What have we been up to?

I have no excuse for being such a lame blogger! So here is a little update on our lives lately... in bullet form :)

• We finished off our summer with a great trip to Lake Powell with my family.

• I ran the Park City half marathon in August in 2 hours 10 minutes.

• I began my 2nd year of teaching with only 24 students instead of 30 like last year. This school year has overall been a lot less stressful than last year because I am feeling a lot more organized and confident. It also helps that I just love 2nd graders!!! This is a picture of my first day of school just like my mom always took every year... lunch ready and all!

• My classroom theme this year is owls- last year it was fish.


• We enjoyed a great trip to Jackson Hole with Brock's family over Memorial Day weekend.

• We moved out of "Lock it Up Storage" (no not an actual storage unit, we were in the apartment above the office haha) after living there for a year.


• We moved into an adorable house that we LOVE!


• I have experimented with my crafty side on various home projects. Here is a shelf I just painted.


• We had a blast over fall break with our friends in Las Vegas- we took advantage of the 24 hour buffet pass, got in lots of shopping, and saw a Cirque De Soliel show.


• Brock has been very busy with his medical sales job and has recently started a business with our brother-in-law called Hookease. They have manufactured and are selling a revolutionary ski training device. You can see it in action www.hookease.com


• I signed up for the Ogden Marathon in May which I am so excited for minus the training throughout the cold winter.


• I made it through 2 days of parent teacher conferences.


• We just got called to teach a primary class together in our new ward... so excited!


• Overall we are staying really busy but trying to fit in as much fun as we can.

Summer Vacation

I am personally loving the fact that I am back on the "Summer Vacation" schedule from the good old days. That is definitely one of the big perks of teaching elementary school. We are taking full advantage of the summer by having as much fun as we can. We went on an amazing trip to Hawaii with some great friends. We left the day after school let out and it was the best way to relax after finishing my first year!! Then a week later we had an awesome family vacation with Brock's family to California. The big highlight of the trip was attending the U.S. Open... Brock was in golf heaven along with his dad and brother. We have also absolutely LOVED having all of our family in town. Brock's sisters have been here from Arizona and my sister has been here from Vegas. I just love summer, family time, and all the great festivities!! It's all going so fast...

Getting ready for Hawaii

Aaaahhhhh so much fun!

Our awesome friends we went with Eric and Jessica Garner.

Enjoying the Cherry Days parade with our adorable niece Maylen.

Brock and Jake... this is what Brock looked like when he was a baby.

We love all of our nieces and nephews.

Hiking waterfall canyon and hauling baby Brighton the whole way just because I love him so much (and I wanted to burn lots of calories! haha)

Ogden Marathon

I would love to lie and say that I just ran the full Ogden Marathon, but I am pretty sure everyone would know I was lying. So that will be a future goal... one day right! But I must admit I was proud of myself for running in the Marathon on a relay team. It was so much fun! I just loved running with everyone. My leg was only 5 miles. I started at Eden Park which was the halfway point for the marathon. So I got to see all the full marathoners hitting their halfway mark... so inspiring. My leg ended at The Oaks in the canyon. I stopped and passed off to my teammate and then I realized I was having so much fun I didn't really want it to end so soon. So I decided to just keep running. I also told Brock I just wanted to keep hitting up the rest stops with everyone passing out drinks and refueling snacks... haha. But I ended up just running the rest of the marathon. So I really ran 13 miles which I hadn't thought that I could do before! I'm glad I proved myself wrong.

Next time I will just sign up for the 1/2 in the first place, but the good thing was I got to start at 9:30 and run the 13 miles instead of being there at 4:45 a.m. for the official half marathon. So it was all to my advantage. I also didn't keep track of my time because once I was done with my leg, my time stopped. It was all just for fun:)

Obviously I was loving the thumbs up sign. It was such a good day!

Spinach = Delicious!!

So I thought I would post my favorite recipe that I use lots and lots of spinach with. Yes, at first you may think it sounds or even looks disgusting but don't judge to fast. This is a favorite in my family and everyone that tries it also LOVES it. It is also pretty healthy so it is the perfect treat!

Ingredients:

1 banana

1/2 can of pineapple with juice (no sugar added)

1 small container of vanilla yogurt ( the carbmaster Kroger brand is my personal favorite)

ice

lots and lots of spinach- I usually just fill up the rest of the blender until I can fit no more

*optional- If you would like to make it a protein smoothie you can add vanilla protein powder. I haven't tried it yet, but have heard it works great.

Blend all ingredients together and enjoy!

The green color also makes it twice as appetizing don't you think? Try it and you will be convinced as well!

Do You Like Your Job.....?

This is Brock and I don't post very often, but I figured this was worth mentioning. I just have a quick post about some people that have inspired me lately. I am sure many of you have seen the Liberty Tax Dancers out on a busy street corner dancing to advertise during tax season. Many of the "dancers" stand still and simply wave while others really "bust a move." In particular, there is a dancer on main street in Bountiful that really has it going on, and the most amazing thing about this guy is that he dances out there for hours and is grinning from ear to ear as he waves at all of the cars. I can tell that this guy is in his mid-30s and probably has a family of his own. First of all, when I see him, it makes me very grateful for my job. Second, it makes me think of how I choose to act while I perform my job each day. Although this guy probably had work elsewhere in recent months, he has now been forced to do anything he can to support himself and his family and he does it with a huge smile. This man has encouraged me to smile more each day and hopefully I can inspire someone else as he has inspired me.

My best friend the chef.

I just wanted to wish my forever friend Lindsey Scano a very happy birthday today!! We have been friends since pre-school and I love her to death. She has become the most AMAZING cook and will be graduating from culinary school this spring. So we had her come teach us a few tips in the kitchen and she put on a wonderful dinner.

These lovely appetizers were to die for!

As you can see the pears were my personal favorite. I had recurring dreams about them the next day. Yummy!!!

It was so fun to learn how to cook some wonderful dishes and just have a fun night together. I am so proud of you Linds!

If your going to San Francisco....

We just went to San Francisco over Valentine's weekend with our bestest friends Garrett and Mckenzie. So here are some highlights from our fabulous trip.

Enjoying the USU game with our wonderful friends. (above)

The beautiful view of the bay at night.

Getting a little freaked out by the Alcatraz Jail cells.

The best breakfast ever!

Enjoying the night life.

Loving our boat ride.

The most beautiful sunset.

Brock and Garrett truly embracing the San Francisco way of living...

Best of all was all the riding on the trolley cars!

Hawaii

We had an awesome trip with the Winzeler family to the Big Island! We were able to have the perfect trip and do so many fun things. It was an amazing way to celebrate the holidays!

Perfect sunsets.

Fun with the kiddies!

Beautiful views!

Fun on the plane!

Visiting the beautiful temple.

Amazing waterfalls!

Fun Adventures..

and great snorkeling.