St George trip and other stuff

I was so worn out after our tri that I didn't have the gusto to post pics of what we did when we were in St. George. So here are a few of us exploring Zion's Canyon with Klaron, Amy, and Teagan. We had a good time and wore ourselves out.







The highlight for Mikayla and Teagan was throwing rocks in the river, of course.



Now here are a couple of other recent photos of my little girl. She's not a baby anymore and it amazes me how much she's been developing lately.

We got this helmet to put her on the back of our bikes. Well, that has proved to be more difficult than we planned but she loves to wear her 'hat' around the house anyway.


Big smile, caught on camera (rare these days since she squints her eyes whenever we try to take a picture).

One night she insisted she sleep with her giant Pooh bear. This is how I found her later.


We have been encouraging Mikayla to smell flowers for a few months. She usually ends up kissing them instead. :)





Kayla girl's our little sunshine. We got a great kid.

The Big Day

Since January, Kraig and I have been training for the Sand Hollow St. George Triathlon. Well we finally did it last Saturday. I'm relieved it's over but at the same time it's a little bit of a letdown, kind of like how it feels after throwing a big party or something.

The funnest thing about doing these races is doing it with people you know. Kraig has been trying to recruit family members to join us for a few years, and this time around his two brothers, Klaron and Kent, were competitors also.

The guys started their race at 9:40am with the 1/2 mile swim in the lake. I watched them as they took their places on the edge of the crowd (that way they have to swim farther but avoid fighting the crowd). Thirteen minutes later Kraig was out of the lake and running to transition. He was probably about the tenth one out of the water. He literally can swim twice as fast as me. His bros followed him out of the water 6 minutes later, but by then I had started my swim.

The water was a freezing 60 degrees but we all had wetsuits on so it wasn't too cold at first, except for our feet, hands, and heads. Then I opened up the neck of my suit to let a little water in (for insulation) and talk about a shock to the system! Made me take a few quick breaths, and then my goggles came undone as I was tightening them. Luckily I got them fixed 10 seconds before we took off, and I waited a little longer to let the crowd get ahead of me. Swimming is my weakest area and I was happy to be at the back. So I try swimming front stroke, like I've been practicing for months, but it was SO COLD when I put my face in that it was hard to get my breathing timed right, so I ended up doing backstroke most of the way, and turning around every so often to orient myself. I guess it worked pretty well because even though I felt like I was in that lake forever, I only took 25 minutes, which is what I usually take to do that distance in a pool.

Climbing out of the water I felt a little dizzy and disoriented, but found myself trotting to the transition area to get ready for the bike. At first I couldn't get my skintight wetsuit off, but finally did, put my shirt, helmet, glasses, socks, and shoes on and was off on the 13 mile bike ride. The bike ride was pretty fun! I saw Kraig coming back from the ride on my way out, which was cool since I didn't know if I'd see him much. The bike course was pretty challenging, with a mile long 6% grade hill, which is pretty dang steep. My goal was to just not walk my bike. I kicked it into the lowest gear I had, and just kept peddling, and I made it to the top! After that there was quite a bit of distance still left, then I turned around and headed down the hill I came up, which was pretty exhilarating but scary because if something goes wrong at that kind of speed it's BAD news. The bike ended up taking me 53 minutes in all. Oh, and I dropped my waterb0ttle along the way and had to go back for it.

Then in the transition to the run, I ran out of the wrong gate in the transition zone! So I had to go back and go out the other end, wasting more time. Oh well!

The run wasn't too bad, just 3 miles but it was 85 degrees by that time of the day and I was ready to be out of the sun. The run ended up taking me 30 minutes which is slow for me, but my legs felt like rubber and wouldn't go much faster.

At the end, the Cramer crowd was cheering me on, and I glanced over at them and ended up almost running the wrong way again! They distracted me!

I finished it and felt overheated and exhausted, but so happy I'd finished it and I didn't stop.

Kraig ended up beating his two brothers because of his ultra quick swim time, but they all did a great job! I'm glad I did this race but don't think I'll be doing one again for a while. I'm still recovering.....it took a lot out of me this time!

Below are some pictures of us after the race.

Mikayla got to hang out with Grandma Cramer during our time in St. George, which was fun for both. Thanks to Pat and Amy for watching all 4 kids while we raced!

Lookin' for adventure

Even though we just got back from a couple of road trips, I am craving some adventure! I want to go somewhere new, and try new things, and be spontaneous. I guess that's why I love to travel so much - I love to see the world and sometimes just fly by the seat of my pants. There is so much to learn and explore. Lately being a 'settled' stay-at-home mom has been hard for me, because of these cravings. I love my little Kayla bear so much. Her giggles are so contagious, and at least every day SHE is having an adventure and exploring new territory. But I've always known that staying at home with my kids would be a challenge for me. I've never been a home body. I remember being on a school trip (it was an over-nighter) when I was 11 and some of the kids were crying because they missed home, and I just couldn't understand. Sure, I loved my parents and brothers, but it was so fun to be on a new adventure.

So today I just wanted to book a flight to Hawaii or somewhere. The fact of the matter is, though, we can choose to blow Kraig's bonus on a trip someplace, or we can re-do our basement (without going into debt anyway). I really want to extra space a finished basement would provide! Plus it would be a good selling-point when we can sell this place. So I reminded myself again, to be wise, and to be practical, enough with the spontaneity and frivolous!!! (But I really would like to go to Hawaii again....along with England, and Japan, and New Zealand, or even just the northeast part of the U.S.!) There I go dreaming again!
One day......

Perhaps I was spoiled growing up, since we got to visit so many places. The BEST Christmas my family ever had was when we went to Germany and skiied, and there were no presents. It was awesome!

Where would you go if you could choose anywhere?

18 months

(If you're only interested in pictures, scroll down).
To borrow words from Charles Dickins, "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times...." - that kind of sums up how it is to raise a toddler! We LOVE the silly faces, the jabber, the funny little things she does, the wrestling and teasing and giggling, new words popping out here and there, the new level of comprehension.......then there's the screaming at inanimate objects when they won't cooperate and the food artwork and... you know, all the other adorable things these little munchkins do that build our patience (and are pretty entertaining!)

Actually though, I'm pretty sure we have more laughter in our home than crying, and more fun than fits. Kayla is such a kind, obedient little girl overall! She gives us things when we ask for them, and she listens and obeys pretty well. She is so good about 'helping' me around the house already too! But I'm not going to pretend that she is a perfectly-behaved little angel (though her dad would beg to differ) Everything she does is cute to him, whereas sometimes I've been with her all day and am out of patience. And THAT is why I appreciate having a great dad for a husband, so I don't go crazy and I can turn things over to him while I do other things besides read stories and play horsie and clean up messes.

He really does enjoy her thoroughly. I do too, but I love going out to tutor my 'kids' (I have 6 of them now) or going to Young Women activities and coming home to a happy little girl who got to hang out with dad. I miss her when I'm gone only a few hours, and it'sa refreshing break! I love being a mom, but it's important for me to just be a person sometimes too.

Anyway, here's a little 18 month update:

1. Miko is her new best friend. She commands her to 'sit' and 'stay' and she tries to sneakily feed snacks to her, which Miko doesn't seem to mind a bit.

2. She's 21 lbs and 31 inches tall.

3. She waits patiently outside the bathroom for me with her back up against the door, 'talking' to me until I get out, then she usually says, "HI!" like it's been forever since she's seen me.

4. She didn't go for the cottage cheese (see last blog post) - made a "yucky" face - but thanks to those of you who suggested it. I'll keep trying.

5. She tries to walk towards the park whenever she gets a chance to ...LOVES the slides.

6. She either loves it or hates it when I do her hair.

7. She loves to play with and feed her baby doll. She'll pull off her hat, then say, "uh-oh".

8. We play outside if the sun is shining, and she's a pretty good little dribbler. She's gonna be a little soccer player. Maybe. If she wants to play.

9. She is very neat (yay!) She likes to put things where they belong - like she puts her pajamas in her drawer....and if a sleeve or something is hanging out, she says, "uh-oh" and fixes it. This is a good sign!

10. Some kids get attached to blankets or teddy bears. Well mine is attached to her coats and shoes. Seriously! She cuddles her coats and gets mad when we take her shoes off.

Well that's enough babbling. Enjoy the pictures.



This is a hair-do that I was pretty excited
about because she actually held still!



Chillin' with her two little buddies

This is her squinty-eye face, which she now makes whenever she sees the camera.

Good morning!

At a little fun center with some friends.
Valentine's Day
Attacking her Pooh Bear

10 things

Does anyone else out there have (or have had) a picky eater on their hands? I guess it's carma, 'cause I used to be a picky eater until I was about 5, then one day something must've flipped in my brain and I just decided to start trying things and not be afraid of new tastes and textures. Now I'll try anything!

I thought I got lucky, because Mikayla ate anything and everything we gave her as a baby. She took breast milk, formula, any kind of baby food (even the disgusting smelling brocolli - uck!) It didn't matter to her. Then she hit about 8 months and we started introducing thicker, lumpier foods and her gag reflex kicked in - she couldn't swallow anything that wasn't smooth and she'd throw up and get pretty uptight. So....when she should've been able to eat little pieces of meat or peas or things like that, she was still eating baby food.

Now she is 18 months and still is very wary of anything new, especially if it has texture or a strong taste. She won't even eat cake or brownies! She will eat a total of 10 things! TEN!
1. Toast
2. Bananas
3. Apples
4. Cheese
5. Crackers
6. Yogurt
7. Milk
8. Applesauce
9. Chips (and occasionally refried beans)
10.Guacamole

She will still eat some baby food, and we can get her to eat casseroles or soups or other dinner foods, as long as we grind them up.

Our challenge is getting protein and vegetables into her. We play games, and we make a huge deal if she tries new things, like doing over-the-top cheering and clapping, which seems to be a huge motivator for her. But sometimes it just ain't enough and as I encourage her and hold the food out to her she looks at me like, "Yeah right, mom!"

I just don't know what to do to expand her diet. Does anyone have any tricks or suggestions????? Also, I don't want to encourage her pickiness by feeding her baby food veggies, but what's worse - eating baby food veggies or not eating veggies at all?

Loooove songs

Today being a lovey-type day, I thought it would be fun to put a few of my favorite mushy songs about love on here.

-Just a little blurb about each one:

1. Je t'aime
This is our special song. One night Kraig drove me to this pretty overlook, and he played this song for me. I spoke enough French to understand the words without it losing any beauty in translation, and it pretty much melted me. We also did a walz in front of everyone to this at our reception. Aaaahhh....I love it.

2. The Way I Am (Ingrid Michaelson)
Just a fun, catchy, laid-back song. It reminds me of how I feel about my sweetie.

3. Better Together (Jack Johnson)
Again, catchy and laid-back. I love the live version but couldn't find the one that sounds the best.

4.You Were Meant for Me (Jewel)
This song was 'meant' for me and Kraig. Our paths were absolutely meant to cross at the perfect time, and we were prepared along the way to meet each other through specific experiences. When we met things just clicked a little too easily and naturally, and we were amazed at the common backgrounds we had, even though we grew up thousands of miles apart. I feel very lucky to have this guy who treats me so sweetly (though he's a cheeky bandit lots of the time, it makes things pretty fun.)

5.Eternal Flame (Bangles)
Okay, I know, pretty cheesey, but a classic oldie. It brings back memories for me cuz it was one of those well known songs among me and my friends when I was a teenager and a fave karaoke song.

Mikayla's Favorite Pastimes

These days we think of our girl as 'Sweet and Sassy' (or 'Sweet'n' Sour') because she is usually so happy and loving, but if she doesn't feel good or doesn't get her way.....watch out. That's normal, right? A healthy part of becoming more independent. She has a pretty strong will, and I spend a lot of the day playing games to 'trick' or distract her into doing things she doesn't want to, like eating good food or getting in her car seat or come inside to warm up. But then there's those times when she just has to deal with life being not fair and handles that with screaming and big, sad tears. But she gets over it. It must be so frustrating to be a toddler..... It sure has its perks too, though! Sometimes I'm envious of a toddler's life - at night I wish someone would put me in my PJ's, give me a snack, cuddle me, read me stories and put me to bed!

The other day my friend mentioned to me that I haven't blogged about Mikayla in a while - here's a list of her fave things to do:

1. Wrestling with us on our bed - SO MUCH FUN! She goes crazy!!!

2. Painting with Food instead of EATING it

3."Helping" us with ANYTHING (Even loves to pick up things and put them away)


4. Exploring Outside

5.Petting her dogs




6.Playing the Piano

7. Pouting

Heh heh, I think this pic is so funny with her one sad blue eye peeking out. My favorite is when she is upset and will run and put her hands over her eyes and bury her head into the couch or the wall. WHERE do they learn these things?!?


8. Reading Stories


9. dancing (this was back at Christmas time)

10. Fooling w/ our electronics (She has somehow reset our Stereo so that we can't adjust the volume with the remote anymore, and changed our DVD player's default setting to Spanish.......!?!?!?!!!)

11. Taking her baby for a walk. She likes to make us kiss her baby.

12.Singing (anytime she hears us sing along to a song, or when she finds Kraig's french little hymn book)


13. tantrums (always accompanied by finding something to bite down on..in this case a dinosaur tail did nicely)

14. Pushing stuff around. Anything that will roll, anything that won't but she'll give it a try (like our coffee table)

15. dress up. The shoes are a normal occurance, but today she had my pajama bottoms on her head like a hood.




16.Playing hide and seek (more like 'find daddy')Kraig started this a few months ago, and it's really fun to run from room to room hiding and have her come in and check the 'usual' spots - and then jump out from somewhere new and scare her, sending her into a fit of giggles. I love the simple games of childhood!