CHEESE!!
"Here Dad, you try one. They're super tasty!"
The best thing though is that I never have to worry that the kids will starve while I'm at work. Thanks to Chef Ryan, they are always well fed and happy when I come home. What a great husband I have.
Preston is very much into big-people food lately. Ryan made some pizza and he apparently ate an entire piece all by himself, plus shared some of Ryan's. What a big boy!
'Tis the season for watermelon-eating, and Adelyn will be the first to make sure she gets some.
Me with my little buddy, Preston.
Preston felt on top of the world on his Daddy's shoulders holding his big and powerful stick.
Here's the clan. Maria's cousin, her Mom, Maria, her aunt, Brandon, Adelyn, Ryan, me, Preston, and Maria's other cousin.
We braved the hike up to Timpanogos Cave a couple weeks ago. We weren't sure how fun it was going to be to haul two kids up the mountainside, but it turned out to be a really great experience. Stroller aren't allowed on the trail, so we just packed Preston in the Bjorn. We distracted Adelyn from the fact that she was hiking up a steep incline by having her watch for the numbers on the rocks (1-20). Our strategy worked and she ended up walking the whole way by herself. We were so proud of her.
Ryan and Adelyn are two peas in a pod. They have the greatest time together. Adelyn always loves our outings the most when Dad comes along.
This is one of the only pictures we got of Preston while he was still awake. He's been packing on the pounds lately to ensure that I get a great work-out on occasions such as this one.
"Princess of the Rock" or is it "Princess Rocque"
Ryan's sister, Amber, is one of Adelyn's favorite people in the whole world. We were so glad she came along. She absolutely loved the cave! She knows a lot about rocks and minerals and was teaching me all kinds of new things.
Evidence that we made it--over 6000 feet above sea level! The climb in the hot sun completely exhausted poor Preston. He woke up in the middle of the tour and looked so confused in finding that his surroundings had suddenly become cold and dark.
Adelyn was a little scared while we were in the cave. I'm not sure if it was the dark or the cold or the crazy stories our tour guide kept telling us, but she wanted to be held a lot of the time. But it turns out she enjoyed the experience because she's asked to go hike to the cave every day since. And she tells the "legends of the cave" over and over to anyone who will listen, although I think she combines a few of the stories on accident.
Oh, so big!!
Best freinds.
We woke the kids up early on the 4th of July and took them to the Freedom Festival in Provo. Ryan took the kids to eat breakfast and see the hot air balloons take off while I ran the 10K. They loved the balloons! It is always fun to watch this neat event. There are so many of them! Fortunately, I too got a glance of the balloons during the 3rd mile of the race.
Here's Adelyn, posing as usual.
The 10K was awesome. I started out kind of slow and eased into it, but by the last couple miles I was trying to catch and pass as many girls as possible. It paid off in the end because I ended up the 11th girl overall and 3rd in my age group. I was pleased--it is so nice to actually race again.
The parade was great this year, as always. We met Ryan's family there and watched it with them. This is the Orem City royalty float. The girl to the far left is one of Ryan's former students, Graceann. Ryan has also taught two of her brother and we've become good friends with her family.
This is the American Fork marching band. Rumor has it they take State just about every year and were in the Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade this last fall. They are amazing! Needless to say, there are several die-hard band mom's in our ward here in AF. And apparently they practice every morning at 7:00 (even in the summer) and serve as an alarm clock for many other families in the ward.
This was one of the booths at the Freedom Festival. Adelyn walked so easily across this tight rope. She has such amazing balance and she's not afraid of anything! We also visited a few craft booths and a rare reptile demonstration.
After the parade and festivities, we went home and rested awhile before going to my brother Doug's house in Salt Lake for a barbecue. Everyone had a great time. The kids went swimming and played on the swing-set and sandbox. . .
The men passed around the soccer ball and made plans for their next golf outing. And the women chased the kids around and did what we do best: talk and talk and talk. When the sun went down, Ryan and Doug put on a great firework show for us. And the neighbors completed the package with an amazing air show. They were shooting off all kinds of illegal stuff that lit up the whole sky. It was awesome! It was a perfect 4th of July.
We got Adelyn's 3 year pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. She was so cute and totally posed for all of them. She had a lot of fun; she's always loved being the center of attention. These are just a few of the great ones.
These are some of the questions I asked Adelyn recently about herself. She is such a little character.
Incidentally, regardless of our many efforts to prepare Preston to be babysit-able, in the end we just decided to bring him along as our mascot (I should have dressed him as a green egg, I suppose). It was so fun to have him come and he did pretty well, although he still loathes the car seat.
My favorite team mate, Ryan, who probably ran more miles during the 24 hours we were racing (17 total, I think) than he's ran the whole last month combined! I don't know how he manages it, but he can run fast and far without hardly any training. He is the envy of many.
One of the exchanges from Ryan to our team captain, Sam.
Personally, I had a blast! I challenged myself and nearly ran myself into the ground trying to catch the other teams during my three legs of the race. It was good to have an opportunity to be somewhat of a competitive runner again. I've kind of lost that part of myself. I remembered how much I love to run and it made me want to get back into road racing again.
Preston and I after my first run. I was the 12th and final runner of the team. I ran at 7:00pm, 3:00am, and ran through the finish line with my team at 2:00pm.
This is most of our team at the finish line. It took us just over 27 hours total to run from Park City to Logan. We finished 142 out of 545 teams, or 31 of the 210 in the open co-ed class. Not bad! And more importantly, we had a fabulous time doing it.
Me with my kids.
Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? This one has a white belly, so the stripes are probably black, but who knows.
I thought these giraffes were awesome. Did you know that giraffes are six feet tall when they're born and they grow an inch a day!?
You gotta love these lion head drinking fountains. At first, Adelyn was a little unsure about putting her head into a lion's mouth. But after I assured her it was fake, she put her head, hands and arms in without another thought.
I love the elephants! What funny looking animals!
This is a really neat shot from the bird show. A bald eagle and the American flag--a nice tribute to our great country. The bird show was amazing!
Ryan is getting great at his camera skills. I think this one looks like a post card. What a beautiful rooster!
Me with Preston in the reptile house. He slept nearly the whole time we were at the zoo.
It is hard to tell, but there really is glass separating us from this leopard. And it's a good thing because he seemed really agitated while we were looking at him. They did a little cat show where they fed him bits of meat and showed us how they have trained him to stand on his hind legs and follow a play ball and other stuff. It was neat!
Preston also loves music, singing and dancing, and he's a real groover. He also happens to be hopelessly mischievous and loves to do things just because he knows he's being naughty. He quietly gets into everything within reach and can make a bigger mess in less time than any baby I know. And he has the most curious little hands! He grabs everything within arms reach. He also loves to tease, and he laughs so hard when I pretend to eat his hands or feet, but he just can't resist putting them in my mouth over and over.
This is a pretty good depiction of how Adelyn feels about camping. She was probably the happiest she has ever been. She loves being outside, playing in the dirt, sleeping in a sleeping bag, playing with cousins, and enjoying the fresh air.
Adelyn has two girl cousins her same age, but she rarely gets to see them because they live in Georgia and Arizona. But they had the greatest time playing and getting to know each other better. They put on a great show playing with Adelyn's instrument set and marching around like they were in a band. It was so cute to watch.
This was the last picture we took with our old camera. Somewhere between loading two screaming kids into a paddle boat, our camera slipped out of my pocket (or perhaps it was kicked out by a squirming baby) into the lake. After searching for 45 minutes, my brother Jay, brother-in-law Jake, and nephew Daniel somehow managed to find it at the bottom of the lake and fish it out with a pole and net. It was quite amazing to watch actually. We saved the memory card, but unfortunately the camera got a little too wet and is now nothing more than an expensive piece of metal. I was sad that we have no pictures of us doing the challenge course. I finally got to do the zip-line and Adelyn wanted to do it so bad. She climbed half-way up and lost her grip, but she wasn't scared at all and was mad that she didn't get another chance. Fortunately, there's always next year.
Happy 25th Julia!
und.
Romantic: Although he probably prefers action movies, he is always willing to snuggle up and watch a good chic-flick with me. He loves plays and operas, and was on the ballroom dance team at UVSC for a year. He always writes me nice notes and makes my day by doing the little things.
Father: He loves nothing more than making our children laugh. He is a professional bed-time story teller and silly-song-singer. He loves our kids so much and always finds ways to have quality time with each of them to give me a good break. Adelyn is a total daddy’s girl. He teaches her how to cook, play soccer, draw cartoon characters, and wrestle. He's a much funner parent than I am; I often find myself telling both Adelyn and Ryan to be reverent in church.
Teacher: I never imagined being as proud of my husband’s profession as I am. Everywhere I go, I meet people who know Mr. Rocque, the French teacher at Lakeridge Junior High. He is well-loved by all of his students and their parents. He just absolutely loves his job! He teaches his students that learning can be fun, cultural awareness is important, and your teacher can also be your friend.
Student: He loves learning and is always teaching me new things. He speaks three languages fluently and can speak bits of five or six others. We always joke that he writes better in French than in English. He reads a lot and keeps up with world events and politics, and somehow gets almost perfect grades in all of his university classes. He has finished 19 years of school and plans to complete at least five more with his PhD. He is also one of the most efficient and focused people I’ve ever known.
Mr. Fix-it: He LOVES to assemble things. The second we get home with something that needs to be assembled, he is reading the instructions and putting it together. He has learned how to install flooring, change out light fixtures, and install all kinds of appliances. A few years ago, he drew up blue prints and constructed a full-size computer desk just from looking at a picture he found in a magazine. He also changes the oil on our cars and can even replace the brakes.
Chef and Food Connoisseur: I prefer his cooking to anyone else’s, including most restaurants. He makes cooking into an art and rarely follows a recipe. He loves cooking every kind of food and is always up for a new challenge. He once made a lasagne that had about 30 ingredients (seven different kinds of meat alone) and two pages of instructions! Food Network is by far his favorite TV station.
Tourist: He is a world traveler and is always itching to go somewhere new. He loves learning about different cultures, trying new food, seeing old buildings and historical sites, and learning about the people.
Missionary: He was an extremely devoted and obedient missionary. He popped out of bed every morning and went straight to work. Using his love for languages and study of culture, he became immersed in the people of
Priesthood Holder: He has always been a worthy and valiant priesthood holder. He loves the gospel and is a great scriptorian and teacher. He has always made temple attendance a priority and is always available to give a blessing to our family. He makes sure that we say our prayers, read our scriptures, and do FHE every week, and he presides over our home in a loving and patient way.
Musician: He was the French horn first chair in the American Fork band in high school. He also taught himself how to play the piano and can play most of the hymns and other great classics. He also has a really good voice. One of my first memories of him (before we even met) was of him singing a French aria for our single’s ward talent show. He has perfect pitch, though he often forgets the words.
I love you so much, Ryan. Happy Birthday!!
