John and Ian 5K Race

Ian and I ran a 5K this morning. It was a very small race that benefited the Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind. I got 1st place, which is not all that impressive given that there were maybe 30-40 racers, but it was the first time I have ever won a race in my entire life. Ian got 6th place with a time of 25:55, which was his personal best by almost a minute. Ian was very excited. Plus he won a raffle prize of a family pass to the Idaho Ice world skating rink. Now if only Oregon can lose their football game today it will be a perfect day.

Some pictures

This is Norah's new bedroom. The pictures by the crib belonged to Marie's mom and then Marie and now Norah. The other picture came from Marie's grandma's room.






Jonah got a package from Grandma. He really likes it.




This was the first fire in our fireplace. The house didn't burn down.




We let Jonah practice for halloween. This isn't his real costume. I think that he is going to get a lot of candy for his dad to eat.

Soccer is over

Soccer season ended today. I have had a blast coaching Ian's team this year. We had a really fun group of kids, plus they just plain dominated. We were one close game away from being undefeated (and Ian and I weren't at that game because it was the day of the Dirty Dash). We finished the season off with an 8-0 shutout. Ian has had a good year, but he hasn't scored all that many goals . . . just 2 total goals up until this last game. I told him I'd give him $1 for every goal he scored today, and he proceeded to score 4 of the teams 8 goals. He scored three goals within about a 5 minute span during the third quarter, after which he proudly announced that he had just pulled of a "natural hat trick," a term he learned from his best friend who has pulled off many hat tricks this season. I may have to bribe Ian more next year (although I think I can count on my pinky finger the nunber of times he passed the ball today).

Mason has also had a really good season. He scores lots of goals in all his games, mostly because he is way bigger than anyone he plays against and he just plows over them (something his Dad was never able to do). It seams like whenever I am able to watch Mason's games he only gets a goal or two, but when I miss them he scores 4 or 5 goals.

Baby Nursery

I have been busy getting ready for the new addition to our family. One of the things I have been working on is his room. Lauren and Claire now share a room. We purchased bunkeds for them and it is going really well! I will do a post on that later. Anyways, here are some pictures of the baby boys nursey room before and after.

This is basically the room before. Just a crib and a butterfly rug. I never got around to decorating it. Poor Lauren.

Here is the color before...

And After!! I chose a nice shade of gray. I love how it turned out.

The room after being decorated.

This banner isnt finished yet. It will have the baby's name sewn onto it after he is born.

Here is the other side of the room. Not much going on right now, but eventually I might add some wall art or pictures.

One of my favorite things in the room are these canvases that the girls painted for their little baby brother. Claire painted the top and Lauren painted the bottom one.

Do you like the finished product? It makes me so excited to have this project finished before the baby is born. I hope he likes it.

Little monster dash

I ran another race today. I was able to drop another 25 seconds off my time. Which I hadn't expected. A storm blew in this morning. They had to postpone the race because of fear of lightning. When we were finally able to start it was really humid, there were puddles and it rained off and on. After the main race they had a little monster dash for the kids. Reagan was really excited about this race. We had taken him to the park a couple time to practice the course. Due to the rain they decided to move the race indoors. The race was a lot shorter but Reagan still had fun.

Reagan getting ready to start the race.


Reagan running as fast as a boy can run.


Reagan with his medal and his best friend.

35 weeks

I didn't think I could get much bigger but I did. This is me at 35 weeks prego. Also wanted to make note that this was the day that my good friends Nancy and Nikki threw me a baby shower. I am so grateful to have good friends.

I only have a few weeks left and I am so excited to meet my baby.

Here comes Trouble!!

Lauren has definitely hit the terrible two's. Look at the expression on this little girls face. Doesn't it just scream "TROUBLE"?

First, she got a hold of my camera and took pictures of herself. I am just happy she didn't flush it down the toilet!

Then this....... No explanation necessary!

Claire never went through this stage. It's really hard to discipline her though because all she does is laugh. I cant get her to understand she is in trouble! With Claire I could just look at her the wrong way and the tears would start flowing. I have tried everything with Lauren and she just laughs, and thinks its funny. What am I going to do with this little girl?

Pumpkinville

We went to pumpkinville. Jonah had lots of fun.

John Is Officially Cooler Than Jill

So Jill got an iphone a few months ago and has been thinking ever since that she is very cool. She is always bragging about how her iphone is way cooler than my lame-o blackberry. She lets the kids play games on her iphone, but she doesn't share much with me, so I've been feeling left out . . . until a couple days ago, that is. That is because I WON A FREE IPAD in a work contest, along with $100, which I used to set up a sweet wi-fi network in our house.

Now Jill is always begging to get to use my ipad. I haven't decided yet how much I will share, but I know the kids will not be playing with it.

Jill is still cool, but she aint got no ipad . . .

My grandkids are Monsters

Birthday party!

I know I am way behind on doing blog posts for our family but being pregnant is a pretty good excuse. Lauren turned 2 years old on September 17. She is one of the sweetest girls around. She loves Elmo, so we did a Elmo themed b-day party. For food we ate BBQ hot dogs, had some fruit and veggies and we even had a big bowl of those yummy goldfish crackers ( To represent Dorothy on Elmo) to eat. For entertainment we sent the kids to the playground. It was a little hotter than I had hoped for a day in September, but all and all we had a good time.


Here are the rainbow cupcakes I made. They were hard work so I had to take a picture of them. I also made one Elmo cupcake for Lauren but forgot to take a picture. :(

A few days before the party Jill took some Birthday pictures of Lauren. Jill has gotten so good at taking pictures. My dad called my sisters and me just to tell me and them, and I quote " That is the cutest picture I have EVER seen!!" I thought that was the cutest thing in the world. I love my dad. Anyways, here are the pictures. Thanks Jill, you are the best!

( The picture my dad was talking about)

I love this one of the girls. Sooo cute!

My beautiful Claire!


She loves me.... what can I say?

Here are a few things about Lauren at this age.

- She still doesn't talk much but she can carry a tune!

-can say: Mommy, Daddy, Co (Claire), Goodnight, eat, Hi, Hello, dy dy (bye- bye), Elmo, stinky, key key (Blankie).

- She gives the best, and I mean BEST, hugs ever. People comment on it all the time. She wraps her arms around your neck and cuddles you. She is so sweet. She also gives pretty good kisses.

- Favorite songs: You are my sunshine, Itsy bitsy spider, Twinkle Twinkle little star, ABC's, I love you, you love me (Barney).

-She folds her arms when it's prayer time and is finally starting to say prayers herself.

-Huge dare devil. Loves to climb and jump. Mark my words, she will be the one to break a bone!

-Sleeps really well. Goes to bed without any problems, even at nap time.

-Still sucks her thumb and goes everywhere with her blankie.

- Is not anywhere near being potty trained.

-big time Mommy's girl.

-All around a very happy child. She is sweet to everyone and loves to give hugs and kisses. Sometimes she gets annoyed with Claire becasue Claire loves her so much and sometimes Lauren just wants space. She is starting to play with Claire better though, and I love the sound of my little girls laughing and playing together. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a little Lauren in my life. Love her more and more everyday.

I still can't believe she is 2!

Wedding Fun

My best friend Laura got married this weekend in Chicago, she was the maid of honor in my wedding and I'm just so happy for her. My parents came from Michigan to watch Jonah while Dallen and I enjoyed our last kid free weekend for a while! Here are some pics of the event...

I loved my hair! I wanted it done this way for my wedding...but I guess the lady just couldn't get my vision.

The pretty bride...I think there was more dress than their was Laura!

Hair from the front...and a funny facial expression...it was getting late and I was tired...

Baby Norah all dressed up!

Dallen at his finest...

A very happy couple. We were glad we to have a little vacation back in Chicago where it all began for us...