Being a Mom hurts

It's impossible to not feel the pain of a child who is suffering. That's nothing new, it's just never easy. When a very sweet and gorgeous daughter sits on the couch and cries on your shoulder because she will be sitting home the night of the Homecoming dance, one wonders where is the justice in the world. I know we've all had some experience that makes us know just where she is coming from, but of all the people she does not deserve this.

She is solely responsible for several of her friends getting asked to homecoming. She convinced many boys to ask someone so girls weren't sitting at home that night. So, in a weird twist of fate, lots of her friends are now going and she is not. Then to top it off, one of her very best friends (who just got asked a day or so ago by a boy Whitley convinced to ask her) made a comment at lunch about a party that's going on that same night. She said "only those too young or too lame to get asked will be there." Dagger right to Whitley's heart. My heart just breaks for her. As one boy put it when he found out she had not been asked "you are too good to not be asked!" I'm sure there is a lesson and some growth that will come from this, afterall, all things are for our good.....but it sure feels sucky right now.

Productivity Rocks!

I have done so much in the last couple of days! It's not big things, but all sorts of little things that add up to some big relief. Costumes for Halloween are complete. That's big. Trunk or Treat shopping is done. Christmas party is planned and even somewhat carried out. Airline tickets are bought. Bunko is tomorrow along with things going on every night this weekend. Then Halloween will be over (not that I'm rushing it) but I can put up my fall decorations and that means I can seriously start thinking about Christmas. (cuz I haven't done that at all!) My triathlon is in one week and I haven't done what I should have to train for it, but I'm excited for it. The weather has turned against me heading back to the 90's which is not good for my afternoon running, but the mornings are still cool. My chickens are all laying which gives me 5 - 6 eggs a day. There have been lots of great deals lately so my pantry is very full. Feels great to get things done and have so much on the horizon.

Halloween FHE

I love the Monday before Halloween. This is our pumpkin carving FHE tradition. We have homemade pizza for dinner and typically do Caramel apples for dessert. This year I waited till the last minute to buy the caramel wraps and I was out of luck finding them. So, we settled for apples and caramel dip. The kids did great carving, hardly any arguing!! Katy was NOT happy about putting her hand in the pumpkin. At one point Brooklyn slopped some on her and she started screaming and crying. Once everyone was mostly done, we poured up some hot cider and sat down to watch the Wizard of Oz. I'm not sure many of my kids have actually seen it. We didn't get all the way through it before they got a little restless and the little ones started nodding off. We'll see if it gets finished here in the next few days. I actually choked up at one point just watching them all getting along so well and having everyone together. I must be getting old. It was a very successful night!



I loved all the faces being made as the "guts" came out.

See, there's a little on her arm. Poor tortured thing!

Caramel apples....

Whitley and Nick had other things going on this night so they didn't get to participate. We missed our big kids...Chelsey included!

"It's Not Fall!"

By far my most favorite quote and I can totally sympathize. Katy and Bo were chatting in the back seat when I heard Katy let out a big sob and with a crying voice say to Bo "It's not fall! Fall is when leaves are falling and no leaves are falling!". I tried to explain this stupid place we live in and that it really is fall. Maybe she and I will run away together to somewhere we can see some leaves fall!

This weekend was crazy busy. Shocking, I know. Friday I met Glade for dinner after he got off the plane. It was so nice to just sit and talk. Saturday the kids had Youth Conference and we had to meet with the renter and the kids had play practice. No resting here! I started the day with a 7 mile run, half uphill and still finished with 9:52/min miles. I'm loving running more and more each time I do it. It's to the point when I drive by a long un-busy road I think "ooohhhh I could run that one".

Saturday night we went out with John and Tracie. It's the first date in a month that hasn't had some kind of complication or delay. We ate and then saw the dumbest movie ever. Hereafter was two long and torturous hours of sitting and wondering if it was ever going to go anywhere or develop into anything. Seriously, I like almost every movie, I'm easy. This was awful! Luckily the company was good!

Sunday we started our 12:00 church. Ugh!! It did not work for me. Somehow I have to figure out a routine that won't make us all grouchy and hungry. I'm sure it will work out but this Sunday wasn't so enjoyable. The whole family came over for dinner and that was nice other than being a little chaotic. Of course, we had to irrigate right when everyone got there and Glade and Brooklyn had to leave for choir practice. I was tired and so ready for bed.

Lastly, I'm going to Illinois for Christmas!! (ok, early in December, not ON Christmas) I can't even tell you how elated I am. Mom and I are flying back for 4 days. I will get to spend time with my dad and Jo and with my favorite Grandma. I'm hoping all will work out and it will be the best Christmas ever!!

Swoosh!

Last night I went to dinner and a movie with my mom. Glade is out of town so I thought it the perfect opportunity to spend some quality time with one of my best friends. We saw Life as We Know It. Great girl film...funny, romantic, sappy, emotional. It was fun. Read myself to sleep and woke way too early to take the big kids to school.

Today I decided I would stay home and tackle all the laundry I haven't put away in so long. I was doing really well when I got a message from one of my very best friends from my youth. She was in town and wanted to stop by. Swoosh! My whole day changed. I finished the laundry I had in front of me, cleaned up myself and my house and awaited her arrival. Angie was one of my very best friends in high school. She got me. She didn't judge me and she was always up for an adventure! I haven't seen her since. She and her husband are in town for her 20 year reunion so they stopped by and we chatted for an hour or so. I love her so much! Made my whole day.

I actually got back to the task of laundry once she left and have almost all of it washed and put away. Now, the kids haven't brought there's down yet, so.... Anyway, tonight Glade comes home and we are going to meet for dinner. What a great last 24 hours.

WannaBe Runner

I so want to be a runner. Yes, I run seemingly a lot, but I'm still not what one would consider a "runner". Tuesday Glade and I ran the wash and I almost beat my 5k time but was short about 10 seconds. The fun part was that after I ran the three miles, I had a quarter mile to go to get my water bottle. So I ran to go get it. I ran comfortably at about 8:30 min/mile. So I decided to try some sprints outside. I always do them on the treadmill so I know exactly how fast I'm going. It's much harder outside! What made me so happy was that I ran almost a quarter mile at around 7:45 min/mile. Feels good to go faster. I just can't keep it up very long.

Today, Whitley texted me from school saying she had just ran a 9 min/mile. Stinker. She hasn't run for 6 weeks and probably only 20x ever. BTW, she is feeling much better and we think it's because she stopped drinking diet Coke. The aspartame was affecting her. We'll see if it keeps up. Anyway, I decided I needed to be faster than her. After all, I run a lot! So I started my run as usual and a few seconds into it, I decided to go as fast as I could for one mile. I had no idea how fast I was running, I just wanted to do what I could and see what happened. Now, it's hard to tell if you could have done more cuz you don't know how you are going to feel in half a mile. Anyway, I finished in 8:29!! I was so excited!! I was also very tired, but it felt so good. I walked for a minute to catch my breath than finished the 5k distance at 28:53, my fastest 5k. I was pretty tired but wanted to run the full 5 miles to keep my goals, but the rain started so that was my good excuse to cut it short.

I'm hoping by the Ragnar in February, I will be able to do a full 10k at 9 min/miles. Man I love the cooler weather, it seriously makes such a difference in my endurance. Not to mention, I run better in the afternoon. I really should get back on a bike since the triathlon is only two weeks away. I decided I'll never really be into tri's like Glade is. I only enjoy the running part. I guess it's all for the experience!

Merry Go Round

Sometimes I feel like life is a merry-go-round. I know, so original. Up and down, round and round. Colorful and fun, dizzying and nauseating. So to shorten up some busy days, I'll bullet point.

- Woke up to kids eating dry cereal at the table (outta milk)
- Checked on a whim to see when I could get Brooklyn to a free shot clinic, what do ya know - that day! She wasn't happy, but took it like a champ.
- Cut and organized 2 weeks worth of coupons
- Saved $25 just this week in coupons
- Cleaned pantry and filled it with coupon treasures
- emptied and reorganized both fridge and freezer to fit more coupon treasures.
(let me just say, if I didn't have a billion kids, I wouldn't have to shop for a really long time!)
- killed about 50 flies in my kitchen today (that's what happens when you want to enjoy the cool weather)
- purchased all my Halloween candy
- decided on a Ward Christmas party idea
- Renter situation all set
- swept and mopped
- excited about getting 4 eggs a day!
- missing my hubby
- bought a way cute Bunko gift
- enjoyed some pizza with my 3 year old after letting her stop and play at anything she wanted to in Costco. (I was wasting time)
- watched a man eat Costco pizza and a hot dog, totalling 1200 calories just for lunch
- realized while watching man eat why I need to lose those 5 lbs and stop eating cookies! (regretting buying those chocolate covered pretzels)
- teared up while listening to "Jesus Take the Wheel", weird.
- awaiting 50 lbs of potatoes and 100 lbs of apples

So that's my Merry Go Round life in a nutshell and that's just a weekday!

Cooler Weather = Baking

Why, just because the weather is a little cooler, do I think I need to cook or bake something. I have had more cookies around here than I care to admit. It just seems like you should have something in the oven if it's cool outside. This is NOT good on my waistline, or rear end or thighs or any other part of me that collects fat cells. Luckily it's cool enough to run more.

In my recent revisit to couponing, I bought eight packages of Simply Cookie Dough. MMMMMMmmmmm!! That's all I have to say. I don't know why it's different, but it just is. I thought that those would last me through my holiday baking, but I'm thinking not. I also want to cook something in the crock pot. Doesn't matter what, but it seems appropriate. How about hot chocolate and cider, yep... those too. What's most ridiculous is that our lowest temp yet has been about 72 degrees. Imagine how fat I would be if I lived somewhere it was actually cold!

Funky Town

The weekend was a blur. The only thing that sticks out in my mind is that I ran my fastest 10k ever. One hour and 33 seconds. So close! I also made my kids run with me (only 3 miles). What a bunch of whining little babies. Even my "runners" grumbled the whole time. We showed our rental twice and both people wanted it. They were both there at the same time. One outside, one inside, both saying "I'll do it right now!" What a yucky spot to have to be in. The good news is that we have renters. Let's hope they pay the rent!!

We had games night that night. I love my good friends. I have said this often, but we are very blessed with great people in our lives.

Sunday was long and I was grumpy. We didn't have Sunday dinner because most couldn't come and we were going to make a trip to the Temple anyway. We weren't able to go cuz Whitley and Stephen had a practice at 6:30. I didn't fix dinner, instead I cleaned out the pantry. It looks great! I was very ready for bed, but had a hard time falling to sleep. *enter Funky Town* I have just been in a funk lately. I could try and put my finger on it, but it's all pretty unimportant. I think I just need a cause, something to be occupying my brain. I hate that I am reading 3 books and don't love any of them. The heat is slowly dissipating, but not nearly enough for my likes. Holidays are approaching so I'm sure I can move from Funky Town to Fantasy World quickly enough!

Monday night I determined we WERE going to the Temple regardless of all the obstacles. I hadn't been to the Visitors Center in a long time, it's changed! The weather was cool by evening so it was nice to walk around with the kids and talk about all the neat things about the Temple. They were even starting to put up Christmas lights so that was a bonus. It's fun to see your kids grow and learn. Dalin was probably the cutest. When he heard we were actually going, he ran right up and took a shower and put on clean clothes. He even came and asked me if they were suitable for the Temple. He is a little rough around the edges at times, but inside is a really great kid.

The big kids go back to school tomorrow. I really love having them around, but I'm a little excited to get back to the normal chaos that we live in. My house hasn't been clean in a while. So many little projects I want to conquer. They are all more than ready to go back. Bo kept saying all day Sunday "I'm so excited for tomorrow!!" Busy week ahead as usual, but the weekend should be good and rain is supposed to be in the forecast. Oh yah, I took a Where You Should Live quiz and at least 4 of the places came up with Alaska, yikes!!

Slip and Slide

I didn't take any pictures, BUT...what a fun hike today. We, us, mom and the Johnsons, drove to Payson to hike the Natural Bridge today. We thought we were taking the nice dirt path with stairs path down, but it turned out that we took the boulder climbing route. It was rough and a little scary in some places. The kids loved it! A half mile of maneuvering over and around rocks and boulders. The fun really got going once we got under the actual bridge. Jake has pictures, I'll have to snag one of his, but for now...

The spot in the upper LEFT, right where the waterfall stops is the rock we had to slide down. It was a little scary. If you veered off, over the boulder and into the water. It was going mostly well with Glade catching kids at the bottom and setting them onto safe ground. Then mom went. She lost her balance and I seriously thought she was going to somersault over the side. She made it Ok, but not without a little hip stress. Then it was Katy's turn so I decided it would be safer for me to slide with her. What I didn't think about was that now I had no hands to guide or slow me down with. We went a little fast and about took Glade out and sent him over. Once he got Katy, I couldn't stop sliding. I slid right into Mom so her leg was trapped between my legs so I was pulling her with me. We were both giggling so hard and yet wanting to stop sliding. Tears I tell ya! Then it was poor Jenny's turn who does NOT like heights. After seeing what we just all did, she was not happy about this turn of events. She made it down and was a little shaky, but what a scary, fun, memorable few minutes!

We hiked back up the nice trail and had donuts at the top. Katy even made it all the way up by herself. No small feat, we were all huffing and puffing from the stair climb out. If my calves aren't sore tomorrow, I'll be shocked!

Speaking of which. I ran 5 miles today and beat my current 5k fastest time by 30 seconds. Nice. I need to get my endurance up, but all with due time. Now the kids have play practice so I will enjoy a fairly quiet night at home resting. One more day of fall break and it's a cleaning day!!

Shopping at Grandma's

Now that so many years have passed and our costume box has multiplied, we always go that direction before we buy anything new. Mom is so nice to keep it all for me so it mostly stays together and not ruined. It's always fun to see them (the littler ones) strip down and start putting things on. There are almost too many choices. The middle boys struggled this year because they had their minds set on being Pokemon characters. "you know Grandma, just get a thing and glue on this other thing and put it on a string or something." So I put my foot down and made them choose something else. Rhett was nice and chose to be a carrot, but Dalin and Bo just couldn't be pleased. Whitley made herself a "crimson crusader" with pieces of other things. Brooklyn quickly claimed the lion costume and Katy settled on an Indian girl. Can you believe that, all those sparkly dresses and she chooses the Indian!? Stephen wants to be a pioneer man but we had no luck finding suspenders. Nick wants to be a gangster. We stopped by Savers and GoodWill to see what else we could find. Bo settled on a Bee costume and the verdict is still out on Dalin. Feels good to have it mostly settled and done.

As I was browsing in the Children's Place today, I realized I don't have any real toddlers anymore. Katy's size is now the bottom of the big girls section. I decided I already miss footie jammies. Is there anything cuter than a two year old in footie jammies?

I read a blog my friend wrote for yesterday and decided to try one of her suggestions. I made 25 breakfast burritos and froze them for my kids in the mornings. Cost me .40 per burrito. It was easy and now they have a quick healthy breakfast that will last more than an hour in their tummies. I think I may try bean burritos as well for FFY nights. Learning new things is fun!!

Come with Vengence

I took a little trip to Costco tonight (thought of you Jenny Ü) all by myself. While driving along I got this sort of "ache" to hear some old Alabama songs. Weird. Then while strolling along Costco, all the warm gooeys came on full force. I can't really explain it.. kind of a warm, restless, serene feeling of something. It comes this time of year when the weather cools and the holidays are showing themselves. It's this deep desire to be cozy and serve and gather the family. It's exactly the way I would want to feel all year, but don't. The only thing that could have topped off the night would have been a little Delilah! All in due time....

Day 1 Fall break

Yesterday was the first day of fall break that all my kids were home. Dalin thought it not that great that we aren't good at having scripture when they aren't in school so we should still have it this week. We all agreed and have done well both days! Yeah for childhood influence. Since it was early on their first day of break and we made them get up, I fixed rubber pancakes and that made it all better.

I gave them the option of having a serious cleaning day either Monday or Friday. I bet you can't guess which they chose. So Monday I took Rhett and Dalin to the store with me to get Rhett shoes and Dalin tubes for his bike. Turns out he has all sorts of things wrong with his bike so he decided to buy a new one. Now...he has no money. So....we agreed that would come out of his Christmas allowance. I'm totally holding him to that. It just stinks that here in lovely old AZ, there are only about 5 months to enjoy the outdoors and 3 of those months are before Christmas. We first looked at GoodWill, no bike but oh the treasures! I could spend a lot of time in there. I found the first W&G book for $1.99, a cute basket for shoes, a foodsaver for $15 and some church shoes for Nick. I'm just like the commercial! I only bought the foodsaver so I could get the jar attachment, very excited about that. Once I returned with them, Brooklyn decided that's what she wanted to spend her birthday money on, so we went back and got her a bike as well. Poor Rhett is still bikeless. I don't know why it doesn't seem like I should do the same for him, but I just don't. Maybe because it was partially his fault that all the $150 bikes the big boys got were destroyed within weeks of them getting them. Anyway, still thinking on that one.

Made a yummy ham and potato dinner last night, my kids actually liked it! Then we had the sister missionaries over to teach us for FHE. The kids were very well behaved and we definitely felt the spirit. It's nice to have someone else come and teach once in a while. After they left, Glade and I took our left overs to a friend who is struggling with chemo right now. I hate not being able to really do anything very helpful. Once home, we snuggled up to watch the last of the Work and the Glory movies. What a great day!

Take A Breath

Saturday after returning from our trip, I got showered and waited for my husband to return from their camping trip to meet some friends for dinner. As per last time, some one's truck broke down and they had spent the day figuring out how to get everyone and everything back home. I'm not going to lie, my patience with scout outings is wearing thin. I wanted to take our kids camping for fall break but couldn't because they had a scout camp out. I think it just kind of sucks. Anyway, he didn't end up getting home till around 7, by then our friends had cancelled and I was feeling a little irritable. We were going out regardless because we had to pick Whitley up at work at 10 and that was the only way we were going to stay awake till then.

I called our good friends Jake and Jenny to see if they were up for a late dinner, and surprise surprise...they were! I love the Johnsons!! We ate and roamed around a few stores , got Whitley and were home by 10:30ish. What a blessing to have friends who'll accommodate our crazy lives.

Sunday was fast Sunday and our family did a fast for Whitley. It's also such a blessing to have such supportive family. About 7:25 Glade called from the church to tell me I was supposed to be at a meeting in 5 minutes. I was still in my jammies. I threw on a skirt and shirt, brushed my teeth and headed out. Really great for my first meeting as Activities Chair. It all went well and I was home in time to get the last of the kids ready and off to church.

Church was great. Three of our kids bore their testimonies. They all (mostly) want to go up every month. To curb that, I told them they weren't allowed to go up and do the 3 yr old testimony anymore. They could only go up if they actually had something to say from their hearts. What I thought would keep them in their seats has actually brought such joy to my heart. They still go up, but now they say beautiful things from their hearts. This time Stephen, Dalin and Whitley all went up. Stephen told about a lesson he learned on the campout with a quivering lip, Dalin told about the FHE that touched him a few weeks ago with the same choked up voice he had that day and Whitley full out cried and expressed her love for her little siblings that give her such strength and faith. What more could a mom ask for. After Whitley, I glanced down our bench to see lots of other red eyes among our family.

After church, we napped, watched the Work and the Glory (which my kids have really enjoyed!) and then left for Sunday dinner at the Smiths. After dinner, Glade, Kyle and Tyler gave Whitley a blessing. It really was just a whole day of feeling so grateful and blessed. When we got home, we started the second of the W & G movies where we had left it and snuggled on the couch finishing it. Perfect ending of the day.

Family Trip to Flagstaff

Fall Break! Glade had the big boys on a scout outing so I decided to take the other kids up to Flagstaff for a couple of days. I let them miss their last day of school before their actual fall break started and we left for Flag. I had to replace the battery in the van before we left, but other than that, we were incident free!

We arrived around 1:30 and Chelsey had classes till 3 so we went to a local pioneer museum. It really wasn't much of a museum but it occupied our time and the kids enjoyed it for the most part. The weather was beautiful so hanging out outside wasn't at all a problem!

There was a little school room that was hands on with old toys and desks and what not. That was probably the most fun thing for them. Of course they all went straight for the guns since mom never lets them play with them at home!

As soon as we reached the "forest" they all started looking for bears and were so disappointed they didn't see any. (mostly Bo and Katy) This was right inside the museum and totally made their day. This, and the head of a bobcat they had sitting on a shelf.

There was an old train they could climb on, but really wasn't much to do.

My little wagon train children.

Dalin was driving the teams.

Once Chelsey got out of school, we went to her apartment to hang out for a little bit. She had Popsicles for the kids. They were all very excited to see her.

Once she got changed and settled, we left to go find a park. Didn't have any luck, but we did find a mall! She didn't know it was a "real" mall so she was very excited when we went in and there were some of her favorite stores. We let the kids roam around the Toys R Us store and came out with a little Pokemon game and some coloring stuff for the hotel that night. We left and went to get pizza at Pizza Hut then took Chelsey home. She had institute plans that night. We went back to the hotel and the kids played their games, watched some TV and I read my book. Around 7:30 we decided to walk in the cold to Dairy Queen to get ice cream. The only trouble with this particular group of kids I had with me this time was that none of them know how to just walk and enjoy. Gotta run everywhere. That's not good when you are along a busy street in the dark with littler ones who aren't that fast! Grrrr. We were all tucked in and snoozing by about 9.

The next morning we got up, had our continental breakfast and were ready to go hiking. Just waiting for Chelsey to text me back and tell me she was awake. When that wasn't happening, we went to wake her up. We had a great plan to stick our faces on her bedroom window and then bang on it. We did that...twice...then the door opened and her roommate breathlessly told us how we had scared the crap out of her. Wrong window. Anyway, that was fun so we got her up and around and headed to Walnut Canyon for a hike. It's just outside Flagstaff a couple of miles and is a canyon with Indian ruins. It's 240 steps down and then right back up. My calves are sore!

The view was beautiful, but very unsettling for a girl who's only real fear is her children falling from high places. It's mostly just a trail around the ruins with nothing to keep you from going off the side. Then there was that running factor again with my boys. I was a nervous wreck!

They dubbed this the "time-out" cave.

See how I'm right on the edge. I'm still on the path. Scary.

This is Chelsey giving me the "oh Mom!" look as I freak when she tries to hang her legs over a ledge. Seriously....stop it!!

We rested on one of the benches and had a snack before we headed back up the 240 steps. The older kids ran up them, Bo tried to keep up and I was behind him ready to catch him when he fell. That left Chelsey back with Katy. She ended up carrying her on her back most the way up the steps. Beast!! Once we got to the top, we went on a much milder little trail and had lunch and the kids played in some other ruins that weren't on a cliff. It was a really nice morning.

We took Chelsey home, found out her roommates went grocery shopping with out her so I took her to the store, got her stocked up and then we headed home. It was a really nice and quick trip. The kids were all happy to finally know where their big sister was living!

I have no self control

Ok, anyone who knows me knows that the total truth. It rears it's head in many ways, and some not so pretty. Today's episode involves a very long drive for a DVD. On Saturday, between sessions, they played the Work and the Glory movie. I DVRd it and it turns out it was just black, something went wrong. I was SO excited to watch it. Then I YouTubed it and it said I could watch it but when I clicked it, it said "video removed". Man!! So my impatience got the best of me. About 4:30 I decided I could take it no longer so I made the 35 - 40 minute drive into town just to buy the stinkin movie.

To add to that, I always buy more things than I should at the bookstore cuz it's all "good for you". Anyway, I bought two Christmas presents, my movies and two Christmas books for me. One is full of recipes, stories, etc. the other is love stories revolving around Christmas and pioneers. Seriously?? Someone was thinking of me!

Today I had a good run, which put me at 22 miles for the week. It was also my fastest 5k by 10 seconds. After, Whitley and the babies and I all went to McDonalds for lunch. I really don't like that place. While trying to get a little snooze in, the doctors office called and said all Whitley's test came back normal. What?? You would think that would make me happy but now we're back at square one. I just want her to feel well again.

The boys left on a camp out, so I'm taking the kids to Flagstaff for a night to visit Chelsey, see some cliff dwellings and tour a pioneer museum. We had to dig out our winter coats for this one. Their low tonight is 28 degrees. Woohoo!! It will be a fast trip, but a trip nonetheless. Had to put a new battery in the van today. That makes both vehicles in less than two weeks. Sheesh!

Funny for the day. I made goulash for dinner. My favorite! Chelsey loves it and some of the kids are fine with it, but some just plain don't like it. So this was Dalin's prayer "Bless the food. Bless us that we won't complain about the food we hate..." I love it. At least he's honest.

I'm Feeling a Little Giddy!

Singing in the Rain, just singing in the rain...what a glorious feeling I'm happy again!

Something about rain and clouds and cold just makes me happy, even a little euphoric maybe! It comes so seldom here that when it does, you have to really pay attention and enjoy every minute of it. (after all, you might only get ONE minute of it). The last two days have been mostly rainy and cool. I even went and ran both afternoons! Did you hear that.. afternoon? It was glorious. They weren't my best runs, but I was wet and the breeze was blowing and it was afternoon! Truly just a happy time.

Yesterday Whitley and I finally went to get her blood drawn to see what is the matter with her. Cost me a mere $300. Totally worth it if we can figure it out and get her out of pain. Waiting for results is killer. The big kids have been on fall break this week so they have been home with me. Normally I like it, but they have been a bit ornery. Bored is the better word. I guess it's chore time!!

I dying for a good book. I'm reading two right now but neither is really grabbing me. One is an assignment from a friend. I feel like my kids being forced to read it. It's all good, I'm sure I've learned from it, but it's no Work and the Glory! Which by the way I'm looking for the three movies they made about that. Anyone? Thinking of heading to Flagstaff with the kids this weekend while Glade is camping with the scouts. Hmmm, could be fun!

Conference Weekend

What a busy weekend! Saturday started with my early run/ride. I couldn't wake up the rest of the day. Chelsey came home this weekend which, of course, I loved. Saturday morning we went and got chicken and some sale items for her to take home with her. We canned the chicken and she left to go see her friend perform. I spent the day doing taxi service for kids. I really wanted a nap, but as I lay my head down...crazy brain! I decided to just get up and get around. The boys had priesthood at 5 and then we were going to meet them for dinner.

Chelsey and I did a little "fun" shopping and took Whitley to work. All the wives met our men at Red Robin for dinner. Chelsey only stayed a minute and then left again. We had a great dinner with family and headed home. BTW, it rained!

Sunday dawned bright and early so I could get our BIG conference breakfast ready. This year we did French toast, eggs and potatoes, bacon and fruit salad. We finished just in time to get settled in for conference. I gave the little ones packets to work on and as Bo was reading his, he was confused by the question "how many speakers word glasses?" He blurted out "Speakers don't wear glasses!" (like radio speakers) We explained the other kind of speaker and he very diligently kept tract the rest of the morning. After conference, Chelsey and I started on bread for her to take home with her and our traditional cinnamon rolls. The kitchen was a disaster due to all the other baking we did for a Halloween project as well. The afternoon was long, kids were a little restless, so we got out the Halloween decorations. We were also visited by our good friends bearing gifts...SALSA! That was a nice surprise. Thanks J & J!!

Once it got dark, we finished our little project and came home. We took cinnamon rolls to our neighbors who have lived here for a year and we have not officially gone over to talk to them. I always mean to, but.... Anyway, she was so happy to see us and talked on and on and on! It was a really good thing. While talking to her, some friends showed up and stayed and visited till bedtime. Perfect ending to a really great day!

Brooklyn's 11th Birthday

Brooklyn hit the big ole double 1's. Yep, Eleven! Her birthday was quite uneventful. It fell on a very busy school day with play practice that night. We let her open gifts before school and then had a tiny little cake after play practice. She will have her party this weekend. A breakfast party with all her friends. She did get to go to Amazing Jake's with Grandma Green for her birthday dinner. She is growing up so very quickly! We love you Brooklyn!!

Lucky Number 3

I was born on the third day of the third month, naturally my lucky number would be 3. In hindsight, it's never really been that lucky for me. I continue to use it, after all, the time I switch my number...three would have been the winner! These last twenty four hours have tested my three-ness. Because the temperature on the thermometer still reads "freakin' hot" I decided to treadmill it yesterday. I was going to do sprints but decided to incline instead. I did 3.5 miles of incline intervals.

Fast forward through my day of cleaning, waiting for Chelsey to get home and sniffling all day. Did I mention Chelsey is home?!? A family in our ward coach the high school track team and were in charge of a "twilight cross country meet". They asked if I would come volunteer at the meet. Glade had a basketball game with the boys so no date night. I took Rhett with me and we helped to pass out water and get kids through the finish line and out of the way. Passing out water to those kids seemed like the most important service I ever rendered! One girl even puked on my shoe. They had one community run that was a 5k so Rhett and I decided to run it while we were there. Not my best run. Very frustrating actually. I didn't come in last, but certainly in the final spread out string of runners. How is everyone faster than me? I heard people talking waiting for it to start and from the way they talked, with as much as I run, I should not have been in the rear. Even a few people that said they hadn't run since high school, ran less than 9 min miles. What?? Grrrr....I could come up with lots of excuses as to why I didn't run well...freakin hot...big meal of spaghetti and garlic bread...cough and congestion...but it's all blah blah blah.

Fast forward through a snotty nights sleep. Got up to do my tri training this morning. I rode 10 miles bike and couldn't even make it 2 full miles on the run. I just didn't have it in me. My legs said "no more!" That makes 3 runs in 24 hours. Hmmm, sounds familiar...Ragnar. I just need it to cool off. The kids are off for fall break for the next 2 weeks so I'm going to try to make the most of it by riding and running more than just on Saturday. So, three runs, three miles each (or close!), three showers, lucky me!