Hayden's 6th Birthday Party

This year Hayden decided he wanted to have his friend birthday party at the Living Planet Aquarium. We ended up having the party a week before his actual birthday during the UEA break. Hayden had 10 friends come to celebrate with him and the kids all had a great time!

These are the party bags we put together for the kids...it was filled with "under-the-sea" themed treats and non-edible goodies.

Hayden with Marcello, Sophia, and Graci Gonzalez

I decided that cupcakes would be much easier to serve this year instead of a birthday cake. So I made fish, octopus, and crab cupcakes.

Here's Hayden blowing out the candles on the fish cupcake he picked out.

Yummy...cupcakes, icecream, and drinks!

Hayden's cute cousin, Gage.

More of the group: Graci G., Sophia, Paige, and Graci E.

Opening presents! Hayden got some fun, cool gifts from his thoughtful friends.

After opening presents, Hayden and his friends (along with Grandma and Grandpa Barnes, Aunt Brooke, Jenny Gonzalez, and mommy) went and explored the aquarium. Here's a shot of the group: Gage, Ty, Abbi, Hamilton, Sophia, Graci, Marcello, Hayden, Rex, Graci, and Paige.

Red Rock Relay 2011

Back again for another year, but this time I was in the Sun Van (harder legs than last year's Snow Van). We had seven of our original team members from last year and five newbies. This year our team name was "Cool Runnings," and we tried to wear some tye-dyed shirts for the group shot (at least the girls did). We left on Thursday, Sept. 8 and headed to Brian Head. Our Van stayed in the condo while the others camped out in the RV. This year we used trucks and an RV. We were pretty smart and used one truck for the runners and then the other truck stayed with the RV that met us at the exchange points. That way, if your group wasn't running then you could hang out in the RV. Yes, we're a smart team! There are 12 members on a team and each person runs 3 times (a total of 36 legs from start to finish).

After we dropped off our stuff in Brian Head, we drove to Cedar City for packet pick-up and the pre-race dinner. Below is a picture that we took after dinner...had to throw in one of the official RRR vehicles in.

Friday--race morning! Debbie started the race by riding the ski lift up the mountain at 7:30. Amy, Camille, Mariangel, Jake, Suzie and I posed for a pic while waiting for her to race back down.

My half of the team waiting for the others to finish their first legs. Pictured are Chelsea, Jess, me, Mariangel, Jake, and Shyrlan. Oh, the butterflies are starting to set in.

I was the seventh runner out of our whole team which meant the first runner in the Sun Van. Here I am waiting for Amy to pass off the baton (aka: the slap bracelet).

And I'm off!!! Notice those dark clouds in the background...they played a role in my run.

So here I am going along and running the "Navajo Ninja"--this was labeled as one of the hardest legs of the whole race. Why? because you basically run up a mountain during the whole leg (which is almost 6 miles). Now if that isn't enough of a killer, let's add in some more fun. How about a little rain?

Oh, that actually feels refreshing!

Okay, how about a lot of rain?

Now that's a bit too much, but it could be worse.

Worse you say...hmmm, how about some hail mixed with some lightening right above your head?

Okay, now I'm freaking out a bit. At the same time though, it's motivating me to keep on running.

I found out later that lightening did strike and break a tree that fell on this route sometime after my run. Glad no one was hurt.

My next leg was almost at 11pm. I had to run 8.4 miles on a semi-flat highway. A little after 7 miles I had to stop because I needed something to eat. Jake jumped out and finished my last mile and told me I could make up for it by doing one of his miles. After we finished our legs we found out that we had a few injuries. Mariangel's feet were done in and Amy in the other van had sprained her ankle. Also, Shyrlan had been sick during this whole race and Jake's knees were starting to bother him. We knew that finishing the last legs of this race would mean really pulling together and working as a team. Once the "baton" was passed over to me I ran my last leg around 7am Saturday morning (another 5 and a half miles uphill) on about 45 minutes of sleep. I knew that I wasn't done yet... Shyrlan ran his with a little help from Jake. Chelsea and Jess ran their legs, but we knew Mariangel would need help with her 7 miler. Jess kept running and did the first part, Mariangel ran a quarter mile, I ran a mile, Chelsea ran 2 miles, and just as I was about to switchout and run another mile we got into a car accident. Our truck hit another truck coming down the mountain. Luckily we were all ok, but the truck wasn't driveable. This is where team work really comes into play. The other half of the team had dropped the RV in Sand Hollow and was with us in the other truck. Also, one of the runners (McKell) had her husband there in their SUV. So I kept the race going and ran to the next exchange point. Brandon (McKell's hubby) met us there with Jake and our captain, Camille. I passed off to Jake then hopped in with Brandon and Camille. After Jake ran for a bit, I got back out to run another mile. Then Camille ran one and at this point we had the other truck with us. Shyrlan ran a mile and Jake finished up the race. However, we couldn't cross the finish because we wanted the rest of our team with us. Rae Ann took the truck and went back down to get the others (they had been doing an accident report and having the truck towed while we were running). Finally, we were able to all cross the finish together...yay!

Group shots

Front: Me, Tegan (Camille's son), Suzie, and Debbie

Back: Rae Ann, McKell, Chelsea, Shyrlan, Jess, Camille, Amy, Mariangel, and Jake

Chelsea and I doing a sno cone "cheers."

So, Camille arranged a ride for me that night (since we were short one vehicle getting back). It's always fun to meet other runners and make new friends.

Hayden's First Day of Kindergarten

I made these apple cupcakes for Hayden's teachers and for some of my co-workers the day before school. Just as I pulled them out of my jeep, the bottom of the carrier dropped along with all the cupcakes. :( I managed to save some that landed upright (plus the ones for Hayden's teachers were fine because I wrapped them separately). Again, I just have to laugh because it's a lot better than crying.

Here's Hayden just after my mom dropped him off. He's posing with "Mrs. Blackburn" (my friend Kristen). We just have to get used to calling her by her last name.

Before the kids went into the classroom, their teacher (Mrs. Tyler) read them a story about the first day of kindergarten.

I happened to have a free moment when the kids went out to recess so I snapped another pic.

Last Minute Fun Before School Starts

Visiting Clark Planetarium. Here we are hanging out on Mars. We made an afternoon of our Gateway visit by checking out stores, having a treat, but the planetarium was the main event. I had a city deals certificate (good thing I used it then) for the IMAX theater, too.

Hayden's last day of his Arts and Crafts class. The kids painted "masks" and Hayden also painted a wooden dog.

He decided to make the mask look angry.

Say cheeeeeese!!!

These next two pics were taken on my phone so the quality isn't quite as good. Here's Hayden on the frog at the aquarium.

Later that same day we ventured over to the gardens at Thanksgiving Point. It was the end of the car show so we got to catch a few glimpses of some pretty awesome race cars and vintage ones, too.

I got in a nice hike up Bell Canyon to the waterfalls. I went with my friend, John, who really wanted to get in a good workout. We maintained a pretty steady pace on the hike up (a couple of miles), but it was a pretty good incline. We were both drenched with sweat which I guess is the idea when you're working out. We did stop for a moment before getting to the falls (that's this picture). I didn't realize that I was going to be in it or else I wouldn't have had my mouth full of apple. The view is amazing though. After we made it up we knew we'd have to go slower going down. Still, I managed to fall pretty hard! I was trying to jump my way through a few spots and my foot caught on a fallen branch and I went down face first. Luckily, I threw my hands down before my face hit the ground, but I hit my side and scored some nice cuts and bruises. However, my legs and feet were fine...which, let's face it, is my biggest concern. I had to laugh because I honestly can be such a klutz. We finally did make it down the mountain (my right hand was nice and swollen by that point). It was still an amazing and fun hike!

Timpanogos Half, Zoo, and Swimming

The end of July (30th) was the Timpanogos Half Marathon. It was a beautiful day...just perfect for a race. The course was incredibly similar to the AF Half Marathon from the previous month, but since the water levels were back to normal we got to run on more trail in the second half (loved it). I ran into my friend, Cathy Boer, and I saw another one (Mindy Lewis) before the race started. I felt pretty good throughout the whole race and I ended up pacing myself with other runners who were ahead of me. It worked out pretty well, but I still didn't get my race goal. Oh well, I still came in at 1:39. Afterwards I could definitely feel some pain in my left shin. Pain that seemed to continue for weeks afterwards (still does right now, but I think I'm on the right track). All in all, it was a beautiful and scenic race! I will consider doing it again next year, too.

So we started August by venturing over to the zoo (again!). We just can't seem to get enough of this place! One of the best things about this trip was that we actually witnessed one of the tigers swimming in the water. We were both pretty excited seeing as it seems to be quite the rare occurrence.

Another zoo highlight was when Hayden got to help feed the Llamas. We just happened to be there during feeding time and he was lucky enough to participate.

A few days later we went to Aunt Lila's pool for lunch and swim time. Hayden pretty much wanted to jump off the side into the water, but I got him to play a game with Selena and me for a bit.

Helicopter Ride and Playing With Cousins

On July 28, Hayden and I went on our first helicopter ride! It ended up on my "bucket list," but this was something that Hayden could be apart of...yay! I got this awesome deal through High Velocity Aviation on a 1/2 hour tour. Hayden was excited and he got in the helicopter without being nervous at all. However, once we left the ground, then the nerves set in. I was even having butterflies because the doors were off. I just kept hoping that the seatbelt would stay snapped, or else...

Here we are just before take-off.

We started out in Woods Cross and flew over Bountiful and the University of Utah area.

Whoo-Hoo! Go Utes!

The wind was so strong that it didn't take any extra power to lift us over the mountains (this is where my butterflies did some serious fluttering).

We made it back safely! Here we are post-flight! After we landed Hayden decided that it was an "awesome" experience despite how nervous he was.

Afterwards, I headed up to my cousin Carrie's house for some playtime. My other cousin, Emily, stopped by and later on so did my cousin, Ashley. Our kids had a great time playing together and Carrie (being the cute mom she is) mixed up this homemade bubble mixture. The kids could just use their hands to create some amazing and BIG bubbles.

Jakob with his two-handed bubble.

Noah with his bubble resting in the palm of his hand.

Katy Perry Concert

Back around Valentine's, my sis (Brooke) bought us a couple of Katy Perry concert tickets for July 25. We took a couple of pics before leaving my mom's house then headed downtown for dinner.

We found a great parking spot then ate at Z'Tejas at the Gateway Mall. Even though it was pretty hot, we still ate outside and enjoyed people watching. It was easy to pick out the people who were going to the concert, too...lots of girls dressed up! It kind of made me wish we would've too.

We snuck in another picture on my phone of the both of us. The concert started at 7:30 and lasted for about four hours!!! I don't think either of us have been out that late in awhile. I guess that's what happens when you're a mom, too. All in all, we had a great time and it was fun to feel "young" again.