Little Red Riding Hood

On June 5th, I rode in the "Little Red Riding Hood" along with 2 of my co-workers. Rachel did the 58-miler with me and for this being her first time she sure had no problem keeping up. And then Jen (also a new rider) did the 33 miler with her mother-in-law. 

It was a blast and probably the best organized bike ride I've ever done. We started in Lewiston, UT, which is just a couple miles outside of Logan and we rode throughout the farm country that is Northern Utah. It felt good to be back on my bike doing a long ride again, especially at the turn off for the 80-milers and 100-milers knowing that wasn't me. Although I felt like weak sauce for not being them since I know that I can do those but all in all I was less sore, I saved a couple hours of riding and for Rachel's first experience this was probably way more enjoyable than a full century.


I  have never seen so much food at a ride as this one. Not only did they have every snack you could think of about every 15 miles and then Subway sandwiches for lunch but at the finish line they had all of this plus more! When we rode through the finish, we were handed a little cheap tiara (obviously this was a women only ride) and a strawberry daiquiri. Then you walk further and they had a whole trough of Creamies (best popsicles ever!). They had a whole chocolate fountain tent complete with tables full of things to dip. There was another large tent with an extensive  nacho/salsa bar and a candy table with little containers to put your candy in.


It was hard not to eat back all of those calories that I had just rode off! Seriously, I have no self control for this stuff, especially when Creamies are involved.


The best part was when Rachel and I stopped at the Finish and asked some ladies to take our picture with our bikes. I was a little tired obviously and I leaned towards Rachel for the pic, forgetting that I was still clipped into my bike. And down I went, still attached to my bike :) Oh the sillyhead.

McGhee Family Reunion - pics

We finally had the chance to upload pics from our recent McGhee Family Reunion that took place in May. Below are pics that highlight our adventures together in Park City:

2010 McGhee Family Picture

KerMatt pic - We took the family pic opportunity to document our first year of being married & still smiling :)

Though the weather this weekend was not that great, we spent a lot of time playing together in the pool

With so many little kids, we tried to keep them busy with all sorts of projects. You can see how serious Matt and I took our coloring :) Kathy & Bekah were fantastic about thinking of so many activities to keep the kids entertained.

As you can see, bead animals became quite the project for whole fam.What we also didn't document was Johana teaching Bekah and I how to make earrings as well. 

Speaking of a hit, the newest McGhee addition, baby Alicia, was very popular with all. With all that hair and those huge eyes, who wouldn't want to hold this little bundle of joy. Congrats to Bekah & Skyler!

One of the nights we sent the boys out bowling and threw a little princess party for the girls, complete with makeovers, nail painting and even a parade around the hotel we were staying at.

But no matter what we planned, nothing could stop us all from picking on each other and horsing around. Matt usually being the catalyst for this.

Good times at the park, except when I got stuck pushing both Carys & Calay on the swings simultaneously. My arms were sore for hours afterwards :) But I just couldn't resist those little laughs and shouts of "faster!"

Matt and I introduced the McGhees to the wonderful game of "Minute To Win It". Oh the silliness and laughter this provided and in fact, we had to shut it down pretty quickly when we discovered that our raucousness was going to wake the sleeping children.

Word To Our Fathers

 

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

 To Our Wonderful Fathers 

 Lane & Barry!

Why are men reluctant to become fathers?  They aren't through being children. 

~Cindy Garner

My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: he believed in me. ~Jim Valvano

Shout out to our fathers today! We have learned much from our dads throughout the years - some good habits, some not so great :) but we want to thank them for being the great dads that they are.  We know what a thankless job being a dad can be, especially when the mothers get most of the love, but we really do appreciate the important life lessons our fathers have taught us.

For Keri, it was about the importance of working hard. My Dad has worked hard throughout the years to support our family of 7 children and I know that wasn't easy. He made me get a job when I turned 16 and I have been working at various jobs ever since. And I have a strong work ethic to show for it.  Thanks Dad!

For Matt, it was the way my Dad taught me to look at everything with a gospel perspective. I always knew that the most important thing to my Dad was to live a Christ-like life. When I was a teenager, I didn't like getting up early, even earlier than my paper route and seminary class, for family prayer and scripture study.  But I knew that it was important and now I appreciate my Dad's efforts.

Two little girls, on their way home from Sunday school, were solemnly discussing the lesson.  "Do you believe there is a devil?" asked one.  "No," said the other promptly.  "It's like Santa Claus:  it's your father."  

~Ladies' Home Journal

Just to highlight a few more of the many great things that our fathers have done, we'd like to share some of our favorite memories of our dads:

• Matt:  Dad has always been interested in new technology and I'll never forget when he brought home the first family computer - a Gateway desktop with a 1 MB hard drive (if I remember correctly) and a 56k modem. You'd think he would be have caught on to text-messaging a little earlier :)
• Keri:  Dad taking me to "K-Mawt" to buy new toys or clothes. Yes I'd like to blame my early interest in shopping on him :)
• Matt:  Saturday morning cartoons and pancakes & waffles in special shapes (capital M, pancakes the size of the frying pan and funny shapes) and homemade maple syrup with my Dad  
• Keri:  Dad rolling up to family Thanksgiving Soccer games in his newly purchased neon-yellow running suit only to play for 10 minutes and then sit out with Grandma Goss.
• Matt:  Dad always being my Scout leader and Young Mens leader - teaching me the finer points of being a young man such as wilderness survival, backpacking, cooking, hunting, being an Eagle scout, being a righteous priesthood holder, sacrament duties, blessings and the importance of doing home teaching. 
• Keri:  Dad mentioning in every talk at church he gives that "he used to pray for more money and instead kept receiving more children so now he is going to start praying for more children and see if he receives more money". And Dad always being that guy in the ward who gets up before every Memorial Day, Veterans Day and 4th of July to remind us all how important our freedom is and to remember the troops. 
• Matt: Dad also regularly coaching my soccer and baseball teams. He taught me all about hard work, strategy and team work. 
• Keri: Watching 90210 and Fright Night Theater every week together with all these horrible shows about Killer Bees, Killer Spiders, Killer Frogs, etc...
• Matt: I have never heard my Dad say a bad word, unless you count him calling bad drivers "boneheads" and "knuckleheads".  

A father carries pictures where his money used to be.  ~Author Unknown

We love you both! 

-KerMatt

What happened to May!

Somehow we missed blogging in May so here is a quick recap.

Keri turned 29 (yikes!) and celebrated her day of birth by going bowling during lunch with her co-workers with her record-low score of 46 (double yikes!!). Then she had dinner with Nicole at Cheesecake Factory while Matt had class and took a test. But Matt did surprise her with a new and beautiful pearl necklace.

We volunteered at the Utah Heart Ball together as Matt was in high demand from Keri's boss after she noticed his amazing attention to detail in last year's event set-up. And he did not disappoint of course. We had fun getting dressed up and we even got to shake hands with Elder Russell M. Nelson, who was being honored for his work in cardiology, and his wife.

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Park City with Matt's family for a McGhee Family Reunion who came up from San Diego and some all the way from Iowa. We loved spending time with the fam, especially all six of the adorable nieces plus Cayden. Keri loved holding baby Alicia (Bekah and Skyler's new baby who has more hair than we've ever seen on a baby). Matt told me to spend as much time with the kids so that I could get my fill of kids and not get any crazy ideas yet.  We spent a lot of time at the pool, taking walks, playing games, including a McGhee family trivia game, and we even put together some "Minute To Win It" challenges. Good times had by all! Keri was amazed by how competitive Matt and his brothers are at anything... and I mean anything (sports, trivia, video games, etc...)!  

Keri also introduced the McGhees to the coveted "Fiesta Station" and infamous banana boats (but not without many jokes thanks to my wonderful friend Brad Moss who sold me out by telling of my past banana boat errors). 

We had a blast but were quite exhausted afterwards, especially Matt who spent most of the day under a pile of kids. Hopefully we'll get some pics posted soon. 

We are so grateful to everyone who made the trek for us all to spend time together and to Kathy and Bekah for organizing the whole weekend. 

 - KerMatt

p.s. Please comment to let us know you saw this!

p.p.s. McGhee family blog coming soon...

Word To Our Mothers...What!

 

"Mothers of teenagers know why animals eat their young." ~ Author Unknown 

(HAHA we loved this saying and if you knew either of us as teens, you know that we were not easy to raise. Keri - " I was pretty loud, stubborn and obnoxious...and wait, I still am, just a little more grounded hopefully. Thanks Mom!"Matt - "I liked to break the rules and basically tried to sleep through high school, if  Mom would have let me").

Since we are still waiting to hear about Matt's Masters Program acceptance what else can we talk about but our mothers. We are truly blessed to have the best mothers (and mothers-in-law)! And we just can not thank them enough for their love and endless support. We have both kind of gotten hooked on Talk Radio lately (namely Glenn Beck and Dr. Laura) and after each listen, we can not walk away without being so grateful for the family that we have and the values that our parents have instilled in us.

Top 10 List To Our Mothers - Linda & Kathy

• You have taught us both how to be good, hard-working people
• You feed us anything we want - even when we ask for Belgian waffles, bacon, eggs, Orange Julius, and cinnamon pull-aparts all in one meal 
• You have shared your musical talents with us and helped us find our inner rock stars...or barbershop stars  :)
• You have a unique and creative approach to all you do 
• You show us what it means to live unselfishly - you truly forget yourself and go to work
• You indulge our crazy hobbies like playing Rock Band with us or going hiking with feral cows
• Your make each family member feel like they are your #1
• You are our biggest cheerleaders (next to Matt & I, of course) and you've also been one of our best coaches...but also a pretty good referee
• You teach us what is right and you always know what we need...sometimes before we do
• You live each day with never ending love and patience 

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." ~ Tenneva Jordan

Just to highlight a few of the many wonderful things that our mothers have done, we'd like to share some of our favorite memories of our mothers:

Keri: Sending my brothers and Dad off to Father & Sons Outings and having Girls Night - shopping for    

matching outfits (mine pink of course, and Tori's yellow) and watching "Cutting Edge", "Pillow Talk" or "Pure Country" over and over. 

Matt: Mom trying to spank us with the wooden spoon and having it break on our butts. She would get so mad and we would just keep laughing.

Keri: Singing around the piano while Mom plays anything I want - or performing together at ward talent shows, care homes, etc...(Tori & I singing, Mom playing the piano)

Matt:  Mom makes my favorite food for me every year on my birthday...especially chocolate eclair cake and she made these awesome caterpillar cakes when we were little. Mom also used to have after school snacks for us when we got home every day. I wish I still had those now. 

Keri: Mom always being involved in whatever I was: being my room mom, my soccer mom, PTA president and talking me into being the only kid PTA secretary in history, selling candy to raise $ for my marching Band, bringing cupcakes or peanut butter ice cream rice crispy treats to my classes for my birthday, helping me make clam chowder for my 4th grade class to get an A on my report on clams...and campaign manager when I ran for president in 7th grade - even coming up with an awesome slogan like (Jon Adams, Jon Quincy Adams...Keri Adams - it just makes sense).

Matt: Mom helping me with school work when the assignments were hard or when I needed creativity...like dioramas and poster boards and what not. And also taking care of me when I was sick and teaching me the BRAT diet which consisted of Banana, Rice, Applesauce or Toast.

Keri: And let's not forget touring Europe together - Mom keeping the peace between Tori and I always as we battled between shopping and art museums (snooze), taking us to Les Miserable twice & Lion King, and Mom busting our her high school Italian to tell our Rome taxi driver whats up.

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.

- Jewish Proverb

We love you Mom and Mom and hope you both have a Happy Mother's Day! 

- KerMatt