19??!!

Happy Birthday Ambrea (on the 18th). My "little girl" is 19. I can't believe it. Where has the time gone to? It has gone way too quickly. I still remember the day she was born, like it was yesterday. She was born in the afternoon and was just a tiny little minute (as my gma would say). Only 6lbs 1 oz. Ray wondered how he could love another child because he loved Nate so much. But the moment she was born she won his heart. Since that day she has held a special place in his heart.

Ambrea is very responsible, working two jobs and is always willing to help out whenever I ask. We don't see her much though because she is either working or hanging out with friends. She loves her Toyota truck and the new stereo she got for it. :) Ambrea hates drama and when people talk about other people (hmm, just like her gpa Shaw). We love you tons girl!!

{Skool Days}

Well the kids are back in school. I'm not like I use to be, when I breathed a sigh of relief when they went back. I enjoy having them home and I miss them when they are at school. They went back on the 13th, so we are still adjusting to new schedules. It's a big year for Ashton. Here in sixth grade they go to Intermediate School. It is 6th and 7th graders and they go to six periods. They don't have lockers though. I had been so worried about Ashton and how he was going to do. I guess I worried for nothing cause he is doing great. And Keanna is the big kid at her school this year. A 9th grader. At her school they do the block schedule, and the kids tend to really like that. She said the only reason she was excited to go back to school was to see all her friends. I'm not sure what she's talking about because I don't think there was ever any shortage of friends this summer. :)

I Did It!!!

So, I can't believe I did it, but I did. I ran my first half marathon. Actually, Lacey and I did. 13.1 miles and we ran the whole way. It was the Provo River 1/2 Marathon. As you can tell from this first picture I was in some pain by the end. It was so cold at the top, and then in was mostly down hill. Much different than the mostly flat terrain and warm weather we have been training in. Lacey and I have been getting up and running at 6:00 about 5 days a week this whole summer. From the first time we ran together it just clicked. We run pretty much at the same pace, we listen to our ipods and go for it. As we got farther along in our training and had to run long runs Ray would be our water boy. He rode his bike along behind us and provided us with water whenever we needed it. It was so much better so we didn't have to carry a bottle. I'm very lucky to have such a supportive husband.

I'm sure you're wondering how we did. I must say, not too bad for it being our first race. My time was 2 hours 53 seconds and Lacey came in right behind me. We had so much fun we are already registering for our next one. I'll keep you informed. :)

Lacey says she's way too happy here for having just run 13 miles. Maybe we were just happy to be done.

This is Lacey's husband Sam. He also ran it.

So not only did we have a good time running the race but we got to spend time with Nate and family. It was so good to see them all. And of course my most wonderful daughter-in-law (and I really mean that) colored my hair. Saturday night we had a bar-b-que at Gaylene's house. Everything was delicous and we had a great time visiting. She took some great pictures I will try to post later. Then on our way home we went the long way so we could visit my parents, brother and g-ma. What a fun weekend we had.

A Fish Story...A Birthday...An Anniversary....Texting

Because I'm so bad to not post very often, I have to play catch-up when I do post. So here goes...

Nate loves to fish, as some of you may know, and he has taught Savannah to like it also. One day they had gone fishing as a family. Savannah has her own little pole. She was asking Nate to put some bait on her hook. He asked her to hold on just a minute. Then he got a fish on his hook. She asked again, and again Nate told her to hold on cause he needed to reel in the fish. As Hazel was watching Nate, Savannah then started saying that her pole was caught. Then the blood curddling scream comes from Jaxon. Yep, just as you guessed, Savannah's hook was caught on Jaxon. It was in his finger. Nate got his fish in and they were trying to get the hook out. But there was no way. So onto the dr. they went. On the way down the canyon Savannah said "Mamma, is Jaxon going to die?'' Hazel: "No Savannah. Why do you ask that?" Savannah: "Cause Mamma, he is bleeding." Hazel was falling apart as it was. Then to have Savannah ask that. But now it has become somewhat of a joke. (Not that it's funny, but you have to laugh so you don't keep crying.) G-pa (Ray) talked to Savannah the next day.
G-pa: Did you go fishing Savannah?

S: Ya

G: And did you catch a Jaxon.

S: (smiling) Yes

G: Did you cry?

S: No. I was a big girl and didn't cry. But I thought Jaxon was going to die cause he was bleeding.

So now whenever we talk to her we ask her if she has caught anymore Jaxon's. Jaxon was fine and acted like no big deal as soon as they got it out. They are such sweetheart's and I miss them something horrible.

Hmm Birthdays!!
Well, I have had another B-Day. Man I'm getting old. jk You're only as old as you think you are, right?!! It was on the 28th and I had to work my long shift at the community center. I was kind of feeling sorry for myself but the day ended up being good. I got texts from Nate, Hazel and Ambrea, Keanna and her friends sang to me, Ashton made me a cute card, mom and dad had flowers and a card delivered, and a good friend brought me a gift at work. Then when I left to go home the kids had painted my car windows. How fun is that. When I got home Ray had dinner ready and he had gotten me some new running clothes. Then this past sunday Randy and Natalee had us over for dinner and Natalee wouldn't let me help with the dinner at all. It was delicious and such a relaxing night. I think the best part though was the hugs and kisses Camden kept giving me. He is so dang cute.

Happy Anniversary Nate and Hazel!! Wow, 4 years. And Ray was up north and watched the kids while they went out. He gets to see them about every other week and I am so jealous.

Texting. Ok this one is hard to believe. So, Keanna is staying with my parents for a little while. She likes to do this every summer. Anyway, while she has been there she was able to teach my mom to text. The night Keanna taught her my mom was texting me and I couldn't believe it was her. We have tried before to teach her, but she just couldn't pick it up. But she now knows how. She said to me "Can you believe your 75 year old mother learned to text?" I think it is so cool. Now when we don't have time to talk we can text. I told her she needs to hurry and get texting added to her phone plan though cause those things add up fast. Just ask Keanna. She had over 24,000 texts in June. Thank heavens for unlimited texting.

So there's a few things that have been happening. Thanks for sticking with me through this long post. :)