Telluride

The Phillips did their annual Memorial weekend Harley ride and this year we went to Telluride, Colorado. We had a lot of fun. The rides to and back were really beautiful. It was full of farms, rivers, mountains, and the open road. And it made it all the more pleasant because Allison was a trooper in the car! Thank you! We took a day to ride out there and a day coming home and spent two days in Telluride. We stayed in Mountain Village and would take the gondola into town. Allison LOVED riding the gondola! We shopped, threw rocks in the river, played at the park, and picked wildflowers(aka dandilions). We ate yummy food and had great company. It was a great trip and made lots of fun memories!

A Glance at Vegas

We went to Las Vegas in May with my mom. Scotty came too for half the week. It was a fabulous vacation filled with family time, relaxation, no set plans, and warm weather.This is what I woke up to on Mother's Day! My two favorite people in the whole world! Later that day we went to Serendipity and had frozen hot chocolate and a HUGE doughnut. It was as big as Allison's cute face!

This was the first time Dave and I had ever stayed on the Strip. It was really fun and we had great views up and down the Strip. One of Allison's favorite things to do was to look out the big windows. Often we would be looking for her and she would be quietly standing behind the drapes gazing out the windows.

We had a gigantic bathtub in our room. Allison loved to go "swimming" in it every night. One night she was in the tub and Grandma was watching her. I came in the room and she said, "no mommy leave, go out there, go out there with your friend daddy!" We still laugh about that. She only wanted Grandma not mom or dad.

Caught mid sneeze at the Harley Davidson Cafe!

We walked a lot on the Strip and cruised in style as you can see. One day we went to the left of our hotel and the next day we went right.

We played some games in the arcade at Excaliber. Allison loved this little crown because it had long Rapunzel hair.

We took Alli to see the fountains and the volcano.

Building forts with Labu was a favorite daily activity.

We spent a lot of time working on puzzles. We love puzzles. I had brought one of Allison's puzzles for her and she would do hers over and over while we worked on the big puzzles. Love her.

Each and every night and often during the day time we went down the the "playhouse" in the lobby of the hotel. It was so wonderful to have that. We were always the only people in there. Alli would dress up like a princess complete with her glass slippers and play in the kitchen or with the mermaid dolls while we watched the NBA playoff games.

We went a little crazy taking pictures by the water wall at the Aria hotel. I had to include a bunch just because I love them all. We are so in love with her!

Allison found a little ant. She loves ants and rollie pollie bugs.

13.1

Dave and his brother Jerrod ran the Salt Lake City Half Marathon this year. It was a great accomplishment and we were all so proud of them! Jerrod is and always has been a natural runner, he can just get up and go for miles. On his first "training"run, for example, he ran seven miles, no big deal! Which does not take away from his accomplishment of 13.1 miles, he just had a head start with training. Dave on the other hand did have to do some good old hard working training. He was dedicated to his running. We were all very proud of him! Finally race day had arrived. So exciting....even at 6am. Ready, set, go!Allison, Kira, and I had made posters to help cheer on our runners. Our first stop was by Highland High. As we watched for Dave and Jerrod we saw a lot of other runners we knew. That was fun--good job everyone! Pretty soon J came by.

And then Dave! Hi!

We cruised up to Liberty Park and got there literally as J ran by, one minute later and we would have missed him. I quickly took Kim and Mama Phillips to the finish line because otherwise Jerrod would finish before anyone was there. I got back just in time to see Dave approaching. Josh and Allison joined him for a minute. Allison thought that was pretty fun to run with Dad. He was doing great and getting close to the end!

The rest of us then headed to the finish line at the Gateway. I got lucky and found a prime spot to watch for Dave.

Mama Phillips, Kim, and Jerrod were up above, ready to cheer.

And here he comes! Down the corridor to the finish line. It was so awesome to be at the finish line. I was getting emotional for all the runners who were finishing, everyone was cheering for everyone, groups crossed the line holding hands, runners were crying, some had huge smiles, it was just a wonderful experience.

But then when I saw my sweetheart coming toward us, pushing himself and knowing what he had accomplished and my heart swelled a thousand times. I was so so so proud of him!

And he crossed the finish line! We hurried to go find him as he cooled down. We hugged and cried for a second and he gave his little girl a kiss. It was a very touching moment.

Congratulations to our runners! You both did outstanding and we were all so proud of you!

This was our cheering crew. Thanks everyone to coming to show your support and enthusiasm. It began to really rain as the boys were having some snacks and chocolate milk (good for muscle healing...who knew), so perfect timing. You boys did so great. You should feel so proud, I know we felt so proud of you.

We love you! Good Job!!!!

We're Ready!

Grandma Spongberg wowed us with her artistic skills again and painted the kid's room. We are ready for you now baby boy! She painted Allison's room in our old house and it was amazing. Once again, she did an amazing job. We love it so much! Thank you!