may i?

here are some other odds and ends from may....

leslea has a birthday

we celebrated with a great day together. first pedicures, then a feast of a lunch at black bear diner and to finish it off- shopping! seriously... you couldn't even see the table through all our plates at lunch. we ate like queens and got each other laughing so hard we were crying and eating and loving life. 

 i sure do love my mama.

 cade keeps biking like crazy

every chance he got, cade would climb a mountain and zoom down another. 

 deep in the heart of texas!

cade had a business trip in austin this month. he is training for an upcoming spartan beast race so he and his coworker used their time well to run the streets whenever they could... he said it was the hottest run of his life. 

he did also do some work...

 a fear of clowns

cade and i were assigned to help out with our ward float for the parade. no big deal... this project took 7 hours to complete. that wouldn't be so bad if we didn't start at 9pm. those clowns had the last laugh.

wheeler farm

 violet was in a neighborhood joy school this last year with her friends. sure, she was the youngest, but she had a blast. they learned all about the alphabet- and regardless of what actually stuck in her brain, it was a lot of fun! to finish off the year, we all headed to wheeler farm to see the animals and play.

 violet gets her first taste of church service

if only the love of washing windows lasted...

strawberry fields forever

our garden is growing and growing. the teeny, tiny berries are almost as cute as the model. but not quite...

remembering on memorial day

appropriate for memorial day, we spent the day remembering our loved ones WITH our loved ones. first, it was off to grandpa blaino's burial spot. my grandpa was such a good man with the biggest heart. it is impossible for us to have any sort of conversation about him without tearing up. we miss him. my dad especially misses him. and that makes us all miss him even more. thank the heavens for eternal families. 
 
 violet and owen made this a great experience as they asked questions about grandpa. they could tell he was special to all of us. owen had some tough questions... my favorite: "is THIS heaven????"

but my REAL favorite moment of the day was looking over to find violet and owen with their pants down as they peed on the lawn.

after, we headed south to visit the taylor and tucker family graves. again, another special time as ray and linda told stories and shared memories. all the little ones went hog wild at the cemetery. 


we also got a great shot of the handsome taylor men. 

to finish it all off, we partied at the geertsen's house with the cousins running wild and the adults chatting. a great day to remember.

science is cool!

you don't see an eclipse every day!

making a run for it

 i am not a runner. i have probably said that enough times in my life to have it printed in vinyl and slapped on my livingroom wall. i am not a runner. i embraced this mantra all through high school and college sports. i hated running in every form- the warm up, ladders, indian runs, sprints, stadiums, jogging.... yuck. i ran plenty, but you can be sure that every step of the way i was hating it all. i was even slow enough that whenever i had a great hit in softball, one coach would always yell, "drop the piano and run, bullough!" as i ran the bases. again, i am not a runner. 

i do, however, understand that running is a great way to keep in shape. you can do it on your own- no team required. you don't need any equipment- no court, no net, no ball. it doesn't matter what time of day or where you are- you can run. after ivy was born, i found myself doughy, sluggish and ready to get back into shape. the only problem? i knew that would involve running. 

making the best of it, i decided a good challenge was in order. i needed to know that there was a reason to the run- not just to shed the baby weight but also to make it worth it to me. i called up my mom and heather, enlisted them in my challenge, and set off on foot. i wanted to do a half-marathon. the ogden half-marathon, to be specific.

it should be noted here that until this point, my furthest run was the annual freedom 5k we participate in every july. at the end of those 3 miles, you could find me in a sweaty haze- pooped for the rest of the day. i always thought i was in shape, and that freedom 5k proved me wrong every year. so when i made the goal to run a half marathon, a small part of me thought it would be impossible. The larger part of me, however, knew that my competitive drive would make sure it happened. 

so i started running like crazy. 

after a few months of working myself up into a biggest-loser-esque sweat, i found that i was actually looking forward to my runs. i planned them out, found great playlists and picked up speed. could i actually like running? the day of the race finally came- and the three ladies who, a few months back, didn't think that a half-marathon sounded very fun or manageable were able to run the race like a boss.

it. felt. great. 

so- does this make me a runner now? i don't know. to be honest, i don't think i am. i still prefer a great workout in a gym or a thrilling game of volleyball over a long run. but i know that it showed me that i can make and reach goals. and i don't totally despise running anymore. 

the proof?

i immediately signed up for the st. george FULL marathon this october. 


one thing is for sure: i had the cutest (and thirstiest) group of fans.