Daddy's Little Helper

So today, Dakota and I went along with Zach to do a couple of minor sprinkler fixes and aerate a couple of yards. Normally when we go with Zach to do things like this we will just hang out in the truck and just play. Dakota LOVES to drive the "big truck." Today I had to kind of help Zach a little bit to find the sprinklers and some parts so we were just hanging out in the yard with Zach. Well, Dakota absolutely had a ball following Zach around and copying EVERY move he made.

So this is where one of the broken sprinklers was. Zach right before this picture had stuck his hand down in the water to feel around. Dakota swished his hand in there the exact same way. Then Zach tossed the broken sprinkler head back down on the ground and Dakota grabbed it and tossed it the exact same way. He just looked up at me and smiled, like what a good helper I am. It was so funny how exact he copied Zach's every move.

Just doing his own thing! (yes in his cowboy boots)

This was by far the funniest thing ever! He thought this handle was made just for him and thought it was so cool to run along with the aerator and he had to literally run because it goes so dang fast.

Zach was so cute and patient with him. He just adores EVERYTHING about Dakota, as do I!

You are such a great helper Dakota and we sure LOVE having you be a part of all we do! I hope you grow up to be just like your daddy!

CiRcUs

So for the first time in my life I went to the circus and it was seriously unbelievable. Friday afternoon Zach, Dakota, and I had the opportunity to go to the circus down in Salt Lake. Since Zach and I have been married, he had always talked about wanting to take me to the circus but we always missed it when it came to town. Well, this year with Dakota being old enough to enjoy it, we made sure of it that we could go and I am SOOO glad we went. It was a total blast and was totally amazing. The things they can do just blew my mind away...I mean where do they honestly get these people that are like superhuman and can bend their bodies in any direction, fly in the the freakin air like no other and catch each other, walk a freakin tight rope, etc. It's unreal!!!

Here are some pics to show you how cool it really is (in case you have been deprived like me and have never been :) )

So your probably thinking...what's so cool about this...WELL, let me tell you...there are seven freakin motorcycles all zooming around in that little cage together!!! How they do this without killing each other...no idea! One of the coolest parts!

Yes, they are just flying through the air together only holding on by his legs like it's no big deal...SCARY!!

The elephants were by far Dakota and I's favorite part! Who doesn't love a big animal doing crazy things. Every time they left Dakota would ask, "Where "ephelants" go?" By far his most favorite thing.

More elephants!

Even more elephants. (How cool would it be to be that girl up there riding on the trunk!)

And more elephants just standing on each other...you don't see that every day!

And you gotta love a cage full of tigers with a man just chillin in there like it's nothing.

And you can't enjoy a show like this without a little ice cream...at least if you are a Winterton! :)

Delicioso!!! He had a death grip on that thing! (Just like his momma!)

But of all the fun...the best part was just being with my most favorite people in the whole world...My 2 best boys!!! What more could you ask for!

Just enjoying the show! Zach was so cute to go even though he couldn't see everything that was going on...but he did get to do his most favorite thing for most of the show...snuggle with Dakota!

Thanks Zach for the fun day! You are the best husband and dad in the whole world! I love you!

MY NEW ADDICTION

Okay, so I have a new little addiction that all started with a "little" race called Ragnar!

So if you haven't heard about this crazy race, here it is in a nutshell. It is this super intense race that is done in different states all across the U.S. Here in UT it goes from Logan to Park City (about 190 miles). You have a team of 12 and you run relay with your team and end up running three times within 24 hours. I know crazy huh? So what your thinking is why in the H*** would anybody want to do such a thing, let alone pay a good chunk of money to do it (at least that's exactly what Zach thinks). Well Zach's dad and sister Ashley had both done it before and my sisters have done it down in AZ so I had started to gain some interest in doing it. So when our friends brought up the idea to do it, of course I was all for it. I always like a little challenge in my life and wanted to experience it for myself. So last February I started training for this race that was in July. Now I have always ran for a little exercise but not as intense like this. In my training I decided to run a half marathon (since i was going to be running that far anyway I might as well make it fun and do a race). So last May I ran a half marathon in Provo and this is how it all began. Although it was stinking hard and it was pouring rain and hail the whole time I LOVED IT!!! I love the adrenaline rush of passing people (especially guys :) ) and I ended up doing pretty good. I finished in 1 hour and 42 minutes (7:49/mile pace) and got 2nd in my age group of 95 poeple, 63rd overall of 650 + people, and 13th out of all the girls (who are my real competition).

Then came the ragnar race. Three of my four sisters ended up being on my team and we also had Kamille Tubbs and her mom in our van. Jordan Sessions and her two friends and my sister's cousin and her friends made up our second van. We had a total blast!! It was definitely the adrenaline that keept me going, not the 2 hours of sleep! :) But again my obsession of competing just took over and I LOVED passing people and could not stand it if someone passed me. We did a ton better then we expected and just had so much fun! Our team got 7th in our division and finished in 29 hours and 6 minutes. Here are a few pics of the fun...

Here is the starting line where it all began in Logan. I was the first runner and got to start us off. It was fun to be at the starting line. My first leg was about 8 miles and I did bout a 7:15/mile pace. My second run was my hardest with 1 mile straight up hill and then the next 7+ mostly a strong downhill. I paced a 6:58/mile with all of the downhill. My last leg was supposed to be my easiest with only 4 + miles but it felt the hardest because I was so worn out and it was my slowest pace at about 7:45/mile. It was all worth it though!!! (In a sick and twisted way)

Our van!!!

Me and my sisters! It was so fun racing with them! They are just as competitive as me! :)

Our victory pose! Aren't we tough?!

Just enjoying our celebration drinks at the finish line as we waited for van 2 to come in! We got massages and just hung out.

 

Not sure why this one is so small but this is our end of the race massage. We were all very sore. Yes, we are dorks!!! Gotta love sisters!

 

Our whole team!! We hardly got to see the other van, only at our exchange points and the finish line. They did awesome though!!

Our team shirts. Our team name was "Hit the Ground Running" made up by Mandy Vance...so clever! :)

So, I wish I could say my obsession ended there, but then I moved on to bigger and better races like the big city of Perry's 24th of July 5K race. :) Once again I had to feel the adrenaline rush of beating people. I couldn't just run it for fun you know, so instead I have to run hard and make sure I pass people and don't let others pass me. I finished in around 20 minutes, pacing around 6:50/mile. I got 1st in my division, 13th overall, and 2nd for girls.

Then, Peach Days 10K race rolled around a couple weeks ago. When my alarm went off that morning to go, I was still tired and wasn't sure if I wanted to do it, but the obsessive part of me got me out of bed and to the race. Once again I had to go so hard I felt like throwing up for a lot of the race instead of just having fun. (I can't let people beat me :))  I finished in 44:53 pacing about 7:15/mile. I got 1st in my division, 5th in girls, and I think 23rd overall.

My metal!!

So there you have it folks!! I have a new addiction to running races. I don't know why, but my competitive edge gets the best of me. The next race on the schedule is the Turkey trot with my sisters down in AZ. They better watch out cuz I can't let them beat me... ;)

SO MUCH TO BLOG ABOUT, SO LITTLE TIME...

So, it has been exactly 20 days since my last post and I have so much that I have wanted to blog about but never get the time and pictures organzed to do so. I need some help from all you professional bloggers out there how you do it! :) I can't keep up with life! So coming soon (if I get my pictures organized and take some time to get all that's been going on in the exciting life of the Friedli's written down) I will hopefully have a lot of new posts in the next few days...stay tuned! :)

We made it through August!!!!

Well, as most of you know, the last two years August has not treated us very kindly.  I'm not usually superstitious but come on, we have had some major trials come to us in August and why Heavenly Father chose to place them both in the month of August, I don't know. The first was August 10, 2008. It was one of the best days of our lives but also brought with it the hardest thing either Zach or I had ever experienced. Dakota was born on this wonderful day but it didn't all go as easily as we had thoguht it would be. He was born with a heart condition that made his heart beat way too fast. Instead of taking our precious new baby home, we had to leave him in the NICU for two LONG weeks not knowing what was going to happen.

NICU @ Primary Children's Hospital

Now isn't that heartbraking!!! We spent every day for two weeks in the hospital just to be with him and hold him. It was so hard to see him like that all the time. Every day seemed to last forever. Thank goodness it is behind us now and we have a happy and healthy little boy that brings us SOOO much joy!!

What a stud!!!

Well, after that major trial we thought we had gotten our fair share of tough times and that we were free. What else could go wrong. (This is probably why this next trial come our way)

August 2, 2009 is when Zach began noticing that his vision in his only good eye was starting to blur a little bit on the outside edge. We immediately went straight to the eye doctor (since Zach had lost vision in his left eye at 15) we knew we didn't have any time to waste. Well after many doctor visits and 3 LONG weeks of being in the hospital, in the end there was nothing that the doctors could do to save the vision that Zach lost over the course of a month. The whole experience makes me sick just thinking about it right now. That was, and still has been the hardest experience Zach and I have ever experienced. We are still learning and trying to understand it all but we are coping with it the best we can and with the help of our loving Heavenly Father.

Dakota was the only thing that could make him smile during that time!

He is such a cute dad!

So here we are now, with the end of August, 2010. Now I would be lying if I didn't say that I was a little nervous when August came around. In fact a friend asked me in July, are you nervous for August??? At that time I hadn't really had time to think about it so my answer was not really. During August was a whole other story. Everything made me nervous, it was silly. Dakota and I went for a ride on Snowflake (horse) one day and we took her up on the canal road in Willard. Well Snowflake was a little nervous because she had never been up there and she was acting a little jumpy. Now if I was by myself, I wouldn't have been nervous at all, but holding my precious little boy up there was completely different. Then thinking that it was August completely freaked me out and we had to turn around and go back immediately. I know that sounds ridiculous but it really was nerve racking.

But we can now celebrate because it is September 1st, August is over, and we survived without a single mishap!!!! WOO HOO!