World Cup Aerials

In honor of the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, I present you this post from our adventures last month at the World Cup Aerials and Moguls competition at Deer Valley.  As a family we have been loving following the olympics.  Tucker is convinced he want's to do aerials and freestyle slope so that he can jump like them.

As I mentioned, last month we went up to Deer Valley to catch the last stop on the world cup tour before the olympics.  We took the kids up with us.  We hadn't done this since before Lisa's tumor, so we were excited to make it back up there.

You get to ride the ski lift up to the jumps.  Sorry about the poor quality of the photos, but hey, it was night.  Lisa and Aubrey and Cole jumped on one chair lift together.

And Blake, Tucker and I took the next one.

Once you got to the top of the chair lift you had to hike a little ways to get to the action.

The moguls were set to compete the next night, but the course was all lit up and some people were practicing.

We got to watch the aerials.  It was crowded up top so I had to put the kids on my shoulders to see.  I would alternate two at a time.

Here is some video of one of the jumpers.  It's so impressive what they can do.

After the first round of jumping was over, we took off, but not before the kids found a sledding spot and had some fun.

It's so fun living so close to all of the skiing action and being able to see these kinds of competitions for free.  We love it.

Mini Maryland Reunion

Summer of 2004 to 2008 were 4 of the greatest years of our married life. We moved across the country. Away from all family except for Cody's brother for 1 year. We went to dental school. I will probably always say "we" instead of just "Cody" because even though I wasn't getting the education to be a dentist, I was there and supported him the entire time. It helped strengthen our marriage and we met amazing friends. At the beginning of February some of our dental friends had a get together at our house. One couple and their kids traveled from Delaware to attend a conference/lecture in Park City.  I invited them over to the Midway Ice Castles Friday afternoon. I was working and thought they would enjoy them. They came with their entire families. We were slow at the time, so I was able to slip out of the ticket booth and chat for a few minutes.

Stacey, me, Jenn

I haven't seen Stacey since my Running with Lisa 5K in 2012 and it's been since dental graduation in 2008 since I've seen Jenn. The next night, after the husbands had a fun day skiing, we gathered at our house for pizza. The Wades, MacDonalds and Katie Hale came too. We were missing Katie's 3 kids, but had 17 present that evening. Only 1 was born when we started dental school almost 9.5 years ago. Here's the best I got at a group shot. Blake is bawling in the far right and my oldest is a poser right up front. I've never met 1/3 of the kids, so it was fun to meet and great and let them run wild!

 

 Dr.'s Wade, Calderwood, MacDonald, Seda and Starley. Located throughout Utah and the east coast.

 The supportive wives. Liz, Amber, Katie, Jenn, myself and Stacey.

 Aubrey had fun playing with Liz's daughter Maryann. They asked me to take a picture of them together.

 

 So many dear friends are missing from these pictures, but maybe its a good thing we all don't live by each other. My house is big, but probably not big enough in the winter to hold all of us and our kids that keep multiplying. This was our wives club back in Maryland. Jenn had a baby the day before graduation and wasn't able to attend.

Cole is 5!

Cole's birthday was on January 26th. He was born 5 years ago at St. Marks hospital in Salt Lake City. Our family had to quickly move from Colorado to Utah after Christmas 2008. I was a large 8 month pregnant lady moving states. Cole was supposed to be our Colorado born baby, but due to Cody's job circumstances in purchasing a dental practice, we had to move asap. We didn't have any health insurance, so I shopped around for the cheapest place to have a baby. St. Marks was the place. I met with my OBGYN once, was already dilated and was told I could be induced. Cody and I were asked to speak in church the day before. I couldn't believe I actually had to give my talk. I thought for sure that our little boy would be here by then. Nope, he waited until his induction date. He was evicted by noon. We fell in love with our red headed baby boy.  

So far he's been our most difficult child, (Blake is trying to win that spot) but his cute dimple lets him get away with some mischief!

2 years old.

Cole can drive me crazy at times, but he loves his family, the outdoors, freedom, learning, computers, tv, the Wii, playing house with his sister and riding his bike. Cody bought him a new bike for his 5th birthday. Next year he starts kindergarten and he'll be able to ride either to or from school with Tucker and Aubrey depending on which class he's in. We surprised him with it when Cody and I got back from Aruba. We picked the kids up at Cody's parents house.

 It's bigger than the 12inch bike he previously had that he learned to ride with no training wheels, so once the weather warms up, I'm sure he'll be riding all over the neighborhood.

 We typically take our kids to Chuck E Cheese for their 4th birthdays, and he did go last year for his 4th, but because I didn't have time to plan a party for him because of our trip, we took an impromptu trip to Chuck E Cheese with his grandparents. All the kids loved the pizza, tokens and prizes!

 Cutest 5 year old! "I'm five!"

 Blake getting some fun in.

 3 generations of Calderwood men. I promise Cody gets his picture taking skills from his Dad, although you wouldn't know in this shot.

 On Cole's actual birthday, I made him a cake. He was so excited to blow out his 5 candle. It's been in the family since Tucker turned 5. One more turn and we can throw it away.

Cole's birthday marks the time we've lived in Midway and we've loved all the memories we've been able to make as a family.

Christmas catch up

Cody's birthday was Saturday November 30th. We started the morning with Tucker at wrestling practice. Heather spent the night with her boys, and watched all the kids so that I could go watch Tucker too. There isn't a lot of room in the small gym for spectators. He is really enjoying the sport and I'm learning the terminology and moves. Tucker likes to try and wrestle me, but I'm still stronger than him. For a few more years! After wrestling we drove up Lake Creek to cut down our Christmas tree. Cody found the perfect tree and hiked off to saw it down. Unfortunately we borrowed a crappy chainsaw and it took a long time to timber. We stopped some trucks passing by to help Cody drag it out. I'm pretty much useless when it comes to moving heavy objects. Our tree is hard to see in the picture, but it's the smaller dark pine tree above the top white strip of snow in the middle of the photo.

 Hauling it out.

 December flew by wrapping presents, dance performances for me and finishing up school for the kids. Because the holiday fell on a Wednesday the kids got 2 weeks off of school. Fun for them, not so much for parents. We went to cousin Parker's birthday party on the 23rd and had our annual Grant family party at the Reid school on the 22nd. Christmas Eve we spent with Kristin and Chris. We ate dinner together and the men watched a football game. Santa came that night and the kids were very excited Christmas morning!

 I will probably never be in the stairs shot, but I'm glad I capture the moment each year.  Cole received Skylanders for the Wii game.

 Aubrey received a Kohls brand version of an American Girl doll. She received the Target brand last year, but the leg broke off. She's promised to take extra special care of her. I got lucky and this doll looks like Aubrey.

 Hair color is pretty exact!

 Tucker got an mp3 player and Blake a Jake and the Neverland Pirates ship. Cody got a new office chair and I received an ottoman. Smiles all around. After breakfast and cleaning up a bit we drove to my Grandpa Fosters house. We had a nice lunch with my parents, Grandpa, aunt and uncle and cousin. We played our trading game and enjoyed each others company. It was an off year for my siblings to be with us Christmas day (I screwed that one up I believe). My brain doesn't help me remember, but we all had a great time. We were able to skype my brother on his mission.

 A couple days later I took the kids up to the cabin to spend time with their cousins. Cole and Blake were my little buddies on the snowmobiles.

 Cabin cousin times turns into movie time around the fire.

 Tucker and Parker received rockets for Christmas. My brother is a rocket scientist engineer at ATK and helped them prepare for launch.

 They were able to launch twice. This shot is fun because you can see it right at takeoff.

 The parachute would pop out and we'd carefully watch it fall back to earth.

 The cabin has been in my life since I was born and I'm glad I get to share that with my kids.

 Aubrey, Cole and Halle.

 All the kids piling on the tube. I think my Mom ended up in the middle at some point.

 I was gifted tickets to the Mannheim Steamroller concert from my in laws. Cody thought it would be nice if I took my Grandpa out on a date to the show. We enjoyed the show and spending time together. It's been 2 years now since my Grandma passed away.

I forgot that I also had an MRI in December. Everything still looks great in my head. My doctors cut my dosage of my anti seizure medicine to see if it will help with my weight gain. So far no weight loss, but not a lot of gaining either and I'm still seizure free. My MRI's are spread out to 4 months now instead of 2. Good news! I had them print out my scans so that I can show comparisons of what my brain looked like 2 years ago at diagnosis and what it looks like today. The white areas in the upper left quadrant are tumor.

 Now it is a dark hole where the tumor was removed. It is filled with brain fluid now.

I also participated in a Gastric Emptying Study. I've had some stomach/bile issues and my GI doctor requested the study. Everything came back normal. That's good, but didn't answer my questions. Oh well. I've decided to focus on the healthy me and not possible problems.