A few pics & other things

Here are some things that we've done over the past 6 months!
The girls played soccer. Addy played and Aubrey more participated but by the end she was getting up in there. At the end of the season I sat down with them individually to see how they liked it. Addison said she definitely wants to play again. Aubrey said she wasn't very interested because there is too much running. Then she said she'd rather play "beach ball." After some Q&A we realized she wants to play T-Ball. A little less running, plus I understand baseball.

Renae and I had a getaway to Zion National Park for a few days to celebrate both of out birthdays. It was weird not having the kids, but also great.

I have had the hiking bug lately and hiked Mt. Charleston on Memorial day with Preston, Aaron & Tyson. Then the next Friday I hiked the Subway in Zion's National Park. I love Zions and would like to go more.


Addison fell a longtime ago on a tin can, slicing her hand to the bone. She got 6 stitches on the inside to sticth the muscle back together and 13 on the outside. It was nasty. Being the big man that I am, I almost fainted when they were stitching it up.


We went to the annual county fair out at Logandale. Some people say it's lame, but for city folk like us that don't know any better, we sure do enjoy the food, the animals and the rides. It's always fun to hang out with old man Haldeman because he usually has his head burried with tax season that time of year.


Addy, Aubrey & Renae gave talks in sacrament meeting in May. Our Bishop challenged the ward to memorize the scripture mastery for the New Testament. Since I never did it in High School our family took on the challenge. We all did it (even the kids, and they were better than Renae and I for the most part) and the ladies in the family got to share their thoughts on it.
Addison graduated from Kindergarten.
Renae & Aubrey have been going to a homeopathic doctor for the 12 months or so and they both have increased energy, positive attitudes and Aubrey hasn't had to have breathing treatments or antibiotics for more than a year now! Woo-Hoo! How bout keeping your medical costs down! Part of this homeopathic thing has put a strain on our diet. Hardly any eggs, little cheese, few sweets, no milk (I still drink it but not the kids, they get rice milk instead), and not too much meat. Sometimes its as bad as it seems and at other times it's just fine.

We're working on getting David potty trained. Maybe we're crazy because he's not even two yet, but we're tired of buying diapers. The kid is already "pee-trained" now he just needs to learn to drop the deuce.
More on David... He's crazy and fun. He loves giving high fives, pounding and yelling, "Ahh Man!" or something that resembles, "Thats talkin bout MAN!" He rarely cries and always smiles.

I got a promotion at work. No more credit analyst title for me. Now I'm a "Loan Officer" with an AVP title. It's about freaking time!

Mr. Trampoline

 


Check this out... I finally decided to update this STUPID thing. I might do that every now and then.

On a completely different note, Renae and I saw the Benjamin Button movie and we enjoyed it. We also saw Doubt. And I doubt anybody should ever think about watching that movie. It was HORRIBLE and STUPID and A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND FREE MOVIE TICKETS PLUS THE $20 WE GAVE THE SITTER! That's all I have to say.

Birthdays

We've had a couple of birthdays recently.

David just turned one while we were on vacation. He did a heck of a job blowing out the candle. This was his first exposure to cake. He went on a crazy sugar high and did not sleep well at all that night. I'm not exaggerating when I say he almost lost his life that night (just ask Renae for the details). David has 4 teeth and is starting to walk. Soon he'll be running, and that's when the training begins.





Addy just turned 5 and she's awesome. Always helping out and cleaning up and sometimes acting like a 5 year old. After her party, she and Aubrey took all the glitter out from a new present and promptly spilled about 16 ounces of it all over the floor with glue. If this was Renae's blog, she'd have taken a picture and added it. Renae is not into blogging, and did NOT take a picture of the mess. Despite our best efforts, there is still glitter throughout the house (I hate glitter).

Addy starts kindergarten in the fall. It's crazy to think that she's getting that big and old. I guess that's how life is.

Below are some pics of her party.
(This is an ice cream cake that Renae made. It was delicious! Renae always makes the coolest cakes.)

San Francisco Trip

We took a trip to San Francisco and San Luis Obispo the week of the 4th of July. We had a grand 'ol time. Below are some of the pictures from the trip. Here are some of the highlights (in no specific order):
1 - Fisherman's Wharf - lots of fun shopping (if you're into that kind of stuff, I'm not, but the girls are)
2 - Cubs vs. Giants - Renae's sister Megan watched Addy & Aubrey so we could spend our 7th wedding anniversary at a ballgame with David. The game was fun, food was good and the seats were actually behind homeplate (unlike New York) and the price was less than half of what I paid in New York for twice the number of seats.
3 - Alcatraz - The audio tour is great. Even the girls liked it.
4 - Chinatown - That's the cheapest food I've ever had in my life. Tasty too.
5 - Lombard Street - What the heck are people thinking? That street is ridiculous. One of these days an earthquake is going to smooth that place out
6 - The family portrait - We had one of those painting people do a sketch of the family. The sign said $3.99 per face. The guy gets done and asks for $50! He did a horrible job, and wants $50 on top of that! We gave him $30, which is more than he should've been paid. What a rip!
7 - Ice Cream - We had some ice cream ever day and it was GREAT!
8 - Oakland Temple - A beautiful view of the bay area and a beautiful temple as well.
9 - Golden Gate Bridge - It's big and pretty, but I'm more impressed with the Bay Bridge.
10 - Jumping on the bed - We quit letting our kids jump on their beds here at home, but let them have at it in the hotel. We also went swimming at the pool. You gotta love the Marriot!
11 - Exploratorium - It was like our Natural History Museum in Vegas, but on crack. Tons of great, hands-on exhibits. We all had a great time. Addy drank water out of a toilet (see picture below).
12 - Hanging with family in Arroyo Grande / San Luis Obispo - we went on hikes, to the beach, out to eat, farmer's markets and ate and ate and ate. Thanks to all the family for their hospitality towards us.

All in all we had a great time.

The Olympic Triathlon

For some reason I thought there was an unwritten rule that you couldn't blog in June. Was that wrong? I finally have some free time as I'm home from church because David is sick. So I thought I'd update those of you who care about what has been going on with the Haldeman's. This is the first of a few blogs. Enjoy.

On June 14th I competed in and completed an Olympic Triathlon. That consists of 1500 meter swim, 24.2 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. I finished in 3 hours and 4 minutes. I would've finished under 3, but I was lolly-gagging during the transition areas. I could've "manned up" and peed on myself while riding the bike, but a port-a-potty stop seemed more sensible. I finished 8th out of 19 within my division. Basically I'm an "average Joe" triathlete. Considering how much time I put into it training, I'm happy with what I got out.

For those curious about the individual times: Swim - 37 minutes Bike - 85 minutes (approximately, the timer thing is messed up) Run - 53 minutes. The other 9 minutes was wasted in the transition area changing clothes and what not.
(I had hoped to have real pictures, but the event people didn't have any photographers posted throughout the race, pretty lame!)


I think I've retired from Triathlons for a little while. I thought I was going to be done with crazy events for awhile too, but my brother in-law has challenged me to run a half marathon with him in November. There's a race the last Saturday in November at the Valley of Fire. So it'd be great for people like Crystal and others to join in the fun as well.

After the race, the family and I went to Zion's National Park and hung out in the Virgin River and ate some pie. David rubbed some of that pie in his hair, hence the mohawk. It was a fun trip. Thanks to Carol and Danny for letting us use the home in St. George!