HAPPY LATE 29TH!

Kyle is 2 1/2 years my junior, so it's always a bit hard for me as a math challenged person to actually figure out how old he is, i wouldn't bet money on it, but i'm thinking 29. Anyways I'm trying to catch up on a few highlights of the summer and obviously can't skip Kyle's b-day.
Not because we did anything spectacular, but because Kyle is spectacular! (i just made that up right now)

I am constantly telling him he is "a man to ride the river with".  And am I ever glad that he is my man!

The worst day of my whole life!

Dekker is already turning into a pesky little brother.  He loves to throw and kick and poke and hit everything (including his sister). He never does it meanly, hitting is just a fun game to him. It's strange, I know at some piont this will bug me, but right now it makes me smile because he is just such a boy!

A couple of weeks ago he was poking Hazel right before supper and she came to me bawling uncontrollably.  She kept saying "this is the worst day of my whole life."  Of course I had to give her a real tight hug so she wouldn't see my smiling.  She was right -it may have been the worst day in her 4 1/2 years of life.  But how great is that?  We are very blessed to have a very plain, normal, lovely life.  We always have food, we have a nice little house, and we love each other.  I know life isn't always gonna be this uncomplicated, so I am enjoying every second of it!

my 1/2

There is something about being pregnant for 9 months and then nursing for 13 months that makes you really appreciate your body.  I'm very happy to "share" it with my kids, but after I was done nursing Dekker I was dying to use my body for something just for me. So I decided to run a half marathon this spring. I really lucked out cuz the weather was amazing during my training in jan, feb, march and april!  I only ran on a treadmill twice.  Most of my runs were at 9 or 9:30 at night when Kyle got home from work. It was busy season so he would get home and work from home till midnight and I would go run.  I'm a night hawk so I loved running at night, you can even see a few stars here in calgary.


It's no secret that I despise the cold in canada.  While I was running I would often make up "awesome" things about winter running. here are a few ...
- never getting too hot
- being so cold that your speed increases because you are in such a hurry to get inside again
- if your muscles are frozen, you can't feel how tired they are
- avoiding ice patches and snow totally helps agility
- if you close your eyes while running on snow, it feels just like sand on a beach

I ran the Salt Lake City half, so we made a little family vacation out of it.  The only downside to that was everyone but me being sick, and I slept horribly the night before my race, 3 hours of actual sleep.  But I still actually ran my whole race and had an awesome time! My only regret is not pushing myself harder.

It's been 7 years since I ran my full marathon in ogden and when people would ask me if I was a runner, I would hesitate, was I?  This week I had a patient ask me if I was a runner and I said yes.

this reminds me of those cheesy "chocolate" emails with black men in them.

i would never choose chocolate over the "white chocolate" picture above!!

sorry Kyle i just couldn't resist.

Hazel had a blast swimming

Dekker had fun too, but isn't quite the water baby that Hazel was at his age.

my fave pic of the whole trip!

We went to visit Payton in Provo. We went out to eat and then went back to his apartment to help him clean and move. I helped him clean the bathroom and it took us 45 min to scrub it down - it was NASTY! It was fun spending time with him, even if it was one of the grossest experiences of my life (and I clean teeth for a living!)  


Keelia was busy making national news this weekend with her BYU rugby team.  They made it to Nationals and due to a scheduling error they were supposed to play Sunday.  They refused and ended up in newspapers all over the country, including the New York Times.


Oh I forgot to mention that while I ran a gruelling 13.1 mile race, Payton escaped his slum, and Keelia made national news, never to be outdone, my sister Ivory went through a speedy labour and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.  It was totally easy for her cuz it was so fast and she didnt' even NEED pain medication (right iv?).  Welcome to the family Hayden!

yumm

Hazel lost her first tooth today and swallowed it!  I thought she would be so upset that she had eaten her tooth, but it didn't bother her a bit! She loves telling people "i lost my tooth and i wasn't supposed to till I'm 6 or 7!"  We stuck a note under her pillow to explain the situation to the tooth fairy. Luckily she was understanding and left some money that Hazel is trying to save up to buy a dog. I'm trying to gently persuade her into a fish.

haute couture by hazel

hazel is quite the little fashonista. she gets so excited about new clothes and she loves to pick out cute outfits for special occasions.  she has thrown together some pretty cute outfits, but she also doesn't know a lot of the general matching "rules".   when she first started dressing herself i tried to teach her what went together and tried to force her to look cute, but they i got thinking - who am i?  if she is ever gonna get some style of her own i've got to let her experiment!  and experiiment she has...

this is from hazel's "spring wedding" collection.

 the terry cloth veil and statement jewelry is so 2010.

stripes are all the rage this year and hazel hits the trend dead on by pairing two

differnt stripes in one ensemble.

again we have the pairing of stripes with a third patterned element in her headband.

clearly this look is a cross of rock-n-roll and ballerina.

sportswear will be big this year, but we'll be seeing it in unexpected ways.

 this soccer shirt can go from the field to the gala when a sparkly sweater is thrown on top.

layering will continue to be on trend, with the mixing of patterns adding that special twist.

all the color-matching rules will be thrown out the window and actually matching will be considered so passe.

swim googles are making a big comeback, and not just in the pool. 

headbands will also be on runways and streets from new york to paris, with the emphasis being on the "undone" look. nothing overly fussy here.

IT SMELLS LIKE MUSTACHE IN HERE - hazel stone

Kyle's Mustache Season that he did at his company is over!  He worked so hard organizing everything and it was a huge success.  The wrap up party was in the main area of Flames Central in downtown Calgary.

here are the "growers" up on stage in all their glory

kyle had the celebrity judges choose "womanliest", "manliest", "baby-maker", "gnarliest bush" mustache etc

the prizes were sweet too.

Kyle was the MC. If I had to do that I'd probably pee my pants, but Kyle was giving David Letterman a run for his money.  You would think Lanny McDonald is talking hockey here, but he's talking mustache, he takes them very seriously!

Last year Kyle earned $1,700 for Make a Wish Foundation, this year they earned $13,000!!!!!!

Crazy! It is such a good cause and I am so proud of Kyle for putting it all together!

It's hard to smile with a fake mustache on!

               

don't get caught with a naked upper lip...

it's back

with a vengence

kyle is doing mustache season at his office again this year (it's his brainchild) but this year it is sort of a big deal.  as in a wrap up party at flames central, celebrity judges (anyone heard of lanny mcdonald), and 30 "growers".  they've already raised almost  $10,000 in the first 2 weeks for make a wish foundation.  after all - not shaving your upper lip is hard work.

our new dog(s)!!

oh yes it is a dream come true for hazel - she finally has a little puppy to lead around - his name is bolt

this puppy shows up at our house quite often as well, her name is bolt

this puppy is also a regular, also (if you can believe it) named bolt

the person who gets to play the role of "penny" on a daily basis could not locate a picture of herself and needs to remind her husband to take a picture of her occasionally. 

snacks in heaven

so hazel and i have been having some deep discussions about heaven. usually when she brings it up she is very teary eyed and worried. she knows that she is going to heaven, but she must have worries about kyle and i. she keeps asking if we are coming to heaven too.
on tuesday she had an even bigger worry about heaven - the food. after i reassured her that kyle, dekker and i were coming to heaven with her, that we would all go together (no point getting too specific right?) she was then stressed about what we would eat on the way and what we would eat when we get there. so she decided we would bring snacks! i like the way my girl thinks.

happy belated halloween

I really love haloween. candy and playing dress up - who doesn't right? (besides kyle- who wanted to dress up like a "dad". hazel didn't let him get away with it. he ended up being a "soccer player", he has a jersey on under his hoodie. what a party pooper eh?)

this year hazel was sooo excited about it and then got the flu the day before. but "magically" she was cured for halloween and had lot of energy to yell "trick or treat" and her tummy felt good enough to eat her treats! she was sick again 2 days later when her candy ran out. of course.

all of sept and most of oct hazel was a puppy - she wouln't answer to her own name - only to "bolt" or "puppy". of course i bought her a puppy costume and then she wanted to be a balarina. which would have been exciting if she wasn't in the throes of wearing this specific purple balerina dress every day!

dekker was the cutest little puppy. his costume had a little sound maker in the paw "woof-woof" that was pretty amazing to him. is it bad to include the crying pic? hazel really likes to hug her brother and a lot of the time it ends with an unhappy brother.

of course we did the pumpkin carving thing and hazel wanted to do a skull and crossbones one (i let her choose from a bunch of pics). i was quite proud of myself cuz it looked awesome and then i didn't take any pictures for proof. sad.