Halloween....BOO!

 I took this picture at the end of trick-or-treating.  Perfect look for a Halloween night!

 Enjoying the first of their candy from the Ward trunck-or-treat. 

Tucker is the HULK!!!! Ethan is Buzz Light Year!  Ethan is adorable when we pretends to be Buzz because he does a funny voice and pretends to shoot the laser from his arm. 

 They couldn't wait to go trick-or-treating.

Tucker got sick of the mask and just wore it on top of his head, but then through out the night he got sick of it on his head.  Aaron ended up wearing the mask on top of his head.

 Tucker was faster, so he always got to knock on the door.  Ethan was OBSESSED with the door bells!!!! He would often ring them after Tucker already knocked.  Those poor people probably thought we were desperate for candy. :) 

The result of Tucker's hard work! The kids got glow in the dark vampire teeth and a finger with a long nail and we had fun with them. 

 Ethan enjoying icing on a cookie.

Ethan's hard work.

My oldest is....5!

Tucker's  5th Birthday

 ARRrrgg! There be treasure a foot and here be our Capm. 

We did a pirate theme for our fun loving 5 year old.We were at Aaron's parents house in South Carolina for Tucker's birthday and thoroughly enjoyed our trip.  I would like to send a special thank you to Grandma(Debbie) and Aunt Rachel for all of the fabulous pictures!

  

 Here be the first mate ready to fight for him treasure!

 A beautiful picture taken by Grandma depicting the treasure map, sword, semi-homemade pirate captain hat, treasure map and the LOOT! 

 

 Sorry for the angle of the picture.  The pictures are from a CD loving Grandma sent us and I can't figure out how to edit them unless its on my computer.  Oh well. :) Just tip your head to the left. :)

 I love the look on Tucker's face!!! Totally worth the time I put into researching, shopping, and creating his special cake.  A special cake for my favorite Tucker in the whole world!

 Cake, Ice Cream.....

...and Laughter!

 His real birthday loot! Thanks to everyone who thought of my awesome Tucker on his birthday.

 Enjoying his pirate loot!

I had a lot of fun authenticating his pirate birthday party.  Our South Carolina family were awesome about contributing and going along with this kid fun party.  I tea stained all of the clues and the map.  I also made up the clues and had them rhyme.  Tucker enjoyed it so much he wanted to do the treasure hunt over and over!!! Once was enough for all the adults, including me, so I made a modified hunt for the rest of the week.  We still do these hunts today.... 2 months after his birthday. :)

1/2 Marathon

 It is official, I am a half marathon runner!!  I have trained for 13 weeks and today I ran 13.1 miles.  I ran the whole time and did not stop or walk any part of it. The race started at 7am and I ran it in 2 hours and 40 minutes.  I am very pleased with my ending time.  The race was two hours away so the ladies and I stayed in a hotel the night before.  Aaron and my boys drove up the morning of to see me finish the race.  Tucker and I made a pack at the beginning of my training that he would run across the finish line with me.  I am pleased to say that he did.  Aaron was waiting for me right before the finish line, so I grabbed Tucker's hand and we ran across the finish line together.  Once the runners pasted the finish line they receive their medals.  Tucker was very excited to receive "his" medal. :)  Will I run another 1/2 marathon?  YOU BET!! 

 My boys waiting for me to come and rooting for the other runners. 

My first bib number!

 This is the specialized shirt my loving husband Aaron made for me.  The number 3 represents "I love you".  It is a tradition that my Dad started with my Mom and we are continuing it.

This is our Saturday morning running buddies!  I love these women and it has been great getting to know them even better.

This is the back view of my shirt and the back of the "Team May" shirt Aaron made for himself too.

First Day of School

Tucker was asking me all summer when he got to go back to school.  Hanging out with mom at home was cool for about the first two weeks.  After two weeks I became boring and he just wanted his friends back.  This year is his last year of preschool.  If you are wondering, yes I am freaking out that this is my last year of having my oldest home with me.  I LOVE having my boys home with me.  Tucker was so excited to go back to school I couldn't get a decent picture because he was dancing ready with excitement.  He was also very excited about his new back pack. 

 Had to include a picture of the supportive brother!

An Old Love Found

So....if you really know me, then you know that I grew up learning how to play the piano.  You might also know that my loving seminary teacher (cough...Becky Peterson...) helped me overcome my fears of playing in front of others and even while they sang along to my music.  I played in the early morning seminary class, young womens, and a little while in relief society.  Then...I went to college and lost the benefits of a piano (sad story I know) :)  My in-laws have a piano and I have played on it a handful of times, but my energetic son kept me too much on my toes to feel comfortable to really play on it.  This sad story changed a few weeks ago...I am sure that made your day.  Okay maybe not, but it has made my year.  I got a PIANO!!!!  It is awesome and I love to play on it.  I am so grateful to receive it and for the men who helped move it into my apartment.  I have to admit that my playing ability has decreased a lot since I went to college, but it is coming back faster than what I expected.  A fun fact about the piano is that it is a playing piano!  It is been converted into an electrical playing piano and the lady who gave us the piano also gave us 10 rolls of music for it.  Tucker is really excited that "his" piano plays all by itself.  There are a couple of loose wires, but it does play.  I love how the boys play music on it.  Tucker understands that you play with music so when he plays he opens up sheet music first so he has notes to "follow".  I feel so blessed and am so excited to have it.  My piano skills are SLOWLY being built back up again and it is fun.  I really like the color of the piano, but our apartment is dark so you can't see the pretty cherry color very easily. I have plans for the bench that came with the piano and it involves paint stripper, staining, foam, and fabric.  I can't wait to do it this fall.  I am also going to make a runner that goes on the top of the piano that matches the bench fabric.  The piano definitely needs tuned, but we need to fix the 4-6 broken hammers before that happens.  All in all, I LOVE the piano.  Now to purchase some early learning piano books and teach my oldest son to play!

 

Easter....a little late

Okay, so maybe my Easter posting is a EXTREMELY late instead of a little late, but the good news is that it is finally here.  Every year Aaron's Chiropractic College puts on a huge Easter egg hunt and brings in the Easter bunny through a helicopter for the whole community.  It was a lot of fun!  There was a firetruck there and Tucker drove it while Ethan rode in it and they both got to pilot the helicopter after it landed.  It even had a petting zoo.  Tucker was very concerned about the animals and told us they needed to be in the shade with water instead of in the sun.  What a smart boy! The Easter egg hunts were divided according to age groups and held at different times so Aaron and I could see both boys hunting for eggs.  Tucker is not very competitive, especially in a new environment, so he was a little nervous about getting eggs.  He got over his fear and starting gathering eggs but on his third egg as he was bending down to get the egg another kid accidentally hit Tucker fairly hard on the head, so naturally Tucker was done.  Ethan is much more competitive and we had to hold him back to get the eggs until it was time.  He was so excited he dropped his bag and came running back to Aaron to show him he found an egg.