July Summer Days!

Kamren went to his first boy scout camp.  He had a blast.  He was able to spend two of the nights camping with Kevin.  He loved it and wished he could've had another week.

Kam is our fearless child.  He's having fun jumping off the iceberg in the lake.

Kamren got his geocaching merit badge with some of his friends.  He remembered geocaching with his cousin.  I'm sure she was a great influence on him to get this merit badge.

He also got his fingerprinting merit badge.  All the boys said this was an easy and fast one to do.  Kam loved that!

He was all smiles every night we picked him up from camp.  He doesn't like scouts in general because he's the only 11 year old right now, but scout camp was different.  We are so grateful for his great leaders and other boys that came from the other ward.

Happy Pioneer Day!   Brynn requested that I make her another skirt and bonnet to go with her apron that Grandma Woolwine made her since the other pioneer clothes were too small.  It was so much fun to see our girls playing dress up with their friends.  I'm hoping to make Ashleigh another pioneer outfit too!

We went miniature golfing on pioneer day.  It was so much fun being together.

For dinner we made chili.  We are guessing that is a pioneer food.

Kam enjoyed the batting cages after miniature golfing.  The kids won the free tickets at their triathlon a few weeks prior.

Ashleigh put on my pioneer dress and ate pancakes for breakfast.  Pumpkin chocolate chips pancakes are our favorite.

Brynn is helping me make fry bread in her old pioneer outfit.

Connor loves playing on the deck with his lawn mower.  He is so fun right now to watch.

When he is ready to come in, he loves to smash his face against the glass door. 

These girls are best friends.  They love hanging out together all the time. 

Our neighbor was so nice to buy the girls all matching swim suits.  They wore them all the time taking swim lessons for two weeks.

Brynn lost her first tooth.  She was so excited to get her dollar and spend it right away on a new hairbrush.

Andrew is now potty trained.  Woo Hoo!  He earned a new rocket launcher.  He was very easy to potty train.  He is great during the day and night.  Good job Andrew!

 Here' s the before bathroom.  Kevin installed our new toilet and vanity.

 I was able to rip out the carpet and the trim and we had someone put in the floors.

Here is the laundry room.  We took the door off to give it more room.

We just recently got new floors put in.  I've waited 10 years for them.  We all love them very much.  My friend came over and helped me rearrange my whole living room.

We loved going to an outside theater.  Andrew loves being around lots of his friends.  We watched Charlotte's Web and Honk!

Here's the brazilian cherry in the kitchen.  We decided to do all the wood floors on the whole main level to make our home feel bigger.

Connor is absolutely adorable.  I love this hat on him and orange is my favorite color right now!

Sweet, sweet Connor bear.  He is growing up so much and so sweet.

Every Friday is craft day at our house.  Ashleigh and I made this.  We love America!

 Another Friday we had some friends over and we made duct tape wallets and other days we play with playdough. 

 Old light switches.  Ready for a change.

 I tried to put the light switches in myself but that didn't work so well. Kevin, the engineer did them all in a breeze.  He's great at that stuff.

 I told the girls a story about a pioneer sister who donated her shoes to the Willie Handcart company and she wrapped her feet for the whole winter because she was too poor to buy some new shoes.  The girls decided to wrap their feet on pioneer day.  I wrapped their feet and they wrapped mine.  I hope they forever remember their sacrifice and faith.

 Here's some more of our wood floors.

 Every year we have a robin who builds a nest in a tree that is very short and some creature gets the eggs and ruins them.  This year a little sparrow made a nest in my hanging basket.  Her three babies hatched on Sunday.  WE love to check on them everyday.  God truly is amazing.

 Ashleigh is into duct tape and made some flowers for her hair and her doll's hair.  She also helped Brynn make hers on our Friday craft day.

We love getting dressed up for Family Home Evening for pioneer day. The girls keep it fun!

The kids enjoyed looking at the river after going to the children's museum.

Kamren loved bringing a buddy to the museum with us.  Our summers days are going fast and we are swimming a ton because of the humidity and heat this year.

Race Days!

 Here I am after my one and only marathon.  I found a race on Saturday that I could run and it turned out that I had a few friends to run with.  Anne and I ran the Bayshore 1/2 marathon 5 years ago and I said to myself I would be back to do a full marathon and I did it.  It was the best race ever!  I ran the whole race and finished in 4:40.  I had so much anxiety the whole week because I didn't know what my race would bring me, but I felt good the whole time.  I know that God was my strength through this whole thing.

 Kevin and the family surprised me at the race which was the best gift ever.  When we drove home many of my friends came and put up banners to congratulate me on my race.  It was so kind of them.

 Maryanne and I trained together but she ran her marathon three weeks before me.  She was so kind to do a long drive to cheer me on and run the last 7 miles with me.  Friends are the best.

 Kristen and I also trained together on the short runs.  She did the 1/2 marathon while I did the full.  She already ran a full marathon and one was enough.  We drove up together the night before.  We wrote on our arms Phillipians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."  I can't believe how much that scripture helped me during the race.

 The night before we went to a lake and pondered the blessings in our lives.  It was a  peaceful experience.

 Here are all the banners and signs that were put up in front of our home after my race. 

 Here's my medal.  I still can't believe I ran 26.2 miles.  I am back to running again and sometimes six miles feels hard.  It was a miracle for me to run that much. 

 We picked up our shirts the night before.  My shirt was a bit too short so Kamren got to inherit it since he came and surprised me at the race.  He ran the last 7 miles with me and sprinted me in.  He truly amazes me when he puts his mind to something.  I didn't sleep well the night before and I couldn't even eat breakfast because I was so nervous.  I know it was the blessing I received just a few days before that gave me the experience I needed.  Christ truly does carry our burdens.

 Kamren ran a 5k with a neighbor a few days before my race.  He did a great job.  I love watching him serve others.  He is so encouraging to other people.

 Connor is having fun cheering him on.  He is such a trooper as he cheers for everyone else.  Someday he'll be able to be the one we are cheering for!

 Andrew, Connor and Brynn ran the fun run together after the 5k.  They all did great with dad.

 Ashleigh had fun doing Girls on the Run for the first time.  She ran a 5K with all of her girlfriends.  It was a 12 weeks program meeting twice a week.  It was a big committment but Ashleigh loved going each time. 

I am forever grateful for the good friends our children have.  Molly and Ashleigh are truly the best of friends.

 This program was amazing for Ashleigh.  It not only taught the girls to reach their goals but other things about respecting themselves and others.  Ashleigh has really gained a lot more confidence in herself.  She is such a good girl. It was a hot evening but we made it!  Ashleigh had the perfect running skirt to match her new shirt and we didn't even know what it was going to look like.

 A week later after my race, Kamren ran in a mud run.  I actually did it with him too.  All the money went to build water wells for the people in Uganda.  I love seeing the money go to a good cause.  Look at all that mud.  This is the perfect race for Kam.  He loves this kind of stuff.

 Kamren sprinted up the hills.  I took much longer to finish.  He is a fast cookie!

I'm so thankful for the month of May and all these races.  It's awesome to finish a race and cheer each other on as a family.  I don't have a picture of my husband up from my race because I forgot to get a whole family shot.  But he is the one who was my strength in all of my training.  It was a  hard training for me but he was always willing to take the kids so I could train for my race.  I had knee surgery in December so I could do this race and start training in January.  I dealt with aches and pains in my back, plantar fascitis, shin splints, aches in my neck, and feet, but it was so worth it.  After all the trials comes the blessings.  I won't do another marathon again because my knees have started arthritis and it's too hard on them but I'm hoping to do a bike race next.  I love a reason to exercise!