Running in Circles

BMX

2012-02-07T21:25:00.002-07:00

We had a fun Saturday afternoon doing some BMX bike racing. Layne raced and Sadie and Raegan did a race on their Striders. It was the BEST DAY EVER. The girls told me so. :) The girls were so cute and are in LOVE with the trophies they "won" (all of the kids "win" trophies, but don't tell them, they didn't notice...). I overheard Sadie tell Raegan, "Mom is SOOOO proud of me." Raegan told me, "Can I put this in a place where I can see it so I can keep feeling special?" I love those little ladies. Here are some pictures of their big day. (Hopefully by the next race they will be riding pedal bikes (or "number bikes").

Layne is feeling pretty awesome in his jeans and ski helmet. :) It was his plan to catch people by surprise at his awesome BMX skills.

Blurry, but cute picture.

Practicing.

Pep talk before the race.

And a video of the race:

Raegan

2012-01-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

We love charts in our family. Today Raegan made a really awesome chart for me. She told me, "You get a star for every time that you brush your teeth, and a dot for every time you let me sleep with you in your bed."

Photo taken by this amazing lady.

I don't know where she gets her ingenuity from. :)

30 years old

2012-01-24T19:46:00.002-07:00

I am 30.

I have been slightly dreading it (although MANY people in their thirties have reassured me that it is awesome) but mostly just bummed because I wanted to do a mega-awesome, crazy thing on my 30th birthday and really, I just haven't felt up to anything, besides napping. Well, even though I wasn't feeling super wonderful on my birthday it ended up being so great!

I was spoiled by super awesome friends, a really cool family, and the best husband ever.

I spent the day being fed (breakfast-Layne, lunch-Casey and dinner-Spaghetti factory). This in and of itself made my day amazing.

Casey making me a gourmet lunch. Such a great friend.

I got a pedicure. No pictures...:(

I got the sweetest gift ever from my mom and Tiff and Kels. They gave me a photo book entitled 30 Memories to Celebrate 30 years. Each page had a picture (or multiple pictures) of a memory and was numbered. THEN, there was this box with 30 gifts (all numbered) and each gift corresponded with one of the memories. Such a cute, fun idea. I wish I had thought of it!

A couple of the pages:

This page came with some yummy dried pineapple.

This page came with a bag of Laffy Taffy. I think it's impossible to look at this picture and not at least crack a little smile.

Then of course, this came with a pound of See's.

(Not all of them were food, these three just happened to be...)

So cool.

Then, Layners threw me a rockin' birthday party and lots of my good friends came to wish me a happy birthday.

Thanks everyone for being so great!

Me with the really cool cake Layne ~~made~~ built me. (I don't know why this picture looks so weird, but it does).

30 years...so far, so good!

Christmas Season in a nutshell

2012-01-18T10:15:00.001-07:00

So, as previously mentioned, December flew by and so has January. I need to get these Christmas pictures posted once and for all. For me, so that I can move on. :)

I hardly took any pictures, but here are a few of Christmas day. The kids are at such a fun age for Christmas.

Every single present that the girls opened was "just what they wanted!" (Sadie with her hotwheels).

We went to temple square both with Layne's parents...

And then with my family and cousins.

The girls had tons of fun with their cousin (2nd cousin). They cried and cried until we let them all sleep together. Such cute little bugs.

So, there it is in a nutshell. It was a really hard month, but a fun, magical one as well. I love the Christmas season and am always so sad when it's over.

Hair cut!

2012-01-11T10:35:00.001-07:00

I'm still in the process of going through Christmas pictures and doing some Christmas posts. To be honest, today is the first day that I sort of feel like I am digging out of my hole that I've been living in. December was all about survival for me. I was only capable of handling the bare minimum and that is all I did. I spent the begining part of December feeling sorry for myself that I had to spend the holidays sick, but now I realize the positive side is that the whole month FLEW by. I'm feeling pretty good today and a little more energetic--could I possibly be on the upswing?? and so I'm hoping to get some blogging done and (dare I even say it) house cleaning done. Of all of the things that suffered in December, our poor house suffered the most.

One thing that I thought I'd mention first though, is that I got my hair cut. It was probably almost a month ago that I cut it, but due to circumstances, it was never really picture worthy. Here are a few pictures of the new hair from the holidays. I like it for a change, except on days where I really just want to put it in a ponytail.

straight hair

curly hair (with a weird grumpy face)

(pictures taken by my lovely mother)

Some day I will have a more close up picture of myself and my hair.

Caldwell #4 on the way!

2012-01-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

And we are so excited! We did a thorough check and there is definitely just one. I'm sighing with relief. :)

Like, my other pregnancies, my first few months have not been fun. I think the thing that is hard for me is that I'm used to having a really healthy body and in my first trimester particularly, I just do not feel well. I don't feel healthy. I feel sickly and frail. Things seemed to escalate really quickly this time and I was feeling pretty terrible by 5.5 weeks. I got to a really low point a couple of weeks ago where I just couldn't keep anything down. I was dehydrated, starving, had a massive headache, a black eye from the toilet seat and I was really depressed. Unless you have had serious morning sickness (like anything else in life) I just think you cannot judge how dark and despairing it is to feel sick all day, every day, for months. I admit I said a selfish prayer to Heavenly Father once or twice. "It's not FAIR that some people feel good during pregnancy and others don't." As soon as I realized what I had said, I realized that, yes, lots of things in life aren't fair. It's not fair that some people have cancer, or have a loved one die of cancer. It's not fair that others have a hard time getting pregnant. I am sorry for that prayer, but so so grateful for the sweet answer that I got. I just had a strong feeling to try some meds. I have been pretty against medicine in my pregnancies (I mean don't get me wrong, I believe in modern medicine, but taking something while pregnant, makes me a little nervous). I have taken some things, but only short term (like for a couple of days to get over a really bad week or something). But I really believe it was an answer to my prayer. I started taking them and I have been able to survive the last few weeks. I still don't feel great, but I'm able to keep most food down and nausea has not been as bad. This has been the sweetest "tender mercy" of my life. I think one must be careful when talking about "tender mercies" because obviously not everyone is going to get the same answers to a prayer, but I just want to say that I am SOOOO grateful that I've found something to help in my pregnancy. I'm still really looking to that magical 13 week mark when I start feeling better, but for now, I'm pretty excited to get another little person in our family.

Even if I'm only 10.5 weeks and look like I'm 18. (My body is apparently getting good at this).

PS My due date is August 4th (a little too close to the twins birthday for comfort)!

Mayor Mike Caldwell

2012-01-04T09:42:00.002-07:00

Yesterday Layne's brother was sworn in as Mayor of Ogden. Pretty cool.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

This December has been awesome with the kids. 4-year-old twins are the reward for all of the hard times with baby twins. I wish I could just keep my kids the way they are forever (I haven't always been able to honestly say that-- hello two screaming babies, or two mischievous toddlers). Right now is perfect.

With this guy too.

Don't ever grow up.

The wind storm

2011-12-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

I had mentioned to some out-of-state family that I was going to post pictures of our crazy windstorm. Well, almost a month later, here they are. :)

Our roof didn't fare so well. We've patched it, but will have to get the whole thing replaced in the spring. We weren't the only ones though. As I was on my run today (a short one) I saw FIVE different roofs being worked on. And this is 3 weeks after the storm!

PRIVACY!

2011-11-27T21:17:00.001-07:00

I just came across a picture that I must post for posterity. Layne is super awesome and took this girls on a daddy/daughter camp-out this summer (I know SOOOOO long ago, but can't be forgotten). Such an awesome dad.

So, the following story has nothing to do with the photos or camp-out, but whatever. The other day, I was getting the girls dressed for preschool. On school days I usually try to have them match or coordinate. (Maybe this is my own insecurities, but I feel like if they don't match, people either think that we didn't get ready for the day, or I must be super behind on laundry-I mean there is this unspoken rule about twins and matching and I break it far too often. Try to refrain from judging). Back to the story, I had gotten their outfits out and put them on the bed for them to get dressed. Sadie takes a look at what I picked out, then declares, "Mom! I need my privacy to wear something different than Raegan!" (But it sounded more like, "Mom! I need my pwivacy to weah something difwent than Waegan!")

Point taken little lady.

I then let her choose her clothes because don't we all need our privacy every now and again?!

Time Out for Women

2011-11-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

I went to TOFW this last weekend with four of my Caldwell sisters-in-law and my mother-in-law. ( unfortunately Cathrina couldn't make it, with Mike being elected mayor that same week). We got a little Zion National Park in, laughing, staying up late, good food, and some spiritual rejuvenation. A perfectly well-rounded getaway.

Reasons why I've been bad at blogging:

2011-11-07T23:11:00.001-07:00

1) Halloween and all of it's festivities in the month of October

This lady threw a FABULOUS Halloween party. Seriously, it was really fun to do a little celebrating adult style.

Never was very good at sultry pictures....

2) Family climbing/swinging time

3) Taking and processing pictures for some beautiful families.

4) Young Womens (specifically Young Women in Excellence).

In the words of Layne, I need to, "step my {blogging} game up!" I shall try!

They really are just SO hilarious...

2011-10-24T17:09:00.001-06:00

This morning I had some errands that just HAD to get done . I needed to get a few things at Hobby Lobby and so I reluctantly took my three darling angels with me. (Do you sense the sarcasm? They are least angelic while doing errands).

As I was picking out some paper for a Young Women activity we have coming up, one of the twinners says something about "mommy wearing a diaper" and giggles. I try to shhh them, then carry on. Well, the other two think that this was a pretty dang funny joke and they join in. Pretty soon, all three of my children are LOUDLY chanting, "Mommy wears diapers! Mommy wears diapers!" I am kind of laughing, because if I were anyone else this WOULD be hilarious, but my face I'm sure is completely red. I apologize to everyone we walk by, while continuing to try to bribe my children out of making such a scene! Anyway, we finally left (but not until I had all of my supplies!) and I am proud to say that I survived another shopping trip with my three angel children...

T turns 6!

2011-10-23T13:24:00.000-06:00

Somewhere in the mix of this last month, my Trenton turned 6. It is so hard for me to believe. I miss my little baby boy, but LOVE the boy Trenton is growing up to be.

I just can't say enough about this guy. So far six has been awesome! This morning, for instance, he woke up and started cleaning his room for NO REASON (sometimes this happens, but usually only if there is a reward for doing it). Layne and I kept looking at each other, a little confused, but really pleased. This kind of embodies his attitude the last few months. He's just more mature. He's begining to be a pleaser. Doing things simply because he knows it'll make us happy. T is not perfect and still has his moments, but dang, I am really loving this boy lately.

My super awesome friend Jamie made Trenton this birthday cake for his monster birthday party. I could never have come up with something so cute.

Layne put his talents to use in making this pinata. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

And little Sades had fun dressing up as a mummy. :)

Soccer Mom

2011-10-17T21:17:00.000-06:00

I have really loved being a soccer mom this year. Trenton and his teammates are awesome to watch. They were the best little "bunch ball" team ever and went undefeated. Can't wait for it to start back up in the Spring!

Uncles

2011-10-10T21:52:00.001-06:00

I love my brothers. They are so awesome (all 8 of them)!. I think my kids are so lucky to have all of them. They treat them like rock stars and Washington would have been so much harder without their help (Kelsey too, of course, but she just gets lumped in with all of the boys)!

Ben and Sadie-- Sadie LOVES Ben and Adam

Adam and Raegan

Kelsey and Sadie

Adam and Sadie

Brigham, Raegan, Kelsey, Sadie

Mom, Adam, Raegan, Dad, Grandma

Brigham and Raegan

Sadie, Raegan, Luke, Isaac, Seth (with their frogs)

And one last picture of my grandparents, who I love and miss!

Omak Stampede

2011-10-09T16:01:00.001-06:00

So here's the deal. Our laptop has been on the fritz for about 6 months. Everything computer related (photography, blogging, etc.) has been affected and I'm so behind on stuff! It was taking me 5-6 hours, what would normally only take me 1-2. Madening! So the laptop finally breathed it's last breath a couple of weeks ago and now we have a new computer. Much faster! So I may do some catch up blogging for posterity!

We went to the world famous Omak Stampede and suicide race. It's pretty cool (and quite controversial) but there is a rodeo and at the end of the rodeo and bunch of horses run down this super steep hill, swim a few feet down a river and then get out and run into the stadium.

Here are some rodeo pictures. I love a good rodeo.

And here is a short video of the race:

Washington!

2011-10-08T12:58:00.001-06:00

This summer I hitched a ride to Washington with my kids, siblings and parents. It was SUCH a great vacation! I LOVED it! I really wanted my girls to meet my Great Grandpa (their great-great-grandpa). Trenton had already met him, but couldn't remember. He is awesome! We love him!

My grandma helped the kids find some frogs to play with!

We ALWAYS go to Omak Lake while we're there. The kids had a blast.
More pix of Washington to come. Better late than never, right?!

Lance

2011-10-03T13:54:00.000-06:00

Layne and I have enjoyed watching and participating in the Ogden Xterra quite a few times in the last couple of years. We'll be honest though, we hadn't put a lot of thought into going up this year until we heard Lance would be competing (OK and we were SUPPOSED to be in Lake Powell that weekend, but that obviously didn't work out). Honestly, I'm not a huge Lance Armstrong fan, but I mean, he IS Lance and I figured this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The kids were awesome sign holders.

I got a great picture of Nico (the winner) running by. I was really excited to try this thing on my camera where you can take a video, and shoot photos at the same time. I got this horrible picture of Lance then my camera paused (including the video) until Lance was mostly passed us. Boo. I guess that feature doesn't work very well when someone is running by, because the video pauses while the camera shoots. Soooo, I didn't get a good picture OR video OR look (I was fumbling with my camera) at Lance. Lesson learned.

Canoeing at Causey

2011-09-12T12:45:00.012-06:00

On Memorial Day we took the kids canoeing at Causey Dam. We haven't been for quite a while. Layne and I were looking forward to some cliff jumping and we knew the kids would love the ride in the canoe.

The weather wasn't the best for jumping in cold water, in fact, it was probably the coolest day since May! but it was still fun.

Layne got a little jump in early and was too cold to ever really get back in.

As we were canoeing out, we passed this spot where we love to jump. Most people were done jumping, because it was getting quite cold. I was hesitant, but in the end, I just knew there would be some self-loathing if I didn't just do it at least once. So, I got out of the canoe, and did it alone. Layne got a video. :) I froze for the rest of the night, but I think it was worth it. I love the thrill of a little jump.

Growing up...

2011-09-09T07:47:00.000-06:00

These kiddies are growing up too fast and I don't like it.

Trenton started kindergarten last week and the girls started preschool this week. So far, it's been a success. Trenton seems happy after school (even though it's super hard to get any info out of him about it). The girls LOVE preschool. I am so glad for this, because a month ago Raegan was really going through a "mommy" stage and not letting me leave her ever, even with Layne. She would ask me several times a day, "mom, everywhere you go, I get to go with you, right?!"

I like to be loved, but I'm glad that is over. :)

Love these kiddos. I want to freeze time right now though. It's fun to see them learn new things, but sad to see them grow up. Thank goodness for photos!

The Utah Half: Race Review

2011-08-29T16:23:00.001-06:00

This last weekend I did a half Ironman. It's kind of ironic, because last year (you'll remember the race was canceled 5 days before!), I trained SO hard for a half Ironman. I put my heart and soul into that race. Well, this year I kind of toyed with the idea doing a half Iron, but wasn't very committed to training. (Have been feeling pretty burned out from constant training and racing for the last 3 years). I didn't officially sign up for the race until 3 weeks before. So yeah, I am in decent shape, I have had some good workouts, but I haven't been as serious about training as I normally am. Plus this summer has been so dang busy. Some day I'll write more about it on here, but really, it has been crazy. I didn't workout while at girls camp, or youth conference, only twice in Tahoe, only twice in Washington, once in Wild Iris, etc. etc., you get the picture. ANYWAY, I felt like I'd still be fine to do the half ironman. I've done some really great workouts and I've felt good, so I just figured I would feel "extra rested" during the race.

I definitely reaped what I sowed and I don't want to make any excuses, but for evaluation purposes I just want to recap what I did right and what I didn't do right.

We went down to Provo with our friends, the Halls. It is always more fun to do races with a friend. We had a delicious meal at the Macaroni Grill the night before that I have been craving ever since.

I had been feeling some serious anxiety about the swim. I am not a strong swimmer, but have been able to become much more comfortable in the water. I was expecting to do the 1.2 mile swim in about 55 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised to get out of the water at 45 minutes. (Perhaps the swim was slightly short...the overall times were generally several minutes faster this year than last year). I was so so happy though, because I felt pretty comfortable the whole time and swam freestyle almost the entire time. Such a good improvement for me! There weren't many people in the water after me, but who cares!

I got on the bike feeling great and excited. For the first 7 miles I averaged 20mph. I was pretty excited about that, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to average that fast for the entire ride, but felt great. Well, after 7 miles, my GPS stopped working so I have absolutely no idea how fast I averaged for the next 20+ miles. I'm guessing it was somewhere between 18.5 and 19.5. Pretty good, not outstanding. Now, the day before the race we had made some adjustments to my bike. while the adjustment was probably more ergonomically correct (although I think it still needs some adjustment, don't laugh at me), I wasn't used to it, and my neck hurt a LOT more than it usually does on a 50 mile ride. Not that big of a deal, but super annoying. I was able to get my GPS working 5 or 6 miles after the turnaround. Still averaging about 18.5-19.0mph. Not as fast as I would like, but not terrible (for me). Well, at about the 40 mile mark, I ended up losing both of my water bottles (not going to go into the details of why...). If I were smart, I would have stopped and picked them up, but I didn't want to stop and so I kept pushing on. Well, it was mega hot out there and only took me a mile or so to feel completely parched. Those last 10 + miles were super hard. I was extremely thirsty and was having a hard time choking down any calories without any water. Boo. I slowed down a ton. I ended up finishing the bike in 2:49, but I'm almost certain that this ride was short. I, of course, didn't have my GPS, so I don't know exactly how short, but it was at least a little. Most everyone I talked to agreed. I did NOT average 19.8mph (what the results said) for the entire ride, but I wish I had! (I would guess more like low 19s or high 18s). Last year I felt SOOO strong on the bike and didn't feel that way during this race.

Anyway, I got to the run feeling completely depleted. Kind of a bummer. I grabbed a water bottle off of Whitney's bike and headed out on my run. Hoping that after a minute or two I'd get my legs under me and be able to get a 1:45 or faster. (I was on pace for a pretty fast time, if I got a fast run). This is where I was super dumb. I didn't end up eating anything on the run (other than salt tablets). So after hardly any calories on the last 15 miles of the bike, I had no calories on the run. I don't know how I could be so stupid, but I keep telling Layne, "It's not like I was trying to have a bad race, I just honestly wasn't thinking about anything but getting through that run." The run stunk. I started out at about an 8 minute/mile pace (for a mile or two) and then quickly faded to 9min/miles and slower. Every single water stop, I would completely stop and grab a drink of water and make sure ever single last drop got into my mouth--towards the end I was getting multiple cups of water. I just could not get enough. It was probably 90+ degrees outside at this point and i was already behind on my hydration.

So anyway, I ended up finishing that horrible run in 2 hours. Kind of bummed about that, but happy about my overall time (even though I think it is generous) and happy that I finished it. Bad races are good races to learn from, and I definitely will do things much differently the next time I do a half ironman.

Good experience.
Awesome friends to share the experience with.
Super hot and hard.
Glad my back is not in that bike position anymore.

Little Joe

2011-08-22T20:51:00.000-06:00

Little Joe is now on a mission. He will be serving in Philadelphia! Joe is such a great kid. He will be an amazing missionary. We dropped him off at the MTC a week and a half ago.

As many know, Joe is the oldest of the last chain of 6 boys in my family. He is starting a potentially long consecutive streak of missionaries from my siblings.
Joe is so tall. And he used to be short for his age.....

Of course every time we're in Provo we have to make our token stop at J-Dawg.

Tahoe

2011-08-07T22:21:00.000-06:00

We went to Tahoe with Layne's family, oh like, a month and a half ago! I thought I'd post some pictures for documentation purposes. :)

We had some paddle board races. No surprise that Layne won. He is always good at random things.

Two sets of twins! (I hope Steve and Mindy don't cringe when they see this picture!--I promise I was watching the girls very carefully).
Layne with his beautiful blonde ladies.

Layne and Jeff rocking the talent show with Justin Bieber.

The Twinsies Get older!

2011-08-04T20:39:00.000-06:00

4 years. That is the big milestone with twins, or so they (whomever "they" may be) say. We made it. :) We sure love these girls. They make our lives so happy. I love the different personalities that they each add.

The girls were so lucky to have cousin Zach in town!

Looking Fierce!

I did a rainbow-color-themed birthday party. I don't think the kids appreciated how great this little soda line-up was (thanks for the idea Bridge). Not as easy to find colorful soda here in Utah as it is in California (thanks Bev-Mo).

On another note, maybe I should get a different blog, but with my new camera (did I not mention that I got a new camera?!!) the photo size is way too big for blogger, so I have to lessen it, and then it looks terrible and grainy. Don't judge me too harshly, I am not sure how to overcome this problem right now. :)

Happily Ever After...

2011-07-20T22:23:00.000-06:00

These are some of my beautiful laurels.

This was the theme of Girls Camp this year. Is it weird that I seriously love girls camp? I mean I honestly really enjoy going and spending my week with a bunch of teenagers. (Even though it's way hard to leave and arrange babysitting for my kids). I think it's refreshing. I have the coolest laurels ever, so that helps. :)
I got nominated to be the "fairy Godmother." My job was to tell the girls some real-life "happily ever after" stories at night. I also got the pleasure of having the laurels dress me up. Then I got to prance around (in front of the bishopbric too....) and embarrass myself. :)

Wedding Project

2011-07-11T20:39:00.000-06:00

I have been busy busy for the last few weeks proofing some pictures that I took for a wedding. It was a little intimidating for me to take pictures for a wedding, but I loved it! So fun!

July 4th

2011-07-09T23:20:00.000-06:00

The 4th of July really is one of my most favorite holidays. We usually go to the parade and then just chill with family the rest of the day. I wasn't very diligent about taking pictures (I've been busy taking pictures for other families this month)!

This was the first weekend in quite some time that both or one of us (layne/me) wasn't out of town. It was so nice to be together and to be home!

I love America!

back to back to back

2011-07-02T22:31:00.001-06:00

We have just had one thing after another in June. It's been a fun one and I'll post more soon. I have to admit though, I'm super happy that the rest of our summer is much more chill than June was.

Me at girls camp. How did I get talked into this??? :)

Sisters and Moms

2011-06-08T20:51:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks (or was it only 1?) ago I had a little getaway with my mom and sisters. It was amazing as always. We sort of have this problem when we get together. We laugh, like, the entire time. There are a few people that I get the giggles with, these three are at the top of the list. We stayed the night in Park City and as we were all laying down in bed (nothing funny was happening, we were trying to go to sleep), Tiff started giggling...then I caught it and I started giggling, pretty soon we were all four roaring. I am not exaggerating either, it was 1:00AM and I was fully expecting to get kicked out for all of the raucous. Every time we started to calm down someone would start it up again. I'll re-emphasize that we weren't even laughing at anything. Nothing funny was happening, other than us laughing at absolutely nothing in the middle of the night. Kelsey commented in between gulps of air and giggles, "This isn't even fun to laugh this hard because my stomach hurts SOOO bad." We decided that we all just needed to release some tension from our lives and that was our bodies way of doing it. Weird.

Graduating Class of 2011

2011-06-05T23:12:00.000-06:00

Preschool and joyschool graduation, that is. :)

I loved Trenton's preschool class this year. He was pretty nervous for a few days, but ended up loving it and making a couple of really great friends.

I have done Joyschool with this group for a year and a half now. I feel a little sad about it being over now. The fun thing about joyschool is that as a mom I get to teach once a month and therefore get to really know the kids. This is just the greatest group of kids ever. I loved them. :)

Little Darlings

2011-05-25T22:46:00.001-06:00

I took some pictures of my kids at an orchard the other day. I love how they turned out, even if I never got the" perfect, everyone looking and smiling at the same time" picture. (PS the adorable dresses the girls are wearing are made by my sister, Tiff).
I think this picture is going to be a classic in our home!
The little dimple on the side of her right chin KILLS me.

I don't really love how I look in this picture, but I'm happy I was in one with the kiddies.
Best Friends

Handsome Little Man

Tough Day

2011-05-22T20:59:00.000-06:00

I'm still trying to process the Ogden Marathon from yesterday. I had a tough day. I started out strong and felt great. I remember thinking to myself that it was going to be amazing because I felt so good. I was hitting 6:40s and they felt easy. However, I hit the wall and hit it HARD at mile 18. I had struggled with stomach cramps the whole race and they became worse (although I'm not sure if that had anything to do with my "wall hitting"). My miles that should have been the fastest, down the canyon, were the slowest and there was nothing I could do about it. All indications from my training: long runs, speed workouts, total mileage, miraculous healing of my glut (after 4 weeks of excruciating pain) and confidence indicated that it could have been a good day. Maybe my glut injury hurt my fitness more than I realized, maybe I didn't fuel properly, bad stomach cramps, maybe it was none of those things and just a bad day. It's hard to swallow. Part of me feels completely done with marathons, but another part of me knows that I can't end on that note. Maybe I'll try some half marathons. I have decided that I need running to be a positive in my life not a negative. I put so much effort into this and just feel so bummed right now. I know that in a week or two I'll feel better about it, but for now I'm taking a much needed break.

Duck Mom

2011-05-15T22:31:00.000-06:00

I am NOT an animal person. I have compassion for animals and wouldn't want to be mean to them, but I also wouldn't really want to touch them. I feel bad about it, but it is what it is. I don't like funky smells and I don't like hair. ANYWAYS, my friend went out of town last week and had some ducks that needed a home. I had thought that I might consider being a duck mom (I think I could handle that or some type of reptile) so we took them in and we LOVED it. The kids were in heaven and I may have enjoyed it myself. They were cute. I mentioned to Sara as she dropped the ducks off, that I have never cared for a pet, but caring for 3 kids should count for something right?!! Here are some pix of the little cuties. I'm not sure if I'm ready to take the step toward being a duck/pet mom, but it was fun and I would do it again.

Mothers

2011-05-07T21:34:00.000-06:00

Layne and I both have been blessed with amazing mothers. I'm feeling especially grateful for them in this stage of my life that is so exhausting and wonderful (at the same time).

My mother-in-law has been such a huge help to us, particularly the last two years that we've lived back in Utah. She is always so willing to help with the kids. There seems to be a routine that we've been going through way too often lately: I go to mutual, Layne goes to his parents to fix the car (when Layne's fixing the car he can't exactly watch the kids, so they've been getting a lot of "grandma time" lately). Now I know you're thinking that if this is the trend, maybe we need a new car, and you're probably right. Hopefully soon. Anyway we love you Danita. Thank you so much for all that you do!

My mom is just amazing. She is the only person I know that can handle 11 kids. I love that she'll gladly add my 3 to her crew all of the time. I wish I would have been blessed with more of her patience and easy-goingness. I'm hoping that as I get older, I'll get better at these things. I also hope that as I get older, I will age as well as my mom! I mean I do have her genes (even if I don't look a whole lot like her)! I thought that was a pretty good selling point when I was dating. :) Also, it helps that I'm the favorite child. :) Love you Mom! You are amazing!

National Park Week

2011-05-05T23:02:00.000-06:00

Can you spot the person who abstained from showering for the week? Here's a hint - He's the boy with sunglasses.
We spent our Easter Weekend at Arches this year. Such a nice get away. I'm pretty sure we brought home a couple of pounds of red sand in our ears, hair, clothes, shoes etc.

After not showering, Layne wanted to give the kids rides on the tag along even though their feet couldn't touch the pedals.

After not showering and then giving bike rides, Layne led the kids on a hike to landscape arch.
Captain Underpants. That was the theme of our whole weekend. My kids were obsessed with cousin Cameron's book. Yes, Trenton needs a bigger hat.

Easter Egg Hunt.
We gave the yougest girls a little headstart so they wouldn't get skunked on the easter egg hunt. Well, it turns out the the older girls hooked up our bobos with tons of goodies and even some cash money.

Easter Dresses

2011-04-29T22:40:00.000-06:00

My sister made these adorable dresses for my girls for Easter. I had planned to do a little photoshoot with the twinsies, but the weather didn't cooperate and neither did the girls. They refused to take their new pajamas off (which they've been wearing for 36+ hours and I'm not exaggerating when I say they refused--Sadie started sobbing) so we put the dresses on over. Then, they wouldn't really pose except for hugging each other so you can't see the dresses anyway.

I'll get a good picture of them on here sometime. But for now, here are my darling stinker girls being silly and not cooperating. :)

"ladies and gentlement"

2011-04-20T00:12:00.000-06:00

The kids put on a super rad puppet show for us tonight. Oh, it was so darling! Things have been a little too serious around here. Layne has been working a lot, and studying whenever he's not working. I've been bummed about my injury. This was a much needed laughing session. All of the comedy was unintended by the kids, so Layne and I were doing our best to hide our giggles to them.

First Trenton told us that we needed to come over to his "expedition." They then began the show by holding their arms out and saying, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to our show."

There was then lots of adorable story telling and a little drama behind the scenes in the form of crying and arguing.

Then the bows.
45 minutes worth of puppet show "outtakes" was just what I needed to get me out of my injury funk. Coolest kids ever. I am certain I'm not biased:)

pre race jitters

2011-04-17T22:16:00.000-06:00

I'm feeling so excited for the Boston Marathon tomorrow. I'm not running it, but might as well be with all of the nervous energy I have going on! I'm anxious to see how Kara Goucher does. Her baby is only 7 months old! Trenton was 8 months old when I ran my first marathon and it almost killed me. :) I have to say that I've never really been the type to want to be someone else, but if I was able to trade places with someone for a day (a race day...:)), it would be with her.

An update on my injury:

I saw a physical therapist this week and she thinks I tore my glut, I'm still hanging on to hope that I only pulled it...whatever I did, running has been incredibly painful. Hopefully 5 weeks will bring enough healing to my little bottom to be able to run the Ogden marathon fast!

A rose by any other name....

2011-04-05T22:16:00.000-06:00

doesn't always smell as sweet.

Why is it that I LOVE riding my bike--seriously I love it--but I HATE cross training? Isn't it that same thing?!

I have had a sad week. Training for Ogden has been going really well. I've been feeling confident and excited for the big race. Well, on Friday (the day before a half that I was going to do) I did something terrible to my hip/glut/IT. It was in the middle of my run and something popped/pulled/broke/whatever. My best guess is that I did something to my IT, but really I don't know. It's frustrating. I've been down and discouraged. I would NOT consider myself an injury prone person, but the last 18 months have proven me wrong (with this and the plantar fascitis from Hades). I've tried to run on it a couple of times since Friday, and every time end up walking and in pain. So, after 3 attempts at running (I know, stupid), I've decided I've got to take some time off, which means cross training. The very words depress me. I think it's hard because I never feel like it directly transfers to running, sure it helps my overall aerobic fitness, but I don't feel like it keeps me on the edge. Also, it takes SO MUCH TIME! I usually calculate cross training as 15 minutes is the equivalent of one mile. When I'm running 55 miles a week, that's a lot of time (something I don't have much of, especially during tax season)!

So, I was reading my friend Nan's blog. She has such a faith-based approach to life and running. She's been going through some injury struggles too, and I was reminded at how temporary this IT/glut/hip thing probably is. Life is good and there must be a reason that I'm going through this right now. Probably by the next time I blog it'll be over. :) (A dig at myself for being such a lame blogger).

I'm not calling it "cross training" anymore, I'm calling it "riding my bike" and I'm going to be happy this week, even though I can't run. I know everything will work out in the end and in the meantime there are 3 very important people that will get to spend lots of time in the bike trailer. :)
Ok this wasn't a very serious ride (and Sadie put her helmet and seat belt on three seconds after this picture was taken).
But it was fun. :)

Jimmermania

2011-03-27T21:12:00.000-06:00

We've had so much fun cheering for BYU and Jimmer this year. I try not to get too emotionally invested in sports, but sometimes I fail.....I'm pretty bummed that BYU is out of the tournament. It's been such a fun year though. I can't remember ever being more into a basketball season.

I love BYU sports and I love my little cougars. :)
PS It's pretty obvious that Sadie doesn't feel great in these pictures isn't it? :(

A little good a little bad.

2011-03-25T21:43:00.000-06:00

There have been some really good moments this week:

I stole away for a couple of hours to get my one and only ski day at Snowbasin:
My sis-in-law Mindy had twins this year and this was her first ski day of the year too. We got mistaken for college students and then really confused some guys with the fact that we each had a bunch of kids (Mindy more than me). :)
Joe got his mission call! He's going to Philadelphia Pennsylvania.

On the other hand, the kids have been sick ALL week. Fevers and coughs. BLAH. (I told Sadie to mention in her prayer that she would get better and not be sick anymore and she turned to me and said, "I didn't know Heavenly Father had medicine!" )

And to top it all off, Trenton had to get stitches because he ran into the wall. BLAH. (Although I'm pretty sure he thinks it's the coolest thing ever. He prayed that he was grateful to get stitches).

family ski day

2011-03-24T13:44:00.000-06:00

All year long Layne and I have wanted to take the girls skiing. Trenton has gotten good enough to ski on his own down the mountain, but of course still needs help on the lifts and stuff. Initially we tried to find a third adult to come with us, so we could be one on one with the kids, but that didn't work out, so we braved it on our own! It ended up being so fun. We loved it. The kids were all so cute and proud of themselves (although Sadie was done after about an hour). I'll admit that it was a little tricky and Trenton got really frustrated waiting for us the whole time, but we did it! It can only get better from here.....

Running Purist essay

2011-03-12T21:12:00.001-07:00

Things have changed a lot since when I started running 15 years ago (wow that makes me sound ancient). When I started running, I had obviously never heard of an ipod or GPS. I didn't have a gym membership or access to a treadmill. I loved to run just because I loved to be outside with my thoughts and nature. I've become addicted to this thought-processing time and need it nearly every day (although Sunday will be a blessed break this week). Layne knows this about me and kicks me out the door if I ever start to get the slightest bit grumpy. Even will all of these "new-fangled" devices (did that make me sound ancient too?)I am a self-proclaimed running purist. I much prefer to run outside than on a treadmill and I much prefer to run without headphones. To me, it feels so great to be "disconnected" for an hour or two. And seriously, how often are we really completely disconnected from phones, music, Internet, etc? (Don't worry, the purpose of this is not to soap box).

Some days, because of tax season for the husband, or other scheduling conflicts, I HAVE to run on the treadmill and I am so grateful for it! (Notice I didn't mention weather--I'd rather run in a blizzard than on a treadmill...) However, it has saved my life on many occasions. There is definitely a place for the treadmill in my training program. I also like the chance it gives me to nail a pace. You set the pace number and run it or fall off of the treadmill. Just running is usually the better option.

I hardly ever run with an ipod. Honestly, in the last 6 months I have maybe run with it for 10 miles or less total. Shorter runs are great for just letting my mind wander. It usually ends up in some good undirected, unstructured and even occasionally problem-solving thoughts. Nothing too impressive, but it just helps me sort things out that get jumbled up inside when I'm home without ANY time to think. I think it's good in this fast-paced world to have time to just let my thoughts wander. I've also been super lucky this year to have a training partner that is a similar pace to me. Having a friend to run with has also lessened my need/want for the ipod. Today was just one of those days, though. I knew I had a hard and long run to do and had to do it alone. I needed a little friend. I really needed my ipod. I started out my run at a "leisurely" 7:30 pace and over the course of 12 miles worked up to a 6:45 pace (which was WAY hard as the last few miles are slightly uphill). I felt really great. It was so nice to have something to get my mind off of running. I really appreciated having my ipod and realized that there is a place for it, as well as treadmills, in my training program.

So, in conclusion, maybe I'm not the most pure Running Purist out there.

*I also want to say that these are just my personal preferences for running. I certainly don't think that it's a "superior" way of training or living. It's just what I personally like. :)

gems

2011-03-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

I've found some awesome papers hanging around the house lately. Here are a few:

This says, "Trentons eating chart." And no I do not track what I eat so he didn't get that specifically from me, although I do make LOTS of charts. :) (It's a picture of a mouth and then different foods going in it).
This is maybe my favorite. He drew it at church. It is BYU and Utah playing football (I think) and the scoreboard shows the U at 1 point and BYU 110. Then at the top it says, "sorry grandpa." Haha. Grandpa likes the Utes and T didn't want him to feel bad. :)

Self-explanatory
One of the 10s of books that T makes weekly.

I realize that as his mother, I may find more amusement out of these than anyone else, but I thought they were worth sharing. At least for Grandmas' benefits. :)

You state the obvious, Mr. Seuss

2011-02-28T22:09:00.001-07:00

Oh the Places You'll Go. I love this book. It was a graduation gift to me from my dear old mother. One line that has been standing out to me lately is, "life is a great balancing act." I am feeling like I have too many balls up in the air right now. Could someone please send me an instruction manual on life? Thanks.

PS For an inspiring talk on 'simplifying' go here.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

We didn't do a whole lot for Valentine's Day, but we did spend some time making Valentine's Day cards for Layne.
(Whitney: I showed T the robot one on your blog and he tried to copy it-I love it!)

Boston Marathon Qualifying

2011-02-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I was talking to some friends about how I was thinking that the Boston Marathon was going to have to change their qualifying standards and then just yesterday this was published!

Essentially the standard for qualifying will be five minutes faster (starting in 2013) for every gender and age group (so 3:35 for my age group instead of 3:40). Registration will then be open for two weeks and in order to register for the first few days you have to have a time 20 minutes faster than the standard (3:15) then a few days later 10 minutes faster (3:25) then after that first week IF there are any open spots left it'll be open to everyone else that has qualified for a week and the fastest entries for gender and age will be accepted. (I hope I'm explaining this all correct).

Anyway, a cool piece of news. Makes me wonder how fast someone really will have to run to be able to make it in. It'll be interesting to see.

In case you were wondering, I LOVE the Boston Marathon. :) I can't wait to run it again someday.

8 years and a trip to the Island

2011-02-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

Layne and I celebrated 8 years this weekend. 8 YEARS! It has been one fun, crazy ride and I'm so lucky to have Layne. (I'm allowed one mushy post a year, right?) Layne is a lover of fun and I love that about him. He is a yellow personality through and through.

This year, we decided for a less traditional anniversary date. Layne planned a trail run on Antelope Island (and you were probably thinking we went to some exotic, tropical island for our anniversary). :) We did the 25k course for the buffalo run. It was so amazing. Antelope Island has got to be one of Davis County's best kept secrets. The scenery is beautiful and all of the trails are dry right now and perfect for running and mountain biking. Especially this weekend. The weather was amazing! I was comfortable in a tank top and capris.

The night before we spent some time reading. I wasn't sure if the buffalo (bison) on Antelope Island were aggressive, but wanted to be prepared. Turns out there have been a few isolated incidents of buffalo attacking humans. I'm pretty sure Layne regretted showing me these articles.

Well, lucky for us, the buffalo were all pretty far away. At least for the first 3/4 of the run. At about mile 10 the trail drops down a bit and this is where we had a too-close-for-comfort sighting of buffalo. You can see the buffalo in the background in this picture.
They started wandering toward the trail, so we had to cut way left to give them a wide berth. (OK I have to say that I BEGGED Layne to wait until they crossed the trail, but Layne contended that we could be there all day-well, in hindsight, yours truly was right--if we had waited, they would have crossed and we could have stayed on the trail-- and I made Layne promise that I got to call the shots on the next buffalo encounter). Anyway, they continued wandering towards us and stopped about 100 meters (Layne says 200) away and just looked at us for a while. Too close for comfort for either of us. (Although I am a lot wimpier about that kind of stuff than Layne). We kept on running and tried not to do anything to startle the "unpredictable" ginormous animals. It all turned out OK except for my very scraped up legs. I'm bummed I couldn't get a better picture, but the camera died so you can't see how dang close they were. Despite using up way too much of my energy on being afraid, it ended up being an incredible run.

Happy that we survived our anniversary. Happy to be married to my love for 8 years. Happy that he would go on a long run with me on our anniversary.

The Pajama Problem

2011-02-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

We have a problem in our house that we've cleverly titled, "The Pajama Problem."
It goes like this:
Wake up.
Eat Breakfast.
Bathe (for kids).
Mom does kids' hair (which has not been very successful with my dear sweet Raegy lately...).
Kids get dressed and go to preschool/joyschool/grandma's house/playdate/library/whatever.....
Kids come home and have lunch.
Mom sends twins upstairs to their room for "quiet time."
Twins DON'T fall asleep, but come back down in their pajamas with their hair pulled out.

Same day as above....five hours later....

On a good day, they last about 5 hours "dressed."

I've been trying to convince the girls that if they're not sleeping, they don't need to put their pajamas back on, but they don't agree. (And who can blame them???? They ARE comfy).

We've been spending a lot of time in pajamas lately. I'm sure those close to us have noticed.

Marathon Number 6 ramblings

2011-02-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

Blogging has kind of been buggin' lately, so sorry (I know it's so depressing) but there hasn't been much of it. Maybe as soon as I can get photoshop fixed and freshen things up a bit, I'll be happier blogger.

I'm getting into the thick of training for marathon number 6. For all of my previous marathons I've followed the same basic program. Weekly mileage of 45-55 miles. Long runs peaking at 22 and usually one or two other 20 milers. A weekly speed workout of intervals between 400 and 1600. Sometimes I'll throw other tempos and things in there. I'm thinking I ought to change things up a bit. 400m repeats feel too short for marathon training. I also feel like I keep getting slower and it's driving me crazy! I'm doing all of the same things. Layne and I have talked about hiring a coach just for a year or so. It would be so cool. I feel like I have a lot of unrealized potential if I could just tap into it with a little more structure (don't we all?!). I'm really excited to try some different ideas from various marathon veterans. I'm so hoping this will help me get out of the training rut I'm in and hopefully I'll be able to run a sub 3 marathon again and eventually sub 2:50, and while I'm THERE I might as well try to qualify for the Olympic Trials right? (2:46).......

Anyway, like I said......ramblings.......thanks for listening......:)

I'll take a little bit more of this:

2011-02-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

Blue skies

and shorts and T-shirts.
Is it a problem that anytime I do something like cartwheels or long jumps, that I feel like I'm going to hurt myself? Is that a new thing I'm going to have to deal with now that I'm getting older?

Family pictures

2011-01-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

I should have posted these long ago, but my friend Jess took these and did such a great job. I love them! (Even though some people in our family could have used a haircut first. My bad. :) Thank you Jess!

Birthday weekend

2011-01-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

I had a very generous offer from both a sister-in-law and mother-in-law to watch my kids for a few hours for my birthday. Layne and I took them both up on it in the same weekend! Going climbing at The Front Friday night and on a ski tour Saturday morning. My arms are thoroughly sore in many weird places. I am NOT in good climbing shape. My shins and wrist and other hidden muscles are sore from the ski tour. (Well, not really from the touring, but the crashing). It was fun to spend some time with the hubs. He's way better than me in both of those niches, and I thought it was sweet of him to "waste" a whole ski day, to go with me. Love that guy.

It was really crazy weather. Snowing and blowing hard for a some of the time, then clear, blue, beautiful skies for a while. I am slowly catching the vision of skiing out the back country. There is something peaceful and exciting about being in the mountains without a crowd. I hope I can go back again a time or two this season.

You can see the first run was snowy...
and the second sunny...
I have no idea who that person face first in the snow might be...

The last good year..

2011-01-20T21:21:00.001-07:00

I kid. I kid. I'm sure that there is life after the 20s. :)

I think facebook is quite annoying most of the time (no offense...). There are a few things that are really great, though, with facebook: 1) Communicating with Young Women 2) Birthdays!

Birthdays are just so much better with facebook. I love getting birthday wishes all day long. In person "happy birthdays" are the best, but when that can't happen, I'll happily take a facebook one.

Trenton was so sweet for my birthday. I had hinted to him to tell dad to get me some chocolates for my birthday. Well, there was a Sees catalogue hanging around our house and he talked Layne into driving him and paying for the chocolates. He had circled all of the chocolates that he wanted to get me and then Layne relayed the choices to the Sees lady. So I got a box of chocolates Trenton picked out himself. Sweet huh? I'm a lucky mom and wife.

Creativity

2011-01-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

Some people may call it a "mess," I call it "creative play"....

I think I was lucky to grow up in a family where my parents really encouraged creativity. I'm not talking about simply buying us pads of paper and pencils. They allowed us to "paint" our bedrooms, for one. I'm talking larger than life murals on our walls. Right now, a bunch of the siblings are working on the bathroom in the basement, turning it into a jungle. It's really cool. I love it.
Now I just have to brag for a minute. Kelsey, my dear, sweet, youngest sister, is a really amazing artist and just got into the Fine Art program at BYU (which is NOT easy to get into, I might add). She also won an award for something she has displayed in the HVAC. Here is some of her work:
I really like to encourage creativity in my kidlets. It's not always the cleanest or most organized route, but I like it. A few weeks ago Kels and I bought some canvas for the kids to paint on (we bought some for ourselves too--I haven't painted for years, but I think it'd be fun to try again).

The kids at work:
Anyway, if you come over to our house and there is some gigantic fort in my living room, or a wall covered in drawings, just remember....some call it a mess, I call it creative play. :)

"Snowing"

2011-01-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

My kids' word for playing in the snow.

I'm pretty sure Trenton just burped really loud before this picture was snapped, so we were laughing. (Then of course I made sure he said, "excuse me.") :)

Minnesota/Wisconsin

2011-01-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

Two more states checked off the bucket list! I went out to Wisconsin to visit my sister, Tiffany, who just had a baby. It was so fun to visit and see where they live. It was really snowy and I realized that maybe our winters in Utah aren't so bad.

Before I go further, though, I must say, I think that there should be a rule about how far apart sisters can live. 1500 miles is too far. I am grateful for airplanes, though, that can get me there fast and comfortably. (Except when it isn't comfortable--ahem--awkward/intoxicated passengers sitting next to me and asking if I need rides and/or spilling over into my seat).

The last item of business is just that I married the best guy out there. He was so awesome to let me do this and play Mr. Mom for a week.

Cooper was as sweet and easy as he looks.

Anyway, it was awesome to see her and her cute family. We had so much fun staying up way too late laughing and playing games (how mean of me to make a new mom stay up late and then have to get up with a hungry baby every two hours?!!!) I let her nap though and helped with anything else I could think of, so hopefully it was worth it. :)

Taking pictures was interesting. The temp was in the single digits probably, and felt colder with wind chill and humidity. We lasted all of ten minutes...maybe less. And my camera lens totally fogged up because of the cold (I'm guessing??). Someone tell me how to avoid that....

We were all completely enamored with this girl. She is a doll and an exact replica of Tiff as a toddler.

Bring on the New Year!

2011-01-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

Some of my resolutions from 2010:

Run Boston Marathon-check
Do a Half Ironman-nope. But no one could fault me for not trying!
Run a 5k under 18:30-Did I even run a 5k this year???
Potty train the twins-CHECK!
Lead a climb-CHECK CHECK CHECK. I'm really proud of myself for this one. It was an easy climb, but near the top my arms were PUMPED and I took a couple of huge whippers.
Read Old testament-Check. Barely!

I had other goals too. Some of them more abstract. Some I accomplished and some I didn't, but for me, having something written that I can physically check off is so fulfilling.

This year, many of them look the same. I have some running goals. ( REALLY want to PR at Ogden Marathon. That means I'm looking to get under 2:57. Which in turn means I need to actually start running regularly more than 4 miles at a time.) Some spiritual goals, parenting goals and financial goals.

I want to be more organized.
I want to be a good friend.
I want to be more patient.

I may not accomplish them all, but I'm a believer in shooting for the stars and missing, rather than shooting for the gutter and hitting. So here's to a fresh new start for 2011. (And here's to me actually doing a Half Ironman this year..... )

New Years at my parents. Always a party.

Me finishing one of my goals. It was a little after midnight, but I figured I never specified what time zone I had to finish by. :)

Trentonisms part XVII

2011-01-03T22:08:00.001-07:00

I forced this little independent thinker to get his picture taken on Sunday. Threw some lights back on the tree and voila!
This guy has had some good lines lately.

Today we pulled up next to a guy in a really old rusty truck and Trenton said, "A truck AND a piggy tail! COOL!"

Trenton wasn't too concerned with Santa this year. No bribes of being good and Santa will bring presents had any effect. Anyway, as I was tucking him him the night before Christmas, he looked up at me and said, "I don't have a good feeling about this!" I asked him why and he said, "Well, I've been going to the bathroom and I haven't been flushing and I haven't been washing my hands. AND I'm pretty sure Santa knows about it."

Well, yes Santa does know about that. You'll be lucky if you get presents this year buddy.

Merry Christmas from the twins!

2010-12-31T22:31:00.000-07:00

It's a little late to be doing a Christmas post. I just wanted to share some of these pics I just pulled off of my camera. (I was kind of mad because Trenton reFUSED to get a picture by the Christmas tree, but what do you do?).

I can't tell you how much I love these girls:

Sadie had a little rash on her chin and I'm not in the mood to do much editing. Plus, I like it when things are "real" so I'm leaving it. :)

I love this girl's chubby hands.

Winter Solstice

2010-12-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. Winter Solstice--days will stop getting shorter and start getting longer. You'd better believe that I'm going to be enjoying my extra few seconds of daylight tomorrow.

In honor of this blessed day, here are some snapshots of Christmas at the Caldwell residence:

I LOVE getting Christmas cards. I look forward to getting the mail every day!

A very kind, thoughtful friend gave us this to remind us of that bitter loss....

Flooded Basement Part II

2010-12-15T11:30:00.001-07:00

I REALLY wanted a calm December. I got all of my Christmas shopping done in November, and after the party at our house last weekend, I was ready to just relax and have fun with the kids. I told Layne that for the rest of December, we're just doing "fun things."

Well, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that I was not meant to have a calm life of organization. Any time my life somewhat approaches that ideal, something happens to quickly throw me off balance.

Tuesday morning I went downstairs to copy something on our printer, as I reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard a gushing of water. Then I realized my socks were soaked. I called Layne downstairs, and we began our day-long ordeal of moving boxes upstairs then eventually to the garage. The seal on part of our toilet had come completely off. (No idea how that happened). Anyway, Layne took the day off of work and we eventually got things somewhat under control. By that, I mean, everything off of the carpet and fans blowing underneath it. What isn't under control, is every other room in our house. It's a mess! Just in time for Christmas.

Trying to laugh so that I don't cry......

basement "stuff" in our living room

Nothing Says 'Merry Christmas' like...

2010-12-14T22:50:00.001-07:00

a flooded basement.

wah

Nerd or Not Nerd

2010-12-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

We are having a party at our house tomorrow and there are several things that I still need to get done. I have a list on the refrigerator of 15 tasks that need to be finished. So now, I go to random.org and they randomly choose a number 1 - 15 and I do the task that corresponds with the randomly generated number. It adds a little excitement to my cleaning. (It's my math layer).

Nerd or not nerd?
Layne says nerd.

Family photos

2010-12-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

I do love taking pictures. Here are some I've taken for a couple of families from the last month:

So gorgeous and handsome.

The light was so beautiful! This was before the inversion...

Impossible to get a bad picture of this little guy!

Darling family.

I just snapped this pictures the other day of a friend's little boy and it kills me every time I look at it! Cutie!

Winter

2010-12-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

I came to this earth with a strong dislike of being cold. Layne's enthusiasm for Winter, however, is infectious and this freezing cold season is beginning to grow on me! I think it's beautiful when it snows and I love the cozy feeling of being warm in my house or in the car when it's cold outside.

The inversion, however, is where the charm of Winter stops for me. Go away so that I can go on a run without exponentially increasing my risk of getting lung cancer.

double trouble

2010-12-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

Sharing a little high-five
I might have mentioned this a time or two, but I love twins. I think these girls are so lucky to have each other. Someone who had twins told me (when the twins were babies) that all babies should come in twos. I literally thought she was crazy. Twice the diapers. Twice the feedings. Twice the getting up in the night. Twice the stressing about weight gain. Then my girls started growing up and becoming best friends. And THEN I understood what she meant.

Grandparents

2010-11-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

My kids are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents, great-grand parents and even a great-great-grandpa! Here are some pictures of the kids "helping" their great-grandma rake leaves, and pull up flowers.

True Love

2010-11-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 3:30 this morning. As I lay in bed listening to Layne fumble around for his ski clothes, I thought to myself, "There is NOTHING in this world, that I would voluntarily get out of bed at 3:30 for. Nothing." That, to me is true unadulterated love. A desire to ski/hike (skin for all of you technical skiers) burning so strong, that you wake up in the middle of the night, essentially, and go ski around the backcountry for 3-5 hours.

Haven't caught the complete vision of this yet, but hey, if that's what makes you happy, Dear, go for it. I'll go back to sleep for another 4 hours and see you in the morning.

Thanksgiving Tree

2010-11-15T20:54:00.001-07:00

Remember the post below where I posted that really embarrassing picture? Well, the purpose of this little get together was more than just a chance to be crazy without kids, look at old high school and college photos and laugh about everything--although it was all of those things. We made a cute little gratitude tree, (inspired by Casey's sister and my friend). I love how it turned out. I think my branches are a little sparse and I may need to add on, but such a great idea. Whenever we think of something we're grateful for this month, we write it on one of these cute little leaves and hang it on the "tree." I want to keep all of the leaves and put them in a book or something like that (maybe a scrapbook??? haven't thought about those since before the twins--ah man, guilt). Anyway, a very simple, but great way to keep us thinking about what we're thankful for this month.

Horses!

2010-11-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

For joy school, we took the kids to ride horses. It was so fun. There were about 10 kids under 4 and it was just as crazy as you'd expect. There is something so great about 3-year-olds. So emotional (why do teenagers get the bad rep?!) with rollercoaster highs and lows. Seriously the cutest age though. It's also nice that I love the moms in our group. Raegan was so concerned about the smell in the barn. I don't know where she gets the "spoiled city-girl" from (although she does probably get her sense of smell from me)!

If you've got it, flaunt it.

2010-11-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

I love it when someone says, "Hey, everyone make a face in this picture," and then you are the only one to make a face....
Oh my goodness, I cringe looking at this picture. I realize that I must have really good self-esteem to post this. That or I just have some brain damage. Anyway, I told my friends that making faces is one of the few things I do REALLY well, so might as well embrace it.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-05T20:05:00.000-06:00

We had a really fun, yet really busy Halloween season (don't you love it when people talk about how busy they are?!--I think it's all of us--anyway...) :) It really was busy. The worst part is that in the madness of everything, I somehow deleted my pictures from Halloween. The worst! The kids were dang cute too. I'll have to steal some pictures from my mom.....in the meantime, here are the girls semi-dressed up for a birthday/Halloween party.

So back to being busy. I think it's funny, because back in college and basically anytime pre-kid I really liked being busy. I would purposely take really hard loads of classes and consequently took on more than I could handle from time to time, but I liked being busy. I liked planning things and going places and being in charge of events. I took on anything. Somewhere between there and here things have changed. I think it's having kids, but I really don't like being busy--at least not all of the time. I love downtime at home, where I can relax and just hang out with the kids and clean. I love going out too, but since I feel like we're always running around crazy (Layne is such an adventurer and we love to go with him), the downtime has become so valuable to me. As I mentioned I had the crazy week from Hades this last week and it was just not fun with kids. Dragging them around to do errands and then staying up way too late to finish things that couldn't be finished while the kids were awake. I was literally going insane. I had a couple of huge things get "finished" (YW in Excellence being one of them) on Tuesday. Wednesday I felt like a free woman! I stayed home all day and played with the kids and cleaned! When Layne got home I confided in him that while the girls napped, I took 20 minutes and just read. A book. For fun. It was amazing. So here's to having lazy days at home every once in a while! I hope I get a few more in before the Holiday craziness (which I do love) begins.

Fall Rides

2010-10-28T23:27:00.000-06:00

Pretty sure I've mentioned how much I love October and really Fall in general. This year I really wanted to get some "action" shots at Snowbasin. I "convinced" (not too hard to do) Layne and friend KDAY to come up so I could take some pictures of them riding. We had about 12 things go wrong that morning and didn't get up there until noon or so. Therefore, the lighting wasn't ideal, but what do you do? I really just needed to get some autumn-picture-taking out of my system.

Love my little grubsters.

Second Generation Buddies

2010-10-24T21:26:00.000-06:00

I made the trek to Provo last week to visit one of my favorite friends, Whitney. I loved these pictures of the twins with her cute little girl. (Her girl is a whole year younger than my girls btw!) They were being such cute little buddies. We took them to the Bean Museum, which brought back many memories for me (as a kid and as a college student).

Race Envy

2010-10-16T22:25:00.000-06:00

This is a condition that I have. I have a particularly bad case and I'm not proud of it. I get it almost anytime I go to a race in which I'm not competing (not swimming though!), even if I didn't previously want to run/do the race. Layne told me that I am not allowed to go to anymore of his races. (Yeah right, although I typically get "race envy" while watching him race, also really really love race atmospheres).

It's particularly bad when I'm pregnant and I have at least a year of non-competitive racing-ness. That is SOOOOOO long for me. It's been kind of bad this year too though. I've had really bad racing luck ever since Boston. (I know, I know, I was planning on taking a LOOOOONNNGGG break after Boston--I guess I just can't break for long or I go nuts). I was going to do the Utah Half Iron, but then Layne and I got tickets for Ukraine and had to leave before the race, so I switched to the Bear Lake Half Iron, I don't need to bring up this drama again...I had to sit out the Wasatch Back Relay so Layne could do it. I was going to do the Dirty Dash, but had to cancel at the last minute. Boo. All of that training and nothing to show for it. I'm in need of a big race to get excited about. Not sure what that is yet, but I'm thinking a marathon and maybe a half iron in the spring (I really need to get one of those out of my system...)

Seriously though, what is my problem? I hope that I am not the only one that deals with "race envy." Maybe we can form some kind of a support group.

Black Gold

2010-10-15T11:08:00.000-06:00

Composting. Just another one of the nerdy gardening things I've gotten into. I actually read about composting for fun. :) It's good for the environment as it reduces waste in landfills, and my garden loves it.

From this:

To this:
Amazing.

Orange

2010-10-12T21:57:00.001-06:00

I've noticed a common thread throughout many areas of my life. The color orange. I love it. It's just so happy and vibrant and October is FULL of it.

Home decor:

Flower gardens:

Clothing:
Pumpkins: (seriously, how did my kids get to be so awesome? trucker hat and sunglasses at a pumpkin patch?:))

Best guy

2010-10-10T21:17:00.000-06:00

My handsome little man turned 5! I cannot believe that I have been a mother for 5 whole years! Trenton is so smart and curious and sometimes I get in trouble because I squeeze him a tinsy too hard or kiss him too much. I can't help it. I totally love this boy (and I love the rad shirt that he designed at my mom's house last week).

PS Layne is the master of nicknames and lately he calls Trenton"best guy." i.e. "Hey best guy, how was your day?" Haha. I love it.

Have you ever heard of "rag curlers?" My mom used to do this to my hair all of the time. It doesn't work perfectly because inevitably some fall out, but sometimes I do it just because it's cute while they're in. :)

My favorite running pal

2010-10-04T21:52:00.000-06:00

My awesome Layne has acquired a new love of running. Layne did the Xduro race at the Xterra a week or so ago. He did awesome and I am kicking KICKING myself for forgetting my camera (I don't ever do that!). It was so beautiful.

Just in the last year or so Layne has started to really enjoy running and it's awesome for me! Whenever we get a bit of time without the kids, we go!

Running at Wild Iris (all pictures with Layne's point and shoot)

Running in Ukraine (such a great way to tour--saw a million sights in an hour and a half)

Running at Snowbasin (my angel mother watched the kids for me for a day).

I'm really loving this. Back in the day, it used to be me (who had only run 57 miles that week and was supposed to get 60) BEGGING Layne at midnight on Saturday (Provo is no place to run alone at midnight!) to come run 3 miles with me because I couldn't possibly only run 57 miles when I was supposed to run 60! Layne would grumble and grumble and finally do it if I was desperate and persistent enough. He knew what he had to do. He was in love, we were newlyweds, but he let it be known that he was NOT happy about it. (In fact, he's still a little bitter about it). Glad those days are long gone and now I'm only half as psycho about my running mileage. Being married has been good for me. :)

My little proteges..

2010-09-26T21:36:00.000-06:00

We signed our kids up for the kids race the night before the Ogden Xterra. Oh my goodness. CUTEST thing in the whole world. I was talking to Layne about how we should maybe sign T up for soccer or something because we haven't put him in any sports or anything yet, and Trenton overheard us and said, "that's OK because I RACE!" Heck ya. That is my boy. :) They had little medals for each of the kids and called their names individually. I think the kiddies felt pretty rad.

Feeling well-trained. :)

Feeling strong.

Hydrating.

Stretching.

And they're off...

Finishing Strong.

Hello Caldwell kids dominating the front of the picture.

I, of course, want the kids to do what they want in life and if our kids don't want to run/ski/rock climb or do any of the things we love to do, that's fine. If they do want to run, however, I will wholeheartedly encourage it. There are so many important life lessons to be learned while running. Hard work, goal setting, and leadership are just a few that come to mind. I've had fun trying new sports and activities, but I always come back to running. I feel the most beautiful, and confident when I run (sweaty flushed face and all).

Does it sound like I'm bearing my testimony of running? Well, then...Amen.

family

2010-09-20T21:23:00.000-06:00

I love my mom and sisters. They are the best! I hope that I can have the same kind of friendship with my girls. (I've drilled the fact that we are all best friends into their brains pretty good so far--although sometimes the disciplining thing gets in the way...).

World Travels--Paris, France edition

2010-09-18T10:06:00.000-06:00

This is the last installment of my world travels series. Unless you really want to hear about our stop in Cincinnati....

Anyway, Layne and I had a 14 hour overnight layover in France. We were extremely tired, but decided we had to go out and see the sights while we were there. Fortunately for us (we arrived at 8:00PM--didn't leave the airport until 10:00PM) there is quite the night life scene in Paris and we were nearly always surrounded by tons of people. Unfortunately none of the pics are fabulous because it was so dark out. I was so excited to be here, I've always wanted to visit Paris, I only wish we could have stayed a little longer than 14 hours!

Notre Dame.

Arc de Triomphe

The Louve courtyard. We enjoyed a nice international meal here (Sorry Paris, but everything you had for sale, including McDonald's, was way too expensive for us). We had crackers from Ukraine, Peanuts leftover from Mexico, Tuna and granola we brought from the states and water from Paris. It was delicious.....especially as we walked by so many amazingly scrumptious looking restaurants.

Eiffel Tower (love the couple trying to make our picture romantic).

We finally took a cab back to the airport around 2:00AM (which felt like 3:00AM Ukraine time) and had an uncomfortable, terrible two or so hours of sleep on the airport benches. I was never happier to see the sun as I was the next morning.
Thus concludes our world travels for probably several years. Next time we'll hopefully be able to take the kiddies with us...and a nanny.

World Travels--L'viv, Ukraine edition

2010-09-13T23:07:00.001-06:00

We took an overnight train to L'viv--an area Layne served in on his mission for quite a while. It was such a charming little city with cobblestone streets and colorful buildings. It was rainy and cold most of our time there so Layne spoiled me with a cute umbrella, so I'd fit in with all of the fashionable locals. (My baggie jeans were working against my cause of blending in...:)).

It's so hard to narrow down to a few pictures, but here goes:
We met the nicest guy named Stephan, who showed us around the city. He took us to this awesome underground restaurant where we didn't fit in at all because we weren't locals, drinking, or in college...but very unique and interesting atmosphere nonetheless.

We met up with a local climber (I know, who knew there'd be climbing in Ukraine) who took us to this cool place near the edge of the Carpathian Mountains. It was fun, although I certainly didn't climb much because I was using all of my energy to keep my body heated. It was COLD!
These kids were watching Layne like he was a rockstar. One of the dudes was smoking....yeah, he's like, 10.

Another reason I didn't spend too much time climbing was this rope.....he told us that he took an eight meter fall on it recently and he survived so in his mind it was good to go.....
fun!
Layne gave this babushka some treats. It looks to me like she's giving them to the pigeons. I want them back!

YUM!
That's all of L'viv for now. I loved it though and may just want to move there someday....:)

World Travels--Kyiv, Ukraine edition

2010-09-10T09:33:00.000-06:00

Our trip to Ukraine was prompted by the dedication of a temple in Kyiv (where Layne served his mission). The temple was actually announced before Layne even served his mission, so it's been in the works for a very long time! It's also the first in Eastern Europe and I think it serves 9 countries (I could be off). Anyway, we decided it was probably now or never, and went for it! We missed the kids like crazy, but had so much fun. I loved seeing people and places from Layne's mission. It really was a once in a lifetime experience for us.

Our first few days in Kyiv were a whirlwind. There were lots of church/mission gatherings. We renewed and made some new friendships with former missionaries and wives. I'm so glad there were other wives there because it was quite frustrating never being able to read or understand anything--unless I gave Layne a little kick to interpret. Such a helpless feeling! Despite the language barrier, it was really fun and exhausting! Layne and I both had some serious issues adjusting to the time change, I don't think I slept (unaided) through the night until we'd been there about 6 days--just in time for us to come back to the good old US and adjust back!

Some members of one of the branches

Former missionaries

Cultural Celebration

Temple Dedication

Being tourists--beautiful Cathedrals

I loved the architecture and the fashion! Most of the clothes I brought were jeans and t-shirt style and I was WAAAAYYYY underdressed everywhere we went. It kind of cracked me up! Stone washed jeans are the rage.

World Travels--Puerto Vallarta edition

2010-09-07T14:15:00.000-06:00

We went to Mexico with the older siblings in my fam.

It was so fun and relaxing. We spent many hours at the beach reading, napping and in and out of the waves.

Some of the highlights for me:

learning how to surf (I was always too wimpy in the freezin' cold Nor Cal waves).
a few of us took surf lessons
Joe and I sharing a wave.
tired!
Layne--the pro
swimming with dolphins (untrained dolphins in the wild)--so AMAZING. Something like this would never fly in the US. No life jackets, untrained dolphins, no waivers....loved it.
Layne is looking the wrong direction...:)
Saw one of my favorite friends/former young woman, Missy.

We did a zipline tour, I don't have any of the pictures from it right now, but I do have a picture of Kelsey with her Mexican boyfriend
the fam

Back from our World TOUR!

2010-09-06T13:50:00.000-06:00

I'm really excited to share some of our adventures, but for now, I'm busy doing laundry and hugging these guys. (Trenton was not available for photographing).

Date Night

2010-08-18T13:15:00.000-06:00

The other day Layne and I went on a date and as we were walking out of the movie theater, HOLDING HANDS, Layne said to me, "being married is pretty cool." (Which in Layne speak is, "I am the most incredibly lucky man to be married to you." He likes to understate things:)) I agree. I quite like being married to you, Layne Caldwell.

Such a lovely picture with dirty dishrags behind us. :) (Feb. 2010--Logan Yurt)

Our own Bountiful Harvest

2010-08-16T08:04:00.000-06:00

I love the summers when all we eat for dinner comes straight from our very own back yard.

Roses

2010-08-14T13:00:00.000-06:00

Cute little Max gave Raegy and Sadie roses and necklaces for their birthday. So adorable! It was the perfect opportunity for a little photo shoot (sorry the roses are starting to sag, it was a couple of days later).

And then they hugged.

And then they had a little sword fight and cried that the pedals fell off.

The meanest thing Layne has ever done to me.

2010-08-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

Speaking of triathlons...
This was the very first Tri I ever did. Yuba.
For whatever reason, Layne had been given the responsibility to pack my bike and helmet. Let's actually back up for a minute.

While running at BYU one day in 2003ish, I was hit by a car. I was very lucky and the only injuries I sustained were a little whiplash and some road rash. It was pretty scary and I knew that I was very lucky.

Our good friends, Steve and Ashley, heard of the incident and got me this "Safety helmet" to wear while running. You never know when you'll need one! The helmet was awesome and had some great sayings on it, although I can't quite remember exactly what it said...

So anyway, we get to Yuba Lake and start setting up my transitions. With a big grin on his face, Layne pulls out this "safety helmet" (which is a children's size!). "Haha," I think, "So where's my real helmet?" Layne still smirking informs me that he really wanted me to wear this one, he knew I wouldn't if I had the option of the real cycling helmet, so he decided to take the option away from me. Ooooh, I was ticked! I had to do the whole stupid race with this children's helmet (which I love Steve and Ash, just not for riding my bike!) and it totally squished my brains out and gave me a massive headache by the end.

I guess it's a funny story now, but I'll tell you one thing: I'm fairly confident that Layne would know to NEVER play that little trick again. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," is all I have to say.

Disappointment of the Century

2010-08-09T22:44:00.001-06:00

I have mentioned once or twice on here that I'm training for a half ironman triathlon. It has been such an up and down roller coaster for me. I have enjoyed the training, but it's also been hard. Hard to fit it all in, hard to still be the mother, housekeeper, cook, wife, etc. that I want to be while training. I have put my whole heart into prepping for this race (and I'll admit that I'm quite under trained, but i have trained the best I can in my circumstances--ie while still being a good mommy). The race was to be in 5 days! I just received an email from the race director telling me/all of us that the race has been canceled due to threats received by another race director. I don't know whether this is true or not, but really stupid either way. How can you cancel a race this big 5 days before the event? I needed to know that I could do this. I'm so heart broken.

No more binkis!

2010-08-08T20:54:00.000-06:00

This has been our mantra going into the girls 3rd birthday. "When you turn 3, NO MORE BINKIS." This may or may not have been successful.

Anyway, these two beautiful ladies turned 3.
I love how they are so different. They each bring their own unique flavor to our family.

Top 3 things I currently love about Raegan:

~She has an infectious belly laugh--she always has. I love her laugh. It's to die for.
~She is doing so good without her binki. I'm proud of her. Hard to give up something you've used for comfort for 3 YEARS!
~She is my little buddy. She'll follow me around while the other two are playing and talk my ear off. She's so observant, I love some of the things she's been saying lately, like to Sadie, "stop bossing me around!"

LOVE LOVE LOVE my Raegies.

Top 3 things I currently love about Sadie:
~Sadie has such good energy. She is so lively and happy. I love to be around her.
~She is a peacemaker with the other two kids, always trying to take care of Raegan (or defend her if any other kid gets near her).
~She loves to snuggle and how can I not love that?! It directly benefits me every day.

Love you so much Saders.

Spud 2010

2010-08-01T21:00:00.000-06:00

The bad news is that my dad had a pretty bad bike crash during the race and got to take an ambulance ride (with my mom) to the ER. He seems to be doing fine, but has some serious soreness, swelling, and road rash to go along with a concussion. My mom was, fortunately, just behind him in the bike and came upon him just a few minutes after his crash. Apparently nobody witnessed it, so we're not sure exactly what happened, but the good news is that he's OK.

The competitors:
Me with my game face on

Tiff with her babes

Joe

Kels

Dad

Mom

Uncle Mark

Mason

Friend Shannon

Friend Casey

The cheering crew
Loved my new wetsuit (although it didn't help me swim to a PR swim time unfortunately.

Our tent city
It was a good race for me, but not great. I'm just bad enough at the swim to pretty much take me out of spud trophy contention. Bummer. Maybe I will work on that for next year.

Spudman Past

2010-07-31T20:56:00.000-06:00

This year I participated in my 5th Spudman Triathlon. I thought it'd be fun to reminisce on years past (depressing though that I look so much older now). My family has made this into quite the tradition over the years.

First Year 2003
My introduction to the Spud. No kids yet. Layne and I drove up with our friends Nan and Aaron Kennard and slept overnight in a potato field (we didn't get there until really late because of school). We got drenched by the sprinklers. My bike got a flat tire with 7ish miles to go. I rode the rest of the ride on a flat. Oops. Don't remember if I ruined the rim to that bike wheel....

Second Spud 2004
My best run time 41:00 minutes. We convinced some friends to go up to the race and do it with us. There was some funny business going on, though, but I'll not talk about it on the blog. Ask me.

Third Spud 2006
Read about it here. Trenton was a youngin' and the night before was EPIC. (We got drenched by sprinklers again).

Fourth Spud 2009
Did it with my mom, Kels, Dad, Layne, Jeff and others. Tiff was there to cheer us on. Layne had a smokin' fast time.

Hold your breath until tomorrow and I'll let you in on the details of Spud 2010.

Weekend warriors

2010-07-26T20:50:00.000-06:00

Layne and I have made a point to try and visit some of the old favorite climbing spots as a family this year. We made it to Maple Canyon last month, and this last week had a fun little rendezvous at Wild Iris. Our kids are at a good age to have fun and hang out at the crag with us. I think they like to go climbing as much as we do. When we asked them if they wanted to go camping they were like, "yeah AND climbing!!!"

We went down with our friends the Ridds and met up with Anthony, one of Layne's old climbing buddies, and his wife Marion. Although they don't have kids and are way better climbers than I am, they were totally cool to hang out with us and we had so much fun. Sadie was flirting like crazy with Anthony, it was pretty hilarious. Raegan thought that he was Joseph Smith. :)

Layne and I went running one morning and saw a couple of cayotes. Layne thought I was a wimp because it freaked me out.

Hiking, eating, climbing, sleeping, getting dirty. Perfect weekend.

I conquered...

2010-07-26T20:44:00.000-06:00

...this pile of laundry.
Plus a couple (3 more loads). We had an amazing weekend of camping/climbing at Wild Iris (more on that later). Today, though, the big victory of my life is getting the laundry done, car cleaned, and the very neglected flower beds in front weeded.

decisions, decisions!

2010-07-19T11:00:00.000-06:00

Layne went on his mission to Kiev Ukraine. A few months before he got his mission call, a temple was announced to be built in Kiev. It's finally been built, and the dedication is in a month. Some other missionaries from Ukraine began talking about going to the dedication and so we started looking at prices to see if it would even be feasible. Well, things totally fell into place and after some intense deliberation and consideration, we booked two flights for Ukraine with skymiles! I can't believe we're actually doing this. I've ALWAYS wanted to go back to Layne's mission, and never knew if we'd ever get the chance.

It seems though, that with every decision (even if it's a really cool exciting one) there are always some sacrifices. For instance, I'm already super bummed about leaving the kids. It's going to be mega hard. Also, we will be gone over the weekend of the half ironman that I was planning on doing. I've been looking forward to this for months and months, so I'm sad. However, I've been doing a little research and found another half (which is incidentally in 4 weeks) and my training partner and understanding friend Kristin, has agreed to switch to do this half also. I'm terrified because I'm severely under trained, but as long as I don't drown, I know I can finish. Wish me luck on the drowning thing and I'll try to get as much training in in the next month as possible to avoid humiliation!

Freedom

2010-07-18T22:33:00.000-06:00

T has a little obsession with "freedom" lately. These are some questions/conversations that we've had in the past month:

"What is freedom?"
"Why do we live in a free country?"
"What does freedom mean?"
"Does California have freedom?"
"What about Kentucky?"
"I for sure know that the Caldwells have freedom because they live in Salt Lake."

Yesterday I told Trenton that it was time to turn the TV off. He turned away from me and said, "No. I have freedom."

Lesson on freedom: check
Next lesson: consequences