A Year Old! ALREADY!!!

Courtney Turned ONE!!! What a fun year we have had with Sister Sue! She is so much fun! She is growing up so fast! She has her own little personality and I love it! She is a bit of a Hot Head! If she doesn't like something, she will definitely let you know! She loves to play with Magellan and her two big brothers! She loves to play in Tupperware (just like Mommy!) and loves to eat! She loves to play in her hairbows, and remove her socks and throw them! She enjoys watching others pick things up for her, so she can throw them all over again! She loves her dolls, and particularly loves dishes!

At her one year appointment she weighed 17 lbs 6oz. and was 27.5 inches long. She is very skinny and petite!

I am so grateful for this precious baby girl!

My big 4 Year Old!

I can't believe it. Joe is FOUR!!! For the couple of weeks leading up to his big day, I begged. I PLEADED! I BRIBED Joe to stay three! Unfortunately, he didn't agree, and the boy turned FOUR! He is such a happy little four year old! To celebrate his big day, we let him pick a friend to go to Chuck E. Cheese. He took his favorite buddy Maddux. Those boys had so much fun! They enjoyed riding rides together, playing games, and of course hanging out with Jake and his good friend Jacie (Maddux' older sister.) It was so much fun watching the kiddos have a blast!

For Joe's Birthday, we had family over for cake and ice cream, and of course spoiling 101. He received so many nice clothes, a Leapster from mommy and daddy, and lots of fun new toys and gadgets!

Joey is growing up so fast! That little boy has eyes to melt your heart! He has a tough side and a sensitive side, and I just love him to pieces! He loves to learn, show off what he knows, and play with his big brother Jake! He is a great little helper to his baby sister, and the family dog! I am so proud of my little Joe Joe! Love you!

Recent Funnies!

I have to share this moment, because I am still giggling, and it happened a few days ago! It is definitely share-worthy.

Tuesday Morning Jake and Joe had gotten in trouble, for what I don't remember, but they got in trouble. As soon as they were allowed out of their time out, both the boys came into the kitchen where I was cleaning up. Here is how the conversation went.

Jake: " Mom, I love you so much. I love you more than Ice Cream!" (I am thinking in my head, wow that means a lot, have you ever seen how fast Jake can devour Ice Cream???)

Joe: " Yeah, and I love Daddy more than a fork!" (that's touching, who knew this kid was attached to his utensils?)

Jake: "Yeah, well I love Daddy more than CHICKEN!" (Jake won't eat chicken.)

Joe: " Yeah, well I love Mommy more than Chicken!" (Joe refuses to eat chicken too!)

It was so funny to hear these two "one-up" eachother. Oh the memories!

The Holidays!

Isn't it amazing how fast the Holidays come and go? I prepare a good portion of the year for Christmas. Between Turtle's and my family, we have lots of people to remember and think of, so it really does take a lot of time to prepare for Christmas morning, or in our case, Christmas WEEK!

We had a lovely December. Jake was out of school nearly the entire month, and I just loved having him home. I loved having all three of my kiddos together all month. Jake and Joe are good buddies. Best of friends some would say. I love that they can play just about anything together. Jake is ultra patient and wants to show Joe all the cool stuff like Lego Indiana Jones and Star Wars...(I wish I thought it was as cool as he does!)

The week of Christmas was pretty hectic. We had neighbor gifts, gift wrapping, last minute shopping for the boys, working late, family parties, along with some babysitting here and there... it was crazy, and exhausting. But it was all a lot of fun.

Christmas Eve we decided to stay home. Turtle and I decided that our tradition will be to stay in on Christmas Eve, read about the birth of our Savior, play games, and just enjoy the spirit of Christmas in our home. How lovely it was! It was quiet, relaxing, and fun to spend time together.

Christmas Morning the boys were stoked! They all had fun opening presents. They were royally spoiled, but the joy on their faces was priceless. Jake's favorite gift by far was our family gift, the Wii. He loves it, and would play non stop if I let him. Joe was thrilled with his Buzz and Woody Characters. Turtle and I both said we would not spend much on each other, thinking eachother would follow the plan, we each splurged! Turtle with a T.V and I with a Camcorder! Oh my!

Shortly after the morning gift exchange, the Grandparents came over and had breakfast with us! How fun! The children were all so excited to see them! In the evening we went over to Turtle's parents for another gift exchange. It was lots of fun, and once again my children were thoroughly SPOILED!

Principal's Pride.

Jake received the Principal Pride award at school this month! He was so excited! It was a great experience for him! He is a good student at school. He received his Principal's Pride Award for his exceptional performance in addition (100 problems with 100% accuracy in less than 12 minutes!) as well as his improving handwriting! We are so proud of his performance! He has really taken off this year! With his math abilities it is obvious he is his father's child!
Principal's Pride award allowed him to have Mommy come have lunch with him and the PRINCIPAL!!! How cool is that? He saw me waiting in the gymnasium for him and he was beaming! He was so happy! When the Principal called him up to the podium to receive his certificate and be recognized, he RAN up there so quick! He was jumping up and down clapping while the Principal read his certificate! I was a proud Mommy! Here are some pics of Jake's big day!
Jake was THOROUGHLY enjoying his McD's Cheeseburger!















You can kind of see Jake clapping in the second picture
It was a fun day for Jake! I absolutely loved seeing him so proud of himself. He was on top of the world!!! Kuddos to the school for having awards like this!

Cell Phone Funnies...

I hope you all enjoy this as much as I do!

Ragnar Las Vegas!

Yup! You read it right! I headed to Las Vegas for the Ragnar Relay. It was so much fun! I left the children with my sweet hubby for three straight days, and enjoyed running, in some strange circumstances whether it be in the middle of the night, along side some guy who tried to hit on me, or running among tarantulas and donkeys (weird combination, I know!)

I joined the team of 12 runners only knowing three of the 11 other runners. Sounds odd right? It was fun! I rode in a nice suburban with three friends and two strangers. Luckily we all got along! We were in the car for literally THIRTY HOURS! That was just for the race, add in about 15 hours for the drive to and from Vegas, and well, let's just say I am done with cars for a bit!

I had a great experience on my three legs of the race. I was runner #9, so I ran leg 9, 21, and 33. My first leg was 3.1 miles, the second was 4.9, and the third was 6.2. I was pretty happy with my performance on all three. The first one I finished in 27-28 minutes, the second I have no idea since it took place at 2:30am, and the last one was finished in an amazing 54 minutes! I say amazing because it was all up hill! Hot DAWG! I was one proud girl! This was an event that I will never forget! I loved every minute of it... okay all of it except the few hours I felt sick from drinking those disgusting protein shakes!
Here are a few pictures of my adventure!

My friend and Teammate Marinda posing with the car! Our team name was 24 Feet!

Some of the ladies in the car that I rode in, from left to right, Marinda, Jana and Brenda

This is my last handoff. I was so nervous about this leg of the race, but it proved to be the best of my races!

Is this not the coolest picture? This was taken as I was finishing the last leg of my race, luckily the girls got a picture of this cute donkey. There were three of them in the middle of the road as we ran by... Quite the experience!

These are the girls I joined the team with, Marinda, Brenda and April! Wow I haven't laughed so hard in a LONG TIME! Thanks ladies!

I was FINISHED! I was so proud of self and my time! It was a huge accomplishment.

This was another aspect of the race... Tarantulas. I have never crossed one of these creepy crawlers, but how cool! And freaky at the same time!

Huge thanks to my sweet Hubby who stayed back and took great care of the kiddos for me while I went off to run and have fun! I am grateful that he is so supportive of me and my hobbies! He is joining me on the next race!!! Just you wait!!! Even if it means he has a football in his hand for the entire race! I missed my family so much, but I know the children loved the time with just DADDY! Thanks to my parents who helped out with the ward Halloween shindig, Turtle couldn't have done it with out ya! Big HUGS!