niners!

I ran nine miles on Saturday! Woo woo! My legs were so tired the rest of the day, but today I feel fine. The other two girls I run with are considering doing a full marathon in December, but I've decided I have no desire. As much as I've enjoyed training for this race, every night before our long runs I get soooo nervous and the anxiousness is not worth it to me. I do want to keep up running afterwards, maybe three or four times a week. I really enjoy the time alone, or with friends, and feel so good afterwards. Anyhow, I'm babbling... Yay! I ran nine miles!

Jim Is Legal

Happy Birthday Jim. Enjoy the day, but remember to Return With Honor. I love you.

some of Addie's recent pictures

The first picture is her and Macie. If you look carefully, you'll see she's spelled Macie's name all over the page. My favorite part are the antanae looking things on the top of Macie's head, they are her pony tails.

The second picture is, hopefully fairly obviously, a PIG--spelled backwards. She even tried to draw the hooves correctly.

Jason is very proud because she's always quite concerned with getting the eyes correct on her people. Haha. She is becoming quite the little artist.

it's great to be EIGHT

This morning I ran EIGHT MILES. It was hard...so hard...but I finished! The last mile was the l-o-n-g-e-s-t mile I have ever run, but I didn't give up. I think I'm more proud that I ran the entire last mile than I am that I ran eight miles. It was so hard. Hopefully next Saturday will be better. BUT YEAH! This is the farthest I have ever run and I wanted to boast a little! Yay me!

Ingenuity

The other night, Harvey was eating carrots with his dinner. We usually give him some ranch to dip carrots in, because he'll eat more carrots that way, but I had forgotten to give him some. So after a couple minutes he said, "Dad, I can have some ranch?"

For a long time, whenever he asked for something without using "please", we'd correct him and make him ask again. That didn't seem to improve the situation very much. So we started telling him, "No, you can't have that because you didn't say please. You can ask again in a few minutes and say please." He always remembered to say "please" the second time, and it did seem to help in reminding him to use it the first time he asked.

Now we've decided to try flat out denial, no second chance. So when he asked, "Dad, I can have some ranch?", I told him no, because he hadn't said "please". He didn't say anything else, so I thought that was that. Apparently, though, he thought I meant to ask again later (probably because we've just started the no-second-chance thing), because in a few minutes he very politely asked, "Dad, please I can have some ranch?"

This time, I explained to him that he wouldn't be getting ranch, because he hadn't said "please" the first time he asked. He was quite upset by that, and had a small fit, but he calmed down pretty fast. He went back to eating.

A few minutes later, "Dad, I can have some ketchup, please?"

The big 34!

Yeah for Mom and Dad. Happy Anniversary you guys. Thanks for staying married for so long. :)

flat stanley

We got an awesome letter in the mail yesterday from Chelsea.  She sent us a little man (Flat Stanley) she had colored in school and asked us to keep him for a week and take pictures with him and have him participate in our lives.  Today we had some sun and a little warmth so the kids and I went to the lake to throw rocks and play with some friends.  I picked up Stanley and took him with me.  Here's a few pictures from the day.

We are enjoying him so far, Chelsea, we'll make sure you get some pictures at the end of the his week with us.  Thanks for sending him!

Starting already

I was getting Harvey dressed this morning, and pulled out a white polo shirt with little whales embroidered all over it. Very cute.

Me: How about this shirt?
Harvey: No, Dad. That's not cool.

Laughing, I pull out a t-shirt with the word HAWK written all over it. It's a hand-me-down from Oliver, so I'm guessing HAWK is a skateboard or snowboard brand.

Me: Okay, how about this one. It says the word "hawk" all over it.
Harvey: Yeah, that one's cool. Wait til Simon sees it!

My 3-year-old is already telling me what's cool and what's not. I guess I was naive to think I had a few more years before that started.

Sad news

Yesterday morning, before church, we found that one of our rabbits, May, was injured, pretty badly. We brought her and her sister in the house and put them under the heat lamp, hoping that May would improve, but she died this morning, early. The kids are pretty sad, but are handling it much better than I thought they would. To be honest, I expected a total melt down like they did when Princess Fluffy's kittens were killed. They haven't acted that way at all though, which is a good thing for me. It breaks my heart to have my kids so sad. We've decided to keep her body and bury her when we can dig a hole. I know it sounds gross, but I think it will help the kids have better closure. I'll do anything to help them get through this better. This is the part I hate about having pets!

Camping

Dad made the reservations at the campground, so we are all set. He, Jim and I will be in a kamping kabin, and the rest of you are at tent sites. All of the tent sites are together. Everyone, except Hillary, should be there Wednesday (June 15th) through Saturday (June 18th). Hillary will get there on Thursday (June 16th) and leave on Saturday like the rest of us. I'm so excited about this, I think it will be fun.

Snowmagaden II

These are pictures from our first snowfall, termed Snowmagaden by some.




You can't even see the goats' water tank. It was completely buried.


Notice the pool ladder that we use to get over the fence. It actually has three rungs, but the bottom one is very much covered.

We had a fun snow storm roll in yesterday afternoon. It snowed through the night and left us about 10 inches. Charlie and I even say a flash of snow lighting. Pretty fun. The kids were already out of school for mid-winter break, but there could be a chance of no school tomorrow, depending on how well the roads get cleaned up. I thought I'd post some pictures of our snow from yesterday. It was quite the load we got from the last snow storm, but it's a good amount. I posted pictures from the last snowfall so you can compare.

First church dance

What a fun time for cousins to share. Lexi and her cousins, Sierra and Tasha, were able to go to their first church dance together on Saturday night. They all had a blast and were all smiles when they arrived home. I'm so glad they were able to go together.

Merrit's ordination

Merrit was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood on Saturday evening. We are so blessed to have him in our family. Unfortunately, he didn't feel well that day. We are so glad to so many of our family were able to be there with us.

growing, growing, growing!

Carson turned 3 months old yesterday! I feel like the last 3 months have gone by so quickly. He rolled from his stomach to his back on Wednesday for the first time, and is working on becoming a pro. This is earlier than both of the girls, they each rolled at four months. I guess it might be true what they say, that boys just want to MOVE! As of this morning, he weighed 11lbs 2oz. Haha, small little Hair children.

And here is a cute picture of Macie saying "Cheese!" I think she looks so big in this picture, she is really growing up and can say all kids of things now.

Oh yeah, and I ran 6 miles this morning! I was pretty worried going into the run, but I finished! Yay me!

Winter Pictures

When you think you're sick of winter, just think of these birds and realize how easy and warm you have it! We were nice and warm in our house and took these pictures out of the window. I thought it might brighten your day.

Weekend getaway

Although this is Mom's site, this is Dad writing. I took half a day vacation on Friday and Mom and I went up to Midland to attend a concert performance by The 5 Browns. Here's their website for those who may not have heard about them: http://www.the5browns.com/. They are five young members of the Church who attended Juilliard music school together; the first family admitted simultaneously and graduated together. They have been performing since and have been featured on a number of TV shows including "60 Minutes." The concert was amazing! They performed a few numbers as a group; all five playing together. Two of the girls performed a couple of numbers together; each of the boys and one of the girls performed solo numbers. The five of them came out and signed autographs in the lobby for everyone who wanted to stay (I of course, who has a problem with idol worship, waited and had them sign my program; as well as the oldest boy signing my ticket -- he performed the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 as a solo and was magnificent). All in all we had a very nice evening (which also included dinner, of course).

The next day we spent the morning driving around Midland and Bay City taking in all the sights. I am adding the picture of the Midland County Court House, a building way out of the ordinary; much different than any court house you have ever seen. The houses in downtown Bay City were also amazing; many old turn of the century mansions. We then ended up in Frankenmuth and enjoyed lunch at Zehnders and, unfortunately, bought some sweets at their bakery. (Now Mom is making me take the blueberry crumb cake to work so we won't have to eat it. I'm happy to oblige her because I don't need all those calories either. ) We had a wonderful time together just relaxing and being together.

As is our wont when they come up, we drove through the Midland Cemetery and found a real cool grave marker in the shape of a tree I will add. We also saw a neat pine tree separated into three large branches; I don't think I ever seen such pronounced branches in a pine tree before. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

ME: an accounting

So, as far as my goals for this year, I'm doing decent on some, not so great on others. On Saturday I ran 5 miles! I'm on par with my training to finish the half-marathon on April 9th. The hardest part of this is just getting out of bed in the morning. I think it's that way with any exercise routine.

I'm not losing weight the way I wanted to. I still have 19 pounds to go to get to my pre-prengnacy weight, and I only had gained 30 altogether! Grrr. The five pounds I gained at Mom and Dad's over Christmas was a big set-back. All that dip and cookies, mmmm.... I've given up chocolate for the YEAR and that has been helpful, and surprisingly easy so far. I'm considering giving up all sweets and treats until Jason's graduation date--MAY 20TH FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT TO COME!!! (A subtle hint that we'd love to have you here.) I'm still trying to decide if quitting sweets cold turkey is the way to go. You'd think that nursing and running would have more of an impact...AND we're eating healthier! I know I just have to start counting calories, but I really really really don't want to.

As for my last goal, my scripture reading has been pretty dismal. Jason and I keep discussing new strategies to help me improve, we'll see how this next week fares.

Oh yeah, and Jason was THRILLED at the outcome of the Superbowl! Here is a cute pic of what we did during the game. If you can't tell, Macie is wearing a Steelers dress sent to us from her uncle just to bug Jason, and Addie is wearing a Green Bay shirt. Addie is saying "Go Green Bay!"

Merrit is 12!

These are the yummy "monster cookies" I made for Merrit's class today to celebrate his birthday. I wasn't planning on doing treats this year, but on the way out the door this morning for the bus Chelsea said to me, "So Mom, are you going to bring Merrit's treat up later?" I knew then that I'd be in trouble if I didn't. So I scrambled to fit it in. It was interesting to fit it in because I hadn't planned to in the first place, but it all worked out in the end.

I can't believe I have an almost-deacon in my house now (as soon as he's ordained next weekend). He's such a good kid. I'm so blessed to be his mom. Love you Merrit!

Jellystone Campground

I checked out the website of the Jellystone Campground at Indian River (the one that Heather talked about). It looks like it has lots of fun stuff for the kids to do, such as a pool, miniature golf, hiking trail, outdoor movies at night etc. They have tent sites, a few camping cabins, even pop ups that you can rent to stay it. Why don't all of you look at the site and comment on it here. Heather says that there are other places to camp also if we choose not to go to Jellystone. I think we should make a decision soon however, so that we can get reservations made.

Is Everyone Alright?

Since all of us were hit by this massive storm last night, I just want to check and make sure that we are all safe. It's hard to stop being a mother and worrying about all of you.