The Radio City Rockettes

Last night Faith and I had a girls night out with the Hart girls and went and saw the Rockettes.   It was such a great show and so entertaining and great to set off the Christmas season.  Faith loved it and so did I.  I highly recommend it!

Christmas at the Riverwoods

Riverwoods is really stepping up their game lately and it's been a lot of fun.  New restaurants, stores, and it seems like a there's a party every weekend.  Last week we went to the "Lighting Riverwoods" Christmas party and the kiddos had a blast.  We saw Santa, listenend to music, wrote Santa a postcard, got our faces painted, had hot cider, admired all the decor and of course checked out the new super cool 3BYoga;)  It's nice that our close mall is seeming to come alive again:)

Just because...

She loves this hand-me-down jumper from my sister.  This will entertain her for a long time.

More Hand-me-downs from Amy

And she never smiles for the camera.  She's all smiles and then when the camera comes out she's so stoic.  Except for this one I tricked her and got a partial smile.

Hannah's Blessing

On Nov. 7th Ben blessed our tiny baby girl and it was such a great day filled with family, friends and the spirit!  Man, I'm thankful for the priesthood and a husband that honors it so well.  It is such a blessing in our home.   It was a beautiful blessing and she has the potential for a lot of greatness in her life to come.

Hannah is so sweet and fun these days.  When ever she makes eye contact she lights up and squeals and I swear there is nothing better in this world.

The Hoopes

The Gallands.  Notice Wyatt Hannah and Papa's hand.  He cracks me up.

And our not so little family.

We also had the joy of singing Happy 97th to Ren--the most amazing man I know.  I don't look up to any man more.

And the blessing even brought an ABQ cousin to our house.  Are these two cute or what?

Halloween 2010

This Halloween was a bit of a mess.  We had some stomach flu mixed in with a motorcycle accident and some broken bones and then a little down pour on the side.  It's a  miracle that we even made it out Trick-or-treating.  But we did.  It ended up being me with about 10 kids in the trunk of my car and we all got drenched.  Ben stayed home and faithfully handed out candy despite all his broken parts.  It was such a crazy day that I didn't even get a picture of all the kids dressed up together.  I at least got video of most of them at their school programs.  Hopefully next year will go a little better.

Some Hooter cupcakes.

I love this picture because Faith has such a crush on Lucas and you can see it in this picture even though it's super blurry.

And I forgot to add these pictures to the fall fun.  It was such a nice, warm fall.  I loved all the time we got to spend outdoors.

Fall Fun

We did do some fun Fall things.  For one we went to Cornbelly's with the Harts.  It was crazy to say the least, but at least it was warm, the kids had a ball, and no one was lost for too long in the process.

   

Jesse, Faith, Wyatt, Joslyn, Emma

These two love each other and don't see enough of each other.

I think "Intense" is Wyatt described in one word.

Everyone loved her fall outfit.  Thanks Erica

Wyatt kept asking me to take his picture.

Snow Canyon Half Marathon

On November 6th me and Lisa ran the Snow Canyon Half Marathon.  I signed up for it when I was about 3 month pregnant so I could have some motivation to get back in shape after Hannah.  The good news is I did it and I ran fast!--for me at least.  I also got a PR. 1:52 was my official time.  Which was 4  minutes faster then my other half.  So I was very excited about that.  The bad news is I'm still not back in shape.  I take that back  I feel strong and good, but I've still got about 10lbs. to loose.  It's getting tougher the older I get.

At about mile 10

At the finish line with Lisa--my 41 year-old SIL that spanked me.

Proof that I ran a half 3 months after giving birth.

The support.  Ben was planning on running but broke his arm and a couple ribs a week before on a motorcycle, and Ben's parents came all the way from California:)

Me and Nana.  She was the hospitable one that flew us down, let us stay in her house, and carted us all around for two days.  Truth is she really should have been running it with me.

It was such a beautiful fun race.  The prettiest race I have ever done by far.  If you ever have a chance to at least drive through Snow Canyon you must.  Running down it isn't bad either:)

St. George Marathon

Back in October Ben ran the St. George Marathon.  I have to be honest, back when he signed up in April, I didn't think it was really going to happen.  But train he did--in between all his bike rides--and he did such a good job!  I was so impressed that he muscled through it because running is definitely not his favorite thing.  But this is such an accomplishment!  Way to go babe!

Although spectating with 4 tiny kids was no walk in the park either.  It was like 98 degrees and no one was happy chasing him around.  I don't think I could have done it without the help of my sister-in-law.  Thanks Emily!  Next time we'll just wait under a shady tree after the finish line:)

Stewart Falls

Clear back in mid September Ben and I took a trail run to Stewart Falls.  The remarkable thing is that this was my first time EVER!  I know crazy I've lived in it's shadow my entire life and never made the short trek.  It was a really hard run for me back then, but it was a lot of fun.  The falls were beautiful and so were the first changing leaves.  It was such a fun date evening, and worth the trek again.

Park City Point to Point

Last minute Ben decided to race the Point to Point in Park City.  They say it's the hardest race in Utah and those that have done both say it's a lot harder than Leadville.  Ben road hard all summer, but didn't anticipate doing this race and I thought he was crazy for doing this and a marathon all in the same month.  Anyways it's 80 miles and 100% single track--Gnarly steep single track.  

Long story short--He did awesome.  He was ahead of his expected time.  He was happy and in high spirits the whole time--there were a lot of upset athletes coming into the pits.  He was feeling good and fast and then at mile 73 his rear de-railer broke.  So he managed his way down to the finish, cutting 7ish miles off, first by making his bike a single speed, then when that broke he strider biked it through the finish:(  So unfortunate, but thats how it goes sometimes when your bike breaks.

I was incredibly impressed none-the-less and had fun chasing him around and being his pit crew.  Maybe next year...

Vegas Baby!

The view out our room

For our birthdays we took an impromptu trip to Vegas.  Ben had to go for work so I decided to tag along and we decided to stay the night.  I am not a big Vegas fan, but I had so much fun!  It was seriously one of the most fun trips we have ever done together.  Why?

• He dropped me off at the Towne Center to shop all by myself while he went to work.  I spent 2 hrs. in H & M.  I tried everything on, I went into the dressing room 4 different times, I browsed all the accessories.  It was great!  All the other times I've been there I'm with my kids, Ben, and 10 other people who don't want to be there and it's always over Thanksgiving.  So this was great and I  found a bunch of fun things.
• We stayed at the Vdara.  A non gaming/smoking hotel that was the cheapest on the strip and so nice!  It had a kitchen, separate family room two big flat screens.  No drapes, just roll-up shades and the view was amazing.  Almost floor to ceiling windows and the windows were probably 35ft. across.  The view wasn't bad being on the 50 something floor either.  The hotel smelled good, it was light and bright without all the Vegas nastiness and I loved it.
• We got a couples massage--which I have never done--and the spa was beautiful.
• We laid out at the pool.
• We saw O and it was unbelievable!  So so so cool!  I was so amazed.  These people blow Olympic gymnasts out of the water!  I seriously shook my head in unbelief the whole show.  It's well worth going to see.  I can't wait to go see another Cirque show.
• We sat next to these two South African guys at dinner and they were so interesting and it was so fun to hear their stories.  I love Africa and hearing all about it.  And just the people watching in general in Vegas is fascinating.
• The restaurant in hour Hotel was amazing.  We just ate breakfast there, but it was the best breakfast I've ever had.  Sensi--I think it was called.  I got eggs benedict and Ben got the french toast.  I think the server thought we were joking when we said we wanted seconds!
• And last we went to Interbike, which was Ben's dream and I was happy to put on a smiling face.  Anything that has to do with anything bike was there.  So it was fun to see all the latest and greatest.

All in all it was a fantastic two days, and I'd be excited to go again.

Family Pictures

So much to post and so little time, so I am going to buzz through these...

I've never splurged on getting professional pictures done, but since Hannah we've done it twice!  And I think it's well worth it.  I figure we've got the whole family here so why not.  I got newborn and kid shots with peekaboo photos and my cute friend and fellow blogger Allegra did some with Ben and I too.  There are too many to post them all, so if you're interested just check out my facebook albums.  So here's just a couple favorites.

I love this because it shows how much these two adore each other.

And that face is just too yummy

Now I just need some prints in my house!

Motorcycle man

This is what Wyatt looked like for about 6 hours today. Even ate an apple and a cookie with it on.

Yikes!

Jesse had to get his two front teeth pulled because as you can see his adult teeth were well on their way.

On a side note he's turning into a pretty smart little cookie. Just now he asked, "Why does this coin have two thousand two on it?". I told him that's because that's the year it was made. His reply, "Wow, this coin is eight years old!"

Not bad for a Kindergartner eh?