Funny Names

Isobel is so stinkin cute! I know, it's obvious.

A month or so ago we were driving in Albuquerque and Isobel suddenly - loudly - exclaimed in our quiet car, "Bed Bath and BEHIND?!!" We laughed SO hard! We told Isobel that we needed to tell everyone about this because it really is a better name for the store ;) Isobel was a little embarrassed because she read it wrong - but we were driving past it so she had to read quick. She is over her embarrassment now and laughs with us.

Yesterday, Bryce started reading Number the Stars to Isobel (at a friend's recommendation). She is really into what she calls "chapter books" now. Anyway, from what I understand, it is set during WW2. (Now quick remember what that war was about - ok, now I can go on.) Isobel was in the back seat after they finished reading and she said, "What were those soldiers called again? NAUGHTIES?" We bust up laughing and Isobel was slightly embarrassed. Bryce and I quickly assured her that was an appropriate name for the Nazis.

Clever, clever girl :)

We are ELF-ed!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Getting ready for Christmas...finally.

I know, when it rains it pours and when I finally post I fill up the page. This time of year really lends itself to many photos.

I finally started to get more into the Christmas spirit after our ward Christmas party. My kids were having so much fun and so excited to see Santa that I couldn't help but get excited, too. Seriously, Isobel waited in the line at our church to sit on Santa's lap forever and never complained. That shows some real dedication. So, the next day I told the girls that if they helped me clean the living room and get it vacuumed, then we could put up our tree. (Our apartment is so small that I was seriously considering waiting til Christmas Eve so I wouldn't be running into it for more than 1 day)
Once we got it together and I got to put on my new star (I got it last year after Christmas at Hobby Lobby for like $2) - I really started getting into the spirit.

By the way, I didn't let Isobel wear that leotard to the birthday party we went to right after.

This Wednesday we went on the "Polar Express" train. We rode the train thru Santa Fe and out to some random place. We had hot chocolate and cookies. (Well, some of us did. Isobel dropped her hot chocolate on the floor of the train right on Eva's coat and boots - soaking them both. Eva couldn't wear them anymore.) When we stopped they read "The Polar Express" book and Santa came and gave all the kids a bell.

Daddy is teasing Eva that he can't hear it. She really wants to prove to him that it makes a beautiful sound.

We could walk outside and between trains. Well, some of us could. It was so cold that Bryce wore both of our coats and since Eva's coat was wet she and Isobel had to take turns wearing Isobel's coat. I stayed inside the whole time. (When we ride this train in the summer for the family reunion, I will be walking outside.)

Eva found the camera and took some random pictures of us, her care bear, the missionaries, and other random things. My least favorite was the one of just my butt. Yup, filled the whole screen. Delete.

I think I am nearly done shopping. I need a few more treats for stockings and I'll be set.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Isobel's Debut

Isobel had her Christmas program a couple weeks ago. She has been singing these songs in the car for weeks. She told us she was the "leader" of her class. (Generally this means she is the line leader or something) Little did we know she would be doing this:

Did I mention she was the only kid in the whole program with a solo? (She said she wasn't even nervous!)

Maybe you've had enough video - but this song "Santa Claus Rock" was too fun! The kids all loved singing it and my girl can SHAKE IT! Enjoy!

When a sister comes to visit...

Silliness ensues!

Share came to visit for the weekend (a while ago) and I am finally doing something about it. You are welcome to see her side of the story.

We spent some time at G and KT's house making gingerbread houses, drawing snowmen, and making toffee (which, by the way, I have to eat all of because Bryce doesn't like it).

Eva entertained us with checkered pants, ballet slippers, a tutu, and a killer partner.

Share decided she was very fond of Jane Fonda hair and borrowed my blow drying curling iron (I haven't the hair for it anyway).

And the best part:

We spent too stinking much time talking about Twilight books. Which was great for me because Bryce has no desire to hear any more about them. And, honestly, I don't blame him. We went to see the movie - my second time, her 5th I think. It was nice to have someone to talk to DURING the movie. (We went to a matinee on a Monday - yup - 7 of us there)

Isn't this a super funny picture! How many girls wish they were in this picture? I must say, I am totally cuter than Bella and Bryce is totally lucky!

Thanks, Share! I always love having you around!

Once There Was A Snowman...

Today we got our first real snow in Santa Fe. We had a little skiff last week that was gone by the time I got back from Maxwell. Eva was so excited to see the snow flying that she picked out her warmest fleece pants and jacket, found her snow suit and boots, and asked Daddy to find her gloves. She was so ready to be out in the snow. This is what they did:

Her attention to detail is amazing.

And the final product.

I love that smile.

As a little side note, all that is left of this morning's snow fall is a couple piles of rounded snow, some sticks, rocks, and a carrot :)

Nightmare Before Christmas

So I am too upset with my sister to write about our Halloween. I am just going to post pictures and let you comment, ask questions, figure out EXACTLY who/what we are dressed up like, and where we are. Let the guessing begin :)

Technical Terms

I do have Halloween pics - they will be posted soon-ish. I did want to tell you a funny story and I don't want to wait to upload pictures. So, you'll have to wait for that ;)

Our friends have been potty-training thier boy for a while now. The boy likes to talk about his unit in technical terms. He says things like "My penis worked!" when he successfully pees in the toilet. Well - since we hang out with our friends very often, my girls have heard that word a little too often.

The other night, Eva said to me, "Mom, my penis hurts." (Little girls are not the best at wiping properly and keeping themselves clean - so they often get a little irritated. ) I wasn't exactly sure how to react, so I said, "Eva, only boys have a penis - you don't." I thought that would be enough.
The next day, Eva said the same thing to Daddy. He decided that it wasn't ok for her to use that term - it just isn't right. So he told her the common name for female parts - vagina.

The day after that, we were driving in the car and Eva informed me that "girls don't have a penis, they have a .... a....(she's trying to remember the name) ...a veda." (veeduh)
Bryce and I just laughed - that's good enough. :)

The really fun thing is to think about things that really are named Veda.
My parents live on Veda Lane (hehe). I didn't take the time to remind her what my grandma's name was either.

Quirks? Do I have any? I'm so normal!

So, Share tagged me to do the six quirks thing. I've been thinking about it for days and I still am not sure what all 6 could be. I may have to steal some from others ideas ;)

1. I put this first because I think it's a rare quality. I am very gifted at finding (and buying) super cute skirts for $5. I honestly think I have about 20 skirts or so (although maybe half of them are in Share's closet). When I call Share to tell her I've just purchased a super cute skirt, the first question she asks is if it cost $5 - most of the time it does. I am so gifted.

2. I burp all the time. I have reflux so that explains a lot of it, but seriously. When we first met Karen and Kyle - Kyle had a hard time getting used to my burps. He accepts it now. However, a while back, their 8-year-old son was sitting by me when I burped once. Karen said, "Ben!" (in a totally Mom kind of voice) until she saw the look on my face and apologized for getting after an innocent kid. :)

3. When I get ready, I put one a sock and a shoe and then the other sock and shoe. None of this both socks then both shoes. I like to get one foot completely ready and then the other.

4. I refuse to start a series of books until all of the books are out. I hate waiting because I forget the story and I get mad that it isn't complete. I didn't even crack Harry Potter til we moved here - after Bryce had already read all the books. Even then, I listened to them all on tape while driving all around northern New Mexico. I am thinking I will have to start Twilight sometime soon (once I find the first book on tape;).

5. I have to drink water after eating ice cream. Bryce drinks milk. Crazy. I have to rinse out the milky-ness.

6. So this one I also had to put because it is as true for me as Share. Yes, I quote a million movies daily. More often than not, Pride and Prejudice. Whenever we play the Settlers of Catan card game and I pick up the Church card - I'm always dying to say, "They walked in the direction of..." "The Church." (But I can't do that or it'll give my card away) When we play Pinochle with Karen and Kyle I always want to say, "Hearts, Mr Collins, Hearts." And many, many more.

Feel free to inform me some more of my quirks. I'm always curious to see what others pick up on. I don't think I'll tag anyone, because most people have done it. If any of you feel an inclination, I'd love to read about your quirks. (Do it Karen. I know you've already been working on a list;)

Eva is growing up

Look at my little girl. She definately is growing up. Check out those shoes. Yup, they have little heels. We were looking for shoes for Isobel this summer and Eva had gone around to the other side of the aisle. When she came back she had chosen these cute little girly sandals with heels. We about died! What taste this girl was born with! We didn't buy them that day, but when we went back a couple months later and they were half price, we bought them. She wears them all the time. (This pic was taken one day when we were in the grocery store. She just struck me as such a big girl that I took a picture right there. And yes, she is eating ham. - if you haven't heard it, ask about the Charlotte's Web story.)


This weekend we went up the canyon to see the fall colors. So many Aspens! We ended up riding the chairlift up to the top of the ski basin. On the way up Eva just sat up strait and held on to the bar herself - no help from Daddy. Once we got to the top it was quite cold so she agreed to sit close to me on the way down and snuggle. (Isobel wore the bunny ears on the way up, Eva got them the way down. My purse was a gift for my birthday from my friend, Ligia. Note the fun button on it from Share - it says "An attitude is a terrible thing to waste.")
This was our view on the way down. As we came up the canyon, the trees were brighter than at the top because more leaves were gone. Isn't it beautiful, though?
Come visit us in Santa Fe. My kids are growing too fast and we miss sharing the beautiful fall colors with you. Honestly, I am glad to be here with my family - I only wish all of you were here with us :)

Balloon Fiesta flops

We went with a couple friends to the Balloon fiesta special shapes Glowdeo on Thursday night. When we arrived, some of the balloons (like Sahuaro Grande and Noah's Ark) were up and ready to light up. It was barely dusk so we thought we had time. We were invited as VIP guests with our friends - which meant free food and ice cream. So we ate dinner and while we ate the balloons were occasionally lighting up their flames - but it still didn't seem dark. Then suddenly they were letting the air out and taking down the balloons. Bummer. Oh, well. At least we didn't pay to get in ;) The fireworks show after the balloons were down was AWESOME! We were glad to be there eating ice cream and enjoying the show.



After the fireworks, we walked around the park - it's like a fair. Tons of junk food and stoopidneers to buy. I did end up buying kettle corn - just can't say "no" to that! We had our friends take a couple pics of us - aren't we cute?



Friday night we stayed over at G and KT's house so we could get up super early for the fiesta Saturday morning. We made ultra tasty breakfast burritos and played fun games. We got up around 5ish Saturday morning, got the burritos hot, packed the car, dressed the kids warm, and drove to the bus stop. It was a bit cold and windy, but we were praying it would stop. We arrived at the park and there were a few trucks with balloons kinda waiting for the go-ahead to start filling balloons. We were excited. Long story short - it was too windy and the balloons never got filled up or went into the air. (Note to self: next year buy tickets for Thursday so if the weather is no good, you can get a rain check for Friday or Saturday. If you just get tickets for the last day and it's a dud - too stinkin bad.) Special thanks to the Creamland dairy crew who got out their huge black and white tarp (the one that goes under the balloon so it's not on the ground) and let the kids play under it in the wind. It was the highlight.



The balloons are so fun to see, that it's a big bummer to miss them. Last year was great, Katie has pics of us there last year if you wanna check her blog. All in all, the kettle corn was worth it!

My 28th Birthday

I am so spoiled. Growing up I rarely was - even though I am the youngest. My sister's birthday is in August just before school - so she had fun birthdays. Then my parents would have to come up with all the funds for all six of us to get school clothes and pay fees and all that jazz. So when it got to my birthday (just a couple weeks after school started) - it isn't suprising that funds were low. I used to care but thanks to years and experience, I don't anymore. HOWEVER, I do like to celebrate as much as possible now ;)

This year was an exception. As I am sure most of you who read this have already heard the story, I'll try not to go into too much detail (however you are welcome to email me for more details or leave comments for me to answer - I love those things ;).

My birthday was on Sunday this year so I intended to do much celebrating on the days leading up to the big 2-8. Thursday night was spent celebrating with my little family. With these advancing years I forget exactly what we did - but it was fun. On Friday, Bryce picked me up from work early and told me he needed to run some errands. We had planned on Katie and kids coming on Saturday and it had been discussed that Lily and Isobel trade bikes - Isobel's is too big and Lily's is too small. However, Bryce had to fix the tire first. So he told me he needed to pick up a pump to fix the tire. I had been teasing him all week about getting me this bike I had tried out and loved. We had decided we didn't have the money and so I was teasing him about getting it for me anyway;) So, I suggested we go to MY bike shop to get a pump. When we arrived at the store Isobel tried to lead me to where my bike last was. I tried to explain that I was sure they put it away and I looked for pumps. I couldn't see Bryce - but then I saw him following a salesman out to the bikes. The man took my bike down and said "We'll just have a final tune up and you can take it home." I was shocked - dead - stunned - amazed. What I said was, "when did you do that?" Bryce tends to forget to purchase things for me for my birthday til the last minute. Meaning, the day of my birthday. So this year I started dropping subtle reminders for about a month and a half. I suggested a CD that I wanted (She and Him) but then I ended up buying it because they finally got a copy in and I knew how much Bryce loves shopping. Then I was dying for a haircut and he thought about paying for me to go to a nice place but I got impatient and went to Great Clips. When I would ask him if he had gotten me anything, he would just say, "you already got the two ideas I had, sorry." I was sure he might not do anything this year since I had messed up his plans. I thought he might at least get me a gift card. Well, the bike blew me away. Sure it's my birthday AND Christmas - but I was thrilled. So excited, in fact, that I rode the bike home (sans helmet) and in a skirt no less. Loved it!

(This is me on my bike today - Isobel took the picture.)

Friday night Bryce and I went on a date. We went to dinner and then to the Georgia O'Keefe museum - they had an exhibit of her work with Ansel Adams that I had been dying to see (and it's free Friday nights!). It was great. Our friends met up with us for the museum and we went for ice cream after.

Saturday night was girls' night. Bryce and Kyle had all of our kids and Katie's at the Sheffer house - we truly have excellent husbands. I invited a bunch of friends over. We had a yummy spinach salad, cheese fondue, and chocolate fountain. Yummo! (And yes, the meal was inspired by Zupas) I didn't have concrete plans. I just intended to eat yummy food and sit around and visit. We had supplies to make cards if people wanted and a friend brought supplies to make necklaces. Well, after eating and visiting, we decided to make necklaces. We ate ice cream cake from BR with nutty coconut ice cream - my favorite. (Isobel decided on the decorations of the cake - the color and words.) Afterwards we went to pick up the kids and look at Cake Wrecks. I am sure we went to bed eventually. It was a great party.

(Did I mention that I made a super fun mix CD for me to sing along to during the party?)

(Is this a cake wreck? I did pay for it and it does kinda say "Mdmmy")

(Thanks Karen for taking the pics of the party and for being a great friend!)

Happy Birthday to me! It is fun getting older if only for a reason to go on a date and have a party.

Hair Cuts

I know I have more stuff to tell you about my birthday and whatnot, but this is too much on my mind - it's gotta be blogged about now.

I got my hair cut on Friday because my short haircut was starting to look more like feathered David Cassidy hair.

Today, after I finished work and was on my way home, I called Bryce to see what was up. He said that he didn't think we would go play basketball with our neighbors because Eva cut Isobel's hair - at Isobel's request! What is worse, Bryce tried to fix it and got one side ultra short. Here's the face I saw when I got home.

This is the LONG side.
This is the SHORT side.
This is the back - the part Eva cut all by herself - without Daddy's help.

So off we went to the place I got my hair cut - Great Clips. It's the only place in Santa Fe that doesn't charge at least $50. So they cut her hair and when they were done, they asked if they could blow dry it. Thinking that was a silly question, I said, "Of course." When we were checking out, the lady said I owed her $18 - the cut should only be $12 - so I asked why it was $18 - "because of the blow dry." Duh. Note to self, if they ask to do something extra, say NO.

Anyway, Isobel looks pretty cute even with shorter-hair-than-she's-had-in-5-years. By the way, she is so excited - as you can see - to have short hair and bangs for the first time. I guess she learned her lesson.

The wounds of White Sands

So, we went to White Sands last weekend. It was very wet in our tent, but the days were lovely. Sledding on White Sands was excellent! You don't even get cold - and we didn't get hot because it was overcast. Which actually was quite a bummer because we heard that the full moon is amazing how it lights up the sand - which is why we went last weekend. Anyway, while sledding, the back of my knees were hurting because I had to hold my legs straight out to keep myself from turning all around on my disc. The next day, this is what I saw. (Please try to ignore the nasty legs and the fact that I took the pics myself...)



OUCH!!! Note to self, it's probably worth going backwards or sideways to avoid this unsightly discoloration.

For some great pics of us on White Sands, check out Katie's blog. There is a super fun slide show.

Stay there a while and you will also see a beautiful pic of Eva and a nasty pic of me in my camping jammies. (Not to mention you'll get a more comprehensive story of our trip - thanks, Katie for doing all the work for me;)

I'm totally buggin'

The other night I came home from Karen's house really late - like midnight or so. It had been raining for several hours. I went into my bathroom to do my "bedtime business" so I could go to bed. I heard this noise kind of above me and I thought it was rain on the roof. But then it wasn't consistent. I looked up at the shelf above me and didn't see anything. Then I heard the noise again. I peeked around the shelf and - mind you, I'm on the toilet - I see THIS on my shower curtain above my head! (The noise was it's many legs clicking around on my shower curtain! Eww!)



It was 5 inches long - like this one in the picture - and I finished what I was doing and washed my hands. Then I went out to the living room to tell Bryce there was a HUGE centipede on our shower curtain above the toilet and would he please get it out of the house. I was very calm about it. He walked back into the living room a few seconds later - "That is HUGE!" It was kinda funny because he kept going in and out of the bathroom trying to figure out how to get the thing and work up the courage to try. One time he came out and commended me on my composure - he was shuddering. Finally, I decided to help. We got a jar and I tried to get it to go in and it would move away - causing Bryce and I to shudder and squirm. Finally I got it directed down and scooped it into the jar and Bryce took it outside. We didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of it. So when I looked them up online the next day I found out that it is a giant redheaded centipede. They grow to 7 or 8 inches and generally have a black body - I think ours was a teenager. They are poisonous but it's more like a bee sting.

Another fun discovery about New Mexico. Did I mention you are all more than welcome to come visit? :D

She and Him

I'm really digging this band - She and Him. I'm sure you will recognize the singer from Elf. I heard this song on the radio a few weeks ago and I called Bryce and told him to look it up so I could buy the album. I haven't yet, but my birthday is coming up ;)

Be warned, this video is a bit like the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the arms are chopped off. If you don't want to watch the video, just listen to the song - it's wonderful!

'Why Do You Let Me Stay Here' Video

Memories

Here are the directions: 1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! 2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :) If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments... Please Play! :)

Some things just come naturally for girls...

Eva just emerged from her bathroom with a bungee chord and said,

"Dad, since everytime you use my bathroom you leave the toilet seat up, will you help me lock it?"

Bryce laughed and helped her lock him out. Then she said,

"If you decide to never leave the toilet seat up, then you can come back in."



So, several months ago, Eva was heard hollering from her bathroom, "DAD, DID YOU USE MY TOILET? YOU LEFT THE SEAT UP!" Then she SLAMMED the seat down.
(I would like to add that I have NEVER mentioned Bryce leaving the seat up. I don't like it, but I've never mentioned it.)

I think that being a girl, you automatically KNOW that the seat should not be left up and that if it is, the ONE boy in the house is the culprit.

13.1

I DID IT!

Share took the video - so she is the loudest cheerer, but you can see Bryce's arm and hear Isobel saying she loves me :) Wow, I don't look as dead as I felt!

That's right, I, Bettie Petersen, RAN 13.1 miles. If you know me at all...you will know that this was the farthest thing from my mind - 4 months ago. Then, here I was running 5 days a week for 3 months just so I could run a half marathon. Crazy.

The course was pretty nice. The first 8 or 9 miles were downhill - which was great for my time! It was a beautiful route. Running down Highway 12 near Bryce Canyon and into Canonville. I must say, after all that downhill, my legs were pretty tired for the rest of the race. I ended up finishing in just over 2 hours and 20 minutes (that's 10:54 minutes per mile)! I finished 303rd out of 1000ish and 77th in my age/gender group!

Here are those who brought my girls back to me and came to cheer me on - thanks guys! Did I mention that I was SO sweaty and STINKY!

My goal was to finish close to my 12 mile time which was 2 hours and 28 minutes (not counting bathroom breaks) - and I beat that time so I am thrilled!

I have been asked several times (already) if I'm ever going to run a half marathon again. Well, we will see. I don't love running - but it's not so bad. I feel great having accomplished this huge feat! Share is trying to convince me to do it once a year. I think I would need at least that much time to decide to do this again. I definately needed more time to "cool down" after the race.

When it was over, we went to shower and eat breakfast and then went into Bryce Canyon to go for a hike. Well, it was a beautiful hike and I'm glad I went, but my legs were really tired. Here are some pics of our hike.

So, we hiked down into the beautiful canyon among the hoodoos - and then we had to hike out. It was pretty steep and very beautiful. Here Eva and I are at the bottom taking a break.

Share and I got a kick out of this sign - as you can see, it fits me :)

I would say that currently, my legs are unstable. After all the running and hiking, I spend the next whole day in the car driving home. If that doesn't make the legs cramp up anyway...

I'm happy to be home and learn to walk again :)

"what added more to [her] joy..."

I've been meaning to do this post for a while but I've been thinking of the right way to do it. I'm not sure I've found the right way, but I'm going to try to do this anyway.

The end of June, I went to Idaho and Utah for family reunions of sorts. It was nice to spend time with my family and to reminisce in the halls of my high school. Here are the five of us kids who went to Sugar being the "Student's of the Month."

It was also great to spend time with Bryce's family and see his sweet sister get married in the Logan Temple - my personal favorite :)

The time I spent away from my home in Santa Fe was filled with loved ones. I met up with old friends and was able to do a lot of catching up. Many had good news to share or trials to explain - but either way, there is something special about being with people you love and who love you - regardless of your current situation.

On Sunday, I went to my former ward. Since I had lived in the same ward in Logan for like 7 years, it truly felt like coming home. Many people embraced me as we came into the building. It was so great to see them in one place and get to visit. At the end of sacrament meeting, I saw my next door neighbor sitting in the chapel. We went over to visit with her. (She lived right next to us for the last 5+ years. She is a very sweet and fun woman. She was close to my parents ages and loved to give us good advise about our kids. She seemed like a woman who was very confident and comfortable with her life. She was a member of another faith and was sad that she was out of town for our girls' blessings. I admired her in many ways.) When we started talking to her and asked what brought her to church today, she exclaimed, "I got baptised! I'm a member now." We were thrilled! She explained that she got baptised in November and was loving being in the church - she really was so happy. (She said when Bryce went to Utah to fix our roof so we could sell it, she "wanted to shout it out to him on the rooftop" - but it didn't seem the right time:)

In Sunday School our lesson was on Alma and the sons of Mosiah. The part that has stuck with me for weeks since is this scripture - Alma 17:2
"...Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord"

(That is just a part of verse 2 - also verse 3 is really beautiful)

I know that, for me, there can be no greater happiness than I find in serving others and following the commandments of God. There is no greater comfort than that which is found through the atonement of Jesus Christ. There is no greater peace than knowing that someone who knows all (including my heart) is watching out for my best interest - even if I don't know what that is sometimes.

I felt that this scripture explained exactly how I was feeling. There is nothing so sweet as seeing loved ones. Knowing that they have the peace and happiness I have found in the gospel, just makes it that much sweeter.

It's been a while...sorry.

Hello, folks! I know I haven't written anything in a while, it seems like all I do is work, eat, sleep, and run. My family went to San Francisco this week - a lot of firsts for them. The girls' first time on a plane and seeing the ocean. Bryce's first time to San Fran. Eva was so excited to see the bridges in the Bay area. She loves bridges lately. When we are driving in the car, she gets so excited if she knows we are on a bridge. I'll let Bryce post about his experiences with the girls in Cali. I will be going to Utah this Thursday to meet up with my dear family. I can't wait!

So, I've been home by myself. My friend, Karen, is taking excellent care of me. Which is good because I've found that I don't take very good care of myself. When Bryce is here, he does the cooking and shopping and what not. Now that he's gone, I allowed myself to eat hot dogs for lunch. I know, it's disgusting. My stomach is complaining already. I just don't want to cook new things when we have lots of food in the fridge that, if I don't eat, it will all be bad when we get back from our trip. I did allow myself to eat the hot dogs, but I couldn't bring myself to eat the 5 day old mac and cheese. Like I said, good thing Karen has fed me at least one good meal each of the last few days!

I am excited to report that I ran 10 miles yesterday and it only took me 2 hours and 5 minutes! I was so thrilled! I wanted to call and tell people but then I remembered it was 8 am on a Saturday and my husband is in an earlier time zone. For those of you I called and woke up anyway, thanks for being supportive!

My other exciting news is that my sister LOVES me! She is flying from Utah to ABQ, just to ride back with me to Utah. I was going to have to drive alone (or make my brother or sister in law be alone with kids) and I was not looking forward to it. Share called me the other night and said she got a plane ticket that will arrive after 9pm on Wednesday and we'll get up and drive out on Thursday morning. She must really like my company because that's all she's gonna get from this trip!

Anyway, that's basically my life. My house is currently very quiet. It's boring. I keep thinking with my family gone I should be able to do all these projects... Turns out, I really like having my family around. :) Having a day alone is nice. Having a week alone is lonely. I don't like to stay at my house too long, although it needs a good cleaning before I leave. Oh, and for fun, here is a pic Bryce sent me from Eva - it's a flower for me :)

Silly girls

For those who've requested more of Eva's laugh.



Dum-ditty dum-ditty dum dum dum.

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

We went camping this weekend with G and KT's family to celebrate G's new found freedom! The Sheffers accompanied us, too - because we had to help Karen get over her fear of camping with kids ;) Love ya Karen ;)



Anyway, on the way home, Bryce took his hat off - which he'd been wearing almost constantly because it was cold. As I looked across the car to my darling husband, this is the lovely view I beheld.

We were devastated when we arrived at home and the apartment complex was without water. Man, I needed to wash. Since I couldn't, I just went for my long run this week - 7.5 miles in 2 hours! I was way impressed with myself! I ran outside for the first time. I ran on the Rail Trail - it was a fun, kinda hilly trail. I'm excited to do it again. Oh, and, I got brave and asked a couple people from church to go running with me (although I'm a turtle) and they said they would love to! Yeah. When I got home - all sweaty and stinky - the water still wasn't on. I waited about a half an hour and then called Karen to save me. She, being the saint she is, was very willing to offer her shower AND feed me dinner.

I took the girls with me over there but stopped to get gas on the way. Remember that I'm still gross and in my too tight running clothes that were stinky... Some little teenage girls in a Mustang were on the other side of the pump from me and one girl said, "she should not be wearing those pants" the other girl looks at me and says, "I know, huh"... You will be happy to know that I didn't resort to violence - although I would have momentarily enjoyed messing up their made-up faces - I just acted like I didn't hear. But, dang it! I was proud of myself for having just run 7.5 miles! When did they ever do that! Argh! Oh, well. It did remind me that I had said similar things like that when I thought people didn't hear. And, who knows, maybe they had just lost 50 lbs or something equally amazing. I need to be kinder. Even when I think the people don't hear me, God does and it hurts his feelings when we hurt his children.

When people are dirty and stinky, maybe their apartment was without water...

We did all get clean today and were ready for church on time. Note to self, find more space to put water storage. A water purifier doesn't count.

Happy 4th Birthday, Eva!

Eva's Birthday was last Sunday, May 4th. (Happy Birthday also to Kimberly, Marla, and Rachel!) I know there were many who were sad to miss this fun event! It was great. For Isobel's birthday last month, Isobel wanted to invite lots of friends to come to Chuck E. Cheese's with us and have a 3 layer checkered cake. Whew! Lots of work. Eva, being completely opposite of her older sister, wanted to go to the park and have coconut cream pie. Well, we didn't go to the park, but upgraded to Tent Rocks National Monument. It was a fun day of hiking and being with my brother G's family and our friends, the Sheffers. We had the same group join us on Sunday (the actual birthday) for pie and rhubarb crisp. Yummy!

Here we are, singing to the birthday girl!

Please take note of the pink Barbie ballerina dress that Eva is wearing in the video. Grammy bought that for her when she was here. She loved it and had to put it on before we could sing to her.

This is the little outfit that G and KT gave to Eva. Aren't the shoes great? I promise she didn't only get ballerina clothes, although, you've seen how skilled she is as a ballerina and is in need of encouragement ;)

Grandma Polly got Eva a kids cook book for her birthday while she was here. It has all kinds of fun recipes!

Eva has been loving it! She looks thru it to find what she wants to make. She loves measuring things. And TASTING them in the process!

She had a great time baking with Grandma Polly while she was here - and I had a great time eating their creations!

So, since Bryce and I don't really enjoy encouraging the Babie thing, we got her measuring spoons, cups, silicone spatulas, and a cupcake pan with fun shapes.

This is one of the shapes - Daddy and Eva made banana bread with her cupcake molds. (It's lips, if you can't tell ;)

After the cake and whatnot, we found the men dancing in the livingroom to Swan Lake with all the girls. Aren't they wonderful dads?

We are so happy to have our dear little Eva! Her laugh is infectious and her smile brightens my day! Thanks for joining our family! (I can't believe it's been 4 years - I feel old;)

The BIG 2nd Anniversary...after only 8 years!

I know, this post is way overdue. The point is, I am doing it. I am going to confess to a bit of cheating - I am mostly going to copy this verbatim from my journal. These are my personal thoughts - I am not posting this to win a Pulitzer. Ok, here goes.

Happy Anniversary! February 29, 2008
What an unexpected day. Last night we drove into Derry. We stopped at the B&B in Rick Steve's book - one of the few good things about the book - the other being current prices and open hours. The B&B is called Saddler's House. It was a nice place - tiny lou - but it was close to the wall. The people were SO friendly. The gentleman who met us; showed us around, asked us about where we're from, told us places to eat, etc - he was very chatty. Then we went to Flaming Jack's (hehehe) for dinner. After dinner, we walked all around the wall of Derry - it was so nice. Just me and Bryce on the wall - looking over the city. When we got back to the B&B, the woman came out and asked us about our dinner - etc. They were so nice. This was the first place with hot chocolate in the room (everywhere has tea in the room) - and kit kat's!

This morning we woke up snuggling - Bryce was so sweet. We ate breakfast with an American woman from PA and a Scottish guy. They had LOTS to say. We were planning on walking round Derry to see some monuments, shops, etc - but it was SO rainy and cold, we decided to try out luck moving on. It rains about everyday, but it's usually stop and go - sun and clouds - wind and calm. So, we hoped it would calm, stop raining, and we could walk around the other things we wanted to see. We made it to Portrush and realized the weather was getting worse. We stopped at a coffee shop that had sandwiches and Internet. Bryce was so disappointed in the way the day was turning out - he had so wanted to get me flowers or SOMETHING ... It was fine. It's nice to know he was thinking of things - Oh, he thought about going on a boat ride, too, but the weather was too nasty. After lunch he tried to get me ice cream at a treat shop but the man didn't have the ice cream because he thought it was too cold - and it was! But I love good ice cream :)

We went to Dunluce Castle and got blown into the ocean along with the servants and dinner in the 1630's.

(Here's the story: This castle is built on an island with a bridge out to it. One night during a terrible storm, the edge of the cliff where the kitchen was - fell into the ocean along with several servants and the nights dinner.)












(Here is a picture of Bryce holding onto his hat - which, although it is very tight, it felt like it would blow off - on the bridge to the island bit of Dunluce Castle.)

















(Here is a picture of me pretending that I am sitting in a beautiful bay window on a spring day reading a book. Did I mention it was freezing out?)


It wasn't rainy, though.













We decided to move on to Giant's Causeway. It was SO crazy windy and rainy that we spent several minutes in our car before it got blown over (you saw how little it was in earlier posts, right?) and we moved into the info center :) There we filled out and sent postcards. We finally decided to brave the wind since it wasn't currently raining. WOW! What an adventure. We got blown down the trail, into the rocks and into the ocean :)

Really, the wind pushed us down the trail and it felt like it was going to take my feet out from under me! It did start raining and with the wind it drenched my whole backside. After we went thru one particularly scary pass, I thought we should take some photos and work our way back up. So we did - try to to take some photos.

(As you can see from the waves, it was a bit windy)

It was so scary and windy - I slipped once on the rocks and got muddy and wet - but I was alive:)





(Basic story about the Causeway: The legend is that the Giant, Finn MacCool, was building a trail across the ocean to Scotland to his love. The geologic perspective is that when all this basalt cooled, it formed these crazy, almost hexagon shaped, columns. Pick your favorite story to tell people. Note in this picture how the shapes of the rocks are extending in a path out to the ocean.)

(Also, note the foam on the rocks.)




(I like to call these pictures: camera one and camera two. I was sitting on these columns that I was attempting to climb over - and yet trying to take some good pics. I was so nervous because of the wind that I kept just firing off shots so I could hurry and get down and safe. I just love how these turned out. First the waves in the background are getting blown backwards because of the wind. Second because in the first frame the wave is just reaching the columns and in the second they are having their second big crash. Beautiful. Too bad I was too scared to enjoy it at the time ;)

Some of the foam from the waves blew up into my mouth a couple of times - eww! We were now back on the path (the one pictured here) and getting pelted in the face with rain flying at 100 mph - OUCH - luckily Bryce grabbed my hand and we were able to push up thru it together.

Once the wind and rain subsided a bit - I started to laugh. "Happy Anniversary!" I said, "This is a romantic walk along the beach!" We had a good laugh at ourselves.

We went back, soaked thru to our skin, and drove to the Carrick-a-rede Bridge just to check to make sure it would be open the next day. The sign said it opened March 1st so we are praying there isn't too much wind.

We went to a restaurant in Ballintoy that also had a B&B. We sat next to the heater to warm ourselves. While we were eating, a group of guys, who apparently had just gotten off work - some kind of construction it seemed - came in and started playing pool and having a pint of Guinness. A man sauntered over to the jukebox to pick some songs. After several minutes of serious contemplation, a Tina Turner song came on! I couldn't believe it! Maybe he pushed the wrong button. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Next song: "Complicated" by Aviril Lavigne! This was too much. I was trying not to laugh and wondering if his comerades were going to come raz him or even beat him up for what he was playing - but they didn't even seem to notice! I got out an old recipt and started writing down the songs he picked. It got better. After some techno and that one song - "I wanna stand with you on a mountain..." - my jaw dropped to the floor.

"You raise me up" by Josh Groban! Who is this guy! I kept waiting for a Lisa Loeb song next. When I finally got my turn at the jukebox, I saw there wasn't any Lisa Loeb - maybe that was why. I was able to play "Sweetest Thing" for Bryce. I think this is one of "our songs" because of the "blue-eyed boy meets a brown-eyed girl" line. Love it.

We went up to our room (beware gorey details;) and got into our jammies and snuggled under the covers. We talked about fun memories and things we love. We watched a program on TV about a little region in Ireland. These cute little kids were telling folktales, acting out Viking stories, and singing traditional songs. It was so fun!

I do love my Bryce. He tried hard today - because he loves me. I love that he tries. I love that he likes to snuggle with me and say nice things to me. I love that he sang "I love you in the morning" to me this morning in bed. He is wonderful and I'm glad he is mine forever.