Thanksgiving in New Harmony

Good food + loved ones = happiness

Sophie's first day of Kindergarten

Yes, I am a bad mom, I am late getting these pics posted on here. Happy Kindergarten, Sophie!

We did it!

Just got home from running in my first 5K (and yes, I said first. I hope there will be many more to come!). Chad ran it too, and Rebecca, my running buddy. It helped so much to have Rebecca there - she was my own personal cheerleader. Which I really appreciated because the first mile felt pretty awful. By the second mile, I was a running machine. And halfway into the third mile was pretty good too. But that last 1/2 mile about killed me. And there was Rebecca, telling me I was looking great and saying strange things like, "Come on, sprint the last stretch! You can do it!" I couldn't, but I tried.

And the next thing you know, I was seeing Chad up ahead cheering me across the finish line. After about passing out and having to sit down for a few, it dawned on me what I had done and I admit it, I started to cry. I NEVER in my whole life thought I would EVER run a 5K! And where I have been, a 3.1-mile run was almost a physical impossibility. So I have come a very long way. Hopefully, I will keep the momentum going and get a bit further!
Oh, and by the way...I took 4th place in my age bracket, which I am very proud of (although I was only competing with 9 other runners).
Chad, my super-overachieving-husband, got 3rd place in his bracket. Great job, Chad!

Surprise Getaway

A few weeks ago, Chad surprised me with a trip to Salt Lake for General Conference weekend. And a visit to BYU. And a dose of Fall weather. I have provided visual highlights of the trip.
We rented a "luxury" car. We thought we would be getting a mustang or a cadillac. But no, that's a Lincoln Towncar. My grandma would have LOVED it.

We stayed at the Anniversary Inn, in The Sultan's Palace theme room. It had a great tub. But no shower. The breakfast was yummy, though.
Then we visited all the spots at BYU that are meaningful to us. To kind of relive the past. This is the stairway where Chad spoke to me for the first time.

Here we are on the stairway.

This is the classroom where we took anatomy together. This is the sight I saw almost every day that semester. Chad staring at me. I thought he was kind of weird.

This is how it looked from Chad's point of view.

This is where Chad lived the whole time we dated. I spent A LOT of time at Moon Apartments (site of the famous lumpy pancake incident).

We went to the Sunday morning session of Conference at the Conference Center. It was HUGE and absolutely amazing. I loved it when President Monson came into the room - every person there (roughly 24,000) silently stood up in respect for the prophet of God. You could have heard a pin drop. It was a great experience that you just don't get when watching conference from the family room couch.


And here is the highly anticipated and much-wished-for Fall foliage.


Of course, one of the biggest highlights was seeing my family. Danielle (my sister-in-law who kindly took the picture of us and the Grandma Car) and her kids, two sisters (Kay and Teri, who fed us and let us watch the second session of conference in her cabin), two nephews and one niece-in-law (who let us watch the latest episode of The Office at her home).
I cannot believe all we accomplished in three days. It truly felt like a week. Thanks to Jenedy and Victor Eggleston for staying with our kids (and you don't know the half of it - they even watched General Conference with our kids two days in a row!) - we didn't even worry about the kids.
Thanks, Chad, for the best surprise trip ever! Such a success!

Fall in Southern California

Well, you can always tell that California fall has arrived when the Santa Ana winds start blowing. For those of you who have never been in CA in the fall, those are hot, hard winds that come in off the desert. They dry everything out in hours. The Santa Ana's started blowing today at about 9:30am.
This is what they do to our pool:


Two hours later, this is what I saw out my bedroom window:

Chad

Before haircut:
After:

My husband is so hot.

Do I look young?

I just got my hair cut. And began the process of going brunette (we're weaving it in a little at a time so I won't be too shocked and cry). I like it, but no one else in my family said very much about it.

But then I drove into the music school parking lot to pick up Sam and Adam from their music lessons...Adam looked at me, glanced away, then looked at me again and made a funny gesture with his hand. I thought he was giving me a hard time for being a little late. When he got in the car, he said, "This looked like our car, but then I thought - no way, that lady looks too young to be my mom!"

I could have kissed him. That made my day!

It's official

I have decided to run a 5K.

I can't believe I just wrote that. I hate running and have tried repeatedly to incorporate it into my life but to no avail. Sore calves, shin-splints, and by the time I get home, numb feet. Every time. And I still get that, but I am powering through it. I have been walk/running every morning for about two months now, and the emotional benefits are undeniable...I call it my "sanity run" for a reason!

So anyway, it seems to be the trendy thing right now to run 5-10K's and after all, that is a really good goal to work toward. So I am committing to run a 5K within the next 6 months (I would say 3, but I am having trouble finding one on a Saturday in the fall and winter).

I am running most of 2 miles a day right now, but I hope to be up to 3/day by October. Which may not sound like much but I have to take baby steps or I will collapse and die.

Someday I will be able to walk/run to Zion with one of my children on my back. If I need to.


UPDATE! The race is on! October 24, the October Classic in Ojai. Chad is running it with me, as well as my racing inspiration, Rebecca G. Thanks, Rebecca!

New Harmony by moonlight

I have posted on here several times about New Harmony. My parents and sister live there and it is one of our family's favorite vacation destinations. It's a 7 1/2 hr. drive that we could make with our eyes shut. Vacations to New Harmony are cheap and require very little planning. Our lives are so complicated when we are at home, with work, music lessons, homeschooling, sports, church service, etc. that when we go away, we want to RELAX. The biggest decision that we have to make in New Harmony is whether to sleep in or get up. There is very little parenting necessary because there is no trouble for the kids to get in. And there are all these relatives who love my kids and actually enjoy entertaining them. I know, weird. Plus, they are all great cooks.

So anyway, I was in New Harmony twice this summer, and one night the moon was rising up over the "Five Fingers" - Kolob. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and the picture doesn't do it justice, but there it is.

My worst day boating, ever.

Warning: This post is one big "Laura Moment".

Last Saturday, we took our new boat out for it's first full day since we bought it. We thought it might be fun to invite kids' friends to share in our fun day. Fun for everyone. Unfortunately, more witnesses!

See, the problem is that this boat is about two feet longer than our old one. So the maneuverability is decreased and it is awkward, like driving a semi. Chad wasn't used to driving it, and the rest of us weren't used to docking it. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

First, we put in and the boat started drifting because Adam couldn't pull it close to the dock fast enough to get it tied off. But, while people were watching and laughing at us, we finally got it pulled around and tied off. I thought THAT was embarrassing...
We got out on the lake and realized that we had lost our orange flag (the one you hold up to signal that there is a person in the water, usually after a wipe-out). Kind of necessary that we have one of those, our orange towel just didn't do the trick. So we decided to dock near the snack bar and see if they would sell us an orange flag. That dock is the same dock where they rent out pontoon boats. So it was crowded with boats and people renting those boats. We pulled up but the back end of the boat started drifting back out again, so I jumped out on the dock and started pulling on the tower in hopes of pulling the boat around. It kept going. I stretched out further and further until my feet left the dock and I hit the water. THEN the boat came around and I thought I was toast. I pictured my head popping between the boat and the dock like a grape. I was yelling at Chad and the kids were yelling at me, and everybody on the dock was watching...finally one of them said to me, "you want a hand?" and pulled me onto the dock, scraping my stomach and legs in the process. I tried to play it cool and after thanking him I took off to the boat shop as fast as I could go. Finally got an orange flag.
We got the kids tubing and enjoying themselves, and my job was to stand on the back of the boat and pull the tube in when they were ready for a break. It was slick. I slipped and fell. Twice. Bruised my legs and elbows. Wanted to cry.

In spite of all the embarrassing things I did, my kids and their friends did not laugh at me once. Well, at least not in my hearing. They deserve something good for that because I suspect that it was pretty funny. Can't wait to watch that one myself, when I am watching the life (gag) reel after I die! But that is the end of my dignity - I don't think I can get that back.
At least the kids had fun!

Sophie's trip to the Hygienist

My kids go to their Uncle Trent for dental work. Sophie has had check-ups before, but hasn't had her teeth officially cleaned by a hygienist. She was nervous, but when she found out she didn't have any cavities, was so super proud of herself and insisted on having a picture taken (luckily I had my camera in my purse for just such an occasion!). For a week after she had her teeth cleaned, Sophie showed off her "clean smile" to everyone in the family. Good job, Sophie!

Climbing the Walls

Happy Birthday, Chad!

Yesterday was Chad's birthday. It was also the 3rd Annual Wright Center for Orthdontics Patient Appreciation Party. Chad was so busy preparing for and performing (with the band) at this party that he never once thought of his birthday. But I did!
About a month ago, I started thinking about what I could get Chad for his birthday, as he is totally impossible to buy for and usually I just cross my fingers and buy something I think he might like, only to find it in the back of his closet a year later gathering dust. I also knew that with this big party for his office planned on his birthday, we wouldn't get to celebrate it. Suddenly, in the middle of an episode of "Cake Boss", it came to me. A designer cake! Delivered at the park! Make all the guests sing to him! Surprise Chad AND his guests! YES!!!

Ahhh! It worked. Chad loved that cake, as did all of the guests. It looked A M A Z I N G! It was so much fun to surprise him that I might have to do it again sometime (That's one of the fun things about Chad...he will forget and in a few years I can do it all again!).

More random pictures from the Wright Center Picnic:



I was so popular that night. Especially when I started cutting into the cake!

Funny Adam

This morning, Adam came wandering out of his room at 7:30AM.

Me: What are you doing out of bed this early?

Adam: I don't know. I just got tired of tasting my breath.



Morning breath is the worst. :o) Especially for a brace-face.

Separation Anxiety

This week, our family split up into three different directions: Chad and Adam went on a 30-mile hike in Yosemite with the Scouts, Megan went to Girls' Camp, and Sam, Sophie, and I went to visit my parents in New Harmony for the week. No one has cell phone service, yet we have all managed to keep in touch with each other via the odd text message that sneaks its way through.

Samples:

From Me to Adam: i love you son. be good. and i am not mad anymore about you forgetting to pack the wii power cord for us. love mom

Adam's response: i love u and miss u hope ur having fun i probably wont reply if u respond just know u r loved
(AWWW! I had to shed a quick tear)

From Me to Megan: smile and be happy, girlie! Girls' camp rocks!

Megan's response: Having fun :) made you a necklace.
(that's the last I have heard from her so I suspect her phone died...I HOPE it died and wasn't confiscated!)

From me to Chad: hello. i love you. how's the road trip going?

Chad's response: hi there! had to climb a big hill to even get 1 bar of service. doing well. adam too. hope you and the kids are good. miss you! and love you so much! i hope i have service and battery 2morrow so i can wish you happy anniversary! first 1 apart and i am sad. but i can't wait to see you on sat. be safe and i love you with all my heart!
oh, and it SNOWED last nite and this morn! horrible night sleeping. i didn't plan 4 this! we're at 9500 feet. lots of fun breathing.
(tomorrow is our 17 yr. wedding anniversary. I am sad to be apart too)

Saturday night we will all be reunited. I can't wait!

:o)

My greatest treasures

UPDATE: Romantic Couple's Getaway, ie: I survived the camping trip

The "we embark" obligatory self-portrait. You can't see it but the back of my Tahoe is full of camping equipment, none of which did I have to load!

I did help with the putting up of the tent. But it wasn't hard at all!

I had a lot of fun playing with the lighter fluid and charcoal. Eventually it all got hot enough to cook the foil dinners. In my past experience, foil dinners took F O R E V E R to cook. Not this time! Within about 30 minutes, they were done.

This picture doesn't do the meal justice. It was delicious, and the meat was so tender! Chad was so proud of himself, and I gave him plenty of positive reinforcement. I didn't get a picture of our dessert (what else? S'mores!) - delicious! Chad insisted on roasting my marshmallows for me - I usually get a carcinogenic mess, but his were nicely browned on all sides. (Lots of practice on Scout campouts, I guess.)

The obligatory "we just ate and now we must hug" self-portrait.
After taking this picture, we retired to our tent and watched a movie on Chad's laptop, which he had lovingly charged up ahead of time. I've never watched a movie in a tent. It was all very different and fun and romantic. And yes, we zipped our sleeping bags together. :o)

After about 4 hours of sleep (due to loud and drunk fellow-campers who just wouldn't shut up!) we got up and Chad got started on our breakfast burritos (eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, cheese all wrapped up in a tortilla).

Just as we were breaking camp, we saw this colorful friend wandering through our campsite. Peacocks wander freely throughout Steckel Park - such fun to see them up close!

On the way home, Chad and I talked about what we could have done to make the camping trip even better. The list was very short: bring earplugs, iPods, and sleeping pills. Otherwise, it was wonderful and we plan on going again!