My California Adventure: Disneyland Half Marathon 2010

Our First day in Cali we made a courageous trip to Downtown LA to shop in the Fashion District.  It was pretty-much a giant flea market and it was blazing HOT but we had a good time haggling our way to some good deals!

September 5th we arose early and walked down to the starting line of the 5th Annual Disneyland Half Marathon.  It was so fun and was especially exciting as my sisters did it with me.  I am so proud of them for accomplishing such an awesome thing.  This was my 3rd race, Whitney's 2nd and Bonnie's 1st!

McCoy Update

Need I say more?

A day of firsts....

FIRST day of 6th grade for Braiden

 Firs Day of Kindergarten for Paige

Erickson Family Reunion 2010

BFF

Carrie Pabst, one of my 2 BFFs visited Utah and we were able to spent some fun girl time together like olden days. I love this girl!

Swimming, Playing, Visiting= Summer 2010

 Now that the summer of 2010 is coming to a close and the cooler temps are setting in I need to re-cap the summer for the Erickson Family in one happy little post.  The pics speak for themselves but that never stopped me from commenting before!

~I posted this just because he is so stinkin cute~

~Summer consisted of lots of time spent with cousins and the back yard was very well used this year.  If there is water, they will come...and they will swim in it till they pass out.  I cant wait to bring these pictures back to torment them when they are teenagers.~

Since football is Braidens new love we took advantage of the opportunity to put him in a 1-day training clinic with some of the past and present BYU football players.  The clinic is sponsored by New Skin and was so fun for them.  We had to go all the way to St. George to do it since the Provo one filled up too fast so by 7 am it was about 85 degrees.  The picture on the left is Braiden with Jake Heaps (BYUs new QB) and on the right we have the pre-clinic pep talk.

Baby Squishy

This post is a little out-dated.  My little nephew McCoy has since become even cuter and his cheeks have gotten chunkier, much chunkier!  I call him "My little Squishy".  He is oh, so squishy.

Miss Paige turns 5

Paige turned 5 this year on June 6th.  We partied it up Princess Style.

All of Paige's little home-girls came over and got dressed up in Paige's princess Dress-up clothes.

Within minutes they, of course, all had swim suits on and ended up in the front yard running in Paige's Hello Kitty sprinkler.  Watching 5 year-olds is utterly entertaining.

It was a fun party.  Paige had a blast and was spoiled like a Princess should be.

~Birthday Princess Paige~

I had multiple flash-forwards of this being Paige's 16th birthday party and had to be sedated. 
Heaven help me.

Dance, Dance, Dance!!

Its a Small World Afterall....

June 9-14, 2010 marked the Erickson Family's one and only trip to Disneyland...this year. 

Yes, its sad but true that we will only be able to do a family trip to D-land once this year due to other plans that will take all our time (and money) this year. 

So the first day I flew in with Braiden and Paige and we spent a day at Disneyland and then the next day we caught a bus to SeaWorld.  SeaWorld is pretty fun but also pretty pricey for what you get if you ask me...however; the kids always love it.  There is something about smelly fish and giant sea mammals that amazes them.  So...its all about them anyway, right?

The first day we spent at Disneyland, we ran into out neighbor friends, the Webbs, so we hung out with them the rest of the say and had a great time!  Little Riley Webb and Paige are little buddies and had a blast together.  We saw the Fairy Godmother, Mary Poppins, Jasmine and Aladdin, ate turkey legs and had a great time!

Eric got there the second day with Cameron and we stayed for 3 more days at Disneyland. 

This year seemed to be different for Cameron.  He is getting to the age where he is super excited about Disney and all it has to offer for little people like him.  We bought the Disneyland Soundtrack not too long ago which the kids love listening to so they know every song. 

Cameron Loved Pirates of the Caribbean and The Monster's Inc Adventure the most...he is most definitely a boy!  He sang all the way through It's a Small World and Loved every second of the Teacups (ugh).

So something I learned this go 'round with Disneyland?   Never go when there is some major attraction or show making its debut there.  The World of Color show at California Adventure had its opening night (which we did not get to see due to the disgusting wait times) while we were there.  The place was crazy...even for me and I am pretty tolerant of Disney crowds. 

We ended up spending alot of time at the Paradise Pier Hotel where we stayed and hang out by the pool alot.  It was fun and as always, worth it.

Till next time (that would be September for me when I return to run the Disneyland Half Marathon with Bonnie and Whitney...in case you were wondering)!

Salt Lake City Half Marathon- April 17, 2010

April 17th 2010 marked the day of another bout if insanity for me...I ran my second Half Marathon in Salt Lake City.

It was a gorgeous day and I had all my favorite people waiting for me at the finish line. 

The other good news is that I survived the race, it wasn't as hard as the first one and I shaved almost 25 minutes off my time from the first race!  Yeah!! 

Next up? The Disneyland Half Marathon Labor Day Weekend 2010!

One of many visits to St. George

                                                          These posts are a little out of sequence but I am posting as I come across pictures of stuff we have done...How else will I ever remember?   In April we made the trek to our favorite weekend get-away St. George, UT where my grandma resides.  We spent the weekend with her just pretty-much doing nothing which is exactly what we love doing when we go there...nothing is bliss sometimes.  We swim, we watch movies, we talk and talk with Grandma, and of course we eat. 

We always make it a point to either very clearly point out the St George temple or actually go and see it.  It really a gorgeous place and this particular day there was a bride out front.  Paige was in awe of the Princess-like girl.  She always tells me how she will get married there someday...but she "doesn't want marry Cameron...cause he is my brother!  EW!."  Aw, from the mouths of babes...

I love my sweet grandma so much.  Since my grandfather passed away (2 years ago) she has been doing so well to keep herself busy with friends and substitute teaching and her little dog (which is more like a baby, by the way).  But I can always tell that the sparkle in her eye has dimmed and it comes back whenever we reminisce about Grandpa.  We all miss him alot but I can't even imagine how she misses him after spending 54 years with him.

We always make sure to wave good-bye to Grandma as we leave and she always waits for us to drive away before going back in.  Whenever we leave her I cant help but wonder if this will be the last time we see her.  This is how I will always remember her when I can't go see her anymore...waving good-bye with her sweet smile and knowing she loves us and will be here, waiting for us when we come back.

#1 is 11! Let's go to Disneyland!

Braiden had an awesome birthday if I do say so myself.  He turned 11 on May 20th. Yikes!  I have said it before and I will say it again...am I old enough to have an 11 year old??  I'll never tell.

We had the good old family get-together for cake and presents and stuff as this year Braiden opted for a Mom trip to D-Land rather than a birthday party. Oh he still ended up with a friend trip (7 boys!) to the movie theater to see ShreK 4  and a very rowdy sleep-over, but no party...right.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Braiden and I took a whirl wind trip to California and went to the Happiest Place on Earth.  We had a good time just laughing and listening to music and hanging out.  These trips are the best for Braiden and I as we don't get 1 on 1 time so these are memories I, and hopefully he, will treasure forever.  I just hope that when he is 16 he will still want to take trips with me.

Washed out Random-Ness!

I was messing around with my camera at a family gathering not long ago and decided I really like these washed-out
pics I got by sticking the camera in everyones faces.


Can you tell who they are??