Chicago Trip Part I - Legoland

I've been wanting to blog about our AMAZING trip to Chicago for weeks, but I've been waiting to get pictures from my Dad. My sisters family was there visiting, so he was a little busy the past couple of weeks. I got them the other day, but now I have to sort through 800+ pictures! There were so many things I loved about Chicago, so I decided to break them up into multiple posts. It will probably take me until Christmas to finish!

The boys were so excited to fly on a big plane to go see Gma and Gpa!

We arrived in Chicago VERY late at night due to delayed flights from all of the tornados going on in the Midwest. My Dad has a video of the boys running down the terminal at the airport that I want to post, but I can't get it to work. Hopefully I will be able to post it later! Day one of our trip included packing up the rental car and heading out to Nauvoo. About a 5 hour drive from Chicago. But first we made a stop in the suburbs to meet one of my Mom's dear friends for lunch. After lunch we hit up Legoland Discovery! We thought it might be a good way to let the boys run around before being stuck in the car for hours. We had a pretty good time.

Entrance

Einstein greeted you just inside the doors. His eyes moved...it was a little freaky

The first part of the museum included a Lego model of Chicago. It was pretty impressive!

This isn't even all of it. It continued around the corner.

The famous Navy Pier

Then you entered the Jungle...

Sister and Elder Beck with Indiana Jones!

They had big Legos...

and small Legos...

{This is one of my favorite pics of the whole trip!}

they even had a ride...

Loved the bathroom sign!

Next up...Nauvoo

T-ball 2011

I am trying to get caught up on blogging, but it hasn't been very easy. I've about had it with Blogger and how long it takes to upload pictures/videos. I really want to blog about our trip to Chicago too, so let's hope it doesn't take the rest of the year!

The boys played Spring T-ball this year and lucky for us they were able to play on the same team. Beckett barely made the cut off to play and Wesley barely missed the cut off to play in the older age group. It was so fun to watch them play together! Wesley has improved over the last year and would usually make a great hit off of the first pitch every time. Beckett was the littlest (and cutest) one on the team. He's our little lefty and surprised us with how well he hit. He would usually get a hit off the coach and would rarely need to hit it off the tee. We had a fun coach and team this year and I'm grateful the boys enjoyed playing as much as we did watching.

Here are some pictures from the season. I totally slacked and only brought my camera once. Most of the pictures I did take were with my phone, so the quality stinks.

Awesome action shot of Wes. I really wish we had a better camera!

Beckett has the cutest little run

Here is the whole Black team at Closing Ceremonies with their trophies

Classic Beckett face!

I'm hoping the videos below show up. They are being funky. The one time I brought our camera, I tried videoing the boys hitting. Well come to find out, our camera doesn't like to video anymore and it turns out completely blurry. I had taken quite a few videos with my phone, but unfortunately my phone crashed mid-season and I lost all of my videos. I made sure to at least video them one last time and got great videos of both of them. Then Beckett decided to erase the only good one I had of him hitting :(. The two videos below are the best I could find. The blurry sideways one was taken on our crappy camera.

I truly hope the boys continue to love playing sports and staying active!

Salt Lake Half Marathon '11

{ The group from my ward that ran the race}

A couple of weeks ago I ran in the Salt Lake Half Marathon. I wasn't planning on running any half marathons this year, but two weeks before the race I decided to sign up. My two friends that I run with during the week had been planning on running the race for months. I decided even though I wasn't planning on it, I would continue to run the miles they were running. When we started hitting 10-11 miles on our longer runs, I decided what the heck! I might as well run it too. Signing up two weeks before race day was the perfect way to go! No stress or nervousness during any of my training runs, and by the time I signed up it was already time to start tapering. It was fabulous!

{Jessica, Me, and Cozette at the starting line}

I was all nerves once race day came! I was having knee and ankle pain earlier in the week and it totally freaked me out! So, I said a lot of prayers and hoped for the best! I normally don't set too many goals for races, but this time was a little different. I knew that I had increased in speed over the year, so I was really hoping to beat my best time of 2:21:54. Deep down I was really hoping to finish in under 2:10. I didn't really think that I could finish that quickly but decided it was worth a shot! When the gun went off at the starting line, the adrenaline was insane! There were so many people and it was difficult to find our normal pace. We were weaving in and out of people for the first few miles, but finally found a comfortable stride around mile 5. I decided to look at where we were pace wise and just before mile 5 our average was 8:45. I couldn't believe it! We had never ran that fast before. We decided to slow it down a little bit. I continued to feel good up until mile 8. That's when I started feeing sluggish, so around mile 8 1/2 we took a break and had our energy gu's. Shortly after starting back up again, I stepped in a crack and rolled my ankle. Luckily, I've had this happen MANY times and was able to keep going.

We hit Liberty Park and I was really starting to doubt myself. I always hit a wall between miles 10 and 11 and was nervous it was going to happen again. Luckily, they had cameras taking pictures as you were leaving the park, so naturally you try to look all gung ho and happy. Right after that happened, my energy gu kicked in and I felt a little bit of energy come back. I was mentally trying to prepare for the State Street stretch. Everyone had warned me that it was miserable! There is a short hill at the end that isn't fun to run after you've already ran 12 miles. Once we turned on State, all I could think about was the hill. We stopped at a water station {around mile 11.5} for a quick drink. I really felt that I needed to slow down if I was going to make it up the hill. I told Jessica and Cozette to continue on if they felt they could go faster than me. I fell behind a little bit and was a little disappointed in myself, but knew I could finish strong. I ran up that hill like I owned it! Once I turned on South Temple, I could see the Gateway where the race ended. I finished the last of my water and took off! It was so fun to see the crowds of people get thicker as you got closer to the finish line. As I rounded the corner into the Gateway, I began seeing friends there cheering me on. Shortly after was Rob and the boys, then my sisters and their families. I always get so emotional at the end and they gave me the boost I needed to finish strong! I have the best family and friends in the world!

{Waving to Rob and the boys in passing}

I crossed the finish line and hit stop on my timer. It read 2:03:03! {My actual time ended up being 2:02:34} I couldn't believe it! That is the fastest pace I have ever maintained for that many miles. My body and my training didn't let me down. I had such a runner's high!

{Our little family}

{My whole cheering squad}

{My first {and favorite} running partner Jess. Who is amazing and ran the race with only 2 weeks of training!}

I am so glad I decided to run the half. It was a great experience and one I hope to have again in the future. A special thanks to Rob! He is so supportive of my running. Always willing to help with the boys while I go out on my long runs. Not to mention, he puts up with my ornery self when I am beat and tired from running so many miles. I love you babe! You are my rock!

Later that afternoon we met up with my siblings and their families to celebrate the April birthdays. What a way to celebrate! We chowed down on some delicious grub at Cafe Rio! I was starving to say the least :)

Where have we been?

I told myself that when my parents left on their mission that I would be better about blogging. I haven't really kept up with that goal, but they've almost been gone for 6 months so maybe I can be better during the last half of their mission. We haven't really been up to anything exciting. The weather has been crummy 90% of the time and we are all dying for it to warm up permanently. Honestly, I think my boys and I might kill each other we can't get back outside soon. I guess I can't complain too much. We did have a few days last week where it reached almost 70 degrees and we spent both of those days OUTSIDE! I even got sunburned. It was heavenly! To top off the weekend, it snowed 8 inches on Sunday. Boo!

Beckett enjoying the warm weather in his shades

He was obsessed with them and had to wear them inside and out!

Beckett with his friend Garrett at the park

He would live on the swings if I would push him longer than 5 minutes

Wesley loved playing bball in the front yard. He is a natural and has some mad skills!

Last Thursday, after spending most of the afternoon at the park and playing outside we discovered a leak in our house. I first noticed it that morning. I was in Wesley's room putting away some clothes when I discovered a soaking wet spot in the middle of the floor. I asked the boys if either of them had spilled anything and they said no. I didn't really believe them, but grabbed a towel and tried to soak it up. As I was stepping on the towel, I noticed the carpet pad was making a squishing noise all around the spot. I called Rob and we tried to figure where the water was coming from. We didn't come to a conclusion so I told him he would have to investigate when he got home. When the boys and I came in later that afternoon, the boys went downstairs to play. A little while later they came upstairs and I noticed they were leaving little wet footprints on the tile. I asked Wesley why his feet were wet and he answered back "because the carpet is wet downstairs!" My thoughts went back to that morning and I rushed downstairs. To my disappointment, I found soaking wet carpet and water dripping from the ceiling and down the walls. There were bubbles in the paint and cracks down the wall. I wanted to scream! Where was the water coming from?!?!

I called Rob and he got a hold of a plumber in our ward. He showed up rather quickly and discovered the water was coming from the water line to our refrigerator. He was able to quickly fix it and we called our insurance company, but they were closed for the day. The next morning we got a hold of them and they sent out a disaster clean up company to take care of the damage. For four days we've had huge fans and dehumidifiers running. They came back yesterday and it looks like they are going to remove part of Wesley's sub floor, as well a big chunk of the ceiling in our basement and part of the wall. Luckily, no damage was done in the kitchen. It's been quite the adventure! The boys are both sleeping in Beckett's room while Wesley's room is torn apart. The demolition and repairs begin tomorrow...can't wait. Here are some pictures of the damage:

Wesley's wet floor

{They cut holes in the wall to make sure there wasn't any moisture still in them}

Walls in the family room downstairs

The ceiling in the family room

The one and only thing I really wanted to get out of this whole ordeal was new carpet downstairs. It isn't going to happen :(

West Jordan Fire Station

Wesley's Preschool went on a field trip to the fire station a couple of weeks ago and Beckett and I were lucky enough to tag along. We had so much fun and the kids were so cute! You would think with a group of 3 and 4 year olds you wouldn't be able to keep them quiet, but once we entered the fire station, they were silent! It was quite humorous. Firefighter Wesley {Yep! His name was Wesley and my Wesley thought that was so cool!} showed us around the station and then we ended the tour with the Ambulance and Firetrucks. The boys had a blast! Here are some pictures from the trip. Sorry they aren't the best quality, they were all taken with my phone and I'm too lazy to edit them in photoshop.