Henry's Almost 1???!!!

On the 27th Henry turned 11 months! Wow. I didn't take a pic of him, but I need to document a few things...

--He's walking.

--He points at everything he wants to know the name of or anything he is interested in.

--When we ask him where his ears are, he touches them.

--When we ask him what a doggie says, he puts his lips in an o shape and makes this soft little noise. It's adorable!

--Whenever he hears music, he swings his arm up and down like he's snapping his fingers.

--He loves his binky but only gets it when he goes to sleep.

--He's so good at going to sleep on his own (something Jaxon didn't do, though I think I made Jaxon that way by always holding him to fall asleep--I'll never do that again!)

--He isn't quite the laugher Jaxon was (is). He smiles all the time, but hardly ever laughs. It drives me crazy! I'm sure any mother will agree that there are few better sounds in the world than hearing her child laugh.

--He really loves his mama, but he is quite the daddy's boy! When Devin comes home from work, Henry gets so excited and gets upset if Devin doesn't hold and play with him for a while.

--He plays "Peek-A-Boo." When we ask, "Where's Henry?" he covers his eyes for a moment, then moves his hands and has a big grin on his face.

--He has his 2 bottom teeth (they've been there for a while) and his two top teeth will be coming in any day. I can feel them right under the surface of his gums. He hasn't even been cranky! What a trooper!

--He is ADORABLE!

26.2 Anyone?

I have an announcement...

drum roll please...

I'm running a marathon! Yes, that's 26.2 miles in a row, in one day, and no, I'm not crazy:)

Anyone wanna join me???

P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon

January 17, 2010

My friend Louisa decided to do it and she wants me to join her. It's the first time for the both of us. (Hopefully my friend Kiera will run it too!) I really like running and it's always been something I've wanted to do. I feel like now is a good time because we aren't planning on getting pregnant for a while and the more kids I have, the harder it will be for me to train. With two, they can both ride in the stroller while I run. Also, I don't have to travel to compete, it's here in Arizona. Plus, I still have a while before I have to start the formal training so I have enough time to get in shape for that.

Louisa let me barrow her book called The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer and it's awesome. It's written to train first time marathoners. The guys and gal who put it together have trained over 200 participants, most who didn't even like running, and everyone except one person finished the race. (There is some story about what happened to that one, but I haven't read that part yet.) The book has blurbs from some of the runners where they tell what an amazing experience it was for them. I'm so excited!

Having a baby without pain meds was a huge goal for me and pretty much seemed impossible, but I did it! It is also one of the things I am most proud of accomplishing. If I can do that, I can run a marathon!

I don't know many people who have actually ran a marathon, so anyone who has, please give me any advise you think would help me!

Okay, I have made it known and can't back out. If I get an injury I would have to, but that's about the only thing that will keep me from accomplishing this goal!

Sad Day

Monday, July 20, 2009 was a sad, sad day.

My close friend Joy moved away. It's weird because I moved a few times when I was young and left tons of friends behind, but that didn't seem as hard as this. Maybe because back then I was excited to move on to a new place, or maybe it is because Joy and I just have such an amazing, natural friendship. There is something about Joy leaving that rips a little piece of my heart.

I have stayed in touch with a few close friends. I think moving always shows you who your real friends are. It's not impossible to stay in touch, but it does take effort. People say they will, but only your real friends do.

When I moved to this neighborhood, I prayed to make friends. I always knew our previous houses were temporary so I didn't make much effort. But when we moved here I knew we were here to stay for a long time so I really tried to put myself out there to make friends. I learned that you can not expect to make friends without being a friend. My prayers were answered because I made a few really dear friends, Joy is one of those friends.

Joy and I have gone through pregnancies together, decorating our houses (mostly mine because her's was already amazing), a vacation, crafts, painting, sewing, canning, baking, exercising, swimming, shopping, holidays, birthdays, trials, worries, triumphs, frustrations, and so much more...

Not only is she fabulous, but her husband, Josh, and Devin are buddies and their little boy Landon and Jaxon are buddies, and their little girl Tyler is gonna marry Henry! We all really got along and have such a great time together. They were the kind of friends who you could call at midnight if you needed something, and know they would be happy to help. We will really miss them. We love you guys!

There is a chance that Josh's job could move him back here. We really hope that happens. Until then, we'll "keep in touch" FOR REALS!

Finally, the 4th!

I didn't ever post these because there are so many and it was too overwhelming, but I decided I couldn't put it off any longer! So...here is how our 4th of July 2009 celebrations went...

We went to Lake Arrowhead with Devin's family for a few days.  It was so much fun to get away!

We put Henry to bed and went to watch the fireworks over the lake.

Devin doing the bbq

We went to some shops and the kids got free hot dogs.  Looks like Jaxon sure loved his!

Here we are overlooking the beautiful scenery

We all decorated shirts for the holiday:)

The beautiful lake!

Henry and Mama

Jaxon feeding the ducks



This is his "Wolverine hair"

A Little Behind...

I'm a little behind with scrapping...We had an awesome 4th, which I still need to post about, but in the mean time, here are some cute pics!

The boys got this slide from Granny & Grandpa Judd for Christmas and they LOVE it! The best part is, it's small enough that it fits in the toy room so they don't have to be outside to play on it.

Henry climbs up and sometimes he falls to get down, but usually he starts yelling when he wants help getting down.

I think he is just TOO CUTE!

Devin is such a good daddy. He does baths and bedtime every night.

Jaxon loves chocolate! Though it's rarely necessary, we can usually bribe him to do anything if we say the words "chocolate chip" or "M&M."

Razor Blades

Yesterday I needed to pick up some blades for Devin's razor. So as I looked over all the options (and realized they were all so expensive!) I thought to myself,

"Are 4 blades really better than 2?"

The razor I use has 2 blades and my legs are always really smooth (when I get around to shaving them...)

Anyway, after getting Devin's refills (with 4 blades) I decided to treat myself to a new razor, also with 4 blades. It's a Schick Quattro. The package says, "Long-lasting smoothness so you could skip a day or two." Wait, who doesn't skip a day or two? Who really shaves everyday anyway? I'm looking for a razor that allows me to skip 6 or 7 days...anyone know of one like that?

So, I was wondering, how many blades does your razor have and do you really think more is better?

7 Things Tag

I was tagged by my pal Ashtyn so here it goes...

7 things you may or may not know about me:

1. I feel old. I know it's pretty ridiculous at my age. Devin and I have been married for almost 5 years and that seems like a long time to me! I'm 22, married with 2 kids, own a house, a minivan, have 2 dogs. That's all so...grown up! It's just weird, but I'm slowly coming to reality. I don't know what I'm gonna do when I get wrinkles!

Devin is here looking over my should and read what I just typed and said, "Ruthann..." like he thinks I'm crazy. Yep, it's okay. I think I am too.

2. I wish I could say I was voted something cool in high school. I really would have liked "best dressed," or "nicest smile" or "most likely to be successful." But my senior year I was voted "heart braker." Geez. I still don't really know what that's supposed to mean...any ideas? Please let me know.

3. Thanks to my Dyson I am obsessed with vacuuming. I really like the house clean anyway, and vacuumed really often before the Dyson came into my life, but I think it has now become an obsession. No, I don't know if it's that serious...is 4 days a week serious?

4. I'm scared to dive into a pool. There is just something about going head-first into water that scares me. Devin has tried to help me, but I just can't get myself to do it.

5. I had breast implants! I know a lot of people thought I did and I always said I didn't, but it's true.

6. I don't like chocolate chip cookies or brownies. I've been told it's "un-American." Yuck. And I don't really like cakes either. I love ice cream and pies, fruit pies, not cream pies.

7. I have an Associate of Arts degree and plan on getting my Bachelor degree, but I can't decide what to major in. I always loved my math and biology classes, but honestly, I don't want to do something that hard! Lazy, huh? I also LOVED speaking Spanish when I took it in college, but that's pretty hard too. Interior design really interests me and so does psychology and they don't seem as serious. So...do I really challenge myself to take something I really enjoy? Or still go for something that interests me, but I'm not really passionate about?

Then there is the issue of what kind of job I could get with the degree. With Devin being a teacher, I don't really want a job where I have to work in the summer because he'll be off! And, since I don't plan on working until the kids are in school, I've got time to decide...

Okay, number 5 is NOT true. I have NOT had breast implants. People really have asked me thought so I thought it'd be funny to see if people believed me. Did you?

Since that one was a fake, here's a real number 5...

5. I think I'm getting dummer. I hear and say words like, "potty" and "diaper" and "don't smoosh your brother!" all day long. I feel like I need more intellectual stimulation. That's what got me thinking about #6 in the first place.

Wow, I just realized how I spelled dumber up there. Point proven.