Mormon Helping Hands

Last Saturday we participated in Mormon Helping Hands.  We were assigned to Heather Farms Park in Walnut Creek.  We cleared out some Juniper and other plants, laid some weed protection stuff and then planted some different plants and trees.

 It was dirty work, but we had a good time.  Here is Calissa taking a wheelbarrow full of stuff to the dumpster. Calissa did really good helping until she found a bug on her hand.  (There were lots of bugs!)

 Conner and Travis hard at work.

 Calissa and I were the dumpster runners.  

 Parker working hard too!

We were only able to stay about three hours since we had Conner's baseball game to go to so we didn't get to see the final project.  We had a few grumbles from the kids as we were headed there that morning, but there is something about doing service in a group of 100+ people that makes it fun.  The kids came away with a better attitude of service and was a great family activity!

 Sunday afternoon we drove out to see the finished project.

Great work everyone!

SoCal Ragnar

Last September, Jen, Parker, and I ran our first Ragnar relay race and had a great time.  A Ragnar is when you get 12 runners in 2 vans and you run about 200 miles day and night as a team.  Jen's leg was still hurting from the Napa Valley Ragnar and we decided Parker needed to miss this one since he's playing on the High School volleyball team so I was the only one from our family to run.

Andrew, Tina, Christopher, Lindsay, and one of Andrew's friends, Ryan Sheehy, drove down on Thursday and we stayed at Tina's sister's house that night.  Since we were van 2, we didn't have to wake up too early.  In our van was me, Ryan, Tina, Andrew, Tina's brother Mike, and Tina's brother-in-law Doug.  Here we are about to take off on Friday morning (you can tell we haven't run yet since we all have big smiles and don't look exhausted).  

At our first exchange (the starting line for our team), they had lots of free stuff including energy drinks, shot blocks, energy bars, and Krispy Kreme donuts (which of of those doesn't belong with the others?).  Here's the six of us getting ready to go at the first exchange.

Doug was the first to run for our van.  We saw him a couple times along the trail and gave him water.  About this time, we started getting texts from Ragnar reminding everyone to stay hydrated since the Heat Index was going to be about 110 degrees.  As we made it to the second exchange, we saw paramedics attending to someone (see below).  This was one of many people we saw who had to receive medical attention throughout the day.

It got hotter and hotter throughout the day as Ryan, Andrew, Tina, and then Mike each took their turn.  I was the last runner (runner 12 from our team) and by the time I ran, it was at it hottest point of the day.  As we waited for Mike to hand off the slap bracelet to me, Ryan and Andrew made me promise to walk if I got too hot.  They also made me promise to take it easy and not try to go too fast.  Well, I kept the first promise anyway -- started out pretty fast but then got super hot and had to walk a couple times during my 5 miles.  Below is Mike handing off to me (and a lovely picture of the row of outhouses that were available at each exchange).

Here I am just getting started...

Below is a picture of most of the runners in van 1 from our team.  Since they all worked for Lifetime, our team name was It Took Half of Lifetime to Finish (I'll assume you get it and I don't have to explain the name to you).  Since I would be handing off to runner 1 in van 1, they were all here waiting for me to finish (except for runner 1 who is at the exchange point waiting for me).

Did I mention it was SUPER HOT???  Once I saw the finish line (which of course was up a hill), I started sprinting and passed about 4 runners over the last quarter mile.  I slapped the bracelet on runner 1 and then started wobbling to find some shade.  I found a small patch of it and sat down to rest since I knew I was on the verge of passing out.  After relaxing for about 15 minutes and drinking some water and gatorade, I started to feel better.  The rest of my van had seen me wobbling away but couldn't find me and were starting to get worried.  Even after about 20-30 minutes my feet had a strange tingling sensation (not a good feeling).  But I made it and didn't need any medical attention so I was happy about that.

We then went to eat at TGI Friday's and drank a LOT of water.  We then went to WinCo Foods to buy more water (we went through way more water than we thought we would).  Below we are in the WinCo parking lot marking down our "kills."  You get a kill for each runner you pass in the race and we had well over a hundred kills during the race.

After dinner and a stop to stock up on water, we went to the next major exchange (where we would wait for van 1 to finish their legs).  They had a golf course there where they let us lay out sleeping bags.  I can't say I got a whole lot of sleep but it definitely felt good to lay down for a while.  At night, we wore our safety vests, which as you can see below work quite well.

Here I am waiting for my second leg to start (all decked out in the vest and the head light).  That leg was much nicer since the weather had cooled down (actually was almost cold before I started running).  I felt great after finishing that leg and didn't even need time to cool down.

We then went to the next major exchange to try to get a little more sleep before our last leg would begin.  This one was basically right on the beach and was very foggy.  In fact, it was so foggy and humid there that anything outside of the sleeping bag was drenched by the time we woke up (including Ryan's phone which was having trouble working in the morning).  Here's a picture after it got light and you can still see the fog is pretty thick.

Andrew's last leg was 11 miles and right in the middle was this HUGE hill.  The picture below doesn't do it justice but it was a major hill.  We also saved a runner from another team that we saw go off course.  We turned our van around and picked him up and brought him back to the course and he was very grateful (although then he had to go up this hill so I'm not sure how grateful he was feeling at that very moment).

After dropping Mike off for his last leg and driving up a ways, we decided to find a spot about halfway where we could give him some water.  We waited for a while and then heard another van talking about their runner getting lost (along with a few other runners).  That made us a little concerned so after waiting a while longer, we decided we should try to call Mike.  When we got in the van, he had already tried to call everyone in the van (at least the ones whose cell numbers he had).  We called him back and he wasn't real happy (about getting lost or about us not answering the phone).  We had him describe where he was and then eventually figured out how to find him and drove him back to the course.  He had heard about one of our runners from the Napa Valley Ragnar getting lost and wondered how that happened.  Well, now he knew...  Here we are waiting for Mike (and before we knew he was lost).

Once Mike was finished (and had taken off his shirt -- this was a running theme, a few of the guys took their shirts off at each exchange and, no, I didn't partake in that part of the festivities) he handed off to me for my last leg (and the last one for the whole team).

Here I am near the beginning of the last leg.

I also felt pretty good on this last leg.  It was 6.3 miles but right along the ocean.  The good news is that kept it pretty cool -- the bad news is the wind was blowing off the ocean right into my face so it felt like I was running into a constant headwind.  I'll admit there were several times I wanted to stop and rest but I kept pushing through and thinking...only 5 more songs on my iPod, only 4 more, etc.  Finally, I saw the finish line (see below).  At that point, the whole team is supposed to join you for the last 100 yards or so.  When I got there, only about half the team was there so we had to stop for a bit to wait for the others.  Needless to say, I wasn't real happy about waiting for anyone because I wanted to be DONE at that point.

We saw this banner in one of the tents near the finish line and it seemed to capture the experience well.

Here I am not long after I finished -- feeling good about being done but still sweating...

Here's the whole team posed for a picture at the finish line with our medals around our necks.

We went back to Tina's sister's house and spent the night before driving back home in the morning.  Some of the girls wanted to play games but as you can see, I'm pretty much exhausted at that point.  I kept putting my glasses on Sadie's head (Tina's niece) and she thought it was pretty hilarious when I said she looked SO smart.

On the way back home, most of the van was sleeping as I drove and I suddenly saw this bright green streak go across the sky.  Since Tina was still awake I asked her if she saw it and she said "saw what?"  I have to admit at that moment I thought it was possible I was just delirious from the whole experience but I told her I just saw this green streak of light go across the sky.  She gave me a strange look so I just let it go.  Lucky for me, she saw a story on-line later that day that talked about a bright green streak of light that many people had seen in the sky that day so I was officially not crazy.  Apparently, it was some type of meteorite that was the size of a mini-van being burned up in the atmosphere.  Pretty cool ending to the Ragnar experience, my second UFO sighting!! (you'll have to ask me sometime about my first...:-))

Anyhow, it was so fun we are going to do the Napa Valley one again this September so I'm continuing to run each week to get ready.  Can't wait for the next set of memories!

Stake Conference

 Today was Stake Conference.  Travis was out of town for the Ragnar and I had to help accompany the Stake Men's Choir that day.  It was a beautiful day!  The choir sounded great, Sister Capson sat with my kids (and brought them to the Conference) and then we grabbed a quick picture on our way home.  A funny thing happened that morning on the way to Conference.  I drove over to the Capson's house and left Trav's car for her to go pick up my kids in a little later, so I could drive them home and she could ride with her husband.  The kids were ready when she picked them up!  They were about halfway to the Temple when Parker said, "My dad has a car just like this!"  Sister Capson laughed when she told him that this was his dad's car!  Funny Parker!

Look at that pose of Calissa's!  Watch Out!

Conner, Parker and Calissa

My Grandma

My Grandma passed away suddenly on Thursday, April 12th in Utah.  She had been in the hospital just overnight with pneumonia, but we thought she was fine. We were more worried about my Grandpa since he had just had surgery and his health has always been more fragile over the past several years. She had been home from the hospital for about a week and was out and about doing things. She woke up coughing up blood and called 911 the morning of April 6th.  My parents flew to Utah that evening and got to talk to her and spend time with her before she passed away on Thursday. 

My Grandma was a vivacious person who loved me and loved my family.  She was always interested in the things that we were doing.  I always loved going to see her and my Grandpa.  She was also a trained opera singer.  I had the opportunity to accompany her as she sang many times and will cherish that memory of her. 

She passed away at the end of our Spring Break.  We packed up on Friday and headed to Utah on Saturday morning to spend time with family before her Funeral on Monday. It was great to have everyone together and to see family that we hadn't seen in a while.  The kids loved getting to see and play with their cousins!

 Here are all the cousins (except Charlie ... he was taking a nap)

back row - Conner, Lindsay and Parker

Kaylie, Abby, Calissa, Maddie, Christopher, Sam and Danny

Nathan

(Kevin and Andrew in the background)

 We met everyone for dinner on Saturday night after we had arrived and then came back over to Kevin and Kellie's house on Sunday after church.

 Sam lost his "world" under the fridge.  Kevin and Tina worked on getting it out from under.  After several tries and several different tools, they were finally successful!

They found the "world!"

Sunday was a fun day because we were able to spend several hours with the Romer cousins and then we went to Chandler and Jennifer's house to see all the Burr cousins!  That's the first time that my kids have seen all their cousins in one day!  Pretty amazing!

Calissa, Abby, Maddie, Christopher and Sam playing a game.

Abby and Calissa busy with something fun!

The boys played basketball after church in the backyard.

Abby and Calissa are best buds!

OK, not sure what they are doing here, but doesn't Calissa's arm bend in a weird way?  That's not normal!!

Drew, Trav, Me and Kevin visiting in the backyard.

Making dinner.

Charlie, Kellie, Grandpa, Kevin, Grandma and Me

Drew, Kevin, BJ and Grandpa after their basketball game.

Monday was the funeral.  Travis said the Opening Prayer, the kids all sang "Families Can Be Together Forever," and I was asked to play "O Divine Redeemer" on the piano.  It was a beautiful funeral. I held my emotions in check while I was playing, but lost it once I was finished.  I could hear my Grandma singing while I was playing that for her, and I felt like it would be the last time that I would be able to play for her.

 After the funeral and luncheon, we drove up to Brigham City for the burial.

Maddie, Abby and Calissa each got to take a flower from one of the flower arrangements.

 Here is my Grandpa with some of his great-grandchildren. 

 Monday night we had a BBQ and roasted marshmallows before we all headed for home the next day.

   

The Linda and Craig Romer Family!  All 22 of us!

As much as we'll miss my Grandma, I'm glad that my kids got to know her and will remember her.  They are pretty lucky to have been able to know 3 great-grandparents that they'll remember!

Broken Down Car

A few weeks ago I noticed a plastic piece hanging down under my car.  I looked at it and thought, "Oh well ... guess it's not causing any problems, whatever it is."  Looking back I now know that it was causing problems!  I drove part of the boys Volleyball team to Northgate High School for a game on Tuesday night. As I was parking the car I went over the little parking curb/bumper that's supposed to stop your car from doing damage.  Well, I heard a noise and then backed up when I realized I had gone to far.  Another not so great noise happened, but that happens every once in a while. (Those little curbs do no good when your wheels do not hit them and your tires drive right between it!)

After the game we were getting ready to head home and I backed out of the spot and starting driving.  I heard an awful noise of something being dragged.  I stopped the car and got out to check to see if my bumper had somehow fallen off! I couldn't see anything, so I got back in and tried driving again.  Again, I had to stop because the noise was so bad.  The VB boys and I got out and looked under my car.  The plastic piece that's supposed to protect the hoses and things under the hood had gotten cracked and bent backwards (when I backed over it).  I guess it had been hanging down for a while, but I did it greater damage and was wondering how I was going to get home from Walnut Creek.

One of the players took control and asked me if I had a screwdriver (which I didn't) and duck tape (which I didn't).  We did, however have Parker's athletic tape that he uses to tape his thumb.  I passed that down to him and he taped up the plastic piece so it could stay up until we got home. As he was fixing it, everyone kept stopping to ask us if we were OK.  I had Volleyball players laying all over the ground and under my car.

Once it was taped we slowly drove back to the High School.  Every time the car bounced at all, we could hear it scrape bottom.  After dropping off the boys at the school, I called my dad and asked if he could look at it since Travis was gone that evening.  He came out and jacked up my car (with a hurt shoulder) and said that he thought it would be OK for tomorrow.  I was worried because it was my week to drive the carpool and I had to go on the freeway and didn't want it dragging all the way home.  As I was pulling out of the driveway it caught again on their curb and he had me come back in.  I was glad that he was going to try and fix it for me a little so I didn't have to worry so much.  So ... he jacked up my car again and got under it and tied up the piece so that it wouldn't drag anymore.

I have the best dad!

It lasted until Travis took it in for a service the next Monday.  The service was EXPENSIVE but fixing that piece of my van was free.  Maybe they felt bad about how much everything else cost!