My Christmas Tree

I can't take it down! I love my Christmas tree so much. It's not so much the tree itself, it's everything about it. The first Christmas Chris and I were together, I was so amazed at his mother's Christmas tree. Her tree wasn't the type you would see in a decorators catalog. It wasn't covered in sparkling silver and gold. The ornaments weren't all the same with matching garland. No, his mother's tree was covered in memories. I loved hearing them talk about all the places they got each ornament. There were ornaments his siblings had made in elementary school. There was the silly stuffed pink elephant everybody wanted to be the first to put on the tree. Each ornament had a story. I wanted my tree to be like that.

The first year Chris and I were married, we were soooo poor. We couldn't afford any ornaments, so I made them. I got old Christmas fabric, sewed them in squares, and stuffed them with potpourri. That began our ornament collection. The next year, we had our first child. I made ornaments impressed with his foot and hand prints out of molding compound. In the years after, we created the tradition of giving each child an ornament for Christmas. We picked it out and gave it as a gift. Sometimes it may be a cartoon character they really like or a sport they have really enjoyed that year. Over the years our collection has grown. When we moved to Blanding, we discovered that our local pharmacy has the best ornaments, so we buy several from them each year. When we travel, I always buy an ornament. Most tourist shops sell ornaments throughout the entire year. A few years ago Chris started giving me several ornaments each year for Christmas. It makes me feel so good knowing that he cares about me enough to take the time to pick ornaments out he thinks I would like. Now after all these years, OUR tree is full of memories. When we decorate the tree we reminisce about the trips we took or Christmases past.

A few years ago I bought a pre-lit tree, and it is beautiful. I love my tree. I don't think I'll take it down for a few weeks. These pictures don't even show half the beauty of my tree, but enjoy anyway!

Christmas

I love Christmas! I know EVERYBODY loves Christmas, but I really like Christmas. I could do without the weeks leading up to Christmas. Christmas day, and the days after are when I really start feeling the Christmas spirit. I can finally relax. I don't have shopping, delivering, parties, or baking to do. I can just enjoy my family and especially my husband who has several days off.

We have several Christmas traditions, but one of my favorite is our Christmas dinner. We always make homemade spinach pasta, a huge yummy salad, Martinelli's, and cheesecake. It is sooooo delicious. This year we had Chris' family here to enjoy it with us. It snowed so much on Christmas day. It was my first actual white Christmas. I LOVED it! We played in the snow all day. Chris' dad and brother shovelled our carport off. There were over 17 inches of snow on it, and we thought it may not hold up! I even let Braxton and Calvin jump off the roof into a huge snow pile. They thought I was the coolest mom on the block!

This is Roy rockin' in his aunts boots!

This is a double pic, but I can't figure out how to get it off. Here is Calvin and Anden sitting on Chris' sister Meagan's lap. Anden clung to Meagan all weekend long. He is in love with her. She was such a good sport, and spoiled him with all her attention. Thanks Meag!The city of Blanding does a really good job of keeping the roads clear, especially for all the snow we've been getting, but it cracks us up every time we see the John Deer coming down our road to plow. I guess you do what you gotta do!

Chris and I jammin out on Guitar Hero.

Yay!

I found my cord, so here are some pictures from the last couple months. I seriously think I'm getting Alzheimer's. Chris said I am getting Youngheimers. I forget where I put EVERYTHING. My brain feels like it's mush in my head. I sometimes forget my own friends NAMES. It makes me feel like an idiot.

The cord was exactly where it was supposed to be. I had organized my computer desk and put all the cords together. I do that alot. I organize things, then forget how I organized it. If it's not thrown where I usually toss it, then I clearly have no idea where to look for it. I can only imagine what old age is going to be like. Yesterday I lost my wallet, so I had to use Chris' debit card. I'm always loosing keys, important lists, and everything else. The most funny thing about this is that I had the best memory as a child. If my mom had lost anything, she would always ask me where it was because she knew I'd remember where I had seen it.

The Last 2 Months

Andy finally got to sit on Santa's lap. Braxton and Calvin weren't having it, though. They said Santa already knew what they wanted because they wrote him a letter. Their friends were there, so I think they thought they were too cool for Santa. How sad!


We went to a concert with my whole family and here are the boys after.

We got soooo much snow. We played in it a ton. I was afraid to let Roy out of my sight because if he would have fallen down, I wouldn't have been able to find him. We got 13 inches in just one storm, and several more in another. It's snowing again today! I love the snow. I'll never complain about it.

Chris and I ran a race in Moab. Chris did fabulous. I, on the other hand, need some serious work. I don't think Hepworth's were made for running.

Braxton LOVED the pinewood derby. He designed, made , and painted his car by himself. When they drilled holes in the bottom of his car to add weight, he was in tears. He would rather keep his car the way he made it than win. He's a sensitive little kid. His car did awesome, though, especially for being a triangle.

The Last 2 Months part II

We love putting puzzles together on Holiday's.

Calvin wouldn't let me or Chris touch his loose tooth. It's been loose for over 6 months. Finally, while Chris was brushing Calvin's teeth, he wacked the loose tooth with the toothbrush. The tooth was DANGLING there. We thought it was coming out for sure. Nope, Calvin wouldn't have it. He'd barely wiggle the dang thing.

Finally, the next day at school, he was playing kick ball, and the ball hit him in the face. The tooth popped right out! He was one happy kid. The tooth fairy left $5 since it took him so long to loose it.

Chris had a birthday, and is now officially OLD. Just kidding...I'm right behind him, but he is 37 now, which just sounds so close to 40.


This picture cracks me up!

Shopping

Guess what?! I did almost ALL my Christmas shopping online, and I'm feeling pretty proud of it. I'm not one of those girls that loves to shop. I think I've gotten so used to living in Blanding and not having many stores around, that when I do finally get to civilization, I get sooooo annoyed with standing in lines and stores not having what I need.

Online shopping is like having Christmas twice. First, you get to pick out and get excited about all your stuff. Then when the packages come rolling in, you get to open them and see what you actually bought. My most favorite thing about shopping online is reading reviews about the things I am shopping for. You can tell if it's really a good product by what other consumers say rather than what the salesperson tells you.

Seriously, I can't think of anything I bought at a store this year besides stocking stuffers.

On a side note, while we were in Provo last weekend I learned that Calvin, my 7 year old, LOVES to shop. He and I left everyone else at grandma's house and took off to find some jeans for him. He is VERY picky about what he will wear, so I didn't dare pick them out without him there. We had the best time together. It made me not feel so deprived about not having girls. Now I can just take Calvin with me whenever I get that shopping urge. I love that kid!

BTW- I still can't find the cord to my camera :(

Surprise, surprise

This will not surprise you all who know me well, but here's the scoop. I have several pictures from the last month or so I've been wanting to post on my blog. Well, time is short, so I haven't been able to find the time to post them. Well now I have the time, but guess what? I can't find the cord to my camera so I can't transfer the images over. No, this is not a surprise to me at all. This happens all the time. I have looked everywhere. I think it grew feet and walked away!

Oh well, to put it in a nutshell: Calvin lost his first tooth, we had an awesome Thanksgiving, the kids did tons of cute things, and we had a huge snowstorm. There ya go.

Let's just hope my memory card doesn't fill up before the cord decides to come running back.

Kitchen Craziness

I haven't posted in a while because we've had house guests. Chris' dad is roofing a house in Monticello, so we're entertaining him and another worker. I have tons to write about and tons of pictures to share, but it'll have to wait until later.

The kitchen craziness is coming in the form of a 2 year old thief. Roy loves my kitchen utensils. His first choice were the nutcrackers. Since I don't really use the nutcrackers, I succumbed and let him carry it around. He carried it everywhere as his prized possession, pinching everything at eye level...my rear end is at eye level :) He wouldn't even put it down to go in the grocery store.

Now he's figuring out what the "valuable" kitchen utensils are: the beaters, spatulas, and wooden spoons. I'm going crazy. They are strewn all over my house, and he refuses to fork them over;)

I know what you're thinking, "put a child lock on the drawer, silly lady." And to that...the kid knows how to break them. Yes, you heard me right. Since he was old enough to walk, he figured out that all he had to do was pull the drawer in and out as hard and fast as he could and SNAP. Oh well, maybe I'll have a future cook in the family. That might not be such a bad thing!

Back in the Saddle

After a long hiatus, I am back in the saddle, literally...my bike saddle, that is. It's not that I haven't been riding my bike. I have been doing it here and there, just not consistently. After my half-ironman in August, I was completely burned out. I needed a break. My family needed me to take a break. I just didn't know I needed THIS long of a break. After almost 4 months, 10 lbs., and tons of junk food, I've started training again.

In a fit of exercise madness last spring, I signed up for another half-ironman in April 2009. This was even before I had started training for the one I did in August. "How hard can it be," I told myself. Well, now I am kinda regretting signing up. I really hate being cold, and now I have to train all winter long.

There are a few positives that will come out of this, though.

1. I will probably lose the weight I have gained.

2. I am taking the whole family with me to San Diego, and we are staying in a condo right on the beach!

3. After this race I'll feel pretty entitled in taking the whole summer off and vegging.

So this week marked the beginning of my 20 week training plan. It feels so good to be working toward something again. It feels so good to push my body to its limits. And, it feels so good to finally ride my bike several times in the week. I love her so much (my bike). I view the world so differently when I'm in her saddle. Everything is beautiful, and life just makes sense.

So to help motivate me, I am posting some pictures of my race I finished in July.

Here we all are before the race, showing off our muscles and our body marking. Yes, they mark you with your age on the back of you calf with permanent marker.

Here is the mass swim start. There is usually a lot of thrashing and swimming over the top of people, but since this was an all women's race, it was pretty civil.

This is me on the run. Yes, I look like I'm walking, but I was just sooooo slow. It was so hot and I was hurting and feeling every mile.

Sweet success and a cold shower. I was so glad to be done!

Sick

I sit here sick as my boys and Chris are outside raking leaves. I am really sad because I want to be out there. We have so much fun raking leaves every year, jumping in them, and having leaf fights, and I'm so sad I'm missing it.

So, I'll drown my sorrows in this tag:

~10 years ago
Chris and I had just gotten married in May and pregnant 6 weeks later. I'm sad to say we fought a ton, and if it hadn't been for me being preggo, our marriage may not have survived. Don't worry, we're ok now. We missed the honeymoon stage of being married, and are celebrating it now ;)

~5 Things On Today's To-Do List
What was on my to do list (until I got sick) was:
1. Ride my bike
2. Rake leaves
3. Grocery shop
4. Go for a run
5. Go for a hike and out to dinner w/Chris (it's his b-day tomorrow)

~Snacks I Enjoy
Heck, I enjoy everything, but mostly I love to eat cold cereal, yogurt, and anything with sugar in it (I'm an addict).

~Things I would do if I suddenly became a billionaire
Build our dream home (passive solar, off grid home)
Hire a maid
Travel to the Bahamas
Take a Disney cruise
Buy a carbon bike
Eat all organic, homemade food
Make sure all my nieces could attend college
Give money to my parents and in-laws so they could retire

~3 Bad Habits
1. Picking out other people's bad punctuation and spelling. I don't know why, but it sticks out like a sore thumb to me.
2. Being too critical with my kids. I yell at them way too much instead of sitting them down and explaining things to them.
3. Spending too much time on the computer.

~5 Places I've lived
1. Hurricane
2. New York
3. St. George
4. Provo; Provo; Provo (we moved several times while there)
5. Blanding

~5 Jobs I've Had
1. Table Busser
2. Nanny
3. Cashier at a grocery store
4. Administrative Assistant
5. and my most favorite job of all.....DOMESTIC GODDESS

~5 Things People Don't Know About Me
1. I had braces and cosmetic dentistry done as an adult. I think I look just enough different that people look at me and wonder, but can't put their finger on it.
2. Chris plucks my eyebrows for me every Saturday night...sweet huh?! He loves doing it.
3. I love day dreaming. I am always wondering about and looking for the next best thing. I think it drives Chris nutty. He thrives on consistency. He'd love to stay in the same place, doing the same things for the rest of his life.
4. I have terrible circulation and very low blood pressure. My feet and hands are always cold, and whenever I stand up from sitting or lying down, I almost always get light headed, see spots, or black out for a few seconds.
5. I am ticklish on my head. I know this sounds so weird, but Chris knows the exact spot and he loves to see me squirm. I'm also a sucker for a good head rub!

Tag: Jilyn & Teala...that means you have to cut and paste and answer these questions on your blog!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

He passed!

Horray, Chris passed! Well, at least the first half of this grueling test. It is the CMBA exam, which will make him a Certified Master of Business something or other...who cares?! Now he has several more weeks of studying, then he will take the second half of the test, then write a paper, and he's done with his degree. I will be so excited for this to be over. It has taken so much of his time, but it will be worth it.

After the degree is finished, he will need to study his pants off for several months, then take the CPA exam. This is all part of our master plan. Ya'll will find out what that entails probably in the next few months after all this is over with. I am so stinkin proud of Chris. We agreed that if he gets all this over with by spring time, he can get a season pass to the golf course. He'll be in heaven all summer!

Nice little boys....

Calvin and I were sitting in the sun together a few days ago. He looked at me and said, "mom, I think you hit puberty...you're getting a mustache." I guess I need to wax!

Anden told me the other day that he hopes he's as fat as me someday.

I hope they are only saying these things to me, and not other lady's. They might not take it as well.

St. George

I love life here in Blanding, but I really dislike being cold. I am also a person who likes change and thrives on the next best thing. I know that's not one of my best qualities. Me, Chris, and the fam went to St. George this weekend. We dropped the kiddos off at my moms house (thanks mom, you're the best!), and headed off to a bed and breakfast. In the morning we both had a race at Snow Canyon. The weather was so incredible. I want to move back. Actually, I want Chris to buy me a condo there, so we can live there in the winter. The race was beautiful, too!

I was so lucky to see a good friend from high school. I hadn't seen her in several years, and we were able to hook up for lunch. I just feel bad for Chris, since he had to sit there and listen to us reminisce all during lunch.

Here are all the boys at trunk or treat. Braxton was a vampire. The older he gets, the more bloody and scary he wants his costume. What ever happened to cows and dinosaurs?

Calvin wanted to be a ninja. We already had the costume, and he BEGGED me to paint his face black. I told him that ninjas don't paint their faces black (since their mom's don't want to worry about black face paint rubbing off onto everything ;), but he really, really wanted me to paint it. I succumbed. The minute he saw his face in the mirror, he started crying huge alligator tears. He hated it. This kid HAS to look perfect. He begged me to wash it off, but every mom knows black face paint never comes off on the first washing, plus we were already late for trunk or treat. I told him we were leaving, and he declared that he would not be trick or treating. When we got there it was too hard for him to watch the fun and not be involved, so he washed it himself with baby wipes and felt like he looked pretty darn good afterwards. That's why his face looks the way it does.

Exhausted

Oh my heavens, I had huge plans to put a Halloween post up complete with pictures, but I just can't do it.

To start off, my newest news is that I am not working with the Young Women's anymore. I got released on Sunday. Can I just tell you that I love those young ladies! I am going to miss them so much! Chris and I have gone to the same church for six years, and I have been in the Young Women's for most of that time. I'm kinda sad, but I know the new leaders will do a fabulous job and the girls will love them.

I have a confession. When I was training for my half-ironman, I ate, slept, and drank swimming, biking, and running. It was all I had time for. Well, after I finished, without even consciously realizing it, I filled my time with internet and more internet. I can't even tell you exactly what I was doing. Definitely nothing productive. My house and family were really starting to show the effects of my laziness. So, I am turning a new leaf. After finally being honest with myself about how much time I was wasting, I am now only going to check email and anything else in the evening after the kids go to bed. I started this today, and I can already tell a difference. It's time to climb out of this mess I have dug myself into. It's really hard for me to admit this because it makes me feel like such a terrible mother and wife, but I need to make a change.

So that is why I'm not posting pictures or anything else for now. I am completely exhausted. I need sleep.

Praying for Chris

I've been praying for Chris a lot lately. He's not sick or anything, just under a ton of pressure. Chris has his MBA test coming up in 2 days. He is so nervous about taking it. He's been working for this for 2 years and is on the home stretch of actually getting his MBA. Lately he's been studying 30 hours a week just for this test. After this, he writes a final paper and that's it!

He is such a good man. I pulled out one of my old journals last Sunday, and read what I had written when Chris and I first started dating. Man, I was so in love with him. I thought he was so amazing and wonderful and I loved him so much! The way I felt then doesn't even compare to how I feel for Chris now. It is so amazing to me how much my love has grown for him. I never thought I could love someone as much as I love him. Our marriage hasn't always been easy. It still isn't easy, but we have always persevered.

Chris is such a good provider and dad and friend and husband. He always keeps my secrets. He works 40 hours a week as an Accountant, teaches accounting to high school students, does electrical work on the side, fulfills his church callings, and still has time to watch the kids for me while I workout. He helps the kids with homework, makes dinner when I've had a crappy day, takes care of our yard, watches the kids sporting events, and he hasn't missed a single parent teacher conference EVER. He puts up with all my crazy ideas and eats vegetarian meals just so I don't have to touch the meat. He's one of the most forgiving people I know, and is always the first one to apologize. Chris is the better half of our marriage. I always tell him that if I make it to Heaven it will be because of him!

I am so glad our kids have such a great role model to look up to. They love him as much as I do. I am the luckiest girl alive to have a man like Chris. I only hope I can live up to all he has been to me!

Six days

Can you believe this is six days of laundry? You would think I lived in a house of all girls with the amount of laundry we go through. I know many of you feel my pain on the laundry front. I actually don't mind laundry. It's one of my more enjoyable tasks, but with 6 people, it can be daunting. The laundry really piles up fast, so I try to do it about every five days. Today I only had time to keep rotating the laundry as it finished drying, then onto my bed it went into a big pile. I didn't get time to fold it until tonight. This first picture isn't even all the laundry. I have 2 more finished loads in a laundry basket, one in the dryer, and some on the clothes line.

One hour later:

Socks

Our family has sock issues.

First of all, check out this picture of mine and Braxton's socks side by side. His is the bigger sock. His feet are almost as big as mine, and I wear a size 9 too! It just amazes me how fast all the boys are growing up.

Here is a picture with Anden's initial on his sock. No, it's not so we can tell whose sock it is. It's because it's actually Calvin's sock, and he won't wear it anymore. He refuses to wear socks with even the smallest hole anywhere on the sock, and if it feels even slightly "funny" he won't wear it either. Since Anden could care less, he gets all the socks that don't pass the approval of Calvin.

This is a pile of Chris' socks. This guy is totally OCD about socks. There are 9 pair of socks here and that is small compared to what the pile usually is on laundry day. He has socks he runs in, socks he wears to work, socks to lounge in, socks to work in the yard, socks for church, socks for when it's cold, socks for when it's hot, and on and on and on. He goes through at least 2 pairs of socks a day.

Family Pictures

Yesterday we got our family pictures taken. There is a girl in town who does an amazing job. Let me tell you, I have been stressing about this for a long time. It took forever to pick our outfits out...of course they had to be color coordinated. I'm sure I drove Chris CRAZY with all the talk about the pictures and how we all needed to match, and how Roy better stop picking the scab on his nose or it wouldn't heal in time for the pictures (it didn't), or how I had gained 10 lbs. and now it was gonna show in the pictures....blah blah blah.

Anyway, it'll take awhile before she has them up, but she has a blog ( http://brookepehrsonphotography.blogspot.com/ ) if you want to see some of her work. She is amazing. She is a graphic designer as well.

She'll have to work miracles with us. Roy was bouncing off the walls, Calvin was cheesin' it big time, and Braxton had bloody boogers from an earlier bloody nose (gross, I know)!

Super Hero

Andy had been playing outside when he came inside and announced that he is a super hero! Of course I told him that was awesome. He wanted to know if I wondered why he was now officially a super hero. "Of course," I told him. He promptly said, "because I get this thingy thing and pick up bugs with it and move them." He was holding a super duper hero bug getter in his hands...a clothespin!

Feet

Yes, that is a picture of my freakishly skinny feet. And, no those aren't my fingers attached to them, those are my toes; yes, my even more freakishly, skinny toes. I am so frustrated I could scream. I have the hardest time finding shoes that I like, but finding shoes that I like AND fit my feet is insane. During the summer I live in my Chaco's. They are comfy, cute, and they actually fit my feet. Well, now that it is winter, I have been looking for some shoes so my feet won't freeze. To start off with, I don't like wearing shoes. I never have. The minute I get in the car or house my shoes are off. But it is getting cold.

I've been looking on Zappos.com. I decided since it is so hard to find shoes that fit, I would order several pair, try them on, then send back the ones that don't fit. I ordered SEVERAL pair. They came today. They all look terrible on me! They feel like I'm going to walk right out of them. The straps gape open. HELP! They just don't make cute shoes for narrow feet. They are all granny shoes. If you know of any cute, skinny, long (did I mention I wear a size 9?!) shoe, please let me know.

Wow, life is tough.

What a difference a day makes!

This year I decided to not plant a real garden like I usually do. I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time since I was trying to train for a long distance triathlon. Well, we had just finished our concrete driveway, and had some concrete planter boxes put in. Since nothing was in them, I figured I might as well plant some tomatoes, basil, and peppers. We were also delighted when a volunteer cantaloupe plant started growing between my lavender.

Tomatoes

It ended up being a great idea! There was something about the boxes that the plants really liked. We were surprised, and they produced a bounteous crop. The basil thrived so well that we fed our rabbits handfuls of it everyday.

Basil

On Saturday, the weather guy said it was supposed to freeze that night. I never listen to the weather since they are terrible at predicting the weather for Blanding, but for some reason I decided to listen this time. We picked all the tomatoes we could see (it was getting dark outside). We dug up 3 basil plants and transplanted them in pots to be bring inside so we could try to prolong their life. We clipped the rest of the basil so I could make and freeze pesto. We also saved 2 melons from their cold fate.

When we woke up the next morning, everything looked like this:

I didn't do it.

So I didn't end up swimming in the reservoir, and I'm sure as heck not doing it now. It is FREEZING! Last weekend there was a triathlon in Moab, and Chris and I did that instead. Neither of us had trained for it, but we decided to go for it anyway.

Chris was THE bomb. They reversed the order so it was run, bike, swim. We all know Chris is an amazing runner, but he is even more gifted on the bike. He was with the front pack during the run, but on the bike he passed a few more guys and was in 1st place!!! He is just built for cycling. When he got to the pool, there was a guy just behind him, and Chris told him to go ahead. Chris just learned to swim this year, so he has really struggles at it. He is getting better, though. Chris was passed by several other guys and ended up finishing 5th!

This picture isn't of this race. We couldn't take any since we were both racing. This is Chris transitioning from the swim to the bike at the Hillman earlier this summer.

My race went well for me. The run was tough especially with my hurt foot, but I survived. I was able to pass several people on the bike, and finished the swim strong. It was a really fun race, and we were able to do it with some of our friends from Blanding.

Yeooooww!

In Blanding our city pool is an outdoors and closes on Labor Day. That means after Labor Day if I want to get in any swimming, I need to go to one of our reservoirs and swim. Well, it hasn't really been that bad since I have a wetsuit. A wetsuit really does keep you warmer, and for me it squelches my silly fear of being bit by a fish. Yes, I said BIT by a fish.

Well, the last few times I have swam there, it has been pretty darn cold. The weather has turned really cold over the past couple days, but I really want to get one last long swim in. Do I dare to do it? It's gonna be COLD, and if you know me, you know I hate to be cold. Last year me and a friend had to swim there since we were training for a race in mid-October. I'm telling you, it was so incredibly cold. I seriously wondered if we would get hypothermia by the time we made it back. Well, now I am not training for a race, I just love to swim in this beautiful body of water surrounded by nature.

I'll let you know if I end up doing it and survive to tell the story!

Thank goodness for wetsuits, though. My crazy self signed up for another Half-Ironman in April of next year. It's in Oceanside, California, and apparently the water is really really cold. I knew I wouldn't be able to practice any open water swims just before the race since all our reservoirs here will likely still be frozen, so I have really wanted to get a lot of open water swimming in now.

I'll start heavily training for that race in December. I hope my foot can survive the run. As you may know, I have a gimpy foot. I injured it in July and it's been hurting every since. I'm slowly starting to run on it again with only a little pain. The most I have gone is 2 miles. Not much, but a start nonetheless.

This picture is of me coming out of the water at Barb's Race. They had a small strip of carpet to run on after we got out of the water so we didn't have to step on rocks and such. The guy in front of me had just finished swimming twice as far as me (they were having a full ironman at the same time), so he was probably just excited to be done with the swim. He was walking, and I was pumped to get on my bike, so I wanted to run. This is about where I decided to run past him and I stubbed my toe....owie.

His Favorite Place

This year I was so busy training for my Half-Ironman that I didn't plant a garden in my raised beds. Now I'm glad I didn't because they are Roy's favorite place to be. He goes out there almost every day and spends hours playing in the dirt.

And he loves tormenting the cats!

Poor Andy

Poor Anden got his first stitches this evening. We were all over at Chris' office and Andy came to me crying. I gave him a big hug, then realized he had his hood over his head where he was saying it hurt. I pulled it off and it was bleeding like crazy. Well, I'm the offical family comforter and Chris is the official look to see if it needs stitches man. So I told Chris to come see. He split it open to see how deep it was, and yup, he needed stitches. Chris took him to get the stitches. He said Andy didn't even cry when the Dr. was numbing it up. The Dr. was pretty amazed. This is the same kid that didn't even so much as squelch when he had to get 4 shots. He's such a brave little man! He told me he was glad he didn't get cut on the back of his head or he wouldn't be able to sleep.

NY Highlight

This is my NY family. It was the highlight of my trip to be able to see them. Jonathan is the one standing next to me. He has grown and changed so much. He's turning into a MAN, and I can't believe it! He's doing awesome things...he's in a band and is going to college. He is such a sweetheart.

Robyn is standing between her parents. She is still in high school, but is getting her cosmetology license at the same time. She is so grown up and is turning into an AMAZING young lady!

We ate dinner and reminisced. It was so much fun! They are wondeful people!

NY

This is Chris at Times Square. He loved NY so much. It was so fun to be there again and see him look around in awe. When we went to Grand Central, Chris just loved it. We found a corner and people watched for awhile. It is amazing how many people there are in this city! You never fully understand it until you visit yourself. Fun times!

While there we also got to see Wicked on Broadway. It was the best play ever. During intermission I broke down crying. Everyone was staring at me because the play isn't sad. I was so completely homesick. I missed my kids more than I ever had in my life. I knew they were well taken care of, but I just couldn't take being away from them for that long.

On our last day we NEEDED bagels. There is nothing like a NY bagel. I love them all...every flavor. I love them with every cream cheese flavor, butter, as a sandwich, or any other way they make them. We found the best bagel shop on the planet. They were AMAZING...man I'm making myself hungry! Then we went for a run at Riverside Park. It's a large park. We got separated, and Chris had the cell phone, money, subway cards, and hotel key. I cried. I asked a lady to help. We were lost most of the morning and on into the afternoon. I prayed. I looked ahead. There was my husband running toward me! Our NY experience would not have been complete without getting lost in the Big Apple! We drowned our wasted day in.....BAGELS...yup, we went back to the same place.

NY

This is Chris on the Brooklyn Bridge. Right after we checked into our hotel, we took a subway down to the bridge, walked across it, and ate pizza. The pizza was fabulous. If you've ever seen the Seinfeld episode about the soup nazi, it was just like that. On the outside there were all kinds of hand written signs telling what the "rules" were....no strollers, no cell phones, you MUST wait in the line, no checks, no credit cards, etc. When we finally got in, the place was PACKED. We were seated at a table with 10 other people who we didn't know, which made it tough for conversation. I was so glad to have this experience because I wanted Chris to see what NY was really like.

This is me after we had pizza in Brooklyn with the Manhattan skyline in the background.

The next day we went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I had NEVER been there during the 2 years I lived in NY! This is my favorite picture of the Lady. Chris and I had to wait in line FOREVER for security to go inside the statue. Ellis Island was really cool, too. After we got off the boat we were sooo hungry, so we went to Chinatown. We got lost on some side streets and it turned out to be really cool cuz we got to see what it's really like. There was tons of fish markets, and the fish looked like they had JUST been caught because they were still moving. Everyone was speaking Chinese and staring at us. Eventually we found an authentic Chinese resaurant. They only had chopsticks there and you had to ask if you wanted a fork. We wanted to fit in, so we struggled along with our chopsticks. The next thing we know all the cooks decided it was lunchtime for them too. They came out to a huge table filled with food, and whipped out........forks for themselves! We were cracking up! The food wasn't that great. Chinese food has definately been Americanized....and I learned that I like it that way!

The next day we went for a run in Central Park and visited Grand Central Station, the NY public library, Rockefeller Plaza, Times Square, and the Empire State Building at night. This collage is completely made of recycled stuff...cell phones, keyboards, mouses, etc.

Boston

We went to Boston and NY back in April, but until now I couldn't post the pics, so here goes. This first picture is me and our good friend Yvette. She let Chris and I crash at her house. She was a wonderful hostess. Thanks Yvette!

The next pic is Chris just after he finished the marathon. He was awesome! We loved Boston so much. Yvette's law office was in a high-rise, so she took us up to the top and we were able to see the entire city.

This is Chris sporting his medal. Did I mention he was AWESOME?! The food in Boston was magnificent. The seafood was so tempting, even for this vegetarian girl. Chris ate squid, and several other things which normal people don't usually eat. We wished the boys were there, but loved sleeping in too!

This is Chris and I at the Boston airport waiting for our flight. While running the marathon, the spring sunshine burnt Chris to a crisp...but only on one side of his body. He forgot to wear sunblock, and was soooo red. He wore his beanie for the first couple days after the marathon because half a burned bald head isn't exactly the look he was going for :)