Help support diabetes!

Dear friends and family,

I have decided to join thousands of fellow riders from across the country in this year's Tour de Cure to raise money to help stop diabetes and further the mission of the American Diabetes Association: to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all those affected by diabetes. I have accepted the challenge to train and bicycle 25 miles for this cause. The tour de cure will be held on June 12, 2010 starting in Brigham City, Utah.

I am asking for your help. By making a donation on my behalf, you will be helping the American Diabetes Association change the future of diabetes by providing community-based education programs, protect the rights of people with diabetes and fund critical research for a cure.

I am also riding & dedicating this race in the memory of my grandma, Marian, who passed away recently on May 1, 2010. She had had diabetes for the past 23 years. I love you grandma!!

As you may know, diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Nearly 24 million Americans are living with diabetes. If current trends continue, one out of three children will face a future with diabetes. This is a startling statistic and your donation will help to change this.

I know my participation in this year's Tour de Cure can and will make a difference. Please help me reach my goal of $150.00 by supporting me with a donation. I would love to be able to donate more than this, but I atleast need the $150.00 to be able to participate in the race. You can follow the link below to my personal Web page to make a secure, 100% tax deductible donation. (If you do not want to donate online, please contact me so you can write a check to the American Diabetes Association.

Together we will help stop diabetes.

Thanks so much to all who are able to help!
Tiffanie

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/UtahArea?px=5985219&pg=personal&fr_id=6894&et=bXB5OxfDgG-0jWmJcfSYrA..&s_tafId=292864

Yikes!

I am obviously a little behind in a few things lately! (Mainly my blog). Sorry to those of you that check in. It's been awhile since I last posted, and we've been doing things; I just haven't been very good to get it posted. I have taken pictures, but I haven't even been very good to develop them lateley! The kids just got done playing soccer, and in a few weeks they'll be starting softball and baseball. I am excited for summer break. I can't wait to get 4-wheeling again! We have been pretty buisy doing yard work. We decided to finally do the back yard the way that we've wanted to. So we've been shoveling and raking a whole bunch!! It's coming together really nice. It will be nice to actually enjoy it this summer. Just a few days ago, we poured the cement around the fire pit that we put into the back yard. I was so excited to get that in. I 've been waiting a few years for that one. I can't wait till we can roast some hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire pit. Soon we'll be starting on building Shawn's shop; he & Keegan are pretty excited for that. Things are going great and hopefully I'll be able to post a bit more. Happy summer to everyone!!!

Our new little girl!

As if Shawn didn't have enough girls to deal with! In January we decided to get a new puppy. She is a black lab female. We named her Roxie. She has been so much fun. The kids are now just old enough that they really have fun with her and they are old enough to help take care of her so that is really nice. She is a good dog for the most part. I had planted some new raspberry starts a few weeks ago, and every morning when I would wake up there would be one missing. She loves sticks and she probably thought I had planted a whole bunch of sticks just for her! We put a small fence around the raspberries and so far that has helped to keep her out. We have really enjoyed having her around.

Disney on Ice

We went to Disney on Ice back in March with the kids. After we heard that Tinkerbell would be there, there was no chance that we wouldn't be able to go. Brooklyn LOVES Tinkerbell. We had a fun time, and the kids thought it was really neat.

Emerson Drive concert!

For those of you that know me, you know how much I love Emerson Drive. Well, they came in concert again out to Wendover in April and I wanted to go see them again. We went last February and saw them and they are absolutely awesome in concert! Shawn took me out there to see them for my birthday. What an awesome birthday present! They were every bit as good as last year if not better. We were on the front row, and we also got backstage passes where we were able to go backstage before the concert and meet Emerson Drive and get our pictures taken with them. It was so nice to get away for the weekend with Shawn. On our way home we went in to Salt Lake and Shawn bought me a new road bike. You all know I am a runner; I have wanted to bike now too for awhile and so we came across a good deal on a new bike and so we picked it up on our way home. It's been fun to be able to do something different.

My 8th half-marathon

Well, today I ran my 8th half-marathon over in Logan. This is my 5th time running this race. I think it's my favorite half marathon course. It has enough downhill that you get a good time, but not so much that it kills your knees. This summer has been hard to get out and train steadily, and I've put on a few extra pounds so that doesn't help either. But, I still finished today and that's all I was hoping for. Luckily we had good weather. It was cloudy so we didn't have the sun beating on us. I am hoping to get in another race this spring, and then next summer I can do my 10th half-marathon in Logan, because after all that's where it all began. That's where I ran my first. So I figured that would be a good race to celebrate my 10th!! I can't believe how much that race has grown since 2004 when I first ran it. That year there was about 330 runners, and this year there was over 2,000 runners!! Way to go Logan for producing a great race!!

Yes, I'm a little behind!!

Wow, it's amazing how fast time can fly. I haven't posted for several months now. We've been really buisy. This past spring we were buisy redoing things in the house like painting, putting new tile down in the kithchen, and bathroom, new carpet, and re-decorating. Then spring soccer came. Summer started out with kids ball games 3 nights a week. The kids had swim lessons, we went on our annual camping vacation trip. I thought August would slow down a bit, but then we've been buisy harvesting our garden and getting the kids ready for school. So, yes, summer has come and is almost gone again. Plus we've tried to go 4-wheeling every available chance we get. Not to mention all the family reunions we've had this summer also. I had a friend comment "You have more family reunions than anyone I know." Believe me, I know!
We've had a great summer. I learned how to can last week. I made salsa with my sisters, and then we had extra tomatoes so the next day we canned spaghetti sauce. I was quite proud of ourselves and what we accomplished. I can't wait till I can harvest my own peach and apple tree. Hopefully next year! So, I'm not promising on anything with staying caught up, but I'll try. Till next time (hopefully not 5 months! hehe).

Enjoying the Great Outdoors!!

We've had a great summer with the 4-wheelers. Shawn has a yellow Suzuki Vinson, and this past January we sold my Polaris and bought me a yellow Suzuki Vinson. I have wanted to ride at every chance that we can get! We've actually went quite a few times this summer. On this day we started at Right Hand Fork and rode over to Left Hand Fork. We found Teresa's trailer and visited with them at camp for awhile, then we headed back. On the way back we came across this waterfall. And anyone that knows me knows how much I love waterfalls, so of course we had to stop and take pictures. The kids had a blast wading in the water. It's funny because at home I have a picture frame that says "And this is my joy". I told Shawn I wanted to put a new family picture in it and the ideal one would be my family on our 4-wheelers in front of a waterfall. Well, I really didn't know if that would ever happen or not, but now I have my picture and that describes "my joy." My family, 4-wheeling, and waterfalls are usually what makes me happiest. On the way back we also headed up to Logan Peak road and we were able to see down into Logan and over to Tremonton. It was really neat!!

While we were visiting with Teresa, Bret came back from fishing and said there were two moose up at the park about a mile away. So we hopped in the truck to see them. I thought they would be gone, but they were still there. They were right by the bowery there at the park where some people were having a family reunion. The moose were probably only about 20 feet away. I finally got to see a moose in person!!

Our Annual Camping Trip

This is Shawn doing some fun 4-wheeling. We went on a few fun trails this day. On this trail there were logs laid out across the trail and so we had to go right over them. They were bigger than what they look like in the picture. After going over a few, we came to a big one that went up to about our thighs and so we had to stop. No way to go over that one! Brooklyn was our little 4-wheelin' princess. She wanted to go every ride with us and she was having a blast never wanting to get off and she didn't complain. We had a great vacation and it is always nice to be away from hectic life for a few days.

There was a reservoir a few miles from where we camped so the kids wanted to go fishing. They went down with Shawn a few times, but they ended up with nothing. Finally, the kids went down with Uncle Bret and Uncle Leon and they were able to catch their first fish. We told them they had to cook it and eat it, so we got it ready to cook over the fire. They ate it and they loved it!!

Happy Birthday Shawntae!

Happy 9th birthday Shawntae! I can't believe you are 9 years old already! Time truly flies. I hope you had a wonderful day.