Summer's End: The Best of 2013

Tomorrow marks the official start of fall. Bring on Utah's mosaic of autumn leaves!

Looking back, this has been the best summer of our Beck treks so far. I'd plotted out 13 staycations for this summer, but our time together turned out better than I could have hoped. Rather than write an individual post about each event, I'm rounding them up list-style to remember good times with people we love. We're so blessed to have wonderful health to enjoy these adventures:

My favorite passenger and me!

Crystalee's final flight with wings
Memorial Day weekend was my final time in the jump seat. The rest of this summer couldn't have been so wonderful without the decision to turn in my wings. I'd gotten to a sticky point where I had two full-time jobs (they took away the part-time flying option) AND grad school. Talk about overloaded! It was 100% the best choice for us at this time. Ry had encouraged me for a long time to let it go, and I've honestly never looked back since. I love finally getting to enjoy weekends! Little did I know, I was already a few weeks pregnant in this picture...

June
New position at work
Within three weeks of leaving the airline, I was promoted to Social Community Manager at MarketStar. Amazing how, like Helen Keller said, "When one door closes, another opens." It's challenging and also a lot of fun. I love my job!

Millie's Princess Run
My favorite fun run of the year is in honor of a little lady named Millie Flamm. I wrote about this year's race here. Hope you can join me next year!

July

Sarah Jane + Gil = ❤
On a beautiful summer day, Ryan's cousin Sarah Jane became Mrs. Marchant. He was able to attend the festivities the whole day, and I joined the reception that night. They're a really fun, happy pair.

Primary party at the park
Ry and I hosted a party at a nearby park for our five- and six-year old Primary class. We played kickball, hide and seek, blew up balloons (of course, making funny noises with them), and played "monster" on the playground. Ryan's such a big kid himself. Now we have different church callings, but we loved our two years with these little monkeys!









Snowbird weekend for Ryan's birthday
Ryan turned 29 and we celebrated with a quick getaway at Snowbird. Wrote about it here.

Sandlot Bees game

Remember Squints? Ham? Yeah Yeah? We saw their adult counterparts at the Salt Lake Bees game for the 20th Anniversary since the classic movie "The Sandlot" was filmed in Utah. ALSO: This was the day (July 19) we found out we're expecting our first baby! We'd soon find out we were already at 11 weeks at this point - I've been so fortunate to feel well.

Ryan's Spudman Triathlon
Ryan had been training for months for the Spudman, which is held each summer in Burley, Idaho. His sister, brother-in-law, and brother Randy competed too - yeah team! While they were pushing it, I was filming for a class assignment:

August
Riley Returns!
Ryan's brother Riley returned from his LDS mission in Mexico City the first week of August. He did such a great job serving the people there and speaks Spanish so well. We were all so excited to see him. While we had the whole group together for a picture shot, we announced our baby news...and that night, Rob and Jen shared their Kensi will be a big sister! What a happy day for the Beck bunch!

Lava Hot Springs
A few days later, the Beck Bunch made the yearly trek to Idaho to the beloved tradition of Lava. Ryan did his annual backflips off the ultra-high dive (which always makes my heart stop), and we enjoyed being with family. Ryan and company went the next day to Jackson Hole where they river rafted.

Keala and Mike's wedding
A few days after our three-year wedding anniversary, my beautiful cousin Keala married her man Mike in the Salt Lake temple. It was one of the happiest days I've had in a long time. We got to "relive" the memories of our own wedding day and see my cousin so radiantly happy. I've written before about my auntie Melanie who passed away, and Keala is her first daughter. It was such a special experience to feel her mama's spirit throughout the day - Melanie was watching from heaven and we could feel her love.

I'd waited to tell my mom and sisters our good news until I saw them at this wedding - it was wonderful to share there will be TWO new grandbabies in 2014! (My sister is also expecting and had already announced.)

Mama, Erika (who's expecting too), me, and Emily just after we shared the news.

I loved that they included Melanie's cookies at the reception. She was there in spirit!

Color Run
On August 24, we did the Salt Lake City Color Run with way fun Tami and Mavin. LOVED IT. I ran the entire 5K in about 30 minutes - not too shabby for a pregnant lady!

September
Backpacking trip
Ryan's been wanting to take me camping since got married. We figured we'd better get out there before my baby belly grows too big and it gets cold. Over Labor Day, we had my very first "practice" backpacking trip in the Uintas. Being 17 weeks pregnant, we only hiked about 40 minutes (and I was proud of myself to carry my own pack!) We camped for two nights, and explored little lily-padded lakes and I felt our little baby's butterfly-wing kicks for the first time.

Arizona visit
We spent a weekend with the Webb/Marson family in Arizona. Dad and Sue were kind to take us out on Lake Pleasant. Ryan and Emily's boyfriend showed off their wakeboarding prowess, and my dad even gave it a go. Ryan displayed mad skills hanging on to the tube - I've never seen anyone whipped so fast across the water. Sue was so sweet to take Erika and me maternity clothes shopping, and we celebrated Crysti's birthday together at dinner.

Ryan, realizing he survived the wicked ride, gives a victory grin.

Emily's boyfriend Quincy teaching dad how to wakeboard. Love it.

Cute couple!

My sisters.

While all of this has been wonderful, the BEST part of this summer has definitely been BABY BECK. We're finding out the gender next week. We're excited that next summer we'll have a little one with us! If you haven't seen it already, here's my favorite project from the past few months:

What has been the best part of YOUR summer?

Coming in February 2014...

We're thrilled to announce we'll soon be adding a new limb to our family tree...



Baby Beck is due February 6, 2014 - so Crystalee is now 17 weeks along and feeling well. We're so excited!

Last weekend the three of us ran the whole 5K of the SLC Color Run. Getting this baby started on an active path!

Remembering Princess Millie Flamm

I wholeheartedly believe there are everyday heroes all around us. The mini-sized ones are especially inspiring. One little princess I interviewed last summer made a rippling effect throughout the world.

Back then, six-year-old Millie Flamm was getting ready to start her second round of chemo after a relapse. I wrote an article for KSL about her first Princess Run. When I told her in our brief phone interviewed that she's a brave little girl she didn't miss a beat. 

"I sure am!" she bubbled back.  I couldn't help but include that energetic response in the article.

I've watched the story of Millie Flamm by Facebook throughout the past year. Perhaps you heard the results of thousands of us rallying to have her celebrity crush, Justin Bieber, make a visit to her hospital room when Millie was too sick to go to his concert. Her picture with him was published around the world!

In 2013, Millie was fighting her third round against leukemia. Millie v. Cancer ended 2-1.

A couple weeks ago, the world lost a 7-year-old princess, and the heavens gained an angel. 

If you didn't get to meet Millie, here's a peek at her vivacious spirit, and her loving Flamm family. I look up to them more than I can say.

Yesterday nearly a thousand of us honored Millie's life in the second annual Millie's Princess Run in Sugarhouse Park. It's my favorite 5K of the year. The theme is "Cancer is a Royal Pain" and the Flamm family pass the love forward by donating to other cancer cuties' families. 

It was such a beautiful day for a princess run, and I was thrilled to find and run with my friend Kimberlee. We both cried when we heard Amanda Flamm (Millie's mom) make a speech before the race started. Amanda thanked everyone for loving Millie, and shared how touched she was to see the many lives that her daughter touched. 

Millie, you definitely touched my life. I'll never forget you.

Princess Run for life! Interested in running next year? Check out http://milliesprincessrun.org/ 

Crowns all lined up before the race started.

Tutus, fairy wings, balloons - you name it! It's quite the colorful, happy affair. 

They do a little race for kids, which is fun to watch.

Registrants getting set up for the race. Such a beautiful day.

I love seeing this sign at the end! What an inspiring way to look at life!

The gal in the white t-shirt and sunglasses is Amanda, Millie's mom. She's a TRUE hero!

Such a beautiful day for a Princess Run! We love you, Millie!

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Ryan's Olympic Gold Medal

Yesterday as the world watched Ryan Lochte dominate the swim medley and win Olympic gold, my Ryan Beck scored a gold medal for swimming, biking, and running his first Olympic-length triathlon.(OK, OK, so Lochte's medal is really gold, while Beck's finisher's medal looks gold. Still, I'm impressed.)

Apparently, if you're a 27- or 28-year old Ryan, you're bound to be a) jaw-droppingly attractive and b) destined for studly greatness.  After months of training, Ry rocked the Spudman Triathlon's 1.5k swim, 25 mile bike, and 10k run, crossing the finish line with a 2:32 time and ninth in his division. That's my man! I am so proud of my stud in the Spud. Tami and Randy were fabulous as well - way to go, Becks!

We began our drive to Burley, Idaho, at 3:50 a.m. and met up with Ryan's sister, brother, and mom. The three siblings competed, while Trisha and I covered cheering and photography. Here's the victorious day in pictures, starting from when we arrived with thousands of other race-goers in the wee morning hours:

Thousands of bikes lined up at sunrise - ready for action!

Each racer got a bag of goodies, including an Idaho spud. Here, Ryan's getting his race number on his shirt.

Ryan barely made it in the water on time for his heat. With a current-aided swim, he said the water felt nice.

And they're off! Ryan, Tami, and Randy are pictured here - can you pick them out?

The masses of people watching, or waiting for their heat. Nothing like the tangible energy in the air on race day.

After the swim and bike, Ryan rushes to transition for the 10k run.

Tie those laces tight!

On the last quarter mile, he came in strong. Go, Ryan, Go!

"Here comes Ryan Beck, 28, of Ogden, Utah" says the announcer. Finish line in sight!

HE DID IT!!! Looking great, stud. Notice my rad London Olympics shirt; thanks Dad and Sue for getting it in England!

Ryan, Randy, Tami, and Julia - Olympic triathlon gold medalists! Nice work, you guys!

Missing New Year's | Part 1 of 3

Got your detective hat on? Here's clues to our Missing New Year's Mystery:

One young couple, one flight, and one New Year skipped completely.

December 31, 2010 10:30 p.m. - we boarded a plane in LAX

January 2, 2011 9 a.m. - we arrived to our destination

New Year's never happened...how could this be?

The giveaway: As I wrote in my journal after gleefully boarding the plane: "Sometime between 2010 and 2011, somewhere between the USA and Australia...For us, New Year's isn't technicallyhappening this year. As we clink our sparkling ciders above the Pacific Ocean, we're totally okay with that."

You got it! We "started" the year in SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA! So much happened that week and a half, it really deserves more than one post...here's the first of three. My journal snippets are indicated in italics:

January 3, 2011

We woke up early today. I'm still on Utah time, and feel thrown off still with the sun

patterns. We went on an exploration run - past Hyde Park, down Macquerie Road, towards the looming white sails I'd be dying to see - the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE came into view. It's a bit smaller in real life than it looks in pictures, but still magnificently unique. We scanned the perimeter, early enough in the day to beat the tourists. It was our own personal time with the world-renowned structure. As I told Ryan, when I run somewhere it makes me feel as though I "own" it in a small way. There's no understanding this sentiment until you try it yourself. He agreed later when we returned to the crowded Opera House grounds (the picture was taken when we returned later) that our quiet private time this morning with the great building make him feel a sense of "owning" it too. There's just something about running.

We made our way back to our hostel through the streets of Sydney, still decorated with Christmas themes. It's odd to have summertime mixed with Santa Claus, which Australia inevitably does, since they're on opposite weather schedules of us Northern hemisphere folks. We explored a lot today!

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January 4, 2011

We did SO much today! What a great quarter-century birthday!

I'm too tired to write it all, here's a list:

* We topped the SYDNEY TOWER, a famous high spot on the skyline. (If you look at the far right of the pic, you can see a little white triangle, which is the Opera House).

* Saw the Hyde Park barracks and St. Mary's Cathedral

* Went in the Australian Museum, we loved learning about Aborigines and the native culture

* Free birthday Starbucks Strawberry Cremes while watching the giant game of chess in Hyde Park and people-watching

* Visited Circular Quay

(pronounced "key") and The Rocks

* Walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge at night, with view of Opera House:

Back and exhausted by 9:30pm (We feel like we've walked 20 miles. Our feet are killing us and even the hard, pokey surface of our hostel bed invites a restful sleep). Goodnight.