I have not blogged in such a long time. I think the reason is that I have been facebooking. What fun it is, but how time consuming it can get. I hardly think I have enough time to do the things that I need to as it is. Now I am getting a new hobby.

Over the weekend, Jack and Piper were able to play in the leaves at Grammy's house, so I wanted to post some pictures of them. I have to say that I am so grateful that we decided to have Jack and Piper close. They have become good friends. Yes, they still fight, but they definitely love each other. Jack misses Piper when she naps (on the many days that he doesn't nap). The first thing that Piper says when she gets up in the morning is "Gack" which is her way of saying Jack.

What a ride it is to be a mom and wife. Sometimes I feel like I have lost my individuality, but I know that somewhere hidden in the moments of life I get to express my own feelings through my children and through other friendships that I have. There is a time and a season for all things. I will get a chance to express myself more when my children are grown and I miss them horribly because they have all moved on with their lives.

Anyway, on with the pictures:

We both say that Piper is the perfect witch.



What fun autumn brings!

Whoops, If you can't find my finish line picture on the website I mentioned in The Marathon post, sorry. Here are the correct instructions to find the picture. Go to www.customeventphotography.com, click on Top of Utah Runners Click Here, click on View and Order Pictures, and then put in my bib number 2288.

Okay, so I finally wanted to fill out this questionnaire thing from Sara. Here it goes:

How long have you been together? We will be married for 7 years on December 22, 2008.
How did you meet?We met in a Singles Ward and we also attended the same college (Salt Lake Community College).
How long did you date? We dated for 7 months and then we were engaged for 2.5 months.
How old is he? Zac will be 30 in January. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, which I greatly admire.
Who said I love you first? Zac told me he loved me first. It is kind of a funny story, yet fitting for us. We were sitting on Zac's bed at his parents house just talking (and I really mean we were just talking because his house was full of people). He was fiddling with his TI85 calculator. After a couple of minutes, he handed me the calculator. When I looked at the screen, on it was the words, "I love you." So, maybe I was the first one to actually say I love you (I told him that I loved him, too) since he just typed the words in on his calculator. We are such geeks.
Who is taller?Zac is taller by 3 or so inches.
Who sings better? I would say that we both are just mediocre singers who could maybe add something to a ward choir if we ever went to practice.
Who is smarter? Zac is definitely more book and street smart.
Whose temper is worse? We both have tempers, but I can control mine a little better than Zac, although his temper only usually shows when Jack is pulling one of his grand tantrums.
Who does the laundry? I do most of the laundry. Zac is getting better at helping me though. I told him he could watch football on Saturday if he folded laundry while watching. It's a win-win situation.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?It actually changes for us. I usually sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door of the room. It is weird, but that is how we like it.
Who pays the bills? We work together to pay the bills and do our finances.
Who mows the lawn? I have mowed the lawn this summer. I actually like it. I would mow the lawn while Zac worked on the shed he was building in our back yard.
Who does the dishes?I usually do the dishes.
Who cooks dinner? I usually try to cook dinner. I am not the best of cooks, but we definitely aren't starving.
Who drives when you are together? Zac is the driver. He is better at it.
Who is more stubborn? We are both very stubborn, and we wonder why Jack and Piper are so stubborn, too.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong?I guess that we both are able to apologize for the bad decisions that we make. It is actually quite nice that we both can say sorry.
Who kissed who first?I kissed Zac first. He asked me if he could have a kiss, and I gave him one.
Who proposed? We talked about it first and decided that we should get married. Then Zac asked me officially while we were on the doorstep of my mother's house. I said yes, obviously.
Who is more sensitive? I am definitely very sensitive.
Who has more friends? We are both quite shy. But, I would have to say that I have a few more friends than Zac. Being a mom, you want as big of a support group as you can get (especially when you don't live very close to family).
Who wears the pants in the family? Sometimes he does and sometimes I do. It depends on the topic at hand and who is more tired.
How many kids do you want to have? That depends on who you ask. I would like to have 5, but we'll see if we get past 2.

The Marathon

I have been meaning to post some pictures of me running the Top of Utah Marathon in September. I guess that is the only proof that I have that I actually ran it. It is such a pretty run (if you can pay attention to it while you feel like your legs are going to fall off from running so long).

The course actually goes right by my house, which is why I decided to starting running the marathon. This year is the second year that I have run it. I didn't do quite as well this year as last year, but I still finished the race with a somewhat respectable time.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures:


So, you can hardly see me. I am wearing red shorts and a white shirt (and running really slow, although you can't tell that from the picture).


Here I am giving my sweet children a kiss at about mile 18. My mother, Cherie is also there to help cheer me on. Of course, Zac is there, too. He is the one who is taking the picture. He is such a good husband. I make him run the last 3.25 miles with me. It really helps having someone to talk with at the end of the race.

Sorry to go on and on about the marathon, but I have to include one more thing. I want to just challenge anyone who has ever thought about running a marathon to actually give it a try. I cannot describe the amazing feeling you get when the finish line is in view and the long months of running and training flash through your mind and you muster up as much strength as you can to run as fast as you can to get to that finish line. It is just such an amazing feeling.

The finish line is very close to my house. Actually, it is still painted on the road by a park that the kids and I frequent. Every time I see that finish line I remember the joy I felt and the pride I felt of finishing one of the hardest things, physically, that I have ever done.

Okay, so that is enough about the marathon. Oh, for you all that know me from highschool, I saw Ryan Sessions at the starting line. He was running the marathon, also. It was so great to see a familiar face right before the race started.

Okay, I promise, just one more thing. If you want proof that I passed the finish line, you can go to customeventphotography.com put in the passwork tou and then look up my picture by imputting 2288 as my bib number.

I don't quite know why I was flagged....

I am working on getting my blog unflagged. I hope that I didn't offend anyone by talking about Jack's potty training. Sorry if this is why I was flagged. Anyway, I hope to post more items soon.

Potty Trouble

So, we are in the middle of potty training Jack. He does well some days, and not so well on other days. Today, he decided to throw a fit for 30 minutes because he didn't want to go potty, and then he followed me into Piper's room and proceeded to poop on the floor - twice. Then, after I got through telling him how disappointed I was with his decision, he walked over to me and gave me a hug. He told me he was sad. I asked him why. He said, "Because you were mad." I would love to say that I instantly forgave him, but I didn't. What I was happy about was that he understood that his actions cause others to have feelings too and that he was getting pretty good about explaining his feelings to me. I was very happy about his improved communication skills. Anyway, the potty training will come, eventually.

I had to post this picture. This is Jack and Zeke (his cousin) at Lagoon. They love to go to Lagoon together. This summer we bought Lagoon Season passes. We have gone to Lagoon at least 5 times. Jack loves to ride all the kiddie rides with Zeke and also with Miles (another cousin).

Jack and Piper are making a train out of some storage bins. Jack can make a train out of anything and Piper loves to play along.

Okay, I cannot believe that we have two thumb suckers in the family. Come to find out, Dad was a thumb sucker, also. I think Piper started sucking hers because she saw Jack do it and she probably thought that sucking your thumb was just what kids did when they were bored.

This is a picture of our family at the scenic overlook at Bear Lake. I love this family picture.

So long...

Jack is napping and Sis and I are playing on the computer waiting for dad to come home. So, we decided to start our blog, finally. Piper wants to type something:
ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghttttttttttttytttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

I don't know what to say right now, so I guess I'll just imput some pictures. These pictures are of Jack when he was 12 months old and Piper when she was 12 months old.

Yes, I will put more up to date pictures soon. Now, dad is home and it's dinner time.

Later....