Memorial day

On Memorial day this year (actually we do this almost every year) we went to Midway to visit my sister's and my grandpa's graves. This is something that I really like to do. My whole family usually comes up and we just make a whole day of it. This year, unlike most Memorial days, we had great weather. It was a perfect temp and a little overcast so the sun wasn't so hot. Everyone meets up at the graves and we do the regular chit chatting with cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings and grandma. We then have to make the grave rounds, there are a few graves that we visit every year, people that we don't know but have come to know because we see their headstones once a year.

When we are done with the graves we make our way down to Grandma's and usually have lunch and play around for a while. Like I mentioned in a earlier post, she has a huge backyard and we made full use of it this year.

We had a little baseball game with our own rules. We used a soft bat and a small foam ball (which is actually really hard to hit). It was something the kids could play and it kept us pretty busy. My mom helped out with the other kids that couldn't play (Peiton and Bode, etc...) it was nice to spend some time not chasing them around and worrying about where they were.

After playing the game for a while, my mom came and told me that Bode had made himself comfortable in one of my grandma's beds downstairs. He crawled right in the covers and put himself to sleep. I loved it! He actually has been doing this at some of my friends houses too, it is just too bad he won't do it at home. Gotta love the kid...:-)

Here he is just dozing off, snoring and all...

Here's to another fabulous Memorial day!

Set your DVR

That's right, set your DVR for one of the best shows!

SYTYCD starts tonight on FOX!

Don't miss it:)

Trip to Grandma and Pa's

On Friday I tagged along with my mom and went to beautiful Heber Valley to wish my Grandma a happy birthday. I have always loved Heber. I have so many wonderful memories of this place. My mom and dad both grew up in Heber and I have many extended family members that live there. My grandparents use to have this little farm house that I will never forget. We use to spend so much time getting 3-wheeler (yes 3-wheeler, not 4-wheeler) rides around the farm, chasing all the stray cats that my grandma would continue to feed and watching my cousin Cobi throw them in the air telling us that they always land on their feet (you were so mean Cobi). Eating the Schwan man push-ups, rainbow bread and a yummy strawberry dessert that my grandma would make when she knew I was coming (I love strawberries). Watching Pa feed the cows, (this didn't happen very much because we were all so scared of him). I remember whenever grandma would start running the bath water it would mean Pa would be coming in soon from milking the cows and we would do our best to leave the room, we were somewhat afraid him. Now he loves to sit and talk and is more of a sweet teddy bear. The memories could go on and on, but I don't want to bore you. Anyway, my grandparents sold their little farm house a while ago and built a house across the street, Coop calls it the "big white house." It has this HUGE, beautiful yard that the kids love to play in and my memories continue to grow.

It is always so good to go and visit my grandparents, they crack me up. They are both such hard workers and my grandma is a wonderful cook, she always has something yummy for us to eat, and Friday was no exception from that. :)

My mom and grandma

Grandma, Pa & Mom

Another snap shot of Peiton, she was in the mood to pose.

I hope that my kids will build their own memories of my grandparents house. A place that they will remember as a fun, loving place to go. I think the memories are already starting because they had a great time on Friday.

Who is yor fav?

I have always been a big fan of American Idol. It is something Collin and I enjoy watching together and now Cooper likes to watch it too. This year I think they have had some amazing talent, but let me tell you who I like....

Chris Allen is my #1! I know that he isn't the best singer out of all the finals, but I really like his voice (and his mouth isn't bad either ;) He just looks like that nice, wholesome guy.

My #2 is Adam Lambert, actually Adam is pretty close to Chris. I think he has an incredible voice and I have always been a fan of the rocker music. Now for his outfits, hair, and makeup (the guy wears more makeup than me) I could kind of do without. There have been a couple of times that he actually looks really nice. He sure does know how to perform and does a great job doing it.

My #3 choice is Danny Gokey. This guy seems like a real nice guy and he too has an awesome voice. I guess the reason why he is my 3rd choice is that he kind of reminds me of Michael Bolton and I am not a huge Bolton fan. I think he wins the hearts of the older American Idol fans (like my mom, he is her fav). He has a great story and like I said before an amazing voice.

When it is all said and done, any of these 3 would be a great American Idol winner because they are all so good. But this is the order I like them and we will see what happens and I really did like Allison too!

Who is your favorite American Idol?

24 hour getaway

This past weekend we did St. George, or should I say Hurricane in 24 hours. Leslie and I had to go do another race to guarantee us a spot in the St. George Marathon and Allison came along just for fun. She was a riot and we were glad she came. We thought we would make it a quick trip and leave Friday late afternoon and just come back right after the race. We now have learned that you don't do road trips quick, if we are going we might as well make it long, coming back Sunday would have been much better, although the 24 hours was pretty fun too.

We left about 4:15 and made our way to Hurricane, Utah. The drive went quick because there was much to talk about.

We booked ourselves a room and the Super 8 motel, it was everything i imagined a Super 8 to look like. We were a little nervous even sitting on the bedspread taking this picture...you know what they say about hotel bedspreads:)

It was overcast and rainy the day of the race, but perfect running weather. Lou and I were planning on doing the 1/2 marathon, but due to yet another injury I had to do the 5k (it actually felt quite nice being done after 3 miles). Lou stuck with the 1/2 marathon and did great. When we were done we got ready and were back on the road by 10:30.

In front of our awesome motel door...room 206 baby!

One last shot! The motel actually worked out great, it was right by the race and pretty cheap.

We decided that on the way home we were going to stop and have some lunch and then we planned to stop and see a movie too. We picked X-men (Lou is a HUGE Hugh Jackman fan, I mean HUGE!) So we stopped in AF and grabbed some delish Cafe Rio and caught the 2:00 show of X-Men. It was a great show, a little violent, but pretty good.

We were home by 5:10 and the kids were anxiously awaiting my arrival (not really, they were probably pretty upset that I was home, dad is much more fun).

Bode's first T-ball game

This is Bode's team (and coach's rear, sorry coach) lined up to bat....

And this is Bode....

Yeah, it is going to be a l-o-n-g season. :)

Little Miss Independent

Peiton is at that stage now where she has to do everything, well not everything, but a lot of everything by herself. There will no longer be helping her with her food, which is fine, but some things are a little more messy than others and I just like to assist a little bit. Well last night we were at Wendy's and she had a chocolate milk, yes without the lid, and she insisted on doing it herself. She had a straw in the bottle but doesn't realize she can't tip the bottle because everything will come out. Of coarse she would not let me help and this is what the final result was.....

Notice the milk pouring out of the cup all over her and all over the floor. She continued to do this until the bottle was empty. If I tried to help her, she let out her ever so piercing scream that can break your ear drum. We love our Peiton.

And then she will go and be super cute like this...

and this....

and especially this....

People always said that girls are different, I didn't realize how different they really are. Gotta love them! She keeps me on my toes and she makes me super happy (well most of the time). I just can't believe how fast she is growing up, it is sad because she is probably are last. Well she is our last as of right now!

I made it!

I ran the Salt Lake Marathon this past Saturday and I am so glad it is done with. I really don't like that marathon, it is full of hills (at least I thought so). I ran it 3 years ago and I really didn't like it then and I thought I would give it another try and I liked it a little better, but not too much. It did help that I wasn't running in 80 degrees weather this time. I guess after you run the St. George you kind of get spoiled. I loved the St. George! The course was great and the training went great. The training for this one was pretty ridiculous. When we were running it was FREEZING cold or raining, sometimes snowing. We got a lot of our long runs in, but the shorter runs during the week were pretty much not happening. But I did it, and I actually am very glad I did do it.

( My friend Rach brought this by to me the night before. She is amazing and so thoughtful. This cookie was delicious! I saved it so I could devour it right when I got home. That I did. I got so many calls of "good luck" I really appreciate everyone that supported me.)

Collin took us to the starting line that morning. Holly and Charlie had our kids so we didn't have to worry about them. Thank you so much, it was so great not having them with us. We really appreciate it. The race started at the Legacy Bridge up at the U of U and right by Primary Children's. It was a perfect day. The temperature was awesome and there wasn't too much wind until mile 18 and then it kicked in and it was pretty strong.

Collin, Kelly & Mat (Collin's sister & husband) & Justin (Lou lou's husband) were there at mile 8 (about 2000 east and 3300 south) cheering me on. It was so good to know that at mile 8 I would see them. It just kind of pushes you a little bit. Kelly and Mat were so great to be there, it was so much fun to see them.

They then met up with me at mile 15 (about 5500 S and VanWinkle). I was still feeling pretty good at that point. I was tired, and didn't feel the strongest, but I was doing okay.

At mile 18 I started crashing. Not with endurance but my leg started acting up. It got to the point that each time I would lift my leg I would get this shooting pain up my leg to my hip flexors (I think that may be the correct term???) it killed. I then started to slow down a lot. I had to walk about every 1/2 mile just to stop the pain. Anyway, it wasn't fun but I had to finish or find someone with a cell phone and call Collin to come pick me up:)

I made it! And I am so happy I did. I was pretty happy with my time, I did better than my first Salt Lake and that is what I wanted, just to do better. And the best part is that I had so many friends and family there at the end cheering me on. It really means so much to me to have people there to support me. I am really so blessed to have such great family and friends. I love you all. Thanks for taking the time out of your Saturday to be there and thanks Holly and Charlie for taking your Friday night and Saturday to watch the kids. It means SO much to us. They had a blast. Thank you, thank you!

Easter Getaway

This past Thursday we took off to Sunny St. George (well it was sunny most of the time). This is the 3rd year of going and staying at Green Valley with the whole Richard's clan. We always have such a blast and this year was no exception.

We are usually really lucky with the weather too. This year it was about 70 everyday except Saturday where is just rained and was a high of about 55. We took advantage of the sun and warmer weather on Friday and enjoyed ourselves at the pool (well Kelly and I and all the kids did, the boys went golfing all day and the others went hiking). Bode didn't want to touch the water he stood on the side of the pool and got a thrill of people doing flips and all tricks in the pool. It kept him well entertained. Peiton didn't really want much to do with the water either, she just kind of walked around and made herself busy. As for Cooper he couldn't get enough of the water, he is a little fish and could swim all day long.

We spent a lot of the time at the park, it was such great weather we couldn't resist.

On Saturday when it was yucky weather it was the girls turn to get out without the kids. We took advantage and went to lunch and then went and got fabulous massages, they were great:) We topped it off by going to 25 Main and getting yumma-licious cupcakes (I think I bought 5 and ate all of them but the one I bought for Collin).




That night we all went to dinner at the Gun Barrel, it is a yummy steakhouse that we tried last year and liked it so much we gave it another try.

The next day it was Easter Sunday. The kids enjoyed their Easter baskets and I enjoyed all the candy inside them:) We got ready for church and headed to sacrament meeting. I thought all the kids looked so great in their Easter get ups.

That afternoon after a HUGE breakfast (crepes, omelets & waffles), we had an Easter egg hunt. It was fun to watch the kids run around looking for their color of egg. They scored some more candy and lots of money thanks to Grandma Holly.

Monday morning it was time to say goodbye, I did not want to come home. Of course the day we left it was the nicest day that we were there. Thanks so much Holly and Charlie for a great weekend. We had a great time!

"Snow Bunny party"

To start off the Easter celebrations my mom had been having a Easter party the last couple of years. She usually does it the weekend of Easter, but this year she did it a week before which was great for us because we are usually out of town for Easter. It wasn't very surprising that we had snow that day so the Easter egg hunt was done in the garage and in the house, I don't think the kids minded so much. It all turned out great and we had a fun time eating and just talking. I kind of spaced taking pictures so I don't have too many. Thanks for the great party mom!

Do I need a little of this......?

For the last 3 months I have felt like I needed a little of this drug or something like it to get me going, but then I think that I am back in my groove that I always get in during this part of the year, EVERY year! Does anyone else do this? Is it normal? I am starting to feel a little crazy....

All I really want to do is this.....

Okay, not really. I do have some motivation until about 11:00 a.m. and then it dies..and I just want to sleep.

I have not wanted to do any of this....

As you can tell, I think it has been over 2 weeks that I have made a post, which isn't really like me. This has been kind of a hobby that I have really enjoyed doing, but lately it seems a little more unappealing than fun:(

Doing this.....

5 times a day is getting a little exhausting. So now I leave it until the end of the day so I can track all the crud that collects on the floor all through my house all day long. Then the mess is probably even bigger to clean up by the end of the day.


What cleaning????

I have forgot what deep cleaning is, because by the time I get done just picking things up around the house, the time is 11:00 a.m. and that is when I loose about all my motivation.

Now this....

is piled up to the top of the basket, or I get the clothes sorted in baskets getting ready to do them and the kids come and un sort them for me and I give up. The thought of sorting them again, doesn't sound to great and I leave it until the next day. So now we have a bedroom and a laundry room full of dirty clothes, that yes will sit there until the next day.

I think we have had enough of this....

to last us until next spring. Come on already, if I hear someone else say "we could really use the moisture" I am going to scream! I think by now we could really use some of this....

Which has happened today, but I have a poor sick boy upstairs so we really can't go outside to enjoy it. But then it will be nice tomorrow but soak it in because it is going into hiding for the rest of the week. Which we are going to St. George to enjoy the sun and the warmth and basically it is going to be the same temp it is here:(

All I really want to do is eat a little (or a lot) of this...

and this....

But I can't because I am doing a little of this....
Which has been pretty good and motivating, but don't you just wish you could have some crap whenever you want it? Or if you do have it, you can have it and not feel guilty. I usually have it and then feel the guilt come on. But I have to stick with it, I know I have to get off the extra lbs that came on during the long winter.

All I can think about (not really, I do think about other things) is this....

doesn't that just look so great. Yum, yum. yum!

Now that my first post in 2 weeks has been pretty much a pity post (sorry if you bared through it). I decided this morning that the sun isn't going to be shining for a while now(I also declared spring one of my least favorite seasons because we really don't get it and when we do, it is like 2 weeks) and I just need to toughen up and enjoy life in my house, get out of the rut, and just make the best of it. I am one pretty lucky girl and I could have it pretty bad and I don't have it bad, not one little bit. So it is time to stop feeling sorry for myself (you heard me, make sure I stop it) and enjoy the things I have, like this....

I have one stinkin cute family that make me so happy, but they could even make me more happy if I just soak them up and enjoy them. My kids are at such cute stages (hard stages) but cute stages and I can learn so much from them. I have a husband that deals with all my mood swings (believe me, there are plenty) and just continues to love me and try to make me happy.

So we will say "see ya" pit of despair and say "hello" happy Nat!


P.S. I promise the next post will be a little more cheerful:)