Can't beat FREE....

This last little while has been fun, as always. Last weekend we got topsoil for our flower beds and it really turned out great. We hauled it with the good ole 'Monkey Wagon' and I couldn't have been prouder. Really stupid, I know. Anyway we also got trees! We love doing yard improvement. The trees we got are October Glory Maples. Supposedly they turn super red in the fall. They were for the park strip. So, the yard is coming together. Just need plants! And today we went down to a park in Orem and gathered up about 110 tulip bulbs they were giving away! Can't wait to get them in the ground. They give them away every year, but this is the first time we've really known about it. Should make for a nice display next spring.

We had a great weekend with family too. We were able to see a lot of people we haven't seen in a while. We were at Becky's for Jesse's birthday and it almost felt like the 4th of July party, minus the steak and volleyball. Justin and Alisha are moving to Iowa to work on Chriss Dodds presidential campaign for the next 8 months or so, and it was great to see them and the rest of the gang too.

N has pnemonia again! It's not too serious, just some anti-bacterail and steriods should fix him up, but the doctor said kids with asthma get pnemonia more so than others. T had a little cough and runny nose last week and now it transferred to N. Poor guy. He's getting much better now though. Anyway, that's our life in a nutshell over the last couple weeks. We'll get pics up soon!

Run, Teeny, Run!!

So today was Teeny's half marathon (13.1 miles). She did awesome! I am so impressed by how well she did today, and wish like crazy that I'd done as well with mine, but alas hydration was a problem for me and you know the rest. She had to be at the Gateway at the flippin' butt crack of dawn so she left me here to rally the troops and get us all up there to see her. We left at 7am and Grandma Becky was kind enough to take N and T. So it was just A and I in Salt Lake this morning. There were a ton of runners. I think they said they had 10,000 runners for all three events today (Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5K). I caught up with Teeny at about mile 6. We stopped in a little neighborhood up just south of Sugarhouse Park and waited for about 10 minutes before she came whizzing by. Then, we headed down just west of Sugarhouse and saw her again. A liked watching all the runners and would ask questions about what they were all wearing, or why this person had orange hair, or if I knew that guy, etc.. Teeny looked great today, not tired at all. The weather even worked out perfectly. It was about 45 or so and slightly overcast. We saw her again just past Liberty Park and then caught her finish. The last time we ran a half marathon it took us 2 hours 20 minutes and she finished in about 2 hours and 10 minutes! Really, I am so impressed with her and wish like crazy that I could have run with her today. We ran into Bob and Shirley, and Jacki and Dylan too up at the Gateway. I'm glad they came to see her run. After the run we picked up the twins and headed to Denny's so Teeny could get her 'Moons Over My Hammy' lunch she's been craving for so long. Congrats TEENY and way to kick it in the butt!

This lady in the leopard sports bra really stole the show!!

The color RED.....

This might come off sounding a little gross, but it's one of those things you have to remember. A is a color connoisseur. He loves the color green and we keep him distracted a lot when he gets mad by asking him if he can find something green (a car, grass, leaves, whatever). He asked me a while ago, "Dad, what's your favorite color?". Red has always been my favorite color. I don't know why. It might be because I loved the 49ers when I was a kid and their colors are red and gold, or because the Utes are red and white. Anyway, he finds red things all the time and asks me, "Dad, what color is that truck?", "Red" I'll say, "Hey, it's your favorite color!". He's picked up on us pretty quick. So, this is where the story might get a little 'off color'. Apparently yesterday Teeny was upstairs playing with the boys when A just got up and took off. She went downstairs to see what he was up to and he'd gone #2. More than that though he told her to come look at it (our friend Joey would appreciate this). "It" was red (sort of orangy-red), and he was so excited because it was dad's favorite color and he had to show mom. Awesome. I died laughing when Teeny told me that. There was something else he said the other day too that busted us up, but we can't remember exactly what it was which is why I had to write this one down.

Teeny is running the Salt Lake Marathon this weekend (April 21st) and we'll be at the Gateway at around 9am tomorrow. She's trained well and will do super! We also finished our swingset. Only a week and two days to finish it. We'll get some pics up soon of the events. Happy Friday!

Easter Feaster!

Our Easter Weekend was one continuous blur as we celebrated it with Teeny's birthday. I guess it all started Thursday. We've been looking for a swingset for the boys for a while and Toy's 'R' Us had a pretty decent sell on one that we could save $300 bucks on. We called around and found the last one in Murray and we had to pick it up the same day. So, I took off work early and we headed to Neil and Becky's to get the trailer. By the time we picked it up, had dinner, and got home it was around 7pm and getting dark. We had time to do 2 or 3 of the 31 steps in the instructions before we called it a day. A was pretty excited to work on it with us. He's really into the tools and getting the job done kind of thing. The next morning was Teeny's pre-birthday, but we celebrated it that day because of all we had going on during the weekend. I got up early to get things ready and work on the swingset a little more, and then around 7:30am out comes A in his pj's wanting to help. That was the first place he went was straight to the backyard. He's pretty excited for his own swingset. He came out (shoes on and all) and we worked for about 15 minutes before heading in for breakfast with the other two monkeys. Speaking of monkeys, we have kind of created a tradition of going to the zoo on Teeny's b-day. We had a picnic at a little park that over looked Salt Lake and then headed to the zoo. It was a perfect day weather wise and it was more packed than I'd ever seen it. Spring break for the kiddies I guess. A was great showing us where to go next on the map and just anxious to get to the giraffes. Most of the animals were out and fairly active, except the cats. They were out, but sleepy as ever. The new exhibit is awesome though. It remindes us a lot of San Diego's zoo. N and T were pretty taken by most the animals too. I think A said that giraffes were his favorite, and N and T probably liked the train the most. A loves the train too. Thomas will have a lasting impression on all of our kids. After the zoo, we'd planned a date, but poor Cole came down with strep so we just did a little family dinner at the local mexican joint. Turned out to be pretty fun with the kids. N and T are at a super fun age. N is a tease. He'll offer something and when you go to take it he pulls it away and laughs thinking he's so funny. T has started telling us things. He can't talk all that well, but he'll say 'uh-oh' and point so we have to follow him around to see what happened. Following those two around still amazes us that we have two kids the same age. A has a memory like a book. He remembers everything. Friday night we colored eggs and I'm pretty sure that if we hadn't tried to get A to color an egg anything different than green, they'd all be green. His favorite color. Teeny's birthday was Saturday and we had another fun day with family. Teeny went on her morning run (she's training for the Salt Lake Half Marathon) and I got all the birthday fixin's out. She opened presents and then we worked on the swingset a little more and headed over to Becky's to color eggs. Once A loved the green. It was great seeing Doug, Rach, and Ava. It's been since Christmas! Holy cow we need to get up to Poky a little more often. Ava is just like Rach. Little bossy girl....but dang cute. She'd stand outside and tell those dogs just what to do and where to go. It was really funny. I just love to watch them and the boys play together. I have to admit that we caused a little drama with being paranoid about getting our kids sick and we totally missed seeing Fisher on his birthday. After Becky's we headed home, worked on the swingset some more (the forever project), and Ashlyn and Conner came over to watch the kiddies while we went to dinner with Jodi, Mark, Jane, Jacki and Ryan. Red Lobster was awesome. I love the salmon there and Teeny got pasta. It was funny though, when we sat down all the guys were at one end and the girls at the other end, and when we'd finished I realized that we'd hardly talked to each other because we were so involved chatting with family. It's awesome having that kind of family though. We had a great time and I love seeing Teeny and her sisters get together....crazy. Sunday (Easter...finally) was fun. The weather was kind of cruddy so we hid baskets inside for the kids. Along with the swingset, we got them each camping chairs. They love to have their own little seat. They were dang handsome in the shirts we got them too. After church it was over to the Jensen's for dinner and pinata. Yeah, it's as crazy as it sounds. Fifteen kids all swinging at a pinata in the backyard hopped up on sugar is insane. I wonder how we get away injury free from it every year, but it is a fun tradition. Alas, Easter was over and we headed back home for a little downtime as a family. Thanks everyone for making Easter and Teeny's birthday so fun!

A and I made his plane during conference

Teeny and the crew at the Zoo

N was more interested in the elephants than he appears here

Mr. Map!

The munchkins and giraffes....handsome little buggers

Coloring eggs with A....loved the green

T and N on the first easter egg hunt....they got skunked

A did too, but they had fun

Teeny's B-Day!!

The boys and the toys....love them in their onesies!

N loves the dirt, along with A and T

T and Drew...couple of studs

Abram taking a swing at Dora

Zions and Spring...

So, after the busy weekend away at Moab we were glad to get back home only to be leaving to Zions on Thursday. We felt like we unpacked and packed up again all in the same moment, but we can't complain because we got to get away again and tour more of southern Utah, which we love, especially in the spring time. I had a conference in Springdale which is right at the mouth of Zions so we figured we'd make a weekend of it, again. We had to be there Thursday afternoon so we headed out early Thursday morning and met up with Dave (from work) and his family in Spanish Fork. The drive seemed to go by quick, but stayed cold for way too long. When we took a break in Beaver it was still 39 degrees! I was worried that we wouldn't have enough warm clothes for the boys, but alas, as we headed further south things cleared up and the temp went up to 72 in 2 short hours. Springdale is beautiful this time of year. There is a little orchard just as you arrive there and all the trees were in bloom, the grass was green and there were leaves on the trees. It was about two weeks ahead of home as far as seasons go. We checked in and had lunch before I headed to the conference and Teeny and the boys hung out with Dave's family at the park. After I was done, we had a pizza picnic at the park and the boys couldn't keep away from the water. N and T are facinated by it, which can be scary with how fast they get around now. A has always loved the water, but is wiser on being careful around it now too. We took them on the bridge over the river and they loved seeing the water go by. They just loved being outside and able to run around. You'd think, or at least we'd hope, that they'd kind of stay together, but when they're playing it's in all three different directions. I'd be watching N and T on the bridge and A would take off down the trail, so I'd go get him and N or T would be headed towards the street and one still on the bridge...I don't know how Teeny does it. After scrambling to contain the little monkeys we decided we'd hit the town and check out the local stores and such. There were a lot of outdoor clothes places and some fun little rock and gift stores too. It was a perfect evening to do a little walking outside. We had a little ice cream break and then headed back to the Bumbleberry Inn for the night. The kids all do really well in the room. They love to push any buttons they can find and run around, but when bedtime comes they settle down pretty quick and drift off to sleep. Teeny and I headed out to the deck after the kids dozed off and played some cards for another couple hours. It was so nice to just hang out and chat and be on vacation. We can't wait til we can do that at home! Afer kicking my butt in combat, we headed off to bed too.

Friday morning was another beauty in Zions. The mountains in Zions are so different than Arches. They are taller and more rugged, but still that amazing red sandstone color. We thought that Friday would be a great weather day too, but when I finished my conference duties around noon, it was starting to drizzle just a little bit. We decided we'd go hit the Zions tunnel and see if the weather got any better. The tunnel was amazing. It's a lot longer than I thought it would be and the kids really enjoyed it. By the time we'd gone through and back the rain had gotten a little worse, but we figured, "hey, we're here. We might as well enjoy it", so we headed up to the river walk hoping the rain would die down at least a little. Luckily, it did. It was drizzle on and off but the river walk was awesome. It is so pretty after a rain storm. We got a lot of looks from people with our great kids. People would see N and T in the stroller and A walking along and just smile at us. I still can't count how many times we've heard, "You've got your hands full". Yeah, no kidding, but they are so dang fun too! People were really nice though and kept telling us how cute they were, and really they are the most handsome little devils you've ever seen (you don't have to admit out loud, but deep down...you know it's true). The river was so green and the rocks were so red, it really was a spectacle. We even saw some wildlife including a deer and a couple of fat little squirrels. But A liked the fish the most. That kid loves fish. There was a little bridge that went over a stream with these little tiny fish and A spotted them and kept telling us to look at the fish! The end of the trail finally came and we took a little break before heading back down. The way down was just as pretty and it had stopped raining by then too. Just as we got back to the Monkey-wagon it started raining a little bit again, and it was a little later than we'd planned on getting back, so we decided to head to St. George for dinner and some shopping. We don't get down there a lot and it sounded like fun. The boys were able to get in a little nap during the drive and our little trip to St. George turned out really nice. That night we played cards again, despite our biker neighbors, and just loved being outside enjoying it all.

Saturday was awesome. The weather was perfect and we got to do a lot of hiking with the kids. We packed them on our backs and A just trotted along like a champ. We hit the Emerald Pools first. N and T did great in the packs. They love seeing all the different trees and water and rocks, everything facinates them. A has a good time playing like he's a car the whole time racing up the trails. The pools were perfect and clear. Spring has got to be the best time for Zions. We took a little snack break at the lodge before heading on to the Weeping Wall and then headed home. It was a great get away and even though it was packed in there with Moab, we wished we were heading somewhere again this weekend. Oh well, we'll just have to settle for yard work, which we love too.

Moab, Moab, Moab.....

Us at the park relaxing in the Spring Moab sun!

Well, what a couple of weeks we had! Teeny and I were busy packing and unpacking for a week it seemed. Our first outing was to Moab for the annual Half Marathon. I was the only one of us two who was lucky, or unlucky (keep reading to find out why), enough to be drawn out to run in the race. We were stoked because the weather was going to be awesome (mid 70's to mid 80's), and most of the fam was going to be down there (missed ya, Rachy, Ava, and Doug) . We hadn't seen temps like that for a long dang while (was it just me or was it one bitter winter??!). So the marathon people told everyone to hydrate well and so I did. I had a giant thing of Gatorade for the three days previous to the race and then a big ole jug on the day of the race. It didn't start til 10am so it was plenty hot by the start time. No worries though, right? Ha ha ha..... I get down the canyon (10.5 miles into the 13) about the time I was expecting and was on track for a 2 hour half marathon...super! Everyone was there to pump me up for the last little push to the finish line and I felt pretty good. Chug, chug, chug, I was getting a little tired, but could see the next water station half mile away, straight into the sun (it's gotta be 80 degrees by now). Then, BAM, it hits me.....groggy step 1..2......3........4........you get the idea, and before I knew it I'd passed out. I have no recollection of what happened between the time I went down and loading me in the ambulance, but they say I never lost consciousness. Luckily, a doctor was right behind me when I went down and he stuck with me throughout the ordeal not finishing his race. Granted, he was a doctor and was only doing what he should, but I can't be more thankful to him for staying with me. I remember him being a large part of the ambulance ordeal and getting me stable and the hospital. I asked him his name before he finally left, but in the state I was in I totally forgot it. Thank you, whomever you are, for stopping and caring that much. All the while Teeny and the fam where all waiting at the finish line for me to come hobbling in. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, half hour, 45 minutes....where the stink is he? Teeny was sure I was dead in some ditch and so she started to back track the route. Now I don't remember a lot, but I remember telling people to call my wife, call my wife... Her cell number was one of the few things I remembered, but they never did. My dad finally went to the medical tent and found out that I was in the hospital, but doing OK. He, my ma, and Teeny hurried over. I sat in the hospital room for a good hour before I saw anyone familiar and let me tell you, the most confusing hour of my life. I couldn't see my future, if that makes any sense. Scared and shocked that all this had just happened to me. Then, in walked Nate and Jodi and family....getting better already, and then Ma and Pa, better still, then Teeny....finally good. It was a little scary for both of us, but having family around helped my little pea brain put the pieces back together. I couln't spell words backwards for the doctor like "world" which was a little concerning, but all the tests and labs came back fine. About 4 hours after I collapsed, I was released and was able to go back to the motel where I slept the rest of the day. Of all the people to thank my family has to be first. Thanks Nate and Jodi for watching A, checking in on me, and being there to support me. Thanks Ma and Pa for watching the twins and the blessing (Nate too here). Thanks Jesse and Lindy and Kris for gathering my stuff and just being there. And thanks Teeny for being my wife and for the concern, hope and comfort you gave me in those first moments we saw each other. You helped me recover more than anything.

Me and A at mile 10.75 probably, I made it about 11.5, but here I felt great

After all this the family went up to Delicate Arch, where A climbed like a champ, all while I was sleeping off the collapse. The next day, I woke up feeling normal and we were able to hit some arches on the way out of town before heading home. All in all it was a memorable event, but always a bummer to part with family after such a great weekend together.

Ma, Teeny and the boys at Delicate Arch

Teeny at Landscape.....HOT!

Duck pond -- Feb 2007

Well, it's been a while since my last post, and who knows, it may be a while til my next. J and L have started a blog now and inspired me to update ours. N and T have grown into quite the little boys. They are now 21 months old and are into everything. They crack us up! A is 4 now and has started itty-bitty ball, which he loves! It's fun seeing him having such a great time. Teeny just tells me about it since I can't go, but I can picture him out there having a blast. We've been in our new house for almost six months and we're enjoying the rambler lifestyle. We've got everything in except for plants in our landscaping and a fence....oh, and A won't let us forget a swingset. Hopefully this year we'll get all that tied up. Anyway, here are some pics of our latest trip to the duck pond. We went there on a warm day a couple weeks ago to feed the ducks, and when we got to the top it was all frozen over. A was really looking forward to seeing 'Jose' the crazy duck. Maybe next time.

Trammit!!

So, it's been a while since I was able to do this so I figured I'd hurry and get one in. This weekend we went up to Snowbird with J, L, G-pa N and Becker to ride the tram on "free tram day". It was perfect weather for us...blue sky and pretty warm. Even at the top of the tram @ 11K feet, it was probably 50 degrees or so. We started the afternoon off at the Pie Pizzaria in South Jordan. I can't believe some of the graffiti I saw there....I didn't think you could write some of those things in public. Utah County surely would never let that go. The tram is really pretty nice. We packed N and T in their snuggly's and they worked out great. We had tons of people comment on our cute kids. The tram is the next best thing to flying and the views are incredible. We looked over so much scenery, it was really great. Then to top it all off BYU lost horribly to the Irish and the Utes beat the pants off UNLV. What a nice ending to a great day.

Labor Day....it was a labor anyway....

Well, it's been longer than it should have been. Lots have happened in the last little while, but it's not that important, right? Our biggest adventure was Labor Day weekend and the chaos that is mounting with every new grand-kid born. Teeny and I are finding that holidays are more of a labor than what they used to be...figures with three kids under 3 huh? We had a great time sleeping at Granny's and golfing, eating, parading, eating, playing, eating....you get the picture. A had a hard time sleeping one night so I spent a half an hour at 1am driving around Payson trying to get him to sleep...it worked after about five minutes. Poor kid was too tired to sleep. N and T were super as they always have been. I need to take a minute and just thank Teeny for her work while I'm at "work". She amazes me. She sacrifices so much for our family and I try to tell her how much I appreciate that, but it never seems to be enough. It's great having her in my life. She is the fun in my life. During the last three months (hard to believe) you'd hardly be able to tell we have twins. Our home is clean and in order, our kids are happy and well taken care of, and she still manages to make dinner even on days she is pushed to her limits. We've been throwing around the idea of moving to something bigger before we can't afford it anymore. Our neighborhood is in the process of moving out it seems. Three houses right next to ours have gone up for sale and sold within the last three months. We'd love to build our own home if we can. We've checked out different places for us to put our roots down again. Utah County isn't as cheap as we'd thought it would be though, so we'll see. I've been fighting gas prices on my bike and fail to understand how some people just keep driving around like gas is a dime a gallon. This last weekend was great. We had nothing on the agenda and did just that. We still got out, but for the most part our house was our haven this weekend. After a couple weeks of crazy we were ready for it. Yesterday we all took a nice fat Sunday nap together (same time, different rooms). It was nice to relax and be just our family for a bit. Our hearts have been with those in the Hurricane disaster lately and we wish them all well. The atrocities that reciprocated during the aftermath in terms of human behavior are beyond animalistic. It's as if people, or at least the slime of that community, enjoyed devastation. I know there are heros out there as well, but in these times I don't know how everyone could not be heros helping each other instead of committing crimes against thier neighbors. That's my two bits...

Lagooney....

So, we just want to thank G-ma and G-pa J for the great family get away to Lagoon. A is still talking about going on the planes and cars, etc... He had a great time. It was great to see everyone there and hob nob around with the bunch. Luckily, A had his cousins to support him on the rides. McKenzie was great for him to start out with. She made sure he didn't get seperated from her (love that grip!) and then helped him on and off the rides. She was great in setting up the rest of the day for him. We went on Puff, the planes, boats, swings, helicopters, space ships, Rattlesnake Rapids and others too!

He only cried twice, both times when he got wet on Rattlesnake Rapids and the slide ride with Teeny. We even got to go on some big rides thanks to being with family. I think the Spider was probably my favorite, but I laughed pretty good on the Samurai as well. I took A to see if he could win a big prize, but the kid has the same kind of luck I do. He still had fun picking ducks though. All in all it was a great time, and we want G-ma and G-Pa J to know how much we appreciated it, especially this year. Being able to get out and do something that fun after spending all of our time with our new ones was a really nice break for us. Thanks to Beckster as well for watching them and taking such great care of them. It'll be fun when we can take all of our kids to Galoon!!