My boys are growing so fast. Lucas has learned all the Letters and their sounds, and we are going to start working on reading. He is a huge helper and loves to come up with crazy little things to do.

James is so proud to be part of the walking world. He loves other little kids and laughs when he sees pictures of them. He is such a happy little person. He has started to do something Lucas never did--lean toward the crib when I take him into his room for a nap. He is happy as a clam as long as he has his binky and the blankets tucked underneath his chin.

It is Birthday season for us, and here is an update. James is now one. He enjoyed his cake and presents. We had a little birthday party planned, but had to cancel it because he got a substantial fever the day before, so his big day ended up pretty low-key. He enjoyed his cake after he got past the sticky frosting. He liked to have his fingers wiped off every few minutes so they could move more freely. I love birthdays with my kids, it is fun to go back through photos and watch them grow.

Lucas is now four proud of it. He wanted to go to the movie theatre, so we all went to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meet balls. It was fun for everyone, James didn't even squirm. We had the whole theatre to ourselves. The magic formula: a Monday matinee for an older movie. Ahhhhhh, it was relaxing to not worry about bothering others. Then we went to dinner at a steak house themed on airplanes. We thought we would get to watch them take off and land, but everyone needed to be 18 to go to the lounge, and Lucas isn't quite there. We watched a few planes taxi around then left for home.

Lucas and Adam helped to decorate the cake. I found out that you can't add food coloring to cool whip without making it go very flat, so we had runny topping for the cake. There was some cake that was still exposed, so Lucas decided that part of the jungle cake was water and put the elephant in it to get a drink. It wasn't my cutest cake ever, but it was fun to let him help.

Lucas was a little spoiled that night and got to stay up rather late to fight Dad with his new swords. Then they both were so enthralled by the hot wheels tracks, the ice cream melted before they made it to cake in their bowls.

Big Kid

A snapshot of my day--silly boys. Lucas doesn't have a peg leg, he is just messing around :)

Lucas's fingernails were getting really long, and I needed to trim them. He told me he wanted to do it himself, "I am four and I need to learn to do these things." No arguing with that, so he started clipping. I thought he would quit when he snipped too close then come ask for my help. He finished and they looked really good. I enjoy it when they grow up and become less dependent. That doesn't mean I won't cry like a baby when he goes to school.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love to dress up my children in whatever they can imagine, and then go with them to beg candy from the neighbors. I love hanging out with friends and being a little silly. Here are some photos. I was happy with how cute my little creations looked in my little creations. Lucas was scared of saying trick or treat at the beginning, but by the end he figured it out.

I made my friend's husband a ninja costume.

The day has finally come! My first son is big enough and brave enough to start climbing. This is a really proud moment in my life. I am super stoked that he enjoyed it so much too. He was pretty nervous at first. He went before his cousins, so he had no proof that someone his size could do it. I don't even know if they make climbing shoes his size. If he grows much faster he can use mine in a couple of years. We had a ton of fun on vacation, we saw all of our grandparents in Utah, and watched Chad return from his mission.

Park City

I ran my marathon, mission completed. I finally have some time to sit down and write about it because my kiddos are still asleep. I wasn't too happy because my worst fear came true, I got sick right before the race. It wasn't swine flu (just a cold) so I decided to run anyway- I wasn't going for the win. The race started at 6:30 and we were there with plenty of time to stew in my nervousness. When the gun went off I almost cried because I never thought I would be able to do it, I was told as a teenager not to run because I had tendinitis, Ha, I showed them! No really my legs just grew into their connective tissue. Well on with the story. For the first 8 or so miles I was kinda bored because I was all my myself, and four hours is a long time to run with no music and nobody to talk to for very long. I found some interesting people, but the program I was running alternated between running for four minutes and walking for one to help with leg muscle recovery (see Jeff Galloway's the Injury Free Marathon).

Then I found Hans and Doug, two people doing the same alternating pattern I was. I followed them for awhile and chatted, and they adopted me onto their team. We picked up a few more runners and had a blast. We cheered for everyone who passed us and everyone we passed, including the spectators and volunteers. They both had run several marathons and coached the rest of us to the finish line.

Adam rocked as my support system. I send him special thanks for helping me to fill our Saturday mornings for months with running. He never complained about the time my running took, and came with me when I needed encouragement. Thank you Love. He and the boys found me 6 times on the race course. Mom and Dad Lyman, Steven, and Chad all came to cheer me on two, and it was fun to stop and hug my children along the race course. Another cool experience was going into one water stop my Mom handed me a water. I knew she was coming and would be at one of the aid stations, but it was really neat to actually see her. It was a fun surprise. Thanks to my Mom because running that far hurts, and massage helps.

I finished in 4:32 and some odd seconds. The race course was beautiful, I couldn't have imagined a more beautiful course, it was a little tougher than the average course with the first 18 miles being generally uphill and the peak of the course being about 7200 feet, but the elevation didn't bother me too much. It was all worth it for the view. The marathon became one of my favorite experiences in life, it is hard to explain, just train and go see for yourself. I also got a cool medal that I wore the rest off the day because from now on it will hang on my wall.

The starting line

The breakfast of champions, well what we could find for a hungry boy that early. I thought it was kinda funny for him to be eating fast food at a marathon. We are developing healthy habits early.

Running through New park City I think


It was like playing Hide-and-go -seek to see when I would find them next.

Daddy with the kids. (Lucas got to play photographer)

Still running

Happy to be done.

Doug, me, Allyson, Shawn, and Franz-- my impromptu team.

My forever team, Back-Adam, Steven, Mom Lyman, Dad Lyman, Chad Lyman (he had been home from his mission a whole week) Front-Lucas, James, Me, Mom

Oh, another side effect of running so much, I lost all my baby weight!

Coming soon--Lucas's first climbing trip.

The three scariest words

Today I heard them, Lucas came in after James had woken up from his nap and sent shivers up my spine. Here they are: "There's poop everywhere!" My mind jumps to the worst conclusions and I dreamed up a ginormous mess really fast. It wasn't as bad as my imagination, but still pretty gross. James had somehow gotten his poopy diaper off sometime in his nap and had it spread pretty good. For you soon to be moms out there, you will soon find out how bodily fluids almost cease to be a bother after you wipe up enough of them. Your biggest worry will be about it staining, not about how disgusting it is. So after a bath, some lysol and a little elbow grease it is all cleaned up. I called Adam because I couldn't help but laugh at the adventures I get to have while taking care of my little guys. I love this job.

4th of July

We love the fourth in Derby. Everywhere you look looks like a professional fireworks display. There are some pretty generous neighbors who are willing to run back and forth lighting off one huge rocked after another. You really should come see it for yourself. We spent friday at the Kansas Cosmosphere and really enjoyed ourselves. Our favorite part was the rocket lab where they demonstrated what happens when you dip a giant cotton ball in liquid oxegen an dthen add a heat source--one wicked cool exposion of light.

This is my attemp tot capture the fun, but it didn't work very well.

Lucas enjoying a little sparkler

Enjoying the evening with family.

Mom and James chillin' together.

Three boys and a rocket.

He wants hitches on all of his trucks, so when one doesn't have one he goes rummaging through the drawers to find help. All t he Dominoes had to be on the trailer, so I showed him how to use rubber bands. He was pretty proud of this.


He had some friends over whose mom is in the primary presidency with me. I heard some clunking, and when I walked in, this is what I found. They had made a train. We let them know they were being creative, then talked about being more gentle to our toys so they would last longer.



Lucas has been so much fun lately. His favorite sayings are, "WE should talk," "Cause Why?," and "I don't know."

This is going to be a little long, so skip anything you get bored of, or just enjoy the pictures. I get a little detailed, so this can be a journal for me of the trip.

We left our House on Tuesday and drove to North Platte, Nebraska. We got stuck with a Dodge Caliber by the rental company. It was small and cramped, but we ended up fitting everything we needed to inside after some creative packing by Adam. Tuesday night we stayed at a cheap little hotel. Lucas asked after we walked in, "Why are we gonna stay here?" I guess he wasn't impressed with the digs. We explained hotels, then everything was honky dory. Wednesday morning we started traveling in earnest.

On the way we stopped at Chimney Rock and went for a hike. Everyone needed to stretch their legs.

After a quick and successful tick check, we were on our way again.
We drove by Crazy horse on our way to Rapid City, but it was really pricy, and we had other plans. We saw it, and that was nice.

We finally arrived.

We stayed at Horse theif Lake campground and really liked it. We have been dying for some "traditional camping" like the kind where you aren't on a mowed lawn, that is how it goes in Kansas. The first time I saw the sculpture I was looking through some boulders, and everyone was looking the other direction, I turned and saw Washington's profile-such a cool moment.

The town where April and Reed were staying has no cell phone coverage, and we weren't sure what hotel they were staying in, so we started to guess. After we finally found which hotel they were at, we couldn't find them. WE drove the one street through town and saw their van then chased them down. I love cell phones, they really do save time. We went to dinner at a cute but kinda spendy little pizza joint. Then we went for a tour of Rushmore Caves. This was really cool, and Lucas loved it.

Lucas was so happy to have rough and tumble cousins to hang out with. Carter is in the middle and Parker is on the Right.

The stairs were pretty steep, but the cave was so beautiful. There were places where the cave was so steep that they had to put in step ladders.

During the tour there was time to play with Baby Adam, April's youngest boy.

A view of horizontal stalactites, or whatever they are called.

At one point they turned out all of the lights in the cave. Lucas was a little scared, but he fared o.k. It was interesting to think of exploring the cave in near darkness. My claustrophobic self enjoys it all lit up.
Thursday

Standing by the Kansas flag at Mt. Rushmore

I like the way Lincoln's eyes are done. They didn't finish carving his ears, but I kinda like how he isn't released all the way from the rock.

A little portrait. James was so good to chill all day. He didn't mind walking around all day (mostly because he was getting held). That afternoon we went to Storybook Island in Rapid City. My insurance agent told me about this place. It was awesome. There are little vignettes of different children's stories that they have made interactive by turning them into slides, or playhouses.

There was a bridge over the entrance, and it set the mood for the boys.

There was a little train, and Lucas was so happy to get to ride. They had little laminated tickets, which were a big hit to the kids. Lucas was happy to trade it for a ride.

We went back to Reed and April's hotel for a shower and a swim. It was so nice to be out of the heat. I thought that far north it would be a little cooler.

That night we had a campfire and had chili dogs and smores. Mom, Dad, and Steven came and ate with us. It was Lucas' first smores experience, and he is hooked.

Friday

We woke up early because we wanted to get a chance to do a little hiking with the boys. Lucas was really stoked about getting to climb on some rocks. The day before he tried at the park, but mean old mom and dad made him get down.

This is a picture of the lake we camped by.

Every time we were at the front of the Mt. Rushmore park, Lucas had to do balance beam.

There is a little Lakota/Dakota village in the park. Lucas thought the Tepees were really neat. They also had a freshly stretched buffalo hide. I am so glad I had allergies and couldn't smell it.

Uncle Adam helping out tired boys.

They have a junior ranger program where the kids have to gather information and fill out a booklet to earn a ranger's badge. This is the ranger checking them off.

After the park we went swimming again, but this time there was uncle Steven to play with.

That afternoon we went back to Rapid City for dinner. There was another fun park we played at that had big Dinosaurs to play on. The boys liked this one too even though they were all tired. Afterwards we went to Fudruckers for a yummy burger, fries, and shakes. I haven't don't that in years and it was so delicious.

MINOT

Add two more to the bunch of cousins. Saturday morning we drove to Minot to see Adam's brother Mark, his wife Catherine, and their beautiful girls Madison and Sydney. I don't know what the boys are doing in the picture, but at least Madison looks normal. It was a blast to watch them all play together.

Saturday night after baths grandma gave them sticker books to work on.GENIUS!!!! Thank you Mom for giving them something to do that didn't involve getting dirty again. You must have done this a time or two or nine.

The beautiful group on Sunday morning before Sydney's blessing. After lunch Mark showed us the campus of Minot State University where he works. For Dinner Mark and Katherine treated us to a BBQ. The kids played and played. One thing that really cracked me up was Lucas had Madison on the ground hurt because she had been crashed by a tree, and they were helping her. After a while I could tell she had had enough, so I suggested they switch I tried to be the tree who smashed Lucas, so they could boss him for awhile. He wasn't too excited and refused. Carter wanted a turn on the ground, so he ran into me (I was the tree who had to crash him) and then fell down on the ground so the others could fix him. I live nieces and nephews.

Monday morning I got to go running with Catherine, then we went to a Scandinavian park in Minot, and there will be pictures in the future of that, but they are on Adam's I-phone, and I really need to make this post, so I am steaming ahead without them, if you wan to see them (and you should because this place was so cool) check back later.We got to go shopping at the mall and found some neat things, and then hang out some more.

Tuesday morning we woke up early, loaded up, and headed out at 6:30. Our angel children were good for us until we got home at about 11 pm. that night! We did have to make a few stops, but they were amazing.

Mount Rushmore Rocks! That was a joke for you Dad. It was a great trip for deepening my apprciation of my family. It is always fun to spend time laughing with them. I am glad that there is so much humor when we get together.