Changing Video

Since Derek recently got to see the changing video, it brought back memories of when I got lucky enough to see the changing video.
Mark wanted to see the video just for the simple fact of being able to talk to him about it afterwards. His school never had one. Mark came home and told me about the video and he said he was just concerned about what Derek thought of this one part. We waited for Derek to say something about it and he never did. So Mark finally asked him about it. It turns out we were worried for nothing. I guess he went to the bathroom during that part. Bummer, I guess we have to explain it to him now.
This brought back memories for me with my dad when I started to ask him about the changing video and other things. When I was about 10 years old, Madonna came on the scene it was about 1983 or 1984. (This was before she was openly nasty). I wanted to be Madonna. I wanted to be her really bad. I bought her album. I sung to her music in my room. I wore a big scarf tied into a bow around my head and bunch of rubber bracelets and tried to layer my clothes like she did. I was sure it was some kind of fate that we shared the same birthday, Aug. 16th. I'm not sure what kind of fate it could have been at this point in my life. Maybe, somehow in my 10 year old mind that she would somehow accept me as her one and only soul sister.

After wearing all of my garb, to school one day. I remember my 5th grade teacher asking me who I wanted to be. I was really proud when a boy interuppted her and told the teacher I wanted to be Madonna. Wow, I was understood.
The songs of hers that were popular at the time were Lucky Star, Holiday, and of course Like a Virgin. Well, I remember asking my dad what Like a Virgin meant. He told me he didnt know. I was really confused. I had always considered my dad an intelligent person. Yet he didnt know too much about the questions I had asked him about the changing video or the Like a Virgin song. Where had my dad been hiding and why didnt he know these important questions. In terms of Derek seeing the changing video. I'm kinda glad he didnt see the main important part of that video or I might have had to tell him the same thing. Derek, I dont know.

Happy 11th Birthday Derek

Derek's birthday was back on the 26th. I cant believe Derek is 11 years old. There was a time when I always thought he'd be young and hard to handle. He's actually turned into quite a nice young man.

Derek loves to play video games such as Spore (where you can create your own dinosaur looking creations). Also, this year he played Age of the Empires. Which has created a big interest in History and Social Studies. He's always asking me about people such as Joan of Arc or Genghis Khan. Were they real people and what did they do in History. I never know so I always send him to the internet.



Derek last year in the school talent show where he and his friends created some dance moves to what else a disco Star Wars song of course.

He still loves playing soccer. I always get excited when I see intensity in his eyes. It means something great is going to happen. Derek came with and still has the stubborness of a mule and never gives up on something he wants (wonder where he gets that from, hmmm from only his dad of course). If he can't get what he wants he just figures out a different way to get around it.

I was proud of him on his birthday I found him helping his little brothers on rides at Chuckie Cheese. He's loves playing with Matthew and Adam. He's very kind to them, but also loves to tease them to death. If you knew Derek when he was little, this wouldnt have been his 1st priority.

Derek loves to have me hug and kiss him and tuck him in at night. His sensitive side doesnt show very often, but he actually has a big one. He always has loved animals and cries when he sees them being mistreated or hurt. He cried on and off for several hours when our cat died last year. It broke my heart.
He's also very good at perceiving people and can pick up on their intentions in life fast. Oh and I think Derek is pretty funny too. He has a great sense of humor. He makes me laugh all the time.

This year he recently saw the changing video at school and went to Priesthood Preview at the Bishops house. I cant believe he's really old enough for this stuff.

We love Derek and wouldn't know what we would do without him in our family also.

Heres some pictures that he took of himself this year.



Since I'm computer illiterate I'm not sure how they or I created these pictures.

Happy 9th Birthday Shay!!

Shay turned 9 on the 19th. Some things about her right now are: This year and mainly this past Summer she decided she wanted to do her own hair. She is constantly in the bathroom making sure no pieces are coming out of her ponytail. I thought "Oh my, 9 is a little early for a teenager. I have to admit I was quite jealous. "What do you mean you don't want me to do your hair". Not to mention you have a big opinion on how its done.
One of my weaknesses is control. So I've finally gotten to a place where I'm actually proud that she likes to do her own hair. She is getting better at it all the time. Her hair looks really nice. Sometimes she indulges me and lets me do it.


Shay has always been very kind and loves people and friends. I went into Shay's classroom the other day and I have to say I was very proud of her. She is friends with a girl named Hannah that has slight autism. Hannah tends to get distracted easy and wasn't listening during their group time. She was told to sit down and wasn't sitting yet. I see my daughter get up and very carefully and kindly convince Hannah to sit down. I know I didn't teach her that.

Being a mouse in the Cinderella play our neighbor put on this Summer.

Shay's not really a sit down and play with Barbies, dolls or toys for that matter kinda kid. She loves tearin it up on her bike or scooter outside. She loves being outside (she can see more people that way). She has set up an umbrella for her friends and her to sit under this Summer and they sat outside and decorated rocks. Anything she can do with art she loves. Right now she loves Pixos and chickso(sp?),coloring with markers and paint.

When Shay was student of the week the teacher had the other students create a page that goes into a book for the student of the week to bring home. Pretty much every page from the other students said Shay was kind and funny.

Shay with her friend Lily at their dance recital this Summer.

Matthew loves Shay. He screams her name until she acknowledges him. She is good about helping the little boys learn new things.

I'm thankful Shay is part of our family. We are not sure what we would do without her.

Lake Powell Triathlon

EDIT: My dad left a comment about surviving his own triathlon, my dear children. Every time I tell someone that my dad is watching my kids, people are very impressed. They are surprised that he would even try. I guess I take it for granted when he watches them. I'm never worried. I know he will take good care of them and keep them in line. Without my dad and Marks mom for that matter pretty much all of our weekend getaways would be null and void. So we are definitely thankful for them.


This weekend Mark and I drove up to Page, AZ. We spent the night and in the morning bright and early competed in the Lake Powell Triathlon. I think we did well. The only kind of bummer thing was Mark's peddle on his bike fell off 3 times during the race. He found some kind of pointed rock and screwed it on and finished the race. Which I think is pretty ingenious. Had it been me and my peddle fell off and I crashed. I would of thought ok I'm done. So that kind of messed up his time, but he did pretty good on the other 2 parts. We decided we will never be super swimmers. We both kind of freaked out a little during the swimming part of the race. Lake Powell is a lot choppier than Saguaro.
I was pretty excited, because I had improved my time in all 3 events from May. The running I improved on by 6 min. I give thanks to Mark for that one. He caught up to me and said come on lets go. So we ran to the finish line together. There's no way I would have pushed it that hard by myself.
The weekend was a fun one hanging out with my husband and feeling closer together.

Adam and Matthew 2009

The little boys just got new pictures taken of them at Kiddie Kandids. The gal did a good job of getting them to smile.

Lessons Learned From Swimming in the Lake

I recently metioned that Mark, a friend Camille, and I have been swimming at Butcher Jones (a part of Saguaro Lake). We went one Monday, everything went well. It was Mark's 1st time, so I think he was kind of shocked that it was as hard as I said it was. I was very pleased with myself though,because I knew that I had improved in the swimming department. Next Monday we set out to do it again. This time I started out 1st with confidence that I could do this. It was going well til I got stuck in this patch of grass/seaweed type thing. I had experienced a little of it before, so I wasnt really nervous at 1st. But, as I kept swimming I realized it was quite a large patch of grass. It feels like its pulling you under as it gets tied up on your legs and arms. Suddenly my mind went from you can do this to Oh no you are drowning. I drank about a gallon of water and wondered if this was it for me. I knew that if I had just turned on my back that and floated over it things would have been so much better. Mark and Camille not realizing that I was really in bad shape just swam on by. I contemplated where I was going to go. I certainly wasnt going to give up. I simply had my children, Mark, and others depending on me. I actually made it around,but I was exhausted and worn out. Recently I also started reading this book called WEAKNESS IS NOT SIN The Liberating Distinction that Awakens Our Strengths by Wendy Ulrich (this goes together trust me). This book kept speaking to me and telling me to buy it at Deseret Book (there were a few other books that sounded a lot funner to read, but I bought it) I read the 1st chapter this morning and knew why I needed to read this book. You see I've always thought weakness and sin were kind of one and the same. I've always let my weaknesses whether its being paralyzed with fear or from feeling the love of God. Feeling like somehow my weakness make him love me less. (Anyone else out there). I will give you an example from the book Jeremy suffers from depression which causes him to have a bunch of destructive feelings of unworthiness and leads him to look at bad things on the internet (sin)
Even though my weakness is like his I've never been to tempted by his sin (thank goodness) But it had me thinking just like I was drowning in the lake. Lately I've been hanging onto something that was my weakness that had caused me to be tempted to do something that was a sin. Even though I hadn't officially done anything wrong I was paralyzed with being a bad person for being tempted to do the sin. I felt like I had offended God and how would I make things right once again. I was pretty much drowning myself, not to mention I think along with this triathlon making myself very sick. This morning I realized how wrong I was. God didnt think I was a bad person. He loved me and maybe he was actually very proud because I resisted the sin I was heavily tempted to do. Feeling a little exhausted and worn out from that just like the lake. But, I didnt give up and I made it through. Not to mention that Jesus has already gone through this so I dont have too. I've found out that my weakness has become a strength. It makes me more compassionate to people that might be tempted or fall to this temptation. I have a desire to help people when they might need it. Anyway, do you let your weaknesses hold you back

The Kids

Derek- This year is doing well in school except for an occasional I dont think I want to do this assignment moment. Umm frustrating! Especially when he has the ability for the most part and can get it done. His teacher is Mrs. Hall. She is a sweet lady and wants the kids to feel love and appreciated. Yay! Derek does very well with this kind of teacher. He chose to play the drums in band. For their practice this year percussion has to practice on a bell set that they bring back and forth to school. I recently found out why Derek was getting a F in band. He somehow forgot to give me his practice record that I'm supposed to sign everyday.Oops! Mom, we dont have any books this year the teacher just wants to make sure our hands are in right position. That was true, just left the main important thing out. He also has to practice the piano, which is hard enough when you know you cant play your favorite video game Spore, with practice everyday.
This week got in trouble during Family Home Evening. It wasnt going well, because obviously Satan doesnt want us to get it done. So Derek along with some of our other kids got sent to bed early. Derek left this lovely note that said
Dont worry though the soul got some love and kisses and all was right with the world once again.
Shay our resident photographer took this picture of herself.
Its great, because if she didnt I wouldn't have half of the pictures I do. She was the student of the week this week. (You get to be student of the week when its close to your birthday and its close to hers) She's a very organized get things done kind of person. She was very driven this week on getting all of the steps done right away. She cracks me up, because she'll come home and talk my ear off about whats going on at school. Her main thing lately is that Tyla Flake (Marks cousin) has kids that go to our school. Shay tells me something about them each day. How she shared a candy with them or what they did on the playground. Its only funny cause I never get these details from my boys. Derek, how was school today? Fine Shay, how was school today. So and so was wearing purple shoes and so and so got in trouble by the teacher. She comes home and talks my ear off every day for about 30 min. Dont get me wrong I love it. She spends all of her free time playing with friends or semi torturing the cat. She loves to hold him or make him dance or fold his arms or something crazy like that. Yep, poor cat.
Adam continues to fight all bad guys off and recently asked if we could purchase a real lightsabor. Was definatly disappointed when this wasnt a possiblity. Constantly asking questions like "Mom are sharks our friends. Could I pet one. When I respond with No Adam they would eat you. Well, mom I would just beat them up then. I remember this stage with Derek. He constantly thought it was ok to run across the street. No matter how many times we told him he was going to get hurt. He would respond with Mom, I will just push the cars away. The same with Adam, he thinks at this point he can Indiana Jones bad animals into submission. At times he fought a big stuffed bear that we own. With a lightsabor, of course. This picture of him cracked me up
He loves the cat, so this is him observing the cat and staying warm of course.
He goes to preschool this year. He's having trouble writing his name. I think he may have originally been left handed. Shay always works with him and is teaching him things when they are playing. Because she's right handed I think she taught him to write with his right hand. Now he writes with both and is kind of confused. But we are continuing to work with him.
Matthew has been a busy baby lately. He is learning things fast. Climbing on the table, turning on the water in my bathtub, putting his hands in the toliet, and trying to scale our tv stand (which he hasnt been very successful yet. Thank goodness). You wouldnt think this little body could do things so fast, but he does. I'm holding my breathe, but I think he might be as busy as Derek was. It thats true, please pray for me. I didnt do so well when Derek was this little and so busy. At least I dont have new baby at the same time. He along with Adam fight invisible bad guys daily. We are so lucky, they are keeping the universe safe. He also gets excited when he thinks he's playing the Wii along with Adam.
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What we've been up too...

I've been trying to decide for awhile whether to delete my blog, make it private, or just keep it the same. Wondering if I want to keep it up. Does it take to much time? Who looks at it other than family and friends? I do spend a lot of time looking at other peoples blogs.I've found old friends or even made some new ones, since its not just a hi and a bye at church. I have found inspiration in other peoples blogs. In their creativness or their testimonies. I have prayed for people that have been in tragedies. Fiery plane crashes or lost babies to SIDS or Cancer. Not that mine is that inspirational. But, if I delete I might forget when I wrote about Matt's stomach crunches or Adam licking my face like a cat. They dont do that anymore. It was a fleeting moment. So I will keep blogging and public I shall remain.
New Updates for our family:
Mark and I have signed up for two triathlons. One is Oct. 17th and the other is Nov. 7th. Mark got himself a bike. It's black and yellow, just like Lance Armstrong so we call it the his Lance Armstrong bike, of course) and he's pretty good at it. We've been riding every Saturday with a group of people from our ward since the Summer. Mark can keep up with the people that have been riding for awhile. He even rode out to Butcher Jones (25 miles) on Monday (a section of Saguaro Lake)and then swam a 1/2 mile. Out of all of the practicing for the triathlons he likes the biking the most. He was thinking of going to Tucson to ride in 100 mile bike race, but maybe he'll wait till next year. He's not ready to ride that much yet.
Its been a fun thing to do together. Although for me since I'm the writer, very stressful. Even though I've been riding much longer than him, he's much faster than me. Its stressful for me to ride on the road and its stressful to keep up with him. He's patient, but would like me to go a little faster so he can. I was always careful before to stay away from bikers on the street, but now I'm even more careful. It can be scary. I usually pray that the car will see me. We also recently added clipless peddles and shoes to my bike (the kind where your shoes click on to your peddles and your feet stay hooked until you need to stop. I've had two pretty good crashes. Mostly just trying to stop and not getting my feet out in time. Here's a picture of my knee from Saturday. I wasnt able to bend my leg for a couple of days, but it feels better now. I really should be grateful for being able to ride at all. I'm still working on telling myself its ok. It can be pretty fun also. I have fun with the gal I usually end up riding with on Sat. We talk about all kinds of things and its been fun to get to know her better.
Another new thing with me is I've been sick. At the end of August I got what I thought was the flu, but every week it came back for a month. Each time it came back it wasnt as intense. But, I started wondering after the 3rd time "hey I think somethings wrong. Now the symptoms seem to be everyday. They're not fun either. See why I should be thankful for biking. I've taken my health for granted way too much. Now I'm waiting to see the specialist. Cross your fingers that maybe its just a parasite or I was making myself sick over biking and it will get better when I stop stressing.
That's it for Mark and I right now. I'll come back with some funny pictures of the kid later when I can find the camera.

Matthew 14 months

I haven't posted in such a long time about Matthew. He finally started to walk when he was about 14 months. Now he's 15 months and its more like a run (all my kids go from a walk to a run. Of course its to get away from me as fast as they can and laugh while they are doing it).
I love this age. He's such a sweet little boy and feisty at the same time. Hates to have to sit still and get clothes on or his diaper changed. Screams like a Pterodactyl when he he's hungry or someones teasing him. I'm going to have to get him on tape doing this. He also loves to sing. My kids have taught him how to sing the Indiana Jones song. Da ta da ta da ta da. Everytime someone starts to sing this song he'll start up. Its really cute. I'll have to get him on tape doing this also. I just love this boy so much. I love his hugs and high fives. The other day I said to him "Give mommy some kisses and he planted one right on my lips. Even though I said it I really didnt expect one.
He's all boy loves playing with balls and pushing a cars around the house.

Matthew loves stuffed animals especially this bear and will spend ten plus min. hugging and kissing it.

Mothers Day

Mothers day was great! I was still on a high from the race the day before. Earlier in the week I got asked to give a talk at church. I warned Bro Payne in case he forgot that I might cry the entire time since my mother was gone. He told me he felt strongly that I should do it. I couldnt think of anything to write down till after the race. The race consumed me the few weeks before.(You should have seen my house) So basically I did my talk the day before. One of my favorite talks is Mothers who know by Julie B. Beck. I hadnt written anything down but had been thinking about what I wanted to say. I also prayed that I would be able to help a friend I knew that was struggling with her role as a mother. This talk seemed to be what Heavenly Father wanted me to say.
The talk begins talking about the 2,000 stripling warriors and there mothers who had once been the most Laminites and the most vilest of sinners. My favotite part of the Book of Mormon. Just to think that they had once been evil bad people and they gave up everything to be and know Jesus Christ. My eyes are getting watery just thinking about it right now.

I would put a link in if I knew how, but look it up. Its an awesome talk. As I was reading this talk I couldnt help but think about my own mother. That, of course, changed my life by having a testimony. I would like to write down the things I learned from my mother and father, so I dont forget the spirtual feeling I felt that day. I said some things that day that just came to me when I was up there. One of those things were: I knew my mom had a testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She spoke about her testimony often. She also told me once that she had been offended by someone at church and had the option of not going back to church. But her testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ would not let her stay away. She believed! My mother(and Father) taught me I could do hard things. They taught me I could finish things and not quit. I'm not sure I would have said this as a teenager, but I thank them for it now. When there was girl drama going on in school my mom was my friend and when no one wanted to hang out with me, because my crazy hitting and biting 2 year old my mom once again my mom was my friend. I didnt say this in my talk, but because of her death I know that I need to live my life in a way that I can see her again. After she died I really questioned the things that I had believed my entire life. It was a test of my faith. They suddenly seemed like a nice thought, but did I know them. I can say I do now. I cant describe the feelings I felt the whole day. But I felt like I was on a high for the entire week.

Sherox Triathlon

The Sherox Triathlon went well. I actually had a lot of fun! My time on the swimming was probably one of the slowest in my age group. But I truly didnt care. I was out in the water hoot and hollering at the beginning trying to be positive and get the others excited about the race. I think they thought I was crazy. I had the frame of mind of Face your fears girl. Its my favorite quote by my daughters friend. I use it quite often for myself. The water felt good and I was ready to start the race. Quiting wasnt an option for me, especially at that point so I thought I would just get it done. There was a poor lady that I spoke to at the beginning of the race when we were out of the water. She had only swam in a pool before. She was definatly a faster swimmer than me. I would see her swim ahead of me and then scream for the boat to come and save her. I saw her do this at least 3 times. I wanted to yell out to her you can do it you're a better swimmer than me. I kind of knew she might have trouble. Swimming in the lake is quite a bit different than a pool. You cant see the bottom obviously and you dont have a chance to stop and hold on to the side. My friends that I did the race with suggested that we swim in the lake before we went out there. I'm so glad they did, because I would have felt the same way as the lady. Like I couldnt make it, like I was going to drown. Unfortunatly its all in your mind whether you can do it or not. I swam the whole thing with different strokes. Mostly breaststroke, everytime I swam freestyle I bumped into people or they bumped into me. That was the hard part. I knew getting kicked and bumping into others was part of the deal. But, my mind still couldnt get a handle on it. I would get flustered and start breaststroking again.
One time I was resting and floating on my back and going the wrong way and a lady stopped to help me. That was the cool thing about this particular race, everyone was so helpful.


Me floating on my back

My favorite part of the race was the biking. I think I had a smile on my face the whole time. Maybe I was glad to be done with the swimming. I just kept thinking the whole time I never thought I would attempt this in my life. I'm so glad I did.
After I got done with the biking I went to run and my legs felt like led. I had heard of this happening, but had never experienced prior to the race, even though I had practiced. I started to walk and drank some gatorade and soon I had some energy once again. Just needed some electrolytes I suppose. That day seemed to be the hottest I think we have experienced this year. Even though I had energy the last three miles they seemed the longest of my life. I kept running and walking. One of the things I enjoyed about this part is these two ladies next to me. I ran past them walking and then as I was walking they ran past me and said "Hey, we are running to the bridge over there. So I ran to the bridge with them and a few other places. They dont know how helpful they were. One of the ladies got a bad stitch in her side so she stopped. I kept going and finished the rest of the race thinking just run to the gray building or the next water station etc. They dont know how helpful they were. The other part of the race that I liked was they write your age on your right calve before you start the race. One lady had age 45 written on her right calve and on her left mother of 4. So I heard her say as another 45 year old passed her. You go 45 year old and the other lady say back to her "you go 45 year old, mother of 4" Everyone in this race seemed so helpful and positive. It was awesome!
Another favorite part was everyone that came to support us.

This is a group of family and friends that came to support all of us. When I would hear them yell my name it would make me want to try harder. The whole race was kind of an emotional thing for me to see my son Derek with a rose and my dad holding my baby. Kind of like "Wow I did it I finished. Now I'm hooked and Mark wants to do one with me in October at Lake Powell. We've been looking for bikes and found one for me. My new baby I'm so excited. Now we just have to find one for him

The new thing consuming my brain

The new thing consuming my brain is I signed up to do a triathlon along with a few other ladies in my ward. It's next Sat. May 9th. Yes, I'm a little nervous and I think so are some of the other ladies. One of them told me its the only thing she can think of. I'm thankful I'm not the only one.
The thing that makes me the most nervous is the swimming portion. I'm not really a good swimmer. In fact I dont think I'd ever really swam laps since I took swimming lessons or maybe 7th grade P.E. After I signed up I thought Ummm, what did I just get myself into. I fretted over it for a couple of weeks and then I thought well last year I hadnt really run and I did some things I never thought I could of with that. I will never be a great runner at best I'm average. So maybe it could be this way with swimming too. I could go from not all that great to semi good :). These races are good life lessons I think. To never give up and keep trying to improve yourself. My goal is just to finish. Please pray for me that I can just do that. Oh another thing is I havent really biked outside on one of those road bikes only taken the spinning class. I'm off to rent a bike today and rent a wetsuit to help me not drown. I received an email that gave you tips for the race day, especially swimming. It said 99% of you doing well depended on if you believed you could do it or not. It also said you should tell yourself you love swimming. I am a dolphin slicing through the water. So I've been telling myself that I love swimming and I'm a dolphin slicing through the water. So what the heck I choose to believe in myself. I let you know if it works in a week. Either way I need a lot of prayers.

Happy 4th Birthday Adam!

Some things I want to remember about Adam at this age:
Has an infectious laugh (I love hearing Adam do his deep laugh)
Cuddly loves to hug and be held
Yells for everything (he thinks its funny to yell/talk)
Loves to make people laugh at him. Is always trying to be a comedian.
Our family taught him how to say What the? (I know, nice. Its just what the though nothing on the end). Last month he said out of the blue as fast as he could What the pizza, what the chicken, and what the followed by a lot of other food items. Our family started laughing hysterically. We dont know where he got that from.
Just figured out how to play the Wii and now doesnt want to stop. Throws a mega fit when he has to stop. Loves to play Lego Star Wars. Mark and I think its hilarious when we watch him play and he constantly sword fighting his companion thats supposed to be following him to help him. He fights his companion more than the bad guys that he's supposed to fight. He cant be found saying or yelling "stop following me." but that darn companion dies and just comes back to follow him once again. It doesnt matter how much we explain to him, either.

Loves his Thomas cup and would drink milk out of it all day if I would let him.

Loves all birds and ducks.Here he is feeding the ducks bread at the Riparian by our house. He loves to chase the ducks and explains to me how they use their wings. He really wants to catch one, but those darn things are too fast.

He has a love/hate relationship with his brother. Too bad his brother is still in the dark about this. He loves to make him laugh and tease him to death til he cries. My favorite sound in the world is to hear them both laughing at something.
One of Adam's favorite things to do is play with our cat Trevor. The cat and Adam have a love/hate relationship also. This time Adam's in the dark. He spent most of his time last year pretending he was a cat and telling me about cats and what they do. I think he was being a cat in this picture. It's the best when your kid licks your cheek, dont you think? He also spoke with a meow every other word this year. He also climbed on the couch and other furniture just like a cat would. Anyway, he keeps life interesting. We wouldn't know what to do with out him. We love him so much.

Thought for Sunday

I just happened to read this tonight and it touched me. It's from a book titled One Incredible Moment by Max Lucado.
Heres what we want to know. We want to know how long God's love will endure... Does God really love us forever? Not just on Sunday when our shoes are shined and our hair is fixed. We want to know... how does God feel about me when I'm a jerk. I want to know how he feels about me when I snap at anything that moves, when my thoughts are gutter-level, when my tongue is sharp enough to slice a rock. How does he feel about me then?
Can anything seperate us from the love Christ has for us?
God answered our question before we asked it. So we'd see his answer, he lit the sky with a star. So we'd hear it, he filled the night with a choir, and so we'd believe it, he did what no man had ever dreamed. He became flesh and dwelt among us. He placed his hand on the shoulder of humanity and said, "You're something special."

Spring Break

This last week we had Spring Break. This was a week of playing. We went to the park, played with friends and cousins. We saw Mall Cop. I actually really liked it. I love Kevin James.
Derek was able to have his 1st sleepover. He didn't really get to do anything special for his birthday.I had promised him way back in Oct., so I had to deliver on my promise. The sleepover went really well. I really like his two friends. The night started out with pizza and root beer. Then of course a pillow fight ensued. At 8:00 I talked them into watching a movie, Star Wars III, of course. (If you know Derek he's slightly obsessed with Star Wars. He talks about being a Director of a new Star Wars movie. I told him he's going to have to talk to George Lucas about that one). I went upstairs to go to bed at 10pm and left them to their own devices. Their devices were to play Star Wars Unleashed on the Wii. I told them they had to try to go to bed at midnight. They tried, but kept laughing and talking till 1am. I'm sure their parents will thank me later. I left them with two rules 1. go to bed at midnight and 2. Don't go outside. Which they didn't do and were very respectful. I feel slightly guilty about #2 though. I think I went outside on every sleepover I ever went too. It was the 80's though, right. A little safer than now. Anyway, I'm thankful Derek has two really good friends, that are nice boys. It's been hard for him to make friends in the past, because truthfully the boy is really ornery and competitive. I've prayed for him to get along with people for years and now it's happening. Thank you Heavenly Father. Anyway, it ended up being a pretty good Spring Break with minimal teasing and fighting. What more can a girl ask for.

Playing Interior Decorator with my husbands office

In February Mark was able to open the doors for his new office. He let me help him pick out things for his new office. My dream come true! Some day I want to go back to school to become an Interior Decorator. I guess it was just picking out stuff from Hobby Lobby and Decor Unique. I did revamp the metal things on the wall in the 1st picture. I painted them red, because my husband wanted a red/black theme going on, because of his logo. But,you know it was shopping. I really dont want to ever complain about shopping.
This is the entrance from the door.

Matthew's 1st birthday Party

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Matthew's 1st birthday was back on March 12th. He had a small little party with my dad and my brother Wade's family. A lot of things have changed for him in the last few months.

Remember this picture:
He did this for the longest time. I seriously wondered if he was ok. Finally at about 8 or 9 months he learned to sit up on his own, crawl, and stand next to furniture. I think he learned late, because he always had someone in our family helping him with whatever he needed. He never had to sit up on his own. One of the bigger kids would always save him if he got stuck in an awkward position.

I love this kid though! I don't know if it's because he might be my last one or what? He's so sweet! I love his sweet little innocence. I love the way he claps his little hands and gets excited about something new he discovers.

I thought he might just be a super good baby. For a long time he just layed down and let me change his diaper and wouldn't crawl away. But, he proved he's a normal baby boy and as soon as I take that diaper off he crawls away laughing. Super cute now, not so much when he's two though. He's figuring out quickly how to get into cupboards and other things. Here's some more birthday pictures. We had to take them with Mark's cell ph. so sorry they're a little blurry.

Grand Opening of Project Create a home

Hello! I just wanted to tell you about the Grand Opening of Project Create a home. Another blog that I'm a contributing writer for. The creator of it Meme better known as Screaming Meme has come up with a great idea to go along with the Grand Opening. She decided it would be great to offer some lucky reader a life makeover. A lot of the ladies are offering some fun stuff to go along with winning the life makeover. Even though I'm no expert I decided that since I love to study exercising techniques and love to exercise that I would offer my semi-expertise on exercising, one of those exercising bands with the handles (along with the explanation of several different exercises to do with it) and a fun CD of exercising songs. So go on over to the project and post your name and your story of why you should win the life makeover. (I'm so in love with the felt food that one contributor made for the give-away. If only I had another little girl....or maybe if I was still a little girl:) It looks like it would be so much fun to play with.

London's Run 1/2 marathon

So here we are on race day. This is after the race and yes we are all still smiling. It was funny on the day of the race to talk about how nervous we all were before the race and all of the things we did, because of that.

This is our group frm Lto R: me, Erryn, Kristine, Dave, and Kourtney. I think we were all really proud of ourselves that we finished and accomplished this.

I'm not putting this in a post so people will feel sorry for me. I just really need to get it out of my brain. Somehow posting things like this just helps me move on to better things:)

I so miss my mom lately. Since I ran in the the 1/2 marathon I've just missed her. Running seems to be the option I use to get rid of those feelings anyway. I thought about my mom the whole time I was running. I wonder sometimes if she is proud of me. I know she is but truthfully I'm a better person in some ways and not so good at others (that i used to think I was good at).
One of the counselors in our bishopric got up and spoke about the importance of our relationships as families here on earth. I couldn't help, but think about my mom always saying to me when she was alive "We must have been very special friends in heaven". That thought always made me feel good, but I never thought how I guess important it would become. She also always made me feel good by telling me I must have been sent to her to make her a better person. Classic her she never thought she was really good at anything except maybe sewing and eating healthy.
I truthfully get bugged sometimes at church when people raise their hands when the lesson is on death and someone will confidently says Well thank goodness we know the plan so we can't be sad or upset. (I told you I've digressed). While I believe and know that to be true. I cant help but wonder if that person has ever really lost anyone that they spoke to every day or saw almost every day. You know, what I wouldn't do to talk to my mom or be able to hug her. Somedays that's all I want. Someday, right.
Crazy, but I do feel better getting that all out.

A New Blog

Are you addicted to blogging as much as I am? Right now I'm so addicted to blogging and then I got started on facebook. Now thats a whole new addiction right there. Checking on old friends and pictures of their families and then searching to see if they have a blog and then checking that out also. I once spent a 1/2 day doing this. Shameful! I had to put the kibosh (sp?) on checking out new emails and blogs. Now I only let myself check them out morning and night not all through the day. Anyway, if you're as addicted as I am you will have to check out this new blog. Even if you're not as addicted as I am check out this new blog anyway. It's called www.projectcreateahome.blogspot.com. I was asked to contribute to it. It's a really cool blog. And no, I'm not saying that just because I was asked to be a contributor. It really is a cool blog. Lots of tips on decorating, new ideas, and how to live a better life in general.
Also, the gal (her name is Meme) that started the blog has a really cool decorating blog that you have to check out too www.thescreamingmeme.blogspot.com . I've looked at her blog for awhile and love all her tips. Wow, there are a lot of talented people out there.

Skiing in Lakeside

Mark and I had a blast this weekend! We were able to go up to Lakeside, AZ and visit one of Mark's best friends Camden and his wife Marisa. They took us to see Valkryie Friday night and on Saturday we went skiing the whole day. I always love visiting with them. They both have awesome personalities. They are both funny, sincere, and down to earth people. They were really kind to us while we were there. They fed us a bunch and made sure we were really comfortable. It's always fun hearing about the things Mark and Camden did when they were little.
The skiing part its self was pretty funny. Only because I'm so dumb. As I get older I get more scared to do things. I havent been skiing in about 5 years and have probably been skiing probably 5 times in my whole life. The ski lift was my 1st obstacle. I'm not a fan of heights and at Sunrise anyway they've now made the ski lift faster so your not on it all day. Riding it wasnt such a problem getting off of it was. It was freaking me out that it was going so fast right up til the end and then it would unattach and slow down. Every time I would freak out poles, skis, legs and arms would go flying in the air as I dismounted with me saying OOOOh my gosh! So after I got it in my head that freaking out wasnt helping me out any. I began to relax and give myself this crazy pep talk. It went something like this: You are a 35 year old woman, you can conquer the ski lift you've been through and done harder things in life than this. You can conquer the ski lift :). By the end of the day I could dismount from the ski lift with out any problems. Yeah me! The next obstacle was everyone that I went with was a pretty good skier. Especially Camden he could whip down the mountain in no time with a few tricks on the way. They got bored of doing green runs in no time and wanted to move on to blue. Since I was scared I did short sharp turns all the way down the mountain. I had to take drugs aftewards (Advil that is) to make up for my whole body being completely tense as I went down the mountain for most of the day. By the end of the day I was cruising a little better though and not so tense. Anyway, it really was a fun trip. Mark and I needed to get away and have fun especially before that lovely tax season rears it ugly I mean beautiful head. ( It pays the bills after all).

I did it!

I ran ten miles this morning! Yeah, I'm so proud of myself! Mind you I'm not fast or anything and walked a bit, but I finished. My friend Kristine asked me if I wanted to run in a half marathon with her (or eat her dust). Sounds crazy, but it's something I've always wanted to do. I love watching the Ironman on tv.
Anyway, we and some of her family members will be running at the end of the month. It's a race called Londons run in Queen Creek. A little 6 year old girl named London died of cancer a few years ago. All the money that the runners put in to run in the race will go to benefit people with cancer. So I'm happy to have a purpose to run for to that's close to my heart.

In November Mark and I ran a 5K. It was my first race (since Junior High) He beat me Grrrrr. It's only frustrating, because he never runs. Also in November my niece and I ran in a 10K in the Turkey Trot. She's in good shape like my husband, because she never runs as many miles as a 10K and she stayed pretty much with me the whole way. On both the races I wasnt the fastest, but I wasnt the slowest either. I was pretty glad I just finished.

My computer letting me know I shouldn't even think about installing pictures. So no photos with our numbers. I bet your all disappointed :)

Self Love for the New Year!

This topic is probably not appropriate for a blog, but here I go anyway. This last Saturday I was having one of those days. You know the kind where you feel like your a complete loser and you can't accomplish anything. I feel like this a little bit after every new year. I dont know if I really miss Christmas or what. The house was a complete pit and was wondering how it got this bad once again. I do try to clean a couple of hours a day. But this was going to take a few days of a major overhall. I also felt depressed about eating to much. I feel like I've worked really hard to lose weight, but cant seemingly lose the last 20 pounds. I always seem to sabotage myself. To top it off my daughter had just come in from our neighbors house and told me she wished our house was like the Toolson's because there mom was so nice and there house was always so organized and smelt good. (I do like the Toolson's a lot by the way) Our cat had also pooped somewhere upstairs. yipee. I listened to her and resisted my you too could have a clean house that smelt good speech, if you put away your shoes etc. I went for a run instead. When I was almost done I started thinking about what I had to do when I got home and how things possibly might be worse, because the kids had friends over. I couldn't help but feel like this song that came on my i-pod, (that's on my playlist now) was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. I began to cry and realized I had been reading my scriptures and praying, but it was more like going through the motions. I also realized that with all my faults (messy house, untrained children etc.) Heavenly Father loves me, but I a lot of time dont really love myself. My self-esteem is based on how others feel about me. So here to my New Years resolution, I'm going to truly try to love myself this year. Not the kind where you think your better than other people, but the kind that Heavenly Father would want me to have. The kind that makes me special just because I'm his daughter. I know we are all here on earth to figure out how we're supposed to help others. So how about you, self love this year?