August 1, 2009: 5k

So I decided to run another 5k this summer. Actually, Matt decided for me. While we were on our rafting trip in Jackson, Kiera, a Manager at Mimi's and Matt's former co-worker called to see if I would run in a fundraiser 5k for the Taylorsville football team which her son is on. Of course Matt told her I would be glad to do it. And I really was. I needed a goal to look forward to.

I talked my sister Krista into running it with me and she came down the night before to stay with us. Bright and early Saturday morning we went to Taylorville High School track. It was a pretty good course. No large hills or anything. Krista ended up kicking my butt by 30 seconds. Oh well, it was fun. I'll just have to get into better shape for next year.

After the 5k we cleaned up and headed downtown to temple square. We went to the top of the church office buildings, hung out around the reflecting pond and of course had lunch at the Lion House Pantry.

Thanks Krista for coming down.

Ethan hanging out on the track.

Me and Krista after the race.

Reflecting pond on temple square.

Enjoying some dessert at Lion House Pantry.

July 2009

--While Matt has been away in Denver, Ethan and I have spent lots of time up in Logan. Ethan just loves Grandpa Bird's horses, 4 wheelers and tractors. Every time we went up we had to go out and see the horses. Thank you so much mom and dad for letting Ethan and I come up and spend so much time while Matt was away. It would have been an extra long three weeks without all of your help.

--On July 3rd we had our annual Brown family get together/reunion. It was such a great turn out this year. All of my mom's brother's and sisters and their spouses were in attendance. It was so fun to see aunts, uncles and cousins from out of state that we don't get to see that often.

--After a long three weeks, Matt finally came home, yay. Two days after Matt got back from Denver, we left to go rafting in Jackson with the singles ward my dad was recently release as bishop from. I had never been rafting before and was so nervous. Luckily, Matt has ridden the river several times and was the guide for our raft. Rafting was so much fun. I don't know if everyone that was in our boat would share my enthusiasm since half of them got thrown out on our second run down lunch counter, but I definitely would love to go again.

Later that evening after the river runs, Matt, Ethan and I had dinner at a little restaurant in downtown Jackson. We decided not to go to the Bar-J with the rest of the group since Ethan would not be able to sit through the program. Ethan charmed everyone sitting around us at the restaurant and afterwards when we went to the park. At the city center park, there were several gophers that have burrowed holes under the boardwalks. Ethan would giggle and laugh and chase the gophers into their holes, then hold his hands up as to say, "Where did they go?" People got a kick out of watching Ethan chase the gophers.

My sister Krista and her husband Taylor also came on the rafting trip and were nice enough to do some family photos for us up in Star Valley. They turned out so good. Krista is getting to be such a great photographer. Thanks again Krista and Taylor.

Below are some photos Krista took:







--We celebrated Pioneer Day up in Newton at their annual festivities. I decided to run in the Newton dam run after all these years. The dam run is a 5k race from Newton dam down to the center of town. My brother Justin and his wife Shelly also ran. I was surprised at the turn out apparently a lot of people who grew up in Newton come back to run, who knew? There were about 90 or so people that participated in either the 5k or 1 mile run/walk. Justin was beat out in the last few yards and came in second. I didn't do too bad, I came in 24th overall with a time of 26:22.

After the race, we watched the parade from my parents front lawn. Thanks to Ethan and Ava, we were pelted with tons of candy. Ava even got a whole case of strawberry milk from Benson Trucking. Score!

We just hung out the rest of the day and had delicious BBQ chicken and dutch oven potatoes on the patio for dinner. Great end to a great day.

June 2009

Okay, so I have been really bad about posting lately. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up better from now on. Since I've fallen so far behind, I'll just highlight a few events from the past few month.

Dad's 60th Birthday

My dad turned the big 6-0 on June 12th and we had a great Hawaiian themed party for him including leis and of course music by IZ.

Here are some photos of Ethan his aunt Krista took at the party.





Matt's New Job


So for some big news (however, by the time I'm posting this isn't really news any more), Matt decided to leave Mimi's Cafe, a tough decision, and has joined the ranks of the burger flippers. Matt is now the new General Manager of smashburger, a fairly new fast casual concept that is just opening stores in Utah. Matt will be the manager of their Sugarhouse store, which will open on August 19th. Matt leaves at the end of this month for three weeks of training in Denver, CO.

Race for the Cure

One of my goals this year is to run a 5k. A friend from my ward has motivated me and convinced me to run the Murray 4th of July 5k. I haven't ran for probably 5 years, so needless to say I need some training before July. I started this program I found online at www.coolrunning.com called from couch to 5k. So far its going great.

My friend from the ward also talked me into running the Race for the Cure 5k on May 9th, just to get a feel for the distance. Since I had just started training, I wasn't quite in the shape I hoped to be in. However, I'm so glad I raced, not just to run, but just the experience. It was so amazing to see how many people came out to run or walk; there was a sea of people. I loved the uplifting attitude of everyone around. It wasn't a competition. It was a celebration of those that have beaten breast cancer, a touching memory of those who didn't and encouragement for those still fighting.

I didn't mind my time that I came in at. It gives me a great starting point and a goal to work towards for the July 4th 5k.

Easter 2009

I was so excited for Ethan to go to an egg hunt this year. We decided to go up to the egg hunt in Newton since there would be less of a crowd and also Ethan would get to play with his cousins, CRC and Ava. It was such a fun egg hunt. There weren't that many kids in Ethan's age group so he had plenty of candy and eggs to choose from. He was so cute to watch walking around picking up his candy and putting it in his ducky basket.

Later in the day I had Ethan hunt for his Easter eggs at my parents. He was kind of done egg hunting by then, until he found out his eggs were filled with his favorite treat, yogurt covered puffs.

Chores

I am gladly relinquishing my dusting duties. It is one of my least favorite chores. At least everything three feet and below will be clean.

I'm afraid I'll have to keep the sweeping for myself though. Little one doesn't weld the broom quite as well.

Tagged

JoAnn tagged me with a photo challenge: Open your picture files, open your sixth folder and post the sixth photo.

So, here you go.


This is a picture from my baby shower last February featuring Matt's cousin Anneka, his Aunt Diane, Sister Laura and Laura's little girl Eli. I can't believe that it was only last year and we didn't know our little Ethan yet. This was the last time we had seen Laura and Eli until they recently came to visit us and of course she has changed so much. This was such a great shower put on by Matt's lovely sisters, Aud, Laura and Erica.

Time to tag: Krista, Jaime, Laura, Alli Hyland, Megan Harris and Natalie Harris