4th Annual Northwest LeBaron Polar Dip

Traditions must go on rain or shine - so today even though it was raining lightly we held our 4th annual polar dip commemorating our first dive in our pool when it was completed in March of 2008. We have a video of our polar dip at the bottom. You will want to pause the Blog music at the very bottom before playing the video.

Today was a balmy 54 degrees outside and a lovely 51.4 degrees in the pool - about 3 degrees warmer than it has been in the past. Perfect day for a polar dip.

Steve decided to add some fun to the polar dip tradition - "Diving for Dollars." Steve wrapped and rubber-banded 6 dive torpedoes with dollar bills. Some torpedoes had $1, some had $2 and one had $10.

Our friends the Williams family joined the polar dip for the 4th year in a row and Brooklyn and Mackenzie's friends, KC and Peder, joined as well.

Per tradition, Steve got to take the first plunge.

And he quickly exited the pool and headed for the "hot tub" - our small swimming pool filled with hot/warm water.

The tough kids dove for the dollars in spite of the cold water...

Sydney scored with 3 torpedoes and $4 total. Great job Sydney.

Addie came up with the big $10 prize.

Brooklyn's face tells it all....

This year Steve put the "hot tub" on top of some 1" styrofoam insulation to keep the water from cooling down so fast. It worked - look at these smiling faces.

And, per tradition, Cynthia served up hot chocolate and some great homemade cookies. That was fun, but we do look forward to warmer weather and warmer water.

Here's our video of our chillin' chillin' having fun.

Cynthia's Trip to Nor Cal

Last Wednesday I flew down to Northern California to visit my mom and dad. One of my nephews (Brad) just returned home from serving a 2 year mission for our church in Santiago, Chile. It was cool that he served in Santiago, Chile as that is where his father (my brother) served his mission many many years ago. It was so fun to be home to see him and be there for all the family celebrations. I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to but here are a few that I did take.

My oldest brother Gregg had his entire family together for the first time in 2 years so they took advantage of it and had family pictures taken. Before the photographer took the pictures I jumped in and had my picture taken with Kyle, Emily, Brad (my cute nephew who just returned home from his mission), Jessica, Mike and cute little Erika.

While I was at home I helped my mom prepare a handout for a church women's relief society class she will be teaching in a couple of weeks. We created cute documents on the computer and then we did a lots and lots of cutting. It was fun to have a project to work on with my mom. My mom and I also had fun shopping and baking together for all the family get-togethers.

We watched lots of basket ball games while I was home. Here we are at my younger brother Alan's house watching the BYU basketball game with my mom and my nephew Jacob. Go Cougars!

Saturday night my mom and I went out to dinner with my brothers family. My dad couldn't come with us because he was working at the temple that night.

Sunday morning Brad spoke in church and shared experiences from his mission. He has been speaking Spanish for the past 2 years so listening to him speak in English was funny! After church we went over to my brothers house for brunch. Here is a picture of Brad, my sister-in-law Pat, my brother Alan and my mom.

It was a lot of fun to go home and spend time with my parents and my two brothers and their families. I feel so blessed to be a apart of such an awesome family.