Swimming in the rain...

This year was Tyaan's first year swimming for Mt. SAC. On February 27th Michael and I went to an invitational with lots of schools in attendance. It was held at SAC, but it was a rainy day.



They don't stop swim meets due to rain. The only thing that stops them is thunder or lightning. There were a few times that day that they stopped the meet and got everyone out of the pool. If thunder was heard, or lightning seen they evacuate the pool, wait several minutes. If there's another within the allotted time they end the meet. If not they keep going. This just meant that we sat in the rain for several hours.


At one point it even began hailing! And of course it was just as Ty started one of her events. She said she could feel it hitting the back of her legs while she was swimming.


She swam the breaststroke this day, which is her least favorite stroke. But...she's good at just about anything she tries, so the coaches had her swim it anyway!


It was fun, as always, to watch her swim...but we were happy to get home to dry off and warm up.

Jon's Valentine

The young men in our ward did a 'singing valentine' fund-raiser for Valentines Day. The boys got all dressed up, delivered a valentine, chocolate, and rose... and sang a love song to those who were loved enough to receive one.





















Nope, his valentine was not from me. It was from his very best friend Mike Withers.

Snowboarding

On February 12 Tyaan finally got to try snowboarding.

She had met Michael a couple weeks before when he returned home from his mission. His mom invited us over to meet him and welcome him home. She learned that he liked to snowboard, she had always wanted to try it so they made plans.

They went to Mt. High in the mountains just above where we live.





Tyaan says she fell a lot when trying to get the hang of it... but like everything else she tries she ended up doing great.


They ended up staying through the evening also and sounds like they had a really good time.

She came home and was ready to go again!

Russell's Farewell

Russell's farewell was on January 31st, 2010. He gave a wonderful talk in sacrament meeting and then his parents had a nice dinner/get together for people to come wish him good luck. It was quite an event. Lots of food, and over 100 people stopped by.

He is a great young man and everyone is so excited to see him go out and do something so important.












































He flew to Salt Lake and reported to the Provo MTC on Feb. 2nd. It was sad to say goodbye because we will miss him a lot. But he was ready to get it started and get to work.

We love you Elder Withers!!

Barstow to Vegas Ride

On January 16th-17th the Haslam/Withers clan planned a dirt biking trip from Barstow, CA to Las Vegas, NV. The boys rode the dirt bikes and the girls drove the chase vehicles. (Tyaan had another event she had to attend that day, so she wasn't able to go with us.) They had been planning this for some time and done a lot of preparation for it. Jon had it all mapped out and they had calculated how many miles each bike got on a tank of gas. The day finally came, we loaded up the bikes and headed to Barstow.

Here are the 4 boys ready to get riding. Brandon, Jon, Mike, and Russell.






They set up 2 stop points along the way where we could meet up with them and fill up the bikes. The first stop was just outside of Baker, CA. We went up a highway several miles and crossed the path they were taking. We actually found another truck there that was doing the same thing we were. Soon a couple other bikers came in and filled up with her and headed out again. I guess our boys weren't the only ones who thought this would be fun.

By the time they got to the 2nd stop at state line (Primm, NV) they were pretty beat and had some trouble with one of the bikes. We had rooms reserved there so Jon and Brandon decided to make that the end of their trip. Russell and Mike took 2 bikes that were still running well and headed to Vegas to finish the trip. They made it all the way!






































































Barstow to Primm is about 114 miles, and Barstow to Vegas is about 150 miles, so it was a lot of riding in 1 day.



We stayed the night at State Line and headed home the next morning. It was a lot of fun and they're always talking about doing it again!

Marley

After years of bugging me, I finally decided to get Tyaan a dog for christmas, but only if I could find one that I really liked. I started checking local shelters and found this adorable Puggle that was timid and quiet. (My kind of dog)

I wanted to surprise Tyaan Christmas morning, but the shelter won't adopt them out unless it's been introduced to everyone in the household. So she got him a couple days early.

She named him Marley. He's 2 years old and already house trained. These are pictures from the night we brought him home.


We are very lucky to have gotten him. He's the perfect dog.

Water Polo Banquet

Tyaan's water polo banquet was on December 11th, 2009. Her coach mentioned how hard she works and that she's an important part of the team. He also said he was looking forward to see how well she does in swim season. There was a nice dinner and they gave out awards.

Here is Ty with her head coach, Jackson


And here she is with the assistant coach Jody.