Family Photo Shoot

Having recently taken the kids by herself for school photos in the last few months, Keri was a bit concerned about how our formal photo session would go yesterday. As the eternal optomist, I was saying - It will be fine...we have cute kids. How hard can it be.

The photographer was terrific. Our good friend Donica came over and burned about 4000 calories trying to get our kids to look at the camera. Unfortunately, Ian decided that he very much disliked being on the white paper background that we used for ALL of the photographs. And Owen somehow LOST his ability to smile a natural cute dimple filled smile. He seemed to either leer like the Joker on Batman, or give us a half hearted grin that looked more like a squint on a sunny day.

In the end, we had a few great pics. Sometimes it is the photo that reminds you of the situation that makes you smile the most. That is at least what it was for me.

Marathon Rock Star

Marathon

Oct 30th we flew to NYC so that Keri could run in the NYC marathon. She has been training for months and raised money for World Vision ($4200) by being on their team. Keri ended up doing an awesome job. She got her best time and felt great doing it. For me, as with every marathon I watch, it is truly inspirational. You might think that it has got to be boring to watch person after person run by, but there is something unique and amazing about seeing it all at once. It is hard to put into words. If you ever want to know what I mean, just go to the finish line of any marathon and watch as people cross the line....

We had a lot of fun while we were there. We watched Mamma Mia and Spamalot on Broadway. We were there with our good friends Tammy and Alex Bunn and Keri's Aunt Norva and her husband Stephen. It was a pretty exhausting trip, but here are some of the other highlights: We got to meet the winner of the marathon olympic trials named Ryan Hall. He and his wife are both professional runners and are the captains of the World Vision Team. We went to the set of the today show and met Meredith Vierra. Right before I took the picture I spilled coffee all over my coat.... We went shopping with Tammy and Alex and I have never had such service. Tammy was my fashion consultant, Keri provided moral support and veto power and Alex was the runner, going all over the store and getting whatever Tammy told him to get. As much as I hate shopping, that time might have actually been one of my favorite memories of the trip!!