Travis . Cali . Gideon . Parker

Ragnarlicious...Part 2

2012-01-15T20:37:00.003-07:00

So here are the missing photos from my previous post. Starting with the shots of Mason getting friendly with the turtle. Trust me this got more than a few comments from spectators and other runners.

And handing off after my first leg to Shiloh!

This was the botched exchange between Mike and Jason.

Seriously can you believe this woman is a mother of 8?!?!?!?!?!? I'm so proud of my baby sister. And I'm so glad I got to do another relay with her! We have such fun together!

Charliegh retouching Cody's body art.

Okay so last year's Speeday Fairy (aka my mom) was a little more flamboyant and funny, but hey, at least the tradition is kept alive and we even have a speedway fairy, right?

And this is pretty much what overnight looks like on a relay. Either you're running or you're trying to catch sleep whenever, however and where ever you can.

And because she is a mother of 8, this woman can sleep anywhere. I envy that!

Ragnarlicious!!!!

2012-01-14T11:45:00.020-07:00

Why is this particular Ragnar delicious? Because it's the only one where you can get Key Lime Pie at the finish line. And that my friends, was a huge motivator. During all of my miles I kept thinking, "Key Lime Pie on a stick! Key Lime Pie on a stick!" It worked too as this turned out to be my personal fastest relay ever.

This year we were "Smoke on the Highway" (the name was taken from an incident during last year's Florida Keys Ragnar that has become a family joke. We think we're so cute and clever!) Runners were myself, my mom, my siblings, Shiloh, Skye & Cody. Shiloh's husband Jason, his brother (and Cami's husband) Jacob, their dad, Mike, their Aunt Wendy, Cody's friend Roddy, and two of Mike's friend's Mason & Barry. We also had my dad along as driver of Van 2 and Wendy's daughter's Jenna and Charliegh for support. My sister Hillary & her husband Jake worked as volunteers as did Cami. And Cami, Jesse and the babies, Skye's husband Ryan & his mom Donna were all there for support as well. Donna also saved our necks by coming through with our t-shirts and stuff at the last minute.

I was runner number 1 this time. I've never been the lead off runner before, so I was a little nervous as we were packing the van at 5:00am. but actually, it turned out to be really fun. To be the first to be finished so I could sit back and enjoy myself.

Van 1 has several legs that run through the Everglades, so we had had to sign special "Gator Waivers." In the van with me were Shiloh, Jason, Jacob, Mike and Mason.

So funny story: Last year I won a little Ragnar necklace at the start line when I knew the answer to the trivia question "What was the first Ragnar and what year was it started?" (FYI the answer is Wasatch Back 2004) So I'm standing under the arch waiting for the gun and they ask the exact same trivia question and the prize is another little Ragnar pendant necklace. I won it of course and promptly gave it to my sister Shiloh. Although that could have started a dangerous precedent since I have at least 2 other sisters who have run Ragnars and may now expect me to win them a necklace as well.

And we're off!

So I should warn you about these next pictures.

Ever since last year, we adopted the turtle as our mascot. It's just a fun way to identify ourselves and it makes our vans easy to spot in a crowded parking lot when there's a giant inflatable turtle on the top. This year my mom came up with a design that incorporated a fireman's hat on the turtle. The only issue came when we realized the valves to blow-up the turtle for our van were in places that made it look like you were doing very bad things to the turtle. I have other pictures of Mason getting very friendly with the turtle, but I somehow deleted them from this post. Bummer.

I kind of like this photo because I look all serious like a real runner.Aww...I somehow missed the picture of the hand off between Shiloh & myself. Oh well. Here's the hand off between Shiloh & Mason.

This was Mason shortest leg of the race. A quick 5K which he totally rocked. His othere two legs were both like 9 miles longMason hands off to Jacob.

Sidebar: I love that Ragnar gave us an air freshner in our goody bags this year. That was a genius idea!! Way to go Ragnar.
And here comes "Uncle Bobo" as the kids call him.

Mike looks so chipper starting this leg, he almost seems to be prancing.

So last year during their first exhange, Jason and Jacob managed to miss one another and drop the bracelet. They got it picked back up of course and moved along, but it happened again this year when Mike handed off to Jason. Jason is clearly not coordinated at passying off a slap bracelet. I thought I had a photo of the botched exchange, but apparently it didn't make it onto this post either.

And now, we get to see Skye & Ryan's handiwork as van 2 is sporting the turtle riding the fire engine they made. We actually had little plastic fireman's hats for the turtles, but could't figure out how to attache them without ruining the turtles.

Thanks to a sharpie and Charliegh's skills, Cody got a temporary tatoo of our little mascot. Actually my mom really did print off some temporary tatoos so you'll see us sporting those later.

That's mom, Skye, some random lady & dad at the first exchange. Okay this pic makes me smile for 2 reasons. Mom is wearing my old running clothes. That's awesome because I don't fit into them anymore (and yes, those were the exact clothes I was running in just a year ago.) And it's also great for mom because you can see how much weight she's lost to get into them.

During our "off" time we went and had a surprisingly good lunch at Pollo Tropical and then went out to the Speedway to try and rest a little bit before it was time to go again. We also took the opportunity to apply our tatoos. We even gave each other a tramp stamp because we think we're just that funny.

That's Cody in the red shorts, running up into the speedway. This is an absolute killer run! It's so mentally tough because by the time you reach the speedway you've already run like 8 miles. And then you have to do another mile and a half around the track! Glad it was him and not me!

I'm just noticing there are a lot of pictures of the back of my head in this post. I think it's time to grow my hair out again. But moving on, it was a successful exchange. You'll notice that I had to wear night time safety gear on all three of my legs. It was a bummer, because as most of you know, I'm all about being cute when I run. And it's tough to be cute in a reflective vest & head lamp.

And I somehow managed to skip over all of the night pictures. So here we are Saturday morning on our last legs of the race. This is waiting at the exchange off of seven mile bridge. Which, if you've ever driven down to the Keys you know, is actually a 7 mile long bridge.

It was a beautiful morning and a gorgeous place for an exchange. Even if it did slow down traffic.

At least the exchange point had a lovely view.

And yes, that's Shiloh just coming into the frame. It was so bright out, I was having a hard time lining up my photos. She absolutely KILLED this run! 7 Mile bridge is not just a physically tough run but it's a mental killer. She had 9 miles of bridge, running next to traffic, no support & bright morning sun bouncing off the concrete and water. And she not only pounded it out but did it with her fastest split times of the race! I'm so proud of my baby sister! OH! And she's a big believer in barefoot, so she runs everything in Vibrams. Impressive!

Mike, Jason & Shiloh wait to give Mason some much needed water. It was starting to get warm out.

So Jason and Jacob are brothers, but they're also married to my sisters. So yes. Somehow we're that redneck.

Mason died after 9 miles in the hot Florida sun. (He admitted later he'd never raced a distance longer than 10K before. So the fact that he had two 9 mile legs in this one was pretty impressive.) He literally laid down and died. But eventually popped back up and kept going. The saving grace about this particular race though is that there are no hills!

Jason watching for his dad at our final exchange. We were almost done!

Mike finished really strong. Come to think of it, I think everyone did the best on their last leg. That's pretty much unheard of in a relay so I think we did pretty well.

And yes, the van looked like a bomb had hit it by the end. Trust me, as bad as it looked, it smelled worse. Thank goodness for the air freshner.

Our turtles meet up for the final hand off.

Can you believe my sister Skye ran this race after just having a baby 10 weeks ago! Turns out she was also suffering from an infection at this point so she was in a lot of pain. (We ended up taking her to the ER on Sunday afternoon to get her straightened out.) Anyway what a trooper!!!

I'm not sure why Jesse is running. In fact I think it's funny that she's running since she's my one sister who is adamantly outspoken against running.

Parker was so cute and happy to see her mommy! She hasn't wanted to let me go since.

Donna is so amazing, she not only made our team tshirts, but she made all of the kids and babies t-shirts, onesies, burp cloths & bibs, plus flags for the vehicles an extra shirts for our supporters and volunteers. This woman is amazing! I'm so glad we have her in the family.

Yum! Enjoying our post-race decadance! Key Lime Pie on a stick dipped in chocolate!!! It sounds weird I know but it tastes great. (Well, if you love Key Lime Pie anyway.)

I spy with my little eye, a pretty little Lily Pie.

Reagan and Tyree having a great conversation.

Apparently Regan didn't like being kissed so much.

And here comes team number 328 "Smoke on the Highway" led by our final runner, Cody.

I think he deserves a quick dip in the ocean after all that running, right?

Skye, Ryan, Reagan.......and.... Gage? No they don't have twins, Gage is of course, Cami's but it kind of looks like they have twins in this photo doesn't it?

One of the best things about this race is the finish line is literally at the beach. So getting to relax and enjoy the sunshine and surf make it all worthwhile.

And yes, Cody decided to put a tatoo on his forehead. What a goofball!

My family members who ran. Skye, Mom, Cody, Me & Shiloh.

And the rest of the family were all involved as well either volunteering or babysitting or both. FYI this moment right here is the first time in 2 1/2 years my entire family was able to be together. That's Came, Jesse, Skye, Mom, Hillary, Cody, Shiloh, Me & Daddy.

And our entire group (runners, drivers, volunteers, babysitters, support staff, kids, tatoo artists & photographers include) at the southern most point.

After arriving back at Cami & Jacob's at around 11pm, we had our own little "Tortuga Awards." Skye had made these cute clay medallions and so we had our own little ceremony. Jason got the "Gross out" award after an incident where he was drying the sweaty clothes he just ran in over the AC vents in the car. I walked away with best dressed only because I had to wear my safety gear over my cute clothes every time.

I have to admit I kind of LOVE being one of the first to have this year's Ragnar sticker on my window. Especially knowing that most of the people around here won't run a Ragnar until summer! So naturally the sticker went up on the day I got home!

And I really like the new Ragnar shirts this year. I'm glad they've branched out a little and done some new things design wise. I like the v-neck and the two color ink as well as the whimsical cartoon on the side. Good job Ragnar! Thanks for working to get better every year!

Okay I've decided I'm going to have to do a second post to get in all the pictures that I somehow missed. Keep checking back for that update.

So many pictures so little time!!!

2012-01-13T10:01:00.003-07:00

Wow this last trip to Florida was a total whirlwind!!! We slept very little and crammed so much into the time that we were there it was incredible! I'll post later about the Ragnar and Disney, but for now here are a few random shots of our first couple of days.

Jesse & I traveled together with our baby girls. We stayed up all night Tuesday to leave at 1:00am and drive down to SLC to catch our flight. By the time we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale at 3:30pm Wednesday, we were absolutely exhausted! But it was so fun to see Cami & her family we were glad to be there.

Tyree & Gage made wonderful happy and smiling faces at each other. Considering they were born just 46 hours apart we figure they must recognize each other from up there.

And this was how the whole week was. You just slept whenever and where ever you could.

Everyone else arrived throughout the day on Thursday. We put Skye & Ryan to work building a fire engine for the top of one of the race vehicles.

Reagan was a great helper sitting in the saucer and playing.

We couldn't let the day go by without taking a photo of the three babies together. It was so fun! They have such cute little personalities. Tyree is a total ham! So you have Tyree born Sept. 18, Gage born Sept. 16 & Reagan born Oct. 27.

Like I said, sleep was in pretty short supply this week, so you caught catnaps when you could.

But she woke up when grandma offered her bites of pulled pork. She really liked that!

That's Parker, Lily, Tyree, Gage, Reagan & Ransom. Only 6 of my parents' 14 grandkids, but still a good chunk of them.

Other posts are forthcoming. But I think this one is just too much cuteness for one post!

I just wanted the leak fixed!!!!

2011-12-26T19:55:00.001-07:00

I've been after my husband for months to please fix the slight leak in our bathroom faucett. Finally today he started that project. He shut of the water and from there things went downhill fast. It went from fixing a leak, to installing a new faucett, to needing a new sink, to perhaps having to get an entirely new cabinet since none of the sinks available today are made to fit bathroom fixtures from 1960. *Sigh*

I have a headache!!!

Spoiled!

2011-12-26T13:34:00.012-07:00

Why yes. Yes we are. Especially me! (Although the kids and Travis were pretty well taken care of too.)

Santa doesn't wrap the presents he leaves at our house. I think he's too lazy. Either that or he knows that mom & daddy would rather have them unwrapped so the kids can play with them until we're ready to get up and going. The rule at our house is you can play with the Santa stuff (so gifts and stockings) but no opening presents until we're all there and daddy says so.

So a zoo for Parker and a car for Gideon.

And of course, overstuffed stockings.

I actually beat my children out of bed. Not really sure why. I slept great for about 4 hours but then woke up at 4:45 am and couldn't get back to sleep. So I tossed and turned for about an hour before finally giving up and getting out of bed. It worked out well though, I was able to get myself ready for church (well not getting dressed or anything just hair and make-up) and start working on some of the food for that evening.

Gideon was up just after 7 and wasted no time finding his new remote control Finn McMissile car. It not only drives well, but shoots missiles. The poor cat has been in hiding ever since he became a target!

And then he grabbed his stocking to see what fun and exciting surprises were hidden there.

There, now that's the way to empty a stocking.

He was so desperate to show daddy his new stuff, he couldn't even wait for him to get out of bed. Instead he ran upstairs, flipped on the light and shot missiles at his face until he got up.

Parker has been equally as happy with her little zoo.

And Trav got a kick out of the little light sabre filled with candy as well as the "pooping" Darth Vader Santa found at Wal-Mart.

Parker wasted no time trying to break into the candy.

Finally presents!!!!

Can you tell he's disappointed that it's just new church clothes?

As for me, I told you I was spoiled. Between my husband and in-laws I got everything I asked for. A new phone, 2 pair of boots and some skinny jeans. As well as a few surprises like jewelry, perfume and a night at a luxury B&B. (Which we've decided we're using on New Year's Eve and have already made the reservations! YAY!) I'm all about getting "practical" gifts that I'll actually use, but to me that stuff is all practical because I will use it! I don't mind getting spoiled at all.

Trav got some nice things he seemed excited about as well.

Parker for her part didn't seem to have a favorite. She was just excited because we were all excited I think.

It was a little early for this tired girl.

I got a nice set of blue topaz jewelry from my husband. That's one gemstone I didn't have any of, so I really was happy to get it.

Parker was pretty good about eating most of her eggs but Gideon by this time had already had several bites of a chocolate Santa, an ear off his marshmallow Yoda and lots of candy cane, so he wouldn't eat anything.

So funny story. I have no idea why but ever since he saw a commercial for it months ago Gideon has been BEGGING for a "Happy Napper." I didn't get what the big deal was since it's essentially just another stuffed toy, but he would go NUTS every time we saw one anywhere. And he was very specific that he needed the dragon. We even had a meltdown in Walgreens one day when I wouldn't buy it for him. (That was when he told a complete stranger that daddy was going to come home and kick mommy in the butt for not buying his toy.)

Lo and behold guess what he found wrapped up under the tree!?!?!?!?!? A dragon Happy Napper. As a bonus, Parker got the Lady Bug Happy Napper and he's enjoyed playing with both. They're actually cuter than I originally thought. They sort of remind me of the old Popple toys they had when I was a kid. Each animal comes with a house attached to it's back (in this case the dragon comes with a castle) but the house zips up inside them when they're "playing" or you can zip the animal up in the house when it's "napping."

I asked Travis to get a nice picture of us ready for church and he managed to cut my head off. Again. Thanks babe. But at least you can see the kids in their nice new church clothes. Getting them there was kind of a challenge. Gideon did NOT want to quit playing with his new stuff long enough to get dressed or go to church. But I'm a mean mom so he didn't really have a choice in the matter.

After church we went to Nana's house where we discovered there were more presents and surprises from Santa Claus.

After leaving their house in complete disarray, we came back home to get ready for dinner. The in-laws came over as well as Jesse, Kelly & Cody and they all got to open a few gifts before we were ready to eat. Cody thought he'd be cute and model his new compression shorts for us. I'm just glad he did it over his pants instead of under!

I didn't manage to get any pictures of our dinner, but it turned out quite lovely and absolutely delicious. Travis smoked a beef brisket and in addition to that we had twice baked potatoes, deviled eggs, garlic green bean casserole, brussel sprouts in a bacon cream sauce, rolls and for dessert my famouse cheesecake trifle.

Uncle Cody brought the Grinch down from grandma's house for Gideon. he was ecstatic!

Jesse and I didn't mean to dress like twins, it just kind of happened that way.

Parker is something else let me tell you! She thinks she's as big as anyone in the room and if you can do something she can too!

Like carry the tin of popcorn around. Anyway it was a great holiday and we feel very blessed. Despite all the gifts and food and material pleasures we enjoyed, we're most grateful of course for the birth of our Savior and his subsequent sacrifice which allows us to be a family forever. And that's really the most important thing anyway.

How do you spend Christmas Eve?

2011-12-24T20:40:00.003-07:00

So I'll confess that I'm always a little bit lost at Christmas time without my mom around. Since her birthday is Christmas Eve our holiday always started on Christmas Eve when I was growing up. Even as an adult, when my family is near we always get together for birthday and caroling and we know we'll each get to open at least one present that night. But when I'm 2500 miles from my mom I'm never sure what to do with myself on Christmas Eve. It's just kind of weird. I have to look for ways to keep myself busy.

So today I baked and went running. When I asked Gideon what type of cookies he'd like to leave for Santa he emphatically answered "Baseball cookies." Since I had no idea what that is, I had to improvise.

While I was working on the food, Gideon "helped" by cutting out play-doh cookies on my freshly mopped kitchen floor.

Then when daddy came home we had a pretty epic nerf gun battle with the prize Gideon won at Cub Scouts the other day.

After that I ran 5 miles, although since it's so cold I totally wussed out and did it on the treadmill. Oh well, it still counts. And then I made this cute wreath which we took over and shared with my in-laws for dinner. It's a chicken-salad type of filling and actually turned out quite yummy.

After dinner, we came home to find that uncle Cody (who arrived late last night) had been to our house and left a friend. Gideon is ecstatic to have the Grinch in our front yard!

And then it was time for new Christmas pj's and cookies for Santa.

Baseball cookies. Aren't I clever?!?!?!?!?!?! Thank goodness for white icing and pull-apart twizzlers!

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!! And Happy Birthday mom!

Nana's Little Elves

2011-12-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

They sure love to "help" in the kitchen! Although I'm not sure how much actually gets accomplished!

Our Masterpiece

2011-11-30T10:45:00.004-07:00

This was our Family Night activity this week. And yes, we totally cheated and used a kit! :)

And the kids have both enjoyed eating it a little piece at a time.

At least it's Something

2011-11-27T11:46:00.004-07:00

So I know, I know, I've been a huge blog slacker. It's just that ever since we got home from vacation everything seems like a let down. I'm afraid our lives will just seem boring after that fun adventure. But we've had a pretty good November I guess.

Gideon insisted one day on making gingerbread men. Eventually we decorated them and ate them all. Now he keeps going on about doing a gingerbread house. We'll probably take the lazy way out on that one though and just buy a kit or two. I just don't feel like making the gingerbread and going through all of that again.

Travis turned 40 on November 18th. We had actually planned a small party with family and a few friends, but he ended up calling that morning and saying he wouldn't be home because they had to stay and work in Rock Springs, WY. It was a big bummer especially since we already had the cake and decorations and stuff. Well we still went out to eat and had cake like a week later, but we weren't able to have the friends and "party" that we had planned. It ended up just being us and Trav's parents.

Can you tell who picked out the birthday cake? Like 3 weeks ago when we went into order Gideon about came unglued over the Shrek cake. I was partial to the grim reaper myself, but in the end I decided to keep the peace. You have to pick your battles right?

And finally we had a quiet Thanksgiving with Trav's parents. But it was still good. We enjoyed lots of good food and a fun afternoon of playing games together. The day after Thanksgiving Travis and his parents did a little bit of Black Friday shopping while the kids and I decorated the house for Christmas. You'll notice I didn't put out any of my good villages or expensive decorations this year. Parker just has too many hands and won't leave things alone. In some ways she's into more stuff than Gideon was at that age. Anyway we made the decision to get a new tree this year and since we have very young children we decided to buy a very inexpensive one. While we were at it, we got some cheap shatterproof ornaments. I had intended to put up some of our keepsake ornaments along with the inexpensive ones, but seeing how often they hit the floor I made the executive decision just to leave anything of any kind of value in the box this year. So this is it. I know it's not much, but at least it's something and anything that's out I don't have worry about kids destroying.

*Green & Gold on the wrapping this year for those who might be curious.

What Happens In Hawaii...

2011-11-01T23:34:00.004-06:00

...Stays with your forever.

I saw that saying on a post-it note and immediately thought how appropriate it is. (And not just for my sister Cami who conceived her oldest child while on vacation here.) I've been longing to come back here ever since our visit four years ago.

Today was a very low-key day. First of all we got a lot of rain. Oh it was sunny at times too, but it did rain on and off all day long. This of course meant that the waves were big and the ocean was choppy. I wouldn't have wanted to be in it, but it did look amazing! And really these photos don't do it justice at all. In person you have the full effect of the ocean breeze & the salty air and the pounding surf. I just love to drink it all in!

Because of all the rain, you had alot of water run off from the mountains which look like thin little waterfalls. Paired with the low hanging clouds the effect is really magical.

We drove into town today to the outlet malls. I was kind of wishing we hadn't brought children with us this trip because I could have spent some time and done some major shopping there. They have awesome stores! But we only went into a couple of places and then took the trolley over to get Malasadas.

The kids of course loved the trolley ride so that was a good choice!

Malasadas are a divine Portugese doughnut that's dipped in either powdered sugar (or my personal favorite) cinnamon sugar. They fill them on site with either custard, chocolate or haupia. Haupia is the best is a coconut based type of cream. They are scrumptious and it took us until the last day of our vacation to finally get some! There are bakeries that sell them, but they're just as yummy from a truck!

After our trip to town we headed back to Skye & Ryan's via the North Shore. We spent the afternoon visiting and spending time with them. We grilled some bratwurst and got our suitcases packed and ready to go. Parker, as usual got tired and cranky very early in the evening. We gave her a bottle of milk and after it got quiet, this is how we found her.

And that's kind of the perfect image to end this vacation. We've worn ourselves out. We've had such an amazing trip and I'm so very sad we're having to leave already. I'm already trying to plot in my mind how to get back here in the next year sometime. There are just more memories waiting to be made!

Halloween in Hawaii

2011-10-31T23:45:00.008-06:00

The surf was up today for sure! In fact you'll see a photo there's actually a surf contest going up on Sunset Beach right now and today was the first day they've been able to really surf, so the North Shore was just packed today. But it was still so fun to see all the surfers and the ocean was gorgeous!

We'd be planning all week to go up to Waimea Valley (inland from my favorite beach, Waimea Bay) because it's a sacred valley in the Hawiian culture and they have a lot of cool stuff there like botanical gardens and a waterfall you can hike to and swim under. Unfortunately by the time we got up there it was lunch time and both kids were cranky and tired and it was pretty busy, so we got out and walked around a little bit but we didn't actually pay to go in and go to the gardens or falls or anything. Kind of a bummer, but maybe next trip our kids will appreciate it more anyway.

(See what I mean, tired, hungry and craky kids!)

So instead we went out to Hukilau Beach.

The surf being up was great for Gideon because it meant awesome body boarding. I wish I could have gotten pictures of all of the great waves he caught, but he really did ride so many good ones today!

Parker of course played in the sand. Well. She mostly ate the sand. Oh well.

I tried to sunbathe but thanks to my baby I ended up just covered in drool and sand!

I put her in the water just to have at least one picture of her in the ocean, but she was not impressed. She mostly just clung to her daddy for dear life.

Okay so Halloween is HUGE deal here! Most of the adults even dress up and they go ALL out!!! It's so big that they actually shut most of the streets down to vehicle traffic so the pedestrians just can take over. We tried to go out early enough to avoid most of the major rush and thankfully we did. Our kids got tons of stuff and they were tired out by the time we got back.

Can you guess what Trav's costume is? He said, "I'm going as a tourist." Nice. Very creative dear. The great think about being here is that it's so warm you don't freeze outsize trick-or-treating so everyone giving out candy just sits out on their lawn or in their driveway. Some even have elaborate decorations and themes and displays. It's really fun!

Anyway it was a very successful Halloween and we're just a little bummed that we only have one more day left here! We've been having way too much fun!

Weekends in Paradise

2011-10-30T14:53:00.003-06:00

On Saturday morning we got up and went to the Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium. It's really the best place to buy souvenirs and "Hawaii" stuff (except for chocolates of course.) It's cheaper than any of the stores or gift shops plus they have a huge variety of everything.

The kids got hot & tired but they have lots of fresh fruit for sale and some ice cold pineapple did the trick. After the swap meet we came back to find Skye, Ryan & new baby Reagan at home. She's a little jaundiced but they let her go. The plan was for us to leave Parker with Grandma and take Gideon up to hike Waimea Falls but it closed early for an event that afternoon so we had to settle for another trip into Hale'iwa for shave ice. We weren't too upset though, we're on vacation we'll just go another day. That evening Ryan had arranged for us to go to the Halloween bash up at Turtle Bay Resort where he works, so we got the kids dressed and went up there.

Reagan loving on her daddy!

The bash was fun. They had face painting, crafts and coloring, bouncy castle, a haunted barn, lots of food and a dance floor just for the kids. That was Gideon's favorite part to be honest!

I never knew my son could shake is little booty until Saturday night.

Sunday was our low key day. We hung out at home until church. After church a wondeful Tongan family brought over food and it was absolutely delicious but there was enough to feed an army!

I can't believe we've only got two more days here! I'm so not ready to come home yet! We're just having too much fun!

More of the Same

2011-10-29T13:19:00.006-06:00

Another shrimp truck with delicious garlic shrimp to share...
More lovely views of Valley of the Temples...

More fun in the sand and ocean...

We taught Gideon how to body board. He absolutely LOVED it!!!!!

And more smunching on new baby Reagan!

Grandma played dress up!!

Let me tell you, Reagan reminds me so much of Gideon as a newborn. She's so alert and tries to look and focus already. And she's strong like he was too!

Yep. Another wonderful day in paradise!!!

Shrimp, Saltwater, Shave Ice, Sand & a New Baby President

2011-10-28T00:43:00.015-06:00

As I begin this post it's currently 8:30pm local time and I'm the only one in the house still awake. My mom at least has an excuse having spent the last two nights awake all night up at the hospital with Skye and Ryan waiting on the new baby. (More on that later.) As for the rest of them, well we tried to keep the kids up last night, but it was such a long day and with the time difference they were just too tired (so was Trav.) So they went to bed and slept great. Until about 3:30 this morning when Parker decided it was time to get up. Gideon and Travis were both up and going before 6 as well. I kept myself up later last night trying to update my blog so I wanted to keep sleeping, but of course that's not how that worked out.

We're not the kind of people who typically lie around on vacation. We enjoy getting out and doing things, so we started this morning at the DOLE Pineapple Plantation. It's actually a huge tourist trap, but it's kind of fun and charming in it's own way.

I was never a huge fan of pineapple until we came here four years ago. I mean I liked it well enough I guess but it certainly wasn't my first choice fruit. After tasting Hawaiin pineapple I became a convert. Out here the pineapple tastes like candy. That's the only way I can describe it. It's so sweet and refreshing you'd feel guilty eating it if you didn't know it was a fruit.

After accompanying me and the cub scouts to the corn maize a few weeks ago, I knew Gideon would enjoy the pineapple maze. And of course he did. He kept running ahead of us shouting, "I the leader! I have map!" We had to constantly try and keep up with him just to keep him in sight.

The object is to find the secret stations and trace the image in the box onto your ticket. It's entertaining trying to find them all. Truthfully in two trips to the maze now we haven't ever had the time or patience or inclination to look for all 8 stations. Although we did get 2 more this time than last time, we still left with just six. Oh well, it was fun until the kiddos got bored.

Parker's pony tails never seem to last long anymore. *sigh* I wonder why I even bother except that her hair is so long it hangs in her face otherwise. Well that and the fact that I think she looks adorable with little antennae sticking straight up off her head.

Before leaving we had to have a pineapple whip. Which is basically whipped pineapple ice cream topped with fresh pineapple. It's delicious and both kids loved it, as you can see.

Funny side story, last night at the store we bought Gideon a pair of water shoes because some of the beaches are a little rocky here. He loved them so much that this morning when we were getting dressed, we told him we were going to the pineapple plantation and the North Shore today and he insisted on wearing his water shoes ALL day. Even before we went to the beach! It was cute. So in all of our plantation pictures you'll see he's wearing water shoes.

To go to the North Shore and not get garlic shrimp from a roadside truck would be almost tragic. It's absolutely scrumptious and enough food that Travis and I always split a plate. This particular truck happened to be in Hale'iwa. If you know anything about Hawai'i you know that Hale'iwa is a surfer's mecca, because this is where they hold the world championships of surfing. So it's a really fun and laid back town and there are dozens of shrimp trucks here alone. Not to mention the surf shops and shave ice. But I'll get to that later.

If you're really lucky there will even be live chickens just running around. (Of course if you have a rambunctious 3 year old he'll soon be chasing them around screaming "Cock-a-doodle-doo" at the top of his lungs.)

I swear my husband seems to find a way to take photos of me in the least flattering moments! And he seems to get great joy out of doing so!

Gideon decided he'd rather have a hot dog than shrimp. Oh well, it kept him happy and away from the chickens for a few moments.

We had planned to do some snorkeling out at Shark's Cove, which anyone will tell you is the best snorkeling on Oahu. But once we got out there and saw how strong the undertow was, we decided to save that for another day and hit a different beach where the kids could play.

Ahhhh Shave Ice! That wonderful confection we haven't learned to replicate on the mainland yet. (And don't say "Shaved" ice or snow cone or people will know you're a tourist.) I don't know what it is they do to their ice but it's almost a different consistency here. Plus the splash of sweet cream & the beans they serve it with really set it apart from anything you can find at home. Thanks to a travel channel spotlight Mr. Matsumoto's is always crawling with tourists, but people in the know (that it to say the locals) will tell you that Aoki's is actually even better.

Across the street from Aoki's was an old church with an even older cemetary. These head stones all date back to the mid 1800's. It's actually the family of a pastor who was one of the first Christian missionaries on the island. Pretty cool. I know I'm a nerd, but I kind of wish I'd had more time to saunter through and read more headstones. Back in the day it was so interesting the way they'd put someone's life story on their headstone.

Waimea Bay is probably my favorite beach in Hawaii. On one end you have an old catholic church with a tall bell tower overlooking the bay and on the other end an outcropping of rocks with a cliff that everyone likes to jump off of. And in the center you have a gorgeous beach with perfect sand that goes on forever. It's busy, but never super crowded. This is my happy place!

I jumped off that cliff four years ago when we were here. I have the photos to prove it. I'd still like to do it again, but with two young kids it wasn't going to happen today.

Fortunately for me, Princess P had a complete change of heart about the beach overnight. She suddenly decided that sand was actually really fun to play in. I even think she tried eating it, although she learned quickly it's really not good for snacking.

At one point Parker spotted her daddy down floating in the water and decided she was going to join him. Next thing I know, she's scooted herself half way down the beach! It was funny to watch.

Both babies were asleep within minutes of leaving the beach. (Although I'm pretty sure with as sandy as we all were that we took about half of it with us!)

Gideon actually fell asleep while eating his cracker!

After super quick showers we headed into town to pick up my mom from the hospital (finally!) and of course see the newest member of the family. A storm started blowing in on our way into Honolulu but it made Valley of the Temples look absolutely majestic!

Skye had a really tough labor & delivery, they decided Tuesday afternoon to induce her because they were worried about the baby's slow heartbeat. After all 3 major induction methods, 40+ hours of hard labor and even having to be on oxygen, their beautiful baby girl finally arrived this morning. And Ryan is one proud papa!

Sadly the hospital here has an age restriction for visitors, so Parker had to wait in the car with grandma while Gideon got to come up and meet his newest baby cousin.

So the official stats are as follows:

Reagan Elisabeth Lowry

October 27, 2011 8:08am

7 lbs 1 oz 19 inches

She's so beautiful & healthy! (Just don't ask what's going on with Gideon in this photo. I really don't know what that face is about!)

We didn't stay long. After 40+ hours of labor Skye and Ryan were both very worn out, plus Reagan was getting hungry so we gave them all kisses and went on our merry way with my mom in tow. (But not before Gideon got to hold baby Reagan and give her kisses!) He actually informed Travis and I as we were leaving the hospital that needed "more and more and more cousins." I told him he had to take that up with his Aunties.

Skye had told us before we came out that her church was putting on a "Trunk or Treat" on Thursday evening, so tonight when we got back from the hospital we threw costumes on the kids and grandma escorted them across the street to the church parking lot for the festivities. It was really fun, they had music and dancing, a costume contest and of course the only reason we were there.... the TREATS!

Sidebar: This is actually an incomplete version of Parker's costume. For Halloween I'm actually going to black her nose and give her some whiskers so she'll really look like Minnie Mouse. But you get the gist! Thank you to Aunt Mimi for the dress and Aunt Skye for finding mouse ears that match so perfectly!

A pretty respectable haul for one night in a parking lot full of strangers!

Once we successfully had our candy, we headed down to the Korean barbecue place for some Kalbi and Kimchee. It was surprisingly good considering the place is kind of a hole in the wall and you'd completely miss it if you didn't know what to look for. Anyway It's not even 10pm yet and I'm so exhausted I think I'm going to have to join my family & hit the sack! Stay tuned for further adventures!

We made it!!!!

2011-10-27T00:18:00.008-06:00

I've been up forever. Or at least that's what it feels like. I was too excited to get much sleep the night before we left and then we had to be up at 3am anyway so that always makes me nervous. Still I think you'd have to call our trip thus far a succes. Both kids did great on the flights. They got a little restless and at times slightly fussy. But they weren't loud or screaming or crying or anything and really both of them slept some so it worked out well. Upon our arrival Grandma Cindy met us at the airport with flower leis that smelled like heaven! Both kids seemed to enjoy them.

We picked up the rental car and headed for Skye & Ryan's house. Speaking of our hosts, they're in the hospital as I type this trying to have a baby. On the afternoon of Tuesday the 25th they decided to get her started because they're worried about the baby's slow heartbeat. We're now 30+ hours in and no baby yet. They say she's having great contractions and progressing but painfully slowly. So mom came over from the hospital & picked us up.

The first thing we did once we got to their place was throw on bathing suits and head for the beach. It's just a short walk and even quicker when you cut across the church parking lot.

Gideon was a maniac. Once he spied the water he took off. And then kept yelling at us to hurry up.

I swear that boy is part fish. He LOVES playing in the water and especially playing in the waves and the sand. It's very cute and I know its going to make this trip a lot smoother knowing he's so easy to entertain.

Travis was being a wuss and complaining that it was so much colder than Guam. Really it wasn't bad at all once you got in it felt pretty good!

Parker, however, did not really care for the experience. She didn't like the feel of the sand on her hands or feet, she didn't like the water and she especially didn't like her hat.

Yes, I was there too and there are some photos of me. Including one of Travis trying to drown me. (He did managed to dunk me but I put up a good fight.) But that photo actually looks like we're trying to do something a little naughty when you don't know the story, so I don't think I'll post it just yet.

Not bad for homegrown!

2011-10-15T20:12:00.002-06:00

We didn't take the kids to the pumpkin patch this year, because there was no need to. Earlier this year we had planted pumpkins in Nana & Grandpa's garden spot and they grew wonderfully.

So today when they returned from fishing (yes, they actually caught a few this time out) Gideon, daddy & I finally got around to carving up the pumpkins Gideon so carefully tended all summer long.

When I was growing up, you just grabbed a kitchen knife and cut a few triangles for eyes nose & mouth and called it good. But these days there are cool tools and patterns so we bought a little booklet and Gideon & Trav spent some serious time deciding on which ones they wanted.

Parker of course thought they were wonderful toys. I'm pretty sure she chewed up whatever parts & pieces she could get her hands on. My job was to gut all the pumpkins and take pictures. But I did my share of carving too.

I think they turned out pretty cute. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon with the family huh?

The Streak of Mediocrity is OVER!!!

2011-10-15T12:17:00.002-06:00

So no pics with this post, but I had to write a quick note to follow up on a post that I wrote July about the mediocre year I was having regarding my race schedule. I've done more races than ever before this year (well, I've only really been racing for two years now, so that's not hard.) I've lost weight, been eating better, training smarter & keeping better track of how I feel and what I need to fix when something isn't right.

And yet through all of that, I still couldn't manage to have set a PR (Personal Record) in any distance this summer. It just seemed like every single race day I choked or got sick, or something happened and I wasn't feeling my best. Even during races when I felt great I still missed setting a personal best by several minutes. I know that I'm the only one who puts this pressure on myself, but I guess that's how I gauge my progress. By doing just a little better than I did the last time I know that I'm moving in the right direction. Still all summer long, each race was a bigger disappoinment than the last.

Until last night. About a week ago when I was getting my nails done, Cary (the lady that own's Jesse's salon) told me about a Twilight 5K (in memory of a girl who was killed earlier this year) and asked if I would participate. Their business was one of the main sponsors and she was trying to get every runner and run/walker she knew on board. I wasn't sure yet if I was going to be around, so I took the registration form and told her I'd try. I didn't really decide until about noon yesterday to actually do the race. Anyway I knew it probably wouldn't be my best race, the route wasn't anything spectacular, just 3.1 miles around some of the busiest intersections in town and besides with not having planned for it, I hadn't trained or eaten as well as I would have in the days leading up to it. Still since it was only a 5K I knew I'd be fine.

Last night I just registered onsite and then waited around with Cary and Lana for the thing to begin. I was just anxious to get it over with actually. I enjoy running, but it had been a busy day and we had other things planned so I was ready to get running and be done. I'm not sure if it was the busy traffic on the streets or the fact that I wanted to get home, but I found myself pushing the pace just a little more than I probably would have. I knew from my own watch that I was coming in a little faster than usual, but that was good thing. It was a short race, I knew I could push the pace for 3 miles.

Anyway I about fell over when I crossed the finish line and found out my official time. Not only was it a personal best, but it was better than my previous 5K best by more than 3 minutes. FINALLY!!!!! A decent result that reflects all the work I've put in this summer. At first I wasn't sure if I believed the time, but it's what they put on my official Finisher's Certificate, so who am I to argue? Besides, we all need a victory now and then right?

Why Never to Hold on to FAT Pants!

2011-10-08T21:56:00.004-06:00

So the one thing I haven't really blogged about in any detail so far has been my weight loss. I know I've made a few mentions of it in quick comments and posted a few pictures but tonight I feel the urge to share a little bit of this journey.

The breaking point for me came this past May. When I couldn't button up my "fat" pants. Well that's not true. I could button them, but they were so tight & uncomfortable that I didn't want to wear them. I was suddenly faced with a choice: Lose weight or buy bigger pants. For the last decade, I'd done the latter. I didn't just wake up one morning 50 pounds overweight. It took nine years and in that period of time there were a lot of ups and downs.

The first time I bought bigger pants was the summer after our wedding. It only took me about 3 months of being a happy newlywed to put on around 10 pounds, but I didn't stress too much about it, because I had a new husband who loved me and couldn't resist me regardless. The following winter saw something of an ugly meltdown in a dressing room at JC Penney when the size I thought I wore wouldn't button up. At that point Travis swore he'd never go shopping with me ever again and my mother-in-law tried to make it all okay by buying not only the pants in the bigger size, but a top, shoes and a new dress for me. She insisted I still looked fine and underlined that by spending money.

And the next 8 years were a yo-yo. I'd put on weight, get frustrated, diet or workout, lose a few pounds and start to feel better and then plateau for a while. Until I packed on a few pounds again and inevitably bought pants in a bigger size. And then this past winter I finally had enough. I was absolutely not willing to buy pants in a bigger size. No thank you!

Running gave me added motivation. I was tired of people being surprised that I'm a runner, they were shocked that I run regularly and run the long distances that I do. And frankly even though I know I'll never be fast, I was tired of being just another chubby girl at the back of the pack. (I'd so much rather be a lean and fit girl at the back of the pack.)

So I went to Weight Watchers. I just didn't know what else to do. I've tried every other diet in the world and the work outs alone weren't getting the job done. I asked around and a good friend (who's had phenomenal success on Weight Watchers) steered me that direction. I'll admit I was skeptical. Weight Watchers is for old people right?

But the end results don't lie. And clearly it works. The plan is easy. And the best part about it is that I don't feel like I'm on a diet. I don't deprive myself of anything that I really want. It's great because I honestly feel like I can live like this for the rest of my life. If I go to a party I have a slice of cake. If I want a cookie, I eat a cookie. I won't go into too much detail about the program other than to say that I can't see myself doing anything else. It's easy and it works. I think I'm living proof of that.

Or rather the 32 pounds I've lost so far are proof of that.

As you can imagine with 32 pounds, I've lost quite a few sizes along the way. Only this time, I started chucking clothes as soon as they became too big. It's true, I've spent more money on clothes this summer than ever in my life (although I've also learned to be quite the bargain shopper, thank you Ross Dress for Less!) But there's a kind of perverse pleasure in realizing that pants you bought in June, are too big in August. (I relished giving them away!) One of the best motivators to stay on the plan and keep working hard has been knowing that I can't let myself get big again. I don't have any clothes that would fit me anymore if I did. It takes away the comfort of knowing that it's okay if I put a few pounds back on. I can't get comfortable. At least not yet. And even when I get to my ideal weight I'll have to guard against putting weight back on because I won't have any fat pants hiding in the back of the closet. :)

Aunt Phyllis's 80th

2011-10-01T18:49:00.003-06:00

Travis has one of those really big (and by big I mean HUGE) extended families and I'm not kidding when I say that there are many cousins and aunts & uncles I haven't even met. Most of them I wouldn't know if I passed them on the street. But there are a few relatives he's remained close to and his Aunt Phyllis is one of them. Anyway she turns 80 on Wednesday so her 3 daughters decided to throw her a birthday party this weekend.

What's funny about that is that it may have been Phyllis's birthday, but Parker was the undisputed star of the day. Some of the relatives were seeing her for the first time and she absolutely stole their hearts.

Jared & Gideon playing. Jared's wife had to work otherwise she would have been there too.

That's Parker giving aunt Sue loves.

And giving Leslie's dog loves.

Doesn't Trav look just thrilled to be there? And it's his family!?!?!?

Susan chatting with Jared. (Susan came in from Southern California for her mom's party. Her sister, Leslie came in from Seattle.)

The birthday girl. What a good sport she was to wear the tiara the whole time.

Trav chats with his uncle Billy.

Leslie takes a seat.

Gran Janke (Clary) was only too thrilled that Parker wanted to give her lots of kisses. Anyway I think it's safe to say we had a good time visiting and we all ate way too much! But the food was great, so thanks Leslie, Susan & Deeann for putting this together!

It was a First Even for the Dr.

2011-09-27T13:35:00.002-06:00

So yesterday while I was out for my run, apparently Parker decided to be adventurous & crawl under my in-law's car. Unfortunately they had only recently driven it and it was still hot. So she's got some fairly serious burns on her upper back & shoulder blades. It's not too terrible but she is sore and therefore cranky and fussy. I only took her into the doctor because my mother-in-law was almost inconsolable over it and she insisted. But I suppose it was a good thing. He prescribed some special antibiotic burn ointment which seems to be helping. He said it was the first time he'd ever seen burns on a baby from crawling under a car. Great. Now I have a weird child.

Hopefully now she'll know to stay out from under the car.

A visit to our newest cousin

2011-09-23T14:34:00.005-06:00

On Monday I took Gideon to the hospital for a visit with his new baby cousin. He was so excited to get to hold her! He kept calling her "My new cousin friend." and "Baby Tyree my cousin."

He was so cute, he kept saying "Baby Cousin Tyree lay down with me. Me hold her."

On Wednesday I took both kids up to Jesse & Kelly's house to visit and see their newest cousin.

They were both so excited. Parker seemed especially fascinated by this little kid who was smaller than her.

We got there just as she was waking up to eat so she was a little fussy at first.

But Gideon was cute, he said, "Mommy me pat her tummy, maker her feel better."

This isn't quite the muppet face, but it's close. She's still adorable when she's mad!

I'd never have believed that Jesse's baby would have so much hair!

My kids just thought they were the biggest helpers! Sooooo cute!

Parker was perhaps just a little bit too helpful! But that's okay, at least she loves her cousin. She just kept wanting to pat her little head.

So in an unrelated note, my mom brought Gideon some alligator tatoos from Louisiana and he found them yesterday and decided he needed to wear ALL of them at once. He was quite proud of himself.

And this is also unrelated, this is my birthday present from Cami. She made a canvas of some of my greatest hits in running. I LOVE IT! I think it turned out really great and I've already hung it by my calendar so I see it all the time. It's my mantra (with a perfect little twist of course) so just looking at it motivates me. Anyway, thank you Cami & I love it so much!

Birthday Girls!

2011-09-21T16:10:00.003-06:00

Even though we had the party on Saturday, I still felt that we needed to at least acknowledge Parker's 1st birthday on the actual day, so for breakfast she got a cupcake with a candle!

Now before you judge me for feeding my baby a cupcake for breakfast consider 2 things:

First, how is a cupcake any worse for you than doughnuts or danish or cinnamon rolls?

Secondly, she didn't even eat it. She took a big bite of icing, promptly spit it out and proceeded to pulverize the cupcake.

At which point, I cleaned up the cupcake and gave her some peaches which she did eat.

The birthday itself was pretty low key. With Trav out of town and me having to babysit I knew it wasn't going to be a super exciting day anyway. But it was fun when Crista (the mom of the boys I tend) brought me a box of cupcakes. They are as yummy as they look!!!!!!

That evening my in-laws took us out to dinner with my mom. It was very good but we decided that the next time we decide to have a fancy dinner out, we're definitely getting a sitter. And yes, it was my birthday too (as I'm sure you all know.) Sorry I had to take the photo myself, but it was the best I could do. I do think that my mom got a good photo of Parker and I together so hopefully I can get a copy of that one.

How Does it Feel?

2011-09-19T12:26:00.003-06:00

You know every year on my birthday at least one person asks me "So how does it feel?" I'm never really sure how to answer that question since frankly I've felt exactly the same since I was about 23. I mean sure, I hope that with age I've gained a little bit of maturity and patience and wisdom, but as far as personality and all that goes, I've not felt any difference at all for more than a decade now.

The truth is though, this year with my birthday approaching, I do feel a little different. Not as far as personality or anything like that. I'm still the same high strung, slightly hyper, overly motivated, borderline OCD girl I've always been. The real difference is the fact that tomorrow is not just another birthday for me, but it's my baby girl's birthday as well. Her first birthday. I don't know why it makes me sad that she's growing up. I love that she's walking and saying words and doing cute things now. But still it's sad because I know I'll never have another baby again.

I've always known that I wanted two children. I feel so blessed to have been given the most perfect son and daughter in the world. I really couldn't ask for anything more. Ever since Parker came home with us a year ago we've felt very complete as a family. We're not going to apply for another adoption. There are a variety of reasons, but mostly because we do feel like this is the family Heavenly Father meant for us to have. I don't pretend to know the future or to have any idea what the Lord has in store for us. But I do feel very strongly that we won't have any more babies. (No, I'm not shutting down the possibility that there may be other miracles but for now, we feel like this is it.) For that reason as Parker outgrows the baby stuff I've been donating it or giving it away. It makes me feel good to get rid of all of it and at the same time it adds to the sadness about my baby growing up.

Maybe it's just because I've had two sisters give birth in the last 3 days and two more still expecting. But it's suddenly hitting me all the things I've missed out on. I can reconcile that pretty easily, I may not have carried or delivered my children myself, but I had the opportunity to participate in their adoptions which is something so special that so few people get to experience firsthand. So even though I'll never get to have those experiences, I don't really mind. But it's a little harder to deal with the idea that I won't get to raise any more babies. I know my kids are still young but they're not babies anymore. I officially have a preschooler & a toddler. Between the teething and the potty training some days I wish we were past this stage of life already, but the truth is I know when they head off to school and don't need me as much anymore, I'll pine for the simpler days we're living right now.

And I guess that when the desire to rock a baby becomes too overwhelming, at least now I have a brand new niece just a few minutes away!

The birthday girls! Hard to believe it's been a year already!

Baker's Dozen

2011-09-19T00:20:00.006-06:00

What a weekend it's been! In the space of less than 47 hours I went from having four sisters pregnant, to just two. (And in the middle of that had a birthday party for my own baby. See previous post for those details.)

Back in like February or March when Cami & Jesse announced that they were both expecting we started joking about the race being on. Their official due dates were a mere 8 days apart, with Jesse due September 7 & Cami on the 15th. The last few weeks have been really fun as we've waited excitedly for my parents' 12th & 13th grandbabies to arrive.

When Jesse's due date came and went with no sign of progress it was a little disappointing. But we knew that her baby could come at any moment, so we waited (somewhat patiently.) Still last Tuesday when she went to the doctor, already six days past her date, I think we were all hoping he'd do something about it. He did. He told her that if nothing was happening by Saturday that they take her in that evening and get her started, so one way or another she'd have a baby on Sunday. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I for one was really hoping and praying that baby would just decide to come on her own before then. Saturday seemed like a long time away at that point.

On the other hand, it was kind of surprising that Cami even made it to her due date. She'd been progressing slowly for two weeks and having slight contractions and pains. And since this was her 3rd child, I had a sneaking suspicion it would happen fast for her.

It's funny because on Friday morning I talked to Cami twice. She told me she was having pretty substantial contractions, but that they were still pretty far apart so she wasn't going to head to the hospital for a while. I spoke with her at just after 3pm her time and they had just dropped off their kids and were headed to the hospital but she cautioned me not to tell the family just yet because she was pretty sure they would end up sending her home. The contractions were big, but they were a good 10 minutes apart. Interestingly that conversation ended with her gasping, "I'll call you later...having one now...." About an hour later I got a txt message saying they were keeping her and the baby was coming.

It's a good thing she went to the hospital when she did. They got her checked in around 3:30 pm and at 6:07 she delivered a healthy baby boy! 2 1/2 hours! WOW!!!!!

So meet my parent's grandchild number 12:

Gage William Guffey

September 16, 2011 6:07pm

7 lbs. 2 oz & 19.25 inches

Cami & Jacob are proud of course, but probably not as proud as Lily.

She takes being a big sister very seriously. She even picked out the pirate sleeper herself!

She made sure he got his 20 minutes of reading time too.

As for Ransom he likes his baby brother well enough to try and share his crackers. That's about as affectionate a gesture as you're bound to get from a 20 month old boy.

Despite all of the excitement (and the dozens of prayers by the rest of us) it became painfully clear that Jesse's baby was not in any bigger hurry just because her cousin had finally arrived. So yesterday Jesse cut Kelly's hair, then they joined us for Parker's birthday party and left our house to go to the hospital so they could get her started. I won't give you all the gory details, but it really didn't take Jesse's labor very long to start. She checked into the hospital around 6:00pm and by 11:00pm her water had broken. She got her epidural at 2:30am or so. Around 11:00am I got a message that she was dialated to a 9 and almost ready to push. And that's where things stayed for the next few hours. The doctor was in doing a C-section, so Jesse actually laid back and slept for a couple of hours. By the time I got out of church my mom was asking if I was planning on coming up to the hospital. I desperately wanted to, but Jesse had made it abundantly clear that she didn't want anyone but she and Kelly in the delivery room so she would send a message once the baby was born and she was ready to recieve visitors. That of course didn't keep my mom or Joliene (Kelly's mom) away. They were in the waiting room with Kelly's sister Randi Jo & his dad Randy. I hesitated going up there because I really wanted to respect Jesse's wishes and not intrude where I wasn't wanted. I was determined to wait for she or Kelly to call or txt and tell me it was okay to come visit. Around 2:20pm I got a call from my mom saying they were still waiting on the Dr. and Kelly was starving, could I please bring him some food. So I kissed my own babies & husband and headed to the hospital. When Kelly didn't come out for his food once I got there, we figured the baby must be on her way. And at 3:00pm when the lullaby started playing over the hospital's speaker system my mom and Joliene both started jumping up and down and hugging. (There were only a few tears.) A few minutes later Kelly sent a photo of the baby to his mother's phone and that was really torture because the photo wouldn't open.

But it only took a few minutes before he came out and mom & Joliene were allowed to go back and see her. By 4:00 the rest of us were told we could come back.

So here's the princess who makes up our Baker's Dozen:

Tyree Kay Crystal

September 18, 2011 2:58pm

8 lbs. 21 inches

And let me tell you she's an absolute DOLL! I realize she's still kind of swollen, but she's very filled out for a newborn! And so very alert! Her color is perfect, she's strong and healthy. It's so funny because Jesse's so tiny and the first thing you think is "How did that big baby fit into that tiny girl!?!?!?" I felt so blessed to get to hold her when she was still so very brand new. (In fact, about the time they were planning on cleaning her up, like 3 other girls in the hospital started having their babies, so all the nurses and staff kind of disappeared and left us alone for a while which was nice.)

With Aunt Randi Jo

It's seriously sickening how she can look so cute and perky after a night of no sleep and just having had a baby!

My dad (who called Kelly just a few minutes after she was born) said he could hear Kelly beaming through the phone. He's a pretty proud papa.

She's got way more hair that we expected, especially considering Jesse & Kelly were both bald as babies!

Seriously does se look like she just had a baby? So not fair!

The Strawberry Shortcake Smurf Mushroom...

2011-09-18T19:40:00.009-06:00

...And various other birthday party pictures. It kind of breaks my heart that my baby girl is turning one. She's just not a baby anymore. But since her birthday isn't actually until Tuesday, I'll ruminate on that another day.

We decided to celebrate Parker's birthday on Saturday so that her daddy wouldn't have to miss her first birthday party.

Gideon was very excited to help wrap presents and put up decorations. (I'll probably leave the decorations up at least through Tuesday. They make the house just seem so happy and festive!)

After we were done wrapping and decorating we got the guest of honor dressed for her big day.

Man I have the cutest kids EVER!

Gideon's job during the party was to hand out noise makers and party hats. And he took his job very seriously. He made sure everyone was decked out at one time or another.

And here it is. The Strawberry Shortcake Smurf Mushroom! It looks nothing like a giant cupcake, but at least it's girly and cute. And hey it only cost us $5 so we won't complain.

Not quite my usual spread, but it was good. Tea sandwiches, fruit, taco dip, chips & pink lemonade. Good enough for a mid-afternoon birthday party for a one year old right?

She didn't want to wear a part hat for long, but she sure looked cute while she had it on.

She's so funny she sticks her tongue out all the time, especially when she's determined. Like a little puppy dog almost. I find it adorable.

So Jesse & Kelly came to the party quite literally en route to the hospital for her to be induced. She looks great for a girl who's 10 days past her due date.

Great Aunt Phyllis & Nana

Parker didn't quite get the hang of opening presents. She mostly wanted to just play with the bows & ribbons.

Deeann, Kaloni, Braxton, Kelly & Jesse (with baby Tyree on board. Photos of that little cutie are coming!)Fortunately for Parker she has a big brother who was more than happy to show her how to open presents.

She got some super cute stuff, but of course, Gideon wasn't at all interested in anything that was clothes or shoes. He really just wanted to keep unwrapping toys.

And now it's time for "Happy Birthday" and cake and ice cream.

Again, Parker wasn't quite sure what to do with the candle. She mostly just stared at it. But big brother saved the day again!

So she didn't really like her cake at all. She mostly just picked at it and spit. She didn't eat any of it or even play in it. That was slightly disappointing to me because I wanted those classic baby photos of being covered hair to fingertips in cake and icing, but oh well. Guess not.

Braxton & Gideon tested out some of Parker's new toys. (In fact, to this point I think Gideon's played with more of her new toys than she has.)

And the day wasn't a total bust for Gideon anyway. Deeann brought over a tricycle for him and he got the hang of that right away! So a successful day for everyone!

Let Them Eat Cake

2011-09-17T21:14:00.004-06:00

So tomorrow (with any luck) I'll be posting pictures of Parker's first birthday party. I don't know how to prepare the world for what ended up passing as the birthday cake. But in the end we were lucky to have a birthday cake. I should start at the beginning.

Months and months ago I decided that I wanted Parker's 1st birthday party to be pink and pretty and cupcake themed. Some day soon she'll grow up and pick her own birthday theme and Halloween costumes (Gideon has already informed me that he needs to be a Transformer for Halloween this year. Guess we won't be doing a cute family theme this year. Or any other year in the forseeable future.) Anyway until that day comes I get to have free reign.

I really wanted her birthday cake to just look like a giant cupcake. I've seen the pan and decorating stuff at my local party supply and craft stores. I could probably have made the thing myself, but when it comes to entertaining, particularly where food preparation is concerned, I prefer to leave that to professionals or people who enjoy it, (or at least leave it to someone won't completely unravel from the stress of preparing food AND doing all of the cleaning, decorating, etc.) About 3 months ago I started making the rounds at the bakeries in town getting prices and discussing options. Anyway I placed the order like 6 weeks ago. I'm obsessive enough that whenever I order anything I ALWAYS call and double check the week before just to make sure. Last week I went into the store and checked the order, reiterated what I wanted, and changed the pick-up time. I watched the girl mark out the original time on the order slip and write in the new pick-up time.

You know where this is going right? So I show up today and my cake isn't ready. The lady (who turned out to be the bakery manager) didn't seem at all concerned. "Well that cake isn't due until 3:00. I have 14 cakes to do today and 5 of them I need to get done before 1." I not only told her that I had changed the time, but I pointed out the girl who I spoke to about changing the time. I'm pretty sure it wasn't my mistake because she pulled out the order form and said she'd try and slip it in as soon as she could. I firmly told her that I needed it as soon as possible because the party was starting in like 2 hours.

As if this screw up with the time wasn't bad enough she then proceeded to tell me that she didn't know how to make what I had requested, so it probably wouldn't look the way I had pictured it. I told her that I didn't really have any expectations other than that it look like a big cupcake. To which she said she'd see what she could do. I was absolutely LIVID by this point. Literally shaking. She actually had the audacity to tell me to chill out. At which point I was really afraid I was going to start saying something I'd later regret. So I left and picked up the rest of the food and headed home. I called my mother & vented to her and asked her to go back and pick up the cake. As soon as I hung up the phone I got a call from the bakery saying they'd finished the cake and they were only going to charge me $5 for it. I was even more worried at this point because really, what could they have possibly thrown together in 20 minutes time that would be at all passable or decent for my baby's first birthday party? I told my mother that if it didn't look good, she didn't have to accept it and we'd go get cupcakes or something.

When she brought the thing home it wasn't as bad as I had been envisioning. But it didn't really look like the giant cupcake I had hoped for. The only way I can think to describe it is that it reminded me of what would happen if Strawberry Shortcake decorated a Smurf's mushroom house.

And on that note I think it's time for me to have another slice of said Strawberry Shortcake Smurf Mushroom (which turned out to be surprisingly good despite how it looked and the fact that it was actually two different kinds of cake and two different types of frosting) and then head to bed. I was up until 2:30am cleaning the house, so I'm exhausted. Pictures forthcoming.

Relay Junkie

2011-09-11T21:10:00.005-06:00

I read somewhere not long ago that if you want to feel like a rock star, you should run a marathon. Having done that I do concur that running a marathon is probably the closest thing a lot of people (like stay-at-home moms in their mid-thirties) will ever come to feeling like rock stars. (Let's face it no one is cheering me on and handing me a medal for overcoming any of the challenges that are just part of parenthood & daily life.)

With that in mind, I'd have to add that if you want to have a blast while feeling like a rock star, you need to run a relay! Long or short, stomach flu or healthy I've never regretted a single relay I've done! Not that I've done many (yet) but I do plan to do more of them in the future!

I'm offically a Relay Junkie. I realized this over the weekend when I drove some 500 miles, climbed into a van with people I'd met literally 10 minutes before and then proceeded to spend the next 36 hours sweating, laughing, crying, puking and running with them.

Every time I tell my mother-in-law I'm running a race, she makes a face and asks, "WHY?" But when I tell her I'm running a relay she goes off on a tirade about how I'm going to kill myself and running's so hard on my body. She really gets upset when she finds out I'm running with total strangers in someplace far away. She insists I'm going to get killed (or worse) by some psycho in the middle of nowhere that I just met. That is of course if I don't keel over and die from the running first.

I've tried to explain to her why I love running and especially the relays, but she just doesn't get it. I probably won't have any luck explaining here either (especially considering I'm still in that haze of "relay hangover" so I probably won't make any sense anyway) but I'll give it a shot.

In my experience, any race, no matter of the distance will give you a confidence boost. There are always people there cheering you on, congratulating you on completing the race. It feels good. The bigger the race, generally the bigger the cheers (and the better the SWAG.)

What makes a relay special is the team. You're part of something bigger than just your personal best in any distance. In addition to all of the other great stuff about races (medals, t-shirts, SWAG, cheers, etc) you get to be a part of the cheering section for other runners. You do your best because you don't want to let the team down and it's just an added bonus to have the team with you and supporting you every step of the way. They lift you mentally (and sometimes even physically) to performing your absolute best. And then you get to turn around and support them right back. When you are 30 hours into a race like this with no sleep at all, and your final runner is has covered more than 15 miles and is climbing a mountain in 100 degree heat, he can get a little discouraged. Between the fatigue and the heat and the lactic acid build up in his muscles it would be so easy to quit, but then he passes by and you cheer and ring a cow bell so loud even Christopher Walken would be impressed, you get to watch him perk up and start moving a little faster, and then he KILLS the last 2 miles at a pace you didn't think would be possible! It's a great feeling to know you were a small part of that!

Plus, on a completely vain note, it's total validation to be able to tell people that you spent your weekend running 18 miles over a period of 30 hours on zero sleep. Most of them regard you with a mixture of awe and "are you freakin' crazy!" looks. (And the truth is yes. Yes I am. And your point?)

I love so much about doing relays. Staying up all night to run. Bonding with amazing people you just met that morning. Running obscene distances in remote places. Pushing your body past what it thinks is possible (fatigue, soreness bah! I can do anything!). Seeing some of the coolest terrain on earth fly by, not in a car or plane, but by being out in it. Trying to sleep cramped up in a van or on a church lawn or whatever. Eating out of a cooler for two days. (And eating junk food without that feeling of wanting to kill yourself afterwards.) Getting to write clever things on your car and decorate it like it's Christmas. Share private inside jokes that only a handful of people will ever understand. Cheering all the other runners on to their very best. Wearing a wig or ringing a cowbell just to make people smile. The night of sleep when you finally crash, (sometimes 40+ hours since you've slept at all. You'll sleep like the dead.) The relay hangover when you wake up the next morning and even your brain hurts. (But you're smiling because you have a headful of happy memories.) There are so many more things!

But my favorite thing about doing relays is coming home to my babies! I never feel bad about leaving them for a night or two, but I always miss them and I LOVE seeing their faces when I get home!

Parker cut another tooth while I was gone this weekend and when she saw me get out of the car she actually started clapping for the first time! It was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen!

It's nice to be missed!

I have some great pictures from the race and the team captain said he'd get his put on a drive and sent over, so I'll post actual race pictures and the "story" of this particular relay later. My brain is far too mushy to think straight right now anyway. Since Thursday I've spent better than 1000 miles in a car, a good 600 of that driving, so I'm going to head for my bed now. It's really the only safe place for me at the moment.

Yes, I'm vain, but I'm going to enjoy it anyway!

2011-09-06T21:03:00.006-06:00

A little bit of a personal victory came to me today. First there was a number on the scale this morning which was the lowest I'd seen since before I got married. I could have done back flips I was so very excited about it! I'm loving the weight loss success & how energetic and healthy I feel.

But the best part of it came later in the day when I was chatting with my mother. We were talking about our workout and weight loss efforts. When I told mom what I weighed as of this morning she looked very surprised and then said "Well if that's the case then you currently weigh the least of any of my children. You're the smallest & thinnest of them all right now!"

This may not seem like a big deal since 4 of the girls are currently pregnant and the one who isn't is 4 inches taller than I am, but as I said before, it still counts!!!! At the moment I'm the smallest one in my family. It's probably sick that I find such vain satisfaction in this moment, but none the less, I do. I'm basking in the glory of being fit and thin! (At least until the end of the week when it's likely that two of my sisters will have given birth and be back to their normal sizes.) Until then, the victory is mine!

2011-09-03T10:56:00.001-06:00

Dad and Gideon, we went out to the airport to see some cool old airplanes.

Here you go mom Flaming Gorge area.

Skeet Shooting, Suit Burning & Other Forms of Celebration!

2011-09-01T09:46:00.011-06:00

Just a few random images from Cody's homecoming party last Saturday, which included (among other things) cutting down the cat's claw, roasting hot dogs, tormenting the baby kittys & jumping over the fire. You'll see.

Keeping Cool

2011-08-31T08:22:00.006-06:00

Last week was the hottest week of the year so far with everyday hitting temperatures of 90+. I LOVED IT! Still we decided we'd take advantage & check out the new water park in Rexburg.

Princess P ready for fun in the sun!

Of course Gideon had to play with his "Edee." (Our dear friend Eden for those who don't remember her from previous posts.)

And Cody & Hillary were there too!

That's Cody and Hillary on the rock wall. Cody actually got in trouble for doing a back flip off of it. Oh well.

And yes, I have a weird tan lan from all my running clothes. YUCK. At least it's better than Cody's missionary tan line.

Grandma & Parker chillin' in the lazy river.

Hillary waiting for the big slide. I think Cody and Eden were up there somewhere too, I'm just not sure where.

Parker got tired of playing before anyone else, so she and I got out and enjoyed a soft pretzel together.

It was very fun and we'll definitely be going back!

And She's Off......

2011-08-29T09:14:00.002-06:00

So about 10 days ago Parker decided to start taking a few steps. She's still not walking a lot, but she tries awfully hard. She's up to about 10 steps or so on her own and when she's pushing her little walker thing she can go all day. Anyway, it's pretty cute!

Who needs sleep when you can run?

2011-08-28T21:38:00.010-06:00

I think everyone knows by now that I ran the Mesa Falls Marathon last year. Or that is, I survived the Mesa Falls Marathon. When it came down to it, I was really undertrained and unprepared. But I'm stubborn and I did it anyway.

This year I made the decision to only run the half marathon for multiple reasons. One of which was the fact that I knew it was the weekend of Cody's homecoming celebration and I didn't want to be trashed for all of the family, friends and festivities.

Anyway on Tuesday when Cody got home, I told him I was running the race and asked (somewhat jokingly) if he wanted to join me. He said he wasn't up to a half, but he'd run the 5K. Now first you need to know that Saturday was a full 30 degrees warmer than the same weekend last year. (I'm not exaggerating look it up.) And secondly, not one of us has had much sleep all week. With all of the fun and running around with the family (pictures forthcoming) I think I've only been getting around 4 hours of sleep per night and I know it's the same for Cody. Friday night was the worst night of them all, when Travis was driving home through the night and my house guest ended up with heat exhaustion and was so badly dehydrated that it required a midnight trip to the Urgent Care clinic where they pumped her full of 3 bags of IV fluid. (There was actually some good that came out of all of that, but I'm not going to blog about it at this point.)

So all told I think I got maybe 3 hours of sleep Friday night and Cody was running on less than four.

Still we were up early and on our way to Ashton in plenty of time.
Cody's race actually started before mine, but I didn't get to stick around and see it because I was on a bus to the half marathon start line.

Now I know he's done a little running on the mission, but we need to remember, he hasn't actually trained in two years. Still it looked like there were a few experienced runners in the 5K pack that morning so he made a decision just to stick with them.

As it turned out, even the experienced runners couldn't stick with him. in the last mile he caught up with the kids (and a few parents) who were just completing the 1 mile fun run.

Not only did Cody win the overall 5K, he was a full 6 minutes ahead of the 2nd place finisher.

His pace was still about 2.5 minutes or so off his personal best from back when he was running Cross Country and he said he could definitely feel the altitude getting to him. But somehow he still creamed the rest of the pack.

After his finish, he & dad came up the marathon route to wait for me and cheer me on.

(No, my father isn't glowing, there's something on the camera lens.)

One thing I will say, Mesa Falls is one of the most scenic races I've ever done. It really is a gorgeous area! I figured out within about the first 2 miles that a good, long run in the beautiful morning sun will clear my head as well as anything. Even better than a full night's sleep. (Hence the title of this post.)

I'm hunched over here because I'm eating an orange slice and holding a cup of water.

Cody ran with me for a few minutes (Love that missionary tan line!) I was feeling pretty good at this point, about 4 miles in and Cody said he needed to go home and work on a few things, so I congratulated him on his race and told him to go. He peeled off and stormed up the hill to meet my dad, to which I got plenty of comments from the runners around me who said things like "wow that guy's an animal! Look at him go!" And that's not counting the whistles and catcalls from the girls.

While I was pushing my way up that ridiculous hill, Cody was back in town collecting is medal.

It was roughly six miles in that things got tough. The heat, and sleep deprivation really started to get to me. My pace dropped dramatically in the last half of the race. But then again, by this time the temps were in the upper 80's. I don't consider myself a wimp when it comes to heat, I mean after all I did grow up in Texas, but as a runner anything over 80 is miserable to race in! This was honestly the first race where I've ever had to strip down. I started using my shirt as a rag. Every time I'd pass a sprinkler (thank you to all the locals who put their sprinklers out they were a lifesaver!) I'd soak my shirt in it and the wrap it on the back of my neck to try and keep my body temp down a little. I'm not sure it worked, but it definitely felt good for a few minutes at least!

I finished about 15 minutes off my goal, but at that point I was just happy to finish. It was hot. And I was tired. I just wanted to go home, check on our sick friend and spend time with my family.

I've never regretted any race I've ever done, and this one is no different. I'm very glad I did it, although it is a little disappointing to have another mediocre race to add to this summer's list.

Pigtails!!!!!!!

2011-08-25T13:59:00.001-06:00

My whole life I've wanted a baby girl, just so I could do this! Happy Day!!!

He's Home!!!!

2011-08-23T17:06:00.006-06:00

My Baby Brother, Cody, arrived home from his two year church mission today! We had quite the reception party at the airport for him. Myself and my two kids, Jesse & Kelly, the two boys I tend, mom & daddy and Hillary. Mom & Hillary stayed up late last night making signs.

I thought mom was going to hyperventilate when she saw him through the doors coming down the stairs!
There's our boy!!!!!!

Hugs all around!

Gideon was a little shy of him at first, so he clung to me, but he warmed up fast!

Cody told us he wore his sunglasses the entire flight home because he didn't want anyone to see that he was crying.

Parker liked meeting uncle Cody okay, but she was really more interested in his balloons.

After the airport we came back to my house for barbecue and birthday.

Cody felt the baby move and said, "Wow that's soooo weird!!!!"

Since August sees the birthdays of Daddy, Cody & Hillary, we had a little birthday party this afternoon. They have a combined age of 101 so that's what they were trying to do with the candles.

Now that's a TIRED boy!!!!!

2011-08-17T09:24:00.000-06:00

Photographic Evidence

2011-08-15T14:42:00.004-06:00

Jesse has cankles!!!! (Of course I suppose most women who are 9 months pregnant do...)

And for the first time EVER I'm actually thinner than Jesse! I know, I know, she's pregnant. But still. It counts!!!

I should also make a comment in here that Shiloh announced this weekend she's pregnant. So that means the only sister I have who's NOT pregnant at the moment is Hillary. I just told the family not to count on me to be part of the pregnancy club.

My favorite Time of Year

2011-08-14T10:18:00.006-06:00

I'll ad mit that by most accounts I'm kind of weird. I LOVE late summer. Those days when it's so sizzling hot that just walking out the door works up a sweat. (It reminds me of my childhood in Texas I guess.) When it's still and humid and all you want to do is sit in the shade with a cold drink are my very favorites. (Not that it's ever humid in Idaho, but it has been in many other places I've lived so, that's what I'm used to.) I love feeling the sun on my skin and how cool the grass feels under my feet. And I love how lazy the days are before school starts. (Not that I have kids in school yet, but still...life gets crazier in the fall and winter.) So far we've been pretty busy this August.

Gideon has been taking swimming lessons. He absolutely loves it. The only problem is that he gets in trouble for being fearless. He will jump right in the pool before the teacher is ready for him and that of course, causes problems. Still, at least he's not afraid to give it a try, right?

As for me, you know from my previous posts I'm still running. A lot. Combined with eating better than I have in probably my entire adult life and suddenly, I'm 23 pounds thinner than I was in May. I'm not gloating or anything, but it's a personal victory and a great feeling to not have all of your clothes fitting quite so tight.

Nite Lites aka "The Bloody Tutu"

2011-08-13T09:26:00.004-06:00

Confession time: I LOVE running at night. If it weren't so inconvenient I'd probably do most of my training runs at night. It's just soooo fun! So it's no surprise that I jump at the chance to run any & all night time races I can find. The inaugural Nite Lites run was the first race of it's kind in town here. It's one of those where you choose your start time based on your pace, because the goal was to finish at midnight. The catch (which set it apart from other races) was that you weren't allowed to have a watch or timing device of any kind on the course and there were no mile markers. Plus, this was a race where dressing up in costumes was encouraged. And you were required to make your own bib number. After conferring with both Shiloh & Cami I decided to make a tutu & wear a wig and deck myself out in lots of glow sticks. For the number I used fabric and outlined it with glow-in-the dark puff paint. (Something I didn't realize they still made!)

Well, that was the idea anyway. The result was more "Tinkerbell on acid" than I planned, partly because I made the tutu a little too big. The colors weren't coming out the way I wanted them too, so I kept adding more tulle. Unfortunately I underestimated the magnitude of the poof and it was much, much poofier than I'd anticipated.

What you can't see is that we cut open some glow sticks and sprinkled the "juice" all over the tutu, so the tutu had a faint glow for a while.

My husband was a little embarrassed to be seen with me. At least until we got there and he realized I was not the only one dressed up or even the only one in a tutu.

I chose to start the race at 10:55 since I've been running really solid & consistent 11 minute miles lately. It was really odd running without a watch. It was just kind of disorienting not to have any idea how far out I was, or how long I'd been running. On the flip side it was great to not stress so much over time and pace. It allowed me to really enjoy the run. And it was a gorgeous run. We started up in the foothills south of town and it made for spectacular views at the start of the race.

Of course there was one minor incident where I was caught up in looking at the big, bright moon and enjoying the stars and all of a sudden "BOOM!" I ate asphalt hard. I have no idea where I was, or how far I had left to go and as I had nothing to clean it up with I just kept going. It looks pretty hard core to have a bloody knee under a tutu doesn't it?

By the time I got to the finish line the party was in full swing. I actually finished a few minutes after midnight, so I was much slower than I expected to be. I was a little frustrated at first because the pace felt so comfortable to me so I couldn't figure out why I was so slow. Then I remembered I'd donated blood on Thursday so maybe that's what slowed me down a little.

Anyway, it wasn't all bad. They had LOTS of door prizes including a couple of new pairs of shoes from Saucony, who had a rep out there giving away free swag & doing fittings. I actually tried some on since I'm in the market for a new pair of running shoes so I was really hoping I'd win that prize. Instead I walked away with a gift card to Blue Hashi for sushi. And I got one of the costume prizes. The race director (who's a friend through running) pointed out my battle wounds to everyone and commented that if she had a prize for the bloodiest knees I'd have won that too.

Entertaining

2011-08-11T18:44:00.005-06:00

Cheapiest sprinkler system ever. $9.99 for a three pack of spray nozzles from Home Depot and a 3 yr. old. Everything gets water.

Weekend at the Cabin

2011-08-07T22:14:00.004-06:00

Replacing the deck a little bit at a time.

Nana Saves the Day

2011-07-30T15:41:00.003-06:00

So last night after our trip to the clinic, Gideon was promised by Nana that she'd buy him a toy today to help him feel better. So this morning I heard him get up and come rushing up to my room. "Mom! Mom! Mom! My head feel better. Go to Nana's house please, please, please! Her have new toy for me!" So we got up and got dressed and went to Nana's house. By the time we got there he was insisting that he needed to go get a "Slinky Dog" (You know from Toy Story.) Gideon was so excited all morning he was practically shaking. First we went to lunch at the Red Robin (that was a pretty good treat in and of itself if you ask me.) And then to Toys R Us. And Nana learned why I don't take Gideon into that store!

It was a successful trip. We did indeed find a slinky dog as well as a Mickey Mouse playground set on clearance and he ended up with both. So Nana saved the day and managed to make this little guy extremely happy!

He's very thrilled about his slinky dog as you can see. As for Parker she wasn't left out, she got new teething rings.

The reason I'm Tired today....

2011-07-29T19:59:00.004-06:00

Parker's top two teeth finally poked through but that means she's been VERY fussy & cranky!!!!!!! And she was extremely restless last night waking up at least once an hour just crying and fussing. She typically went back to sleep within a few minutes of me rocking her, but it was still a long night up and down and up and down.

Today Gideon got to make his first trip to the urgent care clinic. He managed to pull my laundry drying rack down on his face leaving a small, but deep gash in the center of his forehead. Naturally it bled. A lot. There was extra blood because after he hurt himself, he was screaming and grabbing his head and tripped over the rack into the brick wall and bit his lip, so that was bleeding too. Fortunately it didn't require stitches. The doctor patched it up with that special super glue and a bandage. He fell asleep on the way home from the clinic but they were kind enough to give him some Tylenol, so I'm hopeful he'll be comfortable enough to sleep through the night.

As for me, now that I have both kids in bed, I should probably be picking up the toys, sweeping & mopping the floors, cleaning the blood off the patio etc, etc, etc. But I'm tired. And it will be there tomorrow. So I'm going to sit here and watch swimming world championships (Hello Ryan Lochte!) and have another doughnut!

A Good Place to Hide

2011-07-27T09:21:00.003-06:00

So when I told Gideon Saturday morning that Daddy was coming home he got very excited (naturally) and said, "Me hide and surprise him!?!?!?" Sure, why not. (He likes to do that a lot lately.) Anyway he went downstairs to play or hide or whatever. What's funny is that when Travis came home, we couldn't find him. Turns out, his great hiding place also turned into a nice place for a nap.

This is the tub where we keep the coloring books and crayons and he was sound asleep. It was pretty cute.

We had fun with daddy, even if he was only able to be home for like 24 hours. We played in the yard and of course, daddy had lots of help mowing and watering the lawn. Speaking of the lawn, it's finally all put back together, although it kind of looks like Frankenstein's monster right now. But I know that by next summer it will look fine. Just as long as I can keep it alive until then.

Have I ever mentioned I have the best climbing trees ever? Gideon sure thinks so anyway.

When the Going Gets Tough...

2011-07-26T20:36:00.004-06:00

...The Sprinter's Go Home.

So here's the thing...
I like to watch sports. Not mainstream professional sports. I watch stuff like marathons, triathalons, surfing, swimming, track & field, skating, volleyball, skiing, etc, etc, etc. It inspires me. It motivates me to keep going even though I'm so far from an elite athlete that it's laughable. I'm a distance runner. Everyone knows this about me. I've mentioned countless times that it's easier for me to run 5 or 7 miles than 2 miles. I'm in no way a competitive athlete, but I train hard for what I do. And even a recreational runner like me knows that you have ups and downs in any sport. As I've said to so many people you're not going to have a brilliant race every time you step off the line. Some days you have a tough a day and that hurts a little, but you just learn what you can from the experience and move forward.

I've thought about this a lot this last week as two stories have come out of the sporting world that have caught my attention. One from gymnastics & one from swimming. (Yes, I follow Olympic sports in non-Olympic years. I'm a dork. I know. Get over it.) As I've read negative press about two former champions, Shawn Johnson & Michael Phelps, my contempt for people kind of grows. People are idiots.

So here's the buzz on Johnson, this week was her first international meet since the Olympics in '08 and the press was less than kind painting her as overweight and rusty and suddenly doubts about her ability to bring home any medals in next summer's Olympics began to surface. She didn't medal in either of the events she competed in, however she did extraordinarily well for a girl that's been away from the sport for 3 years. She may be taller and heavier but she's in no way overweight. And frankly she shouldn't be dismissed. I mean the truth is, yes, she's a little rusty. But the mistakes she made during the meet are all things that are definitely fixable and I'm more than confident she's already been back to the gym and is working on them.

As for Phelps it seems the media has been particularly critical. Everyone is wondering if he's lost his fire and competitive drive. There have been comments about how he's distracted by his new girlfriend and he's undertrained and unfocused. I'm actually shocked this conversation is even going on. The man has 28 world championships, 14 Olympic gold medals. What does he have left to prove? And who does he have to prove it to? The truth is even if he never wins another medal and retires tomorrow from the sport, never stepping a toe in the water again, he'll still be considered one of the greatest swimmers of all time. He's proved that already. It's true he lost the 200M fly 3 times throughout this season a race he hadn't lost in 9 years. But let's face it ALL winning streaks eventually come to an end. And so far at the World Championships he's not won a single gold medal yet. But he's only contested 2 of his 7 events so far and everyone will concede that the 4x100M Freestyle Relay wasn't his fault. He went out and did his job, he turned in a fast split time. Some of the other guys didn't have their best swims, so team USA leaves with a bronze instead of a gold in that relay. As for the 200M Freestyle in which he took silver behind teammate Ryan Lochte (who by the way, I kind of have a crush on. He's a HOTTIE and let's face it having a swimmer's body doesn't hurt!) During Phelps's 18 month hiatus from swimming Lochte has worked extra hard to try and come out of Phelps' shadow. In 2010 he was called, "The best all around swimmer in the world" by pretty much everyone. No one remembers that Lochte took 2 bronze's behind Phelps in Beijing, that he won a gold in the backstroke and was part of 2 of Phelps' gold medal relay teams there. The story in Beijing was Phelps, but let's not forget that Lochte has spent years training with and competing against him and is a gifted swimmer in his own right. I think Phelps has had a greater affect on the sport of swimming than even he realizes. He's caused the competition to become better simply because he's so good. Everyone else is working harder to catch him. Not that his feat in Beijing was easy, but I can tell you that his competition is tougher now because of what he accomplished there.

But there are two things the public (and the press) need to remember 1. The Olympics are still a year away. Both of these athletes have taken hiatus's from their sports and are using this year to gauge where they are and what they need to do to be ready for London next summer. 2. You're talking about two people who are CHAMPIONS. I mean that in every sense of the word. They'll use their recent defeats as motivation. This will become building blocks, something else to stoke the fire and come back even stronger next time. Because that's what Champions do.

Shawn Johnson and Michael Phelps will both win more Olympic medals. Will they all be gold? Probably not. Will they ever dominate their sports like they did 3 & 4 years ago? Doubtful. But why does it matter? The truth is neither one of these athletes should have to prove anything to anyone. So what if neither one of them earns a single medal ever again? (They will. They're competitive like that and they won't be satisfied until they each walk away with more hardware.) But they don't have to win or even compete ever again to have my respect and admiration for the accomplishments they've already achieved. Because dominating a sport like gymnastics or swimming is much more like a marathon than a sprint. And when the going gets tough, the sprinters go home.

Never Enough

2011-07-21T15:41:00.003-06:00

When I saw the announcement in the paper last week, my heart almost stopped. I was so excited to learn that the wedding of the kids' birthmother had gone forward as planned. I immediately took the wedding gift I'd been saving for her over to the agency and dropped it off so they could get it to her. It wasn't much really. Just a set of dishes I found months ago that made me think of her. They were just her taste and personality. And since she'd told us she was engaged, I went ahead and bought them and saved them for whenever it became appropriate to give her a wedding gift.

Today we got some pictures and a copy of the invitation, with a nice note from her mother about the wedding. It made me so happy to see her looking so well and thrilled me to know that she's now married and won't ever again have to make the same sacrifice that she made for us not once, but twice.

Still my heart broke a little. I gave her dishes. DISHES! A perfectly respectable wedding gift for literally anyone else, but this is a woman who gave me my children. It's because of her that I get to be mommy to the sweetest boy and girl on the planet. And what do I give her? Dishes. Disgusting right? It's just never enough. The necklace for her birthday, the perfume at Christmas, the quilt we made for Parker's placement. I could lasso the moon and give it to her and it wouldn't be enough to express our gratitude. Every holiday and major milestone we celebrate, I try and send her a little gift of somekind. Just a small token to let her know that we love her and we think of her and we're still so grateful to her. But how on earth are these pathetic little material gifts ever supposed to compare with the gifts she's given us? She probably groans every time she opens one of our presents and thinks, "I gave you parenthood twice! And what do you get me? A handbag!?!?!?! Yeah. That's the same." But I know that there's nothing on this earth that can compare with what she's given us.

So for now I'll keep sending my paltry little gifts at the holidays. And just hope that she somehow understands we wish we could do more. Because nothing in life is ever going to match these beautiful babies that I get to wake up to every single morning and rock to sleep each night.

Mediocre

2011-07-16T10:43:00.002-06:00

So I'm very well aware of the fact that I will never be a competitive runner. As much as I enjoy running, and all the benefits that come with it, I know I'm not fast. Still, I feel like I'm a little bit stuck. In every race that I enter I expect to beat my best time. I'm very tough on myself I know, but I like seeing progress and when I can clock myself running faster at any given distance, that's very tangible progress. And I feel like I should be getting better. Even if I'll never be "fast" per se, I can at least be "Faster" than the last time. Because the more I work out, the stronger I'll get right? And I should see that in my race results.

Which is why it's inexplicable to me that I'm having such a mediocre summer. I've not set a personal best time at any single distance yet this year. In fact, I haven't come close. They've not been my worst races either, but still I feel like I should be progressing and somehow I'm not. Or maybe it's just that I'm not progressing as fast as I'd like to.

At first I figured it was because I was heavier this year than last year. (Having both kids in the hospital and an unemployed husband this past winter, really took it's toll. I packed on 15 pounds in a relatively short amount of time.) So I went on a diet. In 8 weeks I'm down close to 18 pounds, and while I can tell in my training that running is getting easier for me, it's not showing in my race results. My training runs seem to be a little faster over all. And most races start out excellent, but by the end I seem to run out of gas. Even in the short distances.

This morning at the Kelly Canyon Half Marathon I was once again on target to beat my personal best (and by a large margin too!) If I'd only done the 10K perhaps I would have. At 6 miles I was still 4 minutes under pace and even though I was tired, I felt okay. And then it kind of fell apart on me. Everything hurt and I just felt exhausted. Honestly the last 4 miles felt more like the last 4 miles of a full marathon than a half. And thus I ended up walking for the entire final 5K's and finishing a good 10+ minutes slower than my personal best half marathon time.

My dad always drilled into me that we don't choose to settle for mediocrity. (Have you ever noticed the quote on the top of this blog?) I mean I want to know that everything I attempted in life, running related or not, is something I put my very best effort into. And yet I'm struggling because I'm feeling like I'm putting in the time and effort to train and eat right and take care of myself and yet the results are disappointing, especially for someone like me who expects so much of herself.

Proof!

2011-07-13T22:29:00.002-06:00

I didn't destroy the picture. I just didn't want to be reminded of the fact that my son, (like the rest of the freaks in my family) seems to have no qualms about the fact that snakes are literally THE DEVIL!!!!!! (It's in the Bible people!)

All this fun and a FREE laptop too!!!!

2011-07-11T09:45:00.005-06:00

I'd have to call this past weekend not only a great deal of fun but also a smashing success! I'll give it to you point by point.

1. Gideon got to help grandpa "drive" the big truck. - Several of you know my father-in-law is a truck driver. Every now and then he'll bring the truck home and let Gideon "help" him drive around the block. It's always great fun for both of them.

2. We left Friday afternoon & made it safely to Jake & Hillary's house in Provo. - It's always fun to visit because their dog, Toby, is seriously the best dog ever with kids and my kids LOVE him. Plus, they for some reason enjoy wrestling with Uncle Jake and he's a good enough sport to let them.

3. The Hobbler Half Marathon - The reason for the trip was so that I could run the half marathon out of Hobble Canyon. I was doing really great, actually on pace to FINALLY break 2 hours 30 minutes (which has been my elusive goal time for the half recently.) Up until mile 9 anyway, at that point my calves really started cramping up. I'm thinking it was the "gradual" downhill finally catching up with me. At any rate the last four miles were tougher than I expected and I finished in 2:41.15. Disappointing, yes, but definitely my best half so far this year. I have to admit I'm more sore after this race than I've ever been after a half marathon. But a soak in my favorite bath salts, frequent Bio-Freeze applications and a little ibuprophen and I should be ready to go this weekend at the Ririe Days Half Marathon.

(This is the only picture I have of Hillary from the weekend, a self-portrait of her holding Princess P.)

And here I come. Hobbling along (pun intended) to the finish. Oh well, as usual I may have looked rough, but at least I was dressed well.

Gideon didn't want to cross the finish line with me this time. I guess because there was too much else going on for the kids like face painting and a bouncy castle.

4. The trampoline & the swing - I think this is pretty self-explanatory. Gideon had a ball! Well, both kids did.

5. Yes, I said FREE laptop - One of the best things about having Jake as a brother-in-law is that he's a self-proclaimed computer geek. This really benefitted me over the weekend when he saw an ad for someone giving away two "broken" laptops. Unlike the rest of us who would steer clear and just buy new ones, Jake sees any kind of "broken" computer as an opportunity. Even if it's unfixable, he can still tear it down and keep the usable parts for future projects (because as Jake once explained to me years ago, the best computers aren't bought, they're built.) It turns out one of the computers only needed a new power cord & a virus removed and it worked perfectly. It's about 5-6 years old, but Jake reconfigured it and updated it and offered it to me. I've actually never had my own laptop so this is exciting for me. We have one, which Travis takes with him when he travels, and we have a 9 year old desktop at home that I use when he's on the road. The laptop I'd been using was a hand-me-down from my mom that was like 8 years old (and actually quit working on me a few weeks ago) I jumped at the chance. A working laptop & all I had to invest in was a new power cord?!?!?! SOLD!!!!!!!!

So yeah, a very successful weekend and definitely worth the trip to Utah. I'm actually considering going back down to run the Timp Half on the 30th, but I'll have to wait & see where Travis is going to be at that point.

A Fabulous 4th!

2011-07-06T16:38:00.007-06:00

Our holiday weekend started off not quite so fun. Gideon started running a really high fever on Tuesday evening. So after a trip to the Dr. and a diagnosis of Tonsilitis, we spent the next couple of days trying to keep his fever down with tylenol & trying to get him to drink enough not to get overly dehydrated.

Fortunately by Friday his temperature wasn't spiking up quite so high and he seemed to be acting well enough to go the cabin with Nana & Grandpa. They went up Friday afternoon and Parker and I went and joined them on Saturday morning. It was a fun weekend, Gideon "helped" grandpa put the addition onto his deck, I read a lot of books & magazines and Parker crawled around and got as dirty as possible. Of course we had to stop and get a few little fireworks to let off.

Parker liked watching them and chewing on the empty boxes (until of course we took them away from her.)

Dirty babies get bathed in the sink of course! (And the other reason I took this photo is because somewhere floating around in the world is a photo of Travis at about this age in this very sink....)

Sunday afternoon the kids & I packed up and left the cabin. After a quick stop at home we went to mom & dad's to spend the night with them. Of course Gideon had to have fireworks there too. Fortunately we found what was left of Uncle Cody's stash and were pleased to discover there were still some very fun things in it, like race cars and tanks. (You know the fun stuff for a 3 year old.)

And of course lots of sparklers!

On Monday morning I got up and left super early to make it back to Idaho Falls for the Firecracker 5K Freedom Run. It wasn't my best 5K but it wasn't my worst either. All in all we'll call it a success. While I was doing that, mom & daddy took the kids to the pancake breakfast in Menan. I joined them there once I was done. For such a small town Menan really puts on an amazing 4th of July celebration. There's a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, a 5K fun run and a softball tournament & a parade. As well as an all day "festival" with booths and vendors & food and games for the kids (fishing ponds, ring tosses, etc....) and all day entertainment consisting of local singers, dancers and musicians. (Yes, my mom performed, but I didn't happen to get a photo of that.) And their fireworks show is awesome. I won't say it's better than anyone else's, but it can hold it's own against any show in the area, which is pretty good coming from a town of 707 residents.

Gideon had fun on the seesaw & the swings and generally running around the playground like a wild man.

Gideon liked getting pushed by grandpa because he went really high! After the breakfast we went back to mom & dad's house where I showered & changed and then we headed back to the park for the festival.

First we did the fishing pond and the bouncy castles. Naturally we had to do everything like 7 times throughout the day.

Parker loves to give big sloppy wet kisses now! It's super cute!

Grandpa took Parker for a little walk and they came back with a pretty green beaded bracelet (which she was chewing on.) I asked him whose it was and he said, "Hers. She told me she wanted it." Uh-huh. Sure. I think grandpa just likes spoiling his kids. He bought his 3 unborn grandchildren all something from the festival as well as a hair bow for Parker and a ninja sword for Gideon. Plus he paid for him to do the fish pond and ring toss several times.

And what's Independence Day without a hot dog?

After my mom sang, we headed out to the truck to wait for the parade to start.

We were joined by Michael and Ashlynn who spent the rest of the day with us, so that was fun. And I got a kick out of the fact that my mom looks like she belongs at a polo match and not at a 4th of July parade. Sadly I didn't get any photos of the parade because I was taking all of those with mom's camera. but it was a good parade. Almost an hour long and lots of candy. Gideon would walk out in the road and just hold his hands out and then they had to throw candy at him, so he really cleaned up. After the parade we went back to mom & dad's to rest and get out of the sun for a while. The kiddos took naps and the adults relaxed. Then we headed back down to the park to wait for the fireworks.

Parker's cute jammies!

We were joined at the fireworks by some friends of Michael & Ashlynn & this super cute girl in the red & white is Hillary Crawford. A friend of the family from when they lived in Pueblo, CO who's now going to school at BYU-I.

That's our friend Doreen talking to mom. Her sons wrestled with Cody at Madison. As it got a little darker we broke out the glow sticks.

And of course we had to have some more sparklers!

My darling little toothless boy!

Sometimes I just wonder about this woman.....

The fireworks don't start until around 10:15 because it just doesn't get dark enough here until then. This was the first year Gideon actually stayed awake for the show. It was fun to watch and listen to his reactions. Although I do think he started getting a little bored and tired after about 20 minutes.

Parker fell asleep but then woke up a few minutes before the show actually started. And she amazed me. She was completey mesmerized by the show. She sat stock still and didn't make a sound, but just watched with wide eyes the entire time! It was super cute!

All in all we'll call it a success! The only downside was that we missed Travis and really wished he could have been with us. But oh well. Maybe next year.

Progress?????????

2011-06-29T15:27:00.002-06:00

Well I certainly hope it's progressing. The dirt hills are bigger the holes are deeper, the grass is more trampled, there's more equipment and pipe laying around. I hope this means they're actually getting the job done.

Although to be honest Gideon would probably be okay if they left the dirt mountains for him to play in. (I don't want to look at them in my backyard forever though.)

Still they tell us that they should be done next week. Fingers crossed.

(And yes, that's twig Parker's eating. I figure it's just extra fiber in her diet.)

Breaking in the new Suit

2011-06-23T17:48:00.003-06:00

On Monday while we were out shopping, Gideon found a new "CARS" bathing suit. (Sidebar, he's entering a second CARS phase because of the new movie coming out this week. He's soooooooo psyched about and about all of the new CARS stuff to be found around lately.) Anyway, the suit (which came with a matching tank top) was on sale 30% off and since he needed a new one anyway (the one he wore last year was still a 24 month size) we went ahead and bought it. Naturally he wanted to wear it right away. So that night he had to wear it in his bath just to break it in.

Yesterday we let him play in the sprinkler for a while so he got to wear it there too. Finally today the new suit was worn on it's first official outing. We went with friends down to Ross Park to play in the water. And boy did we ever have fun!

Gideon was fearless as usual when it came to running and playing in the water, so it's a good thing we were able to talk Grandma Cindy into tagging along so that one of us could always be watching him.

It took Parker a little while to decide whether or not she wanted to play in the water, but once she finally warmed up to the idea she was practically part fish.

She really loved it when Grandma took her int he lazy river. (That's one of Gideon's favorite things too.)

And yes, just to prove I was there, floppy beach hat and all:

We all had a great day and can't wait to do it again! I'm excited for the new aquatic center to open in Rexburg though, so we don't have to drive quite so far!

FINALLY SUMMER!!!!

2011-06-21T08:18:00.003-06:00

Back in October the city Right of Way office stopped by to tell us that there was a sewer line which runs under our back fence in desperate need of repair. Soooooo that meant that this summer sometime they'd be digging up parts of our backyard. Sure it's inconvenient, but I'd rather have a few weeks of inconvenience than a backed up sewer any day.

Anyway yesterday the project officially started. The guys working have been really nice so far. They even let Gideon play on the giant dirt mountain as they were packing up yesterday. But how could they stop him? This is like every kid's dream right?

Anyway the view from our front and back windows right now isn't very pretty. We get to look at equipment out the back and a porta potty out the front, but oh well.

After a much needed bath we went over to see Nana and Granpa last night. They just returned from a week long visit to Washington and naturally they brought surprises for the kids. One of them was a bow & arrows for Gideon. Upon seeing them he immediately proclaimed, "Me shoot moose!" And for the rest of the evening that's all he talked about. I swear where to kids come up with this stuff?

Besides playing in the dirt & planning moose hunts, Gideon & are going to celebrate this first day of summer in our grand tradition. Weekly movie dates to the kids' movies at the cheap seats! YAY! Maybe next year Parker will be old enough to join us, but for right now, it's still a mommy/son date!

Finding Ways to Fill the Hours

2011-06-15T22:01:00.006-06:00

So as of the first of this month Travis is working again steadily. Of course it's a huge blessing considering the 5 month lay-off with sporadic weeks of work that weren't really sustaining us. The only problem is that none of the local or non-traveling jobs panned out, so he's back on the road. And as has become the norm with this company, plans seem to change mid-flight. He left for a 4 day job and recertification in Utah and 3 weeks later, still hasn't made it home and is actually in Eastern Wyoming at the moment. It's been frustrating to say the least, but I won't complain because the work is appreciated.

As for the kids & myself, we're doing our best to fill the hours. This week is especially boring because Trav's parents are out of town and mine are scurrying to get ready for their 18 month assignment in Louisiana, so we really feel like we're on our own. Gideon reminds me at least 14 times a day that he's "Daddy's Boy" not Mommy's boy and when Parker's frustrated with me she breaks into her choruses of "Da da da da da da!" After having him home for so long it's been tough on all of us readjusting to being without him. It would be easier if we were having a real summer, but we haven't yet been able to string more than 2 nice days together in a row. We've had tons of rain and even more wind. Still, when those nice days happen, it feels almost magical. Today was close to perfect (except for the high winds, but that almost seems to be normal lately. The temps rise and so do the winds!)

Anyway we took advantage of temperatures in the 70's and met some friends for a morning at the zoo (before it got too windy. 40mph gusts today guys! SOOOOOO sick of wind!)

That's Gideon with Maddy & Emily. They're all just a few months apart in age and so are the younger siblings. Maddy's baby sister Arya is 11 months old, Parker almost 9 months & Emily's brother Camden is almost 8 months. So it was fun getting them all together and giving the mommies a chance to talk.

Gideon is pretty much always the fearless leader. But Emily is usually quick to follow.

That's a really fat bunny the zookeeper is holding for the kids to pet. Thanks to Aunt Jesse and her pet bunny Lola, Gideon is a pro with bunnies.

Brushing the goats.

Gideon was going to pose on the big chicken, but informed me it was too hot!

He did however climb aboard the lion without hesitation.

This is actually one of the kids' favorite features at this zoo. The lion head water fountain. We hit it about 4 times today I think.

Gideon told me as we were getting ready this morning that he was scared of the lions, but once we got there and he saw how far away the lion was in it's cage, he didn't seem to be very afraid at all.

I thought the baby zebra was very cute personally.

Emily is Gideon's very best friend. I don't think I ever knew what the term "they get along like gangbusters" meant until I saw he and Emily together. Unlike with some other kids I never have to break up squabbles between them. They always seem to work it out on their own and they seriously think exactly alike most of the time. It works out well for everyone since Emily's mom, Brooke, has become one of my very dearest friends over the last year. We are so very grateful to have them in our lives!

Don't get me wrong, he likes Maddy too, but there's just a special connection that he and Emily seem to have. And I enjoyed getting to spend time with Maddy's mom, Annie today. I'd never actually been around her much before this morning, so it was fun to get to know her better.

And just in case you're wondering, yes our princess P was there too. She spent most of the morning riding around in the stroller just enjoying the view. Once we stopped at the picnic area for lunch I let her get out and crawl around a little.

Naturally she was off the blanket and eating the grass almost instantly. That's just what she does.

She FINALLY gave in and fell asleep just as we were leaving the zoo. It would have been perfect timing except that we weren't headed straight home, we had some errands to run, so she didn't get nearly as much of a nap as she needed. Oh well, maybe she'll sleep well tonight.

I ruined Gideon's day several times today. The first was when we left the zoo. He definitely wanted to stay longer, but it's a small zoo and we'd already seen everything (some of it twice.) Then I made the mistake of putting his cheetos in a ziploc baggie instead of just bringing the entire big bag of cheetos for our picnic. And then I drug him into Sam's Club and almost left without getting him a hot dog. (This is something he knows from his many trips to Sam's with Trav's parents. They apparently always get hot dogs once they've made their purchases and so now for him it's an essential part of the Sam's Club shopping experience.)

On this particular point I was happy to capitulate. We weren't in a rush to get home and hot dogs at Sam's are cheap. Not only did he get a hot dog & root beer for $1.50, we also got an ice cream which cost us a whopping .97

That's when I committed the cardinal sin. As he was getting full and spending more time playing and chatting than eating, I was getting antsy to get out of Sam's and get on with our day. I told him repeatedly it was time to go and asked him if he was going to finish his food or if I should throw it away. Eventually he said he'd carry his drink to the car so I picked up what was left of his hot dog and ice cream & pitched them. OH MY GOSH! The tears shed over the trashed ice cream were devastating. Literally you'd have thought I completely broke his heart. All the way out of the store I was getting "those" kind of "looks" from people. I'm not used to this because Gideon doesn't often have meltdowns or tantrums. I can only think of one or two his whole life actually.

Fortunately it didn't last long because once we got to the car and were on our way he fell asleep in less than 3 minutes. He ended up taking a 3 1/2 hour nap today and probably wouldn't have woken up if I hadn't gone in his room to put away some laundry. The downside is that he slept so long he didn't want to go to bed until after 10 tonight.

We're at that stage of his life where "To Nap or Not to Nap" is the major question each day. On days he doesn't get a nap, he's in bed at 8pm easy. No questions, no fights. He's ready. (And usually asleep within minutes.) He sleeps great through the night and wakes up happy. But he's a complete bear to deal with through the late afternoon and early evening and some days it's a fight to keep him awake until a decent bedtime hour. On the other hand, when he does get a nap, he's much more pleasant in the afternoon and evening, but bedtime becomes a major battle. He's up and down and up and down and I feel like an evil Ogre because I turn into this ranting and raving Beast who tries everything from threats to bribes to get him to go to bed. And many times I give up and just let him stay up until he crashes because I run out of energy. And even when he finally does go to sleep, he doesn't seem to sleep as well through the night and usually ends up in our room at some point, where the question becomes, let him stay here with me, or cart him back to his room? To be honest, it ends up being about a 50/50 split on that one. Some nights I'm just too tired. So yeah the joys of having a 3 year old when you're the single parent in the house trying to keep everything together.

As for other news, pretty Parker has learned to pull herself up and she's mastered going up stairs. So I've had to break out the baby gate and start closing the doors to keep her from tumbling back to the bottom. (I've tried to show her how to go back down, but she's just not getting it yet.)

Still I suppose if the conundrum of naps for a 3 year old and having to climb over baby gates are my life's biggest concerns right now, then I don't have anything to complain about. In the meantime, we'll keep finding ways to fill the hours until daddy comes home.