Merry Christmas!

Christmas was really nice this year. It was simple and enjoyable. I tried to have everything done early so I could really enjoy time with my family. We had a great time delivering gifts to friends, see Temple lights with family, looking at Christmas lights around the neighborhood, reading scriptures about the Savior as a family, watching Christmas movies as a family, decorating cookies. If there was ever a successful and fulfilling Christmas season I would say this year was just that. I felt the spirit of it. I am so grateful to those that reached out to our family and gave sweet gifts of kindness. 

We are truly blessed and grateful!

Merry Christmas!

Enjoy some pictures of the festivities!

Fun and Eventful

We have been a moving and a shaking.  Today was especially eventful. Here is a picture recap of the last several weeks. 

Today was the 2nd annual Jingle Jog and the kiddies school. Go Jillian! (And Bradley my phone died so no pictures of him)

Baden's Preschool Christmas Concert. He sang and danced like a real pro. 

Bradley's Christmas concert. He rocked it!

Baden with our new puppy Louie. Yup we have a dog! 

Cute Violin playing girls at their Orchestra concert.

At the airport with the cousins.

End of the soccer season. The girls did great. Jillian had a blast!

Now on to Christmas!

Halloween

Yes I know it is the day before Thanksgiving but I have not posted pics from Halloween.  We had a spooky good time.  We had the ward trunk or treat the day before and on Halloween we went trick or treating with our good friends.  The kids got gobs of candy. At least enough to pay for a dentists trip to Hawaii.
Jillian was Atalanta a Greek Princess/ Goddess. A couple of her friends decided they wanted to be Greek goddesses.  I tried to convince Jillian she should be Pippi Longstocking but the girl was adamant about it. So we researched the goddesses and came across Atalanta and the Three Golden Apples.  To make a long myth short she was a know as the fastest sprinter of her time, she was the goddess of the hunt.  We figured because Jillian is speedy and sporty this goddess would be a good fit.  I made the costume out of a women's size 18 dress from Goodwill that I bought for $1. The belt was also a dollar and spray painted gold. The apples were spray painted as well. We made here bow and arrow out of twigs from our tree.  She looked fabulous and authentic. If I had a better camera we might have gotten better pictures.
The boys were easy. Bradley wanted to be a ninja. We borrow a costume from my sister Christy.  I convince Baden to use the transformer costume we already had. Yeah for easy costumes.

We had a great time!

Scary!

Atalanta 

Atalanta and Artemis (Kate)

More Costume pics. The back was cute too!

The Cute kiddies.  Is there someone standing behind Jillian?  Stealth Ninja!

Ninja Bradley!

Crazy Hat Day!

Today was Crazy Hat Day. It is also Halloween! Happy Halloween! Jillian did not have a crazy hat so we improvised. Aaaaaaaah there's a spider on your head!

Catch up... Kind of.

It has been quite some time since I have posted anything about the family. So here is what's going on.  

Well summer vacation is obviously over but I did take a picture of our last official summer swim.  I am always ready for swim season to end so yea for the end of swim season! 

One week after ending swimming season the kids started school. Yup I know it's the middle of October but I am going to post our first day of school photos.  No first day of school pic. for Baden though. Yes I slacked but at least he made it to his first day of school. Yeah for preschool!

Jillian started soccer (no pictures yet), I am a assistant coach on the team so we have been busy with that. 

The kids had spirit week at school. One day they did crazy hair day. We did springs in Jillian's hair and spiked Bradley's hair.  I am also participating in crazy hair day (or year)  I had my hair chopped not really what I wanted, but it will do until it grows out. Layers! we don't need no stinking layers!

There is nothing else really exciting going on. We are healthy, happy and moving forward.  

Enjoy the pics!

Jillian walking to her first day of 4th grade.

Cutie kiddies!

Bradley's first day of 2nd grade

Baden smiling!

Last Summer swim. "See the 2 dots in the pool?... That's J and B. 

What a cutie! Even with crazy hair. 

"Cute hair! That looks crazy! Boing!"

 

Wednesday Morning Biff...

Another post about running, but with a twist (or a biff).

              I had just taken off on my early morning run. My left calve / hamstring was screaming at me because it has been injured for quite some time.  As I ran a little bit further the pain started to subside and I was getting into my groove.  The birds were chirping, the sun was starting to peak over the horizon, the scenery to the left of me was beautiful, and my new bright lime green shoes felt great! I said to myself with a sigh, "peace..."
           With out warning (with this kind of thing there is never a warning) the front of my shoe clipped a boulder jutting out of the ground, it sent me flying with my momentum going forward and down quickly. My quads tried to activate and save my body from hitting the ground. I was pretty much in lunge position for a few steps and than.... Skid... I finally hit the ground and went sliding into a thorny weed, I stopped inches from a barbed wire fence.  I lay there for 2 seconds looked around, realized I survived and popped right up. You know like in the movies where some one falls and than quickly gets up and says, "I'm okay!" That was me this morning. Fortunately no one was around to witness this glorious event.  If they were, I probably would have laughed even harder than I was already.

         I quickly brushed the thorns off my back, arm, and legs and kept moving. I was hoping my quads were strong enough to handle the force so I did not sustain any further injuries. I figured running it off was better than hobbling home.   This all happened before the end of my first mile. Into my second mile about 3 minutes later I started giggling, than 5 minutes went by and more giggling came. I thought it was hilarious, I had just biffed it and I was still moving!

                                                        

           Now that  I think about it, it is kind of a bummer no one witnessed this graceful event, because I could have been someones early morning commute entertainment. The story to tell the co-workers when they got to work!  The story would go like this, " Dude, I was driving to work this morning when I saw a lady running, all the sudden out of no where she went flying,  slid into some bushes and almost hit the fence! It was awesome! Serves her right for running!"

Yup, you gotta love running! 

My Wednesday Morning Run....

This morning I went out on my usual Wednesday run.  I was tired and my body felt like it had rubber bands tied all around it. I was so tight! Especially in my ankles and feet.  I had been searching for a while on the answer to perfect running form. I had felt good running form before, but it has been so intermittent that I have not been able to find my running relaxation state in quite some time.  I decided I needed help so what did  I do, I went to the Lord and asked for help. I got on my knees and prayed that I could find my form so I wouldn't have to focus on it so much beyond my morning run. I have been looking for answers for over 2 years so I have definitely done my research. Now I just wanted to know how to put it together.  About 2 days ago I was at my parents home for a family dinner and as I walked in I saw a book sitting on the table. I thought to myself I think it is time that I read this book. It was Born To Run ,I  bought it for my dad about 1 year ago.  So I picked it up, took it home, and started reading.
I was hooked and I absolutely loved what I was reading and was so agreeing with what Chris Mcdougall had to say.  I kept asking myself, "why I waited so long to read it!"  What amazing stories of endurance and overcoming challenges.   I wasn’t impressed with the swearing, but my mom took care of that, she took whiteout to all the inappropriate words so my young eyes would not have to view them.  I was eating all the words up and loving it! I came to a chapter towards the end of the book that I knew was not the truth.  The whole chapter was about evolution and how we evolved from an ape type of man. How our bodies evolved and made changes over millions of years. I applaud these scientists who are trying to discover the truth on where we came from. The body is amazing and if I didn’t know the truth I would want to know.   I do know the truth though and I know where we came from. I wanted ( want) to write Mr. Mcdougall and thank him for his wonderful findings, his inspiration to make this journey, and to find some type of truth. He was searching for answers. I want to let him know that the answer to his question, "where do humans come from?" can be found in the quote by Leonardo Da vinci, “The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.” Our foot is a masterpiece not because we evolved from the ape man but because we were created in the image of a loving Heavenly Father.   That kind of perfection, beauty and art could only come from a personage who is great and perfect and loving.  He loved(s) us so much that he wanted to give us what He has.  
I also want to answer the question posed in the book about why we were created as endurance creatures and not with other types of speed or physical strengths as other mammals might have.  I came to know the truth of the answer this morning on my run.  I had heard talks and quotes on this subject so many times before, but this morning it hit me so powerfully that it brought me to tears. In the middle of my run I was crying! Crying out of joyfulness that I knew the truth.  We were made as endurance creatures because that is what we were sent here to do! We are here to endure. Just as running an ultra marathon where you go through different pains, trials,  emotions, joys etc. That is what life is all about!  Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ speaks to us and teaches us through symbolism and what better way to symbolize endurance than through running.  We are endurance creatures! We came this earth to gain a body like our loving Heavenly Father and we came to endure, to overcome, to gain self mastery. We came to find our perfect form, to learn to do what our Savior would do, and move forward without fear, to put our trust in Him who sent us here and to learn how to find our way to that finish line  which is with our eternal families and our loving Heavenly Father.

Redo of the Redo.....

Okay I have finally found it.  I have been trying to create a certain feeling in my living room since the day we moved in. I feel I have finally achieved it.  I have found my feng shui! 

When I put the blue tones in my room after the chair redo, I felt like there was a little battle going on between the blues and the reds. 

I found my self unsettled as I walked passed the room.  I wanted a peaceful, joyful feeling in the room. So I went back to the drawing board. I went back to my original room inspiration.  Everything flows in the room below. Nothing to harsh or contrasting. Contrasting can be fun, but that was not the feeling I was going for. 

Country Living Magazine French country inspiration. 

I felt like something else was missing, and that was texture. I needed different textures and patterns and simply more cohesiveness. 

The final product is just below but first here are some before pictures:

This is the first decor of our room when we first moved in. Not bad. 

Of course this was the redo. I couldn't take the blues. 

Now for the final product. The Redo of the Redo. I wish I had a better camera because it looks so much better in person. I feel at peace and settled when I walk in the room.
  The changes I made were, covering the side table. I layered it with a cream fabric for the bottom, red and cream plaid for the middle, and a natural burlap on top. The burlap added a great new texture to the room.  I also added two stenciled burlap pillows to the room. Last but not least I added accessories. Accessories are like jewelry fro the room.    It is just what the room needed.

I hope you enjoyed it! Come back soon!