Krazy Kesten's

Rumpelstiltskin

2012-02-06T09:54:00.001-07:00

Friday I got to do Fairy Tale Friday for Patch's class.

That's where you read a story to the kids and do an activity with them.

We read the story and then I tried to teach a bunch of 5/6 yr. olds to braid yarn. What was I thinking?!?!

Tyler had late start to school so he came to help me out, thank goodness.

Patch got to pass out the yarn, so he held on to the extra and made himself a mustache.

Grizzly Game

2012-02-06T09:52:00.001-07:00

Friday night was the county hockey night at the Grizzly game. Since Chris coaches multiple teams he got extra tickets so we got to take the entire family.

We went early to watch the teams warm up before the game. As they were warming up, all kinds of fights broke out, which was not a good sign for the game to come.

Sounds like they got a good talkin' to in the locker room, so it wasn't too bad during the game.

We had tons of fun. Our whole section were kids from Tyler's team and their parents.

The kids ate treats and hung out with their friends. The girls were totally bored, but at least they got their faces painted.

Running

2012-02-01T08:10:00.002-07:00

I have a new running friend. It's Chris. We've run twice now and both times I'm extremely proud of how awesome he is and extremely frustrated that he's so awesome.

He ran 3 miles with no problem. He never asked to walk. He kept up. Playing hockey really helped. We averaged around a 10:25. I knew he could go faster but I didn't want to injure him on our first run.

Then...
this morning we ran together. He was running what I normally run for the first mile. Thankfully he slowed down 'cause I can't have him out running me on our second run. We ended up averaging a 9:09. I looked back and that took me 4 months to accomplish.

I'm so impressed! I know it's not about how fast you run, it's just that you are running. I just feel like I've worked hard to get a faster pace and keep it and he jumps right in close to where I'm at.

I think I'm going to enjoy having him run with us.

I Can Fly

2012-02-01T07:42:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh! What an incredible weekend. I am so thankful to have such wonderful friends.
Last year my sister and my friend Liz sent me the link for the first inaugural Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon in Disneyland. I didn't really think I'd ever go because I'd want to do it with friends and I really didn't think I could get anyone to go. It's so far and expensive.
A few months ago my friend Kelli sent Shauna and me the link and said we should do this. I was super excited and Chris gave the go ahead, so I signed up.
We were going to drive down but thankfully Cameron and Lani had some expiring buddy passes so we lucked out and bought them. Flying was SO much better than being in a car for 10 hours each way.
The trip was planned!
At the last minute, Shauna had a friend from Texas who had also signed up but wasn't able to make it. 5days before we left we talked Lani into coming with us. I am so glad she did.

We got in early Friday morning and headed to the expo where we picked up our shirts and bibs. It was packed!

We saw these cute green tutu's for sale, $25. Shauna had worked her magic before hand and got us the same tutu for the race, $10. I love bargain shopping!

After the expo we changed into some cooler clothes and headed to DISNEYLAND!

It was so much fun. At first, even though I was having fun, I missed my kids being there and felt a little guilty. It was easy to forget them after that and enjoy being with friends who didn't whine in the long lines.

We dragged Lani on Tower of Terror. Shauna and Kelli love this ride, me not so much. We couldn't get Lani on for a second round, I can't say I'm sad about that. Lani and I hung out and people watched while the others got their fill.

The night before the race we stayed strong and played at DL, showing off our cute green shirts.

Morning of the race I was so thankful for the time change. We had to get up at 4:30am, which my body thought was 5:30, so it wasn't too bad. We walked a mile and a half to the start. Turns out Sean Austin was running with us. So fun, I love him from the 80's.

We stopped during the race to pose with Peter Pan and Wendy.

We finished! Lani didn't start with us because she was in a different coral and we had already planned on her running alone in case she didn't finish. Her farthest run was 6.5 miles before this and that was back in November so we didn't know what the day would bring. As we sat down after the race Lani called to say she was near mile 12. I couldn't believe it, she was amazing!!! I am so proud of her strong finish.

After the race we cleaned up and headed back to DL for one final day in the park. There was lots of sitting.

We rode Splash Mountain and ate churros. This made Shauna super happy. It's her favorite ride. We mostly made her sit in the front where she got drenched. Thank goodness we had poncho's!

By 9pm Lani headed back to the hotel, sore and tired. 10pm Shauna and I were beat so we headed back too. Kelli closed the park at mid-night. Crazy girl. I'm secretly sad I didn't stay. I could have made it (probably not but I like to think so).

Monday we traveled home back to our lives. It was a fabulous, but exhausting weekend. I would totally go back and do it all over again.

Thanks ladies for such a great time. No race will ever compare.

Patch is 6!

2012-01-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

Patch's birthday was on Tuesday. He knows we decorate for the birthday person so all Monday night he kept asking if we were going to decorate for him. Silly boy, of course we will!

When he got up Tuesday morning he was so funny. There was a new bike waiting for him among his presents. When he saw that he said, "is that bike really for ME?!"

He also got some new Skylanders and more Magnetix. He invited Spencer, one of his bff's, over for lunch and to play Skylander. He had a great day.

Friday we threw him a party. Since his birthday was also the first back on track he had to wait to invite his friends. As we talked about who to invite, his list was ridiculously long. I finally threw it away and told him he could pick 10 kids. The end. That worked great until he started verbally inviting friends and we were up to 14. Oh well, the kid love people.

Here he is getting ready for his friends to arrive.

It was technically a superhero party.

Here they are playing Stone Faced Joker. The person in the middle tries to make the others laugh. If you laugh you're out.

We played How big are your muscles. Each team put balloons in their sweats and sweatshirt, who ever got the most in won. It was hilarious!

Tyler then entertained us with a shooting coke geyser. The kids thought it was fantastic.

Time for cake and presents. It was such a beautiful day we played outside for a while and it was great to have the kids eat their messy, crummy cupcakes outside. Thank you sunshine! By the way, the next day it dumped snow. Love Utah weather.

It was a great week long celebration.

Patch, we love you. You make us laugh. You teach us compassion and patience. You are such a great snuggler. You are so smart. Happy Birthday Patch!

Refueling

2012-01-19T14:18:00.001-07:00

My friend Tiffany sent me to a YouTube video, "Life is like running a marathon". It's 8 minutes long. I finally bit the bullet and watched it and I'm so thankful I did.

I'm sure I've mentioned this many times before but one of my goals before my birthday is to read The Book of Mormon. I don't think I've read it from front to back, all the way through, since I was 15. Sad. I am learning so much and feeling so empowered. I am so thankful to have the gospel in my life and I'm grateful to those who've gone before me to pave the way. We can learn so much from history.

This video likens our lives to running a marathon. I wonder for those who don't run if they would get as much out of it. For me it was profound. I bawled. I really needed to see this at a time in my life when I'm searching for strength.

I've been thinking a lot about how I can bring this understanding of the scripture to my family so my children can feel the way I do about our Savior and our Heavenly Father. It's hard to give someone the passion you do and it's hard to have to watch them learn on their own. It's also hard to remember everything that touches my heart. I'm so excited to finish (150 more pages) so I can restart and learn all that I've missed.

Off Track Fun

2012-01-15T15:51:00.004-07:00

My kids got a week of Christmas break, then two more weeks of off track. We haven't really made the most of our time home together so I decided to squeeze something fun into our week.

They've been begging to go to Chuck E Cheese, we used to go all the time, it's been way too long.

We brought some friends and cousins with us, which always makes things funner.

Caely's doing what she does best!

It's hard having Tyler in Jr. High now, he misses these moments with us. I just have to remember he got them when he was little and while he was in Elementary and it's the younger kids turn.

It was a great day, they're already begging to go back!

The Next Day

2012-01-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

So much for a nice sunny winter park day. The very next morning we got this...

Notice how white my lawn is?

Now see all the green patches, the kids used all the snow they could get their hands on to make a small fort and...

our friendly neighborhood snowman.

Park Days

2012-01-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

It's January 6th and I spent the day in short sleeves on my run and
then a trip to the park. What a gorgeous day! I'm so glad my kids were
off track to enjoy it.

Oh Patch

2012-01-04T08:02:00.001-07:00

Sometimes being Patch's mom is hard. I never know how he's going to react to things or how to react when he does things. He's such a puzzle. He's having a hard time right now and I'm not sure if it's because he's out of school or if he's not getting enough sleep or exercise or if it's just that he didn't eat at exactly the right time so now his body is all messed up. It's a lot of pressure. I'm always waiting for the bomb to go off.
I am so grateful that when other people meet Patch they always talk about what a joy he is or how funny he is and they love having him around. Like all parents, I wonder if that's really true because most days I'm praying he'll find somewhere else to go play because I've had enough being on edge and I can only make excuses to the other kids for so long before they start hating me because of Patch. I'm sure they think I take his side way too much. I don't. Most the time I want to lock the kid in his room because of how mean he can be, but I understand that won't help him and he really needs to talk out his feelings. He has to have his actions explained and how they affect other people. Putting punishments on him while he's in a episode just makes things worse. I'm rambling.

The other night Chris and I watched Super 8. Patch walked in while the credits were running. If you've seen the movie you know that while the credits run they show a zombie movie the kids in the show made. It's harmless, almost like kids dressed up on Halloween. Except it's not harmless to Patch. We've had nightmares and night terrors ever since. He was already having a hard time before he saw this and now it's 10x worse.

He won't go anywhere in the house without someone. Even if I'm in the kitchen he won't go to the family room to watch a show. I take him down there and he's back 2 minutes later, too scared to be alone. Last night while driving around he sat with his legs crossed because he was too scared to have them dangle. Alexa was sitting next to him, it didn't help. She even bent down and showed him there was nothing under him. I have such good kids. I was supposed to visit a friend that had a baby and when I told Patch I was leaving he started bawling. When I went to get Caely from basketball he cried because we weren't getting there fast enough and he doesn't like sitting alone in the back seat. I was driving Chris' car, it's not that big. He then cried because the girls weren't coming out from basketball fast enough and he was scared sitting in the car. I was right there with him. It's never enough.

As we speak he is locked in his bed because no one will take him out of his room. Sad. I wish I knew what to do for him. His dad brought him downstairs to me. Don't worry, we don't leave him locked in fear. It's the exact opposite, we jump to make things easier for this kid. Sounds like we spoil him but I don't think we do, I think we just take care of his needs, he just has a lot of them.

It really makes for a long off track when I have to plan every moment around what Patch needs and when.

I really sound on my pitty pot. We do have good days and during the day he can function while I run around doing things, he just stays really close. I just feel bad because I feel like I've wished his childhood away. I can't wait for him to grow out of this or cope as he gets older. I haven't had the chance to enjoy him little and I'm missing it.

You Can Do Hard Things

2011-12-29T08:08:00.001-07:00

Those are the word Shauna said to me the first time I was running up this horrid hill near the library. I'm sure I've told everyone this story, but it still holds strong in my heart every time I run that hill. It brings me strength even on a bad run day to conquer that hill.

I don't like doing hard things, their hard and most the time it's work. Okay, I didn't used to like to do hard things but now I know I have the strength within to do them, no matter how hard. We all do.

You know when you do something and end up feeling good or loving and want to give that to the world?

I just started really reading my scriptures, I look forward to it every day and sometimes throughout the day I look for moments when I can steal a few extra minutes to read a little more. It's this goal I'm trying to accomplish before my birthday, but I didn't realize the joy it would bring me in doing it. Now I want to give that to the world. I want to tell everyone how reading their scriptures will bring them joy, knowledge and closeness with our Heavenly Father. It was hard to find the motivation to keep reading or even find the time, but once I committed I am loving it.

I also wish I could give the joy of running and exercise to my friends and family who don't do it. It's been three years now and I still love it! It was SO hard, especially the first few months. Then it was hard because I was adding more miles. Now some days are harder than others but I love the feeling that I can do it. I can go slow or fast, I can be social and go with friends or use it as an outlet to a stressful day. It doesn't cost me money and brings me strength.

I CAN DO HARD THINGS! and so can you!

Christmas

2011-12-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

My pictures loaded backwards. On with the story...

Christmas morning was great! I slept in 'til 6:40am, fully expecting my kids to have woken me up by then. We are so mean and tease our kids that they can't come into our room until 8am. They are so good, they believe us.

I got up and checked on things then headed downstairs to read. I waited until 7:30am when finally Caely got out of bed. She waited about 10 minutes then woke up the rest of the house.

We had a great morning. The kids were all happy and well rested for the full day ahead.

Patch's big present he wanted (he was the only one who wanted something specific that we were willing to buy) was Skylanders.

He was in a state of shock when actually got what he wanted!

Tyler really wanted an iTouch and a cell phone. We just aren't ready for that yet, so he got a Lightning jacket instead. He loves it! He wasn't disappointed one bit.

After presents we cleaned up and headed to GG's for traditional omelets and time with the family.

It was a quick Christmas this year. I'm a little sad to see it gone. I have higher hopes for next year in making the most of the season.

Christmas Eve we spend at our house. The family comes and we enjoy a buffet of appetizer type food and treats. The kids get to open their traditional jammies.

We usually sit around singing Christmas Carols and playing King Pong but we didn't do either of those this year.

Aunt Suzy and Kelby are always fun to have around. They are the life of the party!

I'm so glad we get to see so much of grandma GG, she is the glue that ties us all together. We have an amazing family, I'm so thankful my kids get to know everyone and build those special relationships with them.

Gardner Village w/ My Elves

2011-12-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

Chris got home early on Friday and we still hadn't taken our kids to see or do anything Christmassy. We stole a moment to see the Elves at Gardner Village and do their scavenger hunt.

The sun make look bright but it was a freezing day! We've had lots of those this December and no snow.

Chris and my traditional mistletoe kiss. Notice again how I'm kissing a loooong goatee!

Christmas Cousins

2011-12-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

We are so lucky and blessed to have my brother and his family living around the corner. It's so nice to have them close. We might not see them daily but we've already reaped some benefits of them living here. My brother saved me one night that I was stuck in traffic, he got Caely off to her dance and picked up Patch, took him to his house and fed him dinner. I know any of my friends would do that too but it's nice to have family around. Teresa's already treated my to an amazing lunch at her house and I enjoy visiting with her. She brings the kids home each day while our other carpool friend is off track.

One of the newest blessing is having our kids attend the same school. Their oldest and my youngest are both in kindergarten. How fun for Patch to spend his school years with his cousin!

The kindergarten put on a Christmas Program. Patch has been practicing diligently for weeks. He sings me his songs every day when he gets home from school. He's talked about it non stop.

That's Patch and Jackie on the top back row.

Through the entire performance Jackie stood tall and proud. Sang every word beautifully and did all the actions when supposed to. She smiled and looked like an angel.
Patch on the other hand...he turned at stared at the big screen behind him, played with his shadows and barely noticed he was performing. Jackie would occasionally elbow him to focus but it didn't really work. He was the kid everyone noticed was not singing and they, I'm sure, were all glad it wasn't their kid up there.
He still did his best and we love going to see our kids in whatever they are doing.

A Night At The Nutcracker

2011-12-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

Our friends daughter has participated in the Nutcracker for a few years. This year she decided to take a break, but they invited all their cute friends and their moms to go and watch it.

We took the girls to Applebee's for dinner where we had the best service I've had in a long time. Then we headed to the performance.

We weren't allowed to take pictures so I forgot to pull out my camera at the end and get pictures outside. Caely loved it, Alexa wished they sang and talked but she enjoyed it too. After we dropped everyone off, we sneaked off to Wendy's for shakes. It was such a fun night, I hope this starts a new daughter date night tradition.

Mom Moments

2011-12-15T08:49:00.001-07:00

Every morning feels like a test at our house. I'm sure it's similar in other homes, things didn't used to be bad but they seem to be getting worse. Most mornings I feel I failed the test, but I keep trying. Maybe I need a little more studying.

I have to wake Patch and Alexa early because they take FOREVER to get ready. They have no attention span. I'm sure I've written about this before. For 30 minutes I have to remind Alexa she needs to get dressed, for 30 minutes I have to remind them both to eat. Alexa's hair is NEVER done, it's always in a pony tail or left snarly and loose. It's sad, she's such a pretty girl but we always run out of time to do her hair and that's last on the priority list. From the time they wake to the time out the door I have to get them to stop playing/teasing each other and focus on getting ready.

I feel like each morning I yell a little more. I've tried so hard to just be encouraging and remind them what to be doing but it's getting ridiculous and I'm getting tired.

I have been in Caely's class a lot over the last two weeks. Some one told her, "you're mom is really fun, I like when she comes, she's really nice". Caely's response was, "just don't get her mad!" Her teacher asked her what that meant and she told the class that I was yelling and mad all morning. Thankfully her teacher saved face for me by asking if they deserved it to which she sheepishly replied, "yes".

I know my kids don't deserve to be yelled at but I'm glad that Caely could see that I wasn't just yelling because that's what I do, it's because I was getting past the point of frustration into insanity and they weren't obeying. They're lucky all I did was yell. Just kidding...kind of.

I just hate sending my kids to school when I've set a grumpy tone for them for the day.

My Little Elves

2011-12-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to do the 12 Days of Christmas to a neighbor we love. Each kid got to pick a name, we put them in a bowl and pulled out one and that was the neighbor we were going to surprise each night.

My kids loved leaving stuff on the porch each night. Chris was a great sport, there were a few nights I had to send him back out in the freezing cold to put the treat on their porch because we had been too busy that day. For the most part the kids took turns leaving it and running to the car.

I hope this experience helps them to think of others and brought them joy for a life time.

Alexa's Dance Recital

2011-12-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

Alexa decided to dance with her friend Amber at a new studio this year. It was a really hard decision for me to let her do this because her old dance teacher is a good friend, she lives close and does a phenomenal job.

I realized as the parent I need to help my kids feel validated, have new experiences and it wasn't going to hurt anyone to let her be with her friend. Yes it adds a little more inconvenience on my part but that's part of being a parent, right?

They did their recital in the dance studio. It's modern dance so they showed us how they warm up and do their name shapes.

They did their Wizards and Wands dance.

They have another dance to "All The Pretty Little Ponies"

And their last dance was to John Lennon's, Happy Xmas (the war is over).

They did a beautiful job and got a great surprise at the end...SANTA!

Christmas In Harmony

2011-12-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

The girls participate in a singing group at their school. They did an amazing Veterans Day performance in November. The school invited any Veteran that would like to come. They had a few speakers but the best part was the music by the kids. I cry every time. It.was.amazing.

They worked so hard this fall and also got together a Christmas program.

The kids did a great job and looked SO cute! They had a theme of "Christmas Around the World". They learned an Italian song and a song from Mexico. Caely got to sing one of the verses with a small group. They sounded great. They also sang Carol Of the Bells and I'm Gettin' Nothin' For Christmas.

I love that the parents of our school are so willing to put this on. It gives the kids an opportunity to learn about music and singing in harmony and sometimes they even get solos. I know it's a lot of work but my girls love it.

Pre Recital

2011-12-06T15:10:00.001-07:00

Saturday we had a crazy busy day. Not unusual for us, but this one was more than crazy!

Caely danced at the Festival of Trees this Saturday as a precursor to her recital this Friday.

This girl works so hard to be good at what she's doing. She practiced all through the week, sometimes twice.

I love watching her dance. She looks so graceful, sadly she didn't get that from me.

I love her dance studio, her teacher does such a fabulous job and the kids LOVE her.

After Caely's game she had a semi final basketball game and they WON! These girls have worked so hard, looking forward to the finals.

Christmas Recital

2011-12-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

This year we had our piano recital that the Library so we could fit all the families. I think the kids really liked that. All the kids did a great job. I'm so proud of how hard they worked and the time they put into their songs.

I think everyone was a little nervous, but they played beautifully.

Alexa played Away In A Manger. She was really excited to play because it was a harder piece than last year and she's really enjoying learning how to play. Because of the technic I use to teach the kids, Alexa hasn't learned the value of the notes yet so she worked really hard on her rhythm and tempo. It helps that she knew the song already.

Caely played Frosty the Snowman. She's practicing all the time, I love listening to my kids play.

Tyler didn't get to play this year, mostly because he didn't take the time to practice but also, he was really busy and didn't have the time either.

One of the kids I teach, J, is around the same level as Tyler and Caely. Lexi is quickly catching up, but it's funny because all my kids want to pass him in their playing. Whatever motivates you, I guess. It's just a cute competition they have with themselves.

Enjoying Fall

2011-11-29T13:13:00.001-07:00

It is a beautiful day. The wind isn't even blowing! The yard is covered in leaves, so Patch and I went to work.

Patch was a great helper. Our garbage can got SO full, he would have to jump in and push the leaves down so we could fit more.

I lost him for a while...

No worries, he popped up!

What a great day with my little guy! He's such a smarty, he asked me to pay him $2 for working so hard.

The Holidays Are Here

2011-11-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving weekend Tyler usually has a hockey tournament up in Ogden.

Chris takes him up Friday morning while the kids and I set out the tree and decorations. It's become a fun family tradition.

The boys played great and almost made it to the championship game, they came in 3rd. They are getting better with each practice, I'm so proud of them!

Sunday night we went to our Church's Stake Christmas program. It was beautiful. The primary got to sing too so the kids enjoyed participating. Then we came home and decorated the tree.

Chris passed out the ornaments as usual. The kids get SO excited to see their special ones given to them by family over the years.

Bring on the holiday season, I'm ready!

Hockey, Hockey, Hockey

2011-11-25T20:30:00.001-07:00

Tyler has a tournament this weekend. The team is playing better with a few more games and practices under their belt.

I finally remembered my camera and took a few shots of Tyler in action.

He's really enjoying playing goalie and I'm really missing watching him play defense. I'm glad he's having fun and I look forward to every game he plays! Tyler is such an all around athlete, it's fun to see him in action.

A Day Of Thanks

2011-11-25T20:14:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving morning Chris, Shauna and I put on our annual Turkey Trot. It was so much fun! I love seeing all my friends and neighbors. The weather was perfect (except some would say it was rather windy).

We cleaned up the race and came home to watch Pirates, On Stranger Tides. Chris hadn't seen it yet and I needed a nap! I made a yummy sweet potato dish, thanks to my SIL Teresa, and got cleaned up myself.

Then we spent Thanksgiving up at GG's with the family.

We did some visiting...

eating...

played games...

watches football and Cars 2...

more eating!

It was a great day!

Patch Is Thankful

2011-11-25T19:53:00.001-07:00

It's amazing what these little people are thinking. I love hearing the stories Patch makes up. He's also really good and telling you why things are named what they are. It's always really random, but he puts a lot of thought into everything.

At school they made a thankful place mat.

Pink: Sisters

Green: People

Blue: Pencils

Yellow: God

Red: Love (he drew the heart upside down so he had to redo it)

I learn so much from this kid every day!

Getting Ready

2011-11-22T07:44:00.001-07:00

The holidays are around the corner and with Thanksgiving in a few days, I've been trying to think of things I'm thankful for that usually get overlooked.
I love Thanksgiving, all the food, a movie with the kids, our 3rd Annual Turkey Trot this year. I'm trying to get in the holiday mood early because I always seem to feel bah humbug and when I finally get around to the Christmas Spirit, it's over.
I feel like every year I miss the big picture. There's never enough money or time. I never know what people want or what they expect. I'm feeling extra grumpy already about the holidays. The car tires are worn and have to be replaced NOW, even though they're only 2 years old. All my kids need clothes and it can't wait until Christmas. My oldest two are in the super expensive gifts age and I'm not really sure how to handle that. What happened to being happy about a box? I'm already exhausted.

I took a moment to help someone at the post office the other day when everyone else around her just ignored her. My heart felt love all day after that. I think I smiled more than I have in a long time. I know that's what the holidays should be about, serving and loving others.

As for the new things I'm thankful for, I'm thankful for my neighbor Jo who stops to say hi anytime we're outside together. She is around 70 I'm guessing and she always has a smile for me. She always calls me honey, in fact I wasn't sure she knew my name until the other day when she used it.

I'm thankful for my kids coaches and teachers. It's a hard job and it's all volunteer or little pay but they do amazing things with these kids and they're changing lives.

I'm thankful my brother lives around the corner. I hope I forever get giddy about driving past his house and seeing my cute little nieces and their smiles.

I'm thankful for unplanned moments with my kids that bring us closer.

This one's not new, but I'm thankful for prayer. Whenever my heart has a feeling, happy or sad, scared or excited, I know I can talk to my Heavenly Father.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Patch Update

2011-11-15T07:49:00.001-07:00

Patch has been doing really well. When it got colder I started putting him in pants, he didn't have too hard of a time once I pointed out they were soft inside. He still hates wearing jeans but will if I beg him. Once they're on he doesn't seem to mind them. I think he gets used to them quickly and forget, it's just the initial wear that bugs him.
While off track last month, Patch did great. He's been back in school for a few weeks and he's been a wreck. Especially last week. The poor kid doesn't know which way is up. He is crying all the time, which makes Chris and me more grumpy so we get short with him and then he gets worse. Thankfully we know this and can try to remain calm, but that's not always the case.
Everyday he asks who's picking him up, like he's paranoid we're going to leave him forever at the school.
We had lots of company last weekend, which made for lots of late nights. Why oh why don't I do what's right for my kid? I know if he doesn't go down early enough it will mess him up for days. It's not the hours slept that seem to matter, it's that he needs to be in bed early. I still can't figure that one out. When we have company I just feel bad that he would be the only one in bed, plus the fight it would take to get him there I just think it's not worth it. THEN, he's a mess and I kick myself for not doing it anyway. I don't know which is worse.
Some days it's such an emotional roller coaster for him, and then I end up jumping on board. It's exhausting.
I am so thankful that he no longer has such huge fits. That the screaming and anger aren't as extreme. That he's learned to control himself...most the time. I'm so glad he's good at other's homes, or so I hear. He's good here too, it's just harder here.
Patch has been playing hockey. We ended up signing him up because he needs to be active and with the winter coming it's harder for him to play outside and get out all the wiggles. It's kind of been a double edge sword. Some day's he's fine going and others he's in tears not wanting to practice. I send him anyway because I know if I don't, he'll be worse off. I figure it's better to torture him for an hour twice a week for practice and a game than it is to have him and the rest of the family miserable 24/7 because he didn't go.
One day I'll full get this kid figured out. I love him so much, it makes me sad to see all that he has to go through.

Cousins

2011-11-15T07:31:00.001-07:00

My sister was here this weekend with her family. It's the first time both my siblings, their spouses and their kids have all been together since Caely was a baby.

It made for lots of loud fun. Just look at these mugs!

I'm glad we got to see them, if just for a day.

Isn't this the cutest one of them all?

Playing Catch Up

2011-11-07T18:29:00.001-07:00

My computer's down. I'm finally desperate enough to use Chris', although I have no pictures on here so I can't blog about what I really want to. I'm just afraid I'll forget all the happenings and get caught up in the holidays that I won't have time to catch up. Pictures and bigger posts when I get things fixed, for now:

Mid October I ran Ragnar Las Vegas with some of my friends. They are always such a blast to be with. We had a great time! I'm to the point that I'm over doing relays, other than Red Rock Moab. There are two more I'm doing next year, the Ragnar Wasatch Back Ultra (I'm so dumb for doing this) and Ragnar Northwest Passage in Washington. I can't tell you how excited i am to head to Washington! Chris and I lived there the first year of our marriage so it holds a tender spot in my heart and I can't wait to share that with him (I'm dragging him along although he's not going to be running).

Caely and I ran a Halloween 5K with Lani and a bunch of my friends. Caely loved that she got to be with the big girls. We went to Zupa's after for dinner and dessert. I love that my kids are getting older and we can share these kinds of moments.

Halloween came and went. I got to put together Alexa's class party, it went fine but it's definitely something I don't love doing. I love helping at the school, it's coordinating and being creative that I don't love. At least I got to be with her and make her feel special. That's what it's all about, right?

Shauna signed me up for this insane 50K (31 miles) on a dirt trail out at Antelope Island. I've never been there so I didn't really know what to expect. I LOVE that Shauna believe in me, especially when I don't. She makes me feel like I can do anything even if I don't know it yet.
We got all geared up to go, I even bought a new shirt! The night before it started pouring rain and slush. Then...the snow came. I called and told her I wasn't that die hard and I was bailing. I woke up to about 3" of snow on the ground and I was glad I chose to not go. Shauna also picked to not run on wet trail, wind and snow/rain. Our friend, Melissa still braved the course and she killed it! She is so amazing and inspiring, I almost want to go back and change my mind and just do it. At the same time, I'm happy with my choice and feel strong and empowered anyway just knowing I could do a 50K tomorrow if I wanted.

Tyler had his first hockey tournament this last weekend. Where do I start on that? It was thrown at us Thursday evening that they were going to play. It was supposed to be the B teams tournament but they found that the competition was more than they expected and took the A team. The boys hadn't even had a real practice together yet, nor had they played a game. That was kind of frustrating, I feel like we've lost the chance to play another tournament because they threw this in. Most the boys didn't even know who were really on their team since the A and B team all practice together right now.
Anyhow, the first game was brutal. The boys weren't used to playing with each other and they lost, 1-9. Both goalies did great, the team they played had already had 10 games and were very prepared. The next two games were much closer games, but they still lost. Sad. Their last game they played determined 5 & 6th place and they WON! in shoot out!! Tyler got to be the goalie for the shoot out so he's pretty proud of himself, Chris and I are too.

It's hard watching him as goalie because so much depends on him and how he's playing that day. I also miss watching him skate out but I know he's loving this new experience and I'm glad that it worked out for him to be goalie.

Caely's playing basketball every week and I am so impressed with how she has grown as a player and a person. She is really enjoying her team, her coach is amazing and the girls are such good sports and so supportive. I am so thankful for the good example they are to her. I got to thinking about her past coaches and the path they've paved for her. I am so thankful for their willingness to share their time and experience with these kids. They will probably never know how they've touched the lives of the kids they've coached, but I do. I hold a special place in my heart for them.

Okay, lastly...

My brother moved in!!! Not to my house but around the corner. I am so excited about this! We love hanging out with their family. I love that we will be able to play late and not feel so bad that they have to trek their kids in the cold to their house. I also love that we can go over to their house now so they can put their kids to bed at a decent hour. I hope that we can help them with their kids. Even though my kids aren't grown, I'm at such a different stage than them. I remember how hard it is to have 4 little, little kids and needing more support. Needing a date and not being able to afford a babysitter so we just never went out. I love that my kids are older and we have so much more flexibility. I'm going to love having them close!

First Snow Fall

2011-11-06T07:19:00.000-07:00

Instead of running a 50K, I opted to stay home and not run in the snow and mud. I'm still not regretting that choice...too much.

My cute girls took the opportunity to go play in the cold white stuff. Me, I'm not so ready for that.

It sure did make for a beautiful day in the end.

Halloween

2011-11-01T07:07:00.000-06:00

One of the fun things planned while my kids were off track was, we painted rocks orange like pumpkins and drew jack-o-lantern faces on them. A bunch of friends were over when we started, so they all joined in.

Too bad I forgot to take an after picture. They turned out really cute!

Caely was a chef this year. She was so cute, she threw flour on her face and carried around some wooden spoons in her chef's apron. Alexa was a beautiful witch. I french braided her hair into small braids the night before so she could have frizzy hair, but it turned out looking so cute she wore it to school with spiders attached and we saved the frizz for trick or treating. Again, too bad I forgot to get a picture. Patch was Bumble Bee from Transformers.

Tyler went out with some friends as, who know's what, but he came back with a stash of candy so he was happy.

Runnin' With My Girl(s)

2011-10-30T06:49:00.000-06:00

After last years AF 5K, I just had to go again. One of my goals for the year was to run an official race with Caely, this was it. She did an amazing job! She only walked a couple times (I'm all for walking) and she finished in 32:59, which I think is a new Personal Best for her. She came in 6th or 7th place for kids 11 and under.

This year I think the group doubled in size. It was so much fun to go down with two car loads of friends. Looks like it will need to be a tradition!

Vegas Ragnar

2011-10-23T06:40:00.000-06:00

What a trip!

I went down to Las Vegas with a bunch of friend to run a relay race.

I ran a little over 17 miles total, and all three of my legs were between 8:19 (first leg) & 8:51 (last leg) pace overall. I'm super please with that, especially because my first leg had a mile or two up hill but mostly because my last 7 mile leg was all up hill on a dirt road full of rocks.

It really was such a fun time. Our van ROCKED!

We had way too much fun. It was a nice little get away for a few days. If only I didn't need a vacation after my vacation, just to catch up on sleep.

I can't tell you how much I love running, but it makes it extra nice when you have great running friends.

Lost In A Maze

2011-10-18T08:46:00.001-06:00

Our family has never done the corn mazes in the fall. Some friends have gone and told us how fun it is, so we put it on the to do list.

Last night, after an already full day of fun and work, for family night we took the kids to a corn maze near our house.

Patch, of course, was super freaked out about going in, but once we started he really enjoyed it. As long as I was by his side.

Chris is such a good navigator. He showed the kids how to read the map and let them decide which way we were going.

It took about an hour + to get through. It was super cold but tons of fun.

I love making fun memories!

Fall At The Cabin

2011-10-18T08:18:00.000-06:00

On our list of fun things to do, we put a nature walk. We've been looking forward to this for a few weeks but at first the weather was bad, then it was good but we were all sick, then we had a crazy busy week.

Finally, we took yesterday to spend some time up at the cabin with the grandmas. When we got up there we found that the wind and rain had ripped down quite a few large branches.

We ate our lunch and went straight to work. It was freezing! We only had sweat shirts on so GG found some old coats and warmer sweat shirts. I found two pairs of gloves in my car (hence Patch's purple gloves) and a hat.

The kids had so much fun working and the view was absolutely gorgeous!

Alexa loved pretending she was a pioneer hard at work.

Nothing holds this grandma down!

Patch was so sad when we had to leave. He said, "but I want to stay and help GG. She needs it and I like helping".

It was a perfect day.

Major Pain!

2011-10-15T19:31:00.000-06:00

I just thought it was kind of funny.

Last night Tyler got hurt falling off of a scooter. He got some nasty road rash on his leg, but the worst part is that the handle bars hit him in the sternum and I'm pretty sure they may be fractured or severely bruised.

Patch fell tonight off his scooter too and hit himself in the belly.

Alexa while playing just bit off the front of her tongue really bad, enough to bleed and be gross to look at.

I'm super sore from my run today.

We are a sorry bunch :)

Patch Plays Hockey

2011-10-15T19:22:00.002-06:00

Today was Patch's first hockey game.

Chris took the Patch to his game while I was gone. Sound like they played a great game.

Patch's favorite part was him getting water squirt in his mouth. Yep, he's a 5yr. old.

His second favorite part was getting the puck.

I can't wait to see his next game!!

Lucky Pennies

2011-10-15T19:09:00.000-06:00

A little less than two weeks ago life was falling apart all around me. I would rather not go into detail, things were just really hard for some friends we love which in turn makes it hard for us.

Anyhow, Shauna and I had headed out on a much needed run and while running I found a penny. Heads up. I told her this was our entrance to SOJO marathon. About a mile later, on the same road, I found another penny. Heads up. This was the guarantee that we would have two entrances to SOJO.

In case you weren't aware, a penny is only lucky if it is found heads up.

A few hours after I got home, a friend called and told me he thought he saw that we had won entrance to the SOJO marathon. WE DID!!!

Our friend Alison was training for this marathon, it being her first, and Shauna and I had been running with her during her training runs.

This morning we ran SOJO!!

It was awesome! We slept in (on purpose) and Chris drove us to the start. The morning was beautiful. It was windy, but the course was amazing.

We made great time. I ran out of water so I refilled at an aid station. The water was nasty. I called my sister Lani, who was going to meet us near her house to cheer us on, and asked her to bring some ice water. This saved my run!

The last two+ miles just about did me in. I just wanted to sit down and not get up. My hips hurt. My feet hurt. My anxiety was spiking. I wanted to be done!

Shauna dragged my sorry behind to the finish, encouraging me the whole way there. She's amazing! It ended up being my slowest marathon, but it didn't really matter. I still finished!

After the race we headed to the gas station for some chocolate milk. While we were there we found out Alison was soon coming to the finish and we wanted to be there for her, so we headed back. It was so fun to see her come in. She looked great! I'm so proud of her and all she's done to prepare for today. I have the most amazing friends!

Camping Out

2011-10-15T18:52:00.000-06:00

My friend Amy gave me this great idea to put up a tent in the basement and let the kids camp out in it. When I told my kids about it, they were so very excited.

Our family tent is huge so I had to borrow one from Shauna. Alexa asked every day for over a week if I had remembered to get the tent yet. I hadn't.

Thursday I finally got the tent but we ran out of time to set it up. Alexa was devastated. DRAMA!!

Friday after Chris and I snuck away for a date, we went to work to set up the tent for the kids. Lexi went right to work helping. She put in the sleeping bags and got the pillows ready for Patch and Caely.

Quite the set up!

They stayed up super late watching a movie from the comfort of their new home and enjoyed every minute of it.

Cabella's

2011-10-11T18:41:00.000-06:00

I'm running the book fair this week at the elementary school so there hasn't been a lot of time for playing. My friend, Beth invited us to Cornbelly's to play but we were short on time and wanted to make the most of our play time so we headed to Cabella's instead. I've never been there but I heard it was really cool.

It was actually pretty awesome. They have taxidermy animals all over the place. They have an aquarium of fish. They have all kinds of hunting gear that's cool to look at.

We ended up spending about an hour and a half there checking stuff out. It was set up so real like, the kids loved it!

B.U.S.Y

2011-10-09T22:04:00.000-06:00

Things have been crazy around here. I had big intentions of making my kids time off track an awesome one, but I find that even though we're still doing stuff, I have to squeeze it in which makes it not as fun. At least for me it isn't.

Sunday we ate dinner quickly and were getting ready to go visit GG and the family but realize that would be one more thing we were adding to our plate. Although we love being with everyone, sometime you just have to take some time for yourself.

We called the family and told them we weren't coming, then Chris and I tried to make a family night together where we didn't have to run to basketball, hockey, dance, harmony, the list goes on.

Caely had a FHE she had made in Activity Days, a church group for girls similar to scouts but completely church sponsored and most the activities are based on the gospel.

On our list of fun things to do while the kids were off track was to make apple crisp. We made the crisp as a family and while it was cooking, Caely gave us a great lesson on serving.

After the lesson we had warm apple crisp and spent the rest of the night together.

Just us.

It was so nice.

Jr. Grizzlies

2011-10-09T08:47:00.003-06:00

Caely had her first basketball game on Saturday. Her teams hard work has payed off!

They did a fabulous job.

I've noticed Caely's game has really improved. She has an amazing coach who does a great job at working with the girls and teaching them where to be. Her coach is so kind but firm, I love how she boosts the team up.

It was a great game. The other team played really well and worked really hard, our girls were just really good at getting the rebounds and taking the ball away. They won 27-4!

We're super proud of Caely and all that she's accomplishing. I'm so glad she's found something she enjoys and can be proud of herself.

Monkey Business

2011-10-09T08:27:00.000-06:00

About a month a go my friend, Carolynn found this race online called the Gorilla Challenge. It describes the race as a mix of "The Amazing Race", "American Idol" and "Fear Factor". I thought it sounded fun so I signed up with her. We had two other team mates, but something came up and they both had to bail.

The day started out wet and gloomy. We got to the start early to check in. Then we waited. and waited. There were probably 20+ teams there and they all had at least three people with them. We got our instruction, we were getting a sheet with 6 puzzles/clues on it and we had to figure out where to go, in whatever order we wanted and do the task or take a picture then be first to get back to win.

When we got our sheet of clues, we decided to figure out as many as we could so we wouldn't back track locations. We also got on the phone for help, she called her hubby and had him googling like crazy and I called my mother-in-law, Leslie, who knows tons about the Salt Lake valley. Alone Carolynn and I could only figure out two clues so we were so thankful for the help.

Our first stop was at Richmond Park where Carolynn was blindfolded and I had to help direct her complete a puzzle. She rocked!

We then headed to some water hole where people used to come from all over to get special mineral water. Thankfully Leslie and Grandma GG knew just where that was. I had to jump rope while singing "The Star Spangled Banner". This gave us our second sheet of clues, what luck!

Our next stop was this Muslim Prayer Center. We had to form a human pyramid and take our picture under the sign. We had to stop a lady on a bike to take our picture.

Then we headed to this amazing rock garden I'd never heard of, Gilgal Garden. I can't wait to take my kids back, it was amazing!

On our way to a Sizzler, Carolynn spotted a car with New York plates. One of our tasks was to take a picture with someone from out of state. The state had to start with an "N". We walked into Cafe Rio to ask around who had the plate and beg for their kindness.

When we walked in there was a Utah Highway Patrol Officer in line ordering. One of our tasks was to find an officer, thank him and shake his hand while taking a picture.

I couldn't believe our good fortune!! Two tasks in one spot while on the way to another task!

When we got to Sizzler, which was our next clue of choice, there was another team there we asked for help. They weren't really thrilled in helping us, I even offered to help them on a clue but they declined. We had to take our picture showing the date with our hands while standing under the sign. The guy first took a picture of mostly the sky with a little sign to be funny. Thankfully we caught it and had them retake it.

Our next two clues took us to the Salt Lake Library and...

the court house across the street. We asked a guy, who appeared to be homeless, to take our picture while we did our best duck impressions. They guy was super nice, he even put down his joint to help us out.

Last stop and on to the home stretch, Taffy Town. As we headed there, we saw another team ahead of us. Since we could do the clues in any order, we didn't know how close they were to being done, but because this one was closest to the finish we assumed they were ahead of us. They got stopped in a parking lot to find a person from out of state and we pushed passed them to get our picture.

We both had to be in the picture for it to count and because it was Saturday in a quiet part of town, there was no one around to help us. The blue team was heading toward us and offered to take our picture if we'd take theirs. Of course! They were SO nice and friendly, not like our Sizzler friends. They still had two clues to finish, the state one and the officer one. Did I mention how lucky we were?!

We headed back to the start, which was at Legends Bar, we got stopped at an intersection waiting for the light to turn green. It was so frustrating, the bar was RIGHT THERE but TWO trax trains passed and we had to wait what felt like forever. I was going to be so sad if that was the only thing that knocked us out of the race.

We went running in and I really didn't think we were first, but we of course asked. When the lady said we were first to make it back I think we were both in shock! FIRST PLACE!! They checked our clues and we got them all right! We then waited for others to arrive.

20 minutes later the next team arrived. It was our blue team friends! I was so happy they won. Other teams slowly arrived after that. Carolynn and I finished in 1:45, the only team to make it under 2 hours!

Such a memorable day and so fun. Amazing Race, here we come!

Perspective

2011-09-30T07:42:00.003-06:00

Life

2011-09-30T07:18:00.000-06:00

I probably shouldn't write when I've been up since 5am with my mind racing, but here I am.

The last week has been insane! My kids are off track and thankfully it's been good so far. I've been watching a friends kid after he gets out of kindergarten and that's helped to keep Patch busy.
It's weird to send Tyler of each day while the others stay home. It's also nice to not have him here to pick on the other kids.
Alexa has kept buys with all the neighbor kids who are also off track. She loves to lay around in her jammies all day watching movies if I let her. Caely on the other hand has no one to play with. It's so sad. It seems like her friends are never around or are busy playing with other friends, but they don't ever call her to play, she is always calling them. I think she's out of sight, out of mind. I wish we had kids her age in our neighborhood, she has been so bored.

I've realized the we are insanely busy once the clock hits 3pm. It's tiring. With hockey for two boys and Caely practicing basketball twice a week, plus the girls go to two different dance studios, there isn't much down time. I'm realizing what the prophets advise, they don't all have to be doing something to be getting something. It just happened this way this year.

I have a race every weekend starting next week, for the next month. When I think of it I'm excited, but then I realize all the conflicts and things I'll miss that my kids are doing and the guilt sets in. Sometimes being the mom is really hard.

Our good friends mother passed away a week ago, very unexpectedly. This last week has been an emotional roller coaster, mourning the loss one moment and trying to play with my kids off track or working on race events the next. It's left my mind and body fatigued and confused. One minute I'm bawling or holding back the tears and the next I'm playing around and moving from activity to activity.

I was thinking about my dad while trying to go back to sleep this morning. It used to be really hard to not have a dad and see the toll it took on our family. Father's Day was always really hard. Being a teenager w/out a dad was hard. Just being a girl without a dad was hard, but only because you get an idea of how things would be different if he were here.
I think now that I have a family of my own, I've moved on and my focus is with my kids and Chris. Even though I was very little when he passed, I have been blessed to have memories of him and things he's said to me.

How's that for things thought too early in the morning? And that was just the beginning...

Good Lookin' & Cookin'

2011-09-26T13:36:00.001-06:00

Today is my kids first day off track. I'm really committed to make it a fun time with them while I have them home.

Easy to say since it's day one.

Today Alexa and I made pumpkin cookies. They are dangerously delicious! I got the recipe last year from my sister Lani. The other plus is, they make like 7 dozen so we love to share them.

What a cute cook!

Ten Is A Wonderful Number

2011-09-26T09:04:00.000-06:00

It's Caely's birthday. She means so much to our family. She's always helping her siblings and Chris and me. She works really hard to help make people happy, so we really wanted to return the favor and make her feel as special as she does us.

We decided to throw her a surprise party. I only told Tyler so he could help me get her to the park where we planned on having it. We took the invitations to the parents and the girls did a great job not spilling the beans to Caely at school.

I told Tyler and Caely I had to run errands and that when I got home I wanted to take Caely on a birthday date. I left with the two youngest and told them in the car what we were up to. They were so excited and couldn't wait to help out. We headed to the park to decorate and meet her friends.

Caely's cute friend, Tess was a big help. She decorated and played lookout and instructed the girls on what to do when Caely arrived.

In the mean time, there was lots of playing...

At home, Tyler asked Caely to go on a short bike ride with him. When they got close to the park he called to let me know where they were so we could be ready. He told Caely he just wanted to show her a quick trick at the park, so they headed towards us.

We hid behind the garbage cans and when it came time...

S.U.R.P.R.I.S.E.!!!!

Caely had no idea. It was fun to see her reaction. She was a little overwhelmed at first but then jumped right in to host mode, making sure everyone had a good time. Silly girl.

Aunt Teresa planned this amazing treasure hunt for the girls to follow. It was so creative, having the girls use their senses and their smarts to figure out the clues. Each girl got a turn to be the leader or be the head "figure outer".

The treasure was the pinata, hiding in the car.

I can't believe this sweet girl is 10!

Sunday the family came over for more celebration. Caely loves ice cream, so we had an ice cream bar and she got to go spend the night at her Grandma Leslie's for a birthday sleep over. Since she wasn't going to be home for her birthday, we let her open her presents early.

What a little teenager she's turning out to be. I love it!

(She did not get an itouch, that's just a picture that came with her chair pillow she got for her birthday)

Caely, we love you. You bring us so much joy and happiness. You are so smart and kind and thoughtful. You touch a special place in our hearts. I hope you know what a blessing you are to our family. You are going to do great things in your life and I'm glad I get to watch you do them.

Sisters

2011-09-21T15:29:00.000-06:00

My sister, Sally was here from California last week. She braved the drive, by herself, for some friend reunion here in Utah. Monday she came and spent the day with my family. My brother and his family came over for dinner and games, good times.

While she was here and I was making dinner, I noticed I was super grumpy, which then made me pay more attention all week to my attitude and I realized I religiously get grumpy everyday around dinner time. It's nothing anyone does, I'm just grumpy and up tight around 5pm. I'm sure she was worried that she had somehow offended me, but she now knows that's not the case.

She spent the rest of the week playing with her friends and going on a girls retreat weekend. Sunday she came back for a farewell dinner and games. Glad she had some time to visit. One day we'll get her to move back :)

Drum Roll, Please....

2011-09-18T09:03:00.002-06:00

After Patch had his melt down earlier this week about playing hockey, and we went through all the trouble to pull him out, Saturday around 10:30am he started crying saying he changed his mind and wants to play. I should also tell you that Patch has been having a hard week with lots of melt downs, we don't usually give in to crying but it was becoming a moment by moment thing.

Thankfully it was an hour before the second part of the tryouts were. Chris got everything together and took him off to hockey. While they were gone, I was actually relieved because I started remembering that Patch needs LOTS of physical activity and with the winter coming and him not signed up for any sports, we were going to be in a world of hurt come snow fall.

Last night they put the teams together and Patch gets to be, on the...

Tyler's team was also put together and I'm so excited to announce that he will be a....

BLACKHAWKS player!!! We love the Blackhawks so this is going to be fun for our family.

Chris will be helping coach on Patch's team and Head Coach of Tyler's. We we be spending lots of time at the rink this year. Hard to believe we could be there more than we already are during hockey season. It's going to great!

Party Time

2011-09-18T08:44:00.001-06:00

This year was Chris' mom's 60th birthday, so we wanted to throw a party for her. Lani put everything together and we had it at her house. Nicole made the invites which left me with the treats.

The kids (and some of the adults) played some badminton...

we can't keep Caely off the court!

Hugs for everyone!

Our two broken twins.

The Birthday Girl!

The grand kids sang a birthday song and we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying each others company.

Happy Birthday Leslie, we love you!

Little Runners

2011-09-17T10:17:00.000-06:00

Our Stake put on a 5K & 1 mile run. The kids were so excited that they were finally going to get to do a race!

Chris, Patch, Alexa and I did the 1 miler and Shauna took Caely for me. My cold this week has made it so I shouldn't/couldn't run.

Patch and Alexa did great! They ran mostly the whole time. The beginning was uphill and they kept truckin' along.

I finished with Alexa at 12:59 and we went to meet the boys and run in with them at 14:45

Caely did awesome! I am so proud of her. She hasn't really run a longer distance since her 4 miler back in July. They finished in around 32 or 33 minutes (I forgot to get the time).

Such a fun time. I'm looking forward to the 3rd Annual Park Village Turkey Trot this year with my kids!

Red Rock Zions

2011-09-14T09:48:00.001-06:00

What an adventure! I really have some of the funnest friends. This year our team was "Guys and Dolls" It was a team of couples and I'm pretty sure I was destine from the start to not run this race. My brother was supposed to by my partner since Chris doesn't run and Jimmy thought it sounded fun. Once Jim started training, he realized he doesn't love running as much as he thought he might, so he bailed. I got another friend to take his place, so it all worked out.

The week before the race, one of the other couples had a family situation and had to cancel. It being last minute, I called my friend Kristy up in Idaho to come take one of the spots. She got another friend to take the other spot and we were good to go.

The day we were leaving I got a call from my partner that it wasn't going to work out for her to come. No worries, I knew we had some strong runners and we could take on the extra miles. Kristy, Stephanie, Brian and I headed out to Southern Utah to get ready for the race. After we got there we found that the extra fill in person also couldn't make the race, now we were down two runners in our car, YIKES!

We had the best captain. I called Jaqui to let her know and she calmly and collectively got it all figured out and we again were good to go. The race turned out awesome as usual. Our van was so fun, honking at people and squirting them down when it was hot. We yelled and got yelled at. FUN!

The start of the race was freezing! Brian started us out and did the first two legs. He was an animal.

Kristy and Stephanie were equally amazing. I had no idea they were so strong and willing.

I ended up with 4 legs of the race, which most of our team had an extra leg, Brian did 2 extra legs. I love these women!!!

The whole race was gorgeous and challenging. Everyone did such a great job and I'm sure they left all feeling proud of their personal accomplishments.

Looking forward to Red Rock Moab in the spring and anyone else who wants to join us!

Happenings

2011-09-13T12:43:00.001-06:00

Last week was a little crazy. Piano is in full swing and I"m loving it! The girls started dance, both of them are at a different place and their dance times overlap each other, so it got a little crazy. Hopefully things will run smoother as I get used to all our crazy schedules. Caely started basketball practice with her new team, twice a week for two hours at a time. Poor girl is gonna be tired, but she loves it.

Patch was supposed to start hockey this week, but when I went to get him ready he freaked out and didn't want to go. I had him call Chris to talk to him about it and then Chris and I decided Patch probably isn't ready for hockey this year. I have to admit I'm a little sad about this but I'm glad Patch told us before it was too late. He really seems to enjoy soccer and although we missed the fall season because we thought he would be doing hockey, there is always spring.

I have a cold. I think it's been about a year and half since I was last sick, which I'm grateful for. Being sick is no fun. It's not like I'm down and out. I actually feel pretty good, it's just taking away from my running and working out. That's my sanity and I'm pretty sure I'll go crazy if I don't get a run in soon.

I told Alexa that she wasn't a reader. Although she's above grade level in reading, she doesn't have the love of books that Tyler, Caely and I do and that's okay. After I told her that she went right to work reading. I'm kind of feeling bad about it but if that's what it takes to motivate her then great.

I totally feel like I have no clue about what's going with my kids at school. There are four of them to keep up on and it's a lot to juggle. There is always something due or homework to be done or papers to be signed. I really need a new system to get it all done so they don't fall behind. Any ideas?

So yes, we have lots going on but this is such a fun time of life with my kids. I hope I don't lose sight of whats important and that I can keep everything together while staying sane.

Proud Mom Moment

2011-09-12T12:30:00.000-06:00

I was away this last weekend at a race so on one of my check in calls with Chris he told me how Tyler had taught Deacons Quorum and one of the adults attending stopped him and told Chris what a great job Tyler did. Of course I was not surprised. Tyler is a great speaker. He's funny and does a good job making eye contact, plus there is something about him that makes you want to listen.

Anyhow, about an hour after talking to Chris on of my sweet friends called to let me know what she had overheard in the halls at church while someone was talking to her hubby, who happens to be the Young Men's President. She told me I should be a proud mom, that this person talking had said what a great job Tyler had done and how impressed he was with the lesson he gave. So of course I was super proud and couldn't wait to talk to Tyler when I got home.

Tyler was very casual as I talked to him and it's funny because he likes giving talks and he likes being good at what he does but I don't think he realized what an impression he made. I think that's a good thing, we don't want it to go to his head :)

I have always known Tyler has a special mission here and I hope he continues to grow in his ability to talk to people comfortably. I'm glad he had this opportunity to teach and hope there are many more for him. I'm so lucky to have such awesome kids!

Labor of Love

2011-09-05T20:08:00.000-06:00

We spent Labor Day up at the cabin with the family. These seems to be the running tradition for us and I love it. It's so beautiful and peaceful up there. Our good friend, John came for a short visit, so we dragged him up the cabin with us too.

We met my Jimmy, Teresa and the girls and headed up the mountain to enjoy some yummy food and family time. I love that my kids love being with the family.

Teresa got some new face paint and wanted to practice using it on the kids. Forgive my photos, they don't do her work justice. The kids looked amazing and didn't mind being little models for her.

We just love GG so very much and are grateful she shares these moments with us. Memories to last a life time!

The kids showing off their works of art.

Going On's

2011-08-31T08:52:00.003-06:00

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever. So much and so little going on all at the same time. I know I have pictures and other events to post, but for now I'll just get out what's going on in the recent moments.

Tyler started school this week and he absolutely loves it. I love seeing him so happy. He is excited about all his classes, especially art. He just looks so big to me now that he's out of elementary school.

Caely has been trying out for a basketball team over the last few days. They worked the girls really hard, Caely's come home sore every night. I'm really excited for her, I think she did really well and has a good chance. Even if she doesn't make the team, I'm glad she tried. That takes a lot of courage and confidence.

Alexa has been sick over the last 2 weeks. I took her to the Dr.'s on Monday and he said she almost has pneumonia. Almost?? What is that supposed to mean? We will be changing doctors soon. Alexa's taking a 3 day antibiotic and is back at school today. It was funny because without her siblings here to entertain her, she was really bored and motivated to go to school.

Patch is doing great. He is loving school and doing really well. He's only had a few melt downs, but even then he seems to pull himself together better and better. Last week while putting away laundry, we hit a milestone. He put all of his stuff away by himself. I think only Chris and I can understand how big this is for him and for us. Yesterday he took out two bathroom garages by himself and even though he got a little frustrated, he was very proud of himself. He even said, "mom, I did two hard things but I'm glad I don't have to do the downstairs garbage".

Although I have a couple kids coming now, piano officially starts back next week. I'm super excited, I'm having so much fun teaching. Dance also starts for the girls next week, so does basketball practice if Caely makes the team, and hockey follows soon after that for both the boys. We are going to be packed with all the extra things our kids do. I'm going to have to learn to be more prepared and juggle dinner with all the different schedules. I guess that's part of this stage of life.

Today is the first day I actually get to enjoy the few hours of freedom while Patch is in school. It's kind of nice, but I'm not quite sure what to do with my time. There's always something to do, it's just where to start and what to accomplish. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it and then the kids will be off track and I'll have to adjust again.

Home Alone

2011-08-25T08:22:00.002-06:00

...at least for a little while.

Today is Tyler's first day of pretend 7th grade. Only the 7th graders go to school today to see how their days will run and to work on opening their lockers with out the embarrassment of the older kids watching. It's only a half day, so it's really like he's in kindergarten for the day. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Like the awesome mom I am, I forgot the camera. I'm telling myself it's okay because really today isn't the actual first real day of school, right?

The other kids have been in school for a few weeks now and I still don't feel like they're back in school. I haven't had a moment to myself yet, which is what I was looking forward to. Today is supposed to be the day I a free to do as I please, but it's filled with grocery shopping, oil changes and inspections, laundry and cleaning. What happened to sipping dt. coke while enjoying a chat with all the other moms who's kids are gone all day. Laughing and enjoying the "free" time. No wonder I don't see those moms out on their porches wasting the day away. I guess I was sorely mistaken on the magic that I expected to happen when they all started school.

Or...maybe that will happen next week when "real" 7th grade starts.

Room Remodel

2011-08-13T17:39:00.004-06:00

My girls are getting older and so is their style. I've always loved their room. I love purple and it seemed like such girlie room, perfect for my girls.
The flowers and butterflies are so feminine, but those all came down this week. Caely is ready for a teen room. We looked at hundreds of bed spreads trying to find one we could both agree on. Our tastes aren't the same and although I want her to make her own space, I want to like it too. She pick this fun, bright bedding that turned out cuter than I originally thought. From that she picked the green out of it and we went to the paint store. As we started painting, I started panicking. It was GREEN! Such a drastic, bold change. We painted the middle part with magnetic paint and chalkboard paint so she can doodle on it. My very dear friend, Karen came over to help me figure out what to do with the walls. She looked through dozens of magazines looking for what I might like She is such a sweetheart! We then headed out shopping and she found these cute shelves. Then she was nice enough to put them up for me because I'm a big chicken and would rather someone else mess up, just in case. It's coming along, Karen will me back next week to help me figure out this other space on her wall. Caely is LOVING it!

My First Triathlon

2011-08-13T17:23:00.002-06:00

Monday Shauna called and told me there was a near by Triathlon that she wanted me to do. I'm a sucker and said yes. It was for this Saturday.

After I signed up I panicked a little realizing that I can swim but not very well, not long distances and especially not in a straight line with people around. We headed to the pool the next day. My fears were confirmed, I was slow. But I didn't drowned.

This morning we were up bright and early, we headed over to the rec center and got our bikes in order. I put my stuff out on and around my bike so after the swim I could swiftly transition. I swam hard but was still terrible then we had a 2x loop near the complex on our bikes, after I threw my bike back on the rack and headed out for the run. That part was my favorite! I felt so slow but was going fast.

Although I would do it again, I realize that my heart lies with running. There's nothing like a good hard run to make you feel like you've accomplished something.

These women are amazing! They are my inspiration. They help me realize I can accomplish anything, even though things can be hard. I'm thankful for strong friends.

Tyler' Turns Twelve

2011-08-13T15:56:00.003-06:00

Where did the time go? Just a few short years ago, this little boy was starting 1st grade, losing his baby teeth and going to bed at a decent hour.

Now he's a big twelve year old. He shops in the Jr.'s and Men's section of the store. He stays up late playing night games and wants a cell phone. His voice is lower and his shoulders are broader. He's sarcastic. He's loving to his family.

Wednesday was Tyler's birthday. Tuesday night he spent the night with Chris' parents. His grandpa took him golfing Wednesday morning, Tyler really enjoyed that and has loved learning to play.

T came home and I took him to see the final Harry Potter.

He had a friends party and they went ice skating. What else?!

Chris got T a new hockey stick for his birthday, he's played with it every day and can't wait for a game to use it in.

Chris had a game Wednesday night, so we got to catch the end of that when we got to the Oval with his friends.

After ice skating the kids wanted to play night games, so we extended the party a little longer and played around the neighborhood. It brought back lots of fond memories of me playing with my siblings on hot summer nights, hiding in the dark, sneaking around the neighborhood and trying not to get caught.

He didn't get his cell phone, but it was still a great day.

Sunday Tyler will receive the priesthood and be ordained a deacon in our church. We are so happy for him and proud of the young man he's becoming.

Together We Can Ice Cancer

2011-08-13T15:42:00.002-06:00

The Penguins got invited to play one last game together before the new season starts.

It was a benefit game for Volker's niece Catalina, who is 18 and was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 15.

The boys played against Park City, who had lots of older, bigger kids on their team.

Volker also put on a great 1/2 time show. He brought in a girl who dances with fire, it was awesome!

The Penguins ended up winning 5-4!

Great way to end the season and start the new one.

Chris' Summer Work Party

2011-08-13T15:13:00.004-06:00

Chris' work has a family party every year with bounce houses and tons of food. It's at Canyon Rim Park so the kids love going and playing on everything and getting all the snow cones you can eat.
My brother and his family came to join in the fun. These cute cousins!

Alexa and Dottie were best buddies all around the park. Alexa was so cute to ride the slides with her.

Tyler took on his Uncle Jimmy and beat him up pretty good.
Then he tried taking his dad down. That wasn't going to happen,
Chris triumphed!
It was a great night. Already looking forward to next year!

Scout Camp

2011-08-13T14:59:00.002-06:00

I can't believe it's been a month since Tyler's been to camp.

He ended up having a great time. He said the classes were boring, but the kids are fun to hang out with.

It rained on them, and one night the weather was so bad it broke their tent poles so they had to run for cover to the leaders lounge and sleep there.

He loved spending his money on the junk at the trading post. He got HUGE mosquito bites that itched for a week. He saw snakes and said that the troop leaders ate them. He swam in a freezing lake. He came back a little taller and a little older. At least that's how it seemed to me.

I'm so glad he had this experience. I'm glad I had this experience too.

Life

2011-08-11T10:33:00.002-06:00

Sometimes it gets to be too much. There's not just one thing that's overwhelming, it's all the pieces put together. This post is way too much about our personal life, but it's also our reality and I'm sure many have similar stories. You're not a lone.

I painted Caely's room. It's going to be fabulous as soon as my wonderful friend Karen gets here and fixes my mess (no pressure). But it's bright green, and although I love the color I don't know how to make it perfect for my girls. Right now I'm dealing with painting the bunk beds white and it's becoming a bigger project than anticipated.

Every day I'm looking for a new job for Chris. A big part of me feels bad because I know there are many out there without a job and I know how rough that is. The other part is so tired of wishing for more for him. He is good at what he does and he works hard, I'm just so proud of all that he can be and i want him to feel like he's making a difference where he works. He's just not getting that currently.

Patch is in school. I do love it, but I see him struggling more and more each day. Monday he made a book out of paper from our office. He titled it, "The Zombie Book" where he can right about scary things. Tuesday he made a new book. He called it "The Bad Book" this is where he can right bad things, including bad words. I told him that even in a book called The Bad Book he couldn't write bad words. I recognize that this is something he needs to have as an outlet and it makes me sad that he's so angry inside. I am so proud that he tries to work through his feelings but he's still struggling.

He's so frustrated all the time. He wants so bad to go play with friends but when he comes home he's a wreck. When I keep him home and he watches TV or plays Lego's, he's so agitated and stir crazy. I can't seem to find a happy medium. We'll get there...

Caely had her blood tested last week and an MRI on Monday. I got a letter on Monday saying her blood was fine. I was kind of insulted that they didn't just call when they got the results to tell me. Doesn't it take more time to write up a letter, find an envelope, address and stick a stamp on it and put it in the mailbox? Also, Monday at the hospital they said our dr. would have results in a few hours. Here it is Thursday and I haven't been contacted. I called to see what was going on to find that the results are just sitting in the Dr.'s box, un-looked at. PLUS, this Dr. is now out of town until the 16th. That's just not right.

The thing is, I know she's fine. I just want the reassurance from that call that she is fine.

Tyler's now 12. I have just started feeling like I haven't prepared him for Jr. High, High School, Young Men's, Scouts, friends, life. What happened to the days when Sesame Street was all that he needed for instruction? Caely's right behind him and growing more mature every day. I'm not ready to get them ready for the things life brings. So many other kids are better prepared. I feel like I'm failing!

And lastly, Alexa. This beautiful little girl always seems to be last. Last to be taken care of, last to be thought of, last to remember. No matter how hard I try, she's just always last. The curse of the middle child. I really do try to make things different for her, there's just so much going on with the others and she always seems fine. I know how it is to seem fine and often be looked over, I never want that for her but here we are.

Obviously these are all little things but put together I feel like I have a mountain to climb. I just need a little perspective and some time to take each chunk as it comes. I really am grateful for my wonderful life and my perfect little family.

Our Last but His First

2011-08-03T09:18:00.005-06:00

Patch started Kindergarten today. His sisters went with us to drop him off and show him the ropes. They showed him how to put his backpack down to hold his place in line and instructed him on how to play on the play ground. He has good sisters.

The bell rang and they all lined up. Patch has lots of girls in his class that he already knows, not so much on the boys end. That's okay, he's always been a ladies man.
We got to go into the classroom with him and help him get familiar with how the morning runs. He hung up his backpack, found the bathroom, put his attendance bear in it's rightful pocket and
he drew a picture of himself of the first day of kindergarten.
He's all ready for his first day! It was easy saying goodbye. I think Patch is the first kid I didn't tear up at leaving.
The only thing that tugged at me was seeing his face when he got anxious at all the people in his class and their parents. I think it overwhelmed him to be surrounded by so many people and he wasn't really sure of what was going on. I think by the time we left, he was fine.

Just 90 short minutes until I go to pick him up. For some reason, I just can't wait!

One For The Memory Books

2011-08-02T20:17:00.003-06:00

Tonight Caely and I are pulling off the wallpaper that surrounds their bunk beds. My friend, Heather loaned us her steamer that has saved our lives!

The music is playing and we're having great conversation when Return to Pooh Corner by Kenny Loggins comes on and we both start singing. A new fond memory.

Lost Brain Cells

2011-08-02T15:46:00.003-06:00

I should tell you that I love Tyler. He is super funny and really smart. He's great to be around. The kid gets sarcasm and timing. I always feel at ease around Tyler, he's easy to talk to and play with.

The last few days I want to beat him. He's seriously lost some brain cells or something. It must be from the extra long summer break he gets. I really need him to go to school. I have asked a few things of Tyler in the last few days that he either completely heard something else or forgot with in milliseconds. He also can't see in front of his face, it must be teen brain.

A few moments ago I asked him to go get the pliers from the tool box. While I stood there waiting, I realized it was taking him longer than it should. I went over to see what the problem was, he was standing there staring at the shelf with the tool box and this is literally what he said to me. "I can't find them".

Did I mention the tool box was closed and he was a good two feet from even touching the tool box?

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

How long does this last?

Toothless

2011-07-30T18:15:00.002-06:00

Alexa has been waiting to lose her second front tooth since before school let out in early June. Today, she finally wriggled the sucker free! Now she's going around talking with a listttthhhhp because she thinks that's how you talk when you don't have your two front teeth.

First Fruit

2011-07-28T09:00:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I found a zucchini in our garden and today I picked it! I hope I wasn't too over anxious and that it's ripe enough. We'll know at dinner tonigt!

Hard Knock Life

2011-07-27T21:30:00.003-06:00

It's been a little crazy around here lately. Nothing out of the norm. The last couple of weeks I've noticed Patch sliding back down to grumpy spells and anger issues. We never know how he's going to be. It just makes me sad. Sad that I don't know what to do for him, sad he has to feel the way he does, sad I can't predict all the time when he's going to have an episode and sad for his siblings who don't fully understand why their brother is so mean and doesn't get beaten when he probably should (not that we really beat our kids).

This is something I think about 24/7 and with Patch starting school next week I have lots of mixed emotions. I am super excited to have him start, I'm also probably overly worried about the "what if's". I just don't know that I'm ready to handle all of this. (I just spelled of 'ov', I must need a nap).

Today was Alexa's second day of school and she's on full melt down mode. I don't think I was ready for that which really scares me for when Patch hits day 2 of school and has melt downs.

Poor Alexa is not used to going to bed early or getting up early. My fault, I know. She's not used to paying attention all day. What she has been doing for the last 6-7 weeks out of school is making it a goal to stay in her pajamas all day, lounge around and eat whenever she wants. It's very easy when you have 4 kids plus all their friends running in and out all day to lose sight of who's doing what and who ate when.

Now she's in school for 7 hours, fully dressed, having to work. That's gotta be rough, I should have prepared her better. Plus, sometimes I lose sight of what the other kids are going to because I'm working on the Patch puzzle.

Parenting is hard. But I love it.

Swingin' Time

2011-07-27T20:12:00.005-06:00

My friend Kristi invited us up to her cabin to play today. With the girls in school and Tyler having other plans, it was just Patch and me.

We went up with our friends, the Jones' and met Kristi and Meryn up there to play.

Kristi is such a brave sole, she jumped off the logs onto the tree swing to show us how it's done.

We all took a turn to be brave. I must say, I wussed out and never made it to the high log.

Patch told me all morning how he was going to swing and he would hold on really tight to the rope. He did a great job.

With 9 kids and 4 moms, I must say we had a fabulous day!

First Day of School

2011-07-26T18:09:00.000-06:00

My cute girls started school today, they were not so happy to be in school but glad to see all their friends.

Caely is in 4th grade this year, thankfully her friend Hailey is in her same class. All her other friends ended up in a different class.

Alexa is in 2nd grade this year and she also only has a couple of friends in her class. Good opportunity to make new ones!

After we dropped the girls off, Patch went to meet his Kindergarten teacher. He is super excited to be starting at the big school this year. I can't believe I'll have every one gone!

It's going to be a great year!

Barbarians!

2011-07-22T20:09:00.005-06:00

Our friends, the Warner's invited us for dinner tonight.

We ate barbarian style, no utensils, full hands!

Krissy and Mark approached me early in the week and asked if we would want to join them for a barbarian feast. What the kids didn't know was that it would end in a major messy food fight.

I was totally on board!

We had mashed potatoes, pulled pork, chicken, pudding w/ cool whip, jello, apple sauce, spaghetti sauce and noodles, mandarin oranges, everything super messy.

Krissy slyly made a comment and then started throwing food. I think my kids were a little surprised at first and didn't realize what was going on, but once they did my girls were in full swing of the food fight while the boys stood back and watched us go at it.

When I asked my three youngest what their favorite part of the day was, all three of them responded, "when Mitch ran past your and got you in the face with pudding."

No worries, I'll find a way to get him back!

Glad to have good friends and neighbors. Such a great idea and fun memory!

Mayo's Are Here!!

2011-07-22T19:55:00.002-06:00

You know what that means?

The world shows up to play!

I think we had about 20 kids in and out of the house, it was crazy but the kids had fun. So glad they came to see us, can't wait for them to be our neighbors again...one day.

Floats

2011-07-22T19:22:00.005-06:00

Our Stake participated in building a float for the Day's of '47 Parade that will happen on Monday. They opened up the Expo center for us to go check them out. It was pretty cool, some of the designs were amazing!

This one is from our Stake, they did a spectacular job. It really was one of the coolest there.

Such a fun day!

*Sigh

2011-07-20T21:26:00.002-06:00

I love being in love. I love feeling happy and content with my life. Not that it's like that all day, every day. In fact, if you asked my hubby, kids, friends and neighbors, they may say differently. But really, in the grand scheme of things, I love my life.

I love my husband. He brings me constant happiness. I am so thankful for all that he does for me and our kids. He has taught me so much and he puts up with a lot from me. He really tries to listen to me. I am feeling so blessed to be married to him.

I love my babies. I don't even want to go in to how they are growing and changing and I will soon be missing them because they'll all be grown up sooner than I realize. They are the sweetest kids. They can be so thoughtful and loving to me and each other.

I am just in love.

Random Things I Want To Remember

2011-07-17T09:04:00.003-06:00

I went to the Sandy Costco the other day with my kids. When I was headed towards the check out with my 500lbs. cart, I realized I forgot something so I parked my kids next to an isle that happened to be by a sample table. I told them to wait there, I'd be right back and I took off.

When I got back I stopped at the sample table and asked my kids if they wanted one. The lady at the table said, "can I tell you something?" I was totally startled. I thought she was going to tell me it was inappropriate to abandon my kids, that they might get stolen or something. She continued, "your kids are the best behaved kids I've ever seen, and I see hundreds a day. They just waited there and most kids would be screaming for a sample or wandering". I was feeling pretty good after that. They are amazing kids.

As we pulled out of the parking lot, there's a traffic light that was red. Caely excitedly exclaimed, "there's a deer!" I turned to look and right next to our car was a wandering deer. It was pretty cool.
Chris and I have gone out two nights in a row, and with Tyler gone at scout camp that left Caely to babysit. She is extremely responsible and we really trust her, but I still worry when we leave because she is so young and Patch has been really hard lately.

Both nights we've come home to the TV off and my kids lined up asleep. Too sweet!
Those are some pretty amazing kids.

Gooey Gak

2011-07-16T14:10:00.004-06:00

After a long and stressful week I really needed some relief. Thankfully a friend called and was free for the day to come play. We got together for lunch, water fun and GAK making.

I was watching my nieces, so they also got to join in the fun!

The boys had Beth running a GAK race to see which one would stretch the fastest. Red won!

It turned out to be a perfect day. Just what I needed!

Missing My Boy

2011-07-13T22:12:00.004-06:00

How do you put in to words the thought of gratitude for your son being fine while a strangers is not? My heart aches for the family that had to get a call that their son won't be coming home from what was supposed to be a fun experience at scout camp.

This morning while talking to a friend I learned that some of the boys at Bear Lake might come home because they were home sick. Part of me hoped it was Tyler. I miss him. But the other part hoped that if he could just make it this week, it wouldn't be so hard the next time. The reality is, Tyler is fine, I'm the one who misses him and am anxious for his arrival home.

A few hours later I missed a call from his scout leader. Because it was so late in the afternoon I didn't figure that he was coming home but that he may be injured, broken leg or a burn or something, or maybe his leader was letting Tyler call me just to say hello because he knew I was missing him. I called back immediately. His sweet scout leader was calling to save me the worry and heart ache of knowing that my son was having fun and was fine, but there was 12yr. old boy who drowned at the camp they're at and he didn't want me to worry when I caught word of it.

I think back to the movie "A League Of Their Own". A telegram comes to tell one of the players their husband has been killed in war. As the telegram passes each woman, they have an overwhelming sense of relief while at the same time sadness knowing another will get the bad news. They can all identify with each other the anguish that's coming. That is how I feel today.

I'm grateful that Tyler gets to have this week long camp trip. I'm sure he's having a blast and hasn't given home a second thought. I know he's gaining lots of new experiences and having a sense of freedom he hasn't ever experience before. I'm excited for him and I wouldn't change sending him. I also feel good knowing the leaders he's with will do all they can to look out for him.

My heart goes out to the family and scout troop that will forever be changed.

It's Been One Of Those Days

2011-07-08T12:33:00.002-06:00

I realize daily how blessed I am to have the husband and kids I have. They really are amazing! My kids are so well behaved and obedient (for the most part). They get along well...most the time. They help around the house and play with each other. We have lots of fun at our house.

Today I decided to clean. That was my first mistake. I start with the bathrooms because they are so dang gross. Then I'm just grumpy that my family can't find clean up their gross messes or put a brush away.

Then on to the girls room. I had asked them four times to clean it "like Saturday cleaning" which means dressers are organized and closets cleaned out and the room gets vacuumed. By the fifth time I'm ready to scream. I have to step back and realize they are not as OCD as I am about things.

My second mistake...I helped the girls clean their rooms. I pulled the clothes from their drawers and refolded them, pulled out the "too small" clothes to make room. I found out that Alexa is a pack rat! She had 7 grocery bags of junk. This is her way of cleaning. She just puts everything, including garbage, in these sacks and stacks them up and calls that clean. So then we had to go through all the sacks and organize all the junk she's collected. They both have books coming out of EVERYWHERE! Under mattresses, in closets (there are three closets in their room), in bags and bags, on dressers. FOR REAL!

I just wanted a clean house. For their sanity and mine, I'm going to stop the cleaning for the day because I realize my kids are going to go back and read this post when they're older and think that was funny because that's what their kids do. And one day I might laugh at this post too, because really, they are amazing kids and I don't need to be so crazy about a little mess.

So for now I'm going to put up my feet and drink a dt. Coke. For one day, dt. Coke will save the world!

Cul de sac Of Fire!

2011-07-05T08:40:00.000-06:00

Every year our circle gets together to do fireworks with friends and family. This year we started a new tradition, a bike parade. The kids decorated their bikes and wagons, Ali made beautiful signs to carry and they blasted music through the neighborhood.

The night was amazing. The Normans and the Carliles put on a fantastic firework show, and Ali provided some great patriotic music to go along with it. Amanda decorated and made everything come together so beautifully. Everyone contributed to the dessert tables and it turned into a fabulous night.

We played our traditional game of kick ball, followed by our annual kids picture. This year we opted to not soak the kids, I'm sure they appreciated that.

I am reminded that I'm surrounded by amazing friends who touch so many lives in different ways. I'm am so thankful for the friendships made throughout my life and the joy they've brought. It's a good life!

Celebrating the 4th

2011-07-04T17:00:00.000-06:00

Today Caely ran... I am so proud of her. She did a great job! Four miles is so huge!! I'm really enjoying running with her, it's been such a relationship building experience.

After our run we headed over to Chris' mom's for some swimming. It was really nice and overcast. I took a nap while Chris watched the kids. Tyler went and hit golf balls with his grandpa and came back for a swim.

After swimming we headed home to get ready for "The Cul-de-sac of Fire". Shauna gave me this cute idea for white chocolate dipped strawberries, so Chris and I went to work making them.
They turned out super cute and yummy! I think we ate a dozen before getting them all on the plate.

Such a great day!

Wet, Wet, Wet!

2011-06-27T20:54:00.006-06:00

A couple weeks ago some friends invited us for the weekend to do some camping and boating at Yuba Lake for this last weekend. We gathered things and did laundry Thursday night, then started packing up the car Friday morning to head out.

We had gone to Seven Peaks and Murray Pool the few days before we were leaving and Tyler got a nasty burn, he missed his collar bone and shoulders when putting on sunscreen. As we were getting ready to go, Tyler was hurting so bad, he couldn't even put on a shirt.

We called Chris' parents to see if T could spend the weekend with them to keep him out of the heat and sun. They were thankfully around and willing!

When we got to our site, the wind was crazy! It was blowing so hard and kicking sand everywhere. The water was so high, the beach entry was missing and washing away into cliffs of sand. I was totally stressing, I could imagine three days of sand in my mouth and eyes.

Jack and Raimonda headed over to another site to check and see if was any better. Here's the miracle...they had TWO campsites left AND they were right next to each other! I swear, angels were watching.

We put up camp as quick as we could, the kids were dying to get in the water. The air was burning and the water was freezing!

Chris was brave enough to get out on the wake-board. I had no idea he was so awesome, seeing as he is not a big fan of water activities.
Saturday Jack pulled out the tube and took the kids for rides.
Caely was an animal! She kept going faster and flipping around everywhere, but she loved it.
Patch and Alexa were a little more mellow. Every little bump made them nervous, but they had a lot of fun and kept asking for more.
Alexa braved trying water skiing, just to fall in some rocks before she could really get started. I'm so proud of her for trying.
I have only been water skiing a couple times in my life and I've always been really slow to get up, just to be too tired to really do some skiing. Jack is such a great teacher! I got up on my first try but immediately let go of the rope because I wasn't sure what to do once I got up. I flopped trying to get up again, but then I was up and running.

Caely then decided it was her turn to water ski. She had a hard time getting up the first two times, but third times the charm and she stayed up forever! On one of her other turns, she ended up skiing for almost 20 minutes. I'm telling you, she's an animal!!
After a long, hot, sore but fun weekend in the sun, it was time to head back to reality. We missed Tyler a ton and hope he gets to catch the next trip.

Chores

2011-06-21T15:41:00.002-06:00

I'm listening to Tyler vacuum my car right now. It's a pretty sound. Here's why...

Two Christmases ago we bought Tyler a really nice mp3 player that he has lost the privilege of using over the last 6 months due to poor grades (they weren't that bad) and such (we're kinda mean). He earned it back by getting a great report card at the end of the year and is super excited to use it again.

For Christmas Tyler got really nice ear buds that he lost in ONE day. We can't find them anywhere. I bought some new ones for Chris for Father's Day and Tyler has been green eyed ever since.

Today he asked what chores he could do to earn some money so he could go buy him some fancy skull candy ear buds. His irresponsibility is really working out for me. Couple more heavy duty jobs and he might have them by tomorrow.

Lucky #13

2011-06-20T20:32:00.003-06:00

Thirteen years ago today, I married this wonderful man.

Every year we reminisce about the night before our wedding. We had a BBQ at my mom's with our families and closest friends. Then, we headed back to my apartment and waited for my best friends/brides maids to come spend the night with me. They kept calling and saying they would be there soon. At midnight Chris went and installed new speakers in his Jeep, while I waited patiently for my friends to arrive. We both remember being so tired and around 2am he said he needed to go home and get some sleep. I think around 4am my friends called and said they weren't going to make it, so I went to bed. In the morning they called to tell me they had been up all night finishing one of their brides maids dresses that didn't get done.

I went and picked up Chris around 9am to go to a work meeting and pick up the flowers for the wedding. We headed to the church to drop off the flowers, then I took him back to his grandparents so he could get ready and I could finally shower.

It's a funny memory, one that may sound crazy but we enjoyed every minute of it. It's fun to remember how young and silly we were.

It was a beautiful day. He looked so handsome. I felt so happy.

It's another beautiful day. He still looks so handsome and I feel so happy to be married to my best friend.

A Vent On Manners

2011-06-20T20:15:00.001-06:00

Tonight we took the family to dinner for our anniversary to celebrate. We reminded our kids to use their restaurant manners and for the most part, they do a great job.

The table behind us seemed to have forgotten theirs.

There was a boy about 3 that stood on his seat the WHOLE time. He kept turning around, yelling, screaming, burping, touching, the list goes on. At one point the mom grabbed him and smacked him, poor kid.

The other mother there was allowing a young child to pull her hair. Both mothers did nothing.

I struggled knowing how to handle the situation. This was not McDonald's and they should not have behaved as such. I was there to spend a nice evening with my family in celebration. I so very much wanted to walk over to their table and ask them to fix their disturbance. I didn't. I know the boy was little, and I have an understanding for that. It was the mother and her behavior and the allowance of the little boys behavior that I was frustrated with.

Not sure where I'm going with this, just that I was frustrated.

Ragnar 2011

2011-06-19T08:27:00.003-06:00

This year I ran on my neighbors team, OB/G Y am I running?

A couple of friends and their husbands were in my van, the other van was my neighbor and some of his family.

We started out bright and early Friday morning. I left my house at 6:15am to head to our drivers house. We got there, finished loading up the car and took off up to Ogden to drop off their kids and then on to Logan for the start of the race. About an hour into the right, one of the kids got car sick...on me and Amie! It was actually pretty funny. We thankfully had blankets right there and so all was well.

The kids were passed off and we were on our way!

We got to check in early, so we got to check out all the other vans coming to the start. I thought one of the coolest vans was the Angry Birds van.

Karolynn started us out as the first runner. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! Every one did really well on their first leg, despite some heat rising and hard, dirty hills.

I was runner 6, so the last one in our van. My leg was 7 miles, 1 up hill and 6 down on mostly rocky, dirty road. I think I ate about 15lbs of dirt kicked up by the cars driving by.

The last quarter mile they gave out sombrero's and a free meal to Cafe Rio if you ran the whole last part of the leg. Woo hoo! Cafe Rio!!

I had an 8.2 miler up hill in the middle of the night. It was freezing and I was beat, but I did it and made good time. We camped out at a high school after that, I slept in the car.

My last let was 3.1 miles of up and down hill/slant. It was really easy and nice to finish on such a peaceful leg. I felt great after and was ready for more. Probably because I knew I was done.

We waited at the finish line for our other van. Tried to do some sleeping, walked around and enjoyed the very cool breeze blowing.

Richard got kidnapped by one of our friends team and dressed as a barbie. I guess since he was wearing a dress, the rest of the boys thought they could try and deliver a baby!

Such a fun team.

Lot's of good times, little sleep and sore legs. Thankful it's done but looking forward to other races!

Smells Like Cookies

2011-06-15T21:30:00.003-06:00

Today is one of those days. Nothing significant has happened but I'm in a mood. It must be we're on day three of summer vacation and I'm already sick of hearing "mom, mom, mom, mom...".

My kids are amazing, I must say. I can't believe I ever complain about them because really, how can I expect better?

There were friends over all day. Lots of them. Which means lots of doors slamming and running up and down the stairs. That could also be why I'm grumpy.

I rejoined Facebook, against my better judgment. We'll see how it goes. It makes me grumpy just thinking about it. Too much drama, lots of time wasted, what more can I say?

I think the biggest reason I'm blue is, it was the Stanley Cup Finals tonight and my team lost. My heart is really sad. It wasn't even a close game and one of their goals really shouldn't have counted, but lets not go into that. I'm just bummed.

I took Tyler to a friends for a sleep over right after the game ended and when I walked in my house, it smelled like cookies.

Looks like tomorrow could be a much better day.

Too Cool For Sleep

2011-06-15T07:11:00.002-06:00

Last night Patch was in bed with Tyler (we're sharing beds while
Grandma is here) but this is how I found him this morning...

Planting A Garden

2011-06-13T06:49:00.003-06:00

Caely got me a packet of flowers for Mother's Day and one of my goals this year was to plant a garden.

I have no clue what I'm doing in that department, so we're just going to fake it!

Friday Caely and I headed to Lowe's to pick up some good dirt and plants. When we got back we went straight to work.

Little did we realize that our ground is a brick of clay! We dug and chopped forever until we finally had the ground soft enough to work with.

I think it turned out really nice and our big flower (I can't remember what we got) has already opened up and is beautiful! Stop by and see it sometime.

Saturday was chore day. The kids worked really hard on the house. They cleaned their rooms and picked up throughout the house.

Then we headed outside to plant our veggie garden. We have two different tomato plants, japelanos and zucchini. Shauna said that four was about all the room I had for, and I'm sure that's more than I can handle.

We then proceeded to wash every window in the house, inside and out AND we cleaned the blinds. Can I just tell you, I love looking out my windows now!

After all the work was done, the girls and Patch put together a picnic for themselves. It was really cute. They made an order form and put plates of food together. It was worth all the dirty dishes they made for all their hard efforts. Grandma also took them to the gas station for slushies. Perfect after a hard days work.

Bullies VS. Nerds

2011-06-09T07:58:00.005-06:00

Tyler's 6th grade class wrote an Opera this year. They wrote every word, designed and painted the set and performed for the school and parents.

Luckily my mom is in town and got to see the performance.

It was a pretty performance. They all sang, danced and did a great acting job.

Tyler and most his buddies were the bullies picking on the nerds, but of course in the end it all worked out and they all became friends.

Patch's Big Day

2011-06-07T07:41:00.002-06:00

This little boy isn't so little anymore. He finally graduated Preschool and is on to Kindergarten. The verdict is out on how I feel about this.

Patch got to spend his graduation day with his dad, who made him feel special the whole day. Patch went on a bike ride with some neighbors, ate lunch at his choice of McDonald's and then sang his heart out for his graduation.

Patch has loved sharing all he's learned with us. He had the most amazing teacher, Miss Shannon. She has been so helpful and patient with him. I can't tell you what a blessing she's been for us. I owe all credit to her for Patch being able to handle school, and if Kindergarten doesn't work out, you better believe we'll be petitioning for her to teach him forever!I am so proud of this little big man. He's come a long way and I look forward to his new adventures in elementary school.

Memorial Day Tournament

2011-06-07T06:32:00.003-06:00

Tyler had another tournament in Anaheim over Memorial Day. I took him and two of his hockey friends down with me while Chris stayed here with the kids and partied (more on that later).

It was such an amazing weekend. I'm glad I got some alone time with T before he starts Jr. High this summer.

The blew everyone out of the water! Their team has become so strong over this year, I'm really sad to see it end. Half of Tyler's team will move on to the older group so they'll be splitting up after this season. Tyler's coach is an amazing person, he is so kind and friendly. The kids love him.

The Penguins played 5 games total. During game 3 Tyler got knocked into the boards and when knee first. He was down for a while and the medic had to come take him off the ice. He did end up playing the rest of the game.

We went to lunch after and then Tyler had a game later that afternoon. His knee was pretty swollen, but I figured he wouldn't play if it hurt too much. He played, who was I kidding?

I called Chris and told him about the injury and Chris voiced that Tyler shouldn't play the last game. I had his knee looked at by another mom and we decided if we wrapped it, he should be fine if he wanted to play. I couldn't let Tyler miss playing in the Championship game!

During the final game he fell on it again. Poor kid. This is the actual picture of him going down the second time on his injured knee.

I had forgotten one of the moms works in the medical field and during our last game she said to me, "I saw Tyler's knee last night. You should really have that looked at when you get home". Now I was feeling like the crappiest mom EVER! But Tyler wanted to play, so I don't regret the decision.

My sweet uncle came down to see Tyler play on of his games. He took us to dinner, we went and saw the new Pirates movie and went to lunch the next day.
They won the Championship and we headed home. It was a great weekend.

I did take Tyler to the dr.'s when we got home and here we are, 10 days later from the accident. The dr. said he has contusions and sever bruising on his knee but all the ligaments are fine. If he still hurts in a couple weeks then he'll need an MRI on it, but for now he's looking good and walking better everyday.

Is it hockey season yet? I'm ready for another game!

The Bean Museum

2011-06-06T07:28:00.004-06:00

I got the chance to go with Caely on their 3rd grade field trip to the Bean Museum. No, it is not a museum filled with beans! They have all kinds of taxidermy animals there. It's pretty amazing. It was such a fun day, I love spending that kind of time with my kids. After we got back I checked Caely out from school and just enjoyed a few hours with just her at home. It was a great day!

It's Over!

2011-06-06T07:13:00.002-06:00

The soccer season has come to an end. I think we had more rain out days than games!

Alexa had a fabulous coach this year. She really taught the kids how to play positions worked on their strategic skills.
Alexa had lots of fun playing and looked forward to every game. She did a great job!
Patch also had a great coach this year. His coach does a really good job of giving every kid equal playing time and congratulations no matter who scored.
I think our only melt downs were that I didn't bring him water to the games. He survived.

It was a great season and I hope the kids had a memorable time playing.

Fun Fruit

2011-06-06T06:46:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago a friend challenged me to eat a fruit I hadn't before. Caely and I went to the store and she saw this beauty...It's Dragon Fruit and it comes from China. I was going to peel it with a potato peeler, but the lady at the store told me you cut it in half and eat it out with a spoon like a melon.

We cut it open and it was really pretty to look at. The taste, however, was bland. The black seeds are like raspberry seeds (which I like) but the taste is too mild and almost not there. It's kind of an expensive fruit too. No one really loved it, but I'm glad we tried it.
We also grabbed this thing...
It's a feijoa. The lady at the store also told me that you slice it like a cucumber and eat it in slices. You can also scoop it out like the dragon fruit.
I liked it, but not enough to add it to my shopping list. It had a similar taste to kiwi and something else mixed.

I think we'll try something new once a month, and I think it helps to have my kids pick what we are trying.

Harmony On Broadway

2011-05-22T09:56:00.002-06:00

Caely participated in this years spring Harmony concert her school puts on.

She would get herself up, dressed and fed every Monday since February to get to Harmony on time.

This years theme was Broadway. I loved it! I'm glad Caely got to learn some of the fun songs I learned as a kid. Now I want to show her the musicals they came from.

Caely got to sing with our neighbor, Maycee in a group solo. She did such a great job! She has such a pretty voice, it makes me want to put her in more things to help her grow that talent.

Little Fireman

2011-05-22T09:45:00.002-06:00

Patch's class had a trip to the fire department a few weeks ago. I almost didn't go because I was having a busy week but I'm so glad I did. The firemen did such a great job talking to the kids and they even let them shoot out one of the "littler" hoses. He had so much fun. I had him ask the firemen why non of them had hair (they all had shaved heads).
Their smart response was, "so when we get up in the middle of the night, we don't have bed head and scare little kids". I thought that was funny.
Now Patch wants to be a firefighter when he grows up.
*Thanks Stephanie for taking and sharing pictures.

Penguins vs. Hawks

2011-05-22T09:12:00.000-06:00

Usually a hawk could take a penguin any day, but in this case the Penguins took the Hawks!Tyler's Penguins team got to play against Alta High Schools JV hockey team, the Hawks. We thought the Penguins would have been slaughtered but they did great. I should tell you that the High School boys weren't allowed to hit/check the Penguins, so I think that may have threw off their game, but the boys still took them down 8-2.

They also played the Utah Union team that is heading down to Anaheim with us this weekend and won them 5-2.

It's been some good practice for this weekends tournament.

Good luck boys!!