::happy happy::

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our KRIS! Kris's mom is with us this week which is so fun. Today was a very very busy day at work. We got off just a bit early so we could go and have a nice dinner. (Sandy would NOT stay in his high chair for dinner.) Suave bday boy there, right? Family photo with cranky baby and spongebob impersonator.

We went home to presents and Kris's favorite delicious Whole Foods cake.

Some things could've been better today, but I sure hope the rest of it was good enough for my sweet Kris.

 Love you babe!

::mary poppins::

My friend Caryn and I got a really good deal on tickets to the broadway show Mary Poppins down in Albuquerque. We took our little ones down to see it this week. Remember Emily?
Well, Max and Emily are as good of friends as ever, despite the gap in their ages (Emily is 5, Max is 8). They play together really well, and Emily has even snuck a few smooches in on poor Max in the last year.
Anyway, we went down to the matinee, and got some delicious lunch first. We noticed that our kiddos were not only dressed in sort of a matching way (Max in a dark blue polo with blue & white striped shorts and Emily in a little blue & white striped sailor jacket). But they also looked pretty similar in general.


But really the biggest similarity is how weird and goofy the two of them are, and their ridiculous faces.
These two are characters. They fight like brother and sister, but are so kind to each other at other times. I'm glad they both have each other as friends because Emily is the youngest in her family by about nine years, and Max obviously doesn't have any siblings too close in age. But anyway, despite some seat shifting during the first ten minutes of the show (which was rather embarrassing, since Max really wanted only the seat he WASN'T currently in), the show went great. Max was captivated for most of the time, and only asked if it was "almost over" about twice.
You want more faces? Well, get ready:




Oh DEAR.
We had a great time with the kids and they both ended up with Mary Poppins umbrellas with parrot handles. Obviously everybody needs one of those, especially since Max's favorite scene was the one where the whole cast is dancing on the stage as a huge flashing Mary Poppins umbrella descends while opening and rotating. WOW.
I hope you enjoy the silly faces, I do. What goofs. I'm glad to get some time alone with Max, I think he's missed it since little brother came around.

::boys and books::

One night:



Another night:


I think these were two nights in one week. Can you say, "cute" ? I can. I love these two.

::he likes to line things up 1::

::this baby::

This baby is such a character. He likes to be a big guy and do things on his own, but sometimes he likes to pretend to cry so he can get a hug.

 

He wants to do everything his brother does, and sometimes copies him right down to inflections and motions. I was brushing Max's hair the other day and he was protesting loudly. Very loudly. In fact he was screaming OWWW! and holding his head in his hand. I went to put the brush away, but Sandy was crying for a turn. I brushed his hair and he loudly (and tragically) said, OW! OW! He put his head in his hand just like Max. It was so so funny.

 

 The point of this post though was to tell a different funny story.

  During sacrament meeting on Sunday I went to feed this guy a snack. It was one of those squeezy packages of applesauce (for those who haven't had little kids lately, these little bags of soft food have little nozzles on them so babies can slurp them down straight from the package.) Anyway, the kind I had is really made for bigger kids to have in their lunches. We've never had a big accident with one of these foods before, but when I went to feed it to Sandy he got all cranky and decided he didn't want it in his mouth. He grabbed the food, which of course started to squeeze it out everywhere. Then Kris and I both grabbed for it--I think both our hands ended up on his hand. The applesauce went from squirting out to GEYSERING out. It was flying straight into the air and getting on everything. It felt like that moment stretched out quite long, but it couldnt' have been too long because somehow there was still food left in the pack after all this. A bunch of slimy kleenexs later and a trip to the bathroom we were all ok. But what an event. Just imagine it and you'll laugh.

 

He's a little stinker, this baby.

::daddies::

The other day daddy left for work and Sandy was very sad about it. Sandy LOVES loves LOVES his daddy. Max went and found a picture of Dad for Sand to look at. It was Kris's old driver's license. Don't ask me why Max has that squirreled away somewhere. Anyway, the license was a huge hit. Sandy admired it and loved it and kissed it, hugged it and snuggled it under his chin. It was SO cute.

 

 

Kissy face.

 

I just wished Kris could've been there to see how very cute it was. Here are two little videos too--just for Grandparents and such. The first one is more important than the second.

 

It just goes to show you how very important Dads are to us babies. Dads matter so much. And it's a darn good Dad who's made his baby love him so much.

 Happy Father's day to Kris, who is the best daddy of our babies.
 Happy Father's day to my sweet Dad whom I love and I'm so glad to have to advise and help and love me.
 Happy Father's day to dear Ken whom we miss every day.
 Thank goodness for our gospel and the hope of being with our dear loved ones again.

 Hooray for Dads.

::utah valley half marathon::

As Kris blogged about earlier, last weekend I got to zip over to UT and run the Utah Valley Half Marathon with my dad and brother. Sis in Law Lorri was running the full marathon at the same time.




I got in friday night and my parents picked me up at the airport. We got to have a nice dinner together--probably the first time we've hung out without kids in eight years. Then we tried to go to bed early because when you run a half marathon you have to get up at the most unearthly hours. But it's hard to go to bed early when you don't get to see your mom & dad that much! We got up at three and Cammon came and picked us up at 3:30 to catch the bus up the canyon.

This picture illustrates how my eyes felt when putting in contacts at three in the AM. We got up the canyon--up past Sundance was where it started--and there was a big field on the slope of the mountain all covered with fires.



They were "contained" in metal rings that looked like parts of old barrels. It was fun looking and nice to have the heat since the morning was slightly chilly. But me, coming from a state that almost burnt up last summer and is currently on fire right now, I almost had an anxiety attack! We can't even have fire pits right now. It didn't help that we had to stomp out at least five potential brush fires--just at our little ring. The wind was pretty intense. I'd say that next year they had better put somebody with a fire extinguisher out there to manage the fires.



Cammon brought his camera of course and documented the whole thing, but he hasn't sent me the footage like he promised...



 It was fun to spend some time hanging out with Cammon and Dad--that just doesn't happen often enough, and though I had to get up at 3AM and then go 13.1 miles to do it I think it was still worth it!

(When mom saw these pictures she said, "what were you doing, switching off making dumb faces?" Yes, yes we were.)

 I didn't feel all that good last week, so this wasn't my best run. I did ok for the first half and then kind of fell apart the second half. I haven't had problems with cramps and stitches in my side forever, but I did that day! And at about mile 10 my legs just started killing. I think that had to do with the fact that it was mostly downhill for the first 10 miles. I just don't do that much steep downhill training. Anyway, excuses aside I wasn't fast. Dad and Cammon stuck with me even though they were faster and we finished together. I did run across the finish line, HOORAY! When I got done the creamsicle and chocolate milk at the end tasted amazing. Mom and Charlotte were there waiting for us and had already gotten our bags. It was nice to have groupies. They also caught up with us about halfway down the route and took pictures. Maybe she'll send me one for this post. I'm mostly making goofy faces in them. I limped back to the car and we spent a fun rest of the day having lunch together and seeing other family members like the Murphy. Then my parents took me back to the airport at 3:30PM and I headed home.



Here I am, collapsed by a tree waiting for my mom--she dropped her license and had to go chasing down a policeman who supposedly had it. I was EXHAUSTED. SO tired. But I drove myself home before I crashed. It was truly a whirlwind trip--too much traveling for us lately for me to stay longer. But it was so fun to see everybody--it's so nice to be close enough to zip home like that and participate in a fun event. Maybe we can do it again next year!

 Oh, and bigtime congrats to my friend Rachel who rocked the race--beating me by a longshot. She's such a tough cookie and a strong girl. Way to go Rachel!

I always like the medals. Now I have a big TWO. It's a start of a collection that I hope will grow. My life has improved since I started my running, that's for sure.

::music lovers::

The boys love the piano. This photo was from back in Feb, so he can reach the buttons a lot better now. There's a "demo" button on the electric piano of course, and of COURSE that is the favorite button for all children to press. And the demos are SO loud and SO obnoxious. Max taught Sand to turn them on and he loves it. The other day when I came looking for the boys I found them like this: If only I could've somehow snuck in and snapped off a couple of shots without them seeing me. They were being so cute together, Sandy looking up at Max so earnestly with his little feet dangling down. But mom's entrance is always distracting. I'm just imaging Max lifting Sand up to the seat and then sitting down himself. Pretty cute.

::fashion plate::

These pictures have been waiting to be posted since Easter.

The shoot:

Oh yeah. He's really serious. And don't ask me about the mustache. They were in the mexican party section at the craft store and they were suddenly in my cart.

ah. So cool.

Oh oh, he finally cracked.

 

Sandy wouldn't wear mustaches or bunny ears. Nor would he stand by Max for pictures, despite Max's best efforts.

 

They look like they're having a pretty deep conversation here, don't you think?

   

And who knows what sort of consensus they came to, but it was something. 

And there goes the little guy. Max cracks me up.

::my flowers::

These little flowers are all from plants that were growing in our yard. Our rehab and encouragement of the plants has some of them blooming like crazy. I've just had to learn more about the plants that flourish in the area--the lower water need ones. These are flowering perennials that might be seen as weeds in other areas, but we here in NM go to nurseries and spend money on them. It's such a funny thing. But when you learn more and look closer you can really learn to appreciate things you might not otherwise. You can find beauty in things you might not even have taken a peek at in the past.



I thought these all looked beautiful--except the little purple ones that are all closed up. I'm so confused by these. It seems like they only open up at night and then close at about 7 or 8AM. What the heck?! I even cut some open ones and put them in my little vase, but they just closed up at some point and stayed closed. They're beautiful, but not the kind of beauty you can capture and keep inside.



We planted some more flowers last week, we'll see if they will flourish and give me more blossoms to cut and enjoy inside. I'm learning...slowly…