I LOVE summer!

Alex, Boston Jay and Madison

Madison

Brielle, J and J

Ever since we opened up the old slip and slide the kids are loving it. Kelly brought her little bunch over and we played, ate watermelon and Popsicles. It is one of the BEST things to do in the summertime. Jensen LOVES the water. She just crawled back and forth on the slide and Jay followed her all around laughing at how daring she was. He kept saying, "Wow, Jents!" The last pic is of the Tandy's back yard. They had a really cool slip and slide with a real slide to put in the water. Jensen is a little white trash because I was too lazy to put her suit on. She was loving every minute of it. She kept crawling up that slide and sliding back down on her stomach. She didn't care if her whole head went under water! Her diaper was like a brick when we went to change her. .

Happy Father's Day!

Just  a few snap shots on Father's Day. We went to church and then spent the day relaxing. It was also Jensen's Birthday so we got to double celebrate. We got Randy a TV for his special day. I told him about it before his surgery so he could pick it out and install it before hand. That way he could have something nice to watch for his 5 weeks of recovery time. We love you Hunny/Dad!

Happy 1st Birthday Jensen!

My Sweet Baby girl is one. We didn't do anything fancy this year, but we are so blessed to have this little one in our lives. She cracks us up everyday and is such a good little companion for her big brother Jay. She was leery of her cake at first, but hen tore into it after a while. She loved it!

Jensen:

-Has repeatedly said the words cracker and dada.

-Loves to snuggle 

-Eats all day everyday

-Dances when music comes on

-Loves to climb all over Jay

-Makes a funny noise when she crawls on grass.

-Loves the water and bath time

-Eats peas and loves pizza crust

-Gets really cranky when she is sleepy, but falls asleep in 10 seconds when you put her in her crib.

-Bites all the legs off of her animal crackers so they can't escape.(Randy came up with that one.)

-Bites on every thing and every one and doesn't discriminate.

-Loves Baby Einstein 

-Can stand and take one step but not confident enough to walk.

-Is a Daddy's girl

-When she is hurt she wants her Mama

-Is loved by her family 

Busy staying busy

Why does it seem like summer goes by so fast? Since we have been home from Texas the days are flying by. With Randy home it seems like a new adventure everyday. Although Randy is going crazy being at home I am enjoying every minute. The weather is just now becoming good enough to go swimming. I think we will be living at the Lindon pool from now on. Jay had played with friends and asks everyday, "So..what are we doing today?" (Spoiled kid.) Some days we have just hung out...which was fine by me. My friend Andrea swung by through town a while back and I got to go to dinner with her and catch up on things. She is moving to North Carolina so I probably won't see her for another 10 years. I have had fun and I am trying to enjoy EVERY moment of this beautiful weather.

Smores

The Boys

The Girls

On Friday we went up to American Fork Canyon and had our selves a little camp fire with the Tandy's. They showed us how to make the perfect smores. We made them with peanut butter cups and they were D- lish! Chase showed us how to toast the cracker with the chocolate next to the fire so everything melted perfectly. The weather was perfectly beautiful and we were luck to find a spot on Father's Day weekend. We love our friends and had such a great time. I think Brielle loved it the most. She just kept saying "chocolate" over and over again. She is adorable and we have added her to the list of future spouses for Jay.

Let's give him a hand...

Randy had hand surgery this week. He was having his finger fixed from an old injury he got about 12 years ago while on his mission. This was his 4th and hopefully final surgery! He did really well and is feeling pretty good. He will be out of work for a few weeks and the kids and I are taking every advantage of that as we can. 

Here is the before:

It was always stuck in this position. He could make a fist but never straiten it.

After:

Randy was shocked and just kept staring at it.

Here is one for all the med students out there. Not for the weak stomached:

Good as new!!!!

Now, therapy, lots of hard work and in 2 weeks he gets the pin removed.

Twilight

Stephanie Meyers you have drawn me into your little world of awesomeness. While in Texas I started reading the first book. (I know, last one on the planet to finally read them...) I quickly got addicted like I knew I would. Hence, why I haven't read them before...I didn't want to get sucked in. (No pun intended.) Well, now a week later I have read all four books. Randy asked when I would be done with the series so he could have his wife back?  It really makes me love the movies even more. All of the little subtleties that I never caught before, but now know the inside take and understand way better. Now, I am even MORE excited about the next movie coming out.

And... I remember what it feels like to be 15 again. Is there an age limit on Twilight fans?

Marathon and Half Marathon, DONE!!!!!!

It's over. Tears of joy and pain. We started by getting up at 2:45am to get ready. We had to catch a 3:30am bus at Provo Town Center to take us up the canyon. Kevin and Jessie spent the night. We carbo loaded by having pasta, salad and bread for dinner the night before. Kev ran the full marathon with Randy and Jessie is prego so she watched the kids for us (which was awesome.) I will give my experience seeing as Kev and Rans have already run marathons before and are old pros. 

I happened to be on the first bus for my race. Once we got up the canyon it was freezing. They had a ton of mini bonfires that we could warm ourselves by. I was glad I got there first because a lot of people didn't get even close to the fires. There were about 2000 people running my race. We stood by and chatted until the race started at 5:30 am. I had a great bunch of people around me keeping my spirits up...although we were still all freezing. The temps said it was supposed to be in the 30's, but with the wind and rain it felt WAY colder. They ended up starting the race about 10-15 mins later because some of the buses had gotten lost. Once the race started people were cheering and really excited. I just kept thinking to myself, "Just do your best, It is all you can do." 

I have been worried about my knees for the past month, and my back had been really sore from carrying Jensen all through the airport. I was feeling pretty good. I kept a slow and steady pace. At about a half a mile in, it starting raining. It wasn't very fun running in the rain. My hands were so frozen I couldn't feel them when I touched my IPOD. The first aid station I walked through was at mile 6. I grabbed a goo and some water and started running again. So I ran all the way to mile 8 attempting to drink water as I ran. It was hilarious to watch, I and wish I had it on video. Then I ran to mile nine and REALLY started feeling the pain of my knees. I walked a little and pushed as hard as I could to mile 11. At that point the pain was so severe it brought me to tears. I knew how close I was and wanted it so bad but my knees just completely gave out on me. It was also hard because on mile 12 there was an overpass we had to run over. I walked up the hill, but struggled in pain walking down. I jokingly thought in my head about rolling myself down the hill like a burrito or possibly doing some summer salts. I was deliriously in PAIN. Up to that point my time was pretty good. I timed it that I would have probably gotten in at about 2:30-2:45, but I had to walk very slowly the last 2 miles. (I cried the whole time.) 

I jogged in the last quarter mile to the finish line thinking I would probably have to be in a wheel chair the rest of my life because I had blown out my knees. I think my time was around 2 hours and 50 something mins. They put my medal on me and quickly came to my aid. They must have sensed my pain because like 5 people surrounded me a rushed me into the first aid tent. They were throwing water and bananas and oranges at me. One of the staff stretched out my IT Bands and knees and hips and they rubbed me down with oil. They suggested I get a message therapist. (I keep telling Randy I need a massage everyday, why won't he listen?) Needless to say I hung out there for a while until I felt like I could move again. Jessie and the kids met me at the finish and I was so happy to see them and hear them cheering me on. 

After that we waited for the boys to come through. I was so proud of them. I can't believe Rans ran another marathon only 3 weeks after his last one. Kevin is also running another one next week. Bunch of crazys. I, however, will not be running another race until my knees are completely healed. I can't wait for the next one though...it is kinda addicting. 

I feel extra proud of myself because I did it all by myself. I had a goal, and I did it. I feel like I can accomplish anything I put my mind to. I would love to run a race with friends next time though, that would be awesome.

Jessie and I have been thinking about the 4 of us doing the trail marathon next year together. I guess I will have to start training soon to keep up with those guys.

I appreciate Randy so much for letting me get all my runs in and for Jessie and Kev watching my kids numerous times. 

I am SO happy I did it!

*Because we all ran as a group, Pleasant Grove Fire Department gave us awesome shirts that we wore. We were the largest participants as a group (with 90 something people.)*

Dallas Temple

Texas Roundup...the quick version

Texas was just as hot as I remembered. We walked off the plane and the humidity hit pretty hard. So,when I arrived in my jeans and sweatshirt (it was in the 60's in Utah) people must have thought I was crazy. The flight over went off with out a hitch, it was even 10 min. early. It was fun to see Jamison's face as he remembered different things. I can't believe he was 3 when we left...that seems so long ago. I was able to spend some much needed time with my sisters, friends and familia.

Cass and I : went got our hair done, played the message game, went and got my first spray tan :) and stayed up late reading "Twilight" in bed out loud.

While Lace and I enjoyed the finer things: my FAVORITE Chinese place "Taste of Asia," going to the splash park and a jungle gym place called "Going Bonkers," (which we did go bonkers just about everyday.) went to the Dallas Temple, hung out with my BFF Danielle and took turns telling each others kids what to do.

Cindy made us gourmet meals every night (SO GOOD) and took Abby and Jay to the bounce house and Mickey D's.( Did I mention dessert too....every night...)
Papa and Jay did manly things like wash the car and yard work. Then, they hot tubbed it almost every night. I am not sure who enjoyed it more, Papa or Jay?

We took a trip to Sherman to see my Papa Ken, his wife Frankie and son Tommy. It was a mini road trip. They drove from Durant OK. We had dinner at Red Lobster. It was great to see my Papa Ken because he has had many health issues lately.

I also got to go to my friend Danielle's blessing of her little precious new baby Hudson. Can I say out loud that holding her sweet boy made me baby hungry...who said that? The blessing was beautiful and I was so happy we could be there.

All in all it was a great trip.

Highlights: Going to the Temple, Eating donuts and kolaches 3 different times, Briggy's new haircut, Laughing so hard with Cass that I almost peed myself over the teapot dancer on SYTYCD, Dad's home made Chocolate shake, having the 3 sisters together again.

Lowlights: Teething baby, knee pain, flight home, getting B slapped by Abby across the face, sweating, gaining 10 pounds.

Texas Pics

kiddies

Some pics of Texas to hold you over...

AA= H-E- Double Hockey sticks on Earth.

The Flight home:
Made it at a reasonable hour to the airport, but had to park kinda far because there were no spots. Made it through security without any MAJOR problems. A nice young gal helped me with all my crap because it was a lot. My checked bag weighed 48.5 pounds, so just under the 50 pound mark (high five). I had to check my car seat because the flight was full.
After waiting at the gate they announced that I had a gate change.  At  a normal airport this wouldn't be an issue... just walk a bit further. At Dallas/Fort Wort airport it was like saying they were changing my gate to someplace in Alaska. So, we took a tram ride over. We went around the whole airport starting at A and ending up at D33. I'm going to add, although you know,  I was carrying Jensen the whole way whilst dragging my carry on. So the plane was running about 15-20 min behind.
We finally got loaded onto the plane. The air was off. Bad sign. We sat, got loaded and sat some more. 20-30 min later the cappy gets on and announces that the auto pilot is broken. (Isn't that why we hire real life people to fly planes?) 10-15 mins after that they say that we all have to get off the plane. Reminding you we sat with NO air in the Texas heat with a plane FULL of people.
We all got off. 20 min later still no news, but they are trying to fix the problem. Finally we hear that we have a plane, but guess what? Another gate change.
After we got on and loaded I had a glimpse of hope. We were up in the air. But, that is were the nightmare began for me.
Jensen was spastic and loony bin tired. While taking off I noticed a warm yet unpleasant liquid flowing all over my leg. Yep. Jensen had leaked out her diaper all over me. Pants wet, I smelled like urine and yearned for happier times. But wait. What about Jay you say? Don't worry. Jay spilled his entire glass of apple juice and ice all over himself, the seat and the lady next to us. We did the best we could with our crapy paper thin napkin they gave us. Later the flight attendant was found patting Jay's pants down with some club soda. After changing Jents, a bottle, walking up and down the isles with her and bouncing the whole plane, she was finally asleep. But guess what....after 10 min of her being asleep, jay has to go to the bathroom...really bad. Well of course she woke up again and was not happy. So, she got her revenge, and for the second time leaked out the side of her diaper and ALL over my shirt. The wet ring was HUGE! The couple across the way was super nice and got out of their seats so I could use it as a changing table.
At this point I couldn't stop laughing...I mean seriously hysterically laughing. I thought, this is my life. Could anything else go wrong?
When we landed I thought I would shed tears of joy. Yes, I was happy to see Randy, but even more happy to be off that blasted plane and not be known as the women with the screaming baby who peed in alarming amounts.
It was one crazy, hilarious, frustrating, obnoxious, and a record setting day.

*More on the trip later with LOT AND LOTS of pics!