Winter Woes

The other day I was reading through my old "hand written" journal and realized that I had a common topic I always wrote about. THE WEATHER. I have always been someone whose mood is affected by the type of weather going on. I seem to put my life on "hold" for 6 months once cold winter hits and then once spring rolls around I become "alive" again and I always get sad at how much my kids grow from one summer to the next. Because I am just wishing the winter away I don't notice the growth and change that takes place. It's hard to live in Utah because it gets so cold here and the winter is forever long and the sky is constantly overcast, gray and gloomy. One of the things that has kind of helped me shake bad weather days was when we were in Hawaii.

I waited for the day to go because I knew it would be Paradise. And it was but not exactly how I pictured it. It was cloudy most days and sometimes rainy. But since we had limited days to spend in paradise we couldn't just sit inside and wait for the perfect day. We continued on with our plans which included swimming and hiking and riding bikes on the beach. I didn't let the weather put a damper on my mood and I still had fun. I learned that life can still be fun even when the sun does not shine. And I have tried to bring that attitude back to Utah with me.

And since after running my marathon in the driving rain and hail for 4 straight hours and not having a choice I now do not let the rain determine my day and if I run or not. I thought running in the rain was awesome and has given me different perspective and if I had a chance to change it and run in the sun I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Another thing that has made such a difference is GETTING DRESSED EVERYDAY! Whether I actually leave the house or not. Last winter my friend Becky challenged me to try and get dressed everyday. I started with a goal to get dressed everyday for a week and WHOA I have never looked back and can't believe I used to live in sweats!! I refuse to be that frumpy mom who my kids are embarrassed to have drop them off at school.

I also have been keeping to my workouts and going twice a week to a super pump class that starts at 6am until 7 and then running 3 times a week as well. And I think it is making all the difference. I can't imagine not getting up in the mornings to exercise. On the days I skip my day seems to go downhill.

So here's to another cold, long winter...may I enjoy these months and not wish them away and be HAPPY!

Thanksgiving 2011

For the first time in 7 years we were able to travel somewhere for Thanksgiving. When TJ was employed with Verizon he was never given travel time around the holidays, especially Thanksgiving which equals BLACK FRIDAY. Since he has a more family friendly job we got to go to Albuquerque to be with the rest of my family. I wasn't sure who was more excited, me or the girls who were ecstatic to see their cousins and also to be able to stay a night in a hotel on the way down. We left Tuesday night after TJ got home from work (I pulled a "Mona" and was vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms 5 minutes before we were leaving so that I could have a clean house to come home to) I WILL ALWAYS DO THAT NOW! Cuts down on the return home stress. We drove to Moab and stayed in a hotel. We swam in the pool in the morning which is a MUST and made a mini LEE family vacation out of it.

I will be honest and say that going home now is a much different experience than it once was. The atmosphere, the company and conversations.

I don't love it but I'm trying to adjust because it's my family and they are not turning back and I want to keep our relationships intact.

However we still managed to have a good time. The cousins played which included; Nerf gun wars, wrestling, playing on the computer, dolls and restaurant, chasing the dog, Allie, riding the go cart bike down the hill, throwing the football, going to park, mattress surfing down Grandmas stairs, playing spoons, speed, and playing one massive game of hide and seek.

Hide and seek was my idea and since my parents have a large house it was perfect for all twenty some of us to play. Which included my mom. Kids were hiding on ledges and archways and Grandma was having a heart attack.

Thanksgiving was good, the food a bit different but I never really liked "Thanksgiving food" anyways. We went to see the "Muppet's" at the theater that night, which the kids loved. We of course hit up Dion's and my sisters and I got in some Target shopping and I got in a an early morning run (but only one because Lexi was up most of the nights hating her pack n play). One night my dad took us girls down to his shop and let us "shop" for jewelry. I love it when he does that and I love that he is so amazing at what he does (more on that another day).

All in all it was a GREAT Thanksgiving and I am so grateful to be apart of such a wonderful family who is definitely not perfect and full of flaws but they are my own and I know that I am loved and that we will be together forever.

On a sad note, I never once saw my brother Cody while at home. Some of us went home just to see him and he stood us up. I know he didn't want to be the center of attention and have all eyes on him but come on not one hello? We all had been texting and calling him for 2 days and not getting any replies. Finally Jodi texted him she was going to call the cops because all she could think about was him not breathing, having overdosed, lying on the floor in his apartment. He replied at the last second and said he was in Alamosa, Co. (trying to visit Dale). I was really upset. I really wanted to see him. He knew that if he didn't get out of town we would hound him down and not leave him alone.

I'm worried about him.

Chloe cracks me up. She has been sporting this princess leotard for days. Does not matter where we go, she insists on wearing it. And I let her because she is so darn cute and one day she won't be so carefree with what she wears. However she is not allowed to wear it to school and she has a really hard time with that one. Lately she has been carrying multiple bags around the house and filling them all with really random things and then she piles them all into her stroller. I explained to her what a "hoarder" was and she asked if I could call her "hoarder fairy". Since Tallie is now in school everyday Lexi and Chloe has become buddies and I often get asked when we go out how far apart they are in age. When I say 2 1/2 years people are shocked and say they would have guessed 15 months. Soon they will be sharing clothes. I don't think Tallie and Chloe will ever share clothes. Chloe often cries when It's time for Lexi to take a nap. She wants her friend to stay up and play. Lexi also has quite the personality as well. Since we have been potty training (which she is almost there and doing awesome at 22 months) she prefers to roam the house butt naked. She is great to keep herself occupied and does great playing alone. She is talking a lot and loves to do what the older girls are doing. She often brings me a brush and ponytail to put in her hair (which is hard due to the fact she hardly has any). She will steal my ipod or iphone whenever she gets a chance and knows just how to play all of her favorite songs.

Our NEW PIANO!!

Right now I am listening to TJ play "Twilight" on the piano and it sound so great. It has been so nice to finally have a piano in our home. Both TJ and I have been playing a lot, trying to remember everything we learned in lessons. We were pretty rusty.

I have forgotten

how much I love to play.

We were so very lucky to have TJ's grandma Lee save and put money away for all of the grandkids. When she passed away we thought hard about what to do with her hard earned money that she so selflessly put away for us. We didn't want to use the money on bills or put it into the house for reasons that when we someday move we leave it behind.

We wanted to use it for something that we could all benefit from and that could be handed down from generation to generation.

Something inspiring.

A piano was perfect.

We will have this in our family for a very long time. We will all benefit from it and it will fill our home with the Spirit.

And hopefully my girls will learn to love to play and develop their talents.

We looked for a long time to find just the right one that was in our budget and I thought it would never come but our lucky day came when a neighbor listed hers for sale for under what we had and we were able to pay movers to move it and we even have a couple hundred dollars left.

I love my luck! It sure does pay to be patient.

Jade and Brightyn overnight...again

While Tessa and Ian were in Hawaii I watched Jade and Brightyn for a few days. I picked them up at 7 am from their house (Ian's mom had been there for the first half) on my way home from my power pump class. That was Tuesday and they would be staying with me until Thursday afternoon. I was determined this time around to NOT be the monster mom and make some good memories and make it fun for the kids. My kids were excited for the sleepover and I wanted to be the fun aunt for my nieces. It definitely went better but I would be lying if I said there was no yelling or appearances of monster mom. I had started potty training Lexi a few days before and she was doing so awesome that I thought this wouldn't put a damper on things.

It did.

I was frustrated because Brightyn poops like 4 times a day and she is as big as Chloe. Thats a big poop to change, 4 TIMES! And Jade on the other hand is stubborn and defiant and unless I physically put her on the toilet she peed her pants, all day long (she is 4 by the way). So needless to say it was hard to be on top of Lexi making sure she had no accidents when I was constantly reminding Jade to go to the bathroom and changing Brightyn at the same time. I finally put a diaper on Lexi and put her potty training on hold.

One day I made the girls invitations to a princess tea party.

I was dressed as Snow White and I had them dress up as their favorite princess. I had the table set with my "fancy" tea set.

They loved it and said we need to do it again really soon.

All in all I am glad I was able to help and let the two lovebirds reconnect in Paradise but I am so glad tonight it is just my kids and I...well until the 3 Wakefield kids came over while their parents went out.

TJ was just happy that he was out of town while the Langholf kiddos stayed over. He missed all the fun and it was that much more stressful on me.

On a good note Lexi is back to doing awesome on the potty and even told me she needed to go while we were at gymnastics with Tallie.

I have really loved having these girls over all summer (for the most part).

I hope they will always be friends, despite the age differences.

The little girl in the middle is Kaitlyn and I love her to pieces.

(Chloe Lee, Kaitlyn, Elena Wakefield, Tallie Lee, Callie Wakefield)

Perhaps one of our last bike rides for the year.

All the girls were giggling as we raced as fast we could over the crunchy leaves.

I'll really miss days like these.

The girls and I made these out of old jars. Really cute and CHEAP project we can use year after year.

To start off Halloween I went and helped out in Tallie's class. I love how Tallie wanted to be the twister board I made and wore for my race. Love how she wants to be different and not just be another princess like every other girl on the block.

She is original.

I dressed up as Snow White.

They were SO EXCITED to go trick or treating! Chloe went through 3 different costume changes this year for Halloween. One day she was Rapunzel, the next a witch and then a ballerina girl. She told me she has her costumes lined up for the next 3 years.

They ran from house to house and the weather was awesome and nice (today the day after it snowed). Lexi quickly picked up on what this night was all about and wouldn't put one piece of candy in her bag. She ate whatever she got on her way to the next stop. The second favorite part of the night was handing out the glow sticks to the trick or treaters at our house. And even when we ran out Tallie voluntarily offered her candy to be put in the bowl to hand out. She said she didn't even care because she didn't want all those cavities. And when she got pretzels in her bag she made sure no one took them because she said those were healthy. Man, what a good girl!

Carving pumpkins

This was I think the first year that the girls actually got their hand into the guts of the pumpkin and cleaned them out themselves. Chloe was loving the slimy mess...

TJ always loves it and even researches the "BEST" jack'o'lantern...
Tallie requested a spoon to keep her hands free of goop...

Lexi thought it was "gross!" (in her own words. She did not participate.

2011 Halloween Half Marathon

It seems weird that just a little over a year ago I was not a runner, nor did I care to be.

Just over a year ago Tessa asked me to run the 2010 Halloween half with her.

I thought she was crazy.

First of all I never ran, didn't like to, and she wanted me to train for it in 8 short weeks.

I humored her and went running ONE mile later that week and it was hard, I was dying.

Two days later I attempted 3 miles and my goal was to do it without stopping.

I did.

Two days after that I was excited to see how far I could go and I went just shy of 5 miles. It was seriously a huge thing for me. Next I ran 7 miles and didn't stop and from there the miles only went up. I was hooked, and I have been running ever since. I needed one more race to get me through the long winter and this was the race to end the season with. All in all I have ran 3 half's and 1 full marathon this year. For my last race I was hoping to break the 1:50s and get my best time. And Tessa was running it with me so I had plenty of motivation.

It was soooo freezing that morning and I was not excited about shedding my coat to run in the 30 degree weather. The first 5 miles of the course are extremely steep and that is where I wanted to save time and run my fastest. Of course Tessa and her friend didn't pace themselves too well and just took off at the beginning and I was sure I wouldn't see them again. For the most part I stayed just under 8 min miles for the first 5 and my goal for the rest of the run was to keep under 8:30 and I really had to push myself to do that but I did it. I ended up catching up to Tessa's friend, Rochelle, and passing her. I even caught up to Tessa and ran with her for a few and ended up passing her as well. THAT WAS SO AMAZING TO ME! Tessa is such a fast runner and the fact that I caught her and left her made me so happy. My final time was 1:49. I was happy to beat my fastest time by 2 min but frustrated because I thought I would have beat it more. I know I will never be a fast runner but I just want to be more than mediocre. I love to run and long distance is my thing.

It was so fun and I am so glad that I finally got a race in with Tessa. Hopefully it won't be the last. PS. you can't see it but I had a twister board clipped onto the side of my head.