Goal Setting

Last January I decided that I would write down a goal for each category in my life. That would be physical, mental, and spiritual. I seem to do this every year and work really hard for a couple weeks and then kind of phase it out. However, I just accomplished not only my physical goal for this year, but a life goal as well. On Saturday September 27th, 2008, I completed the Akron city marathon. I (along with 1000 men and 500 women) ran 26.2 miles. It was an incredible experience. It was hard mentally and physically. There were a lot of hills that I walked up and I had to over come some major thigh cramps (by the way, did you know that if you cramp up you can run it out? I would always just stop before, but a good 2 min. jog and they leave!), as well as some blisters. I had been sick and throwing up the week before and so that made me more nervous, but I took it really slow and came in right at 6 hours. It is bitter sweet to have it over with. I was REALLY sore the day after and now (3 days after) barely have any signs that I ran a marathon other then my bruised toenails. In fact I was online yesterday looking for another one to do this winter. I think I am hooked and have that desire to better my time and become a true MARATHONER. There is nothing like it in the world. In fact I read that less then 1% of 1/10th of the population have ever run a marathon-pretty special. I would love anyone to do one with me-you pick, we'll train, and run together!

Here's to goal setting!

By the way-my pic of the race aren't back yet but I will post them when they come in.

PARTY

Nine nine year old boys...Need I say more? Yes, I need. Last night I descovered again how strange boys are. Because Cole is pretty mild mannered, I had forgotten. Let's just say LOUD farting noises, burping, air guitar competitons, wresling, and genuine anger. First of all, when all the boys came I had to crack a window (or all of them) because the stench was awful. Sweaty feet, pits and hair actually wet with sweat. I had everything planned down to the minuite as to how the party was going to go and what we were going to do. All I have to say is we did not follow the plan. After eating pizza the boys wanted to go outside and "eviscerate" eachother (yes, that was the actual word used). After about ten minites out there, two boys came in very angry and said they were leaving. Apaently, Cole told them to stop wrestling and they were so mad they decided they would take their card (which they loudly informed everyone that it contained $25 in cash) and leave. Cole started to well up and told them they couldn't take the card because they had already given it to him. Travis was able to smooth everything over by letting them know we were starting games and that there were prizes. So, they stayed and Cole got the money. We played a pop the balloon game, pin the tail on the donkey (which despite their age, they LOVED), and the layered wrapping paper game. After all those games, we still had a hour to go. So, Travis took them outside and lit the three remaining fireworks from the 4th of July and let them do sparklers. They thought that was "way awsome" . Then we opened gifts and had cake and ice cream. With still a 1/2 hour to go, the boys spread out all over the house and proceeded to "play". As boys were leaving, I heard form 2 that it was the "best birthday party they ever went to" and Cole got several hugs and thanks for inviting people.

Writing about it has now given me a headache. Boys. I think next time we will find parents for hire just for those few hours and go get a couples masssage.

9 years old

Cole's birthday was yesterday. As I told him to go get dressed for church, he looked shocked. With tears in his eyes he said, "but it is my birthday, I thought I would get to stay home from church!". He was VERY upset that he had to go to church and the whole three hours kept muttering that it was not fair. Despite the church thing, I think he had a good birthday. He picked lasagna, homemade breadsticks, and strawberries for dinner. For desert, he chose to have brownies and ice cream. He got some good gifts amoung which was a gameboy game. He was excited to play it, but at first could not find his DS. Anna eventually "found" it under her pillow. The screen had been cracked by "Taylor" (so says Anna). It only took me 2 minutes to get Anna to confess. She got frustrated while playing a game and hit the screen really hard. Needless to say, Cole could not play his new game. Anna will be donating her $7 to have it fixed.

Cole is such an important part of our family. His personality is so much like mine. He has a tender heart and does not like conflict (unless it is with Anna, then he loves it). He will still hug and kiss me as long as nobody is around and "I love you mom" is still often heard coming from him. He is really good at math and reading. when doing a job, he almost always does it right the first time. Taylor adores Cole and loves to mimic his actions. Cole is having a birthday party on Friday with 10 of his "closest" friends (half of whom I have never met). He keeps adding people to his list because he does not want to make anyone feel bad about not being invited. We love Cole so much and are so greatful he is part of our family!

Blissfully Ouiet

Yep, it's that time of year...SCHOOL!!! In the words of a friend, "I've just realized again that two are much easier then four." Only for me, I am down to just ONE. I will be honest, I felt a moment of panic when I realized that my babies would be out of my care for 6 hours a day, five days a week, but that only lasted for 20 seconds as I celebrated the quietness and cleanliness of the house. I do have a couple pictures to document the first day, but again, I have not spent the time it takes to figure out my new computer. So, descriptions are going to have to do.

Anna wore her new butterfly shirt which is brown and blue and ties in the back with capries that are denim and brown sketchers. I curled her hair "like Miley" and she picked out HUGE dangley earrings out of MY jewlry box. As she looked herself over in the full length mirror she posed and said, "I look soooo good!" She loaded her JoBro backpack onto her sholders, asked me if she could pick out my outfit so that I would not embarrass her on the first day of school, got pictures, and we were off.

Cole wore cool zippered shorts with a silky athletic shirt and "really awesome" sketcher shoes. His 3rd grade friend told him that he could tell Cole was in 4th grade because he was dressed so cool. I felt a moment of pride and confidence that I was still with it enough to pick out cool clothes for Cole. As we proceeded to walk up to school Cole walked ten feet in front of Anna and I and went to his class by himself. I was really tempted to go into that class and give him a big kiss and hug and say,"I love you my boy!". But, I knew if he was to EVER trust me and think I was the bomb, i could not do any such thing. I settled for going to the door of his class room and waving good bye with a quick thumbs up.

So, in the first two days of school I have met girlfriends at Panera for bagels one day, and the next we met friends at the zoo. This school year is starting out swimmingly.

Memory Lane

Memory Lane...the tag that gets everyone involved


I usually NEVER do the "Tag" games but since I saw this one on 3 separate blogs this morning, I figured I should give it a try....


I hope you will play along. Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Picture less

Well, I have yet to figure out how to attach my pictures...It downloads them alright, but the internet that we are using cacn't find the blogging site to sync the pictures to. I know posts are way better with pictures, but you really don't have to read this if you are not interested, right? I will try to figure things out soon though. I just wanted to give an update on several things.

First, I am up to 15 miles! Yeah! I ran 15 2 weeks ago. It was hellish. It is so humid here that before I even start to run, I am sweating. I run very slow. About 12 min miles when I am on a long run. My motto is "Slow and steady finish the race". During that run I went through 3 complete bottles of water and did not even have to go pee once-that should tell you how humild it was. Also, it was the first run when I tried any kind of energy booster. I want to train just like I will be running the marathon, so I tracked down what kind of energy stuff they will have at the water stops. They will be passing out a product called gu (pronouned goo). I found a running store that sells it and that is what I have tried. It is like thick hair gel in consistancey. They have all different flavors. My favorite so far is the vanilla bean and second is tri-berry. They do actually give you a boost for about 20 min. I could not have finished the 15 miles without it. This weekend I am going to run 17...wish me luck.

The next thing is, guess what I get to do again?!? I get to take ANOTHER driving test! I am beyond excited... Anna and Cole cleaned out the van a couple weeks ago and threw my paper work away. The really smart dmv does not keep records of testing on the computer. That's right. I get yet another chance at the wonderful menuverability. I count myself so lucky!

The last bit of info is that Taylor has officially reached the twos-a little early. He has to do absolutley everything by himself, or he throws a fit. For example, getting his bath ready. He has to be the one to turn on the water, put his toys in the tub, flush the toilet, ect. He has not figured out how to undress himself and throws a small fit when I have to help him do that. He is so stinkin cute. He talks up a storm. He uses sentences and always says "thank you momma" whenever I do something for him. He gets jelous when I pay attention to anyone but him and demands my attention. He is still enough of a baby that I don't mind lavishing my attention and kisses on him! It is a good thing that another baby is not in the near future.

We will be going to Utah in 2 weeks. We are all very excited to be "home" and have time with all of our family. I am a little nervous about flying with the kids and not Travis. Taylor will still be a lap rider and that is always pleasent! But the other kids are so good at traveling and are such big helpers. I know everything will go alright, but the thought of those 5 hours...stressful.

Alright, that is all I can think of for now. I will really try to get the pics up and going so it is not so boring!

Delay

Sorry for the delay in blogging. We got a fancy new apple lap top. I LOVE it. I will never, never go back to not having wireless. It is just one of those things. Like tivo-if you have it, you can't live without it. I mean, what would I do if I could not record American Gladiators to watch later at my convenience? Anywho, as with all new things, this computer is taking getting used to. I have actually written 2 other posts, but have not worked out how to get my pics onto the blog. The Apple just says it can't find the server when I try to attach pics. So, I just wanted to tell you all that I will be back to the full blogging as soon as Travis can figure it out. Until then, here is a completely pathetic joke that Travis heard in the ER the other night...

Q:) Where did Michael Jackson go to school?
A:) "Bringum Young"

Never Boring!

Alright. Anna is one of the most creative little girls I have ever come across. Certainly way more creative than I am. The other afternoon Taylor was down for his nap and the kids had STRICT instructions to play quietly or watch tv as I would be getting my daily beauty nap also. Well, I can ALWAYS count on Cole to sit and watch tv. In fact it was not long ago that he would proudly list that as his best talent (I think it is now playing the DS or on a good day he might say it is math). Anywho, I am always leery when I leave Anna to her own devises. Let me explain some of her "art"...

And the categories are: Nail polish
Tin Foil
Tape
Dried food (noodles, rice, popcorn)
Glue
Cotton balls
beads and ANY type of string
bowls, cups, plates, silverware
paint
Alright-really the list could include anything that you might find laying around your house. I mean ANYTHING she can make into "art". A couple of my favorite things have been:

Painting the toilet seat with pink nail polish so that is would look "prettier".
Using dry noodles put into two cereal bowls and then glue the bowls together to make maracas(only ONE of MANY ways that she can make maracas).
Chipping off the green paint on her bedroom wall and then gluing it onto a paper because the color was too pretty to throw away...
Going through a WHOLE stack of Sam's club paper plates-painting them and then putting prices on them to sell on the corner of the street.

Those are only a FEW of my favorite "art projects" that Anna has created. But, I think this beats all. Yep, she painted Cole's bike pink so that she could ride it and everyone would think that is was a girls bike and not a boys bike. Cole was pretty upset until I whispered to him that the paint was washable. Yes, I have learned that with Anna in the house, everything needs to be WASHABLE.

FAILED

I sit, my knees shaking, in the drivers license testing center. I am hoping against hope that I will not get the old white haired man. You see, he looks sweet, but experience has taught me that he is anything but. I think to myself, "I will fail for sure if I get grumpy gramps! Why does he not like me? I am youngish, cuteish and niceish. If anyone should like me it should be that old fart!" I heave a big sigh of relief when a man, no I mean a woMAN calls, "MS. Nelson?" Thankful that I did not get gramps, I stand up and walk to the front of the building. I put on my most enduring smile and wait for instructions.

"Vehicle make, model, color, and license plate number?"

"Ughh"..., I stammer. Already I am failing. What kind of a person can't recall the make of their vehicle when they drive it 25 times a day! Finally it comes to me, "Dodge caravan, silver, 2000, license plate number is...just a sec, let me look", I look out the window trying to see the numbers. Do you think I would pass if I got the numbers wrong? I couldn't really see the last one-it was either an 8 or a 2...I guessed 2 hoping it was right.

"Alright Mam" (mam? I am not 40...) "Go turn your car on and roll down the drivers window. Do not put the car in gear. Wait for me.

As I walk out, a nice black gentleman gives me a smile and tells me to keep my cool.
The woMAN takes a minute to come out when she does she asks me to beep my horn, turn on my blinkers and hit my breaks. I think I pass that part as she nods and climbs into the van. She explains that she will tell me way in advance when to turn and so forth. First we start with maneuverability...

"Pull up to this first cone and line your front bumper up with it. Good. Now go out and around the middle cone and line up your back bumper with the middle cone in the front. Now put the car into reverse and back up around the middle cone and back to the side..." Watch the back cone on my right... Too late. Put your car in park so that I can check the cone."

I sit there a little stunned that I ran over a cone that I did not even see.
"Mam, put the car in PARK as I am going to be behind you. I don't want an accident."

"oh, sorry", I muster as I put it into park.

Once back in the car, she tells me the directions to go out onto the street. I drive very slow (st least 5 under the limit) and cautious. It takes us 20 minutes to go around the block (app. 1.5 miles I am told). Back at the building the woMAN turns to me and says, "You passed your driving test, but failed the maneuverability. Would you like to come in and reschedule?"

Duh...? "Sure".

Now to summarize this story...

Make sure your kids are out of my way when I am backing up.
Never let your drivers license expire.
I probably would have been better off with grumpy gramps.
I am supposed to drive with someone 21 or older in the car at all times until I have a valid license.

Is it a felony to drive with out a license?

Check it out!

My good friend- yah, you know who you are- told me about this awsome blog. I have spent more then 3 hours on it at one sitting. It has recipies, stories, pictures... I have rarely seen anything quite like it. Check it out and leave me a comment after you look at it! I am interested to see if everyone liked it as much as I did. it is

http://thepioneerwoman.com

No, it does not have anything to do with mormons or old fasioned stuff. And you simply must read her "romance" posts...

Jane J Hanson

New Baby

My little sister, Mary(the one on the floor-only pic I could find of her), just had a new baby girl! It is her (and her hubby, CJ) first. They are both going to school at BYUI. Litte Jane J Hanson was born May 14th. She weighed in at a tiny 4lbs 13oz and 18 1/2 inches long. I am told that she has lots of dark hair and a little dimple in her chin and from the back she looks like a little monkey baby. Both mother and baby and father are doing pretty well. As you all know how difficult that first one is, it is hard not to feel a little sympathy for Mary. What with the soreness from latching on, bursting boobs, bad cramps, soreness sitting (and pooping), extra skin on your belly that resembles wrinkled jello, having to wear maternity pants home and the general yuckiness of that first 2 weeks that you did not expect, nor could anyone have explained it properly to you how it would feel. And not to mention the stuff that you DID expect like no sleep, endless crying, diapers out the wazoo, and a bad body image. It is a wonder that something thats head is as big as an apple and who probably resembles "grandpa" can overshadow all the discomfort and make everything worth it. I have not seen pics of the little bean ( her nickname) but as soon as I do, I will pass them along.

And for Mary-hang in there girl! I know what you are going through and how tough it can be. The mental stuff stinks just as bad as the physical stuff (maybe even worse), but it gets better and little bean is yours forever! Call if you need an ear...

Bad Blogger

I blog like I write in my journal. The goal starts out at once a week and then by the end of the first month, the goal is once a month, then...Maybe on important days? Anyway, sorry it has been so long since I have posted, and even longer since I posted pictures. A lot has happened this past month. First, Anna had her six year birthday! She did have a party. It was High School musical themed. There will be some pics following. Then, Cole had his very first choir concert. His class sang "supercalifradilisticexpialidocious" and some song about dreaming...The whole time I was sitting there thinking that this is the beginning of the end. I will probably be attending all sorts of concerts and performances for years and years to come. I had my birthday. Yes, I can proudly (and honestly) say that I am still below thirty-29 to be exact. I feel like I should act so much goofier being in my twenties still. I feel so much older than that! The other happening is that I am up to 12 miles in my training. So far so good. No knee problems, no more side aches. I LOVE this training program I am doing. If any of you would like the info on it, email me and I will get you the details. Also, my sister Michelle came out to visit me last week. She brought her darling 3 month old baby girl, Julie. We shopped and ate out for 2 straight days. The kids loved meeting Julie. Taylor especially loved her! I am so lucky to have sisters whom I love and who love me. They are truly my best friends. I can't wait for the day when we live nearer each other to hang out whenever we want. I will make the boast that I will be the most favorite aunt on this planet!

MUD

My given name is Maxine Unice Dupree. Yep, MUD. My parents were told after they had me that due to complications of my birth, my mother would not be able to carry a baby again. So, they thought they'd use both family name on one child. Lucky me. Maxine come from my mother's father, Maxwell, and Unice is my father's mother. Naming me this, they included both sides of the family and satisfied everyone-except me. All the trouble started in second grade. My inexperienced teacher, Miss Thompson, thought it would be a great idea to do a "spotlight" on every child in the class. Could anything be more stupid? A class full of children learning the intimate details of each others lives...That is a breeding ground for would be bullies to get embarrassing info on their targets. Needless to say, when it was my day to be spotlighted, I was very nervous. You see, nobody knew my middle name. Up until then I was just Maxie Dupree. So, as my teacher started reading my history, my face turned red and I put my head down on my desk. I did not hear anything accept my full name...Maxine Unice Dupree...after hearing that, it seemed my ears filled with water and nothing else was heard. Later at recess, I was sitting on a swing when I felt a rock hit my back. I turned around and standing behind me was the smartest, but meanest girl in my glass. She had a nice name-Emily. Emily was smiling cruelly and holding up something else in her hand ready to throw.

"Hey, Mud! That's your new name. Haa, haa, haa Mud. You look so dirty and you stink like mud! Hey everyone look, there's mud all over the swing."

With that, she let her hand fly and a nice round mud pie landed with a splat on my lap smearing my pink shorts with brown goo. I jumped off the swing and ran into the bathroom followed by the echos of laughter. You might think I was in tears, but I was not. I was furious! How dare my mother write my full name on my spotlight history? In fact, how dare my parents even name me what they did? And as for Emily, she was going to get it! I was angrily swiping at my shorts when I heard the bathroom door close. I looked up expecting to see my new enemy. I was surprised to see instead a small girl with long brown braided hair looking at me. I was even more surprised when she spoke in a loud voice,

"Hi. Sorry about your shorts. I heard what they were saying. Some people can be so mean. Here, let me help you."

I was stunned that anyone would want to help me right then, so I did not protest when she wet a paper towel and started wiping off my shorts. I finally found my voice and said,

"Uhhh, thanks... Are you new?"
"Yep", she said, "We just moved here last week. This is my first day."
"How old are you?", I asked.
"I am seven and three quarters", she proudly stated.

She was so small, I was shocked she said that she was seven. She must have seen the look on my face because she said,

"I was born too early and ever since then, I have stayed small."
"Oh. Well, my name is Maxie and I am seven too."
"I am River. River Brown. Do you want to be my friend?"
"Okay", I said. Suddenly my anger drained away ans I knew second grade would be alright.

Actually, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grades were all good because of River Brown. Despite the fact that we were called "muddy brown river" by all the other kids, we were happy. River was the fourth of five children. Her family were Mormons. The only reason for me to have cared about this fact was that on Sundays River went to church and could not play that whole day. Those were my least favorite days back then. River's mother had died when she was only four. Sometimes River got sad about missing her mom, but she really did not remember her and I could always cheer her up. River's dad was a lawyer. He moved his office into their house so that he could be there for the kids after Rivers mom died. He was always very nice to me and called me "Maxeroo". River's oldest sister, Nicky, was good at cooking and keeping the house pretty clean. She was really busy and did not have much time for River and I. The rest of the kids were boys. Jimmy was eleven and always gone, Alex was nine and a huge pest. He was always ruining our tea parties with spiders and pulling off our barbie heads. Ollie was four and he was River's responsibility. He was good about dressing up and playing house or princesses with us. Until he got older. Then we would have to include Star Wars or GI Joe into our games or he refused to play. I loved spending time at River's house. It was busy and loud. Something was always going on. I always felt like just another kid around there. River's family moved away the summer we turned thirteen. I missed her terribly and have never found another friend like her.

Maxie's Pantyhose

I was really late this morning. For some odd reason my alarm did not ring. I guess it could have been the fact that I forgot to set it last night; But, you'd think that out of consideration to me it would have set itself so that I would have had a chance to be on time. When the loud roar of the garbage truck outside my window woke me up, I only had a half hour to get ready and out the door. Instantly awake, I jumped out of bed and lumbered into the bathroom. No time for a shower, I stuck my dry mop of hair under the faucet. As the force of the cold water hit my scalp, I yelped and jerked my head up right into the tip of the spout. "Ouch, crap!" I ignored the smallish stream of blood that was now mixing with the luke warm water and proceeded to shampoo my hair, scrubbing extra hard where I was cut to try to stop the bleeding. I decided that I would forgo the conditioner (which was a gamble). But, I thought that staic head was better then really late head. Rinsing out the shampoo, I reached for my toothbrush and hurriedly brushed my teeth while I let my hair drain over the tub, my poor head throbbing the whole time. Sniffing my pits, I really wished that I could have taken a shower, but my secret and maybe on top of that my suave would have to do for today. After a quick swipe of both, I rinsed my toothbrush and fled back into my room. Luckily I semi prepared myself for being late and the night before I had set out my outfit. Although, as I tugged on my blue and white stripped button down cotton shirt, I started second guessing my choice of outfits. Does this look like I am trying too hard? Am I sure I should wear a skirt and not the pant suit that I love? The skirt is a little tight... would I look tougher, like I could handle things better if I went with the pants? But then what shoes would I wear? I could..."Oh Crap!" I shook my head and told myself that even if I wanted to change, there was no time and the skirt would be FINE! I decided to dry my hair before I put on the skirt. So, back into the bathroom I went. I dug through the cupboard until I found my hair gel, root pump, round brush, Velcro curlers, and the blow dryer. Hastily applying gel and root pump, I plugged my dryer in and proceeded to dry my limp, short damp blond hair. I could immediately tell that I skipped the conditioner as my round brush got tangled in a clump of hair. Feeling frustrated, I yanked and lo and behold, a clump of blond came out as well as the brush. Angry now, I threw the brush across the bathroom where of course it hit and broke the Anne Geddons picture of the sleeping naked baby. "Crap, crap, crap!" I did not have time to sweep up the glass, so I laid a towel over it and proceeded to dry my hair using the brush as sparingly as possible. Once dry, I ratted and sprayed to cover up the bald spot. Finely done with that, I glanced at the clock and noticed I still had fifteen minuets. Ahhhh...I was half way ready to go out the door. I got out my makeup bag and as my habit is, lined up the make up in the order that I put it on. First the base, then the black eye liner, then the nude, brown and green eye shadow, then the dark black mascara and finely the light pink blush. Going in order, I had my make up done and put away in record time. Now, back to my room where I grabbed my control top pantyhose and shoved one foot into them. As I was pulling them up, my nail snagged on part and rrriiippp. Hoping that I could hide the rip by tucking it into my shoe, I kept pulling. Yep, that was not going to happen as the rip kept on ripping up the whole leg. "Oh crap o la!" I was in big trouble now. These control top pantyhose were the key to my whole outfit! Reason being that the skirt I wanted to wear was really two sizes too small. My hope was that the control top would create a miracle. Last night I laid in bed envisioning stuffing my thick legs like sausages into each pantyhose leg, yanking, pulling and heaving them up the rest of the way. Then, tucking the extra "skin" around my middle into the control top, and finely looking in the mirror and seeing a beauty with skinny brown legs, a thin stomach, thighs that barely touch in the middle and a nice tight butt. Now, my vision was completely ruined. I would have to try the skirt without the miracle control top. Sighing, I grabbed the skirt , forced my legs into it and looked down. "Yeah, right Maxie", I said to myself, "If you can zip AND button this up, it really would be a miracle! " Giving myself every advantage, I laid down on my bed, breathed in and zip...only half way. Feeling very defeated and fat, I quickly went through my other options. One, I could call them and say I am in the hospital, two, I could buy some control tops on my way and hope they work, three, I could try tapping my middle with...no, that is stupid, okay, three I could wear my pant suit. Seeing my obvious answer, I stood up and peeled the skirt away from my body vowing to not eat until it fit. Kicking and stomping on my pantyhose on the way to my closet, I slipped and went down hard on my knees. "Crap it all!" I yelled. Wincing, I got up, hobbled the rest of the way to the closet, ripped out my pant suit and yanked it on. I was so over trying to look my best so I grabbed a pair of navy heels, jammed my feet into my socks, stuffed my toes into my heels and looked in the mirror for the final judgement. Grimacing at myself I muttered, "this is as good as it is going to get today, so own it!" Immediately my face took on the look of someone resigned do do something unpleasant with as much dignity as possible. I heard the taxi outside honking. "Alright, now or never..."

As I was sitting in the back of the smoke smelly cab, my head ached, I had a bald patch, I felt like I looked fat, my knees were sore and as I crossed my legs, I noticed that I had on one black sock and one blue. I sighed, well, I considered, this is the real me. Take me as I am or not at all! At least I will be on time...

Should I?

My friend suggested that I start writting a book and put it up page by page on my blog. I have always wanted to write a novel. One time I actually started one and could not believe how hard it is to do. You really have to get into detail-like minute detail-for it to be any good. Now I know why authors do character study on their characters. I think I will not start with a novel, but with random musings by one character. Then it can be as short or as long as I want it to be and still make sense. So, my big question is, would any of you HONESTLY be interested in reading what I write if I post it on my blog? Please be honest. I know some people just prefer lots of pictures and only a little words, so if this is you, let me know.

Derby Time!

Yep, the Pine Wood Derby... Cole came in fourth out of seven or eight. I think he was a little dissapointed until he got a blue ribbon ( along with all the other boys). It was fun to see all the dads and boys getting into it. It's funny to see how the dads react when their boys cars do not do so well. I felt bad for those boys who always got out run though. I would have given my pinkie finger so that every boy felt good about his car and his place in the end. Why is it that there always has to be a looser? Can't we all just be winners?

Back form Utah...

Alright, it has been awhile since I have posted. My excuse is that I have been visiting my fam in Utath. No, I was not there for the whole month, but you know how it is when you go on a vaca and it takes you forev to get back into the routine? I was there for a week. Travis was very kind to stay home and take care of Cole and Ann while I took Taylor. The reason for the visit was that my sister (Michelle) had a darling baby girl. I got to hang out all week with that sweet little bundle. Not to mention the other kids I miss so much-Connor, Kadance, Kaybria on the Johnson side and Rylee, Kolton, and Sydney on the Nelson side. I can't wait to move back so that they will all know me as the awsomest aunt on this planet. I am lucky to be so much older than my sibs so that as my kids are bigger, I can dote on, play with and indulge my nieces and nephews-oh, I miss them so much! Anyway, back to the point. The baby got the name Julie Dee. She had a little of a rough start, but is doing really well now. I was lucky enough to get to play with her a whole night long while Shell slept in 3 hour intervals. I am going to try to make a slide show of the pictures I took while there. Taylor was really the center of attentnion when the baby was not around. He performed all of his tricks and made me look good. It was nice to be in Utah. I was able to squeeze in all my "Utah desires". The list is this...Wingers, Training Table, Cafe Rio, Tai Pan Trading, Down East Outfiters, rainbow. Are my priorities out of wack seeing as 4 out of the 6 things have to do with food? Now you all know where my heart lay. Not all of it was eating. I was introduced to Yoga by my trendy mother, and we ran 4 1/2 miles the day before I was to leave. It was nice to get back home. I thought that the kids would have missed me a lot. I asked Anna if she did and this was her reply, "not really, but I REALLY missed Taylor!" Cole is a little more aware of others feelings and so out of him I got, "well, sort of-where's my present?" They were however more focused on me when I did give them their gifts from the grandparents.

ps-I could not figure out the slide show.

Loose Teeth

Anna has lost a couple of teeth and today lost another. It is her front, top tooth (she lost the other one awhile ago). The process is quite laborious. It not only includes a lot of wiggleing, but a little blood, a few tears, and a lot of time in front of the mirror. I tried to get her to let me pull it out, but she would have none of that. I learned my lesson not to insist on doing it myself when Cole had his first loose tooth. By the time everything was said and done, I basically sat on top of Cole and pulled his tooth out. Don't ask me why... to this day Cole hides the fact the he even has loose teeth and won't tell me untill they are already pulled out. Anyway, after Anna chanted "I hate this tooth" a dozen times, and, "I can do it, I'm a woman" more than a dozen times, she pulled it out all by herself! Proclaiming that she has heard that the tooth fairy gives way more money for big top teeth, she promptly washed her tooth clean, placed it carefully into her "tooth pillow" and tucked it under her pillow. After all that work, I sure hope the tooth fairy remembers that she has a tooth waiting under Anna's pillow at 2060 25th St in Ohio.

Mall Walking

This morning I met my friend Jessica at our local mall. I have some how talked her into training with me for the race and we decided to walk together every Wedensday, and do a long run every Saturday. Well, since it is freezing here and neither of us have a gym membership, we consented to walk the mall. Have you ever done it? We have now done it twice. The first time we were a little late getting there, so we ended up dodging nicely dressed people out doing their shopping. We only got a couple of wierd stares and a few rude gestures by the time we were done. Today we got there a little earlier and oh my heck! It was like a mob in there. There were so many people there to exercise. Little old men who like to look at and talk to the kids everytime we pass, old ladies who totally are into their workout and don't even glance at the kids, packs of heavier women, sometimes 4 abreast that are "exercising" but are walking slower then a crawl and gabbing louder than the kids (when we come up behind them, we have to take a short cut around and through the "stalls" in the middle of the mall because they don't move for nobody!), suprisingly we were not the only young ones walking this morning. I saw at least 3 other youngish looking moms toting strollers and grumpy kids-however, WE were the best looking moms there...It was so crowded that like on a track at the gym, they were going one way only-you felt very stupid if you went against the flow. As we were walking and of course passing everyone, little Abby proceeded to take off both socks and toss them over board along with her jacket, Taylor kept repeating "cuck, cuck, cuck..."(which is truck) louder and louder until I would answer him, and Jack made many conspicous slaps and pinches to Abby which would start her crying. After about 10 min, we decided to pull over to the cookie store and Jessica bought a dozen chocolate chip cookies for the kids to munch on. And of course we were parched and had to get ourselves a diet coke. After about a 1/2 hour or so of walking, we decided to go into Old Navy. Each of us bought something and were thinking of stopping in Buckle and Children's Place but decided against it because Jack wanted to go home and play "Mario" and Taylor and Abby were fussy. So, having spent money, gotten our diet cokes, and exercised all before 10:30am, we walked to our cars and decided to meet there again next week!

Neglected Child

As this new world of blogging has enfolded for me, I find myself sitting at the computer for hours on end. Yesterday as I was "blogging", the kids were at school and Taylor was left downstairs watching his "dance shows" (which happen to be the Wiggles) and a nice big bowl of fruit shnacks. Well, he only sits there until his shnacks are gone, so in approximately 3 minutes he was back up with me by the computer. He proceeded to bring me every truck he owned, threw a good portion of his toy box into the tub, dumped out Anna's beads in her room, flushed the toilet 30 times, pushed the on/off button on the computer twice, and dumped out the garbage in my room. I found myself getting quite frustrated with him until I remembered that it was MY job to take care of him. So, after a few more minutes on the computer, I took some pictures of the dumped out garbage, threw Taylor on my bed and proceeded to kiss and tickle him for a good 20 minutes. Then we read some "gooks", played ball, had lunch, and went down for a nap. My being on the computer caused 200% MORE work for me. So, I have pledged to try and only be on when Taylor is sleeping.

Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts!

A view of my buttocks

I decided that I would brave the cold this morning and go running outside. So, to find an appropriate outfit. Something that would let me run, yet keep me warm...Before I tell you what I came up with, let me say that I have promised myself that I would not buy anything in the way of new running things until I hit 10 miles. So, I was limited in what I had to wear. I decided on layering running tights and silky exercise pants on the bottom, a long sleeve shade shirt underneith a hind outdoor winter running shirt. My pants were olive green, my top was navy blue with florescent green stripes. For my hat I wore Anna's sparkley pink butterfly snow hat. So, now that you have the full picture, I go out the door and head off for my 3 mile run. As I start out, my pants start to creep down. You see, I have not worn these pants since last winter and apparently I have lost a little weight. Eventhough I would look like the biggest dork, I decided to tuck in both shirts to the elastic waist of my pants so that it would give me a little bulk and hopefully the pants would stay up. It worked! Almost. I was running good, going up a little incline and all the sudden I feel a little chill. Yes, the unthinkable happend...My olive green silky pants were down around my thighs. Everyone behind me caught a little glimpse of my cute bum. Luckily it had on a pair of running tights. I had to decide if I wanted to run with a wedige, or take the silkies off, tie them around my waist and run in nothing but thin tights. Not a hard choice-the wedgie. They were not long enough to tuck under my sportster ( I tried that too), so the whole rest of the way I could be seen tugging them up every couple of steps. I made it home in record time. I have learned 3 lessons from this run.

1-I must be a runner at heart to have worn this outfit
2-if you loose weight, buy new things
3-make sure your pants are long enough to tuck into your sportster-just in case you have a problem like mine

I have also recalled a saying from my old days. My buddy will be able to recall it... No pain, no gain. I have a feeling I will be repeating this a lot through out my up coming training.

Wall writing

I have an aunt that is extremely talented and crafty. You need to check out her stuff on her blog. http://terolswallwriting.blogspot.com One day I will have a house that I can fill with cute things like this. Because, like my mom, I am decorationally challenged, I am so happy that I have people I know who can help make my home look good. I would post some picks of her stuff on my blog, but I am also technically challenged and wouldn't even know how to begin to do that. So, check out her site and you can see all the stuff for yourself.

Running anyone?

Okay- I am going to run the Akron city marathon. Don't laugh! I already have 3 weeks of training. Truth be told, 3 weeks of walking/running for 30 mins a day, but I have started! The race is on saturday, Sept. 27th. I figure I can do it if I start training now and build up slow. When I did the half, I built up my miles too fast and ended up having to take 4 motrin before every run just so my knee would not shoot daggers of pain down my leg. So, my goal is to build up slow, train long and run it under 5 hours... I would love company from anyone of you! Check out the race details at www.akronmarathon.org

Rocket man

Cole (and his dad) were very excited to win first place in the scouts rocket derby. Cole proudly displays his ribbon and rocket in his bedroom. The pinewood derby is coming up and Travis took Cole to the store today to pick out a "model" for what he wants his car to look like. They came back with a box of weird looking hot wheels. I am just glad that I won't be carving that thing out!

Anna's Christmas Dress

Grandma "Bon Bon" bought Anna this beautiful christmas dress. Anna loves it and thinks she is the prettiest darn thing when she is in it. I think I would have to agree!

Not as dumb as I look

Alright, I got pictures! Taylor is our little man. He loves "kucks" which is trucks in baby. He got this lightning maqueen s/p? for christmas and has a hard time getting off for anything but "shnacks" whick in baby are fruit snacks...

Ahhhh What am I doing?

So, I am like the last person in the world to do a blog and I have no idea what I am doing. Do people really look at these things? I can't figure out where my pictures are on my computer to be able to download them to my blog. So, bear with me and I will try to get it up and going within a day or so.

Out of the mouth of babes...

The other day at church, Anna and I were sitting in sacrament meeting. Travis was home with the boys as they were sick. I was showing Anna pictures of Christs birth. I asked her, "Where do you think we would be if Jesus was never born?" In her innocent attitude Anna answered "At home..."