Glacier Park August 2009

Wildflowers were in bloom everywhere! It was beautiful.

Sorry for the leave of absence from the blog. I'll continue where I left off.

For summer vacation this year, the girls and I tagged along with my family up to Glacier Park in Montana. This is one of my most favorite places on earth. SO BEAUTIFUL!

Of course vacation wouldn't be vacation without some mishaps! While caravaning up, my parents and I stopped in Idaho Falls to refuel, but Mark missed the message to stop and kept going. We started again and didn't see him, so we turned around to retrace our tracks before we tracked him down ahead of us about 60 miles.

We drove as far as Great Falls the first day to pick up Amber and her kids. While there that night, my parents discovered they left a suitcase at home. After a quick run to wal-mart for some clothes we settled down into a room at Amber's house for the night. About 1:30 in the am, her smoke alarm started beeping because of the low battery. This smoke detector must have a short or something because they are replacing the battery every month. Anyway, they didn't have a battery to replace it, and it was also hooked up to the electrical system in the house, so there was nothing they could do. Finally, Amber got up and drove to an all-night convienence store to buy a battery. After replacing it and going back to bed, my alarm went off 10 minutes later. I was going into the park early to save some caming spots while my dad and family drove in slower behind us with the trailer. Once there, me and my mom put up my tent and took a nap while we waited for the others to join us. So after a rough start, we got 0ur act together.

Glacier is a hiking vacation and the whole family (14 all together, 8 kids, 6 of the kids are 5 years old and younger) hiked 15 miles during the week. We hiked to Avalance Gorge, up to Avalance Lake, Logan Pass, Sun Point Trail to Baring Falls, Sunrift Gorge. We also played in Lake McDonald, and then rented a sit-on-top kayak and motor boat. We saw lots of Mountain Goats and Big Horn Sheep. We even saw a Black Bear.

The first part of the week was fabulous weather, not too hot and sunny. By the end of the week it was raining and cold. But we still got to see everything.

Whitney loved to have "photo shoots". She would stop along the trail, pose and say, "Take my picture here!"

Summer at Logan Pass

All 8 kids on the trail to Avalance Lake (they hiked 15 miles during the week!)

Me and Amber at the Hidden Lake lookout

Me, Mark and Amber at Lake McDonald

I have been to Glacier a few times and everytime I go back I am amazed at the beauty there! Waterfalls everywhere, wildflowers always in bloom, and wildlife everywhere. It is all so incredible.

One of my favorite sites - Avalanche Gorge

Me and the girls at Baring Falls

July 24th

For Pioneer Day we went to the Ogden 24th parade, had a BBQ at my mom's house with a water slide and the annual "cul-de-sac of fire" after the kids lit all of their sparklers.

While at the parade a cameraman from Fox 13 news came and interviewed all of the cousins. Here is Cade saying he likes the floats and horses in the parade. Notice all the cousins lined up to give their interviews as well.

Happy Birthday Whitney and Summer!

These last 4 years have rushed by! I can't believe that my tiny babies are now 4: going to preschool, dance, running races, and now riding bikes! They are busy girls and growing too fast.

Before:

After:

It's like Christmas!

They both wanted a Princess Barbie cake, but after a couple of failed attempts, this is what they got. They were still happy with it.

Cache Valley Super Sprint Triathlon!

I did it! I did my first triathlon with John on July 18, 2009 in Logan. My cousins Darby and Erin introduced me to this race, they did it last year as well and helped persuade me to do it. I have been thinking of doing one for a while, and we just decided to do one. John and I signed up two weeks before and started training. I bought a pass to the Clearfield Aquatic Center so I could swim and little, and we started biking everywhere and running. Now this is only a sprint distance, so don't get it confused with the ironman. (John and I decided after finishing the tri that anyone who does the ironman distance is certified insane!) We swam 500 meters, biked 12.5 miles and ran 3.1 miles. I knew the swimming would be my weakest and running my strongest, so I thought I would just have to make it to the running and then I would be OK. But after swimming and biking, running was harder than I expected. I need a tri with the running first. I did better than I thought I would do. I had fun and I look forward to doing another one.

Me before the race, We'll see about the smile after the race

John and I after the race - still smiling! Trying to look like athletes with our numbers!

Fun with Cousins!

We had a fun week when Amber's kids were able to come down and stay for a week. When they come it is always like a stay-cation. We went swimming to Classic waterslide, spent a day at the classic fun center, had fun lunches and dinners. It is fun, but my house and laundry suffer (I would rather be making the memories though). I also like getting out of the house and talking with adults. Thanks Kallie for listening to me gab so much!

The girls are so fun to watch when we go swimming. They have no fear of the water (which is good and bad), and when we go to the waterslides they will do everything there. They don't quite get the concept of waiting in line when we aren't with them and I think they make other kids mad. It is kind of humerous to watch.

When we went to the fun center, they loved doing all of the activities. They had a hokey pokey contest and Summer won a glow stick! She was so excited.

At the end of the week, the girls and I went down to Vernal with my parents to see Alyson get baptized. It was a special day and lots of fun.

Whitney on a scooter at the fun center

Summer doing the hokey pokey and then showing her glow stick prize for winning!

4th of July

I love July and the holidays! This year, John and I took the girls up to Snowbird for the summer activities. We had a day filled with the alpine slide (the girls favorite we did 6 or 7 times), bungee trampoline (the other favorite of the girls that we did 3 or 4 times), zip line, tram ride, jump houses and riding the mechanical bull. It was a lot of fun, the weather was great and the girls crashed before we even pulled out of the parking lot. We definately got our moneys worth in the alpine slide alone.

I love being up in the mountains, I love that is rained all June and kept everything green and cooler longer. I love this country and it's beautiful areas. I recently read "Three Cups of Tea" and feel so blessed to be born in America with all our comforts and blessings. We live in a great country!

This is at the top of the tram looking down into Heber Valley! We miss Heber valley.

Snowball fight on July 4th

Summer and John on the Alpine Slide

Summer doing flips on the bungee trampoline

Whitney doing her flip too!

Summer top, Whitney bottom.

John showing everybody up

Family Reunion

First of all, I want to say Happy Birthday to John on July 3! Hope you had a fun day (even at a family reunion). I love you and so glad for the wonderful man, father and husband you are!

What would a summer be without a family reunion? On July 3, 2009, we had our 1st annual Rex and Aldena Read reunion. This is my dad's side of the family. We went to Gunnell Park in Wellsville. I had never been, but if you know this park it is BEAUTIFUL! It is privately owned and rented out for special occasions.

The best thing about this reunion is that EVERYONE was there. My cousins from Boise, Amber came from Montana, and even one of my cousins I have not seen in years from Texas came with her family. It was a lot of fun, and so great to see and talk to everyone again. We don't get together enough.

I don't know how well you can see this picture, but Whitney is holding a red frisbee in front of her face and Summer is to the left picking her nose. Love these kodak moments!

Family Home Evening Hikes

Flowers (I think Indian Paintbrush) on the trail.

I don't know how I got this picture, but I was happy with how it turned out with the mountains softer in the background and the flowers kind of standing out in front. I want to learn some photography techniques, so if anyone has tips let me know.

Last night, Monday, June 15, 2009; Summer, Whitney and I joined my brother's family and my parents for a family home evening hike up Indian Trail in Ogden. I have ran and hiked a lot of the trails in the Ogden foothills, but I have never been on the Indian Trail. IT IS SO PRETTY! (Have I mentioned before how much I love being in the mountains, they are so pretty!) Indian Trail climbs high above the Ogden Canyon road. Now is the perfect time to go because it is so green from the rain we have been deluged with the last couple of weeks.

We did have a slight detour when we got off of the trail and ended up doing a little more rock climbing than hiking, so we back tracked a little and found where we strayed. My parents and I turned around with Whitney, Summer and my niece Grace, while my brother and the rest of his family finished the hike to get the truck that we shuttled to the end of the trail.

We are going to do this for Family Night for a while, so if anyone has suggestions for trails, I'd love to hear your recommendations.

This is Ogden Canyon looking east from a view on the hike.

These are the troopers: from left my nephews Jacob, Cade, my niece Grace, Summer and Whitney.

This was one of the many breaks we took to chow on some candy that Grandma brought.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

Friday, June 12, 2009 we made reservations and took the girls to the open house. The open house is very well organized and it is beautiful inside. The open house is for members and non-members, and the reservations are free at lds.org if anyone is interested. The detail and the murals are incredible. After the self-guided tour, we went to a tent for cookies and water. I asked the girls what was their favorite part, and Summer said the pretty lights (crystal chandeliers), and Whitney said it was the cookies and water. :)

I've entered a contest

I usually don't enter these kinds of things, but as most everyone knows I have entered a contest on a photo printing web-site, so that I could win some free prints. It is at winkflash.com, there is a link on my page. (winkflash.com makes prints for 6 cents per print plus shipping if you use the coupon code "only6cents"). The contest is for fathers, so I thought I would enter my favorite picture in the contest (it is the picture of John and the girls in their sunglasses in the right column). So anyone out there that can vote, I would appreciate it. You can vote until Fathers Day. I know it is kind of a pain to go through all of the pictures; and to help, the date on my picture is May 31 and the title is Daddy's girls. I used to be on the top 20 page, but it's not there anymore even though I have more votes and more points than some listed on the top 20 page. The votes don't register right away, but they get entered faster if you have a member name and password.
Thanks everyone for helping me and voting so far, 6 more days to vote!!
I'll let you know if I hear anything! If nothing else, it is a cute picture to share!

Horseback riding

I had to snap this picture of Jack on his cell phone riding his horse.

On Saturday, May 30, 2009; John and I got to go on a horseback ride with his dad, Jordan and Tara. It was a fast and fun trip up to the North Fork of the Ogden River area on the backside of Ben Lomond. It was a pretty time to go when everything is still green, and snow still on the mountains. I rode Jack's mule Cotton. He is really, really, REALLY mellow. I think he watches the scenery more than I do! He is my favorite to ride.

Have I said before how beautiful some places on this earth are?

Me riding Cotton (he is not the prettiest animal, but he is awesome to ride!)


Tara and Jordan - isn't it green and pretty?!!

Memorial Weekend 2009

So after a crazy week of preschool graduation, dance rehearsal and 2 nights of dance recitals; we took off to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone for Memorial weekend. It was fun to get away, and the girls were good travelers (thanks to a portable DVD player we take along). On Saturday May 23, 2009 we drove up to Jackson Hole and walked around town for a little while. There was some kids activities in the town square, so we spent some time there with bubbles, hula-hoops, Frisbees, horseshoes, and a ball pit. The girls loved it after sitting in the car all morning. Then we went to Bubba's for lunch with Oma and Opa Diamond, and headed to Snow King to ride the Alpine slide. There was a promotion going on at Snow King to jump on the trampoline and get strapped into the trick harness to do flips and things. So the girls jumped, and Whitney was able to do some backward flips all by herself!

On Sunday, May 24, 2009 we drove into Yellowstone park. We saw a bear, buffalo, herds and herds of elk, Old Faithful and the grand canyon of Yellowstone. This world is a beautiful place!

On Monday, we drove home through Bear Lake and stopped for a picnic and the famous raspberry shakes! YUM! (that is by my request of course.)

Whitney trying the hula hoop. John loves her blonde hair, and calls this picture "Lady Godiva"

Summer loves the trampoline at our house, so she was really excited to jump at Snow King, and with some help can jump really high!

Family picture in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Preschool Graduation

May 21, 2009 the girls graduated from their first year of preshool. They have been going to the Syracuse Montessori preschool. They have loved it and their teachers.

For the graduation the kids were divided into groups and each gave a little presenation of a song or something they learned during the year. Summer and Whitney were in a group that sang some songs. Summer is our little songbird, so we have heard different songs throughout the year and the songs that they sang at the program everyday since then. She is a cute singer.

I can't believe how fast they are growing and how much they are learning everyday! They are going to be 4 years old this summer! CRAZY!

Whitney (in red on left) and Summer (in blue 3rd from left) singing in the program

Dancing Queens!

Whitney and Summer have been taking dance class during this last year at Dance Image Studios in Hooper. On May 21 & 22, 2009 it was time for the show!! They did 2 dances, one was a tap dance and the other was a ballet dance. I was kind of concerned how they would do in front of everyone, but they did great! For those of you interested, I have posted their dances. Each one is about 2 min. One of the great moments is at the end of the tea party dance, when Whitney's tea cup was taken and she pouted and had to be carried off stage. Summer is left, Whitney is right.


Tap Dance to "Duck, Duck, Donald"





Ballet dance to "I just love getting dressed for tea"

Celtic Woman concert

On Tuesday, May 12, 2009 we went to the Celtic Woman concert at the E Center, and sat on the FRONT ROW! This is an amazing group of women with the most amazing voices. We have gone to their concerts the last few years and have really enjoyed it. For those of you have not heard of Celtic Woman watch for programs on PBS. This is where we first saw them. Summer and Whitney call them the "Singing Princesses". One of our favorite woman is Mairead, she plays the violin while she is running and jumping around the stage and never missing a note. The youngest one is Chloe, who is 19 now, but started when she was about 14 I believe. For anyone wanting some beautiful and relaxing music, check out Celtic Woman.

Ogden Half Marathon 2009

Saturday, May 16, 2009 was the annual Ogden Marathon, Half-Marathon, 5K and Kids K. I ran the half last year, so I decided to go for it again. It is a fun race to do. The organizers of this event go all out. It is well done race. I ran the race and improved my time by nine minutes from last year, so I was very excited. The only thing I don't like about the race is the early morning. My sister-in-law Kallie and I both ran the half, and we had to catch the bus in front of the Ogden City building at 5 am. I got up about 3:50 am to get up and eat breakfast, and get to Kallie's house to carpool over. We caught the bus and got up to Eden Park at about 5:45 am to stand around and wait in the cold around a crowded fire until the race started at 7 am. As I think about it though if that is the only way to do it and still have the race start at that time - I'll do it, just because I don't want the race to start any later.

So it was kind of a family affair, Kallie and I ran the half, John's mom Marilyn ran the 5k and won her age division, my other sister-in-law Tara ran the 5k and got a PR (she was even sick the week before and the day of too! ), and Summer and Whitney both ran the kids K! Summer ran the whole way with John's mom (because I got sick after my race and couldn't run), and Whitney finished but had to make a couple of bathroom stops along the way because she guzzled a gatorade before the race. Marilyn said she asked Summer once if she wanted to walk and Summer turned to her and said "no grandma, it is a race!" She is a little competitive (hmmm, wonder where she gets that from?! ;)

John was an awesome cheerleader and support. He woke up with me before 4 in the morning and was way more bright eyed and bushy tailed than I was. He was getting me all pumped up for the race and asking what he could do to help me get ready, he helped me get my breakfast and everything together. Then he got the girls up when it was time to go to see his mom and Tara run the 5k. He showed them how to ring their cow-bells and yell "Go Mom!", "Go Tara!", "Go Oma!", "Go Kallie!". He had them practicing a little. They catch on quick and end up cheering on all the runners. There were some male runners coming in for the half that didn't have their shirts on and Whitney would yell "Go naked guy!" :)

The few days before the race I was thinking, "Why did I sign up for this? What am I thinking to go and run 13 miles!" but after running the race and having the fun day, I'm pretty sure I will sign up for next year too. It really is a fun race and well organized and put together. Plus the course is a good course - mostly downhill. I would highly recommend this to anyone, but watch ogdenmarathon.com and sign up early because it sold out this year!

Anybody up for a run let me know, I'd love to get out!!

I like this picture because it is blurry, so you can't really see me, but also it makes me look like I am going faster than I was!

So happy to be finished!

This is Tara coming into the chute to finish with her PR!

Kallie in the home stretch of 13.1 miles!!

Marilyn with her award of 1st for her age division.

Summer running the Kids K with Oma (Thanks for the picture Tara!)

John helping Whitney in the Kids K

The Diamond runner girls!!

This is the drive home! What a long and fun day!