Silver Lake

Last Saturday we went up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Silver Lake. This is one of our favorite places to go because it is beautiful for one, but also stroller friendly! The first time Brad took me to this lake I thought he was going to propose so I kept stopping to take in the beautiful scenery, just giving him the chance to get down on his knees... didn't happen. He proposed a few days later and totally caught me off guard! We laugh about this every time we walk around the lake. Cute litte Ashlyn having a rest on a tree stump! She tried and tried to touch a squirrel, but they were just too fast and would run away when she got too close. Brad spend most of his time making sure the kids didn't go head first into the lake ( I know it doesn't look like a lake, but it was there, under all that grass is water)! The minute Tanner was out of the stroller he was putting his hands in the water.
Having a little rest on the bench.

Brad is always reminding the kids that he has a lap too, and could hold one of them. Tanner is a mama's boy as you all know, and if I'm around he prefers my lap. Ashlyn probably would prefer Brad, but she has learned how mad it makes Tanner if I hold her, so she is always trying to taunt him by climbing on to my lap. Tanner is walking all over the place now. I love that he is walking- it makes my life easier.
Having some fruit snacks.
The best part for the kids was playing in the dirt outside the bathrooms. They are so easily entertained- we didn't need to walk around the lake, we just needed to camp out by the bathrooms.

On the way home we had to have an emergency stop at McDonalds for Ashlyn to use the bathroom- Tanner didn't like that I got out of the car without him. Brad said there was no consoling him so he just took his picture!

Tanner

The other day I was thinking about all the funny things Tanner does, and I knew I needed to write them down so we wouldn't forget.

This kid is so much fun! It is hard to discipline him because he looks so innocent even when he's being naughty or covered in mud! He loves to find dirt and rocks and throw them down the window well.

He has mastered the art of snoring. Is that an art? It is so funny. I'll be driving and Ashlyn will fall asleep, and the next thing I know Tanner is watching her making snoring noises (he is WIDE awake). It is almost as if he is making fun of her. He also does this at church watching all the older guys.

He loves to whisper. If you tell him a secret in his ear he'll turn his head and wisper in your ear. Sometimes I catch him whispering to his puppy.

He carries his puppy around in his mouth and still LOVES his puppy. He wrestles him, chews on him, and cuddles with him.

He has learned the word "owe" and will just come up and hit you and say "owe" with a big grin on his face. I have to keep telling Brad not to laugh at this because this is not something we want to reinforce.

He loves coloring and thinks he is such a big kid now. He climbs up onto the kitchen chairs and stands at the kitchen table to color. I allowed this once, and now there is no turning back. I've stood my ground for meal time. He has to be strapped into a chair (although it is now a booster chair at the table because he refuses to even get near his high chair), but he gets to feel like a big kid while he colors. Today though he decided to climb down and use his chair as his paper.... marker all over my kitchen chair. Thank goodness for washables. He looked at me and smiled when I caught him like he was so proud of his idea. I took the marker away and told him no and his little chin just started quivering. I was telling him why is was wrong and taking him to time-out and each step closer to time-out his little chin quivered a little more. When I set him in his bed for time-out he just broke down crying. It was so sad, but hopefully he learned his lesson.

He figured out the water dispenser on the fridge. When he is lucky enough to find a cup he tries to fill it and end up giving himself a shower. He doesn't mind the cold water hitting his face. He'll do it time and time again.

My 1/2 Marathon

So I did it! It has been one of my life long goals to run a half marathon, and well I think I can check that off my list of things I wanted to do.
If you would have asked me in May if I thought I would be able to run this I would have laughed out loud... seriously. Running has never been something that has come easy to me or been even somewhat enjoyable, but it is something I have always wanted to be good at and enjoy. Now it comes easier and I do actually enjoy it!
I have a client I've been training for a while and in the spring it felt like we were just hitting a wall, I needed something other than weight loss for her to work towards. So I got the bright idea to have her run a race- great motivation and a great goal to work toward! Since I have never trained a runner before I had to do a lot of research on training programs and how to build your time and miles without injury. So I ran along side her and trained myself as I trained her. I ran my first race with her the middle of May (a 5K) and after that I was hooked. I had seen how training right made all the difference. So I decided on my own to keep going. I did a 10K in June with my sister and then I got the crazy idea to try a 1/2 marathon. There were a few ladies in my ward that had been running together every morning so I started talking to them about their training program... they didn't have one. They just ran whatever they felt like that day. So I started talking to them about training programs (I wanted to run this 1/2 marathon race, but not alone!) Long story short, there were 5 of us from my ward that ran the race. I wasn't able to train with them because I had to run at odd times with my schedule, but we encouraged each other all along the way in the training.
The morning of the Race was crazy. We had to wake up at 3:30 am to leave the house by 3:50 am. (I was a little stressed and tired, it was a rough week with sick kids. I had Tanner at the Doctor the night before the race and he had an ear infection and tonsilitis... yuck! ) We drove to Provo and then they bussed us up the mountain to the start. It was a beautiful run through Provo Canyon. We ran past Bridal Veil Falls, through Vivian Park and down the Provo River Trail. My first 6 miles were my fastest ever and then at mile 7 my breakfast started not agreeing with me. Needless to say I was sick for the rest of the run, but still ran it and finished it. The last 2 miles were tough and I just had to keep telling myself that Brad would be wating for me at the finish- my mom was there too, what a welcome sight! My finish time was 2:05 (2:01 if you take off the 4 min. potty break at mile 7).

Brad tried to take a picture of me crossing the finish line, but I was just too fast... ha ha- the camera was just taking it's time!

Here I am just over the finish line. Telling Brad I wanted to die!

Dumping a cup of cold water on my head... it felt awesome!

My mom is always so supportive!

The ladies in my ward; Carrie, Jen, Jenny and me (we're missing Janeane).

Everyone keeps asking me if a full marathon is next... NO WAY! But I am going to run a 10K with my client next month and I definitley want to do another 1/2 marathon...soon!

Ashlyn's in Preschool

Ashlyn is so excited to FINALLY be "big" enough to go to school! They built a new Elementary School in our neighborhood last year and she has been asking since the moment they started building it when she was going to be big enough for school. So even though that is not the school she's attending, she is happy to be in some kind of school!
I can't believe how fast she is growing up. I realized when we were getting her stuff ready for school to start that this is kind of a new "phase" in our life. We'll be getting her ready for school to start every summer now for 14 years. Crazy to think about.
She is in her second week of preschool and loves it. She wakes up every morning and sings her days of the week song to see what day it is to know if it is a school day. It cracks me up!

Here is a picture of her with her teacher Miss Karen on her first day.