Memorial Day

The day started off with the alarm at 5:45am...Yes, I said 5:45am! My husband serves in the Boy Scout program in our church and as part of their fundraising efforts, they put up American flags in the yards around our neighborhood on all the National holidays. I had a little reminder set in my phone to wake us/him up in time to go help. When I tried to wake him up he said "we decided last night the weather was too bad today, so no flags. I told you last night." (He hadn't told me and we finally figured that out today when we were both more coherent.) Of course, I had a hard time falling back to sleep and just as I started to dose off again, Brad got out of bed and said he had to go to flags. I said "What?" Apparently, he had looked outside and told me the sun was out with no clouds in sight, so they better get the flags put up... and off he went! When he returned, we decided it would be fun to go 4 wheeling. We loaded up the 4 wheelers, grabbed some lunch and we were off!


We headed up American Fork canyon near our home. It was a beautiful day and the drive up AF canyon is gorgeous! We unloaded the machines and started our trek up the mountain. After riding up the first couple miles there was a bottle neck and we were unable to go any further. We found out there were about 30-40 trucks, jeeps or ATVs trying to come down as we were heading up. We had to wait until they all passed... it seemed to take forever but really only lasted about 25-30min. Once the bottle neck was resolved, we continued our ride. The sun was shining and the landscape beautiful. It was peaceful and so great to be out enjoying nature.

Some fun pictures from the day...

This white truck wouldn't back down the mountain any further so he forced this poor blue truck to try to pass him while placing the 2 passenger tires on the mountain. They almost hit each other - some people...





We had to wait for all the trucks, jeeps, ATVs, etc... to pass since it was too tight ahead for us to move forward, while they were all coming down. Luckily, by the time everyone passed we didn't run into any back ups like this the rest of our ride... yipee!!

And they keep on coming... In fact, one had a flat tire so my "always prepared" boy scout husband said "I have a compressor, if you want to pull over here I can pump up your tire for you." He is always so willing to help! I am a lucky girl!

View from the top of one of the trails...breathtaking!

I love this time of year! As the snow melts, several random waterfalls appear. This picture doesn't even come close to how beautiful it was.

Several of the trails still had snow at the top.

Yes this is the same truck from before! After trying unsuccessfully to dig him out of the snow, his parents used a tow strap to pull him out with their truck. Come to find out "smart guy" (our new nickname for him) didn't have his truck in 4 wheel drive before hitting the snow. Which in most newer trucks wouldn't make a difference, but his was older and had locking hubs which of course were not locked! (For those unfamiliar with such terms... older trucks didn't have the 4 wheel drive "button" inside the cab. You had to get out and turn the center of the hub on the front two wheels. Then when you got back inside the cab, you had a 2nd shifter that had to be put into 4 wheel drive...did I loose anyone?)

At least while waiting, I took this great picture!!

And this one on our way back down...

Closer to the end of our ride. The water coming out of the canyon is really

high and moving very fast. It is incredible to watch!


Overall, a very enjoyable day. We ended up at a neighbor's home for a BBQ after we returned home and watched the Lakers get schooled by the Nuggets... good times! Oh and one of my cute laurels was on KSL news as well, 92 students in her class of 105 graduated with an Associates Degree from UVU before they received their diploma's for high school graduation. It was also her birthday today and she came over to watch the news with us since her family doesn't have TV. Happy Birthday Janneka!

Race for Cure - May 9th

Every year we try to go to the Susan G Komen Race for the cure with some friends. It is a great way to support breast cancer awareness and also support our friends that have lost love ones to breast cancer. The amount of people that come each year is incredible and the strength you feel walking in such a large crowd is amazing. I wish I had taken more pictures of the different t-shirts and outfits people wear. There are men wearing pink tutu's, others wearing pink wigs and some just decked out in all pink! What a sight!

This year we walked the 5k with Kim, (her kids Lauren & Isabella), her sister Heidi and Charity one of the special needs clients Heidi works with. Charity walks almost every year with us as well. You can't read Heidi's shirt in this picture but it says "Of course these are fake, the real ones tried to kill me!" We had a great time! Next year I think Brad will run the 5k with Cesar and Sam. (Kim's husband and 5yr old son)

Isabella enjoying a nap!

Lauren eating fruit by the foot!

The amount of people walking this year was incredible. You can see all the way to the end of the picture-tons of pink! Several blocks a head of us were full of people...

Another view of the crowd in front of us.

The crowd behind us at least 3 blocks or more.

After the event at the Gateway fountain area...

Anyone is welcome! Let me know next year if you want to join us. It is typically the Saturday before Mother's day.

Ireland

My parents have been traveling around Ireland for the past 2 weeks with my dad's two brothers and their wives. They actually return tomorrow, time sure flies! My mom sent us this picture of an Irish band playing in a small pub close to where my great grandpa lived.

My grandma visited her father's homeland when she was 92 yrs old, a couple years before she passed away. When she passed away last year my dad and his brothers thought it would be great to take a trip back to see where their grandfather was from. My uncle Darwin took grandma when she went back, so he knew where to go and had already met some of my grandma's cousins. One cousin still lives in the home my great grandpa lived in.

I am excited to see all the fun pictures and hear about their adventures!

Who won????

Drum roll please......

Congratulations Jennie!!

She has won the book "21 Days CLOSER TO Christ" by Emily Freeman.

Thanks to all who left comments! I have great friends!

Another Giveaway!

Ok... so it has been longer than a couple days... forgive me?

I know I promised another giveaway back in November... well here it is!!

This giveaway will be an autographed book by Emily Freeman. She is the best selling author of several books including - "The Ten Virgins", "21 Days Closer to Christ", "God Bless Your Way" and most recently "The Woman at the Well". She has another book coming out in the Fall that is incredible! Depending on how many comments I get I may throw in 2nd book!


Emily speaks all over Utah & Idaho at Young Women's New Beginnings, Young Women in Excellence evenings and Relief Society Enrichment nights. I have attended the presentations for the "The Ten Virgins" book and "21 Days Closer to Christ" and both were fantastic! She recently started presenting with the Time Out for Women tour this year and her presentation is AMAZING! You can read more here.

Here is a clip from the Question and Answer portion of Time Out for Women last month. If you are still unsure about going to an event. Hopefully, this will give you a little taste of what it is like. When you have Emily, Kris and Hilary on the stage together, you know it will be funny and uplifting!





Emily lives in our ward and I have had the opportunity to get to know her the past 2 1/2 years. She and her husband Greg were actually one of the first couples we met before moving into the ward. We went to church about a month before we moved in to check things out. That Sunday I sat by another dear friend Julie who talked me into signing up for dinner groups that month and she promised to make sure we were in the same group. About a week later, (I had forgotten that we signed up) I get a call from Emily letting me know we had been assigned to her home for dinner and would I mind bringing a salad (I think). She had been told we were new to the ward and let me know Julie had requested we be in the same group. We had a great time that evening getting to know Emily and Greg better and they did a great job helping us feel welcome!


Now as kind of a side note... when my sister-in-law Monica found out we were moving to Lehi she said "I think one of my high school friend's lives down in that area. Her name is Emily Freeman." Come to find out 2 of her brothers were also in the ward and Brad knew them growing up as well. Small world eh?

Anyway, after that first meeting, Emily always made a point to say "hi" and check in. A few months after we moved in, Emily was called as the Relief Society President in our ward and served for just over a year. Which worked out perfectly, because right about that time I was in need of an assistant camp director. Our current camp director needed to attend to her family and was unable to finish up the last minute details. So with 3 weeks until camp, Emily was called and pulled everything together with the help of our YCL's. Here is a picture of some of the leaders at camp. She is the camp director again this year and everything is coming together nicely! I will save the fun camp stories for another post! :-)

Emily, Josephine, Mindy, me and Trish

Brad and I have really enjoyed getting to know Emily, Greg and their wonderful family. They have always helped us feel included and have been great examples of how we want to be as parents. Emily has an amazing testimony of her Savior and is one of the best examples to me of seeking guidance from our Heavenly Father in all that she does. She knows the scriptures and understands how to liken them to any situation. She is also a great friend, as I have sought advice or comfort she always knows the right thing to say. I have seen her in action on many occasions within our community, neighborhood, ward, etc... and I always know I can count on her. She gives of her time and talents to all those around her and places the needs of others above her own. Brad calls her Wonder Woman - if she can't do it- no one can! We have learned great things from Emily and Greg and are grateful to call them our friends.

Now in order to qualify for the drawing you must make a comment on this post by Wednesday May 13th @ 10PM. I will announce the winner(s) the next evening. If you make a comment on this post and have (prior to today) made a comment on one of the previous 2 posts you will be entered twice!