Miscellaneous Adventures

Well, this is another shameless catch-up post with lots of pictures and unrelated topics.  But we wanted to share some of these adventures with you.

Kansas City
On April 21 we went up to Olathe, KS (near Kansas City).  With some encouragement I had finally signed up for another marathon.  They also had a "Munchkin Marathon" for the kids: they had to run a total of at least 25 miles in training, and then they ran the last 1.2 miles (to make 26.2 miles for a marathon) on race day.  Morgan and Emma and their friend, Marian, did a great job preparing for the race and running all that distance (we did a lot of running around our little street circle).  Here they are with their medals:

 We are so proud of them for their hard work.  Emma met her goal of running the whole way without stopping, and Morgan "passed a lot of kids".  I finished my marathon in 3:23, beating my goal of 3:30.

After the race we got to go to the open house for the new Kansas City temple:

Our Backyard Trees
Talmage has been talking about rappelling a lot, lately.  One day when I took a day off from work and stayed home, he told Leslie, "If I don't go rappelling with Dad today, I will never get to go!"  So, I slung some ropes up in a tree in our backyard.  Then I got out my caving gear and hooked Talmage on to hang down below me and ascended up the rope and rappelled back down.  All the kids got to do it:

Leslie even got a couple videos on our camera.  I put them together in this YouTube video (so don't be surprised when Talmage goes up the rope and Peter magically comes down).

Father and Son Campout

Last Friday night we had our Father and Son campout.  I had a lot of fun with Morgan, Talmage, and Peter!  Leslie and Emma got to enjoy a much anticipated "fancy girls night".  My parents flew into town late that night (just for the weekend for a special occasion) and my dad got to come and meet us in the morning for some canoeing on the creek.

Amazing Bike Ride

After we returned from the campout, Emma asked Grandpa Steve to help her take the training wheels off her bike and help her learn to ride without them (yes, I know I have been a neglectful father for not doing it long ago).  He only had to hold on for about three steps before she was a training-wheel-free-solo-riding-expert!  No more training wheels for Emma.  Now we just need to work on helmet and shoes.

Mothers' Day Walk

Yesterday, after a delicious Cafe Rio-style dinner, we went on a walk at the Oklahoma Wesleyan University.  They have such beautiful grounds.  Here are some of our favorite pictures:

What a peaceful Sunday it was to be with my beautiful wife, Leslie, and to have my own amazing mother with us, too!  I'm so thankful for both of them, and for the influence they have had on me and many others.  I love them so much!  They are the ones who make the family I grew up in, and my own young family so wonderful.  Thank you, Leslie and Mom!


Well, there you have it.  Our adventures.  We're glad you took the time to read all the way to the bottom of this post.  Thanks for being our friends!