Last night for dinner I decided to grill up some steaks and have corn on the cob and watermelon. YUMMY! I love summer food. While I was waiting for the water to boil and the grill to heat up I set the table and got out a new cube of butter so we could roll the corn. Yes, I realize this is a bad thing to do...my parents taught me proper manners (although somehow every time we ate corn growing up someone would roll it without my dad seeing .... and once it was started there was no reason to not join in). But it's not a rule I have at my house yet because I just love an even spread of butter on my corn. Anyway.... I headed out to put the steaks on the grill and not 5 minutes later I came in to this:

I don't know how she does it but my sweet little Sophie managed to destroy the cube of butter and get it all over Luke's plate which he "couldn't eat on". She also loves to climb up on the counter. She climbs up the bar stools and sits on the counter getting into everything. If there is something up to high for her anywhere in the house she just brings over a stool or chair in order to get it. Drives me bonkers this one!!! It's a good thing she's so dang cute and such a sweet and fun loving kid.

A few weeks ago my cousin Emma came in town so we took her to see the sites. She loves the outdoors and mountains so we drove up to the top of Squaw Peak. I love the view from up there. It is just so beautiful. It was so fun spending time with Emma - I haven't spent a lot of time with my cousins over the years. The last time I saw Emma was at Danna's (her mom) funeral 10 years ago. I'm excited for her to be in Utah so we can spend more time together.

On a side note: when Emma was here Claire kept calling her "your cousin Emma" since Claire has 2 cousins named Emma. It was so cute how she wanted to make sure we didn't get confused as to who she was talking about.

Last week on facebook I got the following message from a high school friend who I haven't talked to in 20 years...

"sounds like life is throwing some challenges your way lately, keep persevering and keep on going just like with your running"

I couldn't figure out why he would think my life was so challenging- because really I have a great life. So I decided to go back and read a few of my recent facebook posts....

"just bought our new fridge with a 5 year warranty"

"was supposed to teach spin this morning and for the first time in 10 years set my alarm wrong and didn't wake up. Completely slept through the whole class. I am SO SORRY if you got up early and went"

"can't stand diet pepsi and I really hate it when the cafeteria runs out of diet coke forcing me to drink pepsi instead"

"today is my first day wearing heels in over a month and I can already feel my hip hurting. Yuck."

"just lost everything on my phone thanks to that stupid upgrade. UGH"

When I was reading my status updates I was cracking up. Most of my comments were just silly and not really major life challenges. I do think I will try to be more positive in my updates though - I really don't want people thinking my life stinks. I do love that he said to persevere like I do with my running.

Trent wanted to go to the new water slide park "Cowabunga Bay" for his birthday. So we packed up the kids and drove up. The park was fun with a small pool, lazy river and lots of different slides. Luke loved the slides and went down the big ones with Todd. He even said on his next ride he was going to lay on his back and cross his arms over his chest to go faster. I didn't bring a camera so I only got 2 pictures with my phone. Sophie was so funny. She LOVES the water. She didn't like wearing her life jacket so we let her wear her water wings instead. She never went very far away and for 90% of the day she played with her blow up turtle in the shallow end. There were these small water fountains that she loved too. She would stand over the water and then stick her face over it then just crack up. I love spending the day playing as a family.

My dad took Timmy, Mark and I out on the boat with my kids and some of their friends. It was so great to be out on the lake. My kids go out on the lake with my parents and Meggan every week but this was my first time out this summer. Too bad the water was so choppy that skiing wasn't really an option. I got up on my ski but the water was ridiculous so I quit after 1 run. The boys wake boarded for a little while and the majority of the time was tubing. They tubed like crazy! I need to upload the videos. I couldn't believe how strong Mark was - he pulled the tubes together a few times, pulled himself back up on the tube from being pretty much all the way knocked off and pulled his friend up on the tube a few times. It was crazy.



Oh how I love summer!

Summer is here and life has changed. The kids don't have a bedtime anymore (which drives Todd crazy on the weekends) - but we just like to hang out and relax at night. Almost every night that Todd is gone the boys sleep in my room because it's just easier that way. I haven't had an update on my kids in a while and it's about time I did so here goes.

Luke hasn't had a haircut in months (obviously) and all he ever wants to do is play the wii. He will occasionally take a break from the wii to play computer. This morning when I was leaving for work he was playing the wii in his underwear and I said "time to get dressed and feed the animals". (we have so many animals to feed right now....the dog, the turtle, the fish and the guinea pig we're taking care of - it's practically like living on a farm) Then Meggan repeated what I said and then looked at me and said "do you think he has hearing problems ... he never listens". Nope his hearing is fine he just tunes out the world. I honestly believe he doesn't hear a word I say to him unless I say his name enough times to break through his concentration. Probably why he does so well in school and why he can be so annoying at home.
Tayson oh Tayson. What can I say except this kid is just hilarious. He either sounds like he's 15 years old or 15 months old at any given moment. He is a really good helper when Todd is gone and thinks he is the man of the house. He is very sensitive and caring and I just love the kid. He wears his pants so dang low on his waist it's laughable. He still hasn't lost any teeth. He might be the first kid to be baptized and go into 3rd grade with all of his baby teeth. He and I have been reading the Book of Mormon in preparation for his baptism this fall and we are in Ether. I love the time we spend reading together. The other day I came home from work and said "hurry put your shoes on we need to run to Maceys" and he said "we're running? It's so far". I love that he really thought we were going to run to the store.

I love this picture because Claire is smiling. She rarely smiles and is just so dang shy. She is beautiful and shy and stubborn and 100% princess. She loves to pick out her own outfits and will not wear something unless it fits her current mood - shoes, underwear and pj's included. She has decided that she doesn't need to wipe when she goes pee because the boys don't have to. She barely eats and still can't stomach any food if it has a texture to it (meat is the worst for her). She doesn't mind flavor she just can't handle texture. She will chew and chew and then finally just have to spit it out because she can't swallow it. She is tiny - 32 lbs and always wants me to pick her up and carry her around. I'm pretty sure she would stay a baby as long as possible if it were her choice.

My little Sophie bug is so full of energy. She fills in all the blanks in our little family. The other day I looked over to see where she was and she had climbed onto the kitchen counter, opened the cupboard and was on her tippy toes trying to get a sippy cup. I hurried over to help her before she fell and she said "uuuuce eeeease" (juice please). She talks non-stop but very little of it makes sense to anyone but us. She is completely potty trained and only has accidents in her crib when she can't get out. We have started duct taping her pull ups on at night so she will stop taking them off. Before that she would take off her diaper as soon as we put her to bed then sometime in the night end up peeing all over her crib since she can't get out. I realize we should get her a bed...but that didn't work out last time so I'd rather just duct tape on pull ups right now. She is always in the middle of everything. Loves Shadow more than anything and always shares at least half of her food with him. You can usually find her half naked or completely naked with high heel plastic shoes on. She is such a sweet and loving girl. You always hear "Sophie no, Sophie stop, or oh boy look at Sophie".

I sure do love my kids and being a mom. I don't think life can get much better than getting to spend time with 4 of the silliest kids around.

I love that Todd is such an amazing father!!! He loves to wrestle with the kids and they LOVE to wrestle with him. I love that he has so much fun spending time with the kids. On Saturday when I was off running with my friends he took the kids shopping and ended up with a big old blue pool for the back yard. Not something I would have ever approved but it puts a huge smile on my face that when I was gone all he wanted to do was play with the kids. I really wanted him to come up to see me at the end of my race and told him to just leave the kids with my parents because it would be so much easier and he said "nah I like spending time with the kids I'll bring them". I love that. He told me the other day he wished that he didn't have so much fun with the kids and I on the weekends because it makes it so hard to leave to go back to D.C. every Sunday night. What an amazing dad my kids have.

Last weekend I participated in a 12 man (or woman) relay race. It was 188.2 miles with lots of mountains. We ran up hills and down hills. Ran in the middle of the day and the middle of the night. We laughed, cried and sometimes just sat quiet because there was just no energy left. We ran, we drove, we tried to sleep a little, and we ran some more. I have never had this much fun at a running event in my life. I was so tired and so fatigued and sore but I was so happy the whole time. Participating in a event like this created bonds of friendship that will last forever.

Our team was the "Housewives of the UC". And we have 61 kids collectively between the 14 of us. Our team was made up of working moms, stay at home moms, divorced moms, mom's with babies and mom's with teenagers.


We decided to all head up to Logan for the start. Normally only Van 1 goes up and Van 2 meets at the first exchange a few hours later. But since for all but 2 of us it was our first time we wanted the full experience so we all headed up. Here is the whole team before the start.


Laurie was our #1 runner. I love how happy she looks in this picture. She is a very strong runner and started our team out perfectly. I got to train a lot with Laurie for this event and love this girl so much. She rocks!


Our awesome captain (Jill) had these vinyl letters created for both vans. We all had "spice" names. Mine was zippy.


Traci's very talented husband created a logo for us. I love that is is a combination of a crown, wings and running shoes. That really says it all.

After van 1 took off on their legs. Our van drove to get some lunch and decorate our van. I underlined each of our names but wasn't quite exact enough so Gretchen took a baby wipe and fixed them for me. It was so funny.


Both vans also had a huge blown up team picture on the back. So dang funny! Every time I saw it I would laugh a little. It got so dusty by the end of the trip but everyone who we drove by knew who the spicy housewives were.

Lisa and I at the first exchange. She picked up some sweet pink shades at Wal-Mart during our van decorating. So hot.

Our van was awesome and our driver was even better. Here are a few of my favorite things about our van.

1 - LISA. She was such a great driver. She was crazy and fun and didn't sleep a wink the whole time. She has a compulsive need to decorate and bling things out so every chance she got she added decorations to our van. We had a disco ball and several light up balls, a karaoke machine, a megaphone and so many other random treats. There is always a surprise with this girl and it was so much fun. She lost the keys before we left the cul de sac in the morning. Classic.

2 - The color. Almost everyone else had huge white 15 passenger vans...but not us it stood out in all it's burgundy glory.

3 - The cost. Lisa was able to borrow it from a neighbor and I couldn't be more grateful for her generosity in letting a bunch of crazy women borrow it to drive all over Utah.

4 - The hill. While Gretchen was going up the final hill the van overheated. Yes that shows just how bad that hill was. So Leigh Anne and I hitched a ride to the next exchange while the other girls figured out what to do with the van. Thank goodness it was just due to a lack of our driving knowledge - apparently you aren't supposed to sit on the side of a hill idle with the air conditioning running on high. Who knew?


Finally at 9:00 pm on Friday night I was ready for my first leg. Our team didn't start until 1:30 pm which was a very late start time - which I think made it a little harder for us in the end since really all 3 legs were done on little to no sleep.

My first leg was a nice flat 3.7 miles. I decided I was going to go for it and give it everything I had. My details for the leg were a 7:53 avg. pace and it took me 29.20 minutes. I passed 3 people (all guys...ah yeah) and got passed by 2 elite men who made me look like I was standing still.


Here is my first hand-off from Gretchen. I tried doing the "Olympic relay" style hand-off so I started running with her. She smacked my rear when handing it off and had a bruise on her hand the rest of the race and we managed to drop the wrist band in the process. It was so dang funny.



My second leg was just under 8 miles of rolling hills. I started it around 7:00 in the morning. This was the hardest leg to run. For some reason my legs felt like bricks. I couldn't seem to pick up my feet. Maybe from the lack of food, sleep or the fact that I forgot my electrolytes. I don't know but I hurt. At one point the van drove up next to me to see if I needed anything and I just said "I hurt so bad right now". They were awesome to stop and check on me and fill my water for me. Nothing helped so I just kept trying to go. I walked a few times and mentally just kept thinking about the fact that if I couldn't do this how would I ever be able to make up the Ragnar hill.

The details of this leg: 7.68 miles, 8:46 avg. pace, 1:07 total time and I passed 4 people.



Then it was our turn again. I love this picture of Suzette. She is so excited and we were all so excited to be so close to finishing the race. At this point van 1 was done - I was so jealous of them.

Suzette's family came to cheer her on for her last leg. Her son ran the first part of the leg with her. I love it. I loved that her hubby was at the exchange cheering her on.


Now my last and final leg. You see that mountain we're looking at? Gretchen was going to go half way up and then I was going to finish it. Oh boy. I can't tell you how worried I was and I was just so anxious to get it over with.


I freaking love this girl. She is so amazing and so strong. I loved running right after Gretch.



The hill. This picture does not do it justice. This hill was BRUTAL. It was steep and dusty and so long. This was the longest and hardest 4 miles I have ever run. I thought that doing a training run on Squaw Peak would be good - but this was so much harder. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the fact that I had already run twice before this. But it was so dang hard. The worst part was the first mile. I just kept looking down at my Garmin hoping more distance had passed. Then I finally stopped looking and just started running to the next tree or rock then walking. I did this the whole way up. If it was too steep I would just power walk.

I had my fuel belt on so it was ok at first that our van wasn't there to support me. At mile 2 I saw a friend from BYU and told him that our van had just broken down and he filled my water bottle and told me I could ride with them to the next exchange if needed. What a relief. Then our van started working again and caught up to me around mile 3. So we were able to get a few pictures of me and the hill. (P.S. I passed both of the people in front of me in this picture.)

Details of this leg: 3.97 miles, 13:08 avg pace, 52:10 total time, passed 7 people.


When I saw the exchange I knew I could do it so I powered up the rest of the hill the best I could.

I was sooooooo happy when I got to the exchange and Leigh was waiting for me. She gave me a huge hug and told me how proud of me she was. Oh how I love that girl. Then off she went to tackle her last leg of the race.

This picture really shows how I felt. Tired and hot. I had so much great support. And to top it off that blue washcloth was no ordinary wash cloth. Lisa and Suzette had individually wrapped washcloths, wet them down, kept ice on them and put essential oils on them so they felt and smelled heavenly.


Look at the hill Leigh Anne had to run down. OH MY GOSH!!! Not only was it ridiculously steep she found out they changed the course after her 2nd leg was finished and that she would be adding an additional 1.5 miles. It had uphills and downhills and was loose gravel. She fell at one point but still ran her heart out until she passed the baton. What a stud.

Our whole team ran in together (although Alyson was hauling and I couldn't keep up with her). Then we got our picture at the finish line with our medals by the sweet Ragnar van.


And we are already signed up for next year. WOO HOO!

This is my team for the Wasatch Back this weekend - our team name is "the housewives of the UC". Our team color is obviously pink and we even have a team logo. So fun!

I can't believe that it is already here. I've been training so hard for this event. I don't think I've ever trained this much in my life - not even for the marathon last year. I can't wait to spend 2 days running, sleeping, driving and running some more with these girls. Oh how I love them.

Yesterday Tayson did this sign to me then the following conversation took place:

Tayson: Mom do you know what this means? Oh yea I forgot you already do.
Me: Yep I know. What do you think it means?
Tayson: It means wasssssup in midget land.

WHAT? midget land? What is wrong with my child? Then right after that he did the "rock on" hand with just his pointer and pinky finger up and asked Timmy if he knew what that meant. Apparently that is just wassssup in normal land. I honestly don't know if it's just part of being 7 and just out of 2nd grade or if he comes up with this stuff on his own.

If you know him and he talks to you and says crazy stuff please don't judge me because I swear I didn't teach him this.

On Monday I went to see the "special" Brazilian doctor. His business card says he does: Do In, Shiatsu, Zen-Shiatsu & Muscle realignment. After a quick run down of my history and evaluation he told me he thinks the root of my problems are in my upper back (on the right side between my shoulder blades) and that is causing my neck and low back problems. He asked me how often I get headaches ..... pretty much every single day. Then he got to work. I hurt so bad. Seriously, I've birthed 4 kids naturally (and Luke was over 9 lbs) and this felt worse. (maybe I'm exaggerating but you know with pain whatever you are feeling at the moment always hurts more than past pain). Anyway, he did his "magic finger" work on my back and neck and my legs and told me that I should drinks lots and lots of water because in the morning I would probably feel like I'd been hit by a truck. I've been pretty sore but I feel like things are going in the right direction.

On my way back to work from his office I called my mom (of course) and she agreed with his assessment because of my very first back injury. When I was about 10 I was doing a back walkover and I stepped on my hair and went down. It hurt sooooo bad. Then the next year I had scoliosis in my upper back. Fortunately my mom had just graduated from Chiropractic school so she worked on me and did traction everyday until it was gone. I hadn't really thought about any of that in the last 25 years though. Since my low back has hurt so much lately I've always focused on that instead. I've done just about everything over the years - physical therapy, MD, chiropractic, massage, you name it I've probably tried it. Everything I did helped a lot for the specific needs but nothing really kept it from coming back. I'm hoping this time we are getting to the root of the problem so it will last a little longer.

This morning I tried running for the first time and I felt twinges and aches and even walked to make sure I wasn't pushing it too hard - and it was only a 3.5 mile run. But I feel like I'm making progress and my headaches are much better already. I'm sure with more time than 4 days and 2 visits I'll feel even better.

Today I ran to the top of a mountain. 4 miles straight up (1600+ feet climb) you can see Provo in the background. We were up so high. Of course I didn't do this alone - I never would. Leigh ran down 6 miles, Traci went up 2 miles and down another 4 and Gretchen and I ran up 4. All of this was to get ready for my last leg in Wasatch Back. I'm ready. Let's get this party started. It's not for another 11 days....but I now feel trained and tired and ready to be done with it. The training has been fun and VERY challenging.

As cheesy as it is ..... I seriously believe I can do anything with these girls even climb mountains!

p.s. at some point I should put a picture or two on here that I am wearing makeup and have my hair fixed :)

Today my baby brother turned 22. I can't believe it! I was old enough when he born that I still remember the night he was born. I used to take Mark everywhere with me and of course everyone thought I was his teenage mama instead of his big sister. A few of my favorites were the cute Chinese ladies at the dry cleaners who never believed my mom he was hers no matter how many times we told them, or when I took him with me to register for a few classes at the community college (they were so mean to me that I spit on the ground and swore I would never take a class there...and I didn't).

One of my all time favorite stories though was when my boyfriend "big Mark" came to visit and we went up to the airport to see his dad (who was a pilot). I was babysitting Mark so we took him with us. The only car available was mom's RX-7 so we took that and Mark laid down in the back (it was a 2 seater) the whole way up to the airport (30 minute drive) then big Mark's dad asked little Mark (about 3 at the time) if he wanted to see the cockpit (things were different back then without a lot of rules) and Mark said to him "No. I know you kill birds". It was so dang funny. Then on the way home he fell asleep in the back of the car and when we stopped to fill up the car with gas I was going to run in to the gas station to get drinks so I popped the trunk to ask him what he wanted (I got some serious dirty looks). Of course now looking back I realize he shouldn't have been riding in the back like that ... but there weren't a lot of rules and he loved it.

I love that Mark lives so close and that I get to see him on an almost daily basis.