Out Of The Darkness Walk 2010

Our family got the opportunity to walk for the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention fundraiser today. The theme was Out of the Darkness and we put together Team Wayne in my brothers honor. We did some fundraising and through the generosity of family and friends Team Wayne raised over $600 dollars. It was a great experience and we all felt that it's been very healing to support a cause like this and to hopefully help other families and vicitms from having to experience the grief that suicide causes.

When we were trying to decide what color T-shirt to wear and my sister-in-law, Roni, hit on the idea to wear camoflauge. Wayne loved hunting and we all felt like that was a perfect way to represent him. They had necklaces for the walkers to wear that represented who they had lost; white if you'd lost a child, gold if you'd lost a parent, orange if you'd lost a sibling, purple if you's lost a friend or a relative, and green if you were a suicide survivor yourself. I loved being able to look around at all the other orange necklaces and feeling such a kinship with people who were otherwise complete strangers.

The family: Jeff, Don, Cherie, Me, and my Mom








Team Wayne:

We had a fantastic group of people (including quite a few latecomers who didn't make the picture) who came out to walk with us.

I feel very blessed by the amount of generosity and support, both of time and money, that we've experienced this week. We are truly surrounded by an amazing group of people!

Moonlight Half Marathon

Mike and I got to train for, and run, another race together. It was tons of fun! It was a little different than most races because the object was NOT to cross the finish line first, but to cross the finish line as close to midnight as you possibly could. So they didn't have any official timing devices, just a clock at the start and a clock at the end and you weren't allowed to bring personal timing devices. They bused us up to the start line and then you just left whenever you wanted to....no starting gun, no crowd to elbow through.....it was a nice change! The course was tougher than what I expected, there were a lot of hills, the first two miles up straight up the canyon....brutal! We had some cloud cover and light rain for most of the run so the weather was perfect, but there wasn't any moonlight to light up the canyon road at all and it was

DARK

I was actually pretty nervous about tripping over something or twisting my foot in a pot hole, I swear I couldn't see anything. It was pretty cool to see everyone lit up in their glow sticks and lights though, but I don't think it makes for a very good picture.

This is me crossing the finish line...... I finished in 2:14 and Mike finished in 1:58.....so no picture of the exact moment of his victory, I was still running. We stuck around for a little while after. They had food and we were starving! Here's our finishing medal.......


We were happy, but tired. I think we're getting too old to stay up that late. By the time we got home and got to bed it was past 2:00am.

Tanner's 1st Day of Preschool 2010!

Tanner turned 5 the start of August so we could have sent him to Kindergarten this year, but after talking to several people we've decided to continue with preschool and send him to K when he's 6. It was a hard decision to make. He does so much better when he gets out of the house and Preschool is only twice a week, he's also very anxious to go to school with Caeden. After lots of praying though we decided that this was what was best for him. I really don't think he's quite ready for school 5 days a week.
We found a new Preschool for this year and he's been so excited for his classes to start. Here he is before his first class.....


And after.......


He's still smiling so I guess that's a good sign. He said he loved his new class and his new teacher Miss Cindy.

Summer Group Part 5!

For our last summer activity we decided to go up to This Is The Place on the Wed. before Pioneer Day.....it was only $2 a person! I had never been there before and the kids and I had a great time exploring. Most of the year round kids were back in school so this trip was just us and Grandma Bond.

Riding the train. Hands down Tanner's favorite part.....

We went for a horse drawn carriage ride.

The boys even got to sit up front for a little while and hold the reins. The drive, John, was being quite flirtatious with me. I was torn between being uncomfortable and I admit it, just a little bit flattered.

They were scared to pet the horses at first, but the driver finally talked them into it. (Yes, that's another fingernail shot).

We walked up the hill and they panned for real gold. It was a pretty hot day so we enjoyed spending a few minutes by the water in the shade.

They got to take their gold nugget down to the town and exchange it for candy at the bank.

We explored teepees.......

The boys did some sand art.....

Weston and Tanner both rode a pony for the first time......

They loved the "playground" which was a mini replica of a pioneer village. They could have played there all day....

They loved the petting zoo. They were scared of the billy goats with horns, but the animals were so affectionate they soon won them over....

We had such a great time. We'll definitely come here again!

Summer Group Part 4!

Blackridge Reservoir in Herriman was a huge success. I can't believe how many people don't know about this place. It's only a 10 min drive away and it's the sweetest little swimming hole with fun sandy beaches. It's one of my kids favorite places to go.

Doesn't she look like she's posing for the Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Issue? Look at those great legs.....running does a body good!

These are the kind of swimsuit shots that work for me.......far away.

This little guy wouldn't go near the lake, but he loved loved loved the sand and mud. He spent the entire time throwing it at everyone, putting it on his head, kicking his feet in it. It was hilarious.

I didn't know they were taking a photo, I was on the phone. Love the grimace.

Now these are some HOT MAMAS!!!

Water, Sand, Sun and Oreos.....life doesn't get any better than this!