Egbert Family Blog

Birthday Present

2012-02-09T14:54:00.000-08:00

Look what Hans is doing for me for my birthday. This is why all his friends in dental school called him Handyman Hans.

January Update

2012-01-22T08:19:00.000-08:00

January has flown by. We are doing more of the same, but we are happy, busy, and healthy. Here is a short update on the family.

Ashley - Ashley is diligently working on her piano. She practices an hour every day and her progress is impressive. She has passed me. I can't even sight read her performance pieces. She gets to compete in two competitions this year and she is working hard to perfect her technique. I am proud of her and I love hearing her play. She is also working hard at gymnastics and is hoping to make the Eagles team in the spring. She goes 4 1/2 hours a week and has made a lot of progress. She has overcome a lot of her fear of beam and can do a great vertical handstand and dismount. She is closer to her kip and can do a round off back handspring. She continues to excel at school and came home this week with a perfect report card. Her teacher likes to tell me that if every student were like Ashley her job would be easy. She loves advanced math. She still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up, but I'm pushing for her to be a dentist. She loves stuffed animals and spends a lot of her time designing rooms, games, and other activities for her animals. She is a great big sister and all three look up to her. I love having her around.

Katelyn - Katelyn is excited to get her tonsils out in February right after her birthday. They have tortured her for years and she is finally ready to do it. She is preparing for her baptism in March and is extremely excited for her Amazin' hamster birthday party we are having in a few weeks. She is full of energy and joy. She does everything with a skip in her step and I find her upside down on her bed reading at night. She is excelling at gymnastics and has been promised a move-up to the level 5 competition team in the spring. She will practice 12-15 hours a week and seems happy about it. She can do the whole bar and beam routines and is working hard on vault and floor. She is fun to watch. She came home with a perfect report card, but is suffering from boredom at school. She never wants to go and complains often about how boring it is there. We are discussing, again, a jump to 3rd grade. It's not what I think is best socially, but her teacher is pushing for it. We will see what happens. She gets her social at the gym, so it may work out. I love this girl. She loves games of all types and has the gift of winning. She is a great sister and is the planner of the bunch.

Justin - Justin is a lot of fun right now. He loves playing basketball, kinect, games, and doing whatever his sisters are doing. He is up for whatever game they have planned, even if that means he is the prince. He is so great with Mia and is very sweet with her. He is so social and needs people around him at all times. He is into swimming right now and is getting braver in the water. He earned a date swimming with dad yesterday and was so nice to invite Mia along. He is working hard in school. His teacher called me in to tell me that he was the only kid in all of her kindergarten classes to score perfectly on the dibbles testing. While I have a lot of faith in Justin, I was extremely surprised. He struggles more in school then the others and we have been doing school for at least 30 minutes everyday. I was very proud of him and in the last couple of weeks he has made incredible improvement. He is reading fairly well and I now find him on his bed reading himself books....the first time I saw it I almost cried, since I was thinking he was going to struggle with school forever. Phew. I'm relieved.

Mia - Mia quit ballet so she could start gymnastics. She is already excelling and has her sights set on team like her sisters. She loves school and I am trying to figure out what to do with her next year. She misses the kindergarten deadline by 1 week and is so so ready to go. I may end up sending her to a longer pre-school to fill that school need. I wish she could just start kindergarten. She is a lot of fun. She is the girly girl of the family. She still only wears skirts and is into frilly things. She needs lip gloss on and sparkles sprayed in her hair. She loves her bitty baby and she and Justin spend hours making rides and games for this baby. I love having them both home with me in the morning. Mia loves me. She still cries when I leave her places and tells me that she just loves me so so much. Everyone needs a Mia around.

Hans is busy with work and scheming for the future, as usual. He started a basketball league at Lifetime and is loving it. He is still busy with Elders Quorum stuff and does a great job serving those in our ward and neighborhood. He still manages to find time to spend time with me, volunteer at the school, and take the kids on dates. I love him. He was nice enough to ride his bike next to me while I ran this week.

I am so so busy right now, but I like it this way. It seems like I am either restless or over scheduled. I am in the middle of marathon training, which is tiring. I ran 15 miles yesterday and felt every step of it. I am excited to run in Boston, but all this training is a bit much. I am still teaching my yoga classes at Lifetime and having a great time with it. January at the gym is always packed and I love teaching to an over crowded room. I also started working at the Endoscopy lab and have been training there 20 hours a week. It dropped to 10 hours last week, but goes back up the next few weeks while I finish the training. I love that I'm using my education and it's been a challenging experience to try and remember how to be an RN again. Luckily it's all coming back and the people I work with are extremely friendly and helpful. In the midst of all this I decided to change our house. We repainted the girls' room and re-decorated. They love it and so do I. Since I liked the change of the paint so much I decided to paint the rest of the house. It's been stressing me out. I think it's just poor timing on my part. Despite the schedule we still get time to spend as a family and it's this time that I love. I love being busy enough that I appreciate the time we do have.

The end.

Christmas

2012-01-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

The girl cousins skiing with Grandpa. He is very brave, but these girls are great skiers. We had perfect weather for skiing. It was over 40 degrees.

All packed up and ready for the long drive back to Colorado. The kids are great travelers. I wouldn't want to be stuck in a minivan with any other children. We made great time. It took me 7 hours and 55 minutes with no speeding tickets.

Justin and I skied together. He is a beginner, but he is improving. He worked so hard and I learned that snowplowing backwards down the mountain is extremely tiring.

Hans' favorite gift was this golf club.

Cute Mia.

Katelyn is so expressive and I love the joy that radiates from her body.

Cute girls. They love each other and are so good to one another.

Santa brought Justin a basketball hoop. It was a great gift. It's gotten a lot of use.

This is what Santa came up with for Mia's request of a triangle top and a mermaid tail. She was thrilled.

Justin loves getting things.

Ashley was pleased with Christmas.

Christmas morning anticipation. Justin woke up at 4 am.

Justin and his remote controlled helicopter. He loved it.

Justin gave Mia a bitty baby. He is a great brother to her.

Christmas Eve. The kids were anxious to open a present.
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We had a Christmas party for Ashley and two of her friends. They made bracelets, decorated and ate sugar cookies, and watched Tangled.

We had a great Christmas this year. We had a lot of time together as a family, which seems is happening less and less the older the kids get. We did a lot of fun things. We went skating at skate city. This was great fun. Hans decided to impress the kids and I by skating backwards in the backwards skate. He was one of 3 or 4 on the rink and fell hard on his first corner around the rink. It was very funny, but he is still sore from it. We also went sledding since we got so much snow this year. Some nice people let us borrow their sled they weren't using so we could all get down together. It is a steep hill and a lot of work to get up, but we had a great time. My favorite part was watching Katelyn do somersaults up the hill. I could tell she hadn't been to gymnastics for a week. Mia started gymnastics during the season as well. She got promoted after 1 class to their advanced class and can already do 5 pull-ups, a pull over, and a bridge kick over. She told her coaches that she is going all the way to the top. They love her. They told me that she will be my best gymnast since she is so short. We will see. Now I am driving to the gym 7 different times a week. We also went and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks, which the kids loved, and was okay for me since I had a big tub of popcorn on my lap.

Christmas Eve we did a live nativity. The kids did a great job. Ashley directed the whole program. We opened one present and spent the majority of the day at home. We shared dinner at a friend's house and played games. I'm pretty sure the kids understood the true meaning of Christmas and for that I feel successful.

Christmas Day we enjoyed opening presents and eating waffles. I was grateful we were able to go to church and listen to beautiful music. I then, in all my craziness, took down Christmas and packed to drive to Utah the next day. The drive was uneventful and we had a great time visiting grandparents and cousins. The kids love being there. We skied at Brighton. I checked Justin into ski school where he learned how to snow plow and the girls skied with Grandpa and Melanie. We met Mindy up there as well. The weather was fantastic, which made up for the lack of snow, and we went home happy. We also went tubing at Soldier Hollow, which is always a highlight. Grandma Heath took all of the kids shopping to spend their Christmas money from her. We met up with Egberts at Chick fil a for lunch. We had a New Year's Eve party. Mainly the highlight of visiting Utah is letting the kids play endlessly with their cousins and running with Melanie. She was nice enough to run 8 of my 12 miles with me one Saturday. I wish I lived a 4 hour drive away at most so we could visit more often. I am hoping we will get visited this year. Overall it was a great Christmas Season.

Justin loves His new Helicopter!

2011-12-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

Each of our children were allowed to open one gift after we had a Christmas eve morning nativity. Justin was really excited to get his coveted Helicopter from Grandpa and Grandma Egbert.

Christmas Fun

2011-12-18T15:32:00.000-08:00

The girls being silly while their house fell to pieces. Hans made their house. He was making jabs at me about how his house was better constructed then mine. Mine, as usual, proved to be sturdier. Ha.

Justin and Mia with their house that I put together. They were a great team decorating this.

More silly faces while Hans tries to save the house.

My cute girls working well together on their house.

Mia spent most of the time eating frosting.

Justin decorating his gingerbread house.

Having a lot of fun. This is a tradition we really look forward to.

Singing to Hans on his birthday. He worked all day on his birthday and came home around 8:00. We did sing to him at breakfast and give him his presents. I also went to lunch with him while all the kids were at school. We love him.

Eating a birthday breakfast - a waffle from the waffle iron the kids gave to him.

Cordera Dental Staff at the bowling party.

Justin and his friend Cannon. Justin wrapped up his broken remote controlled boat to give to Hans for his birthday. So thoughtful.

Katelyn sitting on Santa's lap. She asked for a mazin hamster. I'm not even sure what that is.

Mia was a little hesitant to sit on Santa's lap. These pictures are blurry since I took them with my phone. While she said she was going to ask for a mermaid tail she asked Santa for a stuffed dog instead.

Justin on Santa's lap. He asked Santa for a new remote controlled boat. Then he came home and wrote a letter to Santa asking for a basketball hoop instead. It's hard to decide.

Here I am shooting.

We have been keeping busy this Christmas season. We decorated the house. We put up lights outside without a ladder, which was quite exciting. We delivered home made jam to our friends, teachers, neighbors, and gymnastics coaches. We mailed out all of our Christmas cards. We sent off presents to Family and finished buying gifts for each other. We celebrated Hans' 35th birthday. We prepared for, set up, and cleaned up the Ward Christmas Party. We went to breakfast with Santa. We had a bowling party for Cordera Dental and planned presents and cards for Hans' staff. We attended school parties, one of which was Pioneer day for Katelyn. We made Christmas crafts and gingerbread houses (which I made from scratch - I'm pretty proud of that). And I interviewed for and got a job working part time as an RN at an endoscopy center. I started training for the Boston Marathon. It's been a warm December. We were able to go shooting, which was my first time shooting anything. We hiked around Garden of the Gods yesterday and went on a nice long bike ride as a family today. This week we are looking forward to skiing at Cooper and having a few more holiday parties. Should be great.

Odds and Ends

2011-12-12T11:33:00.000-08:00

Justin played his first season of basketball at the YMCA this year. He loved it. He especially loves the end of season party and medal. At his turn with his coach he said his favorite part of basketball was how well the team worked together. My jaw dropped.

He is not a big person. These boys around him are so tall. He loved it anyway.

We did four free swim lessons at LifeTime. Justin and Mia had one teacher to themselves. They loved it. Justin got way more comfortable getting his face wet. Mia learned how to swim 25 meters on her own.

Her teacher gave her these goggles. A highlight. She loves the water. All she wants from Santa is a mermaid tail and a triangle top to cover her nickles. She makes me smile.

I took Ashley on a date to color me mine. We painted a dragon and talked. Ashley's not much of a talker so I love this time with her when she can open up.

Ashley had medieval day at school. She dressed up like a lady. They did all sorts of activities, ate a feast, and performed a dance. It was fun to be able to be there for a small portion.

She is far away in this picture. She is performing her dance. She is dancing a good distance away from her boy partner.

My gymnast. Check out her arms. She sprained her wrist on vault. She is so much like me. Stoic with certain things, like she was with this, and ridiculous about others. She has come so far with gym with her 7 hours a week. She is impressive to watch. I can't wait to see her compete in the spring.

My cute kids and our Christmas tree we crammed into our small living room space. It was very fun and exciting to set up Christmas. I love their joy. It really is contagious. I hope the season meets their expectations.

Hans reading stories. These girls definitely favor his side of the family.

Justin's Thanksgiving program. Here he is with his teacher Mrs. Ladd. I love his smirk. He gave me a picture and a rose to tell me he was thankful for me. He sure is sweet.

Christmas Pajamas

2011-11-14T19:20:00.000-08:00

I got ambitious thanks to the help of a friend and actually bought fabric and made pajama pants. My kids, mainly Justin, thought I was a rock star for being able to sew these together. He thought it was SO cool. Now we are buying Hanes t-shirts and ironing on the letter of their names. Exciting stuff going on here.

School Days

2011-11-06T07:21:00.000-08:00

School is in full force. I can't believe we've completed 2 full months. The kids are learning a lot and doing really well. Parent Teacher conferences are always fun since the teachers all love our kids. Ashley's teacher said that if all her students could be like Ashley her job would be really easy. Katelyn's teacher said she could skip 2nd grade altogether and go on to 3rd. Justin has gone from not being able to even identify all his letters to writing small words like do and go. Mia is in pre-school and doing great as well. She loves the activities, show and tell, and having something of her own. Justin and I do school every morning. He is not where the girls were at his age and I'm trying to fix that. He is a willing student and has come a long way from when we started. He is a lot more patient and is starting to understand that school takes some focus. I am proud of him. Mia and Justin and I have a lot of time together in the mornings before they go to school and we enjoy it.

Mia is ready for ballet. Justin is wearing his basketball jersey. He just started playing and he loves it.

Justin doing his school work.

The kids with their pajamas on backwards and inside out. They also flushed ice cubes down the toilet, did the chicken dance, and slept with spoons under their pillows. I'm not sure where they got the idea that this would help with a snow day from school, but they had fun trying. It didn't work this time. They still had school.

Halloween Fun

2011-11-06T06:42:00.000-08:00

Halloween is so much fun. The Ward Trunk or Treat was more of an actual Halloween dress up party for the kids. We painted Ashley's face white and crimped her hair and she looked a lot more like the vampire she was supposed to be. I didn't take a picture that night. It was a crazy day and I was rushing girls to and from gymnastics and then to the party and Hans was working late. The Trunk or Treat was a great time. There were carnival games and a cake walk. One of the carnival games was throwing a ping pong ball into a glass of water. If the glass of water had a fish in it then you got to take it home. We came home with two fish. Then the kids got to trick or treat inside the Church building since it was freezing. Good times. Actual Halloween night we did in shifts. Hans and I took Justin and Mia around the neighborhood while the girls were at gymnastics. I put Justin and Mia to bed while Hans took the girls trick or treating after their gymnastics. Ashley is sad in this picture since she was worried about missing out on candy. I really hate that candy makes us all so sad. Justin ended up taking all of the candy I was handing out to trick or treaters and lying about it so I threw all of his candy away. He was really really sad, but seemed to understand what he had done. I figured it was a small price to pay for learning the importance of honesty. I was also happy to have all his candy in the trash.

A vampire, although people thought she was little red riding hood without the face paint.

A gymnast.

Spiderman and a unicorn.

The weather has been up and down here. Some of the Halloween activities were done at 65 degrees and some where done at 30. Katelyn wears a tank top and shorts if it's above 60. Hans carved the pumpkin with the kids while I was supervising a Relief Society activity. I was sad to not be there, but happy to have it done. The kids are so cute.

Fall Break Fun

2011-10-16T14:00:00.001-07:00

We had a lot of fun for our week off of school. We went to the pumpkin patch, rock climbing, the zoo, and lots of parks. We went for bike rides, did halloween crafts, and played a lot of games. It was great fun. No one wanted to go back to school.

The zoo has a bird house. We bought sticks with bird feed on them with hopes that the birds would land on the sticks. It worked a few times.

The zoo has a fun park with things to climb.

The spiderweb. They are good climbers. They've had a lot of practice rock climbing at the gym.

More bird house fun. We also bought a crimper, which the girls love. Mia and Justin keep asking me to "crimple" their hair, but chicken out when I put it close to their heads. I think they're scared of the heat.

The giraffes are the best part of the zoo. We feed them lettuce and get grossed out by their long tongues. We were underdressed. It was chilly.

The pumpkin patch in Black Forest is windy. We went on a tractor ride, down the slides, through the mazes, and picked out our pumpkins. Great fun.

Mia's Birthday Party

2011-10-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, which happened to be Mia's actual birthday we had a party. It was a lot of fun. I had a lot of help from Hans and the girls and Justin and everyone was happy. I love parties like this one. We had a Mermaid party.

Mia hit the pinata with a lot of energy. She and Justin had a lot of fun picking this pinata out and then filling it with candy. It sat in our house waiting for a whole week.

Mia was spoiled by her friends. She got all princess related presents.

The girls had fun with pin the flowers on Ariels hair game. Ashley and Katelyn were in charge of this and did fabulously.

Party fun. Hans made a gluten free little mermaid cake.

I was impressed with the cake.

I'm not sure where all these dress-ups came from, but they found them in my basement. Cute princesses.

We started the party coloring in pictures and blowing these party favors.

At breakfast Mia opened her presents from me. An Ariel doll and some lip gloss.

She has been dying to get this lip gloss set from Walmart. I was happy it was only 3$.

She also celebrated her birthday at pre-school with this crown and some cupcakes.

Mia is 4!

2011-10-16T13:38:00.001-07:00

Mia at 4! Love the smile.

Mia turns 3.

Mia is 2. (She still wears this leotard).

Mia at 1. She no longer lets me do her hair.

Mia is in the house. My 4 lb 12 oz baby, while still little, is growing up. Sigh.

It really is hard to believe that Mia is 4. She has been such a fun addition to our family and she is still our baby, although she is very much a four year old. She is into princesses, lip gloss, mermaids, purses, dress ups, and fashion. She recently perfected riding her two wheeler bike (with training wheels) and I chuckle every time she rides since it's a Thomas the train bike that we've put a Barbie bike bag on so it can be girly enough for her. She loves keeping up with her sisters and they are so good to play princesses and gymnastics with her. She started her first ballet class this fall and she loves it. She loves twirling around in her leotard. She wears her leotards or swimming suits year round and they are dress ups, regular clothes, and pajamas. They get washed often. She is a very energetic person and we love having her.

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater

2011-10-09T15:56:00.001-07:00

Justin had Mother Goose Day on Wednesday. He dressed up as Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater and did a wonderful job reciting the rhyme from memory. This came as quite a relief to me. He doesn't have the same natural ability the girls did at school and has been causing me some worry, but something finally clicked the last week and he is doing better at writing his letters and memorizing his phonograms. Phew. He used to just sloppily write a big J on his papers and assume that was close enough to his name. And any box or coat or anything that had a J anywhere on it he assumed was close enough to being his. His teacher assures me this is the difference between boys and girls and that he is doing just fine and now I agree with her. He is improving and he finally likes school. I can relax.

Garden of the Gods

2011-10-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

The kids get out of school on Fridays at 12:15. We took advantage of a beautiful Friday to go hiking right after school. The girls were great sports about humoring me in this since they had both run 4 miles for the school's asthma run that day. I am happy when I am outside. Garden of the Gods is beautiful, the hiking trails are easy, the rocks are fun to climb and hide in, and the trading post has bathrooms and toys to look at. We were lucky enough to get passed by a big group on horses. This was definitely a highlight. It was the perfect afternoon.

Update

2011-09-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

It seems like life has flown by since school started at the end of August. I haven't taken many pictures and so I'm having a hard time remembering everything. So this is my attempt at a September and Family update. Our school schedule is in full force and while I like the routine, I miss the flexibility of summer. The kids are up by 7:00 and I drive the girls to school at 7:45. Then we come home and clean up the morning and either go to Life Time for me to teach, which I do 3 days a week or try to get some errands done. Then Justin goes to school at 11:45 and Mia goes to school at 12:30 Tuesday through Thursday. This leaves me with three afternoons a week where I have some time to myself. I had anxiety over getting totally bored during this time, but I've found myself cramming a ridiculous amount of stuff into this time. I volunteer at the school on Thursdays and I'm hoping on Wednesdays to make it down to CorePower so that I can get some yoga in for myself. I find myself not getting enough yoga in now that I'm teaching 4 classes a week. I did get to go to the Yoga Journal Conference in Estes Park with Laurie. It was amazing. After 7 hours of yoga I was completely exhausted, but it was so fun to learn from Baron Baptiste, Sean Corne, and Desiree Rumbaugh. I am going to go every year. Estes Park is beautiful in the Fall. I also signed up to run the Boston Marathon in April. I don't have to start training until December, but I'm already finding myself dreading the long long runs. Hans and I are excited to take the family to the East Coast and spend some time there in the Spring.

Hans and I also were able to go to Austin, Texas for the BYU football game. Hans' parents were nice enough to fly out here to watch the kids for us for the weekend. The kids had an amazing time. Grandma showers them with gifts and attention. While in Austin we stayed with the Mabeys and visited with the Pullmans and the Browns. We ate at Rudi's and went waterskiing on Lake Austin. It was amazingly fun. Hans was able to golf and I went shopping at the outlets. We are debating a move to Austin. It's a difficult decision. We love Colorado and we are happy here, but there is more opportunity for Hans in Austin. Austin is also sea level with lots of lakes, which makes more sense for a boat purchase. This is a big decision and I'm notoriously indecisive. The night before we left for Austin Hans bought a truck. He loves it. We are now trying to sell the Honda Civic, which was my college car. I will miss it.

The kids are doing great. They are busy with their activities, but they handle it all so well. I am so grateful to have them and for their reminders to me to be more joyful.

Random Pictures

2011-09-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

Katelyn got to dress up for Constitution day at school. This is what she and Ashley came up with since we don't have much Colonial dress around our house. She loved having her hair in really tight curls. She recited the Declaration of Independence, which she has memorized and did some activities that related to the Constitution. I love that they have these fun half-day fridays monthly.

Justin is really really happy to have his hair long enough again to do his mohawk. He was SO mad at me when I buzzed it off and now that his hair needs cutting again he is begging me to take him to Life Time to have it cut so I don't buzz it off again. He is also working hard on mastering the yo-yo.

Ashley at the piano. She works diligently at it. I love hearing her play. She has the World's greatest piano teacher.

Mia is explaining to me what this picture says. It was something to the effect of me having poop on my head. She's a lovely thing.

Katelyn loves crossword puzzles. She also loves making her own crossword puzzles with themes. This one was all words having to do with Church.

All 4 dressed up and ready for Church. I love this bunch.

Mia Starts Pre-School

2011-09-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

Mia started Pre-school in September. She goes to Miss Colleen's with two friends from church and she loves it. She loves that she gets to take her pink, sparkly backpack with a snack in it and show and tell on Thursdays. She loves that when she goes to school in Madi's car she gets to watch a movie. But most of all she loves Miss Colleen. She is young to be going to pre-K, but since she only missed the deadline by a week I decided to put her in. She likes the extra time there. She goes Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 12:30-3.

Mia turns 4 next Saturday. She is busily planning her Little Mermaid Birthday party and trying to guess what is in the box I wrapped for her. We went to Party City yesterday and bought everything Little Mermaid for her party. I'm getting sad that my days of little mermaid and pink frilly things are coming to an end and so I may be overcompensating with Mia and her party.

Things about Mia - She is very aware of fashion and how she looks. Out of principle she doesn't wear pants. Leggings are questionable. She has a very clear picture of how she should look and worries that if she doesn't look the way she should that people will make fun of her. She won't take cheetos to school for a snack since Miss Colleen called a boy with cheetos a cheeto-head. She's embarrassed about many things, but also has a lot of confidence. She likes to run the show with her friends and can be quite the leader (is this a nice way of saying she's bossy?). She loves make-up, especially lip gloss and eye shadow. She loves polly pocket barbies and plays for hours with them. She is a home body and prefers to be at home with me then with friends. She makes us all laugh. She still you tubes 'how to apply make-up' videos and can spend a long time watching them if she's being sneaky. She knows all the words to a few of Taylor Swift's songs and I love to hear her sing them.

I love Mia!!!

Family Pictures

2011-09-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

I LOVE OUR PICTURES! Check out www.treasuredphotosbyjoyana.com. She is Amazing.

Mia and I

2011-08-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

So happy to have Mia with me at home still. She is my buddy. We plan on swimming a lot together while the kids are at school.

School Started!

2011-08-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

School started on Thursday. It is bittersweet for me. I'm never ready for school to start and for summer to end. I love the flexibility of summer and having the kids around all day. School is too long. I'm excited for them to go and learn and be with friends, but there is so much I hate about school that I always feel anxious about them starting. I feel optimistic that this year will be a great one.

The kids! 9, 7, 5, and 3.

I love the kindergarten schedule. He's not gone long enough for me to miss him. I love the space of 3 hours 4 times a week. It's perfect. I'd happily keep this schedule for all years of school.

Justin idolizes his dad. He's had a hard time earning a date, but he finally got one for tomorrow night to test out a boat we are thinking of buying.

Justin got new shorts, pants, and three shirts. Not sure how I thought one pair of shorts could possibly be enough.

So so glad these girls have each other. I loved watching them walk into school holding hands.

I will miss Ashley immensely. She is such a calming influence in our home and Justin and Mia idolize her.

Ashley loves her dad. She earned a date and chose to go rock climbing with cookies at King Soopers after. They had a great time. Ashley just made eagles transition at gymnastics meaning she gets to go 3 hours a week now. She was really excited.

Ashley got new shorts, pants, shoes, headband, lunchbox, and a couple polos. She is excited for school this year. Her class is great and her best friend Kaylee is in her class.

I will miss Katelyn. She is so helpful with Justin and Mia. She makes obstacle courses, disney world rides, and plays games with them. She is one creative, amazing gal.

Million dollar smile!

Katelyn loves her dad. She earned a date for talking to her gym coach Miss Katie and for being moved up to a level 4! Go Katelyn. She gets to compete next fall. Hans took her to see the Smurfs.

All ready for her first day. She got a new headband, backpack, shoes, lunchbox and red shirt. The rest of her stuff still works. In fact, this skort she has on she's worn since kindergarten. She is so cute and she was so excited to start 2nd grade.

Katelyn and Miss Scarborough on drop of school supply day. Katelyn was able to drop off 16 hershey bars so she'd have treats on hand in case there was a party with no gluten-free options. She is thrilled.

Ashley with Mrs. Rogers. Ashley is very excited about her class. She is with Kaylee again, which is so so so great. The class is a great mix of kids. I am really happy with this 4th grade set-up for Ashley. I already got a call from Mrs. Rogers on Friday saying that Ashley tested into advanced math. All that mom school made a difference! I'm proud of her!

We celebrated the first day of school with a silly string fight and yo yogurt.

Justin Starts Kindergarten

2011-08-21T16:23:00.001-07:00

Justin started Kindergarten on Wednesday. I got to go with him for his first day of school. It was fun to spend the time with just him. He has a great teacher - Mrs. Ladd. She is amazing. I love her already. She has done a great job easing a lot of Justin's fears in just one short day. On this day with me he did a craft and then played on the playground. Thursday was his first day of school without me. He goes 3 1/2 hours 4 days a week. He has been sad that all his friends are going to either all day kindergarten or in the morning. He honestly doesn't know what to do with himself without constant friends. I'm sure he will figure it out! He is so cute and I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that he is old enough to go to school. I will miss this little boy.

His class of 16 kids.

This is his self portrait. He made himself with a mohawk. He's still mad at me for buzzing his hair. He misses his mohawk. He wrote that he loves motorcycles and that in school he wants to learn more about motorcycles.

The Pool

2011-08-21T16:06:00.000-07:00

Handsome boy.

She is a fish in the water. And she loves this swimsuit. She wears it out, to the pool, and to bed. It was a good 7$ buy.

We bought these tubes in Disney World and they've been tons of fun.

Katelyn likes to do her gymnastics in the pool. It's impressive.

I love these goggled people.

We spent a lot of time at the pool, as usual, this summer. I love the Wolf Ranch pool. It's quiet, it's fenced in, the water is warm, and the hot showers provide just as much entertainment as the pool. All the kids are great swimmers. Ashley did another year of swim team and is a great lap swimmer. The other three kids did a session of swim lessons and enjoyed them. Mia is an amazing swimmer. Justin was brave enough to put his head under the water this year, which is an accomplishment for him. He loves floating around the pool in a tube or swimming laps with his arm floaties on. He also spent a good amount of time driving his remote controlled boat around the pool while Ashley was doing swim team. I love being at the pool because it was great social interaction for the kids as well as for me. These pictures are from right before school started and also the only the day the kids actually played in the splash park next to the pool.

HAIR!

2011-08-15T16:17:00.001-07:00

These three waited patiently for Ashley's hair to be finished. Mia had all sorts of questions for the hair cut lady about hair products.

She was excited to get her hair washed like this.

Cutting off 9 inches of hair.

She has been wanting to donate her hair for so long, but I've been nervous. She loves it short and is happy about being able to donate it. Good for her!

Getting styled. I'm hopeful I can style it the same way.

Isn't she beautiful? I'm finding it difficult to get used to it!

Katelyn's turn. She insisted it only be a trim. She is desperately trying to grow it long.

The girls have had a lot of fun after the haircuts measuring hair and seeing if Katelyn's is longer now and just generally being best friends. I'm so happy they have one another.

More Summer

2011-08-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hans designed a racer type thing out of the bike rack box. The kids had a ton of fun building it. They got to saw wood, nail stuff, attach wheels to the bottom, and then paint it. Kid heaven. And I was a happy mom watching Hans do all this with them.

The girls all ready for church.

My Boys.

Aside from the 3 hours we are at church, I can't even remember the last time Mia wore real clothes. It's this pink swimsuit or her pink leotard. She even wears them to bed. I do laundry often, but I am getting sick of them! I'm hoping she will let me dress her in real clothes for pre-school, but I'm realistic about that as well. She loves to be pretty. Her favorite past time right now is watching you tube videos demonstrating how to put on make-up.

My new blendtec. I love this thing.

Mabeys came to visit. We sure love those guys. We got to spend an evening, and then half of the next day creating memories. It's fun to have their kids to play with. It's like having cousins come to visit. We are lucky enough to go to Austin soon to visit them.

The Pirate Play put on my Cumorah. It was so so so so fun. The girls loved it. Katelyn decided her new career path would be theater education so she could act. They memorized all their lines and did a fantastic job performing. I loved that they could do this and get experience with their creative sides. Turns out they absolutely loved it. They can't wait for next year.

More Summer Pictures

2011-07-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

Bear Lake fun. The water was warm this year since a long portion of the water was so shallow. The fun though is digging in the sand. They spent hours doing this.

Justin was trying hard to fit in with all the girls.

Beautiful view from the townhome.

Ashley's second party at Bear Lake on her actual birthday. We fabric painted little stuffed bears, ate sugar cookies, made wood treasure chests that were a pain, but fun, and water colored butterflies. She had a great time. So did all of the cousins.

Justin, while not into crafts, loved coloring this bear. Then he threw it off the balcony.

Crafting Heaven

I love that she loves these projects.

The whole crowd.

Cul-de-sac of Fire at my parents house.

It was very exciting. Then we walked down to the neighbors house and watched their much more impressive firework show.

We went for a family hike with the Heaths, Conleys, and my parents. These kids are excellent hikers.

Mia wore her beautiful, but impractical sandals (something she did not get from me!) and so she spent the hike on my back. I love having her close. She is a great conversationalist.

The group. I love seeing cousins.

Cousin Elsa holding Mia. Elsa is one sweet 8 year old.

Birthday party #1 at Grandma and Grandpa Heath's house. She got Ivy! I am one nice mom. She was thrilled.

Yummy Cookies. I made peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses, cake batter cookies, and a carrot cake. There were a lot of people.

The girl cousins. Some of them, anyway.

All dressed up for Church.

Justin on the new patio. We love our new patio. It is huge. I still need to buy a patio set, but for now camping chairs are working just fine. We also put in an electric fence for Friday. It makes me like the dog a little better now that he can't run away and harass the neighbors. He spent a week refusing to go outside the house, but he's slowly figuring it out.

I love this view of Katelyn. She is so so strong. And she has such a cute behind :-) She is an incredible gymnast.

We did a 4th of July breakfast with my parents ward. There was an awesome pancake breakfast, face painting, and a bounce house. Lots of fun! We love spending time in Utah!

Miscellaneous Pictures

2011-07-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

Mia likes to bathe her fairies in the bath. She especially loves mermaids. She would trade her voice to be a mermaid like Arial.

Silly string war for the last day of school! Lots of fun, as usual. This has become tradition.

Katelyn loves American Girl Dolls. She spent the first few weeks of summer playing with them. She changes their clothes, brushes their hair, and sends them bungee jumping off of the loft. It makes me want to take her bungee jumping with me.

Justin loves holding babies. This is baby Luke Harvey who we got to babysit one evening. This has prompted many discussions on when I'm going to get another baby.

Pictures of Ashley from Roman Day. She was, in my humble opinion, the cutest Roman Girl there. She and Hans designed this white sheet toga. Along with the jewelry and hair, she was the star!

Justin fell off his bike while we were riding to the dirt to launch his rocket. This was on a Sunday Evening. The rest of the evening he spent at Hans' office on laughing gas while Hans gave him 5 stitches. Hans should have been a plastic surgeon.

Justin at his Soccer party. We have such a great team. They are all cute, nice boys with really great parents. We enjoyed an evening at Pizza Time.
This was by far Justin's favorite part of the whole season. It's been a fun few seasons with Hans as the coach and I just signed him up again for Fall Soccer. Hooray!
Justin was 1 of 3 blonde headed boys on the team. So handsome.

Update

2011-07-30T15:33:00.000-07:00

We have had a great summer. We have spent every morning at the pool. Ashley has swim team for an hour and then we stay for an hour or two and swim and play with friends. I'm so grateful to have a swimming pool in our neighborhood! The kids are great swimmers. Ashley is officially faster then I am at swimming laps. Katelyn is queen of tricks. She can do a front and back flip off the diving board as well as a front and back dive. Justin is...nervous. He swims all over the place so long as his yellow arm floaties are securely in place. Mia is a fish. She can swim half the length of the pool on her own and did a dive off the diving board. She is fearless, which causes me quite a bit of fear.

We have done a lot of other fun things as well. We've hiked the incline as a family, toured Manitou springs with the Mabeys who came to visit, gone on many bike rides and walks, visited parks, driven to Denver for the American Girl doll store, done free play classes at gymnastics, slept on the trampoline, and many more I am sure. Hans and I were able to enjoy the Maroon 5 concert in Denver at Red Rocks, which was beautiful. Hans bought a truck. We went to Bear Lake after a weekend visit with Hans in Salt Lake City. Hans and I hiked Mt. Olympus, which was quite the hike. We had a blast in Bear Lake with my sisters Mindy and Melanie and their families. We were excited to get to go this year since we missed out last year. It's one of my favorite summer experiences. We ride bikes, run, swim in the pool, and enjoy the beach by the Lake. It inspired me to collect on a promise I suggest Hans make to me before we got married, which was that he would buy me a boat someday. We are one truck closer to making it happen.

Hans and I are training for an Olympic triathlon, which is quite time consuming. We are bike riding, running, and attempting swimming. Neither of us is a swimmer. We flounder. It's been fun to wake up early and run a few miles together before the kids wake up. Hans has been golfing more then usual, although not often. I have hiked the incline a few times with friends and taught a lot of yoga at Lifetime.

The kids are cute. Some things I want to get down so I don't forget...

Justin's new parting phrase to me when I leave - or Hans when he leaves - "Bye Mom, don't die!" He's still suffering from anxiety over my surgery, but on the whole he is doing so much better.

Mia praying loudly at night (when she thinks no one is listening). She asks, pleads, and begs that Jesus turn her into a Mermaid. This has prompted conversations about Jesus not being magic, but that His magic works through the Priesthood and that He likes her as a girl. She is still asking.

Mia wearing only ballet leotards, princess Halloween dresses, or her tutu swimsuit. She wears it all with fairy wings. Everywhere. With her three sizes too big princess shoes.

Ashley saving up enough money to buy really expensive things at the American Girl Doll store and making the Eagles transitional team at Gymnastics. Go Ash.

Ashley's birthday party with Sierra and Kaylee to get pedicures, make flip flops, eat pizzas, and watch a movie.

And Katelyn designing this incredible slide/amusement park down the stairs. And her cute cute giggles to go along with it.

I also need to figure out pictures on blogger. It's not working for me. More to come hopefully.

Summer

2011-07-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

Cute Katelyn. Her front teeth are growing in. I miss my toothless girl.

She's cute. And so full of personality. She brings a lot of laughter and joy to our home.

My beautiful Ashley. This is her "I don't really want a picture taken of me" smile.

Ashley starts piano competitions this fall. I'm excited to hear her perform and to have that opportunity.

It was super hot one day so we jumped on the trampoline with ice cubes. They followed the heaviest person on the tramp, which happened to be me. It was very exciting and we all enjoyed it!

More to come if blogger gets its act together.

Friday the 13th

2011-06-17T12:02:00.001-07:00

I've had a terrible month. Really, it's been almost two months. I'm still healing. Physically, I'm mostly better. I still hurt at yoga this morning, but I was at yoga so that's a victory. Emotionally, I'm still struggling. More than I want to admit, actually. After finally finding out that I was pregnant in April I started to miscarry in Disney World on our first day there. As if that weren't terrible enough I got home, and while the actual miscarrying was coming to a close, I was still in excruciating pain. The pain would come and go, but when it came it literally floored me. After a blood draw with a high hcg (pregnancy hormone) level the Dr told me I was still pregnant, but after an ultrasound that showed the miscarriage was complete, they said the hormone level must be a fluke and drew another one, which after a couple days was still just as high. They drew it one more day after this to make sure, which was still high confirming an ectopic pregnancy. They gave me a shot of chemo drugs in an attempt to try and kill the growing baby cells on Wednesday. By Wednesday night I thought I was going to drown in pain. I couldn't move and I had to call Hans to come home from work early. I talked to the on call dr and she wanted to do surgery. I didn't want to yet. She told me to take tylenol (the only pain med I could take with the chemo drugs in my body) and if the pain wasn't less then to go to the ER. At this point I was thinking all of this would just end. It honestly didn't seem real. Each new development would completely surprise me. I never really believed it. I called her back after an hour and said that while the pain was less it was still excruciating. I decided to wait. The drs wanted to see me the next day. I felt okay off and on on Thursday so didn't go in. By Thursday night I couldn't move. I still managed through the tylenol to go to Bunco at the neighbors and fake my way through. Friday morning (the 13th) I felt okay. I changed into yoga clothes and thought maybe I'd try and go. Within minutes of changing I fell to the floor shaking and dry heaving and literally felt like I was dying from the inside out. I called my sister. She came within 10 minutes and took me to the ER. I was writhing in pain. Lots of morphine later I was still writhing in pain. Hans met me there after canceling his patients. I had another ultrasound and hcg draw both of which confirmed again the ectopic pregnancy. My dr came. He rushed me into surgery. He was the only one at the ER who seemed remotely in a rush. I was scared. I was sad. An hour and a half later the Dr. told Hans that it was an ectopic pregnancy (duh?), that they are difficult to diagnose, and as a result the 9 week 1 inch diameter pregnancy had ruptured my much much smaller fallopian tube into pieces. I lost a lot of blood. A lot. I almost died. I felt like I was dying so none of this came as any surprise to me. Many hours later they let me go home. I had major abdominal surgery for the 5th time. It's awful. Percocet and ibuprofen are never enough. But I'm alive and for that I'm grateful. It's hard though. I still get upset over the drama of it all. I wish that if I had to have abdominal surgery that a baby would have come out of it. And now I'm not sure I want another abdominal surgery for a baby or that I can even get pregnant. The dr tells me that theoretically I can. And then I get sad. And then I feel grateful that I have the four beautiful kids I do have. And then I get sad. I'm healing, but it's been more difficult then anything I've had to deal with before. Hans spent the hour and a half of surgery time getting more life insurance on me. He tells me that having another baby would be like a suicide mission. Justin is suffering. He has anxiety issues anyway, but this made them really severe. I can't leave his sight. I can't even leave him with Hans. He's doing a little better so hopefully with time he can go back to his really outgoing, confident self. Mia still prays for my tummy to get better. She still asks to see my bruises (which were enormous all over my belly thanks to internal bleeding). My girls still ask me if I can get pregnant. Through it all I felt enormous support and love from friends and family. I hope I learn what I'm supposed to learn from this. And that time will heal me. I also am a little bit nervous about Friday the 13th.

Short Videos from Disney

2011-05-15T02:58:00.000-07:00

Disney World

2011-05-15T02:02:00.001-07:00

We stayed at a beautiful Marriott resort in Orlando, Florida thanks to my parents' timeshares. It was a two bedroom, full kitchen and living room, with a washer and dryer and a patio that sat right behind the pool. Couldn't have asked for a better place. There were at least 10 different pools with the highlight being this pool with a big sandbox in the middle of it.

We bought tubes while we were there and they were a hit. I'm hoping my summer pool will allow them in so they weren't a total waste of money!

Justin lounging in the tube.

The water was so warm that Hans could last almost an hour before having to get out. With not an ounce of body fat he doesn't last long in the cold:)

Ashley is a great swimmer and a great help with Mia as I wasn't able to get into the pool this year. Mia loves her goggles and is very brave in the water. She loves swimming. And so does Ashley. Ashley gets to start swim team again in June. I love watching her progress.

Katelyn is my independent girl. She loved that she was tall enough for the water slides since she's not tall enough at our Colorado pool. Disney is all about how tall you are and she was thrilled to measure up this year.

Downtime with the phones on the patio. My kids would play media all day if I allowed it. Some days I wonder why I just don't give in completely! What are your media rules?

Katelyn is a master at Boggle already on my phone. It's impressive.

Justin is a doodle jump man.

Ashley is a doodle jump and cut the rope girl.

I love my people.

She got even more freckles in Florida and her perpetual scab that lives under her lip healed thanks to the humidity. I LOVE humidity. I miss it the second we get off the plane in CO.

There were miniature frogs everywhere. They were easy to catch and fun to play with.

Mia with Lena, her souvenir from Disney World. I let my kids each pick out 1 souvenir and they do it the first day so we don't have to agonize for the rest of the trip. Mia loves her baby elephant.

Mia and I spent a lot of time together waiting for the other 4 to do rides. This ice cream cone we bought on our last day at Animal Kingdom. Best ice cream ever, despite it costing like 40$ or close to it! I have the cutest video of this falling apart all over her and then she and I fighting over who got to eat the mess.

They loved the playground type places scattered throughout the different parks.

Not the best pictures from my phone, but you get the point. It was a blurry, nauseating ride in the tea cups. It takes me hours to recover from that ride.

Driving the cars was Justin's favorite rides. Katelyn came along for the ride while I pushed the pedal and Justin drove. He was in heaven. We rode this ride at least a dozen times.

I love that my kids all like the same rides and that the carousel still has appeal.

Our last day at Animal Kingdom I thought we'd get there right when it opened at 8 am. Turns out it didn't open until 9 am, but the kids had a great time running around and making obstacle courses for Hans while we waited.

Self-portrait of Mia and I watching the bird show while the others were doing the river rapids. She loved the Parrot singing songs. My favorite part of Animal Kingdom are the shows. The Nemo show is so great, as well as the 3D bug's life, and the bird show. I was grateful to have a place to just sit down in the air conditioning.

The girls LOVED space mountain. I got to ride it 3 times in a row with them. I didn't really recover from that one. It's intense. Notice them holding hands. They are great friends. I'm grateful they have each other.

The Buzz lightyear ride is always a hit.

We had such a great time at Disney. The flights were fun, the hotel was fun, swimming was fun, and of course Animal Kingdom, Hollywood studios, and Magic Kingdom were fun. We were fortunate enough to do Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom twice so we could hit all our favorite rides multiple times. It was so great to spend this time as a family and create a lot of memories. I love leaving CO this time of year since it snowed and hailed while we were enjoying 90 degree sunshine with humidity. I'm not sure when we will go back, but I know we will at some point in the next 5 years. It's my favorite vacation right now.

Easter Fun

2011-05-15T01:36:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Melanie we enjoyed this beautiful place out in Monument for an Easter Egg hunt and activities the Saturday before Easter. The kids had a blast despite the freezing cold weather and snow. They staggered the egg hunts based on ages. I got to go with Justin and Mia. They were so so excited. I love their enthusiasm.

Here are the big kids getting ready to go. Ashley, Sienna, Elizabeth, Anna, and Katelyn. I'm so grateful to have Morrills and Conleys living close to us. A little piece of my heart dies as we get closer to July when Conleys are moving. Ugh.

Here we are. This place is so beautiful. I want to move into the black forest some day. I had already washed and put away all the winter gear so we had to be creative with what we wore to the hunt:) I keep forgetting that the snow stuff can't really be washed and put away until June. In fact, it's snowing right now outside!

We are driving home. Lots of laughter and excitement on the drive. I love these 4 people.

He can be very focused when candy is at stake.

Here we are inside the barn where they had free lunch and a ton of activities for kids. The highlight activity was where they all won stuffed animal octopuses (octopi?) that had a baby octopus inside it's belly. At this stage I was still pregnant so the kids thought it was SO cool, but it also inspired a lot of questions about how my baby was going to come out of my tummy.

Justin can't help singing out with joy.

Dyeing Easter Eggs. It was fun, can you tell?

They take this task very seriously.

Mia loves yellow.

For Family Home Evening, which is now Tuesday nights thanks to a long gym practice for Kate on Mondays we dyed our eggs, had an Easter FHE where they searched for hidden eggs that shared the account of Jesus' last week before the Resurrection. I'm so grateful for the knowledge of the Gospel that I've been blessed with. I love that I can testify to my kids that Jesus lives and that we can be together as a family forever since we've been sealed. I love the hope the Resurrection offers. My kids got it this year and I'm so grateful for that too!

Update

2011-05-08T19:00:00.001-07:00

We have had a very busy past couple of months. This time of year always seems to pass me by before I even know it. We've crammed in a lot of fun activities and trips and some heartache along the way. Sounds like life.

Ashley is doing great in 3rd grade. She is happy for it to end and for summer to start. She's had a great year with Mrs. Clark and making new friends in her classroom. She's been on fun field trips to the Denver Science museum and to see the Wizard of Oz in Denver as well. She is still quite shy, but has learned to raise her hand in class and to contribute to conversations. She is empathetic, kind, and an amazing help to me. She is a natural at the piano and is playing stuff just beyond my sight reading level already. She has a great relationship with her teacher and practices diligently with mild complaining. She recently started gymnastics and had her first (and most likely last) private lesson. She loved it. She passed off her front and back handsprings, a cartwheel on the beam, a front limber and front walkover, and almost has her vertical handstand. She has a lot of room for improvement in her strength. She loved it all. I told her I would buy her a new leo if she would talk to her coach about what she is capable of doing and let her know what her goals are. This frightens her. She is not one to let her needs be known...she just cries and mopes. So I'm hoping she does it. I am constantly reminding Ashley that what we think can effect how we feel so that if she chooses to think happy things then she will feel happy. A life lesson for us all, but especially important for her. She is a wonderful girl. I feel blessed to have her.

Katelyn is doing great in 1st grade with Mrs. Hawkes. She's had a great year. She went from reading at a basic level to reading at a 3rd grade level. She excels at math and has overcome some of her shyness. All of the girls like her and want to be her friend, but she's a bit too shy and says she'd rather do the monkey bars back and forth at recess then play. She's lost a lot of teeth. She has spent a lot of time at gym and is doing amazingly well. She is dying for me to let her do a private since Ashley got one, but I feel like 7 hours a week at the gym is enough. She is the planner of our house and is constantly organizing games. She loves to make forts, obstacle courses, and design rides from Disney World. She loves games and is a natural at them. It always amazes us when she wins Settlers over and over again. She makes me smile.

Justin has more or less enjoyed his last year of pre-school. He says it's just boring work and no fun. He can't be bothered to write his whole name on worksheets and will just draw a big J randomly over the page. I'm a little worried he's going to hate kindergarten, but it'll be good for him. He spends his life looking for friends to play with. He never looks very long. He is a good friend. He is doing soccer right now and really loves it, which surprises me. He missed all of my need to win and be the best and is content to just smile and run around and maybe kick the ball once or twice. I hope he stays that way. He loves everything about Hans and I love hearing them talk together about things. He wants to drive airplanes when he grows up.

Mia is Mia. She's had a great year and has grown up so much. She will now go to pre-school and playgroup and with bribes will go to gym childcare without crying. She starts "real" pre-school next year and is excited to be big. She has loved gymnastics although she is done with that now and can't wait to start again. She follows me around all day and I'm grateful for her. She makes me laugh and scream practically all in the same moment. Today at church she asked me if it was time to leave and I told her there was one more speaker to which she said, "Is Jesus going to be the speaker? I've never seen Jesus." She has immense faith.

Hans is doing well at the office. He sold some of his old x-ray sensors he hated on ebay for a lot of money and is so happy about it since he'd already replaced them with better ones. He's keeping busy and the practice is growing. He says he needs to find some hobbies so he has more to talk about then just dentistry, but I think he has more hobbies then he thinks. He's been hiking the incline with friends, which makes me happy. He is good to me. I appreciate him.

I have been stressed out. I was feeling a ridiculous amount of guilt over leaving Villa since everytime I saw my boss she was so nice to me and gave me a raise that I had to quit sooner then I wanted to. I decided to move over to teaching at Life Time since they hired Melanie and Laurie and Kim changed as well. I'm glad I did, but it's been so busy. There have been hours and hours of trainings and now it is just barely settling down. I teach my first class there tomorrow and I'm excited. I feel a little rusty since I haven't taught in 2 1/2 weeks, but I'm sure it'll be awesome:) So many friends and neighbors have joined so I'm happy about the switch. In the middle of all this I discovered I was pregnant, to my great happiness and excitement, and then miscarried 2 1/2 weeks later while we were in Disney World. It's been an awful, tough time. I've had a lot of support and love, but I've learned that I am a terrible coper (a word?). I am just now starting to feel better. It's been a great mother's day. I'm so grateful to be a mother and to have Hans' support of me in this role. I get frustrated sometimes that it's not as fulfulling as I want it to be, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

And I think that about covers it.

More to come about Disney World and our Easter celebrations!

Justin is 5!

2011-05-08T18:38:00.000-07:00

Justin opening presents. His friends were very generous.

Eating Cake after playing. Lots of cute kids. Katelyn is flushed with a 102 fever poor girl.

Justin had to have a penguin cake.

Justin and his friend Canon.

The foam pit.

After this party Ashley decided she wanted to try gymnastics again.

Strong rope climbers!

Justin's favorite part. And we even own a trampoline.

This swing was awesome.

The Fords were very thoughtful with some bug glasses. He loves these.

Birthday morning pancakes on the special plate. An Egbert tradition.

Justin turned 5 on March 21st. He is one handsome, happy, enthusiastic boy and we all adore him. He brings a lot of life and energy into our home, which I appreciate. He is outgoing and friendly and has about a million friends. He is constantly doing playdates, mostly of his own creating, and has practically moved in with his friend Canon. He is curious and loves to explore every chance he can. He loves bugs, video games, cars, bikes, and anything with a remote-control. He is SO happy that the reflecting pool is finally open so he can drive his remote controlled boat there. For Justin's birthday we invited a lot of kids from pre-school and the neighborhood to aerials for a gymnastics party. They had a great time. The whole day was so amazingly exciting for him and I loved watching him. He has the cutest giggles when he is so full of happiness that he can't help himself. I'm so grateful for Justin and I love him.

Trying to Catch Up

2011-05-08T18:14:00.001-07:00

I feel behind. I am trying to catch up. At some point I'll learn to just be content where I am, but until then I think I'll mostly feel behind. Behind what, I'm not quite sure. But this wasn't really the point of this post. I like to have the events in my life documented since I don't journal and this is my way. It's all I do, actually. And someday I'll be content with that as well.

Have to take advantage of everyone looking decent at the same time. It's a rare occasion.

Justin and Mia having fun with play doh. They are great friends or worst enemies. Not much in between.

Justin is 5 and Disney World

2011-05-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Justin and Hans right after getting off the Kali River Rapids ride in Animal Kingdom. I love my boys.

It's also a preview of what's to come eventually...

1. Justin turning 5 and everything I love about Justin.

2. Justin's birthday party and pictures.

3. Spring Break Fun.

4. Easter festivities.

5. Disney World.

Stay tuned!

Miscellaneous March Pictures

2011-03-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

Justin loves Friday. He makes forts for him, shoots nerf guns at him, drives his remote controlled cars into him, and generally tortures him. Friday hates it.

Ashley got her tonsils out last week. Here she is all hair netted out. She felt silly. She handled herself beautifully. The nice anesthesiologist with the nice accent started an IV while she watched and was amazed that she let him do it. Then they wheeled her to the operating room, put her to sleep, and asked me to leave. 15 minutes later Ashley was tonsil free. She woke up in a lot of pain, but once she got a popsicle down and then some pain medicine she was okay. I watched her pain with my typical nauseated stomach and thought I was going to throw up. I had to keep reminding myself to keep it together for her sake. I hate seeing people in pain. Again, it's a wonder I ever survived nursing school.

Ashley is doing great now. We are exactly one week out. She is still taking ibuprofen around the clock but has been narcotic free as of yesterday. She says she will remember her new pajamas and the bead craft she got. Grandma Egbert also sent pajamas, which made her day. She received lots of phone calls and well wishes. It meant a lot to the both of us so thanks!

This was the morning of surgery. Katelyn still went to school. Justin went to Canon's house for the whole day (nothing new, but it was official), and Mia played with Madi and then spent the rest of the day at Hans' office. It was memorable. Then we had slurpees for dinner. I've been grateful that we live so close to 7-11.

I bought this outfit for Mia, which she assured me she would wear. She was lying. She wore it once. I laid it out last night for her to wear today and at about 5 something this morning she started screaming. I went into her room and she said, "I don't want to wear that in the morning." Seriously?!

We spent a Sunday afternoon at Garden of the Gods. I love it there. They kids play hard. They climb and scramble, and wear themselves out. I'm so glad it's warming up here.

Katelyn's new leo for advancing in gym. Ashley all decked out. I wish I could get her to do dance.

Justin made this very messy blue corn syrup thing at pre-school. He taped it to his window and the sun melted the blue stuff into a sticky mess all over his window. I threw it away. Justin has a love/hate relationship with school. He asked me to think about taking him out of school for the rest of the year. Canon doesn't go to school. So unfair.

Random February Pictures

2011-03-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

My kids think a sunny day means they can jump on the trampoline in their swim suits. They are trying to pop the water balloons they are jumping with.

All dressed up for church. Isn't he handsome?

We finally got a few good snowstorms. We built a fort under the trampoline and then spent an hour sledding. It's fun that we can all do stuff together now. My family is growing up. And everytime I see this pink snow outfit on Mia I remember Justin wearing it. He was so pretty.

Hans decided to burn the many tumbleweeds and trash that migrate under our patio table. It's always great fun. It reminds me of the year he decided to burn our grass in hopes that it would grow back greener. It didn't. We just had burnt grass.

Mia watched safely from inside.

I bought Mia goggles. She loves them. I take her swimming with me most Tuesdays. She loves the date with me. She is an amazing, fearless swimmer. She needs constant watching since she just wants to swim alone, although she would drown if I left her to swim alone. I love love love this time with her. I love playing with her and getting insights into her 3 year old brain. She's funny.

Mia with fun dip. She was green for 3 days. Most likely because this is as often as she bathes right now:)

Justin has re-discovered smoothies. He loves dipping waffles into them. He even likes that they are green. For the last few weeks he's had green smoothie with waffles for lunch.

Katelyn lost more teeth. I think she's lost more then she has. She is still writing notes to the tooth fairy. The last one said something to the effect of, "Dear tooth fairy, are you rich? And what do you do with all the teeth you collect?" The tooth fairy, who is not me, wrote back a note telling Katelyn that she (he?) is in fact rich because she sells the teeth on ebay to trolls who then, etc. etc. She LOVED this.

He loves breakfast. Pancakes or French Toast every morning with lots and lots of syrup dip. Justin turns 5 this month. He asked me to buy him a motorable car. What he means is he wants a car that has batteries that he can drive in outside. Like the neighbors. Who let him use their cars whenever he wants...And less cool then the motorcycle that has an actual engine inside of it. Unfortunately I haven't been able to logic him out of this obsession he has with needing one of his own. I told him they were too expensive, he needed numbers, I told him, and he said then why could I buy a new treadmill that cost more then a motorable car and he'd just ask his friends to buy him one. He is driving my crazy. He gets fixed on one idea and then cannot let it go. I try and talk to him, but every time I start to go crazy. He just needs to be really really rich someday so he can buy all of walmart and target. This reminds me that when Ashley was 2 she told me she wanted to run a walmart when she grew up. Anyway, I am having Justin's party at aerials, which is his birthday present. He has a lot of faith that someone will buy him his very own motorable car. He's asked all the neighbors for one. We have new neighbors that moved in that have an almost 5 year old boy as well. Justin has spent all of his time begging to play with Canon. He also has two neighbor girls named Ellie who he is constantly playing with as well. He would happily play away from our house all day long. He has a couple of days. He goes from one house to the next to the next. I miss him when he does that, but when he's home he does not stop asking to go somewhere else so I'm always relieved when a neighbor lets him in. I counted the playdates he had last week and it was over 15. Seems excessive, right?

Katelyn's Promotion

2011-03-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

Katelyn is now a level 3! Go Katelyn! This is a big deal. These are the girls that feed into their top program. If all goes well she should start competing in the 3rd grade. She is now going to the gym 7 hours a week and she loves it. She is nervous about the skills that she is being asked to do, but she is trying. She is really strong and is good at bar and has great balance on the beam with her cartwheels. She is scared to jump for the pit bar and if no one is watching will end her round off back handsprings with cartwheels instead. She is so cute out there in the gym. Hans and I got a babysitter and watched her on Friday night and had a great time. It's impressive to watch all the strength exercises they do. I would not survive down there with the 7 year olds. Come watch her with me!

Katelyn's Birthday

2011-03-06T13:36:00.000-08:00

Katelyn turned 7 on February 12th. It's hard to believe she is this old. We had great fun for her birthday. We got a babysitter for Justin and Mia and the rest of us went to Color me Mine. Hans and I had fun watching and helping the girls paint their fairy ceramics they chose. Then Hans went to pick up Justin and Mia since Mia was throwing up and we went to Red Robin for dinner. Katelyn loves Red Robin and was excited to get her own ice cream to eat after dinner. Sunday we had the Morrills and Conleys over to celebrate with an ice cream cake that Kate designed. It was mint chocolate chip ice cream and strawberry ice cream with strawberry sauce on top. It was very interesting. She loved it. She was able to take ice cream cups to school to celebrate as well. She asked for zoobles for her birthday, which we got for her. She also spent her birthday money from her grandparents on two mice. They were very fun while they lasted. They had a really fun cage with lots of tunnels and spinning wheels, but after a week we realized they could escape from their cage and so we took them back to the pet store. So now she still has all her birthday money.

Family Prayer

2011-02-28T18:50:00.001-08:00

The Power of Family Prayer

September 2010

The Savior speaks to us in 3 Nephi Chapter 18 verses 20 and 21 saying, “And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.”

I love these scriptures. It teaches us so simply that when we pray in faith we can receive answers to our prayers. And that we are blessed as we pray in our families.

My oldest daughter Ashley was baptized last week. I love attending baptisms. They are so simple and the purposes of this life become so clear. It was such a powerful reminder to me that this life is all about returning Home to live with Heavenly Father. As I watched her make this important decision the Holy Ghost confirmed to me that she was making the right decision. And that she was one step closer to returning to live with her Heavenly Father. I love my family. I want them to be blessed and I want more then anything to have them all make those decisions that will allow us to be together forever.

Prayer is one of the tools we have been given to help us on this journey back Home. I am so grateful for Prayer. Prayer is the means by which we communicate with a loving Heavenly Father. We learn through the Savior that our prayers will be answered as we pray in faith. It is comforting to know that we have a way to counsel with Heavenly Father in our decisions and that we can receive personal revelation and promptings of the Holy Ghost through prayer. In a time when so many of us can feel alone and separate, prayer can offer the comfort and power of knowing that we are not alone.

I am so grateful to parents who taught me prayer. I can’t ever remember a time when I didn’t know about the importance of prayer. Especially as I got older and spent more time away from my earthly home, I knew that I could feel a connection to my Heavenly Home and Earthly home through prayer. It is the responsibility of parents to teach their children prayer in the home. In thinking about what I learned about prayer in my home, I came up with the following:

First, I learned the language of prayer. I learned that we should use reverent language when we pray and use words like thee, thy, and thine. I learned from my parents that we address our Heavenly Father with respect, humility, and reverence.

Second, I learned my relationship to God through prayer. I learned that I was a child of God and that I was only temporarily away from a loving Heavenly Father. I knew that I wanted to pray to Him. I wanted to feel close to Him since I wanted to return to live with Him in Heaven. I was taught by my parents, through prayer, to long for Home.

Third, I learned that we always close our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ. I learned that it is through our relationship to Jesus Christ that we draw closer to God. I learned that Jesus Christ offered the perfect example and that by following His example I could know God. I knew that it was through prayer that I could be forgiven of my sins and feel the peace and assurance that I am on the path Home.

Fourth, I learned that prayer is a priority. I learned that when we are tired, busy, or whatever else we are feeling that prayer is still important. My parents were consistent. They may have missed a family prayer here and there. I am sure they did. But they always returned to the pattern of prayer.

A few weeks ago Hans and I were able to travel to San Francisco to visit with my parents to celebrate my mom battling breast cancer and turning 60. My brother and sisters and their spouses met us there. It was a different experience to be together again without any of our children. We have never had this chance as 12 adults to be together and feel this family unity. I am confident my dad didn’t intend to teach us more about prayer on this trip to celebrate my mom, but he did. After a late dinner and hours of sightseeing we were tired. We walked my parents back to their hotel. 12 of us crammed ourselves into their hotel room to say goodnight and again offer our gratitude to our parents for giving us this trip. Before we left, my dad called us to prayer and we knelt in that small hotel room as a family to offer gratitude for our blessings and to again seek that assurance that we were on our journey back Home. I am grateful for my Dad and his testimony of prayer.

I am so grateful that as a child I learned prayer. My parents weren’t perfect, but they taught prayer.

As my parents knew, as now I do with my own family, prayer is the key to not feeling tragedy in separation. Our Heavenly Father gave us prayer as a lifeline so we don’t feel alone in this life. As a parent, I want to give my children the same testimony of prayer that was given to me. I want them to know that they are never really alone.

I have also learned a lot about family prayer from having my own family.

First, I know that family prayer creates unity, love, and affection in the home. As we kneel together as a family and pray I feel, and I hope my kids feel, a sense of belonging. We feel connected to one another and feel the bonds that tie us to each other. I love hearing my kids pray for one another. They pray for Katelyn to get her kip, for Ashley to have fun at school, for Justin to earn back his soccer ball, and for Mia to learn to talk. They express interest in each others lives. We feel of our love for each other as we pray.

Second, I know that family prayer can help dissolve conflict and create perspective in our relationships to one another. I have seen this happen in my own marriage. This may come as a surprise, but I, on occasion, get frustrated with Hans or feel hurt or angry. I don’t feel like praying. But as we kneel together before going to bed and I hear Hans expressing his feelings to our Heavenly Father and tell of his gratitude and love for me, I feel humbled and softened. It becomes easier for me to let go of whatever is bothering me and to recognize how trivial my frustrations are when I see our marriage from an eternal perspective. It is a powerful reminder that our relationship is bigger and more far-reaching then just right now in this frustrated moment.

Third, I have learned that family prayer gives me insights into what my kids are concerned about and what they are grateful for. I realize it is a privilege to listen to their prayers and I am so grateful for this opportunity to hear their thoughts. I feel closer to them and I know they feel closer to me as we hear each other pray.

I have also learned from listening to my children pray. I learn that prayer is simple and instinctive as we know our place as a child of a loving God. I learn that their faith is pure and real. They know they are heard. They have no doubts. When Ashley was about 3 years old after finishing our family prayer she looked up at me and said, “Mom, want to know why I’m such a good prayer? Because I pray from my heart.” I testify to you that prayer is a matter of the heart.

Our family is not perfect. We have missed a night or two of family prayer. There have been many evenings where someone is praying and someone else is throwing a tantrum that they didn’t get to pray. Someone may be hitting someone else and we often hear about who wasn’t paying attention or closing their eyes. But through these imperfections I feel confident and secure that I have taught my children prayer.

The ultimate example of prayer is given to us in Matthew 26:39 as the Savior is praying for the strength to atone for the sins of the world, “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Prayer truly is the act of submitting our will to the will of the Father. President Eyring said, “Our goal when we teach our children to pray is for them to want God to write upon their hearts and be willing then to go and do what God asks of them.” I testify to you that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. I have had my prayers answered. Those answers that are most clear to me are those that came when what I wanted was overpowered by a longing to know what God’s will was for me. Listening is so key to receiving answers. It is my challenge to be better at listening and then, in turn, teach my children to listen to the promptings of the spirit as they pray.

I recently read a story related by Elder Marion G. Hanks that touched my heart. It really demonstrates the power we have as parents to teach prayer. He says, “The returned missionary was bearing his testimony. He had but a short time and he chose to use one idea. He thanked God for a great, humble mother, and gave his reason. He said that as a high school boy he had been sorely tried by the illness and then death of hiss little sister whom he had loved greatly and who had been the darling of the family, being the last of them. Their father had died. The little girl girl grew ill, and in spite of prayers and administrations and fasting and much concern, worsened and died in the night. The boy went into his room, locked the door, and sobbed out his broken heart to the walls because he was not willing to do it to the God whom he could not now honestly approach. In his rebellion and anger at a God, if there was One, who would permit such a thing to happen to them, he cried out in rebellion. He said he would never pray again, would never go to church again, and could never have any confidence again in a God who would permit this to happen. And in his immature, but sincere sorrow, he made some rather serious covenants with himself. He stayed awake the rest of the night apprehensive about an experience he anticipated. It was their custom to kneel morning and evening with the children around the mother, to thank God for the goodness of his blessings.

He waited for that moment, knowing what he had to say, but fearing it. When his mother said, ‘come children,’ he said, ‘no.’ She said, ‘kneel down son.’ He said, ‘no I will not kneel down, and I will never kneel down again.’ She said, as I remember his words and I was deeply touched here as we all were, ‘Son, you’re the oldest child in this home. You are the only man in the house, and if I ever needed a man, I need one now. You kneel down.’ He knelt down still rebellious but because his mother, the idol of his heart, needed him, and he began for the first time to think in terms of her broken heart and her sorrow he knelt down, but he said to himself, ‘I wonder what she is going to thank God for this morning.’ And his mother, knowing as she must have, the questions in his mind and in the minds of the other children, taught them the gospel on their knees that morning. She thanked God for what the family knew, for the blessing of eternal ties, for direction and purpose and guidance and convictions as to the future. She thanked God that they had been blessed with this wonderful angelic child who had brought so much to them and who was to be theirs always. Out of her heart knowing the desperate critical nature of the moment, taught her own children what there was to thank God for under conditions of such stress. As the boy stood, a successful, dedicated latter day saint who had filled an honorable, difficult mission, he thanked God for a mother.”

I know that as I share my own experiences with prayer that my own testimony is strengthened. I know also that my children are listening, but that they are also watching. You know, as I do, that children learn best by example. I urge you to pray with your children. Teach them the wonderful power of prayer and give them this tool to use on their journey back Home. I know that praying in front of other people vocally, especially people we care so much about, can be awkward and difficult at first, but I know that as you start and make prayer a consistent part of your life that the awkwardness will leave. Please...Pray with your families. See the blessings that come from your efforts.

I can’t imagine my life without the blessings of prayer. When I was first given this topic nothing immediately came to mind. I wondered if my family was even having meaningful family prayer or if I’d had experiences with it as a child. I realize now how short-sighted that was. I have felt the spirit increase in my life the past two weeks as I’ve pondered my experiences with family prayer and testify to me of its importance. President Gordon B. Hinckley, in giving his testimony of family prayer, said “I give you my testimony that if you sincerely apply family prayer, you will not go unrewarded. The changes may not be readily apparent. They may be extremely subtle. But they will be real.”

I testify that our Savior lives. I testify that He loves us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I am still young

2011-02-14T10:58:00.000-08:00

1979

1986

1996

At least that is what I am still telling myself. They announced my birthday in Relief Society and that I was (some laughter) 29! I had a moment of feeling weird about it. I mean, I could actually BE 29...right?....right?? I am grateful I have Melanie to share my birthday with and for great friends who called me and offered to watch my children. It turned out to be not such a great birthday day, but Hans made me dinner the night before and gave me presents and so I am counting that as my birthday this year. Hans made me a book of pictures journaling our ten years together. It's awesome. I'm so glad to have it and to not have made it. He also framed my diploma from the child restraint class I had to attend when caught speeding with Mia in the wrong carseat. He is still laughing about it.

Oh and do you know which girl I am in the above pictures? I think I do...

Recent pictures

2011-01-30T18:36:00.000-08:00

Katelyn with her next lost tooth. She has lost another one on the bottom since this picture. She wrote another note to the tooth fairy asking for more money. The tooth fairy was lucky to remember at 3 in the morning that another tooth needed collecting. Katelyn likes keeping her teeth. She used her tooth as a game piece for Sorry today.

We are ready for Church. Mia is on the floor behind us. Actually, I think this was when we got home from Church. I think I look tired after wrestling with my Primary class for 2 hours. Notice the picture of Jesus from the Gospel art kit sitting on an easel. I want a picture of Jesus to hang. This is doing the job for now and probably will for awhile.

Hans with the girls.

I love that they are best friends. I hope this lasts for a long, long time.

Mia had a lesson on Daniel in the lion's den. Her most wonderful Primary teachers made these for the kids. They had to literally peel her off of me to take her to class, but in the end she was happy she went.

We bought new swimsuits while they were on sale. Here is Ashley reading in hers. The chair has no cushions in it since they are used daily for forts and other various things.

Katelyn is helping Mia make a card. Katelyn got a card making kit for Christmas. She loves it. It's been really fun for her.

Doing crafts. This is the week I hosted pre-school so there were lots of new crafts available. They do this happily for hours.

Update

2011-01-24T19:16:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to journal about December and now it's the end of January and I've forgotten too many things. I think I'll just write about each person and what sticks out in my mind.

Ashley - Ashley is officially 8 1/2. She brought cupcakes to school to celebrate. She loves activity days. She has wonderful leaders and I'm so grateful. She has already memorized all 13 articles of faith and tonight she gave a well-prepared lesson on the Plan of Salvation, complete with visual aids she designed herself. She is a great pianist and has a wonderful piano teacher as well. She performed beautifully in her piano recital, which was at a nursing facility. She diligently practices 5 times a week for 30 minutes. She is remarkably good for her age - something her piano teacher tells me nearly every lesson. She is still doing an advanced gymnastics class, although she is losing steam for this. Her teacher is a bit conservative on what she lets the girls do and Ashley's sick of it. We have her on a 9 person wait list for the better teacher. I'm thinking we'll stop in the summer so she can focus on swim team. She made a New Year's Resolution to compete in a swim meet this year. I'm excited for her. She has taken up crocheting and knitting. Her Grandma Egbert taught her and hooked her up with supplies and she is excelling. I don't have the patience to learn. I think she likes that she can do something I can't. She is a a beautiful, wonderful, tender-hearted girl. I sure love her. She has a very calming influence - a lot like Hans - and I love to be near her.

Katelyn - I love this girl. She is so energetic and bouncy. She is an amazing gymnast. She comes home with Wow cards frequently - tonight it was for a straight-armed hip circle. Front and Back, I think. I constantly debate the right time to pull her out of gym and put her in dance, but she continues to love it and is injury free so far. When she complains of her wrists hurting I panic, but it seems to fade quickly. She and I love to do yoga together. She can do all the tricks yoga has to offer. She lost another tooth today. She put it under her pillow and wrote a note to the tooth fairy that says, "Can I please keep my tooth? And can I please have more money this time? Love Katelyn." Her friend at school gets 4 bucks....Seriously?! I haven't decided what the tooth fairy will do about that one. She has a fascination with bodies and loves to look at gross things and make me sick to my stomach. It's a wonder I ever survived nursing school with my uneasy stomach. She has turned into an amazing reader. She loves the fairy books, the littles, and flat stanley. She got Ruthie for Christmas and loves to play with Kit and Ruthie. She loves to craft and is an excellent artist. If you want some fun...call Katelyn!

Justin - He is one handsome, tender-hearted, peaceful boy. He loves all things controlled by a remote. He has a remote-controlled boat, bug, truck, tractor, and car. He wants a remote-controlled helicopter for his birthday. He drives the boat around in my bathtub for hours and waits anxiously for when the reflecting pool will open in the spring. He loves friends. And he is good to his friends. He knows how to engage other people and to make sure everyone is having a great time. It is a skill I would love to have. He is also in gymnastics with Mr. Zac. He is the only boy. Today I wondered if I should pull him out and put him in something more traditionally boy, but he loves it and it wears him out. Good enough for me. He set a New Year's Resolution to learn how to swim without a floaty on. He is my most timid child. I hope he reaches his goal. He loves his co-operative pre-school and I have enjoyed teaching it. I have taught 3 weeks with 2 to go...not that I'm counting down. I'm always relieved when it's over, but I enjoy the process of it all. Next year he starts morning kindergarten. Today in the car I was praying for Mrs. Myers. Justin is a morning person. He really likes to see every morning. He gets up at 5 on the dot and comes to wake me up. I got tired of that and bought him his own alarm clock. He now has to stay in his room until 6:45. But I still see his light on and hear him playing starting at 5. He lives his life a bit on edge since he doesn't get enough sleep. I figure he'll adjust eventually. He told me (with a bit of hysteria in his voice) "Mom - do I have to stay in my room until 6:45 forever?!" I love Justin. He keeps me going.

Mia - She is one energetic, fiesty 3 year old. She is a whopping 26 pounds and hovers right around the 10th percentile for height. She starts gymnastics next week and cannot wait. I started taking her swimming once a week at villa while Justin is at school and we love the time together. She asks everyday if it is Tuesday yet. We go down slides, splash, jump in to the deeper end, and shower together. I love one-on-one time and wish I could better give it to the other 3. She loves all things frilly still and will wear her swimsuit often. Even in freezing weather. She talks like a grown-up, says beautiful prayers, and has very cute curly hair. She earned a new toy for staying in her own bed for the whole night for four days straight. Luckily she has continued staying in her bed. She loves bubble baths, coloring, and playing with her siblings. She still has anxiety over babysitters and playdates. She hates primary. She has wonderful sunbeam teachers. She made the cutest lion mask yesterday, but she has to scream and sit on my lap during singing and sharing time and then they peel her off of me to go to class. She screams when I drop her at Villa as well. We are working on it. I love her hugs and cuddles. She is my baby.

Me - Same old for me. Lots of driving around. I teach 3 weekly classes at villa and I am happy there. I love the people that come and support me and I love the outlet of teaching. I practice still but not as frequently as I picture myself practicing yoga when the kids are all in school. I really love it. I'm running way less. If I run 10 miles a week it's a big week. I'm sort of over it for now. I needed a break. I came home from Christmas break thinking I would decorate my house, but I lost interest after one walk through of a store. I have no vision for this sort of thing. Katelyn's playdate on Friday asked me if we just moved in. I guess my decorating style is emptiness. It's working for the budget. I still get bored more then I should...any tips?

Hans - I love him. He works hard. He is constantly going over numbers in his head and planning for the future. He is now into this jiu jitsu thing, which I don't understand but I'm glad he found something he likes to do. He is good to me.

So there you have it!

Christmas Day Pictures

2011-01-07T07:47:00.001-08:00

Update coming soon. Promise.

Christmas Eve

2011-01-07T07:03:00.001-08:00

We had a great, quiet Christmas Eve. We did our nativity scene first thing in the morning to make sure everyone was awake and happy. We had a great time. Mia, who was Mary, loved riding around on Hans, who was the donkey. Justin made a cute Joseph. Katelyn was a beautiful angel. Ashley was all of the other parts. I narrated. Very cute. I am hoping my children understood the real meaning of Christmas this year. We sang a Christmas song and read a Christmas Scripture and Story every evening of December and I think that helped. After our re-enactment they each opened one present. It was very exciting. We spent a quiet day playing. It was so nice to have Hans home since he had been so busy with work and church the other days and evenings. We went and saw Tangled in the late afternoon, which was really great. Then we came home, ate dinner, and went to bed. A great day all around.

Uncle Sam's Wedding

2011-01-07T06:55:00.000-08:00

Leave it to me to take no pictures of the wedding. The problem with pictures for me is that by the time I get the kids and all our stuff somewhere I don't feel like bringing in and holding my big camera. I did get these of the girls in their wedding best. We were able to spend a long weekend in Utah visiting with the Egberts for Sam's wedding to Brooke. We had fun decorating gingerbread houses, eating candy, sitting in the hot tub, playing Sam's Kinect, and hanging out. It had been a long time since I had seen Hans' brother Jake - I think close to 7 years - so it was fun to see him and get to know Sam and Brooke better. They make a lovely couple. Brooke has two kids - Doran, who is between Ashley and Katelyn's age, and Aiden - who is between Justin and Mia. Doran followed Ashley around at the wedding trying to give her his wedding bouquet. It was cute. We had a great time.

Ashley on the Piano

2010-12-19T18:48:00.000-08:00

Ashely is getting really good at the piano. She practices every day (almost always does it on her own) and has an incredible talent for music. She has a great ear and a wonderful voice. We love Ashley and are blessed to have her in our family. You can all wish your kids were half as wonderful as her :) Here is a sample of her latest piece.

Enjoy!

Hans' Birthday

2010-12-15T08:26:00.001-08:00

Hans had his birthday yesterday. It was an exciting day for all of us. I can't believe he is 34. I met him when he was 22. That's a long time ago. I remember it clearly. I went over to Melanie's apartment in Provo and there he was (he was dating her roommate). He introduced himself and said something to the effect of - "I'm glad Melanie has a twin sister so there can be two beautiful girls in Provo." I thought he was funny. And he was happy. We had a great time in Jerusalem on study abroad together. We were both seriously dating other people. When we got home he stalked me on BYU campus for about 2 months before I realized he might be interested. He'd plan group activities and invite me and tell me how everyone cancelled but me and then we'd go have a great time. Eventually he said something to the effect of - "Michelle, I need to date you. Everytime I pray about marrying my girlfriend I see a picture of you in my head." I was flattered and excited. We got married. Almost ten years ago.

We had a great birthday day. We made him a breakfast burrito in the morning and he opened his presents - we got him a nerf gun and a set of golf clubs for the kids to use. He is excited to take the kids with him next time he golfs. He also got to do dental work on me yesterday. Then we ate dinner and ate a yummy ice cream cake with the Conleys.

I am grateful for Hans in my life. He is my person. He keeps me sane. I am so grateful that he values providing for our family and in being a great husband and father. I am grateful that he has a testimony of the Gospel and that he values church service. He has immense faith and the patience of Job. He is one amazing man.

Native American Day

2010-11-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

Ashley celebrated Native Americans at school on Friday in honor of Thanksgiving. This is the costume we came up with. She made the headband and earrings herself. The other kids wanted their pictures taken before school as well. I'm not sure why Katelyn's class didn't celebrate Thanksgiving, but that is TCA, I guess. That school is strange to me sometimes. We are excited for Thanksgiving break this week and for no school. Hans has Thursday and Friday off. We are planning on eating our feast on Thursday and bowling on Friday, our two traditions. I'm not sure what else we will do. I am teaching a lot of yoga. Anyone want to come to a class with me this week?

Halloween Fun

2010-11-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

We had a very fun-filled Halloween. We went to the pumpkin patch (see earlier post), carved pumpkins, made and ate chocolate chip pumpkin bread (yummy for all despite it being free of gluten), went to the ward trunk-or-treat, went to Monument's Saturday trick-or-treating, went to a Halloween party, went trick-or-treating to friend's houses on Saturday night, and handed out candy to our Sunday night trick-or-treaters. I think, perhaps, we did too much. I also had pre-school at my house the week of Halloween so we got to make ghosts, spiders, witch hat cookies, learn Halloween songs, and sing our songs for moms and dads at a short costume party on our last day of school. Justin has a great group of pre-school friends. I enjoy getting to know the kids and teaching them at my house. They are excited to learn and well-behaved for the most part. Most of the pictures are from our Monument day with the Conleys. It was so warm and beautiful. One of the places we stopped by had games for the kids where they could earn prizes. It was very exciting. Mia quickly learned to say, "Trick-or-treat and I can't have gluten." It's cute to hear her say this. Luckily there is a ton of candy that is gluten-free. I was very happy to take down Halloween decorations and have the candy disappear. Halloween is still lingering though since Hans decided to do a candy buy back at the office. It turned out to be great marketing but now he has about 100 lbs. of candy sitting in his office. The kids and I stop by there frequently. I have had too many lunches consisting of m&ms and tootsie rolls. Gross, I know. I am anxious for him to send the candy away. His hygienists are going to Africa for a missions trip in January so it will go with them. I may eat 10 more lbs. before then. Anyone want some candy?

Pictures

2010-11-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of my beautiful kids. Notice Katelyn's lost front tooth. She is really excited to be able to sing about wanting her front teeth for Christmas in her school music program. It was so exciting to have lost this tooth for everyone. Mia still expresses gratitude to Heavenly Father in every prayer for Katelyn losing a tooth. She used to say this in repeat in her prayers until we told her she could only say it once. So now she prays, "And thanks that Katelyn could lose her tooth one time." Makes me smile every time. Also notice Katelyn wearing a silly outfit. She brings a lot of joy and laughter to our home and I am so grateful to her for that. It's interesting since she is the quietest out of our home. She is quite shy and reserved. I am happy she has our home to let loose. She is really fun. Notice Justin's "I can be honest" headband. He has great primary teachers. The top two pictures are of the girls in their pretty Costco tutu skirts. They love to dance in them. I am happy we have an empty dining room to use as a dance floor. It gets much more use this way then if I had a dining room table in there. Last picture to notice is of Ashley's hair. We have been you tubing how to do hair. This picture is of the rosette buns. It's fun to have this time with her in the morning to do fun hair. She loves it and so do I.

Mia's Yucky Song

2010-11-13T11:52:00.000-08:00

Mia is quite the budding composer/songwriter. She is often heard singing some sort of cute narration of her day. She also likes to sit down at the piano to make up beautiful music.

Family Pictures

2010-10-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

What I love about Mia

2010-10-31T19:10:00.000-07:00

Mia is one energetic little girl. I love the joy and excitement she brings to our family. She makes us all laugh. The older kids love playing with her and teaching her new things. She is a great playmate for them since she will happily do whatever they want her to. She loves being a part of things. She is so tiny still, but doesn't let that slow her down at all. She weighs in at 24 lbs. and is still wearing 24 month sized clothing. I want her to start gymnastics, but she is too nervous to not have me in there with her. She is dying to take ballet. She wears her pink swimming suit that looks like a ballet costume everywhere. I have to rip it off of her to wash it. If she can't wear the swimming suit she changes into her purple leotard. She loves to be pretty. I bought her a really frilly skirt and leggings from Costco that look like a tutu. She wears it over her swimming suit. She wore her princess Halloween costume over her swimming suit as well. She loves her black princess shoes and won't wear anything else. She loves friends. She is obsessed with Taylor and Brynlee. She does pre-school with Taylor and asks me all of the time if she can play with Taylor. She loves her. She does playdates with Brynlee and goes to church with her as well. She worries constantly that Brynlee might not like her dress she is wearing for church. It is very strange. Brynlee has done nothing to foster this (they are 3, after all), but Mia is consumed with the fear that she may wear the wrong thing. Ashley and Katelyn were never like this. They still let me pick out what they wear. It is a normal morning for me to have a major tantrum over what she is wearing. She will wear 3 things - her frilly skirt, her swimming suit, or her tutu. She will wear 1 shirt. She is particular. She loves singing, swinging on the playground, eating candy, and taking showers. I love her freckles. I love Mia.

Ready for Church

2010-10-31T19:03:00.000-07:00

Mia was sleeping. She would rather take a nap then go to nursery. You can't tell from these pictures, but these dresses sparkle. They look so cute. I wish they would have had one in Mia's size so she could match.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-31T18:57:00.001-07:00

We went to a pumpkin patch in Black Forest with the Conleys. It was a great time. I love that the weather this fall has been so beautiful. They did two tractor rides, mazes, hay climbs, pumpkin picking, petting zoo, and slides. I love having cousins close. I will be terribly sad when they move.

Mia's Party

2010-10-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

Mia needed to have a birthday party this year. She had some cute friends come over dressed in ballerina outfits. We danced, ate cake, opened presents, and busted open a princess pinata. It was a busy day for her birthday and she was exhausted by the end of it. We went to little biggs in the morning, came home and had her party, then went to dinner at pizza time with a few families to celebrate. It was a great day.

More Mia

2010-10-25T15:15:00.001-07:00

It really is hard to believe that my baby is 3. She has added so much to our family. We love her. When I get the energy I will write more about this beautiful girl. Here she is at 0, 1, 2, and 3.

Mia is 3

2010-10-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

More details to come about my beautiful, lively, and most perfect 3 year old.

More St. George Fun

2010-10-25T11:21:00.001-07:00

We had a great mini-vacation to St. George. The kids have had a lot of these this summer. We stayed with my parents in a really nice house in an active older adult community. Hans is sold on it. He wants to move there when we're old enough. We got a killer deal on the house (especially since my parents paid for it), and had access to a golf cart that was parked in the garage. The kids rode around on that all over the place. We got to St. George late Thursday night. Friday we swam, went for a walk, flew kites, and just let the kids play. Saturday I ran and the kids were nice enough to cheer me on. Sunday we drove home. It was great! I want to do it again.

Boston or bust

2010-10-06T17:48:00.001-07:00

On Saturday I ran the St. George Marathon. I had a great time. The picture of me running is at mile 23. I was still feeling strong. I'm pretty proud of that. I was worried about my knee since two weeks earlier my IT band gave out. After several trips to the physical therapist and only a couple runs I was worried about the pain being too intense to finish. It hurt at 1.4 miles every run. Hans, under the direction of the PT, taped my knee. I wore my band. I loaded up on ibuprofen. I stressed about which pace group to start with. My mind was trying to tell me that I couldn't run 26.2 miles fast. I listened and started with the slower group. After 2 miles, I thought - Hey, I'm feeling good. This feels slow. So I tried to catch the faster pace group. At mile 3 my knee started to hurt. Really bad. So I took another very large dose of ibuprofen and decided that if it still hurt at mile 10 I would stop. At mile 5, I thought - I'm going to have to stop at 10...it hurts. It feels like someone is stabbing a knife into the side of my knee. I'm not exaggerating. But then the race started to go uphill. Very uphill. From 7-12, in fact, it was mostly uphill. My knee doesn't hurt when I run uphill. So by mile 10, I told myself I could make it to 15. At mile 15 I ran to the aid station where a nice volunteer quickly rubbed my IT band with bengay. He did it fast. Then I just focused on my knee burning from bengay until mile 17 where I did it again. By now I only had 9 miles left. I decided to go for it. I felt great. I ran fast. I did not get passed by a single person from mile 12-26.2 but I passed a lot of people. I like passing people. It's good for my head. At 21 miles I saw my parents. They took my fuel belt from me and my mom poured water on me. This race was hot. In fact, it was the hottest start temperature they've ever had for the race. At mile 23 I saw my family. I was able to smile and wave. And from mile 23 on I had people cheering me on. I was feeling pretty darn awesome. Then I hit the wall at mile 25. The last 1.2 miles felt like torture, but I finished. 3:32. That's an 8:06 pace. I think that is incredible all on its own, but especially considering the heat and my knee. I about fell over at the finish line. I ate a popsicle and watched people pass out and get wheeled out on stretchers to ambulances. It feels good to be surrounded by 7,400 other like minded people. I was grateful to still be relatively okay. I did feel like I was going to throw up for about 2 full days after the race, but luckily that has passed. So, overall, I finished 50th in my age group and 156th for women, which puts me in the top 6% of the race. Now I want to run the Boston marathon. I ran fast enough to qualify. I just hope my knee holds up. It is Wednesday today and I am still limping around. The race is in April. I can't believe that I am actually excited to run another 26.2 miles. It's the 4 months of training that doesn't sound appealing. I love race day.

September Pictures

2010-09-21T11:44:00.001-07:00

Pictures of Baptism, trip to Manitou, and pre-school kids.

August Pictures

2010-09-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

August pictures. We started school. Ashley with Mrs. Clark. We had a silly string war when they got home the first day. Justin and Mia enjoying pre-school at my house, raspberry picking in Woodland Park, and Hans and kids making and painting my new mudroom shelf thing.

July Pictures

2010-09-21T11:11:00.001-07:00

Here are the rest of my pictures from July. We spent a lot of time at the pool in July. The girls were on swim team and Justin did swim lessons. His teacher, Miss Katie, now babysits for us. Justin still won't get his head wet. He said to a lady at the pool yesterday - "Isn't it weird that I'm older then Mia, but she'll get her head wet?" Mia's favorite part of the Ranch Creek pool was the shower and her favorite part of the villa pool was the hot tub.

We also spent time with Justin on the motorcycle. I put Mia in the stroller and run to keep up. It's great fun.

I had the Conley kids for a long weekend. It was lots of hair for church. I'm so grateful my kids have cousins close.

Hans always hopes to sleep in.

Update

2010-09-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll start with my kids going back to school. Ashley got Mrs. Clark, who is wonderful, and Katelyn got Mrs. Hawkes, who is not so wonderful. Nearly everyday I think about homeschooling. I just am scared to fast and pray about it. I think I would like to have them home with me and I also think I could teach them everything they would learn in 1st and 3rd grade, but I'm not positive. I need to be positive before I make this kind of life change. I am homeschooling Ashley in math and that is going well. She is doing 4th and 5th grade math this year, which just assures she'll be bored next year in math. And the year after that. It's how I spent school - bored. I realize that a part of life is boredom, but really? If I could have been challenged, I think I would have been happy about it, but I'm not sure. So many what ifs with this one. I am seriously considering homeschooling for next year. When Mia is older. She has hit that really annoying age of almost 3. I quite dislike this age until they turn about 5. I need to change my attitude and like this age, but I just don't. It's my 4th time with this age. They whine. They cry. They are babies, but I think they shouldn't be. It's a balancing act for all of us. I can't believe I just admitted I hate this age. But I do. It feels good to have that off my chest.

So...for Ashley - Ashley loves Mrs. Clark and so do I. She is doing great. She has friends in her class. She says she is the smartest person in her class. I believe her. She is doing amazing at gymnastics. She got promoted after one class to an advanced class and after 4 classes they are finding her a spot on pre-team. She does a beautiful front limber. She is really flexible in her back. She loves her hamster. First, there was nugget. She died after doing an acrobatic move on the cage and came crashing down onto her back. She was replaced by ginger. Ashley took her back today and exchanged her for ila. Ginger was too boring she said. She just hid all day. She is taking piano lessons still and has a gift for the theory side of music - again with the math. She is growing up. She loves activity days. She got baptized. Her baptism was wonderful. My parents and Hans' parents came into town for it. I love baptisms. They are a great reminder of the purposes of this life. Simple, really. I felt the Holy Ghost testify to me that she was making the right decision. I'm proud of her for making this step. She takes her Book of Mormon to school and reads it during boring time. She is a great example. We shared the baptism with Larissa Simmons, Ashley's friend from Church. They are cute girls. I will post pictures.

Katelyn - Katelyn is enjoying school. She has a little bit more of a difficult time getting to school in the morning. She doesn't want to go. She wants to stay home. 1st grade is an adjustment. It's just so darn long. I wish school was 3 hours every day and that's it. I'd be okay with it then. I have volunteered in her classroom so I can see her and she can see me. She has some really weird kids in her class. I miss her friends from kindergarten. She got promoted to a level 3 in gymnastics after getting her kip. She spends too much time away from home. She told me one morning - "Mom, I can either go to school and skip gymnastics or skip gymnastics and go to school." I can't argue with that.

Justin - I am doing a co-operative pre-school with Justin. There are 8 kids. I already taught at my house and had a great time. Mia loved it as well. He goes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9-11:30. He doesn't tell me much about it, but he is always happy to go. I signed him up for soccer, which Hans and I are coaching. He is really cute. He smiles the whole time and is so happy to be doing an activity. He has a great group of boys and I love hanging out with the soccer moms during practice. Justin scored a goal at the game last week, but really by default. He was standing in the right place at the right time. He's not an aggressive fellow.

Mia- She is at that annoying stage where she just whines. I am working on not losing all patience with her. She has a playgroup with people from church, but she refuses to go. It's at my house this wednesday so maybe that will help. She likes friends in theory. But not for real. Maybe she got that from me:) I am doing a sort of pre-school with her with Kim and Kim. She loves Taylor and I taught at my house last week and they all loved it. They are cute. She is dying to take ballet still. She went to her first birthday party on Saturday and was so excited. She talked all week about Ellie Ruge's party. Priceless. She had a fantastic time. I sent her with a vegan chocolate pie - dairy, gluten, sugar, oil/butter free. I guess she didn't eat any of it. It was good though. I promise.

We have enjoyed company. Hans' parents spent labor day weekend with us after the baptism. We walked in Manitou springs and enjoyed the activities they had there. We ate out at Biaggis and took the train up to Pikes Peak. I got sick that weekend too and drank 2 Liters of water on the train since my throat hurt and for the last 30 minutes of the train ride with no bathrooms I literally thought I was going to die. Other then that it was fun. I had hiked Pikes Peak a few days before. It's a much different experience hiking up then riding up. Melanie and I had a great time hiking. We made great time. 4 1/2 hours. Only 20 minutes off my best time, but we stopped a couple of times on the second half to actually enjoy the scenery. Imagine that. We also spent a couple of days in Vail with my parents in a beautiful condo they stayed in after the baptism. We swam twice, went bike riding twice, played at the playground, walked around the lake, threw rocks in the river, and watched two movies. All in 2 days. We didn't stop. I'm grateful for 2 sets of grandparents who take an interest in my kids lives. Hans' mom also flew out to watch my kids for a weekend while Hans and I went to San Francisco to surprise my mom for her 60th birthday. All my siblings came. No kids. It was awesome. We walked about a million miles, biked over the bridge and all around, ate an awesome sundae at Ghirardelli square, shopped, and ate. And ate some more. San Francisco knows how to serve a meal.

I can't believe I have done all that stuff. No wonder I'm tired. In the midst of all this I am still marathon training. It is winding down. I'm tapering, actually. And under orders from my physical therapist (if you need a physical therapist - go see Mark Phillips - he is so great) not to run until next week. My IT band is killing me. I barely made my 12 miles on Saturday and didn't sleep Saturday night from the pain. It's feeling better today, but I am nervous for the marathon. I really want to run faster then last time. My plan is to run with an 8 minute mile pacer and let him or her slow me down at the beginning and then help my just hang on at the end. I am never running another marathon. Unless I decide to do Boston, assuming I qualify, which I will, easily. I hope. I've also taught a lot of yoga. I love yoga. I'm going to a yoga retreat in November which I am so excited for. I am teaching a lot, but I love it. I am making my own lara bars tomorrow. I cycle in and out of being domestic.

Hans went on a Thursday -Saturday motorcycle trip this weekend. He had great fun. He looks forward to when the whole family can go with him. He bought a new x-ray sensor. That's a highlight for him. He has a great staff right now. He hiked the incline with a friend last week as well. He keeps busy. We all keep busy.

I am sure I missed something. I am still figuring out (in that I am waiting for Hans to just do it) how to get pictures onto the computer from my camera. I have great pictures from the baptism. I took none of our weekend with Hans' parents or at Vail. Oops.

Update

2010-09-20T16:42:00.003-07:00

An update is coming...Promise.

Running Songs

2010-08-18T11:47:00.001-07:00

I've had a few requests - so here you go -

AFI - love like winter

The Midway State - Change for you

Switches - Drama Queen

AFI - Carcinogen Crush

Jimmy Eat World - Let it Happen

Angels and Airwaves - Everything's magic

Angels and Airwaves - The Adventure

The Midway State - A million fireflies

The Feeling - Never be Lonely

OneRepublic - All we are

Coldplay - Yellow (one of my absolute favorites)

Tim McGraw - Just be your tear (This is too - has the perfect beat for my stride)

Avril Lavigne - my happy ending

Joss STone - Tell me what we're gonna do now (Another favorite)

Katy Perry - Use your love

Daughtry - Over you
Sara Bareilles - Love Song

Gavin DeGraw - In love with a girl

Groove Armada - My Friend

Coldplay - viva la vida

Third eye blind - How's it going to be

Jason Mraz - I'm yours

Gavin DeGraw - I don't wanna be

David Archuleta - Crush (I'm not embarrassed by this although I maybe should be)

James Taylor - Carolina in my mind (not the best for beat, but I love me some James)

David Cook - Light on

Tim McGraw - When the stars go blue (Another favorite)

India Arie - There's Hope

Colbie Caillat - Bubbly and Feelings Show (feelings show has a great beat)

Katy Perry - Hot N Cold

Kelly Clarkson - My life would suck without you

Pink - Sober

Alicia Keys - No one

Avril Lavigne - nobody's home

Avril Lavigne - Keep holding on

Kelly Clarkson - SInce you been gone

Maroon 5 - Wake up call (another favorite)

Joss Stone - Tell me bout it and You had me and I've fallen in love with you and Super Duper love

Destiny's Child - Survivor

Eminem - Lose Yourself

Gavin DeGraw - In love with a girl

John Mayer - Dreaming with a broken heart (love this song)

Kanye West - Stronger

Michael Buble - Everything

Lenka - The SHow

Colbie Caillat - Realize

Gavin Rossdale - Love remains the same

Daughtry - Feels like tonight

Michelle Branch - breathe

Weezer - Island in the Sun

The all american rejects - Dance Inside and move along

The Feeling - Love it when you call and sewn

Queens of the stone age - 3s and 7s

Audioslave - yesterday to tomorrow

Keane - Is it any wonder? and Everybody's changing

Nikka Costa - Everybody got their something (like this one)

Kreesha Turner - Bounce with me

Vhs or Beta - Alive

Ferras - Don't give up

Relient K - Devastation and Reform

Coldplay - the hardest part and fix you

Kenny Chesny with Dave Matthews - I'm alive

Kelly Clarkson - already gone

Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA

B.O.B - Airplanes (my current favorite)

U2 - Stuck in a moment (I always am happy when this one comes on)

Marcy playground - sex and candy

Hope that helps!

Update

2010-08-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

I am finally back online! Our computer died, forcing us to buy a mac. Hooray! It's great, but I'm not yet used to the tiny keyboard. Our time has been filled with all sorts of fun things. We went to the North Pole, which was a lot of fun. All the kids loved it. I had several moments of amazement at my children and how grown up they are. Now we are preparing for school. We have cleaned out closets, the garage, coat/backpack closet, and need to still do our desk/homework station. I feel like I am preparing to hibernate for the winter. Hans built me this awesome shelf thing that I call my mudroom. We painted it frog green. I love it. Whenever he does projects like this for me I miss Maryland for some reason. He must have done lots of projects there. We also had Hans' sister Tarmy and her family visit us. We had such a great time. We played in sprinklers, hiked to an impressive waterfall I was too tired to even really look at, attempted a puzzle, and just hung out. It was great. We have spent more time at the pool and the kids are such great swimmers.

Justin said to me, "Mom, You really need to teach me how to swim without a floaty on." He also told me I needed to teach him how to read. I love Justin. He is so logical. It works in his favor most of the time. He starts a cooperative pre-school I am doing with people from church next week. We had his orientation yesterday and I think it's going to be wonderful. We have 8 kids, which means I only teach every 8th week. I prepared my first week and I'm excited. I'm grateful Mia gets to participate when it is at our house. She is dying to go to school. I'm just happy she is not and that she can stay and be my friend. I'm not going to like it when everyone is gone all day. I spent an entire week of the summer trying to convince Justin that bears aren't capable of walking to our house from the forest. He doesn't believe me. He has to sleep with his window shut just in case...to which I told him that bears couldn't get in since it's too high...to which he replied that bears could come in the front door. I tried explaining that their paws can't turn the doorknob, but he just told me they could bang down the door. I stayed up until 10 three nights in a row having this type of conversation. I love it. I love him.

Mia is beyond cute right now. She has the most unique voice of any kid I know. Strangers make comments on her voice. It's sort of low, but just so cute. She loves ballet and wearing her Tetard (leotard). I bought her some ballet slippers, which she sleeps in. She also has a pink swimming suit that looks like a leotard and she wears that day in and day out and to bed and cries when I am washing it. She is that kid. And I love it. I have been woken up many mornings before 6 am with her face inches from mine whispering if she can change into her pink swimming suit. She waits anxiously for her 3rd birthday so she can have a party. She wants so desperately to be big and have friends of her own and school and go to gymnastics or ballet or anywhere. I want her to stay happily with me. I think I will cry when she stops calling ice cream honk scree and asks Hans to let her ride on his elbows (shoulders). I can't bring myself to teach her because I love it so much. Some day. I also have had strangers comment at how amazing it is that she knows how to find matching games on my phone and knows how to play them - more embarrassing is that she knows her way around you tube on my phone. I offer no excuses.

The girls are just so wonderful as well. I love them. I am going to miss them when they start school tomorrow. They entertain Justin and Mia, help me with chores, play games with me, and make me laugh. Ashley started gymnastics. Katelyn is still a level 2 at gymnastics. We opted out of soccer. Ashley is in piano. I am trying to simplify. I sort of hate that school takes so much time, but they are excited to go. We are excited for Ashley's baptism on September 4th. Please come.

Hans is busy at work. I always say that. He loved "having" to buy this new computer. He spends a lot of time visiting people from church for his calling and I appreciate that he is willing to do this sort of thing. He is a great listener. We see him less, but it hasn't felt out of balance. He spends less time on fun stuff for him. He gets to go for a long weekend with some friends next month and he is excited to dust off the dirt bike.

I have been loving summer. I am excited for the structure school offers, but wish it were just 3 hours a day instead of 7 1/2. It just is a reminder to make the time with the girls more quality time. I have been teaching a lot of yoga. It should drop to just twice a week now that school is back and people aren't leaving. I really enjoy teaching. It's been a great experience for me. I am right in the middle of marathon training. I sort of hate it and sort of like it all at the same time.I ran 20.3 miles this morning. I completely enjoyed the first 11, but the last 9 were not fun. I made it though.

I think I forgot a lot. And I also wish I had some pictures to offer, but we are still moving them from the old computer to the new one.

Ashley's Party

2010-07-20T12:50:00.001-07:00

We had a great time at Ashley's party this past Saturday. She invited Kaylee from school, Sierra and Larissa from church, Elizabeth a cousin, and Katelyn a sister. We went to the nail salon and they each got fancy pedicures. Then we came home and ate pizza, soda, and cookies. They danced to Taylor Swift, opened presents, watched a movie, and mostly giggled. It was a fun afternoon/evening for Ashley and I loved watching these cute girls. Ashley is growing up.

Newport Beach

2010-07-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to fly to Newport Beach for the first week of July, which fell over the 4th and Ashley's birthday. We stayed in a beach house with the entire Heath family. There are 31 of us. It was great fun. We played at the beach, went for walks, celebrated Ashley's birthday, rode in Brian's kayak, and just hung out. My kids were in heaven. Mia still asks to go back to the beach house. Justin and Mia were so tired there they would fall asleep wherever.

We partied on Ashley's birthday. We bought her a helium balloon for the morning with a pancake breakfast. Then Hans and I took her to a gift store where she picked out a turtle made out of shells, then we played buddy tag on the beach and had a lunch party. We ate oreos and did some crafts. She had a blast.

Lots of cute Grandkids with the Heath Grandparents.

We spent an entire morning taking turns riding in the kayak. It was fun. Ashley loved digging for creepy crawling things in the sand while she waited. Hans and I each got to take turns. It was a great workout. Katelyn was doing cartwheels and press handstands on the ledge. It was slightly frightening for the adult spectators.

Dress-ups and Frogs

2010-07-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

Katelyn is such a great helper with Justin and Mia. As I type this she is jumping on the trampoline with them and running through sprinklers. She loves to orchestrate games for them to play with her. She even got Justin to dress-up to play with them. He makes a beautiful princess.

Johnson's brought over the frogs they caught and we had a great time. There were lots of screeches and giggles. These frogs were big! Ashley loves bugs and such. She helped Justin and Mia hold them and raced them down the driveway. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

More Summer Fun

2010-06-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

It has been a really hot summer so far. We've spent a lot of time outside in sprinklers and at the pool. Ashley is so great to take Justin and Mia out with her and they can spend an hour playing in that sprinkler. It always ends with the need for some downtime. We've watched a show almost every afternoon and Mia falls asleep on the couch. It's great. The girls are in their tie dye shirts they made at Elizabeth's birthday party. They turned out better then we expected. Now they look like they are from Colorado when they wear these with their crocs.

We go on a lot of bike rides. At least one a day. Ashley got a new bike for her birthday. We bought it early since we will be in California for her birthday. It's a sweet bike. Full suspension. It's a little big for her but she has figured it out. She loves that it has 6 gears and a kickstand. The picture on the left is what I see as I am putting Mia in the stroller and try desperately to keep up. Even running this is a challenge these days. I used to wonder when I would be chasing them instead of encouraging them along. Crazy that I am there already. We rode to Hans' office one day. 5 miles round trip. They are impressive. Our favorite ride we call the horse loop. It's a nice balance of ups and downs.

We were lucky enough to have the Mabeys drive through on their way to SLC from Austin. They have 4 cute kiddos. Ashley and Megan were born 4 days a part. They were cute babies and now they are both getting baptized. Here is a picture of Betsy and I together right after we'd had our babies. And yes...I'm wearing overalls. Can you get away with that when you had a miserable labor and delivery? I don't have the overalls anymore... Betsy is one amazing person. We were grateful to have them here with us. We played on the trampoline with sprinklers, walked to the park, walked through Garden of the Gods, and generally just let the kids play. My kids were in heaven. It's fun for me to see Hans with old friends. He and Justin have been friends forever. And, of course, we played Settlers. I couldn't pull out the victory. Betsy is queen until we see them again. Hopefully we see them before 5 more years pass...

As for me, I have been just trying to keep up with my kids. Life is busy. We do swim team every morning, stay and swim a couple days a week for a few hours, which requires all sorts of preparation with lunch, sunscreen, etc. and lunch is my hardest meal to prepare. I can easily do Gluten free at home, but it's harder to make it portable in a cooler. One day I just brought snickers bars for Mia and Katelyn. That's healthy, right? Calories, anyway. Katelyn is happy eating fruit all day, but she can't get enough calories that way. She's tired with the swimming and gymnastics. I took Justin out of his gym class for the summer because he was always too tired by the time we got there. We are hiking - We did Stanley Canyon on the Air Force Academy yesterday and had a great time. The kids are such great hikers. Mia rides in the backpack. We enjoy looking at bugs and being in nature. Justin said yesterday, "oh, mom...this is so beautiful" so I asked him what was beautiful about it and he said, "just being outside." So cute. Ashley and I are going to go back on Thursday and finish the hike. I took the kids to a free open gym, to baskin robbins, and to Chick-fil-a for all our free summer reading coupons. Ashley is an amazing reader. We went to a friend's house yesterday and she taught the girls to knit. They are great. Ashley is working diligently. We go back next Friday to learn more and start on a project. It requires all sorts of patience, which is why I don't knit. Ashley has patience. Katelyn...not so much. She's figuring it out though. Hans and I are still riding together once a week, which is fun. He hiked the incline with Jeff yesterday. My marathon training is underway. 2 weeks done. 14 to go. I ran 9 yesterday. I felt pretty good. I was able to hike with the family and do yoga with Hans in the evening. I have lofty goals of running a super fast marathon in St. George. I think that's all. I did a nutrition thing for 2 weeks to find out once and for all what's been bothering my stomach. Turns out I can't eat: gluten, dairy (including yogurt and cheese), egg yolks, and chocolate. Soy was fine. Sort of sad. Okay, a lot sad. But I feel so much better when I eat stuff that doesn't bother my stomach, it just makes me not very much fun to eat with. I did go to the farmer's market yesterday since I bought a week of a farm share from a friend. The kids loved it. We got to pick out what was our share and bring it home. They immediately wanted to make a salad since it was all greens, but they wouldn't eat it. I cooked with mizuna for the first time last night. I always thought it was just a running shoe, but no. It was tasty. The kids hated it. We got snap peas, collard greens, mizuna, spring onions, garlic, spinach, red leaf lettuce, beets, radishes, and all sorts of herbs. I think I might want to be a farmer.