Fourth of July

The older I've gotten, the more I have grown to really love the Fourth of July. I love that it is a holiday that is relatively low stress-- no presents involved, usually warm weather, good food, etc. My family typically congregates together for the Fourth and Thanksgiving. It's one of the few times where most (sometimes all) of us get together. Usually a trip to the cabin with everyone happens either before or after the holiday, depending on what day the 4th falls. This year, we headed to Island Park the weekend before. 

While there, we took a hike to Whits Lakes. We did this same hike a few years back and we loved it this time also. So beautiful!

Loved these flowers!

Davis was awesome and hiked almost the entire way by himself without complaint! 

Upper Whits Lake

I was really hoping there would still be a lot of wild flowers in Island Park, and I was definitely not disappointed! So many fields just covered in all sort of colors and varieties!

These ones were really cool-- my dad told me they are called elephant trunks because when you zoom in and look close, that is exactly what they look like.

Our kids are always in heaven at the cabin and even more so when there are cousins to play with!

Bode was really into riding our little dirt bike and asked to go constantly.

These two were addicted to their cousin Adam's Nintendo Switch.

Getting ready for s'mores!

One of the little ponds we like to ride the four wheelers to had tons of tadpoles in it. The boys loved catching them and even saw a few frogs!

A lone buffalo we spotted on our way to Hebgen Lake

We headed back for Idaho Falls on the 3rd and had fun lighting off our own fireworks that night. This year's show even included a police officer showing up at the end and threatening to issue a ticket! :) Thankfully, we talked him down and he left just giving us a warning. 

Parade on the Fourth

Some cute pictures my sister-in-law Julie took

I took a million pictures of Molly because I thought she looked so cute in her Fourth of July outfit!

I really love this picture of her. 

Waiting for the big fireworks show! 

This year they moved the big Melaleuca show further down the river. The new set up was actually really awesome and you could see the whole show without obstruction. Down by the green belt it was sort of getting hard to find a spot where you could see everything because of the trees. The only downfall was leaving the show was sort of crazy and we had to wait in our cars forever. Hopefully they get those types of details ironed out for next year. I am always so proud of our little hometown having such an amazing fireworks show each year!

AF Canyon Half 2017

Two weeks after the Jackson Hole Half, I ran the American Fork Canyon Half Marathon. It continues to be my favorite race! I love that it is very familiar territory and basically runs right in my backyard. This was my 9th half marathon, and I decided a long time ago that I was really going to train hard for this race and go all out in trying to beat my best time. My previous best was 1:51 on this same course two years ago, and I remembered how hard I felt like it was to get. 

I stayed diligent and did a lot of solo speed training and really tried to push myself. I thought I had a good chance of beating my time, but was still a bit nervous. I feel like you never really know until race day.

Showing off his new running shirt for the kids run at packet pick up:

At race start with my friends Holly, Savannah, and Emily, who were also running.

The weather was perfect and I was so glad! 

I always place myself near the front at the beginning. I hate dodging people and I would rather they have to run around me! From the very beginning I felt really good. I kept thinking I was going to hit a wall, but somehow I just never did. I think I was so excited to finally actually be running it and just hoping my hard work would pay off. 

I knew I needed to keep my pace up during the first 6 miles that are in the canyon if I wanted to beat my time. My goal was 7:30/min miles in the canyon and I was able to do it. I figured my quads would be pretty trashed after that and was just hoping I could still run fast enough for the rest of the race. I still felt great after coming out of the canyon and was able to keep my pace quite a bit faster than I anticipated. I was fairly confident at this point that I would beat my best, but I had no idea by how much. I was thinking maybe a couple minutes. I was watching my average pace on my Garmin, and when I was a mile or two away from the finish, I noticed my average was about a 7:54/mile. Once I saw that I was determined to stay below 8:00/mile. 

I felt so good crossing that finish line! I looked down at my watch and when I saw it was 1:43 I about died! I was so excited. I NEVER thought I'd beat my time by 8 minutes. I was relieved the hard work had paid off. 

Seeing my family at the finish is always my favorite part.

I'm proud of this medal!

My friend Krista and her daughter came to the finish line and Presley even made me this sign. I thought it was so cute!

Our boys love running in the kids run, and all three of them did it this year! They looked so cute in their race shirts and they all did an awesome job. I ran with Davis's group and he ran the entire way and was saying the cutest things like, "Mom, I'm in first place!," (he wasn't), and "Mom, I'm winning the race!"

All of us with our medals

It was too dark for me to see when I left for the race, but I came home to these awesome chalk messages on my driveway from my friend. 

I saved these signs the boys made for me. I think they are the sweetest. The top one is from Jackson and the bottom from Bo.  If we ever get our basement finished, I'm hanging them in our exercise room.

Strawberry Days Rodeo 2017

Our family always enjoys going to the Strawberry Days Rodeo in early summer. I had never been to a rodeo until I moved to Utah, and I admit the first time I went I was not sure about it, but it has turned into a fun family tradition. We got wise and got tickets near the bottom of the bleachers-- so much better. The kids could move around a lot more and I wasn't terrified of someone falling through the cracks.

Enjoying our strawberries and cream

Our friends the Carrolls and Blotters came with us this year!

The boys had fun hanging out right by the chutes where the cowboys came out!

I love these little week-long festivals all of the cities in Utah county have.