Great Camping Spot

Unfortunately Jared and I have not been out on many dates in the past few months. We go in spurts, and we’ve been very busy and doing lots of stuff with the kids. But this week, we got to go on THREE. Yay!

My mom called Friday and said “I’m not doing anything tonight, do you and Jared want to go out and I could come watch the kids?” Um, YES!!!

So the wheels in my head start turning . . .hmm, grandma is coming over, can spend the night…. let’s go camping!

So we went to my favorite place: Lake Mary’s. It is up Big Cottonwood Canyon. The trailhead is one of the ski lifts up at Brighton, just to the left of a little lodge. It is about a mile up. I’ve been going up there since I was a kid, and it is such a beautiful lake. I even had a camping birthday party there in Junior High. There is one particular campsite that is hidden, and I just absolutely love it. It is situated between a wall of granite and a cliff overlooking the lake. It has the most beautiful view! We just laid out a tarp and slept under the stars. Jared went into survival man mode and got a great fire going. He was pretty bummed he forgot his knife and couldn’t carve me a roasting stick. Because roasting sticks are such a necessity you know. I love hearing the guy who hated scouts talk about how he wants to get some survival books and learn all about that stuff. He is funny.

We haven’t been up there in years even though it is really only 45 minutes away. It was really fun to go back and hike to Sunrise Peak. You can look down on Big Cottonwood Canyon, Little Cottonwood Canyon, and even Heber.

Unfortunately our camera battery was dead on arrival so we only cajoled a couple of pictures out of it. We used the little camera on my blackberry and I am shocked that I got some pretty decent pics! I threw some in there from the last time we camped up there—twelve years ago just for fun and so you can see how beautiful this place is! The view is incredible.

To top it all off, I came home to all my laundry and dishes done, and happy kids who had so much fun having a sleepover with grandma. Grandma even bought Fine Art Cards to play Go Fish and Monet has learned all about Rafael, Michelangelo and Botticelli. So cute. Thanks mom for the wonderful time! I’m afraid the kids are never going to let you leave! Here is us after getting home from our first real date back in Utah in August 1996 (I don't think we've been this tan--or burned--since!).

Hobble Creek Half Marathon Report

Hobble Creek Half Marathon

This was such a fun race! I may have to make it an annual tradition. We kicked off the event with a pre-race dinner at Cracker Barrel. I’ve never eaten dinner there before, and was shocked to find no pasta or anything else I was familiar with on the menu. So I thought maybe chicken and dumplings? I was picturing some veggies in there. But nope, just a white plate of really bad food. But who knows, maybe the dumplings were the secret to my great race!

We slept over at the grandparents house in Springville. My kids were loving that. And Jared and I actually got a decent’s nice sleep thanks to Simone sleeping in a closet. LOL. (everyone should have at least one closet in the house perfectly sized to fit a pack n play.)

The packet pick up was just 2 miles away from Jared’s moms—so convenient! We were bussed up the canyon to the start line.

I loved the downhill on this race. It was perfect. Not too steep. It had a few little hills, but nothing of significance. One really awesome thing—my knees don’t hurt anymore! I thought that was just a fact of life for runners, but apparently not! It is so nice to not feel that achy feeling all day after a long run or race.

I felt great the whole time. I maintained an 8:00-8:40 pace nearly the whole race and finished off with an average of 8:22 and a total time (from my Garmin) of 1:49:42. Gun time was 1:51 or so. I think. Because of the herd of people funneling onto a narrow road, it takes a bit to cross the start.

I was very pleased. This is about 30 seconds or so faster per mile than my best time so far. I often finish a race and feel a little bit disappointed because I tend to be inconsistent in my training, and I know I can do better if I’d work harder. Well, I’ve been a good girl for about a month and it is paying off. I had a leg infection and poison ivy a couple of weeks ago and had some pretty terrible runs that scared me. But last week I had a 20 miler (okay it was really two tens broken up) and it was so awesome. I need those good ones to restore my confidence.

Jared, his mom, and all the kids were cheering me on at the sidelines with 1.5 miles to go. Then they drove to the finish and cheered me on some more! It was great. Thanks Mom and Jared for getting all the kids up and out the door and hanging out just waiting for me to run by!

Anyway, it was very fun, and I am pumped for St. George in six weeks.

Update on us!

Every year Jared's family has a reunion that we submit a history for. I was a slacker and didn't get it done. But I love the tradition. It is always fun to have later. So I wrote a bit about each of us and posted it here for all of those family members who wanted it in their reunion yearbook.



We are back in school and it feels good to have the routine again! We had such a fun summer. Disneyland and Zach's Wedding, Seven Peaks, Thanksgiving Point, rollerskating, Jump on It, Pagosa Springs Trip, Snowbird, Hiking, Fishing, selling glowsticks on the 4th, lots of sleepovers with cousins and friends. It was busy! I am ready for the winding down.



Elise is almost 9 and looks like she is almost 11. She is tall and acts very grown up. She is working hard in gymnastics and is competing this year on the level 4 team. She is also taking piano, and we will be working harder with that one! : ) She is excited to have a good friend in her class at school and to have such a nice teacher this year. I've loved having her helping me with Simone and Miles all summer. She is a great little babysitter.

Monet is 6 and also taking gymnastics. She loves it and has really improved this past year. She is so excited to be back in school and to be able to eat lunch in the lunchroom. She has lots of friends that have moved in around the neighborhood, and that makes her so happy. She is always playing with Miles and Simone. She is great because she likes playing with everyone, from the 3 year olds on up. She is very smitten with several of the boys in her class. But you wouldn't know it from looking at her because she doesn't talk to any of them. Sounds like she inherited her mama's traits.

Miles is 3. He'll say something, then ask me, "Am I funny Mommy? Am I funny?" He is definitely funny! He has lots of opinions about things too. He told Elise that her hair didn't look good curled and that my makeup isn't pretty. Now I guess we should teach him some manners! He is especially sweet when he's had his nap. He has decided to marry Elise when she gets to be a mother. I asked him why he didn't want to marry Monet, and he replied that he didn't want three moms [wives]. Ha! Good call. I gave up feeling sad that he is probably not going to have a brother after watching him with all four of his boy cousins that are close to his age. He loves them! He loves his little friends in the neighborhood too. He asked me if we could have another baby next year. "A nice one" was his specific request. Simone has taken to biting him when she is mad. I told him that all babies were mean sometimes. : )



Simone is like a little fish. You put her in water and she tries so hard to swim. She doesn't even care if she chokes in water, she'll try again without fear. It seems this is a common theme with her, no fear. She loves to climb on everything. She learned how to climb out of her crib last month. We tried everything to keep her in until we finally relented to taking the side off the crib. Ugh, she is so not ready for that. But we don't know what else we can really do. She can climb onto the countertop without pulling any drawers out. She just fits her little toes into the crevices and climbs right on up. So we packed up the highchair too. My house is almost devoid of infant gear. No baby toys, highchairs, etc. It is a strange but wonderful feeling. She just started nursery with Miles and she loves it. Thank goodness! Jared and I sat in class together on Sunday for the first time in a LONG time that we weren't half listening, half distracted by one of our babies or toddlers. It will be good for us. She is very happy, very smiley, and she definitely lets us know when she is mad. We think her tantrums are very entertaining! She nows weighs 20 lbs with all her clothes on. Yay! She has the skinniest little legs. They are so tiny. She still gets tons of attention from all the siblings. It will be a sad day when I hear "MOOOOM! Simone is following us! We don't want her to play!" For now, they are very endeared to her. She can always be found tagging along with them. She loves jumping on the tramp. Simone is starting to talk more. When I am gone, she asks everyone "Where's Mom? Where Mom is? I want mom!" Makes me feel so special.



Jared and I are working together! It is so much fun to be more a part of his business. I come into his office a couple of mornings a week. I've been impressed with how much he does! It is a fun to be together. We still haven't made it out to lunch together yet. Darn it. Owning your own small business is time consuming. Jared has really been enjoying the Olympics these past two weeks. It has been fun to watch. Although he did insult me by telling me my sport (the distance running) wasn't fun to watch! Hey, watch it there buddy. We've had a great time doing a variety of really fun things together this summer. Too many to list. Our paragliding adventure didn't work out--no wind. But we are going to try again soon! I love the support that he is to me. He is my calming influence when I feel like I am going to have a nervous breakdown. I love living with this positive guy. I love that when he comes home, he shouts a big cheery "Heeeelllloooo everybody!" Here is one fun day playing with latex gloves:



I am running a half marathon and a marathon this fall. I can't wait! I am running with some great girls in the morning in my neighborhood. It has been so good for me to know that I've got to get myself out of bed. I am taking voice lessons. It is kinda scary. I haven't really sung for anyone since I was a kid, and it makes me nervous. But I want to improve, and I really, really love music and singing. So hopefully I will get better at it. So far, I pretty much stink. But I figure it is like learning any instrument, and I need to practice, etc. A few years ago Jared was taking piano lessons and he'd like to start up again sometime soon. So maybe someday we can sing and play together. Hey, my neighbor growing up started playing piano at age 80 and was awesome by the time she was 90. So we've got time!

Anyway, that is about it for us! It has been a fun summer.

My Grandma

The main reason I started blogging is to keep a better record of my kids, my thoughts and to journal more often. As I thought about things I wanted to document, one of them is how I feel about my family, my childhood and the important people in my life. One person in particular is my Grandma R. My kids haven't really met her. She died when Elise was just 15 months old. But I wrote this after what would have been her 99th birthday in April. She passed on about 8 years ago, but she’ll always be with us. I think about her every day. She was my second mother growing up. (I was lucky enough to have THREE moms--my mom, my beloved Aunt Marge, and my Grandma who lived with me my whole childhood.

My Grandma is a testament to the fact that great people don’t need to have great accomplishments to be important or influential. Her love and her influence touched a lot of families--especially ours. My friend Les shared this quote awhile ago, and I love it, it personifies my grandma:

“We must not drift away from humble works, because these are the works nobody will do. It is never too small. We are so small we look at things in a small way. But God almighty sees everything great. Therefore if you just go and sit and listen, go visit somebody, or bring somebody a flower- small things, wash clothes for somebody, or clean the house, very humble work. That is where you and I must be. For there are many people who can do big things, but there are very few who will do the small things.”—Mother Teresa

My grandma touched people through those small things. She appreciated the beauty in life. She was very positive and that attitude really helped me to find joy in flowers, and in so many other things that I came to love through her influence. Even at her last visit with us, she had a terrible cough, and some other health problems, but she really didn’t mention them. She noticed the beauty in nature. She was a happy lady. And she didn’t have a particularly easy life either. She just chose to focus on the things that were good.

Grandma was comfort and security. One time I walked home from school on a cold wet rainy day and grandma was home making hot chocolate. I sat at the bar and she explained how it was made. Then we talked about my day. I felt so comforted. And hot chocolate was a real treat in our house!

Having a bunch of little kids around might make some old ladies a little nervous, but she loved it. She would tend for a lot of families in our area when the parents went on vacation. She was booked for months it seemed. I always missed her so much when she was gone. Occasionally, we’d go visit her where she was sitting, particularly if it was a friend of mine. Everyone called her “Grandma” and that brought out a lot of jealousy—“She’s MY grandma!” Hands off, she’s taken. : )


If she was sitting down to eat a sandwich and saw that I might want some, she’d give me hers and start over. She was just always sharing. And she always thought of others first.

Grandma was very patient. I loved to play with the soft skin on her underarms when I was really little. It was flappy and soft like dough. She didn’t even mind, and wasn’t embarrassed by it in the least.

She loved people, parties and particularly weddings. If she got an invitation to a wedding, she’d attend. Even the actual ceremony, invite or not. She actually went to my Sister-in-law’s temple wedding years before I ever met Jared and Kelli. She just got the wedding announcement and figured no one would mind if she showed up at the actual temple ceremony.

She was the one who really ran the household when I was in High School. She was always there answering the phone. Bekah’s friends knew grandma intimately and liked to tease her a bit. One time I came home and saw a bunch of messages written out on scraps of paper in her scrolling handwriting. One of them was hilarious. “Rebekah—Van Halen called.”

On many occasions I’d come home from BYU, unload a mountain of laundry into the laundry room, and go out with my friends. The next morning I would find that everything had been washed and folded up neatly. She was so thoughtful that way. She was always trying to find little ways to help lighten our load.

Grandma loved all the little things in life. Especially flowers, we always had some African violets on the window sill. She bought herself an artificial rose when she was older, and just loved that rose. Lilacs and forsythias always remind her of me as well. We shared a love of gardening. She’d buy me bulbs, and I would plant them. She taught me all the names of the different flowers. Her husband owned a nursery that she worked at for most of her life, so it was natural for her.

When Jared and I had just been married a short while, she called me and came to stay with us for a couple of weeks. It was so good to spend that time with her! She was so sweet and unassuming. She called me to say she was going to visit a friend in So. California and “do you know anyone that might be able to pick me up from the airport?” Of course we invited her to stay with us and were thrilled to have her. She refused to sleep in our bed and insisted that our couch was really comfortable. She was almost 90 at that point.

She attended bunco night with me and was so cute, she was stuffing her pockets with all the candy from the tables. She always had a thing for sweets. Everyone had a good laugh about that. She knew she was funny, and I think she played it up a little.

She died when Elise was about a year. We are lucky enough to have her on Elise’s blessing video. She was in her element—newborn baby, party, treats. She remarked with enthusiasm “What a wonderful, wonderful day this is, that we get to celebrate this sweet baby!” Her senses had been fading for a little while before that. She was also very sweet when she was dying. She was just old, and pretty much stopped eating which is something that happens a lot I guess. But my mom and Aunt Marge were with her, and when she did want to eat, they brought her a can of soup and she was positive and sweet even then when she remarked of how good it tasted. Canned soup! Just shows how easy she was to please.

As a child, and even a teen, the thought of her dying just terrified me. I was well aware that she was getting old. But she was such an integral part of our family. We were so lucky that she lived until 91. I feel close to her still, and I feel like she is still with us, maybe even caring for all those great grandbabies in heaven.

How getting rid of the cable has changed our lives ; )

The stage I built a few years ago at Christmas has finally seen some use as something other than a fort, storage area, or American Girl home. Cinderella and the slipper has been the main production. Miles has played a dashing prince, Elise a very loud and obnoxious stepsister, and Monet a poor worked over Cinderella. They have loved having some of Grandma's old dresses and clothes as costumes. The red lipstick has been a big hit too--especially with Simone. She covered the whole bathroom door with it.



This is the Lego version of the family. I liked it so much I put it on my desk, where it was smashed up multiple times before I finally got it put up high and immortalized it in a picture. Good job Monet! She is very proud that it is now on the blog. When they are not busy playing Monopoly, all the kids, and Jared even, have been having a great time building cars, houses, animals, and pretty much anything they can think of out of Legos.





And I finally got Miles and Simone's room fixed up a bit. I think that has been on my to do list for about a year now! I may still paint it to be a little more girl. But I think for now, I am just happy to have curtains hung and the pictures on the walls! Next project--get the garage organized.