New Blog

Hello Family & Friends-

I've been blogging here for over 5 years and with over 900 posts on 3 blogs my account has run out of room.

So the blog is moving on-

Our {Wild & Crazy} Days

I'm still working on the layout and details and stuff, but this is where I'll be posting from now on.

Come visit us!

Provo Halloweeen Half

I did my first half marathon in July with a time of 2h 26m. 

I wanted to do another one, so I did the Big Cottonwood Half in September with a time of 2h 3m (follow link for pictures). I really pushed myself and if I had known I was that close to being under 2 hours I wouldn't have stopped to go to the bathroom. Seriously.

So I decided to sign up for another half-marathon so I could get a time under 2 hours.

Then my right hip, which has a history of being wonky, decided to be wonky again. I went to a physical therapist. I did not run for 3 weeks. I hobbled around my house, parks, stores, museums- you get the idea.

I did still play volleyball. Couldn't miss that. It wasn't pretty.

My hip was not cooperating. Boo.

So I ran the Provo Halloween Half anyways. And it hurt more than it should have.

My time was around 2h 21m.

I didn't push myself so I'm not very sore after this one. But my hip is still being wonky. Boo.

I'm going to say something I never really thought I would ever say.

I miss running. Sigh.

You can go to Zazoosh to see my pictures. My bib# is 4997. Before the race I decided I needed to do something besides look like I was dying when I saw the photographers. But being creative while running is obviously not something I should try. Thus the fist pump. Oy.

So I think I'm done for this year. Well, maybe I'll do a Thanksgiving Day race. But mostly I'm going to focus on fixing my wonky hip.

Next year - a marathon.

I don't actually care to ever do a marathon. I really like the half-marathon distance.

But Austin had the audacity to say I couldn't do one. So now I have to. Stinker.

Climbing

Sitting at the park, talking with a couple friends, I hear someone calling for me - "Kelsey, Kelsey." It's my Jolie-girl trying to get my attention.  She's waving at me from the top of a tree. 

It's pretty hard for Jolie to surprise me - I expect her to be in new & exciting precarious positions - but this sure did.

She did fall - off the lowest branch about a foot from the ground - and she did get hurt - a nasty scrape down her tooshie - but overall she was extremely pleased with her adventure.

And happy to show Sophie some other climbing options.

I spy.....

Sophie!

Free Enterprise Day

Our homeschool group recently had a Free Enterprise Day. The kids (with some help from me) spent the morning making cookies and rice krispies and posters. They had a great time buying, selling, and trading. I figure they ended the day around being even, give or take a cookie or two.

Making faces

Ice Skating

Nyah's commonwealth club recently went ice skating and because I'm one of the co-leaders Jolie & Sophie came too.

The last time Jolie went skating she whined and complained the whole time (and spent most of the time on her bottom or clinging to me). This time she took off and didn't look back!

Nyah's in the background wearing the orange shirt. Because she's skated quite a bit she was spinning circles around the rest of us.

And my smiling girl threw an enormous tantrum when it was time to go. MORE SKATE MOM!

Someone's Watching

Driving around Salt Lake

The Leonardo

We recently visited a fabulous museum-  The Leonardo - with our commonwealth group.

There is currently an exhibit there about Leonardo da Vinci where the kids were able to touch and experiment with replicas of some of Leonardo's inventions.

Then we headed to the other exhibits and had a blast!

Nyah doing the weather - there are a bunch of green clothes so she had fun making different parts of her body disappear.

Austin and his friends spent over 30 minutes playing with these mirrors - giggling 11 & 12 year old boys are hilarious to watch!

This exhibit was also a big hit - after lining up with marks on the floor the kids would started dancing and showing off their moves, and the skeleton on the computer would copy them.

After the mirrors the boys moved on to the skeleton. They had a great time confusing the computer and the skeleton would end up dancing on his head.

Sophie hanging out.

Coloring

Fancy coloring on the computers 

Making a still-motion movie about dragons.

Sophie playing with the toys for the still-motion movie making area.

Getting Ready for Halloween

Costume Explosion!! We pulled out our boxes of costumes and the kids have had so much fun every since. Make sure you find Jolie in all the pictures - she would add something to her outfit and then come for a picture, and then add another thing and want another picture. Sophie has been wearing the Snow White dress all the time! She's excited to be a princess.

Decorating the house-

Farm Field Trip

A couple weeks ago we went to a nearby family farm for a field trip. It's not very big, but we still had plenty of fun pretending to drive tractors, climb hay bales, get lost in a mini-corn maze, and pet the goats. And of course all the produce we bought was delicious!

Mornings

Time to get started . . . or not!

Super Sophie

Cutest little one around! Love her hair.

Homeschooling

The last couple months I've had a few friends and family members ask what we do for homeschool. I just finished up a post on our homeschool blog that goes over our current plans if you are interested - Fall 2012. Please ask any questions you have about general homeschool stuff or more specific details about what we do - I'm not shy about it!! 

Love you all!!

Family Staycation

Kurt had some vacation time and we decided to stay home and have fun here in the Salt Lake Valley.

We went to the zoo to see the new Rocky Shores area and of course, visit all our favorite places.

 

We went to the Natural History Museum of Utah

 Kurt, Austin, Nyah, and I went on the Timpanogos cave hike.

We saw a Thompson's big-eared bat inside the cave (sadly no picture) and a Stellar's Jay on our hike down.

We played in the backyard

We rode bikes and scooters

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium and pet the sharks

We also went swimming and saw Brave and had so much fun together. It was a wonderful, relaxing week!