The Baby

Noah is my baby and always will be. I don't want to say he is spoiled but he definitely gets away with more than the other kids did. The older 3 have always been off bottles by 1 year. Not this kid, and It's totally my fault! Same with the pacifier.By one year I only let them have it for naps and nighttime. His hair was getting so long and pretty much looked ridiculous. It took me forever to get it cut because I didn't want him to look older. I guess I just want him to be my baby a little longer. This boy is such a stinker. Like any other one year old he is into everything. He loves to be outside. But best of all he still loves to cuddle with his mom.

When we got our family pictures done he was out of control. So because of that we don't have that many shots of him. I kind of just gave up and let him run around and do whatever. He did have shoes on but he kept taking them off.

This was my way of calming him down. I didn't know she got a picture of it and I love it! What she didn't get was after he pulled away there was a string of snot from my mouth to his nose. It was so awesome!

New Years Eve Day

On New Years Eve day my Dad took my family and my brother's family to the new Hoover Dam bridge. It was a COLD day. Like windy freezing cold. Heights don't bother me so going across the bridge wasn't bad. It was pretty cool to see it all done.

I love this picture of my dad explaining how the bridge was built. The kids were actually interested in it.

We stayed long enough to get a picture of them in Nevada and Arizona. Then we were out of there. It was too cold for any of us Vegas people.

13.1 Lessons I Learned While Running 13.1 Miles

1. Train more in the sun. We did a lot of our training when the sun was down or just coming up. This race started at 7:30. The sun was out the whole time and this course had no shade. The sun slowed me down and made it tough on me.
2. Always run a race with friends. Makes it so fun!
3.If you run a race out of town make it a girls weekend and stay a day after the race. Don't drive all day after you run.
4.Running by the beach is pretty awesome.
5.If you take any energy gummies make sure you train with them too, or else you will feel sick to your stomach.
6.If you have to walk during the race, do it on the side. Some guy made that known to me.
7.It's okay if an 70 yr old lady passes you.
8.It's kind of okay if a guy passes you with a Wisconsin cheese on his head.
9. It kind of bad if a guy passes you with a a cardboard pacman costume on.
10. It's soooo not okay if a 12 yr old boy passes you.
11. If your family can't be there make sure you let each of your kids pick a song for your ipod. Those songs definitely made me run faster.
12. Make sure you know it's water and not an energy drink before you pour it on your head(ahem...Cindy).
13. The Vaseline on a stick is not to eat(ahem...Cindy)
and ....
.1-Running a half is fun,hard,rewarding,and awesome!!!

After the race

The 3 crazies with the orange medals ran the full marathon. They did awesome!

3 old friends

Me and Cindy. We trained together for this whole thing. It was a fun time. Even though we complained about getting up early, and having our Saturdays ruined by long runs. This race was so different than my last one I did. It was hilly, and really hot. It was by the beach which was beautiful and the crowds were amazing. They had bands along the streets. My favorite part was that they had our names on the bib. So people would yell your name out. It was awesome. I had fun even though I didn't beat my last time. A wise girl told me that every race is different and you can't compare them or your times. I ended up finishing at 2:24. My goal was to beat 2:22. I am still bugged because I trained way better than that. Oh well, I finished and I can say that I finished 4,390 out of 7,026. I'm thinking my next half will be Park City or San Fran. Both would be amazing.

Me and Him

I'm not photogenic. I don't practice smiling in the mirror like some people do. I became very nervous when our photographer told me she was going to take pictures of just Luke and I. Who was going to keep the kids out of trouble when we were getting them taken? I had visions of the kids getting dirty and killing each other while we sat there and fake smiled for the camera.

Yes he looks gigantic here against me. We are a foot apart in height.

Now I hate pictures like this. I get very uncomfortable. Luke does too so we just stared at each other and laughed at how old we are getting.

Luke and I don't get a chance to take many pictures together. I love having them. Makes me happy, even if I do have a double chin in the last one.

Family Pictures 2010

I don't really like getting pictures taken. They stress me out so bad that I become a crazy wife. Just ask Luke. We have never paid a professional to take our family pictures. I always had too many excuses:
1.I'm fat
2.I don't want to pay the money
3. The kids are too young and will run around everywhere
4. I didn't want to pay the money and have it be outdated in a year since I knew we weren't done having kids

Now that our family is done I would love to get them done every year. My kids are growing up so fast and I want to have pictures of our family together. After some recommendations I decided on a photographer. I picked the beginning of November because I wanted it to be cooler. We got so lucky that day. Why? A big wind storm decided to come and make taking pictures so awesome. Also Noah decided that he wanted to cry the whole time. AWESOME! Of course my craziness comes out and Luke can tell I am not happy. I was so nervous about the pictures because I thought there was no way she got any good ones. I was so wrong. I love them and am so glad we did it. Since I will eventually turn this into a blog book I am going to post a lot of the pictures in different groups.

We sent this picture out with our Christmas card. My grandmas called me when she got it and was very worried about us being under a train. Don't worry people. It doesn't work.

I love this one because Noah is crying, Parker is doing who knows what, Sammy is covering up Noah's face, and the rest of us look normal.

This was the last shot she took so the kids were a little restless.

More to come!

Sledding 101

We promised the kids we would go sledding while we were in Utah. Being from Vegas we have no snow clothes. Not even gloves. It's sad, I know. I remember the last time we did the snow thing the kids were miserable after 20 minutes because they were wet and cold. I was determined to find snow clothes for all my kids. After days of hunting down every item of snow clothing I found them for all the kids. We were set. The kids were excited to go down grandpa's awesome hill he has for sledding. We get to Utah and there is no snow on the ground, like not even a patch in their backyard. The kids were sad, and so was I. I worked my fanny off getting stuff for the kids, and we were going sledding!!

We went up the canyon and found a perfect spot for beginners. It was so much fun. I really don't like sledding. I had an awful experience in college. It was bad and I haven't done it since. I am proud to say that I did it. It might have been the bunny hill but it was awesome. Here's a picture to prove it:
Everyone else had a blast.

The 3 older kids are at really fun ages when it comes to this kind of stuff. No one cried except for this one:
He hated being in the snow so Noah and I just sat at the end of the sledding path and watched everyone go down. He loved that part.

Parker loved doing snow angels
Sammy loved eating the snow
and Nicholas was pretty much obsessed about sledding. Him and his cousin Sterling were having competitions. Nick was in heaven even when he face planted it.
Proof that he did like being out there, as long as he wasn't touching the snow.
Now, I am so not a snow girl. But I loved being there and seeing this beautiful scenery. It also started snowing while were there. It was pretty cool.
The happy family. Would they be this happy if mom didn't get them all snow clothes? Absolutely not! I am such an awesome mom.

Christmas 2010

Every year Christmas gets better and better. The kids get older and really get into all the fun traditions we have. I really love it. I love the above picture of all the kids lined up all ready to see their presents Santa brought them. They already knew because Parker woke them up by telling them what they got.

Noah was not happy with us for waking him up. Look at that bottom lip. How can you not resist kissing it all the time?

Santa brought Nick his beloved Flat Hat. For the last 2 months all he has wanted was this. I guess it's the new thing now for kids at his school. Really? I guess my kid is gangster now.
Sammy got a little make up set. She loves it, maybe a little too much. I thought it would be used for play but she really thinks she needs to put it on every morning before we go out. I'm okay with it now since it's winter break. There will be rules once school starts again.
Parker got a Green Razor. He loves it.
I had to put this next picture in because it shoes how crazy Parker is. Click on the picture and look at his eyes. Freaky!!! He was so excited to get his little skateboards.
I love Noah's face in this picture. He loved his new toy.
Santa surprised me with a beach cruiser and Luke with a mountain bike. I have always wanted one and I loved the one he picked out. After much thought I realized a mountain bike would be more practical. So I have to say goodbye to my cute little bike. Sniff sniff.
It was a great Christmas.