Tonight for dinner we had some hamburger helper AND zucchini and yellow squash from our garden! They tasted sooo yummy and I still can’t believe that we grew them. This is our first garden ever and it’s been really fun so far.

Lindsay helping daddy cut the squash.

Laura has been doing all of the work when it comes to the garden. She goes out and waters it and weeds it (the ones inside the garden boxes anyway. Jeffy pulls the big ones around the boxes) and has obviously been doing a fabulous job because the veggies were delicious. We appreciate it so much! The kids helped her plant them and it’s been fun to see their reactions to the veggies that are growing from the little plants they planted a month and a half ago.

At the beginning of the year, our Bishopric told us of our ward goals for this year and one of them was to plant a garden. It’s been fun to work towards that goal and see how amazing that process is. I can’t wait until we can try some cucumbers, bell peppers, butternut squash, tomatoes and cantaloupe!

Today I ran in the Pioneer Day 10K down in Provo. I had two reasons for wanting to run this race. The first reason was because I hadn’t done a 10K in a year and I wanted the challenge. The second reason was because I wanted to do something for my good friends, Niki and Flavio, who are anxiously waiting to find out if their in-vitro worked. Niki has been on bed rest for 4 days and has one more day to go and then they still have another week or two until they find out. I knew there wasn’t anything I could do to help with that process, but I knew that I could show them how much I love them and how amazing I think they are. I chose the 10K over the 5K because it had what they called “Goliath Hill” at the beginning. This hill was high. It was steep. And it was long. As I was thinking about Nikio and their experience and the journey they need to take to have a child, I felt that the 10K was a good representation of that. I started out good and once I hit the bottom of the hill I still thought I could run up the whole thing, but halfway through it, I had to stop and walk. The hill won and I was okay with that. I kept thinking of Nikio and all of the ups and downs they have had and once I got to the top of the hill I never walked again until I crossed the finish line. My legs got really tired at about mile 4.5 and I really wanted to quit, but Nikio’s example of never giving up kept me going.

I truly enjoyed running this for them and want to publicly thank them for their wonderful example of enduring to the end and having faith in the Lord. Love you guys!

The course for this run was absolutely beautiful. Provo is one of my favorite places to go in Utah County. It reminds me of my childhood, of when Jeffy and I met, and it is so pretty. As I was running, I thought a lot about Nikio, but also of the Pioneers. Looking at those beautiful, magnificent mountains, I thought of how those Pioneers had to walk up and over mountains, pushing and pulling their belongings and loved ones in handcarts and wagons, and suddenly my race didn’t seem so difficult. All I had to do was run. I am so grateful for the Pioneers and the sacrifices they made to get here and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t thank my Heavenly Father for this beautiful land. We truly are blessed to live where we live.

Near the beginning of the race, at about 1/2 mile into it, a dad pushing his disabled daughter in a stroller passed me, and I was overcome with emotion. He reminded me of the sweet love a father has for his child and the willingness to do anything for that child.

I was lucky to have Jeff and the kids cheer me on during the race. This was the first race the kids got to come to and they really enjoyed watching me take off and then continuing to drive around the course, stopping and waiting for me so that they could give me high fives, cheer me on, blow me kisses and tell me they love me. It helped so much to see their cute little faces and to hear their encouraging words. I am so lucky!

I highly recommend a good run like this every Pioneer Day to help remind us of all the blessings we have in our lives.

Happy Pioneer Day!

Tonight, Jeffy and I went on a date and hung out with 10 other couples from our ward for a picnic dinner and a game of kickball. OMG, it was SO. MUCH. FUN!! We both made some good plays and Jeffy was the “everywhere” man. He was just everywhere the ball went and made some great catches. Jeff kicked a few home runs and I kept the other team on their toes. It was really fun to mingle with new people in the ward and get to know them better. I hope we can do it again soon. The exact same thing. Because I heart kickball. I heart it.

The kids each got to participate in a cooking class at the rec center this past week and they both loved it! They loved getting to do all the work by themselves and it was fun to watch them cook. They both took it very seriously and had big smiles on their faces when they were done. They both wanted to show daddy their creations so after their class, I drove them to Jeffy’s work so that he could taste their creations. It was cute the way they watched for Jeffy’s reaction to their food and when he told them it was delicious, BIG smiles!! I will definitely be signing them up for more next summer.

Lindsay made an omelet and cinnamon rolls. She didn’t want to eat the omelet, but she sure was excited for those cinnamon rolls!
Stirring her egg with milk.

Adding her olives, ham and cheese.



Rolling out her dough. She was actually really good at this and would turn the dough around so make it more circle-like.


Rubbing the butter and cinnamon sugar on with her fingers.


Finished products!


Logan made pizza roll-ups and chocolate dipped bananas.
His dough was stickier so he had a harder time rolling it out. We ended up having to pull it and work with it by hand. We finally got it.

Tomato sauce. I love his face in this picture.

Putting olives, ham, pepperoni and cheese on his pizza.





Tastes good!

Finished products!

So fun!