Soccer Season 2009

We sure had a fun time with soccer season this summer. Emma has improved a lot since last year and she worked really hard each game. She also made some good friends which is an added bonus for her.

Thanks to both of her coaches, Jeannette and Elizabeth, for working with all the team members to make sure they had an enjoyable experience!

Her last game Emma was given a soccer medal which she was very proud of. And, as always, Samantha was excited to cheer on her big sister!

Huckleberry Picking

This past Saturday was a scorcher here in La Grande.....102 degrees! It's pretty rare that temperatures reach that high. We decided to get out of town as a family and head higher up the mountain where it was cooler to do some huckleberry picking. We also were very excited about Mark completing his Masters Program this weekend so we were in need of a fun family outing to celebrate! The huckleberries are everywhere right now so we got alot of picking done....at least Mark, Emma, and I did. My favorite quote of the day was when Sam said, "Emma, I can't help you pick right now. I'm too busy exploring!" She had a hard time focusing on filling up her bucket because all the berries were going straight to her mouth! They were just too temping! She also found a handy dandy walking stick which made the "exploring" much more fun. We haven't decided on what we'll do with our huckleberries - maybe some yummy syrup. At least we know that we have alot more berry picking trips to make before the summer is over.

Anyone Up For A......Triathlon?

This morning my friends and I participated in our first ever triathlon! It was a really wonderful (and exhaustive) experience and I'm SO glad that I did it! Never in my life would I have imagined that one day I would complete a triathlon so I feel a great sense of accomplishment. If any of you are wondering just what is involved, it requires a 1/2 mile swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and then a 5k run. We have been training together all summer.

I finished in 1 hour 49 minutes. My good husband was there to take pictures throughout the morning. Unfortunately for me, it's near impossible to come up with a flattering photo after nearly two hours of intense physical exercise....LOL (Pictured: Alisa Rasheed, Jeannette Smith, Elise McIlmoil, myself, and Erin Jones.) I sure love these girls! We've done a half marathon and now a triathlon - I wonder what's next for us?

4th of July

While I know that the 4th of July has long passed us, I couldn't resist putting up a few pictures of how we spent our day. Somehow time just gets away from me so I'm really late in making this post. Our day started out with playing in the sprinkler outside. The girls had a good time and eventually turned the water guns on their dad who was a great sport. Emma really did have a good time, although her facial expression may not look like it.

Later on we went to visit an Oregon Trail Interpretive Park which was really interesting. The girls had a great time running along the wagon rivets and the trails. Plus, it was in a really beautiful area in the mountains.

The day wouldn't have been complete without a family BBQ and fireworks to top it off.

Mother and Daughter Outing

One of the things I love about our stake is that each year it holds a Mother & Daughter outing. Emma and Samantha and I were able to go up last weekend for a few hours and enjoy the company of the other mothers and daughters from Church. I love spending time with my daughters. They are very special little girls.
There is a rickety old bridge that crosses over Catherine Creek. It swings when you walk over it so, of course, all the kids have to run as fast as they can because it messes up your balance. They think it's great fun!

There was a craft pavilion where the girls were able to paint rocks and make popcorn trees and flowers out of yarn.

The Circus Comes to Town

Last week the circus came to La Grande and we decided to go as a family. We have never been to a circus before and figured that a quality circus would never come to rural Oregon. However, we were pleasantly surprised. There were some really exciting acts and some fun animals like the tigers, lions, and elephants. Despite the rain and wind and cold, we had a wonderful time together. Here is a picture of the girls standing by a bear. The video is of the girls riding the elephant!! Are our girls cool or what? For the rest of their lives they'll be able to tell people that they once rode on an elephant!

Living Room Campout

The girls decided that they wanted to have a campout outside. This would have been just fine except that the nights are still too cold here to be sleeping outside. So we camp up with a compromise and they camped out in the living room instead. We thought that they would give up during the night and just crawl into their beds but they made it through the whole night of sleeping on the hardwood floor and lots of blankets. It was pretty cute!

Joy School Graduation

Samantha completed her first year of preschool and we are quite proud of our little girl. We had a family dinner with the other families involved in the joy school program and a little graduation ceremony where Samantha and her classmates sang songs and received a "diploma" from Miss Karen. She learned so much this year and is looking forward to one more year of preschool.

Last Day of School

Emma completed her kindergarten school year on June 4th. Samantha and I were able to go to her classroom and sing songs and play games with the rest of the kindergarten class and then there was a school wide BBQ afterwards. The year went by so quickly and Emma loved every minute of it! She is going to miss Mrs. Huntington as her teacher and miss all of her classmates. We're so proud of Emma and all of her accomplishments!!!

My sister Shellie and her husband Joshua were in town visiting this weekend from Wyoming. It was also my other brother-in-law's birthday (Bryce) so as a family we decided to get together at another park in the mountains by our home and have a BBQ. It was the perfect day for a picnic and we all had a great time together. Here is Sam and Emma with their cousin Karlie.
Grampa, Emma, and Karlie taking a little break.....
Here is Samantha sitting and having a little rest
For some reason the guys thought they needed to eat lunch together - away from the wives and away from the children. Gee.... wish us girls would have thought of that.
All the cousins together. Ashlynne and Myah are alot older than the other cousins so they are really good sports about playing with the younger kiddos.
Some of the kids and grownups went on a little hike together. When they came back Gramma had sliced up a watermelon so everyone could have a refreshing and cool treat.
We had a water balloon throwing contest so here are a couple of shots of Emma and Sam hitting the target!

It sure was a great way to spend the day!

Pretty Girls

I was trying to take a nice picture of the girls in front of our lilac bush. The sun was in Emma's eyes and Sam felt the need to stick her tongue out with every shot.....We finally were able to get a good picture of them. Oh, how we love our sweet girls!

Memorial Day Picnic

On Saturday my parents drove to La Grande to see us and to spend the afternoon having a picnic with us. We met at one of the State Parks close to town and had a really fun time together. The girls love being with Gramma and Grampa! The weather was perfect and the company was even better! Grampa helped Sam on her bike. This year she has a bike with training wheels and she is doing so well on it!

The State Park has the Grande Ronde River which runs throught it. It's really high this time of year so we couldn't let the girls too close. By late summer the river will be down low enough that the kids can swim. We'll need to wait a couple more months for that.

Cookie Frenzy

For a few weeks now Emma has been asking me if she could hold a "Cookie Frenzy" with her friends. She wanted to be able to invite a few friends over and then spend some time making different kinds of cookies. Last Friday there was no school so we thought it would be a good time to have her friends get together. They had a wonderful time baking and playing outside. They helped to make three different kinds of cookies so they were sufficiently loaded up with sugar by the time I took them all home.....I'm sure the parents were thrilled. I think we'll have to make it an annual event for us.

Famous Idaho Potato Half-Marathon

Today finally arrived for the half marathon which I have been training for the last three months. Yesterday afternoon we drove to Boise to pick up our registration packets and to get settled into the hotel ahead of time. Then we met up with all the girls who were participating to get some dinner and make plans to meet up early this morning. We caught the shuttle to our starting point at 6:45 and drove the 13 miles to a reservoir outside of town. The drive seemed to take forever and I was getting more and more nervous. But when the race started it was really exciting to be a part of something like this. There were over 800 people who ran in the race and everyone was very happy to be there.

Because Mark and the girls were going to have to wait for a few hours when they dropped me off at the shuttle, they played around the park where the race was being held and also went to the zoo which the girls loved!

The day was warm and sunny and ended up being fairly ideal for a race. All of the volunteers were awesome and were great cheerleaders. Every two miles there was an aid station with water or gatorade and power bars if needed. Our route started out on the outskirts of the city and followed the river and then through the city and finally into Ann Morrison Park for the finish. For me it was miles 10-13 that were the toughest. It was hard to stay positive knowing you still had three miles, then two miles, then one mile when you've already gone so far. But when we turned the corner into the park there was a huge crowd that had gathered to cheer on the competitors so we sprinted as fast as we could the last half mile until we crossed the finish line. I was soooo glad to be done, but also soooo glad I had stuck to my goal to complete this race. The best part was seeing my husband and kids at the finish and then receiving lots of hugs and kisses from them. I wouldn't have wanted to do this if they couldn't be a part of it. Unfortunately we don't have the greatest camera and the kids were not behaving very well so the pictures are kind of limited that Mark was able to get. But here we are at the end, very happy to have accomplished our goal.

You can't see my number, but I was #697. Hooray for myself, Karen, CarrieAnn, Jeannette, Haley, and Elise! You gals are awesome! 'Til next year!!!