Alan and Sandy's Family

Christmas in Utah!

2012-01-12T18:20:00.000-08:00

So the Thursday after Tawni had Oakley, Alan and Tyler arrived in Utah. We had one day and then the rest of the family flew in from Kentucky. Tawni was able to have a few days to settle in with a new baby and then she and Ryan graciously opened up their home to the whole family. Thankfully they have a good sized house with a finished basement and a bathroom in the basement too.......THANK YOU RYAN and TAWNI!!!!! It was awesome to all be together. I was able to do all the food and keep the house in order and loved playing the role of Grandma and Mom again. Christmas Eve was the day they all arrived so we were able to have the grandkids act out the Nativity while Poppi read. We did the quick version since the natives were restlesss, but it was very sweet and special. Afterwards everyone got to open up their jammies. It was one big party. Alan made his awesome Prime Rib for dinner and Christmas morning was a big brunch after presents. Then we were off to church. We feel so blessed to have all been together and we are thankful that everyone was willing to travel at this busy time of year. There is nothing better than family at Christmas and we are so thankful for the Birth of Christ!

Christmas

2012-01-12T18:11:00.000-08:00

We were so happy to have our WHOLE family together. I think that Alan and I were more excited than the grandkids Christmas morning. The Zastrow grandkids came in our room at 6:30 AM and Emy shouted, "MERRY CHRISTMAS to EVERYBODY"!!! She had so much emotion....I almost cried.

Tawni and Tyler
The Zastrow family!

The Griffitts Family

The Piggotts.....minus Athen. He was busy....

Christmas

2012-01-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

Coen was a Wiseman for our live Nativity.

Oakley
Atlas and Emy were "Mary and Joseph"

Ryder in the shirt that Aunt Meagan made him.

Jammie Party. For Christmas Eve everyone got Jammies from me. It was fun to just be comfortable.

Christmas

2012-01-12T17:52:00.001-08:00

Our guys in their Jammies!

Girls with Jammies on!
As long as Athen had his candy cane he was happy.

Atlas

Coen

Christmas Day

2012-01-12T17:40:00.000-08:00

Coen, Emy and Atlas in the cute outfits Meagan made them for Church on Christmas day. Meagan made skirts for all the girls including Oakley and little ties, and vest for the boys. She made ties for all the nephews too. Awesome job Meagan!

Emy and Gigi

LeilahAiden and his Dada

Meg and Leilah

Christmas cont.......

2012-01-12T17:31:00.001-08:00

Aiden

Megan and I before the race. Thank you Tawni for being a trooper and driving with the kids to be our picture taker for the race. You are amazing after just one week after giving birth!

Cute little "Mousy"Oakley looks like she is smiling.

The Snowman Family Fun Run

2012-01-12T17:23:00.000-08:00

Ryan was kind enough to put together a family 5K fun run the day after Christmas. It was so fun. He even had t-shirts made for EVERYONE! Including babies. It was a good thing to do the day after all that Christmas food.

The participants

This was how Brad felt about the race. He hadn't had time to get ready for this race so it was a little rough. We will excuse him since he IS in Medical School without a life whatsoever, but we are proud of him for being part of the fun!!!

Our Runners

2012-01-12T17:17:00.000-08:00

Tyler

Ryan
Alan

Meagan

Sandy

Holiday Happenings

2012-01-12T17:01:00.000-08:00

Aiden getting ready to head outside!

Cute Mama's

Ryder loves sitting in the Bumbo chair.

This was the view we had most of the time.
The only real picture we had with all of our grandkids. It was like ants on a hill.......constant movement. They just wanted to play with their toys.

Baby Oakley arrived!

2012-01-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, December 18th I flew down to Utah to be there when baby Oakley was born. The next morning Tawni and Ryan went to the hospital very early. I stayed with Athen until about 8 am and then brought him over to his Aunt Heather's house. Then Kathy (Ryan's mom) and I went to the hospital. At 9:40 AM little Oakley arrived. It was a very quick delivery and birth for Tawni. Oakley weighed 6lbs. 5 oz. and is adorable. I am so happy that all went well for mommy and baby and that I was able to be there. We are so blessed, and seriously, who looks this good when they are in labor?

Mama Tawni and Oakley.

Cute little family

Thanksgiving in Utah

2012-01-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

We were able to pick Tyler up in Rexburg and head down to Utah a couple days before Thanksgiving. We were so glad to all be together and it's always fun to be with Family. The Piggott family was nice enough to let us crash their family Thanksgiving dinner. What a nice day we had.

Tyler at the Temple. We loved going to see the lights!

The Griffitts and The Piggotts

Salt Lake Temple

2012-01-12T16:31:00.001-08:00

I couldn't get enough of all the lights. After we looked at the lights we went up to the top of the Joseph Smith Building at the restraunt The Roof. Ryan and Tawni come every year and this year Alan, Tyler and I were able to go too to help celebrate Tawni's 24th Birthday. I can't believe my Tawni is 24! We had a fabulous dinner and thoroughly enjoyed the company and view.

Fall Happenings

2012-01-12T16:23:00.001-08:00

We once again participated in the Priest Lake Half Marathon. What a beautiful, HARD, race. Randy was injured so he ran the 5k, but dad did his first official half marathon and I beat last years time by 4 minutes. The weather was perfect as well as the scenery!

The LOTOJA team. Alan, Marilyn, Brad, Russ and Ryan

Me and my Tawni!We love our family!
The support CREW for LOTOJA

Lotoja

2012-01-12T16:13:00.000-08:00

The weekend we took Tyler to school Alan also participated in the Lotoja Bike Race. Its a bike race from Logan to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He was on a team with Ryan, Brad and Marilyn Gerrard and Russ Piggott. They did awesome and we had so much fun following them along the way. There team was #8 out of 98 teams! Way to go guys.

Sweet Athen playing in the weeds.

Alan at the finish line getting a "High Five" from Tyler!It was fun to have Tyler with us for the weekend.

Uncle Tyler and Athen

Tylers Homecoming!!!

2012-01-12T15:47:00.000-08:00

Tyler finally came home from his mission on September 3, 2011! We were so happy to have him home. He was home for just a short 5 days and then we took off for Rexburg where he began school at BYUI. We are so proud of him and I am especially happy that I can talk to him every day if I want to! Welcome Home Tyler!The Greeting Committee! Thanks to everyone that showed up at the airport to greet Elder Griffitts!

Hugs for Dad............and hugs for mom!

The Long Bridge Swim 2011

2011-08-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

On August 6th Alan and Randy swam the Long Bridge swim in Sandpoint. It was an absolutely beautiful day in North Idaho. The winds were calm, and they swam the 1.7 miles along with about 700 other people. Wendy and I were the picture takers and cheerleaders. We love our guys! I am so proud of Alan! He is awesome!

We have had a fabulous summer!!! To see all the pics that I have posted for the summer, you will have to go to my older posts because I had a lot of catching up to do this summer.

The finish line......before all the people arrived.

Long Bridge cont.

2011-08-10T15:46:00.000-07:00

My handsome, strong, husband getting out of the water. He swam 1.7 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes. So proud of you!
Best Buddies! Alan and Randy

Alan

The start of the race.What a beautiful lake!

Lame Duck Try-Athlon

2011-08-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

While we were in Kentucky we were able to do a Sprint Triathon with Brent and Meagan. Alan and Brent were signed up for a long time to do the whole race, but then at the last minute.....2 days before the race, Meagan and I decided to sign up as a team. Meg has a friend that bikes, so her friend did the bike portion, Meagan swam and I ran. Alan and Brent did great, but Meagan was AWESOME on the swim. She has only swam once using the freestyle swimming motion and she did so great! It was an extremely hot and humid day, and the water temprature was about 90 degrees, but we sure had fun and were so happy to do it all together! We love our family. Thanks Brad for letting dad use your bike!
Family fun after the race. I think I kept sweating for an entire hour!

Way to go Meg!

Woo Hoo Brent!

Love my Family! Look at that beautiful, muddy water in the background.

Hot summer days in Kentucky

2011-08-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

The weather was very hot and humid in Kentucky when we were there and we were able to go to the pool for a couple of those days. The kids are like fish in the water.
Atlas floating on his back.Leilah and Poppi

This is how Aiden spent most of his time......trying to get the water out of his eyes. He was such a trooper though and was getting very brave by the end.

Kentucky Summer 2011

2011-08-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

Our Atlas!
This is how we occupy Aiden at dinner.

Leilah and her Mama!

Coen and EmyEmy kept these glasses on the entire day.....even in the pool.

Kentucky Trip

2011-08-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to be able to go back to Kentucky for not only the birth of Ryder and be with Brad and Jessie's family, but also to spend some more time with the Zastrow family. I spent the first couple days at the Zastrow's since Jessie's mom was still in town and I was able to be at Emy's Third Birthday party. What a big girl she is. She is definately all girl and she is my little buddy! One night we all went out to eat at a great Italian place. The kids were awesome! All six of them..... not to mention their parents.

Coen

Emy

Leilah

Happy Birthday Princess Emy!

Ryder Michael Griffitts

2011-08-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

On July 25th our newest grandchild, Ryder Michael Griffitts was born. He weighed 6 lbs. 7 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long. He is such a tiny little guy and so sweet and precious. I was able to fly in a few hours after he was born. Alan came in a few days after that. Here is a picture of Aiden playing hide-n-seek at the park. What a cute and sweet big brother he is. He just celebrated his 2nd birthday. What a big boy!
Brad and Jessie's growing family!

Brad and Aiden goofing off.

Ryder...how adorable.

What a beautiful mommy.

Kentucky July-Aug. 2011

2011-08-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

Gigi and AidenGoofing around with Aiden and baby Ryder.
Like Poppi.......like Ryder.

What a sweet picture of Ryder and his daddy.

Yellowstone 2011

2011-08-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

Once again we were able to make our trip to Yellowstone. We biked, ran, fished, went site seeing, went to the Playmil, ate too much, relaxed and just plain had a ton of fun. This pic is at the top of a mountain at about 10,000 feet. The view is beautiful.
Alan and I after a bike ride.

The Gerrard's were able to come to the cabin for a couple days this year. It was fun to be with them.

Brad......drafting off the truck.

Biking.

Taking it easy in Yellowstone!

2011-08-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

Almost every day we would just go find some shade in the yard and just sit and relax. We love our yearly trips to Yellowstone and Island Park and we are so thankful to the Astin's and Wendy's parents for letting us stay at their cabin.
Jerry (Wendy's dad) loved showing us this big gun. We love him!

The big event of this year's trip was all the fishing that the guys did. They were very successful every time they went.

Our self portrait on our bike ride around Hebgen Lake.

Coen's Baptism and other fun.

2011-08-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

While the Zastrow's were here, Coen was able to get baptized. It was a very special day and we were so happy that everyone was able to be there.

We love our Coen!

Athen and his cute Mama!

Poppi and Emy

Athen and Atlas! Look at those awesome, big, brown eyes! They look like cousins.

4th of July with Family!

2011-08-10T14:13:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to have te Zastrow's and Tawni and Athen be here for a little bit this summer. We missed Brad and family and Ryan and Tyler, but we really enjoyed the time with the family that was there. This is me and my girls on the evening of 4th of July on Hayden Lake. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place. We had great weather and a beautiful day.
Gigi and Poppi with Leilah.Cute Leilah!

Emy....always ready for a picture.

Best Buddies! Atlas, Tytan and Coen.

4th of July cont.....

2011-08-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

Two happy Grandpa's with their grandaughters. Doug and Elenore and Alan and Leilah.
We went to Dennis and Kelli's for the slip-n-slide. Athen loved the waterslide!!!

Our cute grand babies! Coen, Leilah, Emy, Athen and Atlas. We were just missing Aiden and Ryder.

Poppi and Athen.Atlas, Emy and Coen at the parade.

Ironman 2011 cont.......

2011-08-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day! We had fun volunteering at the Run aide station. We have the best friends! Wendy and I.
I love my hubby!Coen and Atlas looked so cute in their "Ironman supporter shirts"!

Here we are with the Gerrard's and Meg and Wendy ging on a little run down by Coeur d'Alene lake.

Mom power! Me, Wendy and Marilyn.

Hawaii with the Piggotts

2011-06-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

Three days after we got home from the Marathon I was able to go back to Hawaii with Tawni, Ryan, Athen and Kathy, but this time to the beautiful island of Kauai. I have never been to this island and it was absolutely beautiful. Tawni works for a company that owns some villas on Kauai, so we were able to enjoy beautiful accomodations. Thanks so much you guys for a beautiful vacation. It was fun to get some one on one time with you! Aten looks so cute here. He was so fun and such a good boy!

Mexican food for dinner!

Some of the beautiful scenery!

Our villa's

Spending time with the Piggott's

2011-06-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

I so enjoyed my time in Hawaii on the island of Kauai with Tawni, Ryan, Athen and Kathy. What a beautiful island with great people. Here I am with sweet Athen. He was such a good boy the whole time we were there. Love HIM!Athen loved swimming in the pool.
At a beautiful beach!

We went to an awesome Luau on one of our nights in Hawaii. The food was great and so was the show.

Athen playing in the sand.

Big Finish!

2011-06-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

The time on the clock was off. The race started 3 minutes late and it took me 3 minutesto cross the start line after they shot the gun, but this was the BEST feeling EVER! Thanks so my Alan for capturing the moment!
Randy, Alan and Brad Gerrard at Kristi and Jarom's reception.

The the start line.

Alan and I with the Gerrard's

The cute couple....Kristi and Jarom Zimmerman!

Ogden Marathon 2011

2011-06-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

We were able to go to Ogden, Utah on May 21st so that I could participate in my first full (26.2 miles) marathon. What an experience! I finished in 4 hours 45 minutes with no less than 7 bathroom stops, but I felt good at the finish line and I couldn't have done it without my sweet Alan helping me with my training and preparing. Alan ran the first half of the marathon with me and then hopped on a bus to greet me at the finish line. I didn't realize we would be so emotional, but it was and I was so happy to be at the finish line and still standing and feeling good. Thanks to our friends the Astin's for motivating me and doing the marathon also. This picture is of Marilyn Gerrard. She ran half of the marathon too. It was fun to be with our friends. After the marathon we were able to go to Kristi Astin and Jarom Zimmerman's wedding. It felt good to run 26 miles and then get dressed up for the wedding! We have the best friends and truly enjoyed our time together!Way to go Randy! Nice winter gloves.
Awesome Wendy! She even finished strong despite cramps in her calves starting at mile 8!

The weather was picture perfect and it felt so good to be done!

Hawaii 2011

2011-05-15T14:43:00.001-07:00

Here are just a few pics from our Hawaii trip in March. We had such a fabulous time and love our friends so much! We were really enjoying our care free life for 10 full days, but we also love our life back at home. We are so blessed.

We were able to participate in the Ford Island 10 K race. It was hot, but we had a blast!

The Hawaii TemplePearl Harbor. What a sobering experience.

Going to Kentucky!

2011-03-10T18:27:00.000-08:00

We were able to take a quick trip to Kentucky this weekend. I flew out on Thursday and Tawni, Ryan and Athen met me at the airport in Denver and we were able to fly the rest of the way together. Friday evening Alan flew out and we were so happy to all be together. We played games and just hung out. Here is our grandkid pic. Holy Cow! It's like a little anthill with non-stop movement. How quickly our family has grown! Gigi and Emy. This sweet little face is so deceiving. She is full of mischief, but we all adore her!

My babies with their babies....Meg, Leilah, Athen and Tawni.

Bowling

2011-03-10T18:18:00.000-08:00

Tawni and I at the Bowling Alley It was so funny to see little 20 pound Emy trying to lift a 10 pound bowling ball. It's hard to keep up with this little girl. She is so full of spunk, but we get the biggest kick out of her!

Ryan, Tawni and Athen!

Family

Aiden's smiley face!

Our Saturday Activities

2011-03-10T18:11:00.000-08:00

Alan flew into town on Friday night, so on Saturday we had the whole day to spend together. It was pouring down rain, so we had to do indoor activities. One of our favorite places to eat is Red Robin, so this is us....loading up on burgers and french fries! Cute Atlas playing with his Nintendo DS.

Emy and Meg before her dance class. She looked so cute.

Just something sweet about this pic.

Our happy little Athen. We love your smile and cute personality!

Baby Leilah's Blessing.

2011-03-10T18:05:00.000-08:00

We are so happy that we were able to be in Kentucky for Leilah's blessing. She looked so cute in her dress and I just couldn't get enough of snuggling with her. She is such a happy baby and just loves to watch all the chaos going on around her. Must be because she is the last baby. We love her so much and are so thankful that she is part of our family!

We love our Family!

2011-03-10T17:52:00.000-08:00

Here is the whole family (minus our Tyler), after Leilah's blessing. Brent gave Leilah an awesome blessing. Especially since she cried through the whole thing. It was funny because she never, ever cries, but she doesn't like to be layed back. She wants to sit up and see what is going on, so as soon as the blessing was over and Brent sat her up she was as happy as a clam. It's becoming a major ordeal to get all the kids and grandkids together to stand still for a picture, so we get it as quickly as we can. We love you all so much! Leilah and her mommy!
The Boys. Ryan, Atlas, Brent, Coen, Aiden, Brad and Alan...minus Athen who was sleeping.

The Girls! Emy, Meagan, Sandy, Tawni and Jessie...minus Leilah who was sleeping.

This was a very quick weekend, but we are so happy that we were all able to be together. Thank you to the Kentucky families of Meagan and Brad for letting us come stay with you. We are truly blessed! Until next time......

Snowfall in Kentucky!

2010-12-05T20:03:00.000-08:00

It hardly ever snows like this in Kentucky, and when it does everything shuts down. This snowfall caused me to get to stay another night in Kentucky since all the planes were late or cancelled. I was happy to get to stay another day, and the kids were sooooooo happy to be able to build a snowman. Here is Coen and Atlas building Mr. Frosty.

Family Time in Kentucky

2010-12-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

We feel so blessed to have two of our kids families in the same town for a while and had so much fun getting to spend time with Brad, Jessie and Aiden too while we were in Kentucky. Here they are at one of our favorite places to eat......Red Robin. Cute Aiden!

Playing "Up and Down the River"

Aiden is such a big boy and loves anything that has to do with balls.

On Thanksgiving morning Alan, Brad and I were able to particpate in a 5K race at one of the local horse racetracks. The grounds were beautiful and it was just us and a 1500 of our new friends. It just happened to be 65 degrees and perfect for a little run. Thanks Brad, for indulging us! We love you.

Leilah is a week old!

2010-12-05T19:41:00.000-08:00

Here is our sweet Leilah after her first week of life. What a sweet baby! We miss all our Kentucky kids, but will make it back to see you all as often as we can!

Baby Leilah has arrived!

2010-12-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

Our newest little grand daughter Leilah Ann Zastrow arrived on November 24th at 8:25 AM in Lexington, Kentucky. Alan and I, once again feel so fortunate to have been able to make it to Kentucky in time for her arrival. We arrived in Lexington in the evening on the 23rd, and Meagan went into labor that night. Alan was able to stay at the house with the other kids and I went to the hospital with Meagan and Brent at 4 AM, and she arrived just 4 hours later. Meagan was awesome! When we got to the hospital she was already to a 6 and hardly in any pain. When it came time to push, it was 2 pushes, and out she came! What a wonderful birth and Leilah is such a sweet, content baby. She hardly ever makes a noise and then it's only if she is hungry or needs a diaper change. They both were able to come home on Thanksgiving Day! How appropriate, since we have so much to be thankful for. Alan stayed until November 30th and I will be heading home on December 4th. I have loved being with the Zastrow's and also with Brad, Jessie and Aiden. We had a lot of great family time together. She weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches long.

Cute little family.

More of Baby Leilah

2010-12-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

Here she is only minutes old. Love those cheeks! Emy is no longer the baby.....she is the older sister.
Atlas was the most excited to see little Leilah. He couldn't wait to hold her, and every time she cries he sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to her. It's so sweet and interestingly enough, it works. She loves it and almost always stops crying.

Coen is very protective of Leilah.

Adorable picture. Meagan doesn't even look like she had a baby.

Wellsville Trip

2010-10-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

Is this the cutest picture or what!?!? Little Athen didn't quite know what to think of this outfit but it kept him warm. Alan and I were able to go to Utah to see Tawni, Ryan and Athen. We drove down on Friday and on Saturday morning we ran in the Trick or Treat Trot in Wellsville. It was just a little 3 mile run and Ryan was able to push Athen in the stroller. It was a lot of fun! This was Ryan's costume. A shirt that looked like a girl in a bikini. It turned quite a few heads!
Trey and Mary Leonard happened to be volunteering for this race for a class that Mary is taking, so they ended up being our picture takers and cheerleaders. Thanks guys!

Poppi in his skull cap with Athen before the race.

We had a wonderful weekend together and the Gerrard's even came up to see us for the afternoon. We sure love our family!

2010-10-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

I love those big brown eyes!Saturday night we went to a corn maze that was right by Tawni and Ryan's. I have never been to a corn maze. It was fun!

Cute little family!

Athen and Carly Gerrard-Reid's little baby Hudson. They were so cute together. Hudson was making Athen belly laugh. It was awesome!

Athen loved his breakfast!

Priest Lake Marathon

2010-09-25T19:46:00.000-07:00

So we decided that we would do one last marathon for the summer. We saw that Priest Lake was having their first marathon this year and it was on a Saturday, so we were able to sign up, and we didn't even have to drive 10 hours to Utah to do it. The race was at Hills Resort in Luby Bay on the west side of the lake, and we decided to go up the night before and stay in one of the cabins up there so we could sleep in. The other nice thing was that the race didn't start until 9:00 am. We had a lot of fun playing cards Friday night. It was cloudy in the morning, but the fog burned off. This was an interesting race. The description on the website said that their were undulating hills. What does undulating even mean??? Well I looked it up in the dictionary and this is what it said, "To have a wavy form or surface." Well "wavy" was not what we experienced. It was "mountainous".......for miles and miles. Good thing we didn't see it beforehand. It was the hardest run I have ever had, yet I was able to finish in 2 hour 19 minutes, which was 10 minutes faster than I did the Top of Utah Marathon a month ago. Wendy finished in 2 hours 8 minutes. She is my hero! We all agreed it was very hard, but we also said we would do it again.
Alan had signed up for the race, but wasn't able to run do to the fact that he just found out he has arthritis in his hip and it hurts like heck. We were so thankful for the cheerleader, photographer, clothing catcher, water getter, that he was. I know it wasn't easy for him to not run, but as I ran this race I was so thankful that he didn't do it because it would have been torture on that hip.

Racing

2010-09-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

This is Wendy and I in our little naive state before we knew how hard this race was going to be! The next three pictures are of us at just the 3 1/2 mile mark. We were feeling good here because it was MOSTLY flat. We looped around and came back past the start/finish line and we were able to drop things off to Alan such as gloves, jackets, etc. I am glad he was there for us.

Wendy at the finish line. Alan was only able to catch Wendy as she crossed. He was busy handing out water and trying to figure out the camera when Randy and I crossed.

Marathon cont........

2010-09-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

Wendy and I at the end of the Marathon. Once the fog burned off, this is the weather we had. Classic Priest Lake beauty!
Wendy and Randy enjoying the lake view.

I have the best husband ever! I am so lucky! I cherish these times together......

Randy got 3rd in his age division with a time of 1 hour 56 minutes. This is the only prize he got for all that hard work!!! We waited around for over 2 hours for this........

That said, we had another awesome weekend in the outdoors. Sad to see the marathon season end, but there is always next spring!

Top of Utah Half Marathon

2010-08-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

So Alan and I were able to do our first Half Marathon. We planned all summer for this event and the fact that it was down in the Logan area made it even better. We drove down with Randy and Wendy Astin on Friday. Kristi Astin met us there and we all spent Friday night at Tawni and Ryan's house. The best part was that we were able to see little Athen! He is so cute! Ryan's parents were able to watch Athen during the race. He is such a trooper.
Ryan's dad and brother-in-law were kind enough to take a few pictures on the way. Here is Tawni and Ryan.

Had to put this pic of Tawni in because it shows that she was sort of feeling the pain. This was at about mile 10.

Alan and I between mile 10 and 11.

Top of Utah continued...

2010-08-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

Alan, Tawni and I just went into this race wanting to finish and have fun. It was our first marathon so we took our time. Ryan could have probably finished the race at least 45 minutes faster, but he was kind and stayed with us. Alan and I wanted to finish under 2 1/2 hours. We finished in 2:29:50. How's that for just the nick of time? If it weren't for the fact that I had to stop for nature breaks 3 times we could have finished 10 minutes faster. They had 1 or 2 porta potty's at each aid station and the lines were terrible. That is not enough porta potty's for 2300 people!!!!!

Tawni and Ryan finished in 2:24:42. Randy is an Ironman and finished in 1:50. Wendy is the wife of an Ironman and finished in 2:01 and Kristi is the daughter of an Ironman and finished in 2:16. Randy, Wendy and Kristi have all done full marathon's so they were looking to improve on their times. We are just thankful for the ability to run. Last Christmas Alan couldn't even run across the room. Tawni just had a baby 4 months ago. We are so proud of you guys! What an accomplishment.

Alan and Ryan taking a break after the race.

Girls in Pink! Wendy, Kristi, Tawni and I. What an accomplishment to finish this 13.1 mile race!

Runners! Randy, Wendy, Kristi, Alan, Me, Tawni and Ryan

After we had all showered after the race we went to Bear Lake. The Piggott's were so generous to let us all stay at their cabin. First we went and ate at an awesome Mexican Food place in town. We were quite the sight in our matching green shirts. We paid a lot of money to wear these shirts!!

What a great weekend we had. We were tired, but happy.
.....we are already signed up for our next 1/2 marathon at the end of September. Must be gluttons for punishment.......

The Cd'A Triathlon

2010-08-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

So Thursday night we decided to put a couple teams together and compete in the Cd'A Triathlon. We had a men's team and a women's team. Robbie, Alan and Randy formed the men's team. Robbie swam, Alan biked and Randy ran. They were awesome!!!! We don't have the official time yet but they finished in about 2 and 1/2 hours. Wendy, Jenny (Brandon's girlfriend) and I formed the women's team. Jenny swam, Wendy biked and I ran. Cute Jenny just kind of got forced into the swimming. She came into town with Brandon on Thursday because Brandon was doing the whole thing and we asked her if she could swim. She said yes, and that was that. Wendy, Randy, Alan and I before the race.

Wendy coming in at the end of her leg.

Alan and Brandon

Alan came and found me near the end of my run. I was so happy to see him!

A Great Finish

2010-08-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

It felt really good to be done and all be together at the finish. What a great Day! The Girls Team...Me, Wendy and Jenny

The over 40 racers.

Everybody knows how old everyone else is because they put your age on the back of your leg. Not just on one but on both. We are proud of our ages.

Afterwards we went to the Astin's and Wendy and Randy made breakfast for everyone. It was time to relax on the back deck. We love our friends!

Our Grandkids!

2010-08-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

We took a pic with all the grandkids, minus Athen......Ryan, Tawni and Athen had already left before we thought of taking a grandkids pic with them, so this picture is a little tribute to cute Athen. We love him so much! We are so proud to be grandparents to such awesome and adorable grandkids. Here we have Aiden, Atlas, Emy and Coen. Our next granddaughter is due to arrive on December 3rd. We can hardly wait!!!!

Yellowstone 2010

2010-08-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Alan and I were able to take a little vacation with the Astin's to Yellowstone again this year. We stayed at Wendy's parents cabin again. They are so nice to let us come in and crash. We left after Alan got off work on Tuesday and drove until about 2:30 am to get there. The next morning Randy said we were going to go on a LITTLE mountain bike ride. Ok.....we trusted him at the beginning. A quarter way into the hike we didn't trust him anymore. He said that he had ridden the 4 wheelers on this trail a few years ago.....ok. This trail was for 4 wheelers and animals, not mountain bikes. Our first clue should have been the conidtion of the trail and the fact that it went straight uphill right off the bat. Five hours and 12 miles later (six and a half of it uphill) we finished our LITTLE mountain bike ride. That being said, it was very enjoyable and the view was unbelievable. I think we were at about 10,000 feet at the top.

This pic is of Alan and Randy right on the Continental Divide between Idaho and Montana. You can see the post sticking up. We had already biked/hiked for a while when we saw what else was ahead of us. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Of course we had our bear spray with us in case we saw a Grizzly. (Like I would have been able to get it off my hip fast enough to use it properly. Honestly......)

All the hard work and effort was definately worth it. We won't call this a relaxing vacation it was an "Extreme Vacation".

Hike Continued......

2010-08-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

We found some shade and sat down to take a break. The view was awesome.

Our self portrait. Not sure why the person with the shortest arms was chosen to hold the camera.

Hebegen Lake in the back ground. This was about half way back down on the other side of the mountain. It was pretty hairy going down too and we were always on the lookout for bear, but thankfully saw none. We heard many stories of Grizzly Bear sitings this week so we were a little on edge. We actually did get to see a Grizzly on one of the last nights but it was from our truck, the bear was in the trees and it was a small Grizzly....

Our Recovery Day

2010-08-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

This was our recovery day. We just did a little mountain biking on a FLAT 10 mile trail. Believe it or not, it felt really good to just take it easy. The weather was so great! Wendy and I with her Dad Jerry. He is so awesome and so nice to let us stay at his cabin. I am getting old enough now that sleeping on a real bed instead of on an air mattress in a tent is really appealing.

View From the Top

2010-08-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

This evening we took a drive to the top of Sawtelle Mountain. It has an elevation of about 12,000 feet and the view was incredible. On our last day of vacation we had Wendy's dad drive us all to the top of this mountain and we ran back down. It was about 7 1/2 miles. It was a good way to take in all the scenery. Half way down we had a thunderstorm blow in and rain on us a little. This is a view of the Teton's from where we were standing. At the top of this mountain is a Station owned by the airforce. It was an air traffic control site. The name of the station was obviously named by men and will not be repeated here, but the guys got a kick out of it. If they would have stepped back one step they would have been rolling down the mountain.

This is a view from one of our other hikes.

Bike, Hike, Swim

2010-08-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

This day we rode our road bikes from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful. It was 30 miles. Wendy and I took turns. I rode the first half while she drove the truck and she rode the second half while I drove the truck. It was beautiful to see some the park this way. The most dangerous part was all the cars! After the bike ride we went on this hike to see some hot pots and hissing pots.

On our way to Mammoth Hot Springs to get in the water we saw this huge elk.

In Mammoth there was a whole herd of Elk that just hangs out in town. We saw lots of babies and this one was very impatient.

Another elk. This one had a rack of Antler's that was about 6 feet across.

Adventures

2010-08-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

We saw this huge elk. He was just eating along the river. So Beautiful Baby Buffalo

This was the mountain we climbed on the first day.

Every night we went into West Yellowstone and got ice cream. We deserved it all the biking, hiking and running we did. What an awesome adventure. On the last night we went to the Playmill and watched the play "The Foreigner". It was hillarious and the acting was phenomenal. We have the best friends and we had so much fun together. Thanks for the memories!

Wendy and Randy

Happy 4th of July and Family Time!

2010-07-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

We have had a fabulous couple of weeks with all the kids here. Meagan, Brent, Coen, Atlas and Emy arrived on June 16th. Tawni, Ryan and Athen came the week before the 4th and Mike DeMotte came a couple days before the 4th. We had so much fun spending time together. Eating lots of food. Playing games and laughing and finding things to do with all five of our beautiful grandkids. It has been truly a joy to just sit and watch them and soak it all in. We are so blessed!!! Here is a pic of Emy and I at the firworks on the 4th down at the Country Club. Atlas, Meg and Emy

Brad and Jessie

The gang!

Future Cheerleader!

Making Ice Cream with Poppi

2010-07-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

Coen, Atlas and Emy got to help make Homemade Ice Cream. Oreo to be exact. It is Poppi's specialty. They were great helpers.

A girls pic. Meagan, me, Tawni and Jessie

Random fun for Brad and Mike!

Our family pic. We miss Tyler so much!!!! We are thinking we should photo shop him into this picture.

Time with Family

2010-07-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

This is just an adorable picture of Athen. He is such a happy little boy. As long as he is fed, changed and held he is always content. Dinner at our favorite Italian Restaraunt. Tomato Street. Coen, Meg, Emy, Brent and Atlas.

Tawni and Ryan

Jessie, Aiden, Brad, Chris and Justin. We are so lucky to have had our other family members with us. Mike DeMotte is here with us for a few days and Chris and Justin came to see us. We sure love you all!!!

Atlas, Gigi and Poppi.

Aiden's First Birthday!

2010-07-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

It's so hard to believe that Aiden is already 1 year old! Brad and Jessie gave him his own cake to dig into and he wasn't quite sure how to react. He loved his candle.

Here is a pic of Atlas reading to Athen.

Fun Day at Silverwood!

2010-07-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

We were able to take the whole gang to Silverwood for the day. It was the perfect day to go. It was about 70 degrees, not too hot and there was no one there. We had no lines at all. The kids were so good all day. Adults and children were happy! We had little kid rides and big kid rides. It was the most fun I have ever had at Silverwood. We are so blessed! We missed Jessie though because she wasn't feeling well.

Here is Coen in the airplane.

Brad, Alan and I going on the scarey ride. They convinced me to go on another ride that was a big rollercoaster. Not the most fun. I ended up getting motion sickness. Luckily it was a short scarey ride so it wasn't too bad.

Atlas and Poppi.

The Train

2010-07-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

We all took a ride on the train. Coen and Meagan. Poppi, Gigi and Emy.

Ryan, Tawni and Athen.

Brad, Coen, Brent, Meagan, Atlas and Ryan on the Water Ride.

Atlas was freezing cold, but he just wouldn't come out of the water. His lips were blue in this pic and he was shivering but he was happy.

Water Park at Silverwood

2010-07-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

The Zastrow's at the water park. Cute Emy.

Coen having a blast.

Aiden and Brad.

Random pic of Atlas helping Uncle Brad mow the lawn.

Idaho Fun

2010-07-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

The kids love climbing our trees. Here is Atlas lost in the leaves. Coen

All the girls went to the midnight showing of the Eclipse Movie. We had fun hanging out before the movie started. Sadly, I fell asleep several times during the movie, but I think it was good.......I am getting to old for late night fun. In the pic are me, Suzie, Jessie, Tawni, Meagan, Amy and Jenna

Tawni, Jessie, Meagan and I before the movie.

The boys...Ryan, Brad and Brent

Family

2010-07-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

We had a couple rainy days and the kids needed to be creative. Here is Coen in the car that he made out of a box. Ryan with little "Ryan Jr." Looks just like his daddy.
Aiden

Athen

Atlas loves the little babies. He is so sweet with Athen and he loves Aiden too.

Our kids as Parents

2010-07-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

There is nothing that makes us prouder than to see our own kids as parents to our Grandkids! They are all way more patient then we ever were and they are doing such a great job! It brings us much joy!

Aiden and his Daddy!

Tawni and Athen
Jessie and Aiden

Meagan and Atlas

Fun at Gigi and Poppi's

2010-07-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

It finally got nice enough to eat outside. Emy loved it. Aiden, Coen and Atlas

Aiden

Emy

I got the kids new Jammie's. Emy, Aiden, Coen and Atlas.

Fishing with Poppi

2010-07-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

Coen and Atlas and Brent went fishing on Hayden Lake. The boys caught lots of fish and had lots of fun! Here is Atlas with one of his fish. He wasn't even afraid to touch it. Two little fishermen.

Coen and his fish.

Coen, Atlas and Brent

Another trip to Wellsville......

2010-06-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here are just some random pictures to begin with. Alan and I found ourselves once again making the trip to Utah. This time it was to bless little Athen Russell Piggott and spend time together. This picture was taken as we were actually leaving at the end of the weekend, but I like it. It sort of reminds me of Princess Bride....."have fun storming the castle." What a cute family!

Athen was all bundled up to come watch us do the Duathlon.

Here is a cute little smile. He is just starting to smile.

Athen's Blessing Day

2010-06-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

Here is Athen on his blessing day with his cute parents. Both sets of great grandparents were at the blessing as well as both sets of grandparents to Athen. On the left are Kathy's parents and on the right (beside Alan and I) are Russ's parents.

Poppi had the knack of getting Athen to smile. We were so lucky to get to see him smile because he just started smiling this week.

After the blessing Ryan and Tawni had family and friends over for dinner. It was a great day and we are so happy that little Athen Russell (R.J. for short, which stands for Ryan Junior for obvious reasons.)

He has filled out so much in the last 6 weeks!

Cache Valley Duathlon

2010-06-02T18:07:00.000-07:00

So the day before Athen's blessing, Alan and I participated in the Cache Valley Duathlon with Ryan and Russ. It was a 5 mile run and a 16 mile bike. You would think that we are getting really serious about races now, but the real story is that we just want to be able to say that we participated and survived......this picture needs explanation. As many of you know, Alan tore his hamstring a couple years ago in a bike wreck. It has been bothering him ever since and he hasn't been able to run. A few months ago he slowly started to run. This day was a big accomplishment because he completed the whole 5 miles without having to walk. It really is somewhat of a miracle if you could have seen him a few months ago. Well, he can run, but not too fast. As you can see there are not many (or any), other bikes around Alan at this point. He had just come off the run and knew there were not many runners behind him. As he got closer to his bike he yelled, "Where's my bike! Where's my bike!" I am sure it gave everyone that was watching a chuckle since his was one of the last ones's there. We were so proud of Alan! We knew he would catch up on the bike portion of the race. (Yes, I beat him on the run, and yes, he passed me on the bike). Russ, me, Alan and Ryan before the race. Russ had a buddy that did the run and he did the bike. Ryan finished the race in 1 hour 36 minutes. Alan finished in 1 hour 47 minutes and I finished in

1 hour 52 minutes. Alan and I had a goal of finishing under 2 hours so at least we accomplished that. I got 2nd place in my age group, (which wasn't saying much since there were only 6 in my age group.) We also got a prize for traveling the farthest to participate in the race.
This is us looking like real racers.....

Yeah! We finished!

Doing the Ogden Marathon!

2010-05-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, the Title of this blog is a little deceiving. Alan and I did participate in the Ogden Marathon, but we were on a relay team. We had just a portion of the 26.2 miles, but we sure had a lot of fun. We headed down on Thursday with Randy and Wendy Astin. We got in really late to Pocatello and stayed at Wendy's parents house. Friday we headed to Ogden to get our packets and try to rest before our big day. This picture was taken at Randy's mom's house in Mccammon, Id. It was beautiful! This is Wendy and Randy getting ready to head up to the top of the marathon at 4:00 in the morning. Whoever decided we had to start these things so early. Wendy was doing the full marathon. She is my hero! Randy is preparing for Ironman Cd'a that is next month and he was our first leg of the team marathon.

I can't believe I don't actually look like a zombie here. The team breakdown was Randy (7 miles), Marilyn Gerrard (6 miles), Brad Gerrard (5 miles), Me (5 miles), Alan (3.2 miles) I ended up running the three miles with Alan also. Randy ended up running all 26 miles. He just couldn't do 7. It was a fun event!

Finishers!

2010-05-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

Brad, Marilyn, Wendy, Randy, Me and Alan. Here is our team and Wendy. Wendy did the whole 26.2 miles and so did Randy, although he was only suppose to do just 7 miles of the race. They are my hero's and I will not feel right until I actually accomplish the whole 26 miles myself. We had so much fun as a team though and it was a good first race for us. Kristi (26 miles), Wendy (26 miles), Me (8miles), Marilyn (9 miles)

Our cute husbands!

The Flying Kenyons!!!!

Post Marathon Fun!

2010-05-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

After the race we were hungry, so we all went to a fun restaraunt that Carly told us about. We love our friends the Gerrard's and Astin's!!! Marilyn has the chocolate cake that Randy promised us we could have if we participated in the race.

On our way home on Sunday we decided to take the scenic way home with the Astin's through Salmon, ID. We stopped at this little store for a potty break and had to show off some of the antlers that the Astin's were bringing home for Brandon. It took us forever to get home because I think we stopped in every little town we went through to eat something or go to the bathroom.

We had such a great weekend! We have the best friends and every adventure is another memory we will cherish forever. Thanks for keeping us healthy and happy!

Elder Griffitts 6 month Anniversary!

2010-05-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well, Elder Griffitts made it to the 6 month mark on his mission and we finally got some pictures! Here he is with his most current companion. He is now serving in East Las Vegas in a very less fortunate area. It is a humbling experience for him and we were so glad to talk to him on Mother's Day. He sounds great and is learning a lot about himself, others and preaching the Gospel. We are so thankful for this experience and we are proud of him!"Warning, if you unlawfully enter these premises you will be shot" is what the sign says. I wonder if they actually knocked on this door.

Elder Griffitts' first baptism. This man has pancreatic cancer and has only been given a few months to live. I am sure that he is thankful to have been baptized.

The Las Vegas Temple. They get to go to the Temple once every transfer.

This is right by his apartment in East Las Vegas. He says that he can see the Boulder Station Casino from his apartment. They are NOT allowed to go on the Las Vegas strip though. Good thing!

The Story of Athen Russell Piggott's Birth

2010-04-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

So two weeks before Tawni's due date she was dialated to 2 and 100% efaced. The Dr. said that he would come any day. This put me on alert because I didn't want to miss the big arrival. I decided to fly down on Friday, April 9th because Tawni said she sort of felt like she was having pains and wanted me to come down. I have the best job in the world that told me to go and take all the time I needed to be a mom and Grandma. Tawni picked me up at the airport and the waiting began. We went shopping and went out to dinner with Ryan's parents and just enjoyed our time together. Every morning I would wake up and listen to see if their was any movement in the house. Saturday we all slept in and Sunday we went to church. Still no baby. Monday morning arrived and Tawni was off to work for the morning. I kept myself busy in the morning with making dinners, doing things around the house and waiting for Tawni. This went on for 5 days in a row. I have to say that I enjoyed this time with Tawni and Ryan so much! Once baby comes things get busy and change a lot. One night Ryan made sent us on a scavenger hunt and had presents for us at the end, and almost every day we walked around the neighborhood. That girl put in at least 1 1/2-3 miles a day! Still no baby.........

We had a lot of fun waiting and Tawni looked adorable as a little pregnant mommy................

Could this be it??????

2010-04-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

Alan was able to drive down to Wellsville on Friday night and we went out to dinner. Tawni wasn't feeling well and was having contractions every 3 to 5 minutes on a regular basis, but they weren't very strong. We thought that maybe that night would be the night. So when we woke up in the morning and Tawni was still feeling ok, we decided to do things to get her moving. We walked around, ran some errands and shopped. Her contractions were still the same distance apart and a little stonger. Tawni looks so adorable and we took these pics before we went into town. The pains were a little stonger here.
We went to Jamba Juice and then went to the Temple because it was such a beautiful day. The contractions were strong enough that we talked Tawni into going to the hospital to get checked. To her total dismay, she was only dialated to a 2 1/2 and not making much progress, so they sent her home. She was not happy...........

........so we went home and had a barbeque with Ryan's parents and played games. You can't see it in this pic but Tawni is bouncing on one of those pilates balls to try to get things going.

She looks way too happy here to be in hard labor.

Athen is finally here!!!

2010-04-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

Ok. After getting sent home on Saturday, Tawni was finally far enough along and in enough pain that they decided Athen was finally coming. She threatened that if they weren't going to let her stay this time that she was going to go home and have the baby there. Tawni was dialated to between a 4 and 5 and in a lot of pain. After 2 days of contractions 3-4 minutes apart she didn't even hesitate when they asked her if she wanted an epidural. Thank goodness for Epidurals! This picture was taken after they already had her all hooked up so she was feeling much better! She looks beautiful and Ryan looks terrified! This is what we told the men to do. They were very obedient. Alan and Russ were so relaxed right here that they even took their sandals off until the nurse scared them half to death by telling them that the floor was covered in all kinds of icky germs!

Here he is!!!! All covered in eye goop and not happy to be in the light. The little guy had a tough time getting out. He was posterier (face up) and Tawni had a hard time pushing him out. His heart rate kept dropping every time she pushed so the Dr. had to try and turn him so he was face down. Only made it half way and then had to put a vacuum device on his poor little head and pull him out while Tawni pushed, but he came out very quickly that way and they were able to avoid a C-section. Good job Tawni. Tawni was admitted to the hospital at 4:30 and Athen was born at 10:35 PM weighing 6 lbs. 7 oz. and measuring 19 inches long. He had gone potty in the womb so they had to suck his tummy out and make sure they got it out of him, so he wasn't very happy at first, but he calmed down quickly.

I kow this is a dark picture but I thought it was very sweet........the first chance Tawni had to hold him.

After the Birth

2010-04-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

Tawni looks pretty good after all that work! We sure love being Gigi and Poppi.

Ryan looks totally sleep deprived, but he also looks very natural being a Daddy.

Tawni and Athen.

Athen comes home......

2010-04-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

Athen was all ready to come home. He had his first outfit on and he swam in it. How can he help it.......He only weighed 6 pounds. Athen snuggling with his mommy in her pink robe.

His Grandpa Russ said it was time for Athen to get used to the remote. You can see how small he is because the remote is almost as long as he was.

My last chance to hold Athen before it was time for me to go back to Idaho. The Astin's were threatening to have my church records sent to Utah. I wouldn't have traded my time there with the little Piggott family for anything. I am so thankful that I was able to be with them and share the arrival of cute little Athen. Congratulations Tawni and Ryan. You are awesome parents and Athen is so lucky to have come to your family. I love you all!

Easter

2010-04-28T16:32:00.000-07:00

I only got a couple pictures from Easter but we finally had a warm day and it was also Conference. It was a great day. We had people over for brunch and then Brad, Jessie, Aiden, Amy, Jeremy, Tytan and Mylie had an Easter Egg hunt. Here is Brad taking a picture of me taking a picture of him....Jessie and cute Aiden
Aiden is already a daredevil. He loves this!

Kentucky Pride! We better have Kentucky pride since between Brad and Brent, UK will be getting almost 1 million dollars!

My trip to Kentucky to see Grandkids!

2010-04-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

I was able to go to Kentucky at the beginning of Spring Break to spend time with the Zastrow's. I was so happy to be with them and I love my little Grandkids sooooooo much. They bring me so much joy! Cute Emy adores her big brother Coen. Me and MY girl!
Emy in her Spring Dress.

Atlas, Emy and Coen

Love the Atlas face!

Kentucky Time!

2010-04-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

This face describes Emy's personality to a "T". She is such a character. She loves all things girly, but she can take Atlas down in 2.3 seconds and have her teeth in him in 1.5 seconds. She loves to have her hair done, but then she takes out all the ribbons and ends up looking like this! She loves Gigi though and I adore her!

Coen writing his favorite things list.

I just had to capture the "crabby" face.

Playing in the Park

2010-04-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

I had to leave on Wednesday afternoon, and we had some extra times, so we stopped by the park so the kids could play because it was so nice outside. I am going to miss my little kiddo's! Emy was fearless on the slides. She climbed right to the tallest slide and slid right down without even thinking.

Coen was such a good big brother pushing Emy on the swing.

Sweet Atlas!

My cute grandkids.

Bye Bye Hawaii!

2010-02-22T22:37:00.000-08:00

We didn't have to catch our plane until the afternoon so Dad and I were lucky enought to find a Jamba Juice and the made Acai fruit bowls!!! They weren't nearly as good or big as the ones on the other side of the island, but they made us happy. We took them down to the beach to have breakfast on the beach. It was relativley quiet and we just enjoyed sitting in the sun eating. Afterwards I showed Dad where Lisa Werner's parents condo was, so we had a nice walk a long the beach. We were so sad to say goodbye to our vacation. We had the best time!!!!!!

Our day ended with our plane ride home. We got on the plane at 1:45 PM and right off the bat we had an our of sitting on the plane waiting.....because they had to fix a problem. It's ok though, because I would rather be safe. Anyway.....then we were late getting into San Francisco because of the mechanical error and delays at San Fran. Our plane was scheduled to leave San Fran at 10:35 PM but they had delays so we ended up leaving at 12:30 AM and getting into Spokane at 2:30 AM!!!!!. The Astin's were supposedly leaving our car at the airport for us, so when Alan went out to get the car for our luggage, what should we find???????? Well it was Randy and Wendy waiting for us right outside with their car. Now mind you, Wendy is a teacher and she had to at work at 7:30 AM and RAndy had work too. They came to pick us up and surprise us!!!!! We have the best friends!!!!! They wanted our trip to end with one more big happy memory. They had been checking the internet so they knew we were delayed the whole time. Sneeky friends. It was a fabulous end to a fabulous week and we are so blessed to have the memories and such wonderful friends all the way around!! Until next trip..........

Sights from Pu Pu Ka Ka day....

2010-02-22T22:27:00.000-08:00

We went to the beach for a while and then went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Another Yummy dinner. Enjoying the sunset.

View from our hotel.

The last supper. Sorry about the blur on this pic.

In the sun with 2,000 of our closest friends.

Pu Pu Ka Ka day!

2010-02-22T22:09:00.000-08:00

This was our last day in Hawaii and since we weren't aloud to speak of this day or call it our last day, Alan had the real Hawaiin word for our last day. We could never remember what that word was so Marilyn just always called it our Pu Pu Ka Ka day. It seemed very appropriate. This is our hotel that Alan and I got for the last night there. It is right at Waikiki, but not right on the beach. Totally different from Haleiwa, but we liked it. A place to rent surfboard in Haleiwa.

Overlooking the ocean by Waikiki.

Cleaning up our condo.

So we just had to go back to Haleiwa one last time before we left. Alan had a hard time keeping his face from burning. This is what he had to do to protect himself. We hung our here for a couple hours then went and got our belongings, and did one last stop in the town of Haleiwa and headed to Honolulu. Brad and Marilyn's plane didn't leave until 10 o'clock, so we had plenty of time to spare. We got to Honolulu, checked into hotel and set off for the beach at Waikiki. We were only 2 blocks away, so it was perfect.

We are not Papparazzi!!!!

2010-02-19T23:26:00.000-08:00

So it was another kind of chilly (for Hawaii, low 70's) and cloudy morning, but we were bound and determined to hit our favorite beach again, so when we showed up they were filming and since it was still early to get in the water we got to watch them do some of the filming on the beach. This is the movie "Soul Surfer" that they are filming about the Bethany, the girl who got her arm bit off by the shark. Helen Hunt plays her mom. They broke for lunch and Marilyn kept saying "Take a picture of her, take a picture." I felt so ridiculous. I am not Papparazzi! If my friend Lisa was here she would have been telling Helen that she was adopted and had MS at this point, but I don't like to bug people. This was the best I could do.
Dennis Quaid plays Bethany's dad in the movie. He looks ok for his age, but Dad is still wayyyyyy cuter.

This is Dad catching a wave while body surfing, just before he discovered what he had in his pocket. Ahhhh, so carefree.

Oops, I washed the key......

2010-02-19T23:05:00.000-08:00

So Dad was having soooo much fun in the water, and as Brad, Marilyn and Dad came out of the water Marilyn asked Dad if she could have the key so she could get something out of the car. Dad says, "Sure". Just then he realized that he had the key in his swimming shorts for the last hour and a half. Normally this wouldn't be a problem. Luckily the key was still in his pocket, but this was a key with a FOB, that has a computer chip in it. We thought, oh well let's give it a try. Marilyn headed up to the car and a couple minutes later we hear someone's car alarm going off. I said, "I bet you $10 that that is our car." Sure enough it was. She was able to get into the car, but it set off the alarm and it wouldn't turn off. Here they are filming a movie on the beach with this car blaring in the background. Everyone was giving her dirty looks like, "Hey lady, turn off the car!" Dad and Brad went running up there and after what seemed like 10 minutes they got the hood up and somehow disconnected the alarm as Marilyn and I sat on the beach giggling. Long story short, Dad had to get ahold of AAA after 1/2 an hour of getting the run around from Enterprise Car rental and $300 later and 2 hours of waiting they had someone out there to reprogram our key. Expensive swim Dad had. I am proud of him though because he didn't let it ruin his day. After the car ordeal was over he spent 2 more hours in the water. This pic is of Brad taking the key FOB apart and trying to fix it. No luck. Brad letting loose.....
Long day coming to an end.

We love this beach.

After the beach we went and had Mexican food in Haleiwa. The clock is ticking......our time is almost up.........

Haleiwa

2010-02-18T22:31:00.000-08:00

Today was sort of a wash. It was cloudy and windy, so in the morning we went for a run and then went to watch the big waves at the beach. We were almost extras in the movie they are making about Bethany Hamilton (the surfer that got her arm bitten off by a shark). I say almost, cuz we just showed up on the beach when they were filming and weren't really suppose to be there. Marilyn and I were willing to stay and be part of it, but the guys didn't want to so we left and went to another beach to watch the big waves and have our THIRD fruit bowl at Kava Root. Later we walked through the little town we are staying in and went to the best Thai place for dinner. I love this picture of our little town. This is the authentic Hawaii. This is the place that is very famous for their shaved ice. Had to try it, but the fruit bowls are better.

Our first day here for lunch we got our lunch from this bus. It was sold out of this bus. We got the best steak and shrimp I have ever had.

Here is the rooster that we would like to catch and fry every morning at 5:15 am. I was laying there trying to go back to sleep this morning and counted 8-10 seconds between each crow. I am not kidding........the problem is that I think that they are on the endangered species list because they have chickens and roosters all over this town. We could get arrested for trying to capture them. We even saw a hen and her chicks roosting in the parking lot of the grocery store.

Hikes and Sight Seeing

2010-02-18T00:23:00.000-08:00

Today we had a windy, cloudier day so we decided to go on one of Dad's hikes that he had planned. Along the way we stopped at one of the beaches that Dad loved when he was here at BYU-Hawaii. I love this pic of Dad watching the waves. They were only about 10 feet, but they were beautiful. We hiked up to a waterfall and it was in the middle of lush vegetation. Very Beautiful.
Here we are standing in the middle of a bunch of bamboo.

We made it to the waterfall.......

.....and Dad was the only one brave enough to jump in. He only had to jump twice for us to get the shot right. Way to go Alan!

Luau and Show at the PCC

2010-02-18T00:14:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went to a Luau and show at the PCC. I got my first real flower lei. I have wanted one forever and was so happy to get it. They were beautiful and they even matched my shirt.....Jessie would be very happy to know that. The food was great and so was the entertainment. Sun was in my eyes in this pic, but put it in anyway.
This was the big pic they took out of the pit.

We have the BEST freinds. This pineapple had a smoothie drink in it that was really yummy.

Hai.....the Breath of Life show.

Beaching it at Waiema Bay

2010-02-16T23:45:00.000-08:00

Today we spent almost the entire day at Waiema Bay. It is a very popular beach. I think it's the one that the surfer girl Brittany got her arm bit off by a shark. We know this because they are making a movie of her accident and they spent the whole day setting up to shoot the fillm on this beach tomorrow. They are also gearing up here to film the next Pirates of the Caribbean. They are also getting ready to film a Clint Eastwood movie. Little piece of Hawaii news. Anyway.....this is a beautiful beach and perfect for Dad to play in the waves on. These ae the high wave warnings they had up. This didn't stop your Dad or the Gerrard's. For our late afternoon snack we went back and got the fruit bowls that we had yesterday. I am going to have to figure out how to make that stuff at home.

Playing in the sun

2010-02-16T23:32:00.000-08:00

We felt so lucky to have such beautiful weather. Clear blue skies, a little breeze and big waves.
The waves churned this area up and they weren't letting people swim in this part of the beach today.

Dad had so much fun! I think he spent about three hours in the water. I tried so hard to get a good picture of him catching a wave, but couldn't get one. I had a blast just watching him though.

There he is in the wave. He caught this one all the way in to shore.

My Body Surfing Experience

2010-02-16T23:20:00.000-08:00

Ok. These pictures have a story. This was me coming out of the water after being totally pummled by a wave. I am talking water up the nose, in the mouth, in the ears, etc. I was going to try body surfing in bigger waves than I have ever been in before and was nervous (because you know that I am such a thrill seeker.) So Dad gave me a couple brief instructions as the waves were coming in. There was a REAL big one coming in and he goes, "Ok. Now dig your feet in the sand and dive into and under the wave."...................so this is me getting ready for the wave. As you can see I am standing stationary with head down, ready for the wave. Well, I didn't dive. I just let the wave hit me full on and I got tossed around like a rag doll. I totally gave Brad Gerrard years and years worth of harassment material. We actually all got a good laugh. It took about 1/2 hour for all the water to come back out of my sinuses and ears, but I will try again before we leave.

We are in HAWAII!!!!!!!

2010-02-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

So we will try to do a little day by day update of our trip in Hawaii. Our first night here went pretty uneventfully except for the fact that when we got to Hawaii they had lost Alan's luggage.....just as we were at the local ROSS store getting ready to spend money on new clothes for him, the airport called and told us they found his luggage so we were able to go pick it up. We were so relieved! Brad and Marilyn Gerrard were waiting for us at the airport when we got there, and once we received the luggage we headed out to Hale'iwa where our Condo was. It was dark when we got here, so we couldn't see very much, but this is what we woke up to in the morning. What a beautiful site to see. The only negative thing I have to say is that about 5 AM we were awakened by a COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO right outside our window. Yes.....they didn't tell us we had a rooster that would be waking us up in the morning! I can only suppose that he will be in the same place tomorrow morning. When we were on the beach in the afternoon he was still crowing away.......... Alan planning our day and Marilyn starting the day with our oatmeal.