Random pictures

These are of Neal that were sent to me from Tucker.  Tucker said this a Neal sleeping while in the middle of texting!  Amazing, isn’t it?  He could have been driving!!  I’ve also got some cute pictures of Neal and Tucker at the game but my lack of computer skills gets a little frustrating some times and I’m not having any luck getting them on to my computer from my phone.  I was able to get these three but for some reason can’t get the ones from Derek or the others from Tucker.  I’ll figure it out or get Mindy or Lyndsy over here to show me what I’m doing wrong.  Don’t you just hate it when your kids are smarter and quid

Sunday–a day of rest?

Sunday is always a very busy day for Neal and I.  Between his Bishopric meetings and my RS assignments we seldom get home much before 4 or 5 and usually start the day at about 6:00 a.m.  By the time evening rolls around we are pretty much spent!

This Sunday had two bonus meetings that I was able to attend both of them and Neal was able to get to one of them.  The primary programs are always in the fall so we usually find ourselves bouncing from one to another.  Today was a perfect example.  I’m just grateful that the meetings were not at the same time. 

I went to Grayson’s this morning at 9:00 a.m. and then hurried to River’s at 11:00.  The meetings are across the Valley from each other but with it being Sunday and few cars on the road I was on time for both.  Like most things in the church, the outlined programs were interpreted differently in each primary but the message was the same.  Choose the Right.

River also pointed out that he had lost a tooth that very morning, so we had to take a picture of that.

Friday night and Saturday

Friday night I hosted a dinner for my Stake Relief Society Presidency and spouses and also invited Linda Knight and her husband.  She was my secretary for over a year when they called her to be the RS President of Farm Hill Ward.  I always worry when inviting guests for dinner.  Of course, I want every little thing to be perfect from a spotless clean home to a delicious dinner and an enjoyable evening.  I think everything went as planned and the dinner of roast, potatoes, carrots, salad, fruit and home made rolls seem to be liked by all.  The dumb thing is that I had my camera sitting right on the side counter and didn’t take any pictures of the group gathered!  I was so disappointed when everyone left and I realized that not one snap shot had been taken.  I did take a picture of the table setting.  Neal and I laughed at how much that dinner cost us.  Well, it wasn’t really the dinner it all started with Neal buying a Tommy Bahama table cloth with matching napkins and finding out that we didn’t have one set of dishes that we could use with the table cloth.  That is when things begin to get expensive.  So I told Neal it wasn’t really the dinner that cost us so much it was his obsession with Tommy Bahama!!

Saturday I went to the gym to run my almost 3 miles.  I ran home and picked up Neal and we went to the farmers market. The picture shows a few items, we actually bought boxes!  This was the last day of the year.  As you can see we bought a little of everything!  Plus they had bakery products so Neal bought two different kinds of breads and a variety of sweet rolls.  From there we stopped at Fresh Market and he bought a fresh scone!  Can you tell, we had not eaten breakfast yet!

ThNext on the agenda was projects and Jaden’s football game. We were supposed to go to bridge at Howard and Tibby’s that evening but Neal was way behind on his school papers so had to choose between Jaden’s football game or bridge and he chose the game.  That was a big choice because Neal LOVES playing bridge.

Later that day I ran some errands and stopped in Macey’s go get some corduroy pants that were on sale.  I ran upstairs to the china department just to see if they had anymore accessories for our ‘new’ china and ran into this:

 

This is a punch bowl that Spode has just come out with.  I was so excited that I had to take a picture and send it to Neal and see if he was OK with buying it.  He loved it as much as I did so we now have a beautiful punch bowl to go with our Christmas dishes.  Can’t wait to use it during the holidays. It turned out to be an expensive weekend with the dinner, Farmer’s Market and shopping but it sure was a fun one.  Oh yes, I might add that the topper was that bothy BYU and the Utes won their football games. 

A post script to the Tough Mudder Race.

Lynda Ann talked to some of the doctors in ER and it was reported that over 450 participants of the race were taken to the medic tent and some from there were transported to the ER room.  I think that gives you a more realistic idea of how incredible hard that race really was.  Maren made it through with flying colors.  I talked to her a couple days later and she said she was a little sore but not as bad as she had anticipated. 

Lyndsy finished our 2010 family reunion book!

The book was delivered tonight and I’ve gone through it a dozen times already.  Lyndsy captured some great pictures taken by all the family members.  Nice that we all have cameras and are busy taking pictures for posterity.  Thank you Lyndsy for putting together another wonderful reunion book for the family.  I’m sure as people gather, this book will be looked at over and over.  It is fun for the grandchildren to look at the books from the past and present and see how much they have changed over the years. 

I was tending Grayson for an hour this evening and this is a picture of him looking through the book and finding pictures of himself!’

It’s official

For the first time in my life I finally gave in and bought a membership to a gym.  I’ve taken up jogging again and for safety reasons and weather issues in Utah, I became a gym member.  I used to jog years ago and then gave it up.  But I’ve noticed the older I get, the more my body seems to soften, like butter left out at room temperature.  Everything starts dropping and spreading, thus, I’ve entered the serious jogging world again.  Because I’m a county employee and a senior the year pass didn’t cost a huge amount.  I bought it just in time because we’ve had snow on the ground for the past two days.  Can’t jog outside in that.  It is nice to be on a nice track in a nice gym, safe and sound.

New stuff!

We finally gave in and went to RC Willy for their weekend sale and bought a new front loading washer and dryer.  It isn’t as if we’ve needed it or anything.  Just about every time I did a load of wash the washing machine would dance across the kitchen floor.  Do you remember the scene in Overboard where Goldie Hawn is using the old wringer washer and it starts coming at her and she went after it with a plunger?  Well that is close to what mine did.   I would often have to run downstairs when I heard it banging against the dryer or the wall, stop it and push it back in place and then start it up again and let it finish spinning while I sat on top of it to balance it!! Seriously.  I’m sure it would have been quite a sight to behold.  Half the time I thought the tub was going to bang its way right through the shell of the washer!  Then when the cycle was finished I would take the clothes out to put them in the dryer only to discover they were still very wet.  Not much of the water was spun out of them.  So, consequently the dryer worked harder and longer to get the clothes dry.  Yup, that was my life every Saturday!  Finally, I had had enough.  I went to RC Willy on my lunch hour and checked out the front loading washer and dryers and then had Neal go with me on Saturday to look at them.  He knew it was time and we bought them.  The day before they were to deliver them, I had Neal pull out both washer and dryer so that I could clean underneath them.  Wouldn’t want anyone to see any dust or dirt!  (I put that in for Jeff and Mindy)  Anyway, when we pulled out the washer the whole area was covered with grease and oil!!  Black as could be.  It took some serious scrubbing to get the floor clean.  I think that alone convinced Neal that we had done the right thing. 

There is a little more to the story.  When they were delivered and as they unpacked them we noticed there were two small dents on the side of the dryer and one tiny paint chip on the top.  RC Willy said they would give us 10% off and I said, for 3 dents we should get at least $100.00 off and they agreed!  I don’t care about two tiny dents, I just care about a good price, which we got and two working machines that I don’t have to sit on top of! 

Saturday Evening and projects!

Annie asked me if I would help her with a couple of projects.  So after I got home from the race we tackled and finished two major projects that she had.  Quilt tying always goes so much faster when you have someone helping you put the quilt on the frame and then tying them.  I had not eaten all day so I had a nice hot bowl of home made chicken noodle soup that Annie had waiting for me.  With projects done and one game of Shanghi I was on the road to home at about 9:00.  I put a movie on to relax and promptly fell asleep.  I have to admit, it was a busy and rather exhausting four days.  But all was accomplished and it was a great four days too.

Saturday Morning–a Big Day for Maren

Maren and Greg picked me up at 8:30 to head over to the Larry H. Miller compound.  Maren was running in the Tough Mudder event.  This is an event that raises money for the wounded soldiers.  It was cold that morning with a cold breeze coming in from the North.  I was bundled up and still felt the chill of the breeze.  I was so impressed with Maren.  Her stamina, her determination and her competitive spirit.  You combine all those and you can accomplish just about anything you put your mind to and accomplish she did.  I still think back on what she put her body through combined with the cold day and I have to say I was and still find myself in awe.  We were there from 8:30 until 4:30.  A long day but a great adventure that I was glad to be a witness of.  I’m so proud of Maren.  She was by far, the best of all her team and I don’t doubt that it was because of her positive attitude that the team made in across the finish line.  Below are a few of the many pictures I took of her and the course.

The beginning of the day. Checking in and getting ready to run.

The first obstacle was jumping in ice cold water, going under the water and coming out in a huge mud puddle.  Imagine how cold you would be jumping in water that they had just dumped tons of ice in to and the temperature outside at 62 degrees with a cold wind.

 

Maren climbing the wall to begin the race.

 

This is coming out of the first ice cold water dive into a mud puddle that any little kid would die for!

Her next obstacle was the Electric Eel.  The runners had to slide on their stomachs through electric wires hanging down that if they touch them would shock them.  We heard people screaming, yelling and even some cursing as they went through this obstacle.  Maren went through it with flying colors and said the she felt the electric shocks.  If you look closely at the third picture where Maren is just entering you will notice the yellow wires hanging down.

This next event involved 10 huge mounds of muddy hills that the runner had to climb over and the slide down into waste high mud.  This course was estremely demanding because there was no way to climb the hills without your team mates helping from behind as well as from the top.  Both pushing and pulling.   Add to the fact that you are soaked in mud and water and freezing.

Victory at last and feels awesome!

We found this fox hole as we were walking and I had to take a picture of it.  Not much to see but something I’ve never walked by before.  You get the size of it compared to the shoes.

This next event was the tricky bars.  An incredibly challenging one knowing that if you didn’t make it across the bars you would fall into the ice cold water below.  I told Maren I would give her $100.00 if she could make it across.  She got to the half way mark and just couldn’t hold on any longer.  I noticed that there were very few people who were able to make it across and a lot of men couldn’t even make it half way.

After you left the bars you had to climb a huge hill that was so slippery you could not possible climb it on your own.  Again it was people supporting from the back and pulling you up from the top.  When Maren made it to the top she turned around and let the guys grab her ankles and the lowering her down the mud hill so that she could grab the hands of those trying to climb up.  When he gave the OK the men would literally pull her back up the hill along with the person she was holding on to.  It was an emotional moment for me to witness Maren’s strength and her willingness to help others in need.  There was no hesitation on her part that she needed to stop and help those behind her.  You can see her being supported from the back and pulled to the top.

Pictures below are of Maren being held by her ankles as she slides back down the hill to assist her team mates and others.

The finish line!  People just took off their shoes and left them there. 

As Maren’s team neared the finish line Greg made the comment that it all looked like the Bataan Death March.   I agreed.  I’ve never seen so many tired and beat people walking toward the finish line.  I believe his other comment was they looked like the walking dead. 

Maren always managed to have a smile on her face and a look of determination throughout the whole ordeal.  She certainly became a hero that day in my memory bank.  She made the comment that she was glad I was there because it gave her the encouragement to keep going.  I also believe that her mother was also there every step of the way – an angel on her shoulder pushing her on.  What an incredible day!!  I love you, Maren.