Several weeks ago, after completing her first half-marathon, Amber convinced me that I wanted to train for a 13.1-mile race myself. Not to be completely outdone by my talented wife, who obliterated her target time by seven minutes in her first endurance competition, I committed to train for a race in St. George on the first Saturday in November.

This was back in August, and believe it or not, I have not missed a single training run. Amber and I take turns each morning running through the chilly Cache Valley air. Both of us have found that we enjoy the regular exercise, and especially having something to work toward.

My favorite part about training with another person is the motivation gained while challenging each other with times and increasingly more difficult routes. When the training schedule called for a six-mile run Amber introduced me to a horribly hellacious hill in Hyde Park that ascended nearly 500 feet in just about a mile-and-a-half. What made the Hyde Park hill the most daunted is the three false peeks that make you think you're almost there, but you're not.

The St. George race included a two-mile stretch of trail running. This thought made me want to include some similar trails during our preparation. The Bonneville Shoreline trail, a 1.8-mile roller coaster path spanning between the Green and Logan Canyons, seemed perfect.

My initial attempt worked me over like no other run had. And, for good cause as the route required climbing twice as much altitude as the Hyde Park run. Never backing down from a challenge herself, Amber had a go and agreed that adding the high-altitude trail in our regimen gave training a new challenge.

This past Saturday we needed to find a route to accommodate 12 miles - the longest training run of the circuit. As I thought about it, one thing became clear. This not only had to be the longest run, but it should also be the hardest. Once that was decided, there was no choice but to combine the Hyde Park hill run with the Bonneville Shoreline trail.

We even got a babysitter to watch the kids so that Amber and I could go together. Our pace was consistent, the hills were challenging but conquerable, and we climbed 1,529 feet (but also descended 1,567) en route to the longest run I've ever taken in my life.

On a side note, we have decided to move our race date up a week and run in the Provo Halloween Half instead of St. George. If you're in the Provo area on October 31st the race ends at the Riverwoods Shopping Center. Come see us!

The city of Logan maintains a tradition of holding their fireworks celebration on the night of July 3rd. We're not sure of the official reason, but our theory is so that they don't compete with the shows down south in the state. Having the local show the night before has usually worked out well for us, as I have had to be in Salt Lake over the last few years for soccer games on the Fourth.

This year, however, Real Salt Lake moved their Independence Day game to the third in order accommodate ESPN's schedule. The result was that while I worked the game in Salt Lake (you can find my story here) Amber and Ashley caught the Logan fireworks with some old friends, the Littles.

Our Fourth started with a drive up Logan Canyon where we hiked the Limber Pine trail. We heard that it was not a strenuous route, so we took that as meaning it could handle a jogging stroller. There were some tricky spots, but the stroller totally worked out. Taking an easy pace, we enjoyed the wild flowers that lined the trail, beautiful mountain scenery of the canyon surrounding it, and the majestic overlook of Bear Lake toward the end of the walk.

In our last post we mentioned that grilling drumsticks was our favorite summer treat. We lied. Sorry, we'll try not to let it happen again. I had forgotten about another fun creation we learned to grill last summer - pizza. It's a fun meal to make, and yummy to eat.

The day ended with a trip out to Lewiston to partake in their tradition of fireworks. The show was great, and lasted about as long as Ashley cared to watch. She loved to watch the pretty colors in the sky. And when ever there was a break in the action she would ask, "More poka-dots!?"

The greatest time of year brings about one of my most favorite things to do - grill. Amber and I love food, so I like to try new things when ever it's my turn to do dinner. This happens more often in the summer because of my love for grilling. Our favorite meal that we carbonize over open flame is drumsticks, and this past week I took the plunge and made my own barbecue sauce. Upon first taste I wasn't sure it was a success. The taste wasn't what I expected, and thus was a little disappointed. But, I still went forward with the plan to use this homemade sauce on the meat. I'm glad I did. As the creator, I'm probably biased, but the sauce quickly turned into one of my favorite eating accessories.

As mentioned in our previous entry regarding the 5K in which our family ran back in May, Amber continues to progress through pregnancy. Every day she amazes me with her strength. I think we're both a little apprehensive at the prospect of caring for two children. The best word of encouragement that I've heard is that I shouldn't worry because with two, Amber and I can still play man-to-man, errr child-to-child. When ever we go to three children (no, we're not announcing anything) we have to switch to a zone defense, and that's a bit more tricky.

With the warmer weather comes outside chores. We were able to get our garden in before the days got too warm. And, we even have a yard! The grass has finally grown in enough to mow - which we've done three or four times. I think we can now properly call the area surrounding our house a lawn, and it's looking pretty good.

Personality continues to show in Ashley. With each new day she looks and acts less like a baby and more like a child. The miracle of parenting is truly awe-inspiring.

A couple of weeks ago our family participated in a historic event. As a family, each of us ran in our first 5 kilometer race. I was the motor to Ashley's race day chariot, while Amber kept us going at a respectable pace.

In the end, we all crossed the finish line at the same time (31:21). However, the photo clearly reveals that Amber beat the stroller by a knee. So, in my first race I can say that I was beaten by my pregnant wife and two year old daughter - although we all got the same time.

If something sounds odd from that statement, it's because that we're announcing the pending arrival of another child. We found out this morning that Ashley will have a little brother some time in September.

What started as a weekly email has now degraded to a bimonthly blog. We last wrote just before Halloween, where Ashley masqueraded around the neighborhood as a bumble bee. It didn't take long for her to understand exactly how Trick-or-Treating worked. Before we realized what was happening our quick visit to immediate neighbors turned into a trip around the block with Ashley running from house to house in search of more candy.

That same night was the start of the USU basketball season. As mentioned in our previous post, we sprang for season tickets thinking this was going to be a special season. So far, it has appeared that the basketball team has been hanging out with the football team. But, the games are fun to attend.

After her initial first game jitters Ashley has settled in to the whole basketball game routine. She'll now clap when the crowd does and knows the name of our star player, Jaycee, our coach, Stew, she can make the sound for "woosh" when ever the Aggies make a free throw, and most importantly, her favorite phrase is, "Goo Aggies!"

Thanksgiving brought family together from all over the northern part of the state. The first annual Family Soccer Game was organized at the Bicentennial Park, just behind Jen's (Amber's sister) house in Provo. Representatives from both Amber and Scott's families were in attendance, and fun was had by all who were there.

The day concluded with an extremely pleasant meal at the Bagby homestead, surrounded by family and friends alike.

One major difference from our celebrations of previous Thankful weekends was the omission of Black Friday observance. In years past, we would get up before dawn with the rest of the bargain crazies and stand out in the cold to get get some nifty gadget for next to nothing - after completing the mail-in rebate, of course.

No, this year we decided to sleep to a normal hour. Amber went out to the stores after they opened and was still able to get all the deals we were remotely interested in. Feeling rested for the remainder of the weekend was welcome change, and helped to keep all activities pleasant.

As the Christian-American population is aware Thanksgiving signifies the formal start to the Christmas season. Each year the Holidays get more and more exciting as Ashley learns more about them. This year will be remembered as the time when Ashley learned about the Christmas Tree.

A couple of weeks ago, while Amber was visiting with a neighbor in their kitchen, Ashley was playing with a couple of the neighbors kids in the front room. The oldest of the neighbor kids came into the kitchen, where the ladies were talking, to get some food. At that moment there came a loud crash from the front room, followed by Ashley erupting into tears.

Running into the room, the reflex of the mother of the two children was to yell the name of the child still in the room where the crash was heard, and the crying was still pouring from. However, the adults found that said child was fast sleeping on the couch while the balling Ashley stood next to the festively decorated tree - now lying on the carpet.

Embarrassed by the destruction that our child accomplished, Amber excused herself and Ashley after helping to pick up pieces of some broken ornaments. After such an experience, we really don't mind that according to Ashley all brightly decorated trees are called, "kiss-mass tree. no touch!".

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The sprinklers are so done. In fact, they are so completely done that I don't even want to talk about them. Just know that they are connected, working properly, buried, and there is even grass seed germinating in the soil above them.

All credit on those has to go to Amber, who single handedly polished off the yard while I was in Chicago a few weeks ago. While I was geeking out at a software conference, she was taking every possible chance to get our dirt level, holes dug for trees, and even had time to build a little retaining wall in the backyard. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I should just stay out of the way while she works her magic. Although, I think I'll be in charge of mowing next year.

Wintery weather has been creeping into Cache Valley, and for a college town like Logan that could only mean one thing - basketball season. With our football team that gets national recognition for how bad they are (seriously, this image is not a spoof: ), most of the locals around here can't wait for the basketball season to tip-off on Halloween night.

The numbers don't lie. 8,543 brave souls showed up for the pillow fight against Louisiana Tech last Saturday. While the basketball team repeatedly packs it's 10,000 seat arena throughout the season. Let's be honest, who really wants to pay to see a football team who is 0-14?

Amber and I were pretty bummed last season when we only made it out to one basketball game, so this year we've changed that. We'll be parked on row 22 in Section Q for the entirety of the season. We even lined up a babysitter for most of the games so that Ashley doesn't have to succumb to the eardrum piercing contests that will take place later in the season.

Speaking of Ashley, she learned her first game tonight. We were playing Pass the Pig at a friends house and Ashley took over Amber's turn about halfway through the game. Before each roll she would look down at the two pigs in her hands and say, "piggie". A big grin would then grow across her face as she would drop the pig game pieces on the table. The team of Ashley and Amber ended up winning the game.

The Summer of Sprinklers is coming to a close, and so is the project of setting up irrigation to our yard.

It all started back in July when Amber went in to have her septum worked on. In case you are not aware, the septum is the bone in the back of your nose that divides your nostrils. When your septum is damaged it may close off one of the air passages, making it difficult to breath. This is what led to the operation. For a long time Amber had been laboring to breath through one side of her nose.

But, rather than explain each detail, it is only important to know that she had surgery to correct the problem and I took a week off work to help with things at home while she recovered.

It was during this time that we thought it would be good to start putting in sprinklers, as I would have a bit of free time while Ashley and Amber both slept through out the days.

We started by having someone else dig our trenches. The decision to hire out for such a task was really a no-brainer. Armed with a shovel and load of determination, it would have taken me days - if not weeks - to clear all the dirt. This man with his back-hoe (or skid loader, as my Caterpillar employed father informed me) took all of an hour to do the work. I had no problems writing that man a check.

Under the direction of Amber's boss, Steve, who was a skilled sprinkler-man, I began sawing, priming, and gluing PVC pipes. Slowly, the open trenches were filled with white pipe - sealed irrigation canals, if you will. Power was strung from the control box in the garage out to the two stations of valves. Some digging was still required. Around the buried cable and phone lines in the front yard I had to remove the dirt by hand, careful to not damage the hidden wires.

Due to her condition, Amber was not able to assist with much of the physical labor during the early stages. However, her role would become vital at the end.

In the grand scheme of the whole process, laying pipe and connecting the heads was probably the easiest part. The task that nearly beat me was hooking up the sprinkler system to the water line that poked out from underneath our foundation. I went rounds with that part alone for nearly two weeks.

The first test of pushing water through it resulted in several leaks spraying fluid. At one point I actually dismantled every metal piece and then reassembled the whole ensemble only to discover more leaks. This the lowest of my low points I reached this summer.

In a frustrated rage I rumbled into the house and told Amber that we were calling a professional to hook up the water properly. While I vented and moaned my wonderful wife just smiled and nodded. Before I realized it, we were both back outside tightening some pipe and other pieces, and before long water passed seamlessly from the house through our Stop and Waste, up to our Backflow Preventer, and spewed out the other side. This was a good thing, the Backflow Preventer wasn't attached to anything, yet.

With the water properly hooked up, we quickly laid the rest of the pipe for the front yard and extended pipe to connect the Blackflow Preventer to the main set of valves. If you're confused, please ask questions now as there will be an exam at the end of this.

The glorious moment of truth came yesterday. Everything was connected. All the heads were attached in the proper location. I turned the lever to unleash the water and .... the unfiltered heads gushed with high powered wetness!

We spent Saturday evening heaping dirt back onto the pipes, and with the holiday tomorrow, we should be done and done before I return to work on Tuesday morning.

It has been possibly the most challenging household task, but the rewards of seeing it work - know that we did it - made it all worth it.

I guess, since I didn't burn the place down when she left back in October, Amber trusted me enough to head down to Las Vegas for four days this week. She claims that the trip was "for work", but it's well known that what happens in Vegas stays there.

While she was away, I had the opportunity to take a few days off work to stay at home with Ashley. What a great excuse not to go to the office! By the end I was quite sad that live would have to return to normal. Ashley's major accomplishment for the week was her new trick of being able to climb the stairs.

It first happened while I was talking on the phone in the kitchen and Ashley was down at the base of the steps. During my phone call I looked down and saw her at the bottom, which was a common site. Ashley has made it a habit recently to perch at the base of the stairs just to be close to what ever action is occurring up in the kitchen.

By the time I made a lap around the kitchen and gotten off the phone I returned to the staircase only to find my daughter on the second to last stair, just about to reach the summit of her first ascension. Just as she lifted her knees up onto the kitchen floor Daddy got a little excited with loud clapping and cheering. Such a startling reaction brought poor Ashley to tears. Stupid, Dad.

With just over four days experience, Ashley now cruises up and down the stairs on all fours quite effectively. Mom returned from Vegas safely, and happily. Dad finished the week at work, which even included going in on Saturday (although that had nothing to do with him taking the previous three days off).