Baptism!

Zack and Jake

The three oldest cousins (Marcus, Zack, and Megan)

The grandparents (of course I forgot to take a pic before Zack changed)

Zack got baptized last Saturday.  Craziness!  I can't believe I have a kid old enough to be baptized.  It was a great day.  He was able to be baptized at the same time as his cousin Megan.  That made it extra special I think.  We had lots of family there and it was just a good day.  The Spirit was strong and I'm sure there were lots of extra people there we couldn't see.  After the baptisms we went to my dad's for yummy cinnamon rolls made by April.  It was fun to sit and visit with everyone.  Thanks to everyone who came!

First Day of School

Cutie Kate

Big-Z

Look how big they are!!

School is here!  Yay!  A week ago I had mixed feelings about this.  I've kind of enjoyed sleeping a little longer and not having to kill myself every morning to get everyone out the door.  But then last week happened and boy was I ready for school to start today.  My kids suddenly went crazy, I went crazy, and we were all ready for school to start.  Very ready.  Its interesting how that happens every year.  It seems like there suddenly comes a time when summer needs to be over.  We need to get back into a routine.  Something.

This year Zack and Kate both go to school all day.  Crazy, I know.  Zack is in third grade, Kate in first.  I totally remember third grade.  I can't believe he's that old.  Sounds like the day went well.  Kate loved her teacher, but said it was a long day.  I don't blame her.  These poor kids suddenly go from a couple of hours of school to lots and lots of hours of school.  Zack liked his teacher and class, at least from what I got out of him.  He doesn't offer up much info about things like that.  When he describes his day he uses super descriptive words like 'stuff' and 'things'.  Very helpful.  By 3:00 Sage was on her bike outside, waiting anxiously for her brother and sister to get home.  She gave them both big hugs when they got home.  Poor thing.  Stuck with her mom all day.  Good thing she starts preschool in a few weeks.

By the way, this year I have five hours per week of no kids.  That's right, no kids.  I'm sure I will lay on the couch eating bonbons the whole time....right.  What I'm sure of is that the time will fill up quickly.  Still though, maybe I'll actually be able to run or bike during the day once in a while instead of crazy early in the morning.  I can always hope, right?

Two Down...

The fun girls I ran with (Emily, Sara, me, Mylissa)

Race number two....check!  Did the Park City Half-Marathon today.  It was a great race.  Definitely had some hills, but not too bad.  I finished in 1:43, just under the 1:45 I was hoping for.  So I'm happy!  I even got to run with some fun girls.  Definitely a good time:)  I highly recommend running the half.  Not so sure about the marathon.  Might be kind of brutal for 26 miles.

One race to go and then you'll (the one person who actually reads this) see a picture of me in my new jacket!:)

Last The Best

Heavy heavy hang overs with grandma and grandpa

Always happy with food in her mouth

Three years old!

We are officially done with birthdays.  Ok, mine still hasn't happened.  But lets' face it, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't count.  Sage had a great day.  She was soooo excited for her birthday because she had to see Zack and Kate celebrate their's before she had a turn.  She's so cute when she's excited.  I kept asking her all day how old she was.  She would think for a second and then say, "Three!"  The next day I asked her how old she was and she said, "I'm still three."  We managed to get through the day with no spilled paint or any other crazy happenings.  All-in-all a successful day I think:)

One Down, Two to Go

coming down from the peak (don't look too close at my flaws:)

I signed up for a race series this year.  It consists of three trail races, all within about a month.  Upon completion of these races I get a super nice Marmot jacket with the triple trails competition logo embroidered on it.  I can't wait to get the jacket.  Yes, there are easier ways to get a jacket.  But this is way more fun.

This is the first summer I've done this much trail running.  The more I do it, the more I love it.  Its definitely a different beast though.  Five miles on a trail is a lot different than five miles on the road.  Harder, but way prettier and less pounding.  The first race of the series was a steeple chase.  We had to run eight miles to the top of Jupiter Peak, and back down.  I was most nervous for this race because I've never done anything like it before.  While I enjoy trail running, running uphill like that has never been easy for me.  I've been training hard though, and I think it paid off.  The race was super hard, but fun too.  At one point we were seriously climbing single file along the edge of a peak.  Even the fastest people weren't running here.  It was all anyone could do to put one foot in front of the other.  Beautiful though.  The way down was fun.  I finished about when I thought I would, so I was happy.  I was even happier the next day when I looked at the results and saw that I finished 16th out of almost 200 girls.  Wahoo!  I'm not trying to brag, really.  But I trained hard for this race and it wasn't easy.  So there you go.  First race done, Park City half marathon next week.  Bring it on!

Lice??!!!

Jake shaving Zack's head

Super cool mohawk

Yes, that's what I said.  Lice.  We had lice.  I have to admit, my first instinct was to never tell anyone.  I mean, its disgusting, gross, and must mean that we are unclean.  Now, however, I'm owning it.  We had lice.  And just in case you were wondering, its not fun.  We now have to wear bells around our necks so that everyone knows we are unclean.  Just kidding.  I almost feel like we should though.

Anyway, here's the exciting story.  Last Friday I discovered lice in my kid's hair.  All of my kids' hair.  Heaven help me.  Somehow Jake and I have escaped the lice (thank heavens).  After freaking out I sent Jake to the store for supplies, then I started the laundry.  I did laundry from 8:00am to 10:30pm.  That was a lot of laundry.  I washed everything that could possibly be washed.  And then I steamed everything that couldn't be washed.  Our house was very clean.  Then we shaved Zack's hair.  Poor Zack.  I felt bad, but I wasn't about to comb through three heads of hair.  I told him it would grow back in time for school.  Then Kate and Sage got gross smelling stuff on their hair and I got to pick through their hair like an ape or something.  It was awesome (not really).  There were lots of yucky bugs, but there could have been more.  They were easy to get out of Sage's hair because they stick out against her light hair.  Kate's hair was a little trickier.  However, I think we have finally conquered the lice.  In our nightly check last night I didn't find anything.  Please let them be gone.  I will continue checking for a few days so I don't give the lice a chance to attack again.

So, last week was kind of rough.  Started off with purple paint, ended with lice.  Let's not repeat that again.  Ever.

Another Birthday!

Kate's birthday has come and gone.  Only one more cake to go!  She's so cute and was super excited for her birthday.  Her favorite thing to do is hang with the family (that makes me happy) so we went to Seven Peaks on her birthday and then got rodeo tickets for the weekend.   Party all around.  I managed to convince her to do a giant cupcake cake, so this cake was much easier.  Hallelujah.  I think I've got Sage convinced to go the cupcake route also.  Sometimes I'm a sneaky mom.  I know, I should do whatever will make my kids the happiest.  They do like their cakes, so hopefully I'm not too bad of a mom...