Joy school Grad

Makenna had her joy school graduation last week. I am sad to be done with joy school for now, but Makenna has had a really great two years doing it! Next year since she will still be home with me, we are going to try something a little different, but still a mommy pre-school. This girl is going to be SUPER ready for kindergarten!

They performed songs for us- adorable.

All the moms and kids in our group! Her friends are Katie, Tyler, Megan, Kaiden, and Stacie.. I have loved working with these moms and their ADORABLE kids. This group was seriously so cute and easy too! We had a really fun time.

Dance Recital 1

Makenna has been taking dance classes from a girl named Cassie from another ward. She has really loved it. They had their recital last Saturday and Makenna did so well! She did not have one ounce of shyness on stage and remembered all the dances really well.

hawaiian dance

ballet

I love how she could not resist a little wave! This is her snow white and the seven dwarfs dance.

when they called her name at the end- she was lovin that

with her class- those girls are so cute!

with Cassie

haha

-Kristie♥

Father/Son/Daughter Campout

Scott was super excited this year to be able to take Jace on his first father/son campout! Makenna was DYING to go too, and since girls are invited, he decided to take her along. Scott said they had a really good time. Having alone time for me was not too shabby too! I got to have a little GNO, stay up as late as I wanted, and sleep in as late as I wanted! (9am!!) haha It was great and a little weird, but I'll take it!

I love these kids!!

Meg's Wedding!

The main point of our trip was to go to Megan's wedding. She is one of my best friends from Carlsbad, and it was so awesome to see her get married! We were able to go to her sealing, and it was so beautiful. It's too bad the temple was being cleaned, it was (dare I say) a little ugly! I think the photographer got creative though, so I bet you can't even tell in her pics! :)

with Jenna, another best friend from high school. So much fun to catch up with her!

with the beautiful bride!

The bride and groom (thanks j-dawg)

La Jolla Shores

We got to have my parents all to ourselves this day. It was THE perfect day, and my kids got some really good grandma and grandpa time. We had a picnic, watched the sea lions, played frisbee, hung out on the beach, and took some family pics too. I miss San Diego!!!

Newport Beach

We had SOOO much fun at my parent's beach house in Newport beach a couple weeks ago! These are some of the highlights:

Dinner at Cheesecake Factory for my birthday
Shopping at Fashion Island- Twice!
Checking out Scott's mission
Panera and Cafe Rio
Riding beach cruisers along the beach
Frisbee
A friendly game of tennis!
Angels game
Beach
Smores
Finding crabs with the kids

Basically it was SOOOOO fun. I can't imagine a more fun domestic vacay. It was perfect.

thoughts of a mother...

I know there are so many videos out there on the web, but this one is a must watch...



I needed a little pick me up today. Kids have been crazy. Lot's to do. Been slacking a little bit in the spiritual area. That is what gets me through the hard times; if I lose track, what is there to get me through them? I love being inspired as a mother. I mean, it is my life. I am helping to shape these little kids into something. Sometimes I forget that. I get caught up in the hard stuff, and how I am going a little bananas at times. I forget that everything I do can have an effect on them for good or bad. I love this quote by Eliza R. Snow...

"Women should be women and not babies that need petting and correction all the time. I know we like to be appreciated but if we do not get all the appreciation which we think is our due, what matters? We know the Lord has laid high responsibility upon us, and there is not a wish or desire that the Lord has implanted in our hearts in righteousness but will be realized, and the greatest good we can do to ourselves and each other is to refine and cultivate ourselves in everything that is good and ennobling to qualify us for those responsibilities."

A good reminder. I can do this!

Half marathon- update!

That last post was miserable- sorry. That's what happens when you wake up at 5:30 AM and can't go back to sleep. I was in a bad place at 5:30 this morning! Then I decided to blog about it! Well I'm in a better place now! I really am proud that I was able to do a half marathon! A year ago I never would have thought I could do it! And I did it. Crappy time and all! I am coming down with some stomach sickness, which gives me some relief to know there really was something wrong. I have heard many kind and uplifting words today when I really needed it, so thanks! I'm over it!

half marathon

So where do I begin? Basically, after training for 5 months and feeling great, my body decides it doesn't want to work at the race... After about 5-6 miles, my body just shut down. My stomach hurt like a mutha, I kept getting shivers through my body, and my head was spinning. Lovely. Ughhh I was so frustrated. Usually I have some control over how slow or fast I go, but this time there was only one speed I could go, and that was slow. I thought, am I really going to be able to finish?! All of my nightmares about this race were coming true- I ate the wrong thing for breakfast so my stomach hurt, I had to go to the bano (I seriously had a fear of this!), and I wasn't sure I was going to finish. Probably one of the most frustrating moments of my life. Well, I did finish. Going across that finish line I just felt ashamed, not the proud feelings I thought I would feel at that moment. Let's just say my time wasn't so great. It was far worse than my 12.7 mile run a couple weeks ago that I finished with ease. I went through this just wanting to finish, not get a great time, so I don't know why I care so much. I think just knowing I could have done better just gets to me. I am thinking about running another one in a couple months to prove to myself I can do better, and so I don't look back at this experience in frustration. This will NOT be my last half marathon!

Jace was a little confused at first...

This is towards the end. What kind of stride is that?! The only thing that got that smile on my face was Makenna and Jace yelling "Go mom! Go mom! Go mom!"

After the race with Jenny. Jenny did great, I am very proud of her! I also want to give a little shout out to her because without her I wouldn't have been able to run this race. We traded kids twice a week so we could run, and ran together all last year. Thanks Jenny, you rock!