They grow TOO fast!

While cleaning out the girls' room, I found this green sleeper.  There is no little pink baby to add to the picture, but of course I had to put Claire in it!  There are no plans for another baby that we know of, but wow, how I miss Claire being the age she is in that middle picture.  So pudgy and yummy.

Okay, she's still yummy.  But just SO big and old now!  Why do they have to grow so fast?

Oh these kids.  I love them so so much!  I've been really stressed out with the job search and the move coming up, and I tend to take it out on them, which is awful.  So I've been praying for help and just really ENJOYING them.  It's been so great!

Also, I had so much fun on my trail run last week that I had to do it again yesterday.  Cathy joined me this time, and we had a blast!  I love that girl!  I treated myself to some Chilled Almond Berry Oatmeal at the Corner Bakery afterwards because I'm only going to live next door to it for less than a week, so I HAD to, right?  Right.

Good Life

Life is so great!  I'm really happy right now.  I love my Church calling SO SO much.  I have found amazing friends who mean the world to me.  Nate is legitimately applying for REAL jobs.  My babies are healthy.  My hip is healing.  I am learning how to stress less about my disastrous apartment.  We just paid our LAST tuition payment EVER.  We have not missed one day of scripture reading in 2014 with our family.  My babies are hilarious.  My hubby is hilarious.  Things are going really well!  Not perfect, but really well.  I see the Lord blessing my life daily.

I have been spending more time reading lately.  I always forget how much I adore reading!  I finished "A Return to Virtue" by Elaine Dalton and am now in the middle of "No Doubt About It" by Sheri Dew.  It is wonderful!  I'm not usually a big fan of church books (that sounds bad), but I am really enjoying Sister Dew's writing.  Highly recommend!  I have also been throwing in a few light chick flicks to keep things fun.

Clarence is as such a fun age right now.  Her personality is so awesome.  She is a complete riot.  She is so much like Cameron.  ALWAYS wearing some form of costume or being some kind of character or animal.

Lately

Lately...

I ran 9 miles yesterday.  It was insanely long, and I was really happy when it was over.  I had a bloody toenail, and I could barely walk afterwards.  But I. DID. IT.  I feel awesome.  Only 4 more miles to a half!  I can do this!!

The "get along" shirt.  The height different sort of ruined this, but it was HILARIOUS.  And it worked:  We told them if they would give each other a kiss and say I love you, then they could take it off. 

She's just cute.  That's all.

 

 

Someday I'll have a nice Christmas tree with color-coordinated gorgeous decor.  But for now, we get Spiderman and old milk.  I love being a mom!

 

I finished reading the Book of Mormon, so now I can slow down a bit on that and get back to reading novels again.  I just finished "Girl of the Limberlost", and it was really good!  Some of the most romantic quotes ever in that book!  I used to watch that movie when I was little, but I didn't remember anything about it.  I had NO idea it was a love story, too.  Now I'm reading "The Anniversary Waltz" and trying to finish up our book club book.  I love cozy Winter reading!!

Crazy Claire

Love this little munchkin to pieces, but she sure keeps us busy!!

"Mom, I didn't do it...!!"

So today Nate asked me to try and do the "Katniss Braid" on Allie.  Not too shabby for my very first try!  I'll work on it.

I ran 5 miles this morning with Ashley, and it was TOUGH.  Granted, it was a really steep loop, so we felt it on both the inclines and the downhill (running downhill is not as easy as you might think, it hurts!).  It was a good run, but it really made me realize that I have a LONG, tough road ahead of me (no pun intended) to get ready to run 13 miles!!

So....I showed Nate that house, and he LOVES it, too.  It is pretty much our dream house that is actually attainable (you know, not like the dream house with the indoor pool and movie theater, etc).  Sigh...

Who needs toys??

Make Up

I have always wanted to put makeup on my kids.  They have such perfect skin and gorgeous blue eyes, and Cameron has these insane lashes.  Well, it's a lazy Saturday.  We're just sitting around watching BYU football while Daddy's at work.  So....

They turned out gorgeous.  I'm jealous of my kids.  Like really jealous. 

Mama Roo and Running Love

Turned around to find Roo like this:

Haha, well atleast she's pro-breastfeeding, right?

 Sunday Morning Bath.  Nate got released from his calling, so after a year and a half, I finally have a husband on Sundays again.  Bring on the pancakes!!

I've been in sort of a rut lately....just a bunch of little things all coming together to make me feel crummy.  Happens every so often, and I know it'll clear out soon, but it's still never fun to feel yucky.  Staci, Ashley and Sarah have been wonderful to me, and I'm so grateful for their friendship every day.  And of course, Nate is always supportive and let's me vent to him and does something dorky to make me laugh.  And I miss DeAnn.  A whole lot.  I wish we were next-door neighbors.

Anyway, I'll end with something positive and super cool:  I hit 50 miles on my dailymile log!  I am really proud of myself!!  It has been fun to track my progress, and it has definitely helped keep me motivated to get my booty out the door in the morning.  I'm still really slow, and I probably always will be, but hey, atleast I'm runnin'!!  The cool thing about running is that if you stick with it consistently, you begin to see improvement FAST.  I'm hoping to attempt a 5-mile run soon, and for me, that's unheard of!!  Never done it before!!  Just a few weeks ago, I couldn't even run a mile without feeling like I was being tortured....and now a 2-3 mile run feels relatively easy.  Our bodies are so amazing, and I'm always surprised at how much they are capable of if we push past the pain and mental blocks.

Just do it.  No excuses.

Bring on the next 50 miles....

I'm feeling better already.

Clairasaurus or Clairadactyl?

When I came home from my trip, I went to Cam's room and found he had hung up all of his favorite projects and pictures on the back of his door.  Apparently he ran out of tape.....haha!

Just Stuff

On Saturday morning, we had our annual court Easter Egg hunt.  Roo was HILARIOUS.  She ran faster than I've ever seen her go, and she knew exactly what her mission was!  It was a beautiful morning. 

After the Hunt, we had a Relief Society Birthday lunch.  Our wonderful Stake President spoke about 5 topics:
*Trying
*Tithing
*Temples
*Testimony
*Thanks

Then a couple who has 5 children, spoke about budgeting and parenting.  It was a lot of really great advice.  It is amazing to hear stories of how the Lord blesses young families when they do their best to follow Him.  After that, we did a service project and ate a delicious lunch.  It is always so nice to sit and visit with my friends.  I'm so glad Nate was home so I could just go and relax!

Nothing else too exciting has been going on.  Just the usual around here!  I ran 2 miles this morning, without stopping.  I can't believe how much more I can do than I thought!  Having a running buddy sure makes all the difference in the world!  I feel SO GOOD.  Already can't wait for Wednesday morning!!  I REALLY need new running shoes though.  Signing up for the Dirty Dash was kind of pricey though, so there went my shoe allottment.  So I've been selling some things to try and earn the money to buy them.  I could just use our savings, but I like pushing myself to earn them.  I don't know why, but I feel guilty spending money on myself.

Claire still doesn't have any teeth yet, but she sure loves "people food"!  She likes to eat whatever we are having, instead of her baby food.  She loves red cabbage and quesadillas and pasta and squash and pancakes!!  I just hope she's getting the nutrients she needs....   She still nurses often, so I assume she is!

The other day, Cam came out of his room and handed me this.  It cracked me up!!

For family night last week, Cam said he wanted to be in charge.  So he gave us each a piece of paper and told us to draw something "cool or beautiful".  haha!  Then we all drew pictures of our family.  Nate did the good ones, Cam and I did the stick figures, and Roo drew the orange heads.  So fun!!