Marathon 2011

Dan, Andrew (brother), Paul (Dad), and Cort (cousin) ran the Layton Marathon this year again. The morning started bright and early for the boys with a 3:30 am wake up call (yuck!). The cheerleaders/fans were lucky enough to not have to be up quite so early, which was good since the morning started off very wet and cold. Rueben (my brother), Cami (SIL), and I arrived extra early to have time to quickly paint banners for the boys and see them pass the 18 mile marker as they exited antelope island.

Spray painting on wet ground was interesting...but made for fun (and cold!) memories

Rueben and I next to my poster (and yes..."D" stands for our little girl's name. Cami and I both decided to add our kiddos into the posters. Not sure how I didn't end up with a picture of her poster...)

Dan at the 18 mile marker. They had half marathoners crossing this point at the same time as him so unfortunately my picture taking skills were lacking since I almost missed him coming! He is the one is yellow and blue with his fist in the air:)

Andrew at the 18 mile marker, giving Cami (behind the scenes) a high five

Paul at the 18 mile marker

Dan nearing the finish line (one again, bad picture...but he is on the left next to the guy in yellow)

Dan about to cross the finish line

Cort, Dan, and Andrew after the race

Proof that Cami was there as a cheerleader too

My parents came to cheer him on as well at the finish

Proof that the boys had to get up super early for the marathon! (Look closely...you can see the tag for Dan's shirt, he wore it inside out)

Picture of us with the sign

Dan and I

Eating....there was lots of that going on afterwards!

Paul, Andrew, and Dan

Overall, the boys all did great and enjoyed the experience. The training was awfully time consuming, but worth the accomplishment. I am proud of Dan and glad he got the opportunity to do something he loves. His life is extremely crazy lately with school and he deserved a day off. He came in with a time of 3:29:06, which is a 7:59 mile pace. Although, he didn't quite get the time he wanted, he still did amazing and came in 18th overall and 3rd in his age division. His goal for the next one he runs is to be under 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Help!

So I am trying to decide on several larger items that we need to purchase and/or register for soon. I am trying to decide a lot now because I am hoping to strike quite a few deals with Christmas sales this season, especially black Friday. I am also signed up for Amazon Moms which gives you free 2 day shipping and I have heard there are lots of good deals the whole month of November. Anyways, initially I signed up for a consumer report subscription but have come to realize it was not as helpful as I thought it would be...

So, I am hoping some of you out there who are experts in the kid product buying and using department might be of some help:) I want to know everything! What brands you have liked/seem most reliable and have been recalled the least, what features are a must versus just a perk, etc.

So here is a list of things I have had my mind on deciding on soon...but if you have other products you want to tell me about or that I am forgetting to consider please do so! I have only listed the big expenses I can think of...

1) Crib
2) Carseat, Stroller, or Travel System? What kinds/packages have you guys liked the most?
3) Breast Pump
4) Swing- I know there are lots of different kinds, I have been recommended a side-to-side cradle one but I am also interested in what people thing of the travel size ones or I have even seen ones that turn into a high chair?? For those that have the travel, how often did you actually take it somewhere?
5) Pack N Play- are these really necessary?

Thanks for anyone with advice to help me know which direction I want to go!

When Life Gives You Lemons...

Life sure seems have put a lot of lemons along our path lately. Some days we think we are given challenges that are more than we can handle, although deep down we know that with God nothing is impossible. I ran across this quote the other day and LOVED it. I know that I need to do better at remembering that I can't choose the lemons I receive but I sure can choose the attitude I have.

"The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache." -Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Baby Gender Guessing Game

Tuesday was an exciting day at our house...one Dan and I have been looking forward to! Tuesday was the day we had our BIG ultrasound to determine the gender of our little baby. The gender really never mattered much but we were just excited to know! We originally thought we would find out at 20 weeks but after recently changing doctors, we found out that our new doctor checks gender at 17 weeks. We decided to keep our news that we would find out early a secret so that we could surprise all the family with the news early!

So first for a little background. We have a bit of family that live farther away, and since we were once one of them, we wanted to make sure they were equally included in our announcement since we know how hard it is to miss out on fun family events. So last week, prior to us knowing what the gender was, I mailed packages to those family members that were equipped with both boy and girl gender reveals and gave them strict instructions to not to even open the mailed package (that contained concealed packages inside) until they received permission:)

After our ultrasound, I quickly went and delivered packages on the doorsteps of those that live close by (just to immediate family members...sorry all extended family, there are just too many of you!). I simply dropped the packages off knowing that everyone would soon be arriving home from work, it still required some sneakiness though because I was cutting it so close to the time they would be home that I was afraid of getting caught! Anyways, once the packages were delivered I texted those who live far away that they could now open the main package and indicated which of the two concealed packages they should open. It was fun to see which family members got home (and/or to their cell phones) the quickest. Within the hour I received either texts or phone calls from all the family. It was so fun just waiting to hear from them all!

Here is a picture of my parents door step of the delivery

More up close...it had balloons for both genders

This was what was attached to all the packages:

Here are the forms:

My parents called letting me know they had found their package before I had left Layton so I decided to join in on their reveal so I could get some fun pictures.

This is of Rueben following my strict rules to put the guesses straight in the mailbox! Yes, I am a little persistent on wanting to have all the papers for memory sake!

Next came the time to open up the package....

Inside the package everyone found:

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!

We are excited to have a cute little girl join our family soon! Just a side note, we learned that our little girl sure is modest. I swear that we were with the ultrasound tech forever trying to get her to let us have a peek! I kept on thinking...it's not that big of a deal if we don't find out today, but I had already mailed all those packages and didn't think it would go over too well to tell all the family that lived away that they had to wait four more weeks to even figure out what their package was about! So I am glad she finally decided to cooperate just as the tech was about to turn off the machine:) We look forward to all the fun it will be to soon have her join our family.

Announcing my pregnancy through baldness:)

So how did we go about telling the family about our future kid you may ask?? Well, since we decided to wait until I was 12 weeks along to tell the family we had 7 weeks to come up with something fun and creative.

We had a family vacation planned with Dan's 3 brothers and Dad and we decided to spill the beans there. We let my parents and brother know the night before we left on our little trip.

Baldness is a common joke on both sides of our family so it only seemed natural to tie it in to our announcement. My Dad has a side balding spot due to dropping a cabinet on his head and ruining his hair follicles there about 5 years ago. Dan on the other hand...well his widow's peak/receeding hairline is all natural:) hee hee. Either way, the two tease each other constantly about their baldness

So I made this shirt for Dan to wear:

We ate dinner at their house that night and Dan had a different gray t-shirt on upon arriving. Once we started to eat he excused himself to use the restroom and came out with this shirt on instead. We thought it would take my family awhile to notice he had changed but my brother noticed before he even sat down! But, it did take them quite awhile to decipher it's meaning mostly I think because they didn't even see it coming! I thought my parents might have already figured it out but they thought we wouldn't have kids until after Dan graduated so it came as quite a surprise (a welcomed one though! Especially since our kid will be their first grandchild!).

Next, we told Dan's brothers and Dad while we were on vacation in South Carolina. (Sorry the picture is harder to see on this one, I had a closeup but somehow erased it. It says Frontal Baldness= Result of ONE on the way and Total Baldness = Result of having 3!) Dan represents the frontal baldness and his brother, Spencer, is the one who is totally bald. Once gain, teasing regarding baldness is extremely common in his family as well:)

We were in charge of dinner the first night so it was the perfect opportunity to make our announcement. Once again, Dan wore a different shirt for the day and excused himself and went to change it shortly after we blessed the food. This time our planned worked almost too good! Not only did no one say anything about the shirt during dinner, (although we caught several of the family members staring at it...) we thought they might never notice! So after we finished eating Dan purposely sat across from Spencer until he noticed the shirt. At which point he freaked out that the shirt was making fun of him...the best part of all was that he didn't realize the meaning behind the shirt because he was too concerned about the joke behind his own baldness:)

When he finally put two-and-two together we all heard a MAJOR girly scream along with some jumping up and down from the other room. Let's just put it this way...the rest of the family quickly figured out what he was freaking out about!

Lastly, upon arriving back to Utah we went straight to Dan's mom and stepdad's house. Dan's mom spends about a month each summer in Guatemala and had just arrived back home. We wanted to make sure she got to hear it directly from us before the news started to spread:) This time Dan wore the shirt from the very beginning because our flight got in late and we both had work early the next am. They caught onto the shirt almost instantly but were as equally excited as everyone else:) Our kid will be the 19th grandchild for them!

Paintin', weedin', and lots of bakin'

Awhile ago I mentioned that in order to fill the void of homework I started a bagillion projects at once it seemed! I finally took pictures of my finished projects for everyone to see....

Painting

First, I re-stained our kitchen cabinets and add hardware, it was a huge job but I am glad I tackled it. I have always wanted dark cabinets with green walls. Now it makes me want new countertops even more!

Before:

After:

Weeding Next, Dan and I decided to put a retaining wall around our tree in our front yard. We haven't been able to plant anything there because of all the roots. We dug some of them out, added about a foot of dirt and the brick wall. We haven't added any plants yet, we will probably just wait until next Spring.

After:

Next, we decided to extend our garden and build a new frame. It's hard to tell since I took this picture after the project began, but the old garden was just the small section with weeds in it on the left. Last year it was way too small for everything we wanted to plant.

After...We now have 5 sections with walkways in-between (thanks to my dad and brother's awesome building skills!!!). We planted pumpkins, squash, zucchini, and a salsa garden.

Baking

Lastly, I've been doing lots of baking! Needless to say....I haven't begun any new major projects because of having a bun bakin' in my own oven takes quite a bit of energy. Yup, for those of you that don't know Dan and I are expecting our own little muffin Feb 27th. I am currently 13 weeks along. We are excited for our family to soon be a family of 3:)

This is our little muffin at 10 weeks along...

July Update

I am a very hyprocritical blogger, well at least now I am. I get annoyed when others don't update their blogs regularly for me to read, but yet do I update mine??? I used to blog religiously when we lived in Louisiana but since we moved back to Utah I have become lazy. Yeah, I have had a bagillion more things going on here than I did there, but ultimately my lack of blogging is due to a lack of motivation:)

Maybe if I try just giving a month recap every month that no other blog post occurs? I will at least give it a try! (I hope you approve Jenni!!!!)

Dan is going to school this summer so our daily routine isn't too exciting but we definitely stay busy! He will be done with the summer semester next wednesday (yippeeeee!!!) and then has two weeks off before fall semester starts! We have a family vacation planned and hopefully a few fun other things to get our summer in before it is all gone!

Today Dan is taking two exams to get his teaching certificate license, so along with all his regular homework he has been preparing for those. This past week I have been able to help him a bit with a lot of the math concepts and I hope it helps (the tests are similar to like an ACT test)! I am proud of all the hard work he has done and trust that he will do great today. In a few hours he can finally breathe!!!

Over the 4th of July weekend we did slip away from reality for a day or so. Our SIL Natalie grew up about 2 hours north of here in Idaho Falls. She has been bragging about the fireworks there so we went up Sunday night and spent the night. On Monday we participated in a 5k, yeah you heard that right, WE participated! Well, I should clarify, I didn't run but I did walk it...Now that Dan is enjoying running bigger races I figure on the small ones I should take advantage of the opportunity to get some excercise since I can still see him finish the bigger ones.


Dan did great. He came in 14th place (I think??? I don't remember his time though....but you know him, whatever time it was, it was pretty good). That night we watched amazing fireworks (Natalie was right!) and had a late night drive home in order to be back to work the next am. It was so much fun to just run away for the day and we loved spending it with family.

Our new Daily Routine

How has life been since I graduated? Well, as you will see in our project post (coming shortly! I forgot the camera today so hopefully I can upload the pictures tomorrow and publish the post!)we have kept pretty busy with a ton of labor-intensive projects! But as far as daily life there have been a lot of little changes too.

Dan is going to summer school. I went last summer and it is his turn this summer. Summer school can be insane but it sure is a great way to knock out a lot of classes and graduate sooner. He has stayed busy with homework and his student teaching volunteer hours. He is currently volunteering at the Boys & Girls Club in Roy. He mostly helps Special Ed students with summer projects/after school activities. I have been able to help him with his schooling by editing his papers and such. I have caught myself complaining a few times about it but then quickly remember that I am only doing about 4 hours of homework a week now instead of like 40. I definitely approve of my new homework load and enjoy helping Dan out!

I have started my new position at Weber State, well kind of. Technically my benefits don't kick in until July 1st but I have been pretty much started working my new position and increased my hours shortly after graduation. It has been CRAZY BUSY here at work, which is probably good, but boy am I tired when I leave!

Overall, life is good. It has been an adjustment for me to not be going to school. I am a very goal oriented person so although I don't miss the homework, I do miss the satisfaction of completing projects and meeting the goals I would set for myself each day. I also miss the friends I made and studied with on a daily basis. Dan has been patient as I have adjusted to having a new daily routine and getting used to my new job. Overall, things are good at the Crandall Household and we are grateful for all our many blessings.

4 Blog Posts. See Below.

I have to admit, I am feeling quite ambitious today. Maybe it is the lack of homework I have to do!?!?

The Haircut......

Rueben bought himself a hair cutting kit while on his mission....at $15 a haircut and with needing one every 6 weeks or so...he decided to just start cutting his own. Dan has been trying to talk me into cutting his hair for years and I have always been too chicken to do so. Spending money on a haircut has outweighed the consequences of me possibly giving him a whack job...

Anyways, so last week Rueben cut Dan's hair for him! I was quite impressed! Rueben knew how to do quite a few techniques and actually gave him a better haircut than several of the people on base have in the past.

When going through Rueben's pictures from his mission we ran across this....the consequences of cutting your own hair. Glad this didn't happen when he did Dan's hair! I don't think the military would have like it too much!

On a side note....my mom helped mend some of Rueben's pants that got worn out the past two years. If you look closely...Rueben had sewn his pants with dental floss to get him by. I have to admit, he was quite innovative!

Elder Black is HOME!!!!

Last Monday my brother, Rueben, returned home from his two-year spanish speaking LDS mission to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! We are so proud of him. He has grown so much. I have a lot to live up to! Although he misses Philly and all the people he grew to love, Dan and I sure love having our brother back around:) My parents were able to go visit his mission for the last week he was there. They had such a great experience meeting all the people that had come to love the gospel and considered Rueben like their son.

Dan and I had a ploy for picking up Rueben from the airport. A little over two years ago, Rueben put on quite the scene when he picked us up from the airport (we were still living in Louisiana then) for his farewell. See Below.

So for his return, Dan dressing up to get back at him only seemed natural....

Dan was so excited to dress up and see the reactions of all the people walking by, I think he was more excited for that than Rueben actually coming home! Just kidding...

Rueben said that the second he saw the "hobo" he instantly knew it was Dan. But I have to admit. Dan did such a great job at holding a straight face! Rueben's friend, Jedd, and mom, Cindy, hid off to the side with me until after Rueben met Dan.

There was so much luggage between Rueben and my parents!

We went over to my parent's house afterwards for French Dip sandwiches. Afterwards we went over to the church for Rueben to be officially released from his two year mission. It was a neat experience.

And last but not least....the sign we made for my parent's garage. FYI, the Elder NEGRO (black in spanish) and all the hearts, flowers, and butterflies were Dan's idea, not mine...but I have to admit I went fully along with the idea:)

Welcome home!!!!!! :) We are so proud of you and love you!!!

Senior Project

The week between Spring and Summer semester Dan completed his Senior Project at the Ogden Deaf and Blind School. He worked with several visually impaired students. It was such a neat experience for him! He does so well with students with disabilities. They all loved him. He was able to help tutor, go to lunch, recess, and even swim with them. He said all the students were so happy and positive despite their inability to see. I admire how well they handle the challenges they face in life and know as Dan continues to work with students with disabilities we will learn a lot from them.

Graduation Addition

A few days after graduation I walked in to my office to find this:

Love it! My boss knows me all too well....maybe someday we will have a kid that will love frogs as much as me so I can decorate their room with frogs and blame my obsession on them:)