bring on the marathon...

morgan and i ran our 20-mile training run yesterday and we seriously kicked trash. it was really a great run. i'm a little sore today in my quads, but i'm feeling really great on the whole. so, i guess we're ready to run a marathon! now we get to taper for the next three weeks, gradually going down in our mileage. oh yeah, nice and easy. :)

kadin's new look

we took a walk to smart cookie on wednesday and kadin had a little fall. it was really tragic. he literally looks like he has the pavement imprinted on his forehead. but he's still cute.

morgan, jill and i went for an afternoon run on thursday because we were too lazy to get up early. my mom was in town to take jill home from school, so she sat at home with joel, kadin and asher while they took their naps. kadin and asher didn't take very good naps, though, so, ben cuddled with them. aren't they sweet?

shabby apple trunk show

my sister, morgan, and i are going to host a shabby apple trunk show on saturday, may 12, from 12:00 to 2:00pm at my home in provo, utah. these dresses are so darling. lots of fun styles and they are all modest! come to try on some totally chic dresses and to munch on hors d'oeuvres. spread the word - anyone is welcome to come. e-mail me if you have any questions or need directions to my house: whitneyshafer@gmail.com

aren't i crafty?

so, i'm not really that crafty (that's why i'm so proud of my creation), but i met my friend, april, at robert's crafts on friday. we picked out letters and fun paper and then she helped me paint and mod podge them. thanks april! :) didn't they turn out cute? now i just need to figure out how to display them.

a magic carpet ride

joel and kadin spent the morning watching the movie "aladdin." after the movie was over, joel proceeded to take the cushions off the couch and put one of them on top of the coffee table. he climbed on top of it and said, "it's a magic carpet!" but every time we asked him, "is that your magic carpet?" he'd say, "no! it's a pillow!" ...a great imagination and a solid grip on reality. i'm so proud. :)

boys, boys, and more boys

last week, ben's sister, kadi, and her two boys, carter and mason, stayed with us for a few days. here's mason cuddling with joel's husky. kadi needs to get this kid a stuffed animal!


a tub full of boys! mason was too little to get in there with them, but maybe next time... :)




and more boys... here's our friends, james and mandy, with their little guy, corbin. totally precious little dude.

and more boys... asher visited us a couple times during the week. he's totally fascinated by the older boys running around him. watch out morgan, he'll be booking around the room in no time. joel and carter were inseparable. here they are reading to each other. they're totally best buds!


kadin doing the "busath stare" and mason just being happy and cute.


carter and joel pretending like they are taking naps. really they are watching the movie "cars."


although, it looks like kadin is hitting mason, he's really patting his head. kadin is such a sweet little dude. he loves to tap heads with babies to "give loves."


and last but not least... classic mason. such a cutie pie.

"supermassive black hole" by muse - the theme of our lives

if my life was a movie, what would my soundtrack be?

so, we got this idea from our friend janaya. ben and i were reading her blog together, and totally cracking up, so we decided to do a soundtrack for our life together...

here's how it works:
1. open your music library
2. put it on shuffle
3. press play
4. for every question, type the song that's playing
5. when you go to a new question, press the next button
6. don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.

opening credits: “cold cold heart” by norah jones (sad commentary on our life together)

waking up: "magical mystery tour” by the beatles (every morning is magical :) in our lives)

first day at school: "tannhauser - arrival of the guests at wartburg” by richard wagner (perfect fit, reminds us of harry potter)

in love: "the natural” by randy newman – “the natural” soundtrack (loving was always “natural” for us, yeah, i know, we're dorks)

fight song: "romeo and juliet, overture-fantasy” by peter ilyich tchaikovsky (this is the section of the song that's the fight scene between tybalt and romeo)

breaking up: "the spirit of god” favorite hymns of the prophets in spanish (wow)

prom: "shambala” by three dog night (there are no intelligible words to describe prom night, I guess)

life's ok: "race to resting rock” by james newton howard - “the village” soundtrack (huh?)

mental breakdown: “prince of darkness” by indigo girls (yeah, that’s awesome)

driving: "eli green’s cake walk” by sadie koninsky (i guess we're just great drivers, well, whitney is anyway... )

flashback: "love is here to stay” by ella fitzgerald (i wonder if love is still here?)

getting back together: "redeemer of isreal” favorite hymns of the prophets in spanish (what the...?)

birth of child: "storm” by vanessa mae (vivaldi – summer) (yeah, you could call it that...)

wedding: "crying shame” by jack johnson (so, I guess it’s a crying shame that we got married)

final battle: "appalachian spring – allegro” by aaron copland (what a jolly day for a battle!)

death scene: "ladyhawke” by alan parsons project – “ladyhawke” soundtrack (maybe whitney will turn into a hawk when she dies like michelle pfeiffer)

funeral song: "if you’ve ever been down blues” by beulah "sippie" wallace (vocals), louis armstrong (trumpet), artie starks (clarinet) (nothing like the blues at a funeral)

end credits: "falkirk” by james horner - “braveheart” soundtrack (perfect epic ending!)


well, our life soundtrack didn't turn out as wicked awesome as janaya's did, but it gave us good laugh.

now it's your turn...

easter fun

we had a fun-filled weekend of easter-egg hunts and chocolate-induced comas. on saturday, we drove up to salt lake city to spend the afternoon with the thompsons, who are our brother-in-law, joel's, family. they were nice enough to let us join their easter-egg hunt. joel seemed to be more interested in the dog than looking for eggs.


this is jackie holding mason, kadi and joel's kid. this is his signature open mouth smile. cute little bugger, isn't he?






on easter sunday, we had dinner with all our family here in provo. joel, kadin and asher all had matching easter outfits, so we tried to get a delightful picture of them, but they wouldn't have it. my favorite part is joel's bare midriff. holding them was about all we could do to make it work, so here's the winner.


after dinner, joel and kadin had an easter egg hunt in our yard around our house, which was followed by flashdance-like rocking out in our kitchen while scarfing down candy.

"this is a fish..."

i walked into the kitchen today, and joel had put his husky dog into one of the booster seats and was reading a book to him. for those of you who don't know, joel's husky dog is his best friend and he doesn't go anywhere without "husky." usually having a stuffed animal that your child is so attached to, makes things a lot easier. he sleeps better with his dog, he calms down faster with his dog and that is when i love "husky." but sometimes, having "husky" makes things a whole lot harder. a few times, "husky" has been left at a store or at a family member's house, and, let me tell you, it is a sad scene to behold. if joel doesn't have "husky" when he's going to bed, he'll cry himself to sleep. on those occasions, i hate "husky." and i suppose this is to be expected, but kadin has formed an attachment equally as strong to his little "blue doggy." like brother, like... brother, i guess. i was just going through our photo library on our computer and was not surprised to find that in a huge portion of the photographs taken of each of the boys, their dogs are either in their arms or in the close proximity. here are some choice shots.



kadin: 10 months old







joel: 15 months old







kadin': 6 months old, please don't mind my double chin :)






joel: 5 months old, check out how beautiful and fluffy husky was back then






kadin: 7 months old







joel: 18 months old







kadin: 6 months old
joel: 21 months old





kadin: 4 months old
joel: 19 months old
this is a special one because both dogs are present :)



they sure are cute toting those little animals around all the time. i think it's safe to say that, for the most part, "husky" and "blue doggy" make life a whole lot easier and a whole lot funnier.