Hello Gordon!!

Our family has been blessed to have a new baby boy join us!

We welcomed Gordon Caelum Pitcher on May 7.  He was 8lb 9oz and 20 in., born at 7:52 am.  Little Gordon is such a blessing to have around.  He is a wonderful little baby.  Gray and Naomi are great helps to me and love to spend time with their little brother.  I'm pretty sure that Gray has been telling Gordon everything he could possibly want to know about bikes and snowboards.  Naomi makes sure her little brother always has everything he needs.  It is heartwarming to watch them interact.

Grandma Olsen spent time with us and it was great to have my mom close by as I tried to remember everything about taking care of a newborn.  Gray and Naomi also loved their Grandma time.

I often find these two napping together, both totally relaxed (although Gordon looks like he's dreaming of boxing?).

Fade Out

I've let this blog fade in and out.  It's definitely been in the fade out mode for a while now, but it's time to get a few more pictures up.  Here is just a sampling from April.

 The kids rediscovered the joy of magnifying glasses.  Naomi eventually got bored burning leaves and turned a little more artistic.

 The kids were charged with putting together the crib for our coming baby.  I think it was definitely a learning experience for everyone.  The result of all their hard work (and a few tears) was a beautiful and well-built crib waiting for baby.

 On a particularly hot Sunday afternoon we went for a drive up Logan Canyon and relaxed.  Well, I relaxed.  The kids played by the river and snow.

 Naomi has been doing all sorts of science experiments.  Some more successful than others.  Here she's holding her soap cloud made by sticking a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave.  Notice her cute apron?  My mom made it for me when I was a girl.

 It's always fun to see what's on my camera when I download pictures.  This time, there were lots of flower pics.  Thank you to my cousin Brooke for these!  I'm loving them!

Naomi competed in her school's annual mile race.  She took third place and was able to move on and race with a relay team against all the elementary schools in the district.

Out and About with Naomi

A sampling of what Naomi's been doing this past week.  

 

She took the camera and the cat out for a walk in the yard.

 On St. Patrick's Day, she performed as part of Celtic Night with her Irish dance group.  This is a picture of her and her teacher after the show.

  

As part of Naomi's school literacy night, her class recited poetry.  She was part of a few group presentations and this solo act, reciting a Shell Silverstein poem. 

And Cyclocross Begins!

Our first race of the year was at Fort Buenaventura in Ogden.  I'd only ever been there in the snow so I didn't realize what a pretty place it was.  Naomi and I had lots of fun exploring and taking goofy pictures, but I'll just put the cute ones up here. 

Kory raced his single speed.  The course had a bit of everything.  In this section, they had to ride under a bridge over river rock and through a sand pit.  Most people found it faster to just get off their bikes and run.

Gray might look cool and collected here, but he was a bundle of nerves all day.  We got there at about 9:30 in the morning and he didn't race until 3:00.  It was just too much watching and waiting!

Kory looks so expert in the turns!

So much mud!  I think it rained the entire night before and was still sprinkling when we got there.  Here's Kory with some fellow teammates, Robert and John.  The race announcer commented a few times about how cool their arm warmers were.  I have to agree.

Naomi found a great vantage point for watching the race that also doubled as the perfect place for a nap.

 

Finally, time for Gray to race!  This was his first time to race his new bike.  It's bigger than his last one but he handled it like a pro.  The kids have been practicing barriers in the back yard for weeks so it was no surprise that he flew right over these.

Graysen said that his goal was to be the first one to pass the announcers stand (a point about 40 yards after the start line where the course narrows and a racer wants to find themselves at the front of the pack).  The announcers were giving coupons for a local restaurant to the first person past the announcer stand in every race.  That smile says it all, he shot off the start line like a rocket!

Conferenct Weekend

I love general conference weekend!  During one of Saturday's sessions Gray put together a storage cabinet for Naomi's bedroom.

 Our Oct. conference tradition is to watch the morning session while eating pancakes with strawberries then to go for a drive to look at the fall leaves and listen to the afternoon session while we have a picnic lunch.

 We found a great place to picnic in Logan Canyon with a beautiful view.  Gray, didn't last long.

  The Aspen's were brilliant.

Field Trip

Naomi's class went on a field trip to Antelope Island and she took my camera with here.  She took lots of pictures, but here are a few highlights.

Las Vegas

 Oh Las Vegas, what can I say.  It's the strangest city on the planet, although I haven't visited every town on the planet, it would take a lot to convince me otherwise.   We did have a great place to stay, lots of space and no casino to weave our way through.  Our hotel had a rooftop pool and I spend lots of time there with the kids.

 The kids loved having their own apartment at the hotel.  Access to cable tv came in second to having a swimming pool.  I'm sure in this photo, Naomi's working on homework.

 We walked down to the M&M store, which was probably the most fun place we went to in Vegas.  The kids also had to admit that driving a Toyota Camry might actually be cool.

 Indiana Jones at the wax museum.

 Eating at In-n-Out before CrossVegas is a tradition.  Included in our group were Wes and John, some great guys who work at the shop and also went to Interbike with us.

 The kids with Greg LeMond!!

 The kids and I also spend a little time at Interbike checking out all the fun new bike related stuff coming out next year.