The Wheatley Clan

We had family photos taken with my whole family while we where at my parents in August. There are some super cute people in these pictures! Here are a couple of my favorites....

One of my personal favs....

Camping - For Real

If you know me, you know that I am not a camper. You know that I was not raised a camper. I went camping a couple of times in my youth, and have great memories of camping with my Grandparents, but "camping" in my family is staying at the lower budget hotel. Seriously. Drama and Pooh Bear love to "camp" with my parents at the local Marriott. They recently discovered what camping really is and have been begging to go "real" camping ever since. {okay maybe recently as in a few years ago but my power to block out painful activity requests by my children is great!} 

Finally, over Labor Day weekend Mark and Grandpa Van Horn took Drama and Pooh Bear For Real Camping!

In a Tent.

On the Ground. 

In Nature.

Outside.

Grandma Van Horn and I, being the more sensible ones in the family, opted to take The Boss and Bea up for the campfire dinner and dessert and then go home to our warm cozy beds and sleep.

In a house.

In a bed.

Where nature was not invited.

Mouth full of cookie....

I don't know why they insisted on sitting under the table. They wouldn't sit anywhere else!

Serious conversations.....

Mmmmm, dutch oven peach cobbler...

When we got home, The Boss was seriously ticked that she didn't get to sleep in a tent. So I pulled out the play tent, set it up in her room and she zonked right out! She slept there for most of the night and then took a nap in it the next day...

The Boss Starts School {finally}

Preschool has to be the best place on Earth. It is so much fun and my girls have loved every minute.

This year The Boss started Preschool at Ms. Cathy's Preschool. Ms. Cathy has a 3 year old preschool class on Tuesdays and Thursdays and a 4 year old class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So, you can start at 3 and go again the very next year only you get a whole extra day of learning!

We went to the open house last Thursday night, and my camera's battery decided to die. I did get this picture in the car on the way there and walking up the sidewalk. She was so excited.

Drama had soccer practice until 7:00 pm and we were waiting by the back door already - with backpack on and everything - for Drama, Pooh Bear, and Daddy to walk in.

And then today, finally, the day came, to actually go to school.

She had waited and waited. Her sisters started school and she wanted to start school so badly. Every time we went anywhere she would ask, pointing out different people, "Is that my teacher? Is that my teacher?"

And of course Bea is just happy to be part of the fun and picture taking.

When Bea and I picked her up 2 hours later.....

A frog on a lily pad! See, I told you, most fun ever! And totally worth the wait.

The Boss, Bea and I went to McDonald's for a special lunch after. They both got stickers in their happy meals and guess where The Boss' ended up attaching themselves....

My Half Marathon Recap

Woot! I ran a half marathon this morning. Yeah, I'm feeling pretty awesome, except for my legs.

They don't feel so awesome. 

Mark said that the race director was letting everyone know how proud she was of the incredibly hard course she had laid out for us. 

Awesome.

I learned a few things while I was training and at the race. I feel that they could probably be applied in everyday life so I feel it is my obligation to share my nuggets of knowledge with you.

1. Don't be afraid to do something because you will 

not know anyone there. I was worried about hanging 

out by myself before the race, it might be 

embarrassing {shhh}. If you ever need people to 

talk to and don't want to just go up to someone and

say "hey" - go get in the line to the girls bathroom. 

I made 5 friends almost immediately as we marveled at

 the length of the line. And since the line is 

soooo long you won't have much time to fill before

 the gun goes off. Seriously, I was in the

 potty line for 25 minutes. {However, this might
 not work so well for the boys.}

2. Did you know that it is easier on your knees to go uphill 
than it is to run on flat or downhill terrain? I read this  
on the internet last week {so it has to be true}.

 I kept repeating it to myself over and over. My left

 knee had been super sore and I was having a difficult

 time getting it to be happy on my training runs. But 

today I had no knee or ankle pain. At one point I 

thought it might be an indication that I was dying. It was 
weird not feeling the ever present pain from 

the last 3 weeks and I thought that the fact that I 

couldn't feel the pain didn't mean it wasn't there,

 it just meant that I was dying and was beyond feeling pain. 

Of course then I hit the "hills" and wished that I 

had died a mile back.

3. Don't be afraid to finish last. I was worried 

about this one. No one 'wants' to finish last. I decided 

on the hill from Hell that if I ever made it to the

 finish line I didn't care if I was last. I just

wanted to be done. I wasn't last though - there 

were, like, 9 whole people behind me!

4. As a wise old knight in my favorite Indiana 

Jones movie cautioned, "Choose wisely." The next 

race I sign up for I will check out the course 

elevation before I register and pay my $70. The

next race will be flatter than the pancakes I

 make my kids for dinner.

5. At the end of the race the most awesome sight 

was not the finish line {although I'm not gonna lie,

 I was super glad to see it.} The best thing is

 seeing your husband {who put up with all your training} 

and your kids cheering you on and holding your

hand across the finish.

And now you have to endure pictures of sweaty me....

{Oh sure I'll carry you, I haven't done anything much this morning.....}

First Day of School

Already?

or 

Finally!

5th Grade - Mrs. Martinek

3rd Grade - Mrs. Brown

I told her to think about school and this is the look she gave me...

Beyond excited to go back to school. Apparently summer is so boring. The only thing to do is to "visit relatives, chores, read, and babysit little sisters!"

Family Reunion - Twenty Eleven

How much fun can you have in 1 week? I didn't use the scientific method or anything but I'm pretty sure that we maxed out last week. My awesome brother {Matt}, his amazing wife {Rosanna}, and their two fantastic kids planned a trip to Grandma Tina and Grandpa Phil's house so of course I had to butt-in on the fun and invite myself and my four maniacs lovies {no that wasn't us that taught Oliver how to jump off really high unstable objects}.

We did so many fun things together. 

Both Matt and Rosanna and Billie and Justin blessed their little bundles of super cuteness in my parents ward.


{My seriously amazing sisters, Billie and Rosanna with their little lovies, Roman and Hazel.}

We took new family pictures since we {them, not me} have added to the family.


This woman was fantastic with all the kids...Excursion Photography.

We went to the zoo.


{I love the faces on these kids in this picture! They say more than words ever could!}

We went to Bear World.


{Bear World is awesome. You drive through the park in your car, the bears are just hanging out, wandering around, and fighting - this close to you - imagine I am holding my thumb and pointer finger only 1 inch apart.}

The adults went to the temple and did an afternoon session together {that was awesome}.

The "kids" played in the pool in Grandma's back yard for many, many hours. 


{This is my baby brother...he's a doctor.}

The highlight might have been going for fro-yo at the Orange Leaf. I am now addicted. No, I have not been there twice this week. You must be thinking of someone else....

I am going to post more detailed posts of the different activities with many, many pictures, for historical purposes and posterity.

The Forgotten Present

Mark put together one of Bea's birthday presents the night before her birthday and then put it outside so we didn't have to wrap it. She was so happy with all of the other things that she received on her birthday that we decided to leave this one outside until the next day, that was Sunday. Today, I finally let her outside in the backyard to play with it. See, technically I didn't forget that it was out there. It was sitting on the table on the patio and I shielded it from view every time they helped let the dog out. We have been so busy this week that we just haven't had the time to go out there and spend quality time with it.

But today we did...

And it was almost more fun than swinging.

Both girls took turns "accidentally" getting the other wet and getting upset at the unfairness of it all.