Warrior Dash!

Aaron and I ran a crazy fun race last weekend. It's a 5k peppered with obstacles that have you climbing over cargo net structures, leaping over fire, and sloshing through a mud pit under barbed wire. We intended to run it together, but didn't have anyone to watch the kiddos. So we staggered our runs and went separately.

Before the mud pit...

...and after.

Wahoo!

The Warrior Dash has a viking theme...hence the viking horns.

The mud pit leaves you utterly covered in mud. To clean off you get sprayed down!

Over the fire.

In the mud.

Dir.ty.

Wahoo!! It was so much fun!

A few things

1. I just signed up for the St. George marathon!! I've been thinking of running a marathon for a while. Now is the time for me to do it! Only 7,400 of those who register will be selected, by lottery, to participate. Cross your fingers for me that I'll be chosen! The race is October 1st. If you want to run with me or come cheer me on, I'd love it!

2. I'm completely excited about something. It's my vacuum and mop! Long story, short: I've had tile woes since I moved here 4 1/2 years ago. Nothing to properly vacuum/sweep and mop my hard floors. Our new house has a lot of tile, and it's textured. So I need something good.

Well, my genius husband found the perfect solution: our shop vac! It's been sitting in our garage all these years and I haven't thought to use it on the tile. He tried it and it works like a dream! It picks everything up! I love that my problem is solved, and didn't have to spend money on it.

As for the mop, I got an industrial mop and bucket. I love them. They make mopping so much easier and pleasant. The mop was inexpensive and the bucket was a bit more, but so worth it!

3. I'm going to make my blog private. I'd love for you to keep looking at my blog, so pretty please leave me a comment with your email address and I'll send you an invite.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!


The kids had fun finding the eggs and baskets left by the Easter bunny. Lily darted through the backyard gathering the eggs. We had to remind her to leave some for Carter and Hazel too!

The eggs were a hit. My kids had fun playing with the empty eggs after they extracted their loot.

Hazel was adorable! I put the basket in her hand and she took off for the eggs. She picked them right up and plopped them inside.

She loves sunglasses. She tries to wear mine but they slip off her face. When she got this pair, she was so happy!

I included this picture simply because I love it. Aaron took it and captured my cute Carter (and his love of trains) well.

Grandma Ford was here for our early Easter celebrations. I'll post pictures of her visit later. We had soooo much fun with her here. I keep telling her she needs to just move down here, but I haven't convinced her yet!

We enjoyed our religious Easter celebrations as well. I love Jesus Christ and am indescribably grateful for his Atonement and resurrection.

In addition to Easter, this Sunday brought a significant change for our family. Our bishopric was released, including Aaron from his position as first counselor. It's been a privilege for our family to serve the Lord in that capacity. It wasn't without challenge, having Aaron away from our family a lot. I'm thankful for the growth it has afforded us. I'm absolutely, 100% ecstatic to think that now we'll be able to drive to church together, sit together in Sacrament meeting, and have Aaron home more on Sundays and weeknights!!! We'll enjoy the reprieve, short as it may be!

Our new bishop is a family friend. We adore him and his wife. I look forward to how our ward will be blessed by their love and dedication. His counselors are great. Their wives (my friends) are babes, I might add. God bless them all!

I LOVE SPRING BREAK!!

I love spring break now even more than I did as a kid! School days are long, busy, and most of the time I get with Lily is spent reminding her of what she needs to do to get ready for school, do homework, or get ready for bed. Needless to say, I LOVE when she has time off of school.

Spring break was awesome!!! My dad came to visit us for the first time. It was great having him here. We learned that Grandpa Clark loves Oreos and Froot Loops. He loves Oreos so much that we kept our pantry stocked! I won't say how many packages of Oreos we went through that week. We sure enjoyed helping him chow them down. We'll just say the kids call Grandpa "Oreo head." Unfortunately for me, I'm a close second for that title! I remember eating Oreos with him when I was a very little girl. I still love them!

The Excavator Park

Carter rocks the excavator!

Grandpa Clark and Hazel

Mustaches. Carter got a Dorito mustache. I asked him if he was turning into a teenager. He didn't like that at all, he kept telling me it was from the Doritos. When he tried to lick it off, it just smeared around.

Horse Back Riding

Lily was going to do a short ride around the coral with Carter. But by amazing chance, her dear little friend showed up at the same time as us! She was going to go on an hour long ride by herself, so Lily and I joined her. Lily loved the ride. She listened closely to the instructions at the beginning and I was pleasantly surprised to see how proactive and confident she was on the horse.

(Yes, we did cut Lily's hair! 12 inches!!)

My cute cowboy. He loved the cowboy garb. His only disappointment was that he didn't get to wear spurs. Carter waited an hour and a half to ride his horse. He was so patient and good.

I was also surprised to see how much Carter enjoyed the ride. I thought he'd be a little afraid, but he wasn't!

Look at that face!

Hazel found this little shopping cart at our friends' house and she adores it. She pushes it all around our house. The funny thing is that she doesn't crawl, she does a very funny scoot/shuffle. She gets around fast and it allows her to have a hand free to push her cart. It's the cutest thing!

Desert Botanical Gardens

The weather was lovely this week. We all enjoyed the gardens.

We learned on our horse excursion that this is a hedgehog cholla. We had fun identifying them all through the gardens and on a subsequent hike.

I thought this was such a pretty shot with the rock and plants behind.
(Gotta love Carter's shades. When the sun's bright he forms these cool shades with his hands which block the light but still allow him to see. Ingenious.)

Absolute cuteness.

The butterfly exhibit was the unanimous favorite part of the gardens. All three kids got so excited seeing the butterflies flit about the exhibit. I loved seeing their excitement.

The Train Park

Uhh, cuteness again. Don't you want to reach out and touch her squishy little arms and legs?!

My little loves.

Hooray for carousels! Hazel loved the bright colors, horses, and the music on the carousel. She was excited to sit on a horse. She was surprised and a little unsure when the horse started going up and down. It was cute to see her response to something new.

Hazel got so excited seeing the model trains move on their own! She couldn't get enough of them.

She watched this one go around and around. Grandpa was a good sport to hold her so she could watch for a long time!

Pure enjoyment! Grandpa got the kids these train suckers, and as you can see, Lily and Carter loved them. Aaah, how pleasant and carefree is childhood.

Jump!

We've wanted something fun in the backyard to draw the kids outside in the lovely weather. When I was about 7 years old, my aunt and uncle got a trampoline. My cousins and I loved jumping on it. My aunt and uncle still have that trampoline, and my kids play on it. With fun for the whole family, and longevity in mind, we got a trampoline!! It's proving to be so much fun, for the kids and the grown ups!

Lily took to it like she was born to bounce. You should see how high she gets when we pop her! Carter was cautious at first, but now jumps on it with the best of us! He's gotten good at jumping, and I love seeing his little legs jump! Hazy loves the trampoline too. She sits and bounces or likes to be held in our arms while jumping.

Come on over and jump!