Part 1

AZ TRIP
My boys and I with my Daddy
Briene, Brayden with us at Costa Vida
Great Grandma & Grandpa Riggs

Our plan was for the boys and I to fly out to Utah on Wed. I had an hour layover in Phoenix to switch planes. I was bummed about getting so close to everyone, but not getting to see them. As it turned out they had oversold the Utah flight, so I volunteered to stay in Phoenix overnight. It woked out great. There was just enough time to visit with my Dad & Anne Marie (stepmom), Briene's family and my Grandparents. The only negative thing was I couldn't get my bags, all I had was our carry-ons, so Toys. I had to borrow a swim suit, the boys just swam in diapers. We washed our clothes to wear again the next day. It was a little crazy, but definatly worth it.

The next day we made it to Utah and it has been a fun trip. We've gone on pony rides, train rides. We saw some old friends we didn't expect to see. Lots of family we did plan to see. We explored Thanksgiving point, Discovery at Gateway and Tai Pan trading company. Of corse no trip would be complete with out great food like JAMBA JUCIE, my boys love it now too, Z-Tejas and Pie pizza. Sorry to rush it here, but we are driving to Cali today from Utah and instead of packing, i'm blogging. I need to go, but first I have to brag about my biggest accomplishment here and that is yesterday my Mom and I ran the Deseret News 10k. It was AWESOME! I ran the entire 6.2 miles with out stopping, a huge "mile"stone for me. I really want to run a 1/2 marathon in October and this was my confidence builder. I made it in just under an hour, I don't know my time yet, but it was so great!!!!
Jamba Juice
Dinner with Cousins
Greg Heap & Brody, Shannon,Crew & Matt Allen, Me& Tate, Mom, Carly & Kurt Turley
Boys at Discovery Gateway
Leta Robinson a fun surprise

I'm a runner now!

Here today Gone tomorrow

It seems like I just got back. Oh- Yeah, I did. For some reason I decided to cram a years worth of trips into one month. Yes, the boys and I are off on another great escapade. Greg will be joining us before too long. I wanted to leave you with something entertaining to watch in the mean time.

When the boys are out of the bath they love to run around, usually without clothes, and laugh and crash into each other. It is so funny to see. I had to film it. I know the lighting isn't that good, sorry about that, but you can still hear them cracking up at each other. I hope you enjoy and I'll update in a few days!

A WICKED TRIP

This really was the most WICKED trip I've ever done, and no I'm not being "Utah" here. So I got to Indiana (my bros.house) Thursday evening. Then the next day we piled into our car again and drove another 3.5 hours to Columbus, Ohio. Why, you ask would I choose to do this? Simple because we had AWESOME tickets to see WICKED, witch I am in love with anyway. To make it even cooler our cousins Christeena Michelle Riggs, who is also married to my bros. best friend, was starring in the lead role of Galinda! After the show she took us on a backstage tour and we got to meet the cast. The only bummer was they had to be out of costume for the pics. We then went and hung out at her hotel and got to talk with some cast members a little more. My sister in law Tracey and I decided we are totally WICKED groupies now. it was an amazing night. I can't remember a time as an adult when I have felt so giddy.Emma and I were poka-dot girls
Here is Christeena and I backstage
Coleen Sexton played Elphaba and was amazing. When we got to meet her I felt so silly because I was totally star struck.
Me and my big brother Glenn
Emma, Shailey, Christeena, me and Tracey
When we headed back to the hotel that night we asked the girls what they thought. Shailey said,"I just stayed up till 1 am eating pizza and cake with Galinda, What could be better that that?" Well put.

We only thought it fare to take the boys to the Columbus zoo after being couped up in a hotel room with a babysitter the night before. It was fun, but we were all so tired. The zoo's claim to fame is they have the longest snake in captivity, 31 kids long. Oh, a snake, my favorite! (sarcasm here) Luckily it was a coiled up ,so we didn't have any nightmares. The part I liked best was there was a baby monkey that had been born that morning. It was so cute and orange, who knew they came out orange. If you ask Brody or his cousin Jonas what their favorite animal was they will tell you the train. I think Tate would say the petting zoo. He was so cute with the animals.




No Ostlund trip could be complete with out a little karaoke. I loved that Jonas knew the words to the Greatest American Hero theme song. Brody had fun shaking the tambourine and humming Thomas songs into the mic.




Glenn had to go back to Japan on Monday morning. That was one of the main reasons I came to visit was to spend time with the family before they move to Japan. They leave next month and will live there for THREE YEARS! They will come back to visit at Christmas and in the summers,but just to know they are that far away makes me sad. It is a great opprotunity for Glenn and it will be so cool for his family to exprience. But we will miss them.
We had to make the most of our time together. Back in Indiana we went to the pool, the Library, and shopping, of corse.( I found a totally cute sweater vest from Old Navy for 47 cents!)




Brody was being pouty and didn't want to smile. Showing off our wicked shirts.

It was a really fun trip as you can tell from my super long post. I am so glad to have these memories, but I must say after all that traveling, 5 states in two days, and the boys on crazy schedules, There really is no place like home!

4th of July

Yeah- I know it was like a week ago, but I've been gone. Not like there is all that much to share about our Holiday. I was pretty busy packing and getting ready for the trip. We did manage to get a bike ride in with the new trailer (I love this thing) before the THUNDERSTORM hit. Yes, that's right. it rained on our festivities. Most of our friends still braved the wet ground for fireworks, but I wasn't up for it. I thought we'd head to bed early to get a good night's rest before the drive. Only I forgot how people are out here with fire crackers. I'm not kidding they were going off ALL NIGHT. I was trying so hard to ignore them and get to sleep. I'd think, if I fall asleep now, I'll get 6 hours... now 5... and so on. Do you think I was a little nervous about driving by myself 8 hrs with two kids?

Calling all cooks

Brody has enjoyed watching the cooking shows on PBS lately. So today while he was helping me make dinner, I decided we would make our own. This is one of my favorite recipes because it is so easy and really yummy. Here it is for you to try. And yes, it has been “chilly” enough for us to eat chili, ( rain for four days!)

1pound ground meat
2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes
2 14 oz cans of kidney beans
1 14 oz can whole corn
2 cups frozen veggies (optional)
2 cups any small pasta (optional)
2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp chili powder

Seriously this is so easy! Brown the meat and drain any juice. When adding cans just throw everything in, no need to drain. Add tomatoes and cook for 2 mins, then add beans & corn. Cook for 5 mins then add veggies and pasta. Add more water if necessary to cover the pasta. Add spices. Stir and bring to a boil. Then turn down heat and simmer for 45 mins. I like to serve it with corn bread, Enjoy!

Life comes at you fast

Sorry Greg, I couldn't resist!
Yesterday, Greg crashed in Brody's room after getting him up from a nap. I hadn't seen him in a while and figured he was working on the computer. Then I found him in Brody's bed. It was so cute. My favorite thing about it is how he is all cuddly with Brody's bunny! Good night sweetheart, good night.