Birthday Boy

Meet the Handsome Birthday Boy 28 WHOO HOO!

At his Birthday BBQ grilling at his best

Meet Porter our 'nephew' sort of ha he was eating beans at Costa Vita and had us all laughing

Ray at I Fly Utah on his birthday... much better than jumping from a plane if you ask me

Ray prepping to fly :) Love the Orange Goggles

Ray, Porter, Tyrel, & Silas at the b-day bbq waiting to help blow out candles

Last but not least our cousin Brodie came home last Wed from Argentina I love this picture of him with our nephew Tyke.. WELCOME HOME BRODIE!

That is our week in a nut shell Brodie came home, Ray turned 28, we had a bbq, went to I fly Utah, had dinner with a bunch of our at Lonestar for the Birthday Boy, a giant sleepover with our family, Brodies homecoming, and a family get together on Sunday night with the Aunts... and a few more things to add but a few pics to tell :)

This week Moab 1/2 here we come!

Happee Birthday to my Handsome Husband!

Doctors Orders

Our big race is in just 16 days away... Moab here we come! Under the doctors orders I am sad to announce that I will be dropping down to 5 miles rather than the 13 we have been training for. Because of fertility things I have to keep my heart rate under 150 and am only supposed to do 'low impact' exercise... is there such a thing? I'm a little sad about it but we have come to the conclusion there will always be more races and our running journey is just beginning.

So the good part of this is I can keep my heart rate down for 5 miles... and I get to see Ray finish rather than be the last one in :). The bad news is we have trained so hard and I feel like I am being jipped a little. So it has become a hope of children and running for our angel ... I can have both but not together so until the race... Happee Running!

A Thoughtful Gift

Last week was INSANE at work, Ray was sick with a nasty cold, our car had some issues, and running was more than I felt I could handle even with it being a short week. So I came home from work on Friday put my things down and on the table looked at the mail and there was a package from the R house... those of you who don't know what the R house is it is for families hoping to adopt.. a website for adoption stories and adoption hopefuls. I have only looked at it a few times and its inspiring. Adoption seems to be coming up a lot for our little family the last few weeks... anyway I opened the package and inside was this...
This beautiful necklace! A gift from a secret someone reminding me that We can do hard things. To say the least this ever so thoughtful gift was just the boost I needed at the end of an eventful week. I wish I would have had a camera while opening it I was so surprised (a hard task to do because I don't really like surprises) I was overwhelmed with gratitude that someone would send such a gift to me. Someone who knows that was just what I needed to keep going and a wonderful reminder of what my new years resolution is.

So to Kayla the secret someone (she asked for my addy last week that is the only way I knew it was her) I LOVE YOU and am so grateful to have you in my life! Thank You for your thoughtfulness in my behalf and for the encouragement to keep going! You are a huge blessing in my life and I am grateful for you!

A shout out to all of you who bless our lives. I continue to be amazed at the out pouring of love and support we feel from those around us. It has been 9 months since Blaze passed away (yesterday) and the Love that continues to come to our family helps us carry on so Thank You for reading our blog, for praying for our family, for your emails, phone calls, texts, and all that you do to reach out to us. We are so blessed to have you in our lives! WE LOVE YOU!!

Valentines, Olympics, & Baths

Every year on Valentines we forget to take a picture... this year was the exception.... We went out to dinner with some family and friends at our yearly tradition the Red Iguana and it was delicious! Then we went to see Valentines day (it was ok... don't regret seeing it but wouldn't buy it) and we ended the evening getting fro yo at Juicy Juice it was a very fun date night... so since we didn't get a pic of date night we took one after church on Sunday... Valentines Day.

I love this pic! Ryker and Tayson watching a dvd on the piano bench while we celebrated the opening night of the winter Olympics. In Vancouver Canada WHOO WOO I have a love for the USA and a love for blessed Canada so its fun to have it close to home and celebrate the victories of all countries. It was fun to watch it with Shelley & JL and have the boys here we are blessed with great friends!

Go USA & CANADA

Last but not least Dexters bath time he hates it! We love it because he smells good and he is so skinny under all that fur we just laugh the whole time :) we LOVE this little dog!

In other news...

We ran our 8 miler on Monday and I was not a happee camper... I've been sick so we pushed it back from Saturday. It was not easy and I was grumpy most of the time it was raining, I was wet , and cold, and my feet hurt... it was so much harder than 6 and way harder than 7 and my attitude didn't help one bit. To top it off my Ipod died 200 meters from the finish which means my 8 miles was not recorded on our nike chips... I think the Lord is compelling me to be humble and I will be the first to say I need it. luckily this week we drop back down to 5 miles and I know I can do that.

My sis Ashleigh Started school this week I am SOOOO PROUD of her she is amazing! Watch out nursing world here she comes.

Our car is on the outs luckily we own it and think its something simple like the battery... now lets just hope it is.

And we are speaking in church on Sunday I have the assignment of introducing our family... I'm worried to say the least... I miss Blaze so much!!!

Happee Weekend!

My Mom

Just a little post to say how grateful I am for my Mom. I called her today and asked her if she would pick up some balloons for Blaze for valentines day I couldn't even ask her before the tears began to flow... I miss Blaze so much and because we aren't close my Mom is our angel in always making sure to look in on Blazes grave for us. So a little shout out to my Mom who listens to me cry about not being able to see our little boys grave as much as we'd like to and who loves us enough to trek thru the snow and tell our little boy we love him.
My Mom is the most giving, loving, and kind person I have ever known. She is an amazing example to all of us. I am so grateful for her.
I Love My Mom!!

Running for Blaze

Not long after Blaze passed away we talked about running for him... in his honor. Well we started training the week after Christmas to do just that... we are running the Moab 1/2 Marathon March 20th. Lets just say it has not been easy there have been a few tears and lots of "I can't do it" and "what was I thinking" moments. With that there have also been lots of "holy cow I just did that" and "I can do it keep going" moments too.

I remember our first long run it was 3 miles and it ended in an utter meltdown. I threw myself on our bed and cried for 20 minutes... I was so hot and so heartbroken that it is so hard... I don't know what I expected but I didn't expect it to break my spirit and it has a little. However yesterday I had a little piece of perspective handed to me when my sweet husband reminded me of how far I have come... our first run was one mile and I hardly ran (I mostly complained.)

Yesterday was a HUGE milestone for me... We ran 6 miles... SHUT UP 6 miles. Ray ran it in 54 minutes and I was a little over 60. I only stopped 4 times for about 20 seconds max each time. I was dreading this run all week... I knew it would be a tearful run and I was prepared for meltdowns. However when we started my ipod battery was dead... I though how in the world am I going to run for 6 miles without music and the little Nike lady saying... "1 Mile completed" but too stubborn to go back to our house and get my old ipod I said "lets go I'll be fine" backing up the story.. I knelt to pray before leaving for our run begging for help running and the endurance to make it. We also prayed together before we left I needed all the help I could get! Was my ipod being dead a miss hap NOPE it was just what I needed.

I needed that 6 miles with my Heavenly Father and I needed that 6 miles with my little angel Blaze. He was near and I have learned that with the help of my Heavenly Father who knows me, My AMAZING husband who believes in me, and our little Angel who watches over me. I know I can do hard things!

Ray made a really big deal about me doing this run he was so proud when we finished he kept telling me how great I did... the truth of the matter is I could not do it without him... he is so inspiring to me. He runs to the finish line and then turns around to come back and get me... "going the extra mile" that is my sweet Ray he is the love of my life and the absolute BEST!

Homeless

A few years ago I would wake up every morning and pray for the opportunity to serve someone that day and that the Lord would lead me to someone who needed my help. Every day without fail there would be someone put in my path that I could help in some way. I stopped doing that for a while with a new year one of my goals is to give more... so I have since started praying for just that... the opportunity to serve more.
Yesterday we went to Walmart to get Ray some notebooks for school (starting tomorrow) so as we were leaving there was a man standing on the corner with a little sign that said "homeless" we pulled out of the parking lot and I said to Ray "that breaks my heart he is freezing cold and homeless" It struck me then that I had asked to help someone that day and there he was.. he needed help. So I flipped the car around and we gave him some money. He said "God Bless You" we rolled up the window and drove away I said to Ray "God will bless us he already has"
so as you know I am a very emotional person and broke into tears on the way home... we are so blessed and take so much for granted we have money in the bank, two cars that run, we have a warm home to go to, we have power, and running water, and good jobs, the opportunity to go to school, and families who love us. This man didn't seem to have any of those things... so today I am grateful for the little things that all of the sudden become big things when you see someone go without.
This week may we all try a little harder to reach out to those in need and be more aware of those around us.
My favorite hymn: Because I have been given much I too must give (sums up just how I feel)