Happy Independence Day!

I hope you all had a nice 4th with loved ones. We had fun out in Hempstead. Here are a couple pictures of us out there, and one of my sister and me.

Back from vacation

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated this. Anyway, we just got back from our little vacation. We had a nice, low-key, relaxing family time. We went to the Dallas area for our friends' Juan and Becca's wedding, which was very sweet. Then we stayed in a hotel, in Dallas for a few days. We played a lot of cards, played and swam in the pool, and just enjoyed being together. Thankfully, we were able to visit some family while we were there and see all of the precious new babies in the family. I'm kicking myself for not getting pictures of them, because of course they are absolutely adorable. Anyway, we saw Jacob and Erica and their baby, Colton, and Shane and Hannah and their daughter Gracie and new baby Aubri, as well as Shanna and Jim, who are expecting twins. We also went to Medieval Times, and that was a total blast! When we left Dallas, we went on to Abilene, to visit Maw-Maw (Wes' grandma, Gladys Smith), Wes' aunt and uncle Tony and Edilyn Smith, and my aunt, Jo Ann Campbell. We had a great visit with all of them and wish we could see everybody more often.

Brendan with Nastia Liukin

Before the competition began on Saturday night, we got to meet Nastia Liukin, and get her autograph and a picture. She's one of the top gymnasts on the women's Senior National gymnastics team, and expected to compete well at the Beijing Olympics.

More gymnastics Nationals excitement

Well, aside from seeing one of my 2 favorite gymnasts break his hand, we had a great time at the VISA National Championships. Yes, Paul broke a bone in his hand. He should have surgery in a day or 2 and hopefully will be healthy in time for the Olympics in Beijing. It seems like a HUGE setback, but from what I've seen over the years, Paul is always at his SUPREME BEST when he's having to fight back from something, rather than just trying to protect a lead.

It was very exciting to watch Morgan Hamm win 3 medals in his first full competition since Athens.

I have been asked quite a lot how I got to be such a big Men's gymnastics and Hamm twins fan. I have been interested in gymnastics, particularly men's, all my life. My grandpa, John Campbell was a World-Class gymnast, and I remember him doing stunts on the high bar in the back yard even when he was an old man. My grandpa was a wonderful influence in my life, so the gymnastics is just a small way I carry along my memories of my grandpa.

I especially like Paul and Morgan Hamm, not only because they are amazing gymnasts, but because of their fine character. They tell a lot of family stories that I really enjoy and appreciate. In fact, because of their stories, I've developed great respect and admiration for their parents, Sandy and Cecily Hamm, and their family. I know nobody achieves great accomplishments in a vacuum, so I appreciate the guidance and support Sandy and Cecily provide for Paul and Morgan.

All that said, it was very exciting to me to get to meet Sandy and Cecily Hamm at the Nationals. They are so nice and genuine. It was great to get to chat with them. Sandy even scooped Brendan up in his lap for a picture. Morgan recently got engaged. We also got to meet his fiance, Megan. She was soooo sweet, and made a special point to chat with Brendan. I also enjoyed getting to visit with her after the competition, Saturday night.

Fun at the Gymnastics Nationals

Wes and I had a great time last night. We went to see the Men's competition at the VISA National Gymnastics Championships, at Reliant Arena. It was very exciting! It's so much more impressive LIVE. Most of you know that I'm a big Hamm twins fan. Both Paul and Morgan did great. Paul had the highest score on all of his events until he got to vault, and then Morgan got the highest score. On Paul's final event, parallel bars, he hurt his hand and fell, so that score wasn't so good. He did however maintain his substantial lead in the All-around standings. I'm really excited that they tied for 1st on floor X.

Sean Townsend is another olympic gymnast that was supposed to be competing last night, but he hurt his shoulder in practice, earlier this week and had to withdraw from this competition. Anyway, he sat right next to us during the competition, so we had like professional comentary right there in our seats. So cool. I forgot to take a picture though. I did get a picture with Carly Patterson, the women's Olympic All-Around Champion though. Here it is. She's a pop-singer now. Her new CD is out in August, but you can hear her single on i-tunes now. It's called "Temporary Life (ordinary girl)".

A great Day for Ryan

Ryan had a really exciting day yesterday. Please forgive me for being obnoxious. I'm very happy for Ryan. He received several awards yesterday. He won first place in the Word Masters challenge ( a vocabulary competition using analogies here is a link if you'd like to know more about it. http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com/elem.htm)

He also won first place in the Mathematics Olympiad. Having the highest individual score, he helped his team place 3rd in the Nation.

He also got 2nd place in the National online science League, and 3rd place in the National Language Arts League. Great job Ryan!

Inflatable day

Ryan's school had "Inflatable Day" on Monday. The PTO provided several inflatable activities, as well as 2 rock walls and extreme jumpers. I volunteered at the event and it was a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pictures or Ryan climbing the rock wall (yes, he made it to the top), and doing th extreme jumper.