Buddy Workout

Here is a pic of Leigh Anne and I at Crossfit... it looks like we are just passing a volleyball back and forth or something, but really it's a 16 pound ball that one has to slam down to the ground and the other has to catch after it bounces and before it hits the ground again. Just one of many movements we did as partners that day. We look so glamorous :)

More Kaitlynisms

I just had to write a couple things down that Kaitlyn said that made me laugh this week. On Monday night we were having Family Home Evening and Katy wanted to do the lesson. So she found a picture of Jesus in the "Friend" and I asked her to tell us everything she knew about Jesus. One of the things she said was that Jesus' nickname was "Je". It was so cute we all started laughing and of course she got mad, but it seemed so logical to her. Then, yesterday she was watching Spongebob and she came to me and said "Mom, I don't like this Spongbob, it's too sad" with tears in her eyes. It was the one where Gary (Spongebob's pet snail) suddenly likes Patrick better than Spongebob and goes to stay with Patrick; so Spongebob was sad and tried bringing other pets home, but none of them were as good as Gary. I reminded her that it ends good because Gary only stayed with Patrick because he had a cookie in his pocket and ends up with Spongebob again at the end, but she started crying and didn't want to watch it anymore because it was just too sad. Where did those little emotions come from? It was just so cute I didn't want to forget about it. Anyway, when anyone is bugging her or making her mad, she likes to say "Stop it! You're embarrassing me!" I don't think she knows what that means, but she likes to use the phrase A LOT. :)

RUNNING IS JUST PUTTING ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER

So a couple of weeks ago I ran my first 1/2 marathon in Saint George. It was called the Snow Canyon 1/2. I have been training for awhile and can honestly say that I have started to enjoy running. I have always been competitive and just felt the need to do it. Part of the reason is I have seen my sister Leigh Anne embrace the running thing and have decided that it isn't that bad. So last Saturday was the big race, there were over 2000 participants which is kind of intimidating. Leigh and James were there as were several other people from our neighborhood.

I started out and much to my suprise finished and hour and thirty nine minutes later. It really wasn't that bad, definately something I would like to do again. Part of the reason I finished so fast was there was no way I was going to let Leigh pass me. (sibling rivalry at it's best) Her and James finished only minutes behind me and was pushing me the whole way. Towards the end I slowed up a little and kept imaging her passing me. So anyways I survived and will likely do another one in February. Her are a couple pics of Leigh, James and I, we all did great.

Katy's 5th birthday

Well, our little Kaitlyn turned 5 on November 7th and she had her first "friend" birthday party. Her party was a long 5 days after her actual birthday so it was like torture waiting for the party to begin :) It was a fun time for all the kids I think. Here are some photos below:
Katy with her friend Emily and one of her gifts.

Here is Katy with her favorite (boy) cousin Hunter and best friend Bradley. Note that they both have red hair :) so cute.

Cousins Karlie, Madi, and Alaina came towards the end of the party.

Here are the kids anxiously waiting for their cake and ice cream.

Elsie, Christian, Aubrey, Emily, Hunter, Kaitly, and Bradley next to the game they played.

Hunter, Bradley and Katy.

Kaitlyn's homemade birthday cake... she placed all the Tinkerbells where she wanted.

Anxiously waiting for the guests before the party.

It was a wild time and hopefully lots of fun was had... a house appraiser showed up halfway through because we are re-financing the house adding to the chaos. I'm pretty sure he did that appraisal in about half the usual time :) hee hee

Random

So a few weeks ago, Christian scratched Kinlee's eye and we had to take her to the doctor because it wasn't feeling any better after a couple hours. The doctor determined that her cornea had been scratched and Kinlee had to wear an eye patch for one day. Luckily when we went back the next day it was pretty much healed. Daddy was calling her Captain Jack Sparrow and telling her to "walk the plank" etc. The teasing never ends around our house.

Here is a picture of Dude shortly after I gave him a jolly rancher to eat. He came back a couple minutes later and it was stuck in his hair. It wasn't exactly easy to get it out. Just something funny I had to take a picture of.

OOPS.... THAT IS GOING TO LEAVE A MARK.

So if you ever wondering what stupid looks like, this would be it. Jill has been bugging me to post this for a while, so here is the whole story. I had to work all weekend six months ago so Jill took the kids and went to St. George. I was in the shop at 5:30 in the morning rushing to get stuff done and wondered how quickly I could take my finger off. 0.25 seconds is about how long it took if you are wondering. Anyways I was the only one there and so I picked up what was left and drove myself to the hospital in Provo 16 miles away. I don't know what was worse, cutting my finger or getting blood all over my truck. Long story short I made it, walked in the front door showed the 70 year old volunteer lady my finger, watched her pretty much faint, then walked back to the ER and sat down. The worst thing was they did not have any hand doctors on call so I ended up having to have a friend drive me up to SLC to get it fixed.

My friend had to laugh that while I was in the hospital waiting for the x-rays (like you couldn't tell what was wrong) all I kept asking for was a diet coke In my defense I have had a diet coke for breakfast for close to 20 years so I really wanted one. So while we were driving to SLC we stopped off and got a coke. I can still remember the white trash dude taking my money and asking "hey dude having a rough day?"

In Salt Lake they reattached as much as they could and thats about it. The worst part of this story is I didn't tell Jill till she got home from St. George later that night. (She was way less than impressed). So there you have it. Went to work the next day and that is that.

The second worst part is having to deal with all the grief. Like my kids coming up to me and saying " hey dad high four" or my nephews asking me if I ever stole something "would you be getting the four finger discount?" or my guys at work "we were wondering if you can still count to ten?" All those years of teasing people has finally caught up to me. So if you are wondering if it hurt, yes it did, but life goes on. As long as Jill will keep loving me I guess it is alright.

I HATE MY SISTER........

My whole life I have been the brother that could do it all. Skiing, Biking, Sports, you name it I could do it, and always felt that I was a little better at it than my siblings. But as I get older I find the need to eat better and exercise more important. So for the last year I have taken up running and have run several races(granted only little 10k's) and have gotten to were I can run pretty good. So my sister Leigh Anne convinced me to train for a 1/2 marathon. Ok no bid deal, all it requires is me to eat a little better and increase my distances. I've heard that Lee is pretty quick and has run several bid races this year (Ragnar, King of the Mtn. etc.). So she hauls me out last night to run a 10 mile down the Canyon. No bid deal, I can do this. So we start out and both are running pretty good. Halfway thru, no big deal. Towards the end Lee picked up the pace and I thought "man this chick can run". So for the last 2 miles I was running like a rape victim just to keep up. I guess I better train a little big harder for our Snow Canyon 1/2 here in 2 weeks. Here is a pic of Lee, she's in great shape.

Kinlee gets baptized

We baptized our sweet little Kinlee the first weekend in September. It was a great day... we got to be the first baptism in the stake and the only one from our ward so it turned out perfectly. Afterwards, we had lunch over at the clubhouse and enjoyed hanging out with family and friends. Here are some pics below...

OLD PEOPLE CONCERT

SO LAST SATURDAY JILL AND I WENT TO SEE JACK JOHNSON AT THE USANA AMPITHEATER IN SALT LAKE. IT WAS A GOOD CONCERT AND HE JAMMED FOR CLOSE TO TWO HOURS. WE HAD GOOD SEATS AND COULD SEE THE STAGE REALLY WELL. I MUST ADMIT IT WASN'T QUITE THE RAGING CONCERT THAT I AM USED TO, BUT IT WAS A NICE EASY GOING CONCERT. WE DIDN'T FEEL TO OLD BECAUSE MOST OF THE PEOPLE THERE WERE OUR AGE.

HOLY COW WE ARE GETTING OLD

This summer was Jills and mine 20 year high school reunions. Were has all the time gone. Mine was up in Canada and Jills was held up at Snowbird. We attended both and had a good time. One thing i did notice is that Jill is aging very gracefully and looks as good today as when i married her. (me not so much)

DUDE WAKESURFING

I THINK AT THE TIME DUDE THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA, BUT HALFWAY THROUGH HE CHANGED HIS MIND AND GOT A LITTLE CONCERNED. GOTTA LOVE THAT LITTLE WHITE HAIR.

SERIOUSLY,,, NO MORE M+M PEANUTS FOR ME.

So for July 24th we decided to run in the 10k Pioneer race in Orem. We did well and had fun, this race was harder than the rest, the first two miles were straight up timp hill which wasn't fun, but once we crested out it was all downhill from there. It took us both a minute longer than our last race but we will blame it on the hill. The temperature was just right and there were a lot of people running this year. Anyways it wasn't too bad, our next race is called the "dirty dash" and is in midway next month. It is a six mile army obstacle course and doesn't look fun. So we had better get training and lay off the m+m peanuts for awhile.

THE MANY FACES OF "DUDE"

Christian our youngest has the unique nickname of dude. He likes his nickname. If people ask him what his name is he says "I DUDEY". Anyways he is 2 1/2 and is really starting to enter his terrible twos. He plays hard and sleeps even harder, so here are a few pics in a typical day of the dude.

THE 4TH AT THE CABIN

Well another 4th of july came and went. We spent it at the cabin as usual, lots of food, lots of cousins and too much of my sisters. Jill didn't go this year because of family reunion stuff she attended down here. So it was just me and Dylan and Kinlee. Kinlee learned to wakesurf this year and did really well. Dylan wakesurfed and wakeboarded as usual and is getting quite good. Oh well, here are some pics of the little rug rats doing what they like best. We are going up there the first week of August. It's hard to beat Montana, it is so beautiful up there.

RUNNING AT 38

Over the weekend Jill and I did another little 10k up in park city. We were both able to shave a few minutes off our time and felt great after. It was fun and we are slowly getting faster. Actually the fun part was leaving the kids at home (Thanks Uncle Jon). We plan on doing the Pioneer 10k in a few weeks and I am training on getting down in the 40's for my time if I can only lay off the Twinkies and HOHO's till then.

Future baseball player

Here is Kaitlyn, my future baseball player. We were at Kinlee's game the other day and she decided she wanted to try on the batting helmet. It's a tad big on her :) hee hee. She wants to do anything Kinlee does. Kinlee isn't too thrilled about it, but I think it's a big compliment to her big sister. :)

Happy birthday Joel!

So today Joel turns 38 and he looks better than ever! He's been working hard at the gym and losing more weight so now he is down by 35 pounds. Joel is my best friend and sweetheart... provides for me and the kids and works very hard for us. We love you Joel (Daddy)... From Jill and the kids. :)

IS IT REALLY WORTH IT?

I have been busting my butt trying to get the house and yard ready for the summer. We have some really nice wood shutters and last week we painted them black. It kind of changed the look of our house. Now I know why my dad used to complain about working on the house, it really is a pain in the @#s.

OUR FIRST RACE

Since we have been working out and "trying" to eat better we decided it was time to do a race. So on Saturday we ran a little 10k. It really wasn't that bad, we both ran at our pace and enjoyed the experience. So much so that we are going to do another one here in a month. Joel finished in 51 minutes and Jill at an hour. Not fast, not slow, but for our first race we felt that it was just right. I think mentally at first it was a little more challenging than the actual race. Anyways hopefully we can do it again.

WORLDS GREATEST BASEBALL PLAYER?

Here is a picture of Kinlee and her friend "Ole" (short for Oleander) at one of their games. This year Kinlee is playing coach pitch softball and is really enjoying it. The weird thing is Kinlee writes left-handed but throws, bats, and catches right handed. Go figure? Anyways, she inherited her competitive spirit from her Dad and is doing really well.

"KICKING IT" WITH DUDE

Every morning when I go to get Dude out of bed he is sleeping like this. His little hands behind his head, feet elevated with a totally content look on his face. I only wish that I could sleep like this.

Happy Mothers Day

Just a quick note, its mothers day and I just wanted Jill to know that she is the best wife and mother that anyone could ask for. Happy Mothers Day.

Catching Up

Well, it's been a long time since I blogged and I'm sorry to anyone who actually checks it anymore. ;) It's hard to blog when you're so busy you barely have time to sit down for a minute and gather your thoughts. I've also had the blues a little lately so I haven't felt like sharing my boohoo's with everybody. Anyway, hopefully with spring will come sunshine and warm weather and that's enough to boost anyone's spirits, right? The kids only have 3 weeks of school left and I cannot wait for summer to come! Kinlee just started playing softball and has her first game on Saturday and another piano recital. She will finish 2nd grade soon. She is in the top reading group of her class and she loves school. Dylan just finished up another season of basketball and will finish 5th grade soon. He has been doing a lot of skiing and airsoft wars with friends and cousins. Kaitlyn is finishing up her first year of pre-school and is actually starting to become a little easier. She has a very strong personality and likes to be in control (especially of me) so we've had a little bit of a hard time with her. Dude (Christian) is now 2-1/2 and is a wild, crazy, fun loving kid. He can say pretty much anything and loves his older brothers and sisters very much. He likes to say "holy crap" and "what the crap" when something surprises him. It's really funny to hear. Joel, as you know, had an accident in February where he cut off his left ring finger at work with a table saw. He is recovering really well and pretty much has full use of that hand now. He can't quite grip like he wants to (or type), but he's getting used to it and doesn't complain about it at all. We are all just glad it wasn't worse than that. Kaitlyn said the other day "I sure hope daddy's finger will grow back". It was pretty cute. I had to explain to her that it wasn't going to grow back and that seemed to trouble her a little. He won't let me take a picture of it to post though. As for me, time just seems to fly by and the days all blend together. Just looking forward to vacations in the summer and going to the pool if it would ever warm up! I did take a little trip to St. George last weekend with a bunch of girlfriends that I knew from RC Willey. It was a lot of fun. We just ate, shopped, watched movies, hiked up a canyon, and hung out together. All the best friends I have came from RC Willey. That was the best thing I got out of working there (besides a lot of furniture). :) Well, I will try to post more and take more pictures now that summer is coming. Hope I didn't ramble too much!

MY LITTLE SKI BUDDIES

Here is just a few pics of the kids skiing. This is the second year for Kinlee and she is starting to get pretty good. Pretty good to dad is getting on the ski lift by yourself and keeping up. Anyways the snow was good and we all had fun.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY DEAR!
Here it is Valentine's Day andI'm all alone, I had to work this weekend so Jill took the kids and went to St. George without their deadbeat dad. Even though we are apart today I wanted her to know that after fifteen years together she is still my Valentine.

LOW Riders

I just had to laugh today when I came in the kitchen while the kids were eating their lunch... Katy's pants are low-riders apparently and she was showing some serious crack. hee hee. She is wearing underwear, but they are pulled down by the pants! Too cute to not take a picture.

Just love these little faces!

Happy 50th Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Well, my parents got married 50 years ago today in the Manti Temple and they're still going strong! I can't imagine a better example of what a marriage should be than theirs. They are still best friends and have always taken good care of me! They still do in fact. :) Happy anniversary mom and dad! Can't wait to come down and see you next weekend! I love you both very much.

Happy 2nd birthday Christian!

Well, my baby is turning 2 today. I can't believe how fast time goes, especially as you get more kids. I feel like his life has been a blur and somehow I can't remember everything that has already happened in that 2 year time. Christian is such a sweet, laid back, fun kid to have around. His older brother and sisters adore him and pretty much give him anything he wants. His nickname is "Dude" and he loves the movie "Cars" and anything to do with that. He still takes 3 or 4 hour naps each day which is SOOO appreciated by his mommy. He has such a gruff little voice, it's funny to hear him talk. He's definitely all boy. For his birthday today he got a "Cars" book from Grandma and Grandpa, lots of little cars to play with and some pj's with cars on it. We are so lucky and blessed to have Christian in our family... he can make you smile just by looking at you. Here are some pics from the past...

This is his most recent picture from November... doesn't he just look like mischief?

Here he is opening presents this morning...

Joel won't let me cut his hair because he loves all the white blonde hair he has. Therefore, it's messy most of the time. :)

We love you little Dude! Happy birthday!