Amazing Race at the Olympics!

We love the olympics and this year watching the USA men's team and Michael Phelps has been one of the highlights. Sunday night was one of the most exciting races as the USA men's team showed France that you shouldn't talk smack to the USA. Just watch this amazing race.
Way to go USA!



Amazing Finish in the Mens 4x100m Relay As the US Wins Gold - video powered by Metacafe

How they did it...



Olympics 2008: How Lezak Won Gold in 4x100-Meter Relay - video powered by Metacafe

What would you rather do with $1000?

I can think of a lot of things that I would rather do with $1000. Like, go on vacation, buy new furniture, a new refrigerator, new counter tops in the kitchen, food storage, go school shopping for the kids, and of coarse, invest it or pay off debt. But unfortunately I don't have much of a choice with this one. I get to buy a new garage door and have it installed. Yup, our old garage door hit the dust, after many years of use and the corroding power of rust, it's time to replace it.
Luckily, we have a good friend Blair Morse that used to work as a garage door installer, so he is working on installing our beautiful new garage door as I type. And, even though there are a lot more exciting things that I would rather spend $1000 on, it will look great on our house and be a nice improvement on our home. We even picked out a nice new opener that is ultra quiet, opens twice as fast as regular models, and comes with a key less entry! Whahoo, the excitement that can come with shopping for openers at Home Depot! Who knew ? I look forward to trying it out for the first time and seeing how nice the finished project will look on our home. :)

Joe and Me

Here's a little about Joe and me. We have been married for 15 1/2 years. We met in Arizona at church and were married 8 months later. We lived in Mesa, AZ for 3 1/2 years and then moved to Grand Rapids, MI for a new job with Meijer inc. http://www.meijer.com/ We have been here for 12 years and we just love it. We really miss living near family in AZ but we have made some dear friends here in Michigan that are as close as family.
Joe continues to work for Meijer as a Manager of Business Intelligence (in the IT department) and he loves it. He is also serving as 1st counselor in the bishopric and is really enjoying working with the youth. One of his passions other than family, church and computers is competing in triathlons. He also does a 25k each spring and last fall he was part of a selected group that was invited to be a part of a 50 yr anniversary celebration of the Mackinaw bridge and swim across the straights. (see pictures below) He is a wonderful husband and father and my very best friend. I love you Joe!!!

I am a stay at home mom which is a true blessing! When I'm not doing something for the kids, housework, and running errands, I enjoy hanging out with friends, cooking, crafts and playing on the computer. I sell Gold Canyon Candles ( http://www.goldcanyoncandles.com/ ) as a hobby and serve as the primary president in our ward. (the children's Sunday school program).

Here are some pictures of a few of our adventures in the last year...

Joe and I dressed as Jack and Jill for Halloween. I actually had someone that thought we were seriously injured... luckily it was just makeup!

Joe and the kids made this 7 foot snowman in front of our house

Joe and I at the Peter Whitmer farm, near Palmyra NY

Joe and I painted the house last summer from an outdated blue to a nice tan color...

.... it was a lot of work!

but well worth it!

Before.....After!

Labor Day 2007 Joe and 49 other swimmers were selected to be a part of the Mighty Mac Swim. A once in a lifetime opportunity! They swam across the Mackinaw straights, a 5 mile swim. You can see behind us how far it was. He did great!

Joe swimming across the Mackinaw straights..

Joe and Dallen gutting a fish at our friends cabin

Yup! I went to a taping of the Oprah Winfrey show. I sat in the third row, and no, I didn't get any free stuff.. but that's OK, It was still great!

Joe and I went to Chicago for spring break, it was so cold and windy but fun!

Hanging with my parents and my brother and his family in SLC, Utah- 2007
Hanging with Joe's two brother's and their families in Flagstaff, AZ- 2008