FORTY!!!!! How did it happen???

Happy birthday to my hubby today.  He left this morning for Baltimore, so we had to celebrate early.  And for several days.  And he deserves it!  Because 40 is kind of a big deal.  I want you to know, if you didn't already, dear reader, that I love my husband.  There is no one like him on this earth.  He is my perfect match, my best friend.  He makes me happy.  He makes me laugh.  He makes me dinner.  He is perfect.  Perfect for me and for our little family, and oh, how lucky I am to have found him.  We are also celebrating our 12th anniversary this weekend, so I'm just full of Jason-love right now.

Black decor, because, you know.

Homemade pizza and breadsticks for the traditional post-mountain bike ride dinner with his biking buddies.

Here are some of the friends who accompanied him on a ride up Green Canyon.  Dallas Arnell, Kirk Earl, and Ross Luzzader are pictured. It poured rain all day, so several people chickened out, but these are some of the tough guys who went for it, only to discover that Green Canyon had hardly been rained on at all.  Jason declared it the perfect ride, and just what the doctor ordered.  He has a real love for Green Canyon.

Miss Maddie Rose (Scott and Mary Darnell's little one) and Harper played Jason a birthday duet.

Yes, I used almost 2 packs of candles and almost burned our house down to light these candles.  Also, please note the variety of root beers littering the table.  Take one down, pass it around...

No smoke alarms went off, so I better check the batteries in all of them. 

The next day we drove to my Mom's to celebrate the September birthdays.  (Have I mentioned how much I love September, by the way?)  Linda had been looking after Jules' kids all weekend, and drove up with them to have dinner with us all and to wish her firstborn child a very happy birthday.  She is so awesome.

Happy fourth birthday, Porter!

Happy birthday to Uncle Tyler!

Alexandra couldn't believe how big Harper has become.  When she first arrived, she asked, "Who is this?" and couldn't believe it was Harper.  

Jason and Bennett attempting to have rhythm.

These boys are such good buddies!

Saying goodbye to Gramma and the Highland Lamberts.

Gabrielle, Harper and Clara.

On Jason's actual birthday we woke the kids up early and took them to Angie's for breakfast before Jason had to leave for Baltimore.  I took a few different pix of them at the table, but this one is my favorite.  There is seriously nowhere Jason would rather be than anywhere we are.  We are so lucky.

Happy birthday, hot husband!  Love you!!!!

TOU Marathon, September 17, 2011

I am seriously so proud of my amazing parents.  Once again they have amazed me with their marathoning skills.  Harper and I went to watch them finish.  We started out watching on Main Street...

Where we saw our first-time marathoning friend, Lindsay Coy, come rocking through just a little while before we saw...

Our favorite people!  Yay, Mom and Dad!  They were so happy to see Harper!

Then we cut across and watched them come down 100 East near the tabernacle...

And finally the finish line!  Hooray!

Way to go, Mom and Dad!  You are my heroes!  

Here they are hanging out with Harper, wearing their TOU bling.

And one with me, proud daughter. 

Next came Emma VanEvery, Kate and Andy's dear friend.  This was her FIRST marathon!  Go, Emma!  I was very proud of her, and maybe even a little inspired.

Wheee!  Waiting for the awards ceremony.

Emma and mom swapping stories.

Congratulations, Mom!  She is the new, proud member of the TOU 10-year club!  What an awesome accomplishment.

Way to go, Mom and Dad.  I was looking through old photo albums of me as a child watching Dad come across the finish line at St. George and started realizing what a big part of our lives this has been.  What a great example our parents are.  Time to get motivated.

Farm Field Trip

I got to go with Bennett on our first field trip of the year last week. It was a perfect, glorious September morning. (Oh, how I love September!) We went to the coolest place in Hyde Park. It is a cluster of farms that 3 families own. First, we went to Apenzell Farm, where they showed us their various animals. They raise and sell plump little hens and several varieties of turkeys. They also have hens for laying eggs, which they sell. They had horses and rabbits as well. The family also owns Corbridge Construction; they were so nice that I think if we ever build a house we will use them. Anyway, next, we walked up the little dirt lane to Mt. Naomi Berry Farm. I had no idea it even existed, and it is amazing. Bennett has a new classmate named Joseph, and the berry farm belongs to his family! How cool! So the kids got to go out and pick their own blackberries. Awesome. I had to leave before the third stop on the field trip, but Bennett told me about their visit to neighboring Milky Way Dairy. It was such a cool adventure, it almost made me want to become a farmer. But then I remembered how lazy I am and laughed at myself. But so very, very cool.

Kids running free past the turkey pen.

Sorry, Harper, but we will not be getting a pet bunny.  Ever. 

The class checking out the turkeys.  Looking forward to Thanksgiving.  Just kidding- that's kinda creepy.

Blackberry!  Delish!

My big fourth grader.  

She loooooved the berries.

This is a pretty picture, but just know that you should not pick a blackberry if it still looks like a raspberry.

Messy child and gutter fun.

This picture is just hilarious to me.  

The days are getting just a teensy bit colder, and I already miss the fun times in the gutter.  Logan neighborhoods have water rights to the canal system, and we have been known to use ours for recreation this summer.

Endless fun.

These are the tickets you have to give Ruby in order for her to give you a fast ride down the gutter on your bike.

Family Photos

We had a quick mini-photo session with the amazing Alan Lawrence a few weeks ago during a family party at my mom's. It was a farewell to Lee party, and because it was the last time in a looooong time we would all be together, we knew we needed to document the occasion. How fortunate to have a photographer in the family! We cruised up to the Storeys' orchard where we always go to see the lambs and snapped a few shots. Alan had a great time editing the photos. If you need a good laugh, spend some time examing the last photo. It is the BEST! They say people start to look like their spouses in time...

Yay, me.

I am caught up on blogging.  Yesssssssss. Seriously, I know you don't even have time to read about all our adventures.  But check them out if you really love me.  And then I will quiz you the next time I see you to see if you really read my blog or not.  Ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa.

Labor Day!

Last Sunday night we drove to Park City to stay with Jaime and Tyler for an action-packed day on Labor Day...  Don't you love staying in a hotel?  I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever as a kid, and I still love it.  We stayed at the Best Western, which was the most amazing deal.  We had an Alpine Slide package which included our night's stay, 4 Alpine Slide tickets, and a ginormous breakfast, which for our family equals a LOT of food, for about $100.  Can't beat it.  The best part about the hotel was that it was nice, but not too nice, and we didn't feel like we were bugging the other guests with our mostly well-behaved, but pretty much normal, happy kids.  In fact, people were downright nice to us.  It was fabulous.

Lounging around watching TV.  Catching up on all the cartoons that we don't have anymore.

The luggage rack was a favorite.

The boys took Harper for rides.

So, first thing Monday morning, we played on the luggage cart.  THEN, we drove over to the new Trailside downhill mountain bike park, about 5 minutes from our hotel.  It was totally amazing.  I haven't seen Jason that excited about riding his bike in a long time.  I think it rekindled his love of biking.  And the kids?  Oh, they were in heaven too.  They rocked the pump track, and Bennett even rode the big hill.  (SCARY.)

Oh, yes.  And there is a skate park just next door, which they also loved.

A direct quote from Bennett as I was taking this photo:  "Oh, yeah, I am FEELIN' it!"  Ha ha ha!

Pivot bike company happened to be there demo-ing big, $7000 downhill bikes, so of course these boys were all over that.

Jason, Bennett, Tyler, and Kirk Earl, who met us at the park.

You might think that would be enough fun for one day.  But you would be wrong.  Because we drove to  the Park City Mountain Resort to redeem our Alpine Slide tickets, only to find that there was a 2-hour line to do so.  Yeah right.  We left.  And went to Heber to see the Sheepdog Championship Finals at Soldier Hollow!  Seriously so cool.  I loved it.  I didn't love how much money we spent there on stupid fair-style food, and my kids whining for $4 snowcones all day.  But the events themselves were spectacular.  Here are the boys watching the water dogs competition.  We got to see the winning jump- 26 feet, 4 inches.  Holy toledo.  That is a long jump.  Good job, Luke the dog from Kamas, Utah!

And then there was a wild-animal show where the kids got to pet a skunk, Sugar Gliders and other exotic creatures like this baby tortoise:

Somehow I didn't end up with any photos of the actual sheep dog portion of the show, but it was absolutely amazing. People were there from all over the world with their trusty dogs.  Cute little old men from Scotland and all over, wearing their nice tweed jackets and sporty hats, holding canes, and whistling to their dogs, commanding them to move herds of sheep through narrow gates, separate the herd, regroup the herd, always moving in clockwise fashion, never barking.  Truly cool.  And pretty much any event that involves bagpipes at the closing ceremonies gets my vote.

And you might think that would be enough fun for one day.  But you would be wrong again.  Because then we went BACK to the Alpine Slides and found them completely empty.  After eating a nutritious meal from Burger King (hey, they have veggie burgers, alright?) we watched Blue while Jaime and Tyler took Porter down.  Then they watched Harper while we took the boys down.

Oh, my seriously cute girl.

Tyler and Porter came FLYING down the hill.  FAST!

Cute couple.

Porter loves his mama, but not enough to ride with her.  He knew his Dad would be lots faster.

The ride up the hill.

Jason and Tyler prepare to race.

And it is at this point that our trip took its only bad turn.  When we got to the top of the slide, it was starting to lightly sprinkle.  The worker girl told us that if it started raining any harder we would have to get off the track immediately and walk down or we would die.  Bennett and Owen were already nervous to ride by themselves, so this made it worse.  But what made it much, MUCH worse, was that I was riding behind them with Jake, and I was trying to get them to hurry, hurry, hurry down the hill to beat the rain.  They were going so painfully slow, I can't even tell you.  I thought it was because they were scared, but it turns out it was because they didn't have the body weight to make them go faster.  So I was back there shouting at them to go faster, and they were getting more tense and upset, and by the time we reached the bottom, Bennett was in tears, and I had ruined the entire event.  I seriously felt like such a loser Mom.  I couldn't get over it.  Even typing this now I am feeling so back that I made them feel so bad about something that should have been fun.  I promised them a do-over, and they are over it, but I still feel horrible.

But here, they snapped out of their sadness soon after.  Me, well, I'm not so quick to recover.  

The LandCruiser rocks once again.  Look at this thing!!!  It rules.

Thanks, Jaime and Tyler.  You've done it again. Y'all know how to party.