the white house at the right time

Which turned out so much faster than we both thought! Not only was it not raining, blessed be , but it was overcast and pleasantly cool, perfect for running, until the afternoon when the sun burst out and blue skies reigned for the rest of the day. Randy ran his personal best marathon time 3:06:56 which earned him a little recognition in the Seattle Times Sunday sports edition as an "overall leader". Pretty awesome! Knowing a little about how much time and training it takes, I am so impressed. So are the kids. But definitely not overly surprised. He is a pretty amazing athlete, aside from being a pretty amazing husband. pretty amazing teacher. pretty amazing husband. pretty amazing honest guy.

The almost wasn't pinewood derby finally here. Cayden turned 11. Technically no longer a cub scout. However, since there was a delay on getting the track back in April, Cayden was grandfathered in Makenzy was very much into watching the races. The contenders. Cayden's car is at the top of the image. Army truck. It kind of is and it kind of isn't about the rankings, who is fastest, and who wins. But then it is. Randy gets more frustrated by this than me. He was the kid who entered the painted block. No saws to make the contours and cuts that turn the block into something Motor City would "ooh" and "aah" over. Bon (Mom) put in the wheels. No graphite. No spinning. No idea where to put the weights. He came in last place every year. It still is a little dark skid mark in his heart. Goal for his boys, not to come in last. Goal - achieved. Last year was the best performance, 3rd overall. Ribbon on uniform. This year, 3rd in his division...

Mrs. Hurley's 3 year old pre -school class. Mrs. Hurley's 4 year old pre -school class + friend co-op pre -school. Friend c0-op preschool. = 3 years and 4 classes. So ready for kindergarten. His little class. Owen, Cayleb , Oli , Tamsym , Nate Tatiana made these. CUTE! Hit of the graduation party! Party in the red slide, wee! Pre -school co-ops are so fun because you really get to see your kid interact. How they hold the scissors. Listen to instructions. Play with friends. Tatiana, MaryKai , Kirsten,Me (Vicki had to head before out Class Pic) Thank you ladies for all you did this year. It was a great success! Excitedly yelling kids and honking horn marked the bus' final stop for the school year! The bus driver gave all the kids a sucker to celebrate. At Makayla's school, the teachers all have a hearty send off. See ya! Crayola version to pimp my ride. Our "party vehicle." The kids used window crayons to creatively illustrate their enthusiasm for s...

it's the local city parade. oh what a beautiful, perfect day for a parade (we once biked down to the parade and got poured on). this time i was so glad i had to break out the hats and the sunblock. after randy got home from cayden's 1st scout camp out, he met us over at the parade just in time to see the only float in the parade. this. woo- hoo ! our town's little local parade is mostly a conglomeration of local businesses promoting themselves including what seems like every little league, church group, scout, and football/cheer team, peppered with the current years political candidates, lots of tractors (i know, we are kinda a small town, but not that small), local school bands, and the hydro racing boats. visually nothing too exciting to see. but this is truly a local people parade. a parade where the kids see their friends passing by, can call out his/her name, be heard and have them come over and give them a hug or wave hello. a parade where you can still come late an...

it is them capturing their childhood. from their perspective. doing it as sisters. i often find pictures of impromptu "photo shoots" the girls have taken when loading pictures from the camera. a small little surprise. a digital treat for mom.

spending time eating lunch with the kids is a special treat we do a few times a year at the school bbq. normally held outside, this year the rain forced an indoor bbq. the kid's principal cooks up the hamburgers. she also hand signs birthday cards for over 900 students. dedication. eating with cade. in year's past, we have had 3 lunches, with time in between. with toddlers in tow, even with food on hand, the waiting game gets old after awhile. luckily, this year, cayden's and madalyn's lunch overlap. madalyn, sydney

Ryson , Brian, Cayden in the boys tent. bro. greenwood (nic went to high school with him - always a small world in the church), bro. jergensen, and the boys. cayden and randy love to camp. something about getting away. being in nature. using your gear. this time it was new sleeping bags, with built in pillows. fancy stuff! When Randy was in scouts, his dad worked out of state a lot. Though his mom filled in for just about everything she could, there were still some limitations. Accompanying your son scouting is one of them. As such, Randy has promised he will try to make every camp outing his sons and daughters have. This first one came already took some rearranging of his schedule, skipping Trek around the Trail and a work assignment. in my opinion, this camp out was an absolute tease for a first scout camp out . the overnighter camp out just happened to be on one of the nicest weekends we have had in...just about what seems like the unending sputter of winter. no mist. no rain...

It has been some time since I graduated from the U of U Institute program. Much of why I originally enrolled was for my free parking, though I still had to hoof it across campus and when I had late classes, I was always a little freaked out to come back to a dark, nearly empty parking lot. But the more classes I took, my spiritual darkness was lit up by amazing teachings, which was not freaky at all. I had great teachers like Bro. Wilcox and Bro. Jack Marshall, whom I took most of my classes from. I also took a married couples class with Randy taught by Bro. Thomas and his wife. Little did I know that years later, Randy and I would teach the same class at the University of Washington Institute. Randy and I served as the LDSSA married couples representatives back in 1996-1997. It was a position created after I asked if there was any representation on LDSSA for the married couples. Whala , a position was created and Randy and I were asked to be on the council. Our main responsi...

Ringing the bell sending off the next runner in my first relay race. Suzanne, Tracy, Makay , Michele, Moi, Bianca. All of them great runners. I was asked by these ladies to join in on a 50 mile relay race from Mt. Rainier to Ruston Parkway (on the Puget Sound). I think people think I can run because Randy is such an awesome running machine, and a great compliment, though I am only slow and steady. I am just getting back into running and have socially been a little quiet lately. So I decided having some girl time and a new experience would be good as long as they weren't counting on me for a fast time. As it happened, Randy also had a marthon the same morning. The Green River Marathon, which he took nice and easy since he is battling a pulled hamstring and is trying to be careful before his next upcoming marathon in 3 weeks. 50 miles later, the finish! In between here and there. More in between here and there. Ruston Parkway. Beautiful. Sunny. Paved :). This was my part of the ...