Gratitude, Personal Bests, Adventures, and Spooks Oh My!

I won't take too much time talking about this but I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped by donating time, money, or just attending the Smiles for Suzi event. To quote Suzi the sum that was raised was "ridiculous!" Suzi passed away on Saturday, October 3rd with her family by her side. I can honestly say that Suzi's example will continue with me for the rest of my life and I am honored to say that I knew her. When I grow up, I hope to be just like her!

We actually heard about Suzi's passing while we were in St George. James successfully completed his fourth marathon and beat his personal best by 33 minutes!!!! I was so proud of him. James trained differently for this marathon and I feel like the proof came by the time he achieved. To James, a marathon isn't about beating anyone else but himself and he finally overcame his mental block and did amazing! We were lucky enough to stay with James' sister and her family, along with James' co-worker and his family. I love spending time with Belinda, Matt and their entire family. They make me laugh! Matt ran the marathon as well and did better than he expected. Jon, James co-worker also ran. As did the Skonnards, Rob Wood, and Jared Richardson reached his goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon! Way to go Thundering Herd!!!! Another successful race accomplished!

The kids and I had a great day with Courtney & Camri, along with Kelsey & Tice. We went to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy and had a great time. I will be honest, I put my hand in the water to touch a sting ray and never got up the nerve to do it! I know, I am a wimp. We saw an octopus, electric eels (I did touch the sign that shocks you a little though and I felt like that redeemed me from not touching sting rays.....well almost!) , snakes (I hate snakes!), and sharks. It was a fun off track adventure and we are glad we went. Here are a few of the best pictures:

If you know me even remotely well, you know I don't like to be scared. I hate scary movies!!! But when a very talented and fun friend of mine told me she was going to take part in the Odyssey Dance Company's, Thriller, I couldn't pass up the chance to tag along. I want to say, I have amazingly talented friends! From scrapbook stars, actors, singers, writers, designers, clothing consultation, speakers, teachers, organizers and so much more, I have friends who excel in all of these areas and many many more! I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many incredible people and can honestly say, none of this has rubbed off on me BUT I do enjoy learning about all these different areas of life. I made Courtney tag along so I could jump in someones lap if I got too scared. (I only did that once........I did grab her knee the entire time though.....Sorry Squeaks!) A group of us went out to dinner in Logan beforehand and had a great conversation on wedding proposals.
Then off to the show. Once again, let me preface this by saying, I hate to be scared! So when I saw the zombie girls walking around the auditorium scaring people while they waited for the show to start, I wasn't the happiest girl in Logan! These actresses are amazingly scary and don't break character for anything. They were chewing up people's programs, hissing in their faces, and invading everyone's personal space! I am a firm believer in personal bubbles! Here is one of the zombies:
Here is all the official Bonnie Whitlock (aka Lorana Bobbit) cheering club at intermission (Diana had kids she had to hurry home to so she didn't get the chance to pose for the remainder of the pictures with us): Here is the picture I thought would never happen, me and several zombies in the same photo. Courtney was my buffer so that made it a little easier to accomplish. Bonnie (aka Lorana), her husband and incredible photographer Chad, and talented niece Kenzie are also in the shot.
Here we all are after the performance. There was some truly incredible dancing and humor in this show and if you go for nothing else other than to see Bonnie play this part, it is worth going. She was amazing and had everyone laughing during her parts in the show. Thanks again Bonnie, Chad, Diana, Kenzie, & Courtney for protecting me from the undead. (Except for the point that Chad scared me on purpose, I can't thank you for that Chad! It wasn't nice!)