Busy Week

Well, it's the close of a very busy week with all of the end-of-school-year activities & programs and Hailey's birthday. My pictures dropped in backwards so I guess I'll start with the end of the week. :) (Notice how I blamed the "pictures" for dropping in backwards...I hate it when they mess up like that.) :)

Today we went up Provo Canyon and rode the Provo River trail on our bikes. It is such a beautiful bike ride with the river running right along beside you and the beautiful scenery of the canyon. It was a great way to end the week and mark the start of summer vacation. It would've been a little more peaceful taking in the scenery though if my little daughter wouldn't have been complaining the whole time and asking when we were going to turn around...she did have a much better attitude on the down hill part of the ride. :)

Brian loading the bikes back on after the ride. Hailey's happy that we're done. :)

Nick had a great time and kept up with Brian so he felt pretty good about that! :)

Hailey had her "rock concert" at school this week where they sang songs from their science unit about rocks, minerals, electricity, etc. It's a pretty neat way to remember a lot of the things they learned. This is her with her friend Adi.

Hailey turned 10 on Tuesday of this week and we woke her up with a candle in a muffin singing happy birthday to her. Then we brought her out to open her presents. (above) One of those bags contained a sheet of cardstock paper that said "Room Makeover" on it. She has wanted new bedding and decorations for awhile now but I knew she'd want to pick it out. So we went after school and she got new bedding, decorative pillows, and a fun rug for the middle of her floor. We're also going to order a "dish chair"...it's one of those deep round chairs...she's wanted one for a while. Her colors are pinks and lime green and it is the happiest looking room in the house with those colors. So in honor of her 10th birthday, here are 10 things about Hailey:

1. She was born screaming her lungs out and kept screaming for 2 hours solid afterwards. We should've known this was an indicator of her strong need to be heard at all times. :)

2. She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger and aways has!

3. She broke her elbow the day before her 4th birthday and writes about that experience every year for a school writing project. Sometimes the details change and it's funny to hear about it from her perspective. :)

4. She is very competitive and has a strong need to be first in EVERYTHING. :)

5. She has a great singing voice and took voice lessons for two months. She refused to go anymore when she learned you had to perform in a recital and will now only be heard singing in her room along with the songs on her ipod.

6. She LOVES to swim and is a little fish in the water.

7. She sucked her thumb until she was 4 years old. We were trying to help her break that habit and finally accomplished that when a friend of mine came over to show me her "new" front tooth. Her permanent one had fallen out and while they were waiting for the area around it to heal so they could implant a new one they attached a fake tooth to a retainer and had her wear that. She took the retainer out and showed us her hillbilly look and I noticed Hailey was just horrified by it. So after my friend left I told Hailey that her teeth were like that because she sucked her thumb too long. (We had tried everything else to get her to stop so I was desperate...the doctor was even suggesting we put a cast on both thumbs.) It worked! She was so concerned she would end up with only one tooth in front that she hasn't sucked her thumb since. :)

8. She ran/walked a 5k with me and Nick last year...hated just about every minute of it but she did it. The only part she enjoyed was racing Nick the last 30 yards to the finish line and the announcer commenting on it with people cheering. :)

9. She loves playing with her friends!!!

10. She absolutely adores her older brother Bryson is probably his biggest fan on the planet!

We love her and are so glad she's part of our family.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful that the last day of school is tomorrow. I always look forward to summer break with the kids. The days spent at the pool, the nights out by the firepit, hikes in the mountains, bike rides on trails, all mixed in with sibling rivalry, spats & quarrels from spending so much time together. :) (Ok so that's not the part I look forward to but the rest is pretty fun.) I'm also thankful that the kids have friends in the neighborhood so their summer can be spent walking out the front door and having friends to play with.

Thankful Thursday

As I was thinking about what to write for this "Thankful Thursday" I was looking at other blogs I follow regularly. One of them made any thought I was having for today seem far less significant. My friend Pam was directing everyone who reads her blog to the blog http://amiracleforjodibrown.blogspot.com. Jodi is the 32 year old daughter of a man I used to work with at Covey Leadership Center and mother of 4 who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumer in April. (Von Orgill's daughter for those who know him.) They found a doctor who found a way to operate and the blog is a continual update of the surgery and recovery...both setbacks and encouraging moments. I would ask anyone who reads this to read through that blog to feel the spirit of this family and everything they're going through. They have asked for prayers on her behalf and they are making a difference. So as I add my prayers to the multitude being offered, I would ask you to do the same.

My Marathon Man

Brian ran his 2nd marathon today and he couldn't be happier that it's over. :-) The training for this marathon seemed to be plagued with weird injuries and he was very nervous going into this race wondering if he had gotten in enough preparation. He felt great the 1st half and even took 7 minutes off his time for the first half of last years marathon. (In fact it was a personal best time for any 1/2 marathon he's run...which is quite a few.) But around mile 16 his legs started cramping and it got worse with every step. In all his years of sports and running he has never suffered leg cramps so he was unsure how to get rid of them and just kept powering through. By the last few miles he was stopping often to stretch to try to help ease the pain but it was taking a lot of time to do this. He ended up finishing about 15 minutes later than the goal he set for himself and he is really trying to "come to terms with failure" as he puts it. I reminded him how few people ever finish a marathon and he had a huge accomplishment today, it just happened 15 minutes later than he planned. :-)

I always stand in awe at the finish line of these races (marathons & half marathons) as I watch the runners cross the finish line...some finishing strong, others needing help to get across and others collapsing the minute they hit the finish line. They sacrifice so much for this accomplishment but inspire so many in doing so. Our friends came with us this time to support Brian and Krista responded just as I have on so many occasions...tears flowing freely. :-)

Coming to the finish line...it's almost over!!!! :-)

We're so proud of him!!! He's our running hero! :-)

Once in a Lifetime Moment

A few weeks ago I had a "perfect moment" surprising my husband with something he has wanted for quite awhile. We bought a 4 wheeler about 9 years ago and ever since then he has wanted another one so we could both go on the trails at the same time. We haven't used our one as much as we would if we had two but I never wanted to spend the money on another one. :-) Since he's turning 40 this year I thought a "big" present was in order so I emailed a friend of his who would know what to look for and asked him to keep his eye out for a screamin' deal on a used 4 wheeler and told him the few specifications I knew he would want. I knew this would TOTALLY shock him because it is NOT in my nature to spend this much money on something. Also, he's jokingly asked in the past on different holidays if he should go look in the garage for his present. :-) He didn't think I'd ever get something like that in a million years!

Well, his friend sent me ads for a few potential 4 wheelers but he didn't sound very excited until one Friday morning when an email came through from him where he basically said, "This is the one." So I called on it and asked if they would hold it for me for a couple days till I could get down there because I was pretty sure I wanted it. (It was in Price which is about an hour and a half south of here.) They said they couldn't hold it for me and they were sure it would be sold that day because of the great condition it was in and the great price. So I went into panic mode and called my friend Chris to come help me attach the trailer and asked her if she would come to Price with me...which she did thank goodness. I had never driven the truck with the trailer attached before. The dealer told me to call them when I was on the road and they would hold it for me for the drive time down there. About 1/2 hour into the drive they called me back and asked if I was really on the road ready to buy because they had a buyer standing in front of them with cash in hand. I told them I was most definitely on the road and PLEASE HOLD IT! They did! :-) We made it back with the 4 wheeler still attached to the trailer (due to praying all the way back that the trailer was attached correctly and that we weren't going to see the trailer and 4 wheeler tumbling down the mountainside as we drove down the canyon) and took the 4 wheeler to my parents house to hide it in their garage.

3 days later (I was going to try to wait until Fathers Day to give it to him but anyone that knows me knows I don't know how to "wait"...also I was so excited, nervous, emotional, etc I wasn't sleeping so I had to give it to him in order to start sleeping again. :-) ) on the Monday before my birthday I sent Brian a text while he was working asking if we could hook up the trailer that night when he got home to go move a bed out of my parents house and over to my uncles house. He agreed but I could tell he wasn't too thrilled about doing it because his back had been hurting. As he was hooking up the trailer he was very agitated and ornery and didn't say two words the whole drive over to my parents house. I was giggling to myself the whole way over thinking about how bad he was going to feel for being so ornery. :-) When we got there we pulled up in front of the garage and my parents had put up all the signs the kids and I had made on the outside of the garage...the signs said "Congratulations on the marathon, Happy Fathers Day, Happy Memorial Day, Happy 4th of July, Happy Labor Day, Happy Anniversary, Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, & Merry Christmas" (I wanted to make sure he understood that every holiday was covered this year from this one purchase. :-) ) He asked what that was all about and was thoroughly confused seeing signs about fathers day and marathons, etc. To add to his confusion my parents were standing outside taking pictures. :-) After I made sure he read all the signs, I punched in the garage code and as the door opens he sees this 4 wheeler sitting there with 2 big read bows on with a sign on it that says "Happy Birthday". Now he's REALLY confused because it was MY birthday in 2 days. He turns to me and says, "Who's is that?" and I said "I bought you a 4 wheeler." He was FLOORED to say the least and all he kept saying was "No way" over and over. It was AWESOME!!!! A complete once in a lifetime moment that was the perfect surprise in every way...it was the exact one he wanted and was utterly unexpected. He was calling his friends on the way home telling them about it and had a couple of the neighbors come look at it when we got it home. It was so much fun to do this and it made me realize how much better it is to give than receive and how awesome it is to give someone you love so much something you know they're going to love so much. And yes, he felt REALLY bad for how ornery he was on the way over. :-)

What he saw when he opened the garage.

This is him being thoroughly confused with his hands on his hips...probably wondering what all this had to do with moving a bed. :-)

I love the look on his face in the picture...I think his face stayed like that for about a week. :-)

At this point I think he still couldn't believe I actually bought him a 4 wheeler. :-)

What a fun, fun day!!!

Thankful...ummmm Friday :-)

I'm a little late on my Thankful Thursday post...the week has gotten away from me. Today I am thankful to live in America. Wednesday night Nick participated in the Hope of America program down at the Marriott Center at BYU. 5th graders from across the county joined as a "human flag" chorus. (See picture below) There were also many dance performances along with the great songs the chorus sang about the opportunites everyone has from living in this land of the free. They also celebrated heros who have made this country what it is and encourage everyone to reach for their dreams. The kids have been learning the songs and rehearsing all the hand motions for months and all their hard work paid off as the spirit of the program came across and even caused a few tears to fall from my eyes. :-) I came away feeling very patriotic and grateful for this land that I live in and have the opportunity to raise my kids in...as well as for the long hours the organizers of this event put in to make it so special!

Nick was part of one of the white strips on the flag. He has the sunglasses for the song America Rocks and they brought flashlights for the last song where they turned off all the lights in the Marriott Center and the kids started singing in the dark. As the kids sang the start of the chorus of the song "I can be a Light" they all turned on their flashlights and a disco ball lit up on the ceiling and it was very cool!

Appreciating the Moments You Get

So I was going to title this post "Sometimes Life Sucks" but I thought I'd put a more positive spin on it and really not everything in this post would fall under that heading. But when you have to miss your son/stepson getting ready for his first big date and formal dance it really does suck. When you share a child with an ex spouse you know that you are going to miss out on moments in that childs life and even though Bryson was texting us and filling us in on everything, when I saw the pictures it really made me so sad to have missed this particular moment with him. He came down to our house this weekend though and told us all about it and we got to "re-live" it with him and that helped me feel a little better. :-) He is such a great kid and I appreciate how much he shared with us and let us talk through with him when he realized this girl was wanting more of a relationship that he wanted. He is so open with his life and feelings and we got to have our own "moment" with him as he talked about girls and dating and how happy he is to stay "single" and date lots of different girls...fine with us! :-) I remember when he was younger and was such a handful we thought he couldn't grow up fast enough. But now it seems like time has gone into fast forward and I want it to slow down and let us enjoy every moment.

Saturday night we went to dinner with the Atkinson's and Harris' to celebrate John's birthday and use all of our free birthday meals at Tucanos. :-) These girls are so much fun and it's so great when two friends that you have separately get along so well together! We all did a fun Bear Lake trip together last year and now we're all bonded for life. :-)

Saturday my cute little niece Megan was baptized and she looked so cute!! She and her sister Hannah were brave enough to sing a song in front of everyone with each of them taking a solo verse...I think that takes a LOT of courage!

Just had to get a family picture with Bryson there since we're rarely all together dressed up! :-) Brian's suit is a little big on him because he's been losing weight like a mad man getting ready for his marathon in a couple weeks.

On Friday night Hailey had her 2nd piano recital and she did GREAT! She was nervous but you couldn't tell at all and she played like a pro. We're sad that her piano teacher is moving to Colorado so we'll be starting with a new teacher in the fall. Nick is going to start taking piano in the fall as well and he's not too excited about that but maybe he'll appreciate it when he's older. :-)