Stony Brook State Park

Stony Brook is in Dansville, NY.  It's south of the finger lakes and not a far drive from Rochester.  On our way we passed by the college my parents attended, Geneseo State.  The kids really liked Stony Brook.  The played in the freezing cold water and got soaking wet. 

New York is so green and lush.  It's beautiful in the summer.  The trees are incredible and endless and so tall and wide.  We tried to visit as many places as we could while we were there.

Samantha turned 4

Samantha Jean is 4.  She requested a pink cake which wasn't a surprise , since she loves everything girly.  Samantha loves My Little Pony and playing in the dirt.  She even likes yucky slimy worms and slugs.  I have to say, she is a nail bitter and a toe nail bitter.  Underwear and shocks are a big dislike in Sam's book.  Every morning we have a battle about how she needs to wear socks with her snow boots and how no one can go to school without underwear.  She doesn't like her hair done and wants to sleep with every stuffed animal she owns on her bed with her at night.  Samantha loves anything that has to do with art.  She could paint and color all day.  As for food goes, she eats like a bird or in other words, she's a snacker.   Some of her favorite foods are fruit snacks, French fries, any kind of fruit and baked goods.

Mother's Day

I love these kids.  They may give me some grief but I love them so much! 



I ran a half marathon

My friend Emily and I were nursery buddies at church for the entire year we were in Rochester.  One Sunday, she came in and asked if I wanted to train for a half marathon with her.  Believe it or not but I felt a twinge of excitement when she asked.  I needed a goal.  I needed something to work towards to get me though the last year of Lee's training and to get me through the cold and dark WINTER.  The training program eases you into it and by the end you are up to 10 miles.  When I ran my first 3 miles, it felt so rewarding.  It was huge accomplishment.  My legs were like jello and I was pretty tired afterward.  Emily and I trained during the winter so a lot of our runs were in the cold damp weather and often times there was snow on the ground.  One Saturday we were scheduled to run 6 miles together.  The weather was bitter cold that day because of the wind chill and I was hoping Emily would opt out of running outside and go to the Y.  (Let me just explain, Emily loves the cold weather and thinks it's the best time to run. I also need to add that she's a fast runner) Luckily for me, we ended up at the Y.  At the end of March Emily and I ran a super fast 6 miler done by the hospital and I tell you what, my stomach was sick for an entire day after that.  Another big marker was mile 9.  Wow that was tough!  It actually was a sunny day and much hotter than we were used to.  I struggled but made it.  Mile 10, I ran with Jenna and that wasn't bad.  I felt ready.  What's 3 more miles, right?!
The race was in Buffalo, so we woke up early and drove two hours.  When we got there, it was drizzling and cold.  We had matching hats and shirts.  Emily found our shirts.  They had running shoes shaped as a heart on them.  We both started out strong.  Emily was awesome.  She stuck with me the entire race.  The last three miles, I thought I was going to die.  I had to go to the bathroom in more than one way and my stomach was hurting and that's putting it lightly.  I honestly still have nightmarish thoughts about those last three miles.  I kept saying to myself that I would never do this again.  We made it!  We crossed the finishing line together and Emily grabbed my hand and raised our arms up.  It was an awesome feeling.  I accomplished my goal.  It was something I wanted to do after what happened with JD's birth.  I feel pretty awesome, now that I can say I ran a half marathon. 



Niagara Falls

 
When Lee has a day off, I sometimes get crazy ideas to go somewhere, anywhere.  Sometimes these ideas that I have aren't thought out and that was the case for Niagara Falls.  As you can see from the pictures everyone looks pretty grumpy.  Samantha probably screamed the most and tried to run away a few times.  JD was on a stroller strike and wanted to explore and tried to get too close to the edge.  There were a million people there and it was cold and wet.  So my idea to have a fun time at Niagara Falls was a fail but at least we can say we went.

We bought a house

Lee, Samantha and I flew out to Arizona to look for a place to live.  We left Kass, Tom and JD with a cute couple from our ward.  Sam got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Heck.  Finding a house in Prescott wasn't easy.  The housing prices were crazy expensive and it's hard to find a house with four bedrooms and a flat yard.  I'm a little embarrassed to say that I knew every house that was for sale.  We kind of stumbled on the one we ended up buying.  It wasn't even listed in Prescott because the Realtor was based down in Scottsdale but I just so happened to see it online and told my Realtor about it.  It took some fenagling to finally be able to see, but we loved it.  We made an offer the night before we flew out.   



Easter 2014

The girls were the only ones excited to dye Easter eggs this year.  Tommy was probably outside playing and Lee and JD were just chilling. 

We did have a super fun egg hunt in our huge backyard even though the weather was a little chilly.