Kelsie turns 11????

11 I know I can't believe it!!! I can't believe I have a kid that old and I can't believe how grown up she is!! Kelsie woke up a happy camper and ready to be another year older. She even had the day off school since it was fall break. What a lucky girl her birthday always seems to fall around break time at school. After lunch we headed to the mall. Kelsie loves to read and wanted to spend her birthday money and find some books so we headed to Barnes and Noble. After the mall we headed home to open presents. She had picked out her present so she knew what she was getting...not too much of a surprise but she was thrilled to finally get her princess dolls to play with. (YES I am excited that my 11 year old is still into barbies!!!) Kelsie has an amazing imagination that can keep her entertained for hours. She can also stay buried in books and be perfectly content. After presents it was time for yummy cake... better than anything cake. It was yum!! Happy Birthday Kelsie we love you and are so glad you are part of our family.

Avrie bought her a bracelet with her own money and

was so happy to give it to her for her birthday Jaci and Andrew were excited to share in the birthday celebration

We went to dickey's bbq for lunch.

That was her choice and it was delicious!!!

Earlier in the week Grandma Allred came down and took Kelsie to Tuachans production of The Little Mermaid. She loved it and loved the time with Grandma.

St. George Marathon 2011

Well we did it!! We finished the 35th Annual St. George Marathon. It was another hot year and not too fun but we did it! I told Randy I was ok with him going ahead of me but otherwise he just had to stay with me because I was afraid to leave him. I was worried about it being his longest run EVER, the heat, his shoe choice, his clothing choice, and I told him heart attacks were allowed but strokes were not and I was just NERVOUS for him. I did it last year so I knew what to expect.

We stayed together about the first 2 miles and then something just clicked for me and I slowly got ahead of him. He told me it was ok to go ahead. I could still look back and see Randy and then before long I think he was hiding from me. I was doing a really good pace and was a few minutes ahead of the 4:30 pacer. I stopped at mile 14 for a potty stop and had to wait a few minutes. That is where the pacer past me. I got to mile 15 so happy to see my friend and took my sweet time wondering how far Randy was behind me. I waited about 2 minutes and saw him coming. I waited for him to get through the aid station and we began running together again. He informed me he had a blister and we made it to mile 16 before he needed to walk a little. I was fine with that and we stayed together again until about mile 19. I told him I really wanted us to finish together. I pictured us holding hands across the finish and we needed some pics together. We got one at the top of mile 19 and then my legs needed to get moving again or I knew they would get too stiff to do any good. Before I knew it I was ahead and couldn't see him anymore. Potty stop at mile 21 I saw him coming to the aid station then I left again. I felt so bad I wasn't running with him but just had to go. By then I had our time 9 minutes behind the clock because our delay at the start. I kept thinking I could get in under 5 hours so I just kept going and hurting and wanting to cry. I guess the race started 2 minutes later than scheduled and I came across at 5:02. I would be dissapointed but truth of the matter is.... I was 9 minutes faster than last year and I finished! Another great thing....Randy finished too at 5:15!! It was a good experience, however painful, to say I've run it again is good for me. I know I will never be a 3 hour marathoner, but hey I still trained and worked hard and in the end WE DID IT!!!

Randy in the white shirt and black shirt ready to cross the finish! great job babe. I'm so proud of you!!
Mom wasn't sure how to use the camera and was hitting the wrong button but at least she got me by the finish line. lol I'm in the pink, next to the guy with the poster. I guess my backside was better than my exhausted face!! I'm sure it looked pretty scary. I think I had 3 different people ask if I was ok when I crossed the finish line I felt a little delirious but I did alright to wait for Randy to come across. (they only had to tell me 3 times to stay behind the white line lol I kept forgetting and thinking the line was farther down. oops)

Yes A New Post!!!

I know I have really been slacking....like almost 16 months without a blog post. Well I've been a little busy and yeah a little lazy too. My last post was all about racing and last year I had a goal to run a marathon. I did it and never even posted about it. This Saturday I am running it again with Randy! In the last year I was able to accomplish my goals for turning 30. 1 was to run a marathon 2 was to graduate college. I ran the St. George Marathon and graduated in December with honors from Dixie State College. I have enjoyed this summer and fall off of school. I will begin again in January. I will start the respiratory therapy program and it will take me 4 consecutive semesters to complete. Since July I have also been working in Central Processing for the health and performance center with Intermountain Healthcare. It was been exciting to learn new things but I have learned I don't want to be there forever. I really miss patient care.

Other than that life has been going so quickly. Kelsie started 5th grade!! Avrie is a 4th grader and even got to keep her same teacher as last year...that has been a huge blessing...she really understand Avrie and is so willing to help with her. Andrew started Kindergarten and didn't even look back for me when he entered the class. He is learning so much already and picking out his sight words all around town on signs. Jaci is just enjoying being home and has her little friend over to play a few times a week because they can't seem to get enough of each other...even though they don't always get along they ask for each other everyday!!!

I know I should probably play catch up but that would take way to long so unless I can think back to something really amazing...we did go to disneyland again this summer...then I probably will only try to post upcoming events in our lives!!

Sorry for the long absence for anyone who still checks out our blog!! just for fun here are the kids school pics I did this year. Last year Kelsie seemed so grown up in her pictures...this year it was Avrie!!! Can't believe my babies are getting so big!

Running Weekend Again!

Last weekend was a race weekend for both me and Randy again. Randy went and ran a 10k in the Utah Summer games. He did awesome. He finished in 57 minutes and the kids loved running across the finish with him.

After his race we headed to Provo so I could pick up my packet for the Utah Valley 1/2 marathon. He was a little stiff when we got there. Man payback sucks right honey!(I had to sit in the car all the way home from provo after running my first 1/2 in may) Anyway we made it and went to Park City to pick up another pair of running shoes (the ones I just bought are now being upgraded so I had to get the last pari at the Nike outlet) It was also nice to see what the course would be.

Bright and early (3AM) ok not so really bright, DARK actually I got up and Randy took me to get on the bus. It had rained and rained the day before and still had a little sprinkle. I was about to vow I would never run in Provo again. Then I started the run. It was beautiful despite the rain. I cut 9 minutes off my last time so it was good for me. I was in the top 55% overall and 65% in the women so I didn't come in last. That's all that mattered to me! Oh yeah and no Marathon Runnner passed me either that was the 2nd goal!

got to the love that Randy only took one picture of my after the race and I was totally cheesing it just trying to be silly! Geez I can't smile as big as Dave even why I tried. Trying to show off those braceless teeth! Got them off just in time to go up north. We were planning on family pictures so the braces HAD to come off! Too bad it rained us out. Oh well family pics in a few weeks and I will pray for good weather this time!

Working out with DAD

Happy Fathers day Randy! We didn't do much for father's day since I have been in class all weekend but Randy did finally get his p90x and he's been working out! The kids also tried it out. I guess that means before long we will be one hot smokin' family right??? well we shall see!

Silly Boy you can do it!
Avrie is our toughie! she can do it too!
Kelsie, Well, she is like me... can't do it!
Jaci loved just hangin there! Don't know what was up with her shoulders but it was freaking me out! Andrew was having too much fun playing in the other room and didn't join the fun. I guess he thinks he is already buff enough.

slip-n-slide

The kids had a fun time on the slip n-slide. Took them a while to figure it out but then they were having a blast. Jaci however was not liking it so much. She LOVES the bath but hates swimming pools or any other water. She freaks out just stepping in a puddle.

Randy Turns 36!

Holy Moly he's old! lol. We sure love him though. We were hoping to make one last minute trip to Disneyland to use our passes one more time before they expired but things just didn't work out so instead we planned a fun day here. The girls had gone to meet their new teachers at Panorama so they were out of school. They came with me to take dad a cake at work so his co workers could celebrate. They also made him a candy bar card and took him his presents. We didn't make it to Disneyland but the kids gave him a digital photo frame filled with pictures from all our trips he LOVED it. After work we went out to dinner. It was a great day. Hope he knows how much we love him and how grateful we are for all his hard work! I forgot the camera at his work bbut I did manage to get a picture of his Candy card.

The new Family Pet

Avrie came home from school with a school lunch milk container filled with water and 8 tadpoles! I was shocked even though I shouldn't have been this was Avrie afterall. I got alittle more attached to tadpoles than the gold fish and was determined to help them grow into frogs. I think it brought back some memories of the tadpoles I would catch as a kid. Besides frogs are cute! We cut open a gallon milk jug and put in some water and fed them fish food. Avrie fed them a little too much the first night and one died. A few weeks later we went to the river and got some good water for them. We continued to feed them fish food and they were even getting their legs. Then I fed them one morning and the food came out too fast. I thought it would be ok but an hour later they were all DEAD. OOPS. I guess they can eat too much! I guess we will have to try raising tadpoles again next year!

my MVP and Imagineer

I don't think Randy could be a prouder Papa. He has a boy that is ALL boy! Andrew loves sports of any kind and is always wanting to play with Randy. Every morning before Randy leaves for work Andrew is asking if he will play baseball when he gets home. Andrew is obsessed with BYU football and even knows Red and Utah are the BAD guys. It's so dang funny. He loves to kick the soccer ball and throw the baseball and football. He's still working on his catching skills but he's doing great!

Besides being a sport fanatic Andrew also has a great imagination. He loves his own boy dress ups. One day we went out to the garage and got his rope (his fishing pole), grabbed the girls blanket (the lake), and sat on the back of the couch. I asked what he was doing he told me he was fishing! He also makes a handsome knight in PJ's!

My Rock baby

Jaci has been a busy baby too and trying to be a big girl. She loves being outside and just wants to be like the rest of the big kids. I love that she is a happy little helper. When she is outside if she notices the rocks on the sidewalk or grass she will pick them up and put them where they belong. She is so smart for 17 months and just so dang CUTE! She follows directions and cleans up her toys. She is learning new words but my favorite is Momma. Even though that is what she even calls Randy. I love to hear her just calling Momma Momma in her sweet little voice! I think potty training is right around the corner. She will pat her bumb and say poo poo and wants to sit on the toilet. Unfortunatly it is usually right after she just peed but at least she is realizing she's going.

Jaci also LOVES suckers and I HATE giving them to her. It's too big of a sticky mess. So I improvised and gave her the sucker in the bath. She was one happy baby!

Kelsie's PROJECT

Kelsie was part of a crochet after school club. She was so excited to learn how to make a beanie. She was so proud of her yellow hat. She did a good job for her first time. She even loved wearing it in 100 degree weather! She was really gung ho at first wanting to make a lot of hats to give to babies at the hospital. I think she realized it took more effort than she thought. Hopefully she will remember her goal and make a few more!

Year End Programs

Kelsie had a class presentation in Spanish class the same day as her year end program. She was so excited about it and so exciting that I could come and watch (Hope it is always that way but I won't hold my breath). She did a good job. She was even in the same group as her best friend Chloe.

Kelsie and Avrie both had their year end programs the same day. It was so fun to see them singing. Kelsie was also able to play a zylophone. Or something similar to it anyway. They had a great time. It was the last performance at Dixie Sun for them.

Avrie was being a little shy!
Next year they will be attending their neighborhood school. I am looking forward to them making friends that live nearby and being able to walk to school. No need to worry about school uniforms and they will have awesome teachers! I feel bad the Spanish program wasn't working out as great as I hoped but I am glad that they have learned enough that they can keep going on their own. I have them reading in spanish and writing books reports. They weren't speaking it much at school anyway so we can pretty much do what they could at school! It's a long story on why we decided to move them but I know it was the right decision and they will be just FINE. They were able to go and meet their new teachers at Panorama and both of them each have someone in their class they already know. They are so EXCITED!!!

A lot of Catching up to do!

I decided that it was about time to get a little update! It's been a while so I figured I needed to upload pics so I could even remember what has happened in the last month. I started uploading pics and realized everything is now out of order. Instead of being past to present the pics are backwards. Oh well here is our update...

I am starting to wonder if maybe they should have been twins. Somehow they end up in our bed EVERY night and they are always cuddling in the weirdest positions. It's a good thing we have a king sized bed or they would getting booted to the floor! Neither one of them can sleep straight and are all over in the bed. In fact it's quite funny to watch in the night. They wake up but aren't really awake. They sit up and then turn their body and just fall back to the bed and sleep wherever they land. Jaci hits her head on the headboard at least 5 times a night and it doesn't ever make her cry she just snuggles down between the mattress and headboard and usually Randy's neck.

We had some new neighbors move in a few months ago and it was been the best thing in thing for Kelsie and Avrie to have some friends right next door. Poor Andrew Girls at home, and girls in the neighborhood! he's a good sport though and tries to get a long with them. Jaci used to just love watching them out the window but since she has figured out how to open the front door as soon as the girls go out to play she is quick on their heels and loves to play outside too. I have never had a child love to play in the grass as much as she does. She doesn't seem to care that it feels funny or is scratchy she just LOVES being outside!

Ok so the kid loves being outside but HATES bubble baths! She LOVES regular bath time but the bubbles were a little too much for her. Avrie was having a meltdown one night and needed some rest and to relax a little bit so I got a nice warm bubble bath ready and while I was waiting for her to come in I put Jaci in. She screamed and didn't know what to think. Eventually she calmed down but I think she will stick to regular baths from now on!
Running Races is what we have had fun doing around here. Randy ran the 5k in hurricane. Only his second race and he took 2nd in his age group. Despite the course being almost a 1/2 mile longer that it was supposed to be. On May 1st we went to provo and I ran my first 1/2 marathon. In the rain and snow no less! It was a good experience and I felt good about my time. Better than I had hoped. 2 weeks later I am still recovering from making my body do more that it had done before. The farthest I had ever ran was 10 miles and that was only once so going 13.1 really pushed me. I am hoping everything heals up soon since I will be running another one in a month! Randy also ran a 5k that day and took 4th in his age group. Then he stood in the rain and snow waiting for me. What a great guy!

Avrie is still a bug catcher! Grandma Allred gave all the kids a bug kit at Easter and she has been using hers. She caught a caterpillar and the next day it made it's cacoon in her box. I'm pretty sure it will just be a moth but we shall see!To go to school or NOT to go to school that is the ? I was feeling really good about going to school. I felt like it was what I needed to do. I am really close to getting my associates and all my pre-requisites for nursing school. It was a little stressful this semester being gone in the evenings and leaving the house and kids up to Randy. He was such a good helper. The hardest part was seeing this during the day...
I was sitting at the computer trying to get my math homework done. It was a class I was doing online. Jaci is wanting to climb all over me and I am in the middle of a quiz. I get a little frustrated that she has to be so clingy and won't even play with her toys for just a second while I finish. Then I take a minute to look at her devastated face and wonder if I'm really doing the right thing. What will I miss out on? When was the last time I read her or Andrew a book? I felt like a total slacker. I picked her up and loved her and realized this too shall pass. I know I am doing the right thing I just need to be better at managing time.
Luckily after the tears we also got some sweet smiles. Everyone survived the semester and now we can relax until fall. Only one semester left and I know it will all be worth it!

Andrew decided he wanted to be Indiana Jones. He pulled out the movies one day and loved them. He ran out to the garage and found a rope, an old purse of the girls, his sword, and Randy's Indiana Jones hat from Disneyland. The kid was in heaven running around the house. I only got a little nervous when he came and asked me if he could put his rope around the fan and hang from it! UMM NOOOO. Luckily he never tried!My .Handsome little man! I decided since general conference was on Easter Sunday I would let the kids wear their clothes the week before since we were going to a baby blessing with family. This is actually just what Andrew wears every Sunday but he was just as excited to get dressed as the girls were. Every Sunday morning he is wanting to get dressed as soon as he wakes up. We don't have church until 1 so I make him wait so he won't get his shirt all dirty when he eats. He walks around always saying he can't wait until he can go on a mission. He is going to make one good cute missionary!
I was so glad that since I waited until the last minute I was able to find something for all the girls and have them match!
Last and not least Jaci keeps me on my toes. She is such a cutie though. She is now 16 months old and I can't believe how big she is getting. She loves to say PUPPY and once she starts saying it she doesn't stop. she loves to open the doors and tries to climb on the OVEN. I know bad idea. She grabs the bar on the door and pulls herself right up. So far the door hasn't come open I'm just waiting for that to happen but pray it doesn't. She loves to climb on the table and walk on it. I don't know why she is so obsessed with that. She won't sit in her high chair any more so we moved in the booster and she sits at the table with the rest of us and she LOVES it. She loves playing with Andrew in the day and Kelsie and Avrie in the afternoon and she LOVES her daddy. Once she sees him in a room he better pay attention to her or she will cry until he does. She loves to have her hand held. You have to hold her hand for her to fall asleep. It's pretty funny she will lay in her crib to fall asleep as long as you hold her hand. At that....is our update!