Proof that we have the cutest girl in the world

As a prelude to this story, whenever Jared puts MJ up on his shoulders, he tells her to hold on to his ears. He'll pop her up there and say "Hold on tight."

So yesterday MJ and I went for a quick trip to the park. There is a fantastic park here with tons of slides, swings, things to climb on, tunnel and so forth. MJ really enjoys it. We went down every slide at the park several times (there are 4 or 5 of them). She enjoyed sliding on her belly backwards through the tunnel. She got very dirty in the wood chips and sand.

MJ's favorite attraction at the park are the swings though. Once she saw the swings she ran over to them, eager to go for a ride. I put her in and told her to "Hold on tight." She immediately grabbed on to her ears. Needless to say, she was a little confused when I had to explain to her, through fits of laughter, that she was supposed to hold on to the swing.

Five Year Celebration!

October 1st marked Jared and my fifth anniversary. And, what a journey it has been! 

I decided years ago that for our fifth anniversary we were going to do something special, so we did. We took a four day trip to Southern California.

We left on Thursday and drove to Long Beach then hopped on a ferry to Catalina. We arrived just as the sun was setting. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect. After having colds for a week, it was just so nice to be able to breathe the oxygen saturated air. We didn't have much time to do anything that night. We just ate dinner, took a walk on the beach and checked into the hotel. 

On Friday (our anniversary) morning, we rented kayaks and went for a paddle down the shore. The water was unbelievably clear and we were able to see many bright orange fish. Jared and I have both lost a lot of upper body strength since training for running events. So, we weren't able to handle kayaking for too long before our arms gave out.

Intrigued by all the fish we had seen, we then rented snorkeling equipment and walked down to the nature preserve. We should have rented wetsuits! The water was a crisp 66 degrees. We thought that once we got in and accustomed to the temperature, it wouldn't be so bad. Needless to say, we lasted about a 1/2 hour before we were both shivering and ready to go. 

After showering and warming up, we wandered around the quaint town of Avalon. We checked out all the little shops and played some mini golf. We had some particularly good food and beer, too. We got on the ferry back to Long Beach in the late afternoon, then traveled to our hotel in Costa Mesa.

That night we ate at Marrakesh, just blocks from our hotel. We had 7 course Moroccan feast and it was beyond delicious! Just thinking about it is making my mouth water again.

On Saturday, we went down to San Clemente for a surf lesson in the morning. We were hoping to learn on some baby waves, but the swell was huge. The average waves were 4 to 5 feet. We got extremely beat up in the surf, but had a ton of fun. Jared and I both were able to stand up and ride in after the second try. My problem was dismounting the board at the shore. I was afraid of planting the nose of the board in the sand, so I'd try to jump off before I got too far on the beach. So, I'd jump and crash and burn in the shallow water. I have some spectacular bruises on my butt, elbows, knees and I think I pulled a groin muscle. At one point the leash got wrapped around my foot while I was being tossed around under water and it felt like my foot was going to be sliced in half. Another time, I came up right under my board and hit my head on the skag. Fun stuff! 

It really was a blast. We both enjoyed it thoroughly. We were just exhausted and really sore afterward.

That night we ate at the Yard House, a restaurant we stumbled upon near our hotel. It had like 100 different kinds of beer on tap. Jared was in heaven and was really bummed he was only able to try two. 

Sunday we hopped in the car for the long drive home. After all the fun we had, we are so tired, sore and ready to relax at home. My mom was kind enough to watch MJ the whole time we were gone. Each time we saw little kids on our trip, I experienced painful MJ withdrawals. By Sunday I was so anxious to get home to her that I didn't even complain when Jared drove like a maniac.
After all that we have been through in our five years as husband and wife, we hope the next five will be a filled with many more good memories, love and happiness. Happy anniversary to us!

Half Marathon Complete... Now What?

After months of training, Jared competed in his first half marathon - the Cedar Canyon Half. And, he did fantastically! He finished in 2:07.


However, his little brother, whose entire training was done in about a week and altogether was about 13 miles, ran the half in 1:35. He placed third in his age division and 36th in the Men's overall.

The Course

Andy Zooming By

Jared Close to the Finish Line

Good job to both of them! Jared is now looking for something else to keep him motivated. Anyone care to run the Snow Canyon half marathon with him in November?

A Bunch of Random Happenings

I'll work my way backwards.

Today, MJ painted for the first time. I captured the experience on video. It's a little long and the commentary is lacking, but if you watch it to the end, it's worth it.

Over the weekend (before fall semester started) I hurried to finish a few projects I've been working on. Here are three paintings, to complete a triptych, I finally finished.

I also made MJ a sock dog.

And, on Saturday I competed in my first ever 5k.The race was held at Brian Head Resort, 9,600 feet in elevation. I placed second in my age division and 10th overall. The trail was really pretty, winding through trees and near a creek. But, the majority of it was steep uphill climbs. I'm still sore from the workout.

Update Before School

I figured that I had better update the blog before I got so inundated with school that I wouldn't have time...

This summer has been hectic. Yet, we weren't able to do nearly as many things as we wanted to. No camping trips, hardly any hiking, few vacations. But, as I was working full time and take 3 classes. It was hard to get away from all the homework.

We were able to make a quick trip up to Idaho to see my Grandma, Aunt Evelyn, Uncle Brian and their family. It was a great trip and did the soul good to see everyone. Pocatello is very pretty.

This past weekend, we drove up North to welcome Jared's mom, Geri, back from Russia. MJ wasn't feeling well and had a really bad, sleepless night. So, we weren't able to stay for very long- just overnight. But it was great to see that she was home safely and to hear her stories about Russia. 

This upcoming Saturday, I will be running in my first 5k. I just hope I don't die. A 5k isn't very long, but this one will be on trails at 9,600 feet. Should be fun!

Jared (along with his sister, brother & brother-in-law) will be running a half-marathon in the middle of September. All I can say is "Good Luck"! The half marathon is in Cedar Canyon and will be down hill the whole way. I opted out since it would put way too much strain on my knees (and I don't have time to train for more than 30 minutes in the morning).

SUU's fall semester starts on Monday. I'll be taking 6 classes (18 credits) this semester while working part time. It will be a real change to go to school full time, but I will be finished with my much Bachelor's sooner. 

Since Jared is now working full time, he has decided to try taking classes through the Western Governor's University. All classes are offered online and are competency-based, rather than credit hour based. The programs are geared towards people that work and already possess some experience, so it should be a good fit. If we can get all his paperwork filed in time, he should be starting in September. 

All in all, we have some good changes coming our way.

Now, to update on MJ. She is as beautiful, silly and intelligent as ever. She is now 16 months old and gets more fun every day. During the fall, I will be able to spend an extra hour with her everyday and I can't wait! She absolutely loves to color (on everything, including herself), read books, splash in the pool, take bubble baths, eat corn on the cob, jump on the couch, dance, pretend to be a monster, play hide and seek, run in the grass and give gifts of rocks. She make us smile with everything she does.

Amazing!

Sometimes MJ just amazes us with her intelligence.

The other night, I was trying to finish some reading for class while MJ was playing in our living room. I was sitting on the couch and to try to keep MJ busy for a minute I asked her if she would give me a block that was sitting on the nearby side table. We have a set of 10 blocks, with 5 colors (2 red, 2 blue, 2 orange, 2 green and 2 yellow).

So, I asked MJ if she could bring me the blue block. She walked over to the stack of blocks, correctly picked out a blue one and climbed up on the couch and handed it to me. Thinking it was luck that she actually picked out the block of the right color, I asked her then if she could bring me the yellow block. She got off the couch, went over to the stack of blocks, correctly picked out a yellow one, climbed back up on the couch and handed it to me. She did this with all 10 blocks, giving them to me or to Jared. It was amazing!

We had no idea that she knew colors, much less that she could identify them so well.

Beautiful Daughter

Here's our beautiful 15-month old girl!