Oh no he didn't!

Chris decided to give up soda for his New Years resolution. I decided to give up sugar. With my resolution, I decided I would give myself one free day (Sunday) to hoard and eat as much sugar as I wanted. Chris decided this was a really good idea, so on Saturday he's been buying a soda to drink on Sunday. He's been doing really good, and only drinking it on Sunday. He was even able to pass it up when we went to St. George a few weeks ago, and traveling without soda is especially hard for him.

Occasionally when he buys his soda on Saturday he'll get a big one and just drink the same soda the next Sunday. Last Saturday we went to the store together, and Chris picked out a 2 liter Code Red Mountain Dew. Sunday rolled around, and since he and I were fasting, he didn't get to whip out the soda until around noon. He drank a couple glasses, and I thought he'd be finished. Oh no, at 8pm he poured another glass. I remember thinking that he would never fall asleep.

We stayed up late that night, and were in bed around midnight. I was so tuckered out! Pretty soon I reach over and Chris is out of bed. I immediately knew it was the caffeine. I fell back asleep and reached over at 3am....still not there. I got up to take care of business and asked him what the heck he was doing. He said he couldn't sleep so he polished off the 2 liters of soda. Well, duh, that's going to keep you up.

In the end he came to bed at 5 something and woke up less than an hour later. After that, he decided cold turkey is the way to go. A 37 year old guy just can't stay up all night!

Hodge Podge

I was tagged by my friend Nan, so here goes. I was supposed to X the things I had done, then answer the questions.

Swam in the ocean X
Gone to Washington DC X
Gone on a blind date X
Skipped school X
Watched someone die X (this was one of the most heart wrenching things I have ever done)
Been to Canada
Been to Mexico X
Been to Florida
Been to a foreign country X (only Mexico)
Been on a plane X
Been lost X (most recently in NYC as an adult)
Been on the opposite side of the country X
Cried yourself to sleep X
Played cops and robbers X
Recently colored with crayons X
Sang Karaoke X
Paid for a meal with coins only
Skipped out without paying for a meal
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? X
Made prank phone calls X (remember Sing-A-Gram, Shauna?)
Caught a snowflake on your tongue X
Watched the northern lights dance (oh, how I'd love to do this)
Danced in the rain X
Written a letter to Santa Claus X
Been kissed under the mistletoe X
Watched the sunrise with someone X
Watched the sunset with someone X
Blown bubbles X
Can hula hoop? X
Gone ice-skating X
Been skinny dipping outdoors X
Gone to the movie's ALONE
Gone to a horror movie and laughed through it

1. Any nicknames? mom, hon, corn, corny, horny
2. Mother's name? Joyce
3. Favorite drink? water
4. Body Piercing? just my ears, and at one point I had them pierced 2 in one ear, and 4 in the other.
5. How much do you like your job? It's the best job I've ever had.
6. Dad's name? Terry
7. Favorite vacation? Boston & NY
8. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? Yes; and breakfast; and lunch
9. Ever eaten mud? Not on purpose
10. Ever been on TV? Yes, the Montel Williams show. I was in the audience and asked a question. My friend was so mad at me cuz she was sitting next to me and didn't want to be on TV. I have the tape somewhere.
11. Ever steal any traffic signs? Do orange cones count?
12. Ever been in a car accident? Yes
14. Can you drive a standard car? Yes
15. Favorite pie? I couldn't pick one. Pie is my favorite dessert.
16. Favorite number? 6
17. Favorite movie? I don't like movies, seriously. I sometimes tolerate them for Chris.
18. Favorite dessert? Pie & cheesecake
19. Book on CD or regular book? I love to read anything I can get my hands on. My mind wonders too much when I listen to them on CD, though.
20. Favorite food? Bagels
21. Favorite day of the week? Saturday....I get Chris all to myself.
22. Favorite brand of body wash? I've just started making my own concoction of organic bodywash. Love it!
23. Favorite toothpaste? I don't care...I'm going to start making my own toothpaste soon too.
24. Favorite smells? the desert rain, grapefruit, and patchouli
25. How do you relax? read
26. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Hopefully I'll be a better mom and wife, and live in the moment.
27. Furthest you will send this message? Blanding....hey, I'm just sending it to my blog.
28. Who will respond to this the fastest? My sis
29. What is your favorite breed of dog? I don't know if we'll ever have a dog, but ever since my good friend, Becca, had her Basset Hounds, I've always wanted one.
30. Like to celebrate by going out or staying in? Both....sometimes I love to just veg at home, but going out is fun too!

Silver Haired Gramps

Ok, so he's not even close to being a grandpa, but Chris is getting grey hair. You may be wondering how I know this since Chris doesn't have any hair on his head, but what he DOES have is a goatee. As we were chatting tonight, I noticed a whole patch of silver hairs. I already knew Chris had one or two silver hairs, but not a whole PATCH! It totally freaked me out. Not because I don't want him to get old, or because I don't want ME to get old, or because I thought it looked bad on him. It was because I realized WE ARE AGING! Yes, folks, I've seen the crows feet sneaking up on me over the last couple years, but seeing the silver in Chris' goatee made me realize that life is happening. My kids are getting older, and before I know it they'll be gone. And, with Chris being 5 years older than me, I am just behind him. I've always loved the fact that I don't HAVE to color my hair. I actually like my natural hair color, but in the next couple years, I am sure my grey patch is coming. SLOW DOWN, LIFE!

Here are part of the lyrics to a song that totally describes how I'm feeling:

Stop This Train - By John Mayer
Stop this train
I wanna get off
And go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can't
But honestly, won't someone stop this train?

So scared of getting older
I'm only good at being young
So I play the numbers game
To find a way to say that life has just begun

The Sorest Weekend

Oh my gosh, I am so sore!!! And that is even an understatement.

I don't want to bore you all with running and triathlon talk, but here goes anyway. This last weekend Chris and I went to St. George to run a race. We dropped the kids off at my moms on Friday evening and drove the rest of the way in. On Saturday Chris ran a half marathon, and was fabulous....again. I ran a 5k and got a PR (personal record)!!! I felt awesome, and was passing people left and right, which rarely happens to me in running. About half way through the race, I started feeling beat down, and I was starting to get passed by people. My steam had just run out. Well, Braxton's favorite song came on my iPod, Kung Fu Fighting, and I thought, "I'm going to run this song for Braxton." He loves that song and dances his little heart out to it whenever it comes on, so I just imagined his energy in my body. I was able to speed up and even pass a few people that had just passed me. By the time the song ended, the finish line was in sight, so I sped up even more and finished strong. I really needed a good race like that. I've been doing so bad in my training and races. I've been feeling like I am just not cut out for this. I feel good now.

Here is Chris kicking butt at the end of his race.

But....that's not why I'm sore. After that Chris and I found this little hole in the wall sandwich shop. I thought it was the best sandwich I had ever tasted! Then we drove a little south of Snow Canyon, parked the van, and jumped on our bikes. They had a bike trail, so Chris and I opted to ride on that rather than the road. OH MY HECK!!! There were some killer hills. In fact, I have never ridden up hills that steep. I've ridden up some pretty killer hills here in San Juan County, but NOTHING compares to those. If I'd have stopped I would have fallen backwards and rolled down the hill. In fact, my fear of falling down the hill is the only thing that kept me going! I can't even put into words how painful it was. Well, the trail met up with the road after about 10 miles, so we jumped on the road and went another 5 miles up. Coming back was a blast. Chris is a tank on the bike, so I caught his draft, and since it was all downhill on the way back, we kicked butt!

After that we went over to Sand Hallow Aquatic Center and swam laps. Then we had the best Mexican food ever. Poor Chris should have been the sore one since he ran the half-marathon, but I woke up with the sorest legs I've ever had. Chris felt fine. Did I tell you he's a tank? Dang my chicken legs!

We don't get to spend a lot of time alone since Chris is so busy, so it was really nice to reconnect and enjoy each other.

On the drive back, we stopped in the middle of nowhere. The kids had a blast throwing rocks, so here are some pictures of that:

Baking Queen

Yes, I am talking about myself! Chris got me a KitchenAid for Christmas. I knew I'd like it, but I didn't know it would turn me into a Domestic Goddess. I'm sure if Chris knew the powers of the KitchenAid, he would have bought me one a long time ago.

Since getting my magic machine, I've made probably two dozen loaves of bread, homemade pasta, pancakes, cookies, and BAGELS. Yes, that's right, B-A-G-E-L's. Oh, how I love bagels. I found a recipe online, and thought, "hey, if I can make bread, how hard can bagels be?" Well, they weren't super hard to make, just time consuming. They weren't the best bagel I've ever tasted, but then again, I used to live in New York and that's a lot to live up to! With the reception I received from my kids, I'll definitely be making them a lot. I am now the best mom ever and cook extraordinaire. Braxton thinks I should sell them. He thinks we'll be rich! Oh, such flattery will keep me cooking anything they want!

Edit: I don't want to give you the recipe I tried because I really think there is a better recipe out there. But, I am going to try this recipe next: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/homemade-bagels-recipe/index.html

The reviews on it are awesome. Also, I used the instant fast rising yeast. I think that made them more bready instead of chewy and yummy like a bagel should be. Next time I'll just use good old fashioned yeast. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Sledding Torture

Blanding has been hit hard with snow so far this year. We've had a blast playing in it and sledding. When we first got to the sledding hill, Roy was so excited to go down, so Chris jumped on the sled with him. The hill was super steep and long, and they crashed hard at the end of the hill with Chris landing on top of Roy who was face down in the snow. Roy HATED it! After that he stayed at the top of the hill and periodically we'd try to convince him to go down with us, but he adamantly refused and ran away.

A few minutes before we were leaving, Chris and I devilishly thought up a plan. I sat on the sled like I was going down, and Chris immediately threw Roy on my lap and gave us a push before Roy even knew what hit him. Well, I thought I would be a much better parent to ride down with since I am so much more gentle and not as rough as Chris is. I could MAKE Roy like sledding! Well, the ride down was fun, but we were going so fast that at the end of the hill, yup, we flipped over and I landed right on top of Roy in the snow. He was so mad! And being the stubborn mother I am, I still wanted him to like sledding. Kids are supposed to like sledding!!! So then I thought up a genius idea. When Roy and I were half way up the hill, I grabbed him and went only part way down. It was a slow easy ride and.......HE LOVED IT!!! He didn't want to leave!

The ride.

The crash. (Roy is under Chris)

The ticked off kid.

COLD

LPL (longer post later), but guess what?! It was so cold this morning that our car wouldn't start! That is flippin cold. I drove to the fitness center yesterday morning. By the time I got there, my hands were so cold they were stinging, and I had gloves on! It seriously only took me 5 minutes at the most to get there, too. I just can't believe how cold it is!