Fight For Ike

We ran the Fight for Ike Fun Run on Saturday. It was a 5K run at Rigby Lake to help cover travel and medical expenses for a little boy with a medical condition. It was our last run with Sam, because he is leaving next week to serve his mission in Alaska. I'm gonna miss him like crazy!

Sam, Elder Varvel, and Bailey

Happy 14th Birthday Bailey!

Happy 14th birthday to this crazy girl! Her day started out with a fun surprise! Alicia, Maylie, and Brayden got up around 4:30 in the morning to make her a big, yummy breakfast at Alicia's house. They got to our house to surprise her with it a little after 6:00.  It sure made for a fun morning of eating and goofing off before school. She has the BEST friends! Her second surprise was getting an I-phone! She was so excited! I think she was most excited about rubbing it in Sawyer's face that she got one before him :)! 

Bailey, Alicia, Maylie, & Brayden. Our fun little breakfast crew!

An I-phone!

This is the picture we took to send Sawyer. She misses him like crazy, but how can she pass up the opportunity to rub this in his face :)!

On Friday night she went to see Thor 2 with some friends! The timing couldn't have been any better. The movie opened that day, and there is nothing she would have rather done for her birthday! She was so excited! They saw it in 3D, and LOVED it!

Thor 2! Emily, Aubrianna, Neesha, Bailey, Elder Varvel, Alicia, Madi, and Maylie.

Trying to look mean. They don't pull it off very well!

They saw the movie in 3D! I'm pretty sure they loved the glasses more than anything else. They 'forgot' to turn them in, and then wore them for the rest of the night.

I laughed so hard at this picture! It looks like Maylie's head is on backwards! Crazy girls!

 She couldn't bring everyone to the movie, so she had a s'mores/night-games party later that night. I can't believe our Idaho weather held out for so long. An outside party in November is unheard of. It ended up being perfect! The kids weren't even cold.

Kaden, Caden, Chase, Alicia, Madi, Emily, Tanner, Bailey, Aubrianna, Neesha, Maylie, Olivia. Emma and Marlee weren't there quite yet. They had so much fun!

Playing 'Chubby Bunny' on the tramp. So funny!

Playing the skittles game around the fire.

 After sitting around the fire making s'mores, they played night-games until 10:00. She had a great time, with great friends! I count my blessings everyday that my kids have such awesome friends! It really makes all the difference in their lives!

Happy Birthday Bailey Rae! We love you tons!

Just Cuz

A group of us ran the Just Cuz Half Marathon in Pocatello. We thought it was going to be really cold, but by mile two we were shedding our sweatshirts, and we ended up with beautiful weather. Bailey had been sick for a month, and she was still coughing pretty hard, but she stuck it out and did great. It was her 7th half marathon. It was Sam's first one, and he did awesome! They both got 3rd in their age groups (19 and under). I love having this group of crazy runners. They keep it fun :)! I finished at 1:56:22, and Bailey was about 3 minutes behind me. Considering the amount of training we did, we were happy with our results.

Brad, Bailey, Tricia, Sam, Jim, and Jodi

So proud of this trooper. This was a tough one for her. She was glad to be done!

Happy Halloween

Halloween was kind of dull this year. I'm sure it seemed that way because Sawyer was gone. We haven't carved pumpkins for quite a few years though, and Bailey insisted that we do it this year. It was kind of fun!

Elder Varvel joined in the pumpkin carving fun :)!

Ewww, gross!

Mark was working on a special pumpkin for Sawyer. 

It didn't turn out quite like we hoped, but if you look closely you can tell that it says ELDER SQUIDWARD!

Mark's is the creepy face, mine is the one eyed pumpkin in the middle, and Bailey's is the bat on the end. 

We gave Bailey the choice of dressing up as a family (which would have been lame without Sawyer), taking one friend to Frightmares like last year, or going through the Haunted Straw Maze with a group of friends. She picked the Haunted Straw Maze. They had tons of fun. While the kids went through the maze, Me, Mark, Russ, Kim, and Jessica went through the Haunted Forest. It was fun, but not very scary. I actually biffed it while trying to run away from the chainsaw guy. It was totally dark, and the ground was uneven. When I fell I got all tangled up in Mark's legs and couldn't get back up. We were laughing so hard! The poor chainsaw guy wasn't sure if he should keep being scary, or stop and help us. I can always count on myself for a good laugh :)!

Aubrianna, Neesha, Annie, Bailey, Madi, Emily, Alex, Tanner, and Chase.

We also went to the Beck's annual Halloween party. This year we met for dinner at New Hong Kong, then went to the Beck's for games and treats. We played a game like the newlywed game, but a version for couples who have been married for awhile. We had a blast! I laughed so much that my cheeks hurt by the end of the night.

Me and Mark were prisoners. 

Brian and Lesa, Becky and Byron, Jason and Michelle, Me and Mark, Brian and Misty

We also went on a date with Keith and Jenni to the Theater of Lost Souls in Shelley. It was a good one! We'll have to take Bailey there for sure next year. We love a good haunted house. Bailey went to Dr. Slaughters this year with friends, but she's done that one so many times now, that she needs something new and scary!
I didn't get any pictures of Halloween night. It was pretty boring. Bailey went to a party at a friends house, so we never even saw her that day. Me and Mark just stayed home and handed out candy. Kind of sad that our kids are growing up and doing their own thing now.