Racing Nascar Style

Well, Trent and Laura are officially in town so the party can now begin!!!! They flew in on Monday night and we have crammed them full of fun since they arrived. I love my family, we are best friends and we have the most fun when we are all together. I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life who love and support us in all that we do.
My family loves Nascar (minus me and Garrett and a few others) so we decided we needed to hit the Miller race way and give the go carts a try. I should have known we were in for sheer entertainment with all these competitive boys but the magnitude was far greater than I could have ever imagined.
You buckle yourself into those fast little carts and you are truly transformed into a little kid again with no fears and a reckless sense of fun. The girls went first and warmed the track up for the true racers. When it was time for the boys they had their game faces on and they meant business. We laughed our guts out watching the hysterics unfold on the track, and the strategies being played out by each driver. I think in the end it was down to Trent and Andy and they fought for every advantage they could gain but Trent was victorious. I totally recommend doing this if you have not yet tried it. On Wednesday's its 5 for $5. Five laps for five dollars, and the track is quite long and windy. We will definitely return to give the go carts another go in the near future when Travis and Tenille can also be there. We missed you guys!!!!!

The boys (Chad, Trent, Andy, Jake, Bo, and Grandpa) patiently waiting their chance to shine.

Grandma Jo and Laura coming around the corner to the finish line.

Swim Lesson

Swim lessons ended yesterday and it was kind of bitter sweet. Kenedy met up every morning with her two best friends Jackson and Addie for a quick lesson and lots of trampoline jumping (after lessons). She loved it, but I must admit toward the end of the two weeks she was getting a little worn out of rushing out of the house and not being able to relax in the mornings. This is just the beginning of a fun, wet summer with loved ones. Thank you Amber for putting up with 6 three year olds.

Standing in line waiting for their jump into the pool.

All Smiles!!! At least today.

The Wasatch Back

Ragnar Relay

This picture says it all.

Last weekend Garrett, myself and 10 of his closest friends ran the Wasatch back. I ran this same race last year with a wonderful team from my ward and I thought it would be fun to do it again ( last year I was 6 mo. pregnant with Gavin).
With how fickle the weather has been this year I thought we may actually get some cooler weather than expected. Boy was I wrong, as we watched the weather the week of Ragnar we were told it was to hit the high 90's or even triple digits possibly. Oh man I hate the heat and I knew I was in for a battle. This did not stop us from attending the race at all.
For those of you who have not heard of this race or haven't done it let me tell you it is a BLAST!!! Its a lot of stinky friends crammed into a suburban for over 24 hrs. with no sleep, little food, crazy conversations, lots of sore muscles, and even more memories!!!!
I got to know all of the guys much better and I was so impressed with how easy they made everything look. I loved the friendly competitiveness of the race and the comradery every one had for each other. Its a great experience and we are already signed up for an ultra team plus a team of 12 next year. We obviously are not quick learners, or we just enjoy torturing ourselves.


This guy bolted out of the exchange practically sprinting, we were a little bit behind him and thought he must be Superman or some invincible creature to keep a pace like he started out with. Needless to say our runner passed him less than 2 miles down the road and Superman looked like he was ready to kill over. The lack of clothing didn't seem to help him run any faster or longer, but it sure gave our van a good laugh!!! Than you Speedo man!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY BABE!!!!

Garrett giving Kenedy her first bath in 2005

I just wanted to give a shout out to my greatest friend Garrett. Garrett became a daddy almost three years ago to our first child Kenedy and I can honestly say he is a natural!!
Garrett has always loved children and they have loved him in return. I feel like we have been parents for far longer than a tiny 3 years because that is all we do and know at this point in our lives.
He is the greatest example and teacher to both of our kids and to myself. He is the least selfish person I know and any chance he gets he is always asking if there is someone who needs our help. Whether it be babysitting their kids while they go out on a date, or moving someone into a new house, or just inviting someone over for dinner, he is always thinking of others.
Also, for those of you who know Garrett he is the total OPTIMIST. He believes everything will work out for the best. No matter the situation he is confident that if you simply rely on the Lord and live righteously that things will work out. I am trying to take a little of his positive attitude and apply it more so to all of "my" situations.
We love you babe and want you to know that we are so grateful to have you in our lives.
I was so excited to surprise Garrett this weekend for Father's Day. I had been researching this awesome watch. I know that sounds lame and it will still probably sound lame to many of you even after I describe it. This watch is a advanced running watch with GPS, heart rate monitor, caloric intake, workout schedules etc.. etc.. the list goes on. Well Kenedy and I ordered this watch into REI and went to pick it up last week. I was so excited to pick it up that it was all I could think about all morning. As we were driving home on Thursday Kenedy was in the back seat and she said " Dad we got you a new shirt". At first it didn't register to me that she was blowing our secret. I then snapped around in my seat and told her to keep quiet that our secret was not for daddy's ears just yet. She quickly went quiet and I thought that my sternness had gottenthrough to her and her lips would then stay sealed. Not so fast, as we were getting her out of the car she then continued to say "Daddy, Daddy we got you this really cool new watch" repeating this sentence over and over. Yes, Garrett could not ignore his daughter and now our surprise was blown. I was kind of sad because this was one year I had had big plans for Sunday and in a matter of seconds my whole surprise was ruined. But how could I get mad at this sweet little girl who was just so excited to tell her daddy about this special present we had gotten for him.
Needless to say Garrett started celebrating Father's day a few days early. And I sometimes wonder if Kenedy enjoys the watch more than her dad. They stopped by a running store yesterday and Kenedy was looking at the items inside the glass display case and she pointed to something and told the gentlemen that her daddy has that very same watch. When all is said and done we had a great day admiring Garrett and I hope he felt like a King for the day!!
I hope all you fathers and soon-to-be, and "eventually-to-be" fathers have a wonderful day!!!!

Gav's 8 mo. check up

Last week I took Gavin in for his eight month check up and I learned a few new description that I didn't know existed until now.
First let me give you an idea of how well my sweet boy is doing.
Gavin now weighs 21 lbs. and is in the 77%
He is 28 inches long 61%
and here is the kicker...
His head circumference is... 47.7cm. and the percentile they gave to go along with that is >97%
I didn't know that (>) actually existed when measuring your child's progress. I feel like the doctor measured his head and because it is pretty large, as in "off the charts" LARGE he decided to randomly pick a large number and then add a greater that sign in front of it( I know that is not actually what he did, but I sometimes wonder .
When Dr. Pete went over Gavin's progress he simply glided over the head issue by saying "his body has now caught up to his head". I didn't think much of it at the time because I have never though Gavin had a big head. He has always look proportional to his body. I guess I was disillusioned a little bit.
I laughed hysterically all the way home when I looked over his print out not knowing that my child could ever be on the "greater than"side of the percentile spectrum.
For those of you who know my first child Kenedy was and still is in the single digits ( 7% weight or height). so this other end of the spectrum is new territory for me and I must admit I LOVE IT!!!!
Gavin is healthy, happy and full of energy. He just started crawling this week and now that he knows he can get around he is already trying to catch up to his big sister.
We love you Gavin and we look forward to lots of growing and happy smiles.