So far in September 2013

I went to put Gavin down for a nap and apparently he put ME down for a nap. After I came to, Aaron showed me these pictures he took when he went to check what was happening.

What an adventure this day was. 20 miles- 10 straight up miles and 10 down miles. It was crazy. But I ended up at a gorgeous lake and it was a beautiful morning. I made it back just in time to shower and run off to teach at the Biggest Loser with season 7 contestant, Sione Fa. Everyone was crying by the end. He doesn't mess around!

Jaylen wanted to join me on the last 1/2 mile at the end of my 16 miler. He was so cute running along with me. A man yelled out, "Hey Mom, you're MEAN!" Actually sir, he asked me to join, it's healthy and he loves it! Wanna join?

I found my kindergarten picture and put it by Jaylen's. Weird!

Jaylen and I about the same age

We LOVE it here! Movies in the park every Friday. Perfect weather and the kids LOVE it!

Running around here is amazing. So many trails, beautiful scenery. HEAVEN!

I usually head out early (like 5:30-6:30 am) to get miles in so my running doesn't interfere with my family time. It's awesome because I get to watch the sun rise and wow, the way it hits off the red mountains is amazing!

Oh, I was embarrassed. At the end of my 18 mile run through a heavily populated trail system in town, I started getting weird, concerned looks. I finally realized my new pink sports bra bled through my shirt (starting at my nipple line and going to my belly button so I looked SUPER saggy). I had no idea. It looked like blood, so I'm sure people where like, WHOA, chaff-age woman!!

I finally decorated my side of our closet with my marathon medals and bibs! Such fun memories and motivation up there!

Oh man. This website ourbestbites.com has got to be the best recipe site EVER! I made these delicious Huevo Rancheros off of there. It's never led me astray!

My dad had this trailer when I was a kid. I HATED the long days of work I did with this trailer. I laugh to think about how he must love watching me not only loving this trailer but forcing my own children to work with it. It's been WAY helpful for our projects around the house.

Sleeping babies are the best! Gavin is so adorable!

I have a rodent, I mean Gavin, problem with my fruit.

Gavin is crazy into the "I DO IT!" stage. He dresses himself in backwards, inside out, horribly matched clothes, but he's so proud of himself it's adorable.

My sleeping beauty!

The view from my 20-miler this past Saturday. I am SO relieved to be done with my last long run before the marathon. Let's get this thing DONE!

This little trail was a butt kicker. SHEW!

 Love these 2:

It's pretty much fantastic that we can swim through to November here. We had a gorgeous day in the 90s on Saturday so we went out to the pool and brought Brody to play with Jaylen. They had TOO much fun (see below).

They made quite the mess in the indoor pool.

Gavin loved this balance game!

Aaron is the best Dad ever!! Gavin, especially, is REALLY into books now days. He's constantly carrying books around asking to be read to.

We do family dinner with my brother's family once a month and this week we used our new grill (thanks to dog sitting again!). Fun to be by family!

When I did my long run, they had a Red Rock Relay going through where I was going so there were signs out like this. Love it!

Jaylen and Brody

Yard renovation

Our backyard was entirely dirt and weeds when we moved in. We've been excited to make it how we want it, and also put a stop to the constant mud being tracked inside by the boys. It's been A LOT of hard work and hours out in the heat making it how we want it. We still have a piece of the backyard to do (hopefully a basketball court in the future). So fun to finally have it finished!

Silly Jaylen and neighbor, Brody, playing in the mud.

These boys were constantly dirty while we worked outside. 3 showers a day at least!

While the house was on the market, they didn't water the lawn, so all the grass up front was dead.

Aaron spent so much work leveling, tilling and smoothing out the rough dirt/clay back here. We also extended the back porch a TON! The boys can scooter easily back there now and now bring in a ton of mud right by the door. We added the curbing with the 6 trees along the back fence.

We spread 4 ton of red rocks along this back area to protect the wall from the sprinklers. It's also very pretty and will also give us a more private yard.

I was shoveling, thinking about how blessed we were to have this beautiful home that we could be fixing up. I looked up to see a double rainbow landing on our home for only a 10 minute window. Gorgeous! Felt very fortunate.

Aaron spreading cow poop to prepare for the sod! He worked so hard!

Digging up the front yard grass was a nightmare. There were think roots all over making it very tedious.

Aaron and I laid the front yard and my brother Jared and Maggie showed up and helped a lot with the back yard.

Yay!! It's done!!!

We planted a pear, apricot and 2 peach trees along with a Texas Fan-Ash to shade our patio along the side of our home. Digging holes in this hard dirt is NO joking matter. Took me ALL day. We look forward to the shade and fruit our trees will provide! We also put in curbing along with 6 tons of river rock along the side of the house to protect it.

Our garden area that we've tilled horse poop into to prepare it to plant!

The front is beautiful! I also came across a KILLER deal on palm trees, so we added two to the front entry.

Before/After

We got a grill this past weekend (paid for by dog sitting again- yesssss!) and love spending time relaxing and watching the boys play happily with their scooters and wrestling in the grass. Such a hard project, but so fulfilling!