Mi Familia Linda

2009-07-12T09:58:00.003-06:00

The new site is up and if you're interested in our new location send me an email (nancyislucyatgmaildotcom) or you can even leave a message here.

New Blog

2009-07-06T22:49:00.002-06:00

I think it might be too much work to resize all the photos on this blog so I've decided to start up a whole new account. Will I regret it? I don't know but I hope not.

Reaching my 1GB photo space limit has made me visit once again why I blog. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

After things settled down with my health and I wasn't so stressed out and overwhelmed with everything I slowly started picking up some hobbies again. That part of my life disappeared after I entered the having babies stage. Blogging was a baby step, something that was doable, that I could enjoy and was in the budget.

First of all it was a great way to stay connected with friends and family. Living so far away from most of our family was the biggest reason to start one.

Now, besides being able to stay connected with family and friends, I enjoy sharing ideas, recipes, recent activities, my growing photography skills, and achievements. I try to refrain from complaining, whining, and posting negative things although sometimes it just has to be done. I love that when I look at my posts and pictures on my blog I don't have to hear all the fighting, whining, torture, aggravation, depression that can go on everyday. Why do I want to relive all that and although it's unhealthy to deny it really happens, sometimes it's just best to forget and move on.

Some of my posts may make others shrink in embarrassment for me, others might seem like I'm bragging, and of course there is the judgments that people make about me/us that occurs. And although there are the negatives overall it has been really good for me to express myself here.

I enjoy getting comments and this in some ways has been a way to socialize with one another; it's another way to drop a line and in some ways means you care or are interested in me/us because you've taken the time to visit, read, and then comment.

I love that it is relatively cheap to do. I don't have to buy expensive paper, ink, albums, and all other extras that come with scrap booking. I get to record tidbits of our life to share with family and friends now and hopefully the blog will still be around for my posterity. I would hope so considering how much time I've invested in this online journal. I think that's probably the most expensive part of blogging is how much time it can take and often waste.

I try not to spend so much time doing it and actually try to go and have a life. It's quite the balancing act because I enjoy the blogs that are updated on a regular basis, the most. So what is too much blogging? I guess it's a personal decision.

So as for now, I think, this will be my last post here.

Happy Fourth!

2009-07-05T22:22:00.004-06:00

We did the usual BBQ at the house with family, going to a firework show, and then doing some at the house routine. Chris actually ran a 10K early in the morning. 53 minutes of pain. We're slowly easing him into some big time races ;0). Good job babes!

I took a bunch of pictures of the display and this one turned out to be my favorite. It was the first picture I took of the show before I quickly moved to another spot after realizing the signal was in the way.

These were a couple of my favorites as well. Cool huh?

Well, I've hit my 1GB limit for free photo storage on blogger/picasa. How am I suppose to continue my blog? I love to include photos and can't go on without them. I guess I'll have to resize my photos and go through and delete pictures I've uploaded but are not in use. I'd hate to have to use photobucket. Any other suggestions from my fellow bloggers?

Playing Around

2009-06-29T13:22:00.010-06:00

These are some pictures I've taken over the last two weeks that I really liked.

Scenary

This was at Silver Lake when we went fishing. This was taken after the sun went over the mountains. Love the reflection.

This is at the same lake with Mt. Timpanogas and a canoe in the shot taken much earlier in the day.

Wildflowers

These were taken during our camp out at the Spruces. We got tons of rain both nights and I tried to get some shots of the drops afterwards.

People

These are a few of Chris' cousins. My brother in law got married. Although not from here they decided to get married at our local temple and had the reception at the pavillion across the street from my house.

Cross Processing

Some fishing pictures at the lake. I played around with the colors of the pictures.

Water

It's pretty much the same shot except that I played around with the shutter speed and then did some post editing for fun. This was a waterfall on a hike we took during our camping trip up Big Cottonwood Canyon.

Family

This is our little guy making faces on the window of our van.

This was from the top of Timpanogas Cave. The kids enjoyed exploring the cave.

A couple of my favorite people in the world. Taken on our way back down from the cave.

2009-06-21T00:27:00.003-06:00

the Utah Valley Marathon 4:51:57.7

2009-06-14T19:08:00.006-06:00

I had such an awesome experience. The weather was perfect, the course was absolutely beautiful, and I was feeling strong. I was very concerned about the weather since we've been getting a lot of rain, hail, and thunderstorms. However, the cloud cover kept us cool and I only felt a couple drops of rain. I loved, loved the course for many reasons. I didn't have to inhale exhaust from running through a city; the course was secluded to mostly trails (which were amazingly beautiful but I'd never run on them alone because of the seclusion and foliage) and a few quiet streets. The first 10 miles were down Provo Canyon on the road. It was gorgeous. There were a lot of hills up and down. If fact the race began with an uphill. Upbeat music got me through the hills and I tried to run faster on the downhills because I knew once we were out of the canyon, it would get flat. It took me about 30 minutes to get to 3 miles. I got to the halfway point at about 2 hours 16 minutes. And to 21 miles at 3 hours 46 minutes. The last five miles were really, really HARD. But I felt my strongest the first 10 miles and between 16 and 22 miles. I stopped for a short time to take a picture with the boys after the half way point and I walked a short distance to mile 23. After a certain point, it's all mental for me. I really, really want to walk and as I see people who are done, can't help but think how lucky they are.

Chris made these cool t shirts for the boys to wear. Here's A having rice balls for breakfast. We headed to Provo in the wee hours of the morning. They slept in the van before meeting me at the half way point. What troopers!

This is past mile 14 when I first got to meet the crew. They make me smile.

About mile 16

Between mile 21 and 22. Loved these sponges that are soaked in ice, cold water.

For some reason, seeing the end helps me forget my exhaustion and physical pain and gets me to pick things up again.

It truly was an amazing experience and I did well up with tears along the course when I thought about it all.

No Kidding!

2009-06-08T22:43:00.001-06:00

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Most Memorable Pick Ups

2009-06-04T14:02:00.006-06:00

7. My very first pick up at BYU began with..."Don't I know you from somewhere?" Can it get more original? He later told me he had his eye on me while I was having lunch with a friend. I disappeared soon after to go to my class only to emerge an hour later. I saw him from the corner of my eye and knew at once he was headed for me.

6. Can't go to BYU and not have a fifth floor library experience. I was on the fifth floor of the library. Being a newbie at the university, little did I know that not much studying happens on the fifth floor. A guy comes up to me for some small talk. He served in Asia somewhere. I was sensing a little Asian fever from him. A couple weeks later I saw him in the same room I was studying in at the library. I tried my hardest to hide behind someone with no luck. A few years later while I was a missionary in the MTC, he was an MTC teacher and I saw him. I swear he was going to ask me out again.

5. I was waitressing when a guy, a really cute guy actually, asks me if I'm wearing a fake engagement ring or if I'm really taken. I just laughed. In Provo, there is ALOT, I mean ALOT of ring finger glancing! Anyone else agree?

4. Not your typical pick up. I had a job where I helped people with mental disorders or brain damage in their daily activities. I was at one of my clients apartment when in comes three Hispanic guys. I soon figured out that my client was prostituting for money. In Spanish one of the guys asks his friend, "Do you think she's one of them?" talking about me. GRRRR. He sits down next to me. I soon left and my higher ups heard from me!

3. I was at Smiths in Provo putting my cart away when up drives the one and only Itula Mili in his big truck and says, "My friend (as he nods to the big guy sitting next to him) wants to know if you have a boyfriend."

--Maybe the guy was self conscious about his English skills or something but come on!! At least do your own dirty work.

2. I was making the long trek across campus to my car heading home after class. There was a little, blonde guy following close by. He catches up and starts a conversation. He walks me to my car. He asks me my name and how to spell it. Then he asks for my number. I had a hard time avoiding that question since I didn't want to hurt his feelings and make things even more awkward. So I gave it to him. I had just moved and got a new number too. Folks,WITHIN the hour, he called me and said, "You gave me the wrong number." Oops, I accidentally switched a couple numbers, but not on purpose. The nerve of some people. He called several times to get a date with no success. A couple months later he calls me one last time and after I came up with another lame excuse he says, "Well, you have to give me credit for trying."

Well I'll give him that. But, Ericson ladies, a word of advice..... Don't give out your number to guys you're not interested in.

Just as a side note, this was not the only time some guy made sure to get the spelling of my name. BYU had this information line you could call and get people's info. They're address, phone number, even their freaking schedule!!! I'll admit I probably stocked someone once or twice.

And finally

1. I was a waitress at Dennys where I have never been picked up more in my life. The caliber of men there is amazing (sarcasm). Anyways, I had just hit a parked car and left a dent. Hey, I'm a woman, an Asian woman, from California...give me a break. My windows were caked with ice and the guy was illegally parked. I went into the restaurant to find someone who would drive an old, old car. I saw a young guy in a long, black trench coat and asked him if he owned a car that looked like..so and so. He said yes. Me apologetically "I just hit your car and I dent it, do you want to come out and look at it with me?" Nonchalantly he replied, "sure." So we go out there and I'm like can I give you some money for the damage? He tells me not to worry and he'll just hammer it out. I felt terrible. Can I pay for your meal at least? Sure he says. And then he asks me out. geesh. How do you get out of that one?

Some Headlines Sticking in my Head

2009-05-28T13:47:00.008-06:00

Father Alberto Cutie joins the Episcopal Church. I first heard about this Catholic priest from CNN when pictures of him and his bikini clad girlfriend were taken of them on the beach. Scandalous! My thoughts were "dang he's a cutie." I guess if one church doesn't fit, try the next. Just to clarify, I'm being facetious.

This Chinese man pushes a suicidal man off a bridge. When I first heard about this I imagined a dangling man being pushed off a bridge falling hundreds of feet over treacherous waters. He had backed up traffic for several hours and the people were getting tired of it so a citizen decided to take matters into his own hands and it was caught on tape. Only in China.

Ugh. I'm not a huge fan of this show. I've watched it a bunch of times while staying at the lodges in Jackson Hole. It usually just gives me a headache and I wonder why I wasted an hour of my life. I've been keeping tabs on them since we found out he's been out on the town with a "friend." Geesh. To be on national t.v. during your marital problems.....what a predicament. Marriage is hard and to have to deal with all of this while millions watch. brrrrrr....gives me the shivers. Good luck Jon and Kate.

Memorial Day 09

2009-05-26T22:26:00.004-06:00

Every year we struggle to find these graves. We go up and down the rows, reading hundreds of names until we finally find the ones we're looking for.

Can I just add the Uncle Quin is the best. We all love and adore him and are especially glad he is close by.

Goodbye Chewie

2009-05-24T10:14:00.002-06:00

He passed away last night. We'll miss our little hamster.

Some things that make me smile....

2009-05-17T09:16:00.000-06:00

K and the Rubiks Cube, Video editing programs, Cold Play, Chris' laugh

Field Trip to the Firestation

2009-05-15T14:17:00.002-06:00

Munchkins this year (above)vs. last year(below)

Sprouts

2009-05-15T13:52:00.005-06:00

I was so excited when I saw these today. I've been waiting and waiting, even replanting seeds to make sure something would come up. I was wondering if the dirt was too compact, of if the area was not getting enough sunlight or water. Now, I'm seeing the soil cracking in places as the sprouts make their way up.

These are beets that will be thinned out soon.

Strawberry patch last year at this time vs. now. I'm loving it. Hopefully we don't neglect the gardens as much as we did last year.

2009-05-12T23:08:00.002-06:00

As a mother and as a wife I want so much to be better everyday;
I hope to be nicer, happier, funner, energetic, more giving, and especially more thankful.
You make me want to be a better person all the time.
For that, I thank you and for so much more.
Your hugs, kisses, smiles, your silliness, and sweetness make my life so bright and worth all the sacrifice and hard work.
You are the best and I'm so blessed to be a wife and a mother, especially yours.

The Grass is No Longer Greener on the Other Side

2009-05-06T11:53:00.007-06:00

The previous owners put new sod down before they put the house up for sale. Besides the fact that the ground wasn't evened out before laying down the grass I was grateful the dead grass was replaced.

Even with the new sod, it seemed that every Spring we struggled to get our grass green. It really was greener on the other side :0). Ours would be the last to turn green but it was always this pretty, limey shade.

Over the years, you'd see me standing on the grass trying to figure out the kinks. If it wasn't the issue with limey green grass, it was dead spots, weeds, or bugs. I'd try to water out dead spots for hours while my neighbors watched. I've taken tools and poked holes in the strips that were completely dead. A simple "you've got bugs" or any other hint would have been nice thank you.

I began watching those with green, luscious grass so I could see what they were doing right and here are the things I've learned:

Fertilize in MARCH. March is the key. (We were always, always late on this)

And once again in the Fall

Spread bug killer or grubs will leave dead spots when they've eaten the roots.

Anyone have these suckers? Yup from my own yard....pretty but unwanted.

Chris has found fertilizer with weed killer in it. Yay. It helps out tons.

We still have some weeds regardless and that is when we get on our hands and knees and pick them out with this tool:

I've seen all green grass (without weeds) owners do it; I don't have to be ashamed. There really is no other way.

Don't mow too short. Longer grass keeps the moisture in better.

And this year I've discovered the best secret of all when I saw my next door neighbor tackling his grass with it:

This tool. I comb all the dead grass out. It works like a charm, opens the ground for the fertilizer to sink in. Work?!! Definitely....at least a few hours of it and a few days of physical recovery....totally worth it and a little addicting.

So there you have it: My pretty, limey, green grass (I hope it stays that way). It's darker this year and I love it. Now if I could just get my lawn mower operator to get back in town to mow it.......three weeks in Jackson one more to go. :0)

Thanks Tamiya

2009-05-05T16:40:00.003-06:00

for all your cute comments!! Come visit us this summer! Do you have an email address? Sorry I haven't called; I don't have a cell or long distance.

The boy's first ever Horror Flick: Coraline

2009-05-02T22:34:00.009-06:00

It is based on the book published in 2002 by a British Author Neil Gaiman. It was the only kid flick we hadn't seen yet at the dollar theater. Chris was somewhat worried that the boys would have nightmares and was leaning towards not seeing it. How bad can it be, I thought, it's just a cartoon?

However...

Someone hates kids and likes playing mean, cruel jokes on them is what my thoughts turned to when we were actually watching Coraline. It was a freaky show and definitely a Horror. I love a good one and that it was. We didn't get to watch the 3-D version but it was still really good. It reminded me of The Others and even brought up some of the feelings I had when watching Sixth Sense.

The older boys did fine. My youngest was so freaked out the whole time. However, he could only cover his eyes for so long because we ALL wanted to know what would happen next.

If you like weird, scary shows this might be a good one for you.

I'm thinking Halloween costume this year.

Some Updates

2009-04-29T22:46:00.007-06:00

The boys have started up T ball. Today was L's first real game. They had a couple practices and we missed the first game last week since we were in Jackson Hole.

He had so much fun. We had a really busy and fun day and this kid was so happy at the end of it all. He was so pleasant and calm.

This is so typical. I wish I had pictures of the kids climbing the fence while waiting for their turn to hit, or of him sitting on the grass in the out field and even covering his face with his glove to see through it. I remember doing so many of the same things as a kid.

I'm so pleased that kids have stuff like this to do and am thankful for parents who are so dedicated to their kids that these things work out.

The previous owners of our home planted many of these. So pretty.

I'm so happy spring is here. After a long, cold winter I look forward to the warmth, the green grass, and even yard work. I'm always tired and injured after working in the yard. But I really, really enjoy doing it. It's different than the mundane housework. It's outside and fresh. And I think it's rewarding.

We've been reading a lot lately. For having such busy, active little boys it ALWAYS amazes me when we sit down to read and everyone stops moving and for a LONG, long time. It's one of my favorite parts of the day. It gives me relief as well to know that they do have an attention span.

We usually take the kid's bikes/scooters up to Jackson Hole when we go. This time A was able to ride his new birthday bike. It was so much fun. He loves being one of the big boys. Jackson has amazing walk ways for this. I love seeing the bikers, runners and fishermen out in rivers. Everyone says Hi and smiles. I also enjoy getting away from our routine and busy schedule. Sometimes I miss not having to be anywhere, like the good old days when the boys were not in school. This time around I felt sort of guilty. We had to switch up the week since the school had testing for 1st graders and I didn't want K to miss that. We left in a hurry without giving anyone a heads up. I almost felt like I was going to get in trouble for ditching.

Hanging out at the condo. One of these teeny, tiny condos goes for over $400,000. Ouch. One bedroom, one bath.

And after missing for a couple of days, Chewie our hamster finally decides to show up. I was actually relieved and even felt sorry for him. Our hyper active pet isn't as hyper anymore. He's slowly getting better but he's just not the same. I really thought we had lost him for good. After cleaning out it's cage, giving him food, and a bath he's back in the house instead of the garage for now. I'm hoping he runs on his wheel soon or I'm going to be worried. Me of all people, worried about the rat. Can you believe that?

Half Big Boy, Half Baby

2009-04-24T00:03:00.007-06:00

This big boy just had a birthday.

He's just upstairs sleeping and I miss him.

He has been such a fun and sweet little boy.

And now he's old enough to drive the jeep. Sniff, sniff. And although he's enjoying all the things he can do now and really pushing his independence, he tells me he doesn't want to grow up because he knows how I really want him to be a baby for a little while longer.

This is my sad attempt at keeping him a baby and that is to make him put on some baby clothes. All three wore this at around 9 months old.

I think this outfit is for a 12- 18 month old. Again, all three boys wore it.

Then brothers got in on the action. The frog costume that all three wore their first Halloween.

This little jacket was given to us at a baby shower when I was pregnant with K. Still holding strong (thanks Dibbs!)

And as much as we all hate Chuck E Cheese, every kid has to experience it. He loved it. They all did. And it really wasn't all that bad.

Is this the only kid in the world who doesn't like pizza and would rather dip his finger in straight butter and eat that instead? geesh.

The final goods.....cotton candy and a little lunch pail.

And this is why I call/called all of them Half Big Boy, Half Baby when they got to this age. Ahhh, now I'm in the mood to go snuggle.

Life and Death

2009-04-14T12:13:00.003-06:00

We try to clean Darth's fish bowl often since it becomes green rather quickly. I was working on getting him back into the bowl when I accidentally dropped him into the sink. It immediately goes down the disposal.

I put my hand down there and couldn't feel it. Then I did what I always do when I'm in a bind....I try and find Chris. I in a panic told him what happened, but didn't get the reply I was looking for. It went something like....."My hand's too big to fit down there. It's a goner. Turn on the disposal. Make it a quick death." aghh

I was running out of time. I put my hand in again and freaked out when I felt something slimy and disgusting. I just didn't know if I could do it. EEww, gross. Putting my hand in the nasty disposal is something I try to avoid at all costs knowing what things could be festering down there. And now with a slimy, gross creature needing to be rescued, I was grossed out even more.

O.K., I thought, I can do this. It's just a fish. OUR fish. The guilt quickly building up. Chris telling me to turn the disposal on again made me want to get it out even more. A ground up fish in my disposal???.........I couldn't bear that, especially since it's our pet fish, and I was the one who dropped it.

Thankfully, I didn't have to make an emergency run to the pet store to buy another Darth. And thankfully, I didn't have to tell my kids I dropped the fish in the disposal and then turned the disposal on and had to shred it to pieces, while it was still alive, so it didn't suffer for too long.

And today when I was putting the fish back in the bowl, I made sure to put the stopper in, thank you very much.

Easter 2009

2009-04-11T22:40:00.009-06:00

This morning we had a chance to help clean up a small section of Mt. Timpanogas park with some accounting students. It was actually really nice to get out and do that. Upon returning we did the following:

The kids never let a holiday go by without prompting me with lots of reminders on what needs to happen. My kids keep me going :0).

Chris behind the camera...."Smile"

Second try........not much better.

And third try after he said "look like you're happy"

so easy to snap a cute pic of this kid

photoshop

This year I had the kids help me get the candies in the eggs and let them know loud and clear that we'll go hide the eggs and candy while they waited downstairs. With me already holding so many secrets about Santa and the tooth fairy and them COMPLETELY believing they exist......I just couldn't bear to continue on with the lies and the Easter Bunny......especially on such a beautiful and wonderful occasion. Call me practical but I dread the day they figure out Santa is not real and I fear they'll be disappointed. I also wouldn't want them to think Jesus Christ is amongst one of these unreal and commercialized characters that I've been "lieing" to them about. I'll be the first to admit.......I'm a worry wart.....What?...... I heard that.....that was not nice.

The "Easter Bunny"

The boys getting ready to go hunting. The two older ones feeling competitive.

Completely happy with just 2 eggs.

This is after a couple melt downs/screaming fits. It's just so painful when your older brother is snatching all the eggs.

We had dinner, set up an egg/treat hunt for the neighbor kids, and headed to the dollar theater. We watched Hotel for Dogs, came home had root beer floats, baths, and a lesson about Christ and the Resurrection. Kids really do keep us moving. I hope they remember the good times and know/feel our blessings.

I hope you have/had a wonderful Easter as well.

Recent Activities

2009-04-06T00:21:00.013-06:00

This is the gang joining me at the half marathon I ran Saturday.

It was cold, snowy, and windy. We wore gloves, ear covers, pants, layers, used hand warmers and our hoods at times. I ran with the same friend I've run two other half marathons with.

There are a few things that happen each time I run in one of these.........I get super excited about the race (of course this happens pre race after I'm done training for it, not during the training nor during the race).........After a while of running I want to give up and walk...........I try to remember why in the world I wanted to do this in the first place...........I vow to never do one again...........I perform cognitive therapy on myself..........I imagine the second I cross the finish line and I can do the following pictured below.

This is exactly what I do every time: Collapse. How nonathletic but I don't care. And then after a few minutes of this precious moment of pure relief and I kid you not it is pure relief to be done, I move on. And finally........... I get crazy again and start thinking about the next race and even wanting to improve. Yeah, I've got serious issues.

Here's L and Dad getting use to the new birthday bike.

This was earlier today. Now why couldn't it be this clear and dry yesterday?

Did anyone else get a chance to fly kites? There was some great wind last Thursday. There are so many things between Chris and L that are alike; one is how sensitive they are to light. And I'm thinking PaPa is probably exactly the same way.

I chopped off some of A's hair.
He's always reminded me of Curious George

and now with his new haircut I have to add Terk as well. I may just have to make that his blogger name.

K lost another tooth. He included this note with the tooth. I'm thinking the tooth fairy needs to fess up soon.

He placed 1st amongst the first graders in the Sandy Art's Guild competition. Yay! They were presented with their award last Wednesday. He got a shirt and some pens and his piece will be displayed at our library through the month.

And this is a picture I took at the park today. I like it. I'm just tired of looking at bare trees and am seriously ready for Spring.

I love conference weekend. We listen to needed messages from our beloved leaders. We get together with family which I was really missing and glad we got to do. And after watching t.v. and listening to the radio broadcast for so long, we can go on a guilt free excursion to release some of that built up energy. My favorite messages or the ones that stuck were about making our homes like the temple (clean, pure, orderly, etc) and if our children know, feel, hear our conviction to the gospel. Hmmm, lots to think about.

Some of my Fav. Finds

2009-03-31T13:24:00.004-06:00

We have these often and recently found that I was paying WAY too much for grits. This 24 oz. container of grits sells at Maceys for $2.19. Walmart sells this exact one for around $1.60. Wow, I have been wasting my money.

I was recently introduced to V-fusion by some friends and immediately was hooked. One serving contains a serving of fruit and a serving of vegetables. My fav. is the Strawberry Banana. YUM. I was disappointed that Maceys and Smiths sold it for over $4.00. However, Walmart sells it for just under $3.00. It's worth the price for me since we don't always get those needed antioxidants.

Hormel natural Choice deli meats is the sandwich meats I buy. There are no NITRATES in them. Again, it is not a cheap choice. Smiths and Maceys sells them for well over $4.00. Once in a while Smiths will mark them down. However, I find them marked down to $2.50 and less at Walmart quite OFTEN. We get turkey or chicken. There aren't a lot of choices but still worth it to me; I just can't imagine feeding my kid all those nitrates. School lunches freak me out because of that........the poor kids consume so much processed meat. It's crazy.

This is my favorite brand bread from Maceys. They also have plain white, buttermilk, honey multi grain, and plain wheat. We stock up on the multi grain and the yummy white. They use to go for under $1.00 but not anymore. However, I bought several loaves for $1.25. And if you are interested in the ingredients there they are below. Click to enlarge. Stone Ground Whole Wheat is the first ingredient....not bad at all!

And

I paid $5.00 plus tax for the above beverages which includes the soy milk, 2 gallons of Organic milk, and the calcium fortified juice. The soy normally goes for $3-4, the organic normally is $5.99 and the juice over $2.00. I did have to buy 7 boxes of cereal from Albertsons to get the milk at 3 boxes for $5, still not a bad deal and we needed cereal anyways. The juice was on sale for $1.00 a half gallon at Smiths.

Happy Shopping!

Happy Birthday Sweety

2009-03-29T23:13:00.008-06:00

Here are some baby pictures of this birthday boy before I go on.

This is him with big brother when he was actually smaller. Not anymore.

Smile for mommy....yeah right. K was the only one who could get this munchkin to smile in the early days.

Inseparable then inseparable now.

Traveling. Never again.

From Winter to Spring to Winter again. Boing Boing Boing......reminds me of this little munchkin and his daddy. We bagged the sledding party due to how bad the weather was (it melted all our snow) and had a "bubbles party" instead. This was L's idea and it turned out to be so much fun. A couple of the things I love about this kid is his ability to be flexible and that he's fine with whatever.

Here he is before the big event. Sometimes I wish I could get into that mind of his and have a sneak peak. What is he thinking about?

We did some fun art. Chris through his work volunteered at a preschool and they did this cool project. The white stuff is shaving cream. Food coloring is used to make designs in it. You slap some paper on that and smear off the stuff and you have this cool design on the paper.

We played around with Bubbles. I also had some hangers and large cookie sheets filled with soap/water. It made for some huge bubbles and smiles.

Sang the song and had some cupcakes. Loved how he kept blowing out the candles one by one WHILE we sang the song. TYPICAL him.

Made Snow Cones. If we're not going to have snow for a sledding party, we might as well eat the stuff.

Here I am throwing out profanities and wondering what I've gotten myself into. Nah. I absolutely LOVE doing these parties for my kids. They're just sooooo HAPPY and content when we do. I think it's worth the headache and body aches afterward ;0).

Love the face. We made this crazy pinata the day of. We actually really liked it and felt it reminded us of the birthday boy. It stood up quite well actually. Everyone got a couple rounds of hitting it.

Watch out these girls can SWING a stick.

Little A finally joined us. He was napping.

The boys love this part of the festivities. I wonder why. They've been playing with the stuff ever since and are just happy, busy little guys.

Typical L. Can't get him to smile for me unless he doesn't know I'm snapping a picture of him while he's engaged in something fun. You wouldn't be able to tell from the picture but he was so pleased with the day. He really loves and appreciates the things we do for him. He's been so thankful for this and that. The cutest has been when he cuddles up next to me or sits on my lap and says "I like how you are sooooo warm." I'm eating it up while I can.

And this was taken today just a day after the party, right in our own backyard you know the same exact one we had the party in just yesterday. SNOW, SNOW, and more SNOW. Anyone wanna go sledding? Geesh.

I Need Snow

2009-03-24T22:42:00.006-06:00

I've been working with this picture for L's birthday party invitation. It turned out cute and I thought about posting it here but it has a lot of info. on it so I opted not to. I just can't believe my precious kid is as old as he is. It is such a fun age but it's a sad realization that these kids grow up so quickly.

I really want him to have a special birthday. This is the second year in a row his daddy has been out of town on his special day. Drat. And he's so confused about which day is actually his birthday. Is it the day preschool celebrates his birthday? Or is it Saturday when he has his party? Or is it really the actual day? He seemed a little disappointed. And rightfully so.

He really wants a sledding party and I really want to give it to him. But it's such a toss up at this point in the year. Will we have snow?? I can't believe I will actually be hoping and praying for snow when I want it to be Spring so badly. I'm worried about giving these invitations out tomorrow not knowing if that snowstorm that is forecasted to hit will be good enough.

And here are some pictures from his recital tonight.

A picture with his amazingly talented instructor, Susan Wilcox. We learned a lot from this 8 week course and I'm very tempted to retake it, this time with my tot.

A Very Long Post

2009-03-23T23:35:00.002-06:00

When the fish bowl starts looking a little green and murky the kids make sure to tell me (as if I don't already see it). This normally means it's time for me to clean it.

When I feed Darth 5 pellets instead of 3, like the pet store attendant advised us to do, they make sure to tell me I'm overfeeding it.

They repeatedly say, "mom, isn't the hamster so cute?" and "don't you just love Chewie?" What I really want to say is "No" but I try to be nice and say something like "uh huh." For some reason I haven't bonded with Chewie and have no desire to either.

They love to take it out and hold it. It makes me slightly irritated because it's always before we eat and even though I make them wash their hands, I can't help but think of all the little germs, dander and microbes still clinging to those little fingers that they're going to use to eat and maybe even end up licking. eew.

They build things for it and like to let it roam around on our carpet, their blankets, and sheets. I try to cut these activities short to try to avoid an accident. Hamster waste is sooooo stinky and not a pretty sight AT ALL folks. We have learned the hard way. And even though the kids know what I'm talking about, they insist on letting it explore.

When it's low on food, they bring me the teeny bowl.

When I set it's cage somewhere out of the way, it's brought back to somewhere in the way. When I put it near the back door, someone tells me it's too cold for him and moves the cage somewhere warm.

When I leave the cage outside after cleaning it out, they once again tell me it's too cold even though I remind them that the hamster is furry. I like to say, "It's not the cold you should be worried about, it's the CATS." They look at me with horror and so I bring the cage in out of guilt.

When the hamster goes missing, what do they do? They refuse to go to bed. And when we've search up and down and it is not turning up and they're forced to go to bed, they are devastated, torn, and worried. I lean more towards, "What a waste of 8 bucks," or "I hope it doesn't die in our vents and make the house stinky" or "I wish it wore a diaper." Regardless of my thoughts, it's one of the few prayers that's uttered from my mouth that they actually listen to and insist on making sure I ask God to help us.

I can't say I know what all the fuss is about. I use to be a pet person but not so much anymore. If I may just say for the sake of this post that my kids are like my pets, then the only pets I fuss over and absolutely adore are the ones I gave birth to. I do love to hold them and snuggle with them, maybe even to some degree like the way they love to hold Chewie. And do I ever FUSS over them. Yes. When I think they're in danger of being cold, I bundle them up, I wrap them up in blankets, etc. etc. I'm constantly making sure they're clean and fed, that they get attention and are allowed to explore. And when they go missing, I certainly don't go to bed, not that that has happened too many times. But when they are away, I think about them and hope they're safe and sound. And those are just a few out of the millions of times I've worried and fussed over each and every one of my boys, pets if you will.

And although I haven't ever thought to say, "Isn't the hamster so cute and don't you just love him?" you most likely have heard me say or write plenty of similar things about my kids. So I guess I can see what some of the fuss is about. Perhaps it's a reflection of how much love they've experienced and these pets are allowing them to exercise and cultivate their abilities to care for and love something/someone. And those are good things.

Come to think of it and now remembering some of my pet experiences......I cried everyday for several days when my pet bird was attacked by a cat and later died from it. Actually I was devastated and heart broken, nothing could make me happy for days, especially not a replacement. It's possible to love something that much and actually I'm kind of glad my kids are really experiencing it.

And I can't forget about the day I returned home from serving a mission in Japan only to find my dog missing. It had been 5 months and no one bothered to tell me. What did I do? I went looking for her and even tried calling for her as if it were just that morning that she disappeared. She was so darn cute and so fluffy as a puppy. And I was so excited to see her. Bummer. I hope someone good found her.

And how many times did I have my cat sleep in my bed? So many times, I had fleas in my bed, but I didn't care. And I can't forget to mention that I was allergic to it and would wake up puffy eyed and sneezing.

All right, my heart if softened. I guess I just needed to be reminded of my kid days. And now I can try to be a little more sympathetic to our pets and empathetic towards my kid's feelings.

So the next time they ask me "Don't you just love Chewie?" I can say something like "I'm so glad you love Chewie and I had pets I loved when I was your age....."

Blue Knights Soccer Club

2009-03-22T23:00:00.000-06:00

had the opportunity to parade on the field for RSL's open house last Saturday.

The Blue Knights train year round thanks to the dedicated coaches.

We got a chance to check out this awesome, new stadium.

The boys were pretty excited about this day. There's K and his friend to the left who went to 2 years of preschool together and kinder. This cutie happens to be the youngest son of the president of the club, Martin Villegas. K has improved drastically since being coached by Martin. It's people like this, who are so passionate and dedicated about something, that inspire me and keep me looking to see what amazing things they'll do next.

Pastels

2009-03-22T22:26:00.001-06:00

The boys had fun using pastel colors. We used a low odor thinner instead of turpentine on their projects. Little brother got robbed with the cheap paper; guess I better include the good paper on the shopping list for next time.

Engaged

2009-03-19T13:47:00.005-06:00

This is my bro-in-law and future sis.-in-law. I took some mock engagement pictures for them. These are a couple of my favorites.

Team Hoyt......This story GIVES me goosebumps and brings tears to my Eyes. Check it Out.

2009-03-17T16:00:00.000-06:00

I've read and heard about this inspiring father and son team and thought I'd look into them some more. I found this cool video of them as I've been wondering what inspires people to race. This is a unique situation and one that uplifts and touches my heart.

Click on their website for more information on their foundation to help the physically challenged.

Cheapskate

2009-03-17T15:42:00.003-06:00

This Cheapskate had some good ideas on how to save money.

1. Don't have a cell phone. Lucky Chris' work pays for his Blackberry otherwise he'd be like me: cell phone less.

2. Get rid of a car. I guess the average American household has 2 1/2 cars. This would be nearly impossible for us. We need our 2nd vehicle. Besides we don't have car payments and insurance is reasonable. Gas is another story.

3. Give up meals outside of the home. He said that "40 percent of the average American family household food budget is spent on meals prepared outside the home."
Wow!! I was wondering about this exact topic because we eat maybe once or twice a month out of the home (minus Chris' lunch but those are mostly expensed) and I've been wondering what other people do. My goal is to spend not more than $150 every two weeks on groceries but I'm averaging $180 right now. It's pretty slim pickings towards the end of the two weeks but I can be creative towards that time if I put my mind to it.

4. Don't buy new clothes. If you looked at us you'd say....they need some new clothes. We actually NEED to go do this ASAP. We don't spend anywhere near as much as this article is saying people spend. It says $1800 per family!! I'm thinking per year. Geesh, what would that be like???

And

5. Let your college kids live at home while they go to school. He made a good point...that these kids accrue a lot of debt and then what happens after graduation??? They move back home.

So there you have it. These aren't ideas too surprising or anything you haven't thought of before.

I would add:

1. Unplug, unplug, and unplug that is things that don't need to be plugged into outlets.

2. Turn your furnace down a setting or two. This has saved us quite a bit on our gas bill in the past. It's back up to the highest setting for us but if you can turn it down and still have enough hot water for your needs, I say leave it down.

3. Turn it off. The computer doesn't have to be on all the time, same with the lights, radio, t.v. lamps, blah, blah, blah.

What are your cheapskate idea?

Happy Birthday Babes!

2009-03-15T22:33:00.007-06:00

May we Celebrate many, many more together. If anyone deserves a fun day and to be spoiled rotten it's You.

I wasn't in the mood for the same old, same old so I went down my phone list of friends calling around for unneeded 2 for 1 coupons to this awesome place (next to REI) and thanks to the Redd's for letting us borrow some of their gear, we saved tons of muulaa and surprised Chris with this.

Our first date was to a rock climbing gym on a group date. We had a lot of fun. For one I love getting physical and two I was with the hottest guy ever.

Loyd and Angela were good sports.

After Loyd was done he traded his harness for a teeny one and the boys all got a chance to climb.

They were a little freaked out as they got up there, understandably.

They had this section for kids to climb while we climbed our walls. It was pretty nifty. They do have a day care for anyone who cares to know.

Upon returning we had my unattractive but delicious chocolate cake.

And of course we played Cities and Knights. So here's to being resourceful, sneaky, and freaking awesome.

Sledding

2009-03-07T22:08:00.007-07:00

As much as we would like it to be Spring already, the truth is the snow and the cold will be around for a while longer. So here's to some more winter fun.

The two younger ones and I headed to a local park for sledding while K was at school and after we picked K up from school we hit the slopes again before heading home.

Some Insight

2009-03-02T21:47:00.005-07:00

On a weekly basis I am humbled by the little things that occur in my life; I realize I have a long way to go.

I also know I have my work cut out for me.

My chores can be mundane, repetitive, and aggravating.

Sometimes I feel like I'm running in circles and not getting anywhere.

I'm tired and I think I know why. I'm hoping you can relate.

February Memories

2009-02-28T20:43:00.001-07:00

Stuff

2009-02-26T22:22:00.008-07:00

Old Jow

K wrote a song titled Old Jow. He makes up his own music on the piano and I asked him to write this one down. This is what he came up with on his own.

He just finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Even I have never read it before. I guess that can be my next read.

Crazy Hair

How crazy can your hair get? I just laughed when Chris got up from laying down and I saw this. It looked cooler/funnier in person....just like a flame. Yeah, o.k. it's not that funny. But it was in real person. You'll just have to trust me.

Photoshop

Before

After

I can get really addicted to photo editing and be neglectful of other things. I must remember BALANCE.

Chewie

I'm realizing more and more that poor Chewie may actually not be overjoyed and thankful to be living with us after all.

Earlier today, L was working on this really cool cage for him. He spent quite a bit of time on it. He had a doorway, bedding, and food all ready for Chewie to enjoy. Somehow he got out of it and when I went to catch him he looked weird. REALLY weird, like he had swallowed a couple of eggs kind of weird. I freaked. I thought he was going to explode or something. I put him into his real cage and did an internet search. I found out that hamsters will stuff their cheeks with food if they think that they will not have access to it for a while. When I went to check up on him he looked normal again and sure enough I found a pile of his food that he had spit out, in the corner of his cage.

The poor guy was probably thinking it was a repeat of the last time he was trapped in a dark closet without food and water for 8 plus hours. Here I was thinking "oh cool, L made this house thingy for him and all" when in fact it was another one of his ploys to torture the poor thing.

This was the moment I realized and have come to accept that Chewie is really in survival mode and just trying to get through one day at a time.

Nursery

And I will relate our nursery experience from last Sunday. It was the worst I've ever experienced. All babies crying at the same time and at different times throughout the 2 hours. One kid booked it like he usually does. Upon his return he wanted his coloring page. When he didn't get it he started throwing hard plastic toys, cars, and even a chair. Who said working in the nursery was the easiest calling ever?

Next week I'm bring my ammunition: Candy. Crying baby? Candy. Runaway child? No problem. We'll lure him back with Candy. Not Sharing? Here have some Candy. Not getting your way? Piece of Cake. I have just what you need.

*Sigh* I guess I need a real game plan.

Date Night ( last Saturday)

2009-02-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

3 boys and 3 girls, It doesn't get cuter than this.

So the parents of these gals could go on a long overdue date without kids I offered to watch them. Besides Chris had big plans for the garage and it would be a perfect day to tend the girls. The kids played soccer, jumped on the tramp, and completely destroyed the house before settling down for a movie and treats.

Chris had been talking about organizing the garage and I was excited for him. I figured I'd help him by assisting with the clearing out of the garage and sweeping (the boys helped with this) and by having these ladies over for the boys to hang out with it kept them clear out of Dad's way. It worked out nicely.

BEFORE

AFTER

2009-02-20T11:53:00.002-07:00

Last week after helping out at K's school, we joined them for recess. These swings are the best. I remember as a kid we'd see how high we can get before jumping off.

My experiences with Adoption......

2009-02-18T13:11:00.005-07:00

are few but with a recent reminder of them, I decided to share.

Natsume

The first was when I was in Hiroshima, Japan as a missionary. My companion and I would go to the local orphanage once a week and play with the babies and toddlers. They were housed in a very large room, maybe half the size of a basketball court. There were lined up cribs and beds, an area for children to play, and rooms to quarantine sick kids. There were maybe around 10 babies and at least that many pre school age kids that were usually away in activities or school. Two of the orphans I remember vividly was one covered in eczema and how I felt so sorry for him and the second was Natsume. I was drawn to her and like many of the babies, they just wanted to be held. She was 9 months old and I would hold her every week.

Orphanages in Japan are kept secret. In fact, many Japanese people including some in my own family were unaware of them and in fact flat out denied the existence of them. Koji is the word for orphan. It is impolite to use that word. And many of the kids at the orphanage actually have parents who come to visit them but are unable to take them home for reasons such as financial or medical conditions. In fact I remember one day when the father of one of the little boys came to visit him and the little boy cried and cried when he left. I can't imagine the hurt that little boy was experiencing and I was pained for him. One of the workers patted his back while he lay crying, maybe even screaming.

Well, over the weeks of visiting the kids, I became quite attached to Natsume. I did manage to snap a picture of her before I was told that was a no, no. I may get a scanner soon to be able to share the picture. After my return to America I inquired of her. A friend who went back to inquire of her for me said that Natsume has parents and is not available for adoption. And that was the end of that. She would be around 9 years old today.

Baby Angel

Maybe a year after I met Natsume I met "baby Angel." My mom was watching the news one day and heard about this baby who was found next to a dumpster. Someone had heard crying and checked it out. He was just a newborn. Being a foster parent, my mom thought "I hope they call me to take him." A couple weeks later he was brought to our home. While the paper work was filled out, I held him, for 2 hours. I didn't move. He had a terrible diaper rash from not being bathed properly.

Every night I would get up to feed him. And we bonded quite well. In fact, when I left to return to school, he cried and cried that night. He was about 4 months old and my parents could not console him. This was the happiest, most grateful little thing. He NEVER cried. When he was hungry he grunted. Perhaps that night, since my parents weren't use to getting up in the middle of the night, they didn't hear the grunting noises that would wake me every time that signaled his hunger. I don't know. But I know babies are more aware than people give them credit for.

In fact he was left to respite care for a week while my mom and I traveled to Utah. When we picked him up, tears rolled down his face, no noise or wimpers, just free flowing tears. His hair was completely matted and tangled up. The lady was an older lady with health problems and apologized for not being able to pick him up. I was really, really sad and pretty sure he was upset with us.

He was adopted at 7 months by a family he fit right into. He weighed 27 lbs. at 7 months. His adoptive father was very tall and looked just like him. I think he was really happy and felt right at home with them when they picked him up from our house. His sister who was probably in her early 20s was absolutely gorgeous and the mother was a nurse. And I just felt really happy for him. I was lucky to be there (perhaps on break from school and I think Chris was with me). He would be around 8 years old today.

Moses

Was around 5 when we met him. He was one of a few siblings who my mom took in. He was smart, well behaved, quick to obey, and in fact sought to be loved therefore quick to please and impress. Chris absolutely adored this kid and talked often about adopting him. K was a toddler when I inquired about adopting Moses. However, the agency was adamant about keeping the siblings together. We were just students living in apartments and that was out of the question. They were finally adopted. (Moses would maybe 10 years old today).

LDS family Services

While an intern there, I had the opportunity to sit in the exchange of a child. The mother of this particular baby could not take care him. She already had one child, the older sibling. Words and gifts were shared in a short meeting between the mother and the adoptive parents before they went separate ways. I was the last to leave, shutting the door behind me to give the new parents a moment with their newborn.

The last thing I saw was the father break down in a silent burst of tears. I lost my breath. What a happy moment. And what a relief it must have been to finally be through all the stress and possibility of it not going through. I have no idea how long this couple waited for this moment. They weren't a young couple and I speculate it was not an easy process.

So there you have it. I'm obviously open to adopting in my life. I've never had the desire to adopt just to have more kids or to take in unwanted ones or a certain child of a certain ethnicity but I have had the desire to take in kids that have been in my life and that I have known for a while and have fallen for.

Some things I love About My Boys

2009-02-13T00:00:00.008-07:00

Chris gives amazing hugs and he doesn't hold them back. They're the kind of hugs that completely engulf me with warmth and make me feel safe. When he gets home, he loves for us to welcome him and he is known to have treats ready for us when we do. All of what I just mentioned I don't take for granted. I can't imagine my hubby coming home and not acknowledging us or the other way around, especially not exchanging those simple acts of love.

He's also very warm. It's instantaneous body heat whenever I want. Crawling into my sheets to be welcomed to toasty, comforting, relaxing heaven is soo, soo nice.

And what did he do when he got back from a long and dreary day from work? He joined us for K's Basketball game. He looked so weary and I offered him to stay home and relax. "But, I love being with my family," was his reply. I'm so lucky. Upon our return, the bedtime and winding down begins. Some people might head straight to the t.v. or something but Chris was so kind to clean up our after dinner mess.

K is reading a lot lately. He makes me so proud. He started reading a series called The Secrets of Droon.http://www.booksforkids-reviews.com/2008/09/secrets-of-droon-hidden-stairs-and.html There are tons and tons of books in this series. He flies through them. Tonight he read for 1 hr and 15 minutes. Granted, he does everything possible to avoid bedtime and I'm o.k. with him reading. I asked him about the books and his reply was "I love them!" He has such a good attention span and is a blessed little boy. One of his teachers said this about him "He is the perfect student and I wish I could clone him." I'm a proud mama. The best time to bond with him is when he's in bed and we can just chat without interruption. He loves this time and becomes the sweet little boy I know is in there.

L is my helper. When I'm cleaning up he is quick to do his part. Even when he was a teeny, tiny tot he preferred throwing out his own messy diaper. If I'm cleaning, he wants to help. Today he asked me if he could sweep the floor. When I clean the hamster's cage, he is right there to help. If I'm vacuuming and I ask him to pick things up, he is done in a jiffy. This isn't always the case. But, boy he is such fresh air in so many respects. There is so much more cajoling and coaxing not to mention drama with hmm, hmmm, I'm not mentioning names.

A is pure sugar. He is the sweetest little thing. He is my pleaser. And always wants to make sure I'm happy. If I ask him to do something and he says no and I respond with a sad face.....he can't have that....he'll be quick to do what I've asked. He looks at me and tells me "I love you" several times a day. He such a cuddly kid and I eat it up. I admire his agreeable personality and he just melts my heart.

Being able to affiliate with the aforementioned people is such a privilege. I have a lot more growing up to do but they've helped me to be a better person in so many ways. I've learned so much about love, showing love, and receiving it from being a wife and a mother.

I remember as a kid having such a hard time making Valentines and writing mushy stuff to my parents. I just couldn't do it unless it was in 3rd person. I know, I know, I'm a freak, Super freak. Not to mention I can't say "I love you" to anyone but Chris and my kids. I know, I know....Super freak, Super freak. But hey, I think there are people just like me out there. I'm not alone in this.

And even though I struggle to do this with certain people, I don't have any problems with my own little family, thank goodness. I also make sure to do it a lot (o.k. I can't help myself) and I'm hoping that my kids will feel comfortable saying "I love you" to us and others they love. The older boys are starting to get a little uncomfortable with the mushy stuff. K won't kiss me on the lips anymore but I'm pretty sure that is normal. (Chris doesn't like kissing the boys on the lips and only lets them kiss him on the cheek. I kiss my kids on the lips). In fact I remember seeing people my age still kissing their parents on the lips and I almost freaked, super freaked.

I thought I'd mention my family of orientation. My younger brother was my best friend for years. We were really close and were inseparable. Since I can remember I always looked up to my older brother and watched his back at my expense. Although we've all gone our separate ways we've always been friends and watch out for each other. It's not unusual that one calls another because of "premonition" and just wanting to make sure he/she is o.k. My parents are good, hard workers. My mom is the affectionate one and my dad is not at all. Although he was the one that would check up on us when we were sick. And I really like how he respects our privacy and doesn't push things on us.

O.K. I think I'm done tinkering with this post.

2009-02-11T12:15:00.002-07:00

2009-02-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

Some Songs....

2009-02-06T11:16:00.010-07:00

that make me feel good, happy, alive, thoughtful, faster, motivated, feel like dancing, and can take me to La La land if I need to go. "Sexy Love" may be appalling to some of you but I really actually like it. It picks me up when I run. If there's a song you think I'd enjoy, let me know.

Play Group

2009-02-03T10:27:00.004-07:00

This is one of the best things I got involved with this school year. Every Fridays the boys get together and play at a friend's house. It's a small group of boys but big enough to engage in play and enough that I host once a month. And also with K's busy schedule it covers the playing with friends part of his life that is important but hard to do with a busy schedule and not having a next door neighbor to conveniently play with. It's during L's preschool time and A's naptime so they don't have the "annoying" younger brothers to deal with. Here we are on a walk on our way home from picking L up.

For L, we call a friend to come over. I really want to have his friends over more regularly. It's so good for them.

A is content and so far hasn't really shown a need. He always has someone to play with anyways. He's very attached to us and flipped last Sunday when K gave a talk during primary and Chris and I left to go see it while someone sat with the nursery kids. I hope he grows out of it seeing that he'll start preschool in the Fall.

Chewie Incidences

2009-02-03T10:12:00.002-07:00

Soon after we got our hamster, L woke up in the middle of the night extremely itchy. We soon discovered he was allergic to Chewie's bedding. We put it's cage in the downstairs shower and it's been there alot. We did figure out how to deal with the problem and L had been fine ever since. I change it's bedding every other to few days. His bedding now is shredded homework, mail, and ads.

L put Chewie in his running ball and then put him in a teeny tiny closet stuffed with books. It was there for hours until L remembered. Poor thing was starving amongst other things.

The next day L was holding the hamster, for a while, when Chewie bit his thumb and left a hole. Since then L has been a little leery.

I was doing laundry and forgot to close the stair gates while Chewie was in his ball. Chewie fell down the stairs.

Little A threw Chewie across the room while he was in his ball. I wasn't in the room but Chris witnessed it. I just heard the commotion afterward.

So far the hamster has been resilient; But, I don't know how much of us it can take. We do try to take care of it but sometimes things happen. It's definitely on the bottom of my list of priorities but nevertheless I do what I can.

Shhhh.....

2009-01-31T15:56:00.013-07:00

Shhh.....

There's a special party for a birthday boy

And your invited to show

But don't tell K because he doesn't know

So if you can make it, here's a word to the wise

Make sure to be prompt 'cause it's a surprise

We're excited to see what his face will be showing

We hope it will have not a trace of him knowing.

K's Surprise Birthday Party

The poor little fellow has been asking about his party all week long. We planned to take a few friends to the Discovery Museum after toiling with a dozen other ideas. However, it just didn't feel right, even after all these weeks of tossing out ideas and finally picking one. It came to me in the middle of the night and it felt like the right thing to do. After passing the above "book club" invitations to his friend's mamas we were set to go.

The kids were so excited to hide behind the couches, jump out, scream "surprise," and pop their confetti at him. His face went from sad, to blank, to happy enough. After he tackled his friends the party began.

We played games,

had a light lunch and cupcakes

and hit a pinata.

It was complete chaos in the best way possible. There were a few close melt downs I was able to distract. One which included my own. I took video footage of the surprise and then soon after it was all done I noticed I didn't have the recorder on. sniff, sniff....Better luck next time.

He got tons of fun stuff including 6 bionicles none of which were the same. How cool is that? He got one for Christmas and loves it. Thanks to his buds he has a nice collection and is one happy kiddo.

And hey since we're all cleaned up why not try a picture of all of us for once.

Just something I've been thinking about....

2009-01-28T22:18:00.005-07:00

Air. I look around at the pollution we've created in the last 100 years when the earth has been around for so long. I feel uncomfortable thinking about how much damage we've done in just a few short years. The inversion is such a reminder of this.

Water. My shower is very, very hot and has pretty good pressure. I can be in it for as long as I'd like, EVERYDAY, maybe even twice a day. My kids bathe in a tub full of water and then it all goes down the drain instead of somewhere else it could be used. Not to mention all the laundry I do. Wear and wash, wear and wash. There's no conserving at all.

Trees. I throw away so much paper in the form of unwanted mail, ads, homework, etc. It doesn't go away. There are always papers to be dealt with.

Land. We consume and produce so much garbage. I cringe at my garbage can and feel guilty thinking about where it's going.

Energy. How often does something get left on? All the time. Everything plugged in, sometimes running all day and all night.

Gas. During the winter, it's easy to turn up the needle so the house is toasty warm and we're all taking off our socks and walking around in t-shirts. It can be on all day and all night.

My consumption and wastefulness seems endless. (We actually don't do all of the above to the extent you might be thinking but I'm wanting to make a point.)

The recession is rough. Lately all I read about is the number of jobs lost today. And about people desperately giving up and doing the worst possible things to themselves and others.

But, there is a part of me that feels like going through this is exactly what we need to jolt us from our consuming selves, our constantly working selves, cashing our paychecks , and buying stuff and our constant need for entertainment and living it up.

Is it so bad to stay at home and have a simple meal and then just hang out? Is it so bad to not have the latest and the coolest fad? Would it hurt me to re wear our clothes and cut back on being on the internet? Would it hurt me if there was less of everything including department stores, less hours that people are at work and therefore not be able to buy something whenever I want?

Life would be simpler, life would be less complicated, life would be less competitive, life would be at home more and together more.

Todays news reads "The U.S. Postal Service may be forced to eliminate a day of mail service because the economic downturn has led to plummeting volume and revenue, the postmaster general said Wednesday." http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/28/news/economy/postal_service/index.htm?postversion=2009012820

The post office open one less day...... I think that is positive not negative. Less garbage, less emissions, yes less money, but hey more time at home with the family. Isn't that more important?

Call me naive. Call me ignorant. Tell me I'm asking for it and I have no idea. I'd rather you not and ask that we all think about some of the positives of this hard time.

Today's haircut/pictures

2009-01-21T13:31:00.003-07:00

This little guy needed a haircut today. You can see in the picture below taken a couple days ago that it was getting a little crazy. We spent a few minutes cutting his locks and even longer cleaning out the drains. His hair is feathery and does this cool flip.

Meet our Pets

2009-01-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

Some time last spring/summer we added Darth (short for Darth Vader) into the family. Amazingly it is still alive. Only 2 or 3 times did I find hundreds of fish pellets in it's tank. Other than that, the boys have been pretty good at not over feeding it.

At times I wonder if it's bored so we have it join us for dinner at the table, or we move it's tank somewhere new.

It's smarter than we think. Every morning when I come up to the counter to start breakfast it gets really excited, comes right up to the closet face of the tank to me, looks at me and wiggles like crazy. It has me trained to feed it.

Once I put a picture of K next to it and it puffed up! Every once in a while I try to get it worked up again just to add a little spice in it's life but it has yet to do it again.

The other day L made a guinea pig home out of construction paper and glue. He had it stuck in his mind that it was time now for a new pet. I thought it would pass and happened to mention it to Chris the next day. So being the proactive dad that he is, he got the boys to do their chores, four stores and one huge headache later we added a hamster to the family. May I introduce to you our newest addition:Chewie (short for Chewbacca).

He is nocturnal so the boys told me. And they're right. He sleeps most of the day unless the boys have taken it out and every night at 9 pm I hear it trying to chew it's way out of the cage. It freaked me out the first time I heard it.

L is fearless with it. Every chance he gets he's getting to know it. He took it to preschool for show and tell. What a happy little boy he was! The boys are really good about feeding it and letting it get exercise.

He runs around the house in this ball. He has yet to fall down the stairs but I think it's only a matter of time since everyone else (minus Darth) in this family has fallen down the stairs!

Has anyone else seen this movie? Chris and I joined the Redds to see this flick on Friday. It was different but good. It sort of spurred the pet searching the next morning. We even looked at a beautiful Yellow Lab. PetCo has pets up for adoption. This particular Lab was a year old and for $75 bucks he could be yours. It was gorgeous. Thank goodness for it's annoying barks, ridiculous shedding, and horrible smell otherwise we would be housing a dog now instead of the rat I presently hear rolling around in it's ball upstairs.

Happy Anniversary to Us.

2009-01-18T19:30:00.004-07:00

We celebrated by going to the Melting Pot. This is the third time we've ever been and each time to celebrate the same thing. We love it.

May we have many more heart warming experiences.

May we experience many more adventures.

May we appreciate each and every blessing.

May we spice things up.

May we cultivate sweet and tender feelings toward one another.

May we enjoy and treasure moments in our life together.

Maybe It's a Girl Thing

2009-01-13T16:40:00.004-07:00

When I get a new article of clothing I like to try it on with different outfits. Sometimes, usually on Sundays, I try on a few outfits before I've settled on what to wear. It's very offensive when my manly hubby says something like "you've changed again!" Geesh I'm a girl give me a break. It's what some girls do. Am I right? I'm pretty sure even though I don't have sisters.

Anyhow, I also love to get things on sale. For me, the price tag is what sells me and what gives me a feeling of satisfaction. If I feel like it was a good deal then I am happier with the item sometimes at the expense of quality and perhaps fashion style.

A good and long time friend of mine would purchase a lot of her stuff and kids stuff at second hand stores. She and her kids have a great wardrobe having things from second hand stores and regular department stores. She always gets name brands and I'm always in awe at how cute her kids look. I think the key for her is to go often. I've been with her a few times and don't luck out like she does. I don't bother anymore. Besides I probably don't spend as much on kids clothing as I should.

For a handful of years I disliked shopping (a favorite pastime) because I was either pregnant or wearing a post pregnancy body. But, I'm really enjoying shopping again and so I usually just avoid it. I can't window shop. It's too painful.

I donate to the DI several times a year. And recently we went to the DI to see if they had some picture frames to hang up some of the kid's art work and I saw something cute, tried it on and was very, very, very HAPPY. So I went back once more and for $23 I added the following to my wardrobe.

Gap pants. I was very happy I found these because I lost my favorite pair of khaki pants in Jackson Hole :0(

Express Sweater

Love these white Arizona jeans. Not a spot on them BTW.

abercrombie zip up sweater with hoodie. hmmmm I'm loving it.

Cute clothes, nice price tag.......such a pick me up. Time to clean house!

Random update

2009-01-08T22:05:00.007-07:00

The other day we got ALOT of snow AGAIN. But the next day was bright and beautiful. I took the following shots. I'm thinking of hanging these up on one of my many bare walls.

We've been sort of busy, sort of not. We had Loyd and Angela over for a couple of days (Saturday-Monday). We played games, hung out, and even got to see Twilight finally. They recently finished the first book and hadn't seen the movie yet and I've been itching to see it, so it worked out nicely.

It wasn't the greatest movie but it was good enough for me. I hope they recast some one them especially Rosalie. Bella and her dad were awesome. I liked Emmett a lot. Jasper was WEIRD. Alice was o.k. Edward was not my Edward but cute enough. Jacob played his part well but he didn't look Native American to me. I can go on and on but I won't.

The boys have started up school again and I'm missing them. But they enjoy their classes/teachers and they enjoy keeping busy. Indoor soccer has started up for the two older boys and basketball for K. We have something almost every evening so I've had to make dinner early. Let us see how long that lasts. Thankfully Chris' engagement is only 10 minutes away and has been home for dinner and helping me with the boys' practices and games. Since his out of town days last fall he has been taking K to school every morning. Now that "busy season (11 hour days)" is starting he'll be leaving earlier to come home earlier and I'm taking K again, which I don't mind.

K is starting piano lessons this month. His good friend's mom is a piano teacher and we coordinate a weekly play group with her kid and two others. She's a really neat lady and I feel lucky/blessed to affiliate with her and her family. Incidentally her husband is K's basketball coach. K seems to be doing well and super excited about the things he's doing.

L is excited to start some kind of music. He's been asking a lot so I've got something in the works. We'll see. He's limping around right now. He wanted to see what the t.v. looks like in the back and ended up underneath it. He's the one I found drowning 4 times one summer, sticking forks in outlets successfully, chocking on hotdogs, cheerios, etc., holding the window's screen after falling out of it, found by some lady at the mall after going missing, sticking his complete hand in just made pancake syrup (very hot), etc. etc. During dinner earlier this week we were talking about where we will be age wise in 5 years. "When K is 12, will I be alive?" L asked. My reply was "at this rate, I don't know.......but I really hope so!"

A is talking tons! He wants to do everything on his own. "NO!! MEEE Do It." is his new thing. If he throws a fit, I stick him in his crib. He's pretty easy that way. He's picked up hitting and recently hit L on the head with a spoon. Ouch. He can definitely hold up his own.

Overall we're trying to be good. Sometimes I'm super motivated and other times just low in energy. But I think we're like everyone else and sometimes just don't know what has hit us over the head.

Wrapping Things Up in 2008.........

2008-12-30T23:37:00.016-07:00

How time flies! It's scary and sad yet exciting and hopeful. I often wish these little guys would stay babies forever. But they have so much living to do and so much to look forward to. May we all have the guidance that we need to endure, succeed, and be strong.

May our children be good friends forever.

May they remember how much daddy played with them.

May they remember how much they are loved.

May they remember a Happy childhood.

(May they forget my impatience)

May they remember my love.

May they remember hugs, kisses, and I love yous.

May they have a warm and loving home.

May they feel heard and feel special.

May they feel peace and the spirit in their hearts.

May they be brave.

May they remember fun times with mom.

May they remember how important Family is and one day have one of their own.

Christmas Update

2008-12-26T21:25:00.011-07:00

These are some of the things the boys have been happily busy with that I thought would be driving me crazy (give it a couple months and things will probably be DI-ed). But they've been completely entertained and hey, I love gumballs....thank goodness A doesn't have a sense of ownership yet.

about 1500 little extra parts have been added to our household

3 marshmallow shooters (courtesy of Uncle Bobby, of course..... a previous year it was 2 pairs of huge boxing gloves {bobbyandloyd}.......gotta love the Uncles....this is their way of making sure the boys are raised right....ooohh can't wait till they have kids.........payback time.jk)

notice "holds 25 marshmallows for non-stop fun!" should read something like "holds 25 marshmallows for non-stop aggravation for your mom!" For those with little boys who are interested in these.......Bobby said he purchased them online. Warning......It actually stings a little when you get pegged by a marshmallow. I think Bobby might think that's cool and worth every penny then.

Nice seeing a 2 year old in this position.......what kind of kids are these Americans raising?

A is often drawn to dolls. When we're at the toy store, the older boys look at legos and A turns his back to them to play with the dolls. He chose the one above and I was sort of happy it was neglected.

Breakfast

Lunch

and Dinner
I love to make/have turkey for Christmas or Thanksgiving. We also had stuffing, homemade bread, ham, green bean casserole, Quin's token mashed potatoes, and angel food cake. Dinner goes a long ways. I froze a bunch of meat for future tamales. We made turkey dumpling soup for dinner tonight. We boil the left over bones and meat on it to make the broth and I use to freeze a bunch of it for soups and gravy when K had all of his allergies.
Quin was noticing the boys being quiet at dinner. They were well behaved. It was nice. I'll have to remember to starve them again when we have guests (exaggeration, what happened was that I made the stuffing around lunch time which I always do and forget that they hate my stuffing. It's too complicated and has all the veggies they dislike the most, that I LOVE.....mushrooms, onions, celery, etc. Well, I thought it convenient to feed it to them for lunch but I forgot what happened when I did last year resulting with the same occurrence this year......whining, GAGGING, commotions, threats, well you get the idea and so the kids were pretty hungry by dinnertime).

After the boys went to bed we played Ticket to Ride. It's nice that Uncle Quin is competitive but the poor guy forgets who he's playing with. We ate him alive and then spit him out! It was a fun, relaxing day. We loved having Quin over and catching up. And not just for the surprise he brought us.....the gift from John and Setsuko (my in laws). Once again they were generous and very thoughtful. Our jaws dropped because it was such a great gift and because it was exactly what we wanted but didn't end up buying.....a keyboard!!!!!

This post is a bit materialistic....sorry. It'll be a sad day when the boys no longer play with toys. Just trying to note what it was like in 2008.

Waiting for the Kids to Fall Asleep

2008-12-24T20:45:00.007-07:00

We've been eating a lot of treats lately. I did run 10 miles so far this week. 5 of which I did today. Ummm, it was windy and cold. But glad to have done it. Anyone up for a winter triathlon? http://www.bashwintertri.com/race_info.html

The kids are super excited for tomorrow. When asked what was the most exciting part of tomorrow and the next exciting part of tomorrow K replied "opening presents and then playing with them." Looks like we're on the right track for normal kids.

Latest Lego creation.

We picked a family and did the 12 days of Christmas. Every day we left them gifts according to the day. On the 12th we gave them 12 candy canes.....in gingerbread village style. We all got a kick out of this one. The best part was hearing the kids after opening the door and finding the village on the front step..."oh wow!!" It was sweet.

Snowflakes. So talented!

Oh yes, Merry Christmas everyone. Thanks for coming to visit us via our online journal, weblog, blog, whatever. It's a great way to keep up with a few of the things we are doing and share thoughts on topics. I am thankful for this beautiful season that reminds me of so much goodness and sparks so many fun and loving interactions between us all. I am Thankful for Christ and His life and example, for good health, a home, food, water, for my husband and precious boys, for the opportunities we have learn, grow, and serve.

My Tweezers

2008-12-21T21:13:00.005-07:00

are very, very important to me. I am protective about my tweezers. A few times a month I use them to pluck my eyebrows and I'm sure I've used them for a dozen other things.

There is one thing that gets me worked up when it comes to my beloved tweezers and that's if someone uses them and doesn't return them to the right spot. When it's time to pluck my eyebrows and I can't find my tweezers where they are suppose to be I get irritated. Very irritated. uwww, how I hate to search for my tweezers, up and down the house, underneath couch seats, beds, insides drawers, cabinets, grrrrrr. Do not mess with my tweezers people.

Since I've been married I've always been o.k. with other members of this household using my tweezers whenever as long as they are returned to the right spot. They've been used for surgery on nasty, ingrown toe nails, pulling out those hard to get boogies in babies noses, and other various, disgusting things including today's eventful task of getting out a small toy part from L's nostril. When asked why he put it in his nose he replied "I wanted to show K that I could do it." Hmmm, I wonder if big brother had any part in this malicious trick.

So there you have it, a picture of my beloved tweezers and small toy part extracted from L's nostril today being disinfected in alcohol in a wine glass we got for our wedding and haven't used until now.

picture taken in A mode with flash, clarified, cropped, and contrast adjusted in paint shop pro.

Sick of Being Sick

We've caught some strange respiratory bug. It has some symptoms of croup but different. We all have sore throats that get worse in the night and a dry, swollen feeling in the back of the throat that makes us cough and gag. The boys have been congested and irritable. They are happy in the day usually so that's a nice break. I'm just ready for it to GO AWAY. Going on 2 weeks now, I am ready and sick of being sick! Little A wouldn't eat much for days I was so happy to find his sliced oranges as you see above.

Some Fun Outings

We went to the Jazz game as a family. I know the Jazz lost and that's about all I can tell you. The kids enjoyed being out, riding the tracks, and having hot dogs. Chris and I had the opportunity to see the Christmas concert at the conference center featuring the Mormon Tabernacle choir and Brian Stokes Mitchell. It was really nice.

Then and Now

2008-12-20T20:49:00.006-07:00

Recent Cravings

2008-12-15T21:35:00.003-07:00

I had some left over pork and green salsa from tamales and decided I didn't want to make more and I remembered.....Gorditas. So there you have it: my first Gordita making attempt with some "cafe rio" dressing.

To make the puffy tortilla I mixed 2 cups of masa and 2 cups of warm water, made them into balls and flattened them out but not tortilla thin. I cooked them on a greased pan for a long time and made a slit with a butter knife about an inch wide, making sure not to cut through the gordita. I used the knife to continue to make a pocket inside the gordita so that I could stuff them with pork and green salsa.

For the green salsa, I used 5 to 6 tomatillos. I boiled them along with a jalepeno for about 15 minutes. I blended the tomatillos and 1/3 of the jalepeno with cilantro and salt to the taste.

For the pork, I used my slow cooker and put a whole package of pork ribs covered with water. It cooked for a while and I seasoned it with salt. Pretty simple.

For the cafe rio dressing, I used 2 boiled tomatillos, 1/3 boiled jalepeno, a bunch of cilantro and blended it with hidden valley ranch dressing packet (powder) , 1/3 cup milk, 2/3 cup Mayonaise. I didn't have buttermilk yesterday so I used regular milk...it turned out different and I didn't know if I liked it so I added about 2/3 cup of our own canned red salsa and thought it was an improvement. I've made this recipe before using half tomatillos and half red tomatoes. It gives it an orangish instead of green color and tastes pretty good.

I must have been hungry when I had a dream about brownies with walnuts, ice cream and minty, hot fudge sauce. It was a pretty vivid dream with stomach noises and all. I was craving them until I finally made some. Yummy.

These are brownies out of a package. Making brownies from scratch isn't much harder but might as well use the box since I had one. I used a typical hot fudge sauce recipe but instead of adding 2 tsp. of vanilla at the end I added 2 tsp. of mint extract.

Sooo Handsome

2008-12-14T22:10:00.006-07:00

Winter Update

2008-12-11T23:30:00.006-07:00

A brussel sprout snowman the boys made; we were out of carrots

This is why my boys are feeling under the weather right now; as soon as the snow began to stick they were in it.....for hours and days. I couldn't get them in and when I made them they protested until I threatened and now they're regretting and I'm paying with lack of sleep. I don't know about you guys but we get nasty sore throats when we have been cold for an extended period of time. They were already coming down with something and this made it super yucky.
We visited the Salt Lake temple the other day. The boys enjoyed playing in the streams east of the temple as well as the nativity scene just north of it. We recently had conference and I picked up the Ensign conference edition to read it and after reading wasn't feeling especially inspired. I was just reading to read it. However, I recently picked it up again and couldn't put it down until I was forced to. I was amazed at how much I didn't pick up before and am excited to resume reading and marking again. It feels right and comforting to read the Ensign and words from the scriptures.
This was a quiet corner I found at temple square. Unfortunately some family came in and demanded the spot for family pictures. It was a zoo. We tried to get there early but there was an accident on the freeway and we were delayed and forced to walk with the hordes.
We got our Christmas tree up the day after we got back from our trip. Although it was a little hectic during the time, we enjoy having it up for as long as we can. Of course the decorations have since been rearranged who knows how many times and a string of lights have burned out.

For the second year in a row, we've been reading stories/scriptures and singing Christmas songs from a thick handbook someone compiled and someone in our ward had shared with all of us. For a variety of reasons we don't do it everyday but we do get around to it most days than not and also try to catch up. Chris and I get a good chuckle every once in a while because we hear each other chocking back the tears as we try to get through the stories. Of course during one, I was more than chocking back the tears and I was o.k. with being laughed at. It was funny.

Nothing cuter than a nativity scene with your own kid in it

This was at our ward Christmas dinner/program. He's pretty out going; I would have been mortified as a kid to do anything like this. After the program, he told me he has been wanting to be in the school choir because there are songs he wants to learn. (I think I could do that at home; there are songs I've been itching to learn as well) He was really inspired by the choir that came in. He is a really good singer and enjoys it. I thought many times about getting him up for the 7 a.m. choir practice his school holds to prepare for their Christmas concert. If only it were at a different time......he's not a morning person.
A neighbor recently returned from his mission and a recently baptized friend of his came down for a visit. This neighbor called us up to hang out since he thought we could help out somehow. See she is from Japan and has been studying English in Canada. She has concerns. And I thought we could get together and do some fellow shipping/missionary work. I remember when we had our new converts as missionaries and how we hoped so badly someone would take him/her under their wings. I have a very tender spot in my heart for new converts and especially for our Japanese brothers and sisters. It's all so close to home.

Come to find out she is from a town near Okazaki City where Chris served for a whopping 13 months and happens to be my maiden name. She will be attending that ward upon her return next week. She has a lot of tender feelings and fresh with the excitement of her recent baptism.

I think we were able to help her and I hope she will remember to endure to the end. We chatted a lot but in the end really all we have to give her is living example of the blessings of staying faithful and strong through the hardships that will follow. We had a lot in common in that both our mothers were against our choice and our dads were fine. She had voiced concern about how this choice will affect her relationships with her family. Very valid. I say, move on, live your life and they will see the blessings.......it's exactly what happened in my life......my family has seen much good come out of that choice I made years ago to join the LDS church.

We went to dinner at Los Hermanos and headed to BYU's Harris Fine Arts Center where we attended a string chamber concert and checked out the art displayed around the building. The one above caught our attention. All the art was great but this one stopped us. Since I enjoy photography, I was looking at the details of the portraits and dreamed about the day I can take portraits and edit like that. I liked each picture for different reasons, in all the eyes stood out but I liked the color in one, the glasses in another, the smile of one, etc. Turns out this was the display taken down and put back up because it deals with gay people. You can read more about it here at Deseret news. It even has a link to the artists photography blog; which I really enjoyed. https://secure.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705269360,00.html

Being in the art center and checking out all photography was inspiring and I was regretting my choice of major for a second.
And of course, I will add that I just LOVE my kids and my hubby. They are my light, my heart, my song. I worry and worry and worry. It's just what I do. And everyday there is something in my prayer directly related to them and more often than not strength to do something I feel is important at the time in relation to them.

Legoland

2008-12-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

Legoland was a blast. Our boys including ourselves had a really good time there. When you don't hear whining, complaining, or any negative thing come out of these boys for the two days we spent there, it gets two thumbs up.

I repeat with an even closer look

Anyone else think this is hilarious or is it just us? notice the vein?

(disclaimer--this was the boys second time on the Technic Coaster; they voluntarily went and L chose to sit by himself)

It cost a pretty penny to get into the park. We decided to get tickets for two days since it only cost an extra $15 per person. It was definitely worth it because the park is only open from 10a.m to 5p.m. This was hardly enough time to get through the park. Having the second day let us enjoy it more fully even though we didn't get to hit all the rides even then. A lucky and great thing was that our 2 1/2 year old could ride on many of the rides. He was right there on the lower limits, 36'. If he were a bit younger and shorter it would not have been fun for him. Lucky for us it wasn't crowded and the weather was great. As we left the park the second day, it started to rain. Good timing.

For both the days, the boys spent about 2 hours each time at the building centers where they get to build and test their cars. Talk about competitiveness!! whoa whoa. Even us parents were trying to beat the fastest car which happened to be K's. No one, not even us could build one faster than his.Is this is Asian thing or what?

The lego creations are set up all over the park. They are amazing and got my kids imaginations going. The first thing they did when we got home from CA. was head to their legos.

If I may give us another even closer look.....

just couldn't resist that look of revolting, horrifying TERROR

About Our Yucatan, Mexico trip

2008-11-30T15:18:00.028-07:00

Alright I'm giving a shot at trying to share some tidbits of our trip to Mexico. What a task! And a little overwhelming. There is so much that won't be in here and so much information about each place that I decided to leave out because of time constraints. Perhaps at a later time I'll try.

In brief, we went with Nate and Collete, stayed in Cancun the first night, four nights in Merida (at my parents vacation house) where we ventured out and visited ruins including Chichen Itza, Uzmal, Ek Balam, and Dz and swam in Ik kil (a cenote), and the last two nights in Tulum visiting the ruins of Coba and Tulum, and snorkeling at Xel Ha.
And that really isn't doing the trip justice. So many of the little, funny, things that happened can't all be included. Like the speed bumps that Chris kept launching us off....next time we'll know what the sign is for topez (speed bumps) or the endless games of Hearts that we played and I lost each time and the look Nate gave me when I gave Collete her first "shooting the moon." Or experiences such as when we discovered Gorditas after a long day and bit into such delicious heavenliness.

Overall the trip was a huge success from gas prices dropping, the dollar going farther, great weather, good company, diversity in activity, doing most everything we wanted, not getting sick or getting in an accident and having fun. By the end we were all missing our kids and both sad and happy to be going home.

Highlights (not in any particular order):

1. climbing the Mayan ruins/pyramids at Ek Balam, Coba and Uxmal. I thought the steep climb was scary and thrilling. I loved seeing the view from up top......green trees that seem to go on forever with no apparent civilization around. The fresh air was nice and felt like home. It was so peaceful and quiet as well.

this is the Coba ruin. Yes we climbed it. There I am below from the top.

2. swimming/jumping into the Cenote, Ik Kil. It was beautiful to see it from the top and then to jump in it was a real treat.

Cenote, Ik Kil close to Chichen Itza. Video footage to come courtesy of Collete

3. sleeping in a hammock on the beach (2 nights). The wind was loud and strong. It was a new adventure for me to sleep like that outdoors. Surprisingly I woke up without any body aches and it wasn't too cold. I was afraid of being slaughtered by the unknown which made it that much more exciting and was happily awoken by the sunrise, something I don't get to experience from the ocean very often or at all! This was the sunrise from Tulum.

This is what I woke up to in Tulum where Chris and I slept on a hammock on the beach.

4. no one got sick....even me. Any trip to Mexico where no one gets sick is a success, for me. This is the first time I've gone there and not gotten sick.

5. seeing/driving through the small, poor towns on our way to our destinations.....clothes being hand washed and hung to dry, huts, dirt floors, humble homes, the different colors on the houses, the people, their clothes, the city gatherings and festivities, people laying in their hammocks, peope hanging out.....it was all interesting and refreshing.

6. discovering new places. It was an adventure trying to find our way around, getting something to eat, seeing something for the first timetaken at Ek Balam
Some of the Indians getting set up to sell their good at Chichen Itza

7. rope walking. It was an activity we tried at Xel Ha. I had never done it before. It was a rope you held onto while you walked on one to try to get across. Harder than it looks. I love to get physical and this was a nice treat.

8. coconut tree climbing. I didn't know I had it in me. Another one of those hands on activities I love.

9. snorkeling/swimming/tubing in Carribean waters. It was relaxing, new, and fun. Seeing the fish and shells was an added bonus.

This was taken at Xel ha. The waters are part of the Carribean ocean but in it's lagoon where the water was much calmer and predictable. Nice for first time snorkelers like myself. I thought it much easier to do without a life jacket but wearing flippers and much more pleasant with goggles that don't fog up.The crew doing some last minute snorkeling before heading out

hammocks at Xel Ha. Not to mention the bike ride and wild animals in the forest adjunct to our bike trail, kayaking in black waters (literally), being able to hold beautiful parrots, tubing down the river, and all the yummy food and drink you could ever need in a day.

Some things I thought were indispensable on this trip:

1. Frommer's guide. Collette checked it out from the library and brought it along. It has info. that helped out alot on this trip; info such as driving tips, info. on the places we visited, maps, places to eat, etc. We used it on a daily even hourly basis.Frommer's guide. Highly recommend it for traveling. Thanks to Collete for it.

2. A rental Car. Having one was so nice. We didn't have to wait around for transportation and were solely self reliant in getting around. We visited tons of places and it was soooo nice to get up and go whenever we needed to, especially on our runs for food or supplies that we needed.

3. Chris' mad driving skills. If you want to drive in Mexico be prepared, it's no easy task and Chris was the mad man, hands down. We made it through without any incident

4. Nate's navigation talent with an outdated map. Anyone who can tell Chris where to go and not get chewed out has skills.

5. being able to speak/understand some Spanish. For the most part it was more convenient to be able to speak the language, but there were a couple of times I was glad to be able to communicate with the people.

6. bottled water

Fun discoveries:

1. Ek Balam was our first ruin we checked out. It was on our way to Merida after our night in Cancun. It is a ruin that we were able to climb and it was a steep one. It was fun to be there with friends

This is from the top of Ek Balam

2. Sorianas was a grocery store we went to often. We bought our Mexican pastries there for breakfast and other needed goods such as dinner supplies, Chris' gotta have pineapple, Nate/Collete's blue slush

3. Gorditas is a yummy fast food place in Soriana. After a long day at Chichen Itza and swimming in the cenote, we were all hungry and discovered Gorditas. They make little fluffy tortillas stuffed with a variety of Mexican favorites such as pollo pibil, beans/cheese, pork and green salsa. They even told me how to make themGorditas in Sorianas. Yummy. I finally succombed to eating Mexican food and not food I brought in my suitcase from the states.

Things I'm thankful/glad for:

1. good weather including lots of cloud cover that kept us cool

2. not the busy season

these lizards are everywhere

3. the humidity wasn't bad

This is on our walk to see the Coba ruin.

4. hardly any mosquitos

An alligator Collette spotted... amongst the many things she spotted with that eye for detail

5. that Nate/Collete like/maybe even Love Mexican food. It made things very easy
For the first two night in Merida I cooked dinner. I didn't eat it but I thought I needed to participate in dinner and this was the way.

6. Sack lunches, bottled drinks, snacks....we did alot of driving and sight seeing

7. lemon drops. these made the long drives a little tastier

8. we had no lines/crowds at the airport to and from. We even had our own aisle on the airplane both ways, not to mention the empty aisles around us. Alaska Airline rocks.

9. gas prices were down which my our driving trip to and from CA. more affordable

10. that the dollar was stronger to the peso just in time for our trip.

11. Nate and Collete were fun to hang out with and were positive/upbeat and excited to be there.

This was taken on our walk at Progresso Beach

12. My parents house in Merida where we stayed for four nights and saved a bundle of money

My parent's house in Merida

13. Going on a kidless vacation with my hubby. Wow, that made for easy traveling.

A kissing us from the top of a pyramid in Uxmal

Some more pictures categorized Ruins:

Some more pictures categorized Beachy stuff:

A brief run through of the last 2 weeks

2008-11-30T15:09:00.003-07:00

It's been a very busy couple of weeks on vacation for us. We drove to Vegas on a Friday and spent the night at my brothers before we headed to California the next day. We got the kids settled down with my parents before Chris and I headed for the Yucatan early Monday morning. We were there until the next Monday and reunited with the kids and my parents later that day. The next 2 days we spent at Legoland. We also were able to spend time with family during Thanksgiving break. We helped my parents move last Friday and began our drive back home that night. We crashed at my brothers again in Vegas and finished our drive home on Saturday. BTW, we drove two cars home. Thank goodness gas prices were down!

I'll be posting some pics of the trip really soon...maybe even later today.

TidBits

2008-11-12T21:25:00.011-07:00

I took the younger boys out for a stroll near our home. They got some energy out while I tried taking some pictures with our new camera. After our little point and shoot broke it was like there was a hole in my life. I've been taking pictures for so many years almost on a daily basis, I sort of felt lost without one. I played around with the temperature of the picture above, basically made it warmer. I really like how it turned out but am a little disappointed that I still need to use a photo editor as much as I do; it means I have a lot of learning/work cut out for me. Fun though.

We watched Water Horse with the boys. It was a cute kid's movie. The movie that both Chris and I really enjoyed was Ironman. Robert Downey Jr. was great and I liked the storyline. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought I was going to be falling asleep but instead found myself wide awake on the edge of the couch the whole time.

I've been checking out this look a lot lately. Every time I see someone wearing skinny jeans and boots I can't help but stare and then try to figure out when I can go out shopping next. Can I get away with this look is my next thought? I don't have the legs for a skinny jean. The truth is my legs are warped. But, I'm happy to say that I found a pair of lucky brand jeans that aren't as skinny but can still be tucked into a boot. And I'm a very pleased woman right now: so pleased I may even clean the house from top to bottom. Last week L came down with a mild cold that has gone through everyone except for ME. L and A had the sniffles late last week, K and Chris however have been a little more dramatic about their sniffles. They've taken time off from work/school this week. I was hoping I'd have caught it by now so that I'd be good for our trip next week. You would think with all the sneezes I've felt on my skin I'd be sick myself. But no such luck. On my mission I had a companion that got influenza. I was waiting and waiting to catch it and never did. We were inseparable and I was very surprised. A couple years ago K got pink eye that L, A, Chris, and my mom in law got. But I never did. So, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping, just hoping for the same. We got the usual good news from K's teacher at parent/teacher conference. My favorite note is that he gets along well with his classmates.

Some more Thoughts on SSM

2008-11-10T10:33:00.002-07:00

I've been thinking about some things on the SSM topic again. I think because of my upbringing, church beliefs, fear of the unknown, lack of knowledge, etc. that I am inclined to vote for a ban. If I were to measure myself on a scale it would be one notch towards that.

However, I can't help but feel I am covertly discriminating people because of this inclination I have. Many of the gay people I know are really nice, fun, dynamic people, not to mention educated and religious.

Many of you know that I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (in the past nicknamed the Mormon church) when I was in high school. This choice has been a defining point in my life: one that has blessed me tremendously. Because of inspiration, opportunity, and perseverance, I've been able to accomplish much during these years since my conversion.

However, I've been feeling a push to step it up. My convert status can only take me so far. I need to be more proactive about my future and line myself up more with the teachings of my church/gospel. And I feel a greater need for personal improvement.

And so I ask myself, does feeling some sympathy/empathy for the gay community make me a bad LDS person? I've sat in conversations with very conservative people only to shrink in their presense because of my previous stance on SSM (basically not having a right to deny anyone of that choice). I didn't like how I felt, like I was a lesser person for not lining myself up with their opinion. Somehow I'd manage to say I feel differently and other times more boldly so.

The fact is that a ban on marriage is not going to change the gay lifestyle or prevent it from existing. About 1/4 of gay couples are raising children. Life is going on for them as we speak. Voting for a ban is definitely taking a stance on a belief. But I think more is required of me/us. And that would be to love our neighbor.

I don't think that gay people necessarily want us to say......hey I agree with your choice of lifestyle. And I will say that I don't agree with it. But, life as we speak is going on and I accept the fact that people are different than me/us.

And so I say that I'd much rather be confident with myself and teach my children love and respect with that confidence, and not fear and hate. I'm still inclined to be on that notch I mentioned above, but I think we all need to be prepared to step it up which may include to do things that we are asked to do but are hard to do such as love your neighbor.

A Taste of Winter

2008-11-07T14:24:00.009-07:00

So it snowed a lot a couple of days ago. I had to whip out the shovel and remove snow from the walk ways and the drive way. I'm not a huge fan of the snow. I think it's great every once in a while but life here in this state means I have to deal with it a lot more than that. The kids, however, have been begging to go out and play in it.

An Interesting Fact .....click on the following link or read on

2008-11-06T17:57:00.007-07:00

70% of African Americans backed Prop. 8, exit poll finds

12:10 PM, November 5, 2008

A lot of Obama/Yes-on-8 voters? The Associated Press exit polls show that African Americans and Latinos backed Proposition 8 in good numbers. Details here from AP:

California's black and Latino voters, who turned out in droves for Barack Obama, also provided key support in favor of the state's same-sex marriage ban. Seven in 10 black voters backed a successful ballot measure to overturn the California Supreme Court's May decision allowing same-sex marriage, according to exit polls for The Associated Press.

More than half of Latino voters supported Proposition 8, while whites were split. Religious groups led the tightly organized campaign for the measure, and religious voters were decisive in getting it passed. Of the seven in 10 voters who described themselves as Christian, two-thirds backed the initiative. Married voters and voters with children strongly supported Proposition 8. Unmarried voters were heavily opposed.

-- Shelby Grad

photo: Los Angeles Times

..............................
I thought this was an interesting find. Looks like African Americans, Latinos, religious people, married people, and people with children are against same sex marriage.

I'm amongst them. Having children was the huge factor for me. I use to be opposed like the unmarried voters who voted against Prop. 8, but I just feel this overwhelming opposition now since my children are getting older. I really feel it's a fight to raise kids these days. I don't need another thing.

Thoughts

2008-11-05T07:49:00.008-07:00

ObamaHistory made with Obama's win. I'm very happy for him and that this country has come a long way. I don't think it's because the white, middle age man, has become less into himself but because minorities in this country are emerging, speaking out, voting, and becoming a huge force during this time. I think having Obama run, pulled together the voices that are sick of being unheard. Someone worthy of their (our) support has finally arrived.

I don't know why anyone in their right mind would want to be the President especially since things are messy in the world. More power to you Obama. I pledge my support and hope things go well.

Books

I just read a couple more of Shannon Hale's books. Princess Academy was good and I enjoyed it. She likes to have a hero, play on mystical speech, and set her stories in a time long ago. It's refreshing, an easy read, and fun.

But, my favorite, I think for the entire year of reads, is her Book of A Thousand Days. It is based on the fairy tale "Maid Maleen," set in medieval Mongolia, and Hale used Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World to help with the writing.

I loved it for many reasons. The main character was smart, hard working, funny, and a person of integrity. She was true to herself and her mucker heritage. She faced many moral decisions and seemed to always make the right choice breaking one rule to obey another. It made for many interesting situations that led to an ending that I loved. I liked the format of the book, it was her journal and record of life as the maid of a royal Lady. Can I say again....I LOVED this book and it's the best one I've read all year. I'll say this much. She and her lady were shut up in a tower for seven years because her Lady refused to marry the Lord her father chose for her. It was soooooooo good! And I felt inspired.

Grateful

Can I say I'm feeling grateful for a lot of things including my husband, each one of my boys, our health, our home, that we have food and drink, for my husband's job and work ethics, and our opportunities in life. I had a really good day with the kids yesterday and saw their goodness, their potential, and that they are really moving along well. It was one of those days we weren't running around like crazies but instead were able to enjoy one another and be together.

Playing Around

2008-11-03T23:06:00.004-07:00

We went to the park on Saturday and took some fun pictures. It got old quickly and the kids "panned for gold" in the stream. They loved it. Here's a shot I took and played around with. I think I over did it.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T21:22:00.006-06:00

We were all kitty cats except for A who was a mouse and K who was a scary skeleton. BTW, Chris made the skeleton costume and can I say two things 1. what a man and 2. what was suppose to be an "easy" costume wasn't. Hello? And notice the cute little girl in a pink princess outfit. Umm....Can I take her home? What a cutie. I especially loved Jason.....no I wasn't too sheltered as a kid, we saw all the scary movies growing up!

Oh, and a BIG THANKS to Mrs. Ockey for lending me her camera!

Worms

2008-10-29T22:11:00.003-06:00

This was taken soon after we moved into our current home. It rained a lot and thousands of worms came out of the ground.

We were coming home from somewhere and I didn't want the boys to step on the worms. I told K to be careful not to step on them and that was the first time he became aware that they were everywhere. I wasn't expecting what happened next and I got the tail end of it all with the video. You can barely see it but there is a worm that's a foot long next to him. I believe he had turned 3 a few months before this day. I guess I don't need girls to have drama around here.

What's New?

2008-10-29T08:04:00.005-06:00

The old banner is down and I've changed the face of my blog. Something that usually is easy to do ended up being a hassle because of a word document I posted up on the blog that was messing things up.

We're really excited about Halloween. Last Saturday we all dressed up and went to Chris' work party. Wish we had pics. Sorry.

K's backpack was taken/stolen from him yesterday after school. What's up with that? Hopefully it was a simple mistake and it's returned today. I'll be volunteering a couple Wednesday's a month to help out with the math station and I'm really excited about this.

L is active as usual but very helpful. He is constantly doing things to help me something he's done since he was teeny, tiny. He's also quick to do what's asked of him, such a good boy. During the Primary Sacrament program he was doing spit yoyos. Completely disgusting and if I had known I would have put an end to it. Urgh. He was sitting/standing on the front row.

A is talking tons. He still loves his thumb and bottle of milk. Am I not putting an end to both when I should? It's just so babyish and I'm not sure I'm ready to let go.

Chris is excited about possibly picking up a new client that is just 5-10 minutes away. It would be an engagement that would last through April. That would be really nice.

I'm still going back and forth about doing a triathlon on Nov. 8th. I really do want to do it. It shouldn't be too bad except that the swim is the last event and I am very uncomfortable about this. It would be a different challenge but I don't know if I can swim after running and biking. I guess I'll have to find out this week before making the decision.

Nate and Collete came over of dinner on Sunday and we discussed our trip to Mexico. We are going to try and snorkel from Cozumel which is about 30 minutes from the main island. While there we are thinking about renting a couple of scooters to travel the island and visit ruins. I'm totally looking forward to this. I find it humorous that Nate is afraid Collete will crack her head open. I don't think I've ever heard manly Nate voice any worried concerns about anything. It must be true love ;0).

Chris and I received new callings. We are nursery workers. I am excited about this. For one, I get to hang out with Chris and two I get to play with little munchkins and there are a couple I can't wait to get my hands on.

My thoughts on Polygamy

2008-10-24T11:13:00.004-06:00

aren't that sophisticated. I thought it was weird when I first heard about it and glad that my church doesn't practice polygamy anymore. However, it can be a real crutch to people who are trying to find reasons why our church isn't good. This may be a reason why they might not join it or claim it to be the reason why they fell away.

It never was an issue for me. I took more of a rational approach to it that many societies have in fact practiced some type of plural marriage and many are still practicing plural marriages. It has been part of life for a loooooong time people and the church had its reasons for it way back when.

I found this article on CNN about (click)Polyandry (one wife, two husbands) I found rather interesting and actually pretty cool. In this subculture in India they practice polyandry for traditional and economic reasons. Some women may have more than a couple husbands depending on how many brothers there are. Plural marriage is illegal in India however the government has not enforced it.

I really found this village to be quite unpolluted of the world's influence on this topic. To them it's not about sex. It's about tradition, economics, and that's it. I think often times us Americans focus on the sex part. When we think about Warren Jeff's and others of his group we think about the immorality of it all and the victimization of young girls. We immediately suspect that sex is the underlying reason for this lifestyle. I don't know. But with this village in India, plural marriage is part of life, it's not looked at as something nasty and they've made it work.

I prefer to only see this lifestyle as part of indigenous groups and much prefer polyandry than polygamy.

If I lived in India, this would be it for me!! Wow....EEW....Disturbing....

The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff

2008-10-20T21:03:00.006-06:00

I just finished this book. It was a lot of things including suspenseful, exciting, informative, romantic, historical and sad. Sad books are not my favorite but it was still a good read. I guess what I am saying is that I prefer happy endings and that's all I will say about that. In short it is about a Jewish girl living a double life during the invasion of the Germans in her Poland country.

Although a fiction, the author says this about the book "Finally, I have come to realize through the writing of this book that the term "historical fiction" is somewhat of an oxymoron. While creating imaginary characters and events, I have endeavored to remain true to the spirit of those who lived and died during World War II and the Holocaust, and to realistically depict the full range of human strengths, frailties and emotions brought out by this tragic and remarkable era."

So although the characters are fictional, Jenoff incorporates things that occurred during the war in her book: things such as the Jewish resistance that was going on underground, the use of double identities to help out the movement, and some of the terrible occurrences of the Holocaust.

The characters seems very real and their experiences realistic as well. I once again found myself sympathetic to the "bad guy." And was intrigued by the dilemma the Kommandant's girl found herself in and having this internal battle of loving two men, her husband and the Kommandant, both very likable. A highlight for me was when she was able to see her father for the last time who was imprisoned in a camp. They spoke through a small opening, a lucky but risky, last farewell. They exchanged sad and happy news, their love for each other, and a few things that tied her to her real identity. My heart broke to read the description of her father, her thoughts of what he must be going through. I can't imagine what these people went through during the war. And I cried and thought about how much I take for granted.

This book got me interested in finding out more about what happened in Poland when the Germans invaded and imprisoned the Polish Jewish Community.

I found a thesis compiled by the efforts of many universities, scholars, and groups that contains in it many of the experiences of these women who had double identities to help in the resistance movement. They were Jewish women who passed as gentile Polish people due to their Aryan looks and fluency in Polish and other languages.

The thesis includes the following about the women: http://www.theverylongview.com/WATH/essays/courier.htm

The couriers were a group of remarkable women who accepted a unique responsibility to their people and to history. Variously referred to as liaisons, runners, girls, and messengers, the couriers worked selflessly for the Jewish resistance in Poland through the duration of the Holocaust. Their pragmatic benefit was to smuggle guns, documents, money and encouragement. On another level, they represented the identity, existence and future of the Jewish people. They left a legacy of defiance to, and heroism within, one of the most oppressive system of terror ever developed.

Polish resistance leader Jan Karski cited other reasons why women became couriers. To Karski, women were better suited than men for espionage: "They were quicker to perceive danger, more optimistic of the outcome, and could make themselves less conspicuous; they were more cautious and discreet, had more common sense and were less inclined to risky bluffing."^{45

If you are interested in reading more about the history of Krakow go to the following link a history}

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

2008-10-18T21:58:00.006-06:00

I finally watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and Katharine Ross. I actually really liked it having never been big on Western films. Of course I had to get online to find out what really happened to the famous outlaws afterward. The movie ended differently than what the information out there is saying.

It helped that the actors are all gorgeous including Mrs. Katharine Ross (Etta). Wow!! There was a bicycle scene with Etta and Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) that was really cute and hot. She was the Sundance Kid's (Robert Redford) girl but this scene said otherwise. She asked him at the end of the bike ride if they would have been together had she not met the Sundance Kid first. The conversation that went on after that was really witty and cute on Butch Cassidy's part.

I REALLY liked the music they played throughout the movie. I found a review that said the following about the music (you can find the rest of the review with the link below): "Perhaps the oddest aspect of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is Burt Bacharach's score. In all, Bacharach composed only about 12 minutes of music, and it is used during three sequences: when Butch takes Etta for a ride on his bicycle, when the three companions stop in New York on their way to Bolivia, and during a montage that introduces their return to an illegal occupation in South America. Thrown into the mix (during the first sequence) is the hit pop single "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head". As performed by B.J. Thomas, it became a radio staple during late 1969 and early 1970, but its placement in the film is atypical, to say the least - as is Hill's decision not to use music to highlight moments of tension and suspense."

I really enjoyed the relationship that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had. They had a fun chemistry together that worked well. I enjoyed the humorous depiction of the outlaws. I was actually rooting for them because they were so likeable! And of course sad when they died.

Here's the review I read http://www.reelviews.net/movies/b/butch_cassidy.html

Running shoes I'm stuck with

2008-10-14T20:49:00.004-06:00

This is the Mizuno wave rider II running shoe that I purchased recently. I went to Wasatch Running thinking they would find me a good shoe to help me with the issues I was having with my feet. Chris and I went there a long time ago to find a shoe for him. They watched him run down a path they have in their store to see how he runs and then fit a shoe to accommodate his running style. Then they let him try on a handful of pairs that were all ridiculously priced. Anyways, we left and he bought a decent pair he likes for less than half the price.

I went back just before my marathon to see if this company could help me with my feet issues. I left having paid way to much for this pair. I can't say they help me with my feet issues. I still had feet pain when I ran and even when I walk in them now. Not to mention that there is not much padding on the heal and I felt like my heals were being ripped apart before I put padding underneath the soles.

BTW, Chris is a better shopper than I am. He's patient, does his research, shops around and compares.

River Secrets by Shannon Hale......

2008-10-11T19:19:00.003-06:00

was so good. Razo, the main character, is one of those people I would die to be friends with. Well I wouldn't die but you know what I mean. He makes you laugh by what he says and does and just by looking at him. Who couldn't use a friend like that? He really struggled with who he is and never seemed to measure up to anything. But, as he matured and served his country, he found himself not necessarily fall into the mold of the other greats, but found that he was unique and as important a member of his community as the others.

Reading a book from a male perspective was fun. I haven't read any from a male point of view in a long time. Although a fantasy, the book has a good mix of mystery and adventure as well as a little romance.

And as I mentioned before, it was nice to pick up the book and the characters from where I last left them and to be able to read what they've been up to lately.

I'd recommend the Bayern series to anyone.

Enna Burning by Hale and my perspective on relationships, marriage, the bad rap some marriages made at BYU get (you know the 3 month courtships)

2008-10-09T22:54:00.008-06:00

I just finished this book by Shannon Hale. It was so nice to pick up this book after reading the Goose Girl. After reading a good book, I miss the characters and long to know what else. So I was glad to pick up where I last left them.

I liked it but enjoyed the Goose Girl more. I loved how an ordinary girl who was bored with her ordinary life found herself to become extraordinary and fell into some amazing situations. The imagery for me wasn't as good as with Goose Girl and neither was the love story. Sorry I keep comparing it with the first book. Nevertheless, it was good and a fast read.

****Spoiler

I'm torn between Sileph and Finn. She made the right choice of course but the chemistry between Sileph and Enna was exciting, not based on true love but had potential. I was intrigued by how overprotective he was of her. I do think that Sileph loved Enna but for all the wrong reasons. He was a powerful man motivated by position, status, wealth, materialism and greed. I don't think he was a bad person just difficult and unusual. I still think it could have worked. Enna was definitely attracted to Sileph and has a special place in her heart for him but was able to see clearly finally and I am glad for her. It would be a hard thing to leave a man with the gift of people speaking, a man with power, good looks, that cared for you and made the possibility of an extraordinary future so possible.

Introspective

I wonder if I favor that relationship because for Chris and I it was that love at first sight sort of thing. Actually I don't remember the first time we met unfortunately but what I'm saying is that we weren't long time friends before we started dating and having feelings for one another. Back in the day, I much preferred having an attraction first and then becoming friends. But, I do love hearing of people getting together after having been friends for a long time. I think it's easier to have a lasting, healthy relationship that way. And don't get me wrong, I don't believe Chris and my relationship was shallow. I believe it was more inspiration than anything. I truly feel that. Especially when I look at pics of myself when we were dating.....ughhh and knowing my track record for being a friend and now knowing Chris' inability to have empathy. It was for the best we didn't know each other that well. Perhaps we are a Sileph/Enna couple and am just rooting for the underdog. I'm not saying we are materialistic and in love for all the wrong reasons but more that we are unusual and difficult people, a couple of Silephs.

Some people at BYU get a bad rap because they met, courted, and married all in under 3 months and for even doing it in a year. It's easy to tease people about it for one reason or another. But, I have a different perspective on it. I honestly feel that people get inspiration in this matter and there is no need to drag it out and better not to in certain situations. I commend people who are that in tune and make good choices. (of course not all short courtships happened for the right reasons)

One major reason why we "dragged" it out as long as we did (11 months) is that I was afraid to deal with the fact that I wanted a temple marriage and I am a convert to the church creating the dilemma of not being able to have my family with me. Talk about a rough internal battle! You have no idea how hard that was for me. I felt like I needed more time but in actuality I was afraid to face what I was going to have to do and in some ways it felt like a betrayal. I had already done the unthinkable--joined some "cult," moved far away, served a mission and continued to "grow farther apart." (It wasn't that bad because we wrote back and forth on my mission, kept in contact, and I always came home during the spring/summer semesters.) But now I was going to do this. If I would have followed Chris' idea we would have been married about 4 months earlier, making it a 7 month courtship. It turned out fine and we did the best we could and it was wonderful.

I feel it a shame when people are hesitant to get married for whatever reasons but mostly because they're trying to find the perfect person, not necessarily the perfect person for them, but literally a perfect person. There won't ever be a perfect person. Get married, struggle, grow closer together through trials, get over the imperfections, and grow up. Marriage isn't easy for many and then you have life on top of that. It can be hard. But, it's a good choice.

My parents*Us after getting married in the Salt Lake Temple*Ring Ceremony at the JSB

Movies

2008-10-06T10:15:00.003-06:00

We rented this one. My taste in movies is.......not picky. I'm easily pleased. I really liked it but then again I'm a sucker for a romance especially for one with a twist. I loved My Best Friends Wedding, so this one was a fun treat. It wasn't great or anything just entertaining and it had a couple funny parts. Definitely not a movie for kids and I'm going to add, teenagers, because of adult content, or husbands who hate chick flicks.

We went and saw Space Chimps with the boys at the Dollar theaters. It was actually good. We all enjoyed it. The boys did great which is a good indication.

Favorite Famous People

2008-10-06T10:07:00.001-06:00

With his recent death there has been lots of talk about Paul Newman. Seeing his picture on the cover of magazines, I decided to get acquainted with this person. Things to do this week include watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Wow look at those eyes and lips, a second close to my hot husbands. I'm a sucker for pretty eyes and lips.

Now that I mention pretty eyes and lips, Elvis Presley was a favorite person of mine when I was a kid. I probably was too young to watch his movies, but I did and often hunted for them. Grrrr, what a hottie!

I also fell in love with the Beatles way back when after watching a documentary about them. Another set of hot babes.

Some of my other favorite, famous people growing up included females as well, such as Nadia Comaneci, the gymnast, and Lynda Carter known for her famous, sexy roll, Wonder Woman.

Today

2008-09-30T21:54:00.004-06:00

Playing Outside

The boys and I pretty much worked all day outside. I handed L a hammer, some nails, a piece of wood, and some pipes to play with. Between that, their bikes, and gardening they were entertained all morning. (the final product was a trap to keep Cats out of the garden which basically was a long piece of wood with nails sticking out in a pattern and evenly spaced. nice job L)

I've told myself over and over to leave the yard work for Chris since I seem to always feel sore and injured after working in the garden. However, I can't resist. I love doing it and am satisfied with the work.

I usually do the trimming, weeding, and detailing of the garden. It just seems to be my job. Chris doesn't seem to care about that stuff.

I finally decided to add some color to the front yard and after all the weeding, trimming, and ripping out of grass in the flower bed, we headed to what the boys call "the dirty store." We picked up fall flowers from Home Depot and Lowes. All the boys planted a couple plants including K who did his after school.

Video Games

Something I've noticed is that the boys haven't played video games since Loyd moved out. It seemed to be the thing to do with Loyd. He left an old play station that the kids got bored of. Chris bought an x box years ago. The boys loved playing lego star wars on that. But, I don't even know where the game is now and they haven't asked to play in a long time. I can't even remember when the last time was. And I'm so pleased.

The boys do watch PBS. Some favorites include curious George, which A will drop anything he's doing to go see, Ruff Ruff, and CyberChase.

Most of the time they build, create, make, and play with stuff, not necessarily with toys. They keep real busy and seem to go from one room to another. K is always making stuff, drawing, cutting, designing (games, ideas, plans). Right now he's way into Yugioh cards and is constantly making stuff to organize them (arm bands, folders, boxes). He has made several versions of a game board. The boys are so busy and happy. I can hand them tape, glue, sissors, paper and they'll be entertained literally the whole day. I'm proud of them.

Just Me and K

K gets to stay up later than the other boys sometimes. Usually the other two crash after a certain point.

Alot of times this is when K does homework and reads. And I'm more than happy to feed him again since he eats so little during meals.

So we chatted and hung out. And it was nice.

October Activities

There are tons of things going on this month that you can do as a family. I'm so excited about it all.....corn mazes, haunted houses, wheeler farms festivities, gallivan center is having a party for kids, thanksgiving point festivities... I have a list.

Anyway, the boys are earning positive points to be able to go to these. It's my way to get them to do their part around here. Hey, we all work for food, including these boys.

Overslept

2008-09-30T09:10:00.006-06:00

We usually are heading out the door at 8 a.m. to take K to school which starts at 8:15 a.m.

My alarm goes off at 7:15. I turned it off and do what I always do: go back to sleep. When L comes up to me and whispers, "mom I'm hungry." I gage how I'm feeling and realize that it's way past snooze and we may even be cutting it close.

I look at my time. 8:05.

K, we're late, it's 8:05, we over slept, get up, get dressed, you're having school lunch today, let's go guys.

I throw K some clothes, make him a sandwich to eat for breakfast, help him put his shoes on, smooth out his hair with some spit (jk).

Kids barefoot, with my morning hair, I put sunglasses on, drive with no hands as I fix my hair, and somehow we get K to school before that final bell.

Me to K...When we hit the driveway you need to get unbuckled, put your bag on, and when I say go, jump out and run.

I was feeling relieved but as I was driving home felt bad for all the things that didn't happen:

K didn't use the toilet
He didn't get a drink with that sandwich.
Didn't get gel and hairspray, chap stick, and moisturizer with sunscreen.
An "I love you"
Didn't get family prayer.

I'm sick of looking at my marathon post (Rated R, for language)

2008-09-27T22:49:00.007-06:00

My camera broke, bummer or maybe not. Means I get a new camera in the near future? Maybe.

My foot is feeling uninjured, but I have yet to run on it.

A learned to urinate on his own since I was limping around. Usually I held him up a few inches and helped him aim. But, we found a better system. He tip toes and sits his penis on the rim of the toilet and makes it just fine. Of course I would never let him do that using someone else's toilet. gross. We found an even better system. The kids found a very heavy Accounting book that A uses to get him up a couple inches instead of tip toeing. It works great. If he has to go poop, he tells me and I say "o.k. call me when you're done." He sets his toilet insert and adjust things so he doesn't spray and calls me when he's done to finish business. What a kid.

My brother, his wife, and baby visited from Vegas this weekend. It was nice to have company. The kids seemed to enjoy the extra ears. They were pleasant company and I think his wife is great.

I played softball. I'm on a team with people from Chris' work. I've been showing up without Chris since he's been out of town going on 3/7 weeks. Every week someone asks me where he's at and I remind them "out of town." But they don't seem to mind me coming, in fact they ask me to come and so now I just make sure I have a sitter on that night. We've had a lot of close games under pressure which makes things exciting. This week my luck ran out and I need to head for the batting cages asap. Anyone wanna join me?

I found several cute shorts on sale that I purchased. I had one pair of shorts and really needed to add some to my wardrobe. I love shopping again. Dangerous.

Now that the marathon is past, I've moved some of my focus to our Yucatan trip this Fall. Yucatecos don't like to be called Mexicans. The term Mexicans are what they use for the people from Mexico City. In fact when I was talking to my grandma a few years ago, I asked her how Merida was and she replied that there is more crime now that Mexicans are moving in. Granted she is "Mexican" because she is from Mexico but she is actually from Merida and doesn't consider herself "Mexican." Does that make sense? And she speaks Mayan, because that's what they speak. I think that is soooo cool. I wish I could.

So the general outline for the trip will be to fly into Cancun, rent a car, drive to Merida (4 hours) to my parent's house on the first day. Visit ruins, the city, site see, from there. Now, I ask myself why not fly into Merida out from Cancun? I remember now, it was way cheaper to fly into and out of Cancun. On the fourth day, we'll stay in Tulum and explore that place. Maybe two nights there and the last night in Cancun. But as of yesterday, it was two nights in Cancun. Go snorkeling at one of those two places. My brother suggested to use a company because they boat you out to the coral reefs and know exactly where to take you. We wouldn't even know where to start. So it will cost a pretty penny for that activity but should be worth it. Don't be jealous if you weren't invited this time around. We've made Nate and Collete our "guinea pigs." There probably will be a next time and maybe you won't want to come depending on whether the trip was a flop or not. I'm hoping that no one gets sick; a very big concern for me since I always spend a great deal of time on or over the toilets when I go.

This week the boys had 5 birthday parties between the two oldest! It all worked out but yeah, at this rate I'm going to have to cut down on milk to buy birthday gifts.

L did awesome at his soccer game. Now that he's not playing in the nets and laying around, he's doing amazing. And I'm so proud of him. He was so happy today. He was pleasant and his emotional bank account was full and I really enjoyed him today since it was just him and I for a few hours. Sometimes it's hard to see their goodness when they're fighting over attention, all talking over each other and competing. It's so much easier to see them for who they are when it's just that one. And remember......oh yeah, this one is easy to shop with or this one is self entertained or really fun and easy going. I remembered that about L today. Such a good boy. All of them are.

September 20th has come and gone

2008-09-22T09:31:00.004-06:00

Thank goodness! I would do it again as long as I know my body is healthy enough to do one again. I took it really slow coming in at the half way point at 2 hours 25 minutes. Sweet I thought. At this pace I will be under 5 hours. However, the last 6 miles I added a couple minutes per mile, slowing down quite a bit. I came in at 5 hours 3 minutes. Which I am both happy and disappointed about. Happy because I thought it would take me more than that and disappointed because I was so close to the time I wanted to come under.

At mile 10 my left ankle started hurting. I have never had problems with that ankle and was confused. I ran a few more miles on it and couldn't take it any more. I prayed. A minute later I moved the timing chip off my ankle and up my leg. The pain went away. I was able to continue the race as I had been doing. But, the damage was already done. So in the middle of the night I woke up and my foot was swollen. I thought maybe I broke/fractured my leg but today the swelling is down and I've been able to walk on it this morning. Everything else feels really good. I wish I would have known to keep the Velcro loose and I would have avoided that all together.

I did walk a short stretch between mile 23 and 24 but it hurt to walk so I decided to run again . The hill that people were warning me about was nothing compared to the hills I trained on. Cake to say the least.

Things I want to remember but you don't have to read:
Looked out the window and it was raining. I was worried because I didn't have rain gear. I did have a plastic rain Pancho in our emergency kit I took with me just in case.
The rain cleared and it was a gorgeous run with a few spurts of sprinkles to cool me down.
Sat next to someone on the bus and chatted all the way up. Glad for friendly people.
I was starving when we got to the top of the canyon. I was worried about not having any fuel to run when I found a lone banana perched on a light post. Should I eat it? I kept eying it and was feeling desperate and embarrassed that I would stoop so low. But, it was calling my name and everyone was in line to start the race. After looking around and asking the opinion of the guy next to me, he said "it still has it's cover!" So I devoured it with a smile on my face, thankful for this banana I found practically on the floor.
Someone lost a package of Gu (carbohydrates) and the guy cleaning up asked me if I wanted it. I took it and nibbled on it slowly, thankful for the carbs.
There were two guys walking/running around me. They'd pass me, I'd pass them. I swear they were trying to keep up. Finally, they told me to slow down because they were trying to keep my pace. They hadn't trained at all!!!!! Good grief. So we started jogging together. After a while they just couldn't keep up even though I was really slow and I never saw them again until after the race. They didn't do too shabby considering their lack of training.
Some lady dropped her shorts a few feet off the course to relieve herself in my perfect view. Just fabulous. There's no shame when you're desperate, as I've learned for myself.
Mile 14, I'm feeling really good. I lost my breath when I saw Chris and the boys.
After looking around, I thought that this might be the place for retirement.
Mile 16, if I can just get to mile 20 then I can think about walking.
Mile 20, I think I can still keep going. phhh. 6 miles left. that's nothing. one more hour. If I can just get to the 5 miles and counting down.
Mile 21, where is the next mile marker. Why is it taking longer to reach them?!! I hit the "wall."
Mile 22, just 4 more and counting down.
Mile 25, Ok, last one, picking up the pace, as fast as I can possibly make my body go towards the finish line, which was probably pathetic for a sprint.
Went and visited the Dameron's in Tremonton, who we were originally going to stay with. What a good family!

Walmart Trash

2008-09-19T08:55:00.004-06:00

Yesterday we went to ShopKo to grab some things we needed. We were in the toy section because K wanted to pick up some cards when L starts pulling out pennies from his pocket. He wanted to know what he could get with them. So he hands some of them to me to count. I was thinking it wouldn't take me more than a minute to count when baby A says "peepee, bafrom." I was in the middle of counting, should I make him wait? So, I told him to wait, otherwise we'd never get out of the store! It was a dilemma. I was so stubborn, I was going to get at least one task done before moving on to the next, when A went all over the floor. All right guys, time to go, I say. I stuff the pennies I wasn't finished counting back into L's pockets.

I was trying to be discreet when I went to the front to ask for paper towels when L belts out, "I can't believe my baby brother peed all over the floor!" If you know L, he's never satisfied telling you once, so he said it several times. Needless to say he got a lecture for that. And I was feeling a little violent.

By the time we got back to the mess, someone had stepped in it. Folks, this is why you shouldn't wear shoes in the house because you never know what you or your kids have stepped in and you may be the victim of some wreckless and stubborn mother and desperate 2 year old.

When we were paying for our products, the boys start unloading their pockets full of pennies. Seriously?! I was so embarrassed. We counted over 300 pennies and I couldn't look anyone in the eyes after that.

Either I need to wear a paperbag over my head when I shop with these funny little boys or we should just stick with Walmart because truly we fit right in!!

By the Way, if you ever want to annoy your sister in law, leave her kids a jug full of thousands of pennies when you move out. Because the second they get it, they will empty it out and her house will forever be oozing pennies out of everywhere--the dryer, the washer, on the floors everywhere, in the bathtub. The kids hands will constantly smell like dirty money and she will have to count hundreds of pennies at the counter while other customers glare at her with hateful eyes and make the back of her head and face burn with fire.

2008-09-16T22:02:00.001-06:00

Wow, I just typed up a lot. Can you tell my spouse is out of town? Usually I'd have this conversation with him but guess your stuck with me!! hmmmm, I wonder when he's going to call?

Cleaning and Purging

2008-09-16T21:36:00.003-06:00

It took me almost 2 hours to clean our teeny, tiny bathroom downstairs today. It hasn't been thoroughly cleaned in months and was so disgusting I thought I was going to catch a disease. My brother, wife and my nephew are coming into town next week and oh how I love to welcome my guests with a clean and comfy place to stay!!

I also cleaned out our guest bedroom, cleaning all surfaces and going through our stored things in the closet. I took a car load to the D.I. and threw out so much junk. I'm really purging our home of garbage and it feels so000 good.

I organized our laundry room/storage room. It's quite spacious and is easy to dump things in. There's still a lot of junk but it's better now.

I've also been working on laundering all our blankets. They smell dusty and I much prefer the smell of detergent and dryer sheets. I do one or two here and there. Not like I didn't already have loads to wash and put away today.

Oh and I even IRONED. Shocking. I'm not anti ironing it's just that I'm miserable at it. I make more wrinkles, get annoyed with the lack of perfection, I make my iron spit out brown stuff and end up having to rewash the item of clothing, and I burn myself quite often. But for some reason I want K's clothes to be wrinkle free for school and have been making time for ironing. Since the iron was warm I did their church clothes as well. Let's see how long this lasts.

Besides cooking, cleaning, running errands (went to the library and shoe store), I added more music to my shuffle, which takes a lot of time and is very tedious.

And I'm hoping for a restful, more playful day with the kids the rest of the week.

My kids

2008-09-16T21:21:00.005-06:00

My kids have a way of keeping me humble.

I was trying to sing along with my ipod when K says "Wow, you sound like an Indian." I'm assuming he's talking about the chanting at Pow Wows. If you haven't had a chance to hear the drumming and singing, it might be worth while. Then you'll know what I sound like when I sing without being able to hear myself.
I had sat down after working out and asked A to give me a kiss. He replied "Ewww, YUCK!" He'd never done that before, I must have smelt and looked pretty bad!

The other day L says to me "You look like you have a baby in your tummy." I'm not pregnant either. At the ward walk about, he looks at the Bishop and says, "You don't have any hair, I see that." We laughed, uncomfortably. Guess I need to work on our candidness.

L asked Chris to do something for him when he was busy so Chris asked him to ask me. He replied, "NOOOO, all she does is sleep and play on the computer." Wow, so not true but that's how he perceives me. I had a nice talk with him about that comment and made sure he knew all the things that I've done and do.

I was dancing because that's what I do around here sometimes, when A asks, "You Running, mom?" heehee. I look like I am running when I dance. just fabulous. Oh, how my kids remind me of how uncool I am.

Dreams

2008-09-16T21:04:00.002-06:00

I'm getting excited and anxious about the marathon on Saturday. I've been trying to work out the details for the last few days trying to get the kinks out of everything. I think I've been overthinking it because I had the following dreams last night:

That I was at the race ready to go and realized I didn't have my race bib on and the time they were handing out the bibs and timing chips was past.

The following two have to do with triathlons but nevertheless I had them

That I was about to jump in the pool and realized I had forgotten my swimming suit so I was going through all the lockers trying to find something to wear, in a panic.

That I was ready to start the bike and I forgot my helmet so I grabbed someone elses with the intention of returning it later.
......................

Things I've done to get ready:
Got new shoes, my old ones were giving me grief.
Got jelly beans for carbs for the second half of the race.
Got tons of music from the library and have been adding new songs onto my shuffle. Let me know if there's a song you think is good to run with.
Found a place to stay the night by Logan so I don't have to do the drive the day of.
Since my last long run, I've run 15 miles (training on hills as well) and am hoping to put in another 10, although resting sounds like a good plan as well.
Went over the course

......................

Things I'm still trying to decide:
What to wear ( I hear it's pretty cold up there and the altitude is much higher than here)
Whether to hold a waterbottle in my hand like I've been doing on my training runs, wear a belt with waterbottles (which I've never done before), or not have anything and rely on the aid stations for hydration. hmmm what to do.

More of Today

2008-09-13T23:59:00.000-06:00

Chris, Carson, and Micky went to the game today. These were a couple of the pics Chris took for me. As we all know UCLA was shut out by BYU. It was a good game so I heard. And while they were off having a well deserved time, the boys and I continued to work on getting the house cleaned up. They earned new things today for helping out.

Today

2008-09-13T23:43:00.006-06:00

Yay, another shadow picture taken during L's soccer game this morning. We do a lot of soccer during the week including L's weekly games and K's weekly practices and games twice a week. We see a lot of friends at the park including Kara and her kids one of which had a game after L's on the same field. Between Kara and I, we have 7 boys. Kara and her husband both served with Chris in the same mission. We hit it off quickly and now are running together. If I have a daughter I want her to marry the little Aina baby I'm carrying in the picture below. I love what Kara had to say about this..."I would love to be related to the Ericson's. Sign me up for that program." She's been fun to run with and to get to know. She makes me look forward to having another baby boy if that time ever comes. Her boys are sooooooo much fun and well behaved. (one of her boys is missing from the picture, he was warming up).

Last Long Run

2008-09-10T12:05:00.004-06:00

09/10/2008 Route
Find more Runs in Sandy, United States

This is what Kara and I ran yesterday. Starting at Quail Run (the east point) down Falcon to Highland (which had a couple hills) to Fort Union making our way onto State Street to Draper City. Onto 12300 South to 7th East to 9400 S. up to about 2300 East. The last couple miles started with a hill. If you know where the new Walmart is, yup that's the hill!! What kept me going was that I felt so close to being done in the time I wanted to be done. But the thought came to mind "I could use a really good pain killer right now. It would be so nice to not feel the pain." We started about 4:45 a.m. and I got in at 8:52 a.m.

Projects

2008-09-08T15:58:00.004-06:00

These are the places I've worked on in the house. For a while I could only do "recovery." You know, clean the kitchen, do laundry, pick up, clean bathrooms. Corners and closets were being neglected. So with Chris gone and the boys being away at school and the fact that I can never find anything I need, it was time to do something about my disorganization. The following pictures are of more areas that need attention. Gross huh?

Top of Utah, Logan Marathon, September 20th

2008-09-07T22:01:00.007-06:00

I had been contemplating doing a Marathon for a few months before finally committing myself to it. My second half marathon was a stepping stone to the more rigorous long runs. I thought it would be cool to run one and since I'm at this point why not work a little harder to reach the next point. My rationale was that I'm in the most shape I've been in a long time and there may not be another opportunity.

The day came to register and I was seriously going to change my mind (training takes a lot of time and it can be costly physically and fiscally) when I looked at my calendar and saw that Chris would be out of town for 8 weeks in September and October. He would be home the first week in September and the last week in October, starting his business trips the last week in August. For my sanity, I decided to write the check out and register. I would not have committed to it if I didn't think I would be able to manage a training schedule but since Chris is home on the weekends, it's perfect for my long runs. He's home this next week so it'll be a very nasty week of running. And I only have to run with a jogging stroller for the week before the race, strength training, right?

Life as a wife and a mother has been really hard for me. Many times I've felt like I was sacrificing my life away and bitterly revolving my life around my husband's career and goals. Looking back I realize I've felt that way only when I'm down and not myself. Although I have and am in many ways sacrificing so much of myself for this little family, I realize that this is my true happiness. Thanks to this lifestyle we've chosen and have had the opportunity to live, I'm living a full life and hope for a fuller future.

For many years, I was so focused on kids and being pregnant or postpartum whatever, I was in survival mode and putting on a happy face for everyone else. So, it's nice to do something for myself, pick up a few hobbies and do more than just survive another day. My husband often suggested I pick up a hobby. But, I couldn't get motivated and get myself to do any more than I was already doing especially on the teeny, tiny budget I had to work on. I really felt maxed out. But, over the last couple years, things settling down with the boys and my health, I've been able to come out of my shell a little bit. I've actually got my motivation back (well some of the time). And I'm feeling more myself and wanting to do more for myself. Granted, most of my time revolves around everyone else around here but it's really nice to do one or two things for ME.

so with that here is what I ran this summer and what I hope to do in the next 13 days

August
9--Prov0 half Marathon, 13.1 miles (2 hours 15 minutes)
15--6.5 miles
18--5 miles (50 minutes)
23--16 miles (2 hours 40 minute)
30--18 miles (3 hours 30 minutes)
September
1--5 miles (50 minutes)
5--6.5 miles (65 minutes)
6--10 miles (2 hours 15 minutes, just wasn't feeling it)
planned Runs (I'm hoping to stick to it)
8--5 miles
9--20 miles
12--6.5 miles
13--10 miles
15--5 miles (with jogging stroller, Chris out of town)
17--5 miles (with jogging stroller)
19--3 miles (with jogging stroller)
20--Logan marathon
Since I typed this post
8--didn't happen
9--20 miles (about 4 hours 7 minutes, darn those bathroom breaks and the uphills)
12--5.5 miles (with hills)
13--5.5 miles (with hills)
15--5 miles/50 minutes at gym
I decided to rest the rest of this week and not do any more runs. I've worked out my feet issues and just making sure I'm good to go.
I would love to come in under 5 hours. At my pace, there is a good chance, I won't. But, I will be happy if I can get to race day uninjured and get done knowing I gave it my best shot.

School Lunch

2008-09-07T21:43:00.003-06:00

K had his first hot lunch on Friday. He said he had pizza. Of course I was like "Just Pizza? No fruit or veggies or juice?!!" My thoughts included.....what a waste........so unhealthy........I didn't get my money's worth.....Just pizza. I was so disappointed. But then he said. "And milk. CHOCOLATE milk. And I drank every drop. It was sooooooooooooooo GOOD!"

Well, I'll be darned. A couple years ago, pizza and chocolate milk would have been a deadly combination for K with all his food allergies. If I would have known he was going to have chocolate milk and pizza, I would have been panicking around noon last Friday. I'm glad I didn't know and so now I know he can have chocolate milk and that he actually likes it. What a relief and what a happy Friday it turned out to be. Life's little pleasures and to think a few years ago I was panicking about scenarios just like this.

That Darn Tooth Fairy

2008-09-03T21:25:00.002-06:00

She didn't come again!! Shameful. At first we thought it was because she doesn't like basements. So K spent the night upstairs with his brothers. But, nope that wasn't it because she didn't come again. *#$&. What kind of parent am I? My excuses included:

1. She must not like the basement.
2. The fairy economy must be bad right now.
3. Levi even said that she hurt her foot and it took a long time to get here.

The truth is, she's so darn tired at night she forgets to do her job. She came by this afternoon. Not the typical routine of a tooth fairy but hey it worked. K was very happy tonight. He's already dreaming about his next set of yugioh cards.

Some Observations

2008-09-01T22:28:00.012-06:00

I just finished reading the Diplomat's wife. Loved it. I repeat. LOVED IT (although it had holes it was entertaining and suspenseful, the twists were awesome, I really liked the love story behind it, and overall had a good mix of sad and happy) . And so I must say that I can truly waste my life away reading. If it's such a good thing why do I feel guilty when I read. Could it be the screaming kids, or that my husband is making dinner again, or that my house is not up to par and things and people are being neglected? Perhaps, so I ask myself do I really want to start the Kommandant's Girl, Enna Burning, and River Secrets? The part of me that loves to escape reality and go off into another's world is wanting to read, read, read. But, the better part of me says, I must restore balance. How do you do it?

I was waiting in line to pay at a store. The lady in front of me had three daughters not much older than my three boys. As I watched her three daughters, "sitting ducks" came to my mind. While her daughters waited quietly, hardly shifting positions, my three boys were running circles around me, touching everything, constantly on the move, three different conversations going on at the same time. Wow, what a difference. Is it just my boys or is there truly a difference between girls and boys? Don't answer that first question.

Ipod shuffle vs. Sansa's MP3 player. I recently(3 weeks ago) got a shuffle and have been happy with it. But, I had to get a new one because it broke. We think it shorted. Chris got a Sansa and I think I like it better. It's small and has a clip as well. But it shows you what song and artist is playing. I like the feel of it and the ear phones it came with are much more comfortable and the quaility of sound I think is better. It picks up FM stations. It can hold twice as much music as my shuffle and it was on sale for 10 bucks less than what I paid. I'm really rethinking my shuffle but I don't want to face Walmart's customer service. Is the trade really worth going back to Walmart and dealing with those people? Is the Sansa that much better?