Really, an amazing story...

Yesterday was such a great day. My cousin Jordan and his beautiful bride Irena were sealed in the Salt Lake temple. To make a very long story short, my cousins Chad & Jordan, from Spanish Fork, are now both married to sisters, Alba & Irena, from Albania. Jordan served his mission there...It really is like something you would see in the movies (...at least an LDS movie!) It was such a blessing to have their mom, Loretta, there with them in the temple. Even just a few days ago she was denied a visa from the U.S. Embassy in Albania. It was an amazing day in so many ways.

We started the morning bright & early with the wedding party at my house...how did I get so lucky anyway? (It was sooo fun to have you all here.) Hollie, my make-up-artist-sis, did all of their makeup. As you will see, her talents & their beauty turned out to be the perfect combination!

I love days like this, and to have had two family weddings in one week, I am feeling spoiled. The only thing missing was Kyle! He was in Idaho to attend his Grandpa Adams funeral. It was too bad that everything happened all at once, but thankfully we were represented at both important events!

It really is times like these that remind you how important family is. I am so thankful for all of the special people we have in our lives! I am also so thankful for the blessings of the temple and the direction, peace & happiness the Gospel brings to our lives.

Congrats to the newest Mr. & Mrs. Goodwin

Today we went to the wedding of my BYU Cross-Country-Star cousin Chandler and his sweet-as-can-be-BYU Cheerleader wife Cami. We had such a fun day with our family. We are so excited to welcome Cami to our family! Here are a few of my favorite photos from today.

They even look like trouble...

Tonight me & Krissy painted our nails. Kyle decided he wanted to paint Kendall's too. I warned him I thought she was too young. As soon as he got polish on one nail she was done and wouldn't hold still.

Kyle + Kendall + nail polish = a recipe for disaster.

Again, I warned him, he better go wipe it off... Unbelievably, he did not heed my warning and before I knew it I had nail polish on my pants!! Hmmmm...maybe next time he will listen. So, I had to be mad for a minute, but before long we were all laughing. Of course it helped that he suggested I go get the camera and take a picture for the blog. That always makes me happy. Plus, I got most of the polish out of my pants.

Ky, thanks for the fun memory & a great story to tell, but next time remember I am usually right... Funny how now all I can think about is what a great daddy he is!!

What I learned...

I DID IT! I SURVIVED...and it is amazing the things I learned from this race.

I learned that you can make your body do incredible things if you put your mind to it.

I learned that motherhood is no excuse to miss out on opportunities like this & I learned I can make time for myself to exercise.

I learned that I miss my kids even more when I am exhausted, spent and just plain worn out.

I learned that I have an incredibly supportive husband who is EXTREMELY proud of me!

I learned that even when I say "I will never do this again", when I get home and show my husband the pictures and he says "I want to do this...let's do it together next year", I (for some crazy reason) might consider it!!

I learned that I have some incredibly driven & dedicated sisters-in-law.

I learned that friends like Joanie are more like family than friends.

I learned that Britt has some incredible (& hilarious) brothers.

I learned that we live in a BEAUTIFUL state that I need to spend more time exploring. I would love to see it all again...in a car, with my family & my camera!

I learned that North Summit High School does not have very good sleeping accommodations.

I learned that I get kind of cross and quiet when I am too tired.

I learned that real terrain is much more difficult than it looks on the map.

I learned that 9 weeks of training is BARELY enough for this race.

I learned that I have a lot of training left to do for the half-marathon at the end of the summer.

I learned that "Pain is temporary, quitting is forever!"

I learned that sometimes you cry through the last mile of a 15 mile journey.

I learned that things like this are only possible with encouragement & support from family & friends.

I learned that I can do it...even when I think I can't.

What in the heck was I thinking???

Hard to believe, but tomorrow at this time I will be running my guts out! I think it was a combination of the race and work...but I didn't fall asleep until 1:30 last night. Hmmm, I wonder how rested I will be??? I am excited, but very nervous. My teammates and I will run from Logan to Park City. I anticipate my legs of the race will be around noon tomorrow, 10:30 tomorrow night and 8:00 Saturday morning (with a wonderful nights rest in Brittany's van or in a sleeping bag). Sounds fun, huh? Wish me luck. Expect a full report if I survive.

Something special

There is just something special about daddies and daughters...and fathers and sons!
Blessed...that is what I am. I have a Dad that loves me no matter what, that has always encouraged me to reach for the stars and ALWAYS do my best, a Father-in-law that is an amazing example of selflessness and service, and a husband that loves me & our girls more than life itself. I am so thankful for you all. Happy Father's Day! XOXO

The Big Weekend

We came home from our adventure-filled weekend with a sick baby girl. Poor Kendall has been busy with the throw-ups and horrible diahrrea! Which means, it is now an hour before Wednesday and I still have yet to completely unpack from the weekend! I have my BIG race this Friday so I am anticipating a few crazy days ahead and wanted to catch up before I go off and take another 200 photos over the weekend! Craziness!
A BIG thank you to all of you who donated to the American Diabetes Association in honor of Krissy & Kyle's ride for her. It was a special weekend for all us!
Mike & Hollie, thank you for having all of us again! We had such a great time!!

Better late than never...

Kyle is doing a big race this weekend & it has kind of snuck up on us. I thought I would share a copy of an email he sent out for anyone out there that might also be interested...

Dear Friends and Family -

This is by no means an e-mail that you need to feel any obligation towards. I just know that you each have shown interest in my little girl, Krissy, and how she is doing with her diabetes. Feel free to jump on this link and contribute to the American Diabetes Association to help fight Diabetes. Please do not feel that you have to participate in donating. The only thing I ask is that you pray feverishly for me this Saturday as I ride 103.8 miles. I have provided the link below.

http://main.diabetes.org/goto/kyle.adams

Take Care,

Kyle Adams

What a great dad...huh?

Big news!

You might find this hard to believe, but for the first time since we had kids (now over 4 years ago...) we hired our first non-family-member babysitter! Her name is Vanessa & our kids love her. She is beautiful, responsible, mature, so great with the kids...and did I mention, also MY piano teacher (more will follow on that later). She even came to hang out with us the other day for some "diabetes training". If we could have all been so on the ball at age 15...
We went out to dinner at La Vigna (who named it that anyway?). You really should go and get the raspberry creme brulee, if nothing else. Then we went to Old Navy and I actually took the time to try on some clothes. I bought my first new capri's in 3 years. Of course we had to finish off the night at Target, because every great date ends at Target, right???
Thanks again Vanessa for taking such great care of our kids tonight, and honey...thanks for being my hot date!

Just wondering...

...how I got so lucky to be their mother...

Today

Today Krissy went to the dentist (for only the 2nd time...the first time didn't go so well). We went to see Dr. Moody in Provo. Our future aunt & sis-in-law, Hayli, works for him. Can I just tell you how wonderful it was? I would have never guessed I would say that about the dentist's office, but Hayli took such great care of Krissy and made her feel totally comfortable. She didn't even complain once! Before we went to the dentist I told Krissy that we could go to Toys-R-Us afterwards if she was a really good girl...(I find that bribes generally work). After we finished up we went to the store and she picked out a swimming pool for our backyard. The inflatable version...we will see how long it lasts. But for today it provided an entire afternoon of entertainment. That alone is worth the $30 I paid for it. When Kyle got home we decided to go to swim in Papa Don's pool. It turned out to be a bit cold for the girls tonight, so thank goodness for the hot tub. It makes me so excited for the warm, sunny days ahead. At least, I think they are out there somewhere!

For Melissa

Melissa, you have such a delightful family! And I mean that in EVERY way...warm, friendly, inviting, good-looking...I really could go on & on. I am sure your Dad was smiling down on you all today. Thank you for allowing me to share in such a special night with your family. I had such a great time meeting everyone! Here are a few of my favorite photos from the reception tonight.

Oh, happy day!

The blessed event occurred tonight! We have been working on this for months now and for some reason it finally clicked tonight. Way to go Kendall! Our lives will be much more enjoyable in our multi-level house.

Takin' advantage

Krissy is a smart girl. Saturday as we were finishing up some yard work Kyle pulled out the hose to clean up. In no time Krissy had gone into the house to get her swimming suit. She was not about to miss any opportunity to play in the water! Welcome summer. We are glad you are here!

In a day...

It truly is amazing what can be accomplished in a day. Friday we got a new patio. We are working on a backyard makeover and can't wait to have it all finished. We are envisioning lots of fun BBQ's & get togethers this summer! The guy that did the work was awesome, so if you are needing any work like this done I would love to give you his information.