Deacons Basketball Tournament

For the past two weeks the boys Conner's age have had a Deacon's Basketball Tournament. There are 14 boys between the ages of 12 and 13 in our ward who played on the team. They are all pretty good, most of them play basketball with each other on a daily basis. Their first game was a week ago and they won, the score was 75 to 15, and by the 3rd quarter they stopped trying so the other team could get more points.

This weekend they had the final games of the tournament, they played one team at 10am and lost, then they played at 1pm and won, 2pm and won, and at 3pm they played against the team that they had lost to for the tournament championship. It was exciting for them to finally beat that team as well, and come home the Stake Basketball Champions. What a fun day for Conner...tiring, but really fun.

Back to the Basics

Yesterday was a very weird Sunday. It started in the middle of the night, Steve was awake with an upset stomach, he woke me up to let me know that the power had gone out. We were having a terrible windstorm, so I wasn't surprised. He woke me again at 5:15am to let me know it was back on...I sure appreciated knowing that the power had gone off and then on again in the middle of the night...while I was asleep.

At that point, I was wide awake, so was Steve. We had gone to the Old Folks Socaible the night before, and something he ate didn't agree with him. After about a half hour, I glanced over at the clock and the power was out again. This time it didn't come back on. At this point I'm glad we have cell phones, and that they had been charging most of the night, because our phones started ringing like crazy. Aparently it was a widespread outage and all three churches in our stake were without power.

All the bishops were calling to find out if they should cancel services. Steve told the bishops to make the decision based on the health and safety of the ward members. In two buildings, the 9:00 services were cancelled. In the Shelley Lane building,(the one in my subdivision) the bishop held shorter services, they held the first hour in the dark, and then had a very short scarament meeting. Our church starts at 11:00, I had heard that the power would not be back on until 2:30pm, so at 10:30 I went to the church to see if our ward was cancelled or not. Our bishop said, were having church pioneer style! So we came. Remember most people weren't awake when the power went out, you should have seen the young women, coming to church without any hairdryers, flat irons, curling irons, etc. It was a really unique experience. We all wore coats, because the heat wasn't on in our building. We actually had a really nice experience, one of our young women leaders said if we're having a hard time with just no electricity, we really have problems! We decided the pioneers were up in heaven just shaking their heads at us.

It did give me a chance to look at my family's preparedness, and see what changes need to be made. If it had been out for several days, or weeks. I did find a few glitches in my preparedness plan that I'll need to address.

Those of us who went to church in the dark, both my ward and the ward before us, really enjoyed it. The previous ward commented on how quiet their sacrament meeting was, because everyone had to be quiet to listen to the prayers, and testimonies with no microphone. We had the power come back on before our sacrament meeting started, but really enjoyed the spirit of the day.

After Steve dealt with all of the electrical problems in the morning he was still not able to relax. Because we had the Old Folks Sociable on Saturday night, the General Young Women's broadcast had to be recorded and the young women came to the church on Sunday night to watch the re-broadcast.

Steve started to worry about if it had been recorded (the sociable is HUGE in Grantsville, and the broadcast could have been accidentally forgotten). He called the high councilman who had the assignment of recording it, and was told that he had not forgotten, he had recorded it, but on Sunday morning he took the tape home and tried to play it on his own VCR, and there was nothing there. Steve started making phone calls to see what could be done, I thought it would be "on demand" on our cable service, in the past we have been able to go back and watch conference "on demand", but that was not the case. The Stake Executive Secretary said that they could probably play it off the internet on his computer and feed it right to the big screen. He and Steve both took their computers to the stake center and gave it a try. This was at 3:00, and the Young Women were coming at 6:30 to watch it. They both tried playing it on their computers and decided either way it would work... problem solved. They decided to use the Executive Secretary's computer. They ran it for 45 minutes with no glitches, and then came home.

When we all arrived to watch the re-broadcast, they pushed play and we saw the first song sung by the choir, then everything froze. It looked like his computer lost it's video driver, nothing they did would make it work. Steve ran out and brought in his computer, luckily he hadn't taken it out of his car yet. They got it all set up and running, and realized they had two problems, #1 the screen saver was set to come up every 10 minutes, and #2 Steve had pushed the wrong button and it was only playing all the choir songs, and none of the talks. All this took about 30 minutes to work out, and finally at 7:00 we started watching the broadcast. I'm just so relieved that we were actually able to watch it that night, for a while there it wasn't looking too good.

We decided there must be a lesson to this crazy day, we rely so heavily on electricity, and are so spoiled by the ease of technology. Help me understand what the moral of this story is...

Some Crazy Long Runs

Over the past few weeks I have been trying to build up my distance in running. It is pretty difficult when I just run alone with my radio, and 5 miles seems like forever. I have two friends who have been training to run the Salt Lake City Marathon in April, and they have been kind enough to let me tag along with them on their long runs. The time seems to fly by, because I have someone to talk to. Two weeks ago they ran 14 miles, I was having problems with asthma and didn't bring my inhaler, but I made it about 13 miles. Then on Friday they had a 20 mile run. I went with them again, but only made 17 of the 20 miles. For those of you that know the area, we start a few miles up East Hickman Canyon, run to Mormon Trail Road, then turn east on a dirt road that takes us around the Army Depot, past our subdivision, and along a large ravine, then we turn back towards our subdivision, I finish at the church, but my companions continue on down the road for a few more miles. It has been fun being able to run so far with relatively few problems. I've decided I like running again, especially when I'm not alone. Thanks Lori and Julie, you ladies amaze me! Good luck with the marathon!!

Deacon

Conner was ordained to the office of a deacon in the Aaronic priesthood on March 15th. This past Sunday he got to pass the sacrament for the first time. His dad was on the stand, and Conner got to be the one to give the sacrament to him. It was really fun for us to watch. He has a brand new suit, and looks so handsome. It's hard to believe all my kids are out of primary, that's been such a huge part of our lives.

We were also able to go to the Draper Temple dedication in our stake center as a family. It was such a neat experience for me to look down the bench and see all of my kids enjoying the spirit of that occasion.

And so it begins...

Track season is here, and it has hit us full force.

Kaylea had two track meets in a row, these were the first of the track season. Her first meet was in Logan on Wednesday, and then the very next day, today, ran in the meet at Dugway. It was a pretty neat week for her. In Logan she ran the 4X400 relay, the 800M, which is twice around the track, and the mile, which is 4 times around the track. In the relay the team took 2nd, In the 800M Kaylea took 3rd overall, and in the mile she took 4th. Her time in the mile was 6:02.

Today we went to Dugway for the second meet. Kaylea was tired from yesterday, but was running the mile, and the 4X400 relay.

It was actually pretty weird coming to Dugway Proving Grounds for the track meet. Dugway High School has not had a decent track for about 10 years, so they have never held a track meet there. Steve and I got to security and were quite surprised with how tight the security is there. We had to wait this far back until the guard waved us forward, then he asked us what we were doing there. We told him we just wanted to see the track meet, would that be okay? He said that it would if all of our paper work was in order, and he wasn't joking! We had to turn around and go back to a visitor parking area, take our driver's license, car registration, and proof of insurance into the guard shack and have a temporary permit made up for us. They put all of our info into the computer, printed out an official looking form, and then even had a seal stamped into it. Then we came back to our car, drove it to the security guard and had to show it to him along with both of our driver's licenses! Whew! I'm glad we got through!!The army just put in a new track at the High School, and it hadn't been used for a track meet yet, so there was a sort of ceremony before they could kick off the track meet. We heard from the commanding officer of Dugway, and then they had an inagural run where one man carried a flag and was followed by the commanding officer, a boy and girl representative from each High School at the track meet, and about 10 army guys. They all ran one lap around the track in a kind of pack. The army guys were doing their chanting while they ran, and their families had all come to watch them. I imagined the Blackhams watching their dad...it was sweet.
Of course dad is always excited to see his kids run, today was no different. If he had been in town yesterday, whe would have been in Logan watching her first meet.

So Kaylea ran the mile first. She started out in the lead, and stayed there until the third lap. This picture is of her third out of four laps. She is in the light blue shorts. Kaylea and Michelle fought for the lead the whole last lap. I got a video of the end of the race...she took first place! Her time was 6:07, five seconds slower than yesterday, but like I said she was a little tired from all the races yesterday. The video is a little bit blurry, sorry.

The girls that ran the 4X400 took first place. There was only one girls team running, so they ended up running with the boys. She said they almost beat one of the boy's teams, but ended up coming in last place. All in all it was a really fun track meet.

Catching up

Okay, I know I haven't been posting ANYTHING, and it's not because nothing has been happening, in fact life has been pretty busy, but I haven't been in the mood to write it all out. So here goes...

Two weeks ago I went to my first "soap sale" at the Husih Detergent plant. They open to the public 1 time a month and I was told they have really good prices. I decided I would take $20 and just see what I could find, or if it was worth driving into Salt Lake each month. It was a huge warehouse that was a little bit intimidating at first, so I just decided to buy a couple of small things and see if they were any good. In this picture below, the dishwashing tablets were marked $1.89, and the fabric softener sheets were marked 60 cents. But when I went to buy them, they gave them to me for 50 cents each! While I was in line to buy this small amount of soaps, the other ladies in line had cases and cases of liquid fabric softener. I found out that one case, which held 4/ 1 gallon containers of liquid fabric softener was selling for $3.50. That's like 88 cents a gallon. So I bought a case.

As I was leaving with my case of fabric softener and my other small things, the lady at the register told me that anyone who shops today can have two cases of liquid dishwasher soap for free. Each case again had 4 gallons of liquid dishwasher soap in them. So in the end, I got 8 gallons of liquid dishwasher soap, 4 gallons of liquid fabric softener, 72 dishwasher tablets, and 2 small boxes of fabric softener sheets for $5.50, that ends up being 16 items for about 34 cents each. Yes, I was thrilled!! What can I say, good deals are VERY exciting to me.This picture is missing two gallons of dishwasher soap, I made Erin take and try.

That weekend, I decided to run with members of my Ragnar Relay team. They were running 14 miles. The most I have run in one day is 8, but I thought I could tag along and drop out when it got to be too much. I have exercise induced asthma, and have not been able to find my inhaler (one of the reasons I haven't run these long distances yet). When I hit about 10 miles, I was struggling with my breathing. I felt really good otherwise, but when you can't get enough air, you can't run very far. I walked for a few minutes, and had the rest of the team run ahead. I was able to catch up with them again. By mile 13, we were close to home, and I had had it. The rest of the team ran another loop in the subdivision, and I just headed for home. I was really surprised that I made it 13 miles. I did finally replace the inhaler, and I hope that will help me on these long runs. I have really enjoyed running further for the team. I hope I don't let them down on the day of the race.

One of the neatest things about having Steve be the stake president is the people we get to meet. On Friday, March 6th, we were invited to a dinner with the Presidency of the Salt Lake Temple, their wives, and about 9 other stake presidents with their wives (most were from the Tooele Valley). It was held in the temple, and was a really fancy dinner. When I got into the banquet room, there were name tags at each place, telling us where we would be sitting. I was placed next to the temple matron. I was a little bit nervous, what would I talk about? I shouldn't have been, it was such a neat experience. Her uncle was my old bishop in Woods Cross, where I grew up. I remember in a primary program having to say that I live in the house where my bishop was born. She was so excited to learn that I grew up in the old Hackee home. I was also able to meet Lonnie Gleed, who had been dad's assistant when he was recorder of the Salt Lake Temple. I guess he has been the temple recorder for many years now. It was such an enjoyable evening, and Sheldon Child, the new temple president is such an amazing man.

On March 10th, I was in charge of the combined young men and young women activity. I had decided to have everyone bring things to put in sack lunches for the homeless. They have a list of specific items that Tooele County Relief Services would like to have put in the lunches, so I gave that list to each of the young men and young women. I thought we would be able to have about 60 lunches made. At the end of the night, the final count was 110! I was so surprised, and happy with how generous the people from our ward can be. I had been nervous about the activity, but it turned out great.

Then on Friday the 13th, Steve and I went up to Orem and picked up Jessica to spend the evening with her. We went out to a movie...Race to Witch Mountain, and then took her to Tepanyaki, Sakura. We bought so much food, she had a lot to take home with her. It was so fun to spend time with her. Things are much better now, she found a full time job that she really enjoys, and she is the compassionate service person in her ward. This weekend they had Stake Conference and Elder Bednar came and spoke at both the Saturday and Sunday sessions of conference. Jessica absolutely LOVED it.

We did get some bad news this week. Our insurance has cancelled Jessica, she has to find her own. It was quite a surprise to me, I thought we had until she was 25 or married. We have been scrambling to figure out what to do for her because she has a full time job, but they don't offer health insurance. It's hard to believe she's old enough to have to take care of herself completely! Yikes!

Conner is turning 12!

Tomorrow, March 9th Conner will be turning 12 years old. I'm having a hard time believing my baby is out of primary! He will become a deacon next Sunday. Conner talked to me a month ago and reminded me that his birthday was coming up. When he asked what we would do for his birthday, I said that because it fell on a Monday, we would have to do a Family Night party. Conner acted disappointed, but didn't say anything else.

Well, a week ago, I sent out invitations for a surprise birthday party on the Saturday before Conner's birthday. I'm not sure if you realize how hard it is for 12 twelve year old boys to keep a secret for a week, but some of the moms told me it was pretty comical what their kids said. One boy said he was just going to tell Conner that he knew a surprise Conner was getting on Saturday, but he wouldn't say what it was. His mom threatened him with his life if he even said the word surprise to Conner.

Steve took Conner to Tooele to pick up some pizza for a BYU game that was going to be on. They hung out, eating hamburgers, and after several calls to check-in they finally made their way home. I think Conner was really surprised!

We started the party off with a wii boxing tournament. They really got into it. Conner is fighting with his cousin Bridger. This is a picture of Jeff and Ryan, a couple of Conner's friends from the neighborhood. Jeff (in black) had a really great right hook, and almost won the whole tournament. But the award for the lightweight boxer of the day was Skyler Snarr.

Skyler is in the lower picture on the far right. He could really pack a punch. After the boxing, Dad took the boys over to the church for some basketball. He wore them out for about an hour. Then they came back for pizza, pop, cake and ice cream.

The boys who attended are, clockwise from the top left side: Tyson Elfors, Landon Stice, Cade Coon, Dylan Rowley, Ben Rigby, Mason Curtis, Bridger Collings, Skyler Snarr, Ryan Egan, Conner Collings, and Jeff Tuckett.

Conner lit his own candles. We actually had 13, because you can't spell Happy Birthday with only 12 letters, but we never could get all 12 lit at once.

The boys played a short game of football out front, and then came back to watch a movie. I think Conner had a great time, and really appreciated all of his friends being there. On the way home from dropping off the boys I asked him if he was surprised, he said yes, he thought we would just go out to dinner on family night and maybe have some cake. He really liked this a lot more.

Next Sunday, Conner will be ordained (possibly by his big brother...Steve Jr. is still deciding if he's up for the challenge). This Tuesday, he'll start coming to Young Mens. It's so weird, but nice too, since I'm at the church already, I can look out for him. This has been a fun weekend.

My 3 cowboys

Kaylea has been taking a photography class in high school. She has taken some very interresting pictures...some VERY good! I think she really enjoys trying different things with the camera. Last weekend, she took the boys out to take some pictures for her class. I decided to post two of my favorite. As most of you know, Steve is Conner's big brother. This first picture shows you that Steve has had a bit of a growth spurt in the last little while. We are really proud! I hope Conner catches up soon!The next picture reminded me that we definitely live in "the country". When you can walk just outside of your back yard and have your pick of "rustic" cars to take pictures with...you know you're a redneck! I actually really like this picture, I can imagine my dad doing an oil painting of this...the truck is GREEN dad!

We've lived in Grantsville for eight years now, and in the Tooele valley for 12. Prior to that, I would have never guessed that we would own horses! And the thought of my husband as a cowboy was laughable, he was more the business type. It has taken the full 12 years, but he is finally embracing his role of "cowboy." It all started with a pair of cowboy boots, they were just really comfortable. Then he moved on to Wrangler's because they are easier to ride his horses in than any other brand. Next came the duster jacket...much warmer than regular coats when you want to ride in cold weather. Over Christmas, I had a custom pair of chaps made for him...thanks Uncle Allen! The chaps are really good at keeping your legs warm in winter, and keeping your legs from getting cut up in all the sage brush, and low branches of trees and bushes.

If you notice in this picture, the only thing Steve is lacking is a cowboy hat! I have rehearsed the benefits of a cowboy hat over and over to him. It keeps the sun off your neck, and ears. It keeps you cooler than a baseball cap. Steve tells me he will NEVER wear a cowboy hat. Come on Steve, embrace your inner cowboy, take the final leap!!! Go COUNTRY!! I can say this, it doesn't matter if he's a cowboy, a janitor, a manager, an FBI agent, a bishop, a stake president, or anything else, he's PERFECT for me!!! Love you Steve!

Killer Turkeys

When I was a little girl, we would go to my grandma and grandpa's house in Virden, New Mexico. They had a neighbor who had a turkey that would roam free through the neighborhood. I was only about 5 or 6 at the time, and I hated going outside! Whenever I or my siblings went outside, this turkey would fluff up all his feathers and take off running after us. We'd run into the house screaming. One day my dad had finally had it with that turkey and told us he'd take care of him. We watched out the window to see exactly how this would be done. A few minutes later, dad was running away from that turkey and jumped into the bed of a pickup truck. The turkey stayed there keeping watch over his prey....

Fast forward about 33 years, I have been training to run the Ragnar Relay, I've been running all over town. We have only one stoplight in town, which is right by a strip mall, and gas station, but on the other corner is a vacant field. Saturday as I was running to the itersection, I turned right and saw two huge turkeys blocking my path. When I was 5, the turkey was as tall as me, now it only came up to my thigh, but it still brought up memories of the past. When the turkeys saw me they fluffed up their feathers, I only had a small gravel path that I could run on, and they were on the gravel. I tried to go around them through clumps of long grass, mud, and other debris. Sure enough, as I was passing the turkeys, the larger of the two started after me. I'm sure I put on a good show to all the cars stopped at the intersection as memories of the killer turkey from my past came back. I had goosebumps that went from the top of my head to my toes, a pit in my stomach, and I watched my whole life pass before my eyes as I resigned myself to my fate. Needless to say, I ran faster than that turkey, and had enough adrenaline pumping through my system to make it the 3 1/2 miles back home in 30 seconds flat.

I tried to find a picture that looked like the turkeys that almost killed me. This picture of my neighbors is all I could find. I know it looks like a cute pet, all fluffy and sweet...but don't let the looks fool you. They are deadly!! (Luckily, the turkey in this picture was eaten for Thanksgiving.) he he he...

Fun Weekend

This weekend, Steve's parents came out to see the boys play basketball. The boys have wanted to show off all season, it was really neat to have grandma and grandpa there. Steve's team won, with Steve dominating his team in points. Conner's team had an off week, they lost by 20 points, but Conner made 8 points. That usually happens when grandma and grandpa come out. He was disappointed that they didn't get to see the real Conner.

We also had Stake Conference this weekend. Steve was gone almost all day Saturday with Elder Renlund, an area seventy. They visited several members of our stake, then had leadership meeting. Then there was a dinner for all the bishops, stake presidency and their wives, followed by the adult session of conference. On Sunday we had the General session, Steve's parents joined us for that as well. It ended up being a very nice weekend...long...but nice. It is a relief to have it over for another 6 months.

Valentine's Day Competition

We decided for Valentine's Day to have round two of "Iron Chef Wright". We had this competition two years ago, and Lee and Tricia won the title of Iron Chef. This year the "secret ingredient" we chose was sausage, thanks to Brayden. All of my brothers and sisters who live in Utah, and their spouses participated, with the exception of Tera's husband, Erick, who is serving in the military. Steve and I decided to try our luck at Stuffed Manicotti, and for our dessert we made chocolate covered strawberries. We were all supposed to make any type of dessert, that we would not be judged on. Steve is an amazing chef, and really helped me to step it up a bit, he has great taste, and really wanted to make our plate look nice.

Because Erick was gone, we had Tera be our judge. She judged on taste, use of the secret ingredient, and presentation. We each took 1/2 hour to shop and 1 hour to cook.Here are the dishes each couple made. Erin and Brayden made stuffed mushrooms, and alfredo pizza. Their dessert was chocolate cookies, raspberries, with white chocolate whipped cream, very good! Lee and Tricia made fresh pizza, and a sausage dip with chips. For dessert they made a coconut, rice pudding. It was delicious. Jared and Casi made penne al forte, and salad. For dessert, they made rootbeer floats, yummy! All I can say is EVERYTHING was Wonderful!! I ate so much, I thought I was going to pop.Tera is tallying up the scores... it was a really fun day. Good food, and good fun. Tera said that our manicotti tied with Lee and Tricia's dip and chips, but because Lee and Tricia won last time, they let me and Steve take home the Iron Chef Wright apron. We were so happy.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Grantsville Utah Stake Presidency

Jason Allen: stake clerk, Bill Lawrence: 1st Counselor, Steve: Stake President, Rick Phelps: 2nd Counselor, and Troy Tuckett: Executive Secretary

Last night the Stake Presidency, Executive Secretary, Stake Clerk, and their wives went to the temple together and then to dinner at The Garden, which is in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I have been wanting for a long time to get a picture of the men that Steve serves with. They are an amazing group of men, and we had a really nice evening together.

Pictures of Grandpa Fred's Funeral

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which is good for me, because I don't know where to start talking about Grandpa's funeral. It was a very rough week for the family. These first pictures are at the viewing, just some of the great grandchildren. Steve, Kelton, Cameron (hiding), Sandi (their mom), Kaylea, and Jessica.

I'm not as good at these names, but they are Alison and Corey's kids(Tawnie... sorry don't know the boy's names), Blaine and Laura's boys(Caden, Ethan, Mason, and Garrett...Conner's helping me), Trevor and Melissa's boys (Colton and Bridger) and Conner. It's nice that Conner has cousins close by that he has fun with.

Grandpa was a WWII veteran, he served in the navy, so he had an honor guard with a 21 gun salute and the bugle. It was really moving, if you scroll down further, I have taken a video of this part. It was an incredible experience to watch this part of the ceremony.

They draped his casket with an american flag, and after the ceremony, folded it and gave it to Loa Jean. Steve gave the family prayer before the funeral service, and his brother Marc dedicated the grave. As I said before it was a trying week, not only did Grandpa pass away, but Grandpa has 4 kids; David, Allen, Eloise, and Craig, Allen has been in the hospital all week with some sort of intestinal blockage. He was at the funeral, but in a wheelchair, and was still really sick. Eloise has a granddaughter who has a severe medical condition. She ended up having water around her heart and has been in ICU at Primary Children's Medical Center for the past few weeks. And Craig (who was supposed to dedicate the grave) ended up in the emergency room with kidney stones. He was in surgery during the funeral services.

Our whole family was able to attend. Jessica took a couple of days off work in Orem and came out for the viewing and the funeral. After the funeral, she had to go right back home.

Steve and his dad.

After going to the cemetery, the ward made the family a nice dinner. It was nice to spend time with family that we haven't seen in a long time. We are so sorry for Loa Jean, she will be lonely for a while, grandpa always made everyone around him happy. He was quite the comedian.

Just a few pictures I took of family:

Jessica and Marcia

Kenney and Sandi: Sandi played the piano throughout the service, she did such a great job, and was even able to play songs at the last minute that she didn't have time to practice. You couldn't tell, she sounded great.

Cait and Zoe

Molly, John, and Carter...hiding. I feel bad, I gues I didn't get a picture of Todd and Denise or Marc and Victoria, but it was good to spend time with everyone. It's hard to believe that Grandpa is gone, he's been such a big part of our lives, we will truly miss him.

Conner meets the Denneys

Today was a cool day for Conner. My sister in law, Casi, had her baby and her new niece blessed on the same day. I thought that was such a neat idea, and it was just family and close friends who attended. Conner and I went to the blessing and ended up meeting Casi's cousins. Ryan Denney, #92 who plays football for the Buffalo Bills, and used to play for BYU, and Brett Denney, also #92 who plays for BYU right now. Conner was so excited to have them in the same room with us, he loves playing football so much, and these guys are living the dream. Conner was pretty embarrassed, but really wanted an autograph. Jared, my brother, was so sweet to take Conner and a couple of his cousins over to meet them and get an autograph and a picture taken with them. Conner acted like he didn't want to do any of this, but when we got home, he hung up the autographs, and wants me to print up the pictue to hang in his room as soon as possible.

When Conner grows up he wants to play in the NFL. I've always told him that he needs a back up plan, because not many people make it into the NFL, he says he has a backup plan....the NBA.

Ryan is in a sling with the blue shirt, and Brett is in the white shirt. They are both 6' 7". I'm afraid Conner will never be that tall!

Grandpa's Funeral

I will be posting pictures, etc. of Grandpa's funeral later, but I wanted to post this video. Grandpa served in the navy, so he had an honor guard present at his funeral. It was really neat, I was amazed at how beautiful the bugle was. One funny thing about this video, watch the little boy in the bottom right corner. He wasn't the only person who jumped when they did the 21 gun salute, but I'm glad I got it on video!

Kaylea's project

This year in school, Kaylea is taking an Ag Mechanics class, which basically teaches her welding. Kaylea really enjoys this class, and has learned a lot. Kaylea made us this name plate for Christmas, we haven't had a chance to hang it until now. She used a plasma cutter, then had to grind the edges and paint it. It's made out of metal, and is so heavy duty, it should last for a hundred years. I'm so happy with how it looks, it really pops with the new stucco, and matches the lights, door, etc.

Hopefully, it will help you all find our house a little easier!

Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay

As most of you know, I joined a team to run the Ragnar Relay in June. Team SABOTAGE had our first meeting last night. We met our fellow team-mates, and had a fun time. I'm a little bit nervous about this race, it looks long and hard, but I think the views are going to be amazing, and it was fun to get to know our team members from the other side of the mountain. I was worried that they would all be CRAZY fast, and I would be the weakest link on my team. The more I got to know them, the more comfortable I became. There are a few men on the team who are really fast...that will be nice, and one woman who is an amazing runner, but mostly the other 5 ladies on the team run at about the same speed. Now it's just trying to get used to the hills, and running 2 to 3 times a day.

Of course, every team needs to have a comedian, Gene Isom volunteered for that position. Thanks Gene for saving me the trouble of doing it myself.