I can do it!

I have been trying to make it to the gym at least 3 times a week since April 1st. I usually run on the treadmill and then lift weights. I started out only being able to run, with out stopping, a mile before I thought my head was going to explode. I have worked my way up to 2 miles and have sort of stopped there. Well, this morning I decided to push myself and see if I could run 3.1 miles. Guess what?!!! I did it! I actually ran 3.1 miles in 33 minutes and 15 seconds. I feel so good about myself. In the back of my head I have wanted to run a 5k with my sister. We talk about it but that's as far as it goes. I am too afraid of failing or I worry about what people will think if I am walking part of the 5k. I worry too much about what others think. I hate that my face gets sooo red when I run that I am worried people will judge me for that. Anyway, those are some of the reasons I have never really considered signing up for a 5k. Now that I have accomplished it on a treadmill I am going to go and map out a run in my neighborhood and try it there.

Happiest Place on Earth

I'm not sure if any of you read Larry's blog but as we were planning to make our trip to Disneyland, which calls itself "The Happiest Place on Earth", Larry wrote on his blog about what his Happiest Place on Earth is. I was thinking about what mine would be this morning as I was getting ready for work. These were some of my thoughts...

• I love lazy mornings when Larry and I are still in bed, the sun is shinning through the curtains and I can hear the birds chirping in the tree outside our window and the boys climb in bed with us. They are mischievous and like to try to tickle us and jump on us and hide under the covers. It usually ends up that we gang up on either Larry or they gang up on me and we try to pin them down and tickle them. Mostly it is Larry and I torturing the boys with tickles. We laugh and giggle and completely enjoy being with each other. I love mornings like these.
• It doesn't happen often but I love being on a beach that has warm sand. It makes me feel happy to bury my feet in the sand and to pick up the sand in my hands and have it fall slowly through my fingers. I love the feeling of that. I love the sun on my face and hearing the ocean and waves. I was in heaven a couple weeks ago when we were sitting on the beach early Saturday morning. Not many people had made it to the beach yet so it was like we had the beach to ourselves.
• The last Happiest Place I will mention is when Larry and I get together with some friends of ours. I feel happy being with Larry and sharing our time with these friends. When we make plans with them it is something we I look forward to. It is relaxing, comfortable, and enjoyable to be in their company. And for the evening, it is my happiest place.

I wonder what your happiest places might be and I can just bet that whatever or wherever your happiest spot is your family is there too.

Dresden

Well, it is official, my kids are getting old. Dresden had is 7th birthday on Friday so we had a weekend full of parties. Dresden invited a few of his friends to a Luau party at our house. It was crazy having 8 boys and 2 girls packed into our living room...the snow kept us from being outside. The kids were crazy, loud, funny, exhausting, and enjoyable! The party was a great success and we are just so grateful that Dresden has such great friends.
Happy Birthday, Dresden. We love you with all our hearts and are so happy that you are ours!

I have always tried to make a themed cake for the boys and this year was a bit of a challenge. I wasn't really sure how to make a volcano cake but I think it turned out o.k.

Here is Collin posing in the Hula girl stand-up. All the boys wanted their pictures taken as a hula girl.

Logan as the surfer dude.

One of the things we did at the party was have a hula hoop competition. I was surprised these kids could hula hoop. In fact, there were a couple boys that could have hula hooped all day if they had the opportunity.

You can't have a party without going through the spanking machine!

Pink DS

Logan has a birthday in a couple weeks so when I picked him up from daycare we talked for minute about what he would want.

M- What do you think you would want for your birthday? Maybe a scooter or a bike so you can play with Hunter and Dresden?

L- Maybe a pink DS for you.

M- Logan, it's your birthday, what would YOU want?

L- It's my birthday so I can get a pink DS for you. And then we will have four DS's and we can all play together.

My heart melted that he was thinking of me and wanted me to have a DS so our whole family will have our own DS's and we can all link up and play games together. Seriously, this kid is going to get away with EVERYTHING when he gets older because he knows how to work it! Who am I kidding...he already gets away with TOO much. Don't get me wrong, he is a stinker and sometimes says things that aren't as charming but mostly he is a thoughtful caring boy.

By the way, I still don't know what HE wants for his birthday.

Sunny Days

This past weekend we visited my brother and his family in California. They had their third child and we went out for the blessing. Our adventure started at the airport or rather in the car as we were arriving at the airport. We pulled up to the long term parking, pushed the button to take our parking ticket and discussed where we should keep the ticket so we don't lose it. I decided to put it in my wallet. I reached in my purse to get my wallet and to my surprise it wasn't there. Are you freaking kidding me?!!! Our flight leaves in an hour and a half and we have to drive home during rush hour to get my wallet with my ID. Larry navigated well and we arrived home in a hurry. I found my jacket I shopped in the night before and there I found my wallet. We jumped back in the car and cruised back to the airport. We made it!!! Larry had the good fortune of sitting next to 2 Hillcrest cheerleaders. I had even better fortune and sat next to my boys. I did get to listen to a naive cheerleader in the row behind me tell the 22 year old Jewish guy sitting next to her ALL about the gospel. It was pretty funny. The funniest question I heard her ask was "Do you have the Pearl of Great Price too?" She talked about everything from the length of dresses we should wear to Patriarchial Blessings, to group dating..."but after you get back from your mission you can go on single dates because now that you are home from your mission you should find a wife or husband, so it's okay to single date.", to the sacrament prayers.

It was interesting, uncomfortable at times, and thoughtful to listen to this young girl share the beliefs of our religion.

Disneyland was first on the agenda. My parents and brother and his family planned to meet us there. The highlight of Disneyland was discovering Huckleberry Finn Island. For all the many times we have been to DL I have never been to the island and, of course, it was the highlight of the day. Dresden and Logan loved crawling through the caves and trying to find "treasures". It was a gorgeous day and DL made a bundle from the thousands of other guests that embarked on the "Happiest Place on Earth". (see Larry's blog) The other highlight of the day was when Dresden and Logan heard the theme songs of Star Wars and Indiana Jones being played to the firework show that evening. They thought that was very cool! After the firework show ended we decided to bid our farewell to Disneyland and join the herd of people heading for the exit. I carried a sleeping Logan and we squished our bodies on the shuttle back to our hotel. As Dresden and I were laying in bed we both felt like we were still riding Space Mountain. Although our bodies still felt like they were moving our minds quickly shutdown and sleep found us.

The next day we tried to get up early to make it to our Whale Watching boat excursion. We didn't give ourselves enough time and accidentally turned the wrong direction out of our hotel so we didn't make our 9am appointment. They booked us on their noon sailing so we had time to play at the beach. It's amazing how kids just love the water. I absolutely loved sitting in the sun and watching the waves form and crash on the sand. I love watching the water receed of the sand and back to the ocean and I love the smells and sounds of the beach. It's safe to say I could handle living in beach house. Our whale watching excursion turned out great! The gray whale migration from Baja Mexico back up to Alaska is happening right now so we were fortunate to see 3 gray whales. The captain of our boat was giving us the best show he could. He got a couple hundred feet away and sailed along side of the whales so we were able to watch them surface for a good 45 minutes. The boys weren't too impressed...I think they were expecting a Sea World, jumping out of the water, type of excursion but Larry was very impressed and glad we were able to witness such an amazing part of nature.

After our whale watching excursion we sat in traffic for 3 hours...

Finally, we made it to the hotel in Thousand Oaks, where my brother lives. The boys came in the lobby with me with their Pirates of the Carribean swords and battled it out in the lobby until I asked them to kindly remove their little bodies from the lobby and take it outside. The lady gave me our keys and we drove around and parked. By the time we got all our stuff unloaded from the car and up to our room the lady from the front desk was waiting for us. She said she was going to move us from the room she assigned us to the suite. She thought it would fit us a little better. SUITE!!.. I mean SWEET!!! The room was great! We had one really large room with the two queen beds and then a living room. Seriously, I was so grateful to her for being so kind and upgrading our room. We really did appreciate it. We even thought about extending our stay just so we could take advantage of the room. We didn't.

Sunday was the purpose of our trip and Mike did a wonderful job of blessing Creed. Creed was an angel during the prayer and he was blessed with many beautiful blessings. It was fun to spend time at Mike and Nikki's and to see their darling kids. I think I would have been a nervous wreck watching all the older cousin boys playing so rough on the playset that Mike and my Dad built last summer but Mike and Nikki are so laid back I don't think anything phased them. I could certainly take some lessons from them. I'm certain Larry would agree.

Anyway, the whole weekend was a whirlwind but certainly well worth it. We LOVED being in the sun and being with family and having a little time away. It's always nice to get back home but we certainly would have been much happier if we didn't come home to snow. Seriously, enough is enough!!! I NEED SPRING!

My little pirate!

Dresden had to buy this key because he was sure it would open the treasure on Huck Finn Island.

Logan, Savannah, & Dresden

Papa and Savannah

Nothing like a bribe to get the kids to sit still for a picture...the bribe didn't work well.

Starving, hot, and tired...waiting for our food to be served.

The morning whale watching tour that we were supposed to be on saw hundreds of dolphins. This is the lone dolphin we saw all day. (top center of picture) It's amazing I was able to capture it when I wasn't even trying.