My Foxy Good Time

I can't believe I have never ran the Ragnar Relay before. It seems like it has been apart of our lives in the Avery house for so long! So this year, Andy wasn't the only one gone for two days, running, sweating, laughing and definitely NOT sleeping. I did the race with an all girl group of friends, some from the neighborhood, some new friends we met just for this race. It really was as fun as you hear about! Here are the girls in Van 2: Laura, Chloe, Amy, Camille, Christie, and myself along with our every faithful driver, Jonny. In case you can't tell, we were the "Foxes in Soxes" with our little fox tails and ears, we truly were the cutest team out there!

Why, oh why, would I put such an unflattering picture of myself on here? Because this is the face of someone who can't believe how fast they just ran. I ran 4.2 miles in 31 minutes thank you very much. It was awesome.

The scenery and places we went for this race were absolutely gorgeous. I've never been to Liberty or Eden but I now want to live there. This pic is the road going up to Snow Basin Resort.

Being in Van 2, our second legs STARTED at about 1:30 a.m. Did we attempt to sleep before our nighttime runs? Yes. Did we succeed? No. Especially since I was waiting to see Andy coming in at this exchange.

So the teams are usually 12 man teams. Here is Andy, finished with his part of a 4 man team. 4 only. And they each ran their sections straight. That means, Andy just ran 49 miles straight. In that outfit. There are flashing Christmas lights on the vest to add to the effect. (P.S. He's Lloyd Christmas. P.S.S. From Dumb and Dumber.)

My night run was crazy. It was 10.1 miles at 3:00 a.m. and I ran it way too fast. I got so sick, I wasn't expecting that. Here I am, not straying too far from the HoneyBuckets, when Andy surprised us with a visit.

My only regret, not getting a photo of the entire team, this is the closest we got: Krystal, Jessica, Becky, Camille, Christie, Chloe, Sarah, Kandice, Lara, Trisha

With a sick runner, Camille volunteered to step up and run Guardsmans Pass last minute. Here's Jonny making sure she doesn't collapse after her ascent into the clouds.

Together we did it! We conquered Guardsmans'! Camille the first half, me the second. I can say now it wasn't as bad as I thought. I don't think I would've said it then.

The finish line!!! We had people right and left telling us throughout the race that they loved our team, can you blame them. Look how adorable we are. Go you Foxy Ladies. Now lets eat some pizza!

Birthdays and Baptisms

March is always such a busy month around here. I love that our girls birthdays are so close together, because that way noone can get jealous. We just say, "Don't worry, your birthday is next week." Or "You just had a birthday, remember."

Zoe turned 5 this year! Here she is at her birthday breakfast. I always had to wait until the evening for my presents, I don't know how we got into this "breakfast" tradition, but there it is.

Zoe had never had a "friend" birthday party before and she had only one thing on her mind for it....Kangaroo Zoo. There was no changing her mind, and believe me, I tried. She was in heaven when her friends started to arrive. Here we have Jakey, Caroline, Sydney, Emmy, Zoe, Chloe and Max.


Ella has one obsession this year, Harry Potter. Everything she talks about has to do with HP. Every thing she plays with her friends, her piano music, and it's the only thing she reads lately. She is on the 5th book, and I can't believe how well she reads them. I'll find her in her room after I've put her to bed, with her eyes wide open, gripping her covers, shaking with fear saying, "Harry and Ron are being chased by giant spiders!" Then 5 minutes later she'll come ask me if she can read in bed because she can't wait to find out what happens. She knew for months that she wanted a Harry Potter movie night for her party. I had no idea she had told her friends to dress up until a little Ginny, Harry, Trelawney, another Harry and another started to show up at the door. Ella, herself, was Hermione of course.

The sorting had put them all in Gryffindor, or course. Here they are in the Great Hall with the floating candle. Ella, Brooke, Sammie, Brielle, Rebekah, Karissa, Peyton, Liam and Zoe.

Baptisms

My beautiful girl turned eight this year. She has been so excited and so prepared for her baptism for a very long time. I tend to get a little stressed over planning big events, but this went perfectly. She got baptized the same time as one of her buddies and nex door neighbor, Liam.

Her cousin, Brandon, shared the day with Ella. He was baptized that morning in Lehi, then the whole Avery crew trucked over the Heber City for Ella's. Both baptisms were beautiful. They are so lucky to have such a big, loving family.

My wonderful girl and her dad. I've never seen her as happy as she was that day. Her whole body just glowed all day. I love you so much, Ella!

Ten Years, Baby!

Snorkel Faces are very photogenic!

May 11th, 2001! That was the beginning for Andy and I! And I think ever since then we have been dreaming of going to Hawaii together, and this year was the year. We headed out for Maui, just the two of us and had a truly perfect vacation. We stayed in a little sugar cane plantation town called Haiku. It was gorgeous but also very much off the beaten path, which is just our style.

I think we will both agree that one of our favorite things we did was this run in the Molowki Forest. It was a 6 mile loop, and after every sing turn the scenery would completely change, from fern covered grounds to dark shadowy pines blocking out the light, to these tall eucalyptis trees. It was unreal, and a perfect run.

A very cool snorkeling spot, even though there was no sand. We hiked through the jungle, swinging on vines and then came to this perfect little cove.

Snorkeling at Molokini was okay, but what was really great was the huge pod of dolphins we saw. No swimming with them though. Next time.

What is this plant? Somebody tell me! A botanical garden on the road to Hana.

Cliff diving at the Seven Sacred Pools at the end of the Road to Hana. Yes, he's wearing a speedo.

Our last night at Mama's Fish House. Although, I could never forget the red snapper in Haiku, probably the best food I've ever tasted. The whole trip was completely amazing. I love you, Andy, and can't wait for the next 10 years!

Spring Break in Sand Hollow

Did you know that if you want to camp in St. George for Spring Break, you should reserve a spot about 11 months ahead of time? Well, since we didn't do that, we ended up in Sand Hollow, right outside of St. George. The only thing I had heard about it, was that it was windy. Well, as you can see here, Max is proving this to be oh so true.

We went camping with our friends, Dan and Anne Harris and their girls. They are so much fun and put our camping skills to shame. We started things off right with a trip to Zion National Park. I hadn't been in the actual park for years, and the kids all love to hike. (Which brother does Andy look like in this picture??)

Below is an infamous picture. When we got around this bend I realized Zoe wasn't with us. With four blonde girls, two 7 year olds and two 4 year olds, they all started blending into each other and Zoe had slipped away. I looked back at the last picture I had taken, about 5-10 minutes before and can clearly see, Zoe isn't in it. Dan ran one way, Andy ran the other, and I stood there and panicked! After another stressful 5-10 minutes, Dan came back with her. Phew. It was during this trip that we realized the importance of Zoe's glasses!!! She can't tell who she is following! Thanks for finding her, Dan!

All together again, hanging on to Zoe for dear life didn't stop her from trying to get lost again. She needed a leash on this trip! (We're all still laughing pretty hard here because Zoe so bluntly told Dan, "Your laugh sounds like you're crying.")

Maddie, Ella, Zoe, Emma and Max.

Wish I was a kid and the wind didn't bother me. They didn't let it stop them for a second. (Well, maybe Zoe did.)

Max, trying to keep up with the girls.

Maddie, waiting for the adults to decide what to do on a very hot Fezzik.
Getting out of the wind for some sushi, Zoe is practicing her chopstick skillz.

Maddie and Emma are referred to as their "rock climbing friends". Here they are, finally getting out and doing the real thing. I'm so proud of them for trying, because it scares me to death!

Even Zoe!