No More Karate :(

To make a really long and really sad story short, Morgan's karate studio has closed down. She had her last class last night. We are VERY sad. In looking at other karate studios around town, we have been reminded what a great program we were involved in at Mile High Karate. For now, Morgan has decided to take a break from karate and focus on swimming. I will really miss doing a post every time Morgan has a belt test. I guess this will be the last karate post in the foreseeable future. :(
Mr. Bern was the owner of the studio. He was GREAT with all the kids!! I asked him if we could get a picture of him and Morgan together. He got right down with her and told her we'd take three pictures. For each picture, he said to do something different. Pay attention to Morgan's faces compared to what he said to do. Kinda funny! For the first one, he told Morgan to look serious and mean:

For the second picture, he said to just smile like normal:

And for the final picture he said to do something silly and had Morgan do a wrist grab on him:

Lots of fun!! :)

We were also able to get a picture with a lot of her favorite teachers together. Miss Tolbert (just to the right of Mr. Bern) and Miss Dye (just to the left of Mr. Bern) were her main teachers on Mon/Wed. The others in the picture are black belts that helped in class. Talk about a wonderful group of mentors!!

In our last few months of karate, we started attending some classes on Tues/Thurs. The teacher on those days was Mr. Mosdale.

You'd think I'd be happy to suddenly have our nights free again after more than 1 1/2 years of karate at least two times a week; but I am really going to miss it. We're having a potluck at the studio on Saturday to say final goodbyes. My goal is to not cry in front of everyone...I'm sure I'll be fine until someone else starts crying in front of me. (Why, oh why, do I have such a hard time with goodbyes?) Anyway, swimming pool -- here we come!

Morgan Earns Next Karate Belt

Morgan earned her next karate belt last night. Our karate school recently changed affiliations and is now part of Mile High Karate out of Denver. I really like the new program and am so glad our instructor made the switch! One change that comes with the new program is that promotions now happen every 2-3 months, instead of only every three months. Also, there is a new belt system. Morgan would have been earning a brown belt in September, but now she has her "Low Red" belt in August. Nice!!

A word of warning. When it came time for pictures, Morgan felt like being a bit unique...

You'll also notice the new top -- blue instead of white. That's because Morgan is in the leadership program. She goes to one or two classes each week and learns to be a teacher. She also gets to learn various weapons as part of the program. She loves it!!

Arienne -- I've been meaning to ask...Is Mile High the same karate place you have Andrew go??

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House & Morgan's Green Belt in Karate

Lee was in town last weekend for Father's Day. We took the chance to go to the Oquirrh Mountain LDS Temple open house before he had to leave. (And yes, I did have to look up how to spell Oquirrh!) Here's a picture of all of us in front of the temple:
And here is a picture of Lee and the girls on the temple grounds. Isn't the view amazing?! I took this picture moments before Brynne came running toward me and didn't want any more pictures. Later that day she came down with a fever of 105 degrees. She loved the temple, though, and talks all the time about when she'll be able to go inside a dedicated temple. Morgan, unfortunately, was rather bored and wanted the line to hurry up...

This is just a cute picture of Brynne that Morgan took. :)

Last night, Morgan earned her green belt in karate! I took a traditional karate pose picture (last one in this post), but then Morgan wanted to take a fun "in-action" kicking picture. I was really impressed at the shot I got. You can tell it wasn't a still pose because her hand is totally blurry from moving. Congratulations, Morgan!!!

The karate program we're involved in is switching to have belt promotions every two months instead of every three months, so now there will be more belts Morgan can get. We're pretty excited!

Tomorrow we leave for a two-week trip to Wyoming. We'll stay with Lee at my mom and dad's house for 1 1/2 weeks, and then the girls and I (Lee couldn't get off work) are going camping in cabins in the Tetons with my parents for three nights. There might not be another post for a few weeks. Hope you are all having a good summer! :)

Morgan got her Blue Belt!

Last Wednesday, Morgan earned her Blue Belt in Karate! She has been looking forward to this belt because it is the same color as Leonardo wears in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! :)

Purple Belt for Morgan

Congratulations Morgan! She earned her purple belt in karate on Wednesday evening. :)

Pictures from Morgan's Karate

My friend Paul came through for me, so now I have some karate pictures to show you! The first picture is of Morgan in a "Horse Training Stance" -- complete with her new orange belt.
And here's my beautiful girl getting ready to do a kick.
I took some video of Morgan doing a "Showtime Kick" (where they do whatever kick they want to show-off for the audience), so keep your fingers crossed that you'll be able to see it below...

When Morgan did the above kick, she was the only student left to do a kick and everyone was watching her. I wish my digital camera could capture noise also so you could hear all the cheering, but it doesn't... Good job, Morgan!

Morgan Promotes to Orange Belt

Congratulations, Morgan! She earned her orange belt in karate last Wednesday. I got some good pics and even a short video of one of her showtime kicks she did, but...I'm very sad that my computer is not recognizing my memory card right now. Until my good friend Paul helps me out, I'm afraid I can't post any pictures. So just know how proud I am of Morgan, and check back later for pics of my beautiful girl in her orange belt! :)

Congratulations, Morgan!!

Morgan had her first "belt test" for karate last night. They had to perform various kicks, punches, blocks, etc. and show that they had learned their "forms" (which is a serious of movements they have to memorize). She did a wonderful job! I was sad to find out my video camera was out of batteries, but I did capture a few shots. Here's one of Morgan in her new belt (yellow, instead of white) doing a "guarding stance." And here's Morgan holding up her certificate of achievement. Karate has been so wonderful for Morgan. She is really enjoying it, and I'm loving the discipline she is gaining from it! I'm completely sold on karate for kids!
I love you, Morgan! I'm so, so proud of you!!!!!! :)

"HI-YAW!!" -- Morgan Does Karate

Here's a picture of my beautiful Morgan in her Karate class. We put her in Karate the beginning of January with high hopes of helping her develop self-control and respect. So far, so good. I am very impressed with the program. In only one month I have seen definite improvements in Morgan's behavior. At first she didn't like it because "there was so much to know," but as the month has passed Morgan has started to really enjoy it. For the record, it's not really "Hi-yaw" that they say in Karate. I'm not sure how to spell it, but what they say is really more like "Key-yaw". See, I'm already an expert! :)