Walking to Church in Grants Pass

 This last Sunday I walked to church with Misty, Adalei, Brielle, and Elijah in Grants Pass. 

 It was so fun to walk on a beautiful day.

  The kids were so excited to see the beautiful flowers and wanted me to take a picture of each one. 

 You can see that we saw many beautiful flowers.....

 Here's a few of my best pictures.

 The purple ones are my favorites.

 The kids wanted to be in the pictures with the flowers too.

They were just starting to sing the opening song when we got to church so it's good that I didn't take anymore pictures......

Nate #2 Winner of 5k in Washougal, Washington

I was so excited to have Nate, Misty, Adalei, Brielle, and Elijah come visit last weekend. Nate came up Wednesday night for training. Misty and the kids came up after school on Friday. They stayed until Sunday afternoon. We had a great time together and I'm so grateful that they took the time to come stay with me a few days. (I can't figure out how to get rid of this underlining.)

 The highlight of the visit was going to a race at Washougal High School for the school foundation fundraiser.  Here's a picture of Misty and Elijah waiting for the races to start.

Adalei took this picture of Misty and Elijah above.  You can see the stadium in the background.

Below is breakfast before the race.  I made baked oatmeal with fresh fruit.  Elijah loved it.  He ate all his and Adalei's too.  Nate had a hard time eating because all three wanted to sit on his lap.  He's a well loved dad.

 Nate and Adalei were in the first two races.  The picture above is before the race.  Below is a picture of Nate running across the finish line!  He was #2 in a race of approximately 200 participants.  We were so excited that he did so well.  You can see that the next runners were no where in sight.

 I took some pictures while we waited for the dash for Brielle and Elijah.  Nate was resting above after winning his race.  Below, Adalei was having fun with my camera and taking lots of pictures.  She is getting really good as a photographer as you could see in the first picture above.

 Little Elijah was as cute as can be.  All the kids loved the mascot but especially Elijah.  He just kept hugging and kissing the mascot.  He said it was a bear but I thought it was a cat.  Anyhow, it was just so cute as you can see in the picture below.

 Here's a picture of Adalei crossing the finish line of her race of 1.5k.  She did a great job and seemed to be in the top 25% of the racers.  As you can see below, she received a medal, water, and a Popsicle for participating in her race.

 The very last race of the morning was the dash for those younger than kindergarten age.  The parents ran with some of the kids so I couldn't get good pictures at the finish line.  Elijah and Brielle also received Popsicles after finishing their race.

 After the race, we played at the park but took a break for snack.  I told the kids we were having dirt and worms for snack.  They caught on quick that it would be edible and they loved their treat.  It was a half cup full of chocolate pudding, topped with Oreo cookie crumbs and a couple of gummy worms on top.  They thought it was delicious.

 Elijah was thrilled with some trucks to play in his back yard.  Adalei and Brielle had fun with my dolls.  It was a wonderful time and I am so grateful that they could come visit me. 

Mother's Day Memories with Charity (Holden, Missouri) 2012

 It was a wonderful mother's day weekend.  Charity met me in Kansas City and we spent the weekend with my mom and dad.  Our first stop was to see the newly dedicated Kansas City Temple where my parents are going to be temple workers.  I loved the sky in the picture above and appreciate Charity taking a picture of me below.

 While we were in Independence, Missouri, for a family wedding reception, we saw a few sights.  The picture above is the home of President Harry S. Truman before he became president.  He lived here from 1919 (when he got married) to 1945.  The picture below is of the court house with a statute of President Truman in front.  He was our U.S. President from 1945 to 1953 (before I was born).

 Charity and I enjoyed some yummy banana splits while we were there.  Mom also made a delicious turkey dinner and the cranberries were so good.  I even had them with my ice cream one day.

We played Chicken's Feet with some color dot dominoes (below) and had a fun time.  (Charity and my parents in the pictures.)

 The last morning we took a .4 walk in the hay field below my parent's house.  This is a picture of their pond in the background.  It was beautiful there and we enjoyed the quiet of country living.

Charity found this frog below on the back porch.  He wouldn't jump unless you touched him so I probably could have gotten even closer for this picture. 

We were there for four days and had a wonderful time - we went to the wedding reception, went to church, cooked and ate lots of good food with ice cream every day, watched Fox News and Glenn Beck, played the game, walked, and talked lots!  It was hard to leave as the time went so fast.

Charity got me a beautiful necklace that I just love for mother's day.  I should have taken a picture of that.  I also got four new books from Jason/Ashley which are for my kindle that I love.  I'm already reading the first book and enjoying it.  It was great to have the traditional phone calls and the lovely cards from Misty, Adalei, Brielle, and Elijah!  I am so blessed as a mother to have such wonderful children and grandchildren.  I greatly appreciate Charity coming to spend the weekend with me too.

Awesome Runners!

 I had a great day yesterday attending the Awesome 3000 races in Salem, Oregon, with Nate and family.  Adalei and Brielle were in the kindergarten and 4 year old races, respectively.  Here are pictures above and below of Adalei and Brielle before their races.  They were so excited and happy to be in the race.

 The race was held at the Williamette University stadium.  This is a picture of Adalei's group in the middle right before their race.  They were warming up.

 Adalei took #11 out of 178 kindergarten girls!  She did awesome! 

 They had the parents run with the 4 year olds so Nate ran with Brielle.  Brielle was #6 in the 4 year old race and #1 out of the girls!  Brielle did awesome too!

After the race we celebrated with pizza at a local pizza shop.  Then had Cold Stone ice cream!  It was a fun time!  I'm so glad they invited me to join them. 

In this last picture you can also see that Adalei has lost her first tooth!

Weston and Allison

When I was taking pictures, I accidentally took this video.  Weston just loved the video.  He watched it over and over.

We had a great time going to yard sales.  Benson loved these little skateboards!

My Week in Roseville

I had a fabulous time staying with Casey, Jenna, Allison, Weston and Benson.  Here's a few pictures that capture the happenings of the week.  

Above, Benson was in the backyard.  He loved wearing the bike helmets even when he wasn't on his bike. 

A cute shot of Allison above.  

Below a picture of Weston holding Allison and Benson behind.  The boys love their little sister and like to hold her often.

Allison is so cute in the picture above.  

Below, Jenna and the kids are on the couch taking a nap.  Jenna is such a good mom.

What a little angel Allison is! 

Below, Benson had a fun time with Charity's blocks.

Weston did great with the blocks also.

Here's Charity reading to Paisley and Weston.  She is the best aunt!

More naps!  Jason and Audrey above and Allison below.

Cute Spencer above.

Jenna helped me make this quilt for Allison.  It turned out great and I appreciated Jenna's help.  We got it done fast.

This is a picture of Weston and Benson after Casey took them to church on Sunday.  They are so happy and really enjoyed going to church.  They are such good boys.

Below, a picture of handsome Weston - he loved having me take his picture!

It was so hard to leave.  I was in California for 16 days and it still wasn't long enough.  It's always hard to leave.  I look forward to my next trip.