Chloe wears shoes...

Chloe has figured out that it's a good thing to wear shoes...she just hasn't figured out where they go exactly. Chloe is always finding shoes and putting them on her hands and crawling around the house; this time they happen to be her own shoes, but she'll "put on" any pair of shoes she finds. And she just plays, like that's how your suppose to wear them. Such a cutie!

What do you do in the Fall-time?

We are trying to enjoy the last few days of Fall...as I'm sure it will be turning quite cold before we know it. Last week I took the kids to Wheeler Farm with the Packs, our neighbor friends. Other than that we had to wait for 3 wagon rides before we got on one, we had a great time.

Clate and Isaiah running through the pumpkin patch.

Halle and Asher posing for a cute picture with the pumpkins.

Poor Chloe just has to sit in the stroller. Until she starts walking, that's just how it is going to be.

Finally, the wagon ride.

I love the FALL!

I just can't get enough of this BEAUTIFUL weather we are having. This is why I live in Utah!! I absolutely love Utah in the Fall. The leaves on the trees are changing color, the air is cool, and the sun is warm! And today was the perfect day to be outside, especially up in the mountains. After church and naps, we took the kids up to Silver Lake to enjoy it all. I wish there was a place like Silver Lake a little closer (as if 30 minutes is too far). As much as I enjoy going up there, I hate the drive. The winding roads up the canyon (or any canyon for that matter) make me so sick, even if I'm driving. By the time we get up there, I can't wait to get out just so I can stop feeling like I'm going to lose my dinner...and the headache lingers the rest of the day. But I guess the time up there is worth it...it really is beautiful, and the kids love "hiking" around the lake looking for squirrels and tadpoles and fish and ducks and moose tracks and....anything else that moves. It made for an enjoyable Sunday afternoon.

NEW YORK...finally!

SO...Where do I begin??? Adam and I did make it to New York! I'm a little late on the posting as it was almost a month ago, but I haven't forgotten about it...just been a little busy.

How was it, you ask? Well, as probably expected...New York was impressive to say the least. The city is so big!!! I've lived in some big cities ie. Atlanta, Barcelona, Seattle, and SLC (j/k), and none of them compare. The city just went on and on and on, people and big buildings everywhere! Everything about it was awesome! We also got to spend time with Jon and Ashley and their 2 little girls, Brooke and Mya. Mya was only 3 weeks old, so it was fun to meet her!

We spent 2 full days in the city and could have spent 2 weeks taking it all in. We started off buying one of those city tour passes that gives you 2 days of hop-on-hop-off tour buses through the city and a cruise around Manhattan, as well as some other little things; we spent $150 or so on them. We "hopped on" a bus that morning hoping to make the downtown loop and get back in time for our Broadway show...we had about 3 hours until showtime. We made it almost to downtown, not even half the loop, in 2 hours, then had to "hop off" so we could find and take the subway back up to midtown to get lunch before we missed our show. We were practically running to make it on time...and the only place close by the theatre to eat was McDonald's. How's that for eating in New York city??? Sad, I know. Adam downed his spicy chicken sandwich, half of my drink and fries while I shoved some fries and drink in my mouth and off we ran to see Wicked! I saved my 10 piece nuggets for intermission.

Wicked was definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip. I don't consider myself a big Broadway kind of person, so I wasn't super excited about going. I was sure I would probably like it if I went, but it wasn't on my top 10 things to do in New York if it were up to me. Luckily, it was on Adam's top 10 list...so we made it there. And I LOVED it!! Maybe I should be embarrassed to admit this, but before the show I had no idea that Wicked had anything to do with the Wizard of Oz...and it wasn't until the tin man that I clued in to that. Afterwards, Adam asked, "Didn't the green witch and the "wizard of Oz" clue you in?" "Nope! Not until the tin man." I look forward to more Broadway shows in the future!

After the show, another highlight for me, we met up with Kendra and Matt Cope, one of my mission companions and her hubby for dinner and dessert! We ate at a little italian restaurant, Celeste, went to Magnolias for cupcakes, and then for a little walk down by the Manhattan Temple, where were hung out and chatted. It was so good to see Kendra and catch up things; I just love her!

We got back to Jon and Ashley's just in time to visit and little and then crash, only to wake up early and head back to the city for the 2nd day. By this time, we figured our little tour bus purchase was a bit of waste...we didn't really plan on using it again other than for the cruise around Manhattan...it was just too slow. So, we took the city by foot and subway. First thing on the agenda was the cruise, so we headed straight there. Adam insisted on the 3 hour cruise, a little long for my liking, but I was game. We got there almost an hour before it left...which turned it into 4 hours, but the waiting was fun and relaxing. Adam fully enjoyed the cruise. Me, on the other hand, after about an hour and a half, I was tired. I found and chair and propped myself up against a wall and napped. I normally would not have done this, but I wasn't the only one on board who had had enough...there were quite a few people actually who laid down on a row of chairs to snooze. I at least stayed on 1 chair only. I woke up before it was all over.

After the cruise, it was to the city to see as much as we could see. We stopped, sadly again, at Chevy's for lunch. Why didn't we eat at some cool New York places???? I still don't know. Then it was off to Wall Street, ground zero, Trinity church to see Alexander Hamilton's grave (another of Adam's top 10), picture with the Bull (now I really don't have to worry about our financial success!), and then some. Finally, we made it up to Central Park. I could have stayed there all day long. It was beautiful...and much, much bigger than I expected. We actually saw a real kickball game going on...teams, uniforms, coaches, umpires, the whole shebang! I had never seen such a thing. On the way back to catch the bus, we stopped again for a little dessert at another cupcake shop and then a chocolate shop...mmm!

Sadly, after 2 days of the city, I was just too tired to do it all again, AND wake up extra early to make it to see Matt Lauer...so instead, on day 3, we slept in. The day was really great, but I was bummed that I had been there, right in New York City, in Rockefeller Plaza even, and had not seen Matt Lauer. That's the saddest part of the whole story. But we enjoyed the day with Jon and Ashley and that was okay with me! The last thing on the agenda was a Yankees game. The weather wasn't promising, but we had the tickets, so we had to try. We went to the stadium, saw Monument Park (another of Adam's top 10), and then sat and waited, hoping that the rain would stop enough for them to play even 1 inning. But alas, after an hour and a half after game time, they finally announced that the game would be postponed to the following night. Were we disappointed??? Not totally. We're not really Yankees fans at all...we just wanted to see the stadium before they tear it down, which we got to see, and Adam wanted to see Monument Park, which we saw also.

On the way home, we passed through Grand Central Station...another incredible place, and then went by Times Square at night. It's just like they show it on TV.

So, that's it in a nutshell...a big nut shell. We had a great time, though by the end of the week, I have to say, I was ready to see my kiddos again. We got home after they were in bed on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, we both raced to the kids to get them out of bed. Chloe and Halle had looks on their faces like "Oh, all of that must have been a dream." And things were back to normal for them. Clate, on the other hand, knew we had been gone and was excited to see us and to tell us about all the fun things they had done with grammie and pa.

I'll be back with some pics.

Happy Birthday CHLOE #1!!!

Only 5 days after Clate's birthday we were celebrating Chloe's big #1! Now that I can't believe. This past year really has flown by SOOO fast. I'm not sure if it's the bald head or the fact that she's not even close to walking and isn't really saying anything, but she doesn't seem like a 1-year-old yet. I think it's just God's way of letting me enjoy the baby stage longer so I don't get any crazy desire to have another one any time soon...no worries there!
Her birthday kind of crept up on me. The week before was quite the crazy week, and at times I actually questioned myself if I had the right month..."She really was born in September, right? Not October?" But I was sure that it was right after Clate's birthday, so it had to be September. Of course, her birthday fell on Sunday, so come Sunday morning and I didn't have a cake or anything for her. AHHH...am I a bad mom? I was determined to have a cake for her, so I pulled out my cookbooks and did something I had never done before...made a cake from scratch! It actually turned out pretty good! I was proud of myself! Luckily, the night before I had run to the store to get a gift for her (come on, what does a 3rd child need when it comes to toys?), just so I could give her something...if for nothing more than to make me feel better. So, we enjoyed cake and presents with just the family and Grandma Dell who came in to help us celebrate!


The cake I made from scratch!!! Maybe I should go into business with this...NOT!

Chloe eating her cake...and loving it!

Chloe at 1:

• Like I said, she is not walking, just crawling...all over the place. She has started to pull herself up to things and today climbed the stairs by herself...scared me to death when I heard her talking at the top of the stairs. Yeah, she doesn't know how to go back down yet.
• She also is not saying much...no mama or dada, not even animal sounds. We gotta get working on this.
• She has 4 teeth; that's more than Clate or Halle had at 1 year.
• She loves to be tickled and has the cutest laugh.
• Still sleeps in the playroom in the pack-n-play; she sleeps better in her own room.
• Loves to snuggle, mostly with just mom...I'm not complaining.
• Enjoys playing by herself with her toys. She does this better than Clate or Halle.
• Prefers formula to cows milk, but must be weaned soon.
• Smiles and giggles at Clate and Halle at almost anything they do. Overall, she's a very happy 1-year-old.

I wasn't sure about how I felt about her coming into my world, but it all seems to make sense now and I know she was supposed to come when she did. She just fits so perfectly into our little family and I wouldn't change anything about it...even if I had it to do over again. Happy Birthday, CJ.

Happy Birthday CLATE #4!

Clate turned 4 on September 16. It seems like just yesterday I was holding him and crying because I couldn't believe he was here...and now look at him! I had a little party for him...it was crazy, but the kids had fun I think.
I had them make these blindfolds, then we played games that they could play blindfolded. 4-year-olds may have been too young of a group, but we made it through.
We read one of Clate's favorite birthday books, "Birthday Monsters" and then...
Present opening, of course. From his friends, he got a Batman figure, a soccer ball, the game "Go, Diego, Go!", a red spaceship, and a Lightening McQueen flashlight...all VERY cool gifts.
Clate chose to have rice crispy treats instead of the traditional birthday cake, so that's what we did! I think it was a good alternative.

Clate at age 4...

• He loves to ride his Razor scooter, his bike, and his tricycle still...he's pretty fast on all three, fast enough to scare me sometimes.
• Loves anything red, especially Lightening McQueen.
• Has learned that girls like pink things and boys like red and blue things.
• Loves preschool and runs in before I'm even out of the car to walk with him. After the first couple of days at school when I would ask him what they talked about that day, he would say, "Grasshoppers and praying mantises." I knew that wasn't what they had talked about, but he insisted. After a few times of answering that way, he started to giggle. He knew he was teasing and he thought it was pretty funny. Come to find out, Ms. Wendy showed them a praying mantis one time...but apparently that is all Clate can remember. I did finally get him to tell me that they had talked about trees one day.
• He loves to work outside, ride bikes, or play any kind of ball with dad when he gets home. Just being with dad doing anything is fun.
• He has become quite the big helper around the house and likes to sing the clean up song when its time to clean up.
• Loves pickles...he got a big jar of them for his birthday and was super excited about it!
• LOVES animals. Since we don't have any live animals in the house, Clate loves his plastic toy animals...and he has a ton of them. He picked out a frog from Michael's for his birthday and a little duck from Discovery Center. Then yesterday he asked if he could go back to Michael's and get the squid, "It was so funny and so cute," he said. "I've got to have it!"

We love Clate and are so proud of the little boy that he is becoming! Our family just wouldn't be the same without him...and the girls just love him! Happy Birthday, little man!

Some cute things...

I hate it when so much time passes and I don't update my blog. Then I don't know where to begin. "One entry at a time"...that's what i have to tell myself.

So, as I was refreshing my memory of things that have happened since my last post, I found some cute pictures that I thought I would share.

Here's Halle riding Clate's "cooter". It's her new favorite thing to do, and she's getting pretty good at it. Sometimes I wonder if her vertical motion is more than her horizontal...it's fun to watch her ride.

At the zoo they have this little old "house" that you can go in and see lots of antique things from different places. Clate had fun playing this drum, especially when Halle would dance to the beat, just as she was doing in this picture.

Playing in the rain! When the weather is nice, other than a little bit of rain, we have to put on the boots and raincoats and play in the rain. The kids love jumping in the puddles and making big splashes. Clate's teaching Halle all kinds of fun things these days!

Kendra...We are coming to NYC!!

Hey Kendra,
If you read this again, call me. I'm coming to NYC tomorrow (9/9) and if possible would love to see you! 801-660-8659 (that's my cell everyone..)!

If anyone else reads this and knows how to get in touch with Kendra...PLEASE let me know!
Mucho amor!!

Yeah, so Adam and I are headed to NYC for a little vacation sin hijos!! The kiddos are with grammie and pa for the week; we dropped them off this morning. I will miss them a bunch, but will enjoy my time away. I've never been to New York before, or anywhere in the northeast for that matter, so needless to say, I'm very excited. You will hear more when we return!

Uugh, more work?!?

So, yesterday we (me and the kids) had a really great day. We played, went on a walk, they took great naps, after Adam got home we went to dinner at Red Robbin, we came home and they went right to bed. After they were in bed, I got my work done, did some laundry, had a conversation with Adam and then went up to go to bed...only to find this...

The living room...

...and the play room.

Woops, with all the playing, I guess we forgot the cleaning up part. So, I got to spend the next half hour cleaning so I could sleep peacefully knowing that my house wasn't a total wreck.

Then, as I was picking up all the toys and putting our furniture back together...I had a moment of emotions where I was a little overwhelmed with love for my little kiddos. I LOVE spending every day with them, even if they drive me crazy sometimes. I feel so blessed and so fortunate that I get to stay home with them and enjoy them while they are young...these years already seem to be flying by. Speaking of which, Clate starts preschool tomorrow!! When did he grow up??? While I am very excited for him, it does help to put things into perspective a little. It is only 2 days a week for 2-1/2 hours and I think he is going to have so much fun. And I am looking forward to a little more girl time with the Halle and Chloe...I don't get much of that these days....and before I know it they will all be in school and I'll only have a few hours a day to spend with them. Heck, Halle will starts preschool next year...how crazy is that!

Anyway, I love my little bugs!

The Cell Phone

So, today I was out playing catch with Clate and at one point when I threw the ball to him, he ran the other way and said, "Stop! Wait a minute. I have to answer my cell phone." He dug in his pocket (I was wondering what he would pull out) and he pulled out a little play cell phone of Halle's, held it to his ear, and said, "Hi dad!" and proceeded to have a conversation. Luckily it was a short one and when he was done he said to me, "See, I told you I had to answer my cell phone." We then resumed our game of football.

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this incident. First of all, I'm the last person to drop what I am doing to answer a phone; phone calls just are not that important to me if I'm doing something else, especially something I enjoy. So I don't know where he picked that up from. Should I be worried? Should I laugh about it? Or just not really think anything of it? I don't know. Maybe he's been around Grandma Dell too much...j.k. :)

Anyway, no pics, just thought I'd share that little moment.

Halle is 2!!

Happy Birthday, Halle!

Can you believe it...Halle's 2!!! And she'll tell you, "I two...and I get you!" as she comes after you with her pincher fingers to tickle you. Her birthday was actually July 25...I'm just a little behind.

Halle needed nothing more than those little $3.50 flip-flops (3 sizes too big) and that darn binky to make her happy on her birthday. She has been the neighbor flip-flop thief, so I thought I'd get her some of her own so she would stop taking everyone else's...and I think it did the trick. Now she wears her own flip-flops EVERY day ALL day. It's hard to get her to take them off in the house even. She would like the binky every day as well, but it is now limited to naps and bedtime. How will I ever break her of this??? I just don't know.

We had a fun little barbeque party with the family (grammie, pa, casey, aubrey and jack, and some of aubrey's family) to celebrate both Halle's and Jack's birthdays as they share the day. Adam downloaded a bunch of Happy Birthday songs for us to listen to in the background during our party...it was a lot of fun to hear so many versions of the song, and it made the BBQ feel more festive.

Halle is all over being 2! I think she started acting 2 about 2 months ago, so she's had some practice...now it's all about the real thing! Halle is a little talker that will repeat anything and everything you say whether you want her to or not. She is in to flip-flops, purses and babies (dolls)...she's all girl. She loves to talk on the phone, especially to call grandma Dell (I don't know where she gets that from). And she loves doing anything that her big brother, Clate, does...whether he likes it or not (I don't know where she gets that from either). I have to say that I think she is the sweetest, funniest little nut out there...she makes me laugh every day. I just don't know what we would do without her around. We love our little Halle! I hope she had a wonderful day!!

St. George Island, Florida

Ahhh, the beach. I have longed for a trip to the beach and I finally got one!!! During our trip down south, we were lucky enough to make it to Florida for a little vacation. My brother, Aaron, and his family were going down for a week and it just happened to be the same week we were there...and they just happened to have some extra room and invited us down!! How nice was that!?!

Clate like playing in the sand more than he liked playing in the water. "Too salty," he says.

Halle liked playing in the water as long as she was holding tight to me or sitting in a beach chair catching some rays. She came home looking like the Coppertone baby!

Halle also palled up with Seth, her cousins' cousin. If there wasn't such a height difference (or age difference), they could make a pretty cute couple.

A trip to GEORGIA!

So, here we are on the airplane headed to Georgia for 2 weeks. Looks like a lot of fun, doesn't it!?! Amazingly, the kids did exceptionally well on the plane both there and back; it was me that had to make a run for the lavatory on the flight to Georgia...I barely made it in time. Some might look at this picture and say, "Is that legal?" And no, it wasn't legal for all 4 of us to be in the same row...not enough oxygen masks. However, my mom was on the flight with us and kept one of the girls (lap kids) with her most of the time. The flights were good, though. Clate and Halle watched The Little Rascals and The Carebears and were as happy as could be...all 4 hours!!

One of the main highlights of our stay in Georgia was The Georgia Aquarium. If you've never been, I would highly recommend putting it on your to-do list at some point. It's pretty amazing.


Just as you walk through the entrance you come to this wall of fish. They are not very pretty fish, but there are a bazillion of them swimming and swimming and swimming (kind of like me during my triathlon)...the kids were so excited!! That was just the beginning. They had to see everything....fast!!


Luckily, there were places like these that really caught the kids' attention and we got to take a little break and just watch for a while.

The other big event in Georgia was riding grandpa's tractor. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or grandpa.

Clate really liked sitting on the tractor, but got a little nervous when it got moving.

Halle tried to takeover the driving.

And Chloe just got to sit on it for the picture.

I "duck"...

So, one morning I got Halle out of bed. She was still a bit out of it so I sat her on the couch while I folded some laundry. She always twirls her hair when she is tired, and I thought that's what she was doing until she looked at me with a confused look on her face and said, "I duck." Once I figured out what she meant, I had to grab the camera before I helped her get unstuck. She had been twirling her hair in her bed and got her finger stuck in her hair...it really wouldn't come out either. I ended up having to cut the hair from her finger tip. Even though everybody else loves her hair, I think this girl is going to have issues with it.

"I duck."

Bad news!!

What about the kiddos?

I guess its about time for an update on the kiddos. THEY ARE AWESOME!! and growing up so fast. This summer Clate and Halle have totally been into bugs, worms, snails, or anything that moves or makes me squirm. One day I saw Clate and Halle lying on the grass moving slowly across the yard, very fixated on something. I went to check it out and they had found a box elder bug (I think that's what it is called) crawling through the yard...and they watched it crawl the entire way.

Clate and Halle moving their way across the yard.

Can you see it?

Then just a couple of weeks ago we went to go for a walk. We made it about 2 doors down and had to stop to watch a snail. After about 15 minutes, I told the kids that the snail had to go home, so Clate put him in the plants and we got on our way.

Look at that!!

We love snails!

Little Red Riding Hood 2008

So my next event was the Little Red Riding Hood bike event; an event, not a race. The options were to do 36, 45, 62, 80, or 100 miles. I probably would have chosen 45 miles, but Elisa somehow talked me into doing 62. It was up in Cache Valley; the ride was beautiful. They had rest stops along the way with all kinds of good food; fruit, chips, cookies, candy bars, drinks, etc. At the half-way point they had Subway sandwiches for us along with all of the usual goodies. I felt like I ate a ton that day, which I probably did. Total bike time for us was about 5 hours, total overal time was 7 hours. Once again, it was a great experience and I can't wait to do it again!!

The Moab Half

I was wrong...our spring/summer did not begin with my triathlon...it started with Adam's running of the Moab half-marathon. I knew I was forgetting something. Anyway, it was fun, and Moab was beautiful. I had never been there before, so it was a treat for me. We did take some time to go and see some arches...AMAZING!! I can't wait to go back and do some bike riding through the area.

I was waiting for Casey to pass by before I got my camera ready to wait for Adam to come running by so I could get some good pics of him in action, but when out of the blue I saw Adam and then Casey about 20 yards behind him, it was all I could do to get one shot of him as he passed us...so there you have it!

All of us under an arch.

Where do I begin??? Las Vegas...

Okay, so I started this blog on April 20, Adam's birthday, but I didn't mention anything about his birthday...I must have been tired, and now it's 2-1/2 months later and I am just now adding to it. Uggghhh!!! Where do I begin???

We kicked off the spring/summer with me doing my first triathlon...a sprint triathlon (1/3 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.2 mile run) with my good friend Elisa Pack. It was at the Lake Las Vegas Resort in Henderson, NV, an incredibly beautiful resort, and could have been considered our first family vacation of the year, but we left the girls with Toni and Brian Fulks and just took Clate with us. It was still a vacation and tons of fun!!! I felt pretty excited going into it, not knowing what to expect. My goal was just to finish!


Adam, Kari and Clate before triathlon



Elisa Pack and Kari all geared up for the swim!!

Overall, it was super fun!!! The swim was much harder than expected as I had only trained in a swimming pool and the open water along with the crowd of people was way different...I just couldn't get into a good swimming groove. It was survival for 600 meters. At one point I had to sing to myself, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming". Anyway, I made it and finished the race in 1 hour 40+ minutes...I don't remember the actual time.


Can you find me?



There we go...just keep swimming, just keep swimming...




Toward the end of the bike ride I was happy to see Adam and Clate cheering me on.




And even happier to be crossing the finish line a little while later!!!



Triathlon finishers!!!

Doing this triathlon was super fun. I'm still not sure why I am 31 and just now did my first triathlon...shouldn't I have been doing these in my 20s? What was I thinking??? This is only the beginning though...I think I'm hooked!