Update. . . . .FINALLY!

Well, it's been a while. We've been really busy with callings and kids and callings and school! But I feel that I have much updating to do=) I should be outside enjoying the beautiful weather here in between conference sessions, but it's as hot as sin outside. We had feet of snow on the ground 4 weeks ago and it is in the 90's today!!! I should have knocked on wood when I wished for warm weather.

Derrel is almost done with his 3rd year of medical school. We apply to residencies by September, which is just C-R-A-Z-Y and exciting! We have no idea where we will end up. We feel differently every other day. But we are crazy excited for the next phase, not that residency is exciting but it just the next step closer to being done with school forever!! Lydia asked Derrel one day what grade he was in. After figuring it out, he is (brace yourselves) in 21st grade! Holy cow, that's a smart guy if you ask me! He is doing well and LOVES being able to work with patients. He is SO good at it, too! He was just called to be the Ward Mission Leader and is so excited to work on missionary work here. There is so much to be done!

I am in my 3rd year of medical school, too. Maybe not going to school, but supporting it nonetheless! I am still Young Women President in our little growing ward. It's challenging but so incredibly rewarding. I LOVE my YW! I am getting geared up (physically and emotionally) for a 2 month hiatus to Utah/Idaho. I am a home body and I like my bed and my house and my kitchen. I don't deal with long trips very well so I'll apologize to anyone beforehand that I am a little basket case when traveling. At least I don't have to worry about pregnancy hormones on a trip like this=) All in all, I am doing well, running as much as I can. I have finished 3 half marathons in the last 6 months and have plans for two more in the next 4 months. I just can't kick this 8 lb holiday weight gain. Urgh. At least I can run a half marathon right?

Lydia has some big news! She won first place in a writers contest in the 1st and 2nd grade level for our county. They have submitted her story on the state level and she has been invited to go to the West Virginia Young Writer's Day in May for her accomplishments. She is extremely excited and is so bright and loves to read and write. I'll have to post her adorable story she wrote. She's really been into drawing, too. She is taking piano lessons and catches on SO quickly! She amazes us everyday! When she gets her mind set on something, she will do it until it is accomplished. I wish I had a little bit of that in me. She must have taken it FROM me and that's why I don't have the drive she does=). She'll be 7 in June and has had her birthday party planned out since January.


Kate is the heart of our family. She'll be 5 in September and much to her chagrin will have to forgo kindergarten for one more year. She will do preschool at Lydia's elementary school and is SO excited. She follows Lydia and wants to do everything exactly like her. She is the kindest little girl and has become so spunky. Everyone in her preschool class loves her-little miss popular. It cracks me up! Kate is so imaginative and can play by herself contently for hours! It's really helpful when I have a lot to get done. She is so excited for our trip out west and to see all of her cousins and friends.


Grant is our little man, or should I say BIG man. He'll be two in June (where has the time gone?!?) and he is a mover. You have to keep your eye on this one. He's not a big talker, just too busy looking for cars and trucks and sisters to tackle. He's almost 32 lbs and growing. I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a boy. Boys are so different than girls. Grant is such a goofball. He loves to make the girls giggle and they are so patient with his crazy boyishness. He gets a little upset everyday about the same time and sometimes the only thing that calms him down is putting on the movie Cars. He stops whatever he is doing and watches, mesmerized. It's amazing!

(watching Cars)

Well, we are still alive and well. Life is busy but we are so happy and all healthy and loving every minute of being here in West Virginia (just not the snow). But we do look forward to the day that we might be back closer to family! But for now, we'll just enjoy where we are.

HAPPY EASTER!

A little late but worth the wait. Happy late Birthday Kate!

Happy Late Birthday, Kate! We love you!

Something worthy of a post. . . . finally!

Well, it's pretty obvious I haven't blogged in 3 months or so. I guess I didn't think I had much to blog about. But now, I do!!!
About 8 months ago, a good friend asked me to run a half marathon with her. For those of you who know me, I HATE HATE HATE running, with a passion far more than those who actually have a passion for running. That is, I used to. In March, I started to run. I was overweight and it was hard! A week or two into it, I decided that I was going to run a whole mile without stopping (I know, pathetic, right). It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. But that mile changed my life, that and getting new shoes. I decided that I would start training for a half marathon, one that I never verbally committed to, for I am a non-committal kind of person (in unimportant matters). The half marathon came and went. I couldn't run it because I was on a trip to Idaho/Utah. I found another race to train for. 15 miles. To some, it seems impossible. I was one of those back in January. To others, 15 miles is just another long run on Saturday. But to me, it was a milestone that told me that I actually CAN commit and ACHIEVE! It was hard and time consuming, but I did it! I finished! And I actually want to keep running. The race was difficult, the uphills about killed me. Any race with a sign at the bottom of an endless hill that says "Capital Punishment Hill begins" should be seriously considered before running! But I ran my "half-marathon + 2 miles" (and I've lost 32 pounds in the process-extra bonus!!)
So for any of you out there thinking you can't do the unimaginable, unthinkable, impossible. . . . . . . . YOU CAN, because I did!
I can't go ANY further without thanking my personal cheering squad. Derrel has been extremely supportive of my crazy aspirations. He is my rock (well one of them=). And I couldn't have done it without Lydia and Kate, for showering me with flowers 11 miles into the race. And Grant learned how to clap at the race. I've been trying to get him to clap for MONTHS. Never would until the day I ran the race.

Here's Grant learning how to clap from seeing people clap for HOURS on end!

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Notice Lydia was ready with her shower of flowers for me. What a great support group I have!! Love it!

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OK, so my running form is kinda weird and I look a bit silly, but hey-I just ran 15 miles!

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Father's Day

   
        
 

These are the reason's why we love our daddy:

Lydia:  I love Daddy because he does nice things for me and I love him because he is a great dad.  Daddy is special because he always is nice.  He helps me when I get hurt and he helps me study science and he helps me play the piano.  And I love him.  Love, Lydia.

Kate:  I love Daddy because he teaches me some words and he loves me and he loves glasses and Emma's dad loves to eat clothes.  Ewww.  He teaches me how to go potty and he teaches me how ride cars and he teaches me how to put earrings on.  Daddy is special because he teaches me how to put eyeballs on so we can see and get the white stuff out of our eye because in Anastasia, the evil took his eye out.  What's his name again?

Grant:  I love my Daddy because he holds me up on the air and with his fingers he tickles me until I can't laugh anymore.  I love my Daddy because he throws me up in the air until I'm scared silly but I still laugh to make him feel good.  I love my Daddy because he let me help him fix his old pickup in Grandpa's shop.  My Daddy is special because he is always willing to change my poopy diapers and hold me tightly on the airplane so that I can't move.  I love it when he looks in my ears with the otoscope, I try not to cry but sometimes my eyes leak a little bit.  I love my Daddy and hope to be just like him one day.

Kim:  I love Derrel because he is such an amazing father to our three amazing kids.  He is always willing to do the dirty jobs at home that I don't always have the patience for. He is so selfless and dedicated to our family and our home.  He is such a special man with so many talents.  He is so patient and willing and supportive of my aspirations and helps me to be a better person.  I love Derrel, always have and always will, forever.  Love you. 

Happy Father's Day!

Lydia's Obsessions

Spring is here. . . with 94 degree weather and all. The 89 degree temperature outside is so much more bearable than inside our house. Lydia had her first spring concert. It was at the Metropolitan Theater downtown. She sang her little heart out and did a marvelous job. She really is becoming a little DIVA! Sometimes we have to bribe her to stop singing (is that bad?). We really do love it.

Lydia is usually very particular about the lighting in her room at night. We usually have the closet light on or a night light plugged into the wall. Her fixation lately is to put a makeshift eye mask on and to have all forms of night lights off. I don't know what it's all about but that's what she wants.

Lydia tells us over and over and over that she doesn't want to sleep with Kate. She even asked if Daddy could take out his saw and cut their bed in half!! We thought it was just a stage that she was going through. You can definitely see why she feels this way from these pictures.

Somehow they went from this:

To this:

I wouldn't want to sleep with someone who was always putting their leg over my neck. I don't know how Lydia survives=).

Lydia's last OBSESSION was having some kind of sale. She wanted to sell flowers- and not only flowers, but DANDELIONS! She would come home from school everyday for a week and BEG to have a flower sale. At first I just brushed it off. But she was determined. So I let her cut some of the daffodils off and she sold them.

We tied ribbons around the bunches and sold them in front of our house, on our lawn. She would wave to all the cars that passed by and point frantically to the flowers for sale, only to be disappointed. I almost called some of my friends to drive by and buy some.

But neighbors started coming by. One asked, "so how much are ya sellin' em for?" She responded, "fifteen cents!" He said, "fifty cents? Oh well I'll take two." He gave her a dollar!

You can't imagine how happy that made her. One neighbor across the street came out and gave her a ten dollar bill and said he was going to give the flowers to his girlfriend. She ended up making $18.35! We were flabbergasted! What a determined little girl.

She even got to pay her tithing!!! Way to go, Lydia.

Spring Break, Birthdays, Family and Fish

Grandma Easter  Aquarium Driving Annie Playing Games Lawson Laughing Sharks Candy Miranda Perudo Sea Turtles & Penguins Ice Cream Cake Steak & Salad Kids Crying Movies Easter Egg Hunt GPS Rocky Statue Mallory Independence Hall Flat Stanley Easter Bunny Kim Singing Buckwheat Pancakes & Pepperoni Rolls Lydia Kids Laughing Fun Derrel Soft Pretzels & Smoothies Progressive Rummy Brandon Apple Annie's Mandy Tour Guides Happy 30th Birthday Derrel Starting Perudo with 2 dice (instead of 5) Yummy Food Grant Jokes Dr. Horrible Liberty Bell Crazy Park Ranger with a "system" Spring flowers Target Kate Rain Nathan's Famous Spills & Messes Captain Hammer Amy Spring Break One Bathroom: 12 people Airport Delays Mexican Food "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do"

Bathroom, toilets and crawling

Well, with our tax return, we have decided to remodel the main bathroom in our house. It was REALLY outdated with an avacado green fiberglass bathtub and sink (if you want to see the tub, look at the picture of Grant in the tub below). The vinyl floor was speckled with gold. It was a sight to see! We have totally gutted it (these pictures don't show the sheetrock and floor boards ripped out). It's very exciting and we have a LOT of plans for it. I'll post after pictures when it's finished.

The next great news is that Kate is officially potty trained. It took 3 days and a 1 1/2 accidents (no poop accidents). If I had known it would be so quick and easy, I would have done it months ago. She is so excited to finally be able to go on the big girl potty. Yeah!! No more of these saggy DIAPERS for Kate!

Thirdly, our little boy is giGRANTic!! He is crawling and has been crawling for a few weeks now. This kid is HUGE! His hands are garGRANTuan. I LOVE it. He loves his big sisters. They make him laugh all of the time. He's adorable and has such a special place in our home. Here's a few pictures and videos of Grant. Just so you know, too, Grant just got his FIRST TOOTH. YEAH, what a fun age he's at!!!! Here's a few pictures and videos. Enjoy.

Kids, kids and more kids

Here's a post with lots of pictures and videos.  These kids are growing like weeds!  No one told me they were going to do that!  Grant had totally recovered and not once did his weight go down while he was sick.  He just keeps eating and eating and eating.  He is so happy and is almost crawling.  Kate is happy to be the oldest sibling at home while Lydia is away in Kindergarten.  She's a big help and is SLOWLY learning how to potty train (very very SLOWLY).  Lydia loves school and is learning so much.  She comes home with new knowledge every day.  We love listening to what she learns from her teachers and her classmates.  It's pretty colorful sometimes=) Hope you enjoy the pictures.