Tonight...

London starting wailing she had a stomach ache.... while holding a half eaten snickers bar in her hand. Needless to say, she didn't get much sympathy from me. One day I'm hoping she finds the documentation of this outburst as funny as I did.

St George Marathon

Niles ran the St George Marathon again. The first year he ran the race, it was record cold and rain. This year, it was a record heat wave! He did a great job and made a personal record. He even managed a smile at the end, instead of cursing his wife for getting him mixed up in this sport! Next year is my turn again.... the weather will most likely be perfect:)

A Big Bummer!

I was supposed to run The Boston Marathon in April. I went to register less than 24 hrs after it had opened and it had closed already! I can't believe it! Below is the Article on it from The Associated Press. Such a bummer!

Boston Field Fills Up in Eight Hours
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 18, 2010


The Boston Athletic Association said the 2011 Boston Marathon field was filled via online registration in eight hours. Registration opened at 9 a.m. and closed at 5:03 p.m. During that time, about 26,800 runners registered for the 115th running of the world’s oldest annual marathon.

Runners must meet qualifying times based on gender and age. Guy Morse, the association’s executive director, said it took more than two months to fill up the same-size field last year. The 2011 race is April 18.

birthday season

"Birthday Season" is what I've coined the tornado of birthdays in our house. When there's 4 people, 4 birthdays, 5 days apart.... it's a tornado of events. Some years, it can take the month of October for me to recover:) This year was no different. The twins had their party this year at Monkey bizness and loved it. Turning 6 was a very BIG DEAL!
An even bigger deal was Niles birthday... the BIG 4-0! Yikes. I can't believe I'm married to a 40 year old. He's hot, so I figured it's ok:) To commemorate his big day I did nothing... until a week later. It completely threw him off. He thought for sure I was planning a surprise party (which I was) but gave up hope after 6 days. Poor guy thought dinner out and a gift card for a massage was all he was getting.

Overall, it was a successful birthday season. We all (especially me) survived! Until next year!

Pictures of Niles party to follow soon!


blowing out their candles.

The grandmas and aunts that came for the fun and support:)

Half of the birthday crew..24 kids total!

Soren taking a breather with his dad.

London with some of her cute friends.

Our dinner out to Benihana's for my birthday. Delicious.

Labor Day Weekend

We headed up to the cabin for Labor Day weekend this year with the entire Watterson clan. It was a great weekend filled with hiking, playing, campfires, eating and relaxing. We all had such a wonderful time and really enjoyed spending time with family.


bedtime stories with Grandma Nila.

Late Night Dance Party...thanks to Sarah Jean!

Soren and Joel at the dinner campfire.


Me and Love eating our yummy smores.

The Circus

This past weekend we went with Niles' family to the circus. The kids had never been to a circus before and were so excited to go. It was a great show! The kids laughed, were amazed at all the stunts and ate lots of cotton candy:) It was a super fun night!

The Twelfth Year

Niles and I celebrated our 12th anniversary in July. In our personal family history books, this year will go down as the year of "Parallel" lives. It's been a busy year, during which we didn't actually see each other all that often...at least when either of us were coherent. Between the kids, work and Niles going to graduate school full-time there wasn't much time for anything more than sleep. Our quality time has consisted of us exchanging either a quick smooch or the occasional high five with a "catch you later". The culminating "parallel" achievement was that we didn't actually have to be at the same place at the same time to conceive a child. Really. (That may have been TMI..... but there it is.) Fortunately, he did show up for the "Grand Finale".

With that said, I wasn't going to let our 13th year begin with how our past year was spent. I planned a weekend trip to the mountains, crossed my fingers and thought of multiple ways to guilt or threaten him into going. Luckily for me, he was all for it. No manipulation or promises of romance were necessary. Probably, a first for that all year!

It was a great weekend. We went hiking up Adam's Falls, went to the beach at Grand Lake, ate at my favorite ice cream shop, had a camp fire and made smores. Best of all, we enjoyed our kids and each other. It was exactly how we wanted to spend our 12 year anniversary. I'm so fortunate to have such a kind and hard working guy for a husband. I hope to see a lot of him in year 13.