New pictures! 2 pictures borrowed from Keri! Mark, Easton, and Ryland! I love it when Keri is practicing her photography on the family.
Finn! Thanks for the pic Kath!
We are blessed!

Concert Carrie Underwood

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Carrie Underwood concert with the Spilkers. Cheryl, Holly, Scott! Beautiful smiling faces!

Cheryl and I have been friends for a lot of years and we have done lots of fun things together! I appreciate her friendship a lot!
The concert started with Sons of Sylvia. I enjoyed listening to them but probably wouldn't rush out and get their CD.
Craig Morgan was next. I love his songs. His voice is very pure and easy to listen to! Great entertainer! Could have listened to him all night. Fabulous!
Cheryl thought he did a good job selecting his jeans for the evening. Me too.


Carrie Underwood made a grand entrance as we knew she would. She has an amazing voice. Every once in a while you just go WOW... That was incredible.


Of course her wardrobe changes are fun to watch. Beautiful clothes. She mentioned that this outfit was like something she would have dressed her Barbie in. :-)
She sang a song called Temporary Home. As soon as she started singing I told Cheryl I knew I was going to cry. It reminds me of my mom leaving her temporary home on earth. I cried but at the same time I was thinking about the lyrics. This is really our temporary home here on Earth. When the lyrics talk about seeing God's face I think about my mom and what that moment was like for her. Our problems here on earth aren't so overwhelming when we think that is what we are going to experience someday. Perfection! Can you imagine! Keep your eyes on the prize!

Little boy, 6 years old
A little too used to bein' alone
Another new mom and dad,another school
Another house that'll never be home
When people ask him how he likes this place
He looks up and says with a smile upon his face

"This is my temporary home
It's not where I belong
Windows and rooms that I'm passin' through
This is just a stop, on the way to where I'm going
I'm not afraid because I know this is my
Temporary Home."

Young mom on her own
She needs a little help got nowhere to go
She's lookin' for a job, lookin' for a way out
Because a half-way house will never be a home
At night she whispers to her baby girl
Someday we'll find a place here in this world

"This is our temporary home
It's not where we belong
Windows and rooms that we're passin' through
This is just a stop, on the way to where we're going
I'm not afraid because I know this is our
Temporary Home.

Old man, hospital bed
The room is filled with people he loves
And he whispers don't cry for me
I'll see you all someday
He looks up and says "I can see God's face"

"This is my temporary Home
It's not where I belong
Windows and rooms that I'm passin' through
This was just a stop,on the way To where I'm going
I'm not afraid because I know this was
My temporary home."

This is our temporary home

You might notice that Carrie Underwood is standing in a pick up truck. She stood in the back of that pickup as it flew slowly through the air all around the arena! Very fun!

I think the song I enjoyed the most even though they were all great is when during the middle of Jesus Take the Wheel she started singing How Great Thou Art. She has such a big voice and that song is a big song. It just gave me chills! Really! Fun ending to a great day!!!

Coeur d alene 1/2 Marathon May 30, 2010

Up at 5 AM and straight to the shower. If I can't have coffee than I have to take a shower to wake up. I looked out the window of our hotel room and the masses had already started to arrive. Cars rolling into the giant parking lot behind our hotel.
Cheryl, Deanna, and Susan drove over and met us in the hotel bright and early. Here we are ready to go. All feeling positive about everything except the cold wind blowing. Brrrr!
We found a place out of the wind and waited there until the race was about to start! We heard the announcer call for the 1/2 marathoners! This is it.
One last photo opportunity!
And here we go!

Look who we found about 2 minutes into the race. Matt! He made some comment to Wendy about being in the way! :-) How rude she thought until she saw that big smile on his face. He went on his way running the course as did Deanna and Cheryl.
The course was beautiful!
Deanna and Matt head of us and already on their way back!
Lake Coeur d alene! Awesome!
Beautiful houses along the way.
Now Cheryl, also ahead of us, and having a great time! Yeah Cheryl!
What are we lost! Have we really done 21 miles? Doesn't feel like it.
Oh, that was the marathoners mile marker. We had done 8. Darn!
More Lake!

After about 9 miles the camera didn't come out as much. Just plugged along and got it done. The walkers walked at a 15 minute per mile pace. We were all very happy with that. I even ran a couple of blocks with my bum knee. It was so numb it didn't hurt bad at all. I always get a little teary when I finish these things. It is pretty cool to set a goal and achieve it! Especially with such good friends. FINISHERS!
Finally resting and relaxing. Matt came back and found the walkers and walked the last 2 miles with us. So nice and it helped too! Thanks Matt!
The rest of the gang headed home but we stayed for some lunch!
No lunch for me. Still surviving on the food from last night. Hunger will hit me soon I am sure.
I did get a nice warm Starbucks coffee! It hit the spot.

A goal accomplished. Thanks for the answered prayers God. We all finished and finished with no injuries! 2 half marathons and one marathon completed for me. On to the next thing. A triathlon this summer.

1/2 Marathon Preparation

Well, actually the preparation is done. Now it is just waiting for the starting gun. There were 7 of us doing the half marathon in Coeur d alene, Idaho. Wow! We all teach together. Wendy, Sheila, and I decided to head over the night before and stay in a hotel. Good idea Wendy!

First thing on the agenda was to go pick up our race packets.
Nice, we get our shirts before we run! Does that mean now we don't actually have to do the race? We have the coveted shirt. Nah! We were geared up and ready to go!
Mike drove me over to CDA and joined us for some of the festivities the night before. He actually provided some of the entertainment for us throughout the evening.
Before dinner we did a little shopping. We got into this hat thing as you will see!


Notice where all the pins are that this juggler was juggling. Opps!
More hats!
And now glasses. I am sure everyone appreciated us in their stores. Sheila did end up actually purchasing one hat!

Gelato! Italian ice milk! Did I get that right girls? We took a break from hat shopping for some of this yummy stuff. First time I had munched on this good treat!
More hats but now we are in a different area so there were a whole new set of hats to try on!
Mike even got in the spirit!
Ah...Dinner. I just can't totally describe how entertaining dinner was thanks to Mike! Some things you just can't do justice on a blog. You had to be there.

Big jugs of wine on the table. Wendy didn't drink even 1/2 of this. Kidding! Only one glass for her.
Here was my meal! A huge mound of spaghetti!
Here we are with the FOOD. The food became a top of conversation for the rest of the night in more ways than one if you know what I mean Sheila and Wendy! We over did a bit! I am still not hungry at all 24 hours later!
Later that evening we went to watch Clif play in his band. I enforced the 10 PM curfew! Someone has to be level headed! Wendy decided people needed to be dancing and started recruiting people that were at their tables.
Here she is trying to persuade a table full of people to dance. No luck with this group!
Dancing Queens!
Smiles all around! I look a little dazed.
Hi Clif!
Clif decided we needed to see some magic tricks from the local magician. No not Wendy. She was trying to figure the trick out!
Here is Clif with our magician friend.
OK girls time to head back to the hotel. We have a big day tomorrow! Night Night!