Color Me Rad ~2

My first race!  I have never loved running.  I had a quick stint (It's pretty much over now) where I loved it for a few weeks and I signed up for some races to make me keep running.  The first race I ever ran was:

Color Me Rad!

*For the record, this was not really a race.  There 

were so many people we couldn't run if we 

wanted to, and they didn't even time anyone.  

It was all just for fun, which I loved!

I convinced Andy to run with me, and I asked a few friends to join me too!  

Also, my mom and sister were kind enough to run with us!

 Just the girls!

 Most of the way through the race, we decided we needed a picture before we hit the crowd.  We were having so much fun!  I was so happy.  I was covered in PURPLE, how could I not be?!

My and my man! 

 With my mom and sis!

 I missed the good picture, but this is a bunch of the color being thrown in the air at the same time.  It was beautiful!

 Me and my girlies!

Posing with the runner statue on the UVU campus. 

 I love this picture of me and my sweet husband.  

The race was amazingly fun!  Thanks mom, Jaycie, Andy, Heather, and Tanisha for running (walking) it with me!  My next race is The Dirty Dash on June 2.  I haven't run more than a mile in weeks.  It is going to kill me, but I will be getting all muddy so I won't care.  :)  I can't wait!

Color Me Rad ~1

I have some of the best girl friends in the world.  I have always had many, many friends, but most of them are so spread out and from different parts of my life that they don't know each other.  It's sort of bizarre, but it's just the way it's been my whole life.  I love my friends, and I keep them (those who will have me) for years and years.

These two amazing friends of mine are Tanisha and Heather.  Tanisha (left) was my roommate at Dixie from 1999-2001, and she is one of my favorite people to this day!  She has stuck with me through thick and thin, and helped me through all the ups and downs of my life, talks sense into me when I am being insane, and helps me see things for what they really are.  She is a true and forever friend who ALWAYS makes me laugh my guts out when I am with her!

Heather (right) has been a dear friend and one I have looked up to since 1994.  She is a strong and dedicated woman and mother.  She and I have been there for each other through very hard things as well, and we have been a good source of strength when we have both needed it.  We keep each other in check!

These two wonderful ladies have been dear to me for half of my life, yet they just met each other for this race.  It's odd to me, but that's the story of my friend life.  They both came out to my house for a....you guessed it...a sleepover!!!  A real life girl sleepover!  With nail polish and candy and everything!  It was so much fun.  I haven't had a sleepover party for years.  :)  They came to spend the night so we could all ride together to UVU for the "Color Me Rad" 5K race!

Who better to run a super fun colorful race with than two of my best buddies?!

Well, I just HAD to have my best buddy of all there with me too...my hubby buddy!  My MAN!

Aren't we just so tough?!  Haha!  :)
 Off to the races in the morning!!!  Pics to come...

Syd's Baptism

Sydney chose to be baptized. She is such a special girl. She is so beautiful and sweet. There is nothing but good in her heart and she has truly stepped up to the plate in her responsibilities since turning 8. She is one of a kind.

I took her out to a pond near our home to take her pictures, and she looked absolutely stunning! I don't know how she grew up so darn fast, but she is transforming before my eyes. She was very excited to pose for the pictures. What a sweetie.

Syd with her dad right before the baptism!

Jess could not stop hugging Syd. She was so proud of her! We all were.

Syd and all of her cousins in town.

Syd's best friend Samantha, Annabelle, and Jess hanging on her still :)

There are so many more pictures of the family that was there, but too many pictures to post. What a beautiful day it was. Syd is so lovely.

Easter 2012

We spent Easter in St. George, our home away from home. Since the kidss were out of school for so long, we got to spend 5 days in paradise! My parents were there for a short time, but for the most part, it was just our family.

The girls played a lot with the next door neighbor, Lindsay (6) when we were at the house. When we were not at the house, we were:

Running around the beautiful city enjoying the beautiful scenery, warm weather and smells of spring! (I was). Visiting my grandma, aunt, uncle and cousin who live there on Easter was a real treat as well. They cooked us a delicious ham dinner! Thanks grandma! Love you!

At the Easter Egg Hunt

Free picture collage made with Smilebox

At the Art Festival visiting my long time best friend, Lindsey Madsen, and her kids

This picture collage generated with Smilebox

At the Temple taking pictures

At the Glitter Mine

It was great to spend so much time with my family, especially with Andy. I have the best husband in the whole world! He just melts my heart! Look how sweet his is with me...

I just love him!

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. This year I was focussed on the Resurrection of the Savior, but mostly on the suffering he did in behalf of my mistakes. I am grateful for forgiveness and for eternal families!

*I'm experimenting with tons of different slideshow/collage programs. Nothing does what I want it to...if anyone has good ideas on how to simply create a collage to post on here, please let me know.

Aruba - Just another day in paradise!

Andy and I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Aruba! What a beautiful place that is. We stayed at a gorgeous hotel with wildlife all around.

We were either at the beach or at the pool most of the time. The water was beautiful and warm and calm. The sand was white. It was so beautiful!

We were able walk around town a bit and bought souvenirs for the kids. The views were gorgeous and the restaurants were divine. We ate. A lot. The food was delicious. We both gained 5 pounds, or so.

Andy and I went scuba diving! This was Andy's first real dive in the ocean. We went on 3 dives. The first day, it was just the two of us and the dive master, our own private dive! It was beautiful under the water. It's so calm and still down there, a whole new world!

The second day, were were on a boat full of about 20 divers. They split us up into two different groups. We got our gear all set up and went down on the first dive, saw some beautiful fish and coral and a ship wreck from WWII. It was very surreal.

After the first dive of the day, we made our way to the second site. Once being down in the water, divers must remain on the surface for an hour (called the surface interval) to neutralize the nitrogen in the blood. This is the part I was nervous about:

Sitting on a rocking boat.

In the middle of the ocean.

Smelling the salt water.

Headache from the first dive.

Uncomfortable wet suit.

Sticky from the salt.

VERY nauseous from the rocking boat.

Yes, I puked. Twice. All over Andy. It was so windy that even when I leaned over the edge of the boat, the wind blew it straight into Andy's face. GROSS.

My loving husband simply wiped it away and brought me cups of water to clean up as best I could. Now that is true love. Once we geared up again (everyone was in the water waiting for us at this point) we got back in the water for the second dive.

So embarrassing.

Here is a slideshow of some of the favorite pictures we took. It's just so hard to narrow it down!

BEST green smoothie EVER!

Seriously, it really is the best green smoothie recipe EVER!

I've never been big into drinking vegetables. Blech! I've never been able to choke down a glass of V8 or the carrot juice my mom used to make.

But...

I created my most favorite way to consume vegetables. After a little trial and error, I got it. The BEST tasting green smoothie I have ever had. So fresh and tasty!

2 Cups Kale

1/2 Cup fresh pineapple

1/2 Banana

2 frozen strawberries

1/2 Cup water

1/2 Cup ice

Blend this all together until smooth and devour! Not only are you drinking 2 servings of vegetables and fruits, there is the benefit of no added sugars and it really is delicious! I tried a few different green smoothie recipes with spinach, but this is SO much better! The kale has a milder flavor and it doesn't taste like I am drinking a salad.

Now, go make it! Drink your way healthy!

This could change my life

Could this be it? The delicious drink that changes my life? I was browsing around on Pinterest last night, (after a long break...I'm not addicted, I'm not addicted, I'm not addicted) and found this:

Source: nestofposies-blog.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

I HAD to try it out, these drinks look delicious! And coconut flavored tonic water? Yum! I haven't ever been able to choke down tonic water on it's own, it tastes like Alkaseltzer, which is a nasty heartburn medicine.

I am starting Lifetime Wellness next Monday and have been looking for alternatives to the Dr. Pepper I am going to miss dearly. I love coconut, so I thought I would try this cute little drink out. Just the coconut water is nasty, but once I added fresh squeezed orange juice, chopped strawberries, a drop of lime essential oil, and (of course) a pinch of raw sugar, it is DELICIOUS!!!! Here is my creation:

And yes, you must drink it out of a mason jar. That makes it cooler.

Cousins

My kids with their cousins! Awe, so stinkin' cute! Brad's boy, Gabe, turns 2 at the end of the month, and Jaycie's baby boy, Cole, is almost 3 months old.

This is a personality picture for sure.

Syd is the oldest and has sure acted the part since she turned 8. Suddenly she is so responsible and helpful! She is holding Cole, who is the most adorable little baby ever! He is so handsome and so mellow. Then there's Kayman, always making a silly face or being goofy, he is our clown. Gabe is such a ham, he is always flashing that gorgeous smile of his and has every one of us at his beckon call. Then you've got Jess, smiling just long enough to get the picture over with so she can get back to whatever she was doing...yet refusing to look at the camera.

These kids are all so amazing in their own way. I love them so much! What a precious picture this is!

Just in time

Just when I think I'm going to lose it, when I've had it with the disrespect of the kids, I get something that makes me realize they really do care...deep down. We have had quite the issues lately with lack of respect for each other and for me. Today I did not put up with it, and it paid off. I got this sweet letter from Syd!

Syd turns 8!!!

My oldest child is 8 years old, that is so weird. It makes me feel slightly old, yet it also makes me look back on the past 8 years with a lot of love and pride (the good kind). I am so proud of my little girl. She has become such a pretty little gem. She is always so helpful and sweet. I love her so much!

I took her to get her ears pierced on her birthday. She was looking forward to this for nearly two years, so we did it right on her birthday. She was so brave. She didn't make a sound or even flinch!

We went to lunch afterwards and it was so fun to spend the morning together, just the two of us. Me and my big girl. When we got home, she helped me get ready for her party. She had an "ice cream" theme, so the plan was to make ice cream cone cupcakes! I made them, but they were a disaster. I filled the cones up just a little too much and they spilled out all over the place. Syd was so nice and lovingly just helped me make regular cupcakes instead. We frosted them in these bright colors that she just loved!

She invited a ton of friends from school, her cousin, and her long time best friend, Samantha.

They made ice cream sundae's and loved putting on their own toppings!

Syd with her best friend. These two have been very close since they were both babies.

The proud birthday girl!

Syd turned 8, and 8 is the age we decided to have the "big talk" with her. Andy, Syd, and I all got dressed up and went out to dinner at Tuscany. (The photo above is the chandelier at Tuscany.) We told her all about the beauty of how life is created, and it was fabulous! The idea behind telling her so young is this: If she hears the truth about everything before she starts to hear the wrong/distorted/worldly views on sex, she will have the confidence to ask us questions, know she can talk to us about it, and realize that she knows the truth. Because she knows how beautiful it is, she has the respect for it that it deserves.

Turning 8 is such a big age! In addition to all of this, Syd will be getting baptized later this month. She is very excited. We are proud of her for making this decision, as it begins her journey back to God. We have been teaching her what it means to be baptized. She is ready, and we are all so excited! Pics to come.