our first dam race

Well, I crossed one item off my summer bucket list.

Last weekend, my sister-in-law and I ran the Teton Dam 5k race. It is an annual race held in remembrance of the Teton Dam collapse in 1976.

We almost decided against it the night before. You see, our curiosity got the best of us so we left the house with our robes, slippers, and contact-less eyes to find the route we would be running. It was quite a show. We would pull up to a street sign really close so we could squint and make out the letters, only to find that we were (yet again) on the wrong street. Meanwhile, we were hoping and praying that we wouldn't get pulled over because of what must have appeared to be drunk driving.

When we finally found the route, we were a bit stressed to realize that two miles of it was uphill. We fretted and worried and didn't sleep a wink all night. That way, we were nice and tired when we got up in the morning.

We had made a promise to ourselves to run the whole way, and we were glad we did. It was such a satisfying feeling to run across the finish line. We are looking forward to running many more--and longer--races in the summers to come.

Mostly, we're just happy to have a shirt on it that proves we finished the dam race. That's a big deal around here. Having dam written on your shirt.

What can I say? We're livin' in the bubble.

green pants & rexburg wind

A few weeks ago, my friend Lulu pulled out her mad photog skills and snapped some pictures of us Hansens. She's pretty much good at everything.

While not a lot has changed in our little family since we had our engagement pictures taken a few years ago, I think taking family pictures annually is a good habit to get into. It's fun to see how people change over the years, and always a blessing to have documented those precious moments in time.

Also, it's great fun in 50 mph wind.

And green pants.

I mean, really.

our favorite

I hate to admit it, but watching Tyboy trudge through 3 feet of mud with a slimy, dead fish in his hands is kind of, well...attractive.

Something about watching him do his favorite thing in the world just makes a wife happy. He has been working so very hard for our little family and I enjoyed every second fishing with him sitting on our picnic blanket watching him do his thing.

And my favorite? He hates to keep the fish. One, because he knows I don't like to cook them OR have them stinking up our freezer. Two, because he's a compassionate guy like that, just in it for the pleasure of a day spent on the bank

My "prize" from North Dakota was a brand new pink fishing pole. It has a push button and a fancy little grip on the rod, too.I was a trooper and cast it probably 40 times before giving up. (Believe me, that's an improvement from last year.)

...

Something about life's little pleasures. Just makes you happy to slow down a bit and spend some quality time with good ol' Mother Nature.