October phone pics

One morning at the beginning of the month, Nate asked if he could hold Grace and if I could

take a picture. Someone should mention to this kid that his sister almost matches him in size.

Annie's birthday was on a Sunday this year, so because our Sundays are not super exciting in

the birthday department, she and I had a fun girls' afternoon the day before. We started out with

pedicures and took this picture to send to Jacob. As you can imagine, he was incredibly jealous.

We also went out for frozen yogurt and picked up her birthday breakfast doughnuts.
Listen, if it isn't healthy, our family doesn't want anything to do with it.

Our last stop was Target to pick up the rest of the ingredients for Annie's birthday lunch 

and dinner. It is also where I encountered the girl in the tan cardigan you see above. 

And her three grocery carts. Only they were not filled with groceries, but car seats and

 babies. If you haven't figured it out, she has triplets. I stopped to admire her babies and 

talk to her about their age (four months) and gender (two girls and a boy) and if she ever

slept (not so much). I really was interested because, well, triplets, but mostly it was a

reminder to me when I get overwhelmed, I do not have triplets. Bless her heart.

Jacob took the four oldest to a Real Salt Lake game. Fun times for sure.

This moment brought to you by a fun dad. Our kids didn't even know that these mini

grocery carts exist. At least until Jacob shared that info with them. So now, every 

once in a while, I let him push a small cart, because he absolutely loves it. And while

Nate boy works hard to be obedient and good, it makes for a long grocery store trip.

And reminds me why I choose not to be a very fun mom.

 Oh good, finally the picture of a soccer ball and an apple core that I have

been wanting for posterity is mine. Phew. Thanks Matt.

We've been switching off dates with each of the kids and this particular week it

was my turn with Ben. He wanted frozen yogurt. Loved being with this sweet boy.

We got out Matt's Halloween wig to make sure it would work well with

his costume. Apparently Matt wasn't the only one that it fit.

The day before Halloween, I helped out at Ben's school party. 

Twenty-five first graders have a lot of energy. Just for the record.

And these boys are ready for their school Halloween parade. I really did enjoy going and

seeing our cute boys and their friends, but in all honesty, the last few years of being in

elementary schools where the kids couldn't dress up and we didn't do a parade was nice.

(See comment above about me choosing not to be a fun mom and feel sadness for my kids.)

October weather

My last half marathon of the year

And thank goodness. It was my hardest by far, but in this case, it was all my fault. I should
have trained. Even slightly. 2015 will be the year that I actually train for my races, just you
watch. Neverthless, I was grateful to be able to finish and was surprised and thankful that I
beat my personal record by another 10 minutes. (Forty minutes down from my very first half.)

And now to share my photos of the race. There was too much going on that particular
Saturday morning for Jacob and the kids to come down, so these photos brought to you
by an exhausted half marathon runner. And one miscellaneous person at the finish line
that agreed to take a final pic. Mostly to prove to myself that I really did do it.

The race was being held in a city more than an hour away, so I needed to stay closer 

to the race the night before and Jacob's brother and his wife graciously let me stay 

at their place. They were actually not going to be there that particular night, 

but left me the sweetest notes about my race, including this one on the mirror.
Thanks Danny and Camie. You guys are the best!

 The starting line. It's go time.

The race route was incredibly beautiful.

I always get so very excited to hit mile 7. More than half way feels good.

My selfie. Yeah, there isn't actual evidence that this is mile 7, because the mile 

markers were so tall, so you are just going to have to take my word for it. I lie not.

Once again, such gorgeous fall colors. If only my exhausted self could have

enjoyed it more. I tried to, I did. But I was too busy dying to take it completely in.

One of the last hills. It was fun. Only not at all.

 And the finish line. See that there medal? Jacob finds it a tad odd that the medal means so

much to me. You see, I had to get below a certain time to earn the medal and didn't know

that until about two days before the race. It was quite a bit faster than I had done in the

past. But shockingly I did it. And a big part of that was knowing I had to have that medal.

Yes, I'm aware I'm a small child stuck in an adult's body. Anyway, I haven't been that

tired in a very long time. And grateful that my next half isn't until next spring. And extra 

grateful that I'm totally planning to train for any more I run. For rude. I'm serious this time.

She still loves it...a lot

I ran a half marathon today...and again

Oh man, I have to admit I'm pretty happy this was my last half of the year. I have until
spring (likely) before I run another one of these. And 2015 is going to be the year I actually

train for my races. Because while I was thrilled to beat my personal record by another

10 minutes, it literally hurts to walk, sit, move or breathe. But I did it. And I'm so grateful.

(Race pictures coming soon...)

Lunch with the mayor

This boy was chosen as one of only five first graders to be awarded with lunch with our

city mayor. His teacher nominated him for his academic excellence, his ability to work

hard and for his incredible kindness to others. I'm so proud of our amazing Ben.

Our baby girl

This baby girl does something to my heart. I often feel too old and tired to keep up with

this little chicklet, but I wouldn't trade her for anything. Being a mother has exceeded

my expectations in every way. It is the coolest, craziest, most exhausting, most amazing

thing I have ever done with my life. Sign me up for another infinity years. I am so blessed.

Dinner games

A couple of nights ago we were eating dinner and suddenly an idea came to me. I don't know why, but it made me laugh in my mind, so I thought we would go with it. It really was one of those you've-got-to-be-there moments, but I want a record of it on the blog, so I'll give it a try.

I told the kids that we were going to play a game with two parts. The first part was that they had to come up with something that happened to them that day, without worrying about how normal or boring it might seem. Then, they had to "sell" it to the rest of us as the most exciting thing that could ever happen to anyone. Everyone would be taking a turn and we would see who had the most "exciting" day.

The second part was pretty much exactly like the first part, except that they had to come up with something pretty normal that happened to them that day and make us believe it was the worst thing that ever occurred.

Oh folks, I was no prepared for what came from those kids of ours. The excitement, the drama, the persuasion, the sadness--there was literally an impromptu (actually, two) song and dance. Even though it was all fabulous, I think I might have laughed the hardest (although there were many moments not far behind) when I turned to look at the next child in line for his sad story and saw him poking his fingers in his glass of water. Since that is not something we encourage at our house, I was a little confused. Until he started putting that water on his face to produce a plethora of tears.

Boy howdy, I love my family. A lot.

And I now also happen to be a huge fan of dinner games.

Nature walk

The other day I was talking to my brother on the phone and somehow we got talking

about the fall colors and how he wishes they were just a little more like the fall colors

the year before our family moved to Utah. Which got us talking about leaves, which got

 me lamenting about an assignment our Cam was trying to finish for his Honors Biology

class that involved leaves and identification and ideally, would somehow involve

someone who knew a whole lot more about trees and leaves then Cam's parents.

And in that moment I realized there was something seriously wrong with me, because I had

failed to think about the fact that my brother is literally a nature expert. I don't have words

to express how much he knows about everything in nature. His son, who is only six, 

knows more about the outdoors than any adult I have ever met. The two of them together?

 I had just struck gold. And the fact that my brother has an amazing heart, meant that he

 immediately offered to take a nature walk with us and help out in the leaf department.

So naturally, I took along the camera to capture some of the great fall colors.

But my hands-down favorite picture of the afternoon? Yeah, this one right here.

 These two are not just handsome, they are awesome and kind in every way.

Thanks Tai and Ray! You guys are truly the best.

They get it from their father

The kids' favorite organization/purge the house chore this past weekend?
Dispose of the extra duplicate checks. I can guarantee I'm not to blame for their pyromania.

This girl makes me happy

And makes me laugh hard.

Preschool pumpkin patch field trip

Remind you of any other little boys and their pumpkin patch fieldtrips?

Just when he was starting to feel better

This little guy got his pinkie finger completely shut in the hinge of one of those

big, metal doors on the outside of our church building. It was really sad and pretty

scary for a little bit. But thankfully, nothing was broken and he woke up this
morning doing just fine. As you can tell from this picture, he was apparently doing

pretty well last night also. Love this boy. And so very grateful his hand was protected.

Thirteen

Happy, Happy Birthday our darling Annie! 

 You are the kindest, most loving, most incredible thirteen-year old we know. 

And we love you so very much!