California in November is always a good thing.

We escaped to Southern California a few

weeks ago for Richard's birthday.

Jane was so excited to make this yummy cake for him.

what a crazy bunch of kids!

Thanks for the fun weekend!

xo

Peter Pan!

This is our cute William!  

He recently played the part of a "Lost Boy" in 

his school production of "Peter Pan".

He really enjoyed it and said he would love to be in 

another play sometime.

A budding thespian?

We miss you and love you.

{Thank you Tracy, for sharing!}

Cousin love.

Tonight we had our monthly Family Home Evening and 
celebrated Luke's 15th birthday. {really?? 15?}

Anytime these kids get together, it's "utter chaos" 
but in a wonderful way!

We love how much they love each other.

There's just nothing like cousin love.
{we sure wish all of them could be here!}

Life is good.

one year ago today

Here is what happened

one year ago today:

yep.  It's been a year!
If you've had a missionary,
you know how important this day is...
we're finally on the countdown!

sure hope the next 6 months

go by quickly...

enough is enough.

We love our little mish!

lucky girl.

We received this quick message from Lindsay yesterday:


"The transfer email came... and shocked us! They are taking sisters out of Paris and putting Elders in. President wants sisters in smaller villes because we connect better to families. So, Soeur Smith and I (and Soeur Didier and her companion) are ALL leaving!! Soeur Smith is going to Brussels and I'm going to Blois (it's south of Paris... not exactly sure where. google map it) with Soeur Larsen!! I'm really excited. It's going to be different- i'm used to big cities. But i'm way excited to be in a smaller ville. Elder Hall told me it's really pretty there. I leave on Wednesday!"


So, we googled Blois, as she suggested, and WOW... what a lucky girl she is!

Lucky, indeed.

Happy Sunday!

somewhere over {under?} the rainbow...

hidden talent... wouldn't you say?

no matter how many times we see it,

Rainbow Bridge always inspires!

lake powell

this is where I am at the moment...

staying on this:

spending time doing this:

it only took an hour to get here in this:

and this:

oh my goodness... thank you, Redmond.

the Lake Powell life is lovely!

Happy 22nd Birthday to our Parisienne!

we love and miss our Lindsay Lou! 

xxoo

sprinklers & s'mores

a perfect night with the family = lots of kids, sprinklers & a trampoline, and s'mores!

We've decided this will definitely become 

a summer tradition... 

sprinklers & s'mores.

California Lytle love

We spent last weekend in 

California with Nate, Carrie and kids...

we were especially grateful to be there for  Avery's Baptism.

We had a wonderful time in Santa Barbara,

at Zuma Beach and just being together as a family.

a perfect day in Santa Barbara

fun times at Zuma... it was great to 

be there at the same time as Josh & Cassie!

We were thrilled to be there for Avery's baptism... 

such a sweet boy!

We love you and miss you!

xxoo

summer... so glad you're here.

It's been a very long wait 

for summer this year.

Thank you for coming!

the story of my first {almost} Half Marathon...

Call me crazy.

I like running and like to be challenged,

so when the company I work for offered to sponsor 

any employee wanting to participate in the 

Utah Valley Half or Full Marathon,

I thought, hey, why not try a Half Marathon?

I started training months ago... 

then injured my left achilles.

Thought maybe I should give up on the whole idea,

but once it healed, I decided to go for it.

Roland joined me in the goal of the Half,

which made it easier to train and stay motivated.

Yesterday was race day.

We had to get up at 3 am, yep. 

Why would anyone want to get up

at 3 am and run for 2+ hours, beginning at 6 am?

I don't know!

The race started in Provo Canyon near the Sundance turnoff

and ended in downtown Provo at the 

Provo Tabernacle Park - a beautiful 13.1 mile course.

We were doing pretty well on our run, 

keeping up good 10 min mile pace... 

then at the almost 8 mile mark, disaster strikes.

I am running along and somehow manage to trip 

on a piece of wire in the road, 

which caused me to go down - hard!

My left knee hit first, then both hands, 

followed by my face hitting the road

super hard - causing my front teeth to 

cut all the way through my upper lip.

Lovely!

At this point, we tried reaching Richard, Amie or Scott,

who were on their way to meeting us at the finish line.

I sent Roland on his way to finish the race,

while I waited for one of them to pick me up.

I was a bloody mess, but tried to clean up quickly

so we could make it to the finish line to cheer for Roland.  

We got there just a few minutes ahead of him,

so I decided to join him for the last little bit

so we could cross the finish line together.

Despite the mis-hap which caused a 10 minute delay,

Roland finished the Half in 2:12 - an excellent time for 

a first try with a frustrating delay that slowed him down!

Here is a lovely post-race shot of my beat-up mouth:

 Today, it looks 100 times worse... 

kind of like I have a piece of raw 

hamburger stuck to my upper lip.  

Special.

So, there you have it. 

My first Half Marathon that really wasn't.

Will I try again? 

Who knows!

Too many aches and pains today.

xxoo

the Race 2011

 Before the race... let's get this show on the road, ok? 
There were 20,000 participants this year!

 Look closely at the bottom left of the picture...
Richard is yelling, I am starting my Garmin,
Amie and Roland are set to take off! 
We always try to get up to the very front of the start line -
there's less chance of being run over by all 20,000 runners:)

 Amie, the queen of re-purposing, made these adorable 

Race for the Cure dresses for the girls out of my t-shirts from previous years...

aren't they perfect?? They were a big hit!

 Eric and Charlie having fun while waiting and waiting for us to cross the finish line!

 Roland always runs right by me,
encouraging me all along the way... 

this year I was happy to finish 4th out of all the Survivors.

 Amie and Richard - happy to be be crossing the finish line!

the survivor parade...
peace out.

This race marked my 12th year as a survivor -

 I am oh so grateful.

I always listen to the same song every year as I run, "I Run for Life"

which was written specifically for the Race for the Cure:

I run for hope,

I run to feel,

I run for the truth,

For all that is real.

I run for your mother, your sister, your wife,

I run for you and me, my friend.

I run for life!

Until next year...

Lytle love in Ohio

We had a wonderful weekend in Ohio:

Mason was baptized,

beautiful Molly was blessed,

and we celebrated princess Emrie's 5th birthday...

all in one weekend!

It was perfection.

We loved every minute with our

wonderful little Lytle family!

Thank you Joel, Heather, Gabe, Mason,

Emrie and sweet Molly...

We love you!