Happy 16 years on the 16th!

Happy Anniversary to us!! Sixteen years ago today on a frigid, sunny morning Mark and I were married in the Bountiful Temple. These days we wonder what the heck we were thinking getting married in December, but then we remember that I was in school and it was Winter break. Still. December!!! But, we actually started dating in December, five years before we got married, so it makes December super special! :)

To celebrate we're going to see Eclipse's Christmas concert tomorrow night, and tonight we had Little Caesars Pizza and forced the kids to watch our wedding video. :) Actually, they liked it. It brought back lots of great feelings and memories. It is amazing to think that there was actually a time when we didn't have five kiddos making life fun, crazy, and hectic.

I am so thankful that Mark and I made it through high school, missions, college, and that we're together to make it through kids and all that has come and is yet to come!! Mark is such an amazing husband and father. He takes me out every Friday, he spends time with our kids and takes a genuine interest in each of them and what they think and need. He works so hard and is so good at what he does, I hope someday he is recognized and rewarded for it. He is one of the kindest, most loyal and honest people I know. I feel so very blessed to have him in my life.
Happy 16 to us!!!

Happy 6 on the 6th!!

Ty is 6 years old today!! Ty is our little smarty pants, in more ways then one! :) He is reading like a pro already and he has a quick little wit that sometimes gets him in trouble. He is enjoying Chinese Immersion Kindergarten and can be heard singing Chinese songs throughout the day....so cute-and amazing!

Ty loves Spiderman and helped design his cake this year. :) He also loves playing with his friends. He is a very good friend, and a good brother. He manages being stuck between two really BIG boys and a little brother and sister pretty well, although sometimes you just have to stick up for numero uno!

Just a few weeks ago Ty learned Santa's secret. He told his Grandma Keime that he saw his mom and dad reading scriptures one night and it just came to him. (!!!) :)We are so glad Ty is a part of our family! Love you buddy!

Our Drue is Two!

I really can't believe Drue is two years old! She has brought so much fun and "girly" into our home. But, no worries, she holds her own with the big brothers!! :)She started off the day with a princess crown and yogurt. What could be better?
She is a smarty pants and can name nearly every color. She connects the colors to people in our family, blue is Devin, Green is Sam and Ty, and when she sees pink or purple she says, "My pink, my purple". Too cute. She talks like crazy and is *almost* potty trained.

Today I took her to Wal-mart to get some candles for her cake. I saw her smiling at someone behind me, but didn't turn around. Then I heard a voice say, "She is so cute!", it was the grandpa she had been smiling at. She's a friendly gal!
We love our curly haired girl and are so happy she is part of our family. Can't imagine life without our Drubie-doo! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Sam!!

Our Sam turned 10 years old today! In a way it's hard to believe, but at the same time it seems like he's been 10 for a while. There are many things I love about Sam, and one of them is the reaction he has when he opens presents. He has been wanting a DSi, but we decided he has enough "screen" time so we opted for his 2nd choice, a new scooter. He goes to school early every morning to ride his scooter at the skate park with his friends. He was disappointed when we told him he couldn't have a DSi, but you would never have known the scooter wasn't his first choice after he opened it! He pumped his fists in the air and said, "No way!! A new scooter! Yes!!" He had a similar reaction when he opened his Michael Jackson Experience Wii game.

You can always count on Sam to show his emotions, good and bad. :) He is such a joy to be around. He and Devin are close in age, but so different. When Sam's teacher said they had a science fair coming up and that it was optional, Sam only heard "science fair" and got to work at once. When he was done putting together his board he insisted on practicing his presentation for me. Wow!

Every year on his birthday Sam changes his favorite color, but this year he decided to keep his favorite color green. He said that green "explains who he is because he likes science, nature, and living things". :) We couldn't find a green scooter, so we got some duct tape and let him make his own design. He seemed to enjoy it.

Happy Birthday, Sam!! We love you!!!!

CHS Class of 1991

Last weekend was my 20 year high school reunion. Twenty years. Just the sound of that is wrong. I clearly remember attending my 10 year, 7 months pregnant with Sam, saying "I wonder what things will be like at our 20th reunion. How many kids will we have, what will we be doing?" And here we are twenty years since I graduated.

I was asked to head up the Facebook side of the reunion, which was fun. I just set up a page about the reunion and tried to get in contact with as many people from our class as possible. It's amazing how hard it can be to find people after two decades. I felt bad that some people didn't know about it, but we tried.


On Friday night we had a casual get together at the bowery in front of Clearfield Aquatic Center. There were about sixty people there, and it was really fun to walk around and get reacquainted with people. The best part was seeing two great friends, James Casper, and J. Bates who now live in other states.Having James, Dana, J. and I together brought back lots of memories. We had some good times in high school.

On Saturday night we had dinner at Maddox in Perry. There were about 150 people there. The food was awesome, and again, it was so great to see so many people we hadn't seen in years. Mark and I met in high school, so we had a lot of the same friends, which makes reunions nice for both of us. There were five cheerleaders from our class there...we were missing three. None of us really look much like we did...no big, curly hair...:)

Our Senior Class Pres. decided she had had enough of planning class reunions-who can blame her-so she asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to plan our 30 year. After silence, she asked if anyone would like to nominate someone. My best friend Dana looked across the table at me and I could see it coming. I said, "Fine, but we're in this together." So, guess who's in charge for 2021???? Seriously?? Please tell me the next 10 years aren't going to go as fast as the last ten years! Devin will be home from a mission, Sam will be on a mission, Ty will nearly be driving and dating, Noah will be 13, and Drue will be 11!!! Not to mention I will be nearly 50! Wo. Now THAT is crazy to think about.

That's my Sam

My friend and neighbor, Sarah Burke, sent me this message on Facebook today. I had to post it.:)))))

I keep forgetting to tell you a funny story. Sam came here a couple weeks ago with his artwork again, and he let us pick a couple. I asked him how much they were, and he said with a frustrated look on his face, "They're free today. My Mom says that isn't polite to come sell them anymore." I laughed and said, "What? Art work this good should come with a price, I think!!" He got the biggest smile on his face, put his hand in a fist, tipped his head back and yelled, "YES!!! Finally someone who sees things my way!" I thought I was going to wet my pants I was laughing so hard! I went and got him some money and told him to tell you I thought his artwork was so good, he deserved it. He said, Thanks!!" and left! It was awesome! Made my whole day!

Devin's 12!!!

My "little" boy...he never really was little, turned 12 on June 29th!! Not only is he twelve, but he's 2 inches taller than his mother! He has had anxiety about turning 12 for a while now. Actually, since he was 5 and had his Kindergarten shots. Every month for about a year he would ask me when he had to get shots again and I would say, "Not until you're 12". He was also very nervous about passing the sacrament and attending YM, but he says YM goes "way faster" than primary, and he passed the sacrament today and did a great job, he even gave us a little grin as he passed our row. Something Mark and I didn't consider when we waited to send Devin to kindergarten was that when he turned 12 he would have to miss the 2nd week of 6th grade in order to go to his first Scout Camp. I'm pretty strict when it comes to going to school, so my first response was that, of course, he would miss Scout Camp. But, then Mark said, "Will he ever remember that one week of school? No. But, he'll always remember Scout Camp." Okay, that swayed me. He'll be spending a week at Camp Loll the first week in August.

We celebrated Devin's birthday at Bear Lake this year. We were having a Keime Family Reunion at the Hansen's cabin June 27-29. We had a wonderful time. It was the first "reunion" we've had with just my parents, siblings, and our kids. We spent all day on Tuesday at North Beach in Idaho. The sand was perfect, the weather was perfect...we couldn't have asked for a better day. The kids loved hanging out with each other for three days straight, and I think the adults had a good time, too. :)

A Tribute: by Mark

I sometimes make the mistake of not honoring my parents and focusing on the little idiosyncrasies that irritate me. I wanted to mention just a few things that my father, Terrence Newport Spalding, has done for me.

As a child my Dad would take me to work with him. Sometimes even letting me skip school to spend the day with him. He let me climb all over F-16s, letting me help take panels off the wings that needed to be repaired. I would sit in the cockpit and pretend I was flying.

Growing up my dad very rarely missed a ball game or a track meet.

He has always been an example of a hard worker. He never misses work, and he's never late. In fact, he is usually a half an hour early to work everyday.

My father gave me priesthood blessings at the beginning of every school year, and continues to give me blessings.

He has always been an example of a good husband. He loves my Mom very much and is always trying to help and support her.

To this day I'm not sure he knows exactly what my degrees are in, :) But, he always supported me in my education.

We've never had to take our cars in to a mechanic because my dad is so good at figuring out what's wrong and fixing things himself.

My Dad has NEVER missed a triathlon I've competed in. There have been times when he wasn't sure he could make it, but he would always show up with camera in hand. He has followed me hundreds of miles as I trained for the Ironman. He even went all the way to St. George with me before the Ironman so I could train on the course.

My Dad is a good Grandpa to our children. He likes spending time with them, and especially loves teasing them.

Thanks for all you've done, and continue to do for me, Dad. I love you!!

Oh, and by the way, my degrees are a BS in Child and Family Studies and a Masters in Social Work :)

You know .....when......

*You know you're an only girl when you can say "Superman" at 18 months and prefer playing with Superman action figures over your beautiful Rapunzel Barbie!


*You know you have older brothers when you're happy to lose at Wii Sports...Ty: "I'm going to win!" Noah: "I'm going to lose!"

Mark Spalding, you're an Ironman!

I am beyond proud of Mark! Last weekend he attained one of his biggest, and I think hardest, goals. He became an official Ironman! 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 run...one after the other! And he did it in 14 hours!

Mark has been doing triathlons for about eight years. He started with a sprint tri in Bountiful, did that for a couple years, and then moved to some Olympic distance tris, including the Echo Tri, the Cache Valley Tri, the Ogden Valley Tri, and the Xterra. He also ran the St. George Marathon in 2006. I think he set his sights on the Ironman as soon as he was hooked on triathlon, which was probably from the beginning. It always seemed like a distant goal to me. But, last year he told me he wanted to sign up for the St. George Ironman 2011. My first thought was 'really???' But, I tried to be supportive, and it wasn't always easy. But, it was exciting to see him work toward such a major goal.

He hit a few bumps in the road along the way, including breaking his thumb a few months ago which included surgery to put a pin in! But, he was back on the bike with the cast and all, he even rode on the trainer for 6 hours one Saturday because he couldn't keep his balance outside! The last few weeks before the race he concentrated on swimming since he hadn't been able to swim after the surgery.

We headed down to St. George on May 5 and spent a few days testing the water temp at Sand Hollow Reservoir, swimming with the kids, spending loads of money at the "Official" Ironman store, and eating out WAY too much! :) Our great friends, the Christensens, were kind enough to let us stay in their condo, which was amazing! Mark's family came up to support him, and that was such a great thing for me. They helped so much with the kids. I couldn't have done it without them!

On race day Mark, his dad, and I all set our alarms for 3:30am, just to make sure! :) Then Devin, Terry, and I dropped Mark off at his shuttle and headed for our shuttle. The race started at 7:00am. The most emotional part of the day was seeing Mark walk down to the water with thousands of other triathletes. It was amazing to know how hard he had worked, and now the day was here! I think the swim was what Mark worried about the most because he tends to cramp up, and the water was still a chilly 62 degrees. He got out of the water at about 8:30, and little did we know he had cramped up BIG time. In fact, the safety crew wanted to pull him out several times, but he said he could see the finish of the swim and refused. He said he had never had such severe cramps in every muscle of his leg. So he "cried like a little girl", prayed, and eventually the cramps subsided. After hearing that story, I was even more relieved to see him get on the bike!

The bike also had it's share of drama. Mark said the first 50 miles his front tire was making a horrible racket. He stopped 4 or 5 times, took the wheel off, spun it, looked at it, put it back on, but it continued. He saw a bike mechanic on the side of the road and stopped to have him take a look. Les, a bike mechanic of 40+ years, told him his spokes were loose! What??? We had just taken it in to Biker's Edge in Kaysville two days before we left! I was ticked when I heard that! Les told Mark it would take him a good 5-10 minutes to tighten the spokes, but Mark told him to do it. After that, no problems.

When we saw Mark get off his bike and start the marathon he looked awesome! He seemed happy, energetic, it was great! He even stopped to hug all of us. I could tell he was trying to have a great experience and enjoy every moment.

It was a long day hanging out in 95 degree heat with the kids, but it was all worth it when we saw him come down the hill to the finish line at 9:15pm. He had hoped to finish around 8, but considering the cramping and the bike issues, 9:17:08 was an excellent time!! I screamed so loud when we saw him that Sam was mad at me for at least 45 minutes. I scared him to death! :) You can tell he's mad in the pictures!

Mark said the race was so well organized. He said there were volunteers at every transition, they even dismounted and mounted their bikes for them! At the aid stations they had everything from Gatorade, bars, and gels, to chicken broth! I even saw a guy running with a piece of pizza and a woman running with a can of beer! (I would have needed a few of those!) At the end there were two volunteers just for Mark, Vivian and Dan. They met him with a reflective blanket and walked him over to where we were. Then they signed him up for his post-race massage with Roger. (Mark made it a point to remember their names :))

I have seen Mark really happy lots of times, and this was one time I will never forget. Seeing him accomplish a goal he had worked so hard for was amazing!! Way to go, Mark! You are an example to all of us of hard work, determination, and dedication!! In the words of the Ironman announcer: Mark Spalding, You're an Ironman!

It's a girl thang

Drue is such a girl...and it is sooo fun! It's true, after having a few boys it's amazing how new and different everything "girl" is. For a while there Drue insisted on wearing this tutu with every outfit. First thing in the morning she would point to her closet and say "no" until I grabbed the tutu, then she would smile and nod her curly little head. Not sure why she insisted on the winter hat and sweater to compete the ensemble, but, we went with it.

The girl LOVES having her hair done. I'll say, "Should we go put pretties in your hair?" and she gets all excited. Maybe she just likes playing in the water while I do it...but, hey, at least she's letting me! The other night she insisted that I put EVERY clippie in her hair at once. It was a nice look...:)

My favorite look right now has to be the piggy tails. Just looking at her with those piggies makes me happy! She even lets me put flower clips in them and won't take them out...unless we're in the car for a long period of time. The other day she shocked me by letting me paint her toenails AND her fingernails!! It's a girl thang!! :) So fun!

In the end, it's all worthwhile!

Yesterday I had my second colonoscopy. Three years ago I had my first at the age of 35 because my Mom had polyps removed at age 45 and they say you need to have a screening 10 years earlier then your closest relative had polyps removed. I'm really not sure why I actually had the screening three years ago. I didn't have any symptoms, and heaven knows I didn't really want to have a colonoscopy. But, I felt some urgency, so I did. In my first screening they found two polyps, one pre-cancerous, the other benign. If a screening finds you have polyps, then they recommend another screening in three years. This was the year, so I went in yesterday. They found another polyp, so I'll be heading back in 2014.

Honestly, the colonoscopy is great! You remember nothing, you get a great nap, no biggie. It's the prep the 24 hours prior that's really crappy...REALLY "crappy"! :) And I mean crapping every 5 minutes for several hours! I NEVER want to drink another flavored sparkling water..EVER! But, or Butt :) the pun in the title IS intended. Getting a colonoscopy is so worth it in the "end". If it weren't for screenings, I would likely have cancer, if not today, in a few short years.

If you are related to me, Please, PLEASE, PLLEESSE, schedule a colonoscopy! It sounds scary, but the alternative could be much, much worse! If you aren't related to me, please research your family history and have the screenings you need to have! God created medical technology to help us. Let's use it!!

See ya Later Alligator...

So, my sister Mandy has inspired me to keep posting. She has compiled her blog into books, and now her kids can sit, read, and be inspired by her words. I'm not ignorant enough to think that my kids will necissarily be inspired by me, but I think they'll enjoy reading about their lives with pictures and all. But, come to think of it, they may not appreciate this post at all!!

I am so, so, SO glad to have the boys back on track! Don't get me wrong, I like having them home. They are fun boys. But, Mom needs her routine. For some reason the three little ones are so much calmer when the big boys aren't here...hmmm. It is also nice to know that Devin and Sam both have awesome teachers. We just filled out track request forms, and this time of year always makes me a little nervous. Can't their teachers just move with them? I have loved Ms. Husbands and Mrs. Carlson. But, honestly, I have loved every teacher they've had-with the exception of one-and she shall remain nameless...at least on this blog.

I am excited for Ty, though, because he will be starting Chinese Immersion Kindergarten this year!! Mark and I went back and forth about the idea, but ultimately decided that learning a second language so young is an awesome opportunity, and he'll have something that is all his...no big brothers to compete with! I am determined to learn Chinese along with him...although I find myself wishing it was Japanese Immersion! ;)

MelonHeadz: Earthquake

MelonHeadz: Earthquake: "·´¯`·.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸PRAYER WAVE¸.·´¯`·.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ Going out to all those affected in Japan, the Pacific and everywhere else affected b..."