My Video 9/24/11 at OneTrueMedia.com

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Running and Painting.

Yet another attempt to catch up.  Before I become a single mother for 2 months....tomorrow.  :(

Mark took this picture during scriptures one morning.  Sam fell and got a bloody nose.  I think the pics are self explanatory.  I guess he's cute no matter what. :)

Spanish Fork 1/2 Marathon

Have I mentioned I love running with Mark?  There were a couple of morning runs we went on while Grandma Judy watched the kids that were glorious.  Spanish Fork has a trail that runs along the river bottom.  On one side there are cornfields, sunflowers and horses and the other is the river with big trees and low hanging branches. (the trail needs to be about 10miles longer than it is though... :)  Running through there with a cool morning breeze, warm sunshine, and my best friend... nuff said.

I was a little nervous at the beginning of the race.  I'm not sure why.  We had run 11 1/2 miles before hand and I knew I could do it.  I guess it was just first time jitters but then Mark said to just relax we were going to have fun and we did. :)  At the half way mark we were at about 56minutes (according to Mapmyrun which is a GREAT app.  Love it.)  Anyways, at that point I thought we should try to make it under 2hrs.  We did pretty good and passed the majority of people on the last 3 miles.  The last mile I really pushed it mostly because I knew that that was the only way I could stop running and I really really wanted to stop running!  :)  Anyways I ended up with a time of 2:02:06, 6th in my age division and 97th over all and a pace of 9:19/M.  Big thanks to for Marilyn for watching the kids and to Mark for running with me. :)  

(Living by so much family is AMAZING!!!)  There are a million different options for babysitting that we have never experienced before.  I'd say we've taken pretty good advantage of it so far. :) Especially since Mark leaves for an audition rotation in Florida tomorrow. 

Sam being adorable.  

His new face that he does for anything and everything that he thinks is awesome.  He says "Wow" at the same time.  It's really cute. :)

My budding artist.  She begged and begged to go out and paint a butterfly.  A butterfly? Sure.....

Hmmmm....what a lovely looking butterfly!

Oh yes, this one is looking quite lovely also.

It's SUPER ZAM!  oops I mean SUPER SAM!

And a picture of her cute haircut.  Aunt Trisha came to give us both trims.  Well Zina declared that she wanted a trim to her shoulders.  I think it's adorable and she loves it. :)  

Kate/Zina/Gpa Jay Anthem Sept 2011 at OneTrueMedia.com

Here is the promised video from Onion days.  My favorite part is the very end when you can actually hear Zina's voice.  I may have been teaching my kids the Canadian National Anthem instead of the American.  I should repent.

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Last day's of Summer & Labor Day

Before September we headed up to check out the Spanish Oaks Reservoir.  It was a hot enough day that the cool water felt good and the kids had fun building sand castles and swimming.  I am loving living in a small town and finding little gems like these.  I kind of hate to say it but I am really loving living in rural Utah.  The only thing that could make it better is if all the people weren't here. Haha. I think I will always be a country girl.

Some more pictures of Zina's first day of school.  Every Monday I go to Kindergarten with her and help out for an hour.  It's really fun to be there and see her interactions with her classmates and teacher.  Today her teacher told her that she was coloring like a 1st grader.  That made her happy. :)

Labor Day

On labor day we hit up the traditional Payson Onion Days Celebration. :)  We headed out before 6am to drop the kids off at Grandma's then Mark and I went and registered for the 10k.  I love running races with my hubby.  It is one of my favorite things to do.  This 10k went much better than my first one in Raymond.  It was a beautiful morning and even though my Ipod froze up on me and Grandpa Jay's ran out of power on mile marker 2 it was a great race.  Mark was a little more frustrated.  His foot was really bothering him and when I passed him on mile 3 he said he needed me to make him mad so he could run faster. :)  Then I ran past and said, "I'm beating you!"
Unfortunately it didn't work.
But I think he still had fun.  Our first 10k in July we ran in I think 57 minutes.  I could check but I'm to lazy.  This 10k I ran in 52:09 with a 8:23 min/mi  I was pretty happy about that and then super surprised to win 3rd in my age division.  Happy Day! Mark came in just behind me with a time of 54:02 (8:41 min/mi).  Every time I run I think about what a miracle our bodies are.  I remember what it was like to run 1 mile after I had Sam.  It was painful.  And now it is fun. Self mastery is kind of fun and I'm obviously still working on it but it feels great to set healthy daily routines for both my physical body and spiritual body.  Now I just need to figure out how to teach my kids to set those goals. :)

After the race we booked it home to shower, eat breakfast and get ready for the parade.  We made it just in time!

Mark jumped on his 10yr reunion fire truck as it went by.  He was cool enough to wear his letterman sweater from when he was on the student council. :)  As soon as Wilson saw Mark on the fire truck he started sobbing and I couldn't figure out why. We're talking hiccuping can't breathe sobs.  When he could finally make out some words I figured out that it was because he wanted to ride on a fire truck too. :( It was pretty cute. Mark and I also went to his 10yr reunion the night before but unfortunately I don't have any pics from that.  We had fun though!

The kids pretending to cruise with Uncle Denny & Aunty Kay

We let the kids pick one ride to go on.  

(I passionately dislike carnival ride.  It was all I could do to let them go on 1 ride).

Zina picked the Ferris wheel and Mark went with her. 

I guess it made for a cute pic. :)

Sammy and Grandpa had the same good idea.

Luis, Angel and adorable little Mikailo found us and we had a fun visit with them.

Zina and Kate were brave enough to climb on stage with Grandpa and sing the national anthem for the closing band concert.  What brave girls!! At first Kate decided she didn't want to but that didn't phase Zina at all.  She emphatically declared that even if Kate wasn't singing she was leaving to go sing with Grandpa. :)  It was cute and it's a good thing Grandma bribed Kate with a girls night out to the movies because Zina didn't actually know the "Star Spangled Banner" and Kate did.  It was cute though and as soon as I can get the video to work  you can all watch it. :)

Kaitlyn's Baby Shower.

We had Kaitlyn's baby shower out at Marilyn's a couple of weeks ago and even though we were all working like crazy until the very last second it turned out super cute.  We had chicken salad on croissants and a chocolate fountain and Jessa made some delicious dessert that I don't know the name of. :) Angela was in charge of all the games and did a great job.  My favorite part was getting to write our favorite thing about motherhood for Kaitlyn to read. Little Marley Joel is due to arrive on October 13th.  

Back to School Dinner & OR department Partay!

So the Sunday before Zina started Kindergarten we had a back to (or just starting) school dinner.  We introduced this year's family theme and Mark gave the kids Father's blessings.  We were originally going to just give Zina a blessing and then I didn't want Wilson to feel left out and then after Wilson's blessing was over Sam climbed up on the chair and looked up at his dad expectantly.  It was super cute!  So all three kids got Father's blessings!

Our family theme this year is from

 Elder D. Todd Christofferson's General Conference Address: 

"May we feast continuously on the words of Christ that will tell us all things we should do."

I am loving our new kindergarten schedule.  Mark, Zina and I get up every morning at 6:30 for family scriptures and prayers.  It is super sweet to help Zina read through her verse and amazing how much better she is getting even after one week.  I believe so much in helping our children become familiar with the language of the scriptures.  We still read the illustrated version at night with all the kids and Wilson is invited to our 6:30am readings but so far him and Sam prefer to sleep at that time. :)  

Aunty Liz came to our back to school dinner and Zina made little name cards for each place. 

We had mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade dinner rolls, veggies, corn, and a roast chicken with of course the family tradition of green & black olives, grandma viv's relish and pickled beets.  For dessert we had mini cheesecakes with blueberry sauce.

Mark did his first anesthesia rotation here in Utah at Mountain View Hospital in Payson.  Dr. Fitzgerald was the head anesthesiologist and a couple of weeks ago he had a party for the OR department out at his house.    His pool house is bigger than most peoples houses and the kids couldn't get enough of the water slide.  The water was super warm which was good because it was cold and stormy out but that made it even more fun.

Mark really liked working at Mountain View.  The people were super friendly and since it is a smaller hospital there is a great camaraderie between everyone.  I'm not sure how many people they threw in the water but this poor guy was fully dressed!   Needless to say everyone had a good time whether they wanted to or not!

And this is a random picture.  It was super late and Sam & Wilson would NOT go to sleep.  Mark started putting Liz's ikea desk together and the boys were all the sudden in happy heaven.  Real tools, papa, and a job to do?  It doesn't get any better!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

First day of school August 29th, 2011!

Zina was so excited (and a little nervous) for school to start.  Grandma Judy came and watched the boys while Mark and I went and dropped her off.  So fun.  A couple months ago I was really dreading putting Zina in school, but honestly I was not one bit sad when the actual day arrived.  I love her school it's one block away and we just walk down each day to drop her off and pick her up.  Her teacher is super sweet and very organized.  She is going to have a great year and learn so much.  I am so excited for her! I love our early morning schedule of family scriptures, prayers and getting Zina off to school. She is always so excited to go and so excited to see us when we pick her up.   

I love my little kindergartener!