Race for Amber

A couple of weeks ago another Anytime Fitness owner, Trent Lindstrom, told us of an event he was sponsoring up here in Perry (Trent owns the Brigham location). Amber Chase lives in Perry and has been fighting Inflammatory Breast Cancer for 18 months. You can check out her story here. The community came together and planned a "Race for Amber" 5k to help raise money for her family. Trent asked if we would donate the Running Man suit (we usually rent it out) and if Chris would wear it for the event. We of course agreed. Chris is a great Running Man. He works the crowd and everyone loves him. We got there just as the race was starting. He mingled through the crowd before the 5k started and then we decided to walk the 1 mile they were also doing. He was then in charge of high-fiving the kids as they were finishing the various races. Even though we didn't do much, it was nice to be able to participate is such a great cause!

"On your mark, get set, go!"
Running with the crowd
The kids loved him!
Giving one of the prizes for the most pink.
Captain Running Man, Amber Chase, & Trent Lindstrom

Halloween

On Halloween we finally went to the Pumpkin Patch. I was just going to let it go, but the day before, Chaetun started to talk about it, so since Chris and my mom were supposed to have the day off, I figured we could go. We went to Black Island Farms in Syracuse and they have so much there! The boys had so much fun on the slides and playing on all that they have there. After they played for awhile we took our hayride to get our pumpkins. Our driver on the way to get pumpkins told us that the farm is small, as farms go, and so in order to make what they need, they've gone into the agritainment business. We thought that was funny and he said he was hoping they would put it in the dictionary next year (I will note, though, that when I type it, it doesn't come back as a misspelled word - maybe it is real). Being Halloween, the pumpkins were pretty picked through, but we were able to still find some good ones.

I didn't have my camera that night when we went trunk-or-treating so I'll update when I get those pictures off my mom's camera.)

Wisconsin

About a month ago (yeah, I know I'm a little behind) we went to Wisconsin for the annual Anytime Fitness Conference. It was a good trip and we had a good time. Kevin and Emily Ford are our new partners in this adventure and were also there. It was fun to spend more time with them. We started out with a horrible hotel experience (think Twilight Zone/Bates Motel) we complained and were able to get in brand new building (though our condo hadn't been cleaned for over a month) and pay the same, actually less, than if we had stayed in the scary room.

Kilun, keeping with tradition, had his first plane ride early.
Kevin looking drunk drinking a "beer". It was actually root beer that Anytime had labeled as their own. We all looked like we were drinking all weekend long. Most people actually were.
Chris "drinking"
Trying out the new recumbent Expresso bike
Chris working out the abs
The four of us in the beautiful fall scenery.

Voting

Yesterday my mom and I decided to go and vote early. I told the kids to get their shoes and socks on and they, of course, wanted to know where we were going. This is the conversation:

Chaetun & Xadun: Where are we going?
Me: We're going voting.
Xadun: (excitedly) We're going bowling?!?!
Me: No, we're going to vote.
Chaetun: Ooohhh, we're going on a boat.
Me: No. V-Vote. I'm going to vote.
Chaetun: What's vote?
Me: It's like when I ask you what you want to eat, mac & cheese or sandwiches. Which ever more people want wins.

Photo Shoot

Here are the results of our recent family photo shoot. I think they turned out pretty cute considering I have four little boys who were very distractable. Katie found this cool place in Salt Lake, The Exchange Place. We weren't able to get any good pics that showed the coolness, but I hope to get down there again sometime when we have more time and light.

Chaetun, very GQ

Xadun

Brekan

Kilun in his blessing outfit

The Lights of my Life


Grandma and the boys

On a much more humorous note....

Yesterday, when Chaetun got home from school, he immediately headed from his room and told me I couldn't come in. Well, obviously I knew something was up. I asked him why. He lifted up his shirt and this is what I saw. Right away all I wanted to do was laugh and take a picture. I turned around to go to my room to get my phone to take a picture. Chaetun, started screaming in hysterics telling me not to tell. This just made it more funny. He said, "Are you going to make me call Grandma?" Apparently my MIL left this pair of women's underwear on her last visit here and Chaetun found them. Unbeknownst to me, he put these on BEFORE he went to school and had them on all day (it's only 3 hours, but that looks like a really uncomfortable 3 hours). I had no idea because he put his sweat shirt on overtop and I couldn't see anything. I asked if he showed anyone at school and he said no. I didn't receive a phone call from the school, so I'm pretty sure no adults saw. The funniest part was how mortified he was. Everytime I reached for my phone he thought I was going to tell. He DID NOT want me to tell. I so wanted to call Chris, but I figured I'd wait until we were in the car and he was hopefully distracted by the movie. I called Chris, and Chaetun heard me talking to him and the hysterics started all over again. He screamed and sobbed. I never got mad at him. I thought it was hilarious. I think his own personal embarassment was enough punishment. I had sent the picture to Chris and he couldn't figure out what it was. When I told him he laughed so hard. Later Chris showed my mom the pictures and Chaetun again broke down. So, no one tell him you saw it here, but I couldn't resist :)

Kilun's Blessing

I want to get this on here before I forget about this wonderful day. It WAS a great day for Kilun's blessing! We a had a lot of support from our wonderful friends and family, as we always do. Unfortunately, I didn't get the camera out, so I don't have any pictures of everyone here :( So, for my own record...

Kilun was blessed by his dad, and with him in the circle was Great Grandpa, Uncle Boyd, Uncle Mark, Uncle Floyd, Uncle John, Austin, Kevin Ford, Kevin Varble, Trevor Zezula, Mike Crouch, and Bishop Nelson. Also in attendance at the meeting were Ryan & Shawnee Hoffmann, Jake and Suzi Baxter, and Melanie Slater and her girls (Nate was working). Chris did a great job in the blessing, as he always does.

As we were sitting in Fast & Testimony Meeting, we, in the back row, had a very spiritual experience. I wouldn't normally post it here, but I want to remember it, and right now, this is the place I put those things. As I sat there with Kilun, he was so smiley; more smiley than is had ever been. He just kept looking up and smiling, not at me, but something, or someone else. At the time, I felt strongly that his Grandpa Gene was there and that's who he was smiling at. As I later thought about this, it occured to me that this shouldn't be so surprising to me. He knows his Grandpa very well. I'm sure that's who he was with before he came to this earth. The veil is still very thin for Brekan and I am convinced that he sees his Grandpa all the time. It is a comfort to Kilun to see his Grandpa who he just recently left. That, by itself, was a great thing for me to realize during that meeting. But, a few minutes later, I looked down the row and saw that my mom was crying. I didn't know why. Chris then told me that my uncle, who was also sitting on our row, had looked over and saw my dad next to me. He was there. I already knew he was there, but to have someone else know he was there was a great thing for me. I have also wondered if my dad is around me, if he watches me, and mostly I just don't know. But that day, I knew he was with my son, and he was with me too.