Allen Reunion

We had a blast at the Allen Reunion in Aptos this year. It was the week before the bar so unfortunately it was just me and the kids (Joe did make it up for a day or two). We had a great time, though.

One night a bunch of us went to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I hadn't been since I was a teenager and the kids had never really been to an amusement park. They were so excited. They loved the rides and were a lot braver than I was expecting. Elizabeth went on the pirate ship ride with her uncles and cousins and Natalie went with me on the big swing ride. They loved all the little rides, too. Even Nate went on a few rides. He would enjoy them for a minute and then say "Ah duh" (all done) over and over. Here's the one picture I have from the night:

My mom wanted me to come back with a shark picture since we have one from when I was young. I was trying to get them to look scared but they just wanted to smile...

Our week was mostly full of swimming at the pool and going to the beach. Oh how I love the beach. Nate loved eating non-stop--consuming large amounts of sand with his snacks and not seeming to care much.

Yum--Cheetos

Here's a bunch of the cousins playing in the water:

We're quite the group these days. There's 16 grandkids now.

Here's Elizabeth with Brayden and Isaac:

Here we are taking over the resort playing a keep-away game with the ball:

That night we had a campfire on the beach. The girls were so excited to fly kites while we were down there. We haven't had much luck with the dollar store kites I've bought in the past so this was their first official time flying a kite. I had to get some pictures...

Of course there were s'mores!

Nate enjoying his next to Aunt Katie

Since I was a single parent there, we had plenty of movie time to rest and recover. One morning Nate and Natalie were sitting so close together watching the show and I had to get a picture:

Another day at the beach:

Burying herself in the sand

Andrew, Elizabeth and Abby getting buried standing up:

We saw a ton of dolphins that day. Can you see the fin?

A brief moment with Nate keeping his hat on.

Isn't he adorable?

It was cute to see Natalie and Ivy hit it off this reunion.

Watching Ivy play her DS after dinner:

Some other highlights of the week were: an FHE tic-tac-toe trivia game that Brad made with family and gospel trivia; shopping with Katie, Kelli and Melissa at the Gilroy outlets; playing with Jacob, Hannah, Emily and others in the waves and getting rocked by a huge one. We had a great time!

Missing Daddy

We miss our Daddy around here. It feels like it has been so long since he has been around much, and really it has. I think it was January when he started his job in the bay area. So, he was commuting two days a week and finishing up law school with a pretty heavy load. Then came graduation and bar preparation. We are almost done. It will be really weird for him to just be working. After all, he has been in school throughout our entire marriage. I think it will be really nice, though. We are both hoping that this job will allow him to just be home, without all of these other tasks looming over his head all the time. I know there are definite benefits to the student days--long Christmas vacations for one. Still, we are ready to move on.

Joe has been leaving his phone at home, so as to not be distracted by it, which has finally given me the opportunity to upload the pictures. The quality of some of these is not great but I think they are pretty cute....

Nate loves to help Daddy mow the lawn:

Then he started mowing himself:

One morning, we were actually still in bed when the kids woke up and it was such a treat. The kids were so happy to see Daddy and they eventually ended up like this:

...packed around Daddy as tightly as they could manage.

It was adorable.

Our daddy works so hard and we are so proud of all that he has accomplished. Sometimes I get so caught up in my own struggles with the kids and whatever else that I forget that he is spending day after day, alone, packing information into his brain, when of course he'd much rather be with us.

We love you, Joe. You are amazing.

(Maybe this will count as a proper Father's Day post?) :)

Utah/Idaho Swing

We had quite the epic Utah/Idaho adventure. We were all over the place, mooching food and lodgings off of unsuspecting family members. Just kidding--they invited us. And it was wonderful seeing everyone. Once again I was terrible at taking pictures, but I do have a few to show for it.

First we stayed at Chris and Regina's. No pictures... but much fun was had, and much referreeing was required due to these two troublemakers:

They are cute, though.

That picture was taken at our next stop: Grandpa Tom and Grandma Lorna's house. We had a yummy Father's Day dinner and other fun times. While there, Elizabeth lost her very first tooth! It was an exciting moment for the whole family. It was really loose and she came over to show me. I asked her if she wanted me to pull it and I did. It came out so fast she didn't mind a bit. Natalie was just as excited as she was to put it under her pillow. In fact, apparently Natalie was the first one to spot the dollar the next morning. I can't believe my daughter is losing teeth!

Our next stop was down to Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake to meet up with more family for a picnic. That was a fun park. The girls loved all the cotton in the air. I tried to get a picture that showed it but it didn't really work:

We got to spend some more time with this cute little guy:

Joelle, Jace & Elizabeth

The kids had fun climbing these pole things:

Collecting cotton

Next up, we got to visit Brad & Kelli and boys. The only pictures I remembered to take were these, on the way to their house. It was the one and only time they were all asleep in the car:
We loved playing at their awesome house. The girls especially loved their new lab puppy Maya and the golf cart rides. We can't wait to see them more next week at the Allen family reunion.

We stayed at Jon & Jaime's house, too. Again, much fun had by all, as this picture demonstrates:
Then, it was up to Idaho to stay with Grandma Marsha for a few days. She really spoiled us. The kids loved playing in her little wading pool, where I got this cute series of pictures:

We had a fun visit with Great Grandpa Hall one night. Here are the girls showing off their reading skills to Grandpa:

After that, it was over to Albion, ID, for the Atkinder...

This is the only picture I have--Elizabeth on her first motorcycle ride with Grandpa: We met up with Joe and then he came with us to the Atkinder. It was so wonderful seeing Daddy again! Two weeks apart was too long. Two and a half week away from home was too long. Still, we did have fun.

Ragnar Wasatch Back

I got to run through beautiful scenery like this a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the experience wasn't quite so serene. I don't think it could be when you and 11 others are running a total of 192 miles over a day and a half.

Serene or not, it sure was a lot of fun! In fact I will probably be back for more next year.... I would REALLY like to do the Napa Valley one now, though. Who's with me?? Atkins? Allens? ... Bueller? :)

Back to this year--I was in a great van with Tom, Joe's Dad, and a bunch of young'uns: Joe's brother Richard, Mary & Becca Carlisle, and Eric Stakebake (Joe's cousins). Just kidding...I'm really only a year and half older than Richard so I guess I'm in that category. We had a Despicable Me theme going for our team--"Gru and his minions."

I guess we did some running, too...

Here we are all at the start line at USU at 5:30am:
(These pictures are all courtesy of Tom and Regina)

Mary (the shiny one) was first up

I was third. My first leg was 5.6 miles. I started out feeling terrible and was really worried. I said a silent prayer, though, and soon hit my stride and made it through fine. I was definitely feeling the altitude. Everything seemed harder.

My second leg was in the heat of the late afternoon/early evening. This was maybe my hardest run, even though it was shortest--4.9 miles. I don't know why but it just was.

Here I am getting some water from my team:

After our van finished our second legs, we went to a local high school that was opened up for us and slept on the floor of an auditorium. We were up again at 4 to get ready to run our last legs.

I had been worried for months about my last leg--7.9 miles and it was mostly uphill. I hadn't had any way to practice hills here in flat Sacramento. Luckily, it went fine. I was feeling really good and I just kept plugging away at it. I couldn't quite make it to the top without walking for a little stretch but I was still proud of how I did. At one difficult part of the run, Coldplay's "The Scientist" came on and totally motivated me ("No-body said it was ea-sy").

Here I am coming in at the end of the run, so glad to be done:

It was a really cool feeling later to be sitting in the car looking at the mountain I ran up.

Some more pictures:

With Chris and Regina who were on a team with Regina's family
(As rock 'n roll as I get :)

Coming in at the finish line at Park City High School

Our whole team:
(Lorna did a great job with the shirts!)

Special thanks to Marsha, Christine and Hallie for watching my kids! I guess I neglected to mention that the kids and I drove to UT alone and left Joe behind so he could study for the bar. Then we stuck around for two weeks until a family reunion. More to come on all that...