Jacob and Morgan Family

The Summer We Didn't Stay in Taos

2011-07-31T20:26:00.024-06:00

Wow! We have had such adventures this summer! We just got home from a fantastic family vacation: reunions in Idaho and Oregon and then a week of camping in Olympic National Park, WA. It was SO nice to be able to spend time with family. We loved seeing everyone. So here's a bunch of pictures, starting backwards.

While in Olympic Natl. Park, we were able to use our passports (a first for our marriage!) and take a day trip to Victoria, British Columbia. Here's a view of the harbor. We took a ferry from Port Angeles. Very neat to watch all the boats and sea planes. Victoria is a bustling, beautiful place!

My kids are so photogenic. You take this gorgeous picture spot and...well, just look at them. Good thing they're so lovable. They did so well on our Victoria day. We had to leave camp early to catch the ferry. The boys especially loved walking around outside the ferry. We had the most beautiful, sunny, warm day and all got red faces to prove it! We went to an undersea aquarium and then walked the kids all over downtown Victoria: souvenir shopping, waffles at "WannaWafel" (coolest restaurant ever! Can we get one here?), beautiful Beacon Hill park (Victoria has such gorgeous flowers EVERYWHERE. It's amazing), childrens' farm and petting zoo, and out to dinner. I can't believe we did so much in one day. You would think the kids would have crashed on the ferry ride back to Port Angeles. Nope. They were bouncing off the walls! Too fun. I hope we can go back someday. There's still so much to do there.

Keiger actually took this picture in front of the Parliament Building. Pretty impressive, eh? Does it look like we hadn't showered in days?

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic Natl. Park. We were so excited to be able to climb up here and see the Olympics--if only the weather would cooperate. From our campsite miles below, it looked as if all the mountains were socked in with clouds. Thankfully, we took a chance and drove up anyway. One corner before we reached the visitor center, we literally climbed above the clouds and had these amazing views. SO pretty, especially with all the wildflowers, which you can't see here. Sorry. The kids loved climbing the trails, especially since they got to play in snow! Everybody loved seeing the deer all over. It was so cool to be able to look down on the clouds. Wish the pictures did it more justice. Definitely a highlight of the trip.

This deer must have really liked our van.

Any trip to Washington wouldn't be complete without a stop in Forks. Time for the Twilight tribute! Here's Bella's truck, the one and only from the movie.

Had to wait for a chance to get this picture. Forks and Port Angeles were hiliarious with "Dazzled by Twilight" stores. Forks had a big black Twilight bus that took you on the Twilight tour. Should have got a picture. The visitor's center had life size pictures of the characters all over. Should have gotten the "TEAM JACOB" license plate.

Hoh Rainforest, Olympic Natl. Park. Mosses; ferns; huge, tall trees; slugs everywhere. But no Bigfoot. Next time.

Camped at Kalaloch Beach, WA for a couple of nights. The kids could not get enough of the beach. Good thing it was just a few minute's walk from our tent. And it pretty much only rained during the night, although if anything got wet, it took FOREVER to dry out. So much moisture in the air. Check out the boys' air. Nice.

Ruby Beach, WA. Finn was the only one who'd pose with me. Well, I made him.

Kids loved throwing rocks into the water and exploring around the sea stacks. Sage got trapped in a little sea cave. I looked in to find her standing on her tiptoes on the last wee bit of sand that wasn't covered by waves yet. Her shoe got wet while she escaped, and yes, it took two days to fully dry out.

Discovered tide pools full of sea stars and anemones. Too fun to explore.

Kalaloch, WA -- We love the beach!

Lincoln Beach with the cousins. Could not get Keiger and Talon to leave! All the kids got soaking wet and had a blast.

Berry picking outside of Salem, OR. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries....a dollar a pound! I'd move to Oregon just for that! We got to visit the Smiths during our time in OR. Great to see them and their darling girls. Thanks for the heads-up on happy hour for pie. Yum.

Island Park, ID Young Family Reunion. Sage knocked her head on the bottom of the hot tub, and her tooth fell out! I will write a book someday about the funniest ways to lose a tooth. Sage keeps coming up with them. Great to see everyone at the reunion. And that's just a few of the pictures we took. We had such a good time on this vacation. We're all so grateful we were able to go and see all the family and let the cousins play together. Great memories. We love our family.

More Lagoon fun with Luke and Logan this time.

Cars 2 party with friends. Painted a cars mural; played "pin the lightning bolt on McQueen;" the kids all got a car frozen in ice--they had to thaw it out (most kids just sucked on it) to get to the car. Then we all went to the movie. We all took up most of the theater too! We were quite the crew.

Boating with friends. Way fun swimming in the lake!

I LOVE SUMMER!

2011-06-26T15:32:00.013-06:00

Jacob ran his first marathon! Hurray!

It's official! Summer is finally here, and I am in heaven! Sleeping in (as much as Finn will let me), lazy mornings, nowhere we have to be, no packing school lunches or homework, lots of splashing in the kiddie pool out back...heaven! We are loving summer! Here's a hodge-podge of our goings-ons.

We enrolled Keiger in a British Soccer Camp this summer. He pretty much plays soccer with Jacob everyday, so he was pumped for his camp to start. The camp is run by a group of young British coaches who have fantastic accents. It was really cute, I mean cool. Keiger loved Coach Adam. I loved hearing his coach call out, "Good job, Kee-guh!" and, "put the balls in the socca-locka." Keiger did really well and is quite a good player already.

Sorry, I forgot to rotate the picture. Once school got out, I headed up to Utah with the kids for a little vacation. We went to the fish hatchery. This was Finn's first time fishing and you can imagine him flinging a fishing pole all around. It was pretty funny.

My mom and I had so much fun with the kids at the Lagoon. They were all over that park! Sage is a ride-maniac! By the end of the day, Keiger had become really brave, too, and tried all sorts of fun rides. We didn't leave until 10 p.m., and only because the park was closing. Too fun.

Riding Zip at Mackenzie and Lance's house in Boise. Sage did great riding all by herself. Baby Addy was born just a few days later!

Sage turned 7 at the end of May, and we celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa's. Sage was excited to get just what she wanted for her birthday: an electric pencil sharpener! She is so funny!

At the end of the school year, Sage had a Girl Scout dinner to bridge from being a "Daisy" to a "Brownie." She was so proud to get her new brown uniform, and she looks darling in it.

We camped at Pagosa Springs, CO again this year. I still can't believe how filthy the kids can get while camping. Finn was literally covered in dirt. Probably because he just rolled around in it. Jacob also ran his first trail marathon and finished 5th overall. Seriously, he makes it look easy. Heather and I ran the 1/2 marathon and had a fun time. We've discovered this run/walk method that is wonderful.

Denver

2011-04-03T13:33:00.015-06:00

Last week, Jacob had a training for work in Denver so the kids and I braved the busy freeways and joined him for a few days. I have no idea what we would have done without a GPS (a.ka. "Miss Yelley") to help us get around. I was pretty stressed by the crazy busy roads and was so thankful we made it everywhere we wanted to go safely. And we did get to explore some great places. Denver is a cool city.

The kids were fascinated by the Downtown Aquarium. Keiger was a bit nervous at first, but he summed up the guts to touch a starfish with Sage. Sage was so excited to see a macaw since her class has been studying rainforests. When we were resting in the lounge after going through the exhibits, a trainer walked by with the "Miss Molly," the macaw and had her perform some tricks. What a treat.

Just a short walk from the aquarium is the Denver Children's Museum. Too fun. The kids had a blast in the bubble exhibit and ran, climbed, and slid all over areas decorated like forests, only cushoined. They loved shopping in the pretend market. Finn did a great job painting and even stayed pretty clean. I was impressed.

We also got to visit the Museum of Nature and Science, which is GINORMOUS! The GPS took us on a crazy route right through downtown to get there. It was nerve-wracking, but really neat to see neat landmarks like the Mint and the Capital Building. I'd definitely like to go back and explore someday. Anyway, the museum was overwhelming with so much to see and do. The kids enjoyed the animal displays, dinosaur skeletons, and I think they were grossed out by the mummy exhibit (they sucked the brains of dead people out of their noses! Eww!). There is a great view of downtown from the back of the museum, as well as geese to chase and a fun playground (my kids' favorite).

Sage loves learning and has a memory like a sponge. She loved reading whatever she could about all the exhibits we saw. Several times she surprised me by telling me the names of different animals and facts about them, like how the Lionfish has poisonous spikes. How on earth does she know all this? From what she's learned at school and from reading "101 Freaky Animals." Who knew? She certainly taught us a lot about some of the animals we got to see.

I think Finn had the most fun of all playing in the bathtub at the hotel. He could have stayed in the water forever tinkering with plastic cups.

We were able to spend a night at Kent and Rolayne's house, which was very nice of them. They were darling with the kids. When we asked Sage and Keiger what their favorite part of trip was, they both agreed it was getting to go to the Sellers' house.

So it was a super-fun trip. Too bad Jacob had to spend so much of it at his training, but we're proud of his hard work and thankful for the chance we had have this little getaway.

Spring Fever

2011-03-20T20:41:00.006-06:00

Lots to catch up on. The last couple of months have been pretty busy with some neat activities. We've been able to have some wonderful trips to the temple for friends and family and have had chances to do some fun things with our kiddos.
Sage and I met my mom for a girls' weekend in Albuquerque to see "Wicked." Fabulous! We had such a good time--even stayed in a hotel that had a waterpark. Sage was super-brave and tried the wave rider!

Give Finn a paintbrush and look what happens! He loved having his hands painted and got such a kick out of smacking his face with his hands. He also ate a bit of paint. Big surprise.

We drove up to Twin Falls over Sage's spring break to see Mackenzie and Lance sealed. Wonderful day. I spent the rest of the week in Ogden. Sage and I went skiing at Snowbasin with my dad and had a great time. We did start off with a bit of an adventure--didn't exactly pick the easiest way down. Thankfully, Sage got over that trauma pretty quick and did so well. She says she learned how to go fast!

We also took Keiger skiing this year. Here he is at Sipapu, where he mastered the "magic carpet" treadmill thing that takes you to the top of the learning slope. He didn't want anybody to help him--he just wanted to go! He did a great job.

Firsts

2011-01-03T06:43:00.004-07:00

We’ve loved getting wonderful pictures and letters from friends and family. What great reminders of the remarkable people who have touched our lives. It’s been such a wonderful Christmas vacation, just the blessing I needed to help slow down, simplify, and just be with my family. So apologies that this letter is late in coming. Since it is our FIRST time writing a New Year’s Letter, we figured we’d dedicate it to our family’s…
“Famous FIRSTS!”

SAGE
-Lost her first teeth! Drama! Drama! Drama!
-Started first grade and has her first chance to do homework. Thankfully, she has yet to have her first bad day at school. She loves it, especially being the first one to get her work done and among the first to finish her lunch so she can go to recess early.
-First year in Girl Scouts. She is the cutest little Daisy and proudly recites the motto.
-First summer riding bike without training wheels and first time swimming by herself.

KEIGER
-Turned four and had his first birthday party with friends. He has got to be the first kid to have a Buzz-Lightyear/Motorcyle party. Pin Buzz on the motorcycle is quite the game.
-Probably the first little boy to use such delightful phrases as, “Oh, my goodness gracious!” and “Awesome Possum!” He’s also the first to ask me if “goodness sake” was another name for Santa Claus. “You better watch out for goodness sake!”

FINNEAS
-First of our children to show us what it really means to write on walls and get into EVERYTHING. He’s the first to discover that he can carry the bathroom stool around to be able to reach whatever he can get his hands on.
-First to scare Sage and Keiger (okay, me and Jacob too) just by throwing stuff at them. When he raises his hand to throw, all of our hands instinctively cover our heads to protect ourselves. He’s got a good arm. I often see Keiger or Sage running away from Finn and screaming, “He’s gonna throw that at me!” Finn’s also the first one-year old I know who likes to get hit by snowballs.

MORGAN
-Ran first half-marathon.

JACOB
-Took Keiger and Sage coyote hunting for the first time.
-First year without shooting an animal in 7 years. So sad.
-Ran his first half marathon trail races where he placed 4th and 13th overall.

THE WHOLE FAM
-First trip to Disneyland where Kei rode the Matterhorn for the first and probably last time. Traumatic.
-First broken well, boiler, refrigerator and toilet overflow/flood all in one week! Then the garage door broke for the first time 1 weeks later. We had to laugh about it.

Hope the first of 2011 is great for you! This has got to be the first time we’ve written such a cheesy letter! Much love, Jacob, Morgan, Sage, Keiger & Finn

A Mouse in the House! And some pumpkins, too!

2010-10-24T13:25:00.008-06:00

Aaack! Yes! I was watching a movie the other night when a mouse (ugh!) scurried out from behind the T.V. stand! It took a couple of nights to finally catch it. I was still in bed when this lovely picture was taken--I would never have let the kids near the thing! Keiger thought it was sooo cool the mouse's eyes were still open in the trap. Yuck!

Anyway, October has been full to the brim. Jacob's grandpa passed away last week so he has been in Oregon for the funeral. The Primary Program was this morning. We got through it with no injuries so we can all breath a bit easier. The kids did great.

We've been busy each weekend with some fun activities. Last week, we drove into the middle of nowhere New Mexico to McCall's Pumpkin Patch. It was so worth the drive. What a darling place! It was like barn amusement park: hayride to the pumpkin patch, bouncy houses, rubber ducky races, petting zoo, corn maze, a big ol' trampoline jump thingee that I want in my backyard, and more. We could have stayed so much longer. It was so fun.

We had an "It's the Great Pumpkin Pajama Party" last week--made yummy caramel apples and listened to "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Kids had fun and it got them hyped up to ride the "It's the Great Pumpkin" train in Durango yesterday. We met my parents and all boarded the narrow guage train and rode for about 30 minutes to an area where there were all sorts of games, music, trick-or-treating, and a pumpkin patch maze. When Keiger saw Snoopy, he literally bolted from us and ran right over to him. He was so excited. We looked hard, but didn't see the Great Pumpkin. Maybe next year. Poor Linus.

Sage is dressed as a dalmation, by the way. Yes, their costumes are fairly hilarious this year.

So Jacob and I went to our first adult Halloween Costume party this year. The theme for the costumes was "famously dead." Think about that for a bit. Too fun. Anyway, I went as the scandalous Cleopatra and Jacob made a great Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter. There were some great costumes, but seriously, by 10 p.m. I was so ready for bed! I can't handle late-nighters anymore--could I ever? We've been lucky to have a good year with pumpkins in the garden. The kids, Sage particularly, were excited to pose with some of them.

Happy 1st Day of Autumn!!!

2010-09-22T20:52:00.004-06:00

Hurray for Autumn, our favorite time of year!

So I've been doing a preschool playday for Keiger and one of his friends twice a week, one day at our house, one day at the other mom's house. It's been great fun. Couldn't resist putting in this photo from "BUG" day.

Goings-On

2010-09-19T20:37:00.002-06:00

So I finally took the Hunger Games icon down, but, seriously, if you haven't read those books yet, you need to. Jacob even read them. And he liked them. Since our TV broke last July, and we just haven't really thought about fixing it, we've been doing a lot of reading at night. It's actually been really nice.

So about a month ago, I noticed a bottle of "no-scent" body wash in the shower and could only think one thing. Yep. Hunting season. The time of year Jacob lives for. He drew an elk and a deer archery tag this year, and, in a word, it's been...frustrating. "Lots of elk. No good shots," as Jacob says. He has until Wednesday before his season closes. We'll see. I keep telling it's going to be just fine if we have to get meat from the grocery store. He's not convinced.

We've decided to tear apart the yard again. Why not? No really, we've been wanting to get rid of some lilacs around the house that are just unwieldy and kinda ugly. It's turning into a big project, but once it's done, we're satisfied that the yard will finally be finished!!! Yippee!

Yesterday, we made our annual trip to the raspberry ranch. We've been waiting for the berries to come on, and I must say Sage and Keiger are good little pickers. They had a good time helping out, and we came home with plenty of berries to freeze and make jam. Yummy!

So Finn is completely unlike our other kids. He really is everywhere and into everything! Non-stop! I'm exercising in the family room the other morning, and I come into the kitchen to find that Finn discovered a measuring spoon and had been scooping dirt from an indoor plant and carrying it over to dump on the couch. So there's this trail of dirt across the kitchen floor and a lovely little pile of soil on the couch. He was so pleased. I have a feeling this little guy is going to keep us busy!

Finn's 1!

2010-08-23T14:25:00.003-06:00

Happy 1st Birthday, Finneas! Finn celebrated his first birthday last Friday. Too bad he’s had a cold and has been a bit grumpy. The kids made him a great cake, we played some fun games outside, and Finn watched as Sage & Keiger opened his gifts for him. Of course, he enjoyed smearing his cake all over. Too fun. Finny is seriously such a goofy little guy, but he is so endearing that you can’t help but love him, especially us. Ever since he started to walk, he disappears into another room for a while and usually reappears with the toy stethoscope around his neck (he really likes that) or somebody’s toothbrush that he’s probably swirled around in the toilet a few times. We are all so grateful for Finn in the family.
School started last week, so it’s back to early bedtimes, lunch-packing, and new this year: homework! Sage loves 1st grade already and says it’s even better than kindergarten.

We did manage to squeeze in a little adventure on Saturday. We all packed into the truck and drove up past Red River on this narrow, bumpy, bumpy, bumpy, long dirt road to Goose Lake. The lake was pretty, but we hiked up above it to the ridge of the mountains where we could look down onto Taos Ski Valley. It was beautiful and at 12,000 feet, the highest the kids have ever been. It’s also where Jacob wants to do his deer hunting this year. So is that why we want on this hike?

Trip

2010-07-30T06:42:00.006-06:00

So we’ve been out of town for what seems like forever…nearly all of July. We were able to go to Idaho for Jacob’s cousin, Kendra’s wedding. Very nice to see all the family there. Then we went with Jacob’s parents and Justin & Maile’s family to a cabin near Park City for a little reunion. The cousins had so much fun together, and Shawnee planned some really cute things for us all to do…for the kids of course, although I’m pretty sure Jacob really enjoyed crazy hair day and learning a dance for Hawaii day. He was into it. And we all saw plenty of moose on our 4-wheeler rides.

The following week, we left the kids with my mom and went with my dad on his annual backpacking (“extreme-hiking”) trip into the Wind Rivers. There were 14 of us in all, quite a fun crew. We hiked in nearly 16 miles to a beautiful area, way up high. The Winds really are spectacular, especially high above tree line where it’s just rock and snow here and there.

As you can imagine with Jacob around, we hiked a lot and fished. I hadn’t fly-fished in two years and it is still just as fun. We found some fun spots and caught quite a few. Jacob even tried his hand at bow-fishing (yes, he packed his bow in. Are you surprised?). You should have seen the boy scouts who were with us. He had quite an eager audience when he tried to skewer the fish with his arrows. No luck, unfortunately. Yet, the scouts are completely in awe of mountain-man Jacob, and I’m sure they want to grow up to be just like him. In the midst of all of this rugged, manly activity (there were only 2 of us girls on the trip—and seriously, I was most glad to get home so I could have a little privacy. Trying to find a private bathroom spot with 13 other people camping around you can be a wee bit stressful! Anyway…), I still found time to read...a lot. There was one rainy day that gave me plenty of time to relax and read some good books—among my latest favorites: The Hunger Games and The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. Both very good.

And even though one of the scouts prayed that we would see a bear, another year went by without a sighting. I’m okay with that.

Here is a picture for all the "wildlife" enthusiasts.

Doings

2010-06-28T11:20:00.007-06:00

Jake had another half marathon trail run a couple o’ weeks ago in Pagaso Springs, CO so we made a camping trip out of it. The kids had a blast. Amazing how quickly they can get filthy! Jake did well in the race, finishing 4th, a bit behind Brad, who got 3rd. Seriously, they make this look too easy.

Williams Lake

We took a hike up to Williams Lake last weekend. It turned into an entire day trip we had so much fun. The weather is so much cooler up there, and the kids could have played forever by the water. Finn loved being in the back-pack. Surprising, I know, but he thought it was the best to be in there as long as he could find something to suck on. Sage also made friends with the Camp Robbers. Maybe she really will be a vet someday.

Wheeler Peak - highest peak in New Mexico 13,161

Bless his little heart. Keiger came running out into the garage the other day to help me bring in the groceries, and he stumbled and fell, smacking his nose into the edge of the toolbox—so he has been sporting two black eyes for the past 2 weeks. They’ve gone from black, to purple, to greenish, to yellowish. Now it’s nearly gone, but I’m used to people staring at him and then whispering to me, “What happened to Keiger?” We forgot to get a picture when it really looked "good."

Can I tell you how much I love summer? I am having so much fun just being able to be at home without worry over getting to and from school at certain times. We are so mellow and loving it. Jacob’s soccer league has begun again, the garden’s going good, the library’s summer reading program is in full swing (Sage is totally into it), the plastic pool’s up in the backyard, and I’m usually am not even ready for the day until 11 or so. Life is good. We have time to just play.

Friends invited us and the other young families in the ward over to their ranch. Horses, chickens, four-wheelers, dirt, and “root-beerd.” Hmm…I think the kids had fun.

Jacob's Half Marathon

2010-05-30T14:27:00.005-06:00

So Jacob had his half marathon last weekend. We camped at Bandalier since it was pretty close to the race site in Los Alamos. I think we all learned that our tent is a wee bit too small for our family--especially with Keiger rolling all over the place all night. It's a wonder we give him a sleeping bag and pad, because he doesn't seem to use them. Anyway, Bandalier's pretty cool, just like Mesa Verde, only smaller. The more I learned about this half marathon, the crazier it was. It was a trail run basically up Jemez Mountain (lots of elevation gain) and then back down a ways. So Jacob has been training by running up a trail up a ridge behind our house. For some strange reason, he thinks that's fun. The last bit of the course was this crazy steep uphill narrow track that was formed by water running down these rocks. Does that make any sense? Anyway, it was steep and knarly enough that I certainly would not want to run up it at the end of 13 miles. In fact, I think I only saw a couple of runners who were able to run it without walking--Jake said he was using his hands to pull himself up. The morning of the race, we woke up early and Jake downed his peanut butter sandwich on the drive to the start. Brad and Brooke from the ward also ran, and the Leishers came along, so the kids had lots of buddies to play with while we waited for them to finish the run. I was mighty surprised to see Jacob power up that last hill so early--neither of us had imagined he would finish that soon. He finished 15 minutes faster than he thought he would and ended up placing 11th or 13th (I can't remember) overall. There were 280 runners. So I was pretty proud--and he was pretty tired. Brad and Brooke did awesome as well. I was quite impressed--that was a tough course and they are very good runners. One race down for Jacob. He has one more in a couple of weeks at Pagosa Springs--so we get another camping trip.

APOLOGIES for no pictures! I forgot to take the camera--horrid, I know. You probably won't be surprised to hear that Jacob just wore an old soccer jersey and shorts--no shorty running shorts for him. Although, his ankles have become super skinny from all this running! You have to see them. I couldn't convince him to let me make him a t-shirt to run in, so we cheerleaders made shirts for ourselves to show some support for Jacob, Brad, and Brooke. Those shirts deserve a picture, because I think they're pretty cool.

Here are some pictures from the run's website (Jacob)
The bottom of the mountian (looking downhill, around 3 miles into the race)

Starting the climb (around 4 miles in)

about 5 miles in

from the top looking down to Los Alamos 6.4 miles in

Sage turned 6 yesterday if you can believe it. I can't. She had a dog birthday party earlier this week before school let out. Lots of doggie fun there. What do you get a girl for her birthday when all she wants is a dog? And we're not getting a dog. Oh well. I think she's pretty happy with the alternatives she got. Sage did finish school this week. The kindergarten class had a sweet awards ceremony, complete with puppet shows and a performance on recorders. Sage received the award for "Best at Drawing Chickens." We're so proud.

We're in Utah right now to play, and Jacob is spending his free time in Taos searching for antlers. Must be summer.

Morgan, the Half Marathon Runner

2010-04-21T06:30:00.002-06:00

So we headed down to Albuquerque this past weekend for the long-awaited half marathon. Honestly, I was so ready to just run the thing and get it over with! The training over the past few months has been pretty crazy, especially since I couldn’t even run 2 miles around Thanksgiving. So I am pretty excited to know I don’t have to go running tomorrow and I don’t have to go on a long run…unless I want to, which may not be for a little bit. We’ll see. Anyway, the morning of the race finally arrived! It had rained during the night, so part of the course was muddy, which I thought was appropriate. We are from Taos after all: land of springtime mud and wind. But, best of all, the course was FLAT!! I couldn’t get over it! Seriously, there is pretty much nowhere to run in Taos that doesn’t have hills, and I was tired of them! I cannot emphasize enough the wonderfulness of running on FLATNESS. That made all the difference. That and I had a great buddy to run with. I really can’t imagine how anyone could do something like this alone, so I am very grateful for a friend who was willing to stick around by me through all this training and eventually the race. I won’t bore you with those minor details of how fast I ran or where I placed. Suffice it to say, we set out to run the whole thing, all 13.1 miles of it, and we did. I didn’t die, and the medical staff didn’t have to remove me from the race because I looked distressed (I was worried about that!). I am quite proud. And I’m Jacob’s hero. And I got a medal. Pretty good, eh? Thank you to all our cheerleaders, whether you were there or not, and even to those I didn’t even know. You really helped!
So now we look forward to Jacob’s crazy half marathon in the Jemez Mountains next month, which includes a lot of STEEPNESS. Not good. I am very excited to go, mostly because I don’t have to run it. Jacob is pumped, and I’m all about being a cheerleader. Any suggestions about what to write on his T-shirt for him to wear during the race? Yes, Jacob, you are getting one! Even if you say you aren’t going to wear it.
Sage has been losing teeth lately, which has pretty much freaked her out. You can imagine that she wouldn’t let anyone try to help pull them out—she would barely do it herself. It seems she would rather have the teeth dangle out of her mouth forever, as you can tell by the pictures. It was a little gross. Can you see her adult tooth already growing in? After a wee bit of drama, the teeth did finally come out, painlessly too. That was really important to Sage. And she has learned that the tooth fairy really does exist and pays a lot more than what I got when I was a kid.

Disneyland

2010-03-29T05:37:00.003-06:00

I am honestly going to try to be better at updating the blog. It’s been typical spring here in Taos: warm and sunny one day, snowy the next. On Saturday morning, the kids were outside in snow-pants and coats playing in fresh snow. By the afternoon, it had melted and the sun was shining. I think we’re all ready for spring. I put in a seed order for the garden and can’t wait for it arrive so I can start some stuff. The half marathon training continues. Jake is cruising right along. It makes me soooo proud and happy to see how easy this is for him. Just kidding. He really is a good runner. On the other hand, I seriously doubt my body was made for this running business…BUT, I will make it through the race in a few weeks…I hope!

We had a blast at Disneyland last week. Even Jacob admitted that he had more fun than he thought he would (that’s huge, by the way). The weather was perfect and our kids did so well. Finn was so good to just hang out in the stroller or our arms—I think he liked having so many people around. I do think we’ve freaked Sage and Keiger out about going on rides. After taking him on the Matterhorn, Keiger was afraid to go on anything, even the train. I kinda forgot about the abominable snow monster with glowing red eyes that pops out at you on the Matterhorn. We couldn’t have traumatized him for life, right? Sage put on a brave face, and went on pretty much all the rides she was tall enough for. It was pretty funny to watch her face. She’d be so nervous during the rides, but as soon as it was over, she would talk about how “awesome” it was. But if you asked her if she wanted to go on it again…no way!

So, if you had to get stuck on one ride at Disneyland, what wouldn’t you want it to be? Yep, we got stuck on “It’s a Small World.” Poor Lance. He told us he’d never go on that ride, but we dragged if along, and, or course, something went wrong with the ride and we were stuck. At least they turned off the music! Oh, and Keiger had to go to the bathroom too! It was pretty funny.
By the way, Keiger has just learned to pee standing up. I never thought I’d be so proud, but I am!

Ever since we got home, Sage has been coloring birds and hanging them up all over our bedroom wall to turn the room into “The Tiki Room.” I got them a CD that has the music from all of the rides at Disneyland, and they’ve been listening to “The Tiki Room” over and over again, along with the yo-ho-ho song from Pirates of the Carri-BEAN as Keiger says. Anyway, if anyone wants to take a trip to Disneyland, I’m up for it.

Sage as we were headed up the climb for Space Mt

After it was all said and done.

Finally a semi-post

2010-03-01T06:47:00.006-07:00

Believe it or not, we’re finally updating the blog - kind of. I guess things have been a bit busy. So…um…since we last wrote a few things have happened. We had a baby. Finneas. He’s really cute. Chubby. Drools a lot and loves to stick out his tongue. Finn is adorable & Sage and Kei just love him. Sage started kindergarten. She completely thrives on it and has such a great time. She has made sweet new friends and knows more Spanish than I do. Keiger continues to amuse us with his silliness. We got the kiddos new underwear the other day. You would have thought it was Christmas they were SOO excited. So, if you ever want to send them a gift you know what to get! Jacob and I continue to train for the half marathon. We hit the 8 mile run this weekend. This sure seems easy for Jake; I’m just a wee bit sore, but I am really amazed and proud that we’ve made it this far. I just posted a bunch of pictures to catch up on all our comings-and-goings.

Sage's Birthday and Mesa Verde

2009-06-10T06:33:00.003-06:00

For a while now, Sage has had her heart set on a chicken-themed birthday party, so as May rolled around, I found myself trying to figure out how to create a chicken birthday cake and a chicken piñata for her party. One of the sweetest and craftiest ladies in the ward volunteered to help me make invitations, so she popped over one morning and created the funniest rolling chicken cards. I still can’t get over them. Another friend owns the Baskin Robbins in town and invited me over to the store so she could help me with decorating the cake, which turned out pretty cool. We found pictures of chickens from coloring books, put a sheet of wax paper over them, and then traced them with buttercream frosting. Then you put the frosting pieces in the freezer. When the cake was frosted and ready, I just took out the frozen chickens, flipped them over onto the cake, and peeled off the wax paper. I think I had the most fun of all with that cake.

Bright and early on the morning of Sage’s party, I heard some rustling in her bedroom. When I finally got of bed, I came into the kitchen to find Sage ready for the big day, dressed in her homemade chicken shirt and a tiara on her head. While we were planting the garden a few days earlier, Sage had disappeared into the house. Come to find out, she was creating her own chicken shirt. If you look closely, you can tell she has glued or taped chickens onto the shirt out of macaroni noodles, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, anything she found on the craft shelves. She even wrote “chick” on the top of the shirt. Too bad the shirt was pretty thrashed by the end of the day. I’m glad she hasn’t asked anything about where it has disappeared to.

Sage’s party turned out to be really fun. The kids got into the chicken theme. It was hilarious to watch this row of 10 or so kids doing the chicken dance and shaking their tail feathers. We made chicken bags out of paper plates for the piñata loot and had a chicken egg hunt in the yard. Whenever anyone asked Sage what she wanted for her birthday, she would reply, “Two cotton balls glued together to look like a chicken.” Well, her request was taken seriously, and she received quite a few cotton ball chickens from friends at the party, as well as chicken cards, chicken stuffed animals, even a chicken-shaped sucker. Funny, I know, but I was actually really touched by the thoughtfulness and kindness of everybody. We’ve been blessed with really good friends here.

We spent Sage’s actual fifth birthday camping in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado with Grandma and Grandpa. What a cool, new place to explore. The park is full of ancient cliff dwellings formed by the Anasazi and later inhabited by the Pueblo Indians. We saw all sorts of ruins and took a neat hike to some petroglyphs, where Jacob saved Keiger from stomping over a baby rattlesnake. Keiger insisted that some an old cliff dwelling was actually a sandbox and was not happy when we made him leave. Sage had a great birthday. There was one “stuffed animal chicken falling off a REALLY steep cliff and getting lost forever even though we warned her not to dangle it off the edge” incident, but I don’t think she’s ready to talk about that yet. And we did get poured on as we hiked out of one site, which was pretty funny. Both kids did great camping, and I had to go the bathroom all the time, but what’s new?
Justin and Maile’s family came for a visit from Arizona this weekend. I LOVE that the cousins have so much fun playing together, so it’s great for them to have time to visit. We drove up to an Alpaca farm in Mora, which actually turned out to be really fun. The kids got to feed the alpacas and watch them get sheared. They got to take home a little baggie of the fur, and Sage is convinced that I’m somehow going to make a blanket out of it. We also explored a new state park and let the kids fish for a bit, but no luck. We had a really good time with them visiting and are excited for the family reunion in just a couple of weeks.

P.S. I think we have a new little pet living with the chickens!

Spring activites

2009-04-20T06:54:00.003-06:00

Sage has started her first season of soccer! It was cute to see how anxious she was about her first practice. “But I don’t know how to play,” she said. “I won’t know anyone on the team!” Well, that’s why you go to practice, we told her, to learn and meet the other kids. She has had a very fun time at practices, probably because she gets such yummy snacks. Her first game was on the Saturday before Easter, and it was sooo cold. It was a bit funny to watch her team play. Basically, wherever the ball was, Sage wasn’t. Except for kick-ins, when her coach put her in front of the ball and said, “Kick.” She was a bit timid, but she liked frolicking (that’s the best way I can describe her little jog/skip) across the field. It is fun to watch how easily the kids on the team have made friends.

Easter time has come to mean chick time around our house. Once again, we got three baby chicks, and they are pretty cute. The kids love to harass them. I think we’ve trained Keiger to quit picking them up by their necks. Our big chicken is still laying eggs, so if all these chicks survive, we should be good to go on eggs.

So Jacob finished his famous stint as a Roman Soldier in the stake’s Easter pageant. I took the kids down to Espanola to watch him in it one night. Apparently, they paid very good attention because the other night Sage comes running into the family room wearing a football helmet and a blanket draped over her shoulders. She’s carrying a tee-ball stand. Keiger prances in with underwear pulled over his head, a blanket over his shoulders, and a baseball bat. They had dressed up as Roman soldiers with helmets, cloaks, and spears. “Roman soldier, Roman soldier,” cried Keiger. Pretty funny.

I still cannot get over this next story. It is the hand of the Lord in our lives so evidently. I have been very anxious about Sage starting kindergarten in August, particularly since the baby is due August 15, so that is probably going to be a crazy time for all of us with lots of changes. And Taos does not have the greatest reputation for its public schools, especially in the higher grades where it gets a little scary. Sage is such a sweet, bright kid, I wanted her to be in a positive, nurturing environment where she’d be helped to grow and reach her full potential. So I was a concerned about where she would attend school. Anyway, there are 2 charter schools in Taos where admission is based on a lottery. Sage did not make it into the first school’s lottery held last week and was placed on a waiting list. I’d been praying about this a lot and just trusting that whatever happened, the Lord would help it work out best for Sage. So I was prepared for whatever may come, though still concerned that I would not be able to help at the school as much as I’d like if she ended up in the public school since we’d have barely had a newborn. Well, Friday was the lottery for Taos Charter School, and I called that afternoon to see how it went. I got a call back from the sweetest lady who was so glad to tell me the good news that Sage got in. Apparently, siblings of students already attending the school get some sort of priority in the lottery, so after that was taken care of, there was only one spot left and 54 applicants. And Sage’s name was drawn. I cannot express how overwhelmed with gratitude I was and still am. It’s just amazing, and I am so thankful to the Lord for providing us with this opportunity. I know He loves Sage and our family and knows our needs. This charter school is just minutes up the road from us, and I believe there is just one class for each grade. And now Keiger will receive a sibling priority when he gets old enough for school. I just can’t get over it. It’s amazing, and I’m so thankful.

Here’s a picture of what we woke up to Friday morning! Happy Spring! I had to pull out the snow gear that I had packed away. Sage went straight to the snow angels! And last of all, check out the sweet sandbox Jacob constructed in the backyard. I know this thing is going to get endless hours of use from the kids, especially our little digger, Kei, this summer, so I’m super-grateful to have it. Best of all, it didn’t cost anything to build! We just have to buy a permit from the BLM to go get some sand from somewhere by Dixon. A ten-dollar sandbox! I’m all about it.

Sorry

2009-04-07T06:19:00.003-06:00

Just thought we would tell you all, since no one really seemed to know we were pregnant, that no one really knew - except family. In fact I was cussed out - well not cussed, but you get the point - for not telling some friends in our ward just last Sunday. We just kind of told people if something came up, so needless to say if you didn't know, sorry, but neither did anyone else. ;-)

Funny kids

2009-04-06T06:26:00.002-06:00

As I write this, the kids are currently “hunting” around the house. They are shooting wild chickens and dogs with pencils. And they have emptied all of Sage’s toy boxes to make grinders to grind up all the meat. Lovely. Jacob has taught them well.

We headed in for our ultrasound this week. The kids were excited to go see “pictures of the baby in mommy’s tummy.” Sage has been expecting a baby sister for a while now, claiming that if it was a boy, she wouldn’t play with it. So after some searching, it was pretty obvious that we are having a boy. When the technician told Sage that the baby was a boy (she wouldn’t believe us), she was the picture of dejection. I wish I had a camera to capture the way her face fell and how she dragged herself out of the hospital. On the drive home, we decided to make pancakes for dinner since it was late. Sage remarked that when the baby is born, he could never have breakfast for dinner. She’s gotten used to the idea of a baby brother now, though. We’re just thankful that everything is healthy and well. The due date is still August 15th, right as Sage starts kindergarten and just before hunting season. I can’t imagine how crazy all that is going to be! Any suggestions for boy names?
Here’s a little Easter story. So the kids have been playing with their stuffed animal dogs a lot lately. Sage’s is named Emily, and Kei’s is named Puppy. One morning last week, they were playing vet with their dogs while I was getting ready in the bathroom. Keiger walked down the hall holding Puppy and said very somberly, “Puppy dead.” Sage then emptied a toy box, and they put Puppy inside and took him onto my bed. I then overheard Sage pull out some gadget that she said measures heartbeats. She told Keiger, “This will measure Puppy’s heartbeats, and when they come back, he will be resurrected.” Intrigued, I go into the bedroom to see what would unfold. Unfortunately, Emily, who had been keeping watch over Puppy, died too. So she was placed in a toy box as well, and we had two dead dogs on my bed. Suddenly, Sage grabbed both dogs and raised them above her head saying that they were lifted up to heaven. She then tossed onto the ground and said that we would see them again sometime. So funny. From the mouths of babes.

Oh, big step for Keiger this weekend. We took him to the store and let him pick out a new toy: a Mater book and a Lightning McQueen race car. When we got home, we threw his binkee in the trash. Keiger was pretty excited about this until we put him down for his nap. He pretty much cried all afternoon. And he cried for a good while before going to sleep last night too. We’ll see how today goes. As tough as it may be, I’ll be so glad to be rid of the binkee!

Ok, I can’t resist adding this. Right now, Sage is playing with a stuffed animal cat that moves and meows. She’s saying stuff like, “Ok girl, tell me about your universe and how you had kittens on Sunday.” Honestly, these kids crack me up.

I almost forgot! Exploding MILK! You’ve gotta try it (Don’t worry—nothing really explodes)! Pour a little bit of milk into a cookie sheet, just enough to cover the sheet. Then put a few drops of food coloring around on the sheet. Then put a drop of liquid dish soap onto a drop of food coloring and watch what happens. It’s so cool—you can see how different colors combine to make new colors. Way fun.

Lately...

2009-03-23T06:25:00.004-06:00

We are so loving this spring weather! It’s been nice and warm, and the kids have been sleeping in, probably because they’ve been running around outside so much! I love it! Jacob did drive up to meet us in Utah last week. We went with Grandma & Grandpa and Mackenzie & Lance to Salt Lake to see Disney on Ice. Ever since we got the tickets, Sage and Keiger have been quite excited to see Mickey Mouse ice skate. They were both a bit overwhelmed to walk into the huge arena with all the lights and people.

Sage loved every minute. She insisted that we stay in our seats so we wouldn’t miss the any minute of the show. Keiger pretty much cowered in Jacob’s lap the whole time. He did perk up when he saw Mickey Mouse and Peter Pan.

He’s remarked several times since the show that the monkeys from the Lion King segment “scare me.” I don’t blame him; they were spooky-looking. He’s such a goofy kid. The stuff he comes up with is crazy. We seriously need to make him a t-shirt that says, “HUH?” in huge letters right across the front of it because that is his trademark saying. One day while we were in the car, Sage started singing the words to “Mama Mia.” So now every once in a while Kei will sing what he knows of the song and ask, “Good song, Mama? Good song?” Yes, good song.
We also rode the Railrunner from Ogden to Salt Lake so the kids could have their first train ride. They loved it.

We also drove up to Idaho Falls to see Jacob’s Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of days. The kids had a great time playing with Alan and Mary’s kids. Who wouldn’t? Jacob and I still can’t get over how much those kids have grown!

Yesterday we went hiking with some friends down the bank of the Rio Grande where there are some natural hot springs. Both kids did a great job hiking. Sage is a wonderful, uncomplaining hiker as long as you tell her stories, so she knows just about every story Jake and I could come up with about our childhood pets. Anyway, Kei hiked down and rode the backpack up. The hot springs were so neat; I’d never been to one before. One pool was comfortably warm so we stripped the kids down to their undies and plopped them in. They had a ball! Kei, on the other hand, didn’t want to get in. Next time we definitely need to pack swimsuits and towels. We had a fun picnic lunch and even tried to fish for a bit. All of those kids were beat by the end of the day. It was soo nice to get outside! We’ve been trying to figure out what we want to attempt to garden this year. Jacob is planning to construct a greenhouse—there always seems to be a project to do!

Chicken Songs and Bunk Beds

2009-03-08T15:27:00.002-06:00

Sorry, no pics to post right now. I'm actually in Utah with the kids for a few days until Jacob comes up to meet us next week. You can tell I'm used to small towns because I was so stressed driving the busy freeway from Orem to Ogden. So stressed. I like little roads, even if they are dusty and full of potholes. One of the reasons we were shying away from the mini-van was because we weren't sure if it would be able to make it over all the roads in Taos. I still need 4-wheel drive to do my visiting teaching until all the snow and mud goes away...even then I'm a bit unsure. Anyway, Nani & Papa and Shayla came for a visit last week, and we had lots of fun exploring the town and hanging out. Dave and Jacob put up the new bunk bed, which has become the best new toy for the kids. They play all over it, and Kei has only fallen from the ladder once...so far! Sage is truly growing up. I can't believe she's sleeping on the top bunk. The other night, I was trying to come up with some ideas for storytime at the library the next day. The theme was on chickens, I asked at dinner if anyone knew any poems or songs about chickens. Sage came up with this great song about a chicken. It went something like this, "A chicken was jumping on the trampoline. She fell off!" The kids laugh. Then Kei adds, "Bump head!!" The kids laugh even harder. So the next morning, as I'm starting storytime, Sage jumps up in front of all these people and sings her chicken song, with Keiger's addition. All those cute storytime kids thought it was funny. We have been able to meet some really nice people through storytime. So that's what's new with us, unless Jacob has anything else to add from Taos.

Our fun

2009-02-09T06:27:00.003-07:00

Ok- so it’s been a little bit since we’ve updated this blog. It hasn’t snowed for a while and the weather’s been warm—I was so hoping for spring! Then it snowed 4 inches today, and more to come this week! We were able to take a little trip to Arizona in January to see Justin and Maile’s family. Jake had actually been planning this for a while since he wanted to be able to hunt with Justin, and the kids and I were more than happy to go! The other day, Sage told me it must be warm in Arizona and that if she were in Arizona right then, she would probably be jumping on the trampoline with Kelai. It was a really fun trip.

So we have been on the hunt for a larger vehicle. And from the get-go, I have been adamant that I am not a mini-van person. I have the mini-van stigma. So we have been looking into the crossovers, which are very nice, but also pretty spendy. And, seriously, all this car shopping has been giving me such anxiety! I worry too much. Anyway, we finally did find a great deal on a very nice new car, but I figured the Prizm needed a little tribute. I’ve driven that car since high school, and it has been a great little car for us. As I was driving it over to the dealership to trade it in, I thought about all the crazy stuff we’ve driven it through, and I was almost sad to see it go…almost. I will miss the 38 miles per gallon though!

So we ended our search for the new Young family car by getting a….mini-van. Yep, a Town & Country….mini-van. I can hardly believe it myself. And no one who noticed the car at church today would let me forget it and told me to start slicing oranges for the soccer games. What can I say? We decided to just test drive the van simply because they were so much more affordable than the crossovers, and the van actually grew on me, especially after we figured the price. So I told Jake I’d be happy with the van since now we’re able to save enough for Disneyland so he doesn’t have any excuse for us not to go! And the kids think it’s so cool that we could all sleep in the big black car if we needed to! And through all of this crazy car stuff, we are really just grateful we were able to get a larger vehicle that will fit our family’s needs.

Jake and I had actually had a date night this past week—our first in a while! We decided to try our hand at homemade sushi rolls. I heard they could be pretty tricky, especially the rice, but things worked out pretty good. I was surprised. This is what we called our sushi burrito since it turned out so big!
So I got the family to help me make a volcano just for kicks. The kids were freaked out of it at first—can you see it in their eyes? It took them a while to figure out what on earth was going on when the thing started fizzing.

Sage had a tea party with some of her friends the other day. They had a great time—any excuse for cupcakes and Jello!

Chistmas/Winter Fun

2009-01-05T06:51:00.004-07:00

What a fun Christmas we had! And we have loved receiving the darling Christmas cards and updates! I was too lazy to send any cards out this year. December seemed to be sooo busy, that I was so grateful for the holiday to come so we could just be at home. I stayed in pajamas for most of the time following Christmas, and it was heaven! We loved having a white Christmas, and have had plenty of fun in the snow already. We’ve received about a foot of snow today! It’s going to be hard to get back into the swing of things after the holidays and having family around.

Jake attempted to make tamales for Christmas Eve, and for a first try, they weren’t half bad. We’re almost real New Mexicans! And, yes, Sage did get a stuffed animal chicken from Santa. In fact, she ended up with 3, so there’s enough to share with Keiger. Here they are hugging their “chickee-bawks.”

We took Sage skiing again this year. On New Year’s Eve, we took her up to the practice hill at Sipapu where me, Jake, and my Dad just jogged beside her while she learned her balance and how to turn…sort of.

Then on New Year’s Day, we all headed up to Angel Fire and took Sage up the quad to the top of the mountain. The lift made her nervous at first, but she got used to it. She skied in between our skis since she hasn’t figured out the whole stopping thing yet. We had to keep close tabs on her! But we had so much fun! Sage loved it and kept asking to go faster and faster. I think we’ll hook her up to one of those ski leashes next time we go.

We got made fun of for missing out on the ward New Year’s Eve party, since I was half-asleep by 8:30 pm, but what’s new? Oh, Jake and my dad did end up finishing gate for the new fence. It looks great!

2009

2008-12-30T06:33:00.005-07:00

Thanksgiving, Keiger's B-Day & more

2008-12-08T12:09:00.008-07:00

Even though we weren’t able to visit any family, we still had a great Thanksgiving this year. We ate with some friends and their family, and it was fancy! All of the food definitely had a southwestern flair. I’ve never had such spicy mashed potatoes! I guess I should be getting used to hot food by now.

Once again, we ventured out into the woods to cut our Christmas tree. Thankfully, we had a wee bit of a snowstorm this week so there was enough snow in the mountains to be able to play. The kids got tired of looking for a tree pretty quick, so we sledded while Jake tromped around the forest. I don’t think he minded that, and he ended up finding a fantastic tree. Sage got pretty brave while we were sledding and decided to go solo. She had a few good runs…and a few good biffs. Jake managed to capture this sweet sequence on photo.

We were able to meet up with the Glecklers while they were visiting family in Albuquerque for Thanksgiving. It was really nice to see them. Jacob is seriously very cute, and such a good baby.

Ski season has opened here in Taos, so I’m super anxious to go. Even Sage says she’s ready to try again this year. Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Keiger celebrated his 2nd birthday this week. I can’t believe we have two-year-old! Kei was basically afraid of everything during his b-day. He was totally scared to unwrap presents, and there was no way he was going to blow out the candles on his front-loader cake. I’m glad we have a boy so I could finally create that cake!

Jake had meetings in Albuquerque this week so we stayed with him in the hotel and had a great time swimming and playing at the children’s museum. We also got to hang out with the Munns, which was very fun. Bailey is getting sooo big, and so pretty! She has such gorgeous eyes! We went to the River of Lights Christmas show at the Botanical Garden. Sage was so excited to lead us all around. She was running all over the place! And Beth and Chance were super kind to watch the kids so we could go to the temple which was really nice.

Oh, and if anyone cares, Chicken has finally started laying eggs. We just happened to look into the nest on Sunday and low and behold 3 eggs! It must be a combination of more food, light during the night (we rigged a heat lap up to keep the water from freezing) and the kids not torturing her.