Tired?

This morning I woke up and went to start down the stairs when I found this.....

At first I thought he was just laying on the stairs hanging out but then I realized he was completely out of it. I couldn't pass up some pics because it was far too funny but then we woke him up so he wouldn't fall down the stairs. I love that kids can fall asleep anywhere.

UPDATE

So I have been a HUGE slacker when it comes to blogging. I think just about every post says something about how I am going to be better and it never seems to happen. I have probably lost TONS of readers because of it. Actually I doubt that many people read my blog but for those of you who do, here is very shortened version of what has been going on.

In January, Steve moved the lab into office space. This was HUGE for us. At first I had mixed feeling about it but now over all I LOVE it. Steve has managed to completely replace me from working with him. This was no small task since he relied on me for so many different aspects of the job and we tried a few people in my place and it was a nightmare. So now lucky for me I just get to be a mom and I absolutely LOVE it!

In February, Jett turned 2. We didn't do anything big we just had family over for cake and ice cream. Most of my pictures didn't turn out very well though because a certain nephew, who shall remain nameless, kept flailing his arm into the middle of the picture. But here are a couple that are ok.

In March, I finally got some movitvation and started exercising! Since then I have even signed up for the Hobble Creek half marathon and I am planning to run the Top of Utah Marathon. YIKES! I am kind of excited and nervous about it but mostly excited as I have already seen myself accomplish things I didn't know if I could.

Also in March we had a family reunion in St. George. It was a TON of fun. The weather was beautiful and the company was great! The purpose of the reunion was to see a statue of Steve's great great Grandfather dedicated in the middle of the city. It was really neat to hear about all of the amazing things this man did.

In April I started taking a photography class. Not because I want to become a professional photographer or anything but because I wanted to be able to take better pics of my family. I absolutely loved the class and learned so much. That class was priceless and now I just keep practicing hoping that I am getting better. So thanks Jen for sharing your knowledge with me.

Also in April, Raleigh turned 5! I can't believe I have a 5 year old. Where did the time go?! His birthday was like the never ending birthday since we had like 3 parties. I think I would have loved this as a kid. A short story about his birthday is that on that morning I told him I had a special "machine" for him. He got so excited and kept asking where it was. I replied that I would tell him after he ate breakfast. He was so excited that Steve started saying that I needed to quit building it up because he was going to be mad and disappointed when he found out what the "machine" was. I just ignored Steve and kept telling him to be excited about the "machine." When breakfast was finally over we walked into the family room and Steve, my sister and I stood in a line and told Raleigh to get down on his hands and knees, close his eyes and then start to crawl through our legs. As he did we proceeded to spank his bum and laugh saying he had just gone through the "spanking machine" I didn't know how he would react but he completely LOVED it. He even asked to do it again and again. It was hilarious. That night when we were with family he even wanted to make a longer "machine" and do it again. We were laughing so hard because what kid actually likes that spanking machine. Anyway, we had fun!

Well that is an update of lives over the last few months in a nutshell. Who knows when I will post again but for those of you still reading, check back soon you never know I may amaze you and update again soon.

Ok I am in need of some help. I really want to lose the extra weight I have from the baby and from being lazy for the past few years but I am not sure where to start and how to keep myself motivated. I have tried to start an exercise routine many times but my motivation fades really quickly. I have been thinking lately about what motivates me to do things and have noticed that competition has been a lead factor in getting me to do many things and made me work a little bit harder on things I otherwise would not have done. So I was thinking maybe I could find a weight or exercise competition or start one with someone else. If anyone knows of something like this, would like to start one with me or just has any tips for me on this subject I would love to hear them.

Holidays

The last few weeks have been crazy for us with all the holiday parties and family events going on. So I will try to give an update of everything. My brother was able to come into town the beginning of December and we went to the bounce house with him. I didn't know how much bouncing I would actually do since I had just had a baby a little less than 2 weeks before but I was feeling good and went ahead and joined the kids and my other siblings in racing the obstacle course and climbing the everest wall along with just about everything else. It was a blast and I highly recommend this activity to anyone looking for a fun activity for their kids or themselves.

Me & Jett on one of the slides

Marianne and I

Steve, Raleigh and Mike playing arcade games

Jett thinking he is really playing an arcade game. (Look at the excitement in those eyes)

We also went to Temple Square to see the lights. It was really cold but fun to see the beautiful lights and temple with my family.

Raleigh had his preschool Christmas song program. He had been singing the songs to me for weeks but when it came time to sing them for the program he got really shy and would hardly sing.

Doesn't Raleigh look so happy to be here

As Christmas drew closer it was pretty much all Raleigh talked about. He was so excited and he finally really understood about Santa this year and it was so fun for me to see and experience his excitement. Sometimes I think I enjoy Christmas and get just as excited about it as the kids do. On Christmas Eve morning Raleigh came to me and informed me that we had to make cookies for Santa and that night we needed to sprinkle the reindeer food out in the yard so they would know where to find us. It was so cute. That night we went to Steve's parents house and had a wonderful Christmas Eve filled with a fabulous dinner, spectacular Christmas message given by his Dad, and fun gift exchange. On the way home that night it was fun to tell Raleigh and Jett they needed to quickly go to sleep because Santa would be at our house soon and if they were not asleep he would not leave them any presents. They definitely went to sleep pretty quick. Christmas morning came early at our house as we heard both of the boys awake at 6:20am. I loved watching Raleigh quietly come out of his room and look over the upstairs railing to see if Santa had come yet and then go back and forth between his room, our room and the railing trying to decide what to do. After a few minutes he came into our room and asked us if it was Christmas yet. We said yes and that he should go make sure Santa had left us some presents and check to see if he had eaten the cookies we left for him. He quickly ran down the stairs and you could hear him gasp as he notices the presents under the tree. I can't say enough just how much I enjoyed every second of this.

Cookies and Milk for Santa

Waiting to open presents

"Cool swords"

After making the kids wait patiently for about a half hour to open presents we finally all made it down around the tree. Jett was excited but still didn't really understand what was going on he just saw some things he thought were cool. Raleigh on the other hand couldn't wait to tear into all of "his" gifts. He would specifically look for the gifts with his name on them and if it was someone else name he would set it aside. The boys thoroughly enjoyed Christmas morning.

The Loot

Jack's not sure what is going on

When the presents all seemed to be opened I told Steve to go check the closet upstairs to make sure I hadn't missed anything. Little did he know what would be waiting up there for him. I surprised him with a blu ray dvd player. He had talked about wanting to get one and I acted like I was never listening, all with the intent to surprise him. It worked like a charm. He had no idea. It was awesome to see the look on his face.




My favorite gift from Steve was a homemade coupon book. Inside it had coupons for back massages, doing the laudry, cleaning the kitchen, dinner coupons, finding a babysitter for a night out etc. It was a great gift and I fully intend to use all the coupons. The rest of the day was spent at my parents house where we played games and opened more gifts. Steve and I both agreed that this was one of our best Christmases.

Other events or should I say incidents of the week include Raleigh smashing his finger in the door and later in the week falling off a stool at my parents house and cutting his eye.

The bruised finger is now more black then purple

For New Year's Eve we went to my parents house again to have a long, fun night of games and lots of junk food. I am not one to stay up late very often and I can usually fall asleep at the drop of a hat after 10pm but amazingly I was able to stay up until 3am. I also started my New Year's solution to get in shape. I had my awesome brother-in-law Doug, who just became a personal trainer in Idaho fit me with my own workout plan. so I fully intend to get myself in shape, lose all this baby weight and make myself look GOOD again. Wish me luck on this. Anyway, I wanted to wish you all a happy new year and I hope that 2009 is at least as good as 2008 if not better.