My newest niece...

When I was in Southern Utah last week I was able to meet my newest niece- Parley. She is 8 weeks old and is so quiet and full of smiles. I also took a few pictures of their sisters- so sweet! Take a good look at the middle sister- she looks a lot like me when I was a kid, it's almost like looking in a mirror when I look in her eyes (except hers are brown and mine are green). I'm pretty sure if we could make girls they would look like her... More adorable pics on my photo site.

Logan, Utah Temple Pictures

When I was in Logan for the Top of Utah Marathon I stopped to take a few pictures of the Logan temple (as requested by Stacie!) It is such an amazingly beautiful temple sitting high on the hill. Absolutely breathtaking. Images are available for free download on my Free Artwork link. Enjoy!

Also, super excited for General Conference this weekend! It's so awesome to be able to hear from our dear prophet and apostles. If you're looking for some yummies to much on while you're watching (a favorite tradition of mine) check out this post by the Red Headed Hostess! And check out some printable conference activities for your little monkeys too.

Climb every mountain...

I think that must be my husband's motto... He hiked and camped almost nonstop from the moment we arrived in Utah. One of the more memorable trips was our week at Spirit Lake near the Wyoming-Utah border. We camped right next to this beautiful lake. It was freezing cold and rained almost every day, but it sure was beautiful.

The boys got to go fishing for the first time and caught a bunch of fish. Ethan caught three fish and Joshua caught one, they caught a total of 15 during our week there.

Daddy gave a fish anatomy lesson and the boys thoroughly enjoyed dissecting them. What better way to do nature study then to spend a week in nature?

We had an Osborne family reunion at Cecret Lake, a family favorite hike. I just have to say Joshua is the best little hiker I've ever seen. He is only three but he outlasts Ethan by far and keeps up with my walking pace the entire time. He never complains and is usually in the lead the entire time. I am amazed by his stamina, he is definitely his daddy's boy when it comes to hiking.

Anthony took Ethan and Joshua on their first backpacking trip. I had met my three day camping limit, so I stayed home with Grant.

He did manage to drag me out on an overnight backpacking trip to Upper Silver Lake though. The boys did great on the 2 mile hike and we identified lots of wildflowers as part of school that day. It was pretty cold once we got up to the lake and there were still a few snow patches but the little bear cubs wrestled around to keep warm.

This last weekend we went to see my family in Cedar City and went for a little hike in Zion's (no angel's landing for me!)

Anthony summited a few other mountains too- he actually spent 16 hours hiking one day and made is own trail across several mountain peaks, hiked Mount Bora in Idaho in record time, and his childhood favorite hike- Lone Peak.

26.2, Top of Utah!

On Saturday I ran the Top of Utah marathon in beautiful Logan, Utah with my husband, his sister Laura and niece Ashlynn. It was definitely not what I expected for my first marathon, but I am still alive and walking (sort of)!

I often get asked about my motivation to run a marathon, and the honest answer is I didn't really have a lot of motivation. It was never something I aspired to or had a desire to do. It may have been on my mental list of things to do before I die, but it wasn't something I ever thought I would do or could do. Even after I registered for this marathon I had to really convince myself that I was going to do it, and if my husband hadn't been the driving force in getting me out to run the mileage (and pushing our three boys in the double jogger for 16+ miles) I couldn't have done it.

The reason I decided to run was inspiration from this conversations episode by Sister Elaine Dalton. As Sister Dalton was talking about the lessons she has learned from running marathons and the experience of running with her husband, I had the strongest feeling that I needed to do this with my husband before he leaves. If I could survive a marathon I figured I could survive the next year without him and anything else life decided to throw my way.

I trained in Kentucky during the hot humid summer and hoped that would prepare me for running at the high Utah elevation, but boy was I wrong! Not only did it feel like someone was sitting on my chest, but it was cold. The morning we did a 14 mile training run my arms and hands were so cold I thought I would get frostbite and my hands swelled up afterwards (I never even swelled up when pregnant!) This really discouraged me and I felt as if all my training had been wasted because I felt like I hadn't run a day in my life.

The morning of the marathon came and thankfully I got a good night's sleep (the boys stayed in Idaho with family), but it was drizzling. The weather forecast said 20% chance of rain so we weren't too worried, but grabbed some trash bags from the front desk anyway. By the time we rode our bus an hour to the top (and managed to fight off carsickness) it had begun to really rain. We put on our lovely trash bags and stayed pretty dry.

  

That is until mile 2 or 3 when it cleared up and we ditched them. Then of course the real rain came. Not light drizzling rain- buckets and buckets of cold rain. Then hail! I had purchased my lovely hooded jacket at D.I. the night before just in case it was cold and it's a good thing I did. That and my arm sleeves saved my life. My legs were really cold but my arms stayed pretty warm. The course took us from the top of the canyon down to the bottom of the canyon, so it was virtually downhill for 16 or 17 miles. I ran the first 13 miles in 2:30 which is my fastest 1/2 marathon time so far.

Once we came out of the canyon the storm came back with a vengance, more rain and more hail. The street was flooded and I could feel the water sloshing from the top of my shoe to the back of my shoe with every step. Lightning struck really close a few times too. It was really pretty miserable. I was cold, wet and tired and I gave up caring about what time I finished, I planned on hobbling to the end.

  

But unfortunately (or maybe fortunately- I still haven't decided which) my husband pushed me to continue running 5 miles per hour like we had trained. I was pretty grouchy at this point and silently vowed never to run with him again, but he was a good sport and ran in slow motion so I could keep up. The last 6 miles were definitely the hardest. On one hand I was thinking wow, only 6 more to go! But on the other hand that is six whole miles, over an hour more! I finally put in my ipod and blocked out my negative thoughts with music those last few miles. The last mile was such a relief I only stopped to walk once and was so ecstatic to see the finish line I almost broke down and cried. And I was happy that I beat the 6 hour mark- only by 15 minutes, but still- I wasn't dead last!

There are so many life lessons to be learned in training for and completing a marathon. I'm sure I'll share more than anyone will care to read, but the one that really stuck with me was how discouraged I became toward the end. I was so close yet I had these negative thoughts telling me I was so far away. I couldn't help but think how often in life we overcome challenges and trials and just when we're near the end we hit another bump in the road and it becomes a breaking point tempting us to throw away everything we've worked so hard for. Yet if we can push past those negative feelings and keep trudging along slowly but surely we will make it to the end and it will be worth it, even if it takes longer and is harder than we planned for.

So...any of my Salt Lake friends who want to train for a half or full marathon- let me know! I could use a running buddy who is slow like me ;)  Oh, and yes, I did take pictures of the Logan temple, but give me a week or two to get them edited and posted...

Our trip out West...

Well we made it to Utah safe and sound! We made a vacation out of it and stopped at a few places along the way. Here's a glimpse of how the little monkey's passed the time (yes, that's an empty applesauce container on Joshua's head)...

  

Anthony had to climb Oklahoma's high point, so we camped out the night before. There was an incredible lightning storm, the entire sky lit up with each strike. You've never seen lightning until you've seen it in Oklahoma. The winds were so strong it just about bent the poles of our trusty Kelty tent. The boys were so happy in the morning to discover dirt all around them. Ethan said "I want to live in Oklahoma." When I asked why he said "because they have lots of dirt!"

   

 It was beautiful crossing from Oklahoma into Colorado- all these images were shot with my iphone and weren't edited, the sky really is that blue. I almost forgot what blue sky looked like! And we passed a train then got out and waited for it to pass us- the boys still have a slight train obsession...

  

 We also went over to visit Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. It's pretty impressive- these photos don't do it justice, but walking on sand is hard enough without packing around a heavy camera... The boys were in heaven...

  

And our last stop was Colorado's high point in Leadville. It was freezing cold but really beautiful.

  

We have been spending some great family time while Anthony's with us, so more to come...

Free LDS Temple pictures & more!

I should have known I couldn't go a full month without posting anything! We haven't even headed out west yet (Saturday's the big day!)

I have created a new website where I share FREE pictures of LDS temples, as well as quotes/sayings that inspire my life (more to come there as well). These are available 100% free for personal (and church) use!

If you can, please contribute a small donation (right toolbar) or purchase deeply discounted prints online here.
Enjoy!

Goodbye Kentucky...Hello Utah!

Today was bittersweet. It was our last Sunday in the ward we have attended for the last 4 1/2 years. My husband was released as bishop and we said goodbye to all our dear friends. It was bitter for the sadness that it may be a long time before we see them again, it is hard to even think about. But sweet that we were able to meet such wonderful people and make so many lifelong friends. I often think how sad it would have been if we had never ventured away from our home and enlarged our circle, we would have missed the opportunity to share our lives with such good and kind people.

It's hard to believe that exactly 9 years ago we loaded up our cars and moving truck and headed East. We thought we would be gone 3 years for graduate school. Nine years and three kids later we are heading back "home" for an extended visit. We spent half our time in New Hampshire and half in Kentucky with a small stint in Virginia. I dearly love the Eastern U.S. and know I'm going to have a hard time heading back to the desert, but we are also looking forward to seeing family again.

We are also very excited to spend a full month together as a family (with no interruptions!) before my husband heads to the middle east for a year. We are running the Top of Utah marathon together next month and have been training all summer for it. Yesterday we ran 21 miles, something I never thought I could do or would ever want to do. I have decided if I can survive a marathon I can survive a year with him gone (or really anything else life throws my way)!  So I'll be going dark for a month or two while we move and get settled...but I'll be back with updates for our extended family on the other side of the country. We love and will miss you all!

Our 2011-2012 Curriculum

My goal for this next year is to be relaxed about schooling since we will be living in a new place and I don't know how the boys will handle having their daddy gone (plus Ethan still has another year before official "school" age)... But as I type out the list of books we will be reading this next year it seems like a lot! Fortunately we love to read and many of the literature books we can download on audio from our library, and of course they aren't all going to be finished this year, many of the books will take several years to complete and will be repeated.

I have also recorded many of the poems I want the boys to learn and burned them on a cd so we can listen to them in the car as we drive around town. Both Ethan and Joshua can recite at least 10 poems from memory now. (This is also how we learn scripture mastery and Articles of Faith. Ethan knows all thirteen articles of faith and Joshua knows the first four and both have several scripture mastery's down).

We will also supplement Joshua's education (three years old) with the new http://more.starfall.com/ site which has pretty good preschool activities (especially for only $35!) and Bob Books iphone app.

History:
The Story of the World
50 Famous Stories Retold
Our Island Story
Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans
The Story of Benjamin Franklin
Who Was George Washington?

Science:
Handbook of Nature Study
The Burgess Bird Book
All the Birds of North America
*Additional reference books based on interest

Math:
Math U See

Scriptures:
Discover the New Testament
Book of Mormon Scripture Mastery
Scripture Memory System

Literature: (Just to name a few!)
James Herriot's Treasury for Children
A Treasury of Children's Literature
Little House on the Prarie Series
Just So Stories
Charlotte's Web
Five Little Peppers and how they Grew

Geography:
Paddle to the Sea

Poetry:
A Children's Garden of Verses
A Child's Book of Poems

Character:
Wisdom & the Millers: Proverbs for Children
Child's Book of Character Building: Growing up in God's World

Art/Music:
Artistic Pursuits Book 1
Kindermusik
Folksongs & Hymns
Stories of the Great Composers

Foreign Language:
Speak Spanish with Dora & Diego

Extra Curricular:
Swimming
Tae Kwon Do
Skiing


And on Mom's list for next year:

*Parenting with Love and Logic: just ordered this book and am LOVING it. Need to memorize it and apply it this year!
*The Entitlement Trap: read a few articles on this book here http://ldsmag.com/family/parenting/article/8416?ac=1 and am really interested in learning how to apply these ideas to our family.
*Finishing up the Little Women series, some Georgette Heyer books, a few other classics and a some LDS doctrine books
*Use the Institute Manuals during personal scripture study
*Run at least 3 half marathons (and a full marathon this fall!)
*Keep up on our digital scrapbooks
*Attend the temple at least 3 times a month
*Be more diligent in journal writing and begin my personal history

Pioneer day fun

We had our Pioneer Day celebration at Saunders Springs this morning. The boys got to feed the fish and see a bunch of turtles but the best part was this super friendly butterfly wanted to be held by all the kids. I forgot my camera but got a few pics with my iphone... The boys' favorite thing was of course rolling in the dirt- gotta love those brown little faces. Then they had a good wash down in the creek before heading home. So sad to think this is our last ward activity here!

Count your blessings...

I was going through my blog posts adding labels that I've neglected for so long...and I found this draft post from last year! Although my "baby" is almost two now and I can only dream of 70 degree weather the other sentiments are still true so I thought I'd publish it anyway. Better late than never...

The other day I was sitting on my back porch holding the baby, the boys were playing on the swings, it was about 70 degrees, I could feel the warm sun soaking in my skin, and it felt like I was on vacation. I thought back to when I was working full time and going to school full time and would daydream about how much fun it would be to not have to work, to just stay home and play with my kids all day. Of course it hasn't been much of the vacation I planned- I didn't expect to have three kids in three years, live far away from my family and friends, have my husband be a bishop and be gone almost every night, but this moment I realized I am living my perfect dream life.

I've always been a whiner, but when I stop and count my blessings I realize how lucky I am. I've had opportunities to travel the world and have fun adventures, I have three beautiful healthy boys, we have a fabulous back yard they can play in, I have a wonderful husband who loves me, I've been able to get a graduate degree, learn hobbies like photography, scrapbooking and cooking that keep me sane and make me feel alive, have great people here that love my kids like they're their own grandchildren, I have goals and dreams for the future that I know I can accomplish. There have been times in our life when we have been so happy we look at each other and wonder if it could really get any better?