Suns Game

Landon cheering on the Suns!

The boys jumping on Kyle while we watched the warm up

Chase and me

The warm up

In front of US airways arena by the giant basketball

Last night we took the boys to their very first Phoenix Suns game! The Suns played the Utah Jazz in a really close game. It was neck and neck the entire time. I don't think either team led by more than 5 or 6 points during the entire game. I will admit that I really am not much of a sports fanatic, much to Kyle's great disappointment. I DO really, honestly ENJOY watching live basketball games though. I can watch it on tv and not be completely bored out of my mind, but live baskeball is probably the only sport that I would pay more to watch live. I (shamefully) become a whole other person when I'm watching a live NBA game. Let's just say Kyle couldn't stop staring at me and just smiling or laughing. I don't know what was wrong with him! The game was SO close and he was as calm as...a Hindu cow (I don't know?)??? He was calm! At any rate, we had a great time. The boys had a blast and we (the Suns) WON! Yes!! Go Suns!!! Final score 101 to 102 SUNS! Here are some of our pictures from the night.

Playdough

We have been on a play dough kick lately around our house. I found this AWESOME recipe for play dough a couple weeks ago on one of my favorite sites, HowDoesShe. It makes the softest, squishiest play dough that lasts forever! Seriously. The boys left one of the bags out and opened for almost the whole day one time and it's still super squishy! The boys love that they can actually help me make it too. I let them dump in the ingredients and help stir then we all knead it together when the dough cools.Chase was so proud of his play dough that he asked to take it to pre-school for show and tell. His teacher said he was so excited telling all his friends how he helped make it and letting them all squish it. So here's the recipe for those who are interested:

Super Soft Play Dough

1 cup flour

1 cup water

1/4 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 Tb vegetable oil

4 drops of your favorite food coloring

Dump all ingredients into a med. pot and stir constantly over med. heat until it forms one big glob. Take off heat and put the glob on some wax paper. When cool knead the dough until it's nice and soft. Enjoy!!!

Kudos to Kyle

My.husband.rocks. I'm not going to lie...he's pretty amazing. Whatever job he does, he does it WELL. So I have to brag him up a little bit because, well, that's what I do! His boss recently got a letter from one of the VP's in the company whom Kyle had assisted and this is what it read:

Description of your achievement
Kyle White recently was assigned to assist with an employee expense reimbursement issue. He exceeded all expectations – quick to respond, thorough in his follow-up, and set the appropriate expectations so that we could handle our situation with ease. I was extremely impressed by Kyle’s ownership spirit. When we asked him a question that was out of scope, he did a little research and went beyond offering a blanket response that may have missed the mark.

The end result of Kyle’s judgment and professionalism – our employees were able to resolve important reimbursement issues in a timely, efficient manner. This is critical to all employees and their leaders, and your team’s support in delivering is appreciated.

I’m not blown away often but really was by Kyle’s customer service.

Pretty impressive. They even gave him a Wii fit bundle for his recognition! We are so proud to call him ours around this house, and we love him for all the hard work he does to support our family. But really we're mostly just grateful he has a job! Good job honey!!!

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!