Valley of Fire Half Marathon

My dad and I ran the Valley of Fire half marathon. We both finished, which was great... but at what cost?!? It was my hardest half marathon yet. The race lived up to its name, and by the end my quads were burning like fire! It was nothing but steep hills; never a flat spot upon which to let my weary legs run. But after all was said and done, I was shocked to find that I placed 1st in my age group of 20-29, and I'm 29! If I had been 30, I would have placed 5th in that age group. Those thirty-somethings apparently bring it.




Some assistants from my office were there, too: Cindy (cheering on her daughter Courtney, and myself of course!) and Sada (there with her daughter and husband to help cheer us on).


A recent picture of our little man, always trying to catch our eye so he can flash us a big smile!

Aviation Nation

We went out to Nellis Air Force Base for the annual Aviation Nation. It was amazing! We met up with my parents when we got there. Of course, Casen didn't seem to enjoy it so much, especially when the jets would come screaming overhead. And it wasn't just jets, there were buses too! We had to wait in security lines for about an hour and a half, but Bridger didn't mind so much because after the wait he got to ride to the base in a big bus. This very well may have been the highlight of his day.


On the tarmac with some of the jets and large carrier planes.


Bay brought Chester the monkey with us. She was "Student of the Week" at kindergarten, which we thought was quite impressive until we realized that her name was chosen randomly out of a jar. Being said Student, she got to take home Chester for a week and take him around everywhere. At school they focused on her that week: let her bring her favorite snack to share, let her bring in special guests (Katie, her brothers, and Grandma) who read her favorite story to the class, and got to have a question and answer session with her classmates.


We got to walk through this cargo plane. It's amazing how capacious it is! (Word of the day!)




Every time we drive by the strip on the I-15, the kids scream, "Look, a pyramid" and "I see the castle!" So we thought it was time to take them inside and show them what kind of pyramid and castle they were. After walking through the Excaliber, all Bay had to say was, "That was NOT pretty inside that castle." All Bridger noticed was the two cars in the Excaliber that you could win, and the one car in the Luxor. He kept saying, "Two cool cars in the castle, one cool car in the pyramid." (He STILL says that all the time. Now you will know what it means if you are around him and hear him saying it.) Unforunatley, they also got a dose of the smut that people hand out along the strip. Baylie was quite shocked when she looked down and saw some discarded cards on the ground which, of course, prompted a fun little talk. We won't be going back any time soon. . .

Snow Canyon Half Marathon

Last Saturday we ran the Snow Canyon half marathon! And the best part was that we didn't run alone! My dad and Katie's dad both ran it, as well as my Aunt Merri.

As far as half marathons go, it was actually pretty enjoyable. The course was beautiful, and it was mostly downhill. However, downhill doesn't necessarily mean easy, since we were way more sore the day after this half than we were after all of our flat training runs. And the course did get a little confusing when we got into some residential neighborhoods. Katie took a wrong turn at some point and left the course without knowing it, and then somehow found her way back without ever knowing she was lost! She's still not sure if she ran more or less than the full 13.1 miles.

I jogged with our camera, which I will probably never do again since I had to hold it in my hand the whole time.


We all finished! Next up: 6 Tunnels half marathon at Lake Mead!

Halloween Fun!

This year we had a great time dressing up for Nevada Day, I mean Halloween. Baylie was a monkey, Bridger a beaver, and Casen was a cow. Even Ryan and I dressed up as our favorite insurance mascots!


Havin' a good time at our ward's trunk or treat.

I was Flo and Ryan was a Geico caveman. My favorite part of dressing up was hearing people laugh as we walked by and say "Oh, look, it's the Progressive girl! I love Flo!" Apparently she's a popular spokeswoman.

Here's Bay going to school as a monkey. She was quite bipolar with the costume. One moment she was happy to be a monkey because she could give everyone such good hugs, the next minute she was sulking saying "everyone hates my costume." Oh, the highs and lows of Halloween.

Pumpkin carving! Baylie drew a picture on hers of how she wanted her pumpkin carved. . .

This is the result (on the left). How avant garde! Bridger went more traditional.

"All around the cobbler's bench the monkey chased the beaver. . . ."

U2

We managed to get our hands on some U2 tickets last minute and had a great time at their concert. Black Eyed Peas opened, which had us all jumpin' outta our seats. It was amazing to see the transition between bands, as BEP uses so many extra electronics for their beats and sounds. After BEP, they basically stripped the stage down to nothing but a couple guitars and a set of drums, and that's all U2 needed to rock the house. It was incredible.

Bridger's 3rd BDay

He turned three! There were times we wondered if he would ever make it to three, as crazy as he is, especially considering how he's been to the emergency room twice already. We had his party at "our" house (the McD's), and the Bybees came over.

Bridger has a couple phrases that he has coined. In fact, they've become so common around us that he even has friends who have adopted his terminology. One phrase is "Boo Guy." Somewhere during last Halloween time, he started calling all scary characters "Goo Guys," which soon morphed into "Boo Guys." Another phrase is "cool cars." There are no such things as cars. Only cool cars. Everything is a cool car. And that's all he wanted for his birthday--cool cars!


He was ecstatic over his cool cars. He also got a fake tool set, some hotwheels, and a hotwheel track (the kind you hook to your table... I loved those tracks as a kid). He was so excited, he just couldn't play with it all fast enough. We put him down that night just after 9pm, and somewhere around 10:30 we heard a noise in his room, noticed light coming from under his door, and found him out of his crib playing with... cool cars! He even woke up extra early the next day and was found playing with his toys before everyone else woke up.

No one was more excited about pin the tail on the donkey than Baylie. In fact, she was very sad at first, telling us with tears that she didn't get a donkey like this for HER birthday. All she got was a pinata. What? Since when is a donkey game cooler than a pinata?

Casen even gave it a whirl, and got the tail pretty close.


Bridger was SOOOO excited to use his tools to "fix daddy's car." So even though I was running late for work, I had to let him fix my car. He was wearing his new Sponge Bob jammies, which made him an extra-cute mechanic.

Unbelievably, somehow he improved my car's fuel efficiency and overall horsepower with a few basic movements with plastic tools. I was impressed.

A Fair in a Parking Lot?

There are times we really miss Cincinnati. Fall was great there, with beautiful orange and red leaves, apple picking, and lots of really cool pumpkin patches. Like the ones that actually grow their own pumpkins and sell them right there. The closest we could get was a pumpkin patch in the parking lot of a casino. Oh well, we did our best to pretend it was authentic and that there wasn't asphalt under our feet. The kids had a great time, and Grandma and Grandpa Bybee enjoyed it with us.


Our three cuties!


They had a few fun rides, but the rocking boat caught Baylie and Bridger's attention. They begged to go, and we thought they'd chicken out as soon as it started moving, but they both surprised us with how much they loved it. Of course, having Grandma Bybee go with them helped. I love how Bridger just seems to be staring off into space there while Baylie is clutching Grandma for dear life. Katie wanted a turn too, so Bay jumped right back on again.




They never got this thing spinning very fast, but they could still walk in a straight line afterwards.

Afternoon Kindergarten. . .

Is the Best!

What other grade can you hang around in your jammies and watch morning cartoons?

Pine Valley Getaway

After a stressful August, we headed up to Pine Valley over Labor Day weekend. What a way to relax! Kyle and Amy came down (they were in Utah for Amy's sister's wedding) and all the Bybee grandkids were reunited again. Mom and dad brought the dogs too, which the kids always love!


Everyone was excited to spend some time fishing. We were so surprised by how many fish we caught, using worms as bait! By the end we had 15 trout on the line! And Tommy has an impressive cast for a 3-year-old.


If you were to ask us what meal defines mom and dad, it would be authentic tacos, complete with carne asada, queso fresco, and horchata, all bought from an authentic mexi-mart. We all love them, and dad treated us to them again. Bridger got to help dad cook the carne asada. Baylie spent her time doing crafts with Antonia's mom, Gloria. She is a craft fanatic, and Gloria was a gtreat craft leader. Bay frequently glues random paper scraps to a white piece of paper, proclaiming "Everyone, I'm making a craft!"


The grandkids, together at last. It would be really nice if they could get together more often. Amy, do you guys want to move to Vegas, or should we move out to Dallas?


An impromptu family picture. We don't take too many of these, since there is always at least one kid who is not happy. Can you guess who it is here?


We hiked along the gorge river, and around the lake with Aunt Merri and her kids. Russ impressed us all with his tightrope walk across the river on a thin log. It felt great to wade into the lake. I couldn't help but look around a bit for that sword that grandpa witnessed some lady throw into the lake. Someday Kyle and I are going back to the lake with scuba gear, and we're gonna find that Gadianton Robber sword!

Our Busy Summer

June, July, and August may have been our busiest three months ever! We have neglected to update the blog frequently, and for that we feel sorry. Blogging really should rank up there close to eating and breathing... Here's what we were up to. (rb)


We kicked off the summer with Casen's birth and our move from Cincinnati to Vegas. Katie and the kids flew out separately, so I got to drive cross country, rotating with my parents between the moving can and beloved Corolla. The seven fingers there represent our seventh anniversary, which I spent in Dallas with Kyle and Amy. It took me a while to notice what my dad had written on the back window of the van... Oh yeah, and Corolla got 45 mpg! I don't know how, but it must be from following the slow-moving Penske the whole way.



We spent July 4th up in Kaysville, UT, one of out favorite places to go for the 4th. They have the best parade, and afterwards the firetrucks drive down the street and all mayhem breaks loose. It's great.

We tried out Salt Lake's zoo. It was pretty decent, but the kids really wanted to see a tiger and he was sleeping somewhere out of sight.

Bay learned how to swim! We never saw this one coming, not in a million years. She was scared to get her face anywhere near the water, even when water touched her lips when she drank it from a cup (ok, it wasn't that bad...). We enrolled her in swim lessons, and not one week later she was diving down for rings in 3 feet of water, and 3 weeks later she was starting to doggy paddle. We were impressed! She was crushin' on her swim instructor Mr Andrew in her level one class, and was sad when she progressed to level 2 and got "Diamond" as her teacher.

We're living with our parents right now, and Katie's dad put in a great sandbox for the kids. This is Bridger, but it might as well be me 26 year back. I remember playing in the hot sand at noon in the middle of the summer, and it was no big thang'. Now our kids are doing that, and we can't hardly stand the heat. Maybe being in more moderate climates the last 10 years has weakened our body's heat resistance.

Exhibit A - Russ giving Niels the power wedgie. We spent one Saturday up at Mt Charleston. I had no idea the picnic areas were actually 7800 feet there. It was SO hot in the valley that day, but the mountain temp was perfect.

I bought a dental practice! Yeah, boyee! This has been keeping us all very busy. Uncle Mark built his Kidz Dentistry practice in Las Vegas since he started in 1983, so I'm proud to be continuing his tradition of excellent care and papoose board use. These pictures are of Uncle Mark, Grandma and Grandpa, my mom, Russ, and Katie all helping stuff and seal the envelopes we sent out announcing the new dentist.

So far things have been going very well with the practice. I only work there 3 days a week, and spend two days at another practice on the other side of town, which I also love. It's very busy owning a practice, and I'm facing challenges I never imagined, but things are coming together well. Cindy and Paula have both been with Uncle Mark since the beginning, so it's been SO nice having them continue to work for me because of how experienced they are. But it's a bit weird being "the boss" now, after all those years of having them tell me how to brush and showing me my problem areas. Aunt Denise also works for me, which is a blessing, although she and Uncle George will probably be going on a mission soon and so I'll need to find a new assistant.

We got away one weekend and made it up to the cabin. My favorite little valley in the world is now my kids' favorite too. We went fishing and caught 3, though the kids had more fun running around throwing things in the water than helping me watch my bobber. Why won't they focus?!?

We spent one weekend in St George with Katie's family at the condo. Its was great, a much-needed vacation! We went to Red Cliffs National Recreation Area one days. It's a beautiful hike, and in the spring it is supposed to have tons of awesome pools you can swim in. We got to enjoy the condo's pool as well, successfully pulling off a triple stack.

Here are all the McDonald's grandkids: Bay and Casen, Griffin, and Bridger. It was great hanging out with them.

Of course, we had to golf. I did better than I thought I would, it only being the 5th time I've ever golfed. No pars, although I did envision plenty of pars before I teed off. One year ago, in Aug 08, the McDonald family went on the Mexican cruise, so we had a party to celebrate our good memories. It included fruit carving. I was the one and only entry in the contest, so I pulled off an award-winning cruise ship on a cantaloupe, with blueberry smoke puffs.

We also played the family's favorite game, Settlers of Catan! If you haven't ever been around Katie's family when Settlers comes out, it can get a bit heated. I usually steer clear of the games and just let them duke it out. However, participation in the tournament was mandatory! So I told Katie I would just throw my first game and get out. But then they changed the rules and each player HAD to play three games. So I gave it my best effort... and won the whole tournament! The championship game was against Drew and Tyler, both formidable foes, but somehow I won 3 of the 4 games I played and scored the first ever Settler's Trophy (Drew and Dani actually engraved a trophy, it's awesome!). Afterwards, they all told me how they put together an odds list of who they thought would win... and they all scored me dead last! Ha!

Bay had her birthday at St George, but of course another party was waiting for her and the Bybee's house. We got a pinata, and it was so entertaining watching the kids go to town on that thing.

All my grandparents made it, and it was so fun and, in fact, joyful to watch Bay interacting with and hugging and talking to Grandma Bybee and Grandma and Grandpa Peterson. While living in a desert is not one of our highest priorituies, living near family is for this reason. It's great being so close to them all.

First Day of Kindergarten!

As anyone who has had a few conversations with me this last year knows, I had really debated on whether or not to send Baylie to school this year since she turned five only a week ago. In the end, after a turn-your-life-inside-out kinda summer, we decided to send her after all. She does well with the structure and social aspects of school. Couple this with her total inability to entertain herself and the addition of a new baby to our family and the decision was a slam dunk.

So far so good, though the first day was a bit rocky since she didn't know a soul and we were out of town for the meet your teacher and see your classroom day before school started. Oh, and she got a huge chunk of her hair ripped out as it caught on her backpack label. . . But, every day seems to get better as she gets into that school routine.

Baylie all ready to go! Darn school uniforms,though. I'm already sick of white, navy, and khaki.


Baylie with her teacher on the playground.

What a Blessing!

 

Yes, we're still alive! One of these days I will get on here and blog again. But for now, here is a picture of Casen all decked out after his blessing on Sunday. Thanks to my mom for making the cute outfit even though it was quite the headache!

Casen Anderson Bybee

We really had a tough time deciding on a name, and in the end Katie told me it was almost Father's Day and I got to decide between our top two... So now we have a little Casen in the house! So far he's been a great eater (at least every two hours), does a lot of sleeping, and when he's awake he's been a mostly silent observer. This has been a huge blessing since we've been doing nothing but packing each day.

Bay was waiting for us when we brought Case home from the hospital. She and Bridge have been great big sibs, always asking where he is, taking turns kissing him, and sometimes getting a little too close (they were trying to open his eyelids while he was sleeping).

Father's Day with my three kids!

Baby Boy Bybee

The wait is over! He was 4 days overdue and didn't seem to be in any hurry. Since we are moving next week we couldn't wait any longer, so Katie was induced yesterday morning and we had our little boy at 7:43 last night. He was 8 lbs 7 oz, and 22 inches. He is nice and healthy, and Katie is doing great also. No name yet, though... stay tuned! Baylie wants to name him Curious George...

Good Thing Dad's a Dentist. . .