Another year older

Jake turned 26 this month! I love when its his birthday because then we are the same age again.  It only lasts until September when it's my birthday then he goes back to calling me his cougar. haha :) This year we celebrated with the Bells! we had so much fun.  The boys went golfing and we went out to dinner, then had cake and ice cream. Every year Jake asks for the same cake.  When we first started dating back in high school, for Valentines day I made him a heart shaped white cake that said "I Love Jake" on it.  for some reason he thought it was the most amazing cake he had ever had, and every year since on his birthday I ask him what kind of cake he wants, he always replies "you know what kind I want".  I have spent the last 9 years trying to re-create but for some reason its never the same. haha so maybe next year hun :)

He was so excited to get a circular saw for his birthday! He can't wait to build some shelves for garage.  I can't wait either ;)
 Happy birthday Jake! We love you! 

It's Spring!

ok so it has been spring for a little while here in sunny St. George, and here when it is officially spring it means temperatures in the 80s.  That means we get to go to the lake!!  we LOVE to go.  We go almost every weekend when its warm.  I could just sit on the beach and watch the kids play all day.  There is something about the sunshine, sand and water that make it so perfect to sit and do NOTHING. Just completely relax.  It's crazy because if I sat at home and did nothing but watch the kids play I would get so bored feel like I need to do something productive.  Maybe that's why I love sitting on the beach. There's nothing to do except relax. :)  And all three of my kids are basically fish.  They could play in the water forever and be happy little guppies :)

Can life get any better than this?  Seriously!

Easter

Easter almost didn't happen in the Holmes household this year.  I totally slacked on my mom duties.  We didn't go to any community Easter Egg hunts, or to grandparents for Easter egg hunts because we live too far away.  We almost didn't even have Easter baskets because I never bought anything! I was terrible!   I finally went to the store around 11:00pm the night before to get everything.  I was feeling so guilty about not really doing anything through the month to celebrate that I wanted to make it extra fun in the morning.  We were going to do a scavenger hunt for their baskets, but we have church at 9 so we had to make it short and sweet.  Basically we hid each of the kids baskets in different spots and then told the boys that the Easter bunny left us some hints on where to find them. Later on in the day we had a bbq and an Easter egg hunt in the back yard.  

 So excited for his basket!

 She LOVED carrying around her basket :)

 Here's all three in their Easter outfits!

Moab

For those of you that don't know, last October we went to see my sister run the St. George Marathon.  It inspired Jake and I to start running.  We decided to train for a half marathon in January. A half marathon is 13.1 miles.  We did pretty good at running every week and ran our first half in January.  We didn't do as good as we wanted to.  I have a lot of trouble with my knees and they started to hurt quite a bit in the middle of the run. We wanted to complete in about 2 1/2 hours but around mile 8 I couldn't run anymore so we power walked the last 5 miles finishing just under 3 hours.   We were still satisfied that we had completed our first big race!  Well we signed up for another half in March in Moab. So Last weekend we headed there.   We went a few days early and made a family vacation out of it with the kids. We went mountain biking the first day. We thought we found a family friendly trail but when we got there it was pretty rough with the bike trailer so we rode around a little bit and then took the kids to a paved trail by the river where they could ride. If you haven't been to Moab, GO! it's gorgeous! 

The next day we hiked to Corona Arch.  Its about 3 miles round trip.  I carried Brighton and Jake Carried Dallas.  Carson hiked the entire thing and LOVED it! The Hike was awesome! and so so pretty! It had a few rough spots that I wasn't sure Carson could do, but he did them like a champ!

In Moab there is a place called the "Hole In The Rock" its a 5000 sq ft house that this couple carved out of the rock.  They started nearly 100 years ago and it took them about 20 years.  They lived in, and ran a diner out of it.  It was really neat to go and tour!  They don't allow pictures but I recommend going to see it if you get the chance.  On the same property they have a little petting zoo that you can feed some animals.  It was actually a lot of fun!  They suggest you "Kiss the Camel" by feeding him a carrot from your mouth.  Of course Jake had to try it!  There was an Ostrich that was hilarious as well! He would fit his head through the fence and stretch his neck as far as he could to reach the food.  At first the kids were terrified of him, then eventually Dallas warmed up enough to hold the food bucket.

The pool at our hotel was closed for the season so we went to the local rec center to swim.  I didn't get any pictures but it was a blast!  Carson was even brave enough to jump of the diving board by himself!  Dallas would hold my hand while he jumped to Jake waiting in the pool.

 Finally we get to the main event! our HALF MARATHON!  this time we were determined to do better then last time.  I was nervous because I was still having a lot of trouble with my knees and most of this race was downhill which is the worse thing on my knees.  But we still at least beat our time! we finished in 2 hours and 43 minutes.   Not to bad. We weren't the last to finish but close to.  I think there were about 400 who finished after us and 2500 who finished before.  I think I kind of love running long distance races.  You start out super pumped and feeling great! then about 3/4 the way through you start thinking, "what am I doing! I am crazy!" and you feel like crying and then when you cross the finish line it is the best feeling ever! Its amazing what you can accomplish!  I couldn't walk the next day because my knees were so sore but it was still worth it.  I'm trying to convince Jake that we can do a full marathon, but he is still a little skeptical.  He likes to run, but he doesn't like to train.  He wants to just enjoy his run instead of feeling like he HAS to run.  which I understand, but I like a little competition and drive in my life :)  We would love to eventually get under 2 hours for a half, but who knows what our next endeavor will be :)