Canning Craze

This week as well as last week too has been nothing but vegetables and fruit!!! Every day for the past two weeks at about 9am we take the kids over to Grandma's to play (its much more fun than our own house) and we start to bottle peaches, green beans and make jam. The kids have been so good and Grandma has been awesome to let us invade her house, make a mess of the kitchen as well and everything else and watch the kids when she gets home. We are going to do our first round of pickles. I have never done them before and we planted three cucumber plants and we can't eat anymore of them, as good as they taste. I am also planning on doing a batch of spaghetti sauce too if I can find the time. Sometimes I feel like a pioneer, this is just what the HAD to do to live on through the winter. We are so blessed with so much! So hopefully by the end of the next month of two we will have our stores of food for the winter. If anyone wants some fresh veggies we are happy to share our produce, especially cucumbers, so just come over or call.

Hogle Zoo

The white alligator.
Our favorite thing at the zoo
We just loved the giraffes, there was even a baby one.
This gorilla cracked me up. Here he is sitting them with a burlap sack on his head, a little hot fore that day I suppose.
The train ride!
We finally made it to the zoo. I have been wanting to take the boys forever and we finally found the time. The boys had a lot of fun. I think the carousel though topped all of the animals for them both. My mom and dad were great to come and haul the kids around with me and they are so much fun to play with. We saw every animal we could find, thanks to Jaxon, he made sure we got to them all. The bird show was fun, but by that time both the kids were about asleep.

Summer Fun

This summer has been so fun and we are hoping it lasts a little bit longer. Lately the boys have just wanted to swim so, thanks to Kristina's genius, we pulled out both pools and the slide for our own little water park. The kids have so much fun and are so cute when they get a little chilly and lay down on their towels. We were lucky one day to go over to Mari's on her big slide and I wished I would have taken my camera they all had a blast! This is what summer is all about, water, friends and sunshine.

Google eyes! They love the pool

Showing off their cool tricks

Pool Pals

(L to R)

Connor, Jaxon, Jadyn, Bode

Cousins are the best friends!

Xterra Race Pictures

Pre-Race

This is Nate and my dad setting up transition!

Run Transition

I waited here for my dad to come in on the bike, parched from lack of water. Note: always carry water with you!!!

What a Stud!

He did awesome!

Soon to be triathlete!

Jaxon couldn't stop telling all of us how he wanted to run in the mtns and bike on the dirt and here he is looking cute in Nate's swim cap.

What a swimmer!

Nate did awesome, here he is after, always so chill.

Xterra Mountain Championships

My dad called me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to do a relay trialthlon with him and my brother Nate. What do you think my answer was? I was pumped!!! It was the Xterra Mountain Championships at Snowbasin, UT. My brother Nate did the swim, my dad biked, and I ran! When we got to Pineview Dam for the swim I was shocked, there were seriously so many people and pro triathletes too, like Melanie McQuaid, she has won like 3 times the world championships. I started to get nervous like I always do and I only had to run. Nate did so awesome and swam so fast, what a great swimmer if only I could do that. My dad was awesome I don't know how he does it. He has biked forever and he has the old helmet, just round, not aerodynamic, its ancient! His bike with no shocks at all!!! He rode up the course in 1hr. 40 min. and was awesome! While I was in transition I was able to see all the pros come in just amazing! My dad and I slapped hands and I took off. I didn't know the course at all except I knew it had mostly hills and you weren't kidding! I turn the corner and we ran straight up the ski hill. I was so tired I walked and kept trying to pump myself up: "Your only running, everyone else already swam and biked, you can't walk!" But it was grueling. Thankfully it leveled off in the trees and them up we went again till finally I see people going down and I sprinted as fast as I could to the finish trying to make up for walking, but it was the most fun race I have ever done. The great thing about these races is everyone is so pumped and positive and excited and it just gets you going and motivated to do better and be better. I just love it! Thanks mom and dad and Nate, you guys are awesome and mom you had just as good a workout as the rest of us chasing those boys! Thanks I love you. Pics coming soon!

Five Years, but who's counting...

I can't believe it has been five years since we were married. For our anniversary we were so lucky, we took the kids up to Grandma and Grandpa Squires house on Wednesday and we gone until Sunday morning. This was our first time without any kids going overnight for more than one night and boy was it heavenly. Don't get me wrong, we missed them, but you know how it feels to finally have no worries but your own. Heavenly!!! We left Thursday morning and went to the Ogden Temple and it was fun, that is where I took out my endowments and five years to the day we were married in the temple doing the same thing. Then we went shopping in SLC and it was the most fun I have ever had shopping. Maybe this is weird but I love shopping with my husband, he gets to see all the clothes I try on and I wear cute things for him, well and myself partially. It was a blast we went everywhere and anywhere! The we checked into the hotel that afternoon and checked things out. We ate at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, whoa, amazing steak and I am not a steak lover it melted in your mouth. Friday we got up and went for a hike in Park City and then we had our spa day. We had a couples massage and pedicures(or a gentlemens foot treatment as Jeff would say!) So relaxing! We golfed that night at 6pm and had this cute 13yr. old with us that played. He was our tour guide, he told us to go to the Olympic Park over Park City and to eat at 350 Main. So that night we go into Park City starving cause it is late and stumble onto 350 Main, it was so good, about as good as Ruth's Chris. Saturday we forced ourselves to go for a run and then we went to the Olympic Park and it was awesome so worth it! We did two rides and watched these ski jumpers do flips into the water and jump off the huge ski jump so cool! Then we went into Park City for the Arts Fesitival and had another great dinner. Lets just say we gained a few pounds after it all. Sunday morning we came back to Ogden for church and the kids had been great. Thanks so much mom and dad you guys are the best what would we do without you and the boys love you to death. Now you can get some rest and relaxation for a week or so till we come to invade again. I don't know what I would do without my sweetheart, my best friend! I love you and happy 5 years. It gets better every year!!!!

1/2 marathon pictures

This is us! Lets just say I was pretty excited compared to the other two.



Warm-up time

This is what our fans got to do while we were out sweating


We finished!