My first 1/2 Marathon

I have been trying to not get old and I have been running for the past few years. Last year Rachael and I did a sprint triathlon and survived so in 2017 we did a Half Marathon. We trained and trained and trained. It was lots of fun. So finally we took a huge trip to Utah to run in the Timp Half. Pretty much running down Mt. Timpanogas canyon and into town. 9 miles of pretty intense downhill, which I did not train for. My quads were toast and I lost my big toenails. But... I want to do it again!

After the race we decided to spend the afternoon and evening at Lagoon. Needless to say my step count for the day was awesome!

Hawaii!

Spike and I got to go to Hawaii this year with the Swing Choir. Jacob is a bass in the choir. They did fundraisers all year and since this our last child to go on this adventure we decided to join him. Here are some pictures. I was trying to think of my favorite adventure there and there are just too many. We went snorkeling, climbed diamond head, swam in the ocean, went sailing, went on some tours, enjoyed many buffets, went to pearls harbor, we enjoyed going to church and the list goes on and on. My least favorite part....flying! For some reason I puff up and retain so much water. While we were gone we received word that my nephew passed away. His funeral was scheduled for the day we were to get back. Some very kind friends gave up their seats back to billings from Denver on an earlier flight so that spike and I could get back for the funeral. Jared and Rachael were waiting for us at home. Jared flew in and Rachael drove up from Utah.k , 

This is the first picture that I took. The kids jumped into the ocean when they first saw it. Clothes and all. This was the first time for many of us to actually play in the ocean.

Paxton Michael Grant

Our newest grandson arrived April of 2017. Paxton is Mark and Kylie's baby. We went to Laramie to see our new one. How very blessed we are

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Surgery again!

Jacob had to have his second surgery on his right knee during the last week of august. We are so tired of knee surgeries. This will be the 10th one for my boys. Four for Lucas, 4 for Jared and now the second one for Jacob. We are getting better at the recuperation process. This time they replace his shredded ACL with part of his patellar tendon. Hopefully he will be still speedy for track season.

Spring 2017

Again, I am a slothful blogger. Life is soooo busy sometimes. So let's catch up shall we?

Fall - Spike and I are still working away at our respective jobs. I enjoy mine a lot. Every once in a while I think that it would be nice to be home all the time but then I get a day off and get itchy to get back to work. I work with such fun people and the kiddos make me smile every day.

Jacob was in football this year and enjoyed himself. He is growing into himself and gaining confidence every day. He is in swing choir so that pushes him out of his comfort zone, he also did football. He played a lot of JV and got in a few times on varsity, one time on varsity he recovered a fumble. That was fun to see how excited he was.

I started a new hobby in the fall. I am learning to spin and weave. I got a drop spindle and made some learning attempts to spin. I got better and better and then I thought I would just go for it. I bought a bunch of wool, some rit dye and got an early Christmas present from spike... a rigid heddle loom! How exciting, so for the next month I spun my newly dyed wool and finally wove my first masterpiece. A Robertson tartan shawl for my mom for Christmas.
 

Winter - can we just say that I love Christmas because I get to see my babies and grand babies! Everyone came home for Christmas except for Jared and Camille. They went to France to be with her family. We enjoyed having everyone home, played lots of ga,es and had lots of dogs. We have our own Molly, we were tending Jared's dog Eddie, Rachael and Eli brought Tav. Lucas and Shanae brought their two dogs Marcy and Micah. Wow! Talk about a dog party, a big dog party! (Since it is spring now, I have been 'harvesting' the dog leavings for the winter in the back yard. 3 five gallon buckets full and still finding surprises.)

We got to travel to Fort Collins to see Mary get married. All of our kids were there as well. So, so good to have everyone together.

We have very much enjoyed watching Jacob play basketball this year. Again, he is growing in so many ways. Taller, bigger, faster, stronger, smarter. What a great kid. We are trying to keep his knee together. He has very loose ligaments and his knee goes out sometimes. We have a hinged brace for him and he is also lifting weights to help keep things together.

oh yes, I forgot to mention, we are now slum lords! Just kidding. We bought a house last year that has an upstairs and a basement apartment. Jacob does the mowing over there each week. Then last September we bought an old apartment building. It has twelve units and Spike gets to do all sorts of work on it. Some of the units are not really rentable but we are getting it taken care of sometimes slowly.

Lots and lots to catch up on.

Oh my goodness. Where did the time go? I have had such a fun and busy spring and summer. Here are some pictures to tell the story.


We replaced all the windows in the house and even uncovered one on the north side of the sunroom.  Very exciting!  They look great! Spike worked so hard.

 Track Season!  Jacob did some fun things.  He ran the 100 and high jumped.  He took 4th at regionals which is pretty good for a freshman. He got hurt at regionals so didn't get to compete at state but...       Coolness happened there!  We got to meet Dick Fosbury. You know of the fosbury flop?  Olympic high jump champion in 1968!  Cool. Very cool.


  Summertime fun happened.  Rachael came to stay for about four weeks.  Lucas' boys stayed for 8 weeks.  I didn't want to let them go. We played and played and went to Yellowstone and had a great time.
  

  

August went by quickly. Much too quickly. But that meant that our much anticipated trip to France finally happened.  Jared married Camille du Fou! We are so happy that they are married and so very happy.  We love Camille and her family!








But before that..... Paris!
Here we are at the Opera House of Garnier!  This is where the story of the Phantom of the Opera was set.  Box 5 is even kept locked so no one gets murdered. Rachael set up an English speaking tour.



We went to the Louvre. Oh my goodness. We saw the Mona Lisa, so many beautiful paintings and Egyptian Section which for some reason fascinates me. We were only able to spend one morning there. I think a good three weeks would be more appropriate.


The Eiffel Tower was awesome!
 



That pretty much sums up most of the happenings. Have a great day!

Chia Strawberry Jam

Low Carb Chia Strawberry Jam

This combination of Chia seeds and Strawberries is delightful. The swelling of the Chia seeds makes the jam set up so you don't need to add anything else other than the strawberries.

Ingredients:

1 cup strawberries

1/4 cup Chia seeds

2 tsp Stevia if you want extra sweetness but I don't think it is at all necessary.

Cook the strawberries until they are mushy. You can use fresh or frozen.

Put that into a blender and add the Chia seeds. You can also add the Stevia at this time.

Blend until it is all liquid just about 30 seconds.

Done! You can use this while it is hot as a syrup for your low carb waffles or put it in a half pint jar and keep it in the refrigerator. It will set up nicely once the Chia seeds have a chance to gel.

Carb count

1 Cup Strawberries - 10 grams (13 grams subtract 3 fiber)

1/4 Cup Chia Seeds - 2 grams ( 16 grams subtract 14 fiber)

Stevia - 2 Grams

Life happens

We took out all of our windows, sold them to people who craft.

Then we put in new ones. This has been a huge project. Spike is awesome!

Basketball happened. Lots of freshman games. Go Jacob!

Jared and Camille got officially engaged in Paris. The wedding will be in Dijon.

Jared is being Jared. Silly.

Here we all are. The perspective is funky. Jared looks short. Lucas and Mark are Giants!