Commitment

Eden turned 8 two weeks ago so she was given the opportunity to be baptized on Saturday. It was a lovely day with family, speakers, tears and fun. Being the mother, I got to be there with towel in hand as she came out of the font and the first thing she said to me was, "I'm clean!" She was referring to the fact that she was wiped clean of all her mistakes. It was just she and I in the bathroom as she changed. It was very sweet. She was full of hugs and smiles. We quickly changed her into an all white outfit to prepare to receive the Holy Ghost.

She was baptized and also confirmed by her father.

This was the best pic we could get afterward. Don't let the smile on Indy' face fool you, he pitched a major fit because he couldn't play with a necklace Eden got as a gift and only agreed to smile if he got to see it.

Mom & Eden 1987 (my father and I) 2011 (Eden and her father)

My parents were able to be there. Grandpa Mike gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.

One happy girl.

My brother Chad and his wife and kids came just for this special event. L is quite the fan of "mortacycles."

We played Bingo for prizes that afternoon. Gpa Mike was the caller.

She was taken with him. Wouldn't let him out of her sight.

And then Gma was in the background, knitting a scarf.

We only got one day all together but it was priceless.

Congrats Eden girl. We are proud of you.

A Wise Choice = THANK YOU!

Eden was counting up her money that she received from her birthday and trying to decide what crap she could spend it on when I pushed really hard that she buy herself a new bike.

I won.

So this is a big THANK YOU to all those who contributed to the new bike fund via your birthday "presents". She is really excited about it and it was a worthy investment. It just happened to be on sale for just $5 more than she had so we made up the difference.

Happy Birthday Eden!

8 is a BIG One

Yep, 8 is great.

Eden has been waiting for her 8th birthday luau forEVER!!

And the day finally dawned...

Cupcakes.
It's a towel on the beach and not until Indy pointed it out did I realize that I had placed the umbrella in the water.

Practicing the hula.

Limbo.

Out of the 7 girls invited, only 3 were able to attend.

Although, they made up for the missing girls in volume. Dogs were barking around the world when these girls started squealing.

The birthday girl with her cupcake birthday cake.

Everyone had to earn their cupcakes on the cake walk. I tend to love the thrill of cake walks and the excitement was high.

Poor Indy.

Couldn't win to save it life.

So naturally we must resort to cheating.

Don't be concerned, that is the expression one makes when one receives cold hard cash as a gift from R.

Eden loves money.

I had to tell Eden to be respectful of her other friends' gifts when she blurted out "the money is my favorite gift."

Friends.

Tangled.

Gettin' ready for the pinata and luckily Indy is ahead of the game. Can't lose many teeth in this game.

Eden is determined to kill it.

Since we made our own pinata, we stepped back to the third grade and used paper mache and 3 layers of newspaper and brown paper bags. It was TOUGH to break.

However, I came in and saved the day.

I released some bundled up aggression and showed that pinata who's boss.

After the candy scramble, all the girls went and played my favorite game...organizing.

The crew.

Not to be forgotten.

What a party. What a relief that it is over.

Eden will be baptized March 26th if anyone wants to come.

10:00am

at the Stake Center

Building

Building self esteem

Building muscle

Building a sense of accomplishment

Building confidence

Building achievements

Building gratification

Building awareness

Building family

Building enthusiasm

Building memories at...

Snoqualmie's

St. Patty's Day 1k

Ever since Eden ran the Snoqualmie Railroad Days 1k last August, Indy has wanted a medal of his own and this past Saturday, he fulfilled that desire. Indy not only ran that 1k, he blew Eden out of the water.

Rob took the opportunity to run it with the kids this year while I did the cheerleading with the 2 younger girls.

On the road to the place where they hand out shiney medals race.

Eden got new shoes from Grandma T for her birthday just one day before the race.

It was a bit chilly Saturday morning.



Indy in orange coat, Eden in dark blue coat, Rob in royal blue shirt. At the sound of the buzzer, all those kids took off down the hill like they were after the last ice cream truck on a hot summer day. I forget that .6 miles goes by pretty fast, no need to pace themselves.


Just after they started, I walked the stroller back up to the finish line to wait and almost before I could get the camera out of my pocket, there was my little orange lightning coming through. Rob said he took off and never looked back.

That boy was built to run. He has about 2 lbs of body fat on him and A LOT of energy. With the right training and enthusiasm, he could really go places.



Then Eden comes through over a half a minute later.
I found out that she stopped a couple times to walk and I was surprised since she ran the whole time with my last year. I asked her if it was because I talked her through it last year telling her to just keep going but she insisted that it was because she has more fat on her this year.
Are you serious?
Yah, look at her...the little tubo.

Another medal for the books.


Final times:
Indy

(9 1/2 min mile)

Eden
(10 1/2 min mile)

Sadly, both times are faster than my pace on my best day.

Even though I have much longer legs, I am going to go ahead and pull an Edenism and say it is because I am "more fat" than they are.
:)

A Rare Glimpse

This girl does not laugh easily.

So to get this on camera is quite a treat.

And no one can make her laugh but Indiana.

For Rachel O

A small reminder:

Just this last Saturday my harddrive crashed and since I had not backed up my computer since Tatum's birth, I lost 8 months of my life. All pictures, RS documents, family projects, emails, contacts, bookmarks and videos. The only thing keeping me from jumping off the nearest bridge is my blog. Thankfully I posted with all the best pictures of the most significant events so I have that. What a blessing.


Don't make the same mistake I did. Buy an external harddrive or make an account on Windows Live to automatically back up your computer.


The following post might seem a bit insignificant to most of you but it was important for me to document and I am realizing this more so than ever.


Last week I hosted a crockpot class at my house. Let's just say the women weren't a fan of my can opener I have had since college. Ol' Rusty has seen better days but being the cheapo that you all know I am, I just kept pluggin' along with my carpal tunnel inducing mechanism.



However, there was one gal who thought I deserved to be treated better.


Sorry dear utensil friend. We have opened many a canned soup together but you have been replaced by something much prettier, younger and easier. So typical these days.


Rachel O...you are my new favorite person. It works like a champ.

New Teammate

Joining the team...4 years later.

Indy (2), Olivia (1), Eden (3) - March 2007

Tatum (8mo) - March 2011

Grandparents, aunts & uncles: click on the picture for a larger view.