Tea Cup

This place received its name because it looks just like a tea cup! You walk down slick rock just a short way and arrive at moss covered rocks (that are very slippery). Then you slide down the rocks into a cup of water. It's deep and shallow, perfect for all skill levels.

Alex was TERRIFIED to slide down the rocks, and pretty proud when he finally did it.

Kazh, looking down into the jumping hole

Kazh in mid-air - a little scared!

Success!! And, Happy!

Look at these boys faces, they love it here.

Colton jumping. I snapped the shot too soon and caught just his feet! (see top left of photo)

p.s. Bailey likes it too.

Left Hand - with Blaize & Kazh

Left hand, again and again.....

YAY, WATER!

Almost there....

You're getting it Blaize!

SUCCESS!

Colton and Blaize gave each other high fives in the middle of the air here. Unfortunately Blaize landed on his belly in the water :( Knocked the air right out of him. He recovered.

Love these little faces!

Family Reunion - Summer

I love my family reunions.

Colton playing the acoustic for the cousins

My beautiful niece Jessica

My seester, Tadan

My bro, Brandon

My favorite cousin, Cyd

Slippery slide.

Bailey on the far right is considering it, but really just wants her agaba back (that's the name she gave her pink ball which appears at the bottom of the blue portion of the slippin slide)

I apologize to anyone who feels left out from these pictures, my hubby had the camera and was taking the shots.

I regret to say there was a tragedy the befell me during this vacation. I woke up that Friday night with several big breaths filling my lungs. When we returned to our home, our beloved Meow Meow did not. I don't know what happened to my princess but I do not think she is a part of this world anymore. I believe my body knew it that Friday night when I kept waking up for gasps of air. Since her disappearance, I have been told that coyotes are often seen.

Meow Meow was the one who would wake me up in the morning 'starving' and meowing at me, begging me to feed her immediately even though she weighed more than Bailey. When she was done with her breakfast, she would wait by the front door and lick her front paws until someone let her out. She refused to go through the dog door. Even when the roof was off of our house, she had to be let back in via the front door. She was my onery, stubborn, Meow Meow and I will never find another that could ever replace her.

Left Hand - with Jackson

Left hand, why not right hand? Because when you hike up this awesome little mile and a half trail,

you follow the left hand fork in the creek...and you get to,

THIS!

We like it here!

Colton and Jackson attempting the slippery slope up the waterfall

Zander (Alex's neighborhood buddy), Bailey, and Alex

so much fun!

Colorado River

This summer we were blessed to have my nephews join us. One week we had Jackson, the next week we had Blaize and Kazh. This is us, spending time on our boat on the one and only Colorado River.

Colton (13 yrs old) and Jackson (12 years old) in the kayak.

and another....too bad the scenery is so ugly...

Kazh (7 years old) and Alex

Me, Bailey, and Alex's right eye.

Bailey 1.5 years old

Alex 7.5 years old

Colton (yes, he is rowing the 16 ft raft!)

Blaize (10 years old)

Last but certainly not least, my handsome hubby (I made him smile for the camera)

Okay, I lied. ONE More of everyone, but me.

Graduating Boys

I am so proud of my two boys. Alex is moving on to 2nd grade this year. His performance at the Charter school was awesome. Shanon had to work and I got to be the lucky bear who heard this handsome person sing. He sang right to me, his eyes never left mine. I cried. How lucky am I to be this little mans mom. Had we not come on vacation to Moab in 2007. Had I not chatted with the man behind the counter at the Rock Shop, had I chose to not listen to my sisters and given him my telephone number, had he not called, this day would not have filled my memory banks. It's the little steps, the little things we do on a daily basis that could alter our lives forever. To get to be Alex's mom, is to say the least, AMAZING. P.s. Alex found a clip on tie to wear just like his older brother.

Now, Colton. He filled his last term report card in 8th grade with straight A's. He looked so handsome that graduating day. I am so proud of how far he, and I have come since I had him fourteen years ago. I love watching him turn into the man that he is becoming. What a light in this world (especially when I'm not around hahaha).

Nothin like Grandmas Lovin'

Momma love is good, Grandma love is better....

Grandma Millie Behrman

I had the opportunity to share Banana Creamsicles with this beautiful and fun 90 year old woman two weeks before she transitioned to the next world. All three of my kids were able to say hello, and goodbye, with a kiss on her warm soft cheek. The younger kids played with the wrap around curtains in her room while Colton and I listened to her reminisce about her years in Buena Vista and Leadville, Colorado where she graduated from high school. She looked forward to seeing her husband again. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about her life.

I held her hand almost the entire time I was with her. I love her so much. There is not a memory I have of her without a turned up smile spreading wide across her face, happy to see and chat with whoever was walking through the door.

I made a porcelain doll for her once. I called it Millie, after her. Belief it or not, I found it in her home. I looked through so many dolls that she has collected over the years which she loved dearly. I found it in her sacred bedroom of all places. She must have loved me too.

I was happy to hear that my mom was with her when she passed on June 23rd. My mom was holding her, washing her as she got sick on herself. My grandma wondered why she had to be so sick, she was a good person and a devout Jehovas Witness. My mom was there as her mom looked up and saw two of her friends awaiting her. In moments she was gone.

My mom was there.

My sister walked in only moments later, there for my mom.

What a blessing.

I love you Grandma, you are such a role model for me as a mom, and potential future grandma. I will always remember your exuberant smile and laugh. I can only hope that people remember me the way that I hold you in my heart. I do not mourn for you, because I know your spirit is not gone forever, but has only transitioned into another form, in another place.

I love you Grandma!!

Garden 2011

We planted the garden on Mothers day. The last frost passed last week ( I hope I don't have to dig up my Tomatoes!) I planted six of the twenty plants I grew from seed. We also purchased several varieties of peppers, watermelon, raspberries, blackberry, and snap peas. The snap peas don't mind the cold and they have been in the ground growing for months. Everything else was faithfully taken inside each night it got a little frosty, until that is this last Sunday.

It amazes me how this:

Can go from holding a little seed in its hands (above), to this:

Playing in the garden with the Bailey and Alex (above and behind the kids) to this:

Bonus picture (below) of the plant behind the Blaize and Colton:

Maters, Maters, Bo Baters

I can't even stand it another second! I LOVE planting from seed. I have exactly twenty four tomato plants growing on my kitchen table (as well as daisies and various wild flower seeds). I take them out every day to get the sun that they need. That is of course unless it's super windy, or cold. The last frost is still approaching, I'm sure. I have watched them grow from a tiny seed to a hairy sprout. Now they have at least their second leaves. Which mean that I get to plant their spindly trunk in dirt up to the first leaves. This trunk will now become a solid, strong, root system for them. I know I can't keep each and every plant. That would take up my entire back yard. I also know I don't have it in me to pinch any one of them off from life. I have to give them a chance. Thank god I can't (or don't) fertilize my own seed this easily otherwise I'd have children all over the damn place.

To think that a tiny, minuscule seed can be placed in soil, and watered, and shown the great big glowing ball in our sky, and watch it slowly change every day into a living, breathing, organic life form that in turn will produce fruit that I can chomp into and have it drip all over my face is AMAZING!! What?? I am completely enthralled with the entire concept. One of my plants appears to be cradling the seed in it's hands. It still holds the seed in it's leaves. The plant has not quite given up its home. It brings tears to my eyes to fathom this miraculous creation.

I was watching these beings yesterday morning. I was contemplating the seed of thoughts, that eventually, if fed the right food, turns into action, resulting in an outcome of some sort. Whether it be good or bad. There is a seed in every action. There is the beginning of every outcome, everything that ever was or is, is the result of some seed planted, watered, fertilized in the soil of our minds. The sun is the attention that we shine on that thought. The water, the food, the fertilizer is the stream of thoughts that we surround it with. Whatever we feed our thoughts will produce fruit that we can literally sink our teeth into and hold in our hands.

I am completely and totally committed to researching this further and seeing how far I can take this in my own experience.

Half Marathon

Here I am, at mile marker 8. Can't believe how fast it flew by. Both the race itself as well as the training. I am so proud of myself. I love my sister, Gay for saying 'YES' when I asked her if she wanted to do the half with me back in December. I wanted her to say 'No, too busy, too much going on.' But no, she said 'Yes,' and here I am. (Notice that she is not running next to me). In fact, at this point in the game she is long past the finish line, sipping on water, and eating a sandwich perhaps. Unfortunately, half way through training Gay hurt her knee and decided it wasn't in her future to go through knee surgery. Can't say I blame her - glad she chose wisely. She finished the 5 mile in under an hour.

I have to give kudos to my family too for sticking by me through thick, and thin. On days that I did not want to train, Shanon was there to pick a fight with so that I had an excuse to get out of a run. On Saturday mornings, once the long runs took over our whole afternoon, Colton was there to go on about something or another while Alex rode his bike next to me chattering all the way. Bailey loved the long rides, until we hit the 9 mile mark when the wet diaper couldn't hold anymore, or her little toes got tired and would rather run. Shanon was a trooper the whole time. I love you hubby!! I love my kiddos!!

All in all I've lost about thirteen pounds total, with sixteen more to go to reach my goal weight. My finish time for 13.1 total miles was 2 hours 30 minutes. That's an average of about 11 minutes 40 seconds per mile. Slow, but average I suppose.

This race is definitely dedicated to my wonderful family o' five. I love you guys, even when I'm extra special tired and start to get cranky.....a.k.a. you know what I'm talking about wink wink (I'm sure my mom remembers from when I was a child). I suppose that's another post for another time.

Changes....

The holidays came and went really fast this year. Christmas Eve, Shanon and I were just finishing up wrapping presents and I looked at our small stack of goods and looked back at him and said, "That's it? That's all we got for the kids?" He gave me a reassuring smile and a hug and said, "Let's just enjoy each other, and have fun." My stomach felt kind of sick. I am used to the money I use to make. Spoiling Colton rotten when he was littler than Alex is now. Spending at least $700 on him alone! Now, here we are with no more than a couple hundred dollars worth of Chinese crumb for three kids. I was sad, looking at our tiny pile on the floor. I thought about arranging it under the tree in a way that you couldn't tell there was only a couple handfuls of presents. Shanon got a nice tool set, and we all got lights for our bicycles. Now we can ride at night and be seen by the cars.

We have to be very specific when we get something because we do not have room for excess. Plus, I'm that way anyway. If I dont have a spot for it, I will not get it. The one and only thing I wanted was running shoes (more on that later). There are no running stores in Moab, of course not in Moab, so I wrote myself a note - from Santa of course - and stuck it on the tree 'help yourself to a new pair of running shoes' so that it wouldn't throw Alex off the belief in the Clause.

The next day, Christmas morning Alex woke up excited to see what Santa brought. One look under the tree and he exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! We got a TON!" A smile ate my heart up in that moment, and a few moments later when he opened one of his presents which was socks. "YES! NEW SOCKS!" He says. "Thank you Santa!" he hollered up into the sky. What a little charmer. He is different than any kid I've ever met. He is simple. He isn't really attached to anything. No new toy really gets to him the way I've seen them get to other kids. He's amazing to watch how he responds to 'things'. He is a great photographer so Santa brought a cute, inexpensive, digital camera. Colton, although he wasn't here for Christmas because he was with his dad, was also pleased with his new cell phone and bike lights. Bailey was happy with her bumble bee pillow pet.

New Years was pretty uneventful unless you consider our sweet Boston Terrier, Trogg Delight, who threw up his supper and jumped over the barrier in the laundry room to get inside the house because he was afraid of the fireworks. Poor baby. We have to keep the dogs in the back room at night unless we want to find our shoes, or a stuffed animal in the backyard in the morning...yes, they are two and still chewing our stuff up. That night, however, we let him sleep under the wood stove - away from the scariness.

A couple of nights ago we caught Stormy on fire. Stormy is our black widow eating beast of a chicken. She's the best huntress around. We thought the chicks were going to get cold at -8 degrees so we put a heat lamp in the coop. The next morning we found our girls backside with burnt feathers : ( so terrible. Fortunately she will be okay - and she is still laying eggs. It's incredible how much better our eggs taste than the eggs people buy in the store. I boiled some today - they were so tasty! We have about four dozen in the fridge even after making a habit of eating eggs for dinner at least once a week, which doesn't include the breakfast eggs we make.

I did something a little crazier than I like to admit myself as doing. I signed up for a half marathon on March 19th. Then, I realized that it is thirteen point one miles of running! At the time I signed up for it I could barely run a mile. My dear husband has been so supportive of me. I am up to four miles at least every other day, with the days in between running at least thirty minutes - which for me takes me another two and a half miles. My sister, Gay, and I will be running as 'Angels in Sneakers.' I really have enjoyed it. I feel so good when I get done with a run. I should have started this years ago! In fact, I bought my heart rate monitor when Colton was one and a half years old with the intention, and the desire, to run. I've been watching people run for years and saying inside my head, "I wish I was running, I really want to run, I should be running...." and on and on. Tomorrow will be my first six mile run.

I thought that if I could work towards a goal other than weight loss maybe it would help. I have twenty pounds to lose in ten weeks. I realize only now that I have to incorporate weight training as well as running. It almost doubles the calories I can burn.

Last week we painted our kitchen cabinets a beautiful turqouise blue. A neighbor friend of Colton's said it best when he walked in the other day. He said, "It makes it feel happy in here." Thanks Josh. You can be my adoptive son.

Our family at least is off to a great start this year and I hope everyone has a great 2011!