Joe and Steph

Nov 12, 2010

St. George R&R (Run and Relax)

We are always on the "GO". But this time it was mostly Joe on the go... Joe ran in the Snow Canyon 1/2 Marathon in St. Geroge, UT on November 6th. He has rediscovered his love for running after having to take a sabitical from running due to an injury. BUT....he is baaaaaaaaaaaaack. And, of course I am his biggest fan, so I came along for support and some R&R of my own. Joe worked in St. George that week, so I tagged along to Read, Relax, and Retail Shop... All the "R's" we could fit in. We did take in some scenery, and hiking and watching sports at the local Players Sports Grill (which quickly became Joe's new favorite restaurant btw).

Joe coming in for the big finish...

Geesh, he blew right past me

Ah, ha...the finish line!

Ta-Da! I did it again. Twice in a month! (2 half marathons that is)

Right after the race, trying to revive his energy

The logo I made for Joe's shirt (at his request) that he wore proudly

Yummy Orange Slices...

Is he kissing the ground? Examining the turf up close? Or stretching?
YUP...he was stretching, but it looked so funny I couldn't resist a pic

Snow Canyon (Joe was showing me the route)

Ran along here

WOW, amazing the world that God created huh?!

Munga, along side "Munga" my car

Cute couple posing by the Subby... Our new outback

We decided to go hiking here

C'mon Steph...hurry up (at the trail head)

Panoramic view

Cha Cha Cha...I can hike too baby...

YUP...I am a hot hiker huh? lol

The cave Joe had me climb in to take a pic. Scary since they do have
snakes and scorpions in Southern Utah...and I realized that as I am in the cave!

He was setting up the camera and snapped my sourpuss face
not happy that I might be sharing the cave with a creature

But, we put on our happy face and got a nice pic ...
regardless when the flash went off

Headed back to the car

Joe inside a cool little cavern tunnel we had to climb thru to hike

This is a better pic of how narrow it was...

Peek A Boo

We enjoyed the hiking, the running, the retail shopping and
the relaxing and just hanging out...just the two of us!

Nov 2, 2010

Just can't Keep Up!

It has been a LOOOOONG time since we (I) have updated this blog. Sorry if you are a follower, for being such a slacker, and for those of you that don't hardly check our blog I am sure you never noticed and don't even care. HOWEVER~ A lot of things have been happening in our lives and because we were SO busy, I've opted to post a bunch of pics to catch us up on our life via blog. We are hoping to try to do better w/blogging going forward. Happy November!

Joe & Steph

PresLee's Birthday Visit in Idaho
(She turned 2!)
She looks so much like Josh at times it is uncanny. And she has
his little witty and joking personality. :)

showing off the new outfit we gave her

Uh, yeah right trying to get a kodak moment is not that easy

See what I mean?

Showing Aunt Ashley her "fishy" pond in the front yard before we went home

THEN WE HAD GRANDKIDS VISIT AGAIN....

along with a few weekends of cousins

What you don't see is that we had 4 kids and a dog sleep with us
while we watched Richards kids and Mason and Carter...
whew good thing we bought a KING size eh?

Playing in our shed/playhouse. Mason & Carter were helping Bucca :)

Carter wanted to wear the light that Bucca had on his head

just showing us that cheesy smile and making anyone jealous
that they are not in such a cool "play house"

You can see the light didn't fit Carter near as well as Joe (Bucca)

Then we had a Ninja Turtle Pizza Party while the boy's were here. Aunt Ashley & Paul borrowed us the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Movies, so Mason thought this was WAY TOO MUCH FUN!

COW-A- BUNGA Dudes~

We each had different masks, in the same colors as the turtles
with whatever scraps we could round up

Carter didn't like to play, but he did like the pizza and breadsticks!

Then we kept Mason for the weekend after Sara went home.
We took him to the pumpkin patch and Black Hills Farms Corn Maze
w/my sister Andrea and her son Zachary.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHUA...WE MISS YOU!!

On OCT. 8th we decorated Josh's grave for his birthday. Mason was so cute and sang to him and told Josh how nice his grave looked all decorated. He didn't realize we were listening. So sweet ...

Mason, Steph, Joe and Rawley wishing Josh a Happy Birthday wishing we still had him here :(

HALLOWEEN TRADITION

Munga wanted to do her traditional "HALLOWEEN" dinner while the kids were here so we had a party with Aunt Ashley, Uncle Paul and the kids. The Menu was disguised intol spooky & gross cuisine. We had:
Rat's (meatloaf shaped into rats)
Eyeballs (deviled eggs made to look like eyes)
Witch's Fingers dipped in blood (Breadsticks that look like fingers/sauce)
Monster Brains and Werewolf Scabs (Guacomole Dip w/ Chips)
Mummy's (hot dogs wrapped w/dough to look like mummy)
Worm Sandwiches (bbq hotdog curled slices on buns)
Witches Brew (Rootbeer over dryice)
Fangs dipped in EarWax (apple slices w/ carmel dip)
Troll ears and fingers with Pus (carrot/celery sticks with ranch dip)
And for dessert:
Batgut Brownies and slimecream
(brownies w/choc chips and caramel served w/ icecream)

MOAB 1/2 MARATHON

Joe ran the Moab 1/2 with my little sister Andrea.
So we made it a weekend and went down to enjoy some sunshine and good company!

They made it! Andrea hurt her knee running, so Joe ran the race then went back to escort her in.
AHHH what a nice guy huh?!

Me and Andrea

self explanitory...beautiful Moab!

Mason picking out a pumpkin. So many to choose from~
UH? this is supposed to be under the halloween pics? OOPS

MY BROTHER GETS A NEW- "DO"

This is my brother Jason after his surgery on October 25th (taken 2 days later) to remove a brain tumor. He found out a few weeks prior that he had a large tumor growing on his brain stem that had spread into his left lobe around his frontal area into the optic nerves and into the right side. SO....needless to say this is ONE LUCKY man to be here! It was a bit nerve wracking for all of us waiting at the hospital while he was in surgery and then experiencing some setbacks and complications following surgery. But he is a fighter and is doing so much better! He does have quite a battle scar but considering the alternative of not being here he is doing amazingly well. Looking forward to your full recovery!

We have been to the doctors and hospital a lot lately for someone or another and we are hoping he is the end of the chain of scares and trialsin our family for a while! Love ya bro....

Stay tuned for the never ending saga in the life of the Denning's... Until then. TTFN

Sep 16, 2010

The Fairy Tale Wedding

We are so happy to see our daughter Ashley so happy! Ashley our only daughter and youngest child, became Mrs. Paul Draper on August 14th. The wedding and reception was held at my sister in law's parents home. The home is HUGE, and fit the criteria for a "Vintage wedding" that Ashley wanted. Though we only used the outdoors, the backdrop and ambience of this house was truly amazing! After a ton of hard work doing everything ourselves to save money, we pulled off a truly exceptional and memorable event. We did hire a caterer (Marble Slab Creamery) and photographer (Ryan Christensen of Innovative Photography) and even had a DJ (Justeen Young) because we needed the expertise of those to make that night perfect. We hope to add more pics soon when we get some back and yes we are relying on those of you whom took photos since we couldn't. These pics are in random order, but I have labeled them so you know what they are. :)
Congrats to MR. and MRS. PAUL DRAPER!!!

Nevous Groom AND....
You should of see the Bride!

The Ceremony

NOW for the Random PICS..... Some of the fun at the wedding. We had a fun non traditional wedding with an old fashioned icecream parlor and dancing. Memories that I am sure will be around when Ashley and Paul are old and gray.