They're doing it!

Our happy girl...

Silly kids!

Watch this!!!!

Summer Fun...

Some random pics of just some of the fun we've been having this summer...

We love swimming at Ross Park, me and Mace mostly for the treats!

Jace and Marin love Ross Park for the kiddie pool. YES, that is my son with the swim mask and breathing apparatus attached in maybe 1 foot of water watching Marin get splashed.... what do you do? It makes him happy!

Both Marin and Jace played soccer this year. They LOVE it. Here Marin is stretching with her coach, who by the way, is the best coach!!

She had a blast and I love that she loves it! I never played soccer as a kid, I have no idea why, I love it as an adult!!

Jace is a hard worker when he's out there on the field... Very Serious business this running and trying to coordinate your legs to kick a ball at the same time!! He got to be on a team with his good friend Chase Cannon which he just LOVED! After every game (they both play the same night at the same time, so Matt and I swap every other week which one we get to watch) never fail, the first thing out of Marin and Jace's mouth is to ask how many goals the other one made. Matt and I love watching them play... this is what being a parent is all about... seriously... The terrible nine months of fatness and sickness, all those sleepless nights that were filled with baby crying, years of never being clean for more than the first 5 minutes of every day... all totally, completely and with out a doubt, worth every second!!

4th of July!

We did our annual Ogden trip for the 4th of July this year. In the morning we hit the Cherry Day's parade, and then went swimming at Aunt Leisel and James' in the afternoon. So fun!!

I think the kids played in that pool from about 4:30pm till fireworks time!! Getting out for maybe 10 seconds to scarf down some chips and red white and blue cupcakes!! We have so much fun with all our cousins! It was a blast!

Jace LOVED the fireworks and especially the hands on items, like sparklers...

Who doesn't love sparklers?!?!?

I tried to get a picture of the impressive firework assortment Uncle James went to Wyoming to get, but instead I ended up getting mostly Melissa's legs.... What a hottie!!!

Uncle Nate and Miss Macey...

The brothers and sisters (and in laws of course!) sitting around telling stories and sharing memories. It really was a great 4th of July!!

Lee and Amy and Macey...

Ragnar Relay!

Just a quick note, we moved the day before Ragnar... (little stress!)

and you all know how living in a maze of boxes is, this is just a teeny, tiny look!

After Ragnar we headed to Salem for my brother Craig and cousin Morgan's farewells. Lani, silly Jace, Tracy and Marin... it was such a nice day!

The START! For van 2 anyway! We started about 1pm in Liberty, Utah...

We are: Trent, Janelle, Nat and Jed and Christa and Matt

Our van aka: water/food station and sleeping quarters!

Matt's first leg... it's was HOT and pretty steep!

Some guy was misting another runner with water out of an old weed sprayer, so he accommodated Mateo!!

Janelle on her first leg...

Coming to the finish of my first leg...

Jed handing off to Nat and off she goes...

Natalie had a pretty hot, steep first leg as well...

It was such a beautiful run though, wherever we ran... Trent getting water ready for someone!

Ragnar is run for 24 hours so here are a few shots of the night runs...

Trent handing off to Janelle...

Trying to catch a few Z's before his next big leg...

Our Van, or home away from home for 2 days!

I am only smiling in this picture because this was my hardest leg/hike and I had to be running for the picture!!!

3.5 miles of pretty steep, muddying terrain. It was a 1500 ft elevation gain and it was also POURING rain!!

My hand off to Jed, never have I ever been so happy to see him!

Tears of JOY that that leg was over!!

Jed had another grueling 4 up hill miles, in the rain with another 1500 ft elevation gain...

And he RAN the entire way!! GO JED! Our teams Hero!

The start of Matt's last leg. He was pretty happy to be about done, we all were!

Just 3 miles left to the finish! Go Mateo!!

Team #534 The Rockin Runners!! What a blast it was. Crazy, tiring, but SO MUCH FUN! Matt and I are so glad we got to do this. Thank you so much Nat for getting it all together!! Go Wasatch Back!

Camp Out!!

I never quite take enough pictures, but at the time I feel like I"m taking too many. I wish I had taken more pics with gma and gpa, gotten a pic of Chris and Candela's car where the black bear had hit them (on their way up to camp!), and taken some pics on the horse rides, but oh well! These will just have to do! The Rice Family camp out was a success! We were missing a few Rice's (Teresa and Melinda's families), but we were so glad we were able to get together for one more Hurrah! before uncle Craig leaves for Korea on his mission in the next few weeks.

We went camping up Diamond Fork. It was so much fun. Wet: yes. Lots of work: yes. Lots of memories: yes!! Marin and Jace just LOVE aunt Candela. They' can't seem to get enough of her.

Poor lil' Macey made the trip with double ear infections, but she had fun despite her less than perfect health!

We had to spice it up this year, with babies and all. Instead of packing and hiking in, we just drove to our camping area. But it being so beautiful (I love Diamond Fork, it's 30 mins from where I grew up, boy did I take that for granted as a kid) it all just worked out.

We were right by the perfect stream. Small enough that we didn't have to worry about the kids every second, but big enough for them to have fun with it.

Jace learned he LOVES fire. Gathering sticks was his full time job!

Behind Marin and to the right is a black tarp, that was our "bathroom" area. Thank you mom and dad for brining up a toilet seat and making a latrine for us. I still prefer modern plumbing of course, but this was a nice substitute!

Our campsite. The blue tent was the Montano family sleeping quarters and the white wall tent was our eating and lounging area. Plus, it's where everyone else slept at night. Thanks again mom and dad. Having the woodstove in the tent when it got rainy outside was so nice. We could still play card games and eat and talk. It was great.

And of course it's not camping with out the horses~ Marin and Jace rode just about everyone. Marin's favorite of course is Sweetie and Jace loves Toby, though here he's riding Callie and doing it bareback! Go Jace!

The horses "pasture" during the day, we tied them up at night. I made sure Jace and Marin knew if that black bear came inthe middle of the night, we'd hear the horses... they'd alert us. That helped them sleep a little better that first night! That and the flash light on until they fell asleep!!

I must tell the story. When we got up to camp Friday night (everyone else went up Thursday) my sister Tracy had found some baby squirrels who were freezing to death and almost dead. Now, I am more of the let nature take it's course type of a girl (especially with rodents!) but Tracy and Craig couldn't bare the thought of just letting them die, so they wrapped them up in some socks (yeah, they touched them. Picked them up and held them even!!) and fed them. So of course Marin and Jace were all over this...

Even Matt's tender side came through. He's feeding them formula here. Needless to say, I don't know whether they made it or not after we left, but Marin and Jace are still talking about their "pet baby squirrels" named Hammer and Sparky.

And then Sunday was the ride home.... We all were exhausted but so glad we went!