Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! (December 2012-2013)

December 2012:
Christmas time is about family and fun, so we try to blend those things a lot. This Christmas we had fun: making cookies, seeing Santa, riding a carousel, visiting the museum, playing in the snow, running, hanging out with family, tubing, celebrating New Year's Eve, and rocking out.

December 2013:

Another year has come and gone and our family has had tons of fun. We have built snow forts, made snow angels, thrown snowballs, attended Monkey's guitar recital, ran in the snow and cold, went on an awesome sleigh ride, drank hot cocoa, met Santa, made gingerbread cookies, rode the carousel, decorated our tree, and hung out with our awesome families.

Happy New Year!

Make it a great one!

Thankful for My Family (November 2012-2013)

November 2012:
I'm thankful for my family and for the calmer month of November. Sometimes it's nice to relax.

Monkey: Finished up his first basketball season, dressed like a Grease cast member for school Decades day, built a snowman with his sister, and had fun with cousins at Thanksgiving.

Panda: Played with Niko, had tons of fun in the snow, built a snowman with her brother, snuggled with her bears, and played with cousins at Thanksgiving.

Mouse: Had fun in the snow until her little hands got too cold because she wouldn't stop picking up the snow, had fun touching Rufio the Hedgehog (she's braver than me because he's pokey), hung out with cousin Jace, and was scared by Grandma Chicken Bunnie (which is ironic since my mom is scared of birds).

Mr. Tigger and I: Didn't do to much. Got in some cold runs, played in the snow, and hung out with family.

November 2013:

Thankful for family, fun, and my husband (because he's awesome).

Monkey: Went with me on an adventure to the Day of the Dead (Dia de Muertos) festival, finished up another season of basketball, got soaked at the BYU football game, practiced his guitar like a crazy kid,  ate at the middle-sized table at Thanksgiving, and read lots of books.

Panda: Played with Mouse a lot, got soaked and ate lots of treats at the BYU football game, colored a lot, did a bunch of puzzles, and hung out with the girls at Thanksgiving.

Mouse: Played with Panda a lot, had a blast at the BYU football game, wore her cougar costume that she loves, dressed up a lot, and refused to sit with the rest of the babies at Thanksgiving and moved to the little girl table instead.

Mr. Tigger and I: Did a lot of running to get back into shape, enjoyed the beautiful fall colors on the Provo River Trail, saw the lights, defied heights (which frighten me), and had a lot of fun with our kids. We also ran the Thankful 13 Half Marathon on Thanksgiving morning and thought it was amazing. It's one of the best ideas ever. I didn't feel nearly as bad stuffing myself on Thanksgiving because I'd run so much that morning. Definitely avoided the post-Thanksgiving sluggish slump.

Spooky! (October 2012-2013)

October 2012:
October is one of our family's favorite months. Here are the highlights, and lots of pictures.

Monkey: Finished up soccer, started basketball (which he loves), still doing school, and was an incredible Iron Man! We painted his face for school since they aren't allowed to wear masks.

Panda: Cute as a button and getting cuter, loves to look at books, enjoys going on walks, has the best laugh, and is a terrific Thor!

Mouse: Turned one this month and got her very own bear cake for the occasion. It was a long, fun day and she fell asleep mid-cake. Best baby Hulk ever!

Mr. Tigger and I: Had fun running the half marathon at the Utah Marathon. It had a huge hill, but it was fun to run by the capitol. Dressed up and ran in the Halloween Half Marathon (incredibly fun marathon but a killer downhill section…ouch). Dressed up as the Avengers for Halloween and had lots of fun, even won a couple of work costume contests.

October 2013:

Again with the ghoulish merriment!

Monkey: School, camping, basketball (he made the first shot of the season and was so excited!), hiking, pumpkin picking and carving, roller blading, and mustache wearing. Monkey's school had a small race (somewhat under 3 miles) that we all ran in as a family. Monkey and his friend ran with me and were able to run almost all of it with occasional walking breaks. I was proud of him. He wanted to be Darth Vader for Halloween and I thought he looked pretty sweet.

Panda: Park playing, duck feeding, hiking, swinging, bike riding, race running, pumpkin picking and carving, and fun having. Panda was my leaf pile maker. She was constantly raking the leaves into piles and jumping into them. She wanted to be Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter this year and looked awesome!

Mouse: My little mouse turned two this year. She is talking a lot and is very independent. She had a great birthday party, complete with a My Little Pony cake because she adores My Little Ponies. She also got her first haircut, picked out her own pumpkin, and is too cute for words. We decided to make her an Ewok to go with Monkey's Darth Vader costume (there's got to be some kind of family theme).

Parents: We had fun at BYU football games, going to a haunted house, going on dates, and playing with our kids. Our costumes? I went classic vampire and Mr. Tigger donned his Captain America costume again.

Superheroes and Football! (September 2012-2013)

September 2012:
College football season is in full swing in September, which always makes me happy. It also isn't too cold yet and it isn't too hot. It's a pretty great month as far as months go.

Monkey has been playing soccer and having a great time. He also really enjoys backpacking with his dad. They have a lot of fun together and get to experience our gorgeous mountains. Monkey has also had fun at football games, going to the Mad Hatter's tea party, and looking at gross Halloween stuff with his dad.

Panda wishes she was out on the soccer field. We usually have to bring an extra ball for her so that she can kick it on the sidelines during the games. Panda loved going to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party this year. Any reason to dress like a princess, is a good reason.

Mouse is getting bigger and more adorable, if that's possible. Big news: she is officially out of her helmet and is loving life. And I'm loving the sweet smell of my baby's head. I can kiss it whenever I want now. Also, we decided to do something a little risky this month and took Mouse to her first BYU football game. We thought that she'd make it through halftime at best. Turns out, we were wrong. Mouse loves BYU football. We stayed the entire game and she was happy, cheering, and loving life. She was the best fan out of all of us. Go Cougars!

September 2013:

More football and more fun this year, including Comic Con stuff (but more on that later). Our family had fun cheering on the Cougars, being superheroes, and playing around this month.

Monkey has been busy with school, guitar, reading, and Lego building. He also had fun going to a BYU football game, going to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, and being Iron Man.

Panda has loved soccer and was ecstatic to get a medal. She also loves being back in gymnastics after the summer break and she loved dressing up for her cousin's princess party and the Mad Hatter's tea party. She also had fun at the BYU game and is an awesome Thor!

Mouse started doing gymnastics this month and is loving it. She also has absolutely no fear, which means that momma is constantly following her around to make sure she's safe. She is talking up a storm and runs everywhere. She is our biggest BYU fan and has the most fun at the games. She's crazy about it. Plus, she makes an adorable baby hulk.

Mr. Tigger and I got to hang out more this month (I'm talking about actual dates people). It's been a lot of fun. One of those dates involved going to the BYU vs Texas game where we got to watch BYU demolish Texas (fun for everyone). We also got in a couple of runs before my last surgery of the summer. It was a huge relief to finally be done with all of those surgeries.

This September started the annual Salt Lake City Comic Con and our family loved it. We love superheroes, so I thought that the Comic Con would be a fun event for all of us…and it was awesome! I definitely recommend it to anyone. We had a blast. We got to be a superhero family for the day, got our pictures taken too many times, got videoed for TV, and got to see some really cool stuff.

Mouse got to meet the real Hulk, but I think she could take him. Mr. Tigger got to meet some clowns, which by the look of things are Captain America's kryptonite. Monkey and Panda got to meet lots of cool people and see tons of interesting things. And I got to have Dean Cain (Superman) put his arm around me, enough said. It was SUPER!

Summer Lovin' Had Me a Blast! (August 2012-2013)

August 2012:
Summer fun continued in August with time in the pool, playing on the playground, camping, playing outside, and ice skating? Panda loves to ice skate so we take her on occasion. The only weird part is when you leave the rink and step into 90 degree weather.

We had another Back to School Banquet to mark the return to school for Monkey. This year we went with an Olympics theme for the party and chose our family's theme for the school year: Faster, Stronger, Smarter. After the banquet we took the kids outside to participate in a little family Olympics with sprint races, skill tests, and water sports.

Monkey is in the 1st grade this year which means all-day school. I'll miss his cute personality throughout the day. We ride our bikes to drop him off in the morning, which will continue only until it gets too cold, and the girls love riding in the bike cart. Monkey has had a fun summer full of park playing, bike riding, swimming, hiking, and camping.

Panda is going to miss Monkey now that he is back in school. They have had a lot of fun playing together. Panda enjoys everything that is active, and she is quite adventurous. She isn't scared of anything besides bugs.

Mouse is still as cute as a button. She got a new helmet this month and is enjoying the extra room. She loves to swing, she enjoys baths but hates swimming pools (I think they're too cold), and she loves to laugh.

August 2013:

I love the summer, so I'm always sad to see the end of August because it means fall is on its way. It also means that my little Monkey goes back to school and that we don't do quite as much stuff outside. This August we spent plenty of time outside.

We had fun at Grandma Bunnie's impromptu party, complete with bounce house. Who needs an actual reason for a party anyways, we sure don't! The kids also had fun rock climbing, playing with cousins, swimming at 7 Peaks, etc.

We also had our Back to School Banquet. This year we had Mary Poppins as our surprise guest. She let us know the family theme for the year: In Every Job that Must be Done, There is an Element of Fun! Plus she led the family in a march around the yard, taught umbrella twirling, helped shoot confetti, and did a little magic. It was so much fun! (My kids still aren't quite sure if Mary Poppins was me or not.)

Monkey is headed into the 2nd grade and is smart as a whip (whatever that means). He's excited for school and to see his friends, although he's a little bummed that summer vacation is over. He has enjoyed swimming and camping with his daddy.

Panda started up soccer this month and she's a natural. She runs up and down the field kicking that ball like crazy and she loves it. She scored a goal in her first game and was so excited.

Mouse loves being outside and running around. She'd run all day if I let her. Mr. Tigger keeps wanting to put a pedometer on her to see how many steps she takes in a day because she is going from the minute she wakes up until bedtime.

Mr. Tigger had fun camping this month and I had fun with another surgery (my third of the summer). I got to have my expander put back in and now we just need to stretch out that skin graft until it matches the other side. I was excited because I got healed up enough to go on three runs before I had this surgery and was back to doing nothing.

I Pledge Allegiance (July 2012-2013)

July 2012:
We have two birthdays in the first half of July (Monkeys and mine), so with the addition to the 4th of July, we have a very busy and celebratory month. We have family BBQs, watch parades, become pirates, go camping, turn into scottish highlanders, and play in the water.

Monkey really enjoyed his birthday party this year. He got to be a pirate captain with an entire pirate crew fit to attack and pillage any other ships on the sea. Luckily, there's a playground nearby with an entire pirate ship so we had his party there. The kids had fun dressing up (complete with pirate makeup), running around on the pirate ship, sword fights, whacking an enemy ship piñata, and going on a treasure hunt where they had to actually dig in the sand to find a buried chest full of pirate plunder. It was a lot of fun and we all had a good time.

Panda enjoys wearing masks and isn't afraid to use a weapon, so you better watch out. She also enjoys swimming, being a pirate, running around with cousins, fireworks, and being cute.

Mouse is still rocking the helmet. She got to get a new one this month which is a little bit bigger, so she is pretty happy. She loved the 4th of July. She really enjoyed the parade, which was super cute, and she also liked being with cousins, and sleeping through the fireworks (thank goodness).

Mr Tigger's favorite things were going camping with his brother, and diving off a huge cliff, and going to the Scottish festival. Any place where he can wear his kilt, is a good place to be.

My favorite things were the 4th of July (it's my favorite holiday) and doing the Do Life 5K. It was cool to meet the guy being the Do Life Movement. He was pretty cool, but I actually liked talking to his dad more. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.

July 2013:

Another busy month with family birthdays and our country's birthday. I didn't start out the month in the best way. Some of my skin had died due to my mastectomy, so the plastic surgeon wanted to schedule me for another surgery ASAP. I ended up having surgery on July 3rd to take out my expander and take skin from my back and use it to replace the dead skin using a skin graft. This surgery wasn't as taxing on my body as the first surgery, so that was a definite plus. And, although I missed the 4th of July Parade, my sister brought me home in time for the first of two family BBQs, so I didn't end up missing too much. And between you and me, I wasn't crying over missing the parade either.

Monkey turned 7 this year! He is such a cute, little squirt. He got roller skates for his birthday and wore them everywhere for days. His birthday is on 7-11, so we had to go and get a free Slurpee. (Quick side note, he also weighed 7'11" when he was born.) He wanted Star Wars plates, cups, and table covering, but he wanted a Superman cake, so we mixed the various nerd genres and he was a very happy boy. He also participated in his very first recital. He played Hall of the Mountain King on his guitar (he loves that song for some reason) and did a great job.

Panda has been busy participating in all of the festivities. She thought that the 4th of July was super! She had a ton of fun eating slurpees on Monkey's birthday. She loved going to the Aviary on my birthday. She roamed the dinosaur museum and ate ice cream afterwards. And she has had a ton of fun with her cousins. She is also getting huge. I don't know how the girl grows so fast.

Mouse is still adorable. She comes right along with us to everything and is always ready for the next adventure. She makes me smile and laugh every single day.

Mr. Tigger ran another Half Marathon without me….curse him! He did the Alpine Half and got an incredibly cool medal….curse him again! He also ran the Temple-to-Temple run with his brother. (They didn't get a medal for that one, so I wasn't as upset.) Plus he has been busy celebrating with us and going hiking and camping.

I love the Heat! (June 2012-2013)

June 2012:
I love it when it's hot and school is out. The days are longer and filled with fun outside activities. We had a fun June that started with Art City Days, which meant hot air balloons, fire station pancake breakfast, cool cars car show, and the carnival. I love Art City Days!

Monkey has been busy since school got out with swimming lessons, baseball, library activities, car washing, and playing in the water and sun.

Panda has also been involved with swimming lessons (which she loves), library activities, and running around in the sun.

Mouse has been busy with the rest of us. The hot sun makes her helmet more of a problem. I frequently have to take it off for 5-10 minutes just so her head can air out and stop sweating. And her head pretty much smells like a locker room now. It's sad, usually you like to smell a baby's cute head but mine just smells like a smelly sock. It's still cute though.

Mr. Tigger turned the big 30 this month. Fortunately, he now looks like he is no longer in high school. I figure by the time he is 60, he'll look 35. Lucky me. I really am lucky though. He's probably the best husband ever! He washes dishes, changes diapers, reads stories, cleans the house, etc., and still has time to tell me that he loves me every day. I'm definitely lucky.

June 2013:

More fun in the sun for our family this year. I was kind of out of it for about half of June (got to love those post surgery pain pills though), but my husband and my sister picked up the slack. My sister came down from Washington for two weeks in June to help me out and keep my kids entertained. (Thanks Sis, I really appreciated it.) She let me kids write down a bucket list of items that they wanted to do with her while she was down here and then she actually made sure to do all of the items on their list…..because she's awesome. My kids had a great time!

Some of the things my kids did while their aunt was here: went to the splash pad/lazy stream, played on the playground, went to the Art City Day's carnival, had monstrous snow cones with ice cream in the middle, watched their cousin swing around at BYU gymnastics, went to a teddy bear picnic, and had a blast!

Monkey was busy riding around the neighborhood on his bike or scooter, jumping on the trampoline, hanging out with cousins, and playing in the water.

Panda completed a rite of passage this month when she learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. She picked it up really fast and has been zooming around ever since.

Mouse is just adorable. She loves playing dress up, jumping on the trampoline with the big kids, swinging, being super with daddy, and pretty much just doing whatever the big kids are doing.

Mr. Tigger ran the Provo Midnight Half Marathon. It was really fun for my sister, my niece, and me. We took our glow sticks and met him on various parts of the trail so that we could cheer him on. It wasn't as fun for Mr. Tigger. It was still really hot and he ran the race at a pace that was too fast to be enjoyable. It wiped him out. However he did get an extra medal for coming in 2nd in his age group. Extra bling!

May Flowers (May 2012-2013)

May 2012:
Our kids were very busy in May 2012.

Monkey graduated from kindergarten and looked incredibly cute in his little cap and gown. I love that his school has those for the kindergarteners because they are adorable. After the graduation we had a special dinner for our royal children that they thought was pretty fun. Monkey also had fun camping out with his dad, going on a hike with me, playing baseball, meeting Cosmo, and riding on Thomas the Train. It was definitely a busy month for my little man.

Panda hung out with Mouse and me a lot. We went on some hikes, read lots of books, met Cosmo the Cougar, and rode on Thomas. We just happened to meet Cosmo when we went to Walmart one day. They were having a special event that we knew nothing about before we got there, but it turned out to be a great experience of the kids. They got to meet Cosmo and plant a pumpkin plant in their very own atrium. The funny thing about meeting Cosmo that day was that Panda just happened to be wearing her BYU shirt that day. Coincidence? I think not.

Mouse had a ton of fun on our Thomas the train ride. She was smiling the whole time and loved looking out the window as were were chugging along. Panda has been busy building her sitting-up muscles. She is actually pretty strong, probably because of that heavy helmet. She must feel lighter than air whenever we take it off.

Funny thing that happened, we had an entire swarm of bees come into our yard. They came in a huge swarm that looked like something out of a cartoon as they flew in and attached to one of our trees. (I've included a picture of some of the bees in their swarm when they were on the ground.) The bees actually proved to be fairly nice. They didn't attack or anything and let you get really close. However, we were still nervous so we called a beekeeper, that's right a beekeeper, to come and get them. He was happy to have another swarm to make honey.

We also forced our kids to participate in the horrible tradition of family pictures (minus the parents because who wants to see us anyway). They endured the picture taking and were rewarded with a walk through a stream, a little bit of climbing on small waterfalls, and a water fight.

May 2013:

It was warm again, which meant camping time for Monkey and his daddy. They also had a blast geo-caching. Panda can't wait to be able to go on more campouts, maybe next year. The kids also had a lot of fun playing in various splash pads across the valley. I like the new on in Springville the best. The meandering river is a huge plus.

Panda got to go to a little girls tea party and had a great time, plus she looked adorable. The kids have also been busy building forts and playing with each other. I love that my kids are such great friends…most of the time.

For Mother's Day my family got me a trampoline, which was awesome. I enjoy playing on it, but what I really enjoy is how much my kids will play on it and how much energy they use up. It's the best Mother's Day gift ever.

Due to my being positive for the BRCA 2 gene (84% likely to have aggressive form of breast cancer), I decided to be proactive and scheduled a double mastectomy. I had watched my sister and my mom go through chemo and other cancer treatments and didn't want to go through it. I also wasn't willing to risk the chance of dying and leaving my husband and children behind without a wife and mother. The decision was actually an easy one for me after considering everything.

The weekend before my surgery I got in one last half marathon and ran the Alpine Classic with my husband. It was a small race and we had a great time. I was glad to be able to run in it since I knew that I wasn't going to be able to run for a long time. The next Friday I went through an incredibly long day of surgery. Luckily I don't remember any of it. :)

Spring is Here! Time to Get Outside (April 2012-2013)

April 2012:
I love it when it's warm enough to be outside and so do my kids. They love to camp, hike, swing, explore, and run around. And I love to watch them. In April we celebrated Easter and my cute kids loved dyeing eggs and finding eggs. My nephew came to visit and we showed him a great time (for a 3 and 5 year old anyway). We took him exploring the river trail, to see dead, stuffed animals at the museum, swinging in a huge tree swing, and to eat ice cream up at BYU. It was also warm enough to get outside and make some yummy 'smores.

Monkey was getting taller by the minute. He enjoyed all our festivities and adventures. He also had an adventure with his dad when they hiked the Y. This was actually Monkey's second time hiking the Y, but he still thought it was really cool.

Panda was still loving gymnastics and enjoyed getting outside so that she could run and roll around.

Mouse was already pretty used to her helmet, but I was definitely getting a lot more used to it. Plus, she was definitely rocking the helmet. Such a cute baby!

April 2013:

Warm weather is my friend. Since I'm writing this in December, it makes me especially envious to look at these pictures of my family playing outside. It's beautiful outside right now with the fresh-fallen snow, but it's warm outside in these pictures and warm wins with me every time. Luckily, I've got my space heater.

We had fun this month doing outdoor obstacle courses, feeding the ducks, doing some backyard camping, roasting 'smores, and building stuff. We were outside a lot.

Monkey had his Spanish Program this month. He did a great job dancing and singing. He is really loving the Spanish Immersion program that he is in and I'm amazed at how much Spanish he can understand. I also love it when he starts singing in Spanish at home.

Panda is full of energy. She is awesome at gymnastics and has no fear (which makes me plenty afraid). Her dad took her to the jumping place for their adventure together and she had a blast. She jumped off of tall platforms, did flips, etc. without even pausing. She's crazy!

Mouse is incredibly cute! She loves being a helper and is always trying to get in on whatever the big kids are doing.

Getting Warmer (March 2012-2013)

March 2012:
I had a small baby that had to wear an unusual helmet 24X7. This elicited conversations from strangers wherever we went. I had to plan on an extra 30 minutes whenever we went to Walmart for all the strangers who would suddenly come up to me and start a conversation. I didn't really enjoy explaining that my baby had neurosurgery to strangers over and over again, so I didn't go out much. We still had plenty of fun at home.

Monkey had lots of fun in kindergarten and decided to become a pirate! Talk about a good education. Okay, maybe he dressed up as a pirate for his cousin's birthday party and had so much fun that he insisted on having a pirate party of his own for his birthday in July.

Panda enjoyed going to a birthday party as well. Chuck-E-Cheeses twice within a couple of weeks? This girl was in heaven.

Mouse got along with her helmet just fine. For the hour a day that I was allowed to take it off, I took lots of pictures. I also ended up taking plenty of pictures with it on as well. She's adorable either way. Also, she has turned into an avid reader and has begun eating solids!

Our family really enjoyed St. Patrick's Day. (It's one of our favorite holidays and we can't figure out why everyone else doesn't make a bigger deal out of it.) Leprechauns came to our house bearing gold and gifts and then we were able to go to the Rock and Mineral show to see cool dinosaur bones, learn about rock polishing, and browse all the cool stuff.

March 2013:

This year March involved both St. Patrick's Day and Easter, so it was a busy month for our family. To start out the month we did something truly awesome: we paid off all of our debt besides our house! We had been focused on this goal as a family for more than a year. We even had a chart hung up in our kitchen and would let the kids move our little gazelle up the chart as we went along. The kids loved it! Then we took our kids with us to UVU to make our final school loan payment and went out to dinner afterwards to celebrate. It was a really big deal for us and I'm glad that we were able to involve our kids as much as we were. We are huge fans of Dave Ramsey (http://www.daveramsey.com/new/baby-steps/), our debt free guru.

We had a great St. Patrick's Day where we got to go to the Rock and Mineral Show again. Gotta love dino bones and lots of rocks! And we had a really fun Easter with an Easter brunch at Grandma Bunnie's followed by a massive egg hunt. And then our own Easter celebration, which involved egg dying, basket finding, and egg hunting.

Monkey is awesomely lucky! Don't believe it, just read his shirt. He was also lucky enough to work on a really cool leprechaun trap with his daddy that was really awesome! It was a really cool leprechaun cave with gold on the inside and a piece of string tied to the biggest gold coin that would shut the door to the cave the minute it was moved. And it actually worked. I think Mr. Tigger had too much fun building the trap with Monkey.

Panda is an awesome rock climber! She was also the most enthusiastic about paying off our debt. And she is absolutely beautiful.

Mouse is so funny and full of life! Her eyes are so vibrant and her smile is infectious. She loved all the parties and all the treats. She also really liked finding eggs.