The Dirty Dash 2011

This past weekend we went to Utah for a mini vacation. We went to the zoo, hiked to the "Y", went swimming, but the main event was....THE DIRTY DASH! We registered for this months ago with Josh's family including aunts, uncles and cousins.  The adults run a 5K which includes obstacles and slides all of which is in the mud.  The kids race, The Piglet Plunge, is only a mile but still in the mud! I opted to sit this one out.  Someone had to take the pictures and watch Landon. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! His whole family is already planning on next year's race.  But as for our family, still not so sure.  We feel like it is more like an every few years thing, not so much an EVERY year kinda thing.  But we shall see.

Josh before the race...

Josh and his cousins and sister AFTER the race...

Josh ran the race with the kids too. Believe it or not, this is BEFORE the race...

Mason running in the race. He came in 2nd place of all of his cousins...

Josh and the kids AFTER the race...

Now, there is a really great reason why Emma and her cousin Jordyn (sitting up in front) in the above picture, aren't muddy. They had already showered from a race they ran hours before. When we first got to the race we had a scheduled time for the adult race for 9:40.  We got there early and the kids were playing on the jumpy toys and messing around in the mud beforehand.  Well, somehow Emma and Jordyn got separated from all of us and heard them announcing the next round of races.  (There were different heats running all throughout the day. I think every 20 minutes.) Well, Emma and Jordyn panicked and thought that was the race they were suppose to be in and quickly ran to get in it! Yes, they ran in one of the adult 5K runs!  We couldn't find them for a very long time and knew that they had to be in one of the adult races.  I was panicked because I didn't know how she was going to handle it. After a long time of searching for them, we finally found them running in the race about 3/4 of the way through.  We asked them if they wanted to stop and come out and they said that wanted to finish the race.  I was so proud!  

This is Emma when we finally found her 3/4 done with the race...

This is Emma and Jordyn after they finished their race!! Yes, Jordyn lost her shoes in the race. 

It made for fun memories and great pictures, but we'll have to see about next year. The jury is still out.

The "Y"

Hiking to the "Y" has been something we've always wanted to do. And since we had an open day on our Utah trip we knew exactly what we wanted to do with it. Josh's aunt and his cousins took us and were perfect tour guides. We opted to leave Riley and Landon with a different aunt of Josh's and we were very glad we did. Although it isn't a very long hike, it is a pretty steep hike. It got pretty hot that day but the kids were real troopers. In true BYU fashion, after the hike we took the kids to The Creamery for an ice cream cone to top off our BYU excursion. It was great fun we'd definitely do it again.

Here we all are sitting on the big "Y" gate you enter in as you start your hike...

Here we are sitting on the right side of the top of the "Y". The "Y" itself was actually pretty cold and felt so good to sit on it after that hot hike. We sat there for a good 30 minutes and munched on Sour Patch Kids and licorice.

Katelyn likes to create photo ops for herself...

Cheesy I know, but here is our family forming a "Y" on the "Y"...

Hogle Zoo 2011

Oh how my kids love the zoo. We could have stayed there all day.

This tiger was one of the highlights for us. We were literally this close to that tiger. No zoom was necesary. It was eating a leg bone from some animal right in front of us. We sat and watched him eat that for about 30 minutes. It was fascinating.

Can't wait to go back.

U2

After much anticipation, over a year to be exact, U2 FINALLY came to town! Josh and I bought tickets to their SLC show well over a year ago but it was canceled due to Bono having back surgery. And let me tell you....it was well worth the wait. As a seasoned concert-goer these days, it was the most amazing show I've ever seen. The set, the stage, the lights, the special effects, the music was all so AMAZING! For a group to sound as good as they do on the radio, LIVE, is hard to do. I know I've said this before, but there is just something about seeing a band you've loved forever, singing a song you've loved forever, LIVE. When they walk out on stage...and you see them...right THERE... it's the same reaction everytime. I get chills all over and my eyes water, just a bit (none of that crazy sobbing stuff, just enough my eyes are barely moistened) and you SCREAM! I love it!

One thing I've decided I really don't like...when a band or singer doesn't sing a song in its original tune.  I get it that you are probably sick of singing the same songs over and over and want to mix it up a bit.  But from a fan's point of view--I HATE THAT! I want to hear it the way I've always known it.  Plus, it makes it really hard to sing along.  No offense.

Anyway, now time to take a break from concerts for a bit. Until September that is....