...Eat and Help...

For friends, family, acquaintances in Utah, here's a special invitation to enjoy dinner one of the upcoming Monday nights (tonight included) at the Foothill Village location of COSTA VIDA!

Up to 20% of the proceeds the restaurant receives on these nights will go to benefit Families Helping Families. This is the organization with whom our family has built single-family homes in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, during the Christmas holiday. We are going again this year, and your support would be most welcome!

Little Man and Mommy Worshop!!

Last Friday a few moms from church got together to take the little ones to The Home De Pot to make Memory Boxes... It turned out to be a very memorable afternoon!!

Hammer away, Wilbur!

Brinley was busy being an artist herself... SHE LOVES CRAYONS!!
Finished product!!


When we got home, we had lunch and put Brinley down for her nap. Then Will said he wanted to PAINT his box!! What a great idea... Dodger helped!
All done!
loading his memory box with treasures!

Happy Thanksgiving...

June 2010

Broken Wheel-
I've been sick the past few days... and the only thing to help me feel better was to break out my trusty sewing machine and quilt. (sigh!) It really is relaxing to me... I've had this pattern for 5 months... but my quilting time was taken up by training for the half marathon... (and since I've been 'recovering' from the race.... what better way to truly relax than to quilt! (don't miss understand me Justin, I'd still like a massage!)

Now, if i could only figure out how to run and quilt at the same time... :) I think i'd be the happiest woman on the planet!

Two more patters to go then I can make THIS for my darling first born...
love those 1930's Gracie's fabrics!!

Videos of the KidZ...

Half Marathon!!

For the past 4-5 months I've been training for the 13th of November with GREAT anticipation! WHAT A DAY IT HAS BEEN! And it really didn't hit me until this moment (pictured below...) "Holy Cow... am I really about to go and run 13.1 miles! THIRTEEN!! ME!!!"
Haha, Reminds me of my favorite movie line EVER...



It is fun... and I LOVE IT!
Brinley, Caitlin and Will were unusually chipper for the morning... but it added to the excitement in the air!!
Justin dropped me off... and then that was it...

10k time 1:06 min! (beat my march 10k time by 6 min!)
Half marathon finish time: 2:25:31!!! I had so much fun!

Here's Caitlin modeling my 'victory cape' and mettle!
Am I proud of myself...?? Oh yeah! What a cool feeling it is to know that i can set a goal... and see it through!

All I Kneed to Know I Learned From My Cat. BY: Brinley Jayne

one of my favorite childhood books... (it's true. click here)

Letter to Uncle Elder Parker....

Caitlin is the sweetest... She sent her Uncle Parker a letter last week...

big BABY...

Brinley is finally 18 months old! This means she's a big girl and gets to go to Nursery all by herself. She did great on Sunday, the Nursery leaders said she did great that 3rd hour all by herself... and they said she LOVES pretzels... that was the ticket to keeping her happy!

When i went to pick her up at the end of church, she walked out of there with her head held high,a big smile on her face and her blankie in a Kung Fu grip... (did want me to carry her,either) and as we walked side by side down the hallway... i think my heart broke a little as i realized my baby is growing up... (sigh)

my friend Heather took this picture on her iphone...5C picture -- Cracroft Chocolate Cheese Cake Celebration!
Today at lunch, Brinley sat at the 'big kid table' with big Brother Will (i mean... Mario!)
Brinley LOVES shoes... (Shhh, don't tell Caitlin that she was wearing her shoes!!)

WE LOVE YOU BRINLEY... can't believe you're already a year and a half! (my how time flies!)

Daddy's Turn!

While Mommy went for a 10 MILE training run this morning, Daddy got to hang out with the kiddos.  Amanda is my hero in so many ways, and I mean it sincerely when I say I want to be more like her.  She truly does inspire me!  Anyway, she has figured out this cool way to make legit "shaped" pancakes (see the original Pancake Artist post here), so I couldn't help it this morning but hollar out:

"Who wants pancakes?"

Caitlin wanted a bear... because she's been missing the bear she left at the neighbors' house last night:

You can tell that hers was the first because the griddle wasn't evenly heated yet...  :)

When I asked Caitlin what I should make for Brinley, she said, "a cat!"  (Big surprise.)  With Halloween recently passed, this was the fruition of my feline creativity:

That poor kitty suffered some damage when attempting to be flipped by Mr. Spatula...  "our pets HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!"  (Name that movie...)

For Will?  The immediate reply: "Thomas!!"  That was a HUGE surprise.  "Okay, buddy.  I'll do what I can!"

This next one is supposed to be a cat's face--ears, whiskers...  but it came out too smooth, so it kinda looks more like a 4-legged bug or a frog or something...

And another one for Wilbur.  He's the star of the hit Disney/Pixar film Cars, it's Daddy's attempt at Lightning McQueen:

Who ate the MOST pancakes this morning? Brinley!!  So to help keep her satisfied (I think she ate a total of FIVE), she got some basic shapes...

Saturday morning is officially my favorite now.  :)  I always enjoyed it, but this was truly FUN!

this week...

It's such a good feeling to get organized... and THIS made my week! Justin helped me hang this antique gun rack in the laundry room for the kids' jackets, umbrellas and backpacks... looks like it belongs there! (you may be wondering... why are there so many backpacks??)
I've started tending some kids after school for a good friend of mine, who works from home! Pink and Purple, a.k.a. Sydney and Clare are twins, and live down the street from us... and they are cute as can be! (you might remember them from THIS post) here the kids are having a snack... the girl in the high chair is Will's buddy from across the street, she just came over to play this day!!
and the kids got a special package from UTAH this week! Will LOVES his new BUZZ hat! and Brinley LOVES her new Jelly Fish! and we MORE than appreciate the donation to Caitlin's education account! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, for your love and for thinking of the kids... WE LOVE YOU POPS!

and I finally broke down and cut Brinley's bangs! her hair just doesn't work any other way. I think she looks A LOT like her Aunt Lindsey when she was a little girl! So CUTE!

Carter Mountain and Chuck E Cheese's

Last Saturday was a really fun day! Our good friends took us Apple picking near Charlottesville at Carter Mountain Orchard! It was beautiful!


We started off our adventure by getting hot apple cider and donuts! Mmmm!






Our friends kids, Adriana and Dakota enjoying the yummy treats! It was a chilly morning!


Dakota and Darin!
Off to find Apples!





"little worms...."




Justin, tweeting about his fun apple picking experience!

Since we were so close to Monticello, we decided to drive by and take in the beauty!!!
The day was not compleate! Will and Caitlin's buddy next door was having a birthday party... AT CHUCK E CHEESE'S!! They WERE SO EXCITED!




even Brinley had a good time!
beginning of her soda 'sip' obsession...
sugar kickin' in right about now....
...and it continues...