This week

It's been a busy week as usual.  

Saturday:  Caitlin and Courtney played their last basketball game of the season.  It was fun watching them progress from being confused and scared on the court to making steals, rebounds, dribbling and shooting.  

Spencer's team also played a basketball game.  His team is still undefeated and won their game by 30 plus points.   He has one more game this season.

Rachel went to the Sweethearts Dance with her friend, Graeme.  

Didn't she look beautiful?  During the day, they had lunch, then competed with their group in an amazing race around town.  That evening, they went to dinner at IHOP and enjoyed the dance and then played at Gym Cats with their dates.  

Sunday:

We went to church.  I had to play the organ and teach my Relief Society lesson.  I completely forgot about teaching because it wasn't my normal week to teach.  I realized just as I was leaving for church.  Needless to say, it wasn't my best lesson but we had lots of great discussion from the group so I suppose it was okay.  Afterward, I went to choir and then we left for my parents' house for dinner.  Rachel stayed home because Sean Covey was coming to give a youth fireside.  She said it was good.  Here she is standing next to her friends whom she calls spiritual giants because they're so much taller than her.  

Spencer and the boys love each other so much!

I liked Caitlin's hair so I took this picture.

So Caitlin took this photo of me as well.

Monday:

I went to my friend Mary's house in the morning and learned how to make artisan bread.  Caitlin and Courtney had their normal pre-piano lesson panic after school but did well.  That evening, we had a family home evening lesson given by Courtney and an activity by Caitlin.  

Tuesday:

Spencer had his open house/registration for middle school and Rachel had young women.  

Wednesday:

I tried making artisan bread for the first time.  Yum!  It was delicious and really easy to make.

That evening, Rachel had her state swim team dinner and Spencer had basketball practice.  Our niece, Lexie, convinced Rachel to ask her friend, Schuyler, to a girl 's choice dance at Riverton High School and she got answered.  The balloons glowed in the dark.  They were so cool!

Thursday:

Rachel and the swimmers who made it to state were honored with blue roses at school and the school posted a picture of them on Facebook so I snagged it.

That night, my parents and I went to BYU to watch Rachel swim in the 200 medley relay at the state championship.  She swam the 50 m butterfly.  Although they didn't win, all the girls in her relay team dropped time and Rachel dropped 2 seconds which is awesome!  I love that the relay team prays before they swim and tried to get a picture with my phone.  It turned out blurry but I still love it.

Paul took Caitlin and Courtney to gymnastics.

Also this week, Joshua discovered he can climb out of his crib.  After three days of putting him back into his crib hundreds of times, I finally locked them in last night until they went to sleep.  When I went to check on the boys, I found them sharing a crib.  It was sweet.  This afternoon when I went to check on them in their nap, the boys were once again sharing Jake's crib.  

We also decided to return the chairs and stools to the kitchen.  It has opened a new world of excitement for the boys and they especially love playing in the sink.  I'm not sure if we'll keep the chairs in the kitchen but it's sure been nice sitting down at the kitchen table to eat.

Finally, here's a picture of my little valentines:

Paul's gift to me today.  Lovely!7

Madsen Happenings

Another week has flown by for the Madsen family.  

Rachel kept herself busy with early-morning seminary, school and swim team practice everyday after school.  I let her drive to seminary Thursday morning.  It was the first time I've driven with her as I have left all the driving instruction/near-death experiences to Paul.  She actually did well.  The night before, she had boys drop over after football practice to "say hi" and bring her a milk shake. . . Two reminders in 8 hours that reminded me she is soon going to sixteen, driving and dating.  Scary and exciting!

Homecoming week made the week even crazier for Rachel.  She dressed up each day according to the day's theme.  On Thursday night, she and her friends went to the new high school's first pep rally which included awesome fireworks.

She also cheered for her team at the inaugural homecoming football game on Friday night, then hung at a friend's house afterward.  Corner Canyon was ahead 35-7 when the quarterback for the other team was knocked unconscious and the coaches ended up calling the game so they could life flight the injured player to the hospital. It was quite a dramatic end to the game.  According to the newspaper, he's going to be okay.

On Saturday, Rachel went to a party at a cabin in Heber for her friends who didn't go to the homecoming dance (16 is dating age for our church and they were all 15.) The cabin belongs to her friend, J.'s grandparents.  It is the largest privately-owned cabin in North America.  She and her friends had a great time swinging on a giant swing over the lake looking at the millions of stars, swimming in the pool, sweating in the sauna, soaking in the hot tub and exploring cabin and its 9000 square feet of decks and balconies.  

              Timber Moose Lodge 

Spencer spent the week going to school

and football practice.  At their game on Saturday, their team played the best they've ever played and Spencer was in on a bunch of tackles.  We've seen him improve dramatically over the course of his first season and we love watching him practice and play.  

Caitlin and Courtney had a great week with school, play and gymnastics.  

They are working on front and back handsprings this week.  This picture was snapped from far away through the glass.  It was a failed attempt but it's the only one I took because I realized pictures weren't going to turn out very well.  

On Saturday, the girls went to their friend's birthday party.  It was at a cooking school and they loved making croissants, hot chocolate and cupcakes.  They each brought home a mini cookie mix as a favor and made sugar cookies for the family on Sunday.  Yum!  They have been excited about baking treats lately, mixing up cookies, cupcakes and pancakes by themselves in the last couple of weeks.

Jake and Josh continue to play and make messes.  They are talking more and more which makes it easier to understand what they want.

Other interesting things about this week:

It snowed on Thursday.  None stuck on the ground here in the valley but it was pretty.  The girls thought it looked like a snow globe.

The sunset view that night was beautiful with the first snow if the season on the mountains.

Last night on our way to my parent's house for dinner, we drove over the mountain to avoid construction traffic.  The views were pretty.  It was difficult to get a picture from the car.  Here's my best effort:

We definitely live in a place of majestic beauty!

Summer Fun

This sandbox made the summer so much better for Jake and Josh.

Caitlin, Courtney and Spencer have enjoyed swim team this summer, earning many ribbons.

 

Rachel also practiced every morning at 7 am with the Devil Rays, a USA swim team, doing long course swimming.  It was a great workout but it wasn't like our summer swim team in PA so she didn't love it.  

 Most mornings after I dropped off Rachel at swim practice, I explored the hiking trails in Corner Canyon.  

 

Sometimes I brought the kids with me.