My Cousin Jay

My cousin is missing. He left for a hike on Wednesday AM and hasn't been heard from since. My siblings and in-laws and other family members were searching for him yesterday. He is a diabetic and so we are all so worried about him. He is the father of 6 and has a wonderful family! His oldest son left the MTC on Monday for Sweden. We need all the prayers we can get. The media has done a great job with updates. Click here for to read more about the search efforts.

I have been on the phone, pacing, and checking email several times an hour.

Aspen Grove Family Reunion

We had a wonderful week at Aspen Grove . It was a great week catching up with my extended family.

Some traditions we have:

Group family picture .... I believe there were over 100 of us this year. A professional photographer takes the real picture, but here we are getting ready in our matching shirts color coded according to generation -- Grandma and Don in red, Grandma's children in green, grandchildren in brown, and great-grandchildren in blue. (Thanks to my cousin Tami for this great picture off her blog.)

Remembering an ancestor
The past few times we have gotten together the family in-charge has chosen an ancestor to remember. This year was Norm & Verna Gardner. My Great-Grandparents .... my father's parents. My aunt Diane and Uncle Don's family made us each a little card with this great picture. My Grandfather is the tall one on the back row in the bottom picture.

Rook
My family LOVES the game Rook. We don't play the traditional rules. In fact, I know of no where that the rules are even written down. They just keep getting passed down generation to generation. It is highly addicting and we can sit around for way too many hours talking about games played and hands dealt days, weeks, months and even years ago.

My Grandma told the story of how when she first met my Grandpa they introduced her to this stupid game called Rook. There was no way she was ever going to be a part of it and was disgusted that they would stay up all hours of the night playing such a dumb game. Even worse his family could talk about games and hands dealt days, weeks, months and even years ago. We all got a good laugh.

More July 4th Fun

We went boating and had dinner at the Deer Creek. We have started spending the night of the 4th of July at the lake. That is the time most people head home to bbq and do fireworks so that means we have the lake to ourselves! We had almost the whole family at the Lake minus Norm and Diane and their boys and Darrell.

Run Run Run as Fast as You Can

Wow! Don't we look great? Joe, Julianne, Laura, Jen, and Sharon after crossing the finish line


So Joe and I ran the Freedom Run on July 4th in Provo, UT. My sisters Sharon and Laura and our friend Jen also ran it. We all are looking so lovely. Joe and I felt really good about our finish times. My personal badge of honor is that I beat my 2 marathon running sisters across the finish line. YEAH for ME!!!! OK now truth be told ... Joe and I ran the 5K and they ran the 10K so really there is nothing to shout about except that when I have run with my sisters before they are usually waiting and waiting and waiting for me to finish.

This was Joe's first experience running a race. The 5K and 10K routes were similar but the 10K route weaved in and out of some extra blocks to make it long enough. Joe tells the story best about this one guy that kept passing him during the race. Joe was running along and noticed this macho running guy pass him and then turned the corner to do the extra 10K route and then a few minutes later he passes Joe again. I think this happened 3 times and in Joe's words, "I wanted to trip the guy."

Joey is the Winner!

At swim team practice yesterday Joey got an award for coming in 2nd place in his age division for the back stroke at the swim meet! He is so proud of himself and we are proud of him, too. Does it really matter that there were only 2 competing in his race???

Roar for Orem High

We went to Joe's 20 year class reunion this weekend! It was actually a lot more enjoyable than I expected. Loved all the Bruin bashing that went on .... NOT. I was amazed at how many people I actually knew -- people I met in college and a co-worker from Sugar Shack.

We also walked through the school because they are in the process of building a new one and will tear down the old school.

We found Uncle Sammy's office!

AWWWWW the memories of high school

Joey the Swimmer

Saturday we spent a good part of the day in Mesquite at Joey's first swim meet. We are so proud of him! He did the 25 meter backstroke and the 25 meter free style. He is the youngest on the team and did very well!

Here is is at getting ready to warm up

Doing the backstroke



One of Joey's favorite parts was getting his event, heat, & lane number written on his hand ... and also the Tiger Woods Gatorade.


Here are pictures from his freestyle

Yeah! Joey go, go, go!!!!