Maili Gets Braces

I grew up with really crooked (read BUCK) front teeth until the 6th grade whn I was finally able to get braces. I don't like the pictures of me from 4th and 5th grade because of my horrible teeth. When Maili's permanent front teeth started to come in, it seemed as if she was going to share my same fate. But then I noticed a little girl in our ward who was only a year older than Maili had gotten braces. Now days they can do braces in 2 phases - and it doesn't really cost you any more than if you just waited till they were older and fixed them all at once. I was all for this.

Here is Maili pre-braces

Doesn't this look like fun?

In fact it looks like so much fun that Thyse wants to join in!

Poor Maili - they only hurt for a few days. And her teeth were literally straight after about 2-3 weeks!

Thanskgiving Turkey Trot

While in AZ for Thanksgiving we decided to run the annual Turkey Trot with Stephanie my best friend from high school. Her very first 10K and she did it while she was a few weeks pregnant. Way to go Steph. Next goal a Half Marathon right? - post baby of course!

Russ ran the race too and finished with a great time of 43:50. I finished at 49:58 - but I did beat the turkey! This race was much bigger than I expected a local race to be.

I finished 21st out of the 262 women in my division. Russ finished 23rd out the 170 in his division. That means I really won right? Even though he was faster?

We also went to see the Christmas light parade in Tempe and the AZ Temple lights. It was so great to have some fun Christmas activities without being freezing cold! We didn't even bother to see the lights at the SL Temple when we got home.

Thyse with his Grandma Cindy, Aunt Stacey and cousins Mabry and Adley.

Ryan and Mabry enthralled with the lights!

Having a fun time with the grandparents at the temple.

My kids also love to go with Grandpa to feed and ride the horses whenever we come to visit.

Bryton's Birthday

Bryton's birthday is on November 24th so we are often out of town for Thanksgiving. This means he get to celebrate his birthday all over the place including Idaho and Mexico. This year we happened to be in AZ for Thanksgiving so we got to celebrate his birthday with all of his Rogers cousins. But before we left he got to have a BACKWARDS birthday party with his friend in Utah.
Some highlights of the backward party:

1) Everyone had to come dressed backwards. And everyone entered the house from the back door.

2) We had cake inside the ice cream cones and ate cake batter flavored ice cream. We had the cake and ice cream as soon as they came in the door. We sang "Birthday Happy You To" of course!
At the end of the party we gave them pizza and caprisun which they had to drink with the straw from the bottom of the container while sitting under the table.

3) We played pin the donkey on the tail.

4) We hung balloons upside down from the ceiling and put out random seasonal decorations from all year long. Taylor and Ashley even showed up to join us in the fun!

The day after the party in Utah we headed south to AZ for thanksgiving and Bryton got his second birthday party at the Bowling Alley! First time bowling at 6 years old.

He was excited to get a gift from the cousins because we had asked all his friends not to bring gifts to his UT party. We wanted it to be more about the fun than what he would get. (I know...we're mean)

A little victory dance with Katie

The next morning dad helped him put together the cool Legos that Grandma and Grandpa gave him. Those things are complicated!

Happy Birthday Kiddo! We Love You!

Annual Pumpkin Run

We're ready to head out to the door to the race! Wish us luck!

If you can't tell I am a bunny and Russ is Hugh Heffner!

My Bunny Booty!

Michelle - my long time race buddy! She has gotten so much faster! She can almost beat me now......but not quite. Sorry Michelle!

One minute to go!

Russ came in 1st in his age division and I got 3rd - as usual! A police man told me "You are way ahead of the tortoise!" As I passed by. Maybe we should have made Russ a turtle instead.

At the finish another guy told me, " I felt like a greyhound the whole time. I couldn't catch up to you!" Both were good anaolgies.

Stacey's birthday with the rattle snake

Cordell saw a rattle snake about 100 feet from our cabin. Luckily he had his 22 with him.

September 2nd was Stacey's birthday. She decided she was going to be very brave and pick up the snake. Yes it was dead (but still moving).

This is Stacey getting up the courage to touch the snake.

Happy 27th Stacey! Glad we could share it with you this year!

Tubing

Thyse wore this pirate life jacket the whole time and looked so cute. He always steals my heart.

He was brave enough to go on the tube with me!

And he loved this part. He thought he was so cool and brave.

Bryton is my other cute boy!

Bryton is a little nervous still but hung on with me through the crazy turns.

OK - this one is Uncle Ryan. Maili was too brave and ready for a more aggressive ride than I wanted to take.

And she was adventurous enough to try wake boarding with her Uncle Cordell.

Skiing at Apache Lake

Once the reception in Utah was over I loaded my kids up in my Dad's truck and we headed to AZ for the open house the following Saturday. Which meant we had lots of time to play and ski while Taylor and Ashley were on their honeymoon at Disney World.

Getting ready for a moonlight dip in the lake. We always ride on the tailgate the 1/4 mile to the bay.

Still nice and warm even after the sun goes down. Gotta love it!

My cute niece Mabry (she is Ryan's Daughter)

Ryan trying to convince Mabry that knee boarding isn't too scary for a 20 month old.

Ryan's wife Stacey and their baby Adley.

Stacey on the wake board.

Bryton did the knee board for the 1st time this year!

My Dad is still pretty good! Even at 60. Look how smooth the water was. It stayed that way for hours.