6 months

This sweet little girl is already 6 months old! I have no idea where the time went but it has been such a fun ride. She has added so much love and laughter to our home. Jules is a ver laid back little baby. She doesn't mind riding in her carseat which is awesome. The only problem is that when I am driving somewhere and it isn't nap time, she will try and fall asleep anyway. Its like she is thinking "there is nothing better to do so I'll just go to sleep". Drives me crazy!

She is so close to sitting up by herself. She can sit up for a few minutes, then she loses her balance and falls over. She can roll over from tummy to back like a pro and from back to tummy if she really wants something. She has two little teeth on the bottom that are ridiculously shard. I dread having to dig something out of her mouth because she will bite and it hurts so bad. I started giving her little crackers a little bit after she turned 6 months and she loves them. Now I usually have to give her one while we are eating or else she is constantly trying to grab everyone's food. 

Jules is such a good little sleeper. She has made me nervous to ever have another baby because she has spoiled us rotten. She takes two really good naps during the day and sleeps from 8:30-7:30 at night. She is a really good nurser but will take a bottle whenever I need her to. She definitely likes to be with her mommy, but she loves being with her daddy. She gets so excited every time he gets home and she can't take her eyes off of him. Juliet also loves her big sister so much. Perhaps not as much as her big sister loves her though. Abby loves to read her stories and play with her. My favorite thing is when they will both just sit and laugh together. Abby is very protective of her little sister. She doesn't like it when other little kids try and touch her baby. I hope they will always be best friends. 

Juliet, you have brought so much joy into our home. Your sweet smiles and peaceful personality are exactly what we needed. It is such a pleasure to be your mom. Thank you for a wonderful 6 months, the next 6 are going to be even better!

Love, Mom

We have a lot of girls in our family!

We spent the fourth of July in Pueblo this year with the Cordners and the Mortensens. It was a blast and I'll post more on it later. But isn't this the cutest picture of Tim and Kelly with their 6 granddaughters? They are the greatest grandparents, I'm so grateful for all they do. These little girls are all the cutest. I'm so jealous my girls will have cousins their age to grow up with. 

I wanted to get their ages down too so I don't forget. Anika 6, Avery 4, Abigail 2, Brinley 2 (almost), Juliet 6 months and Skylar 2 months. 

I ran a half Marathon!

For the past 6 months my friend Kaity and I had been throwing around the idea of running a half marathon. I needed to get serious about exercising and losing my baby weight. So I started looking online to find a race that we could run. I found the Utah Valley Half marathon and it looked perfect. 

The first time Kaity and I ran together we went less than 2 miles and I about died. Seriously I couldn't even run the entire 2 miles. It about killed me. I started doing Insanity while the weather was to cold for me to run outside. Then I started getting outside to run more. Slowly I started adding miles and I got up to 10 miles! I was stoked. I felt so good. 

Then I got really sick. Like the sickest I have ever been in my entire life. I was really sick for about 3 weeks and I wasn't able to run. My body was really worn out from fighting off the sickness. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to run the race. I was devastated, but I kept trying. A few weeks later I was starting to get my miles back up again and I was starting to feel better about the race. I was really sad because before I got sick I was really getting my pace up, but getting sick had really set me back. Going into the race I wasn't expecting to keep more than an 11:00 minute mile pace. I was honestly just hoping to finish the race in under 2 hours and 40 minutes.

So the race day came. We were staying at Kyle's grandparents house and Tim and Kelly were there too. Tim and I got up at 3:00 in the morning to get ready. Neither of us slept very good that night we were both nervous and anxious. We were on the bus that would take us up to the top of the canyon at 4:00 in the morning. Miserable. We made it up to the canyon and it was freezing cold. Miserable. They had fires up there that were more smoke than fire. Miserable. Slowly the sun started to rise and it got even colder. Miserable. I had to use the porta potty. Miserable.

Then it started getting closer and closer to 6:00am. Kaity met up with us and it started to get real. We were really going to do this! They had music playing and the adrenaline was starting to flow. I was getting so nervous. I had no idea what I was in for. 

Then the clock hit 6:00 and the race started. I took off. I was feeling so good. The first 2 miles were down hill. Then we hit a 3 mile up hill. The top of the hill over looked Bridal Veil falls. It was gorgeous. Then it was almost all downhill out of the canyon. I was feeling amazing. At about 6 miles Tim told me I was running under a 10:00 minute mile. I was thrilled and I was still feeling so strong. We came out of the canyon and there people on the streets cheering for us. That was really fun. Tim called Kyle at mile 9 to let him know that we were going a lot faster than we thought and that he needed to hurry and get to the finish line. 

I was feeling so good for the first 12 miles. At mile 12 I died. It was all I could do to keep running. When I finally saw the finish line it felt like a mirage that kept moving farther and farther away. But we finally made it. That was one of the best moments of my life crossing that finish line. I learned so much about myself while training for this race and during this race. I lost lost almost 40 lbs and I learned how strong my body can be. I ran the entire 13.1 miles. I never stopped. Not once. I've never done that before. I was so proud of myself. I worked so hard and I crossed that finish line at 2 hours 12 minutes. 

Me and Kaity. It is so fun to have a friend who is as motivated as me to run and get in shape! I was so grateful she was there with me!

I would not have done this well during the race if it wasn't for Tim. I was so grateful he decided to run with me. He kept us going the entire time. He was cracking jokes and keeping our spirits up. He thanked every single cop along the race. He is so friendly and happy. I'm so grateful he is apart of my life. I am convinced I won't be able to run another race without him, so I hope he is up to doing a lot more races! 

My awesome metal! I certainly earned it!

This was one of the funnest things I have ever done. I can't wait to do it again and again!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Our sweet little Abigail is 2 years old! I honestly can't believe how fast these two years went by and how absolutely wonderful they have been. By far the best 2 years of our lives! 

We had a fun little party with the Sellers the Mortensens and Derik and Kaity. We were so grateful that our families made the trek out to our house to celebrate with us! 

We had a Mickey Mouse themed party and Abby loved it. Kyle and I stayed up Friday night making this cake for her. We totally felt like Cake Boss. Our hands hurt so bad from all of the piping! But it was worth it when Abby got up the next morning and freaked out when she saw it. 

I made these awesome Oreos too. They were really cute and yummy!

We had a water balloon fight! 

Abby didn't have any idea what was going on all day. Singing "happy birthday" and blowing out the candles totally went over her head. But she was all over eating the cake and ice cream.

She also loved opening up her gifts. She got a color book, a cute little toy broom, a lawn mower that blows bubbles, a baby stroller, a minnie mouse and some other fun little toys. She was a big fan of all the new toys. 

Juliet was a sweet heart the entire time. She loves my aunt JoJo so much!

Jolene's sweet little boy Drake that is 6 months younger than Abigail. He is such a funny little guy. 

Cute little Avery with her face covered in black frosting. 

Brinley made a huge mess with her oreo, it was so cute. Her red hair just kills me. Its so adorable.

Three cute sisters. 

We had so much fun with all of our friends and family. It was so fun to have everyone there to help us celebrate our little sweetheart. We missed our family that was still in Arizona! 

We just love you Abigail. You bring so much joy to our home. You love to read books, sing songs and talk all day long. Your little sister just loves you. One of my favorite things is watching the two of you laugh together. You give the sweetest hugs and kisses. Every time I say "I love you" you say "love too" back. Sweetest thing ever. You keep me on my toes every day. You make the biggest messes but you love to help me do my chores. I love that I can ask you to help me and you will. Thank you for coming to our family and making us a family. You are incredibly special and we love you! 

Love, 

Mom, Dad and Juliet

Gardening

This morning I was working on our patio cleaning out dead plants and weeds to get ready to plant new things.  Juliet was asleep and Abby was playing with her chalk and running around. She loves to play this new game with me where we hold hands and I say "ready, set, go" and then we run as fast as we can across the patio. As soon as she was distracted with her chalk I got down to business cleaning out weeds. I had my gardening gloves on and every once in a while Abby would come over and help me put some weeds in the garbage bag. Then she disappeared. I thought she got bored and went inside to play. A little while later she comes back outside and she has this little pink mitten on her hand. She was so proud of herself and she was ready to pull weeds  just like me. With her mitten on her hand she worked with me the rest of the morning. It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen. 

She let me get a couple of pictures before she was done with pictures. This little girl cracks me up.

I would love to have been in her mind as she saw my gloves and made the connection that she had some of those, and then went in the house to find it. I can just imagine her little face when she found it and got it on her hand without any help. Then she ran outside ready to help her mom. I am so grateful for this little girl. She makes me want to be a better person because I know that she is watching every little thing that I do. Right down to how I pull weeds. I want to be the best example I can be so that she will grow up to be a righteous, strong woman.

I love my little Abby. Thank you for making my day today! I love you!

Afternoon Walk

The weather is starting to be absolutely beautiful and we have been taking a lot of walks!

These little girls just love their daddy. Abby always has a big hug for her dad.

This little Abby has so much personality. We just love her. She loves to play with her chalk out on our back patio. 

We are loving this Colorado Spring. It was worth waiting for!

Kyle's 26th Birthday!

I'm a little late in posting about this but Kyle's birthday was in April and he turned 26! It was a pretty low key birthday. I bought him the Bourne trilogy and made him a funfettie cake. It was pretty delicious. 

We had our friends over for cake and ice cream and they bought Kyle Lincoln!

(Yes the ground was covered in snow... in April!)

Kyle had a big test on his birthday poor guy. But once he got home we spent the rest of the day hanging out and playing. Juliet is getting bigger and cuter every single day!

Abby loves to roll around and play with her dad. She thinks he is the coolest thing ever!

Kyle's big birthday present was supposed to happen that following Monday. The Braves were in town playing the Rockies and Kyle got two tickets. We had planned on having our friends come over and watch the girls and put them down for bed so we could go out on a nice, long and fun date! BUT the game was canceled because it was snowing... snowing in April! We were so bummed so instead we went and saw the movie 42. It was a really good and it turned out to be a really fun night. The game was moved to the next afternoon, so kyle went with two of his dental school friends. It set the record for the coldest temp for a rockies game, about 23 degrees. They had a great time anyway.

I always enjoy Kyle's birthday. He isn't the biggest on celebrating birthdays but I love to celebrate him whenever I can. I am so grateful that he is my husband. He is the most patient, kind and selfless person that I know. He is the best dad, and I love how much he loves his girls and how much they love him. He is such a good friend to me. He always makes me laugh and we always have such a great time together. I love this life that we are building together. He is wonderful and I wonder every day how I got so lucky to be his wife. I love that man and look forward to many more birthdays!