A little late, but to the best father I know!

Been thinking a lot about this guy as Father's Day approached. Still thinking a lot about him. I can't believe how incredibly blessed I was by getting to marry him. I knew he was great at the time of our wedding, but he has just proven over the years to be so much better than I could have realized. It is such a joy to me to watch my girls relate to him. I am so grateful that they can just call and talk to him or go to him when they have questions that need a dad's answer. I'm grateful that there are things (other than math, spelling, or grammar) that he is the "family expert" on. I honestly have never met a better man. Still manages to drive me nuts, but that would be pretty much because he's a boy and I'm a girl and those two are fundamentally at odds on some things.


I have been asked often if Mark wishes he had a son. I can honestly say he has never expressed any regrets whatsoever about the fact that he has only girls. He just truly loves his daughters. And now he's getting sons-in-law, which so far has been a great experience.



So thanks to my very best husband. I may not be eloquent in expressing it, but I love you to bits!

Stud Muffin Strikes Again

Mark just ran marathon #28, his 4th Boston. And it turned out to be his 2nd Boston where the temperature was excessively hot. His first one (2004) was 87 degrees or so. But as a spectator, it was tolerable. This time it got into the low 90's, and it was too hot even for us as spectators. But even though they offered (because of the heat) to let any of the runners defer to next year, provided they didn't even start the race, he opted to "run" it anyway. And amazingly enough, he ended only 20 or so minutes behind his normal time. Not bad, considering the winner was 10 minutes slower than last year's time. And he completed the marathon, which 932 runners didn't. He wasn't one of the 2600 who sought help at the medical tents, either. He just did it smart. Because he's a stud muffin. (And I would have posted pictures, but I forgot a camera. So when I get pictures from our friends who did take a camera, I will post some.)

Life is good

All my children (yes, I realize I have only three)and grandchildren (and only two of those so far) together this past weekend for the temple wedding of our middle child to a really great guy. Life doesn't get any better than this!

Our European "Benture"

We made it there and back. Had a few bumps along the way but nothing we couldn't surmount.






























Learned that the Parisians are very nice, friendly, helpful people in spite of the reputation they have in America. (Have a sneaking suspicion that perhaps if one is friendly and nice to them, they respond in kind.)













Discovered that when driving in Europe, a GPS is essential.









Were reminded yet again how very young our country is.





Now know that Italy is indeed (as Katrina tried to tell us) hot and that Tuscany lives up to its reputation for beauty.







Gained a new appreciation for people trying to communicate in a country where they don't speak the language.













Missed my mom terribly, but figured she was watching out for us (and helping us when needed).













Glad to be home (partly so we can plan the next trip!).

Wahoo!

That was my exact response when my daughter's boyfriend told us he wanted to marry our daughter! We are so happy for her and for us (because we like him lots)!!!

Go me!

I accomplished a hard thing this week, which I will never admit to in public. But my family was so supportive, and I appreciated that support so much. I actually knew they would be. Even the far-away child did what she could, saying a little prayer with my favorite grandson for me. Doesn't get any better than family!

#26

The crazy man did it again--ran his 3rd Boston Marathon. And he would like me to document it so people know he wasn't making it up.

So here are the posing-with-the-bib pictures:












And the posing-at-the-finish-line-two-days-before-the-race pictures:






To get some acknowledgement of what we (the spectating family) went through, here's an example of what the subways looked like most of Saturday and Monday (and no, that's not Mark's bald head in the picture) and what the streets looked like near the finish line where you had to go reclaim your runner:











Then there's the one picture we took of him when we saw him just past mile 16:










And finally, the picture of him with his reward of his new medal. His official time was 3:38:45, which is actually a qualifying time for next year's race. Although he didn't quite win (but only because those darn Kenyans were running again), we're proud of him!