Cutting Room Floor--August Edition

If you've followed my blog for a while, you'll know that I usually try to keep things current. Things are often posted about within a few weeks, if not days. But I've been going through pictures lately and I realized that there is a lot of stuff that we've taken pictures of and never posted to the blog, despite their "blogworthiness". So I've decided to dedicate a few posts in the coming weeks and months to those "cutting room floor" photos and events--the ones that for one reason or another didn't get posted soon after they were taken.

This post is dedicated to some photos that we took in August 09, when Shawn's parents were here. When they arrived, we basically let them drop off their bags at our house and then we hit the road and headed downtown to make it in time to watch Lee compete in the annual JPD triathlon.
Here he is swimming the pool--notice the personalized swim cap. Would you believe me if I told you he had it custom made?
Apparently, he's still feeling good in this photo. But it was only the beginning of the second stage--the bike.
Isaac waiting to watch Uncle Lee whiz down the street on his bike.
And this would be the photo that I like to title: "Just why am I doing this again?" Actually Lee did really well. I don't remember now, but he won something for his age group. Lee, you'll have to comment and tell us all what it was.
Now, I've always thought of myself as a fairly tough chick--not too tough of course, but tough enough. However, just look at this chick! Of course, she's already got one up on me, because she's a police officer, but what you may not know is that she came off of maternity leave to do this triathlon! I could most definitely never see myself doing that. In fact, I really can't ever see myself doing a triathlon--but definitely not a mere 8 weeks after giving birth.

And here we have another tough chick. Mrs. Weske you put me to shame. Not a police officer, but a fellow wife. She's got two kids like me, but her youngest is a year younger than my youngest. And she totally smoked Lee in the pool! I guess this means I better start training for something. But seriously, don't expect me to be in next year's triathlon. I really don't have much of a desire to do three races back to back, maybe one....we'll see.
And what would anyone else do after a triathlon? Pig out of hot dogs and hamburgers, of course! It does seem a little strange when you think of it like that, doesn't it? But that's the way we roll around here, so the annual summer picnic is held at the finish line of the triathlon.
Carly got herself into a statewide police officer newsletter with this photo. Her daddy took it.

Good thing they didn't pick this one. She has her daddy to thank for this one too.

This photo was from a moment that Shawn and I both said, "ahh, I'm so glad we're past that now." This was the first time my "soon to be sister in law", met her "soon to be in laws". This also followed some hushed comments that Shawn and I overheard from Lee and Rachel about where to stand and who should walk first.
Ahh, yep.
I prefer the "familiar" stage of my in-laws rather than the "brand-spankin' new" stage.
From our view there seemed to be an understandably initial awkwardness, but it soon faded. Rachel is a great gal and I have some great in-laws, so they quickly hit it off. After the picnic we took a family walk/ride to the glacier. Shawn and Isaac rode on/in the bike, and the rest of us walked. Carly walked all the way there and then rode back home with Shawn. We also had a great bear sighting while were out there, but I had already put my camera in the bike fearing that the rain sprinkles were going to turn into a full shower.

And no trip to visit us would be complete without a work project. This works nicely since my father-in-law likes to have something to do. So he and Shawn attacked the giant pile of wood rounds that had been piled up after we had 34 trees cut down last fall.
We even made Grandma work! When it was all said and done (a few weeks later), we estimate that we now have 8 cords of stacked firewood in the backyard. And the answer to your burning question (no pun intended): no, we don't have a wood stove. However, we'd like to get one in the near future. We'll see.

Reading books with Grandma. This was quite possibly one of their favorite things to do with her. However, they didn't seem to appreciate reading with Grandpa quite as much, since he scans and "reads" the pictures.
All dressed up before church Sunday morning.
And even though this picture doesn't have my in-laws in it, they were home helping Shawn with the kids, and thereby made this picture possible. This is me with my good friend, Monica, just a few days before she left for college. Monica and I met together almost every Tuesday night during this past school year, at her request, to have a Bible study. At first I wasn't sure if I should say yes, and add another activity to my already busy schedule, but I'm so glad I did. I grew and learned so much from our time together. Plus I became strong friends with a girl who makes her inner beauty a priority. Oh, and by the way, thanks for making me look good, Monica, by ordering water and the Waffle House! Hope you enjoyed the recap of some fun times that we had in August, but ones that didn't get to the blog in a timely fashion. Here they are now in all their bloglandia glory!