When It Rains, Make Rainbows!

Over a year ago, I heard about the Color Run 5K and I knew I wanted to participate.
As it turned out, I was in Ohio during the AZ race and in AZ during the Ohio race!
But finally, the stars aligned and I was able to sign up for the race!

My sisters and I signed up months ago and we were so excited!
Granted, none of us “trained” for this “race” since we’d heard it is more for the fun of it than anything else, but we were still excited!
Our excitement was slightly dampened (literally) when we woke up the morning of the race to RAIN.
But we were going to have a good time, rain or shine!

And what a fun time we had!
Yes, we were cold and yes we were wet, but by golly did we have fun!
Very little running took place, mostly because the large crowds made it difficult to do much more than power walk.
Along the route were different “Color Stations” where volunteers would pelt the Color Runners with colored powder.
We all made sure to get as colorful as we could!

Definitely one of the funnest things I’ve done in a long time!
And we will be signing up again…hopefully next time it won’t be raining!

3 Years Old

Riker had a birthday!
I cannot believe I have a 3 year old…where has the time gone?!
Riker’s birthday was a fun, busy day.
When we woke up, we headed straight to Riker’s first day of soccer.
Watching those little kids run up and down the field was adorable
(and TJ gets to help coach Riker’s team so it’s doubly fun!)

That evening, we had a birthday party for Riker at Peter Piper Pizza.
It was so much easier for me than planning and prepping for a party at home, and Riker loved it!
Pizza, games, cake…what more could a 3 year old want!

Riker is at such a fun stage, but he’s also a stubborn little pill sometimes.
The best way to describe him these days is a Sour Patch Kid…
first he’s sour (does something naughty), then he’s sweet (gives me a smile and tells me that I’m his best friend).
Thanks to in idea found on Pinterest, I asked Riker 20 questions on his birthday which I plan to ask every year.
Some of his answers were obvious, others surprised me.

1. What is your favorite color?
Red

2. What is your favorite toy?
Racecars

3. What is your favorite fruit?
Strawberries

4. What is your favorite tv show?
Blues Clues

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?
PB&J sandwich.

6. What is your favorite dinner?
Enchiladas

7. What is your favorite game?
Toy Story Kinect

8. What is your favorite snack?
Yogurt

9. What is your favorite animal?
Lions

10. What is your favorite song?
Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam

11. What is your favorite book?
10 Hungry Caterpillars

12. Who is your best friend?
Eli

13. What is your favorite cereal?
Apple Jacks

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?
play Baseball

15. What is your favorite drink?
Cranberry Juice

16. What is your favorite holiday?
Halloween

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?
my red Lobster

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
French Toast

19. What is your favorite movie?
Bee Movie

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Doctor

Of course, we can’t celebrate Riker’s birthday without celebrating TJ’s too.
TJ’s birthday was the day before Riker’s and these birthday buddies were happy to share their birthday cake together!

6 Years

Six years ago today, I married my best friend.

And here we are, 6 years later.

TJ surprised me with dinner at House of Tricks…
the same place he took me to the night he proposed.
We spent the evening reminiscing about the last six years and contemplating what comes next for us.

He was definitely the best decision I ever made.

A Year Of Instagrams

I love using instagram to capture and share moments with family and friends.
In 2012, I took 418 pictures on instagram (unless I take more during our festivities tonight…if so, I will have to update!).
As I compiled all of them together, I loved seeing my kids grow up and remember all the fun we had in 2012.

Cannot wait to see what 2013 brings!

Christmas 2012

First, some sad news…I broke my camera 5 days before Christmas, therefore all our Christmas pictures are taken via cell phone. So please forgive the crappy quality of these pictures (and if you have a suggestion for an awesome, reasonably priced camera, let me know!)

Christmas Eve:

When TJ was growing up, his family had the tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve (a present other than the traditional pajamas).
So we carried this tradition on with our kiddos and let them open a present before we started our other Christmas Eve festivities.

After presents, we headed over to my mom’s house for our Christmas Eve fiesta.
Enchiladas and rice and a smorgasbord of other yummy food, definitely my idea of a good time.
After stuffing our faces, we prepared for our Nativity production.
My mom transformed the backyard gazebo into a stable and my dad built a giant star to light the way.
Riker was the cutest shepherd ever and TJ and I rocked our roles as inn keepers.

Next up, pajamas from Mrs. Claus.
Riker was a bit confused about who Mrs. Claus was since all we ever talk about it Santa, but he was happy to open another present!

This is the best picture I could get of all the grandkids with Grandma!

Next: the pinata!
Since Riker was the youngest grandkid old enough to actually hit the pinata, he got to go first and boy was he excited!
Of course, he was even more excited when the pinata was finally busted open and all the candy came pouring out!

And if he didn’t get enough candy…Gingerbread Houses!
Riker literally stuffed his face with as much candy as he possibly could.
He did manage to get quite a bit of candy on his house, but he definitely ate more than his share of candy that night!

After all the fun at Grandma’s house, we headed home to put the kiddos to bed.
Cookies and milk were set out for Santa Claus and the kids were tucked into bed with promises of presents in the morning.
TJ and I played our roles as elves and stuffed the stockings and set out all the presents.

Confession: I woke up at 4:30, 6:00, and 6:30 ready to get up and open presents with the kids. I finally just laid in bed waiting to hear Riker open his door!

Christmas Morning:
As soon as I heard Riker’s door open, I grabbed TJ and said “he’s awake!”
Riker waited in our room while I plugged in the Christmas tree lights and got Olivia out of bed.
When Riker walked out, the look on his face was priceless as he took it all in.
Santa brought Riker a big boy bike and Riker was pretty happy to see it…but he kept calling it a “girls bike”. We finally figured out that he thought it was a girl bike because we had put a big bow on the front of it!

Christmas morning with kids is definitely a lot more fun and magical!
Riker was thrilled with all of his presents and Olivia is always happy, even if she’s a bit clueless about what is going on.
The rest of our Christmas was spent visiting family, playing with cousins, eating more food, and playing games with family.
Definitely a fun Christmas!

Traditions! Traditions!

(yes, you should read that title in the style of Tevye from Fiddler)

holiday traditions are my favorite.
We missed 2 Christmases while we were living in Ohio and I absolutely missed participating in all of my family’s traditions.

First up: Santa claus
The last few years, my sisters and I have been taking our kids to see santa claus at Bass pro shop.
I know, it sounds kind of odd, but they really do it right!

Not only do you get a FREE 4x6 photo of your kids (unheard of with all the santas at the mall!), they also have a carousel and several “carnival style” games to play for FREE.

Temple lights:
I adore going to see the lights at the mesa temple! we’ve already gone twice this year!

We went once with my whole family when my sister Jessica was performing with the combined Gilbert Stake/St. Anne’s Catholic Church choir. perfect way to remember the reason for the season!

Sausage gravy & biscuits:
This is one tradition that has changed over the years but will hopefully never be lost!
Growing up, we met at my Grandma and grandpa knight’s house every Christmas morning for sausage gravy and biscuits.
I loved getting to see all of my cousins, show off our new presents from santa, and spend the day with family.

As our family has grown, we can’t all make it on Christmas morning so we instead gather for a sausage gravy and biscuit dinner the week before Christmas.
This picture shows just the GREAT-grandkids, to give you an idea of just how big our family has gotten!

upcoming traditions I’m still looking forward to:
*Christmas Eve Fiesta
*pajamas from Mrs. Claus
*the Christmas pickle

TJ and I are also trying to come up with some simple traditions to do with just our little family of 4.

What are some favorite holiday traditions that you do with your family?

Conversations with a 2-year old

R: Mom, I don’t want to go to church today.
Me: Well, too bad buddy. We go to church every Sunday.
R: Ugh. Hakuna Matata!

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after leaving a restaurant one night…
r: (while putting both hands to his face dramatically) Oh my gosh! I forgot my food! I wanted to bring it home!

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r: Oh, I just remembered! I really like m&ms! Can I have one?

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r: mom, did you know that you are my best friend?
(usually he says this when he’s getting in trouble…he knows just what to say to melt my heart!)

(this pic is blurry but a prime example of the face I get when I ask him to say cheese)

Olivia’s Birthday Bash

We threw Olivia a little birthday bash the day after her birthday.
It was fun to have family and friends come over to celebrate our birthday girl!

I have seen the rainbow parties all around Pinterest and knew I wanted a colorful party for Olivia.
Seriously, how did anyone plan a party before Pinterest!!?

The highlight, for me at least, was the cake.
I tried my hand at a 6 layer rainbow cake and was totally impressed by the results!

I think Olivia liked it too!

It was a fun evening and Olivia loved all the extra attention she received!