Okay. I am soooo incredibly excited about our eLLeMeNOPea Summer Challenge. Haven't heard about it? Check it out here on our blog, or here from our newsletter.
We are going to have some fun with this. Do you have a bare wall in your home that is glaring at you? Do you have a wall that you just want to re-do? eLLeMeNOPea can help, and now is the time-during our 2009 "Bare Wall" SUMMER CHALLENGE.
With small changes to your decor, you can alter the mood of a room and turn a plain wall into a stylish expression of you. Create the space you want without spending a lot of money! That's right, with a few design tips from eLLeMeNOPea, you can transform any room with ease.
My favorite part: we post all the completed walls on Facebook and on our blog and "America" gets to vote for their favorite! How fun is that!!
The winner gets a 36" customized wall clock, and the 2nd place runner up gets a $50 voucher for eLLeMeNOPea.com.
Pretty rockin' don't you think?? Valarie and I are even going to do our own projects, and show on our blog, step by step the progress- from bare to WOW!! Anyways, wanted to keep you updated on whats going on!!
I have a few projects in my house I'm working on- I'll post the pictures once they are done!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Start Spreading the News!!
Here's the video clip of my favorite song from J's kindergarten graduation.
Kinder-GARDEN: Growing Young Minds...
J had an amazing year at school. He LOVED school. No, that's an understatement. He thoroughly enjoyed every minute he was there. Thanks to a really great teacher- Mrs. Dzida. We love her.
B had her for Kindergarten, and she came highly recommended from a few friends. She can be silly with the kids, but is structured and just makes learning so much fun!!!
Kindergarten graduation was great. Not too hyped up. But enough to make the kids feel proud of their hard work. Here's all the PM kindergartners singing some songs together. They were soooo cute. I'm going to try to post the video of one of my most favorite songs that they sing. J is in the front row (as usual!). He looks like he has a mean look on his face. Hmmmm. I think he was ready to go back inside!
B had her for Kindergarten, and she came highly recommended from a few friends. She can be silly with the kids, but is structured and just makes learning so much fun!!!
Kindergarten graduation was great. Not too hyped up. But enough to make the kids feel proud of their hard work. Here's all the PM kindergartners singing some songs together. They were soooo cute. I'm going to try to post the video of one of my most favorite songs that they sing. J is in the front row (as usual!). He looks like he has a mean look on his face. Hmmmm. I think he was ready to go back inside!After they sang all together they went back inside to their own classes and had a little ceremony. J's class sang some more songs and then they got their diplomas. Mrs. Dzida puts together a great book full of their best art projects that year and spiral binds it. Guessing from the budget crunch, it came out of her pocket this year. My favorite page from this book, is his self portrait that he drew, and then he got to write a little about himself. This is what he said, and it pretty much sums it up:
I am a boy. I play baseball. I like steak.
What can I say, he's a simple guy! I can't believe he's so big. Time flies by! This kid is the funniest, friendliest kid I know. There is just something about him that just makes you smile. He has such a good heart. Maybe that's what I love the most about him.
Zoo Time!!
As a last hurrah for Mommy and Me, we went with Ms. Becky's Preschool to the Zoo for a field trip. I was able to bring J and S, and we had a lot of fun! We got to hang out with friends and see some pretty cool animals!
S playing with her friends. She had fun running around and looking at the animals with them.
We had fun. J was our Tour Guide. He carried the map and helped designate where we should go.
Our favorite animals were the tiger and the monkeys. The Orangutan actually got up and moved. I actually (gasp!) remembered my camera, and had a really cute picture of Sophie in front of the Orangutan, but sadly, I can't find it.
S playing with her friends. She had fun running around and looking at the animals with them.
We had fun. J was our Tour Guide. He carried the map and helped designate where we should go.
Our favorite animals were the tiger and the monkeys. The Orangutan actually got up and moved. I actually (gasp!) remembered my camera, and had a really cute picture of Sophie in front of the Orangutan, but sadly, I can't find it.We also really enjoyed the Reptile House. There are some pretty scary looking snakes in there! I must confess, I'd rather see a mouse or a spider than a snake. Reptiles and me are NOT friends. I could never have a pet lizard, snake, etc. NOT Happening here. They frighten me!
Mommy and Me
In January (I think?!?) S and I started going to a Mommy and Me Group at Ms. Becky's Preschool/House. We had lots of fun with each other and it was a definite bonus that my sister Jody came with her daughter too! They are best buddies (sometimes even worst enemies- just like sisters!!) We are working on painting Easter eggs here.
Here we are doing some puzzles. Obviously something was funny!!
We are assembling out Itsy Bitsy Spider. S is really afraid of spiders. But she liked this one!
So, I've been meaning to blog about Mommy and Me, and now I did. It was great for S and I to spend time together but also great to be around other Moms and visit. Thanks Becky for opening up your house and all the hard work you put into organizing Mommy and Me on top of your Preschool classes. Anyone looking for a Preschool teacher, I HIGHLY recommend Becky. She is my good friend, but anyone who is around her when she's with kids can see she truly loves being with children and teaching them. And she's really, really good at it! Her Preschool website is linked on the side of my blog. Check it out!
Here we are doing some puzzles. Obviously something was funny!!
We are assembling out Itsy Bitsy Spider. S is really afraid of spiders. But she liked this one!
So, I've been meaning to blog about Mommy and Me, and now I did. It was great for S and I to spend time together but also great to be around other Moms and visit. Thanks Becky for opening up your house and all the hard work you put into organizing Mommy and Me on top of your Preschool classes. Anyone looking for a Preschool teacher, I HIGHLY recommend Becky. She is my good friend, but anyone who is around her when she's with kids can see she truly loves being with children and teaching them. And she's really, really good at it! Her Preschool website is linked on the side of my blog. Check it out!
Wow! Its been a month since I blogged last! I've got some catching up to do! So, here goes.... Over Mother's Day weekend, our ward Primary had an activity at the Temple. So, we went as a family and walked around the grounds and had a picnic lunch. It was great. Thanks to Rhonda who ALWAYS has her camera, we have some pictures that captured the moment.
After we ate our lunch the kids ran around on the grass and climbed trees. It just doesn't get better than this!
Of course, it was hard to get J out of the trees. He is 100% pure boy. He LOVES to climb trees. He looks for a tree to climb everywhere we go!
This is most of the kids in our Primary. We are missing a few families. I'd guess that this is about 80%. I know somewhere out there, a picture of my family in front of the temple is floating around in somebody's camera. If someone could forward me that picture, I would really appreciate it!!
After we ate our lunch the kids ran around on the grass and climbed trees. It just doesn't get better than this!
Of course, it was hard to get J out of the trees. He is 100% pure boy. He LOVES to climb trees. He looks for a tree to climb everywhere we go!
This is most of the kids in our Primary. We are missing a few families. I'd guess that this is about 80%. I know somewhere out there, a picture of my family in front of the temple is floating around in somebody's camera. If someone could forward me that picture, I would really appreciate it!!It was a great day. The kids all took the opportunity to touch the temple. President Monson said to let our children go to the temple, and walk around the grounds, and reach out and actually touch the temple. And as they touch the temple, the temple will touch them. As well it has. We love the temple and are excited to get to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House as a family when we go visit later on this month. (Hopefully, I'll remember my camera then!!)
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
13.1 or bust!
American River Parkway Half Marathon- DONE! It was a great experience. Here's a group shot before the race started. We didn't get a group photo after the race, but that's okay. We all looked pretty jacked up by then!
We got there with enough time to take care of some bathroom "business" (a MUST before a long run!) and walk around to a few booths. As we were walking, we started talking big. Like Marathon, big. Some of us thought that would be a "fun" idea, to run a marathon together! We laughed about it, but I was seriously thinking, yeah, I'd like to do that soon. I mean, I'm half way through the training now, right?
Ask me how I felt about it at mile 10! Not so enthused about 26.2 miles. In fact my exact words were...well.. Hell NO! It was truly how I felt!(Its just like asking a woman who just gave birth if she wants to have more children. I think a similar response would follow!)
So the race started with Brian and Justin WAY ahead. The four of us stayed together through the first 4-5 miles. But by mile 8-9, Becky and I were the only ones together. Everyone else was running solo. Anyways, at about mile 1o I was hitting a REALLY hard brick wall- like the hardest I've ever hit before as a runner. Becky had said she was hitting a wall, and I commented that I was hitting it hard. Two ladies next to us tried to cheer us on, which was very thoughtful. But, it wasn't that we were going to give up. It was just SO HARD at this point, we had to mentally "breakthrough" the wall. Physically, I was well past done. This is when I mentally have to power up. Well, my theory was, as long as I was breathing normally, I was going to keep moving as fast as I could. It worked. I kept moving.
Here we are getting ready to cross the finish line. Our game plan is, when you get to about the last 1/4-1/2 mile of the race, you make a break for it. When you can see the finish line, it becomes an all out sprint. Becky was about 2 strides ahead of me. She looked back and grabbed my hand, so we could cross the finish line together. It means something to us- with all of our training together- to cross the finish line together.
Crossing the finish line was quite a euphoric feeling, a powerful feeling, even. I can't quite describe it. It might be one of the reasons why I love to run. All I can say is, it felt good accomplishing something that was really physically and mentally hard for me. It was so hard, but so worth it!! Running that distance for me is so much more mental than it is physical.
We got there with enough time to take care of some bathroom "business" (a MUST before a long run!) and walk around to a few booths. As we were walking, we started talking big. Like Marathon, big. Some of us thought that would be a "fun" idea, to run a marathon together! We laughed about it, but I was seriously thinking, yeah, I'd like to do that soon. I mean, I'm half way through the training now, right? Ask me how I felt about it at mile 10! Not so enthused about 26.2 miles. In fact my exact words were...well.. Hell NO! It was truly how I felt!(Its just like asking a woman who just gave birth if she wants to have more children. I think a similar response would follow!)
So the race started with Brian and Justin WAY ahead. The four of us stayed together through the first 4-5 miles. But by mile 8-9, Becky and I were the only ones together. Everyone else was running solo. Anyways, at about mile 1o I was hitting a REALLY hard brick wall- like the hardest I've ever hit before as a runner. Becky had said she was hitting a wall, and I commented that I was hitting it hard. Two ladies next to us tried to cheer us on, which was very thoughtful. But, it wasn't that we were going to give up. It was just SO HARD at this point, we had to mentally "breakthrough" the wall. Physically, I was well past done. This is when I mentally have to power up. Well, my theory was, as long as I was breathing normally, I was going to keep moving as fast as I could. It worked. I kept moving.
Here we are getting ready to cross the finish line. Our game plan is, when you get to about the last 1/4-1/2 mile of the race, you make a break for it. When you can see the finish line, it becomes an all out sprint. Becky was about 2 strides ahead of me. She looked back and grabbed my hand, so we could cross the finish line together. It means something to us- with all of our training together- to cross the finish line together.
Crossing the finish line was quite a euphoric feeling, a powerful feeling, even. I can't quite describe it. It might be one of the reasons why I love to run. All I can say is, it felt good accomplishing something that was really physically and mentally hard for me. It was so hard, but so worth it!! Running that distance for me is so much more mental than it is physical. Anyway, mine and Becky's time on the picture says 2 hours 22min- that's the gun time. But our actual time, when we crossed the starting line (the time our micro-chips recorded) was 2 hours 19 min- which shaved about 14 minutes off of our first Half Marathon time- YES!!! I was hoping just for a minute or two improvement, but 14 minutes was beyond what I'd even thought of!!
Brian did so great! He ran it in 1 hour 57 minutes!! He shaved a minute off of his time from the last one-dang he's fast! But Justin beat us all, coming in at 1 hour 53 minutes! Yaw-ser!! Maybe its all that soccer playing...
Dena came in at 2 hours and 33 minutes- which is outstanding, especially for her first time, AND she was sick the week before! Terry came in at 2 hours 25 minutes. He continues to amaze me. I think pretty soon, he's going to outrun us all-distance and speed!
Brian is the best husband ever! He finished up when we were at mile 11. He ran back to the car to get the camera and move the car closer cause he knew we were going to barely be able to walk afterwards, and we parked pretty far away. So, he was back in time to take these pictures of us coming in! I wish I could have caught some pictures of him coming in! It was great to cheer on the rest of the group as they crossed the finish line. T. Weav, J. Webb and D. Webb rocked the house for their first Half Marathon!
Brian and I feel so blessed to have family and friends who love and support us. It was an amazing experience- something we will definitely do again. As far as a Marathon goes, I'm sticking with the Half for now. I'll keep the Marathon in my mind....just WAY in the back!
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