character counts

at school today jack earned the character counts award and he couldn't have been more excited.  he wasn't expecting it at all so when they called his name he jumped right up and did his signature arm flaps and raced to grab his award from the prinicipal.

we are so proud of our jack and the sweet boy that he is.  he is trying hard and we love him so very much!!

10 years and cruising

this is really late in coming but i had to document this monumental occasion.  not only have john and i been married for 10 years now but john actually took me on a cruise to celebrate.  my mom once again came to our rescue and came down to watch our boys so we could go.  we went on the mexican riviera cruise and had a blast.cruise life

we had three full days at sea but we managed to keep ourselves busy.  we worked out a bit, laid out by the pool, hot tubbed, did some line dancing, cha cha and michael jackson's thriller, john performed some karaoke, hit the comedy club several times, played volleyball, saw tons of dolphins and whales, read some books, watched tons of movies, enjoyed all the food and of course caught up on some sleep.

and every night when we got back from dinner they always had towel animals and chocolates on the bed.  pretty amazing the things they can create from towels.

cabo day 1

the first day off the ship was in cabo san lucas and we hit the shops and ate some local food and of course got tricked into being serenaded for 2 bucks.  we are such suckers!!  after that we found a local deal for 4 wheelers and headed out.  we had a blast and john and i each almost flipped ourselves over the handler bars, but only once.  it was so fun to ride around the beach and go over the sand dunes.  while we were riding we got to see more whales it was pretty amazing.  don't we look awesome with our gear on.  after we were done i was so caked in sand that my eyelashes were white and my tears had dirt in them.  i also ruined my shirt but it was well worth it.

cabo day 2 

the second day in cabo we thought we would take it easy and let our bodies recover from the 4 wheeling.  we took a water taxi around and saw lovers beach, the arch and my favorite part was seeing the seal chilling on the rocks.

while we were in cabo so was this amazing yacht.  we heard so many theories as to who it belong to.  one was that it was an advertisement for the makers of the yacht, they like to park it down there for all the multi-billionaires that hang out in cabo.  another one was that it was owned by the guy from john deer.  but my favorite and the one i choose to believe is that it belongs to bill gates and he lends it out to his executives.  the thing was incredible, it had its own helicopter.

puerto vallarta

before the cruise i had heard a lot about the zip lining they have in puerto vallarta and i was determined to go.  john was a trooper, he is a bit afraid of heights but he went and he had a blast.  it was so cool to leave the city and go up into the mountains and see the beautiful jungle.  now in full disclosure the pictures of the people zip lining are obviously not of us because we were too cheap to pay the $45 to get our own and they wouldn't let you bring your own camera but they were part of our group.  i put the picture of the guy hanging upside down because i went down one line hanging upside down.  after we got all the way down the zip lines we got to ride mules up to the top.  after all of that excitement they had an awesome restaurant with the best rice and beans i've had.

after zip lining we walked and shopped in the town and had some mexican coke in a bottle. we had a ton of fun on the cruise, we missed the boys a lot but it was so nice to get to be together as husband and wife and celebrate 10 years of wedded bliss. i'd marry this crazy man of mine all over again, i'm glad he is mine for eternity.

spring training

we have lived in arizona for four years now and we have had every intention of going to a spring training game and finally this year we went.  angels vs. padres and we are happy to report that the angels whooped up on the padres.  go angels!!!  sammy had a blast wondering around the grass and climbing up on the fence to "watch" the game.  jack had a blast doing the cheers and lounging on the blankets.  all in all i would say it was a success and we might actually do it again.

orange belt

last friday was tae kwon do graduation and jack couldn't have been more excited to get his orange belt,  he had been talking about for weeks!  here is a little of jack's skills of course done jack style but i'm so impressed with how well he did and really loves doing it.

and now to introduce our little orange belt...

we decided to sign jack up for tee ball with his friend cohen this year and last night was his first game.  i was really proud of jack he hit well and he focused on the game for the most part.  towards the end he started to get "tired" so he sat down while he was suppose to be manning third base.  sammy and i cheered jack on and played in the rocks, grass and trees.

the debut...

here it is!! the fruits of all our labors... love this quiet book.  jack had a blast playing with this in church on sunday.  sam is still a too small to understand how cool it really is but he will get there soon enough.  thanks ladies for all the hard work it turned out great.  now all i have to do is make a cover.

karate kid

we have started jack in karate.  so far so good.  he is really enjoying it and is trying hard.  i think he looks pretty handsome in his uniform!

my latest stress

a while back i was talking to a friend and she told me about a quiet book page swap she was doing with some of her friends.  i have always wanted a quiet book for my boys so we decided to do a swap with some girls in our ward.  silly me i forgot that i really don't know how to sew and i for sure didn't know how to thread my sewing machine but hey i totally got this.  we set up the group figured out what our pages were going to be and off we went.  well i didn't really get going right away because i was in the middle of training and to be perfectly honest i was nervous about how my pages would turn out.

finally after my race i really got down to business bought my materials started cutting my felt and even busted out the good old sewing machine.  luckily i have an amazing husband who can mess around with anything and figure out to work things and he got my machine up and going, he even sewed a few of my shapes for my pages.  i sewed a few things and discovered i really don't know how to sew curves, i've never put in a zipper and i for sure don't know how to do button holes.  well again i'm a lucky girl and i had my in laws here for christmas and my mother in law came to my rescue, she helped with all that hard stuff and even managed to teach me a few of the things.  needless to say i would have been in serious trouble if she wasn't here, so thank you, thank you, thank you anna!!

here is the fruits of my labor, totally not perfect but i'm still pretty happy with how they turned out.

i will do another post once i get all the other pages from the swap, but from this experience i have to come to learn that i really do enjoy sewing and creating stuff.  it is very satisfying.

christmas weekend

this weekend has been packed with christmas activities. first up was organ stop pizza and temple lights. if you have never been to organ stop pizza you are missing out!! the pizza is ok but boy oh boy let me tell you that the organ playing is AMAZING. the guy even takes requests. ok, really the crowd that goes there is 60 and over but the kids all loved it and we had a blast watching the kids dance and cheer for all the music.

it isn't really christmas time until you go to see the temple lights and we just barely made it right before christmas. i love seeing my boys explore the grounds and ooh and aah at all the lights.


christmas eve we had all of john's family up to our house for the day. we listened to christmas songs as we cleaned and cooked to gets us in the christmas spirit. we had our traditional dinner of ham and funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, homemade rolls and pie for dessert. after dinner the kids got to open their pj's and then we read from luke 2 and had the kids use a nativity to bring in the right characters at the right time. lilly and jack did an amazing job even if sammy kept coming in to destroy things. we sang some songs and then it was off to see the christmas dancing lights at our neighbor's house.



christmas morning jack and sam actually slept until 6:45, which is late for them. we had nanna and papa with us christmas morning and they were up way before us waiting to be able to go down stairs to open presents. the boys came down to a note from santa and his gifts to them and their stockings. it was really fun to see sammy understand more about christmas this year and open some of his presents. jack was a very lucky boy this year and got everything he asked santa for. lucky for us he didn't ask for too much.

after breakfast it was time for church and we were really lucky because our ward choir is amazing!! the only down side to the whole day is the fact that my family is sick and not up for doing anything. we had a very merry christmas and are so grateful for our Savior, the gift of His atonement and are so glad we have this season to reflect upon His birth and all that He did for us during His time here on earth. we hope that you all had a very merry christmas too!

Merry Christmas

we visited santa

for fhe this last week we went over to santa's house. jack was very excited to finally be able to get to tell santa what he wants for christmas.

sammy not so much!


merry christmas!!

"tri" what!!?!?!?!?

back in the summer i got to talking with my friend tausha and at the end of our conversation she managed to convince me that i could do a sprint triathlon. silly me!! well i managed to convince my good friend ashley to do it with me, silly her!! so off we went to train and train and train for this dang race. there were so many times that i wanted to give up but never did.

the morning of the race it was overcast and it sprinkled rain off and on and it was so so so cold.

first up the 1/4 mile swim. the only part of the tri that i actually felt good about.

yes that is me holding onto the edge of the pool, trying to catch my breath before going under the lane line for my next lap. i managed to pass several people in the swim but that is where it ended.

second the 12 mile bike. my second "best" event in the wonderful triathlon. during that section of the race i really grew to hate the phrase "on your left," which pretty much means you are going too slow and i'm passing you. needless to say i heard that a lot!! but i kept trucking and i actually got to utter that dreaded phrase a couple times myself. it's the little things that keep you going.

that tiny person in the blue shirt in the back is me.

finally the awful, dreadful, loathsome 3 mile run. can you tell i don't like running? i actually pretty much HATE running. getting off the bike my legs felt like cement blocks and it was hard going and i will admit i walked way too much but i also ran and i'm proud to say that i finished the race and i never stopped moving.


that's me crossing the finish line and i never felt so happy to be done!!

this is my girl ashley!! without her i wouldn't have done the dang triathlon. she made training fun and something to look forward to. we are eating our orange slices and drinking our water like true athletes, so she tells me. thanks ashley for torturing yourself with me.

this is tausha, my cheerleader, my coach and my inspiration. the one who started it all. thanks tausha for saying i could do it and always encouraging me.

couple things i learned from doing a triathlon:

• exercising with a friend is the way to go
• i hate running!
• i can do hard things
• i have amazing friends
• i have a super supportive husband who let me leave him every night to go and train. i love you, hooch!!
• i AM a triathlete!
  
  

star performer!!

today jack had his thanksgiving program at school, and john and i were beaming with pride. jack was well behaved and he did such an awesome job. i can't believe how fast he has grown up and how mature he is getting. we are so proud of our little "native american."

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

happy halloween

love,

yoda and obi wan