What's Happening Wednesday

01. Got a Christmas card from President Bush asking for donations. Best Christmas card ever.
02. Really enjoyed going to church on Christmas. The perfect way to celebrate.
03. Tis the season for weddings. Went to two last week. It was also my sister's and parents anniversaries.
04. My first niece turned 7. It's hard to believe she's already that old. My parents will have 8 grandkids very soon.
05. Had to use the rest of my cafeteria plan before the end of the year so I bought a bunch of 1st Aid supplies. We're ready for any major injury now.
06. Been eating a bunch of junk lately, time to get back on track.
07. We're slowly building our DVD supply back up. We got a bunch for Christmas.
08. We got an air popper that I'm really excited to use.
09. Got Ryan a fun game, Split Decision, that we've played a few times.
10. Planning to run a 1/2 Marathon with my sister this summer.

My first 5k

We had a great time at the race Thanksgiving morning. There were over 4500 people participating for the Utah Food Bank. We got there early and stayed in the Mall to keep warm. Our wave started a little after 8:00. We stayed together for the most part for the first few minutes then everyone got separated as we started to pace ourselves. 

Our whole group!

Brianna and Devin

Devin and Ryan

Ryan crossing the finish line!

After the race!

My sister was near the finish line to cheer us on.

Ryan's chip didn't register with his time but according to this picture and the time we started we figure it was about 39 minutes.

My final time: 34:58. I beat my time by about 1 minute. 100 out of 273 in my age group

Brianna did not train at all but ending up 31:38 44th out of 159 in her age group, so amazing!

Everyone had a great time. I can't wait to do another one and start training for a 10k

P.S. We had a great Thanksgiving at my parents house. Devin and Brianna joined us and 3 of my cousins and their significant others were there too. We had a fun time playing games and eating yummy food!

What's Happening Wednesday

01. Canned 27 jars of chicken for the first time with my sister, 3 jars didn't seal. We think it's because the rings were old.
02. Trying to find a group of people to run a 5k on Thanksgiving, no takers yet.
03. Thinking of signing up for a 1/2 marathon in February.
04. Carved 3 pumpkins this year.
05. Looking into gym's since it's too cold for me to run outside.
06. Have a busy, busy week with a bridal shower, baby shower then 2 weddings.
07. My mom and I both got MOTAB tickets for different days so we need to decide when we're going.
08. Did not dress up for Halloween this year.
09. Ryan cleaned our carpets.
10. Go here to see my brother-in-laws families pumpkins. They're pretty great.

Father's Day

My dad plays the guitar.

 I grew up with him singing songs to us, particularly Garth Brooks. 

So naturally he's my favorite too.

Ryan has never heard him sing our favorites so on Father's Day I asked him to play for us.

We had to help him with a few lyrics, he's a little rusty so we may have to do this more often

Porter really enjoyed the songs and was dancing along.

My Dad's the best. 

I recorded a few snippets for memory sake so feel free to watch.

I love you forever, Dad.

Tea

Memorial Day

This is a few weeks behind, but I just found these pics on my phone.
We went to the Everett's house for the Memorial Break. Even though it was rainy and yucky we had a good time. We played games and had a BBQ. Before dinner most of the family went up Perry Canyon to go shooting. I opted to stay in the car, but Ryan did pretty well.

 We enjoyed watching the root beer get made...

New Year's Eve

We didn't do anything exciting this New Year's Eve, not that we ever have done anything exciting, but still, we felt like party poopers. It seemed like most of our friends just stayed home and watched the countdown as well.

Did anyone watch Travis Pastrana beat the world record? Here's the clip:



Thanks to Ryan's brother we love Nitro Circus and therefore Travis Pastrana. I read that he'd be jumping  his car New Year's Eve so we watched. It may have been the highlight of our night.

Then we watched Ryan Seacrest and all the happenings on Dick Clark's countdown. By the way, Dick Clark isn't sounding so well, is he?

Everett Family Party

The 1st Annual Everett Family Christmas Party was a success! My mother-in-law planned it and we had about 60 cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandkids show. We started out with a get to know you game, where we had to find the missing half of our Christmas card and tell the person your favorite Christmas memory. Then we had a wonderful dinner followed by the kids doing the Nativity and a craft!. Some family members shared their favorite Christmas memories. It was nice to see family that I usually only see once a year and I even met some new cousins too!

Here's the man that Ryan had to live up to, the 'real' Santa Clause hard at work!

Mr. Clause

Ryan's dad has played Santa since they were little for families and activities Now that he is Bishop it was his turn to find a Santa Clause. He asked Ryan if he would do it. Ryan was so nervous as we drove to their ward party. He said he had 'big shoes to fill' and practiced his 'Ho, Ho, Ho's.' The time came and he did great! The kids loved him and one little guy clung to him the whole time. As he left the kids all said, 'Bye Santa!' We had to barricade them so they wouldn't run after Santa and find he in fact, had no sleigh or eight reindeer. Now some pictures for your enjoyment.

Long line to see Santa

"Ho, Ho, Ho"

Alyssa's almost too big for Santa!

Devin and the boy who clung to Ryan

I may have snuck a kiss after this.

Final goodbye to the clingy boy.

He pulled it off, don't you think? All he's missing is the grey hair and white gloves.

Special

My mom may have the best calling, she is the special needs music director. I went to their Christmas performance and it was so neat. The spirit was so strong and I *may have shed a tear or two. They did the nativity and sang lots of songs and did chimes. Bless their sweet spirits!

10/30

We cut it close this year with our pumpkin carving, and did it the night before Halloween. As usual it was a great time and Ryan impressed all again with his skills. Check 'em out!

The mastermind hard at work. He bought a pumpkin carving saw this year to make it easier. It was easier, but it still took him HOURS.

Guess who?

Team Jacob?

Last, but not least...(Bella looks like she has a beard)

You'd never guess that Ryan liked Twilight would you? Don't let him surprise you. We agree on this one thing though, TEAM EDWARD! By the way, we did see 'New Moon' opening weekend and loved it! 350% better than Twilight, acting was much improved. If anyone wants to go with me again, give me a call!

I tried something different this year instead of carving, but they didn't turn out like i wanted. The pumpkins were huge so they looked a little wierd.

I helped Ryan out by cleaning out his pumpkins and found this creepy thing.

What is that?! A backbone? It really scared me and creeped me out a bit. I get the shivers looking at the picture again.

If you want to see tons of cool pumpkins check out my brother-in-laws families tradition. http://www.pumpkinslayers.com/

10/29

Some friends in our ward threw a fun Halloween party. Some games included family fued, jeopardy, and fear factor. I participated in Fear Factor by eating SPAM, which was the best option considering the others had to eat ketchup, garlic, and sardines. Boys against girls, I blame myself for our loss. Have you ever tried to chew and swallow SPAM? I gagged while it was going down and it almost all came back up! 

Rogue and Wolverine

Buddy the Elf and Jovie

Optimus Prime and Cindy Lou Who

coach and Harry Potter

Us (witch and scary guy)

Fear factor. Right before go!

The group

I had a good time doing my make-up

Mario and Princess

(I took these pictures from Jenelle's blog..thanks!)