I won't give too much detail here, but this is Blake getting prepped (picture below) for his special procedure last month. I've said it before and I'll say it again...out of my three boys he is the one that takes sickness with serious strength. I have to say that when he woke up from the anesthesia he looked and acted so sweet. I wanted to bottle it all up because it is rare that he wants to hug and be cuddled. He has given us frequent updates on his healing and is proud of his body for getting better. The above picture is of him in the car when leaving the hospital showing off his IV bandaid.

Blakes first field trip!!! He was so excited to ride the school bus to the Gilcrease pumpkin patch. I was helping Ethan's class that day so Darren went with him on this outing! What a great pops! He picked out a great pumpkin and also got some home made apple cidar from the gardens there. If you look closely you can see his sweetness black eye. Just getting ready for Halloween, I guess.
Side note: Look at the third picture of Blake standing in line. Check out the prego in the background. Are you kidding me with that lady's belly? I know that I should keep my mouth closed considering my current state but, yikes. Maybe she's just smuggling a pumpkin out of the garden.

Um, not sure what to say. Gotta love this kid- showing off some serious camera skills.

LOTOJA 2008

Lotoja was oh-so relaxing for me this year. All the crazy race day prep was replaced with Darren and I just sort of hanging out since both of us were stopping in Preston. It was fun to watch the race. I didn't miss the riding until I saw everyone finish- it is such a great accomplishment. In a sick way I enjoy being tired and sore since it represents hard work and a challenge! I hope the little guy/gal inside of me will enjoy being outside on bikes, hikes, runs...etc. I guess doing his/her first race 4 months in utero is a good start!

Sealed the Deal

JoJo and Chris got married last weekend. We went up to Price on Thursday night so that we could spend the day playing there before the reception. We packed the kids' bikes and they spent some time at the BMX race track. We had a fun picnic at the dino park and then spent a good part of the afternoon keeping Darren and Grandpa busy giving 4-wheeler rides. We spent most of the night at the reception chasing after crazy kids or at least pretending like we were keeping track of them. Check out the picture of the bride and groom- if you look closely at the cake you can see the cyclist on top. Joanna surprised Chris with that.

The next day was great. All of the siblings from both sides were at the ceremony in the SLC temple. Then there was a nice dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial bldg. Once again, chasing kids or at least pretending like we were.

Joanna looked awesome and the new couple make a great pair. We are so happy that Chris is in our family now. The Threshers are great. Happy life!

In July we went to a family get-together for the Hanson fam. (Grandma Bailey's side) How cool is by Grandma Hanson! The kids all call her "Great". She has something like 50 great-grandkids.


We got to see and play with all of our cousins. Here is a picture of Uncle J-Dog and Jackson and Bowen.


Ethan caught his first fish in the Pioneer Park pond.


One of my cousin's husband launched candy out of a cannon. The kids went chasing all over for the goods.


Darren and Keaton enjoying the awesome weather...and some salt water taffy.

One your marks...

The annual Mount Charleston Hill Climb is always sooo fun! Due to big bellies all around (just kidding, Darren), this year the only racers from the Bryan team were Ethan and Blake...in the kid's race. Darren and the boys camped the night before with some friends and then I met them up there in the morning to get ready for all the festivities that our bike team had planned. They still mustered up enough energy to do the race and go home feeling like winners. I love it!
Pictures: Ethan had his "race face" on. Blake is one of the three kids in the blue shirts- the furthest to the right.