Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

We've been busy for the last little while, first taking a trip to Glacier National Park for a little family reunion, and then Josey and I left our kids with their grandparents in Montana and went with the youth in our stake on a pioneer trek to some historic sights (Sixth Crossing, Martin's Cove, Rock Creek Hollow) in Wyoming.  Both trips were awesome, and hopefully I will update more on these later. 

Before we left to Glacier, we had a little birthday party for Jaycie.  I can't believe my baby girl is one year old.  She weighs 17 lbs. 5 oz., which puts her somewhere between the 3rd and 5th percentiles.  She's in about the 10th percentile in height, so she's not very big, but she definitely makes up for it in attitude.  She is bossy and definitely lets us know when she wants something or is upset about something.  She is a really good eater, and about the only food I've found that she won't shovel into her mouth nonstop is carrots.  She's finally mastered going down the stairs with some help from grandpa (she's been climbing up them for a couple of months but couldn't and wouldn't attempt going down).  She's never been a cuddly baby and she won't let me rock her.  She tries to squirm out of my arms every chance she gets.  It was really hard for me to leave her for a week with her grandparents, but I knew she was in great hands and she did just fine. 

She has been such a joy and it has been so fun having a baby girl.  Even though I can hardly believe she's already one, I remember that with my boys I always loved all of the stages between ages 1 and 3.  I'm looking forward to the fun we're going to have watching her continue to grow and learn new skills.  As you can see from the pictures, she enjoyed her birthday cupcake.

She was a little too quick for me and might have actually got her finger in the flame a little before I could stop her.  Then it took her a minute to figure out what she was supposed to do with the cupcake.  But once she got a little taste, she quickly devoured the rest, leaving no leftovers.  Typical Jaycie.

Dare I hope?  I've seen the sun quite a bit these past few days and it makes me very happy.  My kids have been playing outside and summer break is just around the corner.  I really love the nicer weather, and I will make an effort to be grateful for any amount of sunshine and still air (meaning the wind isn't blowing) we can get, because I know they don't always last very long here.  Sometimes a few minutes a day is all I can get outside, but it's still better than nothing.  

This post (like most others) will mostly consist of random thoughts and things that have been happening.  I just do this so I have a record of some of the things that are going on in our lives right now, to help me remember.  Mostly, a lot of my thoughts and actions are consumed with how much I love my family.  How did I get so lucky to find Josey?  Even though he doesn't believe in "soul mates", I still claim he is mine.  And I love our kids so much.  They fill my life with joy.  Not only do they make me laugh, they teach me, they challenge me to push myself, to figure out ways to parent them.  It's not easy, but I'm thankful for the growth I've seen in myself over the past 6 years since I first held Jordan in my arms.

Jaycie has started walking, which means that at 11 months, she's the earliest of our kids to walk. 

Jordan learned how to ride a bike with one short lesson from his dad, which I am very grateful for because that meant I didn't have to teach him.

I raced a 10K (6.2 miles) a couple of weeks ago that I had been training for.  My goal was to beat 45 minutes and I really didn't think I was going to be able to do it.  But I guess when the adrenaline is pumping and you've done all you could to prepare, good things happen.  I finished in 44:35 (7:11/mile), which was good enough for 1st place overall female, which was fun.  It was a small race, but it was still fun to win.  Mostly, I'm glad I met my goal and got a new PR.  (Even though I look happy here, it was really close to the end, I was ready to be done, and that guy ended up beating me to the finish by a couple of seconds.)

One of the main reasons I actually started to write this post was to put some of my thoughts down about my Jarrett boy.  I get to spend a lot of time with him with Jordan in kindergarten all day.  He says some really funny things and challenges me in ways Jordan never has.  I'm glad I still get one more year home with him before he's off to kindergarten too.

The other day I looked out the window and was amazed to see how high he had climbed the tree.  When I told him he should not go any higher, he just told me he wanted me to take a picture.  So here it is.  I wasn't really afraid, but I probably should have been.  When Jordan was younger, he did the same thing, but he got stuck in the tree.  Jarrett was able to figure out how to get down, thank goodness.

I am always trying to get Jarrett to eat anything healthy.  It is a constant battle and a really hard thing to do.  The other night we were having family scripture study and Josey read Mosiah 23:7 - "Ye shall not esteem one flesh above another, or one man shall not think himself above another..." so we were explaining to the boys how we should never think we are better than someone else.  Jarrett applied this by asking, "even if they don't eat their vegetables?"  Yes, we had to agree.  Even if someone doesn't eat their vegetables, we are not better than them.  I think Jarrett was happy to have this little bit of knowledge to tuck away for future reference.

Maybe one of the reasons I have such a hard time trying to get him to not eat junk food is because I am a poor example.  (This following story is kind of embarrassing, but it made me laugh for an hour or so after he said it, so I'm going to share it anyway.)  One day I was eating some M&M's, minding my own business, when Jarrett tells me, "Mom, you eat way too much chocolate.  That's why you sometimes have major gas, because you eat too much chocolate and candy."  Like I said, a little TMI, but it cracked me up.  Even though he has me confused with his dad it was still funny.  He's always been a good talker and the way he says things often makes me smile.   

I was playing "Simon Says" with him on the trampoline the other day and Jarrett said: "Simon Says do a flip."  So I tried to do a flip.  He watched me and then said: "that was a tumble, but I guess it's okay."  I'm glad that I get the chance to play with him and that he wants to play with me.  Sometimes I have to make him wait a long time while I finish up other things, but he's very patient and forgiving with me.  There are so many things I can learn from my kids, and I'm grateful for this special time I have with them when they're young and sweet and growing and learning.  Some days are definitely very challenging, but I know that someday I will look back on this time with the longing to play with my kids again and kiss them and hug them all I want because they still let me.         

Springtime in Wyoming

Well, after living here for 5 years, I think I'm finally resigning myself to accept the fact that at 7000 ft. elevation, spring really does not come until June.  Our weather has been awful!  I think Josey has had two track meets that have not been canceled due to the weather.  While this is fun for me (I get to see him more), it is not fun for him or his track team.  I keep praying for better weather; meanwhile, Jarrett keeps saying in his prayers that he is thankful for the snow and ice.  I guess I could try to learn something from his attitude because it doesn't look like anything is going to change anytime soon.  

We did get one little dose of sunshine in March when we took a little trip to St. George.  It was perfect there (low 70s) and we made sure to get in as much golf, running, playing in the park, hiking, and swimming as we could in four days.  We went with my parents and an aunt, uncle, & cousins, and we couldn't have asked for a better weekend.  

Other than that, we've just been plugging along with everyday life.  I volunteered to coach Jordan's soccer team this year.  It was his first year playing and I wanted to pull all my hair out at the end of each practice.  I seriously don't know how kindergarten teachers manage to do their jobs.  It was very hard to teach these kids anything, but hopefully they had fun and learned even a little bit along the way.  I had high hopes for Jordan since I was quite the soccer star as a young child :), but he was a lot like the other kids: not paying too much attention to the coach or the game and always wanting to do his own thing.  He is pretty aggressive (he was the only one I had to call pushing on) and he never stops moving, but often his head seems to be up in the clouds.  Maybe with a little more one on one work I can teach him a few more skills.  

Tomorrow Jaycie will be ten months old.  It's crazy how fast this time has gone by.  She's finally decided that it's fun to crawl on her knees instead of doing the army crawl, and she's getting a little braver about once in awhile letting go of the furniture and trying to stand on her own.  We took her swimming today at the indoor pool and she enjoyed that for the first time (she didn't like it in St. George).  She loves following her brothers around and they love her like crazy.  Jarrett helps me out with her a lot by trying to entertain her and play with her when I can't get to her.  The other day they were playing in her crib and Jaycie started crying really loud.  I could tell Jarrett was getting really frustrated when she wouldn't calm down.  He kept saying: "I'm sorry Jaycie.  I didn't mean to hit you in the chin.  Stop crying!"  And she wouldn't stop and he couldn't understand why she just wouldn't listen to him.  I thought it was a cute conversation to listen to.  I love listening to my kids interact.  

And finally, I don't think anybody cares about this, but I've really been enjoying changing up my exercise routine just a little bit.  I started lifting weights a little more than I was before.  I found a book I really like called "The New Rules of Lifting for Abs."  Kind of a dumb title (I'm not aiming for washboard abs, although they might be hidden somewhere there under a layer of flab), but it's really about lifting to strengthen your core, which is what I need as a runner.  Anyways, it basically just gives me a structured program to follow, but I feel really dumb in the weight room sometimes because I'm not just using the machines and sometimes I feel like I have no clue what I'm doing.  But I feel like I've already made quite a bit of progress and I feel stronger.  My main goal is to have a stronger core so that I'm less likely to get injured, but it's still a full-body strength workout.  Anyways, with more lifting, I've been running less (around 20-25 miles per week) and I'm training for a 10K at the end of the month.  After that, I'll look for a half marathon to run this summer and then in August I'm running a relay with some family members from Logan to Jackson Hole.  I've heard the relays are really fun so I'm looking forward to that.  I ran 10 miles outside today while getting snowed on, but it was still great to be outside.  I rarely get to run outside until Josey is out of school for the summer, so I'll take any chance I can get.

Pigtails!

Since it has been so long since I've updated this blog, I'll just share a few random thoughts, and then I'll try to be a little more diligent about taking pictures and updating.

Jaycie's hair is finally long enough to do something with, so I decided to try my hand at giving my little girl her first real hairdo.  Pretty cute, if you ask me.  I'm really nervous about fixing a little girl's hair, so I better start early at getting some practice.  She is almost 9 months old now.  Still doing the army crawl, which she's been doing since 6 1/2 months.  She spent a couple months rocking back and forth on her hands and knees, but has since seemed to abandon that desire to really crawl.  I get comments that she's really fast at the army crawl.  She loves to pull herself up to standing on chairs, stools, the couch, etc.  She likes eating solid foods and feeding herself, but still no teeth.  She loves playing catch with a ball.  She is a very happy and sweet baby and we love having her in our family.

Josey finished his first year as the head girl's basketball coach.  I think he had a good season for his first year, and it will be interesting to see what he decides to do in the future.  Personally, I think he's sometimes a little hard on himself.  I just tell him he's doing a good job, but unfortunately, I know nothing about basketball, so I doubt he puts much stock into what I say.  But I see how hard he works and how much effort he puts into everything he does, and I do think he does a great job.  I did have to stand up for him once when some guy was bad-mouthing the coach in the stands, and I was happy I chose to do that.  It's not always easy being married to a coach.  It's been nice having him home after school this past week, and that will last another week until track season starts.

Another thing we're excited about is that we started remodeling our basement.  Now we will have a nicer living room and another livable bedroom down there.  I'm very excited for the end result, and I'm glad we decided to hire somebody to do the work!   

It does not look like spring is almost here.  It usually doesn't get here until June anyway, which is really depressing, so I will not think about that.  Instead I will think about how excited I am that we get to take a little spring break trip to St. George, where Josey can do some golfing and hopefully I will be able to fit in a couple of outdoor runs.  

And one random story about my sweet boys.  When we were in Riverton for the regional basketball tournament we were staying in a hotel, and Josey and I were both in the bathroom getting ready.  Unbeknownst to us, Jordan put Jaycie on one of the beds and told Jarrett to watch her while he did something else.  Well, she fell head first off the bed.  In his own defense, Jarrett said he was "watching" her.  He watched her crawl right off the edge of the bed.  :)  I can say she is probably going to be a pretty tough little girl.

Finally, an Update!

For those of you who have been anxiously waiting to hear what's been going on with our family, the time has finally arrived!  :)  Unfortunately, not a whole lot has been going on.  Josey has been busy coaching basketball, and the rest of us are just trying to make it through each day without mommy ripping her hair out by the end of the day.  Really, it's not that bad.  These kids say the funniest things all the time  (and the not-so-funny, such as Jordan learning the F-word and asking if the middle finger was a bad finger); I just wish I did a better job of writing down some of the things they say and do.

This sweet little (6-month-old!) angel still gets plenty of kisses every day.  Since I hadn't taken a picture of her in a month or so, I captured this one of her chewing on her sock.  Much better than the day I caught her chewing on one of Josey's dirty socks that he left lying around.  Seriously, gross! 

She rolls everywhere and loves chewing on everything.  She has also started eating some solids, which she seems to enjoy.  Feeding is my very least favorite of baby jobs, so I put this one off until 6 months.   

She has also already started to be annoyed by her headbands and bows, so she rips them off and chews on those too.  Bummer, because they are really cute.  Josey captured this picture of me fighting with her about this issue.  

And she got to have her first visit with Santa Claus.  Well, I wasn't actually going to have her sit on his lap, but I decided to try and get a picture.  Probably a bad idea.

For some reason, Jordan & Jarrett were not super-excited to see Santa Claus.  (Probably because I have threatened them with the naughty list too many times.)  But we talked them into it.  Bad idea, since all Christmas presents had already been purchased.  Out of nowhere, Jordan asked for a "Nerf axe."  I had no idea what this was, but we did a little searching at Walmart and found this huge foam axe that looks to be very dangerous in the hands of a 5-year-old, let alone a 3-year-old with an infant sister (because of course Jarrett will be jealous if Santa brings Jordan a Nerf axe and he gets the plain old pop gun that he asked for, so we got him the Nerf mace that was clearly labeled for ages 8 and up.)  Before actually visiting with Santa, all I could get out of them was that they wanted a pop gun.  Neither of them even know what a pop gun is, but after reading "The Grinch" a few too many times, that was all they asked for.  I'm interested to see what they'll think about their pop guns on Christmas morning.  Thank goodness for the internet, although I'm sure I will be regretting these purchases. 

And finally, thank you Santa for the green candy canes!

Happy Halloween!

We really struggled this year getting some cute pictures of our kids in their Halloween costumes, but we tried, and this is the best we got.  The boys wanted to be ninjas this year, which was a super easy costume.  Jarrett didn't like having the mask pulled up over his nose, even for pictures.  Jaycie didn't seem to mind her costume too much, though sometimes I didn't notice the cat face falling too far over her face and covering up her cuteness.  The boys got tons of candy from the "Trunk or Treat" at the church and around town.  I will be sure to "inspect" all of their candy before they eat it (and maybe pick out my favorites.) 



The boys with their other ninja buddy at the ward party.



I Love these (Beautiful) Kids!

I can't believe it's been 4 months since this sweet little girl came into our family.  Time flies by way too fast.  The other night I was reading an article in a magazine about dealing with teenagers and was discussing it with Josey.  He had to remind me that I didn't need to worry about that for another 10 years, but still...I wish I could just freeze time for at least a couple of years and keep my kids small and sweet and innocent.  I admit that I worry way too much about them becoming teenagers.  Jaycie had her 4-month checkup this week.  The shots went a little better than last time, though she by far has taken it way worse than Jordan or Jarrett.  She weighs 11 lbs. 13 oz., which puts her between the 5th and 10th percentile and she is somewhere between the 10th and 25th percentile for height, which means we will probably have a short one like me, as Josey feared.  She is talking a lot more and is full of smiles.  She gets plenty of kisses from everyone, and her brothers adore her.  Of course, she hasn't been able to start bugging them too much yet.   

Jordan seems to love kindergarten, and Jarrett likes preschool.  I think he is a little lost without his brother, and he needs to get over some shyness and start playing with the other kids, but hopefully he'll warm up to them soon.  Josey has been busy with school, and is excited/nervous for basketball season to start.  I'm not really looking forward to having my husband gone so much, but such is the life of the wife of a coach.  We've had absolutely beautiful October weather here and I can hardly remember the last windy day.  Yes, I know it will end soon, but for now we will enjoy it as much as we can.