My Day

I am on a Mother's Day vacation.  It started last night, oh around 7 pm.  I have been catching up on my favorite shows, reading tons of blogs, relaxing and pretty much enjoying myself in a clean, quiet, calm environment.  What is this vacation you may ask?  Father and Sons Campout!!

The actual campout was cancelled because the site was underwater?  (we've been having alot of rain this week but 'flooded'? I can't imagine)  Since Quinn is a super dad he didn't let the boys down and took them on a campout anyway.  What a great father.

I put Tessa down to bed last night and have been enjoying myself ever since.  I quickly cleaned the house and have been luxuriating in the orderliness ever since!  I stayed up way too late watching TV and surfing the net.  The best part was having plenty of time to complete a project in calm and quiet.  So lovely.  I am reminded of my early mothering days with only my little Jack at home.  I thought it was a little silly how people with kids always complained about trying to keep their house clean and remember thinking my sisters carseats looked atrocious!  Couldn't she clean them at least once a month? was that too much to ask?  Well, 2 kids later: my van/carseats are dirty as can be, I have a tough time keeping my house looking nice and I laugh at my stuffy mother-of-one-baby self.  

Here is my bookshelf/cabinet project!  Of course I just spent 20 min looking though the last 6 months of pics to find my 'before' pic but alas, it is not to be found!  Imagine dark wood with fuzzy beige carpet looking stuff behind.  And here is the after!

 I grabbed a few things from around the house to style it real quick.  At least I have a 'before' pic of the lamp now...it is a work in progress.

When I ripped the fuzzy carpeting off the back I found gold wallpaper underneath so I scraped that off too, washed and scraped off the glue and then applied my fabric for the background.  I love how it looks!  I also love that Quinn just walked in and said, "Wow, it looks really good.  I will be honest, I didn't think it was going to be that great."  He never has the vision!!  I get so excited when he likes a project after he doubted me. 

Here's my darling little vacation buddy.  She is such a calm, sweet child. 

I kind of forgot how babies get into everything, it will be awhile before this is "styled" on a permanent basis!

I have been thinking a lot about mothering this past week, what with mothers day upon us.  I am so thankful to have these beautiful children to love, nurture and watch in amazement.  I love a quote by Nie from her interview on the Today show.  When asked about her life before the crash she said, "it wasn't perfect but it was ideal for me.  I had the life I had always planned for and dreamed of."  I feel much the same way about my life.  It is my ideal. I have the gospel of Christ.  I have a loving husband who is amazing enough to provide for our family, allowing me to fulfill my dream to be a stay-at-home-mom.  My children are sweet little spirits with healthy bodies.  I am fit and able to be active.  Some of the details: job, town etc. are not perfect but I am really living my ideal and I couldn't be happier.  I am a blessed little Mommy. Happy Mothers day to you!!

Inspirational Marathon Super-Mom

My sister Julie has always been an amazing runner but lately she has taken it up another notch.  She placed 3rd in the Top of Utah Marathon (see pic below)  then she reached a huge goal of running a sub 3 hour marathon last fall in the St George Marathon.  

Today Julie WON the Provo City Marathon!   WON!  As in THE first woman over all a 2 hours 59 min.  Not only did she win but she killed the competition, the next woman finisher didn't come in until nearly 18 minutes later.  Only 9 guys beat her.  Oh, I would have loved to see her dash across the finish line with all the speedy men, what a strong woman!

It amazes me to think that my sister ran 26.2 miles at an average of 6 min 51 sec per mile.  I have never run even 1 mile in 7 min (or 8, or probably even 9).  At 39 years old Julie isn't showing any signs of slowing down, what an inspiration.
I love you Julie!!  I miss riding my bike with you while you run.  I really wish I could have been there to cheer you on.  It always gives me chills to see you race by...it is so thrilling!
I miss you!

This morning I was feeling really lousy so Quinn got the boys up and Jack off to school.  It was quite the drama to listen to from my bed.  Quinn rushing people around, the boys complaining about this or that, lots of "hurry up"s and "we are late!"s.

An hour or so later I went in the boys bathroom, saw the the toilet needed to be flushed (regular occurance) and flushed.  Just as things started going down I saw a large bouncy ball amongst the sewage.  Being the brave woman I am I reached for it but it got away.  "Quinn, you are really gonna love this.  I just flushed a bouncy ball down the boys toilet.  I even tried to grab it but no luck.  Apparently the boys put it in there with out us knowing."
"Oh, shoot." forehead slap, "I should have mumble, mumble."
"What?  are you saying you KNEW the bouncy ball was in the toilet and left it there?"
Apparently he had.  He was in a big rush you know.  Thought he would do it when he got back, of course.  Not my course of action but...well..end of story.
Right?

No.

9 hours later.  Boys are getting ready for bed, toilet won't flush properly.  Explain that the bouncy ball went down.  Commence weeping and wailing over the loss of the bouncy ball that prior to this morning no one had played with in a year or so.  "Yes, yes, it is very sad...lets get you into bed where you can have a good cry over it"  If you are a parent you know just about anything can spark crying when it is bed time.

Chase's prayer: (between sobs)  "Please bless my bouncy ball that it can get saved and come back."
I tell Chase how good it is that he is praying about something that is bothering him.
"Will Heavenly Father save my bouncy ball?" he asked hopefully.
"No, there is really no way that He will save it but you can pray that you will feel better about it and He will help you to not feel so sad."
"He can save it mom." sniff, sniff. Quivering voice:  "The bouncy ball will come out of the pipes to the fish and they can bring it up and they can bounce it all the way back into the toy room."

Chase in the toy room attempting to put chapstick on Tessa

What an imagination!