In case you were wondering....

this is what we've been up to:

The Kellster is 6 months young!15 lbs. 14 oz.* 26.5 inches* 43 cm head circ.

A pro at sitting and playing with toys, wriggles her little body to inch forward when she's on her tummy and wants a toy just out of reach, smiles constantly (MANY comments from "outsiders" about how much Kelly must like them because she smiles at them so much...tonight Bro. Kent in the ward said that she is the smiliest baby he's seen in his life - I'd have to agree), bright blue eyes that sometimes take my breath away, eyelashes that almost reach her eyebrows, hasn't met a veggie that she doesn't like..has only met one fruit (mushed banana) that she does, is happiest when her big brother is hanging out in the same room, gets excited to see her dad when he comes home, loves to be tickled, laughs when she's surprised, has totally stolen our hearts (can you tell?! :) ) *click on the picture above-right...her baby blues look stellar in that one*


These old-time "pirate" ships were in a port nearby, giving free tours during the day. That was play group this week and it was a hit! We toured all over and even got to go below and see the crew's sleeping quarters. We went down some steep stairs and were immediately hit with an unpleasant aroma. We got to the bottom of the stairs and started to walk around when Max stopped, turned around with a wrinkled nose and said, "It smells" in his super cute little boy voice. Indeed, Max, it did smell. Pretty cool ships, though, eh? *How do you like my new spectacles?*


Last Friday this is what I woke up to...love notes everywhere I turned from my super sweet husby (even one he had the kids help with a few nights before while I was at Enrichment) and the table and kitchen counter were covered with kisses. I've left several of these notes in place and have no intention of taking them down anytime soon. :) I am one lucky lady!

The Kitsap County Fair & Stampede, folks.

The first rodeo for Max, Kelly and myself. That's right, my first rodeo. (Maybe I went to one when I was young, but I don't remember?) Kelly took a little 15 minute nap and woke up - you guessed it - all smiles. The people behind us thanked us for bringing her and providing them with so much entertainment. She would pick out one person every couple of minutes and they would exchange many smiles...then onto the next lucky soul. Max thought it was pretty cool...he mostly liked to dance to the loud country music. That boy can boogie - quite the booty shaker! *For proof that Kelly does indeed have her moments, see the picture below left. One tired little lady.*

One for the books...

Another triathlon has come and gone. I loved it! It was the hardest I've done thus far. The bike portion was KILLER. The first seven miles felt good...then came the hill of all hills. I looked up ahead and thought, "Surely we're turning off before we have to go up that whole thing!" Oh, not so. Not only did I have to go up that crazy hill, that was just the beginning. It would flatten out for just a bit and then I would look up and see that there was another 1/4 mile or so of craziness up ahead. The course description said that there was a 500 ft. elevation gain during the bike course. What it didn't say is that there was a 500 ft. elevation gain within about a mile and a half. Ugh! I kept hearing Ty's voice, "Dig deep, Dana, you can do it!" I was almost in tears when finally the thing came to an end. I felt really good on the run, which is encouraging to me for the half-marathon that I'll be doing in October. If I can feel good running after swimming and then riding the bike course of death, then I think I'll be alright.

You see the guy finishing just behind me? Well, I have a little story to share. I was coming to the last portion of the race and way ahead I saw this guy walking. My first thought was, "Good. Someone to pass." I'm kind of competitive but not super fast, so when I see that I can pass someone, that gives me a little adrenaline kick and some sort of thrill. I know, not very nice. There was another group of girls that were running slower and I had just passed them. We were coming into the home stretch. I was coming up on this guy who I had seen walking for quite some time and just as I passed him I touched his arm and said, "Run!" I don't know what surprised me more - that I said it or that he actually responded. He immediately started running alongside me. As we were running I said, "You push me and I'll push you." He sounded desperate and on the verge of tears and said, "I'm trying!" "You're doing great! Just keep going," I said. I have to tell you that I felt electrified from my head to my toes. Literally. It was physical. I felt so proud of this man I did not know. I was pulling for him and suddenly didn't care about my own race anymore. I wanted him to feel great about his finish. I was on the verge of tears myself, but for a different reason. The end of a race always feels emotional to me and this was adding a different element to that emotion. He gasped, "How much longer?!" I told him that we were almost there, it couldn't be more than .2 miles. Suddenly we came around a corner and there was the finish line, lined with people. I said, "Come on!" and we kicked it up and ran our hearts out to the finish. I heard his wife or some lady cheering for him as we were reaching the finish line. He and I didn't talk afterward - I don't think he could talk at that point. But it was a really cool experience for me. All I could think about for the rest of the day was how good it felt to help someone else to the finish line. It was a different kind of feeling at the finish than I've ever had before. I'm tearing up just typing this out and thinking about it. For the rest of the day I was also drawing parallels to the Gospel of Jesus Christ - to our life here on earth and how we must endure it well - to how we must look for those who feel like they can't go any farther and how sometimes we are the person that can't go any farther and hopefully someone will be there to grab our arm and encourage us a little bit farther. It might sound a little cheesy here, but it was one of those moments...you know, those moments where eternal principles come into play in our everyday lives in a powerful way. It felt incredible. I really felt that Heavenly Father reached down and gave me that experience. Maybe that guy didn't really need my help, but I needed - and appreciated - that little lesson from above.


Some post-race family shots. I especially love the one of Ty and Max walking with the bike. Love my boys. Max was so proud of us and kept asking, "Did you have a good run, Mom?", "Was it a good race, Mom?" We took a great babysitter with us - Jessica Kennedy. Max loves her and she is so great with both of the kids. She spent the night on Friday since we had to leave our house by 5:00 a.m. So nice to not have to worry about the kiddos while we raced.

...and if you don't want to smother these adorable faces with kisses then there

must be something wrong with you. :)

Some random shots and some random thoughts...

to show what we've been up to lately!

My thumbs look like: big toes, they belong on a little person, they've been cut off.

I've heard all three of those things my whole life. I used to be kind of self-conscious about them. Now I love how unique they are. But the other day I was clipping Max's toenails and I suddenly realized that his big toe bears a striking resemblance to my thumb. What do you think? And can you tell which is the toe and which is the thumb? :) *Not fair to look to the side of the subjects in question which will totally give it away*

Nothin' better than cuddling with my little bud on a Sunday afternoon. And what is it about Sunday that makes me want to take posed pictures of my kids? Well, this particular day was because I love this particular dress on Kelly and I love Max in a tie.

I finally got around to decorating Kelly's room!

I've had a few projects in mind for a long time now, but haven't had/made the time. For Kelly's baby shower, my friend Tristalene did this cute banner with Kelly's name cut out on polka-dot paper. I liked it lots, so I decided to hold onto it and frame each letter of her name on a different background. I priced out frames I liked and realized this could be more of a do-it-yourself project that would make it cheaper. I purchased the frames from Michael's ($4.99 ea.); bought 2 bottles of paint - brown base and then added some purple to give it more of a cherry look ($.79 ea.); 5 pieces of scrapbook paper ($.50 ea.). Pretty cheap and a pretty great result! The other wall is a bit of a work in progress, but for that wall I had 4 white frames that I got from someone at some point and for some reason had held onto. I painted them to match the others and then painted each of the mattes a different color to match the room. The clock in the picture was silver, but that got the same paint job to match. Here's the final product...I felt really proud of myself! *The letters show up better in person...actually the whole room looks cuter in person*

For play group last week we went to this great park where they have five fountains that the kids can play in. The water is only about 6 in.-1 ft. deep. Perfect. Every few minutes, the top of the fountain "bursts" and you can soak yourself if you so choose (which Max did not). Kelly even loved sticking her feet in. We topped off the afternoon with a visit to Cold Stone. Yum. It wore the kids out...Max was asleep within two minutes of our drive home.

Last week we had a scorcher - 90 degrees! I know that doesn't sound like a hot day for a former Las Vegan, but when you don't have air conditioning...it's H-O-T! Hot enough to put Max's swimming pool to its intended use. We ALL got in our suits (minus Ty who was out of town) and we ALL sat in that tiny pool for the better part of an hour. It felt so good to get in that freezing water. Then we hit the mall where the air conditioning kept us cool the rest of the evening.


Look who thinks she gets to be big! I sat Kelly up between my legs and she stayed steady on her own for a bit...long enough for me to take a few pictures. That afternoon Ty came home from a 4-day trip with the Young Men (we missed him SO much!) and I wanted to show him the new trick. I thought she would just do what she had done that morning, but I guess she wanted to show off for her dad because she just sat and played with toys for a LONG time. Wasn't she JUST born?! (I LOVE the picture in the center...it makes me laugh. Do you think the flash was a little bit bright for her? :) )
Today we went to a cool (new to us) park about 15 minutes from here for our play group. Lots of grass to play on, a fun pirate play area, and it 's right next to the water. What more could a little man ask for?! On the rocky beach we found tons of little crabs (Max is showing you one in the 1st picture) and something I haven't seen at the other beaches we've been to around here....jellyfish! (in the bottom center picture) The last picture is the view from the beach of the Hood Canal Bridge. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful view. I love where I live!