Father's Day

Pinterest is amazing.  I found a clever idea for my sentimental father as a surprise and present for Father's Day.  I asked every member of my family to write a memory, something they admired, or a funny story about my dad. The grandkids included even participated.  I was a little bit of a pest in reminding everyone to do it, but I got all of the notes and made a template (using MS word) and had them professionally printed ($7) and my brother, Matt, got the balloons using some credit he has earned at work.  I arranged for a key to my parent's house and early Sunday morning, while they were at church, we 'decorated' my dad's room for Father's Day with things that everyone loved about him.

My dad was initially surprised because he doesn't particularly like balloons and wondered why there were a bunch in his room until he saw the notes attached.  It was crazy to see how the number of people who have come from my mom and dad.  The room was filled with balloons and notes that were both cute and touching.

Here is Sydney singing "Happy Father's Day" to grandpa...so sweetly.

Ragnar 2012

Doug was convinced earlier this year that it would be fun to stay up all night in a van and pop out every-so-often and run 5-7 miles...even at 2 am in a race just under 200 miles where you're up almost 30+ hours without much sleep.  I can hardly believe that I almost joined the team as well.  What was a I thinking?  :-)

Here he is in an 18-passenger van with one bench removed so they could have a bed and take turns sleeping.  Notice Doug hugging our foam roller to 'roll out' his sore muscles?  Yup, there was lots of rolling necessary.  

It is a relay-style race with 12 members of the team each running 3 legs.  Here is Doug about to receive the slap-on bracelet that they used instead of a baton.  

He said that his stretches of the race were the most beautiful scenery he had ever enjoyed while running.  I think he forgets that I was his running partner for several years...

He ended up with a few injured teammates and finished a leg for someone with serious blisters.  He ran almost 22 miles in 30 hours with 2 hours of sleep.

I was recruited to volunteer for their team.  Each team is required to provide 3 volunteers for them to compete.  I arrived at 8 am and was handed an XXL orange vest and a neon orange baton to makes sure no cars entered where the shuttles were coming in and out taking the teams for the finish line.  I was the last station before the finish line.

I got my shirt when my shift ended at 2:30 and headed to the outlet mall for a little shopping while I waited for Doug to get to station 35.  I came back and cheered for him as he ran into my station.  It had been a steep downhill for 7 miles and he made it in just over 50 minutes.  He was flying!

I headed home to put our kids to bed and let Doug celebrate at the finish line with his team.

When I left, there was a flyer on my car for the Dirty Dash.  My family has signed up and will be doing it together in September.  I am SO excited!!

Campout...almost

We love camping.  We have not been camping as a family yet and we decided to have a campout with my mission companion, Tiffany, and her family.  Ethan and Sydney love playing with Quentin and think Blake and Tiffany are pretty awesome as well.  

We assembled just about everything in our garage and headed up the canyon--to find very full campsites.  We were unable to campout, so we had a fire and made our dinner we had prepared and ate together and then packed up and went home.  Bummer.  

Ethan and Sydney know that night as "camping" and were thrilled with the results, even when we were driving around forever trying to find a place to camp.

Love to the see the temple in my pajamas

We have been teaching Ethan and Sydney the words to the song "I Love to See the Temple" and we made our first trip to the temple grounds on Sunday later than we anticipated.  We arrived in PJs and walked the perimeter.  There is a special feeling even on the grounds.  For more information about temples, you can click here.

Ethan spotted a few great sticks and spent much of the time hitting them together "making music."  Doug and I wonder if we have a musician or a dancer on our hands.  Music makes his whole body smile.  We love it.

Caught in the act

This has been a regular occurrence since Ethan and Sydney were just 8 months old or so.  Our DVDs end up in a pile on the floor.  It drove me NUTS at first and would clean them up 4-5 times per day and put all of them back on our two bookcases.  I've grown used to it and they at least can help me clean them up these days...that's improvement!

Waterpark!

We purchased season passes that encompassed several places--the water park being one of them. We took the kids for the first time Monday evening and they loved it!  They didn't particularly love the water slide we took them on as they were pretty frightened.  Doug and I were equally frightened as we flew down the slide (that we were told was a pretty mild ride!) toward the splash pool at the bottom.  I almost tipped over backward with Ethan--thank goodness the lifeguard grabbed the front of our tube.  Yikes!

It was pretty chilly in the evening with the sun fading, so I cuddled with Syd in a towel.  I ended up checking my email on my phone and took some photos together.  This is the first 'normal' smile (what we call "happy face!") that she's given me in a photo that I remember.  She is my little buddy.

Cousin time

My cousin, Kate, got married and we were lucky to meet up with Christine and the Kellers at the reception along with Matt and my parents.  It was outdoor with high temperatures and good times.  I tried to find some shade, but we were left sitting in the sun enjoying good company.

Ellie and Caleb Keller had a great time making funny faces.  Love these kids.  So excited they are moving closer this summer.

I snapped a photo of our latest efforts to keep E&S contained in a parking lot near moving vehicles.  They need to touch the car while we get the doors open and them loaded into their car seats.  They are pretty obedient.

The next day, we all went to the city splash pad and played in the stream.  The kids had a blast.

The water was freezing, but no one was complaining.

I tell my sister, Tiffany, all the time that her youngest, Avery, is going to convince me to have more children.  I love this little girl.

After swimming, we went to my parent's house for dinner and Ethan, Sydney, and Grace discovered that these tall candlesticks looked like microphones.  Each one began following the other and started singing.

We are so lucky to have so many cousins nearby that are close to Ethan and Sydney's age!