Fun filled weekend

We had the best weekend ever! It started with a great day on Friday thanks to our friends Jeff and Susan Malmberg. They gave us their free tickets to Lagoon so we could join them and our other friends for a Market Star party I guess you could say. Carrie was so sweet to keep Emma during the day while we took Jed with us to go on all the big kids rides. Then she showed up around 4:00 and we tried to hit up some kiddie rides, but it was way hot and crowded by then. We had a complimentary dinner (thanks again to Jeff and Sue) and then we rushed outta there to drive up to Lava Hot Springs for a little bit of camping.





























































Friday night after Lagoon we dropped Emma off at my parents to have a slumber party and drove up with Jed and Carrie to Lava Hot springs for a ward activity. We got there around 11:00 pm when everyone else was going to bed and we stayed up until 2:00 am eating their left overs out by the fire.




















In the morning we went over to the pool and the boys had "fun" jumping off the highest high dive. We had a great winning streak playing sand volleyball and it was so great to get to know our ward a little bit better.



















After spending the day at the pool we decided to float the river. We had no idea it had actual rapids!! The boys had a blast going down the big rapids, and Carrie and I almost had a blast, but we were in a double tube, which was bad news, and she is almost 7 months pregnant, so that was another negative when tubing a river full of rapids. But once we made it through the river safely, with lots of laughter and adrenaline, we really enjoyed the ride.

















It was so nice to go to an activity and not be in charge. To just show up, and my work is done. God bless (literally) the activities chairmen and committee.














Sunday for the first time ever we spent the whole day just the three of us. We usually go to family's house somewhere, but this Sunday we just stayed home. Bad move mom, it turned out to pretty nice and we might be doing it more often :)













Little Foot is a new member to our family (thanks again Kylee and Jessica) and he enjoyed our hike as well. Here Emma is giving him a drink of water from the pond. She let us know he was very thirsty and made sure he stayed well hydrated.


















We took Emma on her first hike and she did awesome! For a girl that trips walking across the family room I couldn't believe she didn't fall once, not once! She kept a great pace and would have loved to go further, but the sun was setting so we had to move on.














What could this little girl possibly be wishing for? She pretty much has the sweetest life of anyone I know, just shy of mine that is :)










Not my best picture, but being a mom you're always behind the camera or back stage fixing something or another. So this just shows that I do attend our activities, I don't just narrate them.

Happy Birthday!!

Today is my sister Jamie's birthday. There are four girls in our family and she is the oldest. She marches to the beat of her own drum, and she wears that title proudly. I just noticed today how funny and truly honest her profile is on her blog, it just made me laugh. For the most part she doesn't care what people think of her, she is who she is and that's that. She's not shy about advertising her weaknesses and less glamorous habits, where most people, myself included, prefer the sugar coated take on life. Jamie is always quick to provide comic relief, even when it is bordering inappropriate. My uncle once said to her "you're not like your other sisters are you?" I always took that as such an insult to her, but as I get older I can see that it doesn't need to be an insult or a compliment, just a very accurate observation, and I'm so thankful for the variety she gives to our family. The thing I love the most about Jamie is her desire to do what is right by God and to always have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion in her life. I don't care how successful a person is in the ways of the World, but if you aren't trying do right by God then what's the point? I should also mention she shares this day with her son Daniel, who has the same energy and thirst for life as she does. He too is so full of love and is such a joy to be around. I Love you both!

I can only imagine

This story is so moving and I think you must be made of stone to not be touched by it. Even if you have read this article I encourage you to read it again. Please read the whole article and then watch the 2 short videos, it really brings everything into perspective of why we are here.

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to payfor their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.
But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.
Eighty-five times he’s pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles inmarathons. Eight times he’s not only pushed him 26.2 miles in awheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars — all in the same day.Dick’s also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his backmountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?
And what has Rick done for his father? Not much — except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rickwas strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving himbrain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.
“He’ll be a vegetable the rest of his life,” Dick says doctors toldhim and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. “Put him in aninstitution.”
But the Hoyts weren’t buying it. They noticed the way Rick’s eyesfollowed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to theengineering department at Tufts University and asked if there wasanything to help the boy communicate. “No way,” Dick says he was told. “There’s nothing going on in his brain.”
“Tell him a joke,” Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.
Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor bytouching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able tocommunicate. First words? “Go Bruins!” And after a high schoolclassmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized acharity run for him, Rick pecked out, “Dad, I want to do that.”
Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described “porker” who never ranmore than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still,he tried. “Then it was me who was handicapped,” Dick says. “I was sore for two weeks.”
That day changed Rick’s life. “Dad,” he typed, “when we were running,it felt like I wasn’t disabled anymore!”
And that sentence changed Dick’s life. He became obsessed with givingRick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-bellyshape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.
“No way,” Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren’t quite asingle runner, and they weren’t quite a wheelchair competitor. For afew years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway,then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 theyran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Bostonthe following year.
Then somebody said, “Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?”
How’s a guy who never learned to swim and hadn’t ridden a bike sincehe was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.
Now they’ve done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hourIronmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old studgetting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don’t you think?
Hey, Dick, why not see how you’d do on your own? “No way,” he says.Dick does it purely for “the awesome feeling” he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.
This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992 — only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don’t keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.
“No question about it,” Rick types. “My dad is the Father of the Century.”
And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he hada mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of hisarteries was 95% clogged. “If you hadn’t been in such great shape,”one doctor told him, “you probably would’ve died 15 years ago.”
So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other’s life.
Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works inBoston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland,Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around thecountry and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father’s Day.
That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he reallywants to give him is a gift he can never buy.
“The thing I’d most like,” Rick types, “is that my dad sit in thechair and I push him once.”


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhvNK8bhsM8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS596VsNEOE

Happy Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day this weekend and it really got me thinking about the men who I know and that I respect and admire. I think it is very interesting that other than my own husband the men who I respect the most as fathers just happen to be the husbands of the women who I love the very most. So here is a little tribute to them.














My dad has been the most influential in my life in these last few chapters. He has been there to support me and encourage me as I have made the most important decisions regarding who I am and the future path my life will take. He has not backed off on his parenting responsibilities and setting an example, but rather he has increased his devotion to me and seen me through some of the most important phases of my life. My dad has written and published 2 novels, traveled the globe on many humanitarian projects, written a musical play that will be performed this summer about the Mormon Batallion, hosted and funded every family vacation, and even out biked me on the road up to Snow Basin. Of everything he does for me my most cherished attributes of his are knowing when to give me that extra little push, and when to back off and praise me for a job well done, even if I didn't meet my exact goal. He is Emma's hero and she prefers him over anyone else, and that is reason enough for me to have him be father of the year.

















Todd is married to my sister Stacey. He is a full time firefighter that has opportunities for extended time with family. If he were like most men he would take his 48 hours off to put himself first. To focus on his hobbies and do what is in his best interest. Instead he comes home from a very demanding job and continues working at home. He is so quick to help keep up on the house work and to be very involved with the kids and their activities. He does the family's grocery shopping and all the yard maintenance around the house. He happens to be very sensitive to others and also to the spirit, which is funny since he is such a big burley man. I have always thought well of him but his ability to go above and beyond what is required of him when he's home just makes him a hero to me.













Ryan is married to my oldest sister Jamie. My sister is his first wife and they were made for each other. Ryan took on 3 children and some heavy responsibility. He could have married someone young and naive but he chose to marry a strong willed woman and take her for all that she comes with. He has adopted my 3 nieces and nephews with more love and devotion then I have seen many biological children be given from their own parents. He has such an energy and enthusiasm for life and I am so truly thankful to have him in our family. He brings something to the table that nobody else in our family has to offer. He truly has a heart of gold.














Cody is married to my sister Sara. They have 2 little boys together and from the time their boys were born I have seen him take the initiative and responsibility that most father's don't place upon themselves even when they're asked. He has never tried to skirt his role as the parent on to Sara's shoulders and I so admire his attitude about parenting, life, and service in General. He has a "it's no big deal" motto and it is so refreshing for me to be around him and remember that I just need to chillax and enjoy what life has to offer. Perhaps because of the closeness in age, or the fact that we started off so much alike when we first got married, but Cody has always been like the older brother I secretly always wanted. In fact he and I look more alike then I do with any of my sisters. I'm so glad to have shared a roof with him and his family, even if for just a year.













Then there's my sweet husband. He was raised to crave a baby, something that is so foreign to me and always will be. From the time Emma came out in the hospital he took over and pretty much baby hogged her. He did most of her feedings and all of her bathings, and nurtured her better than any of my instincts could even compete with. I know she still gives him butterflies and she alone can make a tear come out just by snuggling with him or when he hears a song on the radio and thinks of her. I am so thankful to the Bundy family for raising a son to cherish the sweetness of a newborn, and then to see that love and affection all the way through. Ryan is so good to do whatever I ask of him and he never complains, he is just so happy to help. I love to just sit back and watch the 2 of them together. All though she tells anybody that asks that her daddy is her best friend I never feel threatened or jealous (not usually) and I'm so glad to see their little bond develop.





































She's not crying in this picture, she is just hugging him real tight.



















Emma sings "I'm so glad when Daddy Comes Home" and sings it with such spunk and enthusiasm. This is the part in the song where she says... "And give him WHAT?!"

Secondhand Serenade

For Father's Day this year I decided to get Ryan and I tickets to our new favorite group, Secondhand Serenade. I thought it would be fun to something different for a date night and also something that I knew Ryan would love. It was at Thanksgiving Point and an outside concert, luckily the weather just happened to clear up so we could have blue skies, but it was still quite cold.














We were DYING over how young everyone was. Other than the parents chaperoning I think we were the oldest ones there. Kids these days just have so much more access to adult culture and activities. We still had a good time, but it became very apparent to me how old 27 really is. I am just so over cheering and carrying on and the whole hysteria bit. I remember at 19 thinking 27 was old, but I've never felt old as I've been approaching 30, until this concert that is. Sad thing is that I can even tell a difference between me and my friends who are under 25, I just seem a little boring compared to them. Oh well. I'm happy to be where I am and I'm looking forward to my thirties. However I will say I wouldn't trade this stage in my life for anything, not anything.














I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but it was funny how many people had their cell phones out. Times have just changed so much in ten years.


Here's their most common song on the radio, you may have heard it before. He has 2 albums out and both are very good. Check him out if you get a chance.


http://music.aol.com/video/fall-for-you/secondhand-serenade/2069984
(warning, the video is a little "sexy")

Bear Lake

This last weekend we went to Bear Lake with our friends Jed and Carrie and their little girl Addi. Although the weather was chilly and over cast we had a really good time just hanging out and relaxing. Emma and Addi get along really great, especially for their ages.

Carrie is a photographer and does great work. It's so nice to have a friend with my same passions. We both took each other's family pictures and our husbands were such good sports. You can see Carrie's work at http://carriedawayphotos.blogspot.com/

We just had such a great time hanging out. Thanks so much for inviting us Malmbergs!!

My favorite companion

I keep saying lately that Emma isn't hard, it's her age that is hard. Her little mind that finds entertainment in playing in her cereal, running her hand along our dirty car EVERY time she walks by it, her fascination with rocks, especially dirty ones, and her ability to repeat her same sentence over and over and over until I repeat it back to her can all get a little overwhelming sometimes.
However, there is no amount of money or Worldly possessions that can take the place of all the little rewards, blessings and true joy that she brings to me. She is now at a stage where if I have the option of leaving her with Ryan while I go run errands, or taking her along with me for her company, I usually chose to bring her with me. She has become my favorite companion and I just delight in everything she says and does, for the most part :)



It was late the other night and well past her bedtime and mine as well, and she decided to play in the curtains instead of going to bed. Yet again, all my frustrations of the day just melted away as I saw how truly innocent and full of light and energy this little girl is. I'm so thankful that she is mine for the time being, and no words can describe what she means to me.

You're gonna miss this

My friend Carrie made me a "mixed tape" and it had this song on it that just really hit home with me. You don't have to like country music for this song to apply to you, but check out this video and let me know if you can relate to it as well.

http://www.cmt.com/videos/trace-adkins/217378/youre-gonna-miss-this.jhtml

I'm a big girl now!

What has happened to my little Emma? Where has her baby face gone? I blinked and now she is a big girl. Running with the big kids, playing by herself, and she's the one who seems to be always concerned about my well being! I remember my oldest sister Jamie telling me just how fast it goes by, and it's not that I ever doubted her, but I just get it now, and my little Emma is only 2. I think I will be the mom sobbing on the corner when she starts Kindergarten.

Guys Night

I think one of the many important aspects in a marriage is to encourage independence. It really gives you such a boost of appreciation for your spouse when they encourage you to go out and have a good time. I have my little Foofs group, and I go out with my mom and sisters from time to time, and Ryan has always been very supportive and never made me feel guilty or rained on my parade. In return that makes me want to give him the same experience and support. So the other night he and some of his buddies decided to go up on the Mountain right behind our house.

They brought foil dinners and made hobo dinners and then explored the mountain to find where some of them had played as kids, checking out their old stomping grounds. The guys were Jed Malmberg, Cody Stowers, and James Rasmussen.
This is the questionable spring where my husband drank a lot of water from. Apparently he was really thirsty and willing to take a risk. Luckily it all seemed to have passed inspection and he never had any problems.
To get to their camping spot they had to jump a rather large canal. In the daylight it was kind of an added adventure, but when it was pitch black on their way home it became a bit of a risk.