"I am Superman!"

Since I am trying to use this blog to document my children, I thought it was time to write some things down about my Emily.

She is the answer to many, many prayers. I was always pretty sure that it wouldn't be easy for me to have children, but I still wasn't prepared for the emotional roller coaster it would be. Dallin only took a few months of medication. With Emily, when that same medication didn't work, I was really nervous that Dallin might be it for us. Obviously, he wasn't, and we were blessed with our little girl.

She has been a lot of fun, but has definitely kept us on our toes. She is the exact opposite of Dallin in almost every way. He is very meticulous, she loves a mess. He is kind of quiet and shy, and Emily loves to be the center of attention.

This first picture is of Emily in Dallin's superman shirt. She just came downstairs one day with it on and yelled, "I am superman!" It was adorable.

She didn't like to sit down and read books with me like Dallin did, until she was about 18 months. Now all day, I hear, "Read the book, please."

She loves all of the princesses. She knows them each by sight, and I can't wait to take her to Disneyland in March and watch her face light up when she meets them.

She can hold her own. She doesn't let anyone take anything from her without a fight.

She is a lot more girly than me. She loves purses and shoes and started putting her shoes on when she was 18 months. She also loves babies and dolls and is upset if she ever sees a baby without a binky or blanket. She doesn't like to sit still to have her hair done. We are working on this.

She is very sweet and loves to give kisses.

She can sing her ABCs and loves to learn new words. She is very proud of herself when she learns something new. It is hard to understand her sometimes, but she knows what she is trying to say. She loves to sing and sing loud.

She has freakishly amazing fine motor skills. (Which doesn't help me at all because it allows her to open child-proof bottles, and get into things she shouldn't.) She could open and close a zip lock baggie at a year old, and yesterday she peeled her orange all by herself. Crazy girl!

She loves the water like her mom and brother. (Jeff likes the water, but mostly just when he is water skiing!) At Dallin's swim lessons, Emily started stripping her clothes off to jump in the water. She started crying when she didn't get to go in. Don't worry, I signed her up for swim lessons today!

She is definitely like me, and I hope I can be patient with her. :-) (As I was writing this, she brought her cup into the living room and spilled strawberry milk all over the floor...typical day at my house).
I love her so much and think she is so much fun! She is not afraid to try new things. I think she will be an awesome big sister. I am grateful for Emily.

100 things that make me who I am...

In my last post, I introduced you to my wonderful hubby. This time, I thought I would let you get to know me a little more. I have LOVED reading these lists by other bloggers that I stalk. Here of some of theirs: Jill, Laurie, and Melanie. One of my goals this year is to truly find myself and focus on my own gifts and talents. This list is a good start to see how much I know about myself.

1. I am a mom to 2 awesome kids, a boy and a girl, and I have a little boy on the way.
2. My little boy is exactly like his father. He has been a joy to raise.
3. My little girl is exactly like me, and has not been as easy to raise. It is terrifying to see so much of me in her, also a little humbling. She is fun, though! :-)
4. I am a runner. It took me a long time to put myself in this category, because I am not super fast. But, now that I am pregnant and can't run, I watch runners in the rain with pure envy, and I know I am a runner.

5. I have run 3 marathons.
6. I would love to qualify for the Boston Marathon one day.
7. I have a long way to go to make that goal. I hate admitting that, and I am scared I won't make this goal.
8. I LOVE people. I love getting to know any and everyone. I think everyone has something great to offer the world and I want to find it in each person.
9. I also want to find what I have to offer.
10. I played trumpet for 7 years.
11. I would love to learn to play piano.
12. I LOVE to sing, but I am horrible. I signed up for beginning vocal lessons at BYU 3 times, and dropped out of the class 3 times. I am afraid to hear that I am one of those few people who will never learn to sing.
13. I graduated from BYU in Microbiology with a minor in Chemistry.
14. I enjoy learning about web design and have my family site that I maintain to show updates of my kids.
15. I have 3 sisters whom I love dearly. We are all 2 years or less apart in age.
16. I have a little brother 9 years younger than my youngest sister. He completes our family perfectly.
17. I am the middle child, and fit the description in more ways than I like to admit.
18. I love all sports, but unfortunately am mediocre at all of them. :-)
19. I played softball, basketball, and cross country in high school, but never lettered.
20. I did letter in Academics.
21. I graduated a sememster early from high school. I still am not sure why.
22. I love playing all games- card games, board games, you name it, and I am more competitive than I like to admit.
23. I tried scrapbooking and had to give myself permission to quit. It is okay that I am not good at it. At least I try to convince myself of that.
24. I am very left brained. I love science and math, and I don't have an ounce of creativity in me. I am trying to find that part of me. Any ideas?
25. I love listening to others.
26. I love children and always have a million kids at my house. I hope it is always this way.
27. I teach a Kids Gym class at the Y. I love when kids come to me at the park and say, "Hi Teacher Kelly." I love watching children learn.
28. I think I am a great mom, but a terrible housekeeper.
29. I am working hard to get better at cleaning.
30. I have no depth perception. I can never tell how far away from a curb I am, and I still can't parallel park.
31. Because of my lack of depth perception and living in the mountains, I was terrified to get my license.
32. I rolled my car 3 months after getting my license. Luckily no one was hurt.
33. I LOVE being outdoors. I am a better summer mom than winter mom. :-)
34. I love anything in the water. Waterskiing, wakeboarding, swimming, just being on a boat.


35. Like Laurie said, I think Lake Powell is a little peace of heaven.

36. I love owning a boat and I hope we can find more friends with the same passion.
37. I am scared of what others think of me.
38. I am shy in a big group if I don't know many people.
39. I work with the Young Women at church and I love it.
40. I am still very close to my leaders from when I was a youth, and I hope to have the same relationship with my girls when they are moms.
41. I was married 8 years ago in the San Diego temple.
42. I thought I would graduate before I got married, but I was wrong.
43. I loved finishing my degree with my hubby.
44. I loved taking classes with him, but I secretly wanted to do better.
45. Amazingly enough, I did do better. :-)
46. I wish I was more artistic. I envy creative minds.
47. I am not a fancy restaurant girl. I never know what to order. So, I stick with Olive Garden and Red Robin. :-)
48. I was junior prom princess. But 2 weeks later I was not reelected to be secretary of my senior class. I would have felt more honor to be secretary.
49. I didn't kiss a boy until I was 16.
50. Then I kissed too many. :-)
51. My best summer was the summer at the Glenwood in Provo. We had a blast!
52. I am afraid of failure.
52. Sometimes this means I give up before I can fail. I am trying to change this.
53. I love learning new things.
54. I miss school.
55. I am very loud, sometimes too loud.
56. I love to laugh.
57. I love to make people laugh.
58. I grew up in the LDS church.
59. I truly gained my testimony in college.
60. I wish I had understood the power of the scriptures when I was a teenager. I try to teach my Young Women to rely on the scriptures now.
61. I am a very tolerant person, and I owe this to my parents. I never once heard a racial slur or joke come out of their mouth. I don't like racial jokes because of this. I don't like generalizations about groups of people and try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.
62. On the other hand, Jeff called me a "Utah racist" when we first met. I had heard interesting things about "Utah Mormons" and thought I would never marry someone from Utah.
63. I am glad to say these things were proved wrong by almost every "Utah Mormon" I met, including my husband. :-)
64. I love to dance! (But I don't really have rhythm!)
65. My wedding reception was a rockin' dance and the funnest night of my life!
66. I say things without thinking.
67. I am disorganized, but learning as much as I can.
68. I have ADD. (This is a hard one for me to put out there, but it is who I am.)
69. I wish I would have know this when I was younger. It would have helped me understand myself better.
70. I love snow skiing. I forgot how much I loved it until Jeff surprised me and took me for my birthday and it was one of the most magical days.

71. I love watching football. Especially with Jeff. We have had fun times at pro football games.
72. I am kind of a tomboy, but wish I was more girly.
73. Decorating my home does not come easy for me, but I am learning.
74. I hate to shave. (But I love the feel of newly shaved legs on clean sheets. I stole this from Melanie.)
75. I love food!
76. Unfortunately, this means I struggle with my weight.
77. Luckily, I discovered my love of running, and this helps balance my love of food.
78. I have always been self conscious of my "curvy" figure.
79. I secretly envy tiny girls.
80. I had a hard time getting pregnant with my first 2 kids and thought that it was somehow my fault.
81. Then I had this "surprise", no-fertility-help pregnancy, and I know it has nothing to do with me. :-)
82. I LOVE sleeping, but have a hard time falling asleep. When I am not pregnant, I average 6 hours a sleep at night. My brain never shuts off. See #68
83. My mind is always racing with a thousand thoughts. See #68
84. I lose my keys, credit card, cell phone, camera, etc more times than I would like to admit. See #68
85. I love just talking with people.
86. I love movies, but have a hard time focusing on them, so I don't watch many.
87. I have close relationships with many people, and treasure all of them. I feel especially close to those I run with, because of the kidless time that we have together.
88. I fear that I spread myself to thin, but would not give up any of these friendships.
89. I love being a mom, but fear that I am not doing a good enough job.
90. I love being a wife, but fear that I am not doing a good enough job.
91. I think I understand the plan of salvation, but I still fear death.
92. I am long winded.
93. I went to many inner-city elementary schools and am stronger because of it.
94. I love going places with my family.
95. I love the sound of my kids giggling.
96. I am not a good journal writer because I get impatient retelling the story I just lived!
97. I always thinking about the next thing, I want to change this and really enjoy the moment. Each moment.
98. I like blogging because it is quick and easy. (usually, not this one!) I just wish I had more interesting things to say.
99. I love reading books, but can't sit still long enough to read sometimes.
100. I am tired of the elliptical machine and can't wait until I can run again.


Whew! It is crazy to sit and try to see how much I know about myself. I would love to hear if any of you have anything in common with me. I also love reading these lists, so if you haven't done one, please do and then let me know!

31 Reasons I am lucky to be married to Jeff...

...I love these posts where I learn a lot about someone quickly. So, here is your introduction to my sweet hubby and what I love about him.


1. He is very tender hearted. He never wants to hurt others' feelings.
2. On the other hand, he is very quick witted and I wouldn't want to be at the other end of his jab. He is hillarious!
3. He is patient with my weaknesses.
4. He is an amazing father. I never really saw him with kids before he were married, and he is just phenomenal with our children.
5. He bought me a boat. :-) One of our first conversations was about water skiing, and we both knew this would be important to us. We always joked, "Boat before couch." Not quite, but it was, "Boat before new floors." Which brings me to number 6...
6. We just found out the Pergo floors go on sale in Feb. (woo hoo), so he has agreed to put in new floors before Baby #3 comes. No more carpet in the dining area. :-)
7. He is the calm to my chaos.
8. He agrees to go to social events that don't particularly interest him because he knows it makes me happy.
9. He supports any and all of my crazy goals.
10. When I didn't know if I could run a marathon, he bought me my mp3 player and told me he knew I could do it.
11. He promised my mom I would graduate from college, and I did!
12. He works hard in his profession.
13. He helps around the house.
14. He wants me to stay at home with the kids.
15. He believes in me.
16. He loves sports and playing sports with me. We have enjoyed many pro sports games together, one of his favorite things to do. Go Rams! Go Red Sox! ( I hope to take him to a Red Sox game in Boston someday.)
17. He is active in the church.
18. He goes to the temple with me.
19. He treats me with respect.
20. He trusts me with money and doesn't question my spending.
21. He takes me to visit my family often and doesn't complain about it.
22. My parents LOVE him! (I think sometimes even more than me, ha ha!)
23. His family is awesome! I can honestly say that I have never had any "in law" issues. I am extremely blessed with wonderful in laws that have always treated me like family.
24. He was willing to go to Disneyland, even though he had no interest in it, and then agreed it really was the "happiest place on earth."
25. He doesn't mind that a fancy dinner is Outback or Red Robin. :-)
26. He takes me to concerts that he isn't so much interested in- for example, Kelly Clarkson and So You Think You Can Dance? He lets me still be a 15 year old girl!
27. He supports me in my Young Women's calling in church, which takes a lot of time sometimes.
28. He bought me my Garmin!
29. He has beautiful eyes, the softest skin, the best pockets (ask his high school), great soccer legs, awesome smile. (I had to throw these all into one so I could say more about him.)
30. He makes me happier than I could ever imagine.
31. He loves me for me.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart. I truly am blessed. For everyone else, I am sure this was too sappy, but it was fun!

Happy New Years 2007!

What an original title! Oh well, the new year is exactly the reason I am blogging. I love the beginning of a new year. It is a great time to look at how far you've come, and what you would like to be doing differently. It has been a great year for our family. Last year was rough when we found out my dad had brain cancer. It has been amazing to watch his recovery and feel his strength. It is hard to complain about your own "little" issues when he doesn't issue one word of complaint. I feel very lucky to say that he is off of chemo and so far the tumor is not growing. What a wonderful blessing. He was able to retire in August, and I am really happy that he is just able to spend his time however he would like. I love you, Dad!

Jeff is enjoying the work he is doing at the moment and that makes him a lot happier. Unfortunately he had a few accidents this year and both his ankles have been injured. He was able to go skiing on Wednesday and he is starting indoor soccer again. I hope he will be back to his active self shortly because I know that is so important to him.

I have been very blessed this year. I love being at home with my kids and watching them grow and learn. It is not always easy and my main goal for this year is to just try to enjoy each moment. I feel in some ways I am always living for the future and I think it keeps me from appreciating the present. I am excited for this new perspective and hope I can remember it when I am up all night with a baby again. :-)

I am still in shock that I am going to have a third child. I watched my friend's 4 month old today, and it was awesome to watch Dallin and Emily try to entertain him. I learned that I will not be able to leave Emily alone for even a second as I found Baby Harry with a big book on his tummy. Very sweet! I can honestly say I am looking forward to having another child. I finally feel that I will be able to do a good job. I am not as scared and I really feel at peace when I think about it. I hope Heavenly Father knows how appreciative I am of this amazing opportunity.

Dallin and Emily have grown so much this year, especially in their relationship with each other. We didn't want to put them to bed tonight because they were laughing and chasing each other and just having so much fun. They each are so different and I love learning about each of them. Dallin is a miniature replica of Jeff, and I see so much of me in Emily that it scares me. I hope I am doing a good job with them. I just hope they know how much I love them.

I really want to try and use this blog more for journaling. So, I guess I better recap Christmas. :-) On Christmas Eve, we had dinner with our good friends, our next door neighbors, and my kids participated in their first nativity. Dallin was a wise man and it was really sweet.

Right before dinner, Emily shoved enough toilet paper in the toilet to flood our kitchen. It was a great start to the night. :-) You had to just laugh. We had a great dinner and a wonderful night. When we got home we let Dallin open 2 presents- his Christmas Eve "Cars" pj's and somehow he knew which present was the "Pteredactyl Track." So, it ended up being a later night than we hoped as Jeff had to put it together and of course, play with it! I don't know who had more fun, Jeff or Dallin! We forgot to make cookies for Santa-oops!

On Christmas morning, Dallin woke up first. He found his scooter and he was pretty happy. I let him open his stocking and then we waited for Emily to wake up. Then we woke up Jeff. :-) It was really cute to watch the kids get so excited to wake Jeff up. Emily loved her princess scooter also.

We opened all the gifts and then drove 4 hours to Sunriver. Our friends were staying in a house there and invited us to join them. I was a little sad to be away from family, so we decided to take advantage of this. It was such a relaxing time! I just lounged in sweats and enjoyed hanging out with everyone.

We took the kids to the ski resort on Tuesday. They have a tubing run that Dallin and Jeff really enjoyed. Emily was too little so we just played in the snow. Dallin loved tubing with Jeff. I took him down twice and the second time I knocked him off his tube. I left the tubing to Jeff after that!

On Wednesday, Amy and I packed up the house and sent Jeff skiing with her teenage son. Then we took the kids to the park. They played in the snow for 2 hours. They loved sliding and jumping into the snow. It was a blast! I was glad we let them play for that long because the car ride took an hour and a half longer than it should have. They handled it very well.

We had a "pretend" New Years Eve party on Saturday night that was a lot of fun. We brought our dance pad and Dance, Dance Revolution. There were about 14 couples and 30 kids! It was a little crazy, but we all had a good time. Our actual New Years Eve was pretty low key because our friends got sick and canceled plans. So, we just watched the ball drop. :-( Oh well, lots of great memories this holiday season. Now, we are just trying to get through getting rid of the binky. After spending 5 hours in a car with an almost 4 year old who is still attached to his binky and cried every time it dropped, I told Jeff we better get rid of Emily's well before this baby comes. She is barely 2 years old, but is pretty willful! The first 2 nights she screamed and screamed, but tonight she went right down. So, we are crossing our fingers. Wish us luck!

Whew! I guess that was kind of a random post. :-) I am ready for my best year yet. :-) I want to have a good attitude and be grateful for all of my blessings. I want to use this blog to keep track of how I am doing. Thanks for all of you who comment. I love getting to know you through blogs. I have learned a lot by reading yours.

Look what Santa brought us...

If you can't tell what it is, it is a cute little boy outfit that says "Mommy's little gift." And this was the sign that we are having a little boy- yeah! To give you a little background, my ultrasound was originally scheduled for the 28th of December. Someone suggested scheduling it earlier and then having the tech put the pics in an envelope and then wrap it and open it on Christmas. Well, we came up with a cooler idea. I happen to have a good friend who is an ultrasound tech. She agreed to do an ultrasound and then wrap the pics and a pink or blue outfit for us. The catch was that Jeff had no idea I was doing this. :-) In fact, his insurance is changing, so our ultrasound date was even pushed back to January 8th. Didn't he think it was weird that I didn't freak out when the date was changed?! Anyway, so I snuck out at 5am Saturday morning to meet Marnie. It was so cool just to see the baby. I felt an overwhelming sense of awe and wonder that I am really going to be a mom again. She had me close my eyes when we were in "that area." I got back home around 7am and Jeff was none the wiser. :-) He did ask me at 9:30 if I slept as horribly as he did, and I could honestly answer yes!

So, I have been going crazy for 2 days, knowing that there is a picture of my baby waiting to be opened. It was the last gift we opened. Jeff was completely confused, as I knew he would be, and when I explained it, we could figure out what it was together! We are having a little boy!! We are both extremely excited, and Dallin was glad to find out his wish came true. It was a great Christmas morning. I will post more pics of the kids when we get back on Wednesday. I just wanted to get these up. Merry CHristmas.

One day at a time...

... this is how I feel I lived this week. One day, one task at a time. After spending most of Ocotober and November sick, and then it was my week to teach preschool, this week was catch up on Christmas. :-) Luckily, most of my shopping was done, but I had some details to take care of.


Monday- Laundry (as usual) and recover!
Tuesday- Mail off gifts to my parents and my siblings- done! Pick up Christmas cards.
Wednesday- Address and send all Christmas cards. I was really happy with how they turned out. Here is the picture we used:

It took me a couple of hours to figure out how to print addresses on the envelope, but now each year will be a snap! My experience on the computer always comes with a lot of trial and error. I also put a personal note in each one, which took longer than I thought. Felt a little guilty ignoring my kids, but they had friends over and didn't notice. :-)
Thursday- Make cinnamon rolls and give to neighbors and friends- check! This was one of my favorite days. We did some visiting teaching, and brought a birthday card to one of my girls from church, and then met with friends at Safari Sam's. Dallin had a blast playing with his friends and it was a nice change. Right after, I watched Sarah's kids so she could go to her second LONG ultrasound. It was absolutely delightful. I specifically waited until they arrived to work on the cinnamon rolls. I knew it was a perfect project to do with W. while the boys played and Emily slept. We had a wonderful time. W. and I spent 3 hours together baking and just chatting. I feel lucky that she is letting me get to know her. She even gave me a hug when she left. :-) I will miss that family, but I am excited for them to be with their WHOLE family for Christmas. They also brought me beautiful jewelry and the kit to make them myself. My husband thanks you for the new hobby, Sarah!
Friday- Playgroup at the church. I also updated my family web site. Then we watched 6 kids for date swap. It was actually a pretty relaxing night. The kids played really well and Jeff and I took turns going to the Y to work out. I love our date swap. We watch kids one Friday a month and then have the next 3 to go on dates! Woo hoo!
Saturday-5am- wake up after 6 hours of sleep to do a surprise for Jeff. He has no idea...ha ha...will report more after Christmas! Find snow clothes for the kids and Jeff- check!! We are now officially ready to play in the snow!

So, that was my week in a nutshell. I am so ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas. Sunday we only have the first hour of church and then we are having dinner with our good friends- our next door neighbors! We are going to act out the nativity, which my kids have never done. I am looking forward to it. On Christmas morning, we were invited to join our good friends in Sunriver, OR. They are renting a house with a pool table and spa and we will get to relax and play in the snow. It is so what I need. :-)

What are your plans for Christmas?
Was this week crazy or were you more prepared than I?

The Winner is...Lightning McQueen

I never thought I'd see the day when Dallin chose something over Thomas the Tank Engine. Not only that, but I didn't realize how sad I would be over it. Dallin's love of Thomas started when he was 20 months. I worked at the YMCA and his favorite thing to play with was the train table. When Costco had their train tables on sale for Christmas in September, I did not wait to buy it. I pictured Dallin quietly playing, while I did whatever I wanted. :-) He wouldn't go near it at first, and I was so surprised and disappointed. I finally figured out it was because the train table came with "generic" trains. I had never heard of Thomas, and here my 1 1/2 year old is a "Thomas snob!" I bought Dallin's first Thomas train off of someone whose kids had grown out of it, and from there on, Dallin was hooked. He wouldn't go anywhere without Thomas. Before he was 2 he could name about 20 trains and their colors and numbers. He could recognize them by their faces and was constantly correcting me. (Still one of his favorite things to do. :-)) Over the next 3 years,
he collected many trains, and built many tracks. He would spend hours building and rebuilding cool tracks. Lately, he has been "designing" the track on paper and then building it. That has been fun to watch. We went to "Day Out with Thomas" for the past 3 summers and he was in heaven.
Thomas trains were the expensive prize for potty training, and grandma had fun buying Thomas trains for 40% off at Michael's. Everyone loved adding to his collection and he was easy to buy for. He really did learn a lot from Thomas. His first words he could spell were the names of the trains. M-u-r-d-o-c-h was a particularly fun one to hear a 3 year old spell! We have had some good times.

Well, move over Thomas! Now there is a fast, red car by the name of Lightning. Maybe Thomas is too slow for Dallin. Who knows? All I know, is Dallin is in love with Disney Cars. He doesn't ask for Thomas shirts anymore, but he wants a Cars shirt. He doesn't want a Thomas room anymore- he wants a Cars room. He still played with his trains for a while, but the other day I was shocked when his friend came over and said, "Can we go upstairs and play trains?" Dallin said no. But the big shocker came when we had our preschool gift exchange. Dallin's gift to give was a Lightning McQueen car that says things when you drop it like, "I was built for speed, not slammin!" When he opened the gift from his old Thomas buddy, Ethan, he had a disappointed look when he saw it was a James (Thomas train) pull train. I couldn't believe it. Luckily, Ethan was equally disappointed by Lightning McQueen, so they traded back and went home with their own gifts.

So, that is the end of my tale. Thomas has provided us with many memories. Emily likes to play with Thomas. And hopefully Baby #3 will love Thomas as well.

Zoo Lights

One of my favorite traditions since we moved to Oregon is the ZOO Lights. You go to the Zoo after dark and the whole place is decorated in lights. They have cool light displays with monkeys (just lit ones!) swinging through the trees and reindeer jumping across. The best part is the train ride. Kudos to Jeff's work for planning their Christmas Party here. We had a blast! Jeff is always amazed at how the Zoo has their own climate-freezing! When we left the house, Dallin didn't want a jacket, and then of course, once we got there he was glad I brought it- along with gloves, a hat, and a blanket! Emily was so darling as she kept calling out the different animals she saw in lights. She especially loved the elephants. Dallin's face on the train was priceless, of course. Nothing brings him more happiness than riding on a train.





After the train ride and walking around, we met Jeff's coworkers inside for a yummy catered ham and turkey dinner. There was also the annual white elephant gift exchange. This one was particularly pathetic as they specifically told people not to buy anything, but just bring something from home. All in all, I think we did well. We brought "Babe-Pig in the City" which we have never opened, and Dallin picked out this cool remote control monster truck. Can you tell he knows he was the winner? :-) What a great night. Bring on more holiday fun!

I get by with a little help from my friends...

A good friend and I had a conversation the other day about raising kids. I will admit that I am a firm believer that we all need to help each other out. The whole, "it takes a village..." philosophy. Without having family nearby, I have been very lucky to have an extremely supportive group of friends. When someone has a new baby, we all make sure that the toddler is taken care of so that mom and baby can get rest and the toddler still gets to play with friends. When mom is sick, many of my friends are more than willing to help out. It is a true blessing. I try to be on the giving end of this as much as possible. Today I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end. My good friend Suzie Petunia could tell that I was at my limit today and offered to take Dallin. I didn't know how bad I was feeling until I crashed for 3 hours! I felt like a million bucks when I woke up, and I knew it was what I needed. It is hard for me to admit when I need help so I really appreciate Suzie just offering. I tried to say no, but I am glad that I took her up on it. She has been an amazing influence in my life and I truly feel lucky to know her. Thanks Suzie!(Here is a picture of us, so you can see that we hang out more than just in our Marathon Mommy shirts!)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This is definitely my favorite time of year! I am not a big decorator. In fact, Dallin, my 4 year old, was upset that I didn't do very much for Halloween. October was a hard month for me, so I excused myself from it! Anyway, Christmas is a completely different story! We have our "tree in the window" and today was such a beautiful day that Jeff was able to put up our second story of lights. (I will show pics when I get a good one!) We bought our lights 5 years ago, but we didn't buy enough and were never able to find the same ones again. By some strange coincidence, Suzie Petunia happened to have the same ones as us, but wasn't using them anymore, and kindly donated them to our cause. Thanks, Suzie!
To continue with the Christmas spirit, today I took Dallin and Emily to see Santa fly in on a helicopter to our local shopping plaza. It was very short (took all of 5 minutes and they were even earlier than advertised, so many of my friends missed it!) but it was pretty cool and the kids loved it. Then I took Dallin on a "date" and we went to see Suzie's Christmas Concert. They did a great job. Her hubby, Zook, was the narrator and was wonderful, and my favorite part was watching cute pregnant Suzie rocking out to "A Charlie Brown Christmas" music! Sorry that everyone else missed out. I really do admire Suzie and Zook for their involvement with this cause. It is called Voices for the Performing Arts and their whole goal is to support fine arts in the school and the community. They are both dedicated members.
After the concert, I left with one of my good friends to try and catch some of my Young Women (teenage girls that I work with at church) in a dance competition. They went on earlier than they were supposed to and the directions were horrid, so we actually didn't get to see them dance. :-( We did talk to the girls and hopefully they know our hearts were in the right place and we will catch them another time.
The next stop was a shopping center that had all of the places I needed to go all together in one area. I am not a huge shopper, I like to know what I am getting and get in and out. This doesn't always work out like I plan, but today the stars were aligned and it was amazing!! I got almost all of my Christmas shopping done and even found an awesome steal for my sweet Emily. It is a Graco 10 in 1 Playset for dolls. It has a swing, stroller, play pen, high chair, carrier, bouncy seat, diaper bag, etc etc, and it was on sale for $20! I had seen these for $50 on line!! I couldn't believe it. She will go crazy. It will be fun when I have my little baby and she will be able to put her doll in the swing right next to the real swing. Anyway, what an awesome day. Sue is one of my closest friends and we had a wonderful time just chatting the day away. She is actually the one who spotted the playset. I wish I would have bought 2, so I could sell one on ebay! Whew, I am ready for bed. I hope everyone is enjoying the season.

The Mom I want to Be...

What a crazy week this has been. I have felt so sick that much of the time I have literally laid on the couch and watched many children(including, of course, my own) just destroy my house. I didn't even have the energy to ask them to pick up after they were done playing. Each night, as Jeff would call to say he was on his way home, I would find it in me to clean up just that day's mess. He has been an angel, even did the grocery shopping for me. The only other thing I have barely had enough energy for is to blog hop. This is where I go from blog to blog reading about amazing women and their cute families. I have learned a lot and found many fun ideas that I want to implement in my own home. Unfortunately, I also spent a lot of time thinking about all of the things I am NOT doing. I am NOT a scrapbooker, I am NOT a seamstress, and I am NOT a crafty person. I am in awe of all the beautiful things all of these women create, on top of raising their children. I start to think that I should be doing all of that, too. Then, I just feel overwhelmed, and want to crawl into bed and do nothing. Well, today that all changed for me. I am still going to go to these blogs and learn from other people, but I am also going to focus on being the best mom I can be. I am definitely more left-brained than right-brained and enjoy puzzles, word games, books, math, science, etc than I do crafts projects. And I realize now there is nothing wrong with that. The sad thing is I have felt so wasted that I didn't even pick up my scriptures since Monday. Luckily, that is what I did today. I felt very strongly that my children were sent to me for the gifts that I CAN share with them. Even though I may wish I was more artistic or craftsy, I am not, and beating myself up about it is not going to help the situation. I need to be the best Me, and if I do that, then I will be giving my kids what they need. Does this make any sense? I appreciate any comments you make. I truly learn a lot from all of you.

A tribute to my favorite 4 year old

Wow! I just love my little boy, Dallin, so much. Yesterday, Emily was really sick, and I was not feeling so great myself, so we just laid on the couch. Dallin was a great little helper and did not complain once. When I asked him to get the thermometer, he said, "Yes, my loving mama!" It gave me a needed laugh. ( I think my scholarship boy can give your scholarship boy a run for his money, Suzie!) Then, I sent Jeff and Dallin to our weekly Family Home Evening with friends. Here was one of Dallin's outloud conversations with himself while he and his buddy were working on a puzzle.
"170 pieces- woah! I can't even count that high. Oh wait, yes I can. It comes after 169." Jeff was cracking up when he told me this story.

I have always enjoyed watching him learn. When he was really little, my favorite game was to teach him random things and see what he could pick up on. When he was 2, we were at Lake Powell with all of Jeff's family sleeping on a houseboat. No one could get to sleep because Dallin kept saying, "Grand-ma-Di---- three syllables." "Ha-ley---2 syllables" while clapping his hands. He has a great memory so Jeff loved teaching him new words in books without telling me. So, we would be reading a book when he would all of a sudden say, "dragonfly" or some other big word that I had no idea he knew. He has always loved letters and numbers, and I hope he continues to have that love.

He is also just a sweet boy. Sometimes this means he gets clobbered, and I hope to teach him to stand up for himself, but I love that I don't usually have to worry about him hitting, kicking or biting anyone. He is just a nice kid. I love that I feel comfortable leaving him with people and know that he won't cause too many problems.

Of course, we have our struggles. He can throw a huge fit when he is not ready to leave someone's house. Getting him to eat has always been rough. But overall, I have just enjoyed being his mom and learning from him. I hope he knows how much I love him.

Tell me what you love about your kids.

Family and Traditions

Here is a beautiful turkey that was made in my oven...

too bad I didn't get to eat it! Jeff's parents came to town this weekend and suggested that we just relax and eat at Marie Calendar's. I wasn't sure what to think, and kind of thought I was a slacker for agreeing, but it was so nice to just enjoy Thanksgiving Day, knowing that someone else was preparing our meal. My good friend and neighbor, Amy, borrowed our oven, and slipped in and out to check on her turkey. That is when I felt really guilty. But honestly, we had a great time and created new traditions. We played games, watched a movie and the best part was when we went to our local museum, OMSI.





What a fabulous time just watching the kids play. There is a really cool sand box and so many things to explore you can't possibly see it all in one day. It was so fun for Grandma and Grandpa to see Dallin and Emily in their home environment. Emily is really talking a lot and kept them laughing. Dallin just wanted to play Uno the whole time and spent hours printing up "Cars" pictures to color. I wish we were able to see them more, but we are grateful they came to spend Thanksgiving with us. (And for my own defense, I did cook a few meals while they were here.)

They left early this morning. It was a beautiful day in Oregon and we decided to take advantage of it. (If you have been reading Suzie's posts you know it has not quit raining for a while.) We trekked up the road a little ways and picked out a Christmas tree. When we moved to Oregon, we bought our first house. One of my quirky requirements was to have a window for a Christmas tree. Then I was delighted when I saw how easy it is to cut down your own tree! (In fact, I am still a little dismayed that Suzie is using her "fake" tree, but I won't mention it.) Our first Christmas here, I was eight months pregnant, but that didn't stop me from having my tree in the window. I am glad Jeff enjoys this as much as I do and the kids had a great time as well. We also put up some of the Christmas lights. I am excited for the traditions yet to come this year.

What are your favorite traditions? I am always looking to add to ours.

Stop on by and say hello

Okay, this is my post to recommit myself to posting! I love reading others' blogs and getting to know them through their words and their pictures. I never think I have enough "cool" things to say to post very often. I have decided that I am going to let go of my pride and remember I want to post often so that I can remember the cute things my kids are doing. I also want to be able to think about my blessings on the days when I don't feel things are going so well.

So, I am asking for all of your help in this. If you are a lurker, make a quick profile and just say hi! (This includes my family!!) I look forward to getting to know more people. (And okay, I will admit it, I look forward to more comments and validation.)

Here are some things I am thankful for:

1. A wonderful and supportive husband who is awesome with his kids. (Our first date was 9 years ago yesterday!)

2. 2 sweet kids who crack me up every day.

3. A pregnancy that I wasn't expecting (pardon the pun) but that is such a blessing.

4. Parents who taught me to accept and treat all people the same. They are both amazing and nonjudgmental. I hope that I picked this up from them.

5. Sisters who have stuck by me no matter what.
6. A little brother who came 9 years after the youngest girl and is such an important member of our family.
7. Knowing that I am a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father.
8. Kids who forgive my shortcomings quickly and often.
9. Friends who are there for me when I don't think I can do it on my own.
10. Marrying into a wonderful family who accepted me as I am. I feel so lucky that I don't have the in-law horror stories. I just wish we lived closer to family.

Okay, that is all for now. I am not going to promise I will write every day, but hopefully at least every other day. Thanks for all I have learned and keep learning from everyone.

Thank Heavens for Grandma Nise!

Okay, I just want to tell my mom how grateful I am that she spent this last week with us. I have truly been spoiled and the kids have loved every minute. I will post more pics, but I just wanted to get this up quickly so she would see it when she gets home! It has been wonderful!! I got to sleep in, have my meals cooked for me, house cleaned, and kids played with. All the while, I got rest and time to paint the new play room that I love!! It was just the jump start I needed in this pregnancy...

what's that you say? You didn't know I was pregnant? Well, a couple of people have emailed me on the sly as they have deduced this announcement in posts I have made on other blogs. I am happy to announce we have a third child coming to our family in mid-May! I can finally say I feel a little more ready. :-) This was a huge shock because we went through fertility treatments for our other two munchkins, and felt that two kids were great for us. Jeff loved to say when we were asked if we wanted more kids, "If the Lord wants us to have more kids, it will be in the normal way." Never did either of us actually believe this would happen. So, here's to you, Jeff! The timing was a little crazy because Jeff just had ankle surgery and was on crutches for a month, and I had just decided to overhaul my house to create a pantry and playroom, replacing the office with an armoire. (A whole new post on its own, coming soon...)

So, we had an awesome week with grandma! I did give her a break a little :-), but she loved cuddling with Emily in the mornings and we went to visit her sister, my Aunt Brenda this weekend. The drive there was not great, but overall a wonderful time. All I can say is thank you, thank you thank you. There is just times when all a girl needs is her mom. I love you, Mom! She was an answer to many prayers. (And Jeff, thanks for the lovely clean carpets. You rock!!)

Happy Halloween!

I know you are all tired of looking at my "cans" so I thought I would put up my cute kids instead. We had such a fun Halloween. Our good friends came over with their darling little boy to spend Halloween with us. Dallin was on a trick-or-treating mission as he "flashed" from house to house without waiting for his mom or little sister! Emily was darling as she refused to let go of the cute Halloween pumpkins that they use for the candy. (Thanks Grandma Nise!!) She said "Happy Halloween" after every house and loved putting more than one candy in her bag. We are all sugared out, but enjoyed every minute. How was everyone else's Halloween?

PS
I can't wait for my mom to get here tomorrow. I hope she is ready for all the painting projects I want to do, hee hee!!

"Look at My Cans!"

Thanks, Suzie, for the kick in the can to post. Ha Ha! Anyway, this statement refers to my awesome friend Suzie's blog. It is about time I update!



So, really, look at my cans! Aren't they gorgeous? One of my other really good friends gave up her little boy's precious naptime to help me, her organizationally-challenged friend, create a pantry. (I also can't forget to give kudos to Suzie who came over last month to help me rearrange my front room to look more inviting. Are you catching the pattern here? I need lots of help!) I LOVE, LOVE LOVE my new pantry. There is still much work to be done and I should show you the state of the office upstairs, where all those wonderful toys were transferred to, but I won't. I will show you the finished room later. It will be wonderful, trust me.

One thing my husband learned is if he really wants me to get something done, have Suzie tell me it's a good idea. He had mentioned moving the toys upstairs a few months ago. It wasn't until last week, when Suzie and I were enjoying a wondeful, quiet conversation downstairs in her beautifully decorated and clean living room, with the kids all playing upstairs, that I was finally motivated to do something about it. Another example of the power of Suzie is this Endurance 50 hoopla. I was seriously considering driving up to Seattle and running the marathon. This wouldn't have been too crazy a few months ago, as I would have at least been physically able to handle it. The truth is, my running has slacked lately, I have put on a few pounds, and I just plain feel like crap. I still wanted to run. :-) My hubby thought I was nuts, but I was still determined. Once Sarah said I was nuts, I realized how insane of an idea it truly was. Thanks Suzie!(She did consider running it for a split second though!)


Other update, my darling Emily turned 2 today. She is so much fun and I am grateful to be her mom. Her favorite things to do are wrap blankets around anything, and hold my good friend Amy's, Baby Harry. She is a fesity little girl, with a strong will. She also has a big heart and will blurt out, "I love momma" for seemingly no reason at all. She loves to color on anything, including, of course, the walls. She opened a new shopping cart from Grandmi Di this morning and was so excited!



Well, that is it for now. I will try to update more often. :-)

Tears of Motherhood

I know I am not a great blogger, and the main reason is because I am self-conscious of my writing ability, or should I say, my lack thereof. Anyway, today was one of the hardest days I have had, and I thought I needed to document it, regardless of my skills. Here goes:
We are leaving for Lake Powell tomorrow, and I spent the first part of my day running errands. Around 4:30, I finally had a chance to start packing. I went outside to take the trash out and get some clothes out of my trunk. Dallin immediately went outside and grabbed Emily's trike. (She was sleeping, so I guess he thought it was fair game.) He just rides up and down the sidewalk. I saw him speeding back toward me and it was then that I noticed my neighbor's truck had its trailer hitch sticking out into the sidewalk. I tried to warn Dallin, but it was too late. His leg hooked the hitch and he started screaming. I ran toward him. I didn't think it would be too bad, but I pulled up his shorts and gasped.
There was a one inch long gash about a half inch wide and about a centimeter deep. I was so terrified I froze. I held him in my arms and walked back and forth for a minute. My neighbor was there and she helped calm me down. She went inside the house with me and we laid him on the couch. He was still crying and didn't want us to touch it. It wasn't bleeding too badly. My neighbor told me to look for gauze and athletic tape. I was able to find both and our other good friend showed up at that moment and helped me bandage Dallin up. I thought Dallin would need stitches so I called the Dr. first who told us to come in. He said they could do stitches there if we needed them. I called Jeff to let him know what was going on. My good friend and neighbor, who is a paramedic, came and looked at Dallin and told us he definitely needed to go in and she thought they would reccommend stitches. She told me to call her if they were going to do stitches because I would need support. She took Emily for me so that I could take Dallin on my own. Dallin was very brave in the Dr. office. They told me immediately he would need stitches. Jeff asked if he could make it in time and I didn't think he could, so I called Amy. She came in to give support. When she told me I would have to hold Dallin down, I started bawling. No mother should ever have to do that to their child. He screamed through the numbing medicine, and at one point Amy asked him if he could really feel it, and he stopped for a minute and realized the pain was gone. :-) The relief in his eyes was priceless. From then on, he was all smiles. He actually thought it was kind of cool that he couldn't feel anything. He then preceded to fall asleep while they were stitching him up. I wish I had a picture of that. I have never felt such pure love and heartache at the same time. I never want to watch my child go through that much pain. Yet, I know it will happen again. Probably not in the same way, but it will happen nonetheless. We are here to learn and grow and make choices. Some will bring us happiness, and some will bring us sorrow. I think I understand a little more how my parents felt when I made decisions that weren't the best. I hope they know how much I love them and appreciate their unconditional love. I hope Dallin knows how much I love him no matter what. I will hold his hand and cry with him whenever necessary.

Enjoying Life's Journey

Well, as I get ready to endure the craziness of airport security, I wanted to write some thoughts and goals down. I read a book called Enjoying Life's Journey- Choosing Happiness along the Way. It just reminded me that I have control over my happiness. I am determined to have a positive attitude and enjoy each moment, especially with my children. Unfortunately 2 of my good friends each had a parent die this week, so it has caused me to rethink life a little bit. Life is definitely too short to stress over little things. I want to do all I can to make others happy, including myself. At Girls Camp I encouraged the girls to never be the reason that someone else is looked down upon. I want to issue the same challenge to myself and anyone who reads this. Let's lift each other up! We are all truly on the same side. I have so many things to be grateful for, especially wonderful family and friends. I love all of you!!

Vacation, vacation

This is for you, Suzie P, my loyal reader and friend. :-) Anyone else who visits this site, please feel free to comment! I just thought I would do a quick update. This has been a whirlwind 3 weeks. The first week I spent at Girls Camp and had an awesome time with my teenager friends! Thanks to my good friends willing to watch my munchkins, and my sweet hubby who took good care of them while I was gone. I know they loved being with their dad. The second week we spent 4 relaxing days at the lake with our good friends. We had so much fun playing in the water and just enjoying time as a family. I don't think I have had that much downtime in my entire life. :-) I got a lot of water skiing and wakeboarding in and Jeff was able to get up on an air chair. I will put up pics when I get back from California. Which leads me to where I am now. I am lucky enough to spend both of my parents' birthdays with them. It has been fantastic! We first went to Knotts Berry Farm with Grandma Nise and my big sis Crystal and Tony and the girls joined us. It was so fun, although Dallin was a little disappointed that he couldn't go on many of the roller coasters. I am trying to use this to my advantage to get him to eat more food. Am I evil or what?! That night, we went to a very cool Pirates dinner show which mesmerized my little Emily! Shelly came down from Utah to join us, which was a nice surprise. On Saturday, we went to an outdoor musical production of Sleeping Beauty. Even though it was past her bedtime, Emily was singing and dancing- so cute! The rest of the time here has just been spent relaxing at my Aunt Marlynn's with her and her wonderful kids and playing at the park near my parents. It was been great watching Dallin and Emily become better friends as they rely on one another. It has also been great for my to just enjoy being with them. So, there you have it, my vacation so far. I miss all of my friends back in Oregon!

Okay, I can't get the pics on this, so if you want to see pics go to www.myspace.com/marathonmommy20Now you know my dirty little secret- I have a MySpace account! Add me to your friend list. :-)

Happy (Belated) 4th

I am still not very good at this whole blogging the day it happens thing. :-) After the race in the morning, the rest of our day was awesome. We played at the park for a while and then went home and relaxed while Emily took a nice nap to get ready for the long night ahead. We played over at the neighbor's house for a while.


Then we went to an AWESOME party put on by our good friends. They have a huge deck and backyard and many of our friends were there. They fried a turkey and we just enjoyed good food and good conversation. Emily was very clingy to us, I think she knew what was to come.



Our friends put on a great fireworks show. This is the part where grown men become little boys again and I love it! They truly find their inner pyromaniac and I enjoy watching the results.


The invitation to the party said, "100 bottles of beer, 500 fireworks, 0 fatalities." We didn't participate in the beer :-), but the fireworks were fun. Dallin really likes the sparklers.


All in all, it was a great ending to a fun weekend. Jeff had the whole weekend off and we did some boating and playing but mostly just enjoying time as a family. I feel so lucky to have them!