Utah week 1 - The Cabin

There they are...super excited and ready for a trip of a lifetime. Utah here we come! We LOVE flying out of our little airport. The gate agent took each of the kids out to the plane and they got to walk on the luggage belt and then she took them up to the cockpit. The kids thought it was pretty cool.
I was a little disappointed to see that Logan was small enough to bring as a carry on. I was really hoping to check him!

Week 1 was spent at my parents cabin way up in the mountains. It takes some work to get there but once you arrive you never want to leave. This is the view from their bottom deck. It is beautiful.


For the 4th we had the traditional breakfast at my grandparents home. Even though they have passed on my cute cousin lives there and allowed us all to come and be together like my grandmother would have wanted it.


We went to the parade and then Charlie lit fireworks and we ate some delicious food and spent time with relatives that we don't see very often. It was a great day.

One of our first adventures was to Kennecott copper mine. This place is massive and can be seen from space.

Just one of these tires costs $25,000 and only lasts for 9 months. The kids had fun exploring and Ethan and Seth had fun working on earning a scout patch together.The rest of the week this bunch played and enjoyed spending some great quality time together. My sisters kids and my kids play so well together it was my favorite thing to see them be creative and just enjoy each other. Shad and Charlie got some golf in and took the older boys with them. They had a great time and Ethan loved driving the cart.

We took a day trip to Park City and did the Alpine slide and the new Alpine coaster. It was a BLAST and the kids thought it was so fun to drive their carts down the mountain at top speed.

The chair lift freaks me out big time...but Grace and I hung on for dear life together and it was fun to spend a special moment with her.
Morgan is a speed demon and kept telling me to go faster and giggled the entire way down.


Back at the cabin the boys enjoyed a game of nerf wars against the moms. We were finding bullets for days after.
The kids had a sleep out on the deck. Luckily everyone was alive in the morning...we found out later that there was a bear roaming in the area.
We got in some rounds of bowling and the kids had fun making up bowling names for the screen.

You know there are a lot of you when you take up an entire swing set!

We had a great day at Boondocks playing mini golf, bumper boats, winning tickets and playing laser tag.
My sister had the brilliant idea for the two of us to battle each other on the bumper boats and get SOAKED right before we went out to dinner. Great idea Jen!
We had a fun dinner at The Mayan and the kids loved running around getting the best view of all the divers. What a fun place that is for dinner.


The best time was just spent at the cabin. The kids ate lunches outside and played and played and played some more.

One of the last days they had a cake decorating contest. Girls vs boys. The boys named their cake sugar wonderland and the girls was Utah castle. They both won awards for creativity and were given medals for their hard work. No one really wanted to eat the cakes fearing sugar overload!
Here is Sam and Grandpa doing The Hulk. I am not sure how this started but it was so cute to see the two of them put on their hulk faces and growl as loud as they could.
We love this family and love being together with them. We wish it was more often but we make the best of it when we are together. Leaving was difficult and we hope to be together again soon. We miss you guys already and we miss the beauty of this peaceful retreat in the mountains!

Injured...injured bad

I fought the door.....

and the DOOR WON!

Patio

We love our yard in the summertime. It is shady and private and one of our favorite things to do is sit around the fire with family and friends on late summer nights.

We built this fire pit years ago and it has served us well. However with the high traffic, little sunlight, and sandy soil, our fire pit are was beginning to look a bit like...a pit so this year we decided to have a paver patio put in and we just broke it in this weekend.

This was our sad little fire pit before.

Here is the after. We LOVE it!

It took a little more time and money and caused a little more damage to our existing lawn than we were expecting but I think in the end it was all well worth it.

We have to plant some new grass to repair the damaged areas but we look forward to many years of late summer nights enjoying our new patio.

10 & 3

My little baby just turned 10. Ok...so I guess she is not a baby anymore. Is it crazy that I have a 10 year old? June is party central in our house and if we are not hanging up decorations, blowing up balloons, or eating cake we don't know what to do with ourselves. The parties this year were just small family parties filled with love and laughter. I can only imagine what wish Abby had in her head at this very moment.

Abby at 10:

She loves to read. She is caring and thoughtful of others. She loves piano and her new teacher. Her favorite thing to do over the summer is her "summer school" where she has made an entire classroom downstairs and teaches the kids things all summer long. She is funny, forgiving, and a great friend. She has a strong testimony and loves her family very much. We love having Abby in our family!

Our little Sam just turned 3 and boy...does he add life to our family. He was so excited about his birthday this year, he talked about it for weeks.

He got a kite, bubbles, chalk, and some books. We also went to go see Kung Fu Panda at the movie theater which he was so excited about.

Our little Mr. Sam at 3:

Loves his little brother Logan. He loves to be one of the big kids and have sleepovers and stay up late. He has a smile that can light up a room. He gives the best hugs ever. He loves to "fuggle" (his way of saying snuggle) and read stories at nap time and bedtime. He is funny and energetic and we can't wait to see him grow through the years.

It's My Party...

I am officially 34. I have had a wonderful birthday week and despite having to give a talk and teach a lesson during church today this has been one of the nicest birthdays I have had in a long time. It started early in the week with some of my best girlfriends. We all climbed in bed together to watch Bachelorette and eat some DELICIOUS cold cake that my very sweet and very pregnant friend was willing to make for me. I think this is one of the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen and it was definitely a special treat.
Saturday morning Charlie surprised me with a 90 minute massage and it was wonderful. I loved every second of it and it was the perfect relaxing moment that I was needing. That night he had pulled together a party with some of our good friends and it was a blast.
We ate lots of amazing food including another beautiful and delicious cake from another great friend and we sat around the fire and played some rounds of badminton and laughed and laughed and laughed.
The weather was perfect and I think there is nothing better than ending the night with a roaring fire surrounded by amazing friends.
Tonight the kids decorated and sang happy birthday to me but we all agreed we were ready for some birthday carrots, not cake. We have had our fill of sweets and now it is time to get my 34 year old behind out on the road and burn off some of those delicious calories!

Bib #7335

WAHOOOOO!!!! I did it!!!!!! Can you tell I am only slightly proud of myself? Today I ran farther than I have ever run in my entire life and it felt good, really good.

I had to catch myself several times almost feeling bad about my "little" race compared to all the 1/2'ers and marathoners, but I kept reminding myself that everyone starts somewhere and for me, this was a HUGE accomplishment.

This is Charlie and I before the race. The rain was making us nervous but it stopped before we started and it was cool and beautiful. We ran right along the water in some great neighborhoods. The sound of 2,5000 people running with you is a huge motivator.

This is me being a total dork before the race doing my pretend "happy run"...trust me I don't look nearly so happy when the running actually begins.Charlie and I planned to stay together and we did. It was great running along side him. He kept checking in on me and asking how I was doing and I would respond with, "I am doing awesome" each time, to try and convince myself that I really was doing ok.

We hit the 1/2 way point and I knew I was going to make it. We were making great time and I was feeling good. By about 5 1/2 miles I was ready to see that finish line. Here we are crossing the line hand in hand. Boy did that feel good!

This was me spotting some of my good friends who had come to see me finish. Between all 3 races there were a ton of families there that we knew and it was so much fun to see so many good friends and familiar faces and to not only be cheered on but to be able to cheer on others myself as well.
This was me and my cute hubby when we were all done. Maybe I am being too mushy but for me it was more than just a race. It was symbolic to me for us to cross the finish line together, hand in hand...I'm so glad he stuck by me and ran a slower pace just to stay by my side.

In the end we finished at a 10.3 pace, which for me is a little faster than my norm especially for going a distance I have never gone before. I ran for a total of 65 minutes straight. If you would have told me 8 months ago I would be 40 lbs. lighter and finishing a 10k I would have laughed in your face. It is amazing what hard work, determination, and inspiration can do to change your life.

Speaking of inspiration.....

You see these two girls. I know them! They are my great friends and they ran 26.2 miles today! They are busy moms but they worked hard (like really hard) and they accomplished this major goal together and I could not be more proud of them. I found it an honor to run next to them during their race even for just a bit.


I am a lucky woman and I am lucky to have so many motivating friends around me that get me to try new things. I hope some day to get to do a race with some, or hopefully all of them.


It was fun for me to call my dad on the way home. He was a big runner and he has been proud of me and it has been wonderful for us to have something to share with one another. Dad, I love you and I wish you could have been there to see me finish. Maybe you can be there when I do my 1/2. Wait, did I just say that?

When in Rome....

As the saying goes...When in Rome, do as the Romans do, and that is exactly what we did our last day in this beautiful city.

I don't have many pictures of this day but it was one of my most favorite. We started with a lazy morning and finally found a delicious and inexpensive breakfast with the most wonderful croissants.

Then we were off to the Borghese Gallery. They only let in a certain amount of people every few hours so you have to make reservations in advance but it was nice because it was not very busy.

The gallery was filled with beautiful art and sculptures but you can't take cameras in here and they enforce the rules so I don't have much to show for it. Our favorites however were Pauline Bonaparte as Venus, Apollo and Dafne, and The Rape of Proserpine (I know, it sounds terrible...but this sculpture was truly amazing).

Then came quite possibly my favorite part of the entire vacation. The gallery is located on the Villa Borghese Gardens and it is a beautiful sprawling park with pedi-bikes to rent and lots of shady spots to sit back and relax.

The weather was PERFECT and just as we picked our spot a musician came and started to play beautiful relaxing jazz music and it will forever be burned into my memory as a perfect moment.

There we were laying side by side without a care in the world, soaking up some rays and listening to some of my favorite music. The only thing we even had to worry about was the flight we had to catch to Paris a few hours later....rough life right?

So this is the picture we leave in our minds as our memory of Rome. I loved every single second of it.

Rome day 3

Day 3 was our trip to Vatican City. We started with a tour of the Vatican Museum which contains many great works of art and sculptures as well as the Sistine Chapel.

This is one of the staircases in the museum. If the stairs are this amazing you can only imagine what can be seen within the walls.

This is the grand museum. It has a beautiful outdoor courtyard seen below.

My most favorite part of the museum was the hall of statues. I think we hit it at the perfect time of day because the lighting was beautiful and it made each one of the carvings come to life. The one below is Silenus with the child Dionysus. It was breathtaking. So rare to see a man and a baby sculptured this way together.

We saw many fabulous pieces of art but the most beautiful of all was the Sistine Chapel. It was different than what I was expecting when I first walked in. Maybe it is because it is filled with wall to wall people but it seemed smaller to me than I thought it would have. It was interesting though once we took a seat and pulled out our book that went over each section of the painting the room started to feel bigger and bigger the longer we sat.

As you can imagine this is another place that is IMPOSSIBLE to try and photograph. You actually are not supposed to take any pictures at all but everyone does (not sure if that makes it ok...but I did anyway).

The chapel was painted over a 4 year period by Michelangelo. It spans 5,900 square feet. What is most interesting was when Pope Julius II asked him to do it, he said no thank you and that he was a sculptor, not a painter. Amazing that a non-painter pulled this off, right?

I also found it interesting that the wall below, which is known as The Last Judgment, was painted some 23 years later by Michelangelo. Again, this is all something you really have to see to believe. It was beautiful.

Then we were off to St. Peter's Basillica.I'm not really quite sure what to even say about this church. Everything about it is massive. It can hold 60,000 worshipers and the church covers 6 acres!

The light pouring in from the upper windows was simply beautiful

This golden canopy was built over an altar and 23 feet under that is where they say the tomb of Peter is. Many archaeological studies have been done and they have every reason to believe that this is actually where Peter himself is buried. To give you an idea of size, this golden canopy just itself is 7 stories tall!

This is looking up from the canopy to the dome that we climbed to the very top of.

Below is a picture looking down into the church 1/2 way up our climb to the top of the dome. The words you see there completely surround the entire church. They are all done in tiny mosaics and each letter is 7 feet tall. Yup, like I said this place is massive. The words that encircle the church are every documented word that Jesus ever spoke to Peter in the bible. Pretty cool.

Before I get to our great hike up to the dome I have to tell you about this picture below. It is called Pieta. It was carved by Michelangelo at age 24. It is a sculpture of Mary cradling her crucified son in her lap. Shortly after it was completed Michelangelo over heard someone giving credit of the sculpture to another artist so later that night he went in and carved his name in the ribbon running down Mary's chest. This is now his only signed work and it is said that he later regretted his actions .

Then we were off to climb the great dome. You could pay to take an elevator up most of the way but I thought it would be fun to say we climbed every single step, so we did. I think it was close to 500 steps. Even if you take the elevator you have to do the last 320 alone in a tiny little staircase where the walls curve in towards you. Pretty claustrophobic but I'm glad we did it. We were the only ones who did not take the elevator but it was fun.

This is almost at the very top where it is so narrow that there is not even enough room for a handrails so you get to hang on to a rope hanging from the ceiling. Ahhhh, we made it. The view was spectacular, and my legs got their workout in for the day.
This is just outside of St. Peter's in the main square. You see those statues behind us, there are 140 of them, all 10 feet tall that surround this entire square.
That night we headed to the Pantheon which is just outside our hotel. This is the ceiling inside the Pantheon. The dome is 142 feet wide and 142 feet high exactly. The hole in the middle is 30 feet across and is it's only source of light. The 1,800 year-old-floor has holes in it and slants towards the edges to let the rainwater drain out. I think it would have been cool to have been in there when it was raining, but we had blue skies the entire trip...thank goodness!

Later that night we hit one last fountain, the Trevi. Probably the most famous but not my most favorite. The fountain itself was amazingly beautiful but it was the only one that was not put in the middle of a large piazza and therefor was very crowded. I guess there was one time I felt crowded in this trip, and this was it. There was no room to just sit back and enjoy it's beauty, but we did go see it on a Friday night with beautiful weather so that may be why it was so busy.

Legend has it that if you throw a coin into the fountain you will return to Rome. We threw in our coins and I can hope that the legend stays true. It is reported that some 3,000 euros are thrown in daily and then are retrieved to feed the poor.

Wow, what a day!