Our Champion Racer!

Crystal ran the Run for the Hills 5K race this morning and finished 1st place overall for females (10th overall in the entire race). This is a picture of her after the awards ceremony. She received a cool plaque that we can use for garage art and also a medal for winning her age group.

She has talked me into training for the Seattle Half-Marathon on November 29th, so this race was part of our 12-week training program. She has been running very well during our training sessions, so I'm not at all surprised that she won the whole thing. I was supposed to run with her but I am nursing a calf injury, so Dylan and I were just spectators.

On a side note... yesterday we took Dylan in for some more professional photos since he is getting close to 18 months old now. I posted a slide show of some of the pictures on the right sidebar. He is still not excited about sitting or standing still, but some of them turned out really well. Enjoy!

Also... Happy Birthday to my sister Jean!

17 Month Update

Today Dylan is 17 months old. He is growing up so fast! Just this Wednesday, at a free kids music class trial that we went to, Dylan ran around mingling with all the other moms and kids and ended up sitting on the teacher's lap. He has started to be quite independent at times. This was one of the first times that it hit me that my baby is not so much a baby anymore. His other latest tricks include climbing on everything, refusing to sit in a high chair (luckily we have a travel high chair that attaches to a chair so he can sit and eat at the table like Mom and Dad), wanting to eat and drink everything that we do, and copying sounds and gestures we make. So far the words he says that we recognize are Mom, Dad, dog, up, sock, Pop (for grandpa Pops), rock, duck, yes, kiss, and boom. In addition to these he babbles constantly with exaggerated head movements. We've fallen behind on our Dylan updates, but hopefully I can convince Scott to put together one of his awesome videos for an 18 month post.

This picture is of Dylan Dancing at Uncle Jim & Aunt Erica's wedding a couple weeks ago. He's hard to get pictures of lately because he is always on the go.

Other updates: I am teaching a Nutrition class again this Fall at UNM on Monday and Wednesday evenings. It is going so much better since this is the 2nd time I've taught the class. I also work at the hospital one day every other week. It was a little crazy the first week, but overall I'm enjoying the balance of work and home.

FAMILY!

August was the month of travel and visiting family. We kicked it off with a trip to LA. Scott went to a training class at UCLA and Dylan and I went along too. The best part was that my Nana & Papa drove to join us for the trip. We spent most of the time playing at Westwood Park while Scott was in class. It is the best park I've ever seen. With climbing gyms for all ages equivalent to over 10 ABQ parks. We also went to the Santa Monica Pier and lots of great restaurants. Thank you so much Nana & Papa for making the trip and for watching Dylan so we could enjoy dinner and a night out for our 5 year anniversary!

Just 3 days later we took a trip to Camas. Unlike LA, where I failed to take any pictures (sad I know. What kind of Mom am I?), we took lots of great pictures. Here are pictures of our trip highlights:

Playing with Nani & Pops at the park

Golf!
Apparently it is never to early to start. Uncle Michael helped Pops cut an old putter to Dylan's size.

Boat rides.
This meant water skiing for me! I even tried wake boarding, but me jumping over the wake is pretty lame after watching Michael soar through the air.

Next we all headed to Rockaway Beach on the Oregon Coast. It was great to spend time with Uncle Michael, Aunt Mandy, Nani, and Pops.

At the beach Dylan ran straight for the water. Chasing waves was a great game.

Family photo Op

When we got back from the beach we made a trip to the County Fair. Dylan took his first pony ride on a horse named Cowboy.

Checking out the animals at the petting zoo.

During our trip we also got to spend a little time with my Gram & Gramps, Aunt Julie, Uncle Craig, & cousins Courtney & Alexa. They all drove down from Bellevue to visit. Gram was even able to sing Dylan to sleep for a nap while I golfed with the guys. Thanks Gram!

It was a great vacation!

Three days after we got back from WA. Scott's family flew in for Jim & Erica's wedding (Jim is one of Scott's brothers). It was so fun. Our new house was packed with Grandma & Grandpa Connors, Aunts: Sue, Chris, & Maureen, and cousins Kelsey & Lisa. We had so much fun visiting with everyone. It was like a big family slumber party. On top of the fun wedding events we had a family pool party at our house the day after the wedding. We hit the record with 20 people in the pool at once. Even Grandma Connors was in on the fun.

Congratulations to Jim & Erica!

See I told you FAMILY, FAMILY, and more FAMILY. Boy are we Blessed! Thanks everyone for a fun and eventful month. Now back to work...