Christmas Happenings!

We've had so much going on the past few weeks. Here are just a few of the things we've done:


We made our first snowman. I have actually NEVER made a snowman. Brandon made me come out and help.

Brandon and the boys making the base...the largest one I've ever seen

Carter on Santa's lap (Linc refused to sit on his lap. He cried so hard and would not let go of me).

Riverboat Christmas cruise on the Provo River-the boys LOVED this

All of the beautiful Christmas lights and scenes along the banks of the Provo River

This was a fun experience and one we will probably do again. We waited for a night when it wouldn't be too cold (it was 45 degrees which is pretty warm for Dec at night on the Provo River). I was surprised my kids didn't end up in the water. They were so good and enjoyed all of the lights and Santa even showed up along side our boat in a canoe.

Carter & Linc's 1st race!

On Thanksgiving there are many "Turkey Trots" held in our area (a 5K run). I was going to run one but after some last minute changes I decided to do a longer 8 mile run (so I could eat more Thanksgiving dinner later) and my boys would make it in time to do their 1st race (100 meter fun run). Carter had been talking about doing this for weeks and was even "practicing" and stretching in our house constantly. He asked me if I could hand him water as he ran by me & he asked Brandon if he would hold up a sign that said, "Go Carter, Go!". That kid cracks me up. They braved the 12 degree temperatures and had a lot of fun doing this (well, Carter did at least).

Carter pre-race giving Linc some advice on running
Carter running the race

About 1/2 way through the 0-2yr old dash Linc gave up from being cold and started crying so I picked him up and carried him to the finish. Some crazy mothers were literally dragging their 2 yr olds to the finish line. I couldn't believe how crazy the were!


Linc and I after his race (he refused to wear his hat which I think would've helped keep him a little warmer).

Carter trying to calm Lincoln down after the race. He was SO upset by the cold, but he loved getting his medal for doing the race

Lincoln's "little" mess

My sweet little Lincoln decided to climb up on the counter and get into my spice cupboard while I was showering yesterday. Here is a pic of the result. Gotta love having a 2 year old! He just got himself locked back into his booster seat while I shower from now on. I miss my sweet baby!

He even dumped spices into my toaster. Gotta love that smell in my kitchen everytime we make toast! (yes, I did clean out the toaster, but I can still smell cinnamon & cumin & they are NOT a good combination).

This is what my wood floor looked like after. I'm still finding peppercorns and baking soda everywhere even though I swept and vacuumed. I had to wait a whole day before posting this because I was so mad at him. I can laugh today though. I just got back from the grocery store and replacing all the spices he completely dumped out was pretty pricey.

View Photos from Provo Halloween Half Marathon

Here is a link to some of the professional photos that were taken at the 1/2 marathon. Enjoy!

View Photos from Provo Halloween Half Marathon

My 1st 1/2 Marathon

Last Saturday, Oct 30, I ran my 1st 1/2 marathon, the Provo Halloween Half. It was SO much fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. I spent about 3 months training for it and it was definitely worth it. This is one of the more fun ones to do in my opinion because you get to dress up and see others dress up in some pretty crazy costumes. It was a pretty hard course starting at the top of a mountain up Provo Canyon at the Aspen Grove Resort and dropping 2000 ft into the Provo Canyon and ending at the Riverwoods Mall (my legs are killing me by the way from the 2000 ft downhill run). I felt like I was more prepared for this event than any other that I have ever run. I ran the whole 13.1 miles and even came in under the goal I had set for myself. I wanted to finish about 2 hrs and 15 minutes and I ended up finishing in 2 hrs even. I didn't feel like I could wear an actual costume, so I just ended up wearing cat ears and a tail. I was very lucky to have some AMAZING friends to train with and run with and feel so blessed to have their support and encouragement. It makes all the difference in the world to have that support when you are doing something that takes a lot out of you.

Post-race photo. Brandon wasn't thrilled about going to this so he missed my finish completely and couldn't get any pics until after the race.
Pre-race photo. My awesome running pals L to R: me, Tina, Michele, Ashlee, and Christy

Cornbelly's/Evans Family Farm Fun

There is a farm a few blocks away from us that has some fun little things for kids to do during the fall. We took the kids and did some pony rides, hay ride, petting zoo, and just some playing on the farm

Carter thought this was awesome

Jumping in the hay

Cornbelly's racetrack with daddy

The monster at Cornbelly's. We made it about 5 steps inside and they both startyed screaming so we had to come back out.

Carter in the playhouse at Cornbelly's

Playing in the fire engine

The Cornbelly's cow train

Sliding down some hay

Utah Museum of Natural History

A few weeks ago we took the kids up to the U of U to the Utah Museum of Natural History. They have an amazing on site Palentology Lab and actually just discovered 2 new species of dinosaurs right here in Utah. My boys had tons of fun and were amazed by the dinosaurs and the dinosaur show the museum put on

Linc and Daddy

Carter trying not to get his head eaten off

The dinosaur program the museum did featured a life-like dinosaur for the kids to play with

Carter learning about the earth

Our summer project

Starting in May we spent all of our free time working on the installation of our front yard. We decided to do it ourselves and save some money. Brandon forgets how busy he is during the summer with work, so this ended up taking us 3 months to complete. It feels really good to accomplish something like this on our own, though. We worked very hard and spent most weeknights and weekends and finally the hard work has paid off. Brandon and I bounced some ideas off each other about the design and what kind of rocks, etc we wanted in our flower beds and we actually worked really well together and didn't ever fight once about design or products that we were using. But, boy am I glad that this is finally done!

We hand seeded our grass, so it's still kind of struggling in some places. We were just shocked it came up as well as it did at all.
Our black lava rock that took us a while to decide on. We liked the look of mulch/bark, but didn't want the hassle of having to replace it yearly so we went with this rock instead.

Utah State Fair

The boys had so much fun at the state fair and Carter keeps asking when do we get to go back. We only spent a few hours there, but really enjoyed ourselves and all the things that there are to do and see. I am very proud of myself for not eating one deep fried, fattening thing even though everything smelled incredible.

Linc and I on the giant slide. He got pretty scared and cried about halfway up the stairs. I was a mean mom and still made him go down.
Carter loved the slide and asked to go again

Carter and Linc on the race car ride (Linc still looks scared. He's just not the dare devil his brother is).

Helicopter ride

This goat decided he really liked my family. He would not leave us alone and acted like he wanted to come with us. He was pretty cute and pretty curious.

Carter thought the goat was so funny

I think Brandon wants to bring him home as a friend for Zep

Fishing in the kids pond at the fair. Carter got himself a catfish

Reeling in the catfish

Linc even got in on the fishing action

I love this little blue eyed kid!

Carter trying to cast

Learning how to tie the correct kind of knots on their fishing hooks