Battlefield, UGH!

Okay, I feel I have to explain something. I DO NOT like the Jordan Sparks, "Battlefield" song. When I set up my slide show for Disneyland, the song is automatically on there. I have tried and have no idea how to get rid of the song. I didn't even select it. So I appoligize to anyone who reads my blog that they have to either endure or mute their computers. If anyone has any idea how I can rid my blog of this ridiculous song, please let me know. Again, I am sorry.

Kids in the tree house at the discovery gateway

Nixon

Hillie in her birthday present

Nixon and his cake face

Hillie and her "princess and the frog" cake

Elsa and her cousin, Sophie

My mom, my kids and me after the babtism

My sisters, Ilene and Susie

My best high school friend, Michelle and me at the pool

my family

Nixon

The Trampoline!!!

The Logan Cruise in

Kids on the slip and slide

July has been a great month. We started off the month by going up to Logan for the fourth and all their festivities. We always enjoy the fireworks and the Cruise in. A week after that, my brother Travis who lives in Pittsburgh, brought his family here to babtize their oldest daughter Sophie. It has been a couple of years since we have seen them, so it was great to hang out with them and get to know them again. Since we had the families together we did family pictures and spent time with the kids at the Discovery Gateway.
We decided that since my family was in town, that we would celebrate Hillie and Nixons birthdays. It is always so much fun to see them try and eat their birthday cake at 1 yr old.
My high school friend was in town and so we took our families to the swimming pool. It was really nice to spend time with her again. I love that we can go almost a year without speaking and be able to pick up right where we left off.
Micah has had it with our swamp cooler and we have had a couple of bids for central air. I cant believe how pricey it is, but we know it will be worth it. So we just need to decide on when we want to do it. Apparently the rebates are only good up until the end of the year.
We have really tried to make this summer fun and memorable for the kids. We have taken them swimming alot, got a trampoline, and just the other night we took them to a drive in movie. It was so much fun. It makes me so happy to be able to do these things for them and see how happy they are.
I am still running as much as I can, but I cannot stand running when it is warm, so I have been going out as early as 6 in the morning to beat the heat. I have to admit, I still dont LOVE it, but I have been doing it for so long now and have built up alot of endurance that I dont want to let that go. Plus, its good excersise.

Nixon and Hillie's picture day

I know Hillie and Nixon's birthday is not for another month, but I know July will be pretty hectic so I went ahead and got it done a little early. I doubt they will change a whole lot in a month. It is so wierd to see them at one and three. There are growing so fast...Thats all I can say. So cute too.

brightroom event photography

brightroom event photography
Me running toward the finish line at the Utah Valley Marathon. Great fun, even though it was really unorganized and a bit rainy. I think the highlight of the race was seeing a guy who just ran the marathon and he had bloody nipples. Awesome. I wish I took a pic.

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I can't believe May is almost over! What a great month! Micah graduated from College!!!!! It was so awesome to see him get to walk across that stage and accept his degree. I am so proud of him. It took a long time but it was definatly worth it.
We drove to Disneyland the next day and spend three days there. My brother Sean surpised us on the second day and it was really great to see him spend time with the girls. The last day we were there, there was a bomb scare and they evacuated us all out of tomorrowland. It was a bit unnerving but it appeared as if they had it all under control. The kids had so much fun and every night they still wanted to go swimming. I couldn't believe it. Livy was able to meet the princesses and they were so cute. We were able to take Elsa on all the big rides and she really enjoyed Space Mountain and the Matterhorn. The Hollywood Hotel Terror ride, not so much.
After Disneyland we drove to San Diego and went to the Zoo. I couldn't belive how big it was and how much up hill walking there was. Elsa had darted ahead of me as we were walked and when I yelled out her name a woman turned around and said that was her name too. She and I were both surprised to see that someone else shared that name. Elsa thought that was really neat.
We then went to the beach and relaxed. The sky was a bit overcast but it was still warm. Elsa had fun building a sand castle while the other girls managed to get sand everywhere! My brother Ian and his wife and their little girl joined us for the trip and Ian had a friend who lived in San Diego so he came by at the beach and brought his wet suits and surf boards and Micah gave a go at it. HE did really good considering it was his first time.
It was a great trip, not too long but not too short. We were glad to be home. It really made me appreaciate where I live. I love to visit, but Utah is my home and I am happy about that.

This last month has been quite busy. Elsa has started up soccer again, she is a "black widow". She really enjoys playing, even though she hangs back alot and just runs with the crowd.
Livy has been going to play groups with kids in our ward and has boycotted any house that has a dog. Which is about 1/2 of the group.
We have started the potty training with Hillie and she is doing really good, she won't go #2 yet, but we are working on it. I decided am not going to stress about it like I did with Livy. She can stay in pullups for however long she wants. I really dont care.
Nixon has started crawling, pulling himself up and has cut his upper teeth. He has become quite the little "thumb sucker" and right now, its just too cute that I am not really trying to make him quite.
Micah is getting ready for graduation next week. We are so excited and proud of his accomplishment. I will be sitting with all the kids as close to the front I can get so we can all cheer him on as he takes the walk.
I have started running recently and have been really enjoying it. I didn't think I would like it as much as do. Today, Micah's sister, Brecken and her husband Phil and I did a 5k for the SL running co. It was rainy but alot of fun. I am signed up for the UT valley marathon ( I will be doing a 5k) in June and look forward to training and eventually trying a 10k. I am not sure if I would want to ever do a marathon, but who knows, I didn't think I would ever run for leisure either.
We are gearing the kids up for our family vacation in Disneyland next week. I am so excited to go and take the kids and just have fun. We have been anticipating this trip for a few years now and its finally come. We were hoping to have it be a McNeal family reunion but unfortunatly the whole clan, except my brother Ian and his family wont be able to come. I just hope the weather is good for us.

Mom's Day

Travis made this cool video on YouTube, Happy Mothers day!!