Busy Weekend

We started Thanksgiving off with a triathlon in the morning. The swim killed me since I hadn't trained for it AT ALL! But I ended up finishing 11th n my age group with a total time of 1:03. Now, I just need to actually train for the next one!
After the triathlon, we headed up north to the cabin for Thanksgiving dinner with my family. 

On Friday we went to cut down our Christmas tree and found the perfect tree in about 15 minutes--seriously a record for us.
Yesterday I got to sleep in (what I asked Sean for my birthday!), had my favorite breakfast made for me in the shape of a heart, put up Christmas decorations, went out to lunch, got a pedicure, and went to dinner and a movie. Can't have a much better birthday then that! 

Happy Turkey Day!

Things to be thankful for this year:

*Sean 

*Carter 

*Good health

*family

*Sean finishing school

*Sean getting a job

*Our home

*kisses on the cheek from Carter for no reason

*food storage

*a good job

*a husband who supports my crazy triathlons (even ones on Thanksgiving Day!)

*the Savior

Vote for Katie

Do you think Katie looks like her???

www.people.com/lookalikes

then click on Katie as Reese

Go here and vote for Katie so she can win!!!

Apples to Apples.

We've had a busy week canning/eating lots of apples. We made applesauce, carmel apple jelly, and apple pie filling. We did some good sleeping. 
And had fun making curly fries. We LOVE Nana's apple peeler. 

Remember the mention about all the good sleeping? Do you notice anything about this picture? Carter is asleep and he is wearing his cleats. He wears them to bed almost every night. I'm hoping this means he will be a famous athlete one day and I can go on Oprah and say, "he's always been so dedicated, he slept in his cleats starting at age 2."

5 + 1

I am one week late on posting something on our 6 year anniversary. We have been incredibly busy the past few months. But we did get some time (thanks to my niece Carley who babysat!) to go out to dinner together. Last year, I posted my Fave 5 memories of our first 5 years of marriage. I am going to add one more to that list. This summer (as an early graduation present--only 1 more month til graduation-YAY!) we went on a cruise. One of our favorite things to do on the cruise was go to the Karoke Bar each night. It was totally like American Idol--all these people who think they can sing but really can't. Anyways, each night they had a competition for a certain role (Garth Brooks, Brittney Spears, Elvis, etc) that would all be in the final show of the cruise. The night we were they, they were holding auditions for Ricky Martin. The guys who auditioned (you just had to sing a Ricky Martin song) were ok. The DJ asked if there was anyone else who wanted to sing before the voting started. All of a sudden, Sean raises his hand and walked down there. I was shocked!! He sang, "Living la vida loca." I am not just saying this because he's my guy, but he was the best one. He actually knew the words, had some coordinated dance moves going on at the same time, he was jammin. The voting started and he made it to the top 3. FORTUNATELY, he did not win. The guys who won had a bunch of friends there so obviously they all voted for their friend. But when Sean saw the guy on stage during the final show, he was so happy he didn't win. The guy had super tight leather pants on and a silk shirt unbuttoned half way. I woulda paid money to see Sean dressed like that. Hi-larious! It is one of my favorite times of this year though, it was so spontaneous and unlike Sean. But that's one of the things I love about Sean, he keeps me on my toes!! 

Food Storage

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2008 was to work on building up our 3 month food supply. I have done a pretty good job at it and am happy about where we are at right now. However, this food storage thing has presented a major problem in my life. I have NOwhere to put it all. If there is anything I dislike about my house, it is the lack of storage. I have the tiniest pantry I have ever seen! (See picture below). Unfortunately, when we bought our house 5 years ago, I was not thinking, "this pantry does not look like it will hold a lot of food." You can bet I will be thinking that when we buy our next house! So I have had to become creative here recently. A couple of weeks ago, I was able to empty out one cupboard to put food in. This is major, because I also have hardly any cupboard space in my kitchen. I was pretty impressed with myself. 
But today, I have impressed myself even further. I have a linen closet right off of my kitchen that I thought I might be able to clean out an extra shelf to put some food storage on. I got started, and cleaned out every shelf!! I threw some stuff away that was in there, gave some stuff away, and found other places for the rest of the stuff. And notice it's not even full. I have room to grow. Also notice the steam canner on the bottom right--my family got this for me for my birthday this year and I am so excited. The empty shelf is where I plan on putting all the things I can. I just ordered a bunch of apples so first up is applesauce and apple pie filling and then onto salsa!! I am totally getting into canning and loving it!
So, I need ideas! What do you like to can--or what have you tasted that was canned and was really good? 

The Try Athletes

Did you know that I am famous? Well, I am. I was once quoted in the New Era; June of 1996 to be exact. The stake I grew up in holds Youth Olympics each year. There are many events from track-n-field, baking, sewing, ping-pong, to scholastics. One year I won first year in baking (that cake was soooo good-I'll have to post the recipe sometime), I entered a quilt I made once but it didn't win anything. Our ward volleyball team won first place one year and that was a major highlight. My last year in youth olympics I decided to try public speaking. Everyone sat in the same room and waited for your turn, then 5 at a time you were called into a room where you were shown the topics and then you had 20 minutes to write a talk. Then you were taken into the chapel, which was packed full, and delivered your speech. I still remember my topic: "tell about an ancestor who influenced your life." I spoke about my grandma and how she picked me up at school with her curlers in her hair. And I even won 3rd place. I wish I had tried it in the years past. My brother Spencer and I did pretty good at ping-pong doubles, getting 3rd place one year. I wish I had done the bike race, seeing as how I do so many triathlons now; that could have been some good practice. But my favorite events by far were the track-n-field. I don't want to brag but I was pretty speedy back in the day. One year, a New Era writer came to do some reporting. She met with me after a race at the track and I was quoted in the article.

"Jessica Forsberg, a 16-year-old whose talents shine brightest on track-and-field events, sums it up best. Still breathless from a race, she says, “When you cross that finish line, even if you didn’t win, you feel like you’ve succeeded. Winning isn’t everything; it’s just for fun.”

Pretty profound for a 16 year old, eh?

Click here for the entire article.

Casa Grande Triathlon

Yesterday, Marlee and I did the Casa Grande Triathlon. My goal was to beat my time from last year and I cut off almost 5 minutes. I finished in 1 hour and 14 minutes and ended up getting 9th in my age group (out of 44). Marlee-superwoman, got 1st place in her age group and finished in 1 hour and 2 minutes!! She's my idol!!!

Hope you had an Incredible Halloween

We had a couple of really decked out houses in our neighborhoods, that Cater wouldn't go up too, he just kept saying, "Too scary." Can you see "Jason" in the background?
Checking out his goods. 
Carter loved this snake. When you walked by it, it hissed and reached out at you. It scared both of us the first time, but then we just laughed as we watched other kids walk by and get scared by it too!

Carter dressed up as Dash again this year (why not get my money's worth out of the outfit right?!). It was really fun watching him figure out what was going on. He was really excited about his costume and wore it most of the day. Then when we left, he was really shy at the first house and wouldn't say anything. Then he saw the candy they gave him and he was a little less shy at the next house. Then when he saw he got another piece of candy, I think the lightbulbs went off! He said, "I got a treat, let's go to the next house!" He rode his bike from house to house for awhile, but then he saw everyone else walking and wanted to walk so Sean had to carry the bike the rest of the night. 

Carter dressed himself for church today..

Yes those are cleats and yes he did wear a jacket when it is 90 degrees outside. And yes I walked through the halls with him, holding my head up high, all the while being so embarrassed!

Our day...

Today was such a busy day. First I went on a bike ride with Marlee on a bike ride and run (trying to cram for our triathlon next weekend!). Then I went straight to my friend Nikki's house to pick her up to go get pedicures and manicures for her wedding that was tonight. Sean's family came over at 9:30 for breakfast and to hang out with his Dad. I put Carter down for a nap at 12:30 and cleaned up the house, got ready for the wedding, woke Carter up to get ready and then went and had Carter's pictures taken. He was the ring bearer. Well, he was supposed to be the ring bearer! He did really well at the rehearsal yesterday and was already to do it today, but then I think it just took too long before it was his turn to go and he got shy with all the people there because right before it was his turn to go down the aisle, he lost it. He did not want to do it and didn't even want me to walk him down the aisle, so there was no ring bearer at this wedding, but at least he looked cute for pictures with the flower girl!!! Stephanie (my SIL) did such a good job on the cake. It was so pretty and DElish!
The gang: Grandpa Jerry (Nikki's grandpa), Dad, Mom, Grandma Jo (Nikki's grandma--my parents old neighbors for 25 years--this lady taught me how to tie my shoes with a shoebox!), Marlee, and Spencer. 
Nikki, me, and Carter at the reception. 
Carter was as happy as could be once he was outside climbing on the rocks. 
Carter, Nikki, and Holly
Jeremy and Carter

Who is this kid?

I had to capture on video what Carter did this morning when we were coming inside. I shut the garage and he ran over to it and hit the sensor so it went back up automatically, and as the garage opened up he grabbed on. What? Where did he learn this? Check it out...(don't mind my voice...I'm a little sick)

Go Coyotes!

We went to the Coytoe's Hockey Game with my parents. It was so much fun. I haven't been to a hockey game since college and Sean and I have never been to one together. Thanks Mom and Dad for the fun night!!

Bridal Shower

Today I threw my friend Nikki a bridal shower. They actually got married a couple of months ago but their official wedding ceremony is in 2 weeks. We had lots of fun at the shower and lots of good grub! 

Conference Weekend at the Cabin

Spencer, Parker, Ashton, and Carter roasting marshmellows.
We went up to the cabin last weekend for conference with Sean's twin brother brandon and his family. We had fun cold Ranger rides and fun roasting marshmellows. The four little boys had so much fun playing with each other outside. 

Love it...

Be Your Best Self

Last night, I went to hear Betty Sue from last year's season of Betty Sue talk at Poppy's Home Decor in Gilbert. She was so funny. She talked a lot about her experience on the Biggest Loser and her relationship with her daughter Allie, who won the show. And she talked about little things you can do to be happier with yourself. My favorite part was when she was talking about being in a hotel room sitting on the bed waiting to find out if they were going to make it on the show, eating a whole Large pizza by herself and then saying, "I wonder how I got fat?" Her life changes have been amazing, very inspirational. My other favorite part was when she apologized for cussing in one of the episodes and someone called her and told her to have her mother leave the room because they did not edit it out; Betty Sue said, "my mother, what about the Prophet?" I didn't know she was LDS and now she is going around to different stakes/wards in the state talking about her experiences. Pictured: Me, Katie, Betty Sue, Stephanie, my cousin Mendy, and Wendy. Thanks for the fun night out girls! (except for the getting lost part on the way home!)

Making Jelly

We started with A LOT of peaches...We sliced and boiled them and added in the other ingredients...
We boiled the jars...
We made a pretty big mess...
After a few hours here was the final product...
36 jars of peach jelly! Yum!
Last night reminded me of the this...



Nikki and I grew up together. My parents lived next door to her grandparents. We probably spent every day together as kids, until her family moved to Vegas. I went and visited her though and she would come back to visit her grandparents. A few years ago she moved back to Phoenix and two years ago we introduced her to Sean's best friend from high school, Jeremy, and now they are married! Last night, Nikki, asked Sean and Jeremy if they ever thought in high school that their wives would be in the kitchen together making jelly! 

Farmer's Market

My friend Nikki found a local farmer's market that is open every other weekend. We went on Saturday and for $17 look at all the goods!

*Peaches
*Asparagus
*Green leaf lettuce
*Plums
*Apples
*Bananas
*Homeade bread
*Tomatoes
*Bell peppers

We started eating the fruit right away!

Funny kids

Friday morning: Carter came into my office and sat at my computer. He then said, "Bye Mom, I have to work."

Friday afternoon: Caitlyn (my 7 year old niece) called me and said, "Do you still want me to spend the night tonight."

Of course we want you to spend the night Caitlyn--anytime!!