The Christensens

Underwear Ninjas

2011-10-09T21:55:00.003-06:00

We are so very proud.

Riley's First Race

2011-10-09T21:24:00.003-06:00

Riley ran her first 5K this spring!!! The race was to benefit a group "families supporting adoption" that our friends belong to. They adopted the sweetest little boy a few months ago. Riley is my most exercise-prone kid. She likes to do yoga with me, if I'm doing a video she likes to join me, she asks to run with me... so I had visions of us training everyday after school - which only happened once- so I was surprised and PROUD that she ran all but about 1/2 mile of the 3.1 miles of the race. She just kept plugging along. the longest she stopped was at the end - the finish line was in a park and there were lots of people around, and the people who put on the race are friends in our ward, so when Josh said her name in the microphone Riley's shyness got the better of her and she refused to run anymore. There were friends at the finish clapping and yelling for her and it was all a little too much. But I couldn't let her run almost the whole race and not run across the finish line- so I was trying anything to get her to run and she was refusing, so I told her I'd take her to Target afterwards to get anything she wanted, so she ran the last 20 yards to finish the race! Thankfully the 'anything she wants' from Target ended up being a $11 Barbie make-up kit - whew!

2.5 miles and still going strong!

Proud girl at the end:)

Ragnar SoCal

2011-09-06T13:24:00.000-06:00

In April some friends and I ran Ragnar SoCal. We left the morning of my birthday so my cute friends showed up early in the morning to pick me up with cupcakes and happy birthday crowns that we wore all the way to California,

Nikki, Erin and Jarrie having healthy breakfast burritos at the airport after we had yummy cupcakes:)

On the plane.

The flight attendant had the whole plane sing me 'happy birthday' and made me this crown of pretzels. I felt so loved:)

at the start line. I was in van1 this year - so we got to get up super early - I can't remember our start time - I think it was 7 something. We started right on the beach in Huntington Beach. I was runner 2 so I got to wake up a little bit before I ran.

This is one of our 2 fearless van drivers - Amy. Stephanie was our other driver this year - they are awesome - we had huge 15 passenger vans this year so they were super brave to drive!!!

Funny van - it wasn't ours:)

The Biggest Loser had 2 teams in the race( we kicked both teams butts!) - so we got to take a picture with Sione and Jesse:)

I have to say Van 1 has the best times for breaks and the best weather for runs - early morning and later evening. Van 2 runs in the heat of the day and the middle of the night. But having run van 2 last year and Van1 this year I have to say I prefer van 2- for some reason it feels like there is less down time. Here we had bad Mexican for lunch then lounged around on the grass trying to sleep a little before run #2.

The Rose Gardens in Carlsbad

mileGetting ready to start my night run- after someone was killed on a night run in a Ragnar relay year you have to be lit up like the 4th of July from dusk to dawn - in a head lamp, reflective vest, blinking butt light. My mileage was this: run #1- 5 miles, run #2- 9 miles, run #3- 7.5 miles. So run #2 started at dusk, I felt awesome through the whole thing- except for miles 3-6 which were on a "horse trail"- it wasn't a trail so much as a rock garden - it was a miracle there weren't a ton of sprained ankles. I felt that I trained pretty hard for this race and was pretty happy with my runs.

The finish line on Coronado Island. it was so pretty- I loved being right by the beach most of the time. We got to hang out here for a long time. Then we headed to In-n-Out for some well deserved burgers:)

The next day we spent the day being tourists on Coronado Island - good times!

This is us "packing lightly" b/c we had to have all our luggage in the vans w/ us during the race

All of the Mind Over Mileage moms at the finish line - I think we look pretty good for being up for the last 32 hours:) We'll be doing this again next July in Seattle!!!

While it's a blast to get away with friends it's always good to come home:)

Happy Happy Birthday Max

2011-08-14T20:01:00.000-06:00

Max is now almost 5 1/2 - but my computers been broken & wouldn't stay on long enough to load pictures, so now I have a new computer and much catching up! Max turned 5 April 7, so here are some facts about Max:

Max is usually either smiling or sleeping. He will fall asleep anywhere, and often does on playdates. Once he fell asleep in his friends car with food in his mouth. I had a whole bunch of pictures of his random falling asleep but he and his little friend Gavin were taking pictures of them throwing cereal all over (a post for another day) and deleted the sleeping photos (but not the ones of their destruction!!!)

Max LOVES to play dress-up in his sisters dresses- but refuses to wear a pink helmet to ride a 4 wheeler!

He is a ladies man. At his last preschool parent conference the teacher told us the girls won't call on anybody until Max raises his had during sharing time. And if he's in the bathroom they will wait. You can already tell he has a preference for blondes, but a few brunettes have caught his attention:)

He is a crazy man, but still has a healthy dose of fear. He will jump from any height, drives a jet ski with abandon, and watch out when he's on his scooter!

Max is a great brother. He takes good care of Brody and is concerned about "my girls" as he used to call them:)

He loves to make people laugh. Anytime someone asks him a question you can see his wheels spinning, trying to come up with something funny to say.

We love you Max!!!

Spring in Colorado

2011-04-04T10:23:00.001-06:00

Just 24 hours before this picture was taken they were on the same grass, in their swimsuits running through the sprinkler in 80 degrees.

Ragnar SoCal pictures

2011-03-26T17:24:00.003-06:00

Several friends and I are running the Ragnar relay in Southern California in April, so we had a little fun with our team in a photo shoot - taken and photoshopped by our fabulous teammate Amy. Our team is Mind over Mileage (M.O.M.) so we thought we'd have fun with that -- The race starts in Huntington Beach and ends on Coronado Island. Our blog is www.mindovermileage.blogspot.com to see my other awesome teammates pictures. It's definitely worth the visit:)

The rest of Costa Rica

2011-03-14T21:22:00.019-06:00

So here is the rest of our time in Costa Rica. We drove around to several beaches and shopped a little ( and found the best headbands for boating !) on day 2. We shopped on this street and got stopped by a guy selling boating trips. He promised us a 6 hour trip, snorkeling, surfing (with a surfing guide - body boards for Darren and Cindy) a cooler full of drinks and fruit - an overall great time! So we met the boat the next day, it had 2 surfboards - no guide- 1 body board and a cooler with a bag of ice, a small pineapple cut up (which was REALLY good) and 4 warm water bottles. Even though it was not what we were promised we did have a really good time!!!this little girl was the cutest, chubbiest baby in her cute green bikini! We had to sneak a picture! I think this is the beach Ryan and I tried to surf(below) - White sand beach. It is soo pretty. We had to swim out from the boat to the shore, try to surf, and then battle the waves and swim back to the boat.I you look hard there is a sea turtle in this picture, kind of above center. So after the first 2 days we realized that the small tube of sunblock I had brought was not going to last the 4 of us, so we headed to the little gift shop at our hotel. It was really reasonably priced, it had cute t-shirts for $12, swimsuits for around $30, but sunblock - for all of us white North Americans, was $25.99!!! Definitely a supply and demand scenario!!!On the boat We had a bunch of dolphins come swim up around the boat, there were 10 or more. They stopped the boat and they were all around us! Super cool!

This is Witches head - from some angle it looks like a witches head, we didn't get a picture from that angle

Me and Cyndi having lunch before we left

This is Gorilla head rock, we snorkled around it, there were tons of colorful fish - it was pretty cool. There's a monkey up there!

Ryan thinking deep thoughts On our way back it was high tide so the captain took us up a river. Darren was super stressed out, he was sure the "crew" would make us get off the boat and leave us there - what was stopping them?!?! He was really funny - this is him worrying.

Our "crew". They were really cool! Our last day there we headed to "Playa Grande" or as we call it Beeg Beech. It was Georgous! It was really relaxing and rejuvinating. And as we left we noticed a little shack that was advertising surf lessons. oh well.

Our last morning, on our way to breakfast

Girls day

2011-03-02T11:31:00.003-07:00

Riley has recently decided she's in love with Justin Bieber (to which I roll my eyes!) So Saturday Riley, Emma and I went to see his movie. Emma was very opposed to going, as she is NOT in love w/ J.B., but Dad told her the only other option was to watch the BYU basketball game on TV w/ him and the boys, so she grumpily came along. Obviously by the end of the movie she was not so grumpy. She has been listening to his songs all week too. It was a cute movie - I admit I'm a fan now too:) Afterwards we hit Which Wich and Red Mango for lunch and dessert -- yum!!! I'm so glad I have girls so we can have days like this:) In not too many years the dates can be at the spa!!!

Famous!

2011-03-02T10:38:00.002-07:00

Last spring I was running on the Coal Creek Trail with some of my Ragnar Relay teammates and a woman stopped us and asked us to run down the hill we were currently running up so she could take our picture for a magazine - which turned out to be Sunset magazine (my favorite) - and our picture is in this months (March's) issue!!! I don't have a scanner so I took a picture w/my camera, so it's not the best. But if you get the magazine it's on page 26:) I am on the very right. How cool is that!!!

Costa R-R-Rica (Arriving, Zip slide, tubing, horseback riding)

2011-02-25T20:53:00.016-07:00

So last week Ryan and I left the kids w/ his parents, (thanks so much!!), met up with some good friends (Darren and Cyndi), and left the freezing temps in Colorado (really it was almost 60 the day we left, but it's been a cold winter) and flew to sunny Costa Rica! After a huge mishap at the airport where Cyndi almost didn't make the flight (no-thanks snowy Utah and a really rotten girl who works for Frontier Airlines!) we took off at midnight and arrived I think around 6 am in Costa Rica. I said I think b/c all time ceased to matter once we were in the air:) Once we landed and went through customs we picked up our rental car (took 2 hours) and had breakfast at Dennys (for $60!) Then we got on the road for a 4 hour drive to the resort we stayed at - ugh. But we got to see the country a bit. When all was said and done Cyndi had travelled for 24 hours straight (and the rest of us were closer to 18). This is Liberia, about 15 minutes from where we stayed. All the comforts of home:) And this is the view from the reception desk. Our little bungalow rooms were to the right of this picture.We took our stuff to our rooms where this little guy greeted us, we saw him lots. Then we met up at the bar for lunch, apparently $60 at Dennys doesn't last more than 4 hours:) Check out the guy "throwing out the vibe" behind Ryan. That's really why we took this picture - (we're not that mature:) But the swimwear of choice for most of the older men was speedos. kind of gross! To the right of Ryan was a little sitting section that looked at the ocean. and to the left was the pool. None of us got in the pool once, it was all ocean baby!After a much needed GREAT night's sleep, we headed an hour and a half away to Adventure Tours where we were going horseback riding, zip lining and tubing down a river. BEST DAY EVER! We got stopped by a little cattle drive on our way. Notice the GPS on the windshield? totally saved us!!! We first went horseback riding to here. The horses were super mellow, almost to a fault. But Darren was still very nervous, he does not love animals:)
This is what was behind us in the above picture:
We could have swam (or swimmed or swum?) in it, but we were confused and didn't wear our suits for this part of it. Next was tubing , which we did wear our suits for - soooo fun!

Cyndi:
Me: Ryan and Darren:
After lunch (I swear Costa Rica has THE best Coke EVER! I became readdicted on vacation) we went on a zipline tour. Here we are getting instructions. Don't we all look HOT in our gear?!
I think Ryan and Darren have little man crushes on each other - thanks to their shared passion for BYU sports!Ryan taking the plunge - to what feels like death the first time you go! Darren had this concerned look on most of our "adventures":) - although he said he had a good time!
As part of the zipline we had the option to "rappel" down into the canyon (actuall they kind of dropped us, but only about 75 feet), swing across the river, and climb back up the side of the canyon wall, so we did it:)
This is Ryan about to drop:

The wall we climbed back up:

Then we had to go sideways over to the next platform.

In the end, the zipline was my favorite b/c it was a HUGE adrenaline rush, I was shaking the whole time! After this we tried to find the hot springs and mud baths, but they were under- impressive so we headed back to our resort and sat by the ocean and read:) Like I said, BEST DAY EVER! (until the next day:))

Parade of Lights

2011-02-25T20:24:00.003-07:00

Every year we talk about going to the Parade of Lights in Denver and every year it's way too cold, and we chicken out. But this year it was really warm the day of the parade so we decided to suck it up and go. We grabbed some friends (the Ley's and the Pearts) and packed our blankets and cookies, stopped at chick fil a for dinner and we were off! The kids thought it was pretty cool, I'm glad we finally got to go:) We only had to walk about 15 minutes from where we parked, but I think it really pooped the kids out!

He is DEFINITELY 2! (and we love him)!

2011-02-13T09:50:00.004-07:00

So Brody turned 2 the day after Riley turned 7, and boy is he a 2 year old!!! We cannot turn our backs on him for a second - he loves to move chairs around to get whatever thing we have tried to put out of his reach (usually candy or soap), Brody is always laughing, even when he throws a fit it's not long before he's smiling again. He knows what he wants and has a one track mind until he gets it. He LOVES basketball, and is always asking to "go down to the ba'ment and p'ay baketball". He loves anything to do with a ball and running, and is pretty good at whatever he plays. He is a lover, always giving hugs and kisses. When he gets hurt he comes up to me and says "kiss it" and then whatever was wrong is all better. Even the days that the kids are fighting, nobody fights with Brody, I think it's impossible. He is a sweet boy and we are so glad he's ours:)

We love this 7 year old!!!

2011-01-29T14:58:00.009-07:00

Riley always seems to get a late birthday post, most likely because she was born just before the holidays:) Luckily Riley is a great sport about things! Riley has always been such a sweet girl. She never had the terrible 2's, 3's or 4's. Well, when she turned 4 she got a little defiant and that's about the age she discovered she could fight with Emma - but overall I would say Riley is our peacmaker:) She has always been tough. When she was just about 2, her cousin was trying to push Emma off of a scooter and Riley ran over and started defending Emma, hitting and pushing Cloe off of her sister. Riley likes to please people and make them happy. She used to be so shy, she would walk into the doorway of a room w/ people and just stop and refuse to go into the room. She has worked really hard to overcome this and has turned into a pretty friendly little girl. She talked really well at a really early age, the video at the end is my FAVORITE video of Riley - and we have a lot of pretty cute footage of her:)

Cuddles

2010-12-13T23:28:00.002-07:00

When we got back from our trip we went to Boulder Humane Society and got cuddles. Riley has been working really hard keeping her room clean to show she is responsible enough to take care of a dog. Riley named her Cuddles, b/c she is super cuddly:) She is a really good dog, housetrained and sweet. She likes to sneak up at night after the kids are in bed, into the kids rooms and snuggle with them while they sleep, until Ryan or I find her and put her in her crate. She is really great with the kids, but I think Brody is her favorite. He definitely loves her. He'll go out in the back yard with her and sit her in his lap and play with her. Our neighbor says she stands at her window and watches them b/c it's so cute to watch:)

LegoLand

2010-12-13T23:02:00.005-07:00

Max is a roller coaster junkie!!!

This ride made him a little nervous at the start:)

Brody was too little to ride on all but 2 rides in LegoLand, less than DisneyLand!!! We spent a lot of time waiting for the big kids to ride their rides.

Brody was even too small for this ride!

This was right as we walked into the park, Max was in heaven.

While we were here making race cars out of legos, I ran into a friend from my best/worst class at BYU. It was really fun to see her - small world:)

We drove by the temple several times, and each time made the kids look. They got pretty annoyed:) we finally stopped to take a picture, but it was night and since the only camera we had was the camcorder, this is what we got. You can kind of see Ryan's and some of the kids silhouette.

The next day we went home. We had the best time, the weather was PERFECT! It was warm but not hot, perfect for the beach and the parks:)

We flew out of L.A. so we tried to drive up Pacific Coast Hwy, which I pictured as a scenic drive right next to the ocean, but really it's a slow moving drive from town to town. So we ended up back on the freeway the rest of the way to the airport:)

Sunday - the day of rest (and more beach):)

2010-12-13T22:39:00.004-07:00

We spent the day on a few beaches, first in La Jolla, then at seal beach in La Jolla, then on to Coronado to yet another beach. I'm sad that my camera broke the first day, these pictures are from the camcorder, and most are pretty fuzzy.

Brody still wouldn't go in the water, but he loved chasing the birds and growling at them

Riley knew how to build a sandcastle b/c she saw an episode on Max and Ruby once :) So she gave everybody directions and this is the result

Max likes to just put letters together and ask what they spell, this time he actually spelled a word!!!

It's exhausting having this much fun:)

Sea World and Halloween

2010-12-13T22:17:00.005-07:00

The view from our ghetto hotel room in Anaheim. It was the nastiest place, only about a mile from DisneyLand - a HUGE step down from the Hyatt Resort. Next time we'll just stay on the Disney resort:)

Saturday morning we set out for San Diego and Sea World. After the beach this is Ryan's and my favorite place in California.

The boys both catching a ride

All the kids (including Ryan) LOVE this ride (I don't remember what it's called, something with Pharoah). I refused to go on it the last 2 times we've been to Sea World so this time I finally went on it- and liked it too:)

Riley was the only one who was brave enough to pet the animals after the show:)

Max and Ryan were the only ones brave enough for this ride - they got SOAKED!!! There was a walk in dryer to warm up and dry off a little.

They had trick or treating at Sea World, but the lines were worse than "Boo @ the Zoo" so we convinced the kids to skip it and we got some candy for them @ Target (a 2 story Target that had TONS of stuff - it was kind of heavenly:)) So the kids trick-or-treated at our hotel room door and the bathroom door. It was good enough for them:)

Days 2 & 3 - Disneyland & California Adventure!!!

2010-11-13T20:41:00.003-07:00

The view from the first hotel we stayed in - a Hyatt

Disneyland!!! All day long Max was excited to go on the Indiana Jones ride, so when we finally got to it, he was too short!

SoCal Trip Day 1

2010-11-13T17:00:00.006-07:00

Ryan had a conference in Southern California the end of October, so we decided to make a family vacation out of it. Ryan had to leave Sunday and the kids and I flew out Tuesday. Ryan was worried about me flying alone with the kids, but I was worried more about driving alone in LA traffic. Both were great. The girls sat behind me and the boys and entertained themselves on the flight, and Max and Brody were really great. Here we all are at the airport waiting for our flight.The first full day we were there Ryan still had classes, so we walked over the overpass to the beach and played. We thought it would be a little chilly so we didn't wear our swimsuits.Brody was not impressed with the cold water- but he had a really good time playing in the sand.We decided 80 degrees was warm enough so the kids went and got their suits on. Later that night we walked down the beach with Ryan.

Ryan had a dinner that night so we got some dinner then went home and practiced our face painting for halloween. I let my camera get wet at the beach and it stopped working so all the rest of the pictures are taken with our video camer, so they are not so great. Feeding the koi

Happy Birthday Old Man!!!!

2010-10-15T14:47:00.001-06:00

I'm so glad I get to grow old with you!!!

Mom, this is how sharks smile!

2010-10-14T11:09:00.002-06:00

Our last Day in NYC

2010-10-08T13:43:00.006-06:00

On our last day we truly did get up "early" so we could go exchange Jarrie's purse in the shady shop on Canal Street:) We had talked about getting up early and going to the Today show, but didn't want to get up THAT early. So we got up a little after 7 (we had giggled well into the night so we didn't get up too early) and turned on the Today Show while we got ready. And who is on the screen, outside right where we would have been had we not been lazy, shaking hands with people who should have been us?! BEN AFFLECK!!! I was just not meant to meet any celebrities this trip - it'll have to happen on my next trip to NYC:) So we headed down to Canal Street, nervous that the guy would at least not exchange the bag and at worst shoot us (maybe we watch too many crime shows!) So our plan was to use our friend Jen's tactics, walk in there and act like he has no choice but exchange the bag. So Nikki and Jarrie walked in and did just that, so Jarrie has the purse of her dreams:) I should have taken a picture of the bag - it is super cute!!!
I don't even remember if we had breakfast! But I do remember next we headed over to St. Patricks Cathedral because Nikki has a tradition that she goes and lights a candle there every time she's in New York (even tho she's not Catholic:)) So we all lit candles and took pictures, it's such a beautiful building!

Then it just so happened that there was ANOTHER H&M store we needed to check out (they are like Walgreens here in Colorado - several on each block). This one was much more organized so we found much more to buy:) Then Jarrie had been wanting a good gyros so we stopped and got a few from the street vendor.
Here we are "enjoying" our gyros - they weren't the best we've ever had - the secret's in the sauce and this guy didn't know the secret!!! But it was decent.In Times Square they were doing some sort of "save the earth" thing with lots and lots of plastic bags. This is the 'bag monster'.This is our last picture of Times Square :(A picture of each of us in the cab going to the airport. All of the pictures are blurry b/c as I said before, it's an amusement park ride in a NYC cab!All smiles at the airport - at least it's not 5 am this time:)Our last picture of NYC. Notice the rain, this will be important to understand the next picture...What we look like after 2+ hours sitting on the airplane because they couldn't take off in the rain. (I swear I have taken off in worse weather at DIA)

Now just a few words about the fashion in NYC. It is really interesting. Most guys don't wear the jeans & T-shirt common in Colorado, they seem to be a little more "Metro", wearing button down shirts and nice jeans or pants. We saw very few guys in T-shirts. These 2 pictures were just too good to not take a picture:) But the fashion for the girls was really just anything goes. There were very few "put together" outfits. A lot of nice shirts with sweats or odd combinations like that. So all my worrying about not being "high fashion" enough was not necessary - something good to remember for next time:)!

I'm a little sad that the remembering is over, it was the BEST trip. I think we got to do so much in the few days we were there, and there is SO MUCH more to do and see!!! I kept saying that I could definately live there, but at the same time I love my life in Colorado and wouldn't really change it for anything! Time goes so fast, I can't believe it's been a month since we got back. It will probably be several years until I realistically get to do something like this again, but I had such a good time with the girls - hopefully this wasn't our last trip together to NYC!!!

NYC Day 4

2010-10-08T12:19:00.005-06:00

A day by day recap might be getting a little old for all 10 of you who read this blog, but I don't want to forget anything and this is the closest thing I have to a journal- so on to day 4! Sunday we slept in -again- and then hopped on the tour bus for a ride around central park and the Bronx. We didn't take as many pictures on day 4, but we still have stories to tell!

It is so much quieter and less crowded by central park than by times square. They even have signs saying "no honking" Next time we'll stay closer to the park:) Nicole - who spent Saturday with us- brought her kids to central park one Saturday and they "park hopped" to all the playgrounds within central park. So fun! Since it was Sunday we got a little religion in by riding past the church/Manhattan temple:)

this tower has been unfinished for over 100 years - and Ryan thinks it takes me forever to finish projects!!!

Schools don't look the same in NYC as they do in Colorado

I think this is Grant's tomb? Well, whoever it is he was Jarrie's 5 greats grandpa, so we had to get a geneology picture for her!

All weekend long we were trying to get a picture of a bum for Jarrie's son Kaden- so he could see what a real one looks like so he'll like to go to school.

So we got off the tour at Carnegie Deli and had a late breakfast (pretty yummy!) And caught another bus. This tour guide told us that Canal Street was the best place to get "faux" purses, so we headed there. He told us to look for the guys with the white hats - we could trust them when they told us to follow us down a dark alley. So we got off there along with a couple from California to search for the men in the white hats. We couldn't find them, but we did meet up with the couple from California again, who were following a man to get some "coach" wallets, so we followed too:) We ended up in a back room of a little shop looking through purses, with a guy telling us to hurry up, trying to pick out a purse. It was crazy and fun! We all got a cool "faux coach" purse - the closest I'll probably get to owning a real one:) Once we got back to the hotel and got to really look at the purses, Jarrie realized that a grommet piece was missing from hers. It bugged her all night. We went to Century 21 and got some great deals on some cute clothes (we need one here!!!), then because of the rain we didn't go and see the Statue of Liberty like we planned, but got on the subway (which we are professionals at maneuvering now!) and headed back to the hotel.This is on our way to Juniors to eat and then see Billie Elliott. We picked up umbrellas for $2.50. It looked like it was raining hard, but it was really just kind of misting. In NYC when it rains it doesn't smell clean and fresh, it smells like garbage - literally- the bags are all piled up on the sidewalks.At Juniors they gave us pickles, pickled beets and coleslaw for appetizers, like they give out chips and salsa at mexican restaurants. We stood in line in Times Square for 1/2 price broadway show tickets and ended up getting tickets for Billie Elliot. So from dinner we headed to the theater a lot less dressed up than for Wicked, and saw the play (which is coming to Denver!!!) It's a show that Elton John wrote the music for it's set in England. It's hard to say which show I liked better - I think any broadway show is my favorite! I would recommend it to most people - it does have a little language but with their accents it doesn't seem like swearing:) So when we got back to the hotel Jarrie's defective purse was still on her mind, so we made the plan to get up early in the morning and head back to Canal St. and find the little store and exchange her purse!

Day Three

2010-09-26T08:24:00.004-06:00

So day three (Saturday) was another great day!!! We planned to get up @ 7, but really got up about 9, and walked the mile from our hotel to central park. We passed the David Letterman sign so I had to be tourist and take a picture:) Here we are all fresh at the entrance to central park. We ran 5 miles - Nikki's farthest outside:) There was a race going on so we had plenty of water stops:) After our run we stopped to stretch and had to take a picture of this guy - He apparently had a really fun Friday night - he was out cold!!!Then it was back to the hotel to get ready and meet Nikki's friend Nicole, who moved from Colorado to New Jersey last spring. Here are Nikki and Nicole in Little Italy (did I mention we got the best cannoli's there:)) We went to lunch at a place called 5 Napkin Burger - I had a vegetarian burger made of beets, pine nuts, and any other veggie you can think of - it was soooooo good!!!Then we hopped on the red tourist bus that let's you hop on and off all over the city and saw some sights.

The New Years Eve ball in times Square - It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be! I love this building - the Flatiron Building.

We stopped and got out near Little Italy and shopped around, then had to walk through Chinatown to catch the bus again. THAT was an experience. Dirty, noisy, crowded (even more than a normal NYC sidewalk!!!)

BUT.. Because of our jaunt through Chinatown we came upon this! Jill Zarin (of the New York Housewives fame) Fabric shop!!! I was really hoping to see any of the ladies from the NY or NJ houswives, but this is as close as we got:) It's good enough for me (this time around)!

What show is this from???

We topped our night off by stopping at the Magnolia bakery (again) for cupcakes and then walking Nicole to the train station, but we didn't want to deal with the crowds of times squre so we walked a block over. What a difference a block makes!!! We were a little scared for our safety, and on the way back we just dealt with the crowds. But not before we stopped at a popcorn shop my friend Lynette told me about with the yummiest popcorn! It's on one of Oprah's lists and we got the Chicago blend (Oprah's favorite) which was yummy cheesy popcorn mixed with yummy carmel corn. I don't like Oprah AT ALL but I must say she does have good popcorn taste! It was funny, the kid at the counter told us he could tell we weren't New Yorkers because we were too happy! (give me a few days @ home with crabby kids and I could be mistaken for a New Yorker:))!!! It was another fabulous day in New York!!! (Only 2 days left!!!)

and even more NEW YORK!!!

2010-09-22T04:04:00.003-06:00

Right after getting pretty we decided to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. The girl who did our makeup said we had to eat at Ignacios for pizza and we HAD to go to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. It was SOOOO worth the walk:) Some views from our walk of the Brooklyn Bridge: Pier 17 - where they shot Real World NY

I love that city!!!

The girl was right - it was THE YUMMIEST pizza!!! I have to say, the food was almost my favorite part of the trip:) (the "coach" purse buying on Canal street I think was my #1 favorite part!)

even more NEW YORK!!!

2010-09-21T02:45:00.009-06:00

From Greenwich village we took the subway to ground zero. We were a little nervous, but we were pretty successful - we didn't get on the wrong train or anything!

Jarrie buying her first subway ticket!
Getting on the subway train!
We got off of the subway at ground zero.This was a huge plaque that dipicted the attack on the world trade centers. It's a little haunting, it shows the firefighters and police and the towers smoking.So this is a fire station right across the street from ground zero. The firefighter in the middle was on duty on Sept. 11So after some solemn time we stopped by sephora just down the street. It was "fashion's night out" and this particular one was doing this airbrush makeup thing. It felt so good - very relaxing. Here we are in all our airbrushed makeup prettiness! Doesn't Nikki look great w/ red lips!!!

More NEW YORK!!!

2010-09-21T01:05:00.005-06:00

So day 2 was maybe my favorite day of the trip. It started off with sleeping in until 9 - it was wonderful!!! Then we headed down to a walking food tour of Greenwich Village. Here are Jarrie and me waiting to eat lots of yummy food!Our first stop was the Famous Joe's Pizza (like the sign says:)) for some New York style pizza, which is now my favorite pizza! (We ate it twice that day!)Next were some rice balls - pretty darn good! Then we hit this Japanese restaurant that is completely vegetarian. This is us, waiting outside of it.

So here is what we ate there. The "meat" is made of gluten! It was pretty good, you couldn't even tell it wasn't real meat!

Does this building look familiar? It's the outside shot they used in Friends for their apartment building

The cannoli was supposed to be the best, but Saturday I had a better one in Little Italy.

This is so pretty! It is a little courtyard behind a restaurant - it's so pretty and unexpected:)

At that restaurant we had the yummiest cauliflower dish - all I remember that was in it was pinenuts and currants. It sounded so gross when they described it, but it was soo good. And it was Nikki's first time eating cauliflour -- ever!!!

I guess the rest wasn't picture worthy, but we had yummy cookies and a bunch of different cheeses, and saw some fun buildings and such. This is the narrowest building on Manhattan. It's something like 7 feet wide.

NEW YORK!!!

2010-09-20T23:48:00.003-06:00

So I have the best husband in the world and went to NYC with some friends for 5 days last weekend. Being from a tiny town in Montana I have always wanted to go there, but Ryan has no desire. So my friend Jarrie (who has also always wanted to go) and our friend Nikki (who has been) made the plans in April. I will probably have too many details in this, so sorry, I just want to remember it all:) Our flight left @ 7am, (this picture is right before we boarded - don't we look bright eyed!) We didn't want to waste a day travelling so we got the earliest flight we could.

We did feel welcomed to NY, what with all the people rushing past us, not caring if they run into you, the cab drivers hustling you, it was all so - bustling:) Instead of standing in the cab line a woman came up and said she'd drive us to our hotel (the Westin in Times Square) for $45. She was a fast talker and we were not sure we could trust her, so she says "wait here I'll find another person" so she took off, and we were about to just get in the cab line (45min. wait) and she grabbed us, "come with me". So we followed her and the other passenger (who happened to be Christian Siriano's assistant - the winner of project runway) she was rushing to get to his show (we got to NY at the end of fashion week). So all I can say about the drivers in NYC is -- I've found my people! It's like a roller coaster ride. There are soo many cars on the street, they all drive so fast and stop so fast - the lines on the roads are just ignored, as are traffic lights:) Nikki's husband told her that cars have the right of way in NYC - and it's so true!

We got to our hotel and asked the concierge where we should get some lunch (which is how we found most of the places we ate and they were all fabulous!!!) so we walked through times square to get to the diner. Then we hit H&M for some shopping - it was the crazy busiest store I've ever seen! Our last day we went to another one that was not so busy and found lots more stuff to buy! Then it was time to get ready to go see Wicked - it was sooo great!!! I could see a broadway show every night!

After the show we walked past the place where the actors came out. This guy played Fiyero, the handsome prince/Elphaba's love interest. So, being that it was fashion week, the city was crawling with celebrities. I was so sure I'd at the very least see Bethanny from NY Housewives, but this is the closest we got to celebrity:(

First Day of School 2010

2010-09-16T20:26:00.005-06:00

School has been in for about a month now and I'm just posting the pictures - pretty typical!!! The kids were all excited for school to start, but Emma was not excited about having her picture taken. She was crossing her arms, scowling and rolling her eyes and saying "'I'm not going to". Luckily she smiled at the last minute for the camera:) I thought I would have so much time this summer to sit by the pool and do fun things with the kids and just enjoy it. We did not really get to do that, so then I thought we'd slow down once school started - wrong again:) I think I am coming to terms with the fact that we are out of the "slow" stage of life and into the busy one- and all I can do is hang on and enjoy the ride ! :)

Georgetown to Idaho Springs 1/2 Marathon

2010-08-18T09:05:00.004-06:00

A bunch of M.O.M teammates and I (and a few honorary mom hubby's) ran the Georgetown to Idaho springs half marathon last weekend. It was SO much fun:) Georgetown is a little mining town about an hour into the mountains from home, so at 545 am we rolled out. Ryan had taken the boys and his dad to the ward father-son campout and the girls stayed the night with grandma. It was really strange to be in the house alone, I did not sleep well:) But, once we got the the race the adrenaline was pumping! At the start they had about 10 porta potties for about 3500 people, so after waiting in line for 45 minutes we got to the start just a few minutes before the gun went off. Some of our teammates were still in line! The race felt really good, I was a few minutes faster than my time last year. The elevation starts about 8500 ft. and ends about 7500 ft. It's such a pretty run - along Clear Creek most of the way. I was really sore for a few days after, so I feel like I gave it my best. I think it's a race I could make a tradition of:)

Here we are in line for 45 minutes:) At the end we were all tired but feeling good:)

She's 9!

2010-08-01T23:32:00.006-06:00

Emma celebrated her 9th birthday a few weeks ago - does that make us in the tween stage? (it sure feels like the teen stage most days!!!) We had a marathon few weeks. She started a few Saturdays before her birthday - we hit the lake with Ryan's family where she tried waterskiing for the first time - and she got up on her first try!!! Sadly we didn't get any pictures, but it was awesome:) Then a few days before her official birthday Emma had a birthday party with her friends, with a movie/ popcorn theme with a bunch of different kinds of popcorn & Ryan projected a movie on the fence. The night before her birthday we went to Panda Express to get Emma's favorite orange chicken. Then we spent Saturday celebrating with Aunt Heidi and Cousin Cloe. Saturday night we dropped the other 3 kids off at babysitting co-op and Emma, Ryan and I went to Cheesecake Factory - where we all ate too much:) Here are some pictures of Emma's birthdays through the years - what a cutie!!! I'm so glad you were my first baby - You are a joy to have around - you're spunky, helpful, thoughtful, and fun to be around - We love you!!!

Emma celebrated her 9th birthday a few weeks ago - does that mean we're in the tween stage? Emma celebrated by hitting the lake with Ryan's family a few Saturdays before her birthday and trying waterskiing for the first time - and she got up on her first try! I didn't get any pictures b/c I was on the back of the jet ski holding the rope holding her in one hand and the orange flag in the other. But it was awesome!!! Then she had a birthday party with some of her friends, with a popcorn theme with a bunch of different kinds of carmel corn and popcorn and a movie projected on the fence. Then, the day before her birthday we went out to eat as a family to get orange chicken at Panda Express (per Emma's request) and Saturday spent the day celebrating with Aunt Heidi and cousin Cloe. Saturday night we dropped the other 3 kids off at babysitting co-op and Ryan, Emma and I went to the Cheesecake factory, where we splurged and each got our own piece of cheesecake YUM!!!

Here are some pictures of Emma's birthdays through the years - she's such a cutie:) I am so thankful to have her as my first baby - Emma, you are such a joy to have, you're spunky, helpful, thoughtful and fun to be around. I love you!!

Trip to Montana!

2010-08-01T19:22:00.012-06:00

After the Ragnar race we headed up to good ol' Montana:) We haven't been there since I was just barely pregnant with Brody, so the kids didn't remember too much about it, especially Max.

I was really bad about remembering to take pictures, but here is what I got:) We stopped in Rexburg on our way and had lunch with my sister Amy and her 4 kids. You'd think I could have taken a picture of that! But I didn't.

This sign cracks me up. Stevensville has about 2000 people in it, there is 1 stoplight (which wasn't there when I was growing up) 1 4-waystop, and 1 wrong way street in Stevensville - and I'm not sure that there is any reason this street is 1 way, the street is about 75 yards long:) I love my hometown!!! This picture is just to remind me how close the mountains are in Stevi. They are literally right out the back door. They are so pretty too. I miss having mountains so close. I don't love having to drive at least 30 minutes to get to the mountains here in Colorado.Here everyone is waiting for our food at a gourmet hamburger shop in Stevi. We ate out A LOT (I was on vacation!) and we spent a lot of time waiting, there were a lot of us to serve:)The burgers were soo YUMMY! I can't remember what kind mine was, just that it was "handcrafted" and had either feta or bleu cheese on it (or is that the same thing?)See? huge!Here we are waiting to eat at Cracker Barrel. It was hard for Brody to get naps, so he got them in whenever he could! (Not that it's any different at home - poor 4th child!)

The cousins playing checkers at Cracker Barrel. We had to wait for a table for 5 adults and 9 kids:) (Poor waitress!)There is a little Italian place in Stevensville called "Romeo's "fast, fresh, and Italian" Yummy food there too:) right after I took this picture of Brody he fell (but I caught him and he wasn't hurt)- but good mom that I am I couldn't resist a picture of that cute smile:)the children's museum in Missoula is the best! Max and cousin Dylan are digging for dinosaur bones...and they found one!!!Cousin Alanna and Riley played dress upRight behind the museum is a carousel. I remember when it was built there was a big deal about it being the only hand carved carousel in the U.S., The kids loved it and took several rides:)G-Sue has a great cupcake book so the kids spent an afternoon decorating cupcakes. They turned out pretty darn cute! (and yummy)! Uncle Matt and Aunt Emily have a fabulous, gigantic tree in their front yard that Max loved climbing, and cousin Bridger has a fun swing that the boys had fun on:)

We walked all over town one day (it truly took about 3 hours, including stopping for lunch) Riley and Alanna get along really well:) They are 2 of 5 girls born in the Hill family in 2003:)

We were up until all hours of the night. It stays really light till 10 and 1030 in Montana. So we would look at the clock thinking it was time to get the kids in bed and it would be 1130 and midnight. The kids did great with such late nights. It helped to have cousins around I think:) We had a really great time in Montana - I tend to forget what a pretty, laid back place it is. I'm glad I got to grow up in a small town (and by small I'm talking 1500 people). Thanks G-Sue and G-Pa for a great trip:)

Here is how light it is at 1015 pm.

What do you do with your old running shoes?

2010-08-01T18:44:00.009-06:00

You wear them for a mud run! 4 miles of running through mud, climbing over two 5 foot walls, crawling through big cement pipes, wading through swampy parts, and cleaning off by running through streams. It was so much fun - Riley wants to do it with us next year! We made pretty good time, finishing in just over 36 minutes ! As I was going through the last obstacle (climbing over a pile of mud then wading through a giant mud puddle then run about 100 yards to the finish) Max yells out "get muddy mom"! Good times!!!

Rinsing off at the end

I got a chocolate pedi the day before - it held up pretty well!

I thought I was running the last sprint to the finish...

I didn't realize this was waiting for me!

This is them making that last obstacle

The muddy girls at the end:) ( I thought we'd be muddier)

The cousins (minus Dylan and Logan)

Wasatch Back 2010

2010-07-07T09:53:00.004-06:00

Stephanie ending her first run!

Jen starting her first run

So 10 girls from our ward and 2 of their sisters ran the Wasatch Back Ragnar relay race in June. I did not get any great pics but check out our official team blog www.mindovermilage.blogspot.com . We ran 188 miles from Logan UT to Park City UT. It took us just over 30 hours, we came in 29th out of I can't remember how many, but we did dang good! It was so much fun, we didn't get a lot of sleep, but it was worth it! We had lots of training runs and meetings (aka parties) in the months leading up to the race. It was great getting to know all the girls better and I am so excited that we get to do it all again in California:) We had a spa day the day after the race, which REALLY made the running, trying to sleep on the field of a middle school, waiting in line for porta potties, paying $2 to use a flushing toilet in a middle school at an exchange, trying to sleep in the van, nothing but power bars and bagels to eat, and no shower all worth it!!! I truly used more porta potties in that 30 hours than I ever have in my life!!!

Ryan drove to Utah by himself with the kids (he gets husband of the year!) to go to his cousins homecoming, then Monday we headed up to Montana to see my family (see next post)! Also, on the way to Utah on the Wed. before the race we (I rode with 2 of my teammates Jarrie and Susan and Jarrie's daughter Paige) saw a tornado and were in the middle of a blizzard! (crazy Wyoming weather)! It was an adventure:) We also introduced Paige (who's 13) to the joys of '90's music with a rather good serenade of "when I look into your eyes" (if I do say so myself) that she recorded and played back for us at breakfast:) It was a great weekend and I'm so glad we got to do it:)

The lake 2010

2010-07-07T09:49:00.003-06:00

So we got to go to the lake a few weeks ago, that's 1 time more than last year (dang crazy schedules!) We get to go again this week, so maybe I'll get better pictures:) Brody does not love the boat, but he does love the tube:) This Saturday the girls are going to try waterskiing for the first time !

Riley is now a Green Belt!

2010-07-07T09:47:00.002-06:00

I don't know why my pictures of karate are so bad, but Riley got her green belt at the end of the semester!!!!

Riley's field trip

2010-07-07T09:31:00.003-06:00

For the kindergarten field trip this year Riley's class went to the Sunshine Farm. It had a great tree house with a rope bridge, animals to feed, tire swings to swing on, tractors to play on, and a great zip slide! It was a great day! Max got to come along too, he had a fun time - notice the bruise on his cheek? That's from falling down the window well a few days before. Painful!

The Rockies game that never was (for us)!

2010-07-07T09:21:00.002-06:00

So we had some really great Rockies tickets from Ryan's boss. We got dinner, snacks, dressed up in our purple and black, drove to the game , parked and started walking ... and then it poured! and poured and poured down rain. We ate dinner sitting in by all the vendors as it continued to pour, then decided to head home, confident that the game would be called due to rain and we could come another, sunnier day:) Well, back in the parking lot there was about 2 inches of water that we had to wade through. We were very confident that we would get to come back another day, so we got in the car and started driving home in the rain. We got home, (it was still raining) and ended up watching the game on tv - they still played in the rain!!!

Emma's running club

2010-07-07T09:11:00.005-06:00

It's been a while since I updated, so some of these will be old:) Emma participated in a running club at school. They met once a week after school for several weeks. For the last day she ran 2 miles - way to go Emma:)

Chocoholic

2010-04-24T21:35:00.003-06:00

So our friends made us these yummy cookies, as soon as she walked in the door with them Brody smelled sugar and begged for one. When I gave one to him he took the hershey kiss and dropped the cookie. He continued to beg for more, but I put them on the table thinking they were out of his reach. I came back into the room about 2 minutes later to find Brody on the table and these bites out of the chocolate:)

Spring Break 2010

2010-04-24T19:22:00.004-06:00

When it's 50 degrees outside and mom and dad tell you don't go in the fountain...

You should listen!!!

Playing dress up at the church museum at temple square

Little shepherds

We had never taken our kids to temple square, so we went to Utah for spring break to visit our cousins who are about to move to Georgia :( and to see temple square.

but first we stopped at the olympic park in park city (She's pretending she's flying down the course at 90 miles an hour)

Ryan had a very long (3 hour) conference call on our last day with our cousins, so my sister Shelly and I loaded all 7 kids into their suburban and took off for Ikea:) I was not impressed with Ikea the first time we went (a year ago) - but this time I appreciated it a little bit more :)

We spent our last night in Utah with Ryan's grandma and grandpa. Brody kept walking up to grandpa and giving him "5" and then "knuckles" It was good to see them. It was a quick visit, since it was supposed to start snowing in the mountains that afternoon we got an early start so we missed it. We'll have to go in the summer next time:)

We got back on Wednesday because Ryan had a big meeting Thursday morning. So we spent the rest of break making this. We hauled out about 11,000 tons of dirt (only a slight exaggeration) so we could put rocks under the swingset. Now the kids don't track mud inside:) (just little tiny rocks!)

Happy Birthday Max!!!

2010-04-24T18:37:00.005-06:00

Headed to the nuggets game:)

Max was so excited to turn 4, he counted down for 3 weeks! All day long on his birthday, wherever we went, he told whoever we saw that he was 4! Here are a few facts about Max: He is a ham. Max tries to make everyone laugh, most of the time going overboard:) The other day Max was in time out for doing something naughty (something that happens a lot lately!). He whined for about 1/2 a second, then said to himself "that was the funniest thing I ever did!" Today we went to the baptism of some friends in the ward and Max was AWFUL. So on the way home I was explaining that he would have some quiet time and said "the way you acted was unacceptable" to which Max replied "that was Awesome!"
Max already is a little bit of a ladies man, with a decided preference for blondes. We were watching a show one day and there were a few girls on the screen, Max said "I like that one" pointing to the only blonde! He loves sports, especially baseball. Ryan took him to a Nuggets game for his birthday, he loved it:) He loves his sisters - he calls them "my girls" (as in "Dad, where's my girls") He's a good big brother to Brody too, he loves to wrestle and play with him.
Max has such excitement for everything! He is a happy kid who brings a lot of sunshine into our lives.

Karate!!!

2010-04-19T08:25:00.002-06:00

Riley had her first ever karate tournament. She had a blast, even taking 2nd place in one event. It was a relay - they ran through and demonstrated how to break out of 4 different holds. It was worth being in Greeley by 8 am:) Karate has been so good for Riley - she always comes home excited and she has really come out of her shell since starting (kindergarten has a little to do with that too I think).

Poor baby!!!

2010-03-25T15:37:00.003-06:00

So Sunday morning poor Brody got 5 stitches under his lip. We think he climbed up on the changing table and fell off , but nobody was in the bedroom with him. He's never climbed on the changing table before, but he climbes on the toy boxes next to it a lot and anything else there is to climb. His newest favorite thing is getting up on top of the table. The stitches doen't seem to bother him, but he has had a hard time sleeping through the night this week. I'm just glad we have a children's hospital satellite just down the street!

Riley's Ipod

2010-03-09T22:19:00.004-07:00

Riley wanted an ipod, so we told her if she worked hard and saved half the money she could get one. It took her 3 months, and she worked hard (asking every day what other chores she could do to earn money) and saved like crazy and here is the result!!!

Making chocolate chip marshmallow pancakes!

2010-03-09T22:12:00.003-07:00

I love no school days!!!!

Naughty Max

2010-03-09T22:08:00.003-07:00

Max was being naughty recently while we were trying to read scriptures, so he was sent to his room. When we went to get him out a few minutes later this is what we found...

Max loves the Buffaloes!

2010-03-09T21:58:00.002-07:00

Ryan took Max to a CU Buffaloes basketball game a few weeks ago. Max L-O-V-E-D it!!! He got a buffalo tattoo from the cheerleaders, he got candy and gatorade, he brought posters home - everything that makes a 3-year-olds night perfect. When they got home Max fell asleep with the program in his hand. He has a yellow shirt with brown around the neck and arms (CU colors) that he now calls his "buffaloes shirt". I think they have a new fan!!!

Making Chocolate Cupcakes with Dad

2010-02-09T16:20:00.003-07:00

Impatient

2010-02-09T16:14:00.003-07:00

Max asked me to get him a piece of cheese, I told him I would in a minute. When I went to cut him a piece I found that he didn't want to wait a minute:)

"Earth-Friendly" Iceskating

2010-02-09T16:07:00.004-07:00

Over Christmas break we went to the outdoor mall by our house, that has an "earth-friendly" iceskating rink (insert huge eyeroll here)! Earth-friendly means some plywood coated w/ some sort of plastic that is impossible to skate on. It was cold but the girls had fun. Max doesn't have much tolerance for cold, and poor Brody couldn't move he was so bundled up, so Ryan and I took turns "skating" w/ the kids and taking Brody into stores to get warm -- good times:).

Emma

2010-02-09T15:13:00.002-07:00

Emma played basketball again this year, and Ryan was one of her coaches again (that's how we bribe her to play:)) She seemed to have a lot of fun, (she won't admit how much fun she has - already a teenager!) and she placed first in her age group in the Denver Nuggets Basketball Challenge. (Way to go Emma!!!) This year was the first that boys and girls were seperated and that they kept score. They also had regular 10 foot baskets, which were super tall!!! I'm impressed they made any baskets at all! Some of the games were about an hour away, but we got to see (and smell) towns that we never knew existed in Colorado:) They won one game, and when they lost it didn't really bother any of the girls:) It was fun to watch, so hopefully she'll do it again next year!

Karate girl

2010-02-09T14:56:00.002-07:00

Riley started taking karate this fall and she LOVES it:) 2 weeks ago she got her "full splits" patch, which means she can do the splits both ways! Way to go Riley:)

Little Drummer Boy

2010-01-04T21:30:00.002-07:00

Christmas Day

2010-01-04T21:17:00.005-07:00

So Emma must have gotten up around 3, because by 3:30 she had been down to see the presents, gotten Riley up and taken her down to see the presents, and come to our room to tell us "It's Christmas, let's go open presents!" (even tho we threatened to take presents away if they got up before 6:30)! So after threatening life and limb we got the girls to at least go to one of their rooms to play. They did fall asleep at some point, and at 6:30 this is what we woke up to:) Which is better than last year, they let us sleep until 7:00, but they had been downstairs playing with their "Santa" presents for about an hour! I told Ryan, if Emma ever has the nerve to wake all the kids up at 3:30 we should just get up and open presents - in the interest of making memories:)

North Pole

2010-01-04T21:10:00.003-07:00

Grandma was the only adult who could handle the tilt a whirl!!!

2nd Annual Christmas Eve dinner under the Christmas tree!

2010-01-04T21:02:00.003-07:00

Woo Hoo!!!

2009-12-24T16:40:00.002-07:00

Max is not allowed to stand up to use the bathroom at home (I'm sure you can understand why!). So we were in a public bathroom the other day and I told him "since we are in a public bathroom I want you to stand up to go." A few seconds later, from the other side of the door, I hear "Woo Hoo - Great shot!" Maybe he would be ok standing up at home...

Brody turns 1!!

2009-12-20T22:08:00.002-07:00

Brody turned 1 the day after Riley's birthday, so he got a little gyped, but he doesn't care:) He was a little unsure about presents, so the older kids took over to show him what's up. Brody is such a laid-back baby, he's pretty content just crawling around and playing. He loves to play catch, if he finds a ball he will play catch with himself, throwing the ball and crawling as fast as he can to grab it. He's also very righteous - "amen" was his first word:) He says "mom", "dad", "amen" and "baby". He is super smiley and snuggly - he gives the best hugs! If we could just get his sleeping down he might just be the perfect baby!! Happy birthday Brody!!!

Riley's 6! (a month ago)

2009-12-15T23:03:00.004-07:00

1 year old very first birthday

Riley turned six in November. For her friend party she took some of her friends to "Where the Wild Things Are" -(there were no other kid movies out). It was pretty cute, the girls said they liked it. They came back to our house and had pizza and cake - her traditional DQ ice cream cake:)

The traditional candle in the breakfast

Budding artist

Riley is our sweet girl. She is my little helper and a hard worker (she is great at folding laundry:) Occasionally when she is bored she will ask if I have any chores for her to do:) She is pretty protective of her siblings and loves to help others (when she's not too shy!) Riley really likes to exercise, she will wake up and do yoga with me in the morning (she's got a great "chair pose") and she likes to go running too. She loves karate, she takes it every week at the school and practices her moves throught the week. She'll put on the show " iCarly fights Shelby Marks" and will watch the fight scenes, pause it, and try to copy their moves! She loves to put on music and dance her little heart out, her favorites right now are Miley, Demi Lovato and Ally&AJ. We love you Riley and are so grateful you are in our family!

2009-10-12T08:06:00.000-06:00

The next morning it was snowing for the first time this year! We didn't get much, but it was enough to play in. Max was the first one out, by about 8:30 am. The girls weren't far behind!

Homecoming parade and the first snow of the year!

2009-10-12T08:03:00.001-06:00

Erie High School had their Homecoming this weekend, so it's kind of become a tradition to go to the parade and game. This year it was TOO cold to go to the game, but the parade was fun. The kids came back with too much candy, thanks in part the the 4 cheerleaders who are in Young Womens each throwing several handfuls to the kids:) They had a great time, then we went home and snuggled in blankets and watched a movie:)

Carmel Apples with the neighbors

2009-10-08T15:54:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Ryan!

2009-10-01T22:47:00.002-06:00

Today was Ryan's birthday:) In our house we tend to take the whole week to celebrate birthdays. Ryan's birthday started on Monday when we went to Cinzetti's for dinner. We all started with ice cream, moved on to (not so yummy) food, then on to the yummy desserts! Tonight for his actual birthday we did Taco Bell (b/c the Rockies scored 10 runs last night so it was cheap tacos!) then rushed to Emma's Girlz Rock (climbing class) then over to Snocap for icecream! Tomorrow night we are going on a date for his birthday w/ some of his friends, and Sunday is the family party. It's a marathon week:) So happy birthday honey- I am grateful that you are in my life forever. You are a great dad and better husband than I could ask for - I love you!

Me and Mike!

2009-09-14T23:15:00.006-06:00

So I have tons of summer pictures to post, but that can wait... this is more important!!!:) I love the weather, and in retirement Ryan and I are going to be stormchasers for the Discovery channel:) My favorite weather person is Mike Nelson on channel 7 - he really loves the weather too:) So, when we went to the PBS Kids fair, how surprised was I to see my favorite weather guy talking to parents in the face painting line:)!!!! I was starstruck the rest of the day:) The best part was when he came up to talk to us he asked us how many of the 4 kids were actually ours. Ryan said "all of 'em" to which Mike (we're on 1st name basis:)) replied "God bless you guys" He was so surprised, and kept saying that - "God bless you guys" and then he turned to me and was very sweet, so now I have a little crush:) Obviously Brody was not as starstruck!

SuperBus Gymnastics

2009-07-22T22:01:00.003-06:00

At our rec. center we have a great kids gymnastics program called SuperBus Gymnastics. It is a bus that the owners have taken the seats out and put in an obstacle course, and attached a trampoline on the side that folds up and down. Riley took this for 2 years and loved it so now Max is taking it. He loves it!

"We love SuperBus!!!"

Jumping on the trampoline

It's contagious

2009-06-23T08:15:00.003-06:00

Notice how happy he is to be wearing a big pink sparkly headband!!!

Drive-In Movie

2009-06-22T12:40:00.005-06:00

This weekend we went to the drive-in. We first went to our favorite family restaraunt, CiCi's pizza:) When we got to the movie we only had about 15 minutes before the movie started, or so we thought. It was supposed to start at 8:30, but just before 9 everybody started honking their horns and it finally started! We saw Imaging That with Eddie Murphy. The second showing was Night at the Museum,(that's the one we really wanted) but it didn't start until 11pm and we have 9am church.(and a 3 year old!) Emma was the only one to stay awake for the whole time, and the first one awake in the morning! She was really excited for Father's Day, so she was getting Ryan's breakfast in bed as I was leaving for a 7:30 am meeting. We will definately go back to the drive in, and hopefully get to see Night @ the Museum. I love summer!!!!

Waiting patiently for the movie to start

Waiting...

And still waiting...

Brody was a good sport

It FINALLY started!!!

Using sleeping Riley as a pillow

The ride home

Emma's Art

2009-06-15T11:33:00.002-06:00

Emma wants to be an artist/art teacher when she grows up. So it was exciting that she had a picture in a school district art show! She refused to be in the picture, but Max and Riley were only too happy to have their pictures taken!

Riley's Dance Recital

2009-06-15T11:21:00.003-06:00

Riley is on the far left.

At Good Times afterward getting ice cream

Riley did a great job in her recital, she actually got on stage and danced! I don't know what the difference is between that and other things, but she does not seem to be really shy at her dance recitals. Even in Primary she has a hard time going up front when her name is called. Yea dance!

Easter

2009-06-15T07:54:00.004-06:00

Yep, I got WAY behind! Here are some Easter pictures. We had a busy weekend. We have 2 friends who have annual Easter Egg hunts, they are so fun! We missed the egg hunting part of the Saturday one because of Max's Chuch E Cheese party, but the kids still got plenty of candy from it. The second one was on Sunday, that one our friends have been having since Emma was just little. It's a fun tradition!

Max Turned 3!!!

2009-06-15T07:27:00.004-06:00

It's a little late, I have much catching up to do- but here are some pictures from Max's 3rd birthday. His birthday was the day after we got back from our week in San Antonio, so we made up for it by having his birthday party @ Chuck E Cheese!

Can you guess what it is?

The girls made this sign and hung it up after Max fell asleep the night before. They really get into birthdays, it's cute to see how excited they get for everyone's birthday! They have a song they like to sing to wake up the birthday person, it's one they got from "Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses". They are really good at treating the birthday person like royalty on their day!

The first smores of the season

2009-06-05T13:42:00.001-06:00

Is this why potty training has been so hard?

2009-06-05T09:35:00.004-06:00

And some more girly ones for good measure:)

He's a thumb-sucker!

2009-06-04T15:58:00.001-06:00

Hablo Espanol?

2009-06-01T13:14:00.003-06:00

So Emma is such a funny kid. We got the movie Bedtime Stories over the weekend and the kids watched it Friday night, and loved it so much that we all watched it again Sunday afternoon. So this morning Emma decided to watch it AGAIN, but this time in spanish - the whole thing!!! After just a few minutes, Riley and Max joined her too:)

Spring Break in Texas

2009-04-22T15:49:00.007-06:00

We spent our spring break in San Antonio & Corpus Christi Texas. The first 3 days were in Corpus Christi so we could go to the beach. The weather was supposed to be close to 90 degrees, but was closer to 75. (dang weather.com). But it was warm enough to play one day, and we made the most of it, until Emma picked up a shell that still had a tenant, then she was done.

Max chasing seagulls, he only believed he could really catch them for a few minutes!

As soon as we got to the sand Max started digging!

Brody wasn't old enough for sunscreen, so we improvised. (luckily he will be old enough in 31 days-when the pool opens)!

This was the entrance to a store that Max loved. He's apparently into sharks right now.

Our 2nd day @ the beach was cold & rainy- so we went to the aquarium.

Karate Kids!

Max's first rollercoaster ride (other than when mom "drives like a roller coaster!) I wasn't sure if he liked it, but he turned around & rode again!

Ryan's co-worker told us about a cajun restaurant called the Boiling Pot, where they cook everything in a pot together and dump it on the table. You eat w/ your fingers (our kids had no problem w/ that!) And the shrimp still had their heads on and we had to crack open the crab. It was really good, but a little gross pulling the heads off the shrimp! The kids actually liked the food. Our waitress was brand new-it was her first night- and she was really grossed out by it all:) She has a baby girl that was born on the same day as Brody.

Not-so-Karate Kid
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Brody @ Sea World water park. They had a really good water park, but the water was like just-melted snow -- so Brody and I stayed out:)

Lunch on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. It's a path that goes along the river all through San Antonio. There are shops and restaurants and it's very pretty.

You can't visit San Antonio w/o going to the Alamo!

Riley & Emma made Ryan take them on the Journey to Atlantis ride - I was too scared to go (I'm a party pooper). They are in the very back row -loving it!

Emma Cheerleading

2009-03-29T17:35:00.002-06:00

At Emma's school they had an after school cheerleading workshop in March. She really liked it, but she got so shy when they were performing in front of the moms and dads she did not look like she was having a good time. She did a great job!

Moab

2009-03-29T17:16:00.005-06:00

Last weekend my friend Jarrie and I ran the Canyonlands 1/2 Marathon in Moab. It was a good time- I felt much better than I expected to at the end of the race. I brouht Brody and Jarrie's 12 year old daughter Paige came too. Paige watched Brody while we ran and did such a great job he has been having "Paige withdrawls" this week! After the race we drove through Arches (we had no energy to hike, although we did get out of the car for a few pictures:)) and then watched Grease before going to bed early! It was a fun trip- one that I would do again:)

Ryan helped the kids make a cake for me when I got home - a good way to get back the calories I used up running!!!

Me and Jarrie before the race. We had to meet in Moab to get bussed up the canyon almost to the start of the race at about 7:45am. The race started @ 10am.

This is where we got dropped off. There were more porta potties than I have ever seen in 1 place! And sooo many people using them - yuck!

We had to walk to the start, it's way at the top of the picture. It was a good warm up -- it was freezing!

Arches

Rock star T-ball

2009-03-29T17:06:00.003-06:00

Max was in charge of the activity for Family Home Evening last week, & he chose T-ball in the basement. The girls got downstairs and decided they needed to put on their Halloween costumes (Emma is Hannah Montana and Riley is Gabriella from HSM). The girls lost interest pretty quickly, but Max is going to be a die hard baseball fan-like his dad!

Snow Days

2009-03-29T16:45:00.004-06:00

The last 2 days of school before spring break were cancelled because we got about 12 inches of snow. It was nice to be at home & not have to go anywhere, although i spent the afternoon cooking freezer meals with my neighbor. So I loaded all my cooking supplies into a sled & hauled them across the street in the middle of the blowing snow. It was worth it though, because I came home (in the blowing snow) with 8 main dishes. So with leftovers & eating out I won't have to cook for 2+ weeks! Ryan & our neighbors tried to take the kids sledding the first day,in the blizzard. They lasted longer than I thought they would, about 45 minutes, but Friday & Saturday were much better days to go outside!

Brody

2009-03-29T16:28:00.002-06:00

Brody doesn't like rice cereal!

2009-03-29T16:18:00.003-06:00

It's a good thing he likes spider man so much!!!

2009-03-23T10:28:00.001-06:00

Max nursing his baby

Emma's broken arm

2009-03-23T10:18:00.002-06:00

February 27th Emma fell out of my car and got a buckle fracture on her right wrist. She was so embarrassed that she wouldn't let me take a picture of her cast.(so I snuck one while she was sleeping) It wasn't terribly bad, so the cast only had to be on for 3 weeks. The day before the cast came off she finally let me take one, she was so excited:) Since it was the hand she writes with, her friend down the street (who is a lefty) helped her learn how to write with her left hand. She got pretty good at it:)

Riley's Lemonade

2009-03-23T10:01:00.005-06:00

After watching an episode of Ruby and Max where Ruby has an lemonade stand, Riley made Ruby's lemonade w/ a secret ingredient (mint leaves). yummy:)

bickering

2009-03-12T10:08:00.002-06:00

Max: "Mom, mom - Riley ...
Riley: "No I didn't"
Max: "Be quiet, I'm tellin' on you"

Who says it's not fun to dress boys too?

2009-03-12T10:02:00.003-06:00

I bought this shirt @ a garage sale when Max was just a few months old, it's a size 3 but I just couldn't pass it up! As soon as he could possibly wear it, we put it on. Sadly the first time Max wore it was to church, so now he will only wear it to church, as it is now a "church shirt".

Chocolate cupcakes or "almost burned down the house" blueberry muffins?

2009-03-10T11:04:00.003-06:00

Riley's Puppet Show

2009-03-10T10:05:00.005-06:00

Cat $ the fiddle

Moon & cow

Dish and spoon

Riley worked all morning on these puppets!

Brody Laughing

2009-02-25T16:43:00.003-07:00

Emma & Riley's dance recital

2009-02-01T16:09:00.004-07:00

Why mommy isn't a makeup artist!
This was a crazy mad house. There were a total of 100 dancers and about 1000 audience members! So here are a few blurry pix. Santa came at the end, so we got pix of Max (2) and Dylan (11) on his lap!

Brody

2009-02-01T15:46:00.004-07:00

Doesn't this look like Austin Powers "1 million dollars"

Christmas Break

2009-02-01T14:35:00.002-07:00

Cousins from Seattle visit

2009-02-01T14:09:00.003-07:00

Toothless Emma

2009-02-01T14:05:00.002-07:00

Not only did Santa not bring Emma her 2 front teeth, but she lost a 3rd front tooth and 2 bottom teeth. She waited so long for any teeth to fall out, now they all are, and none are growing in!

Riley turns 5!!!

2009-02-01T14:01:00.003-07:00

The girls started a tradition of having candles in your birthday breakfast and being sung Happy Birthday. Last year it was cold cereal, kinda tricky!

Pretty Pretty Princess

2009-02-01T13:44:00.004-07:00

Max loves to wear earrings and play Pretty Pretty Princess. Dad loves this!!!

Bonding with Brody

2008-11-23T13:23:00.002-07:00

Our Little Princesses

2008-11-23T13:08:00.005-07:00