good day

Today was a great day. In the morning I ran the "Running with Angels" 5k at Thanksgiving Point. What a beautiful run through the gardens! This race is put on every year by my mom's dear friend Pam Hansen. Pam has always been like a second mom to me and I look up to her so much! The books she has written are so inspirational and I recommend them to anyone. Check her website out HERE. This race is a chance to remember any "angels" in our lives. They give the runners a bib to write anyone's name on it who have passed on. What a great event!

I finished 6th in my age group.

Photo by: Chris Justice

Then Ben, Ellie and I went to the Lindon pool with Chase, Ben's brother, his wife and kids. That pool is so fun! They have this "flo rider" where you can surf. (or attempt to surf) Me, thinking that I could totally hold my own, decided to try it. BAD idea. It's much harder than it looks people!! ok, there's my disclaimer. ;) So, I decided to put these videos on in attempt to give a few people some laughs. Yes, I laughed at myself really hard so you can too!

OH and don't forget to notice the PRO next to me...making me look even worse than I already am...and notice that right after I eat it, he just hops on over to the other course like its NOTHING. ppsshhh....thanks alot dude. ha

and I don't know why these videos are blurry...but i put them on facebook also and they are a little more clear. Let the laughing begin.

Ben showing off his skills

ellie had a hard day as you can tell :)

Lovely Things

THIS song. His talent blows my mind...

Be sure to watch all of it! the last half is amazing. .

Anthropologie. This store kills me!

For all you athletes out there with injuries, KT Tape works great! I have been having problems with my IT band/runner's knee and this tape helps support it and relieve alot of that tension. Read about it HERE

This genius invention. . .from "Boon". A modern, handy way to make feeding time a whole lot easier! (thanks to my cousin Kristen for getting it for me) it holds exactly one jar of baby food and dispenses it onto the spoon just by a little squeeze. Every mom needs one! Get yours HERE

my sweet Ellie Mae

my lovely friends!

Tour de Cure

My friend Kristy, her Grampa, and I did the Tour de Cure bike race today up in Brigham City.

65 Miles! I must say though, that it was one of the hardest rides i've ever done...because of the stupid wind! it was blowing up to 25 mph and most of the time it was blowing towards us. So we finished it a little slower than we wanted to, but we were happy that we actually did it. Gramps is 70 years old and we were trying to keep up with him the whole time! He is in AMAZING shape and he he has ran 30 marathons in his life! I would have never guessed he was 70 years old. What an inspiration. He was so cute and funny...we went through a patch where there were tons of bugs hitting us in the face and he said, "you better close your mouth or you'll get some un-wanted protein!" :) he was so funny. We had a great time and they raised a TON of money for diabetes. Maybe next year we will do the 100 miler. MAYBE.

Note to self:

-Train more than 15 miles, so that I can actually walk up my stairs at the end of the day

-wear glasses. keeps them bugs out;)

Guilty obsession

OKAY okay. . . I will finally admit it. I have a guilty obsession that I have been denying to my husband for the past little while, but I am here to come clean about it and share it with the world. YES, I need my reality t.v. fix every now and then. . . well ok, every week to be exact.

There. phhheeew! I said it. To be quite specific, I thoroughly enjoy being glued to my television when THE CITY takes over my not-that-exciting-anyways- tuesday nights. I love everything about that show. The clothes, the fashion, Whitney, the makeup, the shoes, the big city of New York, the DRAMA, ( yes i went that far ) and the modeling world.

I have always been interested in the fashion industry. So, I have told myself that watching this show compensates for me not really doing anything with those dreams, and just drooling over Whitney's job. What a lucky girl! ( maybe not so lucky having to deal with Olivia's annoying attitude. )

So if anyone knows how I feel about this guilty obsession, they should hold their head up high because in my eyes, there are far worse things that could be happening. Now if my husband will forgive me and bear with this ritual of mine, everything will be A-OKAY :)

7 Years

7 Years ago on this day. . .

My sweet mother passed away. Time has vanished so quickly, I just can't believe it. Anyone that knew my mom knew that she was the most caring, loving, most incredible woman. And I don't just say that because she was my mother. . she made an impact on so many people's lives. My brother's friends and my friends would all agree that she was easily their "second mom" who always had pizza delivered, waiting for us when we brought friends over or happily opened her house up for us to have parties. She was extremely talented in so many ways and I just wish so badly that she were here to teach me how to cook that yummy recipe that she made, or to help me pick out what shirt goes best with those shoes, or give me tips on being a good mother, wife, friend and daughter.

I was lucky enough to receive a hand written letter from my mother a couple of days before her unexpected death. In that letter she let me know how much she loved me and she signed it with the words "Always be Thankful". That phrase has never left my mind and I truly am thankful that I have her sweet example in my life.

I love you, Mom.

random-

ahhhh..... Summer days.

This is what I wake up to . .

can someone please tell me how I got so lucky

to have such a happy baby?!

Blessing

Ellie got blessed about a month ago, so these pictures are kind of old. . but better late than never, right? Pics by: Brad & Gina Duncan

We had a fun day with lots of family over to see Ellie get blessed. Grandpa Duncan gave a beautiful blessing, and there were lots of family and friends that stood in the circle; Great Grampa Schwen, Grampa Schwen, Uncle Matt, Uncle Pj, Uncle Cody, Uncle Brad, Uncle Dan, Andrew, Brent, and the bishopric.

We love our smiley Ellie!