Swim Team

I decided to sign Tayson up for swim team this summer. He goes everyday from 7:30 am - 8:30 am. He wasn't too excited when I told him but today he had a blast at their first practice. Plus Ryan and our neighbor Jaxon are both in it too. He sure does look old to me in this picture.

Dance Pictures of Claire

Ready for the sun to come out

It has been such a cold and wet spring. It's just ridiculous how little sunshine we've had this year. My kids finally didn't care anymore that it is too cold to play in the water so they got out the slip-n-slides. They froze and only played for a few minutes but hey at least they got to play outside for a little bit. Sophie went through 3 swim suits and 2 dresses in a very short period of time. Every time she got wet she would come in and change her clothes to warm up then go right back outside to play in the water.


We really are ready for the sun to come out now. We've waited long enough and with school out my kids are going to start going crazy if they have to be indoors all day.

Haircuts

Todd buzzed the boys hair on Saturday. I of course didn't want Luke to cut his hair since I'd rather he grow it out again...but he really wanted it shaved. Last week he took a hit to the eye from a light saber so he had a tough looking wound on his face. Todd decided to cut his hair into a mohawk to send to Mark. So Luke did his tough guy face and pose then asked Todd to shave off his mohawk.

Ryan was at our house while the haircuts were going on and said he wanted his hair buzzed too. Todd made him run home to ask if it was ok and even after he told us it was ok I made sure to call Christine just to make sure. They boys all look cute with their new summer haircuts.

Les Mis

Somehow Todd scored tickets to Les Mis. I love going to the theater and I love love love that Todd does too. It is always so much fun to get dressed up go out to dinner and then to the show. The performance was great and of course I shed a few tears. And Les Mis has special meaning to me since it's the show Todd and I went to when we were dating. It won my heart over then and it still does now (I'm so cheesy!!)

Facebook Friday

I might need to call it a day....I mean it is the Nordstrom's half yearly sale! (5/27)

Last day of school (5/27)

Preschool graduation (5/26)

Claire's room is done now too (5/25)

Sophie's room is done. Love it!! (5/24)

At the school carnival. (5/23)

what a day. I haven't stopped once all day. Running, cheering on my awesome sis-in-law at her marathon then 3 dance performances. Now I have to prepare my lesson for church tomorrow then I can finally hit the hay. SO TIRED! (5/21)

Ready for her first dance concert. I'm a little too excited I think. (5/20)

School's Out!

My boys leaving for their last day of school.

Tayson is so excited for summer and Luke wants to go to summer school because he loves school so much. I love my boys and how different they are. Tayson wears shorts or track pants to school every day. Luke will only wear jeans and likes to wear polo shirts. He even said that he thinks it's weird that Tayson wouldn't wear jeans on a rainy day. Classic. Luke is also wearing his winter hoodie still. I love that over the past school year Luke has grown up enough to ride his scooter to school so I don't have to drive them to school anymore. Luke mastered the scooter a few months ago. Way to go kiddo. Both of them love reading and try to get me to take them to Barnes & Nobel on a weekly basis so they can get new books. Personally, I am SO glad summer is here. I love relaxed mornings and bedtime. Our routines take a backseat to fun - woo hoo! Now we need it to stop raining and warm up a little so we can actually enjoy having time off.

Claire's Preschool Graduation

Claire is officially graduated from pre-school. She did so great in her end of year performance. She sang and smiled and had a lot of fun. For being shy she sure does like to perform. Just don't ask her a direct question or look her in the eyes. I love that she can read simple books and write her name and cut and color and seems completely ready for kindergarten. Since I was on Sophie duty and Todd was taking videos Tayson took all the pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.

Claire with her teacher Miss Wendi

Home Improvements - Part 10

We decided to add the girls flooring to our already HUGE home improvement project. Todd worked from home this week and did lots of work on the house. Todd did the full demolition on the girls rooms during the day.



He decided to use our room as the storage space for the girls stuff. Where in the world am I supposed to sleep if we don't get the project done tonight???? Luckily - Todd and Trent got Sophie's room done a little after midnight so I was able to get some sleep after all.

Sophie's Room

Claire's Room

Todd worked on Claire's room for a couple of hours the same night (while I was snoozing in bed) then finished it off the next day. I am so happy with how the rooms turned out. The color of the floors actually looks a little different because of the pink & green walls - but they are exactly the same.

Side Note: Since the girls didn't have beds I put them to bed on the couches. I put Claire on the big couch and Sophie on the little couch. When I put Soph's pillow and blanket down on the couch she said "that a stupid couch - I don't want a baby couch". It totally cracked me up. I told her it was the couch Luke likes to sleep on then she said "Luke not baby" and somehow I got her to lay down. She is a very silly little girl.

Tayson's Wolf

Tayson earned his Wolf in cub scouts this week. It was great that it was on a week Todd was in town so he could be there. Tayson has really loved scouts and has been working hard to finish everything. I'm so proud of him and hope he keeps moving forward with scouting. I am really glad that Ryan is going through it at the same time as him since Todd is gone during the week it's a relief to me that Steve works with Tays on a lot of his requirements. Right now I'm definitely not the best scouting mom but I better figure it out since I have Luke coming up right behind Tayson. I'd might as well bite the bullet and get into scouting!

Tayson's Track Meet

Tayson did after school track this spring. Something that I am definitely excited about. He's such a great little runner and he likes it so I have definitely been encouraging it. I took the day off work for his school track meet and Todd took the day off work and stayed home from DC to be there too. It was a cold rainy day so he only got to do his field event (the softball throw). He was signed up to run the 400 meter and 800 meter races and they canceled the event at the 200 because it was pouring rain. Tays was a little bummed because he was so excited to run. Thank goodness he'll have lots of chances to run again.

School Carnival

Because of the bad weather the school carnival was moved indoors. UGH. There were bounce houses and hot dogs and cotton candy in a very small space filled with very hyper kids. My kids loved it!

Especially the cotton candy!

Have you ever seen a kid who is always sticky and always has crazy hair? I mean really it doesn't matter how many baths this girl gets or how cute I fix her hair she always looks like this.

Way to go Kami!!

Kami finishing her 3rd marathon.

She is amazing!! I was so glad I got to go up to Ogden to see her finish. We have been doing lots of runs together and it's so fun to workout together. She is in great shape and pushes me hard. Being at the finish line was fun cheering her on but it sure didn't make me want to be finishing a marathon. Seeing the pain on people's faces as they came by made me remember how much those final steps hurt. I wonder if I'll ever be ready to do another one...

Claire's Dance Concert

I am a little too excited about the fact that my little Claire Bear is in dance. I love dancing and danced from 3 years old until I was 20 including lots of dance classes at BYU. And that doesn't count all the dance parties I have in the car and at home with the kids :)



The studio Claire dances at had 5 performances over the weekend. Friday night at 6 & 8 then again Saturday at 3, 6 & 8. I went to all 5 performances and loved every minute of it. Timmy, Heidi, Annabell and Lilly came to the Saturday show with us. My parents and Luke and Sophie came to the 6:00 Saturday show and Todd, Jan and Tayson came to the Saturday 8:00 show. Claire loved the attention and did a great job in all her dances. I was a little nervous that she would get tired and not go out towards the end but she was too excited to be dressed up and wearing makeup to get tired. It was a crazy busy weekend but I absolutely loved it!

Facebook Friday - I know it's been a while

I made strawberry shortcake with lemon cake waffles instead of white cake waffles tonight It was DELICIOUS!! (5/19)

I really am done with the rain. I need some sunshine. I want to wear open toe shoes and short sleeved shirts. I want to run in shorts and tank tops. I want my kids to get out of the house and play outside. I want to sleep with my window open. Am I too needy???? (5/19)

Is it bad when you get a text at 9:00 pm from a co-worker asking if you're still awake? (5/17)

Work. Done. Dinner. Done. Family night. Done. 3 loads of laundry. Done. 3 runs in one day. Done. Next: hot bath and a good book. That is all. (5/16)

over 500 miles so far this year. I'm half way to my yearly goal!! (5/16)

Facetimimg with Luke, Talon and Roman a few rooms apart is hilarious. (5/14)

Trip #1 to the grocery store included me, 4 kids, 2 carts and a stress headache. Trip #2 to the grocery store today included me, 1 small cart, an ice cream cone and a lot of strolling the aisles. (5/14)

It's done. The floors are finished and so gorgeous. I'm so happy with how everything turned out. Next step: floor boards and a fresh coat of paint. (5/14)

Sooooo tired. I've been helping with the hardwood in the hallway all night. It's 3/4 done and then my floors are in. I'm so excited!! (5/14 @ 1:43 am)

Is it bedtime yet? (5/13 @ 5:55 pm)

Me: Tays you're getting really tan already
Tays: I know I'm turning Mexican
Me: huh?
Tays: I kick really hard and far. And Mexicans kick really good
Me: well in order to be Mexican you have to be from Mexico
Luke: I love Mexico and I'm going to live there from when I get married until I die
Me: ok (5/12)

Watching Claire play the wii is always funny because she's a lefty. (5/12)

Another room done. Only the hallway left. (5/11)

After sending Sophie back to bed for the hundredth time she said "you're stupid mom" as she closed my door on the way out of my room. Nice. (5/10 @ 9:40 pm)

Why can't bedtime be as simple as a book, song and a goodnight kiss? I honestly hate putting my kids to bed!! (5/10 @ 9:13 pm)

I'm ready for the sun to come out again. I've had enough rain for this week. (5/10)

I know a hot bath is probably the worst thing I can do right after a run but I was just so cold and it feels so good. (5/9)

my eye has been twitching for 3 days....it's making me CRAZY!! (5/9)

Happy mothers day!! I love being a mom and am grateful to have an amazing mom & mom-in-law. (5/8)

Date night. Todd creating a fun candy dish. He's so hot in an apron. (5/7)

Ran shoreline trail this morning. It was ridiculously hard, beautiful & fun. (5/7)

Why are boys so destructive? (5/5)

I just took a picture of Tays and he said "are you going to put that on your blog, facebook and text it to dad?" he knows me so well. (5/4)

All of the kids are cavity free. They all earned $20. (5/4)

Watching the demo of the Kress building (5/4)

I just changed my profile picture to one with my amazing mom (Susan Joan Giboney Schultz) in it to celebrate mother's day. I'm one lucky girl to have such a great mom and to live 1/2 mile away from her! (5/4)

Some mornings I wish I still had roommates to help me with outfit decisions. (5/4)

I need summer to get here. 3 of my kids are still awake in their beds. (5/3)

9/11 I'll never forget. God bless America! (5/1)

Tile is in. Next step grout. (4/30)

I lost my phone tonight. I feel so lost!! (4/29)

It is so dang cold outside. I really am so over winter. (4/29)

Just overheard:
Claire "Soph don't say sure say yes"
Sophie: "yes sir" (4/28)

I really hate that every movie these days has to be in 3D!! (4/28)

Tayson just covered his eyes when walking in my room to "make sure he didn't see anything". I guess he's growing up. I am so not ready for this. (4/26)

Can NOT seem to get back into real life. (4/25)

At LAX. Last leg of the flight then I'll be home. I sure do miss my munchkins. Happy Easter everyone. (4/24)

Makeup

Claire loves makeup (remember last year when she had a makeover party when she turned 4). Yesterday was her class dress rehearsal for her recital this weekend. She was so excited for me to put makeup on her. Getting lipstick on those tiny lips when she was puckering them super tight was hilarious. When we were driving home after her practice and pictures she couldn't sit in the back because the seat had water on it from her shoes and she didn't want to get her costume dirty or wet so she was in the front passenger seat. She pulled down the mirror and just looked at herself the entire drive home. It was so cute. She is so excited that all weekend she gets to wear makeup - I'm not sure if she cares about dancing or not.

A sweet note from Tayson

A while ago Tayson gave this to me and I just found it at my desk at work. What a sweetheart.

500 Miles

I hit the 500 mile mark on Monday for miles I've run/walked so far this year. I set the goal for 1000 miles and I'm really that I'm half way there. I know my mileage will slow down a lot once I'm not training for Ragnar so it's good that I'm ahead a bit. It's been a fun challenge to watch how many miles my legs can go. I downloaded this little free app to my phone and every time I run I just put in how many miles I went. It's so fun to watch the number grow.

The Park

Jeannie and Trent went to Idaho to see Wicked for the weekend so we had Talon and Roman for a couple of days. I decided that in order to keep the kids happy and myself sane we would all walk over to the school playground and burn off some energy. David and Glen met us there too. And when we got there Steve, Eric and Allen had just gotten there to throw the football around.

Talon, Claire, Glen, Sophie & Roman


While the little ones played the big kids had a game of kickball

P.S. Todd sent the kids down to get dressed in the morning and the girls both put on dresses, Tayson put on shorts and a t-shirt and Lukey came up in jeans and a polo. That kid cracks me up. Then at the park when we saw Steve guess what he was wearing? Yep. Jeans and a polo. Hilarious.

Home Improvements - Part 9

We are done laying the flooring. Hooray!! It has been a long time coming and we aren't done yet but at least all my flooring is in. Now my house can get put back together and it won't be so dusty. I love my floors and am so excited to not have that nasty carpet anymore.


Next step: baseboards, patching and a fresh coat of paint to the walls. Almost done.

Too Much?

I decided to try out compression socks with running. You are supposed to wear them during your run but more importantly after your run so your legs will heal faster. We did 12 miles this morning then I had to go to work. I put on my longest pair of slacks and headed off to work. They showed a few times but for the most part they were hidden all day. Maybe I'm taking running too far....I mean those are so not cute! I will say my legs felt pretty fresh on my run the next morning though.

The Dentist

Recently I told the kids that if they were cavity free at the dentist they would get $20. This was a huge motivator for Tayson and he took this very seriously. I rarely have to bug him to brush his teeth now. I simply say "go brush your teeth" and he does. Plus $20 is way cheaper than paying for fillings. All 4 kids had dentist appointments so I went to the bank and got out cash for them. I let our dentist in on the deal and he was so great about making it a big deal for the kids. They were so excited to get their teeth checked and when the dentist announced they were cavity free I handed them their money. They loved it!! All of them were cavity free and they have been even more motivated to keep brushing and flossing since.

Showing me their smiles and cash

Tayson bought a skateboard with his money.
It was $19.99 so he had to borrow a couple of dollars from Luke to pay for his taxes

Luke bought a $4 ball a little bug thing, paid for part of Taysons and put the rest in his piggy bank.

Claire bought a new princess outfit

And Sophie got to buy a new pair of sunglasses (I didn't give her $20).
She is showing me the peace sign

Home Improvements - Part 8

Next up was the office. Trent came over a few different nights during the week and we managed to finish the office.




Timmy couldn't wait for the whole room to be done so he set up his computer. Notice the wire across the floor :)

Happy Mother's Day

I love the handmade things my kids make me at school. Todd took the boys shopping with him and they bought me a new outfit at Nordstroms (which I love) and the boys wrapped up all their stuff from school too. It was fun opening everything. If you look close at the picture there is a pink booklet with "Fiesta" on it. I asked Luke if that was for the Cinco de Mayo but he assured me he made it for Mother's Day. Then on Monday when I was cleaning out his backpack before school I found a cute pink coupon book and asked him if that was what he meant to give me and he said "oh yea...that's what I made you". It was classic.


From Tayson:




Translation:
The outfit she wears the most is: running outfit
If I had a million dollars, I would buy my mom: the best set of running clothz
I love my mom the best when she: takes me to get icecream
My mom is as tall as a: cloud, and as soft as a: dog
I love my mom the most because she: cares for me
My mom's favorite thing to cook is: Spigitie and I think it is awesome
When my mom finishes her work she likes to: run
I love my mom best when she: let's me stay up.
I 'bug' my mom the most when I: want somting


From Luke:
Translation: Recipie
Cooks (the steak) on barbeque half hour on barbeque then eat it


Translation:
M - mom
O - out of this world
T - teacher
H - happy
E - exciting
R - Relly fun
My mom's the greatest because: she lets me sleep on the couch


Translation:
My mom is special because: she takes me to school. She loves me.
I like it when my Mom: makes dinner.
My mom can do many things! I think she's best at: her work.
My mom has a pretty smile! I like to make her smile by: telling jokes.
My mom is as pretty as a: flower
My mom is smart! She even knows: how to drive.


Well I must say I am the luckiest mom around to have the kids I have. I think it's hilarious that all Tayson talks about is my running. At least Luke said I'm as pretty as a flower unlike being as soft as a dog. I love being a mom. Some days it's really hard work and it takes all of my energy to keep going and take care of my kids. I love having all 4 of them so close together because of how much fun they have together but it is definitely not easy to have them all so close. Mother's day itself wasn't the best day for me. Todd got sick and had to leave church minutes after we sat down so I had all the kids alone at church. He had to take the car home so I was going to walk home but it was raining so we had to bum a ride from Steve. Then I didn't have anyone to pamper me at dinner at my parent's house. I kept trying to find the silver lining but I just couldn't make myself have a great day while it was going on. The thing about Mother's day is that it's just a day. Every single day I get hugs and kisses from my kids, they tell me they love me, they thank me for making them dinner (even when it's mac-n-cheese), they run to me excited when I get home from work. I love being a mom and I wouldn't change it for anything!!

Home Improvements - Part 7

Front room wood. All day Saturday was dedicated to the front room wood. My job was to lay out the right piece of wood - I had to look at the size, color, patterns, make sure we didn't have our lines matching up or too close together, etc. It stressed me out a little for the first few rows - but then it became second nature. Trent pounded the boards in, David nailed them, Steve and Todd pulled out the carpet and baseboards in the office and hallway, and Timmy helped saw. It was quite a day full of lots of work.

Home Improvements - Part 6

Our next step in the process was to tear out all the carpet. We moved all the furniture into my kitchen and pulled out all the carpet Friday night after Claire's party.

Claire's Party

Claire wanted to go to Jumping Jacks for her birthday. Since she had a friend party last year this year was family only. So there were only a million cousins there for her to play with. My kids are so lucky to have so much family close by.






Next we went back to the house and had Mexican food and a Pinata (since we always combine her birthday with the Cinco de Mayo).

Claire got to go first

Sophie

Glen knocked off the first leg - but nothing came out yet

Bella

Luke

Ryan had to get spun around this year

Tayson

Allen had to really spin - he finally broke the whole thing open

Steve dumping out the pinata for the kids to go crazy.
There wasn't any candy in it so the kids got upset so I finally threw a bag of candy out on the grass too.

Then we sang

And Claire blew out her candles

Opening presents
(notice that Tayson did the peace sign in front of my picture - silly boy)

Tayson and Todd being silly

Then the kids went outside to play with bubbles
(as you can see even without a friend party there were plenty of kids)

It was a really fun day celebrating our sweet Claire turning 5! We sure do love Claire Bear!!