OC Day 1: The Mall

It's blog catch up time. We did some fun stuff while we were in Oregon. I drove out for a week with just the boys. Blake had work. (Work always gets in the way of play, blah.) I left at 4pm and got there at 10pm. It was the way to go. Brody fell asleep at 7 and Braden got to watch a movie at 7:30pm. The remainder of the drive was bliss.

I was in pursuit of some jeans, so my mom and I headed to the mall. We ate a delicious lunch at Claim Jumper first. No jeans were found, but we did happen upon the quarter (now 3 quarter) machines. We got lucky and arrived right as the lady repair person did. She let the kids test all the rides for her, thus saving us a whopping $3.

Brody sure thought he was hot stuff.
Braden just letting her know the helicopter was good to go.

Brothers in the firetruck

Brody loves the rides and I love him, so it all works out.

We didn't do much else that day. Mostly relaxed. I even took my little sister, Kalen, out to drive. She's doing pretty well. I think she is ready to take her DL test, but we will see. I could already tell it was worth the 6 hour drive to be home.

Saturday

We had a rather uneventful Saturday, but it was still fun. Some garage sales, mall shopping and a whole lot of cute kids. Brody's new favorite toy has been this magna doodle. He loves rolling around with it and drawing on it.

He also loves laying on the floor and yelling. Happy yelling of course.
Braden loves the toys at the mall and since he was being so good, we let him ride them.

Braden's really been into imagination. He loves when his cars beat up on the other cars. I don't know where he gets this, but I am hoping it's a boy thing. I swear we don't beat our son or even promote violence.

We finished our Saturday with some good old fashion gaming. Thanks to the Adams for some wonderful company. We played the game of Life. Blake and Zach had like 8 kids each, while Crystal had 1 and me none. I was a successful business woman and ended up winning the game. Overall, it was a great day.

Tea Party & Magnets

I have had a lot of fun with Braden lately. Thanks again to my mom who sends the most amazing little things toys to play with. First off, we had an official Tea Party. We used milk and chocolate (in the sugar cup).

Braden served marsh mellows and crackers.

As you can probably tell, he was always asking if I wanted more chocolate. We had fun. Maybe next time we will need to work on etiquette.
Next up, we discussed energy. We discovered what items were magnetic and which ones weren't.

Braden loved going around the house testing our what items would support is magnet stick.

Thanks again mom for the box of stuff. Braden is constantly asking to get something from Mema's box. We still have yet to find something he doesn't love.

Pumpkin Carving 2010

This is Brody's first Halloween. Who could resist a cute picture with the pumpkins?Do you remember Braden? I guess he's giving his brother kissing lessons too. I honestly just love this little boy. I would gladly accept kisses from him all day long.It's that time of year for some pumpkin carving. It cost me $6 for these 2 large pumpkins and months of pregnancy to get the 2 boys. Both: worth it!

I know, they look exactly alike. And I have discovered I can dress them alike. It's so fun.
The carving begins. Braden loved scooping out the pumpkin guts.

Look how happy Brody is.

Blake gets really into this whole thing.

My final product. It's a house. It would look better, but our pumpkin knife broke at the beginning and I had to use a kitchen knife. It was just too big to get into all the little cracks.

Blake's Before

Blake's After

Me and my boy. We put Brody to bed at the beginning. He goes down around 7:15ish. We love it. He's been sleeping so great lately.

My 2 scary boys.

We can't wait for the pumpkin patch. Here we come Roloff Farms.

Lewis & Clark Half Marathon

I have been training for the last 12 weeks for the race. It was the Lewis & Clark 'Fun Run.' I don't know how fun 13.1 miles (half marathon) is, but I finished. This was taken right before we started. These ladies go to the gym I attend. (I also need to thank Michelle, Amy, and Collette for their picture contributions.)

I have been training with my good friend Camille. She had a little girl 2 weeks after I had Brody. It's been nice because we are in the same situation. I have thoroughly enjoyed our long runs on Saturday mornings. It's just a fun time to chat. Here we are at the half way point. We started really strong. Actually about 30 seconds faster than we had planned for. By mile 6.5 we were starting to 'feel it.' The wall that is.
Michelle (a girl from the gym) was there for moral support. She was taking pictures all along the way. The last time I saw her was at mile 11ish. It was another half a mile before I really started to feel miserable. My hope was that I could really push my self the last mile, but it was obvious that it wasn't going to happen. If I could keep my goal of running the whole time, I would be happy. (I did run the whole time.)Who could resist running in to see this? This is Camille's son. Too cute! This was Camille's first half marathon and she did amazing!By this point (.5 miles left) I was really dying, but then I saw my lovely boys and it gave me the boost I needed to finish.

I felt bad because Braden started running towards me with a huge smile. He was yelling, "Go mommy." I wasn't done so I was like, "Blake, I have to finish, get him back." I still have .1 miles to go.

Blake tried to rush down to the finish, but Braden fell and we know how that goes. Thanks again Amy & Collette for getting finishing shots.

They always say don't cross the finish line stopping your watch, but I had to. I wanted to get the accurate time.

Just checking out my final time. And according to my GPS, the course was only 13 miles, not 13.1. Shhh, don't tell anyone. (Collette, did you get the same mileage?) My goal was to finish in 2 hours and 10 minutes. My final time: 2:06:44.

As you can see in the above picture, I was wearing a knee brace. My knees have been hurting these past couple of weeks. This half did nothing to help it. (I am writing this post the next day and I can say they are still in excruciating pain.) I had to sit down and get something to drink. I couldn't even stomach any of the treats.

The best running partner ever and her one eyed companion. (The sun was really bright.)

Collette, Me & Camille (I like to think of Collette as my mentor.)

My supportive family whom I love.

These are most of the people that go to my gym. I love my gym for more than one reason, but it's fun to have that connection. (Notice the girl on the end in the blue? She is my trainer, who is amazing. She had a baby girl 3 months ago and ran this. Her time: 1:40. Yes, she's freaking amazing!)

It was a great experience. I would try and not get caught up in the excitement next time and stay with my pace, I think that's what killed me towards the end. Although I was cursing this race the last mile, I will for sure be signing up for the Snack River Canyon Half Marathon in March. I just need to train harder and strengthen my knee. I am still even considering the Seattle Rock & Roll marathon in June. Any takers?

And for my documentation purposes, here are my splits: (Average Pace- 9:44)

Mile 1- 9:42

Mile 2- 9:46

Mile 3- 9:42

Mile 4- 9:57

Mile 5- 9:52

Mile 6- 9:57

Mile 7- 9:49

Mile 8- 9:47

Mile 9- 9:44

Mile 10- 10:05

Mile 11- 9:36

Mile 12- 9:27

Mile 13- 9:13

The Many Faces of Brody

We get a kick out of Brody. We hope you do to. Click on the pictures to enlarge. Our favorite is the faces he makes below.

How can you not just love that face?

Playtime at Barnett's

We have been having a lot of fun lately. I thought I would share. You may be asking yourself if Braden made this alligator, well no, Blake did. I prefer Lego's and he prefers play dough. I was very impressed.

He was in the process of making a cute little egg's nest and baby alligator when the 2 year old came along and destroyed it.

Brody adores Braden. He loves it when Braden will come sit by him and show him the toys. Braden has started pulling his hair and is constantly taking his toys, but Brody still loves him.
I tend a little boy. He is so sweet at helping Braden take off his shoes. Yes, Braden knows how, but always asks W to help. And he always does. So cute!

The other day we decided to have some fun by making a HUGE pile and jumping off the couch. The kids loved it and no one got hurt. Of course this was a special occasion AND supervised.

I like to think we are a pretty fun family.