Joyschool Graduation

Carolyn's house Wednesday, May 28th. "They Wanted Me" is another cheesy Joyschool song but the message is a good one. I think Emily is singing as she twirls and she has a grand finish.

Carlie Got Married

My little sister Carlie got married to her high school sweetheart Kade Rapier on Saturday May 24th. They got married in the Mesa Arizona Temple and they were so in love! That was the first time Bryan and I had been back to there, the same place we got married 6 years ago. We were definitely enjoying the feelings of love all weekend.

We drove down on Thursday and stayed with my cousin Celeste. Friday we went to the temple with Carlie for her first time and afterwards attended a family dinner.

Saturday morning it rained just enough to cool things off and they had perfect weather for the day.
The reception was in Tucson at a country club and was a nice evening. The Rapier family put on a play telling the love story of Carlie and Kade at the reception which made for an entertaining night.


Monday we safely drove home 14 hours and took my mom Holly back home to Utah with us. She gets to stay with us for two weeks and play!

I believe there are angels among us

Last weekend we took a trip to Fort Collins, Colorado for Bryan's cousin Kristen's wedding. We left Friday the 9th around 11am and expected to get in about 8pm. Five miles east of Evanston, Wyoming we got in a wreck on the freeway. I was driving and came up on a hail storm. I was driving in the right lane in cruise control at 75 mph and slide off the road hydro-planing, headed for the middle. What happened next was the longest 10 seconds of my and Bryan's life. We spun counter clockwise, crossed a lane of traffic and the passenger-side back door smashed a metal reflector pole. We finished our crash with our back right side of the car hitting the metal barrier separating the two directions of traffic. AND WE ARE ALL OKAY! We were saved by 8 feet of thick sand off the side of the road and some tough guardian angels. We were able to drive away from our 75 mph wreck with no injuries and minor car damage. Can you even believe it? Bryan started screaming as soon as we started spinning and I started screaming when I realized that the brakes weren't working, but the girls were fine until it was all over. Emily was so excited for our trip that when she realized our car was facing the wrong way after the crash she started bawling because we weren't going the right way to Colorado anymore. We drove back into Evanston and got our the car's alignment fixed, got two tires and we were on our way.
On Saturday while we were waiting between the luncheon and reception we all went to Denver's Aquarium. Emily thought it was neat and the grownups were amazed, but Ashley hated it. Here are our fishy faces-

May Days

Bryan's step-aunt Ann Hanks got married at Bountiful Temple on Friday May 2nd. Bryan, Spencer and their dad went up to the sealing and the girls and I were planning on going up after for the pictures. We were in the car one minute all dressed nice when Ashley threw-up. Needless to say we didn't go to the temple then but Emily felt fine and was so sad she couldn't go, Bryan took her on a separate trip after they came home. Emily and her daddy walked around the house of God for 40 minutes and she loved every minute of it. She was pretty reverent and at one point she stopped Bryan and said, "Daddy, I can feel the Holy Ghost!" She loved the temple so much she just stopped and laid down in a sunny spot for a while. She was very sad she couldn't go all the way in but she loved what she could see. Definite highlight for both she and Bryan.

Ashley having a cracker snack one night. She looks so grown up these days! The sweater is her new favorite thing to wear over her jammies to bed.




This is a Joyschool field trip to the fire station. The kids loved to sit in the captain's seat- the most important seat. Emily liked firefighter Keri a lot.

I did it!

SLC 1/2 marathon results: 2 hours 10 minutes 7 seconds- 13.1 miles at 9:56 each mile. My running partner Abbi and I ran together the whole time. Every 2 miles we saw Bryan on his bike where he took pictures and cheered. We felt good physically the whole time. Mile 11-12 was the toughest. We sprinted the last 1/2 mile to the finish line and felt like we finished strong. The rest of the day was pretty low key- nap, reading to the kids, went on a date, and talked to family. Bryan was the best cheerleader during the race and afterwards he cooked all weekend and even gave me a massage on my sore muscles. Shout-out to my sweetie!
A correction on my previous post, the Moab 1/2 marathon I did in 2007 was 2 hours 27 minutes.

Countdown to 1/2 marathon

It's coming this Saturday- 13.1 miles. It will be the SLC marathon and the race begins at 7am. Actually we'll be getting up at 5 am to get ready, drive to the shuttles, get to the race start and go to the bathroom. The runners will be me, my running partner/ neighbor Abbi Cox, my uncle Bill, Abbi's husband Chad and three of her in-laws- 7 runners in all. Already I am getting excited and nervous. Today we ran our last pre-race run. There is a small chance of rain this weekend so if you could just all cross your fingers we'll not be dumped on, that would be great! The cheerleaders will be Bryan and my aunt Amy. The girls will be home asleep with my cousin Hannah during most of the race. My previous 1/2 marathon was in March 2007 and my time was 2 hours and 22 minutes. It would awesome if I could get under 2 hours, but my goal really is just to cross the finish line. My left toe pain is under control with a special get foot pad my doctor recommended. I am pretty sure this will be my last race, but that's what I thought last time too. I won't ever do a full marathon as I think it's not good on your body and consumes too much time for training.

VACATION!

We planned and talked about it for 6 months and it came and went so fast. We had a great trip! Surprisingly it was me and not Bryan that had the hardest time letting go of home and routine. We had Bryan's mom Barbara here taking care of the girls and all went well. The girls will miss her. We definitely felt relaxed and appreciated the chance to go. We were gone 7 days: 3 1/2 on the cruise and 3 1/2 in Zions National Park/ southern Utah.
Thursday we left at noon and drove south on I-15. We stopped in Las Vegas and had dinner with my college roommate Jana. Big points for Bryan to let me chat for a couple hours! We stayed the night in Primm, Nevada at a wanna-be-Vegas white-trash hotel. It was good quality and an awesome deal- we got a top floor suite with a jacuzzi for $75!
Friday we drove into CA and maneuvered into San Pedro around 1pm. We found World Cruise Pier and started off our journey finding out we got upgraded on our room for free! We got moved to 10th deck-the only one with a balcony. They said that never happens on a full ship and it was similar to winning the lotto. Then we made our way to deck 11 with the food- the eat all day and all night awesome food as much as you want place. And boy did we eat. We ate dessert after breakfast, lunch and the 5 course dinner. And pizza at midnight. We took the stairs lots and went running once so we didn't feel one bit of guilt either!
Saturday- Ensenada, Mexico and our shore excursion! We booked ourselves on a Rhino tour (no there are not wild rhinoceroses in Mexico, it's a small jeep). It was an amazing experience to go into the rural countryside of this city. I hope I can retain what I saw for a long time. Most of these people had no running water, no flushing toilets, no vehicles, no good roads, no good tools and they were the friendliest people. We walked along the streets after our tour and bought chiclets (gum), pork tacos, 2 bright pink guitars and Bryan got necklaces. We loved practicing Spanish again and loved mingling with the people. We left feeling so grateful and appreciative of our blessings. We felt some shame too coming from such luxury to such poverty. Very grateful for the experience.

Sunday Bryan, uncle Bill and I participated in a rock climbing contest. We had a 30 foot high outside climbing wall on the 12th floor of our ship. The winner was the fastest up. I took 2nd place in the women's group with 22 seconds, the girl in 1st place 20 secs. Bryan got 6th place with 14 seconds and uncle Bill took 1st with 7 seconds. We tried to go swing dancing but I got a little seasick. I took some meds and got feeling lots better. This was the night Bryan and I ate escargot (snails) at dinner.Monday we ate one last huge breakfast, left the boat and drove to Zions. Our hopes for a warm get-a-way were completely dashed with our arrival. We didn't get into our swimsuits once on the cruise because it was too windy and we show into Zions to some SNOW. :( This was the day I slept 8 hours the night before, took a 2 hour nap, then a 1 hour nap and went to bed and slept 10 hours. True vacation.
Tuesday we hiked Angel's Landing. I didn't know beforehand, but when you say that to someone who knows what that is, this should elicit a "WOW" response. It's a strenuous, intense hike that is for sure memorable. It was 2.5 miles up and you climb to the top at 1,500 feet with a little ledge you sit on with sheer cliffs down on all sides. To hike the last 1/2 mile, you hold onto chains they have bolted into the rock. Bryan said it was scarier this time hiking it because he was worried about my safety- he's a cutie!

Wednesday we took two more smaller hikes around Zions. We got some plant books and became educated about trees and plants. We're basically arborists now. We encountered hail at the end of our last hike. We drove to Nephi, Utah and finally pulled out our swimsuits to use the indoor hot tub. We woke up with 2 inches of snow on our car. The grand finale to our cold vacation.

Thursday we bought a bass guitar for me from the classified ads. I am officially the bass player in the new band EPP (EastPointe Project). We got home at noon and found our car we left had a dead battery, the fish tank was disgusting, laundry, bills, etc. So long vacation- I already miss you.