Happy 10th Anniversary

We hit the decade mark last Friday. Doesn't seem like it's been that long actually, but here we are ten years down the road. For as much that has changed just as much has stayed the same. Couple kids, a house, one big move, addition of lots of nephews, loss of loved one, coming and going of new pets and assorted critters. Travels, journeys, all manner of adventure. We've had a pretty good ride so far and now that we're all "warmed up" were looking forward to the next 50 or 60 years.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion we were fortunate to have Kevin's folks come to visit and stay with the kids so we could get out. We went to Boise for the night, explored a couple places we always say we'll get to eventually, had some Seafood, and took a nice long walk on the riverfront trail down to the new Esther Simplot park area. The next morning we took the scenic route up to Fairfield, took the dirt roads off the highway for a bit and toured the last of the bloom on the Camas meadows. We grabbed some triple thick x2 milkshakes from the Wrangler for lunch (ice cream is a legitimate food group) and to the long way home stopping to check out the occasional antique store, garage sale, and pawn shop. Nothing to fancy or planned out, but we've always done better without a plan for these types of things. It was a nice relaxing trip.

The in-laws stayed on through Memorial Day so we got to enjoy the rest of the weekend spending time with them. Mostly we just hung around the backyard puttered around in the garden, planted some trees (two nectarine and a walnut) the folks brought down, roasted sausage and s'mores, made ice cream, and just enjoyed each other's company. Of course with Dad being there a skunk showed up (and was quickly dispatched). He truly is the skunk whisperer...its like they sense his presence. Mom and I went down to the landscape center and perused plants, I got some succulents for the flowerbeds since those seem to be the ones I'm least likely to kill (though I did grab a couple of Phlox for under the lilacs) and Mom found a variety of ice plant she didn't have. It was a nice long enjoyable weekend and a wonderful start to summer. Now we just have to make it through one more week of school and we can really get things going.

Joy Riding on the Tractor

Hands down we have the most awesome neighbors ever, even if they have their quirks and eccentricities at times. Today our "neighbors in the rear" (they live behind and slightly south of us) brought over their tractor to move a couple rocks for us. Then they left it with us so we could do some dirt/compost moving and let the kids play on it.

Not only did both kids have a chance to drive the old Massey Harris, but they got to dig and dump dirt with it..and that is AWESOME when you are 7 and 5. Both kids are in heaven. Emilie has her pocket full of worms extracted from the compost she dug (it is honestly kind of gross seeing all those worms crawling all over one another) and Jack has his head full of farming dreams. Even Kevin, though he may or may not admit it, had quite a bit of fun driving the equipment....it's just like riding a bike, takes a few minutes to get back in the hang of it, but then you're golden despite the fact the darn machine leaks hydraulic fluid like a sieve.

As for me I've got compost spread on the garden, happy kids, and plenty of dirt to fill in the dogs' potholes in the backyard...what more could I want?

The Fair, Grandma & Grandpa, and a Date

As promised here is a post about the fair. We went twice this year. Once to see the Monster Truck show and again a few days later when Grandma and Grandpa came to town. The second trip we got to spend more time walking around and looking at the animals, 4H projects, crafts, canned goods, sewing etc.

It never ceases to amaze me. Every year we seem to know more and more kids with things entered in the fair. I look forward to the day our two are big enough to do 4H and enter projects of their own.

As a special treat we timed our second visit so we could go and see the tractor pull. Neither child, nor Grandma it turns out, has ever been to a tractor pull. This pull had 3 categories Large tractors, small tractors, and lawn tractors (not sure where the break between large and small tractors was). Each tractor took a turn seeing how far down a marked track it could pull a weighted sled. The sleds had weights on a pulley and as the tractors drove the weight was pulled forward over the sled’s axel therefore increasing the amount of force needed to move the sled. (click on the picture below for a better explanation)

Jack thought is was great fun! He kept asking everyone what their favorite tractor was. His was the black tractor. Grandpa liked the ones with tracks. Emilie fell asleep and entered no opinion (guess that says what she thinks of tractors pulls) I liked a big 1950’s era John Deere. I also got a kick out of the little kid pulling with a lawn tractor. Note the 2x4’s attached so he can reach the pedals and the adult walking alongside with the kill switch

Emilie was much more interested in the animals, she petted rabbits, sheep, and pigs. She enjoyed the train room (so did Jack) and the Ag building as well. In all it was another great year out at the fair.

With the Grandparents in town for their visit we also took a tour of the “West End” over the weekend. Specifically the Hagerman National Fish Hatchery, so Grandpa could pet the sturgeon, and the Cloverleaf Creamery in Buhl.

LeAnn and I got some food preservation in. 6 pints of raspberry-peach jam, several pie fillings, and some pickled jalapenos. I learned one should cook jalapenos when home alone as the steam seems to bother people – yep I tried to pepper spray my husband and father-in-law. I was standing right over the pot in the kitchen and had no issues but they were coughing and wheezing away out in the living room….Ooops.

In crazy news, Kevin and I even got to go on a ‘date’. Wait! Did you see that? A pig might have just flown past the window! Seriously though, we left the kids with the Grandparents for the afternoon and went to go check out the thrift stores downtown in hopes of working on Halloween costumes. Of course it was Labor day so they were all closed. In 8 years of marriage we’ve just learned to ‘roll with it’ so we headed down to Auger Falls on the Snake River.

We’d had the foresight to bring the fishing poles so we hiked and even dipped our lines in the water once or twice. Kevin scared the bejeezes out of himself when he went to meander down the bank and hopped up on a rock just in time to see a bull snake launch himself into the water and grab a Sculpin (small fish).  I learned two things 1) My husband can move really fast and has great reflexes when properly motivated. 2) Snakes will jump in a cold river to eat fish.

After hiking down to the falls and wandering the canyon bottom for a couple of hours we were starting to feel warm so we headed back to the car. Then we decided to do something really crazy and see a movie…in the actual theater. No fooling, the last ‘in-theater’ (not counting the Drive-in) experience I can remember is seeing Sherlock Holmes (the first one) with Robert Downey Jr. It’s been awhile. Of course the movie didn’t start for an hour after we got there so we improvised with a quick trip to Chilie’s for a cold pint and some nachos. Better yet we happened to conveniently stumble in during Happy Hour so it was CHEAP cold pints and nachos (yes, it’s the small things that make our day ) It was back to the cinema after that and I’ve got to say ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ was pretty great. No comic book nerd by any means but all the great 80’s references and humor were what really made it worthwhile, well that and the cute guy sitting next to me willing sharing his popcorn. We really should do dates more often….

Well, here’s to fun visits with the family and to date nights!

St. Patrick’s Run/Walk

Despite the cool bite to the weather today couldn’t have been a better day for the St. Patty’s run at Malad Gorge. This is one of our favorite runs of the year. Could be the scenery or it could be the fantastic trout feed and free beer at the finish line…it’s a tough call.

 

This year Kevin bumped up to the 3.5 mile run (last year he did the 3.5 mile walk) and did the course with a friend from work. I did the 5.5 mile run again. 

The kids also came along for the fun. Initially we divided the kids up in our two jogging strollers. Kevin took Jack in the single jogger and I had Emilie and a 32lb bag of free weights (to offset Emilie’s weight and provide balance) in the double stroller. I did the first mile or so pushing Emilie then, when we got to the breakoff for the 5.5 milers Kevin and Stephen offered to take Emilie off my hands.

Having them take Em actually worked out pretty well as Emilie announced she needed a potty break at the 3 mile point and the guys logged their best mile of the race hustling to get her back to the toilets. Kevin finished in a respectable 38 minutes and 4 seconds (10.9 min/mile pace) and placed 73rd overall (out of 123) for the 3.5 mile run and 14th (out of 15) in his age division (30-39M). Stephen, being a bit younger landed in the 20-29M age division and placed 4th out of 6. He landed in 74th overall with a time of 38 minutes 6 seconds. Not to shabby for two guys pushing strollers.

As for me. I did FANTASTIC! Set a new personal record for this course, this distance, and pace in a race.  Did 5.5 miles at a 9.74 minute mile! My finish time was 53 minutes 58 seconds (last year was 57.01). That placed me 52nd overall (out of 74) and 9th out of 15 in my age division (30-39F). Part of me is curious what my time would have been if I hadn’t pushed a stroller the first mile, but honestly I don’t really care….

As usual the trout and beer went down easy and tasted like heaven. Kevin got his name drawn in the raffle this year and scored a Milkshake Maker. He had a choice between that or a free entry to the race next year…hands down taking the milkshake mixer. That’s my husband people

Great Gopher Hunt

Not too much going on around here this week.

Emilie recovered from her cold just in time to be hit with some tummy/digestive woes. Fortunately, a little Miralax (emphasis on the little…as a little goes a long way in the world of Miralax) and she’s seems to be back on track. Thanks Aunt Carrie for the tip!

My cold bug is gone except for some nagging soreness on the left side of my throat which makes my ear feel clogged and itchy all at the same time. It’s getting better but it really is obnoxious, especially first thing in the morning.

We started our second round of swimming lessons Monday. This time there is a little boy about Emilie’s size in their class. He’s a bit more timid than my two and I feel a little bad at times that he has to deal with Thing 1 and Thing 2 and their water-based shenanigans. He finally worked up the courage to put his face in the water last class. Jack was so happy for him that he shouted, “Yea Jace!! You did it!” (pretty sure his name is actually Jason) and gave him a huge bear hug just like he does with Sister. Poor little guy almost came unglued. He did not know what to make of Jack’s exuberance.

Probably the most interesting and entertaining thing going on of late is Kevin’s continuing war with the gophers in the front yard. With the mild winter we’ve had the gophers have gotten an early start. One too many new mounds popped up next to the Walnut tree and Kevin went on the attack. So far he’s tried Gopher Gassers (looks like a small stick of dynamite and releases toxic fumes down the tunnels) as well as regular smoke bombs from the 4th of July stash,  basic run of the mill traps, and flooding the tunnels with water from the hose. His attempts have slowed progress for sure but he still hasn’t won the war. Just when enough days have passed without any signs of activity that you think you’ve finally got them a new little mound appears.

Kevin hasn’t gotten too crazy in his techniques…yet. I still remember one weekend morning in middle school watching my Dad tip-toe across our front lawn like Elmer Fudd wearing sweatpants, flip-flops, and holding the shotgun. That poor Mole he was after didn’t stand a chance. There was nothing left of him but a crater in the dirt. Suppose it served the little guy right for having the nerve to actively dig his hole in front of Dad. No, I can say Kevin for sure has not gotten to that point. All guns are still safely stowed. Plus none of the Gophers has yet had the balls to dig a tunnel in front of him. However, I can see Kevin beginning to debate the merits of adding a 120volt live wire to his tunnel flooding technique next time. That’s how the neighbor down the road gets the Gophers out of his lawn (Welcome to Idaho folks) and it seems somewhat effective. Tempting, so temping.

Until then, the battle wages on. Oh, and if you drop by some day and wonder about the stuffed Gophers mounted above the fireplace, you’ll know why.

Way Back Wednesday

A blast from the past today folks. I was trying to come up with something interesting to post about and all my constituents could suggest was ‘swimming lessons’ (they’re a bit obsessed with that right now) as it is apparently the coolest most awesome thing EVER!!! I figured I’d wander through the old picture archive and see what sparked. Found these photos from the summer Kevin and I met and figured I retell the tale.

As many of you know both Kevin and I met through the US Forest Service. This is to spite the fact we both attended WSU and were in the same graduating class. Three years of running around the same campus and we’d never met. Kevin even had courses with my sister and I had an Economics class with his friend/roommate.

 

Summer of 2004 we were both SCEP (Student Career Experience Program) interns working on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. I had been transferred from the Colville NF over to the Okanogan to get more ‘typical’ range experience. Kevin had been working on the forest already but had been encouraged to live in the bunkhouses that year instead of with family friends as he had in previous summers.

That meant we would both be living in the Tonasket Ranger District ‘bunkhouses’ which are, in actuality, the old Conconully Ranger station in Conconully, WA…population 200ish on a good day.

I was driving up from Vancouver and had pretty much zero idea of where I was going. I was just following the map. I was told I was supposed to meet some engineer guy there who would have the key to the building.

So I show up late on a Sunday evening, it’s getting dark, it’s raining, I’m low on gas (and the only gas station in town has closed for the night), I’m not quite in the middle of nowhere (but I can see it from there), and I’m the only one there. There is no cell service in Conconully (at that time I didn’t know about driving up to the cemetery to get reception) I don’t know anyone, and everyone I do know is hours away anyhow so not really much help. Pretty much I just had to sit tight and hope this guy showed. Not sure how long I waited, maybe half an hour, but it seemed like ages.

Finally this Jeep pulls up and this guy steps out of his jeep and introduces himself as Kevin. I remember he was wearing a blue fleece. He opens the door to the bunkhouse (a cabin with one main room a bathroom and a kitchen) and starts putting his stuff inside. Uh, wait a sec! Until that moment I hadn’t realized that ‘guy with key’ would also be my roommate so that was a bit of a shock especially since privacy was at a minimum.

Fortunately for Kevin, his natural charm  (realized or not) won me over in a short period. Even though he didn’t share his Chico’s pizza with me and left me to have some questionable potato soup for dinner that first night. He did help wash dishes though….not just the dinner dishes either. Since the bunkhouse sat empty all winter it was really necessary to wash all the dishes in residence. Good thinking too because we discovered the cabin had a bad sugar ant infestation a few weeks later. He also cross-stitched, and had an excellent brand of humor. What’s not to love?

For the first month it was pretty much just the two of us. He’d go home to Moses Lake on the weekends though (to get his laundry done) and it was one of those weekends where I caught myself watching and waiting for him to come back and it just suddenly hit me how ‘screwed’ I was  (No fooling, that was what my inner monologue said to me, “you are so screwed”) They say you’ll ‘just know’ and ain’t that the truth?

We survived living together that whole summer and actually had a lot of fun in the meantime. I guess we figured after that everything else was cake….

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Saturday was Kevin’s 31st birthday. I’m not sure who was more excited Kevin or the kid. Well, actually, I’m pretty sure it was the kids. They’ve been asking every day for a week if today was Daddy’s birthday and if he could open his presents. The way the act it’s like Christmas is coming again. It’s really pretty fun.

To help quell the excitement I let them help with party planning. A few weeks back Jack, in a moment of deep thought, determined that a ‘helicopter’ party was in order. Well, the local party store was lacking anything with a helicopter theme. Fortunately for us Disney’s “Planes” stuff was in abundance and Jack was willing to be flexible. That said, I was able to find a Planes-esque helicopter and use it for the cake… German Chocolate (of course) with a chocolate landing pad and a big ‘K’ instead of the traditional ‘H’. 

Best part was I found some trick candles in the drawer. The kids thought the candles relighting were hysterical. They were more than willing to help blow them out over and over and over. Thankfully were not too germ-a-phobic because that cake was blown on A LOT! Even with all the spit it still tasted pretty good.

As for the day itself Kevin got lucky. It was 50 degree t-shirt weather AND both kids took a nap for about 2 hours which almost never happens anymore.  That nap came in handy when we went out to dinner at La Fiesta. Both kids were well-behaved, happy, and actually ate their dinner (along with copious amounts of chips) another small miracle. In all it was a really good day.

Coincidence…I Think Not

Marriage. Anyone whose done it and/or doing it can tell you it’s not an easy thing. A wonderful, amazing, glorious thing yes, but definitely not easy. Still I have no doubts that I’ve got the perfect man for me and it’s the little things, like the fact he pulls the crossword puzzles out of the newspaper used for fire kindling and leaves them sitting in a pile (something I’ve never asked him to do..he just knows I like to do them), that remind me that no matter how chaotic and crazy life may get that we still matter to each other.

We got a reminder of a weirder kind the other day. Kevin got a gift card to iTunes for Christmas. He’d downloaded a couple of songs right off but nothing really struck him. About a week back he said I could pick out a couple of songs ‘on him.’ So earlier this week I was perusing the selections and came across a new-ish country artist I had never heard on the radio or even heard of before. As I flipped through the album one of the songs really made me smile. Kind of summed up the ‘thing’ Kevin and I have going pretty well so I downloaded it and put it in my playlist.

I meant to have Kevin listen to it but I forgot. In fact I forgot I’d downloaded the song altogether. A few nights later Kevin was up late and decided to peruse iTunes himself. Wouldn’t you know out of all the hundreds upon thousands of artists he found himself looking at the same one. In fact as he browsed through the album one of the songs reminded him of the two of us. However, when he went to download it he got a message saying it had already been purchased and added to his library. It was the exact same song I had found two days prior. (Now is the appropriate time for the awwwws and other vocalizations sappiness )

Guess we’re still on the same wavelength…..

Guess we may have finally stumbled across ‘our song’……

Yep it may not be the easiest thing all the time but pushing eight years of marriage we’ve still got it. And this was a great reminder of that for me.

Yeah great, but what is that song you ask? Well, for the curious minds, here you go.

Cody Johnson – Proud–Cowboy Like Me

Sheep Hunt 2013

(Author’s Note: The term ‘Stay at Home Mom’ is really not accurate. For someone whose occupational description includes the phrase “stay at home” I am rarely there. That, and when I finally am here there is usually a backlog of items on the ‘to-do’ list that rank above writing blog posts. So, almost two weeks late, here is the rundown on Kevin’s sheep hunt)

As you can see Kevin, Brian, & Jason literally hiked all over tarnation on their trip. Sadly, Brian did not get the ram he was looking for. Mostly they just got a lot of rain. So much so that they ended up coming home two days early. I guess getting rained on six times in one night is enough even for the hardiest of mountain men.

Despite it all, I think they had a good time. The did see eight bighorns…including one yearling ram. Those they saw the first day out after climbing 4,000 feet in three miles. Said sheep spent night kicking rocks down the hill at our intrepid heroes as they tried to get some sleep (note: this was the only night they did not get rained on). They also saw six bears, three mountain goats, two bull elk, two deer, two rattlesnakes, one salmon, and one very unfortunate grouse (I’m told he was tasty).

They also saw a plane crash site, which as all good explorers must do they had to detour to photograph, and investigate.

I’m told the most exciting part is a close toss up between scaring a 300lbs boar black bear out of the huckleberry bushes 20 yards away and almost getting hit by lighting. (Please note sitting on a knife ridge during a thunder storm isn’t the smartest idea even if there are higher points nearby. Yellow pushpin on map denotes location of this incident.) No fooling the lighting struck 237 yards from where they were sitting (they’re engineers, they measured) and ignited an old snag.

They also took a lot of awesome pictures and I just couldn’t choose which ones to post….so I give you a music montage of them all. Enjoy!

Oh, and all is not lost. Brain is going back in later this month for another week to try again. Here’s to hoping the second time’s a charm.

Rim 2 Rim

This was the race I hemmed and hawed about for most of the summer. I mean really running up a canyon, across a bridge (See Perrine Bridge in above photo), back down said canyon, over a narrow catwalk crossing a river, and back to the start doesn’t sound overly appealing. Especially the “running up a canyon” part. Finally I just bit the proverbial bullet and registered so I would HAVE to do it. Saturday it all came to fruition and I completed the 2013 Rim 2 Rim Challenge.

Best part was my “new” running buddy came along. Yeah, Kevin has discovered that running keeps you in conditioned for hunting season. The bug bit after he did the Sawtooth Relay this spring and he’s been running with me at least once a week since.      

We made a deal that we would try to stay together. I’ve got to say when we first started and were headed up the grade I thought that wasn’t going to happen. Kevin was out infront of me and doing pretty well. I was several hundred feet back watching the shirts and jackets come flying off and wondering if the girl next to me puffing the inhaler would be willing share.

When we hit the flat up at the top I caught up though. We stuck together across the Perrine Bridge but when we went back down into the canyon I pulled ahead. This course is about 7.5 miles long and Kevin’s previous max distance is 5ish. I figured he might burn out a bit toward the end. Still I could hear him chatting with another jogger behind me so I figured I’d just go for it and meet him at the finish.

So anyone want to tell me what is with this hilly course. They run you up and down, then, just for fun, they toss in a tiny steep hill right at the end. It’s like they just want to suck the rest of your life force right out of you. This course was no exception. After crossing that somewhat dubious catwalk over the river (it wasn’t designed to be run on for sure) you come around a curve and see this nice little hill that someone ever so kindly painted “Killer Hill” on and added a smiley face just for kicks. Somehow I managed to drag myself up it by telling myself that I had less than a mile to go and I couldn’t quit now.

Now most of this last mile there was a gal running behind me about 100 feet or so. As we came into the finish line I could feel her picking up the pace. I thought to myself, “Oh hell no!” There was no way she was going to pass me now. So I ran a little faster.  So did she. We ended up in a mad sprint across the finish line together….she didn’t pass me. We gave each other congratulations, high fives, and a hug… then went on our merry way. That is one of the awesome things about running. Most of the folks doing it are supportive and encouraging. It’s not about winning it’s about beating your own challenges.

Kevin finished about three minutes behind me. Really he did fantastic for someone whose never run 7.5 miles before. I haven’t found the official stats yet, but I finished somewhere around 1 hours and 23 minutes and Kevin around 1 hours 26 minutes. Looking forward to next year already.

Into the Wild

Kissed my husband goodbye again today. This time he’ s gone for nine days. Nope, not a BAER assignment. This time he’s accompanying his friend Brian on a Big Horn Sheep hunt. There are 3 of them going in altogether Brain, Kevin, and a guy named Smitty.

Now this isn’t just any little old  hunting trip. It’s a Big Horn Sheep hunt, and an opportunity that doesn’t come around very often. They are going to be in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness precisely located in the middle of nowhere. For those of you familiar with the area they are flying in Soldier Bar on Big Creek just up stream from it’s confluence with the Middle Fork Salmon River.  I kid you not they are at least 30 miles from the nearest trailhead. They will be flying in and out in a little single engine fixed wing plane. While I don’t worry too much about these 3 being out in the woods (they’re all pretty level headed and outdoor savvy) it’s this part here that makes me a little nervous.

I’d show you the take-off too…..but I think you get the picture.

Brian is the one with the sheep tag and will be doing the actual hunting. Smitty and Kevin are along for companionship, scouting, and general pack mule services. I will pat myself and Smitty’s wife on the pack for allowing our husband’s to go on this trip when they aren’t even hunting. Especially Smitty’s wife. She’s pregnant with their second and due at the end of September…someone should give her a medal!

Well, Kevin has been up to his eyeballs in work this week so I’ve been doing a lot of his trip prep. Mostly this meant gathering enough food to last him for 9 days. Plus it has to be backpacking friendly. This means it has to be non-perishable (no fridge’s in the woods), lightweight, and compact (you have to put this all in your pack and carry it). He’s got a lot of those Mountain House type “just-add-water” meals. Plus pita bread, bagels, dried fruit, trail mix, instant oatmeal, powdered milk, peanut butter, honey, etc. I actually had a lot of fun researching items for him to take.

I also got to gather some other things for his tri like new liner socks and blister band-aids (Kev rubs blisters on his ankles easily and I didn’t want him miserable all trip), sunscreen, bug juice, and most importantly a collapsible fishing pole. He may not have a hunting tag but he’s got a fishing license and trout is in season .

I know not all of you are the praying sort, but if you are, send up a little one for these three. That they stay safe, healthy, and get that sheep they are looking for!

Oh and if you are interested I have Spot trackers for Brian and Kevin…if you want to ‘see’ where they are real time just let me know and I can get you a link.

Magic Mountain Relay

I’m proud to say that yesterday Kevin and I participated in the 1st annual Magic Mountain Relay. The Race goes from the Magic Mountain Ski resort in the south hills 30 .7 miles to the Kimberly City Park in Kimberly, ID. Both Kev and I were part of a 6 man team, Team Smokey, that co-workers at the Forest Service put together. It was Kevin, Me, our friend Shawn, Shawn’s daughter Rachel, a fellow FS co-worker named Cathy. Our final man was Bob, from “Nor-Cal,” who is brother to a friend of Shawn’s, runs marathons, and just so happened to be into visiting the family on race day

 

The purpose of the relay is to raise money to start a soccer program at the local High School which is the only school of it’s size in the state that does not have a soccer program. Teams consisted of 2, 3, or 6 people, and let me tell you there were folks of all ages and stages.

The freakishly speedy twin brothers (“The Gazelles” as I call them) from Hansen were there. They made a 2 man team. They started 15 minutes after our team and passed Kevin coming into the exchange for leg 2….we never saw them again. There was a family of seven that had some small kids running. I mean the little one couldn’t have been more than 6 years old. Granted they would only run a mile or so before Mom or Dad traded them out, but it was still inspirational. Glanbia had a team, Team "’Mighty Sweet” from White Satin (the Sugar Beet plant) had a 3-man team, and of course "Team Weenie” (Falls Brand Meat employees) was there. There were also some oddball teams, like team “Does This Run Make My Butt Look Good?” It was fun to see the community pull together to support it’s youth. I think there were about 25 to 30 teams in all with hopes for more participants at next year’s race.

(A quick word on the above right photo. That’s Bob, with the race bib, running his leg. That’s his brother Steve in the boots and one of their kids offering motivation/harassment. Steve farms –obviously- and Bob and kids were helping change water. The whole gang came if from the field, Bob ran his leg, then they all went back to work moving handline. That’s how you do it on the farm folks )

So what did we do with the kids while we were trotting through the woods and fields? Took them with us of course. Jack even got to sit in and play with the lights of a police car. Kevin did the first leg (6 miles in about 50/55 minutes) and then he ran Jack into t-ball practice (there will be a post on that in a week or two). They got back just in time to see me finish our the relay. I had leg 6 (5.2 miles…not sure of my time but is was an hour or less). Overall our team finished in 4 hours and 15 minutes.

Looking forward to next year! Who wants to run with us?

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