A Tale of Two Childs

1: We still live in our little house in Clinton, UT, with Hampton, our cat. 2: We were blessed with 2 new nieces on the Child side. We are now the Uncle & Aunt of 12 wonderful kiddos! 3: Rachel was able to cross an item off her bucket list by visiting New York City, where a friend lives. Caleb did not want to go. Something about too many people... 4: Caleb got 1 year closer to graduating with his Bachelor's degree in supply chain management. 5: Rachel, in a fit of the crazies, decided to go back to school. She is working on a Masters in Business, to graduate in 2015. 6: We both played softball on a co-ed team. It is fun to see Caleb come alive at athletic events. 7: Caleb built us a beautiful awning over the back porch of our yard. He does such great work. We are so blessed by is craftsmanship. 8: Rachel had the opportunity to play Miss Hannigan in the community musical "Annie." She is slightly ashamed to admit that she's a bit more like Miss Hannigan than she would have originally thought. (see picture at the top right) 9: We had a lovely visit from friends from Caleb's mission around Thanksgiving. It is always fun to show people around Utah! 10: This year we have been through 2 surgeries, 49 college credits, trotting around North America (NYC, Canada, Moab, St. George, Arizona), hours of rehearsal, church obligations and just general life mayhem, but after all of the madness, we still like each other! We hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Much Love~ Caleb & Rachel & Hampton

This is a bit overdue, but here you are: 1: We both stayed at the same Jobs. We still live in our little house in UT, with Hammy. 2: We were blessed with 1 new nephew on the McGraw side. We are now the Aunt and Uncle of 10 wonderful kiddos! 3: We got to go Carlsbad California with Caleb's Parents & Rachel's brother Rob & his wife Ericka, and their baby Beth. We had a wonderful time- and even got to go to Disneyland! 4: Rachel decided to do a half marathon on July 28th, and completed it about 45 minutes faster than her first half marathon! 5: Caleb was helping to build his brother, Jacob's house. Though it was many months of hard work, Jake and his beautiful wife and daughter have a lovely new home. 6: Rachel is now the HR Manager of her facility... talk about frightening! 7: Caleb is still going to school working on a Supply Chain Management Degree. 8: Rachel's Website is still out there www.shavemyheadif.com. She started volunteering at a battered women's shelter in Ogden to work off her service. 9:Caleb and Rachel went to their first live Major League Baseball game, Angels vs. Padres. Rachel found it MUCH more interesting than anticipated, and we would like to attend another one someday! 10: Our new siding and windows project is done, and our house looks wonderful!

I found this card at the Hallmark store, it made me laugh out loud, so I got it for Caleb for Caleb day. Hopefully what I ordered will be here for him tomorrow! Inside it just says "Totally." Wishing everyone a safe and happy Caleb Day. Especially Caleb!

Each year Caleb's family does a trip into the Uintah mountains - to a place called Trial lake. It is only open about 2 months of the year. That is the view out the window of our tent. I love going to Trial Lake. One of the neat parts about it is: No cell phone service. You are completely cut off from technology and the rest of the world, and this year, I was looking forward to the peace and quiet. This was a fun trip. Caleb likes to get sunflower seeds and feed the chipmunks. This year they got a little friendly, so Caleb tried a little experiment: Yeah, we are lucky he did not come home with rabies. Caleb's brother and his wife braved the risks and brought their cute, almost 1 year old daughter with us. She sure was a lot of fun, and kept us all really busy. Turns out a canoe is a nice make-shift play pen. Great Family, Great food, great fun and great outdoors. I love Trial Lake.

I completed my second half marathon on 07/28. I finished in 2:29:24. That is about 45 minutes faster than my first half! Perhaps cause I actually trained. This really was a battle of will for me. I am grateful that I was able to complete it. I would like to start learning how to run a faster mile, and maybe do another one...someday. It may take me 4 years to get the courage to try this again! The big issue is measuring my time against someone else's time. The woman I was training with- who is 3 years older than me and has 5 kids - completed a different half (the top of Utah Half) in 1:53. Nearly 40 minutes faster than I. But this was not about her, nor was it about winning. It was about proving to myself that I am better than I was. That I earned a better time, that my hard work and preparation paid off, and that I challenged myself and completed something difficult. That I did not give up. From miles 2-6.5 someone had placed intermittent posters on road signs with motivational running quotes, those got me through the first half of the race! There was one quote I remember "the moment you forget you are running is the moment your run begins" Given that definition, I am not sure that I have ever been on a run in my lifetime!!! I really enjoyed it overall. I am grateful to my friend Amy for talking me into these things! I am glad that I completed it, and hope one day to get a better time! For now, I have to feel good about what I accomplished, and look forward to the new challenge: A Mini Triathalon!

We got to go to St. George again this year. Each year we like to get in a game of tennis. I know Caleb looks like he is about to punish me with that raquet, but he was just trying to get an action shot for the photographer! While we were there this year, I found out my cute Grandma B. passed away. She is my Mother's Mother, and was my last living grandparent. What I loved, and will always remember about her, is that you always knew she loved you. No matter how long it was since you last talked, no matter how lousy you felt about yourself, she would always say "I just love this kid" and "I am so glad that you came to see me" or "I am just tickled that you thought to call me today." She was also very talented vocally and with the piano. She learned a method called chording, that is not used much anymore, but I loved singing with her at the piano. One time I sang a Christmas Carol for her, and she liked it so much, she asked me to sing it again! I think that was the most sincere compliment that I have ever gotten about singing. I sure will miss her. I am grateful I know that the end of this life is only the beginning of another journey. She and my Grandpa are together now- Til we meet again!

We got to go to California in May! We visited Disneyland and California Adventure! My brother, his wife, Caleb and I had fun thinking of fun things to do on the ride pictures, Caleb even practiced his face! I enjoyed this one, it was hard to hold when free falling on the tower of terror! Caleb and I saw a really short line for this ride, and we hopped in, we should have learned when we tried to ride together on the Matterhorn 4 years ago, that we would not fit!!! But some mistakes are fun to make again...fun and a little painful... We got to eat at Ruby's on the pier. My brother and sister in law have been together since high school, and are still darling together. I really admire their love for eachother. So Cute! We also got to attend our first Major League Baseball game, the Angels vs. Padres at Petco stadium. I LOVED it. I had so much fun! We also got to spend some time at the beach! Isn't that the happiest Picture ever??? That is my cute Niece. We had a lot of fun, but most of all, it was just good to be with my Caleb.