Merry Christmas!

Our ward party was on Saturday and Santa came to visit all the kids! I have been preparing Cray all month so he wouldn't be scared. We have a doll Santa and he now says Santa ho ho ho when he sees it. So when he saw Santa I said Cray...it's Santa ho ho ho, and Santa followed with a ho ho ho...and Cray didn't cry. SUCCESS. He was SO tired hence the bink in the picture. Oh well, better than tears. He looked at him for a while and then wanted down. Cray does NOT like being held and sitting still. So he did really well considering.
We are off to Boise for Christmas to spend some time with my family. We will get to talk to THREE missionaries on Christmas so it will be a busy day.

Merry Christmas for The Heward three! Hope everyone has a very Merry Day.

An apple a day...

Keeps the Doctor away??
Well my baby Cray loves apples, and of course we have them all over right now. We have a tree, Nana has a tree and buckets full in the house. So he will pick them up all over and eat them. They don't seem to agree with him though, which is sad. Cuz it is so hard to keep them out of this kids grasp!
My little Buga loves to be outside. He will bring you his shoes all day wanting to just go run in the Idaho fresh air. I am dreading winter (more than usual) because I am worried for his sanity...and mine for that matter. If it were up to him I am sure we would be out in the blizzards.

Getting into the Halloween Spirit!

I have had a really hard time blogging lately...if you take a look thru my blogging history you will notice I have no comments. I guess nobody reads this darn thing, but oh well. It's still fun...sometimes. So if you are reading, feel free to leave to me an encouraging comment. Onto Halloween! Happy Halloween from the Heward Zombies!

I think it's on the movie Mean Girls where they talk about how Halloween is an excuse for every girl to dress...naughty...well It kind of is but it's so much more. It is a time when you can be anyone or anything and people won't think you are too crazy! I love dressing up and I don't know why but I have grown to LOVE HALLOWEEN...but I don't like scary things...I know it doesn't make sence. Well, I have been working at our local straw maze and loving it. I love being a psycho girl that can jump around and make people scream and run the other way with one look. Yup...i love it. I am sad it is coming to an end! Here is my weekly attire for the month of October.
Umm...ya.
A couple weeks ago, we had a Halloween Family night with lots of spooky food and carving pumpkins. It turned into a table of girls carving pumpkins. It was yummy and fun fun fun. I love Halloween!
Here are all the goodies we had at our family Halloween party. We also had punch with hands in it...ooohhhh...spooky. We had a good time!

Catch up post

Man it is SO hard to get going again after a cruise. Yes it's been a month and a half and I am FINALLY giving you an up to date post. Here's some happenings since the cruise. I will have another post too this week of our Halloween party! Keep posted...
A few weeks ago I talked my sister in law into doing this race with me that I found. I found it online on a whim and it looked so fun. It was at the national park Castle Park which is by City of Rocks. It is a beautiful scenic area and the race was SO cool...while quite challenging. At the end there were some sections where we ran up on rocks and through tunnel like areas...it was so fun. We got sweet light weight shirts and lunch. It was a great morning!
My handsome boys during the race. Before the race

After the race
Boys and their toys.

The Heward triplets! (not really) For those that dont know...all these kiddies were born within 3.5 months of each other. It is so fun to get them all together...even though at this point they just beat each other up. haha. Quite a while back...not sure how long...haha...we had some pictures taken before Levi left on his mission.

Cruise!

Shay and I went on our first cruise to the Southern Caribbean a couple of weeks ago. We went with Shay's two brothers and their wives and had an awesome time. Our ship left out of Puerto Rico and ported the first day in St. Thomas. We rode a ferry to St. John and went to the famous Trunk Bay and spent the day at the beach. There was a cool snorkel trail there with colorful fish and stingray.

Day 2 was a day at sea, so a lot of laying out and eating ice cream! It was also our first formal night.

Day 3 was spent in Barbados. This was probably my least favorite islands as far as the way it was situated, the housing and the people, but it housed the prettiest beaches of the whole trip. Gorgeous. We spend the day at the beach again, rode jet skiis and played in the water.
Day 4 was St. Lucia and my personal favorite island! This island was beautiful and the people were so genuine and real. They didn't seem desperate to get your money out of you like those on Barbados. On St. Lucia Shay and I went kayaking out of Marigot Bay, along the coastline and then up the river into the island. It was AMAZING!!! One of the most magical experiences ever. We definitely want to make a return visit to St. Lucia some day. This was also our next formal night...i think. I can't remember. Haha.

Day 5 was ziplining in St. Kitts. We had a great time and enjoyed the scenic drive of St. Kitts. There were a lot of monkeys around on leashes. Ziplining was a great experience and lots of fun.

Day 6 was SUPPOSE to be St. Martin which we were very excited for. Unfortunetly Tropical Storm Maria had different plans for us. We were forced to stay on the ship for another day at sea. It was so SAD...we even were told we may have to stay on the ship because Maria was headed for Puerto Rico. Luckily it worked out ok and we got to return home on time.
We had such a great time and made so many memories with the group. It was such a nice relaxing time, but it was so good to get home to my sweet baby boy!!

Vacation of a Lifetime

So last week we went on a 7 day cruise to the Southern Caribbean with Shay's two brothers and their wives. To say it was great is an understatement and to say I am having a hard time adjusting to the real world again is also putting it lightly. We went to St. Thomas, St. John, Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Kitts. I have been off that boat for three days and my head is still spinning. We ran into to rough water due to Tropical storm Maria that also ended up cancelling our port in St. Martin. SAD! However we made the most of our time with dancing, eating, going to shows, laying out, eating ice cream, playing dress up, and eating more ice cream. I will have all the pictures by the end of the week when I will give a detailed write up of the week. So in the mean time here are a few pictures I have on hand. Shay and the 9 year old Chess whiz

Marigot Bay in St. Lucia (my favorite island by a landslide (this bay is where the original Dr. Dolittle was filmed)
)
While kayaking in St. Lucia

Mini Golfing on the boat

Cray's Day

Cray went and drove truck with Dad today. When I called to see where they were at, Shay said "Cray loves the truck...and the Pringles". Yes that's why he seemed so happy. Food is ALWAYS the answer. I wish I would have been there to take a picture of it. Cray loves being on the farm with papa, seeing the cows, riding four wheelers with his aunt and uncles and now driving truck...FARM BOY!
Cray had his first haircut today. I was so sad when it was done...because somehow it makes him look a ton older. He is not a baby anymore...and that makes this mama sad. He is jabbering like crazy, makes all sorts of animal noises, copies Shay and I all the time. He is so smart...and so grown up.
Then it was bath time.
Cray getting geared up for Saturdays BSU game against Georgia.
Cray use to be super scared of loud noises, but he is getting better and better with them. So much so that he wanted to mow the lawn with Dad. I am so grateful that Cray LOVES the outdoors!

Nate & Noel...Together Forever

On Thursday Aug 18th my brother Nate married his sweetheart Noel. They are so great together and we are super happy for them. It was a really long couple of days, but we got tl see lots of old friends and family and hang out with our new family the Ellisons. It was a beautiful wedding and we are so so happy for Nate & Noel!
The new Mr. & Mrs. Munson
The beautiful bride and handsome groom.

Such a handsome boy in his suit. Who knew he could pull off purple?
Me and my Mama.
It was so hot outside waiting and taking pictures...Cray was a huge trooper considering. Can you tell...haha.
Here is us at the reception right before Shay and Cray went home...Cray was so DONE and tired so they skipped out early.

A story about a boy named Cray

Pink was all that was left...mean mom? Click on picture to enlarge.

Cray's a biker

I miss biking SO much! I miss the Boise foothills SOOO much and I miss biking on them! Ok...done whining...It was time to see if Cray enjoyed biking as much and Shay and I...turns out he LOVES it!

Camping at Independence

At the end of July we went camping with Shay's family at the campground below Independence Lakes. It was great weather, good times and some beautiful views. I love the outdoors!!! Saturday some of us hiked and some road horses (I rode a mule) to the lakes. It was beautiful and we even got a rain storm once at the top to cool us off.
A woman in my ward who I admire spoke recently in our ward and talked about the beautiful creations. She spoke on how the Garden of Eden was the first beautiful outdoor haven to explore and how there are so many beautiful things around us that we need to take in. I love the outdoors and their beauty. I want to explore the wonderful sights that the outdoors have to offer all over the world. Someday...
At the lake
Cray just loves his Papa

Heward Reunion 2011

Every year for Heward reunion we make matching shirts based on what's going on in the family at the time. Last year all three girls were pregnant, so the shirts were centered around that. This year Shay's little sister and brother just received their mission calls to California. Yes Shay went to LA California, then his brother Kurt went to Sacramento, now Levi is going to Roseville and Amber is going to San Burnadino. It's kind of crazy, so we made CALI shirts. Of course we did blue cause all them darn Heward have those beautiful blue eyes (thank goodness Cray inherited them as well!)

Goose Creek Run Off 2011

So about 4 weeks ago, I decided to train for a 10 k. I was a runner in middle school and a bit in high school, but haven't run anything over a mile in YEARS. We are going on a cruise in September...and I had my Cray last September...and I wanted to get my beach body back. So I made a goal and started training. Thanks to lots of help from Nana for babysitting and Shay for spending mornings home feeding Cray I was able to train. Saturday was the race. In practice I had been averaging about 10 minute miles...so that was my goal for the race. However I had never run anything over 4.5 miles in my training...so I added a few minutes to my goal making it about 62 minutes. Plus...the race starts on a huge uphill and then has a large downhill as well. So I beat my goal! I finished the race in 58:30 and was stoked! I couldn't be more excited, but now I want to do another one! I want to compete in triathlons and keep training! Let's just say I got the bug.
Sheesh...all over.
Me and my boys after the race.
My parents rode up for the weekend to see me run...haha...ya right...they of course came to see Cray Man. But it was nice to have some extra faces at the finish line. Here is them leaving on the Harley. Ya...my mom is wearing leather chaps...HA...love it.