Catchin up

Wow life has been so crazy the past month and a half between vacations, visitors, birthday's, and every day life. I've been terrible with posting so that leaves me with a bunch of catching up to do. ughh! To make it not so overwhelming I'm going to break it up. Starting off with our trip to Utah. We started out in Phoenix where Aaron dared to have lasik surgery. Luckily he isn't blind and doesn't need his glasses anymore, however he doesn't quite have the super vision he had imagined. I was so nervous for him, he actually made the appointment for both of us to have it done, but I wussed out, I wanted him to be the guinea pig first. Even though everything went smooth I still think I'm too chicken for it. We had a great time staying with my cousin Tash and her family. After the lasik we made the long trek up to Utah where we surprised my family. It was so fun and made the long snowy, slow moving traffic journey up there all worth it.! Maile had been talking about surprising Grandpa Sorensen for months now, so the big moment arrived and it was everything we had hoped for. He was shocked! We didn't get there until 11 pm. Saturday night because of the snow. Thank goodness Aaron was nice enough to drive with me, he only stayed 2 days then flew home for work. We stayed in Utah almost 2 weeks then headed down to Vegas where I completed my first half ironman! whoo whoo! We stayed with our good friends from Hawaii and had a great time there. Then after our long 2 1/2 week vacation we headed back to life, back to reality.

Zoo with the cousins - crazy and chaotic, but super fun!

Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point w/ more cousins - loved it!My mom is currently serving a mission as a hostess on Temple Square every Thursday. We had such a great time seeing what she does and getting personal tours of the buildings. She is so amazing with all that she does. I love coming home to spend some good quality time with my Mom, I sure do miss being around her.Any chance Maile got to be around Uncle Jakey she would take it. Even if it was just sitting on the couch watching basketball, she was always right by his side.I think Maile stayed in this position for a solid minute until we made her let go. That girl is the most social, no fear girl. We have to keep a close eye on her cause she would talk to anyone even in Vegas with all the crazy people.We loved the conservatory in the Bellagio and of course the water show. We probably should have just been content with that because the rest of Vegas left me feeling dirty all over.Wahoo! The finish line!!!! Yeah!!!!! There were so many moments during that 6 hrs. and 16 minutes where I thought I would never reach this moment, Basically just during my 4 hours of torture on the bike. We climbed to the top of a mountain then rode down over and over again for 30 miles with a crazy wind then turned around and rode the 30 miles back. I never wanted to be done with something so bad in my life, (well ok maybe delivering Olivia was worse) but seriously I had comparable thoughts like I wouldn't mind if that car hit me right now to put me out of my misery without me quiting. I really thought there was no possible way I could get off that bike and run a half marathon, but much to my pleasant surprise I felt awesome from the moment I took my first step in the run all the way to the end. I always get very competitive when I race but this one all I cared about was finishing. Even with this mentallity I finished 1st in my division and 9th out of the women, I guess it could have something to do with me being the only one in my division, but oh well I'll take it. This race was similar to labor in the fact that as soon as I finished I said ok, I can cross this off my life's to do list and I'm never doing that again, but then by the next day I thought well that wasn't so bad, maybe I could try a full ironman next time. oh, I don't know why that happens. I really did love everything except that miserable bike ride. Also, after that ride the soreness was similar to having a baby from sitting on that dang bike seat forever. I just need to put in time on the bike, for some reason I am so much more motivated to run and swim. This race didn't start until 1 in the afternoon, so I finished in the dark, but Aaron and the girls are always so great to come cheer me on. Knowing they are waiting at the finish line for me to come through and give them a big sweaty hug is enough motivation to get me through the rough moments.I love that some of my BFF's from Hawaii love doing races too. Races are always reasons for us to have a reunion. I just wished we could've hung out more, cause man I love these girls. The next day was nice to just relax and take it easy. We hung out with Cody and Brooke, our good friends from Hawaii. It was so fun to see them again, the girls loved it too! They are already planning our next trip up there....(sorry Brooke and Cody but you showed us such a good time we'll probably have to come up again).Yep I got a little crazy, I did it I chopped my hair while we were in Utah. The last time I had this short of hair was in 9th grade. I am usually way too scared to do anything extreme, but I was having my good friend Lori who I totally trust cut my hair. She had the 12" braid ready to cut off and I was going back and forth whether I should do it or not. I had a single brave moment and then it was done. ahhh! Plus I wanted to prove to Aaron that I dared do it. I surprised him with my short hair when we picked him up in Vegas. It took me a while to figure out what to do with it but now I love it and so does he (at least that's what he says). It was a much needed change for the summer. I guess the next day wasn't all relaxing. Aaron made us do these dizzy races down the hills. He just had to take advantage of me being so sore, otherwise of course I would have won.

Brooke and I were pregnant with Maile and Noah at the same time and they were born a day apart. It's so crazy to think that was almost 5 years ago. They loved playing together.