Family Weekend

The second weekend in August Joe's 2 brothers ( Mike and Paul) came into town. We celebrated Joe's dad's birthday and did a lot of other fun things. I think one of the best parts of the weekend was surprising Joe's parents with Paul coming into town. They knew Mike was coming but had no idea Paul was. Mike picked Paul up from the airport on his way down from Idaho. When Mike got to the house he and his family came in and we said our hellos and visited for a bit then there was a knock on the door. (This was around like 10:30) My in-laws kinda seemed surprised they opened the door and in came Paul! It was perfect!!
On that Saturday Brandi and I participated in the Lindon Days 5k and the kiddos did a little fun run. I signed Gabe up because it was free. Little did I know it was half a mile. I can understand when the registration lady gave me a funny look when I told her he was 2! We did it anyways and guess who won?!?! Yes that would be my son!!
At the awards ceremony they announced Gabe as the winner in his division! I was just as surprised as all the other kids when they saw how little he was. We still aren't sure how he won. His cousin finished before him. I felt a little bad taking the award because Gabe did not really run the whole way. He ran about half way and got too tired so we just turned around and went back! We did tell the awards people. I guess they didn't mind! We got a good laugh about it.
We had a great weekend and loved having them in town! We miss you guys a lot! Especially Gabe! He was very sad when everyone left! Here a few pictures of the events!

Gabe's FIRST place ribbon! p.s. He LOVES his Uncle Paul and had a

very hard time when he left!

After the race
All the little kiddos that ran the race. Matthew won his division. Way to go Matthew!
Bailey and Gabe. He is very thirsty from all his running!

I thought it was so cute he had is own number.

Before the kid's race.

My first race in a long time! I really need to get back to running again!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

And we're off....

Joe has been interviewing for jobs on and off for the past couple of months.We did get an offer a month or so ago but did not feel right about it. On July 25th Joe got a call for a job offer! After pondering and praying... we felt good about it and decided to take the job. This job will move us to Arizona. We are sad and excited at the same time. It is going to be hard to leave family and friends! On the brighter side the job is with a good company and doing what he wants.
Joe had to leave yesterday for AZ to start the job. We will join him as soon as we can find a place to live. I hope it's sooner rather than later. I already have a little boy here who misses his daddy! (Yes, I do miss him too!)

Timp Cave

Early in July my brother Thel and his family came to visit from Michigan. It was so good to see them! While they were here we went to Timp Cave. I was a little nervous with taking all the kids but they all did well. I had forgotten what a hike it was! Last time I went was about 10 years ago! I don't think I had sweat that much in a long time. It didn't help that it was hot outside. We had a lot of fun! Gabe had a lot of fun spending time with his cousins and was sad to see them go.

Gabe and his cousins.

Gabe and Daddy

When I first saw this picture i kept wondering what he was holding. I finally figured he wasn't holding anything it was just a cone far away.

This made the hike a lot less worrisome! Thanks Britni! I used to make fun of people that put these on their kids. I totally know why you need one. Especially with a busy little guy like Gabe.

Top of the Cave

In the Cave

The whole gang!

Big Wheel

About a month ago Joe came home with a Big Wheel Jeep for Gabe. He has been wanting to get him one for the longest time. He found this on KSL for way cheap and couldn't resist! For any of you who know Gabe you know how much he loves cars. I wish you could have seen his face when he saw this! Needless to say he was very excited! He would have been happy just sitting in the car. He had no idea that it actually moved. He was a little hesitant of it but now hes does better. He is still learning to drive it!

Easter

I have tried to post this since early May for some reason blogger would not let me. I have a lot of catching up to do! ANYWAYS....

Easter weekend was great. We started off doing a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. A few of Gabe's cousins came down to participate as well. They all had so much fun getting their eggs. Gabe was SO excited about the candy. They served donuts and hot chocolate afterwards because apparently it is always cold on Easter! He was also very excited about the donuts. Anytime he pretends to go somewhere in his car he says he is going to get donuts! We spent the rest of the day with family. Just before we went to bed we realized we forgot to color eggs. I am glad we remembered it because Gabe LOVED it. He talked about doing it for days!
Easter morning we did a little egg hunt with Gabe. It was fun to watch him. We then went on a search for our hidden baskets. Once again once Gabe saw the candy he was shoving it into his mouth faster than he could chew it! Chocolate was drooling out of his mouth! He is a cute little guy. We got a cute little outfit for church but just before we went he found some RED juice somehow and it spilt all over him so we had to change. We had Easter dinner with my sister-in-law and her family. I am so grateful for such great family and friends to celebrate with.

He absolutely loved coloring eggs!

This is my favorite picture. I love Carter's face and I like that Gabe is looking at him!

Trying to get them to look at the camera was pointless especially with candy in front of their face.

Joe's Birthday

The weekend before Joe’s birthday I surprised him and took him to St. George for the weekend! My wonderful sister-in-law watched Gabe for us! (THANK YOU JENNY!) It was nice to get away from the cold weather. We spent the first day going to Snow Canyon, going to dinner and a movie. The second day was probably the highlight of the whole trip. We rented 4 wheelers for the whole day. I think we were out there for about five hours. We went out to the sand dunes, saw some dinosaur tracks and just explored. It was so much fun! The only bad part from that trip was I was not thinking and forgot to put on sunscreen. I got really bad sunburn! It hurt to move my arms for a good 2- 3 days. I have never got that bad of a burn before. Needless to say lesson learned! We went to dinner that night and we both were so exhausted we went to bed when we got home. Sunday when we woke up we stopped at the St. George Temple before we left. It was a great trip and I am so glad that we were able to go.

Joe’s actual birthday he had to work all day so Gabe and I took him to Magleby’s (his favorite). I think it was the first time we took Gabe to dinner with us. Yes, we have been spoiled by living with my in-laws. They are always so nice to watch Gabe for us. They happened to be out of town and all the babysitters had church (it was a Wed. night) so we took him a long. It was an adventure but it wasn’t horrible. We came home and had cake and ice cream. I hope you had a great birthday Joe! We love you!

Joe was too scared at first to go down this (it doesn't look as steep in this picture) hill. I had to show him how it was done. Then he was able. I was like his little test rat. Not sure if that is a good thing.

Dinosaur Track

Joerauntasaurus

I took this picture for my phtography class. I had to take a picture with a slow shutter speed.