Random Thoughts from the Zoo

So here I am

2012-01-21T20:19:00.000-08:00

On a Saturday night. Writing blog posts. This was not my first choice. (no offense)
I will avoid the reason why and blame the irritability on pregnancy hormones. And leave it there.

Speaking of pregnancy, I've had a few people ask for a belly picture.
There's not much of one yet, but little miss does definitely poke out after we go running! I think she's just learning early to lean in for a killer finish. I will never win a race, but maybe she will.

The post run belly:

VS the pre run belly:

There's definitely no killer abs left there.
and I don't run in all white. I promise. It was chilly so the tank was a base layer. It was warm enough that day that I was wearing a skirt though. Yay for warm weather in January!
I'm torn between the fact that I'm grateful I don't get huge out front-especially early on-and irritated that I gain all of my weight in my butt/hips/thighs. and low back apparently. Who doesn't love back fat?
And while some nice person is going to say something about it doesn't look like a big gain, 13lbs are sitting there. Awesome. But hey, my pants still fit. Figure that one out.
Meh, as my midwife said, "you'll put it on, you'll take it off, who cares!" She's fabulous.
It's nice that though I'm technically still seeing a perinatologist this time around because of last time's issues, I'm really mostly seeing the midwife. She's cool. Also she gave me the official go ahead to run my little heart out, rolling her eyes when I told her I needed official medical approval for all the naysayers. Really I don't need it, but people seem to nag me less when I tell them that I've asked my dr and have the go ahead. I'm green-lighted for anything I feel up for. Half marathons on the calendar in March? Yes please! Hopefully I'll still be up for that in two months.

Almost 22wks now, things are plugging along way too fast. This pregnancy is flying. I do wish time would slow down just a tad.
Everything is looking perfect with baby. She has been watched very closely or the past two months, especially brain anatomy. We've had a couple of very detailed and thorough ultrasounds, and everything is as it should be. It's pretty crazy to look at all the little gray splotches inside her head and know what many of them are based on previous experience. It's pretty fabulous to see everything exactly where it should be. I'll have to post a comparison picture between her head scan and Sam's-it's amazing to see the difference.

Thankfully this little girl is fabulously active. I love so much feeling her jump around in there. My placenta is smack dab in the middle up front so it blocks a lot of the movement I would normally feel right in there in the middle of my belly. Apparently it's huge from what I keep being told too. Not sure what to make of that tidbit of information. Despite from the extra insulation in her way, she makes her presence known. I love it. Can't wait till she's a little bigger and I can see her kicks and jabs a little better.

That's about it in the pregnancy department. Very grateful there isn't much more to say about it. What a very different experience this time around. My thoughts float back to Sam's pregnancy and certain things that happened at certain weeks....it's interesting to relive that. It feels so far away sometimes, but way too fresh at other times. An interesting perspective for sure.

And now I'm going to go negate every mile I ran today by eating chocolate covered gummy bears and Reese's stuffed Oreos. Good night!

The knee won. The goal lost.

2012-01-18T08:18:00.001-08:00

Almost three weeks into the new year.
No Christmas wrap up, no year end reminiscing, no big post about resolutions.

Holy smokes life is crazy!

Aaron is back in school, two nights a week of clinicals (till the wee hours of the morning) and two nights a week with late classes leaves me playing single mom again. Only nine more weeks this quarter.....
(not that I'm counting)
Every free moment gets snatched up with something.
Have I ever mentioned how much I hate homework?
How about science fairs? Have I mentioned that I loathe those?
Oy.

So what does this have to do with a knee and a goal?
Oh hey, how about I do part of an end of the year wrap up?
Ok, I will!

The only real goals for last year that I ever put up here on ye olde blog were running goals. Thanks to one of those fabulous TAG posts, I did share those. And they were:

Currently-to actually be able to run again. for more than a mile and a half.
Sad. (curse you knee!)
Already signed up for my first 2011 Tri, so I'm gunning to run that leg faster than I did last time I did this event, especially since my baby will be the same age as my last baby was last time I did this Tri.
Run 1000 miles.
Run my first marathon.
New PRs all the way around (5K, 10K and 1/2).

Good news!
I ran again. For more than a mile and a half. phew!
I KILLED the run leg on that tri. 36:25 the first time I did that event, 26:12 this past year. Killed.
I ran my first marathon. Loved it.
Hit new PRs, by more than 4min on the 5k, more than 14min on the 10k (I'd only raced one before, while sick, and 9wks post baby so that wasn't hard to beat!), and though I didn't race any half marathons, I did a handful of training runs that had me at or sub 2hrs at the 13mile mark so I know I could have raced a PR. Close enough for me. Plus I clocked my fastest mile ever at 6:54. For a not so speedy gal, that felt good!

But that 1000 miles....Oh, the thousand miles.
That's where the knee won. After a very wimpy start to the year mileage-wise while I fiddled with my knee and then ITband, I did some great makeup work during the summer as I trained for St George. But the good old IT band again, and then the knee as well, foiled me in the last few months of the year. I didn't even hit 900. Ouch.
But oh well. Life goes on, now I have a fresh new year in front of me and I'm ticking away at that 1000 mark. Better to have babied my left leg through it's issues and have it functional now. Hopefully there won't be much babying required. Well, at least for anything other than the baby.
So can I hit 1000 this year even though there will be a little break thanks to baby? We'll see!

First Haircut

2012-01-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

My little Sammy boy had his first haircut. Ok, a few weeks ago, but hey, I'm a little slow lately.

I loved his wispy hair, but really, it was getting out of control.

It was time.

Why is it so hard to have that first haircut happen?

Oh yeah....because then that little baby looks more like a little boy.

A very mischievous little boy!

I wanna be a super model- The Florida Trip

2011-12-28T17:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, not really, I'm definitely not cut out for that.
But I could seriously enjoy this as a hobby.

See? Here I am, enjoying it.

Florida was amazing. It was gorgeous.
It was a whirlwind trip, SO fast, but it was great.

I headed out early Monday morning, and after flying all day to Fort Lauderdale (through Phoenix), we still had a two hour drive to our hotel after arriving.
It was dark by the time we got down there so I was anxious for Tuesday and the chance to see everything!
Makay (one of the Hapari owners) went down with me, and since we arrived so late we went to dinner by ourselves as the rest of the group had already gone.
I think our waiter thought I was nuts because for dinner I ordered three side dishes. Steamed Veggies, Pina Fried Rice (SO good! And not heavy like fried rice usually is thank goodness!), and sweet potatoes. It was so good, I found myself wishing I could have eaten more, but afraid to take another bite because I certainly didn't want big dinner bloat the next day!

The other Hapari owners-Jill and John (and their spouses), the photographer and director all dropped by the restaurant as we were eating so I could meet them all. It was so great to meet them!!

After dinner and our little meet up we headed back to the hotel to crash for the night. We had both been up since 3 something in the morning and were feeling it. And with needing to be at the shoot before 6am, we wanted a little sleep!

I left this sunrise as I was flying out on Monday

and was met with this sunrise on Tuesday morning.

It was beautiful!

It was a windy day so it wasn't optimal, but hey, you take what you can get!

Also, I forgot my sandals (what was I thinking?!), so I brought a little of the Wild West to the beach.

We started the day with hair and makeup.

And then started going through the lineup of suits to shoot for the day.

Did I mention Nathan Lane was there?

This is Lou-he was there to direct the shoot. He was fabulous! And he brought me coloring books and crayons so I still felt at home without my herd of kids! Totally cracked me up. That and he called me Octomom. ha! He was such a nice guy and a ton of fun! It was really nice to work with him because he wasn't afraid to be candid and tell me what was working, what wasn't, and to really give me feedback through the day. It was also fun to hear some of his stories of people he has worked with-a lot of big names, and it was funny to hear his thoughts on some of them.

The photographer was just amazing. When I first stepped up to shoot I was so nervous. Stiff as can be, awkward...oh goodness, I'm sure he was back there thinking "oh man, what am I going to do with her?!", but he talked me through those first shots, really helped me relax and was very clear about what he wanted to see, how he wanted me to move, all of that. By the time my second round came up I felt so much more at ease, and apparently that was obvious to everyone! It went much better. He was great!

I was so worried that I was just going to be an annoyance to these people who are used to working with professionals who know exactly what they are doing, but they were all so good to me! Very kind, very patient, very helpful and encouraging.

The day I shot was the day that the "plus size" models were also shooting.

I am short.

They were both fabulous. Sweet as can be, and it was so great to watch them work because they were so natural! It was like a switch flipped the second they stepped in front of the camera. It was really fun to watch.

There were touch ups throughout the day, and true to form, my hair fell flat and went straight within minutes every time. Oh well.

We had a break for a bit in the afternoon so I went roaming through the grounds of the hotel where we were shooting and where we were staying.

This is the deck of the cottage where some of the group was staying.
This was the view:

So beautiful!

And a few minutes just soaking it all in....

The room was awesome too!

We wrapped up the day catching the last rays of sun with some shots on the dock.
This is one set I cannot wait to see-once the hat picture comes up I will for sure let you know. It was awesome!

While I completely understand that whole photography thing of not letting anyone see pics till they are done and edited, I REALLY wish I could have had a peek at even just one shot from the day. Since I was rooming with Makay I got to chat with her that night and she *did* get to see them-she said they were great. Oh, I hope some of them really were great!

The owners, director and photographer had a dinner meeting to go over the day and peek through what they shot. Since they were all occupied I was on my own to do whatever I wanted for dinner and a few hours of the evening. I debated heading out to find some little food place on the island, but opted instead to go with room service. I took a long hot uninterrupted bath, ate a LOT of food, and just chilled on my cushy bed.

It turned into another late night as Makay and I chatted about this that and the other thing. She was such a great roommate!

Wednesday was an early start too-she needed to be back to the shoot site early and I wanted to meet the models that were coming in that day before I headed to Miami to catch a flight home.

This is a stellar picture of me (note the sarcasm please) with Ashley, the other contest winner.

Girl is TINY! I put my arm around her waist to take this pic and thought I was going to snap her in half. She was very pretty and seemed like a very sweet girl. But man, she is just a kid!! I felt old.

And then there was Carla. If you've been to Hapari's site you've seen her all over. She has worked with them for years and she is gorgeous. And her pictures don't even come close to doing her justice. She is seriously the most beautiful person I have ever seen. The woman is STUNNING.
I am going to share this picture only because it just shows even more how gorgeous she is in real life. It is like the worst picture ever of me (little sleep, no shower, just a quick get up and get ready morning, and was I in the middle of a blink? an awkward laugh? who knows!), totally Magoo, but does this not look like I'm standing next to a cardboard cut out?

Totally makes me laugh looking at it! ha!
And she was a nice as can be. I would have loved to watch her work, I caught a glimpse for a few minutes and it was amazing.

Anyway-I had to jet out early to make it to the airport. I was glad I gave myself some extra time because I hit nasty traffic. And what is with the low speed limits in Florida?! I am so used to big freeways with big speed limits, that the highways with stoplights everywhere and the 45mph speed limit just drove me crazy.
Also, since the shoot was over I had Chips Ahoy for breakfast.
I spent the rest of my day on planes and in airports, and had lunch all by my lonesome in LA. This is across from me where Aaron is supposed to sit.

I was so hungry that I ordered my favorite Chili's salad and totally forgot to ask for it without dressing. So frustrating. But then I was so hungry I scraped as much off as I could and ate it anyway. I don't understand how people can put dressing all over things-you totally lose the taste of the food! Oh well. After sufficiently stuffing myself I killed the last little bit of time before hoping on my last flight. I missed my family and was anxious to see them.

It was a fabulous trip, a completely amazing experience. I have loved Hapari's suits since I first found them, but love them so much more knowing the people behind it all. If it's possible-I love them all more than the suits! They are such wonderful wonderful people!

I am so excited for the new suits that are coming out soon-there are some super cute new designs and some patterns that I love! It was so fun to see the behind the scenes of how all this goes down and just how much work goes into it all! Such an incredible experience all the way around. Truly priceless!

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me and supported me through this whole thing! I am so grateful to have had this experience, and it was thanks to many of you who rallied support in my behalf. Thank you!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T21:43:00.000-08:00

Hoping that your Christmas was all sorts of fun!

An Early Christmas Gift

2011-12-24T21:23:00.001-08:00

Now that it's Christmas Eve, it won't seem early. But last week we let the kids open a Christmas gift a little early.

Enjoy!

Guest Posting

2011-12-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

I have about two dozen posts stuck in draft mode here that I need to finish-most importantly an awesome one about that little jaunt to Florida!!

But while I am scrambling to finish Christmas projects, today I will leave you with a Christmas post over at Conservamom. She is hosting a week of guest bloggers sharing Christmas traditions, a fun opportunity to peek into the lives of others. Today was my chance to share a little more of our crazy with the world. Head over and visit Elia and say hi!

Heading toward the top of that hill

2011-12-11T13:33:00.000-08:00

Last week was Aaron's birthday.
He is a whopping 39 now! Does that mean that next year he hits the top of the hill and starts heading over?
Or does that not happen till 50 now?
I've decided the answer changes depending on the age of the person you ask.

Unfortunately we didn't do anything wildly exciting for his birthday. Between school and work and Christmas craziness and me being gone a few days that week, it just wasn't happening.

But we wanted to make sure he felt loved and knew he wasn't forgotten.

So we drove to his office and filled his car with balloons and some of his favorite treats.

Next time around I know to buy more balloons, as there was still empty space at the top of the car. That was not my intention. Next time.....oh next time!

We juggled the families for multiple nights of birthday celebrations. You gotta love the family shuffle.
The first time around he thought really hard about that wish.

Apparently by the second night he was really excited about it.

Or maybe it was the little ancient out of tune platform that plays a tinny Happy Birthday as it spins your cake in a circle that had him so excited.

After that night I was lazy and quit taking birthday pictures.

Next year should be all sorts of fun. Hopefully life will be slightly less chaotic so that we can really do something to celebrate. Hopefully.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving.
I've already mentioned how much I love Thanksgiving, but darn it, it's worth saying again! I love Thanksgiving!!
There was more to it than my kids table. Although that was still by far one of my favorite parts.

The day started out with pies at 6am because I was having too much fun with the kid stuff the day before and neglected to make them. Whoops.

But really? I think every day should start with pies.

The sunrise did not disappoint and was a nice reward for being up early to start baking.

Malia and her friend were running the local Turkey Trot, and I decided-literally 3 minutes before we left to pick up her friend-that I too would run. Race started at 8, I made my decision at 7:30ish. So I left the pies in the oven and a run down of what needed to be done till I got home. What a nice wife I am. (also-how wonderful is my husband that he didn't even bat an eye? Awesome). But hey, it was 30 something degrees this year, and after last years 3 degrees it seemed like a nice warm morning for a run!

We had a good time.

Despite my angry knee again I managed to hit a decent pace. Not as fast as I would have chosen, but not too shabby.

After the race was 4 hours of cooking, way too much "testing" of the food, and the rest of the prep.
Loved the kid table even more when it was done.

There were plenty of people and plenty of fun.

It also involved randomness like a blue shoe on the table,

and at one point a dog on the table.

(Do you see that!? I know-I flipped too. But at least it was after we'd all eaten. And it only lasted long enough for the picture to be taken.)

A rousing game of Bingo with Pomps,

that of course included fabulous prizes.
Like a tiara and wand.

Yes that's her hand sticking through the side of her sleeve. She was bothered that it buttoned at the cuff and thought her hand should come out the side.

Half of Aaron's family went and hung out in the other room.
(does anyone else have family that does this?)

But we did make them come back when we broke out Hedbanz.

Very fun game-the kids loved it.

Though the littlest ones had a hard time not yelling out "Oh! you have ______ on your head!" each time we replaced the cards on the bands.

And you have to love pictures of people with things on their heads, right?

Even when the tough older brother tries to avoid the camera.

After wrapping up our crazy day, Aaron's dad sent us off to his new house (that he hasn't moved into yet) for a night out while he stayed behind with the kids.

A quiet evening, a ginormous jetted tub (that I didn't get a picture of-dang!), and watching a movie without interruption....it was great.

We came home and crashed, with the alarm set for way too early the next day.
But the good part was that it was set for 2am so I could snag some of the Black Friday specials when they went live online. I got up, traveled all the way across the hallway, stayed in my pajamas, and then 15 minutes later crawled back into my warm bed with my Black Friday shopping complete. That my friends is the way to do Black Friday!!

Though it was weeks ago, I hope your Thanksgiving was fabulous!!

Off I Go

2011-12-05T03:15:00.000-08:00

It really felt like today was always just going to be forever away.
And it snuck up way too fast.

It's 4:10 in the morning and I am heading out to the airport to catch an early flight down South.
Part of me wishes I'd squeezed in a little more mileage, a little more ab work, a few more workouts.
Oh well. It is what it is.
I am so excited and terribly nervous.

Islamorada, here I come!

I will be the goofy chick snapping pictures all day long.

Off to be a swimsuit model-

Will walk for raspberries

2011-12-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

I mentioned a couple of weeks back that Sam had started taking some steps.
After a very slow and very cautious start he's decided that for the most part it's the way to get around now! Still a little unsure some days, but boy is it cute to watch him toddle around!!

I wasn't able to get video that first weekend he started walking, but a few days later I did catch this. Apparently we just needed the right bribery for him to not immediately sit down when the camera came out.
Sam loves raspberries. LOVES them!
Thanks to Costco having some amazing fresh raspberries recently, we finally got the little stinker on film.

And now, two weeks later he's much more confident and enjoys showing off.
So fun to see!

The kids table

2011-11-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

Ah, Thanksgiving.

I am one of those people who views it as a holiday event, not just a big meal.
Come on people, it's Thanksgiving!!
It's a holiday built around blessings, food, family, food, fun, food, and did I mention food?
What's not to love?!

We're hosting this year and went from hosting one guest (I know, sad) to 11 a few days ago. Woo-hoo!
Now it's a party.
Not that it wouldn't have been with just one extra, that's still twice as many people as most families have over. We're always a party anyway.

It will be great.
Even though I didn't bake pies tonight. Pies are a fabulous way to start the day so it's all good. I'll just get up a little earlier.

I've had too much fun with the kids' stuff today to get to pies. I'm kind of jealous that I don't get to sit at the kids' table. But hey, my 13yr old keeps asking if she really has to sit there, so maybe she'll swap me?

Who wouldn't want to sit here?

(really? I didn't think ahead enough to move the tape before I took a picture? doh.)

And none of the fun stuff is out yet.
The coloring pages, and fresh new crayons (be still my heart)....
The games...
The acorns...

The pilgrim hats....
-pretend there is a picture because I'm not putting one up....the kitchen was warm, buckle frosting totally melted off and looks all deformed now. dangit. but they will still taste good. Oh yes, they will.-

The jell-o cup turkeys....

The other turkeys.....

And there's still more to come.

Not to mention some incredible food.
I'm already hungry!

One Small Step...

2011-11-23T20:02:00.000-08:00

Four actually.

Sunday didn't only bring Aaron's fabulous story, but a fabulous accomplishment as well.

Sam took his first steps!!
He'd been teetering one step between things for a bit, but never dared try a second.
On Sunday evening he took three steps from Aaron to me, and then four from me back to Aaron.

I was so hoping to catch it on camera to share this awesome milestone, but every time that thing comes out he drops to his bum and just sits there. Darn stubborn children.....where on earth do they get it?

Little miracles every day.

So crazy to look back a year and a half at the prognosis we were dealt concerning Sam and to see where he is now. Absolutely amazing.

Embarrassing Moments

2011-11-21T09:01:00.000-08:00

Not mine, so of course I'm going to share!

There was more to Friday afternoon/evening, and Saturday was.....well, we'll just leave that one alone.

But this my friends is the story of Sunday afternoon.

Our church meetings go from 1pm-4pm. That afternoon block where you kind of start to feel how tired you are.
Our main worship meeting (Sacrament Meeting) is the first hour and change of the meeting block.
As the meeting got underway with the first speaker, Aaron was feeling the tired creeping in. He's tired, that's no secret. The stress of life just seems to wear him out even more. So as the first talk was ending he leaned forward a bit and put his head on the back of the bench in front of us. I started tickling his back and felt him doing that relaxed slumping in to sleep. It happens. Well, at least to most men it happens. I have rarely met a woman who fell asleep in church. Why is that?

Anyway-
Aaron is out cold when the second speaker stands up. (for the LDS readers, it was a High Council speaker) This is a guy we actually really enjoy listening too. Brother J. has great stories. Last time he spoke in our ward (congregation) it included a story of shooting a shark. Really. (don't worry, he tied it in) Like I said, good stories. He started his talk, it was going well. Even my kids were listening-including 5yr old Lincoln, which is not the norm! He starts talking about direction, guides, compasses.....and then looks into the congregation for our Scout Master. Jay is no where to be seen. So he turns to another guy he knows is experienced in scouts and wilderness and all that good stuff.....my husband.
"I was going to ask Brother M., but I don't see him anywhere, so I'm going to ask Steve Ball. Steve, if you're out hiking with a group of scouts and they decided to just stop paying attention to the compass, what's going to happen?"
.....quiet......

Now I haven't been to church for a few weeks because I have been home with sick kids. There have been a number of new families move in to our neighborhood recently and I first thought to myself "Is there another Ball family now? How did I not hear about that?"
And then it clicked....nope, no new Ball family, just a name mixup.
I see a few heads turning, you see people mouthing "Aaron??" to their spouse, and people looking our direction.
Including the speaker.
Aaron is out cold.
I squoze his arm and start frantically whispering in his ear "Aaron!! Aaron wake up! He is talking to you! He said Steve but he means you!! Wake up!!!"
Aaron is in a complete daze, totally confused, looking at me trying to process what is happening.
You know when a minute feels like an eternity?
Yeah.
Aaron finally looks toward the stand to see everyone up there staring directly at him.
Oh, and everyone on the stand can see the big red mark across his forehead from where he was leaning on the bench in front of us.
Speaker repeats the question, Aaron answers "they get lost" and then turns to me and asks "What just happened?"

I sit next to him randomly breaking into fits of giggles for the remainder of the meeting and try to contain my need to now be like the monkey in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and randomly yell "STEVE!" at him.

Brother J. grabs Aaron after the meeting and says "I'm really sorry I called you Steve! I'm not sorry I woke you up though."
Another leader who had been sitting on the stand grabbed Aaron after the meeting and asked "Did anyone ever teach you to roll up your tie and put it between your head and the bench if you are going to fall asleep like that? Then you don't get the big red mark."
Information that would have been useful yesterday!

So, we learned two things yesterday.
1-Don't fall asleep in church
2-If you do, at least roll up your tie and avoid the red mark.

STEVE!!

Friday Morning

2011-11-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

Yay Friday!
There's just something about it. Something that says no matter how frustrating today is, it can only get better because it's Friday. Sure the weekend might be jam packed with all sorts of stuff, but still-it's the weekend!

Which I'm hoping is the case from here on out....

I had grand plans today.
Get up early, with all traces of this cold/sore throat long gone. Get a killer workout in. Get the kids merrily off to school with no arguing or fighting and without destroying the house which they somehow do in the process of eating breakfast, getting dressed, and getting out the door each morning. Put Sam down for a nap once kids are off, then hit the treadmill while Charlotte and Lincoln sing my praises because I let them watch a movie.

It is now 9:49am. I am focusing on being Thankful despite the fact that the above scenario was a pipe dream.

I turned off my 5:45 alarm. And my 6:00 alarm. And my 6:15 alarm. The cold is still here. Throat feels much better though which is awesome. Finally roll out of bed at 6:30, realizing that I need to get myself in gear because no one's going to a: come and motivate me to get up, b: coddle me and gently help me wake up peacefully, or c: let me roll over and go back to sleep and just take over the morning for me.
Put on my fluffy robe to at least pretend I'm still tucked in my fluffy bed.
Schlump down the stairs to wake children 1, 2 and 4. 1 leaves for school first, 2 has to leave early today for a field trip, and 4 has homework to finish.
Schlump back upstairs and change into workout clothes since that might be slightly more motivating than my fluffy robe.
Check email.
Back downstairs to get child 1 up. Again.
And child 4 up. Again.
Back upstairs to get Sam who is now awake. Bathe baby whose diaper leaked. Awesome.
Clean up baby, and diaper leak, get baby situated in high chair for breakfast.
Get child 4 up. AGAIN.
Spend the next hour and a half getting the rest of the crew up, fed, showered, dressed and ready for the day and the oldest two out the door.
Somehow sneak in a fabulous core workout without anyone killing themselves or blowing up the house.
Finish said workout just in time for morning devotional with the kids left at home. Ten minutes till school time.
Find out that child 4 still hasn't started the load of laundry he needed to start an hour ago. And that his homework isn't signed off.
Oh, and that one page isn't done still.
Blow through homework with child 4 while signing all of child 5's school things that need to be turned in today. All while child 3 jumps up and down telling me we need to hurry up because her friends are waiting for her outside. She is wearing a tshirt and gloves. It is in the low 30s (if that), but feels colder with the breeze. At least her coat is in her backpack. Let it go....
Finally get everyone out the door. If 4 runs he will make it before the bell rings.
Turn around to find that while I was helping with the last minute homework, someone has opened the sugar bucket.
Sam has found the sugar bucket.
Sam is happy. (I swear he is happy despite the weird face)

And covered in sugar. Someone realized it was open and replaced the lid but neglected to tell me anything.

Start cleaning up Sam, only to realize there is a very strong smell of freshness wafting through the house. And it's not the Scentsy.
Oh look, it's coming from the laundry room.

Where I then commenced cleaning up roughly 200oz of laundry detergent. Because that 200oz jug was almost completely full. And now it is almost completely empty. Apparently it was set too close to the edge and it leapt to it's death convinced that a quick death would be more tolerable than being pulled out and used 5-6 times a day for the next two months.

Nice.
While cleaning up I asked Lincoln for a wet rag. He proceeded to soak 4 dishtowels and bring them to me. Soaked. And dripping very large amounts of water all across the floor from the kitchen to the laundry room.
Start mopping up the water with Lincoln's help.
Remember that Sam never really got cleaned up and is still covered in sugar. Get my sugar baby to the bath, whereupon unsnapping his onesie, sugar pours out.

So now, I am Thankful.
I am thankful, I am thankful, I am thankful. (really I am. but I'm also still working on it.)

I am thankful we got everyone out the door on time.
I am thankful for a warm house on a cold morning.
I am thankful my kids have friends that show up before school.
I am thankful all the homework got done. finally.
I am thankful I have a big sugar bucket. Yes, I really am. I bake people. Well, I don't bake people, but I bake, people.
I am thankful that Sam is functional enough to get into the sugar.
I am thankful the sugar bucket didn't spill.
I am thankful it was the sugar and not the flour. That would have been a bigger mess.
I am thankful we have a rug in the laundry room that soaked up so much of the detergent.
I am thankful that we have a laundry room.
I am thankful that we have a washer and dryer that work fabulously.
I am thankful that child 4 actually did start the laundry.
I am thankful it happened today when I came upon the problem within minutes, instead of yesterday when I left the house right after the school kids did and the mess would have sat for 7 hours before I found it.
I am thankful the floor vent was closed and no detergent got in there.
I am thankful that Lincoln tried to help me, even if he did flood the kitchen counter and part of the floor.
I am thankful that Charlotte played with Sam while I cleaned up the detergent so I didn't have to worry about him getting in it.
I am thankful that Sam likes baths so that clean up from the sugar incident was fun and not a fight.
I am thankful I have a camera so that I can capture moments like this. And people can see that I'm not actually exaggerating. It really is this crazy here. All. the. time.
I am thankful that I get to stay home, that my husband has been willing to sacrifice so many things to allow our family this privilege, so that I can deal with this crazy every day.

And now I am thankful that Sam went down happily for his nap.
And I am thankful for my treadmill so I can go run. And for a tv so Lincoln and Charlotte can watch a movie. And maybe I'll teach them a song about how mom is so great so they can literally sing my praises....

Have a fabulously eventful Friday.

Well hi!

2011-11-10T06:20:00.000-08:00

Maybe I should change the name of my blog to Random Thoughts from the Absentee Blogger.

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. So tired I feel like the life has been sucked out of me.
I was extremely grateful for a beautiful sunrise today that made it a little easier to get up.

Same old story, so much going on, so little time to stay connected in the bloggy world. I miss perusing my favorite blogs every day. I finally had to just mark all of my google reader as "read" both last week and the week before when it was over 300 each time. As much as I would love to catch up on that, it just ain't happening!

After the luxury of having him home for the summer, Aaron is back in school. This quarter started a month ago and man, it's a big one. Though he only has two classes this quarter they are heavy hitters. Class Monday and Tuesday, studying and homework Wednesday and Thursday. Right now he has a mental health clinical at a youth facility every Thursday and regular hospital clinicals on Saturday. Yep, that leaves a couple of hours on Friday night after work (if he's caught up on homework and studying) and then Sunday evening. The rest of the time I'm pulling the single parent duty. It's hard.
I have no idea how single parents survive.
I mean, I know you do what you have to do, but wow.
The only thing keeping me going through this is knowing that this quarter ends in December. That will be the best Christmas present this year-a week or two off school! Graduation comes in June. Right now I'm choosing to ignore the fact that after that the plan is to immediately jump back in to an NP program. I'll tackle the thought of two more years when I need to.

I don't know how Aaron's doing it either. Sure I'm running the house and doing all the kids, but between his normal full time job and school and clinicals, he's not only burning the candle at both ends, it's on fire in the middle too.

We're definitely in survival mode here!

I still have all the October birthdays to share.
I did another spot with Hapari for a morning show (that involved being outside at 7am and less than 30 degrees. awesome.), and head to Florida for the big shoot in less than four weeks!
I never even blogged the rest of our California trip!
But hey, my five year blogiversary is coming up in a little over a month. So we'll have to go back to the good old days and cook up some fun giveaway for that.
Fun projects going on...one being that I finally tackled our worst hot spot-the office. If I feel like I need to punish myself with total humiliation, I may post a before picture. It's not completely finished yet but I'll for sure post the getting closer to finished pictures.....looks like a totally new room. And it doesn't stress me out to walk in here anymore. yay!

But for now I have to be responsible. And do another load of laundry. Because one of my bedwetters wet the bed again. Even though he is supposed to wear a pull up to bed. Today I found out he chose to go commando last night instead. Nice.

But hey, tomorrow is Friday!

I did it!

2011-10-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

I didn't fall down, I didn't pass out and I didn't wet myself.
PHEW!

I met more great ladies this morning, we had a blast hanging out waiting to go on and chatting on the drive there and back.

It was a totally weird feeling to be walking around the studio in a swimsuit while everyone else (except the other models of course) was fully dressed. My favorite was when people would walk by or come into the green room and say "are you guys here for a swimwear spot?" Uh..... I was almost tempted to tell the last suit that asked that "no, why do you ask?"
Darn that little sarcasm button in my brain.

And afterward while we were wrapping things up, I sat in a swimsuit in the Green Room and ate half a donut. At their prompting, I swear.

I felt awkward just standing there, but didn't do anything overly embarrassing so I'll consider it a successful morning.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, Hapari on Good Things Utah.

And the winner is.....

2011-10-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

I swear I have been in fast forward for all of October.

And it got a little crazier a week and a half ago.
A good crazy thankfully.

So back to that whole Hapari thing.....
I know a lot of my fabulous blog readers got in on it for me. For that I can't thank you enough. But having been asked by numerous people over the last week "so what happened?!", I realized that a lot of people didn't follow up with Hapari on facebook.

When it all came down to it, I came in second place. I lost by only about 130 votes, which was less than ten percent. Votes nearly doubled in the last 24 hours of the contest. It was insane. That day that it ended was a complete whirlwind! If you caught the "help" post that was up here for a bit, you saw that the gal I was really battling it out with is a professional model who lives by social networking. When you have a facebook fan page with a few thousand followers, tumblr, twitter and a handful of other online networking pages, you have a very large audience to draw from.
Despite fighting till the end and some incredible vote wrangling by not only amazing family and friends, but also by complete strangers who were out there sharing my picture, we just couldn't keep up. Man we were close though!

The next day was a little frustrating. I kept waiting for the official announcement from Hapari that Ashley had won, so I could congratulate her (doing it on her fb page seemed a little too creepy stalker-ish) and thank all those who had pulled for me.
But they said nothing.

And then that evening I got a voice mail. It was a little garbled and broke up in places, but I caught who it was and that he was out of the country and he'd try to email me or call me later. It was John, one of the Hapari owners who I had spoken with previously.

Thankfully when he called back I was able to get the phone. It was an interesting conversation!
Long story short, things didn't exactly turn out as the owners had expected. And they were flooded with comments and emails that morning after the contest ended; comments and emails in support of me. He mentioned that they wanted me to be a part of the photo shoot as well, and that the owners had decided to offer me the first place prize (in addition to Ashely) because of the overwhelming support in my behalf.

I'm going to Florida!!!

The official announcement was made on Hapari's facebook page the next day.
Without further adieu -

Hapari is proud to announce Ashley Sky as the winner of our Facebook model contest. It has been a long run, with many wonderful women competing, and participants supporting them!

We want to congratulate Julianna, Catey and Ashley all on making it this far. Thank you to everyone who participated throughout this process helping choose our next Hapari Model...or should we say MODELS. Yep that's right! The contest ended so close, that the Hapari owners took notice of the enormous support, and feedback for Catey Ball, and were inspired by her courage, and accomplishments throughout the contest. As such Hapari has decided to extend the winning prize to both Ashley and Catey!

So what does this mean....

Both Catey, and Ashley will be taken to our photo shoot this fall in the Florida Keys. They will both win $2500 as a payment, and the great opportunity to help us move Hapari's swimwear line and mission forward into the next year!

Congratulations Ashley & Catey!

VERY exciting!!

Again-I really want to thank each of you who so generously voted for me, and even picked up votes for me as well! Man, what a crazy ride this has been!

I had the chance to speak with McKay and Jill-the other two owners- last week, and then met with them last Friday for a fitting. Sorry, I didn't even think to take my camera but I wish I would have! These ladies are so much fun! I was so nervous, but they were fabulous, put me totally at ease and within just a few minutes I felt like I'd known them for years. Wonderful, wonderful ladies!! It was so fun to try on all the different styles of suits that they offer and just chat with them for a bit while I tried things on. I am so excited to go to Florida with them, it will be a blast!

Tomorrow is the next little step in this journey, I get to be with them on a local morning show called Good Things Utah. In a swimsuit! Eek! I am a little nervous about the live thing, there is no photoshop touching up for that. Also, I am a klutz when I am nervous and I am so afraid I am going to trip or pass out or wet myself or do something else ridiculous. With as much as they put me at ease when I met with them on Friday, I am hoping they have the same effect on me tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed!

Crazy how things turn out sometimes!

OH! I have to tell you that they started an amazing sale today-60% off! SIXTY! That means that a tankini that is normall $46 is now less than $20. Hello! That is seriously the biggest discount I have ever seen here. Go pick something awesome for next year. Use the code FALL60 at checkout for the discount.

Now I will try to get some sleep tonight. Wish me luck.

St George Marathon part 2

2011-10-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

As I headed to the bus, I still wasn't nervous, but found myself getting emotional as I walked away from Aaron as I thought about how completely he has supported me in this whole crazy endeavor. This really has been a fairly consuming thing for me over the past few months, a lot of hours out running, especially on Saturday mornings, and he has been nothing but encouraging! He hasn't complained once about any of it, he talked me down from my crazy ledge when I was hurt and thinking all was lost, and spent hours rubbing out my feet and legs and making sure this could all go as smoothly as possible for me. His encouragement really carried me through all of this! And dangit, it makes me emotional all over again to think about it.

There was no waiting, they were already rounding people up on to the buses and ours filled quickly and was off! I was glad I ended up sitting next to someone who looked to be my age and who was friendly. We chatted about life, running, kids and it was nice to have a bus buddy! She knew a few people that were running but wasn't planning to meet any of them at the start so she and I hung out for a bit and she stuck around to hang with everyone else from my neck of the woods that showed up to meet at fire pit 7 at Central.

(left-right, Diana my bus buddy, and the locals: Arianne who ran sub 3!!, MaryAnne the crazy runner friend I talk about who also killed this not too far past 3hrs!, my friend Trish, me, and Trish's friend whose name I can't remember-dang!)
When we stepped off the bus at Central it should have been cold. They have fire pits there because you NEED them to stay warm. We stepped off the bus and I had just a hoodie on over my running gear, with my pants in hand. My bare legs from the skirt down should have been shocked when I stepped off that bus just after 4:00am. They weren't. They were comfortable.
That is a bad sign. Comfortable at that elevation over 2 1/2hrs from the start means a way too warm run. I did end up putting on pants because just sitting there it was a little chilly when the wind kicked up, but overall, warm.
It was SO awesome to have friends to spend that time with! How boring it would have been to just be there alone. We chatted, laughed, lubed and bio-freezed. And used the portapotties about 6 times each.

And then it was finally almost time. We dropped our bags at the trucks. I had gloves and sleeves that I expected to wear for the first little bit. They stayed in the bag. It was that warm. By the time we were lining up for the start I was comfortable in my tank and skirt. Too warm!!!
We said goodbye and good luck to our elite buddies (MaryAnne and Arianne. I have elite buddies! I feel special.) and the rest of us hit the potty lines one more time, just as every other of the thousands of runners did. And then we realized that we were about 20 people back in line and it was just a couple of minutes to start. People were dashing into the fields behind the potty line up by the dozens. Uh, yeah, I didn't want to step in someone's poop (it happened-not to me, but it happened) so I opted to wait in line. Thankfully everyone moved quickly and we made it to the big fat lineup before the horn went off.

I still wasn't nervous.
What the heck?

And there was the horn. And the cheer. And the crowd slowly started moving.
And then just like XLMIC told me I would, I got all teary.
I was finally doing this!!! Awesome moment.

I decided before I even crossed the start mat that I would run conservatively. I knew I wanted to take the first few miles more slowly that I normally would run because I was afraid of going out to fast. And with as warm as it was at 6:45am, I knew I was headed to a hot finish and I don't run so well in the heat.
I spent the first two miles with my bus buddy. We chatted a little, but mostly we just soaked it all in. I remember around mile two she was telling me about two friends of hers who did a marathon this year, the one felt the need to stay with the other even though they ran different paces, and that one who had stayed was super frustrated with her slow finish. She said "don't feel like you need to stay with me if you are faster". I felt guilty when I realized about 3 minutes later that I had started going a little faster and had already lost her. whoops.
Miles one and two at about a 9:50 pace, I felt awesome and knew I could pick it up a little but didn't want to push it much still. Mile 3 9:30, Mile 4 8:58.
I was in love with the landscape from the very beginning. The sky was lighting up from about mile 2, the light cast amazing color across the hills.
A few miles in and the mindless chatter and bad jokes started to slow. Did you know that everyone is a comedian the first few miles of a marathon? It was funny in mile 1. It was tolerable in mile 2. I had to ignore it after mile 3.
The miles were flying by, even without music. I had decided not to use music until I hit Veyo so that I was running comfortably, not pushing my pace, and had a little pick-me-up when the hill hit. I was shocked at how many people were already breathing really heavy. Like struggling heavy. Already? Too soon! But it made me feel great that I was still very comfortable.
Mile 5 9:07, Mile 6 8:52, Mile 7 8:49
I'd been eyeing the 4:15 pacer, staying close behind so I could have an idea of where I was without doing math. Planning to kick it in in the second half.

Then in the distance, there was Veyo. I have heard so much about this dreaded hill. Veyo is a little town, but it's a little town at the bottom of a big hill. And when you think you've hit the top you really haven't, because you keep going uphill for a couple of miles. I was told "don't be a hero", just walk Veyo. What? Totally not me. Besides, I like hills. I also had the pleasure of seeing my good friend Ashley at Veyo right before I hit the hill. Awesome pick me up. I turned on the music and went.
Mile 8 10:02, Mile 9 9:47, Mile 10 9:42
I had lost the 4:15 pacer with my bathroom break. Dangit.
Still going uphill.
I ran into a friend from out here at Mile 9 and he had passed the friends that he was running with so we ran together for a while. It was great to have conversation for a bit, which is funny because very rarely do I like to chat while running. It was a nice distraction on the continuous hills and fun to get to know him a little better. He's run a number of marathons and did his first 70.3 this year so it was fun to hear about those.
Mile 11 9:39, Mile 12 9:30, Mile 13 8:55
Dave dropped off at the halfway point, his hamstring was tightening up so he needed to reign his pace a bit. But I had caught passed the 4:15 guy a while ago!

I realized that I was just barely over two hours. I think I was 2:02. I remember thinking "Oh my word-I could really sub 4 this thing!" I have heard all about how it is the perfect negative split course. I reminded myself to keep it comfortable because it was heating up, and that I'd rather just run by feel and miss the 4:00 cut off but finish feeling good than push it and finish half dead. I didn't know what to expect from my body after the 21 mile point and I didn't want to walk.
Mile 14 9:35 (more hills), Mile 15 8:42, Mile 16 9:03

Still feeling absolutely incredible. Totally buoyed up by the people who had gone out to Snow Canyon to cheer runners. Left nearly breathless by the amazing beauty of Snow Canyon. Amazed at the fact that it just kept getting more and more beautiful out there.
I did steal someone's poster at this point. Kind of. There was an awesome lineup of ladies who had posters with "Punch here for Power" and "Energy Boost" posters-so fun. Runners were being lame and not giving them any love, except for one lady in front of me. All the other spectators loved it when she hit the posters, so I figured I'd get in on the fun. First one? woo-hoo! Second one? uh, I punched a little hard. And she wasn't paying attention. And I realized I was running with her poster stuck to my hand. Good times.

Mile 17 9:24, Mile 18 9:34, Mile 19 9:50

Anyone who tells you that you just have to get up Veyo and the rest of the marathon is downhill is a big fat stinkin' liar. I was SO grateful that Steve had warned me that it is continual hills! I am sure I would have felt deflated if I'd had no warning on that.

Mile 20 9:53, Mile 21 9:14, Mile 22 9:21

I realized at mile 21 that I'd officially run longer than I ever had before. And I had actually run the whole thing except the few steps at aid stations that I needed to slow down enough to get the water.
I had stopped for Icy Hot rubdowns twice and hit up my third one around mile 23. Best volunteers ever. I will be ruined running any other marathon that doesn't have people sitting on the side of the road ready to rub down my legs in the second half. It was amazing! The quads were pretty tight after all the hills, and my IT Band and knee had some uncomfortable moments along the way-this really helped a ton!

Also, at mile 22 I thought to myself "Wow-this is GREAT! I LOVE this!! I'm SO going to do an ultra! I wonder what 50ks they have in Utah......" Which is also about when I realized that I had well passed the 18-20mile mark and had not had the infamous 'hitting the wall' moment. I felt amazing.

We had been blessed with some spotty cloud cover throughout the course which had been a huge help in keeping the temperature down, if only by a few degrees. But honestly, by the end it was hot. Even though high 80s was lower than the predicted temp, it was hot. And out there in the red rock on a big blacktop road, you feel the heat.
Mile 23 was the only one where I felt a bit of a struggle. I walked a few steps out of the aid station before I told myself to get over it and RUN. I knew I wouldn't sub 4, but still felt better than one should at mile 23, so I was ok with that. I knew I would clear 4:15, so I was good!
Mile 23 10:30
Then we started coming in to St George. And to a lot of people. And I KNEW it was close. I got all emotional again as I realized that I was only a 5k away from the finish. That's nothing! People were awesome. Passing out popsicles, spraying runners with water, awesome cheering and support.
Mile 24 9:07, Mile 25 9:42
It was flat. It was hot. Winding through the neighborhoods started to feel like a maze where you would never hit those last few turns. Still awesome people. Crowd getting even louder. Someone passing out washcloths soaked in ice water. Bands playing on the side of the road.
And then the 25.2 mile sign..."the most important mile!"
I knew I was close. So very close! Darn that last mile! I picked up as much as I could, and though I felt good I was getting tired so there wasn't too much left to pick up.
Mile 26 9:18
And that last quarter of a mile. Wow.
People down. One on the side of the road. One guy in the middle of the road trying to stretch out his leg and crying out in pain. They were so close! I hurt for them. They were just steps away!
Turning that last corner was crazy. Hitting the chute, SEEING the finish!
Do you know how hard it is to run when you are crying?
I was THERE. I had made it, I felt good, and I was still running! I averaged an 8:41 pace for the last quarter of a mile. I saw Ashley again-so awesome! I scanned the crowds for Aaron and my kids. Had I missed them? Oh please tell me I didn't miss them! Where are they??
And then there they were. Up in the top corner of the bleachers at the finish line.

I was choking back sobs, SO happy to see them!

I thought "I hope Aaron doesn't drop Sam!" as he was snapping pictures of me.

I couldn't leave well enough alone so I kicked in everything I had left and passed a few people just before the line. I hope they didn't think I was a jerk. I just needed to get there a little faster. (and hey, I passed seven people)

Crossing that finish line was amazing.
I knew I wanted to do this again!
My official finish time was 4:11:44.
But of course I stopped my garmin for the three bathroom breaks, so my actual run time was a little less.

Awesome.

I tucked the garmin and ipod under my shirt and walked through the sprayers at the finish. Wow that felt good.
Then the medal was placed around my neck. And though it's the goofiest picture and my shirt was riding up in the front, this smile is 100%.

(that's the flip flop runner behind me!)

I wandered into the finish area, grabbed waters, tried a popsicle (a few bites in I couldn't do it anymore), tried a big piece of wheat bread (i love Great Harvest, but again, a few bites in and I couldn't do it), and headed for the ice cream sandwiches.
I finally found Aaron who got a big sweaty gross kiss from me and a greeting of "you are doing this with me next time!" Probably not what he expected to hear I'm guessing.
The eating trend continued

and that's about as far as I got with the ice cream sandwich. Oh well.

A quick official finisher photo

A photo with my crew

and we were off. It was about 11:30 and we had to be out of that fabulous funky motel at noon. They were insistent. We bolted back to the hotel where I quickly showered and changed and we hopped in the car to head home. It was a hilariously quick anti-climactic post marathon experience!

But oh, it was so wonderful! I loved the marathon. LOVED it! I am so looking forward to the next one! Having done one now, I know that I am capable of running it a lot faster. Sub 4 is definitely something within reach and something I can't wait to accomplish. As for that Ultra idea that came up at mile 22? Absolutely! Good news? There are a couple of 50k's in Ut. One of them is in Goblin Valley-oh what an awesome run that would be! I love that place. Though that will be a little further down the road, hopefully only two years, as we need to get Aaron through this school first and let the kids get a little older so I have more options for babysitters for my long runs.
I did also get Aaron to commit to a marathon with me in two years. Yes really!!! The only thing better than doing a marathon again (well, besides doing it in slightly cooler temperatures) would be doing it with him at my side. I am SO looking forward to that!

I feel like I've left out so many things.....things I saw, things I thought about....but it's already a novel. I suppose some of those things are things that wouldn't mean much to anyone other than myself anyway. One of those things about running is that it holds so many very personal little gems. That's part of the magic and the appeal....one of the things that keeps me coming back. I can't wait to go back.

St George Marathon

2011-10-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

The St George Marathon Novel to be more exact. Part one anyway. Yes, there's that much to say.

Wow. Just......wow.

Even before I finished this run I thought to myself many times "I can't wait to do this again!".
My first words to Aaron when I found him after crossing the finish line were "You are doing this with me next time!"
(side note: I actually got a commitment from him to do one with me in two years! I gave him two years because I want to make completely sure that his hip is all healed and recovered before he even thinks about starting training, and that's a long process.)

It was amazing.

Obviously the St George story started months ago with all the training. I learned a lot about myself through and while running this year. Had some wonderfully awesome moments. Had some low moments. There were a lot of smiles, some pain, and even some tears along the way. All in build up of that 26.2 victory lap.

St George was the finale for our trip. After an amazing week it was the perfect ending.

We rolled in on Thursday night after driving in from Anaheim. We got settled in our (funky) little motel and fed the kids dinner.
Why do I say funky motel? Oh so many reasons. The bright yellow and orangey red wall colors were....bright. We had a two bedroom set up with one little bathroom....the toilet flushed if you held down the handle long enough. It had a sofa bed (icky one), but no sheets, blankets or extra pillows. It did have three Bibles though.

And feet from a broken frog statue.

And fabulous decor that included a plastic golf bag hanging from the wall with plastic plants sticking out of it, as well as fabulous artwork like this:

and this:

Classy!
But it did have a kitchen, which was really all I cared about so it was perfect.

Anyway-I was starving and the Del Taco that the kids ate just didn't sound good (nor did it seem like a wise choice two days out.....I don't trust fast food that much), so I was relieved to hear that there was now a Paradise Bakery & Cafe in St George. Aaron and I were able to sneak out for a quick dinner just before 9:00. A little late, but we made it before they closed so it was all good! I ordered the food that had carried me through an awesome relay back in May, hoping it would treat me well again. Chicken walnut salad on molasses bread. It is totally not something I would eat (which my family and friends can vouch for), not sure how I even ever tried one in the first place, but it is SO good! A big fat bowl of fruit and fresh chocolate chip cookies on the side and I was in heaven. While it took me just slightly over 3 1/2 minutes to inhale it all, it was the best thing I had eaten in days. And chocolate chip cookies (especially from Paradise) are fabulous carb loading. I highly suggest them.
One of the best 30 minute dates I've ever had.

Oh, and did I mention it was NINETY FIVE degrees at 9pm that night?
To quote my friend Hollie, Holy swear word! It was H.O.T.
I really worried about what that would mean for the weekend.

Friday involved sleeping in (yay!) and hanging out.

We had the opportunity to visit with some of our very best friends in the entire world who were also in town for the marathon. We used to get our regular fill of these folks when they lived across the street, which was always entirely too much fun, but since their move to Texas this past Spring we have definitely missed out!! It was SO awesome to see them again! The kids didn't know they were coming so when they opened up the door and there stood Steve and Ashley, they all freaked out. Granted they followed that with "where are your kids?!", but still, they were super excited to see them even with the kids.

It must have been awesome picture day. Please hear the dripping sarcasm.

Were we looking at that fabulous plastic golf bag Ashley?

Do I even want to know what Aaron and Steve were doing?

I have to include this picture of Charli just thrilled to death that they were there.

We did have some cute pictures, but these are much more fun, no?

Steve has run St George 8 times now (only twice more to the 10yr club! so close!) and some of his family lives there, so he is very familiar with the race. He gave me a great run down of everything I could possibly want to know, including that there are a number of hills throughout the course, not just the dreaded Veyo that everyone talks about. This would prove invaluable! We spent a couple of hours just hanging out and catching up, it was so great. I love how seeing good friends just rejuvinates the soul!

Once they had to get going we headed to the Expo. I picked up my packet and we wandered around for a bit, the kids taking full advantage of every "spin the wheel and win!" situation that they could, as well as the candy out at most vendors. I did stop in at the first timers clinic even after my awesome briefing from Steve, which was really quite fun. The guy who does it has run this race 20 something times, it was fun to hear from him and see a lot of pictures from along the course. Some of the questions at the end of his little speech left me feeling very well prepared and a little nervous for some of the other first timers!

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out at the hotel, just resting and playing in the pool. I did my Freschetta not only for dinner, but for lunch as well, putting down 7 pieces of pizza (that's just one slice short of a whole pizza if you were wondering) that day. Along with some french bread. Yes, it was risky. I knew I'd be ok with 3 or 4, but I took a chance on the two meals.
If my dad reads this he should feel better, he feared that I was either running too much or not eating enough because he thought I was starting to look "gaunt in the face". I was kind of thinking I just finally didn't look like the fat face kid anymore, which I'm fine with. Apparently I don't spend enough time around my dad lately, because anyone who sees me often knows how much I love to eat!

I also spent the afternoon and evening pretending that the cold that I had been hoping to avoid all week (and had been pretending for days wasn't hitting me) was *not* rearing it's ugly head. I was feeling achy, starting to cough and my nose was running like a faucet, but dangit-I would not have a cold! It's all a matter of willpower!
I crashed early, hitting bed around 8:30.

I slept so much better than I thought I would, even though it took me almost an hour to actually fall asleep. I woke up a couple of times with that fear that I would miss my alarm, but otherwise it was a restful night.
And thank goodness, because the alarm went off shortly after 3:00.

Aaron was fabulous to get up with me, and get me off to the bus pickup on time.
I was surprisingly calm the days prior to the race and figured the nerves would kick in that morning. Nope! Still felt fabulously calm as I got dressed and ready to go.

(i heart my arms)

curled my eyelashes (to keep them out of my eyes. really. no, no makeup was involved and yes Aaron made fun of me for doing this.)

and prepped my almond butter on wheat toast with sliced strawberries.

Food rituals are fantastic. Even when I wear no makeup and have that scary I'm not fully awake yet because it's way too early in the morning look.

So as not to wake the kids I did everything by the light of the fridge.

I had Aaron Sharpie my arm with his encouragement that has become my mantra.

That way he was with me every step of the 26.2.

Everything was gathered up, I checked my bag for the 7,458th time and off we went.
The bus was only a few blocks away, and though it would have been plenty safe to walk there at 3:45 in the morning as the only other people out were runners also headed to the bus, Aaron drove me over quickly. A nice cop took a picture of us together.

The flash highlights the barricades fabulously.

And then....I was off.

Stay tuned.....

Love Your Body 10k

2011-10-08T20:12:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't recapped my last BIG race. I'm still writing that novel.

I debated all week as to whether or not I would do this race. Which is totally not like me.

Monday night (two days post marathon) I went out for an easy 2 mile run. Short and slow, just to get those tight quads moving again.
The good news is that my legs felt amazing. Other than that tightness in the quads, and a knee reminding me that it still wanted to be treated very nicely, everything felt great! All those little spots that I'd fought with over the past few months all not only survived St George but also felt great in the aftermath.

I ran into only one problem on Monday night.....I couldn't breathe.

Ok, well technically I *could* breathe, otherwise I'd be dead. But man, it hurt!
I don't know if it was that cold that I was pretending I didn't have (that walloped me on Sunday) or if I'd somehow just pushed my lungs harder than I thought on Saturday? I don't know. Either way it wasn't pretty. I struggled through the second mile.

Though I had hoped to also squeeze in a couple of easy miles on Wednesday and Thursday this week, that didn't happen so I really wasn't sure what my body was going to do in a hilly 10k.

Then the cold snap hit. Like highs in the low 40s cold. I really don't mind running in the cold and actually prefer it to running in high heat, but it's been raining too. Truthfully I kind of like running in the rain as well, but the cold plus the rain plus the tired body with a cold stacked up for a nice line of excuses to not run this one.

I was supposed to pick up my race packet on Friday afternoon, but didn't feel like dragging the kids out, so I skipped it realizing that if I had to pickup before the race I was going to actually get myself to the race. I made arrangements with a friend from my neighborhood to drive together as well, knowing that I wouldn't leave someone else hanging.

I was committed.

This morning was cold. It was raining again.

I rolled out of bed, killed 20 minutes standing in a warm shower then got dressed, did the wheat toast with almond butter (no strawberries today, we're out. darn.), and bolted out the door. I picked up Heather and then Yvonne and was so glad to have company! Races are much more fun with other people that you know.

We drove to Thanksgiving Point where we sat in the car for a bit before finally venturing out to pick up our things. And after pickup we headed right back to the car where we spent the next half hour killing time and staying warm.

It was so cold that the windows were all fogged.
Thankfully they didn't complain about the smell when I Biofreezed my knee.

The rain tapered off just in time for the run to begin. Yay!

We didn't get out of the car until about 15 minutes before our start, at which time it had warmed up a few degrees (yay again!) to a comfortably cool temperature. Yes it was comfortable because I had long sleeves, a jacket and gloves, I was prepared. And Yes, I still wore a skirt. The legs warm up quickly.

We watched the 6k walk/run start (it's a little longer than 5k so that their course winds through the gardens as well) which was 10 minutes before our start, and we chatted for a bit about goals. Since I didn't know what to expect I really was going to be happy with anything that beat last year's finish. Granted that wasn't a very lofty goal since last year I when I ran this one I had had the stomach flu for two days and Sam was 8 or 9 weeks old. I ran fueled on half a banana, some gatorade and Immodium, which was the most I'd kept in me for those two days. Prime racing conditions! My previous official finish time was 1:05:51.
I really wanted to just clear the one hour mark, and would be thrilled to hit anywhere under 55 minutes, even though I knew I should have been able to easily hit 50-52 minutes based on what I was running my 6-8 mile runs at over the past few months. Sub 50min was a little lofty for me in current conditions, but it will definitely be my next 10k goal.

The run was fabulous.
Everything worked out perfectly and I'm so very glad that I didn't bail!
I started out comfortably and after mile one decided to crank it up a bit and go with it.
Not only did my legs cooperate, but it didn't hurt to breathe. Well, not till the side stitch the last tenth of a mile, but that's doable.
This run is always so beautiful! It winds around the Thanksgiving Point grounds and then through the paths of the gardens. Though obviously there isn't a ton of color left in the gardens at this point (there was snow here this week), it is still beautiful. It is a little like winding through a maze as they thread you through the different areas of the garden, and there is a lot of hill running involved, but I have learned over the past few months that I love hills.
And the perfect song hit right as I was winding through the gardens approaching the first-and biggest-hill.

(do yourself a favor and listen to and watch the whole thing. This guy is incredible!!)

Running the beat on this song allows me to keep a nice 8:30ish min/mile pace. It was fitting accompaniment to running through the gardens as well. I just kept this one on repeat because I knew it could help me keep pace through the second half of this run.

Being able to keep that pace through garden mileage and up the hills let me pass dozens of people and I realized that there weren't that many runners in front of me, it was mostly walkers who hadn't finished the 6k yet. I kicked it in just a touch more to average an 8:13 pace for the last mile, I wish I could have pushed it just a bit more but much of the end is uphill and I was running out of oomph as my legs reminded me that they were still recovering.

I ended up clocking an official finish of 51:47.
Wahoo!
Not only did I clear my acceptable goal, I cleared my happy goal and landed in my "I wish I was up for it today" zone!

Good enough for 6th (of 93) in Age Group

and 18th overall finish!

(10/10 update: I was just emailed the official finish list...they missed someone on this print out apparently, so I was actually 19th overall, but out of 281 people, I'll take it!)

WOW! That totally made my day!
I've kind of ruined myself because I know how my speedy friends run and I know that if women who ran like them had been there today that I would have been significantly further down the list, but oh well, that's just details! This time I will revel in the fact that I was up there towards the top! And bask in knowing that a sub-50min 10k is in my future.

The friends that I went with both finished extremely well too, which just made the morning that much more fun.

(gosh I look ridiculously tired)

We were all smiles, even though it got pretty darn cold once we finished running and the wind started making all the sweaty spots freeze.

I had the same photo issue with this race as I had last year, that issue being that despite the photographers being at the finish, there isn't one of me. Not that race photos are ever any good anyway, but still. It's the principle of the matter. I don't have a finish photo to mock. I did take a step up in the ranks though, whereas last time it was a bunch of pictures of my friend Ashely who was running next to me the whole time-and my arm (because they cut out all of me but my arm), this year all of me made it into the background of someone else's finish photo. I'll let it go since it was some lady who had unloaded her kids from her jogging stroller and the kids were crossing the finish line. Definitely a cute photo for them. And I do look good in their background. (But I do have to add-a little dangerous for the small kids who are in the path of the runners sprinting in to the finish!)

I can't end without mentioning one last highlight. In addition to the regular bagels, bananas and oranges at the finish, they had Lofthouse cookies. Locals know what I'm talking about. These are the cookies I cannot buy because I eat the entire carton. To die for! I struggled to choke down half a bagel but couldn't pass up the cookies so I tried one. Then chased it with two more. Perfection. Better than a bagel any day!
(of course my last highlight had to do with food! If that surprises you in any way, shape or form, you need to get to know me a little better!)

Happy, smiley, and loving my legs more every day....

Makes a mama proud

2011-10-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

Interrupting the vacay recap with a fabulous moment in mothering.
(And I'm waiting to get the rest of the pics which I won't have till tomorrow, so I'll catch up then.)

Parent Teacher conference was this week.
All the kids are doing fabulously, which always makes a mom (and dad too of course) proud.
I love the things that we get sent home with from these meetings with the teachers, especially with the younger kids.

Dallin is 6 and in first grade. His teacher this year was Jacob's first grade teacher two years ago and we love her. Strangely enough she seems to not be scared of us or having a child of ours again. Phew!

We sat down with Mrs P and chatted for a minute and then she asked "Do you have a big race coming up or something? Dallin's been talking an awful lot about his Mom's running!"
Yay Dallin! Granted she didn't say if it was good or bad talk.....
We explained that I just did St George and she said "ahh....that must be it! We've been hearing about it."

And then she passed us his September journal.
While writing neatly is definitely not his strong point (yet, nor was detailed art work this day apparently), there was one entry that actually made me teary, right there in front of Aaron and Mrs P.

"This is my goel to se my mom fnish a ras."
(this is my goal-to see my mom finish a race)
*tear*
He is on a scooter because when he comes along on runs with me he rides his bike or scooter.

He has been to a couple of events of mine, but never actually seen me cross a finish line. That he wanted to made my heart happy! That he got to last week makes me even happier.

I have the best fan base in the entire world.

Day two....toes in the sand. Heaven!

2011-10-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

(head's up-this is a picture heavy post, and I didn't bother to crop or edit any of them)

Fun little tidbit about our trip....the kids didn't really know about it.
They knew we were going to St George for a few days, so they figured we were just packing ahead of time. After that whole preparedness challenge, we told them we were just being prepared. It worked.
We had let Malia in on the fact that we were going to be gone for the whole week so she didn't panic about missing that much school, and on Saturday we let Taylor and Alaina in on the fact that we were leaving town a few days earlier and making a stop in Vegas and not just St George. They had no idea about the rest of it.
As we left Vegas on Monday morning Aaron said "hey, why don't we just go to the beach?!". The kids scoffed with "yeah right" and "suuuure, let's go to the beach".

We drove down the strip to show the kids the awesome buildings, and the Statue of Liberty ("the small one from Las Vegas") which they loved. It involved a lot of "Kids look at that! but don't look too closely...."
Despite the crazy crap (yes, crap is appropriate terminology here), there really are some amazing things down in Vegas. Too bad that such amazing architecture and creativity is surrounded by smut.

Ah, Vegas.
The Eifel Tower

("also the small one from Vegas")

And honest to a fault panhandlers.

Gotta love it.

The kids really didn't know we were headed to the beach, as usually when we are in Vegas we take off from the city area to go do something a little off the beaten path. When we kept driving they started questioning whether or not we might actually be going to the beach after all....

Word to the wise-always fill up with gas in a real city. Aside from the possibility of running out, you will go bankrupt if you have to fill up at a gas station in the middle of nowhere.

Do you see those numbers? $4.99-$5.19. Ouch.
Unless you're from California and then it's just life as normal I suppose.

Coming through the canyon you catch a glimpse at the end of the road.....

I could already smell it in the air....windows go down the last couple of miles of the canyon.
And then there it is. One of my most favorite spots in the whole world.

Which doesn't make a ton of sense for someone who hates traffic

and doesn't love tons of people.

This is where I sing the praises of my husband. As the marathon approached, my mileage dropped to practically nothing. The dreaded taper. My legs were a tad bit restless. Add many hours of driving over two days and not only were my legs restless, my mind was too. As we pulled up to Cleo Street he knew I was chomping at the bit. I needed to squeeze in a couple of miles on Monday and so to satisfy my love affair with running at the beach, he had me change into my running clothes and take off before anyone had even changed into swimsuits. I was cruising down the PCH and then winding through the sidewalks and stairs of the Laguna Beach coast while he was back at the van managing the changing and wrangling of eight children. Now that is true love!
I flew on that run. I held a pace a full minute per mile faster than my normal quick pace for a short run, which is crazy if you know the amount of hills and stairs that wind along just past the main boardwalk at Laguna. Then figure in the warmth of 2 in the afternoon and the humidity (not *that* much, but I do live in a desert). Like I said, I was a tad restless.

After running the crazies out I met up with the family.
ON THE BEACH!!!
Oh how I love the beach.

The kids loved it too.

SO much fun watching them play in the water, explore through the rocks and dig in the sand.

Charlotte looked like this the ENTIRE time.

All squeals and giggles for hours.

Some body surfing

Some getting rolled

Some "DON'T take a picture of me right now!" after getting rolled. heehee

A whole lot of fun.

Sam's inaugural trip to Laguna, which he loved. Some kids fear the ocean or hate the feel of the sand....nope, not our babies!

Aaron's dad joined us for the first few days of our trip as well.

He wasn't exactly dressed for the beach, but I think he still had fun watching the kids play.

Cleo and Sleepy Hollow.....really never thought I'd have Sam here.

*sigh*
I love Laguna Beach.
I love it even more with my best friend.

What happens in Vegas....gets flushed down the toilet

2011-10-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

We always come away with some priceless gems when we stay with our fabulous friends in Vegas.
This trip was no exception.
Including the amazing twist on the infamous Vegas slogan. Brilliant. And applicable in so many more ways that the context in which it was said on a Sunday night. I'll get to that.

We had this trip planned months ago. Then life happened. Between school and medical bills and car repair and that whole new laundry machines because the other ones bit the dust, everything was just stretched too tight. So we bagged everything but the long weekend in St George that we had prepaid back when I originally got into the marathon.

One week before the original departure plans some serious generosity was bestowed upon us by some of our amazing family and then with some last minute scrambling, everything was back on. Still blown away by that! We had 3 full days to get all our loose ends tied up, school absences worked out (which I only kind of got done till two days into the school week-whoops), work back off and travel plans arranged. It was fabulously last minute crazy in the middle of an already crazy week. This good crazy is crazy I can handle though!

We planned to take off on Saturday, but we just didn't get our act together enough to do so. I did manage to pack 9 of our 10 family members (I made Aaron fend for himself. I'm a bad wife.) for a week in less than three hours. As well as plan food and make sure I had all of my marathon things set and ready to go. I do believe I made that list, checked it a dozen times, laid everything out, rechecked that a dozen times and then still checked the bag more than once after I packed it. I was so worried I'd get there without something like my shoes.

We did get everything completely ready on Saturday so as to allow Sunday morning to involve getting up, eating breakfast, getting dressed and hitting the road.

The whole crew was slightly excited to be headed out.

(if you click on the video and it says 'unavailable', just click again and it should come up. If you really want to see it)

No, that was not a stretch of road somewhere in central Utah, that is driving out of my neighborhood. Love it. (you can see the paved path along the side of the road where I head out to do most of my running)

And then 6ish hours later, off in the distance......Las Vegas.

We spent the afternoon hanging out and catching up with some of our favorite people in the world. John and Gina have been there from the very beginning, meeting Aaron and I about a week after we got married. They are some of the most wonderful people we have ever met in our entire lives. Love them to death! Not to mention how incredibly accommodating they are to allow us to crash with our entire herd at their place any time we roll through Vegas.

By the end of the evening, after chasing all the littles to the sleeping quarters

we got to the fun part of our visits where we talk about anything and everything late into the night. Love those chats! This time around involved something a little new. Scorpions!

They were telling us that scorpions glow in the dark. We had never heard of that, so we grabbed a black light and headed into the backyard. I guess having a black light around the house is a normal thing in Vegas because you can pick them up at any Home Depot.

We headed outside and pulled up the rug where their oldest daughter had mentioned she saw one scurry a little earlier. Sure enough, a florescent glowing little scorpion took off from where the rug had been. Craziest thing! It looked like a little glow in the dark plastic toy scurrying around. So cool!
Check it out:
Regular flashlight:

Black light:

Isn't that insane?!

We'd shine the light up across their rock wall and see little glowing creatures hiding out in there.

So funky!
(our inner geek required a little research-they glow because of phosphorus in their skin)
They were pretty little, which was both a relief and a little unnerving. Nice that they weren't those huge fist-sized suckers that you think of, but also a little unnerving because you can't see them unless you are up close are looking for them. I was so afraid I was going to step on one!
This picture gives a better idea on their size:

The bigger one was about two inches long.
And since you don't want these roaming around you get rid of them. But they are nearly impossible to squish. So what do you do with a backyard scorpion? Flush it.
What happens in Vegas, gets flushed down the toilet.

Marathon Blip

2011-10-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

It was awesome.
Completely amazing.
Breathtakingly beautiful.
And more fun that I could have imagined.

Yes, I just said fun.
Ok, maybe "enjoyable" is really the more appropriate term, but still, that's saying something.

Finished just over 4hrs. With a big smile on my face, feeling fabulous.

Pics and the novel to come along with the wrap of a whirlwind week that involved Vegas, Laguna, Disney and St George.

Still riding the high.
Hopefully it will carry me through the unpacking, laundry, cleaning up of a week away.

A week away

2011-09-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

A last minute road trip.
A couple of states.
Friends, family.....and a whole lot of fun.

Currently I sit here in a funky little motel room while Sam naps and Aaron is at the pool with the kids.
In twelve hours I will be riding a bus to Central.
The start of my 26.2.

It is hotter than hot here in St George. It was 80 degrees when I went running at 9 this morning. It should be about 90 degrees when I cross the finish line tomorrow. Yowza.

I am excited. Strangely calm....maybe the nerves will kick in tomorrow. Maybe I'll just ride this high all the way through the marathon and avoid the nerves all together. Maybe I'll be a mess all night and all morning tomorrow. We'll see.

Either way, I feel about as ready for this as I've ever felt for anything. I suppose if I were chasing an illustrious goal I might worry more. I have a finish goal in mind, but I have a nice range of time that I'll be fine with. Maybe that's where the contentment comes from.

Fourteen hours till it's just me, my legs and the road.
(ok, and 7000 other runners, but who's counting?)
Can't wait!

Me and two stunning models

2011-09-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

First I sincerely want to thank all of you who voted for me in the Hapari contest! I was so floored by the support I received!

Second-OH. MY. LANDS!
I held on and made it through as one of the three finalists!!!

For a girl who (as is way too common) struggled with self confidence for so long, always hated this that or the other thing about her body and was entirely too conscious of her thighs, this was just a kick to even have the guts to put myself out there in a swimsuit for the world to see.

Thank heavens for running and the fact that it has made me not only no longer hate, but really appreciate my legs for how strong they are! I look back at the first time I was called "Thunder Thighs" (eighth grade) and chuckle. Who'd have thought it would eventually turn into me loving these powerful legs?! Funny how life changes like that.

Thank goodness I am happy enough with myself that I didn't get my feelings hurt when I was called "a middle aged woman with a wrinkly stomach". I guess she missed this. (though I was wrinkly in the first postpartum pictures). And boy, I sure hope I live past my mid 60's.

The two other ladies I am up against are gorgeous. I mean seriously beautiful. Stunning. And I am not exaggerating. They are real models so when you Google them you can see their work, their profiles, their measurements. I'm up against a girl with a 22 inch waist. Um, hello!
Intimidating.

So it's two stunning professionals........and me. Ha! It really is almost comical. And when in life would it be me vs ladies that look like this ever again? Yeah, never. It really is kind of a rush!

The real big shocker in this whole thing is that Hapari changed up the ending. Instead of choosing the winner themselves, they have opened it back up to popular vote! Likes will determine who wins this whole thing!
I may have hyperventilated just a tad when I heard that.

The next step then was for each of the finalists to submit three more pictures. I sent in three pictures that I had because I had been told that they didn't necessarily need to be swimsuit photos. Hapari emailed me back to let me know that the other ladies sent in swimsuit photos.....and could I come up with some of those instead? I needed more swimsuit pictures.
Bless my husband and a very generous front desk manager at a local hotel and a late night trip to borrow their pool for a backdrop. Nothing like shooting at 10pm in a hotel pool. I can honestly say I never thought that would be something I'd have to worry about. It was fun.
Some of the pictures turned out fabulously too!

Among our favorites (not edited at all, so the light is a little funky) were:

We ended up sending these three:

Hapari picked the zebra print suit picture (which is one of their suits) and one of the pictures I had sent previously, so that each finalist has a profile picture and a swimsuit picture. Check out Hapari's facebook page to see the final pictures. And after you check it out you will see what I mean about the other two-STUNNING!

So there you have it. The last hurrah. If today is any indication, things are looking just a little tiny bit promising for me. That excites me and completely terrifies me! But oh, the Florida Keys in December? *sigh* Can you imagine?

Preparedness Challenge-Day 3 and 4.....uh, and 5....

2011-09-23T21:38:00.002-07:00

I should have thought ahead and prepped the posts for the rest of these day.
You know, be prepared.

This week has been crazy! Seriously. Capital C crazy.

But dang it, we were in this thing to compete so we hung on and finished the challenges.

Day 3-Evacuation. Big fire started in the fields near our home (darn kids and their fireworks) and we need to evacuate. 10 minutes to grab everything you need and get out. Oh, and cell phone lines are jammed because everyone is freaking out.
I was home with the three youngest when I read this, and we played it as real. I was SO pleased with how quick and helpful Charli and Lincoln were! Charli even made sure to get the dogs leashes on them and have them ready to go. Lincoln helped me get supplies out and helped with Sam while I rounded up things. I didn't actually take everything to the car that I would have taken, but went to each item, and made separate trips to the car as though I were doing so. And as discussed many times in our house, after kids I went for the external hard drives.
There was a list to go over for suggested supplies and points were accumulated based on what you remembered to get, getting out in 10min, and few other things. You can read over the list HERE if you'd like to see it.
My fail here? We do not have 72hr kits for everyone. We do have go-to things and I successfully got each of them, but no official kits for each person.
Also, I blew off the 5pts for playing the cell phone lines jammed (for 3hrs) part of it because Wednesday was the beginning of the crazy and an out of town friend was helping me through it all. Totally worth forfeiting those 5 points!

Day 4-Your 2yr old wanders off (entirely too possible. except she's 3 now.), and when you do locate her she has fallen and has a large gaping wound in her leg. As a bonus, your 1yr old is choking on a grape and has turned purple.
Challenge 1-what do you do to locate your child? Do your kids know what to do if lost? We have actually seen this in play in this neighborhood more than once with a child wandering off or not coming home after school. There are a billion children in our neighborhood so it happens. The amazing networking here has kicked in immediately every time. Between facebook, texting, emails, calling trees, and numerous neighbors jumping in and going door to door to help find children, our little corner of the world sure kicks into high gear quickly! It truly is amazing!
Challenge 2- Can you treat your child with your first aid kit? Do you have the necessary supplies and know what to do? We've had entirely too much first aid practice in our family. It is something Aaron emphasizes when the boys are doing scouting things and he always pulls the girls in on it too. I am so impressed with all he has taught our kids! And we have an EMT bag that is fully stocked, huge relief with our kids.
Challenge 3-Heimlich for babies. I have always been taught the method of laying baby face down and hitting (for lack of a better term coming to mind right now) baby on the back. Aaron enlightened me on the next step if that doesn't work, which is basically Heimlich on the front-still laying downward, head below feet-and essentially mini-heimlich-ing baby with two fingers. Good to know!
Bonus points for first aid kit items (another list on the website) and knowing Heimlich for adults.

Day 5-Show me the money! Hungry relatives-also with the illness-got kicked out of their neighborhood, came to stay with you and ate all your fresh food. Darn family. And we're still quarantined!
Also youngest child needs tonsils out, someone else has been hospitalized with the illness and there is car trouble. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars in bills due asap!
Challenge 1-Make dinner using only food storage, no "fresh" ingredients. We are great here! We had a number of things to choose from, but Taylor is in charge of helping with dinner on Friday so he picked waffles. And then he made everything all on his own. I love my kids! We did also have our veggies from the garden and everything in the deep freeze, but the boy wanted to keep things simple. I'm good with that!
Challenge 2-Review finances. How would you cover these expenses if they hit you right now?
We are way too acquainted with our finances. Ugh. We use our tax return each year to fuel unexpected expenses and do the best we can. Sometimes the credit cards come into play because life keeps us stretched pretty thin, but we do the best we can.
10 points for food storage dinner, minus one point for each non-storage item used.
10points for discussing finances and discovering how to handle the above scenario.
and the 25 points for staying quarantined all week.

Oh-we also did our second fire drill this evening, the kids were awesome, and the dogs were taken out this time too. Phew!

This was a fabulous learning experience for us! It was really very reassuring for the most part! It was nice to know that we are prepared enough to handle many things that could come our way! We definitely found areas we could improve on as well, so we have ideas in mind of how to work on those things.
The competition in our neighborhood is fierce, it is impressive how on top of things people are here! It will be interesting to see who takes the crown in this challenge. I have a feeling there are people who will have gotten every possible point, and that the winners will be separated only by a few points. What a great challenge this was!

Preparedness Challenge-Day 2

2011-09-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today I was glad I waited till 830 to check the challenge.
And more glad that I had already gotten a yoga workout in!

Today's big challenge was a power outage. Big storm last night, power out till 6pm.
Part two was taking a family member to the dr because that flu that has everyone quarantined got worse, and on the way home the car broke down.

So for Challenge one-no power! We could keep the fridge running, but turned off A/C, lights, computer, everything. Nothing was available that could not run on alternate power!

Good news-we have a generator! I totally could have played the generator card and gone on with life as normal. But in keepin' it real, I would not run the generator for a one day outage. That sucker likely wouldn't be coming out unless we had an extended outage that happened in the winter when we like to hover in the single digits during the day (which started in November last year-3* on Thanksgiving morning. Awesome.) and plunge below zero at night. Even then it would be used sparingly, as there are other tactics we would result to to stay warm before breaking that puppy out.
So instead of using the generator excuse, I traumatized my children every time they reached for a light switch by yelling "NOOOOOOO! Do not use power!". Yeah, they love me. They were thrilled that they got to take a flashlight in the bathroom though since our bathrooms are interior and have no windows. The big whammy today is that Tuesday is MY laundry day. That pile of running clothes in my room is getting more rank by the minute. Of course Charlotte also wet the bed last night. That hasn't happened in months so of course it happened on a day when it had to sit till 6pm. A load of towels had been started early this morning and then thrown in the dryer, which was stopped halfway through, so they sat damp in the dryer till 6pm. I had to change my to-do list today because ironing and my sewing project couldn't be done. I did finally attack the sock basket and match up about a hundred pairs of socks. No, I am not exaggerating.

15 points for keeping power off all day, minus 2pts every time power is used. We stayed in the clear for all 15 points! yay!
5 bonus points for every cooked meal you have during the power outage, up to 2 meals.
Oh you best believe we cooked! I love cooking with gas, and I love that we still have a stove when the power is out. I lit the stove up with a match

(the kids loved it) for breakfast. Yes my stove needs a deep cleaning. And I should have taken a picture of my finished product because my brown sugar and cinnamon oatmeal with almond butter stirred in and slivered almonds on top was fantabulous.

We went big with dinner instead of just throwing burgers on the grill.

Grilled chicken and diced peppers and onions.
Oh, and serve it over rice heated on the grill? You betcha!

Leftover rice from last night heated up nicely. I did cube the chicken and serve it all up together.

Super yummy meal!
I know I could have photoshopped out those stray pieces of rice. I really didn't care that much.

In addition to the gas stove and the grill (extra propane tank on hand!), we have a camp stove and a good amount of fuel for that stored as well. Oh-Dutch Ovens too! And if we are quarantined at home, we'd have all day to cook something in them. Which yes, means we have bags of charcoal on hand.

5 points for discussing with the family a plan of how to stay warm in the winter during an all day power outage. My favorite part of this is that Dallin's first suggestion of how to stay warm in the winter was rubbing your hands together. He figured he'd resort to that before wrapping up in blankets or putting on more clothes. With a bald father the kids all know that a hat can play a big role in keeping warm! And my favorite suggestion of how to stay warm (and yes, it was mine not a kid's) was to have a party! People=body heat! And yes, I'm serious. It is nice to know that we have the generator (and appropriately wired furnace!) to run things if necessary.

5 points for an inventory of everything plugged in in the house. We included the garage and I realized that the kids hadn't even thought of the fact that the garage door runs on electricity.

Challenge number two-trouble shoot the car! What are 5 things you would check in a broken down car? If it is winter, do you have blankets or snacks in your car?

10 points for telling someone the five things you would check to trouble shoot your car.
5 points for tools to fix a flat AND jumper cables in the car.
5 points if you have blankets and snacks/water in your car.

Feeling good about today's challenge. Feeling better that in the winter I keep extra gloves and hats in the car in addition to the blankets that are there year round. And on the days when I wear cute shoes instead of functional shoes, I also toss my snow boots in the car when heading out. I hadn't started doing that till last year, I'm not sure why I had never thought of that. Cute boots with four inch heels aren't practical if you need to get out of the car and do anything, or trek somewhere in the snow.
Happy for my granola bar stash in the car. Happier that I ALWAYS have enough food to feed an army in my purse. Hey, I get hungry. In the car today was a water bottle plus Sam's sippy cup (I do need more water in there), fruit leathers, protein bar, and puffs. That could have kept me fed for, gosh, easily like an hour and a half. the kids have to fend for themselves.
Just kidding.
Mostly.

We do need to get another set of jumper cables for the other vehicle, and Aaron needs food/water that stays in his car regularly, even though there is often food/drink there when he is headed to work.
Ironically, on last month's grocery list was small plastic tubs for each car to house all of these things. I condensed the list since Aaron valiantly volunteered to do the shopping for me, and I pulled those off the list because I have something specific in mind and didn't want to burden him with the chance of picking the wrong thing. Yes, I'm that uptight, shocker I'm sure. It is back on the list for next month so we can be more organized in the car. And so is that second set of jumper cables.

Feeling good about the challenges so far, and more than anything else, feeling grateful that I have been taught to be prepared! Grateful also for a husband who takes this seriously and helps keep us on track!

Are You Prepared?

2011-09-20T06:29:00.000-07:00

This week our neighborhood is having a preparedness challenge.

I thought it might be fun to blog this little challenge and see how our family stacks up. Just how prepared are we? How prepared are you?

There is great push within the LDS religion to be self-sufficient, as we certainly can't care for others if we can't care for ourselves. One of the things that we have been admonished to do for decades by our leaders is to have a reserve in order to sustain our families in time of need. Whether it be a natural disaster, an unexpected job loss, a financial emergency....whatever the situation may be, we are taught to be prepared. To lay up in store. This has been a great blessing to our family on more than one occasion!

Having been presented with a situation years ago that left us without a paycheck for entirely too long and grasping to be able to pay our bills and feed our family, we learned to have at least a decent food storage and have worked to maintain that since that time. We are working a piece at a time to have a more comprehensive supply if needed, including first aid, camping equipment, fuel, hygiene products....anything that we might need. There are times when we feel very adequately supplied. There are times when things are tight and we have unexpected expenses and we have turned to our supply to care for our family.

We try to keep our storage room stocked with the foods we use most often and rotate through them appropriately. Sometimes peace of mind comes in the form of this view

The other side of the room holds all of our camping equipment, water storage and the bulk of our wheat, as well as a bit more canned goods. Seem a little excessive? Some might think so, but when you have 10 mouths to feed it is comforting to know that you can feed them for more than a week. We also "shop" out of our storage room for regular meals. Instead of meal planning for a week and a big trip to the grocery store, we use much of what we already have and make one big grocery shopping trip per month (Aaron gets paid once a month), with smaller occasional trips to the store for produce and perishables.

The challenge began yesterday.
Monday presented two scenarios, each with it's own challenge.
#1-outbreak of a serious illness, multiple cases in our neighborhood resulting in quarantine.
The challenge is to stay home! Of course we all have to go to work and school and previously made appointments, etc, but otherwise, no shopping, no going out, nothing! Minus 5 points for each item if you have to go to the store! Living off home and food storage for the week.
#2-your lovely wonderful adorable perfect would never do anything wrong child (ha!) stuck a fork in an outlet.
The challenge is a fire drill. People in different rooms, checking different exits, having a plan!

There will be points awarded for different parts of each challenge.
So how are we doing?
Thankfully we are totally set with number one. Ok, we will run out of milk this week, but that's ok, it's not the first time it happened, so oh well. Otherwise, you'd best believe we aren't going to sacrifice 5 points for a stop at the store! Let's just hope and pray that nothing goes terribly wrong this week, or that if it does, we truly are prepared to handle it.
We took inventory of our food and water storage and home supply storage. We are in a good spot right now, which is always comforting.
Good news-we have almost 200 gal of water, plus our hot water heaters and cases of bottled water. That makes me very happy!

With number two, we have had a fire escape plan in place for sometime. Even better-when we asked the kids about meet up points and exits and alternate exits, everyone down to Lincoln (who is 4) knew the correct answers. Since we have done the standard drill a number of times in the past, we thought we'd play a little differently this time. We warned the kids that if they heard the smoke alarm at all this week, they were to put our plan into play. Sad that we had to specify this, and that they should not just assume that it is the oven causing the smoke alarm to go off again. Hmmm....not sure what that says about either my baking skills or my oven cleaning skills......ok, it's the oven cleaning skills. I am a rockin' baker!
Anyway, we caught the kids off guard when Aaron set off the alarm. I was thrilled with how quickly everyone made it out to exactly where they should be. Poor Jacob is really not feeling well today and was down in his room resting when it happened-I called him and called him, yelling at him to "RUN!" and it took him a minute. His excuse? "I thought it was just going off again." Whoops.
We'll be randomly re-practicing the fire drill throughout the week, with the location of the fire varying so that they have to use different exits, when kids are doing their own thing and (hopefully) not expecting it to see how they react. We did learn that if we want to save the dogs we need to make sure we get them out with us. We also had to discuss that the birds and frogs are not a priority, that we do NOT go back in the house to retrieve them since they couldn't leave the house on their own like the dogs.
We talked about what to do if there is a fire when Mom and Dad are gone.
We talked about what to do in a number of different cases where emergency situations happen.
It was a great learning experience for all of us I think.

Today we racked up 5pts for food storage inventory, 5pts for home inventory, 1pt for every 5gal of water (up to 15pts max-dang! we could have rocked this one!), 10pts for fire drill.
There will be 25pts awarded for staying quarantined all week, and another 5pts possible for a second fire drill. Then of course there is the minus 5pts if we have to purchase something at the store. But we plan on avoiding that if at all possible!

I am excited (and let's be honest, a little scared) to see what the other challenges are this week!

Check it out at the Pyles of Preparation blog. Challenges will be posted by 8:30am (Mtn Time) each day. Though our little challenge is local, it would be great to see how prepared you are for the worst case scenario!

One last shot

2011-09-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to do it.
Bring it back up.
I was going to sit back and just keep my fingers crossed.

But heck, I'm going to do it.

I'm up for a model shoot for a local swimsuit company. I know-that may sound crazy-I'm definitely not a Swimsuit Edition kind of gal. This company is one that strives to create modest swimwear that is cute and comfortable. They also happen to be my favorite place to shop for swim wear. (Really!)
If you've been around for a while you saw me mention it HERE. Since then the company has released a little more info on how the finalists, and eventually the winner, will be chosen. The contest closes tomorrow, at which time the field will be narrowed down to three finalists. Two will be chosen by the Hapari staff and owners, one finalist will be the "Fan Favorite"-the one with the most likes and comments. As of right now I am holding on to that! I am floored and flabbergasted, but holding on!

But as often happens in the final hour, things are heating up!
Which is where you come in.
If you feel like my picture-this picture:

deserves a like and a comment, would you please go like Hapari on facebook and then like my photo?
I would LOVE the chance to be a part of the final three. That would be awesome!
Take a look around and support some of the other amazing women who you might feel could represent a company whose mission is to present modest swimwear that is stylish and comfortable. There are a host of amazingly beautiful women in this contest! I do not envy the people who have to make that final decision!

Family Pictures

2011-09-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

I love hate family pictures.

I love love LOVE the end result. LOVE.

The getting ready part, coordinating clothing and schedules, keeping people clean once we are there, getting everyone cooperative, trying to avoid tears.....all that part I could do without.

But the bad makes the good that much better, right?

We have been blessed with a couple of friends that are amazing photographers, which makes the love part even better. This Summer we had the lovely Carma Gray do our photographs. She is our dear friend who was there at the hospital to capture Sam's incredible first moments.

Since I always have too much to say, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.
(you can click on them to see them larger)

And I saved the best for last.

Yep, that's pretty accurate.

And it seems appropriate after the family pictures to plug the Circle of Moms Top 25 Big Family Blogs opportunity again. I had a couple of friends who were surprised to find out you can vote every day so I wanted to make sure everyone knew, you know, in case you love me enough to click HERE and then click the little thumbs up every day for the next two weeks. That's it-just two little clicks! (and hooray for voting that doesn't require joining anything or even leaving your email address!)

If you have some spare time check out the other fabulous blogs listed there-I have definitely found some new favorite reads. There are some absolutely amazing families out there! For sure check out Hands Full Mom, a new friend of mine who has also popped out 8 kids in less than twelve years, and was signed up to run St George Marathon as well in a couple of weeks, but had to pull out because she will be 20wks pregnant with number nine by then! Don't worry though, she got a marathon in a few weeks ago at 15 weeks. Awesome.

Fifty Years from Now.....

2011-09-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this?

Aside from the fact that the man has hair, this is totally Aaron and I a few decades older.
Right down to her gum chewing and his total lack of knowledge of words to the song. And the burp.

(I'll refrain from commenting on the boob bit)

Dinner Conversation

2011-09-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

I broke a cardinal rule last night and texted at the table. Which really isn't a rule yet since only Aaron and I have phones, but one day someone else will have a phone so we've established that early.
We are family dinner sticklers. It doesn't always work out perfectly, and I'm sure we'll face even more challenges as the kids get older and have more activities, but we are pretty darn close to family dinner together every night. Of course this makes for some interesting conversations amongst the herd.

Sometimes Aaron and I take the lead and we talk about specific things, sometimes we just let conversation go and see where it ends up.

But you see, I couldn't help breaking the rule. The conversation was moving so fast and I knew if I got up to get a pen and paper that not only would I miss something, but everyone would realize I was taking notes. Thus I texted myself notes.

Things that came up at dinner last night:
"i had a dream last night....."
kids in math class
Justin Bieber
foreheads
bras
boys wearing bras
Edward
bangs
horse farts
"please stop touching other people"
Pirates of The Caribbean
Mrs Abeyta
lockers
spicy breath
an old guy who acts like a teenage girl who is a 'dog person', top half human bottom half dog
naked ninjas
"please sit forward in your seat"
hot sauce
gym clothes
cough medicine
wolf puke
Pictureka

I still think filming families eating dinner (without the kids knowing) would be an awesome tv show.

Smoothies!!

2011-09-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

*before I get to the post, go ahead and click over there <----- on that pink circle, then click on the little thumbs up to vote. No signing up, entering email addresses or anything, just click and click! Currently sitting in third place. woo-hoo! You can vote once a day, so go ahead and click to your heart's content! This concludes today's blog vote PSA. Thank you.*

Hey there EM Biggest Loser ladies!
MaryAnne mentioned talk of smoothies and asked me to run through my routine.
That woman will get in to your head. Embrace it. Once she got into mine my grocery trips started looking like this more frequently:

(yes that is Hagen Daas in there. But it's sorbet and lasts a long time so I'm totally off the hook!)

I love to get cases of fruit during the summer when it's super cheap and freeze it, so I have all of that to go to through the winter, but I skimped there this year in favor of convenience.

Yay for giant bags of frozen fruit!
Ahead of time prep has really helped me up my intake of fruits and veggies since the beginning of the year. The bonus is that my little vultures are not as prone to try and eat the whole blender full of smoothie the second if finishes if I'm not making them every day.

I've actually gone two ways on the ahead of time prep for smoothies.

Route one was to use sandwich size freezer bags to stash ingredients for enough to make one or two smoothies Then I can just grab a bag, add some ice and water and toss it in the blender. No divying out from giant bags of frozen things or trying to figure out what sounds good that morning. It was great to have a dozen or more bags all set to just dump and blend.
But you did hear that mention of circling vultures, right? So this method has taken backseat for a while and I've moved on to route two.

Voila!
Lots of smoothies all ready to go. Ok, the white one is pina colada, so that's a treat. Ignore that one. And yes, those are golf balls on the end.
Thankfully this keeps the kids a little more at bay. This prep method, not the golf balls.
(I swear I feed them. a lot. I promise.) Occasionally I'll get little spoon scrapings along the top of one of these, but oh well. If a kid wants to work that hard for some frozen smoothie shavings, more power to them.

So here's my big smoothie recipe secret. You ready?
Fruit.
and that's it. Ok, well, water also. If I'm using fresh fruit instead of frozen I'll throw in ice too.
You get the people with fabulous fancy pants recipes....different yogurts, protein powders, juices, even oatmeal....not me. I don't even do greens. Shhhh-don't tell the green smoothie fanatics. I just don't love them. It's true what they say about taste-throw a handful of spinach or kale in there, you can't taste it at all. I just really don't do well thawing out a bunch of green sludge. Fresh, sure. Frozen, no. It's a total aesthetics things for me.

My smoothies look like this:

Today we have blueberry, strawberry, mango, peach, pineapple.
With that much fruit I add about 3c of water.

I was blessed with an amazing blender when the hubby brought this sucker home eight years ago and I didn't kill him. I thought about it, especially when I heard the cost, and one of his biggest reasons for buying it ("it makes soups!"), but I didn't. And I can say eight years later that it really was worth it. Good investment dear. If you have one, fabulous, if you are worried about your blender's capabilities, start with the water and add the fruit slowly so it doesn't get too thick and lock up.

Push go.
Blend.
Tough stuff.

My favorite storage method is these big plastic cups from Walmart. Four for a dollar. Hard to beat.

You could pour the smoothie in a ziploc bag or try a disposable cup for easier disposability if you're on the go, but honestly, my gigantic van is so full of crap most of the time anyway that it really doesn't bother me to have a cup in there if I'm headed somewhere.

To thaw I just pop it in the microwave for 45 seconds. Soft enough to make it easy to chop up, but it doesn't make it all nasty melty. Thick enough to spoon up, or give it a few more seconds to make it straw worthy-which is definitely the easier option if you are headed out somewhere. If you're headed out it would probably be even better to dump it in your giant gas station lidded cup that you usually fill with Diet Coke. You don't want that garbage anymore anyway, right?

And remember those vultures I mentioned? uh-huh.

The blender started up and they came running.

If you are looking for exotic smoothie recipes, go play around on google. I'm sure you could find more than you could possibly know what to do with!

Drink up!

Top 25!

2011-09-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

Allright bloggy friends. Help a girl out.

Random Thoughts from the Zoo is up for a spot in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Big Family blogs!

Click HERE to go straight to my entry to vote.

Up against some big name blogs (including the Duggars!), I'll need those votes! You can vote once a day, voting ends Oct 3rd.

Now you can scoot on over and vote. And then come back tomorrow and I'll tell you all the random things that entered dinner conversation tonight.

Abs-a year later and a challenge

2011-09-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

I'm stepping out of my comfort zone all over the place.
As proven by this post. Heck, one day I might even share the pictures that drove home the point that I really didn't want to be complacent about my body anymore.

But back to today's overshare!

Last year when August started I looked like this:

When August ended, I looked like this:

Oh my word I can't believe I just went there. That my friends is bravery!
Three weeks post baby eight.
(also please don't stop reading here and assume that it still looks like that. Not that there's anything wrong with that. So if that offended you, stop being offended. It's just me and my personal neuroses.)

And yes, I took that picture to motivate myself.

I continued to take them occasionally in the following months. The plan was to take them regularly every couple of weeks so I could see the transformation over the nine months post-baby and so that I had the belly pictures from the nine months of pregnancy and the nine after. Well, like ~~too many~~ a few random things in life, I totally slacked there. I have pictures, just not taken regularly.

I do have these from September

(I know this picture is out of focus but oh my heck look how tiny my little monkey baby was!!)

this one in October

And these ones in November

I hit nine months back in May, but don't have a picture that shows any of the abs other than the one here, which really doesn't show much. (the skirt. the shorts are not me. dang.)

So to answer the million dollar question-what did the one year post baby eight abs look like?

(My skin is all blotchy because this was right after a long run)

That was the beginning of August.
And they actually looked much much better lying down.

(sorry world, it's true that I pull up my tankini top when sunbathing in my backyard! And yes, that's really me despite the fact that I cropped out my face-reference the moles. And trust me, I've spent more time in a dermatologist's office than I care to discuss-none of which was related to moles,they are all good-all due to the other garbage, for which tanning was actually prescribed. go figure. Wow, that was a long disclaimer.)

Anyway-still a work in progress. I'd really like some definition. Which is where the challenge comes in. Jump on in if you'd like.
While I have access to an awesome instructor just down the street who facilitated a massive jump in the return to normal body after baby last fall-spring, between life, kids heading back to school (I'll maybe stop resenting that around, oh, April-Mayish) and marathon training mileage, classes just haven't been happening for me for a while. I've been slacking and I'm feelin' it! Since I haven't made it to class for MaryAnne to kick my heiney, I've resorted to good old Jillian.
I attempted Six Week Six Pack back in the Spring, but getting sick in week 3, followed by the two weeks it takes sickness to rotate itself through our entire family I just totally lost my mojo. So I'm giving it another go. I started on Monday the 22nd and am aiming for 5 days a week for next six weeks, the first three weeks at level one and the second three weeks at level two. It actually works out perfectly time-wise, as the last day of my 6 weeks will be the day before my marathon. That way if it gets super hot in St George this year and I finish in just a sports bra and my awesome running skirt (if it's as hot as last year, it could happen-you've been warned), I won't give a second thought to my abs. in theory.

Will Jillian give me "ripped, flat abs in 6 weeks"? We'll see.

So far, halfway through, I have to admit that I'm impressed.

Not too shabby for three weeks! I am definitely seeing more definition in my upper abs, maybe the second half will bring a little more in my lower abs. Wouldn't that be nice. It's encouraging to see the work-and cleaner eating-pay off! The eating is the biggest challenge for me, as we all know I have a sweet tooth. A whole mouth full of them really. And a treat every day definitely keeps ripped abs at bay.

Today I start level two. Hopefully it will be as rewarding as the first three weeks, if not more so.

Anyone want to join in and keep me accountable?

The big first birthday bash

2011-09-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Yay! More pictures! That deserves a round of applause.

And you thought you saw all of it yesterday. pshaw.

Bonus-we figured out that the camera settings were off, so the pictures from the big birthday party are significantly less dark than the actual birthday pictures.
One day I'll read the manual. Maybe.

I guess the funny part is that the "big" birthday party is less than twice the size of our "little" birthday party. Grandparents, a couple of uncles an aunt and two cousins. Still good.

I have to share this first-the typical view of these two boys at Sunday dinner.....Sam stuffing his face and Cole looking around in shock/fear/bewilderment at the craziness that is my family.

And what's a birthday without balloons

an uncle to tease you with your balloons

way too many cupcakes

and a sibling attempting to steal your glory?

It's all a bunch of high flying fun no matter what.

But really, what would the big first birthday bash be without the cake?
(it was all polkadots, but the frosting on the sides actually melted. it was a little tiny bit warm out.)

This time we didn't let him grab the candle. Good parenting award!

Perfection.
All wrapped up in a beautiful little one year old boy.

Sam's First Birthday

2011-09-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since we celebrated the big day.
Sam's first birthday.

We honestly didn't know if we'd get to celebrate this day with him....oh what a beautiful day it was!

On Sam's actual birthday we did the little at home with our family thing.

Granted it's not so little with all of us, but it was certainly nice and cozy.

He actually grabbed the candle-whoops-but thankfully was none the worse for the wear and thoroughly enjoyed his cupcakes.

Then after a picture to celebrate his actual moment of birth

and a little birthday dancing

He got a new toy that has provided hours of entertainment.

For him and everyone else.

The kids were even more excited than Sam was.
Good times.

how you know you have good friends

2011-09-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

They go to great lengths to carry on with weird inside jokes.

Meet Rhonda.

Awesome.

Brown Dirt Relay!

2011-09-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I have such a hard time blogging relays!
(yes I'm still going to share Red Rock despite the fact that it was months ago)

Two weeks have already flown by.
I'm dying to get back out on the trails that I had the pleasure of running the last weekend of August.

This was the inaugural run for Brown Dirt. Nestled away in the hills and trails right here in my own backyard. For having run a little of the trails out here just a few times, I thought I'd had some nice views....seen some nice scenery.....wow. I've barely scratched the surface!
I found myself wishing the whole time I had a camera while I was running.

The morning started out crisp and beautiful, the sky on fire.

The group was little, only a handful of teams, but I have a feeling this one will be big next year.
Three of the four members of our team started from the same point since driving out to an exchange point in these trails isn't so possible. Legs ranged from 4-7 miles each. Legs 2 and 3 exchanged over the hills to the West (literally in my backyard), so there was a car involved there, but otherwise we all hung out at one point, which made for a nice fun atmosphere! Having a DJ was fabulous....though I might be just a tad bit biased....

This is my fabulous team, Mike, Tiffany, Sheena and myself.

Hail The Fancy Fat Yeti Menaces.
Hey, you've always wished you could be on a team with such a cool name. We were also known as We Like Mike. (Mike also happens to be running for City Council all you local people. Check him out, get informed, know who you are voting for and then go vote in Primaries next week!)

I got to run the first leg-5.65mi, up an eastern hill that handed out a view of nearly our entire city, sweeping to our neighboring cities over a patchwork of fields and the lake. It was gorgeous.

After huffing and puffing my way up that first climb, I got to drop down into the valley nestled just past our start base. Wow. There is a whole new world back there!
After a slow start (the first hill racked up at 13 minutes....it was steep with loose rocks facilitating more of a hike for a bit than a run), I found myself flying through the valley, absolutely loving every second of it.
Evidenced by the fact that I wrapped up the last three miles at 8:38, 8:46, and 7:43 pace. Whew!

Check out my nice action shots......

Oh wait.
Well, you can see I was nice and shiny at the end. Good sweat = good run. Apparently strained neck also = good run?

Either way I got a hot sweaty picture with my favorite DJ.

It turned into a beautiful day, the rest of my team rocked their legs as well. Tiffany we sent off in a blur to go tackle the West hill, a nice climb over soft sandy trails, while Mike brought it back to our start base from over Lake Mountain at a killer pace! And Sheena killed our last leg that looped around the valley-in the heat of the day. and it was HOT. For being a newer runner, she absolutely killed her run! That girl is going to kick some serious heiney!

To top everything off, my kids came up to hang out. Everything was based 4 miles away from home when you follow the paved trail, along the route that my kids bike all the time during the summer. I told them they could walk up to join us and they scoffed. But halfway through the day they slowly started trickling in.....first a couple on bikes, followed by the rest on scooter and on foot. What troopers!

So I got my finish line pictures with my clan.

Good stuff.

Twenty Miles. times two.

2011-08-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

This whole marathon training thing is an interesting monster.
Some days you totally have it under control. It's an incredibly energizing inspiring thing.
Some days it totally controls you. You feel like a slave. You wonder if you'll ever get to just run what you want.
For the most part, the past 13 weeks have been awesome. Aside from the IT Band issues (Active Release Therapy is *amazing*!) and the Peroneal tendon thing (again-the ART-I had them addressed at the same time. Miracle!), physically things have been awesome. I'm thrilled with how my body has taken to the increased mileage. I'm thrilled with my weight. (I know! When does that happen for women?!) I'm super thrilled that I can eat as much as I'm eating now. That part is great. I like food. A lot. As long as I remember to adjust accordingly when I'm not running 40 miles a week....

Pushing new distance may be my favorite part of this whole thing. As my long runs have gotten longer, I feel so much more confident about this whole thing. I've now tackled 20 miles twice.
The first time was four weeks ago when it was supposed to be an 18 mile run. But when I hit mile 18 I was still over a mile from home. It made no sense to walk that far so I just kept running. And, well, 19 just didn't sound right so I wove around the neighborhood a little to hit 20. It was really pretty exciting. I felt good at the end of it. While I was tired, I wasn't totally spent. That's encouraging when you know you still need to tack another 6+ miles onto that distance.

I love that my body seems to find it's groove around mile 6, and then really settles in for the long haul around mile 10. Wow I am in love with that feeling of just letting my mind wander, soaking it all in, and just running for hours. It's magical when it all clicks. And I'm really hoping I find that groove come marathon day......

The second time was the week after that when I actually had 20 on the schedule. I felt good the whole way again, I feel like I have the fueling and hydrating down pretty well, and I felt good at the end. I would have been able to finish that second 20 miler almost 5 minutes faster than the first one, but I was getting a little tightness in my leg around mile 16 so I walked for a few minutes. I'm ok with that.

Last week I hit a mental wall. I felt totally burned out. I went so far as to skip my Saturday run completely. It was a drop back week so it would have only been a 12-13 mile run, so I'm ok with missing it. I think it did me better both physically and mentally to stay home and sleep in for a bit than it would have to fight through a run.
I've had to push to make it through this week too. That frustrated me after taking some days off last week. I've had to revamp my training schedule, going from five runs a week to just four. Between kids in school and Aaron gearing up to go back to school (late nights studying-boo), my time for running has suddenly become very limited. Add to that the fact that it stays darker later in the morning now and gets darker much earlier at night than it did a month ago, and I'm trying desperately to adjust. I've run on the treadmill three times in the past week-more than I did all Summer long. As much as I hate the treadmill, I'm grateful to have one.

I really needed to just have a good running week this past week. Thankfully I did! Even with the treadmill runs, it was good. Today I had the opportunity to run a leg of a trail relay and that was really just the icing on the cake! Suddenly running was more like a game again. No longer something on the schedule, but one big fat party. Gosh I love races!! I was able to sneak in a couple more miles, but have decided not to log another 10+ this evening to round out what should have been another 20 mile day. With two under my belt already I know I can go the distance. I'll make my drop back long run next Saturday a little longer than my scheduled 12-13 miles. And then I'll be all ready for a 20+ in two weeks. And that will leave me just three weeks to the marathon.
It's finally getting close!
34 days from today I'll be hanging out in St George.
Countdown is on!!

Sidewalk Chalk

2011-08-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

Just adhering to the "go big or go home" theme we live by here.

Every single square.

On the entire patio.

I wish I had a picture of Alaina who may have succeeded in covering herself in more chalk than she used to create her masterpiece.

It's time to play 'What's Jamming the Disposal?'

2011-08-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

We've not had this one before.

Tweezers.

Even the camera must have been appalled because it wouldn't focus.

Runiversary

2011-08-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

I don't remember the day I first went running. I know it was late February or early March of 2009, but that's all I know. I was able to run all the way to the fire station before I had to take a break to walk. That fire station is a just a little further than a whopping half of a mile from my house. Oy.
But it was a start.

Today, August 25th, is one "Runiversary" I do remember.
Because last year on August 25th I went for my first run after Sam's birth.

My facebook status from this day last year read:
RAN!!!
Only 2 miles, but not too slow, and it felt goooood!
The redistribution of weight is a little awkward, but oh well. :P

I had waited the full three weeks that I promised Aaron I would wait. He made me promise that within hours of Sam's birth. I was so ready to run. Not so ready to be away from Sam, but he was very cooperative and slept through my short run. It was two very liberating miles.

To celebrate today I logged what has now become my "short" run of the week, five miles. I had to run it on the treadmill, but hey, Sam was very cooperative and slept through my short run.

It was a treat to be able to run through most of that pregnancy. For a million different reasons, some of which make no sense unless you are a runner. It's also a treat to see where my running has gone in the past year. From building back up post-delivery, to dealing with injury that allowed me log only 20 miles in the entire month of February, to long runs that are now longer than my total mileage for the month of February.
Man, what a difference a year makes...

First Day Pictures-the rest of the kids

2011-08-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

First Grade

Third Grade

Fifth Grade

Sixth Grade

The whole clan

(what a nice mom I am to let Malia stay all slobbed out for this picture)

Any bets on who is taller than who when we take the end of the year picture in May?
(only 179 more school days. just in case you were wondering.)

Peer Pressure

2011-08-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

How very appropriate that this post falls in the first week of school.

Everyone gets pressured somewhere along the lines. We hope our kids are strong enough to stand up to the negative peer pressure, and be a force for good. We hope that they will be confident and strong enough in their beliefs and values to hold to to what is right.

Wait, let me back up a little bit.

I got my ears pierced on my 12th birthday. Not sure where that rule came from, but it's just the way it was. We have adhered to the same rule in our family, which means that Malia got her ears pierced for her birthday last year. Being 12 pretty much guarantees being responsible enough to be the one who can worry about turning the studs in the beginning, cleaning them appropriately, not losing earrings....all that jazz.
And yes, Alaina is still dying that she has to wait another two years and two months. And as of today, eight days. Not that she's counting.

Pierced ears freak my mother out. She didn't want to have to deal with ours (mine and my sister's) when we got them done so I guess it's a good thing they made us wait. I remember when my grandma's got infected and my mom was trying to help her with them.....more distinctly I remember my mom turning green and gagging and heaving as she tried to help with them. It was kind of comical.

My mom took my girls out on Saturday night. A little back to school date. Malia is all about building her earring options right now so they stopped in at Target where she found her most recent favorite pair, and then went to Claire's because "they were having an awesome sale!"
When they came home they were all in a fit of giggles.
Even my mom.
And they all kept giving me that expectant stare, that one that screams "come on...notice so we don't have to spell it out! figure it out! soon! or we might explode!"
It seemed a little odd, but took me a second to catch on.

And then I did.
No. Surely it couldn't be.

Apparently, it could.

We all know that grandmas get wrapped around those little grand childrens' fingers entirely too easily. Apparently the bigger those children get, the tighter the grasp.

My mother succumbed to pressure from my daughters. And pierced her ears. At least she stayed true to the "not till you're 12 rule", you know, since she's 50 something now.

I still can't decide if I'm terribly impressed or mildly terrified at the power my children wield with my parents.

First Day of School (round two)

2011-08-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

Also known as meltdown round two.

Things went a little better at home this morning with Charlotte because she was excited about loading up in the stroller and walking to school with everyone.

Apparently somewhere along the line she interpreted this to mean that *she* got to go to school.

We had a lovely walk over to school with everyone-including Malia since she is off school today.
(yesterday was the day for just seventh grade, today is the day for just eighth grade so she is home)
Malia thoroughly enjoyed feeling like top dog as she shouted her hello's to all the teachers out working parking lot duty, and to the "little kids" that she knows that are still in elementary school. Oh boy.

Then after the picture in front of the school sign,

Taylor, Alaina, Jacob and Dallin ran off.

Charlotte was left standing there with me.

Not even Malia going home with us helped.

Charlotte was sure she was going to school.

Geesh, I'm so glad she wants to be home with me.

Time to get our little preschool going so she sees just how much fun being home with Mom can be. So many fun things planned, I can't wait to get started!

Last School year....

2011-08-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

I've had this post saved as a draft for, oh....three months.
It was to be a wrap up of the school year. All the things I never blogged about, like the school play, the science fair, all that jazz.
Maybe now that it's a new school year I should get to that?

Maybe.

But if nothing else, before I post the pictures from the other kids' first day this morning I did want to share these ones.

Last year on the first day of school

and back in June on the last day of school.

There was waaaaay too much growing up going on on those nine months.

Middle School

2011-08-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

At least I got an extra year, right?
If we lived anywhere else odds are she would have shipped off to middle school last year. Yay for living where Middle School doesn't start till 7th grade! It actually kind of freaks me out to say "middle school", most of them are Jr Highs here.

My oldest child went off to Middle School this morning.
My oldest child rode a bus to school for the first time.
My oldest child should be stepping on to that bus to head home any minute now.
I can't wait to hear how the first day was!

I'm not sure if she was tired or nervous or what, but she wasn't smiling for pictures this morning.

Never fear-she was very excited.
Charlotte not so much.
She rolled out of bed right as Malia was getting ready to head out the door. Determined not to be left behind, she threw on the first thing she could find as quickly as possible (thus the reason it's on backward), grabbed the first shoes she could find and came barreling out the front door crying.

"Me go with you Meela! Go with you!"
It was cute.
It was sweet.
It was a little sad too.

Charlotte cried as Malia picked up her things to head off to the bus stop.

She cried harder as Malia walked off down the sidewalk.

Then she started screaming and chasing after her.
(loudly enough that our next door neighbor who had a window open came out to see who was dying. Sorry Alicia!)

Off on her next big adventure in life.

I hope she loves it.

It's over

2011-08-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

It just started.
And now, it's over.

Today Malia went back to school. Tomorrow the rest of the clan follows.

How on earth did Summer fly by so quickly?

So many fun adventures. Thus the reason so little blogging. But hey, that means there is so much to share now, right? Brace yourself for the onslaught.

I am excited for the opportunities this school year will bring, but sad to say goodbye to our long (kind of) carefree days as we lurch back in to real life.

This morning I drowned my back to school sorrows in scones. Or maybe that was making up for the 35 minutes I spent with Jillian Michaels. It's a toss up. Either way, I highly recommend a healthy dose of fried bread smothered in honey butter on a Monday morning.

Hey guess what?

2011-08-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today is August 4th. One year later.
Miracles happen.

Don't be so surprised.

Happy first birthday to my sweet little Sam.

Stepping out of my comfort zone

2011-08-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

Way out.

SUAR recommends doing something every day that scares you. Some days that is fulfilled just by getting up and dealing with the chaos here. Just kidding. Mostly.

Last week I did something that scared me.
A local swimsuit company opened a contest for someone to join their next photo shoot. I love their suits. Really. I have a couple, I bought Malia one this year too. They are cute, fit well and are functional. Any mom who has ever chased after kids in a swimsuit knows that good fit and functional are musts!
So when I saw their email about looking for a model, I checked out their Facebook page. And there I found a fabulously encouraging thing. They asked their fans what they would like to see in a model. Overwhelmingly the answer was "a normal person". Clarified with comments including no plastic surgery, someone bigger than a size zero and not six feet tall, and more than any other comment-someone who is a mom! Awesome, right? Right. Then they posted their first round of submissions. Most of them were just normal women-and I loved it!
And then in the back of my mind I thought, "hey-I could submit a photo....."
Riiiiight.
But you know what? You only live once. One of my new year's resolutions was to step out of my comfort zone and take chances. Heck, the worst that can happen is nothing, right?

So I had Aaron snap a few pictures for me. Since we rarely go anywhere and certainly don't go anywhere exotic, we had a little fun in the backyard. The kiddie pool is where it's at!

And the best part was that it really was fun. Or maybe the best part was being brave enough to take pictures in a swimsuit and ending up with cute ones that I wasn't afraid to share.

Well, I sent a picture in and now it's up on their Facebook page. Not ^that^ one, but this one:

If you are feeling so inclined, feel free to hop on over to their Facebook page, like Hapari, and like my photo in their Model Contest album. It's on the fourth row down...pretty hard to miss the red umbrella! Feel free to leave a comment too if you'd like.

While Hapari will ultimately pick their winner, they are posting the submissions to get feedback from their customers and fans. There are some killer bodies in some of those photos-much, much more impressive than my post 8 kids state for sure. But I have to say that it just thrills me that the majority of the likes and comments are on those pictures of regular women and moms, not the air brushed super model types. Hopefully they will listen to their customers and pick one of those cute women! And while it would sure be fun if it were me, I will be beyond thrilled to see any one of those other cute moms walk away as the addition to Hapari's next photo shoot.

Also, if you happen to be looking for a cute suit, check them out. And no, they don't know I'm blogging this, nor do I get anything out of it. Well, ok, except hopefully a few more comments and likes on my photo. But really, they just have great swimsuits!

Charlotte is THREE!

2011-08-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

Where the heck did July go?!
Summer is drawing to a close way too quickly.
So glad there are still so many good things ahead!

The end of July brings Charlotte's birthday.
One feisty little three year old girl that Charlotte.
And a girl who has been obsessed with Rodeo for the past two weeks.
Yep, she's still swinging that rope!

Over the past month or so she went from wanting a Tinkerbell cake, to wanting a Tangled cake, to all things rodeo. Her final request (every day for the week before her birthday) was a pink cake with horses. I googled pictures of horse cakes and she didn't like any of them, she wanted horses. on a pink cake. And that was all.
God bless simplicity.
And cheap bags of little plastic farm animals at Walmart.

Her party was small and simple. Or at least as small and simple as one can be with so many siblings. It was just our family and my parents, at my parents house. All you other family members who bailed missed out!
Charlotte's birthday falls on the 25th, just one day after our state holiday-Pioneer Day. My parents always put together a fun pioneer themed dinner for that, so the rodeo obsession worked out perfectly.

Dinner was served up at the Chuckwagon, on pie tins and eaten with large spoons. It was awesome.

Charlotte went appropriately bonkers over the horse balloon.

Everyone got their own hat to wear-

Even Sam.

Who was also blown away by his Sheriff badge.

Charli got a special birthday "rodeo hat", complete with sequin trim. That she sleeps with. And wears for at least two hours every day now.

This cake:

was exactly what she wanted. How do I know? Because she helped make it. And insisted on putting those horses their herself. Not bad for a 3 year old cake decorator. She totally cracked herself up that the light brown horse looks like it is eating the frosting.

And the candles make it even better.

Definitely not a show off kind of cake, but definitely one of the best we've ever had. She was more thrilled at this cake than just about any other of our kids at any other birthday no matter how many hours I spent on a fancy cake. I may just let my kids make their own cakes from here on out.

After blowing out the candles she immediately removed the horses and sucked off the frosting.
Smart girl.
Also there is a bad joke in there about hoof and mouth.

She was thrilled with the Dora glasses she's been coveting at Walmart.

Had more than enough help opening gifts, which is the norm in this group.

She was appropriately thrilled with every gift she received, and had an extra soft spot for her Tangled Barbie (which she calls "Tangled" instead of "Rapunzel"), and her Pony.

Then she was still so excited that she ran.

And just like last year, she ended up at her little spot on the garden wall, just chillin'.

And since one party wasn't enough for Malia, she put together a surprise party for Charlotte on Monday-her actual birthday. When I say surprise, I really mean surprise. Apparently she printed invitations for my parents and my brothers and included the phrase "this is a surprise, so please don't even tell my mom!". Sweet.
My parents, being good sports (good is an understatement!), brought lunch and another cake out and joined us for Charlotte's second party.
The candles in pizza is always a hit.

And the additional decor of 783 feet of paper chains was fabulous. (also courtesy of Malia)

Apparently my normal birthday decor in the kitchen just isn't good enough anymore.

But the real winner here is that Malia wanted to do a piñata. Not having had time to make a real one, she used a box.
Filled with balloons and what treats she could come up with from around the house. Which is not as many as you might think. My stash is nearly completely gone except for gum. Dangit.

The kids loved it, and since it was a box, it was sturdy enough that everyone got plenty of chances to break that thing open.

Even the party master herself.

It ended when someone knocked it off the rope and Charlotte tried to beat it open on the ground.
My sweet docile little girl....
who finally just ripped it open.

Her afternoon was so eventful that it took it's toll. I asked her what she wanted to do for the rest of her birthday and she said "take a nap in your room". I thought she was joking and just wanted to play in my bed. Since it was her birthday I told her to go ahead, and found her like this just moments later.

Heck, I probably could have gotten away with snuggling her. She's growing out of that phase way too quickly....

A new addition

2011-08-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

Two actually.

Stop that, I'm training for a marathon, that's not happening for a bit. One day people will quit assuming that everything I say somehow indicates I'm pregnant. Not sure when being nauseous will lead to someone asking "did you eat something bad?" instead of "is it morning sickness?!?", but one day it will happen.
I think.

Our new additions came in this form:

Hear the angels sing.

It is a little bittersweet after my awesome washer repair recently, but the good news is that that drain pump motor that I replaced was still rockin'! Unfortunately the bearings were not totally rockin' and seized, which then caused the motor to seize. And while the motor is still under warranty, the bearings are not. And they run about $300. And it's not a repair we can do ourselves. Which runs another $200+. Which puts us at the cost of a new machine.
Thank heavens for hookups that got us a killer deal on these Bosch babies. If they work even half as well as my Bosch mixer, life will be heavenly.

We also learned something interesting. You know washer/dryer ratings? Lifetime, efficiency, cost of use...all those good things? They are based on 8 loads per week.
8.
I like the number 8 as much as the next person, but we do three times that!! New washers/dryers are built to have a lifetime of 7 years. 8 loads per week x 52 weeks per year x 7 years = 2,912 loads of laundry. So machines are now built to handle roughly 3000 loads of laundry in their lifetime. Our laundry tally? Approximately 24 loads per week x 52 weeks per year =1,248. Holy smokes! And sadly I know there are times when that number is considerably higher. If you've ever had multiple kids with the stomach flu or bedwetters, you understand. If you take the rate at which we do laundry, that means laundry machines are rated for 2.3 years in our situation. Since we got nearly 6 our of our LGs (may they rest in peace-yes, they, the dryer has been limping along for a while), I'd say it worked out ok. Of course we are hoping for longer from our newbies, fingers crossed that we'll be pleasantly surprised!

In the mean time, there is something about new laundry machines that make this (hugely overwhelming) chore a little more enjoyable. And I'm off to start another load.

Now if I could just learn to enjoy folding.....

Cowboy Up again!

2011-07-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

Rodeo two nights in a row.

If I was able to keep getting killer deals on tickets I would go every single night this week.
Yes really.

Usually I'd be all "I can't stay out late every night because I need to get up early to run!" but since I am currently on day 3 of peroneal tendon induced rest, I'm living on the wild side and once again staying up past 10:30 and sleeping in past 5. I may need some psychiatric care if I still can't run come my scheduled long run on Saturday. But that's another post. Let's get back to rodeo!

After the craziness that is taking eight children age 12 and under out to an event that doesn't end until after 10 and is then followed by an hour's drive home (on which NO ONE fell asleep), we decided we wanted to go and really enjoy the rodeo. Not that we didn't have fun with the kids, but sometimes Tuesday date nights are the very best ones!

We were tempted to bring Charli along because she heard me say "rodeo" and commenced a celebration that included jumping in place for nearly five minutes and screaming "Me want go see the horseys! Let's go rodeo again! yay! yay! Horseys! Yay!" I love that girl.
Thankfully she was good with going back to the activity that had occupied most of her day, swinging a rope over her head and yelling "yee-haw!"

I totally neglected to take pictures of Aaron eating dinner. Which is a bummer because he loved it so much last time. But I still managed to take a sufficiently obnoxious number of pictures from arm's length.
Like these in the car.
The "I have pointy vampire teeth and a gigantic jaw" picture:

The "whoops I pushed the button before I meant to" picture:

The "laughing because I pushed the button too early last time" picture:

The "I have a double chin which totally shocks Aaron" picture:

The "all these pictures are making me tired" picture:

The "we're stuck in traffic and.....I'm not sure what face Aaron is making" picture:

The people at Costa Vida would have totally loved it if we'd have done this all through dinner I'm sure.
By the way Costa Vida was super yummy! Right up there with Cafe Rio.

Also even though I was all gussied up in my western wear (yep, even a shirt with boob pockets and snaps!), I stayed true to myself.

Boots and Balegas. Awesome combination.
Also it made me feel a little better since I missed my 8 miler this morning because I was busy icing my foot that better get better real soon because otherwise all of the calories I am still eating but not running off will start catching up with me dangit.

Monday night we were down at the roping chutes, Tuesday we got tickets down by the bull/bronc chutes.

Fabulous seats again! And more arm length pictures! And lots of exclamation marks because he loves them so much!!!

Also, I told Aaron if we went again I was wearing a hat.

I wasn't kidding.
And he needed one too.

Aww...look at us being all country together....

And me laughing because the people around us were wondering why the heck we were taking so many pictures of ourselves.
See that girl in the pink next to me? I think she was bugged at the pictures. Never mind the fact that her leg was actually ON my chair most of the night which had me sitting sideways so my legs were practically on top of Aaron. He never said anything so I really don't think he minded all that much but seriously-sit on your own chair please!

This is Aaron's favorite event-other than barrel racing-the wild cow milking.

Sorry for the blur, I turned off the flash because I am a rule follower like that.

Do you see that guy running? This is good stuff.

If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing this, teams of two-one on horse, one on foot-rope a cow then have to milk it and get enough milk in a little bottle that it's pourable.

First team to do that wins. It's hilarious. Half the time after the cow gets roped it lays down to get the guys to back off, but you can't milk it while it's laying down so then they're trying to get it to stand back up, at which point it bolts again.

Way too entertaining to watch.

I enjoyed the bronc riding more than I have in the past. Our across-the-street neighbor rides broncs, he got stomped on pretty good a couple of months ago. Smashed femur, hoof kind of scalped him....pretty messy. Those guys are crazy!

Almost as crazy as the bull riders.

8 seconds can be a very very long time.

And this was one of the more quiet gentle rides.

Now I'm going to go ice my foot and watch 8 Seconds. And make a conscious effort to stop speaking with a drawl.

Cowboy Up

2011-07-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

It's rodeo time people!
Well, it has been for a while now, but it stayed entirely too cold (and yes, snowed) into June again so those outdoor rodeos just weren't happening with a herd of little kids. When I brought up rodeo Aaron said "pick one INdoors! Like Days of '47 or something".
Even though there is now a rodeo arena less than two miles from my house. Maybe next year we'll hit that one.

True to form, I took him up on that. Twice.

Imagine my little heart going pitter patter when I found a killer deal on tickets to the Days of '47 Rodeo on Monday. Take the whole family (yes, all 10 of us!) to the rodeo for less than one ticket to the Journey, Foreigner, Night Ranger concert that the hubs brought up last week? Yes please! A-I'm not old enough for that concert, and B-I would have been looking for Hasselhoff all night long because when I heard Night Ranger I thought Night Rider. Which I guess means I'm old enough to remember that. But just barely.

And besides, Bull riding is SO much better than watching old men jump around stage in pants that are still too tight. If I'm going to watch men in pants that are too tight, they should be on livestock not on stage.

What does it look like to go somewhere with 8 kids?

Thank heaven for the buddy system.
We got there super early to get the best seats we could.

As is evidenced by the rest of the arena being completely empty.
(yes I'm wearing boots. Wait till the pictures from Tuesday night.)
For row 8, I'll sit there an extra hour!
We picked a spot right behind the roping chutes. It was awesome. And gave the kids something to do while we waited.

Look at Dallin. Apparently he lacks the part of my genetics that loves a big deep breath around cows.
Since we have fields of cows minutes from our house, I was shocked that they were so enthralled hanging out with the calves, steers and wild cows (for milking. yes really.).

Then Alaina found the royalty and was all sorts of excited. She practically tackled them.

And after a quick photo op sprinted to my purse where she rummaged for a pen so she could go collect autographs.

I was roping kids while they roped calves,.....

We had a great time, and the kids mostly loved it. It got a little long for the middle kids, but Charlotte loved it till the last second.
The evening redeemed itself for those 4, 6 and 8yr old restless boys though when the after-show entertainment was motocross.
This:

Equals this:

And since for a while there was more rodeo going on in our row trying to wrangle kids into their seats than there was down on the floor, Aaron and I went back on Tuesday for date night. Complete with lots of pictures. Because he loves it when I take 863 pictures of us just sitting there.
And we bought him a hat. Come back for that.

Run, run as fast as you can!

2011-07-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

Last week was a drop back week for me. Fewer miles each day, and a shorter long run on Saturday.

Since there was less on the schedule I thought I'd try something new on Thursday, my rest day.
Inspired by Marjorie, I thought I'd see how fast I could pound out a mile. She does this monthly to see how her time is coming along. After that 5k that came out speedier than I thought, I was wondering just what I could do.
My fastest mile split on that 5k was 7:16, so I knew I could do a little over a 7 min mile. I wondered if I could hit 7 right smack on the head. 16 seconds less per mile may not seem like much, but when you're pushing your pace, even five seconds can be a huge stretch.

I had Aaron drop me off out on the path on the way home from the kids' karate lesson. Out far enough that I wouldn't have to worry about running over curbing or anything like that-I could just run.

I laced up, slathered up the Biofreeze, and reset the trusty Garmin.

It hurt. I pushed it, my knees got angry and my ITBand yelled at me too. But I tried to embrace that "the faster you run, the faster you're done" idea, and remind my body that it was only one mile and no further. Just one. So I pushed through when I felt my body trying to slow down and left it all out there.

In the end?

(yes, I know that's out of focus)

Check. that. out.
I cleared seven!!
6:54!
Crazy.
And did you see that "best"? Somewhere along there I kicked up to a 5:52 pace. Granted it may have been for only a fraction of a second, but fun to see that number nonetheless.
My knees are still angry with me four days later, and I even ended up wrapping my worst side for Saturday's long run so I won't be doing this little timed mile test again till after the marathon wraps up, but it was super exciting to see what I was capable of.
Maybe one day off in the future I'll actually do some working on my speed. Maybe there is a speedy runner in there after all.
Maybe.

MRI Nitty Gritty and a visit to Neurosurgery

2011-07-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

I find myself grateful that these heaps of dr appointments just come in small doses for us. I know many people for whom this is the norm, either on a weekly or monthly basis. It was supposed to be our norm.

Also, this is your warning that this is a long post.

Lately we've had the monthly check in with the pediatrician to make sure that Sam is gaining weight and check his iron levels because they've been so low. Because the anemia situation hasn't changed-except to get worse-these monthly appointments have expanded to include iron injections. Those are rough. Big shot, and one that has be given with a z track injection so it doesn't leave a tattoo mark.

The good news is that his body seems to be responding well to the injections. Slowly, but well. At least he's not going down anymore.
The better news is that he's finally gaining some weight! While he gained just over a pound between 4-6 months, and just over a pound from 6-9 months, he's managed to pack on a full pound from month 9-10, and another full pound from 10-11! He's now tipping the scales at a whopping 18lbs!

He kind of fell off the charts there for a bit but is now solidly back on...at the 4th percentile! Woohoo!

His head growth on the other hand.....

That penciled in dot is his most recent measurement.
Also off the charts, just in the other direction.
"It's like an orange on a toothpick!"
(Settle down, settle down....humor is a good thing. You know I love my baby to pieces!)

Now-on to the MRI!
We had a chance to chat with the Dr who reviewed his scans and wrote the report before we even left the hospital post MRI. Usually we just get the report and work our way through this:

It was really nice to talk with a reviewing radiologist, we haven't had that opportunity before. It was also a little sobering. The first thing he said was "I'm really shocked that they haven't done surgery yet." Well, ok. He did clarify that he certainly isn't the neurosurgeon and that the surgeon would know best, but by looking at the hydrocephalus he was surprised they are just letting it go still.
But check this out:

He said that he disagrees with the previous MRI findings regarding Sam's optic nerves. There was concern noted last time about them being small or somehow distorted, but Dr B thinks they look perfectly normal! Great news there.
He also mentioned that he disagrees with the idea that it is a tumor blocking the aqueduct and causing the hydrocephalus. He feels like it is just a dysplasia, especially since it would be consistent with the location of the other malformations there in his brain along the midline. That is also great news. Although it came with a very sobering conversation about the fact that if it is indeed a tumor there, that is not a good thing. Typically tumors located there in the tectal plate don't occur on kids this young, they aren't seen until years further down the line. With where it is located, it would be inoperable no matter what. He mentioned that if it does turn out to be a tumor it certainly looks to be slow growing, but we could be looking at chemo or something along those lines years down the road. It's hard to hear those things about your child. Even if they are just a "maybe" thing and not a definitive diagnosis.

With all that in mind and digesting, we waited until this morning to meet with our neurosurgeon. Typically the appointment with the surgeon is scheduled the same morning as the MRI, but I wanted our dr to really be able to see Sam and not the post-sedation loopy Sam. I wanted him to see how alert and active he is. I wanted him to see all that personality that is bursting out of that boy. I wanted him to see how physically capable he is.
I'm so glad I pushed for the appointment on a different day!

As Dr K walked into the room today he was joined by another neurosurgeon. He wanted another set of eyes to go over things and meet Sam and get a feel for how to proceed. They walked in with the ever thickening folder of Sam's history. Looked at the most recent head measurement and started flipping through charts. They had that semi-grim look about them, as they asked "How is he doing?" I told them he was great and they asked "What is he doing?"
"Well, he's army crawling, he's doing better at sitting, he's just the happiest kid ever...oh-he started pulling up this weekend too!"
"Pulling up?"
"Yep! He did it in his crib on Saturday, I wondered if it was a fluke or if one of the other kids had helped him, but first thing Sunday morning he grabbed the dining room chair and up he went! Then a dozen more times that day too."
"Pulling up? Pulling up to standing? Really??"
"Yep, really."
The looks on their faces were priceless. It was obvious they weren't expecting that.
Dr K looked at the other dr (yes he has a name, I have completely forgotten it), who looked back at Dr K in surprise and said "Wow, I wouldn't go messing around in there-you don't want to mess that up!" Dr K kind of laughed and said "Yeah, wow, well if he's doing that well, we don't want to go in there. If it's not causing problems.....looking at his chart and his head growth...wow, he's doing great."
I expressed my concern at the radiologist's comments about being shocked that he hadn't been shunted (or ventriculostomy-ed as the case will likely be) and he said "well, yeah, looking at just the numbers and the reports, that makes sense, but looking at him? I wouldn't have expected this-he's doing great!"

And there you have it.

Dr K wants to go over Sam's case with the rest of the neurosurgery department just to make sure that everyone feels he is on the right page with this-putting off surgery still-and said he'd give us a call later this week after conferencing with everyone. I appreciate that despite the fact that this man in the department chair, very well known nationally and even internationally for his work and research with hydrocephalus, the co-founder and chairman of the National Hydrocephalus Research Clinic, pretty much THE guy that you would pick if you had your pick of anyone out there, that he wants to go over this all with the other surgeons in his department to make sure that the feeling is unanimous that it is still safe to wait, that there isn't cause to go ahead with surgery any time immediately.
As for now the plan is to wait until November for our next check up, pending of course any signs of increased pressure, or any change or stall or regression in Sam's development.

My baby will be 15 months old in November!

You know, that baby that everyone wondered if he'd survive to the end of pregnancy.

That baby for whom we had life-saving measures in place at birth.

That baby that was given a 60% chance of making it through his first month.

If you don't believe in miracles, you simply aren't paying attention.

The longest run

2011-07-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

This whole marathon training thing is interesting.

In many ways it reminds me of pregnancy.
Yes, I've spent so much of my adult life pregnant that I end up comparing a freak number of things to pregnancy.
Anyway.
Marathon and pregnancy.
Slowly counting down to and preparing for the main event.
Measuring the time until that big event in weeks.
Most appropriately, everything gets bigger toward the end.
And yes, with 12 weeks left till St George, I pointed out to Aaron that it's just one trimester away!

I'm slowly building towards some big runs.
Obviously the one big 26.2 mile run at the end, but a couple of 20 milers before then as well. Some days that thought is really exciting, some days I wonder what the heck I was thinking.

So far all of my long runs have been distances I've run previously. Week 5 had a 13 miler on schedule for the long run.
I set out that morning realizing that the longest I've run previously is 13.1 miles. The beloved half marathon-my current favorite race distance. (We'll see if the full marathon replaces that spot.) Being the person that I am, I just couldn't handle the idea of stopping a tenth of a mile shorter than my previous longest run.
So I had to tack on just a tad bit more. 0.2 more.
13.2 miles.
And boy it felt good.
I ran it in 2:02:22. Day of the 2's anyone?
(yes I'm a numbers geek)
A full 7 minutes faster than my half marathon PR, I finished this run feeling fabulous and looking forward to my next actual half marathon event so I can smash my PR, and have that happy sub 2:00 finish time.

Next long run: 15 miles this Saturday to wrap up week 7.
Can't wait.

MRI, the next round

2011-07-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's time for this again!

Mostly I can't believe it's been nearly 5 months since the last one. Geesh those months have flown!
Sam hit 11 months on Monday. He was an itty bitty six month old last time we did this.
Ok, really he wasn't that much smaller than he is now, but it seemed like he was.

Ironically it has also been just a few days past the one year mark of the first time we received MRI results from that very first MRI when I was pregnant. That feels like a lifetime ago.

Here he is Monday night just before bed in his MRI compatible jammies-that also happened to be appropriately festive for the fourth.

So cute!
(thanks Aunt Kelsey!)

Bright and early Tuesday morning we headed in for Sam's MRI. Since Aaron is still off work recovering from his surgery he came along. It was nice to have some company this time.
Also ironic that the first time we took Sam in for an MRI when he was really little-6wks old-Aaron was home recovering from surgery. This time he was actually coherent and not delirious from pain. Nice change!

The 6:30 appointment means that we beat some of the staff there to the hospital, but Sam had a blast playing while we waited. Didn't even phase him that he hadn't eaten yet. What a great kid.
He LOVED the car.

Aww....look at my little puffy eyed bed head baby!
Just cruisin'...bein' cool like that.

Once we were ready to go we got to blow another 30 minutes getting prepped. Hanging out, answering questions, the big weigh in (he has reached 18lbs! Grow Sammy Grow!), the IV...all that good stuff.

Such a trooper.
And look, they gave him one of the saline syringes as a souvenir.

Biggest syringe ever! This will make a fun bath toy.

I got to hold him as they administered the Nembutal again, so he dropped off to sleep in my arms. It is crazy how fast that stuff kicks in. Less than a minute and he was out cold.
It was really hard to see him out this time. He actually looks like a sick baby with neurological issues when he's sedated. The rest of the time we get to pretend that nothing's wrong. But when he's laying there limp and pale, it's a little scary and all too real. And you can REALLY tell how heavy that head of his is. We had to be careful handing him off and it still flopped more than any of us would have liked. Sad.

With 35 minutes to kill and a hospital that has an actual restaurant with a chef there to customize your order, we went to eat.
And then I took pictures of Aaron just to bother him.

I know he secretly loved it.

Mmmmm.....breakfast.... We had the chef whip up some french toast for Aaron and some eggs with veggies for me. He was awesome and threw some cheese on there, because I like a little egg with my cheese.
Also I only had three pieces of bacon instead of matching Aaron's four. That way there was less guilt.
Never mind the fact that I think I ate two of Aaron's pieces.

We hobbled on back to recovery as fast as Aaron's crutch would carry him, getting back just as they were finishing up. Then in came my sleepy little babe.
He started to wake up as soon as they laid him down, which is not preferred. Typically they like kids to sleep for about two hours from the time the drugs are administered just to let them get it out of their system a little better before they try to function. Sam was just not settling down so I snuggled him for a minute, till he grew heavy in my arms and slipped back into sleep.

When he woke up he was his normal cheerful sweet self. This kid is amazing.

And just for fun, a little snippet of him all loopy after he woke up.
He kept trying to eat that cracker and just couldn't quite get the hang of it!

So much his father's child, especially post sedation.....

Run down on the MRI results to come....

Pony Express 5k

2011-07-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

Now that it's been a month....
maybe I'll get around to that awesome relay from May sometime soon too....

Bight and early at the local 5k.

It was cold.
Way too cold for June. It was 40 degrees when we got there. So we waited in the car.
Gotta love that lack of sleep/no makeup/early in the morning look.
Ah, race face!

Thankfully it had warmed up to a balmy 47 by the time we started.

This was Taylor's first 5k, Alaina's second, and Malia's third.
I think this was actually only my third as well. Really? I've got to be missing something there.... But hey, what can I say? I'm cheap and live in the middle of nowhere. Driving 30min to get to a 5k that will take me less than 30 minutes to run and cost me about a dollar a minute isn't high on my list of priorities. 5ks are getting pricey! So we stick to the small local 5ks that raise money for local causes.

Have you ever forgotten a race necessity? Malia did. Her hair elastic. I thought it was strange that there were balloons in the swag bag, turns out that orange balloon saved the day.

Voila.
Worked fabulously.

This course was the first running event I ever did. (my first race was a sprint tri)
So I had a time to beat, 27:something. I think it was 27:45ish? I know it was under 28 minutes because my original goal for that first race was under 30 minutes and I know I beat that by more than 2 minutes. This was back before I paid too much attention to time.

Anyway, I wanted to run a 25 minute 5k.
I thought I might be able to. I really hoped I would be able to.
There was one person who I was told to keep in my sights. I knew she was a strong runner because we were on that relay team together back in May. I had been told she ran 23 something last time on this course, so I knew if I could keep her within view I could pull around 25. I didn't know she was gunning to break 22 minutes this time!

I was the mean mommy and told my kids that they were on their own.
They were excited to do it by themselves (thank goodness), so I helped them figure out where to line up and got ready to go.

Things started and Kim-who I was trying to follow-took off like a shot! It scared me a little to be honest. My first thought was "there is NO way I will be able to keep close enough to follow her!". I looked down at my pace and was pulling a pace under 7:30. I panicked with the "too fast! too fast!" thought. I slowed down a tad afraid that I'd be walking by the end if I kept it up. By the end of the first mile I figured what the heck! I not only wanted to finish with a good time, but to feel like I'd left it all out there. So I pushed it. When mile 2 beeped I looked down and saw 15+ minutes. Wow! That was exciting! Shortly after that MaryAnne (my crazy runner friend hero mentor) was near me. She had been pacing someone else and came to hang with me for a while. Though she was jogging along at her slow pace (really-she's fast!), she pulled me through enough to keep pushing hard. She stayed with me till the last little bit when it was time for me to kick in and finish this thing.

Mile 1: 7:50
Mile 2: 7:29
Mile 3: 7:16
0.17: 1:11 (6:59 pace)

Yep, 0.17. It was just a little long. When you figure that my time was actually just a smidge over 23 minutes! I'm thrilled to have the 23:46 there though, and every time I think I was just a few seconds away from breaking 23, I start that nasty game of "if I'd only kept pushing in mile one, if I'd only pushed a little faster at the end, if, if, if...." so I'm focusing on the fact that I beat my goal.
And ran faster than I ever have before.
I really never thought I'd see 7's up front on mile splits, even on a 5k.

Good enough for 12th overall and 6th in (a very big spread) age group.

One of my favorite shirts seems to capture my thoughts on that....

The kids did fabulously, the girls each beating their previous time.

I really think I could have pulled Alaina and Taylor in by 30 minutes if I'd run with them.

MaryAnne was a saint and not only helped me finish but brought the kids in as well.
Coming down the final stretch before the last turn...

(That's the fabulous MaryAnne on the left)

Alaina kicked in to finish strong

Taylor pulled out a nice finish right after her

Malia was with friends again and ran their pace instead of her own. I'm glad she's nice like that. She did ditch them at the very end, which I wasn't expecting so I missed her finish. She enjoyed surprising me with that entirely too much.

We had a blast and the kids are looking forward to the next one.
Taylor wears his race tee and mine. We see it at least once a week during the day, and many times a week at night. It's fun to see him proud of his accomplishment.

Great morning with the big kids. I look forward to doing this with them more often.

11 months

2011-07-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Very appropriate that this wild little child celebrated being one month older on Independence Day.

There is so much to celebrate as he marks one more month of the journey to his first birthday.
Independence in him that one year ago we never imagined possible!

I think he may be growing tired of these monthly photo shoots though.

Does he look annoyed to you?

He's getting tricky.
Here is the fake smile. The "ok, I'll cooperate for you" smile.

Then comes the diversionary tactic....

"oh hey look! over there!"

You turn your head for a second and he's gone!

Such a stinker! I love every second of it.

I love those big brown eyes.

And the giant noggin, just right for covering in kisses.

I love those two little bottom teeth.

And that round little nose.

He is so into everything lately, there is never a dull moment. He's trying to keep up with the rest of them. I never imagined that for him.

It makes my heart happy.

He's cruising along nicely. We still need to be close by because his balance isn't stellar, but he loves to be up! He is *this close* to pulling himself up on his own as well.

Here he is cruising in his favorite place:

Yep, he's crying. Because I'm not putting him *in* the tub. This boy would live in the bath if we let him. We say the word bath and he flips out. We get him naked and turn on the water and he squeals with delight. It's awesome.

So very much about this child is awesome. It still amazes me daily.

Eleven months of pure joy.

Me and My Big Mouth

2011-07-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

Summer is prime time for marshmallows.

You know, s'mores and all that.

But when there is no camping going on and you've already had your fill of indoor s'mores, it's time to bump things up to the next level.

Reverting to adolesence and talking your children into seeing who can fit the most marshmallows in their mouth.
Preferably without choking or vomiting.
What a good mom I am!

So on a quiet Sunday night as Aaron was tucked away in our bedroom in a narcotic induced stupor, and the two littlest littles were tucked into bed for the night, we commenced the first annual Marshmallow Mouth Full contest.

Jacob was up first, but fell victim to the circumstances..."mmmfmfmfmmsmm mmmmf!"

translation: "stop it you're making me laugh!" And he was out.
Lincoln started out nice and organized,

but he too fell victim to the laughing.

Dallin was up next, did great,

and then choked.

Well, not really choked-I am a (mostly) responsible parent, so when he started coughing a bit (thus the watery eyes) I made him stop before he really choked. He's actually laughing in this picture. I swear.

Malia was next. Very methodical in her stuffing those marshmallows in.

Cramming them in as much as possible.

Far surpassing what any of the three before her had accomplished.

Then Alaina.

The big thinker.

The big talker.

Who in the end was outdone by her big sister.

Taylor was nice and modest,

Content to stop once he had surpassed his goal by ten.

Smart kid.

And then it was my turn.
Yes I let the kids take picture of me. And yes, I'm sharing them.
I started out with ten nice neat little piles of ten. Not sure what exactly I could accomplish.

But I shoved and crammed

Until I had monkey face.

Had I realized (as I started gagging) that I was only 7 behind what Malia had made it to, you'd better believe that I would have found a way to shove seven more of those suckers somewhere in my lips before I had to spit them out.
But I did not, and thus graciously admitted defeat to my 12 year old daughter who is now the reigning champion with 87.
That's a lot of marshmallows.

And just for good measure, I bought some of those mega giant suckers.

These babies are huge!

Before this whole thing started I really thought I could get more than one in my mouth.
After the mini marshmallows I decided there was no way.

Though Alaina persisted in thinking she could get three in there, once one was in her mouth she finally realized it just wasn't going to happen.
She did get her lips closed though.

And I did get one in there.

My gag reflex was a little sensitive by this point, so it took some work, but I did it.

Everyone fell short of their guesses aside from Taylor and I. The first number is our guess (crossed out and re-guessed by a couple of kids once we got started), the brackets are the final numbers.

Who out there is going to beat 87 for me? Anyone?