Hexagon Happiness

RunnerWatches.com

2011-04-27T10:24:00.000-06:00

Since my last post was in January you can tell I've been busy with other things. The main consumer of my time has been setting up my new website runnerwatches.com
It's been a learning experience but I'm excited to sell GPS watches, sports watches, and pedometers. In my experience I have found that keeping track of my time and distance has helped me be a better runner which also leads to a healthy body.
Check out my website runnerwatches.com and let me know what you think!

Books Read in 2010

2011-01-18T15:42:00.002-07:00

It was suggested by a friend and fellow book lover that I post the titles of the books/series I read last year:

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Blind Side by Michael Lewis

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer

The Book of Mormon translated by Joseph Smith, Jr.

Inkspell Series by Cornelia Funk

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Akhenaten Adventure Series by P. B. Kerr

Guardians of Ga’Hoole Series by Kathryn Lasky

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Alphabet of Dreams by Susan Fletcher

Fablehaven Series by Brandon Mull

Icefire Series by Chris D'lacey

The Crusader Trilogy by Michael Cadnum

The Darkest Age Series by A.J. Lake

Bullies in the headlights by Matthew Buckley

Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull

Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull

Tangled Roots by G. G. Vandagriff

Of Deadly Descent by G. G. Vandagriff

Ingo Series by Helen Dunmore

Stoneheart Series by Charlie Fletcher

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

The Serpent Tide Series by K.L. Fogg

The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

The Associate by John Grisham

The Youngest Templar Series by Michael Spradlin

Beneath the Surface Series by Jeni Grossman

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

The Mima Journals Vol 1 - the Water is Wide by Marianne Monson

Shirts and Pants and Shoes, Oh My!

2011-01-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

133 pairs of shoes. 2 33-gallon yard garbage bags and 12 storage bins of kids clothes (I still haven't tackled me and Trevor's closet). We cleaned out all the clothes and shoes that the kids and us have outgrown. I'm still not quite sorting and storing but a vast majority of it has been sold or given away. I have to give a huge thank you to Maggie for motivating me to do this monumental clean-out not to mention she stood next to me for hours sorting the clothes. Because of her I can admit that "My name is Angela and I'm a clothes hoarder". Once I admitted it it was a lot easier to part with so many clothes and shoes.

Bedtime Zoo

2011-01-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

Gabriella and her neighbor friend, Kyle, love to pile all of their animals on their beds and sleep with them. you can't see some of the animals cuz she has them under her and her blanket. It looks mighty uncomfortable to me but she got a big kick out of it. My favorite is her Flynn Rider doll (aka "Zapunzel's boyfriend") sitting in the prime spot on top of her "Unicorny" pillow pet.

Marvelous, Magnificent Michelle

2011-01-10T19:27:00.001-07:00

Michelle was student of the week (aka captain of her class) this week. It was a fun trip down memory lane when searching for pictures (it was actual photos not digital clear back then in 2002). From this green sheet she filled out I learned some interesting things about her I didn't know, like that she wants to go sky diving and her hero is Amelia Earhart. Love you Belle!

I love to read!

2011-01-09T18:38:00.000-07:00

Just over a year ago I added the shelfari.com bookshelf to my blog. Even though I don't often update my blog posts I have been very faithful in keeping up on listing the books I've read. Last year I read 72 books! A lot of those are books I read because Caleb really liked them and wanted me and Trevor to read them too (ie Guardians of Ga'hoole) but some are classics that I've always said I was going to read and finally did (ie Gone with the Wind, Tale of Two Cities and The Maltese Falcon). Keeping track of the books has been a good thing. Just the other day Caleb asked me what the name of the book was about a young knight and I was able to scroll through my list and tell him "The Youngest Templar". This year I plan on reading just as many books but this time have a few more of the classics in there.

2000 miles

2011-01-07T18:30:00.012-07:00

My first post ever on this blog was November 7, 2008. On that morning on an 8 mile run, I had passed my 1000th running mile. This morning on my 7 mile run, I passed my 2000th running mile! Once again I raised my arms and said "I did it! I'm so great!" The second thousand were a bit more traumatic than the first thousand probably due to me having my first ever surgery. My knee has made a pretty good recovery. I'm excited to test it out this next summer-there's some PRs I'm looking to get in the 10k and half marathon distances.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T20:31:00.001-07:00

Caleb and his Legos

Michelle and her Easy Bake oven

Gabriella and her new clothes and Unicorn pillow pet

Megan and her Ladybug pillow pet, princess castle and fuzzy blue hat that Michelle gave her

Trevor in his new vest and boxing gloves that go to his boxing bag

Angela and her new reading chair

Christmas Vacation Fun

2010-12-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

Since a vast majority of people don't want to go to the dentist the few days leading up to Christmas, Trevor took this week off of work. We spent the first few days doing some major projects around the house. So today we played all day. We went out to lunch then to the Nickelcade then roller skating. I haven't been on roller skates in probably 25 years but it came back pretty fast. I spent the majority of the time pushing Gabriella around on her scooter. Toward the end my feet came out from under me and I found myself real fast on my hind end. Let me tell you falls are much harder on a 38 year old body then on a 12 year old's body. I bruised my tailbone pretty good and also the heels of my hands (which put a damper on my making our family's supply of bread). Other than that I think the kids enjoyed their day.

Gabriella's 4th Birthday

2010-12-15T19:46:00.015-07:00

Our little Christmas Mouse is 4 years old! She brings such life into our family. She's quite the picture poser and a fashion star who goes through an average of 4 outfits a day. Once she hears a phrase she likes she'll repeat it over and over no matter who she's speaking to. For example, she thought it was funny to call people silly pigs ( I also need to mention that she hid under a table or behind me whenever anyone sang happy birthday to her) so today when my parents called to sing Happy Birthday she called them silly pigs and hung up on them. A couple of other phrases she's enjoyed lately are "you're a hoot" and "oh, put a sock in your mouth". She definately keeps us on our toes but we love our Gabriella!

Perserverance

2010-12-13T19:23:00.012-07:00

Along with the majority of Americans, this year has been financially difficult and stressful. We've cut back on everything we could think of, we've traded in our Highlander for a tiny gas-conservative Yaris, and we've refinanced our mortgage. The re-fi was a 3 1/2 month nightmare (we finally closed last Friday) that I won't bore you with except for the fact that during their scrutinizing of our financial records our accountant re-evaluated our '07 tax returns and got a pretty good sized refund 2 years in coming. I just wanted to let everyone know that if you do all the Lord asks you to do and are very patient good things will come.

Happy St Nicholas Day

2010-12-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

I'm half Dutch. My mom was born in Holland, then immigrated with her parents and two brothers when she was 18 months old. When I was young we lived in Salt Lake. Back then there was a huge Dutch population (they'd all fled war torn Europe) in SLC so we'd have huge celebrations for St Nicholas Day. Trevor and I have always tried really hard to keep the celebration alive, besides it's one more good reason for candy.

This year St Nicholas brought each of us slipper socks which was a big hit with the kids. The kids got Reese's candy while Trevor and I got See's Candy (St Nick sure knows the good stuff!) . Caleb asked me to ask St Nick if he could bring some See's to Caleb next year :)

The Ups and Downs of Running

2010-12-06T09:33:00.000-07:00

Last night I was talking with my mom about buying my dad some running equipment for Christmas. She was complaining about how expensive a sport it is. I told her that once the initial items are bought then it's a pretty cheap sport but has lots of great benefits. So this morning while I was out running I was thinking about our conversation. I was thinking about how much our taking up running has improved our lives and health. I was close to the end of the run and was having a great time thinking about how great I've felt over the last 3 1/2 years. The song "Kryptonite" was playing on my ipod and I truly felt like Superman...until I tripped.
The tip of my toe caught on a raised piece of pavement and next thing I know I'm flying just like Superman. I landed in the push-up position before I slid on my belly like a seal for several feet. Do you know how much force that puts on your arms, shoulders and back to fly down into that position?! Fortunately I was wearing gloves otherwise my hands would be hamburger. As it is the scrapes I do have didn't even break the skin and I didn't tear any holes in my clothes either. A couple Tylenol have taken the achiness away so I'm good.

Football

2010-12-03T20:58:00.027-07:00

This year Caleb wanted to play tackle football. Having watched 3 of my brothers play football from grade school through high school and even a jr. college, I was worried about Caleb. Visions of 2-a-day practices, having to play in searing heat and freezing cold, and injuries flooded my mind. I admit that the first week of practice almost killed Caleb. They were doing a lot of conditioning and running. Caleb was gasping for air. Turns out he has exercise-induced asthma and allergies to grass. We loaded him up with meds and an inhaler and he was like a whole new kid. Caleb played the position of Right Guard on the offensive line. It's probably the safest position to play on the football team. He was rarely tackled so the chances of injury were next to nothing, which, as a Mom, I was glad of.
The season was amazing. Trevor was an assistant coach and the team went to the playoffs. I was proud of Caleb for never giving up. Tonight was the end-of-year party for his team. Caleb and a few others were given an award for never missing one of their 9 games or 43 practices. I must admit I love seeing my son wear a jersey with Smith on the back. I hope he'll always wear it with pride.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T19:12:00.023-07:00

Pre-dinner activity: reading Calvin and Hobbes with Dad and Grandpa Rains

This year for Thanksgiving Dinner we had my parents and my Oma come for dinner. No one wanted to spend the time to bake a huge turkey so we improvised. Each of us got to choose 3 food items that we wanted to eat. Some of us chose traditional items like turkey and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie but others chose macaroni and cheese, strawberries, chicken nuggets, cinnamon rolls. But my mom, being the creative person she is, had each of us eating out of very untraditional dishes. Trevor for example had a muffin tin for a plate (perfect for a guy that doesn't like his food to touch each other), a measuring spoon for a spoon, and a measuring glass for a cup. My 85 year old Oma wasn't too sure she chose the right grand-daughter to have Thanksgiving with but she played along well enough. Needless to say in the 61 Thanksgiving dinners she eaten since immigrating from Holland this is the most unusual.

Halloween

2010-10-29T11:15:00.001-06:00

This was the first year I went to the Halloween parade at the kids' school. It's also the first year we didn't get around to carving or painting any pumpkins so these are all the photos I have from Halloween. All the kids put together their own costumes. Michelle was a Flower Keeper's Daughter. Gabriella was a Flower Keeper Daughter's Sister, we shortened it to a Flower Girl, but can you tell how much she looks up to her sister?! Megan was Cinderella (for the third year in a row). Caleb was Moses for the second year.

Running With Dad

2010-10-04T08:09:00.000-06:00

My dad has caught the running bug. Back in July I paced him on his first competitive 5k down in Bryce Canyon. We both placed 2nd in our age groups. Now he wants to do the Bryce Canyon half marathon next July. My parents came into town this weekend so Dad and I planned a run together. I thought we were only going to run about 4 or 5 miles, but when we were 2 miles out my dad decided that he wanted to go further than he's ever run before. When we finished we had run 7.2 miles and made it a record day for my dad. Words cannot describe how fun it was to run with my dad, and to know that I've successfully converted yet one more person to long distance running.

Gone with the Wind

2010-09-27T14:16:00.004-06:00

As a tribute to my Grandma Rains I read "Gone With the Wind". My grandma died 5 years before I was even born but I've always thought that I'm a lot like her. The sad thing is that no one in the family really talked about her very much for some reason. So her liking this book is one of about 5 things I know about her. I can now see why she liked it so much. Margaret Mitchell does such a good job of bringing the South alive that while reading the book you are taken away.

The book is 1037 pages long so I've always wanted to read this book, the one my Grandma loved and read countless times, but shied away due to its length. The only other book I've read that's over 1000 pages is the Bible and that tooks me months. This book took me 12 days! I thought I knew what it was all about because I've seen the movie a couple of times. I was so wrong. The movie left out a ton of details. You still want to slap Scarlett upside the head and yell at her "what were you thinking" but I enjoyed the book nonetheless.

Michelle's Baptism

2010-09-04T20:32:00.005-06:00

I uploaded all the family photos for this special event and then I was going to delete the worst and keep the best. Then I thought all of you could use a good laugh. These photos are awful. Michelle is her usual good posing self but everyone else needs a lot of work. Now you know why I hate getting family portraits done. But I detract from Michelle and her special day.

She is a beautiful 8 year old now. Getting baptized has really helped her want to do things the right way. I got to be more involved with her baptism than with Caleb's so I really enjoyed that.

I love you, Belle!

Marathon!

2010-07-06T15:38:00.003-06:00

I realize I'm a few months behind and I don't want to bore you with too many events but I have to mention Trevor's marathon. Last September, both of us ran a marathon but Trevor was only abl to run 11 of the 26.2 miles due to an ankle injury. So we both signed up for another marathon in May. I couldn't run it at all due to having knee surgery 3 weeks prior to the race. But TREVOR COMPLETED HIS FIRST MARATHON! It turned out to be the hottest day of the year so he didn't do as well as he had hoped but I don't care. He finished and I'm proud to be married to a marathoner! As soon as we got home I slapped 26.2 stickers on both our cars (I'd been waiting since last September).

Camping

2010-07-06T15:19:00.003-06:00

For the 4th of July weekend we went camping up in the Uinta Mountains. Up at that elevation Spring had just sprung. The wildflowers were blooming and every thing was green. Unfortunately this meant that there were hungry swarms of mosquitoes. But the temperature as great. 70 degrees was cold compared to the mid 90s back home.

This is the Provo Falls. There are 8 of them and it was gorgeous. I never knew that the Provo River started this far north.

The last day we were there the wind was calm and the lake was smooth. You'd never guess from this picture that the day before there were actually large waves on the lake.

Washington Lake - an artist's dream (especially that painter guy on PBS that paints happy little cabins amongst happy little trees).

The sour faces are showing extreme tiredness. This is up at Wall Lake. It was a mile long hike over very uneven trails and each of the kids (except Gabriella who Trevor carried in a backpack) hiked the whole way. I need to point out that the trailhead was at 10,000 feet and Wall Lake was 10,300 feet above sea level! That's a lot of hiking with only a little oxygen in the air.

We had great time though and can't wait to go back - next time we'll be armed with loads of really strong bug repellant!

Promises

2010-07-06T14:49:00.002-06:00

I was recently told by my younger brother that he actually reads my blog but was annoyed it hadn't been updated in so long. So, Jer, this is for you. Now you have to be sending me some pictures of you and your house.

Relief

2010-04-17T12:07:00.003-06:00

My last post explained how frustrated I am with my knee. Over the past couple of weeks the pain has gotten worse so I went back to the doctor. I'll spare you the details and cut to the chase. I'm getting my knee scoped this Tuesday.

When I first went to the doctor last November they took an x-ray that showed my kneecap would slide out of place each time my knee bent. Since I learned that I've been doing all kinds of leg exercises and stretches, even did a bout with physical therapy. But this week's MRI showed that the cartiledge on the backside of my kneecap is damaged. I'm missing a chunk of it and the rest is frayed and the rough edges are causing inflammation and pain.

Knowing that there is something actually wrong and that it's not just all in my head is a great relief. However, I've never in my life had surgery so I'm quite nervous. In fact today I'm in hyper-cleaning mode. I feel like I'm nesting like before I had a baby. Heck, I'm even updating my blog.

Fortunately, the doctor says the recovery time is pretty short with this particular procedure (patellar chondroplasty). I should be able to put weight on my leg the same day as surgery, and be running again (short distances) in a couple of weeks. I'm hoping all goes well.

Frustration...arrgh!

2010-03-10T13:11:00.003-07:00

Earlier this week I had to give up my spot on the Wasatch Back 180 mile relay team. I feel like I've let down my team but it wouldn't be doing mt knee much good to be running 3 different times within 24 hours - not to mention the steep hills along the course.

Then, yesterday I officially pulled out of the marathon I was supposed to run in May. I transferred my registration over to the 5k (thanks for the advice CarrieAnn). I'm really bummed that I had to "quit" but my knee just isn't cooperating. 3 miles is about all I can run.

The one upside is that I'll be able to watch Trevor at the finish line of his first marathon.

Trevor's Triathlon

2010-03-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

Trevor was asked to be on a team for the Blue Mountain Triathlon. In this race, the swimming is replaced by cross country skiing, then there's the biking, followed by the run. Trevor hadn't been feeling well all week and lost his voice on Wednesday night but he did the race anyway. There were some last minute changes to the course so instead of 5 miles it was 5 1/2 miles, which wouldn't have been a big deal except that the starting line was changed too. That meant that instead of running at an elevation of 4500 feet (which is about what our house is at so he's used to that) it was now at 7000 feet and went uphill for 2.5 miles - also he was still sick and had a hard time breathing to begin with. Surprisingly, he and his 55 and 61 year old teammates came in 12th overall and 3rd in the men's teams!

Michelle's clogging

2010-03-06T12:25:00.001-07:00

Michelle had her first ever clogging competition. She got 2nd in her solo dance. She also did a great job in her team dance which is the video below (she's the 2nd from the left on the front row then moves to the back row).

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2010-02-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

My mom's birthday is March 1st. Her and my dad came in to town this weekend for my cousin's missionary farewell so we threw her a small surprise party. I tried to surprise her with Turtle Brownies with homemade caramel sauce but my first 2 attempts failed so she helped successfully make the sauce - always a mom!

The Newest Talented Bear Cub

2010-02-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

Caleb's first ever piano performance was at the Ward talent show. He did really well considering there were a lot more people than either of us was expecting.

At Pack meeting this month, Caleb received his Bear Award, a gold arrow, 3 silver arrows, and the astronomy belt loop. I must say he's the cutest Bear I've ever seen. By the way, he was also awarded "Scout of the Month" for his den!

Megan - Student of the week

2010-02-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

Megan was Student of the Week and got to color a poster telling all about herself.
If I could have one wish, I'd wish for a...dog
My favorite thing to do is...watch tv
When I grow up I want to be a...doctor
Nauvoo was my favorite vacation

BYU Basketball

2010-02-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

This was our first ever sporting event we went to as an ENTIRE family. I was a little leary of how well Gabriella would do during the 2 hour women's basketball game but she was pretty well behaved - especially while she was napping ;)

Three years ago, our first Valentine's after Gabriella was born we took her with us to a men's BYU basketball game. Here she is 3 years later and taking another nap! Don't you love the tutu she put on her stuffed kitty.

Megan drove us crazy about wanting to meet Cosmo. We chased him down and Megan was thrilled to give him a hug.

Caleb was a little leary about meeting Cosmo but I know he would've regretted it. Michelle had come a few weeks ago with Trevor to a game so she didn't need to meet Cosmo again.

I couldn't believe that I actually caught one of the shirts that the cheerleaders throw to the crowd. That was the greatness of coming to a women's game. We sat on the 11th row - close enough to catch the goods.

Caleb the Bear Scout

2010-01-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Caleb's grandma gave him his first pocketknife. Within 1 hour of receiving the knife he earned the Whittling Chip Award and passed off the requirements needed towards his Bear patch. Below is the penguin he carved out of a 3 inch bar of soap.

Last night was the Pinewood Derby. Caleb came up with his car design and helped in every aspect of the car building. Unfortunately things didn't work out fast for his car. I was REALLY impressed with his good sportsmanship. Any other 9 year old I know that would've lost every race (not even finishing the last race) would've broke down crying. But Caleb held it together even though he was devastated. For that we treated him to a great big ice cream cone!

Near Death

2010-01-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

Thank heavens Megan was being watched over last night. An hour after we put her to bed, Megan came out crying about how her night light wasn't working. Trevor and I couldn't understand why that was such a big deal until she explained (after the tears stopped we could finally understand her) that she'd stuck a "penny" in it then it stopped working. Needless to say we asked if she was okay, realizing that she blew the circuit breaker, the nightlight and burned the side of the nickel. If she would've been electrocuted we'd have never known it for a few hours (when we check in on the kids before we go to bed). Once again I'm so grateful she was being protected from above.

New....

2010-01-05T14:34:00.001-07:00

Gabriella's first day of primary was "awesome". She has a great and creative teacher. Gabriella hasn't even once asked "where's the toys".

For Christmas we gave the older 3 kids desks. Megan loves hers a lot. Even during Christmas vacation she'd spent hours at her desk drawing pictures.

For Christmas I asked Trevor for a way to display the family's accomplishments. He gave me the words "Family Glory Wall" and together we came up with this layout. The smaller pictures are the photos of each of us doing something notable like.... Michelle's is one of her leading music at her Christmas program, Caleb is running a 5k with his grandpa, Megan won 2nd place at the County Fair Art Show, Gabriella started primary, Trevor is running a personal best in a half marathon and I won 3rd place in my age group in a 5k.

Christmas

2009-12-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

Santa did bring me a new camera and I'm sure all of you will appreciate the clearer pictures. Santa also brought our family a Wii and Caleb and Michelle wasted no time in playing.

Gabriella loved all the new clothes she got. In fact instead of carrying around her new toys she carried her clothes around all day, or at least the 2 shirts, 1 skirt and 1 pair of pants that she was already wearing.

Megan loves the new home she got for her stuffed animals. Can you believe that ALL of these animals were previously on her bed all the time - even when she slept. I'm sure she's sleeping more soundly now that she has the majority of her bed back (she still has 3 large teddy bears on her bed).

Here's the family the Sunday after Christmas. If you look close enough you can see the necklaces that Michelle made for each of us from her new kit.

Merry Christmas to all........

Kids' Programs

2009-12-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, Caleb's 3rd grade class had an afternoon Christmas program (last 15 minutes of school) and we were all amazed that Trevor was able to squeeze away from work long enough to come see Caleb sing a few songs.

Later on Wednesday night, Michelle's 2nd grade class had a sing-a-long. Her teacher played the accordion and the kids took turns leading the audience in singing Christmas carols.

Caleb and Michelle practiced their songs so frequently around the house that now even Megan and Gabriella have the lyrics memorized.

On Thursday night Michelle's clogging group had their Christmas performance. It was Michelle's first large performance and she enjoyed the limelight.

Gabriella's 3rd Birthday

2009-12-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

I was pretty proud of my first attempt at using actual cake decorating tools...then I realized I left off the "e". Oh well, she loved the chocolate cake with pink frosting and everyone scarfed it down so fast it must've tasted pretty good too.

She looks so grown up. I can't believe my youngest is already 3!

Gabriella's own picture of Megan putting together Gabriella's new puzzle set.

It was a long exciting day. This is how we found Gabriella shortly after dinnertime...all bundled up in the bean bag chair with a good book. I hope she keeps that love of books alive for years to come.

I love you my precious Gabriella!

Gabriella

2009-12-13T10:36:00.003-07:00

Yesterday we had a combined family birthday/Christmas party at my sister's house. We were only able to take these couple of photos due to a full memory card (Oh I so hope Santa brings a new camera with a huge memory card). Gabriella's favorite pie is pumpkin so that was her birthday "cake". She had a hard time with everyone's attention focused on her (hence the scene below) but she livened right back up as soon as the singing was done and the pie was served.

Substitute Pet

2009-12-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

The kids woke me up this morning yelling something about a dog on our porch. We at first thought that it was Caleb's piano teacher's dog but it wasn't. It seemed content to just hang out on our porch out of the snow and wind-which was fine until I realized it shredded our welcome mat and the cushions on our porch swing. Caleb and Michelle spent a couple of hours playing with the dog in the snow and having it fetch a tennis ball. Eventually it just wondered off and we haven't seen it since-although it did leave someone's snow boot on our front lawn that it drug off of someone else's porch.

Meg: Our Budding Photographer

2009-12-08T10:00:00.001-07:00

More often than not, I'll try to take a quick pic of something only to find there's no memory left. When I scan through the most recent photos I'll find several pictures of the couch, the fridge, or the kitchen. These are the subjects Megan most likes to photograph. I delete most of them because I need the memory space for things like birthdays, etc but here are a few of hers I've kept.

Me next to our gigantic Christmas tree.

A stolen kiss.

Megan spent lots of time posing her Bear in just the right position.

Megan was the only one that thought to take a picture of the shoes filled with goodies by Saint Nicholas.

St Nicholas

2009-12-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

I took the kids up to The Dutch Store (owned by my Uncle Pete and Tante Mietsie) to see St Nicholas and his helper black Peter (blackened by the soot in all the chimneys he goes down seeing if kids have been naughty or nice). It brought back memories from when I was a kid and the Dutch community in Salt Lake was so strong they'd have a huge dinner celebration where St Nicholas actually rode his white horse into the dining hall. It was funny to see my kids have the same reaction I remember having as a kid: fear of these strange dressed people. Although nowadays things have softened a bit and black Peter doesn't carry around a big sack to fill up with naughty kids.

Good Times

2009-12-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Gabriella loves her new church shoes so much she even wore them over her footed pjs.

Gabriella and Megan had a great time playing with/in/around the box from our tv.

Scott's visit

2009-11-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

Over Thanksgiving my brother and his kids came to visit. We had a good time catching up and the kids had a blast wrestling around.

Cinderella

2009-11-13T10:16:00.003-07:00

Megan and Gabriella were watching tv while I was on the stationary bike this morning. Megan, in her usual self, got a pillow and blankie for Gabriella, but then I had to laugh to myself as Megan then said "Lay down Gabriella and I'll tell you a story."

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful girl named Cinderella. She wanted to go to a ball but no one letted her unless she had a beautiful dress. She was heartbroken. The End."

Road Trip

2009-11-09T13:07:00.002-07:00

This past weekend Trevor and I along with 7 other members of his family drove to Sacramento for his nephew's wedding. We rented a 15 passenger van to accomodate everyone. It's the best road trip I've taken since having kids.

Trevor and I by the Sacramento temple.

The Reno temple. I was born in Reno so this had some sentimental value.

Halloween

2009-10-31T13:04:00.000-06:00

Yes those are our homegrown pumpkins. The largest one weighed 35 pounds. There was no way Trevor and I wanted to scrape the guts out of those humdingers so we painted them which worked wonderfully (no knives, slime or worrying about lighting candles).

Painting

2009-10-30T12:32:00.001-06:00

Caleb's room was so hard to paint it took us over a month to recuperate enough to even think about painting again. Michelle's room (or one wall) was MUCH easier. Each coat (one primer and 2 color) took 20 mintues to paint so that turned out to be the easy part. Washing bright blue out of paint brushes proved to be the more difficult task.

I think it looks fabulous and Michelle is ecstatic (especially the part that we decided to let her continue having her own room instead of moving Megan in with her).

This experience with painting was so easy we decided to paint one wall in Megan and Gabriella's room next. Any ideas on color choices?

Decor

2009-10-21T12:41:00.002-06:00

It took awhile but I finally got up some Halloween decorations. Much to the kids' dismay I refuse to use scary nasty things as decorations; hence the reason no spiders, mummies, etc. We do have several cute skeletons on the windows and one even glows in the dark.

Mo Tab

2009-10-11T12:51:00.000-06:00

We found out that Caleb's school teacher sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir so I took Caleb and Michelle up to Temple Square for the broadcast of "Music and the Spoken Word." I'd forgotten how wonderful the acoustics are in the tabernacle. The singing and the symphony were wonderful. My only regret was that the kids have to at least 8 years old (we fudged with Michelle) due to the live broadcast-it would've been even a better morning if we could have enjoyed it as a family.

Flag Football

2009-09-29T12:57:00.000-06:00

Caleb wanted to play football. I thought that flag football would be a nice introduction into playing the game without him getting squashed. What I didn't know is that the rules are different enough from tackle football that it made things more confusing. I personally had a hard time watching the game since I kept wondering why the play stopped even though the opponent was still standing- - it's called they pulled his flag so the play is dead - those are the drawbacks from watching my brothers play TACKLE football. Next year he wants to try tackle football - I don't know if me or my wallet is ready for that.

Canoe trip

2009-09-25T12:45:00.002-06:00

We decided to take the kids canoeing so we joined Trevor's sister's family for an afternoon down at Mona Lake. Strapping the rented canoe up on top of the van proved to be a monumental task, rowing the canoe was yet another wonder especially since Gabriella insisted on holding onto my paddle. We made a small tour of the lake with all of us in the canoe, then Trevor and I went out, followed by Trevor and Michelle. Yet the total time the canoe was in the water was maybe 40 minutes. It turns out it's a lot more work to paddle that thing then we had thought. The kids had more fun playing and rowing their cousins' kayaks. We made sure plenty of pictures were taken though since this will be the last time we plan on ever renting a canoe again.

Caleb's 9th birthday

2009-09-23T12:20:00.000-06:00

Caleb really is 9 not 6 - he was just a little impatient and didn't want to wait for me to find more candles. I can't believe he's already 9. It seems like yesterday he was turning 8. But it's been so nice to have him get older and more self sufficient. He wakes up by himself and is dressed and eating breakfast by the time I get back from running.

Happy Birthday, Caleb boy!

Birthday

2009-09-22T12:00:00.001-06:00

This is actually the day after my birthday - we just never got around to taking pictures yesterday so I had Megan take this for me. I love my new haircut and I have never worn a t-shirt with more pride than my marathon t-shirt. I'm so happy to have completed the marathon that I have no problems with turning 37 years old. I actually feel healthier than I have my whole life and I love my weight loss so much I stand on the scale all the time just to see those numbers. In fact a few months ago my mom was concerned about me and said that I looked too thin. I laughed and told her she'd just given me the best compliment I'd ever heard!
Anyway, on with the birthday. Trevor made me breakfast and the kids could hardly wait to give me their homemade gifts. For lunch, Mignonne, Jennifer and Maggie took me to lunch - they even provided a babysitter for my 2 youngest. Thank you so much ladies it was the break I needed so badly.

Snakes and Turtles

2009-09-21T12:12:00.000-06:00

Caleb had his last Pack meeting as a Wolf. My parents were in town so my dad was able to come watch Caleb receive 7 beltloops, 1 pin, and 2 silver arrows. My dad found this garter snake skin and gave it to Caleb.

Before my parents left to go back home they came by to give Caleb and I our birthday gifts. They also brought a turtle that they'd found walking across the street. Caleb was ecstatic! He named him Tubby before I even said if we were going to keep it or not.

I did a lot of research on turtles and tortoises. We took it to the pet store and confirmed my suspicions. We would not be keeping Tubby. First of all the setup for his home, etc would be upwards of $300. Second, tortoises are not the best pet for young kids since they tend to bite and carry all kinds of parasites and worms. Third, we already have one pet and I really didn't want a second. The kids of course cried but have since almost forgotten all about him.

Marathon!

2009-09-20T11:46:00.003-06:00

I know it's not the best photo but when we drove down Main Street in Logan and saw this sign I got chills down my back. I think that's when it finally hit me that I was running a marathon less than 12 hours from that time.
Trevor and I drove to Logan on Friday and had a peaceful relaxing day.
On Saturday we awoke at 4 am which actually wasn't too early for us, just an hour earlier than normal. Trevor was unsure about how his ankle would hold up but was confident the cortisone shot he'd received would do the trick. Unfortunately, his ankle gave out at mile 9 and he walked(rather limped) to the aid station at mile 11. He was pretty bummed - but hey he still went 11 miles. I saw him at mile 9.5. He begged for me to go on running and finish. I got choked up and had a really hard time leaving my ailing husband to fend for himself.
For me the marathon went a lot better than I was expecting. The miles seemed to go by really quickly which I was not expecting. I also thought that by the time I got to the finish line I'd be so tired I'd collapse, but my mom says of all the races she's seen me finish I looked the best after the marathon. Don't get me wrong IT WAS HARD just not as hard as my overacting imagination thought it would be.
The day was bittersweet. I was so happy that I accomplished my goal and felt good about my efforts, but I was sad that Trevor and I couldn't enjoy it together.

Service

2009-09-14T20:37:00.001-06:00

Last Monday night I challenged to kids to do a secret service for someone in the family. Obviously I needed to better describe service because Caleb reported his service was keeping his room clean and Michelle's service was doing her homework. However, Megan didn't realize it but she actually had done service. Without my asking her to she picked up all the the books and toys that Gabriella had scattered around their room.
This is the before (taken a week or so ago).

This is the after - not perfect I know, but better than it was.

Bikes

2009-09-10T20:42:00.001-06:00

Trevor and I finally bought ourselves a bike. The very night we bought it Caleb begged Trevor to go on a ride with him. We don't exactly have any roads around here that are anywhere near flat so it was a bit of a challenge for Caleb; nevertheless, he was able to earn his Bicycling beltloop for Cub Scouts.

Take a good look at Trevor's right foot and you'll see that he was a good sport and even rode the bike wearing a boot brace.

Paint and Rooms

2009-09-09T14:25:00.004-06:00

One of the things Trevor and I have been discussing for over a year is the kids' room situation. We finally came to the conclusion to move Caleb into our playroom. It previously had all white walls so we thought we could spruce it up for him. We chose the colors then set to work painting while my parents were here so they could help. This is how my mom and Caleb helped.

My dad actually knew what he was doing.

Trevor's painting merit badge in scouts finally came in handy.

Now a week transpired between the above and below pictures. Trevor had to wear a boot brace on his foot and didn't couldn't move around well enough to finish the painting job. I was impatient and didn't want to wait for him so I did it myself. Mind you I have NEVER painted a room in my life so there was a huge learning curve.

Even after 2 coats the green wall didn't look very good. Trevor was able to help me with the 3rd coat so we could paint much faster and now the green walls look great.

BEWARE these are some gruesome pictures. Michelle and Caleb have serious issues with cleaning their room (hence one of the reasons we had to split them up).

Now that Caleb has his own room he has taken pride in keeping it clean (miracle of miracles!)

It took us a long day of cleaning to be able to see carpet again, and now that we can see floor I've given Michelle specific instructions of keeping her things picked up. As you can see she took that to mean things picked up off the floor but her bed is fair game for anything and everything.

As if we didn't get in enough painting yet, we're still needing to paint Michelle's window wall blue. As soon as the painting is done Megan will share this room with Michelle and Gabriella will then have her own room.

Now where do you think all the clothes from the floor of their room ended up - - you guessed it-the laundry room floor. Obviously my kids think there's a magical laundry fairy that washes and folds all their clothes. Little do they know that I'll be having a folding party and all of them will be participating.

Michelle's 7th Birthday

2009-08-23T14:10:00.000-06:00

Michelle was born on me and Trevor's wedding anniversary. This year we decided to celebrate the festivities down at my parents' house. My dad made all of us a great french toast breakfast (french toast that Caleb insists is even better than IHOP's).

Of all the cakes, pies, brownies, ice cream, etc that Michelle could have chosen for her birthday she chose pumpkin pie.

My mom also arranged for Michelle to have a pony ride.

My parents gave Michelle a hulu girl outfit from their trip to Hawaii.

Michelle even wanted to join the guys on their fishing trip. Good thing too because she caught 3 fish within 15 minutes of getting to the lake.

After all the fun things for Michelle's birthday, Trevor and I were able to leave our kids with my parents so we could go out to dinner for our 11th wedding anniversary.

Megan's First Day of School

2009-08-19T12:13:00.002-06:00

I've been kind of worried about how well Megan would do at school. Socially I think she'll do fine, academically she'll do fine, I'm worried about when she gets upset or frustrated. One of Megan's favorite phrases that she spouts off at people when they don't do as she wants is "You're Fired!" Trevor tells me she learned this phrase from the movie "Bugs Life". She's also been known to call people "evil" which she's picked up from Disney's "Phineas and Ferb".

I'm quite pleased to report that I never got a phone call from her teacher today so I'm going to assume Megan refrained from using either one of those phrases. However, she probably came close. As reported by Megan when I asked how she liked her teacher she said "Fine, except she interrupted me!" She then told me how she had just found a book about the 3 little bears when the teacher told her to put it back on the shelf. Hopefully she'll learn that there's a time and for everything and sometimes it's not when she wants it to be.

Back to School

2009-08-19T08:26:00.003-06:00

As ridiculous as it sounds, beings as it's only the 17th of August, the kids started school today. Half of me is jumping for joy to have some quiet time for myself, but the other half is groaning because I'm not ready to face the morning rush OR the nagging homework time after school.

Michelle is starting second grade this year. So far she has had all the same teachers as Caleb has had. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing since Michelle and Caleb have such different personalities.

Caleb is starting 3rd grade this year which means he's already made it through half of elementary school since our school only goes through 5th grade. In some ways it's like time goes too slowly but then other times I realize how quickly he's growing up.

Megan is starting kindergarten this year. Her first day was actually today instead of Monday like the Caleb and Michelle. She was really excited and I don't think very nervous which is a good thing. I just spoke with Trevor, who took the kids to school and walked Megan into class, and he said that she shed no tears of separation which is a relief.

Movies

2009-08-15T08:20:00.002-06:00

The kids start school next week so we thought we'd treat them to a movie today. Trevor has taken the kids to 2 movies this summer each time was when I was out of town running a race. So today was our first ever FAMILY trip to the movies. We saw Ice Age 3 and had a great time. We even splurged and bought popcorn and a drink (it was only water but I'm sure Trevor paid too much for it - I actually made him buy the snacks since I promised myself long ago after working at a movie theater that I'd never buy food at a theater).

County Fair

2009-08-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

Several months ago I got the notion that our family should participate in the County Fair. So on Monday the kids and I took our submissions to be checked in at the fair.

I could hardly wait for Thursday night so I could see how we did. I truly wasn't expecting us to win anything so I was pleasantly surprised with all the ribbons we won.

Caleb and Michelle each entered a Lego creation but unfortunately they were in the same age category so Michelle's "Shadow Ship" took second and Caleb's "Mars Miner" took first place.

Megan's drawing of a boat took second place.

Michelle's drawing of her and her dad took first place.

Trevor's star shaped chocolate chip cookies took first place.

I entered 2 photographs that took 3rd place but the biggest surprise of all was my loaf of braided bread. It not only won first place but was one of only 25 overall items that won Best of Show! And to think that a year and a half ago I had never made a loaf of bread in my life.

Along with the ribbons came prize money too which greatly surprised the kids and made them really excited to submit something next year too. First place earned us $3, second place $2, third place $1 and Best of Show was $25.

We had a great experience and hope to make this County Fair thing a summer family tradition.

Spudman Triathlon

2009-07-26T11:59:00.000-06:00

Last summer I got the idea to do a triathlon relay with my great neighbors and friends who just happen to be a swimmer and a cyclist. Trying to find a triathlon that fit into all 3 of our schedules was the hardest part. We entered the lottery for the Spudman Triathlon in Burley, Idaho. Luckily our team was chosen to be able to participate and we got excited for a girls night away - oh, and the race too.

This particular triathlon is advertised to be the one with the fastest swim time since the .93 mile swim is downstream in the Snake River (apparently the 4 mph current will even let people float down the river in about 30 minutes). Maggie did an awesome swim and never even saw a snake!

Here I am waiting for Jennifer to finish her 25 mile bike ride through the flat farmlands. I must've been more nervous than I thought because my heartrate even before running was in the 180s.

Jennifer did a fabulous bike ride even though she'd never biked that far before.

We did it! I've never raced a 10k distance before and Jennifer has never ridden 25 miles and Maggie has never swam a mile in a river before but we made it!

We had a great time together. I was so inspired by all the athletes that did the whole triathlon that I might just do one myself sometime in the near future (of course, I'll need to get a bike and learn to swim in a straight line).

A Fishin' they will go

2009-07-20T12:19:00.000-06:00

The day before the 5k race, my dad took Caleb fishing for the second time ever. But this time Caleb caught 3 fish but one got away.

That night my mom fried up the rainbow trout. Yummy! It reminded me of when I was a kid and I'd go fishing with my dad. Fortunately for Caleb my dad now fishes in lakes instead of tiny streams and he uses marshmellows instead of wiggly worms for bait.

Pleased as Punch

2009-07-19T18:08:00.003-06:00

This weekend we went down to visit my parents in Panguitch. Four of us were entered into the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon and 5k.

Trevor ran the half marathon. He did a great job and beat his personal best by 7 minutes.

My dad ran/walked the 5k with Caleb. Caleb took 6 minutes off his 5k from last year. My dad could've placed 2nd in his age group if he would've run it his own speed, but he was a great grandpa and let his grandson beat him to the finish line.

I would've run the half marathon but I'm doing the running part of a triathlon relay next weekend so I just ran the 5k this weekend (not to mention it was fun to finally be able to see Trevor cross the finish line since I'm usually running 20 minutes slower than him).

I didn't meet my time goal (28 seconds slower than I wanted) but I placed 3rd in my age group! It was a great feeling to go up to the podium at the awards ceremony and claim my medal. Third place has never been sweeter!

Lil' Slugger

2009-07-07T22:35:00.000-06:00

Due to 2 rain-outs in June, Caleb had a baseball game at 5:00 tonight - in 94 degree heat. He got a hit each time at bat but his best hit was his last. He slugged the ball clear to the outer side of the track, it took a great bounce even further. This gave him plenty of time to run all the way home. What a homerun!

Where have you been?

2009-07-07T11:34:00.005-06:00

We found this plaque displayed at the Golden Spike monument. The plaque list 25 essential historical sites every American should visit.
I've been to 9 of the 25 and Trevor has been to 12 of the 25. How many have you been to?

1) Mesa Verde - Colorado
2) Fort Sumter - South Carolina
3) Williamsburg, Va
4) Gettysburg - Pennsylvania
5) The Freedom Trail - Boston
6) Mystic Seaport - Connecticut (whaling)
7) Independence Hall - Philadelphia
8) Golden Spike - Utah
9) Monticello - Virginia
10) Yellowstone - Wyoming
11) French Quarter - Louisiana
12) Little Bighorn - Montana
13) Fort Clatsop - Oregon
14) Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty - New York
15) Washington, DC
16) Wright Brothers - North Carolina
17) Seneca Falls, NY (women's rights)
18) Hollywood, California
19) The Alamo - Texas
20) Mount Rushmore - South Dakota
21) Springfield, Illinois
22) USS Arizona - Hawaii
23) Harper's Ferry - W. Virginia
24) Trinity Site - New Mexico (1st atomic blast)
25) Montgomery, Alabama

July 4th Vacation

2009-07-06T11:10:00.000-06:00

Trevor took a few days off work and we were planning a trip to Denver but all the tickets for the US Mint were sold out. We decided to postpone that trip until we could get into the mint besides there's plenty of things in our own "backyard" that we haven't seen.

We started by going to the Kennecott Copper Mine where both my grandfather and Trevor's dad worked back in the 60's. We've now seen the only man-made hole that's visible from space.

Here's Trevor's dad explaining to Caleb what he used to do when he worked here at the mine when he was a teenager.

After the mine, we went to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. We didn't see antelope, buffalo or any other wildlife besides birds, spiders and brine flies (which bite).

The next day we went up to Logan where we visited the American West Heritage Center where we got a taste of what life was like in the late 1800's. I couldn't believe Caleb actually milked a cow!

Gabriella didn't exactly enjoy the pony ride as much as the other kids did.

We all got to take a turn throwing tomahawks - it's actually very fun and could be addicting.

This is Patch Peterson the pirate woodwright that showed me how to use ferrier's rasp (normally used to file horse's hooves but he claims it's the best wood file he's ever used).

Trevor, his mom and dad, and Caleb had fun shooting arrows.

After the heritage center we drove through the marathon course that Trevor and I will be running in September.

On Friday we visited the air force base's aerospace museum.

And had dinner at a great pizza joint where Trevor and his dad taught Caleb how to play pool.

On Saturday (Independence Day) we went to the Golden Spike Historical Site - where the last spike was driven to complete the transcontinental railroad.

We had a fun trip. We were even able to watch the fireworks show from our hotel room that overlooked the town.

Way to go, Mom and Dad

2009-06-29T08:22:00.002-06:00

On Saturday morning I got an excited call from my parents. They had just run their first ever 5k race! It was a last minute decision since they had gone to their downtown area to watch a hot air balloon festival but saw the signups for the race and joined in - even in their street clothes.

My mom walked it and only came in last place because she encouraged the other gal so well that the other gal beat Mom. My dad ran/walked it in an amazing time considering he stopped at his car to empty his pockets, stopped again to tie his shoe, and stopped yet another time to stretch a tight muscle. All those stops and he still finished in a time just a few minutes slower than I ran my first 5k.

I'm just so impressed that they did it at all. My dad was already planning on running the Bryce Canyon 5k with Caleb and I(Trevor will be running the Bryce half marathon). And now my mom is thinking of walking that 5k too while pushing my girls in the stroller.

You're awesome, Mom and Dad!

Father's Day Surprise

2009-06-22T09:38:00.003-06:00

Caleb made an "I love Dad" playdough card for Trevor.

The kids surprised both Trevor and I by bringing Trevor breakfast in bed. They were inventive enough to use cookie sheets as trays. After they brought Trevor his food they brought up a tray for me and then one for each of them. I didn't dare post the picture of us in bed but here's one of the girls eating on Gabriella's new bed (yes, she's 2 1/2 and we're just now moving her from her crib into a bed). I was still so tired from my relay race that I didn't even care they were eating cereal WITH MILK in their room.

Wasatch Back Relay

2009-06-22T08:05:00.005-06:00

This weekend 11 teammates and I ran 188 miles in a relay race. We had sun, rain, and sleet but fortunately NO car trouble or injuries like we did last year. This year the race was 7 miles longer but we finished 45 minutes faster than last year.

The three different legs I ran were at 3pm, 3am, and 3:30pm. The picture below was taken at about 5:30am so that's the sunRISE. The picture doesn't look as pretty as it did in real life - or maybe it was so pretty because after being up ALL night I don't think I've ever been so happy to see daylight again.

This is a shot of horses that I thought my girls would like. At the time, I was pretty nervous about my upcoming run. It was only 4 miles but it's a 7.9% uphill grade. Not to mention that it was raining and my route was on a dirt road. But I made it through and was only 2 minutes slower than my goal time.

Multi-tasking

2009-06-18T09:09:00.003-06:00

This is the result of trying to do too much at once. I'm trying to clean the house to make it presentable enough for the pre-race dinner I'm hosting tonight, not to mention a list of a thousand other little things that kept me from remembering the eggs I was boiling. If nothing else, I'll call this science class for today. Now my kids know what exploded eggs look like.

New background - New attitude

2009-06-07T13:28:00.002-06:00

This blog needed a new background as bad as I need a new attitude. Ever since we returned from our trip to Carlsbad I've been a bit of a pain in the neck. I think it stems from the WEEK OFF of doing chores and making dinners (did I mention that my mom was staying with us so she took over the motherly chores so I took advantage and let her do it all) then to return to the reality that the kids are home from school now and our whole daily schedule has been thrown out of whack.

I could go on and on about all my frustrations but I'm sure that all you moms out there know what I'm talking about - no need for all the details.

Let's just say I need to chill out because "Life's a beach"!

Track Meet

2009-06-06T14:35:00.006-06:00

Caleb and Michelle had their second city rec league track meet this morning. It was surprising chilly and windy which we were not prepared for. The kids took turns sitting in the car, out of the wind, while the other one did their event.

Caleb participated in the javelin throw, the standing long jump, the 100 meter dash and the 4x100 meter relay which his team won a silver medal for.

Michelle participated in the 4x100 meter relay (4th place ribbon), the javelin throw (gold medal), the standing long jump (4th place ribbon), and the 50 meter dash. There were few girls in Michelle's age group so that improved her odds of winning (for example, Michelle was the only girl her age to throw the javelin, hence the gold medal).

Caleb is the oldest child, not to mention the only boy in our family, so he's not too used to losing. Today was a good day to teach him about sportsmanship.

I need to point out that we don't give a flying fig about what medals the kids do or don't win, just as long as they tried their best. Caleb is really tired of us telling him that though.

Great job!

2009-06-04T21:42:00.003-06:00

In case some of you out there don't read my photo blog, I'm posting this entry on this blog too, because I'm a proud mom.

Caleb earned a certficate and some treats for getting the highest score in the second grade on the reading comprehension portion of the state proficiency test.

Carlsbad Vacation Recap

2009-05-31T17:05:00.004-06:00

Our much anticipated trip to my hometown of Carlsbad, California went pretty well. We were pretty worried about how the kids would do on the 1600 mile roundtrip drive. Let's just say the DVD player was a lifesaver, at least for the kids. For Trevor and I the desert trip was just as boring as we remember it from our childhoods - at least nowadays we have air conditioning!

The day after we got there we took our first day trip to see the seals down in La Jolla.
The next day we made the trip to the beach. It was the first time any of our kids had seen the ocean (technically, Caleb came to Carlsbad beach when he was 13 months old). Initially, the kids were worried about sharks and crabs (the big red ones that pinch you like in the cartoons) but they soon realized there was very little danger in these waters. The water was very cold and there was a cool wind blowing so we only lasted less than 2 hours, but that was just long enough for Caleb to master the boogie board.

On Tuesday we went to Legoland. This Darth Vader is made up of thousands of legos (except the cape) - even the light sabers and R2-D2 are legos. The older 3 had lots of fun on rides that are geared toward their age groups. Gabriella could ride several rides too but didn't like having to sit next to me (instead of on my lap) and the metal bar seatbelt thing across her lap.

Fortunately we scheduled a breather day on Wednesday. Because on Thursday we went to Sea World. The one big roller coaster we did go on cured me from going on another roller coaster for a long time. My first mistake was saying I'd go on this ride that we were told there was only a 20% chance of you getting wet (mind you the temperature that day was only mid 60's and overcast and I did not want to walk around in wet clothes). I knew that percentage was wrong when I approached the boat we rode in and ALL of the seats were wet. The second mistake was my sitting next to Megan who cried on the first descent and couldn't cry on the second descent because it was too fast and swirly. Then we had an interesting experience. We were one boat away from unloading when the ride broke down. The seatbelt bars wouldn't release even though we were right there at the unloading platform. We sat there for 10 minutes while they tried to get the ride going again. Finally they let us off. We were very happy to be in the position we were when it broke down. I don't even want to think about if we'd have been stuck in the elevator portion of the ride where you're in complete darkness and the boat in tilted to the right or left. If that would have been the case Megan and Michelle would have never ridden another roller coaster for the rest of their lives.

But I did get to finally see Shamu. Even though I lived 30 minutes north of Sea World - this was the first time I'd ever seen Shamu.

On Friday we started our drive home. We left around 3 pm which was just in time to hit traffic in 3 different metro areas along I-15. We stopped for the night in Mesquite then finished the drive on Saturday.

Now the fun of unpacking and doing tons of laundry!

Good to be HOME

2009-05-30T18:29:00.001-06:00

This afternoon we returned from a week long trip to Carlsbad, California. More details and photos will come later.

All is Well....Eventually

2009-05-21T21:33:00.000-06:00

So far, Michelle has remained the lucky one and has not gotten sick. Trevor has had it the worst but I think it's a combo of the flu and seasonal allergies. Megan is feeling much better and back to her old tricks again. Just yesterday in a 6 hour period she poured a cup's worth of yeast into my bread mix when I momentarily left the kitchen to get the phone, while I was trying to salvage the yeast out of the flour mix she went up to my bathroom. Lest she get into anything there I sent her to her room. Unbeknownest to me she snuck (or is it sneaked?) back into my bathroom, grabbed a new bottle of conditioner to use as finger paint on her closet doors, which left great globs of goo on the carpet too. Then while we were waiting in the car for Michelle to finish dance class, Megan found a marker and colored all over the backs of the seats in the middle row of the van. It took some work but in time everything for all of these incidents has been cleaned up.

Only 3 months until she starts kindergarten. Hopefully they'll be able to channel her great curiosity and creativity into something useful.

Flu Continues

2009-05-19T09:04:00.002-06:00

Turns out that over the weekend Trevor and I developed a mild case of the flu. Gabriella got it in reverse. She had the runny/stuffy nose first, followed by a fever and achiness. I'm crossing my fingers that somehow Caleb and Michelle will be able to avoid this round of illness.

Flu

2009-05-15T08:26:00.004-06:00

My poor little Megan is sick. Last night she developed a fever, chills, and body aches, and this morning she vomited. Then all of a sudden this morning the thought crossed my mind about Swine Flu. So of course I jumped on the CDC's website to read about symptoms of Swine Flu. Turns out those symptoms are not very different from regular flu. But of course, who cares what strain of flu it might or might not be. All I know is my sweet lil' Megsy is sick.

Even when sick she is such a sweetheart. This morning she woke up before Trevor or I (technically I was awake but just laying there not wanting to face the day). I heard her walk up to me and give me a kiss on my back. Then she walked around the bed to Trevor's side and kissed him on the back. Later, she told me she kissed us because she forgot to give us kisses before bed last night. I hope she gets well soon, and that we can prevent this from spreading to the rest of us.

Journals

2009-05-07T18:16:00.002-06:00

When I was 7, I remember writing in my Charlie's Angels spiral notebook. Not that I really wanted to but my parents insisted that each Sunday afternoon us kids (at least those old enough to write) would write about 3 days during the previous week. I did this with a lot of grumbling. It wasn't until a couple of years later that it turned into a habit, but not because I chose to but because of sheer competition. The deal was sealed the day my older brother came home and told me he'd been writing in his journal every day for the past 2 years. Determination got the better of me and I wrote in my journal every day from the time I was about 10 until the winter after I turned 21. That winter was a very depressing time and I remember thinking "Why do I write in the silly journal? No one will care to ever read this."

So just like that I stopped. For years. Unfortunately, those were the years that I bought my first car, graduated college, sent a and returned brother from a mission, got married, built a home, started a business with my husband, and had 3.5 kids. As you can tell it's only been the last couple of years that I picked up the habit again. But I tend to go in spurts. A really busy time will make for a lot of journal writing so I get behind and then have to play catch-up, but I'm desperately trying to at least hit the highlights.

Days like today though will keep up my enthusiasm for journal keeping. This afternoon I dug through my old journals to find the race results from when I was on a track team when I was 10 and 11 years old. Back then I could run 200 meters in 31.6 seconds, a 400 meter in 1 minute 18 seconds and jump 10' 6" in the long jump. At that time, I wasn't that fast. I usually got 2nd place or worse. But now that I'm running longer distances I converted that 400 meter time to a 5:33 minute mile. That's a fast mile!

Of course, my competitiveness is getting the better of me and I'm sure that I'll have to run an all out 400 meter in the next week just to see how fast I can do it now.

The Loss of a Tooth

2009-04-29T21:28:00.002-06:00

Michelle lost her second front tooth tonight.

When she came home from school she kept playing with her tooth but I can't stand the feel of pulling a tooth out. And since I have an expert tooth-puller for a husband, I told her to wait until her dad came home. Unfortunately, she had track practice followed by a birthday party so it wouldn't be until bedtime that she'd see her dad. But loose teeth aren't that patient.

The birthday party was for Michelle's neighbor friend. When my neighbor brought Michelle home she was carrying a small packet of paper towel so I knew there was a story coming. It turns out that like me, my neighbor can't stand pulling teeth on her own children, let alone someone else's. But what could she do? The tooth was dangling after Michelle took a bite of pizza. My neighbor begged her husband to pull the tooth but he didn't want Michelle to get upset with him. So much to her chagrin, my neighbor pulled the tooth, with absolutely no crying or fanfare from Michelle (shock of all shocks!).

Thanks Maggie! Good to know we now have 3 dentists in the cul-de-sac.

Happy Birthday, Trevor!

2009-04-24T21:19:00.000-06:00

Trevor's birthday started out with a breakfast made by Caleb. He knows all his Dad's favorite breakfast foods: cold cereal, milk, and real orange juice. Trevor spent half the morning volunteering at the school for Caleb's class Greek Olympics. Caleb won the gold medal in shot put.

Trevor was patient enough to wait until after the kids got home from school (fortunately they get out at noon on Fridays) to open his presents. He also didn't mind that I used old shoeboxes as wrapping paper (so, no, he didn't get that many pairs of new shoes).

Trevor couldn't figure out why he kept having to re-light the candles. Soon we saw why. When Trevor had his back turned to put the match in the sink, Gabriella would blow out the candles.

Camping Trip

2009-04-19T08:44:00.005-06:00

I can't believe I let Caleb and Megan hike up to the top of "Turtle Rock". This photo doesn't show you how high up they really were.

This is a cave just 10 feet from our tent. The kids hiked and played in the dirt non-stop, which lead them to fall asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

Just minutes before we left the kids were finally able to catch the evasive lizard.

On the way home the kids and their dads swam in a hot springs pool that's literally in the middle of nowhere. Their are shallow parts and deep parts and some parts that are so deep that scuba divers have yet to find the bottom.

For Spring Break we took the kids camping. We went with Trevor's parents and his sister and her family. This was a good test for us because we quickly figured out what supplies we lacked, but since we went with other families that are camping regulars they helped us out with the essentials that we'd forgotten like matches, pans, and spatulas.

We camped in the Red Cliffs Recreation Area which is about 20 miles north of St George. We were fortunate to get camping spots close to the water spigot and the "vault toilets". Most people wouldn't want to be so close to the glorified port-a-potties but since we have little kids who wanted us to accompany them to "the hole" we saved a lot of walking because we were so close.

The weather was a bigger issue then the forecast had predicted. On the drive down on Wednesday night we encountered 5 snow storms, 3 of which were whiteouts and forced us to drive by braille (using the rumble strip to keep us on the road) since even the painted road lines were invisible. By the time we made it to Utah's Dixie the snow turned to rain, which we had at some point each day exept the day we left, of course.

All in all the kids had a great time and that's all the matters. Since my nieces and nephews entertained my kids, it gave me a chance to enjoy myself too.

But the best part of camping is coming home and enjoying a nice long hot shower and crawling into a soft bed.

Spring Photos

2009-04-13T13:58:00.005-06:00

Mom this is for you. Love you!

This is Michelle with her new jumprope. She really is happy - in fact that's a huge chocolate malt ball in her mouth, which accounts for the straight face and huge cheek.

Caleb with his new lacrosse stick - very determined to learn the new sport.

Our tulips finally bloomed and right on Easter morning too.

The cherry trees lining the walkway south of the capitol building.

Saturday Egg Hunt

2009-04-12T14:13:00.002-06:00

Wet weather forced us to have the egg hunt inside Grandma and Grandpa Smith's garage.

Afterwards, we were treated to huge ice cream cones at our local grocery store.

Good New Bad News

2009-04-10T08:51:00.003-06:00

The good news is that after 2 days of hard work I'm nearly caught up with my bookkeeping. The bad news is I'm completely out of any creativity so this post is basically just a reminder that if you want any news about our family go to my photo blog.

But at least I changed this blog's "look" and with only 2 days before Easter!

Ancestors

2009-04-06T10:34:00.003-06:00

A day or two after my last post I got a 14 day trial subscription to ancestry.com which proved to be a very good thing as well as a very bad thing.

The bad part is that I ignored all housework and office work (yes, now the tax deadline is only 9 days away and our accountant is expecting several reports from me still). But.....

In my 9 day family history binge I got to know several of my ancestors on my Grandma Rains' side. Both sets of her grandparents emigrated from England.

Her paternal grandfather sailed from England in May of 1866, landed in New York, took a train to the edges of the US, and joined a wagon train (the wagons were for supplies - all the people WALKED) from Nebraska to Utah. I was ecstatic to learn that I actually had a real pioneer ancestor.

I say "real" because several other ancestors on many different family lines were pioneers in their own time (my mom and her parents came over from Holland in the '40s). The one story that made the world seem really small was that my Grandma Rains' maternal grandfather and his family came to Utah in 1908 (fortunately for them the trains brought them the whole way from their port in Maine). Their ship's logs mention that he had lost his left leg and wore an artificial limb. When they got to Utah they settled in Provo.

Within 2 years of arriving in a new country he owned his own home (upstairs) and grocery store (downstairs). That home still stands and the owners following him also ran the store, however they built a separate building next to their home to use as the store. This store is one block away from Trevor's grandpa's old home so Trevor shopped in this store when he was a young kid. Small world, huh?!

There are many more stories (like the ancestor who was a "nitroglycerin exploder") but time is short (remember my tax deadline).

For events that happened over the past few weeks, I'll refer you to my other post which I'll update shortly. I did take a photo a day but I haven't posted them in almost 2 weeks. I'll try and remedy that now.

I did it!

2009-03-21T12:08:00.000-06:00

Over the last couple of years I've run 3 half marathon races, so the farthest I've ever run is 13.1 miles. This morning I ran 14 miles! And that was just a normal training run, not a race. I wasn't incredibly fast (in fact I slowed down the 2 ladies I was running with) but nonetheless, 14 miles is 14 miles and I must say it felt great. At mile 13.17 I raised my arms and shouted "I did it!"

A day with the grandparents

2009-03-20T20:56:00.002-06:00

My parents came in town this weekend. They're staying with my sister but we were able to spend most of today with them. My dad did some handyman work around our house then we headed off to the park to enjoy the first day of spring (and the 75 degree weather).
Mom ended up helping all 3 girls across the monkey bars. She'll be sore tomorrow.

Megan finally coaxed Gabriella into going down the slide without help.

Caleb, Trevor and my dad playing catch with the football.

After the park we cooled off with some strawberry lemonade pie I made. It not only looked like the picture in the magazine but it tasted great too.

My mom gave in and fixed (yet one more time) Michelle's beloved stuffed animal, Kitty.

Rex Lee Run

2009-03-14T15:51:00.001-06:00

This morning Trevor ran a 10k race with our bishop to help our bishop meet his "sub 1 hour" goal. They ran a great race and finished in under 58 minutes!

Gabriella, Megan, Michelle and Caleb got an up close and personal view of the cannon that was shot off to start the race (it also is shot off after every touchdown that the BYU gets).

Michelle Clogs

2009-03-13T21:39:00.003-06:00

Tonight was Michelle's first clogging performance. She's only been taking clogging classes since the first week of January so I thought she'd learned a lot in such a short time.

The Mom Survey

2009-03-09T09:05:00.004-06:00

Thanks for the idea, Jill (and the layout, Rees)!

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Michelle (age 6): thank you
Megan (age 4): do my jobs
Caleb (age 8): do your homework

2. What makes mom happy?
Michelle: when I help you
Megan: kissing
Caleb: a Clean house

3. What makes mom sad?
Michelle: when I don’t do my chores and I shout at you
Megan: when I don’t play with you
Caleb: when people don’t cooperate right

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
All 3 kids said “tickling”

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Michelle: you had dark hair and was nice
Megan: you liked to clap hands
Caleb: about as tall as me

6. How old is your mom?
Michelle: 27
Megan: 5
Caleb: 35

7. How tall is your mom?
Michelle: 10 feet
Megan: 5
Caleb: 5 feet 7 inches (he made me a year younger and 2 inches taller-what a guy!)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Michelle: have time by myself and sometimes playing with us
Megan: eating ice cream
Caleb: go running

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Michelle: chores and take care of Gabriella
Megan: wait for me to come home
Caleb: laundry

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Michelle: singing (I think she confused me for Trevor)
Megan: she got confused and frustrated about not knowing the meaning of “famous”
Caleb: making ramen

11. What is your mom really good at?
Michelle: taking care of Gabriella
Megan: swimming
Caleb: getting mad

12. What is you mom not very good at?
Michelle: keeping track of time
Megan: making sand castles
Caleb: getting happy

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Michelle: taking care of Gabriella
Megan: chores
Caleb: everything (He nailed that one)

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Michelle: Ramen or macaroni and cheese (apparently she was thinking of HER favorite food)
Megan: syrup and pancakes
Caleb: chicken enchiladas

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Michelle: taking care of Gabriella
Megan: when you put on a tv show for me
Caleb: doing the most jobs

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Michelle: the nice lady in 102 Dalmatians
Megan: Manny (from Handy Manny)
Caleb: Ma on Little House on the Prairie

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Michelle: go to ice cream shop
Megan: play
Caleb: have serious conversations

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Michelle: we’re both girls
Megan: we’re not the same
Caleb: same family

19. How are you and your mom different?
Michelle: we have different hair color
Megan: you’re a mommy and I’m a sister
Caleb: height

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Michelle: you take care of me
Megan: hugging
Caleb: because you do jobs

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Michelle: hugging him
Megan: giving him loves
Caleb: The white rose

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Michelle: Chuck E Cheese so you can spend time with us
Megan: the park
Caleb: the store

Haircut Happiness

2009-03-07T15:50:00.001-07:00

For years I've been threatening to chop my hair off but was always too worried about how it would turn out. What if I hated it - it'd be a long time before it'd grow back. But I threw caution to the wind and had it cut short. It's been 3 days so far and I have never loved my hair more. Of course I still remind myself that it's not up in a ponytail, but I have no regrets.

Michelle saw my short hair and then wanted hers cut too. At the salon we compromised and hers is now skimming the tops of her shoulders (5-6 inches were cut off). Short enough she can now brush her own hair (HALLELUJAH!) but still long enough we can put braids in it.

Megan had 4 inches cut off of her hair - it needed to still be long enough to pull into a ponytail when she eats. Ketsup and syrup have a strong attraction to her hair.

The before shot.

The after shot.

Making it Worthwhile

2009-03-05T12:36:00.002-07:00

I'm pretty good at washing and drying the laundry, it's the folding that I rarely get around to doing. The socks drive me crazy. Yesterday I finally managed to fold the socks. When Caleb opened his sock drawer and saw it was full he got a huge grin on his face and said "thanks, Mom" then came right over and gave me a good long hug.

It's amazing how far a little appreciation can go. Already today I've done a bunch of little chores that I've been putting off for weeks.

Spring Surprise

2009-03-04T11:20:00.003-07:00

The kids and I have been sick this past week or two so we really haven't taken advantage of the warm temperatures. Since snow is in the forecast for tomorrow I thought I'd better get some yard work done today. In raking up last year's dead leaves and branches I discovered our yard's first flowers of the season.Gabriella was very careful in "petting" the flowers. She whispered "soft, soft, soft" as she stroked each flower.

Committed

2009-03-02T21:38:00.001-07:00

Tonight Trevor and I registered for the marathon we'll be running in September. Now that we've each paid $55 for the honor of running 26.2 miles, we can't back out now. We have 200 days to train.

Mmmmm!

2009-03-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

Today's my mom's birthday. Even though she lives 3 hours away from us I made a treat to celebrate anyway. These magic squares were made using homemade sweetened condensed milk. It's cheap and easy to make with things most people have in their pantry. And it works just like the name brand stuff.

Here' s the link if you're interested: http://southernfood.about.com/cs/candyrecipes/ht/sweet_condensed.htm

Caleb the Chef

2009-02-27T20:34:00.001-07:00

This afternoon Caleb asked me for a snack. It was very close to dinnertime so I told him he could have some peanuts or a drink of water. Of course he didn't like either suggestion and told me it didn't look like dinner was going to be ready for a long time. He was right. At the time I was sitting in my glider, watching the food network, and rocking Gabriella who had a fever and was being very snuggly. I told him if he didn't like the way things were then he could make dinner. And guess what?

He did.

He went right into the kitchen and started setting the table and getting food out. Within about 20 minutes he called us to the table. He's such a sweetheart. Without any help, he'd sliced a new loaf of bread and made each of us peanut butter sandwiches. Also, we each had a large portion of Goldfish crackers, carrot and cucumber slices (they were already pre-cut), and a glass of milk. As we were eating he pointed out the food items and told us where they were on the food pyramid. He really made sure we understood that there are 3 grams of protein in Goldfish crackers.

Now that I know he can do it, I might have him make dinner more often.

Cheerleaders

2009-02-26T13:06:00.002-07:00

This morning I woke up feeling just awful. A combination of a cold and side effects from a new medication are causing my head to spin, my sinuses to be congested and my stomach nauseous. But the show must go on. It was Trevor's day off so he took the kids to school then went to his dermatologist appt and took Megan with him because I also had an appointment. Fortunately, his appt didn't take very long and he was able to come home just before I left for the podiatrist. This was very helpful since I was in no shape to try and entertain Gabriella at a doctor's office. Right after my appointment (which went long since they misplaced my chart and forgot to call me back) I needed to go on a long run. My head and stomach were now feeling better, so I trudged out the door. This was at 10:45 am. I had less than 2 hours before I needed to be back home since Michelle had an orthodontic appointment this afternoon.

My pace was pretty slow the first part of my run. Then Trevor surprised me by driving by and cheering me on. He took the kids to the park and promised he'd pick me up before I'd have to go up the steep hill on the way back home. Let me just say that during the next 2 miles my pace was 1 minute a mile faster than before my cheerleading squad's visit and the next 2 miles were 2 mintues faster. It's amazing what a little pep talk can do for you. I especially needed it today.

I'm so glad Trevor and I both run. Knowing what each other is going through and being able to help them through it is a huge boost to morale.