Long overdue post.....

I can't believe how long it has been since I've blogged. I love reading everyone's blogs, but just haven't had time to write a blog. This summer has flown by amazingly fast and been somewhat stressful. This is my first summer working full time. Since it was my first time performing the tasks at work, I thought I had it all figured out. WRONG!!!! I have a whole new strategy for next year. But not to bore anyone with work--Summer has gone so fast. I worked all of June pretty much with long days. Trevyn finished soccer and played baseball. In which, he broke his foot in the last baseball game. We let it go for about 10 days, and then decided to go get it checked. It was broke, but they also found a cyst in his foot. Before I could leave for vacation they had to determine if it was a tumor or a cyst. Thankfully it is just a cyst that we are dealing with. That just added alot more stress to getting ready to leave on vacation. We headed off w/a black boot to go camping with and on to vacation in Montana. It did not slow him down one bit. He resumed life and that boot was STINKY! I had to wash it so many times due to the smell and dirt. Boys will be boys. Especially if you are in Montana on a ranch, at the lake, at the waterslides. It has healed now thank goodness and we just have the cyst that we are still dealing with. I swear that kid is going to kill me. He now has an albuterol inhaler too. No wonder the poor kid couldn't breathe last year in sports.
Before heading to Montana, we went camping at Starvation Lake over the 4th of July. I thought it would be great to tent it instead of the camp trailer this time. We hadn't tented it for a while, so i thought the kids would have fun. It was fun, but by the end I was SOOO sorry we didn't take the trailer. Starvation Lake is a great lake and has a great beach and cliffs to jump. My brother and his family came for a night too. We were boating the next day and jumping off cliffs. All of a sudden, Trevyn headed up to jump off the cliff with Erik. I about died as I HATE heights. He did so good. Loved it and did it again. My nephew went up as well. When the 2 little boys went up to jump, boats were actually stopping to watch and cheer them on. I got the camera to capture the moment. Those are some brave little boys. The cliffs were about 25 ft. high. The weather was great until Saturday night. The wind started blowing and I thought we were going to end up on Mars. It ended up blowing 40 mph, and we were in the tent. That is when we were all missing the trailor. I told them then that next time I say we should tent it they can slap me. We had a great time though. The kids loved to catch lizards, find rocks, build sandcastles, and get dirty. We then headed off to Montana without dad again. We spent a few days at Lake Blaine basking in the sun, fishing, tubing, and enjoying time with family. It was fun to sees both great grandmas, cousins, etc. We then went to a Zentner family reunion on a ranch outside of Thompson Falls, Montana. It was a great place with lots of mosquitoes this year. Due to the late summer and all the moisture, the mosquitoes were out of control. We sprayed with bug spray every hour. Because of this, it limited our activities, but it was still great to be with my extended Zentner family. This place we stayed in was great. We rented the whole house and we all had our own bedroom and bathroom. SO NICE! I sat on the porch one evening for about 5 minutes and got 15 mosquito bites. The kids played some serious Rock Band. It was hilarious how at the beginning they were all kind of quiet and by the end all the kids (and adults) were jamming out. After that, we went back to Great Grandma Zentner's house. My sister and her kids came in everyday and played with us. We went bowling, played miniature golf, and went to the "water slides" in Missoula. The kids had a great time being with grandma and their cousins. I was so tired on the way home, I couldn't figure out how I was going to drive all the way, but some how I did. I had to laugh because I got home, unpacked, and fell in to bed waking up 14 hours later.
I came home and worked some more. I have just been trying to boat every chance I get before work resumes again (which is Monday). I learned to wakeboard this summer. It is SO much fun. I don't know why I haven't tried before. Trevyn was helping me. He is a good little wakeboarder. Now we all have our own wakeboards and have been having a great time. Work starts on Monday and it is so sad. BUT, back to the real world. The kids will all be starting school in a few weeks. It still seems weird that Kiersten will be in 1st grade. All my kids are growing up.
Erik is doing great in school. He got a certificate that he made the Dean's list, so we are all very proud of him. He loves what he is doing--forensic science and criminal profiling. It is a crazy profession to go into, but he loves it and that is what matters.
For my Dad's 60th birthday my mother through him a surprise party. It was a lot of fun. There were a bunch of friends there from all the different places they have lived--Montana, Idaho, Arizona, and now Utah. My dad was so surprised. My mom based the party off of my dad's love for fishing and basketball. The decorations were sports and fishing. There was of course lots of good food. We had a few games for the kids. There were some basketball games, a fishing pond, and a how well do you know bob questionaire. My sister and her family came from Montana so we got family pictures done. We hadn't had a family photo with everyone for 10 years. I am excited to see how they turn out. The look on his face when he arrived was priceless. He truly had no idea. It was a memorable party and I am so glad I have such a great father.
I have put the pics on here, but not necessarily in correct order. More pics to come.

Turning 8 is GREAT....

My little Witnee turned 8. I can't believe it. She is such a sweet girl. She is hardworking, kind, gentle, very mothering to younger children, obedient, and a good friend. She got some very special gifts for her special day: a beautiful white dress, pearl earrings from her Great Grandma Zentner, a beautiful necklace from Grandma Lela, a picture frame with the 'three dresses' poem in it along with a baptism picture of her, and her own quad scriptures. She is so excited for her new scriptures. She has been reading and marking them for 2 days already. Everytime I try to find her, she is reading her scriptures. When I woke up, she was awake reading her scriptures in her bed. Like I said, a very obedient child. She is such a joy. Her baptism was so sweet. She has alot of anxiety and was one nervous little girl, but she did great. My dad spoke and her cousin Marissa spoke. The kids and cousins sang the song "Baptism". It was so good. I love hearing children sing. I love hanging with the family enjoying these special days.

We have had a very busy few days. Her birthday was Thursday. Her birthday party was Friday, and her Baptism Saturday. She had a water party here at the house with a big slide and waterballoon games. The kids had a blast doing the funny games, which are always fun when water balloons are involved. I don't know any kid who doesn't LOVE water balloons. The big slide was also a hit. The kids played on it forever. They would jump off the top and land 1/2 way down the slide crashing to the bottom. Even my little 2 yr old niece was jumping off the top. Thankfully the weather was great and the party was a hit.

Memorial Weekend....

Memorial weekend was spent with my girls. Erik and Trevyn headed off to Seattle for a wedding, so me and the girls stayed home and had "girl time". It was fun. Saturday we did nails, which they love, and played with friends. Sunday was spent at my brothers house playing with cousins. Monday we went to the zoo and had a BBQ with some friends. We realized that Kiersten hadn't been to a zoo since she was a baby. It was fun to see her excitement with the animals. We went with cousins and had LOTS of fun.

About Time for an Update.....Through pictures

Life has been so crazy. I started working full time the end of March and life has been painfully crazy. I had my 12th wedding anniversary, my birthday, sports for kids, school programs for kid. Here are some pics from the previous months.

Easter 2010....

Easter was COLD this year. We were suppose to have soccer that morning, but thanks to cold weather, it got cancelled. It was weird to have general conference and easter on the same weekend. It seemed a little hectic to have sports, egg hunts, and conference all on the same weekend. Conference was amazing however. I don't know why but I absolutely LOVED the music. We listened to conference on saturday and then had cousins over to dye eggs, have an easter egg hunt, and have a BBQ before the priesthood session. They women hung out with the kids while the husbands went to the priesthood session, which they said was really good too. Sunday we relaxed and then went out to my brother's for a nice Easter supper. It was a good weekend.

On a side note, I have gone to work full-time now. I got the registrar position at the school I was already working at. It is quite an adjustment trying to juggle work, kids, sports, home, church. I know it is a blessing but will take some time for me and the kids to adjust. SO, if you don't hear from me, it is because I am crazy busy but still alive.

AND, I officially have a kid in braces. Trevyn has had a retainer and head gear it feels like forever, but he started with the braces this week. Fun for him:)

Trevyn Snowboarding....

Here are some pics of Trevyn snow boarding recently. He really enjoys it, but what sport doesn't he LOVE.

Valentines 2010 and Snow Skiing....

First I have to say thank you to ALL my childrens teachers because they made their valentines "bags" at school. Fabulous in my opinion. That is something I just don't enjoy. Last year we started making heart pizzas for valentines day. The kids love it, and I thought it was a good tradition. I make then their own little heart and then they decorate it how ever they want. Kiersten asked if she could make her own pizza every year. I guess that means it is a success. We have a fun family dinner, let the kids pick out valentines things for Grandma, and really just spend time together. It was really fun. Me and Erik went out for our date a few days early. We hadn't seen Avatar, so we went to see it. Wow! What a great show. I always enjoy time with my sweet hubbie, since it doesn't happen to often.

The kids (Trevyn and Witnee) have been snow skiing. I can't believe how much they love it. Kiersten decided that she doesn't want to ski this year. She is such an odd child. She has always loved to ski, but I am not going to fight her. She has a mind of her own. Witnee has discovered her love for going over hills jumping and going between the trees. She was skiing with Grandma Lela and went off in the trees for fun. I guess she hit a tree. Lela said she was laughing and said,"I'm fine Grandma. I just hit a tree, laughing as she rolled over." Erik said she biffed it HARD this last time. He went rushing down there, and again she was just laughing while she was covered in snow. It went in her coat, under her goggles, EVERYWHERE. She just has a blast. She is daring and fun. It is fun that the kids are old enough to just go ski with dad and have fun. We don't have to pack so much, like when they were smaller. Trevyn has been skiing but discovered his love of snowboarding yesterday. He's already asking when he gets to go again. I don't have pictures of that yet, but I will. No, I don't ski yet, but I will some day. I'm so glad that my kids love to do any activity pretty much. AAAHHHH the MEMORIES:)

Derby 2010....

Trevyn had his pinewood derby. It was his first one in this ward. I was a little nervous because this ward wasn't really in to them, but it turned out VERY fun. We only have 9 boys in our ward in the cub scouts and webelos. Therefore, everyone got to race quite a bit. Of course they had it so everyone raced on the different lanes and raced quite a few of the boys. Everyone was very excited to get their trophy. There were lots of laughs and "yes" as their cars won or wheels fell off. That is what makes a derby fun. Trevyn made his car in 1 week, and he was oh so proud of it. I think it turned out pretty cool.
(Yes, I forgot my camera. I couldn't believe it.)

The full post....

Okay. I know people wanted to know the whole story, and I wanted to remember my first 1/2 marathon. As most people know, the storms were bad last week. I was planning to drive down by myself, but at the last second I decided to go with the principal from my school that I work at and her daughters. My kids had been crying since Thursday because I was leaving. So funny. I tried to tell them that it was like I was going to the grocery store by myself, just gone for a few hours. They didn't buy it. After much crying from Trevyn and Witnee, I was exhausted from working full time that week also, I let the kids sleep in my bedroom because it was midnight. The next day I worked all day, left in a snow storm, traveled to St. George and got there about 11:00 pm, and then talked to friends until 1:30 am. I woke up at 7:30 am and went to the race only to realize I forgot my ipod. My friends husband said he would bring it to me. I was pacing because I only had 20 minutes until start time. At 10 minutes to start, my friend called me and said her husband couldn't find it, but they finally found it and he was on his way. I continued to pace. I heard the 2 minute call and he still wasn't there. I went to the start line just in time to see his car about 1 1/2 blocks away. I took off sprinting, grabbed the ipod, sprinted back to the start line. About 20 seconds later I hear, GO! Wow. I was already panting from my little sprint. Oh well, I started running. I ran and ran because that is what you do in a race right. It all went pretty well. I hit some major mental blocks in the middle. Mile 7-12 were probably my best. I was slowing down at about mile 12 and a group a girls came up behind me and cheered me on. They gave me that extra umph (sp) I needed to make it that last mile. I ended up sprinting my last 400 m or so. I figured if I was behind my time, the least I could do was sprint the end. It felt really good until I stopped. I stiffened up a little right afterward. I went and got some food (bannanas, gatorade, etc.) and then went straight for the massage line. I felt really good after the massage. The rest of the day was spent seeing friends. We went to the movie, out to eat, and visiting. I walked from friend to friend to try and keep my legs from stiffening up since I knew we would be sitting in a car on Sunday to come home. I felt pretty good. Sunday I was pretty stiff from sitting and sitting. I felt like I had a GREAT workout. I am really excited for my next one in Ogden. I feel like I will be better prepared and I WON'T forget my ipod this time. That just caused me alot of added stress. I am going to work on my speed and my form for the next few months in hopes for a better time on my next race. We'll see how it all goes. BUT I really loved it and hope to go do the St. George again next year. It is a great race:) (I didn't take my camera since I was by myself. I will post a picture that they took professionally when I get it. I look awful, but I want the memory.)

I am ALIVE....

I made it. I will post more later, but just wanted you all to know that I made it through my first 1/2 marathon. It was really good.

Early Birthday to ME.....

I just registered for my first 1/2 marathon for this year. It is in St. George on Jan. 23. Yikes, scary! I figure this will be a good way to start my new year. I'm also going to do the St. George 10K in March. Here's to a year of 1/2 marathons! I CAN DO THIS! (I'm planning on a few more 1/2's)

RESOLUTIONS.....

This was a fun New Year's. We went to my parents and played games with my family and cousins. My aunt/cousin Maurie and her family came down from Idaho. We ate lots of good fun and played games. We(including kids) actually stayed awake until midnight. It was really fun. We went to my dad's gym again on new years day. It is always so fun there. The kids get ALL their wiggles out. My sister was still here for all of these festivities. FUN FUN! I've decided that this year I'm going to work on a few things, but not make a bunch of goals. Losing weight is always up there, so I decided to not focus on it this year and just try my best. THE ONLY GOAL THIS YEAR IS.......TO KEEP UP ON MY TRAINING AND RUN TWO 1/2 MARATHONS THIS YEAR. So far so good! Happy New Year!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS.....

Christmas was so fun, as usual. The kids had their programs at school. We had to divide and conquer because Kiersten's program and Witnee and Trevyn's program were at the same time. They all did very good. Kiersten makes me cry every year when she sings and does the sign language to Silent Night. It is so precious. We did something special this year. My mother's great Aunt Lapriel and Uncle Eugene just went to an assisted living center. We all went and did a little program for them. Kiersten did her sign langauge there and made everyone cry their also. It was a great opportunity for the kids to serve someone else. They were really cute after their performance handing out goodies to all the people there. I couldn't find Kiersten, and she was in talking with a little older women in her room. This started the Christmas week off on a good note. We then went swimming with our cousins at the Legacy Center in lehi. It was really fun until someone's kid pooped in the pool (seriously people put the plastic things over your kids' diapers). My cousins moved here also this year and so we were all invited over for lunch and games early on Christmas Eve. It was SO much fun. We all got a great laugh playing games. Then, we always do the christmas nativity at my parents house on Christmas Eve too and let the kids act it out. They are getting older and can read their lines and sit still better. Kiersten REALLY wanted to be Mary this year. She was cute. Her and her cousin were Mary and Joseph. We all participate in one way or another. We do the nativity, sing songs, read a Christmas story (the teacher coming out in Grandpa), and open presents from my parents. It is such a fun night. Then on Christmas day we all stay home and relax. This year my parents came around to all the kids' homes for a while. I love having a really relaxing Christmas Day. This year I made ham, potatoes, candied yams, and homemade apple pie for Christmas dinner. It was nice, tasted good, but tiring. My sister and her kids surprised us and came on Sunday, after Christmas. We've been playing all week with them (pics to come). We just got done sledding for 6 hours. It was a blast. The weather was perfect. There was like 30 of us. We built a fire, roasted hot dogs, marshmellows and made smores, had hot cocoa, and did some serious sledding. I have to say that I think everyone had some pretty funny crashes. The kids did awesome, never complained about being cold, and had tons of fun. I personally LOVE sledding and my family was the last one off the hill. What a fun time of year to be with family. This break is really making me not want to go back to work in 4 days, but who's counting right? We've been sleeping in until like 10 am every day. Crazy I know! I call it lucky:)

Santa did good. The kids got their wish lists. Witnee got a new bike, an ipod, and fake nails. Kiersten got "her" barbie, an ipod, art stuff, and a Tinkerbelle doll. Trevyn got his rapid fire dart gun. (By the way, we have enough dart guns for an army, but he really needed the "new" one. I told him this is the last year Santa would be bringing dart guns. We seriously have like 10 or so. Darts are everywhere.) He is also obsessed with sports, particularly the Steelers. He got a Steelers jersey, hat, and blanket. Trev also got a watch, and has been making sure we all know what time it is. Funny kid. Me and Erik got a Wii Fit, which has been fun. I also got running attire. YES, I've been running in the snow and really like it. Here's to more running!

On a side note, Erik finished his finals, and did very well. 1 semester down, 2 1/2 more years to go. It is flying by. Before we know it, he will be done. He loves what he is studying (Criminal Profiling and Forensic Science). He will have his bachelor's done in 2 1/2 years. Then on to get his Doctorate of Psychology. Fun, Fun!

Merry Christmas Everyone. I will post more pics when I get them.

Merry Christmas...

Gingerbread houses....

Every Christmas we do gingerbread houses. This year I got a train and a house. It is funny to see the kids' personalities come out while they are decorating. They can do the decorating themselves now. What is better than making a house out of sugar, and it doesn't matter if they lick their fingers? It is fun to watch the kids because they are so excited for the holidays. What did I ever do without kids? It seems that life would be boring without them. My girls wrote me the cutest notes tonight on their own, just for fun. I love trying to decipher their notes. In the pictures, Trevyn did the train, and the girls decorated the house. Happy Holidays.




I baby sat my nieces/nephew this weekend. This is Kiersten being a great "big cousin".