Colton, 18 months

Colton is 18 months old!

These too and their blankies :/  Birds of a feather flock together...

He had his checkup today:

Weight:  25.2 lbs-25%
Length:  33.5 in-75%
Head: 48.5cm-75%

The last 18 months have just flown by.  I can't believe he is old enough to go to nursery (but actually getting him to go might be another story...).  

What's he up to?

• Talks a lot.  He's learned so many words, especially "NO!"  So fun;)
• He loves to wrestle with Daddy
• He is still attached to his little blanket.
• Right now baths are his favorite time of day.  He cries every time he has to get out.
• Thomas the Train is still his favorite, but he also likes Elmo, Batman, Firetrucks, and I'm sure there's more
• He likes to color with the girls.  But it's my least favorite thing of mine that he does, cause I end up cleaning crayon off the walls and furniture almost every single time he gets a hold of a crayon.  He also likes to put crayons in the toilet.  So the number of colors we have are slowly diminishing.
• He loves to play outside.
• He's perfected the art of throwing a fit.  We are talking throwing himself on the floor, kicking and screaming, drama, he does it all.
• He's still pretty attached to me, and gravitates my way almost always.  But he also does really good with other people.  I've had to rely on friends and family to babysit a lot, and he goes with pretty much anybody that's willing to hold him.

Halloween

This year, we kept Halloween pretty low key, and pretty much only celebrated on Halloween day.

When we picked the pumpkins from our garden and put them out front

My Mom gave the kids a "Pin the nose on the pumpkin" game to play

We invited my friend Marci and her kids over to make caramel apples one day

Lexi, Abby, Dani

Marci, Jordan, Colton

Colton wouldn't wear the mask/cape for his costume, so Abby put it on

Lexi was a ballerina

Colton was Batman

 Abby was Merida (the princess from the movie "Brave)

Abby in her costume parade at school.  So very reverent:)

The kids had a blast trick-or-treating.  Colton's little legs just couldn't get him from house to house as fast as he would have liked.

Student of the Month

Last Friday Abby brought home a note saying we could come to her class on Monday because she was going to be given Student of the Month.  Cam took part of the day off so he come too, and we were all able to surprise Abby at school when she got her award.  We are so proud of her!

Sitting with her class.  She's on the top row, second from the right.

With her principle and teacher

Family update

Ok, so I guess it's time to do a post.  It's been awhile.  It's been a crazy couple weeks, but also at the same time, pretty boring too...

Anyways, going from youngest to oldest:

Colton:  He is growing, growing, growing.  He is really starting to be able to communicate with us which makes life a little easier for us when we are trying to figure out what he wants.  He says so much, and understands even more of what we say.

Lexi:  She is so dang funny, all her little expressions and things she says.  She still mimics nearly everything Abby does and says, which is cute, but I'm sure a little annoying for Abby.  The girls get along so good and play together all the time.

Abby:  She is loving kindergarten every single day.  Last night was parent night and I took her, and she was able to show me everything in her class.  She was bursting with excitement over everything, and pretty much took me through everything she does everyday at school.  I love that she loves school, and loves learning.

Me:  Well, I had surgery.  It's been 3 weeks.  3 long and crazy weeks.  The surgery went good, they ended up doing a lot more than anticipated, and then it took quite a long time to get my pain managed (turns out this surgery is one of the more painful surgery's) so it was a long day at the hospital.  I was asleep, or totally drugged up, so the day went quickly for me, but poor Cam was sitting in the waiting room for hours with no idea what was going on, and why it was taking so much longer then expected.  I think we left the house at 8am didn't get home till after 9pm.  I spent the first couple days laying in bed completely drugged up, and hooked up to this cold therapy machine.  Cam took care of me those first days, and he was amazing!  Since then, it's been a lot of people taking turns to help around the house.  My friend Marci came for a day, Cam's sister came for a couple days, Cam's mom came for a day, then my Mom came for a week and a half.  It's definitely taken longer than I thought it would to be able to care for the kids on my own.  Being on crutches really limits what I can do, namely carry Colton.  That's been my biggest hurdle, Colton doesn't know how to climb down the stairs, so there is no way for me to get him up and down the stairs.  We've been trying to teach him to go down, cause I feel like people are going to start to get sick of being here, just to carry Colton around.  My mom left this morning, so hopefully he'll either learn to get down the stairs, or my physical therapist will clear me to start carrying Colton soon.  Thankfully, both my Doctor and physical therapist say I'm recovering faster than normal, so that helps give me hope that I'll be back to my usual self quicker than anticipated.  Anyhow, obviously I'm super grateful for all the friends and family that have helped me out.  

Cameron:  He's just busy working a lot, then coming home and taking care of the kids since I've been out of commission.  He's been so amazing, and I'm so glad he's here by my side.  Next week he starts a class for work to get certified to drive the truck (he can drive the engine, but not the truck).  He's constantly trying to get all sorts of extra certifications for work and stuff.  I love that he loves his job, I know it makes it easier to go to work so much.

So that's pretty much it.  I think the next few weeks will be more of the same.  Just trying to get back into our old routine eventually, and try to recover as quickly and safely as possible from this surgery.

Summer running

Well, in the last month, I ran two more marathons.  Park City Marathon in August, then last week I did Mid Mountain Marathon.

Park City was an AWESOME one, done mostly on paved trails and some dirt road.  I ran the whole thing with my friend Marci.  We just took it nice and easy and talked and talked and enjoyed the beautiful places we were running through.  I think this was my favorite marathon of the summer.

Mid Mountain was a trail marathon, done on dirt trails through the mountains.  I knew it was going to be challenging and to plan on it taking a lot longer than any other race, but I didn't expect it to be so brutal.  I think what made it so difficult was the terrain.  The trail was a narrow single track dirt trail with lots of rocks and roots sticking out just waiting to trip someone up.  This meant that you couldn't let your mind wander for even a second or you'd end up doing a face plant.  I tripped many times, and even ended up sprawled out on the trail.  I banged up my knees pretty good with a couple of huge bruises and road rash.  I had a lot of emotional ups and downs during this one because of it's difficulty.  Marci and I started together, but split up at about mile 8.  In the end, it was a challenge, but I still enjoyed being out there running.

Tomorrow I go in for my surgery, which marks then end of a super awesome summer of running all over Utah.  I'm grateful for all I was able to do this summer, and hopefully in a few months, I'll be back at it, stronger than ever.  I'm definitely sad that I'll be laid up for several months, but I hope in the end it will be worth it.  Plus, I've managed to beat my body up pretty good doing all these races.  I think my legs deserve a bit of a break from logging miles, and hopefully all these little nagging injuries will have time to heal and I'll start back fresh.

Kindergarten

Abby started kindergarten on Tuesday.  Talk about excited!  She was so disappointed to be in the afternoon class because her friend across the street was in the morning class, AND she had to wait so long for her time to go to school.

Her "Brave" backpack

It seems like as a parent when you send a kid to kindergarten, you're either sad to see them go, or eager for the potential for a few hours alone.  I was definitely the later...until a few minutes before we left the house.  She started to show some nerves.  She was making several trips the bathroom, asking me if she had a fever, I could just tell she was nervous, and not really sure what to do with those emotions.  That was the first time I got a little emotional, mostly because I hate to see her struggling with that awful emotion.  But as we walked to school, the excitement returned.

I am so excited to be back into a regular schedule.  It will help get the little kids on a steady nap schedule (take Abby to school, then the two little ones go down for a nap until it's time to pick Abby up) and with Abby at school, and Lexi and Colton napping, I will be able to get so much done!

Abby's 5th birthday

Abby had her birthday!  I know I say it all the time, but I can't believe how old these kids are getting.

Abby's been obsessed with the movie "Brave" ever since she saw it, so we surprised her with a "Brave" themed party.  She thought it was going to be Hello Kitty, but I had Cam take her out for a little while so I could decorate the house in a "Brave" theme.

Lexi wanted to be in the spot light too

Cam's family came over for the party, we also celebrated Ethan's birthday which was just a week before.

The kids played my "Brave" version of pin the tail on the donkey, then we had a Nerf gun that they could shoot at a bullseye.  That was fun.

I love how this one captures Abby saying "OHHH!" when Lexi nailed the bulls eye 

Singing Happy Birthday.  Abby is thrilled. Ethan, not so much.

Nearly every present was a "Brave" something or other.  Toys, backpack, blanket, she is totally set.

What is Abby up to now that she's one year older?

• Obviously, the most exciting thing is she is starting kindergarten!
• She's going to start up dance classes again.  This year she is doing a ballet class
• She's a little social bee.  She wants to play with her friends everyday.
• She's very particular about the clothes, shoes and how her hair is done.  Usually she wears a dress, flip flops, and her hair down.
• Her all time favorite thing to do is draw/color.  She spends so much time at her little art table making pictures.
• She loves playing outside.  Outback, the park, where ever.
• She is very curious about everything.  Always asking a million questions about everything.  I feel like she has an in depth understanding of astronomy, weather systems, and so much more.

Colton, 15 months

Colton is now 15 months old.  He is growing up so fast!  It seems like that in the last couple of months he has learned SO much.  He is saying lots of words now, gets around pretty well, and is into everything.

• He LOVES firetrucks.  If he see's a firetruck he makes a siren or honking noise that Cam has taught him.  When we go to visit Cam at work, he loves walking around and seeing the firetruck, sitting inside and "driving" the truck.  
• He says - mama, dada, baba (which is for his sippy cup), ball, balloon, nana (banana), choo choo (train), shoes, car and many, many more!
• He climbs everything
• He's 23 lbs 3 oz - 28%
• He's 31 inches tall - 43%
• I finally got him off the bottle, just about a week ago.
• He still sleeps with his blanket
• He is transitioning between 1 and 2 naps
• He's getting so many teeth.  It's funny though cause they are kind of all over the place.  He has had a couple molars come in, and a couple canines come in.

Playing outside

On Saturday, my friend Marci and I went and did a trail run up Battle Creek canyon in Pleasant Grove.  We ended up going to the top of Mt Baldy, 5 miles nearly straight up, then 5 miles down.  It was SO much fun!  I took some pictures of the amazing view we had going up.

At the top.  I wish I had one of those panoramic cameras to show the view all around us. 

Also, we took the training wheels off Abby's bike a week or so ago and have slowly been trying to teach her to ride her bike.  She's not very confident, and get's discourage easily, so it's been only about 5 minutes of practice a day.  But today, we hit the street to try again, and she did pretty well, there were times where I could let go of the bike completely (for a few seconds), so she's slowly making progress.

Lexi also learned to ride her tricycle earlier this summer.  She loves to ride her bike.  

Cam's birthday

Last Saturday was Cam's birthday, he had to work, so we celebrated it on Sunday.  I invited his family over for dinner and cake.

I made a chocolate cake, that ended up taking two tries, and two batches of frosting.  It seemed like everything just kept going wrong.

Happy birthday, babe!!!

Painting project

I have yet to decorate Colton's bedroom, and a couple of months ago I mentioned to Cam's mom that soon we would need to buy a dresser for his bedroom because it would be time to get rid of the changing table.  Then she mentioned that she had this upright dresser that we could paint and put in his room.  Last week she came over for two days (they ended up spending the night cause they didn't have water at their place cause a pipe had broke and it was still in the process of being fixed) and we worked on painting it.  I love the way it turned out.

I chose a navy blue color

Michelle comes for a visit

A day after my Mom left, My sister and her family rolled into town.  They had some appointments here in Orem that they needed to be here for, so they came and stayed for a long weekend.  It was great to get to know Ryan and the kids better, and I know my kids loved having a bunch of new kids to play with.  We mostly just hung out at the house and watched the Olympics (my absolute most favorite two weeks of television, talk about American pride!).

The only picture I manage to capture.  All the kids, left to right,  the back of Gavin's head,  Lexi, Madaline, Abby, Lexi.  Yes there are two Lexi's, and they are very close in age too.  Many times while they were here, I'd yell for my Lexi to come to me, and the other one would show up.  It was just slightly confusing.

Deseret News Marathon

Marathon #2, complete:)

A few days after we returned from our trip to Colorado, I had another marathon to run.  Cam had to work, so my Mom watched the kids for me.

This marathon was so much better than my first.  I won't bore anybody with the details of the race.  I'm afraid I might loose my handful of readers if I keep up the long recaps of all my races :)

Anyways, I rode up with my friend Marci and her husband (he decided to run the marathon just a week or two before), but I had planned to run this race by myself.  Marci was going to run with her husband, and they are both faster than me.  I was nervous about being out there for 4+ hours all by myself.  Almost all of my long training runs had been run with Marci, so I was a little nervous if being out there alone, I'd psych myself out and have another horrible marathon.

At the start line, we parted ways, and I was out there by myself.  I'm happy to report, I kept it together quite nicely.  I was enjoying the perfect early morning temperatures, and the pretty views, talked to a few other runners, and just kept putting one foot in front of the other.  At the half way mark, I turned on my music, and that gave me a little boost. 

At around mile 18, the fatigue and aches started up.  I popped a few Exedrin, and just kept going. 

I finished in 4:14, 30 minutes faster than my first marathon.  My fueling was right on, and I felt so much better prepared for this race. 

I'm proud of my improved time, but even more than that, I'm proud that I stayed mentally tough through out the entire race.  Even during those painful last miles, I didn't stop running even once.  Going into the race, I felt like that was where I was really struggling, mentally being strong.  Powering through the fatigue, and heat, and all the elements that can beat a person down during long runs, was my weak spot.  I was SO proud of myself, to finish this marathon all by myself, have fun (I did not any fun during my last marathon), and finish strong mentally.

After the race, I came home, and pretty much parked it on the couch for two days.  That course had several miles of steep down hills.  Even though running down hill is easier at the time, it really beats your legs up, and you pay for every downhill mile later.  I could hardly walk or go up or down stairs, my legs were so unbelievabley sore.  My mom had planned to return home the day after the marathon, but she felt bad for me to have to be home taking care of the kids alone in the sad shape that I was in, so she graciously stuck around another day.  It took me a good 3 or 4 days before I could move around with out grimacing with every step.

I'm so glad to have this race under my belt.  It helped boost my confidence in my running, and now I have a more accurate marathon finish time.

P.S.  In related news, I went to see the orthopedic doctor that specializes in the hip injury that I have a couple days after the race cause it seems the cortisone was wearing off.  I had hopes that I could just go in every 6 months or so for several years and get cortisone, but when I went in and asked for the shot, they informed me that they will only do 3-4 injections max.  They gave me the injection, but I'm scheduled to get the surgery in mid September.  I have two more races that I've already payed for, and right after the last one, I'm going to get this thing taken care once and for all.  My hopes are that I can be fully recovered and given the green light to start running again by January, and that should give me enough time to get in shape for the summer racing season:)  I'm nervous and worried what the recovery is going to be like.  They doctors have already warned my that I'll need lots of help with the kids cause I'll be on crutches for about 4 weeks.  Luckily Cam's family is willing to help out, and my Mom plans on coming out to help too.

Overnight trip to Colorado

Oh wow, I'm a little behind on my blogging.  So much has been going on, so lets start with where I left off.

As I mentioned in the last post, Abby and I flew out to Colorado early Friday morning.  Abby was so cute, she was excited, and I think she was feeling really special to be able to come with me while the others stayed home.  We actually flew out of the Provo Airport, which was AWESOME!  It took us like 5 minutes to get to the gate once Cam dropping us off.  Way less stressful.  Anyways, Abby just loved the airplane ride.  She was quite the stickler for keeping her seatbelt on at all times.  One time she wanted something from her backpack that was under the seat, so I unbuckled her so she could get down and get it, and she had a minor panic attack.  She's a rule follower, for sure.

My Mom picked us up from the airport and we had planned to spend the day in Denver so we could visit my sister and her family that recently bought a house in Aurora.  We had talked about going to a movie (we actually had thought to go the the movie at the theater that had the horrible attack the night before we arrived but had to rethink that) and Abby wanted to see "Brave" again, so we found a theater close to my sisters house.  It ended up being a pretty awesome theater.  It was like a dinner theater.  You picked a seat in the theater, then a waiter would come, take your order and bring you food, just like a restaurant, but all while you watched the movie.  We thought that was pretty cool.  After the movie, we found a trampoline place for Abby to play at.  When she said she wanted to go to a jumping place, I reminded her she would be there alone, without any family/friends that she knew to play with.  She's so funny, she kind of furrowed her brow, and said it was ok, she would just find a friend there to play with.  And she did find two girls that she played with.  I wish it was that easy for me to make friends :)

At the movie theater.  I took the picture with my phone, and the flash is really bright, and she kept closing her eyes, so I told her to keep her eyes open, and this was the picture I got.  Also, check out that yummy milkshake, I might have snuck a few sips.  That's definitely the way to watch a movie.

At the trampoline place.

Climbing the wall

After a couple hours jumping around, we headed to Michelle's cause she was going to be getting home from work soon.  The kids all played, and I was given the grand tour of her new house.  Then we all went to dinner.

It was getting late, so after dinner we headed back to my parents.  Abby had been looking forward to playing on my parents swingset all day.  My dad had bought some new swings and stuff, and Abby just had to play on the set, so I let her stay up playing on the swings till it got dark.

The next morning, we loaded up the car to head back here to Utah. 

It was such a quick trip, but it was an awesome chance for me and Abby to get some one-on-one time, and she really enjoyed having a day just for her.

A trip to the Hogle Zoo

Oh my goodness, what a week we have had.

Monday, Lexi, Abby and I (also Colton still had a lingering fever from the stomach bug he had been fighting off for several days) came down with the stomach flu.  Thank goodness Cameron offered to stay home from work cause I think it would have been near impossible for me to take care of three sick kids while being sick myself.  This bug was brutal, and totally knocked me and the kids out.

Come Tuesday morning, Abby still had a fever, and nobody seemed back 100%, so we made the tough decision to cancel our trip to Colorado that we were supposed to leave for the next day.  I didn't want to risk passing this awful bug to my family in Colorado, and I just wasn't in much shape to get the whole family packed and ready to go.  We felt horrible.  The girls had been looking forward to this trip for a long time.  So we readjusted our plans for the week.  My Mom had planned on coming back to Utah with us, so Abby and I are flying to Colorado on Friday, then driving back home on Saturday with my Mom.

We also decided to take the kids to the zoo.

Birds nest sculpture

Sitting on the Tigers

On the train

 
I think everyone had fun.  There was still some lingering grumpiness from being sick and tired, but it seemed like a fairly successful outing :)

Glow in the Dark Half Marathon

Friday night, I ran another half marathon.  This was another one held right here in Eagle Mountain, so I couldn't pass it up.  This one had a fun glow in the dark theme and was held at night.  Once again, my friend Marci ran it with me.

We had planned to just go easy and have fun, but I tend to get a little competitive, so we ended up pushing it pretty hard, oops :)

We lined up near the front because we were running this race on the trail, and we were afraid there might be some major congestion at the start, so in order to avoid that we lined up near the front, and took off pretty fast to get ahead of the pack.  This course was a pretty challenging course, lots of hills, especially in the last half, luckily I run these trails pretty regularly, so I was pretty accustomed to all the climbing.  It was, however, way different being out there running in the dark.  We both had little head lamps on to help us see, but you could only see right in front of you.

We cruised through the first 6 miles pretty quickly, there were some good little stretches of down hill that helped us keep our pace pretty fast.

At the turn around (it was an out-and-back course), we were able to count the number of females in front of us, and we were #11 and 12.  I think we both had hopes of holding that position, but there was a couple of girls that were right on our heels pretty much the whole race.

There was a pretty major climb at about mile 9, and it really took it out of me.  I had a major side ache that I couldn't shake, and that hill had me huffing and puffing pretty hard.  Once we reached the top, I was ready for the race to be over, I still had the side ache, I was having a hard time catching my breath, and was feeling close the puking.  But I kept pushing as hard and as fast as I could.  With only 3 miles left, I kept telling myself that it was down hill to the finish, so it should be fast and easy (relatively speaking)  to the end.  Except for, somehow I totally spaced that it was actually a good 1 mile climb to the finish.  I was not expecting that, and it took all I had left to keep a decent pace.

About half a mile from the finish, a girl was starting to pass us, and I guess she was right on Marci's heels and it kind of ticked her off, so Marci just took off and was able to shake the girl.  Sadly, I was wasted and didn't have enough in me to kick like she did.  A couple more girls were able to pass me the last few tenths of a mile before the finish.  I was so frustrated, I don't like being passed, especially that close the end, but I just had nothing left in my legs.

I finished in 1 hour 57 minutes, about a minute slower than my PR, but this was a really challenging course, so I wasn't expecting to come that close.  Marci finished about a minute ahead of me.  I think I ended up being the 14th female finisher, Marci was 11 or 12th.  When I crossed the finish line, my one and only goal was to sit down as fast as I could, because I knew if I didn't, I was either gonna puke or pass out.  The lady handing out the medals asked if I was ok, but I just waved my hand and kept on walking, no time to talk :)  After several minutes of sitting on a curb, I was able to pull myself together enough to walk to the car to come home.

We had such a blast, and I'm loving these smaller races, it's fun to be in the front of the pack.  If this was a larger race, I'd have no chance of being so close to the front.  However, this course was brutal, all those hills and I didn't enjoy the whole out-and-back thing.

Now it's time to rest up and recover, cause I'm doing another marathon in a week.  I think I might be losing my mind, all this pain and suffering in the name of fun :)

More pictures and updates

For lack of anything substation to post, I'm doing another quick overview of what we've been doing :)

Colton is walking.  He's all over the place with his stiff legged walking :)

Only recent pic of Colton, so just imagine that cute little guy walking :)

 More trips to the park.  We've started exploring many of the parks here in Eagle Mountain, because the girls are getting bored of the usual ones.

This one had monkey bars that were just Abby's height.  She hopped on and just started going across.  Also this one had some random little boy in a Spiderman costume :)

Ever since we moved Lexi into Abby's room, I've been meaning to make something with both the girls names on to hang in the room.  Up until now, just Abby's name has been hanging on the wall.  I finally got around to doing it.  I was happy with the way it turned out.

Also, both Colton and Lexi seem in need of switching up their naps.  So Colton is down from 2 daily naps to just the 1, and Lexi is showing signs that it's near time to get rid of her naps all together.  She still enjoys taking a good long afternoon nap, but then she also enjoys staying up and playing in her crib till 9 or 10pm.  As I would rather her sleep at night than in the day, lots of times I don't put her down for a nap anymore.  I'll be honest, I'm kinda bummed.  I was hoping that nap time for her would last at least till she was 3 years old, but, oh well.

And lastly, Colton has been one sick little kid.  I can't really figure out what his deal is.  About 2 weeks ago, he had a little cold, which, as always, turned into an ear infection.  A few days after he got that and started antibiotics, he had a stomach bug, and was throwing up for half a day.  Then a few days later, he threw up, but just once, then last night, he was up throwing up several times again.  And finally, today he has a fever.  It's just the most bizarre thing.  I don't know if he has just been so unfortunate to catch three bugs one right after the other, or if there could be some other cause.  Anyways, we've spent a lot of time hanging out at the house because of this little guy.

Recent stuff

I've been slow putting up some posts and updates, so I'm going to just put all the new and exciting stuff in one post.

About the fire, the first day, the wind was blowing the fire in our direction, and it was getting kind of close, but then the next day or two, the wind was blowing in the other direction, so it wasn't much of a threat after that.

The first day

The second day.  It spread a ton overnight.

Colton is getting so close to walking.  It started with this toy, he loves to push it around.  Slowly though, he's gaining confidence in taking a few steps on his own.  He's even been practicing standing up on his own with no support.

 Fun summer activities!

We took the kids to see "Brave".  They loved it, it was super cute.

One day Abby spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's, so me and Lexi had some quality time by making cookies together. (Really all Lexi did was turn on and off the mixer, but she enjoyed it)

 Playing in the sprinklers.  This has been happening a couple times a week because it is so darn hot this summer.

Lexi got her glasses.  She has been amazing with them, we'll put them on in the morning, and never seems to mess with them all day.  I'm have been shocked at how well she's adjusted.  The first day or two, she took a ton of spills, I'm guessing they might have messed with her depth perception a little, but she seems back to normal now.

These are her "pink ones" that Lexi picked out, and are her favorite.

 And lastly, Colton got his first hair cut.  It was getting a little long in the back, and over his ears, so Cam busted out the shears and gave him a little trim.