The Best One Yet

Mission accomplished! In January of this year I set a goal to run two half marathons, something I haven't done for eight years. This month I met my goal. In fact, my second race was one of my best ones ever. I ran the Big Cottonwood Half Marathon. The weather was perfect! The race was organized well and I had a great time. Although I couldn't convince anyone else to join me, I really had fun. The course was fast! I ran under a 10 minute mile most of the race, because it was down a canyon. The last couple of miles slowed me down but I was still really happy with my final time, 2 hours 13 minutes. I was 12 minutes faster than my race in March. 

Scott was waiting for me at the finish line. I love him. I'm grateful he has been so supportive while I worked on meeting this goal. I'm grateful my body was strong and I really had few injuries to slow me down. I may set another goal next year...we shall see!

A Little Bit of Chaos

We braved our first "friend" birthday party for Watson by inviting eight kids. It was a lot of fun. Everything Pokemon was on the agenda. They played four games: Find the Pokeballs, Pin the Tail on Pikachu, Pokeball Pong, Pokemon Float. The kids had a great time. We fed them lunch, opened gifts, ate cupcakes and more Oreo ice cream. We thought we had it totally under control. This lasted for about an hour and 15 minutes. The last 45 minutes of the party was spent outside on various wheeled contraptions and keeping them mostly contained in our little corner of the world. Watson had a great time! It was so fun to get to know some of the kids in our new neighborhood a little better. We will keep the tradition going, just make it every other year.

Cohen, Watson, Brody, Cache, Isaac, Elise, Kade, Zoya--we missed Thor.

Already FIVE

It has been a party around here for about a week! How could we not celebrate every which way for our favorite WATSON! He is so smart and funny and inquisitive and loving. Although I am ready for him to go to bed every night at 8, love that he has so much to say every day. He wants to make sure he understands what is going on at all times. His observation and deductive reasoning skills are amazing. I love that he loves to snuggle, and lets me play with his ears. I love that he wants to read from chapter books every night. I love that he wants to learn and grow and develop in every way. He is a miracle to me in so many ways. I'm so grateful he is ours. It is bittersweet for him to grow up. But, it's Heavenly Father's plan. I'm blessed to be a part of it.

We had two birthday parties this year, one for family, the other for friends. Our family party was a little celebration with Swig cookies and Oreo ice cream. I shared his "20 Questions" from this year so everyone got to know Watson just a little bit better. London and Cameron kept things lively.

Watson's actual birth day was a little bit quieter. We celebrated with dinner to Chick-Fil-A and putting together a Lego set with Dad. He was a happy boy. Pokemon cards and Legos--these are his favorite things these days.

Nana sent a hiking pack with chocolate kisses and $5.

He couldn't wait to spend his $5 on Pokemon cards!

Grandpa Hoopes gave him $20, he happily spent that on a massive Pokemon pack.

Legos and Dad, couldn't be happier!

The Cutest

We had Watson's portrait done for his Five Year Old pictures. I'm not sure he was completely comfortable being the only center of attention. He was kind of goofy the whole time, but we did get some cute ones!