October was filled with so many wonderful memories! What an incredible month! Grandma and Grandpa Carter arrived just in time for the festivites! They arrived on October 1st and came all the way down to St.George to cheer me on in the marathon and got to hang out with us also!
Caden's 10th Birthday!
We had Caden's choice dinner on the eve of his birthday. He is following in his brother's footsteps! Japenese Sundaes it was..mmmm! We had store bought cinnamon buns for dessert. Not so yum! Don't worry Caden, we have tomorrow!
Here he is on his birthday morning, October 2nd!
Caden enjoyed all of our wonderful party guests. Ofcourse he had such fun opening his gifts! He had great reactions, especially to all of the cash he received! Thank you everyone!
Score! His oh so awesome stash!
We had angel food cupcakes with strawberries and real whip cream. Thank you mom, for helping me get it ready! For dinner that evening we enjoyed a trip to Cafe Rio. Grandma and Grandpa were very impressed!
Later in the month he enjoyed a friend birthday party. This will be his last large party. Mom is wearing out from such events! :) A backwards party it was! The boys came in backwards clothes and sang happy birthday backwards. We also just reversed the order of events and started with making the goody bags.
This one was easy and fun to plan. Executing it was an entirely different story! I'm glad Caden had a good time though!
L to R: Bradley, Jace Fullmer, Matt Leavitt, Cole, Caden, Hunter, Carson Thornton. There were also some missing and some arrived late.
St. George Marathon 2010
The very day of Caden's birthday happened to be marathon day! I felt torn about this, as the attention was taken away from him somewhat! To make myself feel better, I got my shirt screen printed. It was a lot of fun. I got some comments along the way and Caden was happy to see it!
Way back in April, I thought a lot about signing up for the marathon. I had done it once before and knew what it entailed-BIG commitment, right! It had been 5 years though and I really wanted to try it again. Was I crazy..yes! I signed up the very last day you could, with only hours to spare. There was no turning back. I brushed the dust off of my running shoes and began training. Then in July, I went to Canada ofcourse and all training stopped! Oops! I started getting serious when Jodi Gardner invited me to go on a 16 mile run with her and a friend, a week after I got back. That was hard to commit to since I hadn't exercised for 6 weeks. I almost chickened out but decided to go for it. I was glad I did. That was the beginning of many long Saturday runs! Jodi and I went running about 3 times a week as well. I was glad to get a little bit in shape. I met some great people and had a lot of fun. I cannot believe that I woke up between 3-4 AM for those long runs. It was kind of cool running in the dark though and beating the heat!
Race day was SO hot! It was recorded as the hottest St. George Marathon ever. I was also feeling weak, like you feel on a fast Sunday. I did eat however, so it was strange. I felt dizzy and light headed when I stopped at the water stations. I had a goal of 3:55-3:59. I wanted to do it under 4 hours. That goal went out the window with the circumstances. I was a little disappointed but was happy to have finished. I started the race with Jodi but then lost her at about mile 7, without meaning to. Would I do it again? Probably, because I know I can do better. It would be a dream of mine to qualify for the Boston marathon. Maybe one day. I hope to run this race again with my sister, Cynthia. I just need to convince her! :)
Mom and Dad were so wonderful at cheering me on and supporting me! This was at about mile 24. It was almost 90 degrees and I was so ready to be finished. It gave me a boost to see my family and then soon after get an out of this world lime green popsicle. That was the best thing I have ever tasted! Thank you to the cute family who was giving those out!
This is at the finish at Vernon Worthen Park. I don't know why I still had my headphones in. Who cares, I was done! I completed the race in 4 hours and 15 minutes. It was at least better than my first marathon time of 4:23!
I was so happy to come home to this great banner. Lyndsi, I love you so much! You are the best!
This is my birthday message to Caden. It says, "Happy Birthday CADEN! Mom loves you! St.George 2010." You don't want a close up of it. My back was all sweaty, yuck!
Look at these cute signs that my wonderful children made for me!
Jodi and I never got a picture together on race day. Here we are at my birthday dinner. Thanks Jodi for all of the great runs! It was fun getting to know you better!
Grandma and Grandpa Carter time!
We were so lucky to have my wonderful parents stay with us for 4.5 days. Grandpa played games with the kids, danced, and ran around the basement! Grandma colored, and played toys with the girls. Mom and Dad went to the temple with me and we all visited the Brigham Young home, tabernacle, and downtown St.George.
Carter was trying so hard to beat his Grandpa in chess. Keep practicing Carter!
We had an early celebration for Grandma's birthday, which was really on the 9th. Thanks Grandma for being so wonderful!
This is on the last morning with us. Thanks for the great time mom and dad! We can't wait for you to come back and visit again!!
Carter family time
A week later, we excited to have more visitors! My brother Spencer, and his family came to stay for a night while they were on their way to a mexican riviera cruise. We weren't jealous at all!
The boy cousins had a great time hanging out playing computer games, the wii, airsoft guns, and street hockey ofcourse!
The girl cousins had fun playing makeovers, dolls, and barbies. Sydney was very good at playing with our girls! Something I remember about little Sam is her spanish sounding word, diaper cream. Zachary kept asking her to say it and I was wondering why. When she prounouned it, "diaper ca rrrream" I knew why. How adorable!
Canadian Thanksgiving
When Lori and Spencer were at our house, they got me thinking about celebrating this event since I never have during the time of our living in Utah. Lori suggested that I just have a pumpkin pie. I thought this was a great idea. My plans were simple, a pumpkin pie for dessert on the second Monday in October. No problem! That morning, I had a desire to do it all. It was not a busy day for me and I was thinking of all the family celebrating up north, so I wanted to join in on the fun. But I didn't have a turkey. Off to the store Evey and I went! I then realized, duh, the turkey is frozen. I bought a little 6 pounder and thawed it out in the sink. Everything worked out just great. It definitely wasn't elaborate as it usually is, but it satisfied our little family! I had fun spending time in the kitchen with Evey and Ella. They helped me stir the pumpkin for the pie and then helped peel the potatoes. Good job girls! I am so thankful for my 5 cuties!
Field trips
Caden went on a field trip with the 4th graders to Staheli farm. Evey and I were happy to tag along!
She absolutely loved petting the animals!
This is Caden's class and his teacher, Mrs. Anderson.
We were lucky again to go on Ella's kindergarten field trip to the fire station. It was almost cancelled because of the rain and the classes walking there. Thank goodness those drops let up for a few hours. This was the group of girls I was in charge of. Pretty easy!
L to R: Evey, Makayla Gifford, Madi, Ella
This is Ella with her class and teacher, Mrs.Key.
Crazy hair day!
During red ribbon (preventing drugs) week, the kids have each day to dress as something different. One of the days was "crazy hair day"! Caden was pretty happy to do it!
The girls were not so much! I thought Ella was all for it. I did up her hair and then she looked at herself and hated it. I convinced her to keep it in because there was no time to change it. Emery, I think was picturing something different. Oh well, sometimes you just can't win. Ella has told me many times since then that she is NEVER doing crazy hair day again. Okay Ella! I got it! Sheesh!
Caden got his bear - finally!
Caden sure earned this one. He was supposed to get it 2 months previous and had to wait because of some communication issues with the leaders. He was a very patient boy! When these boys earn their bear badge, they get to drink "bear's blood". Yum yum! Caden downed it all in a few gulps. I was impressed!
Congrats Caden! You are such a good boy! Now he is attending Weeblos. His leader, Russ Hinton is standing with us. He also calls Caden, Jerry, since there used to be 2 Caden's in the class. Caden came up with that himself. Too funny!
There still is a part 2 to all of this October madness???? Well, it's just Halloween but will have to wait. Goodnight!