our lives are made in these small hours

nostalgia

2009-05-05T11:46:00.006-06:00

Have you ever taken a bite of something and was immediately taken back in time? I was sneaking some of Ella's Dora Princess fruit snacks and the purple ones made me literally stop walking and stair off into space. They tasted exactly like Big League Grape Chew.

That was my preference back when I played T-Ball at the Stake Ball fields, compared to the original flavor. Little pictures, like a silent reel, ran through my head of kids running around without their parents laughing the whole time. Climbing bleachers and then hiding underneath them. Friends I went to school with. Hanging out. Having crushes on boys. A friend showing me she shaved the back of her hair and thinking I could never get away with that. Not a care in the world... I'm sure some of you can think of more things from that time period.

Crack is bad.

2009-04-17T14:15:00.005-06:00

I have to give you some background to this little story I'm gonna tell you...

Everyone in my family knows that Ella has a problem with keeping her pants up. It's a serious issue. They literally fall right off her. Panties too. Her belly is rather large and since she is her father's daughter she has no hips. It started off as a joke "Ella your crack is showing!" And she would reply in her little voice, "It is?" and tug on her pants. Cute huh? Well now it's gotten out of hand. You only need to say the word "crack" and she automatically reaches behind her and starts pulling everything up.

The other day I was getting ready for a soccer game and she walked in my room and saw I was putting my shorts on and said,

"Mommy, you got your crack panties on?"

"Yes, baby, I have my crack panties on."

"You don't want to show everyone your crack?"

"No, sweety, I don't want to show everyone my crack, that's why I have them on."

"You pull them up?"

"Yup, see."

"Good girl, Mommy."

"Thanks sweety."

At least I'm letting her know crack is bad. When she's older I'll teach her that real crack is bad too. See I'm a good little Mommy.

are you there spring? it's me, kristina.

2009-03-30T20:42:00.006-06:00

This weather has been teasing me. I don't like teasing. It reaches 50 degree and then the next day this...

It definitely motivates me to hurry and finish my indoor projects.

With the snow outside, I do however get more time to sit and browse the Internet. (I know honey, I'm sorry that laundry is still in a pile on the floor.) I love looking for supa cute summer dresses for Ella-bella. Ones that would be easy for me to whip up on my sewing machine. Because yes, I just whip them up. Blindfolded in fact. Didn't you know.

gymboree link

I also love to drool over Heather Bailey's fabric. To. Die. For. I would love 2 yards of everything. Please. Thank you.

She has a blog which I frequent and I saw these flower/bows.

I was thinking I could whip some up to put in Ella's hair for Easter. Or whatnot. Maybe.

The Derby and colds

2009-03-25T17:29:00.011-06:00

Spencer participated in his 2nd Pine Wood Derby. He designed and made the car himself. Alex helped a little with the cutting out. He won Most Ingenious Design. He didn't place but was pleased with his car anyways. That's all that matters.

Spencer's car is the blue one right at the guys feet.

Alex holding Ella on the table with Drew's head is right in front of her.

The Derby is a rather hard event to photograph. Kids are running everywhere and never holding still. We were glad Diane and Allan came down to watch Spencer race. Joy and Brenton came also! Thanks guys!

We've been trying to get over a mean cold bug. It seems to keep making its way around our family all the while evolving so we all get it more than once. I've never used so much Lysol, cough syrup and children's Tylenol before!

They are of the devil.

2009-03-15T20:41:00.003-06:00

I couldn't tell you where they all went. Nope. Really. I have no idea what happened to them.

Eehhemmm. Excuse me while I go pick some coconut out of my teeth.

What's this...? A post from me?

2009-03-10T15:25:00.020-06:00

I know this is long overdue. I have no excuse. Sorry, I wish I could tell you that something neat went down in our house but nothing happened. Kind of boring I know.

A run down of what we've been up to...

- Spencer getting glasses.

- Trying to get this room finished.

- Doing tons of reading. Currently reading this...

- Digging this out so I can set it on my nightstand to stare at me in hopes I can jinx the weather to warm up so I can start running outside. I'm not fond of running in snow.

- Getting our fridge fixed after a week of no fridge. Luckily (thank you snow) our garage stayed in the 30's. That's where all our food was. I felt like such a red-neck.

- Welcoming these guys home from the Philippines.

- Celebrating Ella's 3rd birthday.

- Having fun with family during the holidays. (I am so sad this picture came out blurry)

- Currently training for 'The Crazy Cowboy' race with my sister and sister-in-laws.

- Having a little bet with my sister-in-law about seeing who can do more pull-ups. She's winning so far.

- Watching Alex with his latest project. The guy simply amazes me. He can take anything apart and put it back together. This project is a little bit more challenging, but I have no doubt it will come out looking fantastic. I just hope he lets me ride it!

Alex was like a kid at Christmas unwrapping his recently powder coated motorcycle frame pieces.

- Missing Alex while he went to Arizona to hunt. Here's just a few of the pictures he came home with.

Smoke and Alex

Border Patrol truck patrolling the US/Mexico border.

Mearns Quail

Arizona

And the pièce de résistance...

If you can't tell that's Lip Smacker Berry Peach on her beautiful lips. She is too funny.

2008-11-05T21:45:00.006-07:00

Yah! My computer is working. We had a little problem and had to send the video drive back to it's manufacture. I few little tiny capsules exploded. Okay, they didn't explode as in explode, but became over heated and decided to let their insides out to let the cool air in. You can tell I'm so not a computer person. Blah blah blah. Whatever.

Other news... I'm so bummed you don't even know!

I was cleaning out the pile of school papers on my kitchen counter that gets collected from my boys and I came across a monthly letter from the Principal. Sometimes I read it sometimes I don't, what can I say. Anyways. I pulled it out and flipped through it and on the calendar for September (I think) was a performance from the Happy Hands Group from Preston, Idaho. The same one that was featured in Napoleon Dynamite. I can't believe I missed it! I bet the gym was rockin that night. That's what I get for not reading my kids school papers. Dang it!

I took my kids flying the other day. This was the result...

(I just noticed I have a light out in my kitchen. Whoops.)

2008-11-01T15:20:00.004-06:00

This year involved scary costumes and lots of face paint.

Alex took charge of the face make-up and I think in the allotted time we had (2 minutes) he did a rather good job. Drew's horns were glued on with latex glue. If anyone is interested in using latex glue next year, try to keep the glue exclusively on the skin. It's a bugger to get out of hair.

Drew chose to be a devil. Love his big eyes in this photo. He looked more like a "friendly devil".

Mr. Dracula

Ella decided on a pirate this year. Not my most favorite costume but she loved it.

Glad it's over. I'm sorry but I just don't get excited about Halloween. Love the candy though! I'm sitting here trying to figure out the difference between Oh Henry's and Snickers. Not much difference.

2008-10-13T15:31:00.006-06:00

As always, the first snowman of the year.

2008-10-12T08:58:00.007-06:00

This is what we woke up to this morning. I give up. Can this really be happening?

I took these from inside my house. I refuse to go out in it.

I think I'm going crazy because I'm really missing my home town right about now.

The season is among us...

2008-10-02T08:13:00.002-06:00

My man out doing one of the many things he does best.

2008-09-30T21:43:00.003-06:00

I was going through my pictures trying to find something to put on this thing and found these that my sister took this summer.

Ella enjoying her cookie...

Uncle Brian thinking he deserves a taste...

Ella trying with all her might to not let his mouth near her cookie!

She makes me laugh.

What a day...

2008-09-11T21:11:00.004-06:00

Spent the day shootin' the breeze and being absolutely lazy in every way possible. Went out to dinner with Alex and the kids. It was fantastic in as much as birthdays get. One year older, yeah. Then at 9pm Alex runs up the stairs (the kids are already in bed mind you) and says "We forgot the cake!" You got me cake too? He gets the kids out of bed saying, "Yes you can have cake, right now!" The kids thought they'd died and gone to heaven. Ice cream cake, my all time favorite. Yes, at 9 o'clock at night. This is the life. Thanks Alex for making today much brighter than it should be, because honestly who enjoys turning 30? Love ya stud.

Does the person on the right look like she's 30? Crap. I was afraid of that. I can't believe I'm 30.

2008-08-30T00:20:00.002-06:00

Man alive, I only took one stinking picture of these guys. One week has gone by and I for sure thought I'd have more of them on their first day. Whoops.

The boys all ready for school. Drew (left) started first grade. He was pretty stoked. He thought it was 'cool' that he got to spend the whole day there. Yeah, the next morning when I had to drag him out of bed he told me "School is so long! It takes forever!". "Get used to it." I told him. Not really, I'm not that mean.

Spencer started 4th grade. Sakes alive I'm getting old! Forth grade! Really! I don't feel old enough to have a forth grader. Spencer has a good teacher this year. A good strict teacher and I love it. Not like last year's teacher. No, I won't dwell on the past. One week so far and no recess fights yet... that's an improvement!

The Big One

2008-08-11T15:18:00.033-06:00

Alright alright, cry me a river, here you go ladies. Brace yourselves...

Missing teeth shots aren't my favorite to post but what kind of mother would I be if I didn't show the world my son with a missing tooth. Of course I had to post it for the granny's and gramp's.

My favorite punk being true to herself by getting into the Koolaid mix.

________________________________________________________________
24th of July.

Love this shot of my nephew and his cousin.

The Fire Dept. was out helping with the rodeo and I just had to take this guys picture in his chaps to show you all the hard work and devotion to their town they have. Yup, that's right.

A little mut-n-busting for ya. I love the clowns chasing after the little guy.

My nephew hanging on. He's a champ that kid!

What is wrong with this little punk. She can handle dogs, frogs and going down the slide face first, but stick her on a horse and she looses it.

Put your game face on girl and suck it up. She's trying bless her heart.

Don't worry I'm not that mean. This is her after the big scary horse incident. See, right back to her cute scheming self.

Look at them legs.

My brother in the blue ball cap trying to talk my nephew into riding a calf. It was a no-go. Maybe next year big guy.

This kid was good, one hand and everything. I think he won his age group.

I'm not the only female in my family that likes cowboys. She was routing for the winner above. Girls got a good head on her shoulders.

This is the ribbon chase. The kids try to grab some ribbons tied to the calf's tail. Here's my little punk front and center. Bless his little heart he tried with all his might.

________________________________________________________________

Here's my first punk. Caught him playing in the water. He never lets me take pictures of him anymore.

Uncle Brian harassing the kids. His specialty.

You thought I was lying to you about not letting me take his picture didn't you?

________________________________________________________________
Pishing, yes I typed that right, pishing.

My nephew and his fish.

I don't normally put up pictures of death, but Spencer searched long and hard for this guy in hopes of catching 'The Big One'. Don't worry we said a prayer in hopes that he went to grasshopper heaven.

Oh look. Alex and his mini self. Same scowl and everything. Dare I say... must be a Bringhurst thing. (Kidding!!!!!) They're waiting for 'The Big One' to bite.

I have tons more pishing pictures, but really, how many pishing pictures can one take? Me, not so many.

I know there are incomplete sentences and lots of misspelled words, but I'm too lazy to fix them all.

Until next time.

Wrong words buddy...

2008-07-08T16:48:00.005-06:00

Drew walked into my bedroom singing, "Denial up, denial down, turn that frown upside down..." For the life of me I couldn't figure out what song he was trying to sing. I asked him and he said it was from my cell phone. I couldn't remember any song like that so he proceeded to show me. This is what he was attempting to sing. It's Flower by Moby bytheway. Very good movie also.

2008-07-07T02:12:00.004-06:00

I know this is late, but hey, 'Late' is my middle name.

The boys spent the day at the lake with some of our friends while Ella and I did a few fun things of our own. They all came back burnt. It was a fun night with friends, games and lots of good food!! I seriously gained a few pounds over this weekend. Good thing it's marathon season again!

The boys is need of a bath and a hair cut.

Ella enjoying her first memorable sparkler.

2008-07-01T17:12:00.003-06:00

Alex took the boys fishing last weekend down to Twin Lakes. They had a blast and caught tons of blue gill and Spencer caught a tiny large mouth bass. Alex said there were so many fish along the shore that once you cast, your bobber immediately went under. He said he was very busy between the boys that he didn't get a line in at all.

2008-06-25T16:00:00.007-06:00

It happened. I knew this dreaded day would come soon. I knew it loomed in the distance and hoped with everything it would never come. I was completely kidding myself, plus with her reputation it was bound to be around the corner. She finally hacked away at her hair. I walked into the kitchen and saw the hair scattered on the table and gasped. She immediately knew she had done something wrong and huge tears welled up in her eyes. We had a good talk about it and then I gave her some Spongebob snacks and she was all good.

I refuse to even out her hair. I just can't bring myself to cut it that short, so she will stay lop-sided for a long time.

I'm not going to cry about it. It's just hair right? Right?

2008-06-25T11:03:00.003-06:00

Last weekend Alex had a brainy idea to ride his bike to his sister's house. Seventy miles to be exact. He's a really good road biker but this was a little far, especially by himself. So the kids and I jumped in the car and spent a while at a little lake with his sisters and their kids. Three and a half hours after he left he walked into her house with a smile on his face. He's such an animal.

I only got two pictures the whole day. Bummer.

2008-06-04T19:28:00.002-06:00

The kids playing in the neighbors yard during a nice warm-ish spell. It's been raining almost everyday for two weeks!

2008-05-30T13:22:00.010-06:00

My much anticipated summer is NOT starting off right! I'm very good about keeping hazardous stuff out of reach and plus she's never been one to play with this stuff (I'll just insert my foot in my mouth now). I haven't used it in forever and NOW she finds it? She's going to be the death of me.

We're all just so grateful that Baby Dora will no longer be worried about dreadful chaffing! Ella has that covered... err... her covered.

If you have any friends who are still not sure about kids... send them this way. I have some good birth control!

2008-05-28T11:58:00.002-06:00

This is what I get for wanting to sleep in...

I knew it was too quiet when I got out of the shower.

2008-05-26T13:55:00.004-06:00

We had some friends over during the weekend and we stayed up until 2am playing Wii. I've never laughed so hard.

Spencer rocking out.

2008-05-26T13:51:00.002-06:00

Last week was Drew's Kindergarten Graduation. It was quite fun considering Spencer didn't have one out in Nebraska. The kids walked out to the graduation march and sang songs for the parents.

I wasn't able to get an adequate video because Ella thought she should be in the video instead of Drew, but I did get a pretty funny one of the kids dancing. Check out the boy in the red and blue! He's gettin' down!

2008-05-22T21:25:00.018-06:00

Ella already learning her way around heels.

With Alex being on-call at the hospital some Mondays, we take what we can get with FHE any day of the week. The other night we went out to eat as a family in the next town and then went down the street to some Mineral Hot Pools. Alex and I go some times with our friends but this was the second time we took the kids. It was a great time to go, it was cold and rainy. Perfect weather for the hot springs. I think the boys enjoyed it a little too much, both of them were out cold on the drive home.

Spencer belly-flopping.

I love Alex's road biking arm tan. I told him it looks like he painted it on.

I'm in desperate need of a tan!

2008-05-15T15:35:00.005-06:00

This is for family who don't get to see Alex in action at all... this is a picture of the winner's circle after a Field Trial Competition.

My gangsta lookin' hubby is the one on the right. You can't see in the picture but he's wearing chaps... mmmmm.

2008-05-12T13:28:00.003-06:00

Found this guy today munching away on my grass. Of course I had to capture him for the boys. They will love him. Any ideas on what he'll turn into? I think maybe a monarch?

Something funny last night...

After Ella brushed her teeth, she grabbed her sippy cup which had orange juice in it and downed a couple swigs until she pulled a face and said her orange juice bit her tongue. Alex and I were cracking up!

2008-05-11T22:49:00.010-06:00

I don't really put my children's work up on the blog, I should but I don't. However I've made an exception. Spencer wrote me a nice poem for Mother's Day.

Sounds like I'm quite the cat's meow! Really, it is very sweet. Love that child.

I couldn't leave out my other sons work...

Drew made a house for me in Kindergarten for Mother's Day. His teacher helped him with it.

It's really sweet until I opened it. Read for yourselves.

A few points I'd like to make about the interior of this house...
1) 30 hundred pounds? Way to give your Mom a complex kid.
2) I don't have black hair. Does this kid even know who his Mother is?
3) I only wish I was still 20!
4) Yard work? Pppsshhhh, that's why I send out this child to do all the grunt work for me.

Happy Mother's Day to all!

2008-05-05T12:46:00.002-06:00

This is what I envisioned when I was younger singing 'Popcorn Popping'. Although this is a cherry tree and not an apricot tree, you still get my point. I'm just happy something survived the winter.

2008-05-01T09:29:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was such a nice day. A little windy, but still nice. This morning my boys woke me up asking me to check on the computer to see if there was school today. "What?"

May 1st people! MAY!!

I am in serious need of a vacation... and yes, they still had school.

Yard Work and Blast-off!

2008-04-29T17:07:00.004-06:00

Ella trying to copy what her Dad was doing.

Alex took the boys out with Big Bertha this past weekend. Ella and I ended up not going so this short film is the result of an 8 year old. It gets a little 'Blair Witch' with all the running so if you get motion sickness please be advised to have a bucket on hand. I need to ask Spencer what he first yelled, but the second one cracks me up. I have no idea where he got that saying.

2008-04-24T19:04:00.006-06:00

Both my boys had to give talks in Primary this past Sunday and Spencer wanted to talk about his Grandparents who are serving in the San Pablo Philippines Mission. Spencer wrote this all by himself only asking once how to spell the name of the mission. I'm posting this so they can read what he wrote.

2008-04-23T19:28:00.007-06:00

She's going to be such a good little mommy when I let her grow up... in 40 years.

She needed assistance with her baby's pants, but hey, she needs assistance with her own pants so we won't dwell on it.

Meanest Mom

2008-04-23T18:48:00.003-06:00

Alex has been gone since Friday of last week and, I'm sure all of you can understand my predicament, I've been rather short with my children lately. He usually isn't gone for this long on his little man-ly trips where he gets to ride a horse and chase birds along the country side. It's usually only for two days during a weekend. This one however is a doosy. It's driving me crazy. Saturday the kids knew he was going to be away for some time. Sunday they would obey but for only short periods of time. I threatened them of course with bodily injury of hanging them by their toes and what not, but there weren't any takers. By Monday they didn't even make eye contact with me. Oh, have mercy on my soul. Last night I asked them to clean the playroom and two hours later they had even more toys out and just laughed at me. I sent them to bed. After much gnashing and wailing of teeth, I succumbed and ended up cleaning the toy room. Does anybody want to buy a bucket of tiny legos, a whole Dinosaur land set-up or a Game Boy advance which includes fives game. I'd list the games for you but I'd rather not dig them out of the garbage. I'm still deciding how to delicately tell my husband how he can and will never ever go anywhere ever again. Ever.

What?....

2008-04-17T18:21:00.002-06:00

Since Spring was two days ago, Summer was yesterday and today is now Winter (Idaho weather is the pits) the birds are coming out like crazy. They've been congregating outside near a window and we really didn't think anything of it. Well, right below this window is our grill.

I just wonder how those stinking birds got that big stick in there with the lid closed? I even asked my kids if they were playing in the grill. They said no.

2008-04-06T17:27:00.004-06:00

After much anticipation Drew finally lost his first tooth!

He was so brave to lay there while Alex pulled it out.

Cheesy grin

2008-03-27T20:31:00.003-06:00

A couple pictures of my niece at her blessing.

Easter

2008-03-27T20:05:00.007-06:00

The kiddies...

This one made me chuckle. This is how my boys are all the time. Notice Ella running away?

I am so done with snow. We went to my brothers house in Wyoming for the weekend. They blessed their new baby girl.

We did the Easter Egg Hunt Saturday at my other brothers place. Lots of snow and mud. Yuck. The kids had fun nonetheless.

Pinewood Derby

2008-03-27T19:44:00.005-06:00

Spencer participated in his first Pinewood Derby this month. He was pretty excited about the whole thing. Alex really let him take control of everything. As you can see in the pictures, Spencer really did the work himself. He didn't' place top three, but we are proud of his accomplishments and he is too. That's all that counts!

Toasty-Toes

2008-02-23T16:14:00.010-07:00

Gosh, it's been so long I almost forgot my password for a second there! I know you guys are tired of the 'braids' and I am too. There hasn't been much excitement here so I only have some random pictures for you.

The boys having a little fun in the backyard. They're not the best pictures due to the fact that I was standing inside where it was nice and toasty. I was trying to take a picture through my window which is hard to do because of the glare and everything. I love these mostly because of the expressions on their faces.

It might also be hard to understand the layout but here is what they are sliding down...

That rock wall behind the boys isn't much of a drop-off but it suits their needs for a small thrill.
__________________________________________

My boys in search of another death defying stunt. I admit I told them to get the air mattress toy but in my defence you should have seen what they were using before my suggestion. I'll just keep it to myself.

And of coarse a picture of Ella... well, some what picture of Ella. I don't know how she could stand falling asleep with her toes like that. My toes were getting cramped just standing there.

Braids

2008-01-31T09:42:00.000-07:00

I was surfing some blogs and came across this photo of a lady's hair.

I love it! First off I wish I had hair like that and second, one day I would love to be able to do Ella's hair like that.

I'm not a very good braider. Everytime my sister asks me to braid her hair I cringe because I know it will look awful and she won't like it.

Yesterday morning after Ella's bath I tried braiding her hair. It came out looking like this...

Not so good. They're not even centered and don't get me started on how loose they are on the bottom. I guess it doesn't help that I was trying to braid on a two year old. Now that I have a girl with more hair than her mother, I need some skills. More practice I say!

A couple of Ella's latest

2008-01-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

Chillin' out with Dad.

Crazy hair!

My baby boy is SIX!

2008-01-28T21:43:00.001-07:00

Drew turned 6 on the 17th! We had a little family celebration and then he had a party with his class mates.

He's such a sweet blessing to our family.

Dare Devils

2008-01-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

The boys are loving their ski lessons. Alex is getting his fill as well. While the boys ski Alex takes off on his own for a nice relaxing day of skiing.

Drew goes way too fast and gets in trouble when his instructors catch him at the bottom of the hill.

Spencer is advancing nicely and they want him to move into the next skill level.

They're so cute in their little helmets.

New Little One

2008-01-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

I want to give a big shout out to my little brother and his sweet wife. They just had their first baby! A little bitty girl and she is so beautiful! Congrats guys!

2008 will be GREAT!

2008-01-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

Christmas is down and my gift from Alex is up!

Hello beautiful! Oh how I have longed for you to be hanging there.

I have coveted this clock for so long and it is finally mine. Obsess much? I thinketh not. I'm sorry but this picture does not do it justice. Y'all will just have to come yonder to see!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Every year I think of the most obtuse resolutions like, be a better person. This year I really want to be more specific about who I am and to also simplify my life.

I have come up with a list of resolutions that I truly, deeply, passionately want to work on. Here they are...

1. Really listen to people when they talk. I have the most scattered brain that when someone walks away from me I think to myself, "What did they just say to me?" Part of that is also I am very forgetful! I wonder if those memory games really help?

2. Listen to my body more when it tells me that that slice of cheesecake should not go in my mouth! It's not so much on the first slice, but man, during that third slice you should hear all the snarling, screaming and gnashing of teeth my body is doing to try to get me to put that slice down but do I listen. No. I really want/need to work on that.

3. Most of you know I ran the St. George Marathon last year and LOVED it so much! I really want to set a goal of doing one marathon a year. Maybe a half marathon too.

4. Be a strong disciplinarian to my kids and stick to my guns. Some times I fall (quite easily) to my kid's whining and give in. All my hard work falls down the drain and I have to start over. I need to work on that. You Mother's out there understand?

5. Try to have Family Home Evening with my family every Monday and if we can't on Monday then pick another day of the week. Too many times Monday rolls by and I think to myself, Oh well I'll try again next week.

6. Be better organized. If I just fix this then so many other things would fall into place, like #5.

7. I need to read more to my kids. I miss reading since Spencer now reads to Drew. I need to read more to Ella too.

8. Tell my husband I love him more. Tell my kids I love them more. Don't get me wrong, I tell my family at least 342 times day I love them. I just would like to do it more. I grew up with my parents hugging and kissing in the kitchen over making dinner (I know gross, right!) and every time I saw that, I knew how much they loved each other. There was never a question about how much my brothers and sisters and my parents loved each other. We were (and are) very open, always hugging each other when we come home and telling each other we love them when we leave or even get off the phone. I want my kids to see that same thing as they grow up so they will never ever question whether they are loved.

9. Do better at my calling. I'm the Secretary in Primary and you'd think after 3 years I'd have it down. I still struggle with the little things and staying on the ball. I revert back to #6.

10. Read my scriptures. I'm not going to write down that I will read them every night. I would just like to read them more than I am currently. Again, #6 would help me out in this situation.

11. Start my journal... again. My aunt writes in her journal every week. She writes down little things throughout the week and then on Sunday she combines it all for her journal entry. At least I think she still dose it. I'm pretty sure because she has good #6 qualities. I don't. I dug out my journal and the last entry was while I was pregnant with Spencer and Alex was gone to a National Guard 2 week training thingy. I have a leetle bit of catching up to do.

There are so many more things I would like to better myself at but for now these are going to be my main focus.

Have a safe and happy new year everyone!

2007-12-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

The end of December

2007-12-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

So after many threatening emails I have finally written a Christmas post.

Merry Christmas from the kids.

This was our Christmas FHE. The kids made green puffed rice wreaths and other creations.

Ella's Christmas dress. She loved the bows on the front. So cute!

Christmas at Sonny and Stacy's.

This was Christmas Eve day. The kids decorating sugar cookies.

The kids opening their Christmas Eve pajamas.

All the cousins in their new pajamas.

I didn't put my flash on so this one is dark, but I kind of like how it turned out. Sonny read them the Nativity in Luke 2 and then read Twas The Night Before Christmas story. They all gathered on the floor by the fire and listened to every word.

Christmas morning the kids woke up around 7am (which was nice!) and we all opened presents together (Sonny and Stacy's family and Kim and Jeff's family). Lots of paper and bows and boxes!

Later that day Alex pulled Drew around on his skis. Our boys big gifts this year were skiing lessons.

It was nice to be able to see Kim and Jeff again. They drove a long way from Texas. It was also very wonderful for Stacy and Sonny to let us all crash at their house for Christmas. Thanks!

Friday afternoon my parents made their last stop at our house after their week long travels to every ones house to visit them for Christmas. My brother, James, and his wife Jennie came over with them to visit. Jennie took the boys on the tube and pulled them with the snowmobile around the neighborhood. They had lots of fun!

MMmmmm... frosted doughnut!

2007-12-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

Let it snow!

2007-12-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

During Thanksgiving one of the time-filler activities we did was make lots and lots of snowflakes. The grand kids kept going until they completely filled Grandma's windows. They did their best and actually made some pretty magnificent ones! Of course the adults had to do some too. It was rather fun just sitting and cutting paper for a while. We made quite the mess!

Drew has since wanted to do the same thing with our windows and we've made a few but he quickly got bored with the same kind of snowflakes.

In the spirit of all this snow we're getting I decided to search for the best snowflake pattern. I think I found one.

My search of the best snowflake (that I, a non-crafty, person can muster by myself) has come to an end. I found this website. Pretty cool looking, right! Drew and I made a prototype and this is the result.

It's quite large. I used a regular 8x11 piece of paper that I squared up. Drew wants to hang it from the ceiling. I'm sure we'll find a perfect place for it and the others we are embarking on making.

Do you like my sons mis-matched pajamas?

Little things I've been up to

2007-12-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

I've had mixed emotions about posting this particular post. Part of me wants you to see these and part of me doesn't want you to see them because then I'd have to tell you my secret.

However I have to show you because they are so adorable! The strawberry bracelet is my absolute favorite bracelet I've ever made! The unicorn didn't turn out quite like I wanted but for a 3 year old it should do just fine. I made the strawberries, flower and unicorn out of Sculpy Clay. They are tiny little suckers!

I made these for my brothers girls. His wife Jennie called me and asked if I could make them some more and since I love, really I do, love doing little things like this I said "YES!". The other pink and blue ones are for their baby girl, she's 1 years old.

Well here's the reason I didn't want to tell you. Here's my secret. Uuuhhhmmmmmm... I totally copy off this one website. Okay, there it's out, I'm not this creative person people think I am even though I tell them I'm not. I copy people! It's the cutest website in the world! Really! Check it out at Fairy Tale Jewels. So you see, cute huh! Plus, I'm not exactly going to pay that much for a bracelet when I can make them myself for tons less. I don't know if it's legal to copy off another person's hard work, I could be in a whole lot of trouble, but hey, it's Christmas time, the season of giving and it's personal use. Plus they're not exactly the same. The beads she uses are WAY expensive and it's not like I'm selling them or anything. Right?

I can't wait for the girls to open them Christmas morning.

Bare

2007-12-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Here is that same red bush that I posted before. Now you can really see all the birds sitting in it. I tried once before to take this picture but they all flew away and just imagine three bushes next to each other full of birds and they all of a sudden take flight! Ella thought it was pretty neat! With this shot I didn't get as close as I wanted for fear they would all fly away, but I think you can get the idea. From such small creatures they sure do make a lot of noise!

Hello Beautiful!

2007-12-08T22:58:00.000-07:00

Check out that hair! I wish mine had any sort of volume like that. She's going to hate me when she's older that I took this picture.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2007-12-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when it's freezing outside and there's no snow to go along with it? I hate that! If it's going to be cold outside I want at least three feet of snow on the ground. Our local weather keeps telling us we are in for this big snow storm to hit us. The picture above is about all we have been getting every morning. Hhmmph!

I remember posting a picture of us playing in the Christmas beads... well that was as far as we got. I just finished the tree and it's nice and sparkly. I would still like to find some cute fat ribbon to wrap around the tree but none have caught my fancy. Once I find some I think then it will look marvelous!

I saw these cards on Ali Edwards web page and loved the idea. They were easy to make and I hung them up with red twine.

This is the nativity set Alex's parents sent us from the Philippines. I love the rawness and simplicity of them. No color, no fancy jewels just some carved wood. Very special.

Here's my Willow Tree Nativity. Love it!

Here's my Grandma Horsley village.

She painted and fired all these houses and trees and people herself. I used to watch her when I was younger paint lots of things before she fired them in her kiln. I remember she even let me paint my own tiny blue bird once. I painted it so carefully and even painted a tiny yellow beak. Where is that tiny blue bird Mom?

She also made me my own ceramic nativity set. She gave one to all her grandchildren for their wedding gifts. It's quite big and I don't have the room to put it anywhere. I don't have any side tables or a coffee table to put it on, and even if I did I doubt I would put my ceramic nativity on a table that Ella could reach. Maybe I'll have to scoot the village down the ledge father and put the ceramic nativity set up there.

Does everyone else have all their decorations up?

School pictures

2007-12-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

*provided by Bell Photographers INC.

*Some of you have emailed me about Spencer's smile. I'll have you know that that smile is as good as you're going to get. I asked him when I first saw his pictures about his smile and he told me he had no intentions of ever opening his mouth for a smile again. I asked why and he pointed to his front teeth. For those that don't know, his two adult teeth, and I mean adult teeth, have come in. They are on the large size and he is already self-conscious of them. I asked if he would retake his school pictures and he asked why when they are going to look just like these. So there is the story behind his smile. You might as well get used to it until his head grows larger.

Help give this photo a name!

2007-12-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some cooking... I know what you're thinking...

What?

Cooking?

Kristina?

I must tell you I do cook. Sometimes, and I quite enjoy it. The other day I made home-made chicken and dumplings. I know some of you are shocked that me, jock of three sports in high school and sometimes even called "flighty" to my face, (yes I was called "flighty" in high school, and no, I didn't think of myself at all flighty. Far from it thank you.) has the intelligence to work herself around a kitchen. I do and sometime I'll have to tell you all about my adventures around my kitchen. Why just last night I cooked up some deer steaks for my manly man of a husband and he devoured them. I'll even tell you about these one cookies I make that make grown men beg for more, you think I'm joking, take that for being flighty, but that will have to be another post.

Yes, again, home-made chicken and dumplings. I didn't even use Bisquick. I used good ol' fashion recipes and made everything from scratch. I even picked the carrots out of my garden. Carrots are one of the few vegetables that are left in the ground long into winter and when ever needed I head out there with a shovel in hand and dig up what I need for supper. That night I dug up these beauties.

They're quite small for their time in the ground, but very unusual in deed. I immediately took a liking to them and decided to have an impromptu photo shoot before I chopped them up and threw them into the pot.

I think they deserve names or rather a title to their portrait. I shall call upon my few readers to help name this photograph. I think they would be greatly appreciated. I have a few in mind, but I know some of you have very clever minds and I want you to share your thoughts. Good luck!

I hate work!

2007-12-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

Here is my conversation with my 8 yr. old.

My son asked, "Can I go outside to play after school?"

I replied, "Sure, after you clean your room of all the garbage that's on the floor."

"What!"

I repeated, "You need to clean your room before you can play outside."

"I hate doing work!" he stated as he stomped off to his room.

I quickly replied before he got out of ear shot, "I don't like doing work either, but I know it needs to get done so I do it all day long." (I know... mature.)

He hears and heads back to talk to me and said, "You don't have to. You can do nothing if you want."

I conceded, "Thank you, but if I do nothing then you won't have any clean clothes to wear, clean dishes to eat out of or any food to eat that I have prepared for you."

"oh."

Someone please tell me it gets better. I want him to grow up to respect hard work. I want him to know what comes from hard work and it pays off. Sometimes I just want to go ahead and sell our house now so we can get that land we have been dreaming about and really show our kids what living off the land means. I want them to get up at 5am before school to feed the horses and collect the fresh eggs.

Then I wake up and realize that if we do that then not only will they have more work but my hard work immediately increases and I just don’t want that right now because I hate work too! I’ll give it a year and think about it all over again.

_____________________________________________________________

My middle child woke up with a fever and sore throat so we decided to stay home from Kindergarten today. I indulged his desire to color and let him have free reign of the kitchen table. He enjoyed it immensely. Free to color to his hearts content. No younger sister there to grab his paper or his crayons. She was down for a nap. No older brother to compete with. He was alone with just his box of crayons and his markers. Heaven. I like how he has a picture at every chair like he travels to each chair to sit down and color a different picture.

Ella's night

2007-12-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

Pictures of Ella opening her gifts on Saturday. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing due to Alex's schedule. The weather was pretty bad that night and the roads were icy (I know because I had to make a run to the store) so we didn't make anybody drive down for it. We had a quick little party for Ella with just us. Be sure to check out her little smiles throughout the entire night. And yes her face is dirty all the way through. I didn't wipe it once.

I love this little smile to herself. She was SO excited for this tricycle.

I like how she's giving herself a little 'bravo' clap after she blew out her own candles.
chow down

Her face says it all.

Her loot- she made off with some good finds... a Dora bike, a Dora chair, a Dora doll, Dora bed set and sheets, an outfit and a quilt that was made for her by her Great Grandma Horsley.

Happy Birthday to my baby girl! She's 2 today!

2007-12-01T10:36:00.001-07:00

We've been having a leetle bit of fun with the Christmas tree beads.

2007-11-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

Ella proudly displaying them as the new trend in high fashion.

Smoke wishing us humans would quit making him look like a fool.

Sonic waiting patiently for that little red light on the camera to attack him.

I've been working on getting some gifts for family done and my neighbors gifts ready. I want to get my neighbors gifts out by the first of December so it's not a last minute rush to think of what to get them and finally deciding on an edible concoction that they already have forty-three plates of on their kitchen counter. My older sister gave me a grand idea for a gift for my neighbors so I'm busily finishing those up.

Hope every one's Christmas preparations are going smoothly!

red bush

2007-11-26T08:59:00.000-07:00

These bushes are always chuck full of birds. I love the bird in the center just staring at me.

Sorry for keeping that music up for so long. I'm sure some of you are now hating Josh Groban.

The kids and I went to Utah to see my family for Thanksgiving. It was a fun and pleasant trip. Lots of relaxing and at the same time lots of fun games and activities. I ate lots of food and enjoyed every bite! It's Thanksgiving after all!

Next big mission... getting christmas decorations up... aaggghhhhh!

Giving Thanks

2007-11-13T09:55:00.001-07:00

I think I've written and then erased this post about twelve times. I can't seem to write exactly how I feel. I finally decided to just let pictures and the talented Josh Groban do the talking.

Since Thanksgiving is next week I want to show you what I'm thankful for and love in my life....(There are so, sooo many more who have blessed my life.)

... my family truly is my inspiration.

To all those people on my side bar... and many many more... I love you all.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

a much needed break

2007-11-02T09:13:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone. I've decided to take a break from blogging for a while. I have a bit on my plate right now and blogging is going on the back burner. I really want to get everything on my list done before the year is finished. I have been blogging for over two years now and I'm looking forward to this little break. Don't worry, I'll be back soon and I'll post about everything the kids have been up to. I might even sneak in a few with holiday pictures. Until then...

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T21:24:00.000-06:00

I had a little fun this year with the costumes.

Spencer wanted to be a grim reaper so his was easy but Drew wanted to be a bat and knowing me I tend to make things a little complicated. I made Drew's entire costume. Mascot head and all (with the help of my hubby). It was a challenge but very fun! You can't see in the picture, but I sewed nylon wings under his arms. It all turned out really cute. Of course Ella had to be Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch with her hair! Deciding on which outfit from the movie was the hard part. They all turned out rather cute I think... but I tend to be a little biased. :)

My brothers came down with their families and we all went out trick-or-treating together. We had such a good time and I'm glad my kids could spend Halloween with their cousins. Thanks guys!

This is Drew's outfit minus the mascot head. I took this picture before he left for school. I didn't have his head finished so I made him these ears in 5 minutes.

Sneak Peek

2007-10-31T12:22:00.000-06:00

We had our Ward Halloween Party last night. Lots of soup to eat and yummy rolls from Geraldine's. The kids had fun running around playing games like fish pond and the cup cake walk. They then marched across the stage in a parade showing off their costumes.

Here are some sneak peeks at the kids costumes. Tonight I'll take the full pictures when they are perfect.

This is part of Spencer's outfit regimen.

Drew's is still in the making. This picture is not part of the original costume but will help you guess. And it's not what you think it is.

Ella. Enough said.

Big girl already?!

2007-10-25T21:31:00.000-06:00

My twenty-two month old thinks she now needs to go potty every time I change her diaper.

This first started when she would repeat "potty?" to me all day. I thought she was telling me she went potty in her diaper but I would find nothing there. I figured it out when she ran naked to the bathroom and started climbing on the toilet. Oh. So now we sit and wait for her to think she's a big girl and then we are done. Nothing ever happens but she's building up nice self-confidence when it comes time to actually potty train her.

I wonder if it will get old fast or if she really thinks she's ready? I'm not one of those mothers that forces her kids to potty train before they are ready, but is this a little too young? For now we are just having fun with it.

First Pack Meeting

2007-10-24T09:53:00.000-06:00

Spencer had his very first Pack Meeting last night. He was awarded his Bobcat and I got a little pin to go along with it. He worked very diligently for this patch. He is very excited to finally be in scouts. This is all so new to me. They were all using lingo I have never heard nor understand. I guess there will be lots of time to figure it out.

This is Spencer's vegetable man "Dude". This was one of the activities they had set up for the scouts since this month's theme is about 'Being on the farm and Harvesting'.

*I forgot my camera so I had my friend take our picture together. I'll post it when I get it from her.

Spooky

2007-10-19T17:25:00.000-06:00

Okay, back to Halloween ideas...

I happened across this little freebie.

It's blurry in the background, but you can see some others dancing on my window.

Simply download it here and you have a fun little paper doll just in time for Halloween!

I think they are cute.

*I printed most of mine in black and white so it didn't use up my color ink.

christmas ideas

2007-10-17T19:05:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry to those that can't stand thinking about Christmas until Thanksgiving is over but I have to show you this.

I was looking in my Garnet Hill catalog (I only look for ideas. I can no way afford anything inside the book. I'm sorry for the tree huggers reading this and me wasting precious trees in my simply looking at the catalog and not buying. I'll plant another tree next year.) and noticed how simple some holiday items look. I love these tree skirts. I have a giant red paid table cloth as my tree skirt. I think it would be simple to make one of these.

I've been very bad about stockings. When it was just Alex and I we had matching stockings and when Spencer came along I found one that sort of matched ours. That was the last time I bought stockings. We used Alex's when Drew came along and then when Ella arrived I gave her mine. So in almost eight years our family almost doubled but the stockings stayed the same. I think I should get some more. I like these and I could match with the tree skirt. I also think it would be fun for the kids to maybe draw their own. Maybe. But still, it's just felt and easy to sew on the patches or whatever.

I also love these rugs. I was thinking about those old hook rugs you used to make when you were little but in a bigger scale and a tighter base. I think it could work.

I'm torn between Edward and Jacob

2007-10-16T17:19:00.000-06:00

My sister Joy introduced me to this little gem the weekend of my marathon. She said it is about vampires and I thought, "Vampires? I'm not really a vampire person." She said "You have to read it anyways, you'll love it." I took it home and started it the next day. Eight days later I have finished it plus the two sequels that follow it. I'm pathetic I know. I just have to say it is one of the best series I have laid my hands on. I recently found out that there is to be a movie made of Twilight and I have mixed feelings on it. Half of me is all for the movie. I'm excited to see who the author, Stephanie Meyer picks as her actors and how some scenes and put into action. The other half of me is scared that who ever she picks as the actors will completely be the opposite of what I have imagined for these characters in my head. Plus I don't want it to become what Harry Potter is now. People going crazy over the movie when they haven't even read the books. Besides most of Twilight is Bella's thoughts and how can you make a movie of that? Is Bella going to narrate through out the movie? I'm not sure if I want to see it. I do have until 2010 to change my mind though. For now I'm waiting patiently for number 4 to come out August of next year.

clean as earth right after rain

2007-10-15T10:47:00.000-06:00

Saturday Spencer was baptized and confirmed a member of the church. It was a really great day. We are grateful for all those who traveled to see this day. We had lots of loving people and good food all around.

Spencer was given this shirt by Alex's parents who are serving a mission in the Philippines. This is a traditional shirt the boys wear when they are baptized.

26.2 miles

2007-10-08T09:26:00.001-06:00

All I can say is that I survived and I crossed the finish line standing up! That was the most challenging thing I have ever done. I am so grateful for every ones help and support and well wishes. I couldn't have done it without you. I'm still very sore and weak. I woke up this morning with bruises on my knees and I'll just say that I didn't fall anywhere. That's how much of a beating they took. Some quick highlights are...

Getting to see so much rear-end flesh on the side of the road from people not waiting to use the port-a-potties.

Making it up Veyo hill (tiny hill)!

Being able to run with my good friend and her sister-in-law even though it was for only 12 miles. (I had to use the port-a-potty and I couldn't catch them the rest of the race.)

The guy that massaged Icy Hot on my knee at mile 21. I. love. Him.

Reading all the signs of encouragement to every one's loved ones.

Seeing my families faces at the finish line. Thank You!

Have a great weekend!

2007-10-03T17:47:00.001-06:00

The kids and I are headed to Southern Utah and I won't have any access to the internet, mainly because I will be a little busy running around a bit. Have a good weekend and enjoy Conference! ~~Here's a little song to put a smile on your face.~~

can you tell I have confidence?

2007-10-03T14:24:00.000-06:00

Three days! Three days until I want to chop my legs off! I'm so very nervous. I'm nervous that I won't make it. I'm nervous that my knee will be too painful for me. I'm nervous that I won't meet up with my friend and end up having to run the entire thing by myself. I'm so nervous about being in this race. I'm so nervous that I haven't done anything I'm supposed to be doing today, like laundry to wear to this race!!!!

winter anyone?

2007-09-29T11:02:00.000-06:00

Keeping up with our family tradition, the boys made the first snowman of the season. I guess I can't say season because it's not winter yet. The first day of fall was last week for heaven sakes. Typical Idaho. This will probably all melt off tomorrow, but the kids are still having a blast with it. As always I try to let them make the entire thing by themselves. Each year they are getting more creative and stronger. I did help put the dog food buttons on because they couldn't with gloves on their hands. And I did help lift the middle snow ball up.

Alex thinks he's a tough guy and doesn't need a jacket.

They did a great job!

Once finished with their own, they quickly left and started helping their friends.

Ella watching the boys play. Her little fingers got cold and we decided to go inside for some hot cocoa.

quick pics

2007-09-28T14:00:00.000-06:00

We helped Alex's sister and her family move into their new house. As you can see Ella had a grand ole' time.

The boys thought is was funny when they covered Ella in stickers.

Things are staying busy here. I'm trying to de-clutter my house before all the family gets here for Spencer's baptism. Why do I do this to myself? I'm also getting really nervous for my upcoming race. I've just realized 26.2 miles is very far.

Treadmill Madness

2007-09-20T14:01:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I'll stay up late and get a glimpse of Sushi TV. Have you seen it? It can be hilarious. So, of course, I looked on YouTube and found this clip. This game would definitely keep me on my treadmill! How fun would that be? I could stay up all night and watch this stuff. Funny!

Drew's latest

2007-09-13T11:16:00.000-06:00

Every now and then Drew will sit at the table and color until he has finished his "art work" as he calls it. I'm getting quite impressed at his development. I love how he has to fill in the entire page with color. Before it was some object in the middle of the page. Now he draws scenery and hill sides and all these details that I love!

"Dragon with a Chinese house in the background".

"Mother snake in a cave watching her babies hatch"

Love it!

Early bird gets the worm

2007-09-06T09:53:00.000-06:00

How early are you waking up? It might be harmful to your heart!
I read this article this morning on Yahoo. It gave me quite the chuckle but however made me think twice about climbing out of bed at 5am to run. Now I'm curious to see the outcome after they present it. One part they left out was the fact that you need to go to bed early to rise early.

Early to bed
Early to rise
Make a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

I not sure about the 'wealthy' part, and I'm still working on the 'wise' part, but now they're taking away the 'healthy' part too!?

A Good Day

2007-09-02T18:41:00.000-06:00

I saw this today after church. It isn't everyday you get to see a full rainbow outside your back door.

I don't think I'm in Kansas Todo!

2007-09-01T21:38:00.000-06:00

During the party I accidentally left the candle sitting on the barbecue. That evening I went around cleaning up garbage and found the candle completely melted. It had dripped onto the patio and, well, you can see almost nothing left but the paint. TOO HOT!

friends party

2007-09-01T21:27:00.000-06:00

Spencer decided to have a friend party for his birthday and so he invited a few of the neighborhood kids and some kids from school. He wanted a Transformer party and since I don't have any Transformer artistic abilities I just did cupcakes with Transformer dudes stuck to the tops. Spencer can tell you the guys name if you want. I have no clue. We had some water balloon games which ended in water balloon fights. We had a pinata and hamburger and hot dogs. They all had a good time having fun.

13.1 miles

2007-09-01T18:53:00.002-06:00

I am happy to say I finished with a smile on my face. I was very concerned that I wouldn't enjoy the race because I have to double the distance in 4 weeks. There was a good group of us running together and I think that helped with the boredom, the heat and the long straight aways.

I met my neighbors and we all headed out at 7am, caught the bus at 7:50am to the starting line and decided to head to the port-a-potty one last time. While standing around waiting for the gun to go off, we got to see a few of the Marathoners pass us. Among those were a couple of my good friends so it was nice to cheer them on.

We started off strong, a little too strong I think. I kept looking at my watch and reading under 9 min/mi and thinking this is too fast. I needed to slow down or I would be struggling at the finish and I wanted to enjoy the end not die there. I knew it would immediately be a hard run because at mile 2 my toes started tingling. I tried stomping them but nothing was working. My knee was also fighting with me but I had to grin and bear it and try to not focus on the pain.

About 4 miles into the race my toes were on fire and my feet were killing me. Not a good idea to buy new insert a few days before the race. I know that's one of the biggest rules, to never start anything new the day before the race, but these were the same inserts I have been using for months and my old ones were getting flat so I thought I was safe. Not so. The only good thing I could think of while the nerves in my feet were burning me from the inside out was that I could no longer feel that pain in my knee. That's a plus!

I took water gleefully at every aid station, that's how hot it was, and with two cups I sipped one and threw the other down my back. It was very refreshing.

About mile 10 I could feel the effects on my legs and decided to slow down to preserve something for the finish.

At mile 12 I looked down at my legs and felt my shirt and realized I've never sweat this much on a run and made a mental note to drink in as much as my belly would let me at the finish.

Speaking of the finish line you can clearly see it at mile 12. That last 1.1 mile is so hard. There were lots of people walking because it literally felt like you were running in place. It was a huge mental game for me at that point and I kept telling myself "mind over matter". "Just keep moving your legs". "Just keep moving your legs". I crossed the finish line in 2 hours and 16 minutes. And can I please add that my goal was to a) just finish the stinking race and b) try to finish in at least 2 hours and 30 minutes. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

Let me tell you again how hot it was out there... At most aid stations they provided Powerade and water. I tried to get one of each so I could drink the Powerade and cool down with the water but somehow, not realizing it, I did the opposite. I threw Powerade all down my back. At least it cooled me off.

Ella wanted to lay down with me this afternoon so we were pretty much lazy bums all day and that was just fine!

I'll save you the gross pictures of my toes. I took my socks off and discovered two black toe nails already. Nice.

first day of school

2007-08-27T10:34:00.000-06:00

It was a little hard getting the boys up at 7am this morning, but after realization set in they were quickly getting ready. Spencer was excited to see who was in his class and when he saw two friends already there he sat down next to them. We'll see if he actually gets to stay there. He's been known to be a chatter box in class.

Drew was my monkey this morning. He hung on my arms and legs everywhere I went. He was excited but super nervous. Today was Kindergarten Orientation so we met in the cafeteria to meet the Kindergarten teachers and then we went home. I wish they would have done Orientation before school started. Drew was ready to start school this morning, but by 9:30am he was done for the day. Bummer. He goes tomorrow, has Wednesday off then back again Thursday. Very confusing to say the least.

Motherhood is...

2007-08-24T20:44:00.000-06:00

literally trying not to pull your hair out the last week of summer.

I'm getting so tired of the whining, the fighting, the door slamming, the neck choking, the name calling, the yelling, all the "I want this!" at the grocery store, and that's just me, I won't get into what the kids do. Is it just me or does the last week of summer seem to DRAG. ON. FOREVER! I caught myself last week in the middle of my nightly prayer asking to "please fast forward time to Monday already, I don't want to go through this last week." Although we still have Saturday and Sunday to go, I think we are going to make it!

I think the first day of school, after Drew goes to afternoon Kindergarten and Ella goes down for a nap, I plan on just sitting on the couch for those three hours. Just sitting. No nothing. I'm going to enjoy the silence and the calming effect it has on me. So maybe for the first time since spring I can actually smile and greet my husband after coming home from work with sincerity and not vengeance since he helped create these ~~monsters~~ blessings in my life.

happy birthday SPENCER

2007-08-23T09:48:00.000-06:00

EIGHT years old...sigh...what a great kid he is. This is such an exciting year too. We did the whole day catering to Spencer. He got his most favorite breakfast (scrambled eggs and sausage), had lunch in IF after picking out a brand new bike and then we all went out to his favorite place to eat dinner, Wingers. We are planning his friends birthday party for next week when Alex will be able to be home.

OUCH!

2007-08-20T18:42:00.000-06:00

Does this wasp sting make my knee look fat?

It's right there on the inside of my knee cap. It itches so bad and it doesn't help that it's on the same knee with tendonitis. Wouldn't that be nice if that was the mirale drug?

Charmer

2007-08-20T12:31:00.000-06:00

Thursday we caught a snake in our neighbors drive way and let it go in the fields behind our other neighbors house. This afternoon the same kind of snake showed up again in our drive way. Each time I forgot to get my camera. It was a bull snake, which is harmless, but very entertaining for the kids. We went farther behind our neighbors house in the field and let it go.

This picture is not the snake we caught today. We caught this snake last year at my sister's house in UT. Just wanted to show Stacy what it looked like. ;)

100 (okay 112 116) things about Kris Just read it...

2007-08-19T17:12:00.000-06:00

Simmer down, I've always wanted to do this list and this week has been a rather boring week for the kiddos. I typed up this little list just for all of you. Now you can sit numbingly in your chair staring at the computer screen with drool hanging out of your mouth from sheer boredom. Just think though, now you know ~~112~~ ~~116~~ 130 more things about me that has now filled that part of your brain where reason and logic is supposed to go. Happy reading!

1. I was born in Las Vegas.
2. Yep, seventeen years there.
3. I left for college at seventeen.
4. And never returned.
5. Sometimes I miss being in my home town.
6. I still have many family and friends there.
7. I'm 29.
8. I'm not afraid of heights.
9. But I won't go cliff jumping because I can't see the bottom.
10. I'm terrified of cockroaches.
11. One walked across my arm in the middle of the night, when I was little, which woke me up... yeah... yuck!
12. I like Idaho because they don't have roaches here.
13. I have a twin sister.
14. We look nothing alike.
15. But when we were little people got us confused.
16. I have two boys and a girl.
17. My twin has two girls and a boy.
18. I've be married for ten years.
19. Gosh I'm getting old.
20. My sister took a pen to my face when we were little.
21. My parents saw nothing wrong with this.
22. I have the scar to prove it.
23. We are the 4th and 5th of 6 children and I think all they cared at that point was that we were still alive by the end of each day.
24. In high school my sister and I shared a three tone bronco.
25. It was three tone because our older sister rolled it in college.
26. My Dad patched it back together with spared parts from the junk yard.
27. I was extremely embarrassed about it.
28. Now I think it was the raddest car ever!
29. Thanks Dad.
30. I acknowledge playing volleyball and soccer all through out my high school years.
31. I only played softball all four years because my older sister played and once I got sucked in, I couldn't leave because the coach scared me.
32. She liked girls.
33. I had no cohones to leave and therefore she got to see me in tight sliding shorts for four years. I know, I'm a loser.
34. The team got to meet her girlfriend my junior year.
35. I try very hard to erase those years from my brain.
36. I had my first kiss my freshman year in college.
37. It was unforgettable.
38. I still get to kiss that man every night.
39. In college when people found out where I was from, they frequently asked if I've ever been to The Strip?
40. Do you know how annoying that got?
41. Kids in college would take their breaks and go to to Vegas for fun.
42. I stayed at college during the breaks... yup, loser.
43. My Mom's sister has fraternal twin girls.
44. My Dad's sister has identical twin girls.
45. I've always wanted twins.
46. You'd think I would have had a chance to have twins.
47. Yes, after three kids I would still love to have twins.
48. Did I mention we are done having kids?
49. Alex and I are both semi-middle children.
50. I'm a dog person.
51. Alex is a dog and cat person.
52. We used to have two dogs and one cat.
53. We now have two dogs.
54. I let her out one day and never saw her again.
55. Alex has yet to believe my story.
56. I love driving in the snow.
57. I don't love driving in the rain.
58. I hydro-planed once in the rain.
59. Scared the poop out of me.
60. Alex is my best friend in the world.
61. I don't trust easily.
62. I laugh when I'm teased, but deep down, it sucks.
63. I love chapstick.
64. I have about 5 chapsticks all over the house and in my car.
65. I put chapstick on about 50 times a day.
66. And then kiss Alex.
67. He hates it.
68. All my clothes in my closet face left.
69. I've never thrown a punch in my life.
70. But I really want to.
71. I LOVE the dentist.
72. Alex thinks I'm weird because I prefer the numbing shot with no gas.
73. I LOVE the numbing shot.
74. I know...loser.
75. I want to learn to blow glass one day.
76. I also want to learn to make pottery.
77. When it comes to art and scrapbook stuff, I'm very detail oriented.
78. My house is not.
79. Alex would like it to be.
80. Like I said, it's not.
81. I became a runner after my second child was born.
82. I got really good until we were surprised with our third child.
83. I hated running pregnant, so I stopped.
84. I'm back into it and I'm training for my first Marathon.
85. It's in St. George and I'm going to freakin rock.
86. Did I mention I'm a slow runner?
87. I hope to finish just under the max allotted time allowed.
88. That means I'll be crossing that finish line in 5 hours and 57 minutes BABY!
89. I'm giving myself three minutes to spare.
90. Because I'm nice like that.
91. Seriously, I've always wanted to run a marathon, so I'm doing it.
92. I'm pretty sure this will be my one and only marathon.
93. My heart is set on triathlons.
94. The whole one sport thing is driving me crazy.
95. I thank my parents for instilling that drive in me to pursue three sports during high school.
96. I don't like being late.
97. I don't like it when other people are late either.
98. Have some respect people.
99. I don't like slow drivers.
100. It's not Sunday and you're not walking your dog. You're on the freaking highway doing 35mph!
101. Thanks Dad, for letting me watch those Indy races growing up.
102. I don't like tailgaters and people who leave their high beams on.
103. My brother doesn't like it either and decided to put high beam lamps on his bumper facing the car behind him, so when he was blinded in the rear-view mirror, he flipped the switch and blinded the car behind him.
104. I grew up with my brothers listening to rap.
105. And my oldest sister listening to country.
106. Back then I preferred rap.
107. Now I prefer silence.
108. I'm a total list maker.
109. I need things in order and clutter free.
110. If you saw my house right now, you'd call me a liar.
111. I'm super organized in my head, and have yet to bring it to life.
112. I tend to get carried away with lists like this.

addition...

113. My boys just started using the word 'nuts'.
114. They're boys, think about it.
115. Yep, I should have one classy little girl growing up with these two.
116. She'll turn out just like me. :)

update...

117. I just finished my first marathon BABY!
118. I crossed the line in 4:45.
119. It was hard as h-e-double hockey sticks.
120. The most frustrating part was taking 2 honey bucket stops.
121. I did not like waiting in line.
122. I kept imagining my finish time flying over the mountains.
123. Before running this I told everybody it will be my one and only.
124. I'm going to do it again next year.
125. Because I enjoy killing myself.
126. But I'm not going to run St. George.
127. I'm going to run my local marathon.
128. Because I like my sleep.
129. In the end I was very happy I finished what I set out to accomplish.
130. And then I seriously wanted to chop my legs off.

THE END

"They were bothering my eyes, Mom"

2007-08-17T16:54:00.000-06:00

before

after

Drew thought he needed a hair cut, so he chopped off his bangs. I'll have to give it to him, they were hanging in his eyes and I neglected to trim his hair for a few weeks. Glad he could be assertive and at least try to do it himself. ;)

hot springs

2007-08-13T12:55:00.000-06:00

We all went to some hot springs for my nieces birthday party Saturday. The kids loved it and Ella didn't want to get out. She is becoming quite the fish! The kids played hard and then slept hard on the way home.

Happy 2nd Birthday Anna!

Ella 'calming down' after getting out of the pool.

The boys getting their second coating of sun screen.

Ella enjoying her cake.

The boys couldn't get enough of this slide. After Alex and I went with them a couple times they wanted to go themselves... alone. It took me a while to relax.

Quote of the day... Drew: "That wasn't half bad. It was actually pretty sweet."

she lives in lala land

2007-08-05T21:18:00.000-06:00

Ella told me she was cold....... and that she also wanted to ride a horse.

hangin' out

2007-08-05T09:17:00.000-06:00

The baptism was so sweet. Sydney looked very pretty in her new dress that Grandma sent to her from the Philippines. I don't have any pictures of Sydney because she didn't feel good and went in to rest by the time I remembered to bring out my camera. These pictures are of us girls just hanging out in the yard after lunch. It was so fun to have Mindy and Kim here. I had a great time with them and will miss them so much.

Precious.

I love Mindy's smile in this one. So happy.

They were so cute together.

Carli bug.

Ella wanting camera time, but I love Chloe's face in this one.

I tried so hard to get both their faces but Chloe was much more interested in the girls playing.

AAhhhh.

refreshing

2007-08-05T09:04:00.000-06:00

This weekend Alex's sisters. Mindy and Kim, came into town for Sydney's baptism. Friday we went to the lake for some cooling off and some much needed sun for me.

She

2007-07-31T18:03:00.000-06:00

has got to be one of the cutest things I have ever laid eyes on. Oh how I long for her to stay like this forever.

my daddy is my favorite pal...

2007-07-28T15:18:00.000-06:00

Wishing my husband a very grand birthday today! He truly is the life of our family. We love you so!

Today Alex competed in a duathlon this weekend. He placed first in his age group. A rather fantastic feat, on his birthday as well, for someone who took up serious running and coupled it with road biking only a few months ago. Congrats dear! Happy Birthday!

Have you seen....

2007-07-19T22:12:00.000-06:00

Today I cleaned under my stove. I was sweeping and could tell there were more tiny treasures under there so I removed the bottom drawer to get better access to the loot. I was shocked at what I found.

I found...

-a little girls sandal
-a pacifier
-a little girls sock
-a little girls barrette
-a whole stack of baby wipes
-a few dust bunnies
-a duck head magnet that goes to a little girls magnet farm that is on the dishwasher
-a few of the boys Lego's
-did I mention a whole stack of wipes? I mean a WHOLE STACK of wipes!

I kind of have this feeling of how they got there. At least she hasn't figured out that she can put them in the toilet yet! I hope she NEVER figures that one out!

animals...

2007-07-18T17:27:00.000-06:00

dog named Sonic

dog named Lilian

horse named Mary

caterpillar named Gelba

fish named Ella

Happy Independence Day

2007-07-09T10:02:00.000-06:00

It was a nice and relaxing day for us. Lots of friends and good food. Alex smoked a Boston Butt and some ribs. They were delicious!! They kids hung out until the bike parade and then we went up to our neighbors balcony and watched the fireworks. Like I said, nice and relaxing.

First fourth of July casualty. Ella took to the drive way a little fast.

It was a HOT day, by evening all the kids had bright red cheeks.

Drew ready for the neighborhood bike parade.

This is just half the kids. They were waiting for the other kids from the next culdesac.

We hope you all had a nice and safe fourth!