Snowbird

Rich's grandparents have a timeshare up at Snowbird for the last week of June every year. I always look forward to it! Rich's grandparents are some of the sweetest people I know. Rich wasn't able to stay because he had school. But I still really wanted to go up with the kids and have a good time. Grandma Stowe always out does herself with baking fabulous meals, and having lots of treats to snack on! They even watched my kids while I went for a morning run, they are so thoughtful! And when I got back from my run, they had a huge breakfast waiting for me! We get very spoiled!! Here are a few pictures from our little trip...

Blake loved the water!

Weston is the happiest when he's eating anything that's sweet!

They have a really fun park at Snowbird, the kids loved it!

Brooklyn, Weston and their cousin Shaylee

I attempted to take the kids on a nature walk, it lasted about 20 minutes!!

Grandpa Stowe and Blake

Brooklyn and her Uncle Brock, they seem more like cousins because Brock is only 7!

Picture time...

My friend Julie took these pictures of my kids for me. It's so nice going to a friends home verses going to a mall and paying way too much!! She got some really good individual pictures! The group picture was a lot harder, Weston would not cooperate and sit where he was told, and Brooklyn kept making a funny pirate smile! It's still cute to me though! Thanks Julie!

Bear Lake Trip...

Last weekend we were up at Bear Lake for a marathon I ran. My family from California came up as well and my sisters and their families from Idaho. We had a great time! It turned into a little vacation. We stayed at the Garden City KOA, which I love!! We stayed there last summer with some friends, and it's the perfect place for kids.

Finishing the marathon was the BEST feeling ever!! I never thought in a million years I would ever do one. I've been running for a few years, and have really become addicted to it. It's nice to have found a hobby that I really enjoy and love doing. Running is a great stress reliever for me, and it just feels good! Training for this race was fun and hard at the same time, and very time consuming! I am looking forward to have a break from all the training. Rich has been so supportive of me doing this, he's been so helpful with watching the kids during my long Saturday runs. Sometimes, I felt selfish taking so much time doing something just for me, but he always made me feel like I deserved it. He's a great husband.

On the bus ride up to the start line of the race, I met a older man probably in his seventies. He had told me that he had a ran a marathon the day before this one. I couldn't believe it! Where does he get the energy? That absolutely amazes me!! This man seemed so happy and full of life, I really admire him. I hope I can have his good attitude and good health when I get old.

Rich and my family were able to follow me around in the car during parts of the race. One part of the race Weston came out running to me to give me a hug. It was pretty sweet. Brooklyn would yell out the window "Your a good runner mommy!". Crossing the finishing line and seeing my whole family there cheering me on was a great moment and very emotional! Knowing that they were all there just for me what a neat feeling. I have a great family!

Below are a couple of slide shows from our trip.... My brother in law Nate took some these pictures, he always takes good pictures. You can really see the pain and anguish in my face during parts of the run!

Bear Lake Marathon

Bear Lake 2008

Family Art Days at BYU Museum of Art

My friends invited me to family art days at BYU today. I have to admit the thought of taking my 3 small kids to a museum without Rich made me a little nervous! Brooklyn enjoyed the face painting and crafts, but Weston had about 4 or 5 temper tantrums because he wanted a balloon when we first walked in! They only handed out the balloons as you leave the museum. So he was not happy about that! Weston did cheer up when we ate lunch outside and when he got his balloon!

Weston lapping up Icecream...

The other day we were across the street talking to the Carricks after Brooklyn's dance recital. Apparently Weston dropped his icecream cone on the ground, this didn't stop him from eating it. We look over and he's lapping the icecream up from the cement like a dog!! This is such a Weston thing to do! Very disgusting, but I had to capture this gross memory with a picture before I told him to stop licking off the ground.

Always look on the bright side of life!

Yesterday was Brooklyn's dance recital, I have been so excited for this! She did really good, she may be off the beat but she makes a good effort! She really looks forward to dance every week, that's all she talks about!

Here's a short video of part of her dance.

Brooklyn's dance recital

Blake 5 months old...

Blake will be 5 months old tomorrow. He's getting so big! He's been such a good baby, very content and happy. Last week, we decided it was time to let him cry through the night. When he was first born he slept through the night for about a month or two, and for the past few months he's been waking up 2 or 3 times. It only took one night of him crying for him to start sleeping through the night. (It was a long night! And very hard for me to not go in and pick him up)

I really look forward to going to bed now, it's so nice knowing that when my head hits the pillow I'm not going to be up at 1:00 am, 3:00am and 5:00 am!!!

Here's a little video of Blake and Brooklyn, anytime I get the camera out to take pictures of Blake, Brooklyn always likes to jump in the shot!

How fast are you??

94 words

My sister had this typing test on her blog, and I had to prove to her that I could beat her 84 words per minute. Let me know if you beat me!

Cousins...

My niece Katelyn and Blake.

This last weekend my sister Kelly and her family came to visit us from Idaho. Brooklyn always looks forward to playing with her cousins. She gets sad when they leave, she doesn't realize that Idaho is far away. She's always asking to go to Aunt Kelly's house. Last year we bought some property in Idaho Falls, so we do plan on moving there someday. I would love for my kids to grow up around their cousins and my two sisters that live in Idaho. I grew up with all my cousins right down the street, and I absolutely loved it! I would love for my kids to have that same experience.

We borrowed my neighbors bounce castle for all the kids to play on last weekend. They had a good time.

Weston did not want to put the bounce castle away.

Weston, Emma, Brooklyn and Mason watching a movie in the basement. The basement is not finished, but it makes a great playroom for the kids.

Browning Family

Hi everyone! The Browning family lives in our neighborhood, and all their friends are trying to get people to nominate them for this home makeover. I cant think of a more deserving family for this makeover. They are an amazing family!

If you click on this link: www.americahometoday.com/homemakeover/stories.php and read the full story and video I'm sure you would want to vote for them and help them out! The story is entitled "Taking the next step". You do have to register on the website but it takes less then a minute. Thanks!

Blake Laughing

DisneyLand...

Here we are at Disneyland. Brooklyn has been talking about going to Disneyland for the past month!! We had such a good time. I was a little nervous about the lines and it being hot. But, the lines were very short and the 3 days we spent at the park it was nice and cool! The longest line we waited in was probably 20 minutes, most of the rides we only had to wait 5 or 10 minutes. Weston's favorite ride was Buzz Lighter, we rode that a few times. Brooklyn really liked Thunder Mountain and Splash Moutain, she did not like Space Mountain! It really scared her! I took about 100 pictures, so here are some of our favorite pictures from our trip


Weston LOVES trains! He really loved riding the train around disneyland.
Precious!
Teacups!
Do you notice Weston's kid leash he has on? This was the biggest lifesavor! It would have been really hard to keep him from running off. Weston can be hard to control sometimes, so it was great to have this. He loved it, he could keep a snack in the pocket of the bear. And anytime he would start to run off, we could quickly reel him back in. It was the best $20.00 I've ever spent!
Brooklyn loved the parade...
We went to storytime one afternoon, sleeping beauty was the princess who told the story. Brooklyn loves sleeping beauty, she wears her sleeping beauty play dress almost everyday.
Here we are at the swimming pool at the hotel. It was nice to stay so close to the park, so when we got tired we could go back to the hotel to relax.

We lucked out and saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse, we only had to wait a few mintues to get a picture taken with them. Brooklyn had her autograph book that she had the different characters sign when she saw them.


Brooklyn sitting on Minnie Mouse's couch....
I left Blake with my mom for the first day and half of our trip. It was nice to have her watch him so Rich and I could ride the bigger rides with Brooklyn and Weston. The last day and half that we had Blake, he was really good! He just slept in his snuggling most of the time.

Brooklyn getting goofy's signature...



We went to quite a few 3d shows, the kids loved it. It's nice to take a break from walking and sit down and watch a show. I've never spent 3 days in a row at Disneyland, we were able to do so much and not feel rushed.
I think this ride was called the sunwheel at California Adventure, it swings back and forth. I felt so sick on this ride, I usually dont get sick on rides. But I did on this one!!!

Rich took this picture of Brooklyn Blake and I, he was in front of us with Weston.


Bell and the Beast, I took pictures of the princess at the parade incase we wern't able to see them in person. Brooklyn did get to see Bell and give her a hug, but when I tried to take the picture I didnt push the button down all the way. So I missed it!!
TinkerBell...