Lost and Found

I am very happy to say that with a little good luck and friends in the right places we found our turtle last night. I was at YW and someone asked me if we found our turtle yet...then another leader told me that one of my neighbors found a turtle in their backyard (this neighbor is 3 houses and a street away from our house). So when I got home I told Tayson the good news and we walked over to find out if it was his turtle.

**side note: he was only wearing his Shrek boxers when I got home so I told him to put on a shirt and shoes so we could go. Rather than get dressed he threw on a Superman pj top and his very colorful skater shoes (why not flip flops???). He looked hilarious and I should have taken a picture.

Back to the story. So then we walked over there and found out that she found the turtle eating her tomato plants and wasn't sure what to do with it so she gave it to another neighbor who would know how to take care of it. So we walked over there and they had him. I was so excited that we found him. The boys worked so hard to earn their money to buy him and I hated that we lost him after only a few months.

Hooray for good neighbors and a very tough turtle!

My Boy TJiddy

Seriously this guy is so hot. I think he gets better looking every year. I'm pretty sure that Todd is the best hubby ever.

He's a total go-getter and doesn't like to do things half way. It's all or nothing with this guy which makes me laugh all the time because he just cannot dabble. I love what a hard worker he is. How smart he is. How patient he is. How athletic he is. How funny he is. He brings out the best in me and truly is my other half. I can't believe that we have been together for 10 years.

He's been mixing it up this year and has actually gone running and biking with me a few times. He of course is faster than me which depresses me since I workout more often than him. But I love it when we go together. It isn't often since I'm a morning workout person and he doesn't do mornings.

I am one lucky girl to have this guy for all eternity.

Sophie

I am so in love with this little girl. She is such a good natured and sweet baby. She has started babbling non-stop so she'll probably end up chatty like Tayson and I which will drive Todd crazy. He thinks we talk too much! :)

I think she looks just like Todd and Tayson - but the cute girl version. She is a total spazz and is constantly moving and trying new things. I swear she never stops moving unless she is asleep. She loves her binky. She thinks it's hilarious to put the binky in my mouth backwards then she puts the soft part in her mouth...maybe it's freaky but I think it's funny so I play along.

I've been trying to do a little baby sign with her and now she says "more" or "more food" all the time except when she's hungry. Oh well it's still cute when she does it. Aside from babbling she says "baba" when I'm making her a bottle but I think that's about it.

I think she looks gorgeous in bright pink and has since the day she was born. It's her color with that light hair and skin.

Her toes still cross over each other unless she is standing up. She is a tiny little pip squeak (especially next to Glen). People are always amazed that she walks so well because she looks like she's about 9 months old. It's funny when she tries to run because she falls flat on her face after about 6 steps then gets right back and does it again. I'm not sure what the big hurry is but sometimes she is all about running.

We always joke about how neglected she is when she's just cruising around the house in a diaper doing whatever she feels like but it's just how she's rolls. She has the perfect laid back personality a 4th child needs. Man I love love love my sweet little Sophie bug.

Claire

My little girl is simply beautiful even with her frown. She is terribly shy and refuses to talk if anyone is in the room that she isn't comfortable with (this include almost everyone even people she knows). If she does need to communicate while other people are around for some reason she can't use words and just grunts. It's so annoying. Sometimes she'll eat good other times she will only eat if she is sitting on my lap or Timmy's lap. Once again rather annoying but when a kid is as small as she is you do what you have to in order to get them to eat. She is still obsessed with strawmilk with fiver (strawberry milk and fiber). We still keep her fiber intake on the high end and it helps with all her issues.

She doesn't like having her hair fixed because with all her curls it gets tangled and then it hurts her when I comb it. Most of the time her hair is falling in her face and if I tuck it behind her ear she grunts and pulls it back into her face. She gets food in her hair on a regular basis which adds to the difficulty in combing her hair. She hates going to bed with wet hair and won't lay down on her pillow when it's wet.

Bedtime is hilarious with her. She'll go to bed when we tell her almost always without tears. I have to sing her 2 songs (Child of God and Stories of Jesus), turn on her fan, turn off her light and lock her door. Then she plays happily in her room for at least an hour then puts herself to bed. If we don't lock her door she will open her door and lock it then go back in her room to play.

She tears everything to shreds (we call it "going hamster"). Books, papers, her pink curlers, etc. She is very particular about her toilet paper - it has to be 3 squares folded into a square or she gets mad at me and throws it away. She likes to pick out her own outfits and doesn't like to be told what to do. She wears her princess or Tinkerbell flip flops everywhere. She thinks that anything pink belongs to her no matter what it is. She corrects the way I say things if I don't put enough emphasis on the part of the word she thinks it should be on and she will say "mama say this...the say the word how she thinks it should be said".

She truly thinks her name is Claire Bear and gets mad when I shorten Sophie's name. Usually telling me her name is Sophie Jane. The girl is a total crack up. I sure hope she grows out of some of her shyness.

Luke

Oh how I love my bubba. His big brown eyes and his long curly hair just melt my heart. He is the sweetest kid ever and will do just about anything I ask him to do. He really is the easiest kid ever.

He is very excited that he gets to start Kindergarten on his 5th birthday. That is just so cool to him. I'm sure it will never be this exciting again. He wants to bring treats and have a party at school on his first day. A week ago he came upstairs crying in the morning saying that Tayson lied to him and told him that it was his birthday. He was so sad that he didn't get to go to school that day. He's a very smart little boy and reads and writes very well already.

He LOVES to play his Nintendo DS, the wii and the computer. He throws huge fits when we make him stop playing. We had to take the wii away for a few weeks because when we would ask him to turn it off he would throw the HUGEST fit ever. He's getting better when we tell him that we'll take it away for the rest of the day. I'm guessing he got his computer loving trait from his dad. He also got his calm sweet easy going personality and his gorgeous eyes from his daddy.

Luke is a bit OCD with things. When he makes his bed every corner has to be smoothed out and straight. If I make his bed he will go back and fix it. When we eat dinner he takes his napkin and puts it under his plate like a place mat then rearranges his plate, cup and fork until they are just right. The other night we were outside hanging out so Todd grabbed a blanket for us to sit on and after we were sitting he walked over and made us get up so he could straighten it. I think it's hilarious what a perfectionist he is.

He's a very good eater and likes pretty much everything. If you ask him he'll tell you he likes everything "except gray fish" and we have no idea where the gray fish came from. He is such a crack up.

I tried to teach him how to ride a bike last week and he said he can't learn until he turns 5. I don't get why kids think that on the day of your birthday everything changes. So silly.

Luke is still a cuddle bug and has bad dreams when he watches scary movies (like Coraline) so Tayson likes to turn on scary movies so Luke will leave the room. He and Tayson wrestle constantly and Luke is almost as big as Tayson so it's a pretty fair fight. Luke and Claire are the best of friends and I love watching them play together. The best word to describe Luke would be sweet.

Tayson

My boy is so grown up now. I can't believe that in a few weeks he will be 7. It's going by too fast and he's growing up too fast.

In the last few months he has gotten a lot more control of his emotions and has turned into such a great kid. He loves that he gets special treatment since he's the oldest. He gets to stay up a little later and we ask him to help a lot. He's been great about helping around the house and doing chores.

He loves to swim (although he looks like he's drowning sometimes but he can swim pretty far). He's getting to be a good reader and doesn't fight me as much as he used to when I ask him to read. I actually find him reading things all the time now and he doesn't get frustrated when he reads now.

Tayson and I started reading the Book of Mormon a few months ago so he can finish it before his 8th birthday. There isn't much that makes me happier and prouder as a mom than hearing him read the BoM. And last week at church he cuddled up next to me and tried singing along to the hymn too. I love it! He is very serious when he prays and says things like "we thank thee for the beautiful sabbath day".

In a few weeks he starts 2nd grade and hopefully he has matured enough that he will be able to sit still and not drive his teacher crazy. He seems to be able to control himself better so I'm hopeful.

Tayson is such a joy to have in our family. He's the silliest boy and always makes us laugh. He loves to play computer and watch movies. He loves to play with his friends. He still loves Star Wars. I'm pretty sure his favorite food is magic shell and he never wears a shirt.

Book Reviews

I just finished a book and I thought I would write up a quick review on the last few books I read.

The Glass Castle. I enjoyed reading this book. I'm not a huge fan of memoirs but occasionally they are fun to read. This particular one was a bit disturbing because the way she talked about how she was raised was pretty much neglect and child abuse. Her writing style was fun and she put everything into a positive spin instead of focusing on how bad her life really was.

Mrs. Kimble. This book was about a man and his 3 wives (not all at the same time). It was a good book and I read it pretty fast. It was all character development not a lot of plot or action but it was good.

House of Sand and Fog. This book had 4 main characters who all get involved in a house sale gone bad and the lengths each of them were willing to go to due to desperation and their pasts. I didn't love this book. I had a really hard time getting into this book and then even when I finished it I didn't have any love for any of the main characters.

Right now I'm reading Picture Perfect.

Just a few things

This weekend I went on a great bike ride with Traci up Southfork Canyon. After the ride I quickly threw my bike on the rack and headed home. About a half mile down the road I noticed my bike wasn't in my rear view mirror....oh no! I of course didn't think and just freaked out so I flipped a u-turn and busted back up the road....then I realized that my bike wouldn't have fallen off but would be dragging behind me so I quickly pulled over. I'm pretty sure I did more damage in my freak out. The good news is that only my handlebars were damaged and I think that with some new tape it will be usable until next year. I don't want to spend the extra money on the parts this year since I'm not riding much due to marathon training. It almost made me cry - my bike is my favorite possession.

Friday was Pioneer Day and work was slow so I left a little early and took the kids to the pool. We had so much fun swimming and playing in the water for a few hours. I saw a girl from the gym who had her first baby a few weeks after Sophie and she was wearing a bikini showing off her 6 pack. I got so self conscious. I don't know why I can' just be happy with how my body looks in my late 30's and after 4 babies. Not that I had rock hard abs before I had babies :) I swear it is so hard to just accept my body how it is and be happy and not compare myself to others.

Poor Sophie is not sleeping well right now. I hope it's just her little teeth finally coming in. She hasn't been falling asleep fast and she has been waking up in the night. I sure hope as soon as her second tooth breaks we'll get a break from this and she'll start sleeping again. It might be time to move to 1 nap soon too.

I finished my 2008 blog book last week. I am very excited about how it turned out. It's over 260 pages so I know it will cost me quite a few bucks...but it is such a great family journal. My kids absolutely love reading about themselves and hearing stories and seeing pictures. I'm excited that all my time on here as well as the time it took to make my book perfect are paying off.

Life is good!

Flashback Friday

Tayson and I at swim lessons 2003

I think Sophie looks so much like him.

Ice Cream

Last night Todd and Timmy left to go play board games at David's house and I had just put the boys to bed so I thought I'd have a bowl of ice cream. While I was serving myself Luke came up the stairs for an apple and asked what I was doing. When he saw what I was doing he asked if he could have some too (and of course I can't say no to those big brown eyes....) so I told him to go get Tayson and we would all have ice cream.

We pulled out all the fixin's and the boys made sundaes. While we were making them Tayson and I had the following conversation:

Tayson: What's a step-mom?
Me: If daddy and I got a divorce and he re-married you would have a step-mom
Tayson: Is a divorce when you aren't sealed anymore?
Me: Sometimes.
Tayson: Why do you get a divorce?
Me: If daddy and I didn't love each other anymore it might happen.
Tayson: OK

Then we sat down to eat our ice cream and just chatted about everything. It was so much fun sitting there talking to my boys. Tayson talked about how the girls at school chased him on the playground. How he's worried about Luke being able to ride the school bus home alone. Telling me about how all the girls think he's silly and funny and his teacher told him he should be a clown when he grows up. We just sat and talked and talked and talked. I really hope that when the boys are teenagers a bowl of ice cream late at night is enough for them to sit and talk to me like that. Another funny conversation happened while eating our ice cream:

Tayson: Daddy would be so mad if he was home and we weren't in bed. He would count to 3 and give us flicks.
Luke: I hate flicks
Tayson: Good thing he's at David's
Luke: Mom, can we get a step-dad?
Tayson: Then who would wrestle with us?
Me: Nope I love daddy way too much to let you have a step-dad.
Luke: Yea me too. But I'm glad we get ice cream.

Oh how I love my boys.

Flashback Friday - Future Missionaries

Mark

Timmy

These were taken when we dropped Heidi off at the MTC. Neither one of them went to where they pointed (but they both went to So. Cal). I can't believe how little they were!

Fav Five

So a few weeks ago on one of our runs Traci was talking about a fun game she played where you put in 5 things you enjoy more than the average person and then people had to guess who it belonged to. So I started trying of think of my 5 and I even had a lengthy (ok about 5 minutes) conversation on the drive to Vegas with Todd about what mine would be and what his would be.

So here is what I have come up with for me.

1. Exercise
2. Sleep
3. Being with family (especially extended)
4. Keeping a Journal (my blog is included here)
5. Reading
   

Here is what I came up with for Todd:

1. Computers
2. Games (computer and board)
3. Movies
4. Technology
5. In-n-Out
   

Can you think of anything better? What would yours be?

Some things I want to remember

Today Sophie cut her first tooth. Not bad she's only been 1 for a week. I made a comment this morning about how surprised I was since she slept so good last night and Todd said she was up 3 times in the night. I must have really been tired because I didn't hear a thing. Good thing Todd is a night owl and took care of her.

Here is a funny conversation I had with Luke the other night:

Luke: Mom why does grandpa shave his head?
Me: He doesn't he's bald
Luke: What? Yes he does he doesn't have hair there.
Me: He doesn't shave it. It just doesn't grow there anymore.
Luke: Whatever mom, he shaves it.

Last week on our trip Todd figured out how to connect the boys Nintendo DS's and they have this program "pictoText" so they can text back and forth. But since they don't like to read or write they just drew eachother pictures or scribbled back and forth. They thought it was so funny and just kept sending eachother scribbles for like an hour in the car. I'm all for it if it keeps them quiet. :)

Riding Bikes

One night on our trip we decided to take the bikes out for a spin on the beach path. It was so much fun. The sweet teal cruiser had a bell which I took full advantage of when I was riding it. I'm not as good at push brakes as I was when I was a kid...but there were no crashes I just had one mishap when I hit the brakes a bit hard and squealed out scaring a few people walking along the beach. The tandem cruiser was hilarious. The backseat was the most uncomfortable bike seat I have ever been on and when I pedaled I hit Todd's rear every time. It was weird for me to have no control over where we were going or slowing down. Thank goodness I trust Todd. At one point we got the bike moving pretty fast :)

I think the bike ride is one of my favorite parts about the trip! Good Times!

Kickin' it on the cruiser

Todd and Amy on the tandem

Todd and I on the tandem

I finally made it to my last post about our family vacation to Cali. It was such a great trip!!

The Bay

Where we stayed we were half way between the Beach and the Bay. The Bay was so great for the kids because there was lots of sand and water with no waves. In the morning we would head the the Bay for a few hours of playing then go to the house for some lunch re-apply sunscreen then head over to the beach for the afternoon. Talk about perfect.

After my 14 mile run I decided to "ice" my legs in the freezing cold water.

The boys heading out for a quick trip in the raft

Claire taking Emma for a ride in the raft

Todd took Carson and Tayson out on the raft then they swam back to shore.
Tayson is quite the little swimmer.

Just playing on the beach

Beach Cookout

Man do I love beach cookouts! Everything tastes better when it's cooked over open flames. Great-Grandma came for Sophie's b-day party and the cookout. We didn't think we'd be able to have one because there were not fire pits close to us but on our walk up to the pier we found some. Hooray!

Todd, Great-Grandma Pearson and all the grand kids

Todd and Luke cookin' some dogs

Sophie dumped out the bag of cheese (we forgot slices) and then started eating it. I swear she ate more sand than food last week and her diapers were CRAZY because of it.

We ate delicious corn cooked in salt water. Yummy!

All the kids roasting their marshmallows ready for s'mores.

I've never seen Claire as dirty as she was by the time we left.
Her hands and feet were absolutely disgusting.

The Beach House

Warning....picture overload!!!

We got very spoiled last week. Todd's mom rented a beach house for a week in Newport (right on the Balboa Peninsula). The house was big and old and I LOVED it. The stairs creaked so loud we kept waking up the kids, we had enough beds for everyone, and we were 1 block from the Bay and 2 1/2 blocks from the beach. FABULOUS!

Luke got to pull the wagon of toys/towels the first day

Until he reached the sand. Then grandma had to help him

Carson, Tayson, Wyatt and Luke

Carson, Emma, Luke, Claire, Tayson, Wyatt and Todd
All the kids building the first of many sand castles with Uncle Todd

Claire running from the waves

Emma and Claire playing in grandma's bed

Wyatt got his head stuck in the stairs.
The next Tayson put his head in and out no problem - it was hilarious.

Claire and Emma playing in the wagon after some serious digging in the sand.

Sophie, Me, Todd, Claire, Amy, Wyatt, Tayson, Carson, Todd, Emma and Luke
The whole gang hanging out on the lifeguard stand for a quick photo.

Todd and the kids hanging out on the wall they built

Wyatt, Carson, Tayson, Nick and Luke

This was the master creation of the week. It was the hugest sand wall ever.
Some neighbor kid (Nick) helped them too.

Happy Birthday Jan

We went down to Cali to celebrate a very important b-day. Todd's mom turned 60 and his sister Amy threw a big bash. It was great to be there to celebrate with everyone. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures at the party! It was so fun because we sent the kids over to a babysitters and I put Sophie down for bed an hour into the party so we could really enjoy ourselves and relax.

This is how I will always picture my wonderful mother-in-law. Sitting on the beach enjoying herself and being with her family.

Claire, Amy, Jan

Happy Birthday!!!

4th of July

For the 4th of July we started out with my race then went straight to the parade (they were both on the same street).

The kids got their hair painted

Luke, Claire, Tayson and Sophie

Here's all the kids waiting for the parade to start.

Carson, Emma, Wyatt, Luke, Sophie, Claire and Tayson

During the downtime we all just stood around.
It was very hot but well worth the good times.
Milo and Gale met us there too.
I only had my running clothes and my race t-shirt. Nice.

Milo, Gale, Jan, Luke, Tayson, Amy, Todd and I

This is the funniest picture of the parade. Todd was taking a picture of the girl doing a back flip but missed the flip and just got a picture of her butt. So funny. Hilarious!!!

After the parade we headed back home then in the afternoon had a fun bar-b-que and had the family b-day party for Jan. The kids (and adults) were pretty tired after dinner so instead of taking the kids out to see fireworks we put them to bed and watched a movie.

It was a great day. Happy 4th of July!

Surf City 5k

As part of my race a month goal I did a 5K on the 4th of July. Since I was in Cali I did the Huntington Beach Surf City 5K. It was a really big race and there were some very fast people there. Amy said she would do it with me (her second ever 5K) so I was way excited. Then the night before the race Amy's cousin Chantal (a senior in HS) said she has always wanted to do a 5K so she joined in on the fun too. We got to the race with plenty of time for the porta potties and to check out the scene. We made our way to the front of the crowd so that we wouldn't be sitting in traffic with all the runners for the first 1/4 mile. Chantal and I went out pretty fast and finished our first mile right around 7:30 then I just kept trying to hold the pace. It was a really hard pace for me to maintain (even at sea level) but I managed to come in with a PR of 23:29. Woo Hoo!!!

Coming in to the finish

After the race
Amy, Chantal and I

SO happy!!!

The Beach

We just got back from a great vacay in Cali.
Get ready for lots of pictures and lots of posts.
But now I am tired and going to bed.

Happy First Birthday Sophie

We started the day with a candle in a pancake of course.
(the question here is why don't Sophie and Tayson have shirts on?)

After a day at the beach we opened presents

And had birthday cake

She LOVED her cake and ate quite a bit of it

And I needed to document this little gem she got on her b-day. So sad that she got this monster blister from an hour in the morning sun during family pictures. She didn't seem to mind it much until it popped at 3 am. So sad. It has since popped, peeled and she has the biggest nasty red oval on her arm. I really hope it doesn't scar. Talk about a bad mothering moment.

One Year Ago...

I was in the hospital with my BEAUTIFUL new baby girl.

Isn't she gorgeous?

And I wanted to document her adorable crazy toes.

Oh how I love my sweet new baby girl. I can't believe she is a year old!