Father's Day (and a Little Reminder From Mother's Day)

Happy Father's Day to R - and all those fatherly people in my life! I have many, you know. I am really blessed to have a father, a step-father, a father-in-law, the memories of a wonderful grandfather and great-Grandfather, and the father of my beautiful children (all I'm missing is an adoptive father and a Godfather... then I'd have it all!). While I love and appreciate each father in my life, I'm most thankful today and everyday for my husband. R is the kind of dad any kid would wish for. It makes my heart FULL to know my children are loved, taught, adored, disciplined, teased and understood by their dad.

I neglected to post the pictures we took on Mother's Day before. My request on Mother's Day was to have everyone help me make strawberry jam. It was a lot of fun and we are still enjoying the fruits of our labor!

I should also add that I have the best Mom ever. Love you, Mom. I'm also so thankful for all the incredible examples of mothers that I have the benefit of knowing and learning from. There are way too many to ever list!

Some Random Pics

This fancy, little fungus in currently growing in our backyard. I think it looks crazy cool!

L came out of the house yesterday wearing this outfit. She told us that her inspiration for this particular look was "a mom from Arizona". Makes sense.

Q has earned his Wolf badge (as well as several arrow badges) and because he is also nine years old, he advances to the Bear Den. Way to go, Q!

View from our campsite at Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah.

Q, D and L with their cousin K - she's so cool; we love her!

One of many mood swings D experienced on the trip.

I shouldn't have doubted him; here at the ends of the earth.

It was very windy while we were setting up tents - it was a group effort just to keep the tent from blowing away!

Kiddos plus cousins, M & M.

Much like Dorothy followed the yellow brick road, we followed the cairns along the many trails.

R's sister, K and family (minus two other lovely daughters who couldn't make the trip).

R's sister, B and family.

All the cousins at the entrance of Arches NP in Utah.

L - The Three Gossips in the background.

Q and R at Delicate Arch.

Hard Work Pays Off

What else is summer for than to use one's free time to accomplish interesting and fulfilling projects? Q has applied his free time, and tongue muscle, to get to the center of his massive jawbreaker. I think his efforts have really paid off...

10K - Santa Fe Style

Last weekend a couple of friends and I ran in the Santa Fe Run-Around 10K. The course was two 5K loops beginning (and ending, of course) at The Santa Fe Plaza. The first half of the loop was pretty much all up-hill. Not too bad since that meant the second half of the loop was all down-hill. As one of my friends suggested, if the race had ended on the up-hill portion, our opinion of the event would not have been favorable. ;) We completed the course in 1:02:50 and mostly really enjoyed ourselves.

If there had been awards for the best spectator, R would have won, no doubt! He found us three or four times along the course to cheer us on, then at the finish line, too. He's so supportive and is really proud of anything I accomplish. Sometimes I'll say, "Look, honey; I mopped the floor." and he'll get so excited! Ha, ha, ha - really, he is my biggest fan and I feel very blessed to have him cheering me on.

Afterward, the kids ran in a 1K race. We had registered Q & L but didn't think D would be able to complete the distance. He was absolutely adamant that he should have a chance to try. I gave him my race number and R planned to run with him. Luckily, they offered a much shorter distance for the smaller runners so D was able to complete his run without being carried or coerced!

After the race we walked around Santa Fe and ate lunch at a great, little restaurant (and I do mean little; you had to duck down to get through several of the building's thresholds - very cozy!).

Due to sore knees and a minor foot issue, I am taking a short hiatus from running. I'm so bummed because I've really enjoyed the early morning runs with my fabulous running partners (there isn't much that could force me out of bed at 5:30 am)! Thanks for a great run, ladies! See you out there before too long - don't get too fast while I'm gone. :)

We stopped in to look at this really beautiful cathedral (I can't remember the name). This picture doesn't exactly represent how amazing this building was, but it's the only one that wasn't blurry!)