Sunday, September 29, 2013

ANOTHER Colorful Weekend!!

Grammy & Papa Milne were able to join us at a COLD BYU game Friday night in Provo.  The game started at 7 pm and by the time it was over and we got Hailey out of the stadium it was 11 pm before we were able to head to St. George for a fun, short weekend with Hillary and Patrick who drove up from Irvine.


After getting to bed at 3 am, the gals were ready to run a colorful 5k race at the old airport on the top of the ridge in St. George.


Hailey said she'd only run with us if we stayed with her the whole time.  It was hard to rein Hillary back from wanting to win the whole thing but we stayed together and had a great time!


Still together...


To the finish...





Worth every color bomb!



However, it wasn't over yet as the plotting begins...


And we all totally saw this coming...




And these two stayed out of trouble by waiting at the finish line...


Glad we could fit so much fun into a couple of days but sad to say goodbye again...

Sunday, September 22, 2013

A Colorful Weekend--Red AND Blue!

The BYU-Utah Rivalry game is always much anticipated in our State and there is a clean division of lines drawn for the team of choice.  Game day sports either blue or red attire depending on who you're cheering for.  Hailey got to wear both colors this weekend as she attended the Woods Cross High School homecoming game where the graduating seniors last year returned to cheer with this year's cheer squad.


She's still transitioning to college life and ALL that comes with it--roommates she didn't know, a new cheer squad, YSA ward, cooking 3 meals for herself, hard college classes with lots of homework and not having anyone telling her what to do, when to do it or where to be.  She LOVED seeing her old friends at the WX football game!



These cute alumni are all doing great things and have wonderful adventures planned in the near future.


The next day Hailey wore blue.  So did we!  John and I are both BYU alumni and proud Cougars.  We went early to the game so we could meet Hailey in between her appearances and pre-game show.






President Uchtdorf also was in attendance.  Wonder which team he was rooting for???




LOTS  of cheerleaders--All-Girl Squad (which Hailey is on) and the boy/girl stunt group get to perform to the Cougar Fight Song after touchdowns.


Oh, and Hailey also got a BLUE car this weekend to drive until she leaves on her mission so Grayson can start driving the white RAV all the kids have learned to drive on as they get their permit and new driver's license.



I guess that saying is true... "My daughter and my money go to BYU!" (as she drives away)

Sunday, September 15, 2013

29-1/2 hours of FUN--Red Rock Relay Zion!


Red Rock Relay 2013 - Brian Head to Zion - 2 vans and 12 runners combined to form the legendary "Run Walk Crawl" team (team name lives on as runners consistently change per race).  "Snow Van" 1 consisted of John & Alicia Tebbs, Lauretta & Scott Sechrest and Laura & Steve Gardanier.


Ready to get running Friday morning at 6:15 am from Brian Head, Utah.  Temperature: 42 degrees.



Lauretta took the first leg which was SO fun--running 1-1/4 miles to the ski lift, riding to the top and running 3-1/2 miles down.


Steve was runner 2 and was lucky to get "The Diablo"-- 3 miles uphill at 10,000+ feet with a small downhill at the end.  Funny how all of his legs had the word "devil" somewhere in the title...


Marathoner Laura took the long 8-1/2 miler because we knew she'd run it fast--and she did.


At this point you may be asking, "What do the other runners DO while they're waiting for their turn?"















I had the next 7-miler which was pretty much downhill most of the way--LOVED IT!



John took the next leg.  He's really a good sport about these races since he doesn't care for running but  is good to support one of my passions.  (That's why I give him the shortest, easiest legs so he is happy :D)



 I wanted to document this for John... If you look closely, he is behind the guy in the red socks and then goes in for "the kill" and passed him.  I secretly think he loves to run but doesn't want to admit it or he'd be registered in a race a month with me!



 Scott was the final runner in our first 6 legs...


 ... BUT, these studs ran the first leg for "Snow Van" 2 splitting the almost 6 miles since Van 2 had a few extra miles and novice runners and just because we said we'd do it for them.


"Snow Van" 2 - Mordue Family - So glad they were willing to race with us!!  We turned the next 5 legs over to them, headed to Cedar City for lunch and then started up Round 2 around 4:30 pm.


Van 2 Karen passing off to Van 1 Scott.  Here we go again...


Scott and Lauretta both hauled on their next 2 legs, posting some of their best times.



We're always happy to see the next runner waiting for us at the exchange.


At this point the weather started getting nasty and both Laura and Steve got rained on at some point during their legs.  




See the top of that dirt trail?  That was the end of Steve's run entitled "Dirty Devil."


After John took the next leg it started to pour and the mud was so deep and the van was fishtailing, that we pulled John out of the clay sludge and drove him to the next exchange where we waited until the rain and lightning stopped.


I took the last leg of our second set from there and had pure highway for my 5-1/2 miles.  It was great.


When I finished running at 8:30 pm, we then got to sleep (NOT!) until I started our final set of legs at 1:45 am.  The good thing about running in the absolute dark, middle of the night is that a 3-mile hill is hard to see so you actually run faster as you try and keep your normal pace. 
Here are some photos of our middle-of-the-night handoffs:




We were done running at 6 am Saturday morning and we headed to our house in St. George for a SHOWER and quick nap before driving to Zion to meet Van 2 when they finished their last set of legs and crossed the finish line at 12:45 pm, exactly 29-1/2 hours from when we started.  Yay for us!


And really, if you ask him, John enjoyed every minute of it and will be doing it again...