Introductions:

Holy cow! It has been WAY too long since I updated. And it's not because I thought the last post/picture of me was too good to be passed up with a new post. Actually, I apologize for leaving that at the forefront for so long. And since it's been forever, I thought I'd re-introduce myself.

This is me:
(I'm the one on the left)

My name is Carolyn, I'm a Cancer and a carbetarian (yes that's a real thing -- to me, anyway), I've been married to Jeff for almost 9 years, we have three boys: Griffin, Kai, and Treyson.

We had closed on our house back in February and were finally able to move in mid-June. It's been so nice for us to have our own space, our own beds, a toy room - YAY!, and now that Griffin has started school it's nice to be only 100 yards away from the campus. Jill, my sister, wants me to post pictures of the house, but it's not quite ready for a close-up. Sorry Jill. I will tell you this though.... yesterday I moved a computer desk, two bookshelves, and two couches all by myself. When needed and when possible, the assistance of a trusty old rolling office chair was used as my dolly. I was quite proud of myself.

Soon after we moved in (like less than a week), Jeff and I left for our trip to Hawaii. We were gone a week: Wednesday to Wednesday. The Friday after we got back (home for a day and a half) we left for Prescott for the 4th of July weekend with Jeff's family. THEN on the 24th of July, we checked into Aspen Grove Family Camp in Utah. The camp lasted one week but I stayed an extra week with the kids because Jeff's little brother, Todd, got married the following weekend. So now that we're home from all that traveling, I'm just barely getting back into the groove of organizing....... and blogging. Sorry. Organizational apology to Jeff, blogging apology to any readers I still have.

An argument to smile about.

While I was still disappointed that the boys were fighting and not using nice words towards each other.... I didn't quite mind the object of discussion.

Getting ready for church this morning:

Kai: "Mom you look...... not beautiful."

Griffin: "Yes she does!"

Kai: "Mom, you look ....... not beautiful. You look awesome!"

Griffin: "No, she looks beautiful."

Kai: "Awesome!"

Griffin: "Beautiful!"

Kai: "Awesome!"

Griffin: "Beautiful!"

Keep it comin' boys. Keep it comin'.

(taken by one of the two BEST 'arguers' on the planet)

Griffin's Lesson

Monday night for Family Home Evening, Griffin informed me he was in charge of the lesson.

He worked for about half an hour drawing out his assignments/maps. It was too cute!
Then each person was put in a team:

On the back of their team assignment was a "map".
The map told each member where to find their key.

Jeff and Allan had to:

Fight the Scorpion

Other quests included:

Africa for Grammy and Grandpa (who came back from their expedition in full African attire)

Mine and Shannon's quest was not so spectacular. We cleaned the kitchen.

In each place, we were to find "keys" to bring back to Griffin.

I should mention..... the "keys" were spoons.

Shannon found her key here:

...the tiny crack between mop and fridge.
Where there is also a blue M&M we probably should have picked up.

Thank goodness Griff was there, happy to help with the hard ones.

After all the keys were returned, our trek took us downstairs where we piled all the big pillows high on the couch.
For some reason, Shannon was chosen (by Griffin) to leave the room while our treasures were hid.


Yes, the hiding spot was in the center of the room...... for ALL the spoons.
Griffin then asked us all to bury the keys under the pillows.


Shannon was then called back to the group to find the keys. It didn't take her long!
I think she cheated. :)
Griffin was SO happy and thrilled that his activity turned out exactly as planned.
Good job Griff!!

Pat's Run 2010

I signed up with my Lightning Bolt team to run the 4.2 mile race to benifit the Pat Tillman Foundation.

Our coach had SOMEHOW kept track of all the races he's run and Pat's ended up being his 1000th.

Chrissie and I went down REALLY early to decorate the tent.

We had brought cream puffs for everyone on our team and all the friends of Coach Chris.

Teams weren't supposed to be set up where we were so random people kept coming up to our tent asking what we were about and taking our treats!!

One guy was a total mooch and thought all the sharpies we had sitting out were freebies. He took one!! All of us were just so stunned and didn't know what to say. The guy (who wasn't all there in the head) ended up walking away with one of those really cool clicky sharpies.

Because I hadn't really kept up with my distance training after Ragnar, I wasn't sure how I'd do.

It was a fun race. I'd never run that distance timed before, so I didn't really know what goal to go for.

Here were my results:

Carolyn Gardner #4225
Mesa, AZAge: 29 Gender: F
Distance
4.2M
Clock Time
27:27
Chip Time
27:27
Overall Place
200 / 20640
Gender Place
8 / 10344
Division Place
3 / 3098
Pace
6:33

Surprised? So was I.

The rest of our team did really well also. The Lightning Bolts took 6th place out of 303 teams.

GO BOLTS!!

(We've never acually yell that, just to be clear.)

Easter 2010

Easter morning. Buckets filled with Ironman characters and bubble guns.

On Saturday before Easter, Michaels had a free craft activity. Kids could go decorate their own Easter bucket. Griffin and Kai loved it. I didn't take Treyson because...... that would just be crazy.

Here's Griff's (with an Ironman bunny, of course):

Kai's:

Treyson's:

Our egg hunt was the next night for Family Hour.

Also the DeWitt Egg Bash has yet to happen this year so there will be more Easter pictures to come. We like to spread out holidays as long as possible.

Krafty Kai

Kai was given a Play-Doh kit for his birthday.

It seemed to entertain him for hours.

I was happy he enjoyed playing with it so much.

I was NOT so happy when I found out the only piece he was playing with was the Play-Doh press that "made poop".

Gross.

Cute Trey

Treyson has been such a fun addition to our family. I just wanted to document some recent pictures of him and brag a little bit.

A few nights ago, we were saying prayers before bed. Both Griffin and Kai had said theirs already. Jeff and I sat by Treyson and told him it was his turn.

As he got in ready position, Jeff and I both closed our eyes (each assuming the other would help Trey say his prayer).

All of a sudden we hear, "Heh Fah. Day. Men!" Jeff and I couldn't believe it! We were so proud of him!! Treyson's first prayer said all by himself at 23 months old.

Awesome.

The cutest little Chocolate Hitler I'VE ever seen.