GUM, GUM and more GUM!

(Before)

(After)

Today was a big day. Brooklyn had her braces removed. She has had them on for 8 months and 12 days and she has been fabulous with them. She doesn't complain, she brushes and flosses, and she has stayed away from all the candy she loves including GUM. Now she can chew all the gum she wants for 12 whole days until the holding arch gets placed and the retainer is fitted. On to the next phase of braces.

I gotta Feeling...

Why do I run? I wish I had a tally of the miles I have traveled on my feet over the last 10 years. The night before a race I always wonder...why? Well let me mention just a few reasons WHY:

1) The feeling I feel when my daily run is over, especially if I have pushed myself. There is something about running that makes me feel like I can conquer the world, let alone, conquer the rest of my day.

2) friends - I love the people I run with. They make it more fun and inspire me to keep moving.

(Stephanie, me, Jenny, Denise, Carol, Jenesey, Rachel - morning of the 'Run From the Sun')

3) family - The best part of race day is sharing the experience with my family. It is so much fun to find there faces and hear their voices screaming you on as you come into the finish line.

The 'Run From the Sun' is a new race to the valley and they did a great job. It was organized very well and I hope Deseret A&L keep bringing it back.

'I Gotta Feeling' as long as my body will carry me, there are many more races in my future.

Boys in the desert.

The kids were out of school for veteran's day on a Wednesday this year so Am took the girls to a movie and shopping and the boys and I headed for the desert for a over-nighter. Just 90 minutes south of home we camped in a area I am familiar with and have hunted many times. It is wide open country full of cactus and and barren sandy washes but is beautiful none the less. We hunted, spit, scratched, started fire and chopped wood and did all those things that men do.



We were totally alone and seldom even saw a car on the access road. Clayton set up a target range in camp and shot for hours. Nathan was more into swinging the hatchet, poking at the fire
and walking around camp in his socks.

I got the boys orange hunter caps on clearance at Big 5 and they never took them off. In fact after his shower when we got home Nathan put his back on and wore it until bedtime.

We did have some success with quail despite the low numbers this year. Clayton drove the ranger up the wash and I would hop out and chase em. Nathan read a book in the back and ate pringles and was a good sport when we made him get out and chase the birds too. At one point he got a cholla cactus in his leg but did not panic, and with the help of his brother plucked the thorns out with out much complaining. It was a great manly man outing.

HALLOWEEN

Halloween was tons of fun this year. The kids had a couple opportunities to get dressed up and collect candy and that extended the holiday for them a little bit.

We love staying in our neighborhood on halloween, most of the neighborhood is out in front of their houses visiting with friends and watching the parade of children all dressed up. We had the Schwenke's over and they brought along their portable fire pit and we sat out front from 5:30 to 10:00 pm eating Mexican food, visiting, laughing and passing out candy. We even did a little off-roading in the ranger. It was a blast!