#hashtag

Dan and I are little behind the technology curve. Though most fifth graders have had them for years at this point, we just got iphones. Like last month. I've wanted one forever, and at long last my dreams came true! Honestly, its been everything I hoped for and more. One new element I've come across in the iphone world is the hashtag. Per google, 

"Hashtag: A tag embedded in a message posted on the Twitter microblogging service, consisting of a word within the message prefixed with a hash sign." 

I don't have twitter. But I still use hashtags, albeit inappropriately. I text them, and even talk in them. So in honor of keeping up my tradition of flagrant misuse of the hashtag, may I present a blog recap of recent events, as recorded on my beloved phone, and defiled with hashtags:

#rainestraceever

{its hard being this photogenic, it really is}

{only picture i took: this one of pete at an awesome photo-op on the way home}

A really long time ago, my friend Sue told me she was running the Bryce Canyon Half, and encouraged Bonni and I to join her.  Being that I never pass up the opportunity to pay money to be tortured for around two hours, I was in. With the craziness of the summer, the race crept up on me. Luckily Bonni was far more organized and arranged for us to crash with her sister who rented a cabin in Cannonville. It turned out to be a lot of fun (don't know why I didn't take pictures?), despite the fact that it rained like crazy, the last mile was a downpour. 

#ilovestgeorge

One of the best parts of this summer was that i've spent so much of it in the STG:

Celebrating Katheryn's (aka the HoneyBadger's) 15th Birthday. She is rad. And really good at soccer.

Running errands (usually for more dog treats), going for doggie runs, and going to Parowan with my favorite Dad. 

Meeting Sue and McCoy for lunch at the Pasta Factory. How cute is he?

Taking Copper and Otto to the Splash pad with Katheryn. 

Getting to see/run with/ Zumba with/ shop with Brandalee!

#seeyouin18months

{note: I was very sick at the time of this picture. i decided to overcompensate by smiling so big, its ridiculous}

Dan's little sister, Jill, is off to the Denver North Mission. So before she left on her big adventure, we got one last family photo and spent some quality family time. 

Celebrating Miss Molly's 3rd Birthday

And playing with Charlie!

#i'mnotgreatattakingpictures

A lot of other really great memorable things happened, of which I have no pictures. But thanks to my trusty phone, times are changing. Soon, this will be me:

Running through the Mother Town

I love to run races. I love the tiny town of Parowan. So when I heard about the Parowan Half Marathon "Yankee Meadow Run", I knew I needed in. I was able recruit my dad to join in, Parowan is his hometown and the source of all goodness and light after all. But my delight reached new levels when my BFF Brandalee decided to get in on this action. At long last, yesterday was the big day, and off to Iron County we went!

We carbo loaded at the Pizza Barn (one of only 3 restaurants in Parowan). It was... carb filled. 

And then headed over to sleep at my Grandpa and Grandma Benson's house. Branda and I stayed up late talking in their beautiful backyard, it was almost just like the good old days! Except our version of late is now 10 p.m., not the 3am of yesteryears. When we were getting ready to leave for the race at 6 am, my Grandma got up and wanted to take our picture, "Go stand by Jesus so I can take your picture." She's rad.

The race started up at the Yankee Reservoir. It was really pretty. 

At the starting line, for reasons unknown, my dad identified this super tall guy as his archenemy - the one he must beat! Don't worry, he achieved his goal - by quite a ways. 

I tried to take some action shots without breaking pace, it turned out some really flattering and clear photos (not). Also, parts of this course were so steep it was dangerous - I'm hoping that why my face looks so scary. I'm still marveling that I didn't biff it. 

Probably the best picture of Branda ever. I told you I got some good ones. 

My Grandma took this one, hence why its good. My Dad rocked it, finishing his "comeback run" in record time. Go Dad!!!  Branda also set a new half marathon PR. And she has two busy little guys to take care of. She's my hero.

Speaking of her busy little guys, they came up to see her finish and cheer her on. Are they not the cutest little family ever? I vote yes. 

So this run was sort of low budget... No finishing medals. But no worries, they had finisher bandanas!!! What does one do with an awesome yellow bandana like this? Well, of course tie it on your baby chocolate lab while he bites your face off. 

Branda and I ran cross country together in High School. We were awful. No really, we were. We were way too busy talking about boys and giggling to concern ourselves with such things as "running" and "running fast". Being reunited in an actual race where we actually tried our best just proves that our running, and our ten year old friendship, only gets better with age.

MSGA

One might remember that while living in Monterey, Dan and I ran a little operation called MMA (Mealy Monterey Adventures). We lured visitors out to us with itineraries loaded with elephant seal watching, aquarium trips and breathtaking Big Sur views.

Here in STG, we have understandably harder time enticing visitors, being that we lack the awesome sea-life and instead have 105 degree weather... Yet somehow, we were able to get our friends the Streeters, to come down for a MSGA (Mealy St. George Adventure.) 

{*Note: All pictures used in this post are stolen from Leana's Blog - I was quite awful at taking any pictures. And as you can see, Leana is really good at taking pictures!}
Out MSGA Itinerary included:

Ghost town (visited Silver Reef, not as rad as one would hope)

Downtown St. George(toured the tabernacle, bought candy at Judds and rode the carousel. Which Alex didn't really care for..)

Veyo Pool

(Which luckily Alex loved! And we also scored this amazing Volcano Pie)

Aladdin (my dad watched alex- thanks again dad- and the adults went to tuachan. it was pretty rad, it even had 3D special effects!)

{alex passed out in the baby carrier, poor guy, so hot and tired}

Zion (it was wicked hot, but we got in for free, and it was still fun despite the oppressive temperatures)

Parowan for the Fourth- for the 4th of July we drove north to my Dad's hometown, Parowan. Its a quaint little town that puts on an awesome (or at least amusing) parade. We also a made a patriotic BBQ feast, purchased classy patriotic shirts from Wal-Mart, and had our own little fireworks spectacular in front of the house after Aleks went to bed.)

EATING:  There was of course lots of eating! We even hit some of my my favorite St. Geoge haunts: Samuri 21, Benja's Thai and Sushi, Croshaw Pies....

RELAXING: In addition to playing, we also spent a fair amount of time chilling at the house. Napping, reading books and of course, watching "Signing Time with Alex and Leah." I'm not entirely certain if I'll ever get that theme song out of my head. Ever. 

{streeters on the 4th of july 2010- back in monterey}

We discussed before the MSGA how a long trip like this is the ultimate litmus test for any relationship... It can end in true love, or in hating each other's guts. Luckily  - this MSGA only reaffirmed how much we love Streeters. We can only hope the feeling was mutual...

Mushrooms in the Mountains

June was a pretty crazy month. I ran a half marathon, we moved out of our house, and put all of our belongings in a storage unit - all in one day. 

Here we can be seen in our storage unit with all our earthly goods. A major thank you to Rick and the rest of Dan's family for helping us move. They were amazing! We crashed at Dans parents for a few days, and then Dan went to Army training and I went to the cabin with my family for the rest of the month.

Going to the Cabin is a Hales family ritual, a hajj, dare I say. One drives 12 hours, partially on the world's worst unpaved forest service roads, to arrive in the middle of nowhere. There is no electricity (well, we run a generator at night), no cell service, no tv... Yes, I am serious. I've been going every year since I was born (minus the years since I've been married) and was so happy this year to return! This cabin year shall hence forth be known as:

THE YEAR OF THE MUSHROOM

While driving along the switchback filled dirt roads near the cabin, it is rare to see another car. So imagine our confusion this year when we almost ran into (its a pretty narrow one car road) at least 20 other cars! Even more confusing, all of the cars were filled with Hispanic people covered in soot! 

"I bet they're picking mushrooms," said my ever wise father. WHAT?!? It turns out that after a big forest fire (which happened last summer), these special mushrooms called Morels grow out of the ashes. These special mushrooms fetch a pretty penny, we were told over $100 a pound! We decided we needed in on this action and went mushrooming on the first day. We inevitably ended up covered in soot and eventually began putting ash on our faces as war paint. Upon the advice of local hermits, we battered and fried a few of these Morels. Verdict: they are disgusting.

In addition to mushrooming, this year there were other activites such as...

FIREFIGHTING: When my Grandpa's "controlled" burns got outta hand.

SHOOTING: Because no redneck vacation is complete without it!

Celebrating: My birthday, Kiersten's birthday, Anna's birthday, and My grandma's birthday. Plus father's day thrown in for good measure.

FISHING: Grandpa taught Kiersty the art of fly fishing. I watched. Kiersten's face in this picture pretty well encapsulates how I feel about catching/eating/touching fish: GROSS.

There was also squirrel hunting (Cedric), Elk carcass finding and subsequent tooth extraction (apparently people make rings out of them?!?), Ukulele playing, and napping. In case you haven't already gathered this, I think my Grandpa is super rad, especially for being 79 years old. 

We also waded in the freezing cold river, worked on our tans while reading, held a daily Horsecreek run club, and even did some manual labor hauling logs.

I love this picture for a lot of reason: Copper is so photogenic, Katheryn's face is hilarious, and the fact that I love my family so much. 

Hopefully next year will be as rad as THE YEAR OF THE MUSHROOMS, and hopefully I will be there. 

Meet Otto

So there's a lot of things I want to blog about that have happened over the last month or so, but I've decided to skip ahead to record the most recent event. After having our friends The Streeters stay with us for a week (another thing to blog about, oh yeah, and we live in St. George now) we were inspired. We've known Streeters since our time in Monterey when they too were like us, childless and happy. But Aleks (their little 18 month old guy) seems to have made Leana and Mark's lives so much richer and happier, that Dan and I decided we too should get in on this having a cute little dependent. 

So we adopted:

May I introduce Otto Von Bismarck (named for the first Chancellor of Germany - been on a history reading kick lately). We decided to go the dog route for the obvious reason that it has most of the perks of having a human baby, with none of the draw backs (kidding). 

{stealing a straw during a "SWIG" run}

Obviously all my friends with babies (if they're still reading at this point) are totally rolling their eyes, and my next comment will only exacerbate this, but having a puppy is really hard work. He wakes up multiple times a night crying, I have to keep my eyes on him at all times, he can be super needy... etc. But then again, when I'm burnt out, I can just put him in his crate.

Overall, in the past 3 days, the pluses of having my little Otto around far outweigh the negative (though I am single parenting, Dan is at Army training.) My Dad, Kiersten and Katheryn and I even took him on his first hike up above Parowan. And he did awesome, trotting on those little chocolate legs.

In conclusion, I love Otto.