The Fourth

In order to have a great 4th of July, you need to do several things:

1. Get up really early and run a mile in the Ray Barrus Annual 5K Run.  Actually, you make your daughters run in this instead of you. You don't want to be embarrassed when you are beat by a bunch of kids.

2. Eat a nice cold popsicle afterwards to cool off.

3. Discuss the strategy of your run with your good buddy Ian.

4. Give the only willing participant a holiday hair-do. It's supposed to be a star.

5. Go to the 4th of July Parade.

6. Make sure you smile and wave at everyone in the 

parade so they'll throw lots of candy at you.

7. Have a barbeque in the afternoon under the shade of the trees with family.

8. Eat until you can eat no more.

Austin- Not what I expected

I envisioned cowboys in wranglers and big belt buckles, steak houses and barbecue joints on every corner, polite people with strong accents. Instead, as I looked out of our 14th floor hotel window, I was a little scared for our safety. I saw a city that I would be a little hesitant to walk down the street alone after dark, maybe even during broad daylight. Old buildings, dirty streets, seedy bars, and not one cowboy. We ventured out into the city on foot and thought we'd eventually end up on the nicer end of town. Sweat dripped down my back and my flip flops gave me a blister and we never found a cleaner, less scary Austin. We got in the car and drove hoping that if we drove far enough things would get better.  Not so.  It made Salt Lake look bee-u-ti-ful, which it is, but even more so and squeaky clean. We even witnessed a lesbian fight in front of Wendy's that turned our stomachs (nothing against lesbians, just crackhead lesbians that hit each other in the face). 

I know it's hard to believe, but it wasn't a dream of ours to go to Austin. The nationals for tae kwon do were being held there and we thought it would be an interesting place to visit. Although it wasn't the awesome place I thought it would be, it was still fun to spend 3 days with the middle child even though she had a bad day and lost her first fight. We spoiled her with eating out and even dessert afterwards. She drank enough Coca Cola to make up for the years of going without. I think she'll always remember this trip (and probably won't want to go to Austin again).

Traveling with Mike is like having another kid there.

Flying just took it out of her.

Zilker Park - a tourist stop...that smelled like a dead animal.

Summer

Summer is in full swing, except for all the rain that we've had. It actually feels like it's in fast forward without a pause button. I used to think that summer flew by when I was in school and now it's just ridiculous how fast time skips by. We've been trying to do a lot of fun things with the kids while they're out of school and I have to admit I haven't been very good at taking the camera along which was nice at the time, but makes it kind of hard to blog about it. 

Me and some good friends started summer early with an escape to St. George in May. We always have the time of our lives when we are together and this was no exception. We sat around the pool (I know you are just dying to see those pics, but ummm..no way), watched movies, ate yummy food, laughed too much, and went to a day spa and got a 70 minute pedicure. My little piggies had never been treated so well. They used a chocolate hot paraffin wax to soften our feet and I can honestly say I could have licked my feet, it smelled so good. Holy cow.

A couple events where the camera was absent was the Deseret Peak Rodeo. It was a lot funner than I expected and made me reminisce about my cowboy boot days. I did snap a few pics with my camera but I am nowhere close to being computer literate enough to know how to get pics from my phone to the computer.

We also spent four nights in Park City at my friend's time share. She couldn't stay the whole time and was nice enough to offer it to us. The weather was pretty crappy, but we had one nice day and we spent the whole day riding the Alpine Slide and Coaster. We had never been on the coaster and it so much fun. I was laughing all the way down the mountain. Again, no camera to prove we were there.

I did take the camera with me to Cedar City last weekend for the Summer Games. The kids wanted to try track this year and we all loved it. They got to run on SUU's track. D & M both ran the 100 meter dash, D ran the mile and M ran the 4x100 relay with some girls she met down there. This is definitely something we'll be doing next year.

After the prelims on Friday, some of our friends invited us over the KOA where they were staying to ride these pedal go-carts. 
Reagen was about a foot too short to reach the pedals but she was bound and determined she was going to ride them. We wadded up M's hoodie and stuck it behind her and then we'd push her down a hill to get going. She was fine until she turned to come back up the hill and then me or M would have to go push her back up the hill. She finally let me take her for a ride and it was quite a sight. They are meant for one person, but we sat her on my thighs and she bobbed up and down as I pedalled. I was laughing so hard, I almost crashed. 

Tae kwon do was going on at the same time so as soon as the kids finished running on Saturday, they both went to the middle school to fight. This is Michaela in the red helmet. I missed Dal's fight because I was waiting for M to finish running. He had just finished running the mile and his legs were noodles. He wasn't too sure about going and sparring. He ended up having one of his best fights. I think he was too tired to get nervous and tight. We told him we're going to make him run a mile before every fight. He didn't think that was too funny.

Man, it's really hard to blog when you haven't done it in ages. Life speeds by so fast and the thought of getting it all documented is a little overwhelming. I'll just try and be brief (yeah, right) and get some pics of some of the things I've missed lately.

Reagen and Michaela started and finished fun soccer seasons.

Reagen is no longer the only five year old in town still sporting training wheels on her bike. It's funny how with the last kid your in less of a hurry for them to grow up.

Two school programs. Dancing through Kindergarten.

I love America 5th Grade Program. Yes, this was months ago, but it never got documented.

Reagen had her first ever trip to Build-A-Bear. This may not be a big deal to most of you, but she counted down the days with so much excitement. When I first told her that she got to go, she told me the next day when she woke up that she smiled all night because she gets to go to Build-A-Bear.

This girl got her braces on May 6th. Her teeth have already moved quite a bit. Making room for those two snaggle teeth that are hiding above.

She also had a birthday and turned eleven and we of course had to make her earn those presents. She acts a lot older than she is and is so easy to be around. I'm trying to enjoy these moments before she hits those teen years. I love this girlie.

I had a birthday too and look at us dorky dorks with our 3-D glasses on waiting for Aliens vs. Monsters. I think I deserve some type of award for letting the kids pick the movie on my b-day.

That's just a small percentage of what's been going on in our lives and I don't have time right now to get everything down, but since I've had a few emails wondering if I had dropped off the face of the earth (thanks Keysha and Chelsea), I thought I'd better get something posted out here. I'm failing miserably at documenting our lives and I'll try to do better.

The Nerve Center

Two tennis schedules, two soccer schedules, one taekwondo schedule, one reading calendar, several unredeemed reading awards for pizza, two old grade school program schedules, 30 kindergarten reading words, one key to funky mouth contraption, one orthodontist appointment reminder, three haircut coupons, one walk/run schedule, one calendar to jot down everything else down, two picture orders, one grocery list, a picture of Jesus and a partridge in a pear tree.

If I got my fridge in order, maybe my life would follow.  Maybe.

Some Craftiness

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Scrapbooks Etc. (i think) and it had cute gift ideas and I saw this and really liked it and thought it would go good in the girl's room. I bought a 16x20 canvas at Walmart and then just used scrapbook stuff to put it together so it was really pretty cheap to make. Since I don't have a craft room and this was all over my kitchen table for a weekend, I was motivated to finish it quickly. Normally, it would be one of those projects that gets stuck in the closet half done for years to come.  

My thoughts on walk running.

I've never been a runner, more of just a walker, but I really haven't been doing anything lately and I had been feeling lazy and a little out of control with my love of food/dislike of exercise.  When I saw this in the March Family Circle, I ripped it out and stuck it to my fridge because it seemed like something I could do and it says "lose 15 pounds".  Who doesn't want to lose 15 pounds and how hard can it be to run one minute walk two?  (yeah, that was a lot harder than I thought)  I started it and believe it or not, I completed week three tonight. Tomorrow I will run 2.5 minutes and walk 2 minutes 4 times.  Wish me luck.

We don't have one spare corner in our house for our treadmill so it's in nana's extra bedroom. It's a little pink room with a twin bed and matching dressers and night stand from the 70's and pinkish red shag carpet. The treadmill faces a large window with a clear view of our house right across the street. It's been too cold to run/walk outside so I've become a frequent visitor of the pink bedroom. 

I try not to think about how slow time passes for those minutes running and how fast the walking minutes pass. I try and think of other things to distract myself. 

I look out the window at my house and make a mental list of things that need to be done.  Baseboards in my bedroom, closet and bathroom doors painted. New siding around the front door, pictures hung in my room, the list goes on and on, but I get bored with that.  

I think I see someone in my kitchen window. I wave, but nobody waves back.  It's actually just a little tree in front of the window.

I see my reflection in the big window in front of me and I think how if I ran naked on the treadmill and saw my reflection in the big window, I'd probably run faster and longer.  That would really scare all the passerbys so I won't do that.

I think about how I used to hardly sweat when I was younger and how I really sweat a lot now. How I hate showering at night and going to bed with wet hair and how it makes me cold all night, but I don't want to go to bed all stinky so I shower.

I think about how I better not burp while running because that grape crush that I drank an hour ago may come bubbling up.  And how if I wouldn't have drank that grape crush, I wouldn't have to spend so much time on the treadmill.

I think about how I desperately need new music on the ipod because if I hear Single Ladies one more time, I'm going to scream. I wish I could read on the treadmill without falling off.

I think about how I should have lost five pounds by now and I haven't, but I tell myself I'll keep doing it for 12 weeks and then if I haven't lost, I'll drink more grape crush and relax.

Happiness

Just sharing a few things that made me very happy this week.


1. If you know me, you know nothing makes me happier than a bargain. I got this sweet deal from Kohl's. Perfect Comfort Memory Foam king size pad for $37 delivered to my door. Regular price $179.99. It was such perfect comfort that we slept right through the start of Stake Conference. I did feel bad about missing church and being a bad example to the kids so I listened to Soft Sunday Sounds on FM100 to try and ease my guilt. :)

2. This just made me smile. My dad sent some cash in the mail for the kids, strategically hidden in a folded note. He must think I'm still a blond! Look at the very detailed instructions as you open the paper. (I know it looks like it's from "Frank", but it really says "Gramp".

3. Have you tried this stuff? It's hair happiness in a bottle. It helps your hair dry faster, makes it super soft and gives it a shine, but doesn't weigh it down or make it greasy. We've gotta have the big hair.

4. More bargains. More happiness. Two shirts at Old Navy for $2.80 each. And SCORE at Robert's! $150 worth of scrap booking stuff for $15. Rub-ons, stickers, and chipboard, oh my!

5. No explanation needed here. These cookies are simple to make and so yummy. I'll share the recipe below. (oops, picture is gone...refer to cookie in the banner.)

1 8oz. cream cheese, room temp. 1 stick butter, room temp.

1 egg 1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 box moist chocolate cake mix Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl w/an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Beat in the vanilla. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours (or you can stick it in the freezer for 15 minutes) to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll in powdered sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and gooey. Cool and sprinkle more powdered sugar on top if you'd like.

It's easy to eat 12 and not even realize it so make sure you share...or not.

Especially for Ash

Ashley (we'll keep your last name a secret to protect your privacy) - here is the answer to your prayers. If you only would have had this thing 9 years ago. Think of all you could have accomplished while pumping away. All those lost hours sitting in a bedroom or hiding behind a chalkboard in a scrapbook store. What a shame.

Straighten Up!

I'm not just posting these pictures because they totally crack me up. I actually want to document Michaela's teeth getting straightened out. I didn't have braces and my brother and sisters didn't have braces (although we all could have used them). Amy, my little sis, did have some weird contraptions in her mouth, but I don't think she ever had braces.  Mike helped pull her mouth to try and expose some of the teeth hiding in there in the first two pics.  

Monday she had this cool little bridge put in. Every other day, we take a little key and turn in so that it slowly widens her mouth. After eight weeks, she will get the regular braces. She is responsible for making sure we don't forget to do this. She marks a little smiley face on the calendar on the fridge every time we do it. It does make her have a little bit of a lisp and she got part of a hotdog caught in it today from lunch, but she hasn't complained about it at all.