Mariners game

Last friday night Brad and I met up with some of my friends from college and their hubbies for a mariners game. It seems to be turning into a yearly tradition. My group of friends from PLU and I all lead pretty busy lives so it is a nice way to make sure we get together at least once during the summer. We typically have been getting together for other important events such as weddings, birthdays, etc. Our friend Emily is having her first baby this November so we will be getting together for her baby shower in the next couple of months.

I am not a big baseball fan. I especially do not like to play it. I am afraid of the ball. I blame this fear on being hit in the mouth too many times playing catch with my dad growing up who did not take it easy on his little girl. However, I have always been a fan of sports and competition so it doesn't take me too long to get into any sort of game if it has any sort of intensity. Also, Mariners games for me are really just about being at a special event and enjoying being out with friends.

We had a lot of fun. It was kind of sad how many open seats there were. Fortunately, for us that meant Brad and I could move down and sit in front of our friends so I could actually talk to them. We got to see our first runner onto the field. He was tackled in 5 seconds and escorted off the field. After the game we talked to a security guy who told us he would be in jail all weekend and would be facing about 10,000 dollars worth of fines. The girls and I were just hoping he wasn't married.

                                           Brad, Me, Matt, Emily, Dan, Nissa and Jocelyn

                                               A rare picture of Brad smiling for the camera

A Day in the life of me

 My days can vary a lot...this is just a typical monday

5:30 am~ alarm goes off, I jump out of bed because I know if I sit for any more than 1 minute I will not be getting out of that bed. I pee and get my running "get up" on and get a sip of water before heading out the door for my run.



 6:15-6:30 am~ I get home from my run..Aren't my shoes pretty?? They are only 2 weeks old. I hope I will wear them out like my last pair.

6:30-7:00 am~ I eat my breakfast in peace...kind of...most mornings I am telling the kids to go back to their rooms a few times. Lately I am obsessed with cliff bars and any kind of berry. Right now I have raspberries and blueberries. I also have my morning cup of coffee before I head into the shower.

7:00-8:15~ All In one hour and fifteen minutes I shower, get dressed, do my hair, get makeup on, feed kids bfast, make sure they are dressed, make Laila's lunch, do girls hair and kiss the hubby goodbye.


8:15-8:45~ head out of the house to drop Landon off at preschool which starts at 8:30, then we head to mt. view and drop Laila off. where she gets to play on the playground until her school's bell rings at 9.

8:45-9:15~ most mornings I have some sort of errand to run and yes I consider driving down town to Uracca to get a caramel mind freeze an errand. Today Lydia and I just had to stop and get gas and buy milk at fred meyer.


9:15~ We got home and I needed to take the chicken out of the fridge that was defrosting and start marinading it.

I also needed to have a snack already. Today I had an apple(my favorite are pink lady) and decided to join Lydia in having a glass of chocolate milk. I read recently in runner's world magazine that chocolate milk is the perfect post workout drink...something about it having the perfect balance of protein and carbs I think.

9:15-10:35~ Lydia and I get time just the two of us every mon, wed, fri from 8:30-11 and I like to let her pick what we are going to do together for part of the time. Today she wanted to watch Beauty and the Beast. We snuggled together for about half the movie and the other half of it I tackled a pile of laundry that was bigger than this picture.

10:35-11:15~ Lydia and I finished our movie and headed out of the house to pick up Landon from school. We typically get home about 11:15


11:30-12:30~ I start making lunch for us when we get home. Today I want to get rid of the 6 little dinosaur chicken nuggets so the gingers each get 3 and I make them a salad with sunflower seeds and carrots. I make myself a salad as well. I stopped eating ranch on my salads a long time ago and have found a new love; Vidalias sweet onion. It is heaven with just about anything I put with my romaine.

Landon doesn't normally wear pj's during lunch time...he pajama day at school today:)

12:30-2~ nap time/ quiet time/ leave mom alone time. Lydia and Landon both stopped taking naps a long time ago. However, I insist they go to their rooms and let me pretend they are sleeping. On occasion they do fall asleep and those are usually the times they are grumpy for the rest of the day...go figure.

2-3:15~ I let them play and do whatever they want. Landon played games on the computer and Lydia had me read her a few books and played with my hair. I cleaned the bathrooms which is on my schedule as the monday chore.

3:15-3:35~ Pick up Laila from school.

3:35-4:35~ I talk to Laila about her day and she shows me papers she brought home. I let the kids watch cartoons while I finish getting stuff ready for dinner. Today I made pesto pasta (which is AMAZING) to go with our chicken.

4:45~ Brad gets home from work and I have him start up the grill for our chicken. I sit at the table reading the newest runners world magazine, worship music playing in the background mixed with children whining about dinner; being ready and the fact that it isn't waffles.

5:15-6~ Dinner as a family

6:00-6:30~ I read a chapter of little women to Laila on my kindle while Landon and Lydia are getting jammies on and brushing their teeth and hanging out with dad.

6:30~Brad leaves for bible study and I sit and chit chat with the kiddos

7:00~ The kids and I pray together and I send them to bed. Bed time varies a lot depending on what we are up to that evening. They usually go to bed between 7 and 8 though.

7:00-8~ baking cookies( ahem..heating frozen cookies in the oven) for mops tomorrow. I also worked on this lovely blog post.

8:00-9:30 or 10:00~ I will finish up the cookies, clean up the kitchen and wait for Brad to get home.

Junior jog

 This weekend is forest festival weekend in town. Before the parade every year they do a junior jog where kids of all ages run down railroad(the main street down town). This year was Laila's 3rd year running it, Landon's second and Lydia's first year. My kids love this race. They each got a paul bunyan book and a medal for their efforts. I just love to see how proud of themselves they are. I am proud too! I also think my 3 year old daughter running her little heart out is the cutest thing ever!! I have always thought it would be great if at least one of my kids took after their mama and became a runner but I just hope they find something they love.

                                                                             before

                                                                      Laila finally using her arms

                                                              Landon running fast

                                     Lydia starting to look around when she realized people were cheering

                                                After the run holding their medals and books

Laila's new desk

 About a year and half ago Brad came across a desk on the side of the road with a free sign. He texted me and asked if he should grab it and I said "sure". It has been sitting under our car port waiting for some attention. I almost got rid of it multiple times, thinking we would never get around to fixing it up. Finally this weekend I took Laila to pick out whatever color she wanted. Unfortunately, that is about all I can take credit for. I just sat and watched as Brad and Laila spray painted and sanded coat after coat. I think it turned out pretty well. Now we just need to find one or two more:)

                                                                        Before

                                                                        After

Botch haircut

Landon has only had one professional haircut and I have cut it every other time. I used to think that I did a pretty nice job considering I have no idea what I am doing. I am not really sure what happened last night when I cut it but it was horrible. It might have something to do with the fact that I let it get longer than I usually do and we have cheap cheap scissors. From the front it looked great but the back of his head had patches that looked like someone just shaved chunks out. I never ever considered shaving all his hair off for multiple reasons; he burns easy, he has a larger than average head, I thought he would be terrified of the buzz, and who really thinks a buzz cut is the best for a 5 year old boy? However, he isn't going to be out in the sun anytime soon, he has a perfect little head, he giggled the entire time Brad was shaving his head, and he really looks pretty adorable. I don't know that I will make shaving his head a routine but if we have to do it again I know it won't be the worst thing.


pretty cute right??

 everyone had to feel his head

Lydia is 3

May 20th

Lydia turned 3 the same day as the half marathon. Originally we were going to celebrate her birthday on saturday(the 19th) so I wouldn't have to worry about it after my run. Unfortunately, Brad ended up having to work saturday so we had one big awesome sunday! Most birthdays for our kids we keep pretty small. We have done the big party thing and it is just too overwhelming for them and lets face it our house is not huge and we can never count on the weather being nice enough to be outside. This year it rained all day. Lydia's main present from us this year was a bike and helmet. She is loving sitting on it so far in the house:) We need this rain to go away so she can really ride it.

The main excitement of the day was a visit from a "real" princess. Brad works with a woman who's daughter is one of the forest festival princesses this year. She was out doing one of her duties before the party and offered to stop by afterwards and hand out tiaras to all of the girls. The loud crazy girls suddenly turned silent and had nothing to say. I know they loved it because she was all they could talk about once she left. Lydia keeps saying the princess gave this to me. Laila keeps telling me she wants a princess to come to her next birthday party. I am going to have to let her down gently. I don't think there are any princesses around in September. Here are some pictures of all the fun!

Mission accomplished!

I completed my first half marathon(13.1 miles) yesterday. It was not everything I envisioned but I finished with a smile on my face. I really wish I would have had someone to run with. I noticed I was one of few lone runners. Most people were in groups or had someone they were chatting with. I had my music to keep me going. I was not expecting the first 5 miles to be the most difficult. A half mile down the road I completed rolled my ankle. I must have flexible ankles because the way it twisted it should have broken. Luckily, the worst that happened was me saying "oh shit" out loud. I was fine.The main reason the first 5 were difficult was it was just hard to get into a good rhythm...It was so crowded and I kept thinking oh gosh I have barely started and I hurt. Once I got past 6 miles I could start counting down. I wish I would have known exactly what I was getting myself into with the difficulty of the course. I was so naive thinking it would be pretty flat. I mean who puts hills, like 5 sizeable hills in a half marathon and full marathon.??? Luckily, I have always been a pretty good hill runner. However, I had not been running on many during my training. Miles 6-8 consisted of me holding my butt and trotting along cursing under my breath. Butt cramps are no joke! I am sure it had to do with all the hills. Eventually the pain eased and I was able to pick the pace back up again. Miles 10-13 feel like they were really just a blur.

My favorite moments during the run were all the little kids on the side of the road holding their hands out for people to slap. At mile 12 they were handing out cold beer. I don't like the taste of beer AT ALL but I almost grabbed one just so I could tell Brad I had one. I decided not to when I envisioned myself throwing up beer at the finish line. The best moment of the run was the finish though seeing my parents, Brad and Laila standing in the rain, soaked cheering for me. I am glad I saw my goal through and I think I may try to do another one in the near future. I need to keep on running. I don't ever want to be as out of shape as I was 7 months ago. Who knows maybe someday I will completely lose my mind and do a full marathon.