Fall...

means it is time to visit the Pumpkin Patch! 

I love Fall when the weather starts to change. Last year we did not take enough advantage of Pack Pumpkin Patch being a mile from our front door. This year I refuse to let that happen again.

And thank goodness for our new besties the Greens! I don't think a day goes by that Lily, Gunner, Stew, and Ollie don't see each other. Lily tells me multiple times a day how adorable little Ollie is and how much she just loves him. At times he gets a little smothered by her but it is all in love!

So grateful for days like this!

Hogle Zoo

Spring is finally here!! We are so excited and trying to soak up every ounce of sun we can get. So we were super excited when our friend Shay and her two cute little twins, Korver & Olivia, invited us to Hogle Zoo. It was a perfect day, we packed a lunch and headed off to see some animals.

Stewart has had some really rough days lately. He was so miserably sick last week and has been fighting to get better. But today he was giggling and smiling and loving life! It made my day to see him happy again. He was so excited to see each new animal. I think the monkeys were his favorite, he was jumping up and down, squawking like a little monkey himself, and he turned and gave me a giant huge when he saw them. It melted my heart!

 All Lily could talk about the whole time..was how much she wanted to go see the giraffes. She was mesmerized when we finally made it there!

But as amazing and intriguing as all of the animals were, it is safe to say the Merry-Go-Round was the high-light of the day. They love that ride. It made me think of last year at Lagoon when we went on the Carousel and Stew made a ginormous scene when we had to get off. I practically pried his little fingers from the pole. Luckily, this time he let up easily, but I know he was wanting more. It was probably the best day so far this year! And we are so excited to have many more days like this this Spring...

Friends Cabin Party

Last week we had our Salt of the Earth work party and right as our employees were leaving, our friends were arriving. So we had a fun FILLED weekend at the cabin. We really were trying to soak up every last ounce of summer. But I've already convince Paul we are going to spend lots of weekends at the cabin this winter drinking hot cocoa and playing in the snow. 

Worlds colliding... friends, employees, family. Although I guess our worlds are always one big jumble.

(Jenny, little Liam, Andy, Danny, Holland, Nic, Janette, baby Max, & Sam)

Matt, Abbey, Mya, Everett, Jenny, Andy, & Liam came up Friday night. After the always entertaining stories about Matt's awkward childhood and upbringing, we played a game of BONANZA, planting and harvesting beans. Someday, Paul and I will invest in this game because we love it. Side note: I totally won! Anyways, the next morning we headed down to the lake for some boating.   

Andy & Matt tryin' out the wakesurf looking timid and awkward as ever :) And Abbey showing her stuff on the wakeboard representing us girls!

Taking the chilies out on the tube was the highlight of my weekend. I was looking forward to it the whole trip. When it actually came down to it, I wasn't sure if Lily would get on, but she hoped right on and was so brave! I'm already looking forward to it next year when Stew realizes what is going on and can be excited. 

This could have been such a cute little family picture, but what are friends for!

Rockwell Relay Pamperfest

Last Saturday was my first ever Rockwell Relay Pamperfest ride... it was a BLAST! I am so proud of my family and the awesome event that they put on. It started at Snow Basin and went through the back roads ending in Soldier Hollow. Pictured above was my rockin' team - Heather Torres, me, Julie Van Zweden, and Jenny Quick (Heather's cousin). I have to admit that I was a bit nervous for us, not a whole lot of training was done amongst us. But to my pleasant surprise, we did awesome!

We had to come up with a team name. I have always hated this part of organized teams, the dreaded team name! I maybe have one creative bone in my body...but it's small. So I gave Paul the honor of naming us and within 2.5 minutes he came up with...

KEEPING UP WITH THE BIKEDASHIANS

...so I went with it. I had never seen the show and I thought my team would think it was super lame, but I wasn't going to be coming up with anything better. Plus, it kinda grew on me :)

Each rider had two legs. Mine were Leg 2 (Trappers Loop) and Leg 6 (Smith and Morehouse). I was terrified of doing Trappers. I am weirdly better at hills than straights (I think it has something to do with starting out a mountain biker), which is why I took this leg, but it was about 4 miles straight up hill! Day of the race, once I was on the bike and actually riding, Trappers really wasn't that bad! It was the 20 miles after that I should have been worried about!! It was mostly flat and I am terrible on flats. But I made it and passed the baton off and could luckily rest a few hours till my next ride.

It was my turn again to go "up and back" on Leg 6. When I started I was expecting a 20 mile round-trip ride. Another rider I was kinda playing tag-team with told me it was 26 miles, I almost died right there. But it turned out we were both wrong, it was 23.8 miles. There was a pretty strong wind the whole way up which was a killer. I thought it would be a breeze once I turned around, it was all down hill and now the wind would be pushing me. But, literality half a mile after I hit the top, I hear crazy-loud thunder and it just starts pouring! I could feel every inch of me soaking up water, it felt like I had just jumped into a pool. I started seeing all the support vehicles blazing up the road (support vehicles weren't allowed on this leg) and I was wondering what was up!? I saw a bunch of ladies hop off their bikes and into the cars. I knew I had to decide what I was going to do before I saw my team.

I was in it for the ride, I would have been SO bummed if I would have given up just from a little rain. So when I saw my team, I just waved them on by. My eye was totally burning from the sweaty water constantly dripping into it. I actually had the thought, "I don't want to rub it because I will smear my mascara." Haha, how lame am I? Then I decided, "Who cares!" I was surrounded by women and their not going to think twice about my blackened mascara eye. So I rubbed away...

It was a huge relief to pass the baton again and know I didn't have to get on a bike again! So after a few more Legs and hours, our team made it! With a whopping time of 11 hours and 50 minutes!! I know I should maybe keep that to myself, but I will never remember the time I need to beat next year :)

Paul, along with some Salt of the Earth helpers, SAVED the day. The spa that was signed up for months to come "pamper" at the exchanges and at the finish line bailed the night before! Paul got everything together to give hand and arm massages, complete with a cool eucalyptus wash, whipped body creme massage, and fire & ice soothing treatment. He is the greatest!!

A Glimpse of the Months to Come!

Paul and I had this grand idea of having a little neighbor party this week to really soak up the much awaited nice weather. We figured we would barbeque, play volleyball and let all the little ones run around till they dropped. So without much thought, one night when most of the neighbors were mingling at the Torres yard (which may be a regular occurrence this summer), we told everyone our plan. Then, the day come of our little shindig, I realized we don't have a grill, our backyard is not company-worthy with no patio, no chairs, and no shade... So, off to Heather's I went to nonchalantly ask if we could all crash at her place since she has a grill, perfect shading, and an amazing yard for the little ones to play in. Heather is my new "neighbor BFF", she is the sweetest thing! She is so nice to let me plan a party and make her be the host. So by the end of the night, we all just hung out at the Torres's except for our volleyball match at our place. 

We are so grateful to live in an area that has so many amazing people and a place where our kids can run and play outside and be surrounded by little friends. I am so looking forward to this summer and all of the friendships and memories we will create. 

The ZOO!

Keeping busy with Paul gone has actually been great. We all miss Daddy terribly but are having fun thinking of new adventures and places to explore! I was lucky enough to reconnect with my BFF from Junior High, Angie (Stringfellow) Allen! It had been a couple years since I had seen her but our zoo trip was the second time to play with her and her cute kids in two weeks!

This was Lily's third time to Hogle Zoo but I think the first time she actually recognized an animal. Once I explained to her what the zoo is, she was adamant that the elephant was the first animal to be seen. We got to see baby Zuri elephant who is three years old, "like me" Lily would say. She was being trained on some pretty amazing tricks. She even did a headstand, for reals! It was one of the craziest things I've ever seen but she balanced on her trunk while both hind legs were high in the air. (I was too in-ahh to get a snap-shot, bummer.)

Next were the sleeping tigers and the giraffes...

The carousel was a major highlight of the the trip. Thanks to Angie for taking Lily on the ride! I think she was drawn to the tiger because she is on a Frosted Flakes kick and talks about "Tony-the-Tiger" all the time.

And we finished off the day at the park, which in Lily's book makes any day a great day!

So glad to see my sweet friend Angie again! I love any time I get to spend with my mama friends. It is always helpful to get that support from someone who knows :)

Tears and Highs

Our friends Shay, Olivia, and Korver invited us to Boondocks - a first for us - to play at their Kiddie Corner jungle gym. The afternoon was full of heart-wrenching tears and exceptional highs. It took Lily A LOT of convincing to try and climb the netted gym instead of just running around on the ground level. I even entered the miniature germ-fest myself to lead her in the right direction a few times.

Eventually, we're talking a good 15-20 minutes of baby-steps, with Olivia's help and my constant coaxing, Lily made it to the top row of nets. Only then she was frozen with fear and couldn't seem to move either way. Even with Olivia trying to show her the way, all she could do was cry :( So in I went again, climbing to the very tip-top on my hands and knees the whole way. I carried my little Lily the whole way down. Thank goodness no one else was in the Kiddie Corner to see my heroic act of love. I was a little shocked she was not more adventurous - we will have to work on that.

Stew had a bit of a rough go too at time. But for the most part it was a great day with friends that I know Lily will be talking about for days!