Ready, Set, SCHOOL!

It felt like we got a little robbed this summer with school starting on Aug. 14th but sure enough the day had arrived! I think we all felt like ping pong balls during the middle school orientation that took place a few days before school started as we bounced around the school trying to figure out the best routes for the boys to get from one class to the next with stops at their lockers. The funniest thing was after going through all of that it wasn't until I was at lunch with a bunch of friends on that first day of school that I learned that included on their schedules were two classes for NEXT semester. Well, thankfully as it turned out Connor was enlightened by one of his teachers of this and didn't end up spending half his day running to next semesters classes...I would have felt so bad! So here are my two handsome boys during orientation and then on the first day of school. One would think I was sending them out at night but when you have a bus pick-up time of 6:47 which a couple days later got moved up to an earlier 6:40 a.m. it means they have to leave the house by 6:30! That's one early morning. I feel so lucky that they are my alarm clock. They are so good about getting themselves up, showered, fed and then waking me up so I can get their lunches done and send them out the door!



After attending open house and meeting their teachers I feel so happy for them. It's nice to meet teachers who you can see have such a passion for their profession and the kids and the best part was the school made a point of giving the boys all the same teachers so although they aren't in any classes together, they have the same teachers (with the exception of one elective) which means they can study together for all their tests, help each other with homework issues, etc. Not to mention I will receive half the emails I would have had they had different teachers for each subject!

And here's our sweet third grader who thankfully didn't have to be to the bus stop until two hours after her brothers! Sage also started at a new school this year since third grade here moves to a school of it's own!



Sage has also been blessed with a couple of fantastic teachers. And how thrilled I am that my name dropping of my old boss at Columbia paid off. Sage got placed in a classroom where her two teachers both use Lucy's curriculum for everything in reading and writing not to mention everyone tells us how amazing they are so I'm really happy for Sage.

So here's to a successful, happy transition to two new schools for three awesome kids!

Summer fun 2014

Well, summer has officially ended but what a great one we had! Aside from our trip to UT we were able to do a few fun things out here. Here's the run down...

Canoeing down the Little Miami River with Michael and Michele! So. Much. Fun. Michael had arranged it all and aside from the bus that takes everyone to the drop off point dying in the middle of an intersection and us all having to be transported onto another bus, the trip was a huge success! Who would have thought you could find some cool shells in such nasty looking water? Will definitely do it again!!!



Going to the drive in! Who knew drive ins still existed?!? Well they do and they are quite the popular place. Michael was full of fun things to do this summer and figured out not too far away there was a drive in so we headed over to check it out. It was the kids first time experiencing such a place. Gone are the days of static radios hanging off your window but unfortunately when you drive a beast like mine keeping the radio on for a couple hours while the engine is off is draining and bad things happen...like dead batteries... It was a triple feature starting with the movie Blended, following up with Godzilla and ending with who knows what. We made it through Blended and half way through Godzilla which took us to about midnight...



One of the best things about living in Mason is Kings Island/Soak City! The season goes from April until Oct. which means some of us moms can actually go while the kids are in school and avoid all the crowds. So when the kids are away the moms all play! This year a new ride was being introduced, the Banshee. It happens to be the world's longest inverted roller coaster! It is a great ride! The best part is Sage finally reached 52" so she can do it too. Here are just a couple shots from the season.



Jack would be completely fine just having a pass for Soak City so he could do the pipeline all season! You can see that being the last to leave the park has it's advantages...like free squirts of barbecue sauce and ketchup on the way out...NASTY!




Of course we always love having visitors! How fun it was to have the George's out our way from Seattle for a few days! We introduced them to Kan Jam, Soak City, Culver's, Kings Island, Right Left Center, and the Community Center indoor and outdoor pools! I think we squeezed as much as we could into those days we had with them. An added bonus was having Griff stay with us an additional few days while Dave took Conor to his football camp up north!




One of our favorite things to do as a family during the summer is the Little Miami bike trail! Jack may grumble about getting all the bikes onto the bike rack but it's all worth it in the end. We made it about 8 miles on this journey before getting caught in a torrential rain storm. After pedaling back to the ice cream shop to seek cover we waited it out. I love that Sage is finally of the age we can throw her on a bike for 16+ miles and she is good to go!



Of course many of our days are spent at the pool. Even after a morning of swim practice the kids enjoy spending some of their summer days at the pool...not doing laps! Next to riding coasters, this is how I too love spending my summer days!



Where is the tissue? These two boys went away for the first time this summer on a week long scout camp. Until recently Jack and I have never been fans of scouting. In the past it seemed more like managed chaos (at least an attempt at managed) and with the kids sports, scouting always seemed to conflict anyways so we never made it a priority. Well now that the boys are in young men and the YM program is based on scouting they are starting to get into it. We gave them the option to do scout camp this year and they were both very eager and excited. Sure enough they had a fantastic time, passing off on a few merit badges and learning a few new skills. As hard as it was on me to hand off such precious cargo to someone else for the week, I knew it was just the start of a new chapter in theirs and our lives...the chapter of letting go and giving them independence. I have no idea what I'm going to do when these two boys leave to go off to college...forget about a mission. I can't even think about that...



And there's the rundown...

Sink or swim...maybe a little of both!

Swim here in Mason is quite popular and therefore very competitive. Sadly kids even get turned away from the much less competitive summer swim team but this year there was a new swimmer on the team and her name began with the letter S! Now whether Sage made it this year because of her skill or because she was grandfathered in since her brothers were automatically on the team since they made it last year has yet to be determined...but one thing is for sure, Sage never shed a tear during that harsh, chilly first week of practice, she continued throughout the whole season with a happy face and a determined outlook and she improved tremendously! Now I will admit she was far from the most graceful swimmer out there that first week but what a change we saw in those nine weeks two of which she missed for our trip to UT. So here are a few shots from the season!

Practice always took place at the Mason outdoor pool and although none of us were excited to have to be at the pool every morning at 8:15 with Sage's practice not ending until almost noon, there were far worse places to be spending every morning of my summer, like in my house...cleaning! Here is Sage and Ty at the first practice!!! The water looks deceivingly inviting...thankfully by the end of the warm summer season it was.



Swim Meet time!!! Sage was a bit nervous before her first meet but she did awesome, meaning she didn't sink and gave it her best! haha! Here she is taking a dive off the block during warm ups!



Of course one of the best parts of swim team is hanging out with your friends. Here is Sage with a couple of her bff's, Cameron and Rylee!



Tri County Swim Championship at Miami University is a big deal! This is what the kids prep for all season. I could kick myself for not video taping Sage's first championship event ever! I was just so nervous for her and was therefore just focused on her. Her first event was the freestyle and I had just been telling my friends how bummed I was that she was in a heat where she was seeded as the slowest swimmer of the eight. Wrongly, I assumed that this wouldn't be good for her self esteem because she'd probably end the heat in a similar way and be bummed for the rest of the meet. Well we all watched as sweet Sage swam in lane eight (the outer lanes are always the lanes with the slowest swimmers for that heat). Ty had told her to do five strokes before taking a breath, something she was needing to work on but whether she'd listen to him was a mystery. Well, she clearly had listened and it paid off. She darted ahead of every swimmer in that pool and we were all screaming in disbelief! She earned herself a first place ribbon for that heat but most importantly a significant boost in her self esteem. It was so awesome! There were 93 swimmers in this event. Sage was seeded at 72, granted she was a first year swimmer but she ended up leaving in 30th, taking almost six seconds off her time! Now that's an improvement. Couldn't have started the meet any better!!! Here is just a random photo I took from one of her other events. She did well in both her breast and back too with improvements in both but the highlight was her freestyle!



Of course the season wasn't all about Sage...there are a couple other swimmers in the family! Here is a photo of Ty getting first place in his heat for breast stroke at one of the meets! He would later go on to drop another six seconds during Championships moving himself from being seeded 34 out of 56 up to 19th. Both him and Connor improved in all their times during Championships which was great with Ty taking home a first place heat winner for his breast stroke!



Here are the boys during Championships with a couple of their buddies, Steven and Joseph!



Here are the kiddos with Gavin and Cameron on day 2, which was the day the girls swam! As you can see Sage is proudly holding up her first place heat winner ribbon!



The season wouldn't be complete without the "Sweet Endings" swim party recognizing the team, the swimmers, and all their accomplishments!



Well Done Team Roddy!

S is for Summer, Sage, and Special...

This summer marked a special one in the Roddy home! Being that the boys turned twelve back in Feb. and Sage turned eight in May we had a couple important ordinances that needed to be performed and in order to share these special events with our extended family we decided to hold off until this summer when we'd be out in Utah so all our family and friends could be a part of it. We have so many great memories from the boys' baptism out in UT and we wanted the same for Sage. It was also so nice for the boys to be surrounded in the circle by all our dear friends and family.

It's funny flying into SLC from OH rather than WA. After living in Ohio for a couple years now where the landscape isn't something to write home about it's amazing how beautiful Utah feels again. When we use to travel from WA to UT I never remembered thinking how beautiful UT was because we were leaving beauty to come to beauty so it was a wash but leaving from OH to come to UT is a whole other thing. Boy, how beautiful it is.

We spent our first weekend making our traditional trip to the BYU bookstore for Jack to pick up heaven knows what...another football helmet, shirts, shorts, you name it. The boys also got in a round of golf and then on Sunday my parents wanted us to attend the 'Spoken Word' in Salt Lake with them since it was a special patriotic service for the upcoming 4th of July holiday which was quite nice and a first for us. We also took advantage of being up there to tour around the beautiful temple grounds!







During the two weeks we were there the boys attended a lacrosse camp with their friend Wyatt and a climbing camp that Teagen and Sage joined in on! It was a great way for them to spend their mornings. In the afternoons we usually would meet up with the Moes for some pool, something that has become a bit of tradition each year for us! We just pick up from where we left off the previous summer!





Of course one of our favorite things to do after the pool was to pick up a shave ice!!! I could eat one of these every day!!!



One of the highlights of coming to Utah in the summer is getting to celebrate my dad's birthday with him which happens to be on the 4th of July. This has been a stressful year for him health wise so how wonderful it was for the whole Knudsen clan to fly into town. We even arranged to have family portraits taken as we never know the next time everyone will be together again. The day began with Kan Jam tournaments and ended with a boom! Jack's mom and sister also arrived into town on this day in time for Sage's baptism the next day!



Of course the highlight of the trip was Sage's baptism and the boys receiving the Aaronic Priesthood! We were so fortunate to not only have all our family in town with the exception of Jack's brother and his family but to have so many friends come celebrate with us. From a mission companion to friends from NY to our old bishop in WA that Jack served with and his beautiful family to some surprise visitors to longtime family friends, we were touched by the outpouring of love and support for Sage and the boys especially considering what a busy weekend it is for most families! After a wonderful service we invited anyone who could join us to come by for food and fun! It was truly a great day!




This was the first time that our kids had met some of the Bawden cousins so one afternoon we headed up the Canyon to share our special place with them and to let the kids run loose and play. There isn't a summer trip to UT that goes by without us spending a few afternoons up the Provo Canyon! So here are Melissa's kids. As you can see Sage and Ellie hit it off real well!



We also had another birthday to celebrate! Look who turned nine!!! Our sweet Teagen...



Another trip up the canyon with my family...




Our final Saturday in town we spent up at Park City! It was a perfect way to end our vacay!





Look whose paths crossed!!! We haven't seen Marcus and Edie since we left WA but they happened to be up from Vegas for a mission farewell. Little did we know earlier that day that they'd be crashing with us for the night. I played tour guide taking them up the canyon and we had a lovely brunch up at Sundance before they had to head to their farewell that afternoon! Great times.



How wonderful it was to be with my family in UT. My parents are truly the best hosts ever, always cooking, cleaning and doing everything they can to make our visit enjoyable. Thank you mom and dad for all you do for us. It was also such a treat to meet up with some of our other friends during the time we were there. Unfortunately we never seem to have enough time to see everyone we'd like to see but for those we were able to meet up with it was great. Those lunches, brunches, dinners and desserts sure make our visits even that more special! Thanks for making time for us.