Happy 94th Birthday Grandma

I wanted to give a little tribute to my Grandma, Erma Irene Bates, on her 94th birthday today. She is an amazing woman. Although she has been blind for years and suffered numerous health problems, she continues to have a positive attitude and always serves those around her.

I have so many memories of driving to Spokane with my family and visiting with her and Grandpa. For years Grandpa ran a dairy and so ice-cream, cottage cheese, and cream with raspberries from their garden were always served in her cozy kitchen. This kitchen is magical because Grandma collects colored glass items that she puts in her big window. She would come wake us early in the morning as the sun came up and shone through the glass so we could come see the "rainbows". We would always work on projects, usually working with pressed flowers from her flower gardens. I think what Grandma is most proud of is all the thousands of handmade bookmarks made out of her pressed flowers that she has sent around the world with missionaries that said "I am a Child of God". Even when her eyes failed her she would continue to work on these bookmarks by touch knowing that someone somewhere would receive them and would perhaps feel a little more loved because of it. I am not sure if she still works on them now but I am sure she continues to work on some kind of project as Grandma is not one to just sit around.

Also, I have mention how amazing my Grandpa is too. The last time I went up to visit them a couple of years ago, he was walking a mile or two every day and checking in on the welfare of his "elderly" neighbors (who happened to be younger than him!). He takes care of Grandma with so much love. These pictures kind of say it all.

So, I just wanted to say how much I love my Grandma and Grandpa and Happy Birthday Grandma - you're amazing!

Riding Horses

Riding Grandpa Bailey's Horses

Today we went out to Grandpa and Grandma Bailey's and rode horses. Erin has never been riding and has been asking for quite a while to go. I don't think she realized how big they were until it was time to get on. She was a little nervous the whole time and I don't know if the experience met her expectations, as you can tell by her face. Luckily the neighbors have a little pony and had offered for her to ride him as well, which she loved.

It was fun to see the kids take turns riding Strawberry and Snooks around the corral, although the older boys are ready to graduate from riding in circles and go on a trail ride with Grandpa.

Oh, on a safety note, the kids should have been wearing helmets but I spaced it and left them at home. I will be a more responsible parent and bring them next time!

Bear Lake Memories

A Christensen Weekend at Bear Lake

This last weekend we had a Christensen family reunion of sorts up at Bear Lake. Bill's parents have a cabin up there on the waterfront that is just amazing. In my family there are 4 girls: Heidi is the oldest, then me, Gina, and then Amy. All of us live in Utah except Amy and her husband, Sam, who live up near Olympia, WA. It has become a rare occurance for us to all get together so this was a real treat.

The first day was filled with sand....

La Beau's burgers and shakes....

...and a Dance Dance Revolution tournement. (This is me losing to my brother-in-law, Greg!)


The next day was filled with.....

...more sand,

riding the sea-doo (Amy and Greg),

searching for buried treasure with Grandpa's metal detector,

riding in the canoe, and lots, and lots of swimming. The next day we headed a half hour north to see mysterious Minnetonka Cave. It was a good thing since many were nursing sunburns from two days straight at the beach. The caves are really cool - lots of stalagmites and stalagtites. It is a half mile walk inside with distinct "rooms" that have many different geological formations:

Heidi smiling for the camera....
This is Gina and I touching the only formation in the entire cave you are allowed to touch. You can probably notice that the kids look a little chilly. The cave is a constant 40 degrees year-round. That evening we all walked down to the beach at sunset. Some crazy ones got in the water while others just enjoyed the cool breeze and a few sparklers.

Bill and I
Greg and Gina (Greg was one of the crazy ones.) Sam and Amy


Sunday morning Grandma gave a little primary lesson,and Grandma and Grandpa danced the jitterbug.

Check out my slideshow for more pictures. Thanks for the memories, everyone - we miss you already, Sam and Amy!

Echo Triathlon

Me at the finish! (You can see how excited these people were as I came in.)

Tiff and I

Below is a picture of the swim. It's hard to tell but those little dots are swimmers. You have to swim out around the buoys .

On Saturday I participated in a triathlon at the beautiful Echo Reservoir near Coalville. I think about 800 people participated. For those not familiar to triathlon, there are four major distances: sprint, olympic, half-Ironman, and Ironman. I have not and probably will never try an ironman because you have to enjoy all the training. This intails being on your bike for 3 to 5 hours at a time, and running for hours, which I wouldn't enjoy week after week. The only part of an Ironman that seems do-able to me is the swim. Anyway, the Ironman distance is 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. The half-Iron is, of course, half the Ironman distance. The olympic distance is a 1 mile swim, 24 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. The sprint distance is half the olympic distance.

I did the sprint distance on Saturday and let me just tell you how fun it is! You don't have to train a lot for this distance and then you feel so good when you are done. I just have never done well in an olympic distance because I don't know how to fuel properly. I never want to eat anything and then pay for it halfway through the race when I have completely lost all my energy. It might be fun if I could just figure that part out. I did this race with a good friend of mine, Tiffany. Also, another friend happened to be there cheering on her dad and she was able to take these pictures of me and the race - thanks, Lisa!

Triathlons are addicting. After a race you want to sign up for the next one because you just know you could go a little faster the next time.

Happy 12th Birthday, Alex!

Today was Alex's birthday. He invited friends over yesterday to go see a movie (Ironman, which was really good, by the way) and then over for pizza, cake, and games (basketball and Super Smash Bros). It was quite interesting to hear a Suburban full of seven 12 year old boys arguing over which superhero is cooler and who could take on who. Anyway, then today he opened his present from us which I think he loved (an Ipod nano, pictured above). He received his Faith in God award today and was also ordained a deacon and received the priethood by his dad. Both Grandpa Bailey and Grandpa Christensen were able to be there. We then came back for his favorite dinner of Cafe Rio sweet pork. It was a very special day. He has waited so long to be 12 and go to Young Men's for church. Now, next stop, Junior High......

Goofballs

The other morning I left my swim bag out and Erin and Ben found it and decided to try it's contents on for size. In case you were wondering, Erin is wearing the swim paddles I use to strengthen arms and the fins for working the legs.

Ben will probably be mad at me for posting this picture, but I thought it's an opportunity to show his funny side. I just wish I could post the laughter that ensued after.

The sad thing is, this is about what I look like when I swim laps, but trust me, not as cute...

Summer Colors

I love the bright colors of summer. The other day while we were working in the yard Bill took these pictures of some of the flowers in our yard. I have really enjoyed our patio this summer and dispite the fact our backyard faces NW and the sun beats in pretty hard in the evening, I just put up some umbrellas and sit in the shade with a glass of icewater or a fruit smoothie. The flowers are all so pretty right now and I am really enjoying them. By mid August I am ready for fall and I don't appreciate them as much - I guess I am tired of watering all the hanging baskets and I am ready for cooler temperatures. But for now, I will just kick back and enjoy.

This is the Life!

Our next door neighbor, Jan, invited us to go swim at her son's pool last Saturday. The kids had so much fun! Now if I could just convince Bill to change our basketball court into a swimming pool.....

July 4th

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We started out the day with a 5k run. Bill, me, Alex, and Austin ran the Layton Liberty Days Fun Run. Ben originally signed up but went to bed the night before with a slight stomach ache which unfortunately was still there in the morning. Without a second thought, Alex volunteered to fill in for him. Everyone did great: Bill finished in 20 minutes (shattering his previous personal best of 22 minutes), Alex finished in 33 minutes, and Austin and I finished in 51 minutes. I was proud of Austin for wanting to try the 5k - I just think he didn't realize how far 3 miles really is. I knew we were in a little trouble when we had been running just 2 minutes and he asked if we had gone a mile yet. By mile 2.5, I was motivating (bribing) him with a trip to the fireworks stand and the possibility of picking out whatever he wanted (under $5, of course). That helped to get a little spring in his step and enough energy to pass a couple of straggling kids and not be dead last. Overall, it was a fun race to do.

We then went to breakfast and the local Layton parade. We cheered for our neighbor and good friend, Keith Bagley, who had been selected as a Hometown Hero and was invited to ride in the parade.

Then it was off to visit our good friend Angie who had her baby the night before. The kids were so excited to see little Brady and each wanted a turn to hold him. He is such a little cutie.

That night we had a little barbeque and lit fireworks with our good friends the Francis and Hess Families. I have to say I was surprised at how sparklers, little smoke bombs, and pop-its are still the favorites of all the kids. Who needs the $20-a-pop illegal stuff? Our evening of fountains and sparklers were big crowd pleasers.