Sister's Trip Day 1

Every year my sisters and I try to take a trip together. It's an awesome way to reconnect and I look forward to it. We've gone to New York, Las Vegas, Oregon, Park City and St. George. We all try to make it, but it doesn't always work out. This year we missed Aimee, but hopefully she can come in 2012. We went down to St. George again. The first day we rode four wheelers for about an hour, to this fantastic waterfall. The water was the perfect temperature for wading and swimming and the bottom was a huge slab of smooth rock covered in sand. Perfect for bare feet! My nieces came along too. Kati was on the back of my bike on the way out and it was so fun to hear her singing away the whole ride. I'm certainly up to date now with all the tween tunes. Then we went back to my sister's house to cool off before we headed out to Zion's Park. Evenings in Zions are amazing! After hiking we went to a fun ranch house for dinner and then back to bed. We were exhausted, but what a great day!

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SDS - They're At It Again!

I love these Secret Dates that Dave and his friends plan. The date started with roses and chocolates, then we went to Bucca de Bepo, followed by a fun show at the Desert Star Playhouse. The guys have so much fun trying to keep everything secret and the wives love being pampered. I have a pretty amazing sweetheart:)

Sweet Boy!

Just a few cute pictures of my little guy. He is growing so fast.

We Did It!

And what a crazy 1/2 Marathon it was. Originally, Analisa and I had planned to run TOU Half, but we put off signing up because she was having some hip problems on our longer runs. When we got everything worked out and went to sign up, the race was full. We searched for something else local and decided on the Timpanogas Half. It was a month earlier than we had planned to race, but with other vacations and such, it was our best option. My sister lives down that way, so we arranged to stay at her house the night before because we needed to be at AF Highschool by 4:30am to bus up to the starting line. I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that I left my running shoes at home. AHHHHHH!!! I searched through my sister's house, trying not to wake anybody up, praying that I would find something that would work. To my surprise I actually found an old pair of running shoes that were only a half size too big. I got a few more hours of sleep and we headed out.

So how did the race go...Well, I dropped my granola bar in the porta potty at the starting line, Analisa's Achilles started hurting at mile 8 and I ended up with some pretty nasty blisters from my sister's shoes. Lots of bad omens and lessons learned on this one. But we finished and Analisa was thrilled to have run her first Half.

Fly, Fly, FLYYYYYY!

Me and My Lovie.
The Group.

The injury.

Flying high...

Dave's perfect landing.

I surprised Dave for Father's Day with paragliding lessons. It was AWESOME! Caryn, Trevor, Dani and Mark all came too. My whole life I've watched people hang gliding and paragliding at the Point of the Mountain, so this was definitely on the bucket list. Dave absolutely loved it and I was excited to hit the gift giving jackpot! The instructors suited us up and gave us a few lessons on the ground. Then we hiked a few hundred feet up the mountain. Basically, you start running and your shute inflates which lifts you up in the air. You can control your height and direction, but it was a little tricky. The landing was much more technical than I had expected and we got a few bumps and bruises. Dani, unfortunately came in too hard on her first flight and reinjured her knee, so she had to watch the rest of the morning :( Dave had more flights that anyone in our group because he kept wadding up his shute and running back up the mountain as fast as he could. He was so eager, it was like watching a little kid. Thinking about it still makes me smile.

Blessings!

WARNING....Lots of sappiness to follow.


Today I was counting my blessings and I thought about all my wonderful friends, old and new. I am grateful to have fantastic friends. I am grateful for friends I see only once a year, but we pick up right where we left off. I am grateful for friends who move away and I rarely see, but I love sharing emails. I am grateful for friends who are like sisters and treat my kids just like their own, who walk into my house when I'm sick and take my kids for the day, despite my semi-delirious protests. I am grateful for friends who still love me even when I say or do something I shouldn't have. I am grateful for friends who I can stay up half the night with, talking about nothing and everything and then spend all day shopping with, acting like a teenager. I am grateful for friends who run miles and miles with me and swap stories, thoughts and testimonies. I am so grateful for Dave, who is my best friend and loves and accepts me for exactly who and what I am. He cheers for me and cries with me. We chose to share our lives for eternity and we choose to love eachother more each day.

Thank you for making my life so full of joy and happiness. Thank you for teaching me and being part of my journey.

Narcalepto Man!

Caleb continues to amaze us with his super human ability to fall asleep literally anywhere...