Shamrock 10K

The ShamROCK Your Socks Off 10K was such a fun race for me.  I ran this race a few years back before I was pregnant with Colby but it was called the Spectrum 10K then.  That being said, I was familiar with the course so I knew what to expect.  The race started up in the beautiful red rocks of Snow Canyon State Park and then followed the trail down into Ivins and ended at the Ivins Park.  

I ran this race with Shawna and here we are at the beginning.  At race time, we took off.  I started out way too fast and my legs felt like Jello.  My first mile was under 7 minutes which is pretty fast for me.  I finally got into a groove and raced down the course.  By mile 5 I was wearing out because I was going faster than usual.  I had to keep going though because I only had a mile left.  Boy was that a long mile...

I made it across the finish line with my best time ever in a 10k, 49 minutes 42 seconds!  That is a 8 minute mile!  I was so happy with my time.  Later I found out that I had also placed third in my age division!  That was so exciting too!

So for my awesome job I was awarded some cool florescent green tube socks!!!  Yeah!  Oh well it was cool to place anyway and I did get some good gift certificates too like a free sub at Firehouse Subs! (I love that place!)  

Russell had to work this day so Traci was so awesome and let the kids sleepover at her house the night before so that I could go to the race.  Then to top it off, she was awesome enough to bring the kids to the finish line where they got to see me finish and they even brought me flowers!!  What an awesome family and support system I have.  Thanks so much Traci, Emily, Colby, and Logan for cheering me on today!  What a good race.

Happy Birthday Cowboy Colby

Happy birthday to our Colby boy!  We can't believe you are growing up so fast and already 4 years old!

Look at that future John Wayne!  So now that Colby is 4, he thinks he is all grown up,  He kept telling everyone that he is old now because he is 4 and that is old!  We couldn't help but chuckle a little at his comments.  

We had such a fun cowboy birthday for Colby and his friends complete with horses, gold, and of course cake and ice cream.

I made each of the guests a stick horse, bandanna, and Sheriff's badge to use and wear during the party.  All of the kids were so excited to have their own horse to ride.  I made each of the horses out of socks and stuffing with yarn hair and button eyes and then put them on dowels for the sticks.  I think they turned out kind of funny looking but that made them that much cuter and the kids loved them.  The Boot Cake was not my best cake but it turned out cute for only having about an hour to make it and Colby loved it so that is all that mattered.  We have been showing our house to potential buyers for the last few weeks so we have tried really hard to keep it clean while still planning a birthday party.  We had a showing today which is why I had to rush the cake.  Anyway back to the party...  

As the guests arrived, we took a picture of everyone in the "WANTED" poster.  Some of them turned out really funny.

 I think my favorite is of Easton Lay on the bottom of the first collage.  That is a perfect mug shot.  

We started the party off with opening presents.  Well actually Colby started the party off by opening presents.  Before we knew it, he had taken all of the gifts off of the table and put them on the grass then he proceeded to open the presents without telling anyone.  Colby was taking charge of the situation.  He was ready to see what was in all of those packages and he wasn't waiting around any longer.  So we called for "Present Time" and all of the kids gathered around.

Colby received a lot of nice gifts.   Colby was pro at opening the presents and tore through all of the paper to see what was inside.  His favorites were his Spiderman skates, and his own personal tent and sleeping bag.  He could not wait to try them out. 

Soon we were off to the races... the stick horse races that is.  Yeehaw!!

Go Go Go!  Aren't those some adorable cowboys.  (Especially that little one...)  

Well what were these cowboys racing to?  A gold strike of course.  

Prospector Russell showed all of the kids how to pan for gold in the pond.  Each of the kids were able to strike it rich.

Panning for Gold was the hit of the party.  Everyone loved digging in the mud trying to find our golden rocks.  Logan hung out at the gold site for the rest of the party.  Yeah he was covered in mud by the end.

With gold in our pockets, it was time to practice our roping skills.

These cowboys were pretty good ropers.  By the end that poor rocking horse had been hogtied multiple times!

Finally it was time for cake and ice cream and singing "Happy Birthday."

The cake was big hit and all of the guests had their fill.  We all had a good time visiting and eating.  Oh and more panning for gold!

At the beginning of the party, Russell got a phone call from our realtor saying the people who looked at our house today wanted to come back and see the house again right now.  We really wanted to tell them no because we were right in the middle of the party but our realtor was pretty adamant that we needed to let them come see the house.  So we said they could come and look at it but we would be in the backyard having Colby's party while they were there.  Our realtor said that was fine.  So while we were eating our cake, the people came and walked through the house again.  It was really awkward because I didn't know if we should talk to them or just leave them alone and pretend like they were not there.  It was also weird having strangers at our house.  Oh well they finally left and we thought, "Well, they have seen our house at its best and worst so we will see what they decide."

After the chaos of cake and ice cream and house showings, we took a little field trip and rode our stick horses to Bishop Holyoak's house to see the real horses and animals.

The kids absolutely loved feeding and petting the horses and cows.  We even got to see a new baby cow that had just been born about a month earlier.

It was funny how the animals crowded the fences trying to get closer to the kids with hay in their hands.  After thanking the Holyoaks, we decided parents would be looking for their kids by now so... 

We turned our stick horses around and headed off into the sunset...home.  

What a fun party we had.  All of the guests seemed to have fun.  Colby said his favorite part of his birthday was setting up his tent and playing in it:

Yeah he pretty much loves this tent and has slept in it for the past few nights.

Happy 4th Birthday Colby!