What is Ragnar? Well Here it is from their website:

You and 11 of your closest friends running 200(ish) miles, day and night, relay-style, through some of the most scenic terrain North America could muster. Add in crazy runners, inside jokes and a mild case of sleep deprivation. The result? Some call it a slumber party without sleep, pillows or deodorant. We call it a Ragnar Relay.

It's really quite simple. Get a bunch of friends together (or we can help you find team members who'll quickly become your friends) and start running. Okay, there's a little more to it. Your relay team will consist of 12 members (or 6 for Ultra teams). During the relay, each team member runs three legs, each leg ranging between 3 - 8 miles and varying in difficulty. So, from the elite runner down to the novice jogger, it's the perfect relay race for anyone.How do you cover 200(ish) miles? Only one runner hits the road at a time. The rest of your teammates are on support duty in your race vehicles. Teams require 2 vehicles, with runners 1-6 in van 1 and 7 -12 in van 2. Van 1's runners will cover the first six legs. It's a relay, so as the each runner begins, the crew in the vehicle can drive ahead, cheer their runner on, and meet them at the exchange point to pick them up and drop off the next runner. After the first 6 legs, van 2 picks up the slack and starts putting in the miles. A day, night and day later, you'll have made it all the way from start to finish!

So that pretty much explains it! Our team name was Call Me a Cab. Mike McCreary from our ward put it all together and did an amazing job. He had it so organized so that all we had to worry about was running.

I was the last runner which was position #12. My first leg was 5.9 miles in the desert outside of Surprise, AZ at sunset. It was so beautiful watching the sun go down over the cactus and the mountains. Then we headed to dinner made by Mike's parents and home to rest for a couple of hours (1hr of sleep) while van 1 did their thing.

My next run was in Cave Creek at 3:30am. It was an easy 4 miles in the pitch black. This was my favorite run. It was so dark and quiet and a little unnerving. Then eat, sleep for an hour and at it again.

My family came down to see my last run of 4.7 miles around Tempe Town Lakes. Cole and Pierce were really excited to run across the finish line with our team. We finished at around 3pm.

It was an amazing experience. I had really good runs and averaged 9 to 9.5 minute miles. But I was so tired I fell asleep at 7:30 and slept for 12 hours that night!

Christmas Morning

This is the first year we decided to stay in Arizona instead of going home to Idaho for Christmas. It was a really hard decision for us but this year we were not able to take anyore work off. Plus, we just saw Grandma and Grandpa Moustache (Pierce) over Thanksgiving and Grandma Cathy and Papa were planning on coming to visit in January so we thought we could do it on our own.

The kids were so excited to see what Santa brought. They weren't disappointed. Santa brought a lot of great things. For their big gifts they got Nintendo DS Lites. Which are the latest and greatest in hand held video games. (If they only knew what Santa had to do to get them!) They also each got 2 games to play. Pierce got Cars racing and Super Mario Party. Cole got a Disney Princes game and a Dora the Explorer game. Their big shared gift from Santa was a new Wii game--Mario Kart racing!

Mom and Dad got everyone new outfits to go and get family pictures in (which we never got around to).

Later on in the day we called home to see what everyone was doing. Grandma Cathy and Papa were at Uncle Seth's house sledding. It was a little hard to imagine since we were all wearing shorts playing outside here in Phoenix.

A Visit with Santa

I had to go to my work Christmas Dinner so Clint bravely took all three kids to the ward Christmas party by himself (thanks to Jamie for taking pics). Pierce and Cole were so excited to visit with Santa, Cooper wasn't so sure though. Pierce brought a big long list to give Santa, but Cole is a girl who knows how to get what she wants this year. She brought Santa the cookies she had decorated earlier at the primary activity along with some pictures she had colored and of course her long list. Pierce asked Santa for a skateboard, a kid kinex rollercoaster, a science set and pixos micros. Cole wants a Rosetta Fairy Doll, a computer, a scooter and make-up! I hope Santa delivers!

First Grade Field Trip to the Pioneer Museum

Clint bravely volunteered to go with Pierce on his first field trip of the year to the Pioneer Museum. Pierce was so excited to have his dad go with him. Everyday leading up to the trip, he would tell Clint something like, "Dad, don't forget we need to pack a sack lunch." or "Dad, don't forget your water bottle." It was so fun to see him so proud to show off his dad to his friends.

On the bus and ready to go!

Clint's Group--Rheannan, Clint, Zander, Daniel (who just wanted to be in the picture) and Garrett

This was the gun fight show where they taught the kids gun safety. According to Pierce, the girls won since they were the good guys and the boys were the bad robbers.

Pierce says this is the "Big Trap" since it has a big trap door under the rope.

Thanksgiving in Cali

We have been looking forward to this week forever! We left Phoenix Friday afternoon, and after a long 6 1/2 hour drive to Carlsbad, CA we are finally here! Our resort was amazing with lots of room and tons of storage but the best part was the spectacular view of the beach and the ocean and the other best part was that my parents came down from Idaho to spend the week with us!

On Saturday morning we woke up to RAIN! Clint and I got up early to go jogging on the beach while it was just drizzling, but by the time we got back it was a full on downpour. Despite the rain we headed into downtown San Diego to Little Italy to the farmers market. Within a few minutes the kids were cold, wet and hungry so we found a cute Italian restaurant in the back of a grocery store and had the best pizza ever.

My parents took the kids back to the condo to play on the beach and hot tub while Clint and I met our friends Dan and Jamie White and Scott and Nichole Smith, who came to San Diego for the weekend so all of us could go to the Utah v. San Diego State game which Dan's brother got us awesome tickets for.

After dinner we headed over to the Chargers Stadium for the game in an absolute downpour! We had the best seats and 2 sideline passes which the boys loved. It was funny to see Clint put on a Utah Red Shirt to go down on the field since he is a serious BYU fan. The game was really exciting and Utah pulled a win in the end! Thanks Dan and Jamie for inviting us!

On Sunday the weather was lots better. No rain, just cold. Of course that doesn't matter to kids how cold it is when you're at the beach!

Cooper chased the seagulls all over!

The amazing sunset from our condo's deck!

As good as it gets!

So here's our attempt at family pictures. It always starts with a crazy mommy planning the pictures and the outfits and yelling at everyone to get ready and stop whining and stop moving while I'm fixing your hair. Then as soon as we got there, Pierce and Cole started running around like crazy. Cole fell in the parking lot flat on her face. There was crying involved and so she has red puffy eyes. Not to forget she also has a big chunk of hair missing from the top of her head where she cut it yesterday! Pierce either fell or was playing and somehow got grass stains on his knees. And Cooper would not hold still for a second! So this is as good as it gets this year!

Scissors (Enough Said)

Cole has been on a scissor rampage! She somehow got a hold of a pair of scissors during quiet time and did some serious damage! I came in to help her clean her room and noticed bits of yarn everywhere and it took me a second to realize what it was...her blanket. Yep, she cut a huge hole right in the middle of it. I was crazy mad! Then I find 2 skirts and 2 shirts and some of Cooper's clothes that she did her magic to and I was ready to blow a fuse! So I can't really blame her when a few days later I find a bear who has obviously had his ears hacked off by the master herself and when I ask her what happened to him she says, "I don't know." So I tell her she better not lie to me and to tell me what happened to the bear. Then finally she breaks down and the tears start and she says, "(sob sob) I just (sob) was hugging him (sniff) and I just hugged him so hard that his ears just POPPED off (now hysterical sobs)" As I'm trying to muffle my hysterical laughter (seriously where did she come up with that one?!!), I attempted to punish her. Apparently I wasn't strict enough though since just yesterday she whacked off a big chunk of her hair a day before our scheduled family pictures!