The Valley Metro Ride

above: Sean and kid (aka Cameron)
above: Sean, Keith, Steve, and Carley
above: Grandad, Spencer, me, and Carter
above: waiting to get on the next train

My family and I went downtown today to ride on the light-rail that opened. The rides are free until December 31st so we thought we would take advantage of it. All of us loaded the train (Nana and Grandad included) and went down to the Diamondbacks Stadium and back. We then headed to Costco for some yummy pizza and ice cream. Carter loved the "choo choo ride," except for the ride back which was so crowded, we had to stand the whole time!

Merry Christmas!

We had a very Merry Christmas this year and hope you did too! Here is Carter at Nana and Grandad's house on Christmas Eve acting out the Nativity as Grandad read the story. A special visitor stopped by with an early treat for all the cousins! Carter actually liked Santa this year!
Christmas morning at our house. I LOVE our tree this year. 
Opening gifts. It is definitely so much more fun watching your kids open presents. Carter was so excited this year and loves his kitchen, train set, race cars, and scooter the most. 


Oh and I guess I was good this year too, because I got everything on my list, and more! I am so lucky to have a great husband! 

I hope your Christmas was as great as ours! 

Don't open your presents early!!

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it was a great analogy for this time of year. I think I often want to have everything figured out so I can plan or prepare or just know what may or may not happen. And now especially, with Sean leaving for 7 months I am finding myself anxious to know what the future holds for us. But I will be much better off if I have faith and take life one day at a time.

"Christmas Presents and a Lesson on Lifeby Hilary WeeksI have many wonderful Christmas memories and one not so wonderful Christmas memory. It was the year I spoiled the surprise. I couldn't help myself. It happened when I was about 17 years old. Everyone was gone so I had the house to myself. With Christmas only a few days away, the presents were piled high under the tree. I had looked to see if there were ample gifts with my name on the tag, and sure enough, there were plenty. As I passed by the tree, the gifts seemed to call, "Open me...open me!" What was a girl to do? Well, I'll tell you what this girl did at least...I took every single present up to my room. I shut the door. Then I carefully removed the tape and wrap from each package and peeked inside. An outfit from my mom. Pajamas from my grandma. (Like that was a surprise.) A new journal. And a several other thoughtful, wonderful gifts. After I finished re-wrapped the gifts, the guilt and regret set in. "Why? Why did I do that!? I just ruined Christmas! Now there would be no surprise Christmas morning!" Let me tell you, it was not worth it. I have experienced other things that were "worth it" such as, eating that third piece of blueberry cobbler with ice cream. Now, that's worth it, but opening your presents two days before Christmas definitely was not. Sometimes, now, I wish I knew what was ahead in life - if I could just see around the bend, even just a couple of days or weeks. Sometimes I would really like to know what the future holds. But I guess that would spoil the surprise. So, even when I'm feeling anxious about days to come I need to trust, not try to figure out or fret, I just need to wait and open the gift of each day, one at a time." ~by Hillary Weeks

Graduation Present

Once I found out that Sean was moving into an apartment in Louisiana I decided that for his graduation gift I would have some pictures of Carter and I taken and then frame them.  My SIL, Katie took them for me. I think they turned out great. Here are some of my favorites. 

HE DID IT!

Sean graduated from ASU, from the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering, in Construction Management on Friday. He has worked hard over the last few years to get to this point. I am so proud of him (and so excited that he is done!). 

First, here is a picture of the cupcakes I made for Sean's graduation party. Can you tell what they are?
The Klippel Family
The Collins' family (a big thanks to all who came to graduation and the after party!--we had LOTS of fun).
The proud family!
The graduate

Surprise...

Cajun chicken anyone?

I hope Sean likes it. We found out this week that Sean will be working in Fort Polk, Louisiana starting January 7th through the end of July. He will work 10 days on and have 4 days off. On his 4 days off, he will fly home to see us. Since I am still working full time, Carter and I will stay here and live part time with my parents to help out with my hectic work schedule. Sean and I will leave with a Uhaul at the beginning of January to drive to Louisiana and get him moved into an apartment. I will then fly home, and begin counting down the days to his return. Funny how you have one plan set in your mind, and then life takes you in a completely opposite direction. 

All I Want for Christmas...

I stole this idea from Emily. A triathlon top (a pink one!)
Yes, gummy bears. But not just any kind. Black Forest Gummy Bears from Costco. I like to have these with me when I drive to schools throughout the state-to help me stay awake. So a nice big bag from Costco would be a great stocking stuffer!
A jewelry box
A pink necklace to go in the jewelry box.
A Kitchenaid

A Camelpack for running. 

Just some ideas. (hint, hint Sean)

The Polar Express

Last weekend we went up to our family cabin for the weekend. It was so cold, it was fun to sit by the fire and drink hot chocolate. On Saturday we went to Williams to go on the Polar Express. First we went to the town's light parade and then we waited and waited and waited for the train to come. Carter was so excited it must have seemed like forever to him, waiting for the train to came. Once it came, he kept saying, "all aboard." We got on and had hot chocolate and cookies (just like the movie), went to the North Pole, Santa came on the train and gave everyone a bell, and we sang Christmas Carols all the way back to the station. Carter was exhausted by the end of the night. When we left he said, "bye choo choo train, I'll miss you." The kid loves trains.Notice that Carter and I are wearing our pajamas (again like in the movie). Sean did not want to join in on that fun. But most people were in pajamas--Sean definitely missed out on that one!

Check these out

Go check out these puzzlekins and the contest that is being held for a free giveaway. They are so cute! If she gets more than 50 responses she will give away 2 more! Carter absolutely loves puzzles. So does his cousin Hunter, who Carter has for Christmas. So go sign up, but I hope I win! ;)

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.