If You Can't Take The Heat

For Brian's birthday this year we decided we'd stay up all night and shop since his birthday landed right on Black Friday this year.  Brian has been Black Friday shopping alone the past few years.  He's so funny, he starts watching the Black Friday ads as soon as they're released on the internet.  He love's getting a good deal.  Me on the other had, I usually shop a week or two before Christmas online, have it delivered to my house, and pay a least full price for it. 

We decided that this year it would be fun to hit the stores together on this crazy night/morning of shopping goodness.  Walmart opened at midnight so we decided to hit there first.  Oh my, that really broke me into what all the crazies do on this day.  I've heard of people being trampled and I now believe it.  

If you look you will find Brian in the picture, these are people rushing the video games, including Brian.  I was standing on a bench laughing at the whole thing.  While standing there, this man comes out of that crowd you can see with his face scarlet red, screaming "Get off me! Don't touch me!"  Seriously this man was ready to hurt someone.  Honestly sir, if you can't take the heat of Black Friday, don't go shopping then!!
After Walmart, which was about 2:00am, we went home.  I fell asleep on the couch and Brian stayed awake.  Then we went back out at 4am to hit up Best Buy, Kmart, and Target.  We definitely got some good deals, and had a riot doing it.  We got home about 7am slept until 11am the headed out for our 3rd and final round of shopping. 
Later that night we went to the light parade then out to dinner for Brian's birthday.  We had such a fun day together. 

Halloween

This year for Halloween Bentley dressed up as Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Friday before Halloween we had school off so we went to Pirate Island Pizza and took one of Bentley's friends.

 Kindergarten Parade

 Pirate Island

Trunk or Treating in the Loop

San Francisco and Such

Over fall break we had the opportunity to go on a little adventure to San Francisco.  I'm calling this an adventure because the way we got there and back was quiet the adventure.  We decided we'd take the California Zephyr to San Francisco.  If you're not sure what that is, it's an Amtrak train.  Our journey started very late on Tuesday, Oct. 12th.  We boarded our train at 11:30pm.  This actually wasn't to bad because this way we knew Bentley would sleep through the night.  We boarded the train and found seats that didn't already have people sleeping in them and luckily all found seats to ourselves so we could "spread out" if that's possible on a train.  The train ride there was great.  Bentley and Brian slept, and I think I just laid there most of the night with my eyes closed.  I was worried that someone would kidnap Bentley on one of the stops and I'd be asleep and not even know he was gone.  I know I'm kind of crazy.  We made it to San Francisco on Wednesday, Oct 13th around 5:00 pm.  Yes, we were on the train for about 17 hours. I was worth it though to go to San Francisco.  I LOVE San Francisco.
The fun thing about our trip was we had absolutely nothing planned, we knew we wanted to go but it was to relax and hangout as a fam.  Our hotel was in Union Square which is my 2nd favorite place in the city next to the wharf.  That weekend was the Nike Women's Marathon, which was taking place in Union Square.  There was so much excitement, I was extremely envious of all the women there with their girlfriends to run the race.  I told Brian we're going back next year and my name will be on the Nike wall because I will be one of the participants in the race (med school budget allowing, if Brian gets in this round). 
Anyway our trip was so fun!  We went to the Exploritorium which is a kids museum.  Bentley loved it and so did Brian and I because of all the cool experiments there.  We rode the trolley all over town,  went to Golden Gate park, and of course we window shopped at all of the stores in Union Square.  My dream is to someday return with a huge shopping budget and by me a whole new wardrobe.  Seriously you should see the stores there, even their Old Navy blows ours out of the water, theirs is 5 stories! 
We spent a whole day at the Wharf where we had to go the the Hard Rock for Bentley.  Bentley was so excited because Eddie Van Halen's guitar was there!  Of course we had to get pictures. 
We were only there for 2 and 1/2 days but it was so nice to get away and relax. 
Our train ride home was where the adventure began.  We were stopped because we hit something on the track and broke our air hose.  The engineers had to get out and fix it.  Then a few hours later we were stopped because there was police activity on the track which ended up being someone trying to commit suicide.  A few hours later we were stopped for almost 2 hours because a freight train was broke down in front of us.  At some point in the middle of the night I woke up and the train was stopped again!!  It was a long ride home. We did make up some of the time through the Nevada desert and Salt Flats.

 Yes, that is Kaulin's friend Flat Stanly with Bentley outside the Amtrak station

 What a heavenly sight. I was afraid this might not happen, but it did.

 On a trolley.  It was stopped waiting for the trolleys in front of it to be turned around on the turn table.  Did you know the trolley drivers have to turn it around by hand?

 Look at the size of that tree!! 

 The Exploritorium aka children's museum

 An experiment in the Exploritorium

 Golden Gate State Park

 My little rock star with Eddie Van Halen's guitar in the background

 On the wharf

 This was the place Brian and I stayed on our honeymoon

 cathedral

 Next years goal: Nike Women's Marathon tent in Union Square

 The handsome hubs looking down over Union Square from the top of Macy's.

Overall, it was a great trip and so nice to take a break from school and work just to be together!

Kindergarten!!! Hooray!!!

Bentley started kindergarten on August 31st.  I've been waiting for this day for a long time, finally Bentley will be with me every day.  The excitement of kindergarten was quickly diminished due to Bentley getting SICK the first day of school!! Really?! He's so excited and I'm so excited and now he may possibly miss the first day of school. When Bentley woke up he wasn't feeling well, but he didn't have a fever or anything, he just said his stomach hurt.  I ran him to Grandma Vicki's and told her to bring him to school if she thought he was ok. She brought him over so he did it make to the first day of school. YAY!  Right after school I took him to his babysitters and he threw up as soon as we got there.  So the first week of school we missed a day.  Other than that, school has been great!! Bentley loves his teacher and his friends.  He loves learning.  It's so fun to hear him use the Spanish words he's learned.  It's so great to finally have Bentley at the school. 

Our Lives in a Nutshell

Wow!! I can't believe how fast the time has gone since school started.  Bentley started dual immersion kindergarten where he learns in both Spanish and English.  He absolutely LOVES it!! I have pictures of his first day, but of course they're still on my camera which is in my desk drawer at the school...sign...oh well, I'll post them sooner or later.  Bentley also just started guitar lessons.  He loves the band Van Halen and knows all about them and sings their songs.  The other day in school the teacher gave all of the kids a white board and told them they could doodle on it.  One kid raised his hand and asked if he could write mom on his since he knew how to spell it.  Bentley the raised his hand and asked if he could write Van Halen on his because he knew how to spell it.  I love having Bentley at my school so I can see his teacher everyday and hear stories and check up on him daily.
Brian has been crazy busy shadowing a DO and filling out his application for med school.  It's crazy how big of project it is.  He's also just finishing up his degree in Biology.  He would be done this December but one of the classes didn't fit into his schedule for this semester, so he'll be done this April. 
I have, of course, been teaching which seems to take up a ton of time especially during the first of the year.  I am totally enjoying the fall weather.  This is my favorite time of year!! It's this time of year that the med school in Maine sounds very appealing, a New England fall, who wouldn't want to live there?
That's our lives at the moment in a nutshell. Hopefully I will post pictures soon, if I can remember my camera from my desk drawer.

Eat, Pray, Love

So usually I don't see the movie before the book, but I did with this one.  I was a little worried about seeing it because someone I will leave unnamed told me it was slow.  Well personally I really enjoyed it.  I love books and movies that make me step back and rethink life for a minute.  After seeing the movie I'm definitely going to get the book and read it. 

Flashback

I've been trying to get some sort of scrapbook put together from  Bentley's first year.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  It seems like just barely I was waking up in the night with a newborn.  Time goes by WAY to fast, he'll be starting kindergarten in 2 weeks! It seems like it was only a few months ago that he was this small.

Swimming Lessons

The past two weeks Bentley was in swimming lessons.  I was amazed how fun the teachers made it.  Every skill was taught in a game.  Bentley absolutely LOVED it! Another good thing is there were only 2 other kids in his class. Since I started training for my last triathlon Bentley would come to the pool with me, since then he has been like a fish.  He definitely doesn't have a fear of water, which I'm so glad he doesn't.  The swimming lessons helped him even more to not be afraid and learn the very basics of swimming techniques.  His favorite part was the last day.  On the last day the kids got to go down the slide and off the diving board.  The diving board was the highlight!  Bentley loved the diving board so much he ran from the beginning of the diving board and jumped off.  He thought that was great.  He tells everyone he sees about jumping off the diving board. 

Bentley going down the slide

Bentley with his cute teacher and his certificate for passing level 1

PS My triathlon pictures were missing for a little bit and I've finally found them.  They're on my fitness blog now.

New Addiction

I have a great new addiction.  I'm pretty sure the hubs doesn't appreciate this because the last day and a half the house has kind of been put on the back burner while I worked on my new addiction.  What is this new addiction you might ask, well confession time...it's digital scrapbooking.  I absolutely, with every fiber of my being, hate, yes that's right, hate scrapbooking.  It takes way to long, makes a big mess, and never looks good when I'm done.  Well I've now found a way that still takes a long time, but doesn't make a big mess, and if you don't like the page when its done you can easily change it.  I've been using the 30 use trial of Photoshop Elements and I love it!!! I'm currently on my last use of it so I have to leave it open otherwise it's good bye Photoshop until I can justify buying it.  I have finished our family 2009 scrapbook it just needs a few final things and I will send it off to Shutterfly to be published.  FYI they're having a sale right now you get 30% of a book.  Sweet!! 
Here's two of my pages. Now remember I'm not talented in the scrapbooking department so no making fun!
PS I got all of the stuff for free from Shabby Princess.  The link is on the left side of my blog.

Big Boy in the House!

It's official I no longer have a baby or toddler roaming my house.  My little boy is now officially a big boy.  Bentley turned 5 on June 30th.  I can't believe it's been 5 years since he entered my life.  He is definitely the center of mine and Brian's lives.  Now he's 5 his current favorites are: reading (he just started reading books on his own and loves it), riding bikes, T-ball, friends, games, golfing, Batman, being a ninja, the list goes on.
I'm so happy to have Bentley.  He's so patient and kind.  Happy 5th Birthday Bentley!!!

Bentley Newborn

Bentley 5 yrs-doing cool Jedi moves

For Bentley's birthday he wanted to have a SpongeBob party.  We decided to have a SpongeBob water party.  The party started out great, sunny and warm.  Within 15 minutes it started to downpour like crazy.  Everyone was drenched.  I had to grab all of the birthday stuff plus all of the little kidlets and go running back to my house.  It was surely a party to remember. 

At the party before the rains came flooding down

This is the first year I haven't made Bentley's birthday cake.  Since I was in class all week long I couldn't swing making a cake.  I think Bentley actually like having a store bought cake.

Lunatic Tri

A few weeks ago I raced in the Lunatic Triathlon in Price.  This was the first triathlon I have done and it totally ROCKED!!!  I have no idea why I've been wasting my sweet time on racing just running races when I could have been doing triathlons the whole time.  The race started at 10pm so it was completely pitch outside when it started.  I was decked from head to toe to wheel with glow sticks.  Bentley highly enjoyed that.  This was the first triathlon in Price so the course we pretty awesome Hahaha!  No really it wasn't that bad except trying to bike out in the boonies in pitch black doesn't work so well.  They did tell us though that the police had sent out reminders that everyone's dogs should be on a leash and the dog catcher was making a round before the race started.  Oh good, that makes me feel a lot better. 
Anyway, the race was great.  I loved the swimming part besides the facts that 1.  I jumped off my bike, ripped my shirt off (I had my swimsuit on underneath) and my shoes and went running across the street and up to the gate to the swimming pool, went to jump in and realized I forgot my goggles and swim cap at my transition station.  So I quickly ran back across the street and grabbed those.  2. I was literally swimming on top of people.  I couldn't pass because we were doing a serpentine swim so there were swimmers going both ways.  We got to swim through the finish line which was fun. The whole thing was a RIOT!!!  Even Brian and Bentley enjoyed it because I came in every half hour and they watched the whole swimming part. I'm totally doing another one this year.  I can't wait!!! 
Here's a few pics.  There's more on my fitness blog.

My wonderful mechanic!

This is how Bentley chose to pass the time.

At the finish line.  I know I look horrendous.  If you leave a comment don't say anything about this picture!!

Delightful Doughnuts!

In the summer Bentley and I have some sort of activity planned everyday.  Well Thursday is cooking/baking day.  Today we decided to use a recipe from the Pioneer Women.  We used her homemade doughnut recipe.
I mixed up the dough last night because it has to be refrigerated for several hours.  This morning we woke up and rolled out the dough that had now doubled in size.  Bentley had a great time cutting the doughnuts and the holes in them.  After that they had to rise for 1 1/2 hours.  Then the fun began.

Dough right after it was made, ready to be refrigerated

 What a handsome chef!! Doughnuts cut and ready to rise.

 All risen!  Ready to fry!!!

Fry Baby Fry!!! (They're 100% fat free)

 Glazing the doughnuts.  He may or may not have licked his fingers.

 All glazed and ready to be devoured!!

The verdict...DELICIOUS!!!

Brian came home for lunch right in time to enjoy some fresh, hot doughnuts.  

Need I mention that's all he ate for lunch

 Showing off our doughnuts and aprons

If you would like to make these yourself click on the link for the recipe. Doughnut Recipe

They really weren't to hard to make and turned out yummy.  Definitely worth a shot.  

How many miles do you think I'll need to run after this adventure?  

In preschool Bentley had a journal that he would draw in everyday and he's been telling me all the things he was going to write in his journal when he went back to school.  He was bummed when I told him he wasn't going back to preschool any more so he wouldn't be able to write in his journal.  So a few days ago we made a summer journal.  Here's today's journal page on making doughnuts.

It says: "I made doughnuts.  They were good.  My mom helped me.  We ate them then dad came. Then dad took them."  
I like how he blames Brian for everything.  PS Brian really didn't take them.  LOL  There's still a plate full left.

Frogs at the Library

Today Bentley and I went to story time at the library.  This was the first time we've been and it was so much fun.  Today's stories were all about frogs.  After reading Bentley colored a picture of a marsh and marsh animals.
If you're looking for some fun summer books to read to the kiddos here are two of them we read today.

Utah Valley Half Marathon

This can also be found on my running blog.  I will put pictures on there, not on here.

Let's start this by talking about the training for the half marathon.  Due to lack of time and in the end desire I didn't train for the race as well as I should have.  3 weeks before the race I ran 8 miles.  That was the longest run I did the entire training.  After that run I ran a total of probably around 12 miles when it should have a least been in the 3os.   Anyway my goal for the race was to do it between a 10:30 and 11:00 minute mile.
The race was on June 12th.  It started at the lovely time of 5:30am!! I had to be at the Provo Mall at 3:30 to get on the bus, so that meant I needed to get up around 2:45 to get ready and get over there.   Well, I went to bed around 10:30 then I laid there until 1:30 because I couldn't sleep due to nerves and excitement.  So yes, I got 1 hour of sleep  to run 13.1 miles on.
 I got to the mall early enough to be on the first bus.  Honestly I could have tried to sleep in a little bit and been on one of the later buses.  On the way up to the starting line I was watching out the window for the mile markers that were set up until we got to the canyon where it was pitch dark.  When I was riding through the canyon on an old clunker bus in the pitch black all I could think was I must be on the marathon bus this is a lot farther than 13 miles.  But sure enough they checked my number bib before I got on to make sure I was a half marathoner.  I was definitely on the right bus.
 Once the bus finally got to the final destination of the starting line we all got of and hurried around the fire pits that were burning.   I met a few friends while waiting around the fire pit which was nice to pass the 2 hours until the starting of the race.
 Finally at 5:30 we were all lined up and ready to go.  The sky was starting to light up a little bit.  It was supposed to be bad weather but it was actually quite nice for a half marathon.  In mile 3 it started to sprinkle a little but it felt so nice.  The run down the canyon was beautiful.  I knew I could run all the way down the canyon because I had done it before.  That was my goal run all the way out of the canyon then I'd see how I felt.  I might need a few walk breaks.  I got out of the canyon and was still feeling great.  This was mile 7 now, only 6.1 more miles to go.  I knew Brian and Bentley would be at Jamestown Square waiting for me so I decided I could run without walking to there.  I made it there still without walking which was now mile 9.  By this time my toe was starting to feel like it was getting a blister and I was feeling kind of sick.  I only had 4 more miles.  I can do this!!!  I got to mile 10 and had to make a pit stop because I was so sick.  After the pit stop I continued running until mile 12 where yet again I was sick!!! I mean SICK!!!  I walked a little here and there in mile 12 then I hit mile 13 and had to make a stop.  That's how sick I was I had 2/10 of mile left in the race, I could see the finish line but I had to stop because I wasn't feeling well.  After my little pit stop I took off for the finish line.
I crossed the finish line and didn't collapse.  I actually felt really good.  I got my finishers medal (which I didn't get from the last one because I was to tired to stand in line), went and picked up my bag, got a creamy bar, and checked on my race shirt.
I'm not sure what my official time was because it's wrong on the marathon website.  It says I was speedy fast which I know I wasn't.  However my handy Garmin I had on the whole time and timed me and I stopped it at the pit stops.  Without the pit stops my time was 2:26.  That is an 11 minute mile.  I cut off 14 minutes from my last half marathon.  YAY!!!! I did it!!! I beat my PR!!!
Now I'm still exhausted from not having slept the night before the race.  My muscles are sore. I'm pretty sure I did something to my foot and I have a blood blister on the end of my toe.  The crazy thing is with all of the pain I'm planning my next one. Hopefully my foot will heal quickly so I can run soon.  I'll be doing a lot of biking and swimming to keep off my foot for a while.
It was a great race!! Great weather, I was in one of my favorite places in Utah, and I know this sounds weird but both times I've ran a half marathon I know my grandpa Stansfield is there running with me.  I love running the long races for that reason it's an amazing experience!!!

Preschool Graduation

Bentley has totally LOVED preschool this year.  His teacher Miss Mari and her aid Mrs. Steward were absolutely fabulous!!!  I couldn't have asked for a better teacher.  Every day he wanted to go to school instead of the babysitters. 
I had one of the reading techs at the school take my class for a half hour so I could go to the preschool graduation.  It was adorable.  The sang songs, did chants, and danced. Bentley's part in the program was "Welcome to Preschool Graduation".  Bentley has missed his friends from school.  I'm pretty sure that he and his best friend Drew will be in the same kindergarten class.  They're both signed up for the Dual Immersion Kindergarten.  This is a program where half the day is taught in English and half is taught in Spanish.  Bentley can't wait for kindergarten and loves seeing his kindergarten teacher when we go to the school to work.
Here's some pictures of the cute little program.  They even made shirts for it.  Each shirt has every kid in the classes hand print on it and labeled with their name.

Drew and Bentley