Quiet Book

Because I've had so much extra time the last few days as I get ready to go to Missouri (not), I finally got the quiet book pages from an exchange in December bound, and made a cover. Hopefully, this will help on the plane!
Sent from my BlackBerry, please excuse any brevity or typos.

In Line

Every week as we wait forever in line at Walmart, Ethan stacks or sorts energy drinks. He is good at putting them away correctly, so I let him (and at least he isn't begging for candy).
Sent from my BlackBerry, please excuse any brevity or typos.

Swimming Family

As if swimming weren't already fun enough, yesterday we bought a waterproof camera!  (Our old camera died.)  One of the great things about swimming, is it cheers everybody up.  We picked up the boys after our staycation yesterday and they were being really grumpy, so we all jumped in the pool and everyone was happy!

Here are the first of (probably many) water pictures to come!

 "Superhero pose"

 And just a cute one of Benton.

Staycation

Today and yesterday, Mike has been attending a conference in Scottsdale.  There was a group rate for the resort, so we worked it out with my friend Jessica for me to be able to go up there and stay at the resort.  Unfortunately, by the time we got everything worked out, we had, unknowingly, missed the deadline for the room discount.  That meant I couldn't go.  I was SO bummed!  

Fortunately, my friend Sarah didn't accept cancelling as an option and volunteered to take the boys at night (Jessica was going to watch them at my house because there wouldn't be enough room at her place for everyone to sleep).  So, my staycation changed to one night instead of two, but I'm still really excited.  

We decided to stay at our house instead of getting a hotel.  Boring?  Maybe.  But, then again, what does a resort have?  Comfy bed.  So does my house.  Flat screen TV, check.  Nice pool and lounge chairs, check.  Restaurants nearby, check.  

I planned on spending most of my time reading by the pool today, and instead have been getting caught up on my blog.  But, I think I'm all caught up, so now I am going to go read by the pool happy knowing that I have one huge thing crossed off my to do list!

Running

I've run two races this year, Ragnar, and a half marathon.

Ragnar was a week after we moved and left the hospital.  I didn't join my team until the evening, right before my first (of 3) legs so that I could take care of Benton's meds.  My friend Sarah was nice enough to drive me an hour out to the start point.

3 team mates came down from Utah and stayed with me.  They were nice about my not put together house.  Actually, every time they showered the sump pump alarm went off.  Turned out when it was replaced before we moved in the plumber crossed some wires. Thankfully, it was an easy fix.

Mandy playing with Benton.

 We have 12 people on the team, but 6 in our van. We rarely see the other van.

Lindy, Johnna, Me.

 Eric, Me.

 My first leg was 7.8 miles, sunset, in the desert.  It was awesome!  I was worried since I hadn't been running while Benton was in the hospital, but it went fine.

 This was my 3rd leg (second was in the wee hours of the morning).  Mandy ran before me and got lost, so it made for an eventful afternoon.  Thankfully, she was ok.

 Most of the team.  Van 1 went home after their final legs and not everyone made it back to the finish line.
A neighbor of mine "sponsored" us by making these shirts.

 More peekaboo.

 In May I ran a half Marathon in Prescott, AZ with some coworkers.  We ran together on South Mountain for about 2 months ahead of time (Cyndi and Helaman joined me).  Comtrans sponsored the really fun weekend.  We went up the night before, had dinner and picked up our packets, and then slept at a rented home.  We got up the next morning, ate pancakes I had made ahead of time, and headed to the start.

Team Comtrans before the race, and me and Helaman after the race.

I felt well prepared for the race.  Although my time was slower than my previous half marathon, I was pleased.  My first half marathon was at a low elevation and flat.  This course started 4 or 5,000 ft higher than where I trained and gained 1000 ft before the mid way point, where we turned around and ran back.

After the race, Mike came up with the boys and Helaman's wife came up with her kids.  We stayed an extra night at the house.  We went to a local carnival nearby where the kids rode a little tractor train, bounced in bounce houses, and went in one of those inflatable balls on a pool of water.  Helaman's wife took pictures for me, but now I can't find them...

I've only run once since then I think.  I go to the gym every weekday morning, but am not interested in running in the heat this summer.

Let the Summer Begin!

We have a busy summer ahead of us.  I have set up weekly tours (Mondays) and play dates (Fridays), plus we're doing Harkins Summer Movies.

We've had several gatherings to swim and BBQ. This table comes in handy when extra little ones are around.

 There are always trains to play with.

 Sad faces.

 Our first tour was to Stuffington Bear Factory.

 First summer movie.

 The boys are into reading right now.

 Wednesdays there are summer programs at the library.  I don't know how many of these we'll attend because they fill up fast and are at a bad time with naps.

 New hair (Locks of Love donation 2).

 Ethan has finally taken a little interest in drawing (trains at least).

 The boys got their first summer reading prize at the library, slinkies!

 Two of our playdates so far have been at Pump It Up.  Last time, Benton played air hockey for about an hour straight.

 We've also taken a tour of our local ice cream store and a nearby chocolate factory.

Mike and a neighbor/ward member trimmed a bunch of branches off another neighbor/ward member's trees for her.  We've been looking for sticks we like for his vase for YEARS, but nothing is what we want/reasonably priced.  So, Mike brought a bunch of these Mesquite branches home, and I really like them.  And, as an added bonus, we found Ethan's Thomas crocs in the bottom of the vase (they'd been missing for a long time)!