A birthday surprise

Mom ( and family ): Thank you for surprising me with delicious, fancy cupcakes, pink sixlets, paper lanterns, and jars with candles in them so I could finally make a birthday wish.

Marci: Thank you for inviting your friends to my party so I could borrow them and pretend they were my friends too. :)

Kate: Thanks for trying to think of people to invite but not getting desperate and inviting the lady who runs with grocery bags in her fists when you realized I have no friends :)

Husband: Thank you for making my day with balloons, princess wands, and digusting hard candy from the $ store that tasted like hairspray ( and of corse, Einsteins for breakfast! )

Boss: Thank you for feeling bad about forgetting my birthday and giving me an hour long lunch break with lunch on you

Ashley: Thank you for using up all the toner in the office copier to cover my desk, top to bottom, in birthday signs so everyone would know it was my birthday and feel obligated to wish me happy birthday the rest of the day.

I am very lucky to have such great people in my life. I don't deserve them.

a happy birthday picture

Come on everyone, all i want for my birthday is a picture of my beautiful family all together!

That's it, seriously, we are doing this . . .

Kudos to grandma and grandpa Merrill for hustling in for the picture before everyone else . . .

Christian, if your going to be frowning try to smile with your eyes at least . . .

okay everyone is going to actually have to look at me, look at the camera please . . .

There we go- okay we have 10 seconds-Richard, your looking really good-keep that smile. Ok, ready? Say cheese!

AAh. Beauty. ( Is this picture not perfect? We got this on the first REAL try. And they really didn't need that much direction, that commentary was just for the sake of this post and keeping it interesting . . . )

Ok, should we try a funny one? Wait, are we making faces or not in this one? No, we're not. Everyone do something funny! 5 seconds! I'm not making a face!

There was a little confusion as to whether or not we were making funny faces for this one.

I love these pictures and just had to post them because our family is wonderful, and funny, so fun! This picture wasn't the only thing I got though- I was sure spoiled this year! The surprises were non-stop {pics to come} You guys really know how to make a girl feel loved on her birthday. Thanks for a great day! It was one for the books!

Headed South

This is what we've been up to the last 4 days. We headed south to St. George to sweat our guts out and loved every minute of it. Braden's buddy once again, had the hook ups and we were able to stay at his grandparents house complete with a pool and hot tub. Needless to say- we felt pretty spoiled. I hope we can, one day, return the favor somehow. We both got a few days off of work which couldn't have come at a better time, because work is kind of making me want to shoot myself right now. :) Just relaxing, shopping, sight-seeing, laying out, and swimming! Ok, now I'm excited for fall. Goodbye summer! Come back soon!

Fountains at the Bellegio, which I don't think I had ever actually stood and watched. So pretty.

Some awkward positioned picture of me and Brade on the roof of some hotel. Why do I ruin every picture I'm in??

Had some awesome mexican food in the Hard Rock Cafe hotel, good but a little scandalous- please don't bring your children to this hotel :) I found myself blushing, alot.

Some scary face masks, these were everywhere in the hotel. Brade fit right in.

The beautiful red rocks of St George. Really, is our state not amazing? I love the diversity.

Relazing in the pool, don't mind my bed head. It was my day off, I don't have to get ready ok?

Kolob canyon. We also went to Zions Park but I was a poop and decided I was too sick to take the bus up the canyon for a hike so me and Brade missed out on the hiking. Sorry husband. The heat and crooked canyon roads and cramped spaces just don't do me good. We had fun playing in the little town and met some crazy man who had biked there from Illinois!! Also he biked from Mexico to the bottom of South America last year and was biking for 5 months straight. He's writing a book.

Great weekend. Good to be home though. Really good. I never want to live in St. George. or Vegas. Logan is where it's at. :)

i hate goodbyes

Yes, another post of Bear Lake. We like it here! It's just a skip and a jump away to getting the most amazing shakes in the most amazing scenery!

My family has not been to Bear Lake and it was soo windy! With big gusts, food flying off our plates, children crying, sand in every bodily crevace ( ew!), maybe I'm still finding some in places . . . kind of a bummer. Luckily my family is awesome so it was still fun. :)

Disclaimer: You don't lose weight when you run long distance. ( if you pig out afterward) that's my fat arm anyway. the other one is much skinnier.Get off my back.

I only like to hang out with really attractive people. People like her.

oh kaylee. i love sharing this with you.

Beautiful lake. Could have really done without your wind. Sand is fun to eat and all but it was a little much.

Wind= legit glamour shots. Another winner.

This may have been the last trip of the season- but if you're lucky you may see just one last last post. Who knows. I hear this weekend is going to be perfect- I can already hear the beach calling my name . . .

Top of Utah Half Marathon

This picture- yikes. But I have to have proof I actually did it right? This year was a team effort! I had my husband, my darling friend Marci, and my sister right by me telling me to keep going. For some reason this one was especially tiring for me. I think it's because I psyched myself out the day before and was really doubting my ability to better my time- it's important to keep calm and "fake it 'til you make it" because worrying and being anxious wore me out and I didn't eat as much as I should have from my stomach being tied in knots! Luckily, my loved ones were there with love and support no matter what happened. I finished in 2:10 which was faster than my time last year by 6 minutes. Not much but it's something. I also learned how important it is to train and stay commited until the day of the race. Next time I hope to apply the things I learned and reach my goal of finishing in under 2 hours.

Weekend Fun

Mortensen's had invited us to share their grandpa's cabin at Bear Lake with Koefeds ( both high school friends of Braden ) We are really enjoying the lake this summer and trying to soak up every last moment of warm sun! I feel alot more prepared for Fall this year than last! Last summer seemed so short and uneventful compared to this year. The highlight of my weekend was spending time with Braden at the lake and talking to my sweet friends in the car, in my driveway, until almost 1 in the morning! I'm not ready for the week to start! can we institute the 3 or 2 day work week in utah? I think I would be much more productive that way. :)

I love summer reason #27

I switched the title up, did ya notice? I know have to keep things exciting around here for all of you, all 3 of you.

Reason #27 ( totally making up these numbers, there's no list )

Eating outside! This is one of my favorite-est things about summer. I love picnics and I love eating out on patios, eating next to a fire, sitting on a curb, on a roof, in a box with a fox! I love eating outside!

In provo, there is a cute kind of dumpy eatery called Sammy's. All we ate were shakes & sweetpotato fries- there famous pieshakes, which doesn't sound that appealing because I when I hear pie, I think cowpie.

But no it tasted much better! I recommend it. And please eat your shakes outside. It's better that way.