my favorite birthday ever.

I think I want to turn thirty every year... especially if I get to redo the birthday festivities that accompanied turning thirty. It was my favorite birthday party celebrating ever.

To start John and I went out on my actual birthday. We went to Red Rock which is a personal favorite of mine. Mmmm. The Redrock burger is my favorite hamburger anywhere... Yum. Then we had a gift card to Boondocks so we went miniature golfing and played some arcade games. We had a pretty serious air hockey tournament. John won, I let him.

I took Sophie with me to go get a pedicure and a manicure. It was so cute. It was her first time and she was so cute. They actually just painted her nails, but she loved it. And so did I. Later Adrienne and I went to get massages and a Red Mango. 

And then Saturday night we celebrated. John and I decided to have a Dance Party for the party and were unsure how it would actually turn out.  I had so many awesome people help us pull off this party and it was seriously one of the funnest nights of my life. Maybe second to my wedding.(Oh wait, put it third... 2nd is Jason and Erica's wedding) It was that much fun. So thanks everyone that came. It won't be the last dance party that is thrown by the Connors'. And a BIG huge thanks to those lovely peeps that drove super far, and flew to be here. Muah! Hugs and kisses to you. 

And to my surprise.... I even got a choreographed dance from these lovely men, and some awesome ladies as well. It was amazing. Nothing short of perfection.   ( And yes, that is indeed George Costanza)

Straight-Up from Tom Garner on Vimeo.

Here is the video of the dance in case you missed it. :) Thanks everyone for the most perfect birthday anyone could ever ask for.  I am so lucky to have such good people in my life.  Thirty is awesome.  


PS. There are so many more pictures to come.......  and they will come.

loving....

I love summer time, and the way it smells.
I love where we live. It is so pretty.
I love late evening runs with my new fancy garmin gps watch that tells me everything about my run. (even if it tells me that I'm slow...)

I love my darling Soph, who is growing up too fast. She now has a toothless grin, which is adorable.
I love Red Mango. I daydream of that place. My goodness.. I just love it.
I love eating snap peas out of my garden while I read and the kids play in the sand box.
I love the way Parker has taken an renewed intense liking to his "old dog" and "old blankie". They are so tattered, and loved. And they keep him young.

I love days at the Farmington Pool, just being out in the sun. Even if Ruby is borderline impossible at the pool, it is still enjoyable.
I love the little stolen moments when Ruby isn't screaming, and she will actually let me hold her, and she wants to kiss me. Man, they melt my heart. And I love my alone time with her. She is so calm when the other two are off playing...

I love my cute hubby with all my heart.
I love trying to enjoy these moments. I truly believe that life is meant to be enjoyed. So amidst all the craziness and stress that seems to cloud my better judgement and perspective on life sometimes... I really do love these moments.
I love the song "Like A Prayer". It's playing right now at my house and it is making me happy. What an awesome song.
I love good friends.
I love wearing flip flops everyday. I'm sure it's terrible for my feet, but it's good for my soul.
I love hot pink nail polish. It's cute and it makes me happy.
I love the garlic and basil turkey burgers that we had for dinner tonight.
I love this week already... and I think it is going to get better.... Here is to turning 30 and loving it.

salem spring

I did the Salem Spring Triathlon last weekend. It was super fun, and I am hoping it was the first of a couple tri's this season. 

John, and I at the finish line after the race. Parker tagged along. The other two kiddos stayed home. Parker was a trooper and super fun to have there.

Pre race jitters. My bike tire had just popped for the second time right before this picture. Thanks to John, all the cash in John's wallet and the awesome bike sponsors at the race... I had a new bike tire in just the nick of time. In fact... I went to swim and John took my bike to get fixed. When I got out of the water I had a new tire. Best husband ever. Seriously.

My age group starting the swim. It was such beautiful weather that day. I saw my parents and sisters right before I got in the water and I didn't know for sure that they were coming... it made me get all choked up seeing them there.

Me coming out of the water and into the transition area.

Cute Parker and My Dad. Love these two sooooo soooo much. My Dad was always the inspiration for my athletic pursuits growing up. He never missed a swim meet, never missed a water polo game (except maybe the one he got kicked out of...), yelled super loud at every game, flew all over the country with me to water polo tournaments and camps, ran my first marathon with me and more. It always feel so right to have him be at events like this cheering me on. He is the greatest, truly.

Here I am doing an awkward shuffle run. It's what I do. I have no photo proof that I biked, but I did.

Parker eating my watermelon just after the race.

And on the way home... we stopped in Provo and ate at Hikory Kist ( for old times sake). And of course we then had to stop by and take a picture of our first house. Sooooo many memories here. We loved this place so much. Even if it was ghetto Provo and we were constantly being approached by homeless sketchy people. 

It was a good day.

summer...

I like summer. Bring on the BBQ's, the pool, the lazy days, my children fighting, the sun, the beach, the lake, waterskiing,good books, family, friends. I'm ready.

And just now I played catch up on the blog... a couple posts cracked out super fast while my children ran circles around me. Now it's dinner time.... I suppose I should figure that out. I wish I could make this picture come to life on my table right now......

Last day of school

I can't believe how fast time goes. Really. Soph finished Kindergarten. I can't believe how much she has grown this year! I am so proud of her.

My cute little walkers. These three walked to school together. Bless Hillary's good heart for taking that responsibility on. 

Sophie and her teacher Mrs. Neal. She was amazing, kind, perfect. We will miss her.

On to summer.

dance

Another recital in the books. Yipeee. It was a "small" recital year which was really nice. All the girls were great! Suzanne ( the lady we bought the studio from three years ago) came. And that was fun too. (Though Court was backstage for the picture! Sorry Court!)

 Then we went to Hires to celebrate. I felt like I was in high school.... it was awesome.

california

End of May we took a quick weekend trip to California to see our friends the Barnetts, to see The National in concert, and to celebrate Brandi's birthday at Disneyland. It was super fun.

Lunch at the Getty.

Santa Monica, Third Street

The amazing venue. The Wiltern was awesome. The National was amazing.

The fuzzy phone picture.

We consumed soooo much frozen yogurt in such a short time period. One day we had it for dinner.

The happiest place on earth, love it! Just after we ate a super expensive (overpriced) breakfast at our hotel... everything at Disneyland seemed so cheap in comparison after that. 

Disneyland crew... Jared and Coleen met us later. Why don't we have a picture of them too?

The boys.

Space Mountain hands up challenge... I love Space Mtn.

Glorious, fun weekend. It truly was so good to get away for just a minute.

And it was super fun to laugh and laugh and laugh.

Thanks guys.