Horseback riding

I had to snap this picture of Jack on his cell phone riding his horse.

On Saturday, May 30, 2009; John and I got to go on a horseback ride with his dad, Jordan and Tara. It was a fast and fun trip up to the North Fork of the Ogden River area on the backside of Ben Lomond. It was a pretty time to go when everything is still green, and snow still on the mountains. I rode Jack's mule Cotton. He is really, really, REALLY mellow. I think he watches the scenery more than I do! He is my favorite to ride.

Have I said before how beautiful some places on this earth are?

Me riding Cotton (he is not the prettiest animal, but he is awesome to ride!)


Tara and Jordan - isn't it green and pretty?!!

Memorial Weekend 2009

So after a crazy week of preschool graduation, dance rehearsal and 2 nights of dance recitals; we took off to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone for Memorial weekend. It was fun to get away, and the girls were good travelers (thanks to a portable DVD player we take along). On Saturday May 23, 2009 we drove up to Jackson Hole and walked around town for a little while. There was some kids activities in the town square, so we spent some time there with bubbles, hula-hoops, Frisbees, horseshoes, and a ball pit. The girls loved it after sitting in the car all morning. Then we went to Bubba's for lunch with Oma and Opa Diamond, and headed to Snow King to ride the Alpine slide. There was a promotion going on at Snow King to jump on the trampoline and get strapped into the trick harness to do flips and things. So the girls jumped, and Whitney was able to do some backward flips all by herself!

On Sunday, May 24, 2009 we drove into Yellowstone park. We saw a bear, buffalo, herds and herds of elk, Old Faithful and the grand canyon of Yellowstone. This world is a beautiful place!

On Monday, we drove home through Bear Lake and stopped for a picnic and the famous raspberry shakes! YUM! (that is by my request of course.)

Whitney trying the hula hoop. John loves her blonde hair, and calls this picture "Lady Godiva"

Summer loves the trampoline at our house, so she was really excited to jump at Snow King, and with some help can jump really high!

Family picture in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

Preschool Graduation

May 21, 2009 the girls graduated from their first year of preshool. They have been going to the Syracuse Montessori preschool. They have loved it and their teachers.

For the graduation the kids were divided into groups and each gave a little presenation of a song or something they learned during the year. Summer and Whitney were in a group that sang some songs. Summer is our little songbird, so we have heard different songs throughout the year and the songs that they sang at the program everyday since then. She is a cute singer.

I can't believe how fast they are growing and how much they are learning everyday! They are going to be 4 years old this summer! CRAZY!

Whitney (in red on left) and Summer (in blue 3rd from left) singing in the program

Dancing Queens!

Whitney and Summer have been taking dance class during this last year at Dance Image Studios in Hooper. On May 21 & 22, 2009 it was time for the show!! They did 2 dances, one was a tap dance and the other was a ballet dance. I was kind of concerned how they would do in front of everyone, but they did great! For those of you interested, I have posted their dances. Each one is about 2 min. One of the great moments is at the end of the tea party dance, when Whitney's tea cup was taken and she pouted and had to be carried off stage. Summer is left, Whitney is right.


Tap Dance to "Duck, Duck, Donald"





Ballet dance to "I just love getting dressed for tea"

Celtic Woman concert

On Tuesday, May 12, 2009 we went to the Celtic Woman concert at the E Center, and sat on the FRONT ROW! This is an amazing group of women with the most amazing voices. We have gone to their concerts the last few years and have really enjoyed it. For those of you have not heard of Celtic Woman watch for programs on PBS. This is where we first saw them. Summer and Whitney call them the "Singing Princesses". One of our favorite woman is Mairead, she plays the violin while she is running and jumping around the stage and never missing a note. The youngest one is Chloe, who is 19 now, but started when she was about 14 I believe. For anyone wanting some beautiful and relaxing music, check out Celtic Woman.

Ogden Half Marathon 2009

Saturday, May 16, 2009 was the annual Ogden Marathon, Half-Marathon, 5K and Kids K. I ran the half last year, so I decided to go for it again. It is a fun race to do. The organizers of this event go all out. It is well done race. I ran the race and improved my time by nine minutes from last year, so I was very excited. The only thing I don't like about the race is the early morning. My sister-in-law Kallie and I both ran the half, and we had to catch the bus in front of the Ogden City building at 5 am. I got up about 3:50 am to get up and eat breakfast, and get to Kallie's house to carpool over. We caught the bus and got up to Eden Park at about 5:45 am to stand around and wait in the cold around a crowded fire until the race started at 7 am. As I think about it though if that is the only way to do it and still have the race start at that time - I'll do it, just because I don't want the race to start any later.

So it was kind of a family affair, Kallie and I ran the half, John's mom Marilyn ran the 5k and won her age division, my other sister-in-law Tara ran the 5k and got a PR (she was even sick the week before and the day of too! ), and Summer and Whitney both ran the kids K! Summer ran the whole way with John's mom (because I got sick after my race and couldn't run), and Whitney finished but had to make a couple of bathroom stops along the way because she guzzled a gatorade before the race. Marilyn said she asked Summer once if she wanted to walk and Summer turned to her and said "no grandma, it is a race!" She is a little competitive (hmmm, wonder where she gets that from?! ;)

John was an awesome cheerleader and support. He woke up with me before 4 in the morning and was way more bright eyed and bushy tailed than I was. He was getting me all pumped up for the race and asking what he could do to help me get ready, he helped me get my breakfast and everything together. Then he got the girls up when it was time to go to see his mom and Tara run the 5k. He showed them how to ring their cow-bells and yell "Go Mom!", "Go Tara!", "Go Oma!", "Go Kallie!". He had them practicing a little. They catch on quick and end up cheering on all the runners. There were some male runners coming in for the half that didn't have their shirts on and Whitney would yell "Go naked guy!" :)

The few days before the race I was thinking, "Why did I sign up for this? What am I thinking to go and run 13 miles!" but after running the race and having the fun day, I'm pretty sure I will sign up for next year too. It really is a fun race and well organized and put together. Plus the course is a good course - mostly downhill. I would highly recommend this to anyone, but watch ogdenmarathon.com and sign up early because it sold out this year!

Anybody up for a run let me know, I'd love to get out!!

I like this picture because it is blurry, so you can't really see me, but also it makes me look like I am going faster than I was!

So happy to be finished!

This is Tara coming into the chute to finish with her PR!

Kallie in the home stretch of 13.1 miles!!

Marilyn with her award of 1st for her age division.

Summer running the Kids K with Oma (Thanks for the picture Tara!)

John helping Whitney in the Kids K

The Diamond runner girls!!

This is the drive home! What a long and fun day!

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day this year, I helped the girls make stepping stones with their pictures and hand prints for grandmas. The grandmas seemed to like it (but then grandma's like anything that grand kids do!) They had so much fun decorating and writing messages for Grandma Read, Oma Mare and Grandma Grace. Summer only put her hand in one of the stones, then didn't really know if she liked it, so on the others we just made a sun and put "you are my sunshine". She is our "Summer Sunshine" and we always sing "You are my Sunshine" to her. Whitney had a great time putting her hands in the "mud" and put the inscription "Love You".

I got the best present of all, after being gone for nearly three weeks, John came home the Saturday before Mothers Day and stayed a whole week!! So it was more like a Mother's week rather than a Mother's Day! It was nice having him home. (He always has a honey-do list when he gets home). I was able to go outside and run in the mornings, rather than on the treadmill. It was nice to be able to run to the store and not have to load and unload kids, he could just stay home with them. More laundry gets done (because John is always so good to help with laundry and housework). It is nice to have adult company, it is nice to get a kiss and a hug from your spouse everyday, it is nice having reinforcements when it comes to discipline and just everyday things the girls need. I know I take him for granted while he is home. He is so good to me and is an awesome husband.

We had John's family over for a Mother's Day dinner and then met up with my family at a park in Roy for a BBQ, playing on the playground, and a game of softball (always an all-star game with us!). To cap off the day, we had a camp-out on the trampoline. We ended up coming into the house about 2 am and finishing the campout on the family room floor.

This is Whitney trying out the pony saddle on Tio's dog Coda. Coda was a good sport, and maybe we should have Whitney try some Mutton Bustin!

Summer enjoying some pie at the BBQ

Our campout on the trampoline

It is crazy to think of me as a mother. I feel very inferior to all the other mothers around me, but I love my girls and I love being a mother most of the time (I almost typed every minute of it, but Whitney is crying at this moment, so I can't say every minute of it, but really close). I truly wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I put a thought down at the bottom of my blog page that I saw on a church reader board once and I think it is so true. It said "with children, the days are long, but the years are short." Amen.

I always thought I appreciated my mother and all that she has done for me, but after becoming a mother myself, words cannot express the gratitude and love I feel for my mom and all that she has done and sacrificed for me. She has always been the perfect example to me of a mother. I look at all that she has accomplished as a mother and while she was a mother, and I stand in awe and hope someday to follow her lead and the pace she has set; but I'm not really even in the same race as her! Thanks mom for being so great and such an example to live up to, you are so inspiring! Love you!

Thanks to my other mom Mare for making me a daughter. I am truly lucky to have a great family of in-laws and it is because of your role in the family that makes it so great. Thank you for making John the man he is. Love you!

Mothers are so great, there should be more official "Mother's Days" during the year because I know that I do not tell the mothers in my life how grateful I am to them for all they have done in their life to get me to this point in mine.

What we have been up to for the last few years

I know that we have lost touch with a lot of people during the last few years. I am not the best at keeping in touch. I know this is my fault, and I am sorry. But I did want to get our friends from Idaho, Heber and everyone else from everywhere up to speed.

In December 2003, John graduated from University of Idaho with a Masters in Engineering. He got a job in Park City, UT and we moved into a rental house in Heber for about 3 months, then bought a house in Heber. In July 2005, our twins were born. When the girls were about a month old, John decided he wanted to get an MBA, so he went to the University of Utah MBA program at night. It was a long couple of years to have him work full-time plus, and then go to school at night, while I was at home with newborn twins. (I have survived with a smile on my face and I am extremely proud of John and his hard work). For those of you keeping track, yes- that is two Maters degrees!

If all of this was not hard enough, we decided we were even crazier and moved to Syracuse in the middle of the MBA program. We moved three times in two months (into my parents house in Roy for 2 weeks, into an apartment in Clinton for 2 months, and then into our current home in Syracuse). So if we lost a few of you, now you know why and we are sorry!

John finished his MBA the end of the summer 2007. He switched jobs about 6 months ago, and is now traveling a lot.

I work one day a week in West Layton at Summit Dental, and keep the girls active going to dance and preschool, and swimming in the summer.

This is just a quick update, sorry for the lack of communication from us in the past. I am trying to do better. I hope that having the internet and the blog will help!

Funny things the girls say

How cute are my girls?! I just love them and the things they say.
S and W are so funny, when we drive down the road they can point to every fast food joint and tell me what it is. They even know the difference between Taco Bell and Taco Time!
Awhile ago we drove past RC Willey, and S said "mom, RC Willey: your home, your way". Over conference weekend we went to Artic Circle with the girls while the guys were at the priesthood session. We pulled into Artic Circle and S again cries out, "Artic Circles mom! Where the good stuff is!" I can't help but laugh, but also cringe at the things they retain instead of other more important things besides commercials!
This week we were driving to dance class, and W was talking about how flowers turn into butterflies. I wasn't quite understanding what she was trying to tell me and asked her to say it again. She said that flowers turn into butterflies. S then said "no sissy" (that is what S calls W), "caterpillars turn into butterflies." W protested "no, flowers turn into butterflies." S then to teach W said "no, caterpillars turn into butterflies. PBS kids said so!"
This last week we were at my parents house and my mom has an amazing flower bed in her front yard with dozens and dozens of tulips blooming. My mom cut them each a flower, and they were calling them roses. I told them "no, they are tulips, like two-lips," then I would make the kissing sound. A couple of days later we were leaving the house for preschool and S saw a couple of tulips blooming in our flower bed and she asked "you have kiss flowers mom?"
A couple of weeks ago I was dropping them off at preschool and their teacher held me there for a second to tell me that she had brought her daughter with her a couple of day to help (her daughter is in 6th grade). She was telling W about her older brother, and then asked W if she had an older brother. W said "yes, his name is Jesus. I like Jesus, do you like Jesus?" I was proud, but also relieved that she didn't tell them I was pregnant or something (she has done that in the past also).
I love the funny things they say, sometimes I wish I could be a fly on the wall in their bedroom as they are settling down for their nap or for bed at night.

I am going to try the blogging world!

We now have the internet, and I have been reading other blogs, so I thought it would be fun. We'll see how this goes. This is the first, and I will try adding pictures and things later.