Dear Kindra...

Dear Kindra

What would I ever do without you in our family? Your curiosity and creativeness always gets me surprised and laughing. You are so smart and have the best imagination...one that your mother loves when it comes to the "adventures" that she comes up with!

Your brother loves you. There is nothing better than when I hear you 2 giggling when playing or when coming up with something that leaves our house looking like a bomb blew it up. Thought I may "freak out", deep down I could care less. The memories that you 2 are making are far more important!

I love the 5 minutes that we have when I pick you up from school as we drive home to talk about lunch, recess, games, and the rest of the things that you can't wait to tell me about. I will never forget the time when you said "Mom guess what? I love Danny!" Utter shock and pure laughter! Have we started this already?

I love that you are my beautiful tomboy and take pride that you would rather play tag and games with the boys then jump-rope with the girls. Just like your mom when it comes to that.

Though first and for most I am your Mom, you are also my best friend and will always be so! I love you and always hope that you will trust and talk to me about everything.

Thank you for knowing how much I needed you. Thank you for allowing me to be your Mom. Thank you for your patience, love, and kindness when it comes to your brother. He looks up to you so much and I am grateful for the example that you are.

Love Mom

My Halloween Obsession!!!

The St George Marathon 2009

It's official! It's been exactly 1 year of my hand-cycling career. I can't believe how fast that it has gone by! The St George Marathon was here once again...
I knew that Thomas would be there beside me again this year but I was so surprised when my parents told me that they were going to come down also. Then my brother Jake told me that his family was going to also come down! I was so excited! My kids were coming down with me this time so it was going to be one big family reunion in St George. Wahoooooo!!!

The weather was NOTHING like it had been the year before but it was still freezing at 5am. And YES! Notice the winter apparel that everyone else is wearing??? Hey. I'm still learning and at least this year I brought gloves down!

Last year I had no idea what to expect when it came to my finish time. I did 26.2 in 2 hrs 22 min and I was so happy since that had been my first ever marathon. This year after some further training...some (Thomas I know you are laughing right now!) I wanted to finish close to 2 hrs even. Well. I DID IT IN 1 hr 47 min AND I WAS FREAKING OUT!!! How had I just shaved 35 minutes off of my time???

Kindra had the best line of the morning! She was standing beside Thomas at the finish line and busted out with another one of her classic comments. "You're KILLING it, Mom. You are KILLING it!!!" When I asked her where she had come up with that one she said "Duh Mom. Phineas and Ferb!?!" which is her favorite Disney cartoon. Way too funny!

There is something that you mentally experience when you are participating in a marathon. Something that is impossible for those who have never done one to understand what you are talking about. Although I had my iPod blaring, I was able to think about alot of things that are going on in my life right now. Things that I want to change. Reasons why things are the way they are. Issues with my family. Things that I love. The weather was perfect. A little finger numbing in the beginning but the sunrise was a mental picture that will be forever in my mind! I was so excited to know that my family and friends would be at the finish line to cheer me on!

What I Take For Granted...

Wow. Wow. I just finished watching Oprah and can I say Wow again?

If you have not watched your tivo'd afternoon yet and Oprah is one of them? Get your tissues handy and your ears ready cause what you'll hear will be something that you'll want to remember!

If not, then go over and CHECK HER OUT!!!

Thanks Stephanie for letting us in just a bit more....

Another Day Exploring...

After one of our water adventures over to Thomas's pool, I promised the kids that we could go play around a bit at "The Secret Garden". Go over and check out my first post about one of our special spots!

...looking for some treasures....

I would give anything to know what is going through their minds right here...

...rock collecting...

To Learn or To Teach

This is my friend Becky Anderson, Chairman and Founder of "For Every Body". She is one of the most positive and full of energy people that I know. We met randomly through our mutual friend Tara via email and then decided to meet for lunch. We shared our stories and experiences and had a great time. She is also extremely busy so our blogs and our emails were our only source of contact until she told me that she had a great idea and to call her immediately.

What she invited me to do was a dream come true experience. I sound so cheesy and cliche but it's true. The company was launching a new candle/product entitled "Every Day Hero's" and she wanted me to come and speak at their annual awards banquet and be her every day hero! Wow. A very humbling experience. I honestly do not feel like a hero but I also don't realize the impact that "stories" like mine have on others. I have said it from day one. We go through "things" to learn something ourselves or to teach someone else something. We forget that our examples are impacting others every day...how big or little it may be...we are!

So yes! I was pumped! I love talking and sharing some of the things I've learned and if it can help even one person than it makes me feel like what I am going through matters. But still. Like I said. I don't feel like a hero. I just do what I do and what I have to do. Anyway...

People were in tears after I shared my experience and not that I love making people cry, but it gives me such a positive boost and a mental pat on the back, knowing that what I've said has actually touched someone!

I met some awesome people and heard some other wonderful stories and it was a great night!

The Payback...

You know what they say "Paybacks" are right? Yep. HeHeHe Remember this?
My poor kids had no idea what their garden project would turn into but sorry. When there is an excuse for a yard project to be done, you better be ready for the mother load! I can only imagine what the neighbors are saying about my lesson teaching techniques.....

Off we went to Home Depot and my kids were loving it. They were actually excited for what we were about to do. If I can keep the attitude that my kids have right now forever, then I will be the happiest and luckiest Mom ever! Seriously....

My attempt at showing them how to do it...LOL!

Look how good...great...they did! And yes. I will admit that I had to calm myself a bit because I can be quite the Nazi when it comes to things like this because I want it to be and to look perfect. I had to remind myself that the point of THEM doing this job was for THEM to learn.

And yes. I connived them to do alot more work than just the garden! HeHeHe

I am so lucky to have my 2 little ming-rats. I love them so much! I know that there is a reason that they were sent to me. They balance each other out and I can not imagine having one without the other! After nights like these, I realize once again how perfect for me they are.

I love you guys.....

"You Little Shit!"

Dear Carter

Do you know how much I love you? Do you know how important you are to me? Do you know that I would do anything, anything, anything to protect you? You are my bubby. I love to hear you sing. I love to count your freckles. I love to tuck you in bed at night. I love to take care of you. I love to listen to you laugh. I love to see you smile. I love taking you to the Lawnmower Doctor. I love being your Mom. I love you Carter and don't you ever forget it. Don't you ever forget that you can tell me and talk to me about anything. I will always protect you and be your biggest advocate and fan.

I love you Carter James...

Love

Mom



Once upon lots of times, I have had to talk to some older boys who migrate to this forest area that is right behind our house. The only thing separating them from my kids is an iron fence. Like all kids do, they all call each other names, say their stupid, go away, shut up, your annoying me, etc. etc.

"You do your thing over there and we'll do our thing over here. Please stop teasing my kids."

I was hoping that the problem would just go away but that was not the case.

One afternoon, I watched out the window as they army crawled across the lawn over to where the trampoline is to tease Carter and to call him a retard. That was it! I was livid and immediately went out to ask them what in the hell they were doing? What was their point?

"Well, he is just bugging us." Yeah. That was all that they could come up with.

A day went by. Trevor had just come over to say hi to the kids. They were doing tricks on the trampoline and I was on the porch. Out from the forest area, one of the kids yelled at Carter to come here. So he jumped off the tramp and ran over to where they were standing, only the fence in between them. In some weird way, Carter thinks that they are his friends so he ran over to see what they wanted.

I hear a pop. I see Carter drop to the ground and hear him cry out, scream out in pain. I yell at Trevor who runs over to Carter. Once he realized what had happened he was over the fence in 1 hop off to chase down the boys.

YES. They lured my son to the fence to shoot him with a bee bee gun!!! YES. Can you believe that? WHO DOES THAT??? Really. WHO DOES THAT???

Carter was OK though I still freak out in my head when I think about what could have happened! Thank goodness Trevor did not catch the boys. The parents were not home. The police were called. Tickets were issued. It's over...kind of. I'm still furious, annoyed, and amazed!
It has prepared me for whats to come. Kids are so mean. SO MEAN and I know that this will not be the only time that I'm going to have to be Carter's advocate. I will do whatever I have to do to protect my son, my kids. I will teach them how it is that we treat others, respect others as well as respect ourselves.

I still get all fired up when I think about this!

The only funny thing that came out of this situation was what Kindra said...."Ohhhh you little shit!!!" (yes. that word is my very, very, very angry word! oops! passing it down to my kids)

Now that's classic!

The Salt Lake City Film Festival...

Do you remember my friend Keriann from here ? Well she came in town a few weekends ago for the Salt Lake City Film Festival. Her husbands company funded the production of the documentary so they flew in to be at the opening.

I was a little leery of what I was about to watch as she tried to give me some background on the movie. Oh no! "The Best Worst Movie-Troll 2 Documentary"??? Trolls??? But I will say that I actually enjoyed it!!! Way to go Jim!!! :)

Thanks Ann for the invite...for the payback...for another great story for us to laugh about...and for my next trip out! LOL :)

Our Idea Of A Really Unique Tree House...

Seeing that the first tree-house was not really functional, we decided to see if we could come up with a new idea for our tree-house. We used the wood, our basketball net, our soccer goal, the patio cushions, and of course some tree branches.


See? Sometimes you just have to look outside of the box to come up with the most original plan EVER!!! :)

The Dirty Work...

"Smile Carter. Smile!" I can just hear Kindra now giving her picture taking orders. She has become obsessed with taking pictures (I wonder where she got that from!) I laughed hard when I found these pictures that she had taken of their project planning....
I also love to see from their perspective, of what they think is really cool and important.....




I thought she did a good job! Especially since I was not their coaching her...plus she got Carter to smile and that's a jewel in itself! Seriously.....

The Innocent Imagination...

"Mom? Do you want to come out and see our tree house that we made? Seriously, it's totally freakin awesome?"

There were a lot of images that quickly flashed into my mind. A tree house huh? Now what could they have possibly done that would soon be equivalent to a disaster or a new cleanup project?

"Sure. I'll be right out....." I said wishing that I could really just escape to my ignorance is bliss state of mind!
But what I found was not too bad at all! In fact it was the most creative project that they've come up with so far this summer. One that I am proud to claim. They had the boards perfectly placed like a puzzle leading the way up to as high as they could possibly get. The only thing that made me a little nervous was the ladder that they had pulled out from the ancient space of the shed.

Plus it was impossible to not just grin from ear to ear because of how "proud" I was that they had dug so deep into their imaginations to pull this idea out! I love it! The longer that I can keep these innocent imaginations cranking, the happier that I'll be!

Even better was the fact that once again they had done this project together, calmly, without a punch, a hit, or a name calling! Those are the moments that as a parent, I love the most!

I love you bubby!

I love you keek a boo!

Our Week Of Water...

There is sure to be excitement whenever Katie Thomas is in town. There is something that happens within us that allows for the laughter to happen no matter what. Jenny said it best..."We need to be around you more often cause no matter what we say, you laugh and we then think that we are the funniest people EVER!!!"

Heather decided that we needed to float down the Provo River with her. She has done it a million times and was not worried at all that those of us who had never done it before, would have a hard time. (let's not forget that with me, its like having half of a body!!!)

It's safe to say that I will probably NEVER do this again! It was so hard to figure out if it was better to be on my stomach or to be sitting up, though flexible enough (or to not feel it enough) to be squashed together? You have NO IDEA how many looks that I was getting! "How is she doing that???"

So this is where Thomas and Jenny decided that they had had enough and that they were going to hike it down the rest of the way. Yeah. But their flip flops had been lost in the river so they were going to try it barefoot. Yeah.

Needless to say, this is what they looked like when they ended up. Notice the popped raft that they ripped apart into shoes? Uh. Yeah.

Off to the Thomas residence for some rest and relaxation...

...until she once again made me laugh which caused me to have a near drowning incident?

Yes. She is laughing as I am choking up a lung.

The next day poor Kindra had to be crushed by my chair as we were up to go for a ride. When we've got everything in the car, this is how it goes down!

Seriously look at that view of Timp Mtn???

Playing at the pool...

Playing on the lake...

Can I just tell you how much my kids love Thomas??? No really. They understand why it is that we call her Thomas because of the whole "Katie" thing but they don't call her Thomas. No. They call her "Katie Thomas". "Katie Thomas...? Katie Thomas...? Katie Thomas...?" So funny!

They also know that when you hear that "whistle" that she's got goin on with her being a teacher and all, that you DO and NOW!!! She won't put up with any of the crap that I might put up with. NO lie...

Kindra loves the stairs at ANY pool because the railing is her favorite spot to do tricks and all sorts of maneuvers with her legs! "Mom. Mom! Look at this!"

Don't worry. Our water adventures for this year are not over yet!

We Have A Garden???

"Hurry Mom. Come outside. We totally (yes carter said that word) have the best surprise for you EVER!!! Hurry! Hurry! We made our garden."

Fear quickly set in for I knew that what I was about to find was not going to give me the chills that come with excitement. But I put a smile on my face and followed behind them, counting 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 so that I would remain calm. Remember? I am the "FREAK OUT MOM" sometimes!

Well this is what I found and yes I wanted to FREAK OUT but it was impossible at that moment to do so because of how proud they were of their accomplishment. It's hard to see but they had covered all of my rubber bark with SAND from the sandbox thinking that it would allow us to plant and grow a garden.

What do you do? I gave them their pats, on the back not on the behind, but them calmly explained that a garden would not grow in sand and that this would need to be our next clean up project. I guess I can say that at least it kept them busy, quiet, and friends for the hour....

Oh my! One HUGE clean up project......WAHHHHHHHH!!!

Our Back-Yard Sleep Out...

I'm sure that what I'm about to post about will make sense to all of you out there who are parents but I also think that this "feeling" can be felt by all. Serious....

When I get an idea of something that would be really fun and memorable for the kids to do, I have it all planned out perfectly. What we need. What we'll do. How we'll do it. How they'll react. How simple it will all be to have this perfectly magical and grand event take place.

The problem? It never happens like that and I never learn to remember that. Then I get all upset at the kids or at myself. I don't understand why it can't "just work" and it ends up being one huge disaster. So frustrating and I so just don't "get it"!!!

So this night ended up being just like that. I pumped them up for it all day long and I was so excited for how much fun they would have. Then. Little event by little event they started to turn into little mingrats ie. DEVILS and mischievous ones that I wanted to drop off on the corner. (please don't call the authorities. yes i thought it. no i would not do it!)
These smiles? Fake ones that I yelled at them to pull. As I am yelling "We are taking a picture of this so SMILE...LOOK AT MY HEAD...SMILE NOW!!! I am so not kidding!"

So see this picture? This is the REAL one. This is what the trampoline looked like after I made them get their butts in the house and in their separate beds. Yes. I was the "freak out" Mother that night. I am picking my battles these days. Trying to and this was definitely not a battle that I was ready or in the mood to fight!!!So I've decided that Yes. We are normal around here and that we all have our own perfect scenarios of how it should be. Either that or I'm just feeding myself a whole load of shiz to make me feel better about how I'm running our joint? Hmmmmm?

:)