Over the Hill...

Today I am officially "over the hill". 

Happy 40th Birthday to me!

(Man, that feels old.)

Christmas Morning

We had a fun christmas day.  Matt woke up first at 6:20.  He tried to wake Gavin up but he wasn't interested.  Matt then told him, "lets go look at the presents".  Gavin shot out of bed and ran to the living room.  They got into their stockings.  Their noise woke Adam up.  So, we all got up and started opening presents around 6:30.  After opening their gifts, the boys were so interested in playing with them, they didn't want to stop to eat.  Eventually I made some muffins, put them on the table, and told the boys they could get one when they felt like eating.  They may have eaten one muffin each but nothing else 'til dinner, when we made them stop playing. 

 This is the living room before the chaos began. 

 

 



 Gavin received Toby, a Thomas train from his grandparents. 

 

 

 This was the big present from Santa.  Look at all their faces.  It was an xbox 360 with kinect sensor and games.

 

 Adam's face says it all.  He is in love.  He has been wanting an xbox for years.  He also received the minecraft xbox game.

 

 Gavin was excited to get his very own marshmellow gun.  He always uses Matt's.

 

 Santa brought a new bike to Matt.

 

 Gavin got a couple of new train sets.  In Gavin's heaven there will be trains and train sets.   

 

We got each of the boys a Kindle Fire.  They were all excited.  Here they are checking them out.  Amazon has a neat service that only costs a few dollars a month.  It allows the available content--books, apps, games, videos to be based on their age range.  With that minimal fee, they get hundreds of books, apps, videos, etc.  Without this service I could easily pay that same amount for one game or one book.  An extra bonus is that now Robert and I can have our tablets back. 



Gingerbread Men

 This christmas we decided to decorate gingerbread men instead of a house.  I found a kit with three big gingerbread cookies and thought the boys would enjoy each decorating their own.  We did this Sunday afternoon.   They had fun.  Afterwards they nibbled on the cookies but said they weren't that tasty.  So, they ended up mainly picking off the candy and sprinkles. 

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

At the end of last year, I signed up for a rowing challenge at the YMCA.  The challenge was to row across the state of Kansas.  That is 680,753 meters, or 425 miles.  I decided to do this.  I enjoy rowing and thought it would be a fun challenge.  For those that aren't aware, rowing is a great exercise.  It uses your entire body, but it is exhausting.  I averaged an 8:30 minute mile, doing 4 miles per day.  I initially thought this would take me about 7 months.  I was also doing zumba when I started rowing, so I would row about 3-4 days/week.  By the time June came I really wanted to get the rowing done, so I quit zumba and rowed every day.  That month I rowed 100,000 meters.  My goal was to finish by the end of August.  But then vacations happened, blisters formed, and the two rowing machines were constantly broken.  August passed and I still had 90 miles to go.  The two machines then dwindled to one, because one was beyond repair.  By the middle of October I had only 40 miles to go.  We decided to end our Y membership at the end of November.  I figured I could easily finish 40 miles in a month.  However, the very next day I broke my big toe.  I took two weeks off from rowing because of it.  I was beginning to question if I would be able to finish in time.  I went back to the Y and the darn machine was broken...for 8 days.  I rowed as much as I could that last week of November.  My toe still really hurt, but after 20 minutes of rowing it would go numb, so I just had to get through the first 20 minutes and then I was okay.  On the last day of our membership I still had 19 miles (31,000 meters) to go.  I knew I needed 4 days to finish that.  Lots of people told me to not worry about it, that I had just about completed it, but I was determined to finish it.  It was a ton of work and I wasn't going to quit that close to completing it.  Last week my friend was able to get me a guest pass for a week--5 days.  That meant I had to do 4-5 miles a day, as long as the machine didn't break and nobody else was using it.  The first two days were fine.  I did 4.5 miles and 5 miles, leaving me 9.5 miles to go.  On the third day I walked in and saw the chain and handle lying on the floor.  The machine was broken.  I really thought I wasn't going to be able to complete it.  Later that evening I decided to drive by the Y and look in the window.  The rower is right by the window.  I saw a guy using it.  I couldn't believe it.  In the past when the machine was broken it always took at least a week to repair it.  I prayed it would be working in the morning.  Hallelujah!--it was.  I then did a 10K.  That left me 3.5 miles to complete on Monday.  I again prayed the rower would be working Monday morning.  Thank goodness it was.  It was my last day of the guest pass.  It felt so good to only do 5700 meters and to finally have this goal completed.  The picture below is after I got home Monday morning. I'm holding a map of Kansas I had taped to the wall a year ago, charting my progress.  I've never been so excited to reach Missouri.  As a side note--about 12 people signed up for this rowing challenge.  Only two of us completed it. 

St. Nicholas Day

We put our shoes/boots out, under the christmas tree, the eve of Dec. 5th.  They were filled that night by St. Nicholas.  We all got new pajamas and goodies.  The boys also received new gloves.  Adam and Matt each got a movie and binoculars.  Gavin received Skarloey--a Thomas train, and a shaving play kit.

 

Thomas Trains

Gavin LOVES Thomas Trackmaster trains.  See that smile!  He has 44 of them.  He knows all of the names.  He plays with them everyday, all day.  It's been really cold this week, single digit temps.  So, we were a bit bored this morning and decided to line up all his trains.  We made a video with him naming all of his trains.  I tried loading it but my computer is so slow that I ran out of patience. So, if you're willing to visit us, you can watch the video.  Just know that Gavin loves and knows his trains.

 

 

Thoughts of a Three-Year Old

Here are a couple of things Gavin has said in the past few days.  I never know what's going to come out of his mouth.

On Tuesday we were decorating the christmas tree.  He wanted to help, so I explained how to use the hook on the ornaments.  He quickly learned and started putting lots of ornaments on the tree.  He then exclaimed with a lot of enthusiasm (side note:  he's very enthusiastic), "I am a GOOD hooker!  See, Mom, I am really good at hooking".  Then Adam and Matt chimed in, "Yeah, you are a good hooker".  Robert and I were cracking up because none of them know anything about hookers or hooking.  Too funny!


This morning, Gavin said to me as he crawled onto my lap, "Mom, I need a hug.  I need you to take care of mine self".  So cute!

Leavenworth Weekend

We went to Leavenworth to visit G&G Kennington for Thanksgiving weekend. We also had a celebration for Adam's birthday.  Adam is only 1 inch shorter than Grandma Chichi.  It's fun to see them side by side because they're about the same height, have the same hair color and very similar facial features.  Adam received some money for his birthday and was thrilled with that.

We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving feast together.  Cristina always bakes both ham and turkey, so there is something for everyone.  It was all very yummy.  Robert and I went shopping Friday morning.  It's fun for us to do that.  I love finding good deals, and it's fun to spoil the boys a bit for Christmas. 

Model Train Show

 About three weeks ago I read in the newspaper about a model train show coming to Dodge City.  I knew Gavin would LOVE this because he is obsessed with Thomas trains.  So, two Saturdays ago I took him and Matt to Dodge to see the trains.  There were some amazing set ups.  Gavin was in heaven.  I did prep Matt a bit, telling him to bring a book because Gavin was going to want to sit and watch a long time.  Afterwards, we drove to the train station downtown and watched the real trains come and go.  It was a fun Saturday. 

 

Look at that happy face!!!

 



For the love of . . .

POP-TARTS! 

Gavin discovered a box of pop-tarts in the cupboard that I had bought for our trip to Snowbird this summer.  He can not get enough of them now.  He loves the chocolate ones!  This is how I found him one morning. . . with two of his favorite things--pop-tarts and trains. 

Adam's 11th Birthday

Adam turned 11 yesterday, November 21st.

  He is growing up so quickly.  He's maturing a lot and is quite pleasant to be with.

His stats are:  height--4'11"

weight--73 lbs

  He really enjoyed his day and presents.  After school he opened his gifts.  He received a Pokemon DS game, money and lots of books.  He likes reading a lot.  He got books on mythology, the civil war, Abraham Lincoln, and the WWI christmas day truce.  We then got dinner from a favorite restaurant and watched a movie.  For his cake, we had a cheesecake. 

Adam had a birthday party a couple of weeks earlier.  He took five of his best friends to see the movie, "Free Birds".  His friends were Cy Kentner, Steven Mills, Orion and Kenji Craig, and Cole Thompson.  After the movie, they came back to the house to open presents, eat cake, and play rowdily.   

Matt's School Music Program

Earlier this week, Matthew had his school music program.  It was a patriotic-themed show.  Matt does not enjoy these music programs but he's a good sport--mainly so he gets a good grade. 

He's in the first row, in a navy blue shirt.  Every year, in every show, he has stood to the left of his friend, Pat Nolen. 

Halloween 2013

Trick or Treat!  It's Halloween time! 

The boys are still at the age that Halloween is exciting and lot of fun.  One tradition we have is to stay out late trick-or-treating.  We seem to always be one of the last families out.  Sorry if we've knocked on your door after 9pm.  I know they don't need that much candy but they're so excited so why not let them stay out for a long time. 

During the weeks prior to Halloween, whenever we asked Gavin which costume he wanted to wear he would say "nothing.  Halloween is weird."  I really didn't think he would wear a costume.  I barely got him in one last year.  However, thank goodness for the school Halloween parade.  We walked over to Matt's school to see all of the kids parade around outside in their costumes.  This triggered the desire in Gavin to have one, too.  We went home and looked through the box.  He saw this one below and loved it.  He says he's a 'fire-breathing dragon'.  He loved the tail.  I took 10 pictures of his backside so he could show off the tail. 

Look at that happy face.

Matt went as LeBron James, Gavin a fire-breathing dragon, and Adam as Steve from Minecraft. 

 

 

 Here's a picture of their loot.  Gavin was too tired to stay up for this.  When we got home he went straight to his bed, costume still on. 

(Notice the train set in the background.  Not a day goes by when there isn't a train set in our living room.  Gavin is obsessed with trains.)

Busy Fall

The past couple of months have been very busy.  After getting back from Albuquerque, I started getting ready for stake conference.  Stake conference is not relaxing for me.  It's not a Sunday off of normal church duties.  For me, it's two days of coordinating all of the childcare (5 hours), conducting leadership training for the ward/branch RS presidencies, playing the organ, and doing whatever else the stake presidency asks me to do. Thankfully they didn't ask me to speak.  I had spoken the last two conferences. 

I also coordinate all of the mission zone conference meals.  We've had a couple of those to do.  When we're lucky they are here in Garden City, but the last one was in Dodge City (1 hour away) so I was gone from 8:30-3:00. 

I went to Denver with some friends in October for a long weekend.  We attended Time Out for Women as well as went to the temple with another friend who was receiving her endowment.  That was really neat.  She's been a solid member for three years and was just waiting to get permission from her husband to go to the temple.  The missionary that taught her also flew in from SLC.  It was special for all of us to be there.  My friends, Kim, Amber, Jennifer, and I went up Thursday evening.  We spent Friday shopping.  We spent lots of money (probably too much) at TJMaxx and IKEA.  Then we headed to Time Out.  We've been to Time Out before, but this time we didn't enjoy it as much.  I think we wanted to shop and go to the temple more but felt obligated to go because we had paid for the tickets.  Saturday morning we went to the temple, then back to Time Out and then back for more shopping.  I will say, though, I really enjoyed Emily Freeman's talk at Time Out.  I've heard her speak before and have always liked her.  She's smart and a thinker/ponderer, and I appreciate those qualities.  We got back late Saturday night--really Sunday morning.

The following weekend we had a stake women's conference.  Because of the large geographic area of our stake we haven't had many stake activities in the past.  But, I'm hoping to change that a bit.  When I was called to the stake RS and started visiting all of the wards/branches I remember thinking that I typically knew only 1-2 people per unit, and that was after living in the stake for seven years.  And most of them I met at Girls' Camp or in stake leadership mtgs.  I remember wondering if others felt the same as me---that they just didn't know many members from the stake.  So, as a presidency, we decided to start having stake RS activities--regardless of the distance.  We do two a year.  In the spring we had a RS temple trip.  In October we had the women's conference.  We initially thought we would have 60 in attendance.  But we got RSVPs for 150.  I think the sisters were/are wanting to be more connected and have opportunities to build friendships.  With such a large attendance we had to readjust some of the logisitics but it all came together.  Our theme was "I AM. . ."  We went pretty big this year, in regards to what we did at the conference.  We flew in some speakers from Washington DC, Russ and Debora Fletcher.  They are members and do the EFY and East Coast church speaking circuit.  We got them because Debora is related to my secretary.  They were really great.  We also had a nice lunch, mini-classes and a panel discussion.  We also provided childcare and translation.  We ended up having 120 attend.  I'm such a project manager that I had all the details and logistics worked out beforehand.  This made for a very busy few days prior to the conference but things ran very smoothly during it.  We have had some great feedback so we're planning another conference next year.  My one souvenir from the conference was a broken, big toe.  I ran in to someone during the conference.  She had big, clunky shoes on and they just clobbered my toe.  I didn't tell anyone 'til afterwards and I was trying not to limp, but boy, did it hurt. 

We've had friends move this Fall.  We've helped them with packing and watching kids.  We've also been refinancing our house.  That will be complete on Monday.  It's seems like there is always something to do.  Next I need to complete my application to KU for the master's program. 
CARRY ON!

True Matthew Antics

Here's my Matt--a fun, happy boy. 

He's very affectionate and playful. 

Doesn't he look sweet? 

But, boy, does he have a mischievous streak.

And such a teaser. 

I found these pictures on my camera.

They just make me laugh 'cause they are sooo Matt.

 



(In his defense, he said he just wanted to see what he looks like upside down and with cross-eyes).

Robert's Birthday

Robert's birthday was in early October.  He really doesn't want me to blog about his birthday.  To him it's just a reminder that he's getting older.  But, I had to post some photos with a gift that the boys loved.  We got him some KU pajama pants.  The boys had so much fun trying them on. 

 

Late Summer Trips

We had three trips all in a row in August and September.  I have very few pictures because I forgot my camera at home when we to Utah and Colorado.  And when we went to New Mexico I took most of our photos with my camera.  However, I haven't figured out yet how to download them onto my computer. 

We spent a week in August at Snowbird in Utah with all the Leonard relatives.  Without photos my memory fails me a bit.  But some of the highlights were:

playing bingo in a cold, rainstorm with 40-50 Leonard relatives

Adam and Matt completing their first hike to the top of Hidden Peak

Gavin and Greta showing off their dance moves

Adam and four of his second cousins sitting in the hall all playing Minecraft on their Ipods

 

We got back from Utah on a Sunday.  Monday was the first day of school.  Friday we took the boys out of school and went to Denver for our ward's temple trip.  We left early on Friday so we could visit Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  We then met up with friends from the ward at the hotel.  It's a lot of work to go to the temple.  It's always an overnight stay and is a family effort.  However, because the whole family goes on the trip the boys go to the temple grounds a few times a year.  If we lived within an hour of a temple, we would probably get a babysitter for them but then they wouldn't go to the temple that much.  So, that's one blessing for living so far from a temple--the boys go more often than if we lived close to one. 

 

Then the next weekend, Labor Day, we drove down to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  It was the boys first time in the southwest.  It's only a 7 hour drive.  We left before 6am and got there by lunchtime.  We toured the Old Town, the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens, visited the temple, and spent an afternoon at an amusement park.  I took a lot of pictures on my phone of the boys on the rides.  They had so much fun.  I thought we would spend 2-3 hours there but the boys were having such a good time that we ended up closing the park down.  Gavin was game for every ride.  If he would have been tall enough for the big rollercoasters he would have ridden them.  Adam went on his first big coaster and loved it.  He kept riding it over and over.  The boys also loved the water rides.  One in particular, a tunnel-tube ride, soaked us. 

 

After three weeks of traveling, we were ready to stay home.  At least for another month.

 

Hitting the Sack

For a couple of weeks, Matt and Gavin wanted to sleep in the same bed. . . every night.  It was quite cute, and they slept really well.  Eventually Gavin began to think of it as play time and Matt, being tired, wanted to sleep.  So, that ended that and Matt no longer invited Gavin to sleep in his bed. To get these pictures I had to turn on the lamp on Matt's nightstand.  I was surprised that neither of them stirred with the light on.

1st Day of School

School began August 19th. 

Adam is in the 5th grade and attends Charles Stones Intermediate School.  It has 5th and 6th grades.  His teachers are Miss. Fesemyer and Mr. Parker.  His best friend, Orion Craig, is in his class.  He has two electives--Art with Ms. Hubbard and Gifted with Mr. Whited.  Adam has transitioned really well to his new school.  Both of his main teachers are first-year teachers.  He really likes them.  His favorite subjects are history and math.   

Matthew is in the 3rd grade and attends Jennie Wilson Elementary School.  His teacher is Mrs. Nelson.  She was also Adam's 3rd grade teacher.  There are a lot of boys in his grade.  This year, like every past year, he has 15 boys in his class, and only 7 girls.  His good friends are Bryce & Carter Fuchs, Joey Reyna, Waylan Wittliff, Pat Nolen, Luis Leyva---he has a lot of friends.  They love to play basketball at every recess.  If there's no basketball available they play either football or soccer.  Matt's favorite subjects are PE and math.   

 

 

Adam--10.5 years old

Matthew--8 years old  

 

 

Matt wasn't thrilled to have his picture taken or to start school. . . .but Gavin was. As a side note, Gavin was signed up for preschool, however I had to withdraw him because he refuses to be potty trained. 

Other Summer Activities

While Oma and Opa visited in May we took them to the buffalo range.

Here you can see the wide-open prairie and buffalo.

We went to Wichita for the Riverfest. We rode the boat on the Arkansas river.  Aren't our sailors cute?

There were also carnival rides. Adam and Matt rode this one. It spun them every direction.  Gavin didn't want to go on any rides.  There was a model train set up and he and I sat there for three hours, watching it go round and round.  That's his kind of paradise.

This was Matt's doing.

I didn't even know he and Gavin had done this until I downloaded my pictures onto the computer.