leaves.

and the dead tree branches.

Eventually, Kody's race began.

Kody and Marcus stayed together most of the race, pushing each other.

Kody went on to take 27th out of 170 runners (which is amazing.) but collapsed at the end. The coach broke through the barriers to get to him.  Then Dennis held him up and he leaned on me for awhile. We then tried to get him to go to the medic tent, he refused and staggered off.  He had nothing left to give.  The coaches helped him back to the tent.  He worried me.  Finally after about fifteen minutes, he was joking and more like himself.  It was a bit scary though.  We figure somehow we are not doing something right and that is why he does not have any energy leftat the end of the race. My plan is to get it figured out because I can't stand to see him like that anymore.   

He had an amazing season, winning every regular meet, breaking the school course record, being named MVP of the Team and Male Athlete of the Year for the League (voted by all the coaches.). 

He gives it his whole heart and soul.  He is my HERO!!

Surprise Visitors??

Late Thursday afternoon I received a TEXT....yes a text, from my sister Tayler.  It said that her and her boyfriend were on their way to our house and would be there around 8 pm.  We then began to wonder... because it was a bit out of the ordinary.  I went to Stake Leadership training and came home to find my sister engaged!!  He proposed about 30 minutes before they got to our house. 

We had never met Keith before, but from the first moment felt like we had known him forever! It was exciting to be the first to know the news and see the HUGE rock!!(It is gorgeous.) We had a fun, quick visit!!

Congratulations Tay & Keith we are so EXCITED and HAPPY for you both!!

My Halloween Goblins!!

The Pirate.  I think the only reason she agreed to this hand me down costume is for the earring!!

The Witch (with attitude!)

At Autumn Fest.

The 70's Bball player..  It was way too cold for the short shorts!

and somehow...

Super Sleep Annoyed Girl did not get her picture taken...

Until Kelsee gave her a extreme crazy makeover!!

District Cross Country Meet

Kody fought illness all week and has always had issues with the district meet course.  The first year he collapsed at the finish line and then last year almost collapsed but Dennis was there to keep him up.  We were trying our best to prepare him in every way possible.  When race day arrived, we woke up to rain, not just the normal rain, but pouring rain.  The races were delayed.  He had to wait until almost 3 pm to run and to make matters worse just before the race started I felt sick...the nerves hit me just like I was the one running...

Our first sight of him in first place coming up the hill.

He kept that pace for the first two miles then started to lose power, his legs just gave out on him.

We could see him start to stagger a bit...

He somehow kept going and finished in

5th place!!  It was awesome, but of course he was not happy with himself.

Check out the mud on his back and legs...yuck!!

Hornet Homecoming 2010

Do to the high cost of homecoming and our situation this year, we (Kody and I) decided to save money we would host a dinner at our house.  I was quite nervous, but it turned out great!! (So not only did we have the Subdistict race, but homecoming on the same day.)

It looked so elegant with the candles lit and the lights on the walls.  I liked them so much I had a hard time taking them down.

He looked so handsome!!

It all went great and they all had a great time!!

Gould is First as Hornets Advance

Saturday was a huge race for Kody!  Only the top runners and teams make it to the District race.  The weather was horrible.  We woke up to winds and pouring rain.  It was a blessing that it quit just before Kody's race and then started raining again just after our girls team finished running.

Here he is taking the lead.

Now coming in to the finish with no one close.  The next runner was 13 seconds behind.

He ran it in 16:09.  A personal best by 11 seconds.  It was so exciting!! (I wasn't even the only mom who cried.)

He was tired, but so excited!! 

He has dreamed and worked so hard for this day!! 

As quoted from the local newspaper:

Gould is First as Hornets Advance

"Individually, the highlight of the day for White River was the championship performance of Kody Gould." 

The team qualified for Districts with a 4th place finish.

The coaches were equally excited.

Kody was also named #1 on the all league first team.

It was a great day!!  Now on to Districts....

A Family Getaway

The kids had all earned tickets to Silverwood theme park and we picked up the others at Costco awhile ago. We decided it was time to use them.  We had a great time and decided we needed another day.  When we arrived at the park we came to the conclusion that there were way too many people so we decided we would just extend the vacation a day and go the next day.  So we drove up to Sandpoint to Lake Pend Orielle. 

It was beautiful. We found a  nice public beach. 

The kids played in the water.  I enjoyed the sun and watched the sail boats.

Kayla spent the most time in the water.  She asked, "Can I please take these rocks home?"

We talked her into only keeping one.

After a few hour Den challenged me to a race to the log and back (the end of the swimming area).  Of course the my competitive side kicked in.  I beat him!! Then we headed back.  I got to the shore and he wasn't there.  I turned to hear him weakly say, "help".  I thought he was kidding and just wanted to dunk me.  I looked again and realize he was in trouble.  I quickly swam out to him.  His lips wer purple and it was spreading. Somehow (with devine help) I  pulled him to shore.  Kody helped me the last little way.  He couldn't speak and I did not know what was going on.  He sat on the shore for awhile and finally crawled up on the beach and laid there for awhile.  Kody and I watched and kept wondering if we needed to get help or get him to the hospital. He kept shaking his head no.  Finally after about an hour we got him to the car and out of the heat.  He literally had just about drowned.  He is such a strong man, it was such a freak thing.  We are truly blessed that his life was spared.  It was so scary and we left very thankful and VERY BURNT (just me)! Note to self don't let your six year old put the sunscreen on your back.  

We decided the next morning, (after we both had the feeling) to go home and not stay the extra day.

We did go back in August and use our tickets and night stay that was all paid for.  Thankfully this time was just fun and not eventful.

Track Update

I appologize for the lack of posts.  It seems that since my camera got broken I have not been taking many pictures.  One of the neighbors took pity on me and gave me their old one.  The girls finished up the summer track season last night.

They enjoyed the weekly meets and mostly earning ribbons.

Kayla was my most adventurous one, which was surprising. 

 She would take full advantage of the four events she could do.

Kelsee was so fast!! She would fight me on the events to run, but then would go out and run her heart out!

Her best event was the 400m. 

We finally got Karlie to try it out.  For her age she could run the 100 yard dash.  The first time she saw her dad at the finish line and stopped before she got there, but still took fourth place.  The second time she ran hard and right into me at the finish line taking third!  It was pretty cute! Unfortunately no picture!

I believe that Kody enjoyed coaching (and working on his senior project at the same time.)!

Take Me Out To the Ballgame!!

As most of you know my favorite place to be is the ballpark.  I love baseball.  We finally got the chance to attend our first Mariners game this year.  I bought tickets off of Ebay and the seats were great!!

Felix pitched.

We were hoping for a foul ball....no such luck!!

I didn't even embarass the kids with my dance moves.

We lost which was a bummer, but any time I get to go to the ballpark, is a great night!!

More Family Fun....Mount Rainier!!

You all know my fascination with Mount Rainier. So I was very excited when it was decided while the parents were here we would make the jaunt up there.  Royce, Heidi, Nila and Rich drove to out house on Sunday morning.  We had breakfast and then went on our way.  The part closest to us was still closed so we drove about 2 hours to enter the park.

The view of the valley was gorgeous.

We finally reached the top. The clouds had passed for a moment.

  I could not believe all the snow and all the people sledding.  We were not prepared for this.  Heidi had to get back to perform in a concert so a picture is all I got.  It was beautiful!!

We purchased a year pass to the park so now we have no excuses to go up there more often!

It was a great day and we really enjoyed spending time with family.