Oh the Children

I just wanted to post some pictures mainly of Austin because I don't think he gets enough play. Makenzie seems to make her way into most of these pictures. So eat your hearts out.

Go Cougs!!

Love this kid!!

My little buddy.

This is how we beat the heat on our deck. This is an activity better suited for a yard, but when all you have is a 3rd floor deck, you make it work.

Goobers from the get go, I think these children belong to me.

This is the Place.

This is our future home. We just got the approval today!! I am actually really excited. Even though it isn't as big as we wanted, and even though it doesn't have a garage I am really happy and feel at peace. We actually didn't even walk through this home, we walked through others in this complex but I found this one on craigslist when we got home. When I opened it, I was like, this is our home. So I started the process right away. I am happy to because this one is nicer than any others that we saw in the complex and it is cheaper!!

Funny story about this house, as soon as we decided to act, I called the Bishop of the ward we will be attending. I was asking him about the area, and the ward etc. He had great things to say, which made me really happy. But funniest random fact, I told him the address, and he said, yeah I know exactly the house you are talking about, the "X" family just moved out. HA!! We tend to follow members when renting our houses. PS, another LDS family is moving to our current house as soon as we leave, so local friends, be on the lookout for this new family. They have a little 3 year old girl, and their little guy is 1 just like Austin. Funny.

So the Bishop told me that there are a ton of young families in the ward. He told me (I didn't mention anything about running) that there is a whole group of moms that run together and are training for a half marathon in November. Maybe I'll fit in?

One of the selling points for me on this house was this cute little back yard. Most of the other townhouses in this complex don't have fences, its just open. I wanted a little privacy and love the fact that the back gate opens to the Huge grassy foresty area in the back. Couldn't be happier that we back up to grass and trees. We also have two pools in the complex. Did I mention I am stoked to be in an end unit?

So its not the house of our dreams or anything, but as a rental we are pretty happy, and its great to be paying a 3rd less for rent then we do now for something bigger. Gotta love the south. We'll we hope to anyway. We sure have loved D.C

Life is nutty

Well, we've been pretty busy. With Lee gone every weekday for the past 3 months, and us relocating to Atlanta in 2 weeks, throw in a house hunting trip and just a little hint of summer heat and you got yourselves what I call "our summer vacation." Not too impressive. I'm not sure if the worst is over (Lee gone all the time) or if it still lies ahead (moving). But luckily I have a hubby who loves me more than anything because his grand plan is yes... get this.. send me to Seattle while he drives the kids to Atlanta and moves in all our stuff. Do husbands do nicer things for their wives? Don't think its even possible. So while I'm with fam and friends, he'll be with kids and boxes. Lee, I love you! So our days in Virginia are numbered. We put in an application on a tiny little town home, (not buying, not yet at least) and we hope life will move forward and that we will learn to love Atlanta as much as DC. We'll miss friends and family, but we look forward to new adventures, and new friends. That is life right now, and this is probably all you will get until late September when I return for... dun dun dun RAGNAR!!!! Can't wait, I'm seriously getting excited.

Back Streets Back Alright!!!

Well I'm not 17 and its not the turn of the century, but last night it may as well have been. That is right, I attended a Back Street Boys concert in the year 2010. They are still around you ask? Turns out they didn't stop making music after I graduated HS. Who knew? When I saw they were coming to town, my first thought was, are you kidding me, they are still performing, my next thought was, Oh I bet I can get some girls to go with me. So I did. I rounded up some friends and we were going to go and sit on the lawn seats and be 17 again, but due to their popularity lawn tickets, and almost all tickets sold out quite rapidly. So April, Julie and I bit the bullet and payed double the money to buy a seat. Which I actually don't regret at all because can I say this. The concert was AWESOME!!!! It was so fun.

I had no idea what to expect, was it going to be a bunch of washed up almost 40 year old guys on stage doing a little singing, heck no, never underestimate the power of a boy band. They had all the same moves, and a few new ones, all your classic songs, great costumes, a great stage setup, fog, strobe lights, hot dancing girls (not that I cared so much about that part) but everything you would have expected from a boy band concert in the year 2000. Only this time they were a little older, AJ was practically bald, Nick Carter wasn't some scrawny little blonde anymore, he was the biggest guy in the group. Brian looked a little older, and Howie, well his hair wasn't as stupid looking as it used to be. Overall, it was good times, I wish I could do it again tonight, it was great to feel young again. I realize I need to take all the opportunities I can to seize the day, because when I saw BSB on stage and they were a lot older than they were 10 years ago, I thought man, life is passing by, I need to take a hold of it because it is just too short. So again, if anyone has any seize the day type of moments, count me in!


Signs that either I'm getting too old for BSB, or BSB is getting too old to perform when:
1. Brian Littrell's son is the one who introduces them onstage.
2. They make fun of themselves on stage mentioning how the only way to be this successful for 17 years is to have great fans like those in the audience. Some of whom, weren't even born yet.
3. During the concert I am thinking, I hope I don't get home too late, because my kids are going to have me up at 6am.
4. While they were dancing my thought was, how are they still doing that, don't their knees hurt?
5. When their hot dancer girls came on stage April turned to me and said, "Yeah I bet those aren't their wives." HA!!
6. While I'm singing along to all their songs memories of HS particularly Laura A, Laura Y, Katie, Rachel, Brynda, Eric, Cam, and EFY come flooding back to me. I felt like I was going to drive home to the plateau and go walk back into my old house. Sigh, bittersweet memories!

Where to start

We're not dead, I'm just lazy.

Its been so long since I've seriously blogged, or even stalked for that matter, I feel like I've forgotten how. And what do I share? I used to go through life experiencing moments and thinking to myself "this is going to make a good story for the blog." Have I run out of stories, or have I forgotten how to blog, become so wrapped up in other things? In an attempt to redeem myself I was going to tell some awesome story accompanied by some truly amazing pictures. But I realized I didn't have either, so this is a simple summary of my life in a nutshell, accompanied by a few cute pictures of my kids. Take it or leave it, this re-blogging thing is going to take some time.
Life in a nut shell:
1. I got so excited when my 20% off REI coupon came in the mail because my mind is consumed by two things right now. Moving to Atlanta and the Ragnar Relay. I spend every spare second (and also the ones I should probably be playing with kids) on the computer looking up reflective vest, LED lights, head lamps and houses in Atlanta. You can bet I saved 20% off my led lights, now if only I could save 20% on a house.

2. Summer is here, bring it on, bring on the heat, the pool, the BBQ's, just bring everything, I dare you.

3. I run, a lot. I like it, most of the time.

4. Family? Just kidding, my kids consume my almost every minute and my husband continues to provide for the family in a new setting, he's working hard so that hopefully we can have a better life soon enough. Austin is a dream child, the kid literally lights up my life with sunshine and laughter and an overwhelming love. Kenzie lights up my life in a different kind of way, she and I share moments every once in a while where I think, I really love you. Otherwise we just try and make it through. Today we had a moment, I was giving Kenzie a bath and Austin crawls in and a minute or two later I look beside me and he is standing up looking into the tub on Makenzie. She and I look at him in shock (he's never pulled himself to standing before) and Austin starts laughing hysterically, and so does Makenzie. They did it for about 3 minutes. It was great.

Super Hero Babies

Love at the fountains. They really are such good friends, it has been a blessing in my life, they make each other so happy. I'm in trouble in a few years when they team up against me.

Lamest Blogger ever

Hi everyone, I just want to award myself lamest blogger ever award. I just spent too much time looking at everyone else's blogs (so beautiful by the way). And I have realized that I am totally lame. We all know my posts average about once a month. So pathetic. How do people find time to blog, and how do they make their lives sound and look so awesome. Right now I admit that I am a better race organizer than mother. For the past 3 days I have spent most of my time getting things together for the Ragnar and letting my children watch tv. Who am I? Anyway just wanted to say Congrats to everyone else for being awesome bloggers, congrats to me, for making you all look really good! Win, Win, Win!

So Glad I did it, So glad it's over!

Day 7: I am totally and utterlly exausted! Those are the closing remarks at the end of this crazy and wild week around the East Coast.
Days 1-3: It all started at 6pm last Sunday night when 3 girl friends and I decided to pack up our 7 kids and drive 8 hours to the beach through the middle of the night. As crazy as that sounds, we had a blast. Thanks to Talai's neighbors we enjoyed yet another fabulous few days at Emerald Isle NC. Part of it felt like college, living with 4 girls, staying up late to tell stories, there was only one big difference. We all had kiddos running around. Overall the kids did really well, for the most part they got along and played well. They enjoyed jumping in the water and playing in the sand, and we enjoyed that as well. Only bad part, my kids didn't sleep well. I think party due to new location, partly due to noise and the fact that we shared the same room. By day 2 I was feeling pretty drained. On day three at the beach, the kids started to lose it a little bit, and due to wind and clouds we decided it would be a good time to head out. So we packed up and said goodbye to the beach.

(turns out I can't flip a picture, or maybe I'm just too lazy to figure out how)


We had a pretty good 4 hour drive to Richmond where I stayed with the fam so that I could sing in an interfaith meeting on Thursday night. I sang "You Raise me up" and the only time I had to practice the song was about an hour before the program. I wasn't singing with piano I sang with a string quartet which I have never done before, also the reason I wasn't able to practice. As much as I wish I had a string quartet at my disposal I don't. Singing with a string quartet was like singing on a cloud. It was so beautiful, and it is a great arrangement. Overall I think it went pretty well.
Friday I spent the day getting ready for the half marathon. I left that afternoon to travel to Charlottesville (all by myself). It was great. I even hit traffic and enjoyed every minute of it alone with no screaming kids in the car. It was great to have entire evening feeling like a free spirit. I met up with Janine and her family for dinner and then met up with Cherie at the hotel where we talked the night away until we fell asleep. I had a really good time. Then bright and early we arose to run our half marathon.

The day was beautiful, when we left the hotel at 6am the weather was perfect, even warm. It was great. The Half Marathon itself went pretty well. The course was really beautiful and quite hilly. I finished in 2 hours and 30 minutes. I know, I am not the fastest but I did it and I live today to tell the tale. I would do it again, maybe a different course this time, it was a fun challenge and something to work toward. Janine, Kimmy, and Cherie all ran the race and did a fabulous job (they were all there to cheer me in at the end, the perks of being last). Now we have the Ragnar to look forward to in September.