C is Me

I've Been...HANGIN' WITH HOODOOS!

2011-10-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

Fall break was nearing and I knew for a fact that I wanted to do something. I had the "itch!" We had thrown a couple of ideas around but nothing was really calling my name. Finally the idea of taking Luke and Tanner to Bryce Canyon came to me. I looked online for rooms and although there were rooms on Thursday night, Friday was sold out. George called a friend of his who is an owner of Ruby's Inn and he hooked us up! He gave us a great deal in a pool side room, it's nice to know people in high places!

Thursday afternoon we were on our way. First stop along the way was BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN! I had played the song for the kids before we left and they were as excited as I had been as a kid. I couldn't dream of anything better than rocks made of candy and lemonade springs.

I'll just say that somethings are better left as a fantasy!

Along the way we were taking turns telling "spooky stories." What imaginations those two have! They were funny because as George and I would try to end our stories they had to know what happened to every character we had ever mentioned even though we had forgotten about them.

We got to Ruby's in time for dinner. After dinner we had fun swimming. I'll admit that I had fun in the hot tub while the boys swam!

The next morning we started the day off with a good breakfast that even came with dessert!

After our bellies were full we headed out for a big day in Bryce Canyon.

We looked through the guide and found a couple of hikes that we wanted to do. The first one, had me a bit concerned because it was labled "strenuous." The boys insisted they could do it because they were "really good hikers."
Their goal was to go to the bottom of the canyon and be amongst the HOODOOS (the rock formations). We started out on our 4 mile hike by going down, down, down. I kept reminding them that what goes down, must go back up. Once again they reminded us of how TOUGH, STRONG, & GREAT they were. No worries!

Our little hikers taking a breather

After 100 miles of hiking (according to Tanner) we ran into a couple from Maine and asked them how much further we had to go. Need I say, they were dripping with sweat. I was nervous when they said that we were only about half way. Only another 100 miles to go, augh!

We told them about the other hike we wanted to do and they had done that one the day before. They said that the kids would love it and strongly encouaged us to turn around while we could and go and do it instead.

After much convincing we did just that. But, before we set out on the hike we decided to drive to the end of the canyon and take in all the sites at the different view points first.

The boys were getting eager to get down amoung the hoodoos by then and were getting tired of the view points. We had read in the guide how Hoodoos cast a magical spell on anyone who looked at them. They were so intrigued they could hardly stand it!

George and I were getting a kick out of all the funny things the boys said as we were hiking. They were SO into it! They found images in every dead tree or rock formation there. They found numerous fossils and just knew that their mom would be so proud!

As we were at the end of the hike where you go from the bottom up through a narrow canyon and then onto several switch backs Tanner excitedly said, "This is the most awesomest hike in the whole world!" The people around us got a kick out of him too.

Near the top Luke said, "Take a look down and you can congratulate yourself!" Some foreigners who knew enough english to understand what he said, chuckled and repeated it to their group.

We made it to the top and gloated about what hikers we all were. The boys took their shoes and socks off the minute we got in the car and hung their feet out the window to give them relief while the whole time laughing hysterically as people would pass by. We went back to the hotel and swam for awhile to relax our tired and sore muscles (this is what they're saying). We ate dinner in Tropic and hit the bed for a VERY good night sleep.

At the end I think we can all agree that the HOODOOS did indeed cast a magical spell on us. We had such a great time with the boys in one of the prettiest places ever. I love the idea that we've created memories that will last a long long time in the minds of those two adventerous hikers!

I've been...ON THE ROAD!

2011-10-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've been on the road, many roads in fact. I've been on the road for months now as I trained for something I never in a million years thought I would or could do, A MARATHON!

One morning over a year ago Sue Ann and I got talking and came to the conclusion that we would finally make the committment that we would run a marathon. We figured if nothing else we could walk 26.2 miles, but we knew one way or another we could finish even if it took us 7 hours. One early morning we ran into Ann up above the golf course and told her to turn around and run with us. From that chance encounter she was in too, rather she wanted to be or not!

As soon as we were able, we signed up for the Runner's Series which allowed 750 runners to automatically get into the St. George Marathon as long as you completed two races in Washington County that year. It was a great way to do it because it gave us motivation to do the races and to know that they were for a reason other than the t-shirt. Besides going to St. George is fun!

We did the St. George Half Marathon in January and I know all of us wondered what the heck we were thinking in signing up for the marathon. The idea of doing that twice did not even seem possible!

That was the first race that George had been there to support me. I was fun seeing him along the trail taking pictures and having him at the finish line.

The other race we did, this time as a girls trip so that we could SHOP, was the Hurricane Half/5k. With that we were OFFICIALLY in the St. George Marathon along with 7400 runners!

Our official training started at the same time we were running the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay in June. Throughout the rest of the summer we followed a training schedule and threw in a couple other half marathons which fit nicely into the plan. We were on our way...

Getting up extra early for long runs so that we could beat the heat worked good for us. We all agree that running in the dark takes your mind off of the distance.

This was the sunrise on one of our early morning runs out along the Elevator Road between Nephi and Levan.

For me figuring out what my body needed and how it reacted to different energy fuels and things was the biggest challenge. Part of me was even sad when we started our tapering because I wasn't quite sure I had things figured out yet or not. However the tapering was nice.

Well the day was finally here. The day we had been waiting for for over a year. I'll admit that I had been a nervous wreck all week. I was stressed about the weather forecast that was predicting a very hot day. Like I said earlier we would run extra early just to avoid the heat and now we were going to be forced to run 26 miles in it. This was not good!

On the drive down to St. George we talked and talked about it, and the more we talked the more excited I got. We went to pick up our packet at the expo and you could feel the excitement in the air. It would have been nice if we could have run right then.

I stayed with Shannon Mcpherson in her hotel room so that I could get a good night sleep. The kids were all staying at a condo and I knew that as fun as it would have been to be with them I wouldn't get any shut eye.

Ann, Sue Ann, Jill, Tammy, Shannon and I met at the hotel and headed to the park to catch a bus to the STARTING LINE. It was really happening! We were like giddy little school girls, nervous and excited at the same time. The bus ride seemed to take forever. I was sure it was way more than 26.2 miles, but surprisingly I didn't doubt that I could run it.

We had been told that as soon as we got there to get into a line for the bathroom and then when done, get in line again. Good advice! There were thousands of people and besides all the people standing in the lines there were just as many running into the bushes.

When the gun went off Sue Ann, Ann and I were still in the potty line. Although it stressed us out, there were so many people to move through the starting gate that we knew we'd be waiting in that crowd anyway. We finally got through the start gate 7 minutes after the gun had gone off.

I was amazed by how fast the first several miles flew by. At mile 7 in Veyo, George, Kaydee, Kylee and Karson were there. They had asked me the night before where I wanted them to be. They had plans to be at mile 7 but I told them that if it came down to a choice I'd rather have them at the end because I knew that is where I would need them the most. However, right before we got to the crowd of people I told Ann and Sue Ann that they were possibly going to be there. The second I noticed them I literally jumped for joy! I realized then how much I loved their support and encouragement. It was awesome to see them right before we started up the big hill out of Veyo.

We headed up the hill feeling good and at the top we were still feeling good! We were glad that we had done a lot of training on hills and we're patting ourselves on the back for running the whole thing.

It was fun to chat with fellow runners along the way. We ran into a lady with a bunch of hand prints, one for each of her kids and the name of her missionary son on her shirt. She told us that she had run the marathon for each of them (4) and this one was for her husband, the next would be for her. Later we saw her getting picked up by one of the shuttles, sad:( We also came across a family who was running for their two year old daughter who had just been diagnosed with leukemia. It was neat to see people of every shape and size, everyone with a different running style and everyone with the same goal in mind.

At around 12-13 miles my good knee, the left one, started bothering me. It kind of freaked me out! I changed the band that I normally wear on my right knee to the left and hoped that it would be okay. I tried to push the pain out of my mind and tried not to let it consume or worry me too badly. By mile 17 or so I started to get a familiar pulsing in my calves. I had taken two salt pills along the race and was really hoping that that would keep me from cramping. In the beginning I had just drank water at the aid stations plus I'd eaten some Cliff Shot Bloks. Later I started drinking the Gatorade as well. I was praying that things would start kicking in and I wouldn't have any further problems. At mile 20 I stopped to use the bathroom and that's where I had my first major excruciating charley horse in my calve. I truly wanted to scream and being seated in the Honey Bucket there was no possible way to stretch it out. I massaged the heck out of it instead of screaming and was able to run some more.

The kids had plans to be at mile 20 and I was nervous about seeing them because I wasn't sure if I'd just want to give up. I was hitting a wall and my legs were really freaking me out. I was almost relieved when they weren't there. I knew I had to keep running so that I could see them at the end.

I stopped at every aid station to have the WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS rub my calves and knees down with Ben-Gay or Icey Hot. It helped so much!

We started into town with only around 3 to 4 miles to go. At that point I'm feeling like no matter what I can at least walk to the finish if I have to, but I've practically made it! I figured that the family had decided to just be at the finish line because they cautioned spectators that it was hard to watch runners after mile 20 and to make it to the finish also. But, much to my surprise my family was there to cheer me on at mile 23ish. EVERYONE! It was awesome to see the kids holding up their signs and giving grandma "high five." It was a push I really needed at that point.

Up until that point Sue Ann, Ann and I had run the whole thing together. They were amazing! After I had seen the family I turned the corner and stopped at the aid station for a really good massage. I lost Ann and Sue while stopping, but I really had no choice.

Someone had told us to just enjoy the last few miles and take in all the encouragement from the crowds. I could hardly stand to look around but I did try to absorb all the cheers and chants. With two miles left to go my calve totally seized up on me and it was all I could do to get to the curb. I wanted to cry! Once again I rubbed the cramp out and walked a few steps before running again. For the next mile I ran and then walked, ran and then walked everytime I felt it tightening. With about a half mile left to go I heard those familiar cheers and was SO excited to see George and the kids again. They were yelling, "you're almost there, you can do it." and then they started running with me. I knew that when I turned that last corner I still had three blocks to go. To them that seemed like nothing, to me it seemed like 26 more miles but with them along side me I knew I could do it. With two blocks left it happened again, my calf froze up and wouldn't move. George was there to massage it for me and after that I really tried to just give it all I got and get it done.

I made it over the first timing pad and it happened again. There was another wonderful volunteer there to grab me just as I was going down. This time he massaged it and walked with me through the misters and back to get my PRECIOUS medal.

It was over, 4 hours 48 minutes later. I had done something I never in a million years ever dreamt that I could do. The feeling was incredible. And the part of the incredible feeling came from all the support of my FAMILY, my great FRIENDS who were there right along side me in this journey and ALL THE OTHERS who offered their encouragement and congratulations before, during and after the race.

My plan when deciding to do a marathon was to do one and be done, but to be able to hopefully say, "That wasn't too bad, I'd do it again." It took me a day and a half to decide that I want to do ONE more and hopefully do it without the knee pain or the cramping. So next year along with my friends I'll have a few more joining me too, Kaydee, Launey, Linzy and Kylee all signed up for the Runner's Series. How awesome is that!!!

I've been...REMINISCING ABOUT SUMMER!

2011-09-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

Although summer always seems to go by way too fast it's fun to look back and remember the things we did and look forward to next summer for more good times.

I started my summer with a BANG!! Me and a group of friends and family got a team together to run in the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay (detailed in an earlier post). It was a great way to start the off the season and I'm hoping like heck to do it again!

Next event of the summer was our annual "girls trip". My mom, sisters, daughters, nieces, aunt, granddaughter, friend and grandson (Madden)

Family campout at Big Mountain Campground (formally KOA)

Luke's 8th Birthday

Cake was designed by him and made by his mom:)

4th of July Fireworks at Uncle Mike's

Rainstorms were a common occurance of the summer of 2011

This was supposed to be a pool day, but because of the rain we went to the splash pad where the rain and sprinklers all mixed together. Fun day!

A rewarding treat after playing hard

One of our favorite summer days is Lavendar Days at Young Living Farms.

Madden getting a summer hair cut for his 1st birthday

The annual Ute Stampede enjoyed with family and friends

Pioneer Day celebration in Mona

family get together with Grandma Morgan who is 97 years old

Lake Powell with our Manti buddies

Girl's Trip to Hawaii

Running and races have been a big part of my summer. I'm so excited that there is a growing interest within my family too!

A great day at the pool, and without RAIN!

The Demolition Derby another family favorite!

Kids being kids

Having some fun times in Logan

Family get together for Madden's 1st birthday

A wild 4-wheeling adventure!

It started out beautiful and sunny and in the end we were black and blue from getting pelted with hail!

A new blessing named, NASH, joined our family this summer :)

Mansfield Family Reunion

Luke's Baptisim

Labor Day at the zoo, another REALLY fun day!

Eating in the dirt with the family on Labor Day weekend

So summer 2011 has basically come to an end. Before I did this post I felt like it was over with before we were able to do much. However it looks like to me we had a great summer. I'm so grateful for the wonderful family and friends I'm blessed with to be able to spend it with.

I'VE BEEN...Doing the Hula!!!

2011-08-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

You've heard the saying, "It's who you know, not what you know." I've got to say, I'm pretty lucky to know some pretty great people!

I got invited to go to Maui with my Manti friends. I'm excited to blog about our trip. It's been a long time since I've done a post and this is definitely worth posting about.

In February our friends, the Stevens family were going to Maui and since our friend Fred is from there they invited him to come and act as tour guide. Since he and his wife couldn't leave their business at the same time he asked George to go along with him so they would be "third wheels" together. I didn't have anymore days left at school so I couldn't have gone anyway and I was actually excited for George to be able to go. Angie, Fred's wife, told me that we would do a girls trip in the summer. I said, "for sure!" But I seriously didn't think much about it happening.

Then, just a few weeks ago George's phone rang and he said, "ya sure she can go. That will be fun for you guys." Then he handed me the phone. It was Angie saying that she'd ran across a good deal on flights to Maui and wanted to see if I would like to go. Who wouldn't? So by morning the flights were booked and we were committed. (it's at this point I want to thank my sweet and understanding grandson, Luke, for being willing to put off his baptism day so that I could be there) The plans were made so quickly that I didn't realize that I would be gone for Luke's big day. I was sick!
This trip was planned to be low maintenance, rejuvinating and relaxing. PERFECT!

Like I said about people to know, the Taukei'aho's are the family to know when in Maui. Along with Fred and Angie they made are trip everything we were hoping for. It started from the minute we arrived at the airport with three of them there to help take some of our bags. I don't think we'd given much thought to the fact that there was NO WAY that we would have ever been able to fit all our bags in our rental car.

Una, grandma, Aneo, her husband, Angie

even if I did remember everyone's names, I'd never know how to spell them!

A lot of Fred's family works at several different resorts around the island. We got a good deal on rooms at the Royal Kahana Outrigger which is where Tongan Angie works. We had a nice big condo that was perfect for all five of us. The view from our room was great too!

Since we got there around 10:00pm we basically got ourselves situated and went to bed so that we'd be ready for relaxation and rejuvination the next day.

Since I'm naturally an early riser. I got up and took a walk along the beach.

Then I went out along the road to scope out a good running route. I was happy to see a lot of other runners out and about so I went and changed into my running clothes and headed out. I kind of like running unknown places. I ended up going all the way to the Ritz Carlton on the west end then looped up onto the highway to come back. I loved it, I was in Hawaii after all.

Running along the Ritz golf course

We decided to start things off right, and that was by eating breakfast at the Gazebo. It's one of our very favorite places! A little out of the way place on the pool deck of some older condos. You can ALWAYS expect to wait, but it's ALWAYS worth the wait. They have the very best banana mac pancakes in the world!

After breakfast we were ready to hit the beach. We parked ourselves on loungers and spent several hours just laying around and then cooling ourselves off in the ocean. We even got to see a sea turtle. It got us all excited for snorkeling.

That night we went to Front Street for dinner and shopping.

The waitress who celebrated with George and the gang (Karri was there too) in February as he celebrated three birthday's in one week at Bubba Gump's. Finally by the third she figured things out!

Friday morning I had made arrangements to meet a new running buddy I had ran into the morning before at 5:00am to go for a run. Sadly I was stood up! I never saw her again. Hmmm, you've got to wonder??? I discovered that 5:00am is still pitch black. So I sat in the lobby waiting for my Garmin to locate the satelites and for it to be light enough to dare run. Finally at 5:40 both happened and I set out in the opposite direction. This way had sidewalks and a shoulder to run on so it was less death defying.

Una works at the Ritz and made arrangements for us to enjoy a FREE breakfast buffet. George had also done this and he made certain that I knew to take my time so that I could enjoy everything they had to offer. Sadly I felt stuffed after the first plate, but I have to admit it didn't stop me. After the third or forth I had to give up. Everyone there loves Una and so they all loved us too. We were treated like true VIP's.

After breakfast Una took us on a private tour of the Ritz grounds. First attempt failed due to a flat tire !

We spent the remainder of the day basically chilling. We toured around town, and ate and shopped on Front Street again.

Saturday was planned as Kahalui shopping day. We got up early so that we could be to the Swap Meet when it first opened. I've decided that I'm not really much of a shopper. After walking through, or at least passed all the booths twice and buying all that I wanted to. I decided to find me a nice little bench and do one of my favorite things, people watch.
It's kind of funny because I sat there and visited with men who were patiently waiting for their shopper wives. One of my new friends was this guy, Arthur Wong Duck. He reminded me of Papa (my father-in-law) in some ways. He knew everyone and everything and even carried important documents and check stubs to prove it!

After the swap meet we took a side trip up to the Iao Valley. It was so pretty!

From there we were on to more shopping and of course eating. This is the results of the marathon shopping day. This is where everyone began to question where all of this was going to fit into their luggage.

Sunday was another really great day of our vacation. We started it out at the Gazebo again (a person has to eat), Then we went to church at the Lahaina 2n Ward (Tongan speaking) where Una presides as bishop. It was so cool to be there amongst such sweet people and to feel the spirit. We all had headsets to listen to a translator, but my favorite part was listening to the congregation sing hymns in Tongan without music. It was beautiful!

After church the family invited us to Sunday dinner for Tongan food. It was really good. We ate a corn beef dish wrapped in taro leaves, bread fruit and tapiocca (which I know idea was a plant), chop suey, fish and of course fresh pineapple.

Monday we had a big day planned, Hana! We set out at about 7am and stopped in a little town to get us a box lunch for our journey. Karri and I had done what we thought to be the trip to Hana when we were in Maui a year and half earlier with our husbands. It was only later that we realized that we never quite made it to Hana after all. This made us very determined to get to Hana plus further. Our goal was to spend good quality time at the Seven Sacred Pools.

We started out making really good time. We still made all the required big stops and took MILLIONS of pictures along the way of all the beautiful scenery. We spent time eating our lunch and enjoying the black sand area and then drove on to the little town of Hana. We loved it! We were so impressed by the neatly manicured yards. We knew that there was an LDS chapel there and was hoping to find it. We actually gave up, but took a wrong turn and ran right into it. So sweet!

If we thought to road to Hana was beautiful, we were in for a treat on the road past Hana. More stops and MILLIONS of more pictures.

Hamoa Beach

Some of the cute beach cottages along the way

Can't miss out on a roadside shopping stand!

I'm sad to say that I don't have any of the pictures from the Seven Sacred Pools yet. I didn't pack my camera in. Angie took a lot of the scenery but I haven't got a copy yet. In order to have proof that we were there and swimming, some even cliff jumping, I asked a family that we had run into a few days earlier and then all along the road trip that day to take our pictures and then email them. We're waiting... Hopefully they come through.
Here's a generic one until then...

We decided to make the full circle and do the back way. It was an adventure! One lane roads, gravel and dirt in some places. You really had to be on your toes and always cautious of on coming cars. The East side of the island was not at all what you would picture in Hawaii. It was more like what we find out west, dry and baren. By the time we got back to Lahaina it was dark and late. We grabbed something to take back to eat at the condo, showered and hit the sack. We had a great day!!!

We had planned Tuesday to be our big snorkeling day. We started out snorkeling in Honoloa Bay. Just the walk to the water alone was incredibly beautiful. I wished we would have had underwater cameras because we saw some totally cool fish.

After we snorkeled there for awhile we went down to Black Rock, a popular place for snorkeling and a really nice beach. Karri, Staci and I went out and snorkeled a bit. There wasn't much to see, especially in comparison with where we had just come from. I was getting ready to turn back but Karri yelled to me that there was a sea turtle. I swam over and I'm not just saying it, but there was the biggest sea turtle I had ever seen in my life. It was just the three of us and then one other guy. The turtle kept swimming right up to and around us. At first it kind of freaked me out but then I realized he was just a friendly OLD grandpa kind of turtle. It was awesome!

Sadly the last day of our vacation came. We just decided to take it easy and RELAX for the day. Once again Una arranged for us to have an incredibly delicious breakfast buffet at the Ritz and then we just hung out at the pools there. It was heaven:)

We had dinner at Whaler's Cove so that we could enjoy the last Hawaiian sunset that we'd be seeing in awhile. A great way to end a wonderful trip.

What an awesome opportunity it was to go to Hawaii on a "girl's trip". Thanks to George and to my great Manti friends, I had a super time!

I've been...HANGING OUT WITH LOTS OF GIRLS AND A LITTLE GUY

2011-07-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

I have recently returned from our annual "girl's get-a-way" and still haven't been able to catch up on my sleep!

We, fifteen young and old women, plus one little guy gathered together in sunny St. George. And, was it ever sunny! Last year we went the second week of June and had to lay by the pool wrapped in our towels. We decided to push it back a bit in order to guarentee some higher temps. We were not to be disappointed. No beach towels needed! In fact I don't even think we needed them to dry off.

We started out for our little vacation on Saturday after singing 'Happy Birthday' to Brayden. Kristy had our games ready from the get go. The first one was called, 'SWIFT Switch'. She had the passengers each draw out a colored M&M which put them in a certain car (I was a driver so my spot was unchangeable). She had planned that everytime we saw a Swift truck on the freeway we were to pull over and make a Swift Switch. Apparently after loading up and getting ourselves comfortable in our surroundings and then noticing that we wouldn't be driving more than 5 miles at a time without switching she canceled the game. But, nothing was loss because she had our travel bingo cards all ready for us to get working on. I love all of Kristy's games, she get's us in the party atmosphere right from the spot. We have a blast being silly! I wish we had pictures to document all the crazy things we did.

After getting into St. George we had dinner at Pizza Factory and then went to unload our things at the condo, brush our teeth and head out to Tuachuan to see Grease.

Connie, Kylee, Kaydee & Mya at Tuachaun

McKel and Melinda

The Pink Ladies & One

DeAnn, wishing she could be Sandra Dee

On Sunday we allowed ourselves time to sleep in a bit, but more importantly time 15 girls to get ready in two bathrooms and then found a church for an 11:00 sacrament meeting. We could tell by the fact that the entire permiter of the church house was designated handicap parking spots that we were in an 'older' ward. We worried that since we are such young spring chickens we'd stick out! But no worries, somehow we fit right in! It was a nice meeting with some great speakers.

The young girls went to a singles ward hoping to find the man of their dreams. I guess they were out of town that day!

After eating lunch at the condo we spent the rest of the day relaxing around the pool and trying to rid ourselves of our farmers tan. All expect for Kristy, who made certain she didn't get a line of any sort for fear it would be a burn. She armed herself with her giant umbrella and a can of 50spf sunscreen.

We love being able to stay in one place all together, so in order to make the most of the space our condo offered a few of us slept out on the deck. I for one, considered it the best bed in the house. By the time we went to bed at night the temperature was perfect and it great to wake up to the bright morning sun and birds chirping.

Food is always a big part of any of our get togethers, why is that?

Strawberry & Banana Crepes from The Bear Paw

Greek Omlette-Bear Paw

An extra treat at Iceberg

A couple of our other favorite stops; Nelson's Frozen Custurd, Swig (multiple times), Cafe Rio. Don't worry anyone, we do NOT go hungry on these outtings!

Because of all the food we tried to be deligent in keeping up our exercise routines by talking evening walks and early morning runs.

I was glad I was in the 5:30am group of runners before the sun came up! Running in the heat is not my favorite!!

Random pictures of a great time together.

We were glad to have a guy amongst us. Madden had us laughing all the time. For instance we were laughing at this particular moment!

Grandma Red, doing her "something ODD" in public for her bingo game

McKel

One again, we had a really good time. This is a tradition that will hopefully go on and on. Regardless of where we get together we just know that it's important for us to find the time to do it. We're blessed to have great relationships amoung a great family.

I've been.... UP HIGH, ON AN ABSOLUTE HIGH!!!

2011-06-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to do this post, but I know when I get all the pictures that everyone else took there will be many more that I'll want to put on. Who knows there may be two posts!

It seemed like it was forever away, but finally the day came and we were able to participate in the WASATCH BACK RAGNAR RELAY. From the moment we signed up, throughout the training, during the race and now through the pain I'm feeling, there has been an excitement that's hard to describe. In a way I'm sad that it's over. Although, runners have the opportunity to preregister on June 22nd, (which we will definitely do) and the cycle will start all over again.

We decided to leave Nephi at noon on Thursday to head to Logan. It's a good thing we decided to go that early because it seemed to take us forever to get there. We had to make some stops along the way, all which were important and race related. We finally made it to Logan just in time to get loaded with carbs. We ate at Fredrico's and sadly I didn't take pictures of our pizza and pasta feast. After a couple more errands and a stop at Sonic for a cream slush we went back to the hotel and began to decorate our vehicle. We had big plans, but we were beginning to panic about not getting to bed early enough so we quickly threw it together. Next year we'll be on top of things!

Ann, painting a perfect image of herself

DeAnn and Me

Our start time was 5:00am and we were told to be there an hour and a half early for the safety demonstration, packet pick-up and all that kind of stuff. We decided an hour would work so we set our alarms for 3:30 and planned to be out the door at 4:00am. Give or take 10 minutes, we did pretty good.

It was a COLD morning so not only that was making us shiver our nerves were getting to us too.

The dark and cold parking lot where they were holding the safety demos

The first group of runners anxiously waiting 5:00am at the starting line

Ann, setting her Garmin at take off on the first leg of the race

With that the race officially began. Ann started out on her first run, a 6.9 mile (hard) leg. We hurried to the Excursion to drive to a spot where we could see her pass by and cheer her on. We were surprised by how long it was taking the runners to come by but later found out that the person in the lead made a wrong turn and everyone followed. This mistake added nearly a mile to Ann's run. She made super time and made up for the mistake. We were proud!! She set the standard for us all from the start.

Ann coming in at the finish of leg 1 and making a "kill" at the same time.

Amberlee was our 2nd runner and so took the slap bracelet from Ann and headed off on her 6.7 mile (hard) leg. It was light now and we were already so impressed by how pretty our surroundings were. It was fun to see people out in their yards cheering on the runners as they ran by.

Tammy, obeying the rules with the flag, giving Amberlee some water

Sue Ann started her 5.6 mile leg in Hyrum and ended up in the cute little town of Paradise. Truly all these little towns we passed through looked like Paradise!

Sue Ann coming in like a champion!

Tammy took off on leg 4, a 5.1 (moderate) run. She ran to where the road begins to ascend Avon Pass.

Tammy in her fun and funky shoes

DeAnn started us up Avon Pass along a dirt road on a 7.4 mile (very hard) leg. Once again the scenery was so green and pretty. I was honestly overwhelmed by the beauty. We saw a moose down by a river on this leg. DeAnn was too busy looking where to plant her feet to probably have noticed it.

By now, I've hit every single Honey Bucket stop along the way. I've never "urinated" so much in my life. It was definitely nerve related. I started to worry that there is now way on earth that I could be staying hydrated because as fast as I was drinking, it was coming out.

I was jealous that my teamates had their legs over and were able to relax for awhile and mine was looming ahead, a 6.9 mile (very hard) leg,

When DeAnn came into the exchange she handed over the bracelet and I was on my way, trying only to think good thoughts. It was 10:30am and starting to warm up a bit. As I started out I immediately felt like my stomach was hollow. I had worried about what to eat for fear I'd cause problems with tummy issues. I had a banana, granola bar and some water. I think I could have eaten a bit more. After a pretty good climb for a mile and a half I fnally begin the (knee jarring) decent down Avon Pass, by that time my mind was off my empty stomach and focusing on where to plant my feet while flying down the mountain.

My fun had begun

I think I had a slight advantage going into major exchanges, at least at this one. Cafe Rio was one of the sponsors and they offered a sombaro for runners to wear for a 1/2 mile at the end for a coupon for a free meal. No problemo!

Van 1 had done it! We had all made it through our first 6 legs and right on time too! It was time now to cheer our teamates in van 2 on and relax for a couple of hours.

Amberlee, Sue Ann, Connie, DeAnn, Ann, Tammy

The exchange was in the little town of Liberty. It didn't take us long to realize that now that our nerves were somewhat calmer, we were hungry! We found a grassy spot along the highway and made us some sandwiches, ate and cheered on the runners and they ran by.

The sad part about being in seperate vans is that it is hard to have the opportunity to cheer each other on. We did drive most of their routes on our way to Snow Basin where the next major exchange was. We weren't envying the climb they were going to have to run to meet us up there.

We got up to Snow Basin where they had some booths set up. We all decided that we deserved to treat ourselves to some Ragnar Relay hoodies and or jackets. After our shopping spree we tried hard to get a little rest. For some of us that was hard!

Sue Ann just getting some beauty rest

DeAnn was the only one that got some honest to goodness sleep, lucky her.

As Shawna came in and Ann took off we had a few minutes to share the excitement with the van 2 girls. They were loving it just as much as we were!

Jamie, Shannon, Shawna, Jill, Mary, Erin

Ann ran 8.3 (very hard) miles down into Mt. Green. Along the way she made a friend who ran along side of her. 25 year old Benjamin. He had followed behind her for awhile and finally said, "I think if we can run together we can finish this. I'm needing some motivation to keep running and I have a feeling you can get me through." They chatted the rest of the leg and were able to encourage each other to keep at it. It was cool to see them hug at the end of their exhausting long run. It's cool how finding a friend along the way can be such a support.

Next up was Amberlee. She was running the leg that the team was designed around, the one that went directly behind her house, leg 14-3.0 miles (easy). It was awesome to see the support of her family as we passed by. Another thing that made our day!

Leg 15 was Sue Ann's. It was a 4.9 mile (moderate) starting in Milton. Once again it was fun to see all the people out sitting in their lawn chairs cheering the runners on along the way.

I love her arms!

Sue passed on to Tammy and she ran to Morgan High School where she exchanged with DeAnn

The look on Tammy's face tells it all, relief and SATISFACTION!!

I didn't have a picture so I though I'd put in this map to show this leg of the race.

This is the part of the race that was absolutely awe inspiring to me! I don't think I have ever felt so good running. I had eaten some energy jelly beans before I started and a pack of GU during the run so perhaps that was it, but I really don't think so. For one thing the beautiful area was once again amazing, the temperature was perfect, the time of day was great. I started running at 7:06pm. One of the volunteers at the starting point had said, "why in the world did you pick this leg to do?" and then two other runners at the start told me how bad it was. I started out a bit nervous because of what they had said, but quickly things just 'felt right' somehow.

I kept reminding myself that this was just our basic Sheep Herd Lane run and I could do it. Then I started having several other people along the way tell me I could do it too. It was SO amazing to feel EVERYONE supporting each other. It wasn't about individual teams and beating each other. There was such a feeling of unity. I have honestly never felt anything like it.

Near the end of the leg I rounded a turn and was pretty sure that I would be able to see the exchange, instead I saw a VERY steep hill ahead and no exchange in sight. Normally I would have crashed! But in a crazy way I excitedly took up the challenge of running all the way up that hill to the end. In fact I didn't walk one time in the entire race. I felt more mentally strong than I had ever felt and it was awesome.

When I reached the top and heard Jill yelling to Mary, "Mary, she's here, she's here!" I passed her the bracelet and then couldn't hold the tears back. It's hard to describe how gratifying it was, but it was definitely a very COOL feeling.

From there we went to No. Summit High School for a yummy speghetti dinner. We were able to find a dark hall to catch a couple hours of sleep. Luckily I had a pair of ear plugs that made all the difference. At 1:30am we got a text from Jamie saying to be at the exchange in an hour. We got up and hit the road. It was of course very dark and we weren't exactly sure where Oakley was. We found a map on my phone and then also followed traffic. As we exited the freeway we came to a stand still. There were lots and lots of cars getting off as well and at the bottom of the off ramp was an exchange. We told Ann to quickly hop out and we'd let the other group know she was there. We found a place to park and pretty soon, Jamie called back and said that they couldn't find her anywhere. It was shortly after that that we realized we were at the wrong exchange. Not only one off but two exchanges away from where we needed to be. There was a non stop line of cars driving along the two laned highway with runners in the other lane so you could no way pass. It took us what seemed like forever to get there. Nearly 40 minutes of time was lost! But there wasn't anything we could do about it. We dropped Ann off in the darkness and drove up the road to watch for her and see that everything was okay.

Amberlee had a dark run, and Sue Ann's 7.7 mile (hard) run started out in the dark too. They all did great and felt good too. Tammy, DeAnn and I all had runs into and around Heber City. That is where we finished up the last of our legs and turned it over to van 2 to bring us into the finish line.

After we finished we went to Mcdonald's to grab something to eat, but most importantly we went to Mcdonald's to clean up a bit. We were definitely a bit SMELLY and it was time to freshen up!!!

We really wanted to cheer on and support Shannon and Jamie as they begin the steep climp from Wasatch State Park into Park City along a mountainous dirt road. We're so glad that we did because it gave us a greater appreciation of their EXTRA hard work and determination. We're talking making a climb of over 3000 ft in seven miles between the two legs. They were awesome!

Shannon, even walking she made several kills!

Jill, getting ready to shed her jacket and take off down a LONG 7.3 mile (very hard) hill

Remnants of the over abundance of snow that almost altered the route over the top

The life of living in a car for two days, it's a good thing you can't smell through photos!

Jamie, showing us how she's loving every minute

After we cheered our teamates on we left for Park City High School where the finish line festivities were happening. We waited there for van 2 team members to arrive and to await the arrival of Shawna so that we could all run across the finish line together.

Sadly, that's the end of the pictures on my camera. I can't wait to see our team picture, and when I do, I'll get a copy and add it to my blog.

The Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay was one of the very best things I have ever done! I was truly on a high that lasted for several days. As you can see, I love talking about it. It's kind of hard to explain what made it so great. I would have to say that there is a combination of several different factors, the team of great friends and family, the excitement of the unknown, the beauty of the course, the positive energy that is all around, and the accomplishment of conquering the challenge of each leg that you run.

I'm so blessed to have such awesome friends, sisters and cousins. It absolutely makes things like this perfect in everyway.

I have to say that I love the fact that I am almost 50 years old and able to do things like this. We talked about whether or not we'd do it again next year, and I said, "We need to do it every year until we can't!" That's my goal! I'm hoping and praying I've got a lot more years left in me.

I've been....TO DINNER

2011-05-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

In March my mom had the great opportunity to go to Hawaii with a couple of her step children. My sisters and I were really excited for her. But, at the same time we were wishing we were there too! So to make it up to ourselves we decided to go to dinner and pretend that we were in Hawaii instead of Orem.

Since it was such a fun evening of getting together to visit, laugh and eat, we decided to make it an every-other-month event. I was the one who instigated that particular evening and so we decided to just go down the line (age wise) and that person will select the time and place that we will meet. The date is already decided and set in stone, the first Thursday of the odd months.

DeAnn was in charge of May's sister dinner, which happened to fall on May, 5th, Cinco De Mayo. We were quite sure we'd be enjoying some delicious Mexican flare somewhere. We kept trying to get information out of her but it was all in vain. The only thing we knew is the time that we were leaving.

The mystery started to unravel in the Home Depot parking lot. DeAnn had prepared

some Cinco De Mayo trivia for us. The winners won the privilage of being able to eat that particular course in the correct and standard order; appetizer/salad, main dish, dessert. Those of us who didn't answer correctly had to draw to determine which course we would be eating at each location. Oh ya, the winner also got to draw where we would be eating at.

We were shocked and dismayed when we realized that we would be eating our first courses at non other than MAVERICK!

Luckily my first course was to be dessert, so I was feeling happy that at least I would have to waste my main dish at a convenience store.

I tried my first ever yogurt cone from Maverick. It was Acai Berry and it was DELICIOUS! I'm addicted!

After the first course, we went back to the car for another round of trivia. I lost that round too! The routine was the same, and as the winning sister (I don't remember who) drew out the little slip of paper telling us where we would be going for the REAL meal our hearts were pounding. When she unraveled the paper we were all ready to boycott when she read MAVERICK!

We were all thinking, 'joke's up, we're hungry for some good food!' But DeAnn didn't let down. We had to draw to see what course we would be eating this time around. I drew out my main course. The only thing I could think, is that George would be so proud of me for humbling myself to eat FOOD at a convenience store.

The pickings were slim, but in the end I chose a TORPEDO. It was a cream cheese and habanna pepper Torpedo, and once again I actually really liked it!

Kristy, Melinda & RaNae were splitting an appetizer

Mom had a FRESH hot dog as her main course

At this point we were all wondering what would be in store for us. Surely we'd end with our last course at somewhere like Ruby River, which was right across the street. Well, once again after the trivia questions were answered and a bit of history of the Cinco De Mayo holiday read to us, the winner selected our final place. After eating two courses at Maverick we were actually fairly pleased when it was McDONALD'S. The course I was supposed to have there was my appetizer/salad. I chose a grilled chicken wrap as an appetizer. Even it was pretty good!

After we had stuffed ourselves, DeAnn informed us that we had another treat ahead. She directed us to Fat Cat's Bowling Alley where we played a 'not so typical' game of bowling. She had us draw out Skittles. Each color had a different challenge associated with it. For example; red-bowl with your opposite hand, yellow-bowl with your eyes closed etc.

We had a great evening, and we've got DeAnn to thank for it! It sounds like our little sister outtings are going to be anything but boring from here on out. I'm excited for the next one in July where Kristy will be our hostess.

I've been... ON A BUSINESS TRIP!

2011-05-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right, I've been on a so called business trip. Luckily there was a little pleasure involved too. It kind of reminds me of a mullet, business in front, party in back!

The business part of the trip was serious stuff! This year Sue Ann, Ann & I took the plunge and was able to secure us a spot in the St. George Runner's Series. This in turn secures us a spot in the St. George Marathon if we "take care of business" and fulfill the requirements. The requirements are actually pretty simple, run in two Runner's Series races in and around Washington County. It doesn't ever seem too hard to take a required trip to sunny St.George.
The first race we ran was the Painter Motor Half Marathon in February. George came with me and we had a great time. He was a great support and fun to be with. We had a really fun weekend, but there was one thing lacking, SHOPPING! Since we knew we had another race to complete, we knew we'd have to make it a "girls trip."
We decided that since we had a choice of either doing the Hurricane Half or 5K, we would do the 5K so that we had more time to "take care of business" in the retail shops.
Our weekend started out on official business when we had a Pantry Secret's Bread Class at Josie Jones Bell's house. Since she knew we were coming, she asked us if we would do a class at her house while we were in town. It turned out great. See it was a business trip!
The next morning we arose early and kept trying hard to convince ourselves that the race we were about to run was going to be a piece of cake. We run more on our typical runs so it really shouldn't be a big deal at all, right? It's funny how just the word RACE can stress and physc you out, but it does!
However it turned out to be quite a fun race and not too stressful at all. It was cold, but we're used to that, the wind was blowing, but we're used to that too! We all ran our personal bests and even took 1st place in our age divisions. It was fun that this year we are all in different age catagories so we were all winners.

I even won 2nd place overall in the woman's master group. I'm yet to find out what it means to be a master! They awarded me that prize first, I received $45 in gift certificates and a silver medal. Sadly because I had won that they wouldn't let me win the gold medal in my age catagory too. I kind of felt slighted since Ann and Sue Ann were sporting their pure gold medals and I only got to sport a faux silver.

I did get to go shopping at Classic Sports in Hurricane and spend my $30 gift certificate. I bought me a pair of sandals. That was fun! The rest of the day, we got down to business doing what we do best, eating and shopping.

So with the preliminary business taken care of we are getting ready to get down to the real business are start our official training for the marathon. I'm still asking myself, "what the heck are you thinking?" but I figure it's now or never. Thankfully I have such great friends/business partners. I couldn't nor wouldn't do it without my running buddies! (ALL OF THEM)

I've been...AFLOAT!

2011-03-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

And because "I've been...AFLOAT" my unfinished projects are still unfinished! But, I do have to say it has been worth it!
George and I plus sixteen other friends just returned from a Western Caribbean cruise. It was great! The weather was pretty much perfect and I tried really really hard to bring it back with us, but it must have slipped through my fingers.
We had a fun mix of friends, most who didn't know one another at all. It was fun to see everyone become familiar with each other and become fast friends. I feel blessed to have SO MANY friends in our lives.

Our Itinerary:

We sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale, FA. We all flew in on different flights, but luckily Mike and Casie were there a couple of days earlier so they shuttled most everyone from the airport to the ship (Thanks Mike!)

After boarding the ship it was only a matter of minutes before we found ourselves filling our plates in an attempt to get our stomachs stretched out for the coming week. I had been trying hard prior to our cruise to lose a few pounds and I vowed to myself that I would maintain control. Sadly I broke the vow within the first 15 minutes on the ship!

This picture doesn't do it justice, but our first night was the night of "the big moon." I know it had a specific title but I don't remember what it was exactly, anyway it was soooo pretty!

Our first port of call was Grand Cayman. We had made prior arrangements to take a private boat to Sting Ray City. Our guide, Tina, enthusiastically welcomed us or at least Terry!

Jeff and Natalie making friends with a star fish

Omar, preparing us some VERY fresh conch, the "catch of the moment." I couldn't believe that I was actually brave enough to try it. However I'll admit I didn't realize it was raw when I did. Had I known that I probably would have chickened out. After he cut it all up, he mixed up a really good marinade and served it with crackers.

This is Esther. She was a professional diver and so accomodating and helpful. The crew made us feel so safe and comfortable. The swells were a bit high and so the park service wasn't allowing boats to go to the sand bar so instead they took us to the open waters near there and let us out to snorkel. The waters were amazing! They were so pretty and clear. They caught some sting rays for us to hold and even kiss. It was awesome!

Mike & Casie

The next stop was in Roatan, Hondorus. The area we docked at was so pretty and inviting. We couldn't believe how clean everything was. On this day we had scheduled a zip lining trip. It was a lot of fun! We all wanted to do it again.

After we got finished ZIPPING through the jungle we found us a couple of vans and drivers to take us on a tour of the island. I always like to see how people live in an area. Roatan is such a pretty island.

While on our little tour we wanted to see monkeys in the jungle but instead we got to see them at a cute little petting zoo.

Our drivers then took us to a cool little beach called, Half Moon Bay. It was a cozy little area in the jungle with little bungalos that people could rent equiped with hamocks hanging on the porches. It was a great snorkeling and dive spot too!

Cute little girls selling their goods

Jeff, testing the waters

Terry & Tammy, aah sweet!

Third port of call, Cozumel, Mexico. We were feeling adventurous and so decided upon renting some Dune Buggy hot rods to tour the island.

Our first stop was at some Mayan ruins. We had a tour guide that was passionate about his job. It made it really interesting, and he assured us that 2012 is not the end of the world, it's just the end of an era in the Mayan calendar!

After we left the ruins we drove around the island. The bright blue water was once again, amazing!

We found a open air restaurant to have some delicious nachos at and another beach to do some snorkeling.

After another day at relaxing at sea, we enjoyed our last and final stop at Princess Cays in the Bahamas. It was a perfect way to end the trip.

Great times! Thanks to all our friends who joined us in the fun; Mike & Casie, Natalie & Jeff, Terry & Tammy, Charlie & Darlene, Wayne & Annette, Bob & Janet, Burt & Sue and Randall & Paige.

I've Been...LAZY

2011-03-11T20:41:00.000-08:00

I have a good idea for my blog! Each of my posts are going to begin with, "I've Been...." I figured this would give me a starting point for each entry. But, sadly since I came up with the idea I've been racking my brain to figure out what "I've Been...up to." It occured to me that "I've Been...LAZY!"

You would think that since Spring is around the corner I could motivate myself to do something productive, but it's just not happening. For some reason my motivation seems to come in the Fall.

I do have many things I want to do (and need to do) however. I've even started a list!

1. Finish Mya's bed skirt
2. Take Tanner shopping for fabric for a new quilt (his is turning to rags and up until recently he has refused to even think of me making a new one. The other day he told me that it would be okay as long as I made it exactly like his "little blankie." )

3. This and other pillows

4. Do some painting touch-ups on my baseboards, YUK!

5. Finish at least two of my UNFINISHED quilts.

Okay I'm I think that's good for now. Just think if I get these five things checked off my list I'll have a pretty good "I've Been...PRODUCTIVE" blog post to do.

It's Okay...

2011-02-21T16:29:00.000-08:00

I ran across a blog of one of Kylee's friends and liked her post so since I've been needing and wanting to update my blog I decided to go with this...

IT'S OKAY....

to be proud of yourself.

to spend nearly the entire day lying around and being lazy when know one is home.

to avoid answering the phone when you know it's a telemarketer.

to lick the beaters and eat dough (of any kind).

to ask for help.

to tear up during a Hallmark commercial.

to have way more shoes than you need.

to think YOUR grandkids are the cutest kids out there.

if you don't complete everything on your "to do" list.

if you can't whistle with your fingers.

to fill up shopping carts on every internet shopping site you visit and then just leave it cruising around in cyber space.

At least these things are okay with me!

I RUN....

2011-01-23T16:36:00.000-08:00

Yes, I RUN. I know that surprises a lot of people, but believe me it surprises me MORE! If anyone would have ever told me 12 years ago that I would ever be able to run a mile I would have laughed. I clearly remember the day I suggested to George that we go over to the high school track and run a lap. I made him promise me that he would not let me stop until I had ran ONE complete lap. I even gave him permission to use any type of verbal encouragement he could come up with, even if it hurt my feelings. I have to admit, it didn't help. I COULD NOT run ONE lap. In fact, I don't think I even got much further than half lap. I was pathetic. My crazy hold up was a SEVERE pain under my tongue. It made it so I could hardly breathe. This ailment had plagued me for years everytime I overexerted myself. At that point I concluded once and for all I was NOT a RUNNER!

A year or so later, my co-worker Kandi and I were on a little diet and exercise stint. She had just had a baby and wanted to work off some of the baby fat, and I had just had my third and last baby ten years prior to that and also wanted to work off some of my baby fat. So, for lunch we'd grab something quick and healthy and then head out to the track and take a brisk walk during our lunch break.

Now, although I have some short stubby legs, they can actually walk at a pretty decent pace. Kandi was having to break into a jog to keep up with them. This should have been a boost to my ego but instead I felt like a slacker. Here she was JOGGING and I was merely WALKING. Finally I gave into the pressure and pushed the memory of the "lap never taken" out of my mind. I started to JOG! I still remember completing that first lap around the ENTIRE track and being absolutely elated! I had done what I NEVER thought I could do.

From there the weather got cold and we decided to spend our lunch break on the inside track at the high school. One day we were running our typical four laps before we went into our walk and a class came strolling into the gym. I couldn't very well quite now, could I? These COOL high school students would think I was slug. I had no other choice than to keep going. By the time it was time for us to go back to work, I had RAN my first ever MILE!

I believe it was at that point that I never looked back. I started running in the morning with some friends so that I'd could add a little more distance because I had made a goal to run the UTE STAMPEDE 5K FUN RUN.

After we had finished the race that year, one of my friends said, "Can we quit now?" I told her that we couldn't quit until we're running in the Senior Games. (which will be here sooner than I care to think about)

Along the way my running partners have changed due to knee injuries and life but I'm SO grateful for the great group of friends I have been able to run with over the past 10 years and the newbies who have joined us since. (Sue Ann, Jill, Tammy B. Tammy M. and Ann) They truly motivate and inspire me, not only with running but with life as well!

A few years ago we did a MARATHON RELAY at Thanksgiving Point. It was great! We had five team members and we each had to run a 5+ mile leg. When it was all said and done, we had ran a 26.2 mile marathon. I was satisfied! I even thought that I could proudly boast that, "yes, I ran a marathon." No one needed to know the details! But those friends of mine, the ones who motivate and inspire me weren't so satisfied. From there they thought we should try a HALF MARATHON. I caved and agreed but made it known that I would NEVER do anymore than that. I've keep that stand for a years now, especially everytime I finish a half. The idea of turning right around and doing it again makes me physically and mentally ill.

However motivation and inspiration keeps on coming, how great is that! Jill, Tammy B. and Tammy M. all did a marathon in 2009. Sue Ann and I firmly stood our ground and said, "NO WAY!" We watched them train through the entire summer and we'd join them to a certain point, the point of where they started HATING it. We were trying to convince ourselves that we were SO GLAD it was them and not us.

When they had all three accomplished that great and ONE TIME ONLY goal, they were proud and we were proud of them too! Sue Ann and I talked about it and admitted we were a tiny bit jealous that they could say that they had OFFICIALLY ran a MARATHON and we couldn't. In a moment of weakness we said, "LET'S DO IT!" We put in for the St. George Marathon and realizing we were disappointed when we didn't get in, we knew it was time to make the committment once and for all and make plans to accomplish the goal.

So that we are sure to get in to the St. George Marathon this year we joined the Runner's Series. We have to run two St. George races and then VIOLE' we're in! Our buddies who insisted ONE TIME ONLY will be joining us too!

I know I've got a long way to go, both physically and mentally, but I've already come A LOT further than I EVER dreamed I could!

Running is a BIG DEAL, merely for the fact that it's something that doesn't come easy or natural for me. It's never easy, I don't have a runner's body, or a long beautiful stride. I don't even have a proper runners gait, but running makes me feel like I've accomplished something BIG and because of THAT I know I can accomplish MANY other BIG things in my life all because I RUN.

2011 Painters St. George Half Marathon

2010 IN REVIEW

2011-01-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

2010: A pretty darn good year!

It's obvious that what makes a great year, is a GREAT family. We are truly blessed to have such an awesome one! We've had a wonderful year enjoying several moments together.

As I looked back through pictures taken throughout the year it's crazy to me to see how fast the little people in our lives are growing! Not only are they growing individually, our family is growing like leaps and bounds. We are on our way to having SEVEN little ones, with the sixth one coming in just a couple of weeks! It looks like 2011 is off to a GREAT start as well.

Here are just a few highlights of the year:

JANUARY: Tubing with the family at Soldier Hollow. The boys loved it, and when they are having so much fun, we have fun too! Ellie turned 2!

FEBRUARY: My girls, grandmas and I went to San Francisco to see Wicked. We had such a great time and are hoping to make it a every other year event.

MARCH: I aged! hence the reason for the memory loss. Nixon turned ONE!

APRIL: The annual Easter Egg Hunt at Pooper and Papa's is one of the favorite events of the year.

MAY: Luke graduated as "King of the Kindergarten"

JUNE: George and I went on a trip up the coast of California. I went to Girls Camp. We got the yard ready for summer.

JULY: Luke turned 7. Madden was born! The boys turned into cowboys!

AUGUST: Soaked in every last minute of fun in the sun with the family.

SEPTEMBER: School starts, and with it FOOTBALL!

OCTOBER: We went on a cruise to Mexico and we dressed like crazy WITCHES!

NOVEMBER: Thanksgiving at DISNEYLAND, once again with FAMILY!!!

DECEMBER: Tanner turned 5! It's special time of year to remind us of all the wonderful ways we have been BLESSED throughout the year!

I think I can honestly say, "I'm right where I should be"!

MERRY CHRISTMAS MICKEY....

2010-11-30T21:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas shopping will be a breeze this year, at least for the most part! This year Santa took the family to DISNEYLAND for Christmas over Thanksgiving. We had a great time at the "Happiest Place on Earth"! It was such a great way to start off the holidays. There is nothing I truly enjoy more than spending time with my entire family doing things we all like to do. It was a Christmas gift well worth giving!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!

FALL FUN

2010-10-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

Other than the fact that the weather starts getting cold, I really like the FUN of FALL. I doubt that Linzy would agree with me that shucking corn is any FUN at all. She HATED the cute little corn worms that we're having fun in the cobs!

However, anything you can do as a family always lends it self to FUN, whether they thought so or not!

A bit of HEE HAW'S fun...

Bampa & Ellie

The boys shooting corn cobs

Nixon taking grandma down the slide

Finally found our way out of the corn maze

Ellie and Nixon, our leaders. No wonder it took us sooo long!

Red Bear, our OTHER grandchild, I guess he's actually our GREAT grandchild since Tanner is his dad!

FUN-ABOARD A FUN SHIP...
George won us a trip through his work recently, and although the timing wasn't perfect as far as school and football goes, it was a great get away.

SOME WITCHY WOMEN FUN...

Here we are gathered together in Kristy's bedroom trying to find our new WITCHY identities. We also give her room a new identity!

Me, Linzy, Kaydee (the good witch) and Kylee

What can I say!

The sister and mommy witches

What's more FUN than getting together and laughing more than you've laughed in a long time!

I love the FUN traditions of FALL!!!

Children IN the Corn

2010-09-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

I love the simple life!!!

ROAD TRIP 2010

2010-09-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day!! The idea of spending it inside just wasn't an option. So, we decided that since we had a wedding reception to attend in Spring City and our nephew, Keaton, playing football in Monroe we'd make a day out of it and take a ROAD TRIP.

It was such a fun way to enjoy being outside!

Don't mind the bug smeared on my lip. What I did get of it sure was YUMMY!

BOYS WILL BE BOYS...

2010-09-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

Since we had a football game in the northern part of the state we decided to take advantage of the proximity to Kylee, Conner and Nixon in Logan. We loaded up Luke and Tanner to come along for the fun!

Our game was in Coalville (No. Summit), and it rained on and off throughout. The boys weren't phased in the least. They spent the entire game underneath the bleachers, I'm sure conjuring up all sorts of adventures in their minds.

Kylee and Conner live right by a beautiful trail that runs along the Logan River. The boys could explore the area for hours at a time!

Nixon is keeping an eye on them from the bridge above

They even got Bampa to make the treacherous journey across the river

Nixon trying his hand and skipping rocks

From dangerous excursions in the wild jungles of Logan to showing their diversity as up and coming artists, these two don't miss a beat!

I watched the weather forecast during the week and decided that it was going to be cool and rainy while we were there so I never even considered taking our swimsuits. Well the boys had other things in mind and since there were still small patches of blue in the sky they were insistent that we go swimming. George and I went to Walmart in hopes of finding some deals on close-out swim suits. We got lucky! George picked up a $5.00 suit with "Land Shark" written all over it. It was perfect!! I was only able to find half a suit in my size so I bought a pair of tan underwear and jokingly told Kylee that I figured they'd pass as bottoms. It was quite funny! She kept insisting they'd be too see through but I assured her I'd be spending most my time in the water so it wouldn't matter anyway. She found me a pair shorts to wear, just to be on the safe side.

Nixon & Conner

You couldn't wipe the grin off that kids face!

Bampa & Tanner

Luke finding he's braver than he thought

We're all taking advantage of those few and far between patches of blue sky

Next, onto showing more BOY skills at the bowling alley. I really needed some BOY skills that night, bumpers or not, the little guys whooped me!!

After a fun day loaded with all sorts of activities that little boys love, you can only imagine that familiar little boy scent!

They're smelling good now!

Madden can't wait until he gets to join the boys in all the fun!

FRIENDS OF MONA 4-WHEELER RIDE

2010-08-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

We were proud to be invited by DeAnn and Kevin and the other Friends of Mona to go on a 4-wheeler ride up Mona Pole Canyon. We considered it quite an honor!

This particular group of people, plus the few from Nephi that joined us, are very seasoned ATV riders. George and I, not so much!

Our guides, Kevin & DeAnn

It was such a pretty afternoon! The sky was so bright and blue!

A smorgasboard of food

Nightfall!

We had a great time and feel like we gained some good 4-wheeling experience. Driving down the mountain in the dark had to count for something too!

Entertainment by Edwards

2010-08-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

Since summer vacations is coming quickly to a close I wanted to make sure I got in a good visit to Kylee, Conner and Nixon's in Logan before I had to go back to school. We convinced Kaydee to bring the kids up to join us for part of the time.
The first night Conner provided us with some great food and entertainment at his Wells Fargo company picnic. We were a bit timid at first, but everyone was very nice and welcoming to all of us, his wives! The kids absolutely had a blast swimming that night and I'm sad I didn't take any pictures.
We spent an entire day at Bear Lake just lounging on the beach and playing in the water. It was a lot of fun. The kids were exhausted by the end of the day and a bit redder than we intended them to be.

BIG DEALS

2010-07-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

I LOVE this time of year and everything that goes on! It seems like everything is a BIG deal, especially for the little ones!

Here are lots of pictures of our BIG summer deals:

BIG DEAL #1
Besides the normal Independence Day festivities our family gets an extra special celebration. We get to celebrate LUKE'S birthday that day as well. It's pretty cool he gets to have the whole country celebrating right along with him with fireworks and all!

Happy birthday to our sweet, wise, 7 year old Luke!

We love him!!

BIG DEAL #2

At Lavendar Days they had a Wild West Shootout (I mentioned in a previous post). The boys had the "bestest" idea ever! They wanted to reenact it!

It was so darn cute and comical, especially the official cowboy duds they came up with.

Luke with his official cowboy kerchef and famous red felt cowboy hat.

Tanner/pirate/sailor/COWBOY

BIG DEAL #3

The Ute Stampede has always been one of the biggest deals of the summer, and this year was no exception.

The (cow) boys were so excited because they now considered themselves REAL COWBOYS and they couldn't wait to wear their cowboy clothes. Exactly! The ones you saw in the pictures above! Kaydee was sweating it! But Bampa (not knowing their plan) decided they needed a Ute Stampede shirt so he called Uncle Karson to do some shopping on his way home from Provo. Of course they couldn't have a western shirt without a cool cowboy hat to go with it.

Tanner, Luke & Nixon

Nixon and Ellie enjoying the Ute Stampede too!

BIG DEAL #4

Just hanging out together in the backyard is a "big deal", even to me. I love LAZY summer days!

Grandma Red showing Tanner the ins and outs of snorkling gear

Escapees! They're on the run!

BIG DEAL #5

. This year for our family campout we went to Cherry Hills, you know - "The Greatest Fun Spot You'll Ever Know, Cherry Hill, Cherry Hill!"

Our immediate family was low in numbers this year because Kylee, Conner and Nixon were in Seattle, Karson & Linzy were a little preoccupied (I'll address that later) and George and Launey were working.

So Kaydee, the kids and I represented our family, and we did it well!

Tanner, posing with his favorite cute cousins, Jamileh and Talysha

DeAnn and I were in charge of this particular dinner. We did a FRIED FOOD FEAST!

Chicken strips, onion rings, and french fries! YUM!

Our deluxe accomodations!

Trying to convince Ellie it was still nighttime at 6:00 am was a bit impossible in a tent.

BIG DEAL #6

Pioneer Day in Mona is a BIG DEAL! We started out with a movie night and sleepout in mom's back yard.

Kristy, DeAnn and Talysha gearing up for a late night movie

Brayden, Luke, Jaydon, Kamron & Tanner

Tanner still sleeping soundly

The big parade had some very special entries this year!

In case you don't know the story behind it you can click HERE for the story.

Kristy hooked us up with some lovely pioneer frocks with some modern flare!

Tevan & Kylee trying to perfect a duo long board stunt!

Luke, Nixon, Braydon, Rylan and Tanner

We wrapped up the night watching the BIG DEAL MONA FIREWORKS!!! Truly this firework show is incredible! It's a little known secret that is getting more and more known. People are realizing it's the place to be!

THE BIGGEST DEAL OF ALL!!

Madden George Morgan was born on July 20th!

We're so excited to welcome him to our family and look forward to having him join in all the future BIG DEALS we share together.

We love you!!

PAIN, PLEASURE AND PROJECT...

2010-07-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

PAIN:
I was happy that this year's 5k Lavender Run didn't interfer with the Ute Stampede Fun Run of which I feel loyalty to. Despite the steep entry fee to run the race, it's a fun one because of the beautiful setting. I wish I could say that as I ran through the pretty fields of LAVENDER I was simply breathing it all in and feeling it's calming effects. Not quite the case for me! Mention the word RACE and regardless of the fact that I KNOW I could NEVER win one, the anxiousness still sets in. And sadly not even the LAVENDER could save me! But in the end, when it's all said and done, it's something that I'm always glad I did.

I told someone after they called me up to verify my age, that I don't mind being honest about my age in situations like that because I like the fact that I'm getting older and still able to FORCE myself to do things that cause me PAIN. Sometimes it even pays off because there doesn't seem to be many women my age running and so that puts me in a good catagory for a chance at a prize. I won a whooping $40 bucks at this race, so my entry fee didn't seem so bad after all!

Cute picture, I know! I just had to show the apparent PAIN I must have went through so you'd understand.

PLEASURE:

The kids love hanging out at the farm and since there was a lot going there on Saturday we took a picnic lunch and just enjoyed hanging out.

When the kids spotted Bampa, they ran to him for hugs!

Ellie, dancing with uncle Karson

A western gunfight, which the boys reinacted for us on Sunday afternoon. HILLIARIOUS!!

It was Kaydee's 10 year class reunion Saturday night so we watched the kids. We decided to take them to a benefit concert being held for a Santaquin family who's wife/mother, Amy Jackson, just passed away this past week. Check out THIS blog, for their story. There was music for four straight hours, several local groups and singers, all of them VERY good and the concert concluded with one of my very favorites, Peter Breinholt.

Although the kids did more running around and playing, it was such a nice night for a nice cause. Amy's husband, Gary gave such a neat tribute. It is so cool to see a community to come together and support one another in times like these.

PROJECT:

I was in the mood for making SOMETHING, but not quite sure what. I know that I've got several unfinished projects that are wanting my attention but that isn't what I was wanting to do. Hopefully I can conjour up that desire soon.

I'm loving all the projects done with words, letters and numbers. I ran across a tutorial for Subway Art on Studio 5 and decided to give it a try.

I had already bought these two large canvas prints from DI a while back so I figured they'd work out great.

I painted them white.

I found a few sayings that I liked, all inspired from a sweet little book that my friend Tammy M. gave each of us last week, called "She..."

Then I printed them out, took them down to Remember Your Memories and had them enlarged. After that I adhered them to contact paper and I cut them all out, AUGH!!!

I layed the letters out on my canvas and stuck them in place.

After that, I sprayed the entire piece black.

From there, I peeled off the lettering and Viola!

I did a bad thing though, and didn't do the other one at the same time, other than cutting out the lettering. Now I just have another UNFINISHED project to add to my ever growing stash.

One Size Does NOT Fit All...

2010-07-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

Us girls and dad on Father's Day

I've been wanting to do a blog post but I haven't really had anything to exciting to blog about lately. However, there are some BIG things coming up soon! But until then I have decided to blog about my SISTERS! I don't mean to sound like they are not BIG things, because in truth, they are VERY BIG things in my life. I truly can't imagine life without them. I feel very blessed that we have such HIGHLY FUNCTIONING relationships between us. You hear of so many families who just can't seem to get a long. How sad would that be?
I've been thinking about this a bit, and I've decided that maybe things work our well for us because we are all a bit different, ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL. It's those little individual differences that when put together in one unit that seem to strengthen us as a group.
I've been thinking about this all day and trying to pin point the differences in each one of my sisters, something that is uniquely them. Here is what I came up with:

DEANN-She is they type of person who just quietly sits back and observes and then out of the blue will surprise/impress you with something she says or does. She always has cute hair, blue eyes and a smile. She's funny even when she doesn't mean to be, and she's SKINNY!

KRISTY-To me, Kristy is the most sincere one of the bunch. You know when she invites you to her house, it's because she REALLY wants you there! She is truly compassionate. She is artistic, whitty and has her own wacky fashion line of versitle odds and ends that she uses as lovely little accessories. They make her unique. She's a worrier who doesn't like to try new things, but has done things that none of the rest of us ever will.

RANAE-She's the ROCK of the family. It scares me to think of where we would be without her. She is SO good at making sure that we schedule in family time. She's a planner! And although we sometimes give her a hard time over it, I for one am grateful! Family always comes first to her. She is also SMART and has done a lot with her smarts! Not only did dad enjoy bragging about her, I did and still do!

MELINDA-The baby, what else can I say! Everyone loves babies, and everyone loves Melinda! She's a favorite aunt of the kids because she likes to have fun. She's a botinist, or at least should be. She's a collector of antiques, she's not a morning person, and she's a bit of a rebel!

Not only am I blessed to have them, but I'm also very fortunate to have a bonus sister as well, ANGIE. She's an extra little something to our family and we all love her.

Since I've only got one sister-in-law, I'm grateful I've got the one I do. CASIE is one of a kind! She would do anything in the world for you! She's tuff and a softie at the same time. I love her to pieces!

So there are just a few little things about them that make them unique and special to me. Each one of us have our own individual differences that make us who we are. I wish I could say that I am just a good mix of all of the good in each of them. That would make me a TOTAL PACKAGE!

I'm so thankful to have been blessed with such wonderful sisters. I love them all so much.

Get Your Game On Girls...

2010-06-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

At least once a year the girls in our family try to get together for some sort of GIRL'S TRIP. We usually do it for the St. George Parade of Homes, but it didn't work out at that time this year so we planned a Tuacahn trip instead. It was great! Now were just going to have to decide when we want to do it next year, I'm voting for both!

We can't seem to go anywhere without incorporating some sort of GAME into the action for extra fun. Like for instance at the Parade of Homes, we usually have some sort of theme, like Home Show Bingo or an ABC game that we do while going through the homes. I promise it makes it so much more fun.

This trip was no different. Kristy came prepared with a TREASURE HUNT for us to play. We each put in a dollar and the winner got the pot.

My first find a CIGARETTE BUD,

as Kristy likes to call them

Melinda's picture with a stranger.

Happy or not, I'm not too sure!

The other game we started off with was each of us picked a spot to put our initials on Kristy's car tire. We chose a spot on the bumper and then each of us would put a quarter into the pot, when we stopped someplace, whosever initials were closer to the mark, won the pot. I know we sound like some heavy duty gamblers! The wealth was pretty evenly spread out, except for poor DeAnn, she grew to HATE the game!

Besides GAMES as a big part of our get togethers, FOOD is right there with them. Sadly we started out the trip at a place not even worthy of a picture or a mention, but we quickly redeemed ourselves and bounced right back!

I'm not quite sure where I've been hiding, but thankfully Shayda led us to this little gem, The Bear Paw. I'm sure most of you have heard of it and probably even eaten there, but I've only ever seen it! I'm glad I finally did more than see. YUMMY!!

Mom and I split the strawberry banana crepes and the vanilla pecan waffles. We loved them both!

Since we had a bad experience with dinner on the first night we decided to turn to the internet for suggestions and reviews. We were strongly encouraged to eat at Samari 21, and boy were we ever glad! Besides being delicious the entertainment was so much fun. We had the best chef in the house, Tommy aka Jackie Chan. He was great! and funny too!

I even finally broke down and tried SUSHI for the first time. Karson was so proud. I actually really liked it. Now I know it's not the Sushi of sushies, like as in raw, but it was still sushi to me.

Now besides GAMES and FOOD there has got to be ENTERTAINMENT!

We are usually pretty good at creating our own. On this particular morning we got up and climbed around the Dixie red rocks. We even got to be eye witnesses to a proposal, ahhh.

Once we were on the top of one of the rocks Kristy led us in a sisterhood chant.

It's supposed to fight against our double chins. I sure hope it works!!

Other entertainment included laying by the pool, the young ones swimming, running and walking, shopping of course and the purpose of our trip, Tuachan.

It was so much fun, all of it! My only regret is that my girls weren't able to come. I honestly couldn't get them off my mind the entire time. I'm sad they had to miss it, but I'm excited for next year. They'll have NO choice, but to go.

I HOPE YOU HAVE A MINUTE...OR 30!

2010-06-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

This is going to be one BIG post! As I was downloading the pictures off my camera from our vacation I noticed that there were several that I wanted to blog about. So I'm doing a Kylee style post (which I love by the way).

TREES

Luke has always been a tree climber but now the other two are following his lead. It's fun watching "kids be kids!"

I think we can safely say, "Spring has Sprung".

Or has it!!!!

I couldn't believe when we woke up to this a couple of Monday's ago. Needless to say the kids lost a couple of footholds on their favorite climbing tree.

GRANDCHILDREN HIGHLIGHTS

Of course it's all highlights when it comes to the grand kids, but here a just a couple.

We're proud of our oldest, Luke. He just graduated, with honors! He was crowned the King of Kindergarten! Good job Luke:)

We, and all of my assistants, got to have Nixon for a week while Kylee and Conner were in California. He was such a good little guy. Kylee challenged us to teach him a few tricks, one of them being to be a better eater. Well I think I did a pretty darn good job with that. I found the trick is to just let him feed himself! As you can see, he loved it! And, he considers himself quite a pro. Apparently now he won't accept food any other way. Sorry!

OUR COASTAL CRUSADE

George and I just got home after enjoying a weeks vacation doing a California coastal loop. We started in San Diego and then made our way up to San Francisco and home from there. It was a lot of driving but we saw some beautiful places and had a really good time. Here are some highlights from our trip.

A view from our hotel on Harbor Island

We took a trip out to Point Loma to see the lighthouse and on the way we ran across this amazing sight. This is the Rosecrans Memorial Cemetary. Since it was Memorial Weekend they had placed a flag at every single grave marker. It was truly an amazing sight! There were thousands. It was such a pretty setting for a cemetary and a nice tribute for all the men and women who have served our country.

This was also another little spot we visited on our way to the lighthouse. I'm not sure of the official name, but it's a tidepool area. It was so neat. The cliffs were awesome looking. I told George that the kids would love the place. Just as I said it I realized it would never happen, George would be a wreck worrying about them falling or jumping into the water. And that was exactly his explanation.

Finally the

POINT LOMA LIGHTHOUSE

It was actually a cool little place and the view from there is amazing.

The best part for George was when he spotted THIS. Hungry or not, there is NO way he could pass up the

DER WIENERSCHNITZEL!

Shops and sights from Cambria, CA

The beach by our hotel. We had fun gathering some cool rocks.

Hearst Castle

This place is amazing!

But, this was our favorite part of the tour. This women, we'll call Flufffy, was hiliarious. I don't think she heard a word or saw anything the tour guide said or pointed out. She was only interested in filming herself amongst the glitz and glamor of the castle. We got more enjoyment out of watching her than some of the artifacts.

Some sights from our side trips along the coast. Sooo pretty!

SAN FRANCISCO

Our hotel

Or NOT

Here it is! The cute little Vintage Court. We bid for rooms on Priceline and we got this quaint little boutique hotel. We actually quite liked it. It was in a great area, just steps from Powell Street and the cable cars, such a nice amenity!

This is the FOY-A. It's almost feels like walking into your grandma's house. Plus they have wine tasting every day at 5:00 in case you're interested!

We had a great time in San Francisco. Since I've been there twice recently, I kind of considered myself a pro at using public transportation. We took advantage of it in every form and we didn't miss a thing, I even got George to see Wicked, which he admitted he enjoyed.

It was a great vacation:)

Saturday Stuff...

2010-05-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

Luckily the past couple of Saturdays have been pleasant and we've been able to play/work in the yard. This Saturday was a beautiful day all around. We started it off with an early morning trip to the temple. We got back to town and I had a wedding shower to attend. It was fun to see all the extras Mariah had done to throw her sister-in-law, Cindy, a great shower. From there the work began and didn't end until it was time to get cleaned up to go to our Saturday session of Stake Conference.

We were priviledged to have Elder L. Tom Perry presiding over our Stake Conference. What an amazing opportunity it was to be in his midst and hear his council. He is such a genuinely SWEET man and he makes me want to try harder and do better.

This was one of my favorite Saturday projects that I got finished. I think the kids will love it, and I'm going to love their artwork on it too. I got the idea from this blog.

Cash Not Calories

2010-05-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful day was spent outside. This time, I didn't count the calories burned, just the cash. George and I went on a bit of spending spree this weekend! But we do have some fun things to show for it... We love getting our yard ready for the summer season and sad but true, it takes some moola.

We gave up our hot tub a few months ago (the kids were mad) so that means we had a big space left open on the patio. I decided a little porch swing would be fun. I orded it on line and it came a couple of weeks ago. At the end of last summer I was in TJ Max and they had some patio chair and love seat cushions on clearance so I snagged them up. I was so happy when the swing came and I realized that the loveseat cushion fit perfectly. It just need a new and vibrant color!

I was happy to have ran across this fun LAMINATED fabric from IKEA. It was perfect for the vision I was trying to create in my head.

Next I had visualized a coffee table fitting in perfectly. I shopped KSL non stop for the past couple of weeks and then finally, THERE IT WAS! The one I had been dreaming of, and in Utah County to boot! Luckily Karson was working in Provo so he graciously went and picked it up for me. But, HOLD ON, when he came through the door with the table I was sadden to see that it wasn't the one I thought I was buying. I called the seller and luckily her husband had given us the wrong one by mistake so I was able to make a switch a couple of days later.
Here is the before picture. I'm sure you'll understand why I was so happy about finding this perfect little table!

Or maybe not!
But hold on, if you're not feeling it yet, I know you will be in a minute.

We decided that since we were painting old furniture we might as well do a few pieces at the same time. We did an old bar stool, an old bench and a planter, besides the TABLE.

Now you understand why I was SO excited about this fun little find! I LOVE IT! George found him a chair I think he loves equally as well (the one on the right). It was on clearance at Pier One, lucky us! The lanterns hanging in the tree are another of our fun finds. The cool thing about them is that they are solar. They look so cool in the dark. The kids are going to love them. We found some other fun solar lights, but of course my pictures don't do them justice. They are great for mood lighting!

We bought lots of flowers and still have the need for more. It will all come together with time. I must remember that "patience is a virtue!" But for now I'm must going to set back on my new swing and sway to my hearts content, and I'm going to think about calories burned not cash!
BRING ON THE SUNSHINE!!!

SINGING IN THE RAIN...

2010-04-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

They were trying hard to convince themselves and me that they were happy just staying under the patio.

Tanner couldn't stand it any longer, he gave in to the temptation!

We all learn from example!

Outfitted in some REALLY nice rain gear.

Fun times, just SINGING IN THE RAIN!

ONE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED, EIGHTY SIX!!!

2010-04-18T15:54:00.000-07:00

That's how many calories my favorite nutrition/diet site, Sparkpeople told me I worked off! I'm not sure that I believe it was quite that many, but I do know this, I WORKED MY BUTT OFF on Saturday!
George and I got up early, each with our own list of tasks we wanted to accomplish for the day. On my list there was:
Wash Windows (outside)
Wash down patio furniture
Re-do DI chairs
Now even with only three items on my list, I still felt that I would be putting in a good day's work. I started on the windows. We had recently had some very gross mud storms that have left my windows looking opaque, not in a good way. My intention was, since I HATE to wash windows, to just do the outside now and save the inside for later. But, as things generally go once you get into something, it just snowballs. So in the end I did the windows inside and out. Even though I have the high upstairs one left to do, the one I have to risk my life by literally hanging out of the window from way up in the air to do, and the two basement windows, I'm feeling SO HAPPY that I can actually see outside.
~~Wash Windows (inside and out)~~
While I was outside washing the living room window I couldn't help but notice the abdunance of freshly sprouting weeds in the flower bed. So I thought, 'It will only take me a minute or two to pull them and then I can quickly get on to the other things on my list.' Well as I mentioned before, and as we all know, the SNOWBALL THING! A few easy pull weeds quickly turned into an ENTIRE day of weeding, weedeating, trimming, pruning along with turning the sprinklers on and off while George tried to fix a broken sprinkler head.
It wasn't until late in the afternoon that I was finally back to my LIST.
~~Wash down patio furniture~~
Although I was proud of all that we accomplished, the thing I was most excited about was the last thing on my list, the DI chairs. I spotted some old folding chairs at DI in Logan several months ago. They were exactly like the ones my Grandma Kay used to have. They were only $2.00 each so bought them and brought them home. I've had them hidden from George because he doesn't like junk and I knew one look at them and he'd say that's just what they were! I'm sure the rest of us will agree that they are in fact not JUNK at all!

The "OLD" chairs

The Vision

I found some fun laminated fabric at Gracie Lou's and then luckily found some fun paint to match.

The poor naked chair, looking exposed for the world to see!

Putting clothes back on with a new coat(s) of paint

VIOLA!

They are going to reside on the patio, at least for the summer.

(I painted the old tray while I was at it too!)

~~Re Do DI chairs!~~

So that's where the ONE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED, EIGHTY SIX calories burned came from when I put all I had done on Sparkpeople. A good and constructive day in many ways!

BABY ANIMAL DAYS...

2010-04-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

I got to enjoy a few days in Logan during my spring break. By the end Kylee and I encouraged everyone else in the family to come up and join us. It was fun spending the time together.

I took A LOT of pictures, and of course they are all cute, because the kids in them are all cute. So I'm using a slide show. Hopefully it works.

Although I do have to post a couple of highlight pictures, along with captions.

I took the boys for a little adventure walk. It was so much fun to listen to them talking to each other. You would have thought they were in the middle of the coolest jungles ever. They kept handing me "TREASURES" to hold for them. COOL things I might say!

At "Baby Animal Days" they were having a sheep shearing demonstration. The kids were wanting to go for a pony ride but we (I) insisted they watch the sheep getting a haircut first. I went and stood on the opposite side so that I could get some pictures. I was amused by watching the expressions on their faces, but then I heard the man doing the shearing say, "oh, this isn't good". and then I noticed RED.

Luke said, "I can't believe you wanted us to watch this".

"PICK A PARTY.... ANY PARTY"!

2010-04-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

We are determined to fight the WINTER BLUES by having one party after another. It began with NIXON'S 1st BIRTHDAY.

It would have been a perfect party, other than the poor little birthday boy just wasn't feeling well. Kylee had gone to a lot of effort to pull off the shin-dig. There were 47 people in and around my home, WOW!! I'm glad that the day was at least somewhat decent so that some of them could hang out in the backyard.

In spite of the chaos it all comes down to the fact that it's awesome to have such wonderful family support! LOVE YOU ALL!

Here are a few highlights...

Our first try at using fondant

The finished product

Even the cute cake didn't make him feel better:(

Instead of blowing out his candles, Nixon spent his 1st birthday blowing his nose!

ANOTHER PARTY FOR THE PICKIN...

No foolin, Mike's birthday is April 1st, and for his birthday celebration he invited us to join him and his family at non other than SIZZLER'S.

AND STILL MORE PARTIES...

I LOVE the fact that our grandkids think that coming to Grandma and Bampa's house is a PARTY no matter the occasion. The other night we got to tend them while their parents went on a date. It was by no means any too warm outside, but they insisted on having some great adventures with Bampa, even in the COLD.

EASTER PARTIES POST TO FOLLOW SOON...

I CAN KEEP A SECRET!

2010-03-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, so nearly a year ago my step sister, Angie, invited all of us to attend a bread making class. I wasn't able to make it but RaNae and DeAnn went and for the entire year they have been flaunting their new found talents in our faces. I think deep down they were glad that none of the rest of us went because they truly had "SOMETHING" on us!

Well after realizing that they were never going to break down and share the "SECRET" recipe we finally got RaNae to schedule a class for us. We all gathered our friends together, loaded in cars and traveled to Pleasant Grove to attend a Pantry Secrets bread making class.

Jeannie and her daughter Mindy made it look so easy. The end product was delicious. We had a great time learning their tricks of the trade. They had all of the supplies you would ever need to become a professional baker. It was hard not to splurge and buy everything they had to offer. I bought the key ingredient, lecithin, cinnamon drops and some calazone molds. Kristy called Tony and had him run to Costco and pick us up some bread flour before they closed. We then met him in a parking lot to purchase the "white powder substance". It looked kind of fishy, but we were grateful to him for making it possible for us to get right to baking.

It was great! I honestly couldn't wait to get home from work today to see if I would too have a new found talent.

In fact, we were ALL excited!

I was asked to take a dessert to someone in the ward and this was my chance to SHINE! I ran to the store right after work, anxious to get a few things and get home and reinact the things that I had learned the night before.

I gathered up my supplies and began the seven minute process of mixing the dough together, the one that is possible to do completely mess free. It's true, I witnessed it!

They made a big deal about keeping the dough "sticky". I felt like I had this in the bag, that is until it came time to take the dough out of the mixing bowl. Something just wasn't right! The reinactment quickly started to fall apart from there. Sticky is one thing but, this dough was beyond sticky!

They instructed us not handle the dough with flour, but I had no choice. In the end this batch went in the garbage and I began again, this time reducing the amount of "extra" water. Batch number two was a little less sticky, but still not quite right. I was seriously beginning to doubt my new talent! I managed to form a couple of dough gobs with this batch, which actually tasted pretty darn good, but I knew they could be better.

I was not giving up! I went for batch three. Now remember that I was planning on taking a yummy treat to a neighbor for dinner. I had no choice but to try again. This batch too, was a bit too sticky! But, by now I'm nearly out of time to try again so I had no choice but to create this beautiful raspberry creamcheese braid, ha ha!

Too bad it's not Halloween time. This would make a perfect MUMMY!

Well, in the end I smothered it with frosting, hoping to hide the imperfections and also hoping that the taste would overshadow the appearance. I made me a smaller one after the fact to try so that if I needed to call and apoligize I could.

It looks like I'm going to have to do a lot of practicing before I have the talent that DeAnn and RaNae were apparently born with. I'm not giving up! But in the meantime, I think it's safe to say that the SECRET IS SAFE WITH ME!

A "WICKED" TRIP...

2010-02-28T21:14:00.000-08:00

Ever since I went to see the musical Wicked with my sisters in San Francisco last summer, I've been anxious about taking my girls to see it there too. Finally the day that we had been waiting for arrived! We truly had a great time! The weather was very pleasant, even during the little afternoon rain shower we experienced with our cheap umbrellas.

It was so much fun to spend time with the grandmas. They had us laughing continuously!

We tried to squeeze in everything we possibly could in the three days we were there, and I've got to say we did a pretty good job at it. We all came home $BROKE$ so I guess it's a good thing our time was limited. San Francisco truly is a shopper's paradise!

Enjoying the sunshine at Pier 39

Enjoying some delicious crepes at the best mall (not the typical) eatery in the world!

You can't visit San Francisco without a few rides on the cable cars!

We even got lucky enough to help bring in the "Year of the Tiger" at the Chinese New Year Parade.

Doing what we do best, eating! Thanks girls, for a great time. I loved spending time with all of you. It was sooo much fun.