Staehli Farm

Cole and Alan had the Friday before Halloween off for Nevada day so we decided to do something fun that we'd never done before. I'd heard about Staehli Farm in St George from a few people and thought it sounded like something my boys would love. Yep! They loved it! There was a corn slide, tire swings, a "train" ride, rope swing, pumpkin patch and a corn maze.

I Survived the Ragnar Relay

What is the Ragnar Relay?

It's a 195 mile race that begins at the Valley of Fire north of Las Vegas on Friday morning and ends at the Redrock Hotel on Saturday. You have a team of 12 runners who divide the 195 miles into 36 legs, each runner taking three legs. A friend of mine texted me about 14 days before the race and asked if I wanted to fill in as a runner on her team. "Heck yes" was my response before I found out which legs I would be running. Well, I was going to be running two 7.2 mile legs and one 4.4 mile leg, all of which were rated hard. Yikes! But the morning of October 22nd came and I hopped in the suburban with a bunch of strangers and headed out to begin an adventure of a lifetime. I had a pretty good case of butterflies going before running my first leg but once I started running the adrenaline took over and it was amazing. The scenery was gorgeous and it was fun having my team driving beside me routing me on. The second leg I ran was around 10:30 that night and my little sister Stephanie came out and ran it with me. We geared up in our headlamps and reflective vests and hit the road. It was fun having her along and keeping me company. Thanks Steph! We tried to get some sleep that night before our morning runs but it was near impossible. There's nothing like being completely sleep deprived and slap happy as you set out on an all uphill 4.4 mile run on dirt/gravel . When I got back in the car after finishing my last leg I was seriously overcome with a feeling of elation! I was pretty darn proud of myself for completing my portion of the race. It was then time to relax and wait for the rest of our team to finish up so we could cross the finish line and head home for showers and much needed sleep.

We had a few bumps along the way; sick team members a couple injuries etc but everyone did great and I was so glad to be apart of a team filled with such great ladies!

And yes, I will do it again next year if they ask me!

Carson-isms

A couple of funnies from Carson:

His full name is Carson Blake. The other day I was singing a made up song to him in which I used his full name. And he says, "Noooo, not Blake, it's Birthday Cake"! So I guess his new name is Carson "Birthday Cake" Freer.

Pick-up truck = hiccup truck

My First 5K

A couple months back my little sister asked me if I wanted to start training to run a half marathon with her. It's one of those things on my bucket list so I agreed to it. Well, we decided we needed some motivation so last weekend on 9/11 we ran the Candlelighters 5K. I had no idea what to expect. I didn't expect that I would totally get sucked into it and love every moment but I did! I loved the hype, and the crowds of runners, I loved the competition and I loved the feeling of crossing the finish line! I had a runner's high all weekend long! I will definitely be doing another race soon!

The start and finish line:

Me and Snuff:

Where's Waldo? Can you find me?

Crossing the finish! Woohoo!

Official time 30:58, not bad for an old lady and her first race, haha!

Cole FINALLY Lost a Tooth!

This is a scrapbook page I made to commemorate this HUGE event in Cole's life. The journaling reads:

Cole has been waiting a very long time for his first missing tooth. It fell out at 6:27 a.m. on the 4th day of 2nd grade. Cole proclaimed it to be the most exciting thing to happen in his life this far!

First Day of 2nd Grade!

Ahhhh, the first day of school! It seemed to come quicker this year! But I think we were ready! This year Cole is a 2nd Grader! Wow!

A couple of things a 2nd grader needs for the first day of school are cool new Skechers!

A new Star Wars backpack and lunchbox!

And breakfast in front of the computer? (I pick my battles...)

Of course I had to snap the traditional photo in front of the house...

And one by the car (and yes, they are drinking Dr Pepper at 7:45 in the morning but it's caffeine free)...

And one last quick picture in front of the school since Cole won't permit me to bring the camera onto the playground and embarrass him.


I got a good report from Cole after school. This year he gets to be "Cole F." since there are 2 Coles in his class, he likes his teacher and they had blue cupcakes. Yay!

One Last Hurrah!

With school starting Monday (Aug 23rd) I was beginning to feel the urge to squeeze in one last fun adventure before it was back to the grind! We only had a small window of time to work with so we decided a "staycation" was the perfect idea. I booked our family a suite out at Lake Las Vegas and surprised the kids with the news of our mini vacation.

The hotel is surrounded by gorgeous scenery and has two pools, a water slide and a beach. The boys (and Mom and Dad) had so much fun playing on the beach and building sandcastles and taking multiple runs down the water slide.

It was the perfect way to end our summer vacation!

Carson Can Swim!

Remember this picture from earlier this summer? The one where Carson refused to go to swimming lessons...


Well look at him now!

A Rainy Sunday Afternoon

What do two little boys do on a rainy Sunday afternoon?

They strip down and run outside to float sticks and leaves down the gutter and jump in as many puddles as they can find!

Of course in true Las Vegas fashion, our fun summer rainstorm lasted about 10 minutes, but the boys made the most of it and had a blast!

*click to view larger

Flooded

The boys left the hose on all night long and we woke up to find our sandbox completely submerged. Carson thought it was great, like having a second swimming pool. What a muddy mess! There is never a dull moment around our house.