a list

i'll be honest. two kids, two classes, and working 20 hours a week is kind of a lot. but we do still manage to have a lot of fun, i just don't have much time to write about it! here is a quick list of some of what we've been up to over the last month or two...

1. firebirds soccer.

the star...

we loved going to joshua's saturday morning games. he is improving a lot, and had a great coach with excellent practices to help. it's been fun to see. one day joshua proudly said "dad, i was really focusing, and being agressive!"
the fan...

2. kindergarten fieldtrip to the zoo...

i was one of the chaperones, and so got to tag along with my little group of five for the afternoon. all i have to say is BOYS and GIRLS are so different! these cute little girls wanted to hold my hand and tell me everything. the boys are off and running. pretty fun.

3. the circus...

barnum and bailey at the center formerly known as delta. cotton candy. trapeze artists. clowns. motorcycles. elephants. good times.

4. jason mraz

my sister lorri, josh and i went to see jason mraz at the e-center. it was AMAZING. it's been too long since i've been to a good concert, but this one was well worth the wait. i love his music, his voice is incredible live, he's a super fun performer, and i loved having a serious dance party with lors! and yes, great seats. i took that photo, nice huh? there's something so incredible about live music so loud you can't even hear yourself singing along at the top of your lungs. the energy is just intoxicating.

5. halloween

joshua was a teenage mutant ninja turtle. jacoby a dragon. so cute. we had fun carving pumpkins the week before, seeing the witches at gardner village, and then the actual night was perfect. the weatherman gave us a perfect fall day--light breeze, beautiful leaves, but no coats needed for trick-or-treating! candy stash is still slowly dwindling

6. st. george marathon

we did it! josh and i ran 26.2 in st. george. it was freezing cold and rainy the entire time--we're talking SOAKING wet clothes, soggy feet, etc. my ipod died at mile 11 from getting too wet (luckily it revived the next day!). it was tough. but we finished it, and are so glad we did. we went down to st. george with my good friend from school/work lissy, and her husband dan ran it as well. such a fun weekend!

7. voting. and REVELING!

okay, i'm just going to say it...i love barack obama!

8. blogging about voting.
this was a cool little project. one of my professors does this election blog with some other collegues at caltech, MIT, reed college, and the european institue--called election updates. he asked myself and a PhD student at caltech to work on the blog the week around election day, since they were in new mexico observing election procedures. we read all the news we could possibly find about election administration, voting technology, any kind of polling place/pollworker problems, etc. it was CRAZY!! really busy. but the fun thing about it was that i felt very involved with what was going on around the nation. it was a great way to be really engaged in something i've been so excited about for so long.

here's a link to one of my my last posts. the blog got tens of thousands of hits that week, and is generally widely read by other election scholars and administrators--so kind of a big deal in academic nerd land.

9. the ER anyone who knows this adorable little guy will be sad to learn he needed 3 stitches on his eyebrow, but not at all surprised that he tripped at the playground and bonked his head. we've been anticipating this, and know it will not be our last trip to the ER. our pediatrician was AMAZED at how great the stitches look--and you probably are too because you can't even really tell they're there. bruise on the bridge of his nose, puffy left eye, three stitches on the end of his left eyebrow. when the accident happened i was pretty calm, despite blood everywhere, but i lost it when the stitches were put in and my sweet, happy little guy screamed and cried his head off. "hold me mommy! hold me!" rips your heart right out. after probably 5-10 minutes of screaming at the top of his lungs, he gave up and just said "i'm sad!" and sobbed his sweet little heart out. i was right there with him...

10. anniversary getaway at the beach!

7 years on monday. that's right. and we had the perfect celebration. a beautiful resort, perfect weather, a generous mother-in-law to watch the boys, and then days that pretty much went: run, pool, beach, beach, beach, get ready, fancy dinner out, hot tub. and again the next day. who could complain! i love you josh.

so you see we're still alive and kicking...

yee haw!

we went to rodeo. my first time, and i dressed for the ocassion. but even with a cowboy hat, tight jeans, a nice big belt buckle, i still felt like an observer. what can i say, it's not my thing. don't get me wrong--the bull riding is amazing, mutton busting is hilarious, the horses are magnificent. but i'm not a fan of the calf roping. and, more importantly, i just do not understand these people. i've never understood that "man vs. nature" mentality that would have you conquer an animal. and when they opened the event by saying "we dedicate this to the firemen, policemen, and those great men fighting over seas, not to the politician or the activist!" (with disdain dripping from those last words), i couldn't help thinking that, although i too love this country and am honored by those who serve in uniform, i also have profound respect for "politicians" ie george washington, thomas jefferson, abraham lincoln, FDR, JFK--to name but a few. and i also can't imagine a world without "activists"--those who believe in a cause and, though not in uniform, fight for it--people like martin luther king jr and susan b. anthony. i don't think the announcer meant to demean the efforts of such great people, but it's just that mentality in general that i have a hard time with. a mentality that thinks the job of a rodeo clown is to make crude jokes about wives and mother-in-laws. it's just foreign to me.
BUT it was fun. a cultural experience, no doubt. and, who knows, if i had met a cowboy as cute as these two, i could very well be a cowgirl!

couldn't you just eat them?

first day of school

it's been a few weeks, but here's my big guy on his first day of kindergarten. isn't he handsome? he loves school. the other day i was taking him and his buddy carter to school. joshua gets more and more excited the closer we get, and then he just bursts out of the car once i stop. carter asks "joshua, WHY do you like school so much?" but joshua was already off, running to line up. maybe it has something to do with his mom and dad's love for school. although i'm sure it's mostly because of one of my favorite aspects of joshua's personality: he loves EVERYTHING. he'll try anything, go anywhere, be friends with anyone. he gets excited about everything and is always up for any kind of adventure. he never gets tired. what a guy!

and he's off...

retrospect: the 4th of july

lucky for us, the timing of our family reunion worked out so that my family was still here for the fourth. although josh worked most of the day (sad--i know! he's almost done with this crazy project), the rest of the group spent the afternoon at the pool, where josh met us at the tail end. then we all barbequed at my house before going over to sugarhouse park for fireworks. we all had our 4th of july t-shirts on, and i went to the store earlier and bought a few packages of glow-sticks for my kids and their cousins. i love how the kids get so excited about little things like that.

now, i love fireworks, but only if you can be right underneath them. you have to feel like they're going to fall on you or the magic effect is just lost. well we got it--they were great! joshua of course loved them, but jacob wasn't quite so sure. as soon as they started he came right by me and said "mommy tuddle, tuddle mommy" (he says his c's with a t sound, so translated that's an irresistable plea to cuddle.) he laid right beside me the whole time. he was a little nervous and at first he said "doh home mommy." but soon enough he got into it, and since then he hasn't stopped talking about fireworks. it's a late night for the kiddies, but definitely well worth it.

once again, for my family's sake, i'm including all the photos in a slide. the good lookin' guy with the faux, my bro john. the cute couple back to back--my mom and stepdad frank. the family of five--my sisters'. the rest are me and my boys. there's some sweet pics here. so take a break from the olympics and check them out. i'm off to soccer camp, followed by swimming lessons. you've got to love summer...

mountain madness: timberlakes 2008

last month we had our family reunion up at timberlakes, in the mountains above heber. it was a blast--just perfect. we went up thursday night and stayed until sunday afternoon. in the meantime we played games, went for a hike, went into park city for some swimming, had a talent show, did our own family sacrament meeting, had great food, and just laughed a lot. the kids loved playing with their cousins and, of course, being with their grandma vicki. we missed heide, steve and ethan, but were so glad to finally have my brother john join us! he is pretty much hilarious, and my boys think he's the coolest. i agree.

i decided to make a slide show (like lis) because i know my family is anxious to see ALL the photos. it's probably overkill for the rest of you, so for that i apologize.

number one thing i came away from that with: i have an awesome family. so talented, so caring, so helpful and supportive and loving, and SO FUN!
love you guys. enjoy the photos.

we like each other

i always get lots of good pictures of my cute boys, as i should. they're cute. but i was just looking at pictures, and was pleasantly surprised to see that we've got a few good ones of me and my hubby lately...

when we ran the slc half marathon together. early a.m.

swimming in provo river.

hiking to stuart falls.

there were a few more good ones, largely thanks to our friends mike and mandie who were just in town. (more about that later.) i'll spare you more. but that's me and josh. 7 years.

as far as cuteness goes, we're not too bad ourselves.

bring on the summer

at last it feels like summer is here. the past few weeks have been fun but crazy--with josh's sister's wedding and a family reunion and finals and joshua finishing up school and karate and baseball starting up and josh off to san fran and figuring out my new schedule...but at last i think we've got some sort of a routine. i'm only taking one class over the summer and i feel like it gives me a LOT more fun time with josh and the boys. this is great because in the summer there's SO MUCH fun stuff to do. i love it. this weekend we spent saturday at my sister lorri's pool, and the evening we went with some friends to the park for dinner and then to a Real Salt Lake soccer game. fun! it's nice to be able to be together--i mean, i still have to study some, but it's a lot more flexible. i am also working one day a week, which i really enjoy. my wonderful mother-in-law comes up from provo on tuesday's and stays with the boys. they adore her, and i'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual! so we've got a good summer coming our way.
below are a few pictures...
the first few are from the wedding at the salt lake temple. jodi is beautiful, and looked so great, but unfortunately i didn't get any great photos of the bride. when some are emailed my way i'll have to post. it was a lot of fun, and we love justin. they are such a sweet, happy couple.

this is our own sweet, happy family. i like us.

these are our silly boys. joshua is trying to make jacob smile a real smile. at the ripe age of two jacob has perfected the photo-op smile. it's pretty cute and silly, but i prefer the closer-to-real thing.

buffalo! isn't he huge? this of course is at yellowstone. we spent almost a week up in northeast idaho, right by west yellowstone. we stayed in our sister-in-law's family "cabin" which is a huge beautiful home that fit all of josh's siblings and families great (except for the honeymooners, of course). i have great in-laws and we all had so much fun with them. we spent one day in yellowstone, which i always love. we saw TONS of buffalo and got stopped in the road by crossings several times. we also saw two grizzly bears, tons of elk, some pelicans, and i can't remember what else. the animals are fun, but my favorite is just the beautiful mountains and open fields and rivers and canyons. it is SO beautiful! and while i used to be opposed to such superficial outdoor enjoyment (hopping in and out of cars, "hikes" on paved trails, etc), with two young ones i now think it is a great way to go! we loved it.

joshua looking cute at geyser basin. these things never cease to amaze me.


the family at geyser basin. that's opal pool behind us. because the water's so hot and it was kind of a chilly day, the steam made it hard to get a great look at my favorite--grand prismatic spring. but all still very cool.


awaiting old faithful's timely eruption. we bought both of the boys junior ranger binoculaurs which were a hit. i think my kids are so fun to hang around with. they're so silly, not to mention adorable.


josh and joshua intently watching. after the eruption we asked joshua what he thought. "i liked it." then, after a long pause: "but i thought GUYS were going to come out."
what a disappointment! we told him it was a geyser that erupted out of the ground and shot up into the sky. he was awaiting something much more exciting than water and steam. can't blame him.


i ran to the restroom, and had to find the boys when i returned.


this has got to be the happiest, silliest, cutest boy around. he cracks us up.


the crew at yellowstone grand canyon--which i love. it is so amazing! well worth the trip to the east side of the park (especially if you have three boys who will all nap in the car on the way there!)

me, joshua, jacob. they love it. they were troopers. we think they are so fun because they will go and go and go with us. they are little adventurers.

jacob holding a worm. fascinating.

this isn't yellowstone, it's maybe 10 miles outside of ashton, idaho. this is called mesa falls and it is beautiful. and the rainbow was spectacular. jacob kept pointing and saying "green, orange, yellow."

small though we are--that's the four of us down by the falls.

here's a random photo josh took. there i am in the grey fleece talking to josh's sister jerilie in the blue sweatshirt and his mom close by in red. over the guard railings is juliana (other sister) and her great boyfriend (we FINALLY got to meet!) Scott. isn't it beautiful? the cliffs and the trees and the green. plus all the kids got smokey the bear frisbees which were a huge hit.

this sweetness is real, but also hides some serious mischief. don't be too fooled!

my boys! and they are all saying "cheese!" for some reason, it really DOES work to get the kids to smile. who ever figured that out was a genius. this is at lower mesa falls. it started raining and so everyone left. we stayed. as josh and i like to say, a litte rain never hurt nobody!

me and my big boy joshua.

hope you enjoy the photos. josh and i loved having the camera around, especially after i realized it does have a zoom. i SHOULD have already known this, but here i was thinking--we spent $200 on this thing and it doesn't even zoom! what a waste! good thing for josh. he set me straight. i also learned some other cool features. josh researched and looked at camera reviews and picked this one out for us for christmas--small, does a lot of cool things, easy to use, not too technical. good choice

and now, we're ready for summer!