reasons I love october

#1 halloween goodies
pumpkin chocolate chip cookie pops

#2 table decorating for the holiday season

#3 gardner village witches

#4 spending time with grandma

#5 gorgeous fall weather

#6 enjoying time outdoors with the animals
(mine and the petting zoo's)

#7 picking out our pumpkins at the pumpkin patch

#8 preschool field trips

#9 having fun together as a family

#10 baking all month long

#11 fun neighborhood parties

#12 utah football games
(and posing with Edward afterward)

#13 carving pumpkins

#14 school performances, parades and parties

#15 halloween costumes

park city vacation

We were lucky to spend a week in Park City with all of my family (except for my sister and her hubby who live in Vail, CO...we missed you). Payton was off track so my parents were nice enough to plan this vacation around his schedule.

My Dad, Krista, Parker & Payton.

Our first stop in Park City was Main Street. We ate lunch at Main Street Pizza and then went shopping. My Dad bought books for everyone at Dolly's bookstore. We also got Apple Pie Caramel Apples (daily) from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

My cute parents.
My Dad wanted to pose with his new book and his "Roots" hat that Les bought him.

My Dad bought Payton a "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book and he was so exciting to start reading it. He told Payton that if he finished the book, he would buy him another "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book. Payton was so excited that he couldn't put the book down. He finished the book that night and Grandpa made good on his promise the next day!

My Uncle Les joined us for the weekend. He is obsessed with hats.
He bought himself and all the men these cute "Roots" hats.

Cooper loved walking around with my Dad's hat over his face.
He thought it was hilarious to bump into everything.

My Mom reading to Cooper.
He learned so many new animal sounds this trip. We stayed in the Bear Lodge; so naturally, Cooper was growling constantly because there were bears everywhere! He also started saying, "Maa-Ma" for Grandma. She was so happy!

"Maa-ma"...just happy to be here!

We started and ended every day in the swimming pool.
The boys were in heaven!

My family was teasing me about my OCD so I had to take a picture for posterity's sake. I LOVE getting to a hotel room and getting everything organized for our stay. It's so fun to get things in order and make our hotel room feel a little bit like home.

A chance of fate brought us to Olympic Park.

The entire day was not going as planned. We woke up early (6:00 am) to get ready and go to our nephew's baby blessing in Wyoming. However, before we woke the kids up, we noticed that it was snowing outside. The kids were exhausted. I had a cold and didn't feel well. Parker had a little fever the night before. We decided that we shouldn't go. We really, really wanted to go, but felt like 4 hours on the road, in a snowstorm, would not be worth it. As irony goes, just one hour later it stopped snowing and it ended up being a gorgeous day!

Tim and I both felt really guilty about missing our nephew's special day. We love our family so much and they are always so supportive of us. I felt like this was one of those circumstances of good, better and best. We have so many choices and it's hard to decide between what is best for our little family, ourselves, our extended family, etc. I'm still not sure if we made the right decision, but we did end up having a really great day with our family.

My family all wanted to go to brunch, but again, we had one of those good, better and best decisions to make. Tim & I would have loved to go, but our kids would have been MISERABLE and it probably wouldn't have been worth the $70 we would have to spend for our whole family. Tim decided that we should go to McDonald's (the sacrifice we make as parents) and then drive up and see the Olympic Park.

My handsome bobsled team!
This definitely ended up being the BEST decision we made all week. If you haven't been here, you've got to take your family. It's free! In addition to all the amazing tracks and jumps they have a museum and playground. We walked all over the park and checked out the bobsled, luge tracks, the jumps and

drum roll please.....

Isn't this incredible?

They have this awesome training facility were the ski jumpers actually jump into the pool. We were so lucky because this was the last day that the training pool was open for the season. They had a special performance by a bunch of Olympic hopeful athletes and the Olympic Ski Jump Coach. It was soooo amazing!

We called my family, who was eating their yummy brunch (no jealousy here), and told them to come over and check it out.

Krista & Cooper

Tim really thinks he's sexy, doesn't he?

Well, he is sexy because this was his idea. We had such a fun day. We spent over 3 hours at the park. My kids loved every second of it and so did I. I can't believe that this park has been here for 7 years and we've never experienced it before. We'll definitely come check it out again next year!

To top off an already incredible day, we went to dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant; Baja Cantina. As you can tell, Cooper was exhausted from all our festivities.

Another highlight of the week, was that the Carley's joined us in Park City for a few days. They stayed in the same hotel as us (although we live closer to each other than our hotel rooms were). We took the boys on the Scarecrow walk. Obviously, this was their favorite Scarecrow!

We only paused in front of this scarecrow because the boys wanted me to record them saying, "BYU stinks." Their idea; not mine!

Cooper and Allie had fun in their strollers.
Honestly, Cooper spent more time walking along the trail than he did in his stroller.

This is how Cooper felt the whole week...and so did I.

I loved being with my family.
I loved no agendas, to-do lists or places to be.
I loved playing games with my kids.
I loved watching them have fun.
I loved having fun too!
I loved feeling like nothing else in the world mattered.

It was so nice to have our friends to play with.
It really helped my own boys get along with each other better.

My brother brought his Xbox...'nuff said!

Allie and Cooper bonding.

I think Cooper was having a little bit more fun than Allie. We're just happy that she was warming up to us and actually let me hold her!

This is what we did the rest of our time in Park City!

Swim...
Parker did a great job blowing bubbles and swimming on the steps. He's still a little scared of the deep end, but at least he knows his boundaries!

Swim...
Payton was a fish. His swimming skills have improved so much this summer. The hours he spent in the pool this week only boosted his confidence. He is a great little swimmer!

and more swimming!
Cooper is just crazy! He thinks he can swim. He wants to be in the deep end. He has absolutely no fear! Luckily, we taught him how to blow bubbles so by the end of the week he was starting to breath a little better under the water, which is good since that's where he spent most of his time. I would not be surprised if he was swimming on his own next summer.

I'm so proud of all my boys.
Tim worked throughout the week (someone's got to do it), but he did get to spend most of the evenings with us.

It was a fabulous little getaway!

first sleepover

Parker had his first sleepover (and probably last). His friend Ryker slept over at our house. We were technically babysitting him. His parents both had to be somewhere early in the morning so we offered to have him sleepover. I figured I might as well let them do it now when they are still innocent and can only stay up until 9 o'clock. As soon as they get older I'm pretty sure that sleepovers will be out of the question. Payton and Parker both loved having him over. They thought it was the coolest thing. Ryker did have a little bit of a rough night and wanted his Mom and Dad a few times, but we made it through and he was happy as ever the next morning.

st. george

I am always anxious with anticipation for a family vacation. Normally, my anticipation is filled with excitement, but this time the anticipation for our vacation was bitter sweet. I was excited to be getting away for a long weekend with my family. I was even more excited because our friends, the Siebenbergs, were joining us. However, there was this one little reason we were going to St. George that I was not necessarily excited about...the marathon!


The first couple days in St. George I tried to hide my nervousness. I was having a great time with my family. I loved eating at In & Out, watching my kids play at the playground, shopping, swimming, and staying up late to play card games with Brett & Camille. But, I was definitely nervous about, what I considered to be, my pending doom.

Much to my surprise, as soon as we went to the expo to pick up my race packet, the less nervous I became. I was actually getting really excited! Excited to see these darling signs my cute kids and friends made for me. Excited to see all the other runners picking up their race packets. Excited for the energy that a marathon brings. Excited to get this race (that had been ruling my life for the past 4 months) over with!

Finally, on Saturday morning the excitement and nervousness collided together and I set off on my 26.2 mile journey. Here is the only picture Tim was able to snap of me at mile 21 and the only emotion I had was pure excitement. I was having the time of my life!

I did it and I had so much fun!

I was so happy to have all my handsome boys cheering me on. I felt like they needed the popsicles (that they hand out to runners after you cross the finish line) more than I did! They've been so patient with me the last 4 months and they had to be patient for 4 hours waiting for me to finish the race. They are such a great support and motivation for me.

I felt so lucky to not only have my family there, but great friends cheering me on!

These girls are some of my best friends; Camille & Heidi. Heidi's husband, Cory, also ran the marathon. It was so fun to see her there.

(Funny sidenote: I didn't even notice my ridiculous husband until Camille pointed it out.)

Look at all this chaos...the energy was amazing!

The rest of the weekend was pure enjoyment. We had so much fun soaking up the last of the summer sun. The kids (BIG & small) loved the pool.



Cooper loved the water and thought that he could swim. He definitely can't, but he tried over and over and over and over again!


We had so much fun with the Siebs. Our kids got along so well with each other. The candy bar game was a highlight for the kids (except for one of the kids coughpaytoncough who didn't get the candy they wanted)!

Payton loved having a bedroom with his very own tv. He loved laying in bed and watching movies. I didn't get many pictures of Parker. I didn't see him much. He was busy the whole time being Makenna's shadow. He loved following her around and doing everything she wanted to do, eat, play, say, watch, etc. They were a perfect match for each other!

Cooper and Sam also loved watching movies in the bedroom. This was the first time Cooper had ever sat still this long to watch tv.

Aren't they just the cutest little kids?

After we put the kids to bed every night we stayed up playing card games. It brought us back to the days before we had kids and we used to stay up late every single weekend with the Siebenbergs!

It was also conference weekend so we attempted to watch conference and have the kids do some fun conference activities. I probably don't have to tell you that this only lasted for about 15 minutes before the kids were out of control. Tim & I have already promised each other that we will never go out of town for conference weekend again. We're still trying to catch up on 16 hours of conference talks!

Here is the whole gang posing in the condo. The condo we rented was awesome! It was plenty of room for all nine of us. We loved every minute of our little getaway and were sad it had to come to an end. As our lives get busier and more chaotic with the many things we have going on, it's these moments, these friends, these simple things we do to enjoy ourselves that makes life so much fun!

*Check out Camille's amazing scrapbook pages of our St. George adventure here*

never say never

Five years ago, I ran a marathon.


The first time I ever laced up my running shoes and ran a mile was just nine short months before this race. At the time, I thought it was the longest, hardest mile of my life. I never believed that I could run more than a mile, but I did. I ran 26.2 miles. As I made my final steps toward the finish line, screaming at my body to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, I promised myself that I would never do it again.

Five years later, I did what I swore I would never do again...I ran another marathon.


I never thought I would do another marathon.  Let's be honest, I only did the first marathon for bragging rights.  I already had the rights to brag that, I did a marathon.  And brag I've done.  Ask anyone.  They know because I've told them.  Bragged about.

However, this marathon was different.  I needed to do this marathon for me.  It took me five years to forget about the pain of my first marathon. It took me five years to realize that I could do this again. It took some peer pressure, but in the end this challenge was mine. I needed to overcome my fears and conquer this challenge by myself and I did. I wasn't entirely alone. I did have friends training with me along the way. I had family and friends encouraging me. I had a husband loving me in spite of the many hours I spent logging miles instead of tv time with him. I had children that inspired me to push myself and work hard for them. I had many reasons why I run.

I told myself that I was going to do this race now because I was ready. I was better trained and I was actually prepared to run a marathon. I wanted this race to feel good. I wanted to feel better than I did during my first marathon, but I never believed that it would actually happen.

This weekend, in the early morning hours as I sat on a school bus riding the 26.2 miles up the canyon to the start of the St. George Marathon, I realized that this was actually happening and I knew that I could do this.  I had three goals in mind as I started the race:

1.  Don't get sick (a common problem during my long runs).

2.  Finish the race.

3.  Enjoy the journey.

I knew that goals one and two I could do.  I was confident that I could manage through those goals, but number three would be difficult.  How could I possibly enjoy running 26.2 miles?  I never thought I could enjoy this race...especially the last few miles.

Never say never.

I didn't get sick, I finished the race and I enjoyed every second of the journey...I flourished the last few miles and sprinted past hundreds of people.  This race was my best run to date.  I absolutely LOVED it.  I loved the energy.  I loved the scenery.  I loved my body.  I loved running.  I loved being by myself.  I loved that I was doing it...AND...I not only did it, but I loved doing it.

I finished the race in 4:21:02, which was slower than I should have done.  Honestly, I felt a little too good at the end of the race, but I didn't care because I was happy to slow myself down a bit and enjoy myself.  I think I'll take this analogy and try to apply it to my life.  I maybe didn't accomplish as much as I could have, but I definitely had more fun, which was something I never thought I could do!

did i mention?

this kids OBSESSION!

great grandma

We celebrated my Grandma's birthday this week. My boys are so lucky to have their Great-Grandma Chesnut. She loves to care for them, nurture them and love them...just as she's done for me.

just like his big brother

After school one day, Payton stood in the kitchen eating an apple. As soon as Cooper saw Payton, he motioned towards the apples and started screaming gibberish. Of course I knew this meant that he would also like an apple. After I handed him his apple, he walked over to where Payton was standing. He stood right beside him against the wall and began eating his apple. Just like his big brother.

baby shower

We had a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Becca, and my sister, Erika. They are both having baby girls in November. I had so much fun baking all week long and planning the pink party. I don't get to do many things pink around our house so I decided to go all out...pink, pink and more pink. It was fun to see all our family and friends who came to the shower. They both received so many darling little girly things...now let's just get these babies here. I can't wait to meet them!

obsessed

I've mentioned Cooper's obsession with balls before, but it's worth mentioning again. This kid loves to play with balls. Not only that, he has a need to throw things and he's got a great arm for a 17-month old. You have to watch yourself around him. I've been pegged in the head by his sippy cup, book, toy, food or anything that can be thrown. He has had Payton, Parker and their friends in tears because he has thrown something at them and hurt them. This kid can be dangerous, but mostly he is so cute with his obsession.

These pictures are great representations of what he does all day long at home. He loves to go down to our basement where we have tons of balls and carry them around, kick them and throw them.

He spends hours shooting hoops and, to our surprise, he makes a lot of shots.

I think we just might have the next John Stockton in our family!

usa soccer

We got to go to the USA Nationals game that was played at Rio Tinto Stadium. It was so much fun! The excitement from the crowd was amazing and the soccer skills were incredible. It was a great game!

the scarlet pimpernel

Tonight we went out to dinner and to Hale Center Theater to see The Scarlet Pimpernel with Tim's family. The show was hilarious! It's always fun to spend time with Tim's family. Here are some pictures that we took that almost got us kicked out of the theater. Tim & Andrea

Ann, Kent & Me

Grandpa Carver reading the playbill

Aunt Jill & Craig (also not happy about us taking pictures)!

kool-aid stand

The boys were playing with their friends and asked if they could do a "water stand." Being the entrepreneur that I am I suggested they do something a little sweeter, like Kool-aid (we didn't have any lemonade). They decided that was a great idea. They made some signs while I made the Kool-aid. We set up the stand and they got to work. Soon they realized that we don't get much traffic on our street...especially at 3:00 pm on a Friday afternoon. I was able to recruit a few patrons for them.

They had such a fun time and they probably had about a dozen customers. Not too shabby for their first business venture.

utah football

Tim & I are excited to officially be season ticket holders this year.

We are lucky to have a fun group to sit with that includes my brother, sis-in-law and some of their friends.

One of their friends, Matt, makes these signs (a different one for every game). We were the lucky ones who got to bring this sign home. It's now hanging in our basement. Payton thought it was cool. Cooper must be a BYU fan because he keeps throwing balls at it and knocking it off the wall.

The first game was awesome. Can't wait to see what the rest of the season brings...Go Utes!

parker's back to school

Parker was so excited to go back to school. Payton started school a month ago and Parker has been going crazy waiting for his turn to go to school. Unfortunately, Parker was sick for his first day of preschool, but was happy when his turn FINALLY came to go to school.

Can you see the excitement?

He had a hard time making a normal face he was so excited!

This is Parker's second year of preschool. He's already talking about next year when he turns five and can take the bus with Payton and go to Kindergarten. Our little Parker is growing up way too fast!

sick day

Today was a sick day at our house. Payton and Parker spent all night throwing up. Cooper did the same thing the previous night. After the throwing up subsided a little, the boys enjoyed the rest of the day laying around on the couches watching movies, eating saltine crackers and drinking sprite. The biggest bummer is that Parker had to miss his first day of preschool.

super sunday

Sunday morning Tim & I went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication. It was a beautiful service. I was so impressed with the reverence in our stake center. There were many wonderful talks. One of the highlights was President Monsen telling a funny story, which ended with him saying, "Don't do it, Deiter!" I love President Monsen's sense of humor yet amazing spiritual presence.
After the dedication we picked up our boys, packed up the car and headed to Mountain View, WY to visit the Wright family. It's about a two hour drive from Salt Lake. It was fun to visit with Andi & Jdub. We also loved holding baby Corbin. We barely saw Payton, Parker & Ashton. They had so much fun playing in Ashton's room the whole time. The weather was really nice so we played outside for awhile.

Parker loves Brice. He had fun driving her around in the jeep.

Jdub, Tim, Ashton, Payton & Vader (the dog) had fun playing soccer together. Actually, I'm pretty sure that Vader had the most fun stealing the ball from the boys. Ashton had the least fun and told Vader many times (verbally and physically) how much he hated him. Of course, he did the same to Tim too. I think he's feeling the pressure of being the oldest of THREE kids now. He was having a rough afternoon.

This is Payton trying to get the ball away from Vader. This dog actually sent Payton and Ashton into the air and flat on their backs. Luckily, they didn't get hurt, because we were laughing too hard to help them. Payton still keeps talking about how Vader sent him flying in the air!

We had a great time with the Wrights. It was fun to see where they live, have dinner together and visit. It was a super Sunday!

why i run

After running in a race this past weekend and with the pending doom of the St. George Marathon just weeks away, I've been asked by many of you, and thus been asking myself, "Why do I run?" My soul searching has lead me to the following conclusions, which I am now publishing in this short essay.

(BEWARE: My answers are Cheesy, but True!)

Why I Run
by Brittany Jones

Because I Can! This is the biggest reason that I run. There have been times in my life (all three pregnancies) that I have not been able to do any physical activity. I've been laid up on bed rest and unable to use my body. Those times have been miserable. During those times, I've promised myself that when I am able to use my body again, I will make sure that I am using my body and not taking it for granted.

There are many people that are not able to run. People who are limited by physical disabilities. One of those people, is my Mom. She has MS and can barely walk, let alone run, but everyday she uses her body to its full capacity. Every step she takes is hard work, but she does it with ease and never complains. I run for her. I run because she can't, but I can. I want to use my body to it's full capacity. I want to see how far I can push my body and do it as long as I CAN! I do it because there may come a time when I am limited by my own physical capacities and I won't be able to run anymore, but until that time I will keep on running.

It makes me Happy! I often refer to running as my anti-depressant. When I don't exercise I start getting really ornery, irritable, mean and unhappy. I have to exercise to feel good about myself; to be happy.

Building Friendships. I have made so many good friends because of running. I started running over 6 years ago with one of my neighbors, who I would now consider a lifelong friend. We spent many early morning hours talking and running. We built a strong friendship that also started the foundation for my love of running. We both moved and have barely kept in touch, but she will be one of my dearest friends forever. After moving, I made new running friends, who have also become lifelong friends. I have been able to build amazing friendships from my countless hours of running with friends. My running partners have come and gone and changed over the years, but I have a bond with each one of them that will never change. I've also met many people that I wouldn't have met in any other context. I've run with perfect strangers who quickly became good friends. I have met so many amazing people because of running.

Sense of Accomplishment. This past year I have loved the sense of accomplishment I feel after running. I just finished my 4th race in the past 4 months and I'm amazed at the overwhelming accomplishment that I feel at the end. I've set small goals for myself with each race. It's incredible what you can do when you put your mind to it.

Self Improvement. After running four races, it's been a fun challenge to work on improving myself each time. My first race I ran in 2:08, my second race I finished in 1:59 and this last race I ran in 1:53. I never thought that I could run a half marathon, break 2 hours or run under a 9 minute mile, but now I've done all three. I've learned that self improvement is possible if we are willing to try.

I love Being Outdoors. My favorite place to run is outside. I love to run in the early morning hours when the sun is rising or at night when the sun is setting. I love to breathe in the air. I love looking at the world around me and appreciating the amazing beauty. I love to see other people running, walking or riding bikes. I love to see my neighbors who smile and wave. I love to watch people playing in their yards, doing yardwork or driving here and there. I love soaking it all in and watching the world carry on as I run by.

Weight control. Okay, let's be honest. This has moved way done to the bottom of my list, but I have to exercise to keep my weight under control. I love to eat, which means that I need a way to burn calories. I'm happy to report that this was probably one of my top priorities when I started running, but now it is the last on this list.

It's Fun! Because of all the reasons stated above running is fun. I have plenty of times when I dread running and when running is sooo not fun, but luckily on those days I remember one of the above mentioned reasons why I run and I can get through that run. And when I finish, usually, I always concur that it was fun.

I Enjoy it...and that, my friends, is why I run!

hobblecreek half marathon

I did it again. Another half marathon and a new personal record. 1:53:14. Only this time, I had these cute kids (and a cute Tim) waiting to greet me at the end. This is the first race that they have been able to come to and cheer me on. For me, that was the best part of the race!

the happiest place on earth

Tim was in the family room with the boys watching tv and I was in the kitchen making dinner. A commercial for Disneyland came on tv and the commercial mentioned that Disneyland was, "the happiest place on earth."

Payton asked, "Why do they say that?"

Tim replied, "Because people think that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth."

Payton said, "I don't."

I inquired, "Where do you think the happiest place on earth is?"

Payton answered, "Home!"

I can't even explain the joy, peace and purpose that came over me as he said the word, "home." Everything that I do as a Mother was completely worth it at that moment. All the hard work, all the time and all the energy that I put into making our house a home and trying to create an environment where my kids are comfortable and happy has paid off. Hearing my oldest son tell me that home makes him happier than Disneyland was an incredible reward as a Mother. I have to agree with Payton, I can't think of any other place that I am happier. Home is the happiest place on earth!