Girls Night Out!

One day when we were riding to Fred Meyer,and none of us kids wanted to go.So while we were driving mom got a phone call from dad and said"I'm almost to Fred Meyer I'll come take the kids home with me."(I have a crazy dad!)On the way home he asked me if I might be interested in running a race in Boise at the end of September.I said,"Maybe."So every saturday morning we'd run around the loop in our neighborhood.So the Friday before the race we drove from Twin to Boise. To start off our girls trip we got ice cream cones and listing to crazy music all the way there. When we got there we ate dinner at the cheesecake factory.(best mac & cheese ever!)The funniest thing that happened to me on our trip:When we drove past a Taco truck on the side of the road!I think I laughed for 3 minutes straight. So when we got to the hotel and ate our cheesecake, everybody had the urge to go swimming. I wasn't keeping my head above water very well,and when I went under I got water in my mouth and ,it tasted gross!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When we got in the pool there was a huge screen with the what movie playing do you think?Charlotte's Web!!!!!!!!!It was so funny because I'm in the play Charlotte's Web with my friend Sydney. when we went to bed and, got up and,got to the shuttle and it was FREEZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When the race ended my time was 35:00.And got goodie bags(snack bags.)And ate by the fountain.It was lots of fun!!!!!!!! Thanks mom for all you do!!!!!!I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep on Runnin'

Sooo....Blake was a little frustrated that I did not get this post done soon enough after his last post to continue the retro running song theme (anyone recognize this one?). But here I am anyway to tell you about our next running adventure of the summer. Since Blake had put so much time and effort into training for the 50/20 event, I kept bugging him that if he could do that, surely he could do a 1/2 marathon easy. It just so happened that Blake's oldest brother Brad and his wife Ali had been trying to get us to do the Airforce 1/2 Marathon in Dayton, Ohio with them for the past year. So Blake caved and decided to train with me for it.

He found us a 10 week training program, and didn't let me sluff off the entire 10 weeks. We ran 8 and 5 miles in Island park at the Kern family reunion, we got babysitters to run saturday mornings, we ran in the snake river canyon. We were ready for this race, and then some! Then Blake's hip started to hurt, and hurt, and hurt (of course he didn't want to mess up the "training schedule so he kept running). And my head started to get a little stuffy, and then a lot stuffy!! We drove down to Utah and left the kids with my sister Sara. I couldn't sleep that night I was so stuffed up, which meant poor Blake didn't sleep either. We flew out that morning, and Brad and Ali picked us up in Louisville, and we all drove to Dayton. We made it just in time to pick up our race packets. The plan was to eat at The Cheesecake Factory, but found out there was an hour wait we decided on Noodle's instead, and got cheesecake to-go for dessert (yum!).

We woke up bright and early to get to the race on time. Brad and Ali had to run to the starting line the year before, and we weren't interested in adding an extra mile or two before the race even started. This was by far the most organized race I had ever participated in, and you could not beat the venue! It was fun to see all the airplanes lining the start and finish line, and the B52 fly over right before the race was awesome! They had "pacers" with signs with the time you wanted to finish with and you lined up beside them. We lined up by the 2:00 pacer. I was feeling a little better than the day before, and was hoping for the best. Blake took off on his own right away, and I was good for the first 9 miles, but crashed on the last 4. I didn't quite make my goal, but did get 2:17, my second best time ever. So I felt ok about it, but am still wondering what "could have been" if I wasn't sick. Blake got within 5 minutes of his goal, but was hurting quite a bit at the end with his hip injury. We were quite the pair. It was a little disappointing, but still a great experience. And of course, great to spend time with Brad and Ali and their kids.

Funny story was that Blake wanted Brad to take him to a specialized running story in Kentucky to see if there was a better running shoe he should be wearing. After about 45 minutes of shoes, advice, and more shoes, he ended up with a brand new pair of the exact same shoe he walked in the store with. It was quite disappointing to him to say the least.

Thank you Brad and Ali for a great time! I am already plotting my next race, so I can see if I can get any closer to my 2 hour goal!!! St. George anyone???

Take It on the Run

If you have looked at the calendar lately, like me you are wondering where the summer has gone. Ours has sped by at a runners pace. We have taken on a few challenges these last few months.

It all started this spring at a Stake Court of Honor when our stake president challenged all the young men 14 and older to participate in this thing called a 50/20. I made the mistake of asking what is a 50/20. The challenge is to walk 50 miles in under 20 hours. So we set out with the young men of our ward to start our training regement to prepare for this great event. We spent lots of Saturdays hiking 5 miles then 10 miles up to 25 miles. As the final details of the race trickled in we discoverd that plan was to start at 4:00 PM on a Friday night from the Oakley Stake Center. Then, walk all night and end up at our new stake center in Twin Falls. The first 25 miles was pretty easy and everyone was hanging in there. Then we started to lose some of the boys and leaders. The learning experience came early Saturday morning. We had scheduled a couple of support crews through out the night to come and supply us with food and water and such. The last 10 miles became very dificult with bistered and bleeding feet. The last leg of the race two friends from the ward Jonathan Wheelwright and Spencer Cutler were on shift. The amazing thing to me was how even in the state of utter exaustion and pain that I was in just having them walking in front of me seemed to help so much. There seemed to be an invisible rope between us that continued to pull me along. I releate this back to the scripture of how we can truly bear one others burdens and support each other. All that finished we were able to complete the 50 miles in about 16 hour.

You Know You Are a Manwaring Update!

Added June 10, 2010
11) If you have had a holy shirt or pants ripped off your body.
12) If your family hugs included the use of duct tape.
13) If in every Family photo instead of hearing "say cheese" you hear "duck, duck, goose". Contributed by BM. You guess which one.

Third Time Is The Charm at Fairy Falls

A Life Lesson in over coming Life's Obstacles.

When we were up at the cabin last week we decided to go into Yellowstone Park and seek out a water fall that for a while we thought only existed in our imagination. Fairy Falls.

Attempt # 1 5/29/10 at 2:30 PM
After consulting the Yellowstone Hiking Book and maps we set off into the park. After getting through buffaloes having caves on the road and holding up traffic. We made it to what we thought was the trail head. At least that is what the sign laying on the ground claimed. We were about a mile and a half in when we encountered our first obstacle.
Bear Tracks, given that early in the day the kids have made fruit loop necklaces and now had them hanging around their necks. I thought my odd to get away would be pretty good so we pressed on. Until mother nature came a calling too two of our family members. One was able to take care of it in the wood the other demanded a return to the parking lot. So we abandoned our efforts. Remember men one saying "Happy Wife Happy Life"




Attempt # 2 5/29/10 5:30 PM.
After I had a happy wife again. We drove a little farther in the park to discovered the real trail head. In my enthusiasm I ran to the sign and misread the sign. I thought it stated that the falls were only 1 mile in. I thought piece of cake 2 miles round trip. At this point it was blowing and snowing a little bit. I pump up the kids promised them a blizzard from DQ. Little did they know the were going to end up with both types of blizzards. We set off only to find out after 1 mile of hiking we only made it to the trail head of Fairy Falls and still had 2.6 miles to go. Once again I reluctantly let the dream slip from my fingers.

Attempt # 3 5/31/10 10:00 AM
The following Monday Ralph and I conspired to reach both our goals. He wanted to take a Model A for a drive in the park and I need to see Fairy Falls. So we sweet talked Josie and the kids and made our third and final attempt. Which ended in great success. We found the NOT imaginary 200 FT Fairy Falls. It was worth it and the kids did wonderful. Never Give UP.

How Many Manwarings Does it take to Change a Light Bulb?

Answer:
5 Manwarings and 2 Kerns.

Jack to hold the chair that I am standing on.
Sam to remove and replace the light bulbs.
Emily to take the picture.
Josie to be the official worrier.
Blake to be walked all over as usual.
Ralph to hold the light fixture.
Connie to supervise.

What do you do when it snows in March?

You dress up in your best pioneer dress, put on your dress coat, and Pretend like you are Laura Ingalls in "The Long Winter" of course!

I have been meaning to blog about this for awhile now. It was just too cute to forget. It was late March that we got a bonus snow fall. Everyone was sick of being cooped up in the house, so when Emily came to me all dressed up, and asked for a basket I didn't know quite what she was up to. She has been reading all of the Laura Ingalls books lately and decided to take advantage of the newly fallen snow and pretend she was Laura, trying to survive the long winter. It was fun to watch her scurry around the yard pretending to gather this and that and the other. I just watched out the window, not wanting to disrupt this rare opportunity to watch her lost in her imagination, but she was so animated that it wasn't hard to follow along. Emily is entering into the wonderful "inbetween" stages and is trying to figure out if she is a kid or a "preteen", and it is nice when you get to watch them be that kid you know they still are. Even if it also reminds me of the grown up girl she is becoming at the same time.

You Are A Manwaring If...

The other day I overheard a conversation between Josie and Sam. Sam takes after his father and is often confused about many things including what day of the week it is. So he looks for clues around him to fill in the blanks. Sam asked Josie if it was "Work Day" more commonly know as Saturday to the rest of the world. Which got me remembering my growing up years. So I have come up with the following list to see if you qualify as a true Manwaring:

1) If you walk in to a building and accidentally leave the door open and someone asks if you were raise in a barn. You can reply, why yes I was.
2) For the first 10 years of your life you thought your middle name was "pot licker"
3) Your best fashion statement in high school was your new tennis shoes stained with green from the grass.
4) You had to go through a trap door to get to your bedroom.
5) At the age of 17 you could brag that you had worked at a oil refinery for 4 years.
6) You only could sing the first lines of any folk song and are really worried about being able to wash your neck.
7) The only nose jewelry you were allowed was a grind stone.
8) Your friends could recognize your back pockets and elbows before your face. (because you were bent over working)
9) You know what the phrase " Had the bun" means.
10) Your choices of energy drinks were Barley Green or Molasses mixed with Milk.
Added June 10, 2010
11) If you have had a holy shirt or pants ripped off your body.
12) If your family hugs included the use of duct tape.
13) If in every Family photo instead of hearing "say cheese" you hear "duck, duck, goose". Contributed by BM. You guess which one.


How did you rate? Can you think of any other qualifications?

What I meant to Blog Was....

It's been a while, lets just leave it at that, ok! That way I don't have to give excuses about...

Anyway, here are all the things I have been meaning to post about for a while now an haven't. So here it is: I finally got new curtains in the living room. It took me forever to decide what I wanted, but once I got them up I was so happy with them that I can't believe I left the other ones up as long as I did. (You can't really tell but they are very narrow blue and white stripes)

In an attempt to at least get something close to the cool "Ipod" valentines we did last year we made these fortune cookie valentines. Still not as cool as the ipods, but I thought they were cute.

Emily signed up for the school talent show. She had high hopes of singing a Taylor Swift song, but after the 4th out of tune version of "You Belong to Me" I think she was glad I made her play the piano instead. I think... She did a great job!

Jack had started taking Tae Kwon Do in Michigan, so we signed him up when we got back. He loves it and it is so fun to what him work so hard, and be so focused on something. He gets to test for his low Yellow Belt next Friday. Here are Sam and Jack "sparring" at class. I am thinking of getting these padded helmets for when they go at it at home (which seriously doesn't happen very often).
Of course brothers are required to hug at the end.

So that is what I meant to blog..... More blogs to come!!!!!

Mr. Mom Fails Again

Since returning to our lives in Idaho we have had an interesting jux-a- position in that last few weeks in our family. My evil plan to be released as Elder's Quorum President by leaving the state for a few months was a flying success.

But, upon our return the Bishop was waiting with baited breath, not for me but for Josie. As many of you all ready know Josie was called as the Young Women's President in our Ward. Being the supportive husband that I am I told the Bishop no problem I would love to support her. I was hoping that push Josie out front like a lamb to the wolves in the hope this would buy me some time to lay low and avoid any responsibility. I was sadly mistaken. I found out what goes on Sunday Morning while I was at all those early morning meetings. Here is my track record so far:

Week 1:

I was up stairs ironing everyones clothes when Jack comes up stairs and asks" Daddy is it opposite day or something?" Why are you ironing clothes? That is not the way mommy does it.

Week 2:

I was committed. The kids were going to be dressed. Breakfast dishes taken care of and in our seats 5 minutes early. All was going well, we walked into the chapel at 8:54 one minute to spare. I was just about to pat my self on the back when Joise leans over and kindly asks " Is there a reason why Sam's pants are on backwards? I grabbed him and ran for the bathroom. I though I still have 4 minutes we can make it. In the mad dash he lost his shoe and shed a few tears.

Week 3:

I am a man that tries to learn from his mistakes. After I had ironed the boy's clothes and send them down to get dressed and started back on some other clothes it hit me " backwards pants" I came racing down the stairs to make sure the old backwards pants issues was not my down fall again. I went in to make sure Sam had his pants on correctly. As I was doing this Jack started to tease Sam. Jack saying I can not believe you put your pants on back wards don't you know that the zipper goes in the front like this. As Jack proudly looked down to show him his zipper he only found two back pockets.

Week 4:

Your guess is as good as mine.

Sincerely,

Humble Pie

Josie, We know you will do a great job.

Fall Colors

Some Pictures from the local park that we blogged about before. Showing some of the wonderful fall Michigan Color and some pretty cute kids if I don't say so myself.

Halloween Was When

Sleeping Beauty

Sock Hop Girl

Yoda and the epic battle against the Side. (They are holding imaginary light sabers.)

The crew with their pumpkins. I am always so impressed with Josie and the costumes she is able to come up with and hand make. I am sure that someday when her children look back. They will be very grateful to her as I am.

A Star Is Born

"Emily Michigan" (Instead of Hannah Montana) Has made her Acting Daybue as the "Mother of the final Family". In a small theater just off Broadway by about 400 miles. At the Walker Elementary School. It was an amazing performance. She spoke loud and clear and taught everyone that presents were not the most important part about Christmas, but being together with your family is the true blessing. Then in the final scene. Showing the true act of charity invites everyone in to her home for cookies and hot chocholate. It was an amazing performace and her fans look forward to future work of this talent young star.

Back Up Plans and Doubling Down

So with the project not taking off as quickly as I would like, the state of the economy, and given who is in charge of the country right now Josie and I have been getting a little nervous. The past couple Sunday nights in companionship inventory we have been doing some brain storming to hedge our income. Then it came to us on a trip to visit my brother in Kentucky. We have sent all three children to jockey school they have only 6 more weeks until there first race. Jack is already impressing his teacher and has been promised to ride in a race with a horse called "Snowball." We have not told him the horse full name "chance in Hell". We figure with their incomes as jockeys and then the advantage of the inside information on the races Josie will really be able to excel in her new chosen profession. We figured with her math and statistical skills she would be a natural. Josie has been spending her days learning about odds, spreads, ect. We also have a in with the local vet. So I think it is a Sure thing. I know you are all concerned with my role in the master plan. I was going to sit back and be the Hollywood Husband of Kentucky. But that went over like a lead balloon with "Lucky Losie-POO" So she handed me a pitch fork and sent me to the stables to do what I do best shovel stuff.
If any family or friend would like to invest in our sure thing please send your money orders to Lucky Loise at the Keenland Race Track in George Town Kentucky.

Oh The Places You Will Go For Boise State

So when we first were getting ready to move out here Josie noticed in one of the BSU Alumni letters that BSU was going to be playing out here at Bowling Green this year. We thought it would be a fun adventure to go show our support for our school.

So we had to make a day out of it. So we started by visiting Whole Foods to participate in the "BUY COT" Down with the liberal tree hugging, Nanny State, commy liberals. We had a wonderful lunch and I visited the cheese gallery with Emily and tasted different cheeses and selected two to take home.

Next Josie had to make up for teasing me the whole way our here. She would say oh we can stop at Cabelas so after passing about three stores and not stopping at one. I forced the issue and stopped at one in Ohio. So the kids really liked the animals.

We pulled into Bowling Green and had a little time before the big game so we went to a local car museum at saw some pretty neat cars. Including a Model T painted Washington Blue and Straw Wheels. Finally we went to the massacre. My favorite part was when we pulled into the parking lot and the people look at our Idaho plates on the van and they were blow away say "wow you guys drove a long way." "How long did it take you to drive here" " You must be major football fans." I was willing play along and tell stories but "Honest Abe Josie" had to set everyone straight that we had only come from Michigan. The game was a good one. BSU Kicked butt 49 to 14. We made it half time and the kids were done and we had a long drive home so we left. But as alway Josie is alway surprised where she ends up when she is with me.

The Annual Silly Hat Party

The Annual Silly Hat Party has been on hold for the last couple of weeks because of all the rain. I have been feeling like I am back in Washington. There was a break in the rain Tuesday night so Josie baked up some wonderful Toll House ultimate peanut butter cookies and we made a run for it. We found a fun park near the house to host the event. The Blandford Nature Center where I am told you can go in the spring to tap the Sugar Maple Trees for syrup. Another thing to look forward too but I am sure that it will not compare to the famous birch pop/wine of yester years. (Notice how I took a picture of the sign so I could spell it later. Alway thinking ) We were a bit short on silly hats so we had to make do with what we had. Josie has already decided that this is the spot for the annual fall family pictures in a few weeks when the leaves turn a bit more. We probably should have thought through Sam's hat and jacket a bit more we kept losing him in the trees. (lol). Emily was enjoying herself also until she start seeing the signs for the turtle and snake crossing. She was a bit jumpy until we convinced her that the it was too cold for them to be out. So stay tuned for the beautiful fall colors.