We Got SHOCKED!

Last night we went to the Spokane Shock Football Arena game. This was our first time to go. We went with our friends, the Nelsons. Some of you already know this, but a lot of you probably don't so I'll give you some background. Brady Nelson is the owner of the team. He's the one who had the idea to bring an arena football team to Spokane and started the whole thing. It's so huge in Spokane! I should have taken a picture during the game. There was about 9,000 people in attendance. The stadium was packed! The game was intense and a blast to watch. We sat in the owner's suite which was nice because our kids got to run around and play with the other kids that were there while we watched the game. After the game we went down to the field. The girls loved running around down there. They even got to meet the dance team. It was a fun night. Thanks Nelsons and everyone else for letting us hang out with you!

More S2N pictures

Here's a few more pictures of this year's Sound to Narrows race. It was a lot of fun. 

Happy Father's Day, Dad

I know this is a couple of days late, but I just wanted to take a moment and tell you what a wonderful husband and father Matt is. He is really good at making Mom (me) happy by helping around the house, helping with the kids, and not only allowing me to treat myself to simple luxuries at times, but encourages me to do so. He loves his little girls! Words cannot describe how wonderful of a father he is, but I will try anyways. He is really good about taking all of the girls out so that I can have a break or get something done. He also spends time with them individually. Reagan loves going golfing with Dad, or to the bookstore to pick out a new book or two. Kelsey wants to be just like her dad "because he's so smart," and she loves going to the mall with him and resting with him on Sunday afternoons. Gwyn gets so excited when she sees her dad! She learned how to say "daddy" a long time before she could ever say "mommy" and she follows "daddy" with the biggest smile and runs to gives him a big hug. It's so cute! She also loves that Dad is so much fun to play with. I don't know how I got so lucky.  I could not ask for a better father for my children. Thanks Matt, I love you!

Sound to Narrows - We're famous!

Here's all of us at the Sound to Narrows Race in Tacoma on Saturday, June 14th.

This picture made it in Sunday's Tacoma News Tribune. It was a very large picture and the caption reads: Kelsey Shumate (far right), 5, hides as sister Regan, 8, father Matt, cousins Tanner Shumate, 6, and Anson, 4, make faces. (They spelled Reagan wrong, but oh well.)

This was another picture that the Tacoma News Tribune photographer took. It's a picture of the diaper dash for one year olds. As you can see, they were all a bit confused. Gwyn is on the far left and next to her is my friend Tiffany's baby girl, Kate. This picture didn't make it in Sunday's paper, but it's on the Tacoma News Tribune website. It could possibly be in Thursday's paper when they post the results. 

This is the 2nd time Reagan has had her picture in the paper from this event. The first time was the first time we participated in the Sound to Narrows race in 2003. Reagan was 3 and a diaper dasher. We made it on the front page!

The day was overall a really fun day. Reagan, Kelsey, Tanner and Anson ran the 2K with their dads, Matt and Devin at 8:00 am. Jaqui and Travis ran the 5K at 8:30 am. Matt and Dacia ran the 12K at 8:45 am for Matt and 8:50 am for Dacia. Matt ran it in 56 minutes, which was better than he expected. It was a minute slower than last year, but he was sick this year and hadn't trained as well as he did last year. Dacia did excellent, taking 6 minutes off of her last 12K time! Then Alan and Stella left at 9:00 am for the 5K walk. Stella has also been sick, so it wasn't as easy as it could of been, but she's made the goal to walk the 12K in the future. Finally Gwyn and Ella ran the diaper dash, even though for Gwyn it was like a walk of total confusion. Imagine being told to run to a massive amount of people who are screaming and yelling. Eventually she saw me and smiled as she picked up the pace, but by that time she was about 10 feet in front of me. If you were wondering about me, I'll have to wait until next year to see how I'll do. To make a long story short, I ended up getting sick, even passed out for a minute or so, right before we left the house for the race. Therefore, I was feeling ill and week for most of the day and I knew that it was not possible for me to run that day. 

I'll post more pictures of this year and past races when we get back into town.

A visit from the Foxes

The Foxes were our first friends in Spokane Valley. They moved in the same week as we did, and they lived only 1 block away. This is a picture from the first time Reagan and Kelsey went to their house to play.  Over the next 3 years, they played a lot together. We would also have game and pizza nights where us adults could play some games while the kids played together. 

Six months ago, the Foxes moved to Portland, OR. They came up to Spokane this weekend to visit family, so we were able to get together on Friday, for games and pizza. Here's some pictures of us playing Wii. 

Here's Simon. He was just 1 month old when they moved. Next is Mason and Gwyn, then Kelsey and Everett.

Katie and I didn't play any Wii. We talked about sewing, scrapbooking, and other girl stuff. In the first picture I'm showing her my new scrapbooks. We can't wait to see them again in August!

 

Kelsey and Tanner

These are cousins, Kelsey and Tanner. Kelsey is 4 1/2 months younger than Tanner. You can tell that they love each other a lot. Here's a few flash back photos of them. This is in May 2003! Kelsey was only nine months old. 

Here they are in December 2005.

And here they are, being silly, in June 2006

Here's a picture and story that I stole off of Grandpa Shumate's Blog. What sweet kids!

We all went to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate Reagan's birthday. Kelsey and Tanner (both are five) are inseparable as friends and just love being with each other. All of the grandkids were given a cup of tokens, which are used for the rides at Chuck E. Cheese. Kelsey and Tanner went off, hand in hand, to spend their tokens. They came back to eat birthday cake a while later and were counting their tokens. Together they had seven token left. They asked me if I had any, which I did not (what grandfather would keep tokens from his grandchildren?). They had realized that if they divided up their remaining tokens, one would have three and one would have four. A few minutes later Tanner came to me with a token and said, “Here grandpa, take this token because we don’t want to fight over it.”

Grandparents

Here's a couple of family photos that were taken recently.

This is Grandma and Grandpa Shumate with all of their grandchildren. This was taken on Mother's Day, just before we headed back to Spokane. 

This is Kelsey and Gwyn with their Grandma Marini. This was taken when Grandma came to visit us in May. Reagan was at school. 

World Premiere: Team Shumate Logo

Since 2003, the Shumate family, young and old, has participated in the Sound to Narrows race in Tacoma. Whether it's running, walking, or crawling the tough 12K course, the 5K, the 2K, or the diaper dash, we've made it a family tradition. Last year, Matt's mom thought that there was enough of us to have our own logo that we could wear at future Sound to Narrows races. So, this is the logo that Matt designed for Team Shumate to wear at the Sound to Narrows race on June 14th. (Notice that "Grandma" and "Grandpa" make up the head a.k.a. the "head" of the family.) I'm posting this so that family members will be able to see it, as they've been patiently waiting on the edge of their seats. For all you Sound to Narrows racers out there, say "Go Team Shumate!" or something like that if you see someone wearing this shirt. 

Colonies

Matt's brother, Travis is in a band called "Colonies." Maybe you've heard of them? Last month they went on a mini-tour, with a show in Spokane on the 16th. We took the girls to the show, since they love their Uncle Travis so much and the opportunity to see him to perform is rare for them and me. Matt usually goes when they have shows in Seattle or Tacoma when we are in town. It was cool to watch and hear their songs. The band, and Travis's wife Jaqui, stayed at our house Thursday and Friday night before going on to their last show in Rexburg, ID on Saturday. For a band of all guys, I would have to say that we enjoyed having them, and not because they moved our piano for us (thanks guys), but because they were very polite and respectful. (I hope that doesn't ruin their image any.) This is a picture of them with the girls when they left, early Saturday morning. Travis is the one holding Gwyn. You can check out Colonies on the link in my list of friends. 

Blog addresses wanted

Hey everyone. Now that I'm a blogger, I've been blog hopping and checking out everyone else's blog. You all have truly inspired me to start one. What a great way to keep in touch! Before, you had to wait for the yearly Christmas letters to see what everyone's been up to. I have stole a few of your addresses from other blogs, I hope you don't mind, but if I don't have yours yet, please leave it for me here. I promise to check it often. There are some of you who think I should read the Twilight series books. I'm going to be way too busy now, reading all your blogs. I've been putting it off for as long as possible in fear of getting sucked in and not getting anything else done. (I know it's amazing I've gone this long without reading them.) Nobody told me that starting a blog would now consume all my free time. It's for a good cause, so I can justify it. Hope to hear from you soon!

YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!

This is only about 1 minute long. Matt created this little movie for me on Valentine's Day, a couple of years ago. I always wanted to share it with everyone so this seems like the perfect opportunity. Isn't he the best? 

She's a mad little princess!

I just had to post this picture. Just like a princess. Actually, Gwyn doesn't usually freak out like this. She was trying to get the camera I was using to take her picture, but her dress up shoes were stepping on the bottom of  her dress so she was stuck. Well, it made for a funny picture.

First post ever!!

Well,  here it is. The first post of our blog. I hope it's the first of many. I think I am already hooked on blogging, but only time will tell. Since I just started this blog, I have some pictures and events to share from awhile ago, to kind of get you up to speed. This first picture is of Reagan. She's been growing her hair out since kindergarten (Sept 2005), when she cut it to her shoulders. Last summer, Kelsey cut her hair pretty short. Eventually Reagan wanted to cut her hair too, but not until it was long enough to donate to Locks of Love. She has always wanted to help kids in need. She used to put change in the umbrellas at Wal-mart because it was for kids in need. Anyways, we figured it would be long enough by her 8th birthday in February. We did some research and found out that Great Clips will cut your hair for free if you donate it to Locks of Love. So, on April 12th we went to Great Clips to get her hair cut. The lady who cut her hair was like, "Are you sure you want to cut your hair? She definitely was. She got 10 inches cut off! We are so proud of her! Here are the before, during, and after pictures.