To move or Not to move

Well, Jared and I went through a fast three day whirl wind regarding the sell of our house. All we had to do was put our John Hancock on the papers and return them to our realtor...well, there is no sign on our lawn as we have decided to stay. It was kind of fun to look, but decided, and it was ultimately confirmed to us that we need to keep our family where we are at for now. We are fine with it as we like our house and neighborhood for the most part. There is something you always want to change no matter where you live, so we are just grateful for what we have. I am not sure why such a strong impression was sent to me that we need to stay as so many times you hear stories of it not really mattering, (is mattering a word?!) but I guess it does matter for us at this time. I told Jared we should just work like crazy as though we still think we are selling, to get all our "get the house in selling order" projects done, so we can enjoy knowing they are done! But, that excitement seems to have quickly disappeared!!! I do have to admit I am a little emotionally attached to our yard and my flowers
right now with all the work I/we (Jared has made a nice garden!) put into it...
So, I hope no one minds that we are staying put for I'm sure quite a bit longer...I guess we will just have to add on and up one day!!! (p.s. I'm not copying Dibble's, I thought that months before they even started their house!!!) One day when we are independently wealthy-so probably never! he-he

ThE DrEaDeD SwImSuIt...

When I was a child the bathing suit for the mature figure was boned,
trussed and reinforced, not so much sewn as engineered. They were
built to hold back and uplift and they did a good job. Today's
stretch fabrics are designed for the prepubescent girl with a figure
carved from a potato chip.

The mature woman has a choice - she can either go up front to the
maternity department and try on a floral suit with a skirt, coming
away looking like a hippopotamus who escaped from Disney's Fantasia
or she can wander around every run of the mill department store
trying to make a sensible choice from what amounts to a designer
range of florescent rubber bands.

What choice did I have? I wandered around, made my sensible choice
and entered the chamber of horrors known as the fitting room. The
first thing I noticed was the extraordinary tensile strength of the
stretch material. The Lycra used in bathing costumes was developed,
I believe, by NASA to launch small rockets from a slingshot, which
give the added bonus that if you manage to actually lever yourself
into one, you are protected from shark attacks as any shark taking a
swipe at your passing midriff would immediately suffer whip lash.

I fought my way into the bathing suit, but as I twanged the
shoulder strap in place, I gasped in horror - my boobs had
disappeared! Eventually, I found one boob cowering under my left
armpit. It took a while to find the other. At last I located it
flattened beside my seventh rib.

The problem is that modern bathing suits have no bra cups. The
mature woman is meant to wear her boobs spread across her chest like
a speed bump. I realigned my speed bump and lurched toward the
mirror to take a full view assessment.

The bathing suit fit all right, but unfortunately it only fit those
bits of me willing to stay inside it. The rest of me oozed out
rebelliously from top, bottom, and sides. I looked like a lump of
play dough wearing undersized cling wrap.

As I tried to work out where all those extra bits had come from, the
prepubescent sales girl popped her head through the curtain, 'Oh,
there you are,' she said, admiring the bathing suit.

I replied that I wasn't so sure and asked what else she had to show
me.

I tried on a cream crinkled one that made me look like a lump of
masking tape, and a floral two piece which gave the appearance of an
oversized napkin in a serving ring.

I struggled into a pair of leopard skin bathers with ragged frills
and came out looking like Tarzan's Jane, pregnant with triplets and
having a rough day.

I tried on a black number with a mesh midriff and looked like a
jellyfish in mourning.

I tried on a bright pink suit with such a high cut leg I thought I
would have to wax my eyebrows to wear it .

Finally, I found a suit that fit - a two-piece affair with a shorts
style bottom and a loose blouse-type top. It was cheap, comfortable,
and bulge-friendly, so I bought it. My ridiculous search had a
successful outcome, I figured.

When I got home, I found a label which read 'Material might become
transparent in water.'

So, if you happen to be on the beach or near any other body of water
this year and I'm there too, I'll be the one in cut-off jeans and a
t-shirt!
anonymous

I Need To Go to Bed!

Here it is 1:17am and I am still up! Jared went to the midnight showing of Batman with his dad, Chan, & Kennedy. I have been researching some stuff on the computer and am starting to feel the tired effects of it being after 1am! This is Not normal for me. I love being in bed by 10pm! I was thinking it was okay because I could sleep in, but I just remembered I have to be up to take Alex to the church by 8am to go to his first cub scout day camp! I am getting old! Anyways, just want to tell you all your blogs are really cute and I hope one day I can make mine as cute as yours!!!
Good night, don't let the bed bugs bite! (now 1:22am!)

The Hinckley Challenge

okay- so it did take me longer then 3 months, and I did keep reading from where I was when I figured out I was way behind from trying to start at the beginning again, but, today I Did It! So here is my updated graph!

Aubrey's 5th Birthday

For Aubrey's birthday I took the kids to Classic Skating to swim.
We had a really fun time and stayed longer then I thought we would. We get a pass every year as it is a good size for my kids ages and a small enough area that I can see and keep track of them all! Last year Alex was able to go on the waterslides by himself, but sometimes got bored because Andrew was to nervous and I couldn't leave the girls to go with him. Well, to my great surprise after a few hours of playing in the little pool Andrew just up and decided he would go on the waterslides by himself this year! After the first time I couldn't get him off! Anika thought it looked fun and asked if she could go on, so I took her up and down we went! I then couldn't get her off! "We go again, mommy?!" Sure, it beats sitting in the baby pool for 4 hours! The funny thing about this is I couldn't get her to go down the frog slide or the new whale slide without her throwing a huge fit, but she loved the giant slide-go figure! Aubrey wasn't quite so brave, I took her once and that was the end of that!
However, she does enjoy the two other little slides.
I knew my camera batteries were dead so I put new ones in and got a few pictures before they died-? and then I knew my video camera tape was over so I put a new tape in and after about 5 minutes the battery on that died too! Well, at least I got a few!

The next day we had Aubrey's friend birthday party. She had a 'tea party' for her party this year with two of her little friends, Isabella, Larissa and her little sister Anika. I have down scaled over the years with how many are invited and the stress level of a big party! We just invited the little girls that she plays with each day (one couldn't make it) and had a 'girly party' (as the boys called it)! Noah was invited too, but he hung out with Andrew and Alex doing boy crafts! The girls got pink visors
(the boys blue)to decorate with butterflies, flowers, and markers. They then went to their tea party where they put on 'fancy' necklaces and had fruit and sprite in their little cups.
After 'tea' the girls made braclets, (which Jared was a great sport, as he helped string beads and restring beads as they kept falling off the other end when he was nearly done!)and the boys did bead peg boards.
Aubrey then opened her birthday presents
and got some cute things from her friends. That was very nice of them.
*side note!* I always hesitate doing birthday parties and fret on who to invite as I don't want anyone to ever feel obligated to bring something or have someone say, 'our kids never play, why did they invite our son/daughter?' I know I shouldn't worry about it, but I do and because of this I have not invited kids and people have been offended so what is one to do? Any suggetions out there?! *End side note!*
We then went back to our 'tea' to sing "Happy Birthday"
and enjoyed mini cookies, and cupcakes.
It was simple, but I hope that everyone had fun.
Now 2 July parties down and 2 to go! Christmas in July for us!

Happy Birthday Aubrey

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my AUBREY!
Wow! No longer a toddler-officially a kid now that you are the Big 5!
Five years ago, July 1st, Jared and I moved from Gaithersburg, Maryland into our first house while I was 9 months pregnant! Eleven days later we woke up early to drive to the hospital for a scheduled induction. Things were going normal except that she just didn't want to drop! After a few hours had passed that they thought she would be born by, they gave me the maximum allowable amount of potosin (sp) to help, but it did not. I remember telling the doctor I had a feeling the cord was wrapped around her neck, (as this had happened with Andrew and I had the same feeling as I did with him regarding the cord)but the monitor was not showing any distress at this point. Well, as she would not drop, they talked to me about needing to do an emergency c-section. (and I think the monitor was starting to show signs of distress at this point) This brought on tears on my part as I had only heard scary things about c-sections and I knew nothing about them. Of course we consented and I got my emotions under control and off I was wheeled to the operating room. I remember as we wheeled down the hall feeling like I was in a movie, that it just seemed surreal.
First, I just want to say I have the nicest doctor, but sometimes doctors get talking and forget that their patients are there! So, while they are 'prepping' me for the surgery they are joking about why the baby won't drop because of how big she will be. Now, another thing you have to know about me is I always want small babies, not that a bigger baby is bad, but only because they are small for such a short time, so this made me sad to think I was getting a 10 lbs baby! So, I am laying their thinking about this huge baby and wondering why she would be so big when I didn't get as big with her as I had with the others! Well, when they got 'inside of me!' and pulled her out, she had the cord wrapped quite a few times and most likely would not have made it had I pushed her through the canal. I remember thinking, "hmmm, I told you so. Do you remember me saying something about the cord? Was I not right?!" Of course, I didn't say anything, but never dought a mommy's intuition! And, she was only 6 lbs 5 oz! She was born with quite a bit of dark hair and dark eyes. She has kept her beautiful brown eyes that stand out with her now blond hair. She has this angelic look to her and is quite a soft spoken little girl and yet has a spunk about her.
We love our little Fluffy, Fe-Fe, Aub's, Aubrey girl.

I Did It!

I finally figured out how to add all of you back onto the side of my blog!

a shout out to My Man!

Add Glitter to your Photos

It's a Girl!

My sister had her first baby on the 19th and it is a girl! She was a brave one and did not find out the sex before hand. Her name is Brianne Elizabeth-cute name...
she was 7#11oz and 20" long. So, congratulations to my sister, Kim and her husband, Andrew. Here's to many sleepless nights!

Borrrrr-ing!

The van has been in the shop all week, so we have been stuck at home. Good news is, it is under warranty! Can't do my room projects because of our little wall problem so I have cleaned a bit and read a lot. Read the June Ensign from cover to cover, that is a good thing. Good articles if you are interested!
Any suggestions on how not to go Crazy with your kids asking for snacks every minute of the day? I already have told them 10am and 3pm are snack time! This will be a long summer if they don't stop asking! The van does come home with Jared tonight so we are going to dinner with our friends and their family, a little daycare with 8 kids between the two of us! That will be fun. So anyways, need to check on the kids in yard....until next time.
Smiles.

Marathon Running

I have decided to write out of chronological order and not worry about it!!! I have wanted to blog my marathon, but just have never gotten around to it! Actually, I did start and saved it, but it just got away from me! I ran my first marathon in May of 2007 in Ogden. It was one of the greatest things I have done and I felt so good after, and just knew I would be running another one sometime! Well, that sometime was this past April, Salt Lake City Marathon. This year instead of training by myself I recruited two other ladies,
Jennifer Hilbig and Kelly Engstrom. It was a lot of hard work and cold early mornings, but we made it to our date. Well, this was Not my best run in fact, I think it was the worst run I had ever run in the past 3 years if not ever! I don't know what happened, around mile 20 I realized I had forgotten to take my IBU which is what really gets one through the last 5 miles or so! I forgot my gum, which I need to keep my mouth from getting dry and it was hot, so it was dry, and I forgot to change my batteries, so I had no music! I was pouring water down my head and shirt to keep cool from the hot, dry wind! The wind was blowing my hair in my face, which was so annoying as well. Are you getting the point that it was just bad all around?! Around this same time, I wondered if I would make it, I told the other two to go ahead because I would if I were them and I know I was starting to slow them down! The race is an individual thing, train together, but get your own best time race day. It was bad, and since I did finish that mean I ultimately did not hit the wall, and I felt bad, so I would never want to know what the actual wall feels like! They say once you feel it you never want to feel it again and this is so true! Near the finish line I was hurting and I knew my face showed it, and I am sure anyone on the side lines was thinking 'oh, poor girl, that is why I will never run a marathon!' I finished, (I don't know how, but I did) in a longer time then last year, 4 hours: and I think it was 43 minutes.
This picture can't be enlarged, so you probably can't see my face to know the pain I am in at this point!

See, I don't even remember it was such a bad experience, some coach I was! I remember the good experience one, 4:33:00! The good news is I was only sore for 2 maybe 3 days! So, I am not a rocket, I am hitting the half way point as the Kenyans are finishing the race, but that is okay, I am just glad I have been able to run them. Good job to my friends who finished Jen 4:33 and Kelly I believe was 4:30. All I can say is I am so glad this was not my first experience or I don't think I would attempt another one. So, anyone who has ever had the thought cross their mind, it really is a fun thing to do and can be a fun experience! Well, until next year...who is in with me? Do you want Ogden or SLC? Let me know and we will get a schedule together!!! I prefer to train through the winter and not summer, that is why I am not suggesting St. George, but I could maybe be convinced...! "Waddle on friends" as the Penguin Guy says. (he writes articles in Runner's World magazine)

Happy Birthday Dori

Jared had a great idea for us to go to the zoo on Saturday to celebrate the elephant's birthday! Dori turned 86 and is now the oldest elephant in the USA. Here she is eating her birthday cake! We had a fun time singing Happy Birthday to an elephant,and hey we even got a cupcake
with the celebration! Everyone loves the baby animals and here is the cute giraffe.


And once again, the highlight of the day was not the animals, but the park,
train ride
and the new carousel!!