Top of Utah Half Marathon and weekend fun!

This past weekend Spencer and I decided we were going to run the Top of Utah Half Marathon in Logan. I was wanting to do one more race before it got cold and Spenc joined me... its always better to at least start with a friend. He had not ran since he competed in the Spudman triathlon like a month ago but he didn't think it would matter much. I on the other hand had to really pick up the running in the last month. The most I had ran was 9 miles in quite a long time so I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but thought it would be okay!

Drew and I left on Friday to go to Ogden and pick my Dad up he had to have his knee scoped so we stayed with him until my mom got home. He is doing pretty well and should be able to go to work on Tuesday. The bad news is he cannot run anymore, which is a bummer for someone who has always enjoyed running and done it a lot! We are glad he was able to do the marathon with us last October although maybe that is what did his knee in. Now he is getting into biking so maybe we can do relay triathlons now.

Anyway after my mom got home Drew and I headed to Logan, Dean left just ahead of us from Heber to meet Robb and Spencer in Brigham to golf. Drew and I went to Melly's where we had dinner and Drew played with Olivia and I got to talk to Carlie for awhile, which was fun since we don't get to see them very often. Drew and Livi were both a little tired but I think still took quite a liking to each other.

Spencer finishing with his glasses, he is such a nerd, they are not even real he just wanted to wear them. He wore them the entire race...

That is quite an action shot.... nice work melly

Spencer and I had to leave at 5:30 to go to Providence and pick up our packets for the race then get on a bus that took us up to the start which was somewhere in Blacksmith Fork Canyon I believe (I didn't know where I was the entire race). It seemed like a very long way on the bus and it was freezing up there, they said it was 48 when we started at 7:00. Spenc ditched his warm clothes but I kept a long sleeve shirt. We got in the pack of people and I said see you at the end. The first 7 miles are pretty much all down hill so that part was great. Come mile 9 or 10 I was getting tired but I by then it had warmed up and it was a flat road so I just took my time. I was really tired come mile 12 but there is only one more to go and it went downhill just enough to make the end enjoyable! Spencer finished in 1:46 and I came in at 1:51. I look a little too excited in my photo but I was surprised at the time. I thought it would take me longer then that, but I think all the downhill helped. It was a good time I was glad I did it and I was glad when I was done. Drew, Dean, and Melly were there to cheer us on. After we all took a little rest then went to A&W. Dean had to leave to go to his baseball game and Spenc had to rest up so he could work at 5 so Mel and I and Drew did a little shopping watched a some Friends on DVD and relaxed. After stopping by my parents we didn't get home till 10:00 it was a long weekend but a lot of fun! Thanks to Melly and Spenc for letting us stay at their place and for cooking me dinner on Friday (melly cooked).

Drew wearing Spencer's funny glasses

The fruits of our labors

Our yard has been our summer project but like all "projects" it still has a long way to go. However, we did decide to do a garden. We had a spot in our yard that was just weeds thanks to the people who lived here first. So Dean and I spent an entire Saturday at the end of May getting it ready to plant clearing tons of weeds and hauling A LOT of top soil. We didn't really know what to do next so my Dad came up one Friday and helped us plant: Tomatoes, (which he started for us in his green house) peppers, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow zucchini, (which we thought was yellow squash... apparently its different) and beans. He told us to water every other day or when needed, like we know when that was. We have decided along with our other yard projects that we have somewhat of a brown thumb instead of green. But little by little things started popping up, even though sometimes we wouldn't water for days due to our forgetfulness, but then I made up for it one night when I watered for 12 hours oops! Two weeks ago I went out to do some weeding that was way over due and we had a few red cherry tomatoes and a few beans showing up. I was shocked, it had actually worked we grew something. The next Friday I decided to weed a little more to stay on top of it and I picked the tomatoes and beans shown above, I couldn't believe all those beans! Dean didn't believe me that they were from our little garden. Today I decided to take another look and picked probably double the beans and tomatoes and I got last week. Now we are not sure what to do with them all but we are quite proud of ourselves for producing anything! Hopefully we will get a least a little bit of everything else. I better go snap those beans....

County Fair

We went to the county fair last week, which tends to bring out some of Heber's finest :- but we had a good time anyway. They have a dutch oven cook off, then the carnival of course then they show an outdoor movie. We went with our friends the Reed's who took us last year for our first time so I think it is a tradition now. Drew stayed awake till 11:30 watching Night at the Museum.

Brenden and Drew on the car ride

Camping at the Ranch

Dean has every other Friday off now so we decided to go out to their ranch and stay overnight in our tent. We did hot dogs and smors over the fire and chicken, potatoes, and carrots in our dutchoven. We took Drew for a ride on a horse which he loved and kept clicking and bouncing up and down like the horse. He also learned what a sheep says because they were so loud in the morning he finally stood up and yelled baah back at them. We also went fishing again because Dean loves to fish but we are yet to catch anything.

Drew and Jenn on Pebbles


Drew loves the kitties he gets right in their faces and stares at them

This Deer wasn't scared of us at all she liked to hang out a little too close to our tent.

Drew on Grandpa's tractor... I think he likes those better then anything else at the ranch

Drew trying to fish with Dean. He is not happy to just sit there he likes to pull the rod out of the water and then back in and then out and back in... you get my point... making it hard to actually catch something.

Family photo after a cold night in the tent

Eating a healthy breakfast.... a donut

The Bee's Game

We went to the Bee's game at the end July for Kenzee's birthday. Drew loves to play ball and play with his cousins so he had a great time!

4th of July

I am a little behind on posting our summer events, so here are a few pictures from the 4th of July. We went out to Dean's families ranch and went fishing and had a BBQ.


That is Drew with his cousin Jesse... Drew is his mini me.