Fall is in the air

We drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon with my mom for a little hike and to see all the beautiful leaves. It is really starting to feel like fall -not temperature wise, since it is still in the 80's. The colors are just amazing!

XTERRA UTAH 2009

Cruz with his first race number!

Shawn signed up for his first triathlon, the Xterra Ogden Triathlon September 26th, 2009. We drove up to Ogden yesterday after work. Xterra had a bunch of booths set up and fun kid races at the pre-registration. Cruz competed in his first race and unfortunately for him, there were lots of other little kids and he got a little confused and sad. Shawn nor I could find him but luckily Wendy, my cousins wife found him and picked him up to finish the race. My cousin Shawnee and her husband Garrett drove in from Colorado for Garrett to compete. They have 2 little girls Adin and Alya. Matt, my cousin (Shawnee's older brother) competed as well so Wendy brought her 3 boys down from Eden to the pre-registration festivities. Her 3 boys are Miller, Collin, and Dawson. My other cousin Brett (Matt and Shawnee's brother) was also helping his wife Sarah work the event, so it was a fun filled family weekend! Shawn, Cruz, and I stayed at Matt and Wendy's home since they live about 3 minutes from the start of the race near Pine Creek Reservoir. It worked out well for Shawn because he had to get up at 6 a.m. to get all his gear at the different transition stations. The racers started with the swim, then transitioned to the mountain bike ride, and finished with the run. All of it seemed challenging. Shawn said the swim was definitely the toughest since he hadn't swam that much and he had never done an open water swim in his life. He made up time on his single speed mountain bike, and finished pretty strong with the run. It was really fun to hang out with all the kids and cheer for the dads at the different transition stations. And to top it all off, the colors have started to change and it was beautiful! The drive from Eden up to Snowbasin was absolutely breathtaking.

Aiden, Alya, Collin, Miller, and Dawson ready to race. Cruz wouldn't get in this picture!

Cruz running his own little race at the obstacle course they had set up in the park!

The kiddos walking with Shawnee to dinner!

Garrett and Shawn right before the swim started!
Shawn finishing the first leg, the swim!
This was the transition from the bike to the run!
We are so proud of our dad.....a 3/4 mile swim. roughly 13 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run! Good job daddy!
The tough 3 dads- Shawn, Matt, and Garrett!

I think Cruz has his first real crush! He loved little Alya. She is Shawnee's little girl and she is a little older than Cruz by about 4 months. Cruz wanted to touch her hair, her shirt and give her kisses. I have some pretty funny pictures of their interaction. She wasn't so sure of Cruz as you can tell from her face!!!

Cruz going in for a "kiss"!!

And a little Cruz lovin', check out Cruz's face, priceless!!

First Day of School (sort of)!

Cruz had his first day of "Mothers Morning Out". It is a program that one of the local churches puts on. Several friends had good things to say about it. Cruz goes to a little class of about 10 kids from 9 to noon once a week. He got to take a Thomas the Train backpack to school with diapers and a sippy cup in it. They have art time, playgound time, music time, and more playtime. Cruz was very excited to go today. He usually does great in social situations. I was peeking through the window and he was great at first but a bunch of other kids were crying so he then got a little sad. I felt sort of like a bad mom because I took off thinking, "I only have 3 hours to get all my errands run!" I knew he would be fine because he does great on Sundays in the nursery. He just got sort of sad because other kids were sad. When I showed up at noon to pick him up he wasn't happy to see me! He wanted to stay and play. I guess that is a good sign :)!! I actually had to drag him out of there kicking and screaming. The teacher said he did great. He was even her little helper when it came to clean up time. I love to hear that one!! I couldn't get Cruz to turn around when we were going to school he was too excited to wear his backpack and go inside, these are the best pictures I got!


Below is Cruz's first art project that he completed at school!

30 weeks!

So yesterday baby girl turned 30 weeks! I can't believe that basically I have 2.5 months left of being pregnant and then we have a newborn. I am very excited and anxious too! Not as nervous as I was with Cruz but I still have those feelings of wanting to be the best parent and wanting everything to be great for our little girl! I was looking back at our blog and I haven't mentioned too much about baby girl. When she is older I don't want her to think she is just an after thought. Cruz and I talk about her and we are getting her room all set up.

Utah State Fair 2009

Last night Cruz, Shawn, and I went to the Utah State Fair. We had a blast! Cruz and I picked Shawn up from work and we went from about 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. Cruz was a very good boy and rode in his stroller through all the cow, sheep, rabbit, goat, and pigeon houses. Then we walked around some of the rides and found some yummy food to eat for dinner. After dinner we watched some horses competing in the horse arena and then there was this area where kids could climb all over different tractors, excavators, diggers, etc. THAT WAS THE BEST! Cruz had a blast running from machine to machine. It was difficult to wait his turn, but he did pretty good. On the way out of the fair we got suckered into playing one game. For $5 dollars Cruz could throw as many darts as he could to win a small stuffed animal. Shawn threw the first dart and didn't hit anything but then Cruz actually popped a balloon on the very 1st dart that he threw! It was pretty impressive. Cruz threw a few more darts and then picked a small turtle for his prize. He will tell you he popped a balloon to win the turtle. He is very proud of his turtle!

Wheeler Farms and Lunch with Dad

Cruz and I had a delightful morning. I love the fall, the weather seems just perfect-warm enough to do outside things but not too hot! Cruz and I went to Wheeler Farms to see how the animals were doing. We feed the horses, mooed at the cows, talked to the pigs, tried petting the bunnies, threw seeds at the ducks and geese, and ran all over the place being excited. At noon we drove over to Shawns work (which is fairly close to Wheeler Farms) and ate lunch with him. We packed some PB&J, cheese, and raisins and had a blast seeing where dad works. Shawn has been really busy lately so it was fun to get to hang out with him in the middle of the day.

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Frye

We received a care package yesterday from Grandma and Grandpa Frye. In it Cruz got a new Fisher Price house boat. Actually it is new to him but Shawn and Leigh had one just like it when they grew up. Rick and Kathy found it at a rummage sale and couldn't pass the 75 cent boat up. Cruz loves it. Baby girl also received a cute hat and pair of socks from some friends of the Fryes and Grandma Frye made a cute bib for baby girl. We also got some yummy cookies and trail mix. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Frye!

Pockets

Dinosaur Museum

We met some friends at the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur museum. We thought they were still having their $2 dollar Tuesdays but unfortunately they stopped that last week. The one positive to paying more money to get into the museum was that we had the museum basically to ourselves. I had gone one time with Cruz last summer on a $2 dollar Tuesday and it was complete chaos. Today we got to spend our time looking at all the bones, digging in the sand, and playing in the big sandboxes they had at the end of the exhibit. Cruz had a really good time with his friends Gavin and Easton.

Today was a good day for Cruz because after nap he had a haircut appointment. Cruz loves to get his haircut. He desperately needed it, he was getting to look a a little shaggy. He did great again for his haircut!

One funny thing that Cruz is into lately, gum! He loves to chew gum and he is really good at it. He will chew and chew and chew until I make him spit it out. It just looks really funny to me to see this little 2 year old chomping away!


Lining up all the toy dinosaurs!

Going crazy in the sandbox! :)

Labor Day

We headed up to Octoberfest at Snowbird yesterday. There was some fun German music Cruz danced to, Brats, Saurekraut, fun people watching, and good weather. This isn't a very good picture of Shawn but I was really trying to get Cruz to smile and this is the face he pulled!