Riding Lessons!

Bailey has had a horse obsession for quite awhile now. After going down to ride my mom's horses last spring break, I decided to put her in riding lessons over the summer, so she would be ready for our next trip to California. She LOVED it SO much! Monday was her favorite day of the week, because that's the day she would get to ride. Diane Huskenson was her teacher, and she was wonderful! She taught Bailey so much in such a short amount of time. I couldn't believe the difference from the beginning of summer until the end. She learned everything from caring for the horse, and getting it ready, to beginning jumping. Bailey is so sad that summer is over! She is going to miss her furry friends so much. We are going to try to arrange as many lessons as we can for Saturdays while the weather holds out. She will be doing lessons again next summer for sure.

This is Cupcake. Her and Bailey became great friends this summer! 

Getting the horse ready to ride was one of her favorite things to do.

She learned how to saddle and bridal the horse by herself.

They would always start the lessons with exercises on the lunge line. Bailey loved doing these! It helped her to become way more comfortable and confident on the horse.

She learned how to do an emergency dismount. It was scary at first, but after awhile she thought it was fun.

Bailey took Cupcake in the canal.  

Cupcake loves playing in the water, so Bailey ended up pretty wet :)!

She got more and more comfortable on the horse with each lesson. It was so fun to watch her! 

She was so excited when she cantered by herself!

On the first day we were there, Bailey said there is no way she would ever jump.  It was just a few lessons later that she was trying it. Pretty soon she loved it, and got better and better each week.

This is one of my favorite pictures. This is the highest she jumped (2'3"). She looks like a pro, but in reality, she almost went right over the head on this landing! She was clear up on Cupcake's neck. If that would have happened at the beginning of summer, she would have been terrified, but by the end, she just laughed and tried it again.

Jumping!

Standards Retreat

The young men and young women leaders planned an overnight Standards Retreat for our youth. It turned out really good! We went up to a cabin in Bone and kicked things off with our iron rod activity. The kids were blindfolded in a little grove of trees. There was soft primary music playing, and they were each assigned an angel to help them along the way. We had them hold on to the iron rod and start walking. They stopped at a couple people at the beginning, who told them how important it was to always hold tight to the iron rod and never let go. Their angel could softly guide them along the way. Soon they came to the tempters. It was their job to try to get the kids to let go of the rod. The tempters would play loud music so the kids could no longer hear their angel. They would try to give them an easier way to go, or trick them into letting go. Once they made it, they were given fruit from the tree of life. It was fun!

Sister Irving encouraging Bailey to never let go of the iron rod.

Mark was telling the kids that trials will come, but even in the mist of darkness, they will not get lost as long as they are still holding to the rod.

Madi was the best tempter! She was helping Bailey at first. She told her to just let go with one hand, so she could get her around a tree. Then Madi hooked the hand she let go with to a different rod that took her away from the path.

Madi got Bailey off the rod, but the Bishop was right there to help her get back on.

I was Bailey's angel, and I was trying not to crack up at this part. I told her that she was going to have to crawl under a couple of things. Brett Spence and Dave Hamberlin were saying, "You're really going to make her go through all those spider webs!" They were hilarious, but Bailey didn't let go. During the hardest part we had recordings of the kid's parents giving them words of encouragement. That part was awesome!

Brother Hendrix was at the end to read them a scripture, congratulate them, and give them their fruit from the tree of life once they made it.

 Once that was over we had three breakout sessions that they rotated through. They were on 'Chastity', 'Seeing Others as They may Become', and 'Being Who you Truly Are'. They were all really good classes. After that the kids clowned around while we got dinner ready.

How many kids can we cram on one teeter totter?!?

Oh my! This looks like an accident waiting to happen :)! 

They had some fun toys there!

We had some great guys cooking us dinner!

He was hungry! 

After dinner we had a conclusion lesson, and then went our separate ways. The girls went to spend the night at the Draper's house, and the boys stayed at the cabin in tents. They ended up getting rained out and had to stay at the Hendrix's house instead. The next morning we woke up and had a Temple Walk.  Our theme was Standing in Holy Places. We started out with breakfast, and the Stonecutter video. Then we set out on our 7 mile walk to the Temple. We had a few stops along the way with speakers. Brother Roth was our first speaker, and he was so great! He shared about his experiences in Jerusalem, and then told the kids how they can make any place a holy place. At the next stop we had our youth leaders tell each of the kids a specific way they notice how they are already standing in holy places. We had the families of the youth meet us about half a mile from the Temple, and walk the rest of the way with us. Once we got there, Brother Jaussi was there with his friend Carson, and they shared with us what happened during Curtis' hunting accident. They talked about the important things that made all the difference in saving Curtis' life. They talked about always being worthy to give and receive blessings, and how important the Temple is in their lives. It was so great! It was the perfect way to end our walk! We all had lunch together to conclude our Standards Retreat.

Elle, Bailey, and Emily

Brother Roth speaking to the youth. 

The awesome Eastview Ward young men, young women, and youth leaders. We were almost there. The Temple was just across the river from us!

It was a great activity with great people. I'm grateful I get to serve with the youth, and with amazing, inspired leaders that plan activities like this for my kids!

Playmill

Michelle planned a fun adventure for us girls. We went up to West Yellowstone for the day. We had lunch at Ponds Lodge on the way up. Yummy! Then we had old fashion pictures taken. It was so stinking hilarious! Misty did not want to get them done, which made it 10 times funnier for the rest of us. We laughed so hard! 

I love my hat! I could play dress up in that place all day!

We saw Beauty and the Beast at the Playmill. It was cute! The 4 girls thought it would be funny to tell them that it was my birthday (which it wasn't)! I could have killed them! I was so embarrassed! One of the actors came and sat on my lap and sang happy birthday to me in front of everyone. He even kissed me on the head! I was DYING!!! They think they're pretty hilarious!

Beauty and the Beast 

Tricia, Michelle, Becky, Lesa, and Misty

Thanks for a fun day ladies!

GTR-Running With Scissors

Bailey and I had the opportunity to run in the Grand Teton Relay this year. We were part of the Austin Kade team, 'Running With Scissors.' The relay is just like Ragnar. It's a 12 person, 2 driver, 180 mile adventure! We had an AWESOME time! The first thing we did was meet on Thursday night and decorate our vans. We used a hair theme since Austin Kade was our team sponsor. We had giant scissors strapped to the front, and even mounted doll heads to the top of the van. Our vans looked great!

Our team members were:

Van 1: Zakk Lillie, Brittany Thornock, Bailey Varvel, Alison & Andy McCall, Tricia Varvel, and Mark was our driver.

Van 2: Nate Reese, Sunny Miller, Sam Skinner, Jodi Stapelman, Jim Hopla, Brad Whitehead, and Tyler Price was their driver.

Van 1 started at 11:30 on Friday. It was SO HOT during our first legs of the race. We all plowed through the heat, hills, and altitude and did great!

Bangs Brittany, Mowhawk Mama, and Bedhead Bailey!

Curly Girl, Afro Andy, and Big and Sexy Zakk!

Van 1 ready to go!

Zakk was runner one, and he got us off to a great start!

Brittany had a long, hot run on a dusty dirt road.

I love this picture! Mark takes his job very seriously :)!

Bailey had a brutal first leg. It was 7.4 miles. The first part was downhill, but then she had 3 miles of a BRUTAL hill. I felt so bad for her! She was sure glad when it was over!

Alison had a tough first leg too. She had hills, and heat to deal with. Her leg was a nonsupport leg, so we couldn't even be there to cheer for her and spray her with water.

While Alison was running, we stopped at Lower Mesa Falls. 

By the time Andy ran his first leg, it was 98 degrees! 

I was our van's last runner! 

After we finished, we went to eat, and then rested in a park until we were called for our night runs.

Our second round of running was AWESOME! It was the night runs! Alison, Andy, and I had the Rails to Trails portion of the course. It was on a trail and the van had no access to the runners. We thought it would be scary in the middle of the night. There was a bear sighting on this section the previous year. It ended up being so peaceful, and was my favorite leg.

Zakk and Brittany all suited up and ready for their night running.

She was a pretty cute flag girl! 

Our team waiting for Brad to come in and hand off to Zakk. 

Bailey was an awesome helper. She got out of the van at every stop to spray people, cheer for them, or give them water.

Bailey waiting to get the handoff from Brittany. 

Alison was nervous about her night run because she had the longest section with no van access. She ended up loving it. 

Andy waiting for Alison to come in. 

I was our van's last night runner!

After we finished the second legs of our journey, we went to a high school to sleep. Zakk and Brittany paid a couple bucks to go into the school and sleep. The rest of us just put our tarps and sleeping bags on the grass to sleep. We laid down at 3:00 in the morning, and at 4:00 THE SPRINKLERS CAME ON!!! We grabbed our stuff and made a mad dash off the grass. Everyone except for Bailey that is. She was dead to the world. Mark even ran onto the grass and tried to carry her off. It was too much to carry with her, a wet sleeping bag, tarp and pillow. She eventually made it off the grass, but by then everything was soaking wet! There went our sleep for the night! We tried to rest in the van until 6:00 in the morning when they called us to start our last legs of the relay.

Zakk had a non support leg. While he was running, we enjoyed the great view of the Tetons.

Brittany was excited to be on her last run. She passed a guy and he said, "She's fast! She's dang fast!"

Bailey was sore and exhausted. She was not looking forward to her last leg of the race. Good thing it was a short one. She kicked butt! She ran her last 5K in 24:00! That's pretty impressive considering what she had already done.

She was so happy to be finished!

Alison finishing strong!

Bailey got Elder Varvel out to cheer! 

When Andy was running, we heard a big thump. We all gasped because we thought Mark hit something. When we looked out the window, this is what we saw! We all screamed, and then laughed so hard! Apparently our doll heads were just as tired as we were!

Andy handing off to me for our final leg! 

Yay! Van 1 is finished!

 Once we finished, we went and got dinner, and waited at the finish line for Van 2.

Van 1 was AWESOME!

We all put on our 'Running With Scissors' shirts and wore wigs across the finish line. We also carried noise makers, giant scissors, and a few doll heads! 

Here is crazy van 2!

We brought Sawyer across the finish line with us! 

I wish Sawyer could have really been with us. Having his friends there was the next best things. I'm gonna be sad when these kids leave on their missions and to college.

When it was all said and done, we ended up winning BEST DECORATED VANS! We had a feeling we would with all the stares and comments we were getting. We also got 9th place overall! There were 100 teams that started, 80 that finished, and we got 9th!!! We weren't expecting that! Way to go 'Running With Scissors!'

It was a great weekend, and I'm already looking forward to next year!