just because

for the love of cute...

with our buddy jack jack

silly with grandma

green smoothie mustache - we love smoothies!

and for the love of the Lied Discovery Children's Museum... and free admission. yahoo!!

the kids loved the dress-up stage. don't tell jack's daddy i put him in a tutu. he loved it! :)

4th of July in Orem!

the 4th of july was MAGICAL this year! it was soooo fun to see our cute girl love the fireworks and the parade. and, it's always magical just spending time with our Wilkinson family. we love you guys! we definitely missed the hatches this year though! :(

i can't believe what a studly mountain biker austin was! he was the 1st grandkid to join in on an adult activity and he did GREAT!!

van loves hiking with grandma!


austin definitely showed me up. see my ankle? imagine it 3x bigger and black and blue. that's what happens when you put me on a mountain bike ride called "the bone yard" apparently. whoops. it's too bad, too. i was having so much fun until i biffed. it made for a super exciting mountain search and rescue though. ha.

sundance where we biked. can you see why i was so sad i crashed? GORGEOUS!

just found this picture of aaron having some fun at my expense. thanks, love.

part of the crew that DIDN'T crash

i know it's blurry, but it's so cute. she was having soooo much fun being silly with the cousins while watching the fireworks.

fireworks spectators. yes, i'm in a blanket. i almost didn't come back to vegas. crazy good weather, that orem. nice face em girl.

happy parade watcher.

emery watching the big cousins and figuring out how to get the big trucks to "honk the horn, honk the horn"

our newest nephew, rowan. oh my gosh i love this kid. and i love his mom, too.

uncle josh working his magic on van at the parade.

my FAVORITE 4th of July picture. railay's pants fell off. so he just sat down on the curb and watched the parade with them around his ankles. LOVE. THIS. KID. holy cow.

emery really....

really....

really loved the ice cream at seven peaks.

and van really....

really......

really loved grandmama's baked beans over rice.

the great dalmuti (just like scum) - complete with hats.

aaron won my award for "cutest great peon"

cute van dancing in the parade and loving his baked beans.

and on top of it all we got to have lunch with 2 of our favorite people on the planet and aaron got to ride 50 miles with that old guy on the right. we love these two. they are two of the very few people i NEED. we don't get to hang out often enough.

and yes, i chopped off my hair. and it's blonder. we'll work on blonde, but for now its blonder. it's been 3 years. i'm happy to be back with LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of encouragement from the hubby. i've become more tight fisted than he is. that was a shock to us both.

WWWimmer family reunion in New Mexico

my camera was out of batteries half the trip, but we were there! i need to steal some pictures from my dad...

we had so much fun visiting doug and tracy and company in albequerque. the water park at the radisson was awesome and just seeing family was the best part. i'm so blessed to have the greatest family ever! it was so fun to see all of you!

this picture makes me sad. he looks so big!

coolest 60-year-old guy i know (aka my dad)

emma and emery on the plane (you can see my daughter is very concerned about reading all of the literature on airplane safety. good girl.)

secret to flying with a lap sitter: put him in his own seat belt and no one will dare sit by you just on the off chance he'll scream the whole way. :)

a visit from Grandmama, Amy and Chelsey

this was almost a month ago, but we sure loved having them, celebrating Chelsey's birthday, swimming and Van loved cuddling with Grandma - his favorite past time. splashing with auntie amy

what a buddy. love him.

best i could get of em girl. squirrels don't hold still.

oh yeah... he cuddled with mom too. lucky me.

did i mention i chopped emery's hair off??

she looks so big and so cute!

How do you get your children to listen?

So, as the father of my children there are a few things I expect out of them. First and foremost that they listen to me. I keep telling them to stop growing, but they refuse to listen. Just look at Van. Standing, smiling, laughing, trying to crawl up the stairs. Before your know it he'll be going to college. He is not suppose to be growing so fast.

How do you get your children to listen?

I am an Iron Girl

Iron Girl Triathlon
May 15, 2010Lake Las Vegas

swim: 800 meters, open water in Lake Las Vegas
bike: 30k (18.64 miles)
run: 5k (3.1 miles)

bib number:	487
gender:	F
location:	Las Vegas, NV
overall place:	243 out of 645
division place:	34 out of 81
gender place:	243 out of 645
time:	2:11:18
pace:	0:
swim:	21:01
tran1:	7:47 (had to run 1/4 mile from the lake to my bike + dress)
bike:	1:11:39
tran2:	3:09
run:	27:41

post race thoughts:

• swim: the water was a lovely 69 degrees. i couldn't afford or find a wetsuit to borrow so i swam in the top you see in the picture and an old pair of swim suit bottoms. i thought i'd be in good company with the no wet suit thing. not the case. i saw 2 other girls of 645 with no wet suit. people were looking at me like "who's the crazy naked girl?" funny thing is, the water felt great and i'd do it again without the suit.
• bike: felt really strong the whole way, but definitely tried to save some for the run (i don't like to run. yuck.). next time i'll try to make up more time on the bike and get under 2 hours.
• run: 1st thing on the course was this crazy ginormous hill. and the course was a loop. so i had to run back up it. ha. felt lots better than i thought i would though. it's amazing how your body just goes when it's already that warm. i actually ran 3 miles 9 minutes faster than i usually run it on the treadmill. in the heat. in the sun. on gravel. up and down hills. definitely surprised myself.

• overall: loved the atmosphere and the whole experience. it was a blast and i'll definitely do it again. i might make it a post-baby exercise boost tradition. i have to admit though that with all of the moving chaos on top of the training i think i'm going to do lots of yoga for the next few months. :)

action shot

i was really hoping my bicep would look better than that. it should. van is ginormosaurus.

my cheering section

emery showing the camera her favorite part of the race - the gatorade at the end that mom had

in other news, this is van's new favorite face. i can't even tell you how much funnier it is in person. aaron and i die laughing every time he does it.

AND... i got to chew these cheeks last night. don't you want to just eat him alive? and i had a dreamy visit with cheeks' mom and my other beautiful red headed bff. in my heaven it's what we'll do every day. sit on wicker patio furniture holding our tiny babies and watching our toddlers play in the grass. i love them.
house pictures are coming. we're unpacking SLOW since my neglected kids need some attention. we're getting there. :)