I’ve been busy

I haven’t posted in a while.   It’s this time of year I guess.  I love love love this time of year though.  It’s snowing outside.  I love the snow.  I don’t necessarily love living in it, shoveling it, trudging through it etc.  But I love to watch it come down from inside my warm house and know that it will be gone by the morning, or a few days at the most.   We returned our  brand new camera to take advantage of an offer for a free zoom lens.   We just have to wait for our new baby to come.   (the new camera)

We went up north for my cousin Maggie’s wedding and a couple days later, Thanksgiving.  It was wonderful.  Two days after we got back, we left for California to visit friends and family.  If you’d like to read a little about our time in CA, you can here. 

In a week, we are leaving to go to a family lodge in Victor, Idaho for Christmas.  I am so excited.  It’s going to be a blast.  From spending summers there as a kid and having so many milestones there, Idaho has a special place in my heart.  Idaho was my first home when I “grew up”.  I became a wife and a mother in Idaho. 

I know I’m rambling a bit,  probably a result of the hour (1:30 am).  But it is officially my birthday.  27.    I’m so blessed to have Mark and three amazing kids, and a million other blessings, it doesn’t matter how old I am.   What a great life.  :)

Great pictures to come soon!

Winning Isn’t everything. But it’s nice.

On Saturday I raced in a triathlon right here in St. George.  I got first place in my age division!  It was a surprise, and pretty awesome.   The race was just three miles from my house at the “SHAC”, which made it the most stress-free race I’ve done.   Of course,  I was quite sick the whole week before the race, which gave me plenty of rest/recovery time.

Mark took this pic the day before the race.  Abigail and I were both sick and worn out.  This nap at 9:30 AM while the other kids were at school was sooo nice.

Because I was so sick,  I may not have raced if my friend, Erika, wasn’t driving down from Salt Lake to race with me.  But I was so glad she came because I haven’t seen her in a long time, and I would take any excuse to hang out with her.  Also, I’m so glad I did it because this was the most fun triathlon I’ve ever done!  Not just because I won.  really.  I know winning makes everything more fun, but I loved racing in my “home court”,  the non-stress factor and familiarity was so nice.  Also,  I went at a great pace. I went just fast enough that I didn’t kill my self – it was still enjoyable,  but not too slow to make me regret not trying harder.  And it was really fun to do it with a friend.  And I saw Coach Baggs for the first time since high school, and it was really fun to talk to him again. 

 

So yeah.  I got first place!  Wahoo! I thought I had gotten third place, and when they were giving the awards they called my name for first place.  I was confused and when I got up there I ask the lady, “what place did I get?”  and she said, “first!”  And I was like, “All right!”  It was pretty cool.  Granted, it was not a highly competitive event (it’s not USAT sanctioned or anything)  But a first place when I’m sick.  I’ll take it, and I’ll like it.  :)

We got no good pictures of the event.  These were the best there were. 

 

Me and Erika after she just finished.

Will the talented writer please step up

Congrats to Mark for his first posting on our family blog!  Hopefully there will be more as he is a much better writer than me, and I’d love to hear what he has to write about. 

The Magic of Sour

There is something wonderful about a child’s reaction to sour foods.

It’s like a black hole hiding behind her face is pulling all skin and muscle inward.

  

Fun weekend that was a while ago

So a little while ago we had some family come into town and we had a really fun weekend.   We talked late, and went for a hike, shooting, and mountain biking.  The next day we played all day in a volleyball tournament.   It was kind-of a boys weekend, but Julie, Aubrey and Brynlee were good sports.   We love to spend time with family.  Here’s some pictures of it. 

Hiking in the “gap”

   

My children like to eat dirt.    

Collin and Aubrey shooting

 

 

 

 

 

Brynee’s first shot with the handgun from about 15-20 feet

A fun day of Volleyball

        

Trevor, relaxing by the pool after a fun filled weekend.  Nice tan.

Sugar sugar, honey honey

What is it about seasonal candy that is so irresistible?   There I was breezing through Wal-Mart with three kids and a cart full of groceries.  We were groovin’ right along.  The children were right on my sides and obeying quite well, the ‘no unplanned stopping' rule.   Emma was dutifully announcing the next thing on the list when everything stopped.  There were practically skid marks on the floor from my cart.    And a loud gasp.  What could have caused such a distraction?  It must be something important.   or good.  Yes it’s very good.  It was the shimmer of the silver foil and red stripes of  candy cane kisses.   No rational thoughts entered my mind.  Nothing like, “Sara, you are trying not to eat sugar, remember? or Sara, you have a triathlon on Saturday.  Do you really want that in you?  or Sara, you have not been feeling good, maybe white chocolate isn’t going to help you get better.”  No, just a loud, “Yes!” and in they went. 

I am such a sucker for  candy that I can only get during certain times of the year.  Well done candy maker marketers.  This is one girl who will eat her candy corn and think of pumpkins,  savor candy cane kisses while wrapping presents, and enjoy Springtime with Cadbury eggs. 

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet

This  year, Halloween seemed to last a whole week.  Monday, we had a neighborhood Halloween party.  Tuesday and Wednesday were spent preparing costumes, activities, and candy.  Thursday Gabe had a Halloween party at school with a trunk or treat.    Friday, Abigail and Gabe dressed up for a party at the gym’s daycare.  I had to take them from the party just before the parade so we could jet over to Emma’s school for her party and parade.   It turned out they changed the time and I was a 1/2 hour late and missed the parade.    Later we headed over for some kids “zombie zumba” and the time for that changed as well and we missed it. We did not have the best luck on Friday.

I felt like I had been celebrating Halloween all week, but I was still ready for more come Saturday.

   Gabriel had football and Emma had gymnastics in the morning.  Later we carved pumpkins. Well, Mark, me and one of Emma’s friends carved pumpkins.  Our kids were just not interested in them this year.

 

They picked out their designs and were done.   That’s okay, I love to carve pumpkins,  so I got to do it in peace and quiet this year.  Then everyone took a nice long nap. 

Lisa and Todd came over for dinner and trick or treating. 

 

The kids waited so patiently to go trick or treating.  The weather was gorgeous.  It was just perfect for trick or treating. 

Mark and I wanted to experiment with make-up,  so we dressed up as zombies.  It was fun scarring Emma.  

Emma was so picky about her costume this year.  I had to take her original witch costume back because it was not scary enough.  She absolutely refused to let us paint her face.  I guess it is good she sticks up for what she wants.  Gabe picked out his knight costume and loved it.  He told everyone that he protects his baby sister fairy from the evil witch (Emma).  Emma did  not like that.

Abigail didn’t care too much about the candy.  She was so much slower than everyone that most of the time she didn’t make it up to the door.  She was having so much fun running around though.  We took the most pictures of her because she was the cutest.      

Gabe and Emma were so fast.  I have taught them well.  They ate their candy the whole time while we were trick or treating.  I think this is because they’ve learned they only get one night to eat it, and they were starting early.  Gabe got tired pretty early, and wanted to go home to give his candy to the candy witch.  Emma didn’t want to stop until her bucket was full.  That was fine by me.  I love trick or treating!  

Who is the Candy Witch?  The candy witch is my solution to the mountains of candy the kids get on Halloween.  They eat as much as they want on Halloween, then they leave it out for the candy witch.  This year Emma did not want to do it, so we told her the witch might leave her a present.   That worked great.  The kids woke up this morning to their little gifts, and forgot all about their candy.  It think I heard them yelling, “thank you candy witch, thank you!” while I was in bed. 

It was a very fun Halloween week, but I am looking forward to celebrating things that are not quite as spooky.

For dinner we ate what any good zombie would eat. brains.

Run, run as fast as you can . . .

I can't get pictures on my blog or spell checker. Yikes! Is anyone else having this trouble?

I have a new workout philosophy. Speed. Not the drug. I am trying to do everything faster. For some reason, I have been under the dillusion that slower is better. Slower reps builds more muscle, slower jogs burn more fat, etc. This new discovery has come partly because of a new book, and partly because I can only run for about 20-30 minutes before my knee doesn't work. I figure I better run as fast as I can if I am going to get anything done.

It has been great. My workouts are exciting and challenging. Hopefully I'll be better prepared for races.

Do you have days that you are just super happy. You smile for no particular reason? It may have something to do with the combination of Ibuprofen and Excedrin I took or it may be the great fall weather and Halloween fun in the air, or I think it is just knowing how blessed I am.

EWWW!

With parenting comes a lot of gross stuff. You really need a strong stomach. The diapers are enough alone, but then you have spit up, drool, throw up, diarrhea, toilets sprayed by a 3 year old boy with the worst aim, the weird foreign objects in diapers. (We have a good one for that. Abigail was always putting things in her mouth, and we would find some crazy stuff in her poopy diapers. These are things that have passed through her system. The winners were a polly pocket boot, and drum roll please . . . a used band-aid.) Gross! I know.

Last night I got a new chart topper for my most disgusting parenting moment. Gabe is sick with the flu. We were having a late dinner because Emma had ballet. I am unloading groceries, making tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches one a time, and not doing it fast enough. I guess you could say I was a little frazzled.

Gabe started coughing and threw up some of his dinner on to his plate. (This is actually pretty common for us. Gabe throws up his food 2-3 times a week. He's got a really strong gag reflex, and a psychological fear of anything that is not a waffle with cinnamon and sugar on it entering his mouth.) So a little throw up on the plate is no biggie. I got a little frustrated because he had asked for red soup all day and I had to go to the store to get him some, and now he just throws it and half of his sandwich up. I say, “ sigh, Gabe you love red soup and it will make you feel better and it’s really good.” Then I take a nice bite of the remaining half of his sandwich. Which is wet. I don’t even think about it until I swallow. Then I looked at his plate and realized his sandwich has been sitting in his pool of throw up.

I just stood there trying to figure out something that would make it better. I already swallowed it. I couldn’t do anything. Normal throw up would have been bad enough, but this was throw up that was full of flu germs.

Maybe developing this stong stomach is preparing us for something. If so, I don’t want to know what it is.

Happy Birthday Emma!

I just realized I never posted anything about Emma's birthday party. So here it is a little late.

Since we were going to be in Utah County for a triathlon on Emma's birthday and a lot of her friends and cousins live up there, we had her party at Boondocks. (Boondocks is like a family fun center with video games, miniature golf etc.) This was Emma's #1 choice. It even beat out Disneyland, so how could we refuse? Even though it was not my first choice of venue for the party, it was really fun. The kids played games and played on the playground They ran all over making it a little hard for the parents to keep track of them. Those that weren't busy playing video games themselves *cough* Mark and John. Okay I had fun playing too, and happy to say I doubled John's score in basketball, but that's only to be expected.




We had pizza, and cake. The cake was made out of cupcakes, which we broke apart when it was eating time. What a great idea. I always go back and forth between cupcakes and cake. Cupcakes are so fun to eat and require no cutting or utensils, but I like to have a nicely decorated cake too. This way, I got both. Emma enjoyed opening all her presents.

The best part (for me) was seeing friends from Lehi. We've missed them so much. Emma loved seeing her old friends too. It was really loud and crazy, but it was just the kind-of birthday Emma wanted, and we all had a blast!







ps. Thanks to Rachel for taking pictures as I am still cameraless. *tear*