MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Halloween Pictures

Fall 2010

Oh my goodness! Has it really been 5 months since I published anything on my blog? Shame on me, and I vowed to keep this up to date after my last post. I apologize (that is if there is anyone out there still checking!).

We have had a busy 5months. In those 5 months we have moved twice, once into a rental in Kennewick, WA after we sold our house in 1 day, and then again here to our permanent home in Meridian,ID. It is actually truly "back home" for Lance and I since we grew up here. Although his family has since moved on, all of my family is still here and we live smack down in the middle of them! I am probably within 8 miles if not closer from all three sisters and my parents. It is great for me, I get to see my sisters and parents all the time, the boys get to play with their cousins all the time and I am truly enjoying life for the first time since we left Kansas City I think. I have a running partner in my sister now, and although she was really tied up during her soccer season, we have still been able to get long runs in on my off weeks and usually get at least one trail run in during my on weeks. There are so many great trails here in the Boise area it has been fun to start branching out my running into the hills (although much harder work!). I am sure with the winter coming up it will definitely curb our evening runs in the hills but I hope not our bi-weekly long runs which I still enjoy despite the fact that I haven't run a race since July (and that was only a half-marathon).
The kids are really enjoying it here I think too. RJ has settled into school very well, he likes his first male teacher, Mr. Barrera. He is also getting geared up for upwards basketball that starts this winter. He has made several new friends in the neighborhood which will make this spring and summer much better I am sure. Jack is getting settled in pre-school and although he struggling with writing his name or learning his letters, he is having a good time, and that's what pre-school is about right?
Trey is settled in here as well. He had one bad asthma attack that landed him in the hospital, luckily 2 days after our insurance kicked in!

I am thoroughly enjoying my job here in Boise as well. I am back at a hospital much like the one I left in Kansas City and I can see myself staying here for the rest of my career at last! Not planning any more moves, although as I tell RJ I can't promise that as I never know what the Lord has in store for us or where He will take us. All I know is that He has truly blessed us and given me more than I deserve that is for sure! I am the luckiest mommy ever to be able to bring up these 3 little boys, and I try to remember that (especially when they are whining and crying in my ear when I am trying to blog such as now for something as silly as Trey taking Jack's chair to eat his dinner!!!). Stay tuned, I once again vow to keep more up to date, although we will see how much better I do. !!

Happy Mother's Day

Not sure if there is anyone left out there still reading my blog but if so, happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. I had to work so got up early for a run and while I was in the shower getting ready, RJ pulls back the curtain and shouts, "Happy Mother's day Mom! I want to give you a kiss!" I told him it could wait until I was out of the shower at least, but the gesture was nice! They then flowered me with homemade presents, including a beautiful hand made pot of paper flowers with RJ's pictures on them and a homemade flower pot painted and decorated with old buttons from Jack, along with some nice handmade cards. Lance then made us all breakfast, but when I went to go finish getting dressed, RJ ate not only all of his eggs and toast but mine too! I can't believe how much that kid eats and he is only 7! Wait until he is 15! I will have to get a second job just to pay for his food! He just passed the 80 pound mark so can now officially go without a car seat. Which he is very excited about.


We have had a nice spring. I have been working a lot between 3 different hospitals. I have been trying out a larger hospital in Spokane which I enjoy, although I think I enjoy the hotel they put me up in more. It is called the Davenport and it is a gorgeous old hotel that has been refurbished. One of the nicest hotels I have stayed in ever! I highly recommend staying there if you are ever in Spokane, WA. I have also started working at St. Lukes in Boise. I really like that hospital. I have only worked there one week but it was a very nice hospital and everyone was very nice to work with. We are contemplating moving down there for good actually. Lance's friend Rusty Frisch (whom he met at MNU when he was brought in to be the defensive Coordinator) has now been named the head coach at Kuna High School, the same school where my baby sister is the head woman's soccer coach and I know Lance would really like to get back into coaching, if for no other reason but to get him out of the house for some grown up time (if you can call high schoolers grown ups!)

Well, these pictures were my other mother's day present. We finally had a nice day this past spring so that we could all get a family picture taken finally with our latest addition, Trey. I was hoping to get them done before Easter so I could send out picture cards to all but once again, I had very good intentions and not enough time.

Hope you all are well!

Welcome Spring!

Well, I hope this blog finds anyone who still tunes in doing well and enjoying the first weekend of spring! I am so excited to have such nice weather just right around the corner! In fact, we have had really nice spring-like weather here in the Tri-Cities even before the calendar turned onto March 21st. It has been so nice to let the boys out and run around and play outside to burn off some of their never ending energy!

We traveled to Boise this weekend and had a nice visit with family. My folks are doing well, as are all of my sisters. My eldest sister has moved into a small home right in front of my parent's property so it was nice to be able to see her more as we usually missed her and her little girl, Morgan with most of our visits.

The boys had a good time, as always playing with all of their cousins.

I unfortunately forgot my camera so I don't have any cute pictures of them with their cousins. These pictures of the boys from today will have to do. In fact, RJ lost a tooth today and was more than willing to show off his smile (something that is notoriously hard to catch!). I was so shocked by RJ today, he is normally very sensitive and shies away from any pain whatsoever, (which make his dad and I unsure of his career choice to date, to be a professional football player!) He has had a loose tooth for the past several days and as soon as we got home, he got some string, had me tie it around his loose tooth and then promptly yanked it out on his own! Now either he is getting a lot braver, or he really wants 5$! I think it is the former as I happen to know he has over $40 sitting in his wallet and has had since Christmas time!

Lance and I are still pondering and praying as to what our future holds as well. We were entertaining the idea of moving back to the Boise area so we decided to put up our house for sale, as we thought that if we wanted to move we had better get it on the market before the summer push. What we weren't expecting was to sell it in less than 24 hours! We had the realtor come and take pictures and list it Friday night, we had a couple come and look at it Saturday morning at 9AM, and had an excellent offer in hand by noon the following day! So assuming we pass an inspection without many problems and get the septic tank emptied, we will be out of a house on April 30th! We were not expecting to even get it sold in this market, and still aren't sure we even want to leave the area, but at least this gives us the option should things all work out that way. Praise the Lord and hope He continues to open the doors to lead us the way He wants us to go. Now the challenge will to be to find a place to live, get packed, and out of a house all while working and trying to corral three little rambunctious boys!

Well, you all take care, we continue to pray for His love and protection for all of our friends and family.

RJ showing off his lost tooth, which he pulled by himself!

Wet and Wild!

It has been awhile since my last post. It seems that no matter how much I vow to keep this site updated (my goal was for a weekly post) I never seem to make it (along with my other vows to eat right, be patient with the kids and exercise daily!)

Our latest adventure was to Cour de lane Idaho. I have been working an extra shift or two up in Spokane, Washington (to see if the grass is truly greener on the other side of the hospital). So, we decided to make a long weekend of it and take the boys to the indoor water park. I think they really enjoyed it. Jack was the only brave one that went down the slides, whereas RJ decided to play it safe and stay in the wave pool and the kiddie play area. When it was all said and done they only lasted a total of about 2.5 hours between the 24hours we were there which made it fairly pricey per minute, but they had fun and it wore them out so I guess it was worth it.

We went from there to Spokane where I worked a couple of days while the boys wasted time in and around Spokane. Overall it was a nice weekend before getting back to our daily "grind".

Everything here is going well. Trey seems to be all "adjusted", or at least as adjusted as much as a 2 year old can get. He has definitely picked up some bad habits though from his brothers. The worse of them are his temper tantrums. That little booger cries and throws a 30 minute fit anytime he doesn't get his way. I think I could handle that easily if it weren't for the fact that because he has the most sensitive gag reflex I have ever seen, that anytime he throws a fit, it ends up in a pile of vomit! We have learned to get him into the bathroom or kitchen when we are at home, but when we are out someplace in the car or at a store he has gotten his way more than he should to try and avoid that problem!

Lance's friend from coaching at MNU in Kansas has moved to Kuna, ID (right near all of my family) and has gotten a head football coaching position at Kuna High School. I know Lance would love to coach with him so we are actually considering a move again to the Boise area (however, I have made Lance promise me that this will be the last!). It is actually fine with me as I have not been all too entirely happy with the hospital here and am going to check out St Luke's there in Boise and Meridian to see if it would be a better fit. This can only happen though if we sell the house as since we have only been here a couple of years we don't have much equity in it and cannot take another financial loss as we did in the home in Kansas. Let's pray it will all work out according to God's plan either way.

Thanks for staying tuned!

Saturday Routine

Don't have too much to say, things are back to as normal of a routine as they ever are around my house. I returned to work, fairly uneventfully. Trey cries every time I leave the house, or whenever I put my shoes on for that matter, (even when its just my gym shoes to go downstairs to run!). It doesn't last too long and Dad seems to be getting these kids whipped into shape better than I was anyways.

It is Saturday AM and everyone (except Lance and myself, although we were wakened from a nice slumber shortly) were up at 0615 hrs, with the exception of Jack, who had been up crying all night anyways (at least every half hour until 3:30AM at least). When is it that kids start to want to sleep in? I am looking forward to those days even though I know it will be at least 5 years away as RJ is 7 and is always the first one up! At least he is old enough to get himself on the computer and watch wrestling video games on YouTube or go downstairs and play the Wii now, however, that only occurs after he has turned on every light in the house and is so loud that he wakes everyone up anyways!!



I celebrated my 39th birthday yesterday, although I think "celebrated" is a term used loosely, since my day consisted of walking 4 miles uphill (which took an hour), then to RJ's school to give "his"presentation on his Thailand trip, then to work out with my trainer for an hour (all in anticipation of eating birthday cupcakes later!). That was followed by a hurried lunch of macaroni and cheese, a 15 minute nap, then to make my birthday cupcakes with Jack and Trey (red velvet cake with cream cheese icing, yum!). That was followed by a lengthy clean up, then dinner of left-over tacos followed by movie night of Alvin and the Chipmunks with the boys. Although I make it sound bad, there really isn't another place I would rather have spent my birthday than with all my "boyz". Well, maybe a couple of other places that involve a warm sun, a beach and a strawberry margarita! :)

Had some time this morning so posted a bunch of pictures of the boys. There are a lot of Jack and Trey and not so much of RJ as he has gone back to school.



Trey and Jack find a new hiding place in the basement closet!

Trey tries on some of my hats as I attempt to clean out my closet.

Yet another hiding place! Trey has a knack for fitting into small places!

Jack, Trey and RJ posing for a picture for once, however, Trey didn't seem too happy about this one.

Another tight fit for Trey!

He sure has a knack for fitting into tight spots! Good thing we still have those bells around his leg or there are sometimes I don't think I would be able to find him!

Jack posing in one of his better moods!