Emily's 7th Birthday

Happy Birthday Emily! I can't believe you are 7 years old!

Emily is getting so big!  She is an amazing daughter and very helpful around the house.  She loves playing with her brothers even when they want to play something other than dolls.  Emily loves to read and is the top reader in her class.  She also loves playing the piano.  She is learning a lot of new songs on the piano and getting more and more confident. Emily likes going to school and is loving first grade.  Her good friends are Azleigh, Jadaci, and Carson.  She is always kind and friendly to everyone she sees and always has a smile. Her favorite things to do are play with her doll, Kit, and ride her bike.  She also likes running and enjoys races.

Tyrel's baptism and Grandma Morwood's birthday were the weekend before Emily's birthday so we decided to do a little BBQ/Party down in St. George with our family to celebrate her birthday.  

We did it on September 25th which is also Jessica's birthday so we had a double party for Emily and Jess.  I'm glad we did too because Danny was working out of town so Jess was home alone.  I am glad we decided to party with her.  Happy 26th Birthday Jess!

We went to a park in Washington and let the kids have a blast in the splash pad while the adults visited and barbecued hot dogs.  It was fun to be with everyone and see each other again.  

Emily loved all of the presents she received from her family.  She was so happy to play with her cousins again especially Brielle.  These two have missed each other and have now decided to be pen pals.  I think that is a great idea.  

When we got home from a fun weekend visiting family, the rest of the partying began.  

First, you have to get new birthday clothes to wear to school on your birthday!  Emily loved this outfit especially because there was a matching outfit for Kit too.  

At school, Emily was queen for the day.

We were able to come to school and watch as she presented her "Birthday Bag."  Which is like Show and Tell.  She brought three things that told about herself.  She showed her class her Science Fair Trophy, her mini Kit doll, and her camera.  Then the class sang "Happy Birthday" to her and she was so excited.

After school, we had a really fun birthday party with all of her friends.

Emily wanted a Tea Party birthday party so we had a blast decorating and making up games to go along with that theme.

First, while all of her friends were arriving, the kids had fun decorating party hats as well as their very own tea cup.  All of the kids were very unique in their decorating and designing.  Some of the girls really got into it while the boys just put on a few stickers and called it good.  

Emily received so many nice presents from her friends.  She loved all of the arts and crafts kits and has been working on them ever since.  Carson made her a birthday card that was a picture of him and Emily getting married.  He was so proud and Emily graciously (and kind of embarrassed) said thank you.  So the story with this is that Carson and Emily walk home from school together everyday.  They are also good friends and Carson and his family live across the street from us.  One day while walking home, Carson asked Emily if she would marry him.  Emily said she didn't know what to say so she just said, "I don't know."  Ever since then, Carson asks her everyday if she will marry him when they get older and everyday Emily says she doesn't know.  Being the great parents that we are, when she told us this story we both laughed our heads off.  Emily just glared at us and said it wasn't funny!  We told her to tell him she wasn't old enough to get married and her parents said she couldn't get married.  She told him this but every once in a while he still asks her to marry him.  He has even told our other neighbors and their primary teacher that he is going to marry Emily someday.  Don't you just love 6 year olds!  Poor Emily!

Anyway, back to the birthday party...  So Emily got a lot of nice gifts.  After presents it was time for games.  We played some fun relay races.  First the kids had to balance a cup of water on their heads and race to the end of the yard and pour the water into the teapot.  The first team to fill their teapot won.  This was funny to see the kids try to balance the water without getting wet.  Needless to say there were a few wet heads.  The next relay was similar to the egg and spoon race but we used sugar cubes instead.  The kids had to balance their sugar cubes on their spoon and carry them to the end of the yard and fill their tea cup with sugar.  The first tea cup full of sugar cubes won.  The kids had so much fun working together.

Our next game was Pin the Tea Cup Under the Tea Pot.  The kids were each given a tea cup and had to get it as close to the tea pot as they could.

The only thing Emily specifically requested at her party was a pinata.  I hate spending a lot of money on pinatas because they are only going to last 5 minutes.  So luckily I found this pinata at the dollar store and filled it with candy and toys.  The kids all had so much fun hitting that pinata until finally Alex broke it and the candy spilled out.  Then it was a mad dash to gather as much as they could.

The grand finale of the birthday party was the much anticipated Tea Party! 

Here are all of the party guests showing off their proper etiquette and their awesome teacups they decorated.  From left to right is: Emily, Azleigh Borges, Colby, Callie, Logan, Katie Halsem, Alex Checketts, Carson Halligan, and Izzy Swan.

This year, instead of a cake, cupcakes seemed more appropriate for a tea party.  So Emily blew out her #7 candle on a special pink, purple, and white camouflaged cupcake with flower sprinkles.

We had so much finger food/treats for the tea party that the kids were getting really high on sugar!  We ate cupcakes, dipped marshmallows, frosted animal cookies, mini M&M cookies, and (to add some healthy food in there) apples and watermelon slices shaped like flowers.  Oh and of course raspberry lemonade and water for the "tea." The kids loved the food especially the watermelon.  

The guests enjoyed practicing their proper etiquette at the party by raising their little finger when they drank. They were even saying please and thank you.  It was really quite funny how exaggerated they got especially the boys.  After they had eaten we let them run around and play on the playground while they waited for their parents to come.  It was a really fun party and Emily loved every minute.

For her big present this year, we got Emily a tent and a nice flashlight.  She has been wanting these things ever since we went camping this summer.  After the party we set it up.

The tent was actually bigger than we thought so it will be one that she can use for years.  Emily didn't want to put it down so it is still set up in her room.  It pretty much takes up her whole room but she doesn't seem to care.  

When all of the friends had gone home, we let Emily chose what she wanted for dinner.  She chose her favorite place, Pizza Pie Cafe!  

Happy Birthday Emily!  We love you!

Tyrel's Baptism

We took a quick trip to St. George this weekend to see Tyrel get baptized.

I love going to baptisms!  Tyrel was so excited to be baptized. I love seeing the excitement on kids faces when they choose to be baptized.  Here are a few pictures from that day.

Congratulations Tyrel on choosing to be baptized a member of the true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!  

Also while we were down, we of course got to visit with all of our family even some extended family this time because it was Grandma Morwood's 97th birthday party.  The kids loved seeing Grandma again and I think she loved it too.  I really miss living next to her and being able to visit her whenever we want.  The kids miss her a lot too and are always asking when we can go visit her.  Anyway, it was really fun to get to see everyone and visit with them  This was a good trip this time.

Top of Utah Marathon!

Well, I DID IT!  I accomplished one of my new year resolutions as well as a bucket list item.  I ran and finished my first full marathon!  Yep all 26.2 miles of it!  (Well according to my Garmin watch it was actually 26.5 from start to finish...)  Anyway I was so excited to accomplish this life long goal.

The weather was perfect for a race.  The start line and all the way down the Blacksmith Fork Canyon was a little cold.  I could see my breath the whole way.  In a way though that was good because we didn't get too hot.  Once I got out of the canyon, it warmed up and was the perfect temperature for running.  

I had a lot of supporters cheering for me as I ran.  My parents came up from St. George to see me race and Russell and the kids had made signs to wave as I ran passed.

I was so grateful for their cheers.  Each time I ran by them and heard the cheers I just got a little more energy to keep going.  In fact I looked forward to the places I told them to meet me because I always needed that little boost.

Here are some pictures of me running down the canyon.  I felt really good at this point.

Mile 14 was at the bottom of the canyon and the first spot for people to come and cheer.  I was still feeling pretty good. 

At about mile 18 I was really feeling it.  This was also the point where the course kind of took a turn uphill.  I had done an 18 mile run and a 20 mile run in training and was fine but by the time I got to this point in the marathon, I was wearing out and I still had 6 miles to go...  Here I am at mile 21 trying to look positive as I ran passed my cheerleaders.

The last 6 miles was really a mental race.  I really had to will myself to keep going because my body and legs were saying it was time to stop.  I would run for about a mile and a half and then walk through the aid stations and pray for a bit of down hill.  I would tell myself to just run to that tree or that sign or anything I could see in the distance.  Each time I stopped to walk for a bit my body said okay we're DONE! and I would have to tell it no sorry lets get going again...  At a few of the aid stations, the volunteers were cheering for me by name saying, "Go Tiffany! You can do it!"  It was so cool but I wondered how they knew my name and then I realized my name was printed on my bib number and they were reading my bib.  It was cool anyway and I love hearing a personal cheer.  At one point though when I heard them cheer my name, I just thought to myself, "I wish I could run right now."  That was during one of my walking times...  

There was one guy that I ran with for a little bit that was so funny he made the hard part worth running.  We kept passing each other during the first part of the race.  I would pass him then he would pass me.  At about mile 17 he caught up to me again we chatted for a little bit and then he went on and said, "Well if you pass me again, give me a hard time!"  I told him I would.  So later at about mile 19, I passed him again.  As I ran passed I just said something like, "Good job! Keep it up!"  He yelled back at me, "That's not giving me a hard time!"  So I said, "What, are you going to let a girl pass you?!"  He laughed and said "That's better!"  We kind of stuck together until about mile 20 when I got ahead.  It was fun to have someone to make me laugh during that hard time.

I finally made it through Millville, Providence, River Heights and into Logan.  By this time I only had about 2.5 miles to go.  I was so tired but I knew I would finish.  

My goal at the beginning was to run the marathon in just under 4 hours.  I was doing great and was right on course to meet that goal running 8:30 minute miles until about mile 20.  At that point I hit the "wall" and my goal changed to just finishing!  And that's what I did!

I have never been so glad to see a finish line.  As I ran passed my mom toward the finish line, she asked me if I was dead and I said yes! I finished my first marathon with a time of 4 hours and 12 minutes (9:33 min/mi).  I wasn't that far off my original goal and to tell you the truth, I am pretty happy with my time.

Well it is official, I am a marathon runner!  I have earned the right to put a 26.2 sticker in the window of my car.  I am even going to loose two toenails because of it!  After the marathon, I was so glad to be done but once I got some of the post race food and chocolate milk and walked around for a bit I was feeling much better.  After the race, I was able to get one of the complementary massages.  It felt soooooo good!  I am glad I got a massage because I could walk a lot better after the massage and I think it helped with the soreness for the days after the race.  

I am really glad I was able to accomplish this goal of mine.  It was definitely hard but definitely a learning and growing experience.  Do I see myself doing another marathon?  Well... not right now.  I am happy to say I have ran one and only one.

To celebrate, after the race, we took my parents up to see the Kokanee Salmon spawning upstream.  It was really cool.  We even saw a few attempt to jump up a small waterfall.  Then we went out to eat at Angie's.  I was so tired and ready for bed that night but it was a good and fun day.  Now if I could only walk...

So on the Wednesday before the Marathon, we saw our first snowfall of the winter!  It was just the tops of the surrounding mountains but it was cold nonetheless.  I was hoping the cold would hold off until after the marathon but no it came right before.  Luckily though it warmed up a bit and the snow melted before Saturday.

Fall Leaves and the Salmon Run

Fall is early in the wonderful Cache Valley and the colors are amazing. We found out on Sunday at church that the Kokanee Salmon were spawning up above the Porcupine Reservoir at the Cinnamon Creek river, so we decided to take a trip and see it for ourselves. We have heard about it since we moved up here and wanted to see it and now we had the chance. The whole drive was awesome because of the Autumn colors changing in the canyon. We usually tried to make it to Kolob every Fall when we lived in St. George but this year we found our own little piece of Heaven in the Cache Valley. Tiffany even admitted that this canyon is way prettier than the Kolob area and I have to agree.   

When we got to the creek we could already see the red little figures in the water. We all got really excited to see them, so we hiked down the trail to get a closer look. It was way cool to see the red salmon swimming up stream to spawn. Some people we talked to said that this was just the beginning of them coming up stream. They told us to give it a week or so and the whole stream would be full of fish and the water will look red because there are so many of them. We are going to take their advice and come up again when Tiffany's parents are up.  Stay tuned. 

 It is crazy the transition they make in order to start the spawning process. They are usually grey and white like a trout and have round noses, but they turn a bright red color and they get a pointed mouth and teeth during the spawning time. We all had a great time walking the creek looking at the Kokanee.