Back to normal life!

Well I have to say my life has slowed down considerably! Most of the week was pretty slow, just the regular stuff...you know laundry, cooking, driving kids places and picking them up again, etc!  

On Friday, we had a Cameron Ranch Adult party at the church.  It was supposed to be like we were going on a cruise.  Each table was decorated with a destination theme.  We sat at the Anne of Green Gables table (Prince Edward Island destination).  I am always amazed at how they can transform the gym!  There was a really good turnout and lots of good food.  They also had a potato derby race (carved potatoes and put wheels in them and raced them down the pinewood derby track).  Ours looked great, just didn't race very well (kind of got stuck on the track).  I will send a picture.  It was the Jamaican bobsled team with straw hats and red pigtails!

 

Saturday, March 8, 2014 was a little busier. Dave and I went on a bike ride early in the morning (it has been a while). In fact, Dave told me there was a lot of dust on my bike.  I just haven't ridden outside much since training for the marathon. Well the front tire was flat and when I tried to pump it up, nothing happened:(!  So I ended up changing it.  While I was changing the front tire, something happened and all of a sudden the back tire lost a bunch of air and we couldn't pump it back up again!  That is the first time I have changed a tire on my bike and I had to change both of them!  Glad it was at home and not on the road!  The weather was perfect and it was great to get out.  Dave even let me keep up with him most of the time (he claims that he wasn't taking it easy), it must be because I am in pretty good shape right now with all that marathon training:)!  On a side note, later in the afternoon Dave went to ride his bike down to the neighbor's house and his bike had a FLAT tire. I think that something must be going on at our house!

We got home, showered and got ready to take Amber to tryout for Saturday's Warrior (more on this later) at the Higley Center for the Arts (it is just on Recker and Pecos).  It worked out great because we dropped her off and then headed to the Temple for Jessica C. (good friend of Samantha's) wedding.  Savannah and Jordan were there (Savannah had taken out her endowments the evening before so she could be at the wedding).  The Smiths, Dille's, Ayers, Sister Woolf, Bishop Ralph and Sister Teague were all there.   Mary's (Jessica's mom) family is so big and even though the sealing rooms are big Dave and I were curious to see if we all fit in there.  She was married in the sealing room on the South side of the Temple (just exactly opposite of the one featured on the tour during the open house).  We all fit with room to spare (about 15 extra seats).  Those sealing rooms are so beautiful!  President LeSueur was the sealer (he used to be our stake president and is good friends with the bride's family).  The temple worker had asked everyone to turn their cell phones completely off and not just to silence them.  Off course someone didn't and right after President LeSueur starting talking you could hear a buzzing.  He was not pleased and you could tell by the way that he asked the person to get their cell phone and turn it off.  He didn't dwell on it and went on to talk about how the ordinances that we participate in in the temple are a physical aspect of the convents that we are making and help us to remember them and to keep them.  He had a nice message and then performed the sealing. 

 

They exchanged rings later (I think so that her birth family could be a part of some aspect of the wedding).  We had been invited us to the luncheon, but we had Kent's last soccer game, and since I am the coach there was really no choice.  We did go to the reception later in the evening and it was beautiful. It is crazy to see many of Samantha's friends engaged and getting married.

After the sealing we went and picked up Amber and changed clothes to go to Kent's game. We were really proud of Amber trying out for the play.  She had to sing a song and then learn a dance.  She thinks it went pretty well. We just hope that she is okay with whatever happens!  Over all I think it was a good experience for her.

On to our last soccer game!  It was a little bitter sweet.  We lost again (I just wanted someone to score a goal, but not even that happened, oh well!).  A. was the goalie the 1st half and said to me when I asked him if he would be the keeper, "Well, I probably won't be very good."  I told him to just do his best and that would be enough.  He made a ton of saves and did a fantastic job!  S. was the keeper the 2nd half and also did a great job!  We lost 0-4 (2 goals each half...a familiar pattern).  I just know these boys are better than our scoring indicated, but I did my best and that is all I could do.  The parents gave me a gift card to "Blue Lemon"  a new restaurant where the blockbuster used be (on Greenfield). So sweet!  Most of the boys even let me give them a side hug:) as they left! Part of me will miss the boys, but I will be glad not to be coaching again!  Kent decided that he wanted to do spring swim team instead of soccer.  Lindsay still wants to do soccer, but she has a coach that likes to coach! YAY!

We went to the reception early because we had tickets to the play at the Hale Centre Theater at 7:30 pm.  It is a musical.  It is not my favorite play, or musical.  They did a fine job with what they had to work with.  Kind of a dark story.  It was just really nice to be on a date with my sweetheart:)!

Sunday was fast Sunday because of the Temple dedication last week.  Bishop K. family went to Utah (left him here...sound familiar?),  The C.'s also left for spring break.  So no bishopric fast Sunday get together.  We invited the bishop over for dinner so he wouldn't have to be alone.  After dinner the bishop headed home and we went on a family walk (the weather was perfect) and then played a little Liverpool rummy.  It was a nice evening to spend together!

Phoenix Marathon and the Gilbert Temple Youth Cultural Celebration

We have had a crazy week this week!  Dave and I (along with Uncle Richard and Aunt Mary Ann) ran the phoenix marathon on Saturday.  It hasn't rained here in months, but decided to roll in on Friday night (well at least the clouds) the rain came just before the marathon started!  It wasn't too bad, just mostly light sprinkles through the first few miles then not much the rest of the race. I told Dave that I have run all my marathons in the rain!  He laughed at me and said, "All 2 of them, right?"  I replied that that was true, but it was still ALL my marathon experience!!

Mary Ann and I stuck together most of the race.  By mile 23 I could tell that she was feeling MUCH better that I was, so I told her to go on without me.  My quads had started feeling really sore and tight by mile 9 or 10 but just getting progressively worse as the race went on.  She did only after I promised I would't be mad at her (we had made a pact to stick together).  I knew that I would finish and so I didn't mind breaking that pact!  She finished in 4 hours and 54 minutes.  I finished in exactly 5 hours (our goal was 5 hours).  So we both felt like we had met our goal!

Dave and Richard finished with about the same distance between them.  Dave finished first and then Richard. They were both under 4 hours and I think Richard was THRILLED.  Dave was happy to have done decently since he hadn't had nearly as much training as he would have liked (as you know he had to stop running for a few weeks because of his knee and then that nasty flu he had took him out for a couple more weeks...overall he lost about 5 weeks of heavy training). So in reality he did AWESOME!  He was a little frustrated because somehow his chip timing did NOT work and the race had NO official time for him.  He emailed them and they had video of him crossing the finish line and so they will post a time for him online.  It seems important to be official on the race results!

Dave & Richard after finishing the marathon!

Yes, that is me making my way to the finish line.
It looks like a slow shuffle and that is what it felt like too!
I had NO kick at the end, just happy to be DONE!!

We DID it!!!  Can you believe that we are still smiling?

Me and Dave

As soon as we finished the marathon we hurried home to take showers and go help at the Youth Cultural Celebration for the Temple Dedication at Discovery Park.  

It is funny how the marathon and the cultural celebration seemed so separated.  Almost like 2 different lives...not really worried about the rain for the marathon, but extremely concerned about the rain for the celebration.

I needed some rest so I am sitting down ready for the kids to come for snacks!
Just don't ask me to get up because my quads were not allowing it!

I told you last wee that we had so much dust!  We have been without rain for about 2 1/2 months (which is an unusually dry winter).  It was crazy!

So, fast forward to the middle of the next week.  What do we have in the forecast for Saturday,  RAIN!!  A little on Friday and maybe some on Sunday, but 100% for Saturday!  We have been praying for rain, but not for the one day that we didn't want it!  How many times do you see 100% in the forecast???  The Executive Committee asked all of us to pray that the elements would be tempered.  Dad said, "It's in the Lord's hands now."

The rain came and went a bit in the morning, which was great because it settled the dust.  It seemed like everything else was skirting all around the celebration.  

Can you find Paige and Amber (among the other kids from our ward?
Paige is second from left and Amber second from the right.
Look at those smiles...and they stayed even through the RAIN!

The final dress rehearsal went really well and when it was over, it started to sprinkle a little (which we could handle), but there were some big black clouds heading our way.  The youth were upbeat and excited. We fed the youth dinner and sent them back to the field for the performance.  20 minutes before the performance was supposed to start, the rain came down!  The kids were on the field waiting for the Prophet and President Eyring to arrive.  Needless to say by the time everything got started, EVERYONE was drenched!! (even the audience!). 

The Farr's and Dave under the tarp (trying to stay dry as possible)

Me under the tarp.

This was our view.  Can you see the rain in the lights?  Those are the kids out on the field waiting to get started!

But the show went on! The youth smiled through the WHOLE show and had great attitudes!  Discovery Park is a RETENTION basin (the location of the event), so you can guess where all the water went!  By the end there was at least an inch or so of water at various places on the field.  Kids were slipping down the hill as they went to go onto the field for their parts of the show.  I am sure there will be lots of stories to tell!

It was fun to watch their excitement (despite being drenched) as President Eyring and President Monson arrived!

President Moson and President Eyring waving to the youth, who were waving and screaming with excitement!

It was certainly an event that NO ONE that participated in will EVER forget!  Even when it was all over and the kids were freezing they were still smiling and laughing and enjoying the craziness of it all!  Paige and Amber got to participate and I think that they will say that it was a truly memorable experience!  We talked about how the pioneers probably experience similar conditions, especially on the trek to Salt lake, but then had to pitch tents in the mud and sleep in wet clothes.  We got to go home and take a nice hot shower and hop into a warm bed.  

Take a look at all that water!

Sunday was the dedication of the Temple. There were 3 sessions and we ended up going to 2 of the three.  They were all different (including the talks and the choirs).  We were privileged as family to get to be in the actual temple ( Grandma Garner also received a ticket and came with us) for the last dedication session. We were wishing that Samantha were there with us, but know that she was where she needs to be and are so proud of her! The tickets were given by the Stake Presidencies and ours gave our to us for our work with the Celebration and Grandma's stake president just felt inspired that she needed a ticket. 

It was wonderful to listen to the words of the general authorities and President Monson (he spoke in the first session for a few minutes).  In the last session one of the Seventies that spoke talked about how some may wonder about their faith because even though they had prayed that the rain would be tempered it had come anyway.  He likened it to the Lord wanting to pour out his spirit on them.  I know that despite the rain, and maybe because of it, those youth (and adults) will have a special place in their hearts when we think of the temple cultural celebration and dedication!

We were seated in the temple marriage waiting room. (Just a side note, it is on the 3rd floor and we had to climb all those stairs, up was not so bad, but down...that was another thing all together!  My quads hurt so bad by this time that I had such a hard time trying to stand that Dave had to help me get up and it took so long that we missed half the Hosanna shout)  All the furniture had been removed and chairs placed in all the rooms.  The ushers said they were able to seat 1850 people in each dedication session.  Because we were at the last session we were able to see President Monson and President Eyring leave the temple and drive away.  What a wonderful way to end a wonderful weekend!

Waiting in line to be seated for the dedication session.

After the session was finished, on the South side of the temple.

A brief sighting of President Monson.

It's about time to start blogging again!  Tomorrow morning I send my oldest child off to a country that I have never been to before.  I am excited for her to start this new adventure.  I love that she has chosen to serve a mission for our church.  I am thrilled that she gets to practice her Spanish (a language she loves).  We will miss her a ton but know that she has made a wonderful choice to serve.

Kanab 4th of July 2009

July 3, 2009

While I was growing up in Cedar City, Utah our family would often go to Kanab around the 4th of July. You see my Grandpa Jameson's birthday was on the 6th and we would help him celebrate. In the beginning we would go to Lake Powell around his birthday, boy did I look forward to those trips! As the years went on the the tradition changed a bit. When I was about 15 years old, my grandparents decided (actually I am not exactly sure how it all came to be, this is just my version) they were going to drive my Grandpa's 1950 something Chevy in the parade and the grandkids (most of us anyway) would follow beind in a golf cart type vehicle (it was bigger than a golf cart, but I'm not sure what to call it. At the time I called it a "Surrey" because it reminded me of the song from Oklahoma where it talked about a "Surrey with the fringe on top". The only similarity was the fringe:)!). That one time in the parade has taken on a life of its own and now nearly every year we go to Kanab for the 4th of July and participate in the parade. This year we had over 70 people there. It has turned into a reunion and we love it!

This year we got to Kanab on Friday, July 3 and we jumped right in! My dad will sometimes take everyone on a hike around the beautiful red hills of Kanab and this year was no exception. An hour or so after we arrived, Dad got us all together and we went hiking! We went up the canyon near where they shoot the fireworks off from.

Here we are at the base of the hill, getting ready to go. We had all ages and abilities come along.

As we were headed to the top we took a moment for a picture:).

What a beautiful view!

Here is Dad pointing out some "famous" landmarks.
I think he is showing us one of our former hikes.

You couldn't ask for a prettier hike:). We got started a little late and still needed sunlight to work on the float, so we headed back down sooner than we would have liked. Another year we will spend a little more time.

We all headed back to Uncle Richards house and started helping put together the floats. It is a good thing that the Lea Family head this up...or it probably wouldn't happen!

Me, Christy (Karl's wife), and Jamie (1st cousin...she designs our t-shirts every year!)

The kids were busy making their own masterpieces while
we worked on the floats (mostly we just did what they told us to do!).

Lindsay LOVES to draw and color!

We had a fun evening visiting and then headed back to the motel to get some rest before the BIG day! We stay at the Perry Lodge, which is a whole story by itself!

The 4th of JULY!!

The morning starts out with a few shots from the cannon at 6am to let everyone know that the day has started. Then the town hosts a 2 mile "fun run". Dave and I decided to run this year and guess what, we both took 1st in our age divisions! That was a first for me! Of course there were only 5 women in my age group of 40-49 year olds. In Dave's age bracket there was a whole page of names! Nevertheless the victory was sweet, even for me!

1st Place!

This is a long day to say the least, but very fun too. We start out pretty early. We have to get in line for the parade. So once we get there we have some time to hang out and wait for the start of the parade. It was really hot this year! Sometime I will remember to bring something to entertain us while we wait!

Lindsay loves sucking her thumb and twisting her hair with her other hand. She claims that she doesn't really suck it anymore, but it is such a habit...she does not even realize it is happening.

Those that can, bring bikes to ride in the parade. Some even get decorated!

Here is most (we are missing my sister's family the Wagner's) of the Hugh Family.
We (the Garners) are on the left.
Kent (my oldest brother) and his whole crew are next.
Then come Grandma & Grandpa Hugh (where it all started:)).
On the right is Karl (my other brother) and his family
with a cousin (Christy's nephew from Indiana).

Wow, my girls are getting taller. Next year I am sure that they will pass me up!

Grandma and Grandpa Hugh make this such a fun event! We hate missing out!

Lindsay and a couple of cousins.
Just waiting....

Samantha & Paige...more waiting!

Kent has his spot picked out and he stuck with it the whole time!

Karl explains the finer points of life to Dave...more waiting.

Jamie and I thought that Kent had a great idea...so we copied...more waiting!

Yeah!!! We finally get to go!

There is the big float!

We did win "Best Family" again this year!

We even had a little competition.

We had our own drum brigade!

Dave captured the parade from the street view.
I got to ride and capture from my comfy seat:)!

We went for a cool treat to Denny's Wigwam and a little shopping after the parade.

Later in the day it HAILED!!! It was CRAZY!

Then the weather cleared up and
we had a fun evening just eating and enjoying each other's company!

Dave and Samantha went shooting with a few others.
Aaron Jameson, who is in the Marines,
brought some of his guns and took a few out to check them out!

Uncle Kent, helping Samantha get the right feel!
Man that is a big gun.
It is probably good that I didn't go with them.

Of course we have to have the family "talent" show!

The fireworks were great! Lindsay wasn't even afraid this year!

Sparklers and our own fireworks ended the evening and
we were all thoroughly exhausted!