Haircut!!!

I got a haircut today and now my hair is short!!!  It was kind of a big step forward to cut off all my long hair (aka. safety net) but I absolutely love it!  I haven't had short hair since elementary school, and it's nice to feel so carefree about my hair.  Anyways... that is the exciting news of the day!

My daddy ran a marathon!

Last weekend my best friend Jacie and I drove down to St. George to watch my dad run in the St. George Marathon!  He was absolutely amazing, and improved his time from last time by 4 minutes with a time of 3 hours and 2 minutes!!!  I still can't even believe it.  As if it wasn't enough that he was running 26 miles, but it actually rained during the entire marathon.  Jacie and I hadn't really prepared for the weather so we were able to run around all day in a trash bag.

After the marathon, we got to hang out with my family and watch general conference together.  It's been a couple of months since I saw them last and I loved being able to just hang out with them.  For dinner, we met up with our long-time family friends, The Cummings Family, and spent some time hanging out with them.  Overall, it was an awesome little weekend get-away.  I'm so proud of my dad for all the time and effort he put into preparing himself for the St. George Marathon.  

This is Jacie and I prior to leaving  Provo... Roomie Road Trip Part III!

Coolest billboard ever!  (aka. Jacie and I in 50 years, kicking it and living young)

First thing we did upon arriving in St. George= In-N-Out

I pretty much just love my mom...  She and McKenna apparently thought something was pretty funny.

... and she didn't feel like being photographed.

Driving to mile 18 to see my dad (all 4 of us squished into the back seat of the Honda)

She was happy, I promise.

We were the trash bag people!!!  (who knew it was really going to rain?)

Family!

There he is, chugging along at mile 18.

Luke ran the last 1/4 mile with my dad, he was excited for him to finally get to the finish line...

After the race, we met up with the Cummings for some delicious food at Jimmy John's.

Hanging out at the Cummings...

Ring #2

On a random Thursday night a week or two ago, Chad came home with a big surprise for me: my beautiful wedding band!!!  It was an amazing surprise and an amazingly gorgeous ring!  Now everyone can know that I really am married.

my best friend...

This is Jacie Bowen. She is my best friend, besides Chad Bennett (of course) and I just want everyone to know how great she is... pretty much my favorite. I think this picture tells it all: she has a passion for eating abnormally large vegetables and is not afraid to eat it right off the vine! Way to go Jacie!

Shooting: In the Dead of Night

Two weekends ago, we decided that for date night, we would do a group date shooting up at Hobble Creek Canyon. Unfortunately we didn't plan far enough ahead on the whole timing thing and we ended up having 15 minutes of dusk before it got to be dark outside; not exactly the most conducive environment to shooting firearms, but we made the best of it!

Hawken and Jacie... she was seriously frightening with the gun when she wasn't dropping to the ground everytime she heard a gun shot. I guess that's just what happens when you grow up in LA County!

I love shooting guns!

The other reason we wanted to go out shooting was to try out Shane's new "Clay Pigeon Shooter Thing" ( have no idea what the real name is). It was pretty awesome. We can't wait to go out again, this time when we can actually see the flying pigeons!

After shooting, the boys all made up a fire, and we got out our roasting sticks to make some Pigs in a Blanket. Yum!Jacie was pretty impressed.
This is a picture of the bullet that exploded in our fire and shot burning embers onto my arm. Good thing Hawken had the good sense to brush them off and only a 2nd degree burn ensued.

Kenzie Shae turns 1!!!

My favorite little niece, Kenzie Shae, turned one year old this September! Kaitlin, Courtney, Johnny, Luke, and Mommy Bennett seized the opportunity and roadtripped it back up to Provo for the occasion! It was quite the party, and Kenzie impressed us all with her new walking skills, sign language, and then stuffing large amounts of cake and frosting in her face. It was pretty great. It was fun to spend another weekend with the Bennetts, even if it was a little bit shorter now that school has started and everyone had to be home by Monday.

Extreme cake eating:



I got to hang out with Luke during Kenzie's birthday party, and after a little bit of crying, he just kind of passed out for an hour or so. The kid was totally asleep and adorable...


Still sleeping... But this time, with a party hat on!
Unfortunatley, Chad had to work during the birthday party, but he was still able to hang out with Luke doing what they both do best: sleeping!

Mini-golf!

A couple of weeks ago on a Friday night, we hopped in the car and headed to good 'ol Trafalga for date night. With our schedules so crazy, and Chad working every Saturday night, Friday nights have become the official night to take time off of school and do whatever we feel like doing. Apparently Trafalga has a date night package where you can get mini-golfing, a couple of game tokens, and (Chad's favorite) Dippin' Dots!

He was pretty stoked for this whole Dippin' Dots business... I pretty much don't see the point, but to each their own.

We're pretty hardcore golfers, I mean look at that stance, we mean business!This is me when I thought I was going to win, turns out we tied... exactly the same score!
After an exciting 18 holes, we went inside and played a few of the arcade games. I haven't done that in so long, and it was oddly entertaining. Chad was dying to play the skiing one; he's just practicing for the winter when we get to actually go ski/snowboard!