Ragnar Del Sol: The Rundowns

Ever since Ben did his first Ragnar in Utah four years ago, I've been telling him that someday (when I'm not pregnant or nursing a new baby) I wanted to do one with him. When we moved to AZ and Ben found out about the Ragnar Del Sol we decided it was finally time to do it. So Ben rounded up a team which consisted of family, neighbors and friends and we started training. We were all new to the Ragnar experience except for Ben and Braden, a friend of Nikki's from high school. So most of us were a little nervous and not sure quite what to expect. I was excited for an opportunity to do this with my husband and it also was a chance to push myself past my usual three miles of day. It was a lot of fun and we are planning on doing it again next year!

The night before the race, the entire team went to eat at The Olive Garden for some pre-race bonding and "carb loading". Then we went our separate ways to stay with two different host families for the night. Our van stayed with this neat retired couple, Trudy and Larry, in Sun City who Mons had found on hotshowers.com.

Here we are eating Mons' special "savory" oatmeal for breakfast with Larry. Oatmeal, olive oil, salt and pepper, cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. Pretty good, actually. Mons volunteered to take care of all the meals for Van 2 which was awesome.
It was fun to see how everyone decorated their vehicles.Dave did a great job decorating our suburban.Lots of crazy costumes. This wasn't even the craziest...I thought this guy looked cool. Everyone on their team wore crazy hats. Diggin' the Arizona flag shirt.This is all the team members that were in Van 2 just before we started our first legs. Van 1 had all the singles and Matt and Nikki. Van 2 had the more "mature" team members (well, except for Natalie--she was the only other girl in our van, though, so I was really glad to have her with us). Left to Right: Dave, Bret, Ben, Mistie, Mons and Natalie

Here's Natalie making her first hand-off to her brother, Bret.

Ben's first leg was 8.4 miles "very hard". He did great! Ben ran 16.5 miles altogether and I ran 14.6.

Our hosts from the night before, Trudy and Larry, came to cheer us on after we ran our first legs. I had just finished my first leg which was 6.1 miles in the dark. It was awesome! Like how shiny we all are?

Picture of our whole team with the Ragnar van.

Ben with all his cousins that did the race. Ben and his cousins made up half our team.

Here's our whole team at the finish line with our metals. Altogether we ran over 200 miles from Wickenburg to Tempe. It was pretty cool being the last runner and getting to cross the finish line at the end of my leg, even though I was all sweaty and gross at the end. Van 1 had been done for hours and had time to go to Braden's place and shower. That would have been kinda nice, but they definitely had the harder legs so I can't complain. Everyone did an awesome job--way to go Rundowns!

Left to Right: Michelle Tripp, Natalie Reay, Emily Hancock, Dave Konopnicki, Nikki Shelton, Allison Hancock, Matt Shelton, Brett Tripp, Mistie Barfus, Ben Barfus, Mons Larson, Braden Ellis

Our Love Party

Since Valentine's Day was on a Monday this year, for FHE last week we each picked the name of someone in our family to be our "secret friend" for the week leading up to the big day. The kids had sooo much fun with this and it was so cute to see them get excited about doing things for their secret friends.

This is a picture of a few of the many notes Ben received from his secret friend (Rachel).My secret friend (Emma) was also very sweet and left me many notes and treats throughout the week.To celebrate the end of our secret friend week, we had a special "love party" on Valentine's Day. We had a nice dinner and invited Matt and Nikki over for the occasion.Matt and Nikki brought us some Valentine's cookies which we had to unscramble to reveal a secret message. We're so excited for them!I got to be Brigham's secret friend.No flowers this year. I got something even better--a cuisinart ice cream maker! I sure have a nice hubby!

Funny kid stuff

Brigham fell asleep like this the other day. He's on top of the kitchen counter.

Valentines

Eliza worked very hard on these cute Valentines which she designed all by herself.

Brigham helped me make these cute airplane Valentines for all of his Joy School friends.

Hazel's loveys

Hazel loves her pink giraffe and her pink hippo and always sleeps with them. In this picture she had just woken up from a nap and insisted on taking them out of the crib with her.

Update on the Spanish Branch

People are always asking me how things are going in the Spanish Branch and I'm happy to report that it is going great. The branch is growing so much right now and it is a very exciting thing to get to be involved in. We have met some wonderful people there and there are lots of opportunites to serve and help the branch grow and thrive. I am enjoying serving in the YW presidency along with my sister-in-law, Nikki. There is lots of work to be done there and I am enjoying getting to know the young women in our ward and figure how I can help them deal with the many challenges that they face in their lives. Today was a great day because Ben was sustained to be on the high council representing the Kimball Spanish Branch. It will be such a great opportunity for him to grow and learn from some of the great leaders in our stake. He is nervous, but I know he will do a great job! The branch presidency was reorganized today as well and our good friend, Luke Arbizo, was sustained as the new branch president. He is a great person and very humble and he will be a great leader for the branch. Being in the branch has already proved to be a great blessing to our family and I'm so grateful for the opportunity!

New Year--Old project

2011 has been delightfully relaxed and unscheduled--so far. I've even had time to finish a few long-neglected projects. I've had plans to make a cute awning window treatment in the girls room ever since we moved in, but it was put on the backburner with all the craziness that was 2010. I'm happy to say that I finally got the awning done and was able to check it off my to-do list. Love that feeling!