For Rebecca

So I lied. I've got at least two people who read my blog. :-) My sister told me she wants to see more videos and pictures of the boys, so here you go.


Playing at the Splash Park at Daybreak.

Owen

Caleb

The boys playing with their toys.

Playing on the steps.

Playing at the splash park.

For Alexis

This post is dedicated to my niece, Alexis, because she reads my blog. The other day we were at Mike's parents house and Caleb had his patch on. One of the cousins came in and asked what had happened to his eye. Alexis was in the room and heard him say this and she turned to him and said, "Don't you read their blog?" It was so cute and funny. I always know I have at least one reader out there. Thanks Alexis. Here is an update on the boys, so if any of the cousins ever ask, you can tell them what is going on. :-)

Speaking of Caleb and his eye patch, we went to the Dr. at the beginning of the month and he said the eye has improved, but he can still see it wander a little bit, so Caleb has to have the patch on for another two months. Hopefully after this it is all fixed. He is getting better about wearing it, but still we will be happy when his eye is fixed and the wearing of the eye patch is over.
Whenever Caleb points at something he crosses his index finger over his middle finger.
Caleb loves carrying cars around the house.
Both boys love eating grape, strawberries, asparagus and olives. (Kids loving veggies is totally a Slade trait.)
Owen loves going swimming, we went to the neighbors pool the other day and they have a really big section of the pool that is only about a foot and a half deep. He was playing all by himself and dipping his face in the water and exploring the drop offs. He went over the edge a few times, but I had my eye on him.
Owen is starting to "talk" a little more. He has a couple of funny expressions that is says over and over. He will turn his hands up and say, what you do (at least that is what it sounds like to us). 
They love going on walks around the neighborhood.

It was so hot on Saturday, we went to Target and bought the boys a pool. We moved the slide over by it and they had a lot of fun sliding down into the water. 

Boys Pictures

A couple of weeks ago I got the boys pictures taken. Caleb fell flat on his face after the second shot and was not very happy after that. He was clingy and didn't want to smile, so I wasn't sure if we were going to get any good pictures. However the photographer (Butterfly Love Photography) was great and got some cute shots of the boys. So, for your viewing pleasure here are some of the photos. 

Owen

Caleb

The Boys Together

First Century Ride

Mariah and I at the beginning of the race.

For some reason I let my sister, Mariah, talk me into riding the Salt Lake Century bike ride with her on Saturday, May 21st. Actually now that I've had a few days to think about it, I want to do it again next year. It was hard, but cool to accomplish something like that. Here is a little about my experience.
The race started at the Salt Lake Country Fair grounds and the start time was 7:30am, we started just a little late around 7:45am. Our group for the race was Nick's parent's Bill and Colleen, Norma, Colleen's sister, Nick and Mariah and me. Nick and his parents started the race fast and strong and I never really did catch up to them.
Mariah and I rode together for the first hour, about 8 miles. We were going at a good rate and having a good time talking and enjoying the ride. However, after that I started to slow down and Mariah rode in front of me. A couple of miles later I was going really slow and I looked down and my tire was flat. Oh great, I thought, Mariah isn't with me and I don't have a pump or a spare tire. I called Mariah and she said to keep riding and she would wait for me. So I kept on going. After riding for a while I still hadn't met up with her, so I called her again and she said she would turn around and start riding towards me. A little while later, I still hadn't met up with her and was starting to worry, what would I do? In desperation as a couple passed me I shouted out, "Do you know how to change a flat?" They didn't, but they did have a pump, so they helped me pump up my tire and said they would ride with me until the next rest stop, which was about 10 miles away. (It was seriously so nice of them.) I called Mariah, who I still hadn't seen, and told her to turn around and just ride and I would meet her at the next stop. We ended up stopping about 3 times to pump up my tire. When we reached the rest stop I ran into Nick and his parents who were just about to leave and he told me Mariah was behind me. Huh!?! Somehow along the way I had passed her, we are still not sure how that happened, but I stayed there and waited for her.
Up until this time, I had felt really good. The rest stop was at mile 36 and they were serving lunch and had someone there who changed my tire for me. We ate lunch together and then were on our way. For the rest of the race Mariah was usually about 10-15 minutes ahead of me. After the lunch break, it seems like the rest of the race I was struggling. But on I rode. The turn around point was Antelope Island, so we rode and rode and rode. From about mile 47 to mile 68 I really struggled. At the beginning of the race I was averaging about 17-18 miles an hour, during that time I averaged about 9-10. It was brutal. Antelope Island was cool. I met up with Mariah, who had stopped to call Nick and was just on the side of the rode. I also saw some buffalo. We stopped at the same stop we had for lunch to take a short break, which was much needed. By this time, everything on my body was starting to hurt. My butt, my neck and especially my wrists. I just kept thinking to myself as the miles passed, you only have 25 miles left... you only have 20 miles left... you only have 15 miles left... and finally I didn't have any miles left. I had made it.

Making my final victory lap.

The whole ride with stops took me 9 hours and 50 minutes. Total riding time on my bike 8:15. I rode 106.52 miles. (Funny story about that. It is called a Century, so you think it would only be a 100 miles, but this course was 106 miles. I didn't know that until about mile 80 and by then, like I said, I was dying, so Nick calls me to see where I'm at and I tell him mile 80, I only have 20 miles left and he tells me, well actually, you have 26 miles left, because this course is 106 miles long. I could have died. Another 6 miles doesn't seem like a lot, but after you've just ridden 100 miles you want to get off your bike as fast at you can. I was tempted to tell him to pick me up at mile 100, but I finished it all on the bike.) 
Some other fun stats from the race: Start Time 7:45, End Time 5:49, I averaged 12.8 miles per hour and I burned 4829 calories.

Almost 19 Months Old

The boys are almost 19 months old. I took them into the Dr. last week for their 18 month check up and everything looked good.
Here are their stats:
Owen weighed 29.4 lbs (88th percentile). And he is 35 inches tall (97th percentile).
Caleb weighed 28.6 (82nd percentile). And he is also 35 inches tall.
Neither of them are saying much still, but Owen can wave and say "bye", which is pretty cute. They love playing outside and their favorite show to watch is Sesame Street.

Caleb

Owen

Caleb

Playing on the step

Playing with one of their cars.

Mother's Day

On facebook their is a post going around for Mother's Day asking people to change their profile picture to one of them and their mom. I decided it would be fun, so I did it. I had fun looking through my pictures and finding some of me with my mom. I actually found some from my mission and have a favorite memory from that day that I want to share and have a place to go to, to remember it. 

One of the happiest days of my life was when I came home from my mission and saw my mom standing their,  waiting for me in the airport. I can still remember the overwhelming joy I felt at seeing her and how wonderful it felt to hug her again. I can honestly say I know what it will be like to see her in Heaven again, because I've had that experience here on earth. I can't wait to hug her again and tell her, in person, how much I love her.

I Love and Miss You Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Easter Lesson

Yesterday I taught an Easter Lesson for Young Women's. It was kind of a disaster in the sense that I could have done a better job preparing it and I cried through the whole lesson. However, that is actually where the lesson turned into something wonderful and spiritual for me. We were talking about the atonement and we watched an Easter video. During the video Elder Holland says, "Now I speak very carefully, even reverently, of what may have been the most difficult moment in all of this solitary journey to Atonement. I speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically but which He may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually—that concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal when He cries in ultimate loneliness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Elder Holland goes on to say, "It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.”
This really struck me, I hadn't thought of it like that before. I mean I know we can't even understand how difficult it must have been for him, but this actually made me understand a little better. As we continued to talk about the atonement I was giving an example from my mission how sometimes it was so hard, but I knew the Savior had felt what I had felt and knew what I was going through. As I continued to think about it, I thought of my mom and how much I missed her and how I'm so sad she is gone and then I thought "wow", the savior has felt this before too and he knows my pain. Not that I want him to be sad or in pain, but there is a comfort in knowing that someone else knows how I feel and what I'm going through. It made me so appreciative of the Savior and all that he has done for me and I wanted to record it for me and share it with you. I'm so grateful for the atonement and his sacrifice for me. I know that he lives. I know that he loves me and will be there to support me. I'm truly grateful and feel so blessed to have the knowledge of Christ in my life.