Color Me Rad

Ashley and I love to run where there is a theme involved. One day I might be able to run just to run, but for now I like a reason. We did our dirty girl run last July, and it was so much fun, so when I saw this Color Me Rad 5K I just knew this was for us! It was down in Orem and we had to be there early, so we got a hotel room, and stayed overnight (I also didn't want to be showering all of that colored chalk off in my shower at home hehe) So we decided we would give ourselves a little facial before our run in the morning. 

 We were the first wave to run, so nobody was covered in color at this point...

 Before

 After

 YIKES!

 As you ran along the course they had color stations that you would run through while being doused with colored cornstarch or sprayed with their little paint concoction, they didn't care where they got you, thats why they gave you stylin' shades to wear to protect your eyes.

 After you crossed the finish line they did a little countdown and you could throw any color packets you had left into the air. We were right in the middle of the cloud of color dust, I could barely breathe, but it was so fun!

 When we walked back to the hotel we got a lot of weird looks. We showered off what we could and then went down for a nice soak in the hot tub to get the rest off our skin and hair (hehehe) before we checked out...it was a BLAST! Definitely be doing this again next year!

Merry Christmas

This was our family Christmas card this year. Merry Christmas from Our family to yours!

Austin has a green thumb!

Austin is our little scientist who always wonders who? what? why? when? where? and how? and often does his own little experiments, to answer those questions. Well at the beginning of summer, he was outside eating sunflower seeds with Alyssa, and he decided he would try to plant some of those seeds in our garden. He had been learning about seeds and the life cycle at the end of his first grade year, so he knew how it all worked, and what the seeds would need to grow. So he put those BBQ flavored sunflower seeds in the ground, where it got lots of sun and water, I just don't think any of us expected to see this monster of a sunflower come out of those seeds! Now Austin and Alyssa are wondering if it will produce BBQ Sunflower Seeds :)
Isn't she a beauty?

It's taller than Austin

My husband is 5'10" and it is just about his size! Kinda crazy!!
There are even some bees living inside of this monster!
If this is what kind of produce Austin grows. Maybe we should put him in charge of our garden next year :)

Saint George Day 2

Today was our second full day here and our first full day with everyone!

My morning hair...it rocks!

We had a day of shopping (Costco shopping, not the good kind), hanging out at the pool, taking more underwater pictures and just having lots of fun with each other!




Alyssa and Haylie are almost swimming completely without floaties!!! Austin is a complete Spencer Boy and dominates the pool, and just might be half fish or um, shark, that's more manly :) Chad was the master griller and made some seriously yummy BBQ grub! We took the family down to the Splash Park down in the "city center" I don't know what else to call it, the kids just have so much fun and run all over the place and have a blast!!! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!!!

A PRESCHOOL GRADUATE

She did it!!!

( Alyssa posing with Miss Michelle, on her last day of preschool,

they got to celebrate with a circus party!!)

My baby girl is a 5 year old preschool graduate! Kind of strange to think that, that whole stage of life, is over for our family. We now officially have 2 school aged kids! The year after that will be CRAZY when they are both in school all day, I can't think about that now, because I am SOOOOO not ready for that!!!

Alyssa is incredibly intelligent and loves to learn!

She is reading easy reader books she knows letters, sounds, vowels

adding and subtracting

knows proper names for shapes (ie: Diamond/Rhombus)

knows all of her colors

She is writing short stories, spelling out words on her own, (phonetically)

knows colors, and knows what colors are made when mixing colors (blue + yellow = green)

She can memorize poems, songs, and short passages.

She amazes me everyday, by the things she learns and knows! I love my children more than anything in the world, and I am glad I was blessed to be there mother!!!

I ran a marathon....of a day of pictures!!!

HAHAHA some day I might be able to say I ACTUALLY RAN a marathon....

Yesterday was a great day for pictures!!! Me and my assistant Ashley (my niece, who I love and adore) started my back to back sessions at 10:00AM going every 15 minutes until 5pm, we had a few breaks, but the breaks were just enough to give us time to get back on schedule! This time we were smart and brought a cooler so our water stayed cold, and we brought treats for the kids (I am not against bribery) and brought mentos for us! All of the sessions went great, couldn't have wished for a smoother running day of pictures!! THEN came my last session, it was just a few quick pictures of a couple (this is a story for another time), so we took all the props and equipment to the car, and then as we were walking back to our spot, I slipped and fell HARD down the hill, landed flat on my butt, I heard a snap, from my shin, and my wrists and back hurt instantly, I couldn't stop the laughter and the tears, they were coming before I realized what happened. UNFORTUNATELY, the couple saw me fall!! Luckily I don't embarrass easily, I stood up and besides being swollen and bruised my wrists were fine, they ached a little but I could move them just fine, my shine was swollen but was fine even to the touch (weird! what was the snap sound?) I am glad Ashley was with me, she was laughing, which made me laugh, and then I pictured what it would have looked like to everyone else, which made me laugh harder, good times! I was able to finish their pictures, and felt fine, but then the drive home was excruciating and the tears came again :( my back never hurt so bad, so I went inside, when I dropped off Ashley, took some ibuprofen, laid down on the floor on my back, and did some of the spine massages I have learned in yoga and pilates, which felt good, and then when I tried to get up, something happened and it was the worst pain in all my life, it took my breath away, as this unspeakable pain radiated in my upper back, I rolled around in pain on the floor, and thought this was how the rest of my life would be. My mom has suffered with back pain throughout her life, and has had back surgery, and lives with pain everyday. I said a little prayer, and almost instantly, the pain started to relieve itself, not completely but, definitely not the pass out kind of pain! I went to bed early last night because it still hurt to sit in a chair, and after about 10 1/2 hours of sleep, I just feel like I had a great workout! Sore but, not painful sore, I am so thankful for whatever reason Heavenly Father had to relieve me from that pain, I know that is not always in the plan. AND I am thankful my camera didn't get destroyed in the fall!!!

I can ride my bike with no handle bars, no handle bars, no handle bars. . .

well actually, without training wheels!!! Alyssa wanted nothing to do with learning how to ride last summer without training wheels. So I was incredibly surprised when her cousin Abby, which is a great teacher, taught her how to ride her bike in less than an hour!!! Abby was so cute running along side her, telling her "I am not going to let you fall, trust me!" and giving her encouragement, "you can do this!" "your doing great" "Way to go!" I was bummed I didn't have my camera with me, to get the actual FIRST time, but we recreated this and showed dad, for the first time! She was so proud of herself, and we are all proud of her too!!!








Austin was so excited for her, he said, "Now when we go on our family bike rides, we can explore the world even more, where her training wheels couldn't go before!" I just love my kids!!!

Merry Christmas 2010

WiGgLe..:..:..then WiGgLe some more!!!

Austin lost his first tooth today!!! I remember when he got his first tooth! This is the same tooth that is first to come out! Can't believe how big my baby boy is getting, I just love him to pieces!

He has been wiggling and wiggling and wiggling his tooth, and it was ready to come out. It hurt when he would eat a soft banana or bread and tonight when we were brushing his teeth he said OUCH! When the toothbrush touched it, so I told him I needed to look at his tooth, and I gave it a little tug, and it didn't come out (I think I chickened out) and then I said let me have one more look and he said "I'm just so nervous this is my first time losing a tooth" haha so I gave it one more tug and out it came! He said it scared him a little and it did hurt a little but now it feels fine. We just tucked his tooth under his pillow, and now he is anxiously awaiting morning to arrive so he can see what the tooth-fairy left him!!!

Fall Break!!! Day 1 "Fabulous Fall Break FUN!!!" Wheeler Farm

Today is the first day of Fall Break for Austin's school and I am bound and determined to spend as much time with my kiddos as possible. Because this time of year is so busy for me with my photography business I feel like I am always on a shoot, or in front of the computer editing, I wanted to give them one on one time with mom, and not only that some fun Halloween and Fall activities and play time too!!!

So for Day 1 of our "Fabulous Fall Break FUN!!!" We went to Wheeler Farm. The kids and I love it there! I bought them some cute Halloween attire just for the occasion. My brother in law and sister in law are moving this weekend, so I brought my little 2 year old nephew, Preston, along, so they could get some packing done. My kids adore their cousins so it was perfect!!!

They got to feed the ducks (mostly geese). They are so used to people that you can get right up close and personal to them. Austin was walking around and honking like the geese and his little buddy Preston who like to copy his every move was doing just as he did. Preston liked roaring at the geese because it really got them honking.

We got to look at the animals...the kids favorite was the pigs! Because every time we have come the pigs have always been in their little house, and this time they were out and active!

Then we went on a Tractor pull ride, and got to see a scary graveyard and some more of the farm!! They got to climb on some of the old tractors and play in the old tree house, they were having so much fun!!!

Then we went into the hay/corn maze where Austin was the leader in finding our way out. Along the way they got to see some scary spiders and the corn that was left behind...they found that fascinating! They were very excited when the maze lead to the pumpkin patch where they could pick out there very own pumpkin! I told them, they could pick ANY pumpkin they wanted, the only rule was they had to be able to carry it by themselves, they were so excited and they each picked the perfect size pumpkin!

They had a blast!! And went right to bed when asked because they are excited for Day #2 of our "Fabulous Fall Break FUN!!!"