Bingham Swimming RULES!!!

Here is an article that was published in the Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday 12/18/2011, my 2 oldest Mackenzie and Ethan both swim for Bingham and did amazing this last weekend! Kenz dropped in both her 200 free and 100 back and in her relay events she dropped she does the 50 back and 100 free style, she is now in 6th place in the state in her 100 back and not sure on her 200 free style and her 2 relays are in 1st place and are both qualified to go to the speedo sectional meet in Seattle in March. Ethan did the 50 free and 100 back and dropped in both he is now the fastest freshman on the Bingham team in the 100 back!




Prep swimming: Bingham steals the show at Holiday Classic (photos)




By Nicholas J. Pappas



Special to The Tribune



First published Dec 17 2011 05:27PM

Updated Dec 18, 2011 12:03AM

At the Judge Memorial Holiday Classic on Saturday, Bingham showed why it remains one of the top state competitors in swimming.



The boys’ team won with a score of 481.33, beating nearest competitor Springville by 155.83, while the girls held up their end of the combined score victory, finishing with 462, a mark 105 points ahead of Class 3A defending champion Judge Memorial.



"This was a great meet," Judge coach Matt Finegan said. "The atmosphere is always electric. We were thrilled so many great teams could come and participate."



The noise was deafening as the teams huddled around the lap pool, screaming for their teammates at the Fairmont Aquatic Center. Joshua Haslem set the tone early for Bingham, finishing the boys’ 100-yard fly with a time of 53.74, winning by nearly five seconds over second-place finisher Trevor Bone, also of Bingham.



Throughout the day, Bingham swimmers were able to cut seconds off their personal bests and run away with the victory in the last meet before the new year.



"We had great swims across the board," Bingham head coach Andrea Bowhuis said. "It was a fast pool and a good meet going into the holidays."



However, Judge Memorial held its own against the much larger Bingham, with individual standouts putting up excellent times.



Sophomore Amelia Wolfgramm won the girls’ 100-yard free, finishing with a time of 54.07 over Bingham’s Kiersten Bradshaw. At 5:32.28, Alandra McDowell paced Judge in the girls’ 500-yard free, beating her nearest competitor, Grace Goddard of West Jordan, by more than 13 seconds.



Still, the weekend belonged to Bingham. The Miners won all of the team relays but one, narrowly losing to Judge in the girls’ 200-yard free relay by .61 seconds. The teams were nearly tied going into the final lap, but Kelsey Leeson was able to build a lead over Bradshaw as the anchor.



Bingham finished third in 5A for the boys and fourth for the girls in the state meet last year, but Bowhuis feels this year’s team has a legitimate shot at the title come February.



"They are the tightest-knit team I’ve ever coached in my 10 years at Bingham," Bowhuis said. "They are close, supportive and goal-oriented. We’re going to continue to improve."

One more semester done!

I finished up one more semester of school! Still waiting on grades... Math is not my favorite! Ok I really do NOT like it!! You can see why I do NOT like it, ok for some this is easy!!

I am glad to have a month off! 

Family Pictures

 We went and took family pictures, just a small preview of what we got....

 Kenz got side tracked looking at cows!

 Ethan

 Megan

Keaton all played on the tractors.... Wheeler Farm is a great location for pictures, but the kids do get a bit distracted.....

First day of school 2011 the older kids :)

Megan first day of 8th grade!

Ethan first day of 9th grade and Kenz first day of 11th grade!

Well the 3 kids that are in traditional school went back to school today, poor Keats has been going for about a month now! I am very ready to get back to our school routine. I can not believe how fast these kids are growing up, I really think they should all be in elementary school not working on graduating high school and doing college work.

Kenz and I get to have fun the next 2 semesters while I am almost done with my associates degree Kenz is just starting hers but we have the same math level this semester and next, I am very glad she is doing her associates while she is in high school it really seems like a ton more work but she will be so glad that she has done, I figure we will learn how this concurrent works and hoping to get all 4 of the kids to graduate high school with their associates degree!

Keaton's first day of 6th grade

Yesterday Keaton started 6th grade, we are on year round in our elementary schools and that means school starts the end of July, we still have a month until the 3 older kids go back....

Keats and Miya wanted to look like twins for the first day hair and all. I think they look pretty darn cute! It was a bit sad for me I will be glad to be done with 3 kids on traditional and 1 on year round but this is my BABY and she is on her last year of elementary school :(

Megan's 13th Birthday

I forgot to share these cute pictures from Megan's 13 birthday, she may have become a teenager but she is still a kid that LOVES legos!!! She asked everyone specifically for the rest of the Harry Potter Legos and she got them, she now has the complete set and is working on getting them put together, I just did not know she had been taking pictures along the way :)

What have I gotten myself into?

This story started about 10 months ago during Kenzie's sophmore year, we got talking about how she will be starting college classes this summer 2011 so that when she graduates from high school she will also graduate from SLCC with her associate degree/general education and go right into her Bachelors.... I got thinking I really should go and finish my degree. Now this gets fun in September of last year I went and got a copy of my credits and what I needed, why did no one ever tell me that if you don't finish you Math, English and some science credits in 2 years you have to start over? That is what I have done I figured I can do this, I have lots of free time.... eye roll.... but I have been doing it, I took all my placement tests and got started!

My first semester back in classes was Winter 2011 and what do I do start with Geology, Humanities, Markting.... I must admit I did great 2 A's and one A- that would be in Geology. I figured ok I am doing this for this Summer 2011 we have 3 more classes, Human Biology (hardest class for a mid 30's mom), English 1010, and a Business.... the grades this semester worry me well 2 of them don't but I am betting the Human Bio is not an A.... I start Fall 2011 classes at the end of August and will have a full schedule Math 1010, Englis 2010, English 1030, and Communications in Marketing, I know I will get these passed and move onto Spring 2012 where if I keep up I will graduate and start my bachelors!!!! I am so excited that I can see the end of this part of my degree!

I just sit and think what was I thinking! I have always believed to better yourself and make yourself more valuable to your employer a degree is important and I am constantly telling my kids how important school is and how much further in life you will go! But here is little me a full time mom, a full time employee, and now a full time student! Thankfully my kids are now older and have been very helpful for the most part, my house is not always clean but soon I can say I have finished part of my degree! Hopefully my kids will learn from my example and get their degrees!

10 years

Well we went and saw the final Harry Potter and it got me thinking about how the first one we went and saw was almost 10 years ago!!! It came out in November 2001 I had a 7, 4, 3, 1 and by the end of 2001 my step mom died and my grandpa with in the same week. Now I have a 16,14,13,11 they can all read Harry now and most of them have finished the whole series! The older you get the faster it goes!

I thought I would share the year Ethan was Draco for Halloween 2005 (you need to read the books or see the movie, but he's not so bad)April 2011
Christmas 2000, I just love this picture! It has my 4 kids and Tyler my nephew, but there is so much personality of the kids showing! So silly how going to see a movie brings back so many memories!

Keaton's 11th Birthday

Who said that she could grow up? When did 11 years go by? I really can not believe how fast time flies when you have kids.... My baby just turned 11 she had a small friend party at Boondocks and they had a blast Meg came with to help and really did I sat and took pictures and read a book, now that is a friend party that could be done again! Then on Sunday we had the family party, she really made out well with all of her presents and as usual got spoiled......

Keaton's Spring Choir Performance

Keaton had her last choir performance last night for this year, it was a great program as usual, they sang songs that had to do with different era's in American history then finished the night with a tribute to the military. I love going and watching her sing, she seems to love it even if some weeks getting to practice at 7:15 am is rather hard....

Kids keeping us busy!

Kenzie high school state swim meet! (I just love this picture of her even if she's not swimming at the moment)

Keaton's started lacrosse this year and loves it! she is doing awesome!

Ethan #20 is playing lacrosse again this year and doing great!

Megan, she is still play softball, switched teams and doing amazing and loves her new team and the opportunities she is getting!

Well as usual we are always going and it doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon, I wouldn't change a thing! I love to go and watch these kids grow and learn from their experiences in sports and school. What I don't like is how fast they seem to be growing, Kenzie is finishing her Sophmore year and just registared for College coarses so that when she graduates high school she will also graduate with her associates degree (general ed requiments) and go right into her bachlors degree.... Ethan is finishing 8th grade that means from now on his schooling will be high school..... Megan 7th grade almost done really? and then Keaton..... can she really be almost done with Elementary.... someone please slow time down!

Our Cruise 2011

our towel buddies/ San Juan



St Thomas paddle boarding!


Megans Bay

Atlantis The Barrow Family San Juan

We went on a cruise to the Caribbean April 1-9, 2011 we had 14 people with us our family of 6, the Dunn's family of 5, my mom and Ned, and Danny's mom Joyce. This was the first cruise for my younger 2 kids and Jeff and all of the Dunn kids, my mom, Ned, and Joyce, let's just say everyone loved it and we are all planning to do another one!

This had to be one of the most relaxing and enjoyable vacation that I personally have ever taken! The kids all hung out with their cousins and had a blast all week, they could eat when they wanted, we had amazing room stewards that cleaned up after them, and an awesome waiter at dinner that brought us a few extra appetizers, entree', and desserts. I thought I would come home and gained 20 pounds, thankfully that didn't happen!

Our cruise went to Nassau, Bahamas, St Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk. Nassau we went to Atlantis the resort/hotel is amazing and fun with lots of water slides and different things for the kids to do, a very pretty island but didn't get enough time to really enjoy the island, our next stop was St Thomas and island I have always loved we went to beach in Megan's bay and hung out at the beach, paddle boarded, and the girls got their hair braided, then off to San Juan, we spent the day going to the old fort El Morro and shopping, found some great shops, a very cool butterfly shop that had some gorgeous framed butterflies, then some of my favorite shops (coach, dooney, just to name a few) so I enjoyed this a lot! and we then set sail for Grand Turk the capital of Turks and Cacaos we had never visited this island and I must say it is one of the most beautiful islands that I have ever been to, snorkeling was amazing, the beaches whiter than I had ever seen!

This was truly a vacation I will never forget and can not thank all the family that I spent the week with for making it even more enjoyable! I unfortunately don't have many pictures as the memory card from the camera fell out and is lost...... but I did have a few from my phone thankfully!