Happy Birthday to me!

Turning 27 was alot better than I imagined. Troy had taken the day off from work to make my day special. It started out with pancakes in the morning. The "M" stands for mom. Troy watched the kids and cleaned up breakfast while I went shopping with my sister and out to lunch after. He also got me a well needed massage at the Prestige Spa and it was amazing! We then went out to dinner with Tom and Hayley and had delicious steak and lobster. What a great birthday:) Thanks Troy!!!

Going out to dinner....without the kids!...doesn't happen much.

Provo Half Marathon

Michelle,Lorraine, and me after the race.

Our clothes were completely drenched! We all had to change our clothes soon after the run because fear of hypothermia...yes, it really was that cold!

I did it!...and not even rain, snow, hail, or wind stopped me. Running 13.1 miles wasn't so bad but to have to do it in horrible weather was just plain ROUGH! My clothes were so drenched by the rain that I was having a hard time keeping my pants up (I know, too much info but I just want to give you an idea of how bad the weather was). I had to pin my pants up about mid race. Between the hail pelting my face and the cold and wet weather throughout the entire race, my body wanted to shut down. My arms constantly lost feeling and throughout the race I had to shake feeling back into them. I noticed I wasn't the only runner with that problem. My body never fully warmed up and I was cold the entire time. The weather really took a toll on my body at mile 10 but I pushed through it and I finished! 12 weeks of training finally paid off today and now I am in need of some serious recovery time:)

Yard Work!

We have been in heaven the last few days. Decorating the inside of our home is no where near as fun as working on the outside of our home. The weather has been perfect and best of all we have been able to get alot of yard work done! I almost forgot how much fun yard work actually is (no joke, we really love it). Troy could barely hold himself back from running outside Saturday morning and getting his hands dirty. The kids love being outside and especially having so much yard to run around. I told Troy the other day that I hardly see the kids anymore. The prior owner did a beautiful job with the yard but because the property has been vacant for a long while there are plenty of leaves, apricot seeds, and weeds that need to be cleaned up.

Check out my little sassy girl, Alyia.

My favorite part of our backyard. The previous owner built trellises that are wrapped with grapevines and clear lights. I can't wait to turn on the lights at night during a family get together. Im sure it will be beautiful!

We have two apricot trees in our yard. They are beautiful! It's kind of hard to see one in this photo but if you look closely it is on the right corner of the picture below. Sadly, Troy is planning on ripping that tree out...tear:(:( He is planning on replacing that beautiful, mature apricot tree with a big metal basketball hoop! and a huge slab of cement for out basketball court. Of course that wont happen for awhile but It's still a sad thought. Im sure my kids will enjoy the basketball court and I guess.... so will I. We have plenty of large mature trees in our yard that Im sure I will quickly get over the lose of one.

Happy Easter!

Watching my kids hunt for eggs Easter morning is the funnest part of Easter for my kids but teaching my children of our Lord's life,death,and resurrection is by far the most rewarding part of Easter for me as a parent. Last year we decided to mix in "Christ's eggs" with the rest of the other eggs. Each "Christ egg" contained something symbolizing the last days of our Lord's death and resurrection. At the end of the egg hunt we took time to learn of all these important symbols. I'm not sure how much my children will remember or even understand the story of our Lord's sacrifice because of their young age but it I know eventually it will come to them and that is why it is so worth it to me!

Easter Morning

Jordyn was quite the egg hunter

The kids with all their goodies!

Troy turns 32!

We celebrated Troy's birthday by unpacking, unpacking, and more unpacking. We didn't celebrate it like times before but Troy figured buying a home was a good enough birthday celebration for him. We had chicken wings from "Wingers" and key lime pie for desert. His birthday was full of work and play. Happy birthday Troy!!! We love you!

Teni is now 5!!!

My not so small boy is five now! Oh how time flies. It's definitely bitter sweet. Teni had so much fun celebrating his birthday with his good friend Trent and his cousin Austin. Our first stop was Jumpin Jacks. After running around Jumpin Jacks for about 1hr 1/2 we headed over to Macy's to pick up a treat for the boys. We then went home to have pizza, cake, and ice cream. Teni loved all the attention and especially the part of being one year older.

We love Teni because:

He is kind and sensitive

He looks out for his little sisters

He loves to cuddle

He is so smart

He loves school

He loves church

He is always so grateful for everything. (He says thank you, alot)

He has cool hair

He loves to eat

and

He is our first and only boy!

Happy Birthday Leela!!!!

We celebrated Alyia's 3rd birthday on Sunday. Her birthday was small and sweet, with just our family to celebrate with her. She loved all the attention and most especially her birthday gifts.

We love Alyia because:

she is our lil' diva

she has her own language ( which she thinks everyone understands)

she's a girly girl

she's fiesty

she's funny

she makes Troy work for her kisses

she loves church (nursery)

she loves to sing and dance

she is a great actor ( fooled me into thinking she hurt her elbow. I totally panicked only to learn that she was just doing what she saw on the movie "UP"....Good thing Teni set everything straight)

she loves reading (whether it's me reading to her or her making up her own version)