Ragnar weekend!!

Can you imagine 12 friends in 2 vans driving out to Wickenburg, AZ... then running 200 miles back dressed in wedding attire?  Oh, ya.  That's our idea of the best group date ever!!  Will and I have several couples we love to work out with, so a few months ago, we organized a ragnar team and called ourselves The Newlyweds.  For 2 days straight, we took turns running and cheering each other on through the desert of AZ.  When the other van was out, we took our break and headed to dinner and a movie (in our stinky running clothes).  My only regret was eating at Chipotle half-way through the race... YIKES.

 Passing the slap bracelet to the groom

While waiting to run, crazy dancing took place.  Yes, one team brought a boom box and played 70's music.

Can you believe he doesn't even lift weights??  I guess he holds Owen...

 We placed 3rd in our division (over 200 teams!) and next year we'll be back to take 1st!

Owen at 6-7 months

I know.  The second child gets less blog time.  So I'm making up for it now and updating Owen's life over the past 2 months.  He is now 23.5 pounds at 7 months.  He is still laid back, smiley and pretty easy-going.  I have to say that he has not been the best nurser in the world- more like a biter.  But he is stubborn like me and fights the bottle, so I have put up with the biting.  He thinks the words "No Biting!" are code for "playtime" because he just laughs.  Not quite that funny, if you ask me.  Here's a few favorites from the end of December (his 6th month b-day) and end of February (7 months).

 

Owen, the future groom.

Elder Titera, future missionary

Elder Owen Alder- future general authority

Owen LOVES bath time and he loves playing with Grant.  He kicks his feet and legs so much that it's impossible to stay dry when we bathe him.

  And he still has had no official haircut- he has fine hair that I just can't cut; I keep hoping it will go curly and sometimes is does, just a little on the sides!

Winter time

January and February are wintertime months... in most states.  Here in AZ we have just 2 seasons: warm and hot.  Technically, we have summer and fall.  So, we are still in the Fall months and will soon approach summer!  Here are some family pics taken last month in the "warm" season.  This little hike ends at the petroglyphs that everyone swears are legit.  They probably are and we live 25 minutes from them.

  

Just a little birthday gathering for my niece Kaylee, taken a few days before our winter hike...

The honesty of a child

I wish I had a camera to take a short video of our conversation at lunch today.  We had just gotten home from church and Grant was explaining to us how his Sunbeam teacher prays...

Grant:  Sister Scott prays like this: (he bows his head low and closes his eyes tight...)
Will:  Really?  And how does Mom pray?
Grant: (he jerks his head up high and pops his eyes wide open!)

We both laughed really hard because it's so true.  I confess that as a kid, I learned to never close my eyes during a prayer.  If I did, I would get my food stolen, my ribs jabbed or my arm pinched.  So, to this day, I still can't close my eyes during a prayer.  I have trust issues!

Later today, we came in from a walk and I couldn't find Grant.

Me: Grant, where are you?
G:  (muffled voice) I'm in here.  Praying in my closet.
Me:  Really?  Who taught you how to be so righteous (hoping he'd say the right name :)
G:  Um, nobody.  I just made it up.

Our Christmas 2011

 I had to specifiy which Christmas we celebrated because many of you are thinking, "Wasn't Christmas a long time ago... like last year?"  You would be correct.  I am not enjoying the new blogger and how it takes me a million years to upload my photos, then lose them.  Anyway.  Here's a quick recap of how we spent Christmas in AZ....

Will and I planned a ton for the family, attempting to make it a memorable holiday.  It was the last Christmas my parents will spend with us until 2014!  They were called as Mission President and will leave this June.  We love caroling as a family, so we made a little visit to the nursing home my Grandma stayed in while she was alive.  We had a small but grateful and happy audience.

Will and I packed up our gifts and our whole house and spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Alyssa helped Grant write a note to Santa, we left him cookies and a carrot for Rudolph. 

Grant woke up to find the carrot had been nibbled, the oreo eaten, but the snowman cookie was never touched!  He was mad that Santa didn't eat it.  But then I showed him Santa's note: "Dear Grant, thank you for the delicious cookies.  I didn't eat the snowman because it was too beautiful.  You eat it!"

Owen gave Grant the coolest gift... his own box of sugar cereal, a commodity rarely found in the house.  Owen wasn't too interested in opening gifts, but Grant liked helping him.  It's a wonderful age when a bath toy and wrapping paper are enough.

Grant's big gift was his remote control hummer.  He broke it the same day!

I planned a special gift for my parents a few months in advance (though I still stayed up late several nights before Christmas to finish it).  Will helped ALOT with this one.  I asked all 6 of my siblings to contribute scrapbook pages of their families and then I added 5 more of my parents and the family's early years.  We included several written things, like Top 10 Reasons we love being Monahan's (those were hilarious) and favorite memories.  My parents loved it and will have that with them in the mission field.

Nativity with the kids.  Owen was baby Jesus because he was the youngest, but not necessarily the smallest.  Grant and Rylee really did a great job playing a reverent Mary and Joseph.

And this was a little hike we did the day after Christmas.  Yes, we are in short sleeves and shorts.

(Grant took this picture after the hike and it looks pretty good!)