Todd's lost it ...

Todd's really lost it this time. I don't know what caused it, but late Sunday afternoon, he sat down at the computer and started clicking around. I knew he was searching for something in particular, but I figured he was just dinking around, looking at houses, or something like that (he's always doing that).

Later, I sat down at the computer. The screen was dark, because it hadn't been used in a half hour or so. I moved the mouse, and in a few seconds I was very confused by what I saw. I won't give you all the gory details, but there was a picture that looked something like this ...

What on earth was he doing? So I asked him.

"I think I'm going to do a triathlon." Yeah right, I thought. But I feigned support and told him that would be a great idea. In my head I was thinking, "Don't even think about dragging me into this." I wasn't really too worried about it at that point, however. I figured this would pass, just like the "I wanna be in a rock band" phase a few years ago.

Imagine my surprise when, the next morning, he still had it on his mind. I guess he might actually go for it. So instead of doubting him, or making fun of him, or something cruel or backhanded like that, I decided to support him ... so I bought him this ...

All joking aside, I'm excited for him to do it, and I wish I could do it with him, but the one he wants to do is on Thanksgiving Day, just a few months after the baby is born. Probably not the best time for me to be running, biking and swimming every day to train.

He's going to do the 6th Annual SW Valley YMCA Sprint Trathlon & Duathlon in Goodyear. And, to make it even more interesting, Brenna wants to do it with him. There's a great kids version (1 mile run, 4 mile bike and 100 yd swim). Brenna has been having so much fun with swim team this summer, she was excited when she heard what daddy was up to. So now, it's a daddy-daughter challenge.

If anyone wants to join the fun, follow this link and go to the bottom of the page for more information. If you want to do it, but aren't sure you're up to the challenge, just remember Todd's new motto ...

ready for the 4th...

You can't celebrate the 4th without red toenails.
This is in honor of the founding fathers! They decided that this same costume will work around Christmas time too.
The decorations are pretty sparse but Charlie doesn't care. Everytime he looks at the balloons and these little twirly things he says, "this be fun".

lovin' summer...

Here is what we've been up to....

Playing...




Swimming, swimming, swimming...that's almost all we do! Brenna goes to swim team every morning at 7:15. Then we go to the pool at the gym or someones house. I'm not complaining either. I love being in the water and taking the weight of the pregnancy off my back...it's a GOOD thing! The down side is being pregnant and getting into a swim suit.


Eliza just finished her "Princess Musical Theatre Camp". The end performance was so cute! She loved coming home each week singing the songs and showing some of the "moves".


Emma Grace likes to rock climb while Eliza is doing her soccer class at the Rec center. Charlie is just dying that he can't do it! The minimum age is five...sorry kiddo!

I consider this "my playing"! A little decorating and rearranging...of course! It's a sickness I have...I'm addicted to it! I have to clean, rearrange and decorate...I can't stop myself! I was so excited to arrange all of this in our front room. It's taken me a good couple of years of thinking about how I wanted to do this.

Father's Day...
I promised Todd that he would have a nice big bowl of Fruit Loops for Father's Day! Oh...I love and appreciate him way more than that! We did the works! Breakfast is Todd's favorite meal of the day. So we had different kinds of muffins, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, orange smoothie and the kids enjoyed a chance to have Fruit Loops.
Check out Charlie's blank stare. He is still in disbelief that he is about to eat Fruit Loops for breakfast!
The children had a great time creating a giant framed picture of themselves with all of their drawings all around it for Todd to hang in his office.


Crafting...
We invited Madison and Sheridan and Kirstyn to come and do some hand embroidery with us one afternoon. They all really loved it! We turned all of their artwork into little pillows or door hangers.

Brenna has had fun doing several different designs.


watching tv....

This is a classic picture of Emma Grace and Charlie starring into the TV. I walked into the room with them sitting just like this. I just had to grab the camera to get a picture. Charlie just loves being with Emma Grace. She is really sweet to him.

dancing...
The girls had an awesome dance recital. We love their dance studio and we love all of their teachers.

It is really hard for me to believe that this was Emma Grace's 5th spring recital. Where does the time go? Seriously it wasn't that long ago that she did a dance in an adorable little yellow costume and had a duck hat on for her tap routine. This past year she had Sheridan, one of her best friend's, in her class which made it that much more fun. Not to mention that her teacher, Ms. Christine, was amazing! Emma Grace's jazz dance was "Wild Child" and they had to shake their head and make their hair all crazy for one of the dance moves. She loved that part and loved practicing it at home. Her tap dance was "Walking on Sunshine".

Brenna is quite the little tap dancer! She did the dance perfect and smiled so cute the entire time. They danced to "Choo Choo Ch Boggie".

This was Eliza's first recital. She tap danced to "Let's Go Fly A Kite" and her ballet dance was to "Boogie Woogie Jitterbug". She was so smiley and giggled all the way through her ballet dance. It was really funny! We asked her later what she was so giggly about and she didn't know. But she remembered all of her steps and did a wonderful job.

vacation...

We had so much fun visiting my family in Kentucky for 10 days. That deserves it's own post so I'll save that for later.

my kids are so "Incredible"...

...and I can honestly say that!!!

They have watched "The Incredibles" a couple of times this past week and are loving it! You're looking at a picture of "Violet"(played by Emma Grace), "Dash"(happily being played by Eliza because she likes to show that she is a really fast runner), and "Jack-Jack"(no coincidence at all that he is being Jack-Jack...he can turn himself into a ragging ball of fire anytime, day or night).

The worst thing about getting behind on my blog is that now I don't remember half of what I would have written for this post. So I'll do my best!


This is the little roller coaster in Toon Town. It was Charlie's first experience with a roller coaster. We had no idea that he would love it so much that he would insist on getting in line over and over and over. Then, when given the opportunity, he rode the Matterhorn with Dad, and kept his hands over his head (at least until the first big drop).



Todd and the girls convinced Granddad (who has a serious claustrophobia problem) to ride the Thunder Mountain railroad ride. There are several tunnels that Todd and the girls swore were "no big deal". Poor Granddad thought he was going to die. He was white as a sheet nearly the whole time, and kept asking Grammy "is it almost over?"

Then ... we spent some time in California Adventure ...


The Mulholland Madness ...



The little kids' play area ...



Charlie was so bummed to find out that he's just a little too short for the floating jelly fish ride.


That rocket ship thing that spins around and flys over the lake ...

Charlie loved the "and 'yond" (short for "To Infinity and Beyond") ride (aka, Toy Story). You can't tell it from this picture, but he had pretty good aim with the little gun.


This is us in the hotel lobby after a long day at the park.

easter morning...

The children woke up Sunday morning and were immediately at our bedside saying the Easter bunny had come. They had already found Charlie's basket! We rolled out of bed and each found their baskets one at a time. Emma Grace said, "I hate getting older because the Easter bunny hides my basket in hard places".

Charlie's basket was beside the TV in the family room. He wasted no time going for the candy. Although, funny thing, he carried around the sucker ALL DAY and hardly asked for us to open. He just liked carrying it!
Emma Grace found her basket in the very difficult hiding spot ;) right in the cupboard where the pans go. You can see in this picture that each of the children got a picture of the Savior in their baskets.
Eliza found her basket in the front room bombay chest(I think that is the "technical" name for it...around here we call it "where we put Charlie's clothes). She finally got her night time eye mask. It's a frog mask which made it even better!
Brenna, our little game machine, got a game of pit. Yahoo! It is pretty fun!
And of course the Easter Bunny made another mess on our front porch.
I love holidays with kids! It was so magical for them again this year to open the front door and see big paw prints, money and eggs(filled with cookie crisp cereal for breakfast). The part that is even better is that the Bunny hops around the street to all the houses with kids and leaves the same "mess". All the kids on our street love it!

easter pageant...

While Mom was visiting, we attended the Easter pageant at the temple. It is so wonderful to be able to go to this with our children(well, right now just Brenna and Emma Grace) and watch the story of Christ's life. I am so grateful to have the knowledge of a Savior who died for my sins and broke the bands of death by rising on the third day. I'm grateful for the Spirit in my life that guides me daily as I fulfill my mission on this earth.

To get a good seat you have to go early and eat dinner while you wait. This is when you make a quick trip to Little Caesar's for their $5.00 pizza's.
And then you top it off with a visit to Dairy Queen next door to the temple. Voila! An hour has now passed and it's time for the pageant to start!