A Week full of Lasts

It was a hard week- a week full of lasts, as my husband put it. There was the last party for Scott and Jodi- our best friends. We had a mini olympic theme with speed jump rope, egg races, monkey bar chicken fights, bobbing for peaches-(by the way, peaches sink- who knew?), blowing up a balloon after eating an entire cupcake race, grape spitting for distance and bubblegum chewing with who could blow a bubble with 3 pieces in their mouth first! I had opted to do whatever was left, but that ended up being the bubble gum and since I have braces, not the best idea, so Jodi had to go twice. It was fun, even if the guys did win!The last blast in the pool with them and the kids. The last night and the last Good-bye hug.

Then there was the last day at the temple with my husband until he gets back from Iraq. It was special since we were the only ones in the session and they actually prayed for Robert, individually. There was the last dinner out as a family with Daddy, the last father's blessings for awhile and the last family prayer for awhile and then the last good-bye. Ok technically it won't be the last good-bye, yet. See, he gets to come home Friday night and stay until he leaves for Kuwait on Sunday. They issued his weapon here and so he has to come back and pick it up again after his inprocessing is done. He said, " by the end of this, you will be saying 'get out of here, stop dragging this out so much.'" And it is probably true. You can only dread something for so long, before you need to just get on with it.

We did find a neat way of communicating and hope it works in Iraq. We both got webcams and are able to video conference. It's almost like he's right here with us. Can you see him in his new helmet? The kids are playing a game with him on the right hand side of the screen. We even said a Family prayer- video conference style. Amazing thing- technology! Really all these aren't lasts, they are just for awhiles and that is a much better way of looking at it!

Signs there is Way too much Chlorine in the Pool

1. Your daughter's suit looked a whole lot pinker the last time you came swimming

2. The baby tells you his Pee pee is hot and needs to be cold, then proceedes to get a bucket of water out of the baby pool and tries to pour it into his swim trunks.

3. The next oldest tells you that his Pee pee hurts too.

4. The oldest boy comes to you rubbing his very red eyes and says "when can we go home?"

5. They all proceed to start crying and telling you how much they hurt.

6. They have bright red bums and legs with a rash.

7. Crunchy hairspray like hair on the daughter.



Wish we could have stayed a little longer and visited with friends, but glad I got them a shower soon!

SPT- Altius (higher)

I've done faster and stronger from the Olympic Motto, but finding something for Altius (higher) was a hard one, until the other day while I was running. All the sudden "The Eye of the Tiger" came on my MP3 player and it took me way back. I did my first floor exercise program (gymnastics) to this song when I was in like 3rd or 4th grade. It was for a talent show, not an actual competition, because you can't use music with words for competition. It made me smile and then I thought, "Wow, my age is definitely getting higher!"

And while we are on the subject of higher, Do you remember when hair was much higher? Those were the days!

Understanding the Monkey Bunch

The other day our good friends Scott and Jodi called and asked Emma what she was doing. She said she was "playing with her water babies." She then gave the phone to Rob and Scott asked what he was doing and Rob told him that he was "cutting the Monkey's." Scott had to admit that he was confused by this time and said, "I can't understand you guys."

So to help all confused parties, Here are the Water Babies:
Emma made these water balloons and then made them into a family and gave them names and everything. There used to be four, but she popped 'Sam' and then Max popped one of the others and one of her friends threw one of them today, so now there is only one baby left.

Rob was cutting the boys' hair that day that he was "cutting the monkey's." You can't really tell in this picture that their hair is cut, but it's a cute picture anyways.

And one other thing- if you ever hear us saying "stop Mooking me!" You have to know that Mooking is never a good thing. It means you are in my personal bubble way too much! Scott and Jodi have this phrase down and use it quite frequently with the dear little mooking king -Joseph.

Now you are prepared to understand us!


And by the way- I went and saw Mama Mia. Loved it! It was just light and fun. If you want serious, great singing or a great story this is not the movie for you, but if you want to be entertained and love a little Abba, go see it! I had to buy the CD, because I loved the singing- except Pierce Brosnan's which I still giggle at!

SPT- Olympic Style 2

When my husband rejoined the army and moved me from a place I loved to a place I absolutely detested, a bunch of my friends said, "just think of how strong you will become from this." It was their way of trying to look at the good side of what was for me a very upsetting and depressing situation. Unfortunately, this just made me angry. It made me feel like they were telling me "buck up little camper and look at all your blessings."- Something I was not inclined to do at the time. Therefore, I felt guilty for not taking the time to look at the many blessings the Lord had given me. No one likes to feel guilty when they feel that something terrible is happening to them, so instead I just felt angry at my friends for "making" me feel that way and not supporting me the way I wanted them to.

Now that my husband is leaving for Iraq, I don't want to hear it again. So, yes, I know that the deployment curse(whatever can go wrong, will) is about to begin. Already the TV has freaked out, one of the boys Chest of Drawers fell apart on meand the treadmill has a ghost that makes it totally non-functional. I know more is coming. And I know I will get stronger (fortius) as I learn to deal with all these things on my own. But I don't want to hear about it. It won't make me feel better. And it will make me mad at you- so no matter how much you want me to see the sunny side, Stop! before you speak- Would you want to hear the same thing if you were in the same situation?
P.S. since Rob is in Panama right now, some friends came over and helped me get the chest of drawers back together and I called and got the TV fixed. And although my Mom's not around, she knows not to say anything patronizing and immediately said she would come visit whenever I wanted. Thanks Mom.

Olympic Style

Showing our Olympic style on the day of the Opening Ceremonies. We were going to have a party, but we all had colds, so we just celebrated by ourselves. This is the pattern of the rings- if you didn't get it. We hand seperated all the M&M's and added some other fun stuff in the respective colors. The hardest was the black, until I found Halloween M&M's already out and the black chips. I also remembered about olives. It was a fun, amazing and yummy opening ceremonies for us. How about you?

15 Years later, and still learning new things about my Husband!

Can you believe it?

We had guests for one day last week and they brought us all kinds of gifts from Idaho. One of the things they brought was this puzzle.We almost got it all together, when some friends came over and whizzed it together like it was the easiest thing in the world. Rob was a little disappointed and told me that he had wanted to finish it, because it was the first puzzle he had ever done! Can you believe it? He has never done a puzzle before- according to him. So in the end, we took it apart, so that we could do it again. For now, it will have to be put up, though. It will be something we can do as we reconnect in January.

It's Official

It's official. Rob will be leaving for Iraq 6 days after he comes back from Panama. He will be gone until the middle of January. We'll need lots of visitors and help. Maybe I need to contact the Relief Society and see if they will come clean my baseboards- sorry inside joke!

Happy Sister's Day!

Happy Sister's Day to My Two Sisters!

Ok, I actually missed Sister's day- it was on Tuesday, but I think the whole week should be sister's week. I sent this sister a package for sister's day. She's the quiet, shy, reads good books, is a perfect mom, bakes squash to make baby food, can make a penny stretch farther than I have ever seen, goes into a thrift store and comes out with the most amazing things ever kind of sister. This is a perfect Cindy story. One day- I think after I went to the temple and realized all my dresses were now not going to work- I asked to wear one of her dresses. She refused. I asked please and she said, "why don't you wear your own clothes, anymore." I didn't really have an answer except that I liked all of her stuff better now. Then I walked away, thinking of what I could wear. A little later, I went to my bedroom to get dressed and there on my bed was the dress I had wanted to wear with a note on it saying that she was sorry she had been so selfish. Love you Cindy!

This is my other sister. She was born about the time I was 10, I think. She had wild hair and cried a lot- and I mean a lot. Mom thinks in retrospect she may have had problems with her formula. Anyway, she just graduated from College, got a job, job decides to downsize and cuts everyone in her office, can't find a job, finally moved outside of Utah to find one. I haven't heard from her that whole time- over a year. So all I can say is I think she is in Portland somewhere now, trying to find a job. Drop a line now and again, Lise. Uh, that's one thing about my sister I can say- her name. It is Annelise- but it is German and you say the e's as soft a's. My mom spelled in wrong and it's suppose to be Anneliese in German to make the i say e. But I just heard that in Finland or Norway or somewhere like that it is spelled correctly, so don't worry Lise- somewhere your name will actually not be said like a very bad and annoying head critter!

Lise has definitely made her own mark on our family. She is the only one of the females that didn't get married before missionary age and went on a mission. She also is the only female with earrings. None of the rest of us wanted to put holes in our ears. The other year when I saw her for a brief 1/2 hour, she was jetting off to California to go to a Anima Convention. Ok, I am sure I spelled that wrong. We never did get to ask her how many different characters she met and if she dressed up in a metal bra to attend. She may enjoy a good cartoon book or science fiction trash better than anything else, but it's still an amazing thing that she reads so much. She read the 6th Harry Potter book in one night. When she was little she couldn't read worth a darn and they actually held her back in school, because of it. Look at her now! She has truely made a weakness into a strength. You go girl!- Just be sure to leave a forwarding address! :)

SPT- Olympic style

We are taking the olympic motto this month- Citius (faster), Altius (higher), Fortius(stronger).


Lately, my husband has stopped running with me in the mornings, I have started eating chocolate like there is no tomorrow and I have become lazy with the August heat. I definitely need a little inspiration.



Somehow this post was deleted, so I will try to recreate the things that are starting to inspire me, like the fact that my husband might be headed to Iraq in September. We still don't know for sure-love that about the army! I want to look smokin' hot for him when he comes back.



The Olympics and people like Dara Torres, the 41 year old swimmer who is just swimming faster than ever.



These shoes with all their holes that went through all the training for a marathon, the marathon and now almost a year later. It is definitely time for these:



And my new- OK, my very first ever- MP3 player. The song on it is what I call Our Marathon Song. It came on several times when we woke up to do training runs and it was the song that woke us up on the day of the marathon. I think the words fit- wanna make a memory?!

Here's to smokin' hot bods, being faster (Citius) and a little summer olympic dominance! PS this was the fastest time I have run since running this 5.25 mile course that has a ton of hills- with a couple really steep ones. but, shhh don't tell my husband or he'll think I need to run that fast always!