Henstrom Happenings

St George Marathon 2011-We were there!

2011-10-08T21:59:00.000-07:00

So proud of Katie! Had the chance to run her 1st marathon with her last weekend. Character shines when things don't go according to plan. She fought hard for her finish :) You did it Katie! We were there :)

June in pictures

2011-07-08T23:44:00.000-07:00

Found this in my blog list. Never posted it :) It is really February :) Trying to catch up!

Smores in the backyard, Fathers Day, I think :)
Hailey's dance recital, so fun to watch. Love the costumes!!
The new house, getting there!
2nd annual Last Day of School Homemade Root beer party at the Pirate Park
Helvetia Half Marathon-PR, 4th overall :)

Starlight Run

2011-06-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

Hailey, Jackson, and I ran the Starlight Run last Saturday night. They did awesome and enjoyed high fiving the crowd. Jackson wanted to win the whole thing :) He is a little competitive, not sure where he gets that ;). I think this might become a new tradition.

PreRace- we were blessed to have our good friends do it with us. Thanks Dar and Luke :)

Last in line for face painting

Luke and Jack opted for balloon swords

It was so fun to see the kids so excited about doing this race. Thanks to Hailey for getting us to do this race.

Cute Hailey girl

2011-05-28T22:54:00.000-07:00

So Hailey is a great daughter! She is so sweet, thoughtful, obedient, intelligent, hardworking, creative, I really could go on and on :). I really am not worthy to be her Mom but I feel so lucky to be :)

She has been begging me for some Mommy/Daughter time so yesterday we had a great time! We shopped, eat out and wait for it....got her ears pierced. This was not part of the original plan but she asked me if she could and i really did not see a reason why she couldn't so, the rest is history. I did check with Mike before just so he was okay with it too!

She looks terrified so of course I had to take a picture. She did great though, I will admit that I was a little worried that she might freak out.

Happier with her new October birthstone studs. She picked them out herself. She was too funny telling me that she wanted something small and not flashy. That's my girl!

Hailey no longer wants anything off the kids menu :) She is a foodie and loves to cook and bake. She was so happy with her giant shrimp pasta dish. There is still about 1/2 left and she had it for dinner tonight to. Gotta love the Cheesecake Factory!

In other news Hailey played lacrosse this year and really loved it. Her season ended last week and she is hoping to continue playing. I do love that they wear cute little skirts!

Egg Hunt

2011-05-15T23:28:00.000-07:00

Could not catch up with the other two :)

Does it get much cuter?

Disney

2011-03-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

Over a month ago we had a fabulous time at Disneyland with our great friends the Clarkes. So many memories, so little pictures, story of my life. I need to be better about capturing moments but first I need to get a better camera. For your viewing pleasure...

Noah about to fight Darth Vader

Love Lily's face :)

Probably my favorite picture, so cute!

I should really blog more often so that I can remember all of the things that I want to blog about!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-12T19:00:00.000-08:00

A Tale of 2 Trees

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we set out on our annual tree hunting adventure. We ended up at the same place we went last year because it is only 5 minutes from our house and after you pick out your tree they come and cut it down for you with a chainsaw. Mike really prefers this to cutting it himself, I tend to pick really tall trees with really big trunks. This year was no exception! So we get it home, and through the front door, and of course it is so big and heavy it will not stay up. After having it in the house all day I started to feel sick and get a really bad headache. I figured out it was from the tree. So out to the front yard it went. I posted on facebook that if anyone wanted a tree they could come and get it. It was gone within a couple of hours. So after trying to find a fake tree that was tall and having no luck we decided to give a real tree a second try. We got another huge tree but it was a different type and was pre-cut and no problems! So weird!!!!

Annual trip downtown to the Christmas tree, and to visit with Santa

Lily was not a huge Santa fan!

We Believe :)

Hailey and Jackson (he looks like a cute little elf :)

Making gingerbread houses. We made a huge mess but we had our own little human vacuum.

She is a cute vacuum :)

Jackson wanted to make sure that Mike got props for helping him :)

Hailey right before she played the piano on Christmas Eve. She did a great job and is quite the performer. No nerves!

Being the cute girl that she is, Hailey gave herself a Christmas mani/pedi.

Christmas Eve Jammies

Time for bed!

Santa came :)

Here they are waiting to come downstairs. Mike and I made a rule a couple of years ago that they could come get us at 8am. Amazingly it has worked so far!!

Sticky Bun breakfast

If that is not a happy face, I don't know what is!

Hailey asked Santa for a snowglobe, wish granted!

Yes there will be darts all over the house, thanks Santa!

Lily got it this year and had a lot of fun opening her presents.

Every year we get ornaments for our kids and each other that represent something about the year.

Hailey- cooking whisk ornament, she loves to cook!

Jackson-Oregon football ornament, he loves the Ducks!

Noah- Star Wars ornaments

Lily- elephant, her first animal noise

Mike- Car ornament, after 12 1/2 years Mike finally parted ways with the 1992 Camry with 275,000 miles on it and bought himself a new car

Steph-running shoe, no explanation needed :)

We had a great Christmas season!

Hailey's Sparkly Spa

2010-12-26T19:38:00.000-08:00

So back at the beginning of November we finally had Hailey's b-day party after having to reschedule because we were all sick on the original date. Hailey's Sparkly Spa Party was a hit!

It is nice to have a sis-in law with a vinyl machine!

We had a manicure station. The paper saved the table from polish but not from the spilled nail polish remover :(

The craft station

The Glitter toe station

All set up for dinner. Hailey wanted to have a pasta bar.

Our friends own some massage chairs and were nice enough to let us borrow one. I set out a bowl full of $1 bills and the girls had a lot of fun.

When each girl arrived they were given a spa robe a flip flops. The robes were homemade and not very fancy but they got the idea :)

We did oatmeal and avocado masks with cool cucumbers for their eyes.

This was the cake, don't judge I know it needs help. Hailey insisted on making her own cake. Yes I helped but I tried not to be too much of a perfectionist. She loved it and that was all that mattered.

It was a fun party! It is hard to believe that she is already 9!

Family Photo Shoot

2010-11-15T22:05:00.001-08:00

A few of my favs for your viewing pleasure :)

October in our house means...

2010-11-09T21:23:00.000-08:00

life is a little crazier than normal! I love fall but it is also soooooooo busy, probably because I try and do all of the fun fall activities along with all of our family activities. I think I can do it all, I can right?

What is fall without a trip to the pumpkin patch?

The hay ride

Cute little girl who likes to climb on everything

Jackson turns 7, seriously where did the time go? I love how he blows out of one side of his mouth!!!

Yes, you guessed it dinner at Red Robin!

New Star Wars shirt, he's happy!

Just so happy to have a balloon :)

Hailey turns 9! No cake pictures yet because we are having her party this weekend due to the fact that we had to reschedule because we all got sick the first time around.

One night Noah was playing his normal bedtime games (not going to sleep) he came downstairs and said that he needed a bandaid for a cut on his lip. I of course said, "fine what ever gets you to go to bed." A few minutes later he came down like this, silly kid!!!!

Getting ready to decorate cookies

Say cheese !!!!

Jackson after getting his trophy at the end of the soccer season, can you tell he is a little happy :)

And then of course there was Halloween. Hailey was both a cute witch.

And Rachel Ray. She loves to cook and she came up with the idea all on her own.

Jackson was a storm trooper.

Noah was a tarantula, or according to him a "triantula"

Lily was a ladybug, complete with bug eyes :)

I love ladybugs!

2 trunk or treats and 2 trick or treats and none of them even on halloween.

Throw in family pictures and all of the shopping and outfit coordinating that goes with that and there you have October. This post is way too long so the family pics will have to be another post!!!

Five

2010-10-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

I know it was about 6 weeks ago but I realized I never blogged about Noah's actual b-day. His b-day was also his first day of preschool for the year. He missed the cutoff for Kindergarten by 15 days. Oh well!First day of school picHis cubbyWhat Mom?Cute boy!!!Dinner? Red Robin, of course :)

BLAST from the past

2010-10-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

17 years ago I was a freshman at BYU (yes I am getting old!!!)

17 years ago I met some amazing girls who have turned out to be amazing women!!!

A month ago I had the privilege of having a weekend away with some of them, it was a BLAST!!!!

It was as if we were back in U hall at Deseret Towers, as if time had never passed and it was awesome. We packed a lot into the weekend, didn't sleep much but it was worth every minute.

I have not laughed that much in a long time!! Too many to countMe and Jillyn-my roommate from freshman year. Love her!!!Beautiful view from that chairlift in Park City. We did the alpine slide and coaster. Note to self- do not wear a skirt next time!!!

Beautiful night at the Relief Society General Women's Meeting

Music and the Spoken Word

I love these girls and can't wait until next time!

Come one, Come all.....

2010-09-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

to Noah's 5th Birthday Circus

Welcome, I'm 5!!!It took a lot of time and patience but we had our own version of a big top tent. Thanks to my Mom and Mike!!!The Popcorn and Candy bar

BJ the clown

I love this smile :)

The pinata, don't mind the crazy hat!!!

Hit it harder!!!!

The cake and ice cream bar

Make a wish!!!! Poor Noah split his lip open and knocked his front teeth loose the night before his party, he had a hard time blowing the candles out.

Opening some gifts on his birthdayDinner at Red Robin, it is quickly becoming a tradition.Happy Birthday Noah!!! I love you more than you know! Thank you for having a smile that just melts my heart :)

1st and 3rd

2010-09-14T21:59:00.000-07:00

The first day of school finally came! After getting back from SunRiver I think both the kids and I were ready for school to start!

So ready to go but of course I needed to take pictures! Jackson started first grade. He has the same teacher that Hailey did for first grade. I am happy to have Mrs. Abbott again. I so tried to convince him to get a regular backpack but he insisted on a messenger bag like Hailey.Hailey has always loved school and this year thus far is no exception!She got her glitter shoes :) I found these and needed her to have them so I actually had the salesman take them off a mannequin.We were lucky to have Grammy and Pa here visiting!Yeah for 1st grade!Let the learning begin!

Playing Catch up

2010-09-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

I need to catch up on my blogging because life is so busy now. Summer is over and fall is here which brings lots of craziness in our house.

In August we went to SunRiver for a week, it was so fun and so relaxing! We did lots of

Swimming

Love this nose picking picture!

Lots and lots of family bike riding which is one of my favorite things about SunRiver.Riding bikes to the ice cream store just screams summer :)We tye-dyed t-shirts Lily was a trooper she took a lot of naps in the bike trailerLuckily she loved it

How cute is this face?

We geocached, it was really fun but those things are not easy to find!Lily decided that she wanted another showerHad a lot of fun at the park

Sisters are the best!

We went to the Lava Caves. It is about 45 degrees in there. Of course I was cold!We ventured to the lake and it was a cold day but the kids did not seem to care. At least for a little while.That is Hailey way up in the tree, she likes to keep up with the boys!We had a fabulous vacation, it was a great way to wrap up the summer!

Sand everywhere....

2010-08-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

That can only mean a trip to the beach. A couple of weeks ago we took a day trip out to the beach, it is only about 70 minutes away so there are no excuses not to go. We stopped for lunch at Camp 18 because we have always wanted to and never have. It was lunch time but we had breakfast :)

Jackson begged for a cinnamon roll, it was gigantic and yummy!He was quite pleased with his food!What is this stuff?It did not take her long to warm up to the sand and start eating it too!Look at my dirty hands!Bury me!Forget this, it takes too long!Of course Mike brought wood and marshmallows, the kids loved roasting away. I admit I thought it was silly to bring these things and I had to eat my words.

The big road trip

2010-07-31T08:42:00.000-07:00

Lily all in her cake, feet and all :)

So when Mike was asked to be the medical doctor on the Trek for the youth, I thought that instead of staying home while he was gone that I would take the kids and drive to St. George to visit friends and family. Luckily my Mom and niece flew up for a few days and then drove down with me.

Lily enjoying the sun and water, if you went out before lunch the heat was bearable.

Maggie, Hailey and Kennidee

Tarzan at Tuacahn, it was awesome. Such a beautiful backdrop! Wish Mike had been with us!

The kiddos with Tarzan and Jane

Lily loves uncle Jared

Love these girls!!! Me, Natalie, and my sis Katie

The kiddos enjoying their candy from an old time soda shoppe

Katie and I in Bryce Canyon, why were we there you ask? What would a trip be without a race thrown in?

Bryce Canyon 1/2 marathon

Me, Katie, Amy, and Natalie before the race. If I look like I have not had enough sleep for over a week, it is because I hadn't! It is hard to be a single parent and try to do everything else too!!!! I definitely will appreciate what a wonderful husband and father Mike is a little more now!

The after picture, everyone did great!!! Personal bests all around! Beautiful scenery, good friends, and a new PR 1:31:11. Now it is time to hop in the car and race to Provo in time to pull off a bridal shower.

Quick Picture before leaving for Provo, definitely NOT my favorite race shirt!!Made it to Provo and got the shower set up, and got to take a shower (kind of essential after running 13.1 miles :) ) just in the nic of time!!!The bride, Hailey, and some of my niecesMe and Charlotte at the shower

It had been a while since we had visited Mike's Mom's grave. My kids are old enough now that they will remember these visits and I think that it is important to keep her memory alive, we miss you Grandma!

Now onto the wedding!!So one of the things that I wanted to accomplish was to have a picture where Mike is not closing his eyes, mission Not accomplished.How cute is she?I love this precious picture!!! Mike and his Dad with LilyIn case you were thinking that I only took pics of Lily, my other kids were not with us at the temple.

SistasThe girls at the receptionLily was begging Abby for some cereal, after some prompting, Abby shared :) They are going to be pals :)The boys with their cousin LeviWatch out ladies, Jackson caught the garter, I particularly like how he is holding it like it is a dirty diaper :)Last attempt at a family picture, no one was cooperating, I gave up. Hopefully someone else got a good one because this is the best of the ones on my camera. It was a fun trip and it is always fun to have a wedding in the family :)

Lily turns 1

2010-07-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

I tried to wish it away but the day still came. Lily turned 1 on the 15th. We were in St. George visiting friends and family, even though Mike was not with us and we were missing him we had a great party.

I wanted a pink and green theme, so I made a little watermelon cake for the birthday girl.

She was definitely a lot more reserved than my other kids have been.

It is hard for me to accept that my baby is growing up but despite my denial it is still happening.

Lily

* is a great sleeper

* loves food

*is so busy now, she loves to empty and and all drawers

* army crawled for a long time but has now progressed to what i call the wounded warrior crawl, I give her 2 weeks before she is walking. She is my latest walker.

* has 8 teeth now. Her teeth came in a strange order. She had 3 on the bottom forever. The 4th came in and then she got 3 on the top. Her 2nd front tooth popped through a week ago but is still shorter than her other top 3 so far. I love it when she does her cheesy grin :)

*she loves to be in the action

*she loves water, baths and pools

* she knows what she wants as evidenced in the above picture. This is what happened when her 14 month old cousin tried to take her balloon.

Love you Lily Kate!!!

What we have been up to...

2010-06-13T21:55:00.000-07:00

Jackson has had a really busy spring taking TaeKwondo and playing teeball. He loves getting the medals and trophies.

Noah keeps us all busy :) He finished his first year of preschool and enjoys taking mud baths!

Group hug at the preschool. Hailey, Jackson, and Noah have all gone to the same preschool and had the same teacher :)

Hailey was busy playing soccer and taking tap with many other things mingled in between :)

Go Blazing Heat!

Lily continues to be a happy baby that her siblings adore! She crawls and has started to pull herself up on things. It is hard to believe that in about a month she will be one! Can I please freeze time!

Lily and her cousin Gage

First swing

Lily Kate, too cute!

2010-05-20T16:33:00.001-07:00

Boston Baby!!!!!

2010-04-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

Boston Marathon trip 2010

I can't believe that it has already come and gone! Last Monday I ran the Boston marathon :)

We took a redeye to Boston and while Lily did great, we got no sleep! We arrived on Friday morning and my awesome sis-in-law picked us up. It was great to have family there and Nicky was a great hostess! We also lucked out that my older brother Jared was in town on business.

While we wanted to pack Friday full of sightseeing we were running a little low on energy so we kept it pretty low key. My brother was our chauffeur and we were able to visit some Revolutionary War sites and the Boston Temple.

Saturday was a fun filled and busy day! We went to downtown Boston and what an amazing city. I loved all of the old buildings and history, I wish I had taken more pictures! Loved the old gas lanterns which are lit all the time. I really need to go back when there is no added pressure of a marathon. We saw some great statues, like this one of George Washington.

We took a duck tour which gave us the chance to learn a lot of history and see a lot of sights.

We spent 2+ hours at the marathon expo, it was huge!!!! So much fun with lots of photo ops. The finish line was set up so we took full advantage.

This race is so amazing, I loved all of it!

Nothing like a hot pretzel off the street, good carb-loading food!

My nephews, brother, and Mike went to the Celtics playoff game.

On to race day...

The night before a race I always lay out all my gear to relieve all last minute scrambling in the morning. I thought that I had packed a top that I had not so I had some stress but just decided to go with it.

I was amazed that I actually had a pretty good nights sleep when my alarm went off at 5:45am. Honestly I was just happy that it was finally time to run, well almost. My brother was nice enough to come and get Mike, Lily , and I and drive me to the bus that would take me to Athlete's Village.

Mind you I got to the village at about 8am and the race does not start until 10am. It was sunny but not warm and a little windy. I did my best to pass the time and then it was finally time to run!!!! The national anthem was inspiring and the military jet fly over gave me goosebumps! I thought I was prepared for what 26,000 runners would look like, I wasn't, it was crazy! It took me 12 minutes to get to the start line if that gives you any idea of the amount of people! So I know that some of you do not want all the details so I will keep it simple on this blog. If you want a more detailed race report you can go to http://marathonmommies.blogspot.com/2010/04/boston-marathon-2010.html

The crowds were amazing and carried me through the pain in my leg. There were seriously crowds lining the entire 26.2 miles cheering every step of the way! There were probably over 100 of these army men in full gear that ran/walked the whole marathon.

Not the greatest pic of Mike but look at that cute Lily Lou!!!! Mike said she was great the whole time:)

In the middle of 500,000 people downtown at the finish line

It was an amazing race with so much energy from the crowds! Not my best time, but for me this race was very rewarding in so many other ways! I was not sure if I would be able to do it having injured myself 3 weeks before but I learned that willpower can you pull you through almost anything!

Where's Steph? Can you find me in this picture at the finish line? Jared and Mike waited so patiently for me and then I was on the other side of the street and they almost missed me altogether. Next time we will plan a little better! Also a shout out to Nicky and my niece and nephews who were at the half way point. I must have been on the wrong side of the street again. I was so sad to have missed them.

After the race I needed a little fluid, here I am coming out of the medical tent

Mike and I after the race with my number and medal :) I was so cold by this point, I just wanted a hot shower.

It was an awesome trip and the race of a lifetime! It was also so great to come home to this!

Flowers, chocolate, cute sign, cute kiddos, and cute parents!!!

thanks Mom and Dad!!!! I could not have done this with out your support and childcare:)

Boston Marathon 2010

3:38:13

Spring Break fun

2010-04-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

This year for spring break we were able to have lots of fun as a family with friends!

First we headed up to Seattle to visit the Heaston family, whom are our dear friends from med school.

Mandy is an amazing and creative cook! Here are the kids making Peep pops, they loved it!Look at those cute Peeps!Fun at the Seattle zooYes, the peacock is real!There is nothing better than a shoulder ride from Daddy!Sunny in Seattle :)Lily is all smiles for Dan :)Mike reinacting The Lion King. Holding up "Simba" on pride rock.

We had a great time in Seattle catching up with the Heastons!! From there we headed to Lincoln City for some beach fun with the Worsleys. We rented a really cute house and while the weather wasn't too cooperative we still had a great time!

I love this kid!!! Only kids can smile in frigid water! The sun was out but so was the wind. It was so cold! Lily and I did not last long on the beach, I hate being cold!

These two could pass for brothers

There was a fire pit at the house so the men built a fire and we roasted hot dogs and made smores. Jackson likes his dog black :)

The crew

You can't go to Lincoln City and not make a little stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory for a little ice cream. We feel so blessed to have such great friends in our lives!!!!

Family bike ride

2010-04-23T15:29:00.001-07:00

Now if I could just get a bike it could be a real family bike ride :)

21 miler-Expect the unexpected!

2010-03-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

So this morning I was totally prepared for my 21 miler, physically and mentally. Had all the right gear, charged Ipod (or so I thought), baby fed, body glided, fueled up and ready to go. I decided to do a 7 mile loop 3 times so that I did not have to worry about carrying water (it was planted along the way) or finding a potty if I needed one. So I headed out and was feeling good, then my Ipod died which was very curious to me since I plugged it in to charge last night and left it there until this morning. Oh well I was getting close to my house and I thought I would just trade for my husband's or my daughter's. So I ran in the door and wouldn't you know it both of their Ipod's were dead also. I was kind of annoyed but decided that it would be a good mental test. I usually don't ever turn my Ipod on in the marathon anyway, but that is because I like to talk to other people when I run. Could I do it all by myself? If I could do it, I could do Boston.

Things were going pretty well, except for my nagging hip but all in all it was going well and then it got better!!!

I was running on the trail at Nike for a little bit of a break from the pavement, I looked up and saw a woman running toward me. Without music I was really taking in all of my surroundings. I looked closer and realized it was Kara Goucher. (If you don't know who she is you are not as big of a running nerd as I am :) she is the top us female marathoner and placed 3rd at Boston last year) Could it be my running idol in person? I was so excited, I got a huge grin on my face and said hi very enthusiastically. I am sure that she thought I was a nerd but I could not contain my excitement. In hind sight I wish that I have turned around and run with her so I could pick her brain about Boston (although she runs marathons an hour faster than me)

Anyway the moral of my story is sometimes in life things don't go according to plan and sometimes they turn out better than expected! Today was that day for me!!!

February Fun

2010-03-06T21:53:00.000-08:00

How can it already be March? February was obviously busy because it flew by!

One of the benefits of rain, rainbows.Cute girl who is growing up WAY too fast!I can sit up all by myself :)

Grammie, Aunt Katie, and Gage came to visit/babysit so Mike, Lily and I could go to Arizona for a long weekend. I ran in the Ragnar Del Sol relay. This picture was taken right before I left to meet up with the rest of my team. Mike took care of Lily while I ran, I was away from them for about 30 hours. Mike took Lily to the zoo, swimming, and from this picture she probably watched some more ESPN while I was gone.

Team "Moms Found Therapy" at the finish line. There were a lot of unexpected obstacles but we finished strong.Sunday we went to see the Mesa, AZ temple, it was so peaceful. I loved that there were citrus trees everywhere.Jackson is about to wrap up his first season of basketball. He has come so far and I think he is going to be a good little ball player. He loved it, it was fun to watch him get so excited when he made a basket. We love Coach Jared.Do you think he is proud or what?

Slow down and enjoy them!!!

2010-02-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I get so caught up in getting everything done that I forget that one day they will all be gone. Do they know how much I love them? Do I slow down enough to really let them love me? The house will get cleaned sometime but I can not rewind the clock if I have missed out on their childhoods. I love you Hailey, Jackson, Noah , and Lily !!!

Love Mom

Lulu is 6 months

2010-01-24T15:32:00.000-08:00

Lily turned 6 months last week and I can hardly believe it! She has been such a joyful addition to our family. The kids and I sang "Happy Half Birthday" to her and then she got her first taste of rice cereal. It is always fun to watch their facial expressions!

I call her Lulu, not sure why but I do. She is rolling all over the place, not sitting on her own yet mostly because I sit her up she sees something she wants and flops down on her tummy to roll and get it. She has been sleeping great until the past 3 nights, of course.

Wish I could stop time :)

Look at my cute bib :)

Christmas 2009

2010-01-14T20:53:00.000-08:00

Better late than not at all right?

Of course we made our annual trek downtown on the train to see Santa, a tradition we look forward to every year!Letters to Santa :)Cute Hailey on Christmas EveJack loves to hold LilyLily with her 1st ever Christmas Eve present (new pj's)Looks like Santa came :)The kids posing for a picture, they were so good and waited until we asked them to (8am) to come downstairs. Lily was still asleep so she will have to wait until next year to come down the stairs first.Christmas morning sticky buns, Yummy!

After opening all the gifts the real craziness began as I needed to finish packing in time to leave for the airport at 1:30pm. It does not seem to matter how much I prepare ahead of time it always takes me until the very last minute. Off to Utah we went to visit family and friends. We we lucky and got to be there for Alex's mission farewell, and Adam's wedding. It was so fun to get to visit with so much family!!!

Our attempt to snap a family photo, not very successfulJack and Lily again :)Me, Lily, and Mike's younger sister RobynSome of the girls at the wedding luncheonMy kids love to dance!! Jackson waited by Rachel (the bride) forever getting up the courage to ask her to dance, so cute!We got home on New years Eve day and even though I had been up since 4am we had to party a little. We had our new years at 9pm though. Heres to 2010 may it be full of lots of laughter and smiles :)

Lots of Stuff

2009-12-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

So I can't believe that it is already the middle of December! Life has been really busy with lots of fun events. Here are some things that have been taking up my time...

My latest attempt at being crafty, hair flowers for Haileyand Lily :)The Pirate Park Turkey Trot- this year I decided to dabble in race organization on a very small scale. Next year I think that I will attempt to make it a bigger event. the weather could have been better but let's be honest we live in Oregon and it was the end of November. I chose to look on the bright side the weather could also have been worse.Here is the crew before the start of the race.I love this picture of Lily staring in amazement at Noah, she finds him very entertaining!Our good friends came down from Seattle for Thanksgiving, we had not seen them in 5 years, it was so fun to see the kids interact and to hang out. It was too short but we plan to go to Seattle soon! She is an amazing cook! The Dads are helping the kids make fun oreo turkeys, of course I did not take any pictures of the final product. If you are curious you can go to her amazing blog www.gourmetmomonthego.blogspot.com It is on my sidebar so you can link directly to it.Hailey and her good friend making chocolatesWe left the day after Thanksgiving to go to Boise where we were able to attend the sealing of my sister and her husband to my nephew. What an amazing experience!! My boys were always wanting to hold my nephew, as you can see he is a healthy little guy :)I love this picture, you can barely see Noah peeking, cute little boys!Getting ready for the Polar Express to take us to the North Pole!The Conductor showering the kids with the hole punches of their ticketsHailey asked for 4 inches of snow in OregonNoah asked for a light saber, yeah he really needs another one of those :)Cute little reindeer!Jackson asked for a snowboard, huh?Not sure what Lily asked for :)Our annual Christmas tree quest was pretty easy this year! We found it, the guys at the tree farm cut it down with a chainsaw and helped to put in on top of our car. 12 foot tree for $35, gotta love living in Oregon!It looks much better in person, I think I need to take some photography classes!And to top it all off I turned 34! How did I get to be in my mid 30's with 4 kids? Time goes by too fast!!!!

Hailey's Baptism

2009-11-11T19:42:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time this past weekend as Hailey made the decision to be baptized. We had a lot of family travel here for the event which was so nice of all of them! It is hard for me to believe that she is 8 already!

Family shot except where is Lily? Asleep in her carseat but of course she did not get the memo to sleep for an hour and decided to wake up and be hungry after the talk on baptism. Thanks to my friend Kristi who took her and kept her happy until after Hailey was confirmed.Beautiful girlDaddy's girlMommy's girl - Yes she will probably be taller than me in a couple of years!If there was ever any doubt about how much Hailey is loved! Thank you to all family and friends for their love and support.Mike's birthday was on Sunday so with the help of my beautiful sister we made him this beauty. Chocolate Peanut Butter cake-a.k.a. heart attack on a cake plate

It is so yummy and beautiful though, just don't read the recipe!

Jack getting ready to help him blow out the candles

The last day of a crazy October

2009-11-11T19:24:00.000-08:00

Halloween was a crazy day at our house! It started off with beautiful 10 mile run that I have been wanting to run since we moved here. It was great to be out before the sun was up and be able to watch the sun rise. I am always glad when Haloween actually arrives because that means that I have made it through Sept. and Oct. The start of school, meetings, 3 birthdays, soccer 5 out of 7 days a week, piano, tap, and a newborn are enough to push anyone to the brink of craziness. So what crazy woman schedules family pics on halloween in between Haileys last soccer game and trick or treating. Oh that crazy woman was me! I will post pics of the photo shoot soon! Let me just say that planning outfits for family pictures is such a pain in the rear! I am glad that it is over and that we actually got some really cute pictures thanks to Mari and her amazing skills!

So Halloween started a week early this year with the ward party and trunk or treating. It took about a week for the kids (with some help) to blow through their candy so of course we needed round 2.

This year we had a candy corn, Commander Fox, Anakin Skywalker, and a cute little fairy

Noah using the force3 of the 4 kids Lily decided that it was time to sleep when trick or treating time rolled around, I have not pictures of Lily in her costume because of thisA dang cute candy corn

Jackson will protect us all from the evil Lord Vader

It has not slowed down much but I am always so happy when November comes!

All Girls are princesses

2009-11-11T19:13:00.000-08:00

For Hailey's b-day she got to invite a few friends to go to the play " A Little Princess" at the local highschool. They were offering a tea party beforehand which turned out to be really cute. They had cute little plates of food and the cast made a appearance. The girls felt extra special which is the whole point of the play.

Cecilee and Hailey at the tea partyCecilee, Hailey and Sydney after the playHailey with her autograph bookThey had little crowns for the girls to decorate at the tea party. I was happy to give mine to Lily.

8, how did that happen?

2009-10-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

How is it possible that Hailey turned 8 last week? She is going to be baptized next week which is crazy to me. It seems so surreal that I have 4 kids, I think it is surreal to some other people too. At the gym about a month ago an older woman thought I was on the highschool cross country team, seriously? Anyway back to Hailey. It was not her year for a "friend party" but we started our celebration with a pancake puff breakfast.

Of course I forgot the canned whip cream but she did not care, thankfully!The only thing that she asked for was an Ipod, she was so excited!We went and got manicures, it is always fun to have a little girl time!We went to Applebee's for dinner (her choice). I think from now on we will stick to Red Robin, they are much faster and they sing. After dinner we went home and had some yummy cupcakes!

How cute are these?

2009-10-22T13:15:00.001-07:00

Thank you for the adorable shoes Natalie!

Jackson turns 6

2009-10-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Jackson finally had his birthday after months of waiting and asking!

10 4-6 year old boys at the Lego store= 1 happy birthday boy

The cake, no I did not make it. I was going to attempt it but decided that for my own sanity and Mike's sanity I would just order it this time.Jack and Luke building their Lego racersAll the boys.

We had his party the Friday before his birthday we got to celebrate again on his actual birthday. Since the day was going to be busy and Hailey had soccer practice until 6:45 we decided to have presents and "cake" on the morning. Let's be honest Jackson could not wait any longer either.

Who is more excited Jackson or Hailey?Jackson's cake this year was made of donuts, he loves maple bars!Jack at Red Robin with the signature balloon ears!New webkinz which he named Vincent the Vampire BatHad to include this picture of his new glasses-Cute Boy!!! Love you Jackson!!!

I heart St. George

2009-10-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

So last week we took a little vacay to St. George, UT. The Clarkes, whom we adore, just moved there in July so we had to go visit. We had a blast and were not ready to leave! Our kids were instant friends, it was so fun to watch.

A little fun in the red rocks. The kids minus the babies.

Cute, happy kiddos.

I ran the St. George marathon, it was awesome. The most fun marathon I have run to date, we will see if Boston can beat it. If you want a full race report you can go here www.marathonmommies.blogspot.com

This is one of my favorite pictures, they are all trying to keep their ice cream away from Annie. So adorable!!

Along with visiting the Clarkes we were also able to hang out with the Larsen/Larson clans. (Mike's sisters and their families) It was fun to see them as we missed the family reunion because of Lily's birth. We met Robyn and her little one Abby at MGM in Vegas to see the lions. The trainers walked around with balls of ground meat on the glass and the lions would come and eat it off. Crazy!

We also went to the M&M store.

Recent picture of Miss Lily Kate!

We had so much fun but were all exhausted!

Noah's first...

2009-10-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

Day of preschool-

It was kind of ironic that on his first day of 3's class he turned 4. His b-day is Sept. 15th so he has been waiting along time to go to preschool. He loves it although I hear that he threw a shovel full of sand at another boy today. I hope that we all make it through the year.

Day being 4-Sept 15th

He was so excited for his b-day!!! His day was filled with fun. Chuck E. Cheese, first day of preschool, pinata party, Red Robin, cake and presents! It was a busy day but he loved every minute of it. I love that Noah can always make me smile even when he is doing naughty things.

Red Robin fun, it does not get better than a free ice cream Sunday!

How can you resist that smile?

I think Hailey and Jack were almost as excited for presents as Noah was! The new Bakugan backpack.

First...

2009-09-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

...day of 2nd grade for Hailey Sept. 8th 2009

Mrs. Bruskotter Springville Elementary

...day of Kindergarten for Jackson Sept. 8th 2009

Ms. Hesson Springville Elementary

Jackson was so excited to finally be going to school!

...cookie bouquet from Grammie

My Mom has a tradition of sending a first day of school bouquet to all of her grandkids on their 1st day of kindergarten. Jackson loved it and he shared very well which is always a bonus.

Jack with his look alike cookie Noah was happy to have his own cookie, although he just ate the frosting off. Hailey has never turned down a treat, my kind of girl!

Lily's Blessing

2009-09-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

We blessed Lily last sunday, it was a special day filled with family, friends, and food.

It doesn't get better than that. Grammie, Pa, Aunt Katie, and Gage were able to be here of the weekend which was really fun! The blessing was beautiful! She is a peaceful little girl! The 2 themes that were in the blessing were peace and service.

Amazingly Noah actually was relatively calm during the blessing!

We are also blessed to have family and friends that live here that were able to come.

Jackson did not want to have his picture taken!

Of course I had to throw some sort of shin dig so I decided to have a dessert bar. It was fun to put together and Mom, Katie and I have a fun time planning and baking. As you can see from the pictures there was a pink and brown theme. Click to enlarge the pictures to view all the yummy treats!

I would love to be a party planner someday!

Dog Days of Summer

2009-09-09T15:38:00.000-07:00

We had some fun adventures the last week of summer! I was feeling very guilty that I had not done enough fun things with them this summer, I know I had a good excuse but the guilt was still there. We went to a fun park on the river 2 days in a row, the kids had a blast playing in the water and collecting shells and sticks.

Lily and Mike hung out and tried to keep out of the sun.

Hailey and her shells

Digging a pit

I kept my promise and took them to the zoo before school started. It was much more fun because my Mom and sister were visiting so they came too!

Chocolate Chips!

2009-09-09T15:33:00.000-07:00

So I do love chocolate and during my pregnancy I didn't care for it that much. That has now changed! Last Sunday I was making chocolate chips cookies and had Lily in the baby carrier so i could have both of my hands free. Well when I make cookies I can never resist sneaking a few chocolate chips into my mouth. Well I dropped one and could not find it. Lily woke up and I took her out of the carrier and you guessed it, found the chocolate chip!

She was obviously hungry but I had to snap a picture. It is amazing what a mess one chip can make!

Running Blog

2009-09-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

I have started a running blog for those of you interested

www.stephanie-bostonbound.blospot.com

Have I become that Mom?

2009-08-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

So on our road trip Noah let me that yes I have become that Mom. What Mom is that you ask? Well for any of you that have ever watched What Not to Wear you will know what I am talking about.

So we pull into Salmon, Idaho and Noah asks me," Mom why do you have church here?" I begin to explain that there is church everywhere. He interrupts me and says "No Mom why do you have church hair?" So he was obviously confused because I had actually done my hair and it was not Sunday. So I guess I have become the Mom that only does her hair on Sundays. The rest of the time it is slicked back into some sort of pony. Sad but true! Oh well there are worse things, right? If I could just get up earlier maybe I would have time to do my hair everyday. Right now I would rather sleep!

6 weeks? Where does the time go?

2009-08-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

I can not believe that it has been 6 weeks since Lily joined us here on earth. Thus far she has been a really good baby. Her novelty has not worn off for her siblings they still want to love her all the time.

Things that I want to remember so that i can tell her someday:

I thought her umbilical cord was never going to fall off, it took 3 1/2 weeks!

I did not know that such a little girl could have such stinky gas!

Jackson seems to have a very special bond with Lily, she usually calms down when he talks to her. Since Lily came Jackson has been having less tantrums. Yeah!

We took our first road trip with 4 kiddos. It was my grandmas 80th B-day so my Mom planned a surprise party for her. Off to Salmon, Idaho we went! We stopped in Boise on the way and stayed with my sister before we all made the trek to Salmon. The kids got to meet their new Cousin Gage for the first time. Gage is 2 months older than Lily. You would think it was more like 9 months older from the size of him. I affectionately call him Gigantor. He is adorable! Here are some pictures from our whirlwind trip. It was a lot of work but I am glad that we went. The kids had a great time with their cousins! It was not long enough, it seemed like I was always nursing so I did not get to visit a whole lot but it was worth it to see everyone!

Family Triathlon

2009-08-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was our 2nd family triathlon. The kids were so excited to do it again, and Noah got to participate this time. I think that Jackson might be my distance runner, well see what happens as he gets older

Getting ready to swim

Transition to the bike

Jackson was so excited that he beat the 2 big girlsMedal for HaileyNoah was so proud of himselfThe finish line!

Lily's birth

2009-07-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

So this post is for my journaling purposes but if any of you are like me you like to hear other peoples labor and delivery stories. Come on you know that you love "The Baby Story" on TLC.

So my official due date was July 22nd,that being said Noah was 2 weeks early and so I was hoping that I would not go the full 40 weeks.

At 37 1/2 weeks I was dilated to 4cm so I was hopeful that she would come early. After a week of very uncomfortable contractions and almost going to the hospital I saw my doctor again. I was one day shy of 39 weeks and dilated to 5 cm. Everything was ready, and my Mom was here playing the waiting game with us. My Mom and I even went and got pedicures with bright pink polish hoping it would entice her to come. (this was my mom's first pedicure ever, I was so proud of her because she does not like her feet. I think that she might actually get another one someday.)

So my doctor wanted to "induce" me the next day. I know most of you jump at the chance of induction but I had a hard time deciding what to do. My doctor wanted to control my labor and was worried that I would not make it to the hospital because I was already a 5. So relunctantly I decided to go in on Wednesday. She said that all she was going to do was break my water and she was pretty sure that would put me into active labor.

Of course I did not sleep much on Tuesday night and got up at about 6am. Mike called the hospital and they said to be there at 8am. So I got ready and we left, it was weird to leave and know that my life was about to change forever.

At the hospital I met my nurse got my I.V. so i could get my antibiotics. My nurse was awesome, I told her I was a hard stick and she did great, one stick. My doctor came in and broke my water at about 9:30am. then we started walking the little loop that we were allowed to walk. I should have kept track of how many laps we made throughout the day, I joked with the nurses that I was trying to complete a marathon. I was having contractions but not like I expected after having my water broken. Mike was hungry so I sent him to get lunch, he asked me if i wanted a drink, could I have one? He asked and they said it was fine, so yes he got me a diet Coke. Around 1pm the resident came in to check me and this time it felt like my water was really broken. My doctor wanted to start a very small amount of pitocin and I consented knowing that it would speed things along and i really wanted my doctor to deliver. She had to leave around 6pm so we were on the clock. At this point I was questioning my decision and was worried that my doctor was not going to be there. Oh well there was no turning back now. More walking, more waiting. At about 2:30 after walking and sitting on the ball they started to hurt and I decided to plug in. Nothing a little MJ can't take care of. Now i was getting really uncomfortable, I got a new nurse at 3:30 and she was great too! I was not longer smiling so they decided to check me again. The junior resident came in checked me and said I was a 10. She left the room to get the attending and when she was gone I told Mike and my nurse that there was no way, while I was in pain I knew it had to get way worse. Sure enough I was a 6 but she had gone from -2 station to +1 so it was going to go fast now. It did I guess, time is all relative when you think that you are dying. I thought I remembered how much it hurt, I didn't!!! When i felt like i had to push they came back in to check me and I had a lip left. Those last 3 contractions were terrible and then my doctor showed up and had me start pushing. While it was more excruciating pain at least I was almost done. I was so tired and it felt like I was not pushing hard enough. I joked afterwards that until I started making the "ugly" face I was not pushing right. Once I started the "ugly face" it was not long, maybe 4-5 contractions and then the ring of fire and then she was on my chest. I was so happy it was over and that she was here. Here Apgar scores were 9 & 9 which was great!! She had not been affected at all by labor and delivery.

She weighed 6 lbs 3 ozs, and measured at 20 1/2 inches.

She is beautiful and thus far has been a great baby

Feeling blessed!

2009-07-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

A picture is worth a thousand words!

I am feeling so blessed that I have 4 healthy and beautiful children and a husband who is so wonderful! I have also been blessed with wonderful parents who have been so wonderful my whole life. Mom and Dad, thank you for all of your love, sacrifices, and help!

It has been a busy week but a joyous one. It is so fun to have Lily in our home! The kids love her so much and Jackson is adorable with her. He claims that he can interpret for her and talks to her nonstop.

I am feeling really good and am itching to be running again but I am trying to take it easy. A side effect from pregnancy that I do not remember having before is a lot of swelling postpartum. My ankles are huge!! Hopefully it goes away soon because by the end of the day they hurt.

I still need to blog her birth story but I will do that later.

I have found that keeping the other kids entertained is a bit of a challenge as they are used to going lots of places and it is not always easy to get places with a newborn. I am trying and Mike has a week or so off so that will be really helpful as my Mom is leaving tomorrow.

Berry PickingGoofing around while bowling

Never a dull moment around our house, Hailey split her eyelid open and Mike put his skills to work repairing it! Noah was his faithful assistant. The drama was a bit much, I am so looking forward to the teenage years!

After reading some comments I reassure everyone that while I am itching to run I am not going to just yet. Don't worry I am not totally crazy.

Lily Kate has arrived!!

2009-07-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

Lily Kate was born July 15th at 5:53pm

6 lbs 2.6 ozs (they are so precise these days)

20 1/2 inches

We are so happy that she is here safe and healthy! Labor and delivery went well! Well let's be honest it hurt a lot!!!!!!! I thought that I remembered how much it hurt, I didn't, but it was worth it! I was so happy when it was over and I was happy that I was able to do it natural again. I am not against epidurals but had a really bad experience with Jackson so I opted out again. There were times that I really questioned my decision but Mike believed in me and helped me through the pain. I was also blessed with good nurses! I will blog the whole story later, more for my own documentation but for those of you curious about all the details I will blog those later. The kids are so in love with her hat it is going to be a challenge controlling their love but I'm sure we will figure it out.

Happy to be home!

Getting weighedFirst meeting

Ready to go home

Ready or not here we come world!

4th of July festivities

2009-07-07T19:32:00.000-07:00

Mike and I have decided that the 4th of July is one of our favorite holidays! We had a nice weekend filled with family, friends, fireworks, and food, what could be better?

Bikes decorated and ready for the parade
Mike was quite proud of this action shotJackson in the dunk tank, he was so cute in there!What is better than cotton candy? They were so excited that they got their own and did not have to share. That is what you get when you have a really pregnant Mom who doesn't have a lot of fight in her

Jack waiting for the fireworks

Noah patiently waiting, not really it was a feat to get him to sit down for a picture at allBy far my favorite picture, do you think he was impressed with the fireworks?

On another note, still pregnant making progress but who knows. My doctor expects me to go anytime but we all know that no one can predict these things so we continue to wait.

Am I ready to be done?

2009-07-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

So it is no secret that I do not love being pregnant, that being said I have been wondering lately if I am ready to have a newborn. It has been 3 1/2 years since I have had a newborn, have I forgotten what to do? I am more nervous for the labor and delivery than I remember being with my others. My friend told me that just means that I am not uncomfortable enough yet, I beg to differ. I am not going to miss my really swollen legs, it seems like they have been swollen forever and the heat is not helping! Last night I had my lower legs crossed and when I uncrossed them I had a huge indentation that did not go away for over 1/2 hour. I will not miss the insomnia that I seem to have had for the last 2 months. At least I am hoping that it goes away and although I know that I will be getting up with the baby I am hoping that I will at least be able to go to sleep!

I was able to run through most of my pregnancy but stopped a few weeks ago because it was getting really uncomfortable, I miss it. I know most of you think that I am crazy but i find myself driving down the street envious of all the runners that I pass.

It is strange to look at my kids now and imagine loving another as much as I love these three crazies but I know that soon enough I will not be able to imagine life without her. So here is to the last little bit of pregnancy, there is a light at the end of the tunnel

Hailey and Noah showing off their Fathers Day treat that they made for Mike. Chocolate peanut butter cup Triumphant baking by Hailey and Jack!A little glimpse of some of the nursery, it is almost done but I can't find a chair I like.

1 more month!

2009-06-21T22:28:00.000-07:00

So my due date is in 1 month, and I am ready to be done. My sis-in-law says you have to get so uncomfortable that you will go through whatever you have to to get the baby out. I am definitely getting there!!! I am not really into taking or posting pics of myself pregnant but i have to remind myself that someday I will wish that I had taken more pics of myself pregnant. I am told that someday I will miss the pregnant days although right now I can not imagine that. So here I am at about 36 weeks.

Sorry about the cheesy grin

Dancing Queen

2009-06-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

Hailey had her first dance recital last Saturday, it was adorable! She was very focused and of course had no stage fright at all. She is quite the performer!! She gave us not so subtle hints that she wanted flowers, Jackson was so excited to give them to her Hailey, Kiara , and Emma so adorable!!

Family Visits and Minnesota

2009-06-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

I am trying to get caught up so when the baby comes atleast I won't start out behind.

A couple of weeks ago my brother Aaron and his wife Mandie and their 2 kids came to visit with my Mom. We had a few days before Mike and I headed to Minnesota to go to Mike's brothers residency graduation. A big thank you to my Mom and Mandie for watching the kids for a few days!

Of course we never take enough pictures but here are a few from our adventures both here and in Minnesota.

We had not had rain for more than 2 weeks but of course when company comes it had to rain on our paradeAs part of the Rose Festival some Navy ships come and dock on the waterfront. We went down and went on a tour, they had some serious security and we were not sure if it was going to be worth the wait but the boys loved it I had never been to Minnesota and it was fun to be able to see Dave and Ann, and Doug and Nicky. It is always fun to see where people live. We stopped by to see the Mall of America as I had never seen it before, if it had not been Sunday I could have done some serious damage! As it was we just walked around for a little while until I was contracting too much so we decided to head down to Rochester to visit with doug and Nicky before his graduation shindigAnn, Dad, and I at the graduation dinnerDoug, Nicky, Mike and I. Congrats Doug, only 2 more years and then you can finally be done! Nicky you are wonder woman!

It was a whirlwind trip and I don't think that I want to fly that far again as pregnant as I am but I am really thankful that we had the chance to go!

Jackson

2009-06-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

Jackson finished preschool a couple of weeks ago, he is going to be a big kindergartener in the fall. He is so ready!!! He had a great year at preschool with all of his friends. they loved playing superheroes, and "big bad jet". This year was the year of the cape, his teacher decided to make capes for anyone who wanted one because they were so into playing with the ones at school. I was the class rep and decided that Teacher linda needed one also. I stitched all of the kids handprints on the cape and had "Super Teacher" embroidered on it. It was a lot of work but she is worth it and it turned out pretty darn cute.

Jack has grown a lot this year! He is so big, I am pretty sure that he is going to be taller than me by the time he is 10. He is very emotional which can be great at times and not so great at other times. He has a huge heart and loves little kids. He loves to hold babies, this will be a huge plus in a couple of weeks! He and Noah are becoming best buds and love to play together, this is also a great thing

Teacher Linda & JacksonThe Cape!Enjoying a popsicle on Beach Day!Best Buds!

Hailey

2009-06-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of school and that Hailey will be a 2nd grader. She is growing up so fast and I know before I know it she is going to be graduating! I wish that i could make time stand still (except for the fact that would mean i would be 8 months pregnant for a long time).

Hailey is joy!!! She is so tenderhearted, smart, helpful, talented, obedient, and thoughtful, just to name a few of her traits. She is going to be a big help with her new sister and she already is with her brothers.

This year she played soccer, started piano, had choir, took jazz, learned to read proficiently, excelled in school, and just grew up way too much.

Hailey at her choir concert, she loves to sing and perform!Hailey at her first piano recital, she does not seem to have any fear of performing, which is a good thing! She has her dance recital on Saturday so I will have to post photos of that laterFirst day of school-Sept. Last day of school-June 2009

Big Events but not pictures

2009-05-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

So unfortunately this post will not have any pictures but I thought I would document some of our recent happenings.

I just got back from visiting my sister and her husband. They just adopted a beautiful baby boy born Thursday May, 14th. His name is Gage Robinson Brady and he is a cutie. It is fun to see my sister as a Mom! Congrats to Katie and Rick! Being around a newborn made me excited for our new baby girl to come and also made me realize that I need to live up the time that I have left because soon it will be all about feeding, pooping, and sleeping!

While I was away Mike took the boys to the Father/Son campout at the beach. They say they had a great time although there are not pictures to document it. I am a little bitter because I left the camera so that Mike would take pictures, I went to look at the pictures today and there were none. So not only do I have no camping pics but I have no pics of my new nephew or the proud new parents. Oh well, I 'll get over it!

The funniest thing was when I got home there was a note on the counter from Hailey. I did take a picture but it is too hard to read so I will just have to write what it said.

Dear Dad and Mom,

In my home lunch I am getting sick of P.B. and J.

P/S. Please go over this list of things I would like on my sandwich

1. turkey

2. ham

3. amirican cheese

The girl is too funny, and yes she did have a ham and cheese sandwich in her lunch today. She had never said anything so I just figured she was fine with it. I am happy to know that she will assert herself when needed.

Almost 30 weeks + half marathon= Great Race!

2009-05-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I was a little nervous about how this race was going to go. I went into it with the attitude of enjoying every minute, and I did. I did not worry about my time at all and planned on walking if I needed to. To my amazement I did not walk at all, and I felt great the whole time. I feel blessed that I have been able to keep running during my pregnancy. It is a great stress relief for me and I know that it is weird to many but I enjoy it. Now don't think that I enjoy every minute of it all the time, but there is nothing like finishing a run or having a great race.

Mike and the kids came and cheered me on and it was fun to see them at different points along the race. The kids always have fun coming to races probably because they get lots of post race treats. Today there were some good ones! Jamba juice, mini cinnabons, soup and rolls. They were in heaven in face, Jackson ate a little too much and had a stomach ache.

The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm, but not too warm.

My time only 14 minutes slower than my personal best, not too shabby for almost 30 weeks pregnant. Now I am going to go lie on the coach and veg.

I don't like posting pictures of my pregnant self but at the request of a sis-in-law I will post one. I am already wishing that I was not posting this picture!

New Kitchen

2009-05-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

It is finally done! Yeah!! No grout lines!!! I have an oven again after almost 3 weeks. You know what that means I will be baking something yummy. Well I better save that until after my half marathon tomorrow. I don't think that brownies are good prerace food. I will have to post about the race later. I have never done a race pregnant before. Wish me luck.

Here are some before and after pictures.

Before:

New house, well just paint!

2009-04-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

This post mostly for my Mom and sister who want to see the new house color. I always hate picking out colors because it is hard to visualize how it will turn out. Luckily I love it! Much better than before. Of course I had to keep the red door.

Easter and Seattle

2009-04-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

I would like to say that we got a family Easter picture but just the kids is good enough right? No one likes to take pictures when they are pregnant do they?

We had a fun little easter egg hunt at the pirate park, it was perfect because the sun was not out so we had the whole park to ourselves.

My sister and her husband came to visit for the weekend. Friday we did some baby shopping for both her and I and then Saturday we headed up to Seattle to go to a Mariners game. Despite the traffic we managed to make it to the game and have a good time. I hate traffic!

We took a walk from our hotel to Pike Street Market. The kids thought it was fun to watch them throw the fish! We actually got flowers this time, they are so cheap and beautiful!!

The kids also got fun balloons!

We had a fun weekend but it was not long enough. The kids miss their Aunt Katie and Uncle Rick. Hailey cried for a while on the way home because she did not want them to leave. Wish we lived closer to them!

Pregnancy?!!**

2009-04-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

So I will admit that I do not love being pregnant, and this time it just seems to be dragging on. 3 1/2 months to go and it seems like it is never going to get here. I think maybe I have just forgotten how long it really is!! I am hoping for the sun to come and stay, being outside and warm always makes the days fly by! So heres to wishing summer would get here soon! I know a lot of you can feel my pain!

Spring Break 2009

2009-04-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

It appears that I am continuing to slack on my blogging, oh well how many people actually read this anyway, right?

So for spring break this year we went to sunny California, it was a dream. I have decided that as I get older I need the warm sunshine more and more.

We left at 5am on Saturday, it is a 16 hour drive from Portland to Disneyland and we decided that neither the kids or Mike and I could handle it all in one day. The kids actually do pretty well on long drives, I on the other hand do not enjoy being in the car for long periods of time especially when I am pregnant. Mike bought a Nintendo DS and kept it a secret until we needed it on the drive. Jackson was beyond delighted at this as Mike had bought him the Legos Star Wars game.

Saturday we drove 11 hours arriving in Tracy, California around 3:30pm, plenty of time left to enjoy the rest of the day. After some swimming(actually hot tubbing because the pool was freezing) for the kids, and a run for me we were off in search of some dinner. The kids decided that they wanted Burger King, really? Needless to say Mike and I did not partake and decided to get something elsewhere and take it back to the hotel. Burger King was an adventure as Noah decided that he needed to poop, mind you that he is still refusing to go in the potty. So Noah and I headed off to the bathroom which would be a 1/2 hour experience of me trying to coax, bribe, do anything that would get him to poop. Amazingly, no one came into the bathroom that whole time, I am sure they would have been very entertained if they had. After getting food and ice cream for the kids we got back to the hotel with arms very full and proceeded to try and get into our room. Our keys were not working so Mike went to the desk got them rekeyed and came back, still not working. Again to the desk, this time he came back with rekeyed cards and a worker. Keys did not work and the master key card did not work. Meanwhile the ice cream is melting the kids are lying on the floor and I am starving. You all know that it is not good for anyone when a pregnant woman is hungry. As the worker walked by me he mumbled a really nice word to himself and at that point I was wondering if we were ever going to get into our room. So I decided that the kids should probably eat their half melted ice cream and as Jackson kept spilling his on the floor I was wondering what I had done. the guy comes back with some tool and proceeds to remove the door lock and was able to get the door open, but we were not going to be able to stay in that room. MArvelous!!! Now we have to move all of our stuff ,which was already unpacked, all the way down the hall. I was not happy and being hungry did not help. So finally an hour later we were settled in our new room. Of course we thought that they would comp the room, they didn't. I let Mike handle it but we all know that he is not mean enough. They will be getting a letter from me soon.

Sunday started out much how Saturday ended. We got up got ready for church, packed and left the hotel in plenty of time to make it to the first meeting. Mike had programmed the GPS for the nearest church with a 9am meeting. We drove and ended up in the middle of nowhere! After calling our friends to help us out we did indeed make it, although a little late. The 5 hour drive on Sunday felt like 12 hours! Jackson was whining pretty much the whole time. We made it though! Before meeting up with my parents at our hotel we went to visit friends from college. It had been about 8 years since I had seen Jillyn and Curt and it was fun to visit with them. Jillyn is a super woman, she made an awesome dinner and did I mention that she had just had her 6th baby that previous Tuesday! We had a great time visiting and catching up.

Now onto Disney!!

MONDAY- We got up early and were in line when they opened the gates! We went all day and the kids did awesome!!! We did everything that we had planned and got back to the hotel around 7:30pm after picking up some dinner.

The teacups, as you can see not my cup of tea!

Just after getting into the park on day1

Jackson got chosen for Jedi Training!! I was jumping up and down so the master jedi would hopefully pick him, it worked luckily! He got to fight Vader! Jack with his certificate

Tuesday-California Adventure

Lucky for us California adventure does not open until 10am so we got a little rest before round 2. This day was so sunny and warm, I was in heaven!

Jackson really enjoying his ice cream bar!

Wednesday-All our favorites and anything we missed

So we got there after a great parking fiasco! We got our fastpasses for Indiana Jones so that we could ride it later, or so we thought! When we went to ride it we got on the ride and then it broke down , this was so frustrating especially for Jack who was ready to drive the Jeep. Oh well! We tooka break and went back to the hotel for dinner and then went back to the park for the fireworks! By this time I think that we were all exhausted but we went anyway knowing it was our last hurrah! WE did not get back to the hotel until about 11:15pm. Luckily we planned on sleeping in and not checking out until the last minute.

Thursday we just recuperated, we had to move hotels and we did a little shopping in downtown Disney. The kids finally got to swim in the pool and they loved it. I loved sitting in the sun by the pool and reading a magazine while chatting with my Mom.

Friday was a sad day as we started our trek home. It is never very fun to drive home from vacation especially whe you have to get through LA traffic! We drove to Redding, CA which was really pretty town.

Saturday brought more driving and it was sad to say goodbye to the sun! As we approached Eugene, OR the rain started. I turned to Mike and told him that we need to move.

It was a very funfilled and exhausting trip! I don't think that we could do Disney every year but maybe every 2 or so. I think maybe next year we will venture as a family to Hawaii!

Thanks to Alex and Ellen, Mike and I get a little R&R this weekend as they are taking our kids while we go see Wicked and stay downtown. I will have to post about that later, I am very excited I have been wanting to see it for a long time!

I Love...

2009-03-01T19:39:00.000-08:00

I just had to share a couple of pictures from Valentines Day.

The chocolate marshmallow fondue was a hit!

Hailey worked so hard on her valentines for her brothers and I was actually quite impressed.

In case you can not tell this is Darth Vader, complete with his red light saber.
This is Yoda, Noah was quick to point out that his light saber should be green and not red.
I love my family and am grateful that they are still putting up with me, especially Mike!!!!

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, it's a GIRL!!!

2009-02-23T21:13:00.000-08:00

So I had my ultrasound today and it's a girl. Everything looks good! Hailey is really excited! She came to the ultrasound and told us on the way there that if it was a boy she was going to scream at the top of her lungs. Luckily this did not happen. She can be a little dramatic!

I have an excuse!!!

2009-01-29T15:33:00.000-08:00

So the longer I go without updating my blog the more guilty I feel. Not because I think that all of you are dying because you don't know what my family and I have been up to, but just because I feel like I am not keeping up with the things that I want to.

Anyway I have an excuse for the long break in blogging. I have been sick and am now getting back to a life that does not involve sleeping most of the day away and feeling nauseous all of the time. Yes you guessed it I am expecting #4! I am currently 15 weeks so most of the sickness is gone and I kind of feel human again, thank heaven!!!

So now on to the many things that we have been up to over the past 2 months, this is going to be the abbreviated version!

I have always loved Christmas and I will continue to do so but this year I mostly wanted it to be over because that meant I was hopefully closer to feeling better. I know that is a horrible way to feel at Christmas time but it was what it was. Don't worry I did not let my kids in on my scroogeness. They were happy and totally oblivious. We tried to keep up all of the regular traditions. Here are a few pics from the season.

We made our annual trek downtown on the train to go and visit Santa. The kids always look forward to this and this year was not exception.

What would Christmas eve be without new PJ's?

Before:After:We decided to tell the kids on Christmas that they were going to have a new brother or sister. We saved these gifts until the very last and had wrapped them in baby paper. They opened the baby food and pacifiers, which confused them a bit at first but Hailey soon figured it out. They are excited and Hailey says that it was her favorite Christmas present! When asked if they wanted a brother or sister Hailey responded- sister, Jackson-brother, and Noah insisted that he wanted a dog baby. When we told him that I would not be giving birth to a dog he responded that he would get it himself. Never a dull moment with that kid!This past weekend Mike had a conference in SunRiver so we rented a house and went down to play on the snow for a long weekend. We already new that Jack was into skateboarding and surfing, but now he has discovered snowboarding also. I personally do not love the cold weather so I made sure to make an appt. at the spa for a pedicure. Thanks Mike!!!
So that sums it up in a nut shell and now that I am caught up I will be able to cross this off my to do list!

Has it really almost been a month?

2008-12-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

So I must post today so that I will not go one month without posting. It has not been for lack of things to post, almost the opposite. Where has the time gone? Can there really be only about 11 days left until Christmas? I have not gotten Mike one thing yet, and Hailey is really hard for me to shop for this year. I really am not into buying just to buy(Although it is fun!)

The past month has been filled with lots of family filled good times. For Thanksgiving we decided to make the trek to Utah to see family. My family knew we were coming but we did not tell Mike's family. A surprise is always nice. It was fun to see lots of family and a new neice and nephew.

Jackson really took a liking to his new cousin Mason who was just a week old. So precious!!

Jackson was busy as he helped to make the pumpkin pie with his very own sugar pie pumpkin that he got on his school field trip to the pumpkin patch. He was very determined to use it to make a pie, so we made one from scratch. As always there was lots of good food and family! Here are the boys hollowing out the pumpkin.

What else, we made our annual trek to the Christmas tree farm to find our tree. This year we made sure to measure the opening of our Christmas tree stand so that we did not pick a tree whose trunk was too wide thus requiring a lot of work to get it to fit. We are learning!!

All decorated! This is known as the "Adult Tree" to my kids. Meaning that Mom gets to decorate it. Their tree is up in the bonus room and has all of their ornaments on it. I did not help decorate this one at all, it was all them!Hailey had here first choir concert this morning, it was really cute to see her doing what she loves! Here she is with her cousin Cecilee!

Halloween-Better late than never

2008-11-14T19:13:00.001-08:00

So I am a little behind,yet again. We had a fun halloween which resulted in way too much candy, which resulted in too many raids on my kids candy. Why is it that I can eat 10 fun size candy bars but would never touch a full size one?

Hailey wanted to be Dorothy this year and I was having trouble finding an appropriate 7 year old Dorothy costume. It seems that all the ones I found wer way too grown up, if you know what I mean. So Grammie to the rescue! My Mom made Hailey a costume and it turned out great.

I was hoping thatI could convinve the boys to go along with a Wizard of Oz theme, but they were having none of that. So Jackson was Bumblebee the transformer, and Noah was Spiderman. As he says the red spiderman. I guess there is a black spider man? Who knew?

Potty Training, Ughh!!!

2008-11-12T15:40:00.000-08:00

So you would think that by the 3rd child I should have this potty training thing down, I don't. I just don't understand the fear that Noah has of pooping in the toilet, and why a better option is to do it in his underwear. Can anyone shed some light on this? Any advice for me to help him get this. We have the pee thing down but #2 is a different story. Sorry about the gross topic but I would really like to figure this one out!

I have to say accidents and all this kid can make me smile at the drop of a hat. Cute little guy!

October Madness

2008-10-28T15:50:00.001-07:00

The fall is always busy in our household. Between school starting, soccer, birthdays and just living I never seem to sit down and relax. Not to mention that this October we added a trip to Boise, family pictures, weekend trip to Utah, and a marathon. So I thought I would try and catch up a little bit before I need to go make dinner for the missionaries.

Jackson and Haileys b-days are the 14th and the 19th. A few years ago I decided that they could have a friend party ever other year so that I could keep some sort of sanity. It was Haileys year to have the bash but Jackson did get to invite 2 friends to a little b-day celebration. We went to Out of this World Pizza, they had a great time. In Boise the weekend before he got what he wanted, the Big Bumblebee transformer. He is crazy about super heroes, Star Wars and skateboards right now. I can't believe that he is 5!

Hailey played soccer again this year. It was a more enjoyable season than last year, I think because the boys are 1 year older and I was able to actually watch Hailey a little and was not constantly chasing the boys everywhere.

Hailey wanted a TinkerBell party this year. She made her invite list and it had 13 girls on it! I like to throw parties at home but this was too big, so she opted for Out of this World Pizza. Come and visit we will go to this place, it is awesome. Whenever we go we are usually there 4 hours because the kids just love to play and I can just sit and relax. Not like Chuck E. Cheese where if you look away for a second it takes 1/2 hour to locate your child again! The kids had a great time and Hailey was so excited about her TinkerBell Cookie cake! On Sunday, her actual b-day, I was feeling like a loser Mom because I did not bake her a cake. Yes, we had b-day pancakes in the morning but I still felt bad. So around 7pm the doorbell rang, it was cousin Cecilee and family who had baked and decorated a cake for Hailey! Thanks for relieving some of my guilt!Just had to add this picture of Noah, sorry Mike! (Dan I don't want any comments!) We gave my neice Avery dressups for her b-day and Noah thought that they were so pretty!This month was tiring to me and obviously to Noah too! Watch out November, here we come!

I Survived!

2008-10-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

So I know that you all have been sitting on the edge of your seats wondering if I was crazy enough to run the Portland marathon 2 weeks after my other marathon. I was and I am still alive to tell about it! I did indeed run the Portland marathon and qualified for Boston so now I have the option of running it in 2009 and 2010. I am very happy about that because that is the only reason that I did it. My body was definitely not fully recovered and my IT band on my left knee was hurting but I am glad I did it. It was a great day for a marathon! The temp was perfect, it started raining about 1/2 way thru but I actually enjoyed the rain, that is until I was done. At the point I was soaking wet and once I cooled down I was shivering.

Anyone crazy enough for Boston 2010? I will be there, love for you to join me!

Anyone who wants a full report go to http://www.marathonmommies.blogspot.com/ I will be posting my race report soon.

Girls Weekend, oh and a marathon!

2008-09-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend three of my good friends and I flew to Salt Lake for a girls weekend and to run the Top of Utah marathon. We have been training together since my last marathon in April. We had a blast with some pain involved. If you want more marathon details go to http://www.marathonmommies.blogspot.com/ to read my post titled Top of Utah marathon. For those of you who do not want all the details of the race I will spare you.

So what do 4 women do when they have no children or hubbies around?

They buy People magazine to catch up on all the hollywood gossip while riding on the plane without wiggly children
They stay up late watching Made of Honor, eventhough they know that they should go to bed
They go to the Salt Lake temple and enjoy a live session together
They try and figure out what the whistling noise in the car is, but finally give up and get used to it
They try and figure out what a good pre-race meal would be and end up at Quiznos
They get up at 4am to go run 26.2 miles, yes we are crazy!!
They all finish the race and are still alive to talk about it thanks to Mike who sent me with Zofran (anti-nausea drug)
They go out to dinner and drink Diet Coke happy to not be drinking water or gatorade!
They shop, go to a movie at 10pm, and stay up talking and laughing until 2am. Awake for 22hours and ran 26.2 miles. Again we are crazy!!
Grow to love and appreciate each other even more!

We had an awesome time, I am proud to call these ladies my friends.

My Mom, Dad, sis-in-law and neice were nice enough to drive up to Salt Lake on Sunday and we all went to Music and the Spoken Word with the Mo-Tab choir. It was amazing!!! President Monson was there and spoke a little after the performance. It was a very moving experience and I am sso glas that i drug myself out of bed! It was fun to see some of my family. I feel very blessed to have a life full of great family and friends.

My cup runneth over.

Noah is 3

2008-09-24T16:15:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that my little guy is already 3. Time really does fly by!

I thought that I would share a few pictures from his b-day. We went to Red Robin, he fell asleep on the way there and was out! We ordered for him and when his food came we woke him up. He was kind of out of it, his food was really hot so he decided that the lettuce was a good temperature. He proceeded to pick it up, dip it in the kethup and eat it. He did this repeatedly, he is definitely my son. The veggies part, not the kethup!

Back to school for Jack

2008-09-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

I am way behind on blogging! Since school started my life is so busy. It seems like I am running nonstop from the time I get up!

Jack started preschool a few weeks ago. It is so fun to see him in his element, so happy to be playing with his friends. He is always so excited to go to school. He is so funny because he really has an opinion on what he wants to wear on most days. The first day of school being one of them, his shirt is a little small but I have learned to pick my battles and that what he wears is not importnat. Yes I know that I am type A and I like to control almost everything. I am working on that, I think that kids have forced me to loosen up which is a good thing.

I love this little boy!

Signing his name, yes he is a lefty!

Sewing his school back with Teacher Linda

A place for kids?

2008-09-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

So Friday I took the boys to McDonalds for lunch. We have a deal that on the day of the week that Hailey eats "hot lunch" at school I will take the boys to eat somewhere because of course Jackson needs everything to be "fair". We got their happy meals, went outside and as usual they eat 2 bites, open their toy, and then disappear into the play structure. A few minutes later Jackson returned with a very disgusted look on his face and he was spitting.

I asked him what he was doing to which he responded, " I drank something that tasted like concrete."

I of course was very confused as his chocolate milk was right next to me and it did not taste like concrete. I asked a few more questions like, "Did you really drink something?", and "Where is this thing that you drank?"

He responded, Yes, I did drink something and then he pointed up to the play structure.

So I asked him to go retrieve this thing that he had drunk. I sat there a little apprehensive waiting for him to return. All the time hoping that it would not be what I was thinking that it would be.

Sure enough he came down with one of those king size cans of budweiser. What is a can of beer doing in the kids play structure at McDonalds? What is my son doing drinking out of any open container that he finds?

I took the can to the manager and let him know that there was obviously some extracurricular activities going on after hours in their play structure. He was apologetic and very surprised. Then I had a discussion with Jackson about not eating or drinking anything that he finds. What is common sense to me isn't always common sense to my almost 5 year old obviously.

So beware what your kids might find in the McDonalds play structure. While disgusting it is definitely a classic Jackson thing to do. Gotta love him!!!
Boys are a different breed! I used to think that people were just saying that. I don't anymore!!! You have to love this boy with ice cream all over his glasses!

All Grown up

2008-09-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was Hailey's first day of 1st grade. It was harder for me to let her go this time than it was for Kindergarten. Having her gone all day is weird, and sad. She will never be home all day again, they grow up so fast. I tell myself to cherish the moments when my kids are little because they grow up too fast!! Although it is hard sometimes when they are screaming, fighting, creating huge messes, etc.
From this picture you would think that it is Noah's first day of school.
I had to take a picture to document what grade school she is going to. I think that I won't forget but you never know.
I dropped her off on the 1st day so that I could meet her teacher with her. She started right in on her work and has never looked back. So far she is still excited to get up and go. We will see how long that lasts. So far her favorite part of school is everything and recess.

Hood To Coast 2008

2008-08-31T19:32:00.000-07:00

After many months of planning and training the Hood to Coast Relay came and went. It was a blast! Thanks to everyone on the team that helped make it such a fun, memorable experience!

I could not have picked better people to run 197 miles with!!

Van 1-Pre-Race photo, sorry about the black and white my camera was in the wrong setting.

Left to right: Marcae, me, Kristin, Jeremy, Mike, and Thomas

Our team name was Almost There, there were definitely times that it did not feel that way!

Van 2 left to right: Mallory, Nathan, Joanna, Alex, Megan, WillJeremy and Thomas showing their "guns", happy to be finished with their 1st leg.Half asleep getting ready to start our 2nd legs which would all be in the middle of the night. This was by far my favorite and my fastest leg. Thank you to my awesome and talented sis-in-law Ellen for all of her hard work on the decals for our van!After our 2nd legs we drove to the place where we would meet up with Van 2 to begin our 3rd legs. When we got there the guys and Marcae slept out in their sleeping bags. Kristin and I preferred the warm van. We were all a little envious of Marcae who could sleep just about anywhere.

We used a lot of these which were amazingly clean and not smelly. Atleast that was my experience!!Kristin during her 3rd and final leg!! Yeah!

Once we got to the beach we got to have a shower, that was an experience! Just think junior high locker room. Anyway we were happy to not be covered in dried sweat anymore. This is us post shower waiting for Van 2 to finish and meet us at the finish line.Boy do we need sleep! We look pretty tough, don't we????The finish line was great, chaotic but great. 12,000 runners, lots of spectators, food, music, the ocean, a beautiful sunny day, you can't ask for much more!
Enjoying the moment while waiting for Megan to finish our last leg and meet us at the finish line! So proud of her!!! Megan is my neice who flew up from Utah to run with us! Thank you to Marcae also for flying up from Utah! It would not have been the same without these ladies!! Shout out to Brian, Marcae's husband who kept their 4 month old while she ran! Running toward the finish line, what an awesome feeling of accomplishment and team spirit!

29 hours, 11 minutes, and 45 seconds later we are still smiling and have made many memories in the process! Thanks to an awesome team and to all those who put up with all of the stress that I went through planning it! It was all worth it! Love you guys!

Happy 10 year Anniversary

2008-08-14T19:22:00.001-07:00

It is so hard to believe that Mike and I have been married 10 years now. Time goes by so fast!! I still feel like I am in my early 20's and many people tell me I still look like it also. There are so many memories to list but I will list some of my favs.

Not everything can go perfectly on the wedding day right? I forgot Mike's ring in the brides room and so luckily my Dad's ring worked. I remember mouthing to my Mom that I forgot ther ring and then watching as my Dad took his off and passed it around the room to me.

Putting faith in Mike and moving to Ohio for Med school where he has interviewed and I had never been in my life. I was scared and nervous but it was where we needed to be and I am so grateful that he listens to the spirit!

Being with Mike as we stood by his Mom's bedside as she passed into the next life. I will forever be grateful for the man that she raised and for the family that I married into.

I am grateful that Mike works so hard even during the first year of residency when he was not home a lot and he had to put up with a cranky, homesick wife. Lets just say that leaving all of our friends in Ohio was a very hard thing for me.

I am grateful for the Father that he is to our 3 kids!!!! He is the fun one and even when he has worked a very long day he always has energy for them.

I am grateful for his comapassion, loyalty, honesty, integrity, intelligence, and patience.

I could not have made a better decision than the one I made 10 years ago!!!

I love you Mike, Happy Anniversary.