My Husband, the RUNNER!

The Rivalry Relay. Cade's first team race. 81 teams. 66 miles from the U of U to BYU. 8 hours 13 min. FIRST PLACE BABY!

I am so proud of my husband. This was his first big race (he has done a 5k in the past with me :)). He was very excited and a little anxious because most of the guys on his team are hard core runners and have been running competitively for a while. Cade has now caught the bug and I'm sure this is his first of many races to come!

A group of guys from his work (Fishbowl Inventory) signed up together and most of them were big-time runners so Cade was a little intimidated but he did SO good! There were a few really BIG hills he had to run and driving up them even made me tired thinking he had to run them! It was so much fun to take part in it too! Not the actual running but the supporting...I do good at that :). Cade woke me up at 5:20 a.m. (yep, that's saying how much I love him) and I drove him to the U of U and helped his team decorate their vehicle that would be following along the way (it started with 30 balloons and not one survived :)).





Then later on in the day, Emma and I stopped at 2 different places so we could cheer on Daddy! Emma LOVED it and has been saying for weeks now "daddy, run, daddy, run." She was confused at first why daddy ran right past her cause she yelled, "daddy, HI!" as if he didn't see her and that's why he kept running.



The best part was at BYU seeing the whole team run in together and cross the finish line. I was such a proud wifee! I am still proud of him becuase if you know Cade, he makes goals and he accomplishes ANYTHING he puts his mind to. He is so wonderful!

4 Whole Years Down!

Happy (late) anniversary to my wonderful husband! We have been married for over 4 years now! Crazy how time flies. Soon it will be 24 and then 34 :). This post is an extension to the Santa Barbara post. We were in Cali during our actual anniversary so during the day Cade and I walked around state street with Kristen, Boose, Bud and Emma. It was so much fun and beautiful. Then at night, the others stayed home with Emma while Cade and I went out for dinner. We ate at this Mexican restaurant right by the beach. The view was awesome and the food was really good! We then walked along the pier and beach and put our blankets and drank sparkling cider by the beach. It was so romantic :).





Look at this picture closely...Cade called it "The Barnacle Van". This hippy gentleman lives in his van that is rediculously awesome. Random, I know :).


One of our favorite anniversary traditions has been to attend a different temple together and do sealings to remember the promises we made as well as a session too. Well, unfortunately the 2 closest temples in Cali were both closed the exact time we were there. The next closest temple would have taken at least 4 hrs there and 4 hrs back. So this last week on my birthday (Aug. 31) we stayed at Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake and the following morning we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was beautiful and it is so fun to see the different architecture of each temple. I love that tradition and Cade always makes sure it happens. We had a great anniversary!






Every year I love my husband more and more. I remember the day we were sealed, the sealer had mentioned "you think you love each other a lot now. Just wait year after year. You can't imagine how much you will love each other." It is so true. I love you, Cade!

Video Just for Boose!

Boose, enjoy this...Emma has learned a lot from you already :). She loves her Auntie Boose!

Santa Barbara with Sisten and An-Doo!

Well, after an already crazy summer, we decided to drive to California to visit Kristen and Andrew and their new home. It was great having a vacation like that after girls camp and youth conference and just being able to relax. It was especially fun to see where they live and what they're going to be up to for the next months or years. We had tons of fun with them! We wanted to make this trip before Kristen had her baby and before I can't travel anymore with my pregnancy. Boose and Bud were going to go with my Mom and Dad, but that didn't work out anymore so they came with us! We had so much fun!

On the way there, we stopped by at Tara and Johnny's and stayed Monday night and all day Tuesday at their place. We went down town to eat and went to the M&M World. Emma and Ashur also had tons of fun at the park and water slash pad....it was HUGE! Wish we had something like that around here!






We got to Santa Barbara late Tuesday night. While we were there, Cade and Andrew worked most of the days and played with us at night. Friday, Saturday and Sunday they were able to hang out with us all day long! Thursday was our anniversary and Cade took most of that day off so we could enjoy the day togther. I will post about our anniversary later :).

So we loved going down town and walking around state street at all the shops and the old Buildings around there. It was beautiful and 70 degrees most days. Unfortunately too cold for enjoying the beach more :) but other than that, it was perfect weather for everything else!

This was Emma's first experience at the beach and let's just say....she HATES being dirty. The sand bothered her a lot at first and she kept showing us her hands and feet saying "eeeww" and whining to us. It was pretty funny. After the 2nd and 3rd times going to the beach, she got used to it.

I'm so sad I forgot my camera on the "pretty beach" day! The main beach wasn't the best sand and water, but there was a day we got keys from Andrew's boss for a private beach that was gorgeous. We had tons of fun there and Emma finally enjoyed being in the water/sand.






This is how much Jordan loves shopping... :)



On the Friday, we drove to Solvang and it was such a fun, cute, Dutch town (Danish?...Now I can't remember). Anyway, it was cute and fun and we just walked around all the shops and ate at a yummy Italian place. I really, really loved that town!




We also celebrated Jordan's birthday on Sunday. Happy 16th Bud! I can't believe that my youngest brother is 16!





On Monday, Emma and I traveled to Santa Monica to meet up with my good friend Chappy (Valerie Cope)! She was one of my companions on our performing mission in Nauvoo. She moved to Georgia for 2 years and now lives in Temecula, CA. We hadn't seen each other in 2 years! We got to catch up on each others lives and finally meet each others kids! She is due with her 2nd just a few weeks before me. So fun to see her!!




The last night we were all together, we ate at a yummy burger place and hung out at the pier. We got some fun hoodies and got to see exciting things like this: (just had to put this picture in)






It was such a fun trip and we are glad we took the time to go see Kristen and Andrew! We miss them tons, but are excited to see them in December when both of our babies are born! Love you guys!

Emma's funny phrases and attitude...

Emma is definitely becoming more and more entertaining lately. She is also becoming more dramatic as well as teaching Mommy to gain more patience on a daily basis:). She is testing boundaries for sure. But for the most part, she is just so lively and fun and energetic! No wonder why I am so dang tired during this pregnancy! She keeps me alive and on my toes all day long!

Some of her fun/cute words:

Po: "corn". This one is our favorite. She does pretty well with copying what we say. But no matter how many times we say "corn" she is convinced that she is saying it when really she's saying "po".
Froo-roo: Obviously "smoothie". (Which has become one of her favorite things in the morning and she'll say froo-roo and Daddy over and over and over).
Meemo: Nemo (as in "Finding Nemo")
Bee-Bee: either 1)binky, 2)blanket, or 3)baby...just have to know what context she is using it in :). Not confusing really :).

Phrases she says that I LOVE:

"You're funny...he he."
"Come on Mom" with her little hand out beconing me to follow her. It really sounds like "Uh-mon Mom."

Some other things I love about her:
I love that when she hears the garage door opening and she knows Daddy is home from work, she'll run over to me in excitement/panic and beg me to pick her up cause she's just too excited to just run over to the door without me. And it happens every day without fail.

She has become obsessed with "Finding Nemo". I tried to put in Toy Story the other day instead and after a few minutes she walked over to the DVD's scrolled through them with her finger, found "Nemo" and brought it over to me and while nodding her head saying "Memo, memo?" Cade and I then knew that "memo" didn't mean movie to her....she really wants to watch Nemo EVERY SINGLE DAY. How is she not sick of it yet???

She is becoming smarter every day and trying out new language and how to comunicate what she needs. Like today for instance when she tried to tell me that she needed a diaper change. There I was, singing in my own little world (like we all do sometimes) and here is Emma trying to get my attention. She walked over holding her little brown pointer finger right up to my nose saying "poopy, Mom. Poopy". Wow...if I didn't get the point from that! Smart girl right? At least it's better than our friends child who does finger painging on the walls (TMI, I know). I told Cade when he got home and he thought it was hilarious!

Yes, she is our cute little Sweet-pea. We love her with all our hearts! And I am so excited for another! Emma definitely needs a play-mate who can give her the attention she craves when Mom cannot. She is wonderful :).

Some of her better looks:

Youth Conference: BOOT Camp

For Youth Conference this summer we went to Fillmore, Utah! Yes, the place that you stop by for some gas on your way to Las Vegas or Arizona or California. It was great and we had SOOO much fun....minus the rooster.

Our theme was BOOT Camp: Build Our Own Testimony. It revolved all around what a testimony of the Gospel should consist of. How we gain a testimony. How it can help us in this life and how do we continue building it daily. The Young Men's President and I did a workshop/activity that dealt with putting together our own little BOOT camp/obstacle course and related how just like if you want to become physically strong you have to continually work at it every day and that is the same with spirituality. The youth became very competitive and spent lots of time trying to beat each others time. It was great!





Aside from workshops, speakers, and really good food, we also had tons of fun roller skating, visiting Cove Fort (historic Pioneer monument), visiting the first Utah state capital building, and having a swimming/BBQ party.







There was also volleyball, basketball, a zipline, cotton candy and icee machines, and very early morning wake up calls.....

Oh, did I mention we stayed on a farm?! The first reaction from all the girls in my car when we pulled into the driveway the first morning..."No, way! You've got to be kidding me!" "sister Close, this is a joke, right? Where are we really going?!" I just told them all they could choose to sleep on the haystacks if they really wanted to. After you drive through and go around back, there were grassy areas for all the fun activities and places to set up our tents. The "barn" was extremely nice and very convinient for all of our cooking and eating needs. It ended up being wonderful and so much fun! Oh, did I mention except for the ROOSTER!!! Thinking about it STILL makes me mad!

So you know how in movies and books the rooster wakes up and does one simple little cock-a-doodle-do and goes on with it's day?? NO! It does NOT happen that way! It crows from 4:00 a.m. til the sun pokes up at 7:00 a.m. I thought I was going to die when it happend over and over and over every minute for THREE HOURS!!! I texted Cade at 5:00 a.m. (cause I knew he would be up studying) and he said that he honestly did not think I had ever seen more than one 5 on the clock before. I wish that I didn't have to. Here is the picture I took right before I shot them...



Needless to say, we got earplugs for everyone for the next morning and things went much better :).

We had a great time! And hopefully the youth will remember more than just the roosters, chickens and cows :).

My Biligual Daughter

Funny story.

Stephanie watched Emma one of the days I was gone at Girl's Camp. After getting back, I got to hear this story that went something like this:

Emma: Babbling in her own language.
William: "Emma. I can't understand you!"
Emma: Still talking away as if they understand her :).
William: (In a very very slow voice as if speaking to someone using a foreign language) "Emmmmaaaa. Speeeaaak cleeaarrly. I caaan't understand youuu!"
Nathan: "William, why can't you understand her?"
William: "Because she's speaking Spanish."

Apparently my daughter knows Spanish...how did I not pick up on that? Gotta love the cute things kids say!