Shelby Lynn

My niece Shelby Lynn (named after yours truly) is up visiting for part of the summer. She is a huge help! Everybody needs a 10 year old to help with 2 busy boys...it's amazing what an extra set of hands can do for you.

We got her hair thinned out a bit and a few "safe" layers in it so she can wear it down.

It's fun to see Shelby with my boys at this age when I was living so close to her and such a big part of her life when she was this same age. It takes me back...

and...here is Shelby and I 10 years ago...

Grandma's Great Run

I went Friday/Saturday to watch the girls run the Half Marathon in Duluth. It was a great time! Very inspiring. I may be crazy enough to do one in October!!

5 am came really early the morning of the race. We had pulled into town the night before, shopped, ate, got race packets and finally went to bed around 11 pm. I was exhausted, but nothing compared to what these would feel like in just under 10 hours.Their goal was to finish the race and run it the whole way. We walked down around 8 am and just after 8:30 am we see the girls coming down the road. They finished in just over 2 hours. What a great event to witness. It was emotional just watching from the sidelines. We saw older people running, people sprinting, people walking, people holding hands, one girl turned around to walk back and get her friend who was throwing up in the middle of the road...big people, tiny people, all different kinds of people. It doesn't really matter what your body type is, if you train for it (even a little) you can run it. Which brings me to Jamie...she admitted the most she had ran was 5 miles and she finished the race is 2:45 (that's still a 12:37 minute mile)! I was so proud of her for still doing it!

Their time was actually 2:05:13, but we weren't right up next to see them finish and cross the line... And just because I like Target...it was pushing 80 and humid at the end of the race and this person has to walk around in a dog suit.

Critter and Noah growling at each other.

Regan with her second medal...she ran the race in 03, prior to two babies. What an accomplishment!Erin and Reg after the race...started together-finished together.Chad and Erin. Erin had her whole family down there cheering her on. Reg and I figured our hubbies would never go into a crowd like that with a double stroller and be comfortable...that's why it just made sense that I cheer Regan on...I even made a poster!

The girls and their medals.

Holy Tee Ball!

Coach Stephie teaching 'em how to bat.

My cousin's boy Jake hitting away

Nikki's Jaxon doesn't seem to want to keep the helmet on that gorgeous hair

Bailey gets a hug from mom Jodi (it was her birthday!) for catching the ball

The kids had a hard time figuring out where to run. This one made it to first!

Bradyn taught Parker how to play catcher...maybe Joe Mauer is rubbing off on him after all this time of mommy having a crush on him.

Steph and I had half of the kids (20+) and Paul had the other half. Which somehow managed to be all of our kids on the other team. So, as if, Summer (my cousin) didn't have enough to do with a 5 year old playing, a 3 year old not playing and a new baby, I gave her my camera to get some shots of Parker playing his first tee-ball game with neither of his parents there to watch! Thanks Summer!

Parker stops on second to give a high five to Cooper and Gracie. 3 year olds don't have much of an attention span, but sure know how to have fun!Hang on to your helmet Parker!
Running fast into home...

It was certainly hot and hectic last Monday night. The temperature was pushing 85 and it was humid! The kids got the whole gist of playing tee-ball but it was definitely chaotic. Some kids had played before, some had never held a bat. Some wouldn't bat at all and clung to their parents legs, some wanted to bat over and over again and had a hard time waiting for their turn. We will get all the kinks worked out and next week we may have up to 50 kids if they all show, so wish us luck as we teach 50 (3,4, & 5) year olds the skills of the great All-American pass time.

The Golf Pics

I had a blast on Wednesday golfing! It was the 8th Annual Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Tournament...and my 3rd time golfing in it. 2 years ago my Mother-in-Law was diagnosed with breast cancer at the same time that I just got back into golfing. So I played the tourney for her. That year I won "best dressed in pink". I know I am not going to win for best golf played, although my team shot a low 78 this year! Last year I took second for best dressed...this year I was back with a vengeance.

I cut the crotch off of some little girls tights and wore them as leggings. Found a shirt to match and bought some pink hair-dye spray, said a prayer that it would come out and hit the course. Some people were surprised by my look, but not many were all that shocked that I would do something like this. We ended up having over 50 golfers and raised over $2,000. Not bad hey?

My teammates were: Bea, Wanda and Carol. We hit the front nine hard and shot a 38. We were hot and tired so we grabbed a drink and hit the back nine and fell apart! Shot a 40. And if you are not familiar with our course, the back nine is easier and has a lower par. But when we teed off on the first hole we said we weren't here to win, we were here to have a great time, laugh and raise money. And we accomplished all of the above.

Another team: Marcia, Punky, Sharon, (Survivors) Terri and Marlene. Punky and Martha do a great job organizing this event and it gets bigger and better every year.

Anybody got any ideas for next year? I need to hang on to my title :)