New pics

For your viewing pleasure: Here are some pics we had done a few weeks ago.

Happy Birthday Jack

Jack turned 2 last Saturday. We celebrated by going to the Aquarium. He loves to look at fish. He especially liked the clown fish and kept referring to them as "Nemo."

He had 2 birthday parties.

One with the Cornell family:

And one with the Bird Family:

A 2 year old can never get enough cake. He liked us to sing happy birthday and loved the ice cream.

Jack is such a funny little guy. He loves to play with trucks, cars, and trains. He likes to watch the same 4 movies over and over and over again (Cars, Letter Factory, Finding Nemo, and The Fox and the Hound). He is always saying funny things and making us laugh. He speaks in full sentences. He knows the entire abc song and sings it often. He is very concerned about what color everything is and is always asking "what is it?... purple..."

Happy New Year

Blogging has not really been a priority for me lately, but I would still like to share what's been going on with our family. Maybe this year will be better, but I'm not making any commitments.

Here is a picture of Jack in the snow. He refuses to wear gloves, so he only lasts a few minutes, but doesn't he look cute?

We kicked off our holiday season with one of the standard Christmas time activities. We went up to Temple Square to see the lights. It was beautiful as usual. The same night, we went to see the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert. It was wonderful music and it's fun to see Michael's mother sing with the choir. Jack met Santa for the first time at his daycare's Christmas party. He was timid at first, but as soon as he saw that there were presents involved, he warmed right up.


Jack LOVED Christmas. For about 2 months leading up to Christmas, he has been saying "Jacky geda train set for Timas from Santa." On Christmas morning, shortly after coming down and finding his train set, he stated, "I yuv it." He plays with it all the time and sometimes he will look up from playing and randomly say, "thanks, Santa."


We took Jack sledding for the first time. He loved going down on the big tube that can fit "Mommy and Daddy and Jacky on da tube all togeder."


Michael and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary by going cross country skiing with my sisters and their husbands... very romantic. It was both of our first time cross country skiing and we really enjoyed it.
So if you're still reading after that super long post, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season as well. I am looking forward to this new year and hope to make some positive changes... I don't really believe in New Year's Resolutions, but I have a few things I am working on this year, like training for a marathon and painting my house... we'll see.

Summer 2010

Just in case anyone's still reading, here's what we've been up to lately...

-Looking cute wearing Daddy's shoes

-Running races... This summer I ran the Wasatch Back Relay, the Georgetown half marathon, and this morning I ran the Utah Marathon Relay. This is my team from this morning. Racing has been really fun and rewarding for me this summer. Each time I do a race, I prove to myself that I am improving. I think I 'm going to cool it off with running over the winter and try something new.

Thanksgiving point Dinosaur Museum- Jack loves "Dinos" and had a great time looking at the bones.

Wheeler Farm. Jack is obsessed with "trackers" (tractors) and had a great time looking at the animals. He knows all his animal sounds.

Jack's cousins came to visit from Colorado for their mom's 10 year high school reunion. Jack and I drove back to Colorado where Tara and I ran the Georgetown Half Marathon. We both got a PR. Woo-hoo.

Playing in the park. This pic is with his cousin Halle, but Jack is a big fan of going to the park with Mommy during the day. He especially loves it when we take a picnic. He loves the "whings and lice" (swings and slides).

Lost

Last weekend we went on a family hike to Broadsfork. The parking lot at the trail head was packed, but we only saw 2 people on our way to the meadow/lake. When we got there, we took this picture...

We ate some snacks then Michael said that he wanted to go over the next ridge to see what was over there. Jack and I stayed back to throw rocks in the lake (probably Jack's favorite thing to do). As Michael left, I said, "wave at us to come if it's really cool." He said ok and set out over the ridge. About 15 min. later, I see him from afar and he waves, indicating that we should come see something really great. I put Jack in the pack and started heading up the trail. After hiking for a while, I didn't see Michael. I kept saying to myself, he's just around the next bend. The terrain started to get a little rough. I was bouldering and going over and under trees (normally ok, but difficult with Jack on my back). After hiking for 15 or so minutes with no sign of my husband, I started to get frustrated. I started thinking, why would he tell us to come and then just leave us? Then it occurred to me... he wouldn't. Something was seriously wrong. He must have fallen and was unconscious or dead (because he wasn't responding to my panicky screams). I walked for a few more minutes before I decided to turn around and hike down where I was going to call search and rescue.

I saw one man on my way back to the lake. He said that he'd seen a guy that matched Michael's description, so I started to feel a little better. When I got back to the lake, there was no sign of Michael. The backpack I had left sitting on the rock was gone though. I decided to continue down the trail. I was still convinced that my husband was dead. I was even cursing myself for not increasing our life insurance policies and trying to figure out how I would make it on my own. I was so scared that I could barely lift my legs so I was not making good time down the trail. Near the end of my hike, I saw a couple who told me that Michael was at the trail head waiting for me. I felt so relieved that I started crying. My step became lighter and soon I was reunited with my husband.

He said that he was just waving to say hi, not to tell me to come. He had bushwhacked over to another part of the meadow while I was heading up the trail to meet him. It was all just a miscommunication, but it made for a pretty funny story. I need to learn not to be so dramatic.

WBR 2010

Well, the day I've been waiting for has come and gone. Since finishing a half marathon in April, I have been training for the Wasatch Back Relay (188.2 miles, 12 runners, 2 days). My first leg of the race was very intimidating for me... 7.4 miles straight up a mountain. Every time I thought about the race during training, I wondered if I would be able to complete this leg without dying. Turns out I didn't die and I even made pretty good time at it. My other 2 legs went well, with me running my fastest pace ever in a race (since high school) on my final leg.

My sister, Tara and a bunch of her friends from Boulder, CO were my teammates (Team name Mind over Mileage). I loved this race because it presented such a unique challenge for each runner and her skill set. We finished in the top 3rd of the women's division. I came away from this race feeling very inspired by all the runners (including myself). I'm very motivated to work on my speed now, so watch out (August 14) Georgetown CO 13.1.

I had to share...

So, I was reading over an old post on my running team's blog and I found this link that was posted by one of my teammates... It really rang true to me and pretty much sums up everything I believe...
http://isnickelbacktheworstbandever.com
enjoy...