Wheeler Farm

Reelika and I took Kimball and baby Max to Wheeler Farm this morning. Kimball had such a blast feeding the ducks and making commentary on the other farm animals such as, "Look Mommy, cows sharing!" (when they were both drinking water out of the same trough) If only he could follow the cow's example ;) These pics of me are really comical, I had no clue how pregnant I really looked until today, and I still have 4 months to go???

Ryan Seacrest tears up the Wasatch Back

No, not the American Idol host, the team "Ryan Seacrest." I don't know, I didn't even ask. Anyway, months ago when Erik and I were propositioned by some family members to join a team in the Wasatch Back relay this year, we considered it but then declined for one reason or another. About a month ago, Erik's buddy in California called him up and asked him to jump on board their team and wouldn't take no for an answer. Erik decided out of the goodness of his heart he would do it for his friend. He really does not enjoy running, he loves sports and competition as most of you know but not just plain running. For those of you unfamiliar with the Wasatch Back, it's a relay race consisting of 12 individuals (mens, womens, and mixed) that run from Logan to Park City, Utah. 180.5 miles. It took them just over a full day and night. I believe there were 580 teams and they finished somewhere in the upper half. Each runner had 3 legs to run, some longer than others and some ranked higher in difficulty. They ran through beautiful country in and out of the mountains at all hours, Friday mid-day, into the night, and through the next morning and afternoon. They had 2 vans to follow course throughout the relay and would pitch their sleeping bags in parks or wherever along the way to catch a few zzz's. Now this is not really Erik's idea of fun but I think he enjoyed himself nonetheless. Being out there and seeing the teams come through the finish was so much fun and definitely gave me the buzz for the desire to do it next year when I'm not pregnant. Then I realized that with a 6 month old child, having to stop and "pump" every couple of hours sounds very un-fun. Either that or everyone would think I just "sweat" in really random places ;) So I guess I'll have to look forward to 2010! Anyhow, Erik's friend Erik Manning, who reeled my husband into doing this was kind enough to take a plethora of pictures so I could get a visual of their adventures, hence, I will post them even though I don't know much about what was going on. If any of you were out there racing please let me know how your experiences were, it seemed like such a fun adventure race!




Waiting for the hand off on his first (shortest distance and easiest) leg Friday evening













Embarking on second leg, roughly around 5:00am Saturday, 6 and a half miles at a moderate incline









Erik and some teammates crash who knows where in the middle of the day Saturday after running instead of sleeping the night before


I find this pic incredibly cute


Saturday afternoon, waiting/mentally preparing for his third and final leg. A grueling 3.6 miles. In the leg description it reads: "severe uphill climb through Wasatch Mountain State Park (gravel road)." He went from 5700 ft. elevation to 7300 ft. elevation. That's over a 1500 ft. gain in less than 4 miles? Sick!


That's my baby pushing up the hill and coming off strong. Though extremely tough, I'm sure he loved this one because there was a great element of challenge. Last year on his birthday I challenged him to run up to the "Y" with me and back down in less than 33 minutes in honor of his new age. We did it! And we had so much fun because somehow when you push yourself through hell and back, the reward seems much greater!

180.5 miles later....posing beyond the finish

Check out my daddy's medal!!!

The Prayer of a Toddler

Kimball has been cracking us up lately. We always go in his room and say prayers after his bath at night and about every other night he decides he wants to say the prayer. It is so funny and cute that I must quote a couple of the most recent before I forget them:

verbatim:
"Heavenly Father, thank you nice day, thank you mommy, kimo, daddy, nantou, milk?, fishy. Blessings broken kitty cat tail. Dragons, dinosaurs - GO AWAY!!! Amen"
(The kitty cat thing is so random, he had accidentally torn the tail off of a cat sticker earlier that morning and apparently the well being of this cat had been concerning him all day!)

"Heavenly Father, thank you Jesus, milk, books, Nantou. Blessings cows, pigs, farmers. Amen."
The greatest part of this is that we hadn't been to any petting zoos that day or anything of the sort and quite frankly I didn't realize he knew that a farmer was associated with these animals! so cute!

And while they were off camping...

I hit the lake with friends for old times sake. Though the 5 month pregnant me wasn't about to whiplash myself out there on the water, I had so much fun just chillin in the sun with some funny peeps. I cannot reveal the secret lake name or I may get in trouble with the Don but if you recognize it on your own, party on. I must mention how very cute and very single Angela is. Seriously.

See what I mean? cute, fun loving, brave in cold water...

Rob, also single. And might I mention I don't remember him having these big guns...

Mark, also single...at least I think he is anyway

And of course the Don, the captain, the single captain. Is it just me or did I put a plug in for these same guys on one of my posts like last October? From the Brady's wedding maybe??

And the Bradys may not be single anymore but they are a sickly cute couple, Scott definitely scored in the cool wife category

Father/Son Campout

Erik and Kimball thoroughly enjoyed their bonding time in the woods this weekend as they went with our ward to the father/son camp out. It's so weird how Kimball is just an independent little boy nowadays. Looks like they had so much fun.








Erik and his friend Brad drove up together, this is Kimo's little buddy Kasch.


When Kimball came home on Saturday I took him to get a buzz cut as an early Fathers Day surprise. Erik has been begging me forever to buzz all his hair off and I was so stubborn about it because I just love his long hair! So here he was getting ready to jump in the hot seat.

And here you have my handsome little boy with his new do, or lack thereof I should say. Erik loved it! And of course he couldn't go without getting to pick out a balloon.
And to top the weekend off, we went with my brother and sister in law and their kids to the demolition derby Saturday night. Sunny and I agreed it didn't compare to the ones they used to have in Logan with the bigger track and more contestants. Sunny actually knew someone who used to compete up in Logan, I always wonder where these people come from!

In the garden

A couple of weekends ago Kimball and I buddied up to get our annuals planted. Every year I try new flowers and with the unseasonably cool weather/rain/lack of sun ever since, they've not held up to perfection, although still fighting for life. Kimball was so much fun, he was working so hard with his tools and had a blast finding all the big yucky worms. My neighbor Jacqui came bouncing out her front door with the camera and went crazy taking pics. Her kids came out to join the fun and it ended up being such an enjoyable day of gardening.


Kimo takes a break from shoveling dirt and soil to take his first guitar lesson.








Kimball rocks out on the guitar with his little man rake

Erik you just keep sippin' on that drink, you're making a great supervisor!








Caroline and Ethan learning from their wise old neighbor how to plant flowers.

The Furminator!

Simply the best invention known to any dog/cat owner with shedding hair. This product is absolutely amazing. I went to give Nantou a doggie bath at a local doggy boutique and I just had to invest in this tool they call a shedding "rake" - it is a total RAKE! Nantou has such a tight coat that his shedding is nowhere near the amount an average lab will shed and within only a few minutes, I received delightful results! I'm pretty sure they also carry them at Petco and possibly even cheaper online. They are SO worth the money and it is so satisfying collecting all the hair, happy "raking!"

My terrifying fascinating high (drug free)

Quiet, swift, and camouflauge. Simultaneously alluring and repelling. Fascinating and terrifying. An irony of sorts. For me, that of the snake has got to be one of the strangest creatures to inhabit Earth. So sinuous and unpredictable, they really send shivers up my spine. I've never pet one. I always curiously take a step closer only to find myself making awkward bouncy steps backward in the same direction while displaying an uncontrolled "post sour lemon" face. I then feel a dramatic speed increase in my blood flow, I guess one could call it....."a snake high"
Just when I think I'm more far than near to these slithery friends, my neighbor kids knocked on the door this afternoon to show off their great catch. He was just cruising through their front yard! Sick! There is a creek that runs behind the houses on a street perpendicular to us a few blocks away, right where our old house is and so I thought I was in the clear being on this end of the neighborhood. I guess tons of our neighbors have been spotting them in their yards over the past couple weeks and one kid accidentally mowed one into a hundred pieces! The funniest part of all about this little fellow though, was that Caroline had 3 brothers out there with her and somehow she was the bravest one to make the catch! That's Kimball's babysitter for ya, I know how to pick'em! After she'd been holding him awhile his jaw opened big and we all jumped back, he then barfed up a bunch of baby slugs, no joke, it was VERY nauseating! We were hoping Kimball would wake up from his nap to come take a look but the snake and his slug barf were beginning to gross us out. Needless to say we let him go, right back into the bridge by our house!

Our cute little alien exposes its gender!

Kimball's baby sister has us quite excited, due date measuring at Oct 29th, we can't wait!