Of course they named him Olaf

R.I.P. Olaf

January 11, 2014 - January 12, 2014

He never saw the plow coming. 

Lessons learned today

1.  I need to start running early in the mornings.  I've been able to get away with going whenever I please the last couple of months but now that summer is creeping up morning runs are becoming a must.  Long run in the middle of the hot day = no fun.

2. Never doubt Dave.  I'll admit- when he approached me telling me he was going to build a trailer for the canoe that can be pulled behind the 4-wheeler out of miscellaneous wood scraps, a pile of bolts, and two beat-to-poo bikes from the DI I had my doubts.  Best. Invention. Ever.  It made today's lake day sooo much easier.  We are now able to pull the canoe right down to the lake (plus all our life jackets, sand toys, books, blankets, towels, food, chairs etc).

3. The lake works perfect as an ice bath after a long run. The water is still quite chilly.

4.  Always review human anatomy books before letting the kids read them.  I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. When we go to the library Emma heads straight for the thick fantasy books, Canyon for the train, farm animal and truck board books and Ali heads straight for the non-fiction section.  She has brought home books on hockey, deer hunting, fossils, pyramids and more.  Today she picked out a large Eyewitness book (in the children's section, mind you) on human anatomy.  I applauded her choice.  On the way home though I heard much giggling in the back from her and Emma.  When I turned around to see what was going on I found them pointing out special parts on a very, very detailed rendition of the male body.  I have to say, I am impressed with how I handled the situation.  I calmly said, oh, I see you've found a picture of a penis, that's how boys go to the bathroom and then asked if I could look at the book for awhile.  When really- I just wanted to snatch the book away and cry under my seat. Why, children's Eyewitness book?  Why?  This just confirmed how much I am dreading "the talk".

Funny Faces On The Farm

I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to get a normal, picture perfect picture of my children.

I'm sure hoping the photographer who is taking our family pics this weekend will prove me wrong.

Emma requested a funny face picture.  I was happy to oblige since the kiddos seemed incapable of sitting serenely side by side and smiling.

Canyon's "funny face" is my favorite.  Nut.

Speaking of Canyon, notice how he is never more than 2 inches from his "Emma sister", as he likes to call her.  I'm pretty sure he would be happy to strip me of the title of "mom" and hand it to her.  Those two seem to have a special kind of bond.  It's quite endearing.

Smiles and Freckles

Oh, how I love that big toothless smile and those shining eyes and freckles.  The only thing cuter is the slight lisp she has developed (thanks to the missing teeth).

Happy Me

I'm happy today. The sun is shining and it appears as if Spring really is around the corner.  Oh, how sunshine cheers me.  Some other things that have brought a smile to my face lately...

*Flowers

Dave brought these beauties home from work with him on Valentines day (along with some chilis take out, mmmm).  I adore them.  I love seeing them on the counter every morning.  They brighten my day.

*Three in a row

I'm not sure why but every time my chickens settle down at the counter for a meal it warms my heart.  Something about having them all together at once. I love how they naturally put themselves in order (biggest to smallest) every single time.

*Blendtec

After much research and some saving I finally bit the bullet and bought a high powered blender. I can't stress it enough... I love my Blendtec!  I use it several times a day and it has helped immensly with my goal of clean eating.  So far I've made smoothies galore, whole juices, almond milk, salad dressings, ice-cream that's made of spinach and bananas but that tastes like mint chocolate chip (it's a magical blender), whole wheat pancakes made of wheat berries and a million and one larabar bites. I'm especially in love with the larabar bites.  They are the perfect blend of carbs, protein and healthy fats for a before or after workout snack. I'm trying to figure out how to carry a few in my jersey pockets for long bike rides. The kids can't get enough of them and call them cookie dough balls.  I make sure there is always a large batch in the fridge.

*WinCo

How have I not known about WinCo before now?  They are my new go-to place for stocking up on nuts and seeds of every variety, dates, wheat berries, steel cut oats, flax seed, quinoa, wild rice, dried fruit etc.  I dream of their bins at night.  Heaven.

*This girl

Yesterday I only saw her for an hour or two because she was busy helping Dave with secret birthday plans and then her and Emma were at dance while I was at work.  As soon as she walked in the front door and saw me she dropped everything and ran, jumped and gave me a big ol' hug that lasted for at least 3 minutes and proclaimed that her day had been terrible because it didn't have me in it. She is my snuggle bug. I just registered her for kindergarten and man, was that hard. I'm not sure how we will handle being apart for 4 hours a day when she starts school.

*Documentaries

Dave and I have started watching documentaries on our date nights while we pedal away on our bikes in the basement.  Good times. Good times.  Some favorites (all found on Netflix) you should watch:

The Spirit of The Marathon
Ride the Divide
Hungry for Change
Running the Sahara
Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead

I tell you, the body is an amazing thing.

Cleanup Crew

We're big on baking in this house. It's a fun family event.

Emma is a pro at measuring ingredients and cracking eggs.

Canyon is the dough whisperer and loves kneading, molding and shaping any type of dough.

And Ali?  Sweet, sweet Ali... her speciality lies in cleaning.

We don't call her the cleanup crew for nothing.

Now, does anyone want to come over and take some food off of our hands?  Today's snowy morning bake-a-thon resulted in a very big, rich chocolate cake (Canyon's request 'coco-et cake') and 6 pans of ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls. I have a tummy ache just looking at them all.  If only we had more neighbors to pawn them off on.  Sigh.

A few of my favorite things

In the past couple of months I have come across a few how-in-the-big-blue-world-did-I-ever-live-without-you things.  I'm so smitten with them I decided a blog post singing their praises was in order.

1.  This baby.  I'm a little embarrassed to admit I spent over $20 dollars on a water bottle when I won't spend anything over $10 on pants. Shows were my priorities are I guess ;). Let me tell you though...it is worth every penny!  I take this sucker with me everywhere.  Even to bed. It's durable, doesn't leak, light-weight, pretty, fits in my cup holders in my car, fun to drink out of and very well insulated.  I accidentally left it in my broiling hot car for several hours while I was shooting a wedding in the middle of summer, when I finally retrieved it it still had ice floating in it.  It's that good. It's also very easy to carry. The little loop thing on top makes it possible to carry with one finger which comes in handy when I'm lugging around children, camera equipment, and groceries.

2. Podcasts.  Dave is in charge of cleaning and updating our phones.  I'm in charge of losing them and cracking the screens about every two months... but that's beside the point.  Anyway, after the most recent update (thank you, honey) I noticed a new icon for podcasts.  After exploring it a bit I found myself in heaven.  I am totally addicted to listening to podcasts. They have podcasts on every subject imaginable. Why didn't anyone tell me sooner?! I listen to podcasts on cycling, nutrition, running, current events, photography, history, parenting, general conference etc.  I listen to them in the car, while editing, on walks, while mopping and folding laundry, while spinning on the trainer, while making dinner.... you get the point.  I even found several that the kiddos love and will listen to with me.  In fact Emma is hooked on the National Geographic, How Things Work and Storynory podcasts. 

3. This bread. The petite loaves are perfect for packing for lunches. Not to mention, they are SOOO delicious and I'm in love with the fact they are made with all whole wheat and have very little butter and sugar in them.

4. The Waze app.  It's no secret that I get lost easily.  Something about directions and maps turn my brain into a puddle of mush.  In fact, I got a call from Emma's friend's mom letting me know that Emma was concerned I wouldn't be able to find my way to her little friend's birthday party and had asked her if she would call and give me directions.  The kicker?  The party was just below our house at the lake.  Dear, sweet, Emma... ha!  Anyway, the waze app allows me to enter my destination into it and then it's freaky-fake-lady voice gives me simple, concise directions until I get there.  It also warns of upcoming traffic, hazards or cops.  It's pretty much a lifesaver.  Although my mountain seems to confuse it quite a bit.  Good thing I at least know how to get off the mountain on my own... despite what Emma may think ;)

5.  Rumble strips.  We have a lot of narrow, winding roads and rumble strips around where we live.  Anytime I would accidentally hit one Canyon would gasp and get a huge worried look on his face.  I decided to alleviate his fear of the rumble strips by telling him it was simply a big, hairy, sharp-toothed monster trying to get through the bottom of our car to eat our eyes out.  Heh. Heh. Now every time we hit a rumble strip he yells, "Oh!!! Eyes!!" and covers his eyes as fast as he can.  Pretty much the funniest and cutest thing I have ever seen. Don't judge.

6. The Strava app.  Yes, yes, another app.  Dave introduced me to this one and I use it to track all of my runs and rides now. I already take my phone with me on runs/rides for safety reasons and music and love that it now works as a GPS too. When comparing it to Dave's Garmin it is pretty darn accurate.  I love how it is set up and that it saves all my past excursions so I can compare and contrast.

I'm also a big fan of the fact that ride details such as elevation, splits, etc. is all readily available to view afterwards without having to download it to the computer first like Dave's Garmin.  Fun note- this is actually a screen shot of my "flat" ride. Love me all the hills and climbing around here. I may not have loved them at first but they are definitely growing on me.

And in the spirit of letting them dress themselves...

I came home from a bike ride to find Ali and Canyon outside playing. Ali in mis-matched pajamas and flip-flops and Canyon in this...

Things I love about this picture:

The too small muscle tee showing off that deliciously round tummy
The dirt on his knees
The little Alfalfa sprout on the top of his head.
The classic Canyon bunny tooth smile that melts my heart every.single.time.
And last but not least those dang slightly-too-big for him cowboy boots.  He finds them no matter where I hide them.

Despite the fact this picture is but a fuzzy iPhone capture I think it deserves a place on the wall. 

Saturday Morning

I love Saturday mornings.  Especially ones where we have absolutely nothing on the agenda.  This morning we all slept in until 6:30... Dave and Ali until almost 8:00. 

There were art projects

lazy reading

lots of car playing

raggedy blankets, mis-matched jammies and crusty wake up faces

good morning scratches

and many half-eaten "ba-pos" (aka pears that Canyon calls apples) scattered haphazardly around the house

Next came breakfast.  We have a system around here: I make the batter, Dave cooks it up.  This morning it was whole wheat banana bread pancakes-with a side of eggs.

My favorite. Except Ali ate all the eggs before any of us realized it.

Emma decided to help and quickly got dressed for the occasion.

Ali appointed herself as Emma's sous chef. She couldn't find her apron so improvised by using Emma's superhero cape.

Dave played a little iPhone chess while slaving away. 

He was embarrassed when I caught him.  And then annoyed when I wouldn't stop taking pictures.

Canyon did a stellar job of eating and requested seconds fourths on syrup. 

He let us know the second he was finished by trying to get out of his chair all by himself. 

It was a similar stunt involving the car that earned him those raspberries all over his face.

This past year or so I've really been trying to document more of our day to day life. It's saddens me a little how fast life moves and how much things change. The other day my sister brought up how Emma used to tell everyone she was going to be "laminated" when she turned eight when she, of course, meant baptized.  I was horrified to realize that until she brought it up, I had completely forgotten about it.  My hope is that blog posts like this one will help me remember and hold on to the sweet little sing-song voices, the sticky hands, the smell of banana permeating the house, the laughter, the raspberry covered noses and all the other small details that I love about this stage in our lives.

An Early Morning Visitor

This morning I handed Emma her backpack and coat, kissed her goodbye and opened the front door for her.  2.3 seconds later she bounded back in screaming. 

Turns out we had a little visitor.

He likes bacon flavored dog treats and hisses when cornered.  Don't ask me how I know.

High Flying Adored

The minute Dave walks in the door these two monkeys are begging for their "flying lessons".

There is much giggling and "Again! Again!" from the monkeys, some deep grunting and chuckling from Dave and a lot of "Stop it! You're going to break something or someone!" from me. It's quite the morning ritual.

By the way, I plan on keeping my babes in footie pajamas until they are at least 18.

Snow

Snow has been a bit scarce around here this winter.  Which, honestly, makes me quite sad.  Luckily, the little skiff that has been stubbornly clinging to the roads has been just enough to get some sledding in.

 We love sledding.

Everyone that is except for...

Howie. 

His poor little legs are no match for a careening sled driven by a crazy 4-year-old. Poor pup.

And please, let's all make a wish for some more of the fluffy white stuff.  I'm absolutely dying to break out my cross-country skis.

The best thing in the world...

Is when Emma informs me she is never moving out and that she, her husband and kids will always live with me on our house on the mountain.

Is when Ali crawls into my bed at 1:30 in the morning and announces herself by saying, "Ali Miller, here for snuddles."

Is always having Canyon at my feet, on my hip or in my lap wherever I go.

Is the "I Luf you" note hanging in my office that Emma wrote to me while in time out one day.

Is listening to Ali pray, "please let mom and me die at the same time" because she can't stand the thought of being without me for even a minute.

Is Emma curled up beside me begging for just one more chapter each night before bed.

Is sweet, pucker-y muah kisses from my little guy.

Is Ali telling me repeatedly that she loves me "more 'dan anyfing".

Is hearing Canyon demand, cry or ask, "Mama, mama, mama" a thousand and one times a day.

The best thing in the world is being a mom.  Although I am far from a perfect mother, to these little ones, I am enough. It seems every night when I go to bed I am wishing I had been more patient or that I had spent more time on the floor playing or heck, that I had dished out more fruits and veggies and less sugar. But no matter how the day goes the next morning I am always greeted with hugs, kisses and sleepy "good morning mama"s. My monkeys love me easily, sincerely and without question. It's the best feeling in the whole wide world.

boy

I've noticed something about my little Canyon man lately. He has started shying away from his sister's my little ponies and doll house people that he has always loved playing with.  Instead, he is either chasing us around with a plastic dinosaur "rawring" at us, trying his hardest to throw his little basketball, or my favorite..pushing Neddie and Freddie, his bedtime friends, around in his jeep making a "vroooom" sound.

Add in the fact that he hardly ever wears pants and constantly has some sort of grease or dirt on his face and I'd say he is becoming quite the little boy.

A little boy who still knows how to melt his mama's heart by crawling up her lap and planting big wet ones on her lips when she is least expecting it. I think I'll keep him. Forever.

Seasons

Winter on our mountain was nothing short of a winter wonderland, one without water, but a winter wonderland non-the-less. Spring took my breath away with it's lush greens and abundance of wildflowers. Summer was a whirlwind of blues...bright blue sky, bright blue lake.  As amazing as all the seasons have been so far, I have a feeling, Fall is going to take the cake.

Invaded

Everywhere I look I find these little guys...

It kind of reminds me of when I was younger and how my dad was always mumbling at us to pick up all the *#@^  *#%^  &;$(#   Legos because he kept stepping on them. 

Except of course I don't use quite the same words as he did.  Ha! What a guy.

This Week's Randoms

The new pretzel M&Ms...YUM. Love the sweet and salty combo.

*******

I love birthdays. They give me a reason to make cakes. My sister came to spend the night on her birthday so Ali and I made her this little diddy. I put Ali in charge of unwrapping the whole package of mini Reese's peanut butter cups without eating them. She kept saying, "I doing SO good. I not eating any of them! I a GOOD helper! I not eating any of them". I praised her and told her I couldn't do this job without her while I kept frosting. After about 5 minutes I happened to look up and noticed her process. Unwrap. Lick. Place candy in the to-use-for-decorating-bowl. Nice. The kicker is that night, Crystal, let Ali help her blow out the candles but warned her not to, "spit on the cake". Heh heh, little did she know.

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Football season is here! Yay! We bought 2 season tickets this year. Dave, of course, goes to every game and takes one of us girls as his date. This first game he took Emma. Unfortunately, the season ticket holder who has a seat next to ours is, errrrrr, quite large. So large in fact that Emma had to sit on Dave's lap the whole time. Are you kidding me?! That one seat that was used to house his left butt-cheek cost us a small fortune. Grrrr. Things will have to change though because I'm quite sure Canyon man and I won't fit on Dave's lap for the UofU vs. BYU game.

*******

I have designated Mondays as...Cookie Mondays. Every day when Emma gets home from school we have snack and talk about the girls' day. On Mondays she comes home to a big plate of nice warm cookies. We eat and then I freeze the rest for her school lunches for the week. I now love Mondays.

*******

We recently scored one of these babies for a whole $25. I'm stoked. As soon as Canyon is a little (or a lot) bigger we can enjoy long family bike rides again.

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My so called, maternity leave ends next week. I'm wishing I would have taken another month off. I love photography buuuut I'm not quite ready to leave my baby.

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I have noticed lately that during an intense part of a workout, be it a steep hill, sprint, etc. my mind reverts back to the same frame it used to get me through the long, hard contractions I had during labor with Canyon. "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. Push through, push though, push through. Breath, breath, breath. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this". It's funny, I laughed when I realized what I was doing, but it seems to work well.

*******

I've had this book for over a week now and am only, like, an 1/8th of the way into it. I finished both of the first two books in a day and a half. I just can't seem to get into this one, though. Maybe it's because I only have the chance to read it in 5 min. increments. I bet that's it. I still have high hopes for the book.

*******

I don't think there is anything that smells better than my sweet baby's little neck. Mmmm I nibble on it all day. Especially because he is prone to tossing his head back and letting out sad little coos all day. We call them his sad stories. Seriously.... Cutest. Thing. Ever.

*******

One week of school down! I think we are all starting to get used to it. Emma comes home so happy! I always ask her about something that made her happy and something that made her sad during the day. She always has 10+ happy things and never any sad ones. She did have a small meltdown Thursday night, though. I think the full-day part of Kindergarten finally caught up with her. A good nights sleep and a promise of a weekend full of snuggling mom and playing with Ali helped. Speaking of Ali, she too is getting used to the whole school thing. She has her own lunch box and own backpack and walks with Emma to the bus stop sporting both every morning. And then she comes home and follows me around calling me teacher. We have our own morning of "school", nap time and then Emma is home. Not too bad.

*******

The other day I had to grab a few things from the grocery store and took the three monkeys with me. The girls picked out one of those ostentatiously BIG carts. You know what I'm talking about. Huge. Noisy. Blue. As I looked at the cart chuck-full of children with some small groceries squeezed in the spare spaces in between them it struck me how much I LOVE being a mom. Oh, how that cart full of children made me happy. Life is good. So good.