Spring Break '13

It's spring break! yay! A whole 10 days of sleeping in (although the boys somehow didn't get "that memo") and doing fun things. Yesterday the kids spent the morning with Nana while I worked then, in the afternoon I took them to one of our favorite parks, Settlers Park, in Meridian.  It was windy out but, not too cold... 

iDeclare Charms

In January I began working part time for a local company called iDeclare Charms, a small business owned by an old co-worker/friend.  We make personalized, hand stamped jewelry.  I am a "stamper" for iDeclare and love it! I spent January learning how to hand stamp each necklace or bracelet and, am now considered her top stamper... training others how to do the same. In this photo, I created and made the "Always in My Heart" necklace and, gave it to my dear friend.  The upcoming Mother's Day specials are also created by me :)  I never in a million years thought I'd be making jewelry but, it's SO fun.. even if harder than it seems... I also enjoy the few other ladies that I work with (the assemblers, shippers etc)

Running

I have been running for over a year now and am still loving it! Yes, it's hard work and takes lots of motivation but, when you like what you do, it doesn't take much to keep going. I have had a life long goal to fun a half marathon.  Last night I registered for my first half marathon event and am planning on running the High Speed Pursuit in Kuna on April 6... just a few weeks away!  I have spent these last couple of months training hard. Waking up at the crack of dawn (sometimes before that even!), to get my runs in before the kids woke up, takes much discipline on my part.  But, today I finally ran my first 13.1 miles and am feeling ready for the upcoming race.  Infact, between now and Sept. I have 4 planned events.. we'll see how that goes :)  I'm so thankful to my husband for his support and my mom for keeping my motivated and sharing in my excitement as I have reached each new step of training. It feels great to be 34 years old and in the best shape of my life... physically, mentally and spiritually! 

This Last Week...

On Tuesday I helped out at the school in the morning.. thankfully, it was class photos that day and I was able to see Tys' Kindergarten graduation photo shoot. He was SO cute during it and is looking forward to beginning 1st grade next year.  He's just growing up way too fast!! 

To celebrate the beginning of spring break, Katie got to spend the night at her friends, Janelie's house last night.  This morning, while eating pancakes, she lost her tooth and swallowed it!! This is the second time she's swallowed a tooth...crazy girl!  To explain to the tooth fairy she wrote a letter explaining that she lost her tooth and ate it... hopefully, the tooth fairy will accept this candy cane in it's place! :)

 Enjoying a beautiful day at our neighborhood duck pond...

Yes, she has her daddy's heart!

Angie's 4th Birthday

Last Saturday evening we went to our good friends, The DeWinkle's, and celebrated Angie's 4th birthday. She is such a cutie and all of our kids adore her.. Tys especially :)  Angie is a sweet girl who loves to shop and "accessorize"!  She also loves pigs so, her birthday was pig themed. We all had a fun evening hanging out with them and our parents. 

 Tys and Angie's pre-wedding photo! ha ha

 Trenton and Angie are now both 4 and will be in the same Pre-K class next fall... check out their height differences!

Almost Spring

Spring is almost upon us and we've been enjoying our little bit of it these last few days.  The sun is shining and the temps have been in the 60's during the day.  We love getting outside after Katie and Tys arrive home from school! It's hard to believe that this school year is almost over already!  Katie and Tys both are excelling in their subjects.. particularly reading and writing.  My friend, Katie & I are busy helping the school prepare of their upcoming dinner auction and various other class projects. 

I am enjoying my new part time job as a "stamper" for iDeclare!charms.  A small business that is growing by leaps and bounds... I'm working Monday and Friday mornings, at this point. It's fun to make personalized charm jewelry for customers and help design new items to sell. I recently came up with the new Mother's Day special and a new link/charm bracelet. I never would have guessed that I'd be hand stamping charms but, it's fun and a good challenge for me to get it "perfect" :)

We are looking forward to Marie and Kyle's wedding in April! Last Saturday was Marie's bachelorette party and, this Friday my friend and I will be hosting her bridal shower. It's such a special time in their lives and we're so happy for them! Kyle has been staying at our house whenever he's in town; that has been a great way to get to know him even better!

I am looking forward to running my first half marathon in April.  In preparation, my days begin around 5:30a.m. so I can get my "runs" in.  I'm on a training schedule and, have been running anywhere from 6-10 miles a day... about 3-4 days a week.  It's been a great challenge for me and I love it! I have had this personal goal set for myself for such a long time and fulfilling it would be so amazing :)

 Kristiana and I at Cory & Katie's house last Sunday

Enjoying our beautiful weather and feeding the neighborhood ducks

Carrie Underwood concert

Saturday night was our grand finale!  We went to Carrie Underwood's concert, The Blown Away tour... it was SO MUCH FUN!!  She has become quite the entertainer from when I first saw her years ago.  Her voice is so powerful!  Hunter Hayes opened for her and he was pretty good too. These photos aren't the greatest but, you can see the smiles on our face :) 

After the concert, we all went dancing at a place in the New York New York.. then, we headed home on Sunday.  I'm so thankful to my parents for taking great care of our kiddos over the weekend. Casey and I cherished our time together and came home refreshed (AND, exhausted!)

Hoover Dam

Saturday morning we headed out to be tourists and visit the Hoover Dam.  It as simply amazing! 

Clubs and Tats

After dinner on Friday night, we walked up and down the strip for a little Friday night entertainment (there's always some sort of crazy "entertainment" on the strip!) Around midnight the guys decided they were tired and went back to the hotel.. I wanted to give to Katie the full Vegas experience so she and I went dancing at the LAX nightclub in the Luxor.  We even got VIP passes! It was a blast but, pretty packed so we only stayed a couple of hours.  Afterwards we headed back to our hotel and, got tattoos at the Starlight Tattoo parlor, in the hotel.  I've been contemplating getting one for a long time now and finally found what I wanted.. so, I took the plunge and got my first tattoo!  Katie got her 4th :) 

 I got a small symbol, on my left foot, that means "embrace life" however, I tweaked it just a little to also mean "friendship" since, Katie has one similar to mine also. Getting it didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would but, was definitely sore afterwards.

Las Vegas!!

For the first time in our 8 years of marriage, Casey and I were able to get away this last weekend for 3 days. We celebrated a combination of things: my birthday, our anniversary and Valentines Day.  We went to Las Vegas with our good friends, Cory & Katie and, had a fabulous time together!  I had been to L.V. quite a few times before getting married so, this was our first time going together.. we had so much fun and made everlasting memories. 

We left on Thursday evening and, the guys drove us through the night.  We made it in record time (8.5 hours!) and arrived into L.V. around 8 on Friday morning.  Our first stop was our hotel, Mandalay Bay, where we all took naps and ready for our exciting weekend!  Little did I know that we'd only get about 12 hours of sleep the whole time we were in Vegas... If I'd had known that I would have taken a much longer nap that first morning! ha ha

 Casey and I at the beach in Mandalay Bay...

 Through out our stay we ended up walking up and down the strip at least 3 times... our hotel was on one end of the strip and it was a 2.5 mile walk up to the end of it.. Treasure Island.  At various times we also took a tram and a cab.  Walking was nice because we were able to go in and out of the hotels.. checking out each of their special themes and watching the fountain/light show at the Bellagio.

 The Venetian.. one of our favorites!

 Our awesome, fun friends... Cory & Katie

 Cory and Katie's anniversary is the end of March so, to celebrate both anniversaries we had dinner on Friday night at Wolfgang Puck's special restaurant, Lupo... located in Mandalay Bay.  Our meals were amazing and, their complimentary desserts SO yummy!