An Old Friend

This past week, we got a surprise call and a chance to see an old friend.  Tanner used to be almost a part of our family, but moved away nearly 3 years ago.  Since then, we hadn't seen him at all and had started to think that maybe we never would.  We were so excited to get the chance this earlier this week!  It was so great to see him and hear all about his new friends and life where he lives now.  He remembered us all perfectly and even brought up some funny things we had forgotten about.  We went to a park and played for awhile and just had such a great time.  We hope to see him again soon.  This kid just makes me happy. :)

Also, the park we went to had an awesome little play set for toddlers.  Brady was in heaven climbing up all by himself and sliding down.  This kid is really growing up fast!  He's even taken a couple steps several times in the past few days.  It won't be long before he's walking all over the place.

Summertime Pets

This summer, we have acquired a few extra animals around here.  Of course, the kids are thrilled, and I actually don't mind it either.  They are doing a great job taking care of them!  First we got these (cute?) little turtles.  Tony has had them in his classroom this year, and since they can't really go all summer without food, we are keeping them for the summer.

Then Mylie got a bum lamb, which she is so excited about since she's planning to show her at the fair.  Daisy is pretty darn cute and Brady really loves her too!

Baseball

June was full of baseball for our family.  Mylie played machine-pitch this year, and was able to get a few hits. Connor played major league for the first year, and although he was a little guy in the big league, he did really well.  Both of their seasons ended this past week, but baseball isn't quite over since Connor is going to the state tournament on the 9-10 year old Bridger Valley All-Star team mid-July.  He is super excited about this since he'll get to play more than he does playing in a league that goes up to 12-year-old kids that are double his size!  The best part about baseball, however, was that they both got to play with their cousins.  So fun.

Mylie, Jaxon, Ashton

Caden, Connor, Andrew

Some great pics of Connor that I stole from a FB friend who takes much better pictures than I can. Don't you love it when people share their great photos?

The SLACKER Half Marathon

Last weekend, I ran in the Slacker Half Marathon in Georgetown, CO.  It is the highest elevation, downhill race in the country, starting up at over 10,000 ft and finishing at about 8000 ft. It was a gorgeous course, and FAST!  My goal was to PR, and I did by 6 minutes!  I ran it in 1:35:29, which is a 7:17 pace. I was happy enough with that, but then found out that it was good enough to win my age group as well--a nice bonus!  It was a fun race and a course I'd love to do again.  The only down-side? After running that fast, and pretty much ALL downhill, I could hardly move the next two days.  But as all runners know, that's a small price to pay for the satisfaction of a PR.

Two of Tony's sisters, Haley and Angela, also ran the race and PR'd. Also, Haley's friend, Elena, ran it and was AMAZING!  It was her first race ever, and she beat me by almost a minute and a half.  Lucky for me, she wasn't in my age group.  I think she's found a new talent and hobby!

Our whole family went as far as Cheyenne and Tony and the kids stayed at his brother's house there while the runners went down to CO for the race.  The kids had a great time playing with cousins.  They have a great place there with lots of room to roam.  It was a great weekend!

Girls Weekend

This weekend, my mom, sisters, sister-in-law, and I took a quick overnight trip to SLC and had a great time!   We checked into our amazing hotel on Friday afternoon. I need to put a quick plug in for Embassy Suites in West Valley City.  We were able to all stay in a 2-room suite, which had 2 beds, a pull-out-couch, and then an extra little part of the couch which was big enough for a shorty like Livi to sleep on.  Everything was newly refurbished, very nice, and the breakfast was SOOOO good!  Made to order omelets, even!  All for just $105, or a mere $15 apiece.  So, if you're looking for a place to stay with a group, check it out.

Anyway, after being amazed by every little thing at the hotel, we headed out for an early dinner at Olive Garden.  We had great food and great laughs there, especially getting a kick out of the ones in our group, who I won't name, who didn't know how to do the whole pay by credit card, then add the tip, then sign thing.

From there, we headed to the Tim McGraw concert.  Although we all pretty much hated the opening act--Tim McGraw was AWESOME!!!  He opened with one of my all-time faves, "Where the Green Grass Grows" and then played great song after great song.  We screamed, we sang, we enjoyed the people watching, we didn't enjoy some of the people watching (umm, your cheeks are showing . . . ) and we just had fun being together.

Back at the hotel, we stayed up way too late, of course, just chatting and laughing.  And then the next day was all about SHOPPING!  We shopped for awhile there in West Valley, then headed downtown to the City Creek Center.  We hadn't had enough yet, so we stopped at the outlets in Park City, then again in Evanston for Walmart.

I'm so glad we took the time to get together. I sure love all these girls (or ladies, or whatever we are.)  We'll have to plan something again SOON.

We LOVE Summer!

Although Connor has reminded me several times this week that summer doesn't "officially" start until June 21st, we have been out of school for over a week now, and so in my book, it's SUMMER!  And we've had a great first week of summer.  The highlights:

Baseball!  Connor and Mylie both had two games this week.  We are at the ballpark A LOT. But everybody is pretty happy there, so it's good.

Picnics!  Somehow eating lunch on the porch is SOOO much better than eating at the table. And now that summer is here, we can eat on the porch a whole lot!

Daily Jobs!  OK, so maybe this isn't a highlight for my kids, but I love watching somebody besides myself dusting, cleaning bathrooms, feeding cats, vacuuming, etc. :)

Bike Riding!  Both Connor and Mylie earned new bikes this spring by meeting their school reading goals every month Jan.-May and practicing the piano daily for those five months as well.  So on Monday, we zipped over to Evanston and they picked out new bikes.  And they've been riding, and riding, and riding some more.  They especially love riding on a paved, wide open surface, neither of which exist at our house, so one night we headed up to the church parking lot for some major riding.  Mariah loves her bike as well, and Brady thinks bikes are the best. Just sitting on one or touching one gets him so excited!

Playground Fun!  With baseball, we spend a lot of time at the park as well.  

Quick trip to Bear Lake!  We did an impromptu mini-vacation the middle of the week.  One of Tony's sisters has a time share and got us a guest pass, so we got an awesome 2-bedroom condo for a great deal.  The kids loved hanging out at the condo, going swimming in the pool, and then a quick trip down to the lake to check out the marina and find some shells.  Tony and I enjoyed the BBQ, a nice run through Garden City in the morning, and just a little rest from the crazy week of work. We just wish we could have stayed longer.

Work!  Since a lot of it was outside work, I rather enjoyed it!  I got all the garden and my flowers planted, so it was a great week!  If you want to learn a little about faith and hope, plant a garden.  I love mine.