Caleb, Dallin, and Sammy (I think it was all of their first time in a movie theater)
Mommy and Caleb after the movie.
My Boys
Monday, January 3, 2011
First Movie
While Clayton and Kara were in town for Christmas, we went to see the movie Tangled. It was Caleb's first time to see a movie in the theater! After about 20 minutes, he said he was all done and ready to go home. He sat through it all really well though as long as I pointed out the funny chameleon and horse. I quite enjoyed the movie. It was only my second movie to see in a theater this entire past year (the first was Harry Potter about a month ago).
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Christmas 2010
Caleb on Christmas morning. All month long Caleb asked if it was time for Santa to come, so it was so exciting when Santa actually came!
Flipping through a new book of picture scriptures that he opened.
Caleb with his toys: trains and a dinosaur from Grandma. (The Cheerios were to distract Carter as we opened presents.)
Other presents: books!
Carter ate snacks and played with the wrapping paper!
Later in the day at Matt's parents. One of the presents Caleb opened was a remote-controlled helicopter! Daddy actually enjoyed this present just as much, if not more than, Caleb.
Carter with one of his presents: a frog piggy bank.
I forgot my camera on Christmas Eve when we did presents with my family, so no pictures. Caleb was excited about the movie Toy Story 3 that he also got from Grandma and Grandpa. We enjoyed the holiday and loved having Daddy home for several days!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Family
Christmas is so much more fun with all the family around. Clayton and his wife, Kara, just flew in to spend Christmas here, which means we'll have all my family home for Christmas. My grandma is visiting as well. We'll have our big get-together Christmas Eve with all our fun traditions (white elephant, chimes, acting out the Nativity story now that there are some kids, present exchanges, food and games). Can't wait!
Here are the latest family pictures taken by Matt's dad:
And my handsome boys. Caleb is so excited for Santa this year!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Half Marathon #2
Saturday, November 20th, I ran my second half marathon. It was a year and a half after the first and one baby later. My goal was to beat my time from last year, which was 1:58:45, or slightly over a 9-minute-mile pace. I was able to keep a steady 8:45 pace for the first 5 miles, and even ran an 8:30 on one of those miles. At mile 6, a side cramp hit me, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep up this pace for the rest of the race. I ended up finishing in 1:57:47. I was actually disappointed when I crossed the finish line because I remembered my time wrong from last year's race and thought that I hadn't beat it. I was still hoping to shave off more time, but it does feel good to have beat my time, even if it was just a minute. I finished 16 out of 122 in my class (Females ages 25-29) with 8:59-minute-miles.
It was interesting to compare last year's race and this year's. Last year I trained completely on my own and did a little reading up on taking care of my body as I trained, but not much. Fellow runners don't believe me when I say this, but I did all my training, including the actual race, without drinking water as I ran. I would drink some water before and after. I've learned since that you should be drinking water at least every 15 minutes while you run. I also didn't eat before my runs during my training. I heard late in my training that eating a banana before you run is supposed to help with energy, so I started doing that a couple of weeks before my race, including race day. During my actual race last year, every time someone I ran with stopped for water, I would think in my head "sucker, I'm going to pass you up." I've also learned about some energy gels that most runners take while running since my first race. I didn't do any of that last year. Interestingly enough, I had energy throughout the whole run, and I felt great and rejuvenated after I finished the race.
This year I am training with a group where they have seminars every other week with running tips etc. So being wiser, this time I stopped at all of the water/gatorade stations except 2 (spaced out every 1.5 miles). I switched off between drinking water and gatorade. I felt like all the water stations actually slowed me down, so my next competitive race I'll probably carry water on me. I still didn't use any energy gels, but I will for my marathon. After I finished this race, I felt like I was going to puke, and I wanted to just lie down and die. And I only beat last year's time by a minute. Hmmmm. Maybe the experts don't know what they're talking about. :o)
After I finished, I couldn't even imagine running an additional 13 miles on top of what I just did. I began to have thoughts of giving up on my marathon goal. After some more time, I decided that running a marathon is doable, just not at the pace that I ran my half. My full marathon is 4 weeks away. I have the dreaded 21 mile run next Saturday, which hopefully will be more enjoyable as I listen to a book on tape. My main goal for my full marathon is to finish. I'm going to have no time expectations whatsoever. I also want to run the entire thing, but I never know how my body will be feeling and a walking break or two may be needed.
It was interesting to compare last year's race and this year's. Last year I trained completely on my own and did a little reading up on taking care of my body as I trained, but not much. Fellow runners don't believe me when I say this, but I did all my training, including the actual race, without drinking water as I ran. I would drink some water before and after. I've learned since that you should be drinking water at least every 15 minutes while you run. I also didn't eat before my runs during my training. I heard late in my training that eating a banana before you run is supposed to help with energy, so I started doing that a couple of weeks before my race, including race day. During my actual race last year, every time someone I ran with stopped for water, I would think in my head "sucker, I'm going to pass you up." I've also learned about some energy gels that most runners take while running since my first race. I didn't do any of that last year. Interestingly enough, I had energy throughout the whole run, and I felt great and rejuvenated after I finished the race.
This year I am training with a group where they have seminars every other week with running tips etc. So being wiser, this time I stopped at all of the water/gatorade stations except 2 (spaced out every 1.5 miles). I switched off between drinking water and gatorade. I felt like all the water stations actually slowed me down, so my next competitive race I'll probably carry water on me. I still didn't use any energy gels, but I will for my marathon. After I finished this race, I felt like I was going to puke, and I wanted to just lie down and die. And I only beat last year's time by a minute. Hmmmm. Maybe the experts don't know what they're talking about. :o)
After I finished, I couldn't even imagine running an additional 13 miles on top of what I just did. I began to have thoughts of giving up on my marathon goal. After some more time, I decided that running a marathon is doable, just not at the pace that I ran my half. My full marathon is 4 weeks away. I have the dreaded 21 mile run next Saturday, which hopefully will be more enjoyable as I listen to a book on tape. My main goal for my full marathon is to finish. I'm going to have no time expectations whatsoever. I also want to run the entire thing, but I never know how my body will be feeling and a walking break or two may be needed.
At the start of the race, Caleb and Matt looking on as I took off.
Carter, still in his p.j.s, watching from his stroller.
Carter, still in his p.j.s, watching from his stroller.
This is about mile 9. I had just seen Matt and the kids, which gave me a boost of energy. The race was along the Galveston Sea Wall, which was great scenery.
To pass the time, Caleb, Matt and Carter played on the beach chasing birds.
We went to Galveston with some friends, Jacob and Kim. Jacob ran the race as well. Here is Caleb about to give Jacob a high 5.
Afte the race. (I was feeling much better by this point.)
Me and Jacob before the race. We had to carry our bib numbers because they ran out of safety pins! Lame. Even though I had registered early, they ran out of the t-shirt size I requested (Medium) as well. All they had left were XS, which I won't fit into until I lose 10 lbs. (highly unlikely). Double Lame.
After the race with our medals.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Roughing It
Weather was looking good prior to Thanksgiving, since on Thanksgiving day a cold front was coming through. So the day after Lindsey got home, we headed out camping. We went to a new campsite that was free, but it was definitely roughing it from what we were used to. No water and pit toilets. It was a good thing we just stayed one night. After the kids went to bed, the adults stayed up late playing games, and then woke up early with kids the next morning. We cleaned up and left around 10 am so we could get back in time to get the turkey in the oven!
Carter in the tent
Aunt Lindsey and Carter--love his smile
Me and Gavin after breakfast--his hair is starting to curl :o)
In the empty campsite right next to ours, a tall tree just randomly fell. It was a bit scary because the kids had been playing over in the general area earlier with Aunt Lindsey. The tree rotted from the inside. After it was down though, of course it made for great playing.
Uncle Matt and Dallin
Caleb and Daddy
Aunt Lindsey and Carter--love his smile
Me and Gavin after breakfast--his hair is starting to curl :o)
In the empty campsite right next to ours, a tall tree just randomly fell. It was a bit scary because the kids had been playing over in the general area earlier with Aunt Lindsey. The tree rotted from the inside. After it was down though, of course it made for great playing.
Uncle Matt and Dallin
Caleb and Daddy
Monday, November 29, 2010
Lindsey's Home!
Lindsey came home Tuesday 11/23 from her mission in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Spanish-speaking
Waiting at the airport for Lindsey to get off her plane.
She came running when she saw us all waiting.
Greeting the kids.
Cheerful and tearful reunion:
Hugging Mom
Hugging Dad
It was so fun to have her home in time for Thanksgiving. Her one request was camping, so we planned that for Wednesday night. She looks great, and we're enjoying the time we have with her home before she heads back to college.
It was so fun to have her home in time for Thanksgiving. Her one request was camping, so we planned that for Wednesday night. She looks great, and we're enjoying the time we have with her home before she heads back to college.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Sleeping
I'm so behind on blogging, and I'm going to attempt to catch up this week. So look for several posts this week including my half marathon race, Lindsey coming home from her mission, and another family camping trip.
For now, I thought I would record some of my favorite things about Caleb's sleeping so that I won't forget them! Caleb is a really good kid, but he is not a good sleeper. He has the capability to go on less-than-average sleep and still be happy and pleasant all day. It was so hard to train him to fall asleep on his own as a baby. We got lots of advice about letting him cry himself to sleep. It would take around an hour for him to cry himself to sleep, and it was torture for me to listen to him. When he was old enough to stand, he would cry himself to sleep in a standing position with his head and arms resting on the top of the crib.
When we transitioned him to the "big boy bed," that created more issues with him getting out of bed. The bottom line about his sleep issues is that he's scared--of what exactly we're not sure. If he could have his way, he would have someone sleep with him all night. We've tried night lights, leaving his light on all night, hall lights, a picture of Jesus, and we've had several conversations about monsters, shadows, noises outside, etc. and how the Holy Ghost will protect him when he gets scared. We've also done motivational steps like earning toys and getting to make cookies with Mommy the next day when he sleeps all night. We've had weeks and maybe even a month where we felt like we were finally making progress, but at 3 years old, Caleb is still waking up most every night in the middle of the night. In the beginning, he would just wake up and then come sleep on the floor outside our door where we would find him the next morning. He's since learned to crawl into bed with Mommy and Daddy, and then the battle of taking him back to bed begins. We've now bumped the incentive up to getting an ice cream cone at McDonalds whenever he sleeps all night. Matt and I have been stumped about what to do, because he is genuinely scared at night. Caleb doesn't take naps anymore, and we've discovered that if we keep Caleb up later, then he tends to sleep harder at night and doesn't wake up. That's not a solution we necessarily like though, so we're pretty much just holding out for when we feel Carter is old enough to move into Caleb's room. We're crossing our fingers that this will solve Caleb's waking-up issues at night.
A few weeks ago, my parents babysat so Matt and I could attend a church function at night. They did the bedtime routine, kissed Caleb goodnight, then came downstairs. An hour later they started up the stairs to check on the kids, and this is what they saw. He just needed to be close to them (without them knowing because he didn't want to get in trouble), so this is where he ended up. I love this little boy.
For now, I thought I would record some of my favorite things about Caleb's sleeping so that I won't forget them! Caleb is a really good kid, but he is not a good sleeper. He has the capability to go on less-than-average sleep and still be happy and pleasant all day. It was so hard to train him to fall asleep on his own as a baby. We got lots of advice about letting him cry himself to sleep. It would take around an hour for him to cry himself to sleep, and it was torture for me to listen to him. When he was old enough to stand, he would cry himself to sleep in a standing position with his head and arms resting on the top of the crib.
When we transitioned him to the "big boy bed," that created more issues with him getting out of bed. The bottom line about his sleep issues is that he's scared--of what exactly we're not sure. If he could have his way, he would have someone sleep with him all night. We've tried night lights, leaving his light on all night, hall lights, a picture of Jesus, and we've had several conversations about monsters, shadows, noises outside, etc. and how the Holy Ghost will protect him when he gets scared. We've also done motivational steps like earning toys and getting to make cookies with Mommy the next day when he sleeps all night. We've had weeks and maybe even a month where we felt like we were finally making progress, but at 3 years old, Caleb is still waking up most every night in the middle of the night. In the beginning, he would just wake up and then come sleep on the floor outside our door where we would find him the next morning. He's since learned to crawl into bed with Mommy and Daddy, and then the battle of taking him back to bed begins. We've now bumped the incentive up to getting an ice cream cone at McDonalds whenever he sleeps all night. Matt and I have been stumped about what to do, because he is genuinely scared at night. Caleb doesn't take naps anymore, and we've discovered that if we keep Caleb up later, then he tends to sleep harder at night and doesn't wake up. That's not a solution we necessarily like though, so we're pretty much just holding out for when we feel Carter is old enough to move into Caleb's room. We're crossing our fingers that this will solve Caleb's waking-up issues at night.
A few weeks ago, my parents babysat so Matt and I could attend a church function at night. They did the bedtime routine, kissed Caleb goodnight, then came downstairs. An hour later they started up the stairs to check on the kids, and this is what they saw. He just needed to be close to them (without them knowing because he didn't want to get in trouble), so this is where he ended up. I love this little boy.
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