Easter Morning

Any holiday with a child enhances the holiday for me. I think it's better than when I was a kid. I love seeing Oliver get excited about it and to experience that joy that comes with holidays again and again.

 

This morning after Oliver snuggled with us in bed for a little bit, we asked him if he was ready to go see if the Easter bunny had come (we think he forgot about it). He jumped up and ran into the living room to see what he got. The Easter Bunny knew that Oliver was going to be playing soccer soon and so he hooked him up with shin guards and a soccer ball. He also knew his favorite chips were funyuns and also got him a few toys and candies.

Oliver got to wear his new letter church shirt and we loved primary where we learned about Jesus and the resurrection.

 

Lately, Oliver has been asking questions about dying so this was a great opportunity to teach him about the resurrection. These were his questions while on a family drive one afternoon...

 

"When are we going to die?"

"How are we going to die?"

"What are those?" (referring to tomb stones)

"What is a grave?"

"Where are our graves?"

"Where is Grandpa Bills grave?"

 

It was very interesting to try to explain death and the resurrection to him. I think children sometimes know more about the spirit world than we think they do and perhaps it's because they are pure and sinless that they don't have anything to fear about dying. I found it so comforting that he was so calm and understanding about all of this. Dying didn't seem scary to him because we explained to him that families could be together again if we are obedient and that we would see each other again.

 

Such a blessing to teach the simple truths of the gospel.  

 



Nice Shootin...

I went {official} shooting for the first time with Luke, Wendy and Kat the other day. Luke really wanted me to learn how to use our gun so it was great to learn how to handle it and get a good feel for shooting it. I enjoyed it, but I had to get use to the kick of the gun. At one point, I even pinched my finger from the kick which I did not love. Luke, Kat and Wendy did great and I think they enjoyed it more than I did. I'm glad I know how to use our gun, but I think my kind of recreation shooting is when it involves BB guns and vermin...

Dancing in the Rain

 

My Nephew Tayten is one talented kid. Not only is he smart, but he can dance. Balet West has a great dance program for elementary schools and in addition to the program, really good dancers can be chosen to be on the Dream Team which Tate was. They preformed at West High (which when I walked into the field house after not being there for 10+ years, I was flooded with memories of that place. It was so crazy).

 

I love the picture below of Tate. 

 

In addition to dancing with their school, the Dream team also did a special performance and danced to Singing in The Rain. I think it was one of the best performances of the night.  

 He is even on the dance team with one of his good friends. How cute are these little guys.

 My favorite thing of the night had to be Oliver with Jonny. He was "helping" him film and he looked like such a little film director wearing Johnny's hat and being so serious about recording Tate.

 Great Job, Tayten. Thanks for inviting us to see you dance.

MOAB

This weekend  (March 15th-17th) was just so awesome. I got to spend it with some of the people that I care about most and do some of the things that we like to do best. Last year we missed out on this trip and I was so sad about it. I asked Luke if he wanted to run this year and much to my surprise, he said yes. So here we are, off to Moab.

 

On the way down, we stopped at training table for dinner. It seemed like it took a while to get down there with the 2 other stops we had to make, but it was okay, we were on vacation.

We arrived a little after 8 that night and with enough time to pick up our packets and set up camp. Each of us got our outfits ready for race day tomorrow. Some of us quicker than others... 

That morning we were bussed up to the start of the race where we waited for about 1.5 hours to start. I loved being there with Amy and Luke. The last time I did this race, I was all alone so it was nice to have company, and good company at that.

When we started, the conditions were prefect. It was cast over and best part was there hardly any wind. Perfect I tell you. 

 

Amy was the first to finish. She did such a great job. Her chip time was 40:34 and placed second in her age group. She was only 4 second behind the 1st place and got an additional medal for placing.  Talk about fast!

 

My goal was to run at about a 9:30 pace which would be so awesome.

I finished in 47:23 with a 9:28 pace which was actually wrong. They didn't calculate the gun time and chip time right so I actually ran a 9:18 which is my personal record. I had to make sure to record it correctly because I worked hard for it.

 

Luke was amazing. This was his first official race and a race that he actually trained for. We didn't know he was going to run this fast and so we didn't get to see him cross the finish line. He finished in 48:48 but again, they didn't calculate the chip time correctly, so I'm thinking he did about a 9:30ish minute mile. He ended up placing 12th in his age group. When I asked him what he thought about it, he said it was so fun and that he will certainly do it again. I am so happy for him.

 

Trent was the only one of us that ran the half marathon. His final chip time was 1:20:50 which was his best at this race but not his PR. I can't even imagine what it would be like to run a 6 minute mile. He is a machine. 

 Best part about this race is the finish. They always hook you up with the best post race snacks.

Finishers and Luke with his first race medal.

 



Following showers and a huge lunch at La Hacienda, Trent took us jeeping at the Klondike Bluffs. It's crazy how scary Jeeping is. It doesn't seem like it until you're in the car staring straight up at the sky, straight down at a huge boulder and riding along edges. 

 We walked up to the bluffs to hang out for a little bit.

 

 Amy and I got a little camera crazy, but don't you think she makes a great Cheetah?

 

We took jumping pictures and when I took mine, My flip flop flew right off the cliff. There was no getting that bad boy back so I had to hike back down with only one shoe. 

Looking back at the picture, I thought it was funny that you could actually see my blurry flip flop in the air.

Love him.

Love them.

Love us.

later that night we had dinner at Pizza Hut, did some shopping, got some ice cream and finally settled in after a very busy and perfect day.

 

 

The following morning after relaxing kid less for one last time, we had a delicious McDonald's breakfast, did some more shopping and walking around and then headed home.

Last time we went to Moab together and I blogged about it, we made a list of all the funny things that were said through the trip. It was so fun and funny to look back and reminisce, so I have to include our list this time.

 

 

Moab's Memorable Moments 2013

 

-Woobie

-Trent trying to find a Moab shirt

-Turtleneck

-Luke is Wychel
-"Morgan calls it a chicken." -Trent

-Pubies
-"That's what happens when you eat..." -Luke
-Kim's chin
-"At least I look good" -Amy
-"Kim, turn around, It's Amy..." -Trent
-"I thought it was a dinosaur taking his own picture!" -Amy
-"My shoe!" -Kim
-"Does this come with a spoon" -Amy at Waitress
-"It's not even worth your dollar fifty?!!" -Luke at Kim
-Luke going through the snack tent 4 times past the "security guards"
-"Is that the same Chinese guy?" -Amy
-"I am not eating a sand which." -Luke
-"I have to pee again" -Amy
-"Trent, what do you call that again?" -Kim
-finding perfect sunglasses at the gas station
-Amy being annoyed with the know it all T-shirt shop guy
-"Well that's sad!" -Amy and T-shirt shop guy
-"That water was the worst water I've ever had!" -Luke
-"You break it, you don't fix it" -Amy at Trent
-"What was that?!" -Amy at Trent
-"That made my butt pucker" -Luke
-Head lamps
-"Someday I'll lose my weight, throw up all the food I ate..." -Amy
-"Someday day I'll gain some weight..." -Trent


And the best quote of the trip...

"Amy, I'm sorry I compared you to a fat lard and Kim, I'm sorry I called you a slut" -Trent









My Dental Nightmare

Remember how I told you that we had an awesome St. P dinner? Yeah well I didn't mention that earlier that day I started to get a slight tooth ache...slight. Later that night as I was eating my delicious dinner, I bit down on a soft potato and ZING, I felt pain in that same tooth. I decided not to do or say anything about it thinking that I was just being a wuss about {probably} nothing. I went to bed just fine that night, but in the morning, it felt worse. I sat at work feeling like crap and decided to call the dentist. Lucky for me they could see me right away.

{side note-I called the dentist yesterday morning before any of this nonsense happened to schedule my check up. How coincidental that I get a toothache later that day}

The dentist said that everything looked fine and that he wasn't sure what was going on. The pain that I was feeling was in a tooth that had already had a root canal so he had to refer me to an Endodontic Dentist to have a closer look. Lucky for me {again} they could see me right away. After some closer x-rays, The Dentist was able to find an infection just below my root. He told me that surgery through the side of my gums and into my root was the best way to drill it out. So, {to make a long story short} I did the surgery and it was horrible. I wasn't numbed enough and they had to keep numbing the area and the drilling into my jaw was just awful. After 30 minutes while they were stitching me up I started to get super dizzy. The whole room was spinning and my eyes felt as though they were shaking like mad. They had to put me on oxygen and wait for about 15 minutes before they finally let me go.

I was out for 2 days. It was worse than when I got my wisdom teeth out even with the dry socket. For 2 days I laid in bed taking drugs, getting sick off the drugs and icing.

 

 

Pic 1 Dentist Pic 2 Endotontic Dentist Pic 3 Home

 

I now feel as though I am on the mend and only have to take 1 pain pill a day. My stitches are about to come out any day now and the swelling is gone. When I laugh real hard or even sneeze, I still feel like I have to hold my face together, but like I said, things are on the mend. Here is to hoping I don't have any more mouth surgeries...ever. 

Saturday

I loved this Saturday. Loved it. It started off with some girl time at City creek buying Toms and shopping at H&M. We finished shopping at around lunch time and decided to get lunch at one of our favorites. Spankys. After laughing hysterically in the car for a good 5 minutes we parted our separate ways.

 Since we felt bad about leaving Oliver this past weekend while we were living it up in Moab and didn't do a single thing for him for St. P day, we took Oliver to see a movie. We told him the night before that we were going to take him to do something fun and that it was a surprise. He was so excited when we pulled up to the movie theater and told him what we were doing.

We saw the Croods which was just okay. Oliver sat there and devoured his popcorn and butterfingers and was glued to the screen. He loved it.

 

He did not want to have his picture taken, but Luke and I did. We are so fun.  

After the movie we drove out to Toys R Us to get a Skylander for Oliver. He has earned some money from doing his chores and so he was able to buy it with his own money. Oliver was in a funk of some sort because he didn't want to stick around to look at all of the toys, but Luke and I did.

 

 He barely let us take this picture of him.

 

The rest of the night we hung out together, just the three of us and it was perfect. 

St. P

This year March 17th snuck up on me and I didn't do a single thing for it. No gold coins, no green milk, no prize, not even Lucky Charms. Last year we went all out, so I felt a little bad that we didn't do a single thing for Oliver. Luckily My sister had him that weekend and she took him to the Parade in Salt Lake and that counts as something, right?

Fortunately, we have some awesome friends that did celebrate this year. The Maudsleys put on this awesome St. P dinner complete with corn beef and cabbage, hollandaise sauce, cooked carrots and potatoes, salads, desert, and a green drink that was oh so good. Everyone did such a good job with the food.   

{side note- I hated corn beef and cabbage until I tried it last year with these guys.}

The company was just as good and I think it's safe to say that we all had a great time. I'm just hoping they continue this tradition and keep inviting us...hint hint.

 

Hosting Nickel Auction

This month I got to host Nickel Auction. If any of you know me, I love hosting any party or event so when the opportunity came up, I jumped all over it. Plus I had a few things to sell and part of the perks of hosting is not having to drop your junk to someone else's home.

 

We had a fun group that night, some good snacks and not a whole lot of sellers which I sometimes think is perfect. We actually finished by 8:15ish which I think might be a new record.

 

I bought 2 books and a memory game for Oliver and ended up making $11.50 that night which is also a new record. Oh and someone tipped me a piece of chip too.

Great night ladies!



Confessions of an Enrichment Activity

Confession:

I really did not want to go to Relief Society last night. Like really! I (no joke) sat on my bed for a good 15 minutes trying to decide...it was more like fighting with myself to do the right thing, which was to go. So I did. Luke even said that because I had the reminder sign in our yard, I HAD to go. He was right.

 

I told myself that I would only go for a little bit. I don't know what my problem is or why I wouldn't want to go, but I am glad I did. The activity was on healthy eating and strengthening homes around the dinner table. At first we listened to Sister Olsen talk about the importance of eating together as a family and I really enjoyed her talk. Following that, we rotated through three different stations. The main entree station, a vegetable station and the dessert station. At each location someone talked to us about how to incorporate nutrition into our meals and to eat more wisely. It was great information and I really was impressed by the knowledge of these ladies. The food was also really good. So much so, that I really think I will try to make these items sometime...except maybe the bean brownies.  I even ended up staying the whole time.

 

 

In the end I am really glad that I went. I know it's important to sustain the callings in our ward and I know that by showing up to the activities, I am doing so. I know that these ladies put in so much work to make this activity what it was and so I must say thank you to them for doing such a great job. I really do have an awesome ward. 

Chore Chart

We have a chore chart for Oliver that we have found to be very helpful. Basically on the chart, it breaks everything down from the chore he is suppose to do to the day he is suppose to do it on, but that was too specific for our liking so we just listed some things that are expected of Oliver. Every night we would go over the day to see how many stars he had earned. This has been so helpful especially when it came to taking showers, saying prayers and putting his clothes and toys away. Ever since we have started the chore chart, Oliver has been behaving so much better (not that we had big problems in the past). This past weekend, Oliver filled all 64 boxes and was rewarded his promised five dollar bill. He was so happy and quite frankly, so were we. He said that he can't wait to get more money so that he can buy a new Skylanders toy. Only 64 more boxes to go, buddy.

 

Week Review

A lot happened this past week, but I wasn't able to take a picture of every single thing. Anyhow, here is a re-cap our our week 3/4-3/10 (my weeks run from Monday to Sunday)

 

Monday:

We had a few friends over for some dinner and ping pong. It was a lot of fun to just hang out and talk and eat good food. I wish I would have taken a picture of  it.

 

Tuesday:

Nothing really happened on Tuesday except that Wreck-it Ralph came out. We went to see this movie with Oliver on New Years day and we loved it, so Oliver was very excited when I surprised him with this movie today. Best part was that as I grabbed the movie, a lady turned to me and asked if I wanted a coupon for it. Of course I did, so she handed me this 7 dollar off coupon. So awesome when you buy a blu ray for only $12.99 and when others spread the love. Thank you stranger.

 

 

Wednesday:

Luke's cousin was having a Mac/Hot Mess make-up party at her place and Amy, Brooke, Jenny and me went together. Some of us had our make-up done and others just shopped around. In the end we all bought some fun make-up and had a great time. Before heading home we grabbed a bite to eat at The Training Table. It was fun spending a night out with the Jensen's and looking fabulous...or like a trannie...

Thursday:

Grandma Holly night is really the best night of the week. She is so nice to take all the grand kids once a week for a few hours and not only watch them, but feed them and make crafts and play with them. The best! Since the parents are kid less, we take advantage of this night and occasionally go out together. (sadly, Cade and Em already had plans) This night, Trent, Amy, Luke and Me went to dinner together. We headed to a new place that Amy had recently eaten at, Melty Way. It was great and following dinner and some ice cream, we headed back to watch Argo before all the kids got home. It was perfect.

 

Friday:

I had a visitor today at work. Oliver came to hang out for a little while. I think he loved it as much as I loved having him. He drew on the board for a little while. He drew our family, Wolverine and Jesus(not pictured), but he had some super awesome long hair. We ate M&M's and he ran down the hall ways with Izz. After my work got out, we headed over to the salon so that I could get a hair cut. I needed to go shorter and I was very pleased with the results. Loved it more this way than the first way I cut it. Oliver did very good while I got my hair done and he ended up falling asleep on the couch. That night we watched another movie and hung out.   

Saturday:

 

I woke up early Saturday morning and lounged around. Oliver came into our room and asked to snuggle and watch cartoons. I got a phone call from Amy shortly after letting me know that she was on her way down so that we could go running together. 9 miles later we were done and it felt so awesome. We treated ourselves (and husbands) to some Kevas and cinnamon burst bread. It was the best recovery meal and tasted so good. 

 While we were running, Luke started tearing out the other bathroom so that we could start remodeling it. It was so great to walk in to find a torn out bathroom. Seriously, can't wait to have a brand new tub.

Sunday:

Woke up early because of daylight savings to make it to 9 o'clock church. Napped after church. Had dinner with the Veigel side and capped off the night with a little Walking Dead. A Sunday at its best.

 

It was great having a weekend of watching movies, hanging out and not having anything major to do.  

 

This coming week is going to be busy busy and already can't wait.

 

 

Weekend Review

Thursday night Luke bought tickets to Radical Reels where they take the best videos from BANFF and combine them into a three hour film festival. We have been going to this for years now and it's something that we look forward to every year. Before heading to Kingsbury Hall, we hit up the Pie.

Friday night we took Oliver to Pace's followed by soccer registration and swimming at the rec center. Oliver loves swimming and could stay in there for hours.  

Saturday we had dinner with my sister and her family at Goodwood BBQ. It was really good, but it was so far away. Still worth it to be with them.

 

On Sunday we headed out to Eagle Mountain for my Cousin's baby blessing. As always we love spending time with these cousins and love celebrating the blessing of a new baby. My cousins daughter, Melanie loved going to Luke because he would hang her upside down. She is so crazy and would belly laugh and clap when he would do this.

And in between we got our running in (Luke included), Christmas lights away, Snow and ice cleaned off the roof, house cleaned, watched movies, and relaxed.