castle park.

We love the castle park. My mom has been visiting this week so we've enjoyed lots of yummy food, laughing, and fun.

future missionary.

Parker gave a talk in primary today. Cory had been at a meeting before church and he walked in the door and Parker was wearing a white turtleneck and plaid button up shirt over it. We were just about ready and out the door and Cory said, "Wait, isn't Parker giving a talk today?" I said, "uh, yes." He said, "He needs to wear a white shirt and tie then."

I start to get huffy (as any mother of 3 would who has busily been getting everyone ready while her husband is at a meeting). But he made him change and was telling him that even though he doesn't hold the priesthood he needs to dress like he does.

Even though I was getting impatient, I later looked back on that moment and appreciated Cory taking that moment to teach Parker something important.

My handsome Parker! This was taken after church and I tried to get Spencer in there too, but he was done for the day complete with dirty looks and yelling. At least I had one willing participant:)

creamsicle cookies.

Trust me, you will want to make these:)

Creamsicle Cookies
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons orange zest (the zest of 2 oranges)
2 cups Guittard Choc-Au-Lait vanilla chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl cream butter and sugars together until light and creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture until combined. Stir in zest and vanilla chips.
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Do not flatten cookies; it will make them dry. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown around edges; careful not to overbake. Cookies will be plump. Cool for several minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

cute mataya.

We had a lovely Monday playing at the dinosaur park with friends and then coming home to put on swim suits and play in the yard. Mataya got a new swimsuit so we had to try it out. The boys enjoyed the slip 'n slide and Mataya crawled around in the grass. Such a pretty girl! Sitting on the grass at Grandma and Grandpa's. She found a nice piece of bark to chew on:-) And she wore her headband the whole time and never tried to take it off during pictures. I think there were too many people and she was going on sensory overload.

birthday party.

We had a 60th birthday party for my parents. Their birthdays are less than a month apart so we thought it was a good time to celebrate. We haven't all been together like this in 2 years. You can kind of see why (there is a lot of us:) So Melissa and I planned the food, coordinated everything and we got my cousin Laura to do pictures for us. She does photography sort of as a hobby, but she does an AWESOME job. Thanks again Lola!

All the grand kids with Grammy and Papa (my dad's parents). Mataya, Becca, and Chloe. Luke, Abbi, Beau, and Lexi. Spencer.Alli, Cooper, Tommy. Campbell. (what a cutie!) Carter and Parker.All the cute girls!Grandpa and Grandma Blackwell with all the kids in the tree house.This is what it looked like on the other side...LOL! The REAL photographer out in front my cute, prego cousin Laura!

What a fun party! I know the real pics will be way better than these, but I wanted to show off all these cute kids. Melissa picked out the blue, yellow, white colors for the pictures, I think it turned out really great. I always love an excuse to buy new clothes:)

inspired.

You all remember this moment, right?!

In case you don't this is Brandy Chastain in 1999 when she kicked a game winning penalty goal against China to win the world cup. She of course was celebrating her win. I was 18 at the time and this inspired me. It inspired be because she worked hard to get where she was through many hours and days of hard work and dedication.

Now I'm not planning on ripping my shirt off out in my yard when I kick a goal against my 6 year old in celebration of my victory.

Let me take you back to the summer of '06. Spencer was 4 months old and I felt like a piece of crap. I hated my body and I was sick of it. I remember walking on the treadmill one day and I had Spenc in the stroller and little 2 year old Parker was pushing him around and I looked down at them and decided I wanted to change myself for the better FOR my kids. So I told my family that we should do the Race For The Cure in May of '07 and that it would be a good family thing and we could get in better shape.

As the months passed I wasn't so sure I wanted to participate. In January '07 my sister Melissa said, "So are we doing that race or what?" I'm thinking, "Oh crap! I was hoping everyone would forget!" But I decided to go for it so it ended up being me, Melissa and a friend of ours that ran it with 16,000 other people! We never stopped and ran the whole way and I gotta tell you that was a BIG moment for me. I never thought in a million years that I would run that far and actually WANT to run that far.

The rest of the day I felt like I was on top of the world. I've been chasing that feeling ever since. I'm on week 6 of training for my first half-marathon. Crazy, I know! People tell me I'm crazy all the time. My mom said once, "Do you actually like running?"...LOL! I only started liking it about 3 months ago so it took me a while. It is hard, but it's also very rewarding.

So here's to hoping that I can have my "Brandy Chastain" moment on July 3rd when I attempt to run 13.1....with a shirt on that is!

my day.

My day started out with Parker missing the bus. I sent him into the bathroom to brush his teeth and he had to come tell me that Spencer didn't flush the toilet and how gross it was and he went on and on about it, the next thing you know there goes the bus. Then he panicked and told me that he better not be late or else he will get kicked out of school! I guess it's one strike and you're out in Kindergarten:) We took Parker to school and decided to head on over to Target. I can usually manage to find something we need there:) We had our semi-annual ward 5k this evening. Cory pulled Spenc and Mataya in the bike trailer and Parker rode his bike. I guess Spencer got a little angry with Mataya because she kept trying to lay on his shoulder and go to sleep and he kept pushing her off and it got ugly and some tears were shed. But eventually all was well and they had a nap. I love Mataya laying on her little chunky arm. Cory is such a great dad, I ran while he dealt with all the kiddie drama!

this and that.

Little Miss Cuteness. Cory got to take the boys to the Bee's season opener with some work people. They got to be in a suite and eat hot dogs and popcorn, the boys were in heaven. They came home with big yellow foam fingers and this shirt for Mataya.

Parker is showing her his baseball glove and ball. Mataya already loves to play with light sabers, she's lucky to have brothers.

We recently bought Rock Band. (I know we are a little behind the times:) Spencer loves to do the guitar.

I love this picture, quite frankly! That drummer looks very serious and the singer...well the pictures speaks for itself.

Mataya really was happy crawling around the grass until I grabbed the camera and she started to get a little grumpy.And this face is saying, "enough cold, rainy weather already!"

Parker enjoying the rain with his umbrella.