Uncle Devan

Jeremy's brother Devan was living with us for a little bit and the boys LOVED it. They had such a good time playing rough with him. I heard Jackson talking to one of his friends about his "big friend" who lives with him and jumps on the trampoline with him.

We had a little birthday party for Devan and the boys picked our some stuff at the dollar store for his new house.

Jackson's 7th Birthday

We put candles in everything the birthday kid eats all day. So Jackson started his day with birthday toast. Jackson's birthday always falls during Spring Break, so he gets a whole day of fun.

Then he got to go to Jumpstreet and a movie with Paige, Ty, Dusti and his brothers.

He finished off his day with cake and ice cream at Grandma's house.

Riggs' first organized sport

This kid is something else. He has been constantly annoyed that Jackson has done all kinds of sports and insisted that he needed to be "signed up" for something. So...reluctantly, I signed him up for soccer, and he was thrilled. He spent most of his time every game entertaining his teammates and trash talking the other team. I heard him say things like "Let's get this party started guys!" while out on the field. He wasn't ever too concerened about where the ball was or what was really going on in the game. His main priority was keeping everyone laughing.

My baby is 2!

Lots of random pictures from the first couple weeks of February here. The weather is always amazing in February so we end up getting to do lots of fun stuff outside.

Crew spit all over this cake while blowing out the candles. All of his cousins were asking for corner pieces where there was no spit.

The boys got to skip school and spend a day at the zoo on Crew's b day.

They found a little squirrel wandering around and were way more interested in him than in the other animals.

The stingrays were a big hit for Jackson and Crew, but Riggs got splashed right off the bat, and he was ticked.

London's Run

About mid-December, Kristen and her family were down visiting, and she told me she was training for the half-marathon for London's Run on January 30th. When she asked me to do it with her, I just laughed. I'd never run more than 5 miles at a time at that point. I don't know what came over me that next week, but I decided I was going to do it. I had 3 weeks to get ready (should have been about 3 months). I think I experienced almost every setback I could (blisters, side cramps, knee pain, back pain, etc). The furthest I ran before the race was 10 miles, so I was really, really nervous about the 13.1 miles. I could NOT sleep at all the night before. Amazingly enough, I finished it without walking. I wasn't very fast at all, but it felt so good to finish something that I NEVER thought I could and had never even considered. Anyway thanks for the push Kris. I would never have done it without you!

There are some more photos at this site that I'm too cheap to actually buy. :)
http://sportshots.exposuremanager.com/p/1000am-1030am_lr_2010/1027_20100130102715_1731_63_2_4

New Years in the Snow

We spent New Years Eve and Day sledding with our good friends, The Brooks. There was a ton of snow, and we found a really good hill for sledding. The only problem was that if you got going too fast, you'd end up in the middle of the street (which happened to me more than once). We ate tons of yummy food, played in the snow, warmed up with hot chocolate, played games, watched movies...you know, all the good stuff. Good times were had by all.

Riggs got his head stuck in the railing, which was no surprise at all.

Crew had had enough with the snow and was taking it easy watching movies.

The kids spent one evening jumping from the top bunk to a bed below. A few fell off the bed; some hit their heads on the ceiling, but this activity never lost its appeal.

Family Photos

It's always an exhausting experience to get everyone ready for family pictures and begging everyone to smile for the camera, but it's always worth it in the end (except when I'm pregnant--nothing's worth that) :)