Mackay Madness

Two years ago, we went to Moab with some friends so that Brandon could run in the "Canyon Land Race." Well, right as I watched all my friends and husband cross the FINISH line, I decided THEN AND THERE that the next time we went I WOULD RUN THAT RACE!!!

So now, two years later (and to Margo's astonishment) I finally sort of trained and ran the 5 mile. And my sweet girls joined me. It was so fun to run as a family. Brandon stooped to our level and ran the five miles with us since he is recovering from 2 foot injuries. Hannah whooped our butts and finished way before the rest of us. She's never going to let us live that down.

The night before the race, Tara made us a delicious pasta dinner and I sat and constructed my "super dooper" playlist for my ipod. I loved all of my songs, and they each meant something or triggered a memory for me, and I swear that's what helped me tough it out.

While we were waiting on the red rocks up the canyon for the race to begin, Addie and I were pretending that we had opened up a "club" and were giving out goo shots and energy beans. We thought we were so funny.  Brandon and Hannah were mortified. I think by the time the race finally started, Addie and I were so hopped up on energy crap that it's amazing we didn't crash and burn along the way.

Well then, as we started running, a package of energy beans dropped out of Addie's pocket and we just kept running. When Margo got to the finish line after her half, she told us "thanks for the beans we had left her"...ha ha ha...they were still in their package and she knew exactly what kind we had because she had bought them for me. So she picked them up when she saw them on the road(still in their package of course) but a little smooshed from 5 billion people running over them... and she ate them on her run. Oh man, that was hilarious. What are the odds??

My favorite part of the race was when I was almost to the bottom of the canyon and a "Josh Groban" song came on, and I just teared up, I knew my Mom was with me and I pretended that she would be at the finish line. She might have been, but I didn't see her....I was too busy trying to chug the free chocolate milk, candy and banana's at the finish line. Ha ha ha....if they had told me I got free chocolate milk at the race I would have started running years agoooooo!

Margo and I getting our bags, shirts, and numbers.


Right before we separated for the race...half went to the 5 mile, the others to the half marathon. Show offs:)

All the kiddo's enjoying their breakfast.


The kids rode their bikes to the pet store and brought back this goldfish for Bubba to eat....HE TOTALLY DID IT! Bubba never lets us down.


 After the race.....



FIRST RACE...YES! LAST RACE....NEVER! We had a blast. Best run ever! Oh wait...only run ever to this point!
*thank you Brandon and Margo for completely pushing me out of my comfort zone. the end.

The day God placed Easton in our arms, the world became a BRIGHTER place. I dare ANYONE to talk about this kid and not get a smile on your face! He is a little piece of sunshine. He is growing up so fast. We love watching him change from year to year, and know that he will accomplish great things in his life!
I can't bear to imagine the day when he stops walking into my room wrapped in a blanket before the sun even comes up and crawls into bed with me and starts poking my eyeballs out demanding that I turn on cartoons and make him breakfast. I can't imagine not kissing those little toesies...that aren't even very small anymore but I still see them as infant feet. He is and always will be....our BABY boy. However, he is now FIVE YEARS OLD....and we look forward to all the great things ahead!!!

 
Easton wanted to have a party with all his BIG BOY friends.  You see, he is used to playing with Chance and his buddies, and sometimes that makes it hard for me to find him a play date during the day because he loses patience with the toddlers that are his own age.  So we decided to have 2 parties...one with the BIG BOYS and one with his smaller friends. He really does just fine when he is with one group or the other, but if there are older boys when he's with his preschool friends...then there is a problem!
 He insisted that he needed to invite his cousins Austin and Griffin. Now Austin is in his 20's and Griffin is in 8th grade so I'm sure this wasn't a dream come true for them, but they were good sports and came to party with us at TRAFALGA! As Griffin looked around at Eastons friends, he said "is E really small for his age?" ha ha ha ha ha. I said, "no, there is just not any boys under 8 or 9 years old here!" We laughed and laughed!!!
 They played a few games of laser tag...which is Easton's favorite thing to do in the whole world. Because he is....AN ARMY GUY in case you didn't already know.

All the kids wrote him a cute note on the white board in the party room.

 We made the girls go and help with crowd control.



 The party was a huge success. And Easton was on cloud nine! I think he thought he was the coolest 5 year old around!!!

This year, Easton turned "5"! So naturally, we had a lot of celebrating going on.  He really wanted to have a party at preschool and then take all the boys to Arctic Circle after. So that's what we did!
But first, we had to prepare the snacks and party favors..... silly putty was a MUST! (pretty sure all the parents hated my guts)
 and dog tags....
 and kool aid popcorn for sure! (note: i ate so much of this stupid stuff i was sick...it is yummy)


 Miss Booth was so cute about making the big day special for little "E". He got a crown to wear all day (that he hated because it smashed his faux hawk) and he got to be the leader in every activity at school that day.  At the end, we had treats and gave all the kids their silly putty. Easton was soooo excited.
 Then right from there, we were off to the ARCTIC....circle that is!
 When we got there, Easton gave each friend a little bag with 2 matchbox cars to keep. These kept them busy in the playland for hours.

 On our way home, Easton gave his buddies their army tags and helmets! They were all so happy and grateful. They are such a darling group of little boys. I actually just sat back and laughed the whole time at lunch.  Usually i would be so stressed about a party, but this worked out just perfect.

We took the kids to their first Jazz basketball game!
 They loved it. Easton payed attention to the whole game and would get so ticked off when our team would make mistakes. It was amazing to watch how much he "really did" get the game.

Chance liked it too, but he takes after me...in that we just wanted to get to the gift shop. He wanted all the garb. He conned his daddy into a new jacket and a hat! 
Addie took her friend Reagan and a couple of the neighbor kids (Chris and Mayson) that were Lakers fans. They sat in a different section and got beer thrown on them. Might of been because of the Lakers Jerseys....just sayin:)

A few weeks ago, we took the kids out to shoot some guns.  Both Brandon and I love to go to the range and shoot for some reason. Must release tension or something? It's a little hobby we started a few years ago. He made me go get my "hunter safety" license so that he could have my tag for the hunting season, and after that...I was hooked. I remember my mom had my "target" practice sheet hanging on the back of her office door. She was so proud of her little Annie Oakley:)
Chance was a natural. He was hitting everything he shot at! He can't wait to go back.

 Brandon helped the older kids with the bigger guns, and I mostly chased "E" around trying to keep him safe from getting shot, or shooting others with his airsoft gun. He seriously thinks he is an ARMY MAN! Holy crap, that kid is scary:)
 Brandon has his "concealed weapon" permit. So don't mess around with him if you meet up in a dark alley. He is going to raise these girls to be tough too.

 The shooting range is just a mile or two from our house. It was the prettiest day...just look at the view.

Yep, you heard me....this little man is all ready to go to KINDERGARTEN!!




Everything checked out perfectly. And my baby will head off to elementary in the fall. Why don't you just tear my heart out and serve it on a platter??? 
Sometimes we will be riding in the car and he will say, "Mom, what you gonna do when I go to kindergarten next year...you gonna be soooo sad?" And I just do a really loud pretend cry and he laughs and laughs. If only he knew that's really how I felt:(