Happy Easter

Swimming Bathing Beauties

   

The Easter Bunny brought the kids swimsuits and sunglasses this year!  The kids are all stylin' in their new shades and since the weather has been sooo nice - they have already tried out their new suits on the trampoline with the sprinkler!  It's going to be a good year in the pool!

The Easter Monster

Detric's preschool asked the kids to decorate a milk jug for their Easter Baskets.  Detric wanted a red monster!  It turned out super cute!  He helped design and glue everything on - it was the only monster among a sea of bunnies...but it was the cutest one there if I do say so myself!!!

 

Lessons Learned

We had a great time at the ward Easter Activity.  And we learned 3 valuable lessons...1.  When the bishop tells you to boil hot dogs and keep them warm in a crock pot - don't do it...it's gross...but hungry people will eat them anyway!  2.  You shouldn't cut sweet potatoes when you have a migraine...Sis. Campbell chopped off the top of her finger and had to go get it sewn back on... and 3.  If you do Pre-Hunt races before the Egg Hunt, it wears out the kids, but adults...don't race the Bishop without stretching or you'll pull something like Matt Dracocardos!!!  Live and Learn!!! 

Braceless Birthday Boy

The orthodontist gave Preston a very special birthday present this year!!! He got his braces off on April 10, the day before his big day!! His smile is amazing, straight, and stunning - Preston is oh so handsome.  We can hardly believe Preston is 10... Laura is sad because Preston has now graduated to the webelos den and is no longer part of her bear den...but Preston is definitely ready to do more scouting skills!! This kid is full of fun, snuggles, and personality.  We love you Preston!

FireFighter Cake

For his birthday, Preston wanted to stay home from school and help make his birthday cake!  So, being the nice parents they are - Clay and Laura said...ok!  It was fun having Preston and Laura's combined artistic minds working together to build this masterpiece of a firefighter cake!  They were trying to figure out what to do for the mask...something that would look like clear hard plastic...and waalaa...they made hard candy and shaped it!  It turned out perfect!!  Preston have it a thumbs up...so that must be pretty good!

10 is magic

Preston knew exactly how he wanted his birthday to go... Rollos, strawberries with cool whip, and Propel for breakfast, lunch at shoguns with Dad and Mom - complete with sushi and stirfry, and then spend the afternoon making a firefighter cake at home with mom.  So far, being 10 is magic...he got all those birthday wishes!  

Happy Birthday buddy!

Race Day

The 4 crazy ladies that made it to the race were:  Brindee Loveless, Laura Ward, Julee Nielsen, and Rachel Waddell.  We had a great ladies weekend in Albuquerque where we went out to eat,  tried to scope out the race course,  talked, laughed, raced,  and recovered in the hot tub.

Laura ran the first 7 miles with Julee and then both decided to listen to music and run on our own... however Laura's bluetooth headphones wouldn't work...NONONO!!!!  Laura was soooo MAD, she had to run the remaining 6.1 miles with no buddy, no music, nothing but her thoughts...oh heaven help her.  It was HARD....finally at mile 11 Laura called Clay desperate for help to get her some music, but that didn't work either....so Laura did one step in front of the other and finished that race triumphant!  Whoo.  Next time - she is definitely not going cordless for the race- going old school but reliable with the good old ear buds!  Live and learn....

1/2 crazy ladies

They called themselves the 1/2 crazy ladies...because they are crazy enough to train and run 13.1 miles, but only 1/2 crazy because its not a full marathon....just a 1/2...."JUST A 1/2"  "Just" should never be coupled with the training Laura did to get ready for this race.   She spent hours running, cross training (Jillian Michaels' videos, swimming, weight training,etc ), and eating healthy to get ready.  Laura never thought she would actually do a 1/2 marathon...or if she did - it was going to be  at Disneyworld...but Brindee Loveless said "Lets do it" and Laura said, "OK!"  Laura said it was neat to see her body build endurance as the runs got longer and her body was able to complete the weekly tasks.   Laura followed the training schedule religiously... and there were blisters, aches, pains, and hours of dedication, running in sun, rain, wind, and treadmill pounding, but when race day came...SHE WAS READY!

**Laura designed the shirts and had them made....Laura, Brindee Lovelss, and Holly Dickman (who trained with us, but found out she was moving so couldn't do the actual race with us...sad, but we understood!) bought them and wear them with pride!!!