Addyson

Brody and Amber's baby Addyson was born December 28th.  She was 6 lbs. 4 oz. and 19.5 inches.  We helped watch Cam one day while Amber was still in the hospital.  It is always fun to have him come and play!  We love our cousins and are so excited to have another one!  Brooke and especially Bailee has really been loving holding her.  Cole isn't as interested as he was when Cam was born.  I don't know if it is because Addy is a girl or if he has reached the age that he is too cool for that :)

Bailee is 5!

Happy Birthday Bailee!  How is our baby 5!?  For her birthday she and her friend Brynn went to lunch at Panera Bakery and played at Wiggle Worms (a creative play place for kids).  We also went to Firehouse and had cake and ice cream after.

Bailee at 5:

• Favorite Color - Pink and Purple
• Favorite Food - Cheese Bagel & Spaghetti
• Favorite TV Show - Power Rangers & Paw Patrol
• Favorite Toys - Mini Princesses, My Little Ponies -- really anything that has little trinkets.  She always has a purse or bag full of "treasures" that she takes everywhere with her
• Still sucks her thumb when she has her night-night  :/
• Best Friend - Brynn
• Is becoming quite social:  loves to go to school and primary, to play with friends and be outside, but is also still my home body.
• Doesn't like to help with chores.  We have to tell her very specifically what to do -- most of the time she will choose to go to her room and have a nap rather than help with chores.
• Her teachers at school say she loves to play pretend and will often  be a doctor, veterinarian, or waitress
• Says she is going to have 6 jobs when she grows up.  Preschool Teacher, Speech Teacher, Dentist, Orthodontist, Nurse, and Dance Teacher
• Takes dance from Blair and loves it!  She still remembers last year's dance and will do it anytime the song What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction comes on
• Is very good at entertaining herself.  On the days I work she goes to Matt's office for an hour or two after preschool.  She plays quietly by herself and will often do the same when we are running errands or she is the only one home.

Happy Birthday Cole!

Cole is 7!  He had a fun birthday this year.  We rented a bounce house and he played all afternoon with his friends.  Then that evening we had dinner and cake and more playing with our family.  We sure love him!

Cole at 7:
Loves anything outside
Favorite Sport is whatever season it is - right now soccer & football
He is playing flag football for the first time this season - he is tall & fast
Best Friend - Cooper & Riley
Favorite Thing about School - recess (although he likes school in general - he is an awesome reader!)
His teacher says he is a model student.  He is helpful, nice to everyone, and obeys the rules

Funny Story about Cole: (although it wasn't funny at the time!!!)  Over the summer he learned to ride his bike.  Once we finally convinced him that it wasn't scary he took off and never looked back.  We couldn't get him off of it.  One day he was riding around the neighborhood as I was cleaning.  He would come in the house every 10 minutes or so and check in and then take off again.  Well after awhile, he hadn't checked in and I was starting to worry.  20 minutes passed and then 30.  Still no Cole.  I checked all his friend's houses and around the block.  Now about an hour had passed.  Still no Cole.  I was starting to panic.  I called Matt to come home from work and help me look.  He had been talking about riding to my mom's house one day so I was starting to worry that he had decided to try.  I called her and started to head toward Hyde Park.  By the time I hit 1400 North, still no Cole.  By this time it was well over an hour that he had been gone and no one had seen him.  I finally decided to call the police.  As I was on the phone with dispatch, Matt called my other line.  They had found his bike.  Turns out, the last time he rode around the block, he saw a friend outside on the other end of the neighborhood.  He left his bike in the friend's backyard and went in the house to play.  He never plays with this friend so even thought I had looked in "circle" where he lives, I couldn't see the bike or Cole.  By the time I got home, Cole was home as well as a Sheriff.  The sheriff was close by when I called dispatch so he came right over.  Cole wouldn't come out and talk to him -- he was super scared and knew that he shouldn't have disappeared without telling me.

Back to School

We did our annual back to school shopping trip with Grandma and Blair to Salt Lake and Park City.  It was lots of fun!  Even Cole likes to try on new clothes and shop.  Brooke is very picky and takes a long time to try everything on.  Bailee just likes anything you show her!

Mom went back to work part-time this year as a Speech Technician at Canyon Elementary so she started a little earlier than the kids with new teacher training.  Brooke is in 3rd grade with Mrs.  Romrell, Cole is in 1st grade with Mrs. Stringham, and Bailee will be starting the Child Development Lab at USU in a couple weeks.

We are sad to see summer end, but excited for our next year of learning and adventures!

Activity Days Camp

I was lucky enough to have the calling of Activity Day Leader so I got to attend all the summer activity days with Brooke.  Our big activity was at Camp Fife in July.  The girls got to try shooting guns, bmx biking, zip lining, rock climbing, and lots of fun things.  It was fun to be there and watch Brooke with her friends.  She was pretty nervous about the zip line, but loved it in the end.  

We also had a mother-daughter luau in August that we were able to attend together.  We had a nice dinner and the mom's filled out questionnaires and the girls had to guess who was their mom.  It took Brooke a few questions before she figured out it was me.  She sure is growing up!

Family

Morgan Valley Marathon

When I signed up to run this race, it was going to just be a training run for St. George with Meridith.  Then I looked up times from past years and realized there was a chance I could win it, so I knew I had to try.  Kelsey ran 20 miles with me a few weeks ago and has been wanting to do a marathon for a few months, so I talked her into running it at the last minute.  We were able to stay at Kelly and Shelly's the night before and it was nice to be so close!  The race starts at 5:30 before it gets too hot, so we had to be there early!

Our goal was to run 3:20, about 7:40/mile.  We started out right at the front and there was one girl in front of us.  We knew if we could just keep her in sight that there was a good chance we could pass her at the end.  For the first 13 miles we averaged 7:14.  We came across the half in just under 1:35 and at this point I was thinking if we could maintain pace we were going to beat my PR!  At mile 14 the girl in the lead started to really speed up and get ahead of us.  At this point we slowed down to about 7:30/mile.  The last half of the course was harder and we knew that, but figured we'd still be ok to slow down a little.

Miles 14-18 we averaged 7:36, but it all went south from there.  At about mile 18 Kelsey was getting tired.  Her body isn't used to running that many miles all at once.  About this same time my left side started cramping and tightening.  From my butt all the way down into my foot was just killing.  I just kept breathing through it, but I was hurting.  By the time we hit the last 10K, we had slowed significantly.  We were both pretty miserable and had to keep stopping to stretch.  We caught up with the half runners at about mile 23.  It was encouraging to pass people and to have more volunteers cheering for us.  We were just trying to hold on now.  When we hit .25 to go I knew my family would be at the finish and found a little left in the tank to speed up.  I came across the finish in 3:22:24 and Kelsey was 3:22:30.  We did it!

I was 2nd place female overall and Kelsey was 3rd.  Not bad considering Miles 18-26 we averaged 8:29.  The top female came in 3:10.  She must have been holding back the first half and just took off after we lost sight of her!

Today (the day after) my left foot is pretty swollen and sore.  My peroneal tendon is not happy.  I hope a couple days of ice and rest and it will heal.  Kelsey's right side is tight and sore, but overall we are both happy!  So glad we got to do it together.

Meridith came with us too and came in 3rd in her age division with 4:08.  She actually liked the 2nd half better because it was more flat, but Kelsey and I liked the rolling hills the first half.  It is not the downhill courses we are used to in Utah, but I thought it was fun for a change.  I am excited for St. George!

Cache Cup

Brookelyn decided to try out for a competitive soccer team with her friends this year.  Their first tournament was this week.  Somehow, they ended up in the highest division, so they got killed -- every. single. game.  BUT--- it has been so fun to watch them come together as a team and learn and develop.  You can really see their training paying off and I have no doubt by the end of the year they will be a lot better.  They had a lot of fun together and it is fun to see them all play and get along!

4th of July

This is one of my favorite holidays of the year!  Family, food, and running are my kind of holiday!  We had a fireworks party at Kelsey's on the 3rd and then the kids got to sleep over at grandma's.

The morning of the 4th Matt and I ran the Freedom Run with Catherine.  This is a 15K (9.3 mile) race that runs down Blacksmith Fork Canyon and into Hyrum.  It was so much fun!!  One of my favorite races to date.

I was super surprised to find out I was the 2nd female overall with a time of 1:03.  I knew I was close to the front, but I was thinking I was in 4th or 5th.  My goal was to run it in 65 minutes and I ran the first couple miles with my friend Stephanie but I was feeling good so I sped up and she slowed down.  I chatted with a few running friends along the way but once I hit the hill in Hyrum at mile 7 I was all business.  As I came to the top of the hill I could see my friend Travis up ahead and I knew if I could just catch him he would keep me going until the end.  I passed one girl at mile 8 while I was trying to catch him.  I finally caught up with about a mile to go and Travis was trying to talk to me, but I was focused.  He asked me a couple questions but when I gave him totally wrong answers he knew I didn't want to talk.  (in my defense I thought I was answering right -- I was just totally tuned out)  Anyway... he was kind and let me cross the finish line first and I was thrilled when I found out the results!  After I finished I waited at the finish line for Matt and Catherine and cheered for lots of friends coming in.  I love my running family!

Matt and Catherine finished in 1:25 and 1:31.  Neither of them had really trained.  Matt said his toes started hurting at mile 4 and he walked up the hill.  He still finished faster than I thought he would for not training, but he still said running is just not fun.

After the race we came home and showered and I left to go meet Kelsey, Annie, and the kids for the Hyrum Parade while Matt took a nap.  This is the first year we have been to the parade and we really enjoyed it!  We came home and had a quick nap and then headed out to my parents for our water party.

Annie rented a water bounce house and a regular bounce house this year so the kids had a blast swimming and jumping.  Nanny Peg was bound and determined that she was going down the slide and it was pretty scary to see her climb up there.  We all thought for sure she'd break another bone!  Luckily Blair followed her and helped her up.

We ended the night with dinner, a pinata, and a few fireworks before it got too windy.  Sure love our family!!