Finally......I've Been Tagged!

Well, I was feeling a little left out of the tagging game, so after complaining to Lichelle, she added me to her tagged list. Thanks for the love, Lichelle.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
This one is very similar to Lichelle's. I was also a senior at good old Layton High working at the child care after school . I decided not to do the basketball team senior year (mostly because I didn't want to keep the bench warm anymore). Instead, I decided to do the school musical, Pirated Penzance. Much to my surprise, I got a speaking part and a small solo. I did not enjoy this experience at all. Everyone kept telling me all the hard work would be worth it when we performed........not true. It stressed me out because now I had to embarrass myself with an audience. I've never been good at the acting thing. It makes me feel really stupid.

5 things on my "to-do" list today:
1. Get laundry done for our trip to Vegas this weekend!
2. Pick Lucy up from preschool (temp. outside today: 65 degrees...I think we'll walk today!)
3. Get ipod ready for 1/2 marathon. Gotta get some good tunes!
4. Call and set up visiting teaching appointments (last week of the month....I rock!)
5. Play outside with the kiddos

6 Snacks that I enjoy:
1. Candy
2. Kettle Corn
3. Candy
4. Cheese and crackers
5. Candy
6. Rice Krispy Treats

3 bad habits:
1. I bite my nails.......a lot. I've done this for as long as I can remember.
2. I eat whatever is left on my kids plates when they are done. If Lucy leaves a couple bites of waffle on her plate.....I eat it. If Graham doesn't finish his cheese sandwich....I do. Goldfish left in the bowl.....I finish them off. You see the pattern.
3. I'm a nag. Poor Jason.

5 Places I've lived:
1. Rawlins, WY (born there)
2. Mountain View, WY
3. Layton, UT
4. Logan, UT
5. Lemoore, CA

5 Jobs I've had:
1. Checker at Bowman's Market
2. Child Care
3. Convergys
4. Supervisor at Raging Waters
5. Girls Head Soccer Coach at Bear River High School

5 Things people don't know about me:
1. Some would already know this, but I am a home body. I was the kid at sleepovers that cried at bedtime because I wanted to go home. I have a really hard time being away from my family. Kinda funny that my husband is in the military....go figure.

2. I can't make any decisions (big or extremely small) without second guessing it or feeling guilty about it. Not fun.....I'm working on it!

3. In high school I thought distance runners were crazy! During soccer practice we'd see the cross country runners leave for their workout and I'd think to myself, "Suckers!" Now I get so much satisfaction out of a long run. I'm not very fast.....but I always finish!

4. I would love to have the courage and the talent to sing solos. I feel like I have a pretty good "choir" or even "duet" voice, but I would never dare sing alone for an audience. I wouldn't even sing by myself (without radio) in front of Jason until the last year or so when Lucy started wanting us to sing to her before bed. I absolutely love hearing my brother and his wife and also my sister and her husband sing and I wish I could do that.

5. In my old age I have became very afraid of heights. It's strange, because before marriage and children, I had no problems going on the big roller coasters or whatever. Kinda weird. I used to think I would want to sky dive.......not anymore!

Anyone who hasn't done this yet, is officially tagged. I love learning new things about people and I actually enjoy coming up with stuff for myself. I think it will be something fun for me and my kids to read later in life.

Growing Graham

Isn't this picture adorable! He's 3 months old with his blessing outfit on. I just love his little grin. Graham has always had the best smile, just like his Dad!

Yesterday was Graham's first full day in nursery! He doesn't seem old enough to be in there. The door to our nursery has the little peek holes, so you can see in. I didn't have to do sharing time or anything for primary, so I had to go check on him a few times. It was so cute seeing him sitting on the little chair having snack with everybody. This picture is after he fell asleep during lunch last week. I left the room for about a minute and came back to this. Graham has a few new little funny things he's been doing. He loves the water bottle and likes to drink out of it. We've had a few close calls where he has somehow gotten a hold of the Lysol and went to take a swig. He walks around with it and then hands it to me and wants me to spray his hands.

He's also loving books lately. It's so fun to go in his room and see him sitting on the floor pretending to read. We put a big basket of books next to him and he'll be entertained for a while. When I picked him up from nursery, they said he sat at the book case and pulled out each of the books, opened them up and jabbered a little before moving on to the next.

We joke that Graham has anger management issues. He gets upset over something and screams and yells for a minute until we figure out what he wants. He's getting a little better about using the sign language we've been teaching him, but usually he'd rather yell at us until he gets what he wants.

He's growing way too fast. Yesterday it made my heart hurt to take him to nursery (only a little bit).

Lucy's Singing Debut

We have our own little American Idol at our house. Lucy has been singing this song for the last few days. All she knows is a couple of lines and you might start wishing I would teach her a few more, but she sings it with such attitude......I love it!

Mom bakes, too!

I thought I should document this momentous occasion that took place last Sunday. I baked cookies! As many of you may have read or heard me say before, I don't bake. The reason behind this is my total and complete lack of self control. I eat not only ridiculous amounts of the dough, but I can't stop myself from eating scary amounts of the end result. This is the case even if I don't really like whatever was baked. If it's there, I have to eat it until it's gone. If there's a treat we want, Jason usually bakes it. We've found it works best if we 1/2 the batch and then freeze a bunch or we give the neighbors most of it. For this reason, Lucy (and Jason) get very excited when I make cookies.

Feeling more like me....

Well, I'm getting better.....finally. Yesterday I tried the "fake it till you make it" method by taking a shower, doing my hair and putting on makeup to see if I would feel better. I didn't. But today I'm feeling much more like myself. Myself with an ugly cough and a headache. I'm hoping that if I rest tonight and tomorrow and drink lots of water, I'll be able to get back to running on Tuesday. The 1/2 marathon is 2 weeks from today! Yikes!

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. Neither Jason nor the kids are showing any flu symptoms.......so far, so good!

The influenza bug bites hard!

Happy Valentines Day to me. I am going on my 3rd day sick with what the urgent care doctor said is influenza. When I think influenza, I think stomach flu, which usually includes vomiting or diarhea. I have none of that. Just a ridiculous cough, roaring fever, and a headache that won't quit. As you can see from the picture, I am very drugged up, so at this particular moment I am doing okay. I read on the internet that influenza is actually a respiratory illness and that the "stomach flu" is more commonly caused by a parasite or something besides the influenza virus. Interesting.

Anyways, my neighbors have been absolutely wonderful to help us out. They've taken care of my children and made me dinner. I'd be lost without them. Jason took most of today off, but then got called in on an emergency this afternoon. Graham is home with me now. Here's my creepy attempt to not get him sick (see picture below........it's a pillowcase).

The doctor said it could last anywhere from 3-5 days to 2-3 weeks. Awesome. We're praying that I'm on the upswing. I'm feeling like a real winner mom......I didn't get my kids flu shots. I know......I rock.

Happy Valentines Day to you all. I hope you're all able to show your sweetie more love than I am this year.

Family Pictures

We got some family pictures taken while we were home for Christmas. I'm excited about how they turned out. Graham was very cold, so it was hard to get a smile out of him. You'll notice Lucy's boots in the extended family picture. She couldn't be talked out of them. It is absolutely wonderful having such a talented photographer in the family. My brother in law, Ryan, has his own business and is so very good at what he does. He does weddings, engagements, family, etc. If you're looking for a photographer.....he's your man! He has had several customers fly him to their location across the country because they wanted him to photograph their event. I have his website listed on my sidebar........or I guess I could post it here, too: http://www.rltphotography.com/ We love you, Ryan!

Livin' in sunny California!

Okay, I'm posting this in hopes that it will entice someone to come visit us here in sunny California. The temperature was 62 degrees today! We got to go outside and play on the almost green grass. There's not a whole lot to do in Lemoore, but we'll show you a good time if you make the trip out! Am I sounding desperate??

The kids had a great time playing in our back yard today. We had lots of neighbors over to help pass the time while Dad is at a training in San Diego. Lucy can't get enough of her friends. She gets so upset when it's time for them to go no matter how long they've been here or she's been there. Graham is going through a hitting phase.......I'm hoping it ends soon because he goes to nursery in 3 weeks. On Sunday morning Lucy was getting sick of him pounding her. She yelled, "Graham! Stop hitting me.....I'm not a drum!"

What songs get you pumped?

Jason and I, along with a few members of my family, are training for the Red Rock Canyon 1/2 marathon in Las Vegas. The date is coming upon us quickly. Only 4 more weeks until the big day and fun weekend with my fam!

Jason and I got to go for a run together today without the jogging stroller! My neighbor was nice enough to watch the kiddos while we made our way around the base. Jason is an animal.....he has been so busy with work and classes, he hasn't been able to run for almost 2 weeks and he still ran the whole 8 miles with me. We had over an hour to talk. We started with some ABC games (name foods that start with each letter or your favorite thing that starts with each letter, etc, etc.). From there the topics ranged anywhere from deployment to what parenting techniques we want to use as our children grow up. I got kinda grumpy near the end so he had to put up with some whining. At that point he's not allowed to talk about anything that I claim, "Takes to much brain power to think about". I really enjoyed spending that time with him.

Usually I'm on my own in the running department. I get up early and go to treadmill at the gym or run outside. I've got an Ipod that I use and I feel so much more motivated and I'm able to run faster and longer if I've got some good tunes to listen to. It's better for me to have 8-10 songs that I really like and listen to them over and over again than to have 20 songs that are okay. I get bored with the songs really fast.....I can only listen to the same ones for about a week and then I'm no longer energized by them. Here's a list of my current running tunes. This list has actually lasted a couple weeks.

This Love Blake Lewis

Speed of Sound Coldplay

Not Ur Girl Katherine McPhee

Dangerous Katherine McPhee

Gone Kelly Clarkson

First Time Lifehouse (my current favorite song)

Savin' Me Nickelback

Love Song Sara Bareilles

Not Just a Pretty Face Shania Twain

Apologize Timbaland

I love that you can buy just one song off of iTunes for 99 cents! It makes updating my playlist a lot more fun and not too expensive.

I'm having a hard time coming up with some good songs to change it up a bit. You'd be surpised by some of my previous playlists. Artists ranged anywhere from Garth Brooks to Celine Dion and then on to more Kelly Clarkson and Van Halen. What are some of your favorites that get you motivated or pumped up? I got 9 miles to run next week and I want some tunes to get me through it!