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. 

Mantua Dam Race July 2012

We had a great time running the Mantua Dam Race together as a family.

It was a first time race for all of us. I have biked and ran around the Dam multiple times.

It was a fun, five mile course. Clear up until the morning of the race, starting line actually, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Do my best or hang with the family and make it more a social run?

Not long after the gun went off I decided I should make a go of it. I decided to make my goal to come in under 45 minutes, under a 9 minute mile pace. Turns out it was more difficult mentally running it "by myself", without my usual running buddies and without my ipod to spur me on. It was a mental drag at times for sure. Ethan and Ally did it essentially with no training, hello youth!, by run/walking it with their cousins. 

All in all we had with us:

My Dad and Fran,

Sarah, Tyler and Austin,

Ryan, Jen, Shaylen, Sawyer, and Cole,

Me, Ethan and Ally

(not pictured) Kent, Lisa and Jace Skidmore

I was pleased to come in at 44:25 with an 8:53 average pace, sixth place for women 30-34 out of about 35 women. Not too shabby.

Ethan came in at 1:03

Ally came in at 1:12

It was a great morning followed up with a great day with family up at Bear Lake's beach.

Can't wait for next year.

Willard Hike

It has been fun to be a Young Women's leader while Ethan is also in Young Men's. Tonight we as a combined YM/YW group went for a hike up above Willard. I run this stretch a couple of times a week so I see this view often. I always mean to snap a photo but never do. This was the perfect opportunity with my cute first born also in the shot. It was fun hiking with my boy.

Flashback Friday: Ragnar Wasatch Back 2011

For Flashback Friday I figured I better hurry and get my photos from Ragnar last year on the old Blog, mostly because Ragnar Wasatch Back 2012 starts TODAY! Don't ask me if I am ready.

We were in van 1, all of us were Ragnar newbies this year, except Matt, the guy second from the left.  My sister Jen, Matt, Jen's Brother-in-law Kent, we called him the Kentyan because he ran 7 minute miles on average, Me, and Kent's teenage son Jace. Kent's wife Lisa was the one taking the photo. She made amazing food for us to enjoy. We will miss her cooler full of yumminess this year as she and the Kentyan will be in Van 1 while Jen and I were bumped to Van 2.

I had to make the photos black and white to keep from blinding you with my farmers tan. It was intense!

I was runner 2 of 12, I ran three different legs of the race totaling in about 11.5 miles overall. My first run was around 1:30 PM, it was about 6.7 miles through Nibley and Hyrum, my second run was about 10:30 PM for 3 miles heading into Morgan, then my final leg was around 7:30 AM for just under 4 miles through Francis. It was so much fun, even though around 2:30 AM I seriously wondered what on earth I was doing. I obviously loved it enough that I signed up again this year, even though I was handed a SERIOUSLY harder leg. I know I am crazy.

This was about 3/4 of the way through my first leg, I was seriously tempted to walk up this long, terrible hill, until I saw Jen taking photos of me. Talk about putting on the pressure!

This was Jen during one of her runs, she was definititely not in the mood for any more "support" from the van.

After this there wasn't much photo taking. We were too busy running, eating, trying to sleep, running, waiting in honey bucket lines, laughing and commiserating with one another. And more running.
It was awesome!

 2011 Wasatch Back Ragnar Team
197.4 miles
29 hours 6 minutes and 02.4 seconds
#119 out of 823  overall Co-Ed teams
#93 out of 713 Co-Ed Open teams

Special Thanks goes to Nate and to Fran for being our team volunteers! We couldn't have done it without you!!

Wordless Wednesday: Corn on the Cob

I just love watching little kids eat corn on the cob. I came across a couple of Ethan and Ally from back in the day, (prior to 2006), they were too cute to not share.