City by the Bay

John surprised all of us with Giants tickets today...family date night in the city by the Bay. We waited for the boys to get home from school. We told them, one by one, that we were heading to San Francisco. Once the city by the bay was mentioned, they immediately knew where we were headed.

The game fell at the end of the week that the  Boston marathon bombings occurred. Security at the gates made for long lines. We made it inside the park just in time to hear the Star Spangled Banner. Goose bumps...every single time! Our seats were in our usual favorite spot...the upper deck. We love sitting up here so we can see the happenings on the bay at the same time. 

Tonight, it was our World Series Champions  vs. The San Diego Padres. 

Here are a few highlights :).

 The boys after the win. Nothing like a walk off to win a tied ball game! So much FUN!

Time for a family photo while we wait for the firework show!

The firework show was amazing! They were set off over the Bay. The music(Don't Stop Believing, California 37, We are the champions, etc...) was loud and fun... a great way to end our night at AT&T park!

The boys are making plans to go back...like yesterday!

The month of April flew by...seriously! I blinked twice and here we are, into the 2nd week of May! Crazy!!!I received a text from my friend Free saying I needed to post on my blog :). I can't let April totally pass by without some photos/highlights.

I have slacked on my What I Wore on Sunday posts. Here is what I wore on a random Friday! How's that? Loving this simple outfit. Shirt was on clearance for $8.00 at New York and Company. Boyfriend jeans from Nordstrom Rack. Shoes from TJ Max and my darling necklace from my friend, Amy for my birthday last year! Not pictured... my darling red Nine West purse that completes this outfit!

This cute boy got to go and do Temple baptisms with our youth group at the Sacramento Temple. You have to be 12 years old to do so...this was his first trip! He is growing up way too fast!

Spring soccer. John thought it would be fun to sign Tanner up for spring soccer. It has been more of a hassle...Tanner(pictured with the ball in the black, white, red jersey) is just so busy with other things...school, volleyball, umpiring baseball, etc..

Garrett earned a few more Scot awards at the April Pack meeting. We are thankful for his great Scout leaders who have kept him on track.

Tanner played volleyball for his school for the first time! He did a great job. He has a wicked serve. He loved it and hopes to play in high school.

Garrett loves to play catcher. He is awesome at it...word on the baseball field is that he is already being scouted by the Major coaches for next season :).

 Kruppy(Carter) went yard...first home run of the 2013season for him. He was so excited and so were we.

 And so were Garrett's teammates. They were playing on the field behind Carter's team, at the same time. They heard the excitement when Carter hit the home run, they ran right over and were hoping to see him hit another home run at his next at bat. It was very cute to see them all lined up on the fence. That is Garrett, #7 on the end and you can see Carter up at bat, #9.

We celebrated John's 45th birthday! 45??? I am married to an old man...just teasing! We had fun spoiling him. Birthday gifts, donuts, ball games, family dinner at Costa Vida. I took some cute shots of our family and John with his siblings and for some reason they won't load to my camera. I seriously  think this is why I didn't blog in the month of April. I was so bummed about the photos. I can see them on my camera screen so I am hoping the camera shop can help me. None the less, he had a great day and we loved spoiling him.

It was fun to have my brother and his soon to be wife, Gina here for Conference! We watched General Conference, ate lots of yummy food and the boys convinced them to jump on the trampoline with them! So fun!

 This cute boy was the latest winner of Great Grandma Shores Mercury draw. She sent him ten, $1.00 bills. He was so happy, running around the kitchen. He acted like he had just won a million dollars! It was so cute! My Grandma is adorable and so FUN!

 Flex break - LOL! I have been reading a couple of weight loss blogs and these girls take SO many photos of themselves taking Flex Breaks at the gym. I guess I thought I needed one during my treadmill time :).

 April means strawberries from the fields. I love where we live. We have 3 strawberry stands within a mile and half from our house! YUM! This was the first purchase of the season!

I am loving my brand new Kitchen Aid. I am baking like crazy. This was the first thing I made...honey wheat bread. I was happy it actually rose and did what it was supposed too! You know it has turned  out good when the boys gobble it up!

I am hoping to get back on track with the blog posts. I really do miss it! Our family loves reading old posts and remembering all of the fun and life experiences we have enjoyed! 

Is anyone still out there reading this???

March by the numbers

TWO - books read (Alone and Love You More, both by Lisa Gardner)
THREE new albums(all new releases) were purchased Justin Timberlake, Blake Shelton and Tim McGraw.
FOUR a. - weeks until I run my very 1st half marathon. Woot Woot!
FOUR b. -  missed days(in a row) at Fitness MD. Trying to heal a foot injury. Boo that!
SEVEN -  blog  posts recorded in March.
TWELVE - the number of candles on Carter's birthday cake.
TWELVE.4  - mile run. It happened. I checked it off of my training schedule.
FOURTEEN - layouts created. They happened because I was at the beach for our Scrapbook Weekend)
NINETY SIX - miles logged this month.

Running

Never in a million years did I EVER think that I would posting a blog post with the title RUNNING!
I have spent the last few weeks/months training for my 1st half marathon. I have been running quite a few miles each Saturday in preparation  for my big run in May. When I started my "getting healthy" journey two years ago, I NEVER, EVER wanted or dreamed that I would become a runner. In fact, I am pretty sure that I swore (up and down) that I would NEVER, EVER run for fun...ummm hello 5k(Nov. 2011 and Aug, 2012) 10k (Nov. 2012) and now a 1/2 marathon(May 2013). I wanted to lose weight, get healthy, feel better AND to be able to do it without running :). Funny how things change. Let me just preface this post with the "I still don't love running"! I am actually waiting to experience that runner's high that people/friends keep talking about.

Fitness MD has played a BIG part in my being able to just run. Most of our workouts incorporate cardio/running. When I joined Fitness MD, those first few months were B-R-U-T-A-L. When I had to run a large lap, or worse, being told to run two large laps(=1 mile), in a row, I would cringe. There were days I wanted to cry. There were days that I wanted to take the short cut(basically cheat). There were days that I wand to get in my car and just go home. After two weeks of not being able to run those large laps without stopping at least once, I made a deal with myself. I promised myself that I would never walk a large  lap EVER again. If I had to, I could run it slow but I always had to run it. To this day, I have run every single large lap I have ever been told to run at Fitness MD. You may be saying to yourself, "so, why is she talking about this?" There are two reasons. First, I ran 12 miles on Saturday. I RAN 12 MILES on Saturday. It was on my schedule and I did it. I got it done. Woot! Woot! Thankful that my friend Stephanie joined me...made it so do-able! That is just 1.1 miles less than I will be running on my 1/2 marathon day! I can do it! I know I can. The 2nd reason I am recording my running feats on my blog today is because I was so proud of myself today. I actually slept in and hit the 11:30 am Fit Club class instead of the 5 am . In the 11:30 am class today, there was a girls high school softball team training and doing to workout with us. At certain points in the workout, we had to run large laps(1/2 mile) for time. The 1st two large laps that we had to run, I beat every single one of those high schoolers. Beat them...meaning I was faster than them. Who knew :)??? For the last two large laps that we ran, I stayed even with their fastest runners. I am not bragging or anything(ok, maybe I am...just a little) but I was able to hang with those teeny boppers. Who knew??? As I have thought about my running self, this quote has played over and over in my mind.

And that, my friends is what I have learned...YOU JUST HAVE TO GO!

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's day isn't really holiday that we celebrate or go all out for at our house. I have had to set SOME boundaries! There weren't any leprechaun traps made/set this year. The boys did not wake up to green milk or toilet water. The furniture and sofa pillows were all in tack when they woke up. They did not find pots of gold at the end of any rainbow. They did find an economy box of Lucky Charms to enjoy.

I did find this cute idea for anti pinch polish over on the eighteen25 blog and purchased some green nail polish and delivered a few to family and friends. I painted my nails before church and threw on a green cardigan. Brody was so upset that I would not let him wear his Old Navy 2013 green St. Patrick's Day t-shirt to church so I told him I would paint his nails green too. He loved the idea and we matched. He is 5 and care free!

 Besides it  being St. Patrick's day, it was a very special day for Carter. When the boys in our church turn 12 years old, they receive the Aaronic Priesthood. It is a big deal and big responsibility for these boys. Carter was thrilled to have Grandpa Randy(my Mom was in Utah for her brothers surgery), Uncle Tyson and soon to be Aunt Gina there for his big day! We are glad they could be there for Carter.

Life is moving right on by! I am seriously trying not to blink. I am afraid I will miss something!

12

It is so hard to believe that this sweet little guy/baby is 12 years old today.

Happy Birthday to our sweet, Car-Car!

He was up,dressed and ready for his special day by the time I got home from the gym(I attend the 5 am class). He woke up to his bedroom door wrapped and covered in birthday treats. John had already purchased his birthday donuts for the family to enjoy. He was patiently trying to to wait for me to get home so he could open his presents.

This is Carter opening the gift from GranRanSan(my parents-Randy and Sandy), he can already see what it is and he is one happy boy! It is a new 49ers hat. He was on cloud 9.

 Here he is opening one of the gifts from us. He is in shock because it is the baseball glove that he has been wanting/asking for. He had to start baseball practices without it because he didn't know he was getting it for his birthday!

 I love this photo! Brody had been busy creating presents for Carter. He he had even wrapped them all by himself. He had them placed on the kitchen counter with all of Carter's other gifts that had been arriving in the mail prior to his birthday.Carter opened up 2 pieces of birthday art from Brody! Carter made such a BIG deal about each gift. He ran right to his room to hang them on his bulletin board next to all of the other items Carter sees as important in his life(All Star photos, report cards, etc...).  It was very sweet.

 The birthday door. This is a fun idea that I got from my friend, Brenda! It is now a tradition that the boys looks forward to each year! We pick up a few of their favorite things and attach them to their bedroom door. A few of Carter's current favorites are : Licorice, sunflower seeds, Mio, gum, etc...

 I always feel bad about having to send them to school on their birthdays. I guess it is real life training though, right? We usually have to work on our birthdays in our adult years. John and I surprised him with lunch(Taco Bell) at school. He had baseball practice after school so I made his favorite chocolate crackle cookies to share with the team. He had Costa Vida for dinner, the birthday boys pick. We ended his day with cake, ice cream and really bad, obnoxious Happy Birthday singing  to this cute 12 year old! Happy Birthday, Carter!

Our favorite season

It's here! It's here! It's here! Baseball season is here! It is one of my favorite seasons :)!

We have 3 ball players this year. Tanner decided to umpire instead of play ball this season.

Carter is on the Padres for a 3rd year in a row.

Garrett is on the Royals and Brody is on the Tin Caps(a minor league team).

I love that the boys have made some wonderful friends through our crazy adventures in the sporting world. These boys have played lots of sports together and continue to do so. As crazy as our schedules can get get, trying to get everyone, everywhere, John and I would not trade it for the world. We are thankful for the friendships that have been formed through our boys sporting events.

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Opening Day was fun! They announced each of  the teams as they walked out onto the field. They were all lined up, smallest to biggest on the field. There are over 900 kids playing in our league this season! That is going to a lot of baseball. They also announced Carter's Padres team from last year. They were 25-0, rolling through TOC's and bringing the banner home for the league. It was such a fun morning for the boys and for our entire family.

Carter was the only one who had a game on opening day. It was the Padres vs. the Diamond Backs.We won, 21 - 4. the boys looked great. Carter was the starting pitcher and did a great job.

I love this photo of Coach Kruppy. Coach Nick gave Carter that nick name several years ago. Carter has always had no fear of cheering the team on and coaching them when he thought they needed some extra help/guidance -LOL. The coaches tease that he is a part of their coaching staff.

It's gonna be a great season! Go Padres! Go Royals! Go Tin Caps!