Cross E Ranch

Thursday night. Jesse was off. No football practice. And no school the next day. It's like we had 2 Fridays in a row. So we wanted to go and do something with the boys to take advantage of the time we could be togther. I decided it would be fun to go down to the Cross E Ranch where I took the boys last year. Jesse hadn't been yet and I found a Groupon, so it was a win-win. 

We arrived around 6pm so we knew we wouldn't get a whole lot of time before the sun went down. But we didn't mind. It was something to do together. 

They have a great kid area where they have hay bails stacked up for a slide. And another area for a pit full of corn kernels. The boys loved it. Especially Fynn. I have video of him just diggin in the kernels and sliding down the slide. They were all having a ball. And I enjoy being able to watch them enjoy themselves.

Before it got too dark we decided to go through the Corn Maze. This was a new addition to the Ranch this year and it was such a cool one.

I borrowed this picture from the web, but look at the areal view of the corn maze. Amazing right?

This was the map that we could follow once we were in. The blue section was the 4 mile one, the green was 2 miles and the little black one was 1/4 mile. We went through the 2 mile one. I really want to go through the longer one the next time we go. If we keep our wrist bands they'll let us in for half price.

As we were walking through the maze we were wondering how they did this. And we were looking at the corn and it didn't seem edible. We wondered if they planted the whole field and then went through the whole thing and plowed down the design? And we thought maybe the corn was just bad. Or something. But when we were done we talked to the owners of the Ranch about our questions. They told us that they hired someone to put the maze in. And apparently they do it through a GPS system and the maze is planted and grows into the pattern. Cool right?

Then we learned that the corn is field corn. It's only grown for feed. Its different than the sweet corn that we eat.

They had a little train ride for the kids pulled by a tractor. They loved that.

We also went on a wagon ride, saw their animals and heard all about the history of the farm. We learned that they are relater to Gordon. B. Hinckley. Cool huh?

By this time it was dark but they had bonfires going and the kid area lit up. we stayed for a bit. I even bought some of their fresh organic beef. Can't wait to try it.

Perfect little outing out with the Fam. Can't wait to do it again..

Goldilocks Century

What a weekend I had. I completed my 1st cnetury ride since having Fynn. It was quite the trip. Where do I begin?

Well, let me start with last year. I had drama with the girls that I had gone with to ride in the Little Red Ride. And my friend Candice couldn't come with us. So this year when she asked me to do Goldilocks with her than I felt like I owed it to her to ride with her. Which I was really excited to do. Especially since it would give me something to train for. 

As the event grew closer I was feeling bummed I hadn't spent as much time in the saddle as I needed. But I knew that I physically could still ride due to the cross training that I'm doing everyday at the gym. I just knew that my butt would be screaming at me by the end. And I know I could finish because I'd done it before. 

My friend wasn't feeling very prepared either, but I think it was mostly her nerves about the whole thing. She was worried about the weather. she was worried about disappointing me and so forth. But I told her not to worry.

Thursday I got the news that her friend Lindsey had invited herself. Registered for the ride last minute ad borrowed a bike from a friend. Haha. This girl had never ridden before and she was up for the event. 

After staying up too late we were up early and ready to get to the starting line. They told me the night before that they weren't going to do the full 100, but I still wanted to. So I wanted to get to the starting line as soon as we could. 

The plan was to get there by 7am and start by 7:30. But we didn't end up getting there until 7:30am. Which was kinda stressing me out because I still needed to pick up our packets, get all my bike stuff ready to ride and get going. They werent in any hurry so they just told me to start without them So finally a little after 8am I wa on my way. Alone. I told myself that I would have to be tough and that I WILL finish no matter what. It was my goal to finish and I wasn't about to not reach that goal. 

It was raining. Dang it. But I came prepared for it. So it really wasn't all that bad. I actually was overly dressed. At the 10 mile stop I pulled off so I could get my arm warmers off because my arms were too hot. Once they were off (which was really tricky might I add) I got going again, I came across this girl that we just stayed by each other because we were the same pace. And we just started talking and became friends instantly and wanted to ride together. 

We hit the 21 mile pit stop and refueled on some snacks.  

From that point on my Century Friend, Katie and I bonded. She was a great rider and I learned so much from her. And I didn't know at the time what a blessing she would become for me. We shared stories together about our lives and I was so grateful to have her with me.

The rain didn't really stop until about mile 50ish. But that's ok because it wasn't raining super hard. Anyway as we were coming up on 50 miles we were hoping to see lunch because we were starving. But nope. For Little Red Ride they have it at 50 miles and it's perfect. So then we thought for sure by mile 60 ish stop. Still nope. Just the snacky foods they had had at all the previous stops. Which is great, but when you're burning calories like we were, Real Food sounds so much better.

I started not feeling so great. I started to wonder if it was my lack of training was why I was feeling yuck. And the thought of 40 more miles sounded daunting. I mentioned to Katie how I was feeling and she asked if I was "Bonking". And that's exactly what was happening. She told me to go grab a handful of Swedish Fish (which I didn't think to do because I didn't think that I needed that kind of stuff for a ride) and that she would give me some pink salts. So I did as she said. Ate the Swedish Fish and she gave me 3-4 tiny pebbles of this pink salt to suck on. And then put a few more in my water.

By the time we got going again, I couldn't believe the difference that Salt made. I wouldn't have believed it unless it had happened to me. But I literally felt like I just started out fresh again. It was AMAZING!!!

The next 25 miles were awesome. It was uphill but evenually made our way through some small town with all the orchards and stuff. By this point we could see the blue skies peeking through the clouds and the sun was out. Hooray. And I was feeling great. My heart felt very full in that moment in gratitude to my Heavenly Father for sending Katie to me. I was feeling a little emotional while riding but didn't let it over take me. I didn't want to be crying and have to explain my emotional self. I simply kept it to myself and thanked God in my heart for being involved even in a bike ride.

Going back to the lunch thing we didn't get lunch until mile 86. Gaaa. I was a little bugged at the moment because I really wanted food earlier, but I"m over it now. The people did their best with what they had.

Mind you this whole time I've been riding I was getting texts from Candice wondering where I was. They apparently started the ride a little bit after I did. Went 20 miles and called it a day. So the rest of the time they drove the whole route trying to find me. But they had no luck. So they just stayed at the lunch stop and waiting for me to arrive.

When we met up they mentioned they wanted to tag along. But they didn't have their bikes ready when we wanted to get going. So they didn't.

I was thinking we would have 15 more miles to go. But it ended up being 20 more miles to go. Which gave us a grand total of 107.7. Wahoo!!! It felt so good to accomplish what I was out to do. And I couldn't have done it without God's divine help. What a blessing to have him so woven into the details of my life.

I felt great as we finished. And I just had to get a finishing picture with my new found friend.

And then of course a finishing picture with my support crew. Haha. 

We got all my stuff loaded up in the truck and changed my clothes and then we headed home. For just riding 100 miles. Well 107.7 miles I was surprised how good I felt. My legs felt great. My butt was pissed, but that is to be expected. As was my neck. But I can deal with that. 

Got home and watched a movie with my little family and Jesse commented to me that I was a freak. Why? I guess because I was all chipper and happy after just riding that long. Shouldn't I have been just dead to the world by that point? Thankfully not. 

Despite the drama from the start of the trip I had a great weekend. And would do it all over again. 

Annual Girls Trip to Park City

It was that time of year again. PARK CITY!!! We all met up at the Yuki Yama Restaurant for Sushi. The past 3 years we have gone to Blue Sushi, but we were feeling like we needed to branch out. And it was SO yummy. Em and Tay didn't get sushi, but they love their meals. 

We went to the hotel and stayed up late talking and laughing with each other. I really do love these girls and that we have this tradition together. We all get along so well, but are all so different. So it's just great.

The next morning before we headed off to go shopping at the Outlets, Mom told me that she had to leave. You see she has been having this weird thing with her eyes every time we color he hair. She found out from her Ophthalmologist that she is getting chemicals burns on her eyes from it. So baffling. I have been trying to eliminate what the cause would be and it doesn't seem to be changing a whole lot. So she had to leave because they were so painful. Which made us all feel bad that we were going to be shopping without her. But she insisted that we stayed and to have fun.

We did have a good time, but we missed her all day. We had found out once we got home that she had taken some serious pain killers and just slept all day. Oh it just makes me so sad. I wish I could figure out how to reduce this problem for her.

So minus the eyeball hiccup with mom we had such a blast together. And I had some left over birthday money (from Dec) and the Christmas money that was all mine to spend. And I didn't have to have any guilt about buying stuff for myself.  

One last Boating Day

Today we got Heidi to take care of the older 2 boys after they got out of school so we could have one last day of boating. I was excited because the September months of boating because the kids are in school so nearly nobody is on the lake. And it usually stays glass all day long. And I got to spend some one on one (ish) time with Jesse.

It was colder than we had hoped but the water was beautiful. Jesse had a great run on his slalom ski. And he looks good while doing it too.

Fynn insisted on being the flag holder. It would make it a little upset if Grandma tried to take it away.

And then driving with Grandpa was a must. Haha

After we each took a turn in the water (which was way colder than we were used to, especially after going and sitting in the windy boat) we found a spot to anchor the boat and eat lunch. I felt like I couldn't warm up. All I wanted to do was lay on the back of the boat and thaw out. Which is exactly what I did. We all ate lunch and I eventually fell asleep. Haha. I didn't think I was tired but it felt good to get some Vitamin D during my nap. It was so enjoyable to just hang out for the next couple of hours. A small moment to ourselves. Much needed. 

1 year checkup

I got a kick out of Fynnie trying to put his shoes back on while we were at the doctors office this morning. He's got quite the balancing act going on. 

Stats are as follows:
Weight: 23.25 lbs (57%)
Length: 30.5 in (73%)
Head: 19.1 in (95%)- He's smart. Haha.

This new medical assistant was not my favorite. She wasn't very personable or friendly. And when you are working in pediatrics we have to be both of those. Nope she wasn't. And she was terribly rough with him when she was giving him shots today too. I felt very upset and traumatized by the whole thing. I've never seen a medical assistant treat any of my boys the way that she treated him. Not cool. 

Things about Fynn right that now I don't want to forget.

-plays patty cakes

-waves Hi and Goodbye

-blows kisses on occasion

-signs more, but only occasionally

-freaks out when he doesn't get his way (not cute and not my favorite)

-doesn't like to be left alone

-switched over to a sippy very nicely

-transitioned into cows milk perfectly

-still crawling, not walking. Not even standing on his own yet

-mimics alot of what we do

-still has the biggest brightest smile

-3 teeth on the bottom

-occasionally will lay his head on our shoulder and leave it there. Not super snuggly, but more so than any of the other boys. 

Labor Day 2016

Labor Day this year was really quite chill. Which is what we needed after a busy birthday weekend for Fynn. We didn't have plans with anyone, just plans with our own family. We relaxed in the morning and had a nice big breakfast together. 

Then I helped Jesse pour the concrete for our vanity in the Master bathtoom. Yes we are still working on it. Summer came and our focus was shifted to the garden and the yard. 

Anyway, while we were in the garage doing the concrete we kinda let the boys have a hay day on the Xbox. We thought it was a free day and they could play. Plus we needed to occupied with something while we were working on the concrete. 

We finished in the late afternoon. And then we tried to decide what we wanted to go do. But everything would be crowded. Ick. So we drove up to the park and let the boys go wild. See they needed to get some energy out while we needed to relax. So it was perfect.  

Cute dudes.

This fearless baby figured out how to go down the slide by himself. Giggling the whole way down. I got the cutest recording of it and I can't believe he just crawls up the steps and then turns around and go feet first down the twisty slide.

We followed the boys home in the truck while they rode their bikes. It was about a few miles from our house and it took about an hour for them to make it home. My patience was exercised fully. Haha. But we made ti home and they loved that they did that. 

And like that, He's ONE!!!

Isn't it crazy that this baby is now ONE? I think so. What's the weirdest part about the whole thing is that it feels like a life time ago that he came into our family. I really have a hard time imagining our family without him  now. This past year has been such a joy having him around. We all love this little man so much.

I started this when he was a month old and was so excited to be able to finally put them all side by side. Month to month he has changed so much. But you can still see that his smiley self hasn't changed one bit.

We threw a big party today and it turned out SO GREAT!!! I started planning it only a week and a half ago because his birthday snuck up on me. But thankfully I was able to pull it all off. When I sent out a group text invite to all our friends I didn't expect a whole lot of people be able to come because it is Labor Day weekend. But to my surprise I had quite the response of confirmations. By the end of the day I had 55 people (kids and adults) coming. It got me really excited. I mostly wanted to have a big end of summer party with everyone that we love. Especially since we have been working so hard on the yard, we wanted to show it off and share it with everyone.

The cool thing was that almost everyone was offering to bring some type of food for the party. So by the end of the day I had food assignments made and everything was ready to go.

Next were the decorations. I have this client that is a balloon artist that I had used for Ryker's Baptism dinner. So I called her up again and we talked up a trade and I showed her what I was planning for the colors and theme. So when she brought the balloons today I felt like that's what brought the party together.

I had made this #1 Banner out fo fabric and 5x5 photos of Fynn the past year. And it turned out so great. Cheap too. I thought it looked so cute next to the balloon columns Jessica made.

The cake and cupcakes I ordered from Parsens. Didn't it turn out so cute? Thanks to Pinterest for the idea.

Trade #2 came from another client that makes sugar cookies on the side. I contacted her and she was up for it. I asked for a dozen #1s and a dozen elephants. The detailing on them was incredible. It was just that last touch I needed for the party.

As guest arrived I had them each take their photo next to the Banner. I wanted to document everyone that was there. I unfortunetly didn't get a picture of everyone. My friends Bria and Jessica from the salon came. Jess brought her family and I didn't get their pictures. Along with my Aunt Rose, her daughter Sami and a good friend of mine, Angie. But the rest I got.

Top Left to Right: Tanner Family (they are in our ward), KayTee & Kendall (Jesse's cousins), Chan and her friend Brev.
Andrew and Emily's family, The Parentals on both sides, and the Yates Family (friends from our old ward)
Hutchings Family (I went to highschool with Court), Tyson and Jessica's growing family, and Kris and Keya's family (Jesse works with Kris)

Our yard is just so perfect for stuff like this. I just love it.

The weather held out for us too, we were feeling a little worried that it might rain. But it was just overcast and very pleasant.

All the kiddos just loved running around the yard and playing on the playset. The adults could enjoy themselves and the kids could be wild and crazy and out of our hair.

When the time came for the cake Fynn went right for the elephants balloon. I thought it was edible because they said that the elephant would be made from rice crispy treats, but found out that it was Styrofoam covered in fondant. Oops. He really only sucked the outside anyway.

From that point he started to  get into it a little bit more.poking his finger in it.

Eventually just made a mess. He really didn't eat it. Just played with it. Made me wish that I wouldn't have given him the whole thing from the get go.Not that I expected him to eat the whole thing. But that I should have cut up the cake to serve and given Fynn one of the cupcakes. Oh well, hind sight is always 20/20. It started out that I wanted to get a picture with him and his cake together but then he started to go at the cake.

Chantel helped clean Fynn all up so we could do gifts next.

I eventually had to help him. Which is a given since he 1 and never really done this before. Wait jsut kidding, there was Christmas in there. But he was only 3 months old at that time.

Anyway, by this point everyone started to filter home. Which I understand. They all gave us loves and hugs. And I gave them all big thank yous.

We felt so loved and supported from all our friends and family that showed up so much love and support today. This Babe has brought us so much Joy over the past year that we were so happy to share him with everyone that came. What a great day!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FYNNIE!!!! You are loved more than you will ever know.