Other July Stuff

25 days till school starts. 

This is both a good and a bad thing.
I've enjoyed the time with the boys and we have done some fun things, but it's hard to keep their screen time under control & keep them stimulated with the right things. Preston is doing great learning his sight words. He is on page 23 of Hop on Pop which he is very proud of, and so am I!
Jaxton's summer goal is to learn how to spell his name and identify the letters in his name. He's doing well too, if only there wasn't that pesky A in his name! And Lucas? Well Lucas is Lucas. He talks all day long, sings, dances, amuses himself and everyone else too. 

He had a 21 month well check to get some immunizations that he missed at his 18 mo checkup due to being sick. As usual he impressed everyone with his development level. He's already hit a lot of his 2yr old milestones. He's started putting 2 word sentences together and is showing interest in potty training. I can only imagine what a life without diapers is like and it's LOVELY! 

Don't worry. He isn't perfect. He gets into more mischief then the other 2 boys ever did. He climbs on EVERYTHING and tries his best to keep up with the other boys. 

Earlier this week was Cow Appreciation day at Chick-Fil-A, which we LOVE. If you dress like a cow you get a free meal! Free food?? Yes please!! And the boys really liked dressing up this year. 

A true Jaxton smile is a rare thing.
This is a true smile. 

After lunch we went to ride on the carousel.
Their favorite thing is the spinning cup. 

No thank you.

The carousel already makes me sick but add spinning on top of spinning and I was not a fan.
Turns out neither was Lucas and I ended up holding him for most of the ride. 

Boy #1 & #2 got to go on a date with Daddy to the golf place (aka Golfland).
They had dinner, played games and then did their version of golf. 

They have really enjoyed having each other around this summer.
I think Preston being gone all day at Kindergarten will be hard on Jaxton. 

We've done our best to stay cool. Every Monday we go swim at Skyline Pool for a few hours and whenever we are feeling generous we set up the water toys outside. 

Patrick and I took these two to go see the Minions movie. He says that I laughed the most out of everyone.
It's true.
But it was a pretty funny movie. 

Today I took the boys to Pump it Up. A lot of other people had that same idea because it was packed!! But they had fun, I think. 

Lucas was keeping up with the big kids. 

See what I mean about trying to stay cool? Even Tobi is looking for cool spots to lay. 

Fort building has become a daily thing. They try to distract Lucas to keep him from tearing it apart. But I don't think we have enough toys to keep him occupied.

It's ok Lucas. 25 more days and the forts are all yours. 

The 4th of July, 2015

I think Preston loves the 4th of July more then anyone I've ever met.
He might even like it more then Christmas, I don't know.
Probably because on the 4th of July we actually DO stuff as opposed to other holidays where we are boring. 

We usually make 4th of July shirts. This year I found some tie dye kits on clearance at Target in patriotic colors so we did that.
Sad getting a picture where all 3 of them are looking like normal children at the camera is a thing of the past. Someone's always getting smashed or has their eyes closed or isn't looking or something. Like this picture. 

The morning of the 4th Preston came in my room at about 5:30 all dressed in his shirt and said he was ready for the 4th of July to start. Lucky for me I was able to get him to fall back asleep for another hour.
We went to our wards annual pancake breakfast and did a small parade around the building. I was too busy running the flag ceremony and then making sure Lucas stayed off all the bikes to take pictures.
Later that morning Patrick took the boys to Home Depot for a kids workshop where they got to make a Minions car. You can't tell from the back of their heads, but they enjoyed it. 

Later in the day we did some games. Ring toss was fun. Till Lucas realized not all the rings were for him and we had to take turns. 

Concentration.
by the way I'm pretty sure I won again this year. 

We played "firework" where you get wrapped up in toilet paper like a firecracker and then you have to explode free. 

Firecracker!!

Firecracker! 

We didn't have too many red white and blue foods this year, but we did have some pudding. 

Look at that patriotic pudding mustache! 

And then that night we had the missionaries over for dinner along with John, Rox, Noah, Lyla and my friend Krissa. We bbq'd a bunch of cheeseburgers and had all kinds of delicious things. 

I didn't get a picture of us doing fireworks and I wish I had, it was super cute. All the little kids would stand on the sidewalk and whenever Patrick would light a firework they would stomp their feet up and down over and over again. And then cover their ears of course. It was fun. Till Lucas grabbed the end of his sparkler.... His finger and thumb are still recovering from that one. 

The very next morning Preston asked me how many more days till Christmas.
A lot.
I hope. 

The Utah Valley Half Marathon

A strange thing happens after you run a race. Usually you are running and miserable and in pain and just want to finish. Then you finish the race, see your time, catch your breath and think "I can do better then that." and you find yourself signing up for more races.
It's a vicious cycle.
After the Phoenix Half Marathon I knew I could do better. I wanted to do better. So John and I signed up to do the Utah Valley Half Marathon. Misery loves company!
The good news is Provo just happens to be where Jimmy, Mallory, Andrew and Janiece live!
The bad news is I didn't end up training for this half marathon at all. Like AT ALL.
I gained some weight back, had some health problems, my laziness was reborn and I had a house to paint and wedding to plan. Life gets in the way of running sometimes. Plus I really like to read and not run. Needless to say I was NOT looking forward to the run at all. And I made sure everyone knew it.
I think the bottom line is I just didn't want to be embarrassed.
So I told myself that I would just have fun. I wouldn't try to run the whole thing or beat my old time or have any expectations. I just wanted to finish and then enjoy my time with my siblings. Cause I like them.
Turns out that race is probably the best one I've ever done. Not time wise, but mentality wise. 

Friday morning John and I flew out to Provo.
We got to spend the day with everyone and went to J-Dawgs for an amazing hotdog, and what I hear is the best Dr. Pepper (I don't drink soda for a few weeks before a run. Sacrifices.)
We went and saw Jurassic World. Loved it. And we played a lot of Pirates Dice and carb loaded. We went to bed early because the next morning we had to be up at 3:10am. Buses left between 3-4:30am and the race started at 6.
John and I were excited/nervous/anxious/stressed. 

The worst part of a race is waiting at the beginning. The bus drops you off at the starting point and then you have nothing to do but wait. In the dark. In the cold.
It was seriously freezing. And they had fire pits set up but the wood was wet and wouldn't start on fire and when it did it was mostly a smoke fire. John and I tried to get it going by burning toilet paper and cardboard we found but it still wasn't too successful. Next time we are wearing the emergency blankets that will make us look like baked potatoes. Warm baked potatoes. 

I took a few pictures before the race started because once the sun came up you could see just how pretty it was in the canyon. Too bad my camera didn't take great pictures. Take my word for it though, it was great. 

I don't remember taking this picture during the race, but apparently I did. 

The course went right past Bridal Falls in the canyon. SO SO SO PRETTY!! I didn't take this picture, just borrowed it from the internet to show just how pretty it is. 

 And before I knew it 13.1 miles had passed and I was almost done. I started out the race running, then ran for 10 minutes, walked for 5. Then that lead to run for 8 minutes walk for 4. Then run for 5 minutes walk for 3 then eventually it was run 2 walk 2. But it was just fine for me! It was strange to me that there weren't as many spectators/crowds cheering on the side of the road during the whole thing. The PHX Marathon had people all over. But the Utah marathon had really strange things at the aid stations. Like apple cobbler. And mashed potatoes and pulled pork. Seriously. I didn't partake of those things but did help myself to an otter pop around mile 11! Brilliant idea to hand those out. 

Since we had seen Jurassic World the day before I decided to cross the finish line as a dinosaur. Bad move. Looked good in my head, didn't look good on the big screen. 

John finished the race way before me but came back for like the last 1/2 mile with me which I thought was really nice. 

Done and not dead.
DO IT! 

I'm guessing because I didn't run the whole thing that I didn't feel like dying after I was done. Or maybe it was the 800mg of ibuprofen I took before I started running. Either way I felt really good. Tired and swollen but good! 

The race ended by the new Provo temple which I thought was really cool. Typical Utah ending a race by a temple/church! 

Oh and while I was away this is what my family was doing...

The boys spent Friday all day with LaLa. They went to a park, a pizza place and Patrick said they were worn out Friday night. 

Saturday they played with their new water toy.
No clue where Preston got the peace symbol from.

And Patrick had some fun with Eliott and the magical "miracle berries".

The rest of our Utah trip included JCW & delicious burgers/fries, the movie McFarland (which we should have watched the day before the race!) hanging out visiting, john spending Sunday morning in the bathroom, and soreness.
It was a really great trip. No kids to distract any of us, no having to go and visit a hundred people or have a time table to do things, just fun. I keep trying to figure out in my mind how I can make it happen again. There's always the Utah Valley Marathon on June 11, 2016!