It has finally happened . . . Drew can ride a bike!!

Each time our family has gone for a bike ride this summer, I have continually told Lamon, "I think it is time for Drew to learn how to ride a bike!" It just looked a little funny to me seeing our big 5 year old cruising around on training wheels. But for some reason it never happened.
So this week after we got our school work done I said, "Drew, do you want to learn how to ride your blue bike?" And he said excitedly, "Yes!!" So I took him out in the middle of the street and held on to his shirt and ran alongside him and let go, and it was so awesome. Not only did he keep riding, but he started going really fast! I couldn't keep up with him! I was like, "Whoa Drew, don't go too fast . . . you need to practice first!" And boy has he been practicing! He has wanted to be riding that bike as much as possible. And he has done great. It has been so fun to watch him. Just to see that pride in his face is the funnest thing for me to watch. He keeps saying, "I am so good at riding bikes!" Yes you are Drew! I love your gutz, you cute thing.
Anyway, Today we had a family dinner at Great Grandma Mack's house in Holladay. We were getting the kids in the car, and after getting Ada and Hayden in I was looking around for Drew and he was in the garage with his helmet on and guiding his bike outside. I said, "Drew? What are you doing?" He looked up at me confidently and said, "Well . . . I'll see you guys in an hour!" It was so hilarious. He was so serious. He was going to ride his bike and meet us there! Oh, if I could only have captured his face and his cute little voice when he said that . . . My kids are so fun, they always keep us entertained.

Family Pictures

These are not professional pictures or anything. But for setting the timer button and running, they turned out pretty cute.
We went camping a couple weeks ago, and it was a lot of fun. Lamon had Monday and Tuesday off so we decided to go camping. We borrowed Lamon's parents tent trailer and headed up to Granite Flats camp ground up past Tibble Fork. It was so beautiful. Our friends the Vandenburgs came up and sat around the campfire and ate cobbler with us. It was fun. It was a little chilly, let's be honest . . . but we still all had a blast. And having a tent trailer was nice. We had the heater running until about midnight and then it stopped. We all slept good, but when the kids woke up they were all complaining about their feet being icecubes . . . and so we put them in the car with the heater on while we packed up the trailer. Okay fine . . . so I'm lying . . . I was in the car with the heater on most of the time too . . . while Lamon packed the trailer. Someone had to keep an eye on the kids! J/K
I barely made it home in time the next day to teach History at Jills. But we made it. We are way too spontaneous! But we sure do have fun. I love it.

We are alive!!

Oh my cow! I have been terrible at updating this blog. There are so many fun things to put on here, and I guess I will just have to poke at it a little at a time eh?

I will try and write about two things tonight . . . and maybe if I don't flap my jaw to much like I usually do I can do it without making this too long.

So for the last few weeks we have been having some fun family exercising bonding time each week. My sister Sue is doing the P90X program and she has been bringing her Plyometrics video every Tuesday to do with us. And may I just say that we have been having some riotous fun? My sisters Sue and Liz and Lamon's twin sisters have been coming to do it with us. Lamon sat on the couch the first time and just watched and critiqued us. We got him to do it with us the next week and now he can't miss it! So we move all of the furniture and 6 of us sweat it out on Tuesday evenings. It has been awesome.
So yesterday I was babysitting one of my friends kids and I hadn't heard them for awhile . . . and that usually means trouble. So I went and peeked downstairs and there was Drew doing P90X. He looked so cute. He was saying to his friends, "Come on guys. Come and do this exercise. It will make you super!" So Hayden joined in. It was so funny. And Drew kept doing it and saying, "Hayden . . . do you need some water? You can go and get some water if you want." Drew turned on that video about 3 times yesterday. He cracks me up. I am going to have some buff children.

I did it!

I am so behind in my blogging it is quite pathetic! But I thought that I had better at least put my marathon pictures on here!
What an amazing experience!
All through my training I had problems off and on with my hip flexor. About a week and a half before the race I was hurting pretty bad. I could barely walk at one point. But luckily I have a brother in law who is an athletic trainer who stretched me out and on a few different occasions pulled on my leg and popped something that made the pain dye down. I didn't run the entire week before the race so that there wouldn't be a chance of injuring myself.
The night before the marathon I was going to go to sleep really early to prepare to wake up at 2:00 in the morning, but I could not go to sleep! I was so nervous and excited I was laying in bed but could not get myself to go to sleep. So at 2:00 I got up without having had a wink of sleep and we headed to Rice Eccles Stadium where I got on the bus at 3:15 in the morning. On the bus ride up there were these two guys behind me talking about the steepness of the course and they were saying, "Ya . . . they say that when some people come out of the canyon they can't even walk . . ." I started to get a little nervous, because I had read and heard from a few people that Deseret Morning News was hard on the body because of the steep downhill. Anyway, I didn't really think too much about it until I hit about mile 10 and started cramping pretty bad in my hamstrings and quads. It was pretty brutal. My feet were on fire and the cramping hurt pretty bad. But it just made the whole experience that much more worthwhile. I had to run through pain, and it was pretty hard. I could never put into words what it was like to finish that race. It was the experience I hoped it would be. It didn't turn out like I "planned." I am someone who always wants a perfect "plan" or "recipe" with a guaranteed perfect outcome, and I am always grateful to God for ruining my "plan" sometimes and giving me what I really need. What I wanted? I wanted to finish it in close to 4 hours but knew that being my first marathon and with my hip flexor it might be closer to 4 and a half. What happened? I didn't have one ounce of pain from my hip flexor, but I had to run through the pain of cramps and charlie horses starting at mile 10. I finished the race in 4 hours and 34 minutes. I learned a lot about life and the atonement. I highly recommend it! I will probably do more in like 30 years when my kids are gone. After all . . . both me and Lamon agree that we need to redeem ourselves!

Hayden . . . Did you throw up?

So a few weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night to Hayden screaming. I was so tired and I was thinking, "Oh great!" I had to wake up early and did not want to get up. But I got up and went into his room and was confronted with a terrible sight. Throw up! Pools of it on his bed! Lovely! Hayden was just crying and I said, "Oh no Hayden, You threw up? I'm sorry. Come here, let's get your clothes off and change the sheets. LUckily his pillow didn't get any throw up on it and his clothes were okay. So I just folded in the corners of the comforter and took it off the bed. I changed the sheets and told Hayden to stay there while I went to stick the comforter in the wash. So I took it downstairs and started the washer and as I was putting it in I was just waiting to see the mess . . . but um . . . I never did. I didn't see any throw up on the entire blanket. I walked upstairs and knelt down by Hayden and said, "Hayden . . . you didn't throw up did you." He looked up at me and just shook his head and said, "no". So there you go! A whole hour of sleep lost due to my brain! I promise I don't do drugs. I swear I saw throw up! Anyway, it was pretty funny!

Mother's Day

Well I haven't blogged about Mother's Day yet either, so I had better do it along with Father's Day!! Because just like I have an amazing Father, I have quite the amazing Mother as well. I couldn't begin to explain all of the things my Mother has taught me. My mom taught me the importance of work, and she taught me how to be frugal. Mom has always been a great money manager, and I am grateful for that! Mom has taught me how to serve. If the whole world could only have a glimpse of the sacrifices my mother has made for all of her children throughout our lives they would see a women full of love and service. I have wonderful memories of my mother. My Dad is fun to play games with . . . but if we can get Mom to play too it is a riotous night of fun! She is so funny. I love to sit and chat with my Mom. That is one of my favorite things to do. I could talk to her for hours . . . and I do when I go home. And one of my favorite things to do with Mom is garage sale. I cherish all of the Saturday morning memories! I will garage sale until the day I die, and hopefully there will be many more years to garage sale with Mom. I don't know what I would do without her! If there is was ever a serious problem, or if I was feeling really down growing up, I would go to my Mom and always find comfort! She is amazing! I love you Mom!!!

Father's Day

I pretty much have like a billion things that I need to post about, and I keep postponing it because it is such a daunting task! If I could only post my pictures without creating a whole story to go along with it! . . . But I can't. Sorry. What fun are pictures unless you explain them?
So to go along with my Father's Day pics I'd just like to say that I have the most amazing Father! And it's true. I love my Dad. My Dad makes life fun. I am so grateful for all of the games he's played with us throughout our lives . . . Hide and Seek in the early days, Rook, spades, hearts, :) Balderdash, Croquet, Bocci Ball, Frisbee Golf and of course his own creation . . . Budiki which will be passed down to future generations. Some of my favorite memories with my Dad are: making banana shakes, skipping, many a hikes up Rock Canyon, reading to me in the hospital, all of his wonderful stories (he is an amazing story teller) and watching him study the Gospel and listening to him share it with us. Out of all of the things I love about my Dad that is the greatest. I am grateful for him for teaching me the Gospel and helping me gain a testimony of my Savior and his plan! Thank you Dad!