The Monster Dash

Sorry, you'll have to skip to the bottom to read about our race, my pictures and computer are being stubborn. 

Angie and I after the race.  Angie is 7 mo. pregnant.... can you believe that?  She is adorable!
Will was a very bashful Cobra and I was a black cat.  


My friend made Will this awesome Cobra fleece hat, isn't it cute?  Will thought it was great, he especially liked the long snake tail I made for him.... I thought he looked like a very nice snake!



Well.... we did it!  Will and I had a blast at our 5K on Saturday.  Scott was sad he missed it, he had class in Rochester.  Early Saturday, Will and layered on our clothes and headed over to Lk. Harriett for the spookiest 5K ever! :)  It was so much fun, I'm glad we did it.  Thanks to the friends who made it possible, Chalece for loaning me her car, Angie for the motivation (she's 7 mo. pregnant!), and Kendra for keeping me warm and cheering me on!  

We had a great race, stopped to trick or treat along the course a couple times and enjoyed seeing the hundreds of silly costumes people come up with!  Will was my running partner and kept saying "go faster mom! Keep running!"  It was so cute.  I was pushing him in the stroller and I guess he didn't think we were going fast enough.

The morning started COLD, I thought I would freeze and poor little Will kept saying, "My nose is cold!" But once we started running and the sun came out, it was a beautiful day and we were peeling off our layers!  We will miss this event next year, hopefully they'll have something similar wherever we move!!

Sick Day

Will hasn't fallen asleep on his own on the floor while watching a movie, EVER.  Isn't he sweet, and don't you love his outfit.  Grandma sent him a Halloween package that he LOVED and the socks were included.  They have pumpkins that light up, and he hasn't taken them off for three days straight now, except for a couple hours yesterday so I could wash them. :)


Poor little guy....

Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

We glittered our pumpkins again this year.  Will was loving getting in on the action.  I think his little pumpkin is just great, beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder!  He's been looking at our pumpkins everyday and saying "Mom, our pumpkins sure look great!"

PS - don't you like my table runner?  My very talented sister in-law made it for me!

How I'm Feeling Today....

The best way out is always through.....

- Robert Frost

Swords, Knives, and a 2 Year old

Have you ever noticed while reading the Book of Mormon that it is pretty violent?  I never did, until I started reading Book of Mormon Stories (for children) to Will every night.  Recently, Will has developed into the very boy stage where everything is a sword or a knife.  Just yesterday he came up to me with his golf club and said "this is my sword, let's fight!" I said "I don't think we should fight, I like to be friends and be nice, is that okay?" Will said "No, just nice people fight, let's fight!"  

Or how about this conversation I overheard (Will talking to his dinosaurs) "Arrrrgh, you're being very naughty apatosaurus, I'm going to cut your head off and throw you down the stairs.  This is my knife, you be nice right now!"

Yikes.  This is not good, I'm not blaming it on the Book of Mormon, he loves to read it, but repeats to us the most gruesome parts, and I'm afraid that is what he is remembering.  I think we need to do a better job at pointing out the principal of the story to him.... which we try, but it usually ends up something like this: we say "Nephi was obedient, he had to be really brave so he could get the gold plates....." Will says "He's not very nice, he cut off his head...."

It's a boy thing, right?  He's still sweet, right?  I sure hope so, because I don't really know what I'm doing here!

PS - sorry for the double non-picture posts.... I'll get some up soon!

Date Night

It has been a while since Scott and I went on an actual date.  Or at least went somewhere together without our third wheel.  Don't get me wrong, we love that third wheel, why do you think it has been so long since we've gone anywhere without him?  ......So, on Friday night we went to the Hennepin State Theater and listen to Khaled Hosseini, author of the Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.  It was very interesting and intellectually stimulating and cultural.  It was great.  It was wonderful to be out of the house, to sit next to my hubby (who looked very handsome), and to reflect on the blessings that we enjoy as citizens of the United States, living in a country where we are free.

We had our good friends Dave and Natalie come watch Will.  When we asked them, we told them it would be super easy because he was just going to go to bed, then they could watch a movie or whatever.  Well..... 2 animated movies later, plus an overflowing toilet, we arrived home to Will and our sweet friends sitting on our bed, Will wide-eyed and exclaiming "I'm just sitting here waiting for you mom!"  What a stinker.  I don't know why we thought he would actually go to bed and go to sleep for someone else, he doesn't even do that for us.  It was pretty comical.  Will has been talking about Dave and Natalie ever since though, even though he told us that "I don't like Dave, I just like Natalie" a few times, he still asks about them.  This morning, hurriedly getting ready for church Will said "When I was sitting on your bed, Natalie was sitting by me and I opened my mouth like this, really big, and it was a really big yawn!"  Translation: I was sitting on your bed, sitting, not laying down, because I was determined to wait for you, even though I was exhausted.

Raising kids is such an adventure, but at least Scott and I had a little break and at least Dave and Natalie had a little experience in parenting.  Win-win, right?

All Mine

My very own "Mr. Incredibles"  I am so LUCKY!

Me and my man... Didn't Will take a great picture?  Just kidding, he was actually climbing on the rocks behind the camera.... we used our timer.

Every Little Boy's Heaven

What could be better than throwing rocks in the lake with dad?

I know I've said it before, but Will loves being outside.  He also loves water.... MN is his heaven!  The weather has been so beautiful, we've taken a few excursions outside on a few Saturday afternoons.  We've enjoyed the sunshine, and especially the time together as a family!

Apple Picking

In honor of Fall, we also ventured out to the Afton Apple Orchard. It is only about 30 minutes from our house and we had a great time. It was beautiful, it is right in the middle of rolling farm hills. We picked two bushels of delicious apples and we've been eating them everyday since. Will has at least ONE everyday.....usually more like 2-3. He loves to just eat them without being cut, except he eats the seeds and core and every last bite! I guess it is good fiber? Here we are on the hay ride going out to pick the apples. It was hard to decide what kind of apples we wanted so we sampled some right off the tree on every row. Will ate about 5 while we were there. We had to keep an eye on him because he wanted to pick the ones off the ground and put them in our bag.... most of them were mushy, brown, or had worms. But Will didn't seem to mind.

YUM! Hard at work trying to walk and eat apples at the same time... no easy task!
Isn't the farm pretty? We left with great apples, plus apple cider, cinnamon creamed honey, apple donuts, and apple butter. Plus all our picked apples. It was worth it!

Fall...

Will and I took advantage of a slightly rainy day and headed to the Children's Museum this week! It was a BLAST, it was so good to just spend time together doing what HE wanted to do, and watching him enjoy himself. We picked a perfect day to go because it was EMPTY. Will really had a great time, he loves the earth room, full of bugs, ants, frogs you can put in water, and he even got to touch a real live snake! I even touched it! Yuck. He also practiced his driving skills, driving us to California, to the beach, and to Utah State... go aggies!
This is a baby ant from the ant tunnel. He carried it up and down the tunnel saying "it's okay ant, I've got you. Don't worry little ant, I will carry you." What a sweet boy!Will loves to paint.... especially when I let him paint on ME! He painted both our faces and loved every minute of it. People were looking at me wierd because I had paint all over my face, but it was a small price to pay to make your little guy so happy!
The only way I could get him to even think about leaving was to bribe him with chicken nuggets from McDonalds. He really was lovin' it! I was sitting there thinking about my yummy leftovers at home! :)

We also had some fun painting pumpkins this past week. Will thought it was really hilarious. He just kept laughing and laughing and couldn't wait to show it to Scott when he got home.

30 is NERDY

Our friend Monica turned the BIG 3-0 this weekend, so of course we had to celebrate... in style! We had a 30 is Nerdy party for her, it was hilarious. We made pretty good nerds out of ourselves. We had special clothes for the birthday girl when she arrived that she just loved.... a beautiful pink polyester suit that really smelled great. We had great food and lots of laughs!

Tina was a hit.... it doesn't get any funnier than that!


The PINK SUIT.... isn't it cute?
Happy Birthday Monica! Thanks for letting us share your fun birthday!

Golden Gophers!

We had a wonderful weekend, full of fun things going on! Will got to have a sleepover with his cousins Caleb and Ivie, and Uncle Wes. He was in heaven! They stayed up playing past 10pm and had a blast. Will and Ivie just giggle and laugh at each other, and Will has been asking to go to Caleb and Ivie's house ever since they left. While they were here, Scott and Wes took the kids to the Gophers Football game. The kids had a lot of fun, ate lots of snacks and treats, and of course got to meet Goldy the Gopher! When we ask Will what to say when someone scores a touchdown he says "GOOOO COUGARS!!!" I think he takes after his grandpa Hopkins and loves BYU football!

Aren't these the cutest kids you've ever seen? They had a lot of fun going to the game and riding the bus back and forth! Will and Ivie held hands the entire time.
A silly shot!

Thanks for coming up to our house Uncle Wes and kids! We loved having you and can't wait to see you soon!

Bumble Bees and Bugs

Will is really into bees and bugs lately. Pretty much anything that crawls, slithers, or is an insect he loves. We found a huge dead bumble bee on the sidewalk the other day and had to bring it home for Will to exam, it was very interesting and he loved it. He's been asking ever since what happened to it!

It's been awhile!

Well, time flies when you are busy raising a 2 year old! I've been pretty terrible at blogging the past few weeks. Scott started school and Will and I have had lots of fun adjusting to Daddy being gone all day! This is a very exciting semester for us, we hope to have a job when it ends this December, or shortly after! So, here's an update:



Scott is doing great. I am SO proud of him. He would be really embarassed I'm writing this, but I can because I'm his wife and I really am so inspired by him. He is such a hard worker, he wants the best for our family and he is not willing to settle until he gets what he wants. We went to by him a suit for his interviews and I was almost giddy, he looked so handsome and so professional, I thought "Who wouldn't give this boy a job?" Scott has impressed me from day one, he's always been a friend to everybody, regardless of personality, nationality, athletic ability :), and whatever else. He's professional, he's kind, and he's a wonderful dad. Today I told Will that Daddy was taking him to a football game tomorrow and he got all excited and said "With Daddy?" And I said "yep, and I'm going to get some treats for you and daddy to take to the game!" Then Will looked at me for a minute and said "No mama, just daddy will get treats for me!" He is excited to have Scott all to himself tomorrow and doesn't want me to have any part of it!



Will is also doing great. His little two year old self comes out occasionally and I don't really know what to do. Other times, most of the time, he is such a sweet heart. He's doing great at going on the potty and wakes up dry most mornings, and always from his naps. He LOVES sticks outside or as he calls them "sharks." He gives them each a name and tells me exactly what kind of shark it is. He wanders all around the playground picking up sharks and bring them to me. Even little tiny sticks he says "Oh, look mom, it's a cute little baby shark!" and then he pets it and sets it down by me. Although I don't like it, he brings those sticks home almost everyday, so we keep a special bucket by our door full of sticks that we empty when he's not looking. He is also LOVING anything that is creepy crawly or an animal/sea creature. He usually plays with his squishy lizards, or his whales, or his pipe cleaner snakes. Not only does he play with 1 pipe cleaner snake, he plays with like 50 and tries to carry them all. He notices if he even drops one and wanders around looking for that lost pipe cleaner until he finds it.... he usually recruits my help for this, and is often dramatic when we can't find it! He's going to sleep in his bed and usually sleeps MOST of the night there, we're making progress! Will also listens to everything I say. It is scary because he repeats things I didn't know he was listening to! Yikes. Will also really likes reading his Scripture Stories for Children books. He pays attention, asks questions, and usually can't to bed until we've read. He amazes us when he tells us in church "He said Lehi!" or something similar that we've read in the scriptures. Bottom line: we love our little guy endlessly, and he is the light, hope, and reason for our lives.



As for me, I'm doing great. Loving motherhood more than ever. Trying to find a balance in all things is a tough job, but I've been recently inspired to do better. I can tell you this, it feels so great to lay out your priorities, put down on paper what you want to do each week and actually do them! We've spent more meaningful time together as a family, I've been consistently excersizing and Will and I spend more time doing things together and talking to eachother. My health is doing much better, mostly I believe because of the wonderful father's blessing I recieved when I was in Utah and got to see my parents. I stay busy with all the everyday things that make up life, and I love it! The occasional break is always needed and appreciated, but life feels good for me right now and we are so excited for what is to come!

Sorry no pictures.... I'll have to take some of something interesting!

Fair Food!

Yes, I am dedicating a whole post to the food at the fair. That's why you go, right? Okay, that's why WE go. Anyways, we had some yummy stuff. I had a gut ache for like the rest of the day after, but it was worth it! Our first stop was deep fried cheese curds, and then another round of cheese curds, they were awesome. Then, Scott moved on to the corn dog, it was bigger than his head! After the corn dog, we tried deep fried ravioli, lemonade, chocolate chip cookies, donuts, milk, and corn on the cob. This is our sweet little niece Lia. She loved the fair and is such a fun little girl! We miss her already! She really liked the corn on the cob, and chewed on it a little.

MN State Fair #3

For our third and final trip to the MN state fair, we were so happy to have Scott's family with us! After a very crazy night of travelling, his brother finally arrived at our house at 4am. Nonetheless, we headed to the fair the next morning for some very exciting family fun! Here is Will petting a little baby pig, the baby was cute. The mother was not. The super huge pig was disgusting. But, I still love bacon.... but not chocolate covered bacon (yes they were actually selling that, and people were actually buying it!)
Grandma and Grandpa doing what they do best, entertaining the kids! Grandpa was afraid his minimal hair coverage on top was going to leave him with a sunburn, so he had to wear his really cool and stylish bandana!! :) We loved it. And he fit in at the fair perfectly!
Who DOESN'T love fresh, cold, all you can drink milk for 1$? We drank glass after glass, it was delicious. And of course, we had to have fresh chocolate chip cookies and tiny donuts with our milk.... YUM
Will and Grandpa looking at the fish, and Will holding his whale that grandma bought for him. He sure was spoiled!

Will in his "cage"

Remember our sleeping dilemma? Well, this is how we found Will one night after trying and trying to get him to stay in his bed. He was playing with Scott earlier and kept saying, "put me in my cage!" So, Scott was throwing pillows on top of him. Then we found him completely asleep with our pillows on top of him.... what a boy. We also found him one night laying the wrong direction, cuddled up on his pillow, in his toddler bed. He wasn't even touching the matress in any way, just in a little ball on his pillow with his head against one rail and his feet against the other.

Our Performing Artist

Will LOVES to sing. Lately, that seems like it is all he's been doing. Here he is singing "I Am A Child of God" He knows most of the words, but gets a little mixed up. He knows all sorts of church primary songs, and lots of his favorite "the Laurie Berkner Band"