Idaho Falls Half Marathon

Bailey decided at the beginning of summer that she wanted to run the Idaho Falls Half Marathon, and try to get a PR. She wanted to run under one hour and forty minutes. When she sets her mind to something, she does it 100%. She was up at the crack of dawn every Saturday doing her long runs. She would drive to the top of Sunnyside, and run the downhill part of the course to strengthen her quads. She didn't realize that the race was the same week that Mason was leaving on his mission! She ran on very little sleep, and an emotionally draining week. But, I'm happy to say that she killed it! She ran it in 1:38:12, was 14th overall (out of 144 runners), 6th female, and she won her age group! She came off the hill and was really feeling it. She didn't think she would get the time she wanted. Each time we saw her, she looked stronger and was closing in on the group in front of her. She just kept picking people off! She ended up having a great second half! She's a tough cookie, and we're pretty dang proud of her!

Coming off the hills!

Finishing strong!

Christie Mae ran it too, and she also got a PR!

Christie and Sawyer

Mark and I rode our bikes along parts of the course to check on Bailey.

Christie and Sawyer

Christie and Bailey

We told Zack about it on Thursday at practice and he decided to run it! The most he had run this summer was about 3 miles! He did awesome! He won his age group too! He needs to actually train for it next year, because he could do amazing!

Awards ceremony! First place!

So proud of her!

Right when she finished and realized how good she did, she said she wanted to text Mason. ;( It will be a fun letter she gets to write him though!

Freezer Jam

Kassie and I make raspberry jam every couple years. Bailey decided to help us this year so she could learn how. She likes to be domestic! :)

Elder Cannon

It was a rough, but exciting week for Bailey and Mason. Mason gave his farewell talk in church on Sunday. He did such a great job, and we could all tell he was ready to be an amazing missionary.

Bailey and Mason after the farewell.

Bailey, Sawyer, Riley, Mason, Andrew, Alex, and Hannah

 Bailey and Mason spent all day together on Monday. They went to the museum, got snow cones, and went bowling. Bowling was their very first date together, so how cute that it would be their last date together for 2 years! That night they had a fire and made banana boats.

Banana Boats! 

 Mason came to practice for his final time on Tuesday morning. He's helped me coach all summer, and it's not gonna be the same without him. 

Mason's last practice!

 They said their final goodbye on Tuesday night. So so so heart breaking! Mark and I had been so impressed with how Bailey was handling everything, but we knew it would all catch up to her, and this would be rough. They went and got snow cones at 7:00, and he was being set apart as a missionary at 8:00. When she walked in the door after saying goodbye, she finally broke down at let it all out. Two years is a long time to not be able to see or talk to your very best friend. Bailey had been planning to spend Wednesday drowning her sorrows with a Harry Potter movie marathon. Mason knew that, so he gave her a bag filled with her favorite treats, and things to keep her entertained during all the movies. So sweet!

This picture kind of breaks my heart. Her face is all red from crying. This is all the stuff he gave her.

He gave her a locket. The front had her name engraved on it.

This isn't a very good picture, but the back had their saying engraved on it: Do drugs and kiss a boy! Whenever Bailey dropped off any of her cross country friends, she would always yell out the window, "Do drugs and kiss boys!" It was especially fun to say it to Hannah, because she's about as sweet and innocent as they come. It kind of became the cross country saying. When Mason would say it to her, he changed it to, 'Do drugs and kiss a boy.' 

So cute!

 It was a rough night and next day for her. I'm happy to say that she completed her Harry Potter movie marathon in less than 24 hours. She got up and started it at about 5:00 in the morning on Wednesday. She stopped only to teach a 30 minute guitar lesson, and run to the post office to mail Mason his first package. She finished at about 1:00 in the morning. She stayed awake for all of them too! I thought she was crazy, but it really ended up being just what she needed! I'm happy to say she's handled things like a champ ever since!

Harry Potter marathon!

Leave it to Harry to save the day!

Although she's sad, she's also super proud of Mason, and there is no place she'd rather have him be. She is looking forward to letters, e-mails, sending packages (that's how she's counting down), hearing about all of his amazing experiences, etc...

Elder Cannon in the MTC! He's so cute and official with his name tag! He's going to be a great missionary! 

Christmas Dates!

Bailey wasn't sure what to get Mason for Christmas. She knew he would be leaving soon on his mission, so any 'stuff' seemed pointless. All she wanted to do was spend lots of time with him before he left. So, she decided the perfect gift would be a 'basket of dates!' It turned out so cute! She planned a date a month for them to go on until he left on his mission. They finished them up in June, so I can finally post about it.

December: Dinner & Movie

December's date was dinner and a movie before school started back up. They didn't take any pictures of this one.

January: Baby It's Cold Outside

They were supposed to go ice skating, but the ice skating rink ended up being reserved for a group function that night, so they ended up roller skating instead. Then they went to Cocoa Bean for cupcakes and hot chocolate after. Holly and Ben went with them on this date, and they had tons of fun!

Starlite Skate!

February: Wok Tok

This date was the cutest! They doubled with Andrew and Marlee. Bailey picked Mason up in a Chinese hat, and she had one for him too! So funny! They came back to our house, ate Chinese food, and played the funniest game. It's like Mad Gab, where a person reads a group of words that is written phonetically, and the other people have to guess the phrase. I could hear them laughing from upstairs.

March: Mexican Fiesta Extravaganza

They had Mexican food for dinner and watched Nacho Libre. Bailey told Mason he could pick any Mexican restaurant in Idaho Falls, and he picked Taco Bell! So funny!

This is what she had waiting for him for this date! Hahaha, good thing he's a good sport! Don't worry, they didn't actually wear this to Taco Bell.

But they did wear these, and that's worse! They got each other these shirts for Christmas, and they think it's so funny!

 They skipped April because school was too crazy.

May: Choose Your Own Adventure 

When she picked Mason up for the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' date, he had to choose between two words to find out what they were going to do. His first choice was EAST or WEST. He picked west, so they went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. If he would have picked east, it would have been Chinese food. Next he had to pick HIGH or LOW. He picked high, so they went and played disc golf. If he had picked low, they would have gone bowling. We can't remember exactly what he had to pick from for the last one. We think it might have been LIQUID or SOLID. He picked liquid, so they got snow cones for dessert. The other choice would have been cupcakes.

Western food from Texas Roadhouse!

Disc Golf!

Snowcones for dessert!

 June: Food Crawl

They were going to do a progressive dinner with a group of friends, but it was too hard to match up everyone's schedules, so they did a food crawl instead. They had appetizers from Texas Roadhouse, the main course from Panda Express, and dessert from the Snow Shack. 

They only took a picture of dessert!

I thought it was such a cute gift! They made lots of fun memories!

Playmill/West Yellowstone

I love my annual trip to West Yellowstone with these ladies! We always stop at Ponds Lodge to eat. We stayed there a long time this year, because we haven't seen each other much this summer, so we had a lot of catching up to do. We took our traditional old fashion picture! It's so fun to look back on all of these! Then we went to the Playmill to watch The Little Mermaid. So cute!

Lesa, Michelle, Tricia, and Becky.

Misty refuses to be in our old fashion picture, so we had the worker go out and get her from her car! So funny!

These ladies are hilarious, and nobody can get me laughing quite like them.

Extreme Blue Thunder

We went to the Extreme Blue Thunder Air Show! The last time it came to Idaho Falls was 7 years ago, and we remember loving it. It was fun watching the Blue Angles practice in the days leading up to the show. Mark could see them practicing from his office window, so he was giddy with excitement. It was a great show! We spent an hour before the show walking around and looking at the planes. The Blue Angels are amazing to watch! We even love the noise they make! We went to Freeman Park the next day to watch them fly again.

The Blue Angels!

My crew!

Walking around looking at planes.

We met a pilot!

Getting ready for the show to start!

They parachuted in the American Flag! 

Stunt Flyer

Hahahahaha! Someone was hot!

Fat Albert

Fat Albert taking off.

Blue Angels

I wish I would have brought my good camera. We didn't get any good pictures of the blue angels, because we were just using our phones.