Father's Day 2010

We gave Christopher a really nice watch made for Triathlon training and such a couple months back so this year I just planned on making him his favorite dinner. Well....Sunday morning I woke up violently ill. Seriously, I have no idea what possessed me to go to church...oh, yeah Sunbeams and Christopher. Come noon, I was out of commission for the next 32 hours.

When I came down to check on the damage to my house while I was laid up I noticed that Gavin had taken the initiative to have the kids create something for their Daddy. It was so touching b.c Christopher was upstairs with me and the kids were left to their own devices. They found random buttons, glue, sticks, confetti, old craft stuff I didn't even know we had and came up with these between the 3 of them. I thought it was so sweet.

Happy Father's Day to my father! Can't wait to spend the next 2 weeks with him. And Happy Father's Day to the father of my babies! I love you!

Marathon Man

Christopher killed his first marathon a couple of weeks ago. The Utah Valley Marathon that started up Provo canyon and ended at the Provo Towne Mall right in front of RED ROBIN. Yum! (Notice the medal that Gavin is wearing...he wore it ALL the time and even to bed he was so proud of his award!)

Christopher is taking this year off from Triathloning while saving for his new bike and thought running a marathon was good training. He's done Sprint and Olympic Triathlons and wants to work up to an Iron Man and a marathon is in that.

We all had a huge slumber party with our good friends Sean and Brynn and their kids the night before. Sean whipped up a nice BBQ and enjoyed each others company.

The next day, the big day, Christopher left at 3am to get to the start at 5.30 am up the canyon. Yikes. Brynn was nice enough to take us ALL in her new Pilot down to the race and they stayed with us! Talk about awesome friends!

While Christopher was pounding out 26.2 miles of canyon hills we were sleeping in and hanging with friends. The kids loved playing with Noah and Ellie.

We waited for Christopher just before the finish line. We wanted to find him throughout the course to cheer him on, but the weather was crap-tastic and the canyons didn't allow much traffic flow. 50's and rained and Christopher was a trooper. He wanted to finish at 3 hours 30 minutes at best but no later than 4 hours.

And he made his goal!! He finished in 3 hours and 40 minutes. If he had gone pee before the race or just gone behind some bushes like most every other runner on the course, he could have shaved 5 more minutes from that time! VERY IMPRESSIVE for a first time marathoner that had only run 15 miles prior to this race.

But he's gonna have to get faster if he wants to be an Iron Man some day. And he's OK with that. He says he loved every minute of running this marathon and enjoyed the pain. He's nuts. He's already planned his next marathon.

After the race we went to get breakfast at IHOP. The kids got a little balloon prize while there. Bear wanted Spiderman.

Reese got a gigantic flower.

And Gavin an alien.

Award Winner!

Gavin's 1st Grade awards presentation was on his last day of school, June 11th. He was so proud to have been one of the top percent in his class to have won the Distinguished Dolphin Award. A medal.

Gavin also got the Reading and Math awards. He also got all A's on his report card with exception to one B in "handwriting". No doubt, his handwriting needs some work.

Good work, G-man! We are so proud of your mad skillz accomplished in the 1st grade and can't wait for you to tackle 2nd...next month. Yep, he starts school again on the 26th of July. Year round school. Hey, at least he doesn't have it as bad as the other 3/4ths of his school which is STILL in school and wont be out until the 2nd of July and starts back up on the 26th.

Evolution of a Weenie Roast

One night, a simple 4th of July holiday decoration provided a little entertainment and remembrance of what was once a cherished centerpiece in our Texas home...a fire, in the fireplace.

The next day this same decor and remembered past time, turned into:

WEENIE ROAST for lunch!

L.O.V.E.

Seeing my kids having fun/laughing makes my heart sing.

Face Painting

We took Reese and her friend Kahanu to the Riverton Arts Fair for a moment (it was way too over priced) and the girls really wanted their face painted. Christopher couldn't disappoint his little lady and took Reese home and did a little face painting with what was left from Halloween.

He practiced on Reese's (you can tell) and Kahanu's turned out nice. The girls were so excited.

Caden didn't want to be left out and asked to be a tiger. It was so cute b.c the smile on his face never left from the first stroke of Christopher's hand til he went to bed that night.

Such a cute tiger!

There was a lot of black paint left and so Gavin chose to be Batman. Caden wasn't too thrilled with that seeing how he's taken to calling himself "my name is "Bear Batman Caden Lloyd".

Bells Canyon Hike

This past Memorial Weekend Christopher and I decided that we should introduce our children to a real mountain hike vs Texas trail hiking. Christopher picked Bells Canyon in Little Cottonwood Mountain.

I was sure the hike would be too much for the kids the first go round, however, they proved to be true troopers and made their daddy super proud. We got to the end and they wanted to keep going to the top of the snow caps! I on the other hand, was happy to be finished. I was worked!!

The trail was completely vertical (no switchbacks to my dismay, going 4100 feet) and full of huge rocks and erosion, which made for tricky maneuvering on Bear's part.

I was sure we were experiencing a little slice of heaven however when we came across these wild blue bonnets not too much after we started the hike.

Reese especially liked seeing the variety of wild flowers. We really miss seeing all the flowers of Texas along side highways and such.

We could see our neighborhood and Temple from across the valley from one point on the trail.

Due to some fantastic weather it wasn't too long before we needed a water break and this spot was just the place. Tree covered with a cool breeze coming from the river.

We picked a blue bonnet and stuck it in Reese's hat. In Texas we couldn't do that b.c it's the State Flower and protected by law. It was awesome carrying around a little bit of heaven.

The boys were in love with the fact that ants do not bite here. As Bear would say, "dees nice ants".

Gavin found a boulder recliner and waited for us grown ups to catch up with him on the trail.

Climbing trees too.

Flies mating on Reese's hair and couldn't be bothered to leave or stop with my shooing! Nature at it's best!

Once we got to the reservoir we kept trucking around and found a spot to picnic.

We finally found the waterfall and the kids got their reward.

Funny how I have all these shots of the kids, but none of the actual falls OR the reservoir. Oh well.

It was at this point on the trail head back down that Bear proclaimed, "mommy, we're in LOST". Those who watch the show know what he means. It was getting kind of dense and he was pretending we were the characters on LOST. Yes, we are fanatics. Christopher even cried during the season finale. Best show on television, ever.

The hiking back was much more rewarding. Downhill. It was beautiful.

Lady bug collecting.

Oh, here's a bit of the reservoir in the background. I don't know how Christopher hiking with kids taking turns on his shoulders. Couldn't have something to do with the fact that he's also running a marathon this weekend...he's fit. I'm not.

Flower collecting.

I like this picture of Bear b.c he looks so much like a little toddler with those baby cheeks that I'm sure he'll never grow out of!

Christopher made sure we have plenty of tunes to hike. Jacko was just the one who helped me complete this hike!

I took a little piece of heaven/Texas home with me.

Gavin took a beetle bug home with him! NOT COOL!!!