Maryn and Alex moved into a different apartment in Midvale (in the same complex that we rented in during summer 2014 while we were between houses) to be closer to Alex's new job, working for a property management company. So far that job seems to be going really well, and his boss seems to really like him. Maryn is still working a Discover Card.
Nikkail is living with one of her cousins in Kristi's parents's basement, which gives her a bit more independence. She is working at Zupas as a prep cook and taking one class at SLCC, though she is currently looking for another job that she will like better.
Draeden is going to 8th grade in the ALPS program at Oquirrh Hills Middle School in Riverton and Liam is in 4th grade at Riverton Elementary (which we switched him to last year when Draeden started d7th grade so that they could both be on a traditional schedule). Liam has a really good teacher this year.
Kristi is also doing school full time online. She is hoping to be able to finish enough credits this semester to cut one semester off her total required time to finish her degree and has finished 10 credits so far (the semester goes from September to February).
Draeden and I have been spending a lot of time practicing and racing with the Bingham High School mountain biking time. Draeden is on the Devo team, which is for all the 7th and 8th graders. They attend practices with the high school team, but they only get to do the first three races of season (the last two races are only for 9-12 graders). Here is a picture of Draeden with the other Devo riders.
You can see that Draeden is the tallest member of the Devo team. He did really well in his first season, finishing 24th out of 97 racers in his category at his last race at Round Valley. He was the fastest rider on the Bingham team in the 8th grade boys intermediate category (there is one rider on the team racing in the advanced 8th grade category that is a little faster.) I was a Ride Leader for the team, so I also got to go to all the practices and ride, which was a lot of fun. The high schoolers still have one more race (the state championship) in a couple weeks, but now that Draeden's races are all done for the season, we have cut way back on attending practices, which gives us a lot more time (practices were three days per week for about 3 - 4 hours with drive time to the practice locations). I'm already looking forward to next season when Draeden will get to race in the Freshmen category and do all the races.
This past weekend, with the school break on Thursday and Friday, Draeden and Liam stayed with cousins at Kristi's parents house while we got to go on a short getaway to Capitol Reef National Park, where we enjoyed some fun and scenic hiking. Here are some pictures we took there.
Thanks for the updates, Mark! Looks like a really fun fall break! Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update! It's great to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know they had high school mountain biking teams. That is fun. Thanks for the update.
ReplyDeleteYea, high school mountain biking teams have become a pretty big deal here just in the last few years. The league started only about 5 years ago, but it has really grown. The Bingham team has over 120 kids this year, and yesterday I was talking with another guy at work who's son is on the Lone Peak team and they have 150 riders. The crowds at the races are huge with all the parents, grandparents, riders, and coaches. They do a very professional job setting up the courses and have professional announcers calling the races.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty cool, because they don't limit the teams - everyone who wants to join can be on the team and they really focus on teaching skills and individual improvement rather than just winning the races. In order to be a Ride Leader, I had to take several classes, including a skills class that has actually really improved my downhill abilities.