Aimee's Birthday

We went on our first ever camping trip for my birthday. We picked out the prettiest campsite in Redman Campground in Big Cottonwood Canyon and waited all day for it to stop raining. The state hasn't had a drop of rain since we set up our tent at 5 pm on the 5th, so sorry about that...

My parents brought cute red, white, and blue decorations and a delicious chocolate cake. Helene brought four kids who know a lot about camping and playing outside and the little Burrows had a great time with them.
 

We slept for about eight hours and we were nice and warm. We went for a very noisy hike around the campground very early in the morning. Sorry about that too.

Todd made eggs, pancakes, sausage, hot chocolate and coffee for breakfast. It was so good!

We had a great time and the kids want to go again already, so let us know when you want to head into the wild world with us.

Fossil Butte trip

We just keep going on these crazy day trips to see all the things I can't believe I've never seen before. We headed out to Fossil Butte National Monument near Kemmerer Wyoming, which was really cool and not even too hot. Did I mention that I majored in Geology and lived in Utah for 31 years and I've never been here? What have I been wasting my time doing?

We took Grandma Rainey along for this trip because she's always up for an adventure. Jovie is crazy about log houses, so we checked out Wilford Woodruff's cabin in Randolph.
Rainey told us that TB's dad is a direct descendant of WW, but I don't really know if that is through the wife that lived in this cabin or another one (another wife and another cabin I mean).

The visitor center was very interesting and the rangers were so nice. Ikey is testing one of the fossils to see how dusty it is. He was also very interested in their tick display while I was kind of freaked out by it.

Of course we went on a hike at the monument. We took off on the 1.5 mile loop called Chicken Creek Nature Trail and they hiked in front of me the whole way so I could brush off any bug that landed on them. 

 They finished the hike with red cheeks and absolutely no carrying. Yay! This is the longest Jovie's gone without a lift and they were both pretty proud.

Happy 4th of July

 Happy Independence Day! We dressed up in red, white and blue and decorated our bikes and rode in Holladay City kid's parade.

Our friends Emily, Armen, Jack and Izzy decorated their bikes too!

We ate pancakes at the neighborhood breakfast. Ikey's face was painted like Spiderman.

We watched the Holladay City Criterium and cheered and cheered.

We had a great BBQ at Grandpa Joe and Grandma Pat's, and we fell asleep before the fireworks. It was awesome.

Kids in jail

I took the kids to Hutchings Museum in Lehi and put them in jail. Ikey liked jail and kept assigning people to be in charge, but Jovie really didn't like it. She's a smartie.

My mom and sisters had a birthday party for me at Gloria's Little Italy in Provo (good gnocchi and strawberry carriage!), then we tried to take the kiddos to Bean Museum of Life at BYU, but it closed for 18 months two days ago =(. The kids were mucho disappointed, so I told them we'd go to the Lehi musuem. On the way out, I kicked a doorstopper and felt like I broke my toe. I almost threw up and passed out and I actually did start crying. My mom chauffered my car over to me since I couldn't wear my high-heeled sandal and the kids told me I'd feel better soon. Luckily, Caitie had given me purple flowery flip flops for my birthday, so I wore those in the museum and matched Jovie's purple gummy shoes. It was a miracle.

Green River

Ellen and I went to Green River for the River Rampage Triathlon. Helper and Price were really smoky as we drove through, so much so that I developed a runny nose. Our super-healthful, coach-approved, pre-race dinner was a burger, fries and pie at Ray's Tavern.

 We climbed on the Golden Ratio sculpture.

It was 111 degrees while we checked out the course just before we checked into Robber's Roost Motel. We woke up at 6 am and pounded some iced coffee and granola bars and set up our gear.

And then...we WON! We both got 2nd place in our Age Group.

That sounds totally awesome - and it was! My first ever podium! - but in the interest of full disclosure, my age group only had four ladies in it and I don't know that any of them have done a triathlon before. So I'm solidly in the top half of the field, and just lucky there weren't eight racers in my group or I would have been out of the medals =). I'm more proud of the following points (but don't try to take away my medal or anything):

• It was my best swim ever. I didn't freak out for even a second and I didn't have to do any weird strokes to make up for hyperventilating like I usually do. Granted, the water was shoulder-deep at the deepest and usually more like thigh-deep, but I swam an entire mile with only a 1.5 mph current compared to the river's usual (and more expected) 6 mph current. I was the fastest swimmer in my AG.
• I was the fastest swimmer and transitioner (is that a thing?) in my AG.
• I was a little more committed to running hard on this race, although my pace wasn't really faster than usual.
• I was the 9th woman out of the 52 female sprint racers (83rd percentile) and 24th out of 95 racers (75th percentile). This was a small race and didn't attract a lot of fast people. I'm usually 50th percentile tops.
• 1st place in my AG was 1 min 24 seconds ahead of me, and I beat 3rd place by 17+ min. I knew the 1st place woman was in front of me, but I couldn't catch her. I need to run faster =)
• In a very unusual move, I didn't sleep the day away after the race (although I did eat everything I saw) and I went for a training "brick" (bike-run combo) today for the first time in my life. It was 99 degrees and I hadn't eaten so it didn't last long, but it wore me out so I guess that means it was good enough.
• This was the first time I've left the kids with TB overnight and they had a great time and I did too. So I guess we're all very grown up.

I tried to take a picture with the babies while we were all dressed up for baby Sylvie's blessing, but they are more cuddly than cooperative, so this is the closest thing.

Twins

TB's birthday

Happy Birthday TB!

No one believes that you're that old. Was there a mix-up at the balloon store?

Why is this the only picture of the big huge super-fun, well-decorated birthday party?

You're a fantastic husband, father, friend, salesman, joker, partier, son, neighbor, citizen, etc. We just love you!