4 miles and that is that

I ran 4 miles yesterday morning! WooHoo! I haven't ran 4 in a long time. It actually didn't feel like it was killing me either. I was a little nervous to run that far since I was feeling a cold coming on, but I was hoping the run would burn it off.

Nope. I was wrong.

Every hour that passed I felt sicker and sicker. I finally decided to take my temperature last night and it said103! No wonder I felt like crap. Ick. So I am wondering if I have the influenza. I am not feeling much better today.

You know I am really sick when I can't even finish the season finale of LOST! Hold on, wow! I just was so done for the day and couldn't stay awake another second longer. Luckily we have the best invention ever made and we can hopefully finish it tonight.

Watermelon, Rain, & BBQ equals Memorial Day

Brrrrr. Brrrrr. Brrrrr. So what is a gal to do when 21 people are getting together at my house for a BBQ and it rains? You squish them all into the house, silly! Totally not my plan. Dang. Oh well, it actually turned out okay. We just brought in the patio chairs and the kids ate in the "dining room" (I use that word loosely since normally there in no table or chairs in the dining room, ha!), and all of us adults squished in the kitchen and family room. Everyone was great sports about it and luckily it wasn't pouring so the guys didn't actually drown while grilling the meat. But the temp outside was only in the 50's and my hair was little crazy with the humidity. Luckily it is usually DRY since my hair is fluffy/ugly/kinky if there is moisture in the air. But back to the point. We had plenty of good food (thanks to everyone chipping in) and lots of good conversation. That is all you really need for a Memorial Day. Oh, that and lots of watermelon. :)

Hello, did I go a little crazy on the amount of watermelon we needed????

Ellie was in watermelon heaven

The day wrapped up nicely with full bellies and stronger friendships. The kids were happy and so were the parents. AHHHHH.... Now back to real life again, dang.

Sharing a little MP3/love time together at the end of the day

Family that isn't really family & other random things

To put it simply, today was a great day. Primary went well. Presidency meeting was good (I love those ladies, they rock at what they do!) We got to go the Craig's house for some homemade ice cream (yum!), Annie painted the girls fingernails, and we got to talk to the adults that we don't get a lot of chances to normally talk too. Then we went to the park to say goodbye to a great family that is moving out of the ward. She has been the perfect visiting teaching partner in history... thanks Rachel! Tons of families showed up to the park to eat goodies and share goodbyes. It just struck me how many great people are in our ward. I already knew that, but being there tonight just made that feeling stronger. It just felt like a family tonight. I loved it. There were so many great people to have conversations with and the kids all had fun playing together or playing kickball. We have been in the ward for almost 4 years now and I think it is now starting to feel really comfortable. We have had the chance to see a lot of changes in the families in the ward, seeing the kids grow up, seeing new babies join families and new families joining the family. I don't know, I just really enjoyed myself. It didn't hurt that it was beautiful cool/warm weather. And when we left the sunset was gorgeous. My picture can't even capture it right, but here it is.

Other random things. We decided to try to pick out some more flowers/ground cover for the backyard and had fun going to the nursery to see all the beautiful plants and flowers. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with it all because I want it all fully grown in now and I want it to be perfect, so then I can't even choose what to get or what to do. But I got over it and hopefully what we planted will be great (even though I have to wait for it all to fill in under the trees.) Carter helped this time with the planting and he was a natural. It is fun to see him digging in the dirt and planting. We got dirty hands and it was great.

Ooh! My had looks old! Ack! :)

Brayden got a "new" bike. Woo hoo! He has totally outgrown his old bike (not too mention one of his brakes is busted) and I was dreading having to pay for a gear bike for him. He hasn't had gears before so it was about time! Luckily when we were driving home yesterday we noticed around the corner from our house they were selling a gear bike that was the perfect size for Brayden. Yippee! We pulled right over and said we would get it. (He did test drive it first!) He had been feeling jipped since Kennedi was given a cute gear bike a few months ago. Now Carter is the jipped one. He will just have to wait. So the kids had tons of fun going on lots of bike rides yesterday all around the neighborhood and trails. It is such much easier on all the hills around for them to be able to change into an easier gear. I love for them to be in the good ol' outdoors and enjoying time with each other. And how nice that I didn't have to pay full price for his "new" bike and not a penny for Kennedi's.




Good weekend so far! Now we get to all be together tomorrow for Memorial Day. BBQ's, here we come!

Flowers Make Me Happy

If I had all the money in the world I would have gobs of flowers growing around my yard. But seeing as I don't have all the money in the world, and the money I do have is earmarked for 20 different other projects, the small flower bed will have to do. Just a little flower bed makes me happy. Oh, how I love those cute little flowers. Ahhhh, spring and summer are so good to me.

The flower planting crew

Serious Business

Freeze.

I am thinking that now is about the best time to freeze my life just where it is. Brayden is almost 11 now and so close to the brink of "teenage" attitude that is it almost scary. I can almost feel the precious time ticking away each and every single day. He is so close to no longer listening to my advice and thinking that I might actually have good ideas. I am sad about it. I wonder if I have squandered away these last 10 precious years of his life. Have I taught him enough? Have I given him the tools to make it in this world? Have I helped him build a strong enough foundation that outside influences won't break him down? I don't think I have done enough. But what is enough? I think as a Mother, I will never think enough is enough. There is always more to do and to say. My children are healthy and are still at a fun stage (well 2 going on 3 wouldn't actually be called a fun stage, but it is funny a lot!). I do wish I could freeze time. I need more time. On the flip side I do wish a lot that Brayden was old enough to be the family babysitter. I would love more time to just leave the house with just my husband and not have to plan out all the details of getting a babysitter. But that time will come and it is coming faster and faster...

It has been fun to watch the kids go outside in the perfect Spring weather and play their version of baseball. Or to go in their room and play multiple games of their new favorite game of Monopoly. (That is if they can keep the destroying Ellie out of the room). It is rewarding to see your kids love and have fun together. I think that is why it hurts so much to see them when they are arguing and bugging each other too. I love my kids. They can change my emotions so quickly it is crazy. If they only knew what powers they hold over me. I hope they can be strong and stand up for what they believe. But first, we have got to get them to believe in all the right things...

I love that they love Monopoly, I loved it when I was a kid too!

Camera, camera, camera...

I need a new camera. My "nice" camera isn't acting so nice right now. I can't get it to focus on what I want it too. It is very LAME! I don't want the fence behind my kids nice and crisp and then habe my kids faces blurry. So what to get???? Do I dare and get a SLR camera? (The price on those suckers hurt!) I would really need to take some classes to learn how the heck to use it, but they take such nice nice nice pics. (The 2 first pictures below of Carter playing soccer are from my friends nice camera, can't you see a major difference in the quality, wow!) I have been using my spare small little camera lately and I have gotten some decent pictures but nothing like I use too. I actually miss my film camera from the good ol', my Canon Rebel. But I love digital. Even though it makes me take 100 pictures instead of just 5.

Anyway, oh the joys of not having anything else more important to worry about. Life must be good.

Sunday Reflections

Here are some thoughts I had rolling around in my head at church today.

• What am I doing with my own testimony to teach my children by my example?
• It's not enough to not participate in something we don't agree with, we need to voice our standards and expectations.

I am clearly not making my testimony grow as quickly and deeply that it needs too. I need to work harder and become the kind of example my children need me to be. They are growing up so fast, my time will be gone before I know it. It takes work and I need to remember to work at it and not just hope it happens. I have been so blessed to grow up with the Gospel in my life and it is time to show gratitude for what I have been given by increasing my testimony.

A little video of my sweetie, Ellie.

This is all worth it...

And Done.

Soccer season is over. Do I hear applause? It was fun to have Carter in soccer for the first time, but it is always nice when it is done. Spring soccer is fickle. One weekend it will be lovely with green grass and birds chirping and the next weekend hits and bam, we have to haul out the winter coats and we freeze, you know what off, while we endure the 50 minutes of cold, windy, chill you to the bones weather. Carter decided he likes soccer better than flag football. I think he understood it better and that makes it better, don't you think? So now that we are done, we are back to our free weekends with nothing to do. (HA!) Great job Carter, it was fun to see you play and to enjoy a new sport! Keep it up buddy!

Trying to keep warm! Brrrrr.

Go Archuletta

Go David Archuletta! What is not to like about this little guy? He is humble and a great singer. I hope he stays that way. I grew up probably about 5 miles away from where he is from. So that is my claim to fame, ha! He was actually visiting at my parents ward at the very beginning of the try-outs for American Idol so they have been tuning in every week to see what happens too!

I am not saying that I don't like David Cook, but whatever happens I think big things will happen for Cook so I have to go for Archuletta.

It's been a fun season for us mormon fans!

Field Day and Lame Mom Sickness

I have the lame mom sickness today. Today is Field Day at the kids school. I put Ellie in the jogging stroller (which I still have Kat! I will give it back eventually) and walked over to the school to watch Brayden play all his fun games in the great outdoors. I took some pictures to document that I am actually a cool mom and I go support my kids. It was fun and Ellie was nice and good. We went home for lunch and a break before Carter and Kennedi's field day started. I decided to take the van this time to the school because we weren't staying long since Ellie needs a nap. So I pack us up to go and promptly forget my camera, dang! So no pics of Kennedi and Carter. Sorry guys, but I promise I was there! Ellie was a wild woman this time and she was trying to perform for everyone by going up in front of anyone that would listen and she would sing. She is such a busybody. Then she decides to run out into the field to play (mind you this is just after I told her to NOT go onto the field) and she immediately gets smacked into and pushed onto the ground. So now we have screaming. Dang, not so fun. Oh well, at least we went and showed our faces.

1 Week Old

I haven't had time until now to write about my new baby nephew! He is so cute and perfect. I was lucky enough to go up to Casper and spend a day with my sister Patrea before she was induced. She was so sweet (and so was Chad) to let me come into the delivery and watch Tyson be born. I have never done that before and was lucky to be there. Patrea had him so quick though that I didn't even get much time to take it all in! I left the room for her to get her epidural and by the time they were done, she was all ready to have the baby. After 2 pushes, he was out! Wow! I told her she should have 20 kids, but she thinks that 4 is enough. :) I got to hold that sweet new baby and got to spend time with their 3 other kids. I loved it. Taft was nice enough to stay home with our kids so I could go help. It was fun to help get the kids ready and take them to school and clean someone else's house. I wish I could keep up my house as good as I could keep up her house. It was great to actually see Patrea 9 months pregnant. We went out for lunch the day before the baby was born and had a little sister time. I just love her. She is one of my best friends and I wish we lived next door to each other. (But she would have to move here because I don't want to live in Wyoming, ha!)

Anyway, it was hard to leave that new sweet little baby and the rest of the family. Luckily we only live about 4 1/2 hours away so we will have to visit soon.

Welcome to the world little Ty!

Mother's Day 2008

I like Mother's Day.

I love that I am a Mother.

I don't love all the jobs of a mother but I am glad I am one.

I am no where a perfect mother.

I wish I was.

I wish I had more patience.

I love when my kids play sweetly together.

I hate it when they fight.

I love hearing my kids laugh.

It makes me sad when I hear them cry.

My life is wrapped up in the lives of 4 precious kids.

I wish I would remember more often how precious they are.

My wish for the next year is to sit back and enjoy the moments that are happening everyday.The big the small and the in between. Time is slipping away so quickly. I need to enjoy it now.

Mother's Day was great once church was over. :) I had to conduct, do sharing time, have the primary kids make cards for their moms and coordinate the men subbing for the women in primary so they could go to Relief Society. So I was a bit busy! But it was all over at 12 so I had the rest of the day to enjoy.

Brayden made me eggs and toast for breakfast. It was very sweet. They were a bit cold and a bit slimy, but totally wonderful. :) Taft was awesome and got me two sets of a dozen roses. Ahhhh, I love fresh flowers. He planned and prepared a yummy yummy dinner with cheesecake and my favorite chocolate satin pie. Chocolate heaven! He took care of the kids and cleaning and everything! I think his day was busy too! We enjoyed the time after church with Todd, Kat and their girls, and that made it even better. We are lucky to have family close by! I got sweet homemade cards, a booklet and an handmade candle stick holder. Always precious!

I like the ZOO again!

Most of them look happy :)

Now that I know I can handle all the kids by myself I decided it was time for a trip to the Denver Zoo. It really is a great zoo. We have a membership but haven't used it since August! How lame am I? Last Thursday was a nice cool/warm day to go but I guess tons of the schools around thought it was a good day to go also. There was a ton of kids there! Oh well, we still had a good time and since the zoo is huge, there was plenty of room for us all.

Ellie loved seeing all the animals and in between each exhibit kept asking so see more animals. She has been asking about going to see the animals this past week too. So I guess she liked it! The nice thing about having a membership is that you don't have to see every. single. thing. It is just too big of a zoo to do it all in a day without having the parents/kids melt down.

Brayden wasn't ecstatic to be there but he was a trooper. It is nice having a kid getting older and helpful. He was my official "push the stroller with all the stuff" guy. It was nice not to have to worry about that stuff since Ellie was out and about enjoying life.

We had Kennedi's friend Emma with us. She is such a sweet girl. The girls play so good together and are fun to watch. They thought the giraffe house was stinky but enjoyed everything else. Especially ice cream/cotton candy break. We are sad to have Emma move away to Texas in a few weeks. We will miss her and her family!

Look at that guys fro! Wowsers!
That was one of the best exhibits I saw! Hee hee.

It was a happy day at the zoo. I loved the weather. The kids were great and we loved being outdoors! Yeah for the zoo!

Do Not Disturb

This is what I found on my boys bedroom door this morning.


HA! I think they forgot that the 2 year old of the house doesn't know how to read! :)

Wow! Another Month Gone By

I swear that the older you get the faster time goes. It seems like the weeks are whizzing by! So I am going to try to catch up a little with some of the happenings around here. Let us start with today.

The kids are off track and I want to do some fun activities with them. I have been pretty lame with doing fun things in the past because a 2 year old isn't the easiest to take on fun activities. So we decided to go to the pool today. Ellie is so much easier now! She will actually just play in the water and not go far away. Man, that makes my life so much better now. I don't feel like a stress case anymore with her when we aren't at home. Brayden, Kennedi, and Carter loved the big curvy slide and went on it over and over again. You know what the best part was? I didn't have to get completely in the water! But I still have to get in a suit. But in a few years that will just be a memory.

Earlier in the morning when I was getting ready for the day, I heard Ellie scream, one of those scary screams when you know something REALLY is wrong. I ran to her room and the first thing I see is her dresser tipped over. I was searching to see if she was underneath it, but luckily she wasn't, she was actually sitting right next to it. So I guess she had opened a drawer to climb up to the top and it fell over. So scary! It shows you how fast things can happen. Luckily all that happened was she got a bump/scrape by her eye. I am just so thankful it wasn't worse.

Ouch!

Yesterday was a big day for Kennedi. She was so excited. She got her glasses. Her eyesight really isn't that bad but bad enough to need glasses at school so she can see the board better when she sits at the back of the classroom. It was fun to hear her reaction after she wore them for the first time. She could see all the details on the trees and the signs and everything. So nice to see crystal clear!

All clear now!

Okay, so I wanted to catch up more, but that is all I am doing for now! The End.

Eve of Easter

The morning started out cold on the sideline of Carters first soccer game. He was really good! His team only made one goal and he passed the ball to his teammate and he made the goal. It was good to see him working hard and trying really intently to get the ball. I was proud of him and he really likes it a lot. So yippee! I don't love going to games every Saturday, but it is good for him to be out there working with a team and getting some heart pumping exercise. We only had a one week break between Braydens basketball season and soccer season.

It's bright out here!

Later in the afternoon was the annual Easter egg coloring! We all had fun doing this. I don't think Ellie has ever gotten to color eggs before so she was excited to learn all about it!

Waiting for the show to begin!

We all had fun and I even taught Taft a new easter egg trick that he had never done. You cut out shapes out of tape and stick them onto the egg and color it and after you color it you peel the tape off and it is still white underneath, so wahlah, designer eggs!

Look closely!

It is fun to see how differently every kid and parent likes to do their eggs. I guess it goes to show that no two Easter eggs are alike!

Ellie was a little rough on the eggs... she was having so much fun that she started to crack her eggs. Hmmmm. So the kids got to eat some of the eggs for a snack! Yeah for Ellie being two!

Can you see the cracks? Oops!

We have church at 9 in the morning, so we are going to wait for the big hunt after church. It doesn't help that it snowed a little bit this evening. Doesn't make for a fun early morning Easter egg hunt! Hopefully it will be dried out in the afternoon.

Happy Easter Eve!