Totally doing it...

I've mentioned before about my fabulous running partner (my hubby that I love a lot) and our early morning jogging (shuffling) excursions. The other morning we passed a girl from our ward who yelled as she ran by..."Carrie, we need you to run in a race with us. I'll call ya!"

So here's the scoop straight from the Ragnar website (just in case you've never heard of it):

You and 11 of your closest friends running relay-style day and night. Starting in the red rock oasis of VALLEY OF FIRE State Park, your team of 12 maniacs will be embarking on a 180 MILE ADVENTURE-FEST sure to fill all of your desires.

RAGNAR: 101

**Each team consists of 12 runners.

**Each team member runs 3 legs, each ranging from 3-8 miles and varying in difficulty.

**Runners maintain the same order throughout the relay, thus running every 12th leg.

**The relay usually runs about 24 hours and doesn't stop for nightfall.

**You will never forget the experience.

So there you have it...in October I will run the first race of my entire life (except for those forced upon you in Jr. High PE). I owe it all to Diane who said, "You should totally do this! I will come watch & cheer you on." As opposed to my awesome running partner's comment of, "Um...I probably would tell them no."

True I am doing the easiest leg of the race (but who's counting). I'm doing the three 3 mile legs of easy to moderate terrain. Sounds perfect huh! Now the running in the middle of the night thing I'm not so sure of. We Coombs' girls are not known for our coordination, and I really hope I don't happen upon any rattlers while I'm out.

I feel like I'm kinda catching a bug. One that feels kind of refreshing and one that is a welcome distraction from all the stress of this new office. See...there are good things about Vegas. You can jog year round in the great outdoors!

Now...(and I'm totally dead serious) who wants to run a half marathon with me in St. George in January??? I know of a few of you out there who are training/capable of doing this...just leave me a comment and I'll sign us up!

Kallie's Club...

Hey all you mamas out there...I wanted to fill you in on a little "club" Kallie wanted to start. Sometimes her club ideas are fun & interesting but maybe a little unrealistic (if ya know what I mean). However, I thought this one was a great idea and I'd love a little support from you as well. Heck...join the club if you want (I of course am going to). Go to Kallie's blog HERE and leave a comment to have you or your kids join. I'm hoping this turns into a REALLY FUN thing and will get this kiddos totally pumped about reading with their friends. If you have any thoughts/comments/ideas let me know! JOIN TODAY! (do I sound like a commercial:)

13 Rules

Yes...I am just about to post 26 pictures. Is that a new record? Considering the fact that I took 103 pictures over our Labor Day campout...I'd say limiting it to 26 is pretty darn good!

Camping Rule #1: You can never eat enough smores!

Camping Rule #2: Men who never (ok almost never) cook at home, must take over any and all cooking because it involves FIRE! And fire is fun to play in!

Rule #3: You must run in the bushes and let your imaginations run wild for 3 days straight. Star Wars, Indians, Red Light Green Light...just watch out for Dave's surprise while you're out there.

Rule #4: You must stop, take a breath, and really enjoy the beauty that God has created all around us.

(can you see Dan & Syd?)

Rule #5: You must stop and strike a pose even if the person taking the picture wants a more candid shot. A well trained child will always stop what they're doing and smile at the camera :)

Rule #6: Absolutely no make-up allowed! You know you're with the right crowd when you know you aren't looking your very best and you don't even care- love that!

Rule #7: You must get dirty! And if you can mix the dirt with water that's even better! (I love Joslynn's face in the background)

Rule #8: You must have a few activities up your sleeves just in case the natives get restless.

Rule #9: It is required to have a good game of Bingo at all family functions. While camping use rocks as markers...they are everywhere and they don't blow away.

Rule #10: Never forget your toothbrush. (This one is for you Diane..."do I have anything on my teeth?")

Rule #11: If a little glue is good, a LOT of glue is better...especially when securing rocks to paper!

(Cedar Breaks)

Rule #12: You must stop and enjoy the sunset. (photo courtesy of KayLynn)

Rule #13: You must reserve your campsite early so you can do it all over again next year!!!

$50 well spent...

Yesterday while driving home from school, Syd tells me from the back seat "Mom...my ear was really itchy during school so I scratched it with my pencil and the lead fell down, down, down inside my ear." My response..."Are you serious???" I made her call Dan on his cell phone to see what he thought of her 'second day of school adventure'. He said he would bring his 'look inside the ear' tool home from the office and check it out.

Here is Dan taking a peak in Syd's ear, which was followed by a very poor attempt to retrieve the lead with tweezers. Luckily Dan told me that pencil lead is not actually lead, it's graphite. Thank goodness for that :) We will give Dan a gold star for trying, but that lead was staying put...glued in nicely by a bunch of ear wax.

Here is Syd entertaining herself while waiting at the ENT's office for over an hour since they were kind enough to slip us into their already packed schedule. First thing they said when we walked in..."Oh you're the little girl who stuck a pencil in your ear." Yup...this is her!

Last but not least...the very waxy piece of pencil lead measuring in at just under half and inch. I'm serious when I say I almost hugged the ENT for getting it out in the office for our $50 specialist copay. I was truly afraid of an out patient surgical center visit where we would have to meet our very large deductible.

Definitely $50 well spent!!!

Summer Vacation...

While most of your summer vacations are wrapping up and kids are heading back to school, ours here in Las Vegas is just beginning. All two weeks of it that is! The last day of school was Friday, August 7th and the first day of school is Monday, August 24th. I do have pictures of my girlies last day...which I intend to post sometime soon :).

So as part of my girls two week long summer break we headed off to Flagstaff to visit Diane and family. We can't tell you how excited we are that they live 3 1/2 hrs away now(give or take depending on the traffic at Hoover Dam). We also have some Iowa friends that we are excited to go visit there too!

One thing is for sure...I can't get over how BEEEEEAUTIFUL Flagstaff is! Maybe because Vegas is, shall we say, not so much. We took the kids down by the creek at West Fork one night and they had a blast! They said they wanted to live there forever, to tell you the truth I did too.

I told Spencer to show me his muscles and this is the pose he came up with :)

All the kids were having tons of fun hunting down blackberries that were ripe. I learned two things about blackberries that night: #1- just because they're black doesn't mean they're ripe #2- those are some seriously mean bushes, they will grab you and rip you to shreds if you let them!

The loot!

Looks like Vegas (just kiddin')...

Spencer worked long and hard at this TeePee to use for fires and cooking. He thought they might need something since they all were seriously planning on living down by the creek permanently.

Oh how we all love those little twins (crazy hair and all)!

Perfectly lovely!

My girls stayed with Diane for a few extra days so they didn't have to spend any more time at the office than necessary (bless you Diane). I'm still trying to decide if I'm glad I went, because I am really having some Flagstaff depression. It's always hard to come home back to real life reality after spending a few days relaxing. If the Norris family comes up missing...look down by the creek and you might just find us cooking up some dinner on Spencer's tee-pee.

Conquerors!

Did I ever mention that I have a great running partner (aka...Dan). He somehow manages to get my very tired bottom out of bed at 5:45 in the morning to go running (or shuffling as we like to call it) for approx. 2.5 miles (give or take). He is the BEST because he never hits the snooze button he just gets up, gets dressed, goes the bathroom, gets a drink, does a few stretches and then very politely asks if I'm coming. Yeeeeesssss...I painfully say. Before too long I'm up and ready, we're out the door and back before our girlies even roll over in their cozy little beds.

I must say we've made some serious progress over the last few months. Until today, we've been able to run the entire way...the entire way EXCEPT for one little section of our route that we lovingly call "the hill from hell". Dan honestly and truly thinks it should be called "Hell's Hill".

Here it is...I feel pain in my entire body just looking at it. (Insert "Rocky" music in your mind right now for effect :)

I know what you're thinking...it doesn't look ALL THAT BAD. You're thinking that I'm just being dramatic. You're thinking that you could cruise up and down it 5 times in a row w/o even breaking a sweat. Well...let me just say that you are WRONG! This is a beast, especially when the 5:45 temp is 97 degrees.

So let this day (Friday, July 31st) go down in history as the wonderful, yet terrible day that Dan & Carrie conquered "The Hill From Hell". True, we wouldn't have won any race at the speed we were going, but that is not the point. We set a goal...and we accomplished it! We ran the whole way INCLUDING Hell's Hill!!! Next, Dan thinks we need to not only run this hill but then proceed to run the 2nd (equally as horrible) hill to the water tower. And believe me, when that day comes there will be a post about that as well.

It's a first!!!

Thanks to her father, who is a dentist, who told her that this tooth was loose AT LEAST 9 months ago...it has been very, very hard to wait for this little tooth to finally fall out! But, the day finally came and this little girlie didn't walk anywhere the rest of the night...she skipped! She pulled it out all by herself after a few "technical" tips from her father (twist around and pull up)!

The very special "Glow-In-The-Dark-Norris-Family-Tooth-Pillow" that has lovingly held every tooth both of my girlies have lost, plus a few extras from cousins who decided to loose teeth while at our house.

One question...is it ok for the tooth fairy to borrow a dollar from Aunt Linda because she was a little unprepared for the big event and honestly & truly didn't have $1 in the house?

I love...

I love every year when "Kamie Day" rolls around. Once a year my aunt Kamie hosts a backyard gathering extraordinaire. We were so sad this year because the party was scheduled back in June and there was no way(because of this crazy office :) that we could make it. We were thrilled, to say the least, when Kamie changed the date to the 4th of July because then we could make an ultra quick trip up and be there! By ultra quick I mean...leave Friday, party Saturday, come home Sunday. But we LOVED every minute of it and we were glad we went! Also, a giant thank you to Zane and Jamey for letting us stop in for a last minute visit...we LOVE YOU GUYS!

This year's Kamie day began with family photos...gotta love those :) There was a smudge on my lens so they look a little cloudy, but luckily we were using KayLynn's camera for the "for real" pictures not my little smudged one.

All the grandkids....seriously can we freeze this moment in time?!?

How they REALLY feel about standing nice and still for a photo when they'd rather be jumping in Kamie's pool that was calling their name!

Oldest to youngest...

Kamie...the hostest with the mostest and her great friend Peggy!

Loved the waterslide...

Loved the cookies that I ate WAY too many of...

Loved the neighbor who let the kids play on their swingset (even though they'll never know...let Sydney steal one of their beautiful raspberries...she couldn't control herself :)

Love that the adults are as into the BINGO game as the kids...

Love that KayLynn's face looks so serous in this picture...she REALLY wants to win one of Kamie's prizes (come on...who doesn't want a giant pen from Staples)!

Love that Bryleen loves this doggie and spoils him like there's no tomorrow. I also love that he loves her right back!!!

Love craft projects of many shapes and sizes for kids of any age!

I loved this day...I really did! I loved hanging out with my family. I love the 4th of July. I love a giant shady tree to relax under. I love a huge delicious bowl of fruit salad and corn on the cob. I love sparklers and I love Kamie. Thank You!!! Can't wait 'til next Kamie Day :)