River Runners

This is the motley crew we were with. Actually they were great and we had a fun time together.

What a stud in those tight pants!

Can you see the raging water behind us? ;) This was the calm before the storm.

Marshall and I went up with the youth group last night to camp out before we went river rafting today. We drove 2 1/2 hours to Wenatchee, well it took 3 since I talked Marshall into getting off the freeway to buy us a blizzard. That is my weakness. (My one and only weakness.) Once we got up there we hung out by the fire for a couple hours listening to the young women sing girls camp songs and playing games. It was nice to have a little getaway with Marsh.

I slept in the rented cabin with the women and Marshall slept in a tent near the other men in tents. That wasn't my first choice, but the leader said we needed to set an example for the youth. What, that married couples don't sleep together??? We survived, and when we got up bright and early we made pancakes and cleaned up camp.

When we made it to the site for rafting they made us put on these dry suits that were so skin tight I could hardly breath. They did help keep me warm in that freezing cold Wenatchee river water. We rode the waves and had a great time. Our instructor does this in the summer and is a snowboarding instructor in the winter. She was so cool and very fun.

I took a turn sitting on the front of the raft and road the wild waves for a bit, holding on like I was on a horse. My boat mates decided it would be a good idea to spin the raft around and of course I fell in. We tried to get Marshall to fall in later, but he held on like nothing was happening. He is too tough.

I can't wait to go back and take Tyler. He would love it!

A visit from Elias and Candice

This first picture is Samantha trying to get some attention while her sisters perform Karaoke High School Musical songs with the Wii. Isn't she a cutie???

Samantha and Eli got plenty of mall time in while he was here visiting with my sister-in-law, Candice. She loved having a buddy around and Candice is very fun too. Candice is so relaxed

and easy to be around. We can't wait for them to come back. One of the advantages of living by grandma is we get a lot of visitors.

Since Marshall started his new job this week we will be staying here in the area this summer. We have some local things planned, but summer is really not complete without a road trip to Utah. I am going to see if I can make it happen.

What fun things are on your to-do list?

The rest of the story.

When I said we were going into the army many were confused about our commitment to TG. Marshall is still doing his residency at Tacoma General for the next three years and is currently in the army reserves. He will be going to medical corps basic training and then work as a physician at an army medical center. We will put in for our top three hospitals and then get sent somewhere for our four year obligation. He thinks he will stay in the army until he retires. It still feels great the next day. I guess it will feel great for the next three years, getting paid to do nothing! Our school loans were calling our name and now they will be taken care of. It will be a different story when we have to actually work for it. Tyler is very proud of his dad and wore his dog tags today and used his new GoArmy back pack the recruiter gave him.

Go Army!

We made a huge decision today to join the army. Well, it wasn't just today that we decided. We have weighed all our options for a long time and finally came to realize that this is right for our family. We picked the kids up from school a bit early to go with us to see Marshall sign on the dotted line and get sworn in. It was really exciting for all of us. Emily was nervous about the guns they might have at the medical recruiters office, but lucky for us there weren't any...that we saw anyway. Marshall and Tyler got their own "dog tags". It is for real now!