Overwhelmingly Overdue

I have a thousand and one posts to catch up on, but until I do, here is a {somewhat} brief summary of what we have been up to these past several months:

 In July, we went to Lagoon with our cousins and Grandma Carol and Papa Joe.  Jennilyn and her kids joined us, as well as Shondell and her kids.  Kimberlee came down and played with us, too.  We spent three nights at the Lagoon campground and two days in the park, and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Abbey joined us too at Lagoon on Saturday.  The girls were THRILLED to have her there!  Lagoon was a blast.  Everyone had a marvelous time.  I promise I will post more details later. 

We shopped, and shopped and shopped for new school clothes.  And everyone looked very stylish on their first day of school.

But the only pictures I got were of Olivia and Rachel

We made it to Lake Powell on Labor Day and WE LOVED IT!  Thanks to our good friends the Berretts for taking us with them

It was a lovely day in the sun and on the water

Tyler and Garrett competed in Cross Country

Cole played his first year of high school football.  He played on the C team and on the JV team.  Some of his best plays happened later in the year on the JV team, but I didn't get any decent pictures.  Cole worked out and improved throughout the season.  He is proving that you don't have to be big in size to play big.

We moved.  We found someone to rent our house in the Fifth Ward, and another family hoping to buy our home once they sell theirs.  We now live in the Second Ward, close to the middle school and high school and the Stake Center, where we now attend church.  It is a beautiful home, in a really nice neighborhood, with a great yard with mature landscaping.  FYI, moving sucks.  But I do believe our family can be really happy in this home, for several years to come.

Garrett competed in the Mr. San Juan Pageant.  This was the evening wear portion.  Hmm.

Olivia had a birthday.  She is eight.

She was so excited to be baptized by her dad

I got to see Wicked in Las Vegas with my mother-in-law and sisters.  Thanks again, Charlene!  It was the best time!

Garrett competed with a scene from Romeo and Juliet with his girlfriend Jessie McDaniel.  My girls were amazed to see them kiss on stage.  (They are not together anymore, though)

The girls and I traveled to Logan for the blessing of Chrislynn's baby, Josie.

Chrislynn sewed the dress herself, including gorgeous smocking on the front.  It was really beautiful!

I got caught speeding on the way home (outside of Ogden), and received a warning and a seat belt  violation (Rachel).  Ugh!  It only happens to me when I am driving alone with the girls.

Britt has been teaching the Missionary Prep class for a few years now.  They have seen a great deal of success in the class, and since the announcement by the prophet that young men can serve at age 18, and young women at 19, the class went from averaging about ten students to thirty plus.  It is exciting and overwhelming for Britt.  He does a great job with these young men and women!

You may know Halloween happened, and crazy hair day and other events, and I did not get any pictures, so there will be no posts about that this year.  Sorry.

And of course, I have several posts as well from last year and earlier this year.

But hey, I blogged.  {pats self on back}  And you know what else?  Since we got better high speed internet here, it didn't take nearly as long to upload those pictures, so really I have no excuse.  I promise I will try to post more, if not today, soon.  Thanks for reading.

Love-ing Tennis Camp

This summer, my three girls participated in tennis camp.  It was their first time learning to play tennis, and even though none of them were even remotely close to competing in the championship in their respective tournaments at the end of the camp, I think they all really enjoyed themselves, and that is what is most important.

Olivia won a couple matches before she was beat out in the double elimination tournament.  She had some good hits, and even got a couple serves over the net.  The tournament for her age group included the most competitors and lasted several hours.  It was very entertaining to watch those young kids try to hit the ball.

Rachel's tournament was the following day.  There were not as many competitors in her age group, but they were definitely more skilled.  During Olivia's tournament, the "officials"--players on the high school tennis team helping with the camp--would actually throw the ball over the net to "serve" if the player couldn't get their first serve over the net.  This was not the case during Rachel's tournament.  Rachel had some good matches, but she ended up winning one and then being eliminated after losing the next two.  Rachel was very frustrated when she lost, but we hope she will still continue to play.  I think she just needs a lot more experience.  I also didn't realize how competitive she is at heart.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as she doesn't get too discouraged by her losses and uses them to drive her to do better in the future.

Tyler was too cool to let me take her pictures, but I got a few shots anyway.

Tyler's bracket was extremely competitive.  She looked awesome and had some great hits, but she was definitely out-classed.  I think, like the other girls, she just needs more experience.  She had a fabulous time hanging out with her friends at the tournament, even after she was eliminated.

I hope all three girls can grow to love tennis (even though their scores sure had a lot of "LOVE's").  I think it could be a sport they could really enjoy, any time.  By the way, Tyler's shirt reads:  "What's better than great? . . .Me."  I think the Barton girls are definitely better than great.  Thanks, Colette Lyman and the tennis team for filling our summer with tennis fun!

I am not a runner

But I will Race to Eradicate Polio, when my dad and my brother convince me I need to register for the Blanding Rotary First Annual 5K.  Eliminating Polio is actually something we are kind of passionate about, since my grandfather, my dad's dad had Polio.  I was quite young when my Grandpa Glover passed away, but I remembered him always in that wheelchair.  As a matter of fact, when I was a kid, even a teenager, I just always assumed that my grandpa had gotten Polio as a child, as is usually the case.  It has only been recently I realized, he was a young father, with a small family when Polio struck, at the age of 29.  He was a busy, energetic man, struck down by a crippling disease.  Still, once he overcame the affects of the disease, one of which was irreversible paralysis, he continued to be very active and involved in the community.

There is no cure for Polio.

But vaccines can prevent the disease.  Since 1988, Polio cases have decreased by over 99%  Historically, Polio has been the world's greatest cause of disability.  Today there are less than 2,000 people affected by Polio.*

*Facts from the brochure "End Polio Now" created by USU-Eastern SJC Microbiology student volunteers.

Garrett and I get ready for the race to start.  Yes, it was COLD! 

the runners 

good to go 

Rachel and Thomas were ready to go, too 

These guys did the one mile Fun Run with Grandpa Worthy.  Timothy kept going even after he tripped and fell 

Garrett had a strong race.  He came in 5th place.  The guys ahead of him are serious runners:  First place, I didn't recognize, but he was fast!  Second place, Ryan Heck; Third, Ricky Arthur; Fourth, Brian Kirby.

And the fact that Garrett has not been running since Cross Country makes his performance even more impressive.  I think he takes after his dad. 

There I am, coming to the finish line.  Yes, it was sooo uphill. 

I guess it is not fair to say I am not a runner.  This exact route is the same one I used to run all the time a few years ago.  When I struggled with depression several years ago, I discovered that the thing that helped most, more than the medication or anything else was running.  Maybe it was also the fact that, while running,  I listened to the podcast of "Wait, Wait, don't tell me: The NPR News Quiz."  Whenever anyone saw me running, they would usually catch me grinning, too.  I loved listening to that podcast while running.  I have about thirty of them on my computer now, because listening to them around the house is just not the same.

And it is not that I am out of shape, obviously, since I do go to Step Aerobics and Zumba classes regularly.  I do miss running, though.  I am just not a competitor.  I don't usually do races like this.  And even when I run on my own, I go fairly slow, because my heart-rate monitor (which is currently broken) tells me to.

So even though I am not a runner, today I raced for a good cause.  Now I need a nap.

Tyler also played volleyball last year

I am not going to say a lot about these pictures.  I should have posted about this a year ago, but I didn't, so here you go now.  We had our first experience with JO Volleyball when Tyler told us she wanted to play last year.  We didn't know where the notion came from; she said she heard an announcement at school.  Anyway, she really wanted to play, so we signed her up.  She had a really fun team and we enjoyed getting to know the girls' parents more as we watched them play at the various tournaments.  Tyler couldn't get a serve over the net except for during practice all year, but at her last tournament, she finally got it over.  Then, she got it over again!  Then, she ended up scoring the winning point in their final game of the tournament and they took first place!  It was awesome!  You seriously need to look at all these pictures.  Tyler is fun to watch.

Their coach was Cheyenne Adams (now Cheyenne Low).  In this picture, Tyler is sandwiched between Cheyenne, her daughter Ashton, and her other daughter, the assistant coach, McKenzie Adams (now McKenzie Johnstun).  Cheyenne made the cute flowers and headbands for the team.  They may not have been the winningest team, but they sure looked good.

"We're Number One!!!"

Britt was doing the math the other day, when we were watching the girls play in their last JO Volleyball tournament this year, and if Olivia plays JO Volleyball through 8th grade, we have seven more years of JO Volleyball to look forward to.  And if she plays in high school, 11 more years of volleyball.  He is so excited.  Actually, he went to every one of the girls' tournaments this year, and he is their loudest cheerleader (especially when the officials can't figure out how to score their tournament and try to give our second place finish to a team we beat).  It is going to be a fun 7-11 years.   :)