Time flies......

People often comment, "You don't look old enough to have a married daughter" when I tell them about Allison and Tyler. I must admit that it does seem strange to have a married child, but I love it. I remember well the day I was married, which does not seem that long ago. Where does the time go? It is wonderful how the relationship with a child develops into something much deeper when they move out on their own and become an adult. I love to watch Allison and Tyler find their way in life together, making big important mature decisions.

Go Cougars!!!!!

Since Russ is a dedicated BYU fan, he buys season tickets each year. He usually takes the children to one of the games. They really enjoy this special trip with dad!

Our budding politician.....

Now that Hannah was in fifth grade, she was eligible to run for a position on student council. She decided to run for Director of Safety. She chose a campaign manager and together they made t shirts to wear and a poster to put up in the cafeteria. Hannah wrote her own speech, complete with Hannah's humor and flair for the dramatics! It was fun to watch her give her speech to the student body. She said she was nervous, but she did a fantastic job and looked as cool as a cucumber. She ended up winning the election and is now proudly serving as Ronald Reagan Elementary School's Director of Safety. You've got to start somewhere.....who knows where this political career may end up!

Special Olympics Bowling

Another great season of bowling has come to an end for Ben, but what made it so special was that Russ was able go each week as a "mentor" bowler on Ben's team. Ben really looked forward to Tuesday nights when he and dad had their date night at the bowling alley! Ben was able to participate in a few tournaments. He received a huge trophy at the awards ceremony. That brought a very big smile to his face!!!

St George Marathon

Back in April, Russ approached me with the idea of running a marathon. I thought he was crazy....how could we run a marathon? The most we had ever run was 6.2 miles and a marathon is 26.2 miles. I laughed. His idea was that we would enter the lottery for the St. George marathon, and if we were picked we would do it, if we were not picked it wasn't meant to be. I agreed to the terms, thinking there was no way we would be picked. Well, guess what....we found out in May that WE WERE IN! That meant that we had to start training.....in Bakersfield....in the summer!! We found a training program that would have us marathon ready by October, so we began running. And running. And running. We mixed it up with runs on the bike path and on the treadmill. We trained together as much as possible to keep each other motivated. (My favorite part of training was coming home and entering my time and mileage onto the computer. My total training miles were 387!)

We rented a 4 br. condo in St George so that the whole family could come. Allison and Tyler, Grandpa and Grandma Judd, Stacy and Abby joined us as well.

We drove the course the day before to get mentally prepared for what lay ahead....

Rise and shine!! We were up at 4:30 so that we could catch the bus at 5:15 to take us up to the start of the race. I don't think I really ever slept the night before the race, my mind was busy thinking about everything all night long.
There were 7500 runners! We were the last people to cross the starting line. It took 12 minutes from the gun start to when we actually crossed the starting line. We planned it that way so as to avoid being boxed in and trampled!
We are coming up to mile 8, otherwise known as "Veyo Hill". The hill is quite steep and goes on for 1 mile. We walked the whole way to save precious energy for later in the race.
(I'm not running backwards...I just turned around for Russ to take the picture)

Here I am at mile 15...the scenery was beautiful. Russ and I were both feeling really good at this point!

Our children made such cute signs for us!
We came out of the canyon at mile 24, and then ran through town for two miles. I was so energized that first mile when I saw so many people cheering the runners on. Then I came to my family. It was awesome to see them holding signs and encouraging me!
Russ was a little ways behind me. His knee was really hurting!

Ben gave him some love!


The last mile was tough until I rounded the corner and saw the finish line. In the final stretch I saw friends and family cheering for me. It was an awesome feeling to cross the finish line!!

Russ and I had just completed a marathon!!!!

Shawna's official finish time 4:58.

Russ's official finish time 5:07
WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

Emily had a birthday party with her friends at the Crystal Palace. The girls ate dinner and listened to the house band. Then they met a nice "older" gentleman who taught them several line dances. They had a great time!
Emily turned 18!!!! After her family birthday dinner, we sent her on a scavenger hunt to find her big gift. She is the proud new owner of a Macbook!
Emily had spent the night babysitting for a family with three children. A three year old and twin 2 year olds. So we showed up on their doorstep in the morning to wake Emily up and make her breakfast.
Emily is finishing up her senior year. She will be graduating in December, and then heading off to beauty school. She has been working hard to earn money. She recently quit the tennis team to take a nanny job. She works for a few hours everyday after school, helping the children with homework and making them dinner. Emily also teaches tennis lessons once a week to a boy we know from church.

San Francisco Getaway

Russ had a meeting at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay and he kindly invited me to come along. We flew to San Francisco on Wed. We rented a car and drove to the temple in Oakland. A perfect way to start our getaway! After a lovely dinner, we headed to the Ritz.

Yes, it really is this beautiful!!!!
While Russ was in his meeting on Thursday, I slept in, read, and exercised. Then we met up for our spa treatments! Russ had a massage and I got a facial. Heavenly!! Afterwards, we hung out in the coed jacuzzi.
On Friday we took a Segway tour. Those things are so fun to ride.
On Saturday it was time to say goodbye to the Ritz and catch a plane to Salt Lake City. We had a flooded rental house we needed to check on, and then a BYU game to attend. We had lunch with Allison and Tyler at Zupas. That is the best salad place ever! Later we met up with our friends Kalvin and Brenda. Kalvin is a major Utah fan, and Russ is totally Mr. BYU...so I knew this would be an interesting night!
The weather was perfect, the stadium was filled with anxious fans, and the sunset was spectacular! What more could we have asked for? Well, as it turns out, the BYU players forgot how to play football!!!! This had to be the MOST pathetic game I have ever been to. Kalvin tried really hard not to gloat, but he did have a big smile on his face. By the end of the third quarter I had seen enough, so I suggested that we leave early since we had such an early flight home in the morning. We said goodbye to our friends and told them we'd be back next year for another BYU vs. Utah game. Let's hope they remember how to play by then!!