I am Officially a RAGNARD!!

That's right, I ran the Ragnar!! And I LOVED it!! I am going to do it again and again. I had so much fun.The name of our team was "Love The Run You're With" and we were dressed like hippies. We started out in Logan with a start time of 11:00 am. We got the truck decorated and purchased some ragnar gear and we were on our way. We were van 1 so we had the first 6 legs then a break for 6 legs and then we were back on again two more times like that. I was runner number 5, which wasn't a bad draw either. I had my hardest leg first which was avon pass, 7 point something miles uphill in the dead middle of the day. Then I had a 4 mile run at 11:30 ish and the a 3 mile run at 11:00 in the morning. I was happy with my runs except for my last one I had to walk up my hill. But what was I to expect with running all day and being out in the sun all day, not eating good and no sleep? I had so much fun though. We cheered for total strangers. I made some awesome friendships. Stayed up all night singing in the back of a truck and laughed my head off. So you can bet I will be out on the trail at next years ragnar.

My ragnar medal.It's my favorite so far.

TA-DA!!! My favorite and most coveted prize from Ragnar, the car sticker. I drive with pride now knowing that bad boy is on the back of my car.

The front of our truck...all peaced out.

This just doesn't do it justice...the truck looked AWESOME!!

Allison, Angie and I enjoying some sun before our runs.

At one of the exchanges a guy was painting the ragnar symbol on people's legs. Of course Al and I had to do it.

Me, Allison and Lisa getting ready for the next stretch of running for our truck.

Middle of the night, head lamps on, reflective vests on, cowbell ringin, singin I Like Big Butts.What could be better?

The sunset.

Me right before my night run at 11:30. This leg was my best. It was dark and I love running in the dark anyways, but I was ALL BY MYSELF so I was scared and I was cookin.

Allison totally won for best bed head.

Ready for our last legs of running. We don't look too shabby for 3 hours of sleep.

Gone Too Soon

We never got to know you or see your eyes of blue
We never got to watch you play or start each day anew
We never got to hear your laugh or cuddle you when you cried
A part of everyone of us, left us when you died.

For now you are an Angel with a halo shining bright
A star up in the night sky keeping loved ones in your sight.
We will keep you in our hearts and thoughts, you will never be forgotten
You are a bud that never got to bloom,
you were a baby born too soon.

"Ethan Thunder Golightly was stillborn on June 9, 2011 at 11:44 pm. He was 6 inches long and weighed 2 ounces." This was the text that we received 1:16 am June 10 from Chad's sister Kim and brother in law Shad. Kim went in earlier that day for a routine appointment and found out that little Ethan's heart had stopped beating. The decision was made to deliver him that night. They were blessed with another baby boy if only to hold for a second in this life, but Ethan has touched all of our lives and we will miss him until we are reunited in Heaven.

Please Don't Ever Grow Up

Oh darling don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up,

just stay this little.

Oh darling don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple.

I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart.

No one will desert you.

Just try to NEVER grow up!!

Party Like You're Nine!

Riley's birthday happened to fall on the very last day of school this year. Boy was she excited. When we were planning her party, we checked the weather and it said that it was supposed to be 75. What better way to celebrate a birthday, the last day of school and FINALLY a very warm day then water games? So that's what we planned. As the week went on though, the temperature for Friday went down, down, down. We were prayin' for good weather, or at least just sunny. So when Friday came and it wasn't raining, I was happy. So on went the games. We filled the swimming pool with water and sponges for a sponge race. We filled 100 water balloons and we made 24 cupcakes. The party came, the temperature rose, and the party was on!! Riley invited 18 girls and 18 girls showed up. It was CRAZY!! We had every kind of junk food imaginable and the girls were loving it. The party went down without a hitch and there might have been a MAJOR water fight started by me, that I won. It was a blast. Just look at these pictures and see for yourself.

All eighteen girls on the trampoline

Sponge races from the pool to the buckets

Riley enjoying the festivities and trying not to get too wet

The crew after drying off and opening presents

Later that night with all her spoils. Riley got so much cute stuff.

Make a wish

These are the morning of her birthday. I made her a candy gram poster with a birthday poem on it. The poem said: Dear Riley, you have been such an "almond joy" these last 9 years. It's "up to you" how your life will go. We hope that you will still be a "nerd rope" and keep making us "snickers". We hope you have an "extra" great B-day! We love you! Love all of us. Mom, Dad, Cami, Trev and Pait

Her presents from us and her brother and sisters

Her BIG present. A Trampoline. Since we are finishing our yard and putting in the rest of the fence, I really wanted a trampoline and so that's what we got.

Daddy and Riley. Chad made waffles for breakfast for Riley before he left for work. That's his favorite thing to do for all of us and he's good at it.

Riley also got a new bike and it was about time. She outgrew her other one about 6 months ago.

Riley's NINE and Feelin' Fine!!

Dear Riley,

Today is your 9 birthday! I can't believe how time has flown by.It seems like we were just bringing you home from the hospital. New parents, new baby, not a clue what we were doing. We made it through though and you are one FANTASTIC little girl. You have been blessed with so many talents. You can make anyone feel welcome and you are a friend to everyone. You are always caring and know just what to do to make someone feel better if they are having a bad day. You are a big helper...when you want to be...but when you do help I know that it is because you want to see your dad and I smile with pride that you didn't have to be asked. You are great at sports. Your dad and I can get a little aggressive at times with you but you are always so laid back and take all the advice your given and move on trying to do your best. You are a great example to your little sisters and brother. They want to be just like you...and I hope they will be. You always say how you don't look anything like your brother and sisters and that bothers you a little bit. But you need to know that you belong to this family and you are so BEAUTIFUL and your dad and I are so proud of who you are. Stay close to the spirit Riley.You have been blessed with discernment and you have always made good choices. We will love you no matter what Riley and we know that you will do great things. Happy Birthday Riley Piley. We love you.

Love,
Mom

2 weeks old

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

The Destruction of Memorial Day 2011

Monday May 30 2011 will go down as a dark day in the memories of a few other families who live on our street. We had high expectations for memorial day.We thought that Riley's team was going to playing in the championship game on this day, turns out they came in third. Downer. Then I wake up to rain outside. Double downer, because now I can't run. Then I get a call from our neighbor Angie saying that her basement flooded and her husband was digging a trench in our yard by our fence to try and get the water to go out to the road. The first thing I did was tell Chad what was going on and then I went and checked in our basement. Luckily we didn't have any water in our basement other then a few little tiny puddles.Then we went outside to check on Kris. The image in my mind of how it was going to look outside was NOTHING compared to how it really was. Half of our backyard was under water, we felt like the water was slowly closing in around us and it was still coming down. Next we look over at our fence that is between us and Kris and Angie. Our garden was completely under water and there's Kris,feet buried in the mud, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, shoveling away at this muddy mess. He looks up at us with our looks of shock on our faces and says "Hey, just doing some memorial day gardening for ya!" We laughed and continued to survey the rest of the damage. We had a lot of water and mud. Kris and Angie had a lot of water and mud and a very large sink hole on the side of their house closest to us. I got some boots on and headed over to Angie's. Chad got dressed and headed out to join Kris. I walked into Angie's house, looked down into the basement and could not believe my eyes. Their basement was under a foot of water. Muddy water. The men and Angie all got to work.It was a long process starting at 7:30 and ending at 12:00. We finally got all the water drained out of our yard and out of the Maxfield's basement. It was a long day and poor Chad was so dirty and tired after it all. We have some plans in the works for how to hopefully fix this problem. Hopefully next spring our improvements will keep us dry.

Off our back deck

Our garden completely under water

A few little puddles in the basement

Trying to figure out where all the water was coming in from and how to get the water moving out to the road

This is Angie and Kris's house. Our house's damage was nothing compared to theirs

The bottom of their stairs. Kris had just finished framing their basement.

The front yard between our two houses

Water in the trench

This is after the water drained out of our backyard.

The mess of the aftermath

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

On Sunday the 22 of May, Chad had to leave for work. He was gone for 5 days. First he went to Arizona, then to New Mexico, then to Florida. He is the lead on his team over the T-38 so he is in charge of going to these other bases and making sure that the planes are being taken care of and checking them out. So that's just what he did. The time flew by for me. We had so much stuff going on and that was good because I HATE being by myself. Lucky Chad though got to get out of Utah and our rainy and cold weather and travel to all these places with 90 degree weather and soak up some sun. His hotel in Florida was RIGHT ON THE BEACH!! I was so jealous. I almost got a plane ticket and flew there to see him. Next time, right Honey?

The kids made some signs for him to hang on our door for Daddy to see when he came home. We were going to surprise him at the airport but his first flight got delayed and he was put on standby. He finally made it home around 8:00 Friday night. FINALLY!!

Cami's picture. She is all about the details.

All of our signs together

My sign

Paityn's sign

and Riley's

We sure do LOVE it when Daddy comes home...we wish he didn't have to leave in the first place.