Galveston Triathlon, April 4th, 2009

Thanks Babe for doing this with me!

(Disclaimer: I worked on this back in April, so it is pretty much old news! But I knew I still needed to post all about it!)

Kiley & I participated in our very FIRST & most definitely not our last, Triathlon. It was up in Galveston, TX-about 4 hours away from San Antonio. Kiley has been in Houston for the past two months & the triathlon just happened to be the day after his LAST day in Houston. So I drove up with some girlfriends & met Kiley up there (Houston is about 45 min away from Galveston). The ride up was great! It's always fun to sit in a car with a bunch of ladies who are pretty cool & just sit back & chat it up! We were able to stay at a friends house...THANKS FISHER'S!!!! They moved down by us in San Antonio & are trying to sale their house up in Galveston. It got hit pretty hard during the hurricane but is now all put back together & is seriously adorable! The house was maybe 3 minutes away from where we would be racing the following day. We went to dinner & then back to the house. We decided to do a bit of "practicing" for the big day. The pictures say it all! Kiley was such a good sport chillin with all of the ladies! We really had such a great time......lots of great memories!

Yes, we are all so tough!

All of us trying desperately to perfect our form!

Pretty much we rock!

Me & my pal, Molly! She and I decided

to do this Tri way back when & I am so

grateful for her intensity & dedication! Thanks

Molly for making this such a fun experience!

I am the goofy one with my hands up in the air!

Good Job Kiley, Jen, Molly, & Rebecca! We did it!

Eating some food!

Kiley & I getting our Post Massage! It was so

wonderful!!!

I was so proud of Kiley for doing this tri with me! He rocked it. I really wanted to beat him & I almost did, but he beat me by 19 seconds! He did AMAZINGLY well on the swim & kicked all of our behinds! The swim was not quite a 500 meter swim, the bike was 12.5 miles, and the run was a 5k. I was pretty nervous about swimming in the ocean-definitely not my favorite, but doable! The bike was all along the ocean-very calming & serene! Loved it! We had such a great time & will be back next year! I am so glad we did it & am grateful for all the support & help along the way! SO grateful for good friends who were so willing to watch my kids! Becky you are the best! Love ya! Who knows, maybe the Mortensen's will become Triathletes?????

Mother of all posts!!!!

So I am basically 2 1/2 months behind on my blogging! I have loads of pictures that I have been wanting to put on our blog, but Kiley has been gone for the past 2 months with the lap top & most of those pics have been on it. I have also been trying to figure out what the purpose of this blog is......I don't like to boast & brag, but I like for our family & close friends to see & know what we've done, accomplished, and enjoyed through out our days, months, years, etc. I also want it to be apart of our family history & plan to turn our blog into a memory book. With all of that, be prepared that this particular post is going to be enormous! ****Remeber that if you want to see the pictures BIGGER & BETTER, you have to click on them!****

SIDE NOTE: Kiley left to Houston back during the second week of February & just finished up this past weekend (April 3rd). EIGHT LONG WEEKS....although he was able to come home MOST weekends.

I am going to start with March & work my way backwards!
MARCH:
A fun day at the park!

Liv & I went to Walmart one day & she was so stinking cute I just had to take some photos!

Celebrating my friend Becky's birthday! Good Times!

Olivia jumping on the trampoline! So cute!

DAVID ARCHULETTA CONCERT!!!

I know I already posted a bit about this awesome event, but I had a bit more to add! Thanks to Susan, we really did get to meet this talented guy! He was so stinking cute & really fun to hang out with.

My little brother Shawn & his darling wife, Jessica came to visit in March for about a week! I didn't tell the boys they were coming, so I picked them up from the airport & the kids were at our friends house. I had Shawn & Jess go up to their door & ask for Teagen & Brayden. They were so excited to see them! It was so much fun to have them here & really helped me out a TON, especially since Kiley was gone. We had a good time hanging out, going to Sea World, the YMCA, the River walk, the Alamo, Dinner, making cookies, and Swimming! It was so fun & really they were such a great help to me! Kiley was able to come home that weekend & enjoyed a few days with them as well. While they were here, our little sister Ashley received her mission call and my little bro's wife had a baby girl on the same day. We were all sad to miss out on all the excitement, but we were glad we were here together to celebrate for them!

We had a fun day with our good friends the Platt's! We had a picnic at the park, which was FREEZING cold! We sure do love the Platt Family, they pretty much are family to us!

We were able to watch our good friends, the Tourtillott's dog, Ellie! We had so much with her! She is the best dog ever! Olivia ADORED her & was so sad when we had to give her back! I have never been much of an animal lover, but Ellie won my heart! I even let her hop in bed with me! Ya, I know......crazy! But I was all alone & Kiley was still in Houston & I needed someone to keep me company & she is so darn cute!

Liv & Brayden love to dance. So we turned on some tunes and away they went!

FEBRUARY:

*SIDE NOTE: My parents & two of my bro's & two of my nephew's came to visit this month. However, I am waiting for pics from my brother, so I will not post about that adventure until I have the pics!

The Second Grade students at Teagens school had the cutest little "Texas" themed musical at the beginning of February. It was so cute & I about fell off my chair when I saw Teagen up on stage singing & dancing! He did such a great job! What a cute little cowboy he is!

My sweet friend Emily has a FUN Valentine's Day tradition that she has done every year that they have lived here in San Antonio. She puts together a huge Progressive Dinner with couples in the neighborhood. The last stop is always at their house with nummy crepes for dessert & a fun Newlywed game! We always laugh our heads off, say things we probably shouldn't, and leave full! Kiley made it home from Houston just in time. My parent's & two of my brothers flew in to town that very day, so I didn't have to worry about finding a babysitter! It was a lot of fun!

These are some funny pictures of Olivia putting on one of the boys smelly socks! She worked long & hard at getting them on all by her little old self! Way to go Livy girl!

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!

We had a few friends over for the Super Bowl! We had a YUMMY BBQ with all the fixins & lots of good salads & treats!

End Of JANUARY:

These are just some darling pictures of Olivia one Sunday after church. She has been so much fun & her little personality has really started to shine.....Watch Out World!

It's been a long time....

DOES THIS MEAN I AM FAMOUS NOW?????

I have not had two seconds to update this darn blog! We've had lots of visitors over the past month & so I really have not been able to dedicate some time to this blog. I am not going to get it done tonight, however, I did want to post something pretty darn cool. A couple of weeks ago, David Archuletta was here in San Antonio. I was able to go with some wonderful girlfriends to his concert. One of my friends actually knows him personally, close family friends you could say! :) Any how, long story short, we were able to go back stage after the concert & hang out with him & take pics & videos. Looking back I don't know why I didn't take more pics & videos-I think I was just so stinking excited! We had him say a little something to the girls at church that I work with (12-18 year olds). Any how, I hope y'all enjoy the pics & video. IF you ever get the opportunity to go see him, I suggest you do! He is AMAZING!!! Darn it! I saved my video clips on Kiley's computer that he has with him. I will have to add those later.......

Kids are so funny!

This morning Teagen & Brayden were having a little argument at breakfast. They were debating whether or not Barack Obama was bald. Brayden was 100% convinced that he IS bald. Teagen explained to Brayden that if he were bald, he would have a little bit of hair on the sides of his head & nothing on top. After much contemplating, Brayden decided that Teagen was right & that Mr. President after all is NOT bald. What even brought this up is beyond me!

Spurs Mini Slam Dunk Contest!

Teagen is on a basketball team through the Youth Center at Lackland Air Force Base. A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from the director of the youth center asking if Teagen would like to play in the contest during the half time of the Spurs game on January 23rd. Teagen LOVES the Spurs & so of course I told him yes. It was Military Appreciation Day & so that is why the Spurs had asked the youth center to send a few kids to participate. It was so much fun! They had them do the mini slam dunk contest during the first time out. Teagen looked so cute out there...I could only see him because of the big screen, our seats were pretty much nose-bleed!!! It was a fun outing & I must say, it was nice not having a wild & rambunctious little 21 month old tagging along! Thanks Meiers for letting her crash at your place! :) All of the kids that participated ended up winning & were given a $100 savings bond at some bank. Pretty darn cool! Brayden had so much fun yelling "DEFENSE"-everyone around us would start to laugh cause he was so loud! I think the boys loved eating basketball game food...the cotton candy was the best! Poor Kiley was pretty darn tired. We had to pick him up from work & it had been a very long day & he had to be to work the next day early in the morning. But he was a good sport & enjoyed the game with us! I can't even remember if the Spurs won that night! We left before the game was over. How funny!

IT'S OFFICIAL.....Drum roll please!!!!

Today marks the FIRST week of me being 30 (okay, so I started this on Sunday & now it is Thursday!!!!!)! I know, what an accomplishment, right!? It is funny how many people have asked me if I feel different now that I am the big 3-0! Nope, I feel the same as I did when I was 29, heck even when I was 25, except for maybe a few more stretch marks & grey hairs! I have embraced this new age of mine & look forward to making this next year a very memorable one, full of new goals & new adventures! Maybe if I get around to it, I'll even dedicate a post to the "30" goals that I am working towards this year!

So, I am sure y'all are DYING to know what Jen Mortensen did for her 30th birthday. Here are the glorious details!

Unfortunately my birthday fell on a Sunday & so all plans were set for Saturday. Kiley & I got the kids up & headed up to the YMCA for a quick work out. We raced home, I got showered & ready & then my two great friends, Kate & Kim, took me to lunch at the Olive Garden. Kiley had informed me earlier in the week that I needed to be prepared for Saturday. The preparations included: shaved legs, wear something comfortable, bring along a cowboy hat, and a blindfold. After lunch, the girls surprised me with a pedicure that Kiley had planned. That is why I needed to shave my legs.....don't want to gross out the lady who would be giving my legs a rub down! It was a wonderful time & am grateful to my girlfriends for such a fun afternoon!

Kiley had planned for our kids to be watched by our friends & we were off by 5pm for a fun adventure! He took me to Benihana's---so good! It was a great meal & so nice to spend some time alone with him! They sang to me & the waiter announced to the entire restaurant that I was celebrating my 21st birthday....awwww sweet! :) When we got into the car, Kiley put the blindfold & cowboy hat on me. Now of course I had a sneaky suspicion that he obviously had some surprise planned...I thought he was taking me to the Cowboy Dance hall & that some of our good friends would be there to celebrate & dance the night away with us. After a crazy drive & me feeling terribly carsick, we made it to our destination. He told me that we were in a big parking lot & to be careful not to run into any cars. He helped me through the door & instantly I KNEW where we were.....the smell gave it away....we were at my best friend Kate's house! I ripped off the hat & blindfold & to my surprise there was a house full of great friends ready to party with me! Rock band, good food, bday cake, & even presents!!! It was such a fun surprise! I told Kiley months ago that he had better make my 30th a big deal....like throw me a surprise party! I didn't think he could pull it off, luckily he had Kate along with the help of Kim, to do all the dirty work! :) Thanks guys for such a fun night!

On my actual birthday, we rushed to get to church on time (8:30 am, ya I know, it's a love/hate time frame). I enjoyed all the birthday wishes from such great friends!!! Too my surprise, when I came out of church, my car was decorated in "30" & "honk, I'm 30"! It was pretty darn funny! I did get a few honks a few days later & thought people were mad at the way I was driving. Then I realized that Kiley hadn't wiped off the Honk I'm 30 on the back window! We had a little BBQ & Birthday Cake & Ice Cream in the afternoon with a few close friends. It was a wonderful Birthday weekend! Thanks babe for everything! I truly felt so very loved & also so very grateful for such great friends!

My sweet kids gave me a beautiful diamond heart necklace & earrings! Click on this picture above & you may get a better view of it!

It was the best Birthday EVER!

Pillar of Character award goes to.......

Teagen & Brayden both were awarded the Pillar of Character award for Responsibility this past month. Two kids from each class received the award. They got to have a fun donut & juice breakfast & then were given their awards along with a free meal at the Olive Garden. I have to say that I was pretty proud of both of them & had to fight back a few tears. I am thinking that maybe I should award a Pillar of Character once a month in our home...........maybe there would be less fighting, whining, complaining, etc. Any how, it was a proud parent moment! Way to go boys!