The Many Faces

of Siri:

 Where's your tongue?

 Angry face.

 Happy face.

 Crazy face.

 Silly face.

 Mean face. (These is her favorite face to make.)

Siri is well known for the faces she pulls. She most often likes do make them while going to the bathroom, during dinner, and during prayers.

She is also a great copy cat and a mischief maker.

 She always has to be doing what Lizzy is doing. I will have two great bakers one day.

 She definitely has preferences. When going out for ice cream, she got angry when we took this licorice ice cream cone away from her and gave her cotton candy ice cream, which she definitely didn't like.

 She enjoys making giant messes for the sake of making a giant mess.

 This baby also loves, loves, loves, any kind of treats. Here she is enjoying a donut. (Lizzy enjoyed her donut faster than Siri.)

Prime example of my dare devil child.  It is also a prime example of her determination to get whatever she wants.

Clearly I need to take more pictures of my other children.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

These pictures are in no particular order, but they are my favorite (OK, they are most of the) pictures I took this summer.

 This is our garden, pre-planting anything in it. We've done teeny little gardens here and there, but living on the farm gave us the opportunity to plant a garden as large as we/I wanted.  James made these rows with the tractor and I was intimidated by it's size, but we made it work!

 This is my favorite sunset picture. I love all the colors and how the sun looks like it's on fire.

 James installed a sprinkler system for our yard. He always amazes me with his willingness to work hard to benefit our family.

 Hanging out in the yard and wheat field.

 More lounging... Siri is the dot behind James' head. I often found her wandering through the wheat.

 James is my favorite. My favorite everything.

 Motorcycle and 4-wheeler rides have been a regular thing this summer. Those are always a hit with the kids.

 Of course summer means popsicles.

 Another sunset...

 Logan trying to look "farmery" with a stalk of green wheat between his teeth.

 We gave the kids a gun safety lesson or two and helped them shoot the bb gun. Of course, James and I took a few shots as well.

 Our new punishment for the kids is to run laps around the yard. One night, right before bed, Logan got in trouble and had to run his laps. Clearly he wasn't dressed, but the part that prompted us to take this picture is that Logan was just in his underwear, and for some reason had decided that he needed to run with a helmet on. Unfortunately, he took the helmet off right before we snapped this picture, but it looked hilarious.

 We enjoyed water balloon fights.

 And we harvested SO MUCH from our garden! I've loved having it and I learned a lot about what I really want to grow. More onions, and more broccoli. No green beans. I guess this family just doesn't like them. But, did you notice the difference between this picture and the first?  It is amazing what can grow in just a few short months.

 We had a beautiful rainbow one morning. We could see where it hit the earth on both ends and it was SO close to us!  I couldn't fit the whole thing in my picture. So just imagine this x2 and then you'll see what we saw.

 After the green wheat turned yellow, it was time to harvest. In this picture, the kids are showing off the combine, aka a wheat harvester.

 I planted sunflowers in my garden, and they were HUGE!  Most grew to 12 feet. And their leaves...

 Can you say, ginormous?

 Blue skies and pretty flowers make for a happy me!

 Lizzy loved picking our carrots, but she did need help pulling this giant one out.

I look a little crazy because I've spent hours preserving the fruits of our garden labors.  I've canned 14 jars of salsa, 12 quarts of applesauce, and I've harvested  the seeds from our sunflowers and turned them into, what Logan calls, "spits". Meaning, I turned them into yummy sunflower seeds, perfect for snacking on. I've got so much more to pick and process from the garden. All this work may have an influence on my joy for fall. Oh well. At least when I got hot in my kitchen, I can step outside and enjoy the crisp fall weather.

Goodbye summer, and hello fall. Let's skip winter altogether, whad'ya say?

Siri's Birthday...Nearly 3 Months Late

I'm getting super lazy at blogging. It's hard to know why I even blog anymore, but I do know I have  few faithful readers, so these are for you!

Siri had her birthday back at the beginning of July. We are not big party people, but we do sing happy birthday and eat cake. 

The morning started with her birthday donuts. She was a little scared of the candle flames, and refused to blow them out. 

 James did it for her.

 She got some new toys from her Grandma Ward.

 Siri loves taking care of "babies" and seems to always have one wrapped up in a doll blanket somewhere. If she ever sees anybody else pushing a stroller, she will scream at them and take it away.

 In the evening, we headed over to Grandma Idaho's house for some S'more cupcakes. They were yummy!

 Siri got some new clothes, which she loves. She is a clothes snob, and is very particular about what she wears. She also absolutely insists on dressing herself.

 James and I totally spaced giving her our present until the next day. (See, not party people!  Who forgets to give their own child their birthday present?)

Siri is a fireball. She climbs, plays with things that are off limits, thinks she can start her own shows, wants to do everything by herself, wants her daddy to tell her she's pretty, is a daredevil, pulls ridiculous faces at dinner time, will be goofy at the drop of a hat, will scream instantly if she doesn't want you looking at her, touching her, or talking to her, picks up all bugs and arachnids fearlessly, and makes us laugh every day.

Her insistence at doing so much by herself, encouraged me to potty train her just a month after her birthday.

She grasped the concept immediately, but we still struggled with daily accidents for a solid month or more. She is now 99% accident free and I am loving no diapers.

The only drawback I have found to having Siri potty trained (could there really be one?) is that she soon figured out that if she wants our attention, all she has to do is tell us she needs to pee. This is especially frustrating during church/sacrament meeting when she asks to use the restroom constantly.

One of Siri's funnier attributes is her ability to cheer up. She will throw a fit over nothing and in one second flat will be in hysterics. When she does this we tell her to go to her room, and usually she obeys. She will toddle to her room, crying hysterically, close her door, cry for about 30 more seconds, then come out laughing! It's ridiculous and we can't figure out why she becomes so happy so quickly; but, we love it. I keep meaning to get it on video.

I would say that Siri has James wrapped around her finger, except that she doesn't. He loves her to death, and is a bit of a push over when she asks for things, but I have also seen him put his foot down. That's a relief. Regardless, those two have WAY too much fun with each other. They are two peas in a pod. They must have bonded instantly when James delivered her.

Siri is still working on growing her hair. It is finally long enough to put it in ponies, but she just pulls them out. I guess she hates how they feel, having not had anything in her (complete lack of) hair for the first two years of her life.

That is our Siri. I know I'm leaving out a million fun details about her life and personality, but this is all I got for now.

I'm Stronger Than I Think

About 2 years ago I tried to make running a part of my exercise regime. It didn't work. I recall thinking, I could totally run a mile, no big deal. So, I charted out a mile through my neighborhood, promised myself there would be NO walking, and took off. It was terrible. I hated it. I walked for about 1/4 of it, and didn't think that last step would come soon enough. How did people run, and like it?  It was beyond me.  I tried a couple more times to go running, but I just couldn't get past the pain. The horrible pain. 

A couple months of recovery and I decided that I really wanted to be a runner. Truly. All my friends ran, so that meant I could too. I decided then and there that I was going to sign up for a race, about 10 months from then, called the Temple 2 Temple Steeple Chase. It is a 5 mile run from the Oquirrh Mountain Temple to the Jordan River Temple. In April of 2012 I began to run. I only made it a quarter of a mile on that first run before I had to walk. I walked a lot that first month. I didn't have any specific way of training myself, other than to make sure I ran further the next day then I did the day before. I discovered something very important that way. IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD! Well, most of it is anyway. The pain is real, but the ability to go one more step resides mostly in your head. 

The Steeple Chase was in September. The week before the race I had James drive me 4 miles away from home, and I ran home. It was rough!  I came home with numb toes, but proud of myself. I still didn't know if I could run 5 miles in a week, but I was willing to try. 

Come race day, I was a bundle of nerves, but I easily finished that run. All 5 miles of it. No walking. 

 I cannot explain how proud I was of myself. I think I wore my medal all day.

Some ladies in my ward caught wind of what I had done, and asked if they could start running with me. Just like that, I had a support group of runners. We were a cool sight, if I do say so myself. 5 women running in the dark hours of morning. One of them became a close friend, Kellie, and we decided that we wanted to run a 10K; a first for both of us.  For those of you who don't know, a 10K is just over 6 miles.

Running Scared was the name of our Halloween themed 10K race. It was so much fun to dress up and run!  I was shocked when not even a mile into it, I go the worst side ache and wanted SO BADLY to stop. But, I didn't, and Kellie stayed by me the whole time.

One of our other friends who ran with us had done a 1/2 marathon and bragged about how much she had loved doing it. Kellie and I were like, "pshhh, no way would we EVER run for that long".  Except then, darn that Kellie, she started saying things like, "Alicia, I really think we could do it".  Let's just say that I give into peer pressure very easily.  Not long after that, I signed myself up for a 1/2 marathon, The Big Cottonwood 1/2 Marathon.  I had all winter and summer to train...

Last winter was brutal. James and I moved to Idaho so I no longer had a running companion. The temperatures were in the negatives most days, so running outside was out of the question, and I have no treadmill. I tried to be very diligent about exercising in other ways so that when spring came, I could handle running again. 

Once spring arrived, it felt awesome to run. Who knew?

I trained for most of the summer, waking up at very early hours on some days so that I could be home before James had to go be his farmer self. 

September 13th, my family drove to Utah, and in the early morning hours of the 14th,  with AC/DC getting me started, I ran 13.1 miles. No walking. Nadda. Not even when grabbing a drink of water. I was so determined not to stop, and I didn't!  

 I just crossed the finish line. I look super happy, do I not?  In my defense, I didn't know a picture was being taken.

 James argued that I should be the only one in the picture, but I insisted that my whole family be with me. James could not have been a better support system and cheer leader for me. I absolutely could not have done this race if he hadn't continually told me how impressed and proud he was of me. My kids were also very interested in me running, always asking me if I had been running yet for the day. Logan has taken an interest in running, and he is excited to run in a race too.

Check out my HUGE medal! I would have worn it all day, but the dang thing is SO heavy!

It is now 3 days later and I am able to mostly walk. The race was down hill through the canyon and it made my legs SUPER DUPER SORE!  I had no idea I would feel like this. Down hill running can really do some damage. 

I loved it. 

James wants to do it now. :)   

I will do it again. 

Maybe a marathon. Maybe. One day. 

When Logan saw me at my most exhausted, he asked why I was running if it made me tired and hurting. I told him I was doing it because I wanted to do something hard. I fear that too many of us take the easy way out of things. We don't try to do the things we secretly want to do because they seem too hard. I took on a personal challenge to do something hard, and I did it. I feel like the biggest winner. 

If you are reading thing, I challenge you to pick something you've always wanted to do, but never have because it's hard. Do it. Feel like a winner, like me!  I fear that all too soon that feeling will fade, but wen i does, I will be ready to choose that next challenge.

Logan Turns 7!

Logan turned 7 on Saturday. He had a great day. We started the morning with his tower of donuts. 7 of them, to be exact. 

 Following donuts, he opened he birthday cards and presents. Our home teacher, who hasn't even been our home teacher long enough yet to have made an actual visit, brought Logan a card with $5!

 Notice Siri, ready to pounce on some donuts.

 James and I gave him a shirt and a bag of hot chips. He was very excited about the chips.

 His Grandma Ward, drove up to spend the day with him on his birthday. She also spoiled him rotten with gifts. Something about turning 7 means she goes overboard with the gifts. Logan has already informed us that he knows he will get lots of "church" presents for his birthday next year. Smart kid.

 He spent the day playing with his cousin, Morgan, before we all went to Grandma Idaho's house for dinner and cake.

 Logan requested a cake with Logan/Wolverine on it.  Appropriate, since we named him after Wolverine.

 After cake, James rode up to the house with Logan's main present from us, a green machine. It's basically a glorified big wheel.

He pretty much loves it and so does James. James and his siblings had a green machine growing up, so it was fun seeing all them be excited for Logan to get his green machine.

I seem to be missing the pictures I took of Logan opening his presents from his Grandma Idaho. She got him some clothes and candy. I'm surprised how much Logan likes clothes, but he was excited to wear his new pajamas that night and outfit the next day.

It really was the perfect day for Logan. I can't believe my baby boy is 7.