the white house at the right time

Cayden ran and won his first half marathon despite getting to bed at 1 am (drive in movie night)!   Respectively they came in 7th and 8th place overall with minimal training. It was a trail run in the Herriman foothills - Herriman Hold'em Half. Along side the runners were several groups of marines and other military personnel that completed the course with their full packs in honor of those that committed suicide from PTSD.  It was very moving to see this group as part of the runners. Randy said it was fun to see Cayden transition from being coached and paced by him to Cayden ultimately setting the pace. Estimating is a tricky thing and this time I totally missed. I assumed with trail run, little sleep, little training, and a first time experience it would take them around 1:45 to 2 hours. So I zipped home to do some work, and when I came back to capture finish photos they were already done and snacking on grapes and chocolate creamsicles.

 Makenzy braved Tower of Terror!!! She was definitely scared and only went on it a 2nd time after coaxing but then was adamant that was enough and declared she would go on it again when "I am a teenager."  A family "treasure" - cousins

One of our new favorite places to go - Lake Las Vegas. The last two years the boys have gone here for "Boys Weekend."  We stayed on our way to and from Disneyland in January.  I am getting excited to head back for "Girls Weekend."

Luckily there are a lot of "lucky, fortuante, wonderful, happily married couples."  Luckily I am one of them.  For 17 years.  And hoping for at least another 17.

-2010- -2011- Almost 1 year ago, Becca Kidd was taking our family pictures in 18 degree weather. It snowed. School was cancelled. The U-Dub was pretty much shut down too. Randy was home from work. So we decided since we were all home might as well do family pictures. She was so great to accommodate. 20 minutes later we were done. This year, we did it when the sun was shining. So much better. It was hard to coordinate our times, so it was mid-afternoon. This was a fun shot, but the lighting was better under the trees. Now, we have so many choices for the Christmas card. Thank You Becca!  You always have done such a great job for our family and always at the deeply discounted friend rate.  THANK YOU!

Madalyn has decided she wants to play team basketball this year. Randy is so pumped. He has been shooting a lot with her. Kenzie watching sister play. Notice that blue sky. I really like the color blue!

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...

Scheduling for 6 is hard. But really it is more than that. It is the work schedules, the kid's school schedules, and the flights, and the budget, and. and. and. And it is just plain hard for all of us to get together. But we did it again. Girls Weekend 2010. It was a very full weekend. We started off by watching Nikki's Mrs. Arizona pageant dvd and practicing interview questions. We were "cheerleaders for married women" for a bit and then our after midnight humor took hold and we cracked stupid, funny jokes, which are really only funny to us. We ended up hatching a business plan based on Ms. Divorce pageant. I am officially copyrighting the rites to this money making idea now! Divorce attorney's for judges, most photogenic replaced by most divorces, most alimony, etc. Tiff was the expert contestant. Funny girl she is! We visited Grandma Frye. She told us to no one knows how lonely it is to be alone, until you are. She really misses Grandpa. Woke up to see the su...

Years ago I read a "top 100 places to visit" list. San Juan Islands was one of them. It is beautiful and unique. However, a bit cool today. Coats for spring break. Last year we stayed at Roche Harbor, loved it and stayed again . I was solo momma last year. Randy was teaching. We were so glad to have him with us this time. It also helped a ton to have daddy muscles around to carry Makenzy, she weighs a lot more than last year. The plaque below this tree identifies it as being over 300 years old. Old growth for sure. In fact, it has seen a lot it almost looks like it is growing eyes. Check out the knot, it forms an eye that faces out to sea over some chapped, puckered lips. I love this guy! We visited English Camp. Lime Kiln State Park is also known as "whale watching park" because the whales migrate through this incredibly deep pass of water. Also, the cold currents kick up nutrients in the strait that many sea mammals feed on. We didn't see any whales becaus...

Seattle. Sister. Silly. Tree Hugger. O.k. not really, but she has given up her diet coke, which is HUGE! Just for that she deserves a hug. A TREEmendous one! Angie and Ariel came up and watched the kids for us while we were away last week. They both slipped into "momma mode" so well. Thanks to the both of them the kids were extra, extra early to school and scouts, they went to Madalyn's school choir concert, recorded it for us to see later, dealt with dirty diapers, found the sushi place and shared ( Makenzy loved Ariel's sushi!), treated the kids to ice cream, small gifts, and park time, shuttled another to a birthday party, made meals, and kept the house picked up. I hardly leave the kids. Randy thinks I really should do it more. I am getting there. But in the meantime, it was a relief to have someone I totally trusted to be with them. That and the relief that it was only my sister rummaging through the pantry, opening up closets and dwarers , having access to ...