Three Little Ducks

Sarah's Wedding Cake

2011-08-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

Sarah Norton (now Lewis) is one of my friends, Jeremy's assistant, and my second cousin. She asked me to make her wedding cake. I was able to practice and learn a lot from my mother-in-law, who is the master cake maker. She let me borrow all of her cake supplies, and answered all of my questions. I had a lot of them. This was a great cake to do because Sarah essentially let me do whatever I wanted. Pretty much, the only thing she told me to do was keep it simple, and have it be chocolate filled. The middle "cake" was fun to do because it was "rice crippie treats." (that is how my sisters and I say it.)
After many hours of preparation, stress of the unknown happening and ruining the cake, the final product was completed.
The only thing that I wasn't prepared for was setting the cake up, leaving it for an hour, and coming back to it all gone! All that work and it is gone in a blink of an eye. It was worth it, and I had a lot of fun doing it. I hope to do a lot more....

And the First to Cross is...Jeremy Andrews!!

2011-07-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Jeremy was in the Fire Road Mtn. Bike Race. He entered because his friends asked him to do it with them, so he signed up just for fun. I kept asking him if he was ready or nervous. He said that he would get out on his bike a few times and be okay, and that he was not nervous because he was just doing it for fun, and he was not going to try to win or get a p.r.
Race day came, and he said that he would call me when he got to the top so the kids and I could start heading for the finish line to watch him cross. Well, I got a call, so we went to the park where the finish was, and I asked one of the volunteers when the 60k racers would start coming in. She told me the first ones should be coming in about 15 min. The kids and I found a spot in the shade a ways from the finish line and started reading some library books that we just got, not thinking, or knowing that Jeremy was going to be the first one to cross the line. 15 minutes later the anouncer says "The first 60k rider is coming in, and it is Jeremy Andrews of Cedar City!" I said "What?!?!," and gathered my things, and the kids. We made a mad dash across the park with Logann in our dollar stroller, and Dax and Riley running as fast as they could, to find Jeremy throw himself off his bike onto the grass. His legs were blasted. His calves, and quads were in knots, and all that I could do was apologize for missing him cross again, (I also missed him cross the finish in his first marathon), and tried my best to rub out his legs. As Jeremy lay there, helpless, one of the newspaper journalists was interviewing him. Here is the article: http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20110710/SPORTS/107100311/Prenzlow-Newby-Fraser-win-inaugural-Fire-Road-race
Jeremy said he tried calling, but when I picked up he didn't answer. After the race was over I got a voice mail from him saying, "Nat, I'm going to win. Go to the finish!" That would have been helpful if I would have gotten that message BEFORE he crossed the finish line.
Jeremy's finishing time was 3:03.57
I left the camera at home, but luckily, I had my phone so I could take these high-quality photos so we can always remember that surprising day.
That was a fun day!

Cakes: A Fun Hobby

2011-04-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

These are some of the Cakes I have made.

Broken Pot...

2011-03-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was playing the piano after lunch and Riley showed me that my frog tea pot was broken. It was missing the handle and some frog legs. She told me that the missing pieces were at the dump. I was so, so, so sad because she had thrown all of the broken pieces away, and now I can't fix it. I don't know when she broke it because she doesn't understand time, whether it was yesterday or last week. When I asked her why she didn't tell me what she had done she told me that she cleaned it up by herself so I would be happy. She did a very good job cleaning it up. Dax didn't even know it was broken, and they are always together even when I am not around. Today I understand that she knew she had done something wrong, and didn't want me to get mad at her, so she tried taking care of the mess herself. I will have to work on teaching her what to do in situations like this in the future. I know this won't be the last time something special gets broken in this house.

The Time Has Come, The Time Is Now

2011-03-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

Dr Seuss says it best in his book Marvin K. Moony Will You Please Go Now! "The time had come, so... Marvin went."
Dax is now a little boy getting ready to go to Kindergarten. I, unlike in the book, am not ready to to send Dax off to kindergarten. I think Dax is like Marvin. At the end of the book when it was time for Marvin to go, he happily went.
Yesterday I took Dax to South Elementary, home of the Eagles, to register for Kindergarten. We got all of the paperwork filled out, Dax's eyes and ears tested, and turned in. He is ready to go. On the way back to the car Dax told me that he didn't want to go to kindergarten yet because he is just a little scared. I told him that I wasn't ready to let him go yet either. We will wait and see how we feel come the end of Summer. Maybe I will be asking him to "go in an old blue shoe" or to "get a Ga-zoom" and "go with a....BOOM!". Maybe by then he, and I will be more than ready for the time to come.
I love my Dax Man, and have a hard time seeing him grow up so fast. That goes for my other children as well.

Sleepless Little Logann

2011-03-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Logann has been sick with a head cold for the past little while, but I'm sure she is over the worst of it. Now she won't fall asleep at night. For the past three nights she has been up crying. (Last night untile 1 am). We think she falls asleep, just to hear her start to cry again. We get her out and she still cries. Maybe it is the time change, new teeth coming in, her cold is still lingering, or that I left her little night time seahorse at Papa's house. Whatever the problem is, I hope it gets resolved soon. Jeremy and I can't handle many more sleepless nights.

Figured it out!

2011-02-16T13:08:00.000-08:00

I have a great phone that my cousin Sher gave to me, and I have taken some pictures on it, but I have not been able to get them off of the micro disc onto my computer. Everyone told me to use the cord that came with it, but for some reason I couldn't get that to work. Then people told me to email them to myself, but I knew that I shouldn't do that because I don't want to rack up my cellphone bill. So I got online and found out that there is such a thing as a micro SD adapter. So I called all of my friends close by until I found one to borrow. Now after a week of trying to get the pictures off of my phone I was able to do it. Here are some of the pictures that have been hiding for so long.

New Pictures of the Kids

2010-11-19T14:42:00.001-08:00

Here are the new pictures of the kids.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Halloween. Dax was a dragon, Riley was a Princess, and Logann was a skeleton. After my Grandma Zollinger's funeral in Logann we drove back to South Jordan and got ready to go trick-or-treating. Logann was tired, so it was just Dax and Riley with the adult support of Ani, Steph, Bree, Alex, Jeremy and I. After a while McCall and Ryan joined us. Ani and her "friend" Eric took Dax and I around for a bonus round of trick-or-treating to some really awesome homes up by the Draper temple. That was a lot of fun to go and do that extra bit with Dax. We are all still on a sugar buzz, and I can't seem to get rid of this little headache that I have had for the last few days. Maybe I should lay off of the candy, or get rid of it.

Dax's Birthday Season

2010-11-02T17:46:00.000-07:00

Dax just turned 5 yrs old yesterday, although we have been celebrating now for two weeks. We first had a party at Papa Mark's house, where he got a lot of wonderful and thoughtful gifts, including a gift of 100 kisses from his crazy Aunt McCall.
Then I decided that I would allow him to invite some of his friends over for a party. That was a lot of fun. We were all in our costumes, ate pizza, played games, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream, and played some more. He has some pretty fun little friends.
Yesterday we had Rene and Teresa come over for a birthday dinner and party. We had to remind Riley that it wasn't her birthday, and that hers was coming up in just a few months, so she would understand why Dax got to open all of the gifts, and not her. She was okay after that. Logann just had a fun time in the wrapping. That might be all we do for her for Christmas. Since I know that she would like that more than any other gift we would give her. I think when all said and done Dax had a pretty awesome birthday season.

Little Blue-Eyes

2010-10-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

This is our cute little blue-eyed baby, Logann. She is getting so big. These pictures were actually taken last month, but I am just getting them on the blog. She has a new trick that her siblings love. When she is happy she shakes her head back and forth and smiles. It is pretty funny.
It makes me sad that my Grandma Zollinger may never get to meet her in person because her health is declining very quickly. My prayers are for my Grandma these days.

Summer Fun

2010-09-03T07:33:00.000-07:00

This summer has been a lot of fun. Dax had a lot of fun doing swimming lessons. He is definitely not afraid of the water. Which is a good thing as well as a bad thing. I think he was under the water more than he was above.

White Lightning! That is Dax's soccer team name. For a group of 4 year old boys they are pretty talented. There are 3 boys from each team out on the field, and they all want the ball. After the first game they learned that they have to be more cautious running after the ball. They would all run as fast as they could to get the ball and none of them would slow down, so there would be at least one collision with someone walking off of the field crying. On a good note, Dax made the first goal of the first game.

Riley and Dax loved swimming in the new reservoir by our home. I think it is called "The Lake at the Hills," or something like that. It is nice to have that so close to where we live. We also went fishing there a few times, and every time Dax lost his hook by getting it stuck in the rocks. On a different fishing adventure we went up Cedar Canyon to the kids pond, and within the first five minutes Dax fell into the pond. Then a minute later he fell in again, and a minute after that he fell in again. The funny thing about that is that he didn't care.

This summer we went to Lake Powell twice. That place is heaven on earth. Both trips were so much fun. We did a lot of skiing, boarding, surfing, and swimming. Riley even went off of the slide this year with me. I wish I had a picture of that, but I think it is on my Mom's camera.

The latest in June and July

2010-07-09T12:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my sister McCall, we have the cutest pictures of Logann. She is three months old and getting stronger every day. She is always trying to sit up all by herself. She has also learned to laugh. It is so much fun when she interacts with us.

They came over before they moved to SLC for one last photo shoot. Riley and Ryan were her cute little test subjects. I hope that they can stay good friends with all of the distance between the two of them.
For the 4th of July, we all went to my parents home and swam in their neighbor's pool. Dax and Riley are fearless. They loved jumping off of the diving board. Dax kept trying to dive, but was only able to do belly flops. It was so cute because he was so persistent. I have a feeling, with a little practice at Powell, he will get it right really quick. Riley loves to try to keep up with her big brother, which most of the time she does, and do everything he does. Logann even had a fun time in the water kicking around and getting splashed on by her siblings.
Jeremy ran in a 10k race here in Cedar a few weeks ago and took first place. Not only in his age division, but overall. He is unbelievable. Now his next race to win is going to be the Olympic Kokopelli race in September. I believe he can do it if he keeps working as hard as he is.

Mother's Day Photo Shoot

2010-05-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

My sister, McCall, has been practicing with her new camera, and using our kids as models. We went out last week and got some cute pictures for Mother's Day. Riley was so happy to be in her pink dress so she could spin around for us.
Dax loves the camera. For all of these pictures, Dax posed himself with no adult influence. We all thought it was pretty funny. As his Uncle Dave put it, "Stud alert!"

Six Months Later....

2010-05-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been six months since my last post. I think I have ignored my blog long enough. Thank you to my friend Lisa for giving me a call to get this thing updated. I have a minute to post a little about what has been going on since then.
Riley turned two back in February. She is our little tom-boy/princess. She loves to wear dresses, but I didn't have any besides her nice Sunday ones, and I was sick of mending and washing the mud out of those ones. I had to get her some play dresses that she could still twirl around in and also go play out in the mud in.
On March 22, Logann Z was born. She weighed 6 lb. 9 oz. and she was 18 in. long. She came very quickly, and a little early.

That day was a big day. I started feeling some contractions that morning, but I thought that they were nothing to worry about. My visiting teachers came over for their visit, but this month they brought their cleaning brushes and buckets. They cleaned my bathrooms and my kitchen. I told them that they couldn't have come on a better day. At the time I didn't realize how right I was. That morning I was also in the middle of doing laundry.
Then at about 3:30 pm I started timing my contractions. They were getting a little more painful, so I thought that I might be going to the hospital to have the baby that night.
I got Dax and Riley and took them to the grocery store and bumped into my R.S. president. She asked how I was doing that day, and I told her that I was not doing too well, and that I wasn't feeling too great. On the way home from the store I called Jeremy and gave him the heads-up that we were probably going to go to the hospital that night because my contractions were getting stronger and closer together.
At 5:00 pm I called Labor and Delivery, and told them what was going on and asked if I should come in. They told me to relax, wait an hour, get in the tub and see if the contractions go away. Well, I got in the tub, and that was definitely not a good idea. Never get into the tub to see if contractions will go away! Bad Idea! My contractions snapped to five minutes apart, and super painful. I had Jeremy stop making dinner, get the kids in the car, and take me to the hospital. There was no way that I was waiting until 6:00 pm.
To make a long story a little shorter; I walked into the hospital at 6:00 pm, and Logann was born at 7:37 pm.

Our new addition

2009-10-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

We went to the doctors office yesterday for our ultrasound. We are having another girl. From what the ultrasound tech saw, everything looks good. Now just about five more months of getting bigger and bigger, and we have got to get Riley to understand the concept of potty training. I really don't want to be changing more diapers than I have to.

Catching up... April

2009-05-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun last month. Riley really mastered walking.

We had a fun Easter in Salt Lake, and here in Cedar.

Dax LOVES finger painting.

Another wound from playing outside. This time he ate it out in the road. I saw him fall. It was like his mind was in one place and his feet couldn't get there fast enough, and down he went.

We still love to go hiking. This time we went to Zions and did a 2 mi hike called Hidden Canyon. It was a lot of fun for us and for the kids. Jeremy had Riley in the pack, and Dax hiked the entire way all by himself, with the exception of about 5 minuts the way down. He said his legs were hurting so I gave him a little piggy back. We were so impressed with him. This trail was not an easy walk either. There were steep ledges, chains, and drop offs. I thought it was like a minature Angel's Landing. After the hike, Dax and Riley were pooped. Both of them fell asleep on the shuttle getting back to our car.

The Best Looking Yard On The Block...Not Really

2009-05-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

Things have been crazy busy since we moved into our new home. We really enjoy it, but I have found, and my Dad agrees with me, that a home can suck the time and money right from of you. I have been trying to get our yard looking okay. I found out by talking to a all of my neighbors that before the previous owners moved out, they just turned off the sprinklers and let the grass die. They thought it would get enough water from the rain. Um.. I don't think so; we live in a desert! Jeremy and I have been hoping that it would come back with a little love, but that has not worked. So the past few weeks I have fertilized, pulled weeds, sprayed weeds, raked ALL of the dead grass (which consists of most of our yard front and back), and we also made sure our sprinkling system works, and is ready to go this season. Now we are going to take this to the next level. Tomorrow we are going to till up our yard, and start from scratch. We have never done this before, so wish us luck.

First Birthday

2009-03-02T09:07:00.000-08:00

Riley just turned one on Feb. 6. So, that was nearly a month ago, and I haven't posted about it yet. I have just been a little busy. She is such a girl. She got spoiled, once again. We had two parties and two cakes. One party was here in Cedar with the Andrews family, and one later in SLC with the Zollingers. They were both a lot of fun.

Riley loves Jewelry.

She ate her "My little Pony" cake, but didn't get too messy. That is just how she is.

After the party all of the kids got in the tub. Dax and Riley thought it was fun to have someone new to bath with. The cute little boy is their cousin Ed.

McCall and I had made plans for Riley and Ryan's birthday cakes a few weeks before the party. I had so much fun decorating these cakes. I think McCall had a lot of fun too. The party in SLC was for the two girls and my Dad, so we made a cake for him too.

Ryan got the idea to dive into her little cake, but Riley just wasn't quite sure what to do.

It ended up being a VERY long day for the Riley Bug.

Our First Home

2009-03-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

We moved to Cedar at the beginning of the year, and just closed on a home. I think that it is a beautiful home in a beautiful part of Cedar. We are in the process of re-finishing the wood floor, removing some interesting brick wall paper, painting, and cleaning it before we move in. We think it will be so awesome when it is all done. Until then it is going to be a lot of work. We are blessed to have family willing to help us out so much to get this project done.

The Lost Christmas Photo

2009-02-20T09:47:00.000-08:00

I finally have the cutest picture of Dax and his Papa in the blizzard on Christmas Day building their snowman.

Funny Dax

2009-02-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

Dax is such a funny little guy. At the dinner table this past week he got a head start on his dinner before we said a blessing. So when it was time to pray Rene told him jokingly that he should keep his mouth open so we could bless the food that he had already eaten. I barely made it through the prayer without laughing because Dax had kept his mouth wide open from the start to the amen.
Another funny thing that happened this past week and it just made my day. I put Riley down for her morning nap, and told Dax to be good and quiet so Riley doesn't wake up. Well, a while later I got out of the shower and heard Riley giggling and nothing from Dax. I walk into the kid's room, and it was like a white cloud in there. I could only see Riley standing up in her crib and bouncing up and down, and laughing. Her skin and hair was so white. Then I saw Dax sitting down in her crib with the big bottle of baby powder. He had shaken about half the bottle of powder all over her and rubbed it into her hair. Then he said the cutest thing, "I am making her so beautiful," as he rubbed her head and a puff of white powder floated up into the air. Days like that one just make it so easy to remember how funny and innocent litte children are.

Stand Up like a Big Girl

2009-01-25T15:10:00.000-08:00

I don't have a picture for this yet, but Riley is starting to stand up all by herself. She has not taken any steps yet, but I'm sure that she will get to that soon. Instead, she stands up and balances there for a while, then raised both arms in the air and does a body slam on the floor. It is the cutest, yet scariest thing in the world. Every time she does this I worry that she will not catch herself and just nose-plant it right onto the hard wood floor. Well, I guess if she does do that she will learn. I will try to get a video or something to show everyone what I am talking about.

Moving back to Cedar

2009-01-20T14:15:00.000-08:00

These are pictures of Dax and Riley playing out in the snow in Delta right before we moved to Cedar.
On January 9th, we moved our family back to Cedar City. We were just getting accustomed to and liking Delta, when we found out that we were going to move back to Cedar. We always knew that Delta was just a stepping stone for us, and that we would not be there for too long, but we never thought that we would move out after just a year. I had so much fun coaching volleyball and getting to know so many people in the town. I also found a great group of women that I would run with training for the St. George Half Marathon. One of my best friends, Shannon and I, would go on our long runs on Fridays in the very early mornings sometimes at 5:00 am. She would drive from Deseret into Delta and we would go run around Delta, mostly on the 40 acre farm roads. I remember one of the first long runs that I went on with her I had no idea of how cold it was going to be so I just wore Jeremy's snowboarding pants and a ton of layers. I finished the ten miles and vowed never to wear those pants again. Another run we went on was about -8 or -9 degrees, and my eyelashes froze, and every time I blinked they stuck together. Even in the cold, I still had fun.
After we moved to our second home in Delta, and finished out the volleyball season, I finished unpacking our boxes and got the rest of the pictures on the wall. Then about two months later at the beginning of December we recieved an email saying that our landlords were needing to move back to their home that we were renting, and that we needed to find another place to live. We were a bit stressed out, but three days later Jeremy's boss called and told him that they were going to move us back to Cedar City. So all in all everything worked out just fine. We are staying with Rene and Teresa until we find a place to buy. They are so great, and so patient with us. Dax and Riley really like living here with them too. We are excited to be back in Cedar. We love the town, and we love being so close to McCall, Jared, and Ryan. We hope to play a lot with them.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-01T14:58:00.000-08:00

Christmas was so much fun this year. Our little family packed our bags and Santa's bag, and got in the Pathfinder and drove to Salt Lake on Christmas Eve. We made it just in time to go bowling with my whole family and Justin and John Park. Dax did quite well, taking turns with Jeremy and I. His attention span was stunted by all of the shiny and flashing lights of the arcade room on the other end of the building. He kept darting down to drive the race car game. I think that he has become too comfortable going off by himself here in Delta. I don't worry too much about him when we go out somewhere here, but when he takes off by himself in stores, or bowling alleys in this case, I do get more stressed. When we move to Cedar next week I will have to teach him a bit better to stay close.
For the first time in a long time I have not gotten sick on Christmas Eve. I always find myself hugging the toilet seat around the holidays. Jeremy thinks that I get too excited about the presents, but I'm not so sure about that. As a matter of fact, everyone was healthy this year.
Dax, Grandma, Bree, Ann, and I made some sugar cookies for Santa after dinner. It was so much fun because Dax understood exactly what he had to do for Santa; leave him a plate of cookies and a carrot for his reindeer. He loved using the cutters and did a great job frosting too, but his favorite part was the sprinkles.
After Dax and Riley went to bed Jeremy and I started wrapping all the gifts from Santa. We forgot our wrapping paper, so we used the newspaper. That was okay because when I was younger Santa always ran out of wrapping paper when he got to our house, so he used the newspaper too. I bet that Dax would make a comment about it, and sure enough he said "this is not wrapping paper," but he wasn't disappointed.
Andrea was so cute with Dax on Christmas Eve. She asked him if he would want to sleep in her room for the night. She made him a little bed and let him borrow her build-a-bear tiger since he left his at home. When we were all living at home, before we got married, we would always sleep in the same room together, and sneak and take a peak at our gifts. With Dax there Andrea kept that tradition alive. She said that Dax woke up at 4:00 am asking if it was time to open presents. I was shocked when she told him no. I thought that she would have gone up with him in a heartbeat, but she told him no, and they went back to sleep.
For the first time in the Zollinger home the parents were up before the children. Jeremy and I, my Mom and Dad were up at 7:30 am, and everyone else didn't get up until 8:00 am. Dax knew exactly what presants were his because on one of them I taped a big picture of Po from Kung Fu Panda on the front of one of his gifts. He wasted no time, and didn't wait for everyone to get to the living room. Luckily, Jeremy had the video camera out, and I had my camera to catch the first gifts being opened. We had such a great time watching Dax open all of the gifts for him and for everyone else. To say the least, Santa found our family and spoiled us. Dax got some snowpants, a jacket, hat and gloves. As soon as he could he got my dad to go out into the blizzard and build a snowman, and to shovel the snow. That will always be a classic memory of mine.
After we got Dax and my Dad out of the storm we convinced Dax to take a nap and then go over to Krissy and Dave's home to see Grandma and Grandpa Andrews, and maybe open some more gifts. He was okay with that, but did not like the idea of leaving my parents. When we got to Krissy's, Jason was out in the road with a shovel, trying to dig a spot out for us to park in. What an awesome guy! We went inside, and is was Christmas all over again. Dax did not hesitate opening the gifts that Teresa kept piling in front of him. It was so fun to watch. He even helped everyone else open a few of their presents. We got spoiled, again. After a while, we helped get a delicious dinner ready for that evening. We had a great time visiting with our family, then we had to get back and try to wrestle our kids to bed because they were so wound up from all of the festivities of the day.

Dax's Birthday, and Thanksgiving

2008-12-12T09:38:00.000-08:00

Well, a lot has happened in the past two months. Dax had his third birthday on November 1st. We celebrated down in Cedar City with the Andrews, as well as in SLC with the Zollinger family. He had a great time. He told Grandma Teresa that he wanted a monster cake, and that is just what he got. Right after he blew out the candles he licked the frosting. I thought that was so cute. Of course that is the piece that he got.
After that we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Bass side of the family in Hunting Utah. It was so much fun. I was looking foreward to running around the farm, but it was too muddy, so I ran along the highway. I loved that because I was running on hills. We have only one hill in Delta, and it is not that big, so when my wole run was on a hill I wasn't sure how to handle it. All in all, I had to work a lot harder. Thanksgiving dinner/lunch was so good I think that I ate enough, and then some more. Dax had a lot of fun playing with cousin Matt's kids, and uncle Mike's kids, and Riley just tried to stay away from Kendra, who kept whalloping on her. After spending some time in Huntington, we traveled to Cedar to spend time with Rene and Teresa, and to get some Christmas shopping done. When I had a Walmart I didn't like it much, and now that I don't have one I still don't like it, but I appreciate it a lot more. Then we went home back to Delta, and put up our Christmas tree and other decorations. Dax and Riley had a lot of fun setting everything up. I think that Dax had the most fun setting up his and Riley's very own tree in their room.
A lot more has happened since then, and I will catch up with that later when I have more time.

Beautiful Riley

2008-11-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

Riley just turned nine months last week, but I went to get her pictures taken when she was eight months old. I got them back and now I am posting them so you can see how cute she is.

Halloween, and State VB

2008-11-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

This year we were at my parents home in South Jordan for Halloween. I was not able to be there for all of the dress up, or trick-or-treating because I was at UVU coaching volleyball at the State Tournament. Jeremy said that Dax and Riley had a lot of fun. They went to visit their cousin Ed, who dressed up as the cutest wookiee ever. Dax was a cowboy, and Riley was a bumble bee. Dax had been looking forward to Halloween for quite some time, and didn't have to collect much of anything besides a shirt and a horse. He already had boots, Wranglers, guns and holsters, badge, and hat. You see, all of these are common items in Delta, UT for little boys. Ha Ha.

I was told Riley was missing me, and was being pretty fussy and clingy. Then Stephanie and Jordan came over, and Riley took to Steph as if she were me. We do look alike in some ways, but the resemblance must have been enough to fool Riley. Steph ended up as my impersonator for the evening, taking the kids around trick-or-treating so Jeremy could get them on camera. Thanks for the help Steph.

Here is a picture of Riley and her cousin Ryan. Two little black cats crawling all over the place.

Kokopelli Triathlon

2008-10-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

On Sept 20th we went down to St. George to compete in the Kokopelli Triathlon. My Dad, Jeremy, and I had been training long and hard for this race. Last year I did the Summer Games triathlon, and convinced my Dad and Jeremy to do another one with me this year. It had to be later in the summer because I had to get back in shape after Riley was born.
Race morning finally came. It seemed like we had been training forever. We made sure that our bike tires were pumped up, set up our transition area, picked up our timing chips, and put on our wetsuits. Then we just waited to start. I think that was the worst part. All of the training that we did came down to this morning. There were about 800 athletes competing, so they started everyone out in different waves, Intermediate and Relay groups went first, starting at 7:50 am. Then they started the Sprint divisions after that. Around 8:00 am I gave my Dad a hug and wished him good luck. He made his way down to the dock and they started his group. Then I gave Jeremy a hug before he went down to the dock. They started his group soon after my Dad's, and then it was my turn. As I waited in the water with all of the other million pink caps, which seemed like forever, the race director said that our wave was going to be delayed because they had to pick up two men out of the water that were not going to finish the race and bring them back to the dock. The first thing that went through my mind was, "oh no, please don't let it be Jeremy or my Dad". They were both so worried about the swim leg of the race, I hoped that they didn't freeze up and not want to finish. Luckily it was some guy that dislocated his shoulder and some other guy. I was so relieved Jeremy and my Dad were out there somewhere still swimming. Then they gave us one minute heads-up before they blew the horn to start my group. We all started situating ourselves to get a place to start. Some place themselves in the very front, and some try to stay back and avoid the kicking and hitting of the swim start. I placed myself right behind the competitive ladies in the front. I knew I was not the fastest swimmer in the group, but I knew I wanted to get a good spot. They blew the horn and everyone was scrambling to get a spot to swim. People getting kicked and hit left and right just to get an edge on the other racers. I loved it. It didn't take me more than 50 m to get my own spot.
I guess Jeremy's experience was not so great. He made sure that he had a good easy spot to start with so he didn't have to fight for position. A few minutes into the swim he started to sight, or make sure that he was swimming in the right direction, and then out of no where...wham! Some guy kicked Jeremy right in the neck, just under his jaw. Jeremy was struggling for air, swallowing more water than he would like. One of the guys in a kayak noticed Jeremy struggling came over and let him hold on and recover. Jeremy held on for a few minutes just dry heaving. After a few minutes Jeremy decided that all of his hard work training all spring and summer would not be wasted, and he finished the swim. As you can see in the pictures he was elated to be done with the swim leg.
After we finished the swim we had to run up the ramp into the transition area and get ready for the bike leg of the race. I don't think that any of us had too much trouble on the bike, except for my Dad.
There were a few sharp turns on the course where there would be volunteers telling us to slow down for the turn. My Dad acknowledged the warning and thought he was going slow enough, but he still flew off of the race course...twice. Once on the way out, and once on the way back to the transition area. Both times he avoided falling and getting road rash. Good thing they decided to go with tape to block off the course instead of cement barriers.
There was one part of the bike that was tough to get through. It is almost a mile long and 6% grade. The great thing about going up a huge steep hill in an out-and-back course is that you get to go down it too. On the way down the hill I looked at my bike computer and I was cruising at over 40 mph! That was so fun, and the crazy thing about it, there were some people going faster than I was.
After we got back to the transition area, we had to get ready for the final leg of the race, the run. The race directors decided to change the run from the paved road to an off road, sandy run. We agreed that this part of the race was one of the hardest because we didn't train on sand, so our times were all a few minutes slower that what we were predicting. At the finish line, a bunch of our family were there cheering us on. For me, that helped out a lot.
We all did a great job in the race. I took 102nd out of 527 total racers, 22nd out of 235 women, and 10th out of 52 women in my age division. My total time was 1:31:12.9.
Jeremy took 201st out of 527 total racers, 139th out of 281 men, and 27th out of 59 men in his age division. Jeremy's total time was 1:40:09.6.
My Dad placed 168th out of 527 total racers, 125 out of 231 men, and 7th out of 14 in his age division. His total time was 1:37:14.5.
I hope my Dad and Jeremy were not too upset that they got beat by a girl.
After the race was all over Jeremy and I knew that we wanted to do more races next season. My Dad wanted to give himself a day or so to decide weather or not he had that much fun to do more. About a week after the race we were all talking about how much fun the race was and doing another triathlon next year.

Moving

2008-09-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that we moved into a new home here in Delta. Good rentals are far and few between here, so when we had the opportunity to move into this nice place we jumped right on it. Some of our good friends, the Brians, told us that they were moving out to Southerland. They knew that we were trying to find some other place to live, and they asked us if we were interested in moving into their home (which is actually their brother's home). We moved between our Lake Powell trips back in August. Thanks to Rene and Teresa we were all moved in a day. Our new home is only .4 mi. from our old home, and it is so much bigger and nicer! I am grateful for our friends who are always looking out for us.

Lake Powell II

2008-09-10T09:03:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to go to Lake Powell again at the end of August. We had a lot of fun. The temperatures were much cooler than the first trip, but we were not able to ski much at all. Jeremy and Jared skied once, and that was about it. Instead, we went to see the Indian ruins one day, and we went down to Iceberg Canyon for another day trip. Besides that we just hung out on the boat and in the water having fun.

Our little family had an exciting time because Dax must have caught a bug, or got food poisoning the second night. He was up all night barfing his little guts out every half hour. After that night he just was not his normal excited, go go go self. He just laid on the couch and slept all the next day. The last few days were better. He wanted to go swim, play in the sand, build a fire, and even go off of the slide. We had to call our trip off a day early so I could get back to Delta to coach. As always, all good things come to an end. We are already excited for the trip next year!

Running Millard County 5k's

2008-08-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

This picture has nothing to do with this entry, I just like it. This summer my Dad, Jeremy and I have been training for a triathlon in Sept. As part of our training, Jeremy and I have entered into some of the local races in Millard County. Our first race was in Hinkley, where Jeremy and I both took 2nd place in our age divisions. The second race was the Millard County fair race in Delta. Jeremy took 2nd again in his age division and I won the overall women's division, and they race director said that I was only 4 seconds off from breaking the womens record. That sounds pretty cool to be the overall winner, but this race was a lot smaller than the others that we have raced in. Still, on that day I was the fastest woman in Delta, UT. The last race of the summer was Saturday in Oak City. It was all down hill out of the canyon, so Jeremy and I are still hobbling. Jeremy wasn't feeling very well, and he ran it in 24:12. That was my fastest 5K race time ever. I ran it in 23:29. I did have an advantage. I was pushing Dax and Riley in the stroller, or I should say that they were pulling me down the mountain. I did not try to hold back and slow down, I just let my legs go, and I flew down the mountain. I had a lot of fun.

Coaching Volleyball

2008-08-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to take a position as an assistant volleyball coach at Delta High School. I have always wanted to coach on the High School level, and now I finally get the chance to. At first I was not sure if I could juggle work and kids, but I was assured by Deb, the head coach, that everything will work out. She has got lots of connections with a lot of girls that are more than willing to help watch Dax and Riley. So far it is going very well. Last week we had tryouts, and now we are starting practice. Next week is our first game, and I am anxious to see which team I end up coaching. I will either be with the JV, or the Freshmen. I never thought that I would ever say this, but... GO RABBITS!

Two Teeth, and Sitting Up.

2008-08-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

Just after we got back from vacation Riley got two brand new teeth. On Sunday the 10th I was checking her gums because they had been bothering her and sure enough there were two little teeth poking through her little red gums. After they had broke through she was so much happier.
The next day on the 11th, Riley was sitting up all by herself. She does a great job of correcting herself when she starts to tip over. She has a bit of a round bottom still and tips over a little bit now and then, but she has gotten better every day.

More on Lake Powell

2008-08-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun, and did so much at Lake Powell that I wasn't able to finish everything that I wanted to write about.
Everyone was able to make it except for Jared. He was was still in Minnesota for work, but we are excited to see him at the next Powell trip at the end of the month.
Dax loved hunting lizards with McCall. I think he would hunt all day with McCall if she would let him. They took water guns and sprayed the lizard when they found them. When the lizard was stunned is when they were able to grab the lizard and put it in their bucket. They found and caught a few lizards and they gave them names.
He also loved hiking with Jordan and looking for firewood with him. He was very excited about making a fire for dinner.
We had a few days of afternoon thunderstorms. We would all get out of the water and out of the rain, but Dax did not care that we were calling him inside to get out of the storm. He just stayed in the lake and enjoyed the raindrops, until he knew he was going to get into trouble.

Jeremy and I are very grateful for Dax and Riley's aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I don't know if we would have survived the trip if they were not so willing to help us watch, hold, feed, change, and play with Dax and Riley.

Lake Powell

2008-08-10T14:51:00.001-07:00

There has been a good reason that I have not been keeping up on the blog. We have been at Lake Powell with my family. Every year in the last week of July and first part of August we all go to Lake Powell to get away from everything back at home. This year we drove down to Halls instead of parking it in Bullfrog. I think that Powell is so beautiful, I consider it my heaven here on earth.
This year was much different than those in the past. We had three little ones to look after and to keep cool. Dax was looking forward to this vacation months in advance, almost every day he would ask if it was our turn to go on Papa Mark's boat, and he was so excited when we were finally there on the lake. He did not stop for one minute for the first two days. He had no fear of the water, which is a good thing and at the same time a bad thing. On the back of the houseboat there is a water slide that has about a five foot drop to the water from the end of the slide. I thought that maybe by the end of the trip he could go off of it with us, but he asked Jeremy if he would go with him the very first day. I thought for sure he would be a little afraid or shocked when he came up, but before he could wipe his face or take another breath he said, "Let's go again!" He also tried slaloming, wake boarding, wake skating, and tubing but his favorite was jumping off of the back deck of the houseboat with his arms spread out and eyes wide, yelling, "To infinity and beyond!" Andrea found a Spiderman fishing pole and Dax imediatly took claim to it and wanted to fish every minute of that day, and the next.
I must say, it was a challenge trying to keep Riley, and her chubby cheeked cousin, Ryan cool. Almost every hour we had the two little girls in the water. The two little girls loved kicking around in their little yellow tubes, and the only place that they took a real nap was on the ski boat. Everywhere else was too hot for them to sleep. It seemed as soon as the engine started up their eyes became heavy, and were shut until everyone was done taking their turns on the skis, or wake boards.
Jeremy is getting so good on the ski. Before the trip he had been reading some tips online that would he could use to help him cut harder. I must say that those tips helped because he skied a lot harder, and he looked so good...almost as good as my Dad.
This year was my first year back that I wasn't pregnant, so I tried to wake board again. It was like riding a bike. I got up just fine, and had a fun time with it. I can't do anything awesome like McCall, so I just go out and have a good time. On the last day I decided that I needed to learn how to ski because I was the only one who didn't know how to do both, wake board and ski. I got up just fine, but I was pretty scared once I got going, I screamed a lot. I tried it again, and felt a lot better. I will keep trying to get better. I just love being out on the lake.
Well, all good things come to an end, and we had to clean up and hand the houseboat over to the next family. We were sad to go back home, but at the same time we were looking forward to the next Lake Powell trip in September.

Rollie Pollie Riley

2008-07-15T14:17:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the 12th Riley started rolling over from her back to her tummy. Now she can practically get to whatever she wants. It is great that she is developing and learning new things, but that means she is growing up. I just hope that she doesn't grow up too fast on us.

The Ponderosas

2008-07-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went camping up by Oak City with some of our friends, the Stanworths and the Bryans, in a place called the Ponderosas. The kids had so much fun. The moment we got there Dax was digging in the dirt, and playing down by the creek with Madeline, Hyat, Anna, Seth and Ian. At first it was a challenge trying to establish boundaries for the kids. They all kept running away and getting too close to the fire or the stream, but after a while they understood what they could and couldn't do. Dax loved throwing rocks into the stream, finding sticks for the fire, and eating the camp food. Jeremy and I were so impressed with how well Dax ate while we were up there because usually when he is having so much fun he wont stop to eat anything, but he sat down with the rest of the kids and ate dinner and breakfast. One of the cutest things that he did was he and Madeline pulled their chairs over by the bank of the creek and just sat there and watched and talked. When it was time to go all of the kids were so tired and didn't want to leave. Dax and the other kids cried when we were taking down the tents and loading up our cars. I guess we will just have to go camping up there again. I wouldn't mind one bit.

Diving for Prizes

2008-07-15T12:40:00.001-07:00

Dax went to the pool last week to dive for prizes. Every month in the summer all of the kids in Delta get to dive for prizes. The lifeguards put colored washers at the bottom of the pool, or the stairs for the little kids, and they get to pick them up, and turn them in for prizes. Dax just goes to town when they blow the whistle to start. He gets so many washers that he has to give me his handfuls so he can keep picking them up. Both times that we have been Dax has come away with a lot of toys and candy. Last month he walked away with six buckets and shovels, some plastic toys, and a few pieces of candy. This month he won two patriotic pinwheels, two slap bracelets, a sticky hand toy, and a bunch of candy. I am glad that he has so much fun in the pool. I'm sure we will be going to the pool every week practicing for next month.

4th of July

2008-07-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

This year for the 4th of July we went to the West Jordan parade. I think this picture describes the how much Dax enjoyed it. Let's just say it wasn't worth the hour wait that we had. Thanks to my Mom, we were able to get a spot on the Wells Fargo exit. The parade was pretty lame, with only two or three truly decorated floats. The rest of the "floats" were just cars or four wheelers driving down the street handing out little advertisement papers. We left early because Dax decided to lay down and take a nap. If he wasn't going to watch the parade, then neither were we. Later that night we went to see the West Jordan fireworks. Again, we waited at least an hour, and then finally at about 11:00 p.m., and still no fireworks, we decided to go home and do a few of Stephanie and Jordan's fireworks. So all in all, our 4th of July ended up as a disappointment, but we still had a lot of fun playing outside in the pool in the backyard, and having fun with the family.

Big Girl Food

2008-07-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

Riley started eating cereal from a spoon at the end of last month. I think she really likes it, especially when I put a little juice in it for her. She always wants to try the food that we are eating. She loves to taste watermelon, tomatoes, crackers, pickles, and anything else that she can get her hands on. Since everything that she grabs at, and gets a hold of, goes strait to her mouth. This last weekend at Grammie Sally's, and Papa Mark's house she got a whole lot of good stuff to try, including applesauce and even chocolate licorice.

Little Fishes

2008-07-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

After spending some time in Cedar City we all went down with Jeremy for his work meeting to St. George. We stayed in the Abbey Inn, and had so much fun. They had a great outdoor kiddie pool that we all played in. Dax is like a little fish. He loves to put his head in the water and hold his breath, or blow bubbles like a motor boat. He also finds enjoyment splashing the rest of us, including Riley. She doesn't mind much at all. She just takes a minute, rubs her eyes, and goes back to laughing at all of the silly stuff Dax is doing in the pool. The second day in St. George we did some shopping and then we come across a water park on Main St. Dax had so much fun in the fountain. He played in the fountain, the little waterfall, and stream for about two hours. It's a good thing that I had a bottle of sunscreen in the car.

MMMMM....BARDS!

2008-07-07T10:56:00.000-07:00

Summer Games this year was a lot of fun. I played with two of my sisters, Steph and Bree, my cousin Sher, and two of my friends, Lindsay and Cheryl. I had so much fun playing, and we didn't do too bad either. We took 6th out of 20 teams in total. I know I am getting older, but I still want to keep my edge, and play competitively with all of the young bucks. We had a lot of family and friends come to cheer us on. We love to have that support. Thank you.

Cedar City Trip

2008-07-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

We took a trip down to Cedar City to visit Papa and Grandma Andrews (Rene and Teresa), celebrate Dave's birthday, and to compete in the Summer Games volleyball tournament. We all had so much fun. As a bonus, Jeremy found a sweet deal on some irons, and got to test them out with Rene and Jason. I think he likes them a lot and hopes to use them as often as he can.
Dax loves to play in Papa's back yard and look for "toady-toads," or more commonly know and Horny Toads, (Phrynosoma). He is very good at it too. He knows just where to look and always finds one, even if it is with some help. Dax even got to ride the yellow "zoom zoom" with his Papa Rene. Rene even got a little helmet for him to wear. It looks sweet on him!

Mr. Dax & Riley Bug

2008-06-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

Dax, 2, and Riley, 4 mo. are brother and sister. Dax loves to play hard, and has a short attention span, so I was very happy when I could get him to sit still for a few seconds and hold Riley for a few pictures. Riley is pretty easy going, and loves to laugh at her silly big brother.