Trav finishes first MARATHON!!

What an amazing job! We are so proud him. 26.2 miles....that is a long, long run. He made his goal of under four hours with a time of 3:53:33. Not too shabby! If you have never been around a marathon, then you really can't imagine what an intense and emotional event this is. I had no idea. I remember after running my half marathon thinking I could not possibly run further. It gave me a better appreciation for what that might be like, but still cannot grasp going the full distance. We were early to try and see him at mile 23 and had some time to watch and cheer other runners on. Just watching is even so emotional. I was glad I had my sunglasses on! It was so cool when he came by..the kids got a high five and were all holding up their cute signs.

Great job to our brother-in-law Blake too! He did so awesome! Trav called him the night of the deadline and talked him into trying to lotto out. He curses Trav for roping him in, but I know deep down he is glad. He did so well. GOOD JOB BLAKE!

So much time and training went into this day! We are just so happy he made it and it is over...until he finds something new to do, which if you know Trav, won't be long.

(Blake, you may want to start screening Trav's calls)

GOOD JOB TRAVIS!!

Hard to say GOODBYE : (

We lost our sweet little Chesney this weekend. We had taken her to Cedar City on our way to Brianhead. She was doing great and then we are not sure what happened. She started really struggling to breathe...more than usual. We called the vet and the only place that would see her was in St. George. By then, she was turning blue. Travis rushed her down while I stayed with the kids. They made it and at the animal hospital they got her stabilized and looking better. Then, in the night, she got cyanotic again and went into cardiac arrest. They tried to resuscitate her, but it didn't work. They think she may have been in anaphylactic shock..possibly an insect bite. I don't know. They were just guessing.

It has been pretty sad. She was only 3. We had a lot of fun with her. She was a great dog. She loved the kids. When they are gone, you sure wish you had spent more time with them. I gave her a good belly rub that night before she got sick. She loved a belly rub. The kids were all so heartbroken when we buried her. They will miss her. Marli keeps asking where she is, and saying let's go get her. Poor girl :(

We will miss you Ches! LOVE YOU!!!!

She loved the cabin! She would just run all over.

This was the day we picked her up at the airport. She had flown in from Oklahoma as a surprise birthday present for me. She was the cutest puppy ever!

Hiking Snow Canyon

WOW! What a beautiful place. The day after school got out I loaded up the car and headed to hike with the kiddos. We drove up to Snow Canyon to scout out a hike for my young women for girl's camp. The kids did awesome. Even Marli. She made it the first whole mile without complaint. Then Halle and I took turns packing her. She walked a bit later as long as we were hunting chinchillas and looking for their houses. After our hike we played in the sand a while. It makes me feel badly that we don't spend much time in the beautiful places that are all around us here. We all had a great time together kicking off our summer!!

I am so glad summer is here. I love having my kids home. We have so much planned. They are already busy with swim team and Halle with high school sports morning. I don't like that it passes so fast. I really want to try and soak up every minute I can.

Strawberry Fields Forever!

The kids had the greatest time at Underwood Farms, a place where you can pick your own fruit and veggies, mostly strawberries. 80% of the US strawberry crops come from this part of California. They were great and so were the oranges. We all had our fill of big red berries before we were done!

OXNARD CALIFORNIA--Vacation Time!

Our Spring Break Trip this year was to Oxnard California. It is about an hour north of LA, which meant in the spring time, it is not too warm yet. The beach was still great though. Our timeshare was right close to the beach. We would walk there everyday. There was also a park right on the beach which Marli loved. Below you see the brave ones...... They are crazy! They waves were huge and it was a little breezy, but it didn't stop them from boogie boarding. They had a great time and laughed a lot!

Below you see me and Marli on our whale watching trip. We took a boat out to the Channel Islands. It was really neat, but unfortunately it lulled her to sleep before she got to see the whales. She really felt ripped off.

Here you see Halle smiling, which went away for a while when the sea sickness got her. We will leave out the details.....but it was pretty funny!

WHALES! Finally!!!!!!

One came right up to the edge of our boat. The kids loved it.

It was pretty amazing to see them up close like that!

Marli playing on the beach park.

Kari and Booker watching the beautiful sunset.

The big moon opposite the setting sun....this, with the sound of the waves...priceless!!!!

Halle turns 15!

I cannot believe my baby girl turned 15! Where did the time go.

With a birthday always around conference weekend and spring break, it's sure to be great!

Granny Pam and Grandpa Robert came down to watch a few softball games and got to celebrate with us. It truly seems like yesterday that I was decorating a barney cake, now I am having to start to worry about driving coming up...and one year until dating. YIKES!

Kari's FLAG FOOTBALL

This is our speedy Kari playing flag football with boys 2 years older than her. She was the only girl on her team and she did awesome. She loved to rush the quarterback.