Big Boy Bed

Since Carter is now 3 1/2 and a week away from starting preschool, I figured it was about time to put the crib away! He loved his crib and knew how to climb out, but still would wait for me to get him every morning. I wasn't about to mess up naptime and bedtime with a normal bed that he could get out of easily! We decided to try him out in a normal bed for a few nights in our guest room and he loved it. He still would call for me to come get him in the morning so I thought that this wouldn't be too hard of a transition for him or me. We headed over to Ikea to scout out a new bed for him. We decided on this one because we want him and Preston to share a room when we have another baby (don't get any ideas, that won't be for awile :) and thought this was perfect. It is a reversible single or bunk bed you just flip it over and can make space for a bunk bed by putting a mattress on the ground. Pretty ingenius I thought. Carter also spotted the canopy on top and had to have it! Since Ikea is so cheap, we sprung for it and the fun duvet cover to match. James had a "fun" time putting it together last night while the kids were in bed and put the last screw in tonight just in time for bedtime. Carter was so excited. It made me a little sad to see him so grown up! Time keeps flying by...

Ode to my Husband

Let's just face it, my husband is awesome. I know some of you hate the "bragging blogs" but too bad, James totally deserves it! Today he finished his first OLYMPIC triathlon and did a great job. He has done some sprint tris in the past and really wanted to push himself so has been training for this for the past four or five months. Many of you may have seen him running or biking around the neighborhood making loop after loop trying to get the allotted time in he needed to train for that day! He finished in about 3 hours (his watch broke) and said it was the hardest thing ever. They had to swim in the Jordanelle Reservoir for 1 mile, bike 25 miles, and run a 10k (6.2 miles). I am so proud of him and that he was able to accomplish this! We also had our 7 year anniversary on the 10th, so here are 7 things that I love about James:

1. His accent---I thought it was adorable when we met and still find it totally adorable now. Although it has definitely gotten more American sounding, I still smile every time he says Heather, garage, trousers, little turtle, dirty dancing, rooty tooty fresh and fruity(from the IHOP menu),water(which every waitress never understands), ponce, bloody, the list could go on and on!

2. What a wonderful father he is to my boys. They absolutely adore him and he is definitely the fun one of the two of us. He takes them to the Dinosaur Museum, Cabelas, and the pool without me all the time. He also lets Carter get a pink cookie every time after they go swimming which he thinks is the greatest thing ever!

3. He always puts my needs before his. That is how it has always been. He always knows when I have had a bad day and need a break and is happy to let me get out and do my thing. Girls nights, bunco, hanging out with family, he will always stay home with the boys for me to have fun. He also really encourages me to run and makes sure I get my long runs in no matter what.

4. He still is romantic after 7 years. He is one of the most thoughtful, fun, original guys I know. He always has something cool planned for big days throughout the year. He makes a huge deal about my birthday and throws me a party with all my family and friends. On my race day he presented me with a certificate to get a massage at 1pm after the race. Breakfast in bed, flowers, picking me up a yummy treat he thought I would like, making t-shirts, watching chick flicks, project runway, the hills, and other girly shows with me, making me countless gourmet dinners, I love it all.

5. He makes me laugh. Although technically I am the funny one in our relationship(he still tries to disagree with me on this one), he still is pretty funny. :)We can sit and laugh our heads off at his one liners. For instance today I was crying from laughing so hard about his description of his race..."Getting kicked in the face about 100 times was fun, followed by veering off course only to find myself totally away from everyone else at the edge of the lake, and running to the finish with the lady with the megaphone asking me what my name was and where I was from, as I can barely breath let alone chat with her." Okay maybe you had to be there, but I was laughing pretty hard. He makes me laugh, enough said.

6. His politeness and manners--This comes with the territory of being British, but I still love it. He still asks me if he can eat things at our house, will always let me get my dinner first, and if there is only a little bit of food left he always asks if I want the rest. My family is anything but polite, especially when it comes to dinnertime and he learned this first hand when we were dating. We do it buffet style and get in line and you better hurry or you might not get any. James didn't want to be rude and waited for everyone to get some. Sadly, my brothers are pigs and there was nothing left when he finally found the courage to take his turn. He learned the ropes pretty quick after that but still would never take the last piece of meat or potato in fear that someone else might not get some. I love him!

7. He is a great listener. He will just let me talk if I need to vent and at least acts like he is interested and cares. He also remembers things I say I want or like even if I am just saying it in a nonchalant way, and will surprise me with them later. That means a lot. He gets me. When you get married you think you know who you are marrying, which you sortof do, but there are some things you just can't know until you live with someone and see them in different situations. James has been 100 times better than I could have ever imagined. He is everything I ever wanted and way more. Cheesy I know, but true. He is just a deep down good person with an amazing heart. I love you babe, here's to a lot more!

Half Marathon #2 Completed!!

This race turned out to be a lot different than what I had in mind. I have learned quite a few things from this race as compared to the last. One being to try to train on the course you are running BEFORE you run it on race day. I had been training on a flat surface and this race was downhill which I thought would be easier. It was in some ways but it killed my knees and made me get blisters on my toes, both of those things I hadn't experienced before the race. I also ended up having to go #2 halfway through (sorry if that was too much info!) and found out I had a stomach bug that lasted the rest of the day. It was pretty brutal. I have a lot to learn!

Here is some of us carb-loading the night before at the best place ever, Brick Oven.

Here are my number one supporters on race day- James even made the cutest shirts for the boys to wear. They were a hit!
It said "My Mummy ran the Provo half marathon and all I got was this t-shirt." So funny!
Here are the four of us at the finish line Bethany, Melanie, me, and Brooke
Here is us running toward the finish. Brooke finished about 30 minutes before us and decided to run back and find us and cheer us on the rest of the way. She kept me going when I wanted to stop and told me to just pick up my knees and finish! Thanks Brooke, I needed your encouragement. By mile 10 I pretty much crumbled and was finished. I had to walk a lot and I appreciated Melanie and Bethany for staying with me the whole way so that we could all finish together. I killed their chance of getting a good time, but it was nice to go through the finish holding hands and knowing that we had done it all together. I love these girls! I was so proud of them and they were doing so awesome. Bethany said she could have gone for 5 more miles! Thats the hard thing about running, you have great days and then you have bad days, I guess it was one of my bad days. I am still proud that I finished, and I actually did beat my time from last year, but feel a little disappointed knowing that I could have done better on a different day. Life goes on! I guess this will push me to do another one and keep improving. Well maybe tomorrow after my body doesn't feel like I'm 90 years old...

Crazy Stephenie Meyer Fans!

I love the Twilight books don't get me wrong, but people are crazy! I went to the midnight release of the Breaking Dawn book at Walmart with my cousin Megan and it was insane (see my review of the book below). We went to the Walmart in American Fork only to find 2 registers open and about 1000 people wrapped around the store. We then decided to go to the Lindon one thinking it might be a little less crowded. This is what we found:

Another big line but it was moving faster so we decided to stay. As we waited in the back of the line, a car drove by saying that there were copies over at Smiths and that they didn't have many left so we better hurry. Alli and I booked it to Megan's car and were in hot pursuit of Smiths. As I was running I thought to myself "Am I seriously running to get a book? This is ridiculous!" , but all the fun of being there was totally worth it. We were one of the last people to get a book there so I am glad that we ran! I immediately went to bed when I got home so why I got it at midnight is pointless, but still so hilarious to see all of the crazies waiting to get their hands on a copy. Thanks for a fun night girls!! I loved it!
L to R Me, Kaylynn, Megan, Sarah, Alli

Breaking Dawn Review

*SPOILERS AHEAD* IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE ENTIRE BOOK DON'T READ MY REVIEW!!

I just finished the book and let me just say, I have definitely mixed feelings about it. I loved the beginning and was so happy to be back in the world of Edward and Bella again. The wedding and honeymoon were great too and then the tables turned a little bit. I thought the whole pregnancy was weird. I kept picturing this alien child with bright green scary eyes and it just disturbed me! I have actually been a big fan of Jacob throughout all the books (I love Edward more) but in this book he really irritated me. The whole book from his perspective was not my favorite. Bella REALLY was getting on my nerves during the pregnancy. It was as if she had no respect for the Cullens and if they lived or died didn't matter because she was going to have this baby no matter what. I just hated how it was all about her and if she wanted to snuggle with Jacob in front of Edward that was cool .Whatever! She is married!! The weirdest part was how Edward was totally cool with Jacob and her having a baby together. That was so not necessary! I also was annoyed with Rosalie and Bella's friendship all of a sudden. What happened to Alice, is she chopped liver? I thought the delivery of the baby was WAY graphic. I don't think I will ever read that part again. Okay, all my rants are over and we can start with the good stuff.

I loved how she wrapped it all up. Although the imprinting was definitely weird with Jacob and Renesmee, it made it more believable that he could be over Bella but that they could still be friends. I loved how Bella transformed and discovered all of the abilites she had as a vampire that she didn't human. I loved the vampires coming from all over the world to help Carlisle. I really liked the Garrett character and would like to see if she will do any more on him and Kate. Anyone else agree? I am glad that she is still able to keep contact with Charlie and that he was finally able to find someone to be with that makes him happy. My favorite part was the last pages of Edward being able to read her mind and her going through all of her memories. It made it all come together into a great ending. I'm sad it's over but atleast I can get back to normal life again! Thank you Stephenie Meyer for this wonderful series. It has gotten me into reading again.

*Please share your thoughts/opinions on the book with me. I would love to hear your insight!

Itty Bitty Soccer

I signed Carter up for Itty Bitty Soccer for 3-4 years olds at the Legacy Center. It is for two weeks and our last day (thankfully) is Friday. It has been another one of those things that I envisioned in my mind totally differently. The first day he cried almost the whole time. The second day he did much better after being bribed with a toy that he could get afterward. The last few times has been kindof a mixed bag with him sometimes wanting to play, but most of the time just running around aimlessly. It has been pretty humorous to say the least. My friend Brooke has her son Teagan in it too so we just sit and laugh at how ridiculous our kids are and always question if we will go the next day. Here are some out of focus shots of the action:

Here they are "stretching" at the beginning of the class
Carter has wanted his own soccer ball the whole time and doesn't like it if they all have to share one ball. Notice how he clings to his ball tightly! (he is in the yellow shirt)
His favorite part of the entire day is at the end they all get to run to the wall and back before they get their candy. He thinks he is so fast and loves to race. Note to self: Preston won't start until he is atleast 5. I guess the oldest always ruins it for the younger ones. haha

p.s. James came back with no cavities again in case any of you were wondering. The dentist said he had some of the strongest teeth he had ever seen. SO unfair!