November, or, at least a day in it.

November has come and gone. Crazy! Thanksgiving is one of the highlights of the month, but that's not all we did. No sir! We love to do things so here ya go! Our wild and crazy times of November!

I don't like bubble gum. It loses it's flavor so fast and then it gets all hard and nasty to chew. Not to mention it's awful for your teeth. But, every once in awhile, like, once every five to seven years, I want a piece so I can blow some bubbles! You lucky folks get to see a rare moment in history when I actually have bubble gum. As I started to blow the bubbles, little B was fascinated! He didn't try to pop them with his fingers, he tried to pop them with his teeth.  Don't panic you germaphobe's out there. I didn't actually let him pop it with his teeth. He got close, but I didn't let him do it.

 You know those nights when you go check on your little boys at night and you walk in and see the broom across their beds? What's that? You have never experienced that? We hadn't either until a night a couple weeks ago. The broom that is across their beds is the one that little B has claimed as his own. When I sweep, he goes and get's his broom and "helps" me sweep. I couldn't wait for morning to come so I could ask them what was going on in their brains when they put the broom on their beds. Well, I'll spare you the suspense. I asked K first and he told me that little B was the one that had done it, so I looked at little B and asked what the story was with the broom. All I got was a shoulder shrug and an,"I don't know." How anticlimactic! Now if these two pictures don't sum up our overly exciting month, nothing will! There was one event that was pretty much amazing! It's called, a turkey trot. Around this neck of the woods, turkey trots are only a dollar to participate in. We knew that M would complain about it, K would do it and love it and that little B would be so happy to be in the stroller. One brisk Saturday morning, we got bundled up and went out to trot with the other crazies around here.

It was a balmy 29 degrees when we started the race. We had told the kiddos that they would probably warm up as we ran, but to start out it was going to be chilly billy willy. And chilly billy willy it was! Man oh man it was really cold! Don't let M's smile fool you. She smiled and then started asking again why we were doing this, it was too cold, she didn't want to, it was going to take too long, blah blah blah. We told her it would be fun, she disagreed very strongly, we lined up and off we went!

The race was four miles long. We had told them that we would run for a while and then walk then run etc. etc. We had run half a mile before M asked if we could stop. We asked her if something was hurting. She said no, she just wanted to walk. We hadn't even warmed up yet, so we told her no. We weren't trying to be mean, it was really cold and we wanted to warm up a bit before we stopped to walk. We ran a mile and then stopped to walk for a couple minutes.

When we started running again we ran until we had gotten to about the 2 3/4 mile mark. Then we walked. We could see the little yellow sign that told us we were at three miles. We told her that we were going to run at the three mile mark and that we were going to run the entire last mile. While we walked, little B wanted to get out of the stroller and run.

I feel like the picture is kind of dark and I don't love that, but I love that they are running. Little B loved to run and after he had gotten his running fill, he came back to the stroller and said that he was ready to ride again.

We made it! Four miles in 49 minutes. We walked some but ran most of the time. I was so proud of M and K for doing it. They did so great! M truly hates running and I was so proud of her for doing it even when she felt like it was too hard. We held hands a lot as we ran so that I could help her. Don't misunderstand, I wasn't pulling on her, we really were just holding hands telling each other that we could do it. K is a really good runner, I think that he could have gone faster and longer. He was running fast enough that he and B finished 30 seconds ahead of me, M and little B. K wasn't even that tired when we got done. At the starting line, M and K saw their P.E. teacher. She was there running the race too. We finished before she did and both M and K loved being done and being able to watch their teacher come across the finish line. She got done running and came over to tell both of them that they are great little runners. To say that K was beaming would be a gross understatement. M said thank you and ate another Oreo. Yes, at the finish line instead of having fruit like is common at the races we've done in the past, they had Oreo's. Having those made M feel like the race was almost worth it. The website had said that there would be transportation back to the starting line where we left are car. They lied. Instead of having a ride back, B ran the four miles back to get the car. The little's and I started walking back. When you aren't running, 29 degrees is really cold! Maybe it had warmed up a little, but if it had it wasn't by a lot. Our hands were frozen and little B was in tears because his hands hurt so bad. When he started crying I asked him what was wrong and he said,"My hands is freezing!" He had gloves, but he had sucked on them and so they were wet and freezing his hands. We had a blanket, but he didn't want to wrap his hands up. He was just done with the whole thing. We made it to the two mile sign and that's when we saw our car coming. B had made it back and was our knight in shining armor, there to rescue us from the cold! We were all so happy to see him and get a ride. 

Running a four mile race definitely calls for lunch at a pizza place. We had never been here before, but had heard that it's amazing. They were right, it's amazing!

They have a window where you can watch them make your pizza. That was really cool!

B was feeling extra nice and even got the kiddos a pitcher of Root beer. We don't really drink soda, so they loved it! The day turned out fun for everyone and hopefully good memories were made.

Time fly's or is it flies or is that the little bug?

Really? It's been like a month and a half since I put anything on here? That's not great. Remember when B was in school and I used to update this here blog like once a week? In my defense, I just don't feel like a whole lot is going on. Not to mention we had to get a new computer and this one is super duper annoying to put pictures on. I know, I know, excuses are like noses, we all have them and they all smell. The past is the past and it's time to move on right? I just got off the phone with my ever charming younger brother and he told me that he and his lovely are moving to Florida come heck or high water next October. When I first heard the news a while ago I tried to warn him. It's hot. All. Of. The. Time. Not to mention it smells like a swamp. It's a fun place to visit, but miserable to live. I guess if one loves the heat and humidity and the heat and sweating all over all the time and the heat, then Florida is the place for you. I will say that the reflectors on the road are always nice because it never gets cold so they always look brand new. I guess that's something. Anyway, I didn't get on here to talk about him and his life plans, it's just on my mind and I tend to say what's on my mind. Let's see here, Halloween was fun. Here are a couple pictures just for the sake of record keeping.

OK, clearly this isn't a Halloween picture, but the sunrise was so beautiful one morning that I had to take a picture. If only it was as beautiful in the picture as it had been in real life, I would win a photo contest, I'm sure of it! I digress, Halloween pictures ASAP!

Again, not a Halloween picture, but pumpkins and Halloween are like a bulimic person and a toilet, they go hand in hand. Not to mention, I was so happy with my with pumpkin that I had to document that it was AWE-some! My witch masterpiece took two days, what with all the paint drying, hair gluing and face decorating. It was well worth the wait. We were told by a neighbor that pumpkins get smashed a lot around here. I was worried about our pumpkins being turned into smashed pumpkin surprise, but I'm pretty sure that when the pumpkin smashing hoodlums came around and saw our amazing pumpkins,(especially the witch), they turned to another house to get their pumpkin smashing fix.  Can I just ask why someone would do that? Why would you smash anything that didn't belong to you, but smashing pumpkins seems especially heinous. If someone is going to go through the effort of getting a pumpkin, carving it or painting it or coloring it or leaving it like they just cut it off the vein and put it on their porch, then why would you ruin it? I don't get it. Anyway, that's it really. For real this time, without any further adieu,  

Here it is! M was an Eskimo, K was a cop and little B was a spider. We went down to Boise to spend Halloween with our amazing friends, the S clan. We loved every minute and I even laughed when we got pulled over. It presented a perfect opportunity to teach the offspring a quick lesson. Don't go 70 in a 55 and pass a cop. Chances of getting a speeding ticket are pretty high. Darn it!

 They made out like bandits! Yes you read correctly,  16.1 pounds of candy. In years past the parent tax has been high, but this year due to inflation the parent tax was increased. Instead of taking some of the Reese's, we took them all. (When I say we took them all I mean that we took them and put them in a freezer bag and put them in said freezer because as we all know, Reese's are a million times better frozen. Anyone is welcome to eat them, they just forget about them.) 

We know we're late in saying it, but we hope that you all had a most excellent Halloween and that those of us parents were able to get the parent tax we deserve! 

Wedding bells are ringing

The time has come to reveal the picture of J and I when we were wedding dress shopping!

Oh how I wish I was wearing the dress! That would have made the picture even better. Alas, it wasn't to be. Don't get me wrong, I loved holding it up so J could compare the two. J is so beautiful and I loved being there with M and mom and S as J made her decision. She picked her dress and wedding plans got underway. Finally, the big day arrived and  beautiful J got married last week. We were lucky enough to be able to go. We went down a few days early to hang out with friends and family. Because we were able to be there a few days early, we were able to be there when she went through the temple. As we were in the celestial room I looked around and saw all of mom and dad's kids with their spouses or very near future spouse. I am a million percent sure that both dad and Brandon were there too, we just couldn't see them. It was truly so amazing to be in there as an entire family. That's what it's all about folks. Family and the gospel. Nothing else matters. The deepest desire of my heart is to one day be standing in the temple with B and our three kids and their spouses or future spouses or be in there as our kids are going on missions or just going through the temple for the first time. I hope that they want to go to the temple and that they gain strong enough testimonies that the temple is their goal. Anyway, I digress. The temple was amazing. I love it there! The wedding came and went and now there are no more weddings on either side of our families until the nieces and nephews start getting married. Which, won't be long. Just sayin'. To say that J looked beautiful would be a huge, gross understatement.

These three were the bridesmaid's. I'm pretty sure they loved their job. M loved that she was able to hang out with K and A. They were together all day, They were pretty cute together.

D and B waiting for them to come out of the temple. It seems to take forever for the bride and groom to come out. it's awful! These two had a great time running around together. I feel like this side of the temple would have been better for pictures, but they wanted them in the shade, so to the other side we went.

Isn't she lovely?! The rest of the group looks great too, especially the guy on the far left. B was the tallest in the family until M came around. 

Sister and sister-in-laws picture. I love this group of ladies. I am loud and annoying and tell people what I think and they seem to like me anyway. 

We took advantage of having someone around to take a picture of  us again. In case you don't know this about me,  I feel like one can never take too many pictures!

I love him! I am so happy that he's my date and that I get to be with him forever!

Some of M's family couldn't be in the temple so, they did a ring ceremony before the luncheon. I can't believe J's married! I remember her when she was 6. She told me that she doesn't remember life before me. Now she's all grown up and married. 

The reception was full of dancing(and singing because I just can't help myself. Especially when, Shot Through the Heart, comes on!),

bouquet throwing,

garter catching, and 

Sparklers! Can you tell that sparklers make M a wee-bit nervous?! We all had a great day and are happy for J and M. We hope that they are happy for ever and ever and ever!

Family pictures 2015

We were able to go to Utah last week for J and M's wedding. The wedding was beautiful and J looked breathtaking. We were able to be there a few days before the wedding. On one of the afternoon's we were able to go up to Sundance Ski Resort and take family pictures. Our beautiful sister-in-law, S came with us and took the pictures. She did an amazing job! I don't know what one's I like best, so you get an overload of our pictures. You're welcome!

I feel like the background almost looks like we're in a photo studio and they pulled down a painted scene of mountains. 

I don't totally love this one because I feel like I have gigantic legs and this makes them look really big. But I love that even little B is smiling.

This is real life family picture taking. 

I think the kiddo pictures all turned out cute. I just don't know which one I like the best.

 I love love love the door shots. There are little buildings around Sundance. This is a glass door on one of the buildings. It's showing a reflection of the trees in the glass. I think they're so awesome!

We liked this spot so much that we went back to try and get better shots. I really don't know which one I like best. I love this group of people and I am so happy that we were able to get family pictures in Utah.

Finally!

The results are in! Mr Gorbachev Walker, tear down this wall!

We were so excited to find out that this wall is not load bearing! When the guy told us that, we did a happy dance and told him to take it out.

I think it looks so much better! It will look even better when we are able to redo the flooring. But, the hole in the floor makes a perfect track for cars to race down. It also makes a great starting line for races to the couch. We aren't sure why Mr. Walker left a little bit at the top. He told us that if he took it all the way up, it would look like a botched remodel job.We told him ok and he left a little at the top. I had no idea it would take so long to do. Little B and I spent five days in the basement while they took out the wall, patched it, moved the electrical stuff and painted. A little bit about moving the electrical. They had to move the light switches to the wall that was staying. They did it in an afternoon. That night after dinner I went to turn the light off and saw that they had put the light switch in upside down. So, when the light was off, the switch was up. I convulsed, shivered and almost started to cry. Even thinking about it gives me full body shivers. You might think that I'm just being dramatic, I'm not. That is O.C.D. at it's finest folks. When the guys came back the next day I told them that I was crazy. They said,OK, very hesitantly and waited for me to expound. I couldn't even walk to or look at the light switch, I just had to point. I told them that the light switch was on wrong and asked them if they would please fix it. The guy started to laugh and said he would fix it before he left. Too bad he forgot. Thankfully B is amazing and he flipped it around for me so that I didn't end up in a padded room. I just don't understand how anyone could put a switch on wrong. Don't you test it and realize the huge blunder?!  Anywho, I wanted to take pictures of them taking the wall out, but when I came upstairs to do it, there was plastic taped up everywhere. It truly looked like a scene out of E.T. They told us that it would be dusty. That was an understatement. I feel like we could have made dust sculptures out of the dust that was coating every surface. They caught a lot of the dust with the plastic they had taped up, so I know that it could have been a lot worse, but it was everywhere. Truth. We are happy that the wall is gone and we can hardly wait to do the flooring.

Walking and walking and walking some more

The doorknobs in this house are to blame for the series of unfortunate events that took place around these parts yesterday. Imagine if you will, a doorknob. In my mind they all look the same. They are round in nature and usually twist to open. Most doorknobs have a handy little lock that you can twist as you exit your dwelling. Doing this twisting motion before you exit will unlock said doorknob, if it was locked to begin with. If it wasn't locked, it'll now be locked since your amazing wrist can do a flick and lock it. Well, if you have super duper extra annoying doorknobs, the door will open even if the lock is still in the lock position. Since the door opens, ones brain might think that the door is already unlocked and that it is fine to leave it unlocked since it's the door to the garage. The front door is already locked and dead bolted. You're just running two small children to school, so you'll just go out the garage, push the handy ten second delay on the garage door closer button thing, and walk the 1/4 of a mile or whatever it is to the school and then whistle a happy tune as you walk home on this beautiful morning, pushing a two year old in a stroller thinking about how great it is to live close enough to the school that each morning you get to spend time with your three children as you walk them to their institution of knowledge. Or instead of whistling a happy tune you're actually thinking that it's freezing cold and that you can't wait to get home and walk inside. Not to mention there is a two year old in the stroller that has a runny nose and the tissue that you brought is already so full of snot that you have now had to resort to using your own shirt, but you're a mom, so a little snot on the front of your shirt is normal. You're also thinking that the blasted jogging stroller is extra hard to push today and upon further inspection, you realize that the front tire is totally flat. Getting home is sounding more and more wonderful. You round the corner, your house is in sight, you're almost there! Then right as you get to the flag pole where the BYU flag is waving, in the breeze, you realize that there is probably a million percent chance that as you left the house today making sure the front door was locked and dead bolted, that you forgot to unlock the annoying lock on the annoying doorknob that leads from the house to the garage. You think for a split second that maybe the sliding glass door is unlocked since a certain two year old thinks it's amazing that the door slides, so he slides it open and bless his little heart, he does try to close it and he gets close every time, but his not able to get it all the way closed. The next second you remember that you did in fact finish closing the sliding glass door and lock it before you left. You check just in case. Locked. You then think about how you know that Heavenly Father is in deed a God of miracles. You think that maybe you'll just sit on the driveway and wait for an angel to come down from heaven and unlock the door for you. After staring at the sky waiting for your angel to appear, you think that maybe you aren't going to have a Joseph Smith experience and start thinking about how you're going to get out of this conundrum. You know a few things. You and your two year old are locked out of the house. You know that your amazing husband has keys with him, but he's at work. Your amazing flip phone with contacts, mostly from out of state, so it's basically useless, is also locked in the house. So you can't call anyone. You know that there are in fact members of your ward in the area, but you don't know where they live. There are two families that you know where they live. Family #1- mom is a teacher and dad is going to school so chances of them being home is slim to none. Family #2- live a mile and a half away, but if she isn't home, you have to walk the mile and a half back. You know what you have to do, you're just trying to think of any other option. After another glance at the sky for one last angel check, you load your two year old in the umbrella stroller, since the jogging stroller has a flat and you can't figure out how to pump it up,  with the annoying wheels that don't always roll like a wheel should and you set off for parts unknown. We had to walk to the hospital to get  the keys from said husband. What else is there to do? He's on call so he might be home really late. You can't just sit outside all day hoping that he gets home before midnight. What if he doesn't? That would be truly awful to sit outside all day and all night. Now when I say set out for parts unknown, that's because I didn't know how to get to the hospital. I knew that it is south west of our house. I had the general idea of where it is, but I didn't know for sure where to go. Thankfully little B loves walks, so he was so happy to walk and walk and walk. There are also side walks most of the way there. There was on point where we had to walk on the road for a little over a mile, but it was fine. We were only chased by one dog, oh wait, two dogs. We only got sprayed by sprinklers once, but, when I say sprayed I mean that we basically had to run through them. We got wet enough that we had to hang our jackets up to dry when we got home. We passed a house that had a clock hanging on the outside, not uncommon around here, anyway, we passed it and it said that it was 9:25. We had probably already been walking for 20 minutes. Then we passed a bank sign that said 9:55. We walked and walked and walked and walked and then we walked some more. Thankfully we started to see those blue signs with a white H telling folks where the hospital is. We followed those signs and saw parts of the city that I didn't even know were there! I saw a Pita Pit and was really excited until I got close enough to see that it isn't in business any more. I saw a Papa John's and thankfully that is in business. Not that we ever get that because well, it's too expensive. But when you've been walking for so long that you feel like the stroller you're pushing may as well be a handcart and your cut off sweats( I didn't feel like I really needed to get ready for the day because B's the only one I care about impressing and since I wasn't planning on seeing him, because he was on call, I put on cut off sweats. I didn't do my hair either. Actually, that's normal. However, I did have a bra on! Not that I need one but I've been told that it's socially unacceptable to go out without one on, so on it goes, usually.), I digress, I was feeling like my sweats could have turned into a long dress. I was really tapping into my pioneer ancestors! I'm just sayin' that seeing the Papa John's made my mouth water and I'm really happy to know that there's one here. Anyway, we finally rounded a corner and saw the hospital! I almost wept with joy! We picked up the pace, found an entrance that just happened to be by some bathrooms which is really good because the little with me said that he needed to go potty and when he stood up to walk, he had to hold his legs together. He quickly sat back in the stroller and said,"I sit, I need to pee." We made a quick potty break and walked to the first desk I saw. We told the cute old ladies our pickle, they called back to the surgical desk and were told that someone would be out in a minute for me. The clock on the wall said that it was 11:20. We were waiting when I heard a voice behind me say,"Hey!" I turned around and saw B standing there with keys in his hand. Here was my Joseph Smith moment! B was my rescuing angel! He asked me how we got there and when I told him that we walked his eyes got big and he started shouting,"Wow! My wife is amazing! Everyone, gather around and listen to her story!" OK, he didn't really do that, but he should have! He just said,"What?! That's like 6 miles." Then he handed me the keys and said,"You can take the car." I truly started laughing and said,"That's funny that you thought that wasn't a given. There is no way I walked all the way down here to only get the keys and then walk home. Call me when you get done and I will drive down here and pick you up." Thankfully he didn't get done way late and when I said that we needed to go get him little B said,"We walking to the hopisal again to get daddy?" I told him that we didn't have to walk, that we could drive. He jumped up and down yelling,"Yeah yeah yeah!" Just for kicks I pulled up map my run.com which is a really cool website that lets you put in where you run and it'll tell you how far you went. Anyway, I put in the way that we walked and it was 6.66 miles away. We are going to make copies of the key and hide them in our garage, back yard, front yard and maybe tape some to the outside of the house. Walking truly wasn't that bad as long as I don't have to do it ever again. We talked about replacing the doorknobs, but obviously we haven't yet. We've been told the reason they open even when they're locked is in case there's a fire, you'll be able to get out without having to unlock the door. That is a great feature if your house is on fire. If it's not and you're just walking children to school, it has a tendency to be super annoying!

Welcome home!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I finally took pictures of our house! Can I get a high five please?! Before I put on any pictures I just need to say, no judgement. The house is pretty awesome for being bought sight unseen. There is a lot of potential in this here house. Just keep that in mind. :)

I had to stand across the street so that I would be sure to get the BYU flag. B almost wept with joy when he learned that there was a flag pole. Flying his BYU flag was one of the first things he did. Let's talk about the house now. I personally hate the yard. Both front and back. I would love to rip out the curbing and rocks and add more grass. How about adding a tree? I think that sounds like a genius idea! The spider bushes aren't super great either. Someday we will be able to fix the lawn so it looks a million times better. Moving on.

When you walk in, you either have to go up or down. Let's go up, shall we?

This is the wall that we want to take out. We finally got someone to come look at it. Well, we actually had three different people come look at it. The first two gave us a very confident,"I don't think it's load bearing." We were a little uneasy about having either of them take it out. Taking a wall out when someone "doesn't think it's load bearing" is risky to say the least. We didn't want to take it out and then have the roof cave in.We wanted a very firm, "no, it's not load bearing." The third guy we had come told us that it wasn't load bearing, but he couldn't do the work. So, we still have a non load bearing wall that we can't seem to get rid of. We know that we could take it out ourselves. I told B that I watch HGTV so I totally know how to do something like wall removal. If it weren't for the electrical things that are in the wall, we probably would take it out ourselves. Alas, B already got shocked by a wire in the wall once and says he would be fine not reliving that experience. Shocked isn't the right word. It's more like he drilled into the wire and it exploded in his face. True story. Anyway, we are patiently waiting to find someone that can come do it for us.

Here is the living room. You might be thinking,"my word it seems dark in there!" You would be exactly right. There are no lights in the ceiling. LAME! There's a guy in our ward that says that adding can lights is super easy. He explained it to us and we even watched a couple YouTube videos on how to do it. We almost committed to doing it when B had a flash back of his past electrical experience and may or may not have woken up screaming and sweating saying he didn't want to add the lights himself. So, we'll call in someone to do that for us too.:)

Here's the kitchen. It looks kind of like a kitchen. Out the sliding glass door, there's a deck and that's been pretty cool to go out and eat dinner on. There were really bad fires around these parts this summer, so we didn't get to go out there as much as we would have liked to.  I didn't realize what an eye sore the garbage can is until I saw this picture. Time to figure out a new spot for that!

Upstairs there are two bedrooms. Ours and

This one. At first we had this as little B's room, but there was no where to put the toys. We moved him down with K and made this the toy room. That about wraps up the upstairs. There is a bathroom, but we all know what that looks like, so I didn't take a picture.

This here is the family room down stairs. We would love to take out the wet bar and have a really nice great room down here. I know the valance's are truly terrible, but I'm too lazy to take them down and since I spend most of my day upstairs, I honestly forget about them.

Here's the view from the wet bar.  Wouldn't it be so awesome to be running on a treadmill and have this view?! That's what think too. B thinks it would be awesome to be playing ping pong and have this view. We'll see what happens. 

This here is the boy's room. Yes that is little B sleeping. I took the pictures during his nap. We really like that the room is big enough that the young fellows can share. 

This one is M's room. We love that her room is big enough that she can use the bed that my amazing older brother made. 

That's it. I know that it's not amazing, but we like it. We'll like it even better when we can take out the wall, redo the flooring and the yard. But, we are happy with it and are excited about the potential that it has. Now all we need is for people to come visit us! Come up is masses or one at a time, we aren't picky. We love you, we love company, we love you as company! Come one come all, we're excited to see you!