Why is it so HARD to blog on a regular basis?

Maybe I am just looking for funny stories to share and I have none that I can remember, so I think it is not worth putting a post together. But I do have ideas. That should count for something, right?
Idea #1 It's getting colder here. Yesterday, the expected high for the day was 108. This was not enough for a "heat advisory", which I find is hilarious that we have a heat advisory because I'm pretty sure we can all step outside and figure out if it is hot or not. Today, the high was an extremely cool 95. The forecast is for more 90s with the captions "NICE". Only here is that true.
Idea #2 I have a pet peeve with my husband. Ok, I probably have more than one, but this is the biggest issue I have with him that drives me bananas. I have a 24 oz yellow cup that I am constantly refilling throughout the day with water because I drink A LOT of water. I have had this cup for several years and I do wash it on a regular basis, and when it goes through the dishwasher, I am lost without it and have to use a regular cup. So, here's the issue. My husband is a light housekeeper, meaning he will put a load of laundry in the washer and think that he's done the laundry, or rinse the dishes and put them in the sink and not go one step further and put them in the dishwasher. I am ok with all of these things, but whenever he sees my yellow cup not in my hand, he puts it in the sink with the other dirty dishes! Then I have to wash it or get a regular cup and use it until it goes through the washer! It drives me cuckoo! I even went so far as to write in permanent marker on the cup the following statement "Do not empty this cup and put in the sink, EVER!!!" It worked for a few weeks until the permanent marker wore off, then he was back to his old tricks. I think it scared our housekeeper though, because she will not put that cup in the sink now, and I didn't realize that she could read English.
Well, I think this blog will appease my followers for a little while until I have another idea. Could be a loooong time.

A Catch Up Blog

I'm surprised that none of my two followers have chided me for not updating my blog. Here goes on what has happened this past month.

So I don't want to bore you with ALL of the details, but I took the two little ones to Utah, while the two olders were in Kentucky visiting G & G Partridge. I took the opportunity to cool down, probably too far down, because I started saying things like "It's hot!" when it was only in the 90s. Things I miss: Fry sauce at fast food restaurants (I know I can make it myself, but it's so much more fun to have someone do it for you and hand it to you in a little container), mountains, being able to walk outside at any time and not burn the bottoms of your feet if you aren't wearing shoes, and having little connections with people because you dated their brother in high school or you know someone that you grew up with that is in their ward. I don't have any of those connections here.

I did have a milestone reunion to attend. Granger High School class of 1990 20th year Reunion. I had mixed feelings about attending, because I didn't want to not remember people, or worse, have people not remember me! What if they didn't recognize me? My hair is tame, I wear less makeup (believe it or not) and I didn't have braces. I convinced Kevin to go with me. He equated it to a wedding reception where you don't know anyone. But it wasn't as fancy. No cake or paper streamers. Fortunately, I did know people! And they recognized me! And I recognized the important ones! And Kevin got a news story out of it! Back up. When I say I recognized the important ones, I am not insinuating that not everyone is important. We all know everyone is important, but I mean the important ones to me. It was more fun that I thought it would be, and I didn't even win any of the prizes. Although, the categories were: Traveled the Furthest (New York won), most kids (I have the requisition amount: 4), and oldest child ( the winner, I think, had a 21 year old. Not even close), so I did not feel bad about achieving any of those feats. Being there actually made me wish I lived in Utah, just so I could run into people I grew up with or live by them or have our children date (yikes!), but I will have to continue cramming all of the fun into a couple of weeks in the summer.

I will not relate all of the fun things that I did there, but I will mention two. I had to work while I was there, and since my mom and I did not have a 12 year old boy with us at the time, we could not get the internet connected to my computer, so I decided to get a hotel room on the nights that I had to work. I thought it would sound bad if I told people that I worked at a hotel all night, until Chloe said You can tell them that you worked in a bedroom at a hotel all night. That was worse. Julie and I were having lunch on one of the nights that I would be working, so I invited her to have a "sleepover" at the hotel with me. It was so fun because even though I was taking calls for part of the time, it was so great just to hang out, like in college, and relive all of the silliness that happened, like when she got caught by the seat of her shorts on the chain link fence when she was climbing off the shed roof of our backdoor neighbors house, and was hanging there unable to free herself. The other thing was that after Kevin and the older kids got to Utah, we went to Park City for the day. It was truly glorious. We walked around and ate lunch. Then the kids said that they wanted to jump on the bungee tramp set up at the base of the Alpine Slide. Kevin bought them tickets while Dillan and I waited in line. Kevin came back with three tickets, but Dillan said that he didn't want to go. He was afraid that he would throw up since we had just eaten. With a growing line behind us, and not wanting to waste the money that had been spent on the ticket, I volunteered to go. Mind you, there were only kids jumping and in line waiting to go, but there was a 200 lb weight limit, so there was nothing holding me back, except I hoped that my bladder was strong enough for the jumping.

Yep, that's me trying to do a back flip. I was able to flip twice, but that thing was such a workout! I was sweating from five minutes of jumping. My abs were sore for two days. I told everyone in line that it was not as easy as it looks.

That's us pre jump. I would have looked much more disheveled if it had been taken after.

I love visiting Utah and family and friends, but it is so nice to come back home, even if it feels like I am in a roasting pan when I go outside. And I am happy to report that I cannot remember getting in trouble one time while I was there. I think I did ruffle some feathers (Mom's) but I have blocked out what I may have done. Until next year.....

A Schizophrenic Weekend

This is the only way that I can describe the emotions that I have gone through this past weekend. And now I don't know if I should start with the feelings of elation of the feelings of lugubriousness. I will start with the feelings of elation, because then if you get bored with this, you don't have to suffer through my suffering.
This extremely cute baby is not mine, as far as I know. My littlest sister, Kellie, had him on Friday. He was 8 lbs 12 oz (if I remember right. All I can remember for sure was that he wasn't bigger than 9 lbs 10 oz, because if he was bigger, I would have had to have another one just to maintain the record. She argues that due to her diminutive size that she is the winner with mom to baby ratio, but I say we're going off the baby's weight, not the mama's, because all uteri are created equal). Look at that cute little face! I can't wait to hold him and hold him and hold him some more when we visit in a couple of weeks. His name is Yan 2 Perry Edward Kimberly Barber. Ok, so he doesn't have my name and it's actually Yan'tu, but I will be calling him Tuey. He's the baby brother of four sisters that are full of personality, spunk, and the genetic cuteness. He's in for a ton of costume changes.

Not that the birth of an adorable little boy isn't big news, but hold onto your hats, people. My dear friend, Emily, yes. the one that ran the marathon with me in January in which no one noticed me, except my fantastic sisters, because, well, here let me remind you:

She's the one in the hot pink top, not that you even looked at anyone else. This was a charity run for her, meaning, she ran 26.2 miles at MY pace. We finished in 4:12.05 and 4:12.06 holding hands across the finish line. It's true. Call it cheesy, but we agreed upon it before the race. She qualified for Boston a couple of weeks before this marathon and then AGAIN a couple of weeks later, in which she won that marathon. She set a goal for herself to qualify for the New York Marathon, which for her age is 3:23. I would like to not put the comment that I texted her when I realized how fast per mile that was, but I texted her "Do you know how fast you have to run to get that?" It's true. I didn't mean her specifically, I meant in general what a person must do, but it was not received like that. Not kind, especially after all she did for me in my first marathon and brought my sisters together. Sooooooooo........this past weekend was the marathon which she set for herself to qualify. Without going into detail, the last two-three weeks leading up to the race were horrific, emotional, torturous, and I don't have enough words to say the level of rottenness that she was going through, even leading up to the start of the race. I doubt that anyone with a third of the garbage leading up to it would have had the mental/physical/emotional stamina to even step foot on the course. So, on the morning of the 4th of July, I was up at 6:30am, the race start time, and I checked the Flat Foot Traffic Marathon site to find out where she was. Nothing. So I had to wait. I don't like waiting. Why couldn't I be there to cheer her on and scream crazy supportive things like "You go, girl!"? Well, because it was in Portland and I was in Phoenix. I was very jealous of her just for that. Anxiously, I sat by my phone waiting for anything, even a text saying that she tripped on her first step, broke her leg, and that was it. Finally, at 10:19 her mom sent me a text. It said "She finished and we are looking for her time." I was thrilled to hear that she had finished and didn't die! Not that this was a possibility, but you know I am a little dramatic. And then, at 10:25 she texted me "I got it!!!!!!!!!!" That's the exact number of exclamation points. She ran a 3:20.29!!! I was textless. Tears welled up in my eyes. I can't even begin to describe my complete admiration for all that I knew she had been going through, and to do that?! She is a wonder. Now I am blogless in trying to describe how amazing she is. She kept thanking me over and over again for all I had done for her, but really, it was all her. I was just her little cheerleader giving her the encouragement to do the things that she is capable of. And from now on, until she does something else super amazing, I will refer to her as New York Marathon Qualifier Emily.

"Cried and cried. Her eyes were red." from Madeline, the book. Now for the sad, sad, sad news. Alison left me. For another country. She moved to Norway with her husband and family. I found myself breaking down in tears thinking that I could not see her whenever I wanted. Not that I could really do that before she left since she lived in Sandy, Ut, but I didn't have to cross an ocean to see her. She had planned on coming to Phoenix on her way to LAX (really, it's on the way people) and we were going to hang out for a couple of days. She got a lot of opposition from her dad who was helping her drive to LA, but she was determined, but then reality hit. There was just too much to do and too little time and she was not going to be able to make it. I thought about flying up to Utah and driving with her to California, but knew that it was not feasible and would put a great deal of strain on the husband. I cried thinking that I wasn't going to get a chance to say good bye, and in the end, we said good bye by text. I think it was better that way because if I had talked to her I would have been a blubbering fool. I know, I know, I should just get an iPhone, there's Skype, and I will be going to see her for a European vacation, but it was difficult. She has been instrumental in molding me into the fascinating, super mom and wife that I am. It's taken her nearly thirteen years to do it, and I am still a work in progress, but who's going to pick up the slack now that's she's gone? I guess if Emily can qualify for the New York Marathon under the phenomenal circumstances that she was under, she's up for this kind of challenge. I just hope she realizes the kind of time commitment that is necessary to help me achieve my full potential.

Happy Father's Day!

This is my dad and I on my wedding day. Yes, he is a handsome fellow. I have been very fortunate to be his daughter, although, I am sure there were many times during my childhood that he would have wanted to sell me, or at least put a lock on my mouth that only he would have the key. These are the lessons that I have learned (and am still learning) from my dad:
#1 Get an Education. My dad worked as a Skyline High School counselor (and coach of several different sports) for many years, and then ended his career as a Career Counselor. This came in very useful when I was in high school and getting my act together so I could get a scholarship and then decide what I was doing. I will never forget the day when my dad sat me down and asked me what I wanted to major in. I hadn't really thought about it, so I said I wanted to be a nurse. That decision, besides deciding that Kevin was going to be my husband, shaped my future. I often reflect on not having such a wise father to point me in that direction. Yikes. I could have floundered for years trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and not had the career path that I have had which has given me the opportunity to work from home. But, I think my dad had ulterior motives. If he ever gets sick, he will have a private nurse at his beck and call. But I think I'll have an assistant help change any, um, bedpans. Since Kellie is the baby, and we made her do whatever we wanted when we were younger, that will be her.
#2 Healthy Lifestyle. My dad has always been a picture of health. I remember when we were all gathered round the TV, and my dad would be on the floor doing sit ups or push ups. He never wasted time or lounged. Even when he was watching golf on, he would be practicing his golf swing. I've never seen him indulge too much or be idle. He attempted to get me involved in sports at a young age, including swimming and running. Funny how life turns out. Now I am a runner and have swimmers. Again, his legacy will affect my children and their children to be active and healthy.
#3 Financial Wisdom. My dad would say "I put ____in my IRA." I had no idea what that meant, but I knew that he was saving up his money for when he retired. If there was anything my family needed, my dad would save up to purchase. This meant learning delayed gratification and the value of a dollar. Now, he is retired and enjoying the fruits of his labors.
#4 Gospel Strength. My dad has served in many callings in the church, including bishop and stake president (currently). he has served faithfully, magnified his calling, and I have never once heard him complain about his responsibilities.
#5 Straightening me Out. I mean my teeth, by the way. Braces, oral surgery, and dental implants did not come cheap. I never heard a complaint. Only that I had a $10,000 smile. Gulp.
#6 Patience. How do you not have patience with one son and five daughters, one of them being me. My dad was very slow to anger. I can count on one hand the times that he yelled at me. And I deserved all of those times. Now, if it were Kellie writing this blog, apparently, she had a different experience. his patience must have all been used up by that point. Sorry, Kellie.
I could go on and on, but then what would I have to say next year? I am so very blessed to have such a rich heritage. I know that with this rich heritage I have a responsibility to be the best person I can. Thanks, Dad!!! I love you!

But the Biggest Surprise by Far....

That is one of my favorite lines from a children's book. It is from Madeline, which I bought when Dillan had an emergency appendectomy at the ripe old age of three. After he had recovered and was home (after 11 days in the hospital, two grandmas coming in to town to help with a moment's notice, and many promises for a new fish tank-even back then he loved fish), we would read that book at night and he would show his stomach when we said "But the biggest surprise by far, on her stomach there was a scar." Now both of my boys are scarred. Blake's open tummy surgery was this morning when he had to have an epigastric hernia repair. The surgery was scheduled for 9:30, which meant we were to get there at 8:30, which meant I had to keep him away from food and drink, even his all time favorite, hot cocoa, which I knew was going to be challenging. So I was glad and rushed when the outpatient surgery center called just before seven and wanted to know if we were on our way. They had changed the time, but had not informed us. YIKES! I was still working, so I had to hurry and find a couple of nurses to cover for me (yes, I am so fantastic that it takes TWO nurses to do the job that I can do), rush us down there, but at least I didn't have to deny him food and water any longer. We got banded at the hospital, went in quickly to pre-op, he hated wearing the band, and asked me several times to take it off. He was even very polite about it and said "Peas." When the nurse came to get him, and I kissed him good bye, he started to cry and let out a "Mo-o-o-ma!" It was like the surgeon had a knife to my heart at that moment. I was brave and went back to the waiting room with tears in my eyes. It's a good thing that Kevin wasn't with me at this point, otherwise, I may not have been so brave. He had a delay in getting there because he waited for the sitter to get to our house. He was there when the surgeon came out to tell us all was well, about 28 minutes after I left my boy. Not a bad gig. The doctor did not make a good impression on Kevin when she shook his hand then wiped her nose with her hand. Thank goodness the procedure was over or he may have asked for another doctor. Blake came out of anesthesia beautifully. We were told he might be angry when he woke up (as the other kids in the room certainly were), but he woke up then just wanted to cuddle. I took this opportunity to do so. I know how quickly the cuddling will be gone. We came home and took a nap together. I am a stickler for sleeping in your own bed, but this was an exception. After reading about friends going to Toy Story 3, we did that as a relaxing activity after he woke up. So cute, and no social message, unless you count the part where we are to recycle our toys......Wait a minute! There was a social message! Go green. Dag nab it. They snuck that one in and I didn't even realize.
The doctor had told us that he needed to avoid "strenuous activity" for two weeks. Uh.....he's two, and has three older siblings, who all love to play with him. So when he started chasing the chickens back into the coop, I was yelling at him to avoid strenuous activity or his stitches would burst and there would be guts all over the place. He still chased them. So, I believe that he has made a full recovery, and will be the same happy, lovable little boy with a scar on his upper stomach that will look like this: l
Thanks to half of my followers for the magical muffins. Love 'em.

Swimmers, Take Your Mark......

My children are swimmers. Don't ask me how this happened, besides the fact that we have a pool and live in a climate where swimming is a year round sport, but I was not the State Champions in the family (that's Nikki and Jen, by the way). It started with having children that have asthma (darn genetics!) and that swimming was a great sport to improve asthma. This was the beginning of a lifetime of swim meets, more goggle purchases than I want to admit, and so many blue ribbons lying around, that if they get anything less, they have to walk home (just kidding. Sort of.) I love swimming besides the health benefits, they are competing against themselves to improve their times and improve their health and Chloe's favorite, the social aspect. Summer swimming is a little different than the rest of the year because the team that they swim on is less structured than the school year one because it is more of a recreational team for kids who don't swim competitively, so my kids love the change of pace because then they get to have a little more fun. I love cheering them on. Yes, I'm the mom at the side of the pool yelling at her baby to swim faster like they are swimming in the Olympics. I love it. Maybe because it reminds me of my childhood and cheering on my sisters.

So it came as a great shock to me this morning when Olivia told me that she wanted to meet with me in the "white living room" to discuss why she was not going to be on the swim team. You may have guessed that the white living room is where all serious matters get discussed. She had a list of reasons why she did not want to continue her career as a swim team member. She started on this team two weeks ago and has not participated in a meet yet because, well, for selfish reasons on my part. #1 Too late at night. I am a bedtime stickler. #2 She would be too slow. I'm not saying I expect her to come in first, but it makes the whole meet take longer when they have those little kids who are struggling to complete 25 yards. #3 One less person to give money to so they can get something from the snack bar. These were her lists of reasons for not continuing: #1 She didn't sign herself up, I did, and she never okay'ed it, therefore, she was not accountable for showing up to practice. #2 Gymnastics will improve her flexibility, whereas swimming will not. #3 She's not very good at butterfly and did not wish to continue this futile exercise in occupying her free time. How can I argue with that? For those of you who are shocked that I would give in to a five year old, this is Olivia we're talking about, who has been called "self assured" and I didn't think that she needed me for anything except as her chauffeur since she was two. This is the girl that told me last week that she wanted to lay on the chaise lounge, so she could "bask in the sun". So her brief career on the swim team is over. She does not have asthma, so I couldn't even argue my case on that point. I never saw her as a competitive swimmer anyway, so I am not surprised. And I believe that this is the first of our discussions that she wants to have in the white living room. So for now, this is the only kind of swimming Olivia we will know.

Another Grand Canyon Hike

Hi, my name is Kim and I'm addicted to hiking the Grand Canyon. Who knew? Certainly not Kevin when he took us on our first hike three years ago in the middle of July, that he was unleashing a beast in me that would be compelled to go back again and again for increasingly harder hikes. This last hike that we did was a build up to my goal of a rim to rim to rim hike (48 miles in one day), so I wanted to hike the North Kaibab trail from the top to the river to the top again in a day, which is 28 miles round trip. The trail description makes it sound more treacherous than the south rim trails, so I had been training pretty intensely.

Paul and Emily McKellars were the ones in charge of the ninos with one tiny threat: Keep these kids alive or you'll have to live with that guilt for the rest of your lives. Friday morning came, and we were off.....to basically a slow crawl.

This was the scene on the way out of Phoenix on the only freeway to Flagstaff. No, it wasn't a get out of the heat traffic. There was a three mile back up from a brush fire off the side of the road. Gave me an opportunity to take one of these pictures:
Someday, I am going to make a scrapbook of all of the pictures that I have like this of Kevin. It started out when we were engaged, so I hope I can locate that first picture.

Drive to North Rim takes you through the Native American Relocation Land or "Land of Desolation". It's the same drive that we take to Utah, so I know the pit stops well, but it felt lonely not having kids chase for lizards at the Chevron outside of Lees Ferry, or having to say "No" to kids walking down the candy aisle on the way to the bathroom.

We got there just in time for dinner and got the most amazing seat in the house.

That was our view out the window in the lodge. We had several people come stand in front of us to take a picture as the sun went down. At least no one spilled a drink.

Our room. Well. The biggest problem for Kevin was no TV. This meant no Lakers game. There are no TVs up there, so we couldn't even switch rooms or whatever. Early Saturday, we got up and ate donuts (our usual prehike breakfast) and hit the trail.

We started at 7 am, with no major events on the descent, except my left two middle toes felt numb, just like from the marathon. I was not happy, because I have been through a lot of trial and error to get the right boots for me to keep all of my toenails, and the thought of losing any did not make me happy, but I knew it was a possibility. And like last time, Kevin's legs kept us basically running the whole way down.

Kevin can't resist taking a picture by Ribbon Falls. We got to Phantom Ranch in 3 1/2 hours, which is good time (on the south side, which that trail is 6.7 miles, we make it down in two hours), I changed, we ate lunch, then I had a couple of Snickers bars (wh-a-at?) and started the long climb back up. There are a few differences with the north and south trails. #1-south side, you start heading up right away, north side, you don't start your true ascent for 7 miles from Phantom Ranch. #2-There are more people on the south rim trails. Just makes it more interesting to talk to people about what they are doing there. #3-There are more places to stop on the south side, like boulders to sit on. The biggest difference is that first seven miles of slight incline hiking. I didn't like that very much because it didn't really feel like we were doing anything more than just walking down a trail. We stopped and had another snack at Cottonwood Campground, and I was ready to hit the steep part (finally) and Kevin told me to go on up ahead.
I do not like to separate, but we had bought walkie talkies for the trip and had assured that they were working and plus had met several people on the trail who knew where we were headed. So up and out I went. This is when it gets steeper than the south trails, and super bonus here, shaded almost the entire rest of the way. I dare say I got chilly towards the top. I had to put my running sleeves back on.
I got out in 11 hours and Kevin was a bit behind me, but I must say, I felt that I had not been sufficiently challenged, and as I waited for Kevin to get out, I decided that if I did not have any blisters on my feet or potential toenails lost, that I was going to hike to the south rim the next day. I knew Kevin wouldn't be up for it so I would have to go alone, but I felt like I could do it. Once we got back to the room and had a chance to inspect the damage, the biggest surprise by far, was that THERE WERE NO TOENAILS INJURED ON THE HIKE!!!! And, even better, no blisters to explode in your friend's car as you start you four hour drive back to Phoenix (sorry about that one, Myrissa). I couldn't believe it! Finally, after five hikes I had come up with the right pair of boots, the right lacing technique, and the right socks. Glorious. Unfortunately, I had a different problem. Chafing. On my back from my Camelbak on each of my iliac crests. This was what prevented me from hiking rim to rim because it was bad enough that I knew I didn't want to put a pack on that for a day. Sadly, Kevin did get a large blister and will loose three toenails. He had boots that he hadn't worn hiking before.

Now, on to my next phase in my goal. Rim to Rim to Rim. There are a lot of runners out there that do this hike, and I feel like I am ready to do it. Now, my usual hiking partner has asked that I look for someone a little more in shape than he is (running your own business does not give him enough time to train properly), so I will be searching for a partner to make this trek, because I am doing it on October 23. If you are interested, please submit your application. Must be willing to endure a little bit of competitiveness and fast hiking. All right, Emily. I will keep the competitiveness to a minimum.