I cut it!

My hair was getting way too long and I rarely do it for that reason so, I decided to chop a few inches off a couple of weeks ago. It's been so much easier to do my hair. Chad actually gets to see it done more often. Lucky.

Before

After

Who knows. Maybe I'll even chop it a little more:)

The 24th Cookoff

So I'm exactly a month late getting this post out. What? It's Summer! We celebrated Pioneer Day at our house this year. And with the celebration we had a bbq rib-off. Allen's vs. Nelson's. The winner got babysitting time so we were all about adding to the babysitting pot already collecting at the Allen's.

The A Team's Ribs

The N Team's Ribs

(You wanted it to say the B Team didn't you. Me too, but I can't take all the credit.)

Not very pretty but oh so good. I don't think the Allen's knew what they were getting in to when they challenged our proven winning recipe. Sorry suckers!

I also made these mini hamburgers and fries just in case there weren't enough ribs. Haha. Chad came out with a plate of these for the kids and they hesitated a bit before trying them out. I got the idea from bakerella. They are yellow cake cupcakes for the bun, brownie for the meat, green frosting for lettuce, red frosting for ketchup and yellow frosting for mustard.  I used box mixes and frosting but it still took a bit of time to put them together.

The fries are just made of sugar cookies. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of them.

We also set up a race that consisted of bouncing a tennis ball on a tennis racket around orange cones, throwing horse shoes, putting plastic balls into a bucket, nocking down plastic cups with squirt guns, and finally bowling with plastic balls and pins. It was pretty hilarious watching everyone get through it.

We are pretty serious about our game playing around here:)

If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it....

and he did.

2 years and one day ago Chad and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple. 2 years?!? That's it! You say. Yes 2 years! It has gone by really fast. Especially the last 8 months with the Kelsiepoo! It's crazy how much our lives have changed.

While I was getting my car registration yesterday (a very exciting start to our anniversary), the kid at Jiffy Lube said "Oh man, I stayed up way too late last night. Do you ever do that?" Hahaha. I laughed and said "No. Not if I have to. I have a baby alarm that wakes up everyday around 7a.m."

I love it though. I'm excited to see what else life brings us. We have had our ups and downs. Some arguments and more laughter. Fun times and boring times. And I've been through all of it with my best friend. He helps clean the house, does the dishes, gets Kelsie out of bed the mornings he is home, does all the yardwork (What? I dislike it very much.), fixes things, hangs pictures, goes to work everyday, puts up with a stinker of a wife, and much, much more. I love him. A lot. I'm not sure what I would do without him.

Louisville engagement reenactment.

Chad with no eyebrows! Don't ask.

My handsome husband.

The cruise right before I got prego.

The result after all these pictures.

And more of 'the result' from her jail cell looking for her momma after she woke up from a nap.

Read this and then come back....

Go to this blog and read the story of this family.

I read this last night and could barely get through it without tearing up. I tried explaining what it was about to Chad and just started bawling. I thought about Kelsie while I read the whole thing. The heartache struck me to my core and I realized how truly blessed I am to have the privilege of this little spirit in my life. 

I thought about the complaints I had/have with Kelsie and how they don't even compare to this mother's struggle.

I thought about what it would feel like to lose her....oh it would just brake me. 

I thought about this little life that had so much to struggle with in just a few short months. Who smiled through her vent tubing. What a sweet little life!

I thought about my family. My dad. My testimony of the sacredness of a forever family.

How I don't even know how really blessed I am. How sometimes I take it for granted.

I sometimes wonder if I'm really using all my talents for the best things so I decided to help. They are doing a fundraiser to help raise money for research into SMA here. And she is also making leggings for the babies at Primary Children's here.

I don't know why this has affected me so much but it makes me really want to do what I can to help and to also share my blessing with those who need it. Even if it's just to help keep a cute little baby's legs warm!

Father's Day Present

Can you even believe this face? I don't know where she got this cuteness but it is effortless I swear. For a Father's day present Kelsie and I snuck off one morning and got pictures taken. Chad had been bugging me forever to get pictures of her. The same week we did it he kept asking me over and over again when I was going to take Kelsie to get some professional pictures done. Sheesh. So here are a few. He was super excited about it! She was such a diva for this. Would not smile to save her life and the photographer was doing all sorts of stuff to get her to do anything. Made me laugh though:)
                                                                            I love her feet in this one!

Gotta love the double chin! Haha. Dang it!

P.S. Karina Orgill from ko-photography.blogspot.com took these photos. I think she did a great job and will probably use her again this year for our Christmas photos.

Ragnar Relay/Wasatch Back/Legalized Torture

Legalized and personally payed for, torture.

After many months of training, this past weekend, I participated in the Wasatch Back. It is a relay run from Logan to Park City. 188 miles total. There are two vans with six runners in each. You have twelve runners on your team and each of you have 3 legs of the race. The legs vary in difficulty from 'easy' to 'very hard'. I was #8.

My first and second legs went pretty well. I ran faster than I normally do.

At the exchange point for my second leg, I saw my 5th grade teacher announcing as the runners came in. He totally remembered me. It's been about 15 years since 5th grade so I thought that was pretty impressive. Hahaha. Random. I actually enjoyed this run because it was downhill and at night.

At 3am, after everyone had run their second leg, we slept in a middle school, in the gym on the very hard mats. Needless to say, very little sleeping was accomplished and a good 3 hours later we were up getting ready to start the torture all over again. Really? Really. REALLY.

This was probably the hardest run for me. It was 6 miles at a gradual incline. In the first ten minutes, it was over for me. I hurt. I hurt so bad. At this point, the only thing left was brain power. Freaking 60 minutes left and all I have is a fight in my head keeping me going. Some lady totally collapsed with about a mile to go, in front of me. That would suck. Seriously. You only have a mile to go and you are done? But if she would have seen the 'happy' little hill that awaited her just a few minutes more I think she would have been glad she collapsed.  I let some expletives fly when I saw that stinker hill coming up. It took me a little over 70 minutes to finish this leg and I've never been happier to be done with something in my life. It felt like the end of a marathon.

       Our ride for the run. I hated it. If I ever do this again, I will only do it if we have a 15 passenger van.

The sleeping arrangements. This pic does not even do it justice. There weren't a ton of people when we came in but when we woke up it was packed. It made me feel like I was in some movie where there had been some disaster and you had to sleep in middle school gyms on hard uncomfortable mats. You could only go to the bathroom in port-o-potties and finding a real bathroom/shower was a luxury. The only food you had was granola, almonds, craisins, beef jerky, and water. This movie sucks.

Right after our 3 hours sleep/nap. I told everyone to look pretty when I took this pic. This is pretty.

Carrie coming in after her last leg!

Paul stretching.

And possibly the best pic ever of yours truly. Yikes!

Roman conquering the Ragnar. Hardest leg of the whole race and all up hill for 4 miles. Killer.

Oh wait. No. This is possibly the best pic ever. Haha. Makes you want to cry you're laughing so hard right now. Huh. Or it just makes you want to cry.

THE team. Roman's Legion. THE END!

New development with Kelsie. She's loving sticking her tongue out. Randomly. Maybe she is just taking out a step. Instead of opening up her mouth and sticking something on her tongue to taste it she'll just leave her tongue out all the time. So efficient, that little girl. Genius really.

P.S. I really need to give Chad a big THANK YOU for watching the little stinker all of Friday and Saturday.
He even took Friday off for me to run it! What a good husband! I think I may owe him a weekend away.

Little Update

For Chad's birthday this year, I cooked up a little surprise. And by 'little' I mean I had to tell him we were staying over night at the Peery Hotel because his federal discount was way better than my IHC discount.

Unfortunately and in true Beth form, I forgot the camera in the rush to get Kelsie to her Aunt Kelli's house in Sandy. Oh well. You'll just have to use your imagination. So imagine, if you will, me and Chad arriving at the Peery Hotel, eating a nice steak and salmon dinner, walking up to the Abravanel Hall instead of the Capitol Theater (oops, thanks Kelli for the correct info), watching a couple of opera's (this song was in one of them, sound familiar? Love it!) and heading back to the king size bed at the Peery without a baby for the night. And that is where your imagination should end. I mean it. THE END.  Skipping forward to the next morning, Chad and I then walked around downtown and took a tour of the Beehive House.  We really enjoyed ourselves and by really, I mean REALLY. I love you Kelsie, but it was kind of like the old days without ya, babe.

I worried like crazy that Kelsie wouldn't sleep the night for the Lunt's but she did. She also seemed to not care much that we weren't around either. Her cousins entertained her the whole time and she loved the attention!

And now Kelsie baby.

Here is the babe sleepin' with her arm out!

And here she is spread out!

Oh and this is how I find her every time I get her from a nap. Perpendicular from where I placed her. Today, she had flipped over onto her belly. Funny girl!

I guess I should tell you about her six month update. She now rolls both ways pretty much whenever she feels like it. I put a toy just out of her reach so she would roll towards it but instead she rolled away from it. Stubborn little fart. Just like her mama. Chad and I cracked up for a while after that. She likes to do the 'crab scoot'.  While laying on her back, she pushes with her feet and moves herself back. I swear she's always going to have a bald spot.

Her weight: 18.8 lbs (95%)

Her height: 27 1/4 inches (95%)

Her head circumference: 17 1/4 inches (80%)

She babbles all day long. "Nanana's" are her favorite. She also thinks her mom is pretty freaking hilarious. I can usually get her to laugh pretty hard. She squishes up her nose and sniffs hard. The best is when her mouth is open and she does this. Hahaha. I also taught her the fishy sound. She did it for two days straight and now only does it occasionally. I'm thinking she wants to learn a new trick or it's that dang stubborn thing again.

Chad face, maybe?

First time at the pool! Screamed like crazy at first then loved it!

Don't you just love that her little toes are peaking out!

By the way, we are going un-private for a while. Chad hates logging in so we are going to try it one more time. Honestly, I hate it too. So there ya go.