around the house - september

sundance . tree swing in vineyard . cute school girl . snowbird with taytay
notes from ellie . she stayed "birds on a traffic light" by cody . tay in the tub, photo by lauren vancott . kisses in the kitchen . snuggles in bed tootie . shower for mike thomas'girl stefanie . ellie conquered her fear . cody and dad at dirty dash in midway

stewart falls

Love this little family of mine. Hiking to Stewart Falls.

st george

I took the kids down to St. George for the weekend. We were having a blast at the dinosaur museum, red rocks, and the playground until.... A quick bike ride turned into an epic day of hiking back to my car by myself, crying on the phone to justin, and ultimately getting help packing up the car and driving home. A couple days later I finally got it x-rayed to confirm what I knew, a broken wrist. It's been 5 weeks now and the cast is off but it's far from better. I've been doing dangerous sports my whole life so I guess I was due, just glad it wasn't worse.

dirty dash - albuquerque

September 8 was our second race of the season. Colorado Springs Dirty Dash was the week before at the Pikes Peak Raceway. So the crew put on that race, packed up and drove to Albuquerque and set up. I flew in on Thursday and helped at packet pick up at a really cool running store. Justin's parents also drove in and we stayed at "our spot", Hotel Parque Central. The day of the race was 50 degrees, after a week of 90. Needless to say, sweatshirt sales were awesome. I couldn't believe people still ran through the mud as if it wasn't freezing. Jared, who is over production, did an awesome job and the race went off without a hitch. We even had mounted police help with the parking. Justin and I ran around talking to people, taking pictures and just watching everyone play in the mud. To be honest rolling around in the mud just doesn't do it for me, but it's really freeing for a lot of people, I think. They feel like a little kid again. After all these months of hard work and wondering how it would turn out - this was a great race and I'm so glad I could be there. The best part was watching Justin's dad walk around with a huge smile on his face - he had no idea how big these races are. His mom and dad had a blast and it was so fun to have them there. I think this race will be especially memorable because of venue and the charity we worked with. The race was held at Wildlife West Nature Park. It's We Bought a Zoo in real life. The owner is this old guy that tells the funniest stories and lives on the property, saving endangered species. He's so great. The charity we worked with is NMX - a place that gives underprivileged kids a place to go to learn graphic design, event production, lighting, film editing, etc. They gave us a tour of their warehouse and it was incredible. It was inspiring and humbling to see how passionate the some people are about giving back and improving their communities. They were so grateful to partner with us and it really gave them a boost. That's what I love most about Justin's job, it's very synergistic and win/win for everyone involved.

around the house - august

swimming at Manilla Ponds . Friends and eating from the garden . biking with new friend, Lindsey . homemade pizza . . Neilson park . hiking to timp cave (tay loved the cave a little too much and would not let me hold her, we had to get a ranger and take a secret path out) . . dress I bought in Knoxville . breakfast at Kneaders for Lew's birthday . Snowbird with just Tay while waiting for Justin at the race office . giving a Cody look at Neilson Park .

kindergarten and 2nd grade

. Ellie and Mrs. Williams . . Hadley, Mia, Rian, Ellie, Lily .

mccall

. Calley and Taylor . McCall this year was a blast. I was so happy Justin could be there, he's been gone most of the summer getting ready for our races. We drove up on a Monday and spent the night about 30 miles from McCall. The next morning Lew, Justin and I rode our bikes to McCall while the others drove. We spent the next few days on paddle boards, boating, biking, running, relaxing on the beach, and swimming.

around the house - july

. cooking class at Real Foods (so good) . boating . sleepovers with Ethan and Molly . . Sunday naps in Mapleton . Spanish Fork Rodeo . Motorcycle Rides with Grandpa . Justin's 15 yr high school reunion . . corn growing out our window . making a car with grandpa Nicol . snuggling with grandma Nonnie . summer bike riding . . cookie making . tennis lessons with Calley . summer days in Mapleton on the four-wheeler . nap time . . Calley, Ellie and Taylor . Ellie and sick Tay . Mom and sick Tay . Picnic in the canyon with Rainer cherries .

how to take care of a baby

HowToHaveABabyBrother from courtney bankhead on Vimeo.

Just a little video we made to send to Kelty and Walker in Baltimore. Jessica had a new baby Zeth and we missed being with them this summer.

around the house - june

. shopping for flowers for our new house . last day of 1st grade in Mrs. Vickers class . Running the incline trail in Colorado Springs . Favorite library book of the summer .

la nay ferme

I was so excited to learn about La Nay Ferme this week. I was bummed that Jacobs Cove was no longer here and even more bummed that a community that professes to eat "wisely" also can't support even one CSA. The farm is located by East Lawn Cemetary (better soil up there, maybe? bad joke. :0) in Provo. They've got partner gifts each week from local businesses and a local restaurant includes a dressing as well. Something I've never seen before in a CSA and I think it's rad. And hello? Edible flowers? YES PLEASE. They will also be doing Farm to Table dinners there this summer which I can't wait to try. Check it out and join!

so sweet

Professional pictures are something I really want to do better at getting. We did some trade with my friend Amanda last year and I finally got around to scheduling her. It was really last minute, which made it not stressful at all. I love them. What a great time in our lives. Our kids are still so little and so innocent.

little bunny tay tay

My little bunny Tay Tay turned 1 on April 27. She is our world the last year. We all love her so much. Cody says he doesn't know what to do because he want to eat her. I know how he feels, I just want to roll her in a ball and put her back in my tummy, because I can't get close enough to her. Every morning Justin gets her out of her crib (sometimes before she wakes up) and brings her in our bed with all of us. She crawls over us, sits (or stands) on our faces, steals our phones, kisses us and makes us laugh. The night of her birthday a huge windstorm came through, knocking over trees - very fitting for our "Tay Tay Tornado">. Taylor had two parties, this one was for my family, and the one with cousin Rusty is forthcoming. The theme of the party was, "Use whatever I have on hand" and it worked out pretty well! This wall paper has been traveling around with us for 4 years, for now it served as the photobooth backdrop. Party favors were flowers wrapped in burlap. The poster in from the Knoxville where Tay was born. Instagram photos and my kitchen-aid with pansies.

south fork with gma nonnie

A little Saturday morning hike with my mom and the kids. We built boats to float down the stream and on the way home got caught in the Utah Valley Marathon traffic, after 40 min it was apparant we were still an hour from the mouth of the canyon with 3 tired and hungry kids. I pulled into the closed off lane and went for it. Got pulled over a quarter mile from the canyon and got a lecture. So worth it.

around the house - may

This little four-wheeler is at grandpa's and grandma's in Mapleton. Cody loves it. Here he is helping grandpa do some farm chores.

calley

Last night I took Calley's senior pics. I still have never taken the time to learn how to use the manual function on digital cameras - I know what I should do but I just can't find the right button! So I was a little nervous. But we got some good ones! Thank goodness for Photoshop. I remember Calley as a 2 year old coming up to me and holding my hand when I first started dating Justin. Ahhh now that's crazy! The announcements.