The Sweetest Thing

July 15 is Special

2011-07-14T21:33:00.001-07:00

Get comfortable folks. This is Adam and I am feeling chatty. I am going to tell you a story.

About 11 1/2 years ago my mom was working at a propane company and they needed to hire someone to drink Diet Pepsi. Their pop machine just had too much of the stuff. I think they also needed help with accounts receivable but I never was sure. They had several applicants and they decided on the most qualified. While looking over her resume the boss said to my mom "She seems like the best one but I have a feeling your son is going to come home from his mission, marry her and take her away" Mom said she felt the same way but they hired her anyway. This was my Julie. I had no intention of getting married right away. I even had a pair of shorts made with the number 26 on them because that was the age I was going to get married, or so I thought. She had no interest in getting married either, or so she thought.

About 2 or 3 years before she was hired to work at the propane shop I had thought about taking Julie out. I knew her a little since she lived near my Grandma Olsen. So. I called Grandma to get her phone number. Grandma made a call or two then called me back. She then told me I better find someone else to take out because Julie was already in a very steady relationship. So, I went on my way, found a different date that night (or more likely went dragging Main with 3 friends so we could "pick up chicks") and moved to St George to go Dixie College then onto the Philippines for my mission.

I had about 5 months left of my mission when I got a letter from my mom saying they had hired someone I might know. I wrote back and using all of the humbility I had learned on my mission told my mom to tell Julie she better have her guard up because when she saw how good looking I was she would fall in love. I don't remember writing any more about her or thinking too much about her the rest of my mission, I was still planning on the 26 thing. I remember Mom writing about Julie dating someone.

So, along comes July 8, 2000 and I get my first look at Utah in 2 years. We live in an amazing state. I remember riding on I-80 through Salt Lake and thinking how open and spacious everything was. It was so different from the packed cramped cities I saw in the Philippines. I remember talking about Julie on the ride home from the airport and Mom telling me she had a boyfriend. I was kind of hoping to see her but didn't think to much about it. I was speaking the next day in sacrament meeting and hoped she would be there. She on the other hand seemed to be fully aware of my facination with her and did what every girl should do when an RM seems to be zoning in on them. She hid. She didn't come to hear the speach I gave, she didn't come to the bbq after, she didn't call my mom to explain why she didn't come. They had become pretty good friends. I still wasn't too worried or thought too much about it.

A couple of days later I stopped in to see mom in the propane shop. I opened the door and this amazing, beautiful, smiling face popped up over the counter. Right then, I went from 'kind of interested' to full blown crushing on the girl. I couldn't beleive how much I liked to look at her. I think I managed to get a squeeky, bashful, "Hi Julie" out but probably not. I know I went over to try and talk to my mom but was busy staring at Julie and not listening to my mom. But I didn't have the guts to talk to her.

A few more days went by and I made excuses to go "see my mom" at work. On the 15th of July I finally had the courage worked up to ask Julie out. I was pretty lucky because that happened to be the week of the major social event of the year in Vernal: The Dinosaur Round-Up Rodeo. Everybody wanted to go to the rodeo, it was a must. I knew it was a sure fire "yes" if I asked her to the rodeo. I knew she had been rodeo queen and in my mind had to be very excited to go to the rodeo. One thing I wasn't sure about was how that pesky boyfriend would fit into the picture. He was the only reason I could see for her not wanting to go out with me. As I look back, I can come up with about 100 reasons why, but, at the time I couldn't.

I called her parent's house (so strange to think of way back when there weren't cell phones everywhere) from my parent's house. I need to do some quick geneology. There are 5 kids in my family, I'm the oldest, Jarod is 2 years younger, then Megan is 3 years younger than Jarod, then Rhett is 2 years younger than Megan, and Erin is 5 years younger than Rhett. If you do the math then you will see that Rhett is 7 years younger than I am. Which would make him 14 since I was 21.

Anyway, I called Julie's house and got her on the phone. I hadn't used a phone for 2 years and apparently forgot my phone etiquette. I didn't introduce myself, I promptly started running through my much rehearsed speach to ask her out. When I got done there was a little silence then she said "Is this Rhett?" Talk about crushed, let down, smashed, I was being confused for my baby brother. He was barely 14, couldn't drive, still was interested in chasing lizards (he still hasn't out grown that, a month ago I watched him chase one quite a ways before giving up), and wouldn't consider talking to a girl. He was such a cute kid.

After what seemed like forever, I was trying to get my bearings and translate what I wanted to say from Tagalog to English I explained that it was Adam, not Rhett, and I, Adam, not Rhett, would like to take her out. She was brutal, she asked "do you had something to drive?" She was so concerned with details. I had to get her to say yes before wasting any time on details like transportation or money to pay for anything. I was pretty sure my parents would let me borrow something so I told her "yes, I had something to drive." Then, "Do you even have a driver's license anymore?" After I told her I had renewed it before I left on my mission and that it was still good she finally agreed to go out with me. I took that to mean I was so awesome it was worth it to go out with me instead of her boyfriend.

Now for transportation. Mom had a suburban and Dad had a small Ford Ranger. After considering the options I asked Dad if I could borrow the Ranger. It wasn't as cool as the old pick up I had before my mission (plenty of rust, big tires, 4 wheel drive, CB antennaes (yep, 2 of'em), gun racks, spare tires (yep, 2 of them too) standing up in the bed) but it seemed better for a date than the suburban.

Dad let me borrow the ranger and I got all showered, and broke out my Wranglers I hadn't worn for 2 years and squeezed them on, my cowboy boots I hadn't worn for 2 years (but had everyday for 4 years before) and gave them a quick coat of polish, my straw cowboy hat (brim was messed up because of an altercation at a rodeo a few years earlier) and my Prefered Stock cologne. I remember wondering what she would look like when I got there to pick her up: hat or no hat, what color of hat, colored pants or not, boots or shoes, tall boots or short boots

I headed over to her house, I knew where it was since it was so close to my grandma's. I had never actually been to the house though. There are a bunch of trees between the house and the road. I knew it was back there behind the trees so I headed down the driveway. I got to the to the front of the house and had a problem right away. Which door to knock on? There was a front door and a side door. I was parked closer to the side door and from the looks of things it got more use, but the other door was obviously the front door. I sat in the truck for a minute trying to decide which door to go to and wondering why she couldn't just live in a normal house that only had a front door. Then she saved me the trouble. She came out the front door before I had a chance to get out of the truck.

She looked amazing. She was wearing denim bibs with a pink shirt under them. She had her hair done curly and she had on some brown shoes. I then started to scramble to get out of the truck and around the front to open her door for her. My feet hit the ground and forgot I was now wearing cowboy boots with slick soles. Going around the front of the truck I slipped and had to catch myself on the hood of the truck. I was so embarressed and really hoped this wasn't how the rest of the night was going to go. She had the class to not say anything about my clumsiness. We made it the rodeo without any major mishaps. I hadn't driven a standard in 2 years but don't remember killing it on the way there. She started talking to me right away and didn't appear at all nervous. I remember thinking how amazing it was that a girl so pretty was even talking to me, let alone going to the rodeo with me. I was on cloud 9.

We got parked and I once again tried to make a mad dash around the truck to open her door for her. She was already out by the time I got halfway around and told me I really didn't need to open her door. I guess I borrowed some money from my dad to pay for us getting into the rodeo. I don't remember much about the rodeo other than loving the fact it was packed, so Julie had to sit really close to me. I remember staring at her hands in her lap. She had a small ring and such pretty slender fingers. I sure wasn't going to try and hold one of those hands though.

When the rodeo was over we were walking around and I was having a great time getting to see so many of my old friends. A few asked if we wanted to go to JB's restaurant with them. It didn't even occur to me that, Julie may have had enough of me and really wasn't interested in listening to us get caught up on the last couple of years. She was smiley, agreed to go and seemed to have a good time. Since she knew most of the guys and had been in FFA with them we all had a good time. We went to JB's and they all ordered coffee. I was appalled being fresh from spending 2 years preaching the evils of coffee. But, we still had a great time, it was so much fun to listen to Ryan Kunkel, Cody Long, and Justin Harrison talk about what they had been doing for the last 2 years. We had been best friends before I left but writing letters was just too much work, we didn't hear from each other while I was gone. They were my dragging Main buddies.

After quite a while Julie made a comment about needing to get home so she could get to work in the morning. We left JB's and I was already making up excuses in my head to go "see my mom" at work the next day. We got back to her house and she headed to the side door. I got out and walked her to the door not quite sure what to do: shake hands, hug, kiss, suck my thumb, who knew. She was so laid back about it and didn't seem to be having the stress I was. She walked straight to her door then turned around before she went in and told me thanks and that we would have to do something again sometime. I was ready to do a triple backflip to hear her say that. I floated back to Dad's ranger and headed home with the phrase "we'll have to do something again" bouncing around and around in my head. It had been a success, she thought I was worth going out with again.

We dated a full 2.5 months and she got a ring then we were engaged for another 2.5 months and go married on December 16, 2000. She really wrecked my "not get married until I'm 26 plan" and I am so glad she did. We had 2 kids by the time I was 26. I am so glad she agreed to go out with me 11 years ago. She is the love of my life and I am so grateful to have been blessed with her. We have had some bumps and scrapes since that fateful night at the rodeo but I can't imagine my life without her. Thanks Babe I love you!!!

Five Years Ago Today.......

2011-06-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

My, have they changed just a little?

What we are up to at the Hall house

2011-06-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

What we are up to these days:

SCHOOL IS OUT! The kids have been busy playing in our muddy backyard, taking walks (even Kade is walking now), playing with friends, bugging Rhett and Natalie incessantly and building a fort in the "woods."
I GOT A JOB! The big kids started going to daycare 2 days a week while the babe goes to my sister's so that I can start working more for Adam. He needed to hire a secretary and since it would be cheaper to pay a little babysitting rather than an employee, I got the job! The pay is really really lousy though, like non-existent. Haha. But I am excited to keep up on my accounting skills and keep my brain fresh in case I ever need it one day. Lol. The daycare that the kids are going to does all day field trips on Tuesdays and Thursdays such as hiking to the Y, bowling, swimming, Jump On It, etc. so Mick and Vic get to have some fun adventures while they are away and Kade is loved and well taken care of and only a block away if he needs me. And I find my boss extremely attractive ;)
I AM ALMOST BACK TO MY PRE-INJURY RUNNING! Loooving it!
ADAM IS SUPER BUSY WITH WORK. He works an average of 14 hrs a day 5 days a week and a few on Saturday. It's a struggle sometimes but it beats the pants off having no work, that is for sure!
I hope to have more exciting news to report of super awesome things we did by the end of the month. Wish us luck!

Welcome Summertime!!

2011-06-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been running off an average of 4 hrs sleep every night, getting lots accomplished, feeling super happy, yada yada yada. Is it because of the warmth and longer days of sunshine? Maybe, but whatever brought it on, I'll take it!!

I have felt midly to severly depressed off and on for as long as I can remember but it really took a bad turn when my dad died and Tori was born in 2005. I tried everything to get better during that next year, but now looking back, I think it was just something that had to run its course and I couldn't change much about it. Finally mid 2006, I started taking anti-depressants. They were a godsend and finally turned my funk around. I won't go into any more dark details about that time in my life other than to say that I did feel better and able to function but never completely happy or optimistic. I really thought that maybe I would never know what it is like to feel happy.

Also at this time, I started running long distances. I have always been into excersising and being active, but never really considered myself a runner until Tori was about a year old. Running had a magical power to make it so I could cope with the rest of my day.

Fast forward 5 years- In February I noticed that I felt not sad or depressed but super irritated and angry all the time. Anything I couldn't change myself would just eat at me and bug me to no end. I felt short and rude to the kids. I hated my teeth, my weight, my color of hair. Some of my favorite people would bug me for no real reason. I couldn't sleep at night from nervousness. The list goes on.

I decided to dump the anti-depressants. Now, I am not saying they are bad or people shouldn't take them. I loved them when I needed them, but I think that once I didn't need them anymore my body started to notice the side effects of them. I went off cold turkey (which they say is not reccommended, oops.) A major side affect of the brand I was taking was anger and nervousness. Within a week, I was falling asleep immediately, I had so much more energy, the kids seemed so less hard to deal with, etc. I was loving this new me.

A few weeks after this I ended up not being able to run due to an injury in my back and glute. Adam says now that he kept waiting for me to have a complete breakdown cause he knows that running keeps me sane. I HATED that I couldn't run and I felt sad off and on, but I never did get super down about it.

Also at this time, I finally grasped the true importance of positive self-talk. Actually what got me started on it was a book about running. It tells us how at first its hard not to want to say negative things so until we learn not to say negative stuff, we should just end our sentence with, "but it doesn't matter." For example:

"I am so tired of the kids getting the house dirty, BUT IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER because they are happy and laughing."

This last mile of my run is so long, BUT IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER because I am almost fininshed anyway."

My legs are not as toned as they should be, BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER because I can lift weights & eat better from here on out."

I started doing that in my head and after a while, I got to where I didn't want to think or say those negative things anymore.

The next step was thinking and saying positive things to myself. Now I don't go around bragging about myself, but when my cookies come out of the oven tasting great I make sure to give myself a little pat on the back, or if my run doesn't feel as good as it should have I make sure to find something I enjoyed about it anyway and tell Adam when I get home. I tell myself over and over while I am running that I am freakin' awesome that I am even out doing it when most of the USA's population are not fit or healthy.

And it is AMAZING what this has done for me........ AMAZING. I am happy, truly happy. I didn't even know people could feel like this. It's an addicting feeling too. It keeps making me want to find more ways to see the positive in life, kinda like it's a game.

I have so much excitement for life now. I do need to add that I do still have bad days and a couple of negative thoughts a day, but I am able to move past them quickly and re-focus.

My friend, Kira, and I had a discussion about how we heard God hears what we say, sees how we act, and also knows what's going on in our hearts and minds, but Satan can only see how we act and hear what we say but he cannot read our minds. So if we act happy and say happy things, then Satan cannot use our negative thoughts against us to make us unhappy. Pretty cool thought, huh?

I know this was long, but I hope that someone reads it and gets something from it, and I really hope that my kids read it someday.

Positive thinking and self-talk really really do work. Please try it! That's all I have to say about that. :)

Baby Eagles Spread Their Wings

2011-05-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

Victoria and her awesome teacher, Mrs. Barnett.

Victoria had her little Kindergarten Graduation Program today. I love to go to these. The songs are so cute and I am really proud of her and not only of the "book" smarts she has learned but because it seems to me that she is growing up to be a sweet nice young lady.

I feel bad now that we didn't get a picture of her with her Aunt Natalie. Natalie came and even brought her a little graduation present. It's so fun to have family close enough to do these things with us.

Our Super Awesome Weekend

2011-05-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Adam being the great dad he is took all 3 kids down to St. George to help Rhett and Natalie move back here to our neighborhood in their new house. ( Super Awesome thing #1.)

While they were there, they made a trip to an awesome park that St. G has, it's a lot like our new playground here in Spanish Fork, but bigger. Adam does such a good job on photos even with our normal cheap $100 camera. I love these:

Adam said that this group of girls were in love with Kade and swarmed him the whole time. I have to say that they have excellent taste. Love those eyes :) This may be where he picked up the nasty stomach bug that he got on Monday though. I don't think putting your mouth on playground equipment is the best idea for health and wealth.While the cat was away, us girls sure know how to play! Robyn, who has been my friend for 20 years (yes, I am that old ) came out to spend the night and run a 5k in Provo with me. We hooked up with our other friends, Lily, and Jessica for dinner and shopping the night before the race.
Here is Robyn in her new running shorts from Sports Authority. No worries, she took the jeans off to run in them the next day. Haha. We had a pretty entertaining time in that store. Ask the guy with excellent hearing who loves Kneader's tarts and the poor lady who didn't lock her changing room door well enough. :)

Just getting ready to leave the next morning.

Here we are left to right: Jessica, Lily, me, and Rob.
So this was my first 5k and I had no idea what to expect. I knew you just ran fast, not holding back like you do in long races so I did. Ran a really fast first mile and burned myself out a little too fast, the next mile was up a steep hill and it was terrible, then felt better that last mile and picked it up again some. I was still disappointed with my time but I had been injured and off running for the last 6 weeks and hadn't trained for any hills so I was okay with it. Robyn and Jessica came in a minute behind me and they were a little disappointed with how hard it was also. We had breakfast, watched the winner of the half marathon come in, and left.
Later, Lily dropped by and tried to hand me her medal (She won 1st place!). I couldn't figure out why she was giving it to me but she explained that it was mine and that I had won 2nd right after her in our age group. Haha, I never expected that. I felt better about my race after that. LOL. Jessica won 3rd, and Robyn, by half a second, 4th place. So all four of us girls won 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Are we totally in sync or what?

Here is a cheesy pic of me with my medal on. Pretty awesome feeling.........Then I got to top off the wondeful weekend with a perfect Mother's Day on Sunday. The kids made me the cutest books and Adam let me be lazy all day.

It really was the best weekend EVER!

I lose more rolls of toilet paper that way.............

2011-04-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

Egg-Dying 2011

2011-04-21T08:12:00.000-07:00

The Prep:

In the Process:

Just for cuteness:

The Proud Display:

( I don't have a clue what Mick is doing in the background. Maybe having a smoke break? Lol.)

The Finished Product:

We had a lot of fun with these this year. We drew on them with crayons while the eggs were still hot out of the pan. The crayon melted and made some cool designs. Then we colored them in the egg dye. We will being doing that again next year for sure!

The Cutest Fisherman and Fisherwoman EVER!

2011-04-07T09:29:00.000-07:00

It might be a little too chilly to be fishing in April, especially in flip flops, TORI.

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

So I planned to make these cookies with Tori on St. Pat's day. She dogged me for her friends and so I begged Mick to take pity on me and help me. When he was tiny, he loved to help me in the kitch, but about a year ago when I asked if he wanted to help me make some treats his reply was, " I am more of a taster than a maker." As I was saying, I talked him into (forced him into) making these with me. I think he ended up having fun with it. You get to work food coloring into different balls of dough and then roll them all out and layer them to make the rainbow. All very messy-right up his alley. I loved getting some one on one time with my oldest. It doesn't happen as much as it used to :)

He looks mad here, but he really wasn't.

They're magically delicious!

Happy 1st Birthday Kade

2011-03-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

Kade Anderson Hall turned a big 1 years old on March 3. He had been very sick with the flu the entire week before so we didn't invite anyone to a his party. We celebrated it immediate family style and still had lots of fun. Before the party was over though, Jeremy Nelson and his daughter Nicole stopped by to visit which was perfect because the Nelsons have been to almost all our family's parties since we met them 5 years ago. He must have been inspired to stop by :)

Like I said, Kade was super sick the morning of his birthday and I was feeling kinda disappointed knowing that he wouldn't be very happy for his big day, but we carried on. After his afternoon nap though, he woke up acting so much better and he did actually eat cake and smile and play that night. He wouldn't open or play with his presents but he loved his balloons so much.

Things about 365 day old Kade that I don't want to forget:

-He is barely eating the first foods baby food. We have not been able to get that kid to eat solids very well at all! (He does love a good potato chip tho. He hears the bag rustle in the pantry and he is crawling as fast as he can to get one.)

-He is not walking, but could if he would just dare try. He can stand alone quite awhile until he realizes he is and he then will hurry and sit down.

-He waves bye-bye and plays pat-a-cake a lot.

-Whenever he inspects things for the first time, he flips the item with his fingers back and forth a few times.

-He loves to snuggle his momma lots! ( I love this!)

-Taking him outside will instantly turn him from a fussy guy into a grinning guy.

-He looks almost identical to Tori when she was this same age.

-He loves to raid his sister's room for toys.

-He grins a huge cheesy grin at you when he is touching something he knows he is not supposed to touch. He thinks if he smiles big enough that he won't get in trouble.

-He is a joy and we love him very much!

Tons of Good Luck

2011-03-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

We had the potential for some serious injuries or monetary damages or both last night and escaped with only a few minor scratches. It was quite the exciting night. We had gone for a drive earlier in the evening and came home. Mick and Adam was headed out to Mick's fishing group class in the truck an hour later. I was in the office and heard this huge BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. It took only a moment to realize it was the garage door hitting my car in the garage. It had come down and hit the rear and tried to go back up but couldn't because the cord got hooked on my glass door handle so it kept pulling it back down and hitting it again. Evidently Adam hadn't pulled the car in far enough earlier. Adam saw and heard this as he was backing the truck out of the drive-way, jumped out of the truck, ran over to try to unhook the cord. Meanwhile, I was running through the house to the garage to try to stop it too. As I got out the door, Adam and I both hear Mick yelling, "DAD, DAD!" Adam had not put the truck in park when he jumped out and it was backing driverless across the road, up over the curb and was going through our neighbor's yard headed toward their house. Thankfully, Adam has been running a lot lately, cause he sprinted across the road, got the truck door open and slammed on the brake a few feet before it hit the neighbor's property. PHEW! After all this the only damage was a small scratch on my Escalade, a slightly bent garage door, and a small piece of damaged sod in the neighbor's lawn. We told them why they had tracks in their grass and they were very nice about it and everything is good. It was the first warm day in weeks and tons of kids had been playing outside all afternoon. I am so thankful none happened to be around at that minute. I am glad we didn't have to turn any damages into our insurance agent. That would have been fun to explain how our car, our truck, our house and our neighbor's house all got damaged in one accident. Especially since our insurance agent happens to be our dad ;)

Ultramarathoner

2011-03-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

Adam finished his 50 mile race today! More details and photos coming soon...... IT WAS A B.L.A.S.T.

Mini Pilots

2011-03-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

So while we went to Utah's Dixie, my MIL and FIL very daringly took on our 3 children for 4 days. The kids were so excited to go. Victoria wanted to swim in Vernal's indoor water park, Mick likes that he gets to stay up later there, and Kade just pretty much likes whatever we do.

This trip, they got to go up in Grandpa's airplane. I am pretty sure that is what the kids liked most about this trip. They talked about it a lot. I just stole these pics off their blog and had to re-post them here because I love their big cheesy grins.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa. I wish I had had grandparents like you when I was small but at least I got you for in-laws.

TAX TIME

2011-03-13T17:11:00.000-07:00

Adam speaking here.

We always go to St George to get our taxes done. Not many better times to be in St G than tax time. Because I have the greatest mom in the world she took our 3 kids for us. It was the first time she has taken all three of them and we got to have a few days to just the two of us.

Way back many, many moons ago when Julie and I were brand newly married and moved to St George. Our first Sunday in St George we sat down in Sacrament meeting and the guy down the bench slid over and said "I'm James Mitchell. Welcome to the ward." We talked for a few minutes and he invited Julie and I over to their house for some ice cream that night. When we got there James and I found out we both served in missions in the Phillipines. He had been there about 9 years before me. (He got to experience the eruption of Mt Pinitubo. Which sounds pretty amazing. I know the country was a crazy with a capital CRAZ when I was there and things were pretty normal then.) While we were there he asked what we were going to do for work. We told him we were both looking and hoped to find something soon. He said he needed a receptionist to help in his accounting business. Julie had some experience doing receiption, accounts receivable and banking so she went to work for James. He and his wife were really good friends to us that first few years we lived in St George.

The fringe benefit Julie got from working for James was that he did our taxes for free and I got to talk his ear off. James and I have always had some good chats. Now, 11 years later we still go to James to get our taxes done. It is so much fun to see how his business has grown and changed over the years. Highly reccomend him to everyone. We have sent several friends there over the years and all have come away singing praises. The years we have had returns I know he has gotten us far more than Turbo Tax would have and the years we have had to pay I know we have paid far less than H&R Block would have had us paying.

James also happens to be a super runner. He has done over 20 marathons, he completed the IronMan St George last year. In his 20th marathon he carried a flag the entire way to celebrate.

Anyway, back to 2011, we were wrapping up our tax appointment and mentioned we were planning to go on a long run on Saturday morning. (Just in case I haven't mentioned it, I have had a sudden onset of stupid and decided on about the 1st of February to run a 50 mile race on March 26, http://www.buffalorun.org/ ) I told James if he wanted, he was welcome to come with us. He said he might and would call me later that night to let me know. James also owns the ice skating rink in St George ( I know, Ice Rink, St George???). Between that and tax time he hasn't been running since November, so he didn't want to do anything too crazy...

About 9 pm on Friday night James called. He had talked to a friend of his who does a lot of trail running and wanted to know if we would like to go in the morning. Julie had wanted to try some trail running so we made plans for James to pick us up at 5:45 am and we would go meet his friend and go on an "easy 12 miler." I should know this by now, but never ever trust a trail runner when they say "easy."

On the way to his friends house James explained him to us. His name is Jared and about 8 years ago he decided he was going to run the St George Marathon. The only thing was that Jared weighed something over 300 lbs and was a chain smoker. He finished the marathon and was one of the very last people to cross the finish line. First words out of his mouth were "I need a smoke" (apparently 7 hours without a smoke is pretty tough and he didn't think smoking during the marathon was a good idea). Jared kept on chugging away and kept entering races and kept smoking. Eventually he decided that smoking and running really didn't fit like a hand and glove to he let the smoking go. He would go running with James and some others and was always the slowing them down or making them wait. So they all started calling him Turtle. The name stuck and when Jared introduced himself to us that morning it was "Hi, I'm Turtle"

Turtle looked to be about 50 give or take 5 years, my eyes were still blurry from being up late the night before listening to the @#$$%^ baseball team from *&^%$ Lehi High School who happened to be staying at the same motel we were. It is amazing to me, I look around at all the good guys I know and think that those high school dorks who were yelling and being obnoxious all night will eventually turn out ok. Julie was slightly less than happy about them. I kept gritting my teeth thinking Karma is a pain in the @ZZ. I was having memories of high school wrestling trips when I acted the same way, and now back to the main story.

Turtle likes his name so much he even has a license plate "TURDL" on his VW bus that he uses as a crew vehicle for his big runs. James finished telling us that he had "paced" Turtle in the Wasatch 100 last year. That means James ran the last 25 miles with him. Turtle later explained to me while we were running that the only thing he has done that was a stupid as quitting smoking was the Wasatch 100 race. (100 miles of running through steep, tall mountains http://www.wasatch100.com/). The Turtle I met, was far, far below 300 pounds and a running machine.

We then drop over to the Chuckawalla trail head that is just off Bluff street in St George. We left a couple of cars there and jumped in Turtle's car. There we met Cameron, who is a pretty tough hombre. He claimed he wasn't a trail runner but he liked to hike. He recently hiked the Grand Canyon, rim to rim to rim. I don't know how many miles and vertical feet that is, but I have seen the Grand Canyon and know it is one big honking hole in the ground.

Turtle drove us over by the mouth of Snow Canyon and led us around and to a path that went right past Tuacan High School. We got to go up the ridge behind Tuacan and dropped down into Snow Canyon.
This is James, you can see the school in the background. The desert sunrises are so beautiful.

Here is Julie and I with the school in the background. It was an amazing view. The mile we spent from the school to the top over the ridge took us about 32 minutes to climb. For Julie, "going slow" is moving about 12 mins for a mile. This was very, very slow.

After we topped off the ridge and headed down into Snow Canyon Turtle (he is in the black below) was telling Julie and I some stories of his races. He has competed in the Squaw Peak 50 mile race a few times and many other ultra marathons. Then James piped up with "Turtle and Dana Miller are friends." I had not heard of Dana Miller so I asked James and he said "That is what makes this sport so great. He is a superstar ultra runner, like Micheal Jordan or John Stockton, only in trail running. He has won the Wasatch 100 five or six times. The superstars are good down to earth people, not like the guys in lots of sports." He then told us a joke about Tiger Woods and how there was another cat he should be named after, a very fast cat.

Turtle also mentioned after we had got to the top of the ridge behind Tuacan that he had seen rattlesnakes on that climb before. He didn't want to worry us before we headed up, but figured once we were past the danger zone then it was OK to tell us. Julie really appreciated that.

The section of the run after we topped the ridge behind Tuacan was great. We were running through some great sandstone in a large draw. There were several deep pools that had been carved into the sandstone and great twists and turns. The sand was wet and packed pretty hard. It was so amazing. That was the sort of thing I have come to love about running trails. I am able to see things that would normally be an all day hike or a multiday backpacking trip in much less time. It is about feeling, feeling the shoes slip on the wet sandstone and getting a little jump in my belly, feeling the sand compress and slip to the sides of my shoes when jumping off ledge onto it, planning out the next 3 steps across steep sandstone because there is no way to stop after that first step. Julie was explaining to me how she feels like it is almost a prayer to use our bodies to do things like that. To show God we appreciate the health and strength he has blessed us with. I hadn't thought about it that way before and was so thankful for the wife I have and that she does think of things like that.

After we got to the bottom of Snow Canyon we started on another trail that headed to the East. This would lead us back to the Chuckawalla trailhead where had parked the cars earlier that morning. The trail at that point was going through a lava field, the black rocks were sharp and sticking out into the trail at weird spots and it required lots of attention to stay on your feet. We had been going about half a mile when Turtle hooked his toe and hit the ground. He bounced up and stood there for a second and rubbed his leg. We were off again and just in time for Julie to hook a toe and go down too. She didn't have as good of landing as Turtle. She hit and did some major damage to her right leg (from her thigh to her ankle), her right hand and her right shoulder. She got up and said "I'm fine, I'm fine" We were looking at her and Turtle said "I left the keys in the car, you can go back and drive around." Poor Turtle hadn't lived with this girl for many years and didn't understand her "anything Adam can do I can too" mentality. She just shook her head and let him know she would be finishing the run, after all there was only about 6 or so miles left.

She then pounded her way on through the rest of the way to the trailhead. It was a great run. We got to see some amazing views of the Western St George Valley and had some great conversations with James and our new friend Turtle.

While we were at the trailhead going through the customery good bye's yada, yada Turtle looked down at Julie while James was taking these pics and said:

YOUR WIFE IS SO HOT!!!

I couldn't agree more.

He then told Julie while James was taking this pic of me and said:

You can come run with me anytime but he didn't even get any dirt on him so he really isn't welcome again.

It was a great run that took us through some very pretty country. James gave Julie a ride back to the motel and I headed into the Red Cliff Desert Preserve again to rack up some more miles. Julie finished with about 12 miles and I finished with about 20 miles in just over 4 hours. Running though that deep red sand was tough. I was struggling with pulling out 12 minute miles on the dirt, then the last 2 miles back to the motel were on pavement and they were both under 8:30 per mile.

I have had problems before with my belly cramping and hurting really bad after long runs. On this run I was sucking on Margarita Shotblocks that had lots of salt in them and didn't have any problems with my belly the rest of the day. NOTE TO SELF: salt helped with the belly cramps.

After we had showered, we headed over to Panda Express for some grub. Then we went back to our motel and took a nap for a couple of hours.

After that we went over to our friends the Ridings. Dan and Cassie have been friends almost as long as James has. We had a great visit with them. Their kids are very cute and had lots of wisdom to impart. Emmet is 2 and up until last night had an alter identity of Buzz Lightyear. When they asked him to tell us who he liked to be he told Julie: "Santa" They made a wonderful dinner that Julie had to eat with her left hand because her right hand was jacked up from her fall earlier in the day.

It was about 9:30 when we headed back to the motel and Julie told me she didn't think she would be able to sleep because she had taken a nap. We got back to the motel and our high school friends were there still. We had been hoping they had been beat out of the tournament and gone home. They were playing in pool until about 10. Julie was laying down on the bed and I went to the bathroom. I came out to find her completely zonked out. Her book was laying flopped over and she was toast.

She didn't move again until 7:45 the next morning when she asked me to go running with her. She is a die hard, hard core runner. I was opposed to the running idea but she said "only 3 or 4 miles, pleeeease" When she finally decided we were done it was after 6 miles.

It was a really good trip. Thanks Mom and Dad, Thanks James, Thanks Turtle, Thanks Ridings.

Running

2011-03-02T19:30:00.000-08:00

This is Adam.

I got a crazy hair at the first of February and decided I would run in a 50 mile race at the end of March. It is out on Antelope Island on trails.

I have been trying to find trails to run on around our area and have found lots of feilds and backyards I can cut through and fences to jump.

Today, I was trying to get down a hill into a vacant lot between two houses. One of the next door houses had a dog that was not terribly happy to see someone moving through the trees next to his yard. I slipped when he started barking and slid most the way down the hill. When I finally got up I had dark brown mud from my waist to my knees. I was still along way from home and only had one way to get back. I took off down the sidewalk and passed a dad and small boy walking by each other. The kid was about 5. After I passed them the boy said "Dad, is that mud?" The dad pretended to ignore him and so he said it even louder "Dad, is that mud?" Dad then said "I sure hope so"

Mick

2011-02-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

Funny things Mick has said lately:

Mick: I want a second helping of noodles.
Me: No or you won't eat your dinner tonight.
Mick: I bust my butt in 3rd grade all day and all I want is a 2nd helping!

Poor Mick, that 3rd grade is rough stuff.

When getting into the car, he turned on the seat heater and said, " Butter me up cause I like my buns toasted."

Me: Mick, we are having ribs for dinner tonight.
Mick: Mom, you say the sweetest things.

He never fails to give me a daily hearty laugh. I love that quirky kid.

Fast February

2011-02-27T16:38:00.000-08:00

This month has flown by. I really have no idea where it went so fast. We were busy with some fun stuff.
Kade is one year old next week. I always feel like that first year is the hardest on the mom. I have made it with no major mishaps. I have bought my last can of formula. He is on a nap schedule. He can play with his siblings well and be entertained for a whole 5 minutes at a time. Life is good with little Kader. These are some pics of him walking around the house with his little car/walker toy. He is doing that and walking around the furniture but has yet to try it on his own. He can however go up the stairs by himself now and understands that he can't come down them again face first. He always crawls up there and goes straight to Tori's room. He knows that is the messiest room therefore there is always something to do in there.

Next up-It was Adam's 32nd birthday. It was a relaxing day for him, I think. It was on Saturday Feb. 12th. He went for 14 mile run, watched Mick's basketball game, then later, Jarod, Jamie, and Lilli came to visit.

I made him a Tres Leches cake. Soo good. Tori picked out the candles and we put them on the cake as a 23 just to make Adam feel good.

Adam told me he wanted to run the Antelope Island Buffalo 50 mile run in March and so for his birthday he wanted me to pay for his entry fees and let him spend a lot of time training for it this next month. So that's what he received from me. The kids got him propane tanks and hand warmers. :)

Then we had a spectacular Valentine's Day. We decorated the kids' doors before they woke up, then opened little presents, then had breakfast. Off to school parties, then later that night, I did a fancy dinner here at the house. I told the kids to dress up because we were going out to a nice place that had a dress code. I was worried that Mick would throw a fit about that, but he was so excited to dress up and go out. Then I worried he would be disappointed when it turned out to just be home.

I did the whole works: menus, fancy desserts, candles, sparkling cider, etc.

The kids loved it! I was the waitress and they enjoyed acting like they were adults out on the town. I forgot to take pictures of any of it and I have been sad about that. Hopefully, memories of it will last for a while though.

I am guessing Adam was teasing Tori about something in this picture. Her little gift from us included a Zhu-Zhu pet and clothes for it, candy, and earrings.
Mick and I love LOVE to watch the Monster Truck Jams together. He has been collecting the trucks so he got a few more to add to his collection and lots of chocolate.Kade got some bubbles (they make them in a spill proof container now-Yay) and a book.

This is pictures of their heart pancake, eggs, and strawberries breakfast that morning. Kade is finally starting to eat a little solid food. Not much though. Maybe I will be packing a baby bottle in his lunchbox when he starts first grade at this rate?

This morning, Adam grabbed the camera when the boys gave us one of those Kodak moments.

Just checking what is going on outside in the world together.

I love babies in their sleeper PJs and their fuzzy bedheads. I just want to kiss him to pieces.

Toothless Tori

2011-02-07T08:08:00.001-08:00

Tori lost her first tooth in January. She was sleeping and woke up and out it came in her bed. She forgot to put it under her pillow that night and was worried the Toothfairy came and wouldn't come back the next night. We assured her that the Toothfairy probably comes to our neighborhood every night since there is so many kids and would probably stop by again the next night , which I am glad to say that she did!

Flat Tire

2011-01-31T13:35:00.001-08:00

I am sitting at my desk watching my husband put my wheel back on my car. It had a slow leak and he took it off to take it to Big O and pick up later so that I wouldn't have to sit and wait with 2 little kids at the Big O store for a long time. I am just reminding myself how lucky I am to have a husband that is so handy at doing things and fixing things. I cannot fathom what in the world I would do without him. He takes such good care of me. The best thing about all this..... He is always thinking of ways to make me happy or things he can do to make life easier for me. Not cause I harp at him (which sad to say, I do sometimes) but just cause he loves me that much. :)

Parent/Teacher Conferences

2011-01-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

Last week was Parent/Teacher conferences. Maybe I am a dork, but I love to go to these even if it might be bad news. I love to hear about how they are doing and what they are doing and get more of a feel of what their day is like without me there.
Tori is in Mrs. Barnett's kindergarten class this year. Mrs. Barnett said word for word this, "Tori is great. She is THE top reader in class. I am trying to think of something she can work on doing better, but I can't think of anything. She is also so nice and kind to the other kids." I felt so proud that I teared up. The best part of that was hearing she is nice to others. I stress that a lot to them at home so I am glad she listens. She told me the other day that there was a boy in her class that was crying at recess because he didn't have any friends so she went and asked him if he wanted to slide down on her coat on the slides with her. Well, I wasn't thrilled that she is using her brand new coat that way, but oh how my heart swelled with pride at that moment.
Mick's report card sported all 97%-100% in his varying subjects. He even got all Hs for Honor in his behavior part. He has had a great year in 3rd grade with lots of friends and good grades and Mrs. Lacrua has worked magic on him as far as getting him to pay attention. I will always love her a little for this. She also said Mick was far superior in his reading and comprehension of what he reads than most of the other students in his class. Is that any wonder? I mean he reads an hour a day at least at home on subjects varying from dolphins to Ancient Pyramids to Junie B. Jones. Lately, he has been reading mondo huge books about WWII. He is a walking encyclopedia.
I know this post sounds braggy and I am glad. I am proud of my kids. By golly, it's a lot of hard work to get them to this point and I will brag all I can. Love you Mick and Victoria, thanks for being mine!

Jazz vs Cavaliers

2011-01-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

My dear mom got Adam and Mick really nice tickets to a Jazz game for Christmas. Last friday the much anticipated day finally arrived. Mick was so smiley we thought his face might crack. I honestly don't know if I have ever see him so excited over something. And they WON, so bonus!

Just a little something....

2011-01-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

For a while I have been wanting to hang these lanterns in my hallway since it is so long and unimaginative. We finally got around to it and I am loving them. I think it just adds a little something to brighten my day as I go down the hall now.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-18T08:33:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve day was spent with the Hall clan. We met at our house for lots of food and chatting and some BINGO.
Here is most of the group.

Little Natalie sitting at the kid's table. She is so loved my the little neices and nephews. They all want to sit by her.
BiNgO! Mick finally won.

I think Tori was getting some late birthday spankings here. She sure needs them! :)

A couple shots before the kids got to the tree Christmas morning....

And some shots of them opening and enjoying their loot.

Since Mick's first Christmas (he is the oldest grandchild) every grandkid get shirts like these on their first Christmas. Kade made it number 6 this year.
Adam's parents and his sister, Erin (who was on leave from the Marines) got to spend Christmas Eve night with us and be there with us in the morning. It was nice to have extended family to share the holiday with.

I didn't get Kade a lot of presents and Santa got him few because I thought he would rather play with the boxes and paper instead. What? No way, he headed for his little pile of toys that Santa left as soon as we put him down. He played and played with his new toys and never even looked at the wrapping paper mess. Smart kid that I have :)

Well, Mick got his band-aids that he asked Santa for, Victoria got her big dolly she asked for, I got jewelry that I loved (and have already lost part of), and Adam got a remote control helicopter that is still buzzing daily around our house like a huge misquitio in our house. I think it was a successful Christmas all in all.

The War

2011-01-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Adam and I taught a huge group of like 54 boys in our primary class. Well, it was 9 but it felt like 54 :) We talked a little about the War in Heaven before we came to this Earth. The kids are always fascinated with this story and they ate it up and paid really close attention. I thought about this lesson all day yesterday off and on.
These are my thoughts:
We all know how hard it is to resist temptations. Satan tries to tempt us to do wrong any chance he can. He does not want us to be happy and follow Jesus Christ. It is really hard to say no to him sometimes and Choose the Right. Satan has this much influence over us and he doesn't have a body, we can't see him, we can't hear him, he isn't our next door neighbor, or an old friend and yet he can have this much power over us to tempt us.
What must it have been like during the War in Heaven when we could see him and hear his discussions and persuasions that it would be better for us to not have free agency and choose him to be our Savior? He was our brother, probably someone in high authority and someone we looked up to.
On the other hand, we had our other brother, Jesus, asking God and us to choose his way. So we could come to this Earth, not only to just get a physical body, but also to be tested and grow and learn from having our own trials and free agencies.
I don't know exactly what happened and this is just my own thoughts, but I am betting Lucifer was very hard to say no to at that time when we had to make a decision. It MUST have been because 1/3 of our brothers and sisters chose to follow Lucifer. That is a huge huge amount of spirits that followed him.
That part of the story is sad, but I walked away from this lesson inspired. Cause you know what? Obviously, all of us here on this earth chose the right way and followed Jesus Christ and God's plan or we wouldn't be here. I chose to do the right thing when temptation was at it's highest. When I could see and hear Lucifer and watch a lot of my peers go with him. I was strong and I stayed with my Heavenly Father.
If I could withstand that kind of temptation in the middle of a War, I know I can withstand anything Satan tries to throw at me now. I am not saying I won't make mistakes. I know I have sinned and will still sin, but I know that I don't have to accept that. I can repent and go on and do what is right again. It will just remind me that next time I am tempted to do something wrong that I am stronger than that or I wouldn't be here and hopefully help me make a better decision.
Look what I got out of teaching Primary? This also proves that from teaching Primary I can learn just as much from these lessons as the children.

Victoria's Real Birthday

2011-01-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

Just a few moments caught on December 22nd, 2010 of my six year old. Wow, how time flies. A few nights ago, she came and showed us that she has a loose tooth. I have had a hard time accepting that. Only "big kids" have loose teeth. My baby girl can't be that old, can she?

We Do It In The Dark....

2011-01-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

About a week before Christmas, it snowed A LOT! We took the kids to the golf course that night to sled for the first time this season. It was pretty awesome as the lights and music from the Festival of Lights at the park set the scene at the bottom of the slope. We will be back to do it again in the dark next year. :)

Another First....Playing in the Snow

2010-12-18T10:48:00.000-08:00

He wasn't sure what to think about the white stuff. And he really disliked his snow suit. He couldn't move at all in it. He just sat there like a big blue lump. He reminded me of the little brother on A Christmas Story. Lol.

He's got such big beautiful blue eyes. I love them!

Victoria's 6th Birthday Party

2010-12-18T10:38:00.000-08:00

We had a Snowman themed birthday party for Tori on Dec. 10th. I threw it together on the spur of the moment. I hadn't planned to do one. December's too busy, I have so much to do, she had one last year, yada yada yada, but then I realized all she really wanted for her birthday was to be the Star for a day. So, I came up with this little party. Since she thought I wasn't going to do one this year, I decided to make it a suprise party. No one told her and she was suprised. It was fun keeping it a secret. I think she had a good time. I know I did and am not sorry that I took the time out of my "busy" schedule to do it.
Here are some pics. They are horribly out of order but I am feeling too lazy to fix them, but you get the general idea.
Here she comes through the front door for her when we all yelled, "Surprise!" The little girls were so excited to hide behind the couch and yell.

Making "Gingerbread" Houses

2010-12-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

One afternoon this month, the kids made Gingerbread houses from the craft foam kit things. They spent 2 hours working on them. It made for a great way to spend a snowy cold afternoon. I liked making them this way. Lots less mess and they actually looked good when they were done.

My Stylish Babe

2010-12-18T10:33:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving in my favorite place in the world-St. George. Rhett and Natalie were our hosts and they did so awesome. It was the best Thanksgiving. It was also Kade's very First Thanksgiving. He didn't eat anything but milk. He missed out.
We had so many activities:
-We ran our very own Hall Family Turkey Trot of 4 miles that morning, then the kids had a Hall Family Gobble Wobble after. Everyone won a medal and the kids were so proud. My kids have theirs proudly displayed by their dad's race medals on the fridge now.
-We had a delicious meal where we got to share the things we are most thankful for.
-The kids had a ball playing in Uncle Rhett's hammock; that is until they broke it :( Sorry, Rhett.
-Adam, Jarod, and I got to go on a long long run on Friday and it was so much fun. I actually lost weight over Thanksgiving from the running. I like that so much better than coming home feeling guilty and having to make up for it for a month.
-We did some Black Friday shopping but at a reasonable time.
-Kade and I didn't go because of the cold, but the rest of the group went to see the live Nativity play at Tuacahn.
I had so much fun. I hope we can visit there a lot after the holidays. Gotta love that sunshine!

Kade playing in the leaves

Tori and Mick Thanksgiving morning at our hotel

Me getting ready for our Turkey Trot

The kids playing in the hammock

Kade and I enjoying some sun on our faces. Look at the beautiful red mountain behind us!

Kade loves to be outside.

Adam and Kade

The kids lined up to do their Gobble Wobble.
Miss Natalie ready to run...

I am most thankful for this guy.............................

Surgery Day

2010-11-21T10:26:00.000-08:00

Victoria had to go under the knife last Thursday. She had an eye condition called Strambismus (sp?). It means her eye muscles were not keeping her eyes aligned right. She was going cross-eyed when focusing on things up close and eventually she would have double vision. They put her to sleep, cut the eye muscles and sutured them back to where they should be. Mick had to have this same operation when he was 5 so we knew what to expect but it still is never easy having your child under anesthesia. It was a worry, but she is home now and fine. The eyes are working properly and she won't have to have glasses anymore.

These are pictures in the pre-op room. She didn't really know what was happening and was not very worried and having a good time with all the attention. They gave her this t-shirt to wear for the surgery and she thought that was pretty awesome. Then they told her her hair was too long and would be in the way and she needed to wear this cap. She was mad and having nothing to do with wearing the ugly thing. In the end, they let me braid it in one long braid down the back and she was much happier.

Here is evidence of why she needed this surgery. No more cross eyes for her now though!

I didn't take any after photos because she came into recovery panicked, scared, and in pain so I didn't need visual reminders. It was awful for her. It scares the little ones so bad to come out of the disorentation of anesthesia. She screamed and cried for a good solid hour. She wouldn't open her eyes for 24 hours. Eventually she asked if we could go get Kade because she wanted to see "her baby" and she opened them to see him. I am glad she loves him so much and it gave her the confidence to try.

Now the pain is gone, but the whites of her eyes are blood red and she is so embarrassed. She keeps saying, " I look horrid, just horrid." I keep telling her it will go away in a week or two, but I know that must seem like forever to a 5 year old.

She is a joy to have in our home. I am sorry she had to go through this, but it was fun getting to baby her and she was so sweet and kind through all of it even though she felt so miserable. I love her so much!

PS. This is Adam now.

Julie forgot to mention that Tori is TUFF!!!. When she was coming out of the anestesia, she was was flailing around so much Julie could not hold her. I was trying to hold her on my lap and she beat me up pretty good. She would stretch out and then jerk her knees up. The first couple of times I wasn't ready for it and she made me see stars. She knocked my glasses off and banged my watch pretty bad. It was impressive how strong her legs are. I had a whole new respect for what her gymnastics has done for her.

Her eyes have been hurting and so she wears her pink sunglasses all the time. She is so cute in them. The other day she was was upset because her eyes were swollen and "she had fat eyes like a buffalo." You learn something new everyday. I had no idea buffalo had fat eyes.

A Visit From Mom

2010-11-10T10:09:00.001-08:00

We were lucky to get a visit from my mom this last weekend. She had dr. appointments to come to Utah County for and stayed with us for a few days. This is the good news.
The bad news is that after a lot of dr. visits and tests it's determined that she is in kidney failure. Her kidneys are only functioning at 21% of what they should be. What does this mean?
Well, I don't know. She says she feels good and the kidney specialist was suprised by this. He said she will eventually need dialysis several times a week. He said she could be fine for a few years or it could be months. To be with her and talk with her, it's hard for me to accept this. She seems healthier than she has since my dad died. This is stirring up all kinds of emotions similiar to when my dad became ill with liver failure. They said we had 5 years with him and it ended up being only 1. And until the day he died, I thought maybe it was all a mistake and he would get better.
I think it's human nature to hope for the best. I asked her if she was scared and she said that no she isn't. She feels good and will just keep going on like nothing is wrong until she can't and if it is her time to go she is ok with that too because she can't wait to be with my dad again. So I will keep hoping for the best. Miracles do happen. She may get better or stay feeling good for a long time. She may not either. I know her Heavenly Father has a plan for her and whatever he decides will be the best. I will just pray hard to Him and hope.

I love FREE things!

2010-11-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

Adam accquired almost everything in this room through his work. I took what else was previously in this room and moved it downstairs. Then I bought the throw pillows and the some of the stuff on the table and now I have a whole new room.

This is good because I am slightly addicted to decorating so doing it for free makes it an addiction I don't have to break anytime soon. Love it!

My Running Buddies

2010-11-10T09:47:00.000-08:00

Lately Adam and I have been able to go running together once we get the big kids off to school. We bundle Mr. Kade up and load him in his jogging stroller and away we go. I am so lucky to get to live here by the river trail, have a healthy body, an active husband, and a handsome baby!

Halloween Happenings

2010-10-30T16:06:00.001-07:00

This is Kade's first costume of the day. Not really, but every time he wears this he reminds me of Charlie Brown with the yellow and brown and his big bald head.

Mick getting revved up for a fun day of school partying.

This was the school parade. I love being able to go watch these kids. It's so nice to live in a tight close neighborhood where you are able to know so many of them.

These are of Tori at her Kindergarten Halloween party. She may look like a nice friendly witch, but she was a mean witch that morning. She was so mad at me because I was there to take her home and she didn't want to go.

These were taken at the Ward Trunk or Treat and Chili Cook-off. It was so much fun, but it was soooo cold. The kids ended up sitting in the car for a good portion of it because they were so cold-at which time we discovered that the heater does not work in the back vents of our car. Nice. This was also Kade's 2nd costume of the night as a turtle. He has also been a little devil with red horns which was my personal favorite but I didn't get a picture of it. Adam is dressed up as the first Doctor under Obama's new health care plan.

The kiddos are headed out now to do some real trick or treating. It's raining and super cold. We will see how long they last. I hope long enough to score me an Almond Joy.

Happy Halloween!

Lake Hardy 2010

2010-10-23T10:00:00.000-07:00

This is Adam, I was reading older posts and they got a little confusing when I posted without letting myself know it was me.

So, a few years ago a friend, Kevin Arrington, and I went to Lake Hardy. It is on the mountain above Alpine UT. It is a pretty good trip. We hiked about 11 miles and climbed about 5000. I have wanted to go back since. I haven't made time etc, etc. I knew if I didn't go soon it would be too late in the year to make a trip.

I have been doing a little trail running lately and had the great idea that a run to Hardy would be a great way to kill 2 birds with one stone. I could get in a trail run and get back to Hardy. There happened to be a full moon. Everything looked great: get in a trail run, see Hardy again, and not miss out on the "daytime" activities of life: work, family, work, kids, work. Now came the easy part, finding someone else who wants to go with me. I started listing names and sending texts and emails and phone calls. I was sure there would be tons of people who wanted the chance to hang out with me. The trip to Hardy would just be icing on the cake. Of the 15 or so people I invited, my Bro, Jarod, was the only one who felt like I was good enough company to put himself through the meat grinder I was cooking up. Big thumbs up to brotherly love. I am sure Rhett, my other bro, would have gone too, but he is in St George. The three of us seem to be willing to do all kinds of torturous things to/for each other.

I knew it would be a bit of torture and would require plenty of extra calories. So, I spent the day packing away extra food. We had some Half and Half left over from when I was eating Peaches and Cream. I figured the stuff would go bad soon and had lots of calories. I poured me a glass of half and half, mixed in about 3 tablespoons of chocolate milk mix and put it down. I am not sure how many calories I picked up from my little drink but I'm sure it was lots. I don't know that I will try that again. I have always teased my Mom-in-law for using half and half on her cereal and now I am drinking the stuff. Funny how life changes.

I picked Jarod around 7 and we hit the trailhead at 7:30 pm. There were some guys there getting their horses loaded to head up the mountain so they could kill Bambie. One of them looked at my pack and said it was sure a small pack. I told him we were just going up and back. He shook his head and said we were crazy. I thought he was the crazy one, he is going to spend the morning trying to kill a deer with 4000 other people throwing lead around the mountain. We wanted to be off the mountain by 2 am or so. (good luck to them, cuz I saw more deer in the American Fork grocery store parking lot on my way home than I saw on the mountain)
I thought we would be able to get to the lake in about 2.5 hours and back to the truck in about 1.5 hours. As you will see, my estimate of a 4 hour trip was slightly optimistic.

We took off at a pretty good lope for about the first half mile, then the trail went skyward. We were going about as good as we could the whole way to lake. We had one mile that it took us almost an hour to cover. The trail is one steep sucker. The trip up was much more like a hike than a run, and a slow hike at that. We passed a group of deer hunters in a meadow up there and their horses eyes were glowing out in the trees at us. At least we think it was the horses, if not, they were most docile moose I have ever seen.

We got to the lake in about 3 hours and 17 min. My belly had not been cooperating for several minutes and I was getting really concerned because I didn't have any TP with me. About a mile from the truck I realized I had forgotten it, but was not about to go back down and up again. Luckily, I had my first aid kit with me. I found out last night, the santizer wipes I have had in the kit for 10 years, had dried out. I had my thermometer with me and the temp was mid 30's. I'll tell you what, no britches, temps that cool, sweaty, and a breeze coming down the canyon will suck every bit of body heat right out of you.

By the time I was able to get moving again I was shivering so bad I couldn't control it. I had some running tights that I hadn't put on yet and managed to wobble myself into them and they helped a bunch. I was amazed how something so thin could help retain so much heat.
Jarod and I looked at the lake for about 15 seconds, ate some frozen Snickers bars and headed back down again. The trail for about 1.5 miles below the lake is really hard to follow so it was slow going for that bit, then we were able to kick it up and run most the way back to the truck. I was able to ditch my long sleeved shirt and just work a short sleeve the rest of the way down.
We made it back to the truck in 2 hours 44 min. There were a few times we tripped and stumbled but didn't have any major falls. The moon was so bright we rarely needed our headlamps the whole way back. It was super pretty so be going through the trails with the oak leaves piled up and rustling in the breeze.

At some point on the way down I kicked a rock hard enough that it really hurt. When I got home and took my shoe off the end of my sock looked like it had a chunk of chocolate squished in it. I had kicked the rock hard enough it split my big toenail right down the center and it bled quite a bit.

I got home about 3 am, knocked out for a few hours and have really enjoyed hanging out with the fam. The quads hurt some today and the toe is sore but other than that I am feeling pretty good. I am so grateful to be able to do things like this. I am grateful for a wife who encourages me to go, for the health to be able to go, and the great places to go that are so close to home.

A few random things....

2010-10-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

I made this wreath all with things from Dollar Tree. It looks even better in really life.

Tori making pumpkin cookies.

Mick and Kade taking a ride down the slide together.

Kade is playing with Mick's first garbage truck. Anyone that knows Mick well knows how much he used to love garbage trucks. He was obsessed with them. I have been very excited to pass this special toy onto his brother.

Halloween 2006

2010-10-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

Mick kept saying, " I'm Mick the Builder." This was probably his favorite costume to date.

Our teeny tiny witch.

Carving pumpkins.....

We spent a day at Harward Farms that year. Tori was terrified of the teenagers who were dressed up handing out candy. She hid behind her daddy's legs the whole time.

Halloween 2005

2010-10-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

This was Tori's first Halloween and our first in Utah County in our Payson house. We traveled back down to our old ward's Halloween party in Hurricane. The kids were roasting in their hot costumes.

Victoria was the cutest little turtle because she was really crawling around at the time. Kade is going to wear it this year. I hope he is crawling for it, but it's not looking likely.

Such fun!

Halloween Past

2010-10-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

I ran onto these old pics and decided to share. These are from 2004-6 years ago! Mick was only 2 and I was 7 months prego with Victoria and we lived in Hurricane at the time.

We are carving pumpkins with our old friends. Sadly, we ran into the husband a while ago up here in Utah County and they are no longer married. It made me so eternally thankful that after 10 years of marriage, I feel like Adam and I are still going strong.

These were shot at Staheli farm where there was a lot of activities and the corn maze.

Such easy care-free days we were enjoying and had no idea that we were. It's funny now to look back and see how much more complicated our lives have become. Now the question is: How do we get that back and make it less complicated? Anyone?

TOU 2010

2010-09-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple pictures before the FUN RUN began.Here I am coming up to mile 24 (in the pink hat,) where my family cheered me on. Here I am so close to the finish. That big smile was for my kids and because I knew it was almost over. Post Race Picture
Lily is a superstar and did 3:09! I am so proud of her.

The Top Of Utah Marathon time has arrived yet again. This year Adam had a stress fracture and couldn't participate and I was not pregnant and could so he was the spectator and I was the participant. It was a wierd change of events, but hopefully, both of us are out there kicking trash next year.

My friend, Lily, could not find a room to rent in Logan. She bunked up with me, Adam, our 20 kids (it felt like) and my super supportive MIL. We had a great trip up with lots of visiting and excitement. We had a delish dinner and was in bed fairly early.

I slept pretty good from 10:30-3:30 when I woke up ready to RUN!

Lily and I went and ate breakfast at the motel where we met and talked to a guy who travels the country doing a different marathon every weekend. Kinda cool, but at the same time, kinda sad and lonely. He was not married and had no kids. Who is there to cheer him on or care? It made me ultra glad I have my friends and family.

On the bus ride up, Lily and I kept thinking this is a long bus ride and we have to run all this way back. That's a wake up call right there now!

We got there and hit the port-a-pots quick like. We made our way down the hill to the tents where we went inside to a super crowded, dark and hot space. I briefly wondered if a concentration camp was anything like this. I could almost feel the disease and germs spreading like wildfire. I grabbed onto Lily's arm so we wouldn't get seperated and tried to find Allie. Lily called out," Allie, where are you?" The girl in front of us turned around and it was Allie. Great, that was easy enough.

We warmed up too much, decided to hit the toilets again before the race started. The line was huge long now, so Lily and I went over the hill. I did my biz, but Lily had stagefright about some young men, so I had to hold my emergency blanket out for her.

We went back down, had our pre race shot blocks and gatorade, and lined up. Lily got to the front of the pack and I stayed back a little so I wouldn't get mowed down by the ultra super fast people.

In line, I was thinking what in the hell have I got myself into? but before I knew it the cannons fired and it was too late to do anything but run.

I quickly latched on to a girl who looked my age wearing a 2010 BOSTON MARATHON QUALIFIER shirt. She seemed to be keeping the pace I wanted to qualify for Boston which was about 7:40 minute miles. I followed her to mile 3 where I had to do a quick pee. I came out and caught up to her again by mile 4. I followed her to mile 10, where I lost her briefly. I will come back to that.

Meanwhile, I was just starting to warm up and feel my lips and nose and fingers. I was feeling so good and the view was spectacular. I continued on this way to mile 10.

At mile 10, I felt a snap of pain across the top of my left foot. Shooting screaming pains continued through to mile 11. I could not believe my luck. At mile 10? I was barely into this race and already something like this happened? I briefly wondered whether I would be one of those poor saps who have to ride back down the canyon on a shuttle. I sucked it up along with some ibuprofen and continued on. The pain became a little less intense by mile 13, where I could see my time was still on par for a Boston qualifying time of 3:40 but I needed to keep it going with no mistakes to do it.

After this, my pace slowed to around 8:30 minute miles. The pain in my foot was so intense, that I could only run about a half mile and then had to walk a few feet, run another half mile, walk again. etc.

I gave myself a good pep talk and picked up the pace again around mile 16. I caught back up to 2010 BOSTON QUALIFIER LADY and stayed there until about mile 20.

I had been so good to stay fueled and hydrated so I never hit that "wall" of tiredness. I didn't feel tired, out of breath, or sick. Just hurt. I continued on the rest of the race this way. Run until the pain was bringing tears to my eyes, then walk a bit, run again. My time slowed to the point that I knew I was not going to make Boston, but I could still do a sub 4 hour if I kept going.

Around mile 21, a cute girl name Tiffany asked if she could run with me. I replied, "Oh would you please?"

She had hit a mental wall and just needed someone to talk her through, I just needed someone to take my mind off my throbbbing foot. We hobbled on through the next five miles.

We turned the corner to the finish and poor Tiffany broke down into tears. I broke into a smile to see my family there and that I had made it under 4 hours with a time of 3:55. I wanted that 3:40 but considering that I had to run 16 miles with a super hurt foot, I thought it wasn't bad.

We did the obligatory after race pictures and visiting and got in the suburban to head home. I took my shoe off. My foot was swollen and black and blue. I couldn't get my shoe back on again.

Sunday, I could barely put weight on it to walk around the house.

Monday, I am not even sore anywhere else, not my quads, calves, bottoms of my feets, nothing. Just this foot. It may be broken. I now feel a huge need to run another marathon soon without the broken foot to see what my time could have been. I must have been pretty prepared for it considering that the rest of my body is not sore. NEXT time, Boston will be mine.

Come "shop" our garage

2010-09-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

Our garage is full full. Last night we got home a plastic sandbox with a lid, home decor, an airmore, a dresser, a side table, washer and dryer, etc.
Tonight Adam will be bringing home some more furniture and bins and bins full of home decor and toys. So just come by and browse anytime today and tomorrow. I'll be here.........I am without a car for the weekend so I got nothing better to do.

GNO

2010-09-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Adam's mom treated her daughters and daughters-in-law to The Lion King at the Capitol Theatre with dinner after at The Melting Pot. The play had the most amazing props and costumes. I loved the music, of course. I wish this was my, but no it's my beautiful sister-in-law, Natalie.Jamie, Natalie, Erin (our new marine), me, Beverly, and Megan at the Capitol Theatre.

Dinner at the Melting Pot was fun. If you haven't been, you must try the cheese fondue appetizers and the chocolate fondue desserts. AAAAMMMAAAAzing! It was so fun. The poor boys had to watch 4 kids and pull a huge tree stump out of Jamie's yard while we were out on the town. Thanks Beverly for the night out and thanks men for letting us go.

Check out www.helpmenotbeahoarder.blogspot.com.

2010-09-09T11:09:00.000-07:00

There is a lot of new things on the blog. The new posts all came from the same house, which was very very clean and nice. I am having a hard hard time parting with it, but my garage is so full. Hopefully you will find some things to brighten your day. Enjoy!

WardTri 2010

2010-09-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

TEAM HALL

We participated in the mini triathalon the wards in our 'hood puts on every year. It is so much fun and for all of you in our neighborhood that read this, you better come next year. It's a fundraiser for the Y.M. and it is so fun! My brother in the middle is a real triathlete and he did awesome and was a good sport to come do our little tri with us. My brother and his wife on the end came and did it with us on pretty much no notice and Adam did the biking and swimming, but couldn't run because he has a stress fracture, so I ran his 2 miles for him.
Rhett (nice legs,) Natalie, Jarod, Julie, and Adam. Welcome to the gun show, people. Adam rode his mom's 1978 cruiser type bicycle. He was doing it just kind of as a gag, but ended up loving it because it was so light. He got teased a lot though.

This is Jarod coming in from the biking.

Me at the end of the run. I always look so mean when I run. I really am not, just focusing I guess.

This is Rhett swimming.

Adam going in with lots of ambition. He knew he would need it about 100 meters into the swim. Haha. What he lacks in swimming technique, he makes up for in biking and running.

My Favorite Quote Today

2010-09-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

If your run this morning didn't hurt, it was just a jog.

Our New Ride

2010-09-03T21:15:00.000-07:00

After 6 long months of 3 kids in our little car, we finally have some space to seperate Mick and Tori. I am so excited. I can't wait to drive it on a trip soon.

P.S.

The first night we had it, we went out to dinner and Mick and Tori decided they needed to sit together in the very back. Whatever (eyeroll)!

Kade is half a year old today!!

2010-09-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast it went by. I admit, the first couple months were a little rough and slow going, but since then, it's just flown. He brings so much happiness to us and I am so thankful Heavenly Father picked him to be with us.

At six months, Kade likes to drool, sit up by himself for a few minutes, drool, take short sporadic naps, drool, sleep through the night, drool, and he loves to be outside.

Kade does not like solid food of any kind, well, that is about it.

He is pretty easy to please.

Happy 1/2 birthday baby boy!! We love you!

Victoria's First Day of Kindergarten

2010-09-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

I love that girl. She has so much love and excitement for life. And INDEPENDENCE! By day 3 she asked if I could just let her out at the curb because she didn't need any help finding her own way to class. Sad. But I know she will have so much fun this year and I am excited for her.

Adam's not quite invincible

2010-09-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION ATTENTION
Train before running a race.

It is now 2 weeks since the Hobble Creek half marathon and I still can't walk very well. From all indications it appears I have a stress fracture in my Tibia. Thats the large bone in your lower leg. The other is the fibia, you can remember that because "little" white lies are fibs like fibia.

Anyhow, it hurts like crazy at the weirdest times. I can walk around on it all day wearing my work boots without too much pain. But after 4 or 5 hours of laying in bed at night it hurts like crazy. It will bring me out of sleep and have me hobbling to the kitchen to get some drugs. I have become a huge fan of ibuprofen and aleve.

Apparently, I am not quite as invincible as I thought. This is a serious problem for me because I won't be able to do the Top of Utah marathon in a couple of weeks. I am not happy about this at all. I have been thinking about borrowing a wheelchair and seeing if they will let me enter it that way. I could ride the chair down the hill then get out and lean on it as I walked the rest of it.

Moral of this story: listen to your wife and brother who say you should train before running a race.

Mick's First Day of 3rd Grade

2010-08-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

Don't you love how little kids look on the first day of school? They all have on shiny new shoes clothes and a big grin. It almost makes me want to be a teacher.

Ah such sweet sleeping children........

2010-08-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

When we went in to check one last time on the kids before bed, we found this:

So tiny and cute so precious and peaceful

so what?????????Is that underwear on his head and over his pajamas?

Why, yes it is! Cause that's how our Mick rolls!!! Never a dull moment with him around.

Hobble Creek Half 2010

2010-08-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

Adam ran the race last Saturday. He came in at 1:34 at Hobble Creek in 2009 and wanted to get the same or better this year and he came in at 1:34 again. Average minute per mile: 7:13!!! He got a medal for being in the top 100 men. He placed 22nd in his age group. Runners must be getting faster though. Last year with that same time, he placed 12th.
Mind you that he did this all without hardly training at all the last couple months. He is in awesome condition and I am proud of him.

Adam:

Since Julie left out the gory details I felt like I needed to add my 2 bits worth. (at least 2 bits, I personally feel like it is worth much more than that).

The day started out about 4 am with me getting up cuz I didn't feel like sleeping much. I drank me a big glass of chocolate milk and got out the Rokit Fuel. Rokit Fuel wasn't too bad but it should not be eaten before distance running, call me if you want the results of the research I have done. So, I drove myself over to the start of the race in my trusty old pickup. (It has a couple of awesome new "character points" : trailer came unhooked and buggered the tailgate and then some guy edging his lawn hit a rock about the size of a golf ball with the edger and threw it into the driver's door. He was about 150 ft away, so, if you use one of those machines, look out. Once again, my ADD raises its handsome head, back to the race)

Got on the bus and rode up next to a girl from Boise who came down to sell baby stuff at the county fair. Once we got to the top I got off the bus and started to mozy up the road to the start line. There were tons of people who were in a hurry to get to the start but I wasn't one of them. I then saw my friend from growing up: Riley Brinkerhoff. I have known Riley since we were in Elementry School, he was in 3rd grade and I was in 5th. (Another ADD moment: when we were in high school we were on the wrestling team. Riley's mom was from a small town outside of Vernal. Her maiden name was McKee. One of Riley's McKee cousins on the team was teasing Riley about only being a half breed McKee since only his mom was a McKee, AS IF THAT IS A BAD THING!!!) We talked and chatted until the race started. We got to visit for almost 2 hours since the race was about an hour late getting started. We saw each other at the race last year. It was so fun to talk with him.

In the Hobble Creek race only the first 100 men and 100 women to cross the finish line get medals. Riley and I were quite a ways back from the start line when the gun finally went off. I wasn't too worried about it because the chip on my shoe would keep track of what my time was for the race. We crossed the start mat, Riley told me good by and I was off like an orange balloon that had just got a hole popped in it. I was bouncing all over the place and not getting anywhere. I was pinched in by the crowd of people. They were everywhere and moving much slower than I thought they should have been. I was trying to slip my way around and through the crowd for about half a mile when it hit me that some fella whose time would be a few minutes slower than mine might cross the finish line before me and get my medal. I determined at that point there had to be a better way to get past this huge mass that was doing its best to keep me from my medal. I looked over and noticed "hey, that hillside has absolutely nobody running on it. There really aren't that many bushes or big rocks or trees on it." I worked my way over to the side of the road and then off the road and up the hillside. One guy yelled at me that I would turn an ankle but if it was risk a turned ankle or not get my medal I figured I would heal. Sure enough, I was able to start passing and making good time. I am assuming trail running is easier on a trail but I wasn't in it for easy. I would have trained for the dang race if I wanted it to be easy.

After about the first mile things had opened up enough I was able to get back on the road, exactly 6 minutes and 58 seconds after crossing the starting line. I worked my way down the road for the next mile in 6 min and 50 seconds. I was determined to catch every guy I could see in front of me so he wasn't the one that ended up with my medal. I didn't notice how fast miles 3 or 4 went but at mile 4 I had been running for 26 minutes, my average was about 6:30 for the 4 miles.

I would hit the downhill sections and have flash backs to my Boy Scout days when we would find a big ole hill and down it screaming "bonzaiiiii." I didn't scream, but I used the same form: arms flailing and barely keeping myself from falling on my face. It is amazing how much faster it is to get to the bottom of a hill that way. All these poor people I was passing were trying to maintain good form or keep themselves under control. They are lucky they were pretty spread out because I wouldn't have been able to navigate around them with my super cool downhill technique.

So, we finally got to the end of the downhill and started up the only major hill of the race. It is about a mile long. I wasn't able to pass as many people on this section but there was one lady who I passed about halfway up. I turned to her and said "this hill's a killer" she said "thanks, you are too." ????

After that, the runners had really thinned out and I was on a roll. Last year about mile 10 my foot was in terrible shape because around mile 4 my shoe came untied. I didn't bother to tie it, that 12 seconds to tie my shoe would have taken too much time. About mile 10 this year I was still feeling good and looking for guys to catch and pass so they wouldn't get my medal. I was passing all of them I could see then one guy slipped past me and I just didn't have the gas to catch him. There was a girl who had been passing me and then I would pass her the whole race. We got inside of mile 12 and I was done with that balony (Julie thinks there is an "e" in balony and I know there is a "g" that should be there too, but ya'll know what I am getting at) I passed her and kept running hard to catch one more guy I could see in front of me. I caught him with about half a mile left. He was out of gas and I was sure I could coast the rest of the way into the finish line.

Then out of nowhere, like a grey and red bullet, some old guy, probably close to 70 blew by me like I had just stepped out of the porta potty. All I could see was his red clothes and grey hair in a blur. He was amazing, it was so neat to see. He was like a machine, he passed me and I couldn't even come close to keeping up with him. I wanna be him (or Mick) when I grow up. Passing him was out of the question. I said to myself "if he gets my medal then I really won't feel too bad about it" It was awesome to see him run. He finished and had enough time to walk several hundred feet back up the course before I ran past him.

I crossed the finish line and the girl with the medals for the first 100 men was standing there. She had one in each hand. She gave me one and I asked her how many she had left. She held up the one in her other hand and said it was the last one. I was so glad to get my medal.

Then the pain started to kick in. It is now almost 5 days later and I am still hurting. I haven't hurt this bad for a long time. But I have my dang medal by george.

And that is the rest of the story.

PS After watching me limp and gimp around the house for a couple of days Mick said "I know why they call it the HOBBLEcreek race"

ADD PS - On our way to Torrey, Mick was reading a book about sea creatures from the deep ocean. Julie looked at some pictures of the strange things then said "Everything God messed up on he threw in the ocean." Mick then asked her "Why isn't Wyoming in the ocean"

New Posts and New Things On Their Way

2010-08-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

Check out www.helpmenotbeahoarder.blogspot.com to see a post of our treasures we kept. Adam is bringing home some new stuff that will be up for sale within the next few days so check back often.

Cabining in Torrey, Utah (with descriptions because I know everyone has been impatiently waiting)

2010-08-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went and stayed in a cabin in Torrey, Utah. It's about 6 minutes away from Capitol Reef National Park. The kids thought we were camping, but I got a toilet and shower in our cabin so everyone was happy. I have to say: Why hasn't anyone told us about how wonderful this area is? It was gorgeous. A lot like Zion Nat'l Park, but so much less crowded. We hardly saw anyone else on our hikes and it was Free National Park Pass weekend even.

This was the best hike we did. It was almost dark when Adam took this picture and the words were reflective so it looked like they are glowing in this picture.

We had a little deer friend follow us on this bridge. She is right behind Tori here in the picture.

There are petroglyphs behind me on this rock wall. They don't show up very well in this picture because it's so small but they were pretty cool.

My happy girl!

Me trying to see the petroglyphs up on the high walls. How in the world did they even get up there to write them in the first place? Adam told me that his dad is convinced that petroglyphs were just the ancient teenagers writing graffiti on the walls and that the Elders and Chiefs were probably mad about it. Lol.

Here we are during our Echo Canyon hike.

Kade was on this hike a good couple hours and he was so happy the whole time. He didn't fuss at all. He is an outdoors boy.

The big kids rock climbing. Our hikes took FOREVER, mostly because we had to stop at every big rock (and there was a lot of them) so they could climb them.

More hiking pics.....

Kade slept like a rock every night just like at home.

The kids are telling ghost stories to each other. They scared themselves into sleeping together on the bottom bunk. Which is funny, because earlier they were fighting about who got to sleep on the top.

Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and then afterward we watched the meteor shower.

This is what the cabins looked like from the outside. So quaint.

This is shots of the tent area and the playground and grass area.

The campground also had a nice pool that we took advantage of in the afternoons. It was coooold though. Kade wasn't a huge fan of that.
All in All, I have to give this trip 5 stars and reccommend it to anyone. It was so beautiful and quiet. The town is super small without even a grocery store, so go prepared because you can't buy it once you get there (I learned this the hard way and Tori had to wear shoes that were too small for her the whole trip)but the people were friendly and the restaurants AMAZING.
One time our Stake Presidency taught one lesson in our Marriage/Parenting class at church. They opened up the floor for questions and one question that was asked was, "If you could go back and raise your children again, what would you do differently?" President Christensen answered, "I would have taken my family on more vacations. They are important for building memories and close ties."
That has stuck in my head for a couple years now. Money is always an issue of course, but this trip did not cost us much and the memories are priceless. It proved to me that President Christensen was right and we need to do it more often.

Sweet Little Piggies

2010-08-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

I just love it when babies play with their feet and toes. Soooo cute! Kade is also big into sucking on his lower lip right now. I love to kiss that face.

Help Me Not Be A Hoarder

2010-08-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

I started a new blog to try to dispose of some of the treasures my husband keeps bringing home. It is http://www.helpmenotbeahoarder.blogspot.com/. Come check it out to see what we got going on. New things will always be being added of that I am sure. I have a link titled Our Junk Is Your Treasure on the sidebar.

Provo River Half Marathon 2010

2010-08-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

I ran the Provo River Half Marathon this weekend. I decided to do it pretty much last minute and called my long time BFF, Robyn, to see if she wanted to give it a go with me. She's only been running since May and never that far, but she is either insane or very daring and said, "Why not?"

Getting Ready To Go

Lily ran it also. She rode in the same car with us up and back. We had some good laughs. She rocked it coming in at 5th place. She ran it so fast and still ran back to run with us through the finish.

Robyn and I back at the house after it was over. We were a little silly from lack of sleep, I think.

So here is a picture of us when we had showered and looked decent again.

About the race:

First off, it was so beautiful. Secondly, it was the most disorganized mess at the start. Our bus driver was just out for a morning drive in the toolies and had no idea where he was going. He managed to get us lost a couple times and had to do 20 point turn arounds to get out of some spots. No one could find the starting line. They started about 40 minutes late. Another bus ran over traffic signs without even caring. Good thing they weren't some poor racers standing there. Lily, Rob, and I almost got our feet ran over by a big white bus. He backed us up against a fence with nowhere to go. It was exciting there for a minute or two.
Finally, after 2 hours of standing around, the race started and Lily was OFFFFF like a gazelle. It was quite a steep downhill for the first 3 miles and we were getting passed right and left like crazy, but we held the pace that we wanted. At mile 6, there was a ginormous (sp?) hill that was a mile long. It was our strong point. It hurt and was hard, but we passed a lot of the people who had passed us and no one passed us on that hill, we never slowed down. It was awesome. I won't drag it all out play by play, but also at mile 12ish, Robyn was done. She was miserable and I asked her what was hurting her the most and she snapped, "Your voice!" Haha, I thought I had been talking to keep her mind off the pain and was being such a good encouraging friend. I had been asking her about her dogs and saying how pretty the birds sounded and basically, anything I could think of. Evidently, it was not helping. With about a quarter mile left to go, I saw Lily waiting on the sides to run through the finish with us. It helped boost us up to finish strong.
Our overall time: 1:55
Average pace per mile: 8:46
I was so happy to be under the 2 hour mark and Robyn thought she would be doing 10:00 minute miles so she really came in faster than she expected. We were pretty happy with it.
I can't wait to try it again. Harder and faster!!!

The Big Baptism and Baby Blessing Day (BB&BBD)

2010-07-31T19:31:00.000-07:00

On July 3rd, we got to do some exciting stuff around here. Mick was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by his father. Kade Anderson was given a name and a blessing by his father this same day. A lot of family and some friends came to be there and to enjoy a luncheon afterwards. It was a very special day. I am glad that Mick was able to choose to be baptized and that he was so serious about it and seemed to understand what it all meant. I am very very thankful for my faithful husband who was able to perform these duties.
I am thankful for the support of family that day. I missed my dad terribly and wished so bad that he was able to be there to see his grandsons. Then I realized that he most likely was there, I was just not able to see him. Thank God for the gospel and the knowledge that life does go on after physical death.
On a funnier note, I remember when we was newly married and new parents thinking that a couples with kids getting baptized were sooooo OLD. Here I am joining the ranks now. How did that happen?
These pictures are out of order, but you know how fun Blogger has made trying to get them in order so......

Here is all three of kids' blessing outfits. They are special for two reasons. First, because my mother-in-law sewed them. Secondly, because all three were made out of material that was leftover from my wedding dress. Notice how much bigger Kade's (black) is than Mick's (blue).

Adam and Kade

My fabulous sister-in-law Natalie and Victoria. Such pretty girls.

I love this picture of Mick. He looks like he is about to get into trouble, which is worrisome since he is minutes away from being baptized. Our bishop is here in this picture. He has been our fave Bishop ever. We so appreciate all he does.

Adam and Mick right before it all begins.

Kade in his new special outfit.

My boys with Adam's mom and dad.

All of us with my mom. She looked beautiful that day.

I love my family!!! Families being together forever rocks!!

It's Great To Be 8!

2010-07-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

Mick's birthday rolled around again last Friday. I keep telling him to quit growing up but he never listens to me!
We celebrated by presents, his own cheesecake, kayaking with his dad and a friend, and dinner at Winger's with grandparents from both sides of the family.
I am proud of my little man. He is so helpful around the house and loves his family very much. I can honestly say that I don't recall a time when he has willingly disobeyed me. It was fun to have him as a baby and toddler, but I do enjoy having him older and being able to have more meaningful conversations with him now. I look forward to all the future has to hold being Mick's mom.

We wrapped up an empty box and told him we bought him an air guitar. Haha. He was a good sport about it and even played it for us.

The thing he wanted most for his birthday was a rubber chicken! It has been sticking it's head out at me from all kinds of places from the kitchen cabinets to the washing machine to the entertainment center to the Diet Coke box in the fridge. Glad it's getting some use!

Swimming Lessons 2010

2010-07-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

These pictures tend to look the same every year. I can however proudly say they both passed the level they were on and will be moving on to a new one next year. And I am happy they got to do swimming lessons, but I am also happy it's over too.

Kade's First Solid Food

2010-07-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

We tried feeding Kade some rice cereal last week. Tried being the key word here.

At first, he was ok with it.

Then, he started to get a worried look on his face.

Finally, he broke down into tears and begged me not to feed him that rotten tasting stuff anymore.
Maybe we will try again next month.

Just Killin' Time

2010-06-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

So Adam has been working 14-18 hour days this week, which is ok, he had most of last week off, but in an attempt to entertain the kids on another long day, we drug out Tori's baby clothes and dressed Kade up and took some goofy pictures of ourselves. Let me say, that while he is cute, I don't think he makes a cute girl. Also, the dress he has on was the one Tori wore at her first birthday party. She was so tiny and he is on the large side so it fit him.

Yes, that is saliva on his shirt. The drooling has commenced! AHHHHHH!

Don't Forget To Have Fun Once In A While

2010-06-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

I had such a great time last night. My friends texted me to see if I wanted to join them for a jog at the high school track. We ran, we acted silly, and we took pictures. It was nice to remember what it's like to just have fun and forget the rest. I honestly didn't think about a single thing other than just enjoying the evening.
I love these girls. What would I do without them? I hope I never find out.

Cheer For Adam (and Adam's Version)

2010-06-15T09:38:00.000-07:00

The Utah Valley Marathon 2010 was held last Saturday. Adam and his friend, Brett, ran it together. They finished somewhere around 4 hrs 20 min but I haven't heard the official chip time. Adam said the first 9 miles was constant downpour of rain and it was cold, but they never stopped having a good time. He felt really great after this one and hasn't been very sore at all. I am so proud of him. I always knew I couldn't be married happily to someone who didn't make excersise an important part of their lives. I am so glad he likes it as much as me and that he strives to reach his goals.
Adam had shirts screen printed to say, "Cheer For Adam" and "Cheer For Brett." He said they were the most popular racers out there. Everyone was cheering for them by name. Hehe.

Hello, This is Adam with the true version of the story. It was a long and grueling ordeal. We were not quite sure when it started since they told us 5:30 then fired the start gun once and didn't let anyone run (or at least it seemed that way, it was hard to tell since we had been up since before 3 am. What kind of crazies get up before 3 am just to go run?). The second time they fired the start gun people actually began running. Then the rains came down and the floods came up. The roadway was nearly washed away from the torrential downpour we fought and pushed through 2 hours of rain. I know this because the side of the road around Deer Creek was all dirt where it should have been asphalt. Luckily, Brett and I were amazing and tough as nails. Then the rain stopped, and the wind started blowing straight from the North Pole. I may have been in the early stages of Hypothermia as I shivered and shook out of the mouth of Provo Canyon. Brett was there to grab my collar, slap my face and bring me back to reality. He was going on, and on, and on about how good the wind felt. Something about drying him out and pushing him down the canyon. I was busy focusing on keeping up with him. Apparently, real training helps one to perform better in marathons. Brett was concerned about passing the 19th mile because that is where he "hit the wall" of "bonking" in the last race of foolishness he participated in. We sailed past mile 19 and mile 20 without even noticing. (We were too busy waving and yelling to our adoring fans who had lined the road just to call our names.) Finally near the end we came to the overpass at the south end of University Avenue. There was only about .5 mile left when we got there. I have not way of proving it but I am pretty sure some ideeeeot raised it up about 150 feet higher than it usually is just for the race. We rounded the corner off of University Ave towards the Provo Towne Centre and thought we were done. We didn't know we still had to circle around the mall before they would let us finish. Luckily we had a few more fans waiting to cheer for us through that extra unplanned stretch.

A Slumber Party

2010-06-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

I am so glad my kids are each other's best friends. They keep each other happy and busy. Oh, there is fighting and screaming and teasing going on but they would rather be with each other than with anyone else 95% of the time. I hope they can keep their friendship throughout their lives.

My Best Accomplishments

2010-06-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was such a crazy day. I was in and out and taking kids to their activities from 9:00am to 5:00pm all day. I dragged the poor baby all over and he was fussy and hot and throwing up. I wasn't home enough to get any of the hours of bookkeeping for Adam's business done, the 4 loads of laundry that was piled up, the beds made, or do my hair decent. I had anxiety all day worrying about when I would get to those things. The last few weeks I have felt a little depression knocking on my door trying to ease back into my life and it is a constant battle to keep it from happening. I know that most stay at home moms feel these exact same things. It is hard to serve your kids 24/7 without much thanks or free time. I really felt run down and exhausted by it all yesterday.
NOW, I don't feel this way all the time and I wouldn't trade being a SAHM for any other job, but I do feel so underappreciated somedays.
BUT, I watch Victoria do her gymnastics so well, and then Mick will explain some cool science to me, and then Baby Kade will immediately quit fussing when I pick him up and sing to him and it all makes sense again.
It does not matter what else I do in my life, I have already done something extraordinary. I helped create these wonderful individuals and the world is a much better place because of it.
Knowing this gives me the strength to get through the hard days and remember to keep smiling.

Made To Be Hiking

2010-06-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Adam had a little work to do on a house (more like a mansion-it was amazing) close to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. The whole fam damily went with him and then we tried to hike up to a place called Doughnut Falls. We made it most the way to the end of the trail and then the snow was too deep and we would have had to wade in a stream to get there. We still enjoyed the going though.
It was Kade's first hike. Even though there was snow on the ground, it was warm, but I felt bad for his bare legs. Mom of the Year Award for me-I forgot pants for him.

On our way up the trail, Tori said, "Dad, I was made to be hiking."

Dress Up

2010-06-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

Anyone up for a tea party?

I wish I could say this cutie was mine, but he is my friend's. He loves this hat of Tori's and always puts it on first thing when he gets here.

Memorial Day Happenings

2010-06-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

Starting last year, we started a tradition to go to Provo City Cemetery's Memorial Day Presentation. They have music, speeches, the 21 gun salute, and of course the Pledge of Alliegance. It gives us an hour out of our day to really remember all our blessings of living in this country and to honor our soldiers. I can't get through it with dry eyes. This year they gave each family a blue balloon and had us release them at the end. I know it seems long to our kids, but I hope they are getting something out of it and learning to appreciate what we have here.

Afterwards, we went to a park nearby and had a picnic and did some badly needed relaxing. It was a wonderful holiday!

Totally Tori

2010-06-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures of Tori's special days last week. She graduated preschool and she did a special gymnastics performance for the school year end. She got a special award from her preschool teacher, Miss Heather, for being one of the best readers. She is quite good at her gymnastics class. I am proud of her. She takes it very serious while still having fun. She works hard at it and practices at home a lot. I love my girl!

A fresh look

2010-05-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

I have been working on redecorating our main living area downstairs. I wanted something bright and fun without spending a lot. I am so happy with how it all turned out. I sold my old couch set on ksl for the same price I paid for my brand new set. I also bought that gorgeous coffee table on ksl for only $90. I have the matching sofa table and have wanted it for a while, but it was almost $400 at RC Willey's. Score! I spray painted like a mad woman and re-used several of my decor items I had already. I spent a little extra on the darling throw pillows from Target and Voila! the room is almost done. I painted the accent wall already but now I need to work on painting the same color under our chair rail. Another project for another day. I can't stand not to finish a big project within a day or two because I can't stand to look at it and I know with a new baby it might take me a good many days to finish so I think I will wait a bit longer to tackle it.

I am currently in love with yellow. It makes me feel bright and happy to look at it.

So I have this little table sitting around and I think a coat of yellow paint might be in it's near future.....................

Kade and my great-niece Timberlie

2010-05-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

My niece and long time friend, Wendi, had a baby girl in January and so we took pictures of her and Kade together over the weekend. They are at that awkward stage for taking pictures so they weren't turning out very well. My sister suggested that we lay them down and take a picture of their faces pointed toward the camera looking at it side by side. Wendi and I are only 16 days apart in age and somewhere at sometime there was picture of us like this as babies. Haha. Timberlie and Kade couldn't hold up their heads well enough for a picture like that to work. We reviewed the picutes and had a good laugh when my sister said that in the first picture, their heads looked like a pair of boobies. To which my niece said that she hopes she never sees a pair that hairy!! Good times with my sister Tammy. She is the life of the party.

Our Garden 2010

2010-05-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

This year we planted peas (so excited), cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, and about a zillion tomato plants. Also, we planted marigolds. Supposedly they will help with bugs? If not, at least they look nice. I still hope to plant squash and radishes this weekend.

I am thankful Adam takes care of this for me. I love to eat what we grow, but I don't think we would do a garden if it wasn't for him.

Sunday

2010-05-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

At least one child at our house smiles about going to church.

Two Month Olds!

2010-04-30T12:36:00.001-07:00

Kade had his two month check-up this week. He checked up just fine.
Here are some stats:

Weight:
11 lbs. 7 oz. (gaining almost 5 lbs in his first two months!)

Sleep habits:
Sleeping through the night in 8-10 hour blocks (woohoo!)

Favorite Foods:
Milk, Milk, and then milk for dessert

Nicknames:
Darth Kader
Kaderooni
T.T. (short for Thunder Thighs)

Favorite pastimes:
Sleep
Eat
Smile
Coo
Swing
Eat some more
Sleep some more

Favorite person:
Mom (of course!)

Kakooing

2010-04-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

Adam was told to remove some debris out of a foreclosed home a while ago and in with the stuff was a kayak. Finally, last weekend it was warm enough for him to try it out. He took it out on a little man made lake here in Spanish Fork. The kids both rode with him and then learned how to do it themselves. Mick really got the hang of it fast.

Kade spent the time talking to his little duck friend hanging from his car seat.

Are you wondering why I titled this post Kakooing? Tori kept asking when we were going kakooing. I think she had canoeing and kayaking crossed, but it was cute and it has stuck as the new name for this activity.

Kade's First Photo Shoot

2010-04-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

My good friend and awesome photographer, Evelyn Nelson, over at Freckles Photography took these of Kade when he was 5 days old. I think they turned out precious. I hope the grandmas especially enjoy these.

To see more of Evelyn's work, check out http://frecklesphotography.blogspot.com/. You won't be disappointed!

Looking Back

2010-04-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

I feel like I don't have a lot of interesting things going on lately so I have been posting old pictures of old events. These pictures are of a ward activity we had when we lived in Hurricane. It was the best ward party ever. We boated on Quail Lake and had a bbq. I remember that being a perfect night and I wished that it would last forever. It was a week before we moved up to Northern Utah and our ward did it as a kind of good-bye party for us. It was bittersweet. We were so excited to move on and start over up here, but it was so hard to let all of our life down there go as well.
I don't know what it is about Southern Utah evenings but they are almost magical. The sunsets are always so amazing and the heat is a little more bearable and it would always seem to wrap around me like an old comfy blanket.

This was our friend Stan. He was manning the ice cream truck. Yum!

This is my baby but in the arms of my best friend in St. George, Laurie Laws. She and I had baby girls within 2 weeks of each other. It was fun to be pregnant together especially since there was only about 4 couples in the whole ward who were under 40 years old.

Victoria on the innertube. I never could tell if she liked that or not. She is about 7 months old.

Adam and Jamie on the boat.

My baby girl

Adam and Mick and Mick's little friend ( I can't remember her name now) riding the innertube.

Mick playing around on the shore.

Life was and IS good!

Bald is Beautiful

2010-04-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

Looks like I was destined to only have bald babies:

Mick

Tori

Kade

A Walk Down Memory Lane

2010-04-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

This was our first house we bought in the St. George area. It was actually in Hurricane. It was a tiny little thing, but it was brand new construction and we were so excited. We ended up only living there for about 3 months and decided it was way too little. We bought a bigger house one street over. Oh good times! Life was so easy and simple back then.
Adam and I both miss living in Southern Utah so much. We always say we would move back in a second if we could only pack up our friends from here and take them with us. Maybe someday.....

Flying Away

2010-04-07T13:52:00.000-07:00

Adam's dad is a pilot and owns a plane. He flew out to Jarod and Jamie's for Easter and since the kids had Spring Break from school this week, he was able to take them back to their house for a couple days. The kids were so very excited to fly in the airplane, as you can tell from their faces. Poor Tori gets motion sickness so she had a dramamine before they left and ended up sleeping most of the flight, though. It turned a 3.5 hour car drive into a short 45 minute plane ride for them. I know Mick was appreciative of that fact. He hates to sit in the car.

Easter Sunday Afternoon

2010-04-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

Jarod and Jamie hosted the Easter dinner and egg hunt this year. It was a blast. The food was delicious and I am so glad my kids got to do this with their cousins like I did when I was little. Some of my favorite childhood memories are Easter picnics and egg hunts spent with my niece and nephews (who were my age so they were more like cousins.)

Victoria and Lilli at the park. Being the only two little girls in the family means they gotta stick together.

All the grandkids together. It's a huge feat to get a picture of all of them at the same time.

Let the wild animals out the door to find the eggs already!

Hunting, hunting, hunting...

I just liked this picture of this super pretty girl I saw there!
I stole these pictures from Jamie, btw. Hers always turn out way better than my own.

New Resolution

2010-04-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

Kade slept 6 hours straight last night. woohoo! But I am guessing it was just an accident on his part and I am trying not to get too excited that it might continue. I was up at 4am with him anyway, so after I put him back to sleep I headed to the gym and I made it 8 miles today with only walking about a 1/2 mile of that. I think all total it was about 11 minute miles, which is slow, but that is ok. I am still happy with it. I got back home about 6:30am and went back to bed until 8am when Kade woke up again.
I have always been good about excersising a lot, but my eating habits leave lots to be desired. I am starting today to try to eat healthier. I have two goals for this week: to get in the habit of eating a healthy breakfast every morning and start a food journal of what I eat. When I get that down, I am going to move on to lunch, then snacks, etc. I feel completely wiped out by afternoon and I know that my eating has a lot to do with it. So now I have to find healthy choices for breakfast. They have to be healthy, quick, and taste fabulous. That shouldn't be too hard to find, right?

Small Things

2010-03-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a long long day for me. I won't go into details but Adam knew it was and I knew he was having an equally long day at a training to learn how to get rid of mold/mildew in houses (doesn't that sound like a fun seminar?)
When he got home late last night, he brought me this Easter Lily. It instantly made me feel loved and cherished and gave me the strength to get through one more day. He always seems to know what to do to cheer me up. I love that guy.

Sunshine On My Shoulders

2010-03-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we piled in the truck (and I do mean pile) and set off for sunny St. George. Some highlights of the trip:
-hiking Dixie rock area
-playing at a new awesome park that had some really fun toys even for adults
-hanging out with Rhett and Natalie
-reading a book called Born To Run while driving that has really inspired me to get running hard again
-watching my kids have so much fun and getting to be part of Kade's first vacation to St. George

Kade's First Real Bath

2010-03-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

Finally that yucky cord fell of at two weeks, and Kade got a real bath in a real tub. He alternated between liking and hating it. I love the way babies smell fresh out of the tub!

Bed Time

2010-03-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

Here is where you can find us almost every night before bed. We like to close the day by snuggling on the couch and reading scriptures together. Then Mick reads his current chapter book of choice to himself and Adam or I read to Tori. I feel like night time can be so hectic with getting homework finished and baths and a crying baby and whatnot, but I cherish this time together with the kids to remind me why we are here and what wonderful blessings I have.

A Newborn's Conversation With God

2010-03-13T17:18:00.001-08:00

A baby asked God, "They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow,
but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?"

God said, "Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you."

The child further inquired, "But tell me, here in heaven I don't have
to do anything but sing and smile to be happy."

God said, "Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you.
And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy."

Again the small child asked, "And how am I going to be able to understand
when people talk to me if I don't know the language?"

God said, "Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words
you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will
teach you how to speak."

"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?"

God said, "Your angel will place your hands together and will teach
you how to pray."

"Who will protect me?"

God said, "Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life."

"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore."

God said, "Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach
you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you."

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth
could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, "God, if I am to leave
now, please tell me my angel's name."

God said, You will simply call her, "Mom."

Visiting The Grandparents For The First Time

2010-03-12T10:30:00.000-08:00

When Kade was a week old, we loaded up and headed to Vernal to let the grandparents meet the baby. It was a quick trip in and out in a day, but we got to see them all and hopefully will be back soon when we can spend a few more days. I really wanted them to get to see him while he was still so little.

This is Kade's Great-Grandma Merlene, Adam's Grandma. Sadly, Great-Grandpa Duane died a few days before Kade was born, but there is a lot of speculation that maybe they met on the other side before Kade came.

This is Grandma Dixie, my mom. Her health hasn't been very good lately and she was the main reason we travled instead of having her come out here. I was too worried about her driving this far. I am glad we got to visit with her. She had been anxiously waiting.

This is Grandma Bebbs and Grandpa Clark, Adam's parents. They are always so excited to have new grandkids come and I don't know how they make so much time for all six of them. They make each one feel so special and loved.

Kiss Kiss

2010-03-12T10:25:00.000-08:00

So we all know that Tori really wanted a baby sister. She has seemed very happy to have a brother, but I think she had just secretly made up her mind to turn Kade into a sister. She has started dressing him in her bracelets and rings and begging me to paint his fingernails. She wanted to put lipstick on him and I told her no, so she went and got some bright pink on her and came down and gave him a kiss attack. This is what the poor boy looked like after:

Did you know?

2010-03-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

Did you know that my husband has lost his mind since the baby was born. Maybe it's lack of sleep or being way overwhelmed this week but he's been acting very strange around here.
Among other funny little things he has done, on Sunday after church he went into the closet to change out of his church clothes holding a pair of socks in his hand. He was looking at his shirts trying to pick one out. He decided on a shirt and when he reached up to take it off the hanger, he realized he had put the socks on his hands. I laughed myself silly that day. Poor Adam. I hope he finds his mind again soon.

Kade Overload

2010-03-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

Kade's first day home:

Baby Kade loves his swing. Thanks Grandma Bebbs for getting it for us. It's been a good good thing for us.

Jarod, Jamie, & Lilli stopped by Friday to visit. I have pictures like this of Jarod and Jamie with all 3 newborns of ours now. Thanks for always being so supportive.

Meeting Kade

2010-03-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

Here come the Big Brother and Big Sister! They were so excited to see him. Mick said, "Mom, thanks for being pregnant. It was worth it." Since Kade got home, I am amazed at how good Mick has been with him. I thought he would be bored with him quickly when he realized all he does is eat and sleep, but he hasn't said that once and he is so protective of him. He will sit and hold him for long long periods of time, and if you know Mick, you know he doesn't do long periods of time on one single activity very often.
Victoria will help me if I ask her without ever complaining. She has been better about making her bed and setting the table, etc. cause she knows I need the extra help now. I love my kids. I definitely think having older kids while having a baby is WAY easier than having a toddler at the same time.

Before Kade

2010-03-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

Here we are at 5:00am on March 3rd getting ready to go to the hospital. The kids spent the day at a couple very fine friends' houses while we were gone. Bless them.

Announcing Baby Kade.....

2010-03-03T22:36:00.000-08:00

He finally got here!!! He is a healthy little guy. He scored a 10 on his APGAR tests all day. He weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. He wins the title for being my smallest baby. My labor went so perfectly and smoothly that I could not believe it was that easy. But after I had Kade, the Dr. couldn't get my placenta to come out. It had permenantly attached itself to my uterus and he had to scrape it out. Not very pleasant and oh boy was I glad I had a good epidural in while this was going on. He said it was like peeling a carrot with a potato peeler. It caused a lot of hemmoraging and I had to have some blood transfusions. I lost consciousnous on and off for a while, but I could tell that it was chaos all around me. I remember them yelling to get an OR room ready so they could do a hysterectomy and yelling for blood STAT. It was kind of like being in an ER episode (my favorite show of all time.) I also had my Dr. and a few different specialists working on me. But thank heaven, they got the bleeding stopped and I didn't have to have surgery.
It was not how I had planned today to go and it's really late now and even with strong painkillers and sleeping aids, I can't rest because of the pain. The nurse told me to expect it to be 10 times worse tomorrow. Oh lovely! But I feel very thankful that the baby is so healthy and that I will be healthy soon. I can't wait to take care of and get to know little Kade better. I wasn't allowed to do much more than hold him for a few minutes today.
When I get to meet God someday, I am going to ask him why childbirth can't be less painful and gross.
Here are a few pictures to enjoy of him.

He was so mad at the world right from the beginning, but his screaming was music to our ears. He has about as much hair as my other two babies did, which means he will probably be completely bald for a year or two. He has little feet but big hands. I am pretty much in love with him.

Death and Birth

2010-02-28T20:17:00.000-08:00

Adam's Grandpa Duane died tonight. He has been sick for a very long time so it wasn't a huge surprise, but it's never a pleasant thing to work through and I feel for Adam and his family. I am sure they are having lots of extra prayers said for them right now and I hope it helps them get through the coming days. I am also crossing my fingers that the baby and the funeral do not come on the same day so Adam can make it to both.
On a happier note, we went to the Utah Flash basketball game last night. It was so much fun. It ended up being a really close game and went into overtime. Mick made a "Go Utah Flash" sign and he held it up the entire 3 hour game. He was so into it and had such a good time. I can't wait to take him to a Jazz game now.

Bookkeeping (a really boring post)

2010-02-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

No baby yet! No sign of a baby even. Am I really pregnant or maybe I just ate too much lately?
Mick's eye appointment went really well. His patch has improved his vision in his left eye dramatically. He still has to wear it for several more months but if things keep progressing this well he will be able to avoid the dreaded surgery again. That was a load off my mind to hear.
I just had an online remote access Quickbooks training with an accountant's office to get me back up to speed on how to do Adam's bookkeeping. I have done it for 10 years but never had to mess with the employee, accounts receivable, and job costing side. I feel much better about things now. Come to find out that I wasn't doing too bad of a job before and I understood everything they showed me so hopefully I can do this without being frustrated with my lack of knowledge. I don't work outside of the home, but this makes me feel like I am contributing to the business. We found out it would cost around $500/month to have an accountant's office do this so I am worth something right? I said something to Adam about him paying me that $500 to which he quickly pointed out that I get all his money anyways, which is true. haha. Thank you Adam!
I am going to the Dr. again this afternoon. I had really hoped I wouldn't need to make this appointment but here I am again. Hopefully (fingers crossed) this is the last time I see the Dr. before I see him in the hospital.