Purple Belt

Colby has been very successful with his Teakwondo. He tested for his purple belt and actually kicked through a board. It was very exciting.

Here he is going through some of his basics.

Here he is working through his form.

Here he is demonstrating his "One-steps"

He breaks through the board.

Receiving his new belt and award.

Colby and his teacher.

Friday Night Football

Fall is here again and what would a Friday night be without a high school football game. This crew chose to spend last Friday night in Umatilla at Ryan's old stomping ground to watch his nephew Taylor play his first game as a senior and the starting quarterback. It was a great game. Taylor played awesome as he led his team to their first victory of the season.

Taylor #25 (starting Lineup)

Taylor getting ready to pass.

Taylor running the ball in for a touchdown!

The Hood to Coast Relay

So it has been just over a week since Ryan and I ran in the Nike Hood to Coast Relay. It has been about 3 days since we have been able to walk without crying. 197 miles is a long way to run, even if you are sharing it with 11 other runners. It still works out to be aprox. 18 miles per person. An accomplishment that I still can't believe I managed.

Our team was named Team Dragginass. (Get it?) It consisted of 12 members. 6 members per van. Van #1 (our van) began at the Start Line at Mt. Hood and each of us ran our first legs. We then handed off to the first runner of Van #2 and they took over. Their runners each ran their first legs, and so on. The cool thing about having 2 vans, was that it gave us a few hours off the course to eat and rest a bit.

It worked out so that we ran about every 10 to 12 hours. You would think that would be plenty of time to recover, but that was certainly not the case. It was just enough time for the stiffness and sourness to set in.

Van #1 at the Start Line.
We obviously had no idea what we were in for.
Ryan's first Leg. (What a view)

Me handing off to Michelle after my first leg.

Getting ready to hand off to Van #2 that Ryan's Sister Soni and Brother CJ are in.

I know that it sounds crazy, but even with all the pain and lack of sleep, we can't wait to do it again next year. There is just something about doing something that you never thought you would have been able to do.

The Water Park

Of course it would take my sister Jill and I until the end of summer to decide to go to Moses Lake and check out their water part. Her and I are the biggest procrastinators that I know. At least it was worth the wait.

My friend Kari's son was having his 13th birthday and they invited us up for the day to celebrate. Moses Lake is a bit of a drive from here, but they have a few attractions that Hermiston and Pendleton don't offer.

Cameron

Colby

Dawson

Kayla

Jill

Me.

We all played way to hard. It was all we could do to stay awake long enough to drive home.

Taekwondo

Colby started Taekwondo a couple of months ago and is doing really well. He has already advanced to his yellow belt and will be testing for his orange belt tomorrow. He attends a dojo here in Prosser a couple of days a week. It is very cool because not only are they teaching him about taekwondo, but they are also teaching them how to listen, follow directions and respect for others. It has been fun to watch him participate.

Yellowstone National Park.

While vacationing at Island Park in Idaho we decided that we may never get that close to Yellowstone again, so we should make the short drive to see Old Faithful. A couple of car loads of us headed out. It was fun because we got to take Ryan's cousin Haley with us (Haley is Ryan's cousin Rickie's little girl). Not only was I not the only girl in the car, but it was fun to have someone who has been there many times to give us the grand tour.

Ice Cream at the Yellowstone General Store

Pritchett family reunion.

I know I'm a little slow at posting this, but over the 4th of July weekend we went to Island Park Idaho for Ryan's Mom's side of the family reunion. If you have never been to Island Park, it is about 20 miles from the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Very Cool!!!! We took off at 7am on July 3rd and drove straight threw. It took us about 10 hrs. I have to say that I was very thankful for all of the modern electronics that kept the boys entertained.

The reunion consisted of Ryan's Mom and her sister Sandy's families. All of Ryan's siblings made it except for Cory and all of Sandy's kids made it except for Ryan's cousin Casey. It was quite a crew.

Ryan's cousin Ricky has a vacation house there that sets on the dog leg of the 3rd hole of the Golf course. Yes I said golf course and Ryan was in heaven. They golfed every day and when they were not golfing they were betting on the poor golfers making their approaches to the green.

It was a great time and we loved catching up with cousins we don't get to see very often. Already looking forward to next time.