Hiking, running, football, haircuts, look-alikes and Bear Lake. Oh yah, and a PUPPY!

We just got back from Disneyland, but for some reason I felt like updating this past summer first. I'll post Disneyland soon.

A couple months back we went on a fun hike with the kids.
On the hike, there was a little spring that trickled down this creek. We thought it was a good time to teach the kids about water safety, since the rivers were super high, and we were going to be crossing one soon. We told the kids that they were not to touch ANY water anywhere, without asking Mom and Dad first. And to be super-careful over bridges by holding hands, etc. Just SECONDS later, I lie not, Ethan leaned over the little bridge and FACE-PLANTED into the little stream. We grabbed him too quick to snap a picture, but it was pretty funny. And completely ironic. Well, if the lectures didn't teach him, this little testing ground did:)

And then this little missie turned 3 months (over a month ago, I'm lame:)

I ran a 5k on July 4th. They had the race chip-timed for the first time this year and the event planners were pretty excited about it. Well, the company they hired completely botched it and everyone's times got messed up. They announced the "winners" and they went up there and told them that they saw people come in ahead of them. Stupid stupid. They told us all they would work it out and post our times soon on the Internet. Well, 3 weeks later I finally called them to see what was going on. They said, "Oh, you got second in your age division. We can mail you a ribbon if you want." Lame. Anyway, my time was 28:35. Not super-terrible, for my first 5k back. (Not super-great, either).

Ethan took a little ball class this summer where he learned to play soccer, baseball and football. It was way cute.

And take a look at this! My Little Ethan looks just like Jonathan Lipnicki from Jerry Maguire and Stuart Little.

Cassidy had been growing her hair out all year, but I had finally had enough! Watch it go...

tada! Aaah, much better. I don't do tangles.

And our biggest news on this post...

we got a DOG!!!

He is half-pug, half-pomeranian. He's a cute little guy, but oh my. Puppies poop everywhere.

Joel had always wanted a dog, so he is just thrilled.

A few weeks ago we went camping at Bear Lake with Gus (the puppy).

The campground we were at was so awesome. It had a pool, a super-fun park, tennis, mini golf, a game room...

...and these awesome bikes called a Surrey!

two people pedal and the kids sit in front! It was a little hard, but too hilarious to not try. Such fun.

And of course, we had to enjoy some famous Raspberry Shakes!

The lake part was the most un-fun and un-eventful part of the whole trip:)

Beautiful Bear Lake

Alex and Becca

Alex has a little friend named Becca who is just 5 weeks younger. I thought it would be a good idea to have them wear matching outfits and take pictures. I was wrong.

Becca was sad. The girls wouldn't even look at each other.
So we switched their places, which only helped for a few seconds.

Then Alex got hungry.

Maybe we'll try again in a few months:)

One word to describe NM: po-dunk

My school sent me to a training in mid-July for the IB program (International Baccalaureate). It is a great program that gives students an international diploma they can use at universities around the world. Here in the states, an IB diploma often translates into 2 years of college credit, depending on the college. Anyway, they sent me to New Mexico to be trained.

I was not ready to leave my newborn, so Joel and Alexa tagged along for the ride. I had heard both good and bad stories about UWC, the location of the training. I had no expectations. The castle, where many of the classes were held was truly beautiful. But that's where the beauty stopped. I had never been to New Mexico, but wow is it ugly. I didn't see one single patch of alive grass anywhere. Not at the college, not in front of any houses, not even in the town's center by the shops. Just dirt and weeds.

They put us up in dorms, so Joel's bathroom was down the hall, and mine was upstairs! There was no AC, just a little fan we paid $5 to rent (and Joel BROKE it).
The college was set on the only hill in all of Montezuma and had a billion stairs up to the castle. Of course, they put baby and me in the LOWEST dorm building. So we trudged up these bad boys every day to get to class. Free weight loss is what they called it. And this is the last stair case. We were in B4, which was 4 buildings down from this little flight of stairs:
Poor Joel had to scale those stairs each time I had a break or lunch so I could feed the baby. But Alexa truly loved all the daddy-attention. And the attention of all 147 teachers attending the training, for that matter. She was the star of the show and everyone LOVED her. She hammed it up:)

Check out her sweet dimples:

The school did offer some "field trips" if you were willing to pay. But $30 each just to sit on a bus to Santa Fe with the baby didn't sound super-appealing. But one afternoon Joel and I decided to venture out to the nearby town of Las Vegas! Yes, it's really called Las Vegas, NM. It was a mere 6 miles away. We figured we could walk there in 2 hours or so and then take a taxi back.

It was hot. Really hot. We nearly died. There was only dirt and weeds to look at. We passed by a building that had a weird fence. "Honey, why does that fence have barbed wire on it?" I wondered aloud, after 1.5 hours walking. "Because it's a prison," was Joel's response. I didn't stop to snap a picture, I just got out of there as fast as I could!

Las Vegas was lovely. They had one stop light. And every once in a while, they even had a sidewalk:

Then, when we were just 2 blocks from our destination, it began to downpour! I am not sure which word would best describe it...monsoon or deluge...they both don't capture the extreme weather, just as this picture doesn't:

We did finally make it to the city center:

We shopped at the one clothing store, and then discovered that there is not one taxi in the entire city of Las Vegas. Thankfully, a helpful worker from the college came to get us.
The training wasn't all bad, despite the complaining above. In fact, the French IB training was very well done. Our presenter was fabulous, and for me, it was just nice to hear French all day for 5 days. It was a much needed boost to my language skills, which lately have consisted a lot of "Je m'appelle... Je voudrais... Ou est la bibliotheque?" Also, the food was all included and it wasn't half-bad.

The last night there the students who work there in the summer put on a program for us. This is the boys dancing to "Thriller":

After the program, there was a dance. Everyone was drinking and having a good time. Some of my co-workers who have been to this training told me that I had to stay for the dance, just to observe the hilarity of the drunken teachers going wild. Well, I have to say I was disappointed...because the wildest teacher out there was probably me. No, I wasn't drunk. I've never had a sip of alcohol in my life. But it all began with the Macarena. I was trying to sit back and watch like I had been told, but the teachers were doing it wrong. So I had to set them straight. And from there, it snowballed. I was suddenly the ring-leader, throwing out my best Zumba moves and having a great time. Man, I love to dance. Am I good at it? Certainly not, but neither were these teachers, so it was all good.
I have rambled on way too long, so I'll make the birthday part short. We were returning home on July 15, my birthday. My day began with class that morning, and then a 2 hour busride from Montezuma to the Albuquerque airport. The Le Bus bus was full, so we got to ride on the hot school bus, with everyone's windows rolled down and wind flyin' everywhere. We arrived at the airport at noon and our flight left at 5:30 p.m. so we "shopped" around at the airport and Joel bought me a present there. Then we flew home. Lamest birthday ever. Don't worry, Joel made up for it the next day by making me a Dutch Oven dinner. Yummm.

Oh yah, and on the way out of NM, our pilot said to look out the window at the huge NM fire:

crazy, huh?

Can you really spraypaint a fridge?

Long story short...yes you can:)

.........................

Last year Joel was the sweetest husband ever and painted our cupboards white. I didn't realize what a task I was asking of him until it was too late. Holy cow, painting your cupboards is a big job. We had a black oven and a black dishwasher, and so with our tax refund this year we bought a black microwave. (We saved the rest, in case you were thinking that was one expensive microwave!) Now the only problem remaining was our ugly white fridge. But that's an expensive fix, to the tune of $800.

Then my friend gave me this link on how to spraypaint your fridge! For real. I just had to do it. Okay, I made Joel do it. But here is the before: Well, we had bought the supplies, and had everything ready to go. Joel started to push the fridge towards the deck, but it would NOT fit through the door! So he made this bubble in our kitchen, since the epoxy paint can get really nasty. It was quite the bubble.
Joel got SO covered in the spraypaint! Thank goodness for the bubble he made; our whole kitchen would have turned black. It was making the plastic rip and stick to his shoes and was much more difficult than we anticipated.

Thankfully Joel survived with only minor side effects:)


And voila! Sorry the lighting is bad in the pic. But I couldn't be happier. Joel is one amazing guy! Oh, and he re-hung the pot rack and moved the island to its new location. It feels like a new kitchen and I love it!

*just a note - if your fridge fits out the door, this project would be a LOT easier. Town-homers like us, good luck:)

It finally got warm!

Last week the kids and I rode FrontRunner down to the chalk art festival at the Gateway. It was really fun. The kids loved the train ride, of course. They got to draw with chalk in the kid-section: There were lots of fun chalk pictures, many of fun disney scenes:
And some were really amazing!

Cassidy saw Snow White and told her she would go visit her in Disneyland on her sixth birthday.

There was a witch telling stories:

And of course, to cool down the kids ran through the water fountains:

...or at least they considered it. Poor bubs.

Cassidy liked it, at least.

So while Cassidy got soaked, Ethan and I got in line at the KSL tent to get a raffle ticket. They gave him these SWEET glasses:

If you thought that looked geeky, take a look at Cassidy's modeling of the glasses:

Yep, I love my geeks!

And Baby Alexa slept through the whole thing like a dream, despite the heat! Best baby EVER. ...Did I mention she sleeps through the night? Really, we wake up around 6:30 a.m.

So then they started calling raffle numbers and we won a Harry Potter movie and some Chik-fil-A coupons. But a kid who won 3 xbox games wanted to trade! After making sure it was okay with his mom, we made the trade. The trade also included this:

That's Droobles, a Harry Potter gum that looks and feels like cotton candy. Sounds gross? Yep, it sure is. Seriously nasty stuff.
Once we had had our fun, the kids wanted some ice cream to cool off (since Ethan didn't cool off in the water, the little bum)

It really was a fun day!

-----------------------------------

Cassidy recently went to a princess birthday party for her friend Daphne. She was pretty excited about it. They even had hairstylists come in to do the girls' hair.

That's really all I have to say about that, since I wasn't really there.

----------------------------

Yesterday we went to Cowabunga Bay! Have you seen it from the freeway, down by Ikea? If not, look over next time you're on your way from SLC to Provo. It looks SO fun!

Before we delve into the photos of Cowabunga Bay, please allow me to list the pros and cons of the water park so you can make an informed decision. If you've been on the fence about going, hopefully this will tip you one way or the other.

The slides are pretty fun, but there are no tube-slides and I'm not a super-huge fan of smacking my butt and back every few feet on the junctions of the slides. It's not painful, just a tad annoying. They have no pools at the bottom of the slides, so you don't have to worry about your little ones drowning at the bottom of a slide, which is great. Although, there is a slight con to that for the ladies, as we often use that pool to...ahem...adjust ourselves before we emerge flawlessly from the water. I apologize to any bystanders who witnessed my lovely wedgy-adjusting:) Also, if you do go, make sure you not only check the temperature for the day, also check the WIND! Holy cow, it was way too windy to stand in line freezing wet. And there are little water-shooter-thingies all over the playset. So as you're standing in line freezing, there are little punk 12-year-olds squirting water at you. Not so fun. I'm sure all that water squirting you wouldn't be so bad on a calm, hot day. Quite genius, actually, since usually the problem is getting too hot waiting in line. Cassidy had fun on the smaller slides, but she was scared of the larger ones. My overall analysis of the park is that it is best-suited for children ages 7-12.

---

Did you just skip over that big huge chunk of writing? I wouldn't blame you. If you missed the explanation, we went to Cowabunga Bay yesterday:

Ethan loved the pool. And only the pool. I liked it because he could touch the whole way across:)

Alexa hung out most of the time in here, just holding all our towels and stuff for us:

Then when it got a bit shady, she came out to lounge by the pool:

Then she got really brave and decided to try out the lazy river with us:

Alexa's first time in a swim suit:

She was much happier once returned to her little retreat:

It really was a pretty fun day.