Livin' it up Utah style

The boys and I, minus Ryan, have been visiting with my family for the past week. We're out here in southern Utah for two weeks while Ryan studies, in New York, for the boards. This is the major test he takes in order to be a legitimate dentist. I don't know whose idea it was to have me fly cross country solo with two boys ages two and 4 months, but let me tell you, it was a bad one. Okay, so it was actually Ryan's idea. The flight was five hours long: the first hour went well, the middle three went bad, and the last hour went well compared to the middle three. Honestly, though, the boys did well all things considered. The nice guy who sat next to us kept telling me what a wonderful mom I was which made me feel better. It wasn't all bad, though....in mental preparation for, and as consolation after, the flight, I bought myself some nice running shorts.
This leads me to another bad idea...Ryan and I signed up to run the Top of Utah half marathon in Logan on the 29th of August. A lot of Ryan's family is running in it, so they convinced us to run it. Luckily I've had a great running partner here in Cedar: my brother Jeff. In fact, I convinced him to run the race as well. We've made it up to running nine miles (okay, so I've made it to nine miles. Jeff could do more, but he's nice and sticks with me) and on Saturday we're going to run 11 miles, so I'm hoping I won't die in the race. The verdict is still out on that one. But just to reiterate this fact--Jeff is a great running partner. He keeps me going, but he doesn't push me (very much appreciated), he pretends not to notice that I'm out of shape, and he's easy maintainance because he's in shape, unlike me.
Actually, he's also just a great brother. It's been fun hanging out with him this trip. He's been watching my kids (Josh has decided he likes Jeff more than me), and we've gotten to talk a lot and do a lot of things. He sure is a great kid.
Another shout out goes to my dad. He's watched the kids every time we've gone running. He's had to pull out all the stops to keep my boys entertained. No wonder they love their grandpa. And my mom--Josh has finally warmed up to her (he still remembers when she came to visit when Carter was born...she was nice and did the disciplining for me since I couldn't move much). But I tell you what, Carter took to her right off the bat! He saves his biggest smiles and coos for grandma, honestly. Now that Josh has gotten over his temper tantrum throwing transition to Utah time, he's having a blast. My parents have a yard, a sandbox, and a basement--things I really miss...things Josh will really miss here in a couple more weeks.
The one thing missing here, though, is daddy. Josh misses Ryan a lot. He talks to him on the phone every day, for as long as I'll let him. We'll be glad when we can trade in the phone for the real thing.