Midnight 5K

So last night we did a midnight 5K.  Brock doesn't love running but his company asked him to participate.  He agreed that he would do it if he could walk the whole way.  The fun thing about this race, is that it isn't a race to see who can go the fastest, it is a race to see who can finish closest to midnight.  The catch is that you can't take any form of a clock or a timer with you.  Everybody starts the race at different times depending on how long they think it will take them.

Here is my secret, I am REALLY good at estimations.  Whether it is distance, price, weights, time, etc.  I was a little nervous about our start time because the van was late picking us up to go to the start line, so we had to walk at a slightly more brisk pace than planned, but we did it.  We walked the course (with a sprint to the finish of course) and crossed the line only to turn around and see that it was 11:59:17.  Oh snap.  Brock came in first for the men for crossing closest to midnight and I came in second in the women.  It was pretty fun and we enjoyed the time to walk and talk together in the cool summer air through the countryside.

Genealogy

Last Sunday Brock and I decided to go to the family history Sunday School class.  Neither of us have ever really done anything with genealogy. We learned about how to use familysearch.org and Pandora's Hope Chest. Holy cow!! It was amazing. You login, click a couple icons and and it starts searching your entire family line. It took about 90 minutes and it automatically found my entire family line back to as far as the 1500's!

I sat down and worked on it for about another 60 minutes and found/prepared over 30 names to take to the temple! It was so easy, who knew! So I decided before doing the ordinances, I should probably talk to my grandma. Yesterday I had some time to go and visit with her. We chatted for a couple hours. It was so fun to go visit her for a little while and hear the stories of my ancestors and stories about how my grandma and grandpa met. 

This is always a sensitive time of year. Grandpa passed away on July 30th and his birthday is July 31st. We exchanged a few tears talking about him (mostly me, she is so strong!) but we talked about him, we talked about his family and the history there. We talked about her family some and different stories from their days living in Rexburg compared to our days living in Rexburg. 

I am excited about this new genealogy project and helping my grandma with the work. She is excited to have help and I am excited to help and am already learning to love those who have gone on before me!

American Legion Tournament

Brock's graduation ended at 9 pm on Wednesday and we left for the baseball district tournament at 5 am the following morning.  The boys finished third in our district, which is a huuuuuge improvement considering that we haven't fielded a summer team until last year.  We played four games and then we were out of the tournament.  We were hoping to advance a little further, but we decided that the boys needed to lose that game to leave them hungry for next season.

The worst part about baseball is that there is only one team a year that ends their season on a win, which means that the majority of the senior players all lose the last game of their baseball careers if they don't go on to play college ball. This year was no different, except this time, it was the seniors that have been with Brock since their freshman year. There is something about seeing these guys that have worked so hard and grown so much through the program sit in tears with their hat covering their face or hugging their fellow teammates. I am usually pretty strong, but this year I shed a few tears. We obviously don't have any kids yet, so until we have some of our own, we invest A LOT of energy and emotion into those boys. Parents stress about their son at bat, but I stress about each and every one of them. 

This year Brock's parents and sister Kate came out for the games since they were already in Idaho for the graduation. Here are some pictures of what we did between games.

Brock and I at the Twin Falls Idaho Temple

This is half of the Twin Falls, the other half was closed off as a dam.

Here is the team picture for the summer team

Brock's Graduation

Well, the day has come and gone. On July 23rd 2014, Brock graduated from BYU-Idaho!!! His degree is in business management with an emphasis in finance.  It has been a long road for him taking into account the part where he bounced between a few colleges playing baseball and football. He finally settled down at BYU-Idaho and made it happen. He worked hard, he has had classes for 8 semesters in a row and he is so excited to not have classes anymore!

His parents as well as my parents came to the graduation and his sisters Kate and Rachel. It was a crazy busy day but it was worth it!

I am so proud of him for putting his shoulder to the wheel and for working so hard! He has been so busy through the process with coaching baseball, working, callings, and being a husband. I love him so much and I am so excited for our next adventure in life!

Brock and me

The handsome graduate

Had to snatch this picture

Cave Falls

We went on yet another Idaho adventure. We went to a place called cave falls with the Malan's.  It is just on the outside edge of Yellowstone National Park so you don't have to pay to see this one, you can walk right in and it takes less than five minutes. It is 14 miles of a dirt road to get there so it takes some effort, but it was pretty fun. The actual cave recently collapsed which was a bit of a bummer, but it is a really long waterfall and the scenery is gorgeous!

Brock "holding" the waterfall

It isn't a very high waterfall, but it is very long!

View from the top

Brock and me

Gone Dutch

It finally happened.  I have been waiting for this day for years! Last fall, Brock and I invested in Dutch ovens and some accessories. However, due to our location and the fact that during the winter we are regularly below zero degrees, we did not put it to immediate use. Go ahead...call me a sissy. I am here to tell you, it was worth the wait!!! We had a beautiful summer evening to take our two new ovens out for a spin. We made a Dutch oven classic of BBQ chicken and cheesy potatoes. Seriously...yum.  All in all, the process went very smooth and I had a total blast cooking along side of Brock and showing him the ropes of how to Dutch oven. He is totally into it and loves doing it!

Brock with the new toys (they will never be this clean again).

Our outdoor kitchen setup

The master chefs

The finished product (I was too excited to taste it and forgot to take a picture when they were still full.)

Rexburg Buddies

We have made a lot of great friends living here in Rexburg. However, we have a certain couple that we have grown to love dearly. They actually grew up with Brock but we have basically become family to each other while living in Idaho. Leeya and I work together at AG and are workout buddies in the morning. Lance are Brock are in the same major, on the same semester, so they always have several classes together. All three of them graduate in a week and a half and our Malan friends will be moving to Washington state for grad school. In the meantime, we are trying to cram as much fun into the summer as we can, here are some pics to prove it!

Leeya and I at the HAFB airshow (sometimes we match...ok lots of times)

Lance, Leeya, me and Brock at the Lehi rodeo

Playing croquet in the front yard

Me and Leeya in the dunk tank together at the office summer party

After the dunk tank

We are bummed that they are moving, but are excited for the adventures life will bring, and we know we will stay in touch!