... that Matt ran a half marathon?

Matt has been talking about running a marathon since we've been married. And he is a good runner! But this is coming from someone who hasn't run further than 4 miles in her life... Anyway, he has trained several times, but always seems to hurt himself somehow. But this time he was determined to run the race with Renee, and they both did awesome!

He got up super early to start running, so I slept in a little and met up with the parents to see them cross the finish line! When we got there, I decided to go out a little ways and see if I could spot them coming so that we could be ready to take pics. And I waited, and waited, and waited until:

This is Matt trying to jump for joy when he saw me... after running 12+ miles. He almost fell on his face. Oops. But I ran with him for a few yards

Then I took a shortcut to the finish line so I could snap a pic.

I was so proud of him! He did awesome. And he even shared his popsicle with me.

So proud of my Matty!!!

... that it was Matt's birthday?

Happy birthday to my Matty!!!

I was super awesome and didn't take a single picture of anything we did for Matt's birthday. Oops. But there were lots of presents and birthday enchiladas and the whole gig, so it was awesome. And, I even extended his birthday party with a night at a resort in Park City with dinner, music, and gifts... courtesy of my work retreat.

I work for a great company. They have several corporate events every year, and now that I am an executive assistant, I get to attend even more of them! They are always really nice, fun (mostly for me, not Matt, but he is a good sport), and a lot of work. But there are always nice perks and gifts, and it's always great to get away every now and then. Plus I get to spend more time with Deb :)

Thanks Matt for letting me pass off my work retreat as a birthday present! Happy birthday honey, I love you more and more every year!

... that I am a great babysitter?

I love babysitting! Even when it turns out that Matt has to work on a Saturday and I have to babysit by myself. Good thing I am no stranger to three kids at a time! And good thing these kids are so good!

The boys were happy as clams in the sandbox.. until I told them they couldn't fill their shoes with water to get the sand wet.

And this one just wanted to swing.

 Ignore her placid demeanor. She was thrilled.

And being the best aunt that I am, I took them for pizza afterward.

Yes, I am the funnest aunt ever.

Again, thrilled.

Love these kids!

... that we are all about the fun?

Us Blicks are creatures of habit:

Of course we went to Seven Peaks.

But we also had some new tricks too! Kar and Zach took us out to Tibble Fork Reservoir one afternoon and it was beautiful!!! Kar is trying to teach me the ways of finding joy in embracing Utah living....... Gooooood luck with that one. But it was actually really really fun. Zach borrowed some blow up canoes from his brother (which were really nice and fun and not super sketcky like I thought they would be) and we had so much fun with them on the water!

We took turns paddling around the lake and everyone had a blast! No one capsized... to my utter amazement. And let's just say there is a reason Kell is NOT holding a paddle. I immediately took the paddle away from her when we could't stop going in circles, Kar was yelling, and then Kell couldn't even hold her paddle cause she was laughing so hard.

Georgia takes boating VERY seriously. But she loved it so much she wouldn't even get out!



The Rex children doing what Rex children do best:

And everyone was exhausted afterward.

A sure sign of a good time! It really was great, but it still didn't quite fill my desire for a beach day. Sorry, Utah. You are beautiful, but California is home!

... that we are the favorite aunt and uncle?

Having Kell in town is always so fun! Matt is always so nice to go along with whatever we come up with while they are here, and it is always guaranteed to be a party!

Obviously, there were many, many trips to many, many malls, but we decided to switch it up a little with a special mall trip just for Cutter:

Kell had been promising him a trip to the Lego Store for months, and he was beside himself with excitement. He had saved up his very own money, and it was hilarious to watch him run around the store pointing out each and every set and debating which one he wanted to buy. After only forEVER, he finally picked out a couple of sets and he was happy as a clam.

Speaking of special time with Cutter, Matt and I told Kell that we would love to have a sleep over with him! He was so excited to come to our house all by himself, and while Kell may have been a tad nervous, I knew it would be great. And it was!!!

We kept him up waaaaay late, so he slept in like a boss. Then we ate a little breakfast, made the bed, and practiced lying like the bunny (insert crying laughing emoji).

We took him to church and he had a GREAT time in Primary! I had to keep reminding him to raise his hand, but the teachers and I were cracking up at all the crazy things he was saying. There was an incident where a little girl started hitting herself, and I thought for a minute that Cutter had had something to do with it... but it turned out she just wanted to hit herself in the head. Kids will be kids.

We rushed home to build his Lego set that he had saved for 24 hours just to bring to Auntie Krissy's house (of which a little green guy was accidentally left behind and has been sitting on our bookshelf ever since, it's amazing that I found it   -_____-  )

Sidenote: I sent this pic to Kell after the fact and she cracked up. I asked her why it was so funny and she pointed out that we are both carbon copies of our mother: who thinks to put all the lego pieces into bowls and cookie sheets to keep them from falling on the ground? OCD sisters, and you bet they both learned it from their momma.

After Legos, we turned down the lights to watch a movie (AKA I unsuccessfully tried to get him to take a little nap) then spent a little more quality time with the bunny.

I think she stayed on his lap for a total of 5 seconds.

It was so fun to spend so much 1 on 1 time with him. He is the cutest, smartest kid ever and he is so fun to have around! And he loves his Aunt Krissy the best! I love my Cutter Butter!!!!!!

... that Kell came to visit?!?!

Kelly is the best sister ever!

For the second year in a row, Kell bravely drove her troop through 4 states and over 700 miles just to see us lonely Utahns! And it was the highlight of my summer!!!!!!

So much baby time! And of course, so much eating!!!!!

Snowcones

Family dinner: Roast with rice (Blick style) with homemade chocolate cake for dessert!

Never ending trips to Iceberg/Swig/Wherever Kell could get a shake

And when Mom saw how much fun we were having together, she sent us out to dinner on her and Dad's dime: Our fancy night out at From Scratch!

So much food fun!!! I love spending time with my sisters!!!!!

... that we love summertime fun?

It is no secret that I don't like living in Utah. It is too cold in the winter and I hate the snow, but almost even worse than the snow is the unbearable heat in the summer. Ugh! There are very few months when the weather is actually pleasant here! But Utah tries to make up for it with lots of fun summer things to do. Like rodeos and amusement parks!

Matt's family wanted to go to the rodeo together, and I invited Deb and her kids to come with!

It was a pretty good rodeo, there were actually professionals there this time, from all over the world! Kind of impressive. But not as impressive as this giant ice cream cone that took 4 of us to eat it!

So fun! Then that weekend we went to Lagoon with dumb Chad and his (then) fiance!

It was kind of crowded and about 2 million degrees, but we had a pretty fun time. It's the closest thing Utah has to an amusement park, although it's no Six Flags or Disneyland (I miss home!!!!!) And let's not forget, I was forced to hang out with Chad all day. They tried to be cute on the Sky Ride,

But obviously we are so much cuter.

Utah sure does a good job of trying to make up for the sweltering heat. I love summer fun!

... that we went to Draper Days?

Kar and I hit up Draper Days by ourselves this year. How is it that we LOVE fairs so much and our husbands could care less??

We wandered around a little bit and even stopped to watch the reptile show in Matt's honor

Before we really got down to the reason we came: Food.

Kar got a delicious Korean BBQ sandwich and I snagged us some curly fried potato chip thingys... that may have been left over from a man and his little girls... Hey, they were going to throw them away!!! I think I've been married to Matt for too long... Anyway, we lounged in the shade of the tent for a while with a few kisses

And a little dancing,

Then snagged a few more treats for the road: a bag of cotton candy to bring home to Matty and a pina colada shake with mango boba for me and Kar! And by "me and Kar" I mean "the little piggy in the back seat who cried until I gave it to her."

Gotta love Draper Days!

... that we were double lucky?

The weekend after we went boating with Am, Matt's friends Matt and Megan invited us to go boating again!

A lot of Matt's friends from elementary/middle/high school were there, and it was really fun to meet them all and hear a lot of old stories. I decided to forego the wakeboard this time.. maybe because I was still sore from wakeboarding the weekend before? But I did get on the tube and HOLY COW! Matt is a crazy fun driver! We ate under the tent, took turns on the boat, and enjoyed our selves immensely.

I love boating and friends!