Memorial Weekend

For the Holiday weekend we went to Jeff's parents cabin in Island Park, ID. The first day we went 4 -wheeling on two different trails and saw lots of wildlife. My parents went with us and they took pictures of our riding. The first road we took still had a lot of snow on it and we didn't make it all the way because there was a huge drift in the road. The kids loved taking a break and playing in the snow.

We also went to Yellowstone National Park. We spent most of our time walking around the trails at old faithful. We always love visiting the park.

Taylor loved getting down really close and looking at the water. It made us so nervous!
Kaylee had a hard time on the hike. She hates the smell of the geysers and whined about it the whole time. She also kept her nose plugged with her finger for the first hour and a half. When this girl gets irritated, watch out!

Grandpa Byington with Kaylee & Ryan

In front of Castle Geyser.

This is the bird that had died in the cabin over the winter. We found some weird stuff on the carpet that we knew we didn't leave there. We figured it was bird droppings and so we went to find the bird. Here it is! Jeff found it dead in the shower.

We had pretty good weather on the hike, but when the sun went behind the clouds we definitely wanted sweatshirts. The kids are wearing the adults sweatshirts to be funny. Taylor is wearing Ryan's. The Blondie on the left is my 4 year old niece Camryn. She is only 3 months older than Kaylee. She got the tall genes of the family.

Lets Go Fly a Kite

Our kids got kites for Easter and we have been waiting for the perfect day to try them out. We had such a blast and can't wait to do it again. This was the first time flying kites for my kids, I know sad.. Ryan is already 7!

few cute pics

We were messing around outside a few days ago and I made the girls pose for some pictures. They looked so cute in their white shirts. Ryan was at school. I am sure he is glad that he missed out on the photo shoot.

Ogden half marathon

Last Saturday I ran the Ogden half marathon. I didn't sign up origianlly for the race, I didn't know that I wanted to do it until it was past the deadline. So I had been training with some friends who were signed up to do it. I was happy to have something to train for and people to train with without the stress of an upcoming race. So a week before we went on our trip I thought, "why go through all this training and not race?" I asked around to see if there was anyone who couldn't run and my Friend Jen found me a race number. I became Lisa Smith and I ran the half marathon. The course was awesome! It is downhill about mile 3 or 4. After the downhill the course goes through a beautiful park and the last mile was on the downtown streets of Ogden. The weather was perfect and we convinced my friends husband to take us up to the start so that we didn't have to catch the bus so early and wait in the cold. I had a great run, way faster than I had trained. Mostly because we are not used to running only down hill. We live on a hill so anywhere you go, you have to come back up. I hate it, but it is good for me.
I didn't save a thing for the last mile. I was dying, it was all I could do to keep running.

Yeah! I made it in 1 hour 52 minutes and some seconds. I took almost 20 minutes off of the first half marathon that Jeff and I did in Moab a year ago. (We forgot to take our camera so these pictures are courtesy of my cousin Ryan who was there supporting his wife Joanie, Thanks guys. )

Boston and New York City

The Annual Orthodontic meeting was held in Boston this year so we decided it would be a fun place to see again. Jeff attended some meetings and visited with classmates. We also spent a day visiting the freedom trail historical sites. The Freedom Trail is a red line connecting all of the major historical sites in Boston. It is about 2 and 1/2 miles long, but there are tours of several of the buildings along the way. We enjoyed learning more about the revolutionary war and about how the people lived and died in colonial times.

We also went to a Celtics playoff game in Boston.

We loved this beautiful blooming tree in one of the historic cemetaries.
On the Freedom trail you can do the tour with a guide dressed in Colonial costumes. We opted for the self guided tour.


Jeff thought this picture would be funny
After a few days in Boston we took the Amtrak train to NYC. We went to 3 shows: Wicked(loved it), Mary Poppins, and South Pacific. It was the first time we had been to NYC without our kids, so we did a lot of shows and stuff that you can't do with kids. One afternoon we went to the Letterman Show. Because we were so charismatic we got 2nd row seats. Some of the other upgraded people that we met said it was because we were all not as ugly as the other people. :)

The guest that night was Bruce Willis. Our hotel was right in Times Square so it was very convenient for almost everything. We bought a week subway pass and only ended up using it a few times. Another fun thing that we did was go the the Yankees/Red Socks game in the new Yankee Stadium. Since we had seen most of the sights of NYC walking we dedcided to take a double decker bus tour. It was much more relaxing than past trips when we walked everywhere.


Empire State Building


Manhattan Temple

Central Park was so pretty and green. It made us miss living in the East.

This video is of the New Yankee Stadium. It is really nice so much better than the old stadium. It would have been really nice if the people behind us would have shut their mouths. I swear my ears were bleeding by the time I left.

Since we couldn't take pictures inside the studio we got some footage outside.

We got some free chocolate from Neil Patrick Harris(Doogie Howser) They were giving away free candy bars in Times Square for a chocolate relief act. It was funny and Jeff and I laughed about our star moment.

Hogle Zoo

On our way out of town for our week trip to Boston and New York City we decided to take the kids to the Hogle Zoo in SLC. We met Kevin and Rylee there and Stef met us a little later. We stayed with Jeff's sister that night and then left the kids with Kevin & Stef for the week(well Kevin left on Tuesday). Thanks guys our kids had a blast and we knew they would be safe and cared for.

Happy Birthday Jeff

Our very special Dad had a birthday this month. We were so happy that he was in Utah the night before so that we could do some surprise planning. The kids and I decorated the living room and bought him a cake and some presents. It was really a surprise because I told him he could get his new mountain bike for his birthday. He wasn't expecting anything else. He said that he was actually surprised. I think it was a first. He usually gets all present surprises out of me. Yeah we did it!
This looks like a wrestling match, but it is actually Jeff opening presents.

His lovely chocolate, chocolate cake. Jeff was really impressed with the flower on top.

Ryan decorated the presents in crepe paper. Ryan also bought dad a diet coke, 3 musketeers, and taped 85 cents to it. He did it with his own money.

The decorated living room.

Happy Birthday Jeff we love you so much!