Boy

Every time we pull into our driveway Canyon points excitedly to the shed and yells, "My daddy!"

"Your daddy made the shed?" I always clarify.

To which he proudly responds, "Mmm-hmmm and ME!!"

I love it.  I love that at two he already has such a feeling of accomplishment and some solid memories of working side by side with his daddy.

Other cute Canyon tidbits (because it's been awhile):

-Whenever Canyon wants to get out of something, be it sitting on Santa's lap, eating broccoli or simply going to bed, he tells me he is "gick".  That's right, the boy has already learned to fake sick.

-I decided to let his hair grow out a little bit for winter and was pleasantly surprised by an unruly head of curls that sprouted from the top of his head. I call them his curlies and when he is feeling particularly kind he will tilt his head my way and offer me the chance to kiss them.

-I am always teaching Canyon about what it means to be a gentleman. Being a gentleman is serious business in our house. At our ward Christmas party Canyon was watching an older boy play with his sister by holding her back by the arms while she struggled to get away. Not understanding that they were just playing Canyon marched on over and yelled at the boy all the while wagging his little finger.

-If you ask, Canyon will proudly tell you that is he two... and that I am three.

This little boy grows on me more and more everyday.  I'm completely smitten with him.

The Patch

It's okay to talk Halloween, right?  No matter that it was 6 weeks and another holiday ago.  Speaking of holidays I think I finally pinpointed what I love so much about them.  It's all about the traditions for me.  I love all the family time and fun activities that holidays bring.

So, about pumpkins, we like to get ours from a patch.  We've been going to the same pumpkin patch for years.  It's quite a ways away now but we still can't resist it.  Not only does it have pumpkins it has cousins that live close by.

Note: will travel for cousins. 

It also has a free hay maze that the kiddos go crazy for. 

By the way, when did this one get taller than the hay maze?!

Que the "why must they grow up and break their mama's heart" speech here.

Dave told the kids they could pick any pumpkin they wanted... as long as they could carry it to the cart.

Poor Ali.

She had a hard time finding a pumpkin her heart and muscles could agree on.

Meanwhile...

Canyon was enjoying some boy time with his cousin Josh.  Canyon absolutely loves Josh. Considering he is constantly surrounded by girls- his sisters, sisters' friends and a whole class of nothing but girls at church- I can see why. That and Josh is the kindest little big guy you'll ever meet.

Another successful year at the patch! 

I only wish we would have gotten a chance to carve the suckas' but alas, they ended up being $19 worth of deer feed. Or it could have been $11 worth of deer feed... my mind doesn't remember numbers very well.

I'll finish with a quick glimpse of this year's costumes- a genie, black cat and puppy.

Adorbs.

The Bella Diaries

I don't know if you know this but Dave is one of the most stubborn people I have ever met.  Sure, sure he likes to hide it under his easy-going, not-a-care-in-the-world personality but I assure you, that stubbornness is there.  Once he has a goal, there's no stopping him.  His stubbornness has seen him through both a marathon and an Olympic triathlon with very minimal training.  In fact, I think he did maybe, maybe, a half a dozen runs leading up to his marathon with the longest one being only 7 miles.  His stubborn streak also won him his current job.  After making it almost to the end of a long and lengthy interview process Dave's soon-to-be boss, John, told Dave that he didn't think Dave was going to be a good fit.  Dave refused to believe this and started arguing heatedly with John, or more accurately at him.  Dave ended up getting the job and John later told Dave it was because of that "fire" and "passion" he exhibited.  Yes, his stubbornness has seemed to serve him quite well over the years.  In fact, as I type this there is a motorcycle sitting in my garage that I in no way wanted. Like I said, no stopping him ;).    

A few weeks ago Dave started talking about a little rescue black lab puppy he had met at work and that was currently needing a home.

 No. No. No. I was going to stand my ground this time! Puppies are a lot of work and my plate was already full. No.

"But she's soooo cute"

"The kids would love having a dog they can play with"

"I've always wanted a black lab"

"Look at these adorable pictures of her.  Look how she needs a family." 

And the clincher... "It makes me nervous when you go running alone.  She could be your running partner"

Somehow I agreed to a week trial adoption...  and fell in love with my little Bels... just as Dave knew I would.

Yes, she is a LOT of work.  But she is so sweet, loyal, and smart.  In just over a week she has all of the basic commands down (sit, lie down, stay, come, drop it, etc) and has even mastered a few fun ones as well (roll over, nice kisses, crawl, ringing a bell to go outside). Our walk/runs (she's still too young for full out running) are one of my favorite parts of the day and when at home she never leaves my side. 

Dave wins again.

Wordless Wednesday: Fun At The Fair

LOTOJA: Take 3

It's no secret I had been looking forward to LOTOJA this year for a very long time.  Unlike the past two times Dave has biked it my babes were finally old enough for me to feel comfortable leaving them for the weekend.  It was going to be a relaxing (for me) weekend full of peace and quiet, lazy book reading in the sun and of course some one on one time with my handsome honey. It's been years, YEARS (like before kids) since we have had a weekend away together.

Dave and I spent Friday night at his Dad and Paula's house and kissed our sleeping kiddos goodbye just after 4 in the morning on Saturday and headed to Logan. I saw Dave off at the starting line with a lot of cheering and whooping.  I love the excitement and tension in the air that is always present at the start line. 

Dave insisted he wouldn't need me the first 80 miles so I skipped the first support stop and made my way to Montpelier.  I stopped at the store to grab a few things for Dave that we had forgotten and a snack or two for me. I may or may not have taken my sweet time and basked in the freedom of wandering around the store sans children.  I was then able to enjoy my snacks and a quiet leisurely car ride to Montpelier all the while completely engrossed in a book on tape.  Do you get the picture?  I was in heaven.  Because I had skipped the first support stop I arrived with hours to kill.  I decided a nice, long, cozy nap was in order.  It was delicious.  I finally made my way to the feed zone to meet Dave.  He came in happy and feeling strong.  Montpelier is usually where Dave struggles but he was doing great! After a quick 5 minute stop to restock on food and water he was off again. 

I headed to the car knowing it would be a little bit of a time crunch to get to the next support stop before Dave.  He was cruising.  I hopped in my car, turned the key and... nothing.  *#$%.

 I set off frantically looking for anyone with jumper cables willing to help.  Unfortunately most everyone was in a hurry and no one had any.  I finally found the nicest guy who was willing to help.  Long story short - he knew about as much as I did about jumping a car and the jumper cables ended up crossed.  There was a lot of sparks and smoke and bad smells.  We recruited help from his friend and all seemed well.. until I tried driving off.  I had a million engine lights flashing and no power.  I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.  I made a few teary and frantic phone calls to see if I could find someone to meet Dave at the next stop and to try and figure out what I was going to do.  A plan was formed- Paula was going to stay and watch the kiddos, Dave's dad was hopping in his truck to come and grab me and the supplies and we would try to catch up with Dave and just leave my car at the park overnight and figure out what to do with it later. Paula found someone else who was supporting a rider that was going to try and meet up with Dave at the next stop since it was apparent there was no way I was going to be able to make it. My sweet Dad called in and canceled his shift at work and him and my mom were on standby to help in anyway they could. Whew. There was nothing left for me to do but sit down and wait. 

Here's were it gets a bit embarrassing... I sat down under a tree and cried. Yes, cried. It's been a very long time since I've cried that hard.  I called my sweet sister and complained and cried some more. Bless her. I'm not sure she could even understand me half the time.  I was lost on the self-pity train.  I was embarrassed that I broke my car and sick with worry over the potential costs to fix it.  I was horrified that I was letting Dave down. This was an important ride for him.  He was going for a PR and been training hard all year for this ride.  It was a big deal to him and I worried about how he was going to make it the remaining 120+ miles without car support.  And most of all I was mourning over my lost plans for the weekend. I had been SO excited for a weekend away with Dave.

About this time I got a phone call from Dave. He had made it to the next support stop but the sweet guy that Paula had found to meet him hadn't been able to find him after all. Dave was just going to plug away to the next stop where hopefully his dad and I would catch him.  I could hear the worry and frustration in Dave's voice and it set me off again.  After my good, long cry I finally started to calm down and then I was overcome with shame. Why was I crying?  Why was I feeling sorry for myself?  This wasn't a tragedy.  In fact it was just a little hiccup.  Dave and I were SO lucky.  We had so many people willing to drop everything to come and help us. Regardless of their feelings they knew this was an important goal for Dave and didn't give a second thought to canceling their plans to help him achieve it. I was overwhelmed with gratitude.  I vowed I was going to man-up, put away my feelings of self-pity and disappointment and do everything I could to let our families know how very grateful I was for their help.  By the time Dave's dad arrived I had a smile back on my face and was ready to go.

The goal was to meet up with Dave in Alpine (the last stop).  Just as we were getting close to it I got a text from Dave letting me know he was just leaving the feed zone. Poo. I was crazy impressed because he was making amazing time but worried about how he was doing, and how he could keep going without food.

He would be burning an estimated 18,000 calories on the ride and needed to get some of those calories back in him somehow or else he would bonk hard.

Even though we missed him at the feed zone we were able to flag him down and pull over on the side of the course to see how he was doing.  He was still going strong.  He had stocked up on water, red bulls and gus at the neutral station and just wanted to keep going.  We pulled over a few other times along the last 40 mile stretch to cheer him on. 

It was a rush to the finish line.  Traffic was crazy and Dave was making amazing time.  As we neared the end, Dennis, Dave's dad, let me out in the middle of the road and I sprinted the last 1/2 mile to the finish line.  I had just enough time to turn my camera on and turn around before Dave came barreling in. 

He had done it!!  He had made his goal and finished in just over 12 hours.. hiccup and all.  He had beaten his last time by almost an hour and a half!

 It was a good feeling watching him cross that finish line. 

I was pretty dang proud of the boy and once again extremely thankful for all of the help we had received that made him finishing possible. 

Getting lodging in Jackson Hole was almost impossible.  The only room I had been able to snag for the weekend was one with two queen sized beds.  As Dennis and Dave and I checked in that night I had a good laugh over how perfectly it had all turned out.

On another note: my heart, thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the two bikers that died during/because of this year's ride.  My heart literally aches for them.

A few of my favorite things

In the past couple of months I have come across a few how-in-the-big-blue-world-did-I-ever-live-without-you things.  I'm so smitten with them I decided a blog post singing their praises was in order.

1.  This baby.  I'm a little embarrassed to admit I spent over $20 dollars on a water bottle when I won't spend anything over $10 on pants. Shows were my priorities are I guess ;). Let me tell you though...it is worth every penny!  I take this sucker with me everywhere.  Even to bed. It's durable, doesn't leak, light-weight, pretty, fits in my cup holders in my car, fun to drink out of and very well insulated.  I accidentally left it in my broiling hot car for several hours while I was shooting a wedding in the middle of summer, when I finally retrieved it it still had ice floating in it.  It's that good. It's also very easy to carry. The little loop thing on top makes it possible to carry with one finger which comes in handy when I'm lugging around children, camera equipment, and groceries.

2. Podcasts.  Dave is in charge of cleaning and updating our phones.  I'm in charge of losing them and cracking the screens about every two months... but that's beside the point.  Anyway, after the most recent update (thank you, honey) I noticed a new icon for podcasts.  After exploring it a bit I found myself in heaven.  I am totally addicted to listening to podcasts. They have podcasts on every subject imaginable. Why didn't anyone tell me sooner?! I listen to podcasts on cycling, nutrition, running, current events, photography, history, parenting, general conference etc.  I listen to them in the car, while editing, on walks, while mopping and folding laundry, while spinning on the trainer, while making dinner.... you get the point.  I even found several that the kiddos love and will listen to with me.  In fact Emma is hooked on the National Geographic, How Things Work and Storynory podcasts. 

3. This bread. The petite loaves are perfect for packing for lunches. Not to mention, they are SOOO delicious and I'm in love with the fact they are made with all whole wheat and have very little butter and sugar in them.

4. The Waze app.  It's no secret that I get lost easily.  Something about directions and maps turn my brain into a puddle of mush.  In fact, I got a call from Emma's friend's mom letting me know that Emma was concerned I wouldn't be able to find my way to her little friend's birthday party and had asked her if she would call and give me directions.  The kicker?  The party was just below our house at the lake.  Dear, sweet, Emma... ha!  Anyway, the waze app allows me to enter my destination into it and then it's freaky-fake-lady voice gives me simple, concise directions until I get there.  It also warns of upcoming traffic, hazards or cops.  It's pretty much a lifesaver.  Although my mountain seems to confuse it quite a bit.  Good thing I at least know how to get off the mountain on my own... despite what Emma may think ;)

5.  Rumble strips.  We have a lot of narrow, winding roads and rumble strips around where we live.  Anytime I would accidentally hit one Canyon would gasp and get a huge worried look on his face.  I decided to alleviate his fear of the rumble strips by telling him it was simply a big, hairy, sharp-toothed monster trying to get through the bottom of our car to eat our eyes out.  Heh. Heh. Now every time we hit a rumble strip he yells, "Oh!!! Eyes!!" and covers his eyes as fast as he can.  Pretty much the funniest and cutest thing I have ever seen. Don't judge.

6. The Strava app.  Yes, yes, another app.  Dave introduced me to this one and I use it to track all of my runs and rides now. I already take my phone with me on runs/rides for safety reasons and music and love that it now works as a GPS too. When comparing it to Dave's Garmin it is pretty darn accurate.  I love how it is set up and that it saves all my past excursions so I can compare and contrast.

I'm also a big fan of the fact that ride details such as elevation, splits, etc. is all readily available to view afterwards without having to download it to the computer first like Dave's Garmin.  Fun note- this is actually a screen shot of my "flat" ride. Love me all the hills and climbing around here. I may not have loved them at first but they are definitely growing on me.

And in the spirit of letting them dress themselves...

I came home from a bike ride to find Ali and Canyon outside playing. Ali in mis-matched pajamas and flip-flops and Canyon in this...

Things I love about this picture:

The too small muscle tee showing off that deliciously round tummy
The dirt on his knees
The little Alfalfa sprout on the top of his head.
The classic Canyon bunny tooth smile that melts my heart every.single.time.
And last but not least those dang slightly-too-big for him cowboy boots.  He finds them no matter where I hide them.

Despite the fact this picture is but a fuzzy iPhone capture I think it deserves a place on the wall. 

Celebrating Ali

Somebody special had a birthday recently. 

My little fiery snuggle bug turned the big {5}.  To be honest, I was a bit shocked as I was putting her candles on her cake.  Ali turning 5 kind of snuck up on me.  I think it's the whole middle child thing. 

Ali had one birthday request this year...

Birthday cake for breakfast.  And not just any kind of birthday cake, a blue chocolate oreo cake with strawberry oreos crushed up in the middle and a big pink flower on top. I'll admit, I may have tried to sway her a little on her cake request but she held fast; she knew what she wanted.

Besides cake for breakfast we had the usual birthday table. 

Emma was kind enough to offer her help in the present unwrapping department.

We saved the best one for last...

Her face pretty much says it all. 

Ali has been wanting a bike of her very own for a couple of years now. 

She kept repeating, "I can't believe you got me a bike!  I can't believe you got me a bike!" She then apologized because she knew it was probably "lots and lots of money".  Man, I love that kid!

There really isn't anywhere on our mountain for the kiddos to bike so we loaded up their bikes in the back of the car when we went to pick up our bountiful basket.  The girls biked around the park for awhile while Dave and Canyon played.  I needed to get a run in for the day so I set off and headed up the canyon for a bit.  As I was running and enjoying the beautiful morning light and the amazing scenery all around me I reflected on my journey with Ali. 

The absolute joy I felt when I found out I was pregnant with her. 

Her relatively easy pregnancy.

Even more joy when I found out she was a girl. 

The crazy, intense, fast labor and birth that brought me my happy, easy-going, thumb-sucking, soon to be uber-chubby baby.

The independent, mischievous and happy toddler she turned into.

And of course the smart, opinionated, rough-and-tough, snuggly,  and you guessed it... HAPPY little girl she is today.

She is my sunshine. And man, how I love her. Around the time of her pregnancy and the first part of her little life I was going through a really rough trial. It was a dark time in my life and I don't think it is any coincidence that her bright little spirit joined our family at that time.  I sure needed that little ray of sunshine in my life. Ali continues to brighten each and every day of mine.

Last year all Ali wanted for her birthday was to go to a "go Utes game" but no football games were held even close to her big day. This year it just so happened the Utah vs BYU game (HUGE rivalry game) fell on her birthday.  Dave took her on a little daddy-daughter date to the game. When I went to meet them at the door when they got home, at 2:00 in morning mind you, Ali was all sleepy smiles and proudly told me they had won. 

It was a good Ali day.

 I'm glad we had the chance to celebrate her.

Let them dress themselves

My Ali girl insists on picking out her own clothes.

Good for her, I say. In Ali's book the brighter the colors, the more psychedelic the patterns and the more glitter and bows the better. Oh, and there must always be a skirt or dress of some kind involved.  Every day it is something new and exciting and I can't help but smile a big smile as she steps out of her room in the morning. I absolutely love her creativity and self confidence.

I used to try to wrangle her into an outfit of my choosing anytime we had somewhere to go but quickly gave up.  Who am I to squash her autonomy? Besides that, lets be honest, she can be quite stubborn ;).

By the way, I'd like to take a quick second and thank the many kind grandmas we have passed in the stores who always smile and compliment Ali on her lovely outfits. It's always the grandmas. Bless those grandmas. Let's hope Ali's kindergarten teacher next year is just as understanding.

Which brings me to the whole school situation. I've decided to homeschool Ali for preschool.  This has been a really hard decision for me.  I originally had her all signed up for a reputable preschool in "town" but as most great preschools are it was quite expensive.  Academically Ali is doing amazing.  She could enter Kindergarten tomorrow ahead of the pack.  The only reason I could think of for putting her in preschool would be for the structure and social aspect of it.  Don't get me wrong, I think both of those are very important but I couldn't bring myself to pay X amount of dollars for them. We have Ali in dance and are also going to sign her up for seasonal sports.  I'm hoping that will help her make friends and learn to interact positively with others. As far as structure, every morning when Emma leaves for school we have 90 minutes of preschool, or Ali's cool school as we call it.  We have a schedule we made together and follow and I'm able to plan the lessons around where she already is and build from there. It's been working out really great and it's been fun spending the one-on-one time with my Ali-gator and getting back to my early childhood education roots.

Anyway, I think this is the perfect preschool picture for her back to school book, don't you? 

Just keepin' it real ;)

And of course I can't forget her back to school questionnaire.

Oh, how she makes me laugh.

Back To School Interview

I decided I'm going to make a back to school book for my kiddos.  Each spread will include their first day of school picture from the given school year and a yearly back to school interview.  I think it will be fun to see how they change over the years.  I was dying a bit comparing Emma's first day pictures from the last few years.  I can't believe how much she has grown and matured.  Yeah, my heart did a little clenchy thing.  I will say, though, as much as I would like to keep her little and mine forever I'm pretty darn pleased with the beautiful, helpful, caring, thoughtful and smart girl she is turning into. 

On another note, Emma has informed me that she hates Saturdays because she misses school so much.  I wonder how long this new development will last? 

Bad Habits and Second Grade

For some reason Emma and I were having a conversation on habits, specifically bad ones.  After a rather lengthy discourse on what a habit is and why it can be hard to break a bad one Emma piped in...

"Oh!  I get it!  Like Ali's habit is sucking her thumb, mine is hinting (versus asking) and yours is cleaning and eating dad's candy bars he is trying to save for movie night."

It's always enlightening when I get a chance to see myself through my childrens' eyes ;).

I love that girl.

Speaking of Emma, she started 2nd grade today.  I offered to drive her to school and show her where her class is but she insisted she was old enough to ride the bus and figure it out on her own.  I miss her already.  I really like having my kiddos all to myself all summer.

Pictures of her on her big day coming up later.  It was still pitch black when she left for school and I have a strong aversion to using my flash.

Picture Post: Canyon's Birthday

My baby is two!!  Let me tell you, I've had a hard time wrapping my head and heart around that little tidbit.  Long gone are the sippy cups and crib.  He is a big boy now. Day by day he is becoming more and more his own little person.  He doesn't hesitate to "shhh" me if I'm not singing the song he wants or wag his little finger at me and tell me "Na-No!" if I kiss on him too much. He is often immersed in his own world of cars and "ga-gooos" aka motorcycles and doesn't have nearly as much time for mama snuggles.  Although I do miss my baby this little boy who seems to have replaced him is pretty darn great. I think I'll keep him.

To celebrate his Birthday we held a joint monster bash for him and Parley. My girls and I had a blast making all the fun party decorations and cakes. At the party there was pizza, cake and ice cream cones, bubbles, presents galore and a pinata that held at least 10 lbs of candy ;).  My sweet little brother even set up a face painting table.  It was a blast.  I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...

Happy Birthday, Canyon and Parley.  You are by far my favorite little monsters!