Cooper's Run

At the end of July we participated in Cooper's Run.  My cousin lost her sweet son three years ago.  You can hear them tell their story here.  Each summer they host a 5K and fun run to remember Cooper and raise money for Cooper's award which goes to an Orem Public Safety Employee who has made a positive impact while in the line of duty as well as fund a preschool scholarship. I am not a runner, but I thought maybe I could use this event to inspire me to become one.  We weren't fast, but we had a great time together.  There was a great spirit there as we passed the Kofford house and saw Cooper's bench and lots of photos of him and then crossed the finish line where we got Otter Pops (his favorite treat).

 After the race we enjoyed yummy food, seeing a helicopter land, looking at the fire truck, and riding grandpa's train.

It was a great day, and I hope to make it a summer tradition.  I also hope next year to have a faster time in the 5k.

Family Time

We decided to brave the 12 hour drive with an infant and toddler to visit family in California.  We are so very glad that we did.  The kids did pretty well on the drive (thank you ipad!).  We made some stops in random places to give the kids a break.  One of my favorites was in the middle of the Nevada desert when we stopped to feed Lexi, and I watched Aaron play fetch with Brigham and a golf ball.  We spent a few days on the Barth ranch.  We enjoyed walks in the orchards, eating at our favorite Mexican restaurant, and swimming.  

We were able to visit my grandma and introduce her to Lexi.  

We spent some time at the boardwalk in Santa Cruz.  Brigham was really scared of the merry-go-round but tried to put on a brave face for the picture.

He is also scared of water these days.  He didn't want to get too close to the ocean, but he enjoyed watching it from the dry sand.  He would throw his head back, close his eyes, and laugh when a wave would come in.

 Then we headed up to Pinecrest for the rest of our vacation.  We played lots of games.

 Aaron did a lot of reading on the front porch.

 Brigham tried (and liked) his first trout for breakfast.

We enjoyed time at the beach, far enough from the water that Brigham wouldn't scream.

Brigham loved following his cousin around.  She is two years older than him and was so sweet to play with him.

They loved playing with the bubble machine, their glow sticks, and the dirt.

This little lady was a champ on her first big road trip.  She survived the 12+ hour car rides there and back without too much crying.  She loved having so many people around to hold her and pay her attention.

 Brigham had his first smore.  He was a huge fan.

 The best part of the trip was having lots of time to relax and spend with family.  We were grateful to spend time with the Alaskan Barths that we rarely get to see.  We are grateful to Grandpa Barth for letting us enjoy some time up at the Cabin.  It is so beautiful up there, and it is so nice to escape the city, internet, and responsibilities of home for a few days.  Thank you Barth family for a wonderful vacation!

June

When we weren't busy with family visitors and reunions...  

Brigham enjoyed playing with his stickers.

Lexi enjoyed smiling and wiggling.

Brigham enjoyed Mr. Potato Head.

Lexi enjoyed more smiling.

Brigham tried working out with Jillian Michaels.  I think the workout got to be a bit too much for him.  He decided he would rather just sit on me while I try to do stomach crunches.  He thinks it is hilarious.

Brigham and Aaron worked on some home improvement.  Aaron installed some new cabinets and a countertop to make me a desk in the kitchen.  I love it!

Brigham got tubes in his ears.  He has had so many ear infections the last 18 months that our doctor recommended we get tubes put in.  It was a minor surgery that only takes about 10 minutes.  We spent about two hours at the hospital including pre and post op.  He was a little bit weirded out by the hospital nightgown, and I had to hide his sippy cup before the surgery because he kept wanting a drink but I couldn't let him have anything.  He was a champ when they took him away.

He did pretty well afterwards.  He cried a little as he was waking up and coming out of the anesthesia, but mostly he just wanted to cuddle and finally have something to drink. Before the surgery he failed the hearing tests in both ears, but the day after her passed in both ears!  We are so happy that he will be hearing better and hopefully avoiding ear infections every time he gets a little cold.

Return to Clear Creek

Yep, we returned to Clear Creek for another summer family reunion.  We just can't get enough of this place.  Almost 20 years ago we took a photo like this of us running/jumping at the front gate for the brochure we were creating.  We always made fun of it because it sort of looked like the people were running to get away from the ranch.  We wanted to recreate the moment with a new generation of jumpers (and a few old ones too).

I love coming back to this place.  It brings back so many good memories from my summers as a wrangler.  It was fun to have my family of four back in the place where Aaron and I met and fell in love nine summers ago.  It was a little crazy to think that two years ago when we had our reunion here, we had no kids.

As I expected and hoped, Brigham loved the ranch.  It made me a little bit sad that he won't be able to spend a lot of time there like we were able to growing up.  It is the perfect place for a little boy to wander, explore and get dirty.

My cute cousins put on a carnival for the kids with clowns, cotton candy, a tightrope, and the train.

 There was lots of wrestling on the grass.

And there was lots of fun with sticks.

We were so busy and had such a good time, I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked to.  Julia and I had a good time planning and hosting the newest edition of the Bodell Bash.  There were many highlights (Bodell brothers singing beach boys, Bodell sisters singing the supremes, uncle Ed doing the Elephant March) but I think my favorite may have been the "High as a Kite" Minute to Win It game.  Picture adults (and one three year old) with kites tied to headbands around their heads, running around in circles to keep them up in the air while "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from Mary Poppins is playing.  I guess you had to be there to appreciate it.  It was pretty great.

We enjoyed yummy food, lots of visiting, smores, a talent show, dancing gorillas, movies under the stars, and funny late night games in the stables.

This was our third (and most successful in my opinion) attempt at getting a photo with the five Hicks grandkids.

 So glad we could introduce a new generation of Bodell kids to one of our favorite places.