Spring Soccer for Gage

I will blame my lack of picture taking of Gage playing soccer on Tanner. Just like Landen however, I forced myself to make an effort to take some of Gage playing the last game of the season.

I am not sure how much Gage enjoyed playing soccer. I couldn't tell if it was because Mike was his coach and he just didn't want to listen to him, or if he doesn't have fun. Some games Gage would play awesome and be really into it while other times he would stand around and watch the ball go by. We did sign him up for next year. I thought maybe we should try one more year and have Mike not be his coach and see how it goes.

Go Dragons!

Gage was excited to get a trophy. Being the coaches son has the perks of being able to see the trophies beforehand.

Spring Soccer For Landen

Being Landen's soccer coach has made it difficult to take pictures of Landen playing soccer. So the last game of the season, I threatened Mike into taking some. To his credit, Tanner has made it difficult to take many pictures either.

Anyway, it has been a lot of fun being Landen's coach. It has surprised Mike and I how much Landen enjoys playing and how aggressive he is. He scored a lot of goals this season and was upset if he didn't. Landen would keep track of the score and would even be mad at the few times his team lost.

Landen loved being able to get a trophy!

I signed up to be Landen's coach again next year. I figure I can only coach while they still play 3 on 3 which will be for one more year and then I won't be able to control them anymore.

Ogden Marathon 2010

Mike has been training for his first marathon for months now. Well, I feel like I have been training right along with him by sacrificing my sanity because of all the time it takes to train. Today, he finally accomplished his goal.

The full and half marathons each started at 7 am. The kids and I arrived around 8 am because I had a ton of family members running the half that I wanted to make sure I saw cross the finish line in around 2 hours. Mike was hoping to finish the marathon in around 3 hours 45 minutes. I should have known hanging around watching people cross a finish line for over 2 hours wouldn't be fun for 3 young boys. What a nightmare it was bringing them along!

Here's Todd and Erin making their way towards the finish line. Erin said Todd wouldn't wait for her at all. She was always a few steps behind him.

Their half marathon time was around 2:09:10. I never would have thought Todd would have accomplished this, but he did. Way to go!

The finish line to meet the runners was very poorly set up. It was extremely difficult for me to drag 3 kids over to meet up with anyone. Then, we had to make our way back to the bleachers to watch out for Mike. We did pick up a few souvenirs along the way.

Landen somehow scored a princess crown. By this point, I didn't care as long as it kept him entertained for a few minutes.

Tanner and Gage got a few Toy Story booklets that kept them busy for like 5 minutes.

Gage did a lot of complaining. I guess I should have realized that a 7 year old wouldn't understand how big of an accomplishment running 26 miles really is.

As I mentioned, Mike was hoping to run this marathon in around 3 hours 45 minutes. His longest training run was around 22 miles so it is hard to know what your final time will be. Well, the organizers of the marathon were trialing a new concept this year where you could be texted when your runner was at the 5k mark. I signed up for this awesome feature because then I would know when Mike had roughly 20 to 25 minutes left, and I could be camera ready. I apparently relied too heavily on this new, untested idea.

I had a friend following her husband and Mike along the entire course at certain checkpoints and she would text me when she saw Mike. The entire time she said he looked good and was chatting it up with other runners and smiling. Well at mile 20 she said he wasn't chatting or smiling anymore. As the time passed 3 hours and 20 minutes I realized I hadn't received the text stating Mike had only 3 miles to go. I started to feel bad that he wasn't going to reach his goal of 3 hours and 45 minutes. I wondered what could have happened. Was he hurt? Was something wrong?

All of a sudden, I saw a guy looking like Mike. I couldn't believe it. The time was around 3 hours 25 minutes. I looked at my phone thinking I had missed the text from the organizers but they had never texted me! My fingers couldn't turn on my camera fast enough and I was shouting at the kids to look at their Dad racing towards the finish line. I couldn't believe it. Mike's time was better than he had ever expected coming in at 3:26:09.

My camera isn't the best and is so slow to reset, but you can see Mike in a gold tank top.

Unfortunately, Mike's parents were out of town and none of his brothers were able to make it. He of course had to get on the phone right away and tell everyone how he did.

We are so proud of Mike. He did great!

Is there another marathon in Mike's future? Mike isn't saying as of today, but I am sure there will be.

Tanner Gets Potty Trained

Tanner is potty trained! Yeah! He actually caught on pretty quickly. I printed off Car sticker charts and had suckers ready for when he had successes. Going number 2 has been a little more challenging. He doesn't have accidents, he just holds it for days. We have had to help him a little with some over the counter medications to "make" him go. I never had to go through that with Gage and Landen. Hopefully, things will be regulated soon if you know what I mean.

This is what happened to the sticker charts. Tanner really could care less about putting stickers on the charts. He just wanted his sucker. The charts eventually fell off the door and I don't think we even put 3 stickers on them.

I just hope he doesn't end up with a bunch of cavities because of all the suckers he has been eating.

I promised Tanner a Toy Story Toy when he was officially potty trained which I knew would be around $10 at least. When we went to the store, he picked out this cheap, plastic $4 tractor. It's all he wanted. Score!

Home Depot Workshop

I discovered the funnest "free" activity for the kids. On the first Saturday of the month, Home Depot does a kids workshop. They give the kids an apron and a wood craft to do for free. Well, I think I ended up doing most of it, but the boys loved it! They made cute fence pots for Mother's Day and they gave us flowers to put in them. They also got a pin to put on their apron showing the craft they made. I think this is going to turn into a monthly activity!

Winter Racing Circut

To help prepare runners for the Ogden Marathon, Striders Running Store puts on a Winter Racing Circuit. It consists of 5 races all increasing in distance to keep runners going through the winter. The courses vary with difficulty while the last two are actual parts of the marathon. Mike participated in these runs. The following are his stats:

Feb 6th 5K - 21:19 (avg 6:51 minute mile)

Feb 20th 10K - 46:01 (avg 7:25 minute mile)

March 13th 10 miler - 1:15:07 (avg 7:31 minute mile)

April 3rd 1/2 marathon - 1:38:56 (avg 7:33 minute mile)

April 24th 30K - 2:26:25 (avg 7:51 minute mile)

The following pictures are of the 10K race. This was the only one I made it to since I am usually not out of bed by the time these races start and my mom was kind enough to watch the kids while I went.

You can see how cold it was by the frost on Mike's hat.

Tanner Be Jammin

Tanner got a hold of Gage's ipod and was jammin all around the house.

Timeout Merrill Style

Mike's new way of putting the boys in timeout is making them stand with their nose in the corner. Well, the boys were being naughty outside and this is what Mike made them do.

Baby Animal Days 2010

Baby Animal Days is held annually in Wellsville, Utah. We have made this a yearly tradition since the kids enjoy it so much. It is held around Easter and the kids get to ride horses and hold baby animals. We went with the Bairs and my cousin Heather and her little boy Kade.

Gage looks like a professional on his horse.

I was surprised that Tanner agreed to ride the horse. He loved it. Landen rode it last year, but didn't want to this year.

Tanner is still obsessed with tractors and thought he could take this one for a ride. Tanner had to stand by it forever and was quite upset when I made him leave.

Having fun on the wagon ride.

Gage was so careful holding the baby bird.

Holding baby rabbits.

Here's Adyson, Tanner, and Kade all holding baby rabbits. Poor rabbits having 2 year olds hold them.

Not sure if Landen is having fun or not.

Tanner loved chasing the goats again this year.

Gage was brave enough to hold a baby goat.

Tanner wanted to give the baby goat a squeeze so I had to help him.

They shoot off a candy cannon and the kids go crazy.

This year they had a train we had to check out.