Dance party

Today was a day that needed to end with a dance party.  I taught the kids "the chop" and we danced until we were all worn out. 

Once there was a snowman

It snowed on Sunday...not a lot of snow but good thick heavy snow. The best for snowballs and making snowmen. So right after church the kids all bundled up and went outside to make a snowman. They used pretty much all of the snow to make it but our little Frosty turned out great and the kids had a blast. The kids were very happy to be a part of grandma's first snowman and help her get pictures for a winter scrapbook page. And to top it off we had a great reason to use our new hot cocoa machine.

Luke

Claire - still in her church clothes
(just add boots, coat, gloves and hat)

The finished product - I think he looks PERFECT!

Since Claire and I were still in our church clothes I thought I'd get a quick picture.

Sophie slept through most of the fun - but she really wanted to get bundled up and go outside at the end.

Cowabunga Bay

Trent wanted to go to the new water slide park "Cowabunga Bay" for his birthday. So we packed up the kids and drove up. The park was fun with a small pool, lazy river and lots of different slides. Luke loved the slides and went down the big ones with Todd. He even said on his next ride he was going to lay on his back and cross his arms over his chest to go faster. I didn't bring a camera so I only got 2 pictures with my phone. Sophie was so funny. She LOVES the water. She didn't like wearing her life jacket so we let her wear her water wings instead. She never went very far away and for 90% of the day she played with her blow up turtle in the shallow end. There were these small water fountains that she loved too. She would stand over the water and then stick her face over it then just crack up. I love spending the day playing as a family.

Easter Egg Hunt

We got invited to a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt this morning at 9:00 am. Fun. The morning run took a bit longer than I had anticipated (ended up being 8.8 miles and lots of it uphill) so we were running late and didn't get there in time to hide eggs. It was still fun to go eat breakfast and hang with friends but the kids didn't do eggs. It was freezing outside too.


Then after we got home Tayson invited Ryan over and Todd and I hid lots and lots of eggs for the kids to find. The kids had so much fun finding eggs and eating candy.


Sophie found one egg, opened it and found a candy necklace and sat on my lap the rest of the time chewing on it.




Tayson found the hardest egg we hid.

Happy Happy Easter to all!

Priceless

Circus Tickets: $36
Nachos, Hot dogs & Churros: $32
Foot juggler in a flesh colored bodysuit: Priceless


I'm not going to lie to you...this was like a train wreck. I couldn't look away but it was so disturbing to watch.

Catching up.....Cornbelly's & Cellulitis

Since I have a few minutes right now I thought I'd catch up on some old posts.

As usual we went to cornbelly's to celebrate Lexie's b-day.

The kids rode on the cow train, played with the water ducks, swang on the swings, ran through the kids maze, made it all the way through the monster, played dress up and just plain had a blast. It was a beautiful fall day spent together as a family.

Long Live Michael Jackson

Last night we had a sweet girls night out and went to the 10pm movie This Is It. I can't believe I went to a movie that late...I am so not a night owl. It was so much fun and just what I needed to escape my life right now.

Nothing like a fun group of girls, a large diet coke and
Michael Jackson's music to make a girl happy.

Lagoon

The Nu Skin summer party was at Lagoon this year. It was on Ryan's birthday so we decided to leave Claire and Sophie at home and take him with us. The boys had so much fun. Luke was the most daring of the bunch, but he was too short to go on any of the really crazy rides.

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?

Memorial Day 10K

For my May run I decided to shake it up and do a 10K instead of a 5K. (In case you only speak miles...that's 6.2 miles). The race was Saturday morning in Orem. We run 6 miles all the time, but for some reason I started to get a little nervous about how I would race this distance. I know how hard I can push myself for a 5K but I had never raced a 10K before. I looked online to set some goal times of what I wanted to do and I was thinking it would be great to be somewhere between 50 and 55 minutes. Friday night I found out that the 75 mile bike ride previously scheduled for Monday wasn't going to be easy for everyone and a few of them needed to go Saturday instead...so I decided to go with the girls Saturday afternoon after my race. This of course changed my game plan a little because I didn't want to kill myself then bonk on my bike ride. That is until the gun went off.

Here we are before the race

Jen, Jill and I

Jen signed up for the 5K and Jill signed up for the 10K with me. When we got to the starting line Jen told Jill to get under an hour and my goal was to come in at 55 so we decided to start it off together and see how we felt. We both just listened to our iPods but we paced and ran together. It felt great and I loved the speed we were going. We finished together at 53:27 (an 8:38 min/mile pace) and got 3rd in our age group. It was a great run and we did better than we planned - you gotta love that. Jen took 2nd in her age group in the 5K too. I love having friends who push me to do more.

Here we are with our medals

And the good news is....I finished my 75 mile bike ride and didn't die. I actually felt pretty good on the ride. Of course I came home and took an ice bath and was beat down tired but it felt good to be done and to have such a great day.

My Life in Mosaic

I got this from Kori's blog and thought it looked like fun.

Here are my answers:
1. What is your first name? Katharine
2. What is your favorite food? Mexican Food
3. What school did you go to? BYU
4. What is your favorite color? Red
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Michael Jordan
6. Favorite drink? Coke
7. Dream vacation? Bora Bora
8. Favorite dessert? Ice Cream
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Happy
10. What do you love most in life? Family
11. One word to describe you? Meticulous (from Todd)
12. Your nickname. Gil

The Circus

Tonight for FHE I took the kids to the circus. The show was at 4:00 so Todd couldn't come because he had to work. So off I went with the 4 kiddos to the circus. We met my parents, Heidi, Steve and Jeannie there. We had a blast and somehow Sophie even managed to get in a 20 minute nap (I don't know how with all the noise).

So here are some things I wonder about the circus...

1. Is it a job requirement that you must be under 5' 1 to work in the circus?
2. How do you become circus talent? Is it something that you just learn? Is it a family skill passed down from generation to generation? Do you just stop and think one day....it would be fun to do the trapeze or ride on an elephant or hula hoop.
3. Why is it necessary to wear as few clothes as possible when flying high in the air at a circus which is targeted to children? I mean I know they have on a full flesh colored body suit, but why?
4. Did you know that the "Amazing Sasha" is a contortionist, hula hooper, face painter elephant rider and amazing assistant all in the same 2 hour circus?
5. Why do you need to put a half dressed lady with a huge set of feather wings on the elephant? Isn't an elephant cool enough on it's own?
6. Why does the circus bring out the craziest people in the entire city of Provo?

A little favor...

Claire will you get me a tissue so I can blow your nose?

ummmmmm thanks

(you should have seen the damage she did to the toilet paper roll)

**The iPhone is in there just to show the size of the tiny piece she brought me

New Years Eve

We played rock band....what did you do?

p.s. I stayed up until almost 2 am...I don't think I've stayed up that late since college!!!

The Kids Space Museum

Our first day in Cali we all sat down to plan out the week. We planned meals and activities for everyday. We put all the options down on paper then everyone was allowed 1 cross off. There were small activities (like making reindeer cookies) and big all-day activities (like the "space museum" or Griffith park). Todd crossed off the "space museum". But then Amy and I decided it was a good option for the kids so we put it on as our Dec. 23rd all day activity.

It was quite a drive to get there and we were following Todd M. but lost him due to way too many cars on the road and too many freeways. Thank goodness for google maps on my iPhone so we could get there without directions. The kids kept asking us what were going to do so Todd and I explained what "space" is and about stars and astronauts and how this would be just like the Dinosaur museum but about space.

Then we got there and the first exhibit was bugs....what in the world? Finally it dawned on us that it was the "kidspace" museum - not as in "outer space" but as in "give me some space". For days we had been calling it the "space" museum. HA!

They crawled in ant holes
The rode tricycles
(Tayson's helmet is on backwards...LOL)

Luke was kind enough to take Claire for a ride
And they both loved it

They climbed on plant roots
They climbed rock walls
They built towers
(Claire was an excellent assistant)

The kids had a blast and loved every minute of their own space!

Christmas Tag

I got this via e-mail but figured I'd rather post my answers here.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real
3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving weekend
4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime after we get back from California and before I go back to work.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes but sparingly....it is way too rich!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My music box that my Grandpa Giboney made me. It is still up on a shelf in my bedroom.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Grandparents
8. Easiest person to buy for? Todd or the kids
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes the willow tree version
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Both. I try to always send Christmas cards and last year I posted on my blog and sent an email.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? This is a hard one....but I'm going to have to go with the first Christmas we were married (we'd been married 4 days by Christmas) and Todd got me these crazy shoe slippers from a kiosk at the mall. Knowing I would never wear them I gave them to Timmy as soon as we got home from our honeymoon. I'm such a jerk!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Vacation, Charlie Brown Christmas, A Christmas Story, Elf....anything except "The night they saved Christmas" (just kidding Todd)
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? December (sometimes the week before Christmas I'm sooooooo bad)
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? white elephant gifts for sure
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? chocolate covered pretzels and homemade Carmel's (from my MIL)
16. Lights on the tree? Yes
17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Of course...I know the song!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star
21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? We open presents the week before Christmas with my family then one present on Christmas Eve (jammies of course), then the rest on Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? When my kids are greedy instead of grateful for all they have.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? No theme - just lots of crazy ornaments. We go for the good old Charlie Brown tree
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey or Ham with all the fixin's
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A running skirt

Free Stuff

I found this blog from one of my friends Alice and her stuff is so cute. So I want to win it. If you go to her blog and leave a comment you're entered to win - if you say you came from my blog I'm also entered.

Sound like fun?

Thanks for your support!!

Pick up lines

While at Chili's for my birthday desert Todd and I were paying more attention to other's conversations than talking (it's a sign of a long, healthy marriage right?). Let me first describe the "players" Boy #1 is in the orange shirt, Boy#2 is the balding one in all black w/shorts and Boy #3 is in jeans and striped polo. The ladies are in red and green behind Todd and weren't co-operating with my stealth photo taking.


I got to use my brand new blogging camera to take a quick photo as the action happened (notice Todd pretending to be the focus of my shot...of course that was just a ploy to not look so obvious)



So we here the following conversation...

Boy #1 to both Ladies: Hey. Can my friend ask you a question?
Ladies: Ummmmm sure
Boy #2: Do you like Boys to Men?
Ladies: some mumbling we couldn't hear
Boy #2: They are only the BEST band of the 20th century.
Ladies: OK
Boy #2: My friend (points to boy #3) is doing their show if you want to come just give him your number and he'll send you an e-vite.
Ladies: So we get an invite or we get to go?
Boy #2: It will put you on the "list" and you are in for sure.
Ladies: No response (that we could hear)
conversation is over.

I was laughing so hard at this conversation and even more at the fact that I pulled out my blogging camera for a quick shot of the scene. I've only done this once before. The rest of the night I kept trying to think back to the single days to the best pick up line ever used on me and for the life of me couldn't remember any. How sad is that!?! I know I had some good ones back in the days.

Any of you have any good ones?

Memory Tag - you're all it

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Wonder Woman

Alice had this on her blog and it looked like fun so I gave it a shot and since it came up with my favorite superhero I thought I'd post it! Your results:You are Wonder Woman
	You are a beautiful princess with great strength of character.
Wonder Woman		75%
Supergirl		65%
The Flash		65%
Superman		55%
Spider-Man		50%
Robin		50%
Green Lantern		50%
Iron Man		45%
Hulk		40%
Batman		25%
Catwoman		25%

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...