Taylorsville Dayzz 5k

My sister Lorna and I are 10 years apart in age. That means that at the dawn of a new decade in our lives, we may be slightly traumatized, but at least we go through it together. This year, I turned 40 in March and she turned 50 in April. (I feel slightly guilty for divulging her age, but she looks fantastic for a 50 year old who has given birth to 8 kids, so I don't feel too bad!) Feeling the effects of time on our figures, we've both been trying to get into running lately. I thought it would be fun to do a race (I use the term "race" quite figuratively...), so we signed up for the Taylorsville Dayzz 5k. We certainly weren't frontrunners, but we ran the whole thing without stopping which was our goal.

We stayed afterwards to watch the parade. Being a citizen of Taylorsville, I was slightly embarassed at the quality of this year's parade. Soooo drawn out and boring. At least Adam and Alex didn't seem to mind. I guess as long as candy gets thrown at you at some point in time it's considered a success!

Lorna and I didn't realize until that morning that we have matching running shoes, we both had decided to use our birthday money this year on new shoes. Here's to many more miles!

19th Birthday Bash

Steph decided she wanted to have a bbq with her friends for her birthday this year. Steve and I obliged, thinking it would be a "quaint little gathering" (translation: not too much work and easy on the pocketbook). However, as the preliminary figures began rolling in as to the number of invitees, I quickly realized it may not be as quaint as we had primarily thought.

But then again, you know teenagers, they tend to be a bit flaky. So I figured, "Oh surely not all of the kids invited will show up!" We figured 24 hamburgers and 16 hot dogs would be plenty, but just to be safe, Steve and I held off eating as there seemed to be a steady stream of stragglers, and we wanted to be sure everyone had a chance to eat.

Son of a gun, wouldn't you know that by the time the last 2 friends ate, their was barely a crumb left. Steve and I rushed our growling stomachs home to feast on a quick meal of Taco Bell (yuck) before I had to run off to work for the night.

But I digress. Aside from forgetting just how much teenage boys (and some girls!) can eat, the party was a huge success. We were at Murray Park, and the kids set up a homemade slip and slide on a big hill. They made it even more slippery by adding dish soap. Hope the groundskeepers don't hate us, but everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, and most important was that Steph had a great 19th birthday.

Steph on the slip and slide...
Alex giving it a try...

3 siblings...

She didn't see it coming...

Most of the party-goers...

Can't believe it's Steph's last year in the "teens". Live it up girlfriend! (but not too much, of course)

Kickin' Off the Summer

A few good ways to get the summer started off with a bang... Going to a high school graduation.... (my niece surprised everyone by showing up from Montana unexpectedly, we were so excited to see little Abram).

My nephew Jake, the graduate.

a barbecue with family in the mountains...

including Grandma and Grandpa here visiting from California and doing lots of spoiling of a certain unnamed 3 year old.

And Alex's last soccer game of the season. Can you tell he's excited to have his very own trophy?! Hallelujah for summer!

A Day Out With Thomas

I was sooo excited to surprise Alex by taking him to Heber Valley Railroad for "A Day Out With Thomas". We didn't tell him where we were going, we just let him figure it out as we approached the railroad and he saw the signs.

It was pretty cool, they had the inside of the train decorated with Thomas characters and had Thomas music playing. It was so cute to watch Alex sing along.

Alex got to meet Sir Topham Hatt. We were pretty impressed that Alex wasn't the least bit apprehensive about going up to him.

One of Alex's favorite parts of the day was going to The Dairy Keen in Heber for lunch afterwards. They have a miniature track that runs the perimeter of the wall of the restaurant, with a Thomas train chugging along.

Alex sporting his new Thomas "ink".

I'm so glad we got to take Alex, he is more than ever completely obsessed with Thomas and trains, and this is such a perfect age for this sort of thing. Alex's only complaint was that as we were leaving, Alex said goodbye to Thomas, but Thomas didn't say goodbye back! I told Alex that I saw Thomas wink at him. Next year I'll have to have a talk with Thomas about his manners!

Homage to Jake

I had fun taking pictures of my nephew Jake who is about to graduate from high school.


Jake is... obviously handsome, with dimples to die for....

a sweetheart who my kids adore, sings in the school choir, plays violin, is active in church....

a talented soccer player...

who has an additional talent of knowing how to defy gravity...

Congratulations Jake, may you continue to fly and always land on solid ground.

Happy Mohyers Day

I was watching an interview on t.v. with singer/songwriter Hilary Weeks this morning. She said something that really struck me. One day while on a lunch date with her little girl she had a thought come to mind. She said, "I will spend eternity knowing Callie as an adult, but right here, right now, tonight and for the next few precious years I will know her as a child. What a gift to know the children in our lives as children." This thought really touched me, and just at that moment as if on cue, Steph and Alex walked in the room with a Mother's Day card that Steph helped Alex make. Steph wrote down the reasons Alex says that he loves me. A few of those were...

*Because I love hers so much.
*He is my Mohyer (mother).
*He kisses me on my cheek. (Alex gets a little mixed up with his pronouns!)
*I missed chu.
Steph told him he needed to write a letter so Alex instructed her to write "x. eodf."

I struggled to read it without getting choked up. Funny how the simple words of a 3 year old can mean so much.

Gettin' Our Easter Swag On

As a kid, one of my favorite things about Easter was getting a new Easter outfit. Now as a mom, it's getting the kids new outfits. Here's Alex rockin' his straight up supermodel status. Can you tell this kid has been forced to pose for a lot of photos over the years?

Steph found a really cute dress at Down East. It's not often that she can find a dress that both of us can agree on, so we were pretty excited about this one.

It wasn't the warmest day today, but at least it didn't rain so that we could have an Easter egg hunt. The nice thing about 3 year olds is that all you have to do is scatter a dozen eggs in obvious places and they think it's the greatest!