Grand Canyon

 

Uh-oh. Steph showed me Picasa. Sorry kids.

 

We live two hours away from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Maybe two and some change. But still...four years down the road, and we're just barely making it to our local slice of one of the world's wonders? Funny how that works out sometimes. We wanted to go before our pass expired at the end of October. And it was beatiful, perfect weather. This little stinker would not smile or hold still for my signature mommy shot with Grand Canyon backdrop.

 

We stayed in these dorm-room-sized cabins at Jacob Lake that the kids fell in love with. Unlike Zion, it was not a get-your-hands-dirty type of hiking weekend, but more of a park-and-look-park-and-look-park-and-eat type of a weekend. It's just so massive. I hear, however, that the South Rim is where to go for more of that kind of thing. And of course Havasupi is still on our list of things to do before we die. We threw in some random spice too: Bryson climbed a huge lookout tower with Ella, we dropped by Pipe Spring National Monument on our drive home. And now, since Bryson is headed up north today for a chunk of the week, here is a we'll miss you picture for him if he reads this...

 

Ridin' Skillz

Ridin' skillz in action: Ella can bike it all the way to the park and back (approx. 1 mile round trip) without (much) incident. Thank you, Nana, for the best birthday gift!

Best Race Foreva-eva

All I have to say is this: 3:49:12, 8:44 min mile. Hoo-rah!

This is getting to be my lucky tank. I've worn it for 3 St. George's now and have always beat my PR.

Snow Canyon. Hi fam!

And...I'm spent.

I tried a few new things for this race.
1. I ate an entire pizza the day before the race. I didn't mean to, but it sounded good for breakfast, it was all we had for lunch, and then by dinner it was gone. So, carb-loading, maybe...?
2. I waited 10 minutes after the starting gunshot before I took off. I let the crowd clear out and then hit the road. Also I was drinking hot chocolate and standing in front of a fire and the temptation to leave warmth for cold was not very high.
3. Pace bracelet. I picked up a 3:50 pacer at the expo as a good time to shoot for and it got to be a game to see how far I could get ahead of the bracelet times.
4. Friends...we had a good showing of buds from our hood both running the race and cheering.
5. Desert Hills middle school PE issue shorts. Thanks middle school neighbor that moved and gave me these. I love eclectic pieces of wardrobe like this that remind me of good people.

So if I drop 9 minutes off my time, I can qualify for Boston. Tempting, very tempting. To be continued...

Fall Starts Here

My favorite time! Yay! Bring on the corn maze...
With Monica in town this past week, it's been fun times every day. So we usually wait a little longer to hit Staheli farm, but wouldn't want to miss the company. I know it's technically still September, but this yearly tradition makes me want to bust out the donuts, cider, and pumpkins.
Counting down: Two more days until I will get my fall decor down from the attic.

Under the Sea

Ella Green is now age 4...and we had fun on the ocean floor!
Par-tay!

We kicked off the festivities with a luau feast of terriyaki chicken and rice, pineapple skewers, whale crackers, veggie-rama, fishy cookies, and mini shark aquariums.

A cookie-eating lost little mermaid.

Limbo contest...how low can YOU go?

Conga line

Look at this stuff--isn't it neat? Definitely now Ella's collection's complete :) Thanks guys!

I LOVED these fun cake/ice cream creations! The buckets were vanilla sand and chocolate mud (aka cake, pudding, Oreo or graham cracker mix) and the ice cream cakes were the artistic property of Kandyce McCracken. I handed her a bucket of ice cream to store in her freezer until the end of the party and this is what she showed up with. Wow.

We sent the kiddos home with a real goldfish to keep. The gift that keeps on giving. I hear they like goldfish crackers if you don't have fish food on hand...? Cannibals.

Little Ballerina

Ella attended her first ballet class this week and...hi...loved it! She wore her leotard all morning because she was so excited. It's a pretty low-key deal, where they learn a little bit of technique with a lot of "creative movement," and it's perfect for her.
Oh yes, and there's Avery in the background of the picture eating our outdoor plants.

After class each week, they have a little tea party. So cute! They each got a little tiny plate with a fruit snack and pretzel before going home. On the left is her teacher, Miss Annie. Now every day Ella is asking me when she gets to go again..."has it been a week yet???".

On the Home Front

Bryson whipped up this really cool dome for the girls on Sunday out of rolled up newspapers and tape. Not too shab, huh? However, because it so closely resembled playground equipment, it did not have a long life.

Ella made this yesterday for Bryson to hang up at his work. I wrote the letters and then she copied them. My favorites are "S" and "W" :)

Avery ate one of my little basil starts this morning. Dirt, roots, everything. And then she had the nerve to say "MMmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

Gunlock in the AM + Highlights

This weekend I ran a 20-mile race on a course I've been itching to get my feet on for awhile--Veyo to Ivins through Gunlock. And it was everything I hoped it would be. Maybe even a little more beautiful for the major thunderstorm just hours before we started. There was another race running concurrently, but in the opposite direction--the Red Rock Relay--and it was fun to exchange groans with these other runners as we passed them the entire time (I think theirs was a 180-mile relay). We also had a laugh on the way to our start over their "leg exchange" with accompanying ambulance...before we realized we were not the only competitors in the middle of nowhere that morning :)

Looks like I haven't posted in a bit. Here's our fridge enjoying free groceries from Winder Dairy. Bryson was the lucky duck whose name was drawn at the movie in the park a few weeks ago. Organic yumminess!

This was our most recent primary activity, a talent show featuring our superstar kiddos. We had a full lineup of everything from a capella ABCs to break dancing to gymnastics to ballet. An evening of high entertainment, indeed.

Dino museum. No, I don't know who those kids are that are running through the exhibit full speed ahead...

And oh yes, the county fair. Here we are getting in touch with our inner white trash. It turns out our inner white trash LOVES the demolition derby, an event where beater cars compete to the smashtacular demise in a ring of cement barricades. Hold the phone, my parents have a few vehicles to lend to this event.

Lovely evening with the Quarnbergs at the temple grounds. Ella and Tyler were all ready to get married, but we encouraged them to save that for another day.