Westward Ho! Part 1

At the beginning of June we took our big summer trip out West, visiting 3 different states and lots of family. It was a lot of fun, but we all think this trip required a little too much traveling. At least I think that's what Grant and Tate were trying to say as they were screaming in the back seat.

For the first leg of our trip, we flew into SLC late Friday night and spent the night at Nana's. On Saturday, drove 8 hours up to La Grande, OR in our rented van (it was supposed to be a compact car, but all they had left was a van...oh, darn), to visit my sister, Christine, and her family. It has been about a year since we've seen them so it was great to visit and to hangout in their new hometown. The kids had a blast together with lots of running around, lots of playing swords, robots, and sharks, and lots of rounds of Star Wars computer games. La Grande was very pretty and a cute little town. We tried to scope out cities and towns as we drove around the area, just to see if we may be interested in setting up shop there eventually. Right now, who knows, but that area is definitely in the running!

We stayed busy going to several parks, playing outside, playing inside, making delicious food, eating delicious food...all the important things.

Part of our trip included a drive to the Tri-Cities of Eastern OR for Ryan to get LASIK eye surgery (hence the glasses in this pre-surgery shot). It's been something we've been considering for Ryan since we've been married, but finally decided now is the time to do it. Of course, Ryan loves it and we both still think it's a little weird that his morning and night rituals with contacts are now a thing of the past. Now his vision is better than mine, but don't worry, I still don't need glasses...yet.

One of the cool things about where Christine and Sam live is that they are about 10 minutes to beautiful scenery and boon-dockish nature. We drove up a mountain side for about 15 minutes to get to this lake, which was very beautiful. The kids had fun throwing rocks in the water until they got brave enough to consider throwing themselves off the dock. That and the mosquitoes made the lake trip short but fun.

Batman Birthday

As I mentioned in the previous post, Grant has been asking for a "Batman birthday" for practically the past year. This past weekend we had several of his little friends over and finally had that Batman party. After we cleaned up from the party I looked at the camera and realized for some strange reason we did not take any pictures of the decorations (which were awesome), so in these pictures the only batman themed part you will see is the cake. This cake was easier than last years and fun to decorate, and I know the boys loved eating it!

A three-year-old birthday party is a very fun, very energetic, very short attention span kind of time. Grant was lucky to have all of his friends help him blow out his candles and open his presents :) We caught a lot of the fun on camera and it is quite entertaining.

The hit of the party was probably cake time, but I think everyone stayed pretty entertained with the games and prizes. Thank you dollar section at Walmart for sticky slap hands, animal parachuters and other cheap and entertaining toys.

The after party. After the guests left Grant and Tate pulled up a chair to finish the cake scrapes and have a little brother time.

That morning before the party, I passed a yard sale on my run and found these costumes for 25 cents each. (Woody has a hat to go with it, too). Dressing up is so fun, Ryan and I wish we could fit in them as well!

Happy Birthday to Buddy

Three years ago today our sweet Grant joined our family and changed our lives. He has been the source of so much joy, excitement, love and laughter as well as frustration, worry and concern (as every parent of a toddler can attest to...well, I guess preschooler now). We truly feel so very blessed to have him in our lives. We love this boy so much!!

Grant has such a fun, happy personality and he definitely makes life exciting. I love that he has been able to communicate so well for so long, it's fun to talk to him and hear the things he has to say. He always has us laughing.

Some of Grant's favorite activities include: riding his bike, reading, playing with friends, watching movies, singing, listening to music, helping with chores, playing his computer games and eating. He is also a great big brother and I can see that he and Tate are developing a good relationship as Tate can now play more with Grant (which does my heart good :).

Today for his birthday I let him decide what he wanted to do. We spent half the day at one of his favorite places, COSI. He then got to skip quiet time to watch a movie of his choice, he chose Aladin. He picked pizza for dinner and then we headed to Greater's for some awesome ice cream and playing in their kiddy play area. I think he could say this was his best birthday yet (you know, not too many to choose from).
It is only to become better after his Batman Birthday party with his friends this weekend, which he has been asking for since going to a friend's Spider Man party last summer. Pictures to come...

Spring and Screen

What's better than enjoying an orange popsicle on the back porch on a warm spring evening?

Enjoying an orange popsicle on the back porch on a warm spring evening while smushing your face in the screen.

That's the ticket...

1/2 Marathon with Hubby...check

Ever since we got married I've been trying to convince Ryan of the joys of racing. Actually the last big race I ran was the St. George Marathon right after we got married, almost six years ago. Well, last Saturday Ryan and I took the plunge and ran the Capital City 1/2 Marathon (13.1 miles) through downtown Columbus. The verdict: two thumbs up! We both had a great time and ran well. However, nearly two hours of running gave Ryan ample time for reflection, during which he questioned participating in future long-distance running for any reason other than the preservation of life or liberty.
Ryan and I followed a training program I pieced together that incorporated a 3-run-per-week schedule and some of the Galloway method. It worked great for us because we never really got bored with the training and we both ran good times. I came in at 1:42:44 and Ryan at 1:51:30 (he stopped for a potty break and we never really met up again in the race). The race was huge with 10,000 runners. I have to say I was somewhat surprised how easily my competitive side came out during the race. I guess all those High School track and cross-country races will do that to you. In the end I came in 14th in my age group and Ryan 113th in his. I think we earned our post-race bagels and ice cream :)

Here's an after shot with our medals and the kiddies. Thanks to Kellie and Eric for waking up at 6:30 in the morning to take our boys!

I just had to throw this one in there because I love the boys in their Sunday clothes. My mom found the jacket Grant is wearing for $8 (normally $80)! Don't they look snazzy?!

Easter Simplified

Easter Weekend

Family Visit

"Munga" bonding

Flu contracted

Eggs beautified

Hunt anticipated

First discovery

Flu vanquished

Reverent contemplation

Durability verified

Booty quantified

International guest

Resurrection celebrated

Happy Easter!!

Ryan turns 30, and becomes a man.

Okay, so he was already a man. But still, turning 30 seems like a pivotal point in life.

So for Ryan's 30th I wanted to give him something special. I took the idea from our friend Lizzy and secretly got in touch with all of our family and Ryan's friends to have them write notes to Ryan for his birthday. They were mostly about what they liked about Ryan or memories they shared. I then gathered them all and put together a little book including pictures of the contributors. It turned out great! Ryan really loved reading what everyone had to say. Thank you again to all who contributed!Grant's favorite part of the birthday was helping Ryan unwrap this gift. I knew Grant would want to help so I wrapped Ryan's book inside of 3 other wrapped boxes, to stretch out the fun.

Instead of a birthday cake Ryan opted for a tray of huge cinnamon rolls all for himself. I obliged, being caked-out myself. He also took a plate of peanut butter bars to school with him on his birthday, so I think he made out pretty well. Both of these were supposed to go onto the food blog but I forgot to take pictures and what's a food post without good pictures?

Since we are training for our 1/2 marathon we were due to run 8 miles on his birthday, but it was unseasonably cold and windy and we just didn't feel like running. Instead we took advantage of Chick-fil-A's coupons and got a mostly free dinner and then headed over to COSI kid's museum and had fun playing without the kids. On Saturday, Ryan was able to go to a shooting range with several of his co-residents and brought back a target with all 15 shots from a 45 pistol right on the bulls-eye. I guess this shouldn't be a surprise since Ryan once took out a running rock-chuck with one shot from the passenger window of a speeding pickup truck. (Don't tell the police. Ryan later informed me that it's actually illegal to fire a weapon from a moving vehicle.) These just must be skills you pick up growing up in rural Idaho.

Another birthday surprise was we got a call from some raffle we had entered to win a car. We didn't win the car but the travel company that put in on asked us to come listen to their sales pitch for an hour and in exchange they would give us a free cruise for two including airfare. We went and listened (didn't buy but may have if we had money) and now Ryan and I get to go on a free cruise to the Bahamas in the next year. Now that's a nice birthday gift!

"Good day to you, sir!"
(His hat is actually the box that normally holds our series of Narnia books. Good times.)