Family Photo Shoot

Here's an updated picture of the family + some fun ones of the kids. (thanks brett)

Summer Fun

We have been having a fun summer with plenty of sun. Some work... some play. Here are a couple pictures from a boating trip that we liked (Mike and I both got up on the wakeboard that day... quite an admired accomplishment).
Family Photo... we hope to get a better one this week.

Apparently Mike's not trying to impress the father-in-law anymore.

Here's one of little Mikey camping. I just liked this picture because his eyes were about as big as the goofy fish (he didn't catch it in the lake by they way... that fishing pole in the background was just to make you think that).

And here I am with my gold medal and a bottle of perfect water. We took this picture so my dad could sell more of it at his store. Who wouldn't buy it with advertising like this?

Olympic GOLD, baby!

Two personal record times! We both had a great race!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our next race is in a couple weeks, and I think we'd both be pretty hard-pressed to beat today's times!

Anything for a Medal- the whole truth

Getting medals from both the 5K's we've run this summer has been pretty fun: it's like we've tasted blood. Recently we signed up for our next 5K in Cedar City. We are going to be running in the Utah Summer Games. It's a little intimidating because REAL athletes come to run in the Utah Summer Games. We probably can't count on any medals.

But we really like medals so we signed up for another sport (only $5 more for each additional sport... cheap date if nothing else). Horseshoes. We've never really played horseshoes before but we noticed that last year, only 2 players were in the 10-20% category. So, we signed up for the 10-20% category("whatever that is!??) hoping for a silver medal.

We get there to play and find out you actually have to PROVE that you can throw a ringer 10-20% of the time. We hadn't ever thrown any actual ringers in any of our last minute practice sessions. So they give us 40 shoes each and we have to get AT LEAST 8 ringers between the two of us with someone looking over our shoulder and counting them up for us. If we can't do that, we have to compete with a ton of people who throw below 10%. Perhaps our "reading up" on the game the night before gave us the mental capacity to pull off a miracle, because Alissa got 4/40 ringers and Mike got 6/40. That's the only way we can justify earning our medals... by sneaking into the upper echelon of horseshoe players. (I'll let you know right now that by the end of the tournament, our results confirm we were throwing below 3%).So, although the day was long, we really enjoyed the people and grew to like the game quite a bit. We pitched (lingo for throwing a horseshoe) next to a 4-time-world-champion and quite a few state champions. Most of them were over 70 years old and thought it was so fun to see a young couple enjoying the game. They pretty much begged us to come back for the singles tournament the next day. Mike obliged and earned (actually beat someone out) a bronze medal in his category while I watched the kids.We borrowed the horseshoes and have to return them, so unfortunately we can't continue playing. For anyone looking for gift ideas this Christmas, we might really like a set or two of horseshoes. We're pretty particular about which ones though. We obviously have a real feel for the game now, and not just any Double Ringer will work.

Mike was pretty excited we got to stand on the podium to receive our medals. This was the real deal friends... the real deal!!We are excited to go to the opening ceremonies this week. We will march in as part of the Parade of Althetes (that's how we get in free). We will also be breaking two guiness book of world records that night: the record for the most people wearing balloon hats and the largest game of "Simon Says" ever played on planet Earth.

Green With Envy- the Mega Post

To Whom it may concern:

We are tired and sore from all the hard work, but we would like to announce the completion of the mega lawn project (not that our lawn is mega, but the project was). It all started with a lot of red rock with a bunch of weeds...

Then, of course you remember, we knocked down the impeding pillars and moved the chemical hut.

Next was moving tons and tons and tons of rock. We were thankful for all the good help and grandpa's backhoe (that was the kids' favorite part of the whole thing for sure).

Even harder work came with the trenching when Mike decided he could hack it on his own. We lost a couple kids and a dog a few times in those trenches (boy were they deep!).

Mike also did the whole automatic sprinkler system on his own. His plans were impeccable, with color-coded stations and a compass-drawn map of how far the sprinklers would spray. We have triple coverage, and only have to turn them on for 5 minutes to have an inch of water (perhaps slightly exaggerated).

A man... a manifold... a masterpiece!

After so much work, Adelyn, our thoughtful prayer giver, asked that we could have more rocks to shovel. We laughed at the time, but should have been prepared for what was next. When Mike started trenching the backyard, he was not shoveling dirt, but rocks. Apparently our backyard is an old river bed wash and it was crazy full of rocks and rocks. One great story to emphasize how rock-filled this place was starts with my own desire to move one of the trees closer to the back fence to give us more play room. Mike chose a prime piece of property for the relocation and started digging. Of course, he hit rocks, and soon enough, we had called my brothers to help us remove 3 big rocks, 2 of which were officially boulder-sized. I did get my tree moved!

It was such a great feeling to start laying sod.! We finished a couple hours after we started and have a beautiful green (patchy for now) lawn, which is soon-to-be the envy of the neighborhood.