Halloween 2008

Luke as his hero! Dad's little "mini-me". The camera really picks up on the reflectors with the flash on.

Eli as a "life flight guy".

Samuel as Indiana Jones. I can't believe how much older he looks with facial hair!

Porter as an old man. I wonder if he will look like this in 50 years?

My growing up years.

It is truly sad how ugly the stages were for me growing up! The need one feels to try and fit in by following certain trends, is quite hilarious! If the hair and teeth weren't bad enough, what the heck was I thinking on the mornings of the all important picture day?! These are the pictures that would define who I was and obviously my sense of fashion is not something I am real proud. Please, what is up with the bandanna?! And I know that I never saw a doctor about needing glasses (still don't)! I am pretty sure that my mom gave me most of my hair cuts in those early years and would like to thank her for that, NOT!! I hope that you will enjoy this rather awkward trip down memory lane. It was pretty fun for me!

Races 2008

This year Stan and I branched out from our usual Summer races of just running. Stan bought me a bike for Christmas because we had both made it into the 13 minute registration window for the Spudman Triathalon in July. Had you asked me a year ago if I would consider myself a cyclist I would have said "No way! I don't bike." But once we made it into the tri, I knew that I would have to at least learn how to get on and off my bike. I also have learned a few other things since that first day (Yes, I fell twice that day!) You must be moving in order to balance, you must not reach down to check your tire pressure if your bike is rolling (DAH!!) and it is good to always have lots and lots and lots of water!!

So because I had such a fear of biking, I thought that I would push myself right from the start of the biking season and just to get on and go. I signed up to do the Little Red Ridinghood ride. It is an all women ride that goes from Logan to Preston Wyoming and back. Total of 104 miles. (Unfortunately, I have no pictures to document my first big ride!) I guess when I want a challenge I really go for it! (Thanks for the never ending supply of drive dad!) It was so much fun that I knew right away that I was addicted to riding for life!

The Spudman was a BLAST! My goal was to finish in under 3 hours. My final time was 2:45. Stan of coarse was faster and finished in 2:28. The best part of the whole thing is that my mom and dad were there to watch! For years my dad ran around the track at BYU and he never participated in any organized events. Last year he and my mom weren't able to come to St George for the marathon , so I was just trilled that they made it to see us compete in this event. Dad, that race was for you!! For all the miles you ran without getting the chance to cross a single finish line!!

This is a picture of what the Spudman looked like from a 4th story balcony, that my parents got to watch the race on. (Although my dad spent a lot of his time walking around down by the racers.) If you look real close, you can see that the grass is matted down from over 2000 runners pounding it.

Can you tell which swim capped head is mine? After all of the people of my heat jumped into the water, I swam up a bit and tried to find my dad watching on the sidelines. I saw him and started to yell and wave to get his attention. The sun was so bright that he wasn't sure if it was me, but he took a shot anyway!


Post race photos. I don't know how my mom could stand to get this close to me! She must have been more proud than I thought. Stan was just as stinky as I was or he wouldn't have gotten this close to me, proud or not!! The photo in the middle is our trophy! We each got a medal with a potato with muscles running. How cool is that?!

Two weeks after the Spudman, I was able to participate in a ride call the ULCER. No it is not name that because doing it will give you an ulcer. It is the acronym for Utah Lake Century Epic Ride. It was an 111 mile coarse around Utah Lake.

The picture at the top is of my friend Jocelyn, her daughter Cassie, Cassie's friend Millie, and me. This is just before we started. Don't we all look excited and well rested? Just me and my trusty bike in the middle. After 6 hours it still looked just the same. Thank heaven I didn't crash or get a flat!! Last is Jocelyn and I after the 111 mile event. We look pretty good I'd say! At about mile 102 I hit the wall. I have done a lot of races both running and riding and never had I experienced something quite like that before! I guess I am not as invisible as I thought! (Lots more water next time!!

Base Ball Season 2008

This Spring was pretty crazy once ball season hit!! All 4 boys played in different leagues this year. As you can see by the photos that Samuel didn't quite make it through the whole season because of a minor injury at school and a total loss of interest. (Mom was pretty OK with that since it helped make it so she didn't have to spread herself so thin.)

Eli's team took 3rd place in the city league and went on to play at state. They only took 4th at state, but had a blast!!

Luke played coach pitch this year and loved it!! After the 2nd game, Luke asked me why the coach hadn't let any of the players pitch the ball. I told him that the coach is supposed to pitch the ball. He said "Oh is that why they call it 'Coach Pitch'?" I just had to chuckle!

"Called To Serve" singing time idea

For a fun and easy idea to use with the song "Called To Serve" get 8 or more envelopes. On the front print the words "Called To Serve".
On 4 strips of paper put the following...
"Congratulations you have been called to serve a mission in...". I did this to two weeks in a row because the children in my ward loved it. The first week I just put random places (Colorado, Japan, Mexico, etc. The second week, I put the name of the places that people in our ward are serving and had the children guess who it was.
On the 4 other strips on paper, print the description of a calling someone holds in your ward and then have the children guess what the calling is and the name of the person in your ward that holds that calling, ie "You have been called to serve and love all of the children in the ward between the ages of 3-12. Who are you??" (answer: the Primary president and her name.) Or "You have been called to love and serve all of the ladies in the ward. You need to make sure that they are loved and that they are visited each month. Who are you??" (answer: the Relief Society president and her name.) I was surprised at how many children in the ward that didn't know who this was!
I put the envelopes on the board and drew names out of a stick jar to have them come up.
I also took a globe with me and had the children that got mission calls find that place on the globe.
Each time we choose an envelope, we would practice part of the song "Called To Serve".
Like I said, the children in my ward really liked doing this and it helped them to see that we can and will serve in the church before and after missions.
Also, if you want to also sing the song "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission" when the children choose the mission calls and "Called To Serve" when they choose the callings, it gives them a break from doing just the one song.