Mid-fall 2018: an update post

Whew, 2018 has been something.

A few things to get off with right off the bat.

In April, after much discussion and sleepless nights and a whole lot of other stuff, I went on an antidepressant, went off my inhaled steroid, and started treating for reflux. It was a whole lot of stuff to get through with the stoppings and startings and all that. For a while I thought my body and mind would never feel familiar again. I'm glad to say that it's gotten better. About being medicated...

• I felt the medication hit my brain the first time. Whoosh. 
• I ended up changing from one formula to another because the first didn't let me sleep. I love my doctor for being willing to change things up for me on desperate April day, 5 days after I started the first medication.
• Many many things and beliefs and shit I carried around have fallen by the wayside. Good and bad.
• I can no longer keep things to myself. Probably a good thing. After starting medication, words and conversations fell out of me that had been aching to come out for years. I cleared a lot of air that badly needed clearing.
• I'm finally in a space where I'm not constantly 2 parsecs away from full panic. Panic left me in degrees, which was fascinating to both experience and observe.
• I'm constantly comparing "before" to "after."

It was one of the hardest decisions, and it wasn't easy or fun for months. But things are better. I've grown up in ways I didn't know I could. I am thankful every day for the chemical reaction in my brain that results from a pill I take every night.

Now THAT's out of the way, let's talk about 2018.

1. Went on the best California trip we've ever taken. We went back to San Diego and our home away from home. I savored every moment of running, playing, eating, drinking, strolling, laughing, observing, and being. Not constantly spinning on how something could be different or better (as I did "before") allowed for every moment to count, perfect or not.
2. Sat in the sun for many, many soccer games. My tan has never been so good.
3. Celebrated 43. I spent my birthday on a hike with a friend, then went to dinner with my family wearing a new dress that I never would have dared wear "before." Shane got me a new Fitbit and enjoyed every moment of the day. We celebrated with cupcakes from the grocery store that were amazing.
4. Read a few books. The 1,000th Floor, Eleanor Oliphant is Perfectly Fine, The Monsters of Templeton, Britt-Marie was Here, the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy (when I needed familiar, comfort reading because I couldn't face any serious shock or need for my empathy; I was worried for a while that I wouldn't ever enjoy story again. So glad I came out of that!), Night of Cake and Puppets, Weird Things Customers say in Bookstores, Still Me. 
5. Sewed. I made a friend in my neighborhood who has become my sewing wise woman. I fell in love with a black and white fabric line that I ended up using in 3 different projects, and I designed all of them myself.
6. Ranted about politics. I'm so tired of trump. I'm so tired of our broken government.
7. Walked. I hurt my back in June inexplicably, so I haven't ran much this summer. Or really since April, if I'm honest. But I've learned to love walking. Each Sunday I spent out walking on the Mountain View Corridor, watching the thistles bloom and die off, giving way for the sunflowers that make me so happy. I also started walking with friends on my days off. It's easier to reach out to others now, after. 
8. Walked with Shane. Oftentimes, we did nothing but argue about current family events. but lately, we've been in this sweet spot of peace, well, except for politics. Being medicated allows me to listen without being flooded by cortisol. We can actually have difficult conversations now that mostly work, mostly because I'm medicated and I've learned to listen and speak my words.
9. Felt more like myself than I have in 20 years.
10. Wore tank tops and running skirts almost every day. But for sure on my days off. I haven't shown my shoulders in years, because, well, because. And then I realized that there was a whole subset of clothes that there was no reason I couldn't be wearing and so I got some. And then my work started allowing sleeveless tops and so I really could buy new clothes. I was so uncomfortable the first time I showed my shoulders at work. It was liberating though. And I bought a lot of cute running skirts that make me happy every time I put them on.
11. Discovered the deliciousness that is PSL. Why did I wait so long? I mean, probably because of all the mochas I usually drink, but mmmm. There's something to that pumpkin spice fad.
12. Moved my mom into an assisted living center. 
13. Learned to make Dresden plates as well as hexies (sewing lingo for different kinds of flowers. Love!)
14. Started PT for my back.
15. Admitted that I'm #metoo to a number of people. As a result of the trauma that was the Kavanaugh hearings, I realized that I'm not happy living in a patriarchal society. I celebrated my own day (the Saturday of conference, the day that in both arenas of which I'm a voting member I realized the patriarchy gets its way and doesn't really value my dissenting voice) that I called F*** the Patriarchy day and got a tattoo, the tattoo that I've always wanted: a combination of the daisy chain around the ankle with the flower modeled after my beloved marble flower from the Roman Forum.
16. Found every stray photo around my house and put them in albums. 
17. Started learning Canon in D.
18. Discovered the Rachel Maddow podcast, as well as Trevor Noah. 
19. Hung out with my kids. We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings, La Luna, Zupas, Costa Vida, and Salsa Leedos quite a bit all together. Thomas worked at the rec center all summer, and Ben played a lot of soccer. 
20. Saw Florence + The Machine with Amy. Sooooo good. Soooooo much fun.
21. Got a new mattress - heaven.

If you've made it this far in the post, thanks for sticking with me. 7 months between posts results in a lot of catching up and documenting random things. 

Summer 2017, so far

It's almost the Ides of July, so I thought I'd post a review of summer.

1. Memorial Day weekend, we went to Park City and stayed for the night. It was really fun and relaxing.We found the best breakfast spot - I can't wait to eat there again.
2. On a whim, I went to a Dead & Company concert in June. It was so much fun! I got there late and spent a lot of time finding my brother-in-law and nephew, but even so, it was a great time. I didn't ever imagine myself seeing any of the remnants of The Grateful Dead again - the last time I saw them was in June 1995, just a few months before Jerry Garcia died. But it was an enjoyable reminder of my youthful days. Hippies haven't changed much in 22 years, which is both surprising and comforting. I knew I could show up and even if I didn't find my people, I was still pretty much with my people.
3. My BFF Rebecca, came to Utah also in June. We spent a lovely morning whiling away the hours in her hotel room. I got to meet her daughter, who was just delightful, and adorable - she took a nap on my chest, which was a little bit like heaven. I haven't seen Rebecca since 2013, so it was a sweet reunion with (most of) her little family.
4. Our other BFFs also came to Utah in June. We spent 2 days visiting with them at their rental house in Salt Lake. We spent a lot of time laughing and going to the store and Starbucks and visiting with them and so many other people who love them. It was so nice to be able to drive across the valley to see them. The kids swam in the pool and played soccer in the front yard and Thomas took a 5 hour nap on the couch and none of us could have been happier.
5. Thomas has been going to cross country practice again this summer. It's fun to see him improving so much - the coach told me last summer it takes a year to make a distance runner, and I totally can see that now. He's also practicing driving so he can get his licence next month. They grow up too fast. He went to his first concert last Friday with friends, and he had so much fun. I love watching him start to have grown up experiences.
6. Ben tried out for and made the same soccer team that he did last year. We love the coach and the players. They did a tournament last week and it was fun to see him playing again, even if it was 150 degrees in the shade. (I might be exaggerating a little.)
7. I started riding my bike more and doing the stair climber at the gym. Every now and then, I remember I can't just run to stay in shape.
8. I went on a lovely hike with a friend the Friday before my birthday. I love hiking and want to do more of it.
9. I did the Provo Freedom Festival 10K with my sister Amy and oldest niece Kayci. It was so fun running with these women I love. We've never all done a race together, and we almost ran out of time before my niece moves again. So grateful that the stars aligned and we made it work.
10. After the race, I had a lovely breakfast with my mom. It was fun to just sit with her one on one and visit. 
11. I'm realizing that as my kids get older and start going this way and that with their friends, Shane and I have more time to just be together. We had 2 days in the space of a week where we were on our own. I love that we are still friends and enjoy each other's company.
12. For the first time in our lives, we were on the groom's side for a wedding! My nephew Zac got married at the end of June. It was an adorable wedding. I loved being with my family all together.
13. My car has been in the shop most of the summer due to transmission problems. I've been driving loaner Subaru Imrezas, and I'm getting a bit spoiled by them, with their fancy back-up cams and digital radio screens.

We still have a mini-vacation planned, and a few more soccer tournaments. I hope to do more hiking and spend more time with family.

How's your summer?

Summer 2016, as told in pictures

With everyone back to school, it seems like a good time to document our summer.

Hiking

After our lovely winter snow shoeing adventures, I decided we needed to also spend some time in the mountains in the summer. We went on a few hikes together - not as many as I'd have liked to do, and we only officially finished a few, but it was fun going to new places in our beautiful mountains. Places we hiked: Desolation Trail, Ferguson Canyon, The Living Room, and Yellow Fork.

Random stuff

At the first of the summer, we had some really fun repairs (stove, garage door, and drier.) While it was fun to take apart our new-ish drier and replace some parts, I could have lived without it.

I spent most Thursday evenings running with two friends from young women. 

For my birthday, I signed up for a class with Brene Brown and Oprah. It's based on one of Brene Brown's books, The Gifts of Imperfection. One of the first assignments was to make "permission tags," an assignment where I gave myself permission to do things I normally wouldn't think I could do. I guess I need a lot of permission, as this was my page.

Vacation

As last year's vacation was pretty lame, we decided to go back to San Diego for this year's trip. We stopped off in Las Vegas for a night. It was fun to travel with older kids - Shane and I were able to leave them in the condo and go out for the evening. We ate dinner at a restaurant in Caesars Palace right by the fountain that is inspired by the Trevi Fountain in Rome. It was a really fun time. I must have a lot of my dad in me, because I really get excited to go to Las Vegas. I like to get dressed up and roam a bit in the evening.

Me and Ben playing in the pool while we waited for our room to be ready. There is a unique feeling to a pool in the middle of the desert. It reminds me of being a kid.

Mmm. I can still taste the delicious spaghetti with meatballs I had while sitting here. It came as close as I've ever tasted to being like pasta in Italy.

We were super happy to be back in San Diego. We sat by the pool, visited the ocean, toured Old Town and ate delicious Mexican food, rented paddle boards on the bay (which may just be a little bit of heaven on earth!), ran on the beach, took a yoga class on the bay, watched the fireworks at Sea World every night from our room, and enjoyed ourselves, all while trying to keep one 11 year old who never stops moving entertained. Man, take me back there!!

I found these little signs - two on my morning runs, and one while eating dinner. I thought they accurately portrayed the past year for me.

The words below say "Poseidon Riding Hippokampus with Dolphin." Amen.

Ben tried out for a competition soccer team. We've really enjoyed watching him play soccer. He played in two tournaments and his season starts in September.

Thomas ran with the cross country team most summer mornings. He's had 3 cross country meets so far - one intersquad and two other actual meets. He's starting to like running more.

I couldn't resist getting the new Harry Potter book. Review will be forthcoming. But: I cried at least once.

Not pictured: 4th of July swim party at my sister's house, hanging pictures at my mom's house, Bee's game with Shane's work, Thomas going to youth conference, paddle boarding on vacation, reading SDBBE books, niece's and nephew's baby showers, Ben and Kaleb bonding at the trampoline place, mother-in-law's neck surgery, and more that I'm sure that I've forgotten.

How was your summer?

May and June 2015: A summary

I miss doing lists. I miss blogging. I miss writing. I should be able to solve this problem on my own, since I am the one who decides how I spend my time. Anyway.

May and June were busy months. They deserve lists. Wahoo for lists!

Places we went:

• Spokane. The first weekend in May, we went back up for Bloomsday. It was such a fun mini-vacation. We ate a lot of food, laughed with our friends, ran a great race, duped a fancy restaurant into giving us a free dessert, and made great memories. I'm sure you feel like you were there from that very specific description.

• Park City. Just for one night, the Sunday to Monday of Memorial Day. It was super fast, and we spent most of the time at the pool in the rain (gotta love Memorial Day in Utah! It ALWAYS rains.) but it was fun. I might be the only person ever who takes a sandwich maker on vacation with her. It didn't do any good, since we ended up at Taco Bell for breakfast (we all love sausage AM crunchwraps, and will do crazy things to obtain them.)

Places we ate:

• Buffalo Wild Wings. I am in love with the spicy Thai sauce, and the garlic parmasan (which is bizarre, because garlic is usually my natural enemy, but this sauce is sooo delicious.) I highly recommend the Buffalitos. I don't know why it took us so long to eat there.
• The Habit. Great burgers, and the best part: they will add avocado to almost anything. Be still my avocado-loving heart.
• Costa Vida (where I somehow ended up running into Lucy. Man, I love Lucy. And even better to see her unexpectedly, across a crowded room. Yay for running into friends!) 
• La Puente.  When Shane and I were dating, I hated La Puente. It is a Mexican restaurant on State Street that has been there forever, and I was always a fan of Los Hermanos in the UC which kept me from loving La Puente. But after living on the West Side, aka the Mexican-food-deprived-side of Salt Lake County, I fully appreciated our night out at La Puente. I keep trying to get my kids to go back there, but have been unsuccessful.
• Bombay House. I love me some Indian food, but no one else does. So I have to make a special trip to 3 different restaurants typically in order to have it for myself (the kids eat one place, Shane eats at another, and I get BH.) It is worth all the effort to have the deliciousness that is Chicken Coconut Kurma. 
• Zupas. I ate here with my dear mother-in-law on one visit, and again with my bestie Melanie in a very rushed but worth it lunch one afternoon.

New Business (a veiled Mad Men reference. Mad Men ended in May, a fact that I am still mourning.)

• Shane got a new-to-him car. We sold our Xterra after 11 years and bought a Subaru Legacy. It had some problems at first. By "problems" I mean it stalled ON THE WAY HOME which resulted in two weeks of repairs, paid for by the dealership, that included dropping the trasmission, new transmission computer, and another part I can never remember but we lovingly refer to as the "flux capacitor." While it was being repaired we drove around in a brand new Impreza. I drove it as much as I possibly could, which was fun (we put over 500 miles on it. Oops, sorry Mark Miller Subaru.)
• Pebble Greybeard Lovejoy. He is a Russian Blue kitten, and he is a pain in the ass. He is Ben's cat, and he is just like Ben. He is giving our cat Bucket a nervous breakdown, because she looks like his (Siamese) mother. He jumps out at her from behind corners. He attacks her tail. He acts EXACTLY like Ben acts with his older sibling. But he is sweet, sometimes. Like last night, when he crawled up on my chest and forced his way under the blanket. I had him on my chest, and Bucket on my lap, and it was a little bit like kitty heaven. Note: I have a private name for him, that I abbreviate to MLB. It stands for "mean little bastard." I giggle every time I say it. He loves to chase toys, his tail, Bucket, feathers, and pencils. Piles of folded laundry are an obstacle course for him, and he is never as happy as when he is attacking a rolled up pair of socks. (For approximately 2 minutes of me writing this, he was purring on my lap. And now he's watching me type. Can I get an "Awww!)

• A laptop. Which sounds fancy, but it isn't. Laptops are sort of disposable now, so I didn't want anything too fancy. My old one took 300 minutes just to bring up a browser, which may have been because of the fact that most of the storage was full of pictures. I was terrified it would crash before I moved 13 years worth of pictures. It didn't. The new laptop is adequate. It has a 10 key, which was pretty much my only requirement (I don't know how people have a laptop without one.)

Media that was enjoyed

• Hozier. I love this CD album with my whole heart. I can listen to it exclusively for hours.
• Florence and the Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. I will always get excited for new Florence music. 
• Uprooted, by Naomi Novik, a new-to-me author. I just finished it last night, but carried it around with me for 3 weeks. Thomas is also reading her Temeraire series.
• My Real Children - I haven't finished it yet, because I could renew it and not the Novik book, but I will be finishing it shortly.
• Headspace - a meditation app that I have been using regularly. It it so helpful. When Amy and I were little, we shared a room. Our closet was always, always a disaster. We kept everything there and most of it was leftover books and papers and clothes and toys and records that we didn't need anymore, but couldn't get rid of. I feel like my emotional and mental closet has been overflowing for years with hoarded emotions, thought, feelings, and experiences that I just didn't have use for, but were crowding my judgement and thought patterns. I'm cleaning out my closet. I'm figuring out how to not take everything so personally, and not get trapped in my thoughts as much. Headspace has helped with this process.

Other stuff I don't want to forget:

• Thomas finished 8th grade and Ben finished 4th.
• We fed a baby bird for a week. It was doomed from the start, and he passed away sometime before yesterday morning. Sad. But my kids were great bird daddies for a few days.
• We watched Jurassic World on Father's Day.
• My kids finished Spring soccer. Thomas hadn't played on a team since he was in first grade (which mostly consisted of him pretending to be Spiderman, or a dinosaur. My how he's grown!) and so it was kind of a big thing for him to play. Ben is obsessed with soccer, so it's just the usual for him.
• I got new running shoes. After three weeks of hating them, I found some inserts that work really well, and now I love them. 
• I started walking once a week with my neighbor friend.
• Started to clean out my mom's house. It's sort of anticlimactic, since I've obsessed over it for years. (See "Headspace" entry above. Deep breaths.) We did manage to get a lot done in a few hours, so that was nice. But there are many more hours to be spent there, sigh.
• Went fishing with the kids at Daybreak Lake. It was hotter than crap, and I missed a lot of it because I was at my mom's house, but it was something different.
• I got 70,000 steps on my Fitbit in one week. I had to try really hard to get it. I almost made it the week before, but my Fitbit died in the afternoon on Saturday. Sad.
• Threw my back out for one terrible week. I didn't mess around this time and went to the doctor right away. He gave me prednisone, which I didn't take last time because steroids make me very bitchy and mean, but it was only 6 days, and they didn't seem to affect me as much. My back quickly got back into shape. I'm so glad. I think part of the reason it got better faster was that last time, we were going through the baby thing, which complicated it immensely.
• Had the first summer without Ragnar in five years. I missed it a lot. But, the weekend of the race was really hot, so maybe I didn't miss it that much. I could have joined my employer's team - they went through runners like wildfire! - but that was that weekend that my back was injured, and I wasn't invited until mid-May. It was hard to turn it down, especially since it would have been free, but in the end, it was the right thing to not participate. 

How were your May and June?

Summer 2013: A little of this, a little of that

It's September! And I've really really sucked at blogging this year. I think it's because I spend most nights working and once I'm done working, I tend to want to sleep. I start posts but then they get really long/boring/complicated/whatever and so I save them, unfinished. Seriously, I've tried to blog about summer two different times and I get to the point where I discover I hate everything I've written, they go nowhere.

But, maybe today will be more successful.

So, summer. 2013 was a really great summer! This is what we did this summer, person by person.

Thomas

I think Thomas had a good summer. He did two sessions of swimming lessons. He can swim 50 meters without stopping (much). He loves to do backstroke, but can freestyle and butterfly as well. He spent a lot of time at home watching Minecraft videos (seriously, Minecraft should be called Minecrack; it is on every device in our home and it still seems to not be enough.) Thomas got braces in August. The orthodontist gave him a list of things he shouldn't eat which my dear son took literally. Suddenly every food that he's used to eating was a recipe for disaster and so he stopped eating everything but chicken noodle soup. This was quite a stressful event since we were marooned in the middle of Disneyland where there is very little chicken soup. The afraid-to-eat-anything situation culminated as we sat on the patio of the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe where he ate baby-bird-sized bites of the $9 turkey sandwich he got for lunch while I sat looking on, wondering why the hell my son could no longer eat normal food. I had braces for almost 5 years. I couldn't remember a single food I didn't eat during that five years. Oh, son. The Jolly Holiday patio will always hold fond memories.

Other stuff he did:

• Turned 12. Yesterday was the first day he passed the sacrament.
• Jumped off the 7.5 meter diving board.
• Walked his brother to and from school for 3 weeks.
• Became a high brown belt in tae kwon do.
• Learned how to do a front flip on the trampoline
• Spent a lot of time at the swimming pool, practicing swimming
• Got a cell phone.
• Had the first real (well, longer than 7 weeks) summer in many years. Going from year-round to traditional school is strange. And now my kids will be on different schedules until Thomas is a junior in high school. That sort of makes me want to cry.
• Started junior high. We almost sent him to a charter school, but in the end he is attending his regular district school. He loves it. It's so strange that he's no longer a little kid.
• Passed the 5 feet mark. In fact, he's 5 feet 2 inches, and growing every day.
• Decided that he did want to look good for junior high and insisted that his clothes come from Aeropostale. We bought him everything that he needed and at the end, they gave me a 30% off coupon for the next weekend. I went back to a different Aeropostale store and bought everything that he had already gotten again and used the 30% off and then returned the original clothes with the original receipt. I love working the system!

Ben

Ben also did swimming lessons. Ben passed off two classes in one session so that he could be in Thomas's class for the second session. Ben finished soccer in June. On the way to his last game he announced to all of us in the car that he was going to get a lot of goals that day. He ended up getting all of the goals for his team that day. It's amazing to me how he will decide he's going to do something and then does it. Ben also went off the 7.5 meter diving board, but he wasn't supposed to because there is an age clause that restricts anyone under age 10 from jumping. He enjoyed the 3 times he did it and then didn't get to do it again.

Other things Ben did:

• Spent a weekend with his grandma while we ran Ragnar. Both the kids enjoyed this.
• Started third grade
• Avoided cutting his hair until the very last minute before school started. Ben is very picky about his hair.
• Jumped on the trampoline every second he could.
• Discovered that Subway was pretty good. Finally my kids like something other than McDonalds. Such a small victory!
• Slept somewhere other than in his bed and didn't have a bed time for an entire MONTH after school let out. I wasn't sure I was going to survive it, but I did. Oh for the days of my kids being little and going to bed. I miss them!
• Learned how to do a backflip on the trampoline yesterday! His awesome cousin Nathan taught him in about 5 minutes. He's wanted to learn all summer long but I didn't feel comfortable spotting him. Now he knows how to do it and is soo happy.

 The parents (that's me and Shane, in case you didn't know.)

• Went on a few dates. We've reached the mecca of parenthood where we don't have to get a babysitter anymore to go to dinner together. It is a-maz-ing. The kids love it, we love it, it's a win-win situation.
• Ragnar. It was a great year. I loved our team. Leg #8 was awesome - it was so nice to not be the last runner. And I didn't have to drive the whole time. Wahoo for Ragnar - it's awesome and I can't imagine a summer without it.
• Swimming. As soon as the outdoor pool at the rec center opens, we are swimming. I never imagined we would love swimming but we do.
• Turned in our old car (the lease was up) and leased another one. I hate dealing with car dealerships! We got a CX5. I'm liking it so far. I have to admit: it's fun having my phone sync to my car. And it's nice to not fumble for my phone when someone calls. The kids love connecting their iPods to the radio (when I actually let them do it, that is.)
• Spent time with Shane's grandpa who moved up here from St. George in August. It is so nice to have him so close. I love that my kids will get to know him better and have more memories of their sweet great-grandpa.

Me

• Got a new calling at church. I'm now teaching Gospel Doctrine. It's interesting.
• Turned 38. I hate 38. I've been okay with my thirties up until this age. I would rather be 39 than 38. It's just so....ignominious. Blech.
• Got a passport. I've never had one before! And I just might be using it soon....
• Found a pair of wooden shoes that come close to replacing the ones I lost 2 summers ago. The new ones are taller and the strap is narrower, but they are easy to slip on, comfortable (or getting there) and, best of all, I got them super cheap on clearance.
• Helped my mom organize her family room. There's still more work to be done, but we got a good start.
• Read Divergent and Insurgent in a week. They are the first books I've read on my phone. I kind of liked it and kind of hated it. I'm looking forward to the third book that comes out in October.
• Started going to a body sculpting class at the rec center. It is awesome. I've realized the hard way that it isn't enough to run. Strength training helps my joints so much. I resisted this fact for soooo long, but no longer. I love going to this class when I can manage to fit it in.
• Went to my friend Janna's baby shower. She was in the middle of a move from New York to San Franscico so it was fun to see her while she was in Utah. I can't wait for her to be able to snuggle her little baby in the baby I made for her!
• Found a new favorite run for the summer. I run from my kids karate studio to the gym, swim a few laps, then run back to the studio. I also did a few where I ran to the Olympic Oval and ran laps there. As much as I hate hate hate HATE running laps, I love love love the 65 degree temperature.

Whew. That was long. A lot goes into a summer and I would hate to not have any of it chronicled. I hope you all had a good summer. It's strange that it's already Labor Day. I'm going to miss summer. But fall has a few surprises in the works, so I'm excited for it as well.

Lists for May

It's been a while since I've done a monthly list, but my love for them remains strong! Here we go!


Stuff I did:

1. Ran. A lot. I had my highest monthly mileage ever (which is sad, because I did a marathon in 2004 and I'm sure even that month I didn't run this much!) I topped out at 75.75 miles.
2. Worked. When Shane lost his job in April, I picked up some extra hours at work. Instead of having 2 days off each week I only had 1. I know, boo hoo, but it really made the month busy to have to cram all my mommy-do's into one weekday.
3. Started eating lunch by myself again. I had a great lunch partner on my days off because Shane had been coming home for lunch at his old job. This isn't possible at his new job, so I'm back to eating all alone (cue violins.) At first, the boy quite cramped my style, but by the end, I looked forward to our lunch dates. I was way less grumpy at noon than at 5 (the presence of children at 5 might have had something to do with the grumpiness.)
4. Pondered getting a swimming pass for the local rec center. Our BFFs are leaving us and moving to Spokane, and I don't know what we are going to do with our time. Just to go swimming for one visit costs $20.50. The monthly pass is $24 per month - yeah. It's kind of a no brainer, and as long as we go one time a month every month it will pretty much pay for itself.
5. Replaced our laptop battery. Amazon is the coolest - I found a name-brand replacement for $20. If I had known it would be so cheap, I wouldn't have waited so long - it would last all of 23 minutes by the time we got the new battery. It is so nice!
6. Walked to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple with the ladies from my relief society. It was my favorite church activity ever! 
7. Randomly skyped with our friends' parents, who are on a mission in Nauvoo, at a barbecue. It was fun. I'm probably the only person in the world who'd never skyped. Welcome to technology!
8. Upgraded Shane's phone. He has an iPhone now with Siri, so my kids spend all their time trying to facetime with their dad from their iPods and trying to get Siri to talk to them. I still like my dumb phone, thankyouverymuch. But now everyone wants me to have an iPhone too. Maybe I'm like the grandma who refuses to have a computer because it's too much technology. Me and my friend Isabel were emailing about that yesterday. Is it lame that we don't want cool phones?
9. Bought Shane's Father's Day gift. The past 2 years I have forgotten to get him anything, so it was a big improvement. Although, he makes me crazy. I told him, in separate conversations, that I had bought him a FD gift and that I'd been to the Nike store. When I got home that day, he said to me, "So where are my new headphones?" I freaked out and yelled at him and thought he had peeked at his gift, because I didn't even know I was going to get him headphones when I went in the store, but still decided on them in the end. It is incredibly bratty for him to know me that well. So he already has his gift - they will be great for Ragnar.
10. Helped my friend Melanie get ready to move. Although, I should have been secretly sabotaging her efforts because I am crying that she is leaving me. We had a great Friday afternoon together scrubbing and painting and sanding.

9 things I need for a good run:

1. My blue hat. My head got really sunburned one day at the park, so I started wearing a hat to run. It really is amazing how much better you feel when the sun isn't in your eyes.
2. My favorite Puma socks. I have 6 pairs, but am currently crushing on the 3 I bought with my shoes back in March.
3. My iPod. The last few months I've been throwing caution to the wind and putting it on "shuffle songs" instead of running to a playlist. I like to listen to playlists because then I associate a time period of training with certain songs. However, I also tend to put the same songs on my playlists over and over so it isn't that effective. I've heard a lot more music on my runs lately. And I don't seem to skip them as often.
4. A water bottle. I have to hold it in my right hand, because the sloshing bothers me if it's in my left. Weird, I know. This also means I have to have my iPod on my left so my Nike+ will calculate accurately.
5. My running shoes.
6. My Nike jacket. Although, now that it's warm, I've weaned myself from it. But I swear, this jacket is my security blanket. I always know I'll be warm enough in even the coldest weather when wearing it.
7. No soda for at least 3 hours. Just makes sense, really.
8. Headband. In the absence of my hat, I'll go for a headband. Anything that keeps the sun off my forehead.
9. Running skirt. I haven't had a run in anything other than a skirt in months. Even in the cold, I wear one. They just make me happy, you know? My running friend Breana just got one. I'm converting people, one by one...

8 People I saw or hung out with or made a difference in May

1. My mom, on Mother's Day and the Sunday before Memorial and on Memorial Day at the cemetery.
2. Gina and
3. her sister Collette, my old dance teachers. Well, her daughters, as the dance teacher died last year. We ran into them as we left the cemetery on Memorial Day. It was weird and kind of creepy. Standing in front of them, I felt like I was still 14 and really lame. Well, I'm still lame but considerably older than 14. They both tried to convince me and my mom to come to the Big Show the following Friday. I didn't go, and neither did my mom, although we both could have gotten up on the stage and joined in on some of the dances - they are that old.
4. My BFF Shelly and her kids. I miss Shelly and I wish she lived closer.
5. My mom-in-law, Vonnay. She gave my kids her old day bed and trundle bed so they can sleep next to each other and have some room to spare. The kids love it, I love it, hopefully Vonnay loves it. Thanks, Ma!
6. My friend Jenny in my ward. I'm probably 10 years older than her, but I just love her. We chatted the whole time as we walked to the temple. She's just so funny and saracastic. One Sunday in church she walked over to me in front of the entire relief society while the teacher was teaching just to offer me her sleeping daughter to hold. That is friendship.
7. Amy. We went on a fabulous run together on May 31st. It was up in the mountains on a beautiful spring morning. I had so much fun being with my sister while running. It is something we both do but very rarely together.
8. Went to a baby shower that was also attended by this person. I don't think that we are BFFs now but we had a very nice conversation. I was so nervous I could feel my heart beating in my eyelashes and my legs were shaking but it was okay and even pleasant. I was also very grateful I had some peeps there who were in my corner. Big sigh.

Songs from May that were played a lot at my house:

1. LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem and
2. I'm Sexy and I know it (my kids love the LMFAO and I can't really stop them. It might be bad to let them listen to stuff like this now, but I figure if I try and be cool with the hip music, they won't rebel in other ways. Plus, even if I tried to stop them, they would still like the songs - not because of the words that make me cringe, but because of the dancey beat and the M&M commercial)
3. Thriller - don't ask me how this song came about, but Thomas likes to practice the moon walk to it.
4. Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourn, again, thanks to the commercial.
5. One Direction - Beautiful and 
6. I Want. Which I don't mind - they seem like a teeny bopper band who make songs that kids like and can sing without making the parents cringe.
7. What I've done - Linkin Park. The kids love this one too. Ben likes to turn it on, take off his shirt, and do pushups to it. Whatever.

(Good) Songs I am crushing on:

1. Adele - Someone Like You (I also like the Glee mash up of Someone Like You/Rumour Has It)
2. Adele - Best for Last (I love the line - "just a filler in the space that happened to be free...how dare you think you'd get away with trying to play me." Just love the Adele.)
3. Florence + The Machine - Breath of Life (This is a video with scenes from Snow White and The Huntsman - which I want to see, despite my dislike of all things Twilight and Kristin Stewart. She's just so...expressionless. And yet dramatically so.)
4. Black Eyed Peas - Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night (really juvenile - but I still am listening to it over and over. The beat is really intoxicating and gets my feet a-jangling.)
5. Taio Cruz - Dynamite. I blame Just Dance 3! for my love of this song. It's hard not to love a song when you already know the dance to it. I love catching me and my kids doing the moves to it in random places like the living room or while driving in the car.
6. Airborne Toxic Event - All I Ever Wanted. Love the lyrics - You tell me that you're scared that you're turning into your mother I feel myself turn into my father We could lie to each other like they do and say we're so happy It's easy when you're young  and you still want it so badly. The ATE feel like a 90's band - the angsty lyrics, the dark bass line, deep-voiced singer - love it.
   

Places I ate food from:

1. Red Iguana. Mmm. I love that they are in City Creek!
2. Chick-Fil-A. Ditto the above.
3. Cafe Rio.
4. Costa Vida.
5. San Sauce (our very favorite Chinese food in the world.)

4 Reasons I love May:

1. The sun coming in my window every morning. Sure, it's a little annoying, but I love late spring mornings.
2. Iris.
3. Coolish weather.
4. The feeling that it is the perfect part of the year - not cold, not hot, not too close to the holidays, and lots of good things in store.

3 books I tried to read: (reading hasn't been very successful lately. Must try harder.)

1. To Kill a Mockingbird - I've read it before, but couldn't stay with it.
2. Home - Toni Morrison. I should like this more than I do, I LOVE T.M. but I'm not there with this book yet.
3. Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close - I think I'll get through this one eventually.

2 yummy things I made:

1. Strawberry cake. I finally got it down by putting it in a regular old 9x13 pan. It almost tastes as good as Amy's....
2. 7 layer dip. I saw one at the store one day and went home and immediately made one. I love me some 7 layer! (although mine only had 6 - beans, salsa, sour cream, olives, cheese. Okay, so I mean 5.)

Best part about May 2012:

Shane's new job! Wahoo!!

Randomalities: The Memorial Day Edition

(I am super tired, so if this post is kind of wonky...well, I'm kind of wonky, so no wonder. Consider yourself warned! It's hard for me to speak a sentence when I'm tired, writing should be interesting.)

****Although I don't have a picture, I love seeing our flag waving in the breeze in front of our house. We had two this year - the scouts stake a flag our in the park strip for every holiday. It looks so pretty to look up and down the street and see multiple flags!

****The weather made me crazy all weekend. It was super cold, windy, and rainy up until today. Today was gorgeous, but not very warm. I was hoping all day Saturday to do 2 runs in preparation for Ragnar. At 4:30 I finally gave in and got on the treadmill because I realized that the wind gusts would not make an outside run pretty. Ugh, treadmill. Then yesterday we had a barbecue - we let the kids eat outside in the cold, but the adults stayed inside where it was warm. Mean? Possibly. I should just expect rain on Memorial Day, I guess.

****I took a picture of all the kids last night during our BBQ (we had our old neighbors who ditched us and moved across the valley over) just to document how big all the kids are getting. Then I lost the picture - where can a picture go from a memory card, I ask? Ugh, again.

****My dad's headstone is now in place. I was so excited to go and see it today. It turned out so nice. My mom put all of her children's names along the bottom - kind of strange to have my name on a headstone, but I'm glad that me and my sisters are accounted for. I hope my dad was pleased that we visited. I have to also say: this is the first year in more than I can count that I have actually visited a cemetery on Memorial Day. Go me!

****Last year, I got approximately 3 iris. This year, they exploded in my front flower bed - they are gorgeous! I took a few of the best blooms down to decorate my dad and grandparent's graves. My grandma would have loved the dark purple ones. (You can just see one over Ben's shoulder in the background of the picture above. Iris are my very favorite flower!!)

****My kids have been dying to go swimming, so swimming we went. It was cold, but they had fun.

****I have decided to do a triathlon in August. I want to write about this, but I am too sleepy to come up with the right words. But, today I swam 200 meters. I wanted to die each time I got to about 30 meters, but I kept swimming. More about this later.  But, those 200 meters boosted my confidence that I won't end up on the bottom of the pool during the tri. Wahoo!

How was your Memorial Day?