I need to duct tape my camera to myself

My mom, Paxton, and I went to a water park (Weston Aquatic Center) this morning with friends. It would have made for some great photo ops but of course I forgot my camera. For any locals, this is a great place to spend the day with kids of any age.
Now we are home and I am blogging and eating chocolate instead of packing. We head to Pheonix, AZ early tomorrow morning. We are attending General Council of the Assemblies of God while staying with Preston's Aunt and Uncle who live there. On top of that Preston's parents are flying out with us to help watch Pax while we are in business meetings and workshops. Aren't they great?!
Preston's Aunt told us we should pack for 115 degree weather, which leaves me a little bewildered as to how to pack. Regardless, we are looking forward to dependably sunny weather, time with family and times of learning, growth and networking through the conference. Oh yes, and how could I forget, good restaurants!
I am sure to not forget our camera for this trip so will have some good pics when we get back.

Tough Mudder Challenge

We spent this past weekend down at Devil's Head ski and golf resort for the 2011 Wisconsin Tough Mudder. It is a 10 mile, 25 obstacle, adventure race that was honestly one of the most fun events we have ever been to and by far the most fun race we have ever done. No one was timed because the goal was to overcome your fears and work as a team to finish the race (without getting hurt). Everyone on our team finished together which was an awesome experience. We went with friends from church, Bonnie (our photographer), Bonnie's dad (our spectating cheerer), Kevin, Tom, Diana and Ryan (a fellow pastor friend). I think the hardest part of the race was the terrain, going up and down the black diamond slopes.
We got very muddy!
They provided huge high pressure hoses to "rinse off" throughout the race. (I really enjoy the woman's face behind us. Intense!)
Here is us at the finish end, 4 hours later! The last obstacle was electro shock therapy where you run through a bunch of dangling wires, not knowing which ones are live with 10,000 volts of energy. 4 out of 6 of us were shocked (weird feeling!), sending 2 of our teammates to the muddy ground. I think we look pretty good for just being electrocuted! I wish I had a picture of each obstacle because they were that cool. It was a long and challenging course but Preston and I already want to do another one. (They have them all across the country.)
The big "to do" at the race is earning your orange sweatband at the finish line. They don't sell these anywhere, you have to earn them. We thought Pax looked pretty cute in it. We are starting his training soon to be a future Tough Mudder. :)
If you are interested in doing a Tough Mudder go to www.toughmudder.com to find more info.

On a personal note this was a really positive opportunity and experience for me. I wasn't sure if I would be able to complete the race and was pretty scared of some of the obstacles. I had settled into the, 'I'm a mom now' phase of life and just wasn't sure I could do this. It was an empowering experience to face my fears do well in this race. I would highly recommend this race!

Montana 2011

In early July we took a long awaited trip to visit the Clines in Missoula, Montana. (Justin and Preston both turned 30 this year and wanted to do a family vacation together as their birthday present.) It was actually this visit that gave me the inspiration to start blogging again when Melinda said something along the lines of, "Your blog really stinks," referring to the fact that I hadn't blogged since December. So here goes another attempt at chronicling our family life.
Justin and Preston love to bike ride so they took advantage of the great weather and scenery to bike together. Madeleine also can ride without training wheels so she wanted to be highlighted in this picture as well.
We got to go on some great hikes with the kids. It made us really wish there was more wilderness near us.
We went camping for one night in a National Forest, which we quickly realized was what camping was meant to be like. First, it was free. Second, it was in the mountains with incredible views. Three, there was no where else around us. Four, it was shared by great friends!
Could you get a group of more adorable kids? They really played well together.


Here we were in downtown Missoula. There are incredible views everywhere you turn. Missoula is such a special place for us. Thanks Clines!