*New* Kitchen Table!

Our little family has needed a new kitchen table for awhile. The one we've had since we've been married has served us well but not only were we outgrowing it by ourselves, but it was impossible to have people over for dinner.
Above is our old table.
So I found this one on Craigslist that had a leaf in the middle and came with four chairs.

I think it turned out great!

Chris came up with the color scheme to match our kitchen.

It took awhile to finish. The one reason it took a LONG time to finish was not my lack of enthusiasm or willingness to do it. I got the table completely sanded and ready to paint. Then I read on the paint and stain that I shouldn't do it when it is more than 90 degrees outside. And it should stay below 90 for 4-6 hours for it to dry properly. Well, this was in July in Southern Utah. The only time it is below 90 degrees is for a short period of time right before dawn! So we finally ended up converting our kitchen to a shop for less than a week (it had taken me 3 weeks to get two coats of stain on it) and it was done! We had to keep kids and dogs away from it though so our kitchen looked like this:

I'm going to do the chairs this fall when I can take it back outside. We'll paint the backs and legs black and stain the seats. I'm sure I'll post those pictures too. It's going to look awesome! and for MUCH cheaper than a new table!
For now it looks like this and it has already been really nice to have the extra space. It fits our little dining area perfect too. Not bad for $110 total :)

Half Marathon!

I did it! I ran 13.1 miles last Saturday. My running partner and I did the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon. It was a beautiful canyon and a fun run. There were almost 1200 participants. It loses almost 1700 feet in elevation during the race which means my legs are still feeling it today. But definitely a fun race!

Me and my running partner, Chrissy
I'm so glad she did it with me!! And yes we match, they were on sale. The family.
Me and Sydney. I think she missed me for the 2 hours I was gone. :)
Max about to get into any trouble he can find.

A couple of the miles were tougher than the others, but I was really surprised how good I felt even at mile 12. I have gotten pretty sick during and after my longer training runs and it worried me for the half. But it turns out when you hydrate yourself properly and eat right, your body does fine when you've trained right too. Who knew water could be so important when you're training in 100 degree heat?? Obviously, not me. :)

Thankfully, Bryce Canyon was much cooler than that and I was nourished and hydrated right. We even used everything we had left and sprinted in to the end. We heard someone in the crowd say "They're going to die at the end" and we wondered that too. Turns out all the adrenaline kept us going. I'm so glad we did it. It was so much more fun than just another Saturday long run and very motivating. Marathon here we come!

To All Private Blogs

To all my friends who have a private blog:

I completely understand. However, I NEVER check your blogs. I'm so sorry. I always forget and I never know if you have posted anything new. So, I have an idea. Maybe you could consider making a new blog that is not private, giving me (and anyone else who wants to read your blog) the address, and then making a short "I posted on my other blog" post whenever you post something on your private blog. Then I will put this new blog in my list of blogs, and when you update it with your short post, it will let me know to check your private blog. See how that works?

Hope that's not too confusing!

Max is TWO

There are quite a few new posts today so keep scrolling down!
We're beginning to really like birthdays around here. Presents and an excuse to make cake are always great. Max turned two last week and we invited people over for dessert. Max got a train table with train tracks inside and a train rug from his parents. (Who also still need to buy him a tricycle for his birthday but he doesn't know the difference so they are procrastinating doing it.)

Normally I would not boast that I got my son's birthday presents at a yard sale, but here I can't resist. I was out looking for sandals for Max when I saw this train table. It was marked $30. I looked inside and the train rug was folded up and included along with the tracks and a few train pieces. It was very much an impulse buy. I brought it home and instantly regretted doing it because I always, ALWAYS regret impulse purchases. Chris kept telling me it was fine and reminding me how we were just looking at these train tables a month ago. I finally felt better when I looked these exact items up online. Brand new the train table and train set together is $160. The rug itself is $50 alone. That is a savings of $180. I suddenly felt much better about my purchase.
And Max LOVES it. Chris is going to build it a stand that is Max's height but Max doesn't seem to care right now. He likes to get in the box when the lid is off and put the bridges along the outside edge. It's a hit and it's nice to know $30 was well spent. (I hate buying toys they never touch!)

We worked on blowing out the candles but Max still needed a little help.
I made frosting filled cupcakes (you fill the inside of the cupcakes with frosting using a #12 cake tip - SO EASY and delicious!) and a strawberry shortcake because the strawberries looked delicious. The cupcakes have strawberry icing too. So we had pink frosting for our son's 2nd birthday. He didn't care and next year maybe I'll do something more appropriate for a 3 year old boy. Here are some pictures of Max that were taken in the last month.
He still LOVES LOVES LOVES water, no matter the temperature of the water or the temperature outside.

He also loves Ring Around the Rosy. Chris's youngest sister Aleksa was nice enough to play it with him and his cousin for quite awhile.

He also loves his dad. Above, he is flying a kite with Chris. Chris was sitting on the ground and Max went over and just plopped in his lap. And below Max was sick and got up too early one morning so I put him in bed with Chris while I took care of Sydney. This is how I found them later (before I woke Chris up with my flash). Chris can't wait to take Max fishing and some days neither can I!

But most days Max has turned into a very sweet boy who *usually* listens and is so sweet to his baby sister it could make you cry.

Max's Quirks

Max does the funniest things. Chris and I just shake our heads and laugh. He loves to line things up and arrange them.

He also has an obsession with shoes and puts on whatever pair is lying around.

And he has a slight obsession with my boots and goes for them first when he is in my closet. Maybe because they are almost as tall as him??

Sydney's Quirks

Sydney has some funny things she does. She has to be like Max in anyway she can. She's constantly trying to move to get to him and is starting to get up on her hands and knees trying to follow him. We'll see how long it is before she crawls. And fortunately Max is very tolerant of her. In the picture below he is putting letters on her head, but only because that is what Chris does to him. So really he's just trying to play with her.

Here she is trying to steal Max's sippy cup. Once again wanting to be like him. We can give her an empty one and she'll play for 15 minutes just because she sees Max doing the same thing. It's so cute. And he's good about just taking her hand and moving it away from his cup. In fact, when she first wiggled her way over to him, and before I could grab the camera, he put out his left hand and just patted her on the arm. So cute!

She also loves her toes and has since she first discovered them months ago. Max never did this and I think it's one of the cutest positions a baby can be in.

She also hates the sun and cannot stand to have it on her face. She's getting used to being outside though as Max and I both love it and she doesn't have much choice.

Making Cookies

These pictures are old. They were taken back on January 16th. I'm really behind in my blogging...
Max likes to help me make cupcakes and cookies. He helps me dump the ingredients and then takes samples to make sure they are turning out right.

I think these were okay. :)