Amazing Race

The summer started out with the 2nd Annual Amazing Race Salt Lake City (we will see if there will be another). I think it turned out real fun. I only made a few mistakes but everyone was pretty good to understand. They had a lot of tasks to complete and the only one that I have on camera is Airborne where they had to jump for 10 minutes and then do a jump into the foam pit.

Some of the other tasks that were...

Wall Climbing at Momentum climbing

Singing "I am a little Tea Pot" at South Towne Mall

Eating cupcakes until you find the prize in side

Golfing at Mulligan's

Riding a scooter at Classic Rollerskating

and a lot, lot more!

Got Jipped (They kind of got "Jipped" last year)

The winning team-Soda-licious

That's what she said

Fanatics

ROK-Richards, Ormes, Kunz

The fight against abnormal, atypical, moles foundation...I think :)

The Walkie Talkies

We're on a mission

Can I get a Hot tub?

Norris

and again, We're on a mission...I am too lazy to delete the photo

The Avengers

The Wadalyers

The Creators

It was a lot of fun and a lot of work and well worth it!

The next adventure was the Ragnar Relay-Wasatch Back. This is always such a blast! We are lucky to have a fabulous team and a fabulous van. We don't do the race for the running, we do it for the company and the good laughs. This year was no exception.

Justin, Lou Lou, Nat, Collin, Keysha and Chad

Team- Powered by Gas or Bad ASSphalt...not quite sure which one we were??

Getting ready for night time runs. My night time run was ridiculous! They had us run on a railroad trail in the middle of the night with nothing but your headlamp. I was dodging rocks, holes and cow pies the whole time! I hated it!

The Ladies

Van 1 has finished, time for Van 2 to finish up...yuck!

The Men

Collin is trying to grab my chest...

All done! This was our 3rd year doing and sad to say that we are not doing it next year, I guess taking a break for a while. I am actually kind of bummed about it, right now it is kind of nice to think that I don't have to prepare for it, but when the time comes, I think it will be sad.

Bye, bye Ragnar!

Night Games

We thought it would be fun to start night games in the summer, this lasted for about 2 weeks.

Anyone was invited and we just met in front of our house and the ladies talked and the kids played. They were going to play night games like Kick the Can, Capture the flag (my favorite), Ghosts in the Graveyard, etc...but I think they only played them once and the rest of the night was riding bikes and racing. I must say I loved the racing and so did Bode. Usually Bode doesn't go out in large crowds, he just kind of keeps to himself. Surprisingly, Bode made his appearance and came outside and enjoyed the racing with all of the other kids. He was so cute!

He would squat down in the starting runners position and wait to hear "GO!"

When heard it, off he went with the other kiddos.

He ran his little heart out.

The funny thing was, when he saw that everybody was starting to come back (he was probably only half as far as they were) he would turn around right where he was and head back to the finish line, making him finish about the same time everyone else did. He thought he was pretty awesome. He was. Everyone was cheering him on.

One of the cutest munchkins on the block. Really.

Peiton even go into the races when she wasn't hanging on me.

A few of the Mommies...

Kristen

Heidi and Loree

Kari and Claire

Shea and Sondi

Raye Ann

and Lindsey!

4th grade!

Our little guy has started 4th grade! I can't believe it! I want to Cooper to stay at this age for another 2 years. He is at the perfect age, he still loves me, he still listens, he isn't too emotional yet, and he is just a good kid all around.

He is excited for his class this year, I think he knows every person in his class which makes it very nice for him and for me. There were no tears the first day, which there usually is. The first day of school is usually pretty scary for Coop and this year he had no problem. I keep telling him that 4th grade is pretty awesome! He is going to learn about Utah and it is the grade before things get too serious, it will be a good year for him.

Cooper and Luke on the first day of school

I usually take a picture of each of my kids on the first day in front of the house, this year I have been pretty bad. I took this picture on the 2nd or 3rd day of school which is still okay, right?

Good luck Cooper!

Bode turns 6!

A couple weeks ago, we celebrated Bode's 6th birthday...6! Holy cow! I can't believe he is 6!

I have never had a birthday party for Bode with friends, etc...I never thought he would like it or didn't understand that when you have a birthday you have a big party with all of your friends. Or maybe it is that he really didn't have anyone that he would want to invite to a party. Well the last year he really started liking his cousins, Coop's friends, basically older kids. He loved to be with them and play with them. And he was getting a little better with kids his age as well.

I decided that I was going to throw him his very first friend birthday party! Well because he had never had a party before, I went a little overboard and invited about 20 something kids, yes 20 something. Almost half of them were cousins and then a few were Coop's friends, and then some of the friends that are his age. I really wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, Bode doesn't really like crowds too much, and this was going to be a crowd.

I decided that we would do a Toy Story party, Bode loves Buzz and Woody!

We made the invitations that Bode absolutely loved! He carried it around for a couple days and he hand delivered each one (the walking distance ones).

If you notice on the bottom of the invitation, there is a disclaimer...I was trying to be silly, but I guess a little serious too. I wanted Bode to have all the attention, and I thought this may keep him in the room for a little longer than 20 minutes...it worked, kind of. :)

The kids arrived and Bode was having a blast with all of them downstairs. More and more came and he was still pretty good. We started to play games and he did pretty good, until he decided, "Whatever...I am going to my room and watching my own movie all by myself..it is my birthday, I will do what I want top." And that is what happened. Bode marched himself upstairs and turned on a movie and chilled. I think the thought of coming downstairs was a little terrifying at this point.

The party took place at Pizza Planet, so were were going to have pizza. Try feeding 23 hungry kids pizza...well it is possible if you have some help. Thanks Mom, Collin, Stacy and Hollie...I could have not done it without you! The kiddos were fabulous and Bode ate his yummy pizza upstairs in front of his TV, just how he likes it. :)

After dinner we did presents, I thought this would get Bode to come downstairs. I sure did.

Everyone was so excited to give him their present and we was so excited to open all of them. I was so great with each present, so happy! He received so many nice things!

After the presents we did a pinata (sp??) he loved that too. Too bad that we weren't even able to get through all the kids with it not breaking, that was with only one swing per kid.

After that we came up and did cupcakes, we sang Happy Birthday to Bode, he blew out the candles and then he was outta there!

The party turned out pretty great I think, Bode was pretty good for most of it and I think he did have a pretty good time.

We are so lucky to be surrounded by so many neat people that treat Bode so well. He is like any other kid to them. I think it was my little niece Emma that told her mom, "We are so lucky to have Bode as our cousin, it is so awesome!" (something to that extent) They accept him just like he is. Drew another cousin loves Bode and loves to play with Bode. One time my sister Hollie was tending and she was talking to Bode and asking him a question, and Drew told her "Mom, Bode doesn't talk." Like duh, mom...he isn't going to answer you. I love it, he knows he isn't going to talk but that is okay. The other day I was watching him and I caught him talking to Bode saying, "Bode, can you say patience?" Not sure where patience came from but he kept repeating it hoping that Bode would respond, an me also hoping that Bode would respond. :)

But thank you to all of you that make our little Bode's life better by being a part of it and accepting him and just being his friend. We are so grateful and he is too.

Happy 6th Birthday Bode boy! We love you!