BasketBall.

Kaden wanted to play city league basketball this year. He has had so much fun. He's pretty good too. I've loved going to his games and watching him improve. Here are some picture of his first and second game. GO JAZZ!!!!

Home Improvments

When we first moved into our house almost 4 years ago, it needed work, but we could live with it the way it was, so it was no big deal. We first worked on getting some curb appeal. They yard was so nasty! It hadn't been taken care of for years. It was a desert landscape with bark, and rocks everywhere, along with some old unpruned trees. We tore it all out and put in a sprinkle system thanks to my dad! All the neighbors were glad to see it go, and told us that a night there were so many bugs, you could see the ground crawl! And then planted grass both in the front and the back. We are not big on credit cards, and going into debt so we've been working on it here and there. This year we are working on our living room. It's been alot of fun to see it transform, and I can't wait till it's done. We have a really good friend that's a contractor, that is doing most of the work for us. Here are some pictures of the progress so far.

Cris doing manual labor tearing out the old fire place

Cole trying to help his daddy

New fireplace! We will soon be buying a new gas insert to put in the old fireplace.

Cris mudding around the fireplace

I tried to take a picture of my lovely ceiling, but it didn't turn out. Just imagine your in school, board out of your mind, so you look up and start counting the holes in the ceiling tiles. Yes that is what my ceiling looks like. I won't miss it one bit!! But if I do, i can always go in my room, or the kids room, and start counting! We are doing one room at a time so my house won't be too much of a wreck. Hopefully the next pictures I post will be a finished product.

Jocelyn

Jocelyn had been quite the character lately. I just had to write down a few things she's said to me lately.
A few weeks ago I was in the bathroom fixing my hair. She walked in and out of the blue asked my when is her butt going to get big. I pondered a minute and asked her why does she think her butt will get big. She then replied," because your butt is big, and I want a big one like yours" I then told her that her butt will bet big when she's a mom like me and has had four kids. So didn't quite put it that way, but I did tell her it will get bigger as she gets bigger. Which will be a long ways away, since she hasn't grown a bit in the past year.
Then today as I was curling Kennedy's hair for church, she was watching. Kennedy said something about how blonde her hair is, and why did my hair change color from blonde to brown since I had blonde hair like hers when I was younger. I told her it just did as I got older. Then pipes in Jocelyn "When will your hair change to grey?" What the???? How would a three year old know that hair turns grey. I think it just got a grey hair today just by thinking about it. But then again my hair will never be grey cause I will color it.
Silly little girl!!

He Does?

Kennedy was at a friends house having a sleepover tonight. So I thought I'd let Jocelyn and Kaden watch a movie on the computer, and I made them muddy buddies. I was sitting on the couch trying to prepare my talk for church on Sunday, when Jocelyn walked in the room. I was hoping for some peace and quiet, so I told he that she needed to go watch the movie with her brother. She didn't want to. So then thinking that I needed to think of something to get her to return to the movie, I told her," Jocelyn, Kaden will be so sad if you don't watch the movie with him." She in return said, "No he won't." "But Jocelyn" I said " he is you brother, and he loves you very much." "He does? No he doesn't" She questioned. Then she ran off to find Kaden. I heard her exclaim, "Kaden mom says you love me very much, do you?" "Yes I do" Kaden told her in a manly voice.
Maybe it's all the preparation for my talk, and being engulfed in scriptures all day, but the thought came to my mind, He does. Heavenly Father and Jesus love us each and everyone of us. Even if we have done something wrong. They will always be there for us. Just as my children will be there for one another even when they aren't nice to each other.
I thought this was so cute. Exspecially the look on her face when she asked "He does?" I'm so glad that my children have love for one another, even though they might not show it often. And they might need to be reminded of it, just as at times we might need to be reminded of Heavenly Father, and Jesus love for us.

The Mysterious Rash

Kennedy has a mysterious rash on her cheeks, arms, and legs. We have no idea where it came from. At first we thought it was from some Bazooka Bubble Gum. I bought each of the kids some the other day, and when she started to chew it, the rash started on her cheeks. So we took it way, and the rash went away. But it came back today on her arms and legs. And it itches too. I took her to the doctor, he thinks it's an allergic reaction to something. But we haven't changed soap, detergents, nothing. And she hasn't had the gum for two days. We tried Benadryl but all it did was knock her out. The doctor gave me a prescription for steroids to help get rid if it, but I didn't want to fill it, cause the side affects are alot better if I don't use it, and he agreed. I might have to get it filled tomorrow, if it's not gone by then. She's really self conscious about it. She won't were short sleeves. It's funny how the older they get, the more self conscious they get.

Am I Crazy????

I guesss it should say are we crazy. Susie and I along with Crystal, and maybe Jenn are going to run the P.F. Chang's Marathon in San Diego in June. It's the full thing so 26.2 miles here we come! We are really excited to do it. We're going to leave our hubby's and kids behind. It was fun to have them with us in Phoenix, but Cris said our kids weren't that good during the half marathon, so I can't imagine them being that great while we run the full. Plus taking a family of six would cost way to much!! It will be a fun get away, but I'll miss my family!! San Diego here we come! We are thinking about finding a sponsor to help cut down the costs. Does it seem funny too?

Movie Review

O.K. so I'm not a movie critic but I just had to post about this movie. Last night we went to go see Cloverfield along with Josh and Susie and Crystal and Lance. The previews of this movie looked pretty good, I for one wanted to see this Godzilla type movie. Before it started one of the ushers got on a mega phone and said," This movie was filmed like the Blar Witch Project (we've never seen it)the camera movements are fast and very choppy. If you feel as if you are going to be sick or throw up, please exit the theatre and go to guest services and you can be given a full refund. And if you do throw up, please try to make it to a garbage can. (ha, ha)" I though in my mind, it can't be that bad, can it? Think again LeAnn, think again. It didn't start off too bad as these people are filming a going away party. It slowly got worse, and worse, as the cameraman is moving fast, running around, and spinning, oh, the spinning. I tried closing my eyes to see if the queasiness(is that a word) would go away, but every time I'd open my eyes, it would come back. I finally turned to Cris and said,"I have to leave I'll sit in the lobby and wait till its over." So I left and got my refund. I sat for a 20 minutes by myself, and out walks my husband. What a good guy he left the movie so I wouldn't have to be alone. Unfortunately we road with everyone else, so we had to wait another 25 minutes for it to be over. The moral to my story, If you get car sick, or motion sickness don't go see this movie. You don't want to be one of the select few who have to run out of the theatre to try and find a garbage.

P. F. Chang's Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon

We did it!! We ran the whole 13.1 miles and we didn't even stop!!! Susie kicked my butt and finished about 50 sec. sooner than me. Click on this link to get my time and other stats.http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=31309209&rsID=51011
My actual time is the chip time, not the clock time. They did a wave start, so we didn't start until 40 minutes after the clock did. It was so much fun, and completely life changing! Who would of thought that I would run a half marathon. Susie did so good, and kept me going. It was so much fun to run it with her, and have someone to talk to along the way. Thanks Susie! I Love You!! We already have plans to run the full marathon next year. I bought my some good luck socks at the expo the day before to wear, I put a picture of them on the slide show below. They brought us alot of luck, we finished about 20 minutes earlier than our projected time!
This is how our day went.
1. Wake up at 5:20
2. Get on hotel shuttle to take us to start line at 6. (this shuttle cost me $15!!)
3. 6:30 arrive at start area along with about 40 thousand other people.
4. Walk around freezing for another hour and half.
5. Eat the bagels, bananas, and many other things they had for us to eat before we started.(what were they trying to do make us throw up!)
6. Listen to live band
7. 8:15 get in starting corral
8. 8:30 start the first wave of people
9. 9:00 we started our journey
10. See our family and friends cheering us on around mile 5. With the signs they made
11. Keep going, have some accelerade
12. Keep going, have some water
13. Keep going, have some more water, and then grab another cup to poor all over self
14. Last mile you can do it!
15. Go over finish line!!!!!
16. Get more water
17. Get finisher metal
18. Take off racing chip
19. Get a picture taken with Susie (they had professional photographers and I'll be ordering this picture win a week or so. They also got a picture of me going across the finish line)
20. Walk in a line and get, more water, accelerade, fruit, chips, granola bars, and popsicles
21. Get our stuff back from UPS
22. Call our hubbys to see where they are.
23. Leave the area to find the car(that was a marathon in itself!!)
24. Drive three hours home and pick up Kennedy and Kaden from friends houses.
25. Make dinner
26. Take a long bath to soke tired and sore muscles
27. Go to bed early!!!
I hope I didn't miss anything. It was so much fun, and I'm still on a high from doing it. As we were running we keep passing sweatshirt, jackets and gloves. We couldn't believe that people were shedding their layers of clothing as they went. We then passed a race official and he was yelling "Thank you for your donations, anything for drop on the course will be given to charity and good will." I got so hot running. I'm sure it was close to 70 degrees. Next year I will defiantly be one of those people that are taking their pants and sweatshirts of while they are running, I'm wearing shorts and a tank top next time.
Thanks again Susie! It was a blast! I Love You!!!

P.F. Chang's Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon

Ice Skating

We went to Flagstaff last Friday to let the kids blow off some energy by going bowling. We first went to lunch, and then bowled for a couple of hours. ( I personally like to bowl with the Wii, I get a way better score) After bowling we ran some arends and decided to go ice skating with some friends on the spur of the moment. It was so much fun and the kids had a blast!! I wished I would of had my camera, but I was able to take some pictures with the cell phone. They didn't turn out very clear, but they are worth posting. I stayed on the side lines with Cole. They usually have walker type things the kids can use, but since they were so busy that night they wouldn't give them to us. I couldn't get pictures of everyone, but here are a few.
Look how little these ice skates are. Jocelyn's feet are so tiny I had to ask for the smallest pair they had.

Cris helping Jocelyn

Cole enjoying his Cherrio's

Kennedy

Kaden

Crystal Susie and Autumn

Hernia Update

I finally made it to Flagstaff for my doctor's appointment. We got caught in a middle of a blizzard on our way up there, and it took us a hour and a half to get there when it usually only takes 45 minutes. It was so pretty! I miss the snow so much. You would think that we would have gotten some, but all we got was slush, and rain. The doctor told me that it definitely was a hernia, but wasn't urgent to fix since its small, and not bothering me. He also said to go ahead and run the half marathon, and that it shouldn't affect it. So P.f. Changs Marathon here we come! I'm scheduled to have surgery on Febuary 6th. He said it would be a very easy procedure and that I would be back to my normal routine within 2-3 weeks. I can't wait to have it fixed! Now if only he could do a tummy tuck while he's in there. Too bad insurance doesn't cover those.

Here is a picture of the snow we encountered in Flagstaff. They had over a foot and a half of snow! This picture was taken with Cris' cell phone out my car window.

Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to us!! Today is our 9 year, yep you read that right 9 year anniversary! I can't believe that time has just flown buy! And look what's come out of it.
Four beautiful kids! I'm so thankful for such a wonderful husband, and father to our kids! Happy 9th Anniversary Cris! I Love You!!

Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year!! As usual Kaden was up first, and then we all got out of bed around six. Wow what a early morning! The kids made out really good! Kennedy got a Razor Scooter, Barbie Girl MP3 player, Make-up, a few new outfits, and many other little things. Kaden also got a Razor Scooter, A Red Ryder one pump action BB Gun (just like the movie, hopefully he won't shoot his eye out) Heeley's, Clothes, and some other things. Jocelyn got a Stroller/Crib set for her dolls, A new Doll that laughs, talks and runs out of batteries very fast! Clothes, and other small stuff. Cole got a Tonka Dump Truck, Inch Worm ride on toy, Tunnel, Clothes and other stuff too. We all got a Nintendo Wii! It's been so much fun to see the kids play it, and adults! We were sore the next day when we woke up from playing it so much Christmas day. Here ore some pictures of the big day. I don't like to take pictures of the kids opening stuff, cause I feel like I'm missing out sitting behind a camera lens

Tag......

So I've been tagged by Steph. I guess I'll try and tell you six things you don't know about me.

I'm a little retarded when it comes to adding pictures to the blog from the web, so that is why you won't be seeing and pictures. Any help would be appreciated. In fact lets make that number one. I'm really dumb when it comes to computers. I'm really surprised that this blog was even started!!

2. I cant stand it when my dishwasher is not loaded, the way I like it loaded. So, if you ever help with my dishes I'll most likely change the way the dishwasher was loaded, if it wasn't right to my standards. I even do this to my wonderful hubby who loads it on a regular basis. (If he starts it before I get to it, I leave it alone. But if something is out of place when I put something in later, I "fix it" :)

3. I can't stand it when Cris cooks!! Let me get this strait though, the food is always good, never bad. It's just the fact that I'm not in there cooking it my self. I always end up in the kitchen telling him what he is doing wrong, or how I would do it. He then had to kick me out. He can't stand it.

4. I love being a mom. So this one is a little sappy, and you might know it already, but I can't leave my kids out on this right. I love to get up, make them breakfast , and get them off to school. I now have a built in alarm clock, and I'm up a 7. (except the past two weeks, I've been able to sleep in till 8 or 8:30, which has been nice.)

5. I love to take baths!! I would take many a day if it were possible. One of these days maybe we will have a jetted tub, that I can sit in for hours!!

6. I love to run. Now that it has gotten cold I can no longer run outside. Running on the treadmill is not as fun, or easy. When I went to the gym on Monday, I took our portable DVD player and watched a movie while running so I could get some mileage in. I'm sure I looked like the biggest dork! Only a week and a half till the P.F. Changs marathon!! I can't wait!!