Rockin' Out with Ingrid!

Cali's friend, Mendy, got her tickets to go see Ingrid Michaelson in concert for her b-day. And guess who decided to tag along?! All the fun moms!

Calz and Mendy were ready to party!


We felt so young rockin' with Ingrid! She told the best stories throughout the concert and her voice was AMAZING!!

Halloween Costumes

I love the colors of Halloween. The orange and black make me feel cheery.

What does not make me feel cheery is coming up with Halloween costumes for the kids. This year, I told them they had to come up with a costume on their own, with things we had around the house.
Carson was a B-Boxing Dude. ($0)

Nyah was an 80s Prom Queen. (dress from DI for $10)

Ian was a "girl". (wore all of Nyah's clothes and a creepy wig. $0)

Can you tell they are loving themselves?!

Halloween was not so fun. Freezing cold temperatures. Rain. Hail. Trick-or-treating lasted 10 minutes.

Cali got to go to a fun Halloween dance with some friends. They dressed up like mimes. Here they are in character.

Hayride at the Red Barn

It's always a fun tradition to take the kids on a hayride to The Red Barn, gather pumpkins, and get apple cider donuts for dessert. The only part I actually enjoy is the donut part!

Here I am with my Sweetie! I am trying to get geared up for all the fun! Aaron told the kids that they could each pick their own pumpkin this year, but that they had to be able to run 100 yds. with it. The bigger the pumpkin, the bigger the price. Try to take a guess who could actually run even 10 feet with their pumpkin?

This is Nyah struggling to look strong. Can she hold onto that thing?

Carson couldn't even roll his pumpkin!

Cali, Nyah, and Ian trying to look excited about the pumpkins. Really they were all just dreaming of the donuts, which I failed to get a picture of! :)

To Hickey or Not to Hickey . . . That is the Question.

What's your opinion? When you see a married man or woman with a black and blue mark on his/her neck, do you think:

a) Cool! She must've had a lot of fun last night. Good for her!
b) Ooh, gross! She's too old to do stuff like that. Disgusting!
c) I wonder if she's going to lie and say she had an accident with her curling iron?
d) Is that legal?!

I've had many thoughts on this subject over the years. When I was a teenager and saw friends with hickeyed up necks, I'd think, "Ooh! She should've covered that up better! A turtleneck or some concealer would've been a good choice today. Her parents are going to find out what she was up to last night." I think most teenagers want their hickeys to be seen though. They wear hickeys like a love badge.

I must admit, I did have twinges of jealousy at moments as a teen. "Man, I wish someone liked me enough to suck the bejeebees out of my neck" . . . I knew hickeys weren't legal in my family, so I decided to wait till marriage for the long awaited coveted neck bruise.

I realized soon after marriage though, that people get uncomfortable when they see hickeys, even on married people. The bruised up necks are like car accidents -- you can't take your eyes off of them. Thus my question above . . . what are people REALLY thinking when they see a hickey on a married person's neck?

By the way, I am not asking this question because my neck is currently bruised. And don't give me any weird looks today when you see me out in the sunshine with a turtleneck on!

P.S. I read this quote recently in an article about "hickey giving techniques". I wanted to share one part of the article in case some of you out there are wondering where exactly to place a hickey.

"A hickey is caused by lips breaking blood vessels and that's easy to do on the sensitive neck. It's less easy to do, say, on the sole of someone's foot."

Can you imagine? "Hey, babe. I was wondering if you'd like me to bruise up the sole of your foot tonight?!"

Say what?!

Ian gets to go to Youth Conference tomorrow and spend the night up in Heber with the Young Men and Young Women. He is very concerned about the sleeping conditions. The boys are going to be in one tent and the girls in another. Ian likes to sleep in just his underwear at night, and knows the other boys won't allow it. His solution: sleep in a tent with his sister, Cali, who is very used to, and very grossed out by, her "sleeping in his underwear brother."

Unfortunately, Ian's hopes for sleeping in his underwear were dashed on Sunday, when the Bishop warned the kids that under no circumstances are the boys to sneak around the girls' tents. Ian was horrified to hear that he wouldn't be able to sleep in the tent with his sister, who by the way, wouldn't be caught dead sleeping in the same tent with him.

As we were riding in the car today, Ian voiced his concerns about the sleeping conditions: "Hey, mom. Can you believe it? I'm not allowed to sleep with the other sex!"

"Say, what?!"

"Yeah, the Bishop said I can't sleep with the other sex!" Of course my innocent 12 year old was talking about not being able to share a tent with his sister or any of the other young women for that matter.

My thoughts on his comment: "Well, Ian. Not this weekend. But someday, buddy. Someday!"

I'm Finally Done!!

This is what our trip to St. George did to all of us . . .

This is what actually happened to me in St. George over the weekend --

right foot . . .

left foot . . .
Doesn't it look like I had a great time?!
So this is the story . . . The St. George Marathon was the last marathon I had to complete for The Grand Slam 2010(you have to run 4 Utah marathons in a year to earn an extra medal and a shirt. What a sweet deal!).

We had big plans for this marathon. Jeff made Marisa, Donna, and I pace bands and got us some sweet tattoos to make us feel tough. Our goal was 3:25. Would've been a PR for sure. We got up to the starting line at about 5:30 a.m. The race started at 6:45. I hit the wall at Mile 11. Still had 15 miles to go. Saw lots of ambulances drive by. Wanted to hop on one to take me to the finish line. Knew I wouldn't get my coveted Grand Slam medal if I got a ride to the finish. Kept running . . . and WALKING! Took lots of Chocolate Outrage GU. Almost threw up a number of times. Felt blisters forming on my toes. Wanted to curl up and die when I passed a mortuary on the route. Wanted to cry at mile 25.8 when I saw my family. Did cry when I crossed the finish line at 3:43, not because I was sad about my time, but because I was SOOOOO happy to be at the finish line. Drank some Diet Pepsi. Tried to eat some bread. Had to spit it out. Felt like throwing up. Took some pictures with my running buddies. Collapsed on the ground. At long last, the marathon season has come to a close. Boy, was it fun! Boy, am I glad it's over!!


Me barely moving near the end of the marathon route!

Trying to look tough with our marathon tattoos: P.R. or The E.R. During the race, I was definitely thinking the E.R. was a better choice!

I'm sure lots of people got a laugh as they passed me and read my calf: It's only 26.2 miles! This tiger tattoo on our calves was also a reminder of my old alma mater, Washington High School. Go Tigers!

Marisa, Donna, Jeff and I after the race. What an awesome group of running buddies!

It was so hot outside during the race, it even made the onlookers grouchy! Check out Carson's face!!


Here I am with our resident photographer. He's been such a trooper during this process! Thanks for being so supportive, Aaron!

Marisa placed 2nd overall out of ALL THE WOMEN THAT RAN THE GRAND SLAM!! She is AMAZING!! Great job, Marisa!!

After all the sweat and tears, I found out that I got 1st place in my age division in The Grand Slam. Let me tell you . . . the black plastic beehive shaped trophy they gave me made it all worth while! It will have a place of honor in my home. Maybe I'll stick it in my fridge so I can look at it hourly. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Are those age spots?!

I know. This face is not very attractive. But how would you feel if your foot looked like this?!

The foot itself is not cute due to running and heredity, but if you look closely, you will see that it is now covered with what looks like brown age spots. I know I'm 36 years old, but is this possible?
What really happened, is . . . I went to get my first spray tan today. (I've got to run a marathon tomorrow and didn't want to scare everyone with my white legs!) It turns out the machine was dripping. I have splotches over my entire body. My face is still bright white, as I chose not to have too much of the spray paint applied to my head. Can you imagine the disaster that would have been?
Spray tanning is awkward. You stand there in disposable underwear and a "bra" in front of a perfect stranger while she sprays you with brown dye. Normal? I think not. And look what it does to your arm hair!!

For those of you that are part Sasquatch, like myself, be warned!! The spray tan not only dyes your skin brown, but also any hair on top of your skin. Eek!! My arm hair is now darker than ever!!

So, after this catastrophe, why am I smiling?! I just ate a turkey and cheese sandwich on an Everything bagel, 3 delicious sugar cookies from my neighbor, and swigged down a Diet Pepsi. Life is good. Even with age spots!