Columbus, Ohio

Taylor had a gymnastics meet in Columbus, Ohio this psat weekend. We left on Friday morning, it is a 6-7 hour drive depending on weather. We had great weather so it was a nice drive. We went to dinner and let the kids play in the pool for a while to get rid of some extra energy!! Taylor's competition was for 8:00 am. During the night she started with a fever and wasnt feeling so well by morning. We asked her if she would like to skip the meet. Her answer was a definite NO!!! We gave her some motrin and cough medicine and headed over to the meet. It turned out of the 13 girls on her team, only 3 were feeling okay, the rest was not feeling so hot. Taylor's best friend on the team, Chelsea, was so sick, she didnt even come to the competition. She stayed back at the hotel for the weekend. Bummer! Everyone else had the vomitting thing going on, thank goodness Taylor's was only her normal asthma stuff. Taylor ended up doing quite well in spite of her not feeling well. She competed against 24 other girls in her age group. She got 2nd in beam, 4th in floor, 5th all around, 10th in vault, and 11th in bars. We had planned to stay an extra day so that kids could go to COSI - Columbus Ohio Science Institute, they have been wanting to go there again. We decided it would be better to get Taylor home in case she got worse. We took her to the doctor today, she has an ear and sinus infection along with her junky cough. The doctor put her on a broad spectrum antibiotic to clear it all up! She has been laying around all day today. Hopefully, she will be back to her normal self soon. Taylor is now done with competitions till the 20th of March. We get a little break, it will seem nice. It is a lot of fun going to watch her compete but I know it takes a lot out of her.

Growing, growing, and growing.....

It's official, Cameron has now passed Taylor in the height department. Cameron has went on a growing spurt the past couple weeks. He is really excited. He has been waiting for this forever.:-) His next goal is to pass mom. I have a few years, I think....
Taylor isnt to happy but knew it was inevitable. It is so much fun watching them grow and develop. They are great kids!

We Are Penn State!!!

Taylor and Cameron (in the back ground) in front of Beaver Stadium.

Taylor and Cameron with Joe Paterno ( Joe Pa)

Taylor showing off her medals that she won along with the team trophy award.

Taylor had a gymnastics meet today in State College, home of Penn State University. The meet was held by the Nittany Gymnastics Team. Taylor did really good job competing as did her team mates. They won the team award beating the 2nd place team by 5 points!! Taylor placed in each event. She placed 5th in vault and floors, 4th in Bars, 2nd in beam and 4 th all-around!!! YeA!!

Before the meet started, the kids wanted to see Beaver Stadium in person. They watch all the games on TV and was curious about seeing it live. Taylor wasnt so impressed upon seeing it. The kids thought they were going to get to go inside the stadium. Oh well....

After Taylors meet, we went to Recreation Hall and watched the Penn State Gymnastics team compete. Penn State won that meet also! We all had a great time.

First Gymnastics Meet of 2009

Taylor had her first meet for 2009 today! It was in Hanover, PA. It is about an hour and 20 minutes from home. We had to be there by 7:30 a.m. We arrived at 7:00, there was no traffic. I guess everyone was staying indoors due to the cold. This morning's temp is a record, it was the coldest the kids had ever felt. It was 0 degrees! Brrr! Thank heaven's Taylor has picked an indoor sport. :-) Back to the meet, she was in the 10 and under age group. She had 24 girls in her age group. She started out on Balance Beam. She had a few wobbles but managed to stay on. On the skill's part of her routine, she looked really good. She recieved a 9.125, earning a 7th place medal. Floors she came out of some of her skills with extra steps which are .1 deduction for each little extra step. She received a 8.5, earning a 12th place medal. On Vault, she had to go first and she has a hard time rembering straight arms and 'popping off". She got a 8.25 for her score. On to Bars, last year Taylor really struggled with bars and she has been telling us this would be her best event this year. yea, yea,...... I thought. This past couple of weeks, she has been falling off on her 'squat on' costing her .5 deduction. It is where she gets(squats) on the lower bar getting ready to jump to the high bar. In warm-up she kept falling and I was thinking she was going to do it on her judged turn. She didnt. It was the best bar routine, I have ever seen her do. Even her coaches were surprised. In practice when her coaches "score her", she gets in the mid 8's. Today she got a 9.05. If you could have seen her face when she saw her score. She was really excited. It was really cute. Duane was trying to get her to look at us so we could get it on film but she never did. Bummer! She earned a 5th place medal in bars. For All-Around, she got a 34.925 which was 10th place medal. So, she got a total of 4 more medals to add to her growing collection. Her team earned 1st place. She needed a 32.00 All- Around score to qualify for Sectionals in April. She did it. YEA! She felt really good about her meet. The next two months are the main competition season. She has a meet in two weeks and thereafter for four weekends in a row. Taking us all over Pa, and even to Colombus, Ohio.

Exercising.....yuck! :-)

Did I ever mention I hate exercising? When does it get easier? I wish I could see results in the first few days so that I can keep motivated! I hate feeling weak and sore AND out of breath! I guess you can tell I just got done exercising. For Christmas, I received a epilitical machine. I had always wanted one, thinking it would be a fun way to get in shape. I didnt realize how much work it is. :-) I know in a few MONTHS or YEARS, I will be greatful but right now, I struggle. I love the show Biggest Loser, it gets me motivated for about 24 hours then by Thursday, I am rebounding. I need that show on every day! Hint, hint ABC! It is amazing how good they look in 12 weeks. If I had Jillian or Bob in my face all the time, I would expect to look good in 12 weeks. Okay, I am now not so short of breath and feeling better. I know in a couple of hours I will be glad I exercised. I really do feel better afterwards and have more energy through out the day but it is the getting started part....... :-) My goal is like my niece Trichelle, to get firm. I would like to be lighter on the scales but my main goal is to look better in my clothes. I am trying not to focus on numbers, it can be discouraging. Positive Attitude, I need!!! I can do this! Have a great day and thanks for letting blow of my steam.

Taylor's first sewing project

Taylor wanted a sewing maching for Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa bought her a cheap version per my input. It turned out to be piece of junk. Oops! :-) I then got Grandma Lowe's machine out. I had never used it since recieving it in 2003. We plugged it in and the machine went to work but there was no way to make it stop unless you unplugged it. We played around with it but to no use it has a mind of its own. I went online and ordered Taylor another machine that a friend has gotten for her daughter. It came today while Taylor was at school. When she got home, we set to putting in use. She wanted to make a bag for her I-pod. Here is her first project. Cameron was so impressed, he wanted to watch her make something so she made a bag to hold all of her sewing supplies. She was so proud of her work, she changed her mind and now made it her grip bag for gymnastics. She wears grips on her hands when doing the uneven bars and keeps them in a bag when not in use. While I am putting these pictures on this post. Taylor went through Grandma's drawer and found a lot of things that she wants to put to use i.e. lace, trim, string etc......






I thought I downloaded these pictures in order. I guess not. This picture shows Taylor putting the rope in her almost finished bag.


This is her with her first finished project.

Taylor happy to be finally sewing!

Cameron watching her.

Kids and Gramps!

Gramps and Cameron

Cameron, Gramps and Taylor

We had planned to take Grandpa and the kids to get their pictures taken at Picture People so that we would have some nice photos of the kids and grandpa. Due to my dad needing to go back to Utah early, we had to improvise. We have had lots of fun having granpa here with us this Christmas season. We were hoping to have him a bit longer and had some other things planned guess they will have to wait till next time. I forgot to take my camera with us on some of our excursions. Again, next time! :-)