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. :)

A Little of This, A Little of That...

Let's see, first off, it is HOT!!! I like it warm, but this is a little warm for even me. But I now look forward to fall. I never use to enjoy fall because of what followed, snow, but since the winters aren't so bad here I enjoy fall. We just have to get through these few months of 100 degree weather.

We did the over-night SAT's test on Ashton (we had to do it twice) and are just waiting to hear back from the Dr. We have a copy of the results and we think they were pretty good, but we need to hear what the doc thinks.

On the 15th Lacey and I ran a 5k fun run/walk. Chelsee Peterson was on the BYU track team and was killed in a car accident last year. So her family held a 5k in her honor and the money raised goes to scholarships. They want it to become an annual event. So Lacey and I ran it on Wed. It's pretty fun. The run starts at 11:00 pm. They hold it in the neighborhood where her family lives. We did pretty good. We ran it in just over 25 minutes. It was still very hot though and I had decided to eat just a little bit of dinner cause I had been at work and was hungry. I will never do that again. My gut hurt. People in the neighborhood had their hoses on and you could run through them if you wanted. It felt great. Hopefully I will have a picture to post soon. Thanks Lacey, for sticking with me.

So, ya, just a few of the things we have been up to lately. :)

{Running Shoes}

Check out my new running shoes. I love new shoes, but I hate running shoes when they are new. I hate breaking them in. But it was way past time for new ones. I won't even tell you how old my others are. One day Ray was running behind me and noticed my knees are going in when I run. So I knew it was past time for new ones. Monday was the first day I wore them. They were great. No blisters or anything. Then came Tuesday morning. We started out and I felt fine again. Until about half way through our run. My shins were killing me. I had some pretty bad shin splints. Exactly why I hate new shoes. So I broke out the icy hot and by the end of the week have been fine.

My running partner is Lacey, a friend from the ward. She is 18 years younger than me, and I'm determined to keep up with her. We get up at six 5 days a week and run our little hearts out. We have to go at the crack of dawn or it is just to blasted hot. I'm so glad she is my friend and has this same interest as I. A lot of people ask us where our husbands are. They just have a faster pace than we do, so they don't go with us.

{Happy Birthday}

Happy Birthday Gma!! My gma is 100 years old today. WOW!! What a wonderful woman she is. I have so many great memories of her. I use to go spend a week with her every summer and we would do all kinds of fun things. One time we were walking on a dirt road looking for broken pieces of glass to put in this keliedascope thing and there was a huge blow snake in the middle of the road. At least it looked huge to me cause I was only a little girl. My grandma killed it and saved the day. I could go on and on with all kinds of fun stories about her. One thing she has always been known for is speaking her mind. Even today, though her mind isn't really all there, she will tell you what she thinks. My grandpa died when Nate was just a baby. Grandma remarried and her second husband died when Keanna was a baby. Her last name is currently Martin but she will always be Grandma Shepherd to us.

We love you grandma and hope you have a great day.
(This picture was taken in 8-08)

Finally...

I'm finally posting. I know, it's been a long time.
And a lot sure has happened. I will try to get you all updated without boring you to death. Let's see. Savanah was supposed to come and visit, but they all ended up coming. It was great. Then we all left from here to go to my family reunion. It ended up being cold, blowing and rainy. Luckily we were able to go inside a building to get out of the weather. Then we stayed over night at mom and dad's. It's always good to visit them. My brother Rick had surgery on his back the next day, Monday.

A week later, on Father's day, which by the way, a happy father's day to all the wonderful father's in my life, we left in the morning and had four full days ahead of us. Our first stop was to see "Big Rock Candy Mountain". I could remember going there as a kid so I wanted to take my kids. It ended up not being what we thought. It is a resort, and looked like a lot of fun to stay there. Ray and I thought there was a visitors center. Nope, there's not. So we took some pictures and got on the road again.

Notice Keanna's hair??? She cut all of her long hair off. She cut so much she was able to donate it. We really think the new cut is cute. She can pull of almost anything.



Here is a picture of the rock candy. It's even
different from what I remember. I remember
it being as hard as a rock. This candy is more
like a jelly bean. It tastes good though. :)

Then we stopped at my parent's to wish my dad a happy father's day and to visit my brother. His surgery went well and now its just a slow road of recovery. We had a very nice lunch and then we were on the road again.

Our next stop was to see Ray's parents. They weren't even expecting us so it was a fun surprise.

Then we backtracked to Nate and Hazel's. Both

kids were sleeping when we got there. Isn't

Savannah an absolute beautiful Sleeping Beauty?!!!

Hazel had a very nice dinner for us and then yep,

I got my hair colored.

The next day, monday was a long day spent at the hospital having a lot of tests run. We got there at 10:30 and finished at 5:00. Ashton had an EKG (he hates all the sticky things), an ultrasound, xrays and labs. Everything looked pretty good. The ultrasound showed that his heart is squeezing good, the xray showed that both diaphrams are working, and the labs showed that the blood count we have been watching has come down 6 points. Which tells us the oxygen at night and keeping him hydrated seems to be working to some degree. His blood count is still high though so we have to watch it close. We will now do a test at home to check his SATS while he is sleeping. If that test comes out ok then we will hang tight for another 4 months. Then back up for more tests at that point. All in all things came back good, but we are not out of the woods, so to speak.

Hazel came with us to this appt. and that meant a lot to Ashton. She had never been to Primary Childrens before and wanted to see what it's all about. So we had a lot of us there, cause the girls came also.

(So these pictures are being really weird going in funny places and I just lost one of Ashton having his ultrasound. Ugh!!)

The next day, Tuesday, we had the opportunity to go to Lagoon. The four big kids, Nate, Hazel, Ambrea and Keanna, all went together and Gma and Gpa kept Savannah and Jaxon and Ashton hung out with us. Jaxon was just happy all day long. He was so good to just sit in his stroller and look at everything around him. Gma was in heaven getting to spend so much time with him. :)

Savannah kept Gpa going all the time. She would want to go from one ride to another. But Gpa had to carry her. Ashton was able to go on a few rides with her.

Even Jaxon got to go on a ride. He just looked around the whole time.
A picture of the big kids on the Rocket. I use to could go on all those fun rides. But not anymore. Either I get sick or too much anxiety. I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack.

The next day, Wednesday, we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open-house. It is a very beautiful temple and we are thankful we had the opportunity to attend.

Some of the beautiful flowers on the temple grounds.

After that we headed back to mom and dad's. They had watched our two little dogs for us so we needed to pick them up. We had dinner with them and then headed on home. We got home very late but what a fun time we had.

(So this post turned out very weird. The pictures went into funny places and I lost two of them. I apologize, but I have no idea what happened. And it is getting late. That alarm at 6:30 comes way to fast.)

Another Busy Month...

At the beginning of the month we went up north. Jaxon received a beautiful name and a blessing. We were able to spend Saturday with them and had a great time. I held Jaxon so much my arms hurt the next day. We all got together after the blessing for lunch at their house. It was very nice and we appreciate everyone who came and supported them.

Savannah had a great time with the kids. She also was getting to know her cousin Brecken and had a great time playing with her. (I took pictures but they were all blurry.)

Such a cute little family.

Also this month was Cotton Day's (our Town Days). Keanna was in the parade and then performed.

Another Busy Month, continued...

Mother's Day was the best. Ray had had to go up North for business and he brought Hazel and the kids back with him. So they were here for Mother's Day. No better gift than that. We went to a park and had a picnic for dinner. The kids enjoyed playing while the rest of us visited. Nate was able to come the following Tuesday.
Jaxon was all smiles here.

Ashton and Savannah trying to catch minnow fish in the little stream that runs through the park. It is a natural spring and it really feels good to get into on a hot day.

Keanna had her last dance recital till next fall. You can see in the background the trophies her team won at competition.

We have a swing on our back porch and Jaxon loved to go out and swing on it.

This week Ashton "graduated" from Elementary school. The fifth grade classes did a play and then had graduation. I can't believe my baby is getting so big. We are so happy that he is growing, but it is kind of sad also. I was very strong though and didn't cry. And those of you who know me very well know I don't hold back the tears very well. He will now go onto Intermediate School next year. So the kids are out for the summer. Keanna, of course, has already started her "summer playing". She is always doing something. But she deserves to play. She has done really well with her grades this whole year. She brought home her report card on Thursday. Out of eight classes she had 7 A's and 1 B. You go girl! We are so proud of her.