Tess had such a fun birthday today!  This morning was her birthday party at Discovery Bay, a daycare that my Mom owns in Draper.  We had 12 girls attend, some of Tessie's best friends! From left to right: Audrey, Asia, Shaye, Megan, Zoe, Tess, Olivia, Emma, Ava, Savannah, Ben, Caroline, Grace.

We let all the kids dress up in costumes.  Ava started out as Jasmine and Tess was Pocahontas.  Then there was a costume change and Ava became the pink poodle and Tess wore her Rapunzel wedding dress.

We made flower necklaces that the girls took home with them as a favor/treat.

Then we had cupcakes with pink bubble gum flavored frosting.  The girls really liked it but the adults thought the bubblegum tasted like the stuff at the dentist office.

I'm so glad the party went well, with no tears or fights or anything.  Tess loved all her presents, she was pretty spoiled, but in a good way!  I can't believe she's 4 years old already!

Top of Utah Marathon

"The mircale isn't that I finished.  The miracle is that I had the courage to start." - John Bingham

Here are some of the pictures from the Top of Utah Marathon I ran in Logan on Saturday.  It was a full marathon, 26.2 miles and I'm just so happy that I finished it!

I was more exhausted than I ever thought I would be.  I actually finished in 4 hours 49 minutes, even though the clock on the finish reads differently.  I used my garmin to time myself and I didn't start the timer until I crossed the start line.

I trained with Mandi and she really helped motivate me this summer.  I'm so glad she did this with me!

The last few miles were really hard on me.  My body just wanted to quit and I couldn't run anymore.  I ended up having to walk for about 2 miles until I got close to the finish then I jogged my way slowly in.  When I saw Luke and I the girls I couldn't hold back the tears anymore.  Luke gave me a hug and I broke down, it was a mixture of relief, happiness, and exhaustion.  I've never pushed myself so far before and I proved to myself that I could do it.  That feels good. 

Now, for some of my favorite running quotes:

“It’s very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.” – George Sheehan

“Human beings are made up of flesh and blood, and a miracle fiber called courage.” -George Patton

“We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.” – Emil Zatopek

"It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure." - Mary Kay Ash

It's supposed to be hard.  If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it.  The hard...is what makes it great!" - Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own

Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're probably right." - Henry Ford

Birthday Invite

I used the pictures from Tessie's 4th birthday photo shoot to create a custom invitation.  We printed these out in 5x7 sized and passed them around to Tess's friends.

Birthday Photo Shoot

Tess turns 4 on September 22nd and this is her pre-birthday photo shoot.  We had some free time today so Luke and I took Tess into the studio for her birthday pictures.

Tess got this new dress up costume from the Disney store for her birthday.  She used her birthday money from Grandpa Derek & Grandma Julie.  It's a Rapunzel wedding dress.

These little princess toys are from Grandma Jill, Tess loves them!

Grandma Karen was there at the Disney store and helped Tess pick out the Rapunzel doll and she bought her additional doll outfits for Rapunzel too!

Tess goes to preschool now and this is how grown up she looks wearing her backpack.

First Date

This week Luke and I celebrated the 10 year anniversary of our first date!  So 10 years ago Luke took me to a John Schmitt concert at Thanksgiving Point for our very first date.  We hit it off well on that first date and just over 9 months later we were married.  Last night Luke and I went to the Piano Guys concert at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens.  The Piano Guys are John Schmitt and Steven Sharp Nelson.  (They're on YouTube).  Anyway, the concert was awesome and it was so much fun to celebrate 10 years!  They even played our song, which is Can't Help Falling in Love With You.  It's on our wedding video and I played it for Luke at our wedding lunch.  

This video clip is one of their newest songs, and this is the first time they've played it live. If you want to check out the music video on youtube just click here. 

This is us before the concert started.  We had great seats, right in the middle in the 3rd row!

Storm clouds started rolling in and we had rain and lighting, but the concert went on, and we loved it!

Luke and I were prepared for rain.  We had blankets, jackets, and ponchos, so we stayed warm and dry, while others around us were not so lucky.

It was such a fun night, even with the bad weather I'm glad we went.