Thankful I am!

Dad has a Thanksgiving tradition: Each of us go around the table and say one thing that we are thankful for. I am always touched by the emotion that backs the gratitude expressed. Most of the time I hear words of Thanks for Family and spouses. And I am ever so grateful for these things: To the tune of the inability to adequately express myself verbally.
This year, however, I find myself with Thanksgiving for my (not so) little brother, Jake. For his life and sacrifices, for his determination to keep going and for his ability to hike and triumph over trial. We all have learned about life's hardships. It is a part of our purpose to be here. Some will wallow in their pity. Others will accept defeat. While still there are those who will pretend or even lie about there even being a trial at all. It is He who squares up or stares down that which is difficult and overcomes each bump in the road that is the most impressive to me. Persistence can not cope with failure. And for that reason coupled many more, Jake is undoubtedly, heroic to me in every way. Sure love you buddy.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

My favorite pass time

So here is the truth...
My very favorite sport is running.... just slightly more favorite than swimming. My favorite swim buddy is Barbie. My favorite running buddy is my i-pod. And My favorite race is the Ragnar Wasatch Back. HANDS DOWN! Before running was cool I still loved it! The fact is that when I was in the 5th grade I had to run the "wellsville MIle" for school. When I was finished I heaved in the bathroom for 3 minutes straight. But I felt really cool when I got a certificate stating that I finished in the top half of the school. I was hooked! TOTALLY HOOKED!
I am the middle child of 6. My brother older than me kept my mother hoppen'! My brother 1 1/2 years younger than me was my side kick... we kinda kicked it through life flying under the radar! It is the best place to be in my humble opinion. We had twin baby sisters that pretty much took up the rest of the time. So... when mum decided to take up running for a stress relief I hooked up as her pacer! That really did seal the deal for me. I have the most fond memories from long runs with my mother. Everywhere I went I ran. Never, not ever, walking!
In junior high and high school I ran and ran. When I went to College I ran even more. Sometimes I even still dream of some of those long runs that I went on every day. When I do, I actually smell the mountains in my dream... and see the colors of leaves. And when I wake up I have that endorphin feeling that I just ran. Its kinda trippy!
After Cole was born I took a little running sabbatical. More like a long sabbatical! I didn't run for a looooooong time. Life got "too busy". I didn't exercise at all! YIKES! But somewhere in there a friend of mine knew that I once loved running so she invited me to be on her Ragnar team. That race story is not so beautiful! I was over weight, out of shape and sick with a parasite on race day. I ran 13 miles and thought I would die. But the experience woke me up. So I vowed to do it again under better circumstances.
This summer I ran my second Ragnar. I have never had so much fun at any race in my life... and I've run my share! My team. The cause. The entire lead up to that event... It was incredible! And so I challenge anyone who loved something so much but put it on the shelf to pull that something down and dust it off... and rekindle that love that you have. I know I have.

Our True Identity

So the week did get better...

Cole took 2 days to recover. TWO! Not a 24 hour bug. But as soon as he did we were ready for some fun with the cousins.

The entire time Coley was sick Brogan had to play with Braige and McKay... which isn't a bad gig unless you don't enjoy climbing trees. Braige and McKay were in a tree nearly the entire trip! Don't get me wrong... I think Brog and Coley enjoy a good tree climb as much as the next guy, but they don't go to the top of huge trees. And Braige and McKay climb trees like Mowgli. All. Day. Long.

Our first stop after Coley was well was at Grandpa and Grandma Mecham's house. Aunt Betty was in town... we felt extra lucky! It was raining and frigid outside so the kids quickly found Papa Nate's old toys in the den and put them to work... until they remembered how cool the upstairs mini closets are... That was the end of them!
We saw Karate Kid. We watched a few ball games with the cousins! Boy those kids know how to play ball!!! We even hung out at the Mella's house while Gordon had knee surgery! And while there Jessica informed me that she is NOT a fan of people asking her how she is feeling! Under no circumstances is one to ask that question... even though, in my humble opinion, it is exactly what you would ask somebody you love and care about if you were truly concerned!

LUV YOU JESS!

Curtis introduced the kids to snow shack. Every night after dinner he and the kids would head out to snow shack and then to the park or toilet papering or light up the night with "barely legals" fireworks. He is so fun! My kids wish he was their parent!
We moved from Curt and Marja's house to Merilee and Loran's basement apartment at the end of the week. It is nice and cool down there and it was made up perfectly! It was sparkling clean with tidy beds when we walked through the door... and then we trashed it with all of our stuff!

It was so fun to see the family again! We have super fun cousins!

Nate joined us one week after we got to Utah... On the day we originally planned on going up...
Just in time for Ragnar!

Documentation of the beginnings of our UTah Trip...

When my dad called to tell me that Aunt Tammy died I knew we needed to head off to Utah for her funeral. Uncle Steve needed support. I had a few obstacles to overcome before I left.

1) McKay was scheduled for cub scout day camp. (getting your son out the door in the afternoon for day camp is a small victory all on its own.)
2) being gone for 3 weeks meant bills must be looked over and paid for the entire month.
3) mountains of laundry need to be processed.
4) and packed (4 people + 3 weeks = lots of packing)
5) girls camp was 3 days away and I had to delegate ALL my responsibilities there. (if you tried to call me on those days you couldn't get through because I was delegating camp responsibilities)
6) wasn't ready for girls camp.
7) visit teaching...
8) Young Women information being passed from my brain to the amazing people that ran the young women's program of the Lazona ward while I was gone! THey are the BEST!
9) I was the Ragnar (Running4nie) team capt'n and I had a meeting to call and organization was still necessary before we met in Logan, Cache County, UTah at the start line. (That was the funnest race I've ever run!)
10) organize travel plans adding another week...

needless to say... I was a little bit busy for a few days.... and nights...

I knew it would be worth it!

Finally the day came. I fit all preparations in by the skin. of. my. teeth.

I even packed a cooler so that we wouldn't have to stop for food making our trip faster! No stopping for food would mean only 10 hours of travel. We were leaving @ 4:00a.m. making it completely possible to get to the viewing by 6:30 p.m., even adding an hour for time differences, there would be time to spare! I finished all of my duties at 3:00 a.m. which left 1 hour to shower and get dressed before dad and mom picked me up.

Perfect!

And dad was driving so I could sleep...

Our drive up was as eventful as the previous week!

Dad behind the wheel + in a hurry + Becky sleeping sitting up = neck injury.

Lisa and mom were caravan-ing with us in Lisa's go cart.
Her love bug couldn't handle the land speeds dad was trying to set. But we only had a short wait in Flagstaff before they caught up. The wheel well fell off somewhere between Page and Kanab, making quite the noise, which nearly gave mom a heart attack. We were too far ahead and the phone services didn't work on the rez. So in a nut shell... Lisa and Mum were left to fix the car noise on the side of the road by themselves.

Lisa says insert mum's hyperventilation here.

Mum says insert Lisa McGuyver and shoe string here.

Mean while we ripped into Kanab.

We stopped at the gas station to wait for the go cart to catch up.

And that is when my cell phone got services.

The text came through which read,
"HELP" sent by mum's cell phone.

HOLY SHNIKEEES!

Dad began to pace... out on the highway.

I called mum's phone which was just coming into service.

She explained the whole wheel well thang falling off and her trying to flag somebody down and how we drove too fast and she thought death was eminent and how we would never get there on time and that Lisa found a shoe string in her new $90.00 (on sale) shoes and tied the wheel well together and they were now almost to Kanab.

what? Lisa has shoes that cost $90.00? Why haven't I borrowed them? Wait... shoestring is holding Lisa's car together?

And indeed it was.

And it did! All the way to SLC, UT and back to Mesa, AZ. Who knew?

In Beaver we stopped again to top off the tank.

Good thing we did.

The threads were poking through my rear tire.

It was a miracle the whole tire hadn't blown apart during dad's reckless drive!

So we got a little tire changed and Chevron made $120.00. OUCH!

And then Lisa got in my car so that Dad could bring relief to our Mum.

That is when we got the giggles playing a car game with Bailey.

I almost wrecked the van cuz I couldn't see through my teary eyes.

14 1/2 hours later we rolled into American Fork and found refuge at the Damons.

Bless them!

And Marja had whipped up a chicken salad croissant and some fruit for us to wolf down before we left for the viewing (which we were NOW late for).

Bless her!

(This is Marja. She and her sister Merillee are the bestest hostesses known to planet earth!

I love them!)

The kids stayed with Marja. They had enough of car time... and besides they were going to sit through the long hours of funeral the next day.

We made it to our viewing. It was as sad as a viewing could be. And we found lots of comfort in our faith and family... LOTS!

When I got home late that evening everything was beautifully in control!

Marja has a super clean house... even with all our junk strung around!

The kids were Ultra happy!

Uncle Curtis was deemed "the funnest" person alive and carries the title still today!

He took the boys toilet papering.

That is a good story for a post another day!

And all was well.

We found comfortable slumber quickly.

Until 2:30 a.m. when the bedroom door flung open and muffled under heaves and splatters Marja informed me that Cole was sick!

SICK?!!!

The sickest throw ups he ever experienced in his blessed 6 years of life.

And it continued all through the night and on into the next entire day.

So we didn't make it to Aunt Tammie's funeral after all.

And that was just the first 24 hours of our trip to UTah...

Home sweet home

We took ourselves a little trip... We had planned on a 10 day vacation to Utah with extravagant plans of playing with cousins, running a race, playing with cousins, hiking a trail or two, playing with cousins, possibly visiting Bear Lake, playing with cousins and eating AGGIE ice cream while playing with cousins.

It turned into a LOOOONG vacation!

Aunt Tammy died unexpectedly.

Tragic, actually.

And so we piled in the family wagon a week earlier than we expected and headed North. She lived in Salt Lake City... the heart of our vacation spot!

So our 10 day trip turned in to a 17 day trip.

As we were packing all our memories into the storage spaces of our mind, to retrieve throughout the year, mom called...

Grandma died unexpectedly.

Well, she was 88.

She had dementia.

But she was kicken' strong without a mind.

And so we unpiled the family wagon and extended another week. She lived her life in Salt Lake City.... though she had spent the last few years in Arizona soaking in the sun and enjoying the heat. But her heart was always at home in good old Utah.

We stayed an extra week for her funeral which was right before July 4... which granted "holiday pay" and made it so that we extended the vacation for an entire month.

Wow. Vacation for an entire month!!!

It was incredible.

The thought of Home Sweet Home really does exist.

Really! It does.

But as soon as I step outside... that thought escapes!

May I echo every neighbor and soul who puts up with the AZ desert heat?

IT IS SOOOOOOOO HOT!

p.s. Dear Monsoons,

Please come quickly.

We are wilting.

Catch up post

sit tight! I've got some catchen' up to do. This past month has BLOWN by! WOWzers... But it isn't forgotten.

These little peeps played a whole lot of soccer! Between practice and games I have the best excuse for not journaling in a month! Games are over. However, baseball has begun!!! And swim team registration is in less than a month! The kids love their sports... and Cole loves the treats afterwards. (nice chip)

The day before spring break started we had a little upset. The dinner conversation was very exciting indeed! Bailey informed her father that Zach (at school) made big plans to kiss his girlfriend. They are in the 5th grade! So the whole 6th grade class found out about it and followed Mr. Zach to greet his little lady after class. His plan was not only to kiss her... but to kiss her on the LIPS! "DID YOU HEAR ME?" "I SAID KISS HER ON THE LIPS!"

Nate told Bailey to stay away from Zach. "He's trouble!"

Mum and Dad celebrated another wedding anniversary. Those NEVER get dull! Can you imagine how awesome it is going to be when you can say that you've been married for 50 years?! Cool. By the time you are at that stage of the marriage it is REAL bliss! You are seasoned, trained, Wise, Comfortable and truly one. I'm looking forward to that.

Spring Break Week...

Oh the fun!!!

We ran LOOOOOOOOOTS!!! getting ready for this little race! In fact we calculated nearly 25 miles. Papa Nate has to add a few miles for all the times he lapped me.

Monday: The zoo

Tuesday: St. Patrick's day.

Green breakfast tradition. Even Papa came home from work for green waffles!

Wednesday and Thursday: We prepared for baseball season to begin and played with friends.

After purchasing the proper little man protection I found Coley and Co. playing "doggy" with the jockstrap/cup packaging! They dumped fishy crackers into each side and licked them out. McKay and Bailey we somewhere outside for the entire week!!!

should it concern me that Cole is completely comfortable with the fact that his baseball cup is on the floor next to him and his friends of the female gender? Never mind that he treated them to fishy crackers out of jockstrap container!

Friday: Hike with cousins... Desert in Bloom.

Saturday: Garden harvest and more planting.

Sunday: Church and BBQ with the family in the park.

The weather has been incredible!!!

A week back to school and life resumed back to laundry, chores, and schedules. Now we prepare for April break, Cole's birthday and Easter.

Part of Easter tradition for us is the spiritual feast of the Easter Pageant. GO! It is incredible!! ALWAYS amazing!!! This year was no different.