Top 10

David, George, Timmy, Dad, Mark, Me
Steve, Sherry, Danny, Mom, Heidi, Jeannie

Last week my family came in town. All 10 of us were together which rarely happens. Since there are 10 of us I thought I would do my top 10 for the week.

1. Mark coming home and his awesome talk
   
2. George playing charades (I'm torn between "star performer" and "heart seat")
3. Watching the boys tube (or wrestle on the water behind the boat)
   
4. Family pictures
5. The "Roman Flu" (honestly, who doesn't love cleaning up kids throw up)
6. The fact that Sherry took a kitten home (especially after we tried to make George take one home)
   
7. Kenadi beating Cody in an arm wrestle
8. George beating Mark in an arm wrestle
9. Blessing baby Josephine (even though I missed it by 3 minutes!!!)
10. All the red Schultz shirts being worn (my kids wear theirs so much they are pink now)
    

Yesterday right after everyone left sweet Luke said "mom, why does everyone have to leave?" and I explained to him that people had to go back to their own houses and to work and then he asked "can't they work from our house and just live here?" I agree with him. I already miss the chaos of having 10 extra people in my house!

My baby's all grown up...

Glen, Sophie, Ella

I saw this sweet picture of the 3 babies (all born within 3 weeks last summer) and it made me sad for how fast they all grew up. Glen just had his first birthday and my baby Sophie turns 1 next week soon followed by Ella's b-day. They were all together last week and they are so different now. I need a picture of the 3 of them together because Glen is twice the size of the girls now and there is no way we could get them to sit still for a picture like this one - they all go in different directions.

Why is she growing up so fast???

He's Home!!!

I can't believe it 2 years is over and gone and Mark is home. His flight got in this morning at 8:45 am.

Mark looks great and it was so fun to be there to welcome him home. There were 7 (maybe 8) missionaries from his mission on the flight and Mark led the way down the escalator. I of course cried (so did Heidi and my dad and maybe a few others that hid it well). The kids were so excited and held up the signs they made yesterday. By tomorrow night all of us will be together!!!

here we are waiting

coming down the escalator

I'm pretty sure my dad was the most excited

Mark, Claire and I

The whole welcoming committee

Two funny things about the signs:

1. The kids are holding the ones they decorated. Notice how neat Luke colored his and how crazy Tayson did his. Tayson put BYU all over his even though we told him Mark went to the U. And Luke put a b-day cake on his for some reason.
2. On the back of one we wrote "Pwned" it was supposed to be "pwnd" I guess. Some gaming thing that means owned. Anyways...Todd, Timmy, David and Mark understood and got a kick out of it.
   

**funny side note about his flight: My parents were gone until about a week ago so we weren't sure exactly when Mark was getting home so I called the mission home to ask them for his flight info. I explained who I was and that my parents were out of town for 7 weeks but she was still hesitant to give it to me. So I told her I would go check the mail at my parents house and then I asked if it wasn't there should I just call back. So she said "just a minute" and then came back and asked me a bunch of questions. "what are your parents full names?" "who is Mark's stake president?" "What is his middle name?" I of course knew all the answers (thank goodness Mark is in my stake or I wouldn't have known that one) then I asked her if she wanted to know how much he weighed at birth. I shouldn't have said it and I didn't mean to sound sarcastic it was all just so funny to me. But in the end she gave me the info.

He's Coming Home

I can't believe it! Tomorrow morning I will be at the airport with a BIG smile on my face and a sign in my hands to welcome Mark home. I am 100% sure that I will cry (I'm about to just thinking about it).

Here are a few of my favorite memories of Mark's mission over the past 2 years:

• His first Christmas out he sent home 1 Christmas card to my house that I was supposed to share with everyone (including family members out of state...what in the world?)
  
• Seeing Mark both years on our drive to Cali for Christmas. We ate at Chipotle both times (according to Mark it's a tradition if you do it more than once)
• Mark's final email (word for word..."Family 2 John 1:12 Elder Schultz"
• His hilarious emails about biking
• The amazing letters that came home from people who's lives he has touched
• Knowing that he was out there doing the Lord's will and LOVING it
• Hearing my kids pray for him
  
• The fact that 6 kids were born while he was on his mission

I know there are a million more things that I love and want to document but I'm just so excited it's hard to remember....

Here are a few of the things we have planned for the next few days:

• Going to the airport bright and early in the morning
• George, Sherry and Danny all coming in town
• All 10 kids together again (it's been sooooo long since we've all been together)
  
• Family pictures
• Volleyball
• Boating/Swimming
• Going running with Sherry and/or Danny (everyone's invited)
  
• Hopefully going on a bike ride
  
• Lots and lots of computer gaming and board games for the boys (all night every night is what I've heard)
• Mark speaking in church on Sunday
• Heidi blessing baby Josephine on Sunday
• I get to have about 10 extra people sleeping at my house and couldn't be more excited
  

All the meals are planned and food assignments are handed out...all that's left to do is decorate signs and clean my house! WOO HOO!!!!!!!!

Provo Triathlon

Today Todd and Timmy did the Provo Triathlon. It's always fun to get to go and cheer them on instead of having the stress of doing the event. They both did such a great job today.


Timmy wanted to beat 1:30 in the sprint distance and came in at 1:24 taking 5th in his age group. He kicked it in so strong at the end and his run was under 8:00 min/mil




Todd had a great race. He did the Olympic distance and finished in 2:53. He averaged over 20 mph on the bike and right around 9:00 min/miles. He was awesome and looked so great so the whole time. I was so proud of him. He took 3rd in his age group. Way to go babe!!!










I really love watching Todd race. It makes me happy that we both love to race and do events.

Flashback Friday - Mark and the Chairs

There are so many great things about this picture:

• Mark is too cute and so little
• The Cookie Monster chair is mine (I got it for Christmas when I was 8)
• Big Bird is Heidi's
• The eyeballs are already missing and these chairs are probably just under 10 years old in this picture.
  
• I remember seeing the big box with the chair in it hidden in my mom's shower the Sunday before Christmas when my mom was fixing my hair
• The mini-tramp in the background. My mom would do her exercises on it, but we kids really knew how to have fun with it.
• The awesome pink pictures on the wall in the background. Especially the fact that the big one has some award just put on top of the frame. Classic.

These pictures were taken Easter 2009
28 years and 2 houses later the chairs live on...

you really can't beat little tikes for a long lasting product.

6 more days

In only 6 more days Mark will be home from his mission. I am beyond excited for him to come home, and right after he gets home all my siblings are coming to visit. DOUBLE WOOT!! I know I'm crazy how excited I'm getting about this...but I can't help it.

In preparation for Mark's return next week my dad went shopping today. He bought a new computer for Mark (which Todd is putting together for him) and a new TV for his room since the one in there didn't work well enough. So I asked my dad if Mark even watched TV and he said (without missing a beat) "Yes. He loves the Disney Channel". Todd and I laughed so hard when he said that and he was cracking up too. I think Mark might have outgrown the Disney Channel in the last few years :) hee hee

My kids prayers have changed from blessing him to be safe and work hard on his mission to blessing him to come home soon or come home safe. It's not that far of a trip.

Bangs or No Bangs

Help!!! I can't decide if I should cut bangs or grow them out...right now I'm at the in-between stage.

bangs

no bangs

What do you think?

p.s. doesn't that molten lava look yummy????

Just some thoughts...

A few nights ago I woke up when Todd came to bed (around 2:00 am of course). I was pretty groggy but I realized he was holding my hand for a few minutes before he drifted off to dream land. I woke up with a huge smile from him doing something so cute.

Yesterday Todd steam cleaned all the carpets in our upstairs just because. I loved seeing him clean the carpets...there is just something so sexy about a man with a vacuum.

Sophie walks everywhere now. She walks around just to walk. We'll be sitting in the room and she'll just walk around in circles with a big grin on her face thinking she rules the world. She also does the cutest thing when I go get her out of bed. I always give her a kiss and hug and now she gives them back. She will give me the BIGGEST open (yes open) mouth kiss then lean her head on my shoulder for a hug. It melts my heart. I really need to take a video of her kisses...they are hilarious.

I am overly excited for Mark to get home in 9 days. I can't stop thinking about how soon he'll be home and how soon my whole family will be together. YIPPEE!!

Yesterday I went over to my parents house (they've been out of town for the last 7 weeks) so I thought I would help Timmy get everything ready for them coming home tomorrow. Vacuuming is a great time to just veg and think about nothing. While I was vacuuming I was thinking about how my mom taught me to vacuum (3 times in each spot before moving to the side, the distance of each swipe and how to leave the nice lines on the carpet). I made sure that I did her house the right way and didn't rush it because I knew it would make her happy. I really miss my parents being gone and can't wait until tomorrow when they get back. It was so much fun to do something nice for them and made me so happy while I was doing it. There is nothing better than coming home to a clean house.

Riverwoods 10 Miler

This race was to officially kick off marathon training with our first long run. I haven't run more than 8 miles since the Moab Half-Marathon in March so I was actually a little nervous when it got here and I hadn't trained more. But the race went great. We were bused up Southfork canyon to Camp Big Springs and ran down the canyon then over to Riverwoods. We started out pretty fast and maintained a fast pace (thanks to Jill who was the ultimate pace bunny...and a VERY cute one at that). We averaged just under 8:30 min/miles and finished in 1:25. It was fun to push myself and still feel ok at the end. I am so dang lucky to have such a great group of girls to run with.

Leigh Anne, Traci, Jill and I before the race

Laurie, Stephanie, Leigh Anne, Jill, Me and Traci
After the race.

I didn't get the best picture of it...but I've been on the hunt for a great race outfit and I wore my latest purchase to this race. If you can see it...what do you think? Does it make me look fast? Skinny? Cute when I'm sweaty? Does it match my Garmin?

Pimp my Ride

So I'll be honest...I'm not a big fan of bumper stickers. I enjoy reading them on other people's cars but I've never been one to put one on my car. I just don't like to be "labeled.

I mean really what would I put on my car? "My kids are crazier than yours"

I've thought long and hard about getting a sticker when I run my first marathon. There are some way cool ones out there and I totally admire people who have done a marathon (and hope to join their cool club in a few months). But then I wonder if I want people to see that sticker on the back of my car and then know that I'm a runner...what will they think if they see me eating french fries or ice cream or drinking a diet coke while I'm driving? I think I'd have to always be on my best behavior when driving my car so that I look the part of a marathon runner.

Life is like running a marathon

This video is awesome. One of the girls I met this year when Sherry ran Boston made this.

Little Red Riding Hood Century

We signed up for this race months ago and all of the sudden it was here. It's an all women's ride with 6 different lengths. We did the 103 mile option. There were 2600 women riding of all ages and skill levels. The race was so well run and the volunteers were great. The food before, during and after was great and there were so many porta potties along the way. There was even a portable hand washing station for us at lunch. They know their crowd I guess. It ended up only being 3 of us because Traci got too sick to ride with us. Next year we'll all be out there and maybe have a few more with us. Trust me if you bike (and your a chick) you want to do this ride.

Leigh Anne's husband James drove us, made sure our bikes were tip top, met us every 30 miles to see if we needed anything and even helped a few others on the course. It was so great to have him supporting us. Thanks James you rock!

The start of the ride was freezing. It was cold and the roads were wet so we layered up. Thank goodness I over packed and brought a few of everything. Leigh Anne and Gretchen both had on 2 layers over their jerseys and I threw on my jacket and vest (the best part about that is that my jacket fills up with air so my sleeves were very poofy while we rode but my vest kept the rest tight so it looked like I had 80 prom sleeves on - several people commented on them and someone actually thought I dressed up on purpose).

Leigh Anne, Me and Gretchen

The first 60 miles we made great time. We were averaging around 20 mph and not pushing ourselves too hard. We had this really long steep downhill and I actually hit 40 mph. Then about 20 miles later we had to climb a very long hill right before lunch. I was ready to get off my bike by lunchtime and it felt great to stretch and eat. It had warmed up by now and the weather was perfect.

The funniest thing I heard the whole day was when I heard this girl say "does it help if I break the wind" to her friend. She was being so sincere and I giggled like a 4th grade boy. But honestly...that is some funny stuff!

Me, Gretchen and Leigh Anne

After lunch we hit a MAJOR headwind for a good 25-30 miles. It was completely demoralizing and we could barely maintain 14 mph for most of it while pushing hard. Drafting didn't help much because it was a cross wind but we just kept pedaling through it. Every time a gust would come you would hear Leigh just grunt - it was hilarious but definitely how we all felt.

The course was amazing and completely beautiful. It was so bright green. I just kept looking around me at the farmland and streams and the mountains thinking of just how beautiful it was. The downside to all this farmland beauty was the smell - it smelled like manure pretty much the whole ride.

Gretchen, Me and Leigh Anne
So excited to be done!

Kickin' it with the big bad wolf at the end.


It was a great ride and I will definitely do this one again. By the end of the race and the whole drive home I was so slap happy...I had way too many caffeine shots in my gels I guess.

Getting Ready to Ride

Tomorrow is my century (104 miles). I feel like I've managed to get in enough miles in the saddle even with the ride being so early in the season. I hope the weather is cool but not rainy. I've got my nutrition planned out (now I hope I have room to carry it all). I bought new gloves, bike shorts and knee warmers for the ride and I'm going to bed early tonight. Hopefully all will go well tomorrow.

No matter what else happens I am going out riding with 3 awesome girls (and a whole lot more I don't know) so it will be a fun day!!!

Out in Public

You'll never believe it. I took my family out looking like this Monday night to get treat for FHE. If you look closely you'll see the following:

• Todd has a mustache (it only lasted a day...but we went out in public)
• Tayson is wearing mismatch pj's with a superman cape
• Luke is wearing really small mismatch pj's with his batman cape
• Claire and Sophie are darling in their pink jammies

We love Macey's - ice cream and 25 cent donuts. Yummy!!!

Me I want a Hula Hoop

Tonight we had a mother's and daughters date for Relief Society so I took Claire with me. It was so much fun. There were hula hoops out - which Claire LOVED!!! She kept singing "me I want a hula hoop". I loved watching her try to do it. She never got it to go around more than once and at one point was actually spinning herself while holding the hula hoop. Here are some pictures and a video of her.

practicing

the contest

I love my sweet girl

On a side note: tonight Todd put Claire to bed. If we don't lock her door she keeps coming out over and over for hours. Tonight he forgot to lock her door and while I was folding laundry I heard her door open and I said to Todd ... "did you forget to lock her door?" but then she didn't come in our room. A few minutes later I walked by her room and saw that she had opened her door, locked it and gone back in to bed. She has done this one other time that I know of. She cracks me up.

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my dad's birthday. I'm sad that he's living the good life right now on a very long vacation instead of hanging out with us on his b-day. He is the BEST! As you can see he is hilarious and put on a princess wig for Claire last year - which we caught on film. He is not only the best dad in the world he is an amazing grandpa. Claire calls him on her barbie phone all the time to talk (really she's just talking to herself...but she calls grandpa 80% of the time). I am so grateful for the example he is to me, Todd and to our kids.

Salem Spring Triathlon

On Saturday Todd did his first tri of the season the Salem Spring Tri. It was a sprint distance and he took 2 minutes off his last sprint time last year (the Provo Tri). He looked great and we had a blast cheering him on. I love being at the finish line and cheering. My kids are going to get so sick of watching races this year. Some additional details Todd posted online.

Friday night Luke's night prayer went like this "Dear Heavenly Fader please bless daddy to win his race nameofJesusChrist Amen". It was so cute and sweet.

Todd finishing the race strong

And this is what we do while we wait.....

Girls kickin' it in the stroller

Boys eating snacks on the grass

Things they did that I didn't capture on film: wrestling, running, yelling, fighting, getting time out, pulling over the stroller, then finally leaving and going to the playground :)

Way to go Todd! We are so proud of you!!!