Love

I love being a mother.

I love Cameron.  I love Allison.  I love Claire.

They push my buttons and have changed my body and make me want to scream.

BUT I wouldn't have it ANY OTHER WAY.

They are a part of me, and I love them more than anything.

Last night I took Miss Roo on a little mommy-daughter outing.  We went to dinner and then went to see the ballet, Cinderella.  My awesome running friend, Meridith, was playing the evil stepmother.  She was SO good!  It was a great performance.  It made me miss dancing so much, though!!

On Friday evening, the whole fam went over to my friend Joycelynn's house to see our NEW KITTY!!  We are in love with her, and we hope it works out for us to take her when we move.  I supposed I shouldn't blog about her until we know our future....but I'm SICK of not being able to make any plans, so for now, I'm going to pretend that it will work out because I'm going crazy!  :)

Meet Aspen!

So....I didn't blog about last week's running.  I didn't run much.  I love tapering!  Resting up for the BIG DAY that is coming up this weekend!  It's here!  Oh my goodness.

Spirit of the Marathon

Several weeks ago, I decided to get a movie called "The Spirit of the Marathon" at my library.  I hadn't seen it before, and I knew it would pump me up and motivate me.  I threw a post on RA jokingly that said, "Who wants to come over for a movie night?"  Well, my little inquiry turned into a big dinner party at Robert Merriman's house over the weekend.  It was a complete blast!

We had Indian food and salads and desserts.  Chicken curry, saag paneer and naan.  I could not stop eating!  It was so fun to see and visit with everyone.  Susette had some games for us to play, and they were HILARIOUS.  This group is so great.  The Merriman's house was gorgeous.  It was sweet of them to host our crazy bunch!

The movie was awesome.  It follows six people along their journey to run the 2005 Chicago Marathon.  I had to hold back tears when I watched them each cross that finish line.  That moment of crossing that finish line is what I think about every single day right now.  It's going to be incredible.

Waffle Mania

Nate and I had a waffle maker when we were first married, but it was horrible.  The waffles stuck to the iron no matter what I did.  We hated dealing with it, so we never made waffles and eventually got rid of it.

Last week, Nate's grandparents gave us a Belgian waffler maker for Christmas.  I found an easy, quick recipe online and away I went.  They turned out SO yummy.  I literally cannot stop making them!  I have eaten them for breakfast, lunch or dinner EVERY single day since!  The joke is that I need an intervention.  But come on, what's wrong with lovin' waffles?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo2rkKXL2gk

Yesterday we invited our friends, Josh and Heidi over for a double date of pizza and games.  It was so much fun!  We played Apples to Apples, attempted Pit (needed more people), Mad Gab, and UNO Flash.  By the end of the evening, we were laughing SO hard.

So back to the waffle mania that suddenly is my life, I decided to attempt Brownie Waffles for dessert.  They turned out delicious, but were a bit of a hassle to make.  It took a few tries to get it right, and I have to thank Joshua for surgically removing the waffles from the grooves for me!

In other non-waffle news, Clarence went to time-out for the first time.  She's starting 2014 off with a bang!

No, seriously the kids are having a fun break.  I taught Cam how to play Uno and Sequence.  Claire loves the Topple Tree game and puzzles, and Allie and I have been playing "tennis" (it's really baseball).  The girl has quite an arm!

Like I said before, I didn't really set official New Years resolutions.  But yesterday, I did decide to try a different approach to improving on some things.  Reward charts!  I know, that sounds like I'm about 5, but I'm a visual person!  So for the month of January, I made a chart for all of the things I want to do/not do, and each day, I'll check it off.  At the end of January, if I was successful, I'll treat myself to something.  I also made a chart for our family scripture study and prayers.  The kids get to take turns putting the stickers on, and each month we get to treat ourselves to ice cream as a family.  I think it will be fun!

Hilarious

Two of the absolute funniest videos I've ever seen.  Enjoy.



I laugh EVERY single time.  Without fail.

My Favorite Picture

Sometimes you meet a new friend and just click.  It feels like you've been great friends for years.  I love that! That's how it was when I met Merilee.  One HILARIOUS experience (nearly being ran over by a psycho dog that we later named Kapono)....and BAM.  We were besties.  This was then followed by about 5 gazillion buckets of more hilarity and things in common.  This basically sums up our friendship.  (And now I'm laughing.  Ermie, if you read this, call me because I miss you and want to see your face and wayward pinkie.)

Well, I'm pretty sure I've found the equivalent of Ermie, just in male and runner form.  Josh!  Same story, just delayed 13 years.  We bonded over figuring out his hilarious costume for the Haunted Half...and BAM.  Instant friends.  I swear we have the same brain (except he's WAY funnier than I am).  We both nerd out over running, blogging, music, books and other various subjects way more than the average mature adult should.  But mostly running.  It's great.  The Thankful 13 will be his 50th half marathon.  Amazing.  He and Nate are buds, too.  They ran the Haunted Half together.  When Nate first met him, he sent me a text that said, "Josh is awesome!"  Does anyone NOT think Josh is awesome?  I can't imagine that.

Go check out his blog and watch his cool video HERE!

Anyway, one of my favorite photos I've EVER seen is Josh's family with the Beach Boys.  I'm mostly posting this for my own enjoyment.  It makes me laugh out loud EVERY time I look at it.  Without fail.  Which is why it belongs in a blog post.  

Things I particularly enjoy:

1. Josh's DAD.  His face.  The sheer joy. His hand on Mike Love's shoulder.  Mike Love's face in response.  I cannot get over it.

2. How the middle Beach Boy has a shorter chair than the rest.  Why?  He doesn't seem remotely affected by it either, which also makes me laugh.

3. How the Beach Boys are dressed.  Very random.

I seriously LOVE. THIS. PICTURE!!!  You don't have to try and understand it.  It's okay.

***

Random tidbit:  When my dad was in high school, he played the keyboards in a band.  His band opened for the Beach Boys at a concert in Portland.  Very Cool!!

That's him in the hat.  He's a stud!

San Diego Getaway

Nate, Cam and I had such a great time in San Diego!  Usually after a vacation, I am ready to head home and get back to my routine, but not this time.  I wanted to stay for forever!

We left on really early on Friday morning and flew to LAX, then a quick flight to San Diego.  It was fun being with Cam and watching him experience his first flight (that he can remember).  He loved it!  He got to meet the pilot, too, which was a fun little treat!.

Bill picked us up at the airport and took us on a little driving tour of San Diego.  We saw the Naval base and the bay.

Then we drove over to a marina, where we rented a boat.  Bill knows how to sail, so he taught us so much.  It was really cool.  We learned all of the terminology, and when it came time to turn the boat, Nate and I had to help move the sails.  It was a gorgeous day with perfect wind.

After that, we were pretty exhausted, so we went to Bill's place and let Cam play with his cousins.  They just got a new puppy, and I'm usually not a fan of little lap dogs, but Lilly was CUTE!

Then we took the kids swimming.

Then Nate and I headed out to Thai Food for dinner.  Delicious!  THEN we headed over to the Sleep Train Amphitheater for John freaking Mayer.  I was so excited!!  It's impossible to describe such an amazing concert in words, so I won't try, but just know that I was a very happy girl.  John sounded SO GOOD!  We had pretty good seats, we were in the very front row of the 2nd section.  Nothing like being 2nd row 6 years ago, but I'll take what I can get!

(We were so fried from being outside all day!)

"You look fine, fine, fine.  Put your feet up next to mine!"  -Wildfire

I didn't want it to end.  EVER.  "Born & Raised" and "If I Ever Get Around to Living" were my favorites.  He also played some of his old stuff.  Oh that John!!

The next morning we relaxed a little and listened to some of General Conference.  Then we headed over to Coronado Beach.  It was a gorgeous day, and I could have sat on that beach all day long and been completely content.  The waves were perfect, Nate had a blast jumping in them!  I did too, but he was a lot braver than I was!  This was also some good visiting time with Bill and Whitney.

After the beach, Whitney, Hunter, Aspen and I went to dinner at In n Out (my first time!), and then we headed back to the Sleep Train for the Kelly Clarkson and Maroon 5 concert!  We had lawn seats, and I was SO exhausted by this point, so I listened a lot more than I stood up and watched.  It was certainly no JM, but still really fun.  It was fun to visit with the girls and get to know them better, too!

Sunday we just relaxed and watched more Conference.  Then we headed to Old Town to the Mormon Battalion site.  I LOVE learning more about our Church history!  The story of these 500 Mormon soldiers who walked hundreds of miles to San Diego was just amazing.  So many miracles.  The tour was really fun and interactive for the kids, too.  They ended it with panning for gold and getting to go to a lookout tower.

On Sunday evening, I got to meet my mom's cousin, Sandra Dibble.  She came over for dinner (Whitney made delicious Afghan food), and it was so great to visit with her.  We went on a walk after, too.  It's great getting to know new relatives!

On Monday morning, Bill took us on a little trail run.  He's speedy, I couldn't keep up very well!  Good run, though!  Then we headed an hour north to LegoLand.  I opted not to go, since it's SO expensive, so I decided to spend the day with my sweet blogging friend, Casey.  She lives about 10 minutes from LL, so she just picked me up from there.  It was SO GREAT to meet her and her cute kids!  We have been online friends for about 5 years now, it's funny how women do that!  But I have really met so many of my closest friends online (not sure what that says about me...??).  I am shy though, so I do have a hard time being super friendly when I first meet someone.  So maybe online I feel like I can chat and connect with people easier, and then when we meet, it's already like we've known each other for years?  I'm not sure.  But anyway, I absolutely adore Casey!  She took me to Lainey's school ("That's my friend, Miss Becca!")  and we got some ice cream and hung out at her adorable house.  I also to got to meet her husband, and her sons, Jack and Carter, and the cat, Finn.  But Lainey just melted me.  Oh that girl.  I am in love!!  It was a fun day.  I admire so much about Casey and her family.

Cam and Nate had fun at LegoLand.  Since I'm the one writing, I don't have much details from it, but I know Cam loved the roller coaster, and he also got to drive these little cars around.  I'm so glad we brought him.  He was such a good boy on the trip, and I hope it made him feel special and loved!

Seriously creepy mom and baby Lego display!

Casey has the cutest house ever.  I wish she could come decorate mine, I have NO skills at that!

We flew out early Tuesday morning.  Boo!  I was so sad to be going home already.  I missed Roo and Claire, but I could have stayed a few more days!  I hope to make it back soon!  One of my new favorite places, by far!

We flew through Denver on the way home, so we flew right over the Grand Canyon.  Cool!

And that's a wrap!  Back to the cold weather and daily routine we go!