Blake @ Glencoe

Blake is 5-2 so far this wrestling season at 160# and looking really good. He won his match last night in a dual against Forest Grove, and he went 2-1 and won third place at the Glencoe tournament today. He did well in the match he lost, but he was leg riding and got caught in a bad position and was pinned.

Blake is the one in the green/yellow singlet. He wears the mask to keep from getting bloody noses.

Weekend with Mads

Rachael and I traveled to Salt Lake this weekend for the baptism of our niece, Madalynn. Mads is the oldest daughter of my brother Gary, the closet rock-star. Gary is a trial attorney by day, closet rock-star by night. I call him a closet rock-star because he actually records music in his closet. You can download his album here (seriously, give it a try, you'll be amazed at what one guy can accomplish with a computer, a drum set, a very good-natured wife, and a closet with good accoustics).

We started the weekend with a trip to Famous Dave's, where my brother who professes to not enjoy meat that much consumed an ultimate burger (A juicy ground beef patty beneath a pile of Georgia chopped pork, two strips of jalapeño bacon, melted Cheddar cheese, and Dave's signature Beam & Cola sauce). I definitely fall on the carnivore side of the line, but I wasn't man enough for the ultimate burger and opted for bbq pork. We won't discuss what Rachael ordered in a place famous for its bbq because that of course would lead to a fiery debate in the comments section, so please, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT ASKING.


I only took one picture of Gary's wife, Amanda, on this trip. This excellent shot of her eyebrow is all I could manage, along with a big hint for those still wondering what to get their husbands for Christmas.

After we returned from Famous Dave's, Gary (the one who doesn't really like meat) and I set about solving this problem:


In case you can't tell, that is 15 pounds of brisket that is supposed to cook in a 4 quart crock pot. We went over to Gary's friend's place to borrow theirs, and they produced what may actually be the smallest crock pot I have ever seen. It would have been perfect if we wanted to spend 18 hours slow cooking a single mug of hot chocolate. We passed it over and found another 4 quart version. By the way, the cutey in the background is my Mother. The other cutey in the background is my niece, Brooke. Can you see why I like to visit my brother the closet rock-star?

After we found and borrowed enough crock pots to cook the brisket, we played guitar hero. What else do you do when visiting closet rock-stars? Mads and Brooke thrashed grandpa and I on guitar hero. Here is a shot of Brooke showing off her winning form:


You can see how much effort she had to put into thrashing grandpa and I.

We spent the next morning with Rach's parents. We went over to temple square and saw the movie about Joseph Smith. I've seen it twice now and it is fantastic. If you are in SLC you should definitely make a hole in your schedule so you can go see this movie. We made another trip to temple square at night to see the lights and it was wonderful.

We wandered around SLC for a bit, then headed to Layton for the baptism. Everything went very well at the baptismal service. I don't have any pictures of Mads, Rachael will have to fill in the gaps. I guess I was overwhelmed by the brisket and used all of my phone memory taking pictures of a piece of beef.

We retired to Gary's house for a party, and of course, the brisket. It was a good thing we had 15 pounds of brisket because I think Gary and I ate 7 pounds all by ourselves.

We went to church the next day with Rachael's folks. We visited a ward in Kaysville that had just gone on an excursion to Tijuana with the service organization that Rachael's dad runs, Charity Anywhere. It was great to hear the testimonies from the kids and adults that had the chance to go give service. We really enjoyed spending some time with Rachael's parents and appreciate them feeding us, touring us around Salt Lake, giving us a place to stay, and letting us use their car.

TAGGED

I have been tagged by my sister Melinda to reveal 6 quirks about myself.

1: I shave my legs every day. I think it goes back to my childhood.

2: I hate gum as well (my sister hates gum). I use to love to chew it as a kid, but always hated seeing a chewed piece of gum. Gross!

3: I hate teeth, esp loose teeth. My sister has pulled more of my kids teeth than I have. That said, I have performed my fairy duties and have a baggy full of envelopes with kids teeth in my closet. What am I to do with all of these????

4: I love containers.

5: I love labeling things.

6: My dogs love my feet and often lick them, (and I like it.)

I tag Jeff

Witches and candy

I know I posted a little about Halloween. But I hadn't posted any pictures of the kids all dressed up. I think I told you about the ward Halloween party. These pictures are taken at the party. Cason is Ironman but couldn't wear his mask. Carissa was a witch and Samantha a cowgirl. You saw a little of that in the pumpkin patch pictures. Carissa and her friends won the mummy contest. I won the best adult costume contest. I was a marathon runner with an Afro. I know... you want a picture of that. Sorry, I was the photographer. Anyway I told Samantha and Cason they won the pumpkin carving contest (theirs was a combined effort), becuase we were about the only ones that brought them, and all of the kids didn't want to wait to go trick or treating. So I gave them my candybar that I had won and all of the friends piled in cars and met back at our house to start the candy fest. It was a great evening!

Enjoy.

Pumpkin hunt

I had promised my kids I would take them out to Lake View Farms on Halloween day. They had it off of school and every Sat before that had a soccer game in the morning and a football game in the afternoon, leaving little time for pumpkin hunting at our favorite farm. We had something come up in the morning and rushed out to the farm in the afternoon. Lake View Farms is at least 1/2 hour away. When we drove around the bend we saw no cars and things started looking suspicious. When we drove up to the lane, a sign was posted "closed for the season". After our shock that a Halloween place would close on Halloween we turned the jeep around and headed home to catch a party, and pick up pumpkins at Albertsons AND carve them. On the way home we spotted a country store on the side of the road that was selling pumpkins and pulled in. It had a little field full of pumpkins. Of course the kids went straight for the biggest ones. Everyone was happy and we got the carving done and kids to the party. Later we went to the ward Halloween party where everyone got together with friends. They all came over to our house where I took them around trick or treating. Afterward there was the candy trade phenonom that happens in every house like the stock market. It was great fun!!!

Brace yourself...

Samantha got braces yesterday! She was so excited! She looked in the mirror of the car visor and took pictures with my phone all the way home.












For some reason she loves the curled lip pose. She chose pink and turquoise bands. Her teeth didn't start to hurt until the end of Young Womens around 9.

Last gasp of summer

Jeff wrote this a few weeks ago and didn't post it. I thought you might enjoy it.

On September 1, Blake, Samantha, Casey and I took the Jeep out to Tillamook State Forest with Nathan Smith and one of his buddies. The only problem with Jeeping is that the Jeep isn't big enough so that everyone in the family can go. I guess this means we'll have to buy another one (just checking reading comprehension at home).

We bought the Jeep in the spring and Blake and I have been doing some work on it since then. He and I installed a lift kit. Then we found a stronger rear differential and had that put in and had both axles re-geared. We found a heavier duty bumper and some 33" tires on Craigslist.

Casey and I took it to the shop to have the new(er) rear axle installed. My timing was bad and I had my appointment for the day that Blake left for EFY and Rachael was at girls camp with the truck. I needed to get the Jeep and the new axle downtown and only had Casey to help with no other vehicle available to haul the axle in. I hurried home from work and only had a few minutes to figure out what to do, and I didn't know anyone that was home that had a truck. We stared at the problem for a minute and then he and I ratchet strapped the new axle to the rear bumper and headed down the road. I noticed nobody was following me very closely on that ride. When we got to the shop, the guy came out and looked a little confused. He said "I thought you were bringing an axle with you". We all had a good laugh when he saw how I got it there.

This was finally our first time takin it out. Nathan's friend Glenn captured some video and photos of a very fun day. Blake tried his hand at driving for a while and did great. I was a little worried he was going to leave paint and body parts on a few tight points on the trail, but he came through like a pro. In spite of our best efforts, we didn't break anything.

Jeff still needs to hook up to the video.

Nike prenational

For cross country Samantha participated in the Nike prenationals. It is the only fund raiser Aloha High School XC does all year. It was held out at Portland Meadows. They don't actually race on the track they race on the inside field of the track. Schools from as far away as California come to this event. I volunteered in the morning to hand out the packets to the coaches. As soon as I was done Samantha's race started. She did a great job and got 59th out of 200 in her event. She ran it in 23:41. If you go to this website http://www.runnerspace.com
NikePreNationals and look at the videos she is in the main slideshow around 1:13 and then you can see her event by going to the videos and watching the "Girls Frosh/Soph - Nike Pre Nationals 2008" video. I was standing right under the video camera and didn't know it. You can't miss when Samantha finishes because you can hear me several times cheering her on. Earlier I ask the guy videoing for the time, (how embarassing) When they are running over the hills, Samantha comes right after the girl that falls and runs right in front of the camera. It was a fun event. Hope you enjoy!

Run Forrest Run!

100+ teenage girls stretch, do practice sprints and get ready on the sideline of a soccer field. Meanwhile, one lonely guy on a bike gets ready in the middle of the same field. After some brief instructions to the girls, a starter pistol fires, and all 100+ girls start chasing the guy on the bike, Samantha being one of them.

It sounds like a scene from EFY.


Samantha surprised me this year by deciding that she wanted to join the cross country team instead of being in marching band. Rachael thinks there must be some ulterior motive (read: cute guy on the cross country team). Samantha assures me that this is not the case, but won't admit that there is one single cute guy on the face of the planet.

We went to watch her run this past Friday at the Tigard invitational. I talked to Samantha a little bit before she ran and asked here what her goal for the day was. She said she wanted to to the 3-mile course in less than 26 minutes. That didn't seem too aggressive, since the last time I watched her compete she did better than that.

Cross country isn't much of a spectator sport. You have to do a little running yourself to get from one part of the course to another to catch a glimpse of the racers. During the course of a 3-mile race, you may get to witness all of about 1-minute of the action, and that only if you're willing to break a sweat.

At the start of the junior varsity race, we watched Samantha run out of sight very near the head of the pack, around number 10. At the first subsequent point where we watched her go by, she had dropped back to around number 20. I was a little concerned that she had been to aggressive in the beginning and gassed. At the next spot, she had moved up one or two spots and was still looking good. The last place I saw her was about 2/3 into the race. She was holding her own at number 17, with a pretty big pack of girls right behind her.

We moved over to the finish area, and before long, the girls in the lead started to trickle in. Then there was Samantha. She had managed to move to number 16 and had a very good kick to the end, not allowing anyone to pass her. She finished with a time of 23:10, about two minutes better than her previous best. To put that in context, the girl's varsity winner ran the course in 18:45.

Number 16 on the JV race may not sound that impressive, but I was amazed. Six weeks ago, I didn't even know she liked to run. I'm really proud of this girl. She's got a little motor in her that just doesn't quit, whether it be cross country, basketball, flute, school, etc.

As for the guy on the bike, he made it through unscathed. He'd better watch out next time, I saw some girls messing with his bike.

Samantha had a cross country meet on Friday (I like to call them track meets because it bothers her). This whole cross country thing seems a little out-of-character for Samantha, but we never thought she would latch on to basketball either. Anyway, I asked her before the meet what her goal was for the 3-mile run. She told me "26 minutes", which was slower than the last time I watched her run. When I gave her a hard time about it, she just smiled.

I've never watched a cross country meet before. It's kind of like watching a golf tournament, in that you have to move around the course. The difference is that sometimes you have to run if you want to catch a glimpse of the racers as they go by. The course at Tigard made several loops around an through a park. There were lots of trees, so most of the time you couldn't see them, then all of the sudden they would come out of the trees and go running by.

At the start, Samantha ran up to the front and was in about 10th place when we lost sight of her. Here is a photo of the start, good luck spotting Samantha in the crowd.


At the first spectator point where we could see her, she had dropped back to about 20th, but she was looking good and running strong. I was worried that she was going to gas, and kind of surprised that she was being so aggressive.

At the second point, she had moved up a little bit and was still looking good.

As she came around for the finish, she was in 16th place. She finished very strong and didn't let anyone pass her. I was amazed that she did so well. She ended up with a time of about 23:10 for 3 miles.

Purseless

For some reason the rest to my family has come to HATE my planner.
I'm not sure why. I never asked them to carry it around for me. Great fun things came from the planner... what was for dinner, money, a knife, fingernail clippers, stamps, the time their game starts....
Anyway, since Jeff started to use an iphone last year I have been quite impressed by the ease he can find places, call people, and check his e-mail. My planner started on its way to the grave last November when the magnet snap, and arm strap broke. I went into the Franklin Planner store and my same planner purse cost $150, so I decided to just fix the magnet and buy a new strap. I took my purse to some luggage company downtown and they fixed it for $20. (I even did the trip downtown in my big truck with 0 turning radius. I am amazing.) One week later it was fixed and I was happy again. I still looked around for a new purse that my planner would fit into perfectly. Nothing.... nothing.... nothing, for a year I have looked. So I was starting to think of going back to Franklin and buying the dang purse. But this whole time I kept thinking I would love an iphone. It would be awesome to have the internet where ever I went. I wouldn't have to manually update my planner anymore. I could check game schedules from my e-mail away from home. So 3 months ago my planner zipper broke and 2 weeks ago the magnet that I had fixed broke again. (I'll give it to the luggage place, it broke on the other side of the magnet this time.) It is dead....completely utterly dead. I loved this planner purse, it really did keep me on top of most things. So over the last 2 weeks I have had a debate going within me, planner or iphone. The iphone won out and now I carry in a little rubber protector with my license, debit and credit card and a set of keys on a lanyard. I'll have to say it has been hard to go out with out my planner. I feel ill prepared for what might come my way. I do have a billfold to hold all of the silly cards that I need like the library, health insurance, THPRD, Albertsons, RV Road help. I only bring that when I know I need it. I'm purseless and lovin it!

Up a Creek

Fortunately, we had a paddle. We took the crew on a 6-day 73-mile float down the Lower Salmon River in Western Idaho. We accompanied the Mechams, Riggs, and Johnsens on this trip, they are all veterans of the Lower Salmon and showed us greenhorns how it was done.

We departed for White Bird, Idaho on Sunday afternoon and arrived in the wee hours of the morning. We threw out a tarp, blew up our air mattress, and proceeded to freeze our tails off for the rest of the night. It was a little colder than I expected. Actually, I think Rachael was quite warm as she slept in her winter parka. Two coyotes came into the camp during the night and then hightailed it back out when one of the dogs from another group started barking at them.

We assembled our boat the next morning, and into the river we went for 5 1/2 days of floating, swimming, fishing, and camping on white sandy beaches. It's amazing how the events of a full week blur together and compress into a few memories.

Alec was kind enough to capture a few pieces of photographic evidence. Rachael took a bunch of pictures which I am sure will be forthcoming, but she is busy perfecting them with photoshop.

Here are a few action shots from the class IV rapid on the river, Snow Hole.




The trip was not without its exciting moments. Just a few hours before the above pictures were taken, we came across another group on the river. They were administering CPR to a woman that had been trapped under her boat for 4 minutes when it flipped after hitting a rock wall. The Riggs assisted with giving her medical attention and helped get her down the river to a large camping area. There they found a forest service employee with a radio who was helping coordinate fire fighting efforts for a forest fire in the immediate area. They arranged a jet boat to come pick her up so she could be evacuated to a hospital. We later learned that she made a full recovery. That incident cast a pall over the trip for a few hours. The kicker for Rachael was that I moved to another boat to help with some non-experienced rafters that had been left on their own when their boatsman went to help with the lady who almost drowned. I had Blake pilot our boat and follow me through a little class II rapid so we could get down to the camping area. After just witnessing a near-drowning, Rachael was a little on edge with Blake driving the boat.

We enjoyed getting into the water on the calm spots on the river, cooling off and "checking the prop". I amazed the kids with my acrobatic talents (don't they look amazed?). Seeing me launch into the air like this must be kind of like watching the Spruce Goose take flight.


We floated through a canyon that was on fire, as I noted before. The firefighters were out in force, with planes and helicopters working to put the fire out. At one of our camp sites, we watched all afternoon as a helicopter went back and forth to the river to suck up water to dump on the fire. At first it looked like he was going to draw water from right in front of our camp, but then he saw the kids out swimming in the river and moved downstream. In this picture, you can see the hose hanging underneath the helicopter that he uses for sucking up water. You can also see the smoke from the fire in the canyon.

All of the camping was on white, sandy beaches. It was very nice, but kind of hard on the feet. By the end of the trip, my feet were so dried out that they were starting to crack, and they were raw from the wet sand rubbing between my sandals and my feet. I guess that is the price to be paid for paradise. The Rigg's tent (show in this picture) blew into the river when a sudden gust of wind came up. Casey and Branden happened to be close by and jumped into the river to save it.


We had a great cliff jumping spot at our last campsite. We entertained ourselves for a couple of hours jumping off of this cliff. This was also the campsite where we caught the most fish. Alec and the kids dug a hole in the beach and lined it with a tarp. We then filled it with water and created a little holding tank for a bunch of little bass that we caught.

Sea Fair, See well, See fantastic

I haven't figured out Mahina's new blog writer yet, but will post anyway, boring font and all.

A few weeks ago Jeff, Cason, Carissa, and I went up to Seattle to visit my sister's family. They were up from Kentucky to visit Ryan's family. They are always so sweet and invite us for the fun. We got up there on Friday night and met Cassidy for the first time. What an adorable baby!!! She smiled the whole time and has got the cutest eyes. Tiffany knows the gift she was given and is willing to share. She let me hold her and put her to sleep. Just that was worth the trip. Sat morning we enjoyed a feast of a breakfast and then headed off to Sea Fair. We found a grassy spot right on Lake Washington and relaxed while we watched the Blue Angles perform and afterward some jet boats. We had some ice cream from the ice cream man and part of an orange for lunch. Dinner was at Karens, Tiffany's sister-in-law, where we had our choice of steak, fresh caught crab, chicken, and hamburgers. She also had out her candy popcorn. It is so good she actually started a business selling it. DElish!!! It was such a great time. Short and sweet. I can't wait for Tiffany and Ryan to finally settle here in the west. I sure miss them.

The Rodeo, An American Celebration

Several years ago the Johnsons and the Hills invited us to go to the St. Paul Rodeo for the 4th of July. Ever since, if we are in Oregon, we go. This year was no exception. The bulls were wilder than ever but we missed the clown from other years.





































I teared up AGAIN during the National Anthem. It always makes me feel such pride and love for our country. St. Paul just makes me feel like I am in "home town" America.






















Spending our 4th of July's in St. Paul has been a great tradition. I remember the year that we planned a picnic with the Johnsons to a park. I had spent a lot of time on a jello salad in the shape of a flag with the whipped cream, blueberry stars and everything. Jeff decided to have Blaze, our dog, drag the cooler to the picnic table. She took off running and needless to say the jello didn't survive. I believe we started the St. Paul tradition the next year.























During the rodeo a bull tried to jump the gates, and a cowboy got his hand stuck in the rope.
It is quite entertaining, no jello gets hurt in the process either. It always ends in fireworks and elephant ears. What a great day.

Soaring Eagles

This Tuesday for the YM's activity the priests made dinner for their mothers. I had some running around to do but eventually joined the dinner. (It was at our house.) Jeff was getting into town that night too. It was very nice. Blake made jello, others made chicken and rice and beans (I think). We played Celestial partners, with some of the questions tweeked so that we could see how well we knew each other. We didn't win but were a close 2nd place. Blake is a great son.

Speaking of... Wed we went to Blake's eagle Board of Review. Mitch Mason was his advicate and Russ Allen and Brian Merritt were on the board. Jeff and Cason's opthomologist was the head on the board. I new I had met him before. It went well and BLAKE IS NOW AN EAGLE SCOUT!!!! I can't tell you how happy I am that he is done, and with months to spare. For his eagle project he built a fence for the ACR here in Aloha. Once he tore down the other fence it was easy to see that they were not utilizing all that was available, so they changed things right on the spot. Blake arrange for a CAT to come in and flatten all of the dirt inside and outside the new fence line. Jerry Janeck had a great contact that came and did it for free. It took at good portion of a Sat. There were many great men that helped make this all happen. I sure appreciate all that each of the leaders have done to teach and help Blake become a man, especially Jeff. I sure have a great husband.

mother's day

tha

Okay, so I saw this draft that was never posted. So here it is. Maybe I can get caught up...

Sunday was a wonderful mother's day. Jeff mad a great breakfast of fried eggs, bacon, and waffles. He bought me some plants and a fucia hanging basket. Carissa made me a clip all decorated, and Samantha gave me a great card with fruit and vegetable stickers on it. (I have a pep peeve about fruit stickers). What a sass! We played Scum (a fun card game) while Jeff prepared a great pork roast dinner. It was a wonderful day. Cason sang to me the last time for mother's day in primary. I cried. Dumb I know. We played a fun game called scum while Jeff cooked. The game is great because if you are the winner that round you are the Queen or the King. I love being the Queen. But the best part of the whole day was that my family let me take a family photo without shenanigans. I take every photo, so it is push the button and run. Last year they kept making goofy poses while I was posing so great up front. So this year, they were great. We had a hard time finding something that matched, so we decided to wear our favorite outfits. No matching at all. I just love them though. I think they turned out great for my push and run method. One of these days I will ask one of my great friends to do it, but for now, this worked. Samantha got a great picture of Jeff and me too.

Sunday Cason stressed way out about giving a talk in primary. He is so funny. It was like he was addressing the Supreme Court the way he worried. He ended up doing a great job. Monday we bought a cake and ice cream and had some friends over so I wouldn't eat my for birthday cake. It was fun. Blake had bought me the movie the Italian job. Cason gave me a new set of head phones for my ipod that I could run with. Jeff rebought me photoshop and a new MAC computer for upstairs. I now have a computer all of my own. I am so excited! I still haven't figured everything out yet. I am still learning mac talk and I am just learning Bridge (the organizing program that comes with photoshop) from tutoring video's off of the web that comes free for a month. I am learning so much, mostly how to see my day fly by. The last couple of days I have learned a lot, but not accomplished a lot. It is a good thing Jeff has been out of town, because I'm not very good company.

recent activities

The last couple have weeks have been great. First, it was my 38th birthday on Friday May 2nd. I really meant to play it up like some of my blogging friends and announce it to the world, but I just got too busy. I did call up Jeff and took him to lunch at Izzy's. We had a great time and I was able to get a couple of pictures. I still don't know how to do that without having a double chin. We knew that he had to help someone move that night and the next morning, so we enjoyed lunch together. Don't we just look great, like two crazies right out of the farm. Sat morning was a busy day. Carissa spent the night at the Lloyds so she could ride over to the Stake Activity day the next morning. Blake helped Jeff move someone and I think Samantha had Becca spending the night. Blake went to bed fairly early so he could wake up early for his SAT test. He has been studying for a couple of months now. I hope he does well. I woke up early to get ready for my triathlon. Bridget picked me up and we set off to set up our running and biking gear at the transitions locations. We went to the bathroom a couple of times. For some reason, as calm as I feel, my body rebels and takes it's own opinion and gets nervous. I didn't feel jittery or anything, just a few potty breaks. Bridget and I were fortunate enough to be not only placed in the same wave, but the same lane. That was the best. We sat there and got nervous together. She is such a wonderful friend. I am so glad she is apart of my life. The other fortunate thing is that one of the four people in our lane didn't show, so it was another lady, 5 seconds, then ANOTHER 5 secs, then me, and then Bridget. It was so nice! I was just fast enough to tail the 1st lady and drafted in here bubbles. It was so awesome. I did it in less than 10 minutes. A new record for me. Bridget wasn't far behind me. I forgot my big running number when I took off on the bike. Oh well, it didn't matter at all. I was pumping myself up to make this hill in the middle of the bike course. There is a steady incline for a while and then a hill. Right as I was going up the hill some random non competitive bikers passed me, but all in all, when I got to the top, I realized that the hill wasn't near as hard as I had thought. I raced it as fast as I could to the stadium. A fellow competitor tried to catch me the whole time, but didn't. We dismounted at the same time. When we took off running we talked for a bit, but his pace was too much for me. I had maybe 2-4 people pass me the whole race. That was awesome. When all was said and done I had done my best race ever. The best part is that I felt so good the whole race. I was positive and happy and felt strong the whole way. When I finished I stretched for a few minutes and waited for Bridget. I didn't cramp or hurt like I had other times. It made me feel great about getting older. The rest of the day was nice. Jeff came home form moving people, I got in a nap and then I went and watched Carissa play a couple of games of basketball, and later that night Samantha play in a couple of games. They both did well and it was fun to watch them. Carissa has a wedgy problem. I have bought her a few pairs of different undies. I hope to find one that will help her. I recorded some of her games, and she is going to be embarrassed.

Forts

On Sunday Cason and Carissa made a huge fort downstairs. Cason was so excited he even took pictures from inside the fort. What fun kids.