Birthday Getaway!

Remember how Hans surprised me with a trip to Newport for my birthday, but I was too stressed out to go?  Well, girls camp is over and I'm ready to relax!

This whole trip was documented with my phone because I forgot to pack my camera, but I still want to remember it despite the low quality!

It cracked me up, what our versions of beginning a relaxing trip were....

  

We were only gone a few days, but 1st on our list was a day that included massages and some time by the pool, so beautiful! Lucky this was our day for this, because it was cloudy and rainy the rest of the time we were there!

 We went into Huntington Beach and walked the pier and the beach.

 Hans even got us a convertible for the trip!

 While I was there, I was needing to do a 12 mile training run....but I didn't really want to do it alone, so Hans bought a long board and went 10 of it with me, until his calf was spasming! :)

I jumped off a wall for this pick...so happy to be done with the run!

Such a great getaway!  I always feel so renewed and grateful when I take a step out of my normal surroundings!  Thank you Hans, you always know what I need!

I love you and I am LOVING 40!

4th of July

Chloe is a Provo High Cheerleader

Lucky her...she got to be in the parade!

 She was darling hand delivered taffy to sweet Jayne and Josephine!

 The best seat is on the roof....Josie was up there the whole time!

 Hey...he's here with the family, that's all we can ask!

 

 The gang on the roof!

 

Beautiful Dayna and Jayne....our gracious hosts for the parade!  We're so lucky they invite us to their house which is located perfectly on the parade route and in the shade! Thanks Steve and Dayna!

Girl's Camp...and special visitors!

Last year...we got snowed out of camp....Shalom had too much snow, so each of our wards had to make their own arrangements.  It was kind of crazy, but a really neat year!  Each ward had some great experiences that may not have happened on a Stake camp.  So with that being said, we were so excited to get back up to Shalom and really have the special Shalom experience!

On the first night, I was in charge of our 4th year hike!  This group of 4th years and YCL's was so so awesome!  We had such a great time!   We had to have two priesthood leaders with us, so Hans and Rick Maw joined us.

It was a beautiful day.....but see the white on the far left?  That's distant billowing smoke from a forest fire.......

We set up camp, made our sweet MRE dinners.....I packed in some Sundance bars that were yummier than usual!

 We played games, had a spiritual message from the YCLs and then headed to bed around 11.  At 2:00 in the morning, I was woken up by my Stake President, telling me that we needed to come back to camp.  The fires were worse and it was a strong possibility that Shalom was going to be evacuated.  Not because we were in danger of fire, but because all roads in and out of Shalom were in danger of being closed.  So we all went back to camp (they had cars for us), we put all the girls in an open cabin so they wouldn't disturb their wards. And went back to sleep waiting for word.

My counselor told me that all the leaders got together to say a prayer to know what to do, and as soon as they said amen, our Stake President said, we need to go get our girls.

At 6:00am, we were told we had 30 minutes to get our girls on the buses. We needed to get out before the roads closed.  It was so stressful. We set up camp and took it down in less than 24 hours. We were so grateful that all the YCL's were so helpful, that we had a few extra priesthood leaders there and that were able to get everything packed and down the canyon.  At one point, I was walking across the parking lot and I saw Hans.  I burst into tears because I was so overwhelmed. Wow, I get teary thinking about it.  With the Stake Presidency's direction, we advised each ward to go home and plan what ever kind of camp they felt they could.  Some went straight to camping sites, some had sleep overs in their leaders back yard and some slept in their own beds but spent the days as a ward.  We told them we would meet on Thursday at 4:00, for a speaker, stake dinner, skits and our GLOW activity.  But by 3:00 that afternoon I was at the pool with Josie and the smoke had taken over the valley....I had ash all over me while I sat there and watched her swim!

 

As I was getting in bed at about 10 that night, I heard singing....it was our camp song...what?  I looked out my window and this crazy group of young women and leaders were serenading me.... I just started to cry!  They had gone on their hike to Macey's in their modest fashion show clothing to get ice cream cones!  They decided to stop by my house for some fun!  I love them so much!  They were keeping camp alive and having a blast doing it!

And thanks to that awesome group....who apparently didn't get much sleep, I woke up to this sweetness! GLOW!  I drove all the way to the church with them on so the whole stake could see! There was a trail of post its down the road!

 We had our skits, a yummy dinner, listened to an amazing speaker and had our GLOW activity! It may have been a little more influential out in the forest, but in a gym with the lights off was a close second!

 We were exhausted, but those young women apparently weren't, because I woke up the next morning to this!  I love them! 

 An important part of the week that I have yet to mention is SUZY & MEGAN!  Suzy is one of my dear friends from New Zealand.  We met on semester abroad in London when I was 19 and have stayed in touch ever since!  With her coming to visit, we were able to have Megan be a part of our camp experience...which was not quite what she had in mind, but she was a good sport and had a fun time with Chloe! So while Megan stayed with us, Suzy was visiting some other friends, but came down and stayed with us for a night and we had time to visit and reconnect!  They are both darling!  They spent a small fortune on cake decorating supplies (Megan's passion) and shoes....both right up our alley!  Then we dropped them off at the BYU Museum of Art where they met up with some more friends!  It was a special opportunity, and I'm so grateful it worked out!  We love you Megan and Suzy!

Ragnar & my 40th birthday

In keeping with tradition, we assembled our van members the night before (June 14th) for the bedazzling of the van!

Heather, Suzette, Laurie, me, Gretchen and Tracy

Van 2 - 2012

 

We loved how our van turned out!  We always get a little slap happy and do some funny things....this time they were in French...oooolala!

I'm not sure why I'm laughing so obnoxiously, but I was genuinely happy and having a great time! We were van 2, so we left in the morning after van 1 had already started running!

  

Here we are after our first runner (Heather) has taken off and we're catching up on all the fun Van 1 has had already!

 

This is one of my most favorite pics I took this year! Higgy on her second leg, happy as can be, enjoying the downhill, blowing us kisses!

 

Heather rocked her night leg hill, and looked so cute in her gear, I couldn't resist a pic!

  

Now this is when the birthday actually begins!

Just after midnight, when I'm getting ready for my second leg, Tracy turns to me and says, "Hey, it's your birthday!"  So she took a pic and I was glowing!

 

My night run was great, but man was I beat!  I was able to sleep about 2 hours, and didn't get to bed until after midnight on my birthday, so basically I enjoyed 22 hours of my 40th birthday! Yeah me...not!  If you know me at all, sleep is like THE most important thing to me, but I tried to be happy and have fun!  And how could I not with these awesome girls!

 

I took this pic in response to Hans' happy birthday text....wow, what a honey. My face looks swollen! This was just after waking up from my 2 hour nap under a pine tree. 

While I was changing in the morning, I heard rustlings going on!  Sweet Suzette brought me a breakfast birthday candle to blow out!  Suzette thought of everything! 

Then I got out of the van and noticed this sweet honey of a poster on the back of the van.....it's my face on Oprah's body and it says "Lookin' Fab at 40  -  Happy Birthday!"  It's hilarious!

 

We went over to the exchange....our final one with Van 1 and the girls surprised me with singing and a sweet Maverick gift card to get my diet coke at the end of the run......Ragnar Hill was next for me.  A little symbolic on my 40th birthday!  Nothing like truly conquering my demons in person on my big day!

 

After the singing, they presented me with my fave cupcakes from Dippidee...just slightly damaged from the rolling around in the van.  It truly was so funny...it didn't stop me though, Suz and I dug in! YUM!  Thanks again to thoughtful Suzette!

 

Laurie had the first half of Ragnar Hill...we were both so dang nervous!

It was hot and we were tired.  We hardly got any sleep!

As she came around the corner up to me, I got so emotional, she was so tough!

This hug says it all!

I love you Laurie Pope!

Then I was off for my 4 mile climb....it was crazy steep and a dang hard run!

  

I felt the same crazy emotions as I was coming up to Gretchen!  Everyone was so supportive and awesome!  I think I went through 4 frozen washcloths on my neck so I wouldn't over heat! 

But it felt so awesome to be done!!!

This is where I totally cried! IT WAS OVER!

We did it LP! You & me can conquer anything after that hill!

 We all met up at the finish line and Tracy  brought us home! We had on our matching shirts and sparkle skirts! We love our pink! 

 HOUSEWIVES of the UC

June 16, 2012

Sweet Hans met up with us at the finish line and you can bet your booty he took me straight to Maverick for my DC purchased with my birthday gift card! So classy! It never tasted so good!

When I got into the car,  Hans handed me a card....

it was plane tickets to Newport Beach, departing in 3 days.....

I was so excited but had a panic attack at the same time.

He had babysitters planned, but he forgot about my planning for girls camp.

So we quickly changed plans and I was excited to have something to look forward to after all my work was done!

I showered and cleaned up at the Astle's hotel room, then did a little shopping at the outlets.  We met some of the gang for dinner at my fave J&G Grill at the St. Regis in Deer Valley.  The picture isn't that great, but it was a huge table and such a fun night!  Hans had black and white high school photos of me all over the table.  They were hideous and don't need to be viewed again...but man we laughed hard!

Then it was over....a drive down Provo Canyon, stumbling into bed and on to celebrate Father's Day!

Thanks to all these awesome people for making 40 so fun!  I absolutely loved it and have enjoyed finally hitting the age of not caring what anyone thinks!  So awesome!

The only thing missing, was being able to be with my kids, I don't think they cared one bit, but I got plenty of love the next day!