Ragnar Las Vegas

This past weekend, I ran the Las Vegas Ragnar Relay (195 miles) with a great group of girls (most of them are in my ward at church). It was so freaking hard! On top of no sleep, the course was super hilly, and at night we froze (it was about 40 degrees)! I'm so glad I did it, but I'm so glad it's over!

I posted this picture first because..... dude, the guy is running in a speedo! He has a great body, but still, a speedo?
There were 12 of us on a team, but this was van 1, the group I ran with all 31 hours that it took us.
Here are just a few of our exchanges.......

Sherry and Linda.
Linda, rocking her first 9 miles!
Rachel and Dana.
Allie made every run look so easy!
A couple of me on my first 9 miles, yikes!

This was the only picture I took at night. It was so cold, I couldn't even function! This is Juli planning on riding her bike next to Dana.
Early the next morning. Dana handing off to Allie.
This is Sunshine's sister in law, Erin, running a 10 miler! She really was amazing!
And the whole bunch of us after we finished our 195 miles in 31 hours. We placed 11th in our division of just girls (there were only about 30 in our division). There were 1000 teams, but most teams were combined girls and boys.
Anna and Jamie after the race.
Sunshine and Juli.
Dinner late that night at Macayos.
Ear candling in our room Sunday morning. We set the smoke alarm off and......
.......finished outside!


One crazy weekend!

Schnepf Farm

What a fun night we had with the family out at Schnepf Farm! Just some of the highlights!


The train ride (before they made it a haunted train ride).
The Carousel of course! A lousy picture! You can sort of make out my 3 boys on the left.
We normally let the kids ride the ponies, but I didn't want to stand in line, so we just watched.
Eric & Pace coming out of the slide.
We sat and watched the pig races. My hot mom and sister cheering them on!
Carrie took my sweet Cade on the Honey Bee ride. He loved it (and I think she did too). Giggle
Eric & Pace on the roller coaster (in the front)!

And, face painting!

Family Night

We were so excited to have Eric's parents for Family Home Evening tonight!


We had a great lesson on The Prohet, Elijah. Where Naman had to wash himself 7 times in the Jordan River, to be healed of his leprosy. It stuck in Pace's mind, because this morning while getting ready for preschool he said, "If the prophet tells us to take a bath, we really need to take a bath!" I love it!

After the lesson, we had ice cream cones out on the trampoline; and then hunted for Scorpions with a black light, my kitchen tongs, and a jar. We caught eight of them! Gross!

Scorpion

Pace & Cade were playing on the back patio barefooted this morning. This little sucker stung Pace in the foot.

We killed, and then kept the scorpion in case Pace had any ill reaction to the sting. We wanted to be able to show the doctor the size and type. I think the pictures make it look bigger (it was the size of my thumbnail).
Pace did great! No reaction at all, except for the initial trauma of it.

A Tender Heart

Pace started Preschool this week, and the first day went without a hitch. He loved it! Today, (his second day) not as smoothe. When I picked him up, he ran to the car with a smile, but as soon as he climbed up into the car his expression changed. As I was buckling him in his seat, I asked him if he was ok, and then I could tell he was trying to hold back the tears. I told him it was okay if he needed to cry, and then the tears started to come. I was holding up the car line, so I gave him a hug and and a kiss and jumped in my seat so we could drive away. On the drive home, he said that he had a hard day! Through his tears he explained that when they had play time, he lost his shoe under the trampoline (Miss Allison has an underground trampoline, and since it's so hot still, she has the kids jump with their shoes on). He burned his foot and had to go without a shoe the rest of school. Miss Allison's husband recovered his shoe in time to go home, but the embarrassment he felt in front of the friends that he's only known for a day, was almost too much for my sweet boy to bear.

My sweet Pace, I love you so much, and I love that you have such a tender & sweet spirit!

A Hidden Talent

So, my sweet Eric has this hidden talent...... He's a master balloon twister (or whatever they call those people)! I never really believed that he could do it, because I've never actually seen him do it, until now! Whoa, buddy! He's got all sorts of talents, this boy! (Grin)

The man, in action!
Noah, Pace, Kyra, and Cade..... in heaven!
Janae got one too!
And a flower, for me?! Oh babe, you shouldn't have!
Noah getting lessons!
Pace, showing off his monkey!
They provided hours of playing time!
Swords & Parrots!
Let's just say.... Eric is going to be a busy boy at all my kids' birthday parties in the future!

Homecoming

For the past 3 years, my in-laws have been serving as the Mission Presidents for our church in Puerto Rico. It has been so fun having them in such a great place to vacation, but it's so great to have them home now too!

Waiting at the airport.....
First few moments off the airplane. (I didn't have my camera at the airport, so I'm lacking in pictures, and the one's I do have are a little lousy!)



As a family, we decided that we wanted to steal Stan and Susan away, before they got too busy, and just do a family get away with them. We decided on spending a few days at the Whiting Homestead (near Springerville, AZ).

On our trip up there, this is what happened! Super scary! Ray, Stephanie, Stan, Susan, Johnnie, and Brigham walked away from this accident, unharmed! Truly a blessing!
After a very long day of traveling, a flat tire, and a car accident, we all made it to the homestead safely!
These are some of the fun things we did while we were there.....

Fruit by the Foot eating contests!
Jumping rope!
Crawdad fishing at Donut Lake!
All it takes is a hot dog, and they come by the dozens!
Hiking 'slippery hill'! (Pace named it, and it stuck)
Quad riding!
Eating! We seriously ate sooo good while we were there!

I feel like I left Cade out of all these pictures, so here's a few of him......

Cade loved swinging!
And, I caught him stealing someone else's fishing poles! (I had to get a picture, before I returned them to their proper owners)
He's such a momma's boy, so we snuggled a lot!
And one last one of him and Aunt Emily!
We made some great memories!