A lady in our ward made a huge gingerbread house for an assisted living center. We went to check it out. She had little Santa's workshop inside with elves, Santa, presents, etc. Each room had furniture and figurines. Nixon loved it and wanted to stay there forever. He said, "I wish I was small so I could sleep in there." Maddy loved it too, but she mostly wanted to eat everything off of it. We weren't able to stay there too long, as it was hard to keep Maddy off of it!
Today was SNOW DAY! It snowed last night and was so cold today that the snow hasn't melted yet. Chris got the day off and we got out Nixon's snowboard and let him go down our neighbor's driveway. He had great balance! We were surprised and it got us excited to take him snowboarding during Christmas break. He did not want to stop.
Maddy didn't take to the snow quite like Nixon did when he was her age. She was slightly amused, but mostly wanted to be held or helped around.
Below is a short clip of Nixon's first snowboard ride!

MARATHON!!!!

The marathon was THE BEST! I can't believe I had such a great experience. It was completely opposite the last marathon experience I had. My friend, Laurie (who didn't run it because she is prego) and I drove down the night before. I had such a negative attitude from a week before up until like the 3rd mile. I was dreading it thinking I would have the hugest mental breakdown ever. Anyway, it was a trail marathon that gained 4500 ft in elevation, and 2000 ft were gained in the first 6 miles (first 8.5 were uphill with no break), and the last 6 miles we lost 2000 ft. You would think that would be good, but not after running 20 miles - it was a killer and I thought I was going to roll down the trail! Anyway, I wanted to walk almost immediately, but no one else was so I ran 3 miles uphill, then started doing the run 4 minutes and walk 1 minute thing which really helped my energy on the 5 more miles up hill. I ate at every aid station which I think made a HUGE difference. They actually had good food - turkey sandwhiches, PB &J, chips, bananas, apples, M & M's, etc. I would grab something, get a drink and keep running while I ate. Mentally, I set small goals. Make it to the flat part - only 8.5 miles, then make it half way, then make it to 16 miles and I will only be 4 miles from 20 miles, then make it to 20 miles, then I am pretty much done. That definitely helped a lot. When it was flat I mostly ran, but sometimes did a walk run because it helped so much with my energy. And because the road and trail did wind about, I really didn't see many marathoners. They were either ahead or behind me. I actually really liked that. At about mile 17 I got this huge burst of energy and just kind of took off. I passed 4 guys (2 of which had passed me). Laurie actually hiked up the trail and met me at mile 21.5 and ran most of the rest of it with me. That gave me a bigger energy boost. As soon as I realized I had a chance at making it under 5 miles, I ran fast. I ended up sprinting (no joke) to the finish line to make it in just under 5 hours (4:59:17). I still could have kept going. It was crazy. I had so much adrenaline and excitement. My legs were tired at mile 10 because of the climb, but I recovered and was fine. It was one of the best experiences ever!!!!!!! I never hit a wall mentally or physically. My time isn't the best, in fact, I think there were only 10 or 15 people behind me (total of only 88), but for me that was great. And knowing that I actually could run a marathon by myself was great. It was only 20 mintues longer than the last marathon I did which was FLAT with one little hill! I really wish I could do one every year, but it probably won't work out that way.

Well, this is my first post without pictures. Weird. But I doubt any of you want to see a picture of me after one of my long runs. Anyway, I am finally winding down on my marathon training. Last Saturday was my 20 mile run and it was PAINFUL!!!!! Both physically but more mentally! I am not mentally strong when I run those distances by myself. The marathon will mentally kill me, I am sure that by mile 21 I will be wishing I had never signed up and telling myself that I will never ever run a marathon again (which is what I did last time). And then I am sure that I will then again do another marathon at sometime in my life. Maybe after each baby. It is great at getting those last pounds of baby weight off. Today was my "long" run of the week at 10 miles. It felt great. I love that length of run. It is actually fun. Next week my "long" run will be 8 miles and my other runs will be a couple of 3 mile and 5 mile runs. I am looking forward to the end of training. It has been a lot more difficult since Chris went back to school. I take the kids in the double jogger on all my runs but the long runs. It is painful and SLOW! Nixon is constantly needing things and wanting to get out. Maddy is totally bugged by Nixon squirming, trying to hug her, kiss her, and feed her. My 4 mile runs turn into hour long runs...So needless to say, it will be nice continuing the running, but not feeling like I absolutely have to stick to mileage for training. Nov 8 is the day!!!

Well we have been having lots of fun with cousins lately! My brother and his family came and stayed with us for about 5 days with their kids. Nixon loved having cousins around. Then my sister, Candice, came with her 2 kids and stayed for 2 weeks! We had a blast! She left last Friday. Between my running and her biking and planning things with the kids, we were wiped out. Below are pictures of what we did. My marathon training is winding down-yea! I have a 20 miler to run this Saturday and then I am tapering down for 3 weeks until the marathon on Nov 8! I have had such a great time getting back into running. Hopefully I can keep it up! For Family Home Evening we carved pumpkins. Nixon really wanted to do it on his own. Maddy realized that pumpkin doesn't taste that great!

We went to the pumpkin patch with the cousins. We had a hay ride and played in the corn boxes and had duck races. We played in the hay maze and ate raspberries at the end. The kids loved it. It was a little muddy, but we had a great time.

Below is me, Maddy, Nixon and cousin Adi at the patch.
We also made Halloween cookies, decorated them and gave some to our neighbor! The kids loaded the cookies with candy and sprinkles (and their tummies) Below: Nixon and Adael
We rode bikes and played with slugs and snails (below): Briggy, Nixon, and Adi
Maddy just had to get some milk! She loves to be involved, riding her little trike around and dinging her little bell. It is really cute and funny.
We went out for pizza and played in their playroom. I think the balls were a hit for the kids as always. It was crazytime!
Maddy liked the balls too although it was a little crazy for her at times with all the bigger kids!
Yes, I did it. I gave her a huge sucker and she ate it faster than any of the other kids (which shocked me- Nixon is a candyaholic)
Nixon is getting ready for Halloween. He is obsessed with Spiderman! (thanks to Chris who is living through Nixon). Chris brings him home a new superhero everytime he goes to the store and makes up stories for him, buys the superhero coloring books...I could go on and on.
The kids played in the pool one last time before the rain comes! It was Maddy's first time because she had her cast on before. The kids loved it, but Kymry takes the cake back in August for getting them to play in it. Maddy and Briggy played in it mainly, and Adi and Nixon climbed trees.

Well that is about it.

Well I have done a terrible job of blogging. Hopefully I can redeem myself and catch up a little bit. Chris is now back teaching school. It has been so fun having home this summer. We have been so busy but also had so much fun. Nixon just started preschool one day a week and he loves it. Maddy broke her wrist - and she just got her cast off! Read more about how by the picture of her cast. I am running again. My friend, Laurie, and I just ran a half-marathon last Saturday. We didn't run it super fast by most runner's standards, but we did better than our usual 10 minute miles (by 15 seconds a mile :)). It took us 2 hours and 8 minutes. It was a lot of fun. We are training for a marathon that takes place in November. So far our long run has been 16 miles. We have had a lot of fun!!!! I did a quick recap of our summer below.



My brother's wife had their son, Falon, a week earlier than expected (she had actually scheduled a c-section for 2 weeks earlier than her due date. Cameron needed to study for his boards (which he passed - yea Cam!) and Rhiannon could not do any lifting and needed some rest until her mom arrived. So we took Kymry and Bryton for the week. They missed their parents a lot, especially little Bryton, but we had a fun time! Kymry was a great entertainer! She did water Olympics, sprinklers, pool, etc with them. The boys loved it. We also went to the park several times. It was great to watch them! We always had to do our water sports while Maddy was napping because she is impossible to keep out of the water and her cast could not get wet!

I was pretty impressed at Nixon's chalk drawing. He drew Sponge Bob with no help from me! The kids had fun drawing on the sidewalks and Maddy had fun eating chalk.


While the cousins were here we did some major cookie decorating. Nixon put so many sprinkles on the cookies that he used an entire jar of sprinkles. The cookies were a little scary looking! Unfortunately Nixon had made a "bad choice" that day and couldn't eat any treats for the day, but he decorated about 15 cookies and managed not to even lick the frosting or throw a tantrum. I was pretty impressed.

Nixon has become obsessed with Spiderman thanks to Chris telling him zillions of bedtime Spiderman stories and buying him Spiderman books, costumes, figurines, pajamas, backpacks, and the list goes on.
Okay, so Maddy broke her wrist and had to get a full arm cast. You know that trampoline that I convinced Chris to get because none of my siblings ever were hurt on our tramp? Well...the phone rang, I ran inside to get it, zipping Maddy in the tramp (with our net enclosure). I didn't clip it, so that it absolutely could not be opened, thinking she did not know how to unzip things. Well literally less than a minute of me getting the phone and coming out with it - she had unzipped it and walked off the tramp. She seemed okay, but whimpered a lot that evening, woke up crying in the night, and fussed the next day. I took her in to be checked out and the doctor said she was fine. Again, Chris took her in the next day (I worked) because she wasn't using her right hand and she was still fussy and they did x-rays. It broke on Monday and she didn't get her cast until Friday. It was on for almost 3 weeks. She didn't even notice it. She was still trying to climb everything, even Nixon's bunk bed. She is such a little monkey.



We went blackberry picking with some friends in August. It has proven to be our kids' favorite fruit. I think Nixon looked about like Maddy did when he was her age in a stroller. We made blackberry cobbler later that evening! Yum!
In August we took a family trip to the coast. We spent 4 days there and had a blast. There was so much to do - bumper cars, carousel (below), bumper boats, running on the beach, playing on the beach (our kids' favorite thing to do).
On the way home we stopped at the cheese factory and the Air Museum, which was really cool. It had tons of planes. Nixon loved it! He was such a button masher when he got in the cockpit of a fighter jet (below).
Part of the fam at the air museum. Chris has become the picture taker in our family!



In July, Maddy had her first birthday party: Grandma Dee & Grandpa Pat, Great Grandma Elizabeth, Nana Karren, Nixon, Maddy, and me
Maddy downed the cake at her first birthday party. She sure knew what to do with it, although she got sick of it within about 5 minutes. She wanted her hands cleaned off...
Down and dirty

In July, this was my father's-in-law wedding which also was our 11 year anniversary. Nixon enjoyed playing with his cousins, Marren (left) and Savannah (right). Bottom are: Andrea (Dee's daughter), Dee, Chris (Dee's son), Rachael is hiding, Pat, and Chris.

A DAY AT THE BEACH!!!!!! Back around July 11- I am starting to catch up!
We went to the coast with Grandpa Pat, Nana Karren, and Chris' sister and her family (Chad, Marren, and Ellis). It was a great day! It was sunny and breezy.
Nixon enjoyed playing in the water, building sand castles, and seeing the wading pools with lots of marine life.
Marren's naked little bum, Nixon in his undies, and Grandpa Pat making a dash to the water. We didn't realize it would be such a great day, or we would have dressed Nixon in his swim suit.
Maddy enjoyed playing in the sand, but really wanted to get wet. So I took most of her clothes off so she wouldn't be cold and wet.
Cousins playing in the sand.
Maddy loved the icy cold water. I could not believe how excited she was to get in. I didn't let her get this wet until right before we left, because it was REALLY cold water. She went crazy!

Loves to eat those rocks

A DAY AT THE ZOO WITH THE Grandparents and Cousins (Around July 10)
Grandma Dee and Nixon looking at the polar bears!
Nana Karren and Maddy
Nixon and Grandpa Pat
Me and Maddy
Grandpa Pat, Nana Karren, Rachael and Chad (with baby Ellis)
Grandpa Pat holding baby Ellis

Grandpa Pat, Nana Karren, and Nixon watching a bird show.
MArren, Rachael, Chad, and Ellis

Nixon and Cousin Marren climbing a tree