125th Parade

After the 5k was complete, it was time to get to the parade. The Fitness Center did a fun little float. We all had our Fitness Center T-shirts on. The guys drove, the kids rode on the trailer throwing candy, lifting weights and punching the bag, and Layne, Bobbie, Kristee and I ran along side the trailer and passed out 1 week passes. We had the vocal stylings of Olivia Newton John singing "Physical" playing on the stereo. It was a fun time...a little cold, but fun anyway.









After the parade, we headed back to the Fitness Center to clean up and the kids had a field day on the equipment. You'd think we were at a carnival they way they ran around on all the machines!

5k

Those of you who know me well, know that I'm pretty active. Always up doing something fun. I don't last long in front of a TV and if there's music on, there's no stopping me. Funny thing is, I hate to run. It's not just something I don't enjoy...I literally HATE it. My friend Angela also hates to run and so, ambitious as we are, we decided to sign up for a 5k. You know, just to shake things up a little. We began our "training" 6 weeks ago. At first it about killed us to run 2 minutes, but after about 2 weeks I was running 3 miles. I decided my goal was to complete my run in 30 minutes. I realize that doesn't sound that ambitious to the seasoned runner, but trust me, that would be quite the feat for a hater like me. Then I hurt my knee in softball and the running had to stop for 2 weeks. Once I had the OK to start running again, I had to start from scratch and I only had 2 weeks till race day. Well, today was race day. Woke up to the beautiful sounds of 40 mile per hour winds and rain. Nice, but there was no turning back. With the wind like it was, Angela and I decided it would be amazing if we made it in 40 minutes, but the real goal was just to run the whole thing. No stopping, no walking. Anyway, it's all over now. My time was 29.22 which I was ecstatic about and as much as I say I hate it, I think I'll do it again next year!

Catching Up

It's been another busy week, and we're anticipating a busy weekend. Good thing we like to be on the go.
Swimming lessons are progressing wonderfully. Rylee has always been a bit timid, but seems to have totally let loose in the water. Diving, sliding, front and back stroke all look good. They both past the level they were in for now and Rylee is already signed up for the next session. She plans to be a life guard as soon as she's old enough.
This week was the Foster County Fair and since Carrington is the Foster County Seat, the fair is right here at home. It's always a highlight of the summer, but this year is just a little more fun as Carrington is celebrating 125th anniversary. We have spent many hours at the fair this week (with a little slip and sliding to cool off in between) and Brooklyn entered Rusty in the dog show. The picture's are of him showing off his amazing kisses (he was actually too distracted to kiss, so Brookie put a dog treat in her mouth) and with his prize money. He won $10.00 for being the cutest dog. Rylee entered the Guitar Hero contest. She didn't win, but she did an awesome job. I spent my fair time eating cotton candy and trying to keep track of the kids. Tomorrow is the 125th celebration 5k and parade. We're doing a Fitness Center float, so the kids will get to throw some candy. Tomorrow night we'll head out to the street dance for some music and to get my groove on. My favorite! Last night we saw our first funnel cloud. We've had some awesome storms, but I've never actually seen the clouds rotate until last night. The fair got rained and hailed out about 7:30. Soon after we got home the sky turned green and the wind picked up. Ryan and I went outside to check it out and sure enough, there was some rotation. Nothing came of it, but it was pretty awesome. Rylee was terrified and packed a bag of her favorite things and hung out in the basement until I was able to convince her that it was safe. Next time I'll have to get a picture of the clouds. It was cool.

Been tagged again...

~So here's how this "Tag" works people. List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts about yourself. Then tag 5 people at the end of your post and leave them a comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

3 Joys~

#1~ Family

#2~ Dancing

#3~ A great book

3 Fears~

#1~ roller coasters

#2~ spiders

#3~ public speaking

3 Goals~

#1~ running a 5K (on saturday)

#2~ clean out my basement

#3~ loose 5 lbs

3 Obsessions~

#1 ~ chocolate

#2~ rolerblading

#3~ sunshine

3 Surprising facts about me~ (This is hard, I'm not all that surprising)

#1~ I hate to run

#2~ I'm completly unorganized

#3~ I love jewelry, but I don't like wearing it. (Seriously, I can't come up with anything better than that...)

Tag... your it! ~ Chandra, Treasure, Miranda, Jolie, Tawnie

New Pictures

Pictures from the week...

I had a few random pictures on my camera from the week. Thought I'd share. Rylee at the park. We babysat my friends boys. They are so cute. When Tiff picked them up, Rylee announced that she wants a baby brother. Good luck with that!

Rusty welcoming Brooklyn home from camp. He mauled her face for 10 minutes. He loves us all, but she is definitely his favorite.

And this is my favorite. I love seeing them be friends.

To her the name of father was another name for love.

The idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.
Having been raised by her father, William Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.
In 1926, a National Father's Day Committee was formed in New York City. Father's Day was recognized by a Joint Resolution of Congress in 1956. In 1972, President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June. So Father's Day was born in memory and gratitude by a daughter who thought that her father and all good fathers should be honored with a special day just like we honor our mothers on Mother's Day. And so today, I honor some dads who have made a difference in my life.

1. First and foremost...My Dad. I can't even begin to express how much I love and look up to this man. He has always been everything a father should be. Kind, compassionate, thoughtful, big and strong, firm, fun, funny. Perfect.






2. Ryan. He may not be my father, but I have to say, I did a good job at finding the father for my kids. He has such an amazing relationship with our girls. They look up to him and have more fun with him. He is firm in his rules, but funny and loving when enforcing them. He gets "Nervous" about everything new they try. When the girls were learning to ride bikes without training wheels, it was I that had to teach them. He can't stand the thought of seeing them get hurt. Even a scratch. So he sat inside away from windows until they were good and comfortable on their bikes. Even now it makes him nervous to watch them ride. When Brooklyn was at camp last week he kept on asking, "Isn't she going to call?" Finally I asked, "Did you call your mom when you were at boyscout camp?" He said, "No, but this is my baby girl we're talking about."





3. Randy. Ryan's dad has always been so kind patient with us. Always letting us make our own decisions (even mistakes) and just supporting us in our lives. He loves to be silly (and passed that trait on to his son) and loves to spend time with his granddaughters. I couldn't have a better father-in-law.




4. Brick. I was nearly grown by the time Brick became my step-dad, and yet he still treats me like one of his own. He has supported me in many ways, through many hard times in my life. He is an amazing grandpa to my kids and my mom couldn't have found a better match.



5. Andrew. He took on the roll of dad when we all thought he shouldn't. Not because we didn't love Izzy and Debo, but because we were afraid Andrew wasn't ready to commit to the full responsibility. Boy were we wrong. He's an awesome dad. And really, we should have known, he did learn from the best.


6. Greg. Been a dad for exactly 1 week, and I'm willing to bet he's loving it! Greg, this parenting stuff gets better every day. Enjoy!

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today is my awesome husbands 29th birthday. Yes, as he loves to point out, he is a bit younger than me. He loves to talk about how I robbed the cradle (by a couple months.)

So I'm trying to find some pictures of him, and it's kind of hard. Most of the time he won't let me take a picture unless he has killed something. Actually, he does that a lot. Here are a few hunting and fishing highlights.

Occasionally, if he's not looking, or my mom has the camera (he doesn't dare say no to her) we are able to get some shots of him doing things other than hunting and fishing. It is a tough task, as he is almost always hunting or fishing, but here are a few pictures showing the great dad, husband, son and friend he is.

Anyway...Happy Birthday Babe!

Camp

Brooklyn just returned from her first camp. She left on Monday and we picked her up today. I was a little emotional sending her away for a week, but I knew she would have an amazing time...and she did. She and her good friend Bailey elected to go to Crystal Springs Girls Basketball and Bible Camp www.csbcamp.org. It's set up on a really pretty lake with lots of fun water things to do. Unfortunately, summer has decided to elude us here in North Dakota, and the girls had to have a lot of inside fun. But from the sounds of their chatter on the drive home, I think they managed just fine, even with the rain. It was cute to see them hugging their cabin mates as they left. Brooklyn has a booklet full of email and phone numbers of her new camp buddies. We got her a little digital camera before she went. Here are a few of the pictures.Self PortraitBailey and BrooklynThe new friend Bailey. She lives in Jamestown. We'll have to visit her.More Brooklyn and Bailey.And here is Bailey getting dressed up for Basketball Princess Trials.This is one of the pastors. Kelly. She is very funny.

Brooklyn and her new friend Bailey in their matching hats.Bailey trying out the tube with counselor Morgan. It was freezing!

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Sounds like it was a lot of fun. There was a lot of laughing as they related story after story on the drive home. They already plan on going back next year, just hope it's a little warmer. And now, time for a nap. I don't think there was a lot of sleeping at camp.

Oh..and thanks to all the letter writers. Brooklyn received 10 letters at camp. She was very excited!

We have a nephew!

Welcome Boston! We can't wait to meet you.

I screwed up!

He's 27.

Happy Birthday Andrew

Happy Birthday Andrew

I have to start off with a question...How did we get so old? Seriously? My friend asked me how old you were and I said , "23. No wait, he can't be 23, maybe 25. Except he can't be 25 because that would make me 5 years older. Holy Crap! I think he's 28!" I mean, how could this happen?
I vividly remember tripping you with my cowboy boot and you falling and cracking your head open on the fireplace when you were 2. Nice memory, I know. I also remember sitting in the waiting room and hearing you scream while they stitched up that head. That was not a good feeling. I remember you spilling ramen noodle on your lap and getting 3rd degree burns. I remember letting you have my favorite blankie during one of your ear surgeries, and then I remember you running threw the sprinklers with it until it was ruined. I remember many times fishing and swimming on Warm River, feeding the sheep behind our house dandy lions, riding bikes to school, kicking a hole in the wall when you made me mad. I remember giggling in the back of the blue Toyota while we rode to Montana or Lake Powell. I remember playing Slug Bug until we cried because we were not very nice about it. I remember singing I'm a VIP and I Love My Rooster. I remember telling you I was pregnant with Brooklyn on mothers day of 1997, even though I was forbidden to. I remember doing your chores because you had answered the phone when it said, " Your son or daughter has missed 1 or more classes today" and I didn't want you to tell mom. I remember (and still have) the Lone Eagle sweatshirt you got for me when I was pregnant with Brooklyn and you worked there for the summer. I remember visiting you in Seattle and trying to find the ocean.
The awesome memories I have with my brother are never ending, so I better stop now, or we'll be here forever.


It's so cool that my kids also have so many awesome memories with you. Brooklyn is so close to you because you were always there for us. Babysitting, bringing snakes to school, helping with dance recitals, mowing my lawn.

And now your all grown up. Your married and your a dad. It's hard for me to put my annoying little brother in the place of this wonderful man. You make me so proud.

Anyway...Happy Birthday. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have brothers like mine.