Hey, I was going to wear that!

P.J.'s, a cardigan, a sleepy face and peep toes. How did she read my mind? That could have been embarrassing.

Peek-a-boo

Still fun.

I cleaned my room all by myself!

That is what Jake said to me the other night while he was getting ready for bed. I went in to his room to tuck him in and did not see some of the toys where they usually are. A little investigation and this is what I found. It may be the first time, but surely not the last.

It's all in my head

I just recently started finally reading "the vampire books". If I hadn't maybe this would not have even crossed my mind. But doesn't she look like she might want to take a bite out of some one's neck? Creepy eyes!

The evolution of the string cheese man... and his friends

Jake is known for not being the fastest eater in the world. He will usually finish, it just might take him an hour. That is probably where he gets his slim figure from. Lately he has been getting quite imaginative with his food, slowing the eating process that much more. He told me he was an artist the other day, so i guess his medium is food.

String cheese man... take one

String cheese man...take two, small head

String cheese man...take three, finally the way he wanted him

We have also been graced by the carrot man and grape guy. All in a days work for an "artist".

And the winner is...

Out of the many summer blockbuster movies that have come out this summer you, the voters, have chosen Batman, The Dark Knight, as what you believe to be the best movie of the summer. With The Dark Knight capturing over 40% of the votes, Iron Man and WallE followed as a distant second and third place respectively. So with that, we will put our trust in you and as part of our 7-year wedding anniversary dinner and a movie extravaganza we will go to the movie theater and watch Batman, The Dark Knight. You think this is a big celebration just wait until our 10-year anniversary. By then not only will we go to dinner and a movie, but we'll actually buy treats at the theater instead of sneaking in our own. Thank you for your participation.

Pioneer Day and the weekend

Here in good old Utah, July 24th is a state holiday complete with 4th of July type celebrations. We started the fun bright and early at 7:30 when Jake and I ran the one mile fun run. It was his first race and he did great! He ran all but a few steps. He loved crossing the finish line and the Gatorade that was there for us. Here we are post race.
Bryan woke Kate up and ran down to meet us at the finish line.

Here is what my dad got me dressed in to go to the race. Bryan played in a three on three competition.
Kate napped while Jake watched the parade and ate candy. In the afternoon, after Bry went to work, my friend and I took the kids to the park for festivities. Here is the jump house fun.




After running around in the heat, we got snow cones and headed to play bingo. It was a little long, but Jake ended up getting a bingo and winning a snow cone maker and some yummy syrups. Then home for dinner, baths, and to bed early. Bry and I got to step outside after dark and watch fireworks from our yard. It was a long, tiring, but fun filled day. Friday was business as usual. Then Saturday we spent the morning failing miserably at yard saleing. Then we were off to the pool to cool off. Jake is getting more and more brave every time we go. This time he was going under water on his own over and over just for fun. Before long he might be swimming.

Bryan and Kate playing around.

Mom and Kate squinting in the sun.After the pool we headed home to have a BBQ with friends. More homemade ice cream. Can't seem to get enough of that this summer. And a good time was had by all.

Seriously, that face

Bear Lake, take two... enter jet skis

We headed back up to Bear Lake yesterday for some more fun in the sand and sun. We went with the same good buddies that we went with last time, and this time they had Reese's dad's jet skis. It was another great day and we didn't get nearly as sunburned.

Was it a massacre?

I was walking down the hall the other day and I looked into Jake's room and this is what I saw.

The hand gun on the bed makes it look especially violent.Without jumping to to many conclusions about Jake's future prison time, I decide to ask what it was he was playing. The explanation is so much nicer than it looks. He was playing Tarzan and those are the "vines" he swings from. He could not get the animals to hang by their hands so their necks were the next best thing. Apparently the gun belonged to the hunters that were after them. This boy has one heck of an imagination!

Happy and we know it

The kids have both been into "If you are happy and you know it..." lately. Here is them enjoying it the other morning. Jake is more just going through the motions this time. Please excuse the voice off camera. I realize I won't be winning American Idol ever.

4th Festivities

We had a great time the weekend of the 4th. Being here in Logan we are lucky enough to have the fun start a day early. For some reason the city puts on their big show the 3rd. We headed down to the Bryan's work with some friends to sit out on the lawns to watch the show. There is a great view of the football stadium from there. We had lots of yummy treats and the kids ran around until the fireworks started. Both the kids loved the fireworks. The next day we went to the pool, had friends over for BBQ(complete with homemade ice cream, yum!), the neighborhood over for smores, and staying up late again for a decidedly smaller firework display. Other than the sleep deprivation for the kids, it was a great time.

Kate dressed for the big show. Thanks for the shirt Nano!The kiddos watching the fireworks.

Every kid from miles around wanting marshmallows.

Jake mastering the roast. I'm pretty sure he tested the chocolate.Who's next? I think Lacey is ready.

LOVE HIM, MISS HIM

New Do

It has taken so freaking long for this girl to get any hair that we(or I) get excited about each new stage. I'm sure they will look hammered after her nap, but they sure were cute piggy's for the morning.

Bear Lake

Last weekend we went with our neighbors/friends Reese, Lacey and Mason to Bear Lake for the day. It was pretty hot so it was a great day for some water fun. We packed lunches, toys and towels and headed out of town(there was actually enough stuff with us to survive for a week but we always over pack with kids). We found a great spot with a sand bar dividing a small warm pool of water and the lake so the kids could play a little safer and warmer. The kids dug and splashed. Bry and Reese swam out to one of the buoys and then played with the kids forever. Lacey and I layed out and took our turn swimming out to the buoy. It was much farther than it looked once we got started. The adults all got sunburned and we came home with about a ton of sand. It was the first of many lake days for the summer!

I guess Kate can't learn everything from Jake

Kate's facts and figures

Kate hit the 18 month mark this month. Yeah for nursery!!! She also had her check up last week. She is 34 inches tall and 25 pounds. That makes her pretty average for her weight and on the pretty darn tall side for girls. I guess we won't be to shocked if she ends up on the tall side. She climbs up on everything she can, is starting to say more and more(even though we are the only ones who can really understand her), and she keeps us laughing everyday. Kate is one busy girl but we would not have it any other way(except during sacrament meeting)!

Look at that sassy face!

For some reason every time we head to the pool she gets this hat. Not sure why.

The Next Karate Kid?

Never had one lesson.

Silly goodnight

As you can see the kids were a little wound up last night before bed. For as much as Kate bothers Jake sometimes, it is good to see him think she is pretty funny too. As for Kate, she can be pretty random sometimes. What a nut. Sorry this is a bit dark, we don't believe in light bulbs.

It's Official!

We are once again Loganites. Someone at church on Sunday joked about the Logan vortex and I guess it got us again. It feels like a bit of a time warp to be back here but it is nice to feel comfy from the get go. We got here on Memorial Day and go everything moved in that night. Then we spent the next three days unpacking and Bry went job hunting. Luckily the job hunting took a fraction of the time the unpacking did. That Friday morning we left for AZ to see Ethan and Ashley and be there for Logan's b-day and Gavins blessing. I wish I could now insert all the pictures of the fun times we had but since I forgot our camera (who does that?!) you will have to take my word for it. We left AZ on Tuesday and headed to Vegas baby. We got to visit our fun friends from Michigan Brice and Lindsey and there two kiddos Kaylee and Tyler. Once again I would love to post pictures of how fun it was to see them but that is just not going to happen. Then Wednesday it was back home. We spent the rest of that week getting loose ends tied up. This past Monday Bryan started school and work. Busy busy!! He found a job that seems to be a good fit for him and other than getting used to the new schedule, it should be great. The kids seem to be transitioning well but sometimes I don't think they get that we are staying here. They are enjoying all the kids we have near by to play with. I sent out a mass email with our new contact info on it so if you did not get it just make a comment on here and I will send it your way again. All in all we are glad to be here. We do miss family and friends in Oregon badly (my dad has turned into Jake's imaginary friend that does all sorts of crazy stuff) but this seems to be a good place for us now. The way we keep bouncing back here we might as well just stay!

26.2

Running a marathon is something that I have wanted to do for a LONG time. The end of last summer my friend Lisa, who I've known since 8th grade, asked me if I would be up for the challenge with her. Freak yeah! So we started our official training in January and 16 weeks, and some ups and downs later was race day. We decided to run The Avenue of the Giants Marathon outside of Eureka, California. It was close enough to home to drive and small enough of a race to make it a great first experience. The race is along an old highway through the redwood forest. Beautiful! As far as the race itself went, I loved it. The first half I was running off adrenaline. I was having so much fun. It makes me think that I could really get into half marathons. The second half seemed a bit longer to me, but it was still so fun. I ended up finishing in a blistering 5 hours and 15 mins. Not really fast at all, but I did it. I was right about the middle of the pack when all was said and done which I felt good about for my first effort. All in all, I am so happy with the experience and I look forward to doing it all again some time. I'm not sure when that next one will be but I plan on running other smaller races like 10K's and half marathons as often as I can. I am so thankful to by good buddy Lisa for getting this whole thing started. Our chats during the Saturday morning long runs will be greatly missed!