Happy Birthday Marianne!

Marianne's birthday gave us a good excuse to get together.

Jaime planned a fun date with lots of activities for us to enjoy.

We started Marianne's birthday date with an early dinner at P.F. Changs. Next we went to "Blue Cow" and had a delicious frozen yogurt. I chose Dulce de Lache and cheesecake with berries on top. YUM! Then it was on to the movies. We saw "Killers". I liked it ok, but it had a lot of killing in it.... DUH. :) After the movie we decided we weren't quite ready to go home (kids not in bed yet), so we took a leisurely drive. We toured the nearby community "Hidden Springs", then ended up at Veteran's Park to walk the Greenbelt. The Greenbelt walk was refreshing. We enjoyed good conversation and many laughs. As it got dark, we left the greenbelt and headed back home... hoping the kids were in bed and that it was safe to make our arrival.



It's so much fun to "play" with my friends. We had such a good time. Thanks for the awesome date girls. Love ya!

Ironman 70.3

Our friend, Travis Manning, participated in Boise's Half Ironman 70.3!!!

The kids & I headed to Lucky Peak to see him off. First leg was a 1.2 mile swim.

After getting his wetsuit peeled off his body and sunscreen slathered all over, he dressed into his biking gear.

Next up was a 56 mile bike ride battling 20 MPH winds!

After seeing him off, we left and went on about our day. I did think of him often, especially when I was relaxing on the couch or doing something that required little thought or effort. I kept thinking about how tired he might be or if he might be struggling. He was in my thoughts all day.

That evening, Jason and I went to the adult session of Stake Conference. We planned on meeting his wife downtown afterwards to see him come in. I watched the clock. It seemed like the meeting was taking forever. I thought that the adult session usually only took 1.5 hours. This time we almost went over 2.

When the meeting ended, I called Ann. She said he wasn't in yet and thought that he was about half way through his running. If we got there within 30-40 minutes we should be able to see him finish.

We got there in good time, found Ann and had plenty of time to anticipate him coming in.

He came in from his 13.1 mile run around 10:20pm, with the time of 7:22:44!!! He wants to shave an hour or so off this time, but I'm totally impressed and inspired by him doing this and finishing at all. Wow!

Way to go IRONMAN Travis!!!

Our no-so-Ironman experience- We knew Travis was swimming at Lucky Peak, but didn't know exactly where to park. As we were driving there, I noticed a sign that said something about Ironman. I pulled in and wound around until we were at the Sandy Point park. We paid to park and asked the attendant if we were in the right place. When he said YES, I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew we were getting close on time and didn't want to miss Travis. The attendant was vague about where we were supposed to go, so we wandered around and found the last available parking spot. Then we noticed 2 arrow signs saying "Ironman", so we headed in that direction. Little did we know that we were in for our own mini Ironman. The sign pointed to a gravel road going uphill. It was more treacherous than it initially looked. Treyson started asking for water and Abree started to cry. She told me she couldn't make it. We didn't have time for this and I wasn't willing to pick her up..I was struggling a bit myself. I didn't feel like I could slow down, or I might not start back up or at least loose some momentum. So I drug Abree up the hill, with semi-encouraging words. Then when we thought we couldn't go any further, we saw the top and went just a little bit more. Whew! ---Coming down was much more enjoyable and less treacherous. :)

Annual Family Yard Sale

This year we had our Annual Family Yard Sale at Brinton & Amber's home.

I didn't think I had anything to contribute, until we did a MAJOR de-clutter and organization job on Taylee and Abree's room. I also found a few things in the garage and had several NEW costumes that didn't sell on Craigslist or in the children's consignment sales.

The weather was a little cool, but not too cool and the kids were good, except for the constant begging for food... Abree and Treyson!

The money we earned will be going toward buying a new trampoline.

Our poor trampoline is slowly, but SURLY deteriorating.
In total we have about $120.00 to date. I think the kids want to do neighborhood lemonade stands and bakes sales this summer to earn more.

As is also tradition, we swapped some junk with one another. Someone suggested we call it the, "Annual Family Junk Swap", instead of yard sale.

It's not junk.... it's treasure, right?

Micaela's Baptism

On June 5, 2010

Micaela Jo Waite

was baptized & confirmed a member of

The church of

Jesus Christ

of Latter-day Saints.

Micaela was baptized by her dad.
Lots of cousins and family came to support.

Yummy fruit pizza was served after the baptism.

Grandpa Waite & Uncle Grant were the witnesses.

Congratulations Micaela!!!

Memorial Day

A fairly cool, but nice Memorial Day picnic at Demeyer Park.

Grandma Ison joined us.
Dean on the grill. Thanks!

Audrey & Katelyn

Kyrick

Highlights: yummy food, good company, swinging on swings and feeding the ducks.

Grandpa Waite & Kyrick Visit

When the Clawson's moved to Arizona, so did Grandpa Waite. With Micaela's 8th birthday and baptism approaching, Grandpa Waite decided to come visit.... and Kyrick got to come too.

They had a LONG day of delays and lay-overs at the airport, but finally made it here safe and sound.
Kyrick stayed with cousins, friends and Grandma McKinley most of the first week, then got to hang out with us for the remaining week. Two weeks was a long time for a 4 year old, but he was a trooper.

Abree and Kyrick played and played and played (the older kids were still in school). They are good buddies and play well together. I think it's a matter of Abree likes to give direction and Kyrick doesn't mind taking it.