Cabin - Summer 2010

We had a great time at the cabin this year. Our kids are getting more and more fun. Cade and Kaleb went on a long mountain bike ride with Jared, Amanda, Corby and I and they did great! I could hardly keep up. Cade crashed on the way down and jumped up and yelled "I'm O.K.", Corby said it looked pretty burly.

We drove the kids up a wood road and let them ride down. We figure if we get them to love the down hill pretty soon it will make it worth the hard work of riding up.

Jared and Amanda and Corby and I went on a ride just the four of us. I was wishing Cade and Kaleb were with us so we could rest more. These guys killed me!

Corby and I.

My dad, Cade and Andelin rode the horses to the lake, My kids could not get enough of the horses this year. It makes me happy to see them get better at riding and more confident. My dad and mom were such great sports to take them out so much.

Who needs a boat?

My cool dad and V after their swim.

Our little horse girl, she is a bit obsessed.

Bergen led the horses everywhere and went on a couple of long rides.

Andelin and future cowgirl Grace.

Hi.

Piano Blues

My parents gave us their old piano as they decided they wanted more room in their office. This was my Grandma Thompson's piano and it has seen many moves and a whole lot of love. I asked my mom if she cared if I painted it and she was o.k. with it so I decided to paint it a nice non-neutral blue.

Before

Primed

After

I kind of love how it turned out. The piano bench is my favorite part.

We Moved!

We said goodbye to our house at the end of August. There were definitely tears shed as we left. Corby and I bought this home 10 years ago while I was expecting Cade. We were so excited to move in and start our family here. I was only 23 years old, I feel like I've grown up in this house. I am going to miss all of our great neighbors. We bought a lot close by (I told Corb I couldn't move more than 1/2 mile away) and are going to build a home. In the meantime Grandpa Lou has been kind enough to let us stay in his basement. We are so grateful to have somewhere to stay during the interim. My Grandpa is the kindest most gracious man I know and I am so excited to have my children get to know him better and learn from him.

Some of the perks of living with Grandpa are movie nights,
Having him to help teach the children at family home evening and dinners together. Bergen thinks he is the greatest. It has been great for us, I'm sure Grandpa is rethinking things with all the noise and commotion in his house!

Here is the site of our future home, it's not much now but I am so excited to see it progress!

Punta Mita, Mexico

Corby was the top salesman last year and so he earned a reward trip to The Four Seasons in Punta Mita, Mexico. It was quite the reward! As soon as we made it through customs at the airport we didn't have to lift another finger. Pfizer had everything covered.

Relaxing with a view of the ocean on our patio.

Every evening Pfizer had dinner party planned and when we got back to our room there was a gift on the bed. The first night it was a beach bag with sunscreen and lip balm. The second night it was a note saying that we could pick out new Kaenon sunglasses the next day at hospitality. The third night there was a sheet with the option of a digital video camera, a digital picture frame, a Sony reader or an i-touch. We opted for the i-touch. The last night there was a seahorse figurine made by local artisans. It was so fun to come back to the room every night and see what was there for us.

On our way to the canopy zipline tour.

Geared up and ready to go.

Relaxing on a day bed by the ocean. This was the best part of the trip for me. The staff would bring Haagaen-Dazs ice cream by every afternoon at 3:00.

Corb was pretty relaxed. One night he fell asleep and when he woke up he was the last person on the beach.

Hanging out by one of the pools.

Relaxing waiting for our poolside sushi.

Like my new sunglasses? Thanks Pfizer!

Beach party

This was the most beautiful setting. They had a band come and we tore up the dance floor. Such a fun night!

We had to get in the pool after the beach party. We worked up quite a sweat on the dance floor.

We got a little silly with the camera.

Yeah, I don't know either.

We rode horses and mules up to this waterfall and went swimming.

Cowboy up.

Back to our favorite spot. Eggs benedict never tasted so good.

Enjoying the pool.

Not a bad way to spend a week.

Thanks to Kristen and Ashlee for taking the kids to St. George while we were gone. You guys are the best! It is so nice to not have to worry about them while we are away.

Salem Triathlon

On Saturday June 5th Corby and I competed in the Salem Springs Triathlon. Corby does this triathlon every year, but I have not done it for 5 years (pregnant, nursing, pregnant, nursing...) Katie and Ben Greenwood also did it with us. Bud was signed up but bruised his ribs earlier in the week in a mountain bike wreck (see previous post) and wasn't able to compete. He did contribute green balloons so we could find our bikes easily after the swim and wore a bright orange shirt so we could spot him to help us take our wetsuits off.

Setting up our transition area before the race.

The Boys

A little pre race stretching.

I made it ( that was not my time)

Post race photo.

New and Improved Fireplace

After years of hating our fireplace we finally did something about it. We had left over rock from the exterior of our house from last year, so we decided to redo our fire place. I love how it turned out, now I just need to find the perfect mirror to go over it.

Before

During
After

Memorial Day Weekend

I promised Marianne I would keep my blog updated while she was in Alaska, so I'd better make good on that promise.

We had a great time last weekend in St. George with the Greenwoods. The weather was awesome and we had fun activities everyday.

Katie went a nice bike ride Saturday morning, then the guys went mountain biking while I took the older kids to the pool and Katie stayed with Drew and Grace at the condo. The girls went out for some retail therapy in the afternoon and also got Vanilla Avocado Smoothies from The Orange Peel (thanks for the referral McArthur girls.)

Sunday we all went to Zion National Park and hiked to the temple of Sinawava. We saw John Heder a.k.a. Napoleon Dynamite in the line for the shuttle at Zion's. Luckily we talked Corby out of asking him for some tots, he did arrange a photo op with Katie for her nephew who is a big N.D. fan.

Monday Bud and Katie went on a mountain bike ride while Corb and I watched the kids and then we swapped and Coby, Cade and I went out. Bud and Katie both had pretty sweet wrecks, we will see if Bud will be able to compete in the Salem triathlon this weekend. I haven't been on a real bike trail since before Cade was born and I forgot how much I enjoy mountain biking! It was also so great to see Cade out there, he is awesome. I was so proud of him, he was going on things that made me more than a little nervous. It is great to be entering a time in our family that we can enjoy more activities with our kids. The rest of Monday was spent relaxing and cleaning.