Flood

We just spent our Memorial Day *attempting* to get rid of the water in my parents basement.

I used the word attempt because by the time I left (after 7.5 hours of hard work), they were still unsuccessful at even getting the water to stop entering the house. Needless to say, I brought my kids home and left my hardworking, and very handsome, husband there to provide free labor for the parentals.

I seriously married the best man in this entire UNIVERSE.

Sorry about the flood Mom and Dad.

Milestones

My little boy makes me cry nearly every day lately.

It has nothing to do with frustration and everything to do with sentimentality. He is SO BIG. From hiking for miles on our trip to Moab without hardly complaining, to riding on two wheels and getting his first 20" bike, saying prayers for his sweet baby sister, reading during scripture study, and then yesterday he graduated from preschool- the kid won't stop growing up not matter how much I tell him to!

Since Will is born in September he has another year of preschool to go before he heads to kindergarten. He's okay with staying in preschool, but he is sad that all of his friends are leaving. He drew all 9 of his classmates pictures of dragons, sharks, fish, and monster trucks because "They were all going to kindergarten and he didn't want them to forget him." It kind of breaks my Mommy heart a little bit.

I'm so proud of my boy and what a good listener he is. While I don't want him to grow up, I can't wait to see where the next steps will take him.

William, you are THE BEST!

This is Will with his teacher, Miss Katie. He has been attending Hands On Preschool this year.

U2

I wouldn't call myself a frequent concert goer, but I've seen a few in my day. However, none of them even compared to the one I saw this week. My big brother Sam bought me a ticket to see U2! We had our tickets last year, but when Bono broke his back they had to reschedule. James and Kaydee went with us and we had a blast.

This band is incredible. Even though I don't listen to their music as much as I used to, they still put on the best show I've ever seen. I was nearly moved to tears during Where the Streets Have No Name. The drummer looked like he was spilling his guts out there and for some reason it just hit me. We are so blessed to be free to work hard to pursue our dreams. Watching him was so moving. It was incredible! However, after nearly 5 hours on our feet in General Admission, I was pretty excited to sit in the car- I'm not gonna lie about that.

Me, Sam the Lamb, Kaydee and James- you can see The Fray playing on the Jumbotron.

Dear Bono, Your passion rules. Thanks, Amylee

Guess who's on two wheels!

Will has been begging for weeks for us to remove his training wheels from his bike, but for some reason we could never get around to it. Today he took matters into his own hands. He was at our neighbor's house and asked to ride Grace's bike. Sariah said that she would walk behind him to make sure he didn't fall, and he just took off right away! She couldn't even keep up with him. The sad part is that Dallas and I both missed it! I was at a bridal shower for our cousin Kathryn Morris, and by the time I came home, he was riding all over the parking lot.

Way to go, Will!

Will and Grace- best friends.

Happy Birthday Thomas Weston

Shanna came down today and we were able to celebrate her little boy Thomas' first birthday! Since she was traveling from Star Valley, I offered to make his cake. We went with a monster cake for our little monster's first birthday! We opened presents, ate cake, and the kids love playing with all of Thomas' new toys. Annie even learned the whole birthday song to sing to him. We love you Thomas! Happy First Birthday.

Will and Alli. Trouble!

Thomas loved his cake!

Shanna and Thomas

The Tutu 5K

Lindsey and I in our matching Ladybug Tutus that she made. This photo was pre-race.

There is nothing I love more than sharing what I love with someone that I love.

This last Saturday I got to run a 5K with my friend Lindsey. (I won the entry from Hungry Runner Girl- Thank you!) Lindsey is, in her own words, NOT a runner. She is, however, a teacher with a very dry and sarcastic wit about her- which I absolutely love! Lindsey is training for the Ragnar with me, and this was her very first race ever.

We arrived and checked in with registration (where her student had registered her under "Mrs. Harvey"), and waited for the race to start.

We couldn't take our eyes off a lovely young fellow whom we affectionately called "Compression Socks". Compression socks was wearing, you guessed it, knee high neon green compression socks as well as some other high tech running gear. He was also stretching, doing strides, and sucking down some performance gels....

Performance gels? Before a 5K?! To each his own, I guess.

Needless to say, seeing him made me feel all competitive and aggressive. Since I'm nursing the darn knee, I knew I couldn't push it hard at this race so I wasn't sure if I could even challenge this guy.

I lined up in the back of the pack with Lindsey and let Compression Socks get down like he was using blocks for the 100 Meter Dash at the front of the line. The race director said "Go!" and we were off. I just kept it nice and easy. Didn't push, but didn't really hold back either.

At the half mile my shoe came untied. Compression Socks was ahead, so I certainly couldn't stop to tie my shoe!

I trucked along, slowly gaining on him with every step. I passed him at about the mile mark of the race. I wish I could say I never looked back, but I totally did. I wanted to make sure he stayed behind me. Plus I wanted to tie my shoe.

But, I just couldn't tie my shoe because it was a 5K and someone could sprint by me at any second, and I had to keep my lead.

Of course.

Well, that wasn't a problem. I finished the race, shoe untied and tutu in place, and won outright! Ha! Gotta love the small town 5K. I ran it in 23:25 with a 7:22/mile pace. Not my fastest, but not bad considering I wasn't pushing very hard.

Compression Socks didn't cross the line for about 4 more minutes after me- in 3rd place.

Lindsey did well, and even better, SHE DIDN'T DIE! That's good news considering I don't have anyone to replace her on the Ragnar team. I was so proud of her! It was so much fun to cheer her in with her family.

We had the following conversation on Facebook later that day:
Me: Remember how you ran a race today? So proud of you!
Lindsey: No amount of alcohol could help me forget.

Hmmmm.... I'm thinkin' she didn't catch the fire :).

For winning first place I got a trophy with a tutu on it, and they put my name on the billboard outside the dance studio that put on the race.

I'm practically famous.

Moab 2011

We went on our annual Moab trip the day after Dallas finished school for the semester. Hurrah!
This year we hiked to Delicate Arch, Milcreek Canyon, Roadside Ruin, Cave Spring, and the Potholes in Canyonlands, went out to eat way too many times, crawled up the Baby Lion's Back at Sand Flats in my Liberty, and swam in the pool so much we thought our skin might crack. As always, we had a great time!

You need proof that Mom's are magic?

I can make Annie's funktastic hair go from this:



To this:


Without even putting her in the bath.
If that isn't magical, then I don't know what is. Take that, Disney.

Pride

I was a senior in high school on September 11, 2001. We were at an early morning rehearsal for the play West Side Story when our musical director, Bonnie Johnson, came in and broke the news to us.

It was in that moment that our childhood innocence was taken from us.

We were filled with thoughts of fear, hate and war. Osama Bin Laden was the leader of Al Qaeda, the terrorist groups that executed the 9/11 attacks and almost immediately become Public Enemy #1 and the face of blame for the greatest attack on US soil in history.

After the attacks President Bush said "We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail." It took ten years to find Bin Laden, but we did it. While I know that this does not bring the end of a war that has cost us so many American, and foreign, lives, it brings some sort of closure to me.

I feel proud to live in a country that doesn't back down out of fatigue or fear.

Where were you on September 11, 2001?