YES!

What's better than running a half marathon and beating your personal record which you previously thought impossible? Running that marathon with 6 other amazing women (and one man - can't forget Scott!). Today we ran the See Jane Run Half Marathon. And you should see us run! I was so proud of each of my running friends! We all accomplished our goals. It was great. And I broke my two hour barrier! (My official time was 1:53!!) I didn't think it was possible, but Marianna pushed me to new limits. Someday she's going to do the Boston and I'm going to say I once trained with that great runner. :) Thanks Marianna and to that guy at mile 12 who yelled "Good job 477!" (my bib number) I needed that. And to Devin Yeates for taking this cool picture of me as I'm about to cross the finish line.

Before the great event (not pictured is Jenny Miner who I loved running with!)
A few of us after the race (notice our medals!):

Giddy - Up!

To complete Skyla's birthday wish, we went horse back riding on Memorial Day. Unfortunately Karsten fell asleep on the way there and so David graciously stayed with him while we had a fun mommy daughter time. Marianna and Kyla joined us and we had an amazing time. The girls were thrilled to be able to ride horses by themselves (instead of us leading the horses while they sit on it which is what we've done in the past.) We went on a trail down to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful. It made me want to be a cowgirl and ride horses all the time! And the funniest thing was I had the smallest horse! I knew it was a success every time I looked at Skyla and she had the biggest smile on her face. She said, "I want to do this every birthday!" (And might I just add it is very hard to take pictures of people riding a horse while riding a horse. Then my battery died... grrrr.)

Big News

The little man is potty trained! It was as easy as pie. I told him when he was big (meaning no more diapers) he could have a "big" lightsaber (the kind that lights up). So Monday we put underwear on. He has not had a single accident. Not one. Not in the night. Not when we were at a museum in the city on his second day of potty training. Not when he was at a friend's house all day on Thursday. Not one!!! It's amazing. It's exactly how I wanted potty training to be. We're really done with diapers! Don't ask me how this happened. I have no idea. It cannot be repeated. It's beyond my wildest imagination as I thought it would take him starting kindergarten to decide to give up his beloved diapers. I think I've used up all my good karma on this one... And if so it was worth it!!!

I love little underwear bums!!!

Cherry Baby

Skyla was born right here in Berkeley CA seven years ago today! I can't believe it.

Skyla is suddenly obsessed with cherries so of course we had to have a cherry birthday. She made a big decision on her birthday and got her ears pierced! Yes, she cried. In fact I was a little worried that she was going to come home with only one ear pierced. But she did it! For her special birthday dinner she chose grilled salmon and jello and corn on the cob. (Complete with a shirley temple with a cherry of course!) Interesting choice for a seven year olds that's for sure...

Let's just say it takes lots and lots of red food dye to make red frosting...

Dog Days

Aspen has finished her Puppy I class! This means that we (the owners) have been officially trained. The kids and I have been going to class with her for the last 6 weeks. Let me just say, puppy class is adorable! There were four other little puppies, including this adorable bulldog, BeeDee. While learning to sit, stay, don't touch, and come the puppies had a chance to play together. As you can see by the picture, it's VERY hard to get a picture of 5 rambunctious puppies.

Aspen has doubled in size since we got her. Her first vet appointment she weighed 6 pounds and now she's 12! It's amazing to think she used to be so little!

Weekend in Vegas

David and I spent an unusally hot (106 degrees on Sunday!) kid-free weekend in Vegas! We had an incredible time but unfortunately for the blog,

What happens in Vegas

stays in Vegas...

Hahaha. Also unfortunate is that the calories consumed in Vegas, don't stay in Vegas. They came right home with me on the plane...

Pictures don't do justice

Ouch! Sierra's (third) black eye. That's what she gets for standing too close to someone batting. Thank goodness it was not a wood bat...

Ugh! If this is Karsten's face, you can only imagine the rest of him... How is it possible for one boy to get so messy? Ohhh! That tooth of Skyla's is coming in! I'm ready to yank her other top one out so she'll be missing both at the same time!

Mother's Day

No better day than today to look at the three best things in my life!

No better day than today to say THANK YOU to my

wonderful and amazing husband!

No better day than today to say THANK YOU to my own amazing mom

who gave me a perfect childhood that I'm realizing is

much much harder to duplicate.

No better day than today to say THANK YOU to all the other mothers

in my life for their ideas and examples and hugs.

Amazing Sunday

Today was such amazing day at church that I just have to share. Instead of everyone going their separate ways to teach primary, young women's, etc. all the women met after sacrament meeting together. The men graciously took over all the teaching and music so we had ALL the sisters together for two hours. There were 10 women who spoke and the topic was "climbing their spiritual summit." Each speaker had a unique idea and perspective and each one made me cry. It is so neat to hear about others' spiritual experiences and with each one to be reminded of God's love for each and every one of us. I was asked to lead (which is funny because I am horrible at leading the music... I can play the piano but I've never been good leading) which turned out to be my favorite part because at the end of this amazing meeting, I stood up to lead the music and I could see ALL of these truly amazing women - women who are so good and compassionate and caring. We were all there together and I could see all of them! There is so much power in a group of women like that. Not power like to take over the world, but power to CHANGE the world. I am so proud to be a part of this organization and serve among these women. Needless to say I had a very hard time leading the music because I couldn't sing since each time I'd look into the crowd I'd see the woman in nursery who has helped my son so much or the woman who teaches my daughter's class or my friends smiling encouragingly at me, (I could go on and on!) etc. and I would start to get emotional all over again. It's truly amazing to me the amount of service and love that happen on a daily basis. Thank you sisters for being truly inspiring.

Stop and Smell the Roses

This is the rose bush in front of our house and I don't know why, but I feel so much better about mankind as a whole as I see that people really do stop and smell the roses. Even men who look like they wouldn't stop and smell roses stop and smell roses. It's a beautiful world.

Pack it in!

What do you do when your husband has a work retreat in San Diego? You pack up your kids and hit the road! We had limited amount of time so we crammed it in! It was so wonderful being on vacation WITH David!

Saturday we went to the San Diego zoo,

Sunday was Sea World, and

Monday was Disneyland.

Getting there, (due to LA traffic) was more of a problem than I anticipated. We finally got through LA traffic, through the Orange County traffic and when I thought we could finally drive close to the speed limit, more traffic. In utter frustration I pulled off the road and suddenly there was the ocean. I followed the road and there was a little parking lot and the beach! We got out and played for a couple of hours and it was heaven. The water was SO warm and the beach was so beautiful I forgave all those people for causing such awful traffic, because I would want to live here too to have access to these beaches. We saw the sun set and it was perfect...


Our first adventure started at the San Diego Zoo. We bought a pass where we were able to ride the double decker bus and the sky tram. Worth every penny to not to have to walk that whole zoo. This zoo is HUGE! Spring turned out to be the perfect time to go because we were able to see so many zoo babies! We saw some baby monkies, baby red swamp hogs, and of course the baby panda!

David was supposed to go to a fancy dinner Saturday night at the Petco Stadium where the San Diego Padres play. He ditched the dinner to be with us so we ate pizza outside of the stadium and had much more fun. We were rewarded by some really nice San Diegoans who gave us cupcakes from her son's birthday party. Sweet!

After a hot day at the zoo, we were ready for some swimming at David's fancy hotel. It was right downtown San Diego and we were on the 19th floor so had an amazing view of the bay. Not only were the rooms amazing and the pool water warm, but the workout room was to die for! Each treadmill had it's own tv with headphones and fresh fruit to snack on after your hard workout.


The next day was Sea World. It was amazing! We started the day by going to the dolphin show and Skyla was chosen out of two thousand other people to be in it! Her and David got to go up in front of everyone and be part of the show. One of the trainers was David's "pretend" wife so it was funny to see my husband and daughter with this strange woman in front of everyone introduced as the Hymas Family. David got to give the dolphin a command and wear some funky boots. Skyla was the hit of the show. When Skyla got to touch the dolphin, the trainer asked her what the dolphin felt like. She was quiet for a few minutes and I was so nervous for her. Maybe she was too embarrassed in front of all those people, or maybe the smell of fish was making her sick and she was going to throw up. But then the trainer started laughing and said, "We've never gotten that for a response before. She said it feels like a hot dog." The whole stand laughed. She did a great job. The trainer was pretending to be David's wife because during part of the show she "fell" in the water. David did a great job pretending to be concerned that his wife just fell in a pool of dolphins.

So while Sierra, Karsten and I are watching the show, we quickly came to understand what the "soak zone" is all about. Those dolphins drenched us! After the first splash Sierra yelled "Go low!" and hid under the bleachers. I was trying to shield Karsten who was crying and we were hiding behind the people in front of us. When the dolphins came around for the second round Sierra took off for higher ground and I didn't see her again until after the show. I just kept thinking that was it, but then those dolphins would come around and get us again. Karsten was so upset by this that when we went to the Shamu show, he went to the very top of the bleachers and yelled, "Those dolphins can't get me here!"

Sierra, who has loved dolphins since kindergarten, finally got to touch and feed them. It was a dream come true.

A truly great day!

Disneyland!!! What can I say about the magic of Disneyland!? It was so weird because this is the first time we have gone to Disneyland and the main objective was NOT to meet princesses. I miss my little girls, but I sure had fun with my big girls! All my kids were tall enough to ride the rides! Karsten is my tough little guy and even went on Space Mountain with us! My favorite moment was when we were watching the Jedi Training session and low and behold, who should appear but Darth Vader! Karsten started crying and kept saying, "Let's get out of here!" He was so scared and I was so mean because I couldn't stop laughing. The kids loved riding in the submarine and shooting Zurg in the Buzz Lightyear ride. Autopia was definitely a favorite as well. Sierra drove her own car! Not bad but I'm glad she has 7 more years to work on her coordination before she gets a chance to do the real thing. Skyla was scared to death but David made her try and she loved it!!!




We ended our Anaheim time eating at the Rain Forest Cafe with some of our friends. I was excited for the girls to eat there because when Sierra was little and we ate there she cried and cried because she was afriad of the animals. Luckily there were no tears this time - just lots of yummy food!
We made it home safe and sound and let me just say, I am exhausted! We'll have to eat out tonight because the thought of standing in even a grocery line is too much... :)

April Showers

Actually I don't think it rained once in April, but here are some things that did happen:

*I started a photography class and I'm learning what all the buttons on my camera do. My camera can actually do some really cool things! The teacher is a bit frustrating, but dessert with my girlfriends AFTER the class makes sitting through the class all worth it.

*Karsten and I went to a special toddler class at Crab Cove and learned all about bugs. It was so much fun and I loved having this special time with my little guy. We're at the ocean and it's beautiful and we're finding cool bugs and plants and his favorite part was the tractor driving by... Go figure. That or watching the lady with the metal detector. She even let him have a go and he found a quarter! Now that was cool...

*Skyla and Sierra both proved themselves formidable forces in soccer scoring goals in their games.

*Our dear friend Andy's tapas dinner birthday party! I don't think we've laughed that hard in a really really long time... There's nothing like hanging with old friends and it was so much fun!

*Mommy beach day! The temperature at the beach was hot and so were we in our swimsuits. :)

*My little nephew Owen's surgery was a success!

*Zoo Day!

*Let's Go Oakland! The season has started and we've been able to go to three of the A's games already. In fact, we're all now the proud owners of the Travis Buck bobblehead. Sweeeet! (David made me go to the game 2 hours early to wait in line so we'd be sure to get them while he took Sierra to her soccer game. Collecting bobble heads is serious business.)

*Aspen is fully immunized! That means she can go to the park and play with other dogs without fear that she'll get sick. That's the good news. The bad news is she can now jump UP on the couch. It was her last frontier...

*After a particularly rough day yesterday, I went into my girls' room to grab their dirty laundry while they were sleeping. This is how I found Skyla... There's nothing like a child's whatever you want to call it to make me forget my bad mood.