To be or not to be...

Trendy... I have been battling with myself over the whole stretch pant trend. At first I thought there is no way I will ever where those; I left that behind in elementary school! But, my mother-in-law gave me the cutest outfit for my birthday which included gray stretchies and a cute black sweater-dress. I am actually wearing it today, and I kind of like it. So if any of you Ephraim ladies see me around town and think I look goofy just know I gave in to the craze! I feel a little like a "teenie-bopper" but hey it beats feeling old and matronly like I usually do! So I guess the question for you all is to stretch or not to stretch!?!

Busy, Busy, Summer!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Hi everyone:

I have turned into one of those bloggers that never blogs. I have had good intentions, but that was all it was, intentions. I feel like we have been running since the first part of August, and I haven't really gotten anywhere; we have done some really fun things though. This is going to be a catch-up post.

The first part of August, Durke did an the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike race in Leadville, Colorado. He had been training all summer for this race and he was really excited. We were able to stay in Vail at a really nice resort for a few days and had a really nice vacation. The Leadville 100 is a 100 mile mountain bike race at the top of the rockies. The race starts at 10,200 feet and climbs to 12,600. The cool thing about this race is Lance Armstrong raced in it too. Durke thought it was pretty cool that he got to ride with him. Durke did really good and finished in 9 hours 50 minutes, and he got a really cool belt buckle. We both love Vail, and were able to spend our anniversary there, and we were able to spend the week with Durke's sister Naloni and their wonderful family. We love you guys!

When we got home Durke's cute sister Joni was married to a really cute guy, Casey Thomas. Their wedding was beatiful and it was nice to be able to see all of the family. I don't have very many pictures of the wedding, but I did post a few that I had. I do have some funny pictures of us all re-decorating the wedding cake. It was the ugliest cake before the Gordon girls got to it ( I can say that because Joni thought so too), but we worked magic and it was beautiful in the end.

Two weekends ago, Durke did his final race of the season, the LOTOJA. For those of you who don't know what that means it is a race from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Get it? Lo-to-Ja...anyway it is a 206 mile road bike race, and Durke did it in 12 hours 45 minutes. He did this race last year, and our brother-in-law Rich wanted to try it. Durke always says he doesn't like this race, but I'm sure it will be an annual thing for us. I really don't get why he puts himself through the pain, but I guess it's his thing. We stayed in a really cool hotel in Jackson for one night and hurried home.

We have also had a few other things going on, Gracie started Joy School and turned 4 years old. She had a really fun birthday party with a lot of friens and family. We made her a princess castle cake, it was definitely a family project. I think everyone had a little part in the decorating including my sister's husband Chase, and Durke. She was very spoiled, but she deserves it! We love you Gracer-Racer. We also sold our truck, had fun at the county-fair, and I've canned 12 quarts of peaches, 8 quarts of salsa, 6 quarts of tomatos, and 8 jars of jam.

We hope things have slowed down a little bit for our family and we hope all is going well for yours.

I hope we both make it through 2!

Already this morning Abi has "given my cell phone a bath", thrown 2 very passionate temper-tantrums, dumped a full glass of water on my bed, and went potty on the bathroom floor (we're starting to potty train)! I have blow dried my cell phone, put Abi in "time-out" twice, soaked up as much water out of my mattress as I could, mopped the bathroom floor for the second time this week, and screamed into my pillow! I really don't remember Gracie being this hard. I hope it doesn't get worse with each child, because Durke and I want a few more and I don't know if it really could get any worse!

5 Years...

Durke and my anniversary was last Friday on 8-8-08. We celebrated in Vail, Colorado and had a great time. As I look back over the last five years it has been pretty amazing. Just like everyone we have had our ups and our downs but we are so much better for all of them. We have grown so much through the hard times like losing Durke's brother, starting a new career, and all the stresses of having our own business; but I am so thankful for those times. We have also had two beautiful little girls that make us so happy, and lots of laughs and great memories. I have enjoyed watching Durke this past year as he has done so well in his bike races. He is so strong and motivated, I hope that some of his talents can rub off on me. He is such an amazing man and I am so proud of him and all of his accomplishments in work, sports, and being a dad and husband! He is such a great guy, and I am so blessed to have him in my life. Thanks babe, I love you.

Memory Tag

I thought this was such a fun tag, so I thought I would join in! Leave a comment on our blog of a memory you have had with/of one of us. It doesn't matter if you've known us for a short time or you've known us forever... just let us know what you remember!! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many memories people come up with. It's fun to see the responses. Ready.... get set.... leave a memory!!!

Pictures, pictures, pictures...

We finally got out girls pictures taken, it's one of those things I have had on my mind to do forever, but I always procrastinate. The girl that takes them for me was moving, so I had to get them done and I was sooo happy with them.

Our summer fun...

We have had a fun and busy summer so far. We have been camping, to all of Durke's mountain bike races, stayed at my families for a week to help my dad after he had back surgery, played with friends in the water, to the splash park by my parents house, BBQ's, to the lake, and tons more. We hope you are all having a fun summer too.