Little Surprises

So once the boys started school, I got to work on making our backyard looking nice again. I've planted a bunch of Perinnials and shrubs that once mature should look great. Anyways, the girls and I were at Lowe's getting some plants and Claire found on the plant a HUGE snail! We were both so excited. ( I knew this snail was going to entertain Claire for awhile, she loves any kind of animal or insect). So, we went back to the plants and found hundreds of baby snails just hanging out on the plant deck where they water the plants. We walked out of there with as many snails that would fit on Claire's arms. Know when we go to Lowe's the kids all want to come and are pumped to find more snails. It makes it nice because I can spend as long as I want at one of my favorite stores without the complaints. If only Bella was as interested.... she's my little escape artist.

This is not a skunk with Bella! Bandit was in need of a haircut. :)

Back to School they go!

Bryce's hair looked better than that I promise. :) ha ha.

I had forgotten to take the camera with me on Cameron's first day of school which was a few days later and had to use my cell phone. I have no mini cable to hook up to my computer so that's why I haven't posted Cameron's first day. But, it's of him and his scooter all excited for his first day. I remember as we're walking to school he kept talking about how fun school was going to be, but when we got to the school grounds his face looked a bit scared and he said that the school was looking bigger to him and that maybe he could come back tomorrow. He was feeling a bit apprehensive until he hit the playground. He's also learning Spanish and is constantly telling me how FAST he can count to 20 in Spanish. (Everything Cameron does is fast!) He has yet to have any homework and hates it. I've assured him that he will be bumbarded with homework soon and it will last for a very loonnngg time.

Bryce the big 2nd grader likes his teacher Mrs. Martinez. She seems very nice and structured. He was so pumped to see all of his classmates again. (In the bilingual program they keep the same kids together year after year, so he's formed some close friendships.)

So, it's just me and my girls. I know they're enjoying the attention and we have a pretty good routine going. They usually get up with me and the boys at 6:45 am. I've set a goal to have scripture study while they eat breakfast. I'm so surprised at how it's become routine and the kids expect it. We're reading the Book of Mormon right now and will move to the Old Testament once finished. It's been a great way to start the day and I just want to thank all of you parents out there who have been such a good example to me and motivated me to do this. You know who you are. :) I truely feel like we're putting our spiritual armor on for the day when we read the scriptures.

AUGUST RUSH!!

Sorry fam that I haven't caught up on my posts lately. I have so many busy hands on projects going on that I have to force myself to sit and do this. Ok, so August started out with a trip to Wet-n-Wild in Anthony, TX. I haven't been there since I spent my 15th b-day there. :) Mom, do you remember how fun that was? ha ha) Jesse and I took the kids and split up most of the day. I stayed with the little ones and Jesse and Bryson hit the big rides. I had a great time in the wave pool. Would've sat there all day. At the end though I watched scared to death as my husband and 7 year old went down "The Screamer." Bryce may look physically tough but to me he still seems so young to go down such a scary, steep slide. It's six stories high and basically a straight shot down. But, he did it and wanted to go again. Jesse asked me if I wanted to try it and at first I immediately said "NO WAY!" But, the more I thought about it I thought, you know..I have gone bungee jumping. If I can do that then I can definitely try this slide. When we finally got to the top it was windy and it had a skinny wrap around walk way to the tower. (Not a good mixture to ease someones nerves). I made Bryce go first and he was sweet. He told me I should cross my arms, keep my legs open and don't open my eyes! I took his advice, although I couldn't help but open my eyes after coming out of the tube making my way down the straight down slide. I quickly closed them and screamed like a little girl!! I felt 10 years younger when I hit the bottom with all of the adrenaline rush that I had. It was amazing!

Jesse has been one busy "travelin" man. I think he's been gone just about every weekend except a few from one event to another. So this was Jesse & Abe's 3rd Dust Ball Rally Race. They picked up a new passenger Sam. So the three brothers ended up in Las Vegas, NV. Even with all of the hick-ups along the way, it looks like they placed first! Again! It's too bad there's no cash prizes because we would be cashing in! Anyways, the boys had a great time, but were very tired when they got home as you can imagine. When the brothers are together sleep is not a necessity. :)

Bella's #1

I'm about a month late posting this I know, but better late than never I say. ;) Anyways, so my youngest turned the big #1 on July 23rd. I'm always a little bit on the bumbed side when all my kids turn one. I so enjoy the little baby stage and so when they turn one it's always a slap in the face of how fleeting time is.

Bella is such a joy to have in our family. She has such a magnetic personality, she watches people intently and then tries to mimic them whether it's laughing when we do or dancing to the Wiggles. If we're in the car and a good song comes on she gets so screams because she can't get out of her car seat to dance. So she'll just wiggle her head side to side and arms. The first thing she does when she sees Jesse in the morning is touch his leg and run while laughing so that daddy will chase her down the hall. She knows that daddy equals FUN! As far as talking...she says mom & dad word of course and she is just constantly babbling something out. It's so cute. She'll babbly something to you over & over until you finally acknowledge her and then she'll be satisfied with that. We LOVE you so much Bella!

Painting with pudding

It's been awhile since I've let the kids paint with pudding. It was a hot summer day, too hot to go outside. The kids wanted something junkie and were bored so this killed two birds with one stone. This was Bella's first time and once she figured out that you could eat it, it was "all over." No pun intended. :)

Adventure on a whim!

This summer I haven't made too many plans except to have as much fun as possible! As a kid summer was all about bike riding ALL day, gardening, mowing the lawn (yes, that was one of my favorite things...now with allergies, not so much) and bug collecting. A few days ago I woke up and had no plans, but I just had to get the kids out of the house and away from ALL of the electronics. I didn't feel like hauling everyone to the swimming pool and wanted to do something different. So, I decided to take the kids hiking up to Dripping Springs. I have been wanting to do stuff like this all summer, but just haven't had the chance or the will to do it. :) Last year when Jesse and I tried to do it we just couldn't make it up to the top, but I was determined to make it. I loaded up the double jogging stroller, some WATER and snacks and away we went. We also wanted to collect some bugs while there as well and boy did we find the jackpot of Butterflies. The hike was about a 1.5 mile hike on a constant up hill slope on loose rocks. It was pretty tough at times. My legs and back were on fire! After about 1 1/2 hours of walking we made it up the trail to the springs. There wasn't that much water, but we didn't care. I was just glad to have set a goal and reach it. I think the kids learned that lesson also because both Cameron and Bryce remarked about how they wanted to turn back lots of times, but if we would've done that, we would not have found our butterfly "Goldie." Cameron kept telling me how proud he was of me for catching the butterfly. He's so cute.

Going down the trail was much easier. It only took us 30 min. Here's a snapshot of that.

It was a great outdoor adventure.A huge lizard we found on the trail. Bryce wanted to take it home, but there was no way we could catch it. It took off running on its hind legs. Not that I would want to take it home anyways. :)

It's getting hot! Time to wet the kids down a bit. I guess this is one of the old cowboy "resort" buildings. One tired group. Finally we made it! Bella's asleep in the stroller. Dripping Springs. Not much "dripping" going on, but it's still beautiful. This is the start of our 2009 bug collection. We're still gathering bugs from home and will add to them at the reunion. We actually had a few more, but their bodies weren't intact enough for display. :)

A new milestone witnessed

So Bella has been threatening to walk for a few weeks now and the other day she did it! She turns 11 months on the 23rd and she is just loving her new mobility. It's like a game to her. If she falls she immediately picks herself right back up to try again. She'll say ah-O and I think she's trying to say ball. But, the only downfall is that Bella in all of this has also found her voice! That girl can really pipe out the yelling when she wants to. Half the time she does it just to fit in with the rest of us or if she's defending a toy. Anyways, just wanted to give an update. It's always amazing to see a milestone. It's like witnessing a miracle.

The father he is...

Has just been named King Daddy and loving it! Admit it Jesse! :)

Don't say I never got you a tie! HA!

The Kings loyal subjects bowing down! Byson later asks in a concerned tone, "Do you think Heavenly Father will mind if we worship dad?" He's so sweet.

The other day I was trying to get dinner on the table and the house picked up all while juggling kids who kept trying to ask for snacks and/or fighting with one another. I was just about to lock myself in my bedroom when to our rescue DADDY CAME HOME! That is one of my favorite parts of the day! The kids' face lights up and suddenly they become angels and all is well. Most every time the kids go and hide and Jesse will say, "Where are those kids!" Claire always pops out with "HERE I AM!!" (Doesn't quite get the "Hiding" part) and then of course he'll find the boys, tickle them all or wrestle and then we'll all sit to a nice dinner together. That's just a little example of his fatherhood abilities. I knew when we were dating that Jesse would be a great father. This year we're starting a new tradition for Father's Day. It all started with Claire referring to Jesse as "King Daddy" from the Standing Tall audio book series, Happiness. So, I thought it would be funny to make Jesse King for the day and so I made him a King's Cloak with a dressed up Burger King Crown and a golden staff. The kids got a kick out of obeying so easily and Cameron would ask Jesse if he wanted his back scratched or anything else. So sweet. Well, Jesse was a good sport like he always is with my costumes I make him wear. We love you sweetheart! I'm sure thankful for you!

Reunited with my boys!

10 days has been the longest amount of time that I've been away from my boys. I started out feeling a little weird and like I was forgetting something. Then, I submersed myself into my little 3 and 10 month old girls' world and had a good time with them. At the end of the week I think we were all feeling a little anxious and ready for the boys to come home. Thank goodness for daily blog updates from Connie and nightly phone calls. Claire's sleeping rhythm surprisingly went down the deep end. I don't know how many times she'd wake up in the middle of the night or wake up asking for her brothers. It was sweet, but sad for her. I met Connie in Albuq. after a nice visit with my mom and we stayed at a Hotel for a few days to enjoy one last who-rah together. When I saw the boys they came running towards me yelling "HEY MOM!" like a kid who's just had the best time ever and wants to tell his parents all about it. I couldn't help but get a little choked up when I saw them.

We swam all day Friday and then stayed at the park until it was dark. Then Saturday we took the kids to the awesome Explora museum. With 9 kids in toe we did get a lot of "are these all your kids?" and stares. For the most part they were all well behaved and not too much of a handful. ha! :) What am I saying!

So, thanks Connie & Ben (and Abe for driving them in the first place)for an exciting & fun "Sowards Cousin Camp." Let's do it again sometime! Ha ha. For anyone interested check out Ben & Connie's blog for a well told description of Sowards Cousin Camp; there's some funny stories there.

April showers brings May flowers

Having multiple children makes time fly. Especially in the summertime. I was sitting here thinking "man, I need to catch up on my blog while I'm two kids short this week" and it took me awhile to put all of my thoughts together. Too much to tell, but don't want to bore you with the details. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

So, yeah if you look at Ben & Connie's blog you'll see the updates she's so graciously providing to Jesse & I. It's nice to be filled in on the latest happenings while our two boys Bryson & Cameron hang out in Utah with their cousins. So far so good, but man does Connie have her hands full. I trust that she's getting help. :)

As much as I miss the boys I'm very much enjoying my special time with the girls. I'm able to read more to Claire and some to Bella. We've tried to make some felt beaded necklaces and then we went swimming, but Bella was not in the mood to swim in the ice cold water unlike Claire so we watched poolside. Other things like baking cookies and just sitting and watching the girls play and frolic around reminded me of my days with just Bryson & Cameron when we lived in Oregon and a life that was simpler. It seemed like my focus was more on them and not everywhere at once. It's hard to remember the last time I just sat with the kids without having something in the back of my mind tugging on me to get up and do or to be somewhere else. So, this change of pace has made me realize what makes me truely happy and that it's ok to just sit and hold your children. I already knew that, but had lost that perspective.

The kids have really been neglected the past 2 1/2 weeks. I was making a special movie/documentary of my mother for her 60th b-day and there was A LOT of material to go through. I spent every free moment of my time working on it plus I stayed up til 2:30 am every night and then got up to get Bryce off to school. I didn't want a nap because that would be time I could be working on the video. So, needless to say I wasn't a fun person to be around. Then to top it all off the day I was going to leave to head to Artesia the video wouldn't publish! I missed my nephews graduation trying to figure out how to get it done, but there were some corrupt files,etc and so I showed up empty handed and heartbroken. So, I'm still trying to get it done, but am working on it from time to time on a different program. Such is life right. It'll get done mom I promise.

Like I said earlier, this month has been full of "go here, go there." The boys are both in baseball, but on separate teams this year and so Monday thru Thursday we're at the baseball fields. It makes it difficult to feed a family dinner. I do enjoy watching them though. Cameron is so cute in his over sized uniform, out diving for the ball. I think if his pants don't have grass marks on them he's disappointed. Summer is going to fast, looking forward to slowing it down a bit.

Claire turns 3

Claire talks numbers with Cameron all the time! So, when she turned 3 it wasn't an adjustment because she's been saying that she's 3 for like 6 months now. Anyway, she's a big girl now (completely potty trained for the last few months) with a sweet and spicy attitude all at the same time. From time to time if she's in the other room I'll ask, "What are you doing Claire?" She always replies "Anything." That's about right. When someone does something wrong towards her we'll say sorry and she quickly replies in her dramatic way, "it's too late!" So, we've really been trying to teach her about forgiveness. :) She still walks around the house with her shirt off before or after bath time and has her head tilted back so that her hair seems really long. "Look at me's hair mommy! It's LOOONNNGG! and beeuuful." Last but not least, you can always tell if she feels sorry for doing something because she'll immediately say, "I nove new." She'll also say it out of the blue when you don't expect it which makes it special to hear. Claire...love that girl!

Triathlon Pictures

Glutton for Punishment!

Sorry about the long post, there's a lot to tell about. When I told my mother I was going to do a Triathlon those were her exact words, "what are you glutton for punishment?" Well, although it all seems like a distant memory I did finish my first Triathlon last weekend! To be honest I never thought I'd be able to do one because it seemed as though history was going to repeat itself like it did after I had Claire. I was going to compete in one 2 years ago, but go the stomach flu the night before the race. This year, I got the stomach flu AGAIN, but luckily it was 5 days before the race, but it still made me think, "is this a sign or what!" The morning of the race was just beautiful. We were at White Sands Missile Range just below the Organ Mountains on the east side. It was a nice crisp morning, calm, perfect for a race. At least, until I got on the bike.

Starting off on the run....I told myself that I would be happy if I ran 29 min for my 3.1 mile. Well, I was able to make just below that at 28:37. The run was fairly tough, it felt like half of it was at a constant uphill climb. I can remember coming into the transition where my bike was and seeing my dad, Jesse and the kids all lined up cheering for me. It made me choke up (but I had no oxygen to cry). :) Then, there was Karen with little Bella and Greg waiting for me at the bike with some water. I passed on the water and got on my bike as fast as I could so that I could make up some time.

My front gears were broken so while going downhill I couldn't get into the gear to go super fast so that's when a bunch of people passed me. The bike....was very tough! At first I was really enjoying it (except for the pain of being in constant motion) and finally made it to the turnaround point at about 15 K. Well, the wind started to pick up big time! There was nothing I could do! I was so far away and felt like I was never going to get to where I needed to be. My legs, back and neck seemed like they were on fire, I had emptied my water bottle and just felt at times like this race was never going to end! But, you find the strength to push through it all and little by little the buildings got closer and I finally made it back to the transition point after what seemed like forever.

Ahhh, water.... I cannot tell you how good the water felt when I got into that pool! It was warm (almost too warm) and I could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. From then on it's all pretty much a blur. Finally the race was finished! What a relief! I just remember being really out of breath, but so happy that I completed it! I will so do this again as horrible as it was at times. I enjoyed the challenge. Preparing for this race has helped me in so many ways in my life. It's helped me be more disciplined, it's given me an outlet from the daily grind and it's just been nice having that butterfly feeling I used to get while competing that I haven't had since College. I missed that excitement. So, I finished 1st in my weight class and 2nd in my age group. ( I think there were only 4 people in my age group.) :) ha ha. The lady who got the fastest time was in the 50-54age group. Amazing what some people can do.

To Jesse, thanks so much for encouraging me and making me feel like I could do this. Plus, for getting up with Bella the morning of the race even though I know she wasn't a happy girl. Karen & Greg, I appreciate you giving the older kids a fun slumber party at your house the night before and making the trek out there that morning. I know it wasn't easy "waiting" 2 1/2 hours for me to finish. I asked Claire if she enjoyed the race and she said, "yes, but no more mommy. Never again!" She was bored I guess. :) Dad, thanks for supporting me in all that I do. You left your house at 3:30am to help cheer me on and that means so much to me. And last but not least, June & Janet, thanks for paving the way. It was nice to call up someone who has completed one of these killer races and get advice. Love ya'll. Life is good.

March: In like a Lamb, Out like a Lion!

Weekend Renewal

March, like many of came and went ever so quickly. Among all of the other events that went on in the later posts one that I would like to place special emphasis on is our trip to the Albuq. Temple at the end of the month. The Albuquerque Temple obviously is special to us because that's where Jesse and I were married and I'm so thankful that we live close enough to visit from time to time. Jesse parents were there already and offered to watch the kids while we did a session. Thank you again Greg & Karen for doing that! I always feel closer to the Lord inside those walls. Just what I needed. Afterwords we were able to spend the night with my mom and Larry and had a good time. We made the usual trip to the History Museum which the kids just love and then ate at our favorite Italian restaurant. (see the "time out for women" post for the name...I can't remember it right now) We had a great weekend even though we couldn't escape all of the wind (which hasn't stopped). I suppose you have to take the good with the bad though. The wind blew down all of my pretty purple hanging jasmine flowers, but helped my trumpet vine sprout leaves. Such is life. :)Thanks again Beth for showing me news ways to wear the "Sling Pea" you made me. I'm getting to enjoy it longer than expected!