Hangin with the Burke's

Halloween Fun

2011-11-16T12:20:00.003-08:00

In order to try and stay a little more current I am going to blog about Halloween and then I will blog about September and other fun things later on.

I have decided that our family really loves holidays. We love to decorate the house and do all the fun holiday stuff and this Halloween was no different. Our Halloween fun started when I took the little ones to Disneyland at the beginning of October. It was a really perfect day not to crowded and the kids and I had a blast.Our next fun activity was Grandma's Office Halloween party. We love getting to go and have pizza and do a little office trick or treating. This year Ryan dressed up at Darth Mal from Star Wars, Christian was a Clone trooper from Star Wars and Megan was Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz. It was the first year we didn't have the kids dress similarly and I think it will most likely be like that for a while since they all have such strong opinions of what they want to be. :)

Ryan getting his makeup and hair done for his costume. 10 out of 13 grand kids with GrandmaThe night after the Office party we had a party at our place. We had some people from church come over and we decorated pumpkins, had dinner and decorated cookies. We weren't sure how many people were going to show up but we ended up having 20 kids and 20 adults. It was a big group but we all had a blast.Megan started carving her pumpkin but once she realized how gross it was to touch she quickly moved on to other things.Dan's lego pumpkinChristian's guts pumpkinMegan took the lid off the sprinkles and dumped them all on her cookie. You can't tell by her face but she did really love it and ended up eating almost all of them off her plate.Then on Halloween night we had the Gibson family come up and join us for dinner and trick or treating. This year the kids were the perfect ages for trick or treating. They all had so much fun. When Dan got off work he joined us for the last couple of houses. There were a few houses that had decorated their garages to be a Halloween maze so luckily Dan was there to take the kids through because that is not my thing!

Running

2011-11-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

So the last couple of months I have run some pretty amazing races. The first was a 5k that I ran with Christian. The second was another Ragnar Relay Race and the third was a mud run. Each were so amazing and I loved them all for different reasons. I will not include Ragner in this post just because it will take me a while to get it all up but I will talk about the other two races.

I got an email the end of August for a 5k at the Great Park of Orange County and the sign up fee was half off. So I signed Christian and I up for the 5k (Dan was working so he couldn't do it with us). Here is Christian Finishing the 5k, his time was 30.30 which is really great especially since he ran by himself. I finished in 41 mins which was just ok!The day of the race my Mom brought Megan and Ryan down to watch us and so I signed Ryan up for the 1k kids run he was so excited. Well after he had taken off (Christian ran with him) the announcer told us that the course was marked wrong so the kids were actually running a whole mile instead of the 1k which is about .6 of a mile. Ryan finished in 12 mins and was so tired!I was so proud of Christian and Ryan for running so well. It was such a fun day, I really love watching the kids run and they love being involved in the race. We all got these cool medals and then they opened some of the rides at the Park for the kids to do so we went on the Carousal which Megan loved.For the Mud Run it was Johnny and Jessica, a friend of mine Brittney and then myself. We were a four member team and our team name was Anna's Warriors. We had such a great time. I absolutely loved the obstacles and running through the mud. I would recommend everyone run a mud run at least once in your life. All clean and ready to beginHere is Jessica and Brittney finishing the race.Johnny at the rope swing with me right behind him.Doing the rope swing.At the end of the race all muddy and gross. I look a little cleaner than the rest because a huge fire hose sprayed me toward the end of the race.

Starting School

2011-11-02T07:16:00.001-07:00

At the end of August Christian started school. He is now if the 5th grade I can't believe it! His teacher this year has been amazing so far and he is doing great which is a huge relief after the struggle we had last year.A couple of weeks later Ryan started preschool. He loves it so much he goes to preschool Tuesdays and Thursdays and goes with his two buddies. Also he started taking a speech class at the elementary school on Wednesdays to help with pronouniation of words. He doesn't love being gone 3 days a week he wants to just stay home (like his Dad :) ) but it is really good for him and he has grown so much since he started.While the boys are away the girls will play. I have loved having alone time with Megan it is so nice to only have one for a couple hours a week. She had a really hard time adjusting at first. For the first week she cried and screamed while we dropped Ryan off but she quickly got over that and now enjoys hanging out with her Momma!

WOW

2011-11-02T06:59:00.000-07:00

Well Life took a drastic turn in August when we found out that My Sister Anna was diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer. She is only 34 years old this was not suppose to happen to someone so young. My Grandmother Garthe had breast cancer so we all knew that we could get it but I don't think any of us thought it would happen so soon and we were not expecting it to happen to Anna. She has a very aggressive type of cancer and luckily at the time they were doing a clinical trial so within 3 weeks of diagnosing her she was starting chemo and taking the additional clinical drug. She has to have 6 treatments of chemo every three weeks. It completely wipes her out it is so intense I don't know how she does it. As a family we have been able to ban together to be there through it all. We have made dinners, done grocery shopping, cleaned her apartment and been at all her doctor appointments. Through our faith in the Lord's plan and our prayers we have been able to cope with this life altering situation.
She is so amazing, she is fighting and smiling the whole way. She has responded really well to the drugs and the mass has shrunk so much that the Doctors have a hard time finding it when they examine her. She is half way through the treatments and I am so proud of her. I love her so much and am so grateful to be able to call her My Sister!Ryan was messing around and decided to try on Anna's Wig.

San Diego

2011-10-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

The first part of August Dan took Christian with him on a scout adventure down to San Diego. They went to battleship row and went on the USS Midway. They also went to the Mormon Battalion visitor center. Christian had so much fun being with Dan and the older boys. They got to pan for gold, Christian came home with a bag full of pyrite.Afterwards they went to a burger joint called Ho Dad's that serves monster burgers. Christian said it was so cool!

Weekend Away

2011-10-03T15:03:00.000-07:00

Dan and I decided that for our Anniversary at the end of July we wanted to take the kids on a little mini vacation. We decided to go to Long Beach for the weekend and explore the city a little. We planned to go to the beach on Friday but Friday morning before we left Ryan woke up with swollen hands and lips. So I took him to the doctor and they decided that he was having an allergic reaction to the amoxicillion he had been on for the last 6 days. So they had me stop giving it to him and start him on Benadryl every 6 hours. They also ran some blood work to make sure it wasn't something else. So we waited for the test results which all came back negative and with in an hour of starting the Benadryl the swelling had gone down so we decided to pack up and resume our vacation. We didn't get on the road till about 5 so we didn't check into our hotel till about 7.

***Warning Picture Overload***

This is how Ryan looked when he woke up on Friday Morning.Our hotel was amazing we had a corner room with a great view of the Queen Mary. Since we got checked in so late we decided to just stay in the hotel and watch a movie.Then about 2 Ryan woke me up saying he didn't feel good again and I found him completely swollen again and this time he had hives all over his body as well. So I quickly got dressed and rushed him to the ER. We checked in at 2:47am and by 5 they still couldn't get the swelling to go down. It was so miserable to see him like this and there was nothing I could do about it. They had given him 2 doses of benadryl had cold packs all over his body and even tried another antihistamine. So finally a pediatrician came in and said that he need a steroid to help him and lucking with in 20 mins of the steroid he was feeling and looking so much better so we were discharged at 6:30 with medication in hand. When Ryan and I got back from the ER he slept for about an hour and then he was feeling much better so the boys decided to go see the Queen Mary. I was still really tired so I kept Megan in the hotel with me and we watched a movie and took a nap. They had a great time and loved exploring the ship and seeing a submarine. I was so glad Ryan was feeling so much better and able to join them in the adventure.After the boys got back from the Queen Mary I took the kids swimming and Dan was able to do some reading!We had booked a Harbor Cruise with our hotel so about 4 o'clock we walked down to the Harbor for our night out. The Cruise was a quick 40 minute trip around Long Beach Harbor which was perfect for all the kids. Megan and Ryan loved being on the boat but they were ready to get off after 40mins. It was such a gorgeous day it was nice to be out on the water. After the cruise we stopped and had dinner and then headed back to our hotel.On the way back from dinner we passed a little shopping center that had a kids train so we let the kids have a ride.When we woke up Sunday Morning we got dressed for church and checked out. Other than the trip to the ER it was a perfect trip.

Rookie Baseball

2011-09-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

This Summer both Christian and Ryan played on a city baseball league called Rookie ball. It is a program sponsored by the Angels so they got really nice Angel shirts and hats. Dan volunteered to be Ryan's coach and then found out that Christian's team wasn't going to have a coach so he did that team as well. He was super busy with 2 games a week for each boy and an additional practice for Christian. They all had a really great time.Ryan's team was called the Riverside Halo's. The team had 11 four and five year olds so the games were more comical than anything. There was 5 kids on the team that had been on his soccer team as well so that was fun because they already knew each other. Ryan had a really great time playing and loved having Dan coach his team again. Christian's team was called the La Sierra Angels. There were only 6 boys on his team so they were able to get players from other teams to help them fill out their roster. His league used a machine to pitch to them which Christian really liked. It was a fun easy going league.These were the boys on Christian's team. They were all such great boys and Christian really had an amazing time.

Chick Fil A

2011-09-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

We dressed up as cows again this year to celebrate customer appreciation day at Chick Fil A. It was again so much fun this is definitely a yearly summer tradition. Megan doesn't like the cow so she wouldn't smile.The Gibson, Garthe and Garces families joined us this year, it was a great day!

Lazer Tag

2011-09-21T10:42:00.001-07:00

In an attempt to get blogging again I have decided to do just a couple of highlights from the summer instead of trying to blog everything. The first thing I wanted to blog was Lazer tag. We got a coupon book from a fundraiser last year and one of the coupons was for free lazer tag, so I traded Megan for my nieces and nephews and took the kids down to try it out. They all loved it and can't wait to do it again.

The kids waiting for their turn.Christian was in heaven the whole time. He even said that he would love to have a lazer tag birthday party :)Ryan ended up standing next to me about half way through and told me he was ready to go home. He had fun but 8 minutes was a little to much for him.They were the green team so they got beat pretty bad but they had fun which is all that matters.

4th of July

2011-07-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th this year. Unfortunately, Dan had to work but at least he got to come and have dinner and watch the fireworks with us. We started our day very early with breakfast at church. The kids brought their bikes and decked them out with Patriotic flare for our annual bike parade. We all had a great time but by 9:30 we were already melting so we headed home to cool off. After a quick rest and cooling off we headed to lunch and then to go bowling with my Brother and Sister's families. We had an incredible time. After bowling we went to my Brother's house for swimming, dinner and then the fireworks. It was the perfect day!

June

2011-07-13T08:54:00.001-07:00

June was a crazy, where did the time go, type of month. Christian's last day of school was June 3rd so we have been really busy doing lots of fun things. Highlights of June were Father's Day, Camping with the Scouts, Bowling, Swimming, Shows at the Library and of course the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup Finals. I don't remember there ever being a month that time went by so quickly before, I guess the saying is true Time really does fly when you are having fun!

Dan's Dad and Step Mom sent us Bruin shirts and hats to wear during the finals. We were so excited to support our team!Ryan totally got into hockey this season. He loved watching the games with Dan and during the intermissions they would pull down our little hockey game and play around. He loves to talk about the Bruins getting two trophies and how they are the champions it is really cute.Our first bowling trip of the summer was a total success, we had to so much fun and Megan even tried bowling a couple of times. We will definitely be doing that again before the summer is over.One of the Library Shows we went to was wild animals and Christian got picked to hold a snake. He totally loved it.Since Dan has started working with the Young Men at church he has gotten to go on a couple camp out with them. In June they were camping out at the Inland Empire 66's stadium which is a AAA baseball team in the area. So he took Christian and Ryan with him and they got to walk in a parade before the game. Then they enjoyed the game and once the game was over they got to set up their tent. It was a great evening.Ryan was getting pretty cold so he decided to wear his jacket and Sara's jacket.After the game they got to set up their tents on the field and then watch Toy Story 3 on the jumbo tron. Ryan said it was so cool!Christian saw a ball caught in the net after the game so he wanted to get it down. Well a little girl told him to throw his shoe up to get the ball out and of course he got his shoe stuck instead of getting the ball down. The Boys getting their breakfast hot chocolate and donuts!

May

2011-07-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

So in order for me to get caught up I have decided to do the whole month all together. May was an amazing month. It started with Megan's Birthday then we celebrated Mother's Day. Mother's day was really perfect I was totally spoiled and loved hanging out with my family. We also had a Family Night Out for Christian's school where we went Roller Skating. It was quite an experience. Christian had a hard time getting use to it but once he figured it out he had a blast. Ryan and Megan also gave it a go but didn't have much luck. It was a really fun night out. Also in May Christian joined his school track team. He loves to run and did really well on the team. He got picked for two events, the first was the 50 yard dash and the second was a a quarter of a mile relay. He came in 5th place for the 50 yard dash and then he and 3 of his friends came in 1st for the relay. I left Megan with my Sister in law since it was a 3 hour track meet so I got to really enjoy just watching Christian run. Also in May we celebrated Memorial Day. Again we went to the Cemeteries to put flowers on my families head stones. We went on Sunday this year since Dan had to work on Memorial day but it was still nice to go remember and honor my family who has passed away. Also in May Megan decided to start helping me out with everything. She now mops, sweeps, vacuums and does dishes. It is really cute, May was a fun month!Getting ready to run his first race. He false started at first so then he didn't get a good start the second time since he was worried of false starting again.So tired after his first race.Ryan keeping himself busy while we waited for Christian to run again.This is Christian receiving the baton in the relay race.

Megan's Birthday

2011-06-15T10:18:00.001-07:00

Megan turned 2 on May 5th. She is 27 pounds and 33 inches tall. She is in the 20th percentile for height, the 40th percentile for weight and is in the 90th percentile for head. When I look at her I don't think she has a big head but apparently she does. She had a wonderful day. She got so many great presents, she got to go to lunch with Sara (her favorite person right now) and then we had a little family party where we did the slip and slide and had pizza(her favorite food) and then cupcakes. It was a great day! Megan is all girl, she loves to dress up play with dolls and help in anyway. She is very feisty and totally dramatic. She can go from smiling and laughing to throwing a fit and then back to laughing in 20 seconds flat. She is a handful and right now she loves to hit as a way to say hi which is really frustrating for me. But she can be so sweet and her smile just lights up my life. I love her so much! Happy Birthday little girl!Megan got these fun chairs for her birthday and the stroller and doll. She loved them all, my favorite gift was a skirt my Sister in Law Jessica made out of Patriots Material. I didn't get a picture of her wearing it but next time she has it on I will take one.At Chick Fil A for lunch Megan got a balloon and plush cow. She was so excited!The kids hooked up the wagon to the power truck and they were taking turns driving around it was so funny.Megan is crying in the photo below because I put the cupcake with candles in front of her and she grabbed the fire. She totally burnt her finger. I don't know why I didn't tell her don't touch just blow. I guess I just assumed she know what to do. That was definitely not my proudest Mommy moment. I felt so awful!

Jam

2011-06-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

Strawberries were on sale the first part of May so my Mom and I bought 24 pounds and made freezer jam. It was my first time trying to make it and I couldn't believe how easy it was. The jam is so good and perfect with homemade bread. We shared with friends and family and still had 12 jars to put in the freezer to use for awhile. YUM!

Easter

2011-06-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

On Cris and Kenna's last day here we celebrated Easter. We started with Ryan opening presents from my family. He got Lego Star Wars III for his DS and was so excited!After Ryan opened his presents we headed down to a park near our house for family pictures. Trying to coordinate 24 people is not easy but I think we got a good shot eventually thanks to Jessica!Then we took some individual photos.

The Garthe 5The In-LawsAll 13 grand kidsFor our Easter Egg hunt this year we had over 200 plastic eggs hidden in our front yard. Now that may seem like a whole lot but with 14 kids hunting for them they were found in about 15 minutes or so. We loved what the Easter bunny brought for us!
On Sunday morning we woke up and went to church and then we were so sad to see the Texas Garthe's leave. It is always so hard to say goodbye since we don't see them very often. But it was such a wonderful visit and were glad they were able to be here!

Ryan Turns 4

2011-05-31T08:43:00.001-07:00

4 Year Stats he is 38 inches tall and 32 pounds. He is in the 20th percentile for height and 30th percentile for weight!Ryan's birthday was so much fun this year, it started with balloons and his favorite breakfast. Then he got to open his presents from us and Daniel's family before Christian went to school.He opened his gift from Auntie Erin as soon as it came in the mail which was a week or two before his birthday that is why he is in different clothes.We were so happy Nana Rogers sent church clothes since I hadn't gotten him anything to wear for Easter.After he played with his new toys for a while we went and took Christian out of school at lunchtime and went to Red Robin for lunch. After lunch we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese to play with Ryan's free Birthday tokens. My Mom was nice and stayed home so Megan could get a good nap before our big night!After Chuck E Cheese we went home got the food ready and headed out to the Baseball Game. When the Angels Schedule came out in February we noticed that they were playing the Red Sox on Ryan's birthday. We decided it would be fun to do a tail gate party for him. So we got 25 tickets to the game and invited friends and family and headed out to the ball game. It was Firework Friday so we got to enjoy the Firework show after the game. The Red Sox won which made the boys very happy!The view from our seats.All 25 of usThe Birthday Boy really had an amazing day!

Family Time

2011-05-30T10:15:00.001-07:00

Cris and his family decided to stay after Ragnar till Easter, so Dan took the week off so we could have some fun. Christian and the other kids still had school so most days we just went out in the afternoons which was really perfect since we were still recuperating from the race. On Monday we went to Scandia which is a little amusement park not far from our house. We spilt up the big kids and the little ones so they all had a blast! Christian got a bloody nose on the roller coaster cause he hit his head on the bar in front of him. He thought it was so cool and asked me to take his picture.After playing we took them golfing.My sister Anna came out on Monday and brought her Dog which is always a big hit with the kids.Tuesday Dan, Johnny, Cris and Anna went golfing in the morning and then when the kids got out of school we went bowling. There was 18 of us bowling it was a little crazy and we thought we had lost Ryan at one point but he had just gone to the bathroom by himself since "he is a big boy now". We had a nice long talk about how he can't do that. It was really scary for me for about two minutes!Jessica was Super Mom, Claudia had fallen asleep so she held her while she bowled!Wednesday all the girls went shopping and to lunch I didn't take any pictures but trust me we had a blast. On Thursday we hung out in the morning and then went to the park in the afternoon. We took pizza and snacks and spent about three hours there it was so much fun. After we had played Ryan and Nathan had soccer practice so Cris and Trent joined them while us girls walked about 2 miles around the park.Dan and Cris went and played basketball with the kids, they all had a great time.

Friday was Ryan's birthday I will post about that later!

Finishing

2011-05-26T19:14:00.001-07:00

Our last legs were so great, Dan started before the sun came up at 5:18 in the morning so it was really cool and he got to run along the coast line which was so incredible. After we finished our legs we were able to go to a hotel in Torrey Pines and shower which felt so amazing. Then Dan, Kenna and I jumped right back into the van to go and see Cris run his last leg. Seeing him on the course was so fun and then we got to hang out with his van while we waited for him to finish. After we saw him we quickly grabbed some lunch and then headed to the finish line. We finished our race on a little Island south of San Diego called Coronado. It was beautiful and so fun to finish on the beach. During the race I felt every emotion possible from complete joy to total anger. I kept saying to myself during the race why are you doing this, it is so crazy, this is not FUN! I was surprised to find that after all was said and done I really did enjoy it. The pride I felt in myself for completely something so hard was so immense that it is hard for me to describe. It was truly a weekend I will not forget. After the race ( I think because I had so many hard hills) I lost three toe nails and my feet peeled and looked disgusting. But I am now currently in training again to run in September for my birthday. It is the Napa Valley Ragnar and we will start in San Francisco and finish in Napa. I am really looking forward, which I never would have thought!

Dan ran 7.37 miles in 1 hour and 16 mins, his time was totally amazing since it was his third leg. I ran 3.07 miles in 49 mins, I was trying to get under 45 mins but I had a couple of hills that surprised me so I was happy with my time.Kenna giving Dan a big sweaty hug he had just finished his last leg.They were hanging out waiting for me to run in.The picture below is my last exchange. It was literally 5 steps from the water, totally amazing!Here I am running to hand off to Tom.Tom and I hugging as I just finished and he is about to start his last leg. It was really emotional for me I had just run 12.5 miles in two days and felt so incredible!We were done and so happy about it!Here we are crossing the finish line. It was so beautiful.This was our van, I had such an amazing time with them. Tom, Yvonne and Baylea are really friends for life now!Our whole team after we crossed the finish line, we were so happy to be done!My Mom and Sister Leah brought the kids to the finish line so they could see us cross. It was nice for them to experience it but after being up for almost two days straight having to watch a four and two year old in all the craziness was not really fun. Here Ryan is dancing to the music and playing in the sand. He really had such a good time. Here is Cris' team crossing the finish line, he had a great time as well and will be on our team for the Napa race which will be so much fun!Leah got a picture at the finish line with the biggest loser blue team!

Night Runs

2011-05-25T12:14:00.001-07:00

I was so nervous for my second run. The longest I ran during my training was 6.1 miles and my night run was going to be 6.6 and it was mostly uphill. Well while we were resting Tom (who was our 6th runner) made a comment stating that he wished he had longer legs. He is an amazing runner and with the way the vans were set up his legs where not hard for him. So Kenna came up with an idea of he and I switching our second legs. So he would run my 6.6 mostly uphill leg and I would run his 5.4 mostly downhill leg. I was so excited by this idea and so happy he said ok. So we headed to our exchange and we were all ready to run again. Since we started so early our 2nd van finished running their first legs just after 3pm. So our van started our second legs while it was still hot out. Yvonne (who was our first runner) ran her leg so fast so Dan started his 2nd leg earlier than we all expected. Most of the time your second legs are in the evening or night time so it is cooler out. But our first two runners still had to deal with the heat. And I was the only runner in our van who ran in pants since it was still so warm for all of us. After our second legs we drove to our next exchange to get some sleep. I think most of us got about an hour or two of good sleep except for Dan who was so wiped out from the heat and running he slept for almost 6 hours.

Dan's second leg was 9.3 miles his longest leg. He started at 4:15 and it was still over 85 degrees outside.This was Dan finishing his night run, he started with the sun beating down on him and finished with the sun going down. He ran 9.3 miles and did it in 1 hour 41 mins. He did so amazing. Part of his leg ran on a Horse trail and the heat and dust was a bit much for him especially since he ran out of water. He didn't have the pace he wanted but with the heat I think 10 1/2 min pace is awesome. Kenna all ready for her night run. She has really helped me with my weight loss I am so proud of her and how much weight she has lost. I love this photo of her because it shows how tiny she is! Kenna I love you thank you for keeping me motivated!So I began my 2nd leg feeling really great. I really enjoyed running down hill and I was making such good time. I ran the first 4 miles in an hour. The fastest I had ever ran before. I felt amazing and as I started walking up a tiny hill having my water break a women joined me. She and I started talking about good we each felt and she asked how far we had gone since I was wearing my running watch and she didn't have one. I told her we were at 4.3 miles and we only had about a mile left. That is when my race took a dramatic turn for the worst. She so sweetly turned to me and said "Honey, they switched this leg it is now 7.1 miles not 5.4" WHAT I couldn't believe it I asked her if she was joking and she said she would never kid about something like that. She said that they had added a paper in the packet we had received changing our leg. I was completely devastated. I had pushed myself so hard the first 4 miles that I didn't have much left and instead of only a mile left I had almost 3. So that is what I get for breaking the rules and switching legs. I had trained expecting to run 6.6 but I since I thought it was only 5.4 I pushed so hard that I didn't know how I was going to make it. So I said a quick prayer and asked for the strength to finish!
This was the map of what I ran. The down hill was so great but the 1.7 miles they added to the end really kicked my butt. Handing off to Tara so that van #2 could start their night runs. I finished my 7.1 miles in 1 hour 50 mins, not the best time, but I finished! I passed off at 10:58pm. When I ended I was so upset about what had happened but then this amazing thing happened. I realized that the Lord had helped me finish even when I thought I had nothing left, I stopped feeling sorry for myself and was just proud that I had just ran 7.1 miles, the furthest I had ever ran before!

Ragnar

2011-05-23T15:13:00.001-07:00

I don't know why this has taken me so long to write about but it has. Every time I would sit down to do it something else would come up or I would get distracted on the Internet. I think it was just so overwhelming to sit and write the whole weekend down so I decided that I would divide it up each leg. So I am starting with Thursday night and Friday morning, but before I begin let me tell you a little about how I got involved in running. When Dan and my sister in law Kenna ran Vegas Ragnar they decided they wanted to do another one. So in November they decided to join Tara and Lauren's team for the Southern California Ragnar. Tara and Lauren were both on their team for Vegas and we know them well since Tara works with my Mom. So they had their team of 12 and I was going to be their driver again. The team name was My So Cal'd Life. Well in January I decided I wanted to lose weight so I started walking/jogging. At the same time a friend of mine made this challenge to exercise for 30 mins at least five times a day so I decided I would take the challenge. I got to where I could run for 4 minutes and then I would walk a minute. I was running about 2.5 to 3 miles 3 or 4 times a week. Well at the end of February one of Dan's team dropped out so they started looking for a replacement. Immediately Kenna asked if I would join but I wasn't ready to commit to it. So we started asking around but no one could do it so the first weekend of March I ran 4 miles and felt really good afterwards so I decided to join their team. Also during February we found out that my Brother Cris would be running the race also. Ragnar was having two teams from the show Biggest Loser run the race. As a way of promotion they decided to have auditions to have two people who weren't on the show join them and race with them. Well as a kind of dare my Brother submitted a video and got picked. He was flown out here for free and they put him up in a hotel at the start and end of the race. So my Brother decided to have his whole family come out and do their vacation in April instead of the summer. I trained really hard and felt really prepared as the time came. Dan was runner 2 and I was runner 5. We had Kenna in our van she was runner 4, which was so great because she got to hand off to me and then we also had Yvonne, Baylea and Tom who we didn't know until that weekend. So my Brother and his family flew in on Thursday and My Mom, my Sister Leah and my Sister in law Jessica all pitched in to watch our kids while we ran the race. So we dropped our kids off about 4 on Thursday afternoon and headed down to Huntington Beach where the race was starting and stayed at the Hotel with Cris and Kenna.

Here is the map of our first legs. Dan's is first he ran 5 miles and if you look at the bottom you will see the elevation he was mostly flat, mine on the other hand had a huge hill that was totally awful but luckily I only had 2.5 miles to run.

Our Van already to go. Cris and I at the start of the race!Here is the start line we started at 6:30am and we had to be there at 5:15 so I was so thankful that we had stayed across the street.Dan is about to start his first leg.Dan running into his first exchange. He did so great he finished his first leg in 43 minutes.
Here I am running into my first exchange. I had a hard time with the huge hill and didn't make the time I wanted but I finished which is really all that mattered. I ran it in 41 mins.Tom waiting for me to come in after my first leg!After our first legs were finished we came back to our house to rest up a bit and shower. Our house was only about 10 minutes out of the way and since it was so hot that weekend we needed a place to get out of the heat and out of the van. My Brother's van joined us also. It was so much fun to hang out with them and get to know them better.

Soccer

2011-05-02T11:40:00.001-07:00

Ryan made the cutoff for soccer sign ups by two days this year. Dan was so excited and decided to coach his team. My Brother in law Richard is the assistant coach because my nephew Nathan is on their team as well. It has been so fun to watch them out there together. Ryan really doesn't understand what is going on he has gotten at couple good kicks but he mainly just runs along side all the other players and enjoys just being on the field. But Nathan really gets it and has done so well. Dan loves coaching them, he is allowed on the field during the games and has so much fun with them. Their team name is the Grey Ninja Go's their season is half way over and they have won 2 games and tied another, but who is keeping track at this age right :)!

Spring Break

2011-04-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

For Spring Break this year Dan decided he was going to take the whole week off. It was so fun to get to hang out all week with no where we had to be and no real time schedule. Dan and I were still in training mode for our race so we ran a couple of days. Usually when I run I have to get up early to run before Dan and my Mom leave for work, but it was so nice since Dan was home cause I got to sleep in and still run with out the kids. My Brother and his family were staying down in San Diego for the week so we went down and visited them at their hotel. We also went to Legoland with them to use another day of our awesome tickets. We also spent a day at the beach it was freezing the one day we went so we didn't really enjoy the beach but the kids still loved it and I can't wait for the summer! Overall it was a great week.

On Monday we went to Legoland. Right when we walked into Legoland they had this incredible Sand display for the new Star Wars area. It was the coolest thing.While everyone else were on rides Megan got to enjoy the water area. She absolutely loved it. It was a fairly warm day so she played in the water for about 30 minutes. It was her favorite part of the day.The new Star Wars section was the boys favorite. By the time we went through that section Megan was done and so were my Brother's little ones so we didn't get to spend as much time as Dan would have liked in there. He can't wait to go again and see it all again.At Legoland they have an Aquarium called Sea Life that our tickets included so we tried it out one afternoon. The kids loved it. It was Megan's first trip to an Aquarium and she loved seeing all the fish.Also during Spring Break Dan and I decided we wanted to drive our Ragnar course and while we were near Lake Elsinore we took a break to just enjoy the view!On the last night of Spring Break Dan decided to pull out the tent and let the boys sleep out there with him. They had a great time but came in about 6 since it was so cold out there.

Legoland

2011-04-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

Our very good friends the Patten's were in town the last week of March. We love hanging out with them and miss them so much. They have four children ages 12, 5, 3 and 2 so it was so fun because the kids had someone to hang out with the whole time. Dan got a day off and we decided to head down to Legoland. We got these incredible tickets that allowed us to go 4 different times for cheaper than a regular ticket. It was kind of a bummer because Megan was only able to go on 3 rides because she misses the height requirements by 2 inches. Christian and I had a good time but Ryan and Dan were smiling from ear to ear the entire day. Ryan doesn't remember the last time we were there and he is absolutely obsessed with everything Lego so I think it may be one of his all time favorite days. For some strange reason I never gave Dan the camera but I swear I was there with them.

Megan has started closing her eyes for pictures so I don't know if I got any photos with her eyes opened. There is a Firefighter challenge ride were you race other teams. Christian was talking smack about how he was going cream the Pattens well that didn't happen, it was pretty funny!Riding the horse was Ryan's favorite part of the day. He dreams of being a Knight some day!Poor Christian had to ride this ride alone. Neither Dan nor I were in the mood to spin and flip and his friend didn't want to do it again.I love this picture most because Ryan and Dan both just look like they are having the time of their lives!This fake phone was Megan's favorite thing of the day. She literally played with it while the other kids rode three other rides. She loves talking on the phone and always pretends it is Daddy!Driving the cars was Ryan's second favorite thing of the day. It was serious business for him. Megan was driving them to the hospital, Christian was sick hence the face!The kids all got to buy something at the end of the day. Megan picked a sword and crown, Ryan picked a knights sword, shield and helmet. Christian picked lego men to add to his collection at home.

March

2011-04-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

So the beginning of March just completely flew by we were busy with school, work and training. I was asked the last week of February to run on Daniel's Southern California Ragnar team. We are running April 15th and 16th and I am really nervous. My first leg is 2.5 miles which isn't bad except that we went and ran it a couple of weeks ago and for the first mile and half is a huge hill. I am talking monster hill. So that really freaked me out. Then my second leg is 6.6 miles which I will be running in the middle of the night which is also scary and then my last leg is 3 miles. So I will be running 12.1 miles total over the two days. So I have been training 5 days a week to get my self better prepared for it.

Also in March was St. Patrick's Day. I once again made green bread for Christian's sandwich at school but we didn't do anything else. I had a church event that night so the kids were home with Dan and rode their bikes and played outside. Dan taught Christian some tricks on his bike which he was very excited about.

Beautiful

2011-03-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

Today when I walked outside I saw this and was so amazed I ran back in to grab my camera. I just love living in such a beautiful state.

Awards and Trophies

2011-03-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

First off for the month of February Christian was student of the month for his class. We were so happy and proud of him because his behavior was a problem in November and December. So during Christmas break we had a long talk with him and it seems things have turned around. Thank Goodness

Also last month Dan's soccer team won first place. So they are league Champions he was so happy and got to bring the trophy home for a week to show us all. Look at that smile he was so proud!

Valentine's

2011-03-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

The weekend before Valentine's this year I surprised Dan with a night away. My Mom and Sister in law took the kids so I could go and meet Dan up at his work. Then we went to the hotel and spent the night just hanging out. It was so fun because I have been trying to lose some weight so we went to the Hotel Gym and then we walked to dinner. It was so nice also to be able to sleep uninterrupted! Then on Valentine's Day we got the kids a couple of fun things for them to open in the morning and Dan surprised me with hearts in the hallway. He had written cute little notes on each one. It was a perfect low key holiday.We got these cute little Valentine lego kits that made the love sign and a card.

Favorite Spot

2011-03-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

So Ryan and Megan have a new favorite spot where they like to hang out. I find them there at least once a day and it always makes me laugh
.

Pirates & Princess

2011-03-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

Chick Fil A had a Pirate and Princess party a couple of weeks ago. The kids had such a blast, they got to do a treasure hunt and make crowns or pirate hats. It was a fun night out for the whole family.

DAY OFF

2011-02-28T19:54:00.000-08:00

The first week of February Dan had a Tuesday off so we packed up the little ones and headed to Disneyland. The new things we did this trip was the Magic Shop, Chip and Dale's Roller coaster and Peter Pan. Disneyland was not crowded and the day was beautiful. We ended the afternoon with a trip to the Lego store of course.

Basketball

2011-02-23T20:01:00.001-08:00

My Goodness I can't believe it is already the end of February! We have been so busy with everything I haven't found time to sit and blog. So let me start with Christian playing basketball. His season started the middle of January and he loves to play so much. He is #21 this year and has scored twice so far but he really excels at defense. He is one tough player!Christian has basketball practice on Tuesday and Thursdays from 7 till 8. Which has been really hard on me with the two little ones out so late since Dan is usually working late as well. Luckily there is an awesome playground at the park where he plays which usually keeps the kids happy for most of the time until we all get to cold to stay out any longer.

Braces

2011-01-27T08:25:00.001-08:00

Christian got braces last week. He has an overbite that they are trying to correct. He was excited to get them until he heard about all the things he can't eat. He will probably wear them for 18 to 24 months. We think he looks so much older with them on.

Missing Daddy

2011-01-20T14:27:00.000-08:00

With all the rain we got here in Southern California lately Dan's work has been so crazy. He has worked 18 of the last 20 days and has worked almost 180 hours already in January. With all his time away the kids and I have really been missing him. Last week Christian got pink eye and he had to take a day off of school so the kids and I decided to go and meet him for Lunch. It was so fun for the kids to see him at work. Ryan got to climb in his truck and wear his hard hat. I am so grateful for the hard worker that Dan is and he does it without complaint which is amazing. I am also glad that the rain has stopped and so Dan hopefully will be back to working normal hours next week.

New Years Fun

2011-01-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

For New Years Eve we headed to my Sister's house. We hung out ate good food and just had fun being together. We decided to celebrate New Year's at 9 pm here so the kids watched the ball drop in New York and then ran outside to celebrate. It was perfect because then the kids were home and in bed by 10.On New Year's Day we did nothing really and it was so great. The kids rode bikes, we watched the Rose Parade and of course a lot of College football. It was such a nice relaxing day!

Christian's Birthday Fun

2011-01-07T16:51:00.000-08:00

Christian really wanted a friends party this year but unfortunately with Dan's work schedule and Christmas chaos it just didn't work out. We still had a great time with family. We started the day with balloons and Ryan made Christian breakfast in bed. We then went and had lunch with Dan and then had everyone over for dinner and presents. We also took cupcakes to school once we went back this week. Hopefully I can be more organized next year so he can have his friend party. After cupcakes Christian passed out Ring Pops for all the kids.

Christmas Day

2010-12-31T22:46:00.000-08:00

We started the morning by coming out to see what Santa gave us. We were all surprised to see that we all made the Nice list and boy did he spoil us. The best was Ryan got a DS which was the only thing on his list and once he saw it he turned to Dan and I and said "I'm so Happy" while he was jumping up and down. It was so cute. Then my sisters Anna and Leah, with her family, came over and we had breakfast.After breakfast we opened up all our gifts. I think the favorites of the day were Dan's new cups, Christian and Ryan's Kung Zu pets, Megan's new car, and I loved my Tickle Monster Book. Ryan also was so excited that he got new books for Mommy to read to him at bedtime. We have read his new Toy Story book every night since. (Kenna this was when he was opening your gift can you tell how red his face was?)After Megan had a nap we headed down the street to Dan's Uncle John's house for a wonderful Italian dinner. We also sang Christmas songs and got White Elephant gifts. One of the Christmas songs we sang was written by Aunt Betty, it was called "Walking in a Desert Wonderland". She wrote it after moving to California from Massachusetts. Then we had cake for dessert and we sang Happy Birthday to Christian and Auggie John. It was such a wonderful evening but about 6 my kids were becoming a little crazy so we packed up and headed back home.We had an amazing day and are so thankful for our Savior and all he did for us!

Leading up to the big day

2010-12-30T12:11:00.001-08:00

We had so much fun before Christmas. We decorated the house, went looking at lights, Christian's school put on a program, and we did a lot of baking. Ryan was so happy the whole time, he loved singing the Christmas songs and collecting the goodies from our advent calendar everyday. Ryan made the Christmas season so fun and exciting for everyone. He learned to sing "I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus", and would sing it daily, it made me smile every time. We had a couple of different parties that we attend and we just all had a great time. On Christmas Eve we had everyone over to our house for a wonderful dinner, fun games and open presents. We also had homemade cookies and hot chocolate for dessert. The best part of the night was when the kids put on the Nativity. NativityThe sheep asleep in the fieldGoodies for Santa Christian singing Mele Kalikimaka! Sorry the video isn't that great I was holding Megan and Ryan while I was trying to video.

The Lyrics Ryan is singing are I see Mommy kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe last night and I see Mommy kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe last night I see Mommy kissing Santa Claus I really did I really did I'm going to tell Daddy.

Through the Years

2010-12-28T08:38:00.000-08:00

Caring

Hilarious

Righteous

Intelligent

Stubborn

Talented

Incredible

Active

Nice

When I met Christian he had just turned 3, he still used a pacifier, carried a blankie around and loved cars and star wars. Well not much has changed in the last 7 years. JUST KIDDING. He has grown to be a wonderful young man and I am so lucky to call him my stepson. Today he turns 10 and I am so thankful he is in my life.

I put together a couple of pictures from the last 7 years or actually 6 because I didn't start taking pictures of Christian until 2005. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN WE LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!

Meeting Santa Claus

2010-12-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

We had a Party on Saturday night and the kids got to meet Santa. Ryan was so excited to tell him he wanted a whiteDS (I told him I don't think they make them in white and he told me Santa can make anything, so cute) and Christian could not think of anything to tell him and didn't want to sit on his lap. Megan screamed the whole time she was on his lap and as soon as she was down she wanted to go see him again. It was really funny! Also, Christian participated in a play he was both the Prophet Isaiah and a Shepard. When he was Isaiah he had 5 lines to say and he memorized it perfectly and did so well the night of the performance. It was a really fun night.

Dentist

2010-12-15T09:49:00.000-08:00

I took Ryan for his first check up and he loved every minute of it. He was so good and didn't complain once. I was so proud that he sat so still for so long. I am happy to report no cavities for either of the boys!

Persistant

2010-12-13T20:07:00.000-08:00

We have decorated Christian's room for the past couple of years for Christmas. He has his own Christmas tree, his own ornaments and his own little Christmas village. Well after we set up everything in Christian's room Ryan saw it and totally loved everything. He found that if he climbed up on Christian's bed he could play with the little village people and he was having so much fun. But Dan didn't want him playing with the village so he told him not to touch it. Well of course he didn't listen so Dan decided to pull up the ladder so he couldn't climb on Christian's bed. So then Dan and I were watching some football and all of a sudden we heard a loud crash. Ryan had decided to climb up the toy bins so he could get on the bed to play with the village and ended up tipping the bins filled with legos all over the room. Now let me also mention that the bins filled with Legos were also all color coordinated, because my husband is a little OCD about his Legos! So Dan spent the next hour or so picking up all the pieces. I swear Ryan is so strong willed once he sets his mind on something he will find a way to do it no matter what. He is so much like his Father it is scary at times!

The villageThe ladder on the bed The destruction

Unexpected

2010-12-05T23:21:00.000-08:00

A couple days before Thanksgiving we received a package in the mail from Daniel's Dad. My first thought was wow he was really on the ball for Christmas this year he got the gifts out before Thanksgiving. But once we opened the box we found the most amazing surprise. It was a candle, an ornament and a book. Now these items may seem pretty insignificant to most but to me it was the best gift I have received in a very long time. Let me tell you why.

First the Candle. It is a Yankee Candle Balsam & Cedar scent and Daniel's Dad and Step mom had the same exact candle at their home last Thanksgiving when we were there and I absolutely love the scent. It smells like Christmas to me. So last year we got to partake in a tradition of his Father's. Where on Thanksgiving Night you light a candle to begin the Christmas season. It was a tradition handed down from Daniel's Grandfather and they let Daniel light the candle and say a few words last year and thought we would enjoy continuing the tradition. Which of course we did and it was just even more special because now the candle not only reminds me of Christmas but our trip last year with them. When I saw the candle which was the first gift we opened it meant so much to me because now we have another tradition to pass on to our children and we really just miss them so much so it nice that we now have this candle burning nightly and I can think of them.

Second the ornament. Well it wasn't just any ornament of course it is a heart with a picture of Daniel's Grandmother that passed away earlier this year.

Third the book. It is a book that was his Grandmother's that she had in the nursing home with her and when we visited with her last Thanksgiving Daniel was looking through it and kept telling her that he loved the book and it reminded him of home. Well evidently she remember that and told them that the book needed to go to Daniel.

So all three gifts were so unexpected and meaningful. It was such a wonderful surprise to get and I love that even though we are literally on the opposite side of the country from them at that moment we all just felt so close to them. Christian was so excited for the ornament and kept talking about Grams and how he hope that she is happy in Heaven. So I just want to tell them thank you again for the amazing gifts. We will always cherish them.

Before we lit the candle we spoke about the things we were thankful for this year and different things we want to do this Christmas season.Christian made sure that once the tree was up the ornament was the first hung.The book has some beautiful pictures in it of New England.

Thanksgiving Week

2010-11-30T09:00:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving week started the Thursday before Thanksgiving since Christian was out of school the Friday before and the whole week of Thanksgiving. We had so many fun things planned and the kids had a great time. We started out by hitting the park once Daddy got home from work. The boys played some basketball and then we went and played on the play set. Monday I took the kids to an inflatable play house. Megan and Ryan were both really scared of everything when we first got there but by the end they were loving it. They had slides, jump houses, toys, games and these funny animals to sit on. Tuesday was a trip to Disneyland. We had such a great time, it was really crowded but it was fun to go and just hit a couple of rides and then head home.

We stopped at the Lego store in Downtown Disney to do a little shopping for Daddy for Christmas!The kids were exhausted as we left they didn't even make it to the freeway before they were fast asleep.Wednesday we went to see Dan and his team play in their playoff game. Unfortunately they lost but it was such a good game and Dan has gotten so much better since the last time we saw him. He is so fast and agile it is so great to see him play.We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving. Beside my Brother and his family who are in Texas the rest of us were all together. It was a wonderful day, the Patriots beat the Lions, we had great food, great company and played fun games. I am so Thankful for such a wonderful Family! Then about 9:15pm my Mom and two sisters headed out to do some shopping. We hit Toys R Us, Old Navy, Kohl's, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Sam's, Home Depot, and Staples. Now I only have 3 gifts left to get and then I am done Christmas shopping. It was totally exhausting but I am glad that I did it so I can fully enjoy my December!Here is my Mom getting some shut eye out side of Kohl's about 2 am. It was about 40 degrees outside. At this point we both thought we were crazy but I am sure we will do it again next year!

Sunday Fun

2010-11-30T08:50:00.000-08:00

A couple of Sunday's ago the kids decided it was dress up time so they all got in old costumes and were playing around. Then Dan surprised them by getting in his old army uniform. It was so much fun!

Apple Picking

2010-11-19T10:14:00.000-08:00

A couple of weekends ago my sister's family, my brother's family and us decided to go and pick apples up at Oak Glen which is in the mountains about an hour from us. Dan ended up having to work that Saturday so my mom offered to keep Megan which was a big help. We all had such a great time and the day we went it had been raining in the morning so everything was clean and beautiful. We bought a box which holds half a bushel and shared it between the three families. Picking apples will definitely be a new tradition for us but next year we will make sure Dan has the day off.Jessica found these apple crates and thought we could use them to stand on to help the kids pick the apples. The kids loved it cause they could reach the higher ones by themselves. Our full boxJust passed the apple orchard there was a walking trail so we decided to go and explore a little. It was so fun because the leaves were changing colors and falling and it really felt like fall. We don't really get to see that where we live.Playing in the leavesAfter picking apples we decided to pick up lunch from a little BBQ place and have a picnic. Well it started getting windy so the picnic wasn't a great idea but the kids didn't mind. Ryan found this chair at the shop and just loved it.

18 months

2010-11-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that Megan is 18 months already. It surprises me everyday to see her doing such big kid stuff like getting her own shoes on or jumping. We had her check up last week and she is doing really well. She weighs 24.4 pounds and is 30.25 inches tall. She has 12 teeth with 2 more coming in. She can say about 8 to 10 words but she mostly just grunts and cries to get what she wants which we are trying to get her to stop. She is generally a really happy girl, she loves to be around people and it is really cute to see her start to mother her dolls. She started Nursery at church and loves it except that Ryan is still in there until January so it is hard because he is constantly trying to protect her and she does not like that at all. She refuses to have anything in her hair which is frustrating because I will do her hair in the morning and she will have pulled it out with in two minutes. With in the last couple of weeks she has learned to climb up onto everything so that is challenging. She is also very dramatic she can go with laughing and smiling to a totally tantrum just because someone said no. She has started only taking one nap a day and is still waking up at least once a night. She plays hide and seek, gives high fives and knuckles. She loves to empty all my cabinets. She loves Christian and Ryan so much and every morning she greets us all with a huge smile which is the best way to start the day. We totally love her and are so grateful she is apart of our family. Her new favorite place to be is on Ryan's bed and one day I walked in to find they had dumped all the toys onto his bed and were having so much fun playing together.

Halloween Weekend

2010-11-10T10:11:00.000-08:00

We had such an incredible Halloween weekend. It started with Friday night Dan taking Christian and Brittany to a Haunted House. It is at this park near our house and it has 5 different haunted mazes and a haunted hay ride. They totally loved it but were so scared. In the picture below Christian and Brittany didn't want to get close to the Monsters so that is why Christian is cut out of the picture. On Saturday night we had our Church Trunk or Treat. We had dinner, the kids played games, went through the spook alley, and then went trick or treating out of every one's trunk. Megan and Ryan only made it to about a quarter of the cars when they decided they didn't want to do it anymore.Ryan and his good friend Andrew.Our decorated Trunk.Megan was so tired by the end of the night but she had a great time.My friend Julie teaches Sunday school with me and our kids told us we should come to the party as each other. It was really easy she works at Target so I came as a target employee and she came as a Mom to baby Megan. The kids absolutely loved it!Sunday night we celebrated Nathan's 5th Birthday and passed out candy to trick or treaters. Nathan had a Super Mario Brothers theme so all the kids made Mario carts. It was such a cute idea and all the kids loved wearing them and racing around except Megan!

Grandma's Work Halloween Party

2010-11-08T11:04:00.000-08:00

Once again we got invited to attend Grandma's work Halloween party. This year we went with the Super Mario Brothers theme Christian was Mario, Ryan was Luigi and Megan was Princess Peach. They had good food and great games for the kids to play. The kids also got to decorate a Halloween picture and sugar cookies. This was our third year going we all had such a great time and it is so fun to go and see how all the kids have grown. Megan was using a spider ring as a pacifier it was so funny.Here is Grandma with 10 out of her 13 grand kids.

Pumpkin Fun

2010-11-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

We carved pumpkins the Monday before Halloween. Christian carved his all by himself, Ryan didn't want anything to do with it until they were completely cleaned and carved. Megan kept trying to eat everything. It was a fun night!

Ragnar Relay

2010-11-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

In August when my sister in law Kenna was here she told us about a relay race she was doing October 22nd and 23rd. She and eleven other girls were running 195 miles around Vegas in a Ragnar relay race. There was going to be 36 legs of the relay and she would run 3 of them. One of her legs were going to be at night and she is terrified of running in the dark. So she asked Dan if he would be her night pacer. Which is someone who runs with you at night basically so you wouldn't be alone. He was of course thrilled. As October approached Dan and I decided that we would make the trip a kind of second honeymoon for ourselves and go to Vegas with out the kids. We haven't had a vacation without the kids since our honeymoon. So I was totally excited and was planning some really fun things for us to do. Kenna's night run was going to be around 1am and was 5.5 miles long. So Dan didn't really train to run it because he knew he would be able to run 5 miles without any problems. We decided to leave for Vegas early Thursday morning and then come home Sunday. We were both totally looking forward to getting away and spending time with Kenna. Well on Monday before the race the team found out that one of the girls has gotten a concussion and was not going to be able to run. So they looked for a replacement. By Wednesday morning they still were not able to find anyone so they asked Dan if he would be willing to step in if they couldn't find anyone by that afternoon. They couldn't find anyone so of course he said ok. So my second honeymoon weekend getaway was turning out to be me being alone while Dan was off with 11 girls running a relay race. I was ok with it because I knew that Dan would feel so great after running and being able to accomplish it. Well the girl that dropped out was in Van 1 and Kenna was in Van 2 so I asked if anyone in Van 2 would move to Van 1 so Dan could be with Kenna. Well Kenna's friend Kellie volunteered, the only problem was that she had the toughest legs of the whole race. So Dan stepped in on Wednesday to run two days before the race and he was going to have to run just under 22 miles basically uphill the whole way. I attached the course maps, the first is the whole 195 miles, the next three are Dan's legs and on the 3rd he was going to have to run 6.3 miles uphill and then 3.8 downhill. He was really nervous about saying Ok once he saw his legs.So we left Thursday got to Vegas about 1:30 picked up Kenna from the airport and then just kind of hung out all night. Kenna had told me that she thought they would be done running on Saturday about 2 and asked if I would be at the finish line to take photos for the team. Also since they were in van 2 they wouldn't be starting their running till about noon on Friday so we could hang out all morning. I was thinking that I could handle 24 hours alone. Well then Kellie said they probably wouldn't be done running till 6 on Saturday and I thought wow I am going to be by myself for a long time. Then Kenna asked me if I wanted to be the driver for van 2. That way I could be apart of everything they were doing and not be alone. In a moment of insanity I said yes. Just kidding I had a great time driving them around and being apart of it. I definitely would not do it again since a week and a half later I still don't feel completely recovered since I only slept about an hour but it was the memories I will never forget. Also the team's name was TuTu P.H.A.T. so their uniforms were these lime green tutu's that they wanted Dan to wear. It was hilarious. This next picture was when Dan saw the Tutu's for the first time and tried it on, he was totally embarrassed but was a great sport about it. The tutu's ended up being a great idea because we could recognize our team from far distances and everyone commented and knew our team the whole weekend.Lake mead was the 1st checkpoint of the race where van 1 ended their 1st legs and van 2 began. It was amazing to look at.At the first checkpoint the team had to have a safety meeting to learn about the rules.Ragnar gave us this number to use to report any problems or people cheating. We thought about reporting a couple of teams but we didn't.Here is van 2 meeting up with van 1 for the first time.Dan taking off on his 1st leg. It was 1:40pm. Van 1 had started running at 6:15 am and then they were able to rest while the 6 in our van ran their 1st legs.Dan on one of the many hills of his 1st leg. He ran 6.18 miles on the 1st leg and finished in 1 hour and 6 minutes. He looked great running and felt really great afterward.These signs were on every leg to let the runners know they only had 1 mile left to run. Unfortunately we found that they weren't really accurate and usually meant the runner had a mile and a half to go.This picture was taken at the second checkpoint were van 1 took over to run their 2nd legs. Van 2 finished running their 1st legs at about 6:30 and we were able to rest until about 9:30 when we had to load up in the van and drive to checkpoint 3 to meet van 1. Unfortunately we missed understood van 1 and were at the checkpoint about 40 minutes early so we missed out of a little more rest but that I was glad we were early instead of being late.I don't have any pictures from the night runs but they were hard for everyone in van 2. Tara had it the worst because she had to run 6 miles in a river bed with huge boulders and rocks at 3:30 in the morning. Dan's night run was 5.9 miles and most of it was in a residential neighborhood. He started his night run at 10:30 and finished in 1 hour and 8 minutes. Again it was mostly uphill and everyone that I saw finish said the last mile and a half were the hardest. When Dan finished this leg he was so exhausted and I was worried he was going to faint. Luckily he didn't and about an hour after his leg he was looking and feeling so much better. As we got to our last checkpoint the sun was coming up and it was so pretty.Dan tried to get some sleep before his last leg. I think he may have slept for an hour or so and when he woke up he was so nervous. He wasn't sure he was going to be able to make the 10.1 miles. I knew once he started he was going to be fine. He finished his last leg in 2 hours and 5 minutes. He did incredible the whole race and I was so proud of him.The last couple of legs of the race took us threw Red Rock Canyon, it was so beautiful. Since I wasn't running I really got to enjoy all the scenery. In Red Rock Canyon is also burro county. We passed signed that warned us of them but I didn't really think we would see any. Well I was totally mistaken because we did. They came up to are car and totally scared Kenna and then at one of the exchanges Lauren went up and was petting them. The team crossing the finish line at 5:40 Saturday night. Team Tutu P.H.a.T. finished 195 miles in just over 35 hours. Dan and I at the finish line. I was so exhausted but so excited for them. Dan was so happy that he finally won a medal.This was all twelve team members at the finish line.

Tool Box

2010-10-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

Christian made this really cool tool box at cubscouts last week. He was so proud of himself.

Saturday Fun

2010-10-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

Christian's school had a carnival to raise money so we decided to take the kids. They all had such a great time playing the games and hanging out. We got to meet a couple more of Christian's friends and met a girl that likes him. She ended up paying a ticket to have him put in jail with her it was so funny. After the Carnival we dropped Megan off with my Mom and we took the boys to a 3D movie. I love Saturdays when we just get to hang out and be together!The kids in Jail the girl in the background with the hat is the one that put Christian in jail.Megan was such a great sport she was so good in the stroller and then Dan played a couple of games with her.I asked Dan to shave and leave his mustache to be funny. So of course he did I couldn't look at him without laughing. He has since shaved it off but at least I got a photo of it

Disneyland

2010-10-19T20:11:00.001-07:00

I love the Holidays at Disneyland! My pass expired on my birthday but Dan and Christian still have their passes till next year. Dan had a Thursday off a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be fun to take the boys after school. Ryan is totally loving everything decorated for Halloween so we knew he would love Disneyland. Well the day arrived and Dan surprised me with renewing my pass and getting Ryan a pass so we could enjoy it for another year. I was so excited to go with them and I can't wait to go for Christmas as well!When you walk into the park there is a huge Mickey pumpkin but the line was so long to take a photo we decided to just take a photo from the side.Dan decided he wanted to take Ryan on some different things than the usual rides we do so he took Christian and Ryan up Tarzan's tree house. Ryan said the cheetah was scary so I don't think he will want to do that again for awhile.Here is proof that I was there, I was waiting for the boys to get down from Tarzan's tree house.We decided to eat dinner at Disneyland which we usually don't do and by the pictures you can tell the kids loved it! The boys rode Autopia and then we all rode the train. These were both new things for Ryan and he totally loved it. Christian also loved that he is finally tall enough to drive a car by himself!

Haircuts

2010-10-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

I took Megan to get her haircut last week. We went in for a trim to just even her hair out and cut her bangs. Well when Megan was finished Ryan wanted a turn. So I asked the lady if Ryan could sit in the car as well, she let him but he started crying. So I asked what the problem was and he said "I want her to give me a haircut". I think they both look so cute and they did really well during the haircuts!

Dan's Birthday

2010-10-13T12:15:00.001-07:00

On Dan's birthday he had to work so I spent all day cleaning the house so that once he got home he could just relax. I made his favorite dinner and the kids helped me make him a cake. After dinner he opened his gifts and then he took Christian to Cub Scouts, it was a very low key day but I hope he had a great birthday. I want him to know how much we love him and appreciate all that he does for us!One of Dan's gifts was the new Playstation Move, which is a game like the Wii but for playstation. We have all really enjoyed playing it lately!

Patriots

2010-10-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Dan's Birthday we are hoping that New England can win tonight for an early birthday present for him. GO PATRIOTS!

Boys

2010-09-30T16:04:00.001-07:00

On Sunday the boys were playing so nicely together we had to take some photos to document it cause it doesn't seem to happen to often lately. They were having a battle with the Lego Knights!

My Birthday

2010-09-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

I had an amazing birthday this year. Dan and the kids made we feel so special and I got to do fun things all day. The morning started with Ryan waking me up saying "Mom it's your Birthday" it was so cute and I knew it was going to be a great day. I went to scripture study in the morning, then lunch with Leah. I got to do a little bit of shopping and the my Mom took us out to dinner. After dinner we went home put the kids to bed and then I got to go to Dan's soccer game since it was a late game and then we finished the night with dessert. It was so much fun and I couldn't have asked for anything more.

My Mom had the kids color these cute signs and they were hung all around the house and Dan blew up balloons for the hallway!This outfit Megan is wearing in one of my all time favorite on her, so of course I had her wear it on my birthday.We had dinner at Red Lobster and Dan always plays with his food so of course Christian joined in on the fun!Dan's soccer game was so much fun without the kids, they lost but he played awesome.

Hospitals

2010-09-13T23:21:00.000-07:00

So my life has been completely filled with Hospitals lately. My Dad was admitted about three weeks ago after suffering a stroke, he then was transferred to a rehab facility to help get some movement back in his legs only to be transferred back to the Hospital with an infection. He has since been discharged and remitted twice more with additional complications and blood clots. Luckily at this moment he is doing really well and hopefully on the path to recovery. I also had a brief stay in the Hospital while I had my Gall Bladder removed. I had been having episodes since about May, they would happen at night and last a couple hours. Then in August it became more frequent and the pain was much greater that I finally went to the Emergency room and found out that I had Gall Stones. So I had surgery on Sept 2nd. It went perfectly and I was in and out of the hospital within 5 hours. I am recovering really well and mostly feel back to 100%. Then this weekend we made another trip to the Hospital but this time it was to meet my new Niece Claudia. She is so cute and perfect and Mom and Baby are doing well. We are so happy for the Garthe Family.

4th Grade

2010-09-08T08:37:00.001-07:00

The first two weeks of school have been great. Christian loves his teacher, Mr. Brooks but it seems like 4th grade is going to be a lot of work. He has had about 2 hours of homework since the second day of school. It is a lot but he is doing really well so hopefully we can stay on top of his work and he can excel. We walked Christian to school the first week of school and the kids loved it, but he has since started riding his bike which Christian loves so the kids and I walk to the park instead.

Last of Summer 2010

2010-08-31T17:01:00.000-07:00

My Brother and his family were here for 10 amazing days we had such an incredible time that I didn't take any pictures. We went to the Lake, we went to Castle Park, played lots of games, and spent most nights staying up late talking. It was so fun having them here and so hard to say goodbye. The last week of summer the kids and I decided to take it pretty easy and rest to get ready for school, but we did manage to go to the beach. Surprisingly enough it was our only trip to the beach all summer. I was really worried about taking the kids alone to the beach but we went with two other families and they really helped me feel comfortable being their by myself. Unfortunately, we did lose Ryan for about 3 minutes and it was the scariest time of my life. He had followed a lady that had on the same cover up as me to another side of the beach. Other than that it was the perfect day and the kids loved the beach.

Pole Position

2010-08-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

My Brother John and I took the four older kids to pole position. Pole position is indoor go-kart racing. We had to watch an instructional video and then we got fitted for helmets. The kids were really nervous but we all had such a great time!

Orange County Fair

2010-08-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

My Sister and I took the kids to the fair a couple of weeks ago. The kids earned their own money to spend at the fair by washing cars, doing extra chores, recycling cans and babysitting. A great part of the day for me was when Christian, Brittanie and Brittany did Karaoke. Ryan's favorite part was seeing all the animals and Christian loved the rides. All 8 kids came home with a toy they had won in the carnival games and it was just a wonderful day.

Zoo

2010-08-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

When we went to the Celebration Day at the Great Park of OC a couple of weeks ago, the kids all got free tickets to the Orange County Zoo, so my Sister and I took all the kids. It was a beautiful day and the kids loved seeing all the animals. They also have a petting zoo area that they loved! Sara and Ryan didn't like the smell in one area.Brittanie was feeding the goats and it sneezed on her, her reaction was priceless!

Air Museum

2010-08-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Riverside Library had a summer reading program that for every 5 hours or 5 books read, the kids earned a prize and if you read for 25 hours you earned a day at Castle Park (which is an amusement park in Riverside). For those who don't read yet, a parent has to read four books a week to get the prize. So I signed all three kids up for the program and the first prize we got was free admission to the March Air Force Air Museum, so we used the passes on Dan's Day off. We made a trade with my Sister she took Megan and we took 3 of her 4 kids. It is an amazing museum, we all had a great time and loved seeing all the planes.My Dad was in the Air Force and had a dog so Brittanie thought it would be cool to take a picture near this statue.This was Dan and Christian's favorite plane.

Bowling

2010-08-19T14:37:00.000-07:00

We signed up for a free summer bowling program that allowed the kids to bowl free once a day for the whole summer. Well we went three different times this summer. Ryan and Christian both really loved bowling, Megan loved just being there and they all had a great time with their cousins.

Angel Game

2010-08-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

My niece Brittanie from Texas flew by herself to come and stay with us. My Brother and his family are coming for a week and a half so we thought it would be fun for her to come for 10 days before they got here. I had so much planned for while she was here and the first thing was an Angel game and it was the night that they played the Red Sox's. Daniel came back from New Hampshire with new Red Sox shirts for Ryan and Christian so the boys wore them and all the girls wore Angel shirts. We had such a great night but unfortunately we lost and the boys wouldn't let us live it down. Megan loved the game and stayed awake till after 10 cause she didn't want to miss anything and she would cheer with everyone. It was a great night.

Great Park

2010-08-04T08:05:00.001-07:00

Again my friend Holly posted on facebook that the Great Park of Orange County was having a Celebration day to mark 5 years since it had opened, so I looked online and it looked amazing. So since Dan was still out of town my Mom decided to come with me since she was watching my Sister's kids. We had a great time and the kids got so much stuff. This park is huge and they had so many different booths from different things from Orange County. They also had an amazing Air show that Christian and Ryan loved. While watching the Air Show Christian said to me "This would be so much more fun if Dad was here". It was so cute and we did really miss not having him with us. Henry's Market let them plant pumpkin seeds. They are looking for worms in the compost. Then they sent the kids on a scavenger hunt to find different vegetables in their garden. The Park is planning on having over 200 acres of fruit and vegetables growing over the next 5 years. That is awesome.The great park use to be the El Toro Marine Base they are converting into this incredible adventure park. So of course the Marines were there and seeing all the stuff was Christian's and Ryan's favorite area. They had the kids do pull ups to win stuff. Christian was able to do 10 pull ups so he won a Marine Hat. Watching the Air Show.At the LA Galaxy booth, they had these amazing players there that were doing all different tricks it was really cool to see and the kids loved trying to kick the balls throw the holes.

Chuck E Cheese

2010-07-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

While Dan was away the kids and I decided to use a coupon we had to Chuck E Cheese. We got 200 tokens for $20.00 it was a great deal and keep the kids busy for over 2 hours. It was a really hot day so it was nice to be in someone else's air conditioned building. Also since Megan is completely mobile she had a great time as well.

Noah's Ark

2010-07-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

I love the story of Noah and the Ark, I don't know why or how it started but I collect anything and everything that has Noah's ark on it so when a friend put on facebook that there was a Noah's Ark Exhibit in LA and it was going to be free on Thursday's in July I went online and ordered my tickets immediately. We also got tickets for My sister and Sister in law and I am so glad I did it was incredible we all had so much fun. Everything in the Exhibit was made out of recycled materials which made the animals so much more interesting and everything was hands on. The Exhibit was five different rooms, the first room was where they learned a little about the story and how to treat the exhibit, the second area they kids created wind and rain and they got to load the animals into the ark. The third room had puppets, and figurines of all different types of animals that the kids could sort and play with. (please excuse Megan's hair she pulled out her ponytail on the way there and refused to let me put it back up)The fourth area of the ark the kids could go climb different levels of the ark, feed the animals and clean up rubber poop! IT WAS SO GROSS, and of course Megan was obsessed with the poop and wouldn't let any of the other kids play with it, it was so funny!The last room was the rainbow room where the kids got to celebrate that there was no more rain. They got to play instruments and dance around and really celebrate.Our big group in the rainbow room.Outside the Exhibit was the rainbow maker, it was basically a big misting machine that the kids walked through or rather ran through and they could see rainbows. It was so fun and a perfect way to end the day.Megan was not happy with getting wet.
The exhibit was amazing and it is something I will never forget thank you Holly for the great idea!

Home

2010-07-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

Dan's Grandmother passed away on July 4th and so we decided that he needed to fly to New Hampshire to be with his family for the funeral. Since it was last minute the tickets were pricey but we finally found a great deal, the only problem was that he would be gone from Thursday Morning till Tuesday Afternoon and that was really hard on the kids and I. It was really good that he got to go and spend time with his family but I told him never again will he leave me at home with all three kids for 5 days. Next time I am going with him and I am so grateful that he doesn't have a traveling type job I definitely couldn't be that kind of wife. When he got back the kids wanted to be waiting for him at the baggage claim so they made signs and were so excited to see him. Megan was so excited to see him, she immediately called out Daddy and then was so happy once she was in his arms. The kids and I had a lot of fun while he was gone but it was really great to have him HOME!

Chick-fil-a

2010-07-20T16:25:00.000-07:00

Customer appreciation day was a couple of weeks ago at Chick-Fil-A, and the kids and I went with my brother and sister's families. It was so fun dressing up like cows. Everyone dressed as a cow got a free meal so all of us went dressed up and got 13 meals for free it was awesome!Andrew lost a tooth a couple of days prior and so it was bleeding and stuck a towel in his mouth and we all thought it was really funny so then Ryan had to get in on the action. He is definitely like his father, always trying to make everyone laugh!Megan thought they were both really funny!

Summer Fun

2010-07-14T18:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know how it happened but I didn't get any pictures from the 4th of July weekend. We had a great time with family and friends but sadly no pictures to show for it. The summer has been great so far. We love having a pool in the our association the kids and I are there usually about 3 times a week, we also have this great slip and slide that the boys love. We have also gone to the library a couple of times and had some friends over to play with. So here are the pictures of what we did in June.Megan hated the slip and slide.Christian with baby Camden, we just love her.Dan decided one night it would be fun to do wood projects with the kids, they got to build different things and then paint them. It was really fun!Christian played water football with some neighbors.Ryan is so crazy in the pool he has no fear, loves to jump in and will swim with no floaties if I am close by.My niece Brittany got these fake glasses and put them on Megan it was so cute.

Pinewood Derby

2010-07-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

We had the Pinewood Derby last month for Cub Scouts, Ryan and Christian both made cars. Christian's car was really fast and he won first place overall. We had a great night.

Megan

2010-07-10T07:25:00.000-07:00

Megan's hair has gotten out of control so I started putting ponytails in her hair. If I don't she ends up looking like Ace Ventura Pet Detective. Can you see the resemblance?

Soccer

2010-07-10T07:13:00.001-07:00

Dan has been playing on a Men's soccer league during the week and he absolutely loves it. It is so fun to see him play again. The kids and I went to watch him a couple of weeks ago, I didn't really enjoy it cause Ryan was running around trying to get on the field and Megan was so extremely tired so I will have to try and go again next season without the kids so that I can really enjoy the game. The photos are not the best because I was chasing the kids around and Dan played goalie for most of the game so it was dark in that corner of the field.

Last school project of the year

2010-06-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

Christian had to do a book report for the last big assignment of the year. He read the book Shiloh and then had to do a report on it. When he came home the middle of May and told me I thought it was going to be really simple, well I was wrong. They had to do a Cereal Box Book Report and the directions he brought home the next day was three pages long. He had to create a cereal and decorate a box using the story and then he had to do a 2 minute commercial advertising the cereal. It was really fun but doing it in two and a half weeks was very challenging. He got a great grade and loved doing it so I guess it was worth it. He named his cereal Shiloh Charms and decided for his commercial he wanted to be an Irish man selling the cereal so in the video that is why he is talking in an accent (it's not really Irish but he tried)!
He had to name the cereal and draw a picture on the front of the box, he also had to put a prize in the box. Shiloh is a dog and so the prize he did was a dog tag.

On the left side he had to list the Ingredients, which were the characters and setting. On the right side of the box he had to write the summary of the book.On the top he gave the title, author and the ratingThe back was the hardest because he had to make a game or something. He decided to do a maze but kept messing up so I think he had to redo it like 3 or 4 times before it turned out the way he wanted.

I couldn't get the video to load so I will try again later!

Memorial Weekend

2010-06-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Memorial weekend, we spent most of the weekend outside enjoying the beautiful weather. We had a BBQ went to the park, went swimming and of course took flowers to the cemeteries. We just spent all weekend with family and friends it was perfect!

Award

2010-06-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

Christian had a hard month in April. He seemed to be acting up at home and school. He was arguing, fighting and just misbehaving. Dan, Christian's Mom and I all sat down and had a long talk with him about his behavior and then he was grounded for a week from friends and video games. After the talk his behavior and attitude was so much better and his teacher and friends at school recognized he was doing better as well. So for the month of May he got Student of the Month. We were so proud of him great job Christian!

Angel Game

2010-06-02T16:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Dan did some phone work for a friend of ours and he ended up paying him with Angel tickets. It was so perfect. We went last Wednesday and it was a 4 o'clock game. So we got a babysitter for Megan and took Christian out of school about 20 minutes early. The seats were incredible, front row right behind third base. We took my cousin George with us and we all had so much fun. Right after Kendrick finished warming up he throw his ball into the crowd. A man sitting next to Christian caught it and gave him the ball. He was so excited but then we noticed some players giving autographs so he went down and got Bobby Abreu and Torii Hunter to sign his ball. It was really cool.The Blue Jays tied it up in the 9th so it was Rally Monkey time!Angel's ended up winning and it was an awesome game