BRIAN'S 1/2 MARATHON

Well, I'm behind a week, but I wanted to post about my amazing husband who ran his third 1/2 marathon last week. At the beginning of the year, Brian set a goal to run four ½ marathons this year. He had already run his first ½ in November 2008. But in January he ran his first of the year in St. George. It was perfect, beautiful weather. Saturday April 4th he ran the Provo half. We went to Provo Friday night. The boys stayed with Marcus and Sammy stayed with Arrie. The kids had been wanting to spend time with cousins for a long time. Thanks Frances and Lydia, they had a great time even though it was so short. Brian, Kylee, and I stayed at a hotel in Provo so Brian could get a good night sleep. But, Kylee had other plans so it wasn’t a great night sleep.

The race started at 8:00 a.m. BRRR…. Cold is the word for the morning. It was windy and snowy. However, the roads were clear so that helped. I dropped off Brian and hurried to Lydia’s so I could pick up the kids. Frances came too and we went to mile 4 to cheer Brian on. (Thanks again Franny for coming. It meant so much to both Brian and I and it was so fun to have you there.) After he passed we headed to mile 5 to cheer him on again. Mile 5 was at a park so the kids played and we waited for Brian to loop around because it was also mile 10. After that we zoomed over to the finish and cheered him on. He finished the race in 1 hour and 47 minutes. It was faster than his first marathon, but not quite as fast as his second.

It was a tough race mentally and physically. He had never run in such cold weather before. Most of his training was done on a treadmill which is different than running on the road. But even though this was his most difficult race he did so good. He paid for it though. He was very sore. Brian you did great though. Way to go. You ran strong.

BEAUTIFUL KENTUCKY

I am one of the luckiest girls in the world. My sister, Janice, and her family moved to Kentucky last summer. Her daughter, Taylor, was getting baptized March 28th. My parents and my sister Frances decided to drive out (a 27 hour drive) to be to the baptism. I really wanted to go and support Taylor and visit with Janice and her family. I couldn’t spend the time it would have taken to drive out with my parents. My amazing and supportive husband used his sky miles to help my get to Kentucky. Not only that but Sammy got to come with me and Brian stayed behind to watch the rest of the kids. My wonderful visiting teachers and a neighbor (Kylee’s second home) helped watch Logan and Kylee when Brian had to be at work. Thanks guys.

Flying with Sammy was so fun. She was so excited she could hardly contain herself. Every little thing about the airplane was exciting to her. When she discovered the tray that folds down in front of us she was bouncing up and down. She was as amazed with the window blind as she would have been with getting a cell phone. You can imagine how she acted when we finally took off. For the first hour she giggled, squealed, and bounced. I couldn’t help but laugh at her. She made the experience so much more fun. After the first hour however she became bored (no t.v.). The book I got her wasn’t very exciting so she spent at least an hour writing all over a napkin. I, however, enjoyed very much the time to relax and read.

Kentucky was great. It was so good to see Janice and her family. They have a beautiful home and the country is so beautiful. There are green rolling hills with horse farms every where you look. One of the highlights of the trip was visiting Adena Springs, a horse farm not too far from my sister’s house. Gorgeous can’t even describe it. The barns look like churches and the horse stalls are so clean and well kept. We even got to see a breeding session. Very interesting. Enough said. It was a great time.

(This is not a church. It is one of the many barns on the farm. Beautiful)

(Me, Janice and Frances at Adena Springs Farm.)

Saturday was the baptism. It was a wonderful day. Taylor looked beautiful and radiant. The ward came out in support and filled up the entire Relief Society room. It made such a difference to feel that support. The blessing Greg, my brother-in-law, gave Taylor when he confirmed her was beautiful. The spirit was so strong. I am so grateful that it was possible to be to Taylor’s baptism to support her.

(Janice, Greag, Tayler, and Morgan at the baptism. The dress Taylor is wearing was made by my mother. My oldest sister wore it and all of my sisters and me wore it for our baptisms except Janice who was confirmed in it. Now all my mom's granddaughters are wearing it. It is a great tradition.)

Saturday night Sammy babysat while the adults went out. We ate a yummy dinner at Jonny Corinos. Yummy!!! Yummy!!! My wonderful sisters and Jade’s mom and dad paid Sammy very well. Monday before we left Kentucky Janice took us into Lexington and Sam spent all her money on new clothes. It was so much fun and she really needed new clothes anyway.

Our evenings were spent playing games and talking, usually way too late. Janice even got Frances and I signed up for face book. After that we all took turns the rest of the week checking to see how many friends we had. Frances is the winner. She has way more friends than me. So if you are signed up for face book and want to be my friend it would make me feel soooo happy.

(The twins)

It was a great trip. Sammy and I are so glad that we got to spend that time with Janice and her family. We had fun and had some much needed catch up time with everyone. Can’t wait until June when all the sisters can get together and catch up and play. The weather was a lot better than Utah as well. It was hard to come back to frigid weather. Thanks Janice and Greg for being such great hosts

(Cambree, Frances' daughter. Isn't she cute. She provided so much entertainment for us.)

(Sammy entertained the girls most of the time. She made a treasure hunt for them

and this is them showing their treasure they found. It was a bag of chips.)

CATCHING UP...

Kylee celebrated her third birthday on March 17th. It was a crazy day with a lot going on but she had some friends share lunch with her. Braden had the pine wood derby that night. So we had 15 minutes in between dinner and the derby to have cake and ice cream and have her open her presents. She got a toddler scooter and a Little People bus.

Braden was so excited for the pinewood derby. Brian doesn’t look forward to this time of year quite so much. However a lot of stress was taken away because our awesome scout committee had a workshop to help the father’s and boys learn how to put together the derby cars. After the workshop all that Braden needed to finish was painting, wheels, and weights.

Brian is always nervous about the speed of the car. It is hard to see your child not do very well. Fortunately, Braden’s Batman car was fast. Most of the time he came in first. He was so thrilled. All the boys seemed happy that night. The scout committee did a fantastic job and they are always so organized.

A LUCKY DAY!!!!

Today is a lucky day. A neighbor gave me some shamrock plants a couple of months ago. Recently I noticed that one of the clovers had more than the normal three leaves on it. Yes….I have a lucky four leaf clover right here in my house. It must mean that I have a lucky family…or…I am lucky to have this amazing family. I think it’s both.

Today is also lucky for another reason. Three years ago today, I had my beautiful baby girl…KYLEE. She is sooo excited to turn three. We love her so much. She is so full of energy and life. Kylee loves her family so much, especially her big sister Sammy. She loves to be outside moving and exploring. Friends are an important part of life. Every day she asks to play. Kylee loves music and dancing. Sammy has a cute video of her dancing on her blog. Kylee loves to help around the house. She is my first volunteer to help with dinner and dishes (help is not what I would describe it, but it makes her happy.) We love Kylee so much and we are so glad she is part of our family.

SLEEPY LITTLE KYLEE

Kylee doesn’t take naps anymore. Not planned naps anyway. By late afternoon she gets pretty tired. Sometimes she just can’t take it anymore and ends up falling asleep in the funniest places. Below are some pictures I have taken of her and her unusual sleeping places.
Usually, she is trying to eat something before she falls asleep. Kylee doesn’t eat like most normal kids. She sucks on her food. Sucking her food acts as a pacifier and it relaxes her so much she falls asleep. Bread is her favorite pacifier. What a nut. I sure love her. She adds a lot of energy to our family.

WARD SKI NIGHT

Every year for the past four years, our family anticipates the ward ski night. Actually it is a tri-ward ski night and our ward is invited to participate. In past years it has been on a Thursday night which has made getting up for school the next morning difficult. But we have so much fun it is all worth it. This year we got to have ski night on lucky Friday the 13th. It was wonderful to have it on Friday, because Saturday morning the kids (minus Kylee) slept in.

Brian took off work early so we could get up to Beaver Mountain as soon as the ski shop opened. We were right in front of the crowd. I hate crowds so this made me very happy. Braden wasn’t sure if he wanted to ski, so he stayed in the Lodge with Kylee. Kylee had some friends to play with, but we also brought our portable DVD player so they watched a movie. Every family brings some food to share. We have plenty of selection of soup and wonderful treats and goodies to snack on.

Logan took a ski lesson. He took one last year, but it clicked with him this year. He did really well. He zoomed down the mountain, but with control. Sometimes he was faster than I was (which isn’t saying much). He loved it and it was so fun to see him enjoying it. Kylee enjoyed skiing too. Brian took her skiing by holding her in his arms. She loved it. She would have done it the whole night but she only got to go down three or four times. Hopefully next year. Sammy and Steven met up with some friends and we didn’t see them much. They had a great time.

Overall it was a fantastic night. Thanks Angie, Shane, and the activities committee for getting it all organized. It is a fun tradition and we look forward to it next year.

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY STEVEN

February 21st was Steven’s 12th birthday. I can’t believe he is so old. He had a group of friends over to celebrate his birthday. He split everyone up into groups of twos and they rotated playing different games. One group played the wii, one played pool, one played ping pong, and one played air hockey.

They each got a turn playing everything. Their favorite by far was of course the wii. We ate cake and ice cream and did gifts. We got Steve a Darth Vader ship kite and a scooter. Right before the boys left we launched paper rockets that they made as they came. Brian built a rocket launcher out of pvc pipe. The boys loved it. We didn’t have much time or they would have kept launching their rockets. I think Steven had a great party.

We took him out to dinner that night to the Olive Garden. It was his first time going there but it was a hit. When we first sat down, the table had wine glasses on it. Steven licked his finger and rubbed it on the rim to try and make it whistle. Then he licked it to really make it wet. After declining alcohol, the waiter took the glasses away. Brian watched the waiter put them right back with the clean glasses. That’s when Steven told us he licked the rim. When the waiter returned we told him and you should have seen the look on his face. He quickly left and took our three glasses to the kitchen. It reminded us you can never be too certain that the glasses on your table are clean. Yikes.
Steven was going to be ordained a deacon the next day. Kylee and I were sick and Grandpa Cox was sick so we pushed it to the next week. So March 1st Grandma and Grandpa Horsley and Grandma and Grandpa Cox came all the way up to be with Steven for his ordination. It was a nice visit and we are so thankful that they took the time to support Steven.
Steven is such a wonderful boy. He has a kind heart and is truly sensitive. He is handsome and when not bothering his brothers is so fun to be around. He has a testimony of the gospel and has a strong desire to do what is right. He is learning to play the piano and is enjoys learning to play the bass at school. He has a love for nature and is very concerned about our environment. Steven loves to read. I think he inherited that from Grandma Horsley. He gets sucked into a book faster that you can blink. We love Steven so much and we are so glad he is part of our family.