Weekend Travels!

We went to Rexburg this weekend to visit some family and so I could run a race with Whitney and Nate. We decided to do this Mesa Falls half marathon back in May and trained through the summer. Whitney hasn't done a race with us yet and we wanted to all do one together. Since I knew I would be 5 months pregnant, I didn't want to do the full race but the half was perfect. I haven't ever ran a race where I wasn't trying to beat a time or be competitive so it was really different. I just ran to finish and actually had a pretty good time doing it. I stopped and drank at every aid station and jogged along till I finished. Usually I am way out of breath at the finish line but I was doing pretty good since I had ran so slow! The biggest pain was the soreness that hit the next day when I woke up. If I had been thinking, I would have sat in the cold river after the race to ice my legs but I forgot about that option. So I could hardly walk the next two days but luckily have felt pretty good since.

We had a whirlwind trip so after spending Saturday with Whitney and her family, we headed to Idaho Falls to have dinner with some friends. We then drove down to Twin Falls to spend Sunday with Kevin's brother, Nathan and his family. Above is their little boy Jayden sitting in his bumbo and Lucy sitting next to him. Between their bunkbeds, the baby, and the pet hamsters, my kids were in 7th heaven at their house.

Conner and Isak blowing bubbles in their milk. Don't you love their kitchen? Sigh. I had pretty counters like that once and cabinets that didn't hit you in the head when you opened them. And finished baseboards. Oh the things you take for granted! Nathan made us fried chicken for dinner and Stephanie and I made very yummy cake.

My kids LOVED their hamsters. They would get them out and put them in their balls and let them run around . Lucy kept saying," it the eater bunny! hop! hop!". We headed to Boise on Monday and had dinner with my brother and his wife which was delicious. My kids played with their cats and Isak scored some sweet Star Wars toys from Paul. We stayed with friends that night and Kevin took his CPA exam that next morning in Boise while visited with a good friend in Nampa. It was definitely a whirlwind trip but we got to see a lot of friends and family and it we had a ton of fun. Even if Lucy gets carsick very easily :).

Beach Reunion!!

We just got back from a week at the Oregon coast with Kevin's family. We had a blast and were lucky enough to have gorgeous, sunny weather everyday with no rain! Super rare for Oregon beaches. My kids were in their swimsuits everyday on the beach, playing in the water and sand. It was fantastic.The house we stayed in was huge, it had to be for as many people as we had. It had an indoor hot tub which the kids loved to jump in after playing in the ocean.
Isak loved playing with his cousins and I hardly saw him the whole time because he was was always off doing stuff and down at the beach.

This was the view from the deck at our house. It was so pretty!We had a bonfire down on the beach and made smores. The kids loved them and made giant messes.

Lucy on the deck of the house with her beloved pink blanket.

The floors in the house were tiled and were great for spinning kids around. Lucy thought this was especially fun. All of kevin's siblings and their families were able to come including a few of his cousins and their spouses and his aunts and uncle.
We went to the aquarium in Newport and Isak was especially excited since he has been rather into sea creatures lately.

There is a 360 degree shark/fish tunnel there that you can walk through and see fish swimming above you. We saw manta rays and several scuba divers as well swimming around. The picture above with us in the shark mouth, I believe we have 2 other pictures of our family in the exact same place. Funny to think in 2 years when we are back again, there will be one more of us!

One of the things we always look forward to about going to Oregon, besides the wonderful views and water, is the outlet mall in Lincoln City. Between all of us girls, we do some serious damage. And we all manage to usually buy something that is all the same. And then we take cute pictures of ourselves on the beach.
Josh and Isak really loved the tinker toys Nana brought and spent hours creating different weapons and helmets out of them. There was also a pool table, foosball table, and air hockey that provided hours of entertainment.

I was amazed and the wonderful weather we had. It is usually so cold and windy whenever we get to go to the beach. One afternoon Lindsey and Nate dug these huge holes in the sand and Isak and Lucy were more than happy to jump right in.
Lucy especially did not want to leave the hole and all you could see was her little pigtails moving back and forth.
We spent a morning at the "D" river, apparently the world's smallest river. Its really a little stream of water leading into the ocean that is fairly warm.


We spent the evenings playing games, chatting, sitting in the hot tub and eating lots of yummy food. When we left, we forgot Isak's very favorite stuffed animal, hopdog, at the house. At first I had no idea we had forgotten it until the next day when we had unpacked and I couldn't find it anywhere. I was able to contact the management in charge of the beach house and they hunted it down and were able to find it. It came in the mail today and I don't think I have ever been more relieved. Isak was really upset and would start to cry whenever he talked about it and it was absolutely heartbreaking. He's had it since he was a baby and we have never been able to find a spare. It was an answer to many prayers and a true testimony to me that Heavenly Father cares about every aspect of our lives, even something like a lost ratty dog.
We had so much fun and I can't believe we have to wait 2 years to go again. Thanks to Kevin's grandma for providing us with such a fun vacation!

The kids and I found this sweet little play toy last week at a garage sale. They are almost too big for it but since we will have more kids, I thought it was perfect.

This weekend was pretty busy, as most of our weekends always are. Friday night my parents took the kids overnight and Kevin and I were able to go to the temple and do some shopping. They brought them back in the morning and stayed and helped us reassemble our Gazebo. We painted and put the roof on. When my sister was here in June, we painted the scenes on the inside of the roof. It looks really awesome. Kevin is going to shingle the roof and we have to add a little bit of wood to the top then it will be done.

Then that afternoon, we took some friends out to the dairy to visit the cows and play in the cottonseed. The kids really had fun and Lucy kept asking to take a baby cow home.

Isak has been very funny lately. He has been obsessed with everyone's ages and how old his cousins will be when he is a certain age or at a certain event. "Mom, how old will Martin be when I am 15?" Or "How old will the baby be when I am 10?". He then responds with wow, that is really old, they are a grown-up! Or they will still

be a baby. The other day he asked me how old you are when you die, to which I responded, 100. He told me this week, "Mom, 5 years old is so far away". Oh Isak. He makes me laugh multiple times a day.