Yay for family pictures!! My sweet cousin Marsha lives here in town and is a great photographer. We finally got to meet up with her for some pictures. We headed up to Spring Mountain Ranch, and it was a COLD morning! And it was SOOO hard to get both kids looking good at the same time, especially Owen. Here are some of my favorites:

I have finally gotten around to painting my bedroom! We had painted almost our whole house within the first few months of moving in, but by the time I got to my bedroom I was a little burned-out. So I took a break. For like 2 years. Then I got so sick of looking at the dirty white walls, I decided it was time to paint. It took almost a month, from putting the tape on, to taking it off. Why so long? I think I was still burned-out from painting. (And a baby makes everything take longer)

Last weekend I ran my first half marathon! I am so glad my sister-in-laws decided to do one. It got me motivated to train and make it happen. It was the Snow Canyon Half Marathon outside St. George. It was an awesome run. Mostly downhill, so I felt good running it, but the recovery has been another thing. I did not train on any hills, so my thighs were not prepared for the beating they endured. But thanks to those hills, I finished well before I had even imagined I would! My time was 1:59:10. Not bad, considering I ran with a nasty head cold, and I started my period that morning. (sorry, too much information, I know.)

That is me with my sis-in-laws, Heather to my right and Jamie to my left, and their friends that ran with us. It was a nice quick trip to St. George for me, Nick stayed home with the kids!

Nice closed eyes shot. I thought it was better than my blood blister toe picture. Oh yeah, thanks to those hills, I got several blisters on my toes, one of which was a blood blister. But even then, I would take that over the pain in my thighs which has made it really hard to go down my stairs the past few days. Ok, enough complaining. Would I do it again? Yes. Will I do it again? Not any time soon.

I think this link will take you to pictures of me during the run, if you are interested:

View Photos from Snow Canyon Half Marathon

My parents made a quick visit this past week on their way to my dad's 50th year high school reunion in San Luis Obispo, CA. They came in late one night after the kids were asleep so I didn't tell Owen they were coming. It was a great surprise when he woke up! He was so excited! They had to be on their way pretty quick, but on their way back we had some time to play with them. So, we took them to one of our local favorite spots, Calico Springs up by Red Rock Canyon.

Owen was really happier than he looks, he just doesn't like to pose for picture very often anymore.

Thanks for the visit! Come back more often, please. The kids miss you.

It's catch up time! It's the time of year when things get really crazy busy so I am just trying to keep up. And enjoy every minute of it because it goes by too fast! Starting with the week leading up to Halloween. We had some great parties and lots of fun.

Here is my little bumble bee at our ward playgroup party:

And Buzz Lightyear working on a Halloween craft:

And I had to throw in a picture of me because I am always the one taking them, almost never in them.

That week Owen had a preschool party. It started with a costume parade.

The teachers had the kids pose for pictures. They were so cute and funny!

Then they went inside for cookies and juice.

Owen loved the cut-out photo ops.

And had to do both!

We made and decorated Halloween cookies one day.

Carved a pumpkin.

This is at the ward trunk-or-treat, which the kids LOVED! It was a really fun party.

Daddy got a great smile out of Tes while I was decorating the car.

And here is the car! It's supposed to have a spooky haunted house theme.

And the handsome dude passing out candy.

I was so excited that we won 2nd place, and apparently Owen was too! We wanted the award pinned on as soon as he saw it.

BUT, the most amazing part of Halloween is this family. The Long's. Nick's sister and her husband and kids LOVE Halloween and they know how to do it right. Lucky for us they live close by! Here is Jolie showing us what we are having for dinner:

It consisted of guts, innards, brains and bones.

Owen was actually pretty disgusted and wouldn't eat after he saw that. It didn't bother Teslyn at all! They even made cute name tags, and she is the Creepy Crawler!

This is James (the dad) his two sons and their two friends, ready to scare away the trick-or-treaters.

And scare they did. I actually felt bad for the tiny ones who were too scared to make it to the door for their treat. They did have a rule that they can't scare kids 10 and under, but their house alone was enough to scare them.

Strobe lights, speakers playing creepy sounds and a fog machine.

Owen wouldn't even go outside once it got dark.

But it's fun to feel spooky and get in the spirit!

Hope you all had a great Halloween too!