Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we stayed here in Manhattan and Kable's parents came to visit. It was short, but we loved having them while we could. Koy especially enjoyed the extra attention. We ate dinner at our friends the Balsmeiers. They had wonderful food as always. We brought our famous potato salad, that Kable now likes to make (I got the recipe from a past roommate), our famous rolls (Rhodes of course) and my famouse deep dish pumpkin pie. I had lots of requests for the recipes, so I think I will just post them here, if that's ok with everyone.

Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie
1 3/4 c flour
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1/3 c sugar
1 c cold butter, cut in sm pieces
1 c chopped walnuts (opt)
1 -16oz can pumpkin, about 2 c
1- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t salt

Combine flour and sugars, cut into butter until crumble. Add walnuts. (I don't use nuts.) Reserve 1 c mixture; press remainder on bottom and halfway up sides of 12 x 7 in baking dish. Beat remaining ingredients, except reserved crumb mixture. Pour into dish. Top with crumb mixture. Bake 55 min at 350* until golden. Cool. Makes 8-10 servings.

Ellie's Potato Salad
6 med pototoes (2 lbs)
1 1/4 c mayo
1 T mustard
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 c sliced celery
1/3 c chopped onion
1/2 c chopeed pickle
6 boiled eggs

Boil potatoes, reduce heat & simmer 25 min, drain and cool. Peel and cube. (I bake mine by poking holes in them and putting them in the microwave in a sack. I also leave the peels on.)
In large bowl, combine mayo, mustard, salt, and pepper
Stir in celery, onion, pickles. Add potatoes and sliced eggs.
Toss lightly. Cover and chill. Makes 12 servings.

Pee

So, yesterday morning I heard Koy crying a little, so I got up to check on him. I opened the door to see his naked bum laying in bed. I was a little confused, but figured it out quick. He wasn't quite tired when we put him to bed the night before, so he must have gotten bored and took his diaper off. His pee diaper was laying next to him, his head under his pillow, and he was laying in a pee soaked bed. He was half awake, probably crying because he was cold. What a lovely sight to wake up to. He does have a cute bum though! I hope this doesn't continue.

A Koy Moment

So the other night, we heard Koy open his door when we thought he was sound asleep in bed. Kable went upstairs to check on him. When he opened the door, he found Koy had just let the kitten out that was stuck in his room and had his scriptures out "reading" them! It was so cute, I had to write it down.

Kansas City Marathon!

So, finally here are the pictures of my marathon! It was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, as expected. I ran it with my training buds, Amy Von Feldt and Jane Tuttle. I wasn't quite sure if I would ever make it here to tell the truth because I wanted to be pregnant way before the marathon, but that didn't work out, well not exactly! I did end up running it pregnant! The month before the marathon, I decided I better not get pregnant so I could run my marathon, which I had been training for since Spring. Well, that exact month, I ended up pregnant. I found out about a week before the marathon. I was around 6-7 weeks pregnant when I ran it. Don't worry I did some research and called my grandpa Clark who is a doctor to see if it was alright. I knew it was a risk, but a minor one I decided. I mean, I spent a lot of early mornings (and anyone who knows me knows I am not a morning person to put it lightly) running many miles (and anyone who knows me knows I hate running) pushing myself beyond my limits. I wasn't willing to throw that all away. I mean, I may never run another marathon. So, anyway, as you can see from the pictures I did it! I couldn't have done it without prayer, stubbornness, a supportive husband, and loyal friends. Amy is from Kansas City, so we went up a day early and all stayed at her parent's house. It was fun, but the marathon butterflies never went away all that day and the next. We got up early on Oct 18 to run our race, husbands and babies in tow. I was sick to my stomach. I was told to take MSM and fish oil for my joints before the race, which I did. We wore these microchip things on our feet that kept our official time. Amy brought her phone in her pack, which ended up being a life saver for me. I stuffed about 5 gu in my zipper pocket above my booty. It was pretty funny because it stuck out pretty bad. I didn't care. All of us stayed together pretty much the whole time. We ran the hills at the beginning well. Easy to my suprise. I was amazed at how many people walked. We trained on a lot of hills, so that paid off. The Kansas City Marathon has one of the steepest worst hills of all marahons. It is called Hospital Hill and is ranked in the top 5 worst hills for marathons. I was proud that it didn't bother me. I had to stop around mile 6 or 7 to pee at a restaurant on the Plaza. No lines-brilliant idea. Everyone else we past were waiting in lines at port-a-potties. Yuck! Not for me. My girls slowed down while I peed, so I could catch up to them. Thanks! We were doing great until mile 12 or 13 hit. Jane and I started feeling a lot of pain in our joints. Jane had just ran a marathon 2 weeks earlier in St. George, UT. Crazy girl. Her body was feeling it. I wasn't sure where my pain was coming from. All I know was I had to slow down and eventually the pacer girl I wanted to beat who was way behind me caught up to us and then passed us. I was so mad and in pain and frustrated, I started to cry. Amy was so nice to stay with me and try to keep me positive. Jane had fallen back behind us a little ways. Amy had the idea to call Kable. I boobed to him while I tried to run. I needed Ibuprofen, this herbal stuff wasn't working. I realized that I should have been taking the MSM and fish oil for months before my marathon for it to be working. I knew at mile 13 if I didn't get any ibuprofen soon, I wasn't sure I could finish the race. I told Kable he had to find us on the course. He said he would. They hadn't had any luck finding us the whole time before mile 13, so I was hoping he was telling the truth. So, finally around mile 16 or so, Kable, Koy, Mark, and Mason found us and handed off my pills. It was so renewing to see them. I needed that boost. I was so thankful. Every step hurt. My ankles, knees, even pelvis was aching. I think being prenant made my joints ache. I did have some joint pain while training, but nothing like marathon day. I remeber my joints aching when I was pregnant with Koy. It was all I could do to not walk. I made a goal to not walk, no matter how hard it was. Amy was so sweet to stay with me the whole time, because I know she could have taken off without me. Jane stayed close, but fell further and further behind. We said a prayer for her. She told us to keep going. I think my stubbornness finally had a positive effect on me that day. Amy was trying to be all positive with me, and finally I said enough, I react better to tough love. I told myself to get up, get going, and finish the damn race! It was a quote I had read that I liked. I finaly got to take my pills around mile 20 because there wasn't a water station until then. They kicked in a couple miles later and helped with the pain, but it never completely went away. It was really cool to see such a supportive atmosphere at a sport event. People yelled our names and encouraged us all through the run. Part of the race, we ran through an amazingly beautiful neighborhood. It was fun to see all the beautiful houses. I have to admit, secretly it was very satisfying to pass other runners, especially men. I thought yes, I am going to beat them, but would then yell encouraging words to them as we passed. I know, I am warped! At the end, we caught site of another pacer that had passed us, and decided we would catch her. We didn't have much time to do it, but caught her at the very last stretch. I yelled, we want you! We started sprinting, at least that's what it felt like. I was limping from the pain, but we beat her across the finish line! As we passed over the line, I began to cry, realizing it was over and I had done it! It was over. We had just ran 26.2 miles! Our time was 4 hours and 50 min, not what our original goal time was, but I am happy with the circumstances given. I never thought we would catch that other pacer again. Jane ended up coming in not long after us. We waited and watched for her, cheering her on. The boys found us a little later. We got our shirts and medals and sat for a little bit before going our separate ways, congratulating each other. The shirts we wore, we had made. We put a quote from the Bible on the back with 3 people's names who were battling cancer, and one name, my cousin Clint Larsen's 2 year old son Garrison who has heart problems, dedicating our run to them. They were good motivators to keep us going. They are all fighters, and that's what we had to be.

Halloween 2008

Koy usually liked to wear his tiger hood, but when he wanted to. He loved to practice his growls and even said, "Geaux LSU!"

LSU Tiger!

Trunk or Treat at the church. I had this witch set up in my house, and Koy loved it, although he was a little scared to go up the stairs by himself.

The cut-outs I made last year.

Our friends the Von Feldts, we invited to the party. I babysit their baby Mason and Amy works as a PE teacher with Kable.

Cupcakes I made for the party, YUM!

Geaux LSU! I was so excited to see Kable's cute butt in tight football pants!

Some people thought we were K-State, but I quickly corrected them!

Koy's Mohawk and Feeding the Geese!

Our pumpkins!
The back of his Mohawk!

Koy's new do. Mommy shaved him a mohawk! I had to tell him it as a football player haircut and give him a sucker to get him to stand still.

In between Conference we went to Anneberg park and fed the ducks. Well, there were ducks there, but also a ton of Canadian Geese. I thought we would make Grandpa Stock jealous! Koy even got them to eat out of his hands. He's a brave little boy!

Family Pictures 2008

The Fountain! How romantic, actually I was the one who had to tell Kable what to do! He gets a little embarrased about public affection.
A little dark, but I love the expressions on our faces.

He loves his Dad.

A friend in our ward took our family pictures at City Park. I really wanted the big beautiful fountain in some of them. He did a really good job. These are untouched.

Jumping!

When we were in Provo this summer watching Kat play volleyball, we stayed at the Bybees with Rachel and Brady. They are always so nice while we are there. Anyway, Koy and Braxton had fun jumping off the bed. Braxton had to have a little help from Kable.

Stock Family Reunion 2008

This is the last night before we left. There is a huge jetted tub in the master bedroom of the big cabin. We had to let the kids swim in it! Koy even used his alligator squirt gun!
Anne and Rachel taught the grandkids a song to perform, but neither Koy or I knew it, so Koy just faked it! As you can see, Braxton was very excited, and Anne was really into it!

David's famous pose and Jo Jo.

Chode and Rosemary!

Koy and Grandpa and Mimi.

Cousins! Tera (on the left) is my age and Cody is Anne's. We had so much fun with them growing up, that is when we got to see them. We got into so much trouble and swam a lot in their pool. We played volleyball one night at the reunion. It was so fun, especially since we all played in school. Tera lives in Colorado now, Cody in New Mexico.

We had a fireball competition to honor Grandpa. When Anne and I would visit them, Tera, Cody, and us would walk to the Circle K and buy fireballs. We were always amazed at how Grandpa could keep one in his mouth the whole time without taking it out. They are really hot, and we would keep the wrapper on them when we sucked on them. So, we challenged the guys to see who could keep them in their mouths the longest.

The guys in the contest. (David's famous pose.)

More guys in the contest.

Clint and some of his kids. They are so cute. Clint is a year or two older than me and one of my favorite cousins to tease. He is Tera and Cody's older brother. I hadn't seen him in ages, so it was so nice to see him again. His wife couldn't be there b/c she was caring for Garrison, who has heart issues. He is Koy's age, but has never really been healthy. He is always in our prayers.

I'm not quite sure what they are doing here, but we thought it was cute.

I had to get a shot of them hugging, b/c Braxton doesn't usually like to be touched. They got along much better this trip. Aww, cousins.

My dad and his brother, Frank, sisters, Dixie (on right) and Rita (on left), and he has one sister that has passed on, Teddy Val. They were saying a few things about Grandpa Joe and Grandma Ruby.

Anne brought her snow cone maker for the kids. It was a hit, and I felt like we were in Louisiana with our own stand or something.

Cousins water balloon toss.

Yea for cousins!

Fishing with dad. Kable wasn't too interested in riding horses.

Dave Lewis, Cher's husband brought up some of his horses for us to ride. It was quite an adventure since my dad is really the only experienced rider. Kat's horse was very confused when she kept kicking it to go, but then was holding the reins high and pulling back to stop. Hilarious. It also kept turning around to come back to the trailer. Joe and David went on their own ride and Joe ended up getting bucked off! Good thing he didn't get hurt.

I hopped on for one of the first rides. It was a little scary with Koy, but he was a good sport. He started to cry a little during the ride, but we told him to buck up and he did! We even trotted a little. It wasn't easy riding in flip flops though!

Pete and Donna Stock let us all stay at their house which is located near the tank. This used to be all of Grandpa's land. Frank lives next door to Pete now, on the other side of the tank. Anne and I used to skinny dip in that cow tank with Cody Jo and Tera. (Told you we used to get into a lot of trouble-it's in the Stock blood.) We have a lot of memories there, but now there are houses built up and down the lane. Progress. Kind of sad to me though. But, Pete and Donna and their kids were so kind to let us take over their house for a few days. Donna makes just about everything from scratch and they live so simply, what I mean is no TV or internet, and they have a garden, cows, and really know how to live off the land. They will definitely be prepared for any catastrophies that might come their way. I caught this beautiful sunset out their back door. Arizona has pretty skies. I'm so happy we got to be in Show Low for the reunion. I have so many childhood memories there and it's always nice to see family.

Vegas Family

Adam just went to the Temple that night to get ready for his mission. He was so excited and had a really good spirit about him. It was so fun to see him.
Aunt Julie and Uncle Rob! How cute. They were so nice to let us crash at their house while there for a couple days. We even went swimming at a friends pool.

After the temple, almost all of my Mom's brothers and sisters and Gigi and Clark came to Julie's for a celebration bar-b-que and played games. It had been a while since I had seen my cousins. I am the oldest grandchild on that side, and then it is Anne and David, so they are all quite younger than me. I couldn't believe how grown up they all were, and so cute! I am starting to feel my age!

The Chauncey boys-Tate, Tanner, and Trey, plus Austin and Allison and Dakota!

Grandpa and Grandma Tebbs!

On our way out of Utah, Rachel, Anne, and their kids, caravanned with us to our Stock family reunion. Grandpa and Jo were very nice to let us stay at their house in St. George for a day or two on the way. We had a bar-b-que, sang together, and fought over Jo's lladros!

Koy loved playing the piano and singing at Grandpa and Grandma Tebbs! He even got to sing into the mircophone, which he especially enjoyed!

The Triplets!