Last Days of Summer, First Day of School, and Other Thoughts

During our final days of summer we visited Gardner Village where Hayden got to venture around the petting zoo. I think I counted close to 20 goats in there...crazy!

There's a bunch of the goats behind him. They also had ponies, dogs, rabbits, llamas, cows, chickens, and sheep. Shortly afterwards, we visited the Bakery for a snack, checked out some of the sales, and I even came prepared with bread for Hayden to feed the ducks.

I just wanted to get a close-up of his cute profile...ya, it's a mom thing.

Thanksgiving Point

On one of the $2 Tuesdays, we along with some of our friends (Jenny with Graci, Sophia, Marcello, and Annie and Amy with Kelton, Braden, and Ryder) visited Thanksgiving Point's gardens. The kids loved playing in the Noah's Ark water feature and exploring the entire Children's Garden.

Playing in the sand

Rolling down the big grass hill near the waterfalls. Hayden is the kid at the very bottom still rolling along.

After lunch, we strolled along the path above the bigger waterfalls.

Lagoon

Here are Dan and me at Lagoon. Hayden got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Jaco and his Aunt Bethany at a rodeo/fair while we went to Lagoon.

Dinner

Here we are at Texas Roadhouse with Grandma and Grandpa B. Hayden enjoyed his food so much that he felt like he had to use two utinsels to eat (he had steak and mac & cheese).

The First Day of School

This year Hayden is doing the Pre-K class (again) 3 afternoons a week and Kindergaren Enrichment the other 2 afternoons.

Having snack in his Pre-K class. I did spy on him a couple of times this week, and one of the times I did I caught him being so cute. Hayden leaned over to the kid next to him and said, "Will you be my friend?" How sweet is that! Luckily, the other boy said "yes" to him.

So it has been a crazy time with starting school, keeping my job at Treehouse, still training for some upcoming races, and trying to make sense of my personal life (oh, and keeping up with Hayden, too). My last blog pretty much depicted how I was feeling at the time, and since then, things have changed just a bit. First of all, after talking things out in regards to my "personal life," I discovered that both of us came away from our last talk with completely different interpretations of what was going on. It was good to be able to clear up some misunderstandings and for me to realize how much the other person does care and wants what's best for us and our relationship. Right now we are taking a break and trying to talk things out, and think on our own about where to go from here. Hopefully he knows how I really feel about him and how much I care for him.

As far as what I'm doing now, I feel like life has to continue moving on and I just keep on going. Once you fall, you just have to pick yourself up, and I must admit that I've had some wonderful family members and friends who have helped me, too. I know that we all have our own set of challenges and obstacles--I hope to overcome mine so that I can come away victorious and stronger than before. However, victory doesn't always mean "winning" and getting what you want, but by getting through these challenges and figuring out the best long-term fit for all involved will have to be enough of a "win" for me. I won't let fear rule my life (thank you Candice from Phineas and Ferb for that reminder--it's playing in the background) because the biggest risks can come with the biggest rewards. Although I've had a lot of "learning experiences" along my life's journey so far, I don't regret anything and I hope to grow and become a better person.

Sorry for all this crazy blogging about personal stuff--I just feel like it's my therapy. Speaking of which, I have signed up for some other races to kind of help me deal with my emotions and cheer me up. I guess I'm a girl who just needs to coast on some extra endorphins for awhile. I'm way excited to do the Red Rock Relay in a couple of weeks--I'm so glad that my friend, Geri, had an open spot on her team. Also, I decided to do the South Jordan half marathon at the end of September followed by the St. George Marathon the next weekend and then the Layton half marathon the weekend after that. I'm still contemplating the Provo Halloween half marathon, but I'm not sure I can afford to do any more races--we'll see.