Hailey's Baptism

Hailey had her 8th birthday not too long ago.  I sure love this girl. I can't believe she's already 8 and making the decision to be baptized!

We had a family birthday party and went out to eat in the next town.  We also stopped by a place to look at garage doors. :)  I'm sure she was very excited about that, but she did say it was fun so I didn't feel too guilty.

I DID feel bad for her at the restaurant because she wanted them to sing to her, so I asked the waitress and she said she would gather some people. Then at the end of our meal the waitress came over and said she was sorry, but they were too busy and no one could sing to her.  It was so sad.  Mostly to see the disappointment on Hailey's face.  Come on, they can't take 30 seconds?  I told her we'd sing extra loud for her at home and she seemed to be OK with that...or maybe it was the cookie they gave her that made her happy again... We came home and had cake and opened presents.

The next day was Hailey's baptism.  She was SOOO excited and couldn't wait.  I sure love that with her sensitivity comes the sensitivity to the spirit as well.  After her baptism she came out of the font and was crying.  I hugged her for such a long time.  It was really neat to be able to be there right after and to share that with her.

My parents and Trevor's parents were able to be there and give talks.  Um, wish I had taken more pictures than this...

During the program she was so intent on listening to everything.  Her favorite Primary Song is "I Know That My Savior Loves Me." She wants to sing that song for every FHE each week. It's a newer song, but she loves it and tears up every time she hears it.   So I had the senior primary girls sing that after she was baptized.  Thanks girls, you did a great job!!  

I love this little girl.  She's such a big helper whenever I need anything.  I love listening to her giggle with Tyler when they sit and talk with each other.  She always wants to "babysit" if I'm busy doing something and need some quiet while I'm talking to the contractor or looking up some appliance or fireplace or something (my only past time these days)  She loves school (math and PE), and loves to cuddle.  I hope these days last a long time!!  The teenage girl horror stories have me worried.

My Birthday Present

I wouldn't usually post about my own birthday, but this year was especially fun.  Since the kids are getting a little older and more aware of months/days/etc, Tyler has a little count-down on his calendar when one of the family's birthday's are coming.  They've been notifying me each day about how many days are left until my birthday.  They're so sweet :)

Last week, Tyler and Hailey wanted to give me an "early birthday present".  So they wrote me a book.  After seeing how much I liked it, Tyler wrote me a sequel. :)  

(Ashley also wrote me a couple books, but I'll have to include that one in the next post because I just didn't have time today.)

I was telling my sister about the drawings and she really wanted me to post the pictures so she could see them.  So here they are, Amanda! :)

The first book is on the left, and the pictures of that book follow.  Then the sequel comes after. Enjoy!

Notice my "competiters" are very sweaty.

Blow this picture up if you have to, it's worth it.  That buff man is all sweaty only lifting 50, but I'm lifting 100--in front of my workout video.  

I personally think that's a great illustration of our mini van.

Actually, a dental hygienist.  But I do give sweaty, nervous people injections.

Ah, isn't that the sweetest thing?  I'm tucking them into bed, and we love each other. 

Now for book 2.  And now you know how old I am.

This might be my favorite sequel ever. My son has a promising future in writing/illustrating.

Don't know what that's supposed to mean.  I've "been better at driving" ??

His head exploded :)

I love my kids.  Completely.Love.Them. 

I hope I can be the mom they deserve.  They're such great kids.

Ballet and Halloween

They obviously go together, right?

The girls REALLY wanted to do ballet this year.  So we signed them up and they're having a blast.  I'm just wondering when the "gracefulness" develops?  It's funny listening to them leap across the dance floor. Very...ahem...graceful.

This was our ward trunk or treat night.  

On a side note: I wasn't able to be there because I made a trip to help my mom who had to unexpectedly go through quadruple bypass surgery.  Since she had to have her sternum opened up, she isn't supposed to use her arms for 8 weeks until it heals...the point of this side note being:  I wasn't there to do Ashley's (or Hailey's) hair.  Don't judge.

First Day of School

It was almost two weeks ago that these three had their first day of school.  I thought I would have more time, but I guess not...here they are on their first day

Jason had his first day of preschool the next week.  He goes two days a week and he was SOOO excited...as you can see :)

The next day, though, he woke up and told me he didn't want to go to school.  Great.  He didn't have to go that day, but he did the next.  When I picked him up the second day, he was glad he went.

And just for fun, here's the progress on our house.  I'm very excited and wish it would move a little faster!!  This is the back of the house.

The poor kids get dragged there every day so I can see how much has been done.  They actually love it, though.  They chase all of the rabbits and climb the big piles of dirt and rocks.  I kind of wish  we could keep the big dirt piles.  They provide hours of entertainment.

Family Pictures

I decided I'd better post some of the family pictures taken while at our family reunion in Bear Lake.  There were a bunch of pictures taken, but I just picked a few to post.

This is all the Croft kids and their families, my Grandma Croft (and Aunt Jeannie) and mom, Ed, Dad and Karan.

The Croft Kids

Us :)  Trevor, Me, Tyler, Hailey, Ashley and Jason.

Summer 2012

We've had a busy summer!  We've been traveling a lot and visiting family as much as we can.  Here are some random summer pictures:

Jason and Saibra.  They're adorable :)

Ashley and the other's got a little wet in a fountain/splash pad.

We played on this at the Art Walk.  Turns out they have a lot more things to do than look at art.

Lunch with some friends.  Thanks guys!

We went to a lot of bouncy house/trampoline places over the summer.  Who knew these could be so much fun?

This is the basement of our vacation rental in Bear Lake that my family stayed at.  It was huge and amazing.  The kids LOVED this whole area and stayed there a LOT of the time we were in the house.

Some hiking with the Johnsons.  Good times.

I'm making a goal to take way more pictures.  I keep thinking of all the places we went this summer and wonder why I didn't take any pictures of our adventures. :) 

Half Marathon

Now I will tell you a long, boring story of the half marathon I ran with my sister and brother-in-law.  It wasn't boring for me, but it may be for you...it's more for my journaling benefit, anyway :)

My sister asked me if I would run a half marathon with her.  I said yes :)  So I did a 12 week training program I found on the internet.  Turns out my brother-in-law, Scott, was also running in this race.  I was really excited and nervous.

That morning we had to get up at 3:00 a.m. to go park at the mall and take some buses (at 3:30 a.m.) up to the start line in Provo canyon.  Why so early, you may ask?  Because there were a million people.  More like 3000. But they had to bus everyone up there because there was no parking at the start line.  

I included this picture of our sustenance choices.  There were a LOT more gu gels, but we had already put them in our hydration belts to carry with us. I can't tell you what a fan I am of these.  I wouldn't have thought they could keep me going like they did.  It's crazy what a boost it gives you when you start to feel sluggish.  Wish I would've tried them earlier in my 12 week training program.  Bummer.

The consistency of the gels are kind of gross, but I like them the most (over the chomps and jelly beans or shot blocks) because I think they work the best. Don't worry, we only used about 3 each.  This picture is of the rejects.

When we got up to the starting area, we had plenty of time to hang out.  It was freezing cold.  They had a bunch of fires set up along the side of the road that we stood by most of the time until the sun came up.  There were a BUNCH of porta potties that we could frequent.  I took full advantage, but you had to stand in line forever.

This is my sister and I at the start (well, like a half mile back from the start)  We looked for my brother-in-law, but didn't see him.  Boo.

My sister and I are wearing matching outfits (because we're cool like that) but we wore our shirt/sweatshirt over top of our sweet tank-tops the first mile of the race.

I ran faster than I usually did while I was training, so I was worried I'd hit a wall.  Most of the race I just drank from my hydration belt and used their water cups (every couple miles) to pour on my head.  I didn't hit any walls, thanks to the gels.  I did get pretty tired and was ready for the race to be over around mile 12.  I could see the finish and didn't want to sprint, but then they had a bunch of people lined up ringing their cowbells on either side before the finish line.  How can you NOT sprint in front of all those people?  So I did.  My awesome brother-in-law was there at the end with a powerade for me.  I hadn't felt nautious until I stopped, then I felt like I was going to lose some gu gels.  I didn't :) Would've been kind of embarrassing to throw up on brother-in-law.  He's a veteran of the marathon/half marathon races, so he says we should run a full marathon next.  My hat's off to all the full marathon runners.  That would be a LOT of running.

I wanted to finish in under 2:00 hours.  I did :)  I finished in 1:47.25.  So I feel pretty good about that.  I think it's about an 8:12/mile average?  Although the app I was using on the run said I ran 13.21 miles, making my average mile about 8:07.  But who's counting? :)

This is my sister, Amanda, and I after the race.  I'm the one on the left.  Hehe, she already used that joke on Facebook, but I thought it was so funny I stole it to debut on the blog.

This is my sister, me, and my brother-in-law, Scott.  I included the flexing picture because I think it's the funniest thing when someone Jones's your picture (man in yellow behind us).

So that's it.  I WISH my phone took better pictures because then I could include pictures of the AMAZING lunch we went to at Tucano's after the race.  All of my in-laws came to cheer us on, and then we all went out to lunch afterward.  It was sooo great!  It was so wonderful to see and hang out with everyone.  Such a great bonding experience all around. :)  Thanks Manda, for convincing me this would be fun!  A new tradition has been started.