Memorial Day 2010

This year Mike and I decided it was about time to teach the kids the meaning of Memorial Day. Both of our deceased grandfathers were involved in wars and so we wanted to show the kids what special meaning this day should have to all of us.

Here is Mike's grandpa Farrell Merrill's grave located in the Roy Cemetery.

My grandpa Mario Zampedri is buried at the Ogden Cemetery. I am embarrassed to say I had a hard time finding his grave since it had been so long since I had been there. I had to call my dad to ask where it was. At the Ogden Cemetery, there were quite a few families having picnics and celebrating. It was something I had never seen before.

Afterwards, we headed over to my parents' house for a Memorial Day BBQ. My dad and uncle Brian were trying a new recipe of chicken grilling on a beer can.

We enjoyed yummy root bear floats afterwards.

The kids really enjoyed taking a trip to the different cemeteries and learning a little about Memorial Day. I am so glad Mike and did this and I think we will try and make it a yearly tradition. Maybe next year we can incorporate a few fun stories about our grandparents or talk about the wars they were involved in.

So Tired

Tanner was a little tired after getting up so early to watch the Striders Memorial Day Run. It is only 11am!

Striders Memorial Day Run 2010

Running in the Striders Memorial Day Run is becoming a little tradition for my family. Last year, Mike did the 1/2 marathon, my dad and I did the 5k and Gage did the mile. This year I had been planning on running the 5k when I hurt my knee again. Tanner was jumping on me and turned my knee funny. I felt a pull and it has been swollen ever since. Nice since I have the Ragnar Relay coming up. Anyway, my dad, my mom and my Aunt Jodi all signed up to do the 5k and Gage was set to do the kids' mile. Mike passed since he just finished doing the marathon and was taking a break from running.

Gage was super excited to wake up before 7am to go run!

Here's my dad on the 5k course making his way over the bridge.

My mom is looking good.

Here's Tom making his way down the final stretch coming in at 27:52 which he was happily surprised at.

Cyd made a great showing coming in at 32:09 which is awesome considering she didn't train for this race at all.

Gage is getting pumped up for his run that Mike will race along side him.

For the kids' mile, they run out a half a mile and back. Here's Gage making for the finish line.

Mike said Gage was getting pretty tired halfway through, but saw his crush Megan running and said he had to beat her. Mike said he really turned it up then.

They don't time the kids, but they get a medal for finishing.

Gage did awesome!

Gage's 1st Grade End Of Year Program

On Monday, Gage had his end of year program. Usually they do it with the entire school but it was canceled this year. Thankfully, Gage's teacher incorporated the end of year dance they had been practicing with some class plays they had been working on so parents could come and enjoy both.

Here is an invitation Gage made to invite us to the class play portion of the program.

This is Gage doing his dance. They had to wear white shirts and sunglasses. Unfortunately, Gage forgot to tell me about the sunglass portion. Apparently most of the kids forgot about the entire outfit so I don't think it was a very big deal. The girl to the right is named Megan. She has been Gage's crush for the past few months. Isn't she cute?

Everyone isn't quite insinc with one another, but it's still pretty cute.

We moved into Gage's classroom to enjoy the plays they had been working on. Gage is usually quite the character when performing, but he seemed a little nervous today. I couldn't hear him very well and he kept putting his fingers in his mouth. I don't know if it was because there were so many people in such a small space. I was proud of him anyway.

I made Gage take a picture with his yearbook. He loves being able to get signatures from all his friends. Gage and Landen look at the pictures and words from his friends for days.

I am so proud of Gage and how hard he has worked his 1st grade year. He is becoming such a good reader and has made a lot of friends. Gage still has dreams of being an artist when he grows up and continues to draw and color. We love you Gager!

Spring Soccer for Gage

I will blame my lack of picture taking of Gage playing soccer on Tanner. Just like Landen however, I forced myself to make an effort to take some of Gage playing the last game of the season.

I am not sure how much Gage enjoyed playing soccer. I couldn't tell if it was because Mike was his coach and he just didn't want to listen to him, or if he doesn't have fun. Some games Gage would play awesome and be really into it while other times he would stand around and watch the ball go by. We did sign him up for next year. I thought maybe we should try one more year and have Mike not be his coach and see how it goes.

Go Dragons!

Gage was excited to get a trophy. Being the coaches son has the perks of being able to see the trophies beforehand.

Spring Soccer For Landen

Being Landen's soccer coach has made it difficult to take pictures of Landen playing soccer. So the last game of the season, I threatened Mike into taking some. To his credit, Tanner has made it difficult to take many pictures either.

Anyway, it has been a lot of fun being Landen's coach. It has surprised Mike and I how much Landen enjoys playing and how aggressive he is. He scored a lot of goals this season and was upset if he didn't. Landen would keep track of the score and would even be mad at the few times his team lost.

Landen loved being able to get a trophy!

I signed up to be Landen's coach again next year. I figure I can only coach while they still play 3 on 3 which will be for one more year and then I won't be able to control them anymore.

Ogden Marathon 2010

Mike has been training for his first marathon for months now. Well, I feel like I have been training right along with him by sacrificing my sanity because of all the time it takes to train. Today, he finally accomplished his goal.

The full and half marathons each started at 7 am. The kids and I arrived around 8 am because I had a ton of family members running the half that I wanted to make sure I saw cross the finish line in around 2 hours. Mike was hoping to finish the marathon in around 3 hours 45 minutes. I should have known hanging around watching people cross a finish line for over 2 hours wouldn't be fun for 3 young boys. What a nightmare it was bringing them along!

Here's Todd and Erin making their way towards the finish line. Erin said Todd wouldn't wait for her at all. She was always a few steps behind him.

Their half marathon time was around 2:09:10. I never would have thought Todd would have accomplished this, but he did. Way to go!

The finish line to meet the runners was very poorly set up. It was extremely difficult for me to drag 3 kids over to meet up with anyone. Then, we had to make our way back to the bleachers to watch out for Mike. We did pick up a few souvenirs along the way.

Landen somehow scored a princess crown. By this point, I didn't care as long as it kept him entertained for a few minutes.

Tanner and Gage got a few Toy Story booklets that kept them busy for like 5 minutes.

Gage did a lot of complaining. I guess I should have realized that a 7 year old wouldn't understand how big of an accomplishment running 26 miles really is.

As I mentioned, Mike was hoping to run this marathon in around 3 hours 45 minutes. His longest training run was around 22 miles so it is hard to know what your final time will be. Well, the organizers of the marathon were trialing a new concept this year where you could be texted when your runner was at the 5k mark. I signed up for this awesome feature because then I would know when Mike had roughly 20 to 25 minutes left, and I could be camera ready. I apparently relied too heavily on this new, untested idea.

I had a friend following her husband and Mike along the entire course at certain checkpoints and she would text me when she saw Mike. The entire time she said he looked good and was chatting it up with other runners and smiling. Well at mile 20 she said he wasn't chatting or smiling anymore. As the time passed 3 hours and 20 minutes I realized I hadn't received the text stating Mike had only 3 miles to go. I started to feel bad that he wasn't going to reach his goal of 3 hours and 45 minutes. I wondered what could have happened. Was he hurt? Was something wrong?

All of a sudden, I saw a guy looking like Mike. I couldn't believe it. The time was around 3 hours 25 minutes. I looked at my phone thinking I had missed the text from the organizers but they had never texted me! My fingers couldn't turn on my camera fast enough and I was shouting at the kids to look at their Dad racing towards the finish line. I couldn't believe it. Mike's time was better than he had ever expected coming in at 3:26:09.

My camera isn't the best and is so slow to reset, but you can see Mike in a gold tank top.

Unfortunately, Mike's parents were out of town and none of his brothers were able to make it. He of course had to get on the phone right away and tell everyone how he did.

We are so proud of Mike. He did great!

Is there another marathon in Mike's future? Mike isn't saying as of today, but I am sure there will be.