{I can't sleep...}

You would think that being sick would make you tired and want to sleep.

My sickness has the opposite effect, unfortunately.

Gavin has been sick with a fever and bad cough and complaining of his belly hurting for two days.

Not only that but he has been lethargic, very lethargic today. It scared me so much that i kicked the poor KIRBY guy (who was sweating bullets trying to show me his vacuum and it's amazing abilities) out of my house, woke Jaydon up from his nap and packed all three boys in the car and sped to the Urgent Care.

Gavin couldn't walk on his own. He said it hurt his belly too bad.

So, i carried this big boy that is half my size into the Urgent care, and had tanner

push little Jaydon in his stroller. Everyone stared like "what the?" haha.

You think i would have learned my lesson the FIRST time about NOT going to the WF Urgent Care Center. I don't know where the city, OR whoever chooses the doctor's, picked these doctors up from,

but it's nowhere from the "land of KNOWLEDGE" where doctors are SUPPOSED to know. :) Symptoms:

Fever, cough, lethargy(big time), achey belly, RACING heartrate(it was so fast it scared me). It reminded me exactly of Tanner's symptoms when he had pneumonia. Doctors diagnosis: Sinusitis. HUH? Does he think i am STUPID?! Who the heck are these DOCTORS?! And what in my right mind made me want to go back to them after misdiagnosing ME?! Holy cow. He didn't have any cold or congestion or anything to make me think

it would be a sinus problem. He never once complained of a headache, or anything like it. Just a fever and belly ache. The doc looked in his nose and said, "oh, yeah, it looks red.

I don't feel anything wrong with his tummy." He starts putting lots of pressure under Gavin's eyes and said "Does this hurt?" Well, That would hurt me TOO if he was pushing on

my face that freakin hard. Gavin yanked his head away

looking annoyed and said "yes." The doc said "it's sinusitis". I said "why the lethargy?" He ignored my question and was like a politician jumping around actually

having to ANSWER my question. He started walking out the door and i interrupted him "what

about why he is so lethargic?" I was angry. He still didn't have a good answer.

I said "How do i know it's not pneumonia?" He said, "well, i would have to listen for it." Yeaaaah. That would have been a good thing to do BEFORE you diagnosed him

so quickly with SINUSITIS. He listened. He listened so QUICKLY that he wouldn't have

caught any sound in there if he were trying to. Anyway, he gave us

a prescription and told us to get some zyrtec too. I didn't get the prescription. That isn't what it is.

I am NOT a doc and i know that. He hasn't had any symptoms of sinusitis.

We got home and he vomitted. We got some pedialyte down him and he seems to be a BIT

better , but still looks very sick. We got home and my throat started hurting. And

a fever came on very quickly. I started feeling

like CRUD. We went to bed at 8:00 and i got the chills and fever and aches so bad that

i couldn't sleep nor could i get WARM. My eyes were burning terribly and wouldn't stop watering. I had three blankets on me and warm pajamas on.

I had my whole body, including my head under the blankets and was balled up like a baby in the womb and still

couldn't get warm. It took myself about twenty minutes to find

the courage to jump out of bed in the cold air to go take some medicine. I threw on

Shane's robe, put on slippers, made some soup, took some meds and through a heavy blanket

around me and sat on the couch and watched tv while i ate my soup. Suddenly, half way through eating my

soup i start sweating. I still feel achey, but it's not near as

bad as it was. The medicine has kicked in. And hopefully the fever doesn't come back. :) I was so worried about GAVIN while laying there in bed. I kept debating after we got home from the Urgent Care to take him to the REAL hospital to the ER, where there might be some doctor's who know what

they are doing. He perked up a little after we got home, so we waited it out. Now i just keep checking on him. At least i know it's probably just a severe

FLU. Now it's just a waiting game to see who gets it next. Man, i wish i knew how good i had it in cleveland when it came to healthcare. It makes me appreciate a place with good doctors,

and appreciate just GOOD doctors in general. Doctors are a blessing. The one's that actually

want to help you. :)

Now, i think i am gonna go lay down and try to sleep while i still can. :)

{Update here...}

Jaydon and tanner helping me make some homemade hummus. Here they are boiling the chickpeas.

Update:

1.Gavin has been sick the past couple of days with a fever and bad cough.

2.Jaydon's nose is still gushing with thick snot. At least the pink eye is gone!

3.Jaydon decided to poor baking powder all over the couches while i did my run on the treadmill yesterday. I know, it's my fault. And i should've taken a picture! BUT i wasn't really thinking about that when i saw the mess he made right before my visiting teachers came! :)

4. Shane is up at 4:00 in the morning working and gets home around 6-7 at night. I miss him.

5. I am working out hard, trying to get myself ready for a sprint triathlon. It's hard finding the energy and time to get it in, but i am doing it! Making it a priority. Plus, it's a good de-stresser. Is that a word? :)

6. Today is going to be 68 degrees, tomorrow is going to be 74, and saturday is going to be 68 again. LOVE IT. Unfortunately, it's going to get in the 30's for a couple days next week.

7. I've been feeling really weighed down lately by many things. I started walking around the house about 7:00 a.m. yesterday morning, before the boys woke. I saw my scriptures and it's like my insides jumped out to them. It was magnetic. :) I just ran for those things and knew i needed to open my scriptures. I opened up to the chapter i am at in my reading right now, Alma 25. I started reading and it was exactly what i needed to hear. I love this chapter. It's such a good one and it helped me out in so many ways. It helped to remind me to focus on my blessings and what i have been blessed with. And to continue to give thanks to my Heavenly Father for everything he has given me. "Bear with patience thine afflictions". "God is mindful of every people". Reading that gave me strength. It gives me strength reading his word everyday and praying to him everyday.

8. I am working on my 2010 blog book. I have to get it done my feb. 13th. When i get that one, i will have journal keeping blog books starting from 2007 up to 2010. 4 books! It's very exciting.

{Sprint TRI excitement}

I am sorry, but i can't contain myself! I am so flippin excited about doing a sprint triathlon. I have been looking into dates and locations and as of right now, the one that will work best is April 16th. It's probably a little over an hour drive away from here. There is also one i would like to do in Austin on May 30th. We will see about that one. There was one on my birthday, but i can't find it again. I am sure i will find it b/c i really would LOVE to be in it on my 30th birthday! It would take my mind off of turning 30! :)

Anyway! If you don't know much about Sprint Triathlons let me tell you a little about them. They all vary a little bit in how far you swim, bike and run. The one i want to do is what the typical Sprint triathlon distances are. It's a 1/2 mile swim, which is 16 laps in an olympic size pool. Otherwise, it's 32 laps in a smaller pool. That isn't too bad if you know how to swim. I love swimming. :) And i miss it.

The bike ride portion is 12 miles. I am really excited about it b/c i am going to start looking into getting a bike on wednesday. We bought mountain bikes a few years back, so i want to sell mine and buy a good racing bike. Luckily, i live in cycling country. And my visiting teacher is a cycling instructor at the college and her hubby is a professional cyclist. She is going to help me find a bike that i need for a steal of a deal. Shane wants in on the action too. :) He wants to do duathlons with me. He isn't quite to the point of wanting to do a tri. I need to teach him good swimming techniques before he gets into that. :)

The running portion is a 5K, which is 3.1 miles. I wish i could run long distances, but my body can't handle it. My knees ache really bad and so do my hips after running about 5 miles. I guess running is too rough on my body. But i can handle a 5K. :) One of the reasons i stopped running a lot was b/c of that. That's when i realized i need to start cycling more, and swimming. :)

I have been wanting to do a Sprint Tri for years. I can't wait to get the chance to do hopefully a few this year. :) No, i will never do a full on triathlon. Like i said, i couldn't handle running that long. My knees might break if i did. :) I will just enjoy getting faster and faster at the sprint Triathlons. :) It's a perfect fit for me. :)

The only thing i wish....i wish i had a few people to do these races with.

{Love Hate Relationship}

These two were playing around and i had to grab a quick picture of them. Jaydon wanted to wrestle Tanner. All three of these boys LOVE to wrestle each other. It always ends up where someone gets hurt or gets mad at the other, but they love wrestling still. I understand. I had a brother that loved wrestling and took out his wrestling aggression on me. I dealt with it all growing up and i still deal with it everytime i see him. :) I just have something written on my back that says "Put me in a wrestling move that i can't get out of". Anyway, It's a guy thing.

They often want to wrestle and attack me, but i am getting close to the point where they all three will be able to pin me. They are getting tough. BUT i will still try to enjoy being able to pin them down individually. :)

Anyway, Tanner and Jaydon have a love hate relationship. One minute they like each other and the next minute they are so mad at each other. Jaydon likes to pick on tanner a lot. Tanner likes to pick on Gavin a lot. Tanner doesn't quite know how to deal with Jaydon picking on him. Tanner just gets mad and annoyed. But Tanner sure does know how to get a good rise out of Gavin. He is good at picking on him. Jaydon is getting real tough and will go up behind the boys, wrap his arms around them and take them to the ground. It's hilarious. I love watching baby brother take down big brother. The boys like it too. They think it's funny.

These boys are so fun. Tanner and Gavin don't destroy things, but Jaydon does. He tries ruining and destroying everything. The train set we got him for Christmas...instead of playing choo-choo and riding the trains on the track , he likes to go in and completely demolish and tear apart the train set and then throw the pieces all over the house. I am not exaggerating. It's sad really b/c i thought he would love having a train set to play with. Maybe in a few more months he will appreciate it. AND i am getting tired of cleaning the train set up every single night. :)

Not only that but Jaydon likes to climb on EVERYTHING. He likes to climb on everything and stand as king of the mountain. He will climb up on the table chairs and stand there and he just stays there until i see him. When i see him, he smiles. He knows i don't like when he does it. :) When i cook, he pulls the chair up and watches me cook and tries to help me cook by grabbing my wooden spoons and pretending to stir things. He has learned how to open our doors, AND i am going to have to watch him closely when it starts getting warm out b/c he knows how to sneak out of the house without me knowing. I am trying to remember to lock my bedroom door, but i forget b/c this is a new thing. He likes to get into all the DVD's and so far has ruined a couple. I have to watch him CONSTANTLY to make sure he isn't destroying something. :) He is so much fun though. We love him.

{What really matters...}

More and more i see people posting stuff about how other people post nothing but wonderful things on their blogs, making themselves depressed at how good others have it, and wrapped up in wanting all those things too. Here is what i say to that. Some people really do have it good. Some people don't have it that amazing, but just like to post only about the good things, leaving out the bad. They have it average. Which is good. Some people might pretend to have it good when they really don't. So, it happens. Life happens. Bad happens. Doesn't matter who you are or what you believe. Trials and adversity and complications and hard times are going to come your way NO MATTER who you are. What MATTERS is how you deal with those things that define who you are. How do you face adversity and trials and challenges? It doesn't matter what your next door neighbor has...all the toys they get to buy, all the material things they like to show off. That means nothing in the end. What matters more is who you are on the inside. That's all the Lord cares about. And if you are being and becoming what he wants you to be, then you are on top. It doesn't matter if your friend can sew, do photography, cook, bake, have a clean house, workout and run around to every child's sport all in one day(if there is someone who can do this, i want to know. ridiculous). What matters is who you are becoming on the inside. What you are contributing in this life to make it better. That's all that matters in the end.

There is something i like to do when i feel like i am getting caught up in the world...getting caught up in the things that truly don't matter. I stop. I sit in silence without noise. I ask myself "What if i had two days to live? What if i were told that i was going to die in two days?" When i really think about that...the things that TRULY matter are the things that come to mind and i am quickly reminded of those things and can climb off the worldy ladder and get back into reality. I forget about the grudge, the "issues" i had with someone, the reason i was mad at my husband, etc. The only things that matter to me is what kind of friend i was, what kind of family member i was, my relationship with my family, with my kids and my husband. The relationship with my Heavenly Father and Savior. And what i did to make this world a better place and what i did to make sure my kids and husband and family knew that i loved them. Would i even give a second thought to "did i have all the best things in life? did i decorate and design my home all pretty? Did i make sure to show everyone how amazing i am in order to try and hide my insecurities?"..HA! NO. Not one thought would go to that. Because it doesnt' matter.

Someone who has built their relationship with their Heavenly Father and come close to the Savior, someone who lives the way they believe, Someone who has learned what truly matters in this life and actually lives their life that way are the one's who are greatly rewarded. No, Not with material things, but with a happiness inside that many people won't experience. You will know when you have that happiness. A happiness where WANTING what everyone else has won't matter to you anymore. Pettiness won't matter. Becoming the best at everything won't matter. Sure, you might still say "oohh, that would be nice to have." But it won't consume you. Your heart won't be set upon those things of the world. You will find happiness in every situation in your life. Even in hard times. You find that happiness and it stays with you b/c you know the truth. You know what really matters and you know the plan. That's when other bloggers "perfect" lives won't get you down...that's when other's lives and what they have materially won't matter. It won't matter b/c you will know in your heart that it doesn't really matter in the end. When you reach that point that's when you can do great things. You can change things for the better. You can affect people's lives for the better. People will be drawn to you and want to know the truth. You will be a light unto the world. That's what matters.

{So far this January...}

Every Saturday, for our family, is a deep cleaning day. We all have assigned chores that we have to do and we do them. It's quite wonderful. I love that the boys can really help out a lot more now. It eases my load. :) So, this last saturday shane decided the best way to clean puke off of the bean bag is to dump out the inside of the bean bag and wash the cover. Yes, it is a good idea UNTIL we found what was inside. It's these tiny itty bitty circular styrofoam things that stick to EVERYTHING. It was messy! We were covered in these things and had to beat ourselves to get them off.

Here is shane with the foam stuck all over his clothes. I decided to NOT show his face in this picture b/c he wasn't happy. I thought it was funny! :)
Here is Gavin at his basketball game. He does a great job and we love watching the games.

We just signed both Tanner and Gavin up for soccer this spring. Tanner is excited to get started in sports. They both like soccer a lot so i am excited to watch them play this spring season. After that they will be doing swim lessons all summer until they KNOW how to swim. :) I insist.

Jaydon is just getting over his pink eye. He had it pretty bad for a few days, plus major congestion. He would just have thick streams of snot coming out of his nose all day. It was terrible. And having to put those antibiotic drops in his eyes is a nightmare. We have to hold him down and force open his eyes to get the drops in. He is going to be scarred for life now. I think this is a defining moment...he is now going to be claustrophobic. I sat down on the floor today that i get in when we put the drops in his eyes, but i also sit like that when i change his diaper. He would not come to me b/c he was afraid i was going to put drops in his eyes. When i did get a hold of him and lay him down to try and change him he started FREAKING out. He was rolling back and forth, crying saying "no no!"....imagine me, rolling my eyes, "that's wonderful". Just what i want. You wonder why people are claustrophobic?!...it all starts in childhood when something bad happens, like being held down to get eye drops in. ;) I am claustrophobic and it's because i was held down all the time being TICKLED. :) haha! Sounds funny, but i am serious. I panic when someone tries holding my arms down to tickle me(ask shane) OR when i see someone holding my kids down to tickle them. It makes my blood pressure rise big time. so weird.

I was just diagnosed today with strep throat(it's really uncomfortable!). Yippee. I am sure the rest of my family is sure to follow. I will just sit and wait for any signs so that i can hurry and get them on antibiotics and beat it fast.

I can't wait for the summer. I can't wait to swim and have warm HOT heat again. :) I mean, it isn't really cold here during the winter and we don't even have snow, but i just love heat. :) People ask me what i think of the summer heat here...as if i won't like it...well, i like it.

I can't wait to find out where we are moving to in July. And i can't wait until shane is done with this residency so that he can actually have vacation! Oh wait...PAID vacation! HA! seriously...paid vacation. I can't even imagine. We have never experienced that before. Oh what sweet relief...and his life will slow down a ton....even more sweet relief. Oh summer, where are you?! :)

{A nEW yEAR ...is ThaT SUpposed TO BE Good?}

Here is Jaydon's new thing as of the last month or so. I go in his room in the morning to get him out of bed and i often find him with his pajamas off OR tangled around him in some weird way. This is one example. When he is poopy he tells me by pulling his diaper and saying" poop". He doesn't like being poopy. Here is Tanner....we enjoy our days by eating, playing games, watching movies, and playing with toys and learning new things...like writing and spelling his name is one thing he is achieving right now. AND with tanner, i can't dress him. He has to dress himself. And often, for lounge wear around the house he puts on summer clothes. "It's too cold to wear that", i say to him often, but he doesn't care. The other morning he came to me shivering telling me he is cold. So i brought him in his room and got him some sweat pants and a sweater and put socks on him. I told him that this is how we dress when it's cold out. He smiled and i suddenly became a genius in his eyes. :) haha! BUT now i need to work on convincing him to stop wearing flip flops in 40 degree weather.

Life is going to be hard this year. For both shane and I. I already am looking forward to a new year. :) Well, not quite, but you know what i mean. Shane is really busy. When i say that, you may have no idea what i am talking about. It's not a good thing by any means. I feel like a single mom MOST days and shane gets run down big time from work.

I was talking to him the other day about how it can be really hard to be here all alone. He heads out in the morning at about 6:30a.m. and he gets home at like 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The boys go to bed at about 7:00, if i am at my end OR 7:30 if i am okay. :) So, i don't make shane help me in the evenings to put them to bed and do the bed routine b/c he just walked in the door, exhausted and hungry. I am not gonna make him do that when he is already so tired. Then he is in bed by 8:30 or 9:00 b/c he was up by 5:00 a.m. b/c that's when he usually wakes up to get things done in the morning before he goes to work. But that doesn't include the waking moments before that. For example, Last night he woke up at 3:00 a.m. He showered and did a few things and came back to bed for about an hour and a half. He woke up at 5:00 a.m. and was out the door at 6:30 a.m. He is very restless in the night. He wakes up all over the place! haha!

On top of his busy schedule, i have to be gone wednesday nights, he is gone tuesday nights teaching institute... i am gone for a few hours after church is over at meetings and such. And this year is busy busy with the young women. We have lots of traveling to do to OKC for various things, which is a 2 1/2 hour drive. We have to drive an hour to the stake center for various meetings and 2 1/2 to the temple and other gatherings for the youth and surrounding areas. Lots of those drives will be happening on saturdays and they are all day events. And the problem with that could be that shane will be doing lots of work on saturdays too. I don't like an overly busy life...and the thing is, i know when enough is enough. If Young Women gets too busy and i can't do the drives then i won't. My family comes first. At the same time, i know the Lord will help us find a way to make things work out the way they should.

Anyway, I was expressing my exhaustion the other day to shane about how it's tiring being a single mom. I don't have family around like lots of people around here do. I don't have family who can watch my kids when i need a break. I don't have family to call for help when one child is puking and i have to get the other one to school, hoping that the other doesn't puke on the drive there or back. I don't have family to call when i need to go to the OBGYN...instead i have to take my two little boys along. I don't have relief. One relief i do have is staying close to the Lord through prayer and reading. That gives me strength that i otherwise don't have. I always notice a difference when i do those things each morning,versus the mornings i forget. Anyway, I don't call friends b/c they are all so busy as well and have their own lives. It isn't like it was in cleveland where you all understood you could call each other for help...it was an understanding there. Everyone relied on everyone. It made it easy. It isn't like that here. Anyway, i realize this, and i realize i need to buck up b/c that's my life and i need to deal with it. At least one good thing i know i get out of this is the learning and growing. Big time growing. I know this is making me strong. It's making me grow and giving me experience. I am learning to get along all on my own. It can be done. :) But it's not something that i would want to last for too long. :) Let's hope that shane never gets deployed for six months. I guess i am getting the experience and understanding of what it would be like from the experience here, but still, that would be tons harder b/c i wouldn't have him holding me at night in bed and i wouldn't have his warmth and smile help comfort my heart knowing he is here with me.

Last night i was doing the usual routine. Night time is hard b/c i am usually so ready for the boys to get to bed, but we have to do our usual routine....We ate dinner, then we have to get their pj's on, then we have to read, then we have to pray, then we have to brush teeth, bathe, etc. I am doing this when shane walks in. I was feeling tired. BUT something changed in my mood when i saw him....

He walked in last night with a mood like i havent' ever really seen from him. He was truly emotionally exhausted and beat down. He was beat down. He was drowning and felt like he was.

Listening to his story made me feel like i don't have it so bad. Like i should feel lucky for the situation i am in at home. That what i have to do REALLY IS NOT as tiring as i think it is. That i am being a big baby.

He vented for a few hours about everything at work. He is exhausted and he still has 6-7 more months of this. I felt so bad for him. Truly. I wish i could make it better for him. I do.

I am not going to feel bad for being tired anymore b/c i know he is working harder than i am. I know he is. And knowing that makes me realize i have it good. He is dealing with crap that i wouldn't want to touch. And i am glad i don't have to.

I do know he will come out of this a different person. How could he not?

So, this year is going to be tough on both of us, but we have made it through so many challenges already in our seven years, that this is just another one we have to make it through together. We have to help each other. We will grow through this and learn from this and grow closer together b/c of it.

Let's just say, i cannot wait for July to get here. And i can't wait b/c i want to see my husband relaxed and at ease. I don't like to see him like i saw last night. Six more months and he is free from school forever. Unfortunately, those six months for him will feel like 2-3 years.

Hey, mom and dad....why don't you come visit in February for awhile?!?! :) AND in march. :)

{Anyone with stomach issues?}

So, the past few days i am being very very careful about what i eat. I have been writing down everything i eat. And i am eating slowly at meals. Eating no sweets. And drinking more water! My water intake has been horrible. Really.

I am doing this because i have noticed that i get really bad stomach pains and get really bloated after i eat sometimes. I haven't really kept track of the things that i eat that make my stomach hurt, but it's time for me to figure this whole things out. Anyone else have this problem?

I am eating slowly b/c i read that if you eat too fast you can create gas in your stomach. Well, that's one thing i should try to be aware of. I don't know if i eat too fast, but i am making sure i take my time JUST IN CASE that could be it.

Part of me wonders if i have a food intolerance or a gallbladder issue since i have felt the pain under my ribs and in my upper abdomen that resembles symptoms of it. My dad has an intolerance for soy(and that is found in a lot of products) so maybe i do? My sister also has issues with her stomach when she eats certain things. Who knows what it is. We will see.

Over christmas break, we ate a thanksgiving dinner for Christmas dinner. Afterwards i had horrible pains in my upper stomach that nearly dropped me to the ground. Sharp. Shane carried me downstairs, laid me down and a few minutes later i felt better. It was so weird.

So, over the past three days i have done REALLY good. I have been eating pretty much the same stuff, and that consists of....
1. probiotic yogurt with Kashi go lean crunch spread on top of the yogurt and an orange....for breakfast. I have also eaten eggs and whole wheat english muffin, with an orange. :)
2. Lunch is usually turkey on whole wheat bread with olive oil mayo, and spinach on it. I eat that with some fresh chopped veggies(yellow bell peppers and grape tomatoes).
3. My snack depends on the day. I might eat a yogurt if i didn't eat it for breakfast, or i just don't have a snack. Or i might have some fruit.
4. Dinner has been a vegan tostado or chicken with beans, rice and a salad. Something of that sort.
5. And i like to snack at night while watching my shows. So we eat fruits and veggies.

SO FAR....since i have been eating good, drinking more water, and eating slowly, and eating no sweets.... I have had absolutely no stomach pains and no bloating. I love it.

Get this....the past few nights i have been sleeping sooooo good. I haven't slept this good in A LONG LONG TIME. Not kidding. I LOVE IT! If you know me....my sleep has been lacking big time. I used to be such a good sleeper. But have recently been sleeping terribly, which i would blame on shane b/c he tosses and turns all night long. SO, either shane isn't tossing and turning at night anymore OR i am sleeping through his restlessness ...i am pretty sure it's the latter! :) THANK YOU! finally.

Tanner and i pulled out the juicer yesterday. We juiced an orange and shared it. Then we juiced an apple. It tastes so fresh. I am going to buy lots of oranges and juice our own O.J. for our morning breakfasts. YUM!

{2011 Goals}

We sat down as a family yesterday and wrote down our goals and what we want to accomplish this year.
As a family we want to...
1. read scriptures daily
2. Have FHE EVERY monday
3. Keep house clean...haha
4. Attend the temple at least every other month.
5. Go on a family vacation some time this year.

My goals
1. Train for a sprint triathlon(i want to do a few). I have been wanting to do one for YEARS and this is the year. I feel it. :) I have been done with JUST running for quite a few months now. I am ready to expand to bigger and better things. A variety. I tried transitioning to spinning/ cycling a few months ago, but haven't been consistent with it. Well, this year i am. I cannot wait. I LOVE LOVE to swim and cannot wait for the swimming part. Swimming was a huge part of my life up until i went to college. I have the running thing down since it has been a big part of my life for a few years now. Cycling...well, it just so happens that i have great resources in this area, namely my visiting teacher and her husband. Her husband is a professional biker and she is the instructor for cycling at the university here. She can help teach me a few things, plus get me incredible deals on the pro's bikes when they sell them and get new one's. The deals are ridiculous. :) I CANNOT wait.
2. Eat healthier....AND while i do that i am going to do the process of elimination. Certain foods that i eat seem to create stomach pains for me and make me bloated and sick. I haven't quite figured out yet what those foods are, but i am already starting to keep track of what i eat so i can figure out what's creating the problem.
3. Look my personal best.
4. Be a better mom, wife, and YW leader.
5. Go on a vacation with my hubby!
6. Advertise my photography so i can earn some money to accomplish my goals. ;)

2010 was an eventful year.
Shane graduated dental school.
We traveled around for most of the summer.
We moved to Texas.
Did lots of fun and exciting things together as a family.
We Had family and friends visit us in texas every single month since we moved here.

2011 will be another eventful year.
We will find out in March where we will be stationed next.
I turn 30 years old in June. yikes. I am freakin out. Really. It scares me.
We will be moving again in August.
We will have a fun summer with lots and lots of swimming.

{Lots of posts ahead from Christmas}

While we were in Idaho i took a few pictures for Ryan and Ash, Karina and Brian, and a little shot of Jared and Ace's family inside. This is my favorite picture of Ryan and Ashley. Aren't they such a beautiful family?! Now, i need to find the other couples pictures. They aren't on my card for some reason. I don't know what is goin on... :(

{An Idaho Christmas}

Here is a picture of Jared and Ace's kids. They are so darn cute. All the little kids had so much fun when these guys were waving the sheets up and down in the air. They loved it, especially Jaydon! :)

They got a ride around the house on the sheet. I didn't get a good picture of this one. Man did they love riding on the sheet!

Here we are as a family. We had to take a family picture so when their cousin came to visit for the day we had her take the picture! We just wanted one good shot where everyone was looking at the camera and smiling! Miraculously all the kids looked and smiled all in the first couple of shots! Easy! All the men of the family. Aren't they all handsome with there new Dupont hats? Shane's dad works for Dupont.

And of course Gavin's birthday was the 25th and so we celebrated! His cousin Kreyton has his birthday on the 22nd. They are only 3 days apart! FUN huh?. So we celebrated both of their birthdays on Christmas Day!

Christmas Morning Gavin decided to wrap papa up as a present.

We opened all their presents in Texas, but decided to bring some clothes so they would have those to open up on christmas morning. We bought all three of them new khaki pants for church, matching sweater vests and button down shirts. They look so handsome in them.

And they got some more pajamas! I think Santa brought them each three new pairs of pajamas. One set are Mario Cart pajamas since they love that game. Another set is Iron man, and another set are Train Your Dragon pajamas. Those are the favorite.

We had lots of fun while we were there. When we arrived around 5:30 p.m. we all met up with everyone at Salt Lake Square and walked around and looked at the lights, but we didn't last long b/c it was way too crowded. We were all getting lost b/c we have such a big crowd.

We went and stayed the night in Logan that first night. Then the next day we drove a couple of hours to go visit great Grandma Jenks. After that visit we made it to blackfoot. We enjoyed hanging out. We hopped on the 4-wheeler, hooked a heavy duty sled to the back of it and pulled the kids around . It was LOTS of fun. Shane and i would grab onto the back of the sled when they came by us and would hang on tight and go for the ride. We were dragging our bodies, and just holding on with our hands. It was lots of fun. Then shane just took me for a ride and pulled me around, goin as crazy as he could. I tipped a few times, but it was so fun. We built snowmen. Drank hot chocolate. Watched movies. Played games that made us laugh our heads off, played the WII...a new super mario game where 4 players can play at once...it's a blast. We baked lots of yummy goodness...cooked yummy food...and talked and laughed. It was fun. All the cousins had lots of fun. They were running all over the house screaming, laughing, yelling, etc. It would get chaotic, but it was fun. Thanks Bob and Janet! We love you and had lots of fun! :) It was memorable!

{At the airport on the 20th}

We were so excited about our flight this year. It was a NON-STOP flight from Oklahoma City to Salt lake city. AND it was only a two hour flight. Not bad, huh?! AND we had good times...flying out somewhere around 1:30 and getting into salt lake around 3:30 p.m. Heaven. We arrive to the airport to find out our flight it delayed two hours. Of course...what's christmas without something getting in our way. What the heck were we going to do at the airport for 3 1/2 hours? We watched INCEPTION on shane's computer. The boys played their DS and leapfrog. AND Jaydon ran around everywhere while i chased him and eventually worked up a sweat. By the time we were ready to board the plane i was tired and grumpy. They liked rolling around on the ground, which i can't stand. It's gross. BUT they don't listen to me so i just let them roll around the ground. :) Here they are playing their games. I took three pictures showing that they moved positions a lot. AND they moved into these positions all in ten minutes. They were all over the place. They couldn't just sit and stay in one spot. :)

And here is Jaydon looking out the window. If he wasn't looking out the window then he was making me chase him. :)

{Our Christmas Eve on the 18th}

We went to Idaho for Christmas on the 20th. We wanted to have our own Christmas together as a family to start our own traditions, so we had it early while we were in Texas. We had Christmas eve on the 18th. We read stories, The Polar Express, Twas the Night Before Christmas, and the story of baby Jesus out of the bible. We had homemade hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows and a candy cane in it. YUMMY! We drove around and looked at the Christmas lights. There is a section of Wichita Falls with amazing homes...and even more AMAZING Christmas decorations. I have never seen lights like that area of this town. They were beautiful! Santa brought some pajamas for the boys on Christmas Eve. He left them on the front door for them and the boys thought they heard something and went to check the front door and there were the presents! They were so excited! I don't have pics of it b/c i used my video camera. It was a fun night! Shane and i had lots of fun too. Here is a picture of my mantle all decorated with the boys Stockings. Sadly, i couldn't find Jaydon's stocking. So i hung up a bag. haha! He didn't know the difference. Our humble little Christmas tree. I finally had ornaments to hang on it this year. I made a bunch and bought a bunch that were on sale.

Santa brought the boys new scooters. They were so excited about that.

Santa brought Jaydon a train set. He loves it. He loves to destroy it and take it all apart too. The boys play on it just as much as Jaydon does.

And of course We bought them gifts. I don't have pics of it all though. :) It was fun to have our own little Christmas here together. We loved it. Then on the 20th we were off to Idaho to celebrate Christmas with Shane's family.