my boys...

oh how i love my boys. they are mine and they are wonderful to me!!

Here is the look of my hubs that i get all-too-familiar with in the next few months. thats right, hunting season has begun, ready or not. unfortunetly there were a few things we didn't check off our summer to-do list, and now they become almost impossible to do. But despite the fact that we see much less of each other during this busy season, its still a good one. and chase enjoys it, so thats most important. Thankfully, my inlaws have built their new home quite close to the ranch so Preston and I have plans to move in with them one or two nights a week so that we don't miss daddy/hubs near as much. We are just grateful for a good job.
And as for this little boy of mine...we are going to enjoy this time with less-daddy and do some major bonding (were pretty tight as it is, but we could always use more) He isn't my baby anymore, and that makes me a little bit sad. However, he is giving into my constant plea for a snuggle, and occasionally he'll give in just a little, and i like that. Hopefully with age, he will realize just how important his momma is to him. We had his 1 year appointment this week, and just as expected the boy had taken a leap in the growth charts and has grown. He is 25 lbs (97%) and 31.5 inches tall (96%). He is a big boy, and still just happy and busy.

I feel like a pretty lucky lady to have these two in my life. They make me happier than i could ever imagine.

An EPIC experience

This past weekend, me and 12 other crazies, ran in the Cache-Teton Epic Relay. We ran the 205 miles from Smithfield, UT to Jackson Hole Wyoming....and it was so much fun. I was the captain of the team, and with that a little additional stress in my life making sure i found 11 other runners and seeing that everything else fell into place. And it did, everything went so well...we had the absolutely funnest team ever and i am so proud of everyone for doing so awesome. We pretty much stick entirely with the 5 other runners in your car, and rarely see the other 6 runners except for at vehicle exchanges. We had such a ball with our 6, and i know the other 6 feel the same way about their car, so it worked out rather nicely. Our team finished in 33 1/2 hours, and that was pretty dang near what we were expecting to finish it in, so we did awesome.

I was runner #6, my leg was ranked 2nd hardest on the team, running 19.5 miles total. and i was pretty dang nervous going into it because on a normal day i can handle the 2nd hardest, but being almost 18 weeks pregnant is another story. But everything felt PERFECT! and i did much better that i expected to do. My first leg was 6.8 miles, and it started out slightly downhill for the first little while, as i was going down the hill i could see this MONSTER hill that i knew i had to climb once i got to the bottom of my downhill portion. Once i knew i was getting close to it, i told myself to not look up and just push through it, so i did just that, I got to the bottom of the hill, and put my head down so all i could see was my feet and the road, and i just put one foot in front of the other, and made it to the stop of the 1.5 mile hill without stopping or seeing what i was running up. It was a pretty awesome feeling to make it to the top of the hill and it gave me the energy i needed to finish my last couple of miles of that leg. My next two legs were 6.7 miles and 6.03 miles, and they went pretty good as well. I'm a pretty competitive person, but i knew i had to listen to what my body was telling me as well so that i would not do anything to hurt me or the little babe, and i was lucky enough to feel really good and finish all of my legs without ever walking.

My sis, Mckell, designed us our awesome team shirts that you will see in the pics towards the end (thanks Kell). It was a beautiful run and i am already looking forward to next year. So grateful for wonderful teammates who rocked it, and made it the enjoyable experience that it was!!!

One of my best friends, Jana, who is AMAZING!! she was in the other car and totally rocked all of her killer legs. She had the hardest Leg out of the whole relay and did so good. She's AWESOME!!my mother in law is AWESOME, and did so good. i'm lucky to have her and be able to do these fun races with. she's great motivation for me. love her!

this & that

I just love this little boy. I've been thinking alot lately about being his mom, and how it is such a blessing in my life. Imagining life without him, is unthinkable. Why we were trusted to watch over, protect, provide, and help him through life is beyond me, but i will gladly take the challenge. And chances are that i will fail at times, but thank goodness this little love of mine is forgiving and understanding. I can't imagine not being his mom, and spending everyday with him trying to teach him the things he will need to survive. I'm a pretty lucky lady.


Which brings me to this next darling photo. For some strange reason Heavenly Father has decided that i need to be a mom to yet another darling child, already. yes my friends, that is my official announcement. oh dear, i am scared....very very scared. I am almost 18 weeks along. Which puts me due in January, and also puts my children 17.5 months apart. and now you can see why i am so scared. I am just now coming out of the shock, and that i why i have waited so long to share this little secret of mine, that and also that i have not really felt a single symptom of pregnancy in the last 18 weeks, so i figured if i felt so good, i just as well keep it a secret while i can. Thank goodness for my sweet husband who keeps assuring me that it will be alright. Please don't get me wrong, i am very excited...just also very surprised. My little babe, and lis's little babe will be 3 months apart, which will be very fun.

anyways, that's the surprise of the day. bet ya didn't see that one coming did you? me neither. but now that its happening, i'm just gonna roll with it...."he never said it would be easy, he only said it would be worth it," I'm gonna keep telling myself this, and in the end it will all be worth it i'm sure.

So, again i am so grateful for the opportunity to be a mom. and for being trusted with these little angel children. i will just have to raise up to this challenge now. and i will.

p.s. doesn't this sister of mine look amazing for only have about 2.5 months left. uh yeah!

Preston is 1

oh wow. i have 1 year old. there is a chance that i am still in denial of this. certainly not sure how it happened so quickly, but i am so certainly sure that this little boy has brought us more happiness and smiles in the last year than anything ever before. he makes us giggle everyday. and even though he is hands down the busiest little body that i have ever seen in my entire life, i love every second of him! He seems like such a big boy to me, and has started to show a very humorous side to him that keeps us laughing. hands down the greatest year thus far in our lives.

Here is review in pictures of what went down on his birthday:

starting with his absolutely adorable birthday invite created by my ever so talented little sister, Mckell.

Next up: A trip to the zoo with our good friends, the obergs, who came to visit for the weekend. sadly no pictures of cute sammy. but their little girl violet is the sweetest thing you've ever seen. It was a rather HOT afternoon at the zoo, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. Do notice Prestons very cheesy grin in this next picture...it is becoming a regular face in our house. he is silly.

and lastly: The party. His party was so very last minute planned. None of our family members could come to his party so i debated for a long while whether or not to even have a party, and on tuesday i decided to throw something together and we just invited a few friends over and it turned out just perfect. It was small and simple and perfect for preston because he had absolutely no idea what was going on. He was slightly disappointing when it came to eating his cake, I thought for sure he would go crazy with it, but i think the bright green frosting threw him off, i should have given him some of the chocolate cake i made for everyone else. but it was a great day.

We sure do love you Preston.

Backpacking

A week ago chase and i were trying to decide how we wanted to spend our last few weekends together before Chase starts hunting season. We knew we wanted to go backpacking since we had just bought our new packs. So we quickly made plans for Preston, bought last minute items and took off at 5 am Friday morn. We went to a place called the Bighorn Crags. We had such a fabulous time and it was so beautiful. We hiked 9.5 miles the first day,and then just hung around the lake the next morning and then did the same route back. quite to workout, backpacking is hard, but we had so much fun together and were so happy we quickly decided to go. Can't wait till next summer. chase and i before take-off

W

This lake is called the Crater, it was our favorite lake. we camped at a small lake right behind this one, and had this entire valley all to ourselves.

we stayed in a one-man tent. I was quite worried that we would suffocate because it looked so small, but suprisingly we both slept really well.

such a fun, beautiful trip!!