Natural Disaster? or Terrorist Attack?

2/3 of our green yard debris bin is full!!! I worked outside during both nap times yesterday and was out there working during the current nap time until I got caught in a down pour and had to run inside! I would say I'm about half way done. I was really hoping to finish the weeds today! But I guess I get to blog until the rain stops!

While I've been pulling weeds, I've been trying to get the ENTIRE root. I really don't want weeds in our brand new lawn. So I've been doing a lot of digging. I've encountered thousands of spiders, and even more bugs. I started thinking, I'm pulling up these bugs homes.

I wonder if the bugs consider this a natural disaster. You know, like hurricanes, tornadoes, flash floods. There is usually a season where these disasters take place. Just like spring/summer for weeding.

Or are they offended with this weed pulling and view it more as a terrorist attack because it can be prevented. Somebody is actually performing the act of literally uprooting their homes! But people aren't doing it to harm them. Just to get rid of the unsightly weeds that intrude their yards.

These are the things that I think about while weeding alone!

I think it stopped raining, so I better get back out there!

LOTS TO DO!!!

Seriously? Two days in a row! UGH!

So. . . I convinced Shaun to plant grass in our backyard.

Currently we have all rocks back there! It's hard to take a 1 year old back there to play because he puts them in his mouth constantly. We survived last summer just fine without grass. But there are so many things we can't do: sprinkler, badminton, t-ball, soccer. I mean, a slip and slide just isn't the same on rocks! I'm a big advocate of letting kids run around and play outside! So that's why I really want grass.

Well, planting grass is a LOT of work! We have to tear down an awning to our shed, weed over half our backyard, move the rocks (anybody want rocks?), rototill, roll it out, then plant!

We are planning on planting on May 15, but we have Stake Conference this weekend (btw, Shaun is speaking!!!) and we are in Spokane the next weekend, and then we PLANT!!! So we've got lots to do, and I am VERY stressed!

So, I told Shaun that I would start weeding in the back during nap times this week. The forecast called for off-and-on showers all week. Well yesterday it was pretty nice all morning and then, of course, as soon as nap time started, the rain and the wind started. So no weed pulling yesterday!

Then today. . . THE SAME THING HAPPENED!!! Does the rain God not know I am stressed?

PLEASE STOP RAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's ONE!!!

Today's the day!

I can't believe my Baby Boy is ONE already!

There were times during this past year that I wasn't sure the first year would ever come to an end. But there were also a few times during the year that I wish we could have just frozen our life!

*** My little man has started cuddling way more than he ever did (even when he was a tiny newborn!) I LOVE this! He also loves to have his back rubbed. Grammy is the best at this! But mom can make do when she's not around! He loves to cuddle with his blankie too! When he gets tired he will find his blankie on the floor and go lay on it! He is definitely a blankie boy!

*** He is not walking yet, but is super speedy on the hands and knees. He stands up with out holding on to anything and every once in a while will take one step to try to get to something. He loves to walk around the house pushing his Dora car. He loves to dump out any basket, unload the dishwasher all over the kitchen floor, and clear any shelf that is within reach. He's my WILD man!


*** Gage LOVES tunnels! At first Daddy would just put a blanket over our couch and ottoman and he would crawl around in circles going through the tunnel. But, some of our totally awesome friends got him a pop-out tunnel for his birthday. Now I'm pretty sure he lives in it! :)

*** Brother Boy has his first crush . . . and it's no secret! He is obsessed with Dora, and his sister is too so it works out! He loves this Dora, and it's just his size. Some days when he is super grouchy and nothing I try is calming him down I turn on a Dora show and he's in a trance! I've never seen anything like it! P.S. I'm pretty sure he can say Dora too. :)

*** Don't let him fool you . . . he STILL hates his car seat, even after we turned it around. He liked it facing forward for about 5 minutes then started the back arching, head throwing, and ear piercing scream. This should make for several LONG summer road trips!

*** He still reminds me of my dad everyday! For those that knew my dad, is this picture of him not just screaming RICK OLSEN to you?

*** He has the biggest smile and the sharpest 4 teeth I've ever seen. Maisey can attest to that after the large bite mark he left on her right bicep! OUCH! Don't you just want to squeeze his cheeks though?

*** We celebrated at Red Robin with some family Monday night! Gage didn't mind the waiters singing to him and you can see he didn't waste any time digging into the whip cream! :)

*** We're heading to Red Robin AGAIN tonight! Gotta continue the actual birthday tradition!

I can't believe we've both made it through the year! Hope the next one is filled with all of the happy moments from this past year! We love you so much!

Happy Birthday my Toddler Boy!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 55th Birthday Papa!

We miss you!

***Yesterday I was putting Maisey down for nap and I was trying to teach her a new song. It had the words "Father in Heaven" in it. She sat up really fast and said, "Hey, Papa lives in heaven." Then she laid back down and a few seconds later said, "There are groceries in heaven, you know!" I asked how she knew that and she proudly stated, "Papa told me!" :) Moments like that melt my heart!

Hide and Seek

Last night, we went on a family outing, to where else -- Walmart! and then out to ice cream! Both at Walmart and DQ Maisey was playing hide and seek. She would hide in the shelves at walmart and under the tables at DQ. As soon as we got home she begged Daddy to play with her. She would hide in normal places, behind the chair, under the table, etc.


But this hiding spot was by far the most creative! She got down her bin of dishes and sat on them then covered herself with her blankie.

Here I am!

This girl was so HAPPY last night to be playing with her Daddy!

Guests

We have had guests every weekend for the last 7 weekends. This weekend we are not having any overnight guests, just dinner guests one night, and I'm really looking forward to it! I've loved having all of our visitors, and our house has been pretty clean for the last 2 months, but saying that I'm exhausted is an extreme understatement so I'm really looking forward to a low-key weekend.

This past weekend was a crazy, busy one!

We went to the Tulip Festival
We celebrated Gage's 1st Birthday
We enjoyed time with Shaun's Family
We celebrated Grandma Grimmett's 50th Birthday
We gave Gage his First Haircut

See all the posts below!

Gage's First Haircut

Gage expereinced a "first" yesterday, one that his sister has yet to expereince. He got his first haircut. Daddy just couldn't handle the hair growing over his ears anymore. I wanted to hold out til after his first birthday (this Friday) but Daddy won this one!

Pre-Haircut. You can see the hair growing over his ears.

Daddy using the clippers while Mommy tries to entertain.

The finished product! Isn't he adorable?

Grandma's 50!!!

Today is Grandma Grimmett's 50th birthday, so when she was visiting last weekend, we decided to have a little celebration! We coordinated with one of her best friends to meet us for dinner. Everything worked out totally perfect, and she was really surprised!

Maisey is showing Grandma the scrapbook that I made for her. It was 50 pictures of Maisey and Gage.

Maisey and Grandma posing! We left Gage at home. One party was enough for him that day!

"My Families"

Maisey gets so excited when her "families" come to visit. And this time around she was very obsessed with "the 2 boys." (These are quotes from her!) Nick and Maisey played together all weekend! Maisey enjoyed all of the extra attention. Here are a few pics from the weekend.

Gage enjoying his hearty breakfast of chocolate monkey cake and fruit loops!

Papa and Maisey playing dress up!

Grandma Grimmett gave Maisey some stickers and she made her self some jewelry out of them.

It was fun to see them this weekend, and we're looking forward to seeing them again in a few weeks!

The Grimmett Zoo

We had Gage's 1st birthday party on Saturday! It was zoo themed, and it really was a zoo. I think we had 36 people there! 17 kids! But it turned out great, and everybody had a fun time!

-- Prep --

The front of the invite!

The inside of the invite!

We had games out in the garage: Animal bowling, pin the tale on the Zebra, animal mask making, and face painting.

I made some monkeys with my cricut and hung green streamers in our family room so the monkeys could "hang out"!

At the front door I put up this large giraffe and cut out some brown spots. The guests got to write little birthday wishes for Gage on the spots and tape them to the giraffe. (I took a picture of the giraffe with all of the spots on it, then I took the spots off the giraffe and I'm going to put them in his scrapbook)

This is Gage's monkey cake that I made. It was my first time experimenting with fondant! It didn't turn out too bad!

Maisey's new bff -- Koko

-- Let's get this party started --

Maisey got a zebra painted on her face.

Some of the guests making their animal masks

We had an appearance from Tallulah the Lion (Auntie Janel). I was pretty sure Gage was going to love her and Maisey was going to hate her. But it was the exact opposite. Gage wanted nothing to do with her.

And Maisey couldn't get enough of her. Maybe this helped her overcome her fears of costumed people!

Porter playing Pin the Tail on the Zebra

Tallulah the Lion leading the kids out the door to start the animal parade.

Tallulah reading zoo stories to the kids.

Gage opening his gifts.

He got some awesome toys and I'm pretty sure he LOVES all of them!

Gage digging in to his mokey cake. He didn't eat too much of it at the party, but he did the next morning for breakfast!

All of the other kids were served a cupcake, gummy bears, animal cookies, and a banana!

All in all it was a great party! I just wish my house was a little bigger to accomodate all of our friends!

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

We headed to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival Saturday morning. It was a perfect day. Not too hot, not too cold, not windy. It was slightly overcast, which is perfect for pictures! :) Isn't this beautiful?

Everyone had a great time. . . including the kids. My camera died at the end so I don't have pics of Maisey riding the ponies, or Gage sitting in the wooden shoe. They both behaved wonderfully. It really was a perfect day!

I DID IT!

I completed the Spring Burst 10k in Cook Park on Saturday. Yes, I COMPLETED it! Running the whole time, might I add.

My game plan was as follows:
Miles 1-4: Jog at a pace of 12 min/mile
Mile 5: walk
Mile 6 and .2: Jog at a little faster pace

Well, I missed the 4 mile marker. The wind must have blown it over! So I ran miles 1-5. I couldn't walk the last mile -- that's just lame -- so I ran it all! Adrenaline and determination really carried me through! I couldn't believe I did it! I felt on top of the world, almost like I could conquer anything I wanted. It was such an incredible feeling. . . and it was only a 10k!

That best part about the day was the fact that everything went right with my body! It was A.MAZ.ING! My nose was clear and I was able to actually breath through it. I was side-ache free for the whole 6.2 miles, even though they had plagued me through out my training last week. My feet didn't ache! I LOVE my new running shoes! Everything about the day was just perfect.

I really feel that in 2 months I will be ready for the Helvetia Half. I mean, it's only a little over twice what I just did and I still have 2 more months to prep for it! Plus Shaun and I ran 3 miles tonight, and it was EASY! 3 weeks ago, I would have never, never, never said that!

Grammy and the kiddos trying to stay warm while they cheer on Mommy!

I'm the 5th from the front with the pink shorts!

The Home Stretch!

Crossing the finish line!

My friend who ran it with me! Actually she ran it ahead of me! :) But we signed up for it together!

Race Stats:

Time: 1 hour 16 minutes 11 seconds

Pace: 12 minutes 17 seconds

Place: 72 overall, 44 women

You better believe it. . .

. . . I ran 4 miles tonight. I'm pretty sure that's the most I've ever ran at one time. It wasn't pretty, and it was slow! But I did it!

Now excuse me while I go take some ibuprofen and park my bum on the couch to watch American Idol and eat Ben and Jerry's straight from the tub! :)

I.WILL.DO.THIS

Today was a big day! It was the first day of my 1/2 marathon training!

That's right! I picked one out, I set up a training schedule, and I've paid for it! There's no turning back now! I.WILL.DO.THIS!

I went for 3.5 miles tonight! Not too bad! I'm not fast by any means (approx. 10 min. miles) but at least I'm getting out there!

***As a side note, I burned about 500 calories tonight, but unfortunately that only covered about 2 of the 6 brownies that I ate today! I have NO self control.***

This Saturday I am running a 10k. I'm not sure if I'll be able to run the whole 6.2 miles, but at least it will give me some race experience. I've NEVER ran before! But I sure am excited!

Stay tuned for updates between now and June 12 -- The BIG day!

I.CAN.DO.THIS!!!

Lots of Easter Festivities

Shaun's work put on an Easter Carnival this year! The kids had a ton of fun visiting Daddy at work and Maisey liked meeting all of Daddy's friends.

On Saturday, we braved the rain and headed to the Easter Egg Hunt at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival. Lucky for us there were only like 20 other kids there. Maisey had all the time in the world to fill her basket up with eggs. She was even putting some in her pockets and when we walked away, there were still tons of eggs left on the grass. It was so nice to not have to rush to get eggs, especially at her age.

There was only one other kid in the 0-2 yr. old group. She even went into the older kids sections because there was no one there!

Look at that full basket! She walked away with 91 eggs!!! Woot Woot! Daddy was proud!


That night the kids (actually just Maisey--Gage had no idea what was going on!) were so excited to put out their Easter baskets.

Gage's goodies from the Easter Bunny

Maisey's goodies from the Easter Bunny

(I gave them there Easter church clothes early since conference was on Easter!)

Gage checkin out his loot!

Maisey is doing her Easter egg hunt! Check out her bed head!

She organized all of her goodies from inside her eggs! She was so excited to get money!

Grandma and Papa Grimmett got her a Dora watercolor painting set! She painted all morning while we watched conference.

Gage ate a nutritious breakfast of Peeps and fruit leathers! YUM!!!

We had a delicious Easter dinner at Grammy's house then headed to visit Papa, and continue the tradition of taking him a pin wheel each April.

We are so thankful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that we have the knowledge that we will see Papa and all our other loved ones again someday! Looking forward to that peaceful day where everything physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually will be whole!

Hope you all had a nice Easter!