Ragnar Relay.

Here are some of our Ragnar Relay pictures! It was a blast. I would really recommend doing it if you ever get a chance! Can't wait till next year!

Getting the cars decorated and ready to go. Hooligans on the run... Here we come!

Here's half of our team. We had to start at 10:30 am . The other 6 met us in Liberty. We had a great team.

Dana was our first runner! She had to run in the dead heat of the day. I had to go the bathroom so bad that we didn't get her any water till like mile 3.5 .. Sorry Tesch! You would've done the same! Thank goodness for the little aid station, right? You did awesome! Good job.

Shay was runner 2. Her first run was a pretty hard run. She did great! Nice job shay!

Taking a break while Maryann was off and running! Nothing like enjoying the Shade on a hot summer day! Like how we are all wearing pink? Was not planned at all! HMMM we must be related!

I love this picture of Randy. He was so nervous, the anticipation was killing him. He wanted to get to the exchange spot and get in his "Zone" . This was his first race! Hopefully not his last! He did great. He had a really hard run for his first leg. He had to go 7.3 miles up Avon, all dirt road, and did I mention it was freaking HOT! !

Randy in his ZONE!! He'll be coming around the mountain when he comes! Waiting for Brian so he can start his leg!

Giving the Hubby water, Want to take care of him so he will want to do this again.

My turn to get in my zone. It sucks when its your turn to run. You get really nervous and just want to go. Shay was helping me not to be nervous.. Didn't help though.

Finally, my turn to get out and move it! I had a 7.9 mile down hill on dirt road. Did I mention it was HOT !!

Here's a pic of my run. This picture did not do my hill justice! The view was Awesome. It was a great run, really hot but so pretty!

Here's the other half of our team. This is the first time since we started that we met up with them. They are getting ready to start there runs. As soon as I do the hand off to Stacey Merrill we were done running for a few hours.. Awhh a nice little break!

WOHOO!! The first exchange! We are done! Lets go eat some good food! At least that's what we thought.

After we got done running we went to Subway in Huntsville. They were not ready for this event. We waited in line for 30 minutes, barley even moved. So we ended up going to chevron for a GROSS sandwich that had been sitting there all day long. We started our run around 7 pm. In between people running we stopped at some of the different " designated areas" for a meal and a shower. I did my last run for the night in Morgan, and it went all the way up to the east canyon marina. That was hard.. It was nice to run it in the dark. I wasn't able to see what I was up against.. Nothing like rocking out to my I-pod in a pitch black canyon at midnight.. Just when you think your body has nothing left to give, somehow it digs down deep and keeps on going! Its amazing!

Once I was done ( around 1 am) we headed off to one of Randy's buddies house in Kamas. We crashed there for a few hours. Its amazing what a hot shower and a toothbrush will do for you.

We started running again around 6 am. Luckily most of us had most of our miles done from the day before ( sorry Maryann) so it wasn't too bad having to run another 3 -4 miles on no sleep. It was a great feeling doing the last exchange to van#2 . We were off to get a big greasy hamburger, check in our hotel, sat in the hot tub, set off the hotel smoke alarm, and then got all cleaned up to go and cross the finish line with our team. Just as we got to the finish line the heavens opened up and the rain came pouring down. Bummer, they had lots of things to see and do at the finish line, cause of the rain it was cut short.

So here we are to the finish line! My camera was on its last life of battery so I had to stop taking so many pictures. Not only that , We were exhausted!!



We finished in 28 hrs and 55 minutes! Not bad for all rookies! We had an awesome team. Can't wait for next year! Way to go HOOLIGANS ON THE RUN!!

Happy 4Th Bday Ash!

Another year has come and gone. My baby is growing up. It's so sad to see her get big, but at the same time it's so fun to be apart of it. I have mixed emotions about her getting big. We are so lucky to have our little spunky in our family. She brings, drama, laughter, joy, happiness, and teasing to our family. We are so thankful for her.. We love you baby girl. Happy Birthday!



I just love this picture. Her little fat belly all pushed out in her tank top.. I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, and this was her reply.. " A barbie, A pink bra ( which later i figured out it was tank tops with lace on the bottom) , some exercise clothes, and some candy. She is such a girl. Already asking for clothes!

She was so excited to open her birthday presents. She had tons of help from Bennett. He was as excited as she was.

More presents. She got spoiled. I guess that's the perks of being the only girl.



Bennett was playing with her Brat doll all day long. He painted her toes, put glitter on her , and combed her hair. I told him we could get him one for his b-day but he wasn't going for it.

Couldn't resist posting this one, there's nothing wrong with getting in touch with your feminine side, right? Ash was really starting to get annoyed at this point. Anything she wanted to do with her doll she had to ask him first.

She had a great day. We had a b-day party the day earlier with my family but being the great mom that I am , I forgot my camera! Happy Birthday Ash! We love you !

Ashtyn's dance recital.

The same day as my 1/2 marathon Ash had her first dance recital. We were really busy that day.. She did so good. She looked " beautiful" ..


Ready to go.. She was so excited. She did not know what to expect.

Getting ready to go on stage to do their first dance. I was able to be a team mom. Boy was that a treat. Not sure I'll do that again. It was fun being able to be with Ash though.

This is the best picture I could get. Ash is in the back, center. She did so good. I didn't think she would dance cause she gets so embarrassed when Randy would watch her practice. She really got into it. I was proud of her!

Daddy got his princess some flowers for dancing so good! She was so excited . She packed them around everywhere we went. They she kept saying she was getting married cause she has make-up on, and pretty flowers. Ha ha ..

Thanks Grandma Bennett for going and supporting Ash at her recital, she was really happy you went. We love you Ash and are so proud of you and all your accomplishments. Way to go!

Half marathon.

We did the Ogden 1/2 marathon again this year. It was great! It was a lot of fun training, and then running the race. I had a goal to beat my last marathon time of 153:00. I wanted to get 150.00 but did not think it was at all possible.. I did it!! I came in at 147:55:54. I was so excited. I couldn't believe it. I owe a hug thanks to my sis in law Maryann. We kept each other going. I took 16Th place in my age group out of 205.

My biggest fans! There is nothing better when your body is beat , and you think you can't go any further and you look up and see smiling face cheering you on, GO MOMMY!! I'm getting choked up thinking about it. Thanks Randy for getting the kids up early to support me! Your the best husband ever!

Yeah , I can see the finish line. Almost done..

My cute family. Nothing better than these 4 people.. Thanks again for your support, not only at the race but for allowing me to go on all those long runs. You guys are the best!

My " Fast" running partner, my sister in law Maryann. Thanks for your help. You really pushed me along..It was a lot of fun. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

My sisters! We have such a good time running.. They had great finish times as well. They were both nursing injuries and wasn't sure they were going to race. I am so proud of them for finishing!!

Las Vegas tournament.

I know I have been slacking.. Again. In May we took Kobe's soccer team down to a tournament in Vegas. It was so warm. It was nice. The first 10 minutes we were there the boys heard many things they don't hear here, and seen many things they don't see at home. It was a real eye opening for them. We ended up taking 2ND place. It was a great experience for them..

The long ride to Las Vegas! The boys were really good , but got really anxious to get there.

Our Rampage team. They are so cute. Lots of fun.

Out to dinner with the "gang". Waiting patiently for our dinner. We were starving.. We had quite the ordeal trying to find somewhere to eat... Go figure!

Colton ordered this huge steak dinner from the adult menu. Randy offered 5 bucks to him if he ate everything. He put up a good fight but couldn't do it. He was SO SICK afterwards.

So there we sat, by the bathroom WAITING for colton.. We sat there for over 20 minutes. He was sick. We had to go home and go straight to bed.. Maybe next time he will listen to us! Probably not.

We took 2ND place. They did so awesome. It was really hot, like 90 degrees. They weren't use to playing in that heat. Hopefully we can redeem ourselves next year. Not too bad though considering there was 8 teams total . Most were from Vegas and California.

SuB fOr 7th AnD 9th GrAdE EnGliSh.

Okay so tomorrow I am going to sub for 7Th and 9Th graders English class until Friday. Can I just say I am scared out of my mind. I have had " nervous poop" all day long. I know how I was when I was that age, and I just hope the saying ; " What goes around comes around" Is true.. Please pray for me,if you get this in time. If not just think of me be humiliated by Jr high kids, all day long. I'll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck , I'm gonna need it I think.

San Francisco.

Randy and I decided to go on a little Road trip, just the two of us. We had a blast. I thought the drive was going to be long and horrible, but to my surprise it wasn't at all. Rand packed us ( really for me) a cooler of " treats", we had games, i had my book, and our I-pod's and off we went.. We left Thursday afternoon, drove all night to Reno NV. ( my fault. I thought Reno was only a 4 hour drive, didn't realize it was 8!)

This was as we were almost to Reno, so yes I know I looked like crap, but that's what Road trips are about.

Are we there yet?? Day 2. So excited to get there. Not sure what to expect, neither one of us had been before.

This was taken as we were crossing the Bay Bridge. It is beautiful, all the sudden the city just pops out and there it is. Anyone behind us driving probably knew we were tourist, as we had to search our car for change to get across the bridge. We didn't know there was a toll. Luckily we found exact change.

I was amazed by how close all the houses are. They were just right on top of each other. You could jump from roof top to roof top all the way down the street. Half the houses didn't even have a yard. It was crazy!

One of the old trolleys that gets around in downtown San Francisco. We rode this and the Bart system everywhere we went. It was to crazy to try and drive, then park.. I don't know how you would live there with kids ( Cathy)?

We did the Alcatraz tour. It was so cool. Very interesting. If you ever go to San Francisco I would really recommend this tour, and do the audio tour. It was cool, you could hear the prisoners like they were right there with you. Kinda creepy.

Randy inside one of the jail cells. There was not much to these cells. They are tiny. Concrete floor. It was really cold inside. The jails philosophy was, you are allowed to food, water and necessary medical attention everything else is a privilege. I think I'm gonna use that motto at our house!

This is the city view from Alcatraz. It was really pretty.

We took a tour that went all throughout the city and all the cool places that we would never have found on our own. We rode across the Golden Gate Bridge, and then got out and walked across it. It is beautiful. Talk about breath taking views each direction you looked. It was great. Although it was really cold.

Not sure what was going on here. Their was a million guys and girls in wedding dresses everywhere. We thought it was rather interesting so we took the picture. Only in San Francisco!!

Every corner had something going on. People would just sit up on a corner and do different things. This was the fire dancer. He was really fun to watch. After the show he would say , " If you liked my show please leave me some money." I bet he made good money, he did several shows within an hour.

Here is the "Crazy Fire dance" . He was really a little crazy. Notice how many coats I have on? I had 3 shirts, a sweatshirt, my green coat, and then we had to stop and buy this bigger grey jacket and gloves. It was freezing.

We also had our picture drawn. This guy was amazing. He did really good work. We sat and watched him do a family of 3 and decided we would get our done . I hated just sitting there and having everyone walk past and watch! I hated it.. But I do like the picture.

What do you think?? Some think it looks like us, others don't. We liked it.

Does this look familiar to anybody?? So many houses like this everywhere. I was hoping we could go through one but we never made it. They were really pretty. I would love to have an older house like this one day.

The food was AWESOME!! We loved it. One night we had Yummy Seafood, then it was Chinese from Chinatown, and then Italian, from little Italy. I could do one post just on the food alone.

Now we know why they say Happy cows come from California! There were green hills everywhere!

We had a great time. It was so nice to be alone , just the two of us. Every couple needs a break like this. Sometimes you forget what its like being a lone without kids. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids but it was sure nice to have some "US" time. I am looking forward to our next little get away. Thanks Randy.