Things to Know About Me:

1. I find Hector from the Electric Company quite dreamy and if that's wrong then I don't want to be right.

2. When I was a kid I used to think that they played songs on the radio at the same time everyday. With that in mind I was crazy excited when I heard my favorite song Careless Whisper by Wham at 3:33 one day because I knew I would be able to hear it everyday thereafter at that same time. --What a bitter disappointment.

3.  I'm not a morning person and I'm not a night person. So what am I? Best I can figure I'm a late morning/early afternoon person.

4. They say the Heber C Kimball house and the Andrus Halfway House at This is the Place Heritage Park are crazy haunted and I really want to find out for myself. I love haunted stuff.

5. I'm pregnant with our third (and final) child. The arrival will be sometime at the end of April.

later gators.

today...

Today the girl above (who, in this picture, is wearing her brother's hat) was sad to watch her father and brother leave on an adventure without her.

"I need you," she said to boy pictured above as she gave him a big hug, "I need my Hayden."


Kind of broke my heart and made it smile all at the same time. How'd I get so lucky to be given charge of these phenomenal kids?

PS: This picture is from Hayden's first day of preschool. Handsome kid and he was so excited.

she's a real trip

I'm beginning the journey (and it IS a journey) of potty training yet again. I'm feeling a bit apprehensive and nervous about the whole thing, especially when this little girl says to me, "I'm too shy to go on the potty." Oh the joys, my friends, the joys.

While contemplating my adventures ahead please enjoy these pictures of David Bowie-Scout hair (above) and MacGyver- Scout hair (below).

lazy=me

i should be cleaning. i should be productive. i should be interacting with my children instead i will share some little tidbits with you and my posterity (if i EVER get this printed into a book).

1. when i ran the TOU half a couple of weekends ago i had fabulous thoughts. it's almost impossible not to have fabulous thoughts when running 13.1 miles (especially if it takes you as long as it takes me). here they are in no particular order:            
* with this awesome music i wish i was at a dance party instead of about to start a half marathon. ...of course a dance party @ 6:30am would be kind of silly.
* if i can just keep up with that 12 yr. old it won't be total humiliation.
* seriously? again? i have to pee again?!?
* this isn't so bad. beautiful scenery.
* why is that man's hand on his wife's back? does he think he's going to make this better/easier by nudging her along. honestly, brent, if you ever try to nudge me through the end of a race you may not make it to the finish line alive.
--those were just a few of my thoughts. fabulous, right?

2. brent gave hayden a new night light. it's a fabulous little device that projects the solar system onto the ceiling when it's dark. after plugging it in hayden dragged me into his room and sat me down. he shut off the ligths, shut the door and said, "And now, for my greatest invention ever...the planet earth!"

3. i texted the above exchange to brent and he texted back with: "do you think that's what God said to his mom?" did you know brent was so funny? i did. love that guy.

4. scout's hair is fabulous. no really. it's fabulous. she has new growth all over her head and it causes her hair to stick up and she often looks like david bowie's little sister. --pictures to come.

5. mr. H starts preschool in a couple of days and i can not tell you how excited i am for him. he is going to LOVE school.

all for now. later gators. thanks for reading this post to the end, mom...i'm pretty sure you're the only one who did.   mwah!

Abi's Amazingly Fantastic Princess and Knight Water Birthday Party

Natalie

Sir Hayden

The matriarch and patriarch. 

The Princesses

Sir H., Sir McKay, Princess Scout (notice the way she's standing), Princess Abi, & Princess Nat

The Birthday Girl...Abi

Maida, Moi, Janna, and Alison

S. enjoying some awesome Castle cake.

Jackson Hole, Wyo. -2011

my mother-in-law has a condo in jackson and she visits it every year. my little family rarely goes since it is not b-rent's cup o' tea (make sense of that if you can). but this year miss megan called and said, "come with the kids and i. it will be a girls + kids week."  i agreed and the rest is history.

for the most part it was pretty chill. a little town time. a little jenny lake time. a little pool time. a little pouting time. a little fit throwing time. a little pee-your-pants time (emma...) a little take old time photos time. a little confusion of who/where jackson actually was time (hayden was certain jackson was a person. then he was certain jackson was the condo). a little chatty/eat/ watch chick flicks time. all in all it was a good time.

thanks to meg and julie for having my version of crazy along for the trip. we l-o-v-e-d it!

sometimes

... i forget to finish a post.

and i don't even know what i was going to say.

nothing says "summer" like...

  * john deere boots paired with pajamas
  * water painting on the driveway
  * playing pirate ship on the swing set.
                    " do you see anything captain scouty?"    "not yet captain hayden!"
   

4th of july camping. kids. and such.

roasting marshmallows at marsh lake. brent has some serious talent in the marshmallow roasting arena.

helping to gather firewood.

looking at marsh lake in the uintahs. beautiful (minus the dead trees in the background).

our super awesome road ranger trailer that was built in like 1970-something. i'm telling you: a trailer is the only way i'll camp.

the kiddos and dad.

this picture cracks me up because, if you zoom in, the look on her face and the position of her body reminds me of those  bigfoot sighting pictures you see floating around.

these little darlings were super excited and cooperative about taking their pictures.

RAGNAR: 2011: Wasatch Back

i do not believe i have ever done a crazier thing than commit to running with 11 other ladies in the great race that is Ragnar (don't know what Ragnar is? check here www.ragnarrelay.com for an explanation).

my journey to this race was pretty lame. no, it wasn't lame. i was lame. one week after saying, "i will run this race with you." i did something to my hip flexor/groin-ish area and was out of running for 7 weeks. during this time i flip-flopped all over the place: yes, i'll run. no, i don't think i can. i can't do my original section because i haven't trained for hills AT ALL. will you run just my second leg and i'll run the rest? oh... wait that's totally against the rules. i guess i just can't do it then. what?!? my leg is 'healed' three weeks prior to the actual event. i guess i will run it after all!    my poor team captain, she probably wanted to kill me before it was all over. in the end, though, i did trade my section for an "easier" one and had the time. of. my. life.

Highlights:
* weekly training runs as a group. so fun. i only made two of them due to "the injury", but i loved them both.

* missing the exit on i-15 to logan (the starting line) and having to get off on the tremonton exit to turn around. my friend denise had turned to me (i wasn't driving) and said, "is there more than one way to logan?"  why yes, yes there is but i don't know what it is.

* having the clearness of my urine monitored for proper hydration (don't be afeared no one actually checked they just asked about the clearness)

* baby martin. everyone was nervous about this one, but the 4 month old who accompanied us not only survived he was also an adorable little gem who served as the perfect mascot. am i recommending this to anyone else? not necessarily. i do believe we had the perfect combination to make this work: mellow people in the van, mellow child (who was young enough to not mind riding in a car for 34-ish hours), and a fab father who came to get baby to give mom a few hours of needed rest.

* making good friends out of friendly acquaintances.

* feeling like i was 20-something again by staying up a full 24 hrs before sleeping and playing silly games like "name that tune".

* running faster and better at 10 o'clock at night than at noon earlier that day.

* shakes at granny's in heber.

* hangin' at my mil's while waiting for van #2 to come in. SO glad we had somewhere to crash and shower and what not during that time.

would i do this again? in a heartbeat.

the team name.

my "name" and photo on the van. i was a definite flip-flopper through this whole process.

another van. i just thought it was funny. haha.

the starting line...

our fearless leader... shyla.

alison and denise

poor shyla had dirt in her eye since her second leg and it looked like it hurt REALLY bad.

sarah and moi. matching hoodies! woot woot.

**more photos to come...**

Hayden Plays Soccer

this year my dear athletic son took up soccer. soccer? you say. at three? you say. yes, oh yes. at three my son attempted to kick a soccer ball across a field. here are some highlights:

* rainy cold weather for every game but 2 (out of 8).
* two meltdowns (at least) per game.
* kicking the ball then ducking to avoid the crowd that followed the ball.
* hugging his favorite girl on the team so that they looked like alfalfa and darla from the little rascals.
* being led by the hand all over the field by his coach because, let's be honest, running is over rated.

all in all it was an experience. at least he had a good time as is indicated by my favorite H. quote of the season:
"i scored 18 points!"

cute, smart, not so coordinated and i love him.