Autism Run/Walk

Saturday was a great day. As many of you know, Autism has become a huge part of our family's life. So, this month was the Autism 5K Run to raise money and awareness for Autism in our community. I pulled a ligament in my leg and couldn't run, but Dan, and two very awesome friends, Kami and Andrea ran in it. . . and did awesome!! Andrea won first place in the women's division, and Kami and Dan were close behind. My parents came up from Utah, to participate in the Family Stroll with my kids and me. Ammon and his kids also came to support. I just have to say that while observing other families with their children I was very grateful for my amazing children. They may have some developmental obstacles to over come, but they are so light compared to what many other children with autism have to deal with. I know it is due to early intervention, amazing children, and my Heavenly Father. We plan to do this every year! Thanks Kami and Andrea for participating! I am so proud of my amazing husband for training hard and getting healthy.

A Shout Out To My Amazing Sister

Today is my sister's 29th birthday. She is not only beautiful, talented, and smart, but she is also my best friend in the entire universe. We talk practically every day, and have such a great relationship. Here are some funny, and not so funny memories I have about my not so lil' sis.

- One summer we watched Pretty n' Pink practically every day

- For my mother's 40th birthday I took Megan to the store so she could buy my mom a present. I could not talk her out of getting a key chain that said "Old Fart." Not only did it make my mother cry, but we Both got in trouble!!! I guess it was guilty by association.

- Megan and I played with Barbies together until I was about 16 years old!! No joke.

- While on a trip to Europe it was discovered that Megan had taken a picture of her eye for the entire first half of the trip. She didn't realize she was holding the camera backwards. . .and to think. . .her ACT's scores where higher than mine!!

- While watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, Megan and I discovered it was very fun to drink Koolaid in Dixie cups and pretend they were like shot glasses. We would drink our koolaid the way Indie's long lost girl friend Marion would, and challenge each other to drinking contests.

- Megan got straight A's in high school. She is one of the smartest women I have ever met.

- Megan is without a doubt my best friend in the entire universe!!

I am sure I will think of more as the day goes on and will add to the list. But I just wanted to wish my amazing sister a very Happy Birthday!!!

Honoring our Local Heroes

For the past few years our family has had the honor to serve many of our local heroes. As many of you know, I am a youth service club leader for our life insurance, Modern Woodmen of America. Each month my youth service club serves our community by donating our time and service to those in need. The past few years we have honored our local firemen and women by serving them dinner every September 11th. This time we drove a little ways out to the small town of Star, Idaho and ate pizza with the firemen. My kids had a wonderful time.

Before dinner they took us for a tour of the fire station. Their favorite part is always the fire trucks. We learned an interesting fact: each fire truck costs about $350,000 just to build; to add all of the equipment needed to actually fight fires the total comes to around half a million dollars!! No wonder they are always polishing it and making it look pretty!!

I let each of my kids choose a friend to come. I learned that it takes a lot of patience to be a mother of six!!! They were all well behaved, just the noise level went up. . .a lot! I could tell they all loved learning about fire safety and what it would be like to fight fires.

After the tour the firemen sat down and ate pizza and cake with us. We thanked them for being our local heroes and posed for one last picture. It was a perfect way to honor those who risk their lives every day to keep us safe, and it was a great way to honor those who lost their lives in New York City nine years ago.

September 11th, 2001 was a sad day. Dan and I sat in front of the TV all morning shocked like the rest of the nation, however, it was also a day that brought wonderful news to our family. Dan passed the Idaho Bar and was officially a certified Idaho Lawyer! I can't belive that my husband has been out of school and working in the real world for over eight years!! It made us feel a little old.