Peanut Place

We ventured out to the restaurant we call the Peanut Place aka Texas Roadhouse. The first thing the waiter said was, "Are all these kids yours?" Yep and we wouldn't have it any other way. We have a blast with the fantastic five. It's not always a piece of cake but the good times out weigh the hard times.

There is no doubt that James and Lynnlee love each other.

Kaden kept sucking on a lemon and then covering his face.

Late Nights

The families in my neighborhood don't do sleepovers which I am completely good with. Late nights have replaced them and I couldn't be more happy about that. It is a fun filled night with dinner, games and a movie and it all ends at 9:00. Then the friends go home and it's bedtime. James and Lynnlee had a late night with their friends who are siblings. It was a really fun night!

The minis got to benefit from the late night as well. They loved their cups of popcorn!

Weekly Minis

The Minis are getting better at posing for pictures.

I don't get to play the piano much because I have lots of little competition.

I took Lynnlee, Kaden and the Minis to the dinosaur museum last week. I didn't take a stroller and it all worked out really well with the minis not running in opposite directions. They were just taking it all in and keeping a close eye on me. It was a really fun outing!

It may be below freezing outside but we are loving going outside in the afternoons.

Lately at least one of the minis always wants held. I have to remind myself to enjoy it since they are the babies of the family. It is exhausting though always holding one or sometimes both.

The minis love standing by the window and watching for James and Lynnlee. Once they see them they giggle and get really excited. Sienna is starting to say a lot of words and is like our family parrot repeating everything you say. Taggart is more quiet but today I said Vroom and he said vrooooo!

Farrs's Fresh

Ali and Dan are in China this week so my mom is watching her kids. It's so fun to have her close by. We all loaded up in my car and got ice cream one afternoon. Then all of the cousins played at Ali's house after. Good times!

Skype

Thank goodness for technology! We talked with a family from Marshall's mission on Skype. It was so fun to meet them and for fun for my kids to hear Marshall speak Japanese.

Sewing Projects

I work on sewing projects here and there. My most recent projects are Valentine pillow cases for Kaden and the Minis and a grocer bag holder. It was nice that they were smaller and easier projects I could get done in a short amount of time.

Bowling Hang Out

We had a great time going bowling with Miranda's family last week. The cousins had so much fun playing together. If only they lived closer!

Story Time

We went to the library to get books last week and story time was starting. We decided to try it out. It is a good thing I snapped this picture of the minis when I did because they only lasted for about two minutes. They wandered the rest of the time.

Lynnlee's Bob

Lynnlee has her hair chopped every few years. It's fun to see the before and after pictures.

Sienna

Sienna's way of going down slides can be compared to her life....she dives in head first and she can multitask.

Side note: Our outing to Cookie Cutters was a fun one today. There is a play ground and Kaden, Sienna and Taggart had a blast playing while Lynnlee had her hair cut.

St. George Half

I would not have run the St. George half marathon if it wasn't for my sister Ali. I'm so glad she pushed me to do it with her because it was a great experience! We talked Betsy into going with us and it was a fun weekend spent with family in St. George. We took off Friday afternoon and didn't have to stop once. I'm so glad the minis are to the age where they can be in the car seats for long periods of time. This doesn't mean they were happy all the time but at least they can be entertained with food, toys, movies, etc.

We met up with Ali's family at the race expo. The kids had bottled up energy to get out.

We stayed at Lew's. I'm so grateful he lets us stay at his place because not only does it save us money, but it gives us plenty of room. On Saturday night Ali's kids slept over. It was fun to be on vacation and have a cousin sleepover.

We didn't do too much Friday night since we were prepping for the race. After we ate at Chick Fil-A we called it a night and Ali's family went to their hotel and we went back to Lew's to get to bed early. *Side note: Betsy and Ali get mistaken for each other and some people think they are twins. I can totally see that when I look at this picture.

There were lots of nerves on Saturday morning. Thankfully it was sunny and beautiful and felt warmer than 35 degrees. I ended up changing and wearing less layers after this picture was taken because it felt so nice with the sun out.

I had a goal to run about an 8 minute mile pace. The first seven miles were steady uphill and I hadn't trained on any hills so I was a little nervous for that. Marshall, Betsy and Dan surprised us and were at different points through the race with the kids to cheer us on. It gave me a little boost and helped on the hills. I always get a little emotional during the race when I see someone cheering me on.

I started talking to another runner at the top of the hill half way through the race. I normally don't talk to other runners during races but we had so much in common and we ended up running together and talking until mile eleven. It made the race that much better and it went by a lot faster. I finished the race in 1 hr 44 min which is a 7:57 pace so I was very satisfied. I was 8th place out of the 82 women in my age group. It's nice to have a few good races in a row after having such a bad experience with the Ogden Marathon. One day I will tackle that race again...one day.

My kids cheered me on at the finish line and then had fun running around on the grass while their cousins ran the kid's race.

The rest of the weekend was a blast hanging out with my sisters and our families. We went swimming and out to dinner. On Sunday we went to church and then drove home.

The minis love playing peek-a-boo.

I just got back the free race photos so I wanted to add them to this post.

Weekly Minis

The minis are officially 18 months old. We love when they wake up in the morning and we all go in their rooms and get them out of their cribs. 

They had their check up last week. Taggart weighs 21 lbs (3%) and is 30 inches (5%) long.

Sienna is 22 lbs (28%) and 32 inches (75%) long.

They are going down the growth chart so we are trying to get them to eat better. It's hard though because they are so picky. I posted about them eating at the table. The next day was a disaster though. they made a huge mess and they kept stealing each others food and fighting. It was rough and so they are now back in their high chairs for meals.

We had cabin fever so we went outside one afternoon.

Taggart wishes we could go outside more. He likes wearing his winter coat around inside. His pants were off the other day from changing his diaper and then he wanted his boots on. He had quite the style going.

The minis can get up the ladder in the boys' room. They aren't a fan of the slide off the bed so they hang out on the top bunk.

The minis take one nap a day now. It means a lot more time together. Don't be deceived by this picture because they are getting along but this is not the case most of the time. They fight about 80% of the time and are friends 20% of the time.