Every once in a while...

...I get a picture I love!

All 3 kids in school- how did that happen?

I was asked quite a bit if I was sad about seeing my baby go to kindergarten. It is hard to feel sad when your child is so excited that they set out their clothes 2 days before school and then sleep in their clothes the night before!

So, it made it much easier on me that Bryce was thrilled to join Dallin and Emily at their charter school. It also helps that he has the same teacher the other 3 had and she is phenomenal! I feel very comfortable with my kids there.

We started the morning with oven pancakes and pictures at the door. :-)

And really, 3 1/2 hours goes by very quickly! I had met up with friends for breakfast, ran an errand and then it was time to pick up Bryce. We went to lunch together and then went home and had some one on one time playing Ticket to Ride. He then went upstairs and played some video games and I relaxed in front of the TV. We made cookies for the other kids and then they came home!

I guess we were ready for routine after a summer with no rules. :-)

I will post more summer pictures later.

Teaser Post

We have had a very low key, but fun summer. We had the wonderful experience of watching our children participate in events that they loved! Dallin's baseball team had a great season and ended up getting 6th in the state. There were many highs and lows, but I loved every minute! Emily had her theatrical debut in not one, but 2 plays and they were a week apart! She was in her element up on that stage. It definitely warmed my heart to see them find their niche. It was a lot of time, but I wouldn't change a thing! 

Due to the baseball and theatrical commitments, we did not pack a bag until our camping trip on August 9th! We have been gone pretty much ever since! Jeff's family came into town for 6 days and it was wonderful being with all of them. We rented a house on the beach and had a great time all together. We were only missing one of Jeff's siblings, so we had 33 people in one house (I think that's right.) Jeff and his family left the beach on Sunday, and I was lucky enough to be joined at the coast by my dear friend, Ranell and her kids and we stayed at her beach condo for the next 4 days. It was heaven for me to be at the beach for a glorious 8 days and I couldn't have asked for better weather! Here are some pics and there will be more to come! 

 Emily was Cleo the Cat in the Cinderella play. 

 Dallin played pitcher and shortstop and lives and breathes baseball!

 Dallin's coach and team were awesome! What a great season! Go Dirtbags!

 Dallin with his loyal fans!

 Emily's favorite part was singing modern songs up on stage, like Rolling in the Deep, by Adele!

 This is her second play, Love's True Tale, and it is a musical written by our talented friend, Alicia Moore. It was performed on our city's outdoor stage and we loved it!

 All of the adults in Jeff's family on our couch! :-) 

 Bryce loves to tube!

 Dallin ended up getting first place in his grade in this fun run!

 Bryce ran his little heart out!

 Kristyn, Rylan and Mialee joined Jeff and Rob for an early morning ski run! Jeff had to show his brother our awesome skiing river. :-)

 Spent one day at the beach with a good friend of Jeff's at an amazing house!

 Ella and Emily adopted this dog while we were camping!

Gotta love camping!

Whew! That's it for now, but I have a lot more pics to upload! Thanks for hanging in and seeing my post about Guacamole for so long. :-)

Holy Guacamole!

I interrupt my blogging break to bring this announcement! I can now get guacamole (REAL guamole, not processed crud!) in single servings. The hardest part will be limiting myself to one a day.




That's it, folks. Carry on. More blogging later.

My Comeback Marathon

I wrote about my marathon from this weekend.

Here is the link.

Lots more to write about. Here is a quick synpopsis:

1. Baseball, baseball, baseball- I LOVE watching Dallin play. My favorite way to spend an evening. I even accept that he is the pitcher now and I am not QUITE as nervous. 

2. New entertainment center getting built. (Today!) We will love this!

3. I have a kindergartner- wow! All 3 kids at the same school next year.

4. My mom and Harold came out to visit and we had a fantastic trip to Silver Falls. Needs its own post! We had a wonderful time with them on the boat, at the Bonneville locks and just hanging out!

5. Emily is just a doll and I love her!

Celebrating Bryce

My youngest is 5. That just seems unreal to me. I am sure loving my time with just Bryce. He makes me laugh every day. He still cuddles me and offers to help with chores and he is smart as a whip!! He definitely keeps me on my toes. Today he asked, "Mom, what kind of animal is a grenade? " I was a little confused until I realized that he was talking about the song, "I would catch a grenade for ya..." He knows the words of almost any recent song on the radio. I try to keep him listening to only the clean ones! :-) It used to be just the Kids Bop versions, until my kids discovered Pandora. I love how much he loves music and dancing. He is a pretty good little breakdancer. He has his tough moments too, such as when he thinks he is smarter than me, but let's focus on his good qualities. :-) We had a birthday party on Saturday. I wanted to go to Pump it Up or some place similar but he wanted to have it at home like his friend Spencer. I am not a huge fan of throwing birthday parties, because it is not easy for me, but I am glad we did this. It took me out of my comfort zone and I think it went well. It was a sports birthday party.

Today, I just tried to make as special as I could. I let him play video games all morning and then we went to a frozen yogurt place for (ahem!) breakfast! He wanted a haircut (silly kid!) and then we went to Costco for a hot dog (and other things, but he thinks it's for the hot dog!). We had gone to Red Robin on Saturday, our birthday tradition and he whispered to me right when we got there (Mom, are you going to tell them it's my birthday?!). So, tonight for dinner he wanted Wendy's. The other thing he asked for was to go to Fun Club. This is the Child Watch at the YMCA that is only for 5-10 year olds. He has been watching his brother and sister go and was just excited to be old enough. I hadn't planned  on working out, but I checked if they had openings and they did. We brought bathing suits in case they got to swim and they did- woo hoo! They had so much fun!

I just love this little guy so much and I am so grateful he is mine.

Marathon Craziness

I don't always like to post about my marathon training because I know many of my readers (all 5 of you!) think I am nuts. I don't want to add to that notion. :-)

However, marathon training is truly a big part of who I am. Running has been a solace for me and has brought me amazing friendships and answers to prayers. That sounds cheesy, but it's true. I have been on a little bit of a quest to find my more creative side, and I read that running can be a creative outlet and "zen" like and I realized that's what it does for me. I love it!

So, about a week after my miscarriage, I decided to sign up for a marathon. I knew I needed something to get me out of bed and get me moving. I am very goal oriented and I enjoy knowing what I will be doing that day. I realized that one of my friends, Stephanie, was training for the same marathon and it is her first one. Thankfully we run about the same pace, so we have been a great match (I think!) for this training cycle. I am not in a place to do speedwork and some of the other runners are running much faster miles than we are. It has been a fantastic training time and I have enjoyed getting to know Stephanie even better. She has been very dedicated to her program and it has been rewarding to see her reach each new "milestone." We will be running the Newport Marathon in 3 weeks. I am very excited to run the marathon with Stephanie, as long as I can keep up. I still feel like my body is recovering. We had a great run on Saturday and she wrote a fantastic post about it. Thanks Steph!

2 weeks ago there began a few emails asking if anyone was signing up for the St. George Marathon. I didn't really think much of it because my last St George Marathon was in 2010 and it was very disappointing. I felt ready to qualify for Boston and had worked very hard. The weather was warm and I just could not keep up the faster pace. I decided to take a break from marathons and begin trying for another baby. I didn't think I would want to do St George again. As I saw more emails, I was hit by the bug. I started getting excited about it. I knew that with a full marathon already under my belt, I am in the perfect spot to begin speedwork. I still need to lose about 10 lbs, but I have about 6 weeks before training would start. I ran it by Jeff thinking he would nix it, but he told me to go for it. So, there was 2 groups of us that decided to sign up, including Sarah from Texas (yeah!), and even Jeff surprised me by signing up for his first one. So, here we go.  I am excited to train with Jeff and all my running buddies. (except for Marnie- who will be having a baby- lucky girl!).

Why I run-
1. For exercise- I have always known my body needs intense exercise.
2. For endorphins- I love how I feel after a run.
3. For clarity- My mind is clearest during a run.
4. For friendship- I love a chance to chat and get to know others.
5. For accomplishment- I love setting and achieving goals- and getting back up if I don't make a goal.
6. To be an example for my kids
7. To be outside in nature
8. To see the world a different way
9. To be strong
10. To find myself.

Happy Mother's Day (a good time to Catch up!)

Today has been a great day to reflect on being a mom and the moms that have influenced me. My only request for today was to sleep in. We had a long day yesterday and I couldn't wait to just sleep as long as my body needed. It was wonderful! Jeff made breakfast and dinner and the kids presented me with cards and hugs and cute homemade gifts.

Yesterday was a very enjoyable day as a mom. I ran in a half marathon and Jeff, Emily and Bryce were able to high 5 me at mile 4, and then drove over to Dallin's first baseball game of a tournament. I finished the race and then headed over to the game as it was ending. I was bummed to miss it, but glad that I would make the next one. We had a couple of hours to kill so we headed out to a beauiful place that I had been wanting to check out called Horning's Hideout.

Dallin's second game was a nailbiter. Dallin was the pitcher for a couple of innings and the score was 10-8 (we were the ones behind) going into the last half of the inning. One of Dallin's teammates hit a 2 run homerun to tie it up and then Dallin was up with a runner on base. He ended up hitting that runner in to win the game! He was so happy! I had the instant thought that I wanted to call my dad and then remembered that I couldn't. I did however realize that he was watching the game. I have felt that before at some of Dallin's games. My love of baseball comes from my dad.

We then went to a talent show at the church where Emily and Bryce both performed. I was so proud of both of them. Bryce has especially surprised me with how much he has been practicing. He was determined to get the song down perfect. I am sure this determination will serve him in his life. (Although it does make for some frustration!)

Catch up Time
We were lucky enough to have my sister Shelly and her husband Nate and their 2 cute kids, Owen and Lydia, come visit us last week. I loved getting to know my niece and nephew and had fun just spending time with my sister. We played games, went out on the boat, and spent time at my favorite place- the ocean. We are so glad they chose to spend their vacation with us! Thanks for coming!