My sisters and I like to run. A lot. When we were kids, one of our favorite things to do on Sunday afternoons was have our mom time us with the Strawberry Shortcake watch while we raced each other around the house. Since I'm the middle sis, I got to be on the track team with both of them in high school. I wish I lived right by them so we could run together every morning. We were pretty excited to run Ragnar together with some of our friends. It's such a fun race. I can't wait for next year.
My sisters and I with Suzanne, who babysat us a lot when we were kids. She was kind of like another big sister. And she's lots of fun to have on your team.
I convinced my best childhood friend, Brooke, to run. I promised her we would give her the an easy leg, which we tried to do. But the sneaky Ragnar people kept changing her route and she somehow managed to gain about 7 miles by the end of all the changes. Promise not kept, but she did great anyway. Especially on her middle leg when no one from our team was even at the exchange to meet her since she ran it about 15 minutes faster than her predicted time. Oops.
Kelli convinced her best friend from high school, Traci, to run with us too. They were only a year older than me in school, so it was fun to hang out with her again and felt like a high school reunion.
And here's our entire team - the Lime Rookies - at the finish line. Hooray!
Favorite Ragnar 2011 Memories:-Setting up camp in the Morgan High School auditorium, laying down to sleep, and the phone ringing 45 minutes later to tell us it was time to get to our next exchange.
-The mess Karlee was surrounded by when we were leaving Morgan High School. I think she decided that moment was a good time to clean out her purse. It made me smile.
-That Karlee was bugged when she thought the Ragnar people shorted her a mile on her first leg. Who gets upset about that, especially since it was uphill?
-The moment when I realized that the Ragnar people had changed my second leg from 9 miles to 10 miles. That's something to get upset about. Especially when you have to run it at 3:00 in the morning. Sneaky sneaky sneaky.
-How terrified to run in the middle of the night Kelli was and how she was plotting the whole time about how she would find a pack to run with. And then how much she loved that run even though for three miles of it she didn't see another runner.
-My parents bringing us snacks and drinks every couple of stops.
-My annoying pants that I ran with for the entire 10 miles when Suzanne came to the exchange before I was ready and I forgot to take them off.
-Brooke being left at the exchange line alone because she ran so fast. We just weren't ready for her.
-Laughing hysterically at everything we said since we hadn't slept for so long.
-Pretending we were going to call in the other vans on the tattle-tale line whenever we saw them breaking a rule.
-How Traci hated the color of our lime shirts until she saw some of the ridiculous costumes other teams were wearing and how nice it was to be able to spot our runners in their lime shirts.
-How nice it was to crash at Brooke's house for a few hours before our last legs. It's amazing what one hour of sleep and a quick shower will do for you.
-Karlee getting sick of Kelli and I whining about having to run up Guardsman Pass and telling us (nicely), "it's not like it's Everest." True. Still steep though. And whining is fun sometimes.
-How bummed I was when I saw Adam, the runner from the team we were hoping to beat, at the starting line with me at our last leg. And how excited I was when I beat him to the top of that leg.
-Seeing my parents sneak up Guardsman Pass in their car. They like to cheer for us and just couldn't stand not to cheer us up and down that hill.
-Passing people on Guardsman Pass. It is just so much fun to pass other runners. And not to brag, but I passed a whole bunch of them on that hill.
-How good it felt to slap the bracelet on Kelli's wrist and be finished running up that hill.
-How excited Kelli was when she finished her run up that hill.
-How it seemed like Karlee would just roll right down the mountain on her last leg because it was so steep. Scary!
-How excited everyone was at the last exchange. The runners were coming in super fast off their hill and it was fun to see them hand-off to the last runner.
-That when I tried to convince Floyd to run it next year and told him that we would give him the easiest legs, his response was, "Great. I can do something I hate and be the worst at it." Made me smile.
It was seriously so much fun. Thanks Kelli for organizing our team. Please do it next year too.
P.S. I almost forgot my favorite funny memory. One of our teammates, Jenny, has a son serving a mission. She joined our team at the last minute when we were suddenly short one team member. One time when we were cheering for her, I said to Kelli, "so Jenny has a missionary?" Karlee, in a somewhat disgusted voice, replied incredulously, "Jenny has a missionary?" She was a bit confused about what kind of a missionary I was referring to and thought that Jenny had a boyfriend on a mission. The cradle robber.
My sisters and I with Suzanne, who babysat us a lot when we were kids. She was kind of like another big sister. And she's lots of fun to have on your team.
I convinced my best childhood friend, Brooke, to run. I promised her we would give her the an easy leg, which we tried to do. But the sneaky Ragnar people kept changing her route and she somehow managed to gain about 7 miles by the end of all the changes. Promise not kept, but she did great anyway. Especially on her middle leg when no one from our team was even at the exchange to meet her since she ran it about 15 minutes faster than her predicted time. Oops.
Kelli convinced her best friend from high school, Traci, to run with us too. They were only a year older than me in school, so it was fun to hang out with her again and felt like a high school reunion.
And here's our entire team - the Lime Rookies - at the finish line. Hooray!
1) Today is his half birthday, making him 6 1/2 years old which also means that as of today, he is closer to being a teenager than being a newborn baby. Yikes! I'm obviously not looking forward to the teen years, so this is not good news to me.
2) See that shirt I'm wearing in the picture above? It's his. While folding clothes, I had to check the tag to see if it was mine or his, so then I tried it on. Minus the sleeves, it fit pretty good. So, I embarrassed Floyd a bit and wore this ensemble when we went to Lowe's as a family later that evening. But the sad thing is, nobody even looked at me weird because it fits so well.
3) The most amazing thing happened last night. Cole gave a Pokémon card with the neighbor girl without even being asked by her or told by me to share it. And he doesn't even like that particular neighbor girl. I nearly fainted. It has taken 6 1/2 years, but it looks like he might actually be learning to share. Hooray!
We have so much fun watching them all play together. They give each other hugs, work on toys together, follow each other around, and somehow seem to know that they are a little pack. I love it. I can't wait to see their friendship through the years. I also love seeing how different their little personalities already are. Ben, as mentioned previously, is a wanderlust that can't sit still for any period of time and is always climbing into things. Kaden is a determined little chap and you can almost see his mind working as he figures out how to do things. And sweet little Claire is a dainty little angel who will happily snuggle in anyone's arms and has been known to fake cry when one of the boys takes a toy from her.
But mostly what I love - watching them fight over Grandma Rose. She is a hot commodity when they are around and it is quite a battle to see who gets to be held. I think she likes it.
***Please note: It has been scientifically proven impossible to get three one-year-olds looking at the camera at the same time.***
If you happen to know anyone getting married this month, Annie would love to be a flower "gil" for them. I'd curl her hair and everything, so let us know. 
I was getting a little worried about the uncooperative spring weather this year, but Saturday was the designated party day and the weather was excellent - not too hot, not too cold. I was born at such a lovely time of year.
My sisters and I rode the top of the mountain trail on our bikes. It is such a fun ride. The Indian Paintbrush was seriously blazing this year. It's my favorite wildflower, so that made me smile.
The best part of going to the ranch is that the kids just run wild in the great outdoors, so other than keeping Ben out of dangerous spots, I had to do very little parenting. What a great way to start summer.
This is about the most I saw of Cole out there. He was a busy boy checking out carcasses and trying to find an eagle
