Top of Utah Marathon

Several months ago, Rod told me he had "gone and done it"! He had finally signed up to run a marathon. I knew that for a few years he had been wanting to run one, but I still thought he was crazy for actually paying money to do something like that! 26.2 miles is a long way to run! Well despite a foot injury that just started bothering him last week, he got up this morning at 5am and headed off to run his very first marathon in Logan, Utah. His first 13.1 miles was his fastest ever. It took him 1 hour and 45 minutes. At mile 18 his knee really started hurting, which was caused by over-compensating to reduce the pain in his foot. Of course this slowed him down, and the last few miles were quite painful, but he finished! His time was 4 hours and 5 minutes. He was bummed that he missed 4 hours by only 5 minutes! I am simply impressed, no matter what his time. I am sure I would still be running right now if it were me!!

Rod around mile 20!

Finally done!

Chugging some chocolate milk! (The lastest craze in recovery drinks.)

He told me he wasn't feeling well, so he wanted to lie down. I was seriously worried for a while, so I just stood there watching his chest to make sure he was breathing! I was quickly reassured when he started eating his Fat Boy ice cream sandwich in this exact position!

I know he didn't feel like smiling for this shot, but no matter how tired, he certainly had something to smile about!

Way to go Rod!! You are inspiring!!

Park City

Labor Day weekend Rod's Uncle Bob came for a visit. I have not seen him since Rod's Father's funeral. That was around 13 years ago. We have kept in touch through letters, but I was suprised he would make such an effort to come to Utah to see us. We'll we were certainly grateful that he did. He was a delight to have in our home. The kids, especially Halle and Parker, quickly became attached. Halle sobbed the night he left. Since my kids never were able to know there Grandpa Rivers in this life, it was nice for them to have a chance to get to know his brother. We had a fun time showing him a few of the sights in Utah, but mostly enjoyed the time we spent with family. Saturday we decided to take him to Park City. Little did we know that a Mustang Convention was going on. Parking was crazy, but we ended up having a fun time checking out all of the Mustangs.

Justin, Rod, Uncle Bob, and Cory


Riding in style. Rod and Justin were willing to give the littlest ones a lift.


We each tried to find "our" Mustang. Halle, Ryann, and I chose the pink one, of course!

Connor chose a black one! What a shock!

Parker even found one just his size!

It even had "Connor" on the license plate!

There was a policeman there letting kids ride this contraption. It was designed to show them what the impact would feel like in a crash at 10 mph. It was strange. Kids were getting off holding their necks. I am not sure what the point of it was.

After the Mustang party, we headed off to ride the Alpine Slide. We all piled in our car because parking was crazy! The boys were excited to ride in the back.

The ride up was fun. I was worried about taking Parker and Halle up, but they did great. Justin was a big help.

The older kids had a blast with Uncle Cory and Ryann.

It was the first time the kids had ridden the Alpine Slide. They loved it!

Braden had a great time!

Ryann and Connor. Connor is so cool!

Uncle Cory Rocks!!

Justin was nice enough to take Halle down with him. She loved it. They chased Cory the whole way. Justin, you're awesome!!!

Parker got up to the start of the slide and refused to go. Of course, at that point we had no other choice. He was crying, but once we started going he had a lot of fun.

While the older kids rode the Coaster, the little kids rode a couple of rides. When I bought the tickets, I thought I paid $3 for them to ride the three rides. But of course it ended up being $3 a ride! Halle chose the Carousel.

Parker chose the rocket train thing!?! The guy was nice enough to let Halle hitch a ride.

All in all it was a fun, but expensive day.

Temple Square and Cory's House

While Rod's Uncle Bob was here, we decided to skip church and head up to Temple Square. We took him to see the Choir perform the broadcast for the Spoken Word. Although I sat in the little theater with the babies and watched it on the big screen, Rod took the boys and Uncle Bob into the Conference Center. Bob thought it was wonderful! We then checked out the roof of the Conference Center and took a tour of Temple Square. It was a great morning.

After Temple Square, we headed over to Rod's brother's house. While we were there, they fed us an incredible lunch.

We had such a great time hanging out. Sometimes I wonder why we wait so long in between visits to get together. Cory, Justin, and Ryann are so much fun. We love being with them! Thanks for such a wonderful day!

Pedicure Party

A couple of weeks ago, my Mom said that she and Misty were going to get pedicures. I invited Halle and I to join in. Halle had never had a pedicure, and I had been wanting one. We had such a fun time. I told the people to give Halle a full pedicure experience. She was a little nervous at first because the water was so hot, but she loosened up and really enjoyed it. We decided to get manicures also. The lady doing Halle's asked me if she could get flowers for $10 extra. I figured I was already into it pretty deep, so I said why not! $42 later, it became a very expensive outing for a 5 year old, but it was so fun spending time with Mom and Misty.

Halle was so little it was hard for her feet to reach the water!

The place where we had the pedicures had a tv hanging on the wall right in front of us. As you can see Halle was watching the movie, which happened to be Wild Hogs. The language was not appropriate for a five year old. I kept thinking I should have them turn it off, but I was a big chicken!

Mom and Misty relaxing. Misty had just come back from walking all over Europe in flip flops. Her feet were in sad shape! Oh the price she had to pay for her trip!!

Halle got a flower with a jewel on every finger! She was in heaven!

Thanks Grandma for the fun day and the early birthday present! WE LOVE YOU!!