THE STAPLETON FAMILY: October 2008

Halloween Party

We had our second annual Halloween Party with our college buddies and it was a frosting-licking good time. Disclaimer: I don't have the patience to take good candid picutures.

It was great to see Matt and Annie, and Chris and Tayna.

Russ, April and Lauren

P.J. and Kellie, who we haven't seen for five or six years

Laura

Tanya with her 20 pound 4 month old!

The boys thought the party was great because they ate all the little kids left-over treats and whatever else they could beg from people.

The boys were thrilled when I gave up and let them eat straight from the box. I feed them a huge breakfast, the other day they each had milk, a full banana, a pancake, and a scrambled egg with cheese. That's more than I usually eat for breakfast, and my stomach is lots bigger. They eat that much every morning and without fail they will then beg food from Dan and I as we try to eat our breakfast.

They love to read books.

The other morning Brad didn't want to get out of his crib when I went to get them, so I just put Seth in with him.

They love their mobiles. Their Uncle Scott made one for each of them and recently they've insisted on touching them before they get to bed and it's the first thing they point out to me in the morning.

Gardner Village

Obviously, there is a lot more to look at then Mommy.

I met up with my friends Marsha and Angie and their kids at Gardner Village this week. It's a historic mill/village that's been converted into a shopping area and during Halloween they decorate with witches and pumpkins, very cute.

Here's Seth cruising around in his fuzzy hat.

Basement Update

Dan looks goofy in this picture, but it shows off how he was completely covered in dry wall dust after cleaning up the basement in preparation for painting.

All of the floorboards and window and closet moldings are in and the priming is about half done.

It's amazing how complete the room looks once the primer is on. Soon my job of rolling on color begins. Hooray or Oh Crap! I haven't quite decided, but I'm really getting excited about the basement. Christmas is our goal is be finished and we should make that. As always, a HUGE thank you to Dan's dad, Tim, for all his help.

Preview of Halloween

I went to Target to have the boys pictures taken in their awesome Halloween costumes so we went to show our friends the Jensens. We also went to visit Dan at work to show him how cute the boys are as Dumbo the Elephant. He was on the verge of complete embarrassment and groans when he sees this picture, but I know he secretly loves these costumes.

Hogle Zoo

My friend Holly and I went to the Hogle Zoo today. There is no comparison to Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, but we still had a good time.

Triplets?!?!

It's a toss up as to whether the kids had more fun climbing on the fences and looking at people or looking at the animals.

Thanksgiving Point Farm

I took the boys to the farm on Wednesday and they loved it! There was a whole lots of finger pointing, grunting, and smiling.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Teri, so here are seven random/weird facts about me:

1. I've never been toilet papering and have always wanted to go. I know, how did I make it through high school.

2. I've seen every episode of The Office at least three times. You may all know that it's one of my favorite shows, but the extent of my rerun watching may be an eye opener.

3. One of my favorite foods is steak and it is oh so tasty in Omaha.

4. I don't like to shop at Deseret Book. I almost feel sacrilegious saying that, but I always feel ripped off and like it's a guilt trip to shop there. I don't think I need that many books and pictures to be a good person.

5. I took a lot of swimming lessons as a kid, clear up to pre-competitive, but I never could do the butterfly stroke. Watching Michael Phelps do the butterfly during the Olympics was my favorite part.

6. I like to brain storm, but not with Dan as he has not accepted the fact that a good session includes entertaining all ideas initially, no matter how silly.

7. I can tread water for a long time.

Utensils

The boys are practicing with using a spoon, but only with one parent, any guesses who would tolerate such a mess?

Marathon Photos

If you're interested in seeing pictures from the marathon they're posted at: MarathonFoto.

Race # 4816. Unfortunately a lot of them make it look like I was speed walking, but just so you know that means that I have a more efficient stride for distance running (or at least how I'm justifying it).

I won!!

I won a bike in a local magazine contest!! You had to send in a receipt from a local buisness (Village Pizza lunch buffet in Eagle Mountain is quite tasty) and your name and phone number and you were entered to win. Naturally, Dan rolled his eyes at me but entertained my request and faxed it in and I won!! I was featured for my win in this months issue so I am also mildly famous j/k. I got the bike last week and a friend from work offered me her bike trailer as her kids are too big, so the boys and I have put running on the back burner and are cruising around the neighborhood.

Ode to my tree

This post is a tribute to my tree, which I insisted on moving from in front of the bedroom windows because I thought it was too close to the house to our sad flower box that weeds wouldn't even grow in this past Spring. My husband and neighbors all told me they didn't think it would live, but I kept hope alive and the tree responded. :) Yes, it is crooked, but so are most trees in Saratoga as the wind always seems to be blowing, and always blowing towards the South.

St. George Marathon

So I did it, I finished the St. George Marathon yesterday with a time of 3:48.53! My goal was 3:50, so I'm happy. In answer to the question "How was it?" Very Wet.

This is soon after my finish when I met up with the family. My lips are blue because it was very cold and my sweatpants hadn't arrived from the starting line yet and I downed a huge ice cream sandwich right after the run compliments of Blue Bunny. More pictures will be coming from MarathonPhoto in a week or two, I'll post the link. Click here for my results. My cousin Tracy also ran the race so I was fortunate enough to have a friend to ride the bus with and hang out for the prerace party of wearing a converted garbage sack/poncho- it rained for the hour we waited at the start, the nearly four hours it took to run it, and the entire rest of the day. :) It's all good, I'm glad I did it. A thank you to my daily running companions of Brad and Seth whose stroller weight made the hills a piece of cake, my neighbors Niki and Deena who got me through the long training runs, and Dan who came with me to St. George and stayed in the ghetto motel (I'm not sure how long it will be before he forgives me for the cockroach we say on the motel wall). Also to Dan's aunt Nancy and uncle Jonathan who invited us over for dinner the night before and let me use their shower afterwards.

Stapleton Look-alike Meter

I got this idea from my friends Tami and Teri, but I'll be honest, I don't think it works very well. I think my boys are miniatures of their daddy, but I'll take any credit I can get!