Catching Up

Not that to many people follow this blog but I do apologize to the few that do. There has been a lot that has happened this summer and blogging has taken the back seat. I will catch you up now though. The big news of the summer was we bought a house. I feel like such a grown up! It is in Hooper Utah and we love it. It is on an acre with a barn and pasture so we are trying to fill it up. We have two horse (Mitchy and Gennie) and a goat (Bob) in there now and CJ is working on some building plans for a chicken coop. It has been fun to have something that we can do what we want with. CJ has spent some time in the mountains this summer and has enjoyed it. We have been to a few family reunions, Lagoon, Cherry Hills, Swimming, and Maria had a birthday and has now started first grade. It has been a very productive summer but like always went by way to fast. Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure. Okay here's a lot of pictures so pace yourself.

Maria started taking piano lessons and had her first piano recital. She was very nervous. She played Five Fat Turkeys and did a great job. After playing she just sat at the piano because she didn't want to have to get up and make eye contact with anyone. Her piano teacher finally went up and escorted her back to us. I was so proud of her. After everyone was done playing their pieces the teacher gave them all a medal and a treat. Maria was glad that it was over.

Maria had a dance recital at an outdoor theater. It was a beautiful night but it was quite long. I thought I had packed enough snacks for Carly, but we had to ration towards the end. She did like to be in the "big girl" chair, but watching the dancing not so much.

Maria doing one of her routines. I know I'm the mom but she does have the best form.

Maria after the performance.

Carly at Natural Corrals during the Eyre reunion. We had a great time unfortunately we did not take any photos but this one. It sure is a cute one though.

A guy CJ works with is a photographer on the side. We went out to Antelope Island and had him take some pictures of us. He is a very skilled photographer but we did not prove to be very good subjects. I love the ones of the girls, but the ones with me in them that I liked were hard to come by. Here are a few of my favorites.

Maria got Adele tickets for her birthday. She was doing a show in Salt Lake in August and Maria loves her music so her and her dad went. They both loved it and had a great time. CJ didn't see any other 6 year olds there, but luckily for us Adele kept it very clean. Thank you Adele we love you even more.

Maria and myself on one of the rides at Cherry Hill.

Carly enjoying the kiddy pool at Cherry Hills.

Carly and Daisy. Daisy sure is good to Carly. Daisy lets Carly do whatever she wants to do to her. She has yet to get fed up with her.

Carly being Carly.

A golden trout. There are only a few lakes that have them and the trip to the Wind Rivers was to fish this little beauty.

Jared on the trail in the Wind Rivers. It was a epic trip according to CJ's boss. I don't know if Jared would agree or not, but CJ was sure glad that he came with him. We owe Jared and Carla big time. CJ really enjoyed it and would agree with his boss about it being epic for more than one reason.

Maria out with Mitchy and Bob. She loves being out there until it comes time for doing any work with them. I have to remind myself that she is only 6.

Standing in front of Shell Falls in the Big Horn Mountains. Very impressive and powerful. It was on our way home from the Anderson reunion so we are looking a little tired.

Chad and Stephanie were Carly's second parents at the Anderson and Eyre Family Reunions. She loves to ride on four wheelers so anytime someone went to get on the four wheeler she would give them a smile. Chad and Stephanie never could resist.

So Clair and Jen have made a homemade water slide in their back yard. We went on the fourth of July for the parade and a backyard barbecue and the girls had to try out the slide. Here is a video of Carly being thrown down it by her dad while her mom videoed the whole thing. In our defense she would get up from doing it and say "again". We were only granting our daughters wishes.

Ogden Marathon

CJ and I ran the Ogden Marathon on May 21st. It was perfect weather and a very scenic route. Training has been quite hard. Our Saturdays have been consumed with running or watching the girls while the other runs. I think we were both happy for race day to final come. We ran it in 4 hours 38 minutes and 11 seconds. We were hoping to get under 4 hours 20 minutes, but were pleased to finish close to that. It was really nice to run with CJ and will be something that I will remember always. There was about 12 people that CJ works with in the pharmacy that ran either the marathon, half marathon, or the 5K so we had Michael make us some shirts. They had Hill Drug Runners on the front and our motto on the back. "Start slow then taper off." We got a lot of comments throughout the race on them. We also had a lot of supporters there cheering for us. It gave us a little boost whenever we saw them. We are both thinking we will do another one so it must not have been that bad.

About mile ten (I think).

The finish line.

After the race with Maria. Carly was there also, but I'm not sure why she isn't in the picture.

CJ Turns 34

CJ turned 34 on Friday April 29th. I think he had a good day. It fell on a Friday so he did have to go to work, but the girls and I met him for lunch at Five Guys and then had a nice dinner and gifts for him once he got home. Then on Saturday we ordered a UFC pay preview fight that he wanted to watch and had Ben, Crystal, and Trey Buckner over for the fight and dinner. I was glad that they came we had a really nice time with them. I hope that CJ had a nice birthday. We love him very much.

CJ's favorite chocolate-cherry mousse cake that I make once a year for his birthday. I missed making it last year because of the move so it tasted really good after not having it for two years. Maria was disappointed that there was no decorations on it. Carly didn't mind she just wanted to eat.

Opening presents. Both girls got in on the action. CJ got a picture of a plane in Turkey for his office, golf balls and golf passes.

Maria showing off all of her hard work that she did in putting CJ's gifts together. She loves to draw and create so she has a great time decorating gifts and cards.

Happy Easter

We had a nice Easter weekend, but I forgot my camera for part of the weekend so I didn't get a lot of pictures. On Friday I took Maria and Carly to Lyman. CJ had to work, watch Daisy, and needed a night to himself so he stayed back. All of my brothers were in Lyman for the annual Lyman High School alumni basketball tournament (they played well and took second) so I wanted to go see all of them and their families. We had a great time. Friday night we went and watched a basketball game and then stayed up talking and laughing. Saturday we watched more basketball, dyed Easter eggs, had a Easter egg hunt, and then my mom had stuff for the grandkids to make Easter baskets and then stuff to fill them up. Maria loved making the basket. She is very artistic and really takes her time and does a good job. We came back home Saturday night so that we could be here for Easter Sunday. We had a nice day. We dyed more eggs and had another egg hunt. Carly enjoyed all the excitement and pulled all of her great faces for everyone. It was a wonderful Easter weekend.

One of the many faces of Carly. She has got some personality that's for sure.

Carly and Maria showing off the eggs that they dyed.

Southern California

The week of April 10th CJ took work off, Maria took school off and we headed to Southern California with Jared, Carla, and kids. We rented a condo in Oceanside, California which was about a block from the beach. We had a very nice week and I realized once I got home I didn't take the camera out once. Luckily CJ just got a iphone and it takes good pictures so he had it on him at all times. I'm hoping that Carla has some more though because we really didn't take many. We left Friday after CJ got off work and made it to Vegas that night. We spent the morning in Vegas and then went the rest of the way to Oceanside Saturday afternoon. Sunday was pretty low key. We found a ward to go to and were hoping that it would be the ward that Jake was serving in, but it wasn't. One of the Elders had been companions with him though. Monday we went to Sea World in San Diego. It was a fun day. Maria had a great day and I actually quite enjoy Sea World. They had a few rides and no lines so the girls had fun doing that as well as seeing all the sea life. Tuesday was spent at the beach and around the condo. CJ was not feeling well so he spent the day at the doctors office playing the waiting game but got some medication to make the trip a little more interesting. He was feeling better the next day and so we went to San Diego and went shopping at my favorite store H & M. It was a little out of the way, but I'm happy that we went. We then went to Coronado and had lunch at a Mexican place CJ had heard about. It was very good. We sat outside and it was in an area with lot's of little shops lining the street. It was very nice. We were then going to go to the Padres game. We paid for parking got out walk up to the ticket stand and were already freezing, so we turned around and went back to the condo. It started to rain once we got back to the truck so we were glad that we had left when we did. Thursday was our day of delicious food. We walk down to the harbor in Oceanside and had fish, fries, onion rings, and fried zucchini at Harbor Fish and Chips. They were so good. They knew how to bread and fry things. We walked around the harbor got an ice cream and watched the boats. Oh CJ and I had gone on a run that morning while Carla watched our girls. There was a path that ran along the river and it was beautiful. It was nice not to have to get bundled up to go for a run. Then that night CJ and I went to a place in La Jolla called George's California Modern. I can't even explain how good the the food was. We had seen it on foodnetwork and had read that the chef there was one of the top ten chefs in the world. It was so good. Friday was spent at the beach and then we found a Turkish restaurant down the coast. It was pretty authentic, and I was glad that we went. They had my favorite salad (smokey eggplant) and it was delicious. That night we got things ready to go and Carla and Jared made dinner they made pad thai and spam and rice wrapped in seaweed (I can't remember what they called them). It was a very tasty dinner. On Saturday we drove all the way back to Utah with little excitement. I am very glad that we went and had a great time with Carla and Jared. We had a lot of late nights staying up and talking and CJ entertaining us with his musical ability. It was a very nice break, but like always I was glad to be home.

Maria on the giant bouncy place at Sea World.

Carly on the beach. She loved it. She loved to feel the sand on her feet.

Maria and Kate on the beach. Those are two very special little girls.

Utah's Winter Running Circuit

CJ and I signed up for the Ogden Marathon in May and so we are well into our training. CJ knew that it was going to be hard because of his surgery in February, but he was not expecting it to get infected and then getting the flu a week later. He was a little behind on his running schedule, but was still hanging on. We heard about a half marathon that was being put on by the Utah Winter Running Circuit and decided it would be good practice. It was on Saturday, so my parents came and watched Carly and Maria and CJ and I ran it. It was the first half of the Ogden Marathon. We ended up doing well. Our time was 2:04:10. We were both happy and enjoyed the rest of our weekend.

We didn't have any pictures of the actual race or after it, so we had Maria take our picture with our shirts that we got for running.

Carly Turns One

March 27th Carly turned one. We celebrated on Saturday the 26th with a little party. We had dinner and then cake and ice cream. Both sets of Grandparents were there along with Caralynn, Carla, and Michael (Michael's birthday was on the 26th). CJ smoked some pork for dinner and then we had sweet potatoes and macaroni and cheese, two of Carly's favorites. The cake was made by Maria and I and it turned out pretty cute I thought. Carly was not sure of what to do with her piece of cake that we gave her, but as soon as she realized that she could do whatever she wanted with it she was a happy one year old. Cake was followed by opening some gifts. Carly was a little confused throughout the day but liked that she was the center of attention. She is a very happy little girl and attention makes her even happier. It turned out to be a very nice day.

Carly happy to have everyone watching her.

A family photo.

Carly trying to blow her candle out. She couldn't quite get it out by herself, but her dad was there to help a little bit.

Carly happy with her cake and being able to eat it on her own.

Maria or Mozart?

Maria started to take piano lessons in February. She has done very well. Her teacher tells me each week how well she is doing and she has really enjoyed it. She doesn't mind practicing, but keeping Carly away from the piano is the hard part. Maria is good to let her play and gets her practicing done while I hold Carly down.

Carly Walks

The end of January Carly started to walk. She had just turned ten months and we knew that it was coming, but I was still not prepared for it. It took her a week to figure out that running was faster, and she has had bruises ever since. Usually on her head for all to see. She is pretty tough though. She does get mad when she falls but doesn't usually cry.

Catching Up

I have not been doing so good with blogging. I have felt like not much has been blog worthy. The past few months have been somewhat uneventful. We spent three weeks the end of February and the first of March with CJ at home from work recovering from his second parotid gland removal surgery. It was cold outside and so we were all experiencing a little cabin fever. One of the girls' (Daisy included) highlights was when it snowed to watch all the neighbors shovel their walks and driveways. That is how exciting our lives have been. CJ did buy a snowmobile so he has done that a few weekends and has taken Maria with him a couple of times. He will usually go in Wyoming and will check on Mitchy while there. Maria went for a ride one time when she was there with him. I think that she would love to be a full time cowgirl. Carly has gotten very busy the past few months. She gets into everything and then gives you dirty looks when you tell her no. She is very expressive and happy.

Maria posing with Daisy. She is wearing shorts and sandals. She can't wait for summer to come.

Maria, Carly and Daisy watching the neighbors shovel their driveways. Most of them have snow blowers so they like to watch it shoot snow everywhere.

Carly getting herself into a situation where the only solution was to cry for help. This is an hourly occurrence.

Maria on Mitchy.

Happy Anniversary

CJ and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary on January 2nd. We had a very relaxing day. We have been looking on ksl.com for a dog. We found one that we wanted so we went and got her for our anniversary. Her name is Daisy and she is a 18 month old Great Dane. She was loosing her home and is very sweet. She is bigger than Maria and about four times the size of Carly. She is very aware of Carly though and really watches out for her. She is pretty well trained which I am happy about and CJ has always wanted a Great Dane so he is happy with her. We are excited to have Daisy in our family.

CJ and Maria getting to know Miss Daisy.

Maria and Daisy, you can't really see Daisy because she is black and the picture is so dark. I love Maria's big smile though. I think she is happy with our anniversary present.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We did a lot of things that we have not been able to do the past few years. Maria enjoyed her break from school, and Carly loved all of the lights. Carly was a little confused on Christmas morning with all of Maria's excitement. We had a wonderful holiday season, but like always I'm glad to get back to my normal schedule.

At Temple Square looking at the lights.

Maria and Carly in their Christmas Eve pajamas.

Carly happy with the candy that she got in her sock.

Maria Christmas morning.

Major Anderson

CJ became a Major on December 1st. He acted like it wasn't a big deal, but it was and I'm very proud of him. He does a wonderful job and whenever I talk to people that he works with they have nothing but good to say about him as a person and as a coworker. We had a lot of family come and that made CJ a little nervous, but we appreciate those that came and supported him. It was a very nice ceremony, and I would put his speech up against the greatest speeches in history. Maria and I pinned his new rank on and then were awarded flowers along with his mom during his speech. Maria was thrilled, and told me that it was the first time she has ever gotten flowers. We had refreshments provided by the Pharmacy and then it was over. My parents and Clint did stay for lunch, and we went to Burger Bar per CJ's request. It is a drive through so we put the seats down in the Land Rover and piled in so that we could eat together. I don't think that CJ was expecting that when he requested Burger Bar, but it was a nice tight lunch that we enjoyed together. It was a great day and I am very proud to be the wife of a military man.

Maria and I pinning on the new rank.

Presenting Major Anderson

A family photo after it was all said and done. Carly was just to interested with the flowers to look at the camera.