Update-o-rama!!

Well, we didn't drop off the end of the world, just couldn't "find the time" nor motivation to update our blog. I can't believe that I haven't posted since August. I am a terrible blogger!

August Recap- I can't remember if I posted about the Dirty Dash. We went to the dirty dash in Boise with Jennifer and her fam. First, I ran the full course with Jennifer's work (Who were all very nice) then we did the Piglet Plunge with the kids. They had lots of fun, but it was somewhat chilly that day, so after the "plunge" and waiting forever to shower, the kids got a little grumpy. But don't worry, after getting hosed down with a fire hose, and getting into dry clothes, they couldn't quit talking about it!!! Yes, I finally got the last bit of dirt out of my ears about a month later. Below: Me in the mud pit. Can you see me?
More pics to ocme
September 2011- We were very busy with Cross Country, Ryan's School, Hadlee's School, my BIRTHDAY!! (27 isn't so bad!) making scarecrows for the scarecrow festival, (and another year of not winning any prize, I am determined next year!)and anticipating the most awesome holiday of the year... Halloween! On Labor Day Weekend, we went to Lava with Ryan's Parents, and Michelle's family. It was a lot of fun, we stayed in a KOA, went 4-wheeling, to Hooper Springs, ice cream outing, swimming, fishing. A great weekend! (If you want somewhere to go kid's fishing, and are in that area, go to the kid's pond in Soda Springs! The fish were huge and there were tons of them!)Aezlyn with Princess' Hadlee and Aezlyn! (Can you tell which one is which?)

October- I admit we are a little Halloween crazed! We have an awesome reason to be so "enthusiastic" about it... Aezlyn's Birthday. Besides the anticipation, we did lot's of the regular fall activities, pumpkin painting, carving, decorating. It was such a mild October, we were in heaven! The girls were witches, and Aezlyn wasn't afraid to tell anyone about it! We went to the Pumpkin walk in Logan. It was so cute, our girls loved seeing the pumpkins. My cross country finished up
Aezlyn's birthday was quiet again, but she loved it. We celebrated on Sunday the 30th. Her cake was a barbie witch cake! She received tools to help dad, horse and rider, cinderella and horse, and lots of other presents! We decorated pumpkins also! We trick or treated on Monday. First we went to the Neal's neighborhood party, which they do an awesome job! Then off to the trunk or treat at the church, then we hit the nursing home, then to a few of our patients' homes. After that, we were pretty much done! So, we came home and decorated cookies, and the girls had tons of fun giving candy to trick or treaters. (Which is nice because, we gave away all of the candy that we didn't want our girls to have!)

November- Pretty quiet! We went to Boise for Thanksgiving. All of the Summers' clan was there, and we had a great time. A few of the stores started their black friday sales on thursday night, so we headed to Walmart, Target and Kohls. We really didn't have that much we wanted to get, but as always it's fun to see the chaos. The worst we saw was a guy dumping his pop on another fellow over a vacuum!

Christmas!! We were decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving, no joke!! We were pretty quiet for Christmas too. With no snow, it was very odd. We had a Christmas House! We had lights hanging, a blow up santa, and lighted tree things. Funny story about our Christmas Tree. This summer, we decided that a blue spruce tree in our back yard had to go, it was starting to interfere with the sandbox. I had a great idea to use the tree as our Christmas tree, saving us a couple bucks, and a trip into the mountains. So Christmas time, Ryan cut it down and shaped it a bit (so it wouldn't take up the whole living room) and we had a perfect tree with little amount of work!! I loved it, and added bonus; the needles were sharp and hard, it made for a perfect deterent for wandering hands!

January 2012- Pretty much the same things as always, but with nicer weather, we were able to be outside a bit more. Which means less cabin fever!!

February-

I apologize for not having more pictures, but it wouldn't let me upload the pictures, I need to do some investigating!

July/August 2011!!

We've been extremely busy this summer, which is good. July was full of Samaria Blue Goose Chase and Girls' Camp Prep. The Blue Goose Chase was on July 25th, and we had a pretty standard turnout. Almost my favorite part about being in charge of these races is having a say in the t-shirts. For the Blue Goose Chase, I love these wacky shirts (I hope the racers did too!!) with the goose. Maybe graphic design could be my next profession!! Hadlee ran in the one mile race with Laney, Nate and their kids. She ran quite a bit, which is good for getting up at 6 am that morning!! It was funny how the Wangsgard grandkids were so competetive. A few of them (Hadlee included) were "practicing" for at least a month so they could beat the otheir cousins!

The rest of the day was filled with riding in the Samaria parade in the Wangsgard Wagon!!! Grandma Sherry had some fun flag hats, that the kids got to wear. The kids loved throwing the candy, even more than eating it!!

Next came the 2nd Ward Girls' Camp! We woke up the morning of the first day to POURING RAIN!!! This was not good! We were supposed to be backpacking up a trail, spend the night on top of the mountain, then the next day hike into Powerhouse campground. The trail we were supposed to go on already had a small stream of water going down it, and the added rain would make it a river. So... change of plans. We went up to Powerhouse, went on a day hike with our packs instead.

***Let me interrupt for a minute; my goal with camp was to let the hike/nature/difficulties of the experience bring the spirit. I'm not good with spiritual stuff, but I am good at hiking/outside adventures, so I figured we'd go with it.***

Story Continues...... We decide to hike to the top of Elkhorn Peak instead (almost 3,000 feet climb) and we started the hike at noon. 4 girls, 4 leaders and one Wayne Jones, hiker/hunter extraordinaire!!! Things are going well, and we're having a great time observing nature, flowers, stories, girly stuff. We're getting closer to the top, and BAM, 2 ankle injuries... None of us are willing to give up when we were so close, so injured people have to suck it in and keep going (even if it was at a bit of a slower pace) Finally we make it to the top!!! Amazing view, great accomplishment (I'd like to think that it made a top 10 list of accomplishments for the girls) It is now 4 pm. We have to get down with two injured hikers.

Anyway, about 4 hours, and 9 exhausted bodies later, we made it down!!! It was a hike to remember!! I got what I had prayed for... the difficult experience!!

The rest of Girls' Camp went extremely well, we made lots of crafts, ate good food, shared good stories, played a lot of games, and hopefully the girls came back with a renewed spirit to be better and to "Aspire Higher" (our theme!!) in all aspects of life!

After Girls' Camp, it took me about a week to recover. The next endeavor was Hadlee's 4th Birthday!!!

That morning, Hadlee woke up to sprinkle/sparkle donuts, balloons, and streamers!!! Hadlee chose her own birthday outfit, and hairdo (pony's are a standard, usually varied with a pony braid, double and triple pony braid, the Teagan side pony, and occasional bun!) We then went down to Laney's house. Elias has a birthday around the same week, so we joint partied! Laney also landed a free bouncehouse rental, so the kids had a great time bouncing around. For dinner, we had pizza and breadsticks galore!

Hadlee was so spoiled with her birthday presents! She received sparkle shoes, school clothes, a cute dress from G+G Summers, kitty sprinkler (adorable) and butterfly feeder from the Nalders, backpack, crayons, and horse poster from G+G Wangsgard, unicorn flashlight, zhu-zhu puppy and carriage from the Garners (Purple of course!) and ... cap guns, and purple sleeping bag (which she slept in it for a week afterwords) from Maryann!!!

Upon Hadlee's request, she got a unicorn, sparkle, rainbow with marshmallow cake! Hadlee did the candles (she snuck away and did it all by herself!!) and added a few more than 4, but it works, because she acts 3 going on 13 anyway!!!!

After a great party, we settled back into our routine. I started 2 a day practices for cross country. this year, we are trying to throw in a bit a flare, like bring your pet to practice day, game day, crazy socks, anything to help break the monotony!!

Ryan did go to Montana for a week. I can't say that it was for fun though! Ryan's friend has a sister who lives in eastern Montana. She needed her house re-sided, and the local contractor told her he couldn't do it for at least a year or something. Anyway, Ryan's old business partner, Kevin, lives about an hour away. So Kevin, Ryan and a recent high school graduate,Kendall went over to side the house. They worked sun up to sun down for 6 days. Besides siding, they built a deck. According to Ryan, the house looks awesome, especially the new deck. We love that Ryan can do some side jobs to help bring in some needed cash!

Ryan also finished our bathroom, and totally remodeled our bedroom. I will include pictures when we get the bed (so you can see the end result) I absolutely love it!! I feel like I'm in my own little oasis in there! It is nice to have such a crafty husband!

Ryan is also going back to school, he is on his 3rd semester so far. Now he is taking philosophy and pre-calculus. I'm very proud of him for sticking with it, and doing so well!

Other August Activities: After Hadlee's b-day, Cambrie and Dawson came to visit for 4 whole days. We did lots of fun things; fishing, riding horses, the Blue Goose, the Dude Ranch, painting, etc... They had a good time. Then Maisey came up, so we went to the fair, yard sales, and played.

Last week we already had our first Malad meet. I am so amazed at the people willing to help, and that I don't have to even tell them how to do it. We had great volunteers, who did all of the work!!

Right after the race, we scrambled up to Boise for a short weekend. Ryan wanted to go golfing with his brother, see a UFC fight, and Hadlee and I got to do the "Dirty Dash" and Piglet Plunge!!! It was on Saturday, I ran first (Jennifer's work had a team, and an extra spot, so I was team Idaho MRI!, the Mud Hogs) I must say that it is not a race, rather an event!! It's a 10k course with obstacles (big strawbales, tubes to crawl through, barricades to crawl over, etc) and you can't forget the mud or the CRAZY outfits that people put together to run(that was worth it alone to see the wild outfits!)!!! There was a huge pit of mud soup at the finish. I finished with some really nice guys from team Mud Hogs, and I went all in (not one clean spot on me!!) After the bath, a spray off from the "group showers." That was an experience on it's own, seeing all these people attempting to clean off, it was crazy!!

Next was the Piglet plunge with Hadlee and Jennifer's kids! Grandpa Mike and Uncle Brandon brought the kids up, watched us finish, and took care of everything, they were awesome and very patient!!! It was a 1 mile run/walk with the mud pit at the end. The kids really loved it until they had to get out! Then they were cold and mud caked (Jennifer, you better post the pictures!!!) After waiting in line for the showers, we found a guys with a fire hose to spray us off, and we left! The kids thought it was fun, but the after part wasn't so fun!

The rest of the Boise trip was fast and fun (as always!) Ryan went to his fight with the boys, us girls went Mongollian, and watched a movie. Sunday, we came back home!! We love going to Boise, I wish it wasn't so far away so we could go more often!

So now, we're going to have a fun Labor Day weekend, more X-C races, and a birthday that I'm not going to recognize so I don't have to get older! Also today is a sad/exciting day! Hadlee's first day of Head Start. It is a great program we have in our area. It's preschool, but 8 am to noon 4 days a week, they get breakfast and lunch. Hadlee is so excited, she has a few friends in it, so we'll see what she thinks when she gets home. I get to spend some quality time with Aezlyn, I'm really excited for the 1-on-1 we get to have!

Hadlee's first day of Pre-school!!! She goes to the Headstart. Aezlyn thinks she's going to school also, but I don't think that they'd kick her out for inappropriate clothing!

Below: We went up to Powerhouse Campground and were playing in the stream! Getting away from the Heat!

Aezlyn is talking tons! What she is saying, we usually don't know, but at least she's putting words together! Before she would say "Ha-eee" it is now "Hadlee." We're also recognizing words like water, scotty, down, uppee, run, potty, pee-pee. We got out the princess potty, and so far Aezlyn loves to sit on it, and we've had one success. I think Aez is ready, but I'm not!! Diapers are way to easy!

Aezlyn is quite a character, she has really good show-stopping tantrums, eats hardly anything (maybe one decent meal/day) but really loves her milk. She'll drink like 4 cups if I'd let her. Don't be in her path if she doesn't get her "nilk!" She can get angry. She is also so sweet, she loves giving long, long... kisses, and is a good cuddler! She loves to run, and play with Hadlee.

Hadlee is excited for school, loves riding horses, (she is so proud that mom doesn't have to hold the lead rope, Hadlee can do it!) she is my "toss tountry coach" and comes up with all sorts of stretches, hops, and splits for the kids to do, but she isn't brave enough to talk to the kids yet and show them her exercises yet. She has her own clothing style, it's a bit of everything, one day it's in and the next it's out. Anything Sparkles, horses, and rainbows are the her defining style. She

likes to run, especially in her "fast shoes!"

As for the rest, we'll keep you posted!!!!!

Summer 2011

Boy, has it been a busy summer. Here's a synopsis of what we've been up to since I posted last:
June9-13th- Girls trip across Idaho. We cycled from Alta, WY to Rexburg, to Arco, to Mountain Home, to Homedale, to Oregon border. It took us 5 days, 385 miles, averaging 70 to almost 90 miles per day. It was tons of fun. We definitely had some sore behinds, but surprisingly our backs and necks were the most knotted up. No major wrecks, not ONE flat tire!, only went through one truck transmission (but thanks to some great guys, it was a minor inconvienence!!) and everyone is still friends. So I say it was a success!! Sorry I have no pictures, they'll have to come later, and know that I am severely limited on the pictures I can choose due to the exposure of some individuals wearing spandex!!!!

Next Adventure: June 16th thru the 19th Island Park/ Yellowstone! I took the girls (Ryan worked :( ) Delaney had her 3 children, no Nate, and my parents. We stayed at their cabin, the Ugly Duckling, in Island Park.

This cabin has a past with my family. My grandparents and aunt bought it years ago. I have very fond memories of going there, especially with just my granparents. After my grandparents passed away, my aunt had it for a long time. Within the last few years, she upgraded to a newer cabin, offered the Ugly Duckling to my parents, who didn't buy it at the time. Last year, it came up for sale, and my parents and siblings jumped on it and bought it. So now, I occasionally get to relive some of my favorite memories, and my girls get to experience it too! You can wake up now, I'm done explaining!!

My 2 aunts and some of their families also came up this weekend, so it was a Kammeyer Reunion! We had great food, visited, went to Yellowstone, the great grandkids got to know each other better, it was fun. I hope it turns into an annual event!! This trip taught me something though; I am and wouldn't make a good single mother! I'd go crazy! Good thing Ryan plans on keeping me around!!

Next event: July 2nd Welsh Festival and Biathlon. The X-C team sponsors a biathlon. It went well, without too many hiccups. We made (hopefully) enough money for the year! Ryan competed in it, but was feeling poorly. He looked so pale, and he said that he was so sick, if you look closely in the bike pic, you can tell!!

Right after the Biathlon, we headed to Boise for the 4th of July. It was great; Ryan went golfing, we got to see baby Rachel, go to the drive-in movie in Parma (we saw Kung-fu panda 2; good and part of the newest Pirates of the Caribbean; okay, we were too tired to stay), eat a lot, go shopping, visit, and the 4th festivities.

We went to the Melba parade. I have to say; it was the longest parade I've ever been to. I think that every person in Melba was in their parade! It was fun, there was a lot of candy thrown, and Hadlee got an orange soccer shirt that she has taken a keen liking to! We then rested at home (While Ryan went golfing again!) then went back to the fireworks in Melba. If you haven't gone to the Melba Fireworks, you are missing out. They are great, especially "Great Balls of Fire" you just have to see it to understand. Overall the trip was great! I love going up there, and as I've said a million times... those Summers' know how to pack in a weekend!! Sorry no pictures, I'll have to see if Ryan's family got any, we forgot our camera!

After we came home on Tuesday the 5th, I left again (without Ryan, he's too hard of a worker!) on a campout in Daniels area. We went on wagon rides, hiking, playing in Daniels reservoir, made good food, and more visiting! Again, a lot of fun! No pictures, hopefully Delaney has some!

Since that event, I've been taking a breather, and getting ready for my next events; Samaria Blue Goose chase and Girls camp. I'm excited to do both, and hopefully they'll be successful. I'll update on those as they come up!

Ryan has been super busy! Between school (summer online classes, psych 101 and english 101) and building a cabin, and finishing our bedroom, and 2 more building projects after the cabin is done. He is well deserved exhausted every night! I couldn't ask for a better man!

So below are a few of our pictures; if you have any of the 4th of July, bike trip or the Wagon camping trip let me know, as I am a terrible mother who seldom takes pictures!!

The pictures below are: 1st corn of the summer. Hadlee loves the corn, Aezlyn not so much! Yellowstone with my family, at the pots!










The Pictures above: More Yellowstone, at Old Faithful (which was at least 15 minutes late, which is forever for 5 hungry grandkids!) Picture of almost all of the Kammeyer Great Grandkids; Laney's three kids, Jason's one of two children, my rugrats, and Heather's two kids. We were minus 7 great grandchildren, this was as close as we were going to get!

Below Pictures: Cute shots of my girls in front of the fire at my aunt Diane's cabin in Island park. Ryan and the girls in the a.m.(or maybe not so a.m.!)





Below Pictures: Hopscotch Sprinklers, and boy that water is cold! Hadlee and their new pink adrianock chairs (Ryan couldn't help himself!) Our girls in their Sunday dresses!

Trip to Boise

I forgot to add a few things!!

We went to Boise for a long weekend, we stayed with Ryan's parents. It was a lot of fun! Ryan got to go golfing quite a bit with his brother and dad, I ran my 2nd marathon, and Hadlee and Aezlyn had tons of fun playing with their cousins and grandparents. Like always, we managed a lot of activities in a small amount of time! It was nice to spend some time with Ginger, we ran some errands, and just talked. I don't get chances to do that very often, and I'm not a good phone caller, so it was good. I love Malad, but I have to admit that I still miss Boise ( or should say, I miss Ryan's family, being close to stores, greenbelt, mild weather, mostly the memories and great times in Boise)

Waiting for Spring!!

We've been pretty busy this spring, from Easter, to Ryan's 1st semester at ISU, preparing for races, Ryan's 31st birthday, running some races, doing some cycling races, almost finishing the yearlong project of a new bathroom, and children growing like weeds!

Ryan's birthday was a quiet one in Malad. Some of my family came over to open presents and have some strawberry shortcake. He received a shirt from his parents, money from mine, a personalized pocketknife from Annie and Kevin, root beer (his favorite kind, in the glass bottles!) and a kite from the girls, and a camp chef also from us! (I already have the camp chef reserved for half of the summer!)

Next came Ryan's 65 mile cycling race in early April. His friend Mike and he were in the top 10! The weather that day was terrible, he said they had every type of weather except good weather! Rain, snow, sleet, and wind and cold prevailed, instantly soaking them, they were real troopers to even finish!

Easter this year was a lot of fun! We stayed in Malad, (I was in charge of the Malad Easter Egg Hunt) I got to help the Easter Bunny distribute thousands of eggs. (I tell you, if I had to choose a service, I'd choose this! You can't go wrong being the bearer of candy, no asking businesses for money, and the event's over in less than 1 minute, with happy kids and parents!) Ryan got our girls ready that morning. (I had no say in their hairdos or lack thereof!) Sunday morning, the easter bunny spoiled our girls! Both Aezlyn and Hadlee received a dress, a movie, a doll (or barbie) and some candy. We didn't get to Boise until May. I felt bad that we missed the big Summers' party (with most of the extended family also) but you do what you can right?!

Next came the Thanksgiving Point half marathon. Ryan had seen his cousin, Stephanie sign up, so he signed us up too! We were lucky to stay at Ryan's aunt Lana's house in American Fork, so we were close by. Lana and Callie also watched our girls that morning and brought them to the finish line. You can tell she was used to girls because she got up 3 girls (3 and under), fed them pancakes, did their hair and had them to the race by 9:00 am. (I'm sure Perry helped too!) Thank you, Thank you! We did well, I finished in 1 hr 45 minutes and Ryan in 1 hr 52 minutes. It was pretty cold, but we survived.

For May, we've been busy working, playing, waiting for good weather, and last weekend we did a bike race. It was my 1st race (It wasn't a race, more like an event, because you could start from 7:30 am to 9 am, and at the break stops you could stay as long as you wanted) Ryan and his buddy Mike did the Century, 105 Miles, and I did the 72 mile route. It started in SLC, to Farmington to Syracuse (this is where I turned around) and Ryan and Mike to Antelope Island, then Back to SLC. It was tons of fun. I was surprised that I could stay up with Ryan and Mike, we averaged 16.5 miles/hour. It was amazing to me to see like 2,000 people so excited to ride a bike. It was very enjoyable, with breaks, they boxes and boxes of food(like ho-ho's, granola bars, candy, oranges, bananas, rice-krispies and a huge lunch. It was my style of eating!) I am definitely up for more races. Besides a good sunburn and bit of a sore behind, I'm good!

There is this guy we know that has the best garden, and he's letting us have a plot to grow some veggies. I think we'll do some squash and potatoes. He will water it for us, and we'll do the weeding. It'll be a good experience for our girls too.

We're excited for summer, though it seems we have something going on every weekend.

WARNING:::I'm warning you about the pictures below, I still haven't figured out how to see the pictures after I've uploaded them, so they are a unorganized. Good luck deciphering what pictures go along with what event! But hey, at least I've finally posted something again!