Happy 9th Birthday!!

This cute girl turned 9 years old!!   I swear it was last week that we brought her home from the hospital.  She, like every 8-10 year old girl around is into JoJo Siwa EVERYTHING!! So when we found JoJo bows at Walmart she had to have one (and a whole bunch more).  And then when we saw the JoJo Siwa birthday supplies, well that decided the birthday celebration decor. 

Ellie wanted to have a gymnastics/JoJo Siwa birthday party to celebrate with her friends so we rented the Sports Academy tumbling gym and invited her friends.  They all enjoyed the trampolines, the mats, balance beams, zip line, and foam pit.  

Even dad and mom enjoyed trying out the equipment.

I like the photo bomb attempts from Ethan and his friend Kayson

And if only the real JoJo could attend, but a life size poster was enough to satisfy this little fan and her friends who are also big fans.

These two were not interested in JoJo, but enjoyed the gym and the cake.

Selfie with Jo Jo

unintended selfie 

Ellie is a lot smaller than her friends so everyone thinks it's fun to pick her up.  

Her friend Tylan can almost pass as Jo Jo Siwa

A few days later Ellie received a gift from Grandpa Ruben and Lola Amelia.  She was so excited to get this little Hatchimal  (the toys that people come up with are amazing)

We celebrated with pink birthday cake a day early because mom had to be gone on her actual birthday for a conference. 

Since I was gone on the actual day of Ellie's birthday we all met for dinner in Layton where Ellie got to hear Grandma and Grandpa sing her happy birthday and we ate at one of her favorite places, the Olive Garden.

After dinner we headed over to the mall where Ellie decided she wanted to get her ears pierced.  This was a lllooonnnngggg drawn out process, but after much patience on everyone's part she ended up with two ears that were nicely pierced.  The lady who did the piercing was awesome.  We might argue that she drew out the process and made it take much longer than needed, but in the end she was calm, she kept Elisabeth mostly calm, and everything turned out great.

Happy Happy birthday to this sweet little 9 year old.  We are so proud of you Elisabeth.  

Here are the stats for Ellie at this time in her life:

FAVORITE FOOD:  strawberries.  FAVORITE BOOK:  Fairy books (there are different fairies for each book), Little Critter Valentine's book.  FAVORITE MOVIES:  Zootopia and Star Wars and Indiana Jones.  FAVORITE SONGS:  "Boomerang", "Hold the Drama" and "Kid in a Candy Store" all by Jo Jo Siwa.  FAVORITE TOY:  Stuffed Animals and Splashlings & Mini-mixies  FAVORITE ACTIVITIES:  gymnastics, swimming, playing with Cooper, learning about dolphins, watching youtube  WHAT ARE YOU REALLY GOOD AT?  solving problems, having fun, making people happy, being a good friend  WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?  Dolphin trainer and a teacher and a dog hotel manager  WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY?  going to SeaWorld with my family and seeing the dolphins

August --September happenings

Besides the specific events August and September were filled with a lot of other fun happenings and memories.

Early morning runs continue to be my favorite as they always present the opportunity for amazing sunrises and beautiful views of the valley.

We've taken the time to enjoy the local resevoir.

Ellie got a fun Kayak which almost all of us in the family are the right size to enjoy.

It's even more fun when your bestie is at the lake as well.

Ethan needed two more camping nights to finish his camping merit badge.  He is allowed two nights of camping in the backyard so it worked out that he hadn't yet done the backyard camping.

Good morning Hyrum dam

long car drives still knock them out

Teaching this little guy trail manners.  I fore see a great running buddy in our future. 

Sunday Nappers --> caught in the act

Did we mention that this pup is the biggest baby of the house.  

Oh and guess who babies him the most.

Ellie participated in the Ridgeline Arriettes fund raiser where they practice a dance and then perform at half time of the football game.  Ellie loves doing this each year and had a ball dancing to "Walk like an Egyptian"

There are so many girls who participate and we barely found her in the crowd before the song was over.

Ellie with her friends Jessi and Cadence

Huntsville Marathon.   

My 21st marathon.

It was SO cold at the start!

but was a beautiful cold start

and a few of us thought we were pretty cool as everyone looked at us with envy (they wanted cozy warm robes too)

It was a great race and we are pretty cool because we finished 26.2 miles and we all managed a Boston Qualifying time which works for Boston 2019.

Fall colors are coming.  I love fall running, especially out on the trails.

Elisabeth played another fun season of fall recreation socccer.  Each season she gets a little more aggressive and a little more into the competitiveness of the game.

#ilovesunsets

I was able to attend a 3 day conference for school in SLC.  I enjoyed some early morning runs around the city.  I ended up sticking to the same route as I felt safe around this area.  Such a fun way to view Temple Square and at 5 am there are no crowds at all.

my route took me by the temple and then up around the Capital Building.

One of the best burgers I've eaten at Rob's Burgers.  I don't know if it was because I was really hungry, or if they really are the best burgers but I enjoyed every bite.

In the education world these are some big time big wig people . . . . 

and we got to join them in dancing the Electric Slide.

Ethan went on a field trip to a bird observatory in Box Elder county and he found a little snake and took some fun pictures from the bus.