Camping and Rollerskating/April 2011

We went camping at Stone Mtn. the last 3 days of spring break in April. There was a 30% chance of rain so we thought we were good. Not so, it drizzled on and off for 2 days and it was no warmer than 45degrees! We managed to hike for a couple of hours before it rained and saw an amazing waterfall. When we got to the bottom of the falls, it started raining so we had to hike quite a while in the rain. Everyone had something to...sort of keep them dry but by the time we got to the van we were all close to being soaked.

So we warmed up/dried off as we drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I love all the green here in NC!

We had rainy weekend again and decided it was time to take the boys rollerskating. They all tried to give up after 5 minutes but we managed to get them to skate for 2hrs. I'd say they did really good considering it was new to them. I don't have any still pictures of them on skates, only video of them skating but I can't seem to get it to publish. Oh well, I guess you would have had to be there. It was a day full of spills, giggles, and sore wrists. They have asked to go back so it must not have been so bad to them.

Break the silence

After 7 months of thinking of posting, I am finally breaking the silence of our blog. It has been so long since the last post that it would take forever to catch up. Here is an abbreviated version of what we have been up to in the last 7 months.

Jeremy celebrated his 34th birthday in January. The boys and I got him a cork board so he could display all of his hard work. He has continued to train for races and completed: On the Green Half-Marathon (1hr 50min), Kiawa SC Marathon (4hrs 15min), and University City Duathalon (1hr 24min) in the last 7 months. He actually placed 3rd in his age group in the Duathalon. The results said he was 2nd place but they awarded him with 3rd, either way he did a good job and got a plaque for it. He was so shocked to podium but he earned it!

I have kept busy with relief society stuff and the normal mommy stuff. I made each of the boys their own blanket for Christmas, turned 32 in Feb, and I finally managed to get some painting done in the house. I got brave enough to paint stripes in the boy's rooms and I think they turned out well considering I had never done stripes before. It was time consuming but really fun to watch it transform the room. The master bath ended up being my favorite room in the house, thanks to the spa like color. I have been hiding in there often because it is so soothing.

Micheal "wow-ed" us at the winter band concert for his school. He has played the trumpet for 2 years now and is pretty good. Unfortunately he won't be playing next year. Micheal's biggest accomplishment is that he turned 12 in March and was ordained a Deacon. He was so excited to pass the sacrament, he couldn't wipe the smile of his face the first 2 weeks he passed. It was so cute! We are so proud of him! I cried some happy tears that week.

Clayton participated in his school's annual fundraiser, the Boosterthon. Last year he ran 41 laps, this year he ran 48 laps! He was amazing! Clayton also made a pinewood derby car, a few models for scouts and he turned 10 in March. He loves to play with his RC helicopter, thank goodness we can replace everything on it because it crashes, A LOT! Most recently, his Dr. has put him on a dairy free diet to see if we can get his GI track back to normal. That is hard for a 10 yr old! He has also been on a powerful probiotic (milk free) to encourage healthy bacteria to heal his GI track. As a result of this, his body has finally been able to absorb much needed nutrients and he has gained 4lbs in the last 3 weeks. He feels better too! Yay!

Tanner has been my little sidekick. He helped me paint, visit people, has gone to many boring meetings with me, rides his bike while I run, and has continued to learn at home. Recently, we attended a Beginners day at school, now he asks me everyday if he can go to kindergarden yet. When school starts up again, it will be his turn. Scary huh! My youngest is school bound this upcoming school year. It is bitter sweet to me!

Diana and Jared came out to play for a week before Christmas. We had so much fun! I wish I could have them around all the time. It was so cold that week, we played inside. We found out that tag in the house is a blast! Tight spaces and obstacles make it hilarious, especially for adults.

I made a slide show to save space with pictures.

That should catch us up for now. In the last month, we went Camping and rollerskating so those posts will be coming soon.

Happy Birthday Tanner!

So, Tanner's 5th Birthday was on the 16th. I planned to make a slideshow for his birthday but hadn't gotten around to it until now. It was fun to reflect and see how little he was and how much he has grown. Enjoy!

Go Tanner Go!

Saturday, Jeremy bravely took Tanner's training wheels off his bike and practiced with him for a while. Not much progress. Monday came and I had to know if we needed to put his training wheels back on so I could go to the trail. (Tuesday's and Wednesday's I go to a trail nearby with friends. We walk or jog with their kids in joggers and Tanner on his bike.) So Tanner and I went to the church parking lot to practice so I could tell Jeremy that he needed to put Tanner's training wheels back on (can you tell, I wasn't ready for him to be ready). Well, Tanner was giving up after trying for about 30 minutes so I asked him to try just one more time and we would go home. He did and as he was falling he corrected himself and took off without me! WHAT? NO WAY! HE CAN'T DO THAT! But he DID! Micheal and Clayton were both 7 when they finally mastered riding a bike and here is Tanner at 4 (turning 5 on Thursday) and he is riding a 2 wheel bike! For family home evening that night we decided to go back to the church so Tanner could show Dad and brothers what he could do, they didn't believe us. I am still shocked but so proud of him.

Go Tanner, go!

Race Day

Jeremy did his olympic distance triathalon on Aug. 7th. It was an early morning for the famiy but it was worth it to support Jeremy. The lady that wrote Jeremy's numbers on him asked the boys if they wanted Dad's number on them, so all of us got his number written on us, the boys thought that was cool.
His wave started at 7:03 am in Lake Norman with the water temperature of 84 degrees. He was pretty worried about the swim since he hadn't ever swam 9/10 of a mile before. We couldn't even see the turn buoy since the lake curved a bit, it was a long swim.

We waited 44 minutes to see him come out of the water, Tanner was tired of waiting and asked me, "is Dad dead?" I immediately said, "of course not, it just takes a while."
Jeremy in the transition area preparing for the bike leg.

On his way out of transition starting 24.3 mile bike ride. He finished the bike in 1:18 which was his strongest leg.Finishing his first lap of the 6.2 mile run. He was really lucky that the weather ended up overcast until the race ended.
The run course was very hilly and took everyone by surprise. At the end of the run they had the runners on a steep gravel path to get to the finish field. Since he broke his knee 2yrs ago, Jeremy gets uneasy on gravel so he slowed way down trying not to fall and tweeked his hamstring in the process. His total time was 3:03. He did awesome and really enjoyed it, now he has so many people asking him if an Ironman is in his future. All he says is, "lets shoot for a half Ironman before we think about a full." Only time will tell...

One scary thing happened and was the talk of the race. About 5 minutes before Jeremy finished the bike leg, a family's unleashed golden retriever ran out in front of one of the riders going 30mph. The biker clipped the back of the dog, knocked it over and somehow didn't crash. Then, the dog ran back thru the path of on coming riders. Thank goodness no one got hurt. That could have been pretty ugly and we watched the whole thing happen.

Summer catch up

It's been months since my last post and I can hardly believe it. We've had a ton happening and no time to post so I'll try to catch up a little. In May, we had a great garden going. One of my favorite treats this year was our yummy strawberries. We harvested so many berries it was unreal, especially since our little strawberry patch isn't huge. I think we ate half of what we harvested right out of the patch and then we were struggling to keep up so I started hulling them and popping them into the freezer until I figured out what to do with them. I think we must have harvested 3 gallons of strawberries and they were the best strawberries I had ever tasted!

Then in June, we went to Virgina Beach for a couple of days. We met Grandma and Grandpa Fowler there for some fun in the sun.

Our campsite was awesome! We were right off the beach and Grandpa picked a campsite that was full of climbing trees and tons of shade. A boys paradise!

We were able to go to Kitty Hawk while we vacationed at the beach. It was really an amazing place. The boys got to fly kites and we were able to see where the first flight took place.



Then we went to the beach in the outer banks. We saw dolphins, jellyfish and a dead stingray that had a big chomp taken out of it.
We took our bikes with us to the beach so we could cruise and that was fun! Tanner is big enough now to keep up with us if we don't go too fast. We are in a new stage of life being stroller free and having all the kids doing what we are doing. I love being able to do so much more as a family now!

Grandpa Fowler heard that my boys were starting to wear normal size ties to church so he went through his tie collection and passed on some of his old tie's for the boys to use. They were really excited, I got a picture of all my handsome boys showing off their new ties. Aren't they cute?!

When we got back from the beach, I was called to be the new Relief Society President in out ward. I was rather shocked and overwhelmed with the idea of it all. I didn't sleep for 4 nights straight which is very unusual for me. Once I received personal confirmation that I could handle it and was set apart, I have been completely at peace. It was truly amazing! We have had some busy weeks and a steep learning curve but I am learning to handle it. I have had tons of support from my family and from the sisters in the ward so I feel extremely blessed.

Jeremy and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. Sometimes you just have to make time to hold still and enjoy your family. That week was such a busy week that we ended up cancelling our plans to just stay in with the boys and watched a movie. Nice and quiet.

Jeremy has been super busy. His boss ended up in the ICU and now isn't coming back to work. He has taken on some extra responsibilities because of it but has been looking for a new position in the company so he can round out his experience. He has been doing the same job basically for the last 3 years and needs some change. He has a few promising opportunities so we'll see what happens in the next few months. He is also training for his first triathalon. He will be doing the olympic distance which means he has a .9 mile swim, then 24 mile bike, followed by 6.2 mile run. His work is encouraging their employees to participate in a triathalon on August 7th. Those who participate get some free gear just for participating and work pays the registration fees too. So Jeremy gets to do a triathalon for free and gets a new pair of shoes too. He totally scored on that and is really excited. I know he will do awesome! I'll post pictures after race day.

For the 4th of July we shot off a couple of fireworks but our neighbors around us were shooting off fireworks for about an hour and a half so we had the best fireworks show we could have ever asked for. It was great! We promised Micheal that we would shoot off his model rocket on July 5th because Jeremy had the day off and all the sport fields were empty too.


I finally got some video of it shooting off! Hopefully it will work this time.

Energy Bars

This is my new healthy find. Homemade healthy energy bars. They are so easy to make and they taste REALLY GOOD! You can freeze them for a quick snack on the run but we haven't gotten them to last that long.


Energy Bars by Ellie Krieger (on foodnetwork.com)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 by 13in pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

1 cup of oats (old fashioned or quick oats, it doesn't matter which)
1/2 cup of raw unsalted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup of toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup of whole-wheat pastry flour (I used 3/4 cup of freshly ground whole-wheat flour instead of the wheat germ and pastry flour and that works well)
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of dried dates (dried figs are good too)
1/2 cup of dry milk
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/3 cup of maple syrup (honey or agave also works)
2 large eggs

Place all dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped. Add the syrup and eggs and pulse until the mixture is well combined. It will resemble a coarse paste. Transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly. Bake until just done, about 20 min. Cut into 20 squares. Enjoy!