Mother's Day Weekend!

I really am ready for a quiet weekend where we don't have to go anywhere or do anything. This past week has been really hectic, and I feel like I finally have somewhat of a handle on work again. Tuesday night was my neighbor's birthday, so we took her out to dinner at Mimi's Cafe in Orem. We had a large group of girls that came with us. After dinner, they all wanted to come back to my house to watch American Idol (we are the only ones with TIVO) so everyone came back over, and Zac had got my friend a birthday cake, so we ended up eating cake also. Some of these girls I hadn't met before, and we got back to my house around 10-10:30 ish and they called their husbands to let them know that they will be later. We all got some cake and sat around the tv. The next thing I knew, I heard someone in the kitchen, and there were 2 guys in it that I've never seen before. The husbands heard there was cake, and just came over and helped themselves....which is fine...but I haven't met them before, and they didn't even say "hi" they just walked into the kitchen, cut a slice of cake and went home, trying to have us not see them. Wednesday night was my monthly "scrapbook night" at my friend's house in SLC. On Thursday, I had a stake Sports meeting to attend to. We are starting the softball season and indoor soccer. Most of the girls still want to play volleyball too, so I am trying to work that out with the bishop and the builder scheduler.

Friday I went to the gym in the morning with the kids, and it was my turn for the playdate at my house, so I had some fun 4 year-olds over during the afternoon. When I was putting sandals on Aubrey, she kept on telling me that she wanted to wear socks. I told her that we don't wear socks with sandals. Then Eric pipes up and says, "Daddy does, but his are PRETEND socks." If any of you have seen Zac's legs during the summer, you'll know what Eric's talking about. Zac has to wear shorts and socks with steel toed boots, so in the summer, Zac gets a great tan line, that shows you exactly how high Zac wears his socks. Friday night, I watched Norma while Bobby went to work on her house. Aubrey had so much fun with her.

Saturday morning was the 5k "Race for the Cure" for breast cancer. I got to the race about 5 minutes before it started, and it was PACKED! By the time the horn sounded to start the race, and I made it to the "Start" line, already 3-4 minutes had already passed! Then it was so crowded, that you couldn't actually start running until about 4-5 blocks up, and even then, I had to weave in and out of people. My last 5k that I ran, the "start" line was the "finish" line also. So when I had done the circle, and was coming back to the Gateway, I could see the "Start" line, so I started sprinting for about 1/4 mile. I made it past the line, and started walking, amazed at how fast I had run the 5k. Then I noticed people were still running....that's right, when you turn the corner, there was about another 1/4 mile before you reach the finish line. ARG! I don't know my exact time yet, I wore a timing chip on my shoe. I know I beat my other time by several minutes....hopefully the results will be posted soon. I just couldn't believe how many people were out there! It was wonderful for the cause.

When I got back from the race, we went over to a neighbor's for a BBQ. They had out all their water toys, so the kids got to "Swim" for about 2 hours. When we came home, Zac decided to put up the walls on the shed. After he framed it, he went ahead and put the wood on the outside as well. He is currently building the roof, and hopefully it will be up tomorrow. He is really moving on it! It is pretty big inside though, one of the neighbor kids asked if we built a "mini" garage.

Mother's Day was great! During Sacrament, the Bishop announced that the men will be taking over all the womens callings, and for us to head towards the relief society room. When I got there, he gave a quick devotional, then told us that he didn't have flowers for us, because his wife said she didn't want flowers. So he asked her what she wanted, and she said "Cheesecake and chocolate!" So that's what they gave us! The bishopric served all of us cheesecake, chocolate, cookies, and water for the next 2 hours of the meeting block. I looked in on Zac once during Sunbeams, he seemed to be handling it alright. I was lucky though, and I had prior warning that this was going to happen (although I thought it was only going to be for one hour not two) so I made sure that Zac had prepared the lesson, even though I usually do.

After church, we stopped by at Mom's grave and put some flowers on it. Eric wants us to put balloons on it next. Then we stopped at Zac's Mom's for a Mother's Day visit. We headed down to Dad's after that for the usual Sunday Dinner. Busy but fun weekend!

Finally Home!

This past week I was again in Columbia, South Carolina. This week went better than the one before. The group of people I was with this time were some friends I have made while attending other trainings/seminars. I met my "counterpart" in Las Vegas, and it turns out that she just ran the SLC 1/2 marathon, so we would go running in the mornings. Then while everybody else at the place would be at the wine tasting, we decided to go kayaking down the river. We had a great time! I even passed one alligator in the river. We went for 3 hours down the river. They had turtles on every rock that we would pass. Everybody kept on hopping in the river to swim when we would stop for a moment. I was the only one who wouldn't get in the river. But my reason for it, is that I was flying out the next morning, so I didn't want to have soaking wet clothes. (I obviously didn't bring a swimsuit) the guides kept on trying to splash me with water, etc., but at least my legs were dry. Then the rain started coming down really hard, so we had to end our trip early. As I was getting out of the kayak, my leg got caught, and I flipped the boat and myself completely under water. Everybody was laughing so hard. I should have just gotten in the water earlier in the trip. Now at the very end, I am soaking wet, my shoes squish as I walk, etc. But it was a great trip. I will definitely go kayaking again next time I am in South Carolina. Zac had an easier week with the kids too. Bobby took some pictures of the kids at their first "official" sleepover at my Dad's. She said that they stayed up until 10:30pm, and everytime she would leave the room, the kids would start giggling. So Bobby had to sit in the room with the kids until they all fell asleep. They had a great time though! Eric keeps on asking me if he can sleepover at Grandpa's again with Tucker and Thad.

I flew home on Friday night again, and came home to a full yard of grass! When I called Zac on my layover in Cincinatti, he told me that the sod hadn't come yet. So I was extremely surprised (and relieved) that the sod had come, and it was completely put in. It didn't come until 6 pm, and I got home at 7:30 pm. Nathan and Bobby happened to drive by right when Zac started to lay the sod, so instead of working on their house on Friday night, they both helped lay sod. We also had one of our neighbors run over and help. It's amazing how fast things get done when you have help. Zac just has a REALLY hard time asking people for help. But it looks great! I told Zac I wouldn't take a picture of it though until he cleaned off the sidewalks. (They have piles of rocks on them, with extra sod, etc.)

Now that we have grass, we needed to turn on the sprinkler system. It rained all day Friday and Saturday, so we didn't turn it on until Sunday night. Zac asked me to go and turn the water on in the cold storage, when I turned it over, water started spraying everywhere! Two of the joints where Zac had welding had popped. So I turned the water off, but it wasn't stopping until the lines were completely clear. So we mopped up the cold storage, moved some food storage out of the way, and Zac brought out his blow torch. He was working for about an hour, when our neighbor came over with HIS blowtorch, and they both got to work. By this time, the kids were already asleep. We had opened the windows in the basement, but the smoke alarms kept on going off. So I would have to calm the kids down, then as soon as they were asleep again, the alarms knew to go off and wake them up again. We ended up having to turn off all the power except for the basement. I wandered up to bed in the dark, and Zac didn't finish until about 11 pm.

I'm glad to be home, but I am so behind on my work! Aubrey is definitely a daddy's girl now. She wants him to hold her all the time. She won't go to sleep unless Zac is holding her. I'm glad Zac got some "bonding" time with the kids. Now it's time for me to get back into the routine!

5k

So I ran my first race. I'm not too proud of my time...32 minutes 30 seconds, but at least I now have a time that I can try to beat on my next 5k. What I wasn't expecting in this race, was 2 miles of the 5k were completely steep uphill. It is MUCH easier to run on a treadmill!!! I ran the "April Run for Olivia". I was on channel 4 news in the background. I was disappointed that you could see me. I really tried hard to stay away from the news cameras. But alas, I was in the background.

I went to South Carolina this past week...Zac had his hands full with the kids. I came home on Friday night, ran the 5k Saturday morning, and when I came back, Zac was out working in the yard. His boss had brought up about 400 sq feet of his grass to build a gazebo, so Zac took the "free sod" so we needed to put it in our yard quick. The builders were kind enough to dump a load of gravel on our property, along with 4 loads of HORRIBLE dirt. So, while Zac was working on putting the water pipe together for the sprinkler system (he had to drill through our foundation to connect the water inside), I decided to take on the task of filling up the wheelbarrel with gravel. I did about 16 loads in total (we lost track). I would fill it up, and Zac would dump the load where he has started to build a shed. We were working on the yard until 10 pm, and finally came in because we flat out couldn't see anymore. We were able to put the sod on the parkstrip above our house, hopefully as a WARNING to the builders, that this is our property, stop dumping stuff on it!! (It's not our builder that continues to do this, it is the builder that is in the next neighborhood.)

That was about it for my weekend, I go back to South Carolina this week for ANOTHER conference. After this weekend of yard work, I think I'm ready for some more "ME" time. :) I'm just kidding...I missed my family. It's always hard to leave the kids behind. We are getting about 2500 sq feet of sod delivered this Friday, so I will be home just in time to help out Saturday morning.

Zac's new grill !

So Zac got his braces yesterday. He only got them on the top teeth, and in 2 months, they will put them on all of his bottom teeth. He told me that everyone at school was laughing at him. :( When he first got into class, he sat next to a girl that is in all of his "group projects" and she noticed right away. She was extremely helpful in telling EVERYONE who walked into the room "Hey look! Zac got braces!" It didn't help that when I saw him for the first time, it took me awhile before I could stop laughing too. I just really wasn't expecting what I saw. :) For some reason, I thought he was going to opt for the "invisible" braces. So when I saw a mouth full of metal, it took me by surprise. I tried to take a picture with the flash to see if the light would bounce off of his mouth....it didn't work too well. Zac's a sport about it though. I was really disappointing that he didn't request a "colored" rubberband to go over every bracket. He definitely should get some! That was the best part about having braces.

This week at the kids Daycare is "School Spirit" week. Yesterday was Luau day, so I had the kids dressed up in Hawaiian clothes. Today is crazy hair day. I tried really hard to do Aubrey's hair like Sanjaya's pony hawk. It didn't work out too well. I couldn't get her hair to stick straight up. She was really good for me though while I tried to do it.

I tried to make little spikes all over Eric's head, but he wanted to have rubberbands in his hair just like Aubrey, so that's what he got. (Hey Barb, do you recognize the necklace Eric is wearing?)

She can Climb!

Friday night, Aubrey was up most of the night, for no particular reason, she just wouldn't go to sleep. So on Saturday, when it was time for her nap, I put her down in her crib. She cried for about 15 minutes (which is longer than usual). Then I heard a 'thump' and an excited yell "I did it!" Then Aubrey opened the door with a huge smile and shouted again "I did it!" Yep, she can climb out of the crib. I have been dreading this moment. It is now time to switch her to a bed and take down the crib. I never had this problem with Eric, because I got pregnant with Aubrey so quick, I switched him over before I had Aubrey, he never had the chance to learn how to climb out of the crib.

I remember Mom telling me that one trip up to Grandma and Grandpa Parry's house, Justin screamed almost the whole way up (Mom only had Justin & Nathan at the time, and Nathan was a baby). When they got to Grandma and Grandpa's, it was late, so they put the kids to bed right when they got there. Nathan fell asleep immediately, and Mom thought Justin did too. (They had put him in a play pen) Mom went upstairs to play some cards with Grandma to unwind, and just as they were dealing the cards, Justin came running up the stairs screaming "I did it! I did it!" Mom told me she broke down crying. She was SO tired, and this was the first time Justin climbed out of the playpen / crib. I kind of felt like that when Aubrey climbed out. Eric was almost asleep, and I just wanted a LITTLE bit of time to myself. She never did end up taking a nap. I have had to battle her the past 2 nights, and I am ready for her to sleep again. Zac wants to make her a bed, so I am going to have to put the mattress on the floor for a little bit. ARG!

Zac is going to rent a backhoe this weekend to dig out our backyard. Our neighbor had the wonderful idea of creating MORE work for us. It is easier to show pictures than explain what he is doing, so I will post pictures of it next week. THEN the following week we are getting our shipment of sod in. I am SO excited to have some grass in our yard! The kids love playing in the dirt, but it drives me nuts how dirty they can get for only 10 minutes of playing. Eric was playing with his friend in our front yard, and when I came out to check on them, they were both laying down face first in the dirt, making "dirt angels" (kind of like backwards snow angels) SO DIRTY! I am ready for the sod!

Zac is wrapping up another semester, and has already signed up for Summer and Fall semester. I have to go to South Carolina next week for 2 weeks. So Zac and I have been lining up babysitters for the nights that Zac has class. Pretty much my Dad has taken the bulk of the Babysitting assignments. The kids even get to have their FIRST sleepover at Dad's house. Hopefully they do well.

This past lesson in Sunbeams was on "I am thankful for Birds and Insects", so we had the kids make some homemade bird feeders. I needed 13 pine cones, and in Eagle Mountain, there are absolutely NO pine trees anywhere. So I ended up going to Zac's cemetary and climbing a few trees to get enough pine cones. I also found some honey sticks in the health food store. Zac had never seen these before. I used to have honey sticks all the time growing up. (For those of you who are like Zac and don't know what these are, they are kind of like pixy sticks, except instead of flavored sugar inside, there is flavored honey) Part of the lesson ideas wanted the kids to taste honey. So I also made some homemade bread and brought honey for them to taste, then we were going to let the kids take the honey sticks home to eat. We had some parents call us wondering what in the world did we give their children. I went down to one of our neighbors homes, and the had put the honey sticks in the dirt, WHAT? Why would they go in the dirt? I probably should have sent an explanation home with the kids of what honey sticks were. I just thought that it was really weird that Zac had never seen honey sticks before...I guess he wasn't alone.

Easter Weekend!

We had a great Easter weekend. We started it off by going to Eagle Mountain City's Easter Egg Hunt. They had 10,000 eggs filled with candy, and they were smart enough to grid the field to age groups. We got there 45 minutes early, and when the fire truck blew it's horn, all of the eggs were gone in 30 seconds. I couldn't believe how fast they were gone. The kids were lucky to get 5 eggs each. I asked Eric if he had fun, and he said "No, not really. We had to wait a LONG time for a tootsie roll." I think next year, Zac and I will put on our own easter egg hunt just for the kids. I had brought the camera to take pictures, not realizing that the battery was dead. So, it is currently re-charging.

Easter morning, the kids woke up to their Easter baskets. During our lesson in church, it was on Easter of course. I asked all the kids if the Easter bunny had come to their house last night, and all of them said yes, and proceeded telling us with their stories. Then Eric said, "The Easter Bunny didn't come to my house. I just woke up and had a lot of candy...I don't know why"

I signed up for the "Race for the Cure" 5k in May. When I signed up, they had a spot to run "In memory of" somebody, so I get to run with a bib stating, "In Memory of Kristine Powell". They asked me for families e-mail addresses to let them know that I am running the 5k, so I provided them. I had NO IDEA that the e-mail was asking for pledges. I was embarrassed when I saw that it was a mass e-mail asking for money...from ME. But I do want to THANK everyone who has pledged me on this run, it really means a lot to have your support.

Zac has finished putting all the sprinkler heads on the park strip (the part of your yard between the road and the sidewalk) this weekend. He also built me some shelves in our cold storage. They look great. He had to hammer a bullet into the cement(?) to make the shelves stronger. I had never heard of this technique, but Zac put his entire weight on the shelf and did some pull ups, and it didn't wiggle at all...so at least I know it will hold the wheat. It will be nice to get some of those boxes of food storage cleared out of our basement, and organized in the cold storage room.

Conference Weekend!

We started our Conference Weekend out with Zac painting his sister's car. She had mentioned in passing that she wanted to have the grill of her car painted pink. Zac went and picked up a "new" grill for her at the junk yard (her car had been into an accident, and Zac was fixing it for her), and he decided to surprise her by already painting it pink. So she came on Friday and saw the "surprise" and decided that she wanted a darker pink on her car, so she came back on Saturday with some new paint, and Zac finished the job by painting the sides and license plate holder.

On Thursday after work, I headed out to the gym, and when I was running on the treadmill, after about 7 minutes of running, I couldn't take it anymore. My shins were KILLING me! Turns out that I have shin splints. Zac went to physical therapy on Friday and talked to the physical therapist about my shin splints, and he told Zac that if I had pain on the inside of my shins on my legs, then I got the shin splints because of the shoes I was wearing, if it was on the outside of my shins, then it was because of all the incline running I have been doing. Well, I'm lucky and I have both! So we broke down and got me a new pair of running shoes. I was due for a new pair of shoes, my last pair, Mom bought me in the 8th grade....so I called Lisa and she told me I could get a pair customed to my foot at a specialty running store. So we found one in American Fork. They are great! They did all these measurements on my foot, had me walk to see how my foot arches, etc, they even made me run on the treadmill to see where I put the most pressure on my foot, etc. So I got a great pair of running shoes. I am excited to try them out! I signed up for a 5k at the end of this month. It will be in Saratoga Springs (so right by my house) for April Roper's daughters college fund. April Roper is the girl that was my age that died in the house explosion about a month ago due to a gas leak. THEN, I signed up for a 5k in June for the Lehi Round-Up. So those should be fun. I am really considering signing up for another 1/2 marathon in October in Moab, Utah. I have some friends that run it every year and love it down there. It goes through Canyonlands, etc, so it will be a beautiful run.

For Conference, we headed up to Zac's Aunt Diana's house for lunch, and then to watch the afternoon session of Conference. Barb rode up with us in the truck, and the kids slept (YEAH!) during the ride. The kids had a lot of fun playing outside. Zac's cousins and Uncle started a wiffle ball game in the front yard, and while I was out there, the ball hit our truck 3 times. So Barb finally ended up sitting in the bed of the truck to catch fly balls. Eric got hit in the arm by the ball when Zac's cousin, Joey, was trying to get somebody out on 1st base. Eric freaked out about getting hit, I didn't think it was anything because it was a WIFFLE ball that hit him, but when we got home, and I was putting him into pajamas, he had a welt on his arm in the shape of a circle..hmmm. I guess all the crying was for a reason. He got over it though when he saw they had some little bikes for him and Aubrey to ride on. Zac's Great(?) Aunt Thelma fell right when everybody was leaving. It was a little unsettling. It happened right in front of us and she fell flat on her face. Luckily she didn't break anything (that we know about). She is probably feeling the effect of the fall today. It felt like the fall was in slow motion, and nobody could get to her in time to catch her.

Zac has been working a little bit on the basement this weekend also. He cut all the wood to put shelves in our cold storage, and he had put the studs in the cement to hold the shelves. He also put on a lot of sprinkler heads in the front yard. We need to get the sod down soon. He changed his plans for the backyard last minute, so we now need to rent a backhoe again so Zac can dig out our backyard. He wants to make our yard level with our next door neighbors...which is a lot of work since we live on a mountain. Hopefully Zac hasn't bit off more than he can chew.

We bought a Truck!

Our Ford Aspire was definitely on its last leg. I took it to work on Monday, and it was all I could do to get it up to 45 mph on the FREEWAY! Zac's really good friend owns an auto body shop, and he told Zac about this truck. It is a 2006 Ford F-150 Supercab, it has around 12,000 miles, etc. It was in a wreck, and they had to replace the headlight or blinker (I know they replaced something like that) but that was all the damage. They sold it to us for only $14,500. This truck's LOW book value is $23,000. Even the bank was wondering why we were getting it for such a low amount. They gave it to us at their cost....for what they bought the truck for, and parts, that's it. They didn't make a dime off of us. Zac used to do a lot of work for everybody that worked at this auto body shop. We went on a cruise to the Caribbean with them several years ago, and are planning on going to Hawaii with them this January. Because we got such a good deal on this truck, we are going to sell it (We talked to Zac's friend about it, and he doesn't mind). We are going to sell it for retail value, so we should make quite a bit off of it, pay off our auto loan, and buy something a little less expensive.

I drove it to work today, and I hadn't even been driving for 5 minutes when a rabbit hopped in front of the truck and I ran over it. UGH! I'm not used to driving something so big, so at work, I parked in 2 spots.

So Eric spent the ENTIRE day with yesterday at WORK!!! About 10 minutes after I dropped the kids off at daycare yesterday, they called me saying that Eric's eye was starting to turn pink. I hadn't really noticed it in the morning when I dropped him off. But their policy makes me come pick him up. So I brought him to my office and waited until 9am for the doctor's office to open (it was around 7:30am at this time). We were able to get into the doctor at 10 am, and yes, he did have pink eye. So I stopped and got him the prescription eye drops and some lunch and brought him back to my office. He actually did better than I thought. He colored A LOT, and took a nap under my desk, George Constanza style. Around 2 pm he started to get really restless though, so I called our computer I.T. person, and asked if there was any way I could get another laptop in my office so Eric could watch movies. He had to create a new login and password for Eric, but he was great and brought down the laptop. So Eric watched "Chicken Little" 3 times before we got to go pick up Aubrey. I was amazed that I actually got quite a bit of work done with him in my office. Although, any time I had to talk to one of the attorneys, I would tell Eric I would be right back, and I could hear him yelling "Mommy! Where are you!" and then I would see him run past the office that I was in. So he tagged along everywhere I went. He also had to use the potty, I kid you not, NINE times during the course of the work day. Zac stayed home with the kids today...hopefully they're good for him :)

Happy Weekend!

I will start this blog by saying that I COMPLETELY forgot to take pictures while Aubrey was opening presents. It was so hectic and rushed, that I didn't even think twice about it until Zac told me that his Dad wanted pictures of her on the blog...I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of it!!!!!! So these pictures were taken on Sunday after church, and the smiles were forced, if you couldn't tell. Aubrey told me that she wanted to give Grandpa Nielson a kiss, so I took a picture of it instead.

Zac went to the dentist again on Friday to discuss his braces. He will only need them on for 9-10 months. The next time he goes in, he will get them put on. His appointment is scheduled for the 3rd week in April, but hopefully an earlier open will become available. I went to a new ob/gyn Friday morning for my "yearly" checkup. I really liked him. Of course, because I was a "new" patient, we had to go through my entire family history. He was very encouraging of our family history. We talked a lot about the BRCA 1 gene. I told him that Mom and I don't have it, but with Mom still getting breast cancer and dying so young, he was very supportive about me having a hysterectomy and mastectomy as soon as I'm done having children. He told me that he doesn't think it was a fluke that Mom got cancer...that probably 15-20 years down the road, they might discover another gene that we would have, etc. It was just really nice to have my paranoia about this whole thing validated. He is starting to have me get an ultrasound every year to make sure my ovaries look healthy, and a mammogram, etc. So I will have my first ultrasound in 2 weeks. (Plus he told me that he thinks I have a cyst behind one of my ovaries, and wants to see exactly how big it is) He is also running the same 1/2 marathon as I am. It was just a good appointment.

As soon as I got back from the doctor's, Zac was home for lunch, so we put a pizza in the oven, and had Aubrey open her presents. Eric was getting jealous, but he would remind us that his birthday is next. I didn't even have a cake for her. (Although we did make cupcakes earlier in the week.) When she opened her Dora doll, she immediately started to brush Dora's hair. One of our neighbors even brought over a present for Aubrey, which was really sweet, I wasn't expecting that at all.

Saturday was pretty laid back. I went running with one of my friends in the morning, and the kids tried to blow bubbles while we were running. The wind made it difficult for them. Zac didn't get home until 3:00 from his school tests. When he got home, I wanted to go to the gym to see exactly how far I could run before feeling exhausted. I only did 3 miles in the morning with my friend, and we mostly walked it because her ankle was hurting her. I haven't done any runs on the treadmill yet. I have been mapping out my runs on http://www.mapmyrun.com to see exactly how far I run. I had no idea that the treadmill will automatically turn itself off after 1 hour. I was really annoyed. I only had 1/4 mile left for 7 miles, and it turned off. I could have made it too, but by the time it turned off and on and me re-entering my info in the treadmill, I could feel the effect the run had, and I just couldn't do another 1/4 mile. I need to run a little bit faster next time to make it within the hour.

It was our weekend for the "date" night, so our friends came over to watch the kids while Zac and I went out. We had gotten tickets for the movie "Premonition" with Sandra Bullock. Definitely not a movie I would recommend to go to the theater. Maybe a rental, but don't waste your money. The Thanksgiving Point movie theater has reserved seating which is wonderful if you buy your tickets early enough. We reserved our favorite seats on Friday, and when we went Saturday night, our friends were really late coming over to babysit, so we made it to the movie exactly 1 minute before it started, and our seat was still available. It was so nice not to have to go to the theater 1 hour before the movie starts to wait in line to attempt to get these seats.

Sunday was easy going as well. Our lesson in church went well, and all of the kids fish had died except for one. She told us that they never even got fish food for it, they have been feeding it crumbled up crackers. I guess that's the key to keeping these fish alive. We had our 3rd fish die this morning...we only have one left. I guess that's what you get for buying 10 cent fish. We went to Dad's for Sunday dinner, and stopped in to see Zac's Mom after dinner. Zac's co-worker lives on a farm, and she gave Zac some fresh eggs. So Zac ended up making cheesecake last night with these eggs. I couldn't believe how orange the yolks of the eggs were. We will sample it tonight.

It's Aubrey's Birthday!

I can't believe Aubrey is already 2 years old! Time has flown by! Last night we made cupcakes for Aubrey's class in school. Zac picked up some 'barbie' cupcake holders and sprinkles. The kids helped me make them, but I wouldn't let them eat them. I kept on telling them that they are for Aubrey's birthday and they can eat them tomorrow. So this morning when I went into Aubrey's room to wake her up, she squealed and said "Happy Birthday cupcakes!" She was so excited. Then I heard Eric singing in his room, I walked in and he was singing happy birthday to Aubrey. We loaded up and went to the daycare. Aubrey carried in the cupcakes and gave them to her teacher. Eric had a breakdown because he didn't get to eat one for breakfast, but Eric's teacher and Aubrey's teacher worked it out so that when Aubrey's class sings "happy birthday" to her, Eric gets to join in. We aren't celebrating it tonight though...Zac doesn't see the kids this week until Friday, so Zac is going to come home for lunch on Friday, and we will have Aubrey open her presents and blow out the candles, etc. at lunch time.

St. Patrick's Day

We hosted a St. Patrick's Day party on Saturday. We had a little over 30 people show up...which was more than what we expected. Saturday morning I woke up with a fever of 102.5. Zac had to go take a test in the morning, and Eric had a birthday party to go to. So I took some tylenol and headed to Chuck E Cheese with the kids. I could not believe how many kids were at Chuck E Cheese! Eric had a great time with his friends though. By the time we got back, we needed to get ready for the St. Patrick's Day party. Because I was still somewhat sick, Zac made the food for me. He got right in and started rolling out the cookie dough for the sugar cookies, cutting up the fruits and veges, etc. Then he started cleaning the house with me. He even drew the "treasure map" for the kids to find the pot of gold. Our house was very hectic during the party. Tucker was so funny during the treaure hunt. He looked at the map, and found where the pot of gold was and went straight for it, instead of going to the other locations first. (Which we had a little toy at each location). Our ward ended up having a St. Patricks Day party also, so we had to hurry and have all the activities done within an hour so people could go to both. The kids had a lot of fun. After the games, we were all socializing in the house, then Zac went outside and started up his Mustang and all the guys ran outside. I had to laugh because after the Mustang had started, the guys all sat in the garage and talked. It wasn't "manly" to talk inside the house, but as long as they are in a garage, it's okay.

Our lesson in church this week was "I am thankful for fish". So Zac went to Wal-Mart and bought 10 cent goldfish to give one to each of the Sunbeams. The parents were either thrilled or gave us a look that could kill. Especially the dad with twin girls...he got 2 fish.

Zac took the first step on Friday for him to get braces. He went and got the plaster of his teeth made. He goes back this Friday to talk about his "mold of teeth" and where to go from here. One benefit of me working is my dental insurance is wonderful, and Zac has dental insurance also. Zac finally decided it was time for him to get braces.

Our Weekend

Not too much happened this past week. I have started to run 4 miles every day during my lunch break, and on Saturday, Zac and I bought a double jogging stroller/trailer. They had a great deal at Costco, my friend has actually fit 4 kids in it! It will convert to a bike trailer for those days that I need to crosstrain. I ran a little over 5 miles on Sunday with it and the kids. It was a beautiful day outside. Zac was able to start putting the sprinkler heads on in our yard. Currently, we just have a lot of hose sticking out of the ground. I was going to officially potty train Aubrey this weekend, but I wanted to devote an entire weekend to it, and we had the dentist on Friday. Aubrey has been going potty every night and morning in the potty, I really think she's ready, I just need to make the switch to underwear...I always hate the first month of potty training...so many messes.

Eric, Aubrey and I all went to a new dentist. I have gone to the same dentist my entire life. I have only had one cavity, and it was back in 1999. THIS dentist however, looked at me teeth and says "how long has it been since you've been to a dentist?!" I told him a year, then he starts counting my teeth, and tells me that I have TWELVE cavities!!!!! WHAT?!! but that he is only going to fix four of them. If I have twelve cavities, why wouldn't he fix all twelve? Plus, if I had that many cavities, wouldn't at least ONE of my teeth hurt? I do NOT believe him. I am going to my other dentist for x-rays again for a second opinion. I was really disappointed in their office. They didn't have the laser that goes on your gums, they didn't have the swish flouride, etc. They advertise that they have a daycare AT the dentist office, so Mom's don't have to find a babysitter. WRONG! It was just their waiting room, with NOBODY watching the kids, and they kept on bringing Aubrey back to me, all flustered with the fact that she wasn't playing nice, during my cleaning. Then they did Eric's teeth in the same chair as myself, which at our other dentist, they have a separate kids room where there are tv's on the ceiling, video games in front of him, etc. They didn't have one kid thing in the office. The dentist told me that the x-ray doesn't show any cavities for Eric, but that there is one on his back molar. I am going to have my other dentist look at that too. I give the kids a flouride tablet every day, and Eric LOVES to brush his teeth. He probably brushes his teeth 4 times a day, including at daycare. Eric and Aubrey were really good though, Eric let them clean his teeth and put the flouride on. They cleaned Aubrey's teeth, but said she was too young for the flouride treatment.

Bobby is making Aubrey some dresses for her birthday (next week) so I went fabric shopping with her on Friday after we came back from the dentist. It was hectic with 5 kids at the fabric store. Bobby and Nathan were finally able to start working on their house this past Saturday. (they had to put the tar on the foundation).

Zac and I are hosting a St. Patrick's Day party for the kids this Saturday, so Eric helped me make the invites, and pass them out to his friends. Zac really wanted to make homemade rootbeer and dye it green, but the only rootbeer concentrate that I found already had the brown dye in it, so if anybody knows where we can find clear rootbeer concetrate, let us know before Saturday!

Sunday we had a lot of fun teaching our lesson to the Sunbeams. It was "I am thankful for plants, trees and flowers". We bought each of the kids a flower plant (90 cent special at Wal-Mart). We also had them close their eyes, and I would put a fruit/vegetable in their mouth, and they would have to try to guess what it was, etc. We had around 20 different kinds, and they were hilarious to watch. Zac and I were cracking up watching their expressions. The kid that would NOT eat any of the fruit/veges, absolutely LOVED lemons. All of the other Sunbeams immediately spit out the lemon, making horrible faces, etc. The kids were cute. After the parents had gotten the kids after church, we were walking out, and our Sunbeams were showing off their plant to EVERYONE. As soon as we got home, Eric ran up to his room and put his plant on his window sill to make sure that "Heavenly Father's flower stayed alive".

Zac's sister Barb had gotten into an accident awhile back, and Zac finally finished painting the new fender, etc., so Barb and Garrit came over Friday night for Zac to finish putting her car back together. We always enjoy having them over. It's nice for them to come over without watching our kids, then our kids won't be expecting it when we DO end up going out.

For our little lawsuit that's going on with the HOA, Zac has been speaking with some attorneys trying to find one to represent us to file a counterclaim. What we've come to find out is the ones who are excited about representing us are 5 times as expensive as the ones who could give or take our case. Our entire neighborhood wants to go in on the same attorney, but they want Zac to do the leg work to find a great one. So if anybody knows of a good real estate attorney in Utah County, let us know! Zac asked Judge Bullock for a referral, and the guy seems great, but REALLY pricey. That's about it for our week!

1/2 Marathon

So Lisa has inspired me to run in a 1/2 marathon. I signed up for the Provo River Trail 1/2 marathon set for Aug. 11th. I will begin my marathon training in April. I am really excited for this marathon. It starts at South Fork Canyon (my absolute favorite park in Provo Canyon), we run past Bridal Veil Falls, and end at one of the parks in Provo. We stay on the river trail the entire way. This is what website describes the run as:

This is the most beautiful run down South Fork Canyon with the most spectacular view of Mt.Timpanogos, then running down a fully paved river trail in a tunnel of trees on a cool August morning. Its an easy down hill. You start at 6,000 ft. and gradually work your way down to 4700 ft., to a food feast at the end with all kinds of fruit, food, music and drinks Blues band we will have 1/2 and 5 mile run From Bridal Veil falls this year. We finish at Riverview park, that is 4800 n. and the Provo River. At the park you can soak your feet in the river, listen to blues band while eating pancakes & fruit. See you there.

If anybody is wanting to join in the run, you will need to register now at http://www.trailrun.com it is going to be a lot of fun!

Another week

I haven't posted any pictures of the kids lately, so here are some random pictures. I also forgot to post Eric's picture of his scar from surgery, for those who wanted to see it. Aubrey was a stinker though while taking the pictures, and would only stand there for a second and then come running to me to look at the picture. More than half of the time I hadn't even taken the picture yet. Most of them turned out blurry because she was running.

This weekend was very uneventful. I babysat our neighbors kids Thursday night, all day Friday, and then Zac came and helped babysit Saturday night. They were really good. Eric and his friend just wanted to play "Thomas the train" the entire time. His friend brought over his train and tracks and they would make a massive track for the trains to ride on.

I was going to post a picture of Zac's car after his accident, but Zac fixed the car before I could. He tied the front end of the car onto a pole, and hooked the backend up to his backhoe, and drove the backhoe until his car started to retain it's original shape. Then he pounded out the rest of the dents and the car looks almost as good as new. We are still getting a check for the car since they totaled it out, but it runs still, so we are still going to continue driving it into the ground.

We are getting sued by the Homeowners Association. They put a lien on our house. We are pretty upset about it. Our neighborhood is not part of this HOA, we NEVER signed anything to become a part of it, etc. I have found a LOT of case law that backs us up on our position, etc. So we will be counter suing the HOA. Zac called and was upset with the law firm that put the lien on our house, it was a little premature since the Judge hasn't made a ruling yet! If the Judge rules in their favor (which I don't see happening) we will turn around and sue our builder to pay for the HOA fees. Our entire neighborhood is involved in this. We even have our original paperwork from the builder that states "No HOA", our title company wrote a letter for us stating that we were not part of the HOA, and they would need to report it on our title if we were a part of it, I got the same kind of letter from our loan officer, and when we called Eagle Mountain City, they ALSO said we were NOT a part of it. I really am just frustrated that they are wasting our time on this! The whole reason we moved to the house that we did was because we did not want to be in a HOA. Anyways, enough venting about that.

LONG WEEKEND!!

Wow! What a weekend! It started off horribly. I took off Thursday from work to cook and clean for a brunch I was having on Saturday. I should have gone to work! Eric had the "runs" all day, but never flushed the toilet. I didn't realize this until it was too late. I was in the kitchen chopping up some chicken for a salad I was making when I heard Eric scream. I ran upstairs to discover the toilet overflowing. He had used almost an entire roll of toliet paper that day. But because he never flushed, I had all of his goodies coming out of the toilet as well. I hurried and reached down to turn off the water, but it wasn't turning off. There are so many things in our house that is backwards. In the meantime, I am having Eric hold that 'balloon' that's in the tank (I don't know the correct term) while I am trying to plunger the toilet out. BUT, because it was so full of water, I was splashing the water and such all over me and Eric. So I started scooping out the toilet and put it in the bathtub. So now our bathtub got clogged. I hear my phone ringing downstairs, so I asked Eric to run grab it for me. It was Zac. He got hit on the freeway TWICE! He hurt his neck and his right leg. The guy hit him hard enough that his hat flew off his head into the back window. Luckily he's alright, but the insurance company is going to total our car once again. I just barely renewed our car insurance, and Zac didn't have it in the car. So the officer needed the expiration date, etc. for his report. So I ran downstairs to get it, and heard some water running downstairs. The water from the bathroom was going through our lights in our family room! So I hurried and put buckets underneath our lights, gave Zac the insurance info, and ran back upstairs. I finally tried turning the shut off valve the opposite way, and the water turned off. I finally got the toilet unclogged, and decided to work on unclogging the bathtub now. As I was turning the drain to get it off, I broke it. GREAT! After I mopped up all the water on the floor, I pretty much gave up trying to fix the tub and waited for Zac to finish the job. By this time, myself and both kids were sopping wet. I threw them into the shower in my bathroom and got them cleaned up. I am grateful for the "sanitary" cycle on my washer for all those towels! GROSS!!!!

I had a great turnout for the brunch on Saturday. I ended up hosting a "Taste of Home Entertaining" party. Bobby helped me make some of the food for it. I was so impressed with all the kids. There were probably 14 kids at my house, and they ALL played so quiet. There weren't any fights over toys, etc. We had a great time!

On Sunday, it was our first time teaching the Sunbeams. We had 13 sunbeams, and sharing time was a nightmare! If they didn't call out one of the 3 year old names to come help with the lesson, they were crying. At one point, I had 3 kids on my lap, Zac had 3 on his, and the other 7 were in their seats crying. Then when we taught the lesson, I am so used to having to hurry and rush through the lesson so that we can get it all in, that after I gave the kids the lesson, I looked at my watch to see how close we cut it, and we still had 45 minutes LEFT! It was a LONG 45 minutes. I think I taught that same lesson 4 times, we made the kids color twice, etc. I know now that I have to be longwinded with these lessons.

Happy 24th Birthday Devin!

Devin is one of my favorite people. He is always so good with my kids. Because we are so close in age we have always had to do things together. I was the ONLY girl on his T-Ball team, but if Devin got to play, I wanted to play. When I moved back into Mom and Dad's after I graduated from highschool (during the dating Zac period), every night I got home, I would run into Devin's room and we would talk about everything. When Devin got home from his mission, he helped me take care of Mom, and he was so gentle with her. Devin regularly comes to our house just to hang out. He would even pull all-nighters with Zac playing games. He is one of the most talented people I know. I love listening to him play the guitar, and listen to the new songs he wrote the night before. I hope you have a great day and hopefully some cake (but not sugar-free cake)!