How Will She Do It?

Regular?





Mowgli Style?




Or Dead Man's Crawl?


Only she knows...


But I have a feeling we're going to find out soon.

28

That is Wesley's magic number today!

Happy Birthday to a man that is incredibly handsome like this:



and even like this:



Who is such a hard worker and has so many qualities I could only dream of possessing.

Thank you for being my best friend


my support


and my husband.


We kind of like you a lot. :)

Little Miss Muffet Sat on Her Tuffet

Two Days, Two Hikes

The weather finally was warm enough (It was in the 50s) to go outside and explore parts of Utah this week.

And luckily Wes is about to start his final rotation for optometry school so he has been home all week.

So Tuesday we decided to try a trail near the Bountiful Temple called, Holbrook Canyon Trail. When I say near, I mean very near.


This picture is me standing with Sadie at the trail head.

Of course there's still snow on the ground here.

Nothing new.

We've had snow on the ground continously since the second week we arrived in Utah.




We were all so happy to be outside.




We really thought the iced over river was very pretty.





It was just so nice to finally get outside!


After such a great time we couldn't resist hiking again the next day.

This time we decide to attempt Ensign Peak. It was incredibly windy yesterday.

It even got the locals talking about the high winds.

But it was warm and we didn't want to be stuck inside. So out we went.

Not only was it windy but very sunny, so after four attempts trying to get all the kids looking at once, we gave up.



So you know how I said it was super windy? Well we made it all the way to the top, (Wes and Novalee first) at which point Wes' hat flew off his head and over the side while he was grabbing a hold of Novalee because the wind was pushing her towards the edge (don't worry she was pretty far from the edge but definitely getting blown about).

When I reached the top with Sadie the wind was blowing so hard that pebbles were pelleting us.

So while we made it to the top, we never even touched the monument because after seconds being up there we determined it was too dangerous to stay.

So no picture at the top. :(

But here is one, going back down after the winds calmed a little.



Here Wesley is rescuing his hat.


Safely home we enjoyed our afternoon.

Then that night it did what it does so well here in Bountiful.



In case you can't tell, that is snow. But it was dark so this was the best I could do.

I'm glad we went out when we had the chance.

It's Hard To Believe But Novalee's Four

I always just thought Novalee would be my little baby girl forever.

Maybe I had that stuck in my head because she has always been very petite.

Or maybe it was because she took almost a year to grow out of 12 months clothes and Jared was in them by the time he was four months old.

Those that read this post get to go down memory lane with me. :)

Here's Novie at 1 week.



6 months


12 months





20 Months



2 years




3 Years






I don't know how it happened.

But I just blinked for a moment and she grew up...




On Saturday we celebrated Novalee's birthday.


Kacie, Sam and DJ came over.

I think Novalee had a really great time.


On Sunday night I gave my little girl her last hug as a three year old.

Then Wes got up early Monday, he went to the store and then made her breakfast in bed. She got all of her favorite things (except candy) Mickey Mouse Pancake, Orange Juice, Bacon, Egg "Like Wesley likes" and blueberries.

She was a happy little princess.

We love you Novalee, you bring so much spunk and happiness into our home.

My 5k Run

Each year Wesley's family sets New Year's Resolution goals.

I was never a big New Year's goal kind of person but after marrying Wes I have really enjoyed setting aside some time at the end of the year to reflect on what I have accomplished the previous year and what I want to accomplish the coming year.

Well I felt a little overambitious this last time around and decided that two of my goals were going to be:

1. A 5K run

2. A Sprint Triathlon (which I must admit I asked to have taken off the list)

I don't know what I was thinking.

I guess I just wanted good reasons to get in shape after having Sadie.

However, I really, really dislike running. Mainly because I'm horrible at it AND I don't like pain.

But I decided I wanted to meet my goal and so I signed up for the South Davis Recreation Center's Sweethearts run, in February.

And so January I spent the majority of evenings at the gym trying to figure out two things.

One, how I was ever going to run 3.1 miles without stopping.

Two, why people like running so much.

The week that the run was to take place I had a lump in my throat all week.

I know that sounds a little dramatic (it is a little) but everyone knows how it feels when you are about to do something that you aren't terribly good at and you know people are going to be watching you, win or lose.


Before the run the fasted time I had run the 5k was 28:12.

When I ran through the finish line I thought I had run it at 27:40! So exciting but everyone had to wait and Wait and WAIT for the results until about five minutes ago.

It showed that I ran it at 27:46, so a little slower.

But they started everyone at the same time but we all didn't cross the start line at the same time so I am thinking I ran it a little faster than that.

But either way I ran it without stopping or slowing down and I ran it faster than I had done before. Both were things I was hoping to be able to do.

Here are a couple of pictures.




I took 14th out of 33 women in my age division and 126 overall out of 455 people.

I thought it would be a good idea to reflect on the things that I have learned.

So here it goes:

1. I still don't like running but I like competition which may in fact drive me to do another run. :)

2. Eating half a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream the night before a race doesn't really change things too much.

3. Running alone is, well, lonely. (Next time Wes offers to run with me I'm going to take him up on the offer.)

4. And finally, training and exercising because you have a goal really does motivate you to work out more and train harder.

As a bonus, I also am three pounds lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight. Sweet!

Kisses

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Sadie has learned how to give big, slobbery wet ones.

She started doing it a few days ago and at first I was surprised by it and wondered if it was really what she was doing.

Of course her mouth is wide open when she puts her lips on our cheeks, she hold it there for a bit and then pulls back. Then she smacks her lips together to make the kissing sound. It's so cute!

So here is a picture of it. But she is really more interested in the camera than kissing me. :)


And of course I have to share another picture of her.

Yesterday she rolled under her swing and entertained herself for a really long time swinging her swing.