July 4, 2012

We decided to attend the Hunstville parade.  Nothing makes me feel more patriotic than an American Flag!  We love little town's and their parades!

 Fun times on the blow up slide!!

                                                              Is that you? Obama?

This really was quite hysterical!  This limo with all the men dressed like secret service men dancing around-then out of the car pops-Obama!   I guess that this created quite a stir, even hit national news.  The secret service actually came to Huntsville to check out if there was truly a threat.

One of the things that I love the most about little town parades is that they are mainly tractors!  No floats, just pickups and tractors!!

After our Huntsville time we went to Morgan to their festivities.  I forgot to take pictures!

We are generally out of town for the 4th of July so our kids really haven't experienced much celebration on this day.  We may have to change that.  I love celebrating this great country!

We also went out to Willard with my sister and family-I thought I took some pictures, I guess not!  We had a great time.  Zack got up on the wakeboard his very first try--that is the first time I have ever seen it done!  We played and played on the water and then had a chicken dinner and watched Willard City fireworks from the parking lot.   It was a great day!

Angels

Sleeping children are one of the most wonderful parts of being a Mom!

When I look at my sleeping children they look just like angels!

Ragnar 2012

Wasatch Back Ragnar

June 14-15, 2012

  This was our half of the team! We started in the tiny town of Liberty-I am sure the population was quadrupled!   I was the first runner in our van to start!  I was nervous waiting, not knowing what to expect! 
 Kobyn Bond, Jeremy Lucas, Tina Spens, Rose Carrigan, Landon Casper, Ashley Carrigan and Dave Carrigan in the back!

This is Ashley passing off the braclet after her last leg.  It was a hot, hot afternoon. 

Ashley made me a special reflective vest because I was nervous about my night run!  She didn't want me to be scared!  My night run was actually my favorite of the three runs.  It was the hardest difficulty wise--it was a steep hill for more than three miles!  However, it was cooler. Towards the end Dave told me there was a half mile left, then a minute later I saw the one mile further marker-I could have died!  It was actually a half mile further than the map had stated!

The only tatoo that I will ever have-one that washes off!

It was fun running this race with Ashley.  She was the runner after me so I handed the braclet off to her each time.   She got sick in the night after her second run.  I was glad that she started to feel better and was able to run her last leg with no major problems.  She did have very sore feet!

Dave was our van driver!  He was super! A good thing that he was driving and knew where in the world we were going!  When we started he told us under no uncertain terms that "next year, I am hauling hay".   By seven that night he was already planning how to decorated the suburban!

We had an awesome team! 

This is the mess in our dining room AFTER Ragnar!  Unfortunately, it got even worse when I started to find all the messes that the kids made while we were gone!!

Raganar was a strange experience.  Parts of it were really awful, like the running!  However, being with a group surrounded by thousands of other crazy people made it all bearable!   The energy in the air was thick with excitement.   We had a few mishaps in the night, Landon got really sick on his run so Jeremy took over.  Then Ashley got sick.  During the time they were sick, we realized Jeremy didn't have the bracelet to pass through the exchange!  So, we had to wait for him before the exchange.  Then we realized poor Kobyn wasn't awake! I awoke him from the dead to go run in the middle of the night!  I felt like a horrible mother!  He survived!

Everyone got feeling better for the last runs and totally did awesome!   I am by far the slowest runner on the team.  We had five young teenage boys that were amazing to watch run.  The last legs are brutal!  They are up Gaurdsmen Pass from Heber City into Park City.  It is straight up hill and then straight down!   Our three boys totally flew up and down! 

Out of 1098 teams our Kobyn ran the "Ragnar Hill" 17th overall!  That is amazing!

I am glad that I got to do this.  Jeff signed the team up again! So, maybe this year I can figure out how to run faster than a snail!

Breakfast out!

Justin had an early eye appointment.  We decided to go to Denny's so he could get breakfast before the Dr.

 Justin chose his pancake--blueberry with hot fudge sauce!  It looked good!
He ate as much as he could-which was only about a quarter of the plate!  He said that  he wouldn't ever order the hot fudge again!  Next time he is going with strawberries!!!

Memorial Day Vacation-Lake Powell

                                                     (Mitch clearing the wake)
 We went to Lake Powell for Memorial Day Weekend.  We have never taken our family there so it was a totally new experience.  It was much further than Dave actually realized, however, the view when we got there made the drive worth it!

                                                         (Ashley making it look easy)
We parked our motorhome right on the beach.  The sand was beautiful!  That is until the wind started to blow!  Unfortunatley, it blew hard!  We weren't able to really go on the water for the first three days.  That was not fun!  We also had to stay inside the motorhome because being outside was like having  your body sandblasted!

                                                      (Emily-once she gets up she is good to go!)
We went for a short boat ride and came back to both tents FULL of sand!  We literally had to use the dustpan to scoop the sand out of the tents!  The wind was so strong that it actually snapped one of the poles.

                                                            Rainbow Bridge
On our last day we were finally able to get out on the water.  We headed to Rainbow Bridge.  It is the largest natural arch in the world.  It really was breath taking.  We were so glad that we made it there!  A ranger told us that Saturday(when we were originally going to go) was one of the worst days on the water ever!  One of the fuel docks actually broke lose!  Glad that we didn't go then!

 We took our family and two extras!  Mitch's buddy Jake and Ashley's roomie Camilla.  We certainly had a motorhome full!  They played card games for hours!

                                                           Justin and his goose!
For some unknown reason, Mitch's buddy Andrew gave Justin a goose decoy.  Well, that goose came camping with us!  Sadly, some of the other children on the beach were not very nice.  They wanted to make it so that you couldn't cross certain places on the beach.  Justin was feeling pretty bad, then the big boys helped him dig an awesome hole.  THEN they had the best idea yet!!!  Put the goose out!  Noone else will have a goose!!!  

We had people stopping and staring, dogs barking and parents laughing!!!  Silly goose!

All in all we had a great time.  There were a few personality conflicts.  That seems to happen when there is one really middle child, life just doesn't go smoothly sometimes.  Besides that and the breakdown getting there we really did have fun.  We want to go again-without the wind!!!

My Sweet boy

This little guy is still little enough to sit on my lap and cuddle!

Ragnar is coming!

I am getting nervous!  It has been almost a year in the planning and it is happening next weekend! 
Ragnar Wasatch Back relay race! 

Ashley and I are both running with a team mostly from our neighborhood!  If you are not familiar with what a Ragnar relay race is I will explain.

It is a 200 mile relay across the back side of the Wasatch Mountains.  The team consists of twelve runners who each run three legs, ranging in distance from about 3 miles to about 10 miles.   The team is divided into two vans.  One van runs their six legs and then the next van runs their six legs while the first van rests(in theory!) and gets ready for their next leg, etc, until everyone has run three time.  The entire process is about thirty hours.

The race has been going through our little town for years, maybe 12, and this year we are part of it. 
I am nervous because I struggle with running.  The team captain and neighbor, Jeff, gave me the easiest leg so that I wasn't overwhelmed.  My longest distance is 4.3 miles.   I am grateful for this!  Perhaps if we run again I might feel more confident and get one of the longer distances!

I have been trying to run more often but it is hard.  I love going to my Crossfit classes so I am always trying to figure out which to do.  Run or Crossfit!  I have gotten to where my four mile run is ok. I feel confident in it.  I am slow, slow, slow!  That has not changed since the eighty year old man beat me!  However, I am trying to not let my speed affect my desire.  I just want to be able to say that I did it!

I still have the desire to run a half marathon.  I am not sure why, except to say that I can do something hard.   Ashley just signed herself up for one in August!  I should just do it with her, except that she is much faster than I am!

This next week will involve more running, just in preparation!  I hope that we all survive and enjoy it along the way!!

Listen and obey and Tender Mercy's

     In our church we have often been reminded to pay attention to the "tender mercies" of the Lord.  I try but lately have been more absorbed in my perceived problems than looking towards my blessings!
    Recently we decided to take a trip to Lake Powell, Utah.  We have never taken our family there.  It is a long distance, almost four hundred miles.  We left in the late afternoon so we knew it would be very late before we arrived. 
     We left our home after packing all but the kitchen sink.  My sweet husband drives and drives.  The kids sleep and play games.  I read and feed people.
     Six or seven hours into our trip-about sixty miles from Lake Powell(almost midnight), we start out of Kanab, Utah.  A horrible rattle and slapping noise startled us and the engine immediately began to lose power. Directly in front of us on the side of the road was a flat, hard surface to pull off the road onto.  We were in a thirty foot motor home pulling a twenty four foot boat! 
     I look at my husband and he starts looking in the engine compartment.  He feels my gaze.  A large belt has snapped, a new belt that he put on two weeks previous.   I ask him if he has a spare.  He says"yes, I hope it fits".  The engine is too hot to work on so we decide to just go to sleep and work on it in the morning.
     First crack of daylight Dave and Mitch put on the belt and we are on our way.  It fit and we had no other problems.
     After our camping trip we headed home.  As we were nearing where we pulled off, I started looking for another spot a huge vehicle like ours could have safely pulled off of the road.  There wasn't one. Both sides of the road for a mile or two in both directions was a slopped shoulder with very soft dirt.  At the exact moment the belt snapped a perfectly flat, hard,and long enough space for our huge vehicle, was right there!  A tender mercy indeed!
     While we were discussing the blessing of the pull out, Dave shared  another part of this story.   Two years ago he bought a belt that wasn't the right size.  He traded it for a belt that the guy had had hanging on his wall forever.  Two weeks before our trip Dave decided to put a new belt on.  He purchased a new belt because the other belt was so old. It was a new belt from a dealer.  He and Mitch installed it and he didn't think more about it.
     As we were getting ready to leave our house for our trip, he walked past that old belt sitting on a shelf.  As he walked past it he had the thought, "I ought to throw that belt in."  He grabbed it and didn't think more of it.  Luckily, Dave almost always has his tools with him, just in case.
     Dave throws the old(not used just aged) belt in and then on our trip the new belt breaks.  We are able to safely pull off the road, spend the night and then fix the engine without too much hassle.
  
     Listening and then obeying the promptings of the Lord is something we are working on.  I am so grateful that my husband listened and then obeyed the prompting he received to put that belt in. I am also grateful for the tender mercy of a perfect place to pull over safely when the belt broke.  The Lord is mindful of us, we just need to recognize His hand in our lives.

    

Noticing the little blessings

     I don't mean to be but sometimes I am a wallower or a pessimist.  I don't believe I have always been or that most people that know me would think I am a horribly depressed person.  However, I often feel it.
     The last two years have been really hard in some parts of my life.  Situations that can't be discussed but are ever present and often all encompassing.
     I read a blog post yesterday from Seven Cherubs, a mother of seven from Australia.  She did a project during the month of May that consisted of writing one sentence a day about how something brought her happiness.  I thought that it was a wonderful idea!
     So, I'm going to make a little list of things that have brought me joy and happiness recently. I think that I am going to start now with the month of June and try and write something every single day!

*My beautiful flowers are blooming!

*Mitch sprayed off my dirty front porch!

*Summer air has arrived, and with it eating and sitting on the porch.

*We got to Lake Powell safely-due to Dave listening to the still small voice and then obeying the prompting.

*Justin still likes to cuddle and is still so young and sweet.

*I got to visit the Ocean recently, and better yet with my sweetie!

*The sounds of summer:children playing, crickets, even the distant lawn mower!

*Little boys playing all kinds of games.  Really playing and pretending!

    I hope that I can actually be more aware of the joy in my life.  It is there surrounded by the mounds of laundry and attitudes that often overtake everything else.  Looking for the joy, the Tender Mercy's , being present when the happiness happens, that is what I want!

San Diego! Just Rose and Dave!!

Dave and I went on a trip to San Diego at the end of April!  It was the first trip away for quite a few years.  We had a ton of fun!  Our friends, the Barazza's and the Parry's met us there for a few days. 

We stayed directly across the street from the historic Hotel  Del Coronado!  The island of Coronado is amazing!  It has the most beautiful, pristine beach.   We also went to our favorite beach haunt-Pacific Beach and had breakfast on the beach at Kono's(no picture this time). Barrazza's lived in San Diego so they drove us around and took us to some of their favorite restaurant's and sites.  It was fun having a different perspective.  They also drove us all around the North Island Navy base.  Lou Barrazza is a Navy Colonel. 

 We stopped for ice cream at Baker, California-the traffic was horrible.  We saw the world's tallest thermometer.

 This statue is out at Point Loma.  The furthest southern point of the US.

 We stopped at the beach after going to the San Diego Temple.  I need to live by a beach!

 We went on a short bike ride along the boardwalk, unfortunately Dave won't be biking with his neck problems again anytime soon!

                                              The View out our condo window.

 The Hotel Del Coronado from the beach-just named the Most Beautiful Beach for 2012!

 The view from the pier at Pacific Beach after eating breakfast at Kono's.

 Denny Barrazza, Cricket and Lyle Parry and Dave.

 All the gals had so much fun! We found some great seashells!  Rose, Denny B, and Cricket P.

 At the Mormon Battalion Museum they dressed Dave up like the men would have that march in the Battalion.

If you look closely on the right side of the picture in the distance you can see the San Diego LDS Temple.  It is an amazingly beautiful building.  Dave and I went and did a session while we were there.

 We all went in to Old Town and went to the Mormon Battalion Museum. 

I love, love, love the Ocean.  I would enjoy being able to visit it often.  It heals my soul.

Emily's Piano Recital

April 26, 2012

Emily is starting to really become a good pianist.  She has an amazing teacher-Amy Ward.  I am so proud of her for continuing.  She will be so grateful that she didn't stop.

Baseball-lots of baseball!

Mitch played on the Freshman baseball team this spring.  It was a lot of fun to watch him play.  He played first base and he played it well!  He has such long legs and a long reach that he just reaches and gets many a ball!   He is also a good throw and a great catch!  Most of their games were "double headers" so they were pretty long.  One game went on for 3 1/2 hours!  That was a long day!  He was on the field from 9:30 am until 5:30 pm! 

We loved watching Mitch play.  We ate a lot of Subway sandwiches, we decided we didn't want another for quite awhile!!!

Mother's Day 2012

Mother's Day 2012

My children and husband were very sweet.  I got new running shoes from my sweet Dave(I had to pick them out, of course).   Ashley brought home beautiful flowers and then Dave brought home even more!
Two bouquets of flowers!  I am a lucky girl!

Justin was so thrilled to give my his painting.  It is a print of his precious feet!  "From the top of my heart, to the tips of my toes-I love you."

Emily wrote me a very sweet note.

I am a blessed woman.  There are days that I wonder why I had children, why I was chosen to be their mother.  Those are hard days.   I am glad that I don't have those days every day, that I get to look at the faces of these people in my life and know that I am very blessed.

Dancing Competitions

Spring brings dance competitions!

Emily is doing so well! She worked so hard this years, learning all of the solo dances and really practicing!

She had a competition at Thanksgiving Point, and in Pocatello, Idaho.  Their team did amazing.  Always pulling first place!

May 20th they danced at Nationals at Lagoon and she did so great!  She was only going to do four of the five solos because she didn't know the last one very well.  We convinced her to just do it.  The worst thing that could happen was she would get a third!  She did it and got a second!!!

She got three firsts and two seconds on her solos.  Her team got first and then an All Around High Gold-which means that they got all the points possible!  That is the very highest score possible!!!

Catch up!

Once again I seem to be very behind on the happenings in our lives!  I am trying to keep this blog as our "scrapbook" of sorts-since I haven't don't much formal scrapbooking for twelve years.

So, the next few posts are going to be catch up -not in chronological order!



Emily had a birthday-we took pictures!!
April 19, 2012

We had a cute cake with Justin and Mitch and his friends Lexus, Payge and Andrew.

Em had a fun "girls spa day" birthday party.  It started out slow with only two people coming but finally a few hours later her other friends finally made it!  They did makeup, fingernails, hair and lots and lots of giggling!

Summer is finally here!

School is officially over for another year! We have gone on a vacation(lake powell), eaten burgers and chips, slept in, gone to the park, played baseball, started a cleanup project(yucky garage), gone to the library and now ---- enjoying a movie--OUTSIDE!

Now that's what summer is for!!!!

Happy 19th Birthday!

May 22!
Ashley turned 19!! How did this happen?

Shining

Today in my reading I came across this thought.  I understood it.  It resonates with my soul. 


{Streams in the Desert devotionals compiled by Mrs. Chas E. Cowman, 1950} this spoke straight to my heart and I just feel like maybe by sharing it here it could speak to someone else too.
* * * * *
Shining is always costly. Light comes only at the cost of that which produces it. An unlit candle does no shining. Burning must come before shining. We cannot be of great use to others without cost to ourselves. Burning suggests suffering. We shrink from pain.
We are apt to feel that we are doing the greatest good in the world when we are strong, and able for active duty, and when the heart and hands are full of kindly service.
When we are called aside and can only suffer; when we are sick; when we are consumed with pain; when all our activities have been dropped, we feel that we are no longer of use, that we are not doing anything.
But if we are patient and submissive, it is almost certain that we are a greater blessing to the world in our time of suffering and pain than we were in the days when we thought we were doing the most of our work. We are burning now, and shining because we are burning.

Happy 12th Birthday!

Happy Birthday! 

I can hardly believe twelve years have passed!!!

I love you,

Mom

April? How did that happen?

I need to figure out how to write more. I have plenty that seems to happen in my life!  Why don't I blog it?  Who knows?

Happenings around here:
*Spring Break-Lake Mead, Nevada
*Easter-in Nevada
*Baseball
*Stake Conference
*Driving to St. George to repair car
*Emily's birthday

I also just realized that I have never actually posted any pictures of our California trip--back during Christmas!  I guess I need to get on with that!