Birthdays

We've had a lot of birthdays in the last few months-all of ours in fact. Here's some snippets of each one.

Scott-April 7

Misha-May 20

Jerry-July 8

Hayley-August 15

Oh the Athletic Things We Do!

So, I've been working out at the gym nearly every day for the last year + (since week 5 post c-section thank you very much). All of it has been to train for the few athletic things we wanted to do this year. The first goal was to actually run the entire Race for the Cure that was in June. I am happy to report I did just that-and in my best time yet for a 5k. Okay okay, it's only 3.1 miles, and I run slow, but I RAN the whole thing nonetheless! My time was 35:45.

The next thing was for us (me, Jerry, and my dad) was our first sprint triathlon. It was a 300 yard swim (my hardest part by far because of the severe disgusting-ness of the pond we swam in, and I didn't have a way to particularly train for it), an 10.85 mile bike ride, and a 5k run.

As stated above, the swim was my hardest part. It took me twelve minutes to complete making me the last. Jer kindly stayed with me the whole time despite the fact that he could have finished well before me. He's used to sticking his face in nasty water from growing up in Florida. I am hoity toity and refuse to stick mine in anything but a pool or clear, fresh water. So, here we are gearing up to start.

Why am I the only one with my game face on? Man look at how white Jerry and my dad are. Yowzuh.

So, we got done with the swim and transitioned fairly well into the bike. Jerry and I passed two women in the first 5 minutes, but saw no one after that. It took me until more than half way through the bike ride to get past the nausea I was feeling after that lake, and I got a huge burst of energy after that. We finished up the bike ride strong. The run was tough. 3.1 miles after all that other stuff can be hard. It didn't help that it started within the first 1/4 mile with a really long steep hill. After that it wasn't bad. Jerry and I crossed the finish line at 1:49:33, a full five minutes after dad who finished in 1:44:58. I'm so proud that my 58 yr. old father went out on his first ever triathlon of any kind and finished before his 27 yr. old daughter and 30 yr. old son-in-law. Way to go dad! All in all we had a great time, and I'll consider doing another if it involves the swim being in a POOL.

We didn't finish last (okay, okay, two people finished behind us, but they were a good 30 minutes behind us in finishing), and might we note-my dad was the oldest competitor. Again, WAY TO GO DAD!

Updates 1

So, here's the beginning of updates. Over the last few months we have...

Given Jerry a mini-me. I've told him a thousand times to use a #2 guard, but does he listen? No. What do we get? A cancer baby. But an adorable one. And now we just use a #1 guard all the time!

Celebrated two birthdays! My babies are getting so big!

Given little man a taste of real cake. This is in between the two birthdays-on his actual birthday we gave him a cupcake, and he didn't have nearly this much fun with it as with this piece of birthday cake. Yum yum!

Been with family. We celebrated the two birthdays with family in town over Easter weekend. Aren't they all so cute! Could the two girl cousins look any less alike? Oh but they're cute together! We had so much fun with everyone and were so happy to celebrate my sister and her husband's sealing. And now we can't wait for her baby that's due in just a couple of weeks. Can't wait to meet you baby Griffin!

Explanation

That's right, I haven't been updating. Here's why. (If you want the short sweet version, skip to the last paragraph.)

I'm applying to graduate school. PA (Physician Assistant) programs to be exact. I'm getting my master's degree so that when I graduate I can get a full time job and support us so that Jerry can finally go and finish school. Oh, and it's kinda what I want to do anyway. Now, you may think that there's not a ton involved in applying to grad school (for those who haven't), and that may be true for some (who got good enough grades the first time through their classes). Seeing as how I didn't do horrifically stellar, I've had some courses to retake to be eligible to apply. So, the things for me involved in applying for me have included the following:

A) Retaking Psychology 111 (via independent study at BYU) in approximately two months

B) Retaking Chem 121 (via distance ed at Oregon State University) "spring semester" that just ended June 6th.

C) Studying for the GRE (which I'll be taking on Friday).

D) Filling out the central PA school application, along with the supplemental applications of all the schools to which I wish to apply.

So, it's been involved, and really stressing/overwhelming. On top of all of it I'm the Primary secretary and ward camp director (camp's next week), I've been training for Race for the Cure (which was June 4th, and I finished in 35:45-my fastest time for a 5K), and for a sprint triathlon that is this coming weekend (300 yard swim, 11 mile bike ride, and a 5K) that my dad, Jer, and I are doing. I'm also now battling a sinus infection that the nurse practitioner swears is only allergies that caused a viral thing and that I shouldn't even be taking antibiotics. But she prescribed them anyway, and I'll be darned if I'm not going to take them so as to be able to make it through said sprint triathlon on Saturday.

So the long and the short is, I've been busy, and when I'm busy I take fewer pictures. Look for some at the end of June/beginning of July.

Finally!

So, Scott has already started walking. He's starting to get so confident, and I love it! I can't believe baby boy turns 1 on Thursday!

BMG Again!

We had the chance to go see Blue Man Group again on their tour that brought them here to DC. It's so rare we ever get to go on a date, so we got documentation.;) We had a great time with some great friends of ours. Their show always rocks-if you haven't seen it, you should!! Oh, and for those that didn't know, I chopped my hair again. I went pixie short. I love how easy it is, and how little shampoo it takes! And I finally look like I make a bit of an effort (without having to make much of one!). Thanks Jason and Amy for coming with us. We had a great time!

Saying Good-bye

To facebook. It is entirely too time consuming, and I find it odd that people that hated me in high school have attempted to friend me. Not that I'm not a forgiving person, but I wasn't friends with you then...so...yeah. I've also not posted anything on there in months, and no one seems to particularly noticed, so that too is a reason to chuck it. That means I'll be updating this more often. Most of you only seem interested in pictures of my kids anyway, so that's pretty much what will be on here. So, back to blogger we go!

And to start things off, here's a picture of Jerry and his mini-me. I've told him several times to use a #2 guard on the clippers, and he fails to remember this. At least it keeps baby boy's hair neater.

After doing Misha's hair in a heart shaped pattern of mini-buns, we took her hair out and this is what she looked like! It was awesome. The only way we can get her super-fine hair (sorry baby girl, you got that from mommy) to hold a curl is this way!

2010 Books List

So, I made it my goal last year to read 52 books for the whole year-obviously an average of a book a week.  Well, as of midnight on December 31, 2010, I reached my goal.  (Okay, okay, so it was by midnight in the central time zone, but I say it still counts because I hadn’t gone to sleep yet.  So there.)  Obviously I didn’t read one per week-some took a while to get through, and then others I’d blaze right through.  I read four books in the last three days of the year alone.  Now, my mother tells me it wasn’t really that hard because I’m not working.  Which is true, I’m not.  However, I did paint my house, grow a baby, HAVE a baby, recover from surgery from having said baby, go to the gym starting at week five post surgery to have said baby and gone almost every day Mon-Sat since then, take a beach vacay, take a Utah vacay, take a very short trip to Boston, kept track of all the finances, cleaned the house weekly, did more loads of laundry than I can even keep count of (though I’m thinking about keeping track this year just for fun…), and did two weeks at Disney World/Universal over Thanksgiving.  I’d say I was fairly busy this year despite not working.  But you can judge for yourself.;)  Here is the list of those I read-mostly in order.

1. Deception Point-Dan Brown (GREAT way to start the year-it’s very good.)

2. The Time Traveler’s Wife-Audrey Niffenegger (What a terrible last name, no? And this was by far a bit more graphic than I expected…if you’re Mormon-it’s not one I suggest.  Bit too much for my personal taste.)

3. A Study in Scarlet-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (S.A.C.D.)

4. The Sign of Four-S.A.C.D.

5. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes-S.A.C.D.

6. The Heretic’s Daughter-Kathleen Kent

7. Nefertiti-Michelle Moran

8. Cankered Roots-G.G. Vandagriff (G.G.V.)

9. Devil’s Food Cake-Josi S. Kilpack

10. The Heretic Queen-Michelle Moran

11. Cleopatra’s Daughter-Michelle Moran

12. Fablehaven-The Keys to the Demon Prison-Brandon Mull

13. Blowback-Brad Thor

14. Takedown-Brad Thor

15. The First Commandment-Brad Thor

16. The Last Patriot-Brad Thor

17. The Red Pyramid-Rick Riordan

18. Wings-Aprilynne Pike

19. The Spire-Richard North Patterson

20. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built-Alexander McCall Smith

21. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner-Stephenie Meyer

22. The Apostle-Brad Thor

23. The Necromancer-Michael Scott

24. The Lace Makers of Glenmara-Heather Barbieri

25. The Help-Kathryn Stockett

26. Courting Trouble-Deanne Gist

27. Of Deadly Descent-G.G.V.

28. Spells-Aprilynne Pike

29. Deep In the Heart of Trouble-Deanne Gist

30. The Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins (OH MY GOSH.  Such an incredible series-though the ending was a bit anticlimactic.)

31. Catching Fire-Suzanne Collins

32. The Book Thief-Markus Zusak (This was good-but really slow-I took a really long time to get through this one.)

33. The Hourglass Door-Lisa Mangum (I read this one and the next two within three days.  Awesome.)

34. Choke-Obert Skye

35. The Golden Spiral-Lisa Mangum

36. The Mocking Jay-Suzanne Collins

37. Clockwork Angel-Cassandra Clare

38. The Fourth Nephite-Jeffrey S. Savage

39. Mennonite In a Little Black Dress-Rhoda Janzen (I by far laughed out loud the most in with this one.  Hilarious.)

40. City of Bones-Cassandra Clare (These are quite good-the “prequel” to this series is the Clockwork Angel above that just came out this year-though each series can be read independent of the other.)

41. City of Ashes-Cassandra Clare

42. City of Glass-Cassandra Clare

43. Juliet-Anne Fortier (I quite liked this-did anyone actually know that Romeo and Juliet is actually based on history??)

44. The Dressmaker-Posie Graeme-Evans

45. The Lost Hero-Rick Riordan (Those demi-gods are back!  Loved this and the Percy Jackson series-you should read it first before beginning this one.)

46. Alma the Younger-H.B. Moore (She is an incredible writer-the books she write like these really make the scriptures come alive.)

47. Poison-Sara Poole

48. The Christmas Sweater-Glenn Beck (If you don’t cry, you’re completely out of touch with your emotions.;))

49. Leviathan-Scott Westerfeld

50. The Jaguar Prophecies-Phyllis Gunderson

51. It’s Okay to Take a Nap and Other Reassuring Truths for MOTHERS EVERYWHERE-Debra Sansing Woods

52. Tangled Roots-G.G.V.

 

What do you think-should I shoot for 100 this year?  Ugh-that makes me tired kinda thinking about it.

DISNEY and UNIVERSAL!!

Here are a few highlights of our trip. It was a great deal of fun-with our most favorite being our visits to Universal's parks. If you haven't been-go to Harry Potter-ride the Chinese Fire Tail. It's so much fun you'll wet your pants. Well, hopefully not, but you will have a ton of fun!

A list of our most favorite things we did at each park:

Magic Kingdom:

The Teacups-Duh!

Space Mountain

Animal Kingdom:

Expedition Everest-oh my gosh what a blast!!!!

Primeval Whirl

Epcot (This park MAJORLY screws with your senses):

Soarin'

The 360 degree movies in O Canada and China

Hollywood Studios:

Rockin' Roller Coaster-Man that first thrust is a bit scary! (0-60 in 3.5 seconds, yowzuh!)

Universal:

Blue Man Group!!!!

Universal Islands of Adventure:

Harry Potter

The Dragon's Challenge

Butterbeer (the drink, it's not a ride, but I had to throw it in there)

Seuss Landing

(And Jerry would say The Hulk)

We had so much fun. Enjoy the pictures, and enjoy your holidays!!! The pictures are in order of how we did them, so have fun putting our puzzle together of our trip!

Misha's very first roller coaster ride. It's the Woody Woodpecker ride at Universal. Yes, we are on it. We're in the very first car (we had it all to ourselves!), and you can barely see my head to the left behind Woody Woodpecker. Jerry sucks at getting action shots.;)

Meeting Alex and the penguins! Scotty sure looks tasty.

We saw Blue Man Group our first night, after our first day that was spent at Universal. They were amazing. All of the awesome rock music, without the hassle of having to worry about your kids hearing the lyrics. One of the workers went back stage and got Misha one of their drumsticks-then we have two of them "sign" them by putting their blue mark on it. It was awesome-and I really appreciated that lady for being so nice to my cute girl. GO SEE THEM. They're amazing and hilarious.

Harry Potter! L-R, Uncle Kip, Grandma (mine) Williams, cousin Andrew, Aunt April holding Misha, cousin Ben, Me, Scott, and Jer.

The hypogriff ride at Universal Orlando Islands of Adventure. My aunt April and cousin Andrew in the front, me and Misha right behind them, and my Unlce Kip and cousin Ben right behind us.

Yep-Jer and Misha went on Dumbo. Doesn't Jer look thrilled about it?

She says her favorite princess is Cinderella. I love how she's just sitting there having a nice little chat with her. It was so adorable I almost died.

A life-size gingerbread carousel that the Yacht and Beach club (where we did a character breakfast one of the days) builds every year. The horses are made from modeling chocolate. It was seriously really impressive.

All the ingredients that went into the life-size gingerbread carousel. It took I think over 10 people over 10 hours to put together. It was impressive.

Misha through the biggest hissy fit over meeting Daisy. Jer stood in line with her...of all the ones to fuss over I thought it would've been a faerie or a princess...but nope, it was Daisy.

Us at Epcot by the England section. I thought the countries were quite interesting! And despite wondering at first why we were visiting Canada-the movie was worth it.

Meeting Flick! One of Misha's favorite movies is A Bug's Life. She absolutely loved meeting this one. Right as we were the next ones in line, Flick had to take a 5 minute break-I told her maybe Flick had to go potty. But the worker was nice enough to let Misha be the one that escorted Flick back down the ramp to the standing area where you could meet the character. It was adorable, and she loved every minute of it.

We HAD to meet the faeries! Especially since she was in her faerie outfit that day. Note how Vidia isn't on her shirt? Well, she was one of the faeries that we met. Fawn, Tink, and VIDIA. Seriously?!?! Since WHEN is she considered one of Tink's friends???

She ran straight pass Mickey to meet Minnie first. It was hilarious.

She got Minnie ears! She actually picked these ones of all the different types of ears you can get. And I had her name embroidered on the back knowing it was one of the few things she'll ever have her name on (like me). This was while we were waiting for the parade and fireworks at Magic Kingdom-about 45 minutes before she puked up some of her dinner-it had to happen sometime, right?

Ever been to the Magic Kingdom during Christmas?! It's GORGEOUS. My aunt asked-over 1.5 MILLION lights on that castle. It makes for some beautiful night time viewing. And the lights change color...you can kind of tell how the bottom right is more of a bluish purple-it goes through blue, purple, green, pink, majenta...it's so pretty. If you get a chance-go during Christmas. You won't be disappointed.

This next one is just slightly out of order-but it's the best, and that's why.

This is for your viewing pleasure from inside the teacups. This face alone made all the hassle we went through worth it. If you've never seen your kid's face in sheer ecstasy, you should. It makes it ALL worth it.

Some Recent Happenings

So, I guess I've got no excuse. Other than that I go to the gym every day. Yeah-that's it! It takes up all my time and I'm so exhausted I don't have time to blog....right. I actually do go every day-just so you know.

So, I've had a ton of time on my hands the last (almost) year since quitting work. And so I got bored enough to actually make my daughter's Halloween costume. That's right-you heard me-I made it. All of it (including the wings-which it's sad you can hardly see them in this picture because really they're the most magnificent and best part of this entire costume).

I think I may never make another one again.

I did NOT make Scott's costume. He was still cute though. Albeit unhappy-but you can't tell in this picture!;)

And-he sits up now. Yep-all by himself. And he crawls-and has four teeth-neither of these things which you can see in this picture. But he's adorable anyhow.

Perhaps at the beginning of December we'll post pictures of our trip to DISNEY WORLD coming up over Thanksgiving. I'M SO EXCITED I ALMOST WET MYSELF! I've never been-can you tell?