Reid

Today Reid took his first steps. I can't believe my baby is one already. Here are pictures from his birthday. Because we were in the midst of moving my mom bought Reid a little cake. We cut him a little piece and he took a little piece and then face planted into it. He is the best little guy. I love him so much and feel so lucky to have him in our family. I wish you all could see him all the time. He is the best. He makes my heart ache because he is so wonderful. He is so smiley!!

Moving

We have been in our place for a while now but I haven't had a chance to post any pictures of moving day. We had 5 people lined up to help but only two guys and one of their wives came. We got it all done though. Those two guys were angels. Here is the three guys, our friend Jordan, Chris and our friend Jackson carrying our super heavy mattress.We got the 17 foot truck and thought we would have room to spare.... boy were we wrong. I didn't know we had so much stuff!



This is a view from our front window. Riley took the picture. That is why it is a little blurry. We have the fattest squirrels by our house. The people across the street feed them. They are always running around with corn cobs. This one was on our mail box pole. So funny.

I will post some pictures of the actual house when I get a chance. We are so happy to have room.

Flor

Has anyone ever heard of Flor? A woman who's hair I cut today told me about it. The house we are going to rent (I will tell you about that later :)) has hard wood floors so I want area rugs for some of the rooms. It is a cool idea but more expensive than I thought it should be. What do you think?

www.flor.com

Halloween Festivities

I love Halloween. It is such a fun time of year. This year I felt a little overwhelmed with trying to move and everything else going on.

I made cupcakes for Riley's school party and we went trick or treating on Main Street this year.

I have had it up to HERE!!!!

Imagine me holding my hand up past my head as I say : "I have had it up to HERE!!!". The straw has finally broken the camel's back!!! If you talk to me at all you will know that I am not happy where we are living. I don't like the apartments. I don't like the kids we live by. Our neighborhood is ghetto etc. We have been in these apartments for over 6 years now and I have had it. We have had our pumpkins destroyed. We have woken up to broken alcohol bottles on the sidewalk. We have had loud horrible neighbors and one I think was a drug dealer. Needless to say I have put up a lot but Chris hates moving and we couldn't really afford a nicer place. But this past weekend was IT!!! Let me tell you what happened.

First : On Saturday we were having some friends over for dinner and Chris took the boys outside to play while I started dinner. I brought out two of Reid's favorite toys to play with because he usually just crawls around in the grass. One was this little wooden pushing toy that has crocodiles with mouths that open as it is pushed. Riley had it when he was a baby. The other was a little plastic dump truck that made noises. Well, Chris brought Reid in when our friends came and Riley continued to play out side. Chris didn't bring the toys in but Riley was still out there so I didn't think it was a big deal. I thought once " we should bring those toys in" but I didn't and I learned my lesson the hard way. Anyways, when dinner was ready, probably 30 minutes later, Chris goes out to bring Riley in and says that our toys are destroyed. He comes in with small pieces of wood that resemble the toy we once had. I couldn't believe my eyes. I went outside as Chris proceeded to pick up the remains of our nice little toy. I was furious. I started to yell that I wanted to know who broke our toy. Of course no one fessed up so we just picked up the pieces and I swore to never let those kids use any toy again. I asked Riley who broke our toy and he said it was a little 3 year old that lives next door at the same time Chris brings in the little dump truck and it is cracked and broken. The wires are hanging out everywhere and it was ruined. I took it next door and showed it to the boys mom and told her that Riley said that her son was responsible and started to cry and said how bad I felt because we like to share our stuff and now I can't do that because we don't want our stuff ruined. She said sorry but the damage was done.

Second: On Sunday night Chris and I went to a dinner that was for his work. It was at this delicious restaurant in a small town outside of Ann Arbor called Terry B's. We got my dad and step mom to baby sit the boys so we got all dressed up and went out. When we got home down the hill from our place the maintenance guy was working on a door of a lady that we know. We asked my dad what was going on and he said that a little while ago the police came to our door and asked them if they saw anything. It turns out that there was a robbery. Someone kicked in the door of that apartment and stole all of there electronics. Everything is gone, there TV, Playstation 3, their laptop and of course they didn't have insurance. UGH!!! The next morning I got on the phone and got renters insurance. I guess there was another break in of someone else that our neighbors knew.

Our lease is up November 30 and we will be out of here. I know stuff like this can happen anywhere. I know kids and neighbors aren't perfect but I need a change. We are looking at houses to rent and I am excited and nervous at the prospect of moving. I will let you all know what I find.

I did it!!!

It has been a little while but I haven't had a chance to update all of you. The half marathon went well. Jana Ward and I drove up on Friday afternoon. After we got into Holland we checked into our hotel and then went to pick up our stuff. It was fun to get a number and be with everyone who was running the next day. We went to bed early but I had a hard time sleeping. I kept having nightmares of the next day. We eventually got up around 5:30. We went down and ate breakfast and tried to get pumped up. It was a very cold and windy day. We waited in the car for as long as possible because it was so cold outside. The race started at 8:30 and there were a lot of people running. One thing that I have enjoyed about running over the past few months is interacting with all the runners. Runners seem to be very friendly in general. I didn't want to start off too fast so I was behind the rest of the pack. It was thinking I would be able to pass some people but that actually never happened. I was last place for the entire time. I didn't think I was that slow but I guess I was. My pride was hurt a little but I got over it and just wanted to finish. It took me about 3 hours but I finished. I would run another one and there are some things I would do differently. Thanks for all of your support.

Half Marathon Update

September 25th is the big day. A week from yesterday I will be done with the blasted thing. I have to say that I feel ready and not very scared. On Tuesday I went about 11 miles. It took over 2 hours but I think I will be able to do the 13.1 in about 2 1/2 hours. That is what I am shooting for anyways. I am going up Friday night with a woman from my ward and we are doing it together. I am sure I will be full of anxiety the night before but I am excited too. I will post pictures of the big day.

Riley's First Day of School

Grammy bought Riley a "First Day of School Donut"
Riley with his tote bag

What a handsome kid!!
Riley jumped right into playing at the water table. He is definitely the biggest kid in his class.

Brothers

I love my boys. Having boys is fun and active and can be hard sometimes. They are the cutest most sweet boys though and I feel very lucky.

Training

I ran a little over 4 miles yesterday. It wasn't too bad. The weather was cooler and cloudy. It is harder when it is so hot. My knees hurt today though. I think I might need better shoes. I feel good though because i am making progress. I can't imagine ever being able to go 13.1, but I have some more time.

Reid and Riley are so awesome. Reid is going to be crawling any day now. He army crawls all over the place and gets up on his hands and knees. I just bought him some new jammies yesterday. I got him 12 month sleepers thinking that would be fine. They fit him like a glove. He is getting so big. It makes my heart ache how much I love that baby. His little blue eyes and sweet gummy smile.

Riley just finished sports camp last week. He love sports and is so talented. He loves to dance and he sings like a angel. He loves to play video games with his dad (heaven help me!) and is excited about school in the fall. He still loves cars. The sportier the better. He is a joy. He can have a temper but is also so gentle and good. He loves Reid and Reid adores Riley. They are both amazing eaters and I love them both so much.

Chris is working and has taken to buying ipods on craigslist and reselling them on ebay. He enjoys it and it is nice to have extra money coming in.

6 Years and Counting!

Tomorrow is mine and Chris' 6th Anniversary. I love him more now than I thought possible. He is a great husband. He is so patient and loving to me. We have both changed a lot is the last 6 years and have grown closer together. I look forward to the next 6 years and beyond.


I loved our cake. It was delicious (what I got of it anyways.)

Training and Sickness

I have decided to train for a half marathon. UGH!!!! I need something to keep me motivated and I have always felt that if I could run for any distance I would truly be in shape. My friend Sarah asked me awhile ago if I wanted to do one with her and said no but thought it would be a good idea to try it once. Last week was my first week training and it was rough. My legs were really sore and then my third day running my knee started hurting so I had to walk most of the way. That was pretty frustrating. I took it easy on Saturday and was planning on going running again on Monday and of course got sick as a dog. I was weak and achy all day. Thankfully Chris was able to come home and help with the boys. My mom was over too because my friend went into labor and we watched their twin girls. It was a full house.

Back to training today. I am excited for losing weight and being able to run for longer times. I will keep you all posted.

Recent Photo Shoots

Here are some pictures of the cutest boys you will find










My messy boys at breakfast.I love how Reid's eye's match the blanket!!

Riley got a T ball set for his birthday. He is a natural. Look at that form.

Love

Some times I wonder how I am going to teach Riley about certain things. I am sure you can imagine what is on the list. Girls and sex are the main things. UGH!! I am dreading it already. Anyways... something funny happened the other day. We were reading my sister's blog and she has a song on it called Marooned Without You from Joe Versus the Volcano. While we were listening to it this is what was said:

Riley: "Mama, this sounds sad."
Me: "It's a love song."
Riley : "Love sounds sad"
Me: "It can be."

It was so cute that he thought it was sad and that he put it all together. I love my boy.

Riley's Birthday Party Pictures

We did a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party for Riley's 4th birthday. We had the kids go on a Mickey Mouse adventure where they had to use things from the backpack to accomplish different tasks. Chris also drew pictures for a treasure hunt. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Here are all of the objects they had to choose from.
Riley and his Toodles cake.
We frosted the cake in about 10 minutes so it isn't our best work but it tasted good. :)

Back and Better Than Ever

WE ARE BACK!! I am so happy. I have missed the internet so much. Here is the whole story:

We bought our computer almost three years ago from Best Buy. We were offered the warranty and it took us a few days to decide to buck up and spend the 100+ dollars to get it. Boy, was it worth it! In the three years that we have owned the computer we have replaced 2 mother boards, the battery, and the power cord ( the power cord and battery alone were the cost of the warranty). Recently our computer has been on the fritz and we thought we would take it in for one last repair before the warranty expired. Well yesterday we got "The Call" from Best Buy telling us to come in for our "exchange". We were confused and excited at what that might mean. We raced over there and sure enough... they said that the cost of the repair was more than the computer was worth so they said they would give us a similar computer (which would basically be a net book or a really crappy computer). We were thinking we would just take what they would give us and maybe put in a little more and get a decent computer, but then the lady started showing us these awesome computers. She said that we just needed to pick one out. So, I asked how much we had to spend. Her answer stopped my heart... she said that we had 600 dollars ( the price of our original computer)!!!! Chris has not stopped smiling since we heard those beautiful words. So we picked out an awesome computer and paid 80 dollars extra for 4 times the computer and we also bought the warranty again. :) I LOVE BEST BUY!!! So, we are back. I will be posting a lot because I feel like I have so much to show everyone. So, check back often. It is good to be back!

It's been a while....

So, due to little or no internet connection at our house I haven't posted anything in forever. Here are some new pictures that my sister in law Jess took of us on Easter weekend. The boys are getting so big.

Some updates from our family are few. The biggest is that Chris as decided to go to nursing school. After praying about it he thought that would be a better fit for him. We are excited to be on our way. He has to get into a school and we don't know where we will be going. We would like to get out of Michigan but we will see.

We are loving having two boys. The times seems to fly by. The weather is warming up and we are getting outside a lot more.