Hello Seattle

The past 2 weeks I was visiting my family in WA state. The trip was full of ups and downs. You see, my brother and sister got married one week from each other. It was such a great and exciting time for the family. 1 temple endowment session(for my sister), 2 temple sealing sessions, 2 receptions, and a whole lot of memories.
It'll take me a moment to collect my thoughts and recap the weeks on the blog so for now I'll leave you with a beautiful picture I captured while on my long run the last morning in WA. I loved running there. I felt like I could breath so much better and I could run a lot faster. My family was so kind to me and was willing to watch Jackson so I could run every other morning. I only missed 1 training run and that's because I was very tired after my sisters reception and opted to sleep in Saturday morning.

Seriously, so beautiful!

A not so pretty picture. How do you like my sweaty baby hairs that post pregnancy has left me with? Lovely, just lovely. 

Scott Family Reunion

Every year Josh's family has a reunion. This year was a lot of fun because instead of a handful of pregnant women, we all had a babies to play with!

All the new babies, and they're all boys!

all the boys with their Scott parent

We ate some Cafe Rio and enjoyed the nice shaded grass. J loved crawling around and picking at the grass. And of course, trying to eat it when I wasn't looking.

Uncle Jared who leaves on a mission to Singapore next week

Josh's family has a lot of dogs and you could say they are 'dog lovers.' If you know me, that is the furthest description anyone would use to describe me. Although I am not a 'dog lover' I have definitely tried to like dogs and tolerate them more. Why am I telling you this? Well, Jackson's first encounter with a dog was not pleasant. He screamed like an actual scream that I had never heard before. He was completely frightened. I didn't want to pass my fear of dogs onto him so I've been trying harder to be calm and encourage Jackson to pet dogs. At the reunion Josh's cousin Erik brought his dog and guess what? Jackson loved him! He also loves Grandma Lee Lee's dog Buddy.

We had a great evening playing with cousins.

They're buddies

Outdoor Theater

With our Pass of all Passes we got in free to the Scera outdoor theater to see an Elvis inspired play.

We met up with Whitney, Josh and C and drank some slurpies.

the boys(J is in his PJ's, and yes the shorts are getting a bit snug..)

Happy Calvin

The play was really good, well, what we saw of it. We left at intermission because it was getting late and J wanted to crawl to other people's blankets.

4th celebrations

Independence day started off with a short 3 mile run. I strapped J in the jogger and brought toys, books, and snacks to keep him busy. The last time I tried running with him he didn't enjoy it much at all, so I wanted this time to be exciting for him. He loved it! He loved looking out and seeing the sprinklers and birds. He talked the whole run, yelling, "Da da" (his favorite thing to say).

We got cleaned up and headed to the Sandy parade with family.

Aunt leeshy and grandpa providing shade

J took a nap and we were pretty lazy just relaxing and enjoying the nice weather until 8. Josh, J, and I met up with Grandma Lee Lee, Grandpa Scott, and Uncle Jared to go to the fireworks at Thanksgiving Point.

Played Monopoly deal while waiting

Drank some delicious strawberry smoothies and ate some candy

J woke up for the fireworks and loved watching them. He was mesmerized.

Thanks to all the veterans who have sacrificed their lives for our freedom. I'm so grateful to be able to raise my family in a country where we have so many freedoms=)

5 things I love today

#1 Days off
Josh took a day off this Monday so we hit up 7 peaks. J loved having dad there and was excited to try new things since we had some extra hands to help. Josh's sister and mom came too, so Josh and I were able to go down the bigger slide.

#2 Sleeping baby
Jackson has slept through the night (knock on wood) consecutively for 3 weeks now. It's changed my life, forever, seriously.

#3 Running
I have 2 more races this summer and I'm so excited for them. I love pushing myself and seeing what I'm capable of.  The feeling I get after a great run or even a run that made me mentally stronger is so awesome to me. I love having something I can do for myself. After a run I feel like I'm a much better mom and wife because I have a sense of accomplishment.

5 miles on the treadmill and yes that's a gate that I put up for J to play in while I run, he loves it as long as there's fun toys and good snacks=)

#4 Summer Meals
They are so simple, fresh, and delicious. I love just grilling up some meat, throwing it on a salad, with a side of fresh fruit. That's homemade potato wedges too(thanks Whit for the idea!)

#5 Family
I love living close to family and feel so blessed that I get along so well with them all.

7 peaks with Josh's sister and mom

Hike around SnowBird with my sister and her kids

zoo with my sisters and mom

A mural and an Explosion

Saturday Josh's family headed up to Bingham to explore the Copper Mines. Josh and I had never been and were amazed at the massive production. We had fun looking at the trucks, learning about the fun facts( the mine is a mile deep!),  watching an explosion of the mine, and spending time with Josh's grandparents.

Josh's brother Jared, Grandpa Norm, Josh, Whitney and Cal

Grandma Lee Lee and J

It was special to learn about the mine from his Grandpa Norm and Grandma Donna because Norm had a lot of ties to the mines.  His family used to live in Bingham city that is now the mine. His parents also owned a movie theater there called "The Princess" and the visitors center had some fun memorabilia on display.
Norm's dad donated this hand painted picture of the mine that was once in the their theater. There's a picture of his dad too.

The group minus Grandma Lee Lee(in a dark theater)

It was fun to learn about the cute town and see where Grandpa Norm grew up.