Still Alive!

Yes, I am still here and yes, I realize that I haven't blogged in MONTHS! I am not really sure if anyone still reads this, but I am going to *try* to post a little more regularly. I think that blogging has definitely taken a back seat to the business of life, plus sometimes it feels like it is a little repetitive between other social media outlets, like Facebook and Instagram.

Sometimes I feel like I blink, and Jaxson and Aynsley have grown even more. They are starting to act more and more like twins. Really, the only differences are that Jaxson is taller and says a few more words. They seem to have the typical love/hate sibling relationship, but I love watching them play and I know that they really are best friends. They have entered a busy stage...I like to say that they are two tiny tornados, but I prefer that to the alternative of them just sitting in front of the TV all day. They definitely keep us on our toes and add so much to life.

Much of my spare time has been filled with marathon training! My first marathon is about six weeks away, and I am starting to realize that maybe I am a little crazy for doing this. All of my training has gone pretty well and I feel like I am on track, but wow...26 miles is a long way to run! You really start to realize it when trying to plan out long runs and you keep having to find ways to make them longer. My goal with this race is just to cross the finish line. I have had a lot of thoughts about running and training for this race in particular, so perhaps I will save that for another post.

To sum things up, life is busy but still amazing. I am blessed to have a great husband and have these two little people who call me mom. They make each day an adventure, and hopefully I will do a little bit better job of documenting it.

December Recap

I hate having to do recap style posts, but let's be honest, I have really sucked at blogging lately. December was a crazy busy month in our household, so sadly the blog has been terribly neglected. The two biggest events were Christmas festivities in general (duh), but also my sister getting married!

Making their debut as Mr. and Mrs. 

Beth and her husband, Mike, finally tied the knot after four years of dating! This was definitely a long time coming, but I know that they couldn't be happier. It was so fun to reflect back on my own wedding day and remember all of the excitement and emotions that were part of the day.

Beth lived with us for about 18 months, so we had the opportunity to get to know her husband even more. They seem to genuinely make each other really happy, so it is exciting to have another member in the family!

The Swain Siblings, plus our new addition: Kristin, me, Mike, Beth, David, and Khemia.

We did have a little bit of drama for the wedding. Jaxson and Aynsley were diagnosed with croup just two days before the wedding. Our pediatrician advised us not to take the kids out, as it seemed they would probably be getting worse before they got better. It seemed like their illnesses were pretty mild and they were getting better earlier than expected, so we decided to take them out anyway. Khemia watched them during the temple ceremony, and they seemed to be doing pretty well. Once we went outside for pictures, everything changed. I think a big part of the problem was the fact that the wedding was right during their naps and it was FREEZING cold. Both kids were miserable, kicking, screaming, etc. We ended up being in one picture before we decided that enough was enough, and Mike took the kids home for naps. I stayed behind to be in more of the family pictures, but it was kind of sad to not have the rest of my family there with me.

Beth had asked Mike to help out with the sound equipment during her reception, so he had to leave early to help get everything set up. I was kind of nervous when the kids woke up from their naps, and there was one point when I honestly thought I was going to miss my own sister's wedding reception because of the kids. Fortunately, they started to perk up and so I decided we would try the reception and see how it went. They ended up doing great! I think that they loved the party atmosphere and being able to move around and explore. Poor Beth, Jaxson kept trying to get her to hold him at every opportunity. She was a good sport and kept saying she didn't mind, but I would be willing to bet that there were a few people wondering if Beth already had a kid. 

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This Christmas season seemed especially busy. Between work events, family parties, and everything else, it seemed like there was something going on every night. As nice as it was to be able to see everyone, it has been nice to slow down a little bit and enjoy time with just our own family. 

Our Christmas Eve/Christmas Day was really nice, and actually ended up not being quite as busy as years past. 

We spent the night at Mike's mom's house on Christmas Eve. We ate a delicious dinner, played games, and watched a movie. She had a pinata for the kids, which Jaxson thought was so much fun. I think that Jaxson and Aynsley were still a little young to really understand what was going on, but they knew that something was up. On Christmas morning, the kids had a lot of fun opening up their gifts. They both were able to do pretty well on their own, so this was the first Christmas where it wasn't Mike and me doing all of the unwrapping for them. After breakfast, we headed home just in time for the kids to take their naps. I was SO glad that we were able to get their naps in...both kids were getting pretty cranky by this point, so I know we wouldn't have survived the day otherwise. 

Aynsley, Mike, and Jaxson on Christmas morning. 

Look what Santa brought...a kitchen!

After naps, Mike's dad and his wife came over to visit for a little bit before we headed down to my parent's house. We ended the day with dinner and gifts with my family. Nearly all of our extended family lives out of town, but we had a few family members who were able to come in for Beth's wedding and stay for Christmas. It made it so nice to have everyone there, especially since I think that the last time we were all together for Christmas like that was when I was in elementary school.

Also, my sister Khemia got a special Christmas present that arrived a few days late...her mission call! She is going to the London, England South Mission and reports to the England MTC on April 4th! We are so excited and proud of her, but will definitely miss having her around as our live-in nanny. :)

Jaxson's Second Birthday!

Jaxson turned two...almost two months ago. What can I say, the last few months have been BUSY!

We celebrated with a "Toy Story" themed party (his favorite). We had pizza and alien juice from "Pizza Planet" for lunch and played a game where the kids had to pin the badges on Woody and Buzz. Jaxson loved being able to wear his "Woody" shirt, have a cake with all of his favorite characters, and of course get lots of new Toy Story toys!

By far, I think that Jaxson's favorite new toy was his Buzz Lightyear action figure. He was so excited when he saw what it was; he didn't even want to let anyone take it away long enough to get it out of the package. He had to carry it around with him and is still very protective of it.

Happy birthday, Jaxson! We sure love you!!!

Trick-or-Treat!

I LOVE Halloween! I love the movies, the treats, decorating, costumes, you name it! I have been looking forward to the day when I would have kids to enjoy Halloween festivities with for a long time. Although it was both Jaxson and Aynsley's first Halloween's last year, I think that this year was a lot more fun. It has been so fun for me to watch them get excited about the different activities, even if they didn't completely understand what was going on. I am pleased to say that I think that my kids have inherited my love of the holiday. Jaxson seems to be fascinated with pumpkins, and even sat through "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" with me.

On Sunday, we celebrated Halloween with Mike's family. The kids dressed up in their costumes - they dressed as Jessie and Woody from Toy Story. Jaxson LOVES Toy Story. Anyway, it was fun to have the kids dressed up and see the cousins in their costumes. We had a delicious dinner, played some festive games, and ate more good food. It was such a fun evening.

We had to pose for some pictures while the kid's costumes were still looking good. Getting two toddlers to pose for pictures is tough!

For family home evening this week, my family came up to carve pumpkins together. Both of the kids seemed to think it was pretty interesting and wanted to be involved at the table. Jaxson even helped scoop all the guts out of his pumpkin. My dad helped Jax with his, and I think that Jaxson was pretty proud of their creation.

My work gets really into Halloween, which makes for such a fun day. This year, the people in my department dressed up as super heroes. Most of us were Avengers, but we also had Super Woman and Poison Ivy make an appearance. My boss dressed as the hulk, and ended up winning an award for his costume. 

I love Halloween night, and this has been one of my favorites so far. We took Jaxson trick-or-treating for the first time, and it was so fun. Mike took him to a few houses, but then I decided to take him out again because he was having such a fun time. He lasted a lot longer than I was expecting, and was seriously running from house to house. He was so cute to say "trick or treat" and then "thank you" at each house. Poor boy didn't want to come home, he was having such a fun time. I think that I am going to have a hard core trick-or-treater on my hands!

Autumn Activities

Wow, where has October gone??? I have seriously had so many times when I had posts in my mind, then time just flies by. I feel like we have really been able to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and enjoy these last few sunny days. It has been so fun for me to experience the season through my kids and enjoy getting excited over the little things. We have loved our autumn outings, yummy treats, festive movies, and fun craft projects. Here is a look at what we have been up to:

We have been able to take a couple of trips to Gardner Village to see the witches. During our first trip, we went with our family and Mike was able to come. It seems like most of our activities are always during the day, so it was nice that he could join us.

To say that the kids loved the witches was an understatement. Jaxson especially was so fascinated by them. There were two that were his favorite, and he spent quite a bit of time running back and forth between the two witches. He would run to one, copy whatever she was doing, then run to the other. He did this for at least 10 or 15 minutes. 

I had to go to a conference for work in Tampa, Florida, and was lucky enough that we had our spouses join us. Our hotel was right on the beach in Clearwater, and it was absolutely gorgeous! Clearwater was seriously one of the nicest beaches that I have ever been to. 

Mike got to beach bum it while I was in classes, but I did have a chance for a few fun outings. We flew in a day early so that we could go to Universal Studios in Orlando. I was pretty excited, because I had never been to either Universal Studios park, and I also wanted to check out Harry Potter. We must have chosen a good day to go, because the lines were not bad at all. We had a lot of fun, but I must admit that I am still a Disney girl at heart. It was pretty cool to see the Harry Potter area of the park, but I was expecting it to be a little bigger than it was. Still, I have no complaints about the day. It was so much fun to spend a carefree day with Mike without worrying about the kids. Unfortunately, the camera that I brought with me that day was out of batteries, so I was only able to take a few pictures on my phone. 

Enjoying the beautiful sunset on Clearwater Beach

Although most of the time I was at the conference without Mike, he and the other spouses were able to come on the last day when we received our award. He was also able to hear the closing speaker, Commander Kelly, who was the commander on the last space shuttle mission and the husband of Gabriel Gifford (AZ Senator who was shot). It was really interesting to hear him speak, and I am sure that Mike enjoyed it since he is so into space stuff. After the conference, we went out back by the riverwalk for a few pictures.

Last week, we headed out to Pack's Pumpkin Patch with my cousin and her two kids. Jaxson and Aynsley loved being able to run around and check out all the pumpkins. I love going to this pumpkin patch because they have a little hay maze that is the perfect size for Jaxson to explore.

We had our second trip to Gardner Village on Friday. We went with my cousin and her kids, and it was crazy busy! Jaxson totally recognized where we were as soon as we pulled in  and was so excited to see the witches again.

We ended the day by going over to Gardner Village's petting zoo. I really wish that I had taken my kids hear before, because they both loved it. They went from being cranky and ready to go home to smiling, laughing, and not wanting to leave practically instantly. Aynsley was a little nervous around some of the bigger animals, but she and Jaxson both loved the bunny rabbits and the chickens. I loved that the workers were so willing to help the kids hold, pet, and even ride on the animals. We will definitely need to remember to come back next year!

Fall is in the Air!

Oh, how I LOVE fall! I love the crispness in the air, the changing leaves...I just love it! This weekend, I was lucky enough to take two canyon drives to enjoy the leaves.

On Saturday, I took the kids out so that Mike could paint Aynsley's room without any "helpers". Two of my sisters joined me for a picnic at Silver Lake. The kids LOVED being there. Jaxson thought it was so much fun to be able to run around the pathway. It was such a beautiful day to be there. It's days like these that make me love living near so many canyons.

Blowing kisses with Aunt Beth.

Love these two! I was so glad I was able to get a picture with both of  them. 

One of our family traditions is to take a fall drive over Guardsman's Pass and down into the Park City area. Mike suggested that we take our annual drive today, and it was another beautiful day in the canyons. We paused to take a few pictures and enjoy the scenery.

My two favorite boys. :)

Big Cottonwood Half Marathon

I did it...another half marathon! After running the Salt Lake Half back in April, I decided that I wanted to find another race to help keep me motivated with running. After some research, I found the Big Cottonwood Half. This was the first year of the race, and it really appealed to me because it was down the canyon in the fall. What a better backdrop to run than the beautiful canyon? I talked my friend, Camille, into running with me, and I am so glad we did it!

The race was so much fun. I loved the route...seriously so beautiful. It was really different to start running in the dark and then have the sunrise during the run, but I really did like it. I loved the crisp air, the smell of pine, and of course the changing leaves. Plus, I was able to improve my personal best time by about 12 minutes. This really was the best run I have had in a long time, and I am already looking forward to signing up next year.

This race was really runner-friendly. All of the race pictures were FREE, so it was nice to have some pictures from the route. 

Crossing the finish line! Until next year...and maybe even a FULL marathon???