Half Marathon

at mile 7 these cute faces greeted me with smiles!

They had fun while they waited for me to finish. I hear they bounced and played and got to pet a live alligator and boa constrictor! Landon was anxious to be the alligator's mid morning snack and he kept trying to pry the electrical tape off with all his might!

I finally participated in my first half marathon (hopefully) of many. Honestly...I really enjoyed it. There was a time around mile 10 that I bonked and I was hating myself that lasted until about mile 12 when a lady ran up next to me and said, "don't stop now! I've been following you for the last 10 miles and you've been keeping me going!" I started up with her again and we discussed our aches and pains and how my iPod died around the time I bonked (probably could have contributed to that). Then she said she had to walk again and I thanked her profusely for the extra boost that I NEEDED desperately at that moment. I ran in strong the rest of the way and finished with a time of 2:21. I met my goal of finishing under 2:30 and felt pretty good. This race was really special. They created it in memory of a sweet little girl named London who passed away after a long battle with Leukemia. All the proceeds from the race go to children that are currently battling cancer. The route is strewn with pictures of children who have either passed or are currently fighting cancer. They have sayings on the signs from the children, to motivate you and many that just say, "do it for her..." above a picture of London. It brought me to tears many times but made me think how trivial and insignificant my aches or pains at that moment truly were compared to the real pain and sorrow these children and their families have gone through and are still going through in many cases. It was very special. It was even more special because one of the two beneficiaries this year was a YW in our stake who is currently undergoing treatment for her battle with cancer. It was definitely a very extraordinary and rewarding experience that I hope to participate in again.

Next race on my schedule is my second go at Pat's Run in April. Next up for Kyle is the Spartan 8 mile race. His race is an urbanathlon type of thing. It sounds like it'll be fun. For those who aren't familiar with urbanathlons, it's a city course set up with obstacles and such. You run climb, slide, and army crawl through mud and other obstacles and in the Spartan race there are volunteers that hit you and trip you with those big gladiator sticks as your running through the course. Well at least I hear they're fun. Not my cup of tea, but definitely something I think Kyle will enjoy. I don't do mud.

White Mountains

We went up to the White Mountains a couple weekends ago with some friends and the men went and did some snowboarding while the ladies did some talking and relaxing while the kids did some playing in the snow and exploring. When the guys came home later we took the kids sledding. It was our boys' first sledding experience and well, it was a success (in their book). Their wasn't a lot of snow and what snow there was was very icy but they still they loved every minute and Chase has been asking to go back ever since!

The Christmas Post

Sand and Water table! The boys LOVED this, they will play with it for hours on end!

Chase happy about getting some Lincoln Logs

Landon with his basketball

Christmas morning seeing the evidence of Santa's visit

Jama Time! The crazies in their christmas eve jamas

Mary and the babe lying in a manger (being from a house made up of mostly boys we find ourselves lacking in the doll department)

Thank goodness the nativity consists of a predominately male cast

The Shepherd and his reluctant "sheep"

Our joyful Wise man

Joseph readying the lone Wise man (Chase) and the Shepherd (Landon)

Only a little over a month later...here is our Christmas recap. We spent our Christmas here in Arizona this year with just our little family. It was pretty wonderful.

On Christmas Eve we had a big ham dinner with potatoes, rolls, salad, and all the traditional yummies. We did our nativity and had a great time teaching our boys about why we celebrate Christmas. We opened our Christmas Eve pajama presents, got changed into our new jamas, then gathered around the Christmas tree and sang Christmas hymns while we ate sugar cookies. It was toasty, and glowy, and super cozy. Chase set out some cookies and milk for Santa then it was off to bed for the wee little ones.

Chase woke up early the next morning (no surprise) and was broken hearted when we told him that we had to wait for his little brother to wake up before we go see if Santa visited our house the night before. We watched How to Train Your Dragon while we waited and did some puzzles to pass the time. Finally we heard a little squeal from "Panda" and it was go time. We let the boys loose on their presents from Santa and their stocking goodies first. Then we took turns tearing into our other gifts. As our kids get older, the holidays become so much more magical as we see it from their point of view and have the pleasure of reveling in their pure joy. We cleaned up and made our traditional Rabanada (Brazilian french toast) breakfast then spent the rest of the day (running 13 miles for me) and relaxing, and playing with all of our new toys! We got to go over to our good friends the Garrett's house for Christmas day dinner and we had a wonderful time eating delicious food and spending time with some of our Arizona "family". Perfect day.

Preschool

Landon with his messy mac and cheese face!

Chase before pre-school

Our handsome little pre-schooler!

I know I still need to post about Christmas but I also know that that one will take me a little while longer. I had to post really quickly about Chase's first day of preschool. He.had.a.BLAST! He absolutely loves his teacher "Miss Bee-Ann" (Brianne) and he loves all his "friends" that are in his class. He absolutely loved it and couldn't wait to tell me about all he had learned. His teacher told me that when they got together for circle time today Chase jumped up at one point and said, "I like it here! These are all my friends! I'm a friend too!" He's all about friends. He loves meeting new friends, playing with friends, friend friends friends. In fact one of his New Year resolutions in preschool was to make new friends, the other one was to be nice to Landon:) He has the show and tell for Thursday and he's excited, and having a hard time, choosing just one thing to share with his friends. We are so proud of Chase and the sweet little boy that he is and we're excited for his first preschool experience!

I had to post some other Chase-isms that we thought were funny or cute. Chase is very thoughtful and he likes to let me sleep in sometimes. We all took naps today and Chase was the first to wake up and he came in and quietly sat on the floor until my alarm went off then he said to me, "I just came in and was very quiet so you could sleep mommy" Such a sweet little guy.

The other one happened yesterday. During the closing prayer for FHE last night Landon started squealing and making noises so Chase decided it would be funny to copy him (even though he know he's not supposed to). When Kyle finished Chase was told he needed a time out which is the punishment he receives when he's irreverent during the prayer. He went and took his time out and when he came out he said, "Mommy, I'm sorry that I yelled." I told him that his apology was accepted and further explained that he needed to know that he must show reverence during the prayer and explained the importance of that. He responded, "but you need to know that when I do that, it's just an accident." Ha! What a turkey! Needless to say, I had more teaching to do.

OK the last one happened when Kyle and I went to the Stake Center to renew our temple recommends and took the boys with us. I went first while Kyle watched the boys then we switched. When I came out and took over Chase looked at me and then at the recommend in my hand and said, "Mom! You got your temple coupon?!" Yup! A coupon for priceless eternal rewards.

Well I can't just do a whole post about Chase and not talk at all about Landon. Our little firecracker is doing quite well. He copies many of our words now, likes to color, ride the tricycle/scooter, and play basketball (or with any type of ball). He has started to enjoy story time at night a lot more recently and will sit and sit for a long time and let us read long books to him. He started eating with utensils around October. He wouldn't let me feed him anymore and started going through an independent stage, so I let him have a crack and it, and he caught on amazingly well. He is a bit more violent than Chase was, and will hit sometimes and bites occasionally (only Kyle...not sure why on that one). He is also the most affectionate of any of us. He always comes up from behind surprising us with big hugs (or hits, you never know what you'll get with this one). He loves hugging though and gets huge smile on his little round face when he's hugging. He's like Lotso, but less sinister. I kid I kid. We love our little "panda bear" to pieces and couldn't imagine life without our little nugget!

Here are Chase first day of pre-school pictures!

Christmas in the Desert

Christmas card pictures (courtesy of Amy Daniel photography)

At the temple lights

Kyle and Chase being goofy!

Landon and me

Our Christmas tree

Chase taking his turn putting up the star


Landon's first time putting up the star!

This week we finally started getting REALLY excited for Christmas! Parties have been attended, cards have been sent out, gifts have been purchased, preparations have been made, there is not much left on the once lengthy and DAUNTING "Christmas to do list". We have finally been able to spend the last couple of nights reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas. Sunday night we went to the Mesa Temple Lights and then came home and sang Christmas songs by the Christmas tree. It has been wonderful to have the time as a family each night this week to teach our kids about why we really celebrate Christmas.

Sometimes it gets hard to celebrate big holidays so far away from any real family. We have been so grateful this past year for the tight bonds of friendship we have with friends and our ward family here in Arizona though that have helped us to really enjoy the holidays.

We really love living in Arizona. There is just something about this place...

Here are some pictures to commemorate our Christmas in the Desert 2010...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a GOOD NIGHT!!!