Quick Life Update

I have been the biggest blogging slacker this year! It's been completely nuts around our house which is my only excuse. Quick update on us: I'm working like crazy and always running around somewhere, planning parties, showers, girls nights, babysitting nieces & nephews, etc and basically enjoying myself as much as possible. I've also started trying to get in shape (for serious) for the first time in my life. I've been doing kickboxing and have started running (very slowly). I'm actually considering training for a half marathon next year (I still can't run a full 2 miles without walking - but we all have to start somewhere). I've done a couple 5K's this year which were a blast. Since Christmas last year I've lost 16 lbs which I'm quite happy about. While running on Sunday my yoga pants tried to fall off for the first time. Lol. Nic has finished his instrument rating on his flying and is wrapping up his multi-engine commercial rating this week. Hopefully very soon he'll be able to start applying at airlines for a job! He's very excited to soon be done with this portion of his flying tests. He's also been working on his masters in Aeronautical Science which he should finish around May '12 I believe. He's still President of the Volunteer Firefighter Association at Eagle Fire Dept, plus has been all over the country this year on wildland fires working as an EMT. He's met some great people and had a blast doing it. He's had some sort of weird near death animal experience with each trip, which is bizarre, but not completely surprising. The oddest things tend to happen to Nic.

Nic took Xander to the airport to go see the planes. He loved them! I got so many cute pics of the two of them that day. :-)

These two kids are so much fun to play with! They keep us entertained for hours on end. Lol. We love babysitting them all the time and hanging out with them. They keep us rolling with the funny things they do and say. Being an Aunt or Uncle is the greatest!

 

This time of year is probably hands down my favorite time! It starts with the fall weather that creeps in and the leaves that change colors, followed by the 3 best holidays of the year! I LOVE Halloween and had a complete blast this year with all the kids in my life. I got to dress up, pass out tons of candy, see most of our nieces & nephews, my cute little primary kids and just enjoy myself to the fullest. Nic bought a wagon for Xander to ride around the neighborhood in (since he's still refusing to walk) and loved taking him & Kenzie around our neighborhood trick or treating. We also got to see little Brayden & Myah in their cute costumes. They are getting so big!

Thanksgiving & Christmas are right around the corner and for the first time ever I'm almost completely done with my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving hits!!! I determined this year that I was tired of always being broke around Christmas because my good intentions never took effect, so this year was going to be different. It's so relieving to be almost done! Now if I could just get caught up and ahead at work...

Silly Xander

Xander and Kenzie are so fun to be around!

Xander's such a blast to take care of! He loves to sit up, tries doing sit-ups now, loves to talk and coo at you and laugh. He's also getting ticklish which I find hilarious. I hope you enjoy the videos & pictures of him! Sorry that the quality isn't great.

This first video is him totally focused on watching TV. He is telling me a little about it at one point.

I took his pants of and he immediately took the opportunity to discover his toes. Lol.

Levi kept wanting Xander to play with him. X just thought it was funny.

Mini-Tri

A week ago today I did something incredibly crazy for me - - - I participated with my friend Nikki in a mini-triathalon! I'm incredibly out of shape (much to Nic's consternation) and ended up not having time to train or work out ahead of time like I had planned. All in all I did really well tho and ended up having a good time. I didn't push myself too hard since I wasn't interested in times - I just wanted to finish! My final time was 1:16:29 - not bad for just getting off the couch!

The first event was swimming a 1/4 mile. I thought that would be fine, but quickly found out that there is a HUGE difference between swimming 8-10 laps in the pool, and swimming a 1/4 mile in open water!

Next was the 6 mile bike ride. I just kept telling myself I was out for an afternoon bike ride. I was so focused when I came in and put my bike up, that I totally forgot to take my helmet off and started the running portion still wearing it. Duh! I had to come back, take it off and start up again.

The final leg was a 2 mile run (walk in my case). I was struggling with a really bad side ache by this time,but I pushed through and came in strong. Woohoo! I finished!!! Nic was so proud of me, and I felt great for having done it!

Family Times & San Francisco

Life keeps happening so quickly that I'm having trouble finding the time to keep our blog updated or send out the usual family emails. I sure wish we could add a few more hours to the day! Lol.

As always we've had a busy and fun few months. We've had a family friend Anneli visit, Little Livy's Open House, Easter, a baby shower for my friend Tammy (being induced this week), lots of niece & nephew time, Myriah's birthday, flying for Nic, my dad & Allison visiting and a fabulous Girls Weekend in San Francisco with my best friend Sarah.

Last weekend my dad and Allison got to stay with us one night on their way through town. It was so much fun! They arrived a little earlier than planned which we were excited about. Fiona, Dave & Kenzie joined us for a fun family dinner and playtime at the park. Kenzie was so excited to join us in throwing a softball around after she got done playing on the swing. Nic decided it'd be funny to do "airplane" to me. As you can see, Fiona (and I) weren't sure how well that'd turn out! Lol. It was so wonderful to see them!

This weekend I was lucky to get to join my "BFF" Sarah in SF for a shopping filled birthday weekend with her and her family. It's hard to believe that next June will be 20 years of being friends! Man, time flies!!! We literally took the phrase Shop Till You Drop to heart and spent all day Sat shopping, trying on clothes and just having fun together. I love these women! That night was FABULOUS Italian food to celebrate Sarah's & Sam's birthdays, followed by church the next day and good family time to celebrate Mother's Day.

Jamie K got to come in to town the end of March for Robin & Livy's Open House. That was such a fun week! We spent the whole week having girls nights every night. Kenzie got to hold Livy and be a "big sister" for a bit. She was on cloud 9 and so protective of her! So many friends came to the Open House that we hadn't gotten to see for quite a while - it was a wonderful time!

Myah had her 7th birthday a couple weeks ago and we all got to go celebrate with her in a Hawaiian themed party. It was so much fun. The whole family (minus Jake) got to be there.

Kids & Babies

I got to have the girls over Wed night for a small girls night putting the announcements together for Robin's open house. We all enjoyed passing Livy around and cuddling with her. She's such a doll!

Nic and I had such a great weekend! We got to have Katie spend the night Friday night, then Sat morning Katie & I picked up Amber and Kenzie and the 4 of us girls headed to the pool for some fun in the water (Nic had to do airplane stuff). It was a blast! Katie loved being a "big sister" to Kenzie for a while, Kenzie loved having Amber there to jump to when I was playing with Katie and Amber loved the chance to go test out the work-out equipment for a bit at the Y. Afterwards we headed to Subway for lunch where Kenzie got to order her first ever to-go sandwich. Katie and I dropped everyone else back off and then she and I had 1 on 1 time playing Clue. I love my nieces!

Sat night I picked up Kenzie again after a Zumba class and brought her home for a night with Uncle Nic & Aunt Sarah (so Mom & Dad could have a date night). I put her hair in curlers for Fiona so it'd be adorable for church the next day. Between Katie Fri night and Kenzie Sat night, needless to say I did NOT get much sleep this weekend. Nic is working at the Station tonight so I'm going to bed EARLY!!! :-)