Brigham City Temple Open House

We were so excited to finally get to go to the Brigham City Temple Open House! After watching it be built for over a year our turn to see the inside had finally come! The kids were super stoked to go and were very reverent. It was a great chance to teach them more about the Temple and all of the blessings we receive through it. We had a wonderful time!

Hurt In The Dirt 10k 2012 - My New Favorite Race

I love running. I love trail running. I even love trail running in the dark. But, I most especially love trail running with my buddies, in the dark. I now have a new favorite race. Hurt In The Dirt 10k. It is awesome. I loved every minute of it.

 Vanessa, Jessica and I pre-race

 This race was very high tech, especially since it was a trail race and we were doing multiple river crossings. We joked that our timing chips made us look like we were Parolees. We also joked that it would difficult to catch us. Hee hee. Seriously though, look at those killer calves we have from all of the hill running we have done this year. Mine is the middle leg, talk about Mountain Goat Legs.

 Facebook definitely helps kill the time and ease pre race jitters.

 At the starting line. We are just behind the couple in the black and yellow outfits.

 The race consisted of three 2 mile loops through Fort Bueneventura in Ogden. It was a natural obstacle course. We ran through the river, all on trail, jumping over or crawling under fallen trees, etc. It was seriously awesome!

Crossing the Ogden river was great, til you got out and had sloshy shoes. Still fun though. As soon as you were dry it was time to jump in again.

Post Race Root Beer. Yuck!
Vanessa was awesome and took 1st place for Women 19 to 54! Jessica and I took 10th and 11th place out of 56 women in our age group. Since the race is three loops it is difficult to tell where you are. If we had had any idea we were so close to the front we probably would have pushed a little harder, but we were just out to have a little fun. Vanessa just felt it so she went with it. I am so glad she did! There were 119 runners total and we took 12th (V), 44th (R), and 45th (J) overall.

First Day of School 2012

This is the first year I have ever had all four of my kids at the same school. Gotta admit to looking forward to this. Should simplify things a bit. Still can't believe all of my kids are old enough to even be in school.

 Ethan - 8th grade - Murdock

 Evelyn - Kindergarten - Jacobsen

 Ryland - 3rd Grade  - Brinkerhoff

Ally - 6th Grade - Heeringa

Photo Shoot Sunday: Ally Turns Eleven

My Ally girl turns 11 today. I can hardly believe she only has one more year til she is a Beehive. Crazy sauce is what that is.

She had a great "Slumber Party" last Friday. All the girls arrived around 5 pm in their jammies and headed downstairs. They had a great time! I know because I heard a lot of screaming and giggling.

Shaylen S., Taylor S., Isabelle W., Sawyer S., Ally, Vanessa T., Evelyn

Flashback Friday: Back to School.

In honor of Back to School season, I thought I would dedicate this Flashback Friday to all of our past First Days of School. At least the ones I haven't blogged about.

2003Ethan 4 year old preschool at Head Start program for Speech Therapy
2004Ethan Kindergarten (Mrs. Deelstra) at Wasatch Elementary, Ally 3 year old Preschool at Wasatch Early Learning (Miss Ann)

2005
This year Ally looked so sad on her first day of 4 year old preschool. She had fallen down the concrete steps by our front door and then gotten a black eye at the zoo.

This was her and her best cousin Sawyer who she went to preschool with.
They went to preschool together at Wasatch Early Learning both years.

Shaylen (2nd) and Ethan at Wasatch Elementary in Ogden. Ethan was in 1st grade. (Mrs. Atkinson) They loved going to the same school for a second year in a row.

2006We hadn't even officially moved into our new home yet. I drove them to and from school from our Ogden home every day for about 3 weeks. It got really old.

Ethan heading to 2nd grade at Three Mile Creek. (Ms. Abbott who later became Mrs. Acuff)
Ally heading out to Kindergarten at Willard Elementary. (Mrs. Coburn)
2007
I remember Ethan combed his hair all by himself that morning. He was a big 3rd grader at Three Mile Creek and had his favorite teacher to date, Mrs. Yates.

Ally heading to full day school. First grade at Willard Elementary. (Miss Higgs)

Look at how small he looks with that massive backpack on. This was Ryland's first time going to school, Three year old Preschool at Wasatach Early Learning Center (Miss Ann)

2008Ethan and Ally going to school together for the first time at Three Mile Creek. Ethan 4th grade (Miss Thompson) and Ally 2nd grade (Mrs. Petersen)

Ryland going to Four year old Preschool at Wasatch Early Learning Center (Miss Ann) He also went to preschool with his best cousin, Ridge, both years.
So there you have it. I think they grew up this fast in real life too!

18 Hours Of Ogden

I had such a great time with my running buddies running in the 2nd Annual 18 Hours of Ogden relay trail race. It started Friday at 6 pm and we ran until noon, technically 12:30 pm on Saturday. We had a team of six runners and one of us was supposed to always be running. Whichever team has the most number of laps is the winner. Well, we went through the first six runners and obviously by now it is after midnight and dark, we had been running with headlamps. We decided that it sounded funner to run the next leg, mine, as a group, then take the next few hours off to sleep, eat and hang out. BEST DECISION EVER!

Jessica Willis, Ronda and Christine Johnson

It was so much fun to run around 1:30 am, with headlamps, with my friends. The six mile trail loop was heinous! It was a tough loop but super fun. Jessica, Vanessa and I ran that second loop together. I have to admit that  was my favorite of the four legs that I ran. Still cannot believe I ran 24 miles in an 18 hour period on about 3 hours of sleep.

This was our awesome Homestead. Jessica's husband, Clint set it up for us. It was perfect! We had rain, and sunshine and it protected us from both. This was at Mount Ogden Park.

 Ryan and Jen ran Jen's first leg together right around midnight. He had just packed 20 pounds of ice on his back up to the Point at the very top of the Loop. All the runners really appreciated his efforts so we could get cold ice water up at the aid station.

Candice Monson and her friend Therese

Christine Johnson, Ronda and Jessica Willis

Part of the loop was on a portion of our beloved Bonneville Shoreline Trail that we run weekly. We were pleased to see that our "trail tree" that is decorated by someone every December was also decorated in Race tape. Super fun! It took us till the third loop to notice. Must have been going too fast.

Christine Johnson, Jessica Willis, Vanessa Nielsen, Ronda Mills, Jennifer Skidmore

team photo missing Candice Monson

Even though we didn't follow the "rules" of the relay race we had so much fun making it our own and running our loops together when we felt rested and fed. The five of us all got 18 to 24 miles in a piece. Candice wasn't feeling well after her first lap so unfortunately had to go home in the middle of the night. Super fun race and we can't wait to make it our own again next year!

Raingutter Regatta 2012

Tonight was our Raingutter Regatta. We had a great turnout and the boys all had a great time racing.

 Grayson G., Preston B., Ethan L., Jaxon L., Shawn A., Logan O., Zach G., Ryland, John L.

 What a cute Wolf Cub he is.

Nate received his Silver Knot tonight as well. It is also called the On My Honor Award. It is the adult Religious Award. I am telling you, he is the next Baden Powell.