Um, not sure what to say. Gotta love this kid- showing off some serious camera skills.

LOTOJA 2008

Lotoja was oh-so relaxing for me this year. All the crazy race day prep was replaced with Darren and I just sort of hanging out since both of us were stopping in Preston. It was fun to watch the race. I didn't miss the riding until I saw everyone finish- it is such a great accomplishment. In a sick way I enjoy being tired and sore since it represents hard work and a challenge! I hope the little guy/gal inside of me will enjoy being outside on bikes, hikes, runs...etc. I guess doing his/her first race 4 months in utero is a good start!

Sealed the Deal

JoJo and Chris got married last weekend. We went up to Price on Thursday night so that we could spend the day playing there before the reception. We packed the kids' bikes and they spent some time at the BMX race track. We had a fun picnic at the dino park and then spent a good part of the afternoon keeping Darren and Grandpa busy giving 4-wheeler rides. We spent most of the night at the reception chasing after crazy kids or at least pretending like we were keeping track of them. Check out the picture of the bride and groom- if you look closely at the cake you can see the cyclist on top. Joanna surprised Chris with that.

The next day was great. All of the siblings from both sides were at the ceremony in the SLC temple. Then there was a nice dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial bldg. Once again, chasing kids or at least pretending like we were.

Joanna looked awesome and the new couple make a great pair. We are so happy that Chris is in our family now. The Threshers are great. Happy life!

In July we went to a family get-together for the Hanson fam. (Grandma Bailey's side) How cool is by Grandma Hanson! The kids all call her "Great". She has something like 50 great-grandkids.


We got to see and play with all of our cousins. Here is a picture of Uncle J-Dog and Jackson and Bowen.


Ethan caught his first fish in the Pioneer Park pond.


One of my cousin's husband launched candy out of a cannon. The kids went chasing all over for the goods.


Darren and Keaton enjoying the awesome weather...and some salt water taffy.

One your marks...

The annual Mount Charleston Hill Climb is always sooo fun! Due to big bellies all around (just kidding, Darren), this year the only racers from the Bryan team were Ethan and Blake...in the kid's race. Darren and the boys camped the night before with some friends and then I met them up there in the morning to get ready for all the festivities that our bike team had planned. They still mustered up enough energy to do the race and go home feeling like winners. I love it!
Pictures: Ethan had his "race face" on. Blake is one of the three kids in the blue shirts- the furthest to the right.

Camp Out

Darren took Ethan and Blake camping a few weekends ago. They went with lots of fun friends and good times were had by all. I thought it was especially fitting that our boys ate tin foil dinners stocked by KFC and the Threshers had homemade good by Grandpa! I was very impressed with camp set up- they even had a light hanging, rigged above the main area so they could see after sun down. Ethan and Blake were both tired at their soccer games the next day but both said it was worth it!

Buddies

Aunt Joanna is getting married to a really cool guy named Christopher Thresher. We are good friends with Chris' brother and his wife, Al and Myndi. We had them and a few friends over for a swim party earlier this month and I failed to get very many pictures aside from this picture of Keaton and Colton playing on deck and the older kids busy doing swimming races. Al and Myndi have 4 boys and my kiddos love to do things with them. Ethan and Blake think that they will be cousins once the knot is tied at the end of this month. Yeah!