Fall

Some people LOVE this time of year.  I do like some aspects of fall.  Once I have accepted the fact that summer is really over, I can always hope it will be back next week though, I can appreciate certain parts of it.  The leaves are very pretty.  The cooler weather is O.K. I guess if you are working outside.

Other than that I don’t really care for it.  Days like today put me in a blah mood.  I can’t bare the thought of putting on long pants, long sleeve shirts and socks.  Kind of makes me claustrophobic.   The dark mornings and dark early evenings make me want to scream.

I do love the changing seasons though.  I wouldn’t want it any other way.  You know me, unless it is 95+ degrees, I am probably complaining about the weather.  Even though I don’t do that anymore.

Sleeping Arrangements

I have had this blog post running around my mind for a week and things have been so hectic, I haven’t taken the time to sit and actually type it.  Why the business?  Let’s just say it has a LOT to do with my children's homework.

O.K. so I am not uptight about very many things.  There are a few though, like how the dishwasher is loaded or if  people have brushed their teeth.  And I am sure I have talked about it before, sleep.  I require 8 hours of sleep at night, although I spent most of the summer with only 7 1/2.  Anyways I am very uptight about how much sleep my kids get, they are part of the Julian clan and that means you need a lot of sleep.  Along with the amount of sleep they get it also is the conditions and not being disturbed by anyone.  I have not ever been a fan of kids sleeping in the same room.  I hated it as a child, for the few weeks my Mom tried it.  I have enough bedrooms for my kids so it isn’t a necessity. 

Well since we took Jonah’s binkie away he has been a terrible sleeper.  Last week my BFF said, is he still sleeping in his crib?  Of course he was, I don’t think he would ever figure out that he could climb out.  She suggested putting him in a toddler bed, which she had given me months ago.  O.K. so I did it and not only did I take my child who had no reason to not be in a crib, except for the fact that he may have started Kindergarten and still been in it, I put the toddler bed in Jacob’s room and let them sleep in the same room.  Jonah loves it, Jacob loves it.  I cringe every time Jonah yells out in the night or wakes Jacob up early in the morning.  Each night Jonah has gotten a little bit better about not waking up in the night, still not perfect, but he really likes it.

The room is not really arranged for two beds, but it works for now.

So last night Jacob was having trouble being obedient and I was out of patience and out of ideas for consequences.  So I told him Jonah couldn’t sleep in his room.  He was crushed, but maybe it will teach him a thing or two.  Brandon was the lucky recipient of Jonah in his room.

(yes I know Brandon has floral sheets on his bed)

So now it will be an argument about where Jonah will sleep.  Who knows maybe they will all end up sleeping in one room.  Ahhhhh that makes me cry just thinking about them waking each other up!

Homework

Everyone knows I love summer, but do they know why?????  Yes, I love the sun and the warmth and everything that comes along with it.  I also love the no schedule, lack of responsibility and care freeness of it all.  In fact that may be my reason #1 for loving summer.  I was telling a young newlywed that the other day and she said, well you shouldn’t have had kids then.  I had to explain that it wasn’t responsibility of my children I don’t like, it is their HOMEWORK that I don’t like.

I just finished helping Jacob with his 3rd grade math.  I barely got through math myself.  I was so frustrated trying to help him.  I don’t know how to explain it to him, I don’t know how the teacher has explained it, I don’t know the terms they use for everything.  It is stupid, work should be done at school.  Not at home.

2 days ago I did a diorama for a book presentation, tonight math.  It is a dang good thing my kids are excellent spellers and we don’t ever have to do that.  There it is, I don’t agree with homework  and I don’t like my kids having to do it.

I Love My Dog

I don’t have a dog, that is why I can wear a shirt that says it. Although if I did have a dog I would hope that I loved it. I always grew up with a dog and I really like them, but I don’t want a puppy. I am just coming out of the baby stage and I am not ready for that commitment. I always tell my boys that when Jonah is 7 I will start thinking about a dog. In the meantime we have the perfect situation. We babysit other peoples dogs. It works out great. We get to have a dog here and then we send it home.

Our usual dog guests are Marley and Bentley. Marley is Nate’s dog and Bentley is his girlfriend Aliska’s dog. We LOVE these dogs. Marley just turned 9 last week and Bent is 4. They are the cutest. Marley is starting to show his age and it breaks my heart. He was the cutest little puppy and now he is the most adorable “horse”. My favorite thing about Marles is that he loves me. He wants to be wherever I am. If I am working in the yard then he is right there with me. He has these inquisitive eyes that some say look like he needs glasses. He really is my favorite dog. I like Bentley too, she just doesn’t have the history that Marley and I do. We had them for 6 weeks this summer and that was great. Yesterday Jonah got in his toy car and said, "Bye mom, I am going to the store to get our dogs more pears". They have cleaned out all the pears they can reach and the apples that have fallen as well.

We also have had the chance recently to babysit Jeff and Caitlin Beck’s dog Crew. He is a very cute yellow lab that is still a puppy. I forgot he was still so young.

He chewed up my hammock. I thought it would still be O.K. and then I laid in it with Jonah.

I thought is was funny, Jonah didn’t. My dear Jeffrey sent me a new one this week.

Our neighbor dogs Charlie and Jack are pretty fun too. I was in charge of Charlie for 2 weeks this summer and we bonded. Jack and I are going to be great friends. He is one smart puppy!

Until I break down and get one for our own I will keep loving these other dogs. If my BFF has made it reading this far, I know she is for sure gagging.

Goal Set, Accomplished

You know that is why I did such a crazy thing.  I made a goal at the beginning of the year to do an Olympic distance triathlon and so I HAD to do it.  Ha Ha, really I don’t keep all of my goals.  Anyways I loved it, it was great.  Hard, yes, but great.  Midway through it I thought to myself, I am going to want to do this again and I better tell Bryan not to let me.

The event started Friday night when I loaded up ALL my stuff and met Chris to drive down to Yuba lake.  We were shooting to leave his house at 7:00 and I got to his house around 8:00.  So we arrived at 10:00 in the freezing pitch dark.  I set up my tent and went to sleep.  Luckily Chris had a warm jacket he let me use because I did not pack for the cold!

Up at 6:00 a.m. in the frigid cold to take down my tent and get over to the race starting spot.  Everyone was walking around in big coats or blankets.  They actually delayed the start time by 1/2 an hour so that the sun could come up.  Once I was in my full body wetsuit I was just fine.  I actually almost missed the start because I was taking this picture of myself with my phone.

I got down to the lake as they said, OK one and a half minutes until start.  I hurried and got ready and off we went.  The water was around 65 degrees so it felt great, compared to the air of 45 degrees!  The thing with the swim part is that no matter how well trained you are, you can’t really swim your best because of all the people.  I let everyone go ahead of me and then swam away.  And away I did swim, away from the course.  I swam out away from where I should have been going.  About 5 times I did this and so I would have to swim back and get on course again.  I never thought I can’t make this mile swim, but I did think, this is pretty hard.  I got swam over a few times and ran into people, but that is O.K.  I really wanted to see a fish, but I didn’t.  As I ended the swim I knew the rest would be easy.

I was so dizzy getting out of the water.  I slowly walked up the ramp until my head was clear.  I had trouble getting my wetsuit off and had to ask a girl to help me unzip it.  It was stuck.  Anyways dried off put on my bike gear and off I went.  The easiest part of the race.  I love just biking along.  Soon enough I was by myself and singing and yelling to myself.  Not many people did the Olympic distance so I didn’t see many people once the sprint people turned around.  I was feeling pretty good as 2 different guys passed me around the 10 mile mark.  At least I was ahead of them up until then.  So with 8 miles left I got a flat tire.  I got off pumped it up.  Rode on, still flat.  Pumped it again, with my handy CO2 pump Bryan had gotten me and still it went flat.  So I figured I would just have to ride on it flat, I  knew it would take me so long to change the tube.  Nearing the end of the bike I finally saw Chris, I kind of worried that he didn’t make the swim.  As I biked in the last few miles my pump fell off and I had to stop 2-3 more times.  I was a bit discouraged but still feeling great.

I ditched my bike and headed off on the run.  They were starting the medal ceremony at this point, no lie.  I ran and ran until I saw Chris and then I backtracked with him on this dirt trail so that we could run together.  He was not as trained as I was so the run was slow.  I wasn’t tired though, I could have kept going and going.  The volunteers at the water stations were great and waited for us.  We really were dead last, like they had taken down everything by the time we got there.  Bryan actually drove out looking for us, but we were fine, just slow.  I never claimed to be fast.  They made a big deal about us at the finish line which was nice.  There is so much camaraderie at events like this.  The people are so nice and everyone cheers everyone on.  At one point of the run a girl said to me, We can do hard things.  Absolutely!!!

That is me waving at Jonah baby.

We did it and could smile at the end.  I did not have the brain dead feeling I did after the duathlon.  I really loved the race, it was hard and a lot of training, but I enjoyed it a lot!!!

The drive home was not fun, note to self, don’t do races away from home unless you are staying for a few days.

I just looked up my time and sure enough I came in 1/2 hour past my goal time.  My swim was 5 minutes longer than I wanted, 5 minute longer on the bike, and 20 on the run.  I knew that would happen because I went back with Chris.  Really I ran more than 6 miles.  And there were only 5 girls in my age range who did the race.

1 mile swim, 24 mile bike, 6 (plus) mile run.  Who can say they have done that??????

This and That

I pulled off my first, I am actually in charge, RS meetings event.  A back to school brunch at my house.  25 ladies came and ate and mingled.  It went great.  Even the part where a dumpster was delivered to my house in the middle of it and I had to have 4 people move their cars and then realize mine was about to be trapped in the garage.  I think a good time was had by all.

I bought a Costco box of diapers yesterday.  I am planning on that being my LAST box of diapers, ever.  Jonah has got to get this thing figured out.  Both of my other boys potty trained themselves before they were 3 so he is really cramping my style!  He doesn’t have a clue what to do once he sits on the potty chair, so I don’t know if this will really happen.

Jacob has now decided he can’t wait for winter.  I cringe every time he says it.  I am hoping and praying for a very long and very warm fall.

Two nights ago Brandon asked if we could sleep on the trampoline that night.  Of course my first thought was, no way it is a school night.  I thought for a second and said, why not?  There aren’t too many days left for that anyways. 

My shake roof is about to be torn off.  We have been in denial for several years while watching everyone else replace their roofs.  Surely ours is just fine even though we pick up several shingles every time the wind blows.  So I am really sad to see it go, I think we are the last house around with shakes.  They add such character, and a huge replacement price as well.  I believe this is the lamest remodel that can be done.  A whole bunch of money and I won’t have anything fun to look at or enjoy once it is done.

We went and visited my Dad’s wife’s Mom (how is that for confusion) yesterday.  She loves Brandon and made him a bunch of cinnamon rolls last week.  We stopped by to thank her and return her pans.  We ended up staying for an hour.  As we left Brandon said, “I think we should make it a goal to come and visit her once a week”.  I was so impressed with him.  About as impressed with him as I was last week when we ate dinner at the Murdock’s.  Without being asked he got up and started doing the dishes.  Maybe this kid will learn something after all.

And tonight I leave for my big event.  16 weeks of training, 16 weeks of never eating right, 16 pounds lost (oh wait no that isn’t right, more like 2) 16 weeks of planning and now it is here!  I am excited, especially for it to be over, I just want to know if I can really do it.  I have loved the training and will probably keep following the pattern.  So here I go, finishing is my goal, not winning.

What a Day!!!

I am referring to yesterday.  Let me paint a little picture of how my day went.  Up early to bike and run (last week of training before my big olympic distance triathlon).  So I am biking away on a quiet street in Farmington when I notice something fall off my bike.  My little computer thing had fallen off and landed in the gutter next to me which of course was running with water, the only gutter with water in it on my whole ride.  I turned around to get it and as I leaned down to pick it up my phone fell out of my pocket and landed in the water as well.  Perfect!  On I went and finished my 22 mile ride and 3.5 mile run.  As I got home my phone was vibrating, not turning on, not doing anything just vibrating. 

I quickly showered, cleaned the house up a bit, got Brandon off with Bryan to his game,  then ran to Costco with Jacob and Jonah to look into getting a new phone.   I ran in couldn’t decide what to get, realized they have a 90 day guarantee on any phone so picked one to buy.  Kind of takes a long time to do that.  So I am walking out trying to figure out who a text was from, since I didn’t have any numbers saved on my SIM card, I thought I did.  Anyways get in the car and realize it is 1:25, I am in Bountiful and Brandon’s very first football game starts in 5 minutes in Sandy.  I freak out and drive as safely as I can, all while crying because I can’t believe I am going to be late to his game.  I got there a mess and Bryan assured me that he hadn’t played yet and Brandon was just fine.  Now realize I forgot my camera.  Anyways his team lost, but he LOVED it.  He said it was the best game of any sports he has played.  It was so fun to watch him.  He did exactly what he was supposed to and had fun.

After his game Brandon and I raced on to Provo for the BYU football game.  I was so tired I could barely stay awake to drive, I know not safe.  We parked in some random place and as we walked and walked and walked to the stadium I thought, maybe we should switch to being Ute fans, because of the drive.  We had a blast at the game.  I saw darling Spencer Blake which was so fun.  Cougars won, I woke up a bit.  Getting out of Provo was a little difficult because I got lost, I don’t know what I did.  We finally found our way, got some food and headed home.  As I passed downtown SLC and realized I had been on the road and at the game for more hours than I had sleep the night before I looked up at the hillside and thought, ya it would be a lot easier to be a Ute.  Don’t get too excited My Foster, it was just a tired thought!

Oh and as we were heading home my old phone, which was in the bag from my new phone, came to life.  So I can at least retrieve all my info and possibly take my new one back!