Another Christmas to Remember

Once we were all home safely from our little Arizona vacation, I could finally relax and enjoy Christmas.  Christmas Eve was spent cooking and finishing off all the last minute things that I ALWAYS leave until the last minute.  I know, maybe one year I will learn.  Christmas Eve we had my family over for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of crab in shells, ham, funeral potatoes and spinach salad.

Kids table

and the adult table.

My brother Nate sponsors an Iraqi family and so we had them for dinner as well.  Slight change in the menu for them since they don’t eat pork!  They don’t speak much English, but we loved having them.  It made it just a bit more special.

Musical number with Chris’ whole family.  He wrote a song and parts for each of his wife and children to take part.  It was very cool.

Gifts all around as the cousins exchanged dollar gifts and got presents from Baapa and Grandma.

Christmas Day was an exciting one filled with sports clothing, balls, trains, sleds, boots and guitar hero which Santa gave us used!  Since when does Santa give used gifts that don’t work right????

Jonah was so tired because the boys had woken him up.  He spent most of the morning sitting on Daddy’s lap and trying to decide if he was awake enough to enjoy it.  Once all of his trains were open, he was on cloud nine and played with them for the entire day.  Another Christmas has come and gone, and I swear this one was the fastest ever!

Jacob’s list

I just found a Christmas list that Jacob made at school.  

A DS

a new scooter

a rip stick

money

Ipod Touch

toy limo

for willer

a new pocet nife

I hope he isn’t terribly disappointed, he wouldn’t ever make me a list!

Worth It?

I have already mentioned several times how much I do not like traveling by car.  It bores me to pieces (I know, a sign of my unintelligent brain), it scares me (this I think is justified), I eat too much junk (I didn’t bring very much this time), my back and hips hurt (ya don’t tell this to our friend Mike who has a broken back and the insurance just denied his surgery).  I love to travel, but please just get me there by plane.

Now as we pulled into the Phoenix valley after a good 12 hours of sitting in the car, the temperature on the car said 75!  I rolled down my windows and took in that beautiful beautiful sun.  Sitting in traffic smelling the smell of the sun, suddenly it wasn’t so bad that I had been dying in the car.   A 3 mile run/walk with Bryan OUTSIDE and fresh authentic tamales for dinner.  Ya the drive wasn’t THAT bad, or maybe I can say that because I am flying home!

Christmas Time

So why is it that as we age Christmas changes?  Every year I think about how I can make this the best Christmas ever and then I realize that it is never going to happen.  This year especially I have been stressed out because we are going out of town for a few days before Christmas.  People keep saying, “it is good you are leaving, then you have to get everything done”.  Well I have realized I don’t work that way.  I like to visit with people and go and do fun things WAY too much to have to rush to get “everything” done.  And what is that “everything”?  I really don’t buy gifts for that many people.  I think it is the fact that I want everything I do at Christmas time to be the most spectacular thing, without a lot of effort.  I overbuy for my kids because I love watching them open lots of presents (although I refuse to buy gifts just to have them, meaning I don’t buy toys that will never get played with).

My friend Tiffany summed it up this morning when she said that Christmas for adults should be about getting together for dinner or other togetherness and just enjoy each others company.  I have decided that is what Christmas is to me, whether it is just with my little family singing Christmas carols (yes I make them do that with me each night), having friends over for dinner, going to dinner at friends houses, parties, looking at the lights.  These are the things to enjoy.

So from this moment on I am going to ENJOY every minute of the rest of the season, even while I am driving in a car for 11 hours!

Forget Baby, where did I go?

So after months of being told how much better my hair would look in a more natural color, I did it.  It is much darker than expected, but it is O.K.  This is the first time I have ever “colored” my hair.  Highlights don’t count.   So here it is, what do you think?????

The old me

And the new me.

Where did my baby go?

 

Jonah was in desperate need for a haircut so I took him today to my dear friend Emilee.  I said, cut it short because it grows so fast.  She cut it short and now he is a big boy with a buzz, she insists it is not a buzz.  I think it looks cute and in a few weeks it will be darling.  He on the other hand knows he looks cute, he just smiled brightly whenever she asked him if he was cute!

Thanksgiving Week

Every night this week I have thought, I have to go and blog about today,  my next thought has been, I am too tired I will tomorrow!  So here it is the end of the week and I have to recapture the feelings of this great week.

We started out Tuesday night at the Jazz game.

Jonah wasn’t feeling great so Bryan stayed home with him and we brought Nate along.

Wednesday was the annual and much anticipated tree hunt!  One of my very favorite holiday traditions, and I used to not be a part of it because I had to have the “perfect tree”.  I still get the perfect tree, it is just a different kind of perfect.  We went up near Strawberry reservoir this year.  It was so nice because the weather was perfect and we had the whole day to enjoy.

We sledded.

Jonah thought is was so much fun.

We relaxed.

We had lunch and hot cocoa.

Then off hunting we went.

There it is, my perfect tree.  Quite unique because it is actually 3 trees with one trunk.  I love it!  It took quite some time to chop down because of it’s size.  Bryan just rolls his eyes at me when I find my perfect tree!  He then happily chops it down (with help from me) and drags it all the way down the mountain (with more help from me).

Very successful day with a tuckered out Jonah.

Thursday morning we all ran the 5K Turkey trot at the rec center.  This was Jacob’s first 5K and he was very excited.  Brandon and I made a goal to beat our 2 years ago time of 44 minutes.  We did it in 39, I was very proud of Brandon he did a great job.

Chris, Nikelle, Justin, Nathan, Hailey, and all of us Evans before the race started.

Jonah took the easy route.

Jacob racing to the end!

Hurray we did it, now let’s go and eat some pie!

Thanksgiving dinner was fantastic.  We were invited to Jen’s parents house because we were the lone man out this year.  The food was delicious, the company was great, and the pie finished the night off right!

Now the week is over and Bryan, Brandon and Jacob are headed off to the big game.  I am staying back with Jonah, ahhhh I wish I were there.  And as I always say, no matter what happens today we will still love the Foster’s!

I am thankful for this great week and my great life!

Feeling a little proud of myself

I am not a creative person.  I can’t do things unless I am shown exactly how to do it.  I don’t come up with ideas in my head of how to whip up a Halloween witch dress, make cute cards or invitations, dry a pomegranate and use it as a decoration, scrapbooking and I don’t get along.  You get my drift, so when it comes to decorating I don’t have a clue what I am doing. 

My house is a hodge podge of things that have been here since I was growing up and then things I have added.  So here comes my proud moment.  We got a new TV stand (which I love) in our family room.  It is a dark cherry color and so nothing else matched or even looked decent (even I could see that).  So we debated spending more money on a piece of furniture, but decided we didn’t want to do that.  So I started thinking about the furniture we already had and then started thinking about my friend who had recently painted a piece of furniture.  I went and looked at the friends piece, which is beautiful, and decided I can do this.  So I hauled the piece up from the basement and out to the garage (with help from Brett B. when he saw me trying to carry it out of my front door), sanded it, painted it, and distressed it.  I am very proud of it and of myself.  It was not hard at all and anyone could do something like this, but for me it was a huge accomplishment!

Here it is, you can’t tell how good I think it looks, but it does!

A budding artist

This afternoon I was downstairs in the basement vacuuming.  I heard Jonah calling for me and instead of ignoring him, I turned off the vacuum and came upstairs.  He was calling me because he wanted his popcorn off the table.  I got his popcorn went to hand it to him and then noticed the PAINTBRUSH with BLACK paint on it in his hand!  I have been working on a piece of furniture, which I will blog about once it is finished, I had the paint brush in a bag sitting on the counter.  I do not know how he got it off the counter, he doesn’t climb.

So in no particular order here is the list of what Jonah painted.  The back of the front door and curtain hanging on it, the first two carpeted stair going upstairs, the living room front window and tile sill under it, the laundry room door, the bathroom cupboard and door frame, the kitchen floor, a rug in the family room, his slide in the family room, the floor in the family room and I just noticed I missed his booster chair at the table.

Thank goodness it was latex paint and everything except for a bit on the carpet is gone.  And double thank goodness that the bulk of the painting was on the hardwood floors and not the living room carpet!

I got it all cleaned up as Jonah walked around saying “I paint, make a mess”.

Baby gets what Baby wants!

Last night Bryan, Jonah and I were at TJ Maxx.  Once we left and were getting in the car, Jonah said, “want that”.  Ya whatever I thought as I buckled him in his carseat, he then cried,”want that” while pointing to Cafe Rio.  “want to go there, get quesadilla”.  O.K. at that point I figure if my 2 year old knows what Cafe Rio is and knows how to say quesadilla then we are going there!  It was 7:00 and we hadn’t fed him any dinner so he was justified in wanting to eat.

After a week of him being ultra cranky, crying for Daddy all day and all night, not wanting to eat anything, having a happy baby wanting Cafe Rio was a welcome sight. 

*Side note, it helps when your baby has been crying all week to look in his ears and if you notice stuff oozing out then he probably has an ear infection!

SEP…whatever that means

Today I went to Brandon and Jacob’s parent teacher conferences. First I went to Brandon’s where his teacher Ms. Trimble went on about how smart he is and what a good person he is and all of that. She then says maybe something he can work on is his handwriting and working slowly. Yep, exact same thing that has been said since he was in Kindergarten. She said well maybe he can accomplish these things by 6th grade.

Next we were off to Jacob’s teacher, Ms. Halverson. I still can’t comprehend that Jacob is in 2nd grade. In my mind he is still in Kindergarten. Anyways she told me what a wonderful student he is and how smart he is and what a good example he is to others and on and on (she actually started to cry while talking about him). Well I was very pleased because I never am quite sure how Jacob acts away from home. So she then says maybe something he can work on is his handwriting and working slowly!

I had to hold back my laughter. So I have two very smart boys who both do not have good handwriting and try to do everything too fast. Where does this come from? I have pretty good handwriting and I am quite slow at everything I do. It must be a boy trait. I am quite excited to go to Jonah’s in several years and see if he also has bad handwriting and works too quickly!

Week in Review

Just thought I would catch myself up on the week.  For starters we have had the most INCREDIBLE weather.  Remember how I don’t complain about the weather anymore?  Well even if I did, there would be no complaining going on.  It has been fabulous to be outside in the warm sun and enjoy everything about fall.

Brandon was the lead in his class play.  I have been told by other students that Brandon is the teachers pet.  This could be a good thing or a bad thing.  I think it is a good thing this year.  So I wasn’t surprised when he came home telling me he was the lead and had to memorize 42 parts!  He did a great job and it was fun to watch him.  He had a little cold at the beginning of the week and the teacher told him NO MATTER what, he had to come to school on the day of the play.  He felt just fine so it wasn’t an issue.

We played a lot with the Sowby’s as well.

Lunch with friends, always makes my week.  Too bad I don’t have a picture.

And lastly we enjoyed a Guy Fawkes party last night at the Unwin’s that was SO much fun.  It is an English holiday that we join in with the Unwin family to celebrate.  We ate delicious food, did fireworks and ended the night playing Beatle’s rockband, and a side note to my friend Erin, we played with 5 people and YOU MUST GET IT!

(This is a TERRIBLE picture of Tiffany and I, but I guess that is what we look like when we are trying to sing!)

And I am debating whether to voice my opinion (complaints) about daylight savings ending.  It does not affect some people’s children (Tiffany), but mine are still waking up at 6:40 a.m. instead of a more reasonable hour like 7:40 a.m.!  Makes me a little bit crazy, luckily we will be back to the nice time savings in the spring!

O.K. last thing, I promise.  I made apple butter last night with the apples that are STILL in my tree so if my little Shoko is reading this she will have a jar waiting for her when she gets home in December!

Happy Halloween

I love halloween, it is one of my favorite holidays. I love dressing up, I just wish I had somewhere to go once I am dressed up! We did get to go and crash the Murdock family event this year and that was great.

This year Jacob decided a month or so before Halloween that he wanted to be The night. Hmmmm I said, how will we do that? Easy he said, just put stars on a black outfit and paint the moon on my face, so that is what I attempted to do. The face paint didn't work out so well, but Jacob said, it is great Mom. Jacob is so easy to please. Brandon wanted to be Michael Jackson, but I didn't want to spend a lot on a costume so he was thrilled with the mullet wig I brought home for him on Halloween. Jonah didn't get a choice, Jacob was Yoda when he was 2 and so Jonah just had to be as well because I loved the costume I put together so much. He was darling! I have always wanted to be Cruella de Ville and last year my friend Lindsay bought this costume so I borrowed it for this year. I wanted the boys to dress up like dalmations with me, but they didn't think that was a great idea.

Next year I think I will have to at least have a family halloween party so we get to wear our costumes more than once. I love trick or treating and am sad every year when not as many people go out. I will continue hauling my kids around the neighborhood. So there are my thoughts on Halloween, it certainly came and went quickly this year.

Las Vegas Report

I have been home from my vacay for a week now, so I probably should report on my 4 days of bliss.  4 days of no children and no responsibility, nothing to clean, no one to cook for, no phone calls to make or emails to respond to.  Did I mention that I enjoyed myself?

We stayed at Mandalay Bay, which was quite nice.    I would get up each morning (after talking to Brandon) go running for a bit, then wander around looking at different things and then head to the pool area.  They have a huge wave pool with a beach, a lazy river, and about 3 other regular pools.  The only problem was the water temperature, I am a snob when it comes to cold water.  I am very particular about how hot water has to be for me to get in.  This is why I love Mexico in August so much, 90 degree water!

Usually around lunch time Bryan would come find me and we would walk around or sit and talk by the pool.  Then back to his meetings he would go and back to relaxing I would go.  I would get bored sometimes and switch my locations at the pool.  About the time Brandon would call me for the second time each day, I would head up to the room and get ready for the day.  Bryan would get done with his meetings and we would head off to find dinner.

The first night we walked all the way down to the Venetian to eat at The Grand Lux, which Bryan knew he would like.  On our walk back we toured the ENTIRE world.  We also stopped at CVS and got sunscreen (which I had forgotten) and snacks to keep me fed during the day.  We wore ourselves out at night walking and walking and walking, but it was fun.

The second night there, the conference Bryan was attending had an 80’s party.  Only the conference attendees were allowed to the party by the pool, but I snuck in.  I figure neither of us were drinking so we were saving the company money by being there.  I did go around and help myself to the appetizers.  Bryan decided he had enough of the party and so I took his badge and stayed for the fun to really get going!  Just kidding, I just wandered around fascinated by all of the people and thinking this was the coolest thing.  I stayed and listened to a few songs by Huey Lewis and the News, who were performing.  Once people started heading into the beach pool to dance I knew I had to leave or I would stay all night!  I had so much fun, but was a nice wife and headed back to the husband.  Oh and how could I forget the 3-6 phone calls from Brandon each night?

(This is at the party, the crew members were going around taking pictures with people, I got a big kick out of it.)

Now the only problem with the trip was the food  situation.  I was there with BE and so that means no good food for me.  He wouldn’t pay to eat at any of the “fancy” restaurants so we spent  A LOT of time looking for food.  One night I told him we were eating at the next restaurant we came to no matter what.  The last night of wandering the strip we were ready to be away from Vegas and to get home for some home cooked food!

My Dad and his wife Judi watched the boys which was so nice.  They all had a great time, except for at night when Brandon has anxiety and calls me a million times.  Also my sister Bethany and BFF Tiffany helped with Jonah which was oh so kind!

Cable Tv?

So here in our family we do things the old fashioned way.  We don’t have cable TV, if we want to watch something then it better be on regular TV or else we won’t see it.  We don’t really watch much TV so it hasn’t been an issue.  We had to explain once to our dear friend Quin Kofford that he would not have to pay for TV in his new apartment once he got married.  We showed him how our TV worked and the channels we got.  He was amazed, he had no idea that people could get stations for FREE!

So back to the statement that is hasn’t been much of an issue.  Well the times when it is an issue is during college football season and the NBA (Jazz) season.  Luckily we have our bestest neighbors the Murdock’s who let us come over and watch the BYU football games whenever we want.  We invade their house and have such a great time watching the games.  Last season there were 2 Jazz games a month on regular TV.  It was very exciting on those nights because we could watch the game on our very own TV.

O.K. so now to my point.  ALL of the Jazz games are on cable this year, every single one of them.  This has caused quite the stir in our house.  This week Bryan has been researching cable.  Every night we discuss the prices and we come to the conclusion that it is a RIP OFF!!!  I mean, why should I have to budget money to watch TV?  Plus I don’t want my kids to want to watch TV.

Well this will continue with each passing Jazz game and we may end up being people who have cable.

What am I doing?

I have several blog posting roaming around in my head and I can’t seem to find the time to get them typed out.  It isn’t that hard and it doesn’t take that long, but why can I not find the time?  Remember back in the summer when I was so busy and so mad that I wasn’t enjoying summer?  Well now that is happening in the fall (and some days winter now).  I don’t know what is going on, but I can’t get a grip on ANYTHING.  I walk around not remembering what I am doing and starting something else.  I can’t get a hold on cleaning my house, I have projects that I want to do and can’t seem to “find” the time to start.  I am in maintenance mode and only what absolutely has to get done is getting done.  O.K. so I at least have expressed my thoughts, now maybe things will clear up.  I bet it has something to do with the fact that I haven’t been to a movie or lunch in a LONG time.

Viva Las Vegas

I don't really know what that means, but I know that tonight I am flying to Vegas with Bryan. Definitely not my first choice of places to go, but hey really I will take anywhere! So this week while Bryan is in meetings I will be sitting by or in the pool reading one of the 4 books I am taking. I know I know, I have such a hard life. If I could say this without Tiffany reading it I would say, "But I haven't been on vacation since April"! Whoops, I guess I said it and she will be mad.

Anyways here is to my relaxing 4 days and no alarm to wake up to in the morning! Oh and I can't forget about the warm (hopefully) sun that will be shining down on me.

Apples and more Apples

We have two apple trees in our yard.  They are both golden delicious and they really do create delicious apples.  The problem most years and especially this year is that there are way too many apples for me to do anything with.   This year was a bumper crop, we actually have had several branches break from the weight of the apples.  Saturday we set out to pick the apples and rake up the apples on the ground. 

Jacob loved being at the very top of the tree, of course he didn’t have anything way up there with him to put the apples in .

Jonah loved throwing apples to Marley.

(O.K. this picture is from earlier in the summer, but this is what Jonah does every day when Marley comes on vacation to our house)

We picked so many apples and then raked up enough to fill the garbage can 3/4 of the way full.

Yesterday I spent ALL day making applesauce.  For some reason it was extremely time consuming this year, last year it was no big deal.

So here is the end result of my canning experiences this fall.  I am done no matter how many thousands of apples are still on my trees!

Ha that looks very Betty Crockerish.

Hmmmm what to write today

So I noticed that I haven't posted in awhile and thought I better come up with something. The trouble is I don't have a specific thing to blog about. So here comes some Friday randomness.......

My Dad and his wife Judi got sealed in the Bountiful Temple today. It was very nice and I am happy for them. This could be an issue, but I have the belief that it all works out in the end. I believe my Mom is happy for them as well today. We all love Judi and are so grateful for her in our lives and especially my Dad's life.

I am loving the weather today. No complaining coming from me, not that I do that anymore. I had to take off my fleece this morning while running because it was so warm, or maybe it was the hills and how fast we were going! Right now I can feel the warmth coming in my back windows and I love it.

Jacob just came inside and informed me that he can do a back flip on the trampoline. Sure enough I went out to watch and he can. I hope he doesn't back flip right off!

Bryan and I are watching The Office on DVD, we are almost done with season 2. I seriously cannot believe how funny it is. I can't wait until tonight when we can watch another 2,3,4 or more episodes! I love things that make me laugh my guts out and low and behold a TV show can do that to me!

I just read Sophie Kinsella's new book called, Twenties Girl. It was so good. I love all of her books, I wish she had a new one everyday so that I could always have a great book to read (great meaning entertaining with no thought having to be put in it).

Well that seems to be enough random of my life today. I hope everyone enjoys or enjoyed a fantastic weekend!

New Goals

In the past few months I have made 2 goals which I am trying to stick to.

The first is to slow down, not always be in a hurry everywhere I go.  This was brought on by the UK commercial about texting, which I never saw, but heard enough about.  I realized that even though I don’t text while driving (except for one time) I am distracted because I am in such a hurry.  So I am trying to slow down, which means I am usually a little bit late!

The second which is very hard for me is to stop complaining about the weather.  I am a complainer and the weather is my favorite topic.  It is never just right for me, unless it is upper 90’s in the summer and snowing at Christmas time.  So I am working hard on accepting the weather for whatever it is, there certainly isn’t anything I can do about it!  With that said though, really is this how the end of September and beginning of October should look?

(If my tomatoes and peppers don’t make it through, then there will be serious complaining!)

Yes that is snow and I didn’t get pictures from the day before when there was 1/4 inch on the trampoline.

I do have to admit it was a little thrilling to get out my cold running gear and run in the cold yesterday morning.  This morning on my bike was not thrilling, it was just down right FREEZING!

My Morning Journey

Almost every morning for the past several years I have been up on Bountiful Boulevard either running, biking, or walking when I have no energy. I go when it rains or snows, when it is dark in the morning or light. I love getting up and getting my exercising done for the day before I get the kids off to school. The other morning as I was running I started thinking about all of the people I meet. I tell my kids things about people I have never met, but have observed them or their house for so long I feel like I do know them. One lady and I became friends from passing each other so often. She moved to NSL and we don't see each other running anymore, but I see her other places and we still stop to say hi. I ran into an older couple, who are my very favorite that I see, at a store once and we looked at each other for a bit before we realized how we knew each other. In fact I haven't seen them in awhile and wonder what has happened. I pass by neighbors that I know, several groups of ladies chatting away on their walks, the man with the two dogs and his wife three strides ahead of him, the other guy with his dog that stops to stretch in the condos, the couple who ONLY wear University of Utah gear while walking, the super friendly couple, the man who walks with his arm in the air, the couple that no matter how many times I have smiled and said hi they just look at me funny. The list could go on and on the point is so many friendly people and people that I count on seeing and who I miss (and wonder if they miss me) when I take a different path or sleep in. What a great place to live.

Random Cuteness

Here are a few cute things the boys have done this past week.  No one cares about these, but I don’t want to forget them.

Last week while helping Jacob with his homework he got distracted and couldn’t remember what we were doing.  After me telling him that he needed to pay attention he said, “it is kind of like during the sacrament when you are supposed to be thinking about Jesus and you try really hard and then all of a sudden you are thinking about something else.”

Jonah has started “comforting” people.  If someone coughs (whether fake or real) he comes up to them and pats them and says, “you O.K.?”  Tonight we were playing flag football with some other families and Jonah and I went to sit in the car to warm up.  Jacob soon came to the car crying because no one would pass him the ball.  I had Jacob on my lap and Jonah got a kleenex and came and held it up to Jacob’s nose and said “here, Asha, you o.k.?”  So darling!

Brandon doesn’t do cute things like these anymore, but he used to.  He is still very tenderhearted and gets worried if Jonah or Jacob get hurt.

And here is the classic picture.  Jonah breaking two rules, but what I could I do more than take a picture?

His binkie in his mouth, which he is only supposed to have at bedtime.  And playing a video game which Brandon left on.  I rarely let them play video games, but while I was helping at a friend’s house he played and then left the TV on.  O.K. not like Jonah isn’t supposed to play video games, but I got a kick out of Jonah trying to play the football game!

Lessons learned

I learned two valuable lessons today.

The first is one that we have all known for most of our lives and yet sometimes we forget. Words can be very harmful, even when they are said in the best of intentions. Confidences shattered, for no reason at all. I am nowhere near perfect in this area, but hope to be a little bit more careful about what I say and who it is said to.

Second lesson learned, if you cry every Sunday at church then no one even glances at you to wonder what is wrong. Now on the other hand if you never cry, EVERYONE notices and makes it even worse!

Oh wait and a third thing, the RS teacher really should have focused more on that food comment!

A new calling

So about a week and a half ago a member of the bishopric came to ask me to speak in sacrament meeting and also to give me a new calling. For about 10 seconds I was so thrilled to know that I was being released from my cub scouts calling and then he said he wasn't releasing me. So I knew it was going to be something that didn't require a lot of time. Well when he said we would like you to be the Relief Society chorister, I about burst out laughing. I am not really very musical and have never led music before. I called Tiffany once he had left and she burst out laughing. She has been known to say she would rather conduct a meeting naked than lead the music at anything. At Brandon's baptism my sister in law was supposed to lead the music and was late so I turned around to ask Tiffany to do it and she said No way.

Anyways back to my story, today I spoke in sacrament meeting, no big deal. Then it came time for Relief Society and my leading debut. I was feeling confident with myself and that I would know what to do. Boy was I wrong! I was a joke, I couldn't keep up with the piano and I kept laughing. At one point I put the book in front of my face and then realized I had to keep leading. Thankfully it was a short song and I sat down in shame. Some people have said that they hate to lead because everyone just stares at you, well I really don't care if everyone just stares at me, but I have got to learn what I am doing. My nice very musical friend gave me a piece of advice so hopefully I can figure this thing out. The last song wasn't bad although I wanted to just bust up laughing. I came home and declared, I would rather speak in church every Sunday rather than lead the music. I hope next week goes better!

Seat Belt Police

A few weeks ago Jonah started

monitoring the seat belts in our

car.  As soon as we would start

driving he would yell

out, “Momma buckled, Daddy

buckled” or to whoever he

thought needed it (which I

always already had on my seat

belt).  Well today it became

more intense, “Daddy buckled

NOW, Asha (Jacob) buckled

NOW”!  We are in good hands

with our little Jonah.

Giving it a second TRI

Wasn’t it just a mere month ago that I was writing about my first triathlon?  Didn’t I say I was hooked and would be doing more?  Have I learned not to do them so close together? YES!

I got talked into doing the SDRC Labor Day Triathlon by my brother Chris.  He really wanted us to do one together and after putting him off for weeks I finally gave in and said, “O.K. I will do it with you”!!!  I didn’t train like I should have, I was beat from training from the last one.  So I didn’t do as good as my first, but I still enjoyed most of it and can look back and be proud of myself.

I was SUPER proud of Brandon who decided to do the novice division of the Tri.  He swam 150 yards, biked 3 miles, and ran 1.5 miles.  He said it was hard, but he liked doing it.  I got to see him swim before I did and could barely hold back the tears, I wish I could have seen him do the rest.  A few of my nieces and a nephew also did it and Jacob was so mad at me for not letting him do it (because I was already into this $70 with me and Brandon).  I promised him the next 5K I do he can do it with me.

This tri was the traditional swim, bike, run and boy was that harder than the run first.  I swam great, even though it was soooo crowded and then biked fairly decent.  Then I realized I still had to run 3 miles and wanted to cry.  I was all alone, but kept my feet moving.  I felt like I was at the end of a half marathon, barely moving.  Brandon and Jacob met me at the last 2 blocks or so and ran with me which made me happy.

I instructed my photographer (Bryan) to try to get some decent pictures of me this time, I think he did O.K.  I am now looking forward to a season of not training for anything!

Brandon and Nathan celebrating their finish

I can see me, but you probably can’t

Here I come at the end of the 12 mile ride

And ending!!!!

The Julian winners!

Salsa time

I went out to my garden on Tuesday to see if I had enough tomatoes to make salsa.

Yep, I think so.  Yesterday was spent turning those tomatoes, 2 home grown bell peppers, 1 home grown jalapeno (and some store bought produce) into this.

The result!  Yummy salsa and a very happy husband.

Jonah Baby today

I realized I haven’t blogged about Jonah in awhile and since this is my only source of journaling I better get something going!

He finally started walking in early June and I can’t believe he ever crawled.  You know how when they are crawling you never think they will really walk, well now I can’t believe he crawled until he was 2!!!  He isn’t quite up to running, but is getting there.

Jonah has always been a good communicator and he cracks me up all the time with what he says.  His favorites currently are:

When you ask him if he wants something and he doesn’t want it he says, “ummmmmmmmmm nope”!

If he does want it he says, “uh-huh” apparently in the same tone that I say it.  (that is what Bryan says)

If you call his name he replies, “ya”, and will do this over and over if you keep calling his name. (Lauren’s personal favorite)

If he wants a toy or something that comes apart put back together he says, “Mama break it”.

He puts lots of words together and it is so funny to hear his high little voice saying things like,  “Costco closed?”

His big downfall right now is waking up in the night.  Once he quit waking up 15 times a night and started sleeping through the night he has had no problem until this summer.   Currently he wants to be in Mama’s bed which I let him for awhile and then realized I had to stop that quick!  So now I let him sleep on my floor when he wakes up, which means he gets stuck under the bed.  Oh what a treat it is to be woken up all night long again!

He is a little bored at home with me now that “the boys” are back in school.  If we are going to go somewhere I can’t say anything until right before we leave, otherwise he cries and cries “bah bye” until we leave.  He loves to go to other people’s houses (must have gotten that from me)!

He will forever get away with whatever he wants because who really can look at his tiny little body and think of what he has gone through and say no?  O.K. I am sure I will be able to say no to him when he is older.  But really he is just so stinkin cute!

(P.S. The picture is my current favorite.  He goes outside to play with Nate’s dog Marley when Marley comes to visit.  Marley is very calm with him and lets Jonah do whatever he wants.)

Back They Go

Some parents love the first day of school.  I am not one of them. There are parts of going back to school that I like, but there are a lot more that I don’t like.  I like the getting into a routine and the kids in bed early, I like them being “entertained” by someone else for several hours, I like that my house stays clean during the day.  I do not like packing lunches, getting kids up on time and out the door on time, dealing with thousands of papers and things to sign, homework, worrying about them getting enough sleep (I know, I am uptight about sleep),  having to be home from exercising at an earlier hour, that it starts in the middle of the summer!!!!  You know, things like that.  Anyways I don’t have a choice in the matter, well unless I decided to home school, but that would not go over well with my mental state.  So here we are back to school!

(Brandon put a backpack on Jonah so he would fit in)

And also on this back to school day goes my wonderful friend Brookie Shoko off to China for 4 months.  Just like Lauren who left for Mexico, I am going to miss Brookie so very much.  She is a gem, really one in a million and those Chinese children are going to love her!

It’s My Birthday Shout Hurray!

I just love my birthday.  I love everything about it.  I don’t even mind having to get older in order to have it.  Today was a perfect day.  Bryan and the boys made me breakfast in bed and showered me with lots of presents (like a laptop, shoes, shirts, a pan that I wanted that was really hard for Bryan to find).

We then went on a walk to the cemetery and got caught in a big rain storm.  It was great.  I wish I had taken my camera with me, but I didn’t.  I don’t think it has ever rained before on my birthday, but with the weather we have had this summer, who was surprised?

The afternoon was relaxing and then Brandon and I went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple dedication.  I was kind of sad it wasn’t regular church on my birthday, but it was a nice event to be able to attend.  Bryan stayed home with the younger boys and got ready for the rest of my day.

My whole family and BFF’s family came to dinner.  Bryan arranged and made the whole thing.  I gave a few suggestions, but other than that I didn’t have to do anything.  We had a nice night talking and playing a little DDR and everyone telling me Happy Birthday.

Bryan loves my birthday almost as much as I do.  He does such a great job and I love that about him.  I don’t want the day to end because then I have to wait a WHOLE year for it to happen again.

I must like it so much because I have so many people who love me.  So thank you to all the people who indulge me in my birthday loving!

(It doesn’t make me very happy to have to end my SUMMER birthday early in the night so everyone can get in bed before the first day of school!)