Seriously, Where do they come up with this stuff?

Easter Morning

The kids were so excited when the got up Easter morning. They could hardly stand to wait for Cooper to get up since they had already looked out the window and had seen all the Easter Eggs hidden in the yard.

Cooper found his basket first and did not want anything to do with the stuffed bunny in his basket. He threw it out and said, "No!"

Cole found hers next hidden behind the couch. She had new sunglasses, a big collection of Littlest Pet Shop toys, a chocolate bunny, a big bag of Circus Cookies, Cotton Candy and a Pooping Chicken.

It took Pierce a little longer to find his basket hidden at the top of the pantry. Pierce also got a Pooping Chicken which he has been dying to have. He got a chocolate bunny, Cotton Candy, a big bag of Cheetos, some Bendaroo Pets, and some Pixos Micros Toys.

Then we headed outside to find eggs full of money and jellybeans. Cooper couldn't get enough!

This was pretty much all of our Easter excitement. We went to church and then came home and relaxed for an hour or so and then Andrea left to play the piano for a Stake Primary Easter Program.

April 24, 2011

Cole, Cooper and I had the best time at Pierce's school watching him do field day

in 100 degree weather!

Our Trip to Stowe, Vermont

Clint and his partner, Tim Cooper had to go to a dental meeting in Vermont so Tim's wife Marsha and I got to tag along. The meeting was at the Stowe Mountain Lodge at the most amazing ski area. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go skiing and the weather was pretty overcast and snowy. But we still had a great time over our long weekend there.

The seminar was all day Friday but afterwards everyone from the meeting met at a quaint B&B for dinner. We had the most amazing food (Especially the Maple Creme Brulee) and the the place was picture perfect Vermont. It was a really old building with short celings and lots wood architectural details.

Saturday was pretty much the same thing--all day meetings. I skipped out on the afternoon and went back to our room to read, relax and ended up taking a nap.

Sunday came too fast and it was already time to go home. After a nice breakfast, we drove around and took pictures of some of the covered bridges close by and then did a tour of the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory.

I would love to go back someday and do some skiing and spend some time exploring the town.

March 2011

Cole's Fifth Birthday Party

We can't believe that Cole has turned five years old. She is such a funny girl! She is very girly and loves pink and purple anything. Even though she loves girly things she is very much a tomboy at heart. She is very athletic and easily keeps up with everything Pierce does. She is a dirt magnet. She loves her pretty clothes and shoes but somehow manages to stain and rip them within hours of putting them on! She can't keep her room clean if her life depended on it. She is artistic and loves coloring and drawing. She is super smart and has pretty much taught herself to write her letters and numbers. She is a very good friend and loves to make things for everyone. She loves to talk on the phone. It doesn't really matter who she's talking to but she especially loves talking to her grandparents. She doesn't lack for confidence. She knows how to manipulate the situation to her benefit and uses these skills on herparents frequently. She is a little diva sometimes. She has her own personal style and does not want anyone to help pick out clothes for her. She is incapable of using utensils at the dinner table and most of her meals end up on the floor or on the table. She has a pretty smart little mouth on her. Recently she asked Andrea for a popsicle after she had already been told no. And after she was told no again she said in her sassiest voice, "If you don't give me a popsicle, I'm going to kick your butt!" She is always rolling her eyes at us and loudly sighing when we ask her to do anything. Cole is so much fun to be around because she is so enthusiastic about life. She has a lot of friends. She is always being complimented on how beautiful she is and how cute her pixie haircut is.

She was so excited to have her Tinkerbell themed birthday party at the park near our house. We invited all her friends and had cupcakes and played games. She had the best time opening all her presents.

February 2011

What is Ragnar? Well Here it is from their website:

You and 11 of your closest friends running 200(ish) miles, day and night, relay-style, through some of the most scenic terrain North America could muster. Add in crazy runners, inside jokes and a mild case of sleep deprivation. The result? Some call it a slumber party without sleep, pillows or deodorant. We call it a Ragnar Relay.

It's really quite simple. Get a bunch of friends together (or we can help you find team members who'll quickly become your friends) and start running. Okay, there's a little more to it. Your relay team will consist of 12 members (or 6 for Ultra teams). During the relay, each team member runs three legs, each leg ranging between 3 - 8 miles and varying in difficulty. So, from the elite runner down to the novice jogger, it's the perfect relay race for anyone.How do you cover 200(ish) miles? Only one runner hits the road at a time. The rest of your teammates are on support duty in your race vehicles. Teams require 2 vehicles, with runners 1-6 in van 1 and 7 -12 in van 2. Van 1's runners will cover the first six legs. It's a relay, so as the each runner begins, the crew in the vehicle can drive ahead, cheer their runner on, and meet them at the exchange point to pick them up and drop off the next runner. After the first 6 legs, van 2 picks up the slack and starts putting in the miles. A day, night and day later, you'll have made it all the way from start to finish!

So that pretty much explains it! Our team name was Call Me a Cab. Mike McCreary from our ward put it all together and did an amazing job. He had it so organized so that all we had to worry about was running.

I was the last runner which was position #12. My first leg was 5.9 miles in the desert outside of Surprise, AZ at sunset. It was so beautiful watching the sun go down over the cactus and the mountains. Then we headed to dinner made by Mike's parents and home to rest for a couple of hours (1hr of sleep) while van 1 did their thing.

My next run was in Cave Creek at 3:30am. It was an easy 4 miles in the pitch black. This was my favorite run. It was so dark and quiet and a little unnerving. Then eat, sleep for an hour and at it again.

My family came down to see my last run of 4.7 miles around Tempe Town Lakes. Cole and Pierce were really excited to run across the finish line with our team. We finished at around 3pm.

It was an amazing experience. I had really good runs and averaged 9 to 9.5 minute miles. But I was so tired I fell asleep at 7:30 and slept for 12 hours that night!

Christmas Morning

This is the first year we decided to stay in Arizona instead of going home to Idaho for Christmas. It was a really hard decision for us but this year we were not able to take anyore work off. Plus, we just saw Grandma and Grandpa Moustache (Pierce) over Thanksgiving and Grandma Cathy and Papa were planning on coming to visit in January so we thought we could do it on our own.

The kids were so excited to see what Santa brought. They weren't disappointed. Santa brought a lot of great things. For their big gifts they got Nintendo DS Lites. Which are the latest and greatest in hand held video games. (If they only knew what Santa had to do to get them!) They also each got 2 games to play. Pierce got Cars racing and Super Mario Party. Cole got a Disney Princes game and a Dora the Explorer game. Their big shared gift from Santa was a new Wii game--Mario Kart racing!

Mom and Dad got everyone new outfits to go and get family pictures in (which we never got around to).

Later on in the day we called home to see what everyone was doing. Grandma Cathy and Papa were at Uncle Seth's house sledding. It was a little hard to imagine since we were all wearing shorts playing outside here in Phoenix.