The Way to a Man's Heart...

Ladies, how many times did you hear this saying when you were dating? I know I heard it a lot and made plenty of dinners, treats, breakfasts (just kidding) for gentleman callers, and I still employ this tactic today. Not just today, meaning Valentine's Day, but today as in the present. I love love love to cook. Love it! Especially when it is gourmet or fancy. It is my creative outlet. I don't decorate (Kevin-our new lovely bathroom, all him), I don't sew (Myrissa-Could you hem these pants for me?), and I don't scrapbook (poor kids. Only Dillan do I love enough to have a scrapbook. That or he was numero uno and therefore, I didn't have any other people vying for my attention). So I cook. When I discovered that Valentine's Day fell on Sunday, I was a little disappointed. No flowers delivered that day. No dinner out. But then I realized, it was the best because I got to use my culinary skills to make a dinner for my sweetheart. And four observers. The menu was Beef Wellington with Gorgonzola, Yukon Gold Potatoes with Fennel Puree and Rosemary Butter, Roasted Carrots, Texas Rolls, and Not Yo' Momma's Banana Pudding. Why do I even bother to go out when I can make such a lovely meal? Oh yeah. The dishes. However, it is tradition (one that I feel I have to announce every Sunday, just like I do for my Sunday afternoon nap) that Kevin does the dishes. He has recently recruited Dillan to be his sous washer. I will put a request in now that every Valentine's Day be on Sunday. P.S. Not only did my dear husband love his dinner, but the observers did too. I'm pretty sure I knocked this one out of the park.

You're a great provider!

Yesterday, I was thinking about how Kevin is a great provider for our family, when it reminded me of another great provider, me. I will now share how. When Olivia was born, I went to Dr. Stamps for her two week check up. Her birth weight was 7 lbs 15 oz, but she now weighed in at 8 lbs 14 oz. A pound weight gain after the initial weight loss, which provoked Dr. Stamps to exclaim "You're a great provider!" while simultaneously glancing at the source of nutrition. What's a girl to say but "Thanks!" I relayed this story to Laura, who had delivered Charles eleven days after Olivia, so she was anticipating the same reception when she took him in for his weigh in. Charles did gain a significant amount of weight, but there was no mention of her status as a provider. Sad. But, I was able to pride myself on the title of "Great Provider for Nursing Baby" for at least a year.

A Marathon Weekend

This does not imply that the weekend was long, but that I ran a MARATHON during the weekend, and got to have all of my super fabulous sisters stay with me (really they stayed at Sharon's and were fortunate not to encounter Bill), and was had another Phase 10 tournament with my sisters. If this weekend was any indication of how the rest of the year is going to turn out, I am so excited!

I will recap the weekend in full detail, which is why it has taken me so long to post about it. A sister did insinuate that it wasn't as fantastic as I said because I wasn't eager to blog about it. Not true. This has been the busiest month of my life, well, besides getting married, and having a baby.

The sisters: Jen, Nikki, Stephanie, and Kellie all arrived on Thursday night. They were very thoughtful and arrived at the airport at the same time, which meant one trip for me, which, ordinarily wouldn't be a big deal since it is about fifteen minutes away, but Kevin and Dillan were at Catalina Island for a field trip, so I had no one t stay home with the rest of the crew. Thanks to Susie for coming down and sitting on my couch while I picked up the girls. Nikki had the cutest hair cut. They all stayed at our house that night.

Next day, we went to Last Chance. Usually, on a Friday it would be busy with all of the resellers trying to find those designer bargains, but this was a BIG Friday because a truckload of returns from Nordstrom had arrived that morning, and everybody was there. Seriously. The sisters heard the workers when they were putting out new goods that if there was any shoving or leaning over, he would pull them out of the store. That kind of behavior is NOT tolerated at LC. But once the wares are laid down, the pushing and shoving begins. You just can't do it to a worker.

Then we went to the Expo for me to pick up my packet, t shirt, and all the free samples we could get our paws on. Nothing too exciting, except for the GU Chomps, which were more tolerable than the ClifShots and waaay better than the plain old GU. I get nauseated thinking about it.

We enjoyed an evening of watching Little Miss Sunshine-edited version. Still, very funny. Then we sisters sat and talked and cried. It was the conversation that night that I felt was the reason why we were all together. Without giving the details, I will say this. I am so proud of my littlest sister. She rose above a challenge that none of us knew, and instead of letting it define her and use it as an excuse for bad choices, she is a loving mother and has a husband who loves her dearly and beautiful children, so in this situation, if there is a victor, it is her. I am in awe of her strength and the adversity that she has risen above.

On Saturday, we went to the Mesa temple. I have not been to the temple here on a Saturday during the day, and now I know why. IT WAS PACKED!!!! There were no lockers to put your clothes in! People were everywhere. We had to wait for forty five minutes to get to the final presentation room. Not that we didn't have a lovely, spiritual experience. I was so grateful to have my sisters there with me to share in such a sacred experience. And I didn't do anything silly the whole time. No snickering at a woman with a walking staff that had a white crocheted cozy on it. Truth be told, there wasn't anything to giggle about.

Since the wait was so long, we had a late lunch, which ended up being a theme for the weekend. But it threw me off in trying to "carb load." I must have had plenty of stores, though.

We had our first round in the Phase 10 round. A little history. This started two years ago when my sister, Jen, turned 40 and we were all there for her birthday, INCLUDING Matt, and my parents, and the siblings played Phase 10, where in the end we all ganged up on Kellie and she STILL won. So now, when we are all together during the summer, or whatever, we play Phase 10 to find the champion of that stay. I did very poorly and ended up helping Stephanie win, inadvertently. Went to bed in anticipation of THE BIG DAY. Slept like a baby. Really. But not the kind that wakes up all night. The kind that sleeps through the night.

RACE DAY

The Toias took us to the starting line. We waited in the car because it was SO COLD outside. I think it was 55 degrees. Even though I was wearing a couple of layers, I can only tolerate so much. The race information advertised 300 port a potties at the beginning of the race. I didn't realize how important that was until Emily and I were caught in line when the race started.

Those cute jackets we're wearing, Emily embroidered "My 'pace' or yours?" on the back. She did get hit on at one point during the race by a guy who said he was going to keep up with her because he wanted to be at her "pace".
We didn't start running when the gun (or whatever. I have no idea since I didn't hear it) went off. We got to the starting line and wondered where everyone was and then saw that they had left! Thanks to technology, it didn't matter, because the timing chip on our shoes took care of our official start time. Since we were behind everyone, we got to pass a lot of people. That made me feel like a real athlete. The marathon was very well run with water stations every mile, or mile and half, with Cytomax as well, and there were a lot of spectators, so that helped push me along. But then it got better. I saw my sisters around mile 6. Just seeing them gave me an extra push. Emily and I chucked our jackets and my camera at them, making it a little easier to run. We ran past the LDS church and wished that they hadn't cancelled their services, because it was just about the time for the sacrament. Like they would have let us in!

This is what Emily looks like when you are running slightly behind her. She was waving like that the whole time. Crazy girl. My pageant wave came in handy for this picture. Really, I was having an amazing time. My sisters made us this poster below:

Another BIG push came from seeing that. The course runs through neighborhoods, and when I was driving around the course to see what it would be like, I felt terrible for the people that had to be trapped in their houses all day while we ran by. But, there were several regular people who had oranges to hand out and pretzels. That is kindness. Around mile fifteen a few things happened. #1 We ran by the fire department. They were giving a polite golf clap to the runners until Emily came by. All of the sudden, they were yelling and cheering. That was a theme of the race. Everyone cheering her on. Well, because look at her! #2 I felt like I was developing what I dreaded most:digestive issues (nuff said). Instead of Emily running ahead, she would run back and forth until I was out of the port a potty. What a fabulous friend (but it gets better later on). #3 We saw my sisters again. This time, Stephanie ran with us for a little while. Super fun, and another push!

We saw Emily's people before this, so don't think that they weren't present. She got a visor from her husband as we ran. Then we saw my people: Kevin and the kids. What a huge highlight to see my children watch me achieve something that I worked for that wasn't easy. Ran some more, then saw them again. This time Dillan joined me in the running. He ran by me for about a mile and kept telling me that I could run faster, while he was bounding and not working that hard to keep up with me. That was a motivator, too, having him by me, encouraging me. Saw the sisters at mile 22. They had made another sign. This time it said "You're not a Vegetable. You're almost there. Keep up the Pace." Background on the vegetable remark: I was sitting in a movie theater and for some reason the lyrics to "Wanna Be Startin' Something" by Michael Jackson popped into my head "You' re a vegetable..." and I thought, that can't be right. He's singing about being a vegetable. Like a carrot? So I texted my MJ loving sisters and asked them if that was really what he was saying. They said yes, because a vegetable is someone that doesn't do anything. That made sense. Still running. This part had the only "hill" in the course, and it was very slight, but still, when you have ran for 23.5 miles, any bump feels like a mountain. Feeling good, but slowing down. At mile 25, I felt like I was getting really hot, thought about when I was hiking the Grand Canyon, and just wanted to walk for a minute. Emily came back to me and yelled "You DON'T walk at mile 25. You walk at mile 22, but NOT 25!" Then she spoke words of motivation to inspire me to finish "You can watch the award shows tonight while you lay on your couch." I found this so funny that she chose that to be my motivator that I couldn't help myself and had to run. Made it to the end, and as promised, we held hands across the finish line. In one of the pictures that you can buy for $34.95 it looks like she is dragging me across. This is us at the end:

I chose to cover up my amazing post four children abs, so that Emily wouldn't have to share the limelight with me. My sisters made us the candy leis and got me the balloons, and Kevin and the kids gave Emily and I cards. The marathon gave us all sorts of snacks and water and the shiny blanket, and a medal for finishing. All in all, great marathon.

This is my cute little family. Kevin got them silly string to shoot at me at the end, and also the beads around their necks and pinwheels. He's a fun dad.

For those of you who don't know my wonderful sisters, they are from left to right: Kellie, Stephanie, me, Jen, and Nikki. This would have been so much harder without them. I can't thank them enough for being there. I tried, though.

The nice thing about running a marathon, is that you have little to no responsibilities for the rest of the day. Not a bad reason to run that far.

For those of you wondering about the soreness issue, on a scale from one to ten, I was at a one (one was the least, by they way). This may be because of effective training, or because of my basis for comparison. Comparing it to the soreness and toe issues I had when we hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim, the marathon was ten times EASIER. And when I compare it to the first time that I hiked the Grand Canyon, when I had not trained at all and was out of shape, it was a hundred times easier than that! After all, I did almost cry during the first hike, and there were no tears here.

Phase 10 Round 2: I won!

Monday, I treated my sisters to facials and massages. It was a little token of my gratitude for them all being there to support me. I am so grateful that they all could be there. If even one sister wasn't there, it would not have been the same, and we would have kept saying, It would be nice if _____ was here, but we didn't have to and just got to bond and enjoy each other without the distractions of children/ husbands. This was such a wonderful, bonding weekend, full of laughs, tears, teasing, and sisterhood. I owe it all to my very dear friend, Emily. She has a free pass now to do whatever or ask whatever from me, because without her asking me to run the marathon with her, and a little bit of competitiveness on my part to get all my sisters at the marathon, this wouldn't have happened. I would run a hundred more (and just might. I am hooked!) if it meant I could have my sisters (and even a brother!) together. I am so blessed to have each one of my sisters!

Phase 10 Round 3: I won! Which means, I am the official champion of this stay. Not that anyone is keeping track or anything.....

And, for the record, I held Emily back from running as fast as she could. She qualified for Boston a few weeks before this marathon, and THEN less than two weeks after the Rock and Roll, she WON a marathon (for the ladies)! Who does that?! She is a true friend.

What was my time, you ask? Well, since I had never ran any kind of race before in my life, and really, had only been running for two and a half months, I was going to be happy with 4:30, but I ran a 4:12.05. Emily ran a 4:12.04. Hmmmm. Looks like there will be a rematch.

Christmas Vacation Meets The Partridge Family

Chevy Chase and Shirley Jones? No, it's us going to San Diego for Christmas. In an effort to cut down on all of the STUFF that these little people have (Really, what do they need?!), we have instituted "experiences" as gifts, as opposed to lots of stuff that accumulates and fills up the rooms and then I hear Aurea swearing in Spanish about all the STUFF she has to put away. Santa showed up a little early this year to accommodate Mom and Dad's schedule (that's me and Kevin, not Linda and Perry or Cathy and Paul to those of you who may be siblings and get confused easily). We left on the Tuesday before Christmas without telling the children where we were going. They had their suspicions that it might be San Diego, but we drove by a few signs that pointed to Mexico, and Olivia flat out refused to go there because that's where one of her classmates, Isa, went for Christmas, and she did not want to be anywhere near her. I told them we were going to Yuma. which is along the way, so when we stopped there for lunch, they were thoroughly underwhelmed. If you've ever wondered what the term "lone and dreary world" might look like, may I suggest a trip to California. Not the coast, because that's beautiful, but the trip from Phoenix to LA or San Diego is very brown and boring. We got to San Diego (there were a lot of "I knew it"s! coming from the back seats) and drove in to our friends condo, which they very graciously allowed us to stay in. He's has a sink company and is an interior designer. The sinks are beautiful that he sells, not just dull porcelain sinks, so the inside of the condo is decorated exquisitely. But not child friendly. I saw the floor length mirrors, white leather couch AND white leather dining bench and shouted "Don't touch anything! Put your hands up!" for the first ten minutes we were there. Then I relaxed a little and decided that they could put their hands down. But still not touch anything. We got settled in, but then had a hard time finding a grocery store. The condo is in downtown San Diego, so we saw a 7-11 on every corner, but no grocery stores. We finally found one, but realized, it may have been cheaper just to shop at the 7-11. We went to Legoland, which is very interesting and fun. They had their version of the teacups, which of course, all of my children, except Blake (too little) went on. Kevin happily stayed on the sidelines, which meant that I got to spin that little cup as fast as my children could handle, which is pretty fast. Dillan got a lego set that he doesn't have at home (is that possible?). The girls got their faces painted when Dillan and I were on a ride they didn't want to go on. Those girls can talk their dad into just about anything! There was a Sea Life Park attached to it, that of course Jr. Marine Biologist wanted to go to. He pointed out and identified all sorts of sea life. That's when we discovered Jr. Marine Biologist Jr. Blake seems to be falling in his brother's footsteps. We could have just gone there and he would have been happy.
The next day, we did just that. We went to Sea World, which I love. It was all Christmas-y with everyone saying "Happy Holidays" to each other. I have often wondered about theme parks being open on Christmas and Christmas Eve, because I thought it wouldn't be as crowded. And it wasn't with people like us. We were in the minority. More teacups at Sea World!
This one, Blake could go on, and I feel it important to introduce him to spinning action early. He loved it! My favorite part at Sea World was when we were at one of the aquariums which happened to have a ship in it, and a 7 year oldish boy comes running up and says "Look at all that shi-, I mean fish." We all got a giggle out of that little slip up.
A Christmas tradition that we have is pajamas left at the door by Santa the night before. Olivia squealed with delight when she discovered that Santa had gotten her pajamas with long sleeves. How did he know that's what she wanted! She sang to the tune of Santa Claus is Coming to Town "He knows what size you are." That's my girl.
Waking up on Christmas morning and not having the chaos that usually ensues is quite an odd feeling. It was much more peaceful and enjoyable. Kevin took the kids down to the beach while I cleaned up any trace that the Partridges may have left at the condo. Have I mentioned how much I love this boy?

Or that this girl has just a touch of sassy in her?

The drive back home was like a little Christmas gift to me: no arguments or whining/ complaining. That could be because I told them that it was up to them how quickly we got home to see if Santa had shown up. If there was discord, Kevin would slow down, but as long as there was peace, he would drive at a high (safe) rate of speed. I may try this tactic more often.
Santa did show up, thanks to Morgan and Geoffrey Waldrom. Blake's exciting toy was a train, Olivia's was a bike. They got a joint present of an outdoor playhouse for them. Chloe got another American Girl doll, Dillan got Legos.

Your eyes are not deceiving you. That is a halo on Kevin. I finally caught it on camera. My exciting present was a Snuggie! No joke. I squealed with delight. Kevin did not get the surfboard he wanted, but floor seats to the Suns vs. Lakers game the following Monday (the Suns won) which he took Dillan to. Plus, I now have TWO copies of Handel's Messiah, thanks to my mom.
Now it's over and the part that I dread the most about Christmas is here....putting it all away. Ugh. Someone should come up with a business where they will take the tree down and organize it. Man, that'd be awesome.

A Christmas Miracle

This really happened last week, so it is a preChristmas miracle, and if I was a good mom, I would be blogging about the fun the kids had for Christmas, but that is not what this blog is about. So, for a little background, for those of you who are new to this blog, I am training for a marathon, which is scheduled for January 17, and as part of my training, I have a few long 20 milers that I run through Scottsdale, which has been called "Snotsdale" by Phoenicians and elsewhereians because of its higher income residents. About five miles into the run, I had to stop for a carb boost, opened my Camelbak, saw my phone, and kept on running. I run all along this path, which is quite beautiful and serene and makes me forget that I live in a desert and that I am considered crazy by those who know and love me. There are all kinds of people along the path, bikers, fellow runners, kids, grandparents watching the kids because the parents are at work to afford the lifestyle that they choose, and lawn maintenance people (I usually give them an extra special wave. They could be Kevin's employees one day). There are also a couple of golf courses and man made lakes. When I got back to my car, and inhaled some Twizzlers that I had in the car (no joke. Not the best recovery food, but it was the only thing that I had on hand), I reached into my pack for my phone to call the family to let them know that once again, I had not been mauled by a javelina. Or golf ball. It was at that point that I discovered, it was gone! Those of you who have done an endurance feat like this can empathize with the idea of having to retrace my steps to locate the phone, which I happened to need that night to work. Instead of freaking out and running back, I said a prayer and drove home. I would now like to mention how nice that drive was home. There was not the slightest potential of a phone call. I should have driven slower. The second I walked in the door, Chloe was there to announce that a gentleman named Karl had found my phone and that Kevin had picked it up from him! It had fallen out by the lake, but fortunately, on the side of a very fancy restaurant and not in the water. Which made my babysitter question if I had eaten at the fancy restaurant after my run. Thank you, Karl, for calling "Big Daddy" (I don't know how he knew that was my husband), and not throwing the phone in the lake. P.S. The next post will have something to do with the children and not me. I promise. Even if I have to make it up.

My Fears of Running

I had a 20 mile run on Friday as I prepare for my nice friendly 26.2 mile run with Emz which my favorite sisters will be there to cheer me on. I found a new route that I was so super excited to find, because even though it is in Scottsdale and I worry that I may not fit in there with my post four children untummy tucked tummy flashing (horrors!) loose skin, (it was covered, but sometimes my shirt creeps up a little and I get self conscious because of said loose skin in a nonloose skin area), the path was flat, little traffic, and looooong, which is important for that length of run. As I ran I thought about all of the things that I fear during a run, which change when I run in Phoenix as opposed to Scottsdale. Here they are in descending order, least to most:
PHOENIX
Lizards (Just a little startling)
Coyotes
Bad guys
Speeding drivers
Serious runners making me look bad

SCOTTSDALE
Old drivers
People walking, talking, and texting on their phone
Bad guys (they are not indigenous to Phoenix)
Runners who are just trying to look good
Javelinas (given way too may rabies injections to post Javelina attack victims from Scottsdale)

These things will not stop me, because once I set my mind to something, that's it. Nothing's gonna stop me now.
So, you better get used to seeing untethered skin,Scottsdale, because now that I have found this run, I will be there once a week to burn it up.
Speaking of loose skin and burns, on more than one occasion when I was working in the burn unit, we had people call in to ask if they could donate their leftover skin from their tummy tuck to the burn victims. In case you were thinking of doing this, the answer is no.
P.S. For those of you who are not long distance runners, I do think Forrest Gump while I'm running. It's hard not to.

Handel who?

A tradition in at the Phoenix Symphony, and many other places around the world, is to participate in the Christmas classic Handel's Messiah in a sing a long, because it is so beautiful and is all about our Savior and his birth. It truly is a masterpiece and glorious. I invited my dear daughter, Chloe, to come with me to the sing a long this upcoming Sunday (initially she questioned me on this action until I assured her that it is Sabbath appropriate since it's all about Jesus) and then set out to find the music so she could familiarize herself with the lyrics and melody. This task did not seem difficult because it is the Christmas season, so I felt this would be easily acquired. I started at Target, not there. Next, Best Buy, since they have a larger selection. Blake and I perused the holiday music section, and I saw plenty of "A Cowboy's Christmas", but no Messiah. A seasoned Best Buy associate (fiftyish in age) walked by and asked if I needed any assistance, and I told him I couldn't find Handel's Messiah. "Is it new?" he asked. Dumbfounded pause. "No," I said. "It's been around for a while." Are you kidding me?! He was PLENTY old enough to know it. So, he called for back up, since this was beyond his area of expertise. Along came a twentyish year old associate. The older associate asked him if they carried Handel's Messiah. "Uh, I haven't heard of that one, which isn't a good sign that we have it." I couldn't take it anymore! I did what I know best. I started singing "For unto us a child is born/ Unto us/ A Son is given...." They both lookd at me, clueless. I tried a diferent song. "Ha-lellujah! Ha-lellujah!" "Oh!" says the younger one. "That's from Christmas Vacation when Clark Griswoll plugs in the lights and they finally work!" My faith in all that is good and decent in this world plummetted. He said he would check the computer to see if they had it, which I knew meant "No". Hmph. I left there empty handed. Tried Borders. Nope (but at least this fortyish year old associate knew what it was.). I came home and relayed this story to Kevin and he reminded me that my father in law had experienced the same difficulty a couple of years ago when he was here visiting (feel free to post your experience about this, Paul) and came up against the same ignorance of this masterpiece. So, now I am left wondering, Is this a Phoenix phenomenon, or is it nationwide? If any of you have experiemced this outside of the great state of Arizona, let me know. Fortunately, I know where to allocate said CD. New Zion, aka Mesa, which is where I happen to be going tomorrow anyway, has it for me.