...Thou shalt run and not be weary, and walk and not faint...

So I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and everything, but for some reason, I don't know if he knew about go-carts when he wrote this revelation. This last Monday, we had an office party at a place called Pro-Karts in Burnsville, just outside of Bloomington. It was awesome! The carts went about 40 mph, which may not sound like much, but on a low cart with no seat belt, it's pretty quick. Anyway, we didn't take a camera with us, so unfortunately we don't have pictures of the course. It was pretty fun though.

So, to make a long story short, I was really improving my speed around the course and then we started a race. On the very first lap, I was in third or fourth place near the end of the lap. Some tool in front of me spun out and started a wreck. The car right behind him hit him and started a pile up. Then I came along and hit the car in front of me, although I managed to slow down for the most part. The driver behind me, however, some how didn't manage to see the pile up. He hit me going somewhere between 30 and 40 mph. These aren't bumper cars by the way, these are "precision instrument[s] built for speed and aerodynamics" made out of metal. When he hit me, I flew out of my chair about two and a half feet and the thing that stopped me from falling out of the car was my leg hitting the steering wheel. I think that I pulled a muscle or something. These past few days walking has been a real chore and though I'd hate to admit it, it does make me weary. Anyway, enjoy the pictures! By the way, if any of you have good ideas for treatments of this, let me know.

Sunsets

This is just from off of our little balcony. I absolutely love sunsets. This particular one was so colorful I had to take a picture of it. But my photography skills and camera definitely don't do it justice. I will eventually learn how to take better photos. In the meantime this will do. I liked it because it was so colorful and then just off to the left you can see the moon traveling across the sky to welcome the night. Just one of God's many gifts I don't want to take for granted. "He gave me my eyes that I might see. . ." the colors of this magnificent sight.

Every Mom's Dream

I'm usually the one to put them down for a nap, but on this particular morning, I felt driven enough to get them both up and take them for a morning run. They seemed to be more tired than I was after that run. I didn't have to put them down for a nap that day. They both fell asleep on their own while I was doing the daily morning chores.

Guess it was a Kodak moment. At least it was for me.

Guess this means I'll be going running more often. This is probably every Mom's dream come true.

Bow Means Chrysalis

Since we've been working on learning new words lately, one night Alex pulls out this one and without too much thought, Orion automatically says, "It's Chrynonis!" That's how he says his little sister's name. But I guess I can't blame him for associating Chrysalis with bows. After all, I've only made her about 30 of them. We laughed so hard. This is probably one of those things that was really funny to us at the moment, but I still wanted to document it here because it was one of those moments we don't want to forget.

The First Few Words I'll Teach My Pup.....

Anyone ever read this book as a child? It was one of my favorites and it encompasses how I feel right now about Orion learning to read. I'm the master and Orion is my pup.

So, I hope this doesn't come across as, "Mom showing off what her son can do." Though I can't deny I'm pleased with this, I post this as an update to how we are doing with the Your Baby Can Read Program. The more we play, the more he learns and it's not hard at all. I know our kids don't come with a direction manual and sometimes we get lost as to how to approach teaching them certain concepts, so when helpful tools come along in life, we need to spread the word right? This is one of those that is definitely worth it. Anyone interested in making a good investment toward educating your children and helping them learn how to read in a fun way, call 1-888-READ-888. I thought teaching my son how to read was going to be a hard thing. These are only the results of him watching the videos a couple times a week for the last three weeks. Look at me, I sound like the infomercial now. But I really think the trick is to start them as young as possible. It's actually supposed to teach younger babies but it usually takes a little longer to see the results with babies just learning the fine motor skills of the tongue. But as long as their eyes can track from one side to the other, which usually starts at around 3 months of age, they can start these short word videos. Since Orion is already 2 years and 5 months, he's just flying through the program. Anyways, I think this short video pretty much speaks for itself. Hope you enjoy. And if you get the program and love it like I do, pass the word to other moms.

Sugar and Spice

I love these colors on her. Guess I'm just a fan of bright colors. Gotta capture the photos before she grows out of these cute outfits.

The drool queen.

Googly eyes.

5 1/2 months old and sitting pretty. I love her grins. They're so big.

The Best Part of a Daddy's Day

This takes the old primary song, "Daddy's Homecoming," to a whole new level. We don't just climb upon his knee anymore. We tackle OUR Dad. But he'll still get his cheeks patted and kissed for sure.

My New Favorite Drink

At first, they were good and refreshing and I didn't really think too much of them. But these green smoothies have quickly become my favorite thing. I actually crave spinach in the morning now. I've never hated it, but have never come to crave it. I hope that's a good thing. But this is what my family is having for breakfast as of late. Here are some that I made. I love how green they are.

Learning to Sit

Chrys and Bracken learning to sit. Watching these two sweet babies reaching their milestones has been fun. Last summer, they were in our bellies. This summer, look what they can do.

I bet you can guess who dressed her this morning. When nothing about the outfit matches, you can rest assured it wasn't me.

Such a curious little creature. Thanx Kira for watching the babies while the rest of us took off without you to watch Harry Potter. We had fun and are so grateful. Even Orion enjoyed it.

Orion Can Read

So we've started a fun reading program that I'm sure some of you might have seen on infomercials. It's called My Baby Can Read. It's supposed to help babies read from the start. It's kind of hard to see the results for Chrysalis just yet but only time will show. Orion on the other hand, isn't quite a baby anymore but is still reaping the benefits from this exciting program. Oh and by the way, for those I told it was only $15, I was misinformed. It's $15 for the trial period. The whole program with DVD's and flashcards is quite a bit more pricey but well worth it for anyone who might be interested. Here is Orion reading a few words only after two weeks of using it. Granted he is a toddler so he's a little bit older but he's getting it quite quickly if you ask me. I know these first few words, he's only memorized, but Dr. Titzer says that after the first 50 words or so, they'll actually begin to see the patterns of the letters and sounds and pick it up much easier than if we were to teach them the rules of sounding out letters later on. Not that anyone who's learned to read later on is at a loss or anything. But I myself have underestimated my own son's abilities at this age and have been pleasantly surprised. I'll be sure to post progress as I see it in future blogs. So far, so good. And it's not difficult and makes reading a game for them.

Mall of America Aquarium

We went to the aquarium with our friend Kira and her little boy Bracken. Here's Orion checking out one of the smaller of all the fish we saw there.

Discovering the starfish.

Me and Chrys in the shark tunnel.

Kira and her little boy Bracken discovering some interesting crabs.

I thought this was so cool.

A sand tiger shark swimming over our heads.

The Como Zoo

Here we are at the Como Zoo for the second time but this time we actually got to see some animals. We went on Sunday as a little family with some friends and since it was free, we didn't feel as guilty. We were "connecting with nature." "Enjoying God's creations." :OP

Our little family.

My girl and me and some flamingos.

It's hard to see in this picture but Chrysalis is discovering the world of butterflies. Here is a big one but it was fluttering so much you can barely see it.

So fitting for a Chrysalis to be inside a tent of butterflies.

They loved all the different varieties.

My cute boys in their somewhat matching outfits on matching giraffes.

A Cacao tree. Chocolate anyone? I want to grow one of these for myself.

I beautiful leopard.

"Mufasa! I said Que Pasa?!"

My son was more intrigued by the bug on the window than by the Giant Tiger behind it. Go figure.

Tigers are big. I didn't realize they were actually bigger than lions. At least this one was.

This baby Orangutang was playing with this stick and so the picture I captured made it look like a little old man smoking away. They start young I guess. What is this world coming to?

Happy Birthday America!

We started off the day by running a 5K with members from our ward. Technically, my friend Kira and I ran it. The husbands and kids just watched. Well, they set up tables for the ward breakfast so I guess they got their exercise in too. My legs feel like they're gonna fall off. I swear I ran a marathon. This is just to show how out of shape I am. But I think I'm gonna run more often. Anyways, it was nice to have finished it at least. After two kids, I don't think I did too bad.

Then I went home to make these fun, little tarts to share at the BBQ we went to later with some of the other families from our company.

In between all this, Chrysalis found some time to nap. Poor little thing must have been tired with all extra sensory stimulus she experienced.

The guys BBQued.

Our friends the Porters dressed their little girl in the same outfit we dressed Chrys in. No, we didn't plan this. We just both shop at Wally World.

Here are the outfits I picked out for my little family to be more patriotic in.

Later, we set off some fireworks with out friends Brian and Kira and their little boy Bracken. He seemed a little frightened at first with all the noise but I think he liked the sparklers.

Chrysalis experiences some sparklers for the first time. The noise didn't phase her. Too much to oooooh and awwwwe at.

Orion liked all the fireworks. Until he slightly burned his finger on the sparklers. No biggie though. He got over it quick.

This is the aftermath of it all. As we walked home from the park at around eleven-o-clock, I guess their little eyes just couldn't stay open any longer. Happy Birthday America! Despite all that is going on with the government, it's still nice to be able to celebrate the principles upon which this country was founded. May we always remember to stand up for her. I truly believe her founding fathers were inspired men. Inspired by God. We are one nation, under God, indivisible, with Libery and Justice for all. "I pledge allegiance to the frog of the United States of America. And to the wee puppets, for witches hands, one nation, under God, invisible, with little tea and just rice for all." Anyone who's read A Jar of Dreams will get this one.

Being a Big Brother is Hard Work

He'd rather sleep here than in his comfy little bed.

I suppose that being a big brother is really hard work.

But to his little sister, he's the big brother I wish I'd had. I'm so glad they play so well together.

You can just see how much he loves her. And no, we didn't make him pose like this.