Wahoo my first 5K and Dallin's First 1K!!

I have always loved running, but never challenged myself to do a race. I never thought I was very good. But, my Dad was always a great example to me, since he would run every morning. I decided I wanted to be a good example to my kids and challenge myself to do hard things. So, I dragged everyone out of the bed at 6 am so that we could drive to Lake Tahoe, so that I could run a 5k. My hubby was such a good sport and so were all of the kids. It felt so good to finish the race. It was a hard up hill race, but it felt good to do a hard thing. I remember one of the General Conference talks, a quote I really like is "I can do hard things". This is one of my favorite quotes, so it felt good to do something hard.
The kids were so excited that Elise decided to run on the sidelines and Dallin signed up to run a 1K race for kids that was part of the 5K race. Dallin did good, but his shoe fell off in the middle of the race. He wasn't exactly ready to run. But, I was so proud of him that he went back and got his shoe on and finished the race. He was just excited to get a ribbon. What a fun time.

4th of July Week-End (Greenhorn Ranch)

I was really proud of myself for making this 4th of July dress for Elise. My friend Joanna showed me how to make this pattern. It was really fun.

I have to post something before it gets too late. We had the funnest 4th of July Week-End with our friends, The Tolman's, Dallin and Elise and Jayden got to ride horses for the first time. Dallin got to go on a 2 hour trail ride with his horse. At first he was a little nervous. He didn't know how to get his horse to stop, so he kept on saying "Excuse Me"to the lady that was teaching him. He was a very polite horse rider. It was so fun to watch the kids ride the horses. Dallin and Grandpa spent the entire week-end fishing and Elise and Jayden had so much fun running around chasing dogs. Instead of fireworks the ranch shot off glow sticks and the kids got to run and collect them. We had the greatest time ever.

Summer Fun

So this is what we do in the Summertime. Slip and sliding, making things and playing on cushions. We seem to keep ourselves pretty busy by going to the waterpark and library but, sometimes it feels so nice to just stay home.

Jayden is definately an outdoor boy. He could spend all day outside if we let him. It is so nice that he just can be outside playing by himself for hours.

Elise is getting used to the outdoors and is having so much fun this Summer. She doesn't enjoy the heat so much, but she loves the water.

Dallin is our science boy. He is always thinking of an experiment or of something that he can make. It is amazing to see the things that he makes.

For a while I have been saving toilet paper rolls. I decided that why throw something away that can be used for so many things. Toilet paper rolls can be used as telescopes, handcuffs (Dallin did this once by cutting them in half and taping them around wrists), firecrackers, birdfeeders, (arts and crafts like making giraffes), a wind sock and best of all we made this great marble run that we taped to the door and let the marbles run through the tubes. It was tons of fun and kept us entertained for a little while.

Elise and Jayden just love to play on the cushions. I think these cushions are their favorite toys. They make forts, dancing stages, and so many things out of cushions.