shoppin then droppin

The big shopping day. I was mostly done shopping so I didn't have a whole lot to shop for, but I would never miss the big day! My mom was home this time so we divided up to get the big things we were looking for. I can't say what that is obviously, but we didn't do so well. We miscommunicated and she thought I was getting 3 and I thought she was getting 3. Woops. We ended up one short. What to do? Store hop! After 4 different locations, we found the missing item..Yeah!



Normally I love this day. People are usually nice and there is the adrenaline of course, but this year I happened to run into a big Ms. Cranky Pants right off the bat. That kind of set my tone a little so I didn't enjoy it as much as usual. The store I was at was set up really stupid anyway, couldn't find anything I was looking for. Very frustrating. I was headed to Toys R Us about an hour after they opened when a friend informed me that the line to get in was still around the corner of the building. Instead we went to breakfast and one other stop. I eventually got to Toys R Us and was able to get everything on my list with absolutely no waiting, not even to check out..Sweet! A very successful day in the end. I was able to get a 3 hour nap then Glade and I headed out for a quick dinner and we went back to do some "idea" shopping. Did I mention Glade got up at 4 am with me to help out? What a guy! I also had another friend go, but this was her first time and well, let's just say....she didn't like it! Sorry!



Saturday I got up not so early and headed out again. This time with my mom and Chelsey. Got a few more things, headed home had another nap then decided to do some running. Glade and I did 3 and a half miles around our neighborhood then started putting up our Christmas lights. Oh yea, earlier we put up the trees. (the kids and I) Still not decorated, but up. We worked on the lights till we were too tired to finish. We were short a strand and needed to repair a few things. Not only did Glade run with me, but he rode 56 miles earlier that morning. His legs were really tired. We got the kids around for bed and church and hit the sack early. What a weekend!



As a consequence of my actions, today, Sunday, I realized we were out of bread and milk and had very little butter. There are a lot of things ruled out without those ingredients. I made bread, but we had a very interesting lunch! Tonight we are all, the adults, going to our Stake's Christmas concert. Last year it was AMAZING. I'm not even exaggerating. Chelsey and Whitley went last night and said it was so great. I'm excited to go again this year. A great way to start the season.



This week we have something every single night right up till next Sunday. Crazy. I'm trying to just do one day at a time and not let it overwhelm me. The week after that I leave for New York! When I get home from that, there will only be 10 days left till Christmas. So basically for me, it's right around the corner!

Turkey Trot

The Turkey Trot.

This is the first year for everyone except Grandpa. We woke up to rain and cold. Most days I would thoroughly enjoy that, but not today. I don't need anything else slowing me down! There were just around 2000 people that ran it this year. We all got t-shirts and in the end we won a turkey for having the most family members finish the race. We tied with 2 other families so we all got a turkey. Everyone did so well! I was so impressed that everyone finished and mostly with a smile on their face. Stephen wanted to quit about the first mile, his shoes were bothering him. I told him to suck it up and keep going. I went ahead and assumed he was done. You had to run around a block at first and it brought you back to the starting line and then continued in a different direction from there. I was back at the starting line which was almost 3 miles when I could here them congratulating people who were coming across the finish line...sheesh! I felt like most of the race was uphill. Back to Stephen. I figured he would go sit in the park and wait for us to finish. After I came across, we were waiting for those who hadn't yet and along came Stephen. We cheered and yelled and he cried. I felt so bad for him. I know he cries when he is frustrated and embarrassed which I think he was probably both. I tried to hug him, but he just pushed me away. Needed a moment I guess. I was so proud of him for finishing. We also ran with some friends: Brett, Jake, Sammy, and Julia. The rain stayed away till just when the last people were finishing. I was very grateful!

Nick Grandpa, Derrick, Rhett, Glade, Kacy, Laurie, Sydney and Stephen

Our Times:

Jake - 47:06
Rhett - 1:01:05
Julia - 1:01:32
Nick - 1:02:28
Derrick - 1:02:28
Glade - 1:03:16
Laurie - 1:10:35
Stephen - 1:16:50
Sammy - 1:17:16
Brett - 1:23:19
Grandpa - 1:26:49
Kacy - 1:31:09
Sydney - 1:34:06

Now for a little FYI, Julia has never run 6 miles before. It was the best time I have ever done it in. Brett has heart problems and wasn't supposed to get his heart rate over 135, he did. Grandpa has really bad knees, Kacy sprained her ankle the day before and Sydney is 11 and has not trained in any way. I think those are all amazing little feats. I have a few more pictures but I'm not sure I will be posting those. I look bad enough in the before ones, you should have seen me after! Wait, no you shouldn't. Between the sweat, humidity and drizzle - drown rat. We are all now excited to try again next year so we can beat our times. Sidenote: We all(our family) walked funny the rest of the day.

So ya had a bad day....

Anyone singing along? A bad day would be too strong. How about a blah day. I absolutely love love loved the weather! And I loved being in my jammies all day. However, it just wasn't a great day. Partially because Katy is a little cranky. She has actually gone to sleep really well considering. I think she hasn't cried for more than 5 minutes ever. That's awesome. The rest of the day though, when she is sad or something, it has been hard to console her. My visiting teacher came today and she (Katy) just cried through most of the visit. By the end of the day, I just had a headache. I even went and picked my kids up still wearing jammies and no shoes. I decided to get my butt moving so I went and ran 3 miles for one last workout before the Turkey Trot. I'm less nervous about it for some reason. I know I can finish, it's just a matter of how long.

Tonight was pack meeting which I never look forward to going to. I went anyway and made it home to catch the rest of the Biggest Loser. I don't know why I keep watching. Amy deserves to go home, she made the stupid mistake last time. I just really dislike Vicki. I'm sad I have yet to feel a motivated bone in my body. Something needs to motivate me! Now I'm just tired with a headache and slight disappointment in something I used to love(the show). There's always tomorrow....for dreams to come true. Anyone singing now??

Twilight, Binky bye bye, and Nutrigrain

We'll start with some baby stuff. Today we snip snipped the binky. Normally we do this about 18 months, she is 21 months right now. I get weaker with each child. She LOVES her binky. She gets this little devil laugh every time she sees it and is so happy. If she is upset, she runs straight to her bed and stretches her little hand between the bars to be able to get it. Since we got the bunk beds, I figured it was time. I can't really take her out of her crib till she is done with the binky. I need her to be in a place she is stuck. So this morning I cut them. I'm sure one will turn up somewhere, but for now, they are all "broken". We have practiced a little so she has seen a few broken ones laying around. Today no new one showed up. She cried in her bed for about 10 minutes before she finally went to sleep. I thought that went really well! She even stayed asleep for 2 hours. Maybe this won't be so bad. We'll see tonight!

This morning Bo said he wanted a Nutrigrain bar. I went to the pantry and gave him a blueberry one. We always have strawberry and apple as well. Today we were out of apple. When I handed him the blue one, he says "no, that's a nutri blue bar, I want a nutri green bar."
Love it.

Twilight

I have to say I was a little disappointed. Not for any reason beyond anyone's control. When you already know how the story goes, there isn't a lot of suspense or anxiety involved. That takes a lot from the movie. I already knew I didn't love Bella or the girl who plays her so that was no big shocker. I wish Edward could have grown on me, but not really. I think he did a great job playing the part though. I would have to put myself on Team Jacob. It was fine, but I didn't leave dying to read the book again. I'm sure I would go see any future movies, but would suffer the same type of disappointment. My conclusion is: Don't go see a movie where you already know the entire story. It was OK.

Dancing Queen

This is a little long, you never know when she is going to be really cute! Katy was listening to my headphones and kept turning it on and off. She was listening to Dancing Queen.

Move your Can!

That was the title of the Eagle Project we participated in this morning. He organized a "fun run" with the entrance fee of a can of food. We took all the kids except Chelsey and did the 2 mile run. It was actually pretty fun. I think they said there were about 150 people there. Now, there were many children under 10 so keep that in mind. Nick came in 3rd overall at 14 and something minutes. Rhett was 5th at 16 and something minutes. Pretty impressive! Brooklyn was just ahead of me the whole time. All the kids started out with a serious bolt at the beginning. Every time I thought I would catch her, she took off running again. The kids are funny that way. They sprint then walk for a little bit, sprint again. Me, just a steady jog. I did finally catch her right before the finish line. She said "Is that the finish line?". When I told her it was, she took off in another sprint and beat me by 5 seconds. Little stinker. I beat Stephen and Dalin by about 2 and a half minutes. My final time was 21:04. I think that was pretty good! Now you may be wondering about the rest of my family. Well, Glade stayed back with the babies. He "ran" most of it with Katy on his shoulders. Crazy. She just sat up there with her little chubby cheeks and arms bouncing away. They caught Whitley at one point and she agreed to walk with Bo. They came in almost dead last. She was a trouper to help Bo though. Glade wouldn't let me take Katy from him and insisted on crossing with her. He wasn't too far behind the rest of us! We all got medals.

We were in a rush to go clean the church so when we passed a yard sale with a bunk bed, Glade said "After." We went and cleaned for about half and hour then went back to the yard sale. I have been looking for a bunk bed for Bo and Katy. She has climbed out of her crib once already. This was actually just the top part of "L" bunk beds. It needed to be painted and was missing a few spindles. I asked Glade if he had $10 in his wallet. He said "you're only gonna offer her $10?" NO, that's what the sticker said! $10 and a gallon of paint and I'm good to go. I'll just put the bed frame Bo is using right now as the bottom bed. SWEET!

Went and got my nails done, took Chelsey to work, had a short nap and shower and now we are about to be off to see Twilight. I'm very excited. We are going with some friends and taking Nick and Stephen as well. They haven't read it, but I thought they might still like it. I'm sure I will have my review up here in no time!

Date Night

Last night we had a date night, well, sort of. In a last minute switcheroo, I decided to take the girls to the mall to see Twilight. I didn't see it, I dropped them off. I'm seeing it tonight. I picked them up when it was over and took them with us to another mall. We also had some friends with us. Sounds like a weird date night, it kind of is. We have fun though. Lots to do and see. The girls were there 15 minutes when they were bored and wanted to go. Imagine that! They ended up in the bookstore while we walked the rest of the mall. I was very excited because I went looking for a Christmas dress for Katy. I haven't seen anything I loved that was reasonably priced. After thinking I was out of luck again, I poked my head into Gymboree. I don't love their clothes and normally can't afford them if I did. They had the cutest dress on sale. I fell in love with it. Glade, not so much. I bought it, with matching bows and a vest to match for Bo. I tried it on her this morning and I think Glade thought it was just a little cuter with her little dimpled face sticking out the top! I'll take pictures when they are all officially dressed up.

The Zoo

Today we ventured to one of my favorite places in the world...the zoo. (total sarcasm) Bo has been wanting to go and I remembered I had a season pass so I rounded up some other moms and kids and away we went. There were 11 kids, the oldest 4 and 4 adults. We were able to get everyone in for free but one adult. Nice. The kids had a great time and behaved so well! One friend called and tried to dog out at the last minute so I let her, but took her kids anyway. No way was I gonna have to explain to Bo why Brayden wasn't coming! I'm so glad they went. We had a great time. We packed lunches and only stayed for about 2 hours. That's the beauty of a season pass. You don't feel the need to see the whole zoo in one day. I forgot my camera so Julia picked up my slack and took pictures for me.

Katy and Jason climbing up to go down the slide. Katy started out with a really cute little pony and green bow, but had it pulled out before we even got to the zoo. Hence the freaky hair.

Braydon, Lainy and Bo heading in to the zoo. They all truly love each other. Always big hugs and squeals.

Before you enter the zoo, there is a bridge over a little pond. There are ducks and turtles in it. The climbing totally freaks me out, that's why mine are down low!

Jason, Jared and Bo coming down from the Giraffe platform. It takes you high enough to get you eye level with the giraffes.

Not a flattering picture of me, but great of the giraffes. We got lucky and got there at feeding time, same with the elephants.

Katy was totally scared of the goats. You can't see any in the picture, but we were in the petting zoo. She eventually brushed a couple, but did not love it. These benches have sides that slope down. you can kind of see it in the background bench. Katy decided to use it for a slide. This is when I decided we should just go find a playground!

Workout

Here's the scoop on my workouts. They suck! Yesterday I decided to not run at all since it has really frustrated me lately. Instead, I went to the gym and did about 6 minutes on the spin cycle until I thought my legs might fall off. Then I did weight machines for arms and abs for about half and hour. I haven't done that in a long time. To finish I did 10 minutes on the rowing machine and 15 minutes on the treadmill. Today my arms hurt! I'm happy about that, at least my time wasn't wasted! This morning I walked around the zoo for and hour and a half so that was a little movement. Julia was kind enough to take pictures for me but not kind enough to leave me out of them! After seeing those, I decided I better go running this afternoon. I only did 3 miles, but combined with the zoo, I guess it's not too bad. Tomorrow is a day of rest because Saturday I'm doing a fun run (not sure how far it is). I really need to get serious about this again. Very frustrating.

Concert

Tonight was the elementary music program. This is Rhett's second year playing the viola. He begs to quit and even intentionally forgets his instrument some days. I'm the diligent mom who shows up at school with it. He sighs and groans and goes off to practice. I told him he has to finish out the year and then he could quit. I see the logic in not letting them quit, to push onward, but I also can't see the logic in making a kid do something he doesn't enjoy. Being an amazing viola player won't make his life that much better. So if he doesn't want to play next year, I'll be fine with that.

This is Brooklyn's first year playing the cello. I wanted her to wait a year and then play the flute, but she is impatient like her mom. It's about as big as she is, but she likes it and is doing really well.

Quote of the day: We were sitting at McDonald's after the concert and we were talking about Rhett and Brooklyn looking so much alike. They could almost pass for twins. Rhett replies: "Except I eat slower, and I AM better looking."

Easy to help

Today I did some Thanksgiving shopping. As I was driving away, I started doing the math in my head. I can make a Thanksgiving dinner for 12 people for around $25. That's actually pretty cheap. Costs me more to go to Taco Bell. Here's how it broke down:

12 lb Turkey - $6 at 45 cents/lb

10lbs potatoes - $1.47

3 lbs apples - $3.00

pie crust - $2.50

3 jars gravy (no, I don't make my own)- $3.00

Corn casserole or greenbean casserole - $3.50

Homemade rolls - $2.00

Stuffing - $1.00 per box

Chocolate pie - $3.00

Total - 25.50

My point to this really - to help a family out this Thanksgiving wouldn't be too much of a hardship for most of us. I'm sure I will spend that much going to see Twilight this weekend. Maybe get together with another family and do it together. There is a lot of need out there, especially this year.

"When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God."

Poo Poo on the Potty!

NO, not me! Although I do...lol. Katy smelled poopy so I asked her and she said no. I checked her and she wasn't. A few minutes later, she came and patted her bum and said "poo". She hadn't gone yet so I asked if she wanted to go on the potty, which she has never done. She ran to the bathroom, lifted the lid and started pulling at her diaper. I sat her up there and she loved it. We sang a little and I tried grunting at her, but nothing. Every time I would ask if she wanted to get down, she said no. All of a sudden she got really tense and started crying. I felt really bad for her, but she was doing it! When it was all done, she thought it was pretty cool. We flushed and sang the "poo poo in the potty song". Of course we had to call dad and tell him. Very fun.

This morning Glade and I went running. My kids missed school to do two performances for other school children and Shelli took my little ones. We headed out and it wasn't too far before I was sucking wind like crazy. I swear I get worse every time I run. We made it the whole 6.2 miles in an hour and 18 minutes. I hated every one of those minutes. I just keep wondering when it won't feel so crappy. Just over a week till the turkey trot. I really don't want to be a wuss that day.

Normally on Tuesday I'm so excited to see the Biggest Loser. Not today. I'm a little apprehensive cuz I don't want to get all wound up again. I just want Vicki off and peace to abide. So many people making great changes and accomplishments and she ruins it all. Let's hope for the best.

Day at the Mall

Well, she left me. She's gone. Six whole days without my mom. How will I survive? We went to see her off and give her a couple things to take with her this morning. She is headed to Illinois to be with our family for Thanksgiving. She will be home before then, but that's why she's there. After leaving her house, I thought "I'm already in town. I might as well check out the mall!" Not to mention with this stupid 85 degree weather, I thought a nice indoor activity would be good. Grrr at the weather!

I didn't even have my good stroller, but we braved it anyway. What a disappointing day for shopping. First we hit Mervyn's. I'm glad I shop there regularly. They are going out of business and are clearance-ing the whole store. Yeah right. Things are more expensive now then they ever have been. On a normal day, most things are "on sale - 50% off". Now the entire store is 40% off with big announcements making it sound like you better grab it quick before there is nothing left. No thanks. Then we stopped at the Children's Place. Nothing that exciting there either. Not even any clearance stuff. Very small selection of dresses as well. I almost bought one, but decided to slip it on her first. It was not cute at all on her. Glad I tried it.

Next was JC Penney. I got some thing in the mail that I didn't look very close at about a one day sale. Well, it's not till next Monday and it's at the outlet store. They had a dress for Katy that I loved! But it was $24 and I'm just not spending that on a 2 yr old's dress. So we had lunch, played in the play place and rode the bull. Got a mini ice-cream cone from McDonalds and headed home.

While at the mall, I made some observances. The old people seemed mostly patient and admiring of the kids. You just never know. But because we were not in a stroller, they were a little noticeable running and squealing down the corridors. It was nice to see the elderly stop and smile at them instead of scowl and grumble. While they were climbing all over the 'ride on' toys, I was trying to find one more quarter in my purse and a woman came up and put 4 quarters in the ride for them. She didn't even have any kids. So whereas I left empty handed, my heart was a little fuller.

Random Stuff

Friday at the show, Rhett came out to the foyer before the show and showed me a scrape he got on his arm. I looked, said awww and then said "now scoot back so I can take your picture." He told me not yet, he had to go wash off his scrape. What?? You can't wash it off I tell him. No, he says. I just need A WET PAPER TOWEL on it! I was cracking up. If you are coming in late on this story, I have always told my kids to do that whenever they have minor owwies that you can't really do anything about. One day recently, Chelsey was helping one of the little ones and she said "let's get a wet paper towel". Then she looked at me and very accusingly said "Hey! That doesn't do anything!" Took her 16 years to figure it out. Before the night was through, Bo had one on his nose and Katy had a big bonk on her forehead.

Saturday morning we decided to go for a short workout. Glade, Stephen, Rhett and I walked up to the track, which is a mile. Then we went 3 miles on the track and walked the mile back home. When we got home, I thought to myself "what a great day when 5 miles seems like an easy workout!"

After running, I got around, took Chelsey to work, got groceries and got home just in time to take the kids to their afternoon performance. Molly let me sneak in the back and watch again. I enjoyed it so much more without babies and camera woes. They did really good, maybe even better. As soon as we got home from the performance we left for a date with some friends. We went to a mall we had never been to. Way to high end for me. We had dinner and ice cream then headed home. A very long, but good day.

A good Sunday. Found out we start church at 8 am starting next week. I am way excited about that. Today I made pumpkin bread, pumpkin cobbler and apple pie. It was a good time to because I knew it would all get eaten at Sunday dinner, not just by me! I think we have 4 or 5 more family members running the Turkey Trot. Should be fun with so many friends and family around. I also just realized I can't go to my Christmas Bunko because I leave for New York that day. Unbelievable. I have NEVER missed a Christmas Bunko. Ah well, at least it's for something really great. Speaking of which. I decided to try on my skinny jeans just for fun. I actually wore them to the performance Friday night. Once I had them on for a while, they weren't too bad. They don't look great on me though. They fit really well everywhere but my tummy. No big shocker there. They are just low rise enough that they squeeze everything extra over the top. Not that attractive. Just need to wear the right shirt. OR I could lose 10 more lbs!

Jungle Book

They did great! For starters, Stephen was a jock elephant, Rhett was a hip hop elephant, Brooklyn a 60's elephant, and Dalin a hillbilly elephant. Each group did their own little number. I could post so many pictures, but I'll spare you. The play in and of itself was not that great. We were told the script left a lot to be desired so they added and improvised. Seussical was a little more fun. It definitely had it's good moments though. Whitley was a giraffe at first and then a vulture the rest. Chelsey wasn't in this one, but she helped choreograph some of the numbers. My camera was not being on it's best behavior so the pictures are not top notch. They had also just done a number with a glow in the dark snake and had "smoke" blowing so you can still see the haze in my pictures. I missed a lot the first night trying to get my camera to cooperate so I was able to sneak in today's performance and just watch. It was way more fun this time.

This is Hillbilly Dalin. His group did a little square dance to Thank God I'm a Country Boy

His toothless grin made him perfect for this part!

60's Brooklyn. I have no idea what the song was, but they were quite jazzy!

This is the group that Chelsey mosty choreographed for.

Hip Hop Rhett. He got the "homeboy" stance down pretty well.

They danced to Can't touch this. Rhett has moves!

Jock Stephen. He was the captain of his group. They danced to a medley of

We Will Rock You, YMCA, and Macho Man

Whitley as a giraffe. If you imagine a little higher, there is a head up thereShe then became a vulcher and got to say a line with a British accentWhitley has come a long way in her singing and dancing. She was awesome!

Whitley is the second from the right

cute jokes

#1 Why shouldn't you let a Pokemon in the shower with you?

-He might Peek -at-choo.

#2 What did Mrs. Clause say to Santa when she looked out the window?

-Oh, it looks like RAIN...DEAR.

Summin' it up

More cute Bo stuff. Yesterday while driving to Costco, he asks if we can go to the North Pole. I tell him I don't know how to get there and it is very far away, you would need an airplane. Later that day, we were watching Miracle on 34the Street and it was the scene with Santa sitting on his throne at the store with all the kids waiting to see him. Bo pipes up "See, everyone knows how to get there but us!"

Fabulous jeans. I guess I have 'em. Every time I wear them, I get so many compliments. I shared the link to where I got them with my Bunko friends. I'm hoping they weren't just saying nice things to be nice. That's rude! But it was fun anyway.

Today I went to the gym. It doesn't matter if I walk, run, incline, sprint or whatever. If I go 3 miles, I burn 400 calories. I'm sure that didn't even begin to touch all the wonderful things I ate at Bunko. Then I came home and ate more Bunko leftovers. Go figure.

Tonight is the kids opening night for their play. We, along with Grandmas and Grandpa, are going to see it. Should be fun. Hopefully we can take pictures. I can't remember having any from last year, so I'm a little grim about the possibilities. I 'll at least have them in their costumes.

On a sad note, my stepmother's mom passed away yesterday. She was 90 and was not able to recover from a surgery she had had. I was not close to her, but my heart hurts for JoAnne and her siblings. I can surely say, I do not look forward to those days.

Bunko

From left to right, starting in the back: Tracie, Natalie, Dacia, Carla, Ann, Kristine, and Kelly. (Thanks Dacia!) Bottom: Leslie, Camille, Jana, Laurie, and Tiffany.

Last night was Bunko. I always look forward to this particular night of the month. Bunko is a dice game of total luck. We have 12 members of our group, all women of course. We each bring a dish for a potluck dinner then eventually (most of the time) get around to playing the game. I believe we have been together for right around 11 years. Of course, we have had s come and go, but the core has been there that long. We have truly become great friends. Even though lots of us only see each other on that night, we never lack for things to talk about. Our conversations range from our families, to church callings, to goofy y things, to very spiritual things. We rarely go a night without encompassing all of the above. We are silly and giggle and eat and giggle and genuinely love the time we spend together. I will admit there has been the occasional rift, but nothing that has ever been too severe or lasting. Rarely do I make it home before 11 pm. (my drive is much longer than most!) When we have eaten and played, we exchange gifts. We all bring a $10 gift then we get to choose in order of how we did playing the game. Most of us bring something we want to take home. Our husbands like to tease us about "what did you buy yourself for bunko?" Some times it works out and sometimes it doesn't. It really is the least important part of the night. I figured since I have been doing this so long, I should get it down for the record. I took my camera last night, much to the dismay of my cohorts, to get a group shot of my Bunko friends. Camille's husband Jerel was kind enough to come into the craziness long enough to take this. Thanks Jerel!

Very different day

Yesterday was nothing like the previous. I vowed to stay home in my PJ's all day. By noon, I had cleaned the kitchen including floors, cleaned my bathroom, done some laundry, made banana bread, straightened my hair, made lunch and dinner, put away Halloween stuff, cleaned my front porch and tended my friends kids so she could have some free time. This may sound busy, but it was a slow kind of busy. Relaxed. AND in my PJ's the whole time! After naps, it started getting crazy again.

My kids performances start this week so they have full makeup dress rehearsals just about every night. Trying to get homework, dinner and makeup all done for 5 kids before 5 pm is a bit tricky. After dropping them off for practice, I met Glade at the track so we could run.

We started out walking for 3/4 of a mile, I was still sore from the day before. I have no idea how Glade pushes himself like he does. I would have stopped long before we did. I ended up going 6.38 miles. He was a lap ahead of me. I could feel every muscle in my legs. Just to clarify, I went that far, not ran that far. We did it in an hour and 20 minutes which is not very good. Taking into consideration that we walked for so long at the beginning and that I forgot we were running and ate a spicy dinner with a big soda, not that bad. When we got home, we checked the results of the Turkey Trot for last year and if I did it in about that time on Thanksgiving, I would still beat about 100 people. Just don't want to be dead last! Now, there were like 1300 people running, so that is really a pretty sucky time. I know I can finish, I'm just anxious to see how far I can push in actual race situation.

Naptime funny

Bo was laying across me as usual and he says :
Do bananas grow on trees or in our house?
Me: trees
(then a long explanation that the trees are not in the stores)
Me: now be quiet and go to sleep
Bo: do rocks disappear in the grass
Me: yep now shhhh
Bo: All the time or sometimes?
Me: yes shhhhh
Bo: I want a superman muchiez
Me: OK now shhhhhhhhhh!
Bo: You like me to lay on you - Why do I keep saying that?!?
Me: I don't know and Yes - I do!

How Many Hours In a Day?

Today I'm sure there were extra. Although there was no school, I was awake by 6:30. I'm pretty sure I had kids up and on the computer by 6. I got up and around and drug myself to the gym. First time in like a month. I ran two straight miles today..woohoo. The treadmill is so much easier than the track. I ended up going 5.25 miles. Not all running, but more than half.
After the gym, I went to my mom's to drop off some gifts. She is my storage. Was home by 11:15 and jumped in the shower. Glade called and left some urgent message for me to call back. I cut my shower short and called a little worried. Yeah, he just wanted to let me know he had scheduled a meeting I had to be at for 2. Are you kidding?? Hello?? Nap time!!
I threw my hair in a bun and got ready. Tyler and Jake came to fix my hot water, the forever problem. I left before them so I don't know what the final verdict was. I went to Goodwill before I went to the meeting. What a place. So full of just random stuff! You definitely can't go in there in a rush. So much to see. Went to the meeting then to lunch with Glade and his parents. I went to one more Goodwill before I went home. I have to say, I came away happy with my finds.
Had to pick up Whitley at a friends and finally arrived home about 5:30. My house was still standing and everyone was safe.....and dirty. Isn't that the sign of a happy kid? Fixed some dinner, gave a few baths (in which Katy pooped), and started my bread. I had a 7 pm deadline! The Biggest Loser.
That brings me to a whole nother story. I'm sooooo disappointed in this season. Pretty much I'm just mad at the end of every episode. I'm considering writing to the station and letting them know I hate what's going on and if future seasons are the same, I will not watch. Vicki brings out a very angry and hateful side of me. When Brady got eliminated, you would have thought I just won the lottery. Screaming, jumping, pointing and some not very nice words shouted at the TV. Unfortunately my girls were witnesses and reminded me that Jesus said love everyone. Sigh. I'm working on it.
Finally, this is too personal to share too much, but I had a wonderful experience driving in my car today in which I was reflecting on someone else and their struggles and I had an unmistakable answer come to me regarding one of my own struggles. Total peace. So grateful.
Not having down time makes for a really long day!

Law of the Garbage Truck

I totally stole this from Gena, but I loved it so - Thanks Gena!

The Law of The Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy; and I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.' He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so...... 'Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't.' Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it.

This comes from a blog davidjpollay.typepad.com He is the author of the book called The Law of the Garbage Truck.

Waited too long again

We'll start off with a little kid humor. I was sitting here paying my bills when in a matter of about 3 seconds, Bo walks in, yanks down his undies and asks "did I wipe good enough?" Now imagine him with his little hands back there pulling apart his butt cheeks. Nice. Then he says "I only have a little poop on my finger." He's washing now.

Friday
Friday was a doozy. The big kids had to be at Youth Conference at 5:30, the play kids had to be at practice at 5:30 and Chelsey had a performance at 5:30. Did I mention that Glade and I were leaving for an event at 4:30? thanks to my oh-so-dependable mom, everyone got to where they needed to be. Along with 4 other couples, we went to an event called Time Out for Couples. A 3 hour presentation about marriage. We all rode in our van and went to dinner first. That's when the craziness began. I won't go into detail, but I was having some girl issues beyond description. This was very distracting to what was supposed to be a great night. That's the other thing, the event was very disappointing. It was OK, but not what I had expected. The music guy was awful. I say that nicely, but it's nothing I would ever choose to listen to. We got ice cream then headed home. Got home about 11:30. In a tired rush to take care of my earlier issues, I washed my brand new cell phone. Sigh.

Saturday
The craziness continues. Glade and the big kids had to be at a service project at 6:45 am and the play kids had a performance at 9:30. Rhett missed scout day camp and we all missed Kelsey's baptism. bummer. Whitley had to be at play practice by 12:30, she was half an hour late. Chelsey had a choir concert the same time as the afternoon part of youth conference. She spent much of the afternoon crying. She was tired, frustrated and just plain stressed. I felt bad for her. Whitley went straight from play practice back to youth conference. They had classes then a dinner by Carrabbas. After that was testimony meeting. That always gets my girls going. Nick got to go as a special request by me to the bishop. He's not 14 yet, but close, so they let him go. I thought it would be good for him.
After all the afternoon craziness, I headed out to get a new cell phone. (which I paid a pretty penny for) After that, I wandered over to Kirkland to look for a bunko gift. Nothing like Kirkland to put you in the Christmas spirit! I was in no hurry so I just wandered around looking at all the pretty things and enjoying the smells. I still had 3 stops to make but it was all good because 99.9 had already started playing Christmas music! It was the best 2 hours all to myself.

Sunday
Nothing too exciting, typical Sunday. Dinner was great, yummy roast and potatoes. Lots of family showed up. We even got to watch a couple's kids that are in our ward while they went to temple prep classes. That was fun. The weather was chilly with a lot of wind. Glade, Chelsey and Whitley felt yucky all day. The kids had a fireside to wrap up youth conference at 7. Stephen got to go to this one. They all came back and said it was great. Glade went to bed early and I got some reading in. The anticipation of the crazy weekend was worse than the actual weekend, for me at least!

Sidenote - I had to type this whole thing twice because when I hit publish, it went into all sorts of crazy computer lingo. Grrrr.

21 Years ago Today

Excuse the bad scanning quality, but this is me and my Dad on November 7, 1987. My baptism. My eyes are red and puffy due to the non stop flow of tears. I had moved to Arizona just a few months before. I was vehemently opposed, being 16 and thinking my life was too good to give up. Lucky for me I have parents who knew better. I had agreed to come out for 6 months, then I was leaving to go back and live with my dad. Little did I know there was a Master plan. It was on the second or third day of school that James Hammond saw me sitting alone at a lunch table at a school much larger than I was used to. He offered to sit with me and that was the beginning.

I always say they tricked me. Group dates where we watched My Turn on Earth. Fireside dates where I thought we would be sitting on bales of hay singing songs. Lunch at seminary. I had never been so happy. My mom was still living in IL trying to wrap things up there. She was very concerned when I told her about it, you know, that cult thing. Once she got here, met the kids I was with and saw the change in me, she was nothing but supportive. The Hammonds let me take the discussions at their home. The Parkers became my church family. Great friends like Leslie and Lyrica taught me the ropes. Both my parents were supportive and let me make the best and most important decision of my life.

I have not regretted it once in the last 21 years. I have to admit, right before my baptism I had this little thought "what if it's NOT right?" My conclusion: "Then I'll go down with the best people I have ever known!" The list is long of people who helped me get where I am today. I'm most grateful for my parents who saw the change in me and to James who took pity on the lonely new girl. And, of course, my Heavenly Father who knew me before I knew Him. Happy Baptism to me!

Do you have a drawer like this?

Does anyone else have a drawer like this? I call it my "go to" drawer. Surely if I can't find something, there is one in here. That's how I got started on this today. I was looking for staples and couldn't find any. Well, there must be some in here! Nope. But holy cow, look what IS in here! Are you bored? Wanna play Seek and Find? Find these items:

Salt packet
gloves
twine
scout patches
Christmas ornament
mini paints
light bulbs
teeth
playing cards
lighter
ace bandage
super glue
sunscreen
my kids
golf ball
amazing race medal
wheels to a bed
2 watches
snacks
memory stick
lighter
gas drops
batteries
and lastly, how many remotes? - 6, totally unused
Not pictured: $14 in change found on the bottom


This is why I treasure this drawer. A bunch of crap that you just might be looking for someday!

I'm Old and Loving it

Today I went to the park with some friends. Another ward was having their play day so it was really crowded. It's hard to watch Katy with that many people and of course the swings are a death trap. But while we were enjoying our time together, Katy went over by a group of women and started playing with one of their toys. I didn't mind because I would let some other kid play with our toys if they wanted to. Isn't that we're all there for? My friend was close by and heard them very "nicely" wondering where the mother of this child was. She was kind enough to pick her up and bring her to where I was. A little later I was near them again and was eavesdropping on their conversations. I just had to giggle at the "new mom" attitudes and experience. They were all one up-ing each other and sharing their very "read it in a book" knowledge of raising kids. It was tempting to let them know how wrong and funny they were but I stayed quiet. It made me realize that I was old and very happy about it. I remember having similar conversations and I also remember getting over it. I feel pretty real, without putting on pretenses or trying to showcase my kids for something they're not. I love the freedom that comes with age and experience. If you're not impressed with my kids, that's OK. If you think they are dirty or don't eat the best foods or say all the right things, that OK too. We are all trying and we are all happy, that's what makes it all OK.

Loving the Choc dance
Lately Katy has discovered chocolate milk. She LOVES it. I always give her regular milk with her meals, but in between she wants nothing to do with it. One day she just brought me the container of chocolate powder and a spoon. She said choc. Now if I say "do you want chocolate milk?" She does this little hoppy dance and does her very cute devil laugh. If I would ever take the time to charge my video camera it would be very worth it, it's too cute! Going along with the being old thing, I'm also aware that the benefits of milk outweigh the evils of chocolate. Drink on my little dancing baby!

Quote of the day: Bo: How many minutes till it snows on our house?

whew!

My days have been full since Halloween. Partly because I have to follow Katy around with a wash rag to clean up the sticky mess she seems to always be. I don't know where she finds the candy, but she does. Today, chocolate all over my carpet. Not one of my kids ruins clothes the way she does. The worst part is she always so adorable about it, it's hard to be mad at her. I know, I'm just old and soft.

Sunday we had a good Regional Conference. Elder Packer spoke. He was a little hard to follow, but very charming with great whit. I went away with a stronger desire to get my family prepared and to push up my sleeves and be ready to work. With election day at hand, the sinking feeling that our country is going to the toilet sets in more abundantly than ever. I just hope 102 passes and the family can be protected. It has been very interesting to talk about it with our kids.

Sunday night we had dinner at the Smith's to break our fast. We were fasting for Aunt Cheryl who found out she has advanced breast cancer. Our prayers are still with her. It was an enjoyable night. I passed out the Christmas Jars I made and presented the idea to everyone. Without reading the book, the spirit of it might be harder to get. Everyone agreed, we shall see.

Monday I spent the day out. Dalin still had a fever, but I sent him to school. After I picked up my babies from my mom, I went to get Chelsey from school so she could watch them. I then went and picked up Dalin and took him to urgent care. Of course he didn't have a fever then. They tested him for both Strep and Mono, both negative. His lymph nodes in his neck were extremely large and high (?). They put him on Amoxicillan and told me to follow up. He has been having headaches lately and that concerns me. Those were similar symptoms as Glade had when he got meningitis. Today he went to the nurse to get Tylenol because his head hurt. Scary.

The kids had play practice last night so Glade and I went and ran the track at the H.S. Went 4 and half miles. I really need to get serious about training and eating better if I'm going to run the Turkey Trot and fit into my jeans! I have done pretty well today, I didn't even eat the bread I made. This morning Glade and I went and voted. We went to the wrong place and waited 25 minutes before we were told to go somewhere else. Frustrating. The place we were supposed to go was almost empty.

My new blog is taking off pretty well. Have had several people ask to participate and a few posts already as well. Hopefully in a week or so, things will be jumping. Yeah for Christmas!

New Idea

I had an idea to start a Christmas Exchange blog. It's a place we can go to exchange items we no longer need or things we are looking for for Christmas. I haven't perfected it yet, but I think it's a great idea. If you are interested in participating, post a comment and leave your email. I will then send you an invite and you will be an authorized "poster" on that blog. Just click here to visit the still in progress new blog.

Halloween 2008

These are my cute cupcakes. This picture saved my Halloween. After taking this picture, my camera refused to take anymore. I was getting really frustrated when I noticed the little sign that said my battery was dead. If I had not decided to take pictures of these little guys, I wouldn't have known my battery was dead until it was too late to get it charged for the night. Whew!

This is Katy who insisted on trying on the spiderman hood. I thought it would freak her out, but she loved it. Her and Stephen are "finger fighting".

Good lookin' bunch, eh? This is the only picture I have of Chelsey. We all waited forever just for her to join us for this one.

Rhett and his best snarly pirate face.

Dalin showing his unbeatable ninja moves

Whitley gave up the princess dress and opted for the skeleton. My mom had dressed like this a few nights before and Whitley decided she wanted to be unrecognizeable, and she was.

My littlest Indian Princess, Katy. She wanted green paint in her hair like Bo so I had the great idea of making her hair into a green feather.

If you are thinking Stephen is Zorro, wrong. He is Zorro's arch nemisis. OR, Inigo Montoya, Princess Bride.

If you are thinking Nick has a costume on, wrong. Just Kidding, he is a surfer dude.

Bo as the green haired Buzz Lightyear. Everyone kept telling us his hair was supposed to be purple, but WHATEVER! "To infinity and beyond!"

My biggest Indian Princess, Brooklyn. She was ever so adorable with her little brades.

We had a great night trunk or treating. There was a pretty good turn out and they all had friends to be with. Katy just ran around eating candy. She didn't want to trick or treat. Every time she got some candy, she would cry until I opened it. I'm pretty sure she had about 12 suckers. I should have taken an after picture, ewwww. They all behaved and Whitley had a great time getting people to guess who she was. She even cause a little terror for a baby who wouldn't stop crying after she saw Whitley. Glade was in charge of the doughnut eating contest. No hands, no drinks, lots of powdered donuts. That was fun. Mom came with and helped pass out candy and chase after everyone. I love that. At the last minute I found my old Westwood football jersey from high school. I can't believe I was able to squeeze into it. I put two dark smudges under my eyes and went as a football player. Later Glade told me I looked really cute. Awww. We were home by 7:30, got cleaned up and just chilled for the rest of the night. Chelsey and Whitley both went with friends for more Halloween activities. It was a really great holiday.