Joe's Marathon

Joe ran his first marathon this past week.  He has been training for a long time and was quite nervous for the big day, but he of course did great!

His stats:
finish time: 2:51:24
pace: 6:33
He finished fourth overall for the marathon runners, and second in his age group for marathon runners.

Griffin and I are very proud of him and were more than happy to go and cheer him on. We left the house at 5:25 am to drive him to the starting line, and then stopped at a couple places along the way to take pictures and give him some encouragement!

Griffin was so pleased every time he spotted his daddy.  He was even cheering some of the other runners. My favorite was when a couple of ladies were walking by and he screamed out "Come on ladies don't you know you are supposed to be running? "  So funny everyone around us just started cracking up!

Fun with the fam...

This weekend we spent Saturday together as a family.  Joe didn't have to work so we decided to take advantage.  We went to a local park and had a picnic.  Played some "fusbee", baseball, chased each other, and played on the play ground.  It was a bit cold but Griffin loved it.

We also went to the pet store and saw a humongous snake named Elvis.  He is an albino python and weighted slightly over 200 pounds.  He has a turtle and iguana that live in his cage with him. Griffin just thought it was so crazy a turtle would want to be in the same place as such a large snake.  Not sure if he saw the iguana.

We got a surprise visit from Nate, Heather, and Ella.  They decided to come up for Nate's brothers basketball tournament.  It was a really quick trip but we were really happy to be able to say hi!

Heather took LJ's four wheeler out for a spin.  Love the look on her face.  She did quite well and even took it for a spin in the dirt.

Ella hung out in the garage with Joe.  She is really cute especially when she walks around. Her and Griffin played quite well together and she just followed him around.  We are looking forward to having her come and visit us for a whole week!

Of course if the four wheeler is out Griffin has to sneak a ride!

Pockie was even able to come over and visit with us.  Ella decided he was okay and spent some time on his lap!

Miss Ella loves to eat!  I am totally amazed by how much she eats.  She even had a little fit because Heather moved her peaches!  She loves peaches!!

We all had a really good time.  It was a wonderful Saturday!

Snow Cookies

Griffin was looking forward to playing in the snow with his daddy all day long!!!  They played out in the front yard and made tracks and tried to catch snow flakes in their mouths.

I don't think this is the first snow of the season, but I could be wrong.  I am grateful the temperature dropped and the snow started falling. It really helped me to start feeling more in the holiday spirit. I've been cruising around town listening to my jazz Christmas music but it just doesn't feel like that time of year unless it is cloudy, snowy, and nippy.

Griffin was even lucky enough to find some snow cookies! Nobody knows who makes the snow cookies, but if you are lucky enough you might just find some in your own yard.

Yummy! He's been talking about his snow cookies all night!

Happy Halloween

This Halloween we ended up staying in town.  We were planning on going to visit with my mom but due to sickness we ended up having a "stay cation" instead!

Above is the pumpkin Joe carved on Halloween night.  Luckily our neighbor brought us over a pumpkin on Friday night.  All over town the pumpkins were sold out...since I wasn't planning on celebrating Halloween here I didn't pick any pumpkins up.  Anyways, I just adore his pumpkin and I really like how my picture turned out.  This was taken in manual mode, people!!! I was able to make like the candle light  look brighter than it actually was.  Loving it!

We did two ward trunk-er-treats. We went to one on Wednesday at the Wells's ward because Joe was asked to make animal balloons for the their Halloween fair.  Griffin went as a giraffe.

The lovely Miss Whitney painted a smiley face for him at the face painting booth!

Here is a picture of Joe making animal balloons at his booth.  There were tons of kids and each of them wanted a balloon.  He was super busy.  Griffin loved watching him.

As the night progressed Griffin got too hot in his costume so we had to take it off.  He loved playing drums with Joe's balloon pump.  He is using a pencil he got from the trunk-er-treat.

I dressed up as a witch for the trunk-er-treat activities.  Griffin actually rode over to the event with the Wells so he didn't see me all dressed up until he was trick-er-treating.  When he saw me he said, "hey mommy you are a witch".  It was really cute and made my day!  I loved my eye lashes and just so you know if I could wear them this way every day I would. *wink*

Here is the beautiful Jamilyn dressed up as a very LARGE clown.  Such a cutie running around in this thing all night!

On Saturday, actual Halloween day, we went to BOO at the ZOO.  Griffin had a ton of fun riding the train, and looking at all the animals!  This is the only picture I got of him or any of us at the zoo because well, my battery ran out.  Seems like every time we have a family event the batteries on my camera are beyond low!! I really need to remember to charge them or just break down and buy an extra back up battery!

Saturday day night we went to Pokie's ward for Trunk-er-treating.  Griffin had a fun time doing all the booths with Pockie.  As soon as he saw Pockie he gave him a big hug and told him Happy Halloween.

Griffin was on such a sugar high when it came time to do the actual trunk-er-treating he just ran circles all over the parking lot.  It was good for him to get his energy out.

Okay so after this was over we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some supplies for our Halloween crab fest, this was at 7:30 pm.  Griffin ran all over the grocery store.  Once we got home he was so excited to pass out candy and he told all of our trick-er-treaters to be safe once they were leaving.  He even invited a few of the kids in to play! So funny!

We finally got to eat our crab, carve our pumpkin, and watch Hocus Pocus.  It was a full day of fun!

Goodnight Griffin

Having fun with Daddy!

So Griffin loves to jump from his changing table to his crib. Last night we played this game for quite awhile.  Joe is always telling him not to jump, but I guess under his supervision it is okay.

Before Griffin jumps he always counts.   "Three, Four, Six...go"

Griffin loves posing for the camera.  As a matter of fact he is another member in the house who is always asking me to take pictures of him.  He loves to look at himself on the LCD screen of the camera.  He loves to give me his opinion about my pictures and really enjoys naming all the subjects.

Dinner time moments

Been awhile since I have blogged anything...not really sure why sometimes I blog more than others.  I really do need to make it a priority to at least update our blog once a week~

It's also been awhile since I've pulled out my camera and practiced.  Instead of actually doing hands on practicing I've been studying the books *wink*

 I am trying to master the art of taking pictures inside at night.  The temperature of these photo's has given them a yellow hue, which is to be expected since the lighting is indoor incandescent lighting. I really don't like this kind of lighting but I've got to be able to take pictures in it and like how they turn out....guess I will just have to keep practicing.

 Griffin and Joe were having fun while they were eating dinner so I took out the camera and just shot some candids.

A very serious talk was going on here.

This was the best photo of the night!  Just a priceless moment and I love how creamy their skin turned out.  I am hoping someday to be able to nail my exposure every time, and realize I need to patient with myself as I am on this quest of perfection...

Lazy Summer Nights

For the last few nights we have all been hanging out in the front yard. Griffin loves to ride his trike up and down the driveway and he is very good about not going in the street unless someone is with him. In the above picture Griffin was trying to follow Joe and LJ to the back yard but I think he realized it is really hard to pedal through the grass!

However, that doesn't stop him from scooting his trike wherever he goes. Yesterday we loaded up the car to make a run to Costco. Griffin lifted his trike up into the van and then said he was ready to go. I had a hard time explaining to him that you can't take your trike into Costco.

Joe and LJ like to ride their skateboards over jumps and up and down the driveway. LJ usually rides my bike up and down the street and Griffin will follow him around. We also go for walks around the neighborhood together.

The weather is just perfect at night. It is warm but cool at the same time. The only real complaint I have; is the mosquito's! We all get attacked as soon as the garage door goes up. Bug spray seems to help but there are still a few real pesky mosquito's that penetrate through the layers of bug spray!


Here is Joe in one of the rare moments he actually sits down.

Griffin loves to drink my Coke Zero. I put it on the ledge and he pulled his trike over so he could get it.

LJ has been so cooperative with my picture shoots. I always ask before I snap his picture and I've been able to get some really good pictures of him.

This is my favorite picture of LJ, ever! He just looks so relaxed and happy. Usually in his pictures he does some kind of goofy smile...but I told him to relax and look at me so I could get a quick picture.

Of course at the end of the night we all had to stop and enjoy the sunset. The beauty of it wasn't really captured by the photo but I am proud of myself for capturing the colors of the sunset!

More Vegas photo's

We had to stop and take some pictures of ourselves by the motorcycles just for Griffin. There were tons of motorcycles outside of the Hard Rock Cafe. We didn't go in just stopped to take some photo's on our long walk down the strip!

Can't got to Vegas without getting your picture taken with Elvis!

Joe and I went and saw the Blue Man Group. It was really neat and nothing like I expected. I thought they were going to playing their pipes more but they were kind of clowning around. It was fun and the theater and sound system were totally fabulous. I would recommend going to the show just make sure you get some discounted tickets. I think I would have been a little upset if I paid their full asking price for the show.

Yeah I know I have a funny look. The guy who we asked to take our picture was taking a really long time! There was a huge line of people waiting to get their picture taken with a blue man and he was just taking his sweet ole' time. At least we ended up with a memorable photo!

Freezing Motion Lesson

I am taking an online photography class. One of the assignments for this week was to take a picture of something or someone moving and freeze the motion. We also need to take a picture to show motion but I haven't mastered it yet.

Joe was gracious enough to allow me to photograph him while he was at the skate park messing around. This was one of his favorite shots. I might share some of my other ones as well but this is the one I turned in for my assignment and so far I've gotten positive feedback, but haven't heard from my instructor yet.

LJ is staying with us and he has also been a good guinea pig. I took some photo's of him and Griffin playing yesterday. Tonight I have stamping so everyone will get a break from me and my camera but I have three more assignments to do this week. EEEKKS I've got to get started!

Little Updates

Just checking in...

I can officially say that today is one of the first days in a long time that I haven't drank a carbonated beverage. To be even more specific no Coke products for me today!! I know tomorrow will be harder but I am taking this one day at a time!

The kitchen got cleaned last night before I went to bed and it is waiting for me again. Thought I better do a quick little blog update, as that was one of my weekly goals!

I've cooked dinner two nights in a row! Perhaps tomorrow we will be dining on left overs. Thursday night Joe and I are going on a date so that is one less day to worry about.

Here are some cute pictures of the boys. Griffin loves playing in the garage with his Dad. He made a little pile of saw dust and had so much fun dumping and driving his monster trucks through it!
Joe is busy working on putting shelves up and he is also working on getting the fence installed. We got all the cedar today. Soon enough Griffin will have his own little back yard paradise!!!

Ciao for now!

More projects

Joe is busy working on getting the pad ready for our fireplace!! By next Friday everything should be done.

We decided to get a stove type fireplace instead of the traditional type. Guess you will have to wait and see what I am talking about b/c I am sure I didn't use the correct jargon.

Joe is very excited about his project and we are all looking forward to warming up the basement a little! Of course once the fireplace is working the cold weather will magically disappear~
Of course he has a cute little helper!


Joe and Griffin spent all day together. Griffin went with Joe to work and had a blast.

I woke up early this morning, 5:30 am, so I could get ready for the welcome to Beehives breakfast for our newest girl Casy. It was a fun time. We picked up the girls and then went to Natalie's house to make Belgian waffles, drink hot cocoa and spend time with one another. This is the second time I have been able to go, each time Natalie and I are figuring out how to make things run more smoothly. Next time we are going to try adding, nuts, bacon, and sausage to our Belgian waffles. Not all three at once, mind you!

After breakfast I went to Red Lodge to participate in a shoebox swap with ten other Stampin Up! demonstrators. I had a fun time. After we were done stamping we all went to the Red Lodge Pizza Company for lunch. It was fun to get away from my daily duties and do something I enjoy.

And I am sure you are all wondering what I am doing tonight...catching up on my Saturday chores and working on my lesson for tomorrow*wink*