We are in des moines Iowa (a Wonderful city by the way) for another year of USA national championships. Josh will be running in the steeple finals on sun at 12:50. (Prelim races were on thurs; he looked good, and comforatable.) You can watch his race live at flotrack.org (then go to videos and coverage) You will also be able to watch this race on ESPN or NBC. This is the link to the T.V. schedule. http://www.usatf.org/events/2010/USAOutdoorTFChampionships/ He's had a hard year with injuries and stuff- taking off September to February, but he's worked hard to get back into shape and has been feeling pretty good lately! He is the defending champion from last year... so it should be a good race. But, I think with all things considered Josh just feels lucky to be able to even make finals this year! Nice job Josh! We're proud of you!

Outings

I'm a little behind on blogging, so I had to combine a few things we've been doing under the heading "outings". So- a few nights ago we went to this cupcake place called Gigi's. It was so super good and really hit the spot! I totally recommend going there- they have like 20 different flavors that change according to the day. (IE: Chocolate malt, Italian cream wedding cake, cookies and cream, Mallow cream, Peach cobler, texas milk chocolate, southern comfort, etc) Pictured below is Midnight Magic- only drawback was a little too much frosting- BUT that it worked out perfectly that we have a little frosting monster living in our house, so any extra frosting was quickly taken care of!

There is a new culinary arts school a couple miles away. One of my dreams is to attend Culinary arts school... this one had an open house and the students and instructors made all this delicious food for you to sample! It was all free, and all yummy! (This is a real pig, I do like ham, but I think if I would have breathed in and smelled the scent of this I would have been sick)

We finally went to see the ducks that live in the fountain of the peabody hotel. Each morn. the ducks are marched out to the lobby fountain. They spend the day there, and at night the Duck master comes out, rolls out a red carpet (and stairs) and marches them out of the fountain, into the elevator, and up to their night quarters.

Magnets

I made a post a couple weeks ago with the "jesus loves you note" being held up by some cute magnets that my sis. made me. Lots of people liked them... If you are interested in gettin' some for yourself I had her post them on her blog- http://sunnykellybeck.blogspot.com/2010/06/butts-and-mags-buy-them.html they are .75 or 3 for $2.00! She has alot but here's a photo of some of them.

Almost, but not quite

Do you remember this Delicous stuff?

It used to be .89 cents at Albertsons and we would beg our mom to buy us some everytime we were there. I would usually chooose boysenberry or raspberry and sip on a bottle savoring the flavor for several hours- to make it last as long as I could. Wikapedia says it "was extremely popular in the 1980s and early 90s, but fell out of favor in later years"- but not to this girl!!! I have been searching for a bottle of this delicous stuff for years!

Found this drink at target (by the deli) and was hoping it may be like Clearly Canadian- it was!!! Not quite as good of course but had a similar deliciousness! After this bottle was gone (to quickly) I searched online and found you can purchase Clearly canadian at www.DrSoda.com ($1.89 a bottle, plus shipping, but it's worth it! that's what I've asked for for my birthday. Don't know if I Can wait!

I know I bag on Memphis alot, but there are several things I really like about it too. I really like how people are very religious, and very open about religion! When going through the checkout line, instead of the cashier saying "how are you today", often times they say "Are you having a blessed day?" So, a couple weeks ago I was finishing my grocery shopping at target and a cute little girl who was about 8 or 9 handed me this little paper (above). She had written a whole stack of them in her note book, tore them out and brought them to target (her mom was grocery shopping) to hand them out! I was so grateful for her simple little act (with great courage.) It was just such a special thing to do, and It made me feel so happy! I keep this on my fridge so I can see it every day to remember what is so important. so, I pass this onto you... I hope you know, jesus loves you too!

killer kudzu 5k

This last weekend we went down to Mississippi to run the "killer kudzu 5k"- it was in a town, "Holly Springs" that I'm certain inspired the town that "Cars" takes place in! So strange to take a step back into time as you enter this town!

Josh has been working hard getting back into shape. He was 2nd but with a pretty good time, so that's positive! This was only his 2nd race since August.

I on the other hand had my "Baby Jogger Debut" I ran 2.6 miles of the race pushing this little (crying) girl. After Josh finished he came and got her so I could "kick it in"... I must admit, with a stroller, I was proud of my 4th place 22:59! (1st in my age group though, ha ha)

Besides being buckled down in the stroller for 23 min. mill had a blast... she loved climbing all over the steps of the old city hall, and gourged her self on watermellon and juice boxes (from the post-race food)

BUT- this was the best part of our trip. There were some way "bayou" (my term for run down, falling apart, overgrown, swampy) houses. They were all of course being lived in. This was the best one, we couldn't resist slowing down to grab a picture. The owner- standing on his porch- probabally didn't appreciate that. woops!

Lin's Visit

My little sis. Lindsey came for a visit... It was fun to see her and to go and do some of the fun stuff around town!
We went to Collierville town sq.- a darling little block of antique shops, old hardware stores, and the village toymaker etc- when you go it feels like you've stepped back in time just a bit.

Old (authentic) cabin in the town sq.

We went downtown and visited some of the sights:

Peabody hotel, way nice old hotel downtown known for their ducks (these ducks live in their grand fountain in the foyer, each morning they put out a red carpet and march the ducks to the fountain) this is mill looking into the gift shop window.

When it gets dark these cinderella carriages will light up and can take you on a little tour of downtown memphis

Of course we had to have some BBQ, so we stopped at Rendevous. It's a (total tourrist trap) restaurant downtown, food's ok but atmosphere is way fun. You have to enter through a back alleyway, when you get inside it's just a classic memphis BBQ experience (good bbq nachos)

Like many kiddos, mill doesn't do meat, but LOVED the baked beans :)

We checked out Beal of course, and stopped in some joints to hear some Memphis blues

And yes, Graceland was also on the list. This was the first time I'd gone. I'll admit, I didn't really care much for elvis but after visiting graceland I have a greater appreciation for him, and the icon that he was.

If you ever end up at Graceland, you'll probabally find you are surprised by the size. It is actually not so huge as I thought... kinda just a normal sized house...although he does have alot of land with stables, a recording studio like building, a buidling he turned into a race track, and a nice pool etc. You see Elvis bought graceland at the age of 22, bought it from a dr. who's wife's name was grace and he'd named it after her, Elvis thought that was sweet, so he kept the name. I was really fun to check it all out!

No flash photography inside so excuse the quality... this is his billiard room- walls and ceeling covered in fabric.

I thought his T.V. room was way fun- love the little white monkey. Not pictured (because the room was to dark to get a good photo) is the "jungle room" you know in the (amazing) song Walking In Memphis it says "But there's a pretty little thing Waiting for the King Down in the Jungle Room"- that's what they're talking about!!! a room at graceland!

His Pink Caddy!

fun times... thanks for comming lin, we had a great time with ya!

when in memphis...

really, who needs a swimming pool? this is how we do it in the south.

Utah Trip

We were really excited to visit Utah last week! We got to see kelly's cute baby Ollie, and see tracy b/f she left to Germany for the summer (to follow tracy's adventures in germany, click on her link on the right collumn of my blog) SOO nice to be back in the mountains! Out here I often feel the opposite of claustrophobia with the complete lack of the mountains! I loved:

• Running up the canyon

• My walk on the trail on BYU camps,
• Smelling the plum trees that were in blossoms!!!
• Eating Zupas, Los Hermanos, Brick oven and "Bens Cookies"

• Gardner village with "the girls" (and ollie)

• hangin' out in parents back yard and family BBQ

Millie Loved:

Feeding ducks at gardner village

playing in the dirt

• being spoiled by grandma (who lets her do most things she wants to do, like playing in the stream at garnder v.)

Animals at the zoo (but was often upset that she couldn't climb into the cages with the animals)

She warmed up to ollie after a while, but one time she got really mad at him for no reason and shook her finger and him and yelled "no way, no way!"

Thanks fam for a great trip!

Happy Birthday Grandpa C.

Happy Birthday Grandpa! Sorry we couldn't be there but hope it's a good one!

(As you can see millie worked really hard on the sign- p.s. notice the pig tails?)

What we love these days...

Our weather is mostly 70's and 80's now but we still have a few cold days and lots of rainy days! Mill loves her rain puddles, her quick little legs always make a B-line for the big muddy puddle that collects at the end of the driveway. We've had to change many outfits from the times we weren't on the ball enough to get to her before she got to the puddle... these cute rain boots have helped with that problem She loves to just wander around in her rain boots, always carying around a little doll, and loves to wear hats...

Below: Josh's birthday was last week and we splurged on this ice cream cake. I must admit, I felt the same way about it as millie did, it just really hit the spot. Mill would get SOO excited when we'd pull out the cake. Josh was cutting the cake and millie was on a chair next to the counter, and we look down and there she was, face in cake. Guess she just couldn't wait any longer!

Photo Tag

So my sis. Kelly tagged me for this Terrible post- Apparently whoever i tag is supposed to take pics of the below things exactly as they are...no cheating and cleaning up. (this is embarassing)

my closet

Favorite shoes

oh, these shoes are just so great. Every year I say it'll be the last I wear these shoes, but I just can't throw them away. Just look at em', can ya blame me?

Laundry room

yes, it really is this digustng.

Our Bathroom

Favorite room

Love this antique highchair I found at a garrage sale (they have excellent garage sales here!)


Kitchen Sink

Fridge

What Kid(s) are doing now

you guessed it, watching a "show" (and eating a doll)

Self Portrait

I was obviously just doing this one to be dumb but wasn't really going to use it and then josh peeped around the corner (see him in the back ground?) and i thought that made it funny. can you do this with your lips? It really is a special talent i think.

***I Tag Melanie, Megan, Roseanne, Jami, and Both Jennas (Jenna R. and Jenna J.)