Disneyland and California Adventure 2007

A few weeks before Christmas we decided to load up the kids and hit Disneyland and check out the great holiday festivities. We had such a great time and the kids absolutely loved it. The crowds were not bad so we were able to hit every ride with minimal wait time. The girls of course love California Screamin', Cooper toloerates the rollercoasters, and Boston could ride on Ariel's merry-go-round all day long. We also discovered the Cheesecake Factory that is just down the street that was a hit. We had so much fun and can't wait to go again-Cooper says we're going for his "family birthday party" in February so anyone who wants to come, let us know!

Christmas break at Hardware Ranch

While visiting Mom and Dad in Logan we spent some time with horses Molly and Nikki on a wagon ride to see wild ELK at the Hardware Ranch south of Logan, UT. Boston was so excited and keep pointing and calling to the ElK "GUS" from his latest favorite movie. This is a picture of our family and cousins Baylee and Brielle.

Final Marathon?

Well friends and family, looks like another marathon has come and gone and I made it through without any major catastrophe's. I saw Cherry Lynn(Kenny's Mom who has walked the marathon for several years) across the street last night and hollered "I made it and still have all 10 toe nails in tact." The weather for the run was nice and actually quite chili at the start line. It worked out just fine though as I was quite bundled up during the first portion of the race. Kari and I stayed together for about 16 miles of the race and finally got our picture taken together after all these years. For some reason during the past 4 years we haven't been together to get a picture taken. We lost Leslie at the start line and couldn't find her during the whole race. I was so mad when I found out that we finished the marathon just one minute a part and didn't even get to enjoy it together.

My final time was 4:13 which ranks 2nd among my marathon finishes. I have been real consistent around that mark during my four marathons with the one exception when Scott ran with me in 04. I spent some time encouraging him along and we finished together at around the 4:30 mark. My sister-in-law Emily ran as well and did a great job.

I am always so thankful for the ability to exercise and how it improves my daily life. I always enjoy seeing my cute little children at the end of the race with smiles and marathon tattoos on their face. I sure love them and all of the support they provide to me.

Fall is in the air

I was talking to my good friend Rachel Larkin last night at Cooper and Jace's soccer practice and she was bugging me about an update so here goes.

For everyone who lives in St. George, Mesquite or a desert climate as ours, fall is a welcome season especially after the summer heat. The weather is so beautiful in St. George and just in time to cool down for marathon weekend. I am excited to run this year but I'm truly considering it being my last. The idea of running half marathons is perfect for me.

Delaney was baptized over the weekend and it was such a wonderful thing. I am so thankful for opportunities like this as a family to see our children making good decisions in their lives. We took her to the temple to get her baptism pictures taken and I told Scott that the camera really loves that girl. She is so photogetic and looked so pretty in her white dress.

It's soccer season for Delaney and Cooper. We have so much fun watching their games. Cooper and his buddies are so funny when they score a goal. Last week Luke Orchard scored a few goals and each time he did he ran by the sideline with his hands out just like they do in the pro's. We had a great time and shared some good laughs.

McKenzie is learning to play the entertainer on the piano. It's such a cute little song and a great alarm clock for the whole family at 7:15 AM. She is certainly having fun with it.

Wish me luck this weekend with the marathon. I would really like to break the 4:00 hour mark if possible. Hopefully I can post my results after I'm finished or if I'm incapacitated Scott can do it for me.

Love to everyone!

Vest Kids

Scott's mom just e-mailed us some fun pictures from our get together this weekend. We took all of the grandkids to Ancestor Square(Pizza Factory) and had pictures taken. Last night we spend some time tearing up the carpet in our family room. Before we did it Scott wished Delaney Happy 8th Birthday with spray paint on our carpet. She thought it was pretty cool when she came home from Soccer practice. It's been fun doing some of these remodeling projects on the side. Maybe we'll be ready to build a house together again someday without it drastically effecting our relationship. Gotta run!

Vest Family Reunion

We had an excellent weekend and even extended weekend with friends and family. Scott's family was in town for the annual Vest Family Reunion which has been held here in the St. George area for the past two years. Last year we went to the Dixie State College cabin because Wade was still working for Dixie at the time. Since Wade took a new job with Edward Jones the perks went away so we improvised and got rooms through Shane Wittwer at the Abbey Inn.

We planned some fun activities including Cinderella at Tuachan, water balloon shooting, pedicures for the girls, swimming and some crazy woofle ball in the backyard. Out of all the activities we engaged in it seemed like swimming at the pool ranked highest on the list. We sure had a great weekend and we always enjoy spending fun times with the family.

We are preparing for Delaney's big 8th birthday on Thursday, September 20th and are so excited for her to be baptized and confirmed. Delaney is such a fun girl to have in our family and she always gives us lots to laugh about. She and McKenzie are really into their piano lessons right now and practice almost every morning. It's fun to watch the girls learn new piano pieces especially when we recognize the songs.

Kent and Emily Cook and their girls were just in town visiting us before they head off to Switzerland. Kent took a promotion with HILTI to work in their Leadership Training division. We told them we would love to get over and see them hopefully next summer or fall. Scott and Kent played some golf yesterday and Emily, the girls and I hung out, talked, and shopped a bit.

Fall is here in St. George and it feels beautiful. It's a little bit crisp in the mornings on our runs but it feels really good. We're just over two weeks away from the marathon so the countdown has begun. I'm happy that we're finished with the long runs and tapering down to be prepared.

Peace, love and happiness!

California Screaming

We returned home from California later this afternoon and had such a great time. First of all, it was great to see our little ones for sure and it was also great to know they were getting taken such good care of by Wader and Sara. When we talked to them on Saturday they told us that Boston had taken quite a liking to the game of football and had been running around the house all day in Cooper's Packers helmet saying football, football, football.

Our anniversary trip started off with a Friday night baseball game Angels vs. Indians. We scalped the tickets from someone as we were entering the parking lot. We sat behind the Angels dugout for the 1st five innings and then sat down the right field line after that. The stadium was pretty full but there were still some seats around. The Angels won in the 10th inning 3-2 and it was a fun game.

The next day we woke up early and headed for Newport Beach. Scott and I went for a jog along the beach and ran from Balboa to 21st street and back. After we finished our jog we went into Sharkeez for the famous fish tacos. They were so yummy and it was fun just to hang out and relax after our run. By the way, I was so happy I didn't have to do my long run on Saturday this week. The little 5 miler we did was plenty for me and it was a pleasant run with beautiful weather.

After Sharkeez we went back to the hotel to get ready for the UCLA vs. BYU football game. We left 2 hours before the game to make sure we'd get there in time as we were driving from OC to Pasadena. There was an accident which stalled us for about 45 minutes so we arrived at the game 7 minutes into the 1st quarter. It was a great game though. Vasu Mudliar got us tickets along with half of St. George. It was really fun sitting in the same section as many of our friends from St. George. BYU really played well and we thought they played good enough to win but lost in the end.

It was off to Olive Garden after the game and we tried to find an Olive Garden close to Disneyland. We had a yummy dinner and tried a fun new dessert pumpkin cheesecake. It was good but I still think the #1 dessert is Black Tie Moussecake. To cap off the night we went to Disneyland and hit a few rides. We got there just in time to see the fireworks and have some fun before we headed back to the hotel.

It was such a fun trip and one of the best parts of our trips always is the wonderful conversations we have to and from our destinations. It sure makes the trip go by a lot faster when you have such good things to talk about and a good partner to share them with. We look forward to many more anniversaries and are hoping to get back to So. Cal in early November on a family trip.

We have a fun filled week planned including a Vest Family reunion here in St. George. Better sign off for now.

12 Years WOW!

Tomorrow will mark the 12th year anniversary for my lover and I. What a great time it's been and I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have spent the time with oh wait, maybe A Rod but the Yankees aren't playing that well right now anyway. Speaking of baseball, we're trying to get out of town and catch the Angels vs Indians game in Anaheim. Scott decided to plan our anniversary in So Cal this weekend to catch some MLB and college football action. We are heading to the Rose Bowl tomorrow to watch my Cougs go at it again the Bruins. We're excited to go. I'm kind of more excited for the fish tacos at Sharkies in Newport. My friend Richelle told me about them a couple of months ago when we were there with Scott's baseball team and they are worth the wait.

It's been a fun week. I must say however that I bonked on my long run(20 miles) last week. Scott dropped Kari, Leslie and I off just before the Veyo hill last week and all of a sudden a storm blew in. We were running in the Thunder and Lighting and of course tons of rain followed. I'm not sure it was the weather conditions or what but it wasn't a real fun run. I came home and asked Scott if he would still "love me" if I didn't run the marathon. I'm not sure how crazy I am about making it into the 10 year club. I'd be happy to just run half marathons really.

The kids are having a blast at East Elementary. McKenzie, Delaney, and Cooper all had their East Broncos shirts on before they went to school today and they all were sporting great school spirit. They are hanging out with their other parents this weekend Wader and Sara. Last night Sara and Wade taught little Boston how to crouch down and burst off the line and make a football tackle. He really cracks us up with his energy and spunk. The kids sure love their uncles and aunts and are very excited for our upcoming Vest reunion in St. George next week.

Hopefully I can write a recap of our wonderful 12th anniversary. We've had some good ones and this will be another one for our history books.

Running

By the way, I love to run. I do it more for the social aspect of being able to chat with friends while we get some good exercise. This year I will run my 4th marathon. Who would have thought I would turn into a marathon runner. Anyway, it should be fun and I just wanted to publicly acknowledge my husband(Scott) for supporting me and being my knight in shining armor along the way. You are the best Scott, I love you! May we all find a passion in our life and pursue it!

Sunny St. George

I'm new at this so here goes. I love reading everyone else's blogs and have made it a tradition to read them every Sunday and Monday night. I decided to start a blog to hopefully keep in touch with many of you throughout the country. We live in St. George, Utah and really love it. We have had a wonderful summer filled with tons of travel throughout the Western States. We are a family of six now which at times is real hard to believe considering Scott and I feel like we fell in love in the cafeteria at UVSC just a short while ago. Funny how life has a way of getting way crazy and fast paced. Our family consists of Scott and I, McKenzie (10), Delaney (7), Cooper (5) and Boston (1). Wow, it's so fun being their mom and learning from each one of them everyday! We are just getting back into the groove of a schedule with school starting last week.