hobble creek half marathon

A week ago Mark ran the Hobble Creek Half Marathon. He did awesome and finished way faster than he thought he would! Heidi also ran the race and did awesome as well -- a new personal best for her, I think! Here's a picture of my two favorite finishers! Mark won't like me for putting this on the blog, but I think his facial expression is so funny -- he's just pulling a pathetic face for fun, because he really felt more like...

this! Totally happy!

Here's a picture of Mark on the home stretch just before the finish line! Looking strong!

And here's Heidi heading down the home stretch! I love the fact that she's wearing yellow -- it was easy to see her coming -- she's getting to be a little speedy gonzalez these days.

Thanks to the Jensens for putting us up and feeding us. Plus, it was really fun to have a group of family members to cheer and greet Mark at the finish line. Thanks -- family is fabulous!!

back to school

The kids headed back to school this week. Yay! Now Ryan has something to do all day so he's not bored. Jared's first days of junior high have been great! I'll admit I was a bit sad to send him out the door this year -- he's just growing up really fast lately. I could never get a good picture of Ryan & Jacob -- they were just too anxious and excited to head up to school to stop and pose for the camera! I do like this picture of Matthew though -- he had to have a lunchbox/backpack just like the other kids!

I thought it was funny that they all decided to wear their Freedom Run t-shirts on the first day. They didn't even plan it that way -- it just happened!

fishing with eric

The boys have looked forward to this trip all summer -- fishing with Eric in the Uintas! Last week they got up bright and early and Mark, Eric, the boys minus Matthew, and G&G Vawdrey headed over to Trial Lake in the Unintas for some fishing. Here's our fishing expert: They easily caught their limit of fish and even threw a few back in.

The boys talked G&G into going with them this year:

That's Ryan and Jacob perched on a rock with Grandpa watching from behind.

It's quite beautiful isn't it?

After they caught their limit of fish they did a little bit of exploring and hiking around. The scenery and fresh air was awesome!

Thanks to G&G for giving Ryan a fishing pole for his birthday! Thanks to Eric for the great fishing adventure -- we hope it becomes a yearly event!

more fishing pictures

Thanks to Grandma for the awesome pictures!!

birthday boy

Ryan recently celebrated his birthday! Hooray! Finally! (His birthday is at the end of summer, he's the last of the kids to have a birthday and the last of his friends to turn the new age, so it always seems like it takes forever to get here.) He requested Death by Chocolate Cake and I think it was the best one I've ever made -- didn't explode, came out of the pan in one piece, and the frosting was just right. Woohoo!

Add some cookies & cream ice cream to that cake and you've got... MMMMMM chocolate heaven!

I guess Ryan's wishes came true -- we gave him an ipod. Nothing like kicking back and watching a movie on a microscopic size screen!

We also had "macaroni & cheese-cooked-in-the-oven" and rotisserie chicken (Ryan's favorites of course) for dinner to celebrate his big day. Happy Birthday Ryan! We love you!

fair adventures

While Mark & Jared were canoeing/camping, I loaded up the other boys and headed to the county fair where they have an awesome petting farm! Here's Jacob and Ryan each having a turn at milking a cow by hand.

There were a bazillion hungry goats of different varieties, so we bought a cup of grain and got busy feeding them:

Goat tongues are so tickly on the hand! Matthew laughed and laughed over those tickly tongues!

Check out these horns! Texas sized for sure.

After the petting farm we headed over for a look at the bunny barns and played with the softest little bunny ever! Then we rushed through the hen house (it's kind of stinky) and loaded ourselves back in the car for a trip to Walmart to buy Ryan another goldfish. A great way to spend an evening!

canoe adventure

OK, I didn't take this picture, but if you look really closely, you can see Mark and Jared in a canoe on Lake Causey. Jared had a scout canoe & camping trip last weekend. The group canoed across the lake, hiked up a stream, and camped overnight. Mark & Jared had a great time even though it was wet, rainy and therefore very muddy!! We also learned that we have "ghetto" camping gear. For example, notice Mark's raincoat aka black garbage bag. Jared is standing right behind him in the picture below.

Other parts of our ghetto gear are having only regular book backpacks, or no backpack at all in Mark's case.

Here's the whole wet, soggy, muddy, scout gang of good times -- 3 scouts, 3 dads, one leader, and one couple leader (Bro & Sis Calahan)

We'll probably invest in some better gear in the near future, but this was a fun adventure anyway thanks to the awesome scout leaders!

playdough kid(s)

Matthew has taken quite a liking to playdough lately. Yes, this is a playdough hat he's sporting. Sometimes Jacob gets into the playdough action too.

I love that it keeps Matthew busy for long periods of time. I hate the mess it makes though-- dried playdough bits and crumbs on the chair, the floor, in the hair, on the clothes and under the fingernails. For kids it seems that the messier something is, the more fun it is. I guess that's why playdough = fun!

new seating

Mark recently installed a new and inexpensive basic white toilet seat on the upstairs toilet. We nearly laughed ourselves silly when we read this lovely note inside the box: WHY in the world would anyone register a toilet seat???? Like how is it going to malfunction and need to be recalled? I think Bemis is a little too XCITEd about someone purchasing their product.