Finished Table!!

Rich ran in the Top of Utah marathon on Saturday. He did great and we are really proud of him. Now he is done I have a whole list of things for him to do around the house :)

The table is now finished - here is a little recap of the process.

This is the original table we got for free

I primed and painted the legs a greeny/blue color and then put a dark stain over the paint to get in grooves on the legs. This is the top all sanded down.

This is just after I applied the stain

and here is the finished table - we LOVE it!! Now we just need someone to help Rich pack it back inside the house and I need to find some chairs that I can paint to go with it.

I have started painting the kitchen - here is a sneak peek of the color. I am repainting all the trim too, so I'll post a finished picture in a couple days. It is fun to see some of the projects I have started come to an end.

Vancouver B.C.

We got to Vancouver at 5pm on Friday and checked into our hotel and went to a yummy Italian place for dinner. I had a thin crust, almost like a cracker pizza with carmelized onions and proscuitto and fontina cheese on top. It was SO good - Rich and I both were loving it! Our hotel was super nice and in a good location for walking everywhere. Rich's conference was about a 10 minute walk away and we were close enough to walk to different places for dinner and shopping and stuff, so it worked out great. One of the best things about Vancouver is the temperature and location. It is mild temperature there year round. They get snow once or twice a year but two hours to the north is Whistler that gets tons of snow and a couple hours to the east they get lots of snow. It was between 70-75 degrees the whole time we were there with no wind. You could wear pants and not be too hot or shorts and not be too cold - it is the perfect temperature! Plus it is such a great location - you have downtown right next to wooded parks and mountains and surrounded by ocean. The thing that surprised me the most about Vancouver was how many Asians live there. I felt like we were in China except everyone spoke English - it was crazy!

This is a picture looking back at Vancouver from N. Vancouver

You have to take a seabus across the water to get to N. Vancouver. The public transportation was very easy to figure out and use.

here is a picture of Rich and the seabus we just rode to get over to N. Vancouver

We caught the bus up to Capilano Suspension Bridge. It is absolutely amazing how much money and work they have put into this park. The suspension bridge is 450 ft. long across a 230 ft. deep canyon. It really sways when you walk across it - so many people were freaking out and walking super slow.

After you cross the suspension bridge they have built all these paths and walkways through the forest and up through the treetops. It was fun to walk from tree to tree and be so high up.

After the Suspension Bridge park we caught the bus up the Grouse Mountain. We took the gondola up the mountain and they have all sorts of different shows and activities at the top. It got really foggy for a while when we were at the top but then it cleared off.

This is the lumberjack show - it was so fun to watch them compete against each other in different events. Here they are cutting into the tree and sticking a piece of wood in the slot and then would stand on it and cut the next piece in until they had worked there way up to the top of the tree and cut the top off.

You can see the log they spin on in the picture above. That was really fun to watch. Down below they are cutting through the logs.

After volunteering Rich to go help them to the two person saw - they picked me to go up instead. Rich said I looked like Ma Ingles of Little House on the Prairie. We raced against another lady from the audience and the other lumberjack - we won!

We went to a Birds in Motion show after the lumberjack show. They brought out falcons, hawks and eagles and they would fly from the trainers arm to a perch and back - but the would fly right over the audiences heads and so close to our heads you'd have to duck so they wouldn't hit you. The birds know you'll move so if you don't they will hit you. I have a video I'll try to post of a hawk flying so close over our heads its wing hit Rich in the face.

This is the bird that hit Rich - I think it was a Hawk.

Here is the eagle - they were huge.

We reserved the bikes our hotel offered for one afternoon and rode around the seawall. The north/west tip of the penisula that Vancouver is on is a big wooded park that they have made bike and walking/jogging paths around the edge along the ocean. It is about 6+ miles around the park. It was so pretty riding along the ocean. We rode bikes for 2 1/2 hours, then I couldn't walk.

This is Rich on the Vancouver side - behind him is N. Vancouver

That is Canada Place behind me. There are convention centers there and cruise ships dock there. There were a few cruise ships headed up to Alaska.

On our last day there we went back up to Grouse Mountain so Rich could do the Grouse Grind. We learned all about it the first day we were there and he wanted to do it.

The Grouse Grind is 2,800 feet elevation gain in 1.8 miles. I would have liked to do it with him but didn't think it was a good idea for me. So I stayed at the bottom and read my book - The Help - while he did it. I finished the book while we were there - it is a good book, I really liked reading it.

The best part was just being with Rich and not having to think or worry about kids. After you have kids that seems to be the main focus in life and it is so nice to have time to just be with Rich. It was so nice to just do whatever we wanted and sleep in as long as we wanted. But by then end of the trip I was more than anxious to get back and see my boys. It doesn't take long to realize you are back to reality and everyday life. :) We need to start packing up our house this weekend. We close Tuesday morning and will start moving stuff over as soon as it gets funded and we get the keys :) We are so excited!!

Silver Lake

We spent yesterday afternoon and evening up American Fork canyon at Silver Lake. One of our friends, who works with Rich, goes up there a lot camping and fishing and arranged the outting with all the families in their office.

It is a beautiful drive up American Fork canyon to Tibble Lake and then farther up the canyon to Silver Lake, which is less crowded. The boys loved being in the mountains and by the water and fishing and eating snacks! Our friend brought his 4 wheeler and took the kids on rides as well.

We bought some cheap water guns for the boys to play with - they were a big hit.

Rich was very determined to catch a fish - plus he had just finished running 18 miles and standing in the cold water felt good on his knees, so this is where he spent most of the time. :)

Kade loved fishing - even though he never caught a fish, he still had a great time.

Riding the 4 wheeler with Travis

Ty and Malika having water gun wars

Success! Rich finally caught a fish - it is so tiny he didn't want pictures taken. But Only 4 fish were caught, so just catching one was a success!

Ty caught a fish on the first time he tried. Rich cast it out for him and he was reeling it in and starting screaming - Yeah Big Daddy, I caught a fish. He was very excited!

Here is a picture of where we were at. We were on this little penisula surrounded by water. The weather was great and it was nice and relaxing being up in the mountains.

Thanks so much to Travis and Teresa for organizing this and bringing their 4 wheeler - we had a great day!

Summer Update

Ever since school got out the boys have been sleeping in longer. I LOVE it!!! They must get really worn out during the days because they are still going to bed about the same time. We've been getting up between 8:30 and 9am which is a nice change from 7 - 7:30am. They all love to cuddle when the first get up, which is my favorite part of the day! It usually doesn't take very long for them to all start wrestling and fighting and then someone gets hurt and starts crying - but for those first couple minutes it is nice.

We came home from baseball games last night and found this deer laying on the grass in the shade. Zack was so scared to see it he wouldn't get out of the car unless I was holding him and even then he was scared to look at it.

Check out these HUGE green onion we found growing in the yard. They were as tall as Kade. We used these in our tacos that night. Kade loves them.

Baseball season has come to an end. It has been a long season - but we have loved it. Ty was in t-ball again this year. Next year he will be in coach pitch. The highlight of his season is when a kid hit a pop fly and it hit Ty in the leg. He thought that was pretty funny.

Most of the time Ty was throwing his mitt up and catching it or playing in the dirt. The last few games he actually would try to get grounders and throw them to the bases - so we did see some improvement. :)

Kade was in coach pitch this year and it was so much more competitive than his little tball in Idaho Falls last year. Kade's team didn't lose a game during the regular season and got 1st place trophies, and Kade also got a game ball after one of the games for his good hits that helped the team score some crucial runs.

I couldn't get him to tuck in his shirt - oh well!

WELCOME SUMMER!!

Icee shacks are now open, running through the sprinklers, playing on the swings, NO school, Lagoon and Lagoon A Beach, relaxing days of playing and picnics and the boys favorite summer TV show WIPEOUT is back June 22. WE LOVE SUMMER!!!!

After playing at Lagoon all afternoon yesterday - today is a relaxer day at home. We started out the day by cranking the music - Chicago's greatest hits to Lady Gaga while we cleaned the house. We have finished exercising and had lunch and the agenda for the rest of the day is to play outside while I sit on the porch swing and read - ahhhh..... a perfect day finished off with the boys baseball games.

I hope you all have a nice day!

Ty and Zack playing on the deck and posing after yelling "Boom Bang Firepower"

Preschool Graduation for TY

It's graduation time!

Ty's preschool graduation was short and sweet. They sang lots of songs, got called up one by one and then it was done.

We took pictures before we went down to the school to avoid the chaos.

Ty wanted to kiss us in every picture.

On to kindergarden!

USU Alumni 5K Run

I only use this blog to check other blogs I like to follow - but I got sick of seeing the same pictures up everytime I pulled it up - so I added a new post just to have a change of scenery when I pull up this blog. Our family participated in the USU Alumni 5K family fun run last weekend. Kade and Ty rode their bikes while Rich and I ran. I pushed Zack in the stroller so we could all participate. The boys were excited to each get their own Aggies shirt and their own race number.

Family picture with Big Blue before the race.

Post race celebration - Aggie Ice Cream! My boys thought it was the best breakfast ever!