What to do on my 30th Birthday?!

Saturday was my 30th birthday and what is a girl to do to embrace this new decade? Well...how about a triathlon. I know, I am crazy. In about January my friend, Tiana, was telling us about the Tri-for-fun that the YMCA puts on here in town. She told me that it was on April 25th. I thought, "Hey that's my birthday. Wouldn't it be funny to tell people that I did a triathlon on my 30th birthday." Well the idea stuck and I started training. The tri-for-fun was a really good triathlon to start with. It is a sprint meaning that you swim 1/4 of a mile or 9 laps, bike 12.5 mile or 17.5 miles (I did 12.5) and then run a 5K. The race is very relaxed and I actually felt very prepared. The hardest part for me was the bike portion. I am such a novice at the bike that I know nothing about gears and what to do on those hill. There were several times that that information would have been handy. On one of the steepest hills I thought, "I could get out and walk my bike up faster." But in the end I actually enjoyed it and would like to do another one. I guess I caught the triathlon bug! The best part was that my wonderful husband and girls were there the whole time to cheer me on during each transition and the finish line.

After the triathlon, we all ran (and I mean literally run) to the Strawberry festival. LeOra and Mackinsie's ballet class was performing on the center stage. I was running through the crowd like a crazy women weaving in and out of the people with my stroller while to little girls in pink leotards and Tu-Tu's were running behind me. We barely got there in time! RJ said I should have run faster in my triathlon. Anyway, the girls did a wonderful job and were such beautiful ballerinas. Then we played at the festival and rode on a few kiddie rides and ate some yummy strawberries until there was no more fun to be had there. Then we came home and everyone took a shower so that the girls could go to Aunt Eimile's while RJ and I went out to dinner. It was a very busy day but a lot of fun. There was one down side to all of this, I forgot my camera! That explains why there are no pictures on this post. I was very sad. I am going to try and get some pictures from some of the other mom's in their ballet class and we will probably have to buy the way over priced pictures that they take as you cross the finish line. When we get those I will have to post them but for now, you will have to picture all of this in your head!

Happy Easter

I hope you all had a beautiful Easter, as we did. We did the morning traditions of finding Easter Baskets and opening things from the Easter Bunny. Then we put on our new Easter Dresses and went to church. That was my favorite part. We focused on what the true meaning of Easter is; the fact that the Savior died for our sins and that He now lives so that we can live again also with Him. I am so greatful for my Savior and I am glad to be able to seek Him in prayer and use that Atonement in my life to repent and become clean again. May you all have a fabulous Easter filled with eggs and the spirit of Christ. I just watched this movie that the church put on you-tube and it is beautiful. Here is the link. (I hope it works I have never done this before.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0dAduc

And yes, I will post the pictures later. I promise!

Happy Birthday LeOra!!

On April 7th my baby girl turned 5 and I don't like it one bit. It has gone so fast and I am not excited to put her in school. It is the end of this chapter in our little family where they are all mine all the time and I am sad to see it go. At the same time I am excited to see her grow and do more things. Being a parent has it's bitter sweet moments. She, however, is so excited. She cannot wait to go to kindergarten and I know she will love it and do so well. I have to brag for just a minute. She is such a good girl. I love her to pieces. I am so glad that she starts out our family because of her wonderful example and kindness she shows her sisters. Truly just this last week she has seemed more grown up and mature. She listens and obeys and is such a good helper. She is outgoing, friendly and confident in herself which is probably what I love about her the most and hope that she never looses. I hope she keeps going in the great direction she has started.

Well, enough of that mushy stuff and onto to the celebration. She had quite the birthday weekend. RJ was out of town for her actual birthday so we did somethings to celebrate with him before he left. After the Easter Egg hunt (see next post) we went to Toys R Us where we are a member of the Birthday Club. They give the birthday girl a balloon, crown, gift card and announce their name and birthday over their PA system! She got to go through the store and pick out 2 toys while everyone stopped up to say "Happy Birthday!"

Then we went to McDonald's to have lunch. RJ turns his nose up at McDonald's just as Kirstin does in the below picture so we don't go there very often. However, the girls love to go and play in the play place. This is a real treat and a real sacrifice from their Dad!

Then on Sunday she had her Birthday party with all of her cousins. She wanted an Aurora Birthday party with an Aurora cake that had "white cake with strawberries in the middle and raspberry frosting." I have no idea where she came up with that but it sounded good so that is what we made. She also insisted on having a pinata at her birthday and we found this one that was a girl and a pink dress and looked just like Aurora (sort of). Every one got a whack at it and Chandler finished the deal for the kids!

LeOra

Mackinsie

Ashleigh

Ava

Ethan

Kayla

And Chandler! Poor Megan. She said pinatas never get to her anymore. Next was cake time.

That is the look of pure happiness and excitement. I love it!

Next came present time! I already have enough pictures on this post so I just put up the ones where she was actually looking at the camera. She got lots of cute things and she is very excited about it all.

Then on her actual birthday day it was back to the Discovery Museum (which is probably her most favorite place in all the world) for more fun. After that we had lunch with her friends, Tyson and Kelsie and cousins, Ashleigh and Evelyn. More birthday cake was eaten and more fun had by all...especially my 5 year old, LeOra!

Easter Egg Hunt

This last Saturday the Discovery Children's Museum here in town had an Easter Egg hunt. The girls were so excited for this. They even got to meet the Easter Bunny. There were lots of kids there but plenty of eggs to find. LeOra kept saying that she should be able to find the golden egg and get the prize because it is her Birthday. But she was fine with the fact that she didn't but decided next year she would run in and look really hard and find the golden egg. I also thought it was funny to hear what she had to say about the Easter bunny. She kept telling me that she didn't know that the Easter Bunny couldn't talk and that he was so big and that he looked like a big stuffed animal. She cracks me up! Mackinsie was a little more hesitant to meet the Easter Bunny as you can see in the picture. Kirstin still isn't quite sure what all the fuss is about but has decided that it is fun to put the eggs into and out of her basket!

We caught you on film, LeOra!