Weekend Fun

This weekend has just flown by. It started with a big surprise for the kids. I worked hard on keeping this one quiet, it worked! On Thursday my mom flew in for a few days. When we went to get her, Reed was as confused as ever wondering why we were circling the airport. Every time he asked, I just pointed out another plane. He was so surprised when Grandma DeeAnn opened the van door. When it was time to get the other kids from school, she hid in the back seat of the van and jumped out at them. Kat gets the award for best reaction, she yelled her name and jumped up into the van. Friday night grandma took the kids to see Madagascar 3. They loved it.

She came this weekend because it was the 2nd annual Histio Heroes Bike/Walk a Thon for our cousin Jackson. I'd explain his extremely rare, orphan disease (no government funding) but there is no way I'd get it right. Just trust me on this, it's not a disease anyone wants, especially a sports loving 16 year old. But he is one amazing kid. He takes this major bump in his road with some serious grit. He spoke at the end of the event and I couldn't hold back the tears. He said how grateful he was for all the support his family is given though he wished they didn't need it. That hit me. We're given love and support in our lives and we have a choice to be grateful and accept it or begrudge it and turn it away. Is there really a choice?  What a great example he is to me. Thanks Jackson!

I also love any chance I get to see my awesome cousins (Jackson's aunts). Holly and Heather made the trek from Utah with 4 boys, 2 girls and 3 bikes. See I said they were awesome.

 It. was. freezing. Tons of wind, a bit of rain and no sun. These guys (Aunt Louise on the left, Aunt Sunni on the right) huddled up under the blanket of steel and 'tried' to stay warm. Didn't work!

The kids didn't want to take their bikes this year, they wanted to run. Especially Kathryn. She loves running and it's been something quite a few people have told her she is good at (us, soccer coach, pe teacher, friends).  It has really boosted her desire and confidence to push herself a little harder each time she runs in something. She is fast and focused. She told me she planned on running the whole time, two hours! About an hour in I made her stop and stretch a little. I don't think she ever walked a whole lap when she needed a breather.

Can you believe in an hour and 45 minutes (give or take a few), this girl ran TEN MILES?? I swear no one made her, she wanted to do it (crazy, no?). GO Kat! She told me her first goal was 30 laps, then 35 laps and then she set her goal at 40laps/10 miles because there was still so much time left. I was worried about her over doing it. Thankfully at the 10 mile mark she was willing to call it good and walk some of it off. She said her legs were Jello. She won first place in her age group and won $50! One of her 'blessings for the day' was getting to pay her tithing on the money she won, not deciding how to spend it. What a girl! Love you so much Kat.

{She did have a bit of a hard time walking today. As in, she looked like my 88 year old grandma walking down the hall. She also said she 'barely made it down the stairs'. Yikes, I felt so bad for her. She said her calf muscles were killing her. I gave her some Advil and by church, the limp was barely noticeable. More training next year?? Yes!}

Nathan is not as natural at running as Kat but that didn't stop him from running EIGHT MILES in about the same time. They have been looking forward to this event for months. I dropped the fundraising ball a bit this year (understatement) and that made Nathan a little sad. He wanted to raise as much money as he could for Jackson. He's such a sweet boy. Next year buddy!

For the record (and I know this goes without saying), I have never ran EIGHT or TEN miles in a day let alone in under two hours. These kids are amazing!!

Dane pushed through and took himself around the track to the tune of 3.5 miles. He even took Owen on a lap. He was pretty enticed by the 'health aid' station that included lots of cookies and water. He and Reed also loved running the bleachers.

Don't Kathryn and Nathan look wiped out? I look more wind blown that wiped out, I only went three laps. I did much more talking than walking. It was worth it. We hung out with cousins for a few more hours and then made the trek home. The kids were dead in bed shortly after.

Side note.....they ended up raising $46,600 for Histio research!! I'm so proud of my cousin Becky, her husband Michael and the slew of people they have support them to pull this thing off. They live in a town of a few thousand so to me, this is quite a feat. Good job guys!

Onto Sunday~

Today after dinner, we went and walked around the temple again. I'd like to say we'll do this quite a few more times this summer but I'm not so sure with Reed. We were there 5 minutes when he came to me with a wet head and said, 'I dunked my head in the fountain.' Oh Reed.

Nathan took the camera from me and took quite a few shots of Moroni before he turned onto mom and I. This one isn't too bad, thanks bud. He did say the camera made boxes around our heads and mine was really big and mom's was really small. Ha! We're always up for a good laugh.

Owen sure likes his time in the stroller. In fact, I think it might have been one of the only times today he wasn't letting out his loud screech. Happy screech. Tired screech. Mad screech. Hungry screech. You get the idea. He must be needing more walks. Note taken, Owen.

p.s. I'm not really figuring out this new blogger, getting photos right takes me forever. Am I doing something wrong?