Timing is everything

Yesterday I had Dean drop me off at the mouth of Butterfield Canyon and I would run home from there. By doing that, I could get my needed miles in, and run through that very beautiful part of Herriman. I had decided that I wouldn't look at my watch during the run so I would run at a comfortable pace that I could maintain, not trying to push for a fast time. I needed to know what that pace was when I had finished. Without looking at my watch, I hit the stop button when I got to my driveway.....check this out! I don't think I could have done this if I had tried! Right down to the seconds! FYI, it takes one hour to do that run.

Ft. Herriman 5k

Today was the Ft. Herriman Stake 5k. Ej ran it in 25:32, Dean ran it in 21:42, and Braden in 20:52. There were just over 100 participants. They didn't do age divisions...Dean and I were the oldest people running it! Braden took 2nd over all, and Dean placed 3 over all. Ej took 3rd in overall women. It was a fun race.

Waterskiing at Utah Lake

Family night at Utah lake. May 18, 2009.... the day Chad got engaged...congrats Chad and Amber! Makes you wonder why Chad is spending it with Braden....and where's Amber? Oh well, she gets him for the rest of his life, and then some!

Oh yeah, he's cool!

Great skiing Braden! We had perfect water, no wind, and very few boats.

Deaners still got it! Even at 50. He skis like a 48 1/2 year old!

Dean didn't like these pictures because of his bent arms....but I had fun playing with the light behind him. I've been told never to let the sun into your lens, but look how cool of a photo it made.

Chad did awesome....got up on one ski!

For the record, I did ski, but my photography is much better than my skiing, and there's still a lot of room for improvement there!

50 year old party

Some of Dean's friends from deacons and scouts days came over for a party. They're all turning 50.

We laughed at an old picture and then took a new one with most of the same guys 35 years later.
Old picture: Mike Mahnken, Thom Richards, Nathan Cox, Ray Murphy, Dennis Barney, Paul Spainhower, Jaren Harbrecht, Dean Ellis, Lynn Morgan (now deceased), Gary Frantz.
New Picture: Thom Richards, Cary Gerber, Nathan Cox, Brent Todd, Dennis Barney, Jaren Harbrecht, Dean Ellis.

We had a great time laughing about how old we've gotten. Telling old stories helped our wives understand why we're all so weird.

Manorlands May 16, 2009

Time to take the 4-wheelers up to Manorlands for the summer. All three machines started up and ran great. We took off on some of our usual trails, only to find out that one of them was closed to motor vehicles, and the other was still snow covered. It was still great riding, and beautiful scenery!

We always have to get that "invitation picture pose"......Braden REALLY needs a girlfriend!



FYI, Braden wore this pillow case over his head cuz the helmet hurt his bald head.....he could grow hair!

Grandpa decided to start cutting down dead trees. Watching that was more exciting than the 4 wheeling ride! I don't know how, but nobody got hurt!

These guys got pretty creative when it came to taking down the trees....from using a come-along, to having Braden sit backwards on the 4-wheeler and pulling the tree with a wire. (he had to sit backwards so he could see the tree when it hit him!)

Grandma decided to watch this from a safe place....up on the deck.

The best part of the whole trip, was of course, Grandma's cookies, right out of the oven!

Coming home from Manorlands I-80 was closed because of this accident.