County Fair

Brady loved the fair!  And he hated the fair!  Basically, he was happy when we were looking at all the animals in the barns, and not happy whenever we weren't doing that.

He didn't spend enough time doing this, either. 

Mariah really had fun at the fair this year.  She liked playing with all the fun stuff--bouncy houses, sandboxes, train rides, etc.  She also liked the shows--marionettes, ventriloquist, hypnotist.  The only livestock shows she cared about, however, were Mylie's lamb shows.

This was Mylie's first year participating in anything at fair.  She raised a bum lamb this summer, and so we decided to enter her in a couple little lamb shows.  The first was just a kid's lamb show.  The other was the really fun one--sheep decorating.  Mylie decided she and Daisy would go as a bug catcher and a ladybug.  It turned out super cute and she had a lot of fun doing it.  She also enjoyed all the fun stuff and the shows as well.

This was Connor's second year showing and selling a market beef at the fair.  This year his steer was named Leonard Washington, after Wyoming's basketball big man.  He did a super good job with his steer this year, faithfully feeding it and working with it starting way back in December.  He sold it for a good price and loved the experience.  Of course, none of this could happen without all of Tony's hard work as well.  I am so thankful for all he did with Connor to help him be able to do 4-H.

July

July was a fabulous, full month!  We had three family reunions, I had 7 days of volleyball camps, Connor played in the little league all-star tournament in Riverton, Tony and I got away for a night to celebrate our anniversary, Brady had his first birthday, and in between it all, we were working and playing hard!  Since there really was no time for blogging, we're doing the super-condensed version, with a lot of pics but few words.  Here it goes:

Oberg Reunion at Bear Lake

 Slip 'n' Slide party with cousins

The boys at Sinks Canyon near Lander during Connor's baseball tourney

Tony splurged and took me to Grand America for our anniversary.  It was BEAUTIFUL and so nice.

The courtyard view from our 16th story King Suite. :)

Chocolate-covered strawberries were waiting in our room when we got back from dinner.

Just us--married 11 years.

Somehow this guy is a year old now!

(When you're not a pinterest Mom, you just make cupcakes and arrange them to form the number 1, and you think it's great because you aren't comparing it to what every other Mom out there did.)

He loved his cupcake!

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.