This is more like it...

This is totally stolen from my sister Megan's blog, so she gets props for being funny.

Merrell-thon

The annual Merrell-thon has come and gone.
It was loads of fun!
Thanks for blogging about it Cindy so I don't have too :)

Blake finished first in like 5 min.  
Cindy kicked my trash.  
I came in 3rd at 25:14.
Joel killed it in 27 min. (beat by a girl AGAIN!!!  Ouch!)
Megan set an all-time personal best.

Now I'm off to get ready for a 
varsity triathlon this weekend.  woo-hoo!

Disneyland Vacay

To celebrate our 10 yr. anniversary, Joel and I decided to be the meanest parents in the world and go to Disneyland for the week without our kids.

(we actually didn't even tell them where we were going until we got back with presents to ease the disappointment.  We just told them we were going to "Anaheim") 

It was awesome!

It was so great just to be able to have fun with each other and talk 

with out being interrupted every 1.5 seconds.

  

see how excited Joel was?

The firework show was spectacular, despite the hoards of grumpy people who thought they had to have a front row seat in order to see fireworks hundreds of feet in the sky.  

Dude, it's the happiest place on earth - go eat a churro and calm down!  

"It's Tough To Be A Bug" show was so cute!  It was one of my many favorite parts.

Oh, and did you know Captain EO is back!?  We were so excited!  M.J. in all his glory.  It was radical.

Mr. and Mrs. Wagenman with Mr. and Mrs. Mouse

Tower of Terror and Space Mountain - best rides ever.  Check out my man and his buffness.

We ate dinner one night at the Blue Bayou.  It was way over priced, but we felt so superior to everyone riding by on Pirates of the Caribbean with jealous looks on their faces.

Character sightings:

We stopped by the beach on our way home.  I wish we would have planned another day to spend at the beach instead of just a 1/2 hour.  Or maybe I just didn't want this vacation to end.  I love my daughters more than life itself, but it was so wonderful to be able to reconnect with eachother and remember why we fell in love in the first place.

The Notebook

During conference this weekend, Hailey was pretty excited about taking notes (at least for the first session anyway, which I thought was pretty good for a 7 yr. old).  She told me she was writing down words that stood out to her.  Here is what she wrote:

heaven * home * blessing * follow * wonderful * apostle * mighty * strong * righteousness * strength * blessed * holy * temple * responsibility * protected * children * covenant * guide * challenge * decision * right * worthy * important * repent * scriptures * help * spirit * faith * strength * joy * trust * latter days * baptized * quote * desire * succeeding * success * resisting * witness * message * Christian * love * commandments * Monson * missionaries * mother * father * brothers * sisters * Heavenly Father * Jesus Christ * Savior * pray * family * priesthood * righteous * God * the Son * Joseph * Angel * Lord * church * Book of Mormon * power * authority * president  

I'd say that's a pretty thorough account of the important things we learned

Ten years and counting!

Joel and I were married 10 years ago today!!!!

I'm not good at being publicly sappy, so I'll spare you all the lovey-dovey mooshy stuff about how wonderful my Joelseff is and how blissfully magical these past 10 years have been and how lucky, happy, and grateful I feel to have him in my life, and just say