Thanksgiving!

I am thankful that we get to come up to Lehi every year and spend Thanksgiving with my family.  When Joel and I were first married we went up to Lehi every other month.  I hated being away from "home".  Now that our kids are older and are all busy with one sport or another (every, single, weekend) we only get back up north on Easter and Thanksgiving.  So, I am indeed grateful for those two holidays and the time we can spend with my family.  Thanksgiving morning started out with the Thankful 13 and 5K.  Then that afternoon, after the Macy's Parade and Purina Dog Show, we EAT!  After all, that's why we celebrate the holiday right?  To help us remember how the Indians fed us and kept us alive in this land so we could grow and flourish?  Well, it helps keep us humble.  To help us remember where we came from and all that we have because of all of those that came before us.

Kids Table.

Kyle getting in the way of my picture of the boys table.

The boys table.

The girls table.

The VIP table.

 The FUN table!  And Evan cleaning up all the napkins afterwards.  It cracked me up.  He just kept grabbing them and they just kept falling out.

 Andy, eying the pies.  There were more pies than this.  This picture is missing an apple and a couple chocolate pies too.  We figured that there were enough pies that everyone could have half a pie!  YIKES!  It's no wonder we're all diabetic.

One of our family traditions, that goes back further than I can remember, is going bowling after we eat.  The first time I remember doing it was when I was probably 10.  We'd go with the Peck and Lucero's every year.   Now our kids are going with their cousins.

 That's a good lookin' group!

Abby and Sophie.

 

Paula and Jake.

Nick, Tyler and Jenna.

C.J. and David.

Joel, Ben and C.J.

Josh, Jenna and David.

Joel and David.  One of them has the correct form.  One does not.

Sophie and Shayne.  Sisters...Sisters...There were never such devoted sisters.

 Jake and Paula again.  They always seem to bowl at the same time.  I think Jake got a little frustrated.

Jenna loved it all.  The boys were boys.  Josh took that picture because I put my camera down to take my turn.

 Josh took my picture with my camera.  Look at how straight my ball is going.  Yep, you guess it.  Strike!

The "adults".  I used the quotes for Steve's sake.

The kids.  So dang cute!

Josh and Jenna.  Look at Jenna's perfect form and where her ball is headed.  She's a natural.

These two on the other hand...

YIKES!   Selfies after 40 are not good.

Strikes after 40 are AWESOME!!!

This makes it look like Josh just made a strike but if you look down the lane the pins are still standing.   He had a 7/10 split and it went right down the middle.   FIELD GOAL!!!

We had so much fun.  I absolutely love Thanksgiving because of my family and the memories we make together.  Thanks so much!

Thankful 13 and 5k of 2015!

This was our 2nd annual Thankful 13 and 5k.  So far the weather has been perfect each time.  Something to be thankful for.  Each year we'd go to the Lehi Rec Center and do Zumba and Kickboxing with Paula and JoEllen but I decided to give this race a try since I knew that I wouldn't know anyone here.  Last year's race was a complete mess.  If you want to read about it you can click here...Thankful13,2013.  Luckily, this year went 10x better than last.

Joel's race always starts a half an hour before ours so everyone can get back at relatively the same time.  My goal is to always get done before Joel does.  I figure if I can't get 3.1 miles done before he get 13.1 then I am a pretty pathetic excuse of a human being. 

 While we were waiting we took some pictures.  Steve and the boys came to watch everyone run.  George and Jake ran but they weren't registered so instead of crossing the finish line and getting a medal they just ran off to the side.  

 Then it was our turn.  Before we start we always have a meeting place picked out for everyone to meet if they get "separated".  Otherwise known as, the place to wait for mom to finish.  Here is a picture I took from my spot in the race.  I was about in the middle.  The boys had already turned the corner up ahead and were out of view.  Last year there weren't very many people running, but this year it exploded and there were a ton!

It's a gorgeous trail that goes down along the river.  There was a paraglider this year checking everyone out and taking pictures.  It was pretty cool.  

This picture didn't show up as well as I'd hoped.  The sky blended in and I couldn't stop and reset my camera.  But Timp was so pretty covered with snow.  It always is.  You can see how far I've fallen behind by this point.  This was just past half way.

The main reason why I don't run is because the blog ends up like this...below is us after we finished.  There are no pictures of anyone crossing the finish line.  Just us.  Sitting here.  I'm not saying that I love to run but I wish it was easier for me.  I really struggle with it and then when there are no pictures, I feel guilty for even trying.   If I could hire someone to take pictures for me then I would train harder so I could run with my kids instead of behind them.  I'm a sprinter.  And as far as I know, my mane is still up on the Lehi High School Track record board in the 4x100 relay.  My muscles are not long and lean ones that are built for endurance.  So, for now I will pick and choose which races I'll run and hope I can find some pictures from someone else to stick on the blog.  I need to run for my health but I'd much rather take pictures.

While we were waiting for Joel to finish the announcer decided to have a push-up contest to give away a pumpkin pie.  All the boys joined in but a military guy in his late 20's won.

Then not to long after that Joel came across the finish line.  He did a great job!

I was glad that Steve and the boys came out and supported us.  It was cold but fun.

Here are the pictures I stole from the web site.  Actually, I am just doing some advertising for them for it's not really stealing.  Right?  I never could find a picture of  David. Another problem with not taking the pictures yourself.  You get what you get.  Danggit!

The last and best reason to not run is that if I'm taking the pictures then there are no pictures of  ME!

Snow Canyon Half

This race was cold and rainy and on November 1st.  I apologize to everyone who ran it for blogging about it so late.  I don't remember much about it because we got there right as Joel and Josh finished and there were these kids standing in the way so I couldn't get any pictures of either of them running in.  So this is all you get.  The unique this about this particular race is that Mason ran it.  We don't see him at any except the marathon so it was great to get a picture of him with the boys.

Wells Family Addition

In September we helped Kyle and JoEllen take out their in-ground trampoline because they had decided to add a master bedroom on to the house and give their current master bedroom to the girls.  That way George and Evan could get their own rooms.  So the first step to this awesome task was to take out the tramp.  Little did we know that an entire colony of black widow spiders was living under it!  So Kyle had a couple cans of bug killer and was spraying anything that was crawling out.  We unscrewed all of the metal and took it out piece by piece.  Then folded up the huge black tarp that was on the ground and put it in the garbage.  It didn't take long but we had to be careful so no one got bit.  Especially Evan and David.  They weren't really paying attention.

 Here is the addition.  It matches perfectly! 

 And here's the entire thing.  It looks like it should have always been there.

 And the inside is gorgeous.  JoEllen did a great job of decorating it.

 

Their shower is amazing!

Veterans Day

Veterans Day.  Last Parade of the year.  Ben and David both got to walk in it this year and Sophie and Josh were both in the bands. 

 The 5th Grade teachers from Washington Elementary didn't want to walk this year so they drove.  It was awesome.  It's a good thing their students are so trustworthy to let them walk alone.  I guess they figure the students can't get into to much trouble with the whole town watching their every move.  Mr. Ivie is in the front side and Mr. Jolley in the back.  Our two favorite people.  We thought it was funny that Mrs. Turek was driving. 

 Pine View Middle Marching Band.

Here are Sophie and Victoria on their flutes.  Sophie's in the middle.

After the parade, Washington City always puts on a program for the vetrans in our town and the 5th graders are always invited to sing a couple songs.  You can see Ben on the far end.  And on the bottom he is sitting with his buddies watching the rest of the program.  We have always enjoyed this holiday and made sure that the kids know the importance of it and the sacrifice of those who have made our freedom possible.