Sam is 5

I can't believe my little butter's is 5 years old! Sam is the sweetest most sensitive little guy I know and I am so grateful for that. He always wants to make sure that everyone is happy. If you compliment someone he makes sure he compliments everyone else so they don't feel left out. I love his random loves and hugs and his tender smiles. If Sam could be anything right now I'm sure he would tell you he'd be a Power Ranger with an Omnitrix watch (Ben 10 toy). He loves to work on his reading and counting. He is also a great little bike rider (just like his dad). He can't wait to start racing next month! He loves the color red and everything Utah (we brain washed him early). Sam is also a pretty good soccer player when he's not fighting pretend bad guys or flying like an airplane on the field. He loves his sister so much and I have to remind him every day that he can't wake her up from her nap to play.

This year Sam celebrated his birthday the whole month almost (he's taking after his Nana Jojo). This was the first year I gave him a party for just friends. It was small and he loved it. Water games, decorating their own cupcakes, and presents - and everyone was still happy at the end of the party - success! We also had our normal family swim party. He wanted a Ben 10 birthday which was a little bit of a challenge since I didn't even know what Ben 10 was, but I was able to produce a Humungousaur cake.

Filling their water guns for a water fight.

Decorating their own cupcakes to take home.

Yes - we got him a guinea pig. He named him Spike.

Berg figured out the candy thing pretty fast - so cute!

Jackpot! :)

The cake

Pictures of the Kids

So I decided the other day that I was going to try and take the kids pictures this year instead of paying to have them done. I still haven't decided if I'm going to have someone else take them. I think I was able to get a couple of ok ones, but I still don't know enough to get the exact look I want. Plus, I swear the kids always smile better and photograph easier when I'm not taking the picture. I can't believe Sam is already 5 and Ellie is almost 3 - it has gone by way too fast! I'll post pics from Sam's birthday later. :)

Sam Riding with No Training Wheels

At the end of July beginning of August Sam decided he wanted to ride his bike without the training wheels. He seriously just hopped on the bike and started riding. Here is a video from that night. First thing he said to Drew was "Dad now I can start racing with you!" - he is so dang cute! :)

Round Valley & Solitude Midweek Series

Here are some of my pics from two of Drew's last races. I swear I'm going to get caught up on my blogging one of these days. :)

Butte 100 Results

As a follow up to my previous post - they finally posted results for the 100 milers.

79 people started the day but only 33 finished!

Ty came in 18th place with a time of 12:42:20

Drew came in 19th place with a time of 12:42:24

Way to go guys!!!! :)

Butte 100

This last weekend was great. We went to Butte, Montana for a 100 mile mountain bike race for Drew. We drove up with our friends Gigi and Ty - it was a great little rode trip. Friday we rode the last part of the course that the boys were going to be riding the next day. We woke up Saturday morning at 4 am for a 6 am start time - way too early for me! Gigi and I were able to see the 100 milers start and then make it to Aid Station #1. There were so many mosquitos there it was ridiculous. The boys were already hurting when they got there (about 24 miles in) so I was a little nervous. After Aid Station #1 we made it back to see the 50 milers start. I was surprised with how many people had made the trip for the race. After they left Gigi and I decided to skip trying to find Aid Station 2 - 4 because we really had no idea how to get there. The race was pretty unorganized - especially from a supporter standpoint. They didn't get any kind of map or mileage break down and only received pretty confusing instructions about the course directions. They handed out directions to some of the Aid Stations for supporters but the directions were wrong and everyone was scrabbling to figure out where to go. Gigi and I were driving around all day - it seemed like in circles. By Aid Station #7 Drew was hurting pretty bad. I mentioned that the trail starts to go up right down the street and he gave me the look of death. They said it felt like they had been going up hill ALL DAY. They did amazing and I'm so proud of them and everyone else that raced. I can't even imagine what it would be like. I heard a lot of people say that it was the hardest race they have ever done. They still haven't posted the final results yet but I think Drew and Ty finished a little over 12 hours. Way to go guys - you are AMAZING!

Draper, Deer Valley, and Solitude Races

I decided to put all of my pictures together from these races into a short little slideshow. It has been so much easier to create the slideshows then to resize all of my pics - sorry if you don't like videos. I just realized as I was typing this that the Solitude race was part of the Mid-Week Series - oops! Drew finished in 2nd place in both the Draper and Deer Valley Races and I'm not sure what he placed at Solitude. We just had a wonderful weekend in Butte, Montana where Drew just raced in a 100 mile mountain bike race. He did AMAZING. I'll get some pictures posted soon.