Gi-ar-di-a

Has anyone ever had Giardia? yes the bug or parasite, that you get from hiking and drinking out of a stream 0r I should say drinking downstream...

We probably don't have it but seriously, We have had some nasty nausea and stomach issues for the last week or so... I'm over it but now it's Ryan's turn...I'm hoping it passes Kate by. So I got online to look up our symptoms and it matches Giardia.. lovely!

Anyhoo I have not been thinking blogging mode for a long time even though I have lots of things that have impressed my mind lately. I haven't blogged about them because they are pretty personal but I have to say that I'm looking at life in a whole new light mainly because I'm understanding the gospel AND Jesus Christ in a way I hadn't before, and I feel that when you get a glimpse of what the gospel really is (and when i say glimpse I really only mean a taste or instead of a teaspoon maybe just a pinch) of what Christ means when he says HE is the living water and by drinking from his fountain we will never thirst more...So when I get a pinch of that I feel what true happiness is and could be in my life. And truly I have a very happy life.. there is just so much more out there that we don't even know about-or I guess I should say... I ....didn't
know about-

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is really where we will find lasting happiness, and I'm so happy to be a part of it.

so that's kind of where I've been lately, and about drinking from His living water I'd much prefer that than downstream water that apparently Ryan and I have been drinking from.

Cotase: toothpaste

Family Pictures

Thanksgiving 2008

thanksgiving consisted of sleeping in till 9:00... getting ready and going to Jays...

We started our first Wells family 5k turkey trot this year and had a good turnout...Samantha and Steven came of course, Jen came and I am so excited to say that Ryan and Jay came (there was a little kicking and screaming but they came:)

after the run we got ready for the day and cooked till everything was done.. and had a super nice dinner....Kate slept while we ate and just as we finished she woke up so I got to sit down and eat my whole meal with no interruptions... ( although I will say that she was an angel face today, and lately, I've enjoyed every second with her-she probably hasn't changed, I've just had a outlook shift perhaps). Jen had some fun decorations thanks to Paula (her mom) which I'm thankful for because it made for a nice meal and a nice time spent together.

After we ate we went and did a pinata in their basement and the kids loved it... Kate, Ryan, and i all got to take a few whacks at it, and of course the kids loved the candy part.

The turkey tiredness started setting in so we didn't quite get to the bowling part of the day, and people started packing up to go home. Kate and I eventually came home leaving Ryan at Jays cuz we're in a fight......Just Kidding he is going pheasant hunting in the morning with the men...

Can I just say that I feel really lucky to have Ryan as a husband, he has let me go and do a lot of girl stuff and I'm excited that he gets to finally get out and go do some man time. I hope he has a good time, he deserves it.

So we're home and Kate's in bed and I'm just trying to figure out what I want to do with myself tomorrow...something fun I hope

Thanksgiving this year was a lot of fun for me and definitely created some neat memories thanks to the Wells family for taking me in and making me a part of theirs I truly feel welcomed, and hopefully we can create more fun traditions in years to come.

Kate lately

Turfey: thirsty

how to eat a piece of toast... tear it apart with your hands and pull out all the inside stuff leaving the crust till all the insides are gone.

favorite thing to wear: turquoise polka dot dress to dance in while saying "pretty dress, pretty dance" She got this dress from Meagan, one of the teachers that Ryan teaches with.... her girls tended Kate and somehow we ended up with it... it's actually a life saver cuz Kate loves to wear it every day. so it's definitely being put to good use.

eating cereal (honey bunches of oats) for breakfast, lunch and dinner if mom let her.

Nice November

It's the middle of November and I wore flip-flops and short sleeves today.... maybe this global warming thing isn't so bad after all :) (just kidding about the global warming by the way) I'll take warm weather when I can get it.

Egg sandwiches

So Last night on the "THE OFFICE", Oscar offered Michael an egg-salad sandwich while they were on the plane. Michael then said "Seriously Oscar, could you have brought a stinkier food to eat?"
At that point I was dying cuz I totally was with Michael there...

Here's a little background...We used to have this huge 3 bench, red van that we would go on LONG roads trips in...6 kids..Amy, Jenni, Mandy.....I know you know where I'm going with this...anyway I think our parents were pretty brave, but they did however take out the front bench and put foam pads down so we could stretch out and sleep so it was pretty sweet. Anyway we were always determined to get to where we were going without stopping or as my parents would say "DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200". So we would pack up tonz of food one of which was EGG-SALAD SANDWICHES!...

I was the only one in the family that didnt' want egg sandwiches so I got peanut butter but needless to say I was with michael in saying to my mom " Seriously mom, could you have picked a stinkier food to eat on a long road trip while we were crammed into this small confined space?" It never helped that I always seemed to get car sick right about that time when someone wanted to eat a sandwich and the smell just about did me in, along with the not so sweet aroma coming from the back of "the bus" from my wonderful but stinky brother Doug. Good times... Good times...

I won't go into details but also having to pee in a cup?.... come on folks could we seriously not pull over for a second?

Feel free to share in the comments some of your most wonderful or strange road trip traditions. I know you all have them.

Life

So it's about time I actually post about what swims on in my head on a daily, wait minutely basis... It's probably on a lot of your minds too. OUR COUNTRY! I personally am not excited about the "Change" that is about to occur given we have a new president now...I realize we all have our different opinions and views on the matter, for which I am so greatful! What a wonderful country we live in, a FREE COUNTRY!...for my political view read THIS...it's my sister's blog that I 100% whole heartedly agree with. We have talked for hours on the subject and she has taken the time to post all of what's in her heart and her views.

In an attempt to keep this short I will just say that I am even more thankful that I have the gospel as a guideline to keep me on track. Knowing that there is a prophet today that talks with God ( the Man in charge of it all) and can give us direction is very comforting...Another comfort is that wonderful scriptures! I can truly say that I have never loved searching for answers in the scriptures more than I do right now at this moment. I feel like every time I open the book of Mormon answers are jumping out at me and I feel like I'm reading about our life right now. it's kinda surreal to know that we are living prophecies that prophets talked about from the beginning of time. What a wonderful time to be living...sometimes scary....but with faith it cancels out the fear.

I just yesterday watched the conversion story of Glenn Beck... wow!... What a story! it was eye opening for me. The man KNOWS that he is in the right church. The feeling I had as I went away from that was a new desire to Question with boldness...to stand up for what I believe. We can already see division among members of the church for example, yesterday on the news they said church leaders are encouraging members to be civil with each other on the matters concerning same-sex marriage. To be civil with each other? aren't we as members supposed to be like oh I don't know BROTHERS and SISTERS, a relief society, a family??...

History is repeating itself and I think we as a people have been prosperous for a long long long time, so as history goes, the pride cycle will lead people to humble themselves which unfortunately means disasters, hard times..."separating the wheat from the tares"... Mandy and I have talked a lot about how times will come and have come...where members of the church will be persecuted and ridiculed for their beliefs among other members, as well as society. Lehi's dream is totally portraying life NOW, holding to the rod, getting lost in the mist, the great and spacious building...Knowing and seeing these things I feel I need to step it up a few notches and cling to that rod, cuz we are promised that the blessings from doing so are so sweet and so great that we cannot comprehend (the fruit).

Anyway for more references and details you can check out HER blog. it's very insightful.

Some more cuteness of Kate

Precious sleeping time, and some we got at thanksgiving point.

Halloween 2008

This year we went to first: the school parade, kate was a hit... Then we went to our ward trunk or treat, that was great too, then we went trick or treating with Jay and Jen and Jen's family April and Brace and Ethan, and Paula and Keith jen's parents... kate made it about 3 houses then she was done and rode in the stroller the rest of the way.

If you cant tell we are robbers and Kate is our money bag.

Hard-headed

Whilst getting Kate ready for church today I was blow-drying her hair and it got caught in the blowdryer...ummm ya it was tugging at her hair and I couldn't get it out, I had to cut it... the funny thing is, is that I was freaking out and she totally didn't even notice it happened, I love having a hard-headed child, (Physically-not spiritually that is)

Halloween fun

So we went to some super fun Halloween parties this year, here is our get-up for one of them, Malia's party, we did a murder mystery dinner which was so fun.

And I also added some of Kate's silly-ness too...(that brown stuff on her face is make-up)

Imparting of your substance

The other night Ryan and I were talking about what we need to do better in our relationships with others, kids, co-workers, friends, family, each other, etc.. So we did our usual, let the scriptures fall open, then read the first thing you see... and we opened to Mosiah chapter 4 and it's that chapter that talks about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, imparting of your substance to those in need....

So that got us talking about ways that we can impart of our substance... fast offerings was one way, visiting teaching, and home teaching (providing service), and another thing we thought of was imparting of our time with one another.....especially our children... then in speaking of children we started to talk about all of the things Kate imparts of her substance to us.

She does a wonderful job of imparting her cheeto fingers all over the couch, her buger nose on our clean sunday clothes, and my personal favorite imparting of her potty substance all over our carpet :)...But to also add to that is that she imparts of her sweet kisses, hugs, and what feels like unconditional love to a mother that sometimes is less than patient...We can learn a lot from kids, so since then, I have been trying to be more generous with my time and spend it with family and those I love. And basically trying to look for the good and the spiritual in all situations, cuz they are there to be found.

I wish we all could be california girls... (sung by the men in San Francisco)

So we spent the weekend in San Francisco, It was a blast, except there was one major part missing AMY...( We missed you tonz ) But I have to say, I looked fervently for a masculine man there and there was NOT 1 to be found... I'm really not kidding. Everyone was very soft and feminine.. Anyhoo I hope this doesn't offend any readers.

So I went with my mom and her husband Ron, and my 2 sisters Mandy and Jenni. The 3 sisters stayed in the same quaint hotel room (I say Quaint cuz it's not what you picture, the view consisted of a brick wall, and we had to do some manuvering to fit us all in). Once we were settled it was more than we could have asked for. My sisters and I spent hours on end lying in the middle of 2 twin beds pushed together and laughing, crying, talking, and figuring out the answers to life's questions and problems. It was wonderful. Some of the main insights that I am coming away with are mainly geared toward myself and my family. In this unstable and quickly changing world I truly feel that we have got to decide whose side we are on... There really isn't much gray areas anymore, it's black or it's white...I want to be on the Lord's side... whole heartedly, cuz if we aren't clinging to that rod we will fall away and take our families with us.

As a mother I have a renewed sense of patience and love for my sweet Kate, and I feel that my main purpose in life is to see that my little munchkin (s) get back to Heavenly father and learn how to choose right for themselves. That's a big job placed on us mothers (and fathers) but I know for me it is sometimes hard to see past the day to day and look at the eternal perspective. I think when I go to a farm I will look at chickens differenly cuz they gather their little chicks under their wings and love them, and I feel like my home needs to always be a safe place for my little chicks to come when they need to get away from the world. So how to do this, Prayer and scripture study every day... looking for answers cuz without the help of the Lord, and guidence things will get scary. I also think that we need each other...The pioneers must have had it good to have all of that love and support with all of them working toward the same cause, I think if we were to do the same we wouldn't feel so alone in our efforts to get through this life. This weekend was neat to have my sisters so close....we all discussed our "stuff" then we went to the scriptures for answers, then we talked some more, etc... it was great.. very theraputic.

Anyway, I'm rambling... but the rest of the trip was awesome, Mandy did amazing in her race, she definitely had some trials leading up to it and I think she pushed through them so well, what a good example she is...

Thanks for a good trip ladies (and Ron) I'll look forward to the next one!

OOO-Da-Lolly

I always see this mascara on tv and at people's houses and on movies etc.. so i decided to give it a try cuz it must be great, So I used it, and a while later I had itchy eyes and puffyness,but I thought it could be a number of things, so I kept it, and about that time I went to a mary kay make-over and got a sample mascara so I've been using that for a while and haven't had a problem with the itchies, anyway yesterday I used the great lash again and I woke up with dun, dun, dun.....THIS....AHHHH!

So I found the culprit. Great Lash is OUT, Mary Kay is in Yuuh..... (in my gangster voice)


OOO-Da-lolly ( I feel like the lion on Robin Hood looking into the crystal ball and his face is all spread out)

I think Ryan is pretty lucky though, he get's to wake up to this every morning.

Bushiest beaver award

It's Halloween time again and I have pulled the sewing machine out and blew off the dust, and I've been back to work doing and finishing unfinished projects...including kate's Halloween costume... pictures will be posted probably a week after halloween is already over (that seems to be the amount of time it takes me to actually post something new) We are robbers and kate is the money bag so in case you don't know what it is when you see it there's a heads up...I should get the busiest beaver award.... or as michael says to phyllis at the dundee awards... the bushiest beaver! aren't i funny?

Sharing....

So tonight our family home evening lesson was and probably still will be about sharing cuz it's an important lesson to learn in life but...sometimes I find myself getting tired of sharing... for example, last night I got a cold glass of water and sat down after tornado-ing around the house cleaning so that my mind could think clearly, and just as I put my lips to the glass to take a drink my dear sweet Kate is tugging at my arm while holding her own sippy cup and saying "Drink, Drink" wanting some of mine. And at that moment I just wondered if there would ever be a day that I could have my own glass of water, or my own plate of dinner, or my own place to stand without a child standing on top of my feet, or to take my own shower etc etc...This photo looks romantic and fun but seriously it's not all its cracked up to be,

I know this might sound selfish and I know you mothers can relate, but come on, is that too much to ask, or is our family night lesson supposed to be catered to me? Am I the one who needs to learn to share?

St. George marathon Oct 4, 2008

So I drove to St. George Friday afternoon with my sister Mandy her 2 kids, my mom and Kate. We all squished in Mandy's car and went on our adventure. We got to St. George at about 3:00 and went straight to the starting line so I could see the course for the marathon before I ran it. Afterwards we went to the vacation rental condo to set up camp. Ryan Kate and I stayed in the bedroom while Mandy and My mom shared a mattress on the floor, Elle and Owen were spread out in the dining room and the kitchen, it was a good time. I left a lot of stuff for Ryan to bring like Kate's bedding, toiletries, and some of my running gear. Unfortunately he was caught up in traffic and didn't get into St. George till 9:30 or so. Once I realized He wouldn't be there with our stuff for a while the emotions of everything flooded me and i shed a few tears. I was tired, emotional, nervous, and felt like I couldn't get prepared for such a big day the next day. Luckily my cute sister and mom helped me get it back together, and I got Kate to sleep in a make-shift bed. Ryan came and we were able to get some sleep. I woke up every hour that night worrying that I would sleep in and miss the race, by about 3:30 I was sick of the clock watching game so I got up and started the process of getting ready for the big run. The bathroom was really big so i was able to stretch, eat, get organized and geared up without waking anyone else up. Fortunately Mandy woke up just about the time i had to leave and she was able to take me to the bus. It was warm outside and sprinkling a little bit but I didn't think much of it. Before I got on the bus I was able to get to a bathroom that wasn't a port-o- potty and then we drove all 26 miles up to the starting line.

Once we got up there, It was windy, cold, and started to rain. I sat by the fire for a while but decided to get a garbage bag to not get more wet. I was lucky enough to get the very last garbage sack they had, it helped a ton. Then I kept toasty by the warm fire. Time came and we lined up to start the race, and it took me about 10 min. till I got to start running and we were off.

By then it was pouring and I was getting pretty cold, but I still had 25 miles to go so I tried not to think about it. The first 7 miles were kind of a blur, but we got to Veyo and my mom, Ryan and Kate, my nephew Mitchell, and my dad were there to cheer me on, that totally gave me a boost and I journeyed up the Veyo hill. After another mile or 2 I started to get really cold and it wasn't that fun anymore, I hit THE WALL! So for a few miles up until about the half way mark 13 miles or so I was a little grumpy and not necessarily enjoying myself, but once I hit snow canyon the second wind kicked in and IT WAS AWESOME! I was totally re-energized and really enjoyed the scenery, my hands seemed to thaw out and I was able to actually use them. I got ahead of the group I had been running with the whole time and that gave me an extra boost to push on. Anyway the whole second half was amazing, once I got about 2 miles to the finish I felt the endurance being pushed but I just kept going and once I saw the 26 mile marker I got choked up, I only had .2 miles to go and I could see the finish line, and all the people cheering me on. Needless to say it was a pretty emotional time. I crossed the finish line and had a total sense of joy and accomplishment, I know it sounds cheesy but it was really neat. I met up with my family, ate some snacks and started to shiver, I was soaking wet and cold, but my body was also probably going into a little shock. So we headed out, and the rest is history. But I can say that was one of a few of the neatest experiences of my life, I did my best, and have no regrets. 5:20:49 was my time.

The big 26.2

St. George here we come!!

Millions of peaches....peaches for me

Last year I decided to take on canning peaches and apple sauce. It turned out to be a success so I have done it again, and I must say, they turned out pretty darn good... Thanks dad and kerry for supplying the fruit. I literally couldn't have done it without you and while Im at it, I'd like to thank kate for playing so happily and watching clifford, or as she would say Clipper, while I pressed on in the canning process (she was neglected that day), I'd also like to thank my husband for his support as I attempt to take on the Suzy homemaker role. oh and for those of you that try my peaches and like them, I'd like to thank my fans.

Happy anniversary

Happy anniversary Ryan... Love you

Keep eating....

It runs in the family, and I'm lucky Ryan figured this out early on....but when the tantrums, or crying sessions begin....Ryan always asks have I eaten...and most of the time a little food turns the mountain into a molehill....or even an anthill...So with Kate if you ever see her having a complete meltdown and you see me shoveling food into her mouth, just know I'm not trying to shut her up but actually fixing the problem, once that food settles she becomes the cute monkey that i know and love, not the monster...:)

2 year old

It's picture time again... here's some of Kate's 2 yr pics