Fun Run 4 Kids

Last Saturday Miles participated in his first official race! Our neighbors organize the Fun Run 4 Kids every year to raise money for children in Africa. It is a 5K race for adults and they also have races for children. Miles was in the 0-2 year old group and ran the 100 meter dash. I was so excited for him to participate because as most of you know, he doesn't walk anywhere, he only runs. When the kids started lining up for his race, I got a tad bit nervous because he started to get grumpy. We ended up at the back of the pack because he wasn't cooperating. But after the race started Miles quickly made his way towards the front of the pack. With that age group most of them headed off in their own direction, etc. It was so much fun to watch and be a part of. When we got close to the finish line and everyone was cheering, Miles got a little spooked by it all, but as long as I was running in front of him he kept following me. When we crossed the finish line the lady asked for his name so I knew he had placed, but I wasn't sure in what position. The boys and girls ran together, but they had 3 winners for the boys and 3 winners for the girls. During the award ceremony I learned that he had gotten 2nd place! Yea Miles! He got a fancy medal that he refused to let the lady put around his neck. He also got to pick out a prize and picked a bucket full of toys to play with in the sand.

While we waited for the other kids races to happen (we rode to the park with a neighbor who had entered her kids in the races too) I got my workout in. The race was held at a park up Provo Canyon. The Provo River runs through that park and it was booming! Miles, of course, was interested in the river so he kept running over to it to check it out. I'm such a worry wart and was afraid he'd jump in and we'd never see him again. It was a tad bit stressful to say the least!

Ready, set, go!

Making a pass

Coming around the last corner

Crossing the finish line

2nd place!!!

He did not want to stand there for a group picture

Checking out his medal

Indoor fun

Because the weather has been so rainy lately, playgroup last week was moved to an indoor location. We went to Lowes Xtreme Air Sports in Provo. I figured Miles would have a blast running around and jumping on trampolines, etc. He was pretty much in constant motion the entire time running from one place to another. He did get sick of the "kiddie" area after about an hour so we ended up leaving earlier than the rest of the group. Notice that in most of the pictures Miles is blurry because he wouldn't stop for one minute. He just loves getting out and running around!

Stare down

Won't even stop for a pic with mom

Miles enjoyed being bounced by the older kids unless they got too crazy

Run, run, running

Lawyers are Taking Over My Family

As of May 14th, 2011 I have 2 brothers that have completed the daunting task of law school. Congrats to the 2nd for finishing up and graduating on that day! It was a fun but short trip to go and see him and his awesome accomplishment. I took Miles with me so that he could hang with my family that he doesn't get to see all that often. Holly got to stay at home and have some peace and quiet for a day or 2.

Miles and I flew into Spokane the evening of Friday the 13th. Miles did great on both flights and was a fairly good traveler overall. We got into Moscow, ID around 10:30 (11:30 in our heads) and put Miles straight to bed. We both got up around 7:30 Saturday morning and went out to the living room of my brother's house. The pictures below help tell the story of the time in Moscow and the graduation.

Miles and his cousins sitting down to a lovely breakfast to get the day started off right.

My sister decided before the graduation ceremony that I needed 2 eyebrows instead of just one. I tried to convince her that it would be okay and that I needed to take care of my son, but she viciously attacked and I was without choice. (Miles was fine playing)

Once we got into the building for the graduation ceremony, we ended up on the 3rd floor balcony of the student center food court to allow the kids to run around during the ceremony (which worked out nicely for the kids, but I still don't know what really happened). Miles was infatuated with this statue in the space where we were. His smile is adorable, so that is why I put this in.

Of course when the camera comes out, he wants it. He is a determined little kid. He of course didn't sit through any of the graduation. I am still trying to recoup some energy from that adventure.

This is my little brother (the JD) after a long drawn out ceremony (he would agree). He was probably more relieved than us since he was in the robe and all. In reality, it is always a relief to be done with school.

In all my mother and 5 of us kids and some of our families were able to make it. It was great to get as many of us together as we did. With such a large family, it is quite a feat.

It was a short, but great trip. Miles, my mom and I left first thing the next morning to fly home. We ended up on the same flight. It was nice having my mom available to help out. Thanks, mom! Plus Miles got some time to get to know her better. Miles did great and for that I was very grateful.

Pond-front property

Apparently we purchased pond-front property and didn't even know it! We've had so much rain this spring. The last storm that made its way through dumped on us and the field behind our house looked like this when I woke up Friday morning.

By the end of the day the sun made its appearance and this little pond was full of people having a good time. It appeared to me as if it might be about 3 feet deep based on where it was hitting the adults who stood in the middle of the pond. Apparently there used to be a pond there several years ago and it was decided for safety reasons to drain it and fill it in. We've been here for almost five years and not once have I seen water in that corner of the field. This definitely explains the big rocks that I've never understood the placement of.

A guy was busy pumping out the water last night and today we have a much smaller pond. We still have tons of people gathering to play in it though. I know I'm weird, but that doesn't at all sound appealing or sanitary!

It's finished

Our helper

Last week I was getting the house ready for the babysitter (thanks again Alice for watching Miles!!!) to come over on our anniversary. I'm one of those people who hates to have a dirty house when visitors come over and will go crazy cleaning in preparation. I knew that Miles probably wouldn't be content just watching me dust, vacuum, etc. and I was right. While I was dusting he got a little grumpy so I decided to get him his own dust rag so he could help. He LOVED it! He followed me around the house dusting everything I had just dusted. He is such a cutie pie!

Dusting the picture

Making sure it is clean

How we celebrated it

I've been wanting a nice cake stand for a while. I was hoping to find one that would become a family heirloom and one that we used for everyone's birthday cakes now that I'm obsessed with making cakes from scratch! After looking around at different cake stands I realized that I didn't want to spend the money for most of them because I couldn't personalize them. After hearing about a local pottery studio (Color Me Mine) from a couple of friends, I thought it might be nice to check it out and see if they had a cake stand that we could paint ourselves. So, after a very nice anniversary dinner at Olive Garden Dave kindly agreed to take me to Color Me Mine to check it out. I know it was probably the last thing on his list of fun things to do to celebrate our anniversary, but he is a great guy and went along...and even helped me paint! He didn't have much say in the matter though...LOL!

We decided to paint a fairly basic design on the cake stand. We decided to paint it using our wedding colors; periwinkle and yellow. The base or main paint color is the periwinkle and the accent swirls are yellow. After we decorated it they then dipped it in a clear glaze and fired it which in turn makes the paint a more vibrant color. Because of this process, we can't pick it up until Monday though. I'm so excited to see the final product and can hardly wait for Monday to come!

Here are a few pictures of our masterpiece!

Painting the first of three coats

Dave's hands are steadier than mine so he got to do most of the 2nd and 3rd coats of paint on the swirls

Stamping the swirl design

The finished product (well, sort of)

I'll have to add a picture of the officially finished product when we go pick it up on Monday!

11 years together!

It is hard to believe that we've been married for 11 years!

We had only known each other for a short six months before we were married. You could say that we didn't completely know each other on our wedding day and were both taking a huge leap of faith, but we were madly in love and knew that we were meant to be together.

We've had some really fantastic times together during the past 11 years that I'll never forget. We've also had some really tough times together, but we loved and supported each other through it all and I think came out the other side stronger together as well.

It might sound cheesy to some of you, but I know that Dave is my soul mate! He is the perfect other half to this relationship. He balances me out in ways others are not able to do. He lets me have my "crazy" moments and doesn't hold them against me. He is so understanding, loving, and forgiving. I sure am one lucky girl!

Thanks babe for sharing the past 11 years with me. I love you with all of my heart and am continually thankful to the Wedels for setting us up! I look forward to many many more years together!

I did a post back in 2008 about our fun love story. If you care to read it, click here.

Spontaneous

After the snow we woke up to Saturday morning, I was beyond ready for a change of scenery. We decided mid-morning to pack up and head to St. George for the weekend! I always have these grand spontaneous ideas, but normally talk myself out of them. This time I decided not to. We reserved a hotel room and loaded up. We were on the road in time for Miles to take a nap in the car and arrived in St. George at dinnertime.

I texted my good friend, Erin, who lives down there to tell her we were coming. She unfortunately had to work Saturday evening, but it worked out because we were able to eat dinner at the restaurant she works at. Saturday night was a very rough night. Miles came down with a cold or has allergies or is teething or something. He had (and still does) a horrible runny nose and was so congested it made breathing hard. He absolutely did NOT want to sleep in his pack-n-play. We finally got him to sleep in our bed somewhere around 11:30 p.m. We tried everything, even driving around St. George, but nothing seemed to work until he just finally gave up and crashed. He is a crazy sleeper and covers every inch of the bed he is sleeping in. He even would throw himself on top of myself or Dave and still be sound asleep. Needless to say we didn't get hardly any sleep. He then woke up at 6:00 a.m. and was ready to start the day. UGH!

Because he had such a short amount of sleep overnight, we decided we'd offer him a morning nap in the car while we drove down to Mesquite. I think the drive between St. George and Mesquite is pretty so it was a nice excuse to make the drive. We ate breakfast at the hotel and then loaded everything up. When we got back to St. George we went for a little hike. Apparently Miles is scared of big rocks! It was funny watching him. He didn't want to get too close. After our hike we grabbed some lunch and then met Erin and her family at a park. The kiddos played at this really neat park while Erin and I got to catch up. When Miles started to look sleepy again we said our goodbyes and then headed home. Although we got almost no sleep, it was still nice to get away and to soak up some vitamin D and warmer temps that St. George almost always has to offer.

My boys in their shades

Miles was not thrilled to be surround by rocks

Getting a little braver

Buddy enjoyed the hike

Mr. Explorer

He loves slides

Still a kid at heart

Erin & Brekan

Miles' turn

Spinning round and round

Miles helps himself to everything!

It was so good to see you and the kids again, Erin! I'm glad you guys were available to hang with us! Hope to see you again soon.