Fall is in the Air!

Oh, how I LOVE fall! I love the crispness in the air, the changing leaves...I just love it! This weekend, I was lucky enough to take two canyon drives to enjoy the leaves.

On Saturday, I took the kids out so that Mike could paint Aynsley's room without any "helpers". Two of my sisters joined me for a picnic at Silver Lake. The kids LOVED being there. Jaxson thought it was so much fun to be able to run around the pathway. It was such a beautiful day to be there. It's days like these that make me love living near so many canyons.

Blowing kisses with Aunt Beth.

Love these two! I was so glad I was able to get a picture with both of  them. 

One of our family traditions is to take a fall drive over Guardsman's Pass and down into the Park City area. Mike suggested that we take our annual drive today, and it was another beautiful day in the canyons. We paused to take a few pictures and enjoy the scenery.

My two favorite boys. :)

Big Cottonwood Half Marathon

I did it...another half marathon! After running the Salt Lake Half back in April, I decided that I wanted to find another race to help keep me motivated with running. After some research, I found the Big Cottonwood Half. This was the first year of the race, and it really appealed to me because it was down the canyon in the fall. What a better backdrop to run than the beautiful canyon? I talked my friend, Camille, into running with me, and I am so glad we did it!

The race was so much fun. I loved the route...seriously so beautiful. It was really different to start running in the dark and then have the sunrise during the run, but I really did like it. I loved the crisp air, the smell of pine, and of course the changing leaves. Plus, I was able to improve my personal best time by about 12 minutes. This really was the best run I have had in a long time, and I am already looking forward to signing up next year.

This race was really runner-friendly. All of the race pictures were FREE, so it was nice to have some pictures from the route. 

Crossing the finish line! Until next year...and maybe even a FULL marathon???

Oktoberfest

For as long as I can remember, my family has gone up to Snowbird every year to celebrate Oktoberfest. I have so many fond memories of my grandparents coming into town and my family going up there for the day. As little kids, it seemed like this great adventure where we got to each strange food, dance to crazy music, and explore all the little vendor shops. Now that I have kids of my own, it is fun to share this family tradition with them. When we went last year, Jaxson wasn't quite ten months old yet and I was ready to pop with Aynsley, so this year was definitely a lot more fun.

Once we got settled into our table in the main area, Aynsley immediately started bopping her head and trying to dance. Once we got her out of the stroller, she was going crazy dancing to the beat. She LOVED the polka music. And, much to my surprise, she also loved the German food. Apparently she is just in touch with her German heritage. :)

Jaxson was a little less excited to be there. He wanted to be held by me or Beth most of the time. 

Getting these kids to hold still for a picture is HARD! I don't know how people do it!

Aynsley is busting a move again. This girls absolutely loves music and to dance. 

Birthday Girl!

Wow, how time flies! It seems like just yesterday that Aynsley was born, and now we are celebrating her first birthday! I decided to do her party in a "chevron stripe" theme, and we had our families over to celebrate.

Aynsley didn't quite get the concept of opening her gifts, but Jaxson was more than happy to help out. She now has some girl toys to play with (no more cars) and some super cute clothes for the fall.

Mike's cousin, made this super cute cake for Aynsley's party. I don't know what I would have done without her. I gave her a couple pictures of ideas that I had, and she just ran with it. It definitely turned out way better than I could have done. Jaxson loved it too... he got a finger of yellow frosting (see top right of cake) before I could stop him.

At this point, Aynsley was way overdue for her nap. She has started into that stage of going to just one nap a day, so she wouldn't take a morning nap before her party. She was already getting a little fussy to begin with, but when she started rubbing her eyes and got frosting in them, she was just ready to be done. Needless to say, she got a bath and was put to bed before any of her party guests left.

We are so grateful to have such an amazing family that would come celebrate Aynsley's big day with us! Thanks so much for the thoughtful gifts and help with lunch. We love having you in our lives!

Anderson Family Reunion

Every labor day, Mike's extended family has a family reunion camping trip in the Beaver area. We didn't go last year because I was due to deliver Aynsley, but we have gone the past two years before. I was very nervous about going this year...who goes camping with two kids under two? After a lot of debate and learning that we would have access to a trailer, we decided to go.

We left our house before 4:00 on Friday, and after a lot of delays, finally arrived around 12:30 that night. Talk about a long night! Fortunately, it was pretty easy to get settled in and everyone was in bed by about 1:00 AM or so.

I was pleasantly surprised with how well the kids did camping on Saturday. Jaxson was able to take his first ride on a horse and both kids seemed to really enjoy exploring and getting dirty. Jaxson absolutely LOVED playing with the big kids...digging holes, playing with the ball, you name it. He was also quite the little ladies man. The other little girls that were there kept trying to give him hugs and kisses. It was quite tender.

I was able to enjoy a nice run down the canyon and had my personal best time for a five mile run! We also took the kids on a ride in one of the UTVs that was there. Jaxson loved it, and Aynsley fell asleep. As we were coming back from our ride, we saw such a beautiful sunset over the lake that we were camping next to. I commented to Mike that I hadn't even got my camera out at all, so I would have to make sure that I did the next day.

Mike and his cousins

Little did I know that Jaxson would wake up in the night with a fever. He started crying in the night, so I just had Mike bring him in bed with us so that he didn't wake up Aynsley. After he came into bed, I thought that he seemed really warm, but I thought that maybe I had just overdressed him for bed. That next morning, I was certain that he had a fever. We gave him some ibuprofen and hoped that would do the trick. He seemed to perk up for a little while, but it was obvious that he was still feeling really sick. He just laid by me on the bed moaning...it was SO sad! We were able to track down a thermometer and found that his temperature was over 102 degrees, so no wonder that he was feeling so sick! At that point, we decided it was time to just pack up and head home early.

Bottom line...besides Jaxson getting sick, the camping trip went better than I was expecting. I had totally been preparing myself for the worst case scenario, so I was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't as hard as I was expecting. Staying in a trailer was a huge help, but I think it also helped that we were prepared with so many things from home that the kids are used to, such as their favorite snacks and high chairs. It is good to know that we can travel with our kids without having it be a complete disaster. :)

Aynsley's Photo Shoot

I can't believe that Aynsley is almost one (tomorrow!). In honor of her first birthday, we headed over to Fotofly to have her picture taken. She seemed to be in a great mood when we first got there, and was having so much fun exploring in the waiting room. But once the photographer came out, it was game over. She was immediately in "stranger danger" mode and really just did not want to be there. Fortunately, we were still able to get some good shots, so it wasn't a total bust.

Aynsley and Jaxson. Right now, you can still tell that there is an age difference, but I know it won't be long until they look like twins.

Finally...a picture of her smiling!

Just ready to be done.

This past year has definitely been a crazy whirlwind, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't imagine not having Aynsley as part of our family. She is our sweetheart, drama queen, and everything in between!