The beautiful MONSTER

Aspen loves going for walks & bike rides.  If her jogger is out, she crawls over and climbs right in... or tries to.  If she doesn't get her way lately, she lets us hear about it.  Throwing tantrums is her new hobby, and one she is getting better and better at.  She throws them the most when she is tired, which makes church at 1pm a JOKE, since this is the prime nap time period.  The is a little climber.  Today a package came in the mail, and once the item was removed from the box, she spent the next hour or so just climbing up on the box, and then getting down.  She is this way with the rocking chair in the living room, the stairs, and the tub.  Brenden and Wade have been gone for a couple weeks, and when they came back this past weekend Aspen got SOOO excited.  She grabs onto them, screams and laughs at them, and makes singing, flirty noises at them until they look at her.  Then she dives into their arms.  She loves her brothers.

5k @ Lavender Days

If I didn't have such a competitive nature about me, taking a nice leisurely run through the lavender yesterday morning would have been easy.  Unfortunately my need to come in BEFORE the person in front of me, led me to miss a lot of the beauty of the lavender, but helped me take almost 3 minutes off of my previous 5k time.  I went with three of the gals in my neighborhood/ward, and Brenden.  The morning was cool until the sun came up and it warmed up quickly.  The course was mostly flat, with the first mile being with an uphill grade.  For some reason, the start of the race was really hard for me... I had to keep saying to myself "JUST DON'T WALK".  Hayden stayed home with Aspen.  After we got home, Hayden and I took Aspen (and Fred with his new wheels) to her first parade.  She loved it.  

Race Day

I'm running a race (5k) on Saturday in Mona.  What better place to run one than through fields of LAVENDER?  (My favorite smell/plant EVER).    Just started running "seriously" this year, and ran my first 5k race in May.  I feel great when I run (most of the time), unless I decide to run to Draper (9.4 miles away), and my knees make me pay for it the next day.  In addition to my knees (that i got from my father), I have Shepherd's toe (which I got from my Grandma Snow).  Both make it hard to run.  

There is a half marathon (13.1 miles) in August that I have signed up for.  Up until I ran the 9.4 miles this past weekend, 13 seemed like a LONG way.  It's amazing how such a little thing like running can make me feel so great.

20 years in a DAY

My little girl, Morgan, graduated this year.  As I am sitting in graduation ceremony a sudden rush of memories flooded back to me, and I suddenly remembered walking into my own graduation, picking up my diploma, and even the smell of my high school halls.  WOW.  Where did 20 years go?    

Birthday Girl

Aspen cared more about her ribbon on her packages than she did about what was in her gifts this year.  She got some fun books, a music/counting toy (that she LOVES to dance to when she pushes the button), and her favorite... 2 soft and cuddly stuffed animals.  She was bathing in the kitchen sink when we opened the packages with the stuffed animals in it.  She stood up and started squealing and started climbing out of the sink.  It was pretty funny.  We had to hurry and bath her so she could get to cuddle with her new toys.

We hung out most of the day on her birthday.  Played in the hammock in the backyard, ate popsicles, and for the finale... Aspen got to go at a cupcake all on her own.  It was a mess, but very entertaining.

ASPEN ROSE FRASER

Wow, where has a year gone? Just yesterday my Aspen was born and now she is ONE year old... with an attitude the size of TEXAS!  I spent much of yesterday thinking about how quickly, and how slowly, this year has gone.  What a total and complete JOY she has been.  She has her daddy wrapped around her finger. I think having her at the age I did has allowed me to enjoy the little things more.   

At one year old she has just gotten the hang of standing.  Just today she figured out how to do it on her own and has taken off with standing whenever she can.  She puts a roll of tape on her arm like a bracelet and crawls around with it.  She LOVES to take baths.  She hears the water going in the bathroom and crawls in to open the shower door and try to climb in... regardless of who is in the shower.  She loves to be outside, and if a door is left open (usually the back door) she is out and about before I even notice.  Her stroller is another one of her LOVES.  She will crawl up and into the seat and beg to be taken for a stroll.  She has a little bath toy that is her favorite.  Its a little blue shark, and she has had to drag that thing around with her EVERYWHERE the past two weeks.  Silly girl.  

In the Beginning...

I've always wanted to keep a good regular record of our comings and goings, and I finally took the example of several of my friends and family and made one for us.  Its summer time for school teachers (and that includes me).  The past two weeks have been a bit of an adjustment with having no school to make it to every morning, but I definitely keep busy doing everything else.  My garden is the most grown it has ever been since I have begun planting a garden.  It is amazing what happens when I get my garden in BEFORE school is out for the summer.  We have already had vegetables out of it.  Hayden is working hardwood, and keeping MORE than busy.  I don't know how he does it.  I work with him for a weekend and it takes me a week to recover, yet he does it everyday, and most weekends as well.  The man is my hero (for many other reasons as well).  

This past week the Russian Olive trees have been in full bloom and the smell has been INCREDIBLE.  I just love the sweet smell, it reminds me of picnics to my parents' fields as a child.  I just can't get enough of it.  Nothing is a close to heaven as a warm summer night, just a hint of light in the sky, and the smell of summer in the air.