they just can't get enough of it...

2016 summed up in one word... DAB

2017 summed up in one word... SLIME

Can't wait to see what 2018 has in store.  

Meg turns 6!

Our little Meggie-Peggie turned 6!  

After kindergarten, Grandma and Grandpa picked Meg up for her birthday lunch.  This year their gift to all the grandkids on their birthday is a fun lanyard wallet and a Disneyland gift card for our trip to Disneyland in January.  The kids are so excited!    

Meg picked Wendy's (OF COURSE) for her birthday lunch.  This girls loves a good frosty! 

We threw Meg an art birthday party for her little friends.  I love throwing little girl parties.  They are too fun!  

The painted an art canvas to take home.  

We put masking tape on the canvas however they wanted it, and then they painted over  it...  After they were done, we took the masking tape off and they turned out like this.  Adorable!  

Happy birthday Meggie!  

Halloween 2017

Mary Poppins and Bert showed up for Halloween this year.  It was a jolly-good time!  

We also had a few more babies around the house :) 

Although running errands with 3 babies wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  

The kids decorated our new porch with spiders.... creepy!  And there are eyeball stickers on the window with a sign that says, "I've got my eyes on you".  Very clever kiddies.  

Grandma had her traditional Halloween piñata party with all the cousins.

The school parade was outside this year. 

The pumpkin patch

What would October be without a visit to the pumpkin patch??  We went through the corn maze and the kids each got to pick out their very own pumpkin, Grandpa's treat :).

Ivy had a very hard time picking just one... 

How cute are these little wheelbarrows?  Not as cute as my girls, but still pretty dang cute!  

St George Marathon and another BQ TIME!

3 back to back marathon cycles (fall, spring and then fall again) set me up for having a great race in St George.  Mike let me take Morgan and Will with me and head to St George while he stayed home with the rest of the kids.  He knew I'd sleep better and have a better experience if we weren't shuffling Ivy around.  

My marathon #5 and I had the best race of my life!  I didn't feel like walking or slowing down once the entire race.  I tried to keep and even effort throughout and I didn't walk one step.  

Here are Morgan and Will giving me high 5's just before the finish line.  I sure was excited to see them and hear them cheering.   

I crossed the finish line at 3:34:29 (8:10 min/mile pace).  A new personal record and a better Boston qualifying time than my last marathon (where I was about 30 seconds short of actually getting into the race.  I qualified to run Boston in Ogden, but when it came time to register for the race, it filled up before I got in.  I was one of the 5000 runners that qualified but didn't get in. Such a bummer!   But now I have a 5:31 minute buffer so I should definitely get in for 2019!)  

My parents just happened to be in St George for vacation that weekend, so they came to cheer me on and let Will and Morgan hang with them while I ran.  My dad ran the St George Marathon many years ago and still holds the family record for the fastest marathon time!  

AnnDee ran too!  She's the person that introduced running races to me and I'll forever be grateful to her for that!  We love to talk running plans, speed work, tempos, nutrition, strategies, etc.  We never get bored talking about running together and I'm so lucky to have her as my friend!      

Hello New House

We've moved! We love our new house!  I love it more and more everyday that we are here.  It's the perfect fit for us.

Here's the outside.  

The kids love that they each have their own room and lots of space to play, but they really, really love the jacuzzi tub.   

Mike and I fell in love with the view.  The wrap around deck is large and can hold a lot of people.  It's perfect for entertaining and having lots of dinners outside.  When it's nice outside, we even eat breakfast out there.  Sometimes I'll take my scriptures out and read while it's nice and quiet.  It's a little piece of heaven.  

Did I mention the views are awesome?  The sunsets are breathtaking and look different each night.  We all gather and watch almost every single night.  

The house has a few things we'll change,  but overall it's in good shape.  We took down the black watermelon wallpaper in the kitchen and painted instead.  We put in those new double ovens (my babies!) and painted the oak trim white.  It looks so much better!  (And Cheers!! is one of my favorite decorations :)  Mike makes fun of me because I love it so much. 

We added plantation shutters throughout the entire house.  Every window is matching and it makes me so happy!  I love shutters! Another thing that sold us on this house was the basement.  It has tall ceilings and tons of windows.  It doesn't feel like a basement at all.  The kids love being down there and they don't feel like they are in a dungeon.    

We painted over the crazy paintings on the walls and make it look more uniform with the rest of the house.  This basement definitely had personality when we bought it.  It's a great game room for the kids now and they love to have little gatherings with their friends.  

The backyard has been fun too.  We didn't have much warm weather left when we moved in, but I think next spring/summer is going to be awesome in this yard.  

It's an easy walk to church!  I love that!  How cute are they walking together!  

SERIOUSLY!  

I mean that view!  

This was our biggest dilemma when we moved in... What do we do with this??  I mean green marble, crazy paint, and gold trim... who wouldn't love this, right??  We stewed over it for a good month and then our vision came together...  

We had uncle Mike tear out the marble and add some modern tile work around the fireplace.  

Then Mike and I pulled the gold trim off the fireplace.  

Then we hired ROC Construction (Jose is our man!) to come and add a new frame floor to ceiling.  

After the painters finished painting, it was like a brand new room.  It went from being my least favorite spot in the house to being my absolute favorite spot!  Mike had the idea to have the TV recessed into the woodwork which turned out amazing!  It was fun for Mike and I to create this vision together and then see it turn out how we envisioned it.  

Now we cuddle in front of it on our new sectional (that I love, but it comes with a really long story that involved RC Willey coming out 6! times to exchange pieces... I'll spare you the long saga of us finally getting a couch that wasn't damaged). 

Overall we are happy here.  The kids love the big stairways and open ceilings.  Meg took these pictures of Ivy which I just had to post.  

The previous owners left the girls this doll house which has been so fun!  

But I still think their favorite part of the house is the tub!  Hello big feet :)