28th Annual Beecroft Memorial Day 5K Run

John & Debi Lassen Family and Friends

On Memorial Day this year, some of our family and friends joined with Ventura Stake Members at Foster Park in the 28th Annual Beecroft 5K Run.


When my dad, Carl Beecroft, was Stake President of the Ventura Stake for 10 years, he and his counselors decided to begin a Memorial Day activity to encourage their stake members to participate in something that would increase their physical fitness. Thus began the Beecroft Run. This run is for all ages and abilities, it doesn't cost anything to join in, and the prizes have always been a jar of honey for the first place winners in each category. My dad raised honey bees as a hobby years ago, and he harvested his own honey, put it in a nice jar and put a label on it as if it was a 1st place trophy.


After 28 years, the leaders of the Ventura Stake have continued to encourage this fun run and it has moved from different venues such as the Ventura County Government Center, Ventura State Beach, Fillmore High School and now to where it takes place off Highway 33 on the way up to Ojai starting at Foster Park, which has turned out to be such a nice place for it.


We arrived about 8:30 am to sign in and the run began at about 9:00 am. Runners were in the front with walkers and strollers coming behind. Since my back surgery in 2001, I have participated in the walkers category! I miss running but keep thinking how grateful I am that I can still walk. I know my parents would be smiling if they could look down on all those who still come out for this event each Memorial Day.


I want to say here that is a very kind thing the members of Ventura Stake have done to continue to call it the Beecroft Run, even though dad and mom moved away from Ventura and they have both since passed away. It is a nice way to remember many of our loved ones who no longer participate in this event because of age, illness or having passed on. We remember you on this Memorial Day!




President Robert Skankey was a marathon runner years before and counselor to my dad in the Ventura Stake Presidency when the idea for this annual run began. He had many, many wins in his day and came back this year to run in it again.

They announced this year that for the 30th anniversary in two years there will be special T-shirts made and we hope for a big reunion. The leaders have added two trophies this year...one to the ward with the most 1st place winners and one to the ward with the most participants.



Hans running it for the first year!





John before the race




Grace, Isaac, Wyatt




Cristin and Luke and Emily and Grace at the send off.






Aunt Ami pushing Isaac in stroller






Mette took 2nd in her category




Audrey took 2nd in her category & mommy Kirsten




Addie took 3rd in her category


showing her "bit o' honey" candy prize






Atalie with Ditte and Wyatt in stroller





Cozette got 4th in her category




John jogging the whole way!!!






Christian came all the way with his family from Provo, UT the day before! He and Barry Zimmerman were pushing each other to the finish line!




Pres. Greg Jones




Erik (and Jake Hunter)




cousin Andrew Lassen made it look so easy!




Else going soooo fast, I almost couldn't get the picture!



Wayne Overton who took 1st in his category over age 70! He's taken 1st many times over the years. He hasn't missed a single race in all 28 years!



Haans with his buddy Wyatt




Kristy Hunter and one of her Twins




Tyson and Jonathan


Sandy Rosengreen walking it with Debi (I took 2nd in my category)

Darla Hawkes who just finished Salt Lake Marathon in April



Martin and Sandy Rosengreen Family we have met and become friends through the race over the years. They lived in Denmark for awhile and know our dear friends, the Kreiberg's in Odense! They came all the way from Mississippi this Memorial Day to visit family and be in the run again.





Young Adults who came with us from Camarillo to run it


New mommy Cristin and Charlie came with Erik and Luke from Tehachapi early that morning to cheer us on!




Award Ceremony

Springtime Happenings

I've neglected writing in my blog for a month, so I'll add a few events all in one post!



In early April, John and I, Mette and Hans took a boat out to Santa Cruz Island and backpacked and camped in tents overnight at Scorpion Bay Campgrounds. It was a lovely trip and one we hope to repeat again. You only have to hike about 1/2 mile from the dock where the boat drops you off to the campground. We carried backpacks so we didn't take very much with us. The eucalpytus tree grove where the campground is located was such a lovely setting to pitch our two little tents in and eat our simple meals. We hiked a 4 mile loop across the island and had spectacular views of Anacapa Island and the beautiful ocean. It was a nice family outing.







Hans and our granddaughter, Audrey Kent, were in the school district "Cinemagic" http://cinemagic2008.blogspot.com .They went to a lot of practices before the week of performance with a cast of over 200 kids from Pleasant Valley School District. It was a lot of fun to be part of again this year.




Mette and I had a goal this past year to finish up our goals and earn our Young Women's Recognition Awards. Here we are together with our new necklaces after completing many personal goals in the Personal Progress Program of the Young Women's Organization in the church. www.lds.org As a Young Women leader, I was also able to earn the award. It was a nice feeling to be presented our awards together in Sacrament Meeting.





At the end of April and first days of May, I took my 5 daughters with me to BYU Women's Conference. Those of us in Camarillo flew up to Salt Lake together where we rented a car and drove down to Provo to stay with Trine, Larry and Leyna. We had a wonderful time together for 3 days and hope to do it again next year! We were lucky to also get to spend some time with Christian, Emily and Grace who still live in Provo for another couple weeks. I had some great pictures of those days but somehow lost them as I downloaded them to my computer. :-{ So hopefully my girls will share with me their pictures.


After we came home from Women's Conference, a few days later we celebrated Cinco de Mayo....which was just an excuse to make some homemade corn tortillas with my mother's tortilla press. We put together a Mexican dinner feast and even had a pinata for the kids out back. (Haans had more fun controlling the pinata than the kids had trying to break it open.)Then we topped off the evening with the crazy movie, "Nacho Libre". It was such a fun night.







On May 11th, most of our family was able to go as a group to the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood and see a matinee of the musical, "Wicked". Ditte had bought 50 group tickets and didn't have any trouble selling them all to family and friends. We had such a good time and recommend the show to anyone. Trine couldn't be left out of this, so she and Larry and Leyna flew down to be able to attend, too.







The next day was Mother's Day and since Trine was here at our home, we both got a marvelous breakfast in bed of Danish Pancakes and fruit. Thank you family for spoiling us and giving us such a nice Mother's Day. John did a great job with dinner, too. One of the highlights for me on this Mother's Day was to be able to talk for a couple hours to our missionary son, Steffen. He is doing very well and it was such a treat to hear his voice.





Trine and Leyna got to stay another few days with us in Camarillo, so we fit in a morning at Carpenteria Beach with Kirsten and Ditte and their little boys.









It was sad to say good-bye to our Utah kids but we had a nice visit with them.




Today, I got to babysit Wyatt and Isaac in the morning so their parents could go see the new "Indiana Jones Movie". I had so much fun with these two little boys. I just recently purchased some scooters and other toys to upgrade their visits to gramma's and gramps' house.

We sure enjoy having our family over.






This catches us up a little on the last month. We are enjoying our springtime. Memorial Day is this weekend and those of us in our family here in Camarillo have been preparing to run/walk in the Beecroft Run (a 5K event my father, Carl Beecroft and his Stake Presidency began 26 years ago in the Ventura Stake...it's become quite the tradtion) at Foster Park early Monday morning! With both of my parents gone now, it is a wonderful way to remember them on this Memorial Day.
We miss you Christian, Emily and Grace up in Utah, as you prepare to move to San Francisco for Dental School in a couple weeks. And we have missed you, Erik, Cristin, Luke and Charlie, as you have been busy adjusting to having a new baby in your lives. Love to you all!