Running Blues

I went running this morning, despite feeling too tired. I'm determined to get back into shape and try to fit excercising in to this crazy summer. I decided to run a shorter distance than normal but to try to go faster than normal. I went 2.5 miles and was surprised and excited to find that I did it a little over a minute faster than I normally go. (Meaning a minute faster per mile). When Ryan got home from taking Cameron to swim practice I was excited to tell him my good news. I had really pushed myself hard and was feeling proud. His reaction to my average time per mile ... "That's terrible."

Okay, I admit, I am probably the slowest runner on the planet so an improvement for me doesn't look like much. But it was still an improvement. I went ahead and signed up for the Speedy Spaniard 10k this morning, trying to be hopeful. I know I'm in pretty bad shape but hopefully in the next month I can get back into things so I'll at least make it to the finish line. And who knows, maybe I can still get faster, maybe.

"Mom, Can I Have Some Pudding?"

This poor kid has been falling asleep all over the place lately. I don't give him regular naps anymore because then he stays up till 10. I took this picture after we went swimming on Wed. afternoon. He had been sleeping on the couch for about an hour. I think he rolled onto the floor to try to wake up but it took a considerable effort on my part to actually get him to stay awake.

Last night I made a dinner I knew my kids would complain about so I preempted their complaints by making chocolate pudding and telling them that if they ate their dinner all gone they could have pudding for dessert. They were all doing great except for Austin who kept asking if he could have his pudding yet. Finally, Dallin and Cameron were done and just Eden and Austin were left to finish their dinner. Once again I heard Austin ask a little more quietly than usual, "Mom, can I have some pudding now?" I walked around the table to see if he had eaten any more of his dinner and this is what I saw...

Ryan's Finally Caught Up To Me

On Monday Ryan turned 35! You'll have to ask him how he feels about that. Probably not as emotional as I was. Anyway, it was another crazy day and I wasn't on the ball and didn't get his gift ahead of time (although Dallin did). So, Monday morning the kids had swim practice and then piano lessons and then I threw them all into the car and drove to the running store in Orem where Ryan got his last pair of running shoes. I brought them with me and showed them to the lady and said, "I need a new pair of these." She showed me this years model, I bought them, and we were off again to meet Ryan for lunch.

We had a nice lunch at Los Hermanos and let Ryan open his presents. His was pretty excited about the Phlat ball Dallin got him but even more excited about his new running shoes. (Yay, finally I had a good idea).

That night we got a babysitter and went out for Sushi and a movie. The movie was terrible so we left after 15 min. and snuck into one that we both really enjoyed. I won't name any names but it's been a long time since we've picked a movie that was so distasteful.

Ryan and I realized it'd been about 3 weeks since we've had a chance to sit down and talk to each other. This has definitely been one busy summer. But as of his birthday Ryan only has 6 classes left and then he's done with school. So close!

Father's Day

Sorry, no pictures of Ryan (he had the camera). Father's Day was a bit of a challenge this year since I got back from Girl's Camp the day before. Fortunately, I had planned ahead a little and gotten his gift ahead of time (yep, two ties - Austin had to have a green one for his dad and Dallin a blue). But we had to go shopping for dinner ingredients Sat. afternoon and since Ryan was with me I made him pick a dessert he wanted out of one of my cookbooks. He picked these Raspberry Sorbet Meringues for his treat. It didn't quite cook as well as I wanted (they stuck to the parchment paper) but they definitely tasted good!

Cinderella

On June 13th Cameron performed as The Royalty in Cinderella for her ballet class. She did a great job and looked so beautiful. We are really grateful to all the family members who came to the performance to support Cameron.

This is her friend Felicity who has been in her class for the past two years. When we moved we found out she was in our new ward which was really fun for Cameron (and made carpooling so much easier :) ).

June Piano Recital

On June 1st Dallin and Cameron had their Piano Recital. They each played two songs. Cameron had both memorized and Dallin had one memorized. I was so proud of them ('course I did make them practice four times that day).

The only sad thing is that this was their last time with their piano teacher. She did a great job with the kids and we'll really miss her. Thanks Jill for everything.

So Loved!

After that last post I went downstairs to frost the cake. It was still warm but I was anxious to get the kids in bed. Just as I finished, and Eden was pouring sprinkles on top, my friend Jody stopped by with some flowers. I told her she had to share Gluten Free Birthday Cake with us. She insisted I had to have candles and the kids needed to sing to me. It was just one more person who made me feel so loved today.

I Turned 35 Today!

I don't know if you're like me at all but I usually get pretty depressed before my birthday. "Anticipation" is a little too strong of an emotion for me and Ryan came home from his trip saturday night sick and wiped out. He's had a hard time recovering and as the days drew closer my hopes were dashed. For some reason I got it in my head that he had a surprise planned. Whoops. Not a good idea. When we finally discussed the upcoming day and I realized he had nothing planned I was hurt. Which is completely selfish because he spent a lot of time in China and India picking out some Awesome gifts for me. Unfortunately, (probably because I'm a girl) I was even more let down when I realized we didn't have a single night this whole week to even go out.

I decided I needed an attitude change and needed to cut Ryan some slack and work with him a little. I offered to miss my YW activity on Wed. night so we could go out and we had a great time. We went out to dinner and then saw the new Terminator movie. (This is totally my summer for movies)!

Today has been interesting, nothing special but somehow fun nonetheless (probably helped after having that attitude adjustment). I checked my email just before 7 this morning and found some wonderful birthday wishes from friends on Facebook. What they were doing that early in the morning I have no idea but it started the day off right. I took the kids to swim lessons and got a call from my dad (also bright and early, a pleasant surprise). Then I decided to do what I wanted to do more than anything today. I had a bunch of errands to run but thought since it was my birthday I would do what I wanted. So I went swimming. My goal was to swim 100 laps in an hour. I did 108! I think if I had done 4 more it would have been 2 miles! (I've never been good at math, though, so I could be wrong). But I was so stinckin' proud of myself. I'm 35 and I can still kick butt in the pool! Oh, I almost forgot, after I checked in at the gym and was walking toward the pool the guy at the counter said my name. When I turned to look at him he threw his hands in the air and said, "Happy Freakin' Birthday!" That made me laugh all day.

On the way to the gym Eden asked me what kind of cake I was going to have today. I told her I wasn't going to have a cake and she looked at me like I was bonkers. Then I said, "Eden should we make a cake for my birthday today?" She said, "yeah!" I asked her what kind we should make and she said Chocolate. Works for me.

So I ran to Sams, Wal Mart, the Health Food store, picked up Cameron from dance, made dinner, put away the groceries, baked myself a cake, cleaned up the kitchen, and just pulled the cake out of the oven. In the meantime Dallin and Cameron tried to give Eden and Austin a bath. (There was a lot of screaming involved but they managed). And now the house is quiet and for some reason I still feel like laughing because it just seems like such a silly day and yet so typical of my life right now in the middle of my 30's. But the best part is that I'm happy. I'm happy to have four (sometimes exhausting but most of the time wonderful) kids. I'm happy that I can still run and swim and bike and feel good about myself. I'm happy that I have a husband who loves me and thinks about me all the time and misses me when he's at work and regrets more than anything that he can't be with me right now. I'm happy that I have family and friends from so many stages in my life who remembered me today and made me feel so special. I'm happy, not for the things in my life, but for the people. My heart feels full.

After School Fun

Since Dallin and Cameron had so many fun things going on the last day of school I thought it would be fun to let Eden and Austin have a special activity too. I bought some water guns and let them play in the backyard with Eden's friends then set up the slip 'n slide. Austin spent the next hour jumping back and forth over the water and splashing in the little pool on the end.

Ally

Haydn

Eden

Sareya

That evening I let Eden have her first late night with her friend Haydn. They watched Over the Hedge 2 and I gave them my camera to take pictures. It was interesting what they took pictures of, mostly the tv, but even Austin got a turn and took some unique photos.

For the next two days Eden reminded me that this was the best day of her life. I'm glad she had such a good time. Austin also hasn't stopped talking about how he jumped all over the slip and slide. Obviously it was a memorable day for him too.