And the Happy Couple...

I can not even contain my excitement when I think about my family all getting together. Next time will be January 2nd in St. George for Joel and Kristan's wedding. I can't believe my little bro is getting married! So happy for them!

Go to www.DionSenecaPhotography.blogspot.com to see more of the amazing pictures that Dion took. Dion took our family pics when Joel got home from his mission and she is way talented! We just love her!

My Dad

November 9th...
November 9th...

Why does this date stick out in my mind? I feel like I am forgetting someone's birthday, but whose?

Then it hits me all of a sudden. November 9th. 6 years ago today, my dad passed away. 6 years? Seriously? It's really been that long since I have seen my dad's smile, gotten a phone call from him for no reason, heard his laugh, or had him put his arm around me and say, "Way to go, Beck!" Those are some of things I miss the most.

And all the most important things in my life that my dad's missed...two births, the growing up of my children, home buying, etc.

My dad was such an amazing person. Soft spoken, great sense of humor, hard working, always serving, and he loved his family. He was such a proud grandpa and just know he would have loved spending time with my kids.

For a long time I was angry and asked why. A few weeks ago I told my mom I think he left because he didn't want to see her sick.

I don't get sad very often anymore. I know that one day I will get to see him again and we will both have lots of stories to share with each other.

I Love you, dad!

October at the Flinders' Home

This month was filled with all sorts of changes at our house and they were all very positive!

Tim: played less golf since the weather was a little colder

Becky: got to start working from home and loves it.

Brooklyn: Is doing very well reading.

Tallan: Potty trained himself over night.

Keslie: Went to nursery for the first time and will even walk a few steps every once in awhile.

We had a whole month of Halloween parties and festitivies!

*We went to see the witches at Gardner's Village

*Pumpkin patch and carving pumpkins with the Custers

*Party at the Lindley's - no kids allowed!

*Trick or Treating at Grandpa's Office

*Young Women's Halloween Party

*Brooklyn's school Halloween parade and class party

*Party at the Hansen's (sorry no pictures, but the kids wore their costumes and we dressed up as Aggie's fans. )

- drove down to Hurricane to spend Halloween weekend with mom, GG, Val, and her fam -

*Halloween carnival and parade at Coral Canyon Elementary

*Tri-ward trunk-or-treat with Val's ward

*Trick or Treating in mom's neighborhood

We definitely got a lot of use out of the costumes and enough candy to last until next Halloween! Seriously!

Hot Tamales!

Team Hot Tamales

what: 12 fun girls running a total of 171 miles through the Las Vegas desert in 90 degree heat

when: started Friday, October 9th at 10 am
crossed the finish line Saturday, October 10th at 12:49 pm

why: we are completely crazy!

BEFORE:

VAN 1

VAN 2

AMANDA STARTING US OUT
EXCHANGE
SOME HOT WATER GIRLS

MY WAY CUTE VAN-MATES

AND I'M DONE!!!
I handed over the slap bracelet to Tiffany for the last time after running 19.5 miles at an average of about 8:50/mile. (give me a break! There were lots of hills!)
I honestly did not think I was going to make it sometimes. I wanted to give up more than once. I pushed myself really hard and was proud of myself for finishing and never letting myself walk!

AFTER

Rankings: finished in 26 hours 49 minutes and 15 seconds
4th out of 13 all female teams
87th out of 182 overall

What's next: a shower, some food, and sleep, for the first time in almost 48 hours. Just don't laugh when you see us trying to walk, sit, stand, or go up/down stairs.

A big thank you to my awesome hot tamales team. I don't know if I'm more sore from the run or from laughing so hard. Seriously awesome girls! Everyone trained so hard and everyone did their best. We had such an awesome team who helped each other out with whatever they needed...water, cheering, or even finished that last part of their leg when they couldn't do it for one reason or another. Good times in Vegas! Hopefully after we've recovered I can convince them to do another race with me!

Good Times in So Cal

I don't think we could have possibly asked for a better family vacation. I will spare you most of the details, but prepare yourself for a super long post with a ton of pictures! I'm not good at editing when there is so much to share.

Last week we packed up (basically the whole house when traveling with 3 kids) and headed down to So Cal. We stopped in Hurricane Friday night so I could get in a good run in the morning and so we could have lunch with all my fam there to celebrate GG and Ali's bdays.

Sunday was church with Tim and my aunt's, who are both in the same ward in San Diego, and then dinner and swimming at my Aunt Gail's with my cousin's Heather and Elisa and their cute families and my Grandma and Grandpa Ehorn, otherwise known as the "gum king".


Monday I got up for another good run in the humidity, but I survived. ( I have to keep my training up!) We headed up to OC for the Childeren's Discovery Museum in Santa Ana. Very cute! Way fun for us and the kids!







We got checked into our condo in Anaheim and headed to Newport Beach to have dinner with Jeff and Paige. Seriously, one of the highlights of the whole trip for me. I was Paige's nanny for a very long time and saw her for the first time in almost 5 years last summer. We have kept in touch throughout this past year and it was so good to see her again. She has just grown up so much and she and my kids got along great. They just loved each other.

Jeff and Paige were so great to Brooklyn. They got her a cake and a tiara and sang happy birthday while we were there with them. They are some of the nicest people I know and I hope we continue to see them more often.


Tuesday was the beach. It was perfect! Not crowded at all and although the water was cold, the outside temp couldn't have been better. The kids loved it of course but were totally shocked when we got back to the hotel to clean up to find out how many places sand can go!

(A quick little plug for Rubys. This is the original Rubys in So Cal right on the pier. How awesome is that?! You have to go get their cinnamon roll french toast! It's to die for! Just don't plan on eating anything the rest of the day. That meal has way more than your daily allowance of calories!)

We got all cleaned up and took the kids up to Mission Viejo so my good friend, Andrea, could watch the kids while Tim and I went out for a few hours on our own to celebrate our anniversary. 8 years! I still can't believe all that we have been through in the past 8 years. I couldn't get through a day without Tim. He is perfect for me. I love you, babe!

Brooklyn was born the day after our 2nd anniversary, so naturally, we celebrated Brooklyn's 6th birthday at Disneyland!

Sorry about Tallan's red eyes, Keslie's crazy face, and half of my head cut off, but this was the craziest thing. It was a 4D movie about Bug's Life. I HATE bugs, spiders, etc, so I honestly still get the chills thinking about this. Way scary! Don't ever go see it if you hate bugs too! Brooklyn and I almost ran out of there!

Brooklyn got in free since it was her bday and they gave her a little button to wear so everywhere we went, people were telling her happy birthday and calling her a princess, making sure her day was going well, etc. It was way too cute at the end of the day when she finally said, "mom! why is everyone telling me happy birthday all day! I'm tired of it because then I have to say thank you so many times!" We were all a little tired at the end of the day, but got some good rest and something made us do it all over again.

Keslie couldn't get enough of the carousel. We had to go on it over and over again. Her face was just too cute the whole time. She couldn't contain her excitement.

Brooklyn was on cloud 9 after talking with Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty told Brooklyn that she looked just like her when she was a little girl and they could probably be sisters. She told Brooklyn that she was beautiful. Every 6 year old girl's dream, right?!

It was a perfect time to go to Disneyland. We didn't wait more than 10 minutes for any ride. It was hot, but we all survived and everyone had so much fun. It's great that Brooklyn is tall enough to go on just about every ride, so I made sure she tried all of them. She wasn't a fan of Splash Mountain or Pirates, and lucky for her the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain were closed. Next year! I do have to say though, that men in their 30s and 40s should stop wearing Mickey Mouse t-shirts. Something about that just didn't sit right. Tim and I couldn't get over some of the things people wear these days! Guess we have been in sheltered Lehi for a little too long now.

Had to get pics of Keslie's first In N Out experience. She's hooked!





We had such a good time as a family on this trip. We are so lucky to be able to do such fun things together! I am really excited for more family vacations to come as the kids get older!

Promise to Amber

Amber, as soon as you move back next year, the fence dividing our houses is coming down!



But until then, it's going to be SO nice to have!

These are the moments...

I wish would last forever.


Sitting and talking with my mom and sisters watching the dads play with the kids. Flying kites, and running free. Perfect weather, beautiful scenery. Pure joy.


This must be what eternity is like.

Happy Birthday, Tallan!

We celebrated Tallan's 3rd birthday twice this month! The first time was at Grandma and Grandpa Flinders' house with some of our favorite BYU going cousins. We BBQd in the backyard, ate the awesome football cake I made, and played with all of Tallan's new toys. Tallan got a scooter from Tim and I and after watching him we decided he would probably grow up to be on the X Games or something. This kid has NO fear at all! He is totally athletic and can already ride a skateboard too.

can I just mention real quick that Keslie is now more than 16 months old and still refuses to even try and walk! Come on, girl!

Over Labor Day weekend, we went down to Hurricane for my niece, Sarah, to be baptized. It was so fun to be with family and I'm so proud of her for making the decision to be baptized. We spent a day in Zions doing a little hike. My mom was such a trooper! She did awesome! Almost all of our kids are old enough now to play on their own without constant supervision so us adults had as much fun as they did. We got in some golfing, shopping, playing, and tons of eating as usual. Then we celebrated Tallan's bday again! This time we made my almost famous mint brownies. He got so many new toys that the cousins were busy for hours! What a lucky boy!





I can't even put into words the love I feel for Tallan. He is such a ball of fire, but I know he has a tender heart too. My other kids haven't made me cry as much as Tallan has, but they haven't made me laugh like he does either. That kid has the best sense of humor. He is constantly finding trouble as soon as no one is looking, but is always quick to tell me he loves me and give me a huge bear hug. He definitely knows how to get back on my good side and is just so stinking cute! There is just a special place for that little boy in my heart. I can't wait to see him grow up. I love you, Buddy!

Triathlon - check

Tim and I did our first mini triathlon this morning. 1.5 mile run, 6 mile bike, 200 m swim. Wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.

Before:
a little nervous...not quite knowing what to expect...hoping I don't fall off the bike or drown in the swim..

After:
really tired...muscles starting to cramp...wish I had taken my shirt off for the swim...very proud of finishing...

My official time was 43:55 (Tim didn't want me to take a picture of his, but let's just say he beat me by about 40 seconds. I'm very proud of him!) I placed 6th in my division so I got a cool little ribbon. Kind of like the one you get in elementary school when you participate in the science fair. It was light pink and said 6th Place on it. Kind of embarrassing, but good motivation for me. Next time, I'm going to ride a bike more than once before the race and I'm planning on placing 1st.
We had a ton of fun, and challenge all of our family and friends to do it with us next year!

First day of School! First day of School!

After much anticipation, Brooklyn finally started Kindergarten. We met her cute teacher at back to school night the day before she started and we all love her. She really impressed us because she called Brooklyn by her first and last name without us even telling her and told Brooklyn how excited she was to meet her. Brooklyn felt so comfortable and wasn't the least bit nervous to start. Brooklyn was lucky to have her dad drive her to and from school for the first 2 days (I had to work, and yes, I cried that I couldn't be there), but she will start going on the bus this week.




We are so excited to see Brooklyn learn and grow this year!