Blake is 5!

Blake is 5 years old today! We celebrated his birthday last night so we'd have more time (tonight it turns out has a lot going on--church stuff) so here he is blowing out his candles and showing his presents. He doesn't look too happy in these pictures, but he really was happy! He has been counting down to his birthday for at least 2 months. And at school today he is excited to wear the "birthday crown." Blake is such a funny, smart, crazy little guy. We love him! Some things he loves and can do right now:

Ben 10

Power Rangers

Kindergarten!

Still loves superheroes

Playing "pirates"

Count to 100+

Read almost all the kindergarten sight words

Draw pictures of superheroes--many he makes up on his own

Playing with his friends

Roughhousing with Joel

Giving lots of hugs and cuddling with me

Happy 5th birthday, Blaker!

Halloween 2011!

Excited about their candy after trick or treating with some friends in the ward. It was lots of fun!
Posing at the Ward Trunk or Treat before the games. Julianna did not like to wear her hat!


Blake is the Green Lantern, Hal Jordan! He got to wear his costume 3 times--ward party, school, and Halloween night.

Closeup of Julianna as Strawberry Shortcake. The wig is attached to the hat!

Julianna as Strawberry. I have wanted her to choose Strawberry for years! So glad she finally agreed.

Blake as the Green Lantern.

And a little video of Blake sliding down our stairs in his costume. Now he has been sliding down staircases since he was old enough to walk, but this has to be a record. He discovered that his costume makes him SUPER fast. I think it takes him about 3 seconds to get down. He did this so much that there are holes in his costume on the knees!

Another video of both of them sliding. Julianna had to do it, too!

Briana and Eddy's Wedding in Utah!

So blogger messed up the spacing on my pictures and wouldn't let me download more than one at a time, which means there's no way I'm dowloading again! So top to bottom:

1. Briana and I shortly at their reception.

2. Julianna and I at the table. Uncle Christian found crayons so Julianna could make a book. She just had to make one, so we used a napkin!

3. The cake cutting was fun to watch!

4. On the steps of the beautiful Salt Lake Temple ready to take pictures.

5. Briana and Eddy right after they came out of the temple. The sealing was so wonderful, and even my parents got to attend.

6. A family shot while we were waiting.

7. The Bountiful Temple, where they received their endowments the night before. Another wonderful experience with Joel's family!
8. A walk to the park the morning of the endowment. This was Blake and Will holding hands. They held hands the whole walk. It was too cute! We stayed at my parents' house in Utah, where my sister Callie's family was living (but not anymore!) so they got some good cousin time (before everyone got sick, that is...)

9. Lily and Julianna on the slide.

10. Feeding the ducks at the lake by the park.

We had such a great trip last weekend to Utah to attend Joel's sister Briana's sealing to Eddy Mann. It was such a memorable experience! The drive went well, and besides my family getting sick, everything was great!

The Bookmakers

Some drawings done by Blake (Joel did the Bat signal).
Julianna loves to draw stick figures.


Blake showing his aquaman.

Blake's Ironman and Green Lantern (notice how he tries to spell them! I love it!)

My kids are WAY into making books these days. By this I mean, I get some sheets of printer paper, fold into four, staple the side, cut across the top, and they have 16 pages front and back to make into whatever they want. It all started when we did social stories for Julianna last summer (a way of teaching a behavior through personalized stories). Now when Julianna's therapists come over, they ask what she wants to do, and it's always, "Make a book." And sometimes when we are feeling ambitious the books involve cutting squares and drawing the pictures, then gluing onto bigger squares of construction paper. We have so many handmade books around the house, and Julianna even has a special bag full of them that we had to go through because the bag was bursting. Now when we are feeling REALLY ambitious we will go to google images and print out characters for the pages and make up a story.

The great thing about these books is you can choose a problem behavior and make a story to teach them how to overcome it. This is what I have done for Julianna many times and they seem to work. Another great thing is Blake is becoming quite the creative kid, and artist. On Sunday, he got a bucket full of his toys, asked for a new book, and drew a superhero/toy on each page all by himself, complete with the name below that he sounded out by himself. Some pictures of the books are above. Anyone want to donate paper? :)

School pictures

The BIG kindergartner!

The BIG 2nd grader!

BOTH my kids are in school now. I can't believe it! They are doing well and I love that I can volunteer any time! (Without younger ones, it's pretty easy!) The pictures might look fuzzy because I took a picture of their pictures on the wall.

Running--my decision

First, here is a link to some pics from the half marathon--it's from their website. They took lots of pictures of us! http://www2.brightroom.com/86584/3301

Now even though I've run a half marathon now (over 2 weeks ago already) I've given running a lot of thought. Well, mostly long distance running. Here are 10 reasons why I will NOT be doing long distance running anymore:

1. No one wants to run with you when you're running 10 miles.
2. It gets boring running long miles--even outside.
3. When it's too hot, you have no choice but to train on a treadmill, and running long miles on a treadmill is IMPOSSIBLE!
4. If you want to avoid a treadmill, you would need to go at like 5 am, and again by yourself, because no one will go with you that early. I will NEVER be able to do that. Not an early-morning exercise person.
5. I don't enjoy running long miles at all--it just makes my body hurt, and I am mainly forcing myself to run instead of enjoying myself.
6. It takes a LONG time to run 10 miles, even 6 miles, and it's very hard to commit that much time to running, especially when I don't totally enjoy it.
7. I didn't even lose ANY weight. Yes, I felt really healthy and fit, and still do, but I wanted to shed some pounds! That didn't happen when I ran long distances. I only gained more muscle, which after two weeks, I have lost about 5 pounds of!
8. There is no variety in running--I like to do different workout videos, and when you have committed yourself to running long miles, you can't really do anything else, because it will affect your ability to run.
9. I would rather walk with a friend and talk about our struggles and challenges and triumphs than run a long distance. Much more enjoyable to me.
10. I just don't like it! And I don't care about improving a long-distance time--my half marathon took so long because we stopped at every water break (every mile) and I had to use the bathroom at the turning point.

So, running, you have been good to me this last year and a half. For some reason I kept doing it for so long, maybe because it was a big stress reliever during that time. I am proud that I challenged myself to run--something I have never been able to do. But I am really good at listening to my body and exercising in a way that will help reduce stress AND make me happy when I am done. And I want to lose more weight! So Jillian Michaels, I am back as of this morning, and it was great. I will also be walking with a friend when we can. And I'll even throw in some Billy Blanks, too. Joel wants to run on Saturdays, but I will never do more than 3 miles, because 3 miles is still pretty fun, not 13!

Great quote on parenting

"A sweet and obedient child will enroll a father or mother only in Parenting 101. If you are blessed with a child who tests your patience to the nth degree, you will be enrolled in Parenting 505. Rather than wonder what you might have done wrong in the premortal life to be so deserving, you might consider the more challenging child a blessing and opportunity to become more godlike yourself. With which child will your patience, long-suffering, and other Christlike virtues most likely be tested, developed, and refined? Could it be possible that you need this child as much as this child needs you?" Elder Lynn G. Robbins, "What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?"