Top of Utah Marathon

Last Saturday, I ran the Top of Utah marathon in Logan and finally got the marathon PR I've been training for all year.  When Boston didn't go how I wanted it to, I decided to train for another marathon this year.  It was another summer of getting up at 5 am and it paid off on Saturday with a 3:20 marathon on a great day.

I also ended up getting 3rd in my age group and was awarded a moose trophy for my efforts.  Woo hoo!  It's not much, but getting a trophy at a marathon was a first for me. 

I had fun having Josh and the girlies there for me.  We also took a little trip down memory lane in Logan.  We drove past the first place I lived up there as a freshman - a sad little dorm room building.  And also the sorority house where I lived when I was a sophomore and junior.  Sadly, its no longer a Chi Omega house. 

Here are the girlies "helping" josh with our luggage.  Staying in a hotel with them is now a little nutty.  They don't sleep in pack 'n plays anymore, so there's no way to contain them when its bedtime.  There was jumping off the bed, stealing blankets, and general craziness until well after 10 p.m.  So much for a nice early bedtime for all of us before the race!

I'm super happy with my 3:20, but I still think I can run faster.  BUT...that will have to wait for another day well into the future. :) 

First Day of School

Josie and Piper started their new preschool last week at The Winner School.  They had a great morning and surprisingly, neither one shed a tear when I dropped them off.  They did bring these babies along with them and it might not go over that well when I tell them the babies have to stay in the car next time.  Their class is Monday and Wednesday mornings, but the school is great because when they are a little older they can also take dance, gymnastics, and music classes there. 

Summer was..

Summer's over now and I found that it was pretty much impossible to blog/write about/take pictures of everything we did. 

To sum it up, this summer was:

Lots of sweaty trips to the park.

Summer festivals (Draper Days, Butlerville Days). 

 Face painting, riding ponies

Summer was also adjusting to our new home, being here to play with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. 

For me it was a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables (mostly from our weekly Bountiful Basket), some really good books, and early weekend mornings out running to beat the heat.  It was also some time on our own as Josh traveled to San Diego, Virginia, and San Diego again. 

Summer was hot.  The experts say there were a lot more days over 100 degrees than there should have been. 

It's time to move on to fall: pumpkins, sweatshirts, cool mornings, and changing colors.  But summer was fun, while it lasted. 

Slippin' and Slidin'

A few weeks ago, we had the annual Egan family summer party.  This year the Deckers were in charge and my aunt Kris rented a blow-up water slide for the kids.  I wasn't sure the girls would be brave enough, but their second cousin Kage convinced them to go down.  Kage is a little older and they took to him right away.  The three of them would start at the top, hold hands, and slide down together.  Kage had been playing on it all day and was already tired, but the girls would climb up, get all set up and start yelling "Kage!  Kage!" until he came up and slid down with them. 

Group shot from the party.

Emery Nathan Johnson

It's been a busy summer with lots of ups and downs, but the best thing to happen around here so far has been the arrival of sweet little Emery, my sister's baby boy.  He was in a hurry to get here, just like his cousins, and was born after my sister's water broke at 37 weeks. 

We were lucky enough to be around (right down the street from the hospital) and got there in time to meet Emery during his first hours.  Oh, and also, my sister gave birth without any drugs.  Hard core!

The girls are getting a little more interested in him, but notice how Piper has to have her own baby in every picture.  Why pay attention to Emery when she has her own baby??

 

So far little dude is the best baby ever!  Good sleeper, good eater, super happy little dude.  We love him!

Weekend Summer Fun

We are wrapping up a great weekend that included dinner with Grandpa and Bubba (along with root beer floats), sidewalk chalk, the park, a visit to Nate and Brynn's, and a trip to the zoo. 

Some pics...

Saturday morning playing "go night night", which is a new favorite game.  They drag all their blankies, pillows and dolls around the house and lay down with them, tucking each other in.  

Practicing their gymnastics skills at MountView park.  The weather was great this weekend.  After four straight days of 100+ degrees, we finally had some cooler, cloudy weather. 

Josie wanted to see Uncle Nate's motorcycle, but notice she brings her blankie up there with her.  They love visiting Brynn and Nate's house because they have a kitty (Cache).  Unfortunately, the feelings aren't mutual and Cache is terrified of them. 

 Riding on the merry-go-round at the zoo. 

Brett Naisbitt brought his kids down and met us at the zoo.  We had a great time.  Josh and Brett - still BFFs. :)

Brynn's baby shower and Anna's baptism

It was a busy weekend!  We had Brynn's baby shower here are our house on Saturday.  We are all getting very excited for Little Dude's arrival next month and it was fun to celebrate.  I can't wait for the girls to have another little cousin and to be here in Utah to be part of it. 

Have you ever seen a cuter pregnant girl?  This is the diaper cake my mom and I made her. 

 Very excited grandmas!

 Four generations of moms and daughters. 

Later that day, we joined the Jones family to celebrate sweet little Anna's baptism.  The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins.  Here's one of the Jones family at Jim and Rebecca's house for dinner afterwards. 

 See that red stuff all over Mia's face?  Grandpa decided to let her try out some strawberry sauce!!

 Amanda and Allison with Josie. 

America's Birthday at Snowbird

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July this year.  Last year, Josh was laid up in bed all day after surgery, the year before the girls were too little to do much of anything, and the year before that I was pregnant with scary complications.  So this year was fun!  We spent the morning with Brynn and Nate up at Snowbird enjoying their pancake breakfast, a ride up to Hidden Peak on the tram, some fun in the bounce house and a trip down the Alpine slide. 

These pics were taken at the top of Hidden Peak.  I worried the whole time that the girls were going to fall off.

 Enjoying the bounce house and the big slide.

 The Alpine slide was so much fun.  Both girls absolutely loved it.

We came home after lunch at Chipotle and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening hanging out at home and trying out some sparklers (which they thought were kind of scary). 

The girls recently learned about America's flag at school and they were so excited to see flags all over and talked a lot about "America's birthday".  I think they wondered where the birthday cake was though. 

Daddy and Uncle Jim Got Muddy

Josh completed the Spartan Beast race a couple of weeks ago with Jim.  It happened to coincide with the one-year anniversary of his back surgery.  I was so proud of him. The Spartan Beast race is about 12 miles and 25 obstacles up in beautiful Midway, Utah, ending in a big old puddle of mud.  It looked hot and hard, but they say it was a good time.  And I can't get him to write this blog post, so we'll have to leave it at that.

The girls and I had fun spectating and they have been talking about "daddy and Uncle Jim getting muddy" every day since the race.  Here's the group of them that did the race - a bunch of friends of Jim's. 

The girls played at the park area while we waited for them to finish.

One more picture of him right after finishing.  It really has been a long year for Josh with this back surgery recovery.  I think there were quite a few moments when we weren't sure he would be able to do this kind of thing again. 

Camping in Challis

We got back Saturday night from a great camping trip in Challis, Idaho.  It was technically a "work trip" for Josh.  The area Marine Corps recruiting stations all get together for a week in Challis for some training and also some good family time.  The training was really just one morning and a couple of hours one afternoon.  The rest of the time we were free to do whatever we wanted.

This was the first time we have taken the girls camping and Uncle Jim was nice enough to let us borrow his trailer for the trip.  We were a little worried about how the girls would sleep in the big trailer and sharing a bed (they just recently got the hang of sleeping in their toddler beds).  The first night, we made up their little shared bed, and they fell to sleep holding hands.  Too cute!  There were some rough nights and the girls each took some turns in our bed, but overall they thought it was pretty cool.

Camping girls

 All three of our little ones splashing around in the Salmon River. 

 We went "hiking" which was basically a little walk.  The girls thought riding in those backpacks was the equivalent of riding rides at Disneyland. 

 Stopping to give daddy some hugs

 We hunted for rocks (and threw them in the river)

 And we got REALLY sticky roasting marshmallows over the fire. 

We all came back tired and dirty on Saturday.  The girls slept from 8 pm to 9:15 am the next morning and then took a three-hour nap! 

We hope to have more camping trips soon.