Cross Country

This Fall Ethan and I embarked on a new adVenture together.

He joined his first Cross Country team

and I coached my first Cross Country team.

I don't know who was more nervous!

We found out in July that the Charter school the kids attend was going to

roll out it's first ever athletics program. Seeing as we didn't have initial funds for gear

or coaches they were looking for some parent volunteers to step up.

I of course stepped up and said, "If you need some help with Cross Country or Track let me know." I figured lots of parents are runners, it will be fun to help out here and there. Well, at Back to School night I was informed that I was it, as in ONLY it, and oh yeah, practice starts in less than a week. By the way, the kids need to be ready to race in less than three weeks!
Good thing I run to alleviate stress! Because the day after school started, we were ALL running!

Because it is our first year with an athletics program all of the seasons are very short. Just to help ease us into the whole thing. We only had two meets, both with Mount Ogden, Highland and Mound Fort Jr. Highs. All of these photos were from our second meet. The first meet I was too busy getting the ropes of this coaching thing and helping the kids learn the course so I didn't lose any of them to be taking any pictures.

It was sure a lot of fun hanging with these kids. We had two other kids on the team but they weren't able to come to our second meet. They were all from 6th to 9th graders.


Of course I enjoyed running next to this kid day in and day out the most.
He did great! I really enjoyed sharing this whole experience with him. We loved hitting
Wal Mart almost every day after practice to grab a Chocolate Milk Refuel.

It was fun watching them all improve. From day one, barely being able to eek out a mile, to running 5 milers and doing hill sprints at the Weber County Fairgrounds. Some of them even got to experience their first trail run!

Ethan's race times:

September 15th at Mount Ogden Park 21:09
September 22nd at Big D Sports Park 17:56
Gotta love earning a Personal Record!
Both races were two miles long.

We are both looking forward to Track and Field in the Spring.
I am hoping the kids will
want me back next Fall for some more Cross Country action.
Gotta admit, I kinda like my new title: Coach.

Flashback Friday: Island Park October 2010

For Flashback Friday I thought I would share pictures from last October. We went up to Island Park, Idaho with my extended family. It was so fun! We loved it! We stayed at an awesome cabin. I was still recuperating from my Hysterectomy so I lounged a lot on the bed watching movies, sleeping, enjoying my family, hot chocolate and Fall! It was perfect!

There was hiking, hot tubbing, games, movies, a trek into Yellowstone, and a ton of great food!

nate, ally, julia, evelyn, ryland

nate and ronda

garrett, tyler and ethan

mom and bob

travis and heidi, nate and ronda, kim and louis, joe and shelley,

mom, travis and sarah, jen and ryan

ryland, ethan, tyler, garrett, ally
We didn't bring swimsuits for our kids so the boys hopped in in their undies,

ally just climbed in with her clothes on.

sydney, sawyer, ally and shaylen

ryland, carson, julia, ally, sydney, ethan, wyatt

ally and sawyer

On our way home we stopped in Rigby, Idaho to see my Grandma and Grandpa Burke's

old farm. It's been a few years seen we have seen the old place. It hasn't changed much. The new owners were kind enough to let us take some photos of it.

I loved that the old screen door was still on.

First Day Of School -2011

Well, school has been in for over a month now, so I figure it's time to finally post first day of school photos. Aren't they growing up fast!

Ethan is now in 7th grade (Mrs. Auble)

Ally is now in 5th grade (Mrs. Prior)

Isn't she gorgeous? I caught her doing this before school.
Oh boy. So not ready for my kids to grow up.

Ryland is now in 2nd grade (Ms. Wermager)

Poor Evie started school less than a week after her fire pit accident. Still cute though!

She is in 4 year old preschool with Miss Jill at Up The Hill Preschool.

Wordless Wednesday: Hair Combing Skills

(september 2011)

Birdsong Trail

Tonight for Family Home Evening we took the kids to hike the Birdsong Trail in Ogden.

It's an easy little trail that is less than two miles round trip. It's just off the mouth of Ogden Canyon with a great scenic overlook of Ogden. I sometimes add it to my long runs on Saturdays when I need to add a few more miles to my Bonneville Shoreline trail run.

Isn't it a pretty winding path? Much better than the asphalt of Highway 89, that's for sure!

We had a great time poking along, listening to the crickets and each other. Everyone was on the lookout for snakes for dear old Mom. Thankfully we didn't encounter any.

About 3/4ths of the way up we stopped next to a little creek and ate sandwiches, oreos and cheetos for dinner. Evie surprised us all by pullin a face. What a goof!

We had a great time and thankfully the first rain of Fall waited til we were back home to start falling. It was a great night!

Hurry Up And Wait: Waiting On Captain Moroni

This post has been a long time coming! It's definitely in keeping with the events of this day.

On July 12th I decided to take the three younger kids to see the statue of Moroni being placed on the Brigham City Temple currently being constructed. We were told to be in place by noon.
We were running late, mostly because it was raining and I was definitely feeling like camping out inside the house. However, the desire to have a spiritual and unique experience with the kids was enough to get me finally moving. Since we were told to be there by noon and it was supposed to be quick I had to hustle. We had to park blocks away and we rushed through the rain to a nearby car lot. We had a pretty good view so we figured we would just hang out there for a few minutes to watch. I only brought a large umbrella as it was supposed to be quick.

No camp chairs, blankets, treats, lunch, nothing. We had hurried up only to wait, and wait, and wait some more. It was so fun to be ill prepared in the rain with hungry kids. I kept telling them it would be such an amazing experience for all of us, and any minute there would be a flurry of activity.

So, we found some dry spots on the ground and waited some more.


To pass the time Ryland acted like a frog.


We eventually got word that the wind was what was causing the delay.

So we made silly faces in the shiny chrome of the brand new trucks that my kids WERE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH!

Finally the hunger and cold became just too much. We opted to drive down the street
to Arby's for a reprieve. After grabbing our food the kids were begging to just go home. That's when I noticed the trees weren't moving. I was still trying desperately to #1 Not wring the kids necks and #2 hold out hope that we still might be able to eek out some semblance of a spiritual experience. So I told them let's just go check it out. See if there is any activity. We pull up and THIS is what we see!

We had missed all the action! Moroni was now hovering over the top of the spire!

We hopped out and snapped a photo, and ran.
After waiting in the rain for over an hour we had missed it.

Getting closer. Moroni still hovering.

Once we found a spot to settle in and watch the rest of the action it was around 2 pm, the sun was coming out and our bellies were full. After a flurry of activity boredom was settling back in. What was the hold up now we wondered?

While still hoping to have that spiritual experience it became increasingly difficult while also keeping the kids out of the road and kind to each other. Don't forget the woman sitting right in front of us on the grass with her unflattering and immodest underwear very exposed. Finally we decided, close enough!

So, while it wasn't the experience I had hoped for, I am pretty sure the kids will remember this day. We were excited to see later that week when we drove by that Moroni did actually get attached to the top of the spire.

Where was Nate and Ethan? Gone to Scout Camp at Camp Loll.