Packing for Girl's Camp

I'm heading off to girl's camp. It's always a lot of work preparing to be with the young women for 5 days but so much fun when you get there! Here's what packing looks like in my neck of the woods :)

I'll be nice  and smelly and ready for hot showers by Saturday! 

The Running Bug

I have been accused of having the running bug a couple times in the the past couple weeks.  Is this a good thing?   Does it mean I have become obsessed or that I just am merely enjoying it?  I haven't quite figured it out myself.  I know I have enjoyed the whole half-marathon training process and with one race under my belt and a week off of running I am now starting up again with the 10-week plan to get ready for the next half-marathon, Top of Utah, which happens at the end of August.

My daughter, Kali, took some fun photos at my Utah Valley Half Marathon that happened on June 11 and as soon as I get those I will post some and share all about that whole experience.

A Gift from a Cute Student

Little things can make me happy and bring a smile to my face.  This little note from one of my students did just that and brightened my day.  Thank you Alison!  You are a "grand" student!!

Father's Day

Father's Day was a little bit late this year because church was out at 12:00 noon and then we dashed home for a little quick bite to hold us over and then headed to a missionary homecoming of a good friend of the family. Then we went to their house for some nice visiting and some delicious food. Then we were able to come home and relax for a little bit. We invited Kali and Wade and my parents over for dinner (way later) and decided to wait until then to open Father's Day gifts. Everybody is holding the gift they gave to daddy. Mark is holding a gift that I bought for him that reminded me of him and Porter together and so I told him that was from Porter.

There are 2 reasons I love this first photo.  Little Miles is usually the one we have to encourage to look at the camera, yet he is the only one ready and looking.  Good job Miles!   Next reason I love this photo is after loading them I discovered that Porter's pastel is in the background as though he is back there watching all the interactions going on and loving us.  I was so warmed by a comment Mark made later that night.  He said he felt Porter here with him for a brief moment when he opened the daddy and son statue.  I like to think Porter comes often to visit. 

Oh how I love this family!

Oh how I love this man!

Happy Father's Day

Mondays with Mr. Miles #6

We celebrated Miles daddy's birthday a few nights ago and we had some leftover balloons floating around the house. Miles likes balloons, and of course when he saw them he started attacking them.

 I love how Miles little face is all smooshed into the balloon.  Such a funny boy :)

"A grandchild is a gift from above ... one to cherish and to love."

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"A grandchild fills a space in your heart that you never knew was empty."

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"Grandparents and grandchildren are God's gift to each other."

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"You Put the Grand in Grandma."

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"Whenever I see you I have an uncontrollable urge to fling open my arms, excitedly shout your name and scoop you up."

Mondays with Mr. Miles #5

Miles loves a Fisher Price pre-school game on the computer and knows when he pushes the buttons he gets to see different animals and hear the sounds they make. It captures his attention for oh.....maybe a couple minutes and then he's off to another adventure.

"A grandchild is a gift from above ... one to cherish and to love."

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"A grandchild fills a space in your heart that you never knew was empty."

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"Grandparents and grandchildren are God's gift to each other."

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"You Put the Grand in Grandma."

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"Whenever I see you I have an uncontrollable urge to fling open my arms, excitedly shout your name and scoop you up."

Nathan and Sarah's Wedding

This is Porter's best friend, Nathan. They've played together since they were little toddlers running around in diapers together. Nathan moved 20 miles away when he was about 15 and yet they still tried to get together and hang out occasionally. Nathan went on his mission and Porter was looking so forward to the day of his return. Just 2 months before Nathan arrived home is when Porter's accident and death happened. When Nathan started dating this sweet girl and then announced his engagement we were thrilled. Nathan is like one of my own boys. He spent many days and nights in my home since he grew up and lived right next door to us for 15 years. I was so thrilled we were invited to go to the temple sealing in the Manti temple, especially since I had never been to that temple. I also knew I didn't want to miss this opportunity because I KNEW Porter would be there in spirit too. There was no way Porter would miss his best friend's wedding.

It was a beautiful ceremony and the young couple were so radiant.  Nathan just beamed from ear to ear.  You could just see the love he has for his new little bride as they knelt together over that sacred altar.  Tears could not be restrained on my part, more for the fact that I could feel Porter there and smiling as he observed this special ordinance taking place.  Congratulations Nathan and Sarah.  I am so happy for you two and wish you an eternal life of happiness together!

How My Brilliant Daughter Has Helped Simplify My Life

1) I have a genius daughter!  She has made my world a little easier by keeping me "in the know".  Every time we are out shopping and I pull out my checkbook to write a check she tells me I should just get a debit card.  Then, I just laugh it off and I say I don't want one.  Really, truly in my mind I was thinking of how scared I was to own one.  I didn't know how they worked and I thought my checkbook was going to get all messed up, so I just kept refusing to even entertain the thought.  Well, I don't know how my thoughts got turned around but I marched right into the bank and did the paperwork and got my very own debit card.  Can I just say how much I love it? I don't know why I fought it for so long?  My check writing has gone down substantially and it's pretty fun to swipe that little card in the machine.   

2) Another reason Kali is a genius is a few months ago she introduced me to a website called mapmyrun.com.  I have been in training for my half marathon for a few months now.  Well, a lot of my beginning runs were done on a treadmill during the cold winter months, but when it warmed up I would hop in the car and drive around different neighborhoods and figure out how many miles point A to point B was so I could then run outside.  I would come home and get out a piece of paper and write the street names down and have a reference for the next day.  One day she saw my piece of paper on the counter and asked if I was driving around to figure out my mileage and I told her I was.  She told me I didn't need to do that and to just get on the website and it would figure it all out for me.  Oh my goodness!!!  I owe Kali big time.  She has saved me so much time and more importantly so much gas money!

3)  One more cool recent discovery is my ipod has a stopwatch on it.  This has been so helpful on my runs because I don't like carrying my phone while running and trying to time myself with the clock on the wall in the house just wasn't working too well either.  I love new technology, or at least my awareness of it now.  I wonder what else is out there I'm missing out on?