As long as I don't look like a nerd

The school asked us to take Charlee into an optometrist after she failed her school's eye check. Chuck's eye appointment started off a little scary when the nurse said she thought Chuck was legally blind in her right eye...turned out she was wrong. She just needed a little help seeing far away.
I thought quickly about how I never noticed her having trouble seeing...then I realized a few things that should have been big hints. Like how she asks me every week in church what the hymn number is, and scoots closer and closer to the tv when playing Wii and Kinect. Guess I better start paying attention.
Charlee was nervous about getting glasses, but excited too...she got to pick out her frames all by
herself.

1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, dead fish

Back in August (like the 3rd, I think) I was watching my sister's kids while she took a road trip with my parents. For a fun activity one day, we made some cake pops. It was my second go with these things, and the kids of course love decorating them with excess amounts of sprinkles and such...That is why it is a general rule around here, that everyone eats what they decorate. That is the only way even kids choke down that amount of sprinkles; because they created the wonderful work of art with their own two hands.
The last day of the cousin's visit, all the kids got to pick a new fish out for our fish tank. Here is the tally:
Justee: 2 neon, both now dead
Trey: Grey one with a black tail (I never remember the names of fish) Remarkably it is still living!
Charlee: Big white one, now dead
Tamsyn: red with black fins, It too has managed to stay alive
Sydnee: Large orange one, recently deceased
Natasha: Orange one with red tail, recently deceased

The kids were pretty excited about their fish and they sure looked good in our tank...looking at this pic and then turning my head to the left tells me I have some work to do cleaning it...putting a few more gallons of water in it might not be a bad idea either...

New Family Member

I am making some progress on this catching up business...


On July 20th Mark went and got himself hitched in the Salt Lake Temple. Jessica became an instant aunt to 17 nieces and nephews who love her and we couldn't be happier with Mark's choice of eternal companion.


We had a great time at the wedding, reception, and then at Lagoon the next day. It had been almost 15 years since I'd been. We had a rule that if you were tall enough, you were riding. Char surprised me and showed no fear...she even rode the colossus twice. Sydnee had a little hesitation about Wicked...she begged her Daddy (she knew that was the weak spot) not to make her go, but after it was over she was glad she did it.

Painful Fun

Another big event of our summer that has been neglected in the blog was the Tough Mudder.
Holy crap did this thing suck...10 miles of military style obstacle course. The distance wouldn't have seemed so bad if it wasn't almost straight up hill at times. Not all the obstacles were horrible either...but one tried to kill me.
When I watch the videos on youtube, and the cameras submerge under the surface of that icy cold water (I believe they said it was 32 degrees) and bob under those blue barrels, I can feel the constricting pain in my chest and total numbness come right back to me. There has been talk of doing it again in 2012, and I have to admit...I don't know if I dare swim in that freezing water again. I mean seriously...I almost died. I owe no thanks to Justin, who swam off and left me to drown. If Paula wouldn't have been right with me, I may not have come to my senses after coming up unable to catch my breath after the first submersion.
All in all (except the indescribable sucky swimming part) it was a really fun unique experience.
We finished right around the 3 hour mark (and by "we" I mean Justin, Will, Jace, Joel, and myself. The other members of our team finished at a different time.)

Bolder Boulder 2011

We have been lucky enough to get to run the Bolder Boulder with some pretty awesome people the past few years. Sherri and her family make this such a fun event every year. The 2011 run was by far my favorite yet. That is probably because I got to run it with my amazing daughter as well as the other great people.
Sydnee, at age 8, ran her first 10k. I did my first 10k at age 27. She beat me by almost 20 years! Syd did awesome...She took 5th out of 210 in her division with a time of 58:34. She even got a medal sent to her. I know she was pretty proud of her accomplishment, but it might take some coaxing to get her to run again next year... 6.2 miles is a long way to run without walking, but she did it...and she only threw up a little at the finish line (I think she has forever sworn off yellow Gatorade.)



I guess I better add that Justin ran ahead of us and beat us by about a min.

Wow...I have some work to do

This past summer Justin participated in his first triathlon. It took place at Horseshoe Bend at Big Horn Canyon Recreation area.
My sister, Ashlee and her husband Gerry also took part....Now I'm all about some fun competition and physical exertion (post on Tough Mudder coming soon)...but no way am I swimming that far without drowning. Sydnee, and her cousins Karlee and Allie, competed in the team youth division. Karlee swam, Allie rode the bike and Syd ran. My nephew Kyle also competed in the youth distance, but did it alone. They all did a fabulous job and I didn't envy them one bit. :)
During our same visit, Justee really really wanted to ride my parents' horses. Of course then we ended up giving several kids some quick rides.
If only giving the rides was as easy as it looks...long story short: I had a terrible time getting Handsome saddled up due to a mischievous young palomino, Hanna, who kept pulling the blanket off of Handsome when I went to reach for the saddle.
I also realized that my time away from horses has made me a little jumpy. I'll keep all details to myself in order to save face. Who knew that when it was your own kid on a horse that every little bug annoyance seemed to send the horse "bucking"?

Syd in a sentence

At the beginning of the school year, Syd was asked to describe her personality in one sentence. Then they got to make a poster using decorations that supported their sentence. This is what she came up with:

Snow Day!

It seems a bit odd to go from the 4th of July straight to a snow day.

We woke up to quite a bit of heavy snow.

Trees are down and power is out.

The gym is closed.

Most importantly...school is out!

The girls could not wait to get out and play.

While Dozer is inside sleeping on his nice comfy bed,

Howie is out jumping and digging in the snow.

9 years ago

I became a mom...
This post is long overdue.
Sydnee wanted a red, white and blue ice cream cone for her bday this year...I went back and forth between a flat cutout cake or a 3D one...I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to do it, but the 3D idea won.

The morning of the 4th, we all ran in a 5k (minus Justee, she got to hang out with Renae) with our friends, Josh, Sherri and their kids Jadyn and Ashlyn (Ash rode in a stroller pushed by her mom...crazy in the huge crowd.)

Despite the very slow start due to fighting through a huge crowd that had to bottle neck out onto the course, Sydnee achieved a new PR. (which I can't remember right now and I hope I find it somewhere) and took 2nd in her age group - 10 and under.

Sydnee decided she wanted her ears pierced for her birthday. When Chuck wanted hers done too...Sydnee happily agreed...as long as Chuck went first. ;) There were no cries or whimpers...just momentary face pulling...and a little hand squeezing.

Both girls said it was much easier and less painful than expected (I don't know how they feel...my ears are yet to be pieced.)

Sydnee was very happy with her birthday presents and party that held on the following day.

I decided that we are going to choreograph some words and pictures with our sparklers next year. I'm excited about it!

Sydnee had a water bday party with her friends...she was even nice enough to invite some of her friends little sisters who are friends with Charlee.
This is the cake without the two scoops of ice cream...I ended up using the giant cupcake pans to make the cake.

No strings attached

This little girl will be awaiting her first visit from the tooth fairy tonight!

(Let's hope it only takes one night for that forgetful fairy to find our house.)

Hooray! It's picture day!

I remember thinking about what I was going to wear for picture day a few days in advance, the teachers telling everyone to brush their hair and teeth for that day, and sitting in front of the lights and camera and smiling after the photographer called you some funny name....Things haven't changed much.........
Picture day is quite the event for my girls. Sydnee has been saving her "picture day outfit" just for this day...she hadn't worn it once yet. Charlee wasn't as sure about what to wear, so she modeled a few things for Sydnee the night before and they decided together. They both wanted to pick out new earrings to wear (and you can't even see Sydnee's.)
Of course when they get all dolled up for pictures, I have to take a few before they leave.
The sad thing is, I bet they sit and smile in front of the school photographer a lot nicer than they do for me...They aren't too cooperative when I want to take pictures...the camera clicks twice and they want to run away.

Summer Visitors

We were lucky enough to have the Burtons come visit us this summer! The kids had some fun at a splash park one day, but it wasn't too long before the older ones were looking for more adventure than some fountains...

After seeing lots of other kids jumping off into the river, I told the girls (Syd, Char, Allie, & Karlee) that we would stay a while longer if one of them jumped. To my complete surprise, the older girls said no and Charlee immediately said, "I'll do it!"
Now, this was a complete shock to me and I doubted very much that she would jump once she got up there. I've always thought Charlee to be our little chicken...especially after Disney World.
I was totally wrong. She got up there and jumped without a moments hesitation. (We won't get into how she swam the wrong way (against the current) trying to get out and began to panic enough that another lady jumped in and pulled her out...mind you, she was already in a bathing suit and wet and reacted before I (fully dressed and dry) could react...that clears me of any "slow-to-save-your-own-child" accusations, right?)

Of course the other girls couldn't let Chuck be the only one to jump, and they quickly all followed.:) They all jumped a few times, even Charlee (who made sure to swim the other way) before it was time to go home.

Journee was great at keeping the younger ones happy, while I was taking pics.

(6/28/11)

Father's Day Weekend

The Saturday before Father's Day, we got to go up and visit the flight facility. The girls always have a blast playing in the helicopters.
The girls made a special breakfast for their Daddy and then gave him some presents...they were wrapped in paper appropriate for a father of 3 girls.

I guess we all can still love him in spite of the horrible shirt he is wearing...besides his awful taste in basketball teams, he is a pretty amazing father.

(6/19/11)

Showcase and Talent Show

This all happened on the last day of school last year...Sydnee had her talent show in the morning and Charlee had her showcase in the afternoon. Unfortunately Justin had to miss it for drill or meetings or something like that. It was an action packed last day, but the girls loved every minute of it.

They also handed out lots of awards for students...Here is Sydnee getting her Presidential Fitness award (or something like that)...It was for running the mile in under a certain time and doing a certain number of sit-ups etc.

Clip of Charlee being shy...luckily she warmed up toward the end and actually held her head up. :)




Sydnee on her pogo stick...

(5/19/11)

Art is fun

This is what happens when your kids wake up early on a Sat...and their mischievous/creative juices are flowing.
Of course Justee was the guinea pig.

Apparently the first attempt wasn't good enough, and they scampered away to do more damage.Thank goodness they didn't find the permanent markers.

(5/21/11)