13.1 Miles - Aug 30, 2009

First of all, I must tell you that this post is completely unsanctioned - at least from Christine's standpoint. She has never wanted me to share the fact that she is training for a marathon. But I (like my oldest son) just can't seem to help but tell everyone "everything I know". Christine has trained very diligently for the past few months. Her goal has been to run a marathon by her next birthday (Aprill, 2010). At the rate she's going, she could run one much sooner.

Yesterday (Aug 30th), she ran 13.1 miles--half a marthon. As her post earlier today mentioned- I've been running as well- but not like her.

And if I can get it to work... here's a quick video of the victorious FINISH!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Wednesday we celebrated Elena's 4th birthday. She continues to be a firecracker in our house. We are amazed at how much energy she has . . .preschool has been great and she is always up for the next fun thing in life. Sister Palmer (her Sunbeam teacher) and Brother Palmer came over for cake. Elean insisted on a snowman cake (even with her August Birthday); it was fun to share it with friends. I am thankful Elena loves her Primary teacher so much and wanted to include her on her special day.

Sunday afternoon is a great time to play dress up . . .

August 23, 2009

We had an exciting weekend celebrating Camille's and Elena's upcoming birthdays with a party! On Saturday, the girls enjoyed games, a treasure scavenger hunt, a magic show by Garrett, and lunch & cake with friends.

Today (Sunday) is Camille's birthday. She is so happy to be six and in school! Camille is usually a great peacemaker in our home. She is a great singer and belts out the songs in Primary. Camille enjoys being a girl--finding joy in all things pink, princess, and precious. We love Camille! Happy Birthday!

Aug 20th - Camille's First Day of School

Camille officially started kindergarten today. She had to go in for a "screening" process on Tuesday when all the other grades started- so she and the rest of the kindergarten students had their first "real" day of school today. After saying goodbye to Camille (she did great- much better than her parents) - we headed down the "upper classman" hall to see if we could find Garrett. He wasn't as excited to see us... I suppose we've now officially ceased to be cool.

Aug 18, 2009 - First Day of School

Yeah, for the first day of school! Garrett is starting 4th Grade at Garfield Elementary. Camille is beginning Kindergarten at Garfield. And Elena starts Tuesday and Thursday preschool at Wesley Preschool this year. "And one little piggy stayed home"....

August 16, 2009

It's been so long since we've "blogged", I don't know where to even start. In lieu of trying to catch up from everything since the 2008 summer, I'll give some short updates and recommit to doing better going forward.

This past week, Christine and I celebrated (loose term) 12 years of bliss. We "celebrated" with the branch at the annual summer swim party. We'll have our real celebration when we travel to Seattle next month for Heidi's wedding (Derek's younger sister).

Runner... Two months ago, Christine told me that she wanted to train to run a marathon. After she picked me up off the floor, we started running- first a mile, then 2, then 3.... Yesterday morning (starting early), Christine ran 10 miles for the first time. I ran 7 (a personal distance record) and then went inside (someone has to be the cheerleader, and our kids were getting up :) Christine and I run 4-6 miles each day during the week, with longer runs on the weekend. I've never enjoyed running, until we started running together. Elena also loves to run, and she finished the last 100yards of the 10 mile run with her mom.

Garrett has had a busy summer. He has a real turtle fetish, and has recently began collecting indian arrowheads. He finished a very (very) long baseball season earlier in July and did very well. He's trying to figure out what to do with his last day of summer (tomorrow). Garrett is quite the techy... and tells me he plans to start his own blog soon (so, be watching...)

Camille loves to swim, and spent her summer doing gymnastics and swimming lessons. She's really been working on her handwriting and learning her letters. She can't wait for her first day of school... Thursday.

Elena has become quite the little swimmer and has very little fear of the water. She has more energy than the rest of the family put together. She really does love to run, and will probably be a runner...just like her mom someday.

Carson has grown a lot this summer (at least he's on the charts now) and is slowly but surely

saying more words. After extensive hearing tests and continued physical therapy, we've determined that we just have to be patient. He likes to talk with all vowels... which makes communication a challenge. He's pictured here in his favorite shirt "Live Long" - with a dachsund that wraps around his shirt.

We feel very blessed and have enjoyed a great summer as a family. Finally, Christine's parents (Elder and Sister Walker) have just begun their first mission together and are serving a welfare mission in the Houston area. They are doing great and we are very proud of them.