Young Women Birthday and Beehive Gifts

I've been working on gifts for the Young Women the last few weeks...

The first one is a birthday gift for each of the girls that they will get on the Sunday following thier birthday. The youth theme this year is the scripture Docterine & Covenents 115:5 Arise and shine forth that thy light may be a standard for the nations. I when I saw these on Pinterest I thought they were so cute and would be perfect to go along with the theme. I knew I could come up with something similar. Thanks to Lis and Megan for helping me put them together. Some have a big crystal and some have a smaller one.

The second gift is for the new beehives. Each ruffle is a different value color. I put the lyrics to a song that explains the meaning of each of the colors since the new girls won't know what the different colors stand for yet. I found the tutorial here and adjusted for the different colors.

"Promoting Peace in the Bedroom"

I gave these sheets to Brandon for April Fool's Day. I got them off this website. No need to have an imaginary line in the bed.... now there really is a line! To be fair... It's usually me being the bedhog and coming over to his side of the bed because he's so warm and I'm always freezing. If you're looking for a funny gift for a spouse I definitely recommend these!

What A Day!

Brandon's perspective while in a performance review meeting with one of his employees...

Ring Ring (cell phone)....... hits ignore.

Ring Ring again...... hits ignore.

Ring Ring again..... "ummmm, must be important"

"Hello sweetie"

[Carter] "Hello daddy, Max fell out of the chair."

"Okay.... daddy's in a meeting"

[Carter] "Max has a bump on his head"

"Okay..."

[Carter] "And there is drops of blood"

"Can I talk to mommy please"

Now flash backwards from my perspective....

Carter and Max were playing in the front room (I was in a "different" room... okay I was in the bathroom). Luckily I was just standing up and pulled up my pants when I heard a big thump and then... silence. I looked out of the door and said "what's going on! (knowing that they had tipped over the chair and I was frustrated that they were playing when I had asked them to put on their shoes because we were just about to leave). Carter said "oh no mom" and Max stood up and all I saw was a dark black spot on his forehead and blood dripping down his face. I ran back into the bathroom and washed my hands and grabbed the towel Max came walking towards me and his shirt was covered in blood. I was trying to put the towel on his head to apply pressure (of course he is freaking out and screaming and not wanting me to touch it. Every time I moved the towel or if he moved, blood was spurting out of this cut onto my shirt and the floor. Carter was such a little hero. He was obviously in a little shock and kept saying "oh no... oh no... there's blood on the floor.... oh no.. oh no...". I told Carter to go call dad and he went and got my phone and called Brandon like a pro (see above dialog) luckily we had just recently taught him how to use my phone and how to call dad and 911 in an emergency. While carter is trying to get a hold of Brandon I can't take pressure off of Max's head so I run upstairs with him and get the gauze pads out of the medicine cabinet with one hand and rip the packages open with my teeth. I replace the towel with two gauze pads and run back downstairs.

Carter has Brandon on the phone at this point so I am holding Max in one arm and use my cheek to apply pressure to his cut so I can have a free hand. I quickly let Brandon know what's going on and let him go so I could figure out what to do.... I can't drive because I have to hold on to his head but I didn't want to call an ambulance. Luckily I have a friend that lives just down the road from me and she came and picked the three of us up, dropped me and Max off at the urgent care and took Carter back to her house (thank you so much Amy!!!! What an awesome visiting teacher you are!) When I was waiting for Amy to come get us and Max was still squished against my cheek I realized that I never buttoned or zipped up my pants! This is very hard to do with one hand while holding a crying child in the other arm... luckily I realized this before I got to urgent care! On our way to urgent care I called them to let them know we were coming and they got us in quickly. What a day!
Here are some photos:

When we got there they put some numbing stuff on a cotton ball and taped it to his cutMax got treated to two cherry Popsicles

Brandon left work right after I got off the phone with him and met us at urgent care
They wanted to make sure he could walk straight. He kept saying "owee" and patting his head.

Getting ready to get the numbing shot and then the stitches He got 5 stitches Back at home with brother. When we were at the doctor he kept asking for "brother"Our little tough guy

His head dented the molding!

Running Free (well sort of)

Yesterday my awesome running partner and I ran a half marathon. Yay us!!
One of the reasons why I started running years ago was because it was basically free. All you need is a pair of shoes and out the door you go... right? What I didn't realize at the time is that the more you run the more expensive it gets...
You need more expensive:
shoes (bought alot more often!), insoles, running clothes, fancy socks, race entry fees, protien drinks, reflective gear, etc...
Now don't get me wrong, all of these things are still less expensive than other sport hobbies but after paying a few race fees already this year and being due for some new shoes I didn't feel like paying anymore for my "free" running hobby. Luckily my amazing hubby got me a GPS watch this summer (which I LOVE) so we met early Saturday morning and just ran for 13.1 miles. There was no race energy in the air, portapotties, gummy bear stations, or medals. But we did it! My big finish line was driving home and seeing my boys run out to me with a hand written sign that said "Great Job". I'm totally keeping that sign and putting it on my board with my other race bibs.

Franklin Falls

We took the kids hiking on Saturday morning to Franklin Falls. Whenever we go hiking the primary song "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" continually runs through my mind as we meander down the trail. Here are the words:

Whenever I hear the song of a bird

Or look at the blue, blue sky,

Whenever I feel the rain on my face

Or the wind as it rushes by,

Whenver I touch a vevlet rose

Or walk by our lilac tree,

I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world

Heavenly Father created for me.

.

Franklin Falls is a beutiful hike and great for kids! It is 2 miles total and isn't too steep (note to self: 1 mile takes alot longer than normal when you have young kids with you). The trail follows the river up through a forest and when you get to the top of the trail the view opens up and there is a 70 foot waterfall cascading down right infront of you into a very calm river bed. The kids were able to throw rocks and play for a while and had so much fun. But, because we went in the morning it was still a little cold (and we are awful parents and forgot to bring shoes for Max!!) On a warm day, by about noon or so, when the sun is straight up in the sky, the mist from the waterfall would feel so refreshing. There is no doubt in my mind that this Earth was created by a loving Heavenly Father.

I've been trying to find heart shaped rocks everywhere. I mentioned it when we were there to Brandon and I kidd you not... he didn't even move, looked down and said "here's one". How sweet that my lover found me my first heart rock!

50.1 miles later...

We did it!!!

Yesterday, June 5th I ran in the Rainer to Ruston Relay. The total relay was 50.1 miles. It started at the base of Mt. Rainer Nat'l park and ended on the water front in Tacoma. We put together two 4 position teams (two teams with 8 people each because we ran in pairs so a total of 16 women there are 3 people missing from the photo).
My awesome running partner Rachel and I were postion 2 and we had 3 legs to run... leg 2, leg 6, and leg 10.
Our first leg (leg 2)- This leg was described in the course description as isolated rocky and muddy trail. Rachel and I normally run on a gravel trail and it is often muddy after it rains so I wasn't too concerned. When we arrived at the check in point the guy incharge of the race said that leg 2 was very muddy all the way down and to just take it slow and it's best to run through the puddles. "what"? did he just say "run through the puddles"?? Yep... run through. Still in my mind I was thinking "how bad could it really be"???......... Calf deep mud puddles that covered the entire trail (no way around), running through streams, If there wasn't a puddle there was thick sticky slippery mud, rocks, tree ruts,.... Insane! A picture that will be forever in my mind is when I went to forge through another muddy puddle and I looked down and saw shoes in the puddle! I stopped with one foot in the muck and looked up to see Rachel running with no shoes on! There they both were filling with mud and water! Luckily my shoe only came half off. 6.1 miles of wet muddy squishy shoes and the most crazy conditions. Luckily I brought an extra pair of shoes, pants, and socks to change into our our next leg.
Our second leg (leg 6) - 2.7 miles on a paved trail. Thank heavens!
Our third and last leg (leg 10) - 3.2 miles on a mostly sandy trail. Below is a photo of Rachel and I at the end of our last leg.

Brandon brought the kids down and they were there cheering for me at the end of this leg. It was so nice to see them! We then drove to the finish line to meet the rest of the team and cheer on our runners in the last leg. The two photos below are of me and my support/inspiration. If you look close in the last picture you can see Mt. Rainer (where we started) behind us!!

My kids are going to be SO smart....

if this is true.

If only I had a picture of them "helping" me pull weeds as we got the garden area ready for planting yesterday.

Carter’s First Primary Talk

At church during the primary hours, Carter is in the Sunbeam class. This class is for kids that are age 3 on January 1st. This month his class has been responsible for all the "assignments" during primary which are: prayer, scripture, and talk. Last week he gave the opening prayer and this week he gave the talk. Now let me preface... the primary presidency emailed out the list of who was on which assignment at the beginning of the month. Each month in primary they have a theme. The theme for May was: Living the principles and ordinances of the gospel will bring me closer to Jesus Christ. The fourth article of faith says: "We believe that the the four principles and ordinances of the gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; Second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Since his talk was the fourth Sunday of the month we ended up focusing on the fourth principle of the gospel - the Holy Ghost. Carter did an awesome job. I should have just stayed in the back of the room to listen because he definitely didn't need my help. Me trying to "help" is the only little mishap he had during his talk. Way to go Carter!

Carter’s First Talent Show

Family Hike - Twin Falls

On Saturday, April 17th (happy birthday to me!) we went on another fun family hike. The Garcia's and Kovacs went on the hike with us and this time we hiked up to Twin Falls (photo above is of one of the lower falls). It was a beautiful hike! The hike started out following the Snoqualmie River. I think the kids would've been happy staying by the river the whole time and throwing rocks. This picture is of all the kids (except the two babies) near the beginning of the hike. Of course our camera battery died right after the photo below. Luckily Brandon just got a new phone that takes pretty decent pictures so we were able to get a few more shots along the way....

This photo is of all the kids (and Damon) on top of a huge rock. The picture cuts off the bottom half of the rock so it's hard to tell how big it is. At this point in the hike we started walking through an old growth forest. There was moss dripping from branches and there was one tree that was over 700 years old. It was giant! Carter taking a break on another rock.This photo shows us at top of the hike on a bridge that spans the river in between the falls. On one side of the bridge are the upper falls and on the other side of the bridge is the lower falls. It's pretty amazing. You can't see the falls in the picture because with a cell phone camera there isn't much zooming in and out that can be done but the upper falls were just to the left of us (it had just started to rain prettty good which I think is why Max and Carter are not smiling for the picture).
When I planned out these hikes I deliberately chose hikes that were easy for kids because Carter has to walk the whole way. In my "Best Hikes with Kids Western Washington & the Cascades hike book it says this hike is "easy" for kids and is 1 1/2 miles. When I got back in the car I double checked the book because it was definitely not "easy". There were switch backs that were steep and had me sweating! ... not that I'm a pro hiker or anything but if it's easy for kids then you would think an adult should have no problem. It seemd a lot longer than 1 1/2 miles too... It turns out that the 1 1/2 and "easy" category was in reference to the hike up until a certain viewing point on the trail and not all the way up to the falls. Our little group of kiddos hiked 4 1/2 miles and gained about 500 feet of elevation! Way to go kids!!

Max

Our little guy turned one on April 8th and it's been quite a year! To be honest, the first six months were pretty hard and I would often wonder how in the world I would make it. But he has turned out to be the "class clown" of the family. He loves playing peek-a-boo, dancing, pointing at things and saying dat? dat?, wrestling with his brother and dad, and hiding things.

We had a little party at home for him on his birthday and then one at my parents home last Sunday. Here are some photos:

This is a photo of Carter and Max and the super cute car cake my amazing sisters Michelle and Tammy made for Max. Max opening presents at our home. The awesome bubble blower is from his Grandma & Grandpa Green and the puzzles were from the Stephens.Here comes his first taste of cake.

I think I ate too much chocolate...

Two Little Monkeys....

This morning when Max woke up from his nap Carter heard him crying and ran upstairs. I was on the phone with Brandon so I stayed downstairs for a minute longer talking on the phone knowing they would just play for a bit. As I was talking I heard a loud "thump... thump... thump..." sound with hysterical laughter. Again thump... thump... thump... thump.... thump... with ongoing laughter from both boys. I ran upstairs to see what in the world was going on and this is what I found... Carter had climbed into the crib with Max and they were both jumping in his bed! Luckily neither of them bumped their head....

Oh yeah... if you haven't heard yet, Max is officially walking!

Family Hike

We went on a hike today as a family with the Garcia's. The kids walked the whole way (with some coaxing) and did a great job! Click here for pictures!

Soccer

Carter had his first ever soccer practice on Saturday. We take his soccer ball to the park quite often and kick it around but I was nervous to see how he would do with lots of other kids. Luckily there were lots of balls so they weren't ever trying to take the ball away from each other. He did an awesome job listening to the coach. He said his favorite part was when he made a goal and everyone clapped for him. At the end of practice coach set up a net and the kids sat in a semi circle taking turns kicking the ball into the net. Brandon and I were of course part of the paparazzi parents on the sidelines with the camera and video camera.

Family Snow Day

We told Carter a few months ago that if it didn't snow down at our house we would take him up to the mountains to play in the snow. We marked February 13th as the day to go so we took the kiddos up to a sledding park just east of Snoqualmie Pass on Saturday. We had a blast! Click here to see all the pictures of our fun.

He Made It!

Last night Max decided to show us that he really knows how to climb stairs. I was vaccuming and when I turned around Max was going up our big set of stairs. Of course we had to run and grab the camera! Here are some shots:
He made it!!

Little Birdie Secrets Blog Party

I went to a blog party for Little Birdie Secrets with a few friends last night. What is a blog party you ask...? We'll there are some amazing blogs that always have crafty ideas or tutorials and some of them have started having actual parties so you can meet and the people that create the blogs in person. It was a fun time. I totally forgot to bring my camera so if you click here you can see some super cute pictures and the craft we did. (Thanks for letting me use your pictures Brianne!)

Puzzle Pro

We gave Carter a big USA map puzzle and a big World Map puzzle for Christmas. Yesterday night he put together the USA puzzle entirely by himself and was naming off a majority of the states as he put them in! He knows Uncle Cory and his family lives in South Carolina and he knows he lives in Washington... except when he's putting together the puzzle he says he and daddy live in Ohio..... there is a picture of a football on the Ohio piece and he likes to play football with Brandon (I guess footballs are more exciting than apples).

Way to go buddy! You're growing up so fast!

Update to last post

... Max can climb stairs now too!.... I think.....
I just left Carter and Max up in the play room while I ran down stairs to make a bottle. When I came back upstairs (like 3 minutes later) Max was in Carter's room! Our play room is sunken by two steps, so to get to Carter's room he somehow made it up those steps. I asked Carter if he picked up Max and he said no. Sometimes I would ask him again to make sure but he was quietly building towers with his blocks and I assume I would've heard screaming if this had actually happened.... so my friends.... Max can now climb stairs. I don't know if this is a trick that he'll only do while I'm not looking.... I'm going to investigate more tomorrow.... not sure if I want him climbing steps yet.... YIKES! He's grown up fast in the last month!

Max is 9 months!

Max turned 9 months last Friday (1/8/10) and he's made a few developmental landmarks as well... He started crawling on new years day, he can go from crawling to sitting up by himself as of last week, on Sunday morning (yesterday) when I came into his room to get him out of his crib he was standing holding onto the rails!! Today he climbed up onto the treadmill by himself!!! Watch out world here he comes!