Road Trip

Ok, so I'm really playing a little catch-up here: My wonderful sister, Amy, stayed with us for a couple months this summer as my own personal nanny. She was fantastic and it was so fun to have her here. I definitely miss her!







So our big vacation this year was a super long road trip. Just Tim, Brecken, and my sister Alyssa and I. Alyssa replaced my other sister, Amy, as my nanny. She was great fun to have around and reminded me of what it's like to be 13. I also miss Alyssa's sweet little face. But I digresse. So we drove to Las Vegas on our first day. Here's a picture of the van, which we were lucky enough to be able to borrow (pretty sure my Civic wouldn't make the trip). In this particular photo, it was broken down, awaiting a tow truck next to Circus Circus. It was a big bummer that we missed our scheduled lunch at Cafe Rio w/ Chris & Emily, who were also vacationing in Vegas at the time.


We stayed at the Luxor in Las Vegas and had a great time swimming (it was stinkin' hot) and went with Chris & Emily to see a show (Mystere), which made me want to take gymnastics.

After Vegas, we went to Utah, where we checked on our house and saw Tim's Aunt Cary & Uncle Steve, whom we love staying with, and we also saw my old friend from college, Adrienne, which was great.



From Utah, we headed on up to my hometown of Afton, WY for my 10 year high school reunion. I can't believe it's been 10 years! I still feel like I'm in high school half the time. My mom met us up there and we had a great weekend. I showed Tim all the sights and saw lots of old friends. It was like a real trip down memory lane (complete with a hometown parade involving rodeo princesses and 5 yr olds driving four wheelers). It was so great to visit my old ward, the house I grew up in, and my dad's grave, but the best part was definitely having my mom come up and spend time w/ Brecken!

The high school reunion activites kicked off w/ a 5K run, which Tim & I did. It was really fun to run w/ some old high school friends through a gorgeous canyon. However, it was only 47 degrees at the start of the race!

I really think Star Valley is one of the most beautiful places on earth and here is a little sample of why. It was so great to go back "home" and it was also good to realize that I've moved on in my life (in some ways).

We stopped through Boise on our way home and spent a couple days with Tim's Aunt Joni & Uncle Gene, his cousin Shannon & her family. We did more swimming and ate great food. Brecken was an unbelievable stud of a traveler, I was super impressed w/ how well he did. We ended up going 2200 miles in 8 days. Whew! We only had a few emotional break-downs (and let's just say they weren't all Brecken), so that's pretty good.

Tri for Fun!?!

Two weekends ago, Tim & I went up to Sacramento to do a triathlon with my good friend, Elizabeth, and her friend Danielle. It was called Tri for Fun, allegedly followed a week later by the "Tri for Real." However, I felt that the one we did was, indeed, as real as it gets.
It began with a half mile swim. That's right, a HALF MILE. Now, the problem is, I am not a swimmer and I almost died in the lake (yes, lake). Let me tell you about swimming in a lake: there is no bottom to touch when you breathe in too much water and no wall to rest on when you get tired. There is also the added bonus of swimming through seaweed, which, frankly, is a very unsettling experience. Tim, of course, did awesome on the swim and rather than waiting for me, went on ahead to swim with the elites and finish a half hour ahead of me. Luckily, Elizabeth and Danielle were much nicer and had a chance to dry off, change, eat a quick snack and work on their tans while I doggy-paddled through the lake.
The swim was followed by a 16 mile bike ride, which was quite nice. A little difficult at the end, but not bad. The event culminated with a 5K (3.1 mile) run, which took place on a nicely soft, sandy trail. I thought the run was great, but then that was my event. Overall, I would totally do it again and now I know what I would need to do to train better.
Elizabeth & I showing off our awesomeness.

Somewhere there's a magazine missing its centerfold. Thanks, Elizabeth & Danielle. I know you probably could have ended faster, so thanks for waiting for me!

San Francisco Girls

A few weeks ago, my sister-in-law Emily, her sister Ashlynn, our good friend Heather, and my sister Amy (and myself) all went to San Francisco. Unfortunately, I did not take my camera, but if Emily ever emails me the pictures, I will post them.
We visited the Museum of Modern Art, went to the Wharf, did lots of shopping, ate tons of good food (not the least of which was at the Stinkin' Rose), went through Chinatown, experienced various forms of public transportation, and overall had a great time!

Catch Up

I temporarily lost my camera cord during the move, so it's been a while, but here's the cliff notes version of the last couple months:

We celebrated Brecken's 2nd birthday. I can't believe he's 2! We had a nice party with lots of friends and cake. He is growing up into a little man right before my eyes.

My birthday happened to land on Easter this year and we had a great combo holiday. For my birthday, Tim and I went to Carmel - alone. I had never been and we had a great time driving down Highway 1.

At the beginning of April, we moved from our tiny, dark apartment into our new house (Chris & Emily's old house, as Brecken called it for the first month). We absolutely love it! It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath and it feels so roomy. Not to mention the washer & dryer and fenced backyard. There's actually room for all our clothes in the closet. Plus, we have great neighbors! :)

Brecken's 1st Official Haircut

BEFORE

Here is my beautiful baby's flowing golden locks before Friday morning. And...

AFTER

And here he is during the traumatic event. I told the nice lady, "I really love his hair long, he just needs a trim." (This was our first time having a professional cut instead of me fighting him w/ the scissors.) The nice lady whipped out her scissors of death and began snipping. "Oh, it's just not laying right. He has wings. I'm going to take a little more off." And voila! All of his curls are gone and I am very sad. He looks like a big boy, not a baby, and I miss his flowing golden locks.

On an unrelated note, for those who appreciated my chocolate chip flax-seed cookies Fri night, I actually use ground flax meal rather than the unground seed.

And on another note, Brecken has learned how to climb out of his crib. Which he does with startling regularity. I just keep putting him back in it until he falls asleep, which he always eventually does, but dang! That's a lot of work.

Romance is in the snow

To celebrate our 5th anniversary (and Valentine's Day), we went snowboarding in Tahoe. We stayed in Sacramento w/ our good friends, the Zimmermanns, who so graciously watched Brecken during the day while we took advantage of the fresh powder. It was awesome! It did take us a couple hours to "warm up" our skills, but by the end, it was all good.
Unfortunately, Brecken got really sick with croup that night and we had to go home early, which really bummed me out. Nonetheless, it was a great way to celebrate.

Snow? No...

So a couple days ago, I woke up and couldn't believe my eyes. Snow! In SLO! I was so excited, I bundled up Brecken and I myself and we ran outside in our pajamas. Only to find that it wasn't actually snow, but copious amounts of hail that had accumulated from a storm. I knew it was too good to be true. It also goes to show that I don't do my best thinking in the morning, since it probably hasn't snowed in San Luis since the 1940s or something.