HAPPY 14th!

Josh turned 14 yesterday and it was a FULL day of fun.  We started out having Josh open his presents and his favorite one was a dozen golf balls from Grandpa Beckstrand.
 

 Then we hurried to the Color Me Rad 5K.  Clearly these pictures are BEFORE the race.

 

Everyone else ran I took pictures. I think that it's almost important the I DON'T run because then who would document all of the fun runs they all do?  John and Kristal and all of their kids ran too, which was really great for my kids so they had someone to run with.  Before the race started they pulled John up out of the audience and had him dance in a competition for a Color Me Rad t-shirt.  It was hilarious!  He did a great job.
 

 Here they all are in the left corner getting ready to start.

 They had 4 different start times and we were in the last wave.  

There were at least 100 people per wave. It was crazy. 

   Ben and Alex ran the entire way without stopping and were the first people in our heat to cross the finish line.  If they had prizes for 1st and 2nd then they'd get it.  David actually started out with Ben and Alex but learned that he is made like me.  He is super fast for short distances and then he's done. 

 I love this picture!

 This was the Orange station with Ben and Alex running through it.

 Sophie ran with John and Cali.  Sophie started out with Emma but Emma took off after the first mile and Sophie had to slow down.  

 

This is the Green station.

Kristal and Mary ran together.  Those two are speed demons.  Mary NEVER stops.  She's so cute.

Joel, Josh and David ran together.   Josh had ripped some ligaments in his ankle a couple days before playing at Brian's, trying to get up his Warp Wall, so he stopped at one point an walked with me while I took pictures because he was in too much pain. 

 

 But he ran across the finish line with them.

 We even ran in to Kalo and Lina.  They had a great time too!

At the end of the race they give all the runners a bag of colored chalk and they have a big Color Bomb and throw them all over each other.  

You can see the lines where the color didn't get. 

 Josh's shorts, Joel's legs and Sophie's shirt from where her number was.

All of the color really makes her teeth look white!

After the race we raced home to shower and go up to Pine Valley to help make a new fire pit.  We took the big bricks off of the old one and moved them up to flat ground.  The grass was on a hill before and the little kids, if they didn't sit right on their chairs, would tip forward and we feared that someone would fall into the fire. 

 

Earlier in the day Kyle had brought up sand and made a nice flat surface so all we had to do is lay it all down. 

Joel started laying down bricks for the patio while Kyle started on the pit.  JoEllen and I brought almost all of the bricks up from the old pit and as soon as Kyle got it done we all pitched in to help Joel finish.

 While the little boys played in the huge hole that Spencer's kids had made earlier in the week and the big kids made a time capsule to put in the huge hole and then filled it up.  It was an ingenious way to get them to work.

I should have been in this picture because this whole blog makes it look like I didn't help at all when really I did.  I should have made Sophie take it.  Oh well.  Kyle is going to get more bricks to finish it up with but I think it turned out great!

When we were all done we came inside for cake and ice cream. Don't you just love the clown cake?

 

The best part was that the leaves had just started to change color. 

Then to end Josh's birthday we took him out to eat for dinner.  We let them choose what restaurant they want and he chose the Black Bear Diner.  You can get breakfast, lunch or dinner there anytime of the day and their portions are GINORMOUS! It was a great ending to an ever greater day.