teal flowers

Monday, December 20, 2010

It's a Runners World

Soooo...I never thought I would ever say this...but I ran a 5k! It was so great! I started running in March of this year when my little sister told me she was training for a half marathon. Not to be outdone I of course had to start running. Which I haven't done since High School. But we had already bought a treadmill, so what the heck? I also got some friends from church to run with me, so it was a lot of fun. Nate finished a few minutes before me and then ran back to get me, isn't he sweet? Corbin was really proud of us.
Nate got 2nd place in his age group. It was also his first race. Go Nate!

This is my friend Jessica who ran it with me. She and I run at the same pace so it worked out great for both of us.






Here are the other friends from church who ran the race. It was a great event, and a beautiful day. I am really surprised at how much I like doing races. I am hoping to do a half marathon in the next few years. There are definately more races in my future.




Good times with former sisters

This summer we were fortunate enough to have a former sister missionary from our ward in Chicago come to MSU to teach. We loved having her over. She is a great singer/songwriter and was happy to help Corbin play the guitar, which he LOVED! I even captured some of their singing on video. I hope it works, I have never put a video on here before :)

Gross and disturbing!

This post is not for the faint of heart, or weak of stomache. The pictures are graphic, but if you have seen them on facebook already you are prepared. One night after having put the kids to bed, Nathan and I were enjoying some quiet time in the living room. About 45 minutes after putting the kids to bed Madalyn comes out. Not crying, just wimpering, and I walk her back to her room. She is trying to tell me something that I am not understanding. Something about a light, and it coming out. When we finally get back to her room she walks over to the electrical outlet and tells me that she put a barrette in it and the light came out! She then tells me that her finger hurts. I run her to the bathroom and turn on the light to find her middle finger charred and black with a large crack down the middle. Yes a crack. Dry, and black. Not bleeding. Well, being the very calm and collected person I am...I immediately freak out, which leads to Madalyn realizing how bad the situation really is and she begins to cry :( Nathan comes and I explain what happened. So what do we do next? Ruch her to the emergency room? Oh no, Nathan has to call his ER friend and find out if we really need to take her. I call my dad and ask him to come over to be with Corbin while we go to the hospital. In my mind, there is no question, we are going to the hospital. When Nate finally gets off of the phone he isn't sure if we should or not, so I say better safe than sorry, let's go! We had given her some Motrin and she had calmed down again. So off we went. A couple of hours later, we were given a band-aid and some neosporin, a blanket, book, juice, yogurt and Cheetohs and sent on our way. That was the most expensive band-aid I have ever bought, but the peace of mind was priceless. We found out she had done th best possible thing in the situation. She had placed the open barrette simultaneously into both sides of the socket which meant that it was grounded, and so it only zapped out, instead of traveling through her body! Scary! But she was really fine, only some singe marks on her fingers and the open wound. By the next day the crack in her finger had filled in, as you will see shortly, and she was feeling all better. She also learned a valuable lesson about light sockets. We were just so happy that she was ok.





The offending barrette.








A lesson learned

So, it was raining. Not just a little bit either. It was positively pouring buckets, raining cats and dogs, I mean really! I figured it was pretty warm and so I wore flip-flops to take Corbin to preschool. That was a mistake. The flip flops succeeding in "flipping" water all the way up the back of my legs! All the way to my bottom. So heed my advice, "flip flops are not for rain", especially when rivers are forming on the sidewalks. :)
Also, it is very hard to take a picture of your own tush! I tried several times to get from my feet all the way up, but to no avail.

Corbin plays Tee-ball

Corbin finally got to play sports this year! We started him in Tee-ball and he loved it. Well, he loved it when both times each game he got to hit the ball, and when he would occasionally have the chance to catch it. We noticed pretty early that tee-ball is not his strongest suit. During the first few practices, he would watch the ball roll right past him on the ground :) But by the end of it he had caught on and was doing very well. The best part was that Nathan got to be one of the coaches.
Swing! Batter, batter, batter, ssswwwiiinnnggg!

The kids were so cute and so small! They all felt like the baseball diamond was the perfect sandbox, and took advantage of that frequently.


The most handsome coach I've ever seen! ;)



Great catch dude!




Corbin turns 5!

Well in ture Corbin fashion the 2 weeks leading up to his birthday were terrible! He was very naughty and difficult. So I determined that he would have to earn his birthday presents this year. My mother thought I was being terrible, but I knew there was a lesson to be learned, and by golly, he was going to learn it! So his birthday came and we talked about how he had been so naughty, and that he was going to have to be on his best behavior to be able to get his birthday presents. I explained that his behavior was unacceptable, and that I was not going to reward him for it. He understood, and over the next 5 days he worked really hard and was really good. So we invited our friends over and he got to finally open his presents.









I do not at all regret making him earn his presents. His behavior improved dramatically after this episode. He realized that there are real consequences for his actions, and he worked very hard on it afterwards. I think it really made us closer as a family. It is important to me that my children are grateful for what they have, respectful of others, and sincerely sorry when they make mistakes. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to teach him these things, and it really worked. I love my son, and these moments only make me love him all the more. He really valued his presents since he had to earn them. I am so proud of him and how far he has come. He is such a joy to us and we are so grateful to have him in our family.




2 for the price of 1

Have you ever seen a siamese banana??? Well, get ready! You are about to! I thought his banana was a little chunky when I grabbed it. Little did I know it was 2 bananas in one. Take a look: Looks a bit like a Dolphin :)









Sorry, this is totally random. But still so cool! Don't you think???




Surprise visit out west

Nathan had two weeks off the end of February so that he could prepare to take his 3rd Boards exam, however, he did not sign up in time to take the test in March and so he had 2 weeks to do whatever he wanted. So we decided to take a trip out to visit his family in Utah! Nathan's mom works at the church office building so we went over to visit her and show the kids Temple Square. Corbin took every photo opportunity to be a ninja.
I can see him in a few years acting, either as the white Jackie Chan, or a Power Ranger ;)

And I was trying to get him to put his hands down so here is a lovely piture of me :)


Nathan go to go snowboarding for the first time in about 8 years. Corbin thought his gear was totally awesome.



On the way home we stopped by Nathan's brother's home in Colorado. We had such a great time visiting our family. It was a much needed vacation for all of us.




Jumping Jax

When it is cold and wintry, what do you do? You take your kids to an indoor inflatable park where they can run themselves out! We had a great time! It was their first time in a place like this and it took Madalyn a while to feel comfortable and safe, but after I went with her a few times she was able to do it all by herself. Corbin of course took off right away and didn't need any help at all.
So this is why they call it Jumping Jax :)




Sorry, I am no good with moving shots. She took a while to do this, but once she did she loved it!



Pure unadulterated joy :]




When it rains, it floods :(

So imagine waking up on a cold sunday morning in late January to cries of "MOM! DAD! There is water in the basement!!!". Our kids went down to watch a movie and found some water. Our basement had flooded before so I had expectations of what I would find when I got down there. So I didn't see much, remember I was just rudely awakened, and I stepped onto the floor which was covered in foam tiles only to sink! That was pretty scary. There was 2 inches of water across our entire basement! And boy was it COLD. Apparantly this is what happened: we had a thaw that melted all of the snow and caused the sump pump to work over time. Then it got cold again and when the pump was pushing the water out the water froze in the pipes. Since the water had no where to go the sump pump was working hard, and continuously until it died. Hence the 2 inches of water in the basement. It took 2 days, a rented pump and fans, several men, and a new sump pump to fix the problem. We also learned that water was seeping in between the cinder blocks in the wall. Fun! :) Fortunately everything was safe, we didn't lose anythign to water damage, and no one was hurt. What an experience. We will never forget this. This is fuzzy because I was running. That water was freezing! It froze you to your bones.


It is hard to see but all of that is water. The entire floor is covered.


This shows you why I couldn't see the water when I came downstairs. The foam tiles completely masked it. It was a very interesting experience to sink into the floor when I wasn't expecting it!








Monday, December 13, 2010

Just a Quick One

I just finished my second to last semester at UNLV! Only 16 weeks to go! :) It feels good to be done. I did very well. All A's! Unbelievable. Especially considering all that went on the last few months. Just as a quick recap:

Corbin started Kindergarten- He loves it!
Nate and I ran the Mackinac Island Great Turtle Race- I ran the whole 5.7 miles!
I had to add a 6th class to be able to finish all my classes by next May
We found out I am pregnant with our 3rd child! (That's why I had to add the 6th class)
Nate's baby brother got married
My sisters and families came out here for Thanksgiving! :) It was so fun!
We had Family pictures done for the first time since Madalyn was a year old.

I will try and catch up with the Blog over the next 4 weeks that I have off. There is so much to say and do! We are going to have the baby in June, towards the middle, hopefully after Corbin gets done with school. And a mere 4 weeks after I finish my last semester. Anyway! Pictures to follow, keep checking back!