CH Spring Fun Run

My stake had a Spring 5k a week ago.  I thought it would be a great way to start on my 5k's for the season.  Besides it was totally FREE!!!  I called my friend Sarah C. & let her know (she's my 5k buddy) & we planned to meet eachother there bright & early.  I was also lucky enough to have Blake & Sonny spend the night with Grandpa & Naunie so I didn't have to find an early morning babysitter.

Me, Sarah & Melissa

Here's Melissa with her dad Jerry (they're from my old ward)

The Colvins (old ward)

My good frien Robin who we tortured & made jog with us. 

She did great!!

Here's sidewasy Sarah with her husband Josh & dog Gus.

(couldn't figure out how to rotate it & I didn't want to spend an hour trying to figure it out.)

Here's another longtime friend...Darlene...after we were done.  She's so awesome...I believe she came in almost 5 minutes before me.  She's doing this awesome training.

(ok, seriously....my boobs are freaking huge in this picture...oh-my-gosh!!!)

Anyway...Sarah had her trusty watch with her & we did 1:1 intervals.  1min jog...1min walk.

I think we did great.  When we were almost done Melissa's dad Jerry came back to find us & made her run the rest of the way (he is like a professional runner) & then I thought I can do this so I told Sarah I was off & started to jog almost the rest of the way. 

I made it with a time of 42 minutes flat. 

 I believe that's my best time so far. 

 I guess we'll see how I do at the next one which is on Memorial Day. 

I'm so excited & can't wait.  I never thought I would ever enjoy jogging/walking for exercise but I really do.  Ever since I trained last year for my 1/2 marathon.  I just need to keep it up all year.  I've been trying to walk outside or on the treadmill @ the gym for at least 20 minutes every day.  I'm hoping I will shed these unwanted chubby spots that I have acquired over the last year too.  It also helps that Blake & I can walk to school now that the weather has been nicer, & I've almost completely given up soda.  It's going on 3 weeks & I've only had 3 sodas.  I'm drinking a lot of water now.

Well wish me luck!!!

Blake & Sonny's Easter Pictures

Here are my 2 handsome boys & all the funny faces that come along with them.

Looking down instead of at me & Sonny's new "side" smile.

Looking at me....Blake decided to put his arms around his brother.

They are so cute..."side" smile again.

Pretty similar but a little bit better.

I like this one.

I ♥ this one cuz they are both laughing & look like they are having fun.

A close-up.

And the last one. 

I'm thinking that I need to go play around with the editing on a few of these to see what I can come up with.

I ♥ my boys!!!

Easter Morning

Well....the boys were up early

 (but not really any earlier than any other morning)

& they were off

to find the eggs that were hidden. 

They sure had fun!! 

Don't you love those Easter baskets.  Found those at Pier 1 Imports.

Blake seems to be a "master" egg finder & I think that next year we will definitely have to go

outside...(if the weather holds up) so there is more room. 

Then we had breakfast & turned on General Conference.

I printed off confernce bingo & Blake & I played that til it was time to go to Grandpa & Naunie's for lunch.

We don't really play it traditionally...we just cross off everything we hear.  I think it's a good way for him to pay attention to the words that are being said.  I found some really awesome stuff for the kids to do all throughout the blogosphere.  Someday I will print them out & do them with the kids...*sigh*.

But what I did hear in Conference was great & uplifting and I am so grateful to have the Gospel in my life.  I feel extremely blessed not only to have the Gospel in my life but to know that I am a Daughter of God & He loves me no matter what.  I grateful for my Testimony & that even when things get rough in life I don't turn away but I embrace the Gospel because I know that my Heavenly Father is watching out for me & cheering me on & I know that I can make it & I hope & pray that I can instill this into my boys & that they will never turn their back on the Lord & always turn to Him for guidance & that I can be an example of this to my husband as well.  I'm grateful for the sacrice that my Savior made & for the knowledge that I have of all that includes.  I am very blessed.

Got Eggs?

We had several opportunities this year to decorate eggs. 

We got together at my parent's house with my sister's & their kids (all boys)

 to color eggs & we then colored more at our house because for some reason there was a surplus of hardboiled eggs.  I also had Blake glue faces on some of those eggs to do something different.  We also decorated foam egg shapes with stickers & hung those up on the door for decoration. 

Naunie with the grandkids...Mason, Gabe, Blake & Sonny (heads)

Here's my boys.

What's up with the whisks?  Let me explain.

Amelia (my sis) said she read in a magazine somewhere that putting the egg inside

a whisk makes coloring eggs easier for little ones.  I thought it was a great idea.

The kids thought it was cool too.

Gabe & Blake

Gabe getting serious about this egg thing.

Mason...he's so cute...mom took his shirt off because he was bound to get

colored.

Stop taking my picture mom

Blake did the most...he is a little older & able to stay focused just a little longer.

Here we are at home & Sonny is showing me his plain white egg.

Do you like how conference is in the background?  I was trying to watch it at the same time.

Blake showing me his plain white eggs.  I wanted to to the extra eggs when we got home because I wanted to make eggs with really vibrant colors.  The eggs we did @ Grandpa & Naunie's were more of a pastel color.  They were pretty but I wanted them to be bright!!!  So I used vinegar instead of just water to see if that's the key.  Maybe it's the vinegar & the brand. 

These turned out much brighter & I liked them a lot!! 

 (we used Paas brand which is the best I think).

The boys also decorated eggs with their cousin Libby & Grammy

earlier in the month but those pics didn't turn out.  Oh well.

Next time.

A Night with Friends

While my friend Sarah H. was in town visiting with her girls we were able to get together over at our friend Sarah C's (I know...lots of Sarah's but I haven't met a Sarah I haven't liked yet) house to hang out & have fun visiting.  I decided to venture out without my boys because sometimes it's just nice to go by myself.  I love my boys & they probably would've had fun with the girls but sometimes mom's need a break.  It was fun visiting & watching  Sarah C's husband Josh throw the kids around on the "love sack" (ginormous beanbag).  Before I went over there I was able to finish up some baby bibs & a couple burp cloths that I made for Sarah H's bun in the oven.  Haha. (yes, I really said that).  I am finding that it is a much smoother process if I cut out all the bibs in one day & then sew them up on another & I think I've finally figured out how to sew them w/o the flaw that I always seem to have. Yay!!

Here's Sarah H & her 3 girls with the 4th girl on the way

Here's Josh with the girls.

And here's Josh with the 2nd girl.  He loves those girls!!!

And here's the fronts & backs of the 6 bibs I put together.

It was so nice to see Sarah H. in person. 

I wish we could've had more time but I grateful for the 2 days I did get to see her.

Someday my family will make it out to her neck of the woods & then I could visit my

brother & his family too.  Wouldn't that be nice :)

A Visit to the Park

Last week was Spring Break!!  Yippee!! 

I wasn't sure how everything was going to go seeing as how the weather didn't look so "springy".

And it's always a "joy" to find things for 4 kids to do when it's raining....hahaha.

BUT....I got a text from my friend Sarah H. saying that she was in town & she wanted to get together at a park so the kids could play.  I think it's been at around 2 years since she & her family moved back out to Utah & she & her family have been greatly missed!!  I was so excited & happy that I'd have a chance to see her while they were visiting.  I told Blake & he was excited too!!  So we set up a day & time to go to the park.  I packed lunches for the kids & we set off to go to the park.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was only chilly & not raining outside.  Thank goodness for that.  We had a few other friends join us too....Miss Rose traveled with Sarah so of course she was there & Heather with her family as well.  We had 8 kids there altogether & Sarah has 1 on the way.  It was sooo fun to get together with all the kids again.  We were there for 3 hours & it was a great way to play the day away & for us girls to catch up on what's been going on.
Here's a ton of pictures from our fun day at the park.

Colby on the slides.

Sonny

Here's the whole gang eating lunch....

(adults are...Sarah, Heather & Rose)

Here's Sarah's oldest upside down!!

Colby & Blake strategizing their next move.

Rose & Heather...sisters-in-law.

Here's Kylie & Sarah's youngest....(for now).

Sonny B (that's Kylie's cup)

Here I am again.

Action shot.

Laying on the bridge.

Here's me & my friend Sarah H. 

I tried to fix my teeth in this picture but I couldn't figure it out.

NO!! 

 I'm not missing any teeth...it's a shadow...

or I really need to get my teeth whitened!!!

Blake & Colby in action.

Blake being attacked by 2 girls while Colby just stands in the background watching &

wondering...what the heck!!

And the girls conquered him!!

Don't they look sooo pleased!!

Here's all the kids in a group shot.

Sonny, Colby, Kylie, Blake

& then SD, MD(Heather's girl), SV, & SC

(the S girls are my friend Sarah's & I'm not using their names cuz their mom prefers it that way)

Well it was a really fun day at the park & I got the kids all packed up & ready to go &

of course....

Kylie had a poopy diaper....bleh...so I changed her in the back of my car & we were ready to go.

Not 5 mins after pulling out of the parking lot it started pouring!!!

Seriously!!!  I must say that luck was on my side that day.  Thank goodness it didn't start til

after I was done cleaning up the poopy diaper!!!!

Cabela's in Reno

After Circus Circus we drove to Cabela's.  Cabela's is like a the "costco" for any outdoor adventure involving hunting, fishing, camping, etc.  It's actually a really cool place to check out.  It has everything you need for an awesome camping adventure & then some.  They have 2 really cool displays of "stuffed" animals...exotic jungle type & animals that hunters get from around the states ( I guess).  It was fun to finally check out this "Great Outdoors" store (I have a few coats I received as gifts from there).  We took some pictures & had lunch there.  They serve meats that you wouldn't get at a local place but I stuck with the roast beef & the boys had hot dogs but Brad (as adventurous as he is) got a buffalo burger.  The food was great!!

The lion & his prey...but we all know he didn't kill it...the female lions did.

If you know me...

you know that I ♥ elephants...

so of course I took this picture.

Here's a Lynx...Brad says he wants one of these....

yeah....right!!!

If you're ever in the Reno area & you have kids that like looking at animals,

make a stop at the Cabela's...it's really a cool place.