1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, dead fish

Back in August (like the 3rd, I think) I was watching my sister's kids while she took a road trip with my parents. For a fun activity one day, we made some cake pops. It was my second go with these things, and the kids of course love decorating them with excess amounts of sprinkles and such...That is why it is a general rule around here, that everyone eats what they decorate. That is the only way even kids choke down that amount of sprinkles; because they created the wonderful work of art with their own two hands.
The last day of the cousin's visit, all the kids got to pick a new fish out for our fish tank. Here is the tally:
Justee: 2 neon, both now dead
Trey: Grey one with a black tail (I never remember the names of fish) Remarkably it is still living!
Charlee: Big white one, now dead
Tamsyn: red with black fins, It too has managed to stay alive
Sydnee: Large orange one, recently deceased
Natasha: Orange one with red tail, recently deceased

The kids were pretty excited about their fish and they sure looked good in our tank...looking at this pic and then turning my head to the left tells me I have some work to do cleaning it...putting a few more gallons of water in it might not be a bad idea either...

New Family Member

I am making some progress on this catching up business...


On July 20th Mark went and got himself hitched in the Salt Lake Temple. Jessica became an instant aunt to 17 nieces and nephews who love her and we couldn't be happier with Mark's choice of eternal companion.


We had a great time at the wedding, reception, and then at Lagoon the next day. It had been almost 15 years since I'd been. We had a rule that if you were tall enough, you were riding. Char surprised me and showed no fear...she even rode the colossus twice. Sydnee had a little hesitation about Wicked...she begged her Daddy (she knew that was the weak spot) not to make her go, but after it was over she was glad she did it.

Painful Fun

Another big event of our summer that has been neglected in the blog was the Tough Mudder.
Holy crap did this thing suck...10 miles of military style obstacle course. The distance wouldn't have seemed so bad if it wasn't almost straight up hill at times. Not all the obstacles were horrible either...but one tried to kill me.
When I watch the videos on youtube, and the cameras submerge under the surface of that icy cold water (I believe they said it was 32 degrees) and bob under those blue barrels, I can feel the constricting pain in my chest and total numbness come right back to me. There has been talk of doing it again in 2012, and I have to admit...I don't know if I dare swim in that freezing water again. I mean seriously...I almost died. I owe no thanks to Justin, who swam off and left me to drown. If Paula wouldn't have been right with me, I may not have come to my senses after coming up unable to catch my breath after the first submersion.
All in all (except the indescribable sucky swimming part) it was a really fun unique experience.
We finished right around the 3 hour mark (and by "we" I mean Justin, Will, Jace, Joel, and myself. The other members of our team finished at a different time.)

Bolder Boulder 2011

We have been lucky enough to get to run the Bolder Boulder with some pretty awesome people the past few years. Sherri and her family make this such a fun event every year. The 2011 run was by far my favorite yet. That is probably because I got to run it with my amazing daughter as well as the other great people.
Sydnee, at age 8, ran her first 10k. I did my first 10k at age 27. She beat me by almost 20 years! Syd did awesome...She took 5th out of 210 in her division with a time of 58:34. She even got a medal sent to her. I know she was pretty proud of her accomplishment, but it might take some coaxing to get her to run again next year... 6.2 miles is a long way to run without walking, but she did it...and she only threw up a little at the finish line (I think she has forever sworn off yellow Gatorade.)



I guess I better add that Justin ran ahead of us and beat us by about a min.

Wow...I have some work to do

This past summer Justin participated in his first triathlon. It took place at Horseshoe Bend at Big Horn Canyon Recreation area.
My sister, Ashlee and her husband Gerry also took part....Now I'm all about some fun competition and physical exertion (post on Tough Mudder coming soon)...but no way am I swimming that far without drowning. Sydnee, and her cousins Karlee and Allie, competed in the team youth division. Karlee swam, Allie rode the bike and Syd ran. My nephew Kyle also competed in the youth distance, but did it alone. They all did a fabulous job and I didn't envy them one bit. :)
During our same visit, Justee really really wanted to ride my parents' horses. Of course then we ended up giving several kids some quick rides.
If only giving the rides was as easy as it looks...long story short: I had a terrible time getting Handsome saddled up due to a mischievous young palomino, Hanna, who kept pulling the blanket off of Handsome when I went to reach for the saddle.
I also realized that my time away from horses has made me a little jumpy. I'll keep all details to myself in order to save face. Who knew that when it was your own kid on a horse that every little bug annoyance seemed to send the horse "bucking"?