The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love fall. I really can't get over it.

Here are a few of the fun things we've been doing lately.

Last weekend we went on a little road trip to St. George for Rodney's marathon. He's been training for months. Between working full time and getting an MBA at night, it was not easy for him to find time for it, but he somehow did. We were both able to get work off on Friday so we headed down Thursday night. The next morning we slept in, played some tennis, and picked up his race packet.

The rest of the day was filled with shopping, eating, more shopping, and being together. He was sure to carbo load his brains out the night before. Pretty much the perfect day.

On Friday my family, Cheryl, and Marianne came down to watch Rod cross the finish line. We (including Rodney) anticipated him crossing the finish line sometime between 4 hours 15 minutes and 4 hours 30 minutes. My Aunt Misty and her family were a little ways down the line from us and at about 3 hours 50 minutes she text me saying he was on his way! We scrambled to get the cameras out to capture his victory. Of course being the entertainer that he is he couldn't just run across the finish line - he had to dance across the finish line. I was trying to switch the camera from picture to video and I missed the whole thing! I was so mad! He officially finished at 3 hours 55 minutes!! An amazing time for his first marathon. We are all so proud of him.

We spent the rest of the time watching Conference and resting. Rod was surprisingly mobile after the race. It was such a great weekend! Hard to come home.

Lately I have been spending my free time putting up decorations and baking fall treats. I love having my own house to decorate and fun neighbors to do things with!

I think I have finally re-mastered my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I  made these all the time in Hawaii, but turns out baking in Utah is wayyy different than baking in Hawaii on account of the altitude and humidity changes.

The weather has been amazing

Even Remy and Winslow are feeling festive

And our house is very cozy.

Yesterday my dad took our whole family to Lagoon's Frightmares. We used to go every year when I was little and it brought back so many fun memories. We had a blast.

Swings!

Going into the haunted house. I wish I could un-see the video they make you watch at the beginning. Horrific!

I thought it would be funny to not tell my mom that Wicked goes really fast at the beginning. Not as funny as I had hoped.

Zombies!

Now we just need to figure out what we are going to be for Halloween . . . any great ideas?

Hello September!

Since I started school 3 weeks ago life has been crazy! I really got used to having extra time to do all of the little things. Now that I'm back to my normal schedule, stuff like blogging, cooking, reading, and shopping are pushed to the bottom of the list. I was a pretty great wife this summer though!

Here's what's been happening around here lately. . .

We have been spending time enjoying the slightly cooler weather. Our backyard is such a sanctuary. I love that there is no one behind us and that we can see the golf course and the windmills from our back porch.

We have also been enjoying our local running trails. Since Rodney is training for his marathon, Remy and I often go along with him. We usually drop him off at the top of Provo Canyon, drive to the bottom and then start running up to meet him. We meet at Vivian Park and run back down with him to Bridal Veil Falls where I get back in the car and pick him up at the mouth of the canyon. He's seriously amazing! I can't believe how well he is doing with his training. He ran 20 miles last Saturday! 20!! I can't even imagine.

Remy is a great sport and can usually run 5-6 miles with us!

And then he likes to lick the salt off of hims daddy

At the end of August Rodney turned 28! We celebrated by eating way too much. Tucanos, Wingers, and Benihana to name a few.

His birthday gift was a TV for our living room - something we have been wanting since we moved in last April. We also had our surround sound speakers installed in the ceiling (thanks to Sterling), and the TV viewing experience is now top notch. Our nights often end like this:

I had my first day of school and it was exhausting. I don't think any teacher likes the first day. It's exciting, but there are no procedures in place, you don't know the kids, and it's a little chaotic. Things are getting better though and I think I'm almost back into the groove. This semester I'm teaching three Health classes (10th grade) and three PE classes (two 8th grade and one 11th grade). I'm also the mentor for the 7th grade council. Sometimes I can't believe I teach PE for a living - I can honestly say if you had told me 5 years ago that this is what I would be doing I would have laughed at you. I didn't even like PE when I was in school. In a way though I think this helps me be a better PE teacher. I try really hard to make exercise fun so that the kids gain a love for physical activity like I have as an adult. Teaching is hard work, but my job is so satisfying I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

This house of ours is feeling more like home all the time. We hung up the pictures from our photo shoot with Corissa over our buffet and I love how they have completed the room. I could spend all day everyday in this house!

And finally . . .

last weekend I did the Color Run with my friends Katie and Amanda. I was a little skeptical at first, but it was a blast. Anything is fun with these two.

Family Photo Sesh

Quite a while back we won a free photo shoot with Corissa Ann Photography. The night we decided to have the pictures done was the night of that huge fire near Daybreak. We had actually planned to have some of the photos taken at the dock near Daybreak, but due to evacuations and large amounts of nasty smoke we relocated to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Corissa likes more urban backdrops and even though I may have lacked faith in the ordinary parking lot we took our pictures in, I can say I am very pleased with the results! The pictures turned out great. Thanks again Corissa!