Dream Night

We went to "Dream Night" at the Hogle Zoo last Friday night. They close the Zoo to everyone except people with tickets. It is just for people with disabilities and their families. We invited some friends of ours to go with us. Chick-Fil-A provided dinner. It was fun for the kids. Daxton got his face painted like a silver wolf. They did a great job. Kinlee wouldn't sit still long enough to get her face painted and Makenna is afraid of everyone, so Daxton and his buddies Carson and Ethan were the only ones. It was perfect, not too hot, not too cold, no crowds and it only lasted a couple of hours. That is my kind of day at the Zoo. Thanks Hogle Zoo!

Relay For Life

My sister Donnarae and her husband Jon have put together a Relay For Life team to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Both Kenny and I are signed up to run one of the legs of the race. We have a goal to raise $1,500. My sister-in-law Jen and I came up with the idea to sell glow bracelets/necklaces at the event. We also decided to let the kids get involved by selling the glow bracelets in our neighborhoods (like a lemonade stand) to raise money. We will be selling them at the Morning Cloak Park after school on Thursday and Friday (6/5 & 6/6). We are selling 3 bracelets for $1 (3 bracelets makes a necklace). It is a good opportunity for your kids to earn some money at home doing extra jobs to help out. Come let your kids' money go to something fun and for a good cause. ( I posted this especially for those supposed "blog stalkers" that I don't see as regularly, so come and see us on Thursday and Friday)

To Health and 5 K's

In order to inspire myself to get regular exercise, I made a goal back in December to run a Half Marathon (Thirteenish miles?). I figured if I made a goal to run 4-6 times a week for..... well forever, I would never be able to measure it. So my sister-in-law Jen and I decided we would train and do it in August. The run is in Provo Canyon and is all down hill (that is what they tell me).

I have been running since then, but not always as consistently as I should (way to go Jen, for being consistent). Jen and I ran a 5 K with our children's school a few weeks ago and then did the Running with Angels 5K at Thanksgiving Point the following week. This is a picture of us at the Running with Angels run. I hesitated putting the picture on, but who gets up and does their hair for a race, not me. Wish me luck. Whatever happens with the runs, at least I am getting healthier, which is the real goal.

My Ten Year Run Is Over

The last time I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting was the year 1998. I was just being released from the singles ward relief society presidency. I was still in school at the U. I was single. Our president was Clinton, 9/11 hadn't happened yet, and I could fill my gas tank for $15. I am sure there are many other noteworthy changes since then, but this is what comes to mind.

About a year ago, Kenny had to speak in sacrament meeting and pronounced to the congregation that in the almost 9 years we had been married that I had never been asked to speak. He has had to speak 7,8,or 9 times during that same time. Nothing came of it until two weeks ago when our bishop asked us to speak together. (We call that nature's spanking...Kenny.)

So last Sunday I broke my run and gave a talk on Family Scripture Study. Kenny spoke on Personal Scripture study and did a great job in the 6 minutes that the youth speaker and I left him. (Apparently I had stored up a lot of things to say in 10 years.)

And thus the next 10 year run begins. The next time I speak in church, Chelsie Clinton will be running for President and I will be paying $15/ gallon for gas.

Can you believe she is 4?

Kinlee turned 4 this month. We had cake and ice cream at Grandma Joyce's house. One of my friends made a cool Backyardigans cake of Pablo for her. She was amazed by it. I sat her by the cake to get a picture. I new I should take a picture of the cake first. She sat and looked at it, and wouldn't look at the camera. Right before I took the picture she reached over and grabbed a handful of icing. You can see the letters are messed up in the picture. I think she was just testing to see if Pablo was real or not. Natalie, you did a great job. Thanks for all of the presents from the family.

Makenna gets some love!

We had my two youngest sisters and their husbands over for dinner a few Sundays ago. It is hard to find couples that both like to eat fish. Kenny and I love it. I told them that I would fix fish and show them how easy it is to make. At one point Makenna got hurt and went to Jon (Donnarae's husband). I thought it was so cute. I had to put it on the blog. With all the grandkids in our family, these guys are going to be pros with kids before theirs ever come along. (You can see Beau is entertaining Daxton in the background). Thanks for coming guys.

I'M HOT!

It was great to hear Daxton utter these beautiful two words. I am ready for some warm weather. We went to St. George this weekend. Kenny had to get some continuing education credits, so we made a vacation out of it. Our neighbors, "The Dukes" ( I know they sound cool just from their name), came with us and Chris went to the classes with Kenny while Becky and all of the kids played. Jen and Troy came with their family just for fun. We are glad they did. We left early on Thursday morning in the snow and hoped for much warmer weather. The boys had a tee time at 1pm that we had to make it to. We dropped the boys off, but we couldn't check into the hotel yet. That would have been a concern had it not been 75 degrees out. We went to a park and played. We even played a game of kick ball. After checking in at the hotel and a swim in the pool, we picked up the boys and went to the Pasta Factory for dinner ( a St. George favorite).

Jen found us "the coolest park I have ever been to" ( a quote from Tanner Duke) south of St. George. It had about four or five times as much play equipment as a regular park. It had a splash area, but it was a little too cold for getting wet. Kinlee got the most wet and that was only because she fell on her bum when she was trying to touch the water. Troy played baseball with the older kids and the younger girls just played on the equipment. It was so nice. We also tried to play some sand volleyball. After swimming at the pool and some needed naps we went to see Horton Hears a Who. Luckily for me everyone was willing to help out with my two girls. I don't usually take my kids to the movie without their dad. We went back to the park after the boys were done with classes and played some fun volleyball. Then we went swimming at the pool and straight to bed.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day in Snow Canyon. The kids loved climbing the rocks the best. Kinlee took off up the side of the mountain after the kids climbing up to see the pioneer names. Kenny followed her up and helped, but that girl can climb! I was surprised. She slid down like it was a slide and Kenny had to keep hold of her. She is definately not like her mom and afraid of heights. We played on the petrified sand dunes and in the sand at the dunes. It was a lot of fun. Thanks to my brother Troy for carrying Kinlee and keeping her happy. She loves her uncle Troy. Daxton was Jed Duke's shadow for the entire trip. Jed is a cool kid and would always include Daxton in whatever he was doing. I never even had to worry about him, because Jed is responsible and Daxton was always with him. It was kind of like having Ronnie around, but a little younger.

On Sunday, we went to the temple and Brigham Young's home. The weather was starting to turn cold and we heard it was snowing in Salt Lake, so we headed home. It was a blizzard by the time we hit Beaver and we didn't drive out of it until we hit Provo. It was a little scary at times. I guess that is the price you pay for a little sun for the weekend.