Momo & Papa come for Christmas!

Momo and Papa were able to visit for 10 days during Christmas week. They were happy to get out of the subzero temperatures of Montana! They did bring the cold down with them though; Phoenix was quite a bit cooler and rainier than usual. We all agreed however, it was a perfect visit.


We spent one day in the mountains just a few minutes from our house. It was fun to explore and Papa enjoyed all the different types of cactus. We even found a tortoise shell! We watched Madagascar II on the big screen (August’s first time). We made a ton of candy. We had more sugar flowing through our house than I can remember! Papa and Momo even spoiled our dogs rotten.


The time was well spent with just the right amount of busy fun mixed with a lot of stay-at-home relaxation. We visited a live nativity scene. How exciting to see the birth of our savior played out live! Momo was more excited about the donkey Mary rode in on… Momo is crazy about donkeys. Everyone was surprised at all the gifts given this year. Momo and Papa were especially surprised to find out a new tandem bicycle was waiting for them back home. Of course they will have to wait for a long time it seems to enjoy it with such an incredible winter this year.

No one wanted the visit to come to an end and getting back into the cold was the least desirable thought. To add insult to injury, they had to sit for three hours on the tarmac waiting for the ice to thaw as the temperatures were so cold down here and the airport didn’t have any de-icer. They eventually made it home…

Christian

Everything is up and running!

Everything is back! Again, any e-mails you may have sent over the past few days may have been sent back to you or lost. But our e-mail addresses are working now.

Christian

Website and e-mail down

The server that we have our website and therefore e-mail accounts with is down. The company that we are using is working on the problem. This is an unfortunate issue and hopefully is resolved soon. It has been down for a couple of days and if any e-mails have been sent they may have been returned to you as undeliverable.

We have not closed our accounts and those e-mail addresses are our current addresses and will remain active.

As we put so much time into updating the family website, we hope to have it available soon!

Christian

My first 1/2 Marathon!!

It was a perfect day to run. I was able to run very close to my goal. I finished at 1:44:42. All conditions were right and with this being my first long distance race I feel very good about it.


I am looking forward to my first marathon in January! It is still hard for me to imagine doubling what I ran this last weekend.

Laurel is doing very well with her training. She is now classified as a runner rather than a walk/runner. It is so much fun to see her excited about all of her accomplishments during this training time. Unfortunately, she has not been able to enter into any races so the 1/2 marathon in January will be her first but the training we have received is excellent and she is more than prepared.

Christian

My sisters came to visit!

My two sisters came to visit from Billings for a long weekend! Since they have never visited us down in Phoenix it was fun for them as well as us! Their husbands were not able to come with them but we had a fun little reunion just the same.


Amber brought her youngest, Bjorn, down. He is six month old and is cute as ever. We will have pictures of him on the family website soon!


Tara was a huge help during her stay. In the few days that she was here she made beautiful window treatment for us out of a wonderful fabric. She is highly skilled on the sewing machine! She also is an incredible cook and made great meals including salmon! ...one of Laurel's favorites. She also gives great massages and Laurel got a much deserved massage one evening.

Overall it was a perfect weekend and Amber supplied the personality and fun she is so famous for.

Christian

Ironman Arizona 5k

This Saturday, Christian ran the Ironman Arizona 5k and the boys did a kids 1.9k fun run.
Well...August ran the first 100yrds and the last 100yrds!

Here we are showing off our medals! Good job boys!

Christian

Wisdom Teeth

Yesterday, Laurel had her wisdom teeth taken out. It is amazing how quickly it took; 40 minutes from the time we walked in to the time we walked out. She is doing extremely well with no pain. We are praying that she continues to heal quickly with no problems.

Christian

October 31st

This is a big day for us. The kids get to dress up and it is Laurel's birthday.


Laurel got a coffee maker for her birthday!! Anyone who knows Laurel understands the value of such a gift. She loves her coffee!


This year the boys switched places so we have had a cowboy and a pirate two years now. Minutes after they left I got two boys close to Kaden and August's age who wore the same outfits. ...and one of the boys' names was Kaden!


Each year I tell myself I am not going to go through so much work on these pumkpins. This year, I barely had the patience for it but Laurel encouraged me to finish and put them out for display this year.

Christian

Out of the mouths of babes

There is a house two doors down that out does itself with Halloween decorations. They have several life-size monsters and one is a Dracula hanging on their porch. Last year Laurel and I cringed at how the kids would react and what we could do to limit their exposure.

One of our philosophies in raising our kids is not protecting them from the ways of the world so much as preparing them for it with a godly foundation. This of course is always a challenge and protecting them from the world always seems much easier at the time. But it pays off. The boys understand what the decorations are and are not afraid.

But today, August demonstrated just how effective the fruits of our labors are. As he and I walked by all the monsters, he of course was drawn to them and he said in his two year old language, "Me, (we can't get him to say "I") want to help those monsters."

I said, "You do? Why do you want to help them?"

He said, "Because they don't move, they must be stuck."

Kids constantly surprise me!!!

Christian

Down on the Farm

We visited a small farm this weekend. The boys had a good time. It unfortunately is still hot (97 degrees today) so we weren't completely in "fall" mode.



At the farm we found the pumpkins that we will carve. This year I will only do one for each of the boys as they require so much work.



In this picture the boys are decorating two small pumpkins.


Christian

Marathon Training

We are now in week 7 of our 20 week training. I am putting in about 33 miles this week and Laurel is logging in 13 miles. This has been a fun experience already. The coaching we have is superb and we have benefitted immensely from it as opposed to running by ourselves.

This week, for our Saturday run, I will be running 15 miles around Tempe Town Lake and Laurel will do five. The boys have a babysitter during our runs, our coach’s mom who they call Grandma, and she has been a blessing. This has been a great way for both of us to get into shape.

The non-profit we are running for is Chances for Children. Anyone who wants to support us may give a donation by clicking on either of our names (Laurel or Christian). All contributions are tax deductible and you’ll receive acknowledgment from Chances for Children in the mail.

Christian

Greetings

Well, I am going to jump into this in addition to our family website. I have found that I enjoy keeping up with relationships through blogging and will save the family website for posting pictures more like an album.

Christian