Hood to Coast

Last weekend I ran Hood to Coast. This was my fourth time and definitely one of my favorites.

If you don't know what Hood to Coast is all about click here.

I was lucky enough to be in Van 1, which I think is the best way to go. We did have a 7am start time which meant getting up at 4am and driving to Timberline, but I still think it is better than Van 2. I love being the leg that gets to start out on the mountain and also be at the beach at the end. It was a beautiful morning and so much fun.

These were the people I ran with. Here we are ready for our first run at 7am! As you can see there are seven people but only six legs per van. We did a little improvising because one of the guys didn't think he was going to be able to do all his legs. This left less room in the SUV but was well worth it. We seriously had a great group of people!


I love when I get to do things like this with my sisters. My sister Lindsey is in the middle and her friend Nedra is on the right. The team was put together by Nedra. She is 51 years old and she has done HTC for the last 14 years and has had seven children! I am so impressed by this lady.


You see and use so many honey buckets along the way. Surprisingly enough they are the cleanest and least foul smelling ones I have ever encountered.

We were a little late getting to my first exchange I had to rush in to use the "restroom." I didn't even know my sister snapped this shot until later.



I ended up making my runner wait, but only a few seconds.


You've gotta love it when you are huffing and puffing, sweating and tired, and your van pulls up next to you hootin' and hollerin' and wanting to talk to you and snap pictures. It does give you that little bit of adrenaline to keep on going.

Van 1 and Van 2 at the end of my first leg and the first checkpoint of the race.

A picture of us and are "legs"

We seriously didn't mean to match! I love my sister. She has four small kids and is just amazing!

Lindsey got to run along the water front and out of Portland. I love Portland and I love this picture of her running with the cool buildings in the background.

Here we are ready for our second runs at 5pm that same day.

This isn't a very good picture and no one reading this blog will know this guy but he had us all laughing on this leg of his race. From 6pm to 7am you are required to wear a reflective vest and carry a flashlight. Most runners have these real sleek looking runner's vests. John pulled out his full on construction vest and had us rolling. We could see him coming from a mile away! To add to it he just moved to Gooding, Idaho, a very small town where my husband is from. He said that this was the only vest he could find. Daniel thought that was pretty funny.

Here we are at 3am getting ready for our 3rd leg. I didn't end up running until 7am since I was the last leg in my van but once one person is up everyone is up.

Finally we are done and driving the rest of the way to Seaside to greet Van 2 when they finish.

A shower and food never felt better. Our team name was "runs in the family." Love the legs hanging out the back of our vans.

197 miles! Pretty cool.

Our view this summer

Daniel commuted to Portland for the first two months of this summer. We did a lot of driving. Isaiah and I would usually drive Daniel up on Sunday night and then go home because Isaiah had baseball and swimming. Daniel would stay with his Aunts until Friday when we would drive back up to get him. Many hours spent in the car with a very boisterous six year old. I always forget about the DVD thing so I found myself saying "uh huh" and "yeah" a lot. I gave Isaiah my camera on one trip to keep him busy. Here is some of what I found on my camera.

(He made this blanket with his Grandma Dewey. I love this picture he took because it shows him scratching his blanket how he always does. The scratch is accompanied with a sort of sucking and humming noise).

Hello lips!

Isaiah also loves music. He got to know all the Disney songs very well this summer. My favorite is this one from Pinocchio.

(sorry for the shakiness. Iwas driving and just holding my camera on my steering wheel).

Isaiah and I loved going downtown Portland to visit Daniel. I just love Portland. This is the view from Daniel's building looking down into Pioneer Square.This is the view from Pioneer Square. Hoffman is the one on the right.


Isaiah has needed a new bike for a long time. Now that Daniel is commuting every day to McMinnville we are left without a car. Everything is so close here in Corvallis so it is nice to ride our backs around but Isaiah was having to work so hard because his bike was so small. I was excited when my dad called and said his neighbor was going to give Isaiah his son's old bike for free! Isaiah was very excited as well.

The back tire tred was pretty bad so we went and got a new one. Last night for FHE Daniel and Isaiah worked on it. Daniel taught Isaiah all the parts to the bike and made sure he knew the names of all the tools they were using. It was so cute, and very educational for me as well.

Isaiah using the "Phillip's."

Corvallis Knights Game

My cousin Roman and his wife Kim took me, Isaiah and Gavin, Isaiah's friend, to a Corvallis Knight's came tonight. We had so much fun. The weather was great and the Knight's played so well.

This is a big change for Isaiah from a year ago. He was so scared of Benny the Beaver and Chuckie Cheese.

Isaiah caught a fly ball! No not really. A guy on the other side of the bleachers caught it and Isaiah asked him if he could have it. What a nice guy!

This picture is so blurry but I thought it was cute that all the kids were getting autographs. One of the players gave Gavin a ball so they were both excited. Gavin and Isaiah play on the same baseball team together. They ran into their coach Mickey at the game. They were both so excited to show him the baseballs they got and they asked him if they could use them in their next game.

At the end of the game all the kids got to go down on the field and run the bases. I didn't get the first part of Isaiah running and I turned on my camera right after Isaiah got stampeded by a bunch of kids on third base. He and another kid fell down and got ran over by a couple of kids!

We had a great night! Thanks Roman and Kim.

Isaiah's First Swim Meet

Isaiah had his first swim meet a couple of weeks ago. I didn't swim growing up so this was really my first swim meet as well. I didn't realize how long they last. It was a lot of fun and a new experience for the both of us. Daniel is working up in Portland this summer so he wasn't able to make it to this one. Isaiah just swam in his second meet this week and Daniel was able to come home for that one. We volunteered as timers and we got lucky and had Isaiah in our lane for one of his races. Daniel grew up swimming so he felt right at home. I on the other hand thought I was going to mess up and was a little nervous at first.

Isaiah hasn't quite caught onto diving yet but he puts forth a great effort.

Here is some video of the two events he swam in. 25 backstroke and 25 freestyle. Sorry for the shaky camera work.

Isaiah just sort of falls into the pool to start off the backstroke. I got a good laugh out of it.

Isaiah's cousins were with us for the week. They were very patient during the long meet. I think the wait was worth it. They got ice cream and we went to the movie "Up" afterwards. We had a great time!

Friends and Family

During finals week Daniel needed a break so we took Isaiah and a couple of his buddies to this fun rock slide near Triangle Lake. We had so much fun!

This is the bottom of the slide.

Daniel giving the kids instructions.

The boys were all a little nervous to go down the slide so Daniel took all of them down on his lap first. As you can see you they don't go very fast down the slide, but the water is really going fast. After that they didn't want to stop.

It took me a long time to finally decide I was going to try it. I was the same as the boys. I didn't want to stop. We had a really great time and we can't wait to go again!

After graduation we took a mini vacation to the Nehalem house with Grandma and Grandpa Dewey. Grandma Dewey is always getting new toys for the grand kids to play with. She always has the coolest things and the kids can't wait to get into the "grandma box."

The new toys this year was Tag Ball. Isaiah and Daniel had a lot of fun with this one. The balls actually shoot really hard and fast so this gear is actually very necessary. Isaiah was too scared to run around and get shot at so they just stood across the room from each other and took turns shooting one another.

Our nephew Sam was also there at the beach with us. He and Isaiah had a lot of fun playing together. Isaiah is used to be the younger cousin on the Vrtiska side of the family so he really took advantage of "being in charge" with Sam. I think we spent the whole vacation correcting that. In the end I think Sam still likes Isaiah:)

Daniel and Ross took the boys boogie boarding. Isaiah was super nervous so Sam went first.

Isaiah cried the whole way out but he did it and he had fun. Now we will have to see if he will do it again.