All Grown Up

Yep, it's true. 3 days a week for a few hours I have just one child with me, something that really hasn't happened before. The boys started preschool last week, and they love it! It's so cliche but it really does happen too fast. My little boys are practically all grown up.

On the way to preschool the boys insisted they're now big enough to push Audrey's stroller all by themselves. So cute. I love how huge backpacks are on them, it's adorable.

And to top it all off a few days before preschool started Audrey started walking! She takes 2-3 steps then decides it's much faster to crawl. She may not be a speedy walker but she loves climbing up slides. She attempts ladders and even tries going down the stairs standing up. She's truly a hoot and loves to accessorize, hats and necklaces are a favorite.

As parents were so excited when our kids grow and do new things, but at the same time it's kind of difficult. Before we know what's happened they'll be boarding planes for missions and driving off to college instead of just walking around the block for preschool. It may sound a little crazy, but you know it's true (or at least you will when you drop your kids off at preschool that first day). We just hope that between now and then they'll learn how to tie their own shoes.

Bikes, Bikes and Beach

I'm sure you've picked up by now, Spencer and I love cycling. No, really love it. There is so much more to cycling then just peddling a bike. Did you know cycling is a team sport? Just drafting off a few guys you can conserve as much as 30% or your energy! That's why there are team captains and the whole team works to put their captain in the best place. Another thing you should know is within a professional race there are sub races. For example best sprinter, best young rider, best climber and overall leader. If your the current leader within a category you get to wear a special jersey for the day. In the Tour of France the overall leader gets to wear a yellow jersey, the best sprinter is in green, best young rider is in white and the best climber is in a red pok a dot jersey. It's exciting to watch teams work together and every now and again there is a spectacular crash. Crashes are crazy ... you should look away but you just can't. They're going as fast as 40 miles per hour and someone goes down and takes 10 riders with him, and all they have on is lycra and a helmet. It's crazy!

Anyway the excitement of professional cycling came to Utah in the Tour of Utah. We had professional teams who compete in the grand tours (such as the Tour of France or Italy) right here in our backyard. Riders like Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie were here! To give you some perspective Hincapie rode with Lance Armstrong for a number of years, Lance is the Jordon of cycling and Hincapie was his Scottie Pippen (if you'll excuse another sports metaphor). We were able to attend the circuit race (they went around a 7.5 mile circle 11 times). It was amazing, we rang our cow bells and cheered for our favorite riders. We collected disgarded water bottles and laughed with friends and family. It was an amazing day

The start of the ride was super cool, we got to see some the biggest names in the sport right at the front.It was just too much excitement for Audrey, she fell asleep during the most exciting lap.

Me loving the tour next to a sleeping Audrey.

Spencer and I also had the opportunity to ride in a Bear Lake ride for the Boy Scouts. It's a 50 mile ride around the lake. It's a favorite ride because it's so beautiful and we get to take the kids to the lake afterwards. We finished in 2 hrs and 43 mins. Candis and Joe came up with us to watch the kids while we rode and enjoyed raspberry shakes and the beach with us afterwards. The lake is so full this year the water nearly comes up to the road in some places. It too was an amazing day.

Us with our finishers medals and the boys.

Audrey was fearless, she couldn't get enough water or sand.

Kids playing on the beach

My sister Candis and my super amazing niece Alexis, so cute, on the beach.

Happy Birthday Boys!

The month of July was pretty much non-stop birthdays in the Davis house. It started with Audrey's on July 1st and continued until July 26th with the boys 3rd birthday. We were lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Davis here to celebrate with the boys. The boys love reading books with Grandma and Grandpa, esp when its about tractors.

Later in the week we took Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mitch and the boys and met up with Aunt Candis, Uncle Joe, Cousin Alexis and Aunt Becky at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. It is a huge museum full of very cool dinosaurs and all sorts of fun things to do. The boys loved playing on the water tables with Uncle Mitch.

Later that day we enjoyed a great birthday dinner with family, and of course had a delicious cake that Mom baked. Penn had been chomping at the bit to play with the train cake toppers for weeks, but he patiently waited for his birthday which is quite the feat for Penn.

Tractors and Dinosaurs are great and all, but the boys real obsession are trains. Penn and Logan have become fanatical. The most exquisite melt downs I have ever seen have involved trying to pull the boys away from train museums. So we thought it would be a good idea to bring the trains to them. After dinner, a big surprise was waiting for them downstairs. A train table complete with Thomas and Toby trains. The boys were so excited. Even Audrey wanted in on the action. Penn was less enthused about Audrey's participation.

Penn and Logan must have walked about 4 miles around the table that night. When it came to bed time there was no way the trains were leaving the boys sides.

It was a great day, and the boys still love playing with all of the gifts they received. We are very grateful for the boys and the color they bring into our lives. Penn is a very passionate soul with a flair for the dramatic. He can also be very loving and kind. Logan is a total goofball and says some of the funniest things. He is also very good with Audrey and loves to make her laugh.

Well we made it through the terrible two's. Now we just need to make it through the lesser known infuriating three's and we should be home free.... right?

Our Adventures

We've had so many adventures the last bit. This isn't comprehensive but here are the highlights (yep there are a lot of highlights).

The boys got to ride in a parade with Grandpa Gudmundson. They loved the four wheelers and waving the flag.

Grandma and Grandpa Davis came for a visit. It was wonderful to have them here. We visited the Kennecot Mine. What an impressive sight. Those truck tires are huge (over 12 feet in diameter). The trucks that ride on them are gigantic.

The mine was nearly overwhelming. I guess the hole is so large you can see it from space.

While Mitch was visiting we talked him into riding Antelope by Moonlight with us. It's 22 miles, in the dark on the island. There were over 1,200 riders! It was a lot of fun. Mitch was amazing ... he was on a borrowed bike with zero training and was able to keep up really well.

We've been to the zoo with the Bingham's and my sister Candis. It was a great day. The moving dinosaurs were a little much at first but they all warmed up. Audrey really enjoyed the monkeys.

Sitting on the tiger was fun but they were all anxious to get off and actually see one. This is the best it gets when taking pictures of 4 three yr olds.

We've visited Uncle Sean and Aunt Monica. The boys formed the cutest little superhero squad ever! They kept saying things like "To the Rescue" or "Come on Superheros". Logan is Spider man and Gavin is Wolverine.

They loved visiting Uncle Sean at the fire station. They got to sit in the fire truck and look inside the ambulance.

And finally we've spent numerous hours out back playing in the pools. Audrey thinks she is done with the little pool and ready for the big one. The only problem ... She's not, it gets a little rough in there.

We've loved the summer and are sooo grateful it's not over yet. Here's hoping for many more adventures, maybe you should join us!

Girls Camp

Last month, yep I'm a little behind, I had the amazing opportunity to go back to girls camp. This time as a leader. It was great, really great. We have such an amazing group of girls. It was great to participate in numerous inspiring devotionals, a faith fall and testimony meeting around the camp fire. I loved singing camp songs again and even learned how to "Ride that Pony". This blog is mostly to share our roll call we did for the stake. It's not the best quality but you get the idea. What a creative bunch.

A huge thank you to my in laws for staying with the kids while I was gone, it's great having such wonderful family.

Audrey's Birthday

July is just flying by, I've fallen behind and missed some milestones. So here we go. We celebrated Audrey's first birthday with a bang. We went to Logan and enjoyed fireworks, and had a mini adventure that involved a surprise sleep over at Aunt Christine's with a broken water pump in our new car. But don't worry it all ended well and was covered under warranty.

The next day we had a party with some family. We enjoyed food....

Presents....

Balloons, the best gift you can give a one year old. She waved it around and laughed for a full 30 mins.....

and Cake! Aunt Becky made a butterfly cake. It really was amazing and tasted great.Audrey started with just a taste,

I think she thought it was good....

Really Good .....

"This is not fun I'm dirty and I can't get it off!" I had to scrub the wall and pantry door because she was waving her hands all around trying to get it off, cake was flying everywhere. It was very funny.

Now that Audrey is more then just a cute lump and mobile her brothers love playing with her. The are generally very sweet and gentle with her. This is the three of them playing follow the leader in the backyard.

Audrey has been a true delight and a wonderful addition to our family. She smiles easily and is learning new things so quickly. She loves to be in the middle of the fun and adores her brothers. She laughs with (or at) them every day. She is the curtest little girl ever even without a ton of hair and only 2 teeth. She can be a diva, but even that is cute. She loves to snuggle her puppy before bed and enjoys eating rice, lots of rice. Happy Birthday Audrey!

Kind of a Big Weekend

Last weekend was kind of a big one for us. It started with a trip to the pool with friends. It was a ton of fun and the only one who got sunburned was me! That's a small victory given how fair my kids are.

Audrey started crawling and her first two teeth came in. She's much happier and the boys are on high alert trying to keep their toys away from her.

Then off to Idaho Falls. Uncle Sean and Aunt Monica watched the kids for a day. The boys got a chance to ride "big boy bikes" and loved it. They were naturals. I guess Logan kept saying "I'm riding a bike just like Mama!"

Spencer and I continued to Jackson Hole WY for another half marathon! Spencer has stayed true to his declaration after the last half, "I will never run more then 6 steps again". So he was my support crew. He did a great job, his pep talk involved playing "Eye of a Tiger" and went something like this "Just don't embarrass me." The motivation....
Jackson Hole was a great half. It was the perfect temp, the views were great and there were only 250 runners. The best news, I got a good nights rest and shaved just over 15 mins off my time! Kearsten and I beat more then half the pack. We were so proud of ourselves, we consistently passed people up to the finish line. We averaged 10 min miles the whole way.
I think I'll give my knees a rest and ride my bike for a little while, but I had a great time and it was almost enjoyable with sleep.