40th Birthday!

Bryan turned 40 last month! I asked him to put together a little video of his birthday and what we did to celebrate it. It's in the following post. Bryan is not a party person and didn't want to have a big party with lots of people. I actually did think of surprising him anyway but knew it wasn't what he really wanted. So we had a blast spending the day together as a family--bowling, eating at the Brick Oven, opening gifts, and having birthday cookies with ice cream (Bryan's pick instead of a cake).

Bryan is a wonderful husband and father. A few things I love in him as a husband--very protective of me, always encourages me to do whatever makes me happy, very willing to watch the boys whenever I feel like I need some time away with friends or by myself, helps out in the home where he can, he always makes sure I have chocolate, giving, and he is a calming influence for me when I stress about anything--which happens quite often.

As a father he loves to play with the boys, he is a great storyteller, he feels such a strong desire to raise them with strong values, a work ethic, and morals, he has always been willing to help out from the time they were newborns, and he really does work hard to provide anything we need as a family. We are so lucky to have him! We love you Bryan!!

Bryan's birthday video

Timpanogos Caves

My brother Steve and his family came down to Utah for a few days and we were lucky enough to have them stay with us. One morning they had plans to go to the Timpanogos caves. I thought to myself, 'Lucas would love that. Let's go with them!' Katherine let me know the hike was 3 miles (1.5 up and 1.5 down) and that you went up in elevation over 1,000 feet. But somehow that was all lost on me. Bryan told me I could leave Ty with him since he was working from home. I told him, 'No, Ty will come with us. We'll take a stroller.'
So we get there and of course no strollers are allowed. Why would they be? The forest service doesn't need a three year old to go rolling off a mountain. I carried Ty a lot of the way up. And Steve and Katherine helped me out by taking him some of the time while he was yelling, 'Mommy, mommy!' I hate saying I'm scared of heights but I do get physically queasy and panicky--especially when someone goes to the edge on purpose. I almost chickened out at one point. I told them to go on without me and Ty, that we'd go back down. Although, going back down didn't seem too fun at the time either.
However, I made it up thanks to Ty not wanting to be left behind. (And sorry, I don't have any really great pictures of how high we were. I stopped taking pictures and concentrated on making it to the top.) The caves were awesome. Ty wouldn't let me put him down. In the last cave they turned off all the lights and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Ty still talks about how dark it was and that there was a bad guy in the cave that said, 'Ohhh, haw, haw, haw.' There wasn't. When we stepped into the sunshine Ty yelled out, 'We did it!' He was able to go down most of the trail on his own--thank goodness because my legs were done. Lucas loved it and did great. Really Lucas, Emma, Mary, and Grant all did great! It was just Ty that needed so much help. Lucas even recognized what type of fossil the guide showed us in the first cave. I don't remember now but it was something from the shallow ocean that used to be there. Going down was much easier and it wasn't nearly as bad as going up. Thanks to Steve and Katherine for letting us tag along--and for carrying our water and sharing their granola bars.

The next few days were rough because I was sore to the touch and couldn't move without pain. Of course that's what I get for hiking up a mountain with a 30 pound 3 year old! But I did it! And maybe when Ty is older we'll go again--but don't hold your breath.