St. George Marathon

Marty ran with his sister in the St. George Marathon. He trained during the hot hot summer and put on a lot of muscle. He has always wanted to run a full marathon and he reached his goal! He also ran it under 4 hours reaching his other goal. His hypothermia and dehydration after the race left his body quite the shock. Luckily he pulled out of it and is ok. The special tape on his knees helped with some pain he had been having and he only lost two toenails so overall it was a huge success! Good Job Marty!!

School Run

Celie's kindergarten class ran a turkey trot for a Thanksgiving activity. Celie ran about 8-10 laps! I was so proud of her. Her class won for running the most laps.

This is Celie and her friend Daryl.Jack and Jett went a couple of laps with us and then decided to go and dance by the music instead.Celie's class row of runners after they found out they won!
Thanksgiving MealToo many yummy rolls.
Too many pies of which I baked.

Celie all grown up

Celie is going to school, learned to hoola hoop and is making all kinds of new strides as she grows up too fast. She is very proud of her hoola hoop abilities and was very excited about her first day of school too. She had her first encounter with a "bully" the other day. She started telling me the story and tears welled up. She told me that at lunch two mean girls came up to her and said mean things one of which was, "If you don't give me your broccoli I'll hit you." Now at this point I couldn't help but laugh. Broccoli? What bully has ever threatened someone to get their uncooked with no dip broccoli? She was of course confused at why I was laughing and it helped her lighten her mood about it. She then told me that she handed over the vegetable for fear of being hit. Her new friend at school later stood up for her during recess and hit the "mean girl" on the backside. I told her that hitting is never acceptable while feeling a little relieved that she had a friend that would stand up for her. I think I laughed so hard about the broccoli I cried. The story is much better with Celie telling it with a pout face and tears welling up. She is precious. She wants to please everyone. I love her.

Crazy Birthday boy

This boy loves attention and on his birthday he is entitled to it I suppose. If he can't reach a toy he screams at it hoping it the sound waves will shake the toy over to him. If you say no to something he wants he will have a huge pout face and lay his head on the floor crying(whining). His feelings are surely hurt. Now that he is "of age" he follows Jack around the house grabbing his arm or shirt with his famous grip and with a smile holds on until Jack cries. We are working on that one just so you know. What a boy. Take a look:

Jett's 1st Birthday

Jett is finally one! He is such a fireball. We love him so much and the kids make sure he knows it. He has got a grip like a vice and a smile like a jester. He loves to open and close anything and push around the laundry basket. On his birthday he made sure everyone was laughing so he danced and screamed like a wild thing. Probably his favorite thing to do is dance to music. Any kind of beat comes on and he is shaking his body. Be careful not to get in his way though, he likes to concentrate on his moves. Happy Birthday Jett!

Brisket

Marty's first brisket from his smoker turned out real tasty. I think he wants to try it again and perfect cooking out the toughness. We had friends over to share the meal with. So proud of you honey!

4th of July

So I have been having Computer problems, but we're back up and running! Here are some pictures from our 4th of July parade in our community.

This is Jack and our good friends

These are our great neighbors!

Celie decided to be in the parade at the last minute.

Jack is obviously enjoying the parade. It was so hot that they were handing out drinks of water at the end of the parade. I think I would have passed out if I didn't have it.

Laura's Later Years