At the Gym

The kids love going to the gym with us.  They've all gone since they were tiny babies so they're totally used to it even as babies.  Desh loves that his brothers take care of him and that he gets to sit and watch tv!

Black Eye

I'm surprised Keen hasn't had more black eyes in his life.  He is always messing around and rough housing with his brothers.  Anyway, he got a toy thrown at him and hit him squarely in the eye.  Black eye.  Sorry dude.  

Keen year end

Keen graduated from preschool!  We have loved Kinder Cottage and the things that Keen has learned this year.  And we're so proud of him and all his hard work!  I love seeing the progress on his writing from the beginning of the year to the end.

Rhen year end

Rhen had a great 2nd grade year!  She loved her teacher Mrs. Ricks and is overall a great student!  She made lots of cute art projects this year and also came home with a "yearbook" from her class.  

Rease year end

Rease has had a great year this year and has loved her teacher Mrs. Willson!  She has been so awesome for the kids in her class.  One of the things that they really focus on in 4th grade is writing.  Mrs. Willson made a portfolio of all the narrative writing papers that Rease has written.  So fun to read and see her progress throughout the year!

They also had a semester all about rocks and the rock cycle.  I love this diagram she made about what she learned.

Liev end of year

Liev had two cute end of the year programs.  One was an award ceremony in his classroom where each of the kids was recognized for their hard work.  Liev has done a fantastic job this year in kindergarten and has made so much good progress.  He worked hard and got the brilliant bobcat award, was on the honor roll and became a math fact ninja!  All hard things that take a lot of work!  So proud of this boy.  

They also had a year end program and sang lots of cute songs and showed us everything they learned as kindergartners.  

 Miss Buker has been such a fun teacher for him.  She made this book for each of the kids and compiled all their best work of the year.  I wanted to keep as many as I could because I think they are so fun to see and also shows all his progress!

Grocery Shopping

I love when I get to go to Costco with just one of my children.  It makes it all so much easier and quicker.  And especially when one is as cute as this baby.  I love that toothy grin!

Stairs

You know what this means...I have to teach Desh how to go down the stairs now!  He has discovered how to go up them and thinks he is the funniest boy!

If you give a mom a muffin...

Rease made this darling book for me at school and it is so cute and clever!  And it's spot on!  I'm amazed at how observant she is and how well she knows me.  Sweet girl.  

Field Day

You know school is winding down when Field Day rolls around!  I got to help with Rhen and Liev's classes today and had such a fun time!  The kids are full of energy and ready for summer to be here!

Flower beds

For my birthday this year Josh took me to pick out plants to put in our flower beds in the front yard!  We picked out our favorite ones then spent the weekend planting, laying down mulch and getting drip lines hooked up to each plant.  It was a lot of work but we had a great time together and love how it turned out!  I'm so excited to have flowers in our yard!

Liev's Drawing

I love this cute picture Liev drew!

Breakfast in Bed

My boys are the sweetest.  They are usually the first ones up in the mornings and turn on cartoons before the rest of us roll out of bed.  Today, they decided to get my breakfast all ready for me and bring it to me on a tray.  They got all the essentials.  Oatmeal with almond milk: check.  Toast and butter: check.  Fruit: check.  Mom's drink of choice: check.  Love these 3 big boys of mine!

Memorial Day

The kids love going down to the Provo Cemetary and visiting Sarah's grave every Memorial Day.  They look forward to it and love finding it amongst all the other grave stones.  The boys and I went down this year and spent some time reflecting and talking about their Aunt Sarah.  Such a good time to remember how much we love our family.

Peeing

This is the reward for having 4 boys in a row.  No more holding them while they try and go pee on the side of the road or helping them squat.  Nope.  Just open the door and let them go.  Love it!

The boys

These boys keep us happy, excited and on our toes! Love every one of them!

Trip to the instacare

Liev hurt his hand today jumping on the trampoline and has been complaining about it ever since.  Josh decided to take him in to the instacare tonight just to get it checked out and make sure there were no broken bones.  They had a fun time while they waited and it turns out nothing is broken so that's an even bigger bonus!

Desh 1st Birthday

Our baby boy turned 1 today!  How did that happen?  He is the best and we were all excited to be able to celebrate his birthday today.  

 The baby cake is the best part of a 1st birthday.  Desh had no problem digging right in and going to town.  He did really good getting most of it all over himself.  I think some may have may it in his mouth!  We sure love this last boy of ours!

My favorite things about 1 year old Desh:

1) He is quite content to just be hauled around everywhere.  Whether it's in the stroller, the carseat or just being carried around, he just goes along for the ride and joins in on the chaos.  And for that matter, he doesn't care that he isn't walking yet.  He has no need to get anywhere on his own - he has 5 brothers and sisters to carry him around wherever he needs to go!

2) Desh is right up there with being one of my chubbiest babies.  I can't stop kissing his cheeks.  He has a round belly, round cheeks and thighs that have so much chub on them I can't even stand it.  Round babies are my favorite thing!

3) Desh is forever my birthday twin.  I love sharing this day with him and knowing that my favorite birthday gift I've even gotten was him.

1 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Height: 2'7" - 87%

Weight: 23 lbs. 9 oz. - 83%

Head: 18.9 inches - 93%

Happy birthday Baby Desh!

Pit Stop

I love when Beck just drops his drawers and takes a quick pit stop no matter where he's at!  Doughy buns!

Ogden Marathon 2017

I have been training for the Ogden Marathon for the past few months.  I love to run and especially love running a marathon this time of year when the weather is getting so nice and the days keep getting longer and longer!  It's my favorite time of the year!  One of my favorite things I have used for training is my Apple Watch that Josh bought me a while ago.  It has a running app that tracks all my runs and shows me my distance and my times.  It has been awesome to train with!  These are just a few of the runs I've been on while training.  Josh has been super patient and helpful as I've taken so many of our Saturday's lately for my longer training runs.  He is a super dad and has been really supportive!  After lots of hours and miles on the road the day of the marathon finally arrived!  

 I went up Friday afternoon and checked in at the expo, got my bib number,  dropped my water bottles along the trail and tried to get all prepped for the next morning.  I was able to have a good dinner and get to bed early so that I could feel rested for the run.  Josh stayed home with the kids and was going to meet me up at the finish line the next day.  

My friends Shelly and Wan picked me up Saturday morning early and we headed up to the bus stop to load onto our bus!  So early, but so awesome to see all the runners with high energy and ready to go!

 Up at the starting line we had about an hour before the race started.  There were fire pits all over with people gathering around trying to stay warm and get ready to run.  It was really fun to sit and chat with people and know that everyone is about to embark on a 4 or more hour trek along with you!

 Our friend Stephanie got hurt during training and wasn't able to run with us today, so Wan was running with her in mind!

The starting line with thousands of runners waiting.  And then we were off!

A marathon is hard.  I think about it every time I start to train and wonder if I'm going to be able to do it again.  And it is hard every time.  But I love it and I love that I can make my body do something hard. 

By the time I am near the finish line, all I want to do is see my family and know that they are there cheering me on.  By then it's the only thing that keeps me running.  The last stretch toward the finish line seems like an eternity.  But I finally saw my kiddos and Josh and these three jumped out and ran the last 100 yards with me.  I couldn't keep the tears from running down my face.  It mixed in with the sweat so you couldn't tell!

All I could think after I was done is "I made it!"  And not just that but I made it under 4 hours which has been my goal all along.  3:56:07!

 My kids made these awesome posters for me and cheered their little hearts out!  Thanks to the whole family for sacrificing to let me do this!