This week in pictures

I guess it's time to post a new blog post, so here is this week in some pictures.

When I was growing up, my mom used to can peaches and pears. She would go to the picking farm and come home with boxes of the fruit, and would then spend a couple days canning all of them. They were delicious and a usual dessert around our home was her canned fruit and cookies. So in the spirit of my mother, I decided to try my hand at canning. I've always been a little nervous about the time and precision canning takes, but when a box of peaches was available through Bountiful Baskets, I thought, "Why not?" I got all my supplies - the water bath canner, the various canning tools, and a box of jars and was ready to go. And it was quite easy! After an afternoon of peeling, slicing, boiling, and cooling, I had a dozen quarts of peaches done and ready for my shelves. I think I've been bitten by the canning bug because this weekend I got a box of apples and strawberries to make applesauce and strawberry jam this week. Wish me luck!

 This little boy is obsessed with baseball. The minute we get home from taking the boys to school he asks, "Play Baseball?" "Mom, you pitch me?" And if you make any promises to him about when he can play, he will hold you to them. He is quite impressive to watch and he hits most everything we pitch to him. This particular day I had some paints out and when he came and sat on my lap, I painted the San Francisco Giants logo on his hand. Well, then he had to have the Dodgers logo on his other hand, and then the Pirates, then the A's and it went on and on. He was quite proud of his "tattoos." He associates colors with baseball teams, so orange is Orange Giants, blue is Blue Dodgers (which has changed to Blue Aggies), green is Green A's - it's quite funny to listen to.

 I don't have much to say about these except aren't they stinking cute? I'm trying really hard to not decorate for Halloween yet, but these are way too funny and I know exactly where they are going to go on my mantle.

This is from last weekend, but I wanted to add it anyways. We went fishing last weekend at a popular fishing hole and we had lots of luck. We came home with 10 fish, one of them this little thing Rhett caught (his only catch of the day!). I laugh every time I see this picture - the rest of our fish were good size; our smallest was 14 inches and the largest was 17 inches. Porter and I called this little guy "the fish stick" fish. HA!

Wow - it's been a while

I was just reading through some old blog entries and realized how much I miss blogging - mainly because I was writing about all the day to day things that were happening and it brought back some great memories. I think maybe it's time to be consistent again, even if it is only because I want a record of things. Here's the latest:

 

Porter is in the fourth grade and is sailing through school. He bragged to me the other day that he has never had to study for a test or anything because he is so smart - that's humility, right? While I was happy and proud of him, the only thing I could think of was how much he's going to have a hard time when he actually has to study for something! But that's another issue... He always has an interesting fact about some random something  and would rather prefer his nose in a book than doing anything else (except play video games). He's in the Webelos scout den and is one activity badge away from getting his Webelos award. He has a goal to get all 20 activity badges by the time he's 11 - which is a goal for the both of us. We just signed him up for Spring Baseball and he has been put on the Phillies. He's into practices already and is so excited to start playing again. So is his dad.

 Zach is my constant. Either constantly sweet, or constantly bugging. But whatever it is, you know he's there. He's in the second grade and is sailing through as well. His favorite thing to do right now is write stories and draw pictures. He comes home from school with papers and papers filled with stories he's written, comics he's made up or pictures he's drawn. It's a riot to see what's inside of that brain of his. He's working on his Wolf badge right now in Cub Scouts and I have the pleasure of being his den leader (he's one of nine, soon to be eleven, boys in my den). He's going to play Spring Baseball as well and is on the Rockies. He continues to love Legos and Bionicles and is always coming up with some new creation.

 

Andrew is in Kindergarten and is growing up way to fast. He loves school and his reading ability has just taken off - I have been amazed at how well he reads now. His best friend is our little neighbor girl, Sally, and they are constantly together. I love it when we go out to catch his bus because he hollers at her the minute he sees her when we walk out the door and they run to each other like they haven't seen each other in years. He has really grown up in the past year (much to my dismay). We just signed him up for spring Coach-Pitch baseball and he can't wait to play. 

 If I could have one wish, it would be to keep little Oliver just the way he is right now. Except for the "no" I hear every time I ask him to do something. He is a very independent little person and insists on doing every thing on his own. If we try to help at all, or does not get his way, he crosses his arms and puts on his pouty face and will stay like that for quite some time. His newest achievement is being able to get a drink of water by himself from the fridge. Whenever he does get his way or something goes the way he wants he says, "Yes!" and when it doesn't, he says, "Oh, come on!" If he really likes something it's "awesome" or "cool". He is as much into baseball as his brothers and is quite the slugger. In fact, I was pitching to him the other day and he fired one back straight into my face! We have a large net and a tee and he spends hours hitting his baseballs off of the tee into the net. He loves the nursery and every week we hear how he "play friends; play snacks; play songs; and play ball." He's my little pal for the three hours I have just him home while the others are in school and we have some fun times at the dinosaur museum, reading books, and going shopping.

As far as the rest of us, meaning Rhett and I, I'm just trying to keep things steady here at home while Rhett works his tail off during tax season AND teaches two accounting courses at the USU extension here. He has also been Elder's Quorum President, but (thankfully) was released this past week. Needless to say, I don't ever see the man. I've been training for my third Salt Lake Half marathon, my sixth half marathon total. We are still here in Vernal and are loving the warm, spring weather and are looking forward to our first summer here with grass. We spend most of our free time outside playing baseball. It's a good life!

Milestones

This month marks the second anniversary of when I started running. I've always tried to exercise, but this is the longest I've ever stayed with a program. Running has taken me places and allowed me to see and do things I never thought possible. It has given me so much confidence for it has shown me I can do things that I never thought I was capable of. I love that there is always something to be working for - running faster, running farther - and has shown me my true colors on how hard I am willing to work for what I want.

I wish I had a log of all the miles I have run and the countless times I have dragged my behind out of bed before sunrise to make it to the gym. I totally understand the meaning of "the wall" and know how far it is to any point in Vernal. I have run in temperatures as cold as 17 degrees and as warm as 90. I know all about gels, Gu's, powerbars, energy blocks, and sports drinks. I have enough running clothes for them to have their own load of laundry and am on my fourth pair of shoes. I have my own water bottles and know that it's almost impossible to drink out of a cup while running without getting soaking wet. I have been so sore I had to go down the stairs on my behind and so exhausted I couldn't move another muscle.

In the two years, I have run five half marathons and as of this past weekend, run three 200-ish mile relays.

And I can't wait to do more.

Time to Party!

School started today!

The boys were excited to go back

and see their friends and meet their teachers.

Porter is started fourth grade

and Zach is starting second.

Andrew's kindergarten will start next week.
I love school!

Special Project Complete!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who donated things for my project for Primary Children's Medical Center! I was blown away and humbled at the amount of things that you took the time and resources to complete. Here are the totals:

69 Medical Dolls

18 additional Medical Doll Gowns
41 pairs of pajama pants
32 baby blankets
39 Eye Pillows
10 packages of underwear

I delivered the items to the hospital on my way home from California and it took my boys and I several trips from the car to get it all inside! Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help in making this project a success!

The Big 5

Andrew turned five today.

We spent the day playing baseball and playing legos.

He ordered pizza for dinner and a baseball cake.

He woke up everyone this morning at 6:30

with an announcement to wake up - it was his birthday!

He loves to play baseball

and build spaceships with the legos.

He's ready and so excited for kindergarten.

We love this boy!

Zach's Words of Wisdom

"If we didn't have any food, then we could go into the forest and shoot a deer. That would be plenty of food for our family because it would feed five elephants if they ate meat."

Zach: Mom, why do people lift things?
Me: So they can get strong.
Zach: And so they don't get fat?
Me: Yep.
Zach: Mom, you're not fat.
Me: No - that's because I exercise.
Zach: You were only fat when you had a boy or girl in your belly. Your belly was this big. (puts arms out showing a big round belly.)   Did you even fit in the shower??