Running plus 5!

So, I had a bit of a first. I was running with Natalie who has joined this little run club. We were just doing a mile in the neighborhood. I had Molly & a neighbor in the stroller, and I of course am carrying a little one. Well, Baylie & Brookie were roller skating and they held on to the stroller so I was pulling the two girls on top of the three I was pushing!! I had to laugh a few times. It was a great resistance workout!!

Oh, and the race is on for our March 4th competition!! I think our emails this year have to include a fun parade picture too, what do you think??

And Natalie - 5 yrs!

This is Natalie's VIP day at preschool. It takes the place of celebrating random and clustery birthdays. She spreads them out and everyone gets honored. Ben and I both enjoyed her special day at preschool with her. (don't ask about my hair - I don't know what it was doing!)
Show and tell - one of her favorite toys - Jazmin's purple horse.

And, a proud moment - our little performer :-)

Back in February...

My baby turned three on Valentine's Day. We had our good friends over for some cake and ice cream. Don't mind the dress up that is falling off of her :-) But, I thought it was funny to see how shy she was and almost scared she is of everyone. She is boisterous and bubbly for me, but for now, she is pretty timid and shy around a crowd.

Easter Pix

So here are the pix I talked about over a month ago. These are some of my favorite pictures of my girls!! I love how the dresses turned out (made by a friend of ours while we were in Rome) and I'm glad the older girls let me curl their hair. Now, if the just looked like this a little more often, maybe the ragged new growth hair wouldn't be so hideous! Baylie's hair is coming a long way, but it is still pretty chunky. Ashley has the longest hair of them all.

Laptops are the best!

Yeahoo!! We are back in business. Ben got us a red Dell laptop and it has been so fun. I have taken it upstairs with me, laid it on the couch with me and now we are at the table!! It is great. I'll post pics when I get things uploaded. A lot has happened online while I've been gone. I forgot the s on connersconnections for my blogspot address and found another Conner family! Can you believe it? Who knew? I should make a comment on their blog. They have three kids too - but two boys - and are trying to adopt a baby in Ethiopia? Anyway, I'mkind of amazed that I took two minutes to read a blog about someone I know absolutely nothing about. Crazy world of internet.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!! I took a really cute picture of the girls in their dresses, but alas, our internet is down again. For some reason when our IP address changes (which I hear happens often) our computer doesn't want to recognize it, blah, blah, blah and we don't have internet becuase we don't know how to fix it each time! So, after buying more ram, after buying a new rout er, we are going to buy a new computer - so you won't hear from us for a little while again. sorry.....

Roma

First McDonalds in Italy - couldn't resist. But, I ordered fairly safe, I didn't order the fried shrimp or the fried mozzorella/spinach balls.
At the Colloseum - Ben's favorite and highlight of his trip.
The wives of American Family enjoying Pompeii. We are standing on the stones in the road where people would cross so that they wouldn't have to step in the sewage that ran freely in the road. Luckily that was thousands of years ago otherwise we would have had to throw our shoes away!!
Yeah!! My gondola ride!! I realy wanted to do this so we shared our romantic ride with another couple, rode under the famous Rialto Bridge, by Marco Polo's palace and other fun areas.

So we fell in love with our new amor, Roma. Ben and I took a trip to Venice, Florence and Rome doing all the major sites and a few more. We were spoiled by Ben's company and by my parents, who along, with the Jones (who are also amazing) took our children while we were away. Enjoy the pics!

We're back!

Okay, we were out of internet for a long time and even though I went to Jodi's house and my mom's, I always had so many emails to sift through that this got pushed to the way side. I'm sure everyone who used to look at my blog, probably won't anymore, but what the heck. I'll put a few pictures on anyway!!

Ashley is walking!!!

I was able to capture this earlier today!

Merry Christmas

We hope you had a merry Christmas! We sure did :-) We were spoiled with many fun gifts to play with and enjoy. We went over to my parent's house for Christmas Eve where we did the Nativity. Ben was Joseph, Baylie was Mary, my dad was the donkey, Natalie was the angel, my mom was the narrator and Ashley and I were Shepherds. The next morning my parents came over to open gifts and for breakfast. Ben got me a Bosch mixer which I am THRILLED about. I have already used it more times than I can count. The girls' favorite and most played with gifts are their barbies from Grandma and Ben is excited to try out his miter saw and saw horses. We hope you have a happy New Year!

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Mom and I went to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and we loved it! Luckily my Dad isn't one for the theater so it was just a girls' night out. Of course Seattle was under a couple of inches of ice, so driving was a little interesting, but the music and dancing was spectacular and it was a treat for sure! Thanks Mom!

We had fun making gingerbread houses with the Elwells - it is so nice having fun neighbors - especially when you are snowed in!!
We used graham crackers and all the candies. We had just as much fun eating as we did decorating!

Don't know what Nan is doing - but here is our finished product!

Snow!

We had so much snow this Christmas!! It was so awesome! The girls and I had fun playing in the snow, making a snowgirl, jumping on the trampoline, etc. The girls couldn't play enough :-)
This table showed 6 1/2 inches, but I think we had closer to 8 by the time it was all done.
I hope our trampoline is okay - we kept our shoes on, but the snowy tramp was irresistible!

Natalie's performance

My first video upload! I'm excited - I hope you enjoy it!

Preschool Christmas Program

Natalie performed in her Preschool Christmas Program. It was so cute watching my little girl perform! I love it! Her teacher does an amazing job with her school. Baylie was with us and she asked if she could go to her own preschool. Next year...

Running in the Snow

My new running partner! I am so excited that Tiffany moved into our ward. She has been amazing for me. Agreeing to run any distance any time in any weather - my kind of girl. We started running with light snow on the roads and by the time we finished the snow was coming down and covering everything. It was beautiful and super fun!

Thanksgiving

Baylie loves her cousins - especially Eli
Aunt Tera spreading the yummy goodness of whipped cream on her layered jello!

Mom and James doing the turkey & gravy

Baylie with Cousin Samuel

Sitting down for dinner.

Ben was cut out so we took another shot :-)

We had such a great time in Idaho. We did our annual turkey trot, turkey bowl and black friday shopping together. We really love doing our shopping in Moscow ID because it is a small college town so most of the lines are small and no one gets trampled getting in the store and there are usually enough of the deals that everyone gets what they want :-) With my parents, our van was filled to capacity. After our shopping we were officially stuffed and had to leave some of our things there to be brought over at Christmas time. Thanks again Stoner family, we had a wonderful time yet again!

My Dad

My Dad taught his health class about setting goals. He decided to set a goal of running an 8 minute mile. Now, back in the day that would practically be walking for him, but at 60, he has felt the affects and decided that would be a good challenge.
So, we went to cheer him on. :-)

In our marathons it is typical to lose a toe nail due to the trauma your feet take for 3 1/2 hours or so. We have seen signs like this along marathon routes. My dad laughed at this sign.

The class lined up to make a shoot for him to finish in. He was feeling good did really great. He got his goal and then some!

He invited us to stay in the classroom for a little bit while he did the closing part of class and emphasizing the power of setting goals, accomplishing them and the feeling of natural chemicals making you feel good instead of drugs, etc.

We are so proud of our Grandpa!

Nathan Chapman Trail

This is a bike ride we took at the beginning of the month at a local trail. It was beautiful and with the blue sunny ski on the yellow and green leaves. It reminded me why I love the Northwest.

Head Lice :-(

So, my little angels were at it again. They were quietly playing upstairs while I was working in the kitchen. After a few hours and a movie, I went upstairs to put something away and I saw this... (there were dresses packed on that shelf)

So, the next morning I went to do Natalie's hair for preschool when I saw a bunch of dirt in the part I had just created. But, when I looked closer and saw one of those dirt spots moving I almost screamed!! I called my mom (who was working at an elementary school that morning) and cried to her. She had some lice products in her nurses room there so we jumped in the car. Then begins the mental agony attached to this awful situation. What have my kids been doing over the last week, who have they played with and who do I have to call and break the news too? What do I have to clean and disinfect along with the laborious process of combing out the little bugger - so, yup,those pictures have a little more meaning now. As soon as I got home I put Ashley down and put the product in Natalie's hair, started a movie and spread halloween candy on the floor to keep everyone occupied and happy. After three hours of combing, I got Natalie's hair cleaned out. We went to the store to buy sprays and shampoos, then it was back home to begin the laundry and toy cleaning. It was a long week - a long quarentine week of cleaning, sanatizing and avoiding. No fun!