Update on how my goals are coming along

So, things have been going pretty well. I have been keeping a journal most nights, but my writing is so awful I don't know if I will be able to read what I've written. I have noticed the scripture reading and prayers have helped me to have a better attitude each day, at least I think so. My family might beg to differ.
I've been able to work out 5 days a week, whether it's been walking or weights. Luckily the weather was good for this. My friends and I meet at the high school track and walk for about an hour, which is so much more enjoyable than anything else. Once the rain hits hard, I will have to go to the gym, so I am outside every chance I get for now.
And my eating has been going well. I have been really disciplined until I went on and overnight camping trip with my girlfriends and didn't have my own food. But I resisted the sweets and only ate small portions of the food, and no pop. Saturday I had a cheat day because of breakfast at the campground and then a candle party, which I hosted. I made this pumpkin/ginger snap snack and could not say no. But today I was back on the wagon and will do my weigh in on tues. Wish me luck!
I am glad that I set these goals because it has helped me in more ways than one, and I know I will feel so much better about myself and my life.

Summer Fun

We had a pretty relaxing summer. I had to work 3 days a week, so the kids were with Adam's sister a lot. We weren't able to do a lot or go anywhere really. We had a camping trip to Loon lake and it was a nice weekend, except for getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes. We also made a trip down to Grants Pass to check out the school in Ashland. We were thinking of moving there and now I wish we had given it some more thought, or I wish I was on board more. But there is a reason we decided to stay and I hope it's because I get into the program I am going to apply for.
The kids and I went on some nice hikes, we have a lot of hiking around our town, which makes it nice and the kids love to do it. And its a fun way for me to get a workout without killing my body.
We went swimming some, did crafts and basically just chilled and got ready for the start of the school year.
Garrett working on the potty training. He is doing so good now, and it is a joy to be off diaper duty all day long. We are still working on the nighttime routine. He is so happy wearing his big boy undies!

Natalie had an eventful month. She is our clumsy, accident prone kiddo and we deal with a lot when it comes to her. Adam was gone and she split her eyebrow open after getting out of the shower, so I called my work and they got her in. I wasn't sure if it would need stitches, but the doctor recommended it. And the dermatologist that is in our ward just happened to be at the clinic for one of his patients, so he did her stitches and it looks great! No one can even tell it was split.

She also lost 2 teeth, this on if for the first lost tooth. The tooth fairy forgot to come at night, but in the morning she found her money and a nice note from the fairy apoligizing for the mistake. The tooth fairy sure has a lot of trouble remembering to bring the kids money for their teeth! Oh, and she literally lost both of her teeth when she put the first one in a cup and Adam dumped the cup full of water in the sink, and when she lost her second one, went to put it in the tooth jar and dropped it and lost it. When the tooth fairy actaully remembered to bring her money during the night, she didn't even remember to look for it or that the tooth fairy was coming!

The summit of Spencers Butte, one of our favorite places to hike.

One of the crafts we liked to do this summer, paint rocks for yard decorations. We did these for my mom's birthday and it was super fun! We had some friends over and did some for our yard. Painting them was very theraputic for me and we will be doing this a lot more.

Races, and more races

This summer I was able to work 3 races in, a half marathon, a 10K and a sprint triathlon. I had the half marathon goal in mind, and thought "hey, I will be in such good shape, I should work in an Olympic triathlon as well". That was a hilarious thought. First of all, the half training just about did me in. I was trying to run ridiculous amounts of miles a week (ridiculous for me, anyway) and really started getting some bad hip pain when I had just turned over a new leaf in my training, so I went to the doctor and had to back of the training to keep in shape so I could finish it. The half was in June, in sunriver, and was the most perfect conditions for a race and a wonderful weekend to boot. I had Adam give me a blessing for my hip to heal, and I doped up on medicine and was able to run the whole thing pain free, and no pain that whole weekend, when I can run 4 miles and be paying for it for 2 days. It was seriously a miracle. Brynne was all set to take off and decided to stick with me because I was able to keep running. That was a huge accomplishment for me and I have the proof of that on my car. We spent time with my brother Chris and sis-in-law Kim and niece Hannah, and that was fun. Also got to see my cousin Marlow and her kids who live in Louisiana because they were visiting my aunt and uncle in Bend. It was such a great time.
Brynne and I after the half marathon.

Me smiling afterwards-(side note- we wanted to shout out to Eugene so we bought these tye-dye tshirts and Brynne had drew wording and a picture on the back that said "Sole Sisters" with a running shoe. Everyone loved them and it was fun to represent Eugene.

I also decided a couple days before a 10K to run it, basically so I could hang out at this cool festival called "the Scandinavian festival". Lots of yummy food. I ran with my friend Stacie and it was a good run. Nice and flat course. Went back to the festival later for food and it was about 100 degrees that day. Yuck! Needless to say, we didn't last long!

Then was the tri in Forest Grove Oregon. Brynne and I convinced out s-i-l Kim to do it with us, and she did! It was one of the hardest races I've ever done! I don't think I was totally in shape to do this, and the course was so hilly. I hate to swim and so the 1/2 mile swim was hard, but I think I beat my last tri swim time. The bike was the hardest part. I wasn't used to steep hills, and just wanted that part to be over, when usually it is my fav part. Kim was on a mountain bike so we felt bad for her. We all finished, Brynne got first in her division, and I got first in my division-the big women division-but there were names under mine! So that was cool and we were so proud of Kim finishing with a big smile on her face!! What a way to end the summer!

Me getting close to the finish line.

This is before the torture, I mean, race started.

# 1 in my division, baby! It is amazing the limits we can push our bodies to and succeed in something that seems to unachievable. It is a great feeling!

I love this Day!

I felt the need to post today about how it went. Today was a wonderful day. The sun was shining, the air warmed up, and I felt the Spirit so strong at church. I know it is because I have been trying to change my attitude, pray to my Father in Heaven more and read and ponder my scriptures. What a difference that makes in my attitude and outlook on life. I was happy today, social at church (usually I do my calling and avoid conversation), and enjoyed my kids-ok, except this morning when I was trying to work on my lesson for church and the kids kept coming in for "mom" this and "mom" that. Don't you realize you have a father as well? Sometimes I think they forget. Or maybe he happened to be hiding at that time. Anyways, the kids were good at church which makes me happy, and then my lesson went really well. I teach the 10 year old girls. We had good discussion and I felt the spirit. Oh, and the talks were awesome! A girl in my class' parents spoke and they did a wonderful job. After church we had the missionaries for dinner and we didn't know we had signed up, but I was able to make a dinner of fried chicken breasts, mashed red potatoes and it was a hit. So that felt good of course. And I loved having the missionaries over. We talked about getting more involved in missionary work and it was great to sit and talk with them about that, because that is what they do every day, of course. We really love our friends and family and want them to feel the happiness we do. So that was fun to get pumped up. Then after dinner we went on a walk, talked to the girls about their new school-they are in a spanish immersion school and I was so sick with worry over how Emma was going to like it, but she says she does, even though she doesn't understand much right now. It eased my mind to talk to them and we will continue forward for at least a month, and then reconvine.
I have been doing a good job journaling and that has made me very happy. I realized I hadn't written in Natalie's journal since Dec of 2008! Hello, mother failure of the year! I cannot remember anything that happened in the first part of 2009. Luckily I made this goal and can now get back on track with this. My hand got really tired though-what having a computer will do to you!-and so couldn't write for too long, but the little I did made me feel good.
I felt extremely happy today, and that was good because it has been a long time since I felt this happy. Hopefully I can keep it up for awhile. And lose some weight-that would make me
happy-er!

More to come

Yes, I will post pictures of our happenings this summer and then talk about our lives as of now. Till then you wait on the edge of your seats with suspense!

Oh, the woes of digital cameras!

Let me explain...I love digital cameras. They are so convenient, so accessible, so user friendly. But oh the amount of pictures they produce! I have 3 photo albums from my youth. Three! And my mom was amazing at capturing it. She is one of the most organized, with-it gals I know and I will never live up to that. She had all 5 of our memories organized into boxes, (not 5 memories, 5 kids' memories) folders for each year with our artwork, our achievements. All of us have baby books filled to the max, and we all have journals that she has keep of our lives as youth. Yes, that is right, all five of us!
So, the challenge I find nowadays, is the amount of pictures I have of my kids, and I only have 3! And the amount of family pictures to boot. My kids will each end up having about 10 big albums to their names with all the pictures I have. Or it could be more...And I am not a snap happy person. I see an opportunity, I take it, but am not taking a billion pics of everything. I recently, FINALLY, had some pictures printed out. Because what good are they if they stay on the computer, never to be looked at again? 50 bucks later, and 6 enormous envelopes of pictures, I have some, but still have a ton to print out!! And they just sit in a shoe box because I don't know what to do with them. Should I try to scrapbook, or just start buying the ridiculous amounts of albums to start shoving them in? I don't know, but I am slowly but surely on my way to something. What happened to the good old days when you had 24 precious pictures per roll? Sigh...

Turning Over a New Leaf

In lieu of fall approaching, I feel compelled to start afresh. I am going to set some goals, to actually be achieved, goals that I feel are important to my health and well-being as a mother, wife, friend, and daughter of God. I was struggling this summer in my relationships with my family- constantly being rude to them, disrespectful, wanting to spend time apart from them. I always seemed to lose my patience at the smallest thing.
I went and saw that movie "Eat, Pray, Love" and had kind of an awakening. Yes, motherhood and wifehood are the hardest things I've ever done, I have droned on before about this. I do need to get this out right now for my own benefit. I was not born with the need to have a family, as my mother can tell you. I wanted to be an only child, wanted nothing to do with my family, thus making me not at all interested in having a family of my own. I don't know why I was this way, but that is how it was. I always wanted to be the cool aunt, taking my nieces and nephews for the weekend, spoiling them and returning them to their parents to be expertly taken care of, which I knew I could never do. It wasn't until I turned 21 that I felt the need for a family of my own, to take my own little ankle biters to the store, and cuddle up to my husband on the couch.
I am truly thankful that I had this change of heart, because I do love my family very much, I still struggle sometimes with the "ifs". After seeing this movie, I was jealous of the authors ability to just up and leave, not to leave her life, but to be able to go on a journey of self discovery but traveling abroad. One of my biggest dreams in this life, which it has always been, was to be able to travel the world. My dream job would be to work for a travel magazine and get sent all over the world and to write about my journeys. Well, since that will never happen, I have decided to go on my own personal journey. And the fact that I am writing it down will help me stick to it. It is a journey to finally accept and love myself, which I have not been able to do and which I know is a big contributor to why I have been so horrible to my family. I can't truly love them without truly loving myself. So here goes...
Oh, and my goals to achieving this:
1. Journal or blog every night-in my kids journals and mine-I am talking at least just a paragraph.
2. Reading my scriptures morning and night, along with prayer.
3. Exercising at least 5 days a week, and I am not talking grueling workouts every day that will burn me out, I am talking walking, hiking, cycling, anything that gets me moving.
4. Eating smaller, healthier meals and snacks
So this is it, wish me luck!

Fiddle Faddle

Random Ramblings

The girls' school had a fiddle player come and teach all the grades a little about playing, and at the end they put on a performance for their parents. I will post them playing because it's really cute, but the girls got to where they want to take fiddle lessons, so we are going to see if Adam's cousin could teach that and/or the piano, whichever one they take to. I would love to get a little family blue grass band going. Fiddle, banjo, it is my dream to play one of those! Hopefully we are on our way!


We had a big wind storm come through, and I was at work when I got a text from my neighbor saying our tree had blown down and was taking up half our street. The chick is never serious, so I totally did not believe her. We went back and forth until she decided to send me a picture on my phone. I still had about an hour to go at work! My sister in law was watching the kids and wasn't able to tell me, so this is what I came home too. I was so grateful that it hadn't blown down the other direction! The neighborhood kids loved playing on and in the tree until the city workers came and got it cut out of the road for us. And of course Adam worked late this night so didn't even come home till it had mostly been cleared. Pretty crazy!

The girls have been playing soccer again, with Adam coaching Natalie's team. He wasn't going to but no one else would coach, so we decided to team coach. I basically assist him. But it's nice because with my new work schedule, I can go to practices to help out and also to games, which I missed a lot last season. Emma's team is fun to watch because they have better concept of how to play. But I am proud of the girls getting out there and trying their best and having fun.

My sister, some friends, and I are doing a half marathon in June in Bend, so my sister decided I needed the experience of running a long race, so we signed up for the Pear Blossom race down in Medford and it's a 10 miler. I had to push my training up to get ready for this race since it wasn't too long after I started my training, but it went well and I was able to run with my sister the whole way. My mom came down with us and we spent the whole weekend with my grandparents and were able to visit with a lot of family which was great. We had a good time and I feel a little more prepared for the 13 miles coming up. This picture is us after the race. See how I am able to smile? It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be.

Garrett and his new cousin Noah- born to Catrina and Charlie. This kids is so stinkin cute, I can't stand it. I mean Noah, but my boy is pretty darn cute himself, of course!

Seaside

For spring break, we went to Seaside for the weekend. That place is really cool. The kids had fun going to the arcade and riding the bumper cars, well, most of them. We also splurged and got one of those old fashioned pictures of the kids. If I can get my scanner to work, I will post it because it is adorable!! Garrett was a natural at posing and the lady kept telling us "can I keep him employed here? He is perfect!" I was cracking up. It was a fun little escape, but quite a drive. We were beat!


At Fort Stephens State park. Really great experience!

We were so unprepared for this! We were walking the strip with no extra clothes, towels, anything and the kids of course got soaked. We had to strip Garrett down in front of a ton of people with just his semi wet jeans and natalie's coat to keep him warm.

Emma before the bumper cars started. She did not enjoy this at all. She couldn't figure out how to drive and kept causing pile ups. I could tell on her face that she was gonna lose it as soon as it was over, and she sure did. Crying and blaming us for letting her drive by herself. It was quite the scene!

Natalie swinging on the beach. How cool is that? You'd think we were down in Cali or something.

We had great weather for the most part, so that was a treat.

Another attempt

Ok, so it has been about 6 months since I last blogged. Oh yeah, that long baby. And there have been plenty of things to blog about, I just couldn't seem to get the gumption. Sometimes I love the technology that helps us keep in touch, and other days I get overwhelmed. I mean, look at digital cameras. How many of us actually print out all the billions of pictures we take with them?
So, I am making another attempt at this blogging thing in hopes that my family and friends really do care to know what is going on with me and my family, and to hopefully be better about looking into your lives as well.
The next couple posts will be a brief update to get us up to speed and hopefully I can use the blog as a journal, etc. So, here goes...

Emma turned 8 on Feb 15 and was baptised on March 6th at 10am. Weird time, right? My mom was wonderful enough to make her a dress she could get baptised in. She made me help but I really couldn't complain. It turned out great and it's a wonderful keepsake. Plus she can wear it till she grows out of it. She is happy to feel the Holy Ghost with her and was happy to make this step in her life and progression.

In February, my parents rented a house in Sunriver for everyone to congregate in. It had 7 bedrooms and was perfect for everyone to fit comfortably but also have your own space. There was a huge hot tub that we hammered every day, and we had one side of the house for our family, since it's the biggest. There wasn't much snow but we were on a golf course and had snow on one side of the course, so the kids were able to do some sledding. The weather was sunny and wonderful and it was a great bonding time. We played a lot of Beatles Rockband thanks to Brynne, but not the drums which made me very sad.

This was not as fun for me as it looked. I used to like to ice skate but after this experience, probably won't feel the need to do it again. I looked like an absolute fool, especially next to my brother and sister acting like pair skaters around me.

Finally re-entering the blogging world!

Hopefully you all didn't give up on me, even though it's been a couple months. Finally was able to get pictures figured out on computer. Don't ask, it's been extremely frustrating. So, here I am coming back to update the world on our happenings since September. There has been a lot to mention.
Adam has decided after not doing so hot in Calculus, that he doesn't want to major in math anymore, which means no more math teacher. He wants to get a degree in econimics and possibly still teach, but is also on a waiting list for a newer program in water conservation at the school. We just have to wait to see if he gets in for next fall. Then it would be 2 years to finish that. I was hoping to be able to be a high school coach's wife, but my dreams are shattered. :) I just want him to enjoy what he is doing and be able to support us at the same time.
After lots of soul searching, I took a day job at my same clinic because the night and weekend hours were causing me a lot of unhappiness. I had done it for about 6 years and felt that I couldn't stand to work these hours for 2 or more years while Adam is in school. I was scared about figuring out what to do for the kids during the day, but Adam's sister comes over to our house and watches the kids for us to make things way less complicated. And Adam is home a lot with them because of his school schedule. So for now, things are working out good and I get to be a part of the goings ons that I have missed for so long. No more not getting to do things because I work. My schedule is mon-wed 8am-5pm. I have a ton of time off built up because I no longer have to use it. It's great!!!
I also started a weight loss journey with some of my friends. It has been good to have the support because we all know how hard it is! We started in september and I've lost 21 lbs so far. Wish it was more, but it's been coming off healthy. Plus there's those weeks that aren't so great. But I feel way better, and feel like I can continue do lose the weight with support. Wish me luck!

Our whole family completed a 5K on Thanksgiving called the Turkey Stuffer. Wish I had pictures but wasn't smart enough to remember that. I was going to run it with my sister but she decided to sleep in instead, so as I was getting ready in the morning, my family was waking up and I said to Adam "Lets all go and walk this thing". So we all got ready and I signed the girls up there because they were free, and we were off. There were a lot of people and I got to see a lot of friends I hadn't seen in awhile. Most of my weight loss group did it so that was great! The girls were really tired but when we got to the 2nd mile, I was like "we are gonna run the rest of the way to the finish!" They were exhausted but did their best and ran more than I thought they could. It was fun to do as a family and also a great way to feel better about stuffing ourselves on Thanksgiving!
That is all I can think of right now. I will try to be better at posting more often, because I miss hearing from my friends! And I will be better about checking in on all of you too!

Halloween and the Pumkin Patch

We all were in the spirit for Halloween this year. Even Adam dressed up, and that is pretty much a miracle. He was just supposed to be a doctor but put on the wig thinking it was part of the costume too. The night of Halloween, I took the girls trick or treating and left Garrett with my mom. Adam got to go to the Duck vs USC game with my stepdad, so it was just me and the kids. It was pretty drizzly so the girls weren't up for walking around much. Afterwards we booked it to the church because we had reserved it for my sister's 30th birthday party. Her hubby came up with the idea to have an old school dance party. It was fun but because of his and my poor planning, only family came and 1 friend. Thanks Kristy! It was really fun though. We had great food, great music, and great people to dance the night away. And she appreciated the thought and work. I took her to New Moon and dinner for her birthday present.

Every year when we go to the pumkin patch, we go to Johnson's farm. The owner drives the tractor for your hayride and takes you on a wild ride. If you don't hold on, you are flying everywhere! Plus he has all these scarecrows with pumpkins piled on there bucket heads and he lets you grab a bunch of gords to try to knock the pumpkins down along the ride. So fun! The kids love it. We went with our good friends and all had a blast. There was this pumpkin trick or treating bucket with the small opening hanging from a tree by a string. As we passed by, Adam threw a gord up and it went right in the bucket. If you saw this whole situation, you would realize it was a 1 in a million shot. That was pretty incredible. We decided later the guy should have given Adam a free ride or pumpkin for that one. What's up with that?

Kyla getting ready to tag a scarecrow!

Grandpa's 90th and first day of school

This very dark pic is Natalie's first day at Kindergarten. Her very best friend, who happens to be her cousin, is next to her. She loves school and wants to try to read everything, and write everything. I am impressed at how well she is doing. Her teacher thinks she isn't a morning person, and told me she starts to wake up around 11. Which cracked me up because she is done at 11:50. Yes, mornings are brutal with this one. But she was put into our family to shake things up a bit.

Emma on her first day of 2nd grade. She seems to be getting more confidence, especially with reading and has really grown to love it, which makes me happy. Reading is my relief! She has made a lot of friends, but that never worried me because she is extremely outgoing and social. She got to participate in a singing group thru school called the Razzle Dazzle kids and loved it. She performed at the city holiday market and for Grandparents Day at school. If I had video, you all would be dying. This kid is animated and not shy! It was adorable.

My Grandpa celebrated his 90th birthday. The man will live forever. He golfs, he landscapes, he bowls, lets just say for 90, he is doing amazing. As much family from all over came down or up to celebrate with him so it was basically a family reunion. It was fun but I wish I could have gotten to talk to and know the rest of the extended family better. If anyone is interested, lets make that happen! This is all of us kids and spouses and grandkids of my Mom's. Chris got cut out but was there too.

Garrett and all the kids playing in the sprinkler! They had a ball.

Adam, my mom, and baby Hannah(niece) livin it up. Mom and her sisters helped put together a slide show and memory book of my Grandpas life. That was fun to see and hear. Thanks for all the hard work, Mom!

I'm glad we could all get together and enjoy the beautiful weather, company of family, and the making of memories. Here's to 90 wonderful years, Grandpa. I love you!

Wildlife Safari

So this summer the kids and I had an opportunity to go with a Coburg Summer program to wildlife safari. I wanted to take the kids to the pool because it was supposed to be about 100 degrees and walking around outside was not my idea of fun. But I relented so we cruised down and had a blast!!! I highly recommend this to anyone in Oregon who lives close enough to go. The group rented a tour guide in an old, ghetto school bus but he was interesting and even though we felt like we were in a sauna, we learned a lot and got a lot of great pics. And luckily there was a lot of spray machines going so we got misted everywhere we went.

One of the grizzly bears. We saw so many cool animals. I was in awe.

The kids near the koi pond.

Natalie milking, er, watering the cow.

The cheetah. Up close and personal.

The beautiful flamingos. I'm telling you, this was one of the best trips I've taken, and I can be hard to please, especially when it is hot out!

Where in the world is Kretha?

For those of you who are wondering, "Gee, haven't heard from Kretha in awhile" there is a logical explanation. Computer is busted and so still trying to work on that, and we currently don't have internet access at home for our laptop. So there. Hopefully we will get up and running soon but in the mean time, don't forget about me! I will be back soon!

Natalie's 5th Birthday!

Natalie had her 5th birthday, and she got to have a friend party. I mostly posted these pics so you could see what an awesome mom I am! Or, actually, what awesome in-laws I have. The party was at their house, with a big blow-up water slide, pool, trampoline, and pony rides. The kids had a ball and it was an easy set up, plan, and execute party.

Kids jumping on the tramp. Please don't turn me in to CSD about all the kids jumping, parents were there and didn't care.


Natalie riding the horse with auntie leading. Grandma saddled up the pony as well because the kids were bombarding and they wanted to get more rides in. Thanks to auntie, grandma and uncle for doing this. It was a HOT day.

The waterslide was the hit of the party, and none of it cost me a dime.

This is just a random pic of us as we hiked Mt Pisgah. Adam came along on our adventure and it was fun, although after scampering up this tree for a pic, we saw a sign that said to leave the tree alone. It was a really neat tree but you can't tell from this picture.

I'm Baaaaack! And keeping it short and sweet.

A few recent happenings:

Natalie ballet'd her way into my heart at her dance program. She loved wearing "adult make-up". The little ones got the biggest applause. Good job, Nat!

Emma played soccer for the first time, while Dad got to be her coach. Both fell in love with soccer.

Natalie and cousin Kyla had their preschool graduation. Now officially Kindergartners!

Brother Chris and SIL Kim had baby Hannah. She's older than this, just had blessing and stared and smiled at me while I was holding her. So precious! Congrats you guys!

Went to GP for Memorial weekend and boat races. Didn't even hear the f-15's fly over which was strange. Fun time had by all.

Shame, shame, know your name!

Ok, so i'm a little ashamed to admit this. Ok, a lot ashamed. These pictures happened on Gen. Conference day. We were watching the afternoon session at home, when my sis-in-law came over to hang out. The girls were doing our hair, and Emma wanted me to pick a hair do that she had drawn for her do do in my hair. She asked how we could do one with color, and I said we can use markers to color their hair. So we all started coloring streaks in each other's hair, and then the girls started coloring on skin. Next thing I know, Teanna is drawing on my face, the girls are going to town on Adam's face, and we all look like a bunch of freaks. Thank goodness for washable markers. Adam's sis and bro-in-law stop by also, and Teanna tricked her out also. We were laughing so hard! Needless to say, we didn't get much out of the afternoon session. Good thing we recorded it so we could watch it another time. Just thought it would be fun to share. Have a good belly laugh at our expense!
The girls even colored in Adam's tatoos, and their uncles tats.
Some kind of hippy, man, rudolph kind of freak.
The girls getting in on the action. Their hair actually looked pretty cool. We'll have to color it again.
Cat is gonna kill me for posting this one, but it's classic!