Wasatch Back 2011

Van 2 ladies ready for the Ragnar race: Wasatch Back 2011 (Lauretta, Angela, Me, Michelle, Hillary & Karen) Four of us are mid-40s, one is 52 and Hillary is 19.

It was especially fun to have Hillary with us this year. She's a great runner and she's always smiling...

Van 1 started in Logan at 5:15 am on Friday, June 17. They ran their first 6 legs and we began ours in Eden, Utah at 11:45 am. Lauretta was Runner 7, our first gal out from our van.

After Lauretta finished her first leg of 4 miles, she handed off to Runner 8 Hillary who ran her first leg of 3.4 miles.

Michelle was Runner 9 and she ran a quick and easy 3.2 miles.

Karen was Runner 10 and she ran her first leg of 3.9 miles.

I was Runner 11 (the same as last year) and my goal was to run all 3 legs without walking since my legs have lots of hills.

I'm proud to report I ran every step of my first leg which was 3.2 miles uphill the whole way and had 14 kills (people you pass).

Angela was Runner 12 and finished up our first set of legs by bringing us into Snowbasin Ski Resort with her 4.7 leg.

We got a few hours of down time to eat and rest and then started our second legs at 10 pm that night and finished at 4:45 am. Those legs were longer mileage with 3.8, 7, 10, 7.6, 5.5 and 6.9 respectively. We were tired and drove from Oakley where we finished our second set of legs to Rocky Mountain Middle School in Heber where we "tried" to sleep until we got going again at 9:50 am.

It was Lauretta's birthday so we helped her celebrate...

Lauretta's last leg of 4.2 miles in Heber...

Hillary begins her final leg of 5.9 miles from Heber to Midway in 48 minutes! (That's just a little over 8-min. miles!!!) However, she was able to sleep whenever she tried when the rest of us couldn't.

Michelle was a rock as she ran her 3.2 mile hill on her last leg...

Karen finished her last leg with the "Ragnar" hill. 4 miles of grueling, steep, dirt hill. She kept telling herself she was going on a hike and she hiked hard and fast all the way. Elevation was so high she finished in the snow!

My last leg was a doozy. Steep hills up and steep hills down. I had 7.3 miles from the top of Guardsman Pass through Deer Valley Resort down to the base of Deer Valley. And yes, I ran every mile!

Thrilled to hand off the baton to Angela for her last leg of 7.2 miles to bring us into the finish...

Team Run, Walk, Crawl (both vans) crossing the finish line together... 192 miles in 34 hours!!!

Two vans; 12 women (1 is missing from picture)

Until next year...

Island Park

Checking schedules, there were only 4 days of the whole summer that our family and John's siblings could get away to Island Park. His sister Marianne and her husband Craig told us its one of their favorite places and we were excited to give it a try.

They have a special "cabin" they rent each year that sleeps 20 and we filled it up with 20 of us (4 kids couldn't make it due to work, school or mission)...

There were 8 adults and 12 kids under 19...

But we had plenty of rooms and beds for everyone. Even a boat dock right out in front...

We had a couple afternoons of pouring rain so we watched movies and played games...

One such game was guys vs. gals and John was so sure their team was going to win that he said losers would jump in the lake...

You can see who lost...

Brother-in-law Nate choreographed a "Y" pose, pirouette and front-knee tuck off the dock. Hilarious...

The 5 girl cousins (1 missing)...

Heading out with a boat-load of cousins...

Ready for anything... and they got soaked when Uncle Craig drove right through a wake!

Garrett surfing behind the boat...

The adults watching the kids having fun...

Garrett, Grayson & Troy musing...

Hailey, Hillary & Crystal laughing...

Hillary and Crystal tubing...

Hailey and 17-year-old cousin Austin, catching up...

Lots of chatting...

Lots of cooking and eating...

Lots of fun... (hopefully this will be the start of an annual tradition)

Catching Up...

Grayson was a Friar in the 6th grade Romeo and Juliet play. He delivered his two lines perfectly and then got off the stage and raced to his soccer game. He knows I don't "do" costumes or decorate classroom doors so he didn't even blink when I suggested he wear an old skeleton Halloween costume with a brown shirt (to cover the bones of course...)

Went to the St. George house over the Memorial Day weekend and John found plenty of moments to relax...

Grayson and friends attended the BYU Basketball Camp for 4 days (immediately following a 2-day Jimmer camp which he loved)

Grayson got an All-Star award for his age group. Apparently, there was a communicable illness floating around as 30+ boys had to leave the camp, kids were puking all over the place and we got a call from the Davis Co. Health Dept. when we got home! Grayson didn't get it, thank goodness! Hope they have it under control for the rest of the BYU summer camps...