Summer Catch Up

We have been having a pretty busy summer so I am going to try to play some catch-up and write a way too long post. For the 4th of July, Ryan took a few days off school and we headed to VA to hang out with my parents. We had a ton of fun and as usual it was hard to leave. Both boys had a blast with their Munga and Papa and Grant was asking when we were going back the day after we got home.

Some of the fun activities included:
Attending a couple 4th of July BBQ's
Shopping (without kids!)
Catching an evening showing of Eclipse with my mom (it was definitely the best of the series)
Eating delicious food... all day
Hanging out with the family
Listening to Ryan and my mom talk politics
and last, but not least
Hitting up the Beach!!

I love going to the beach and since we are hardly able to go now, here are a ton of pictures to commemorate the event. We all had a blast. The boys loved the sand, loved the water, and even loved keeping their hats on (which was a surprise).

We kept the boys nice and covered in their T-shirt suits and hats, and they did not get burned. Ryan and I on the other hand, looked akin to lobsters later that day.

My mom, who is probably not a middle-of-the-day-heat beach person, was a trooper and came with us. She helped keep the boys happy, hydrated and entertained so Ryan and I could actually play out in the water for a bit.

We never made that awesome sand castle but the moat turned out pretty cool.

Ryan had a good grip on the boys to keep the current from getting them (which is surprisingly strong!). And yes, that white farmers-tan skin is what became lobster red later that day.

Westward Ho! Part 2

For part deux of our trip we hopped back in the van to drive another 8 hours through southern ID, past Pocatello, to Lava Hot Springs. We were very glad to be out of the car when we drove up to this cute bed and breakfast in an absolutely gorgeous valley. I didn't think southern ID could be this pretty, but I guess it has been getting abnormal amounts of rain so everything was green and lush. For the Wood family reunion, we all rented this place out for the weekend and had such a great time.

We all enjoyed the hangout and relaxing time. Ryan even tried to escape once for a nap in the hammock, but the boys were close on his trail. With the Wood family, it is always fun to sit around and talk, which inevitably results in a lot of laughing and fun times. We also played several family games, including the traditional "Candy Bar game", a white elephant exchange, and a new one we learned called Werewolves, a mafia-type game where you're trying to discover and kill the werewolves before they kill you. I thought it was more fun than mafia, except that I kept on being a werewolf and never figured out an effective way of lying.

So the scenery was absolutely beautiful. Also, you can see the weather here never quite warmed up either. We are glad we threw in those sweatshirts last minute! We loved getting out, enjoying nature and breathing the fresh Western air.

Besides catching up with family and enjoying nature, we spent a lot of time riding the 4-wheelers and dirt bike. Gavin was so great and took the boys out for tons of rides. They never wanted to get off. There was a fire pit out back, so we also enjoyed a roaring camp fire with s'mores.

For one day of the trip we headed out to the water park at Lava Hot Springs. Yes that's me on top of the high-jump. It doesn't look too high from this shot, but up on top it's kind of a different view. It was 33 feet high so they made you sign a waiver, maybe just to freak you out. It was fun and I survived the jump with an "I'm going to die now" scream and a nice bruise along my left thigh where I must have landed. The one draw back to Ryan's eye surgery was that he couldn't swim. So he was pretty much left with kid-duty while I went down the slides, jumped off the high jumps, and climbed the rock wall. We are so glad that the water was nice and warm, 92 degrees they said, because the weather didn't warm up that day, and the sun never came out. So we pretty much stayed neck deep in the water as much as we could.

Grant enjoyed an early morning outing with Grandpa Wood, who normally doesn't look this stern :)

Our attempt at a family picture. Oh well :)

On Sunday afternoon we had to say our goodbyes and we hopped back in the van for a 2 1/2 hour drive back to SLC. Ryan caught a red eye flight that night to be back to school at 6 a.m. the next morning (what a trooper!). The boys and I stayed at Nana's for another couple of days and hung out with my brothers. We went down to BYU for an afternoon and even got to stop by and see Jenna for a minute, one of my college roomies. Driving around BYU I tried to point out places of interest to Grant. We drove by the Elms Apartments and I said "Grant, that is where Daddy and I met and fell in love." In usual Grant fashion, he replied "That's where I lived and fell in love." He likes to be the subject in most sentences. On Tuesday afternoon the boys and I caught our flight back to Ohio. I'd say the flight went pretty well, with only about 15 minutes of uninterrupted screaming and 5 angry looks from the lady in front of us. We had so much fun on this trip, but of course, we were glad to be home and back to somewhat of a routine.

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?!