A trip to Midway

Where do I start? A couple of months ago Justin and decided to take a trip to New York. We were so excited to go and our good friend Ammie was flying into Utah from Georgia to stay with the kids. It was going to be perfect. Then Hurricane Irene hit the day we were supposed to leave so our trip was cancelled. We were pretty bummed and ended up going up to Midway to the Homestead and staying for a couple of nights. We had a great time and missed the kids so we decided to head up the next weekend and bring the kids. They had the best time (minus swiss days) and can't wait to go back again next year. It really is a fun place.

Darlene and her boys came with us too and we all had a great time. It was sad to see Ammie go. Hopefully it won't be too many more years til we see her again.

More Summer

Here are a few pictures from some summer fun we had....in no particular order. Apparently I haven't blogged for so long I forgot how!


Face painting at Lagoon

Surprise Party for Syd

Summer Time

Summer is just flying by and we haven't even done much. The other day I took all 5 kids (something I rarely do) up to the Payson pool. Everyone had such a blast, we will definitely be back.

An attempt to get a picture of all 5 kids....not too succesful

My friends will love me for this pic :)

Some pictureless things we've done this summer:

Quilt camp with the Church girls

A day at 7 Peaks with Stephani's fam

Jonah camping for a week with Grandpa Gary and boy cousins

Tea Party for Bliss girls at Grandma Judi's house

Here's hoping I'll pull out my camera a little more.

Ogden Marathon

I can't believe it has taken me so long to blog about one of the biggest events of my life! After about 7 months of training I ran the Ogden marathon. (26.2 really long miles) I was so lucky to have such awesome running partners to get me out all those cold early mornings. It was not easy sometimes. It was about the hardest thing I've ever done and I didn't do it fast by any means, but I finished. And that was my main goal.

At the starting line, feeling very scared!

All my kids were there with Justin at the finish line.

They even jumped in and ran the last little bit with me!

My running girls that I love so much. And my dad,

he was our driver on some of those cold early mornings.

Lindsey and I stayed together through the whole race.

I couldn't have finished without her!

Even my mom and dad came to cheer me on.

I was so happy they made the trip all the way up

there. It really meant a lot to me!

Me and my boys

We spent the night up in Eden with the kids and

Darlene and Brayden. It was such a fun weekend.

Running the marathon was a pretty great experience. I'm proud of myself for doing it but I'm pretty sure its not something I want to do again. I couldn't have done it without all the support from my awesome running friends and most of all Justin and my kids. There were lots of morning I was off running instead of home getting them ready for school. But they didn't complain (too much) and were there for me in the end.

Kindergarten Graduation

I can't believe this little man is headed for first grade! All I ever hear myself say anymore is, "where did the time go?" First he loved school, then after Christmas break he hated it, then he started to like it again just in time for it to be out. He was just glowing during his graduation, loving every minute of it. Congrats my buddy! Love you!

Easter 2011

This year for Easter we decided we were ready for some warm weather and headed down to Arizona. Justin's mom's family has a big Easter egg hunt and the kids were dying to go visit Ann and her kids so we took off. We drove down with Mike & Steph and so of course our first stop was the Chinese restaurant in Fillmore! We stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam on the way then spent the night in Page(where Justin claims there were bed bugs....YUCK) The next morning we were off to Mesa. It is a way long drive but pretty scenic so that was a good thing. After watching Tangled and Yo Gabba Gabba about 200 times we were there!

Stephani and I decided we have a lot of kids between the two of us

We showed up for the Easter Egg hunt. Most of Justin's cousins I hadn't even met and he hadn't seen in years. I was really glad when Danny got out of the car wearing this. What a way to make a first impression.
As soon as I saw this egg, I knew we'd have some tears!
Somehow my pictures got out of order.....here is my kids and Ann's kids out on the tramp. I just love how these kids can just pick up and have so much fun together even though they don't see each other often.
Back to the Easter egg hunt....Liv, Steph, me & Hailey
The cute girls
Somehow Danny managed to get lots of eggs and no stickers from the cactus.

Jonah was pretty impressed with these big cactus.
Hailey, Ragen & Bethany having breakfast
This is where Danny spent 99% of his time.
Hailey & Ragen making an easter cake, fondant and all. I was sad I forgot to get a picture of the finished product. But it was cute.
Coloring eggs in Ann's backyard
We took a little trip to see the Temple. It was so pretty, I loved it! Justin's parents were married in this temple so that made it a little extra special!
The kids and their sunburns at the temple grounds.
On our way back home the boys really wanted to go back to the Dam and take the tour. It was pretty neat and I loved being so close to Lake Powell......makes me want to go back!
Even though it was a long drive, it was worth it. I love making memories with my family!

Dance Competition

Hailey had her dance competition in St. George this weekend. We always look forward to getting down there this time of year. The girls did great on their dances and we all had lots of fun. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I took all weekend! This was just one of the many times we went out to eat......don't worry, the moms were there too.

Such pretty girls!!

Drew, Khloe, Hailey, Sydni, Olivia, McKenna, Macey