I did it!

 I did it...I ran a 1/2 marathon.  In case you don't know, that's 13.1 miles...of running!  The best part was it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be!  I ran the Halloween Half Marathon through Provo Canyon...it was the prettiest run I have ever run...absolutely beautiful! 

 I was lucky enough to have some friends running the race also, which made it even more fun!  Thanks ladies for making it so fun.

I woke up bright and early...I don't even remember what time I woke up because it was so early...I think it was 5:00 and of course, I didn't sleep well the night before because I was nervous about the race, nervous and about not waking up on time, etc.

We parked at University Mall and then got bussed up to Sundance and waited for the race to start...it didn't start until 9:00, but we wanted to get there early to be sure we had enough time to take plenty of potty breaks, eat some food, chat, and have fun!  I am so glad we got up there so early and weren't stuck waiting 45 minutes for a bus at University Mall!

When the race finally started...it was about 10-15 minutes after 9:00, but that's ok...I was totally stoked!  The first about 5 miles was all downhill...like seriously downhill!  I don't know why, but when I run downhill, I tend to hold back a bit and don't run as fast as I know I can.  I did that a bit this time too, especially because I didn't want to start off too fast, then be dead by mile 10...I wish I would have pushed myself harder though because I totally could have gotten a better time!

I felt great the whole run...it wasn't hard...it wasn't miserable, it was fun!  The weather was perfect...it was fun watching people I passed and people who passed me that were dressed up in Halloween costumes and think, "How in the world do they run in that!"

There were SO many times while I was running that I wished I could stop and take a picture, it was SO beautiful!  But alas...I wanted a good time, so I didn't!

Jason was a trooper and got the kids ready and drove down the see me finish the race.  Jaxon thought it was so cool that I was in a race...actually my second race, but he liked this one because he could see me finish...my other he couldn't because it was in St. George.  Anyway...Jaxon asked Jason if I won the race...Jason told Jaxon everyone who finishes wins...I like that theory!

These were the best pictures Jason could get at the finish line...I can't blame him...I can only imagine what a nightmare it was trying to keep track of three kids and the insanely busy finish!  I am the one in the pink shirt and black pants.

 Right after the race...nice picture, right?  I look terrible, but hey...I just ran 13.1 miles...what do you expect?  We didn't stick around too long at the finish because I was kind of crazy busy and we didn't want to lose the kids!  We hung around long enough for me to get my medal, eat some fruit and drink some water...then we were off to start the fun Halloween festivities...which by the way, included a quick trip to WalMart, eating lunch at McDonald's (jealous huh?), finally showering...I was pretty nasty, trick-or-treating at SoDa Row (a little retail place here in Daybreak), eating dinner, then heading out in the freezing cold to trick or treat. 

 I was really pleased with my time.  I was hoping for anything less than 2 hours and my time was 1:53:07.  I was very pleased with that, although I know I could have done better if I had just let go on the hill, but oh well...I learned for next year, right?

In case you were wondering...My feet escaped with minimal damage...I got two blisters that weren't too bad...not fun, but not bad.  That day I wasn't too sore, but the next two days I was SO sore...oh my goodness was I sore!  I guess that's what a mostly downhill 1/2 marathon will do to your quads...trust me, it hurt, but it was so worth it!  I would do it again in a heartbeat!

By the way...if you are thinking about doing something 

like this and think you can't...you can!  I wasn't a runner before this and I would hear people talk about how running is totally mental and I thought they were crazy.  Well...it's SO true!  It's totally mental!  Your body can do it, it's your brain that tells you to stop and that you can't do it anymore...I promise...try it..you can do it!

Trick-or-Treating

 Trick-or-treating this year was awesome...aside from the freezing cold wind and rain, but beside that it was great.  Want to know why it was so great?  Well I'll tell you...it was the first year we didn't have to carry a child, or a child didn't have to ride in the stroller.  We took the stroller along just in case one of the kids pooped out and needed a ride, but no one wanted to use it until Brynn got too cold and wanted to be covered up.  It was pure heaven!

They had so much fun!  They all ran from  house to house and knew exactly what to do.  Jordan was a trooper...he didn't want to get in the stroller toward the end, but we made him because it was so cold!  It was so much fun to watch them having so much fun!

I should mention...I did get a picture of them all together in their costumes before we left, but it is on Jason's phone, so these are the best I can do :)

For the record...Jaxon was Buzz Lightyear, Brynn was a princess,

and Jordan was Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch)...not to be confused with Eyore...everybody thought he was Eyore...eventually I got tired of correcting everybody and just told them said, "Yes, he's Eyore."

Carving Pumpkins

 Pumpkin carving...I have to admit...not one of my favorite traditions, but I do it for the kids :)  Jaxon asked everyday for about two weeks when we were going to carve pumpkins...when it was finally time, he was so excited! 

I love Brynn's face in this picture...she actually didn't mind the "guts" too much and did a great job cleaning out her pumpkin.

 Jaxon loved his pumpkin and insisted on having a two-sided jack-o-lantern.  I had to carve a face on one side and a ghost on the other...he was happy with the finished product.

 Jason carved our traditional Mickey pumpkin...nothing too fancy this year...we kept it pretty simple!

 Jordan had fun coloring on his pumpkin for the first little while.  Eventually he had fun trying to scoop out the guts.  Then he was very specific how he wanted his carved.  He told me what shapes he wanted the eyes and nose and I took it upon myself to decide what kind of mouth to do.  He thought the whole process was pretty cool!

 Love the concentration on his face...so cute!

 Jaxon's pumpkin was the toughest pumpkin to carve...literally...it was so hard to get the knife in and out of it!

The finished products...Brynn was being a butt and being grumpy for pictures...isn't she sweet!

Witches at Gardner Village

 Jason was out of town for about 5 days (which felt like 5 years in case you wanted to know!) so to kill some time, I decided to take the kids to Gardner Village to see the witches.  The kids thought it was pretty cool and especially liked the witch riding the bike in the sky...they still talk about it. 

 I will admit...it was a little crazy trying to keep all three of them together, happy, and alive while we were there, but I did it...well, they were happy most of the time :)

And this picture pretty sums up every picture I try to take of my kids together...I can never get one with all of them looking...but oh well!

Pumpkin Patch

 Another fun trip to the pumpkin patch!  We look forward to this every year and had just as much fun this year as we have the past couple of years. 

We let each kid pick out their own pumpkins...the rule was they had to be able to carry it themselves and put it in the wheelbarrow.  Brynn picked one she could barely carry.

 Jaxon's had "freckles" on it...which translated means bumps.

 And Jordan's was just his size!

The kids had fun playing on the tractors, but I will spare you from looking at all the other pictures I took and just finish up with this one of our family...not the best, but it's pretty hard to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time :)

Love it!

I loved this talk when I heard it at the General Relief Society Broadcast on Saturday, but I listened to it again tonight and loved it even more...if you get a chance, take a listen...you will love it too!


click here!

Red Rock Relay!

So, back in March or April, my friend Amelia was putting together a team for the Red Rock Relay and asked if I wanted to do it. I couldn't do it for a couple of reasons...then she asked me about a month ago and it turned out that all my reasons for not being able to do it earlier had resolved themselves and I could totally do it and I was super excited!

So, I trained for a month. I started out running 5-6 miles a night for about 5-6 days a week. At first I struggled to finish 5 miles and was running a little over a 10 minute mile. I was kind of disappointed, but figured I still had a month. I kept at it and by the end of a month of training i was at about a 9:30 mile...not super fast, but it was a pretty good improvement! I also was able to run 8-8.5 mile long runs on three Saturdays and I could totally do it and keep up my 9:30 mile! I was super excited about it.

Anyway...onto the actual race...We left Thursday afternoon and headed to Cedar City for a pre-race spaghetti dinner and headed up to Brian Head to a beautiful cabin where we spent the night. We had fun hanging out, sitting in the hot tub (which had SO many chemicals in it was concerned if I would be able to breathe the next day!), and chatting. That night I slept maybe like 4 hours...I guess I was anxious about the next day.

We woke up Friday and headed to the starting line as a team and sent our first runner off. My van was the second van, so we had a few hours to kill before we had to go to the first van exchange, so we headed back to the cabin, did a little yoga (thanks Heather!), chatted a bit more, ate breakfast and decorated the van, well Excursion, but we called it the van.

At the first van exchange, we waited for the other van to come in then we were off. I thought my first run was all downhill...6.5 miles. Well turns out, it was about a mile uphill, then the rest was downhill. It was a really beautiful run through a gorgeous canyon. Half way through I told myself to just enjoy the experience and the beauty around me...I did that for a while, then got my mind back on my run! I had one kill (which means I passed one person)...we won't mention how many times I got killed...ok it was three times, but it was by super, super fast people! I don't know what my time was because I totally forgot to push start on my timer before I started running...I was SO mad!

After my run, two other runners ran then we headed to our next van exchange at SUU. We passed on the bracelet, then headed to Cafe Rio to have some much needed dinner...and I'll tell you, that dinner tasted fantastic! We headed to Wal-Mart where we picked up some needed, and not so needed, things then headed to our next van exchange at New Castle. I pulled out my sleeping bag and tried to get a few minutes of sleep...didn't work at all! So, I was going on 4 hours or sleep at this point, but I was ready to run!

My next run was at about 2:00 a.m. in the middle of nowhere...I don't really know where it was...honestly...I guess I passed a monument about the Mountain Meadows Massacre, but it was so dark, I didn't see it. This was my best run though...I loved it! I ran 5.4 miles in 33 minutes...that's about a 6:30 minute mile! It was AMAZING! I had five kills on this leg and it felt fantastic! I think I should start running in the dark from now on...it was really nice to not see what was ahead of me...be it a hill or flat land...it was just great!

Our next van exchange was at Veyo, where we welcomed out last runner into our van and headed to my parents' house in Washington for a couple hours of sleep. I felt so bad because they weren't expecting us until later, but it was 5:00 am and I had to call them to wake them up to unlock the door...I felt SO bad, but it was SO nice to get about 1 1/2 hours of sleep. My parents were so sweet...they had food ready for us to eat, beds ready to sleep in, showers ready to use, flushing toilets (much better than the port-a-potties we had been using for the past 24 hours!) it was SO fantastic! After our little naps, we headed to the next van exchange at the Washington Rec Center.

We sent out our first runner off and were off to run in the blazing sun! My last leg was Hurricane (I think!). This leg was 5.5 miles and I knew my first two miles was going to be uphill, but after running for about 3/4 of a mile, uphill, on a very busy road, it turned into a trail run for 1.25 miles. It was actually pretty cool, but not at all what I was expecting, plus it was so stinking hot! It was about 12:30 and the sun was taking it out of me! After I got finished with the big hill, I just had a couple rolling hills that weren't too bad, but again, it was HOT! I can honestly tell you I was never so happy to see the exchange as I was after this leg! It felt great to be finished and it felt great to accomplish something so great and worthwhile!

We continued to shadow the remaining two runners...making sure they had plenty of water. We had a ton of fun with our last runner...blasting music from the Excursion to motivate her to the get to the finish line and she was a machine...she did an amazing job! It was crazy! We crossed the finish line as a team (well most of a team), took a few pictures, then headed to a pizza place for a much deserved dinner! After dinner, we headed back to my parents house and FINALLY got a good nights sleep...it felt so great! Thanks again to my absolutely amazing parents...not everyone can handle having 9 girls in their house and do it so kindly! You guys are amazing!

Sunday we headed home and I have to say it was so nice to be home with my sweet family! My sweet husband and kids made sure the house was spotless when I got home, which was SO nice...I have the best family ever!

To sum it up...here is what the back of my t-shirt says...

2 days
186 miles
8k feet
I am a running machine!

Such a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat! If you ever get a chance to do it...DO IT!

I think I have become a little addicted to running...who would have ever thought?!? Anyone up for the Halloween Half Marathon on October 30th?

Things I've Learned Recently...

Okay, so I have been meaning to post this for about a month now, but I just NEVER have time! Seriously, it's crazy...especially while training for the Red Rock Relay (more about that in another post)...I would run every night after the kids went to bed and by the time I got back, didn't really want to do much. Now that's over, and Jason is out of town, I thought I might actually update my blog!

I was thinking a while ago about the things I have learned recently and a lot came to mind, so I thought I would share...hopefully I can remember them!

• Summer is much more enjoyable after losing 20 lbs. I started trying to lose weight last October and have lost about 20 lbs total. Previously summertime was not a lot of fun for me...it was super hot and miserable! I was shocked at how big of a difference 20 lbs of extra weight makes.
  
• Along the same lines as the above...no matter how much weight I lose, I don't think I will ever feel totally confident and secure about my body. I wish I could get over it, but what's a girl to do?
  
• This one has taken me a LONG time to learn...I've had to let go of caring what people think of me. I think this was one of the hardest things for me to understand. People will think what they will about me, so be it. I am myself and that's what you can expect from me, I am not fake or insincere at all...what you see is what you get. I had to let go of caring if I got invited to every single thing my friends were doing...it's not the end of the world it I don't get invited to every single girls night out, sure I'd love to go, but it's not that big of a deal. Like I said, I feel like this was a big step for me and it has made my life so much simpler.
• I am not a trendy person. I have tried to be trendy fashion wise, but I just can't do it! I feel ridiculous when I do try something trendy on. That and I can never justify spending that much money on something that will probably be viewed as hideous in about a year...I just look at it as saving money! I am for sure a jeans and t-shirt type of girl...it works for me!
  
• I will never stop worrying about my kids. Worrying if I am a good enough mom. Worrying how a choice I make for them today with effect their lives in the future...good and bad. Worrying that my kids don't have enough friends around (even though I know they do). Worrying that I am reading, playing, teaching, singing with my kids enough. I don't think it will ever end!
  
• I am getting older. I know what's totally obvious, but it's taking some getting used to! I have been so used to always being the youngest in a group and that's happening less and less now. What's up with that?!?
  
• I have a lot of fantastic people in my life! Of course, my husband and kids, my parents, in-laws, etc. But I also have great friends all around me...it is such a blessing to be able to call up any number of people if I ever need help with anything...I feel SO blessed!

Okay...I am not very good and putting my thoughts/feelings into words, but these are just a few things that have been on my mind for a while and I'm sure there are many more I totally forgot, but oh well!

I am slowly going crazy...

When I was little there was a song that consisted of those words sung over and over again. I have felt this past week that I am going crazy due to being stuck at home all day, every day since Jaxon got his tonsils out on Tuesday. I am not the kind of person to stay home everyday...it drives me crazy. We have a schedule we follow...out the door going to the gym by 8:30, after the gym, head to the splash pool for an hour, come home, have lunch, put kids down for a nap, get some cleaning done, take a little time for me...and on with the rest of the day. I cannot wait to get back to that schedule tomorrow...as long as Jaxon is feeling up to it. I guess I am just a person that thrives on structure...so be it I suppose!

Surgery

Jaxon got his tonsils and adenoids taken out on the 27th. We have needed to do this for a long time and finally got around to actually doing it. Jaxon gets strep about once every 3 months and we were all tired of it...I really hope this will be the end of strep for a long time!

Jaxon was actually excited about the surgery...it could have been because Jason and I told him that he could have all the popsicles and ice cream he wanted for about five days. He was pretty much counting down the days until his surgery. We tried to explain to him that it would also hurt...a lot, but I think he chose not to hear that part!

The surgery went really well...the doctor said he rates tonsils on a scale from 1-4...1 being the worst...Jaxon's were a 3. I guess there were lots of pockets of yellow gunk in the tonsils that explain all the strep...glad we got them out!

He's actually been doing pretty well...as long as we keep the pain meds in him. The first night, we blew up the air mattress and put it on our bedroom floor so we would be able to hear him when he woke up...which was like 20 times that first night (at least it felt that way!). Jaxon had a hard time falling asleep, so Jason laid down with him and he stayed there for most of the night...it was sweet! It was a rough few nights, but he's finally getting better now...I hope we can all get some more sleep now!

A few of the side effects I didn't expect...his voice is REALLY nasaly (pretty sure I just make that word up) and whiny and it's kind of driving us crazy! I know his throat hurts and I feel really bad for him, but it's seriously almost more I can take...hopefully it will be back to normal soon! The other is the horrible breath! The nurse actually warned me about it at the hospital, but I didn't think much about it until today. It hasn't been bad until today and boy is it bad! We brush regularly and give him gum to chew, but there's no helping this breath. Let's cross our fingers it gets better soon...really soon!

I am so glad everything went so well and hope this is the end of strep throat for a while...a long while!

Camping Trip...

Our first ever "real" camping trip...real as in pulling off the side of the road, packing our "stuff" into camp, no toilets, no table, etc.

It was actually a success, for the most part! We went with our friends the Hmpherey's and had a great time hanging out with them. The kids loved throwing stuff in the fire, exploring the great outdoors and just getting dirty!

We spent most of the day Saturday fishing at Mirror Lake. Jason was sure he would catch his limit in a couple of hours and have plenty of fish for dinner. Well, after about four hours of fishing and nothing to show for it and some pretty bored/fidgety kids, we decided to head back to camp for nap time for the kids. That was a good idea in theory! We put Jordan and Brynn in the tent for their nap. After a few minutes of them not sleeping, I went in to check on them...our dear Jordan had climbed out of his pack and play and was jumping on Brynn...ugh! Needless to say, the kids didn't take a nap in the tent that day, but luckily Jason and Joseph needed a few fishing things from Kamas, so they took the kids in the car with them and they all took a good nap...yay!

Bedtime the second night however was not so good! I was hoping Jordan would forget how to climb out of his pack and play...no such luck! After about 10 minutes of Jordan climbing out of the pack and play and proceeding to jump on Brynn and Jaxon which resulted in crying and screaming, we decided to put Jordan in the car strapped in his car seat and hope he fell asleep quickly. Luckily it worked! He was asleep in about 5 minutes without a tear...it worked!

All in all, it was a great trip and we might even do it again sometime soon...like next weekend!

Jaxon at 5

I decided since Jaxon turned 5, it might be a good idea for me to jot down a few things about him at this age so I can remember what he was like when my brain starts going...oh wait, I feel like that is already happening. Anyway...here it goes...

• Jaxon is definitely a first child. My friend and I were talking about it one day and you can tell who the first children are in a family...they are the ones who always want to please, never want to go against what they think they should do or what is right. They are always concerned that what they are doing is the right thing and they are doing it correctly. I don't know if this is true for all first children, but it sure is for my first child!
• People always think he is older than he is...people usually guess that he is 6. He's just tall for his age I guess.
• He is old enough and academically ready to go to kindergarten in the fall, but after much debate, worry, and mind changing, we've decided to hold him back a year so he is the oldest in his class and not the youngest. I hope and pray this is the right decision, but I think it will be best for him when he gets older.
• Jaxon has already decided who his is going to marry...his best friend Lily. They talk about it all the time and have even decided how old they are going to be...if I remember correctly it's 22 or 23. So cute!
• He can read quite well, although I have to force him to sit down with me to read and he would much rather look at the pictures the whole time instead of actually read the words...stinker!
• He is taking swim lesson right now and is doing really well. I am very impressed and happy that he is getting more comfortable in the water.
• He would watch movies all day long if I let him. I hate this, and limit his movie viewing as much as I can
• Jaxon isn't quite able to ride a bike without training wheels, but he's almost there...just a few more practice sessions with dad and he should be good!
• He is really into superheros and will play for hours on end with his superheros and superhero toys that he has
• He loves having friends over and would love it if a friend could come over all day everyday.
• Jaxon is a very polite and well mannered little man, not perfect, but for the most part very good!
• He loves his sister and brother...even though she tortures him all.of.the.time! Today was a tough day with Brynn and Jaxon could tell, so he was so good and did everything I asked him to the first time...what a great boy!
• He loves to help Jason do anything...garden, fix anything that needs fixing, cooking, as long as he gets to spend time with dad!

He is a joy to our family and we are so blessed to have him in our family! Love you buddy!

Cherry Hill

We went to Cherry Hill last week with our friends the Humphery's. It was our first attempt at camping with all of our children. I say camping, but it wasn't really camping, it was more like sleeping in a tent. You can't have fires and there are about a million people all around you, so you feel like you have to be pretty quite (like if my child was crying I felt like I had to make him stop right away as to not bother anybody), totally different experience than camping in the mountains!

We got up there Thursday night, set everything up, let the kids play, put them to bed way too late, then played card games. Friday morning we woke up and spent the entire day at the water park. The kids loved it! Jaxon loved everything about it, especially the dragon slide and playing with his best friend Lily. Brynn liked playing in Pirates Cove and was unsure about everything else. She went down the dragon slide with Cami and hated it. Me, being the nice mom, made her go again! She liked it a bit better the second time and still talks about how she went down the dragon in Cami's lap and covered her eyes. Jordan loved playing in Pirates Cove and hanging out in the lazy river. He actually fell asleep on Jason's lap in the lazy river and took about a 20 minute nap...it was cute!

Jaxon had requested s'mores for his birthday which was Thursday, the day we got up there. Since you can't have fires, we had bought this little kit so we could do it without an actual fire pit. He liked it and it made him happy, so it was fun!

After the fun filled day of playing in the water, I thought for sure the kids would go to sleep without any problems, boy was I wrong. Jason and Joseph went to the batting cages and Cami and I attempted to put the kids to bed. Let me just say it was not my finest moment as a mother! Brynn, my sweet adorable Brynn, was awful! She is usually the best at going to bed at home, but she was a big stinker! Eventually they all went to sleep and Cami and I got to go miniature golfing then we all played some card games.

We had a great time and have planned our next "real" camping trip for next weekend. I say "real" because it will be up in the mountains where we can have a fire and not worry about our crying kids waking up other people, oh and let's not forget the joys of no bathrooms! Hopefully it goes well...wish us luck!

Happy 5th Birthday Jaxon!

Jaxon turned 5 only July 8th and we had a great time celebrating! The actual day of his birthday, he woke up to a very decorated room! Our tradition for birthdays is to decorate the birthday person's door. My birthday was the day before and Jason decorated the office doors for me and all Jaxon could talk about was what his door was going to look like on his birthday. I had a meeting the night before and when I got home Jason had not only decorated Jaxon's door, but his whole room...it was pretty cool!

On Jaxon's birthday, I walked downstairs to grab some cereal from the storage room and saw Jaxon just standing in his room looking at all the decorations...I think he was a little overwhelmed, but he loved it!

I made pancakes and waffles for breakfast (Jaxon's request), then Jaxon asked if he could open his presents. I texted Jason to ask him if it was ok if we did it without him and he had the great idea to set up Skype so he could see him open his presents through the computer. It worked perfectly! Jaxon was happy he didn't have to wait to open his presents and Jason still got to see it.

He loved all his presents and played with them until it was time to head to swim lessons then onto playgroup. My mom came up from St. George for a visit and Jaxon was super excited to go shopping with her for his birthday present. They went and came home with a toy I knew Jaxon would like for about a day then never play with after that. We set it up and it didn't work quite right, so after a lot of convincing, Jaxon allowed me to take him back to Target to get a new toy. with some nudging from me, he chose a game and a fun toy that he still plays with daily!

At around 4:30 we headed out for a fun filled weekend at Cherry Hill with our good friends the Humpherey's. More on that in another post (I know you can hardly wait!)

After our fun at Cherry Hill, we came home Saturday morning and Jaxon had his friend birthday party at Black Diamond Gymnastics in Daybreak. I had won a birthday party package last year and was so excited to use it!

Nine of Jaxon's cute friends came to his party and they had a great time. They ran through an obstacle course, played in the foam pit (most of the time!) and played an impossible game with foam blocks!

After they were sufficiently worn out it was time for presents. Jaxon loved all of his presents and he was sure to give most of his friends a hug after he opened their presents. I say most, because some didn't want hugs :) Jaxon's not a huge cake/cupcake person, so he requested doughnuts and chocolate milk instead. I thought it was a great idea and the kids seemed to like it also.

I think Jaxon had a great birthday and I was so glad to have a birthday party someplace other than my house! It was so nice to not have to worry about anything except making sure we were there on time with the doughnuts and chocolate milk! I think it's the way to go!

The pictures aren't great because I forgot my camera (I know, bad mom!) and only had my phone.

Overheard...

I am sitting in the basement and Jaxon and his friend are playing in the other room playing Candyland. I just heard Jaxon tell his friend, "If you lose, you can't sit there like that with your arms folded and that grumpy look on your face. You just have to be happy you are playing the game."

Wow...I wish he would take some of his own advice at times!

I am pretty sure...

That I am the only person in the world that doesn't really like watching movies. I don't know what it is, but I find it so hard to sit and do nothing but watch a movie or even tv for that matter. I have to be doing something else too...like something on the computer (scrapbooking) or something with my hands. Am I the only person like this because I sure feel like it!

I love my vehicle!

We have a huge vehicle...a Ford Excursion. I didn't like it when we first got it because I thought it was way too big. We've had it for about two years now and I like it fine now, and I started to like it ever more after tonight.

Jason's parents need to borrow our Excursion this weekend to pull a trailer up to Bear Lake, so that means we have Jason's dad's Nissan Murano. It's a nice car and I like it well enough, but tonight we drove to Costco in it and I was about to pull my hair out! In our Excursion, none of my kids are sitting close enough together to be able to touch each other (the beauty of an SUV that sits 8!). Well, in the Murano, they are all sitting very close to each other and can touch each other as they wish...not a good thing! We had to hear Brynn and Jaxon complain multiple times about getting hit, pinched, spit on, etc.

In our Excursion, Jaxon and Brynn are in the very back seat...far away from us, so the sound isn't quite as intense as it is when they are super close to us like they are in the Murano. I swore I was going to go deaf...seriously, it was like they were trying to pierce my eardrums!

So, that's what I am thankful for today...a car big enough that none of my kids can touch each other. It may be as big as a tank, but I like it!

Grr....

So, for the past three weeks I have been working out two hours a day...an hour in the morning and doing P90X for an hour at night and guess what...I have gained about 2 pounds. It is so frustrating! I know what everyone will say...it's because you're gaining muscle and muscle weighs more than fat, but I don't care...it still make me mad! That's it...just had to get that off my chest!

Brynn at Three...

I just wanted to write a few things about Brynn, so I remember them a few years down the road!

Brynn is such a sweet little girl...most of the time! She looks so sweet most all of the time, but sometimes she can be a little stinker, but she sure is cute!

Brynn loves to sing...all the time! She knows a lot of primary songs that she likes to sing over and over again. The music person in nursery said Brynn is the only person in her nursery class that sings and she sings loud! I love to hear that sweet little voice sing as loud as she can!

The last few weeks Brynn and Jaxon have started to be best buds. They have always gotten along pretty well, but the last few weeks it seems to be that they have been getting along better and it is so much fun to see them playing together and having fun and being good! She also loves Jordan, but she loves to bug him too!

She LOVES her babies! She is always carrying a baby, feeding it, burping it, putting it to sleep, etc. She just loves her babies! She loves to look at real babies too and loves to try to help whenever she can...which sometimes isn't as much help as she thinks...but she sure tries!

She is getting better at speaking...I worried for a while because she wasn't speaking very well when she turned two, but she has gotten a lot better and I am so proud of her!

She's been potty trained now since the first of January and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be! It is SO nice to have only one child in diapers...it has been a while since I have had only one in diapers!

She is still a thumb sucker...although we have been telling her that since she is now three that she is such a big girl that she doesn't need to suck her thumb anymore...we will see how that works! I went and checked on her after she fell asleep and she wasn't sucking her thumb, so maybe we're gaining ground!

Well...that's all my sleepy brain can think about right now, but Brynn is a sweet, beautiful, spirited child who we are so very blessed to have in our lives! We love you Brynners!

Happy 3rd Birthday Brynn!

Happy birthday Brynn! She turned three yesterday and reveled in the attention all day long! She woke up to her door being decorated (a little tradition we have), then she got to choose her breakfast (pancakes), then the best part...she opened her presents! She was in heaven with her new My Little Pony, her new baby, and a princess tea party set, and princess phone...we wanted to keep it simple this year...she already has way too many toys!

We had fun doing yardwork most of the afternoon, then when dinner time came around...we let Brynn choose where she wanted to go and she chose Old McDonalds...Brynn's name for McDonalds. The kids had a great time playing and eating. We got ice cream for dessert and she was in heaven!

After dinner we decided to go buy a trampoline. Let me clarify...this isn't for Brynn's birthday...we have been wanting to get one for a while, so we finally just bit the bullet and did it! We let the kids stay up until we finished putting it up...WAY past their bedtimes...but they had a great time jumping on it! I think it will be so nice to have that trampoline throughout the spring and summer...it seems to wear the kids out quickly :)

I think Brynn had a great birthday...I hope so anyway!