2nd time around

Yea!! I finished my second 1/2 marathon. This time we ran uphill for 3.5 miles, not my favorite part. It slowed me down considerably so I came in two minutes slower than my first race, darn it. I look forward to another 1/2 marathon. I need some more t-shirts.

First Day of School

Today was the big day the kids have looked forward to for weeks. But it didn't come soon enough. Last night Emilia and Katherine were awake, and made sure everyone knew it, until 2 a.m.

Katherine was excited and nervous for jr. high. Although she did miss her bus after school, the day was a success. She managed to get to every class on time, figure out lunch and stay awake the entire day. She looked darling, (see above photo) and is excited about her year as a seventh grader.

Emilia has been so excited she has made a grid with what outfit she will wear each day and what hair do. She too managed to stay awake, and got her homework done quickly after school. This year is especially exciting because she has many friends in her class.

Elliot actually slept through the drama last night and as such had a great day. He discovered that the new kid in the ward was also in his class. The only disappointment for him was that the "continuing" soccer game didn't get started. Other than that, we didn't get much feedback on what happened in his class. I guess I will just have to spy on him, one of the benefits of working at the school.

I look forward to several hours of sleep tonight. Hopefully the rest of the school year will be equally great.

Happy Birthday Katherine!

What Crazy night. I never knew 12 year old girls were so noisy, messy and odd. Thankfully they all fell asleep around 2.
Anyway, big happy 12th birthday to Katherine. I am so happy to have her as a daughter. She brings a lot of joy, entertainment, and interest into our family. I look forward to the next 12 years.

I finished!!!

I finished my first half marathon this morning. While I wasn't excited to get out of bed at 4 in the morning, it was worth it. The sense of accomplishment is great. I certainly wasn't the fastest but I beat my goal by 10 minutes. I can't say there is much in my future for running races but they certainly are not out of the picture.

24th of July

The 24th of July is always busy and fun for my family. We enjoy getting together with my Family and catching up with all the Hafen family news. Unfortunately, I only got a couple of pictures but I especially like this one of Emilia and Jakelle

Thanks to Jon and Jenica for sharing the cabin. It was nice and peaceful, even with all those kids! Thanks also to Jay and Amy. The kids loved riding on the 4 wheelers. (OK, it wasn't Emilia's favorite but then again she is my daughter and fear rules her life.)

After spending a great day with the Hafen's, we spent some time with the Roberts at Bear Lake. This means lots of time on the boat and this year plenty of time with the newest Roberts, Isabella. I have to admit, I enjoyed my time with the baby more than my time on the boat. But, it was fun to see all three kids water ski. Elliot was having some fun trying his hand at crossing the wake, Emilia thought it would be fun to try the splits while skiing (it doesn't work so well) and Katherine is close to being able to slalom. I have pictures of Elliot and Katherine, but Emilia's splits didn't give me enough time to snap a good picture.

I love to see how confident Elliot seemed to be up on the skis.

Too bad I didn't zoom in more for this picture, the look on Katherine's face while crossing the wake is pretty priceless.

I look forward to the end of July every year. Thanks to Mom and Dad Robert's for the many years at Bear Lake, and to Mom and Dad Hafen for countless summers of fun.

Now it is time to focus on school and the fall. I can't wait to begin fall clean-up in the yard. This time of year brings the weeds into my lawn. Fall means cooler temps, and hopefully snow isn't too far behind and snow means the lawn is covered and nobody needs to know about the weeds below. ( Don't hate me for loving the snow)

San Diego

We just got back from San Diego. It was fun to see Shamu (or Shamu's tricky replacement), the zoo and the beach. I think the kids had the most fun at the beach. I basically took a nap while allowing the kids to do what they thought would be fun. We ended taking back more than our fair share of the sand and a bit too much sun, but it was a lot of fun. My favorite part was going for a run on the coastal highway. I have always wanted to take a road trip up the entire coastal highway, but running a few miles of it has satisfied me for a while.

It also happened to be the San Diego county fair, so we were able to watch some great fireworks on the fourth, something we just happened in to.

We were able to meet up with Matthew's Aunt and Uncle, who live in California, for breakfast and meet Uncle Alfred's cousins. They are some very nice people and we had a nice breakfast.

However, what is usually the best part of any trip turned out to be a nightmare (literally) for me. I always like the first night home, sleeping in my own bed. But last night was awful. I couldn't sleep, my creepy legs were back, and my head felt like I had been drinking for hours (I am assuming that is what it would feel like.) Hopefully, tonight I will get that perfect night back in my own bed because on Thursday, I get to sleep in a tent again at girls camp. I am sure that will be worthy of a blog on it's own.

I am finally getting around to blogging about our Moab trip. We had a great time. (though Emilia won't admit it, she hates hiking). Below is a picture of Landscape arch. The arches are amazing to see in person.Our favorite arch was Delicate arch. What you don't see, is the big basin at the base of this arch. The arch looked, to me, like an alter at the top of a natural amphitheater. It is a pretty good hike to get there, but we made good time because Elliot ran the whole thing. Did I mention it is a fairly steep hill the whole way up? Needless to say, I fell way behind and felt a little ridiculous.
We totally recommend staying in Moab for a vacation. Great hikes, some decent places to eat, though we also recommend camping, but we don't recommend the river rafting. The Colorado river ends up being a very mellow and not exciting river to float down.