Miles

 

"Dear Miles,

You know me better than I know you. In fact I don't you at all. Hopefully you will have gotten a very rare coin like the 1795 or 1794 silver dollar by the time time you get this. My friend's are Seth, Malachi, Josh, and Sarah. I hope you know these people, too. Did you know that scientists think that you will have clothes that change color, read books, and change textures? Milk cans will tell you if the milk is expire, your kitchen will e-shop for you, and you will have cleaning robots. If you haven't invented the wind-powered car, look at the blueprints on the other page. Also, if you have not invented the $17.63 coin, look at the picture at the left of the page. Do you like to draw? I do. I think that you will have lived during World War 3. Have you started using three-cent pieces? I think you should get marred at age 22 and start dating at age 16. Try these classes: math, cooking, and science. I think you should have four kids! Also get good grades! I end this letter with a warning: don't drink, smoke, or do inappropriate things.

From the person you know the best, Miles James Maxwell

P.S. If there are time machines, send me a letter that says Skeem! Sent it to me on 5-6-15 and put it in the mailbox at 601 N. 4th St. Montrose, CO. If time machines are invented later, write the date and then send it!"

Seven years ago (5th grade) Miles' GATE teacher had him write a letter to his future self - his future graduating senior self. :) We just received his letter, drawing, this picture, and a note from his teacher this past week. How adorable.

Miles graduated from seminary:

We just got Miles' senior pictures taken last Friday. Of all the days, it had to be the coldest and rainiest that we've had in months, ha. But it worked out and I love the pictures. I will share some (i.e., a ton) here for fun.

I don't know if I ever posted about Miles' "new" car?! Well, here it is. A 1953 Pontiac Chieftan. Luckily Miles isn't using this one as his "daily driver." More of a hobby project. Miles still has his Mini Cooper. But he's been working on this and we'll see if he ever gets it to drive . . . It is quite cool, though!

Miles is all done with his public/Montrose high school classes. He took his AP Bio exam a couple of weeks ago and finished up with the rest of his finals at the high school last week. He didn't go to the Montrose high school's graduation - but Jonas did, ha. We watched it online for a few minutes - but graduations, in my opinion, are pretty boring . . . Miles did attend a "Safe" graduation party that night - that's what it's called, "Safe" or something like that. It's sponsored by parents and involves no drinking, etc. Just fun games and hanging out. Miles stayed until the end - 2am. He had fun and won $40 and an air compressor.

He's not officially done, however, with high school as he still has BYU classes to finish up. He'll finish those up over the summer - and then we'll officially announce/celebrate his graduation!

Black Canyon Ascent 2022 with Emmy

Well it had been two years since we'd run this race and so we both had amnesia about how horrible it is. I mean, I know it's bad. You just forget it's that bad until running miles 3-5. Ugh, so hard! Why is it so hard?! Emmy ran it unofficially in 2020 when I organized one during the pandemic. So this was Emmy's first official time running it. We both PR'd - yay! Emmy cut off about 10 minutes from her time and ran it in 1:15:58. 1st place in her age division (she was the only one, ha - which also shows how cool she is)! I ran it in 1:07:09. Which is a good 5 minutes faster than my usual time (I am always right around 1:12. Like always. But I've been training on some hills and pushing myself . . . and, yay, it paid off!) I got 1st place in my division as well - but there were only 4 of us. However, I think my time would have still placed me first in a year where more runners race.

Pre-race. I look old and ugly. :) Emmy looks young and beautiful.

See, young and beautiful! Oh well, I was faster. Haha, hehe.

Go, Emmy, Go! She looked so good and strong coming in and I was so proud of her for just doing it and for crushing her old time. She did tell the volunteer that it was her first official time running it - and her last. Haha. But I doubt it . . . she'll be back. 

Yay, all done!

They took a picture of all the age-division winners but haven't posted it yet. As soon as I see, I'll put it here. 

Here are their pics (which are kind of horrible):

Winners - yay!

This girl. She's got a lot of drive and knows how to push herself hard. She's so impressive! And strong!

It's so tempting for me to never do this again because 1. It's the worst race I ever do, 2. I don't know if I can ever beat and or get close to my time again, and 3. 1st place is hard to beat! :) So we'll see . . . 

Mother's Day 2022

 

The Mother's Day Walk with everyone . . . 

Here are the questions asked by Ben and answered by the kids (oldest to youngest):

1. If you had to take mom out on a date, what would you do to impress her?

Make jokes, idk; go somewhere that she would like and not sigh - the most expensive place; I would sing her a song out in the public declaring my love towards her; I would fly her to Hawaii and she could pick her restaurant

2. What is something you can do better than mom? What's something mom does better than you?

I can climb better than her, but she can cook better than me; snowboard, cook; I am better at short-distance running but she is better at long uphill running; Um . . . look like me! And mom can do most everything better than me

3. How are you like your mother?

We look very similar physically; shorter than most people; People say I look like her and I want to be her when I grow-up; I'm short and have big thighs

4. What makes mom laugh?

Does she laugh? Bella being stupid; nothing; When people are really being dumb or stupid; Um she barely laughs! So I don't know

(Wow. It's hasn't been really fun(ny) these past few months that's for sure!)

5. What do you think mom wants you to do with your life?

Go to college and get a job that makes me happy; Be responsible and successful; I think she wants me to live a good life, keeping to the gospel but also live my life the way I would want to; Go to BYU and marry some nice, hot Mormon dude and make right choices

6. If you could buy mom anything, what would you buy for her?

happiness; [blank]; I would buy her kitchen supplies because she's always in the kitchen; 1. a new pug, 2. a new awesome set of earrings, 3. a whole mall!!!

7. What does mom like about our house? What does she dislike about our house?

Mom likes how our house is unique, but she doesn't like the location [I do]; the old style/look, how messy it always is; She likes the style and she does not like how messy it always is; She likes . . . . um . . . maybe our kitchen! She hates our daisy room table

8. What musical would you like to see your mom star in?

Idk, the Muppets; Hamilton; Hamilton; Hamilton

9. What is one simple thing you could do to make your mom happy?

What she asks me to do; get work done on time and be responsible; be kind to my siblings; do as she says

10. What is your mother's favorite color?

White?; don't know; green; yellow

Some Catching Up!

 

April 2022. Goodbye. You weren't my favorite month.

The girls had a "home meet" on May 7th. It was a smallish meet (well for the Gold and Platinum levels) and so the pressure felt a little lower, which is always nice! Emmy invited her YW leaders and one came - along with her husband, the bishop. So that was fun. Ben was also able to come and he hasn't been able to make any of Emmy's meets and so that was a bonus for us all. Both girls did well! Emmy had her one and only fall (during a competition) on the beam, but still received a good score. Lucy's bars wasn't a great score, but still managed to get her 2nd place on bars (that's what you get with a small competition pool). But the girls still looked great and both managed to get 1st all-around (plus other firsts in other events, but I don't remember them all). What's important is 1st all-around, haha. They had a good time and it was a fun way to end their competition season of 2022.

The Champion Sisters:

The carnival was happening that weekend. My kids really like going - even though it is expensive. It's worth it to them! The kids all went, most of them a couple of times, and enjoyed the ride. A professional photographer took this picture of Lucy and her best-friend Lila and posted it on some Facebook page. Adorable.

Emmy finished up her track season at a meet in Gunnison. I had the day off and so decided to go. It wouldn't have been a big deal if there wasn't road construction/closure happening meaning that the hour and a quarter drive home would be a 3-hour drive home. Waaaaa. But it was her last one and I hadn't been able to make the other two, so I had a very long day . . . It was fun watching her - but not fun when she was upset-crying after her mile - she wanted to PR and didn't. She competed in the 400m and got 2nd in her heat (not overall). She also was in some medley and her team got 2nd. She had fun just hanging out with her friends, once she got over her disappointment in her 1600m (the mile) run. I think her best mile time was 6:48. At Gunnison she got 6:52.

Phone pictures of her pictures. :) All in all, she had a fun season!

Lucy's Gold State Gymnastics Meet

 Lucy's state meet was held in Lafayette, Colorado - somewhat near the Denver area (about an hour from Ben's parent's home). She was scheduled for Saturday, April 23rd. Ben and I were both going to go and watch her, but due to naughty kids (Jonas) and girl-drama (Emmy - she was on the receiving end of some pretty lame friend stuff . . . ), I decided I should stay home. I super missed watching Lucy at state, but also knew I had been to every single other meet she has ever had and so it would be okay. It was special that she got Ben (Dad) to herself . . . She was a little bummed when finding out I wasn't going to go, but then I think she forgot all about me and just enjoyed the weekend!

She and Ben left on Friday evening and had wild, snowy weather on their drive. But they made it and all was well. We had asked Ben's mom to help arrange someone to do Lucy's hair on Saturday morning and so a cute YW from the ward came over and did up Lucy's hair. It looked awesome and Lucy was happy with it.

Then she, Ben, and Jim headed out for her competition. Lucy had really good scores for her - and even ended up with her best all-around of the season. She ended up placing in only one event - but it was a FIRST on the balance beam. How cool is that?! (My mom reminded Lucy and I that I, too, had placed 1st on the balance beam in my state competition way back when.) Of course Lucy would have liked to have placed in more events, but it's hard to do so at state. So she was pretty darn thrilled with a Gold. :)

Getting her hair done at Grandma and Grandpa's house. :)

All ready to go and show-off some of her hard work! :)

Grandpa and Dad - Lucy's fan club at the meet. 

Lucy's GOLD medal earned at her GOLD state competition. So awesome!!

Ben missed Lucy's bars routine (well missed videoing it), but here's her videos from the meet. Ben's camera quality is not so great . . . (Well I am having trouble uploading her videos . . . not sure if it's because they are from Ben's camera . . . but I will keep working on it!)

Well I got one to upload here so far . . . 

Emmy's 8th grade Track (Plus running adventures with mom)

 Haha, funny picture Emmy took:

So Emmy is doing track again at school. She almost didn't, but at the last moment decided to. I think she is glad she is! She's had a couple of meets so far. The first one (where these pics are from) was soooo windy. Everybody's times weren't their best, including Emmy. Emmy was quite bummed with her mile (the 1600) time. I can't quite remember what it was . . . 7:20s, I think. She took 3rd. The 1st and 2nd girls are in her school and grade and are sooooooo fast. Like they are given 1st and 2nd place finishers in every race they do. It's crazy and cool.

Emmy ran the 1600 and the 800 her first meet. I had to work and so missed that one - hence the "professional" photos of Emmy taken with a real camera by another parent. :)

I made it to Emmy's second meet. The funny thing about meets are they are during the school day. So it's fun for the track kids - they get to hang outside, not in school, all day. Emmy's second meet was dreamy weather for running: slightly cool, cloudy, and not windy. Emmy ran the mile and got 6:48 and 4th place. She was happy as she PR'd her mile time - yay! She ran the 400 and did well in that, too - maybe 2nd place? She really liked the 400 - it was a good mix of sprint (she's not as fast as the short sprinters) and endurance and so she can do pretty good at it. Then she took part in a fun 4x400 relay and really liked that - it was her first relay. Her team crushed the other team (I think only 2 were in it) by about 200 meters. Her last even was the 800 medley. Emmy did a 100 and, again, her team (the same as the relay) crushed their opponents. Emmy's middle school is amazing and all team relays, medleys, etc., crush everyone else out there!

They dynamic relay/medley team! Emmy, Katie (the fastest girl in every event), Jayden (the second-fastest girl in every event), and Sadie (maybe the third-fastest girl, ha). So fun.

Anyways, track is going well and Emmy is having fun - except for when she wants to barf after each event because it's so hard to push yourself so much. In a good way, though.

Emmy and I are running the Black Canyon Ascent on May 14th. I don't know why because I hate it . . . but I keep doing it. And I think that's the same for Emmy - she did it in 2020, hated/loved it, and is doing it again. Ha. So I have taken Emmy on a couple of my "hill run" workouts. It's fun running with her. What else is fun is that I am faster than her, ha! It's only because I have been training on this run for over a year . . . give her time and I won't be able to keep up with her. But it's pretty awesome for the time being that she can't keep up with me - especially on the steep uphill. 

Before our 6-mile run - fun!

I missed the "make a funny face" memo. :)

I took Emmy out to this new shop in town - it's a candle-making shop, but super cute and with a cool cafe in it. So I bought Emmy some hot cocoa - and look how cute they made it. :) Ha. We had a lovely morning together and I was glad for some 1-on-1 time with Emmy (Lucy and Ben were in Denver for Lucy's state meet. I don't know where the boys were - maybe still sleeping?!)