Ragnar Trail Zion part deux

Last April I had seven of my friends join me on what should have been an incredible race weekend in southern Utah. Unfortunately, mother nature decided we needed torrential rain and the course became a dangerous mud pit. For some reason they didn't want to fly in from around the country for another potential expensive 5k. :)

One of my friends from last year, Andrea Yazzie, wanted to complete the race as badly as me so she joined. One of my friends and race buddies in Mississippi, Rachel Jolley, moved to Logan with her family last year so she wanted to run it as well. A friend from my workout class, Robin, is an avid trail runner and it didn't take much to convince her to join our team. She brought her sister in law Jackie and their friend Emily along for the fun ride. A while back I reconnected with my childhood friend Nikki Bailey and talked her into joining the team. Her friend Becca was our 8th. These ladies were SO much fun.

Here are some pictures of us before the race.

Here are some race day pictures. We met a really nice corporate team of guys that took our begin race pictures and we cheered each other on. One of their runners got dehydrated, no surprising, so we snapped a picture supporting him. 

Mike and the kids came along and had a lot of fun.They swam, a lot, and also went zip lining. I tried to hang out with my team and family and it made for a very memorable race event.

Our team ended up taking 2nd place for the women's teams, which means we're going to do it again next year. I'm already getting excited.

Steven's Baptism

Yesterday Steven chose to be baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A couple years ago he told me very matter of fact that he didn't want to be baptized. The choice was his to make, so I of course didn't argue, but I anxiously waited to see if he would make the choice. Thankfully, he did, and we are very proud of him.

There were two other kids from the ward being baptized, so each family had a little part to play. Our family was in charge of the music. My sister Ashley was the pianist and did a wonderful job. She drove her three kids out here without her husband while being pregnant and uncomfortable. (I just realized I didn't get any other pictures from his baptism.) Sarah practiced really hard and did a special musical number of "I love to see the temple", which is one of Steven's favorite church songs. Mike performed the baptism and confirmation. 

A few days before I took him to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple to take some pictures of him. I had to sweeten the deal with the promise of milk shakes after since he doesn't love the idea of having his picture taken. I love this handsome guy of ours. 

We're very grateful for the example Steven is to all of us and especially his younger brother. We love you dudemous! 

Hogle Zoo in February and April

I don't post a lot of our little field trips, but this one was memorable enough to note. The last Wednesday of each month during the winter months Hogle Zoo has free admission. It's usually pretty busy, but I thought it would be worth it to take Adam and our little guy. Parents are the ones that care about weather and crowds. Kids just want to see animals.

We started out in the reptile house and then went to the otter house to visit Erik and Kevin's fish. We took the usual tiger photo opp and then headed up hill to see the giraffes.

When we started going uphill I asked our little guy to walk since I'd pushed him for the previous hour. He didn't like that idea. At. All. I didn't get a picture of him lying on the ground yelling about how much he hated walking and feet, because that would have looked bad, but I got some good pictures of the pouting. Is it okay that I found it cute?

We went to the ape house but I still made him walk. Evil, I know. He wasn't happy about it. (Does this make me seem like a horrible person? I promise, he was well fed, rested and he didn't walk very far.)

He and Adam took pictures with the ape statue and then we rode the train. Oh the memories!

In April we took a trip with Adam's kindergarten class. It was SO COLD! I bribed the kids with a french fry break twice so we could go into the restaurant and escape the weather. :) We didn't wander as much but we did get a picture with Erik and Kevin's fishes and with some of his classmates at the gorilla. 

His a picture of him in the morning before we left and one of us on the bus. I love my little buddy boy!