UWTA Tournament

On Saturday, Asher and two other members of the UNC Taekwondo Club competed in the Northern Colorado Taekwondo Open, a UWTA Tournament. (Three more members had planned to also compete but ended up getting sick.) Fortunately, the tournament was here in Fort Collins, so Nathan and I were able to go watch.

Asher competed in five of the seven events: traditional poomsae (forms), point sparring, rapid kick, board breaking and combat weapons sparring. He'd never competed in those last three events and appreciated the experience. 

(Above: Asher competing in traditional poomsae, combat weapons sparring and point sparring...and the three UNC clubmates at the end of the tournament.)

Overall, Asher took home a first place (in rapid kick), 3 second places and a third place and had a great time. :) It was wonderful watching him and his clubmates...and highly entertaining watching and cheering on all the younger kids.

It reminded me of Asher's tournaments when he was younger...

Here he is in February 2011 at his very first intramural tournament at Karate West (just for members of Karate West to give them all experience with how tournaments work)...

...and in September 2012 he competed in forms at a regional tournament down in Denver...

And then in September 2015 he competed in another regional tournament in Loveland to get sparring practice before his black belt testing. 

(This was actually not part of the competition. This was another Karate West member (in blue) helping coach Asher (in black) before his sparring round.)

And that was pretty much the extent of Asher's tournament experience (beyond the intramural Karate West tournaments as a competitor and then as a judge when he got older) until Saturday. So happy that he joined his taekwondo clubmates in competing...they're already talking about doing it again. :)

(And thanks to those who contributed to their fundraising efforts! Some of that helped pay for their registration fees.)

Thankful Thursday

I have a rather random list today. :)

1. TBT. Love Throwback Thursday...thankful for it. I found this photo in the bins of pictures from my mom's house a couple years ago...

This photo is from a cousin's wedding...just me dancing with my dad. Despite our unfortunate hair, lol, I love the fact that I have this photo.

2. Boots. Okay, actually this is sad. Last week, while I was out and about, my FAVORITE boots broke. They just broke. I wasn't doing anything wrong. But the entire sole of both boots split...all the way. I took them to the awesome local store where I bought them and asked for advice. They understood my sadness and helped me try on some new boots for when I'm ready to move on, lol. I then took them to the boot & shoe repair place recommended by the shoe store and was told that they can't fix them. Sad. I even emailed the manufacturer. They can't fix them either. :(

But. I'm choosing to look on the bright side and be thankful for the many (at least 13) years of joy these boots have brought me. They were so comfy and beautiful and versatile. I'm sad to see them go, but I'm starting to come around to the idea of replacing them...and shopping is always fun. :)

3. Ladies night. Had another fabulous time with my boot camp crew! I love that we seem to try a new place every time and am always so thankful for the wonderful conversation. This time we met at Avuncular Bob's and remembered to grab a photo before we left...

One of these days we really will invite the boot camp guys, lol.

4. Movable mirrors. So, Lynne and I started trying a yoga deck of cards this month...because neither of us likes yoga (to date) and both of us recognize that it's probably good for us, lol. In trying these, I've appreciated the mirrors we still have in the basement (installed way back in the day when the boys first started karate and needed a place to practice). But I was feeling that our addition of the weight rack interfered with the useable mirror space. See (in the left photo) how the weight rack is pretty much in the main area where the mirrors are useful?

But, yesterday morning I suddenly realized that our mirrors are actually sliding closet doors! (I mean...I *knew* that's what they were but I'd just forgotten that meant they could actually slide, lol.) Check it out! I can slide the doors to the right!! Yes, I know it's a little ridiculous but realizing this delighted me. :)

5. Local eats. We love eating at The Fox & The Crow and have gotten our meats and cheeses for New Year's Eve charcuterie there more than once. Sadly, though, they will be closing their doors at the end of 2023. Having just learned this yesterday, the obvious thing was to go do date lunch there today, right?

(This is the shared small meat & cheese platter. We also split a delicious Thanksgiving themed sandwich...turkey, stuffing, gravy, etc on a house-made baguette. And also a pot de creme for dessert. It was all good.) So. Again...sad to see them leaving but very thankful for the times we've enjoyed there.

And that's my random list for this week. :)

We Voted

Just a quick post to say that all five of us voted over the weekend. Yes, Micah got to vote for the first time and took it seriously. I love the look of concentration as he worked to properly fill in the bubble... :)

(He claimed to have a little SAT PTSD, so the bubbles were stressing him out, lol.) For what it's worth, no, we don't tell our sons how to vote. We do, though, make ourselves readily available if they have questions or want to discuss a ballot issue and generally share our reasoning behind our own votes if they're interested. It's a continuation of our homeschooling and parenting philosophy and approach. Thus far, this has usually meant family discussions around election day. Micah participated in those even before he could vote and was happy to have an actual vote this time. 

Twenty-three

So, I'm a few days behind here, but my Noah turned 23 on Thursday. 

Thursday, itself, was a pretty quiet day. Noah took the day off from work and we just hung out at home...chatting and watching shows and such. 

Saturday, with both brothers home for the weekend, we went out to dinner, grabbed desserts at Whole Foods and played new Jackbox games together. 

It was a low-key but lovely evening. :) 

Noah continues to live here and enjoy his colleagues at his banking job while looking for a job more in his field of study (mechanical engineering) now that he has more work experience under his belt. He continues to learn more about photography, hasn't been climbing as much lately and has hopes to do some traveling in the coming years.

Without much else new to report, I'll share this series of photos from June of 2002...when we lived back in Eugene and I was still pregnant with Asher. They're some of my favorite photos of my Noah...

These were taken in a field just off the walking path near our duplex. I love his intention and precision and delight...things he still displays to this day. :)

Happy birthday, my Noah! Here's to a 24th year of life filled with joy and adventure!

Three on the third

Hi. Apparently it's November. :) Catching up a bit...

1. Football and drinks. Last Sunday, Lynne and I journeyed down to Denver and the Stanley Marketplace Beer Hall to watch the Broncos game. We had a fabulous time...eating and drinking and enjoying the game! It was so nice watching football together; none of the guys in my house care or watch with me.

Plus, it was a great game and the Broncos actually won! ;)

2. Micah as Ken. For Halloween, Micah dressed as Ken from the Barbie movie, complete with the official Kenough hoodie. I got this photo from him. He picked up the turkey leg headband in Chicago (I think) and appears to really like it. 

3. Halloween. We had a quiet Halloween here. I got the full sized candy bars again (because the bite size candies are too easy to snitch, lol) but we had very few trick or treaters so ended up with too many left over. (I've since put together bags for Asher and Micah to take back to college with them, so that should help.)

And we didn't put up any decorations again because there seems to be no point in competing with the house across the street. (He has way more inflatables than what he put out, btw. He has to rotate through them and claims to have enough to fill multiple additional yards.)

Instead, we moved our Solo Stove to the driveway and sat out there to hand out candy (easier than opening the door multiple times and our neighbor came and joined us and we had a lovely visit).

We also threw some color packets into the fire and enjoyed the fun colors for awhile. 

And that's my three for today. :)