Minute to win-it!

Okay so back to the Risenmay reunion at Irish Beach.

Mandy, married to Nathan, set up a fun game night for us. 

Girls vs. Boys

Girls Team: Me, Judy, Lea (7), Anna (6), Abbey (3)

Boys Team: Jeff, Steven, Jase (8), Lucas (5)

Seems sort of even. :)

Level 1 Blueprint: Bubble Hoop - blow bubbles, teammates must blow it through the hulahoop.
Easy enough....

  Girls finished in 45 seconds or something like that.

 Boys team: 7 SECONDS!!!

1 win for the boys

Gotta have a team cheer: Lucas is a good spy.

 Level 2 Blueprint: Bunny nose (I'm sure there are real names for these games, I don't know what they are)

Put Vaseline on your nose, face in the cotton balls, then shake as many as you can into the empty bowl to the stage left.

Anna

Lea

 Judy

 Team Abbs

 Jase checking out Lea's sweet technique. haha!

 Now for the boys. Jeff didn't take any pictures of the shake off, but I got some good ones from the boys.

 Lucas finishing his turn

 Jase - guess he didn't like Lea's technique. :)

 I couldn't get Jeff's face, but I'm pretty sure he was laughing so hard his skin matches his shirt and hat. Nathan is amused. You'll notice, not many in the bowl......mostly flying!

 Leave it to Steven to put the most vaseline on his nose, pick up the most, but leave the most on the ground....GIRLS WIN!

 Level 3 Blueprint: Balance the can

Do just that, drink enough soda to balance a can. 

Great for 3 reasons (a sarcastic GREAT): 1 - remember who's on my team??, 2 - Judy is diabetic, so chugging soda is BAD, 3 - me....I was trying to give up soda.

1 reason why it was hilarious: Jeff and Steven opening two cans at a time and CHUGGING them. Jeff burped and Judy spit her liquid all over me!! Luckily she had filled her can up with water. Still....ew.

 Lea got it - that's Judy's diet coke can there - she got it too.

 Boys were the clear WINNERS!

Abbey still drinking her soda, long after the blueprint was completed. :)

Level 4 Blueprint: ball/rubberband shoot

 WAHOO!!! Abbey did it!

 Grandpa and sad little ear-infection Ammo came out to see the party.

 The BOYS

 Coach Jeff and Lucas

Jeff loaded up multiple rubberbands for Steven - only took one shot!

2 more blueprints!

Level 5: Cookie Monster

I COULD NOT GET IT. The little girls just shoved the cookies in.... would have done that had it not fallen on the ground.

BOYS TURN: 

 Jeff is really good at that - anything for a OREO right?!

We gave up on who won......

Okay this is the last one - Level 6 blueprint: Foot Pong

 A little different technique to this one and some flexibility......GIRLS WON! 

Thanks Mandy - awesome family game night! (She was taking video of the games and was the judge too)

You've got a minute. To win-it. Good luck!

10 years.....Risenmay style

We were married in the Portland Temple on August 2, 2001

A glimpse of our 10 years in photos (and some commentary).

(funny: pictures of our wedding and engagement pictures were NOT digital so I got to scan them in.....)

2 college graduates, 3 new jobs (2 bouts of unemployment), 3 moves, 4 kids and we are DEBT free except for the house. :)

Engagement photos: Jeff's cousin Marisa took our pictures - she was just getting started and now has a very successful photography business - Moondoggie Photography I'd like to think we helped her get started. :)

 This is the photo we sent out with our invitations

Wedding day: Portland Temple, Lake Oswego, OR

 This photo is the best! That little baby we're holding is Calla - now 10 yrs old. 3 nieces and 1 nephew (has 1 and one on the way) are married, Webbs have 3 kids, Shelby has 4. Steven/Rozann have 7!! Sister-in-law to the right with the baby had one more after him. The little girl in the front who looks like my Abbey, is her daughter and taller than me. And Grandpa Risenmay, directly behind me in the back, has passed away. Grandpa Reynolds performed the ceremony - they went to the church for the luncheon. Jeff's aunt/uncle put it together for us.

 

 My new friends: Webbs and Shelby

me graduating 2002:

don't have any that are scanned, but I graduated. I have the paper to prove it. :)

BS: BioStatistics

1st baby (Lea) 2003: We went to Richland for Christmas and kept driving to Portland to visit G&G Reynolds.

Jeff Graduation from BYU: 2004

Phoenix: 2004

Rustin/Deanna, Steven/Rozann, my parents, us, Kristin/Jonathan (my mom is holding Lea)

New house: 2005

 Horrible sprinkler system Jeff decided to install himself......he's a good man. :)

+1 to the family: 2006

2007: Risenmay family reunion in Rocky Point, Mexico

+1: 2008

 My sister-in-law Rozann took the above 3 pictures (skip the one of Mexico, she wasn't there). Love them!

2009: Sorensen Family reunion

+1: 2010: 3 Generations of Risenmays Jeff, Ammon, Ron (Jeff's dad)

Today: 2011

picture by my beautiful friend Bernadette Redmond of Snappy Images

There have been lots to do:

weddings

funerals

babies born and lost

moves

graduations

loss of work

living off our food storage (didn't think I'd ever have to do that)

COUNTLESS road trips: ID, CA, UT, WA, Twin Lakes, OR, Vegas

long sleepless nights with sick children

sick us

car accidents (little ones)

upgrades and downgrades in our finances

lessons of home ownership

callings in church that have tested us

long nights at home alone while Jeff was working

tantrums - by all of us! :)

Friends who've changed our lives for the better

waterskiing: all of us!!!

hospital stays - me and even Lea

family reunions - everywhere

good times and difficult ones

Knowing what I know now, I would do it all over again. 

Heard this quote yesterday (woman talking about marrying her husband who had passed away)

'I'd do it all over again. We were married for 8 years, but I'd do it even if it was 8 minutes. It's all or nothin'.'

Why do we have a flag in our yard?

Our kids asked us this morning and were trying to guess why it was there. We took the time to explain it to them. Tell them where we were, how it felt. How it changed their lives forever and they'd never know the difference. We have a flag in our yard: For Freedom

and for this:

World Trade Centers - we watched a video online from a lady in a nearby condo. They heard the first plane hit, then started recording. Couldn't see the 2nd, but you could hear it. And when the Towers fell........the noise was almost unbearable.

For here - The Pentagon. I'm grateful that day my roommate's dad was safe.

 For them - who risk their lives every day.

 

For the brave women and men on Flight 93 who saved lives by sacrificing their own.

 Jeff read an account the other day of 2 fighter pilots who were sent to take down Flight 93 because it was headed for the White House. When they got to their planes, there was no ammo loaded. They said to each other: 'I got the front, you take the back'. They were willing to give their lives for our great Nation.

 For them: Leaders of our great Nation who stand up for what they believe in, despite having millions of us as their critics. They are human, they make mistakes. They may disagree on politics, but they agree on one thing: they love our country. God Bless the USA.

 We have a flag in our yard because innocent people lost their lives and we as nation did not back down that day. We banded together as 'one nation, under God.' And as a world, we stood together to fight against those who sought to destroy us.

May we never forget: 9-11, the Pearl Harbor of our day.