Class Reunion

It only happens every ten years, so I was mixed on going, but curiosity got me. For my ten year reunion I thought I had achieved some good things, but with my changes over the last ten years, I had to go to Rawlins. My family was not too excited to go, but I had to show them off. I knew there would be some people I would recognize and some I would have no idea who they were, but it was a great time. I went to a school that had only a few LDS students and most of my friends were not. It was fun to see the few that came, but crazy to see how many of my classmates had not changed. It was a long trip here, but worth the time to see my Cross-Country coach, visit the high school (yes, view my two school records that still stand) and to see so many of the students I spent four years with.

Pioneer Days

On the 24th of July there is a 5K run and some fun activities at the park. Darin and I decided to do the run with some friends. It was lots of fun. I don't have any pictures of the race, but will post our afternoon activities of the lake. I do have to mention the run though because we ran it in 22 minutes. I thought it was a good time and it was an improvement from Bryce 5K for Darin, so now he is looking for the low 22's or even a 21 5K. I think we have created an Animal! After the race and some fun park things, we headed to the lake with Mel and Silas and Jess and Josh. It was a lot of fun. We are not normally boat people, but I think we could get into this some, especially with the people we get to hang out with!! We all had a chance to ride the tube and the kids loved jumping into the lake and just swimming around.

Bryce Half and Coming Home

Friday night, July 17, lots of our friends came to Bryce to run the Bryce Canyon Half. It was good to see so many people after our trip around the eight states! We had a pasta dinner that night then ran the race the next morning. Darin had prepared for the 5K and did a great job. He ran it in 24 minutes and was pretty pleased with his time. He has set his sites on some other races and improving his time. Matthew' s ankle was still hurt, so he was out for the race, but became the designated photographer for the 5k and some in the half. We road the bus to the starting line of the half which started at Ruby's Inn. It was a cold morning, but I was excited for the run. My goal was to beat my Hurricane time of 1:47 and that I did. I finished this one in a 1:41. I had a great race and really enjoyed the course. It was fun to see some of the places we had visited in the two days before along the path of our run. I was doing great in the race until mile 11. I had pushed myself way too fast too early and paid the price in the end. Several people passed me toward the last mile, but I pushed on. I learned a lot with this race and will be ready for the next half I do or for sure the marathon which is coming fast. After the race we ate lunch with Mel and Silas then they headed home. We thought we were supposed to hang out with Karrie and Cherie, but the weather forced them home early. Earl and Louise had come up early to tour Bryce Canyon with us and to watch the race. They took the kids home, so with everyone gone and the heat beating us, we loaded up the trailer and headed home too. It had been a great journey of about 25 days and lots of fun, but my home was calling me. So the trip was over and we headed home!

So when our friends came to Bryce Canyon, I stopped updating my blog. Sorry about that! Thursday July 16th we decided to explore Bryce Canyon. It was a fun day starting with it being the kids' birthday. What a great place to be on Bryce's Birthday!! A crazy story did happen that day. At a few of the parks, we had the kids do the Junior Ranger Program. At Bryce Canyon, the Ranger asked for some volunteers. Six kids raised their hands with three being ours. We had been talking to a couple before the presentation. When three girls with matching shoes, similar hairstyles and similar heights all went to the front, I turned to their dad and asked him how old they were. He answered, "Eight." I said, "Triplets?" Well yes they were. What a story. With only 14 people in the presentation what are the chances there would be two sets of triplets? We took a cute picture. The dad was a teacher and they were on a six week trip from New York. That will be us in a couple years. The other cute story about our day. In that Ranger presentation the ranger asked each of the kids what their name was. Britton and Brooke were cute about telling her. When she asked Bryce, she looked twice at him when he replyed, "Bryce" What a fun trip.