Candy, Gateway, Racing, and a Slip n Slide

Today was like a "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" experience. We toured Sweets Candy Factory, ate candy, and my child had a meltdown (oh, and I lost my keys but luckily found them in the bathroom...ya, another story). However, it really was an eventful, educational and yummy day. Above is a picture of Hayden, Annie, and Gracie.

Here's our group of friends that came to the factory with us. Jenny came with her girls (Gracie and Sophia), her sister-in-law (Annie), and her brother-in-law (Ben). Amy brought her kids (Brayden, Kelton, and Ryker) and her niece (sadly I can't remember her name). After our candy adventure, Jenny and I decided to let the fun carryover to McDonald's...I didn't hear anyone complain about that idea. Overall it was a real HEALTHY day (ok, at least it was fun).

Discovery Gateway...Again!

Yesterday we went back to Discovery Gateway with Michelle, Abbie, and Ty. It is such a neat place, and the kids are definitely intrigued by all the hands-on activities.

Hayden and Abbie in the Construction Zone.

Hayden and Abbie signed up for the Van Gough art class during our trip there. They had fun, but Hayden can only sit still for so long in a place like that. Here they are creating their own "Starry Night."

We didn't want to miss the helicopter this time. It took a little convincing to get Hayden inside because it was pretty loud.

Putting on a show...there was a cute little theater for the kids to dress up and act out favorite stories. Of course, there was very little acting going on. Hayden ended up chasing Abbie around the stage, but they were having a blast. Later, as we were leaving, there was an incident that involved Hayden refusing to put his icecream cone in his other hand which somehow resulted in me falling on the sidewalk (salvaging most of my diet coke, thank heavens). As I layed there unable to move from shock, Hayden just looked at me and said "You got my shoe wet." Hello, I just fell flat on my, what does Hayden call it, oh my toosh. However, at that moment all I could do was laugh. Some guy came over and asked me if I was alright to which I quickly replied "yes," but seriously, I am a mother and I will probably never fully be alright for the rest of my life.

Running the Deseret News 10K

What a great way to start the day! Nothing like a 10K that starts at 6am--especially when it's already hot before the race even begins. Actually, I did have a lot of fun running with about 2,500 other people. I ended up in the top 300 (close to 300th place) with a time of 43:05 (which averaged out to be a 6:57 min. mile--did that make sense?). I at least placed 12th in my division out of like 270 people, but I really was pleased with my time. I can't believe how fast the top finishers were--first place in the men's was just under half-an-hour. Later that day, Hayden and I went and saw the new Ice Age movie. He liked it (for the most part) and he behaved quite well throughout the entire show.

Slip n Slide and Dirt Cups

Last Tuesday (the 21st) we played at Michelle's house with Abbie, Ty, and Luke. Here they are on the Sponge Bob Slip n Slide.

Afterwards, the kids had worked up quite an appetite so they had yummy quesadillas and chips.

Here they are making their own dirt cups (a combination of chocolate cookies, pudding and gummy worms). Doesn't that just make your tongue tingle!? Hayden made this massive creation and then took about two bites.

A Few Days of Fun

On Saturday we enjoyed the Draper Days festivites. Below is a picture of Hayden petting a corn snake. He's much braver than I am.

The morning started with a 5K run...the most competitive race I've ran in so far. Even though I kept a pretty good time (just over 22 minutes) I finished 4th in my division. Oh well, it was still tons of fun and I loved the fact that so many people were involved.

Shortly after the race we found a spot to watch the parade. We sat with some people who were incredibly nice and shared their unused chairs with us.

Of course what kid doesn't love catching and collecting the candy. Maybe Hayden shouldn't be handing it to me to hold on to...he might not see it again.

Hi-fiving the police officers on their motorcycles.

Visiting the Zoo

On Friday we met up with some friends from work (Suzanne, Jenny, and Amy) and their kids. They all had so much fun playing with eachother outside of school, and fortunately I was able to get them to hold still long enough for a few pictures.

The mamas (me, Amy, Suzanne, and Jenny).

Discovery Gateway

On Thursday we met up with my sisters Tawni and Danika plus Dan (Danika's husband), and their kids (Luke and Layna). We went and explored Discovery Gateway and then enjoyed lunch by the fountains outside.

Hayden loved the Construction Zone!

What is it about playing in water that kids are absolutely drawn to, but when it's time to get in the water at bath time they throw a fit.

We were lucky enough to get Hayden and Luke in a picture together. What cuties!

So I'm trying to teach Hayden early on how to pump gas in the car so that he can start doing that for me...haha.

Since Hayden loves to act like a dog at home all the time, I thought that this was an appropriate photo opportunity.

So as a journalism major in college I couldn't resist taking this picture.

Uncle Dan helped the boys with this activity. There were these big magnectic pipe-like tubes that you could rearrange into different configurations, and then drop a ball in and watch it come out the bottom.

Swimming

On Wednesday we went to visit my great aunt Betty, and then we went swimming in her pool. Hayden is quite the little swimmer this year...I think he likes having a bit more freedom because he's wearing a life jacket.

The Great Outdoors

Today (Tuesday) Hayden and I went to Wheeler Farm with Michelle Anderson, her kids (Abbi and Ty), and her cousins (Dylan and Adam). We had pizza, breadsticks, strawberries, and cookies for lunch--hey, at least there was some fruit involved in the menu, right :) Then we fed some of the leftover bread to the ducks and geese.

We also discovered that the ducks weren't fond of pepperoni and pizza sauce.

Giddy up cowboys and cowgirl! The kids loved the animals...we saw cows, horses, pigs, goats, chickens, sheep, and rabbits. The treehouse also kept them pretty entertained. For some reason, being in a closed space like that causes a chain reaction of screaming (don't worry, it was happy screaming).

On Sunday afternoon, we took a trip up to Silver Lake with Dan. It was such perfect weather and nice to be enjoying the outdoors. Hayden loved checking out the fish and the mama duck with her ducklings. When the ducklings swam underneath the boardwalk, Mama hopped up looking for them. As you can tell from the picture above, she's apparently pretty comfortable around people.

Say cheese! This was about halfway around the lake where we were looking for squirrels and chipmunks.

As we were getting ready to leave we saw moose. I was so excited because I've never seen them in real life before.

Hayden took this picture from the hood of Dan's car. He's such a good little photographer!

4th of July

We had a pretty fun and eventful fourth this year. It started early (I actually had to wake Hayden up around 6am) because I ran the Sandy Classic 10K in the morning. I was just hoping to finish in less than an hour which I did--yay. I even ended up with a third place medal which was completely unexpected. My friend Michelle and her husband ran it as well and they both got medals, too. Then after getting ready, Hayden and I plus Grandma and Grandpa went back and let Hayden play on the inflatables. We also got airbrush tattoos, snowcones, watched the entertainment, and checked out the fun booths. Later in the day we went and saw "Up" with Dan, then we went back to Sandy for the parade, concerts, and fireworks. I can't believe that Hayden stayed awake long enough to watch the fireworks. Luckily he made it and he ended up loving the show...Hayden's first time seeing the big fireworks in the sky.

Hayden on the Spiderman inflatable slide...this one was his favorite!

Here's my mom, Hayden, me, and Bob pretending to be firefighters.

My mom saw Hayden playing with the bubble gun and she ended up buying it for him because Grandmas are known for spoiling their grandkids.

Enjoying the pre-firework festivities: Dan, me, Hayden, Cassie, Jenny, Sophia, and Gracie.

Hayden scaring (not intentionally) Gracie with his dog, Caffee--I seriously don't know where he comes up with these names.

Hayden and Dan watching the fireworks.

Hayden and Sophia smiling for the camera.