Hooton Visit 2014….

We had another amazing visit from our good friends the Hooton's.  It is always great to have visitors and even greater when it's your BFF from high school and her cute family.  We did the typical Helena summer activities, the lake, the carousel, chatting on the deck, kids running around the yard, family kickball, etc.  This year though they were here over the 4th of July and Andy was off work so it was awesome!!  The first day of their visit was our lake day.  It was perfect weather, the kids had a blast playing in the sand and on the kayaks.  We even braved taking the wave runner and it worked about half the time until Summer and I got on it and it died.  Andy paddled out to rescue us on the little pink kayak, it was really one of the funniest moments of my life!  I was steering the runner, Summer was facing backwards holding onto the back of the kayak as Andy pulled us in.  He was giving us such a hard time for not jumping in and swimming back, but the water was too cold for me!

The next morning was the 4th of July.  My friend Shay and I were in charge of the 4th of july breakfast at the church so I had to get up and get ready to go set up.  Summer and I had made this amazing french toast casserole that was to die for!  The breakfast was a fun way to start the holiday for sure.  After it was over the men went to shoot bows at the outdoor shooting range while Summer and I drove around, I showed her a little more of Helena.  We eventually met up with the guys at the carousel for some ice cream and a few rides.  When we got home it was all about the fireworks.  Andy even put a firecracker under the chair I was sitting in on the deck trying to scare me!  The most popular of all the fireworks were the parachute ones.  They were a little scary because the kids would just run after them and not really be looking where they were going!  Andy and JD did a great job putting on a show for us that night.  It went on and on, but was oh so fun.  Eventually when our goods were gone we went onto the back deck and watched all of Helena's fireworks.  That is one of the perks of where we live, we can see the whole city, the fireworks were amazing that night, coolest show ever!

We were so sad to see our friends leave the next morning, but we really had the best visit.  I am so grateful for them taking the time to come and see us and for the fun they bring here to Montana.  My abs always feel sore after a visit with the Hooton's and it's not from a workout but from laughing so hard!!  Casserole!!!

The cast is off….

Carlee got her cast off yesterday!!  Again, a huge relief and again, I am so proud of her.  She is amazing through the whole process, never complaining and very independent.  I told Andy that I wanted to surprise her and take her for a pedicure after the cast came off.  She has been asking for so long to go and have one, and I figured this would be the perfect time, she deserved it!  Before we went to the salon we stopped and got vanilla steamers, which I still cannot believe sometimes that she doesn't like chocolate!  Carlee loved having them rub her legs and scrub her feet, especially the one that had been covered in a cast, they even did her nails!  This was a a fun thing for us girls to do and I am just relieved that we can move on from the broken bones.  I am just hoping Carlee has a great summer, cast free!

Ragnar Wasatch Back 2014….

I was lucky enough to hop on a Ragnar team again this year.  I was a little nervous at first but really trained hard, and it paid off!  I drove down to UT by myself and took Carlee and Tessa, they were fun little travel partners.  I got there a couple of days before the race so that we could spend time with Grandpa and Grandma and so that I could get them settled while I was doing Ragnar.  The day before the race we had a team breakfast at someones house where we got to meet everyone and the other ladies in Van 2.  We also got our matching shirts and headbands.  The ladies in my van, Van 1, we really nice and I was excited to race with them.  We decorated our van a little bit, made some plans and that was that.

I had plans to meet D down at Farmington Station with our girls for sushi lunch and shopping.  The girls loved seeing Sammie and had so much fun hanging out.  Lunch was fabulous, Tessa loved their white rice.  After that we went back to KayLee's house and spent the rest of the evening with her.  I had to get all of my race things together because I was leaving at an obscene time of night/morning so that we could be to Logan by 4:45 a.m.

That morning Lauren and I drove to Holly's house, she was our team captain.  We all loaded up together in her Burb and headed to Logan.  We made it there in time, and right as we were about to go to gear check, Holly realized she had forgotten her back of stuff, including her running shoes!  Luckily she had an amazing husband who woke up and brought it to her!

The race started right on time and our first runner went on her way.  It was pretty typical Ragnar from that point on.  We had great exchanges and I feel like everyone had a pretty good run.  In fact I think most of the girls in our Van rocked their runs!  Everyone was well trained.  I was so impressed with everyone.  We had some rain, which started on my first run, but it was okay.  It helped me to stay cool and maintain a pace that I was happy with.  The exchange after my run was pretty intense and covered in mud, cars were sliding all over the place, it made me nervous for the people who hadn't even started racing yet, it could have been really dangerous.  When our van was done with each of our legs we had a awesome place to rest.  Audra who was in our Van lived in Heber so we went to her house for beds and food.  She had so many things prepared it was amazing, the food was better than what I would normally eat!!

The best thing about Ragnar this year was being able to do it with Lauren.  Lauren and I have always wanted to do this together and we finally did.  It was so fun to see her in her element, she is an amazing runner.  Lauren has such an encouraging personality like I do and there were times when I was so bogged down on a run and then I would hear her cheering for me and telling me I was doing a great job etc., and it helped.  Lauren has been doing that for me for years, being one of my greatest supporters and it just mean so much to me.  I am grateful for her and for her influence in my life.  LOVE YOU LA LA!  Until the next Rag….