Every 4th of July, Hyrum City does a race called the Freedom Run. It is a 15K, which is 9.3 miles. This year was my Dad's 20th year running it. It meant even more to all of us considering that Micheal passed away in Iraq back in February. Anyone from the family was welcome to run the race. They tried to get as many from the family as possible to run it for my Dad's 20th and for Micheal. There were aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, cousins... you name it.
Amy was the first one to come in from the entire family. She had an amazing time too. You can see on her hat that there is an American flag. It is the flag from Micheal's uniform that was on his shoulder. She had my Mom stitch it onto her hat. Besides doing it for my Dad's 20th year, she was obviously doing it for Micheal. When she came running through that finish line, it brought tears to my eyes. She is amazing and I know Micheal is so proud of her, as well are the rest of us who see her pull through extremely hard times like a rock! Love you Ames!!!
My Dad is
AMAZING. He ran the ENTIRE 9.3 miles with the flag. This is the flag that the military gave my parents at Micheal's funeral, after they had given Amy and Micheal's parents theirs. He carried it the whole run in honor of Micheal and the great sacrifice that he made! When my Dad came running through the finish line, I was in uncontrollable tears, seeing the flag flap in the wind and the look on my Dad's face was priceless. I love my Dad!
Kennet... not looking at the camera... so unheard of!
My Dad's friend had these shirts made up for my Dad's 20th year. Everyone in the family who ran, got a shirt. Also, us slackers like me, Josh, Mom, Annie, Jordan... you know those of us who couldn't run it, we got a shirt too, but that's just cause we are his immediate family, so we get special privileges.
The front of the shirt says,
"Freedom Run 20 Years... and still running! We love you Micheal!" Then the back of the shirts say,
"Life is a participation
sport, not a spectator sport. Get out of the stands and into the game." Claud
2009!The Herald Journal newspaper did a really nice article on it. It was really well written and I really enjoyed reading it. Once again, it made me cry. If you would like to read the article, click on this web address.
http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2009/07/05/news/news04-07-05-09.txt All of this is just so fresh and Independence Day has NEVER meant so much to me as it did this year. Losing Micheal in Iraq this year has really changed the way I feel about my freedom to do as I please. The cost feels deeper, the pain feels heavier and I couldn't be more proud of my BROTHER. Thank you Micheal for your sacrifice and THANK YOU Amy, Kai & Kennet for yours as well!
Halle just turned 5 months yesterday, on the 20th. I gave her rice cereal for the first time on Saturday. I don't think that any of it actually got in her mouth. She just spit it out every time. Oh well!
Make plans to take your child's 3 year pictures and then of course they will do something to mess up their face. Her nose actually looks lots better in this photo than from a few days before. I was going to do her pics last weekend and on Thursday she fell and slammed her nose on concrete... not so forgiving.
Trevor... Chloee's friend. They are so hilarious together. He even taught her the word whiz. Now when she has to go to the bathroom she says, "Hey, Mom, I gotta take a whiz!". Too funny!
We went to Clinton City's Heritage Days on Saturday. We went with our friends, Todd and Cindy and their kids. As we were waiting for the fireworks to start I got some sweet pictures of them playing with the swords they bought. 
Me and Cindy. Both of our families tease us when we say that we are going to hurry and run over to the other ones house real fast and get something. They say, "Ok, see you in 5 hours." So not true, but not far off.
The fireworks were fun and they did a lot of them for being a small city. The kids loved them too. Halle really thought they were neat!
Yes, she's a bear when she doesn't get to bed at a decent hour. It was 11:30 pm and we were still at the park waiting for it to clear out so we could get our car out.
These weird little things have been coming around this summer. I guess they're junebugs. Who knows... but aren't they ugly little things? Yes, yes they are!
Amy was the first one to come in from the entire family. She had an amazing time too. You can see on her hat that there is an American flag. It is the flag from Micheal's uniform that was on his shoulder. She had my Mom stitch it onto her hat. Besides doing it for my Dad's 20th year, she was obviously doing it for Micheal. When she came running through that finish line, it brought tears to my eyes. She is amazing and I know Micheal is so proud of her, as well are the rest of us who see her pull through extremely hard times like a rock! Love you Ames!!!
My Dad is AMAZING. He ran the ENTIRE 9.3 miles with the flag. This is the flag that the military gave my parents at Micheal's funeral, after they had given Amy and Micheal's parents theirs. He carried it the whole run in honor of Micheal and the great sacrifice that he made! When my Dad came running through the finish line, I was in uncontrollable tears, seeing the flag flap in the wind and the look on my Dad's face was priceless. I love my Dad!
Kennet... not looking at the camera... so unheard of!
My Dad's friend had these shirts made up for my Dad's 20th year. Everyone in the family who ran, got a shirt. Also, us slackers like me, Josh, Mom, Annie, Jordan... you know those of us who couldn't run it, we got a shirt too, but that's just cause we are his immediate family, so we get special privileges.
