this is how it's supposed to be

We have had the best day. It's been busy busy and so much fun. We woke up early this morning to head to Silverton to watch the cyclists come in from the Iron Horse bike race. We left with what I thought was plenty of time, but really slow traffic made us too late to cross the check point before the road closed. We made the best of it, along with a lot of other really disappointed people. We set up our chairs and cheered people on as they raced by. The race is 50 miles, and it is tough. Incredibly beautiful though. The drive was so pretty and I couldn't help but say that over and over. We drove with our windows down, listening to the whir of the fancy bikes and letting the wind blow through the car. The boys were so happy and excited.

Kaden was really sad when we had to stop. He was so excited to go to Silverton and it broke my heart to see him so disappointed. I know exactly how he feels. I remember feeling that way when I was little and not quite understanding why things couldn't work out how I had planned. I still know how he feels! He was a good sport though when I promised him a trip to the train museum on our way home. He waved to every single cyclist and got SO excited when they smiled, waved, or talked to him as they passed.

We've spent hours and hours outside this past week. The weather is finally getting really warm and we are going to town on our back yard. Our yard is huge and it's daunting thinking about all that we have to do. It's a work in progress and looking better and better all of the time.

The little guys love to be outside more than anything. They want to be out there all day every day. The first things Becks says when I get him out of his bed in the mornings is, "eat breffest? go owwside?" When the door opens, he beelines it to try to escape. Kaden is a little adventurer and into everything. He's on the trampoline, in the sandbox, under the deck, riding his bike, making mud holes, running this way and that way.

We got home and ate lunch and the boys took a nap. I set up their new pool and mowed the yard. I am really excited about our beautiful grass. I seeded the dry spots today and I am really hoping the baby grass grows in nicely. After the little guys woke up we played outside for hours. They were thrilled to pieces when they saw the pool. At first Beckham didn't really know what to think of it so he just watched Kaden splash around.


He's starting to get little freckles on his nose and they are so, so cute.

These adorable little faces have happiness written all over them.

Beckham was laughing harder than I have ever seen him laugh. He splashed and crawled and went crazy in there; he was being absolutely hilarious. He was beside himself and I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard.

Money is still number one around here. He asks for him all the time and just loves on that little guy to no end.

I love summer. I am so happy it's finally here. The warmth and sun make me a different person. I don't realize how much I miss this time of year until it comes around. Every time I see the first shoots of grass, the first leaves on the trees, the first flowers budding, it's like an internal physiological thing happens to me and I can't help but smile and just feel so happy inside. The fact that my boys love to be out as much as I do makes it exponentially better.

kaden's prayer

dear hevly father
thank you for this day
thankful we had a lovely day
thankful i have a pretty mommy
thankful i have lots of trains, but not too much
but some are broken so i need some more.
thankful i could be the badest,
but then i was rude so i decided to be the goodest.
thankful i am the goodest, but not too much
sometimes i am the naughtiest.
thankful my baby is getting strong and big
and someday he will be big like me
and i will be big like daddy.
thankful my baby is going to walk soon.
thankful for my buddy but sometimes he is bothering me
and messing with my stuff and my tracks
thankful for this food.
please bless us have a good sleep tonight and be happy.
please bless nana in mexico and papa not be too lonely.
name of Jesus Christ, amen.

So stinkin' cute and Matt and I were snickering through the entire thing.

red rock relay

Last weekend my girls and I ran the red rock relay in Moab. It totally rocked. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. I laughed so hard so many times. Jamie organized this thing months ago, then had to have ankle surgery. She got a replacement, who hurt her knee, and got another replacement. Jamie and Corie still wanted to come along so the eight of us partied it up. We figured out we left 8 husbands and 22 children behind and we felt so free!

The night before the race we checked into our teeny little cabin. We squished way too many people in there but it was fun. Pam, Tessa, and I hit up every gas station in town buying overly-priced bandannas to go with our amazing sparkle skirts. We stocked up on the essentials: bagels, bananas, gatorade, candy and snickers, of course. In the morning we got up and headed to the park to start the 70 mile race.

We were called the "bayfield booties", and our sparkle skirts were the bomb. They glimmered and shined like crazy and I am pretty sure they had special power too. We loved them, and got plenty of attention from other teams and the race photographers. I liked that we stood out, and I loved that I could see my team from far away waiting to cheer me on and give me water.

We had fun hanging out in the park for a while. We watched other teams start and the announcer was hilarious. Suzette won a tech shirt for doing 20 a.maz.ing. push ups at the start. The girl next to her (a byu soccer player) was barely going down and Suzette was killing it like a man in the army.



Riding in the car was so fun. We stopped every mile or two and got out and waited for our girl to come. We'd spray water with the super-soaker, give drinks, high fives, dance around like crazy people, cheer, and put on a show. I am sure I wasted a ton of energy but it made me so happy to see my friends supporting me when it was my turn and I thought I might not make it.


The run was absolutely gorgeous. It made the near 5,000 foot elevation gain a little bit more bearable. This run was a beast. My first leg was 5.4 miles uphill the entire way. I have honestly never been that miserable in a race before. I felt like I was running at a snail's pace but I finally finished and prayed that I would feel better on my second leg.


I started the uphill part at about 15 miles into the race and it continued on for the next 20 miles. It got steeper and steeper and more brutal. Even though those legs of the race were a shorter distance, they were tough. At some parts, the people walking were easily keeping up with those trying to run.



I loved meeting the other teams. There were a few that we saw consistently and we had a good time cheering for each other. The team names were so funny. One that we were near the entire time was "we got the runs". They had a huge flag on their car and they made me laugh. Some other favorites were: delicate arches, newly-weds, over-feds, and nearly-deads, sister wives, half fast runners, and super useless super powers.



Eventually we did get to start going down and it felt great. My second leg was over 8 miles and I ran it in the same amount of time it took me to run the first 5 that I did. I felt great clipping along in a 7ish mile pace. I feel like it was sort of cheating with the steady small decline and flat road, but still, I think I earned that.


I was sad that Jamie didn't get to run but so happy that she came along. It was just so fun. I can't say that enough.

Susan was our last runner and we waited for her at the park. We all got to finish together, even though we were totally out of steam by then.

We did surprisingly well for none of us really training at all. I think I've run 3 or 4 times, maybe, since the middle of march. We decided our team name should have been, "straight off the couch." We ended up finishing 67th out of over 150 teams, most of them coed. We beat a few all male teams and were in the top female teams. Not too shabby. We are excited to do it again next year and actually train for it--the right way.

I feel like we were all good friends before, but this little trip just made our friendship even better. We just clicked, we've all been through some crazy hard stuff, and we are all pretty hilarious if I do say so.