Dallen and Jed both participated in some UVU golf camps this summer at the Cedar Hills Golf Course. Jed completed the Intermediate Camp, and then Dallen participated in the Elite Camp the next week. There were only four people who signed up for the Elite Camp. Dallen was the youngest at 14 (an incoming freshman), there was a high school junior, a high school senior, and a new high school graduate. As a result, the kids got some intense one-on-one training.
On the last day they played 18 holes. Dallen scored 97, taking second place. First place went to the senior (a gal) who scored 88. But Denise Larson, the women’s golf coach at UVU, said that Dallen could have easily shaved 14 points off his score if he had shown a bit more patience with his putting. She said that he has a natural golf swing.
We’re hoping to get Dallen on the American Fork High School golf team. A neighbor, Nathan Bray, is on the AF team and has expressed interest in Dallen joining the team. Dallen scores in the range of the present team members. It could even happen this year. Brad would definitely be a happy papa, puffed up like a proud peacock.
Abby had her first official “friends only” birthday party on July 5, her birth day. It was along the lines of a Princess theme. All the guests were instructed to come dressed as Princesses…or Princes, respectively. Bridget, Regan, and Kendra helped. Davis Pearson was there to escort Porter, so as a result Dallen hung around.
The kids made crowns, colored royal pictures, played Kiss the Frog, and had Princess stories read to them. No one really ate their cake…I forgot that you make cupcakes for 3-year-olds. Plus, I forgot that you have 3-year-old parties for only 1 1/2 hours, not two. We were easily done with everything in one hour. That’s what happens when it’s been eight years… :-).
While making the video, Abby would watch it and wail “I want to go to my birthday party!” She is definitely three.
P.S. All the banging in the background is from the framers in the basement, directly below where we were.
Oh, and Click Here to view pictures from the party on Flickr.
Jed had a birthday on June 23. He invited some buddies to join him on an Odyssey space mission at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center in Pleasant Grove. After 2 1/2 hours of adventure, they returned to our home for pizza, cake and ice cream, and presents. Fun was had by all.
I took the children (including Dallen, Jed, Bridget, Abby, Kendra, Pax and Dana (Meredith Hult’s sister)) to Lagoon on Tuesday. It was a miserably hot day. The sun was a real scorcher. There wasn’t much of a breeze, and no afternoon thunderstorm like is typical on a hot July day. Bridget opted to stay with me and Abby, as opposed to the older kids, knowing that by doing so she would not have to ride the Roller Coaster, Colossus, Jet Star II, or the new Wicked. She was safe with Abby.
Meredith and Carter Hult arrived later in the afternoon and joined us for some rides, including Rattlesnake Rapids. We all got soaked. We should have rode that when we first arrived.
I also took pictures of Abby on her very first amusement park rides, which she loved. Click here to view the pictures on Flickr.
Her favorite rides were the LadyBug Pop and the Dinosaur Drop. She giggled throughout, and raised her arms high each time we dropped. Mom’s stomach dropped too. I’m getting old.
I took some video with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX07 digital camera. The quality is actually pretty darn good. Some of the shots are a bit far away, but oh well. You haven’t got much time to put thought into how you’re going to record. The rides aren’t that long.
Meredith took Carter and Abby home fairly early (7:30 p.m.), which allowed Bridget to ride some more “scary” rides…like The Bat :-).
Amy’s iPhone arrived today. She’s bemoaning that she’s the only one that hasn’t had a chance to play with it. I did let her go through the activation process. But between Dallen and me, we’ve tried out every function on the phone. I did get a text message from Amy.
My impressions:
Simple setup process — worked fine for Amy
Very cool industrial design — heavier than I expected
Very cool browser experience
Love the gyroscope portrait / landscape
Mixed emotions about using iTunes
Would like more Config options in iTunes (email accounts)
Where’s the bluetooth sync?
Not convinced on email usability / functionality — I’m a long time smartphone user and have a lot of personal issues with how email should work (I’ve never been able to use Apple’s Mail application on my computer since it’s so limited).
Keyboard is cool implementation of technology — I think I could get used to it
