Lindsey's Open Book

Tyler's Birthday through Christmas Party

2011-12-13T11:54:00.000-08:00

The house is quiet (Jack's asleep) and I find myself for an hour or so in a rare state: nothing pressing to do! The laundry is (mostly) done, the dishes are clean, the floor is swept. There are no events to coordinate, no Scouts to plan, nothing with PTA. Just quiet. Nice! I also happen to have that "happy full" feeling because I just ate some spaghetti and meatballs. While I am in that happy, non-stressed state, I thought I'd update my blog.

Tyler's Birthday

Tyler turned 9 on November 19th! It's a tricky time of the year to have a birthday. It usually falls the weekend before Thanksgiving, and so a lot of friends are gone (Texas gives kids the whole week off from school) and things are just generally busy. Last year we had Mark's dad's funeral around his birthday, so it was nice to be able to focus back on Tyler this year. That said, the kid ended up with multiple small parties! For his class at school, I baked a giant cookie cake instead of just cookies or cupcakes. He was surprised (at the treat, anyways) and his class loved it. Oh, and by the way, that's his awesome teacher, Mrs. Hill. I'm afraid all future elementary school teachers will be judged by her plain awesomeness!!!

Mark was gone for the weekend (California for orthodontics training) so I had the boys to myself. On Tyler's actual birthday he chose to go to "Pizza Inn" for dinner. It's a pizza buffet place with a small room in back full of games to burn your money on. I let Tyler spend $5 in quarters that he'd saved up. He spent it all in the "grabber" machine, totally expected that that many quarters was enough to win the iPod or other game inside. It was painful for me to watch. After he burned through all his money, he begged for more, thinking it would take just "one more time." I was hoping he'd have learned his lesson. Oh well. It might take a couple more times to realize those games are a rip off.

The monday following Tyler's birthday was his "friend party." I let him invite his two BFFs Wade and Gavin to go to the Legoland Discovery Center, a mini indoor Legoland that opened recently in a large local mall.

I was prepared to shell out $10-15 a pop and call it a birthday. We got there, only to find this sign:

Whaaaaat??? Silly me. The first day of vacation break and of course every parent under the sun has the same idea I did!! Luckily 50 steps away was the megaplex theater, and Puss in Boots had just started. I bought popcorn and drinks and we watched a movie instead. Not quite the birthday they (or I) was planning, but still fun.

Fort Worth Botanical Gardens

With a whole week of break, I tried to come up with things to keep the boys busy. One activity we did was visit the Botanical Gardens. We'd been there about 2 years ago for family pictures. This time I had Tyler pack his new giant frisbee (thanks, Susie!) and we had fun throwing that around. We then took a nature hike through the forest, where the boys had fun looking for bugs and climbing trees. I wonder how much longer entertainment for them will be so simple...

Turkey Trot 10K

Because I'm crazy like that, I signed up to do a 10K on Thanksgiving morning. I mostly did it because my neighbor three doors down--Tiffany--was organizing it and it would just be through my neighborhood. Close to 100 people signed up, which is great for the second year she's done this! There was a 5K, 10K, and 1 mile fun run. Tyler decided the morning of to do the 5K instead of 1 miler... peer pressure from his friend Gavin! I, on the other hand, made sure I was decently ready for 6.2 miles by training pretty well for the month beforehand. I was proud of my time... 53 minutes and change! I was definitely pushing it, but my friend (and RS president!) Melanie was keeping a good pace about 20 second in front of me so I just shadowed her the whole time. After the 10K, Mark, Mason, Jack, and I did the 1 mile. I'm proud of Mason... he ran the whole time! And Mark pulled Jack in the wagon (nope, we don't own a jogging stroller!). All in all it was a fun, perfect morning.

Thanksgiving

After the Turkey Trot I took a quick shower and proceeded with an intense four hours of Thanksgiving preparation! Darn it that I didn't pull my camera out more than once that day. We shared Thanksgiving dinner with a family in our ward--the Jensens-- so I "only" had to make side dishes. However, to feel like Thanksgiving to me there had to be certain side dishes... my grandmother's stuffing (which I made outside the bird with the help of chicken wings... fabulous!), creamed corn, sweet potatoes, green beans almondine, and rolls. I relented and let Mark and the boys do the rolls, which is the only picture I took the whole day. They had fun shaping and rolling the rolls, and it's good that they could do something to feel involved in meal prep.

Thanksgiving dinner with the Jensens was low key and fun. We taught them how to play Ticket to Ride (which they loved) and they in turn pulled out Bingo (with prizes!). Afterwards we ate pie (my specialties... triple chocolate pecan and pumpkin). It was a good day.

A Little Office Remodel

With Mark's office closed for Thanksgiving, we took advantage of some free time with no one at the office to do a little updating! Mark bought some laminate floor from Ikea and we spent 2 1/2 days installing it in his front office area. Part of the job was moving 6-7 THOUSAND paper files from the office into boxes and then to a storage unit. We moved the file cabinets to the back room where they've been repurposed for storage. We tore out the carpet...the old carpet was nasty, as was the carpet under the old nasty. I wish I'd had a face mask! Once we began installing the floor, though, we got into a groove and it went in pretty quick and smoothly (2-3 hours). It sure looks a TON better!

Christmas Tree Lighting and Santa

My friend Azure (Jensen... who we had Thanksgiving with) invited the boys and I to go with her to the tree lighting ceremony at Texas Motor Speedway (the big NASCAR track up the road). Apparently she knew Santa (it's her uncle) who would be presiding over ceremonies. Turned out the the tree lighting was more of a charity event and we were a little out of place, but we had fun nonetheless. The kids munched on free cookies and cocoa and we snuck upstairs to see Santa before the mad rush of kids (whose parents paid $40 for them to be there that day) came to sit on his lap. The tree is apparently the largest one in ALL of Texas... wouldn't have it any other way, would we?

Tyler, Azure, Camden (her daugher), Wade (her son), and Tyler

I should have dressed them up! Oh well.

Work Christmas Party

We decided to host the party for Mark's office and spouses at our home this year. In years past, we've gone to a restaurant; nothing special. This year, Mark was able to barter delicious catering for dinner! I borrowed several tables and chairs and set them up in my front rooms. After dinner the employees filled their baskets with gifts and we had a "painting party" upstairs. Never been to a painting party? It was a blast! My neighbor does it for her job. We all had our own canvas and she guided us step-by-step on how to mix colors and paint the painting. Everyone had a great time, and it was fun to see them all relaxed and enjoying themselves. Not to mention they got to take home a painting! Mark said on Monday the next week they were still raving about the party. I guess we might have started a new tradition. I'm okay with that. My house got super clean and all dolled up for the holidays by December 3rd! Now I get to relax and enjoy the rest of December.

Isn't it pretty??

A close-up of the table... so grateful that my neighbor Tiffany had a full set of Christmas china for me to borrow!

Mark's staff
Back Row: Caesar (assistant), Tania (hygienist), Lorraine (assistant), Kim Moody (assistant), Bacardi (front desk), Komeak (hygienist), and Catherine (hygienist)
Front Row: Dr. Peavy (still works for us a few days a month) and Mark

Well, the Fed Ex man just rang my doorbell and delivered my Christmas cards! Guess now I have something to do that's pressing, darn it. Time to get envelopes addressed and a letter written!

Short Stories

2011-11-10T19:31:00.001-08:00

Never a dull moment at my home!

I used to have a lot of dull moments, days where I took a kid or two to Costco or Target simply because I nothing else pressing to do. Suddenly, I am craving a dull moment so I can recharge my batteries.

PTA Fundraiser is over. Yeah! Super Saturday is over. Check! I'm glad to have those two things out of the way. Now the most pressing things are fun deadlines like card club and craft club. I even did a whole house-full of laundry the other day (sheets and all!) and had the beds made and the clothes folded and put away in under 24 hours. That's an accomplishment! In October those clean clothes would have sat in the basket until the dirty basket overflowed again the next week. Now I just have a small basket of laundry to iron, and I think I'm waiting for a night where I have enough energy to watch the Netflix copy of "Jane Eyre" that's been sitting on my desk for about 10 days now.

Here are a few of the small things that have made me smile in the last little bit:

1) Sawdust

A few Saturdays ago, Mark and I spent an hour or so cutting wood for my Super Saturday craft. I was going to borrow the leaf blower from the neighbor to blow all the sawdust out of the garage, when Mark stopped me. He grabbed the shop vac and called Mason over. Apparently, when Mark was Mason's age, it was his job to clean up the sawdust after his dad's projects. I thought for sure Mason wouldn't be interested, but I was so wrong! He spent an hour with the vacuum, sucking up sawdust from all corners of our garage. It we'd asked Tyler, there would be no way he'd last more than 30 seconds. But good natured Mason (who is also at the cute age of 5 rather than the stinker age of 8 1/2) enjoyed every minute of it. I could tell Mark was reminiscing as he saw the roles reversed... now with HIS son cleaning sawdust from his project. It was sweet.

2) Budding Capitalist

I almost threw away the packaging for Trix yogurt the other morning when I noticed a strip of "tongue tattoos" taped to the inside of the box... kind of like a prize in a cereal box. I almost threw them away, but then offered them to Tyler. He had me throw them in his lunch box and I didn't give it another thought.

That afternoon after school, Tyler came home with two football trading cards. I had allowed him to take money for only one (50 cents), so I immediately assumed he had snuck two more quarters. He told me no, he hadn't snuck. At lunch, one of the boys at his table wanted a tattoo, and Tyler sold one to him for 50 cents. Then two girls wanted a tattoo or two, and he sold three more for 50 cents. The kid banked $2 on something I was going to throw away! I wouldn't have even thought of selling them, I would have just shared them if I was an 8 year old. But Tyler is his father's son, and saw an opportunity to make a sale :) It's in the genes, I suppose! Not my genes, though!

Tyler with his tongue tattoo. It says "Trix."

3) Color Change

Over the last 12 2/3 years, we've moved many, many times. I'm never usually in one place long enough to really make it "my own," so to speak. But we've been in this house in Texas for two years, and it doesn't look like we'll be leaving any time soon, so I got the itch this week to make some changes, to make this house a little more personal. Enter my current favorite magazine, House Beautiful:

November 2011 issue

I was so inspired by the colors on the cover! I don't have the budget to move to an urban loft or buy new furniture, but I did know a wall in my house that needed a face lift and that the orange on this cover was just the remedy. Luckily, in the article inside the magazine, they listed the colors they used. This color is called "Cork" from Ralph Lauren (which they don't sell at Home Depot any more, darn it. I had to drive 25 minutes away to get the paint chip). I had it matched at Sherwin Williams and painted it today.

So here's the before. It's technically a dining room, but we have no formal dining set and use it as a music room (can you see all four instruments?). I forgot to take an official before picture... you can see my little test splotches on the wall and I had already started moving some things away from the wall.

And here's the AFTER:

Doesn't it just POP! It's so bold, I am in love. Even my husband was at a loss for words for a few moments, and that is saying something because I was just expecting a conciliatory "humph"from him (he thought my paint samples on the wall looked like poop smears). He really loved it, which made me love it even more! Now I need to do something with that sofa table... I'm thinking a lighter color? It has a spray painted destiny, if I can find the right color in the next little while. Anyways, it makes me happy. It makes the room classy and formal and it just brings everything together. And doesn't it just look so pretty with the harp???

So those are my short stories. Other than those, life is pretty much back to crazy normal. I have 3 piano students, scouts, birthday parties, homework, laundry, etc. etc. that fill up my days. Luckily my days aren't "overflowing" any more because my two big commitments-- PTA and Super Saturday-- are either over or done for the next little while. Hallelujah, because I didn't think I was going to make it out of October alive! You combine my crazy schedule with Mark's stress (October is always a money-stressful month for dentists!) and it was a long month. Of course, November and December are always hopping for Mark, so it looks like I need to plan some more projects for myself while he pulls more late-nighters. *sigh* Such is the life! I'm trying not to complain :)

PTA and other October Activities

2011-10-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

Did I ever mention to you that I'm in the PTA?

You've probably heard if you've spoken to me in person any time over the last three months. It literally ran my life from the day I stepped out of the car from Utah back on to Texas soil. It was running my thoughts a lot longer before that... from the day I said "Yes" to being the PTA VP of Fundraising back in the spring (yep, I have an issue with saying no!). The person who asked me to sign up for this position gave me a general run down of what it would involve, but nothing could have fully prepared me for all I had to learn/do in this position. I liken it to someone who is given a general description of the Book of Mormon, says yes to getting baptized, and the next day gets called to be the Relief Society President of a struggling ward. Yeah, it's crazy like that.

I could go on a whole diatribe about what the last 10 weeks have been like, but I don't want you to get the wrong impression. I have really come to appreciate what the PTA does and stands for and to appreciate all the people who give hours on end of their time to an organization whose sole purpose is to support our kids and teachers. Before this year I never even paid to be part of the PTA, so I've learned a lot! I've enjoyed being a part of Tyler's school, where I always had excuses before. I appreciate the work that goes into running a charitable organization.

On the other hand, I am disappointed in the past year's PTA for apparently giving it such a bad name that few want to help this year! Case in point... the main Fundraiser this year was simply a Donation Drive... write a check and 100% of it goes to PTA, rather than a smaller percent from catalog/cookie dough sales. We all thought, given this economy, that this fundraiser would appeal to people more. Today is the last day of the fundraiser. Our goal was $15,000 ($20 per kid); we barely hit $5000 yesterday. It's hard not to blame myself for the dismal turnout, but I ran this fundraiser completely on my own. I had no committee of volunteers to help me with signs, motivators, emails, soliciting business donations, etc. etc. It was just me. And I simply did the best I could all on my own. I am BURNED OUT. I'm ready for a little R&R where I can craft and clean my house without worrying about signs, etc.

So what's the take home message? VOLUNTEER for your PTA or other organization! Yes, our church asks a lot of us, but we need to get out in the community more!

Mason with the new Eagle mascot, bought with PTA funds

Getting ready to march in the High School parade for the elementary school float. Yep, PTA paid for that float too!

I've managed to squeeze in a few Halloween activities when I'm not doing PTA. At the beginning of October I took the kiddos to a harvest festival where they got free pumpkins. They had a really fun time painting them... I let them go all out. I also pulled out some decorations for the season... nothing like my house growing up (Mom had TONS of holiday decor!) but enough that my kids think I'm festive. And if you drive by my house, yes, that's a body-less zombie floating above my front door! Mason had a fall festival and Halloween party at school. We also went to "Boo at the Zoo," which was disappointing in every way except for the live animal show where Tyler got to hold a boa constrictor!

Tyler painting a pumpkin

Mason's preschool class. He's third kid from the left. They got to dress up and parade around for all the parents.

Here's Mason again at school... no Light Sabers allowed. He's Anakin Skywalker, as a padowan. Not to be confused with Tyler, who will be "Evil Anakin."

Look at that face. Tyler is in heaven. And that thing is not even full grown!!!

The weekend before Halloween is always the big Air Show at Alliance Airport just up the road. Last year we didn't go (mistake) and watched the Blue Angels from our house (yeah, we didn't see much). This year I told Mark it was a must-go, and we had a great time! Our kids lasted four hours, which was a little long, but we really wanted to see the Air Force Thunderbirds (just like the Blue Angels but not from the Navy). We got to go inside a real Boeing 777, which has now ruined them for future air travel (now that they've seen what first class can be like!). We saw a "Flying hospital" (it had an actual surgery suite and recovery room). We also saw lots of vintage aircraft and watched the barnstormers do some really awesome stunts. The Thunderbirds were the icing on the cake... amazing! I almost think Mark and I were a little more excited than the boys.

Those jet planes are REALLY loud!!!

On the giant wheels of the Boeing 777

All six Thunderbirds... how do they do that???

Our vantage point for the Thunderbirds... outside the gates, close to the cars for a quick get-away!

And lastly, the other thing which takes up my days... Scouts. I've been Wolf Den co-leader for almost 18 months now. It's exhausting and fun all at the same time. I love my den and think we have fun... while at the same time I always harp on them to act more respectful in their Scout uniforms! Oh well. One can try. We had the Halloween party at my house this week. I taught them Frisbee Golf and they made two yummy Halloween-themed treats. I'm sure when Tyler turns 9 next month I'll be bumped up to Bears... If I am, that's okay. If I'm released, it will be a nice break! I need a break. But I think the break will come after Christmas... because I have two birthdays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas to plan for now!

Isaac, Tyler, Darren, Gavin, West, and Wade with their Pumpkin-face tortillas

Wade, Tyler, Gavin, Isaac, and Darren. And of course, Mason. They made some cute (and yummy!) spider cookies.

California Nightmare

2011-10-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, if Darth Maul himself would have shown up and attacked me with a light saber, I wouldn't have been surprised given the amount of bad things we had to go through on the last four days of our vacation!

(Darth Maul did show up by the way. This was my front-row picture of him at Disneyland with my crappy phone camera. But when he came we were still having a great time and Tyler and Mason got to defeat him with their awesome light saber moves.)

The last half of our trip can be most aptly called a "Comedy of Errors, 2011 Style!" I can't make this stuff up; I promise it all happened as I'm going to describe.

#1) The Car Situation
At our beach house in Newport we had one big problem... three cars and only two garage parking spots. Anyone who's tried to park at the beach knows that beach parking is awful! So we worked it out that my parent's car and my sister's car would be parked in the garage and the behemoth that we lucked out with (a brand new Yukon XL... seriously, it had 3 miles on it when we got the keys) would park in front of the closed double garage door. This worked well enough. The single car garage that was attached to our double car garage was for the lower unit in our duplex (we were the upper). The only time we'd seen someone there was the first night of our stay. There was no "do not park here or you'll be towed away" sign on the single garage door; regardless, we never parked in front of it even when Mark had to park half a mile away one night.

Until our last night there.

We had just gotten back from Disneyland. It was late, our kids were asleep, we were wiped out. My parents car and our car made it back to the condo; my sister's car was 30 minutes behind because she had to pick up her daughter at my Aunt's home. Mark pulled in front of the single car garage to leave room for my sister to pull in. We lugged our kids inside, got them settled, then crashed in our beds. Maybe 2 minutes after our heads hit the pillow, my sister pulled in the garage. I thought, "I should probably tell Mark to go move the car." Then I thought, "No one has been there for 2 nights, we're exhausted, we'll just move it in the morning" and went to sleep.

The next morning we had loaded up our suitcases and walked them down to load in the car. Except, NO CAR. Yep, gone. Mark called the police; I was actually hoping it was stolen. Nope: TOWED! What the heck??? We went and knocked on the door to the lower unit, but no one answered. We looked in the garage: no car. My brother drove Mark and I to the police station. Then to the tow yard to have them get our rental agreement. Then to the police station to get a letter saying we could pick up our car. Then the tow yard to pay $269 to pick up our rental car... which had been there all of 4 hours! Yep, it got towed at 3am. I don't know who was walking around at 3am and decided to call the police... our best guess is that the jerk owner of the lower unit has someone on the lookout just to ruin people's vacations. I don't get it. We managed to get the car back to the condo just in time for the cleaning crew to come curse us out of the town home. We quickly loaded the car and were out of there, steam oozing from our ears, off to Arrowhead.

#2) CHiP with Nothing Better to Do

We got to Arrowhead late. It is a long, windy road to the top, and then narrow and windy to the cabin once you're up there. The roads are impossible to take fast... 10-15 mph at most. We had made a dinner stop so made it there about 30 minutes after the rest of the family did. Unfortunately, an inevitable family squabble had erupted prior to our arrival and everyone was in a sour mood. Ah vell. We plunked the kids in bed and hoped to have a better next day.

Having never been to Arrowhead before, I was disappointed to find there was no beach for the kids to play on. The only "shore" was a boardwalk and some small boat docks surrounded by high-end shopping. We made the best of it; we bought the duck/fish food and let the kiddos feed the animals and spent some time browsing the ridiculously expensive stores. As we loaded the car, Mark decided to hand Jack to me in the front passenger seat to hold as he was nearly asleep. No big deal, right? We're less than a mile from home and we can't go fast on these roads anyways. Out of character, I didn't even put my seatbelt on.

A quarter mile out of the parking lot we come around a bend and WHAM see a California Highway Patrol officer just sitting there, pointed in our direction. CRAP. Jack has been laying on my lap, and I throw him back to my brother who buckles him, screaming, into his car seat. We look in the rearview mirror and, to our horror, the CHiP has turned on their lights and is following us. We have to drive a miserable half mile to finally find a place with a shoulder on the road to stop. My seatbelt is on, Jack is in his car seat, but she comes to my side and has me roll down my window. She announces that she pulled us over because MY seatbelt wasn't on. She asks for my license (which I didn't bring... I wasn't driving) and insurance (it's a rental car... don't have their insurance). She goes back to her car. I'm sweating bullets... at least she didn't say that she saw Jack, or I would have been in even bigger trouble! She spends 3 eternal minutes in her car with the only information I can give her (my license number), before coming and giving me a TICKET. Nope, not a warning, not a "please wear your seatbelt the next time you are driving for a mile at 10 miles an hour" warning, but a ticket. Because they know I'm out of state and can't fight it. And she has the gaul to tell me to have a nice day as I roll up my tinted window. If I wasn't better mannered I would have flipped her off, I was so angry.

I was angry, but not just at her. Here was the SECOND ding on our vacation, the second instance of something that we could have prevented. Something that I've done before (driven for a short distance without a seatbelt or parked briefly in a tow away zone) and never been caught. And now, on my vacation, I have been dealt a double blow. When we got back to the cabin I went and cried myself to sleep in my pillow. I was notably grumpy the rest of the day.

#3) The Difference 5 Minutes Makes

The next day our family flew out. Our flight was at 1:55 pm. I knew the distance to LAX was about 90 miles, so I wanted to be out of there by 10am. I was nearly ready to go when my Aunt and family showed up at 9:30. Not wanting to be rude (it was her cabin we were staying in after all) I stayed and chatted and we ended up on the road officially at 10:40. For a Saturday morning, the traffic wasn't that bad. But it's LA, and it took us a while to get to the Car Rental drop off (a mile or two by shuttle away from the airport). We jumped out of the car and threw our baggage on a soon-departing shuttle, but it was now 40 minutes before our flight's scheduled departure. We got to the terminal (the last stop for the shuttle) and were informed that, Sorry, your bags have to be on the flight 45 minutes before departure and Sorry, you may not get on this flight. Visions of four-letter-words are now dancing in my head! Why did we leave an hour later? Why can't they let us on this flight and check our luggage on another flight? Why can't they see that we are traveling with three kids under age 8 and be flexible? As Mark and I sit her pondering our next steps, I realize that in our haste we left two of our carry-ons sitting on at the Car Rental Drop-off. So, Mark takes the shuttle back to the car rental counter and I, with three boys, try to find us a new flight to get home.

After waiting in line with people actually on time for their flights, I finally get to a ticket agent. After 10 minutes of playing around on his computer and consulting with his supervisor, the best he can offer me is a red-eye to Atlanta and then a flight from Atlanta to DFW. Oh, and any change we make now is $50. PER. TICKET. *sigh* I book the red eye, just wanting to get out of LA and back to my bed. I call Mark and I start to cry a little bit from sheer frustration.

Because our terminal is the last stop on the shuttle, it takes Mark 30 minutes to make it back with our "lost" carry-ons. During that time he has been on the phone with another ticket agent, and has changed our red-eye to a flight the next morning at 7:55 am, going from LAX to Minneapolis to DFW. He drops off the bags with me and the boys, heads back to the Rental Car place *again* and gets us a small rental car that we can use the rest of the day. We book a hotel nearby and make the best of things by spending a fun rest of the afternoon at the Santa Monica Pier (see my last blog entry for more details).

#4) Should Have Skipped Breakfast

The next morning we wake up extra early, wait for the breakfast buffet to open at 6:30, then Mark drops me off with the boys and the luggage to check in before he takes the rental car back. We want to make SURE our luggage gets on this time! We get it all checked in, no problem. But then the boys and I wait... and wait... and WAIT for Mark to get back. I'm getting panicky. Apparently the shuttle is FULL, and once again, we are at the LAST STOP on the shuttle. So Mark has gotten off somewhere and is running (torn Achilles and all) back to our terminal. 15 minutes to go before our plane is set to leave, we run with the kids and carry-ons to the security, where they take their sweet old time getting us through (hello, full-body scans!). We throw our shoes back on and run to the gate, with 5 minutes to spare. Only to be told, Sorry, we lock the cabin doors TEN minutes prior to departure. No, we won't let you on. Sorry, you'll have to re-book. This is where I. LOOSE. IT. I sob loudly and uncontrollably. We were checked in to our flight! Why would they possibly lock the doors without FIVE passengers on board? Who are these hellian airline employees that want to drive me to the insane asylum??? Has no one no pity or compassion? A different Delta agent comes up and has the audacity to tell me "sweetheart, you can just book a different flight" before I scream at her that we've already been through this and we've already paid $250 to get on THIS flight that is leaving without us.

My kids are starting to worry about their mom at this point. They think they are just having a wonderful adventure. I sit on the floor, staring into space, wondering how in the world I'll ever get home. Mark is at the agent's desk, trying to make something work. In five minutes he runs us to a gate down the hall, on a flight we've been rebooked on again that is in it's final boarding stages. We get the kids on board and Mark tells me how the rest of our day is going to proceed: we've now been booked from LAX to Las Vegas, from Vegas to Memphis, and then from Memphis to DFW.

#5) Lessons in Gate-Checked Luggage

Each of our layovers (Vegas and Memphis) were two hours long. Our kids were great on each flight and each layover, bless their hearts. By the time we were in the air to Vegas I stopped crying and tried to be a better mommy... at least we were out of California and had a glimmer of hope that we'd get in our beds tonight. We made our connection find in Vegas, and landed in Memphis with no problems. When I picked up our gate-checked stroller, though, something was wrong. The handles were all askew. On closer inspection, it was obvious that the airplane cargo door had been slammed on our $125 stroller, nearly shearing off the handle and making it nearly un-workable. We put in a complaint with the gate agent in Memphis, who said we'd have to make an official claim at our destination (Dallas). When we finally got there, the luggage agent said "sorry, we don't insure gate-checked luggage. We can offer you a $25 gift card, though!" WHAT??? Your employees negligently ruin my stroller and you won't replace it??? They tell me I can come back in the morning and talk to the supervisor. I just shake my head. It goes along with the bad luck of the last three days, plus who the heck has the time to drive all the way back to the airport the next morning? It's been nearly a month and the handle has completely broken off. I still haven't made a claim... it's probably too late.

#6) Oh Yes, there's MORE!

On our flight from Memphis to DFW, we followed a HUGE line of thunderstorms. It was like watching the northern lights... boom, boom, boom, strikes of lightening everywhere, with no break in between! It was quite a light show. At this point it's at least 9:30 pm. I know that we should be descending soon. The captain comes on the intercom. Due to the amazing lightening storm we've been watching, apparently DFW had to shut down for an hour. We've been instructed to circle around Waco and wait for our turn to land, which shouldn't be a problem because we have plenty of gas.

Famous last words.

We circle, and circle, and circle Waco until the captain comes on as says we are now nearly out of gas. We are being diverted to Austin to refuel, then it should be smooth sailing to DFW. We land in Austin, and after 45 minutes on the ground (getting permission to refuel, getting refueled, getting new flying orders, etc.) we leave again to DFW. We land, FINALLY, at home, at 5 minutes after Midnight.

#7) Insult to Injury

Mark has taken Mason with him to the remote parking lot to pick up the car while I try to sort out the broken stroller mess and getting the luggage that was checked on an earlier fligh. Tyler and Jack and I wait, and wait for them to come back with the van. I'm starting to worry... have they had a car accident? What possibly could be taking so long? I can't call Mark because his phone is dead (our kids have been playing games and watching movies on our phone to keep entertained on all the flights). Finally, 30 minutes later, he pulls up. What took so long? The battery was dead. Yes, a small light had apparently been turned on by one of our kiddos and drained the battery for the nearly 8 days it sat in the parking lot. He had to wait while the shuttle driver found something to jump our car with. *sigh* Who's surprised at this point?

Then Jack falls in his attempt to get in the car. Scraped nose and face... big scars for the next week or two. The battery, despite being driven for 45 minutes, thoroughly gives up the ghost the next day, requiring us to buy a new battery.

But hey, we're HOME! It's 2am, but we're home.

I let the kids sleep in the next day and take Tyler to school nearly 2 hours late. Mark's greeted at work by grumbly employees. But we're back in our routine for better or for worse, but we're just glad to be HOME. Here's one vacation for the story books. And if you've read the whole "Comedy of Errors," I applaud you for making it through this one, crazy, awful story!

Our California Adventure: the Happy Part!

2011-09-26T21:38:00.000-07:00

Well, all 39 photos that I wanted to upload to this post just popped in in reverse chronological order, so we'll work with it!

We had a wonderful trip to Southern California the week of September 10-17. The weather was great, the Theme Parks were practically empty, and we got to spend a lot of time with family! What more can you ask for??? My sister Tiffany and I planned this trip nearly two years ago, so we were very very excited that the time had finally come to go! My parents and my brother Darren and his family joined us as well.

As you can tell from my blog title, there is a very unhappy part to our trip... which unfortunately unfolded itself the entire second half! But now (two weeks later) I prefer to reminisce on the MANY, many wonderful things we did. So here they are, with a little narration, in REVERSE order:

Santa Monica Pier

This was an unexpected stop on our vacation! We ended up doing it spur-of-the-moment and it was really, really fun. The pier is just 15 minutes north of LAX, in a beautiful little part of Southern California that I've never been to--but always wanted to visit (you'd never think I was born in Southern California since it took me 34 years to get here!). The pier is not only the official end to Route 66, but it also has lots of fun rides (roller coaster, ferris wheel) that reminds me of what Coney Island must be like. We hit the Santa Monica beach about 90 minutes before sunset on a Saturday night, which was a bit crowded but absolutely beautiful.

The official end of Route 66!

On the ferris wheel... about a 10 minute ride!

On the ferris wheel... just before sunset!

We let Tyler take our picture at the very end of the pier... not a bad job, Ty!

Jack overlooking Santa Monica beach... a much larger and flatter beach than we'd been to earlier in the week.

While walking to the pier we stumbled upon something I've only heard of... a "gym" on the beach! There were all sorts of buff dudes showing off on the rings and the rope climb (luckily there was more eye candy for me... not too many hot chicks showing off!). Next to the "adult gym" was a "kiddie gym" area, outfitted with smaller versions of what the buff dudes had. The boys played for nearly an hour on all the equipment!

Tyler making a move on the rings

Jack did a pretty good job just hanging on the rings!

Mason doing the monkey bars the easy way!

Not to be outdone, Jack attempts the monkey bars the hard way!

Here's the pier. Like I said, this is all in reverse order. I got so excited to see all the rides and the beautiful beach! The boys did not tire on our half mile walk to get there, they were so excited too! (Granted, they weren't so excited to walk back... we wore them out!)

Lake Arrowhead

We spent late Thursday thru Saturday morning at Lake Arrowhead. My Aunt Susan and her family own a cabin there. The area pretty famous (I guess several celebrities have homes here) in the mountains 90 miles away from L.A. The drive to get there was pretty treacherous... sea level to 5000+ feet above in a few short miles on a very windy, narrow road. But the lake was beautiful and the cabin very relaxing. While there, we finally got around to playing board games (well, the men did. They played Power Grid several times--- and it's at least a 2 hour game!), watching movies, and just chillin'. The lake has no shoreline (too steep), so we went to the boardwalk and fed the ducks and catfish (50 cents a bag for food!) and walked around. The rest of the time we spent either walking the 100 steps down to the boat docks (our family never did get to ride a boat!) or having fun in the cabin or on the cabin's awesome deck.

My brother Darren feeding ducks with Mason. I think he only tried to throw him in once!

On one of the boat docks overlooking the lake

We all wore long sleeves or long pants because it was cool in the mountains!

Riverside National Cemetery

In a roundabout way on our way from Newport Beach to the Lake Arrowhead Cabin, our caravan stopped at Riverside National Cemetery where my grandparents are buried. It is a military cemetery, and as my Grandpa Bucky served in WWII, he and my grandma were buried here. It is a HUGE cemetery, and all the grave markers are in the ground. When you get there, you type in your loved one's name in a computer and it gives you exact coordinates to were they are buried. Although I made it to California for both of their funerals, we were never allowed at the funeral to see the burial site (apparently because the cemetery is so busy) until long after they are buried. So, this was my (and everyone but my dad's, for that matter) first time to their grave. It was a very solemn and sweet experience. We all shared stories and memories, cried a few tears, and determined to make our own lives better that day. We had a nice family prayer at the gravesite as well. I left some flowers, which made me feel a little better. Ironically, my sister-in-law Heather's grandpa was buried only a few hundred feet from my grandparents, so we visited his grave as well.

My dad's parents... George ("Grandpa Bucky") and Catherine ("Grandma Kay"). I like that Angel Moroni is on their headstone, even though they weren't active in the church at the time of their death.

Immediate Tintle family members by the grave... mom, me, Tiffany; dad, Darren

The (second) Happiest Place(s) on Earth

On Wednesday we spent the day at Disneyland and California Adventure. Granted, each of these Theme Parks deserve their own full day, but we decided to fit in the best of the best in just one day so we could have more days on the beach. I could kick myself that I did not have my nice camera... most of the pictures I have on my phone (which I haven't uploaded yet) and we also took a TON of video (also not uploaded yet).

You can see by the first picture that we began the day with the royal treatment... lunch at Club 33! This exclusive restaurant is only accessible to Club 33 members, and we're lucky that my uncle works for a company with a membership (I don't believe you can even buy memberships anymore!)!!! Woo hoo! Though others in our party had been there before, it was my little family's first time. For the price of the meal (which is EXPENSIVE) you get the nice meal + appetizer/dessert buffet PLUS a park hopper ticket for the day). The lunch was phenomenal... Mark had the Chateubriand and I had the free-range chicken with truffle macaroni and cheese. Even Mason got a steak-- and why not?? It was the same price as the spaghetti!

My parents with most of the grandkids that went to Disneyland... Tyler, Jane, Stockton, and Mason

In front of the famous Club 33 door in New Orleans Square (just past Pirates of the Caribbean)

But enough about the food. After a delicious detour at Club 33, we spent the rest of the day hitting most of our favorite rides. We had to coax Mason on several (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Matterhorn come to mind), but he and Tyler did great! I think the highlight for them was Star Tours and the Jedi Training interactive show (surprise! both were Star Wars themed). For the latter, actors dressed as Jedis picked about 20 kids from the audience to come on stage and learn to be Jedis. Both Tyler and Mason got to go up! They gave them cloaks and light sabers and taught them some elementary moves. Then... dum dum dum dum!!!... out came a real-looking Darth Vader (with storm troopers) and Darth Maul. Even *I* was awe-struck! The kids got to battle Darth Maul (which we got on video). Then it was over to California Adventure for some more fun rides and an amazing water-and-light show after dark. All in all it was a great day, especially since it wasn't that crowded and waits in line were no more than 15 minutes per ride. The kids had fun, but I think the happiest place on earth for them might not have been Disneyland...

On the bus from where we parked to Disneyland itself... so excited!

LEGOLAND

Yes, I hate to say it, but the happiest place on earth for my kids at this point in their life just might be Legoland! Our family plus brother-in-law Phillip and his daughter Jane spent 7 glorious hours amongst a gazillion legos. For those of you not familiar with Legoland, just think Disneyland with Legos. The place has rides for all ages, interactive Lego play areas, stores to buy Legos, and in the middle there is a huge "miniland" where many famous cities in the USA are reconstructed out of Legos. Throughout the park as well there are several massive Lego structures, made of hundreds of thousands of Legos. The park was also divided into themes based on the Lego sets... Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lego City, etc. I left thinking "how in the world do people come up with so many Lego structures??" Must be an awesome job! The best part of the whole day? We had NO lines to wait in. Most rides we walked on... I think the longest we waited was 5-10 minutes.

The entrance... on our way out :)

Jack wanted nothing to do with the life-sized Lego pirate!

On the tame "helicopter ride... Mason and I in the yellow, Phillip and Jane in the red, Tyler in the blue

Lego New York City... they're currently adding on to it on the left

A life sized Lego Darth Vader!

Lego Naboo... they had all famous scenes from Star Wars depicted

Lego Chewbacca and R2D2

Phillip on the crazy roller coaster!

Mark and Tyler on their first coaster... and no, Tyler did not throw up! (though he looks like it!)

One of the water rides

Giant Lego pumpkin the kids could climb on right at the entrance.

Newport Beach and our Beach House

I'll let the pictures speak mostly for themselves here. We spent Sunday, Tuesday, and part of Thursday just hanging out at the beach. Our house was 30 feet from the sand, and you could see the waves from our balcony. It was a beautiful home, trumped only by the fact that we were so close to the beach! We built sand castles, boogie boarded, flew our kite, and just soaked in the relaxation that simply being on a beach provides. It was heavenly! (Mark and I also did 3 runs along the beach... also heavenly!)

Can you see the Newport Beach pier way in the distance? It was about 1.25 miles away.

Heather and Stockton (3 months old)

Mom and Darren flying the kite

Paisley, my sister Tiffany's 1-year-old

My dad and I doing the famous Tintle "suck-it-in" beach pose!

Can you tell how happy these boys are???

I'm so glad that I'm writing down all the happy memories first. It makes me forget all the comedy of errors that happened that made the last part of our trip so darn difficult! But that story is for another blog post... and it probably won't include any pictures!!!

Mason turns 5!

2011-09-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a post for my birthday boy, Mason!

Mason turned 5 on September 2nd! (Yes, I know, I'm a week behind.) His birthday means that he just barely missed the Kindergarten cutoff, but we knew that from the day that we found out when his due date was (which was originally September 15th... he surprised us 2 weeks early! If I haven't told you that story, remind me later. It's a good one!). He is, then, in another year of pre-school! He started at Building Blocks preschool last year after finances made sending him to Montessori impossible, and it's been a great experience for him! He has lovely teachers, and I swear he comes home with 2-3 art projects every day. He is in school Monday thru Thursday, 9:15-2:15. He loves it, but still comes home tired. Anyone who knows Tintle genes knows that we need a good nap in the afternoon, and the same holds true with Mason!

This is a picture from his first day of school this year.

Jack decided to copy-cat the pose.

Jack's been doing well since his brothers started school again. I thought he'd be really lonely during the day, as we had so much time (and fun!) together with all the boys home this summer. Like Tyler was, he's my little shadow, running all my errands with me and staying so pleasant while doing so. I'm a lucky mom!

I've never done a friend birthday party for Mason until this year. Turning five is old enough to know what birthdays are and to be able to have friends old enough that they can handle an hour and a half of sugar and games! We decided on a Star Wars theme. We finally introduced our kids to Star Wars last May, and they are thoroughly hooked!

I knew I was going to make a light saber cake, and it was surprisingly easy and delicious. Remind me to share with you my friend's white almond wedding cake recipe that I used for this cake... it was delish! I also served "Yoda Soda," which was green sherbet, vanilla ice cream, and sprite mixed together. That was not such a hit with the 5-year olds, but I loved it!

Mason made a list of 12 kids to invite to the party... and 11 of them showed up! In the invitation we encouraged them to wear costumes, which some did. Mason, Tyler, and Jack got new costumes... to double for Halloween this year! All the kids were given a light saber made out of a pool noodle when they arrived. I let them battle with their light sabers for a while, but soon had to send them outside because kids were starting to climb and jump off furniture!

I organized four games: light saber training (hitting a balloon with their light saber), destroy the Death Star (a baseball pinata that I painted to look like the Death Star), defeat the Empire (a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey type game), and Jedi Bingo. Luckily one of the parents stayed to help me out! The kids had a great time and I was throughly exhausted afterwards!

On Mason's actual birthday, he requested dinner out at BJs (a local restaurant). The next day his cousins came down to watch the BYU game with us, and we had more cake and ice cream. All-in-all he pretty much got a three-day birthday this year, lucky kid!

Mason is a great kid! He can be very loving and snuggly. He loves playing with his brothers, whether it's trying to fit in with Tyler and his older friends or playing trains with Jack. He likes to color (and does so very well!) and can read most simple words already. He is very thorough... he likes to finish things, and it can really upset him if I try to make him move on from something when he's not finished. I see him as naturally athletic... for example, at "Running Club" at the elementary school, Mason will run a whole lap straight without complaining, while Tyler prefers to walk and whine and occasionally sprint when I get after him for walking! He took swimming lessons for six weeks this summer and has mastered swimming in the deep end. He has always been interested in piano (he even had Tyler give him a few lessons!), so I decided to start him on the violin just this last month. I know pretty much zero about playing the violin, but I knew it was an easier instrument to start on than piano. It helps that his teacher lives up the street and is our bishop's wife and is very good with kids (and moms!). He's not using the bow yet, so you can see him in this picture plucking the strings with his fingers. I have to admit, it's pretty darn cute to watch him play!

We're off to California for a week on Saturday... a trip that we've had planned for nearly two years! I'm excited that my boys are getting old enough to have a really fun vacation... we'll visit Disneyland, Legoland, stay at a beach house, and spend a few days at my Aunt's cabin at Lake Arrowhead. This vacation couldn't come at a better time. The last month has been extremely crazy for me... most of the crazy coming from the PTA obligations that I took on. You add that to all my obligations (Scouts, practicing piano with Tyler, cleaning, exercising, teaching three piano students, coordinating marketing for Mark's dental office, etc. etc.) and there are times that I'm lucky if I get a granola bar for lunch! Needless to say I'm not getting anything done that I *want* to do... like crafts, updating my blog, etc. All those obligations will be there when I get back, but I'll be glad for a "breather" where I can (hopefully) relax and recharge my batteries, and make some good memories while we're at it!

See you after Cali!

Shoutout

2011-08-21T20:20:00.000-07:00

I'm going through a summer's worth of pictures tonight... I know I have a lot of catching up to do. Having the kids 24/7 all summer made it pretty darn hard to even attempt to update this blog. I was also in Utah for a month, and never got around to updating there, either. Tyler starts school this week, and Mason next week, so many of the things which I have been putting off will slowly begin to be worked on soon!

As I was going through the pictures, I knew I had to post two to give a shout out to my amazing hubby. I never use that word... but what he's done in the last year and a half qualifies as amazing! He's always struggled with his weight... he's yo-yoed more in the last 12 years than anyone else I've seen. January 2010 saw him at his highest weight ever... 280. Ouch. Since then, he's gone down to 205! He's got about 20 lbs to "his goal" of 185 (I've never seen him that thin... although he got close once at about 195). He's doing it all by going low-carb. I keep trying to talk myself into low-carb, but darn it, I love carbs! Being around Mark helps me eat them in more moderation, though. Anyways, way to go, babe! I'm proud of you!

Mark at 280

Mark at 210... just last week! (at Jordanelle Reservoir in Utah)

One month of Summer!

2011-07-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

Where has the first month of summer gone? I'm sorry to leave that other depressing post on there for so long! If I've had a spare moment to do something of my choosing, I usually choose to take a nap instead of update my blog! Tells you how much I've been running around.

As in my last post, much of this month has involved swimming. Swimming lessons, swim meets, swimming at the neighborhood pool, swimming at the gym, swimming at the water park. Even with SPF 50 (I have 30 and 100 also in my bag!) my boys and I have darkened our skins and lightened our hair! I love summer in Texas... at least for a little while! The boys have improved in their swimming skills so much this last month. Tyler has learned all four strokes (freestyle, butterfly, breast, back) and hasn't complained once at swimming lap after lap for his one-hour, five day a week swim team practices. Mason is almost swimming in the deep end on his own! He's gaining all sorts of confidence and is doing so much better than just a month ago. Jack is happiest walking around in chest-deep water, pouring buckets of water over his head. They all love the water park (NRH2O), and Tyler's even braved the "scary" water slides. Jack loves water slides, too, and constantly gets prevented from riding the bigger kid slides by well-meaning teenage lifeguards. :) Another bonus of swimming so much? A lot less laundry! Oh, I still do a bunch, but now it's weighted more toward towels and swimsuits!

My birthday was also in this last month. Yep, 34 years old. Woop-a-dee-do. For the most part, it was like any other day. I had my kids plus a niece and nephew, and we did regular summer stuff. For the evening, though, I had arranged for two babysitters and went to a nice dinner with Mark and our good friends the Sheppards. The restaurant was called "Texas de Brazil," which was a delicious Brazilian buffet. The meat was phenomenal! I could have just eaten the beans and rice, they were so good. We also saw a movie and topped it off with some frozen custard. The next day, I went on a 40 mile bike ride with friends Kelli and Tiffany (yee haw! Our furthest distance yet!) Tiffany had also organized a little friend birthday party for me! As I told her, no one had thrown me a friend party since I was 10! (Mostly because my birthday is always hampered by the 4th of July holiday... everyone is out of town then!) For those who came, we had a great time at Olive Garden .

The other thing eating up my summer is PTA. Yep, I got roped in. And not just any job: VP of Fundraising. So doing PTA stuff, attending meetings, and just generally having it on my mind has been, honestly, slightly annoying. I'm just not "converted" to PTA yet. I know it's a good organization and all... I'm just feeling like I should have said NO. Oh well. I'll get used to it. One perk, though... a trip to Austin this weekend for the PTA Texas general meeting. Hopefully we'll have fun, outside of meetings, classes, and working with vendors. Thanks to my mom for coming to Texas to cover for me while I get to go to "PTA Camp" with the girls this weekend!

Well, with it being 100+ degrees and little to no rain for the last several months, I'm beginning to wilt here in Texas. The day after I get back from Austin we're grabbing our suits (and a few pairs of pants) and heading to Utah for a month! I look forward to reconnecting with my family... not to mention cool mornings and evenings! The front end will be filled with a lot of time with my brother's family--- they're moving to Germany for 3-4 years, so we'll get in all the time we can! The back end of the trip is the Angerbauer reunion. My mom and I will be driving the kids there and Mark will fly up for the reunion in mid-August. Yes, it's another year where we spend a month apart, but I have to remind myself that it's a good thing (it is... I get to play in Utah and he gets to work guilt-free all the time that he needs!). I'll miss my Texas friends, too, but I must admit that it will be nice to be with friends and family and home in Utah.

I found that I've hardly taken any pictures this summer. *sigh* I've taken a few on my phone, but what I've mostly been snapping are small videos (and those don't post well on a blog). So I included the one cute picture I could find: me and the boys at the Ranger's game a few weeks ago. Mark took his staff and their families to the baseball game, and even though it was stifling hot we had a good time. Jack occasionally out of the blue will start saying "let's go Rangers!" It's cute. Just imagine him saying that as you look at the picture.

Beginning of Summer Blues

2011-06-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

Summertime and hot, hot weather hit here at nearly exactly the same moment. Tyler's last week of school coincided with the first week of mornings that didn't go below 72 and humid. Neither make it easy for me to go running in the mornings... with Tyler home and warm mornings, I'm more likely to forego running for much cooler sports like swimming and road cycling. Neither of which I feel like doing right now; it's been a long weekend.

Mark's out of town. *Huge sigh* He keeps trying to convince me that a four-day weekend in Houston once a month for the next two years for Orthodontics training is a "cash cow" that will greatly benefit our family (particularly in regards to our large--though shrinking--debt load). I personally think the greater benefit for our family would be a four-day weekend together every month having, you know, family time. But I'm trying my hardest to see things from the "provider" perspective, and understand why he wants more training to do more dental things. I'm also trying hard to smile while I switch into "single parent mode" once again (don't think I've ever really full turned off that switch in 8 1/2 years!).

Life has been busy since Easter, the last time I posted. A blur, really, especially given that I haven't taken many pictures to remember this time by. My parents came and visited for six days at the beginning of May, which was a fun time of family and food (LOTS of it!). My dad was still recovering from hip replacement surgery--which made our venturing options limited--but we still managed a Rangers game, a visit to the Sixth Floor Museum (you know, JFK was shot from the sixth floor), lots of shopping (makes for a happy mom!), and a different place to eat every lunch and dinner (nope, did not cook once). I only took pictures, however, on one occasion, which makes me really mad. I took them to the Fort Worth Stockyards, to see the "running of the bulls" (it's the most "Texas" thing to do apparently in Fort Worth). After much anticipation, the "running" turned out to be a lazy, leisurely stroll by some very tired looking longhorns and very bored looking "cowboys." Don't think I'll be taking any more out of town visitors there!

Another part of the blur has been getting my kids involved in sports again. I haven't enrolled them in anything organized since Idaho, for two reasons: 1) Tyler has not shown any interest (in Idaho, he regularly pouted and sat down in left field if he didn't get the ball) and 2) I've been warned that it's extremely competitive-- not a good environment for a kid whose mom just wants him to learn the basics of a sport so that he feels comfortable shooting hoops or playing catch with friends. So I've steered clear of ball sports and landed Tyler (and soon, Mason) in... swimming. We live in Texas, land of "hotter than Hell," after all-- what could be better than a water sport? Turns out that swimming here is pretty darn competitive, too. The first few swim lessons I saw four- and five-year-olds swimming perfect freestyle, backstroke, breast stroke, and butterflies while Tyler struggled to make it all the way down the lane freestyle (the only way he knows how) without looking up to see where he was. Tyler's been undaunted, though. He has enjoyed every lesson and is picking up slowly but surely on all the other strokes. Now that school is out, however, we kick up swim lessons to a daily event with weekly "meets." Knowing his competitive nature (read: he hates to lose) I wonder how he'll handle not placing first in the swim meet this friday. Maybe he'll surprise me. But I'm bracing for a demoralized child and lots of love and reassurance from me.

We've also weathered other storms, quite literal storms, in the past month. My parents caught a glimpse of how quickly a nice afternoon can change to a dark monsoon, but they didn't get any of the wind. For a few weeks there it was storm after storm, tornado watch after tornado warning. I lived in fear that my trampoline would fly over our fence into the neighbors yard, and hoping that one side of our learning fence would finally blow over so we could get it replaced (no such luck). The scariest night happened at swimming lessons, ironically. They pulled all the kids out of the water and scurried everyone (including spectators like me and my littler boys) into the locker rooms to wait out the storm. Some tornadoes formed but never really touched down, there was a lot of hail (only one dent, though, too the hood of my car!), but no other damage done. It was scarier than I thought, though, especially since we weren't all together as a family (Mark wasn't with us). Sometimes a grown woman just needs her man to hug and tell her that everything will be alright. *sigh*

Now that the summer has officially begun, I plan to fill the days of my kids as much as I can. Since it's too hot to ride bikes or play outside, most of our activities will be in the water or in somewhere air conditioned (the zoo is the one exception... I've yet to try it out in the heat). I've been recruited (pulled?) into the PTA leadership, and that will keep me personally pretty busy in the "down time." In mid-July we head to Utah for a month, which my kids always love. I enjoy it, too-- how can you beat cool mornings and evenings!--though I fight it. I don't like being away from Mark that long--though he claims he gets a lot of work done--but it makes him miss me and makes work less of a pull when we get back.

Outside of activities, I need to learn to manage my kids better. It's becoming increasingly tough to have this almost-four-year difference in age between Mason and Tyler. Tyler wants to be doing bigger stuff with his older friends. Besides, who wants to play with a little brother who will break into screams and tears if you don't do things exactly the way he wants? I have to remind Tyler of patience and Christ-like love when it comes to dealing with Mason. My own supply of infinite love is tested, however, during Mason's breakdowns. It's over the smallest things... wanting bottled water instead of water from the frig, not wanting to put something away when asked, asking to finish something faster or save it for later... all these things can easily trip him into a major meltdown that I've learned to just let himself cry through (for 30, 45, 60 minutes...). I can't talk or love him out of his meltdowns, unless I give him exactly what he wants. And that would just teach him that he can throw a fit and "magic!" he gets what he wants..........right? It's so hard, sometimes. Jack, on the other hand, is so easy. He just goes with the flow and stays pretty happy, provided he's rested, watered, and fed. He's happy to have both his brothers home full time. I hope I can share his happiness this summer.

Here's a sampling of some of the pictures I did take since April...

Looks like we're at a lake in the Italian Alps, doesn't it? Nope, just over looking a lake outside of Austin (although there are plenty of huge European-inspired villas around the lake)

Liking frosting from the beaters

Tyler at the school carnival

Mason with his face painted at the school carnival

My mom and dad, at the Stockyards

also at the Stock Yards

There go the longhorns... blink and they'll be... only inches ahead!

Where Tyler takes his swimming lessons, the school district's "Natatorium." Parents have to sit in the spectator area above. Tyler is in the black/ red-stripe swimsuit with no cap on.

Clouds after the big tornado storm

Jack samples chocolate pudding at Walmart... and gets it all over his face

Fun with Felt and Spray Paint

2011-04-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

I don't have nearly the time I want to to do fun crafty projects any more, especially since swim lesson season has started (not to mention the gazillion other things in my life going on right now... don't even get me started on the PTA!). But I was inspired by a post from another blog and by Easter to pull out a couple of "quickies" in the last week or so.

First on the list was a bed. We inherited two twin beds from Mark's dad last November. They've been in the garage waiting to be worked on. A few weeks ago Jack decided that he was done with the crib... he wouldn't jump out, but he would lay down on Mason's bed and throw a fit when I would move him to the crib. So, inspired by this post, I pulled out the beds and the spray paint and went to work!

I didn't like these beds at first, but I saw something similar in a recent Pottery Barn catalog and figured the style (called "American Empire") might be back in fashion. As recommended by the blog, I primed them first (the gray spray paint) and gave them a few coats of Rust-oleum's "Eden" (only available at Home Depot, I quickly found out) and voila! New beds.

Now I just need to accessorize the rest of the room! I'm working on pillows and will probably repaint the dresser. I also need stuff for the wall... you know when I have time ;)

With Easter coming up (tomorrow!), I quickly realized that not only do I have no Easter decor, but my boys have no Easter baskets. No time to throw together decor this year, but I did find some quick and easy cute baskets. When I was at Target (to get candy), I found these pretty cute felt baskets and picked up one for each boy (you can't beat only $2 each!):

I let them each choose which one they wanted, and then this morning I added their names to the back with leftover felt I have from other projects:

Now they're personalized, and the boys love them! We've already done a few dry-runs on the Easter egg hunting with them and with some empty plastic eggs. They had a blast! Amazing what can get done on a Saturday morning in less than an hour while everyone is still asleep (well, except for me and Tyler. I went on a run and he was awake when I got back).

After I finished the felt names, I was putting away my felt when I found a project that I had half completed nearly two years ago. It was the week we moved to Texas, in fact. They had a Super Saturday where we sewed a plain cloth napkin into a scripture tote. The tote had no handles or anything, so I just put it away with my fabric to be finished at a future time. I guess that time was this morning! I kept my felt and glue out and knocked out another project in about 45 minutes by adding a bird, some handles, and a ribbon tie to the bag:

Here's a close-up of the bird:

A fun and easy project! Cute and useful to boot!!

Here's a pic of Jack and I this morning that I thought I'd throw in. I'm still in my sweaty workout clothes, but whatever! Happy Easter!

The Little Pinewood Derby Car that Could

2011-04-06T20:28:00.001-07:00

Tonight was our first Pinewood Derby!

I did say "our" on purpose.

Tyler did have a bit of involvement in the makeup of the car. I googled "pinewood derby car" and had him look through the images to pick a design he wanted. He ultimately went with not a car design at all... but a "car" that looked like "Bullet Bill" (any of you who've played Mario Kart will know who I'm talking about! If not, just think of a giant bullet with angry eyes and white arms with hands in clenched fists).

After the design was chosen, Mark used his dental tools to shape and refine the block of wood. Personally, I believe that the shaping the block of wood should have been done with real tools (like a hand sander!), but his Dremel did come in handy to shave off the apparently "huge" (read: microscopic, didn't know they even existed) spurs on the nails that hold in the wheels. He also drilled a large, round divot in the back of the car that we glued in about 7 nickels (to bring the weight back up to the max 5 ounces).

Once the shaping was done, it was my turn to paint it. A small can of black spray paint, a 47 cent tude on white paint, and a black sharpie were all I needed. Add some arms made with a little white FIMO and viola! Bullet Bill.

I tried to prep Tyler for a losing night. After all, we're up against several kids whose dads are engineers! And considering we hadn't shaved much wood off, I knew our aerodynamics couldn't be the best. I've tried to prep Tyler for not winning things before, and it didn't work (when he lost, he still cried). I hoped he'd place in at least one of the heats.

As it turns out, Bullet Bill won the first heat he was in. And the second, and the third. Then it was down to 3 cars... and Bullet Bill was 1st in one race and 2nd in the other two, resulting in Tyler's car being #2 overall! I got some pretty awesome video of Tyler doing some sort of crazy happy dance that I'll try to figure out how to post here next week. Hopefully the pictures that I've posted convey the sense of excitement that everyone, especially Tyler, had tonight!

The lineup of 15 cars. Some of those look pretty darn awesome.

Our Bullet Bill! That's supposed to be smoke coming out behind him.

Tyler poses with our car pre-race.

Jack was very intense watching all the action. Mason was running the halls the whole time with his little buddies!

Tyler with Blake and Gavin (who won 3rd place)

Waiting for a race to begin...

During race excitement (each race was less than 3 seconds long!)

Tyler posing with his first trophy ever (yep, we haven't been in organized sports yet!)-- he asked if it was made of real gold. I said no... but maybe real gold paint! He was satisfied that the base of the statue was made of "real marble!"

An Unexpected Visit

2011-04-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

I spent a wonderful 5 days in Mid-March in Utah with my sisters, mom, and sisters-in-law. We laughed, we cried, we crafted, we watched cheesy movies and stayed up way too late. It was great. Unfortunately, I didn't document any of it on camera. I think I didn't do that on purpose... would it have spoiled the fun to "pose?" I don't know. Regardless, it was a great time. We all agreed that we need this at least once a year. It was so nice to come home to a husband who couldn't stop saying how much he appreciated me! I don't know how much work he actually did (I had the kids mostly arranged for and he used our local family a lot for help with the littler ones), but maybe mentally it wore him out. Hats off to Mark for even taking on this weekend with mom away!

The night before I left, we got a call from Mark's sister, Julie, that she and kiddos would be driving down *from Canada* to visit family in Texas for a week! Ho-ly cow, even the thought of driving 31 hours in a car would be enough for me to reconsider this trip, but apparently no far is too far for the Joneses. We had a great several days with them here, highlighted by visits to the Fort Worth Museum, the Zoo, and good food! I only had my camera for the zoo day, unfortunately. The Fort Worth Zoo apparently ranks up there with some of the best zoos in the country. It was set in an absolutely beautiful place (lots of big trees), and had some great animals that actually looked like they enjoyed their habitat. The kiddos had a wonderful time. We were joined by my sis-in-law Susie and three of her kids (yes, we pulled our kids out of school for a zoo trip!) and had a long, great day.

Tyler, Alek, Mason, Kelsey, and Reina

On the zoo train, which took us to the back of the zoo for only $1! We decided to avoid all the field-tripping 6-year-olds and go from the back to the front of the zoo. Worked like a charm!

Isn't this a cool picture? Alek and Jack looking for otters.

Seth, Caleb, Emma, Brooklyn, Reina (in front) and Tyler near the end of the day

Mason and Alek. They got along *famously*. It makes me sad we don't live closer! :(

The highlight for the kids was the "Parrot Paradise," where for only $1 you too can buy a stick covered in honey and birdseed and feed the parakeets and cockatiels. The kids were in birdie heaven. Thank you, Aunt Julie, for springing for the treat sticks!!! (This picture, and the rest of the pictures, were all taken by Tyler. Once I gave him permission to use the camera, he took off! I think I have about 100 pictures (only a few of them blurry!) that he took at the zoo.

Susie, Caleb, Me, and Jack, taking a break outside the bird feeding area

Reina and a parakeet

Alek and Mason getting a lee-tle too close to the animals for me!

At the zoo exit. My family (+ nephew Seth) with Julie and her four kids: Brooklyn, Reina, Alek, and Kelsey (Tyler's at the camera). I needed a nap after our 5 hour trip!!!

I'm so glad they came down!! As anyone will tell you, we love company :) We're looking forward to a brief trip this week from Mark's oldest brother, George, who will be in town for business. It's always nice to rekindle those family ties.

Two other items to note:

Tyler occasionally will build something (usually on Saturday mornings when we make them stay in the toy room until 8am so as to not bug mom and dad) that he begs me to take a picture of to send to a magazine. This time it was a Hot Wheels track. Over the years-- especially since we moved to Texas-- we've acquired wayyyy too many Hot Wheels sets. Combine those together an you get an awesome track for cars to play on! Tyler was particularly proud of this one, and I'm sad to say it took me several days to finally bring the camera upstairs to document his hard work:

2) Tyler has been in Cub Scouts now for about 4 months. We're still trying to get him to "catch the spirit of scouting" so to speak (you know, helpful, thrifty, kind, clean, etc.!). While I was out of town, the cub activity was to pick up garbage in our neighborhood. As Tyler was the only one to return empty-handed, I had him go with Mason and I (and his neighbor friend Gavin) to the "Cowtown Cleanup" in our neighborhood. I even made him wear his Scout uniform, so that he knew this was to count for his cleanup/service project requirement. He didn't complain. We picked up garbage around the pool/rec area of our neighborhood for an entire hour on Saturday morning. Once again, no complaining! I would occasionally hear "wow! I just hit a jackpot of trash!" and "keep cleaning!" It makes a mom's heart happy :) The best phrase I heard him say? "Wow, this was funner that I thought!" I'm proud of him for having such a good attitude.

Only two of these bags were ours...!

Grasslands

2011-03-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

I know I've written a lot about running lately... it was all about preparing for my event today, the Grasslands Half Marathon!

(The actual mileage was 13.5 miles, but who's counting???)

My neighbor and friend, Tiffany, talked me into training for a trail half marathon back around Christmas. I was running 3-4 miles max a few days a week, at a 10 minute mile, and I thought that there was no way I would be ready. With some persuasion and partnership, I'm glad to say that I was wrong! She got me on a schedule, running with a group twice a week with a bunch of faster people, and on regular "long runs" on local trails. We trained pretty hard and thought we were prepared. I was very excited for the actual event!

The race took place in a rural area about an hour north and west of Fort Worth. It was advertised as being "flat" and on "horse trails." We trained on pretty hilly mountain biking trails, because that's all there is within 30 minutes, so we thought that flat horse trails would be no problem. Well, turns out that this race should have been advertised as "sandy" and "gradually uphill 90% of the way, steep uphill 5% of the way, somewhat downhill the other 5%." The trail was covered in inches-deep dirt, similar to running on a sandy beach. If you've ever tried to run at the beach, you know it's exhausting! Try 13.5 miles of it! By the first aid station at 4 miles I was ready to turn in my dusty running shoes, but I pressed on. The next 6 miles (to the only other aid station) were better... well, at least, less demoralizing... because I was used to the sand. The last 3.5? Let's just say I was praying the whole time: "Heavenly Father, just help me make it another mile. Please help me only walk up hills that are truly steep, and let me run the majority of the way." Nothing like an exhausting run to give you a nice spiritual experience!

In the end, I finished pretty darn strong to the cheers of Mark, my boys, and the husband and kids of the other two friends I ran with (Tiffany and Kelli). Like childbirth, it was worth the few hours of pain for the post-race euphoria (and like childbirth, I will not be doing this again--on a trail at least--for a good long time!).

Kelli and I, post-race. She made it under 2:20, I think my time was around 2:22

Tiffany and I... my task master! She's kept me so motivated thru the whole trail-training process!

My boys, who were so glad to see me (Jack wanted me to hold him... all I could do was sit at the nearest tree and have him sit in my lap!)

The whole fam... thanks for putting up with me during 3 months of training! Also, there's nothing like watching your wife finish a race to get Mark motivated to do one himself!!!

Tiffany, myself, and Kelli. Post race. Ready for lunch!

My friends and our families went out to lunch together at a new favorite place that definitely should be featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives." The place was called "Sweetie Pies" in the town of Decatur, not far from our race. Their speciality? Chicken Fried Ribeyes. Yum! If any of y'all decide to visit Texas we'll have to take you there for some good grub!

After lunch we made a leisurely drive home (via Ben and Jerry's!), showered, picked up a babysitter, and had a fun second half of the day with some more friends at the temple and PF Chang's. What a full day! It's midnight now and I'm ready to put this day in the record books!!!

Spring Break

2011-03-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

It's spring break this week! For most people, that means vacation time! For us, it means no school and mom has to figure out something to keep all three kids busy while Mark works time. I'm starting to realize that vacations for our family will generally only be when it is not vacation time for other people, as spring break, summer break, Christmas break, etc. are good times for people to go get serious dental work done! Mark says he has a full week of seeing teachers and students and is taking out a lot of wisdom teeth. No complaints from him :) It's okay... since I know we are just "staycationing" this spring break, I've tried to come up with some generally fun things the kids and I can do around town.

It's also the week before my big trail run! 13.5 miles on Saturday, here we come (yes, slightly longer than a half marathon!). The nerves are starting to hit me... last night, all I could dream about was running this race. Needless to say I didn't sleep very well. I'm pretty darn prepared, though, thanks to my crazy running partner/neighbor. Two weekends ago we went on our long trail run-- supposed to be 12 miles-- but her GPS watch ran out of batteries and we ended up going 15! It was so hard... I fell twice, cried several times, and pretty much pushed myself to the brink to make it back to our car. I will be very glad to only be running on the road again!

my dirty socks after the 15 mile trail run

What would spring break be without ice cream? Mark started off the week by splurging on a treat from the ice cream man. The kids were in heaven. Look at those faces! I passed in favor of some Ben and Jerry's next week after my race.

Thanks to a very good friend of mine who is also not going anywhere this spring break (she's due with #6 in less than a month!), our kids have thus far had some fun activities with friends. Our first activity on Monday was the National Scouting Museum. I didn't even know this place existed, but apparently it is *the* Boy Scout museum in the U.S! I thought it would be a bit boring for the kids, but it turned out to be anything but.

The first part we visited was the Normal Rockwell art display. They own all the originals that he did that were scouting themed. Apparently the only company Rockwell ever worked for was the Boy Scouts of America (after that he was totally free-lance). They own 50 pieces which they rotate every year. It was very cool to see originals of his famous paintings.

Tyler and Mason with our friend Carson Rhoades

The interactive part of the museum was my kids' favorite. There was a movie about Scout Adventure Camps (like Philmont), a pinewood derby track and cars you could race, and other games the kids could participate in. The best part for me? The museum is free of charge on Mondays!

Jack *loved* the pinewood derby track. Tyler's first pinewood derby is next month!

Tragically, our visit to the Scout museum was cut short when Tyler inadvertently tripped the elderly volunteer who was manning the pinewood derby track. It was an honest accident (Tyler sat down behind him, and he didn't turn around before he backed up), but you can imagine the horror and embarrassment I felt when I saw the guy fall and literally not get up. I pushed Tyler (scout that he is, and particularly since we were in the scout museum) over to apologize and help the man get up, but he was as frozen as I was. So much for the "help other people" part of the Cub Scout motto! With our tail between our legs, I grabbed Jack (who screamed because he wanted to stay at the track), Mason, and Tyler and exited the building. I half expected to hear an ambulance come whirring to the building, but it didn't so hopefully the man is okay! It at least gives me a few talking points to help Tyler be "more aware" and "helpful." !!!

Our next outing with friends was less dramatic. We went to "Safari Park," a huge indoor play place. Thanks again to my friend Dawnette for providing coupons, because otherwise this place is pretty expensive! They kids played two hours (and could have stayed longer, except they got hungry) on the train, riding animatronic animals, playing mini-golf, playing with Thomas trains, etc. etc. etc. Afterwards we had lunch at Central Market, where the kids could continue to play at a playground while my friend and I enjoyed a chef-cooked meal :) Yum. Mom, remind me to take you there when you come to Texas!

Mason and Neal Rhoades

We're halfway through the break now. The rest of the week should be in the 80s, so I'm planning lots of outside activities! Tomorrow we're headed to do some easy hiking around Grapevine Lake, and then a little shopping at Grapevine Mills for mommy :). Friday will be a big rest day for me, then it's off to the half marathon! Wish me luck!

Cowtown 10K

2011-03-07T11:45:00.001-08:00

I've been running for a while now, but don't really consider myself "a runner." Generally speaking, I run on the treadmill at the gym and run outside when I can. Mark took a two year break from running due to a torn Achilles tendon (which tore at his last half marathon!), but started running again just before Christmas. He likes to "run with a purpose," so to speak, or at least with a race in mind. In December he was already talking a spring half-marathon, which I wasn't even considering because I was running 4 miles at most at a comfortable 10-minute per mile pace. We planned a half marathon in April, and a 10K in February race was about what we needed in our training regimen.

There is a big race weekend in February here in Fort Worth that we decided, then, to sign up for. It's called the "Cowtown" (which is a nickname for Fort Worth). A lot of people from our ward were planning on running, so it seemed perfect for us. We also found that a group was forming (made up of a lot of ward members) that was in memory of a member's little baby who died last year about this time after only 2 weeks on earth. She's buried in the cemetery that is right on the 10k route, which made this race even more special. We signed up for the group and began training!

Mark's training (as usual!) got slightly derailed two weeks before race day by a week-long sickness. Yuck. He had improved his time from a 14-minute mile to a 10ish-minute mile, so he felt he would do okay. I began running 2 mornings a week with a group of guys and a girlfriend of mine to improve on my own speed... which initially totally wiped me out! I learned, eventually, that I didn't have to settle for 10-minute miles and that I could totally expect more out of myself. It's been a great lesson.

Race day was great... the boys were with a babysitter, so it was a little bonding time for Mark and I. We met up an hour before the race with our group and donned our pink bandanas in memory of little Sophia. The race itself was tough... we really pushed ourselves, and by mile 4 I wasn't able to smile for cameras any more! But we both ended up with times we were very proud of: Mark 10k (6.2) mile time was 1 hour 3 minutes and 39 seconds (10:15 mile). My time was 55 minutes 26 seconds, an 8:56 mile! I'm proud of my time, and shake my fist that I wasted at least 30 seconds at mile 4 fiddling with my iPod shuffle. *sigh*

Here are some pictures of the race, courtesy of Ian Williams of Grey-Key.com photo (a relative of someone in our running group):

Pre-race we look so cute! :)

Some of our good friends from the ward: Nick Nelson, Tim Porter, Mark and I, Tiffany Sheppard, Alycia Nelson

The only decent picture of me running... or at least the only one I will let you see! We were about .5 mile away from the finish line, and I was wiped out and focused only on finishing.

Mark, on the other hand, posed for every camera!

Everyone from our ward who ran in the group (with the exception of the guy on the bottom left!). The guy in the middle and girl on the left end (both in pink T-shirts) are the parents of the little girl who passed away last year, in whose memory we ran.

Jack, Snow Days, and Super Bowl

2011-02-11T16:44:00.000-08:00

I'm not one of those people for whom time "flies." I hear other parents say "blink, and your kids will be all grown up." Well, my blink must be as long as a Rip Van Winkle nap, because I swear I feel every minute of every day! It doesn't seem like just yesterday that Tyler was nearly two... in fact, I can hardly remember it. Life has been so full every day, that getting him from 2 to 8 has taken, well, six long years! Sometimes I get a deja vu moment, though, when I see my younger two boys repeating something that started with Tyler. Case in point: trains:

Tyler, age 2 1/2 (Helotes/San Antonio, TX)

Mason, age 2 (Mountain Home, ID)

Jack, 23 months (Fort Worth, TX)

Although Tyler was our biggest train fanatic, all of our boys have loved Thomas the Train. And they all lie down on the floor when they play (like in Mason's picture). When I saw Jack playing like that the other day, I had to pull out the camera and capture the moment. Just like his older brothers! It must be something in the genes :)

We're having fun with Jack now that he's almost two. He seems so much older than our other boys did at this age. He DEFINITELY can talk better that Mason or Tyler did (their speech all blossomed about 27 months), which is nice because I know what he wants most of the time. He likes to do everything the big kids are doing! One cute thing he's been doing lately is "fake burping." He'll "burp" then say "excuse me!" (okay, so it sounds more like "noo mee!" but we get the drift.) He likes to say "watch" (which he says very clearly) when he wants us to watch him do something silly. He also will tell us occasionally when he has pooped (fortunately, "poop" is a very easy word for babies to say!). One day, Mark decided to sit him on the toilet so he'd get the idea that that is where poop goes:

Ha ha.... nothing happened, but he did sit there for a few minutes and make "pushing faces." It was cute. I couldn't resist posting the picture. Alas, I'm sure we'll have to wait another 18 months before this picture is a reality... that is, if he falls in the same line as Mason and Tyler (who didn't figure it all out until age 3 1/2).

Last week was a HORRIBLE week as far as the weather went here in North Texas. These weeks always happen, and always in February, so we just expect it. But this year was one for the record books! On Monday, it was 50+ degrees outside. On Tuesday, we woke up to a coat of ice (frozen rain) under a coat of "snow" (actually, frozen rain pellets, apparently different than snow) and wind chill in the negatives. It wouldn't be so much of a problem, except for the fact that it didn't get above freezing the entire rest of the week! So, nothing melted, school was cancelled, work was cancelled, and life came to pretty much a standstill from Tuesday thru Friday. The roads were just too impassable, owing to the fact that Texas apparently owns no snow plows or salt trucks and way too few sand trucks. We did manage to make it outside by car a few nights, trusting our winter driving experience gained in Utah, Idaho, and Nebraska, but we mostly avoided the outside as Texans have no clue how to drive in this weather and wreak havoc all over the roads.

It snowed for a final time on Thursday night, giving our kids at least some real snow (not ice pellets) to play on. Luckily we still haul around all our kids winter clothes, so Mason and Jack made it outside to play. I, meanwhile, "shoveled" the driveway with a garden pointed shovel and a large piece of plywood. We had a snow shovel last year, but sold it at a garage sale, figuring it was a pain to store a shovel that you only use once or twice a year (we need to rethink that).

Perhaps most frustrating for everyone around here is that all this bad weather preceded the much-hyped Super Bowl at Cowboy's Stadium. We thawed out mostly by Super Bowl Sunday, but it was still not a good Texas welcome.

We were fortunate to host some extended family for the Super Bowl. My sister is married to a guy with the last name of Packer. Apparently having that last name is reason enough for her husband and his brothers and dad to be Green Bay Packer fans! They all bought airfare to Dallas to be part of the big event, and we opened our home to be their pit stop amidst all the fun. I feel bad that they came the night of the last big snowstorm, but the rest of the time everything melted and it wasn't too hard to drive around.

Mark and Tyler joined them for a day, showing them Cowboy's Stadium and going to Sundance Square in Downtown Fort Worth (where ESPN had their headquarters). I got a frantic call from Mark at one point telling me to quickly record Sports Center, and upon careful review later that night you could see everyone (Tyler included!) in the big crowd panned by the camera right before a commercial. They were pretty stoked at their millisecond of fame!

All in all it was fun to have the Packers here. We stayed up way too late most nights, played lots of games, ate good food, and enjoyed getting to know some new family. I hope they come back to visit some time! We love company!

Mark, Tyler, TJ, Tom, Willy, and Phillip (he's my brother-in-law, the others are his dad and brothers). The sign Tyler is holding says "Packers parking only."

A few more small items of miscellany before I sign off of this update.

Mason's eyes are still doing great from his surgery. They're still straight, but he apparently isn't seeing that well with his right eye. Therefore, we still have to put an eye patch on him for several hours a day. He's a trooper, and it doesn't bother him a bit.

Jack also had a visit to the Opthamologist a few weeks ago, as I noticed that both of his eyes were starting to drift. Luckily, he doesn't need glasses (meaning, his vision is fine). He does have "esotropia," though, which I guess is just a fancy word for lazy eye. The doctor didn't give me much hope that it could be fixed in any way other than surgery. We're trying the eye patch, though, in the off chance that it will straighten his eyes. "Trying" is the operative word. Some days it stays on an hour, other days, maybe 2 minutes. These were the best pictures I could get of Jack actually in an eye patch...

Look at that happy face, sneaking that sticker off! *sigh* One of these days it will stay on.

Final random note: We had one last "snow day" this week (Wednesday) where school was cancelled. That made 5 total cancelled days of the last 8. The storm that came through was not nearly as bad as predicted, so Mark was able to go into work for half a day. I decided to actually be productive, and sent the kids to a neighbor's to play while I cleaned my craft room. This was our nephew Ben's room for the first 6 months we were here, and since he left it has just been a collection of my crafts in a big, unorganized MESS. I kept the door closed, but that didn't keep away the guilt of the mess away. When I finally decided to organize, it only took me about 2 hours to get it into tip-top condition (for me, at least) and that included the time it took me to hang a shelf. I've already used it to make one of my fabric birthday banners. I can't tell you how NICE it is to have a dedicated craft space, instead of hauling my crafts to the kitchen table to work on them! I also feel blessed to have this space, as all of my other houses have been to small for me to have a craft/sewing space of my own.

That's it for now!

My Report On A Normal Life

2011-01-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

For too many days I have opened my blog and seen the title "Merry Christmas!" I can't put off an update any longer... it's been a month since Christmas!

I can think of two reasons (and I'm sure there are more) why I haven't updated:

1) Life is just, well, normal

2) I haven't been taking pictures

I think that #2 happens a lot when #1 is going on. I haven't seen a need to document the day-to-day, or when something actually picture-worthy happens I don't have my camera with me (or even my phone, which has a camera too). So my total lack of pictures of the last month (save for one day) makes me really rack my brain for what to update y'all with. I'll do my best here to not make my "normal" sound too boring!

1) Christmas was great. Mark was very busy at work the whole month, especially between Christmas and new years. If only everyone kept that zeal going all year long to take care of their teeth, we would have our debt paid off in half the time! It was a real blessing for him to be so busy, though, considering all the time he took off in November with the passing of his dad. Hopefully we won't feel too much of a dip.

I just realized that all I said about Christmas was that it was "great." Then I talked about business. It's not hard to do... business is so intermingled with our life right now! But Christmas really was fun. We didn't put any presents under the tree until the kids were in bed Christmas Eve, so they were completely elated Christmas morning. We lounged most of the day, the kids playing with new toys and board games (and a Wii game, which we let Tyler play as long as he wanted this one day!).

2) New Years was a blast! Mark and I haven't really gone "out" for New Years, well, ever as far as I can remember. We got invited to a friend's house for a party, so we picked up a sitter early, went and saw "True Grit," and then ate delicious bad-for-you food and played fun adult games until it was time to light fireworks like a bunch of crazy teenagers. We played this game where people were supposed to vote (anonymously) on who would "most likely" do or be certain things; for example, "Who would most likely plan a romantic date for their wife?" I was blown away when I got the majority of the votes for "Who would most likely pose for a centerfold?" It still boggles my mind that I got more votes than the skinny blond with no kids who was at the party (she got both my votes). I'm baffled by it more than I've let it boost my ego, although I feel the pressure now to keep my "centerfold" looks! :)

3) School. Tyler's back to school, and Mason has started a new school. For Tyler, this is another year to forget. His teacher is once again mediocre and he has been known to get in trouble for putting his head on his desk ("I'm bored!" he told me). *Sigh* I do what I can to challenge him at home, and encourage him to "act his best" at school. Mason was going to Montessori (which I LOVE) but it was just too expensive. We switched him to a 3-day preschool at a local Methodist church. The irony? Half of there students (or near that number, at least) are LDS. In his class alone there are 4 boys just from our ward! He misses the kindergarten cutoff by 1 day, but I don't mind keeping him in preschool for another year. He seems to really be thriving and adjusting great to a new teacher and environment. If the number of art projects he brings home correlates to his knowledge, then he's learning a lot and having a lot of fun!

4) Eyes. It's been 4 months since Mason's surgery. His eye alignment is great, according to his doctor, and hopefully he won't need more surgeries. Unfortunately, his brain still hasn't "turned on" one of his eyes, and so we still have to patch the good one to force him to use his bad one. He doesn't mind; it's routine to wear it for 3 hours a day every day now. And they make some pretty cool looking eye patches to boot! I also had Jack in to the opthomologist last week because his right eye has been really turning inward. We found out that Jack does not need glasses (meaning his vision is fine) but that part of his brain that keeps the eyes straight apparently isn't doing it's job. In his case, he will most likely need surgery. The dr is having me patch him now for 4 months. So far the longest he's kept the patch on is an hour (!) but he mostly pulls it off after 5 minutes. It's a tough age to patch, but we'll work on it. In case you want to read more on their conditions, Mason's is called "amblyopia" and Jack's is called "esotropia" (or just "crossed eyes").

5) Sick. A few weeks ago sick visited our house. The week before, I knew I was coming down with something so I pumped the Airborne and OJ and stayed 85% healthy. As soon as I felt better, it hit all the boys and Mark pretty hard. It was a miserable week. Mark still went to work everyday, which rendered him useless on the weekend. It was tough on me at the end... as all mothers can relate. Let's just say I'm glad that's over and I hope it doesn't come back again any time soon!

6) Stock Show. Every January is the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. Mark and I always enjoy taking the boys to look at the livestock, and this is a HUGE livestock show. We spent the afternoon of MLK Jr Day petting goats, oggling at cows, and singing "EIEIO." The boys had a blast. The best part for was probably sitting on the huge tractors (as you can see from the pictures). We topped off the day with an hour at the Children's museum (which was free with stock show admission) and dinner at a local fave, BJ's. Both children and parents were thoroughly wiped out at the end of the day!

(this was the best I could do with them all on the tractor. oh well!)

7) Running. The week before Christmas Mark turned on the "I'm going to run again" button in his brain. It's been over two years since he tore his Achilles tendon in a half marathon, and he hasn't run since. New shoes and a few new pieces of cold weather running gear and he's on the road again, ready to train for a half marathon. I've been running pretty regularly since September (took a few months off after the Ragnar!) and am up to 7ish miles on my long days, so it's not hard for me to keep up with Mark. In fact, he's keeping up with me as he works into it, but I'm really proud of his dedication. In the last year he's lost 40 lbs on low-carb, and the running (plus the week he was sick) has helped him break his 3 month plateau and now he's down in the 220s. He's an inspiration! It almost makes me not want to eat those Thin Mints that I just bought... :)

I feel like that catches us up. Other than what I've mentioned, we have Scouts (for Tyler and Me, I'm Wolf Den Leader) every week, piano lessons, exercising, cooking, cleaning. You know the drill. It's all good, and so much better than I can ask for.

These last two pictures are for my mom. Since I'm always the one behind the camera, I tried a little "Self Portraiture" so that she can see my "new" hair (just got it highlighted after nearly 6 months! Yikes!). These pics were the best I could do. I know, I should have just asked Mark to take a photo, but it was fun playing with the camera and then mirror! :)

Merry Christmas with Rouladen!

2010-12-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone! I thought I would share our Angerbauer Christmas tradition... which of course, centers around food. Mark grew up eating this meal every Christmas with the family of his mother's mission companion (who is from Germany). Considering all the German in our blood, we faithfully continue the Rouladen Christmas dinner with happy hearts and stomaches!

(I apologize in advance for the poor pictures. I forgot our nice camera, and resorted to using the camera on the phone.)

First, figure how many people will be eating. Adults (and hungry teenagers) count as two and kids over five count as one. Kids younger than five will probably just eat off the adult plates.

Go to your butcher. Watch him look befuddled when you ask him if he knows what "rouladen" is (unless you live in Utah, in which I would say there is a 50/50 chance of him knowing, depending on if he served a mission in Germany). Tell him you need a top round roast sliced the long way into 1/4" pieces. Yes, this is pretty thin, and will fall apart in places, but should look like this:

When you get them home, clean off a work surface and lay out each piece of meat (we had to do this in 2 batches... you see 20 pieces pictured here). Sprinkle MODERATELY with salt and pepper (remember, people can put more on later, but can't take too much salt off!).

Ooops... skipped a step. You need to prep the innards of the rouladen. For 40 pieces, we finely chopped 3 whole heads of garlic and 4 large yellow onions (separately). So you don't spend all afternoon chopping, use a food processor. You'll also need about 2 lbs. of bacon, sliced in half longways and then sliced fine the short way. Have the garlic, onion, and bacon ready to go before you set your meat out.

In a firm part of the meat (i.e., a part that is not falling apart!) place a spoonful of garlic, heaping spoonful of onion, and an equal amount of raw bacon. Do this to all the pieces laying out.

Roll up each piece of meat, and secure ends with toothpicks (2 per rouladen). Brown in a large skillet or fry pan, preheated with some oil on medium-high.

Place all the rouladen in a dutch oven or large stockpot. Adding extra onions and the carrots on top is optional, but helps to flavor the meat and gravy. Cover; put in a 300 degree oven for 1.5-2 hours.

Mmmmm... when it comes out, you'll have a hard time not picking at it!

Remove the rouladen to a serving platter. Make a gravy with all the YUMMY drippings.

It's traditional to serve the rouladen and gravy with boiled or mashed potatoes and carrots. Instead of potatoes, Mark made "spaetzle," a homemade German egg noodle (you may be able to find dry spaetzle in the ethic aisle of your grocery store). YUM! You can also see the "Rot Kohl" or "red cabbage," which is a pickled cabbage dish similar to sour kraut. Not my favorite, but also a traditional German side dish. Any extra makes EXCELLENT leftovers!

I hope your Christmas/ Christmas Eve dinner was as good as ours! Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Busy End of November

2010-12-03T07:18:00.000-08:00

With the death of Mark's dad, the second half of November went very differently than we originally planned. We weren't going to travel anywhere for Thanksgiving, and now we were going to Utah for the funeral and Thanksgiving! It was a welcome trip, both to celebrate my father-in-law's life and to spend some unexpected time with all of our family.

Our schedule was pretty much packed the entire time we were there. In addition to the funeral and Thankgiving, we had two birthdays (Mark and Tyler) and a baptism! Pile all those in with dinners with both sides of the family and get-togethers and other activities and the 10 days I was there (8 days for Mark) was filled with memories.

Tyler's 8th birthday was on the day of the viewing, and Mark's 36th birthday was the day of the funeral. I tried to make those days special by bringing a cake to the Angerbauer's and having a little party for Tyler with some Tintle cousins at an inflatable play place. I actually think Tyler and Mark got more parties that I originally had planned for them back in Texas... Bonus! After the funeral, Mark and I were able to have a nice "birthday" lunch with just the two of us at our favorite German restaurant, Siegfried's, in downtown Salt Lake courtesy of my sister Tiffany.

Mason and Cousin Rob the day of the viewing (Tyler's birthday)

Tyler with cousins Emma (L) and Reina (R). Emma is 7 days older than Tyler, and Reina is 18 days older. Since they all have November birthdays, this cake was for them, too!

The viewing and funeral for Mark's dad was a wonderful time. So many people from Mark's past came to the viewing, and it was so nice for him and his siblings to catch up with all these old friends. The funeral itself was full of music, per dad's request. Grandchildren sang and played the piano, sons played their instruments, and I was able to acquire a harp for the occasion and play a song. The two talks were tender and just perfect. I was so glad that so many members of my Tintle family made the trip on a cold, windy saturday to pay tribute to my father-in-law. Thanks guys!

All the pallbearers (sons and son-in-law) laid their white gloves and corsages at the foot of the casket. All the grandchildren also laid a flower in memory of Grandpa A.

Mark and his siblings at the end of the services.

The day after the funeral we were able to have Tyler's baptism. How great is that? We'd planned on a very small baptism in Texas with our family here, but now we were able to have nearly everyone from both sides of the family help us celebrate this special day for Tyler. My sister Hayley and sister-in-law Michele kindly gave great talks, and everyone who was still in town made it down through a snow storm to be there. Everyone of his uncles (save one) and his grandpa (my dad) were able to be in the circle for his confirmation. Thank you to everyone for your help pulling together a wonderful program and memorable day.

Tyler and Mason with cousin Jane.

The only picture I got at the baptism... I guess one is enough!!!

After the baptism, the rest of the week was relatively relaxed. One of the best parts was being able to get a harp that I could bring to Texas! My neighbor (and ward friend) has a harp that's been sitting in a basement in Ogden for 10 years, and she allowed me to load it on a truck with some other goods (various inheritance items) to ship to Texas. It's a beautiful harp, and I look forward to "rehabilitating" it after a decade of non-use! We also spent much of the time playing games with my sister Tiffany and her husband Phillip, who spent three days in my parents basement so that they could have more time with Mark and I.

Thanksgiving Eve we had a dinner at the Angerbauer's home, which was a great "round up" to the week's events. Thanksgiving day was with my family, and it did not disappoint! I have spent too many of the last 15 years away from the food and family that I love at Thanksgiving, so being in Utah with the Tintle's was more than I could ask for. The dinner and company was awesome, and I count it as a tender mercy that we were all together.

The Tintle family (minus one brother and his sick wife) on Thanksgiving Day

Now that I'm home, it's been busy, busy, busy playing catch up for the nearly two weeks I was gone. I am also playing the harp (on different, borrowed harp) with an orchestra for my stake's big Nativity exhibit this weekend, so things have been crazy to say the least. But with all that, and all our business stress, all I can say it that we are so blessed. We have a great family, and we are secure in the knowledge that we'll all be together with Grandpa (and Grandma!) A again someday. What else could we ask for!

Last Phone Call

2010-11-08T13:50:00.001-08:00

Mark's dad passed away last night.

Mark's dad was 90 years old. He has lived a wonderful, humble life. I had the privilege of knowing him the last 12 years of that life, as the wife of his youngest son.

At 90, Mark's dad had been remarkably healthy. If you asked, it was due to his morning breakfast of mush and other "simple fare" like lentil soup, whole milk (not even 2% was creamy enough!), a daily walk, and other such simplicities. Several times since I've known him there have been scares with his health, but he always pulled thru, though a little weaker every time.

We got the call last week that things were going down hill. Fast. Mark, who has been bracing himself for this time for years, made the decision to leave for the weekend to be with his dad. I'm so glad he did.

Mark's time with him was tender. After the initial shock and mourning that he knew his dad had mere days, he (along with his brothers) went to work making sure he was comfortable. They notified family--sister, brothers, grandchildren, nieces, nephews-- and helped usher everyone in for their final good-byes.

I had to stay home in Texas with our three boys. I asked Mark if he would call so I could talk to Dad, though I knew it would probably be just a one-way conversation.

I braced myself for this last phone call. What do you say? How do you say goodbye? I haven't ever been able to have this opportunity with any of my previous loved ones who have passed away.

The call came Saturday afternoon. At this point in the day, apparently, most everyone had come to say their goodbyes. Mark had waited until there was a quiet time when he was still somewhat awake. Tyler answered the phone. With a little prompting, we had him play a few of his recent piano pieces so grandpa could hear. We knew grandpa, who loves music, would be glad to hear Tyler perform. But Tyler didn't stay on the phone any longer that to say a casual "good bye..." at 7, he was ready to run out the door to play with his friends.

I picked up the phone. "Mark?" "Yes... go ahead, dad can hear you."

"Dad?? It's Lindsey. I just want to say... that I love you very much. Thank you so much for raising such a good son. He is a wonderful father and husband. I'm so lucky that I've been a part of your family. Thank you for your strong testimony and being such a good example to us. I promise we'll try to carry on your legacy..."

He tried to answer back; I could understand a bit, but had to have Mark "translate" for me. Mark told me later that he knew it was me talking to him. I can't remember much more of our conversation, other than there was a lot of crying on my part. At the end of the few minutes I had on the phone with him, he fell asleep. Mark told me that he was never really lucid again after that phone call.

Words cannot express what that last phone call meant to me. I loved my father-in-law very much, and he will be missed by his 6 children, 6 in-laws, 28 grandchildren, and everyone else who was blessed to be in his life. As Mark's mom passed away 20 years ago this December, I know that he is so, so happy right now. I love that I don't have to be in Utah to feel him, to know that he's there. I love you, Dad, always will.

Here are several pictures that I was able to find of him. The oldest ones are slides I scanned about 5 years ago. He has left over 1000 slides that we have yet to digitize.

Lawrence Goring Angerbauer and wife Merilyn, and their first 3 boys, George, Mike, and Jaren. Dad was 45ish when he got married. Together they had 6 kids in under 10 years.

Though of humble means, the children have wonderful memories with their family on more "simple" vacations... Tetons, Yellowstone, Southern Utah, California. Here's dad with baby George, I think at the Tetons.

On his honeymoon in Northern California. I want to say this is in Monterrey. I love this picture!

Sorry, this one is a little out of order. With all 5 sons and 4/5 daughters-in-law (daughter Julie at home with a newborn) at the Dallas temple a few years ago.

His own wedding day, at the Salt Lake Temple. He's in the middle with Merilyn. Yes, she was taller than him :)

Outside their first apartment. Merilyn is pregnant with George (oldest child) in this photo.

On his way home from his mission, visiting with his brother Ralph who was in the army. A few days after he returned from his mission (to the Southern States) he was drafted in WWII. He served on the front lines in Germany. All three Angerbauer brothers served in WWII, and all three came home.

With Mark at his Dental School graduation. We're so glad he got to see Mark complete such an arduous journey! I love this picture, because Dad is wearing I swear what he wore 90% of the time... white short sleeved, collared shirt and khakis.

Dad and all his children, Jordan River Temple. From L-R: Mike, Jeff, Dad, Julie, Jaren, Mark, George.

These are the last pictures I have of dad, from our visit this last June. He loved to sit in this chair and listen to people play his 9-foot grand piano. My boys loved to snuggle with him while he sat. Mason, in particular, was always tender with Grandpa A.

The Obligatory Halloween Post

2010-11-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks have been a blur at our house. It started two Fridays ago, when both Jack and Mason got sick. Mason had a fever that lasted 4 days, Jack got his "usual" nasty cough which makes him irritable and have a hard time breathing. The fever subsequently passed to Jack, then to Tyler. Each of them had it for 4 to 5 days, with no other symptoms. Two bottles of Tylenol and ibuprofen later, I am coming out of the fog sick-child free. They are all back in school and eating again, thank heaven!

This was a common scene in my house over the last two weeks:

Yep, so tired that they fell asleep right in front of the TV for several hours. Poor kiddos. Lucky them, though, because I never got a nap while they were sick!

On Friday our ward hosted a trunk or treat. Tyler sat in the car most of the time feeling yucky, but the rest of us had fun. Mark had a vision for our trunk... a spooky dentist office. We got a creepy looking mummy and laid it on a table while Mark dressed up in a surgeon's gown splattered with "blood." When kids walked by, he would fire up our drill that was fitted with the largest bit we could find! We also hung up twinkle lights, which flickered every time the drill was turned on because the drill sucked the power from the plug. I thought it was pretty classic... I only got video, so I'll have to post that later.

With Halloween on a Sunday, I initially wasn't going to let my kids trick or treat. But when my LDS neighbor said that she was going, I thought to myself, what is so bad about going on Sunday? For us, trick or treating is a big family activity. So, I relented and we took the kids out. Tyler was feeling better at this point, and went out as Harry Potter again. Mason decided he didn't want to be a skunk after all, so after going thru our dress-up bucket he found the Peter Pan costume and decided that would work for him. He was cute! But-- just like when Tyler wore the Peter Pan costume-- most people thought he was Robin Hood. He didn't seem to mind... he just pointed at the patch on his chest with a picture of Peter Pan and he was good!

Jack also wore a hand-me-down costume. He wore the Monkey costume that Mason wore when he was just over 1. It was a little snug, and he didn't want to wear the hat at first, but I thought it turned out super cute. We started off by pulling him in the wagon, but after the first 3 or 4 houses, he realized that people were handing out candy so he was determined to walk. He would toddle up to every candy bucket yelling "Thank You!" instead of "Trick or Treat!" So stinkin' cute!

Overall, it was a really fun Halloween. The weather was perfect and warm, the kids had a great time, and I was able to confiscate most of the candy the next day without the kids noticing :)

Random Updates

2010-10-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hello... over a month since the last blog post. I don't know where time has flown to! It seems like life got busier once school started. Suddenly it's carpool in the morning, picking up Mason (20 minutes away) in the afternoon, piano lessons, Cub Scouts, playing outside (I have to, too, if I want to let Jack be outside!), cleaning up inside, sicknesses, etc. etc. There's been hardly any time to take pictures, which is usually what prompts me to be blogging. But tonight, after day #2 of Mason and Jack sick (fevers, coughs, and an occasional vomit because they are upset about taking medicine), I have sent Mark out for my favorite pizza and I am taking a few darn minutes of ME time to write on my blog! Let's see what I can remember about the last month...

1) Time Out For Women. Or should I say, EFY for adults! I got a last minute ticket from a friend who couldn't go and had a fun 36 hours with some girls from my ward. I even had my FIRST sleepover with girls since I've been married... it got a little crazy, but nothing I couldn't tell Mark the next day! And the spiritual high/renewal I got from that weekend? Priceless. But alas, just like EFY, that spiritual high slowly gives way to real life. :)

2) Scrapbooking! I finally found some girls in the ward who like to scrapbook! I haven't done it regularly for years, which means I have a lot to catch up on. But you take four women, two big tables, a play room for the kiddos, and plenty of sugary and salty snacks and scrapbooking turns into a girls day in. We've tried to do it once a week here at my home, which hasn't always happened, but we've been pretty good. And it gives me some much needed adult time! And I'm catching up on the past three years. Let's just say Jack is actually finally making an appearance in my scrapbooks! I have decided to go totally digital starting in 2011, so I'm doing my best to get the last 8 years all caught up with.

3) Projects. What would I be without several projects in progress??? There's the 2nd edition Tintle Girls Cookbook. There's the Thanksgiving Advent Calendar that I made last year... and am helping 4 of my friends make this year! (Yes, I'm insane, for those family members and friends who bailed me out last year.) There's the furniture projects... Craigslist, garage sale, and IKEA finds that with a little bit of paint will look a lot better than the real deal from the retail stores (at least, that's what I tell myself). There's the fundraiser... which Tyler and I (and the other boys) all did together. There's the random crafts... yarn wreaths, Halloween decor, treats for the neighbors. Wow-- looking at this list, I think I need to scale back! Maybe after the holidays...

4) Beautiful weather. I mentioned it before, but October has been spent outside! Forget homework, when my kids get home I shoo them all outside. And since Jack loves being outside, too, I join them all. Luckily several neighbor kids and neighbor moms come out to play and chat, so everyone has fun. Granted, that means that dinner is more often cold cereal or leftovers, but I can't pass up cool evenings after 100 days of hot, humid summer.

I'm sure there's a zillion more things I could mention, but I'll just leave this post with a few pics and a Halloween preview. Given Halloween is on a Sunday this year, I'm trying to hit several free Halloween parties where my kids can dress up, have fun, and get candy. And luckily there are lots of choices in my community!

My messy eater. He eats so much better when he feeds himself. And I don't mind the extra laundry.

Tyler's been reading Harry Potter lately. He just started #4. I went to wake him up for school one morning and found him like this. Apparently he had woken up early, but fell asleep again!

Watch out! Jack knows how to open the mascara now! I guess it's normal for kids to want to be like their parents... right??

Ah, my little stinker. Tyler would never wear this costume. Mason LOVES it.

What else would he be, now that he's reading the books?? Thank heaven for Ebay, where a Gryffindor robe, tie, and glasses only costs $18! Once again, priceless!

Mason's Surgery

2010-09-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

WARNING!!! I've put pictures here, so if you get queasy, don't scroll down!

On Tuesday, Mason had surgery on his eyes. But let me back up! I mentioned this in my last post, but in case you missed it, let me tell you what was wrong in the first place.

When Mason was two, we began to notice that one of his eyes was occasionally drifting toward his nose. I put off getting it checked until a few months before we left the military (had to take advantage of those great benefits!!!). Literally the day before we left Mountain Home we took Mason to an Opthomologist in Boise, who took one look at Mason and diagnosed him with "strabismus." We were told, much to our surprise, that he had really poor vision, and that essentially the brain had been "turning off" the muscles in his right eye because his vision wasn't working well enough (hence the drifting of his eye inward). We'd never noticed that he couldn't see things up close. I am either oblivious or he just adapted really, really well to the way he saw the world (since he was born with the poor vision!). Even now, when he's not wearing his glasses, I am amazed at how adaptable he is.

Somehow the Opthomologist was able to figure out a preliminary prescription (Mason couldn't exactly read the alphabet at age 2!) using something that looked like a thick, ladder-like glass ruler. Once we got to Texas we ordered him some glasses, and forgot about the drifting eye while we focused on adapting to a new life and new business for the next year.

Though Mason's vision improved, his drifting eye did not. Around May of this year I decided it was time to enlist the services of an opthomologist again, and we found Dr. Packwood at Pediatric Eye Specialists. Now that Mason was a little older, he was able to get a more accurate prescription for his glasses. He also started Mason on daily eye patches-- patching the good eye so that the bad eye would be forced to work. Apparently this corrects strabismus in 40% of cases, but Mason was not one of the lucky ones. After patching two hours a day for four months, it was time for surgery.

This past Tuesday was the big day! The surgery involved going behind the eye, snipping two muscles in each eye, and stitching them back together again to make his eyes straight. I don't know exactly how the doctor got behind his eye, but he explained that it was a fairly common and quick procedure. We tried explaining to Mason several times what "having surgery" means, but due to his age he just didn't get it. Ultimately, I explained he had a doctor appointment, that he was going to drink some medicine (Versed), have a little nap, and then wake up and we were done. He was calm, cool, and relaxed as if it was just another doctor appointment the whole time! He chilled on the hospital bed, took his meds with no fuss, woke up slowly with just a little nausea, then chilled at home with me for the rest of the day. When you compare this with my surgery experience with Tyler two years ago, Mason made surgery a piece of cake!

The only physical evidence that he had surgery (other than his now straight eyes!) is that his eyes are very bloodshot. It has gotten a little worse since surgery day (we're on day three), but the nurse said that was how it was going to be-- worse before better. Mason doesn't really notice a difference, and kindly shows his eyes to all curious (and concerned) people. I couldn't ask for a better kid to go thru all this!

He has a post-op on Monday, and then three months of waiting to see if his brain will go along with the new position of his eyes. 30% of people need a second or third surgery for the eyes to take, so needless to say we're hoping that he's in the majority that are fixed after one procedure!

I know many of you fasted and prayed with us that everything would go well, and so far so good! Thanks for all the blessings sent our way... we truly felt them. Thanks also to my awesome sister-in-law Susie, who added Jack to her family of 7 for a day so that I could focus on Mason. Thanks also to Grandma Trish, who sent Mason an awesome care package (that Tyler immediately took over... but Mason was willing to share). Thanks also to my neighbor and friend in my ward who shared their strabismus stories and helped me have a better idea what to expect from surgery.

As a little side story... I was in the waiting room (while Mason was in surgery) working on some business stuff on the laptop. I was trying to get a Wi-Fi connection, and went to the front desk for some technical help. When I went to walk back to my seat, someone said "Hi, Lindsey!" I wasn't expecting to know anyone there, so I was surprised to hear my name. There, in the waiting room, was a trainer/aerobics teacher from my gym. We've been very casual acquaintances for the last year. Most people would probably describe her as... a pit bull. She's a little, muscular, somewhat abrasive person. I personally think she's a great teacher and I know she's a good trainer. I know she's a hard worker, because she's always there. But I didn't know anything about her personally. You would think she was single with no kids. But there she was, sitting in the surgery waiting room, with a husband and 11-year-old son getting ready for his third eye surgery. My heart softened to see her, and although we didn't get a chance to talk in the waiting room (Mason was done with his surgery) I spoke with her today. We shared surgery stories and doctor experiences, frustrations and a few heartfelt words. It was so interesting to see this side of a person, a person that I had so many little preconceived notions about. It was cool to bond with someone that I already respected, but in a different way than at the gym. And it reminded me that we all have our personal struggles. Here's hoping it's the last surgery for her little man.

Happy Birthday Mason!

2010-09-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

On September 2nd, my middle boy turned 4.

Four years! They have FLOWN by. That might be because we've lived in three different states in those four years. It might be because I juggled an older boy in school and the coming of another baby after Mason. Nevertheless, here we are... four years after this fateful day:

This is my infamous "before picture." For reasons only a crazy person will now rationalize, Mark and I decided to take a trip to Chicago (7 hours away from our new home in Nebraska) for the labor day weekend. Our "crazy" rationalization for doing this? Mark was in a residency, and would have no other time for vacation while we were in Nebraska. Tyler had come two days early, so there was no reason a baby would come two weeks early. And honestly, had I not walked somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 miles that first day in Chicago, Mason might not have had the exciting birth story that he has today!

After waking up at 3 am in the hotel room with contractions, I woke up Tyler and Mark and we headed (tearfully, at least for me) to the nearest hospital where Mason was born a few short hours later. It was an amazingly easy, and calm birth, once we got over the nurses chastising us for leaving home two weeks before my due date.

There he is! Two weeks early and still nearly eight pounds. I remember looking at his little face and thinking it looked "deflated." If only I knew how full his cheeks were about to get!

At three months, Mason was a linebacker in the making. He was so chunky, everyone (I mean everyone) commented on his chubby face! I used to joke that his head was wider than it was tall. That certainly seemed the case for a while!

Mason was also born with a very sweet personality. I can honestly say for his first five months that I hardy heard a peep from him. I'm not sure what changed at five months... but for those of you who have heard his ear-piercing scream (literally, it hurts your ears!) that's when it started. From then on he was 90% sweet, 10% scream. If the scream would have been any larger of a percentage, I don't think I could have come thru his babyhood sane!

After a brief year in Nebraska, it was on to Mountain Home, Idaho. Mason, now one year old, was old enough to start wanting to be just like his older brother Tyler. Tyler was now excited, for the most part, to have a little brother that could play with him. Ty taught Mason to love all the things that he -- now a five year-old -- loved. That included Cars and Hot Wheels, Thomas the Train, make-believe with stuffed animals, and playing outdoors.

One thing Mark and I loved about Baby Mason was that he was a snuggler. Tyler, as a baby, was like a cat who didn't want to be held. Mason will put his head on your shoulder and just chill. Even now, he loves to just sit with Mom and Dad. So sweet!

It was also a relief to us that he wasn't as picky of an eater as Tyler was. He readily ate most foods, although if he heard Tyler say that something was "icky" then he wouldn't touch it either. Guess older brothers have more sway in that department than parents!

I love this picture! The boys would "help" while I shoveled our gargantuan driveway in Idaho. I didn't have "baby" snow clothes, so Mason wore a size 4 snow suit. He looks like Randy from "A Christmas Story!"

This is a picture from Easter, 2007. It was the first time Mason wore a tie to church! at 18 months he was in 3T clothes, which fit around the middle but not so much in the length.

Mason, like Tyler, was a binki boy. Until over the age of two, we never left home without having a binki for Mason (we'd literally turn around if we were 10 minutes up the road to get a binki to keep him calm!). After two, it was a bit of a struggle to break the habit... it was almost mom's crutch to keep him with a binki :) But leaving the binki behind was another step in growing up, which he was doing quickly. Of all my boys, Mason walked first, talked fastest, and yet loves being a kids. He's never tried to grow up too fast, and loves to just play play play and snuggle with his mom and dad.

Mason has always been a great traveller. In this picture, we were on the Oregon Coast. Mason was barely two, and he complained hardly at all to being in the car so long. This picture also was to show how much he loved trains, which of course, he got from Tyler.

Mason started Montessori school shortly before I had Jack, around age 27 months. It helped to calm down that "10% screaming" part of him for the six months he went to school. He loved his teachers, and it made us very sad that we had to move away from such a wonderful environment. We were also sad to leave his friends in Mountain Home! But our military commitment was done, and we moved on to a more permanent home in Fort Worth, Texas.

Mason definitely has the Angerbauer "stubborn" gene. When He gets something stuck in his mind, there is no talking him out of it! For Halloween 2009, I wanted Mason to be a skunk (I have a really nice costume that Tyler never wore). Mason had seen a bat costume on the cover of "Family Fun" magazine and was insistent that he be a bat. So, bat it was. And he LOVED it! He's even told me that he wants to be a bat this year... I still have that skunk costume, so we'll see!

Shortly before he turned 3, Mason was diagnosed with "strabismus." Basically, that means that his eyesight is so poor (at least in one eye) that the muscles have "turned off" so to speak, causing his eyes to drift. We'd noticed that his right eye was starting to drift inward, but didn't know it was because he was seeing poorly. The opthamologist gave us a glasses prescription, and he's been in glasses ever since! For the last few months, we've been patching his "good" eye (more like his "better" eye) to strengthen the muscles of his right eye, which hasn't worked all too well. Later this month he goes in for double eye surgery, where they will balance out the muscles behind his eye (snip here, tighten there) so that his eyes don't drift. I'm hoping he's one of the 70% who don't need a second surgery, but regardless, Mason has been a true trooper through the whole process.

Being the middle child is a bit of a challenge for Mason sometimes. He loves his brothers, but he's torn between doing grown-up things with Tyler (who has informed him that Dora is for girls, Diego and Sesame Street is for babies, and Pokemon, Legos, and Hot Wheels are for big kids) and "baby" things with Jack. I realized I wasn't being a great parent about a year ago when I realized Mason couldn't recognize his alphabet, so I've made a conscious effort since then to have more one-on-one time with my sweet second boy. There are days that are a challenge, but overall he is a loving, sensitive little man who brings so much joy to our family!

He wanted a "Lightning McQueen" party for his 4th birthday (ironically, so did Tyler when he turned 4!). He and I spent two hours decorating the cake, and I put up streamers and balloons to make his special day more special. At school (he is back in Montessori here in Texas), he celebrated with strawberries and blueberries (no sugar allowed). Then, by his request, we took him to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

The day after his birthday we had a party with his Angerbauer cousins. We had hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, played Wii sports, and let him open presents (all of which were car related, except for the clothes from Grandma). Mason was in heaven. He loves his cousins, and loved to have new toys to play with that were his.

I love you, buddy! I'm so proud to be your mom!

Vegas, Briefly

2010-09-02T13:53:00.001-07:00

There are not many two- or three- worded cities that you can call by just one name and everyone knows what you are talking about. You can't call Salt Lake City just "Salt" or "Lake." Even bigger cities don't work... the song wouldn't be the same if the words were "it's up to you York, York!" and though you can say "Angeles" someone from Texas might think you should add a "Port" rather than a "Los" on the front of that word. In fact, as I sit here, I can think of only one city that earns this distinction: Vegas. As in Vegas, Baby!

And Vegas, Baby was our destination last weekend!

Several months ago, Mark purchased a *very* expensive piece of dental equipment, and as a bonus, the company we bought it from included admission to a big dental conference to celebrate this machine's 25th anniversary in Vegas. Retrospectively, it's pretty crazy that a party is being thrown in a major way for a machine, but in dentistry, the development of this machine is equivalent to, say, the television! Not all dentists have one yet, but it's really cool and makes life a lot easier for docs that use it. The conference was held for three days at Caesar's Palace, and included days filled with continuing education classes for Mark and nights with entertainment and food that I could attend with him.

With my kids safely in the care of my sister-in-law and neighbor (who I owe big time!) Mark and I got to take this little get-away all on our own! I tell you, it's so nice to have an "adult" vacation :) So nice to have a few days of just doing what we want to do and rekindling our 11.5 year 0ld spark! By the middle of the second day, Mark started skipping classes and spent more time with me relaxing! No complaints here!

It's been 11.5 years since I've really been to Vegas. We honeymooned here, at Caesar's Palace, ironically! Back then, the Mirage, Bellagio, and Treasure Island were new and the biggest talk of the town. They were half-way done with the Paris hotel, and I think the Venetian and Palazzo were still just on some architect's drawing board. At the time, as well, Vegas was really trying to be more "family friendly" on the strip. How a decade changes a city! I hardly recognized the city, with the countless new hotels towering over the "big three" that I thought had been the pinnacle of cool. You can hardly even cross the street anymore... you have to climb up and down bridges and escalators to get from one block to the next. We actually stayed at Treasure Island, which is two hotels up from Caesar's (where the conference was). It took a good 30 minutes to walk from our room to the conference room! Crazy!

And don't even get me started on how non "family friendly" Vegas is any more. The "hot girls to your door in 20 minutes" mobile billboards roamed the strip all hours of day and night. And once dusk set in, the illegal aliens pedaling "Girls, girls, girls" porno descended en masse. Mark and I called walking the sidewalks in Vegas at night "running the gauntlet:" you can't look down, for all the scattered porn advertisements, you can't look up for the moving billboards and electronic signs advertising risque shows, and you can't walk straight ahead without avoiding the countless arms outstretched with seedy leaflets. Even the pirate show at Treasure Island has become the "scantily clad pole dancers seducing the Chippendale's dancer pirates" show. Sheesh.

If you can overlook all that (or at least tune it out as best as you can), Vegas is a fun town. Mark and I had a blast going from hotel to hotel, walking thru the beautiful lobbies and stores. Even people watching in Vegas is a sport! So many interesting people, and so many different languages to hear!

There were a few highlights of our trip. On Friday, my mom, dad, sister, and her little 6-week-old baby came to visit for the day! We got to go off the strip, eat good food, and have some great family time. (I miss you guys!!!) Our conference sponsored some great entertainment, including Rulon Gardner (Olympic Gold Medalist), Dennis Miller (a fave comic of ours), and some clean improv comedy. The cherry on the cake (beside the literal cherry at the Mirage buffet!) was the Cirque du Soleil show we forked out the big bucks to see. They have at least 6 Cirque shows in Vegas; we chose the newest one at the Wynn hotel, called "Le Reve." It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I could see it three more times. If you ever have the chance, go see it!!!

Our trip was just the right amount of time... three days and nights. It was good get back Texas, though, back to our kiddos! Here are some pics from our trip:

The view from our room at Treasure Island (we shmoozed the check-in lady into giving us a corner room!)

Our hotel during the day, as seen from the volcano at the Mirage:

Outside the theater where we saw La Reve. The Wynn is my new favorite hotel!

Inside the theater, before the show. It was a round theater, and the show was in the water, on a stage, in the air... awesomeness!

After the show, same theater:

The lobby of the Wynn. Like I said, I love this hotel! We're staying here next time!

Also the Wynn. It was built on the site of the old "Desert Inn Hotel," which was Frank Sinatra's old haunt. I'm sure the Sinatra restaurant Mark is standing in front of was in his memory!

The Venetian. Can't you tell?? Someday I'll go to the real Venice! p.s. I've discovered Gelato... how did I never have this before??

Mark had fun playing with the aperture and shutter speed on our camera. We sat on a bridge over the street and took pictures of the strip!

Here's Mark taking the pictures!

Grounded Is Good

2010-08-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

Another month of summer is gone, and I'm looking at one more week before Tyler starts 2nd grade. It's been a fun summer, and -- like lifting weights -- I've developed the muscle it takes to keep three very busy boys entertained, for the most part, for the entire summer. Keeping them happy all the time has been a bit of a challenge, and most of the tricks in my book are spent, but I've had fun and look forward to the "let down" of fewer kids at home. I can see myself now... "man, what do I only do with one kid? Where's Tyler to keep him entertained???"

Summers in Texas are H-O-T. I'm not complaining, though... I'll take a month of hot over 6 months of cold and snow. It's been over 100 degrees for 2-3 weeks now, which means it's even too hot to go to the pool most days. And that doesn't mean that it's too hot outside-- the pool water is so warm that it's not relaxing! When it doesn't get below 80 at night that happens :)

The heat is even giving me an excuse to not go running, which I must admit I'm not missing too much (yet). I tried running once at 6 am... it was so muggy already that my core body temperature kicked into overdrive before I hit my first mile. NO fun! Then a neighbor of mine asked if I wanted to run with her at 9 pm, so I gave it a try last week. I got the kids all in bed and wore my most sweat-wicking workout clothes. It wasn't as bad as the morning... though running at night means no shade! It was still a little too warm for my taste, and I admit freely that through the five mile run I purposely ran straight into every sprinkler that was on (which was a lot... I was soaked when I got home!).

If memory serves me right, the heat should only last this intensely for another 2-3 weeks. We moved here about this time last year, and once school had been in session for a bit it the heat started to mellow out.

WOW... a YEAR! A year in Texas, a year in the place we intend on being "home" for probably the rest of our lives. It's been a trying year, but we've made it over the first several of the many hills we'll have to climb up tooth and nail. It feels good to say that we're past this time period. It's like making it through dental school again... a feat I don't wish on anyone! And unless you've been there, you have no idea how intense it is. There was never a better analogy than calling some of life's experiences the "refiner's fire," for we feel refined (and happy to be out of the fire!).

A year means that my boys are a year older! Tyler is looking forward to turning 8 in November and getting baptized. Mason is excited to start Montessori school in September. We loved the Montessori environment for Tyler, and know that Mason will thrive there. Jack turns 18 months old on September 4th, which means that he's in Nursery (hooray!). It also means that he should be passing some serious milestones, like learning to walk.

Don't let this picture deceive you... Jack is stubbornly NOT walking yet. Not. Even. Close. Oh, he will tease me by occasionally standing up on his own out of nowhere, but two seconds later he'll fall down and laugh, like he's done a cool little trick. I'm working with him, encouraging him to stand more and try to take some steps. Unfortunately, like all Angerbauers, he will decide when he wants to to learn how to walk. I'm crossing my fingers that it's before Nursery in three Sundays, but I'm not holding out much hope *sigh*.

So you're probably wondering why I called this post "Grounded Is Good." It brings me to some events that have occurred in our home recently, events that are trying but for the better. Before I begin, I want to make one note: I have great kids. Compared to some, we have relatively few problems, and ones that we can easily deal with. Tyler, in particular, has such a good heart. But, as he's getting older, he's been going thru what I call "experimentation." I guess that's code for "seeing what he can get away with!"

We make an effort to do a lot of fun family activities, and this summer we've been to the Circus and been to Sea World, among countless trips to the pool and family games and other, more low-key activities. I generally try to keep TV/Wii restricted as much as possible during the summer (well, all year 'round, to be honest) to keep the at-home fun things still a privilege like the bigger things we do. For the last few weeks, Tyler has been complaining that he's "bored" and "there's nothing to do." (Man, he's starting the teenage rant a little early!) These complaints usually come after I deny his request to play the Wii or watch TV. I've been trying and trying to find other, non-electronic things to do to keep him entertained, but lately he's been doing a lot of moping.

Then, last week, he made two choices that were the last straw for me. First, he snuck my iPhone into bed with him and stayed up until past 11 playing games. Then, when I needed a 20 minute nap mid-day, I asked him to keep it quiet and Mason entertained. When I came out of my room he'd rented-- all on his own, with no asking-- a $4.99 on-demand movie. WOW. The kid is sneaky, and has guts (as though I wouldn't have found out!). I took him straight down to daddy's work, because I didn't want to lose my temper and do something I would regret :). All this, combined with the whines, had me ready to lock him in his room until school started.

Mark and I decided that, for the first true time, Tyler was grounded. No TV, no Wii, no computer, no friends, no pool, no treats... he would have to find other things to keep himself entertained for the last two weeks of summer. Upon the announcement, he cried and wailed in himself to sleep! I prepared myself for continued moping for the next several days. What happened, however, was a miracle. He *played.* All those toys, books, and activities that were previously "boring" he did without one whine. No complaining that he couldn't watch a show, just acceptance that that was the way it was going to be. And it's been AWESOME to have that Tyler back. It makes me want to pack away the Wii and TV for good.

He's had a few hiccups in the last week, however; he's snuck TV or a computer game here and there the first few days. He even tried bringing the whines back, but he picked the wrong day... it was Saturday morning, and dad was home. Mark immediately put Tyler to work, outside, in the yard. What was going to be a relaxing day turned out to be digging, picking weeds, cleaning, and other activities in the summer morning heat. We took a little hiatus in the afternoon when it was too hot (105!!!) and then picked it back up again about 6 pm. Though he pouted for the first 30 minutes or so, by the end of the day he was pitching in *almost* as good as an adult.

I guess the moral of the story is, grounded, for us, has been good! Tyler is behaving about as good as you can expect from an energetic, oldest brother boy. And our family is much happier! Is it all because of no TV? Probably partly. But the grounding got us all playing and working a lot more that we had been, and that is where the best, most lasting happiness comes from.

Six Weeks of Summer

2010-07-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

It's been several weeks since my last post... I thought that there wasn't much to report, but then I looked in my pictures and founds there were several highlights that I hadn't posted!

So much of my year, especially spring/early summer, was consumed with preparing for my race. While I am sad/relieved that it's over, I think I would love to do another one! But for my family's sake, I'm giving that a rest. The rest of the summer is all about family, family, family!

Speaking of, it wasn't just my family that I visited in Utah. Mark's dad and a few of his brothers live in Utah, so we made it a point to visit Grandpa A and some Angerbauer cousins several times. The pictures below are from our first visit to Grandpa A's house. Mason just went and snuggled with Grandpa, while Jack crawled around and Tyler searched vainly for toys. Grandpa and Mason listened to me play the piano for a while, and it was sweet to watch how loving Mason was to Grandpa. My father-in-law turned 90 in May, so each visit like this is precious. He still lives on his own in Holladay, although Mark's brother lives around the corner and does frequent check-ups. He still cooks a lot of his own food, and has a big sweet tooth! He's always offering us "chocolates," which are chocolate-covered almonds that he makes himself. The next picture is of Jack sucking the chocolate off of all the rest of the goodies Grandpa had, and loving every lick of it!

Then there are the Tintle cousins! As Tyler is the oldest of the Tintle cousins, there aren't as many but they are still a lot of fun. His "best friend" cousin is Harrison, who is 6 months younger. They get along great and we tried as best we could to get the boys together for as many play dates/sleepovers as possible while we were in town. Harrison even got to take a trip to St. George with the boys, myself, and my parents, which was a treat! All the other cousins were so much fun for my kids to play with, too. Cousins are something we've really really miss being in Texas.

For Father's Day we all got together at a park in Bountiful for yummy desserts and a few presents. It seems like all the adult holidays now are more about family, and then letting the kids help you open your gift. You can see how much my dad enjoyed the boys helping him!

Last year my parents invested in a hot tub for their backyard. Yea! We as their children had only been trying to convince them they should get one for the last several YEARS! It's a lot of work keeping the chemicals "balanced" (especially after a tub full of germ-riddled kids takes a soak!), but I think my parents have enjoyed the purchase. Tyler begged EVERY night to go "swimming in the hot pool." We did it several nights... especially just us adults after the kiddos went to sleep. SO relaxing! Especially when you can just soak and look at the stars and have good conversation. Of course, this wouldn't work in Texas because it doesn't cool down enough at night that sitting in a hot tub of water would be relaxing, but in Alpine, Utah it was perfect!

I don't have pictures, but my parents (as I mentioned earlier) took us to St. George while I was there. They bought a condo in Green Valley a few months ago and MAN is it beautiful! They've done a great job of making it decorated just right and yet make you comfortable to just veg while you're there. Their unit overlooks a golf course, and it's just breathtaking. We had fun swimming, hiking, and even catching a Broadway-quality show ("Tarzan" the musical) at the Tuacahn theater while we were there. So fun! I definitely want to go back as soon as I can... maybe without kids, though, so I can really relax!

Almost four weeks after I got to Utah, Mark was finally able to join me. He flew in the night before my birthday. After such a long separation, it was relieving/wonderful/exciting to have him back. For my birthday, he took me, my sister Tiffany, and my sister Hayley and her hubby Jake to the Roof restaurant. Like I said... it's about family, even my birthday! Better spent with the people I love! We had a great time :) and SO nice to be reunited!

Since being in Utah was Mark's first "vacation" in a long time (yes, business has been that busy!) we tried to make his short time there lots of fun. We went to Heber and ate at the Dairy Keen (our favorite train-themed dive) and then on to Park City where we rode the Alpine Slide several times. Mason and Tyler were a bit scared, but after their first time down they wanted to go and go and go! We also helped celebrate Mark's brother's birthday with a yummy chocolate cake from Magleby's.

With 4th of July on a Sunday (and also the day we flew home), we did a little celebrating on our own on the 3rd. My sister Tiffany and her family and my parents joined us for breakfast up Provo Canyon. I brought some food and then we cooked some good ol' breakfast burritos on the portable grill. The kids had fun playing at the parks and throwing rocks into the stream.

The night of the 3rd we went with my parents, brother Darren, and his wife Heather to the Stadium of Fire in Provo. It was cool! I love things that are patriotic, and it didn't disappoint (other than the fact that the music stopped working during the fireworks show). We got to see Carrie Underwood perform, which was fun. I don't know a lot of her music, but she was very talented and entertaining. Almost more entertaining were the 10ish-year-old girls that sat behind us who knew every word to her songs :)

It was sad to leave everyone after such a fun month. It's hard knowing that it will be at least a year before we see them again! :( But, as we keep reminding ourselves, we chose Texas (or did Texas chose us?) as the best place for our family and our business to succeed, and so far it has not let us down. Although it is no fun being back in the scorching heat and humidity, that's balanced out by being able to hang out with our friends, do a lot of swimming, and keep working at making our business better. Most of July has been spent doing all that... and getting my house back in order after a long absence! I was even crazy enough to paint my bedroom as well, which is not so crazy now that I think about it because I love the color which means I now love being in my room. I'm not quite done decorating, though (that will wait until the kids are back in school), but it's a ton better than just beige on beige.

Another plus about being home is that we now have family here! Mark's brother Jeff and his family moved to Texas in June. I should say moved *back* to Texas... they lived here before, but tried Utah (and owning a small business) for two years before realizing that the promised land was really here! I say that tongue-in-cheek, of course, but needless to say we're so excited to have them here. Though it's a solid 30 minutes to their house, we've been up numerous times to swim, play, and share meals. What a treat!

This last weekend, Mark had scheduled a 2-day training class (Friday-Saturday) for some dental equipment that he just bought. A few days beforehand, however, the class was cancelled. It was too late to get enough patients scheduled to make going to work on Friday profitable, so we packed up the kiddos and went to San Antonio instead! It's always fun to go back to our old stomping grounds. Our visit, of course, included an afternoon at the San Marcos outlets (I spent less than $30... a feat in itself!) and a stay at a hotel with a pool.

We also tried some new eateries. During the winter, Mark and I got hooked on a show called "Man Vs. Food" on the Travel Channel, and one episode featured the guy going to Austin and another to San Antonio. We hit two of the spots he went to (though we planned more!). One was called "Round Rock Donuts", which was home to a HUGE donut bigger than Mark's head! We finished less than half of it (it doesn't help that Mark's on Atkins and only took a small bite!), but our kids, who love donuts, were in heaven. I forgot my camera card, so I didn't get a picture. Trust me, it was quite a site! I'll have to take my dad there!

We surprised our kids on Saturday with a trip to Sea World, courtesy of our once-a-year free ticket from the Military. Going to Sea World with 3 kids under 8 is a whole different experience than when we lived there with one 3-year-old. Before, we'd hit all the rides and a few shows, crash at the pool and waterslides for a bit, then hit the rides again (back then we had season passes, too, so we didn't have to squeeze too much into one day!). This time, it was the water park for half the time, then the kids were so exhausted we simply dragged them to 2-3 shows before they had thoroughly worn themselves (and us) out. It was still so much fun, though! You can see by the pictures that we had a great (and tiring) day. It was all topped off by a trip to Rudy's, our FAVORITE BBQ place in Texas. I would eat there twice a week if I could!

Our original plan was to relax on Sunday and get home in the early afternoon, but Mark woke up early and felt impressed that we needed to be back for 2-o'clock church. So we packed up the groggy boys and hit the road. We still needed breakfast, so we stopped at Man Vs. Food dive #2: "Juan in a Million" in Austin. The place was a MADHOUSE! They are famous for their humongous breakfast burritos at a reasonable price. When I opened mine, I realized why they gave me three extra tortillas to eat it with! Needless to say, I only ate about 1/3 of my burrito. It was yummy! On the TV show the guy ate 4.5 of these monsters in one sitting. The record is SEVEN in one sitting! Crazy.

We made it home after a 5 hour drive and made it to church only 30 minutes late. Turns out it was good we were there... a lot of teachers were gone, and Mark ended up teaching two Sunday School classes and I subbed in Nursery. Don't know if that's why he was impressed we needed to be back, but it was a good enough reason!

School starts August 24th. Another month! If I don't post before then, you can fill in the blanks with any of the following: *swimming *playing with friends *going to the library, a Museum, or the Zoo *hanging with cousins *maybe the circus!

One last word, and it's about the circus... after going to the library shortly after we got back, Tyler found out he could win a free circus ticket if he read for 24 hours this summer. Only problem... he had to do it before the end of the Summer Reading Program, which at the time was less than 2 weeks away! The morning we got up to leave for San Antonio he woke up at 6 and read until 8 to get his last two hours in. We stopped at the library before heading south and he got his circus Ticket. Way to go Tyler!!! Nothing like a little motivation to get him to keep up his school skills during the summer!

THE Race!

2010-06-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

Now that it's been a little over a week since I ran the Wasatch Back, I think I am recovered enough to finally blog about it!

One of the fun parts of the Ragnar (another name for the Wasatch Back) is that all teams are encouraged to have some sort of "costume" and to decorate their cars. A few days before the race, my sister Tiffany (due with baby #2 any day!), sis-in-law Annie (baby #4 due at the end of August), cousin Emily, and myself met at a park and painted up our cars as crazy as we could. We taped off diagonal stripes, painted them white and red, painted some running "Nutter Butters" (our team name: Nutter Butter Runners), and added a few choice phrases ("Go Schmo!") on the two Sequoias that would be our Race vehicles. Of the 1000+ cars there, ours were two of the best looking, or at least, most decorated!!!

I was runner #1, which meant that I ran first, thirteenth, and twenty-fifth (our team had 12 total runners) of thirty-six legs. I began our team at 10am Friday morning (7.4 miles), ran my second leg at 8:30 pm Friday night (8.5 miles), and ran my third and final leg at about 8am Saturday morning (5.1 miles). Yes, that means that we ran all through the night... 33+ hours straight. Oh, and if you add up my mileage, that was 21 miles in under 24 hours. It was the most mileage of anyone on our team, although I didn't have the most difficult legs... some of my teammates had legs all uphill. Yuck! At night we were required to wear reflective vests, headlamps, and flashing rear-lights to be safe. Here is a picture of my half of the team (those in my car, who ran the first six legs): me, cousin Emily, uncle Mike, brother Jason, cousin Heather.

There are so many stories I could share from this race! There was so much camaraderie among my team, encouraged by the fact that you're in the car for so long together, getting very little sleep, eating energy bars and drinking Gatorade, talking about our lives, laughing at stupid things at 2am, driving only two miles at a time so you can jump out and cheer for the current runner on your team along, sharing pre-run butterflies and post-run exhaustion, and being there at everyone's finish line to pat them on the back and let them know what an awesome job they did.

Here's our team at the finish line, all wearing our "costumes."

L-R:

Runner 6: cousin-in-law Steve Pearmain. He was a FAST runner, and inspired us all! As a PA, we all relied on him to ice our sore limbs and provide us some fast ibuprofen.

Runner 4: Emily Griffiths, my cousin. She was so nervous but did GREAT!

Runner 9: my bro-in-law, Phillip Packer. When one of our runners had to drop out a week for the race, he gave his "easy" legs to our new runner and took some of the hardest (and longest) legs of the whole race. He ROCKS!

(crouching) Runner 3: my cousin Heather Pearmain. She began running three years ago and can run laps around me! It helps that she weighs *maybe* 100 lbs! She, like her husband, was a Speedy Gonzalez and ran an inspiring third leg uphill that was tough!

Runner 8: Kyle Castle, my sister Hayley's bro-in-law. I didn't get to be in his van, but he looked like the life of the party!

Runner 10: Kyle's wife Jill Castle. She ran the "ragnar," or hardest leg of the entire race. It was four miles straight uphill, running up a total of over 1400 feet. CRAZY and she did awesome!

Runner 12 (behind Jill): My sister Hayley. All of her legs were uphill. She had the glory (and the pain) of running the last leg, meaning she had the MOST waiting! I heard she did great.

Runner 11: My brother Darren. Trained HARD ran AWESOME. He was the most emotional at the end, shedding the tears that we all felt at having completed something so taxing and so fulfilling. Way to go Dar!

Runner 1: Me.

Runner 5: My brother Jason. Our hero for organizing this whole thing! Also my hero for running his first leg 7.4 miles ALL uphill on a dirt road. Thanks, Jason, for everything.

(hiding behind Jason) Runner 7: my Aunt Sallie. For never being a runner, she proved that TINTLEs CAN RUN!

Runner 2: Uncle Mike. Another Hero, for running with our team with two days notice, a bum knee, and a cheery attitude. He was our miracle... half-way through his first leg, his knee "popped" and felt better than it has for a year! Thanks, uncle Mike, for filling in and helping our team!

A big thanks also to my mom, sister Tiffany and sister-in-law Heather for watching my Boys for two days while I ran for two days. They couldn't have been in better hands, and I appreciate your service. It was great to have the boys there at the finish line!

One last shout out goes to my dad... he drove the second vehicle, which meant that he drove all night with the other half of our team. He is such a good sport. I love you, daddy-o!

So, if you asked me today, I don't know that I'd want to do this race again. Ask me in a month, and I might. It was a life-altering experience, one that can't adequately be explained... you just have to DO it. The hardest part for me was running at such a high altitude compared to Texas... but rumor has it they are bringing a Ragnar to Texas, in which case I will had NO excuse to run one again in the future!

I fixed my blog!

2010-06-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

Doesn't it look a lot better? I just used the new blogger template designer. I would like to do it more custom, but hey, anything is better than the winter-mixed-with-halloween design that I lazily left on there for far too long!

Meet the Team!

2010-06-15T07:29:00.001-07:00

Hi All!

I'm in Utah for the month of June, getting ready for the big race! Have I mentioned my race? It's called the "Wasatch Back" (part of the "Ragnar" series) and it's seriously insane. I am part of a 12-man team that runs a total of 188-point-something miles from Logan, UT to Park City, UT. If you know where those places are, you know that it's basically running up and down hills for 188 miles! The race goes thru the night, relaying from one runner to another until the end. I've been training for this insanity since January, and I'm anxious for the race!

Since the race is this upcoming Friday/Saturday, I came to Utah 10 days early to acclimate to the elevation, which is not an easy thing to do. The first day I ran here I felt like a brick... like I wasn't getting any oxygen to my muscles. Since then things have gotten steadily better, but I still have a hard time with hills (something I attribute still to the lack of oxygen, as I was doing hills fine in Texas). Luckily, my three legs of this race are mostly slightly rolling hills, flat, or seriously downhill. I have a total of 21 miles in 20 hours, so wish me luck!

Our team (minus my sis and her husband) met for a party at my brother's house in Layton on Saturday. (Get this... we were supposed to meet at a park, but it was rainy and 50 degrees! In JUNE!) It was fun, as this was the only time we were all together. The runners are: Steve and Heather Pearmain (she's my cousin and he's her husband), Kyle and Jill Castle (my sister's brother and sister-in-law), Sallie Petersen (my aunt), Emily Griffiths (my cousin), Phillip Packer (my bro-in-law), Hayley and Jake Castle (not pictured, my sis and her husband), Darren and Jason Tintle (my brothers), and ME. We were told to "look like we were running" in that top picture... a little cheesy, but indicative of the fun night we had at the party!

While not running, we've been hanging out with cousins (my boys' cousins, that is). We went to Hogle Zoo with my Sister and Niece, Tiffany and Jane, last monday. Tyler has since concluded that he wants a sister, preferably one to replace Mason. Sorry guys, is wasn't in the genes!

Cute cousins. Anyways, I probably won't blog again until after the race... wish me luck!

Memorial Day Weekend in Pictures

2010-06-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

Ahhh... the first long weekend of Summer! It was pretty laid back and lazy. Perfect!

We watched our neighbor's dog while their family went camping for the weekend. Jinx is a very patient, easy-going dog, luckily! Jack LOVED having him over, as we have NO pets. He kept saying "Dah Dah" for dog whenever he saw Jinx. And did I mention that this dog is patient? You can see him just taking it all when Jack mauled him with love.

It was a hot weekend (95 each day!) so I pulled out the hose at least once. Mason and Jack played in the front yard with our neighbor's water activity table and our "roller coaster"... a mini plastic ride I got for $20 at a garage sale earlier this year (a total hit even with kids who barely fit on it any more!). Tyler preferred the sophistication of his friend's slip-n-slide; that is, until some of those friends started throwing mud :) Mason was very sad I didn't let him play with the big kids... he's in such a hurry to be able to do everything that Tyler (who is nearly 4 years older) does.

Saturday was a yard day (yee haw). Nothing like mowing the yard in the Texas heat! Mark and I caught a break when a friend from the ward offered to watch the kiddos for a few hours so we could sneak away to the movies! We saw "Robin Hood" with Russell Crowe. It was enjoyable and entertaining... but nothing *hugely* special. The special part about it was that we were sans kiddos!

On Sunday we were invited to a friend in the ward's house for dinner. The wife is from Japan, and made us "sukiyaki." Man, I am in heaven! It was like the Japanese "Melting Pot" for dinner! I'm going to try recreating this meal at home... and for my Utah family, look out! Good eats are a-comin'!

Monday started off with no plans. We're still not used to having Mark home on Saturdays, let alone not working for a whole three day weekend! So after breakfast, we decided it was time to plan something to do. I suggested a trip to the Dinosaur State Park about an hour away, and everyone was all for it! I should have done some more research beforehand, though, because we arrived at the park woefully unprepared. The park is famous for it's fossilized dinosaur tracks, which all happen to be located in the bed of a river. I thought we'd be doing some gentle wading, but turns out it was all more of an old-fashioned swimming hole experience! The river was as warm as a pool, which was great. But Mark didn't wear a swimsuit and we didn't bring anything to eat, so our time there was shorter and a little less fun than it could have been. Regardless, the kids and I had fun swimming while Mark waded in the shallow end. We found a few tracks and looked for fossils in the river rocks.

The state park is located outside of the little town of Glen Rose, which is at the north end of the Texas hill country (which is to say, the middle of nowhere!). Once we pulled the kiddos out of the water, they were all starving. Since we'd brought no food, I thought we would be relegated to one of the few fast-food places in the small town. Driving thru, though, we spied a local BBQ joint and stopped so that Mark could get an Atkins-friendly meal (quick update... Mark is now 30 lbs down! Way to go baby!). We pulled up and there were about 10 tattooed, leather-clad, Harley-driving, cigarette-smoking dudes (and dudettes) hanging around the outside. We looked very, um, clean and slightly out of place parked next to them. Mark went in to order a plate, but quickly came out and suggested we all go in and eat. Turns out the bikers had good taste, because this was some seriously yummy BBQ in a very Texas little place!

What BBQ place would be complete without a huge Texas flag on the wall? And another wall plastered with old license plates? Or eating on picnic tables inside?

Or soft drinks that came in Mason Jars???

Mmm... Mark and I each ordered a three-meat meal. Ribs, chopped, brisket, sausage, turkey... it was so good! (I took this picture with the "food" setting on my new camera... I had to have an excuse to take a picture of the food!)

Our kids (and ourselves) were thoroughly worn-out after our trip to the state park! This always makes for a generally relaxing afternoon... since the kiddos fell asleep! So did I, in the car at least. To top off a fun weekend, we picnicked our BBQ leftovers in the front room and watched the original "Star Wars" with the boys... their first time seeing the movie. Mason liked it so much he was begging to watch it again this morning! Tyler kept asking how General Grevious fit into the picture (darn those cheesy first three episodes!), and Mason keeps referring to the movie as "Star Burst."

Now it's Tuesday, and I'm back in the saddle again-- at least for the next 5 days. Tyler's last day of school is Friday, and then on Sunday the boys and I --without Mark :(-- leave for Utah for the rest of the month. I'm running the crazy Wasatch Back relay on June 18-19! Woot woot! Mark joins us for my birthday/4th of July weekend. He keeps talking about all the things he'll get done while we're gone... I'm sure laundry and dishes aren't one of them *wink wink*!!!

When I'm Not Looking

2010-05-26T14:26:00.001-07:00

For anyone who knows my little Jack, they know that he is a very, very good baby. He has a very sweet, patient disposition and is always very happy. Of course he has his baby moments... when he's over-tired, hungry, mad at his brothers, etc, but in general, he's my best baby! One thing that really tries me with Jack, though, is that he gets into EVERYTHING. Any drawer, tabletop, cupboard, or flat surface that he can open or pull himself up to, he will empty out all it's contents and move on to the next thing he can destroy. In fact, for fun, I call him "Mr. Destructo." I've never had to baby-proof a house before, but with Jack all glass, chemicals, and things I don't want in his mouth or spread all over the floor I have out of his reach.

Yesterday, while doing some business on the computer, Jack crawled in and settled under my feet. I don't like him under the desk (too many cords) so after about a minute or so I peeked down to grab him out and saw THIS...

Oh yes, that is a happy face. Jack had managed to find the ONE non-washable Crayola marker in my whole house (how it got on my floor I have no idea) and was pretty much sucking all the ink out. Of course, he was smiling through the whole thing. Like "look mom! I found something really cool to chew on!" Luckily I had my wits about me enough to pull out the camera. I let him chew for another minute or so, then took the marker away and prepared to wash.

He did not like that.

Who does like soap in their mouth, though?

I couldn't get all the black out of his mouth, despite brushing with my Sonicare. Luckily he either drank, drooled, or ate it all out by the time Mark got home. Mark didn't even know it had happened until I showed him the incriminating pictures!

And you should have seen the diapers... no, not black, but a really deep blue-green poop. Ewww. I almost saved one to show, but I'm not that sick. *wink wink*

Running Club Awards

2010-05-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that the school year is nearly done! First grade has flown by, for me anyways! Tyler has had a fun year (albeit sorta easy) in school. He's very social, but from what's been reported to me, a very respectful student. He hadn't missed a day of school until this week, when a flu bug kept him down. He's better now, and luckily just in time-- the Running Club awards party was on Wednesday!

Running Club is an extra-curricular Tyler's school has every Wednesday (or most... it was shut down the beginning of the year for too hot and after Christmas for too cold). Being the "runner" that I am, I encouraged Tyler to join, and he was happy to do it... until the first Running Club. They set up a "track" in the field behind the school and had the kids warm up and stretch and then "run" for about 40 minutes. I think Tyler ran the first lap, said "this is too hard!" and was ready to quit. That was the same story for most of the kids (the school is K-4th grade), who walked more than they ran most weeks. Mark and I continually got him more motivated to run, and I would bring "running pills" (M&Ms or the like), water, and would cheer him on. Once he was able to complete an entire 5K in the time allotted. He hovered mostly around 2 miles per time.

At our last running club, Tyler passed the 25 mile mark. We were impressed! So when it came time for the awards ceremony, I was sure he'd get recognized. I wasn't prepared for him to get recognized three times! He got a participation award, a "Marathon Club" award (since his total was over 25... he ran 27 total all year), and was the top 1st grade runner! Way to go Tyler! He was very excited to get the "awards"... a shoe on a necklace and a water bottle. He's been envying his friend's sports trophies, so now he has an award to call his own. Although, I had to convince him that running is a sport... he thought that a sport had to have a ball!

As a side note, I'm sad that I didn't sign Mason up as a "preschool runner" in the Running Club. He ran at least a mile every week, and not ONCE did he complain. Wish I could say that about his older brother! There's always next year, I guess.

Tyler and two LDS friends Blake and Gavin, also in the first grade (and our ward).

He was so excited for his third award, that he ran onto the stage with his friends cheering him on.

101 Posts!

2010-05-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

Wow... just realized that this was my 101st post! I know I don't blog a lot, but I didn't know that I'd actually hit that mark. I guess 33 or so posts a year is pretty good! :)

This weekend was the Primary Talent Show in our ward. Tyler practiced his song all week on the piano, and did a great job! Mark and I have been teaching him since Christmas, and he seems to have a real knack for it. He's almost through his second book, and he's always begging for more! In fact, I have to tell him to STOP playing the piano and go outside and play with friends sometimes. Hmmm... I wonder where he got that???

Mason's talent was to sing the theme song from "Thomas the Train." I had him wear the Thomas costume (he was too happy to oblige!). It was cute, and I was proud of him for having zero stage fright. Just like his brother... when Tyler was in Sunbeams in Omaha, I had him do the same talent in the same costume at that Primary Talent Show! I'm so un-original these days.

Mark and I have been feeling a little stir crazy, so he surprised the family with an overnight trip to "Great Wolf Lodge." If you don't know what that is, you're missing out (or just don't live by one!). It's a giant kid-themed hotel with a huge indoor/outdoor waterpark (including waterslides, wave pool, kiddie play area, and the like). Three years ago we went to the GWL in Kansas City when we vacationed there, and Tyler has never forgotten it! This time didn't disappoint. The GWL in Grapevine (a mere 20 minutes away) was bigger and nicer than the one in Kansas City, and we had a blast! We surprised our kids and took them there after the talent show Friday night. We got there at 7:30 and hit the water park until it closed at 9. We were back in the water at 9:15 the next morning and stayed until we were worn out, which was around 2pm. And we were seriously worn out... everyone (except Mason, who slept in a chair at the water park) came home and slept for 2 hours! What a fun "stay-cation," that really made us feel like we vacationed far from home for the weekend.

Here are some pictures from this weekend:

You boarded the water slides inside and they went outside... pretty cool! The kids were excited!

We had watched an "Extreme Water Parks" documentary on the Travel Channel a few weeks ago, so Tyler knew exactly what this ride (the Tornado) was. He vowed he wouldn't ride it until it was the very last ride of our stay... even bribing him with a new Pokemon magazine didn't sway him! He did ride it at the end... whimpering all the way... with his daddy.

Day 2 of the water park... Jack loved the water, but staying up until 10pm the night before made for a very tired boy the next day!

Fun Mother's Day Weekend

2010-05-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

As Mother's Day weekend goes, we generally try to have a lot of fun. A few years ago when it was just Mason, Jack, Mark, and I, we went to Kansas City to the Church Historical sites there and even stayed a night at Great Wolf Lodge (Tyler still talks about that!). This year we found ourselves hanging out at home, which is a treat mostly because for the last two years in Idaho Mark always worked on Saturdays in Boise so we had no free time together as a family to do fun things. I spent the morning finishing some yard updates (I keep it simple because it's a rental... a row of new flowers here, some new dark mulch there) and straightening the house. Mark took the boys for haircuts and took Tyler to hit a bucket of balls with his new golf clubs (new to us, they were $20 at a garage sale last month!).

We spent the early afternoon doing something *I* wanted to do, which was to go to several model homes in Keller and Southlake (neighboring towns) so I could dream about the house I will build someday (hopefully in the next year or so!). I fell in love with several; the kids would go into each house and say "I want to move here!" Yep, baby, if you have several hundred thousand dollars to spend on a house, these were great. I love what you can get for your money in Texas. We're hoping for a 1/2 acre somewhere with trees, a neighborhood, and access to a pool. I hope that's not too much to ask! For now, we're happy in the rental and in the ward.

On Saturday night we went to our first Texas Rangers baseball game (they are the local professional team... American League, so I don't feel bad rooting for them and not the Dodgers). We sat in the nosebleeds above home base, which were better seats than I thought. Steep and narrow, but not crowded so there was room for our kids to be wiggly. Tyler was enthralled with the game for at least the first few innings, and I impressed him with my baseball knowledge (thanks to my Dad). I was hoping our kids would last for the fireworks after the game, but as Mason had had no nap and Jack only slept briefly in the morning, it was time to go home after the 7th inning. I'm not complaining, though... we avoided all the post-game traffic! It was a blast, and a relatively inexpensive evening to spend with the fam.

On Sunday, I was up at 6:30 to run. This was actually sleeping in for me, as I usually wake up at 5:30 on running days! The temperature was in the low 50s with occasional sprinkles... PERFECT for a 9-10 miler. It was a great run, and I came home to hot French toast on homemade bread with homemade syrup. YUM! Thanks to Mark for that treat!

The rest of the day was good... relaxing, playing with the kiddos, a nice long shower, church. Though we usually don't do this, I had Mark treat me and the boys to dinner at Babe's, an awesome "Texas-style" restaurant. Biscuits, honey, salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed corn, chicken fried steak, and fried chicken. Mm-mm-mm.

My special present for mother's day (for my birthday, too, Mark told me) was something I've really been wanting... a new camera! I let Mark do all the research and choose which one to get, and he picked a great one! Our previous nice camera, a Canon Rebel, is being used in the dental office for before/after photos, etc., so I've only had an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera at home. Mark really came through, though... he got me a Nikon D5000!!! Mark and I had fun taking some sample photos on the auto setting, and watched a DVD about some other cool features after the kids went to bed. Hopefully I will now post a lot more pictures, because I'll actually be taking some (with a MUCH better camera!).

Here are some pictures from the weekend. The first are from the game... taken with Mark's cell phone camera. Compare that with the random pictures I'm posting that I took with the D5000... no comparison!

I keep wondering when Tyler's top teeth are going to come in... his smile is so toothless right now!

Here's one for my mom... she loves Mason in his glasses!

Who's that hottie??? Oh yeah, just me. I'm feeling good because I've finally fit into this blue skirt that Mark bought me over a year ago. One thing that running 30 miles a week will do is to slowly help you lose weight! I've lost 9lbs since January (or since last March when I had Jack, really, but I've been trying hard since January).

Jack loves the camera. Or should I say, loves the flashing light! I can't get him to hold still whenever I pull a camera out... he wants to be as close to the camera in hopes of being able to touch it!

Three Fun Weekends

2010-03-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

Over the last month or so, we've been trying to plan fun things to do with our kids on Saturdays. We have to plan... otherwise Saturdays (at least until it gets consistently warmer!) are spent puttering around the house and not getting much of anything done.

The first two weekends were filled with trains! Tyler's a little old for some of the train stuff we do, but as much as we invested in train stuff when he was younger, we're determined to keep the love of trains alive!

Several weekends ago we discovered that Thomas the Train was visiting in a town about 20 minutes away. We've been to "Day Out With Thomas" twice before... I think Tyler was 4 and 5 each time. I remember the first time... when it was time to leave (after being there 2 hours) Tyler was devastated and screamed all the way to the car. The next year Mason screamed when it was time to go. Since then, Tyler (and therefore, Mason) has gradually lost his "obsession" for trains in lieu of everything Pokemon. Regardless, we knew they would have fun and it would be novel for Jack (as much as he understands things at 12 months, anyways).

We decided not to fork over the $15+ per tickets to ride "Thomas," but opted instead to do many of the activities that were at the train yard. There was a really neat, huge model train display. There was also entertainment, in the form of the "Pied Piper Percussion" man who came equipped with enough drums and tambourines to keep the loads of kids happy and busy. The boys had a good time, and it was a fun afternoon out in the warmish early March weather.

The next weekend we spent with trains of a different sort. There is a commuter double-decker trains that runs from downtown Fort Worth to downtown Dallas every day and on Saturdays, so we thought it would be a fun surprise to take our boys for the ride. The picture with us at the train station is the first picture of the blog... somehow it ended up in the wrong position. It was a fun ride on the way there, and the train was full of people dressed up in green and going in to Dallas for the St. Patrick's Day parade (held the Saturday before the holiday). That's Jack and I below on the train:

Our destination in Dallas was not the parade (didn't even know there was one!) but a "family expo" at Fair Park. For $3 for adults and $2 for Tyler (Jack and Mason were free) there were bouncy houses, face painting, freebies, and even bungee trampoline jumping (which Tyler has always wanted to do... see the picture below). We wandered the fair for a few hours then wandered around downtown, ate lunch at McDonalds, and caught the train back to Fort Worth. The ride back was much more subdued... I think the novelty of the train had worn off, but it didn't matter because we were all exhausted from our fun day!

Last week was Spring Break, which for parents is more like "here's a taste of what your summer will be like trying to keep your kids entertained!" The first half of the week I kept busy with friends, a trip to the museum, and other fun things. By Friday I was on burnout. Mark was equally burned out from a week of fitting in teachers and students for appointments before his work day usually begins. We decided to cash in some hotel "points" and surprised our kids with a trip to an Embassy Suites in Dallas. They swam in the pool, ate popcorn in bed while they watched Looney Toons, and had a blast. Mark and I did our best to relax... which was actually fun to do in a place that was not our own house! Before we went to the free hotel we took Tyler and Mason to a Hibachi restaurant for the first time. They were very entertained by having the chef cooking right at our table! He even let Tyler try his hand at "cracking" eggs with the spatula. And amazing... they actually ate the food.

So that's a recap of highlights from the last few weeks... it was a lot of fun! This Saturday is my 10K (finally) in Fort Worth and a breakfast out to celebrate. Then I think our weekends will be filled more with cleaning as our neighborhood is having a garage sale in mid-April! And we have a lot of stuff to get rid of! Not to mention conference in two weeks... we're really looking forwards to that!

Monday Funnies

2010-03-10T06:50:00.000-08:00

It was a rainy, lazy day Monday. I shouldn't say too lazy... I did run four miles in the rain! But, needless to say, the house was clean, the dishes done, and I got some good high quality "kid" time in.

Mason was asleep and Jack and I were chillin' on the couch waiting for Tyler to come home. When he did, my first comment was "WOAH! What happened to your FACE?" Here's the short story: when the kids are good at school or the teachers notice they are doing something good, they get awarded "gold stars" that they put their name on for a daily drawing. Tyler and his friend Olivia were both picked in the drawing yesterday and chose little inked stamps as their prize. Apparently, while waiting for carpool things got a little silly... and Olivia "made" Tyler stamp himself all over his face! I don't know if Tyler did all of the stamps himself, or if Olivia did part of them. I also found stamps on his leg, arms, and tongue (ew!). All I can say, other than "great, that's gonna leave a mark!" is that Tyler must have a little crush on Olivia, because what other reason than silly first-grade love would make a boy stamp himself all over?

Just for the record, it did not all come off after much scrubbing. I guess it could be worse... it could be permanent marker! It came off enough that you only noticed it if you were really looking... hopefully his teacher didn't think that he had blue bruises all over his face today!

On another note of sweetness, I got a surprise card in the mail for Jack from my sister Tiffany. It was a cute Elmo card and a gift certificate to Target... what a wonderful surprise for Jack's birthday! Look at the smile he had when I read him the card!

(He also really likes it when I use the flash on the camera... always makes him smile really big!)

I took the gift card today and used it towards something that I've been totally *wanting* (not needing!) for Jack. I figured a gift card is best spent on wants, right?!? I've been wanting a "walker" for Jack. He isn't really interested in walking yet, but he loves to stand and so I thought I could "encourage him along" by getting a walker. Target had two to choose from... one that just pushed, and one for a few more bucks that had flashing lights and lots of sounds and things to touch and pull. Guess which one I bought??? I know, I know he's my last kid, but this poor guy has never had a new toy!

Here's Jack reading the instructions:

...and playing with the assembled walker. That other hand you see in there? Mason. I think he likes the "baby toy" as much as the baby! I tried to get Jack to actually walk with the walker, but as I expected, that was not very successful. First of all, he kept reaching over to try to grab the buttons and things. Secondly, he just does not have the whole concept of "walking" yet. Remember, my kids walk late! (Tyler at 17.5 months, Mason at 15 months) He just likes to stand. He did move with it quite well while "walking" on his knees, though!

Jack's First Birthday: A Day in Pictures

2010-03-05T07:21:00.000-08:00

March 4, 2010: Happy Birthday to my big one-year-old Jack Marcus!

I thought I'd try to document the whole day, although I really didn't have anything very special planned. It's more like a typical day with cake at the end!

So, here's the cute face I get to greet when he wakes up (about 7:15) every morning:

He ALWAYS stands up in his crib when he wakes up. And if you look closely on the bottom left of the picture, you can see teeth marks in the crib. Yep, they are from Jack!

Time to help his brothers get ready. Jack gets in on the teeth-brushing action. Personally, I think he just likes the vibrations from the sonicare more than he cares if his teeth get clean!

Once Tyler is off to school via carpool, Jack gets a little play time with daddy before Mark goes to work. This is his favorite time of the day! I should rephrase that... any time is his favorite time as long as mom and dad are within a few feet of him! Unlike my other kids, Jack is very mommy/daddy attached. He has a hard time adjusting to babysitters or new people who want to hold him. That makes it hard, sometimes, for Mark and I... but it does mean lots of cuddles!

You can't really tell from this picture, but Jack is Mark's little "Mini-Me." They look so much alike! The only part of Jack that looks like me (so I'm told) are his eyes. Not sure if that's because they are blue like mine, but I guess I'll take what I can get.

See... this child looks nothing like me!

Our typical morning routine... about 9am I load the boys in the car to go to the gym. It's the one hour of "mommy time" I allow myself without guilt about 4-5 days a week. Jack likes to ride in the car. Mason likes to read in the car!

Remember when I said "mommy attached?" Well, it took Jack about 2 months before he would make it one hour at the gym without crying so hard they'd have to come and get me! He's now got an attachment to Armando, one of the care-givers at the gym. Nope... he won't go to any of the women! He smiles and flaps his arms when he sees Armando. It takes away the little tinge of guilt I have for taking an hour to exercise.

After the gym, it's errands time. Today I had to pick up milk from Albertson's. It was also the first time I let Jack and Mason ride in the "race car" cart! They both loved it. I'm glad I wiped all the surfaces down with an anti-bacterial wipe before I put Jack in, because his mouth was all over the steering wheel!

While Jack napped, Mason and I made cupcakes. Mason likes to try to help (I let him stir) but of course his favorite part is to *taste*. I made homemade chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting. YUM!

After Mason and Jack nap, we wait outside for Tyler to come home from 1st grade. It's 65 degrees today... I LOVE Texas! In this picture is Gavin, our neighbor and Tyler's friend from a few houses down (also LDS... how cool is that?).

I forgot my camera for most of the afternoon! But here's what we did:

* Took the boys to Party City took pick out some balloons for Jack. This was the birthday present from Tyler and Mason. We picked out three color latex and one specialty balloon. Tyler and Mason talked me into the Pokemon balloon... since I figured Jack didn't know the difference, I gave in. It was quite the hot item for my two older boys... I figured I'd give it to Jack once they stopped fighting over it!

* Thursday is swim lessons for Tyler, so we went from the store to lessons. They are at an indoor pool just 2 minutes from my house! Tyler's doing great... he can swim all the way across the pool now on his own (even in the deep end!). Diving is another story... he thinks he's doing good, but it still looks like a belly-flop to me.

* I was going to make pancakes, but decided instead to meet Mark at Denny's with the boys. This is the only thing I would have changed about today. Home-cooked dinners are so much better (of course, Tyler would disagree). It just took too long.

By the time we got back from Denny's, it was 7:30 and Jack was pooped. I put him in the high chair and we all sang happy birthday. He played around with the cupcake a bit, but was just too tired. So, with little ado, it was off to bed for my birthday baby.

This morning found Jack much happier. He played with his balloons ALL morning!

Thanks, Grandma, for the new birthday clothes! Doesn't he look handsome???

I love you, baby boy!

Signs You're Not Supposed to Race

2010-02-27T05:58:00.000-08:00

It's 7:59 am on Saturday, February 27th. I should be 29 minutes into the Cowtown 10K right now.

That was the plan, anyways.

I've been training for the 10K since I committed to run in the Wasatch Back (translate, for 2 months). I've been really good at running 3-4 times a week, cross training 1-2 other days, taking needed days of rest, etc. etc. to get ready for today. I even ran a "test 10K" last Saturday morning and felt very good, thank you very much, at the end of my 6.2 miles.

The plan was that I would carpool down into Ft. Worth with a neighbor who is running the half marathon, then meet up with Mark and the boys and I triumphantly crossed the finish line in my goal of one hour.

That all began to unravel earlier this week.

Mark: "I have bad news." dramatic pause.

Me: gulp. Please don't be about money or staffing issues. I've had about all I can take. "What is it?"

Mark: "I signed my office up a few months ago for training on new mouth guards. That training is this Saturday all day."

Me: oh, what's so bad about that? Wait... shoot, now I have to find a babysitter who wants to come at 6am on a Saturday morning! "That's okay, I'll figure it out." growl.

I have a go-to babysitter, a senior in high school, who I was sure that I could convince to come. When I called her Thursday, however, I could hear the hesitation in her voice. Not that she didn't want to wake up that early, just that there was her sister's basketball game, a softball tournament for her high school's team, yada yada. I could hear the no in her voice, but since she wouldn't commit, I told her to call me back.

Then, Jack starts not feeling to hot. A cough and runny nose.

I pretty much resigned myself to missing the race, when a glimmer of hope appeared Friday afternoon. My neighbor, who had arranged for a babysitter herself due to a working husband, gave me her babysitter when her husband said he didn't have to work anymore. Huzzah! I called the mom of the girl (also my neighbor) and made the arrangements. With mom next door, a sniffly baby would be easier to handle.

All that was left to do was to buy those $50 Under Armour pants at Academy Sports. They close at 9pm... I should get there in plenty of time! We had evening plans... a free IMAX movie that we'd been planning all week, a quick dinner out, bring the kids home to bed, then I'd grab the pants and a two-entree order from Panda Express to carbo load the night before the race.

I should know by now... yeah right.

We went to the movie, then had to go back to Mark's work to pick up his car. Before that I hit the KFC for my kids (who were in the ear-piercing-whine stage of hunger) and Mark. 20 minutes in the drive thru later, my nerves were slightly frazzled, but in tact. It's 7:30pm, plenty of time to still get the pants.

Then Mark wants to sit in the car and finish his meal before moving on to his car to drive home. That's okay... 7:50, I can still make it.

Cruising along at 65 MPH on the freeway, it looks like I'm home free, until BLAM. Traffic. At 8 on a Friday night? I pull out my iPhone and map the traffic... RED line (that's bad) for at least 5 miles. There's no turning around... I can only hope my phone hasn't updated yet and the traffic will really clear in a mile or so.

8:30, I'm still in the throes of slowly moving traffic. Tyler calls from the back of the van... "Mom, I have to go to the bathroom!" "Tyler, can't you see I can't do anything about that right now???" I call back. Then, I hear it... the sounds of Tyler vomiting all over the back of my car. That's right, without giving me any warning that he had an upset stomach, Tyler loses his KFC in the back seat. I'm powerless to help him, and tears well up as I hear the last of it fall. Sick kid #2, throw up all over my car, no way to make it to get the much-needed pants, all three kids now out-of-control, and I'm sitting in traffic at 8:30 on a Friday night. What else can a girl do, but cry in frustration? And finally acknowledge that someone is trying to tell me that for some reason I should not be at that race tomorrow morning.

So, I get the kids home (Tyler says he feels much better), in bed, stories read. Mark comes in 10 minutes behind me, washes the vomit from the car floor mat (luckily 99% of it landed there) and we crash. I tell the babysitter's mom that I've cancelled my race (she graciously offers to watch my kids herself... no way I'm going to introduce vomit germs to her 4 kids, though!), and I go to bed.

So here I am, now 8:20. Theoretically I would be on my last mile at this point. Still not sure why I wasn't supposed to be there this morning, but living with the change of plans. Of course my body still woke me up at 5:40 am, ready to get up and get dressed for my run. I guess my kids needed me more than I needed the race. It's a hard pill to swallow, but with all the medicine swallowing there will be around my home for the next few days I'm sure I will survive!

Mini-Makeover, part two

2010-02-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, I blogged about my "project headboard." When I made that headboard, I was hoping it would act as a "place to start" to make my room into a place that I actually want to be. Because we're in a rental home, I can't really paint the walls (okay, I did paint one in my family room. But it neeeeded paint!) and I am on a micro-budget, so anything that I do to spruce up my room has to be high style for low cost.

Thanks to my sister Tiffany and my mom who were here a few weeks ago, I think I got my head around some things that I could do to spruce up my room. It pretty much all had to do with adding pillows to my bed, making curtains, and rearranging furniture. After much searching, Tiff and I found some "inspiration fabric" in a deep, peacock blue for $4 a yard at Hancock Fabrics and took it from there. Tiffany also suggested these neon-teal-colored pom-poms to line the clearance Target beige curtains that I bought.... it took me longer to be talked into these, but I was won over in the end.

So, here's my room:

You can't see the curtains very well, but you get a sense of where I'm going with the bed and the colors, right? I moved the desk with the computer on it to the opposite wall, so now when you walk in the room (which is where I am taking the picture from) you see the free TV hutch that I painted blue and my bed with the new pillow arrangement. Oh... and I forgot to mention the throw blanket. It was my one splurge... $28.99 at Target, but it had all the right colors and is sooo comfy! Sorry that you can't see it well in the picture... believe me, it's yummy.

The teal upholstery fabric that I mentioned earlier only gave me enough fabric for two euro shams, so Tiffany and I found another matching fabric that I used for the middle pillow. I had just over a yard of it, so the fabric on the middle pillow that you see is only on the front. That's all that matters, right? The butterfly pillow in front I got for $5 from Target, on clearance (originally $20!). It pays to have a second pair of eyes with me because I would have never picked this out, but Tiff thought it would go great with my other colors and she was right!

Here's a close up of my headboard with the new pillows I made. Hopefully you don't see that there is already a slobber mark on this one pillow (from Mason, not from me!). My other steal with these pillows was the feather insert... only $8.99 from Ikea!

Here's a closeup of the curtains. I did a double layer of the pom-poms, per Tiffany's suggestion. The curtains are not yellow... they are very much beige, but look different from the sunlight in this photo. You get the gist.

So, it's a step in the right direction, I think! I have so much more I want... a *bedskirt* for one thing ( I could make one, but I found one I love at GarnetHill.com... maybe I can sell some things on eBay to save up the $88!), more accent pillows, something to go on the wall above my headboard, real nightstands and lamps (not the Ikea lamp leftover and the Walmart TV tray acting as my nightstand), and a rug for the floor at the foot of my bed. And you're lucky I didn't show you the other side of the room... it is definitely a work in progress! But I'm proud of myself for being brave enough to make my own pillows and be "brave" with this new color! I'm really loving it and, finally, I'm enjoying my bedroom.

Snow Day Catch-Up!

2010-02-12T07:38:00.000-08:00

Well, a month between postings. I've been worse, I suppose!

January in Texas was relatively uneventful. Getting kids back in the routine of school after Christmas, adjusting to the cooler/warmer/colder weather routine (it can't seem to decide here!), and working, working, working at home and at our business.

We "celebrated" our 11th anniversary on January 29th. I put it in quotations because, after 11 years, anniversaries pretty much just mean a night out sans kiddos at a restaurant! This year we went to "The Melting Pot," thanks to a gift certificate from my parents we received for Christmas and a $25 off coupon we got in the mail a few months ago. It was yummy... and long! All in all dinner took 2.5 hours, and though we told the babysitter we would be out late, we came home early. Our plan was to go to a movie afterwards, but seeing as it was 10pm and the movie was over 2 hours long, suddenly lounging on our couch watching fluff TV sounded more appealing. Man, are we getting old or what?

My mom and sister Tiffany (and her 2 year old Jane) came to visit for 5 days the first week of February. Not the prettiest time to come to Texas... but they came to see us, not the green trees, right? It was a fun week. Most of it revolved around the "project" of my bedroom. From my last post you see that I made a headboard, but I'd been stuck after that. Many discount fabric stores and window shopping at high-end retail stores later, we had the supplies for me to transform my room. We never got around to stitching anything while they were here--too bad-- but we did eat a lot (too much) of good food and had fun nights talking and laughing. At the end of the trip we went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing here in Fort Worth. It was cool to see real US Currency being printed (we went when they were printing stacks of $20s!), and wish we could have stayed there longer (without the pressure of kiddos needing us at home or an airplane to catch!).

The day my family left, we packed up our family and headed to Austin. Mark and I's good friend from Dental School, Tom, was getting married. We'd never really spent time in Austin, despite living an hour away for five years when we lived in San Antonio. Austin, turns out, is a pretty fun city. We stayed downtown in a Residence Inn. The two older boys enjoyed swimming and we shopped at the San Marcos Outlets and Ikea. Jack was under the weather most of the trip, poor guy, so no swimming for him. The wedding/reception was phenomenal. I forget sometimes how opulent weddings and receptions can be! I shudder to think how much $$$ was spent on this wedding party! Let's just say there was an open bar, filet mignon, oysters, two cakes, and free babysitting. It was fun, though we missed the cake because the party was running late and our kids were bushed. I wish I brought my camera... it was truly a wedding to remember!

That all was a week ago. This week my focus first was getting the house and laundry back in order after family/trip. Then, I summarily let it get out of hand again as I focused on making pillows and curtains for my room with the stuff I had gotten with my mom and sister. I finished, and was going to wait a few days to put it all together in my room when we were blessed with TWO snow days!

You might be wondering why I use the term "blessed" here. It snowed for 24 hours straight, dumping the wettest snow I've ever seen all over the DFW ever. I believe it was a record... 14" in the part of town that I live in. I think the previous record was 7"? Anyways, it's a lot of snow. It was too treacherous to drive in to work yesterday, so Mark closed the office and stayed home. Ironically, school was NOT cancelled for Tyler, even though there was 4" of snow on the ground when school started (I suppose it is because the school district cancelled school a month or so ago for a "snow day" when there was not even a hint of snow or ice, and they only scheduled one make-up day for the year). They did let the kids off early, at 2pm, but it was only more dangerous to drive outside then! Anyways, Mark stayed home and I was able to rearrange my room and "put it together," so to speak, while he made snowmen with the kids and generally babysat. That was MY blessing. I got to have a nice day of decorating and cleaning with few interruptions. My room is nearly complete, and I will post pictures when I feel like I've got it "picture worthy!"

Today (Friday) is the second snow day. I'm a little more ambivalent about today... meaning, I'm feeling the cabin fever already! I think I'll brave the slush (slush because the snow is melting, though it's only 33 degrees outside) and head to the gym for a 5 mile run. The museums and libraries are closed, so it will take a little more creativity on my part to keep the kiddos entertained. Anyone for a third snowman?!

Mason and Mark made the first snowman in the back yard... it came together in under 20 minutes, and was a good five feet tall! I think Mason spent more time eating snow than building the snowman, but Mark had a good time! Luckily I had a carrot, but no charcoal... so we used 3D glasses for eyes and baby food jar lids for the mouth!

Jack and I braved the outdoors for a few minutes while Tyler and Mark built the snowman in the front yard. Though I believe we left the boys' snowsuits in Utah with my mom, we still had gloves, hats, and amazingly, my awesome Sorels! My boots are 15 years old and still work awesome in the snow!

Tyler building the base of the front yard snowman.

Our six-foot tall snowman in the front!

Jack loved being outside! Don't worry, mom, he was out for about two minutes when we took this picture (hence no coat). He looks like a little beaver with his big front teeth! Can you tell who had the most fun on this snow day (hint... not one of the kids!)

Project Headboard!

2010-01-19T08:20:00.000-08:00

Goal: Use a minimal budget to decorate your house.

Method: DIY creativity!

For Christmas, Mark surprised me (yes, it was a shock!) with a king bed. After nearly 11 years of marriage on the same mattress, it had worn out and Mark was tired of me wiggling all around our queen at night (I'm a crazy sleeper). That leaves me with a conundrum: now I have to totally redo our room!

Not that I was in heaven with our room as it was, though. The only thing I really liked was our bed, which my mom and I painted last spring from an orange-stained wood to a deep chocolate brown. Obviously, I can't keep the queen headboard and baseboard for the new bed, so I thought that trying to find a new one for our king would be the best place to start for my new room.

(*side note... we'd planned for years to get a king bed. Over those years, I've collected king sheets and a king quilt. They are both beige, so they are "neutral pallets" upon which I get to build.)

Our budget is not anywhere near able to afford a real headboard and baseboard, so I started browsing websites for ideas. My mom suggested looking at upholstered headboards, since according to her decorator they are very "in" right now. While on Little Green Notebook's blog (thanks Tiff for the link!) I found a how-to to turn a coffee table into an upholstered ottoman. I figured that it wouldn't be a far stretch to use the same technique for a headboard, so with instructions in hand (or head, for that matter), I started gathering supplies.

I used:

1 4'-by-80" piece of MDF (cut down for me by Home Depot)

4 yards of fabric (from Joanns... I had to "cut and paste" so to speak to make 45" fabric fit the frame, used a 40% off coupon)

2 2"x27"x76" pieces of foam (used coupons at Hobby Lobby)

1 roll cotton quilt batting

spray adhesive

drill and 3/8" drill bit

make-it-yourself buttons from Hobby Lobby ($2.29 for a 3 pack, I used 14)

wire

After drawing out places for where I wanted buttons to be, I had my hubby drill the holes:

Don't forget to bring your kiddos along. Mason liked using "his tools" to help:

Spray both the foam and the board you are putting it on, then adhere foam to board (cutting foam to fit):

Spray adhesive on foam and on quilt batting, and lay batting over the foam. Staple batting on opposite side. Keep a hammer handy to make sure the staples are flush with the board (*side note, since boards come in a maximum of 4 feet thickness, I had Mark make legs that raised the board up 12" from the ground. We used the extra MDF and screws from the playset we built two years ago for the legs):

Here's where I might have gone wrong (but Mark was gone with Tyler so I had to figure it out on my own). I think you are supposed to put in the buttons before you staple down the fabric, but I did it the opposite way. It turned out fine, so here's what I did: Lay fabric right side down on the floor. Lay the headboard foam side down on the fabric. Square the fabric (so it's not crooked) and staple on the back of the board. Make sure staples are no more than 1" apart and that you staple the fabric close to the edge of the board.

To make the buttons, buy a button making kit from the store. Cut out fabric using the pattern that comes with the kit to make the buttons. Using a fairly thick wire, poke the wire through the holes you drilled in the first step and bring all the way through the fabric. Pull wire to tighten the buttons, then use your staple gun to staple the wire to the back of the headboard.

And VOILA! You have a headboard. Or at least, I do. I love it! Having it up makes me realize how much further I have to go before I like my room again. Next step is pillows and a dust ruffle. Then I might attack curtains, my desk, and then finding stuff for my wall.

So much to do. I wish garage sale season would come faster, so I can buy some fun things to fix up to accessorize my room with!

Quick Post

2010-01-17T20:32:00.000-08:00

I know I don't post often any more. I'm actually trying to spend less time on the internet lately... since I found myself spending too much time and ignoring my kids! I'm not perfect, but hey, I'm trying to be a better mommy. So, what's new?

- Jack is crawling! I know to many of you that this should be an obvious thing when babies are 10 1/2 months old, but Jack seriously likes to take his time with all of his milestones. His modus operandi for the longest time has been to get on his hands and knees, rock, and whine until someone (me) picks him up. *sigh* Hence the reason I get so little done. I even found myself squeezing him into the baby Bjorn a few weeks ago just to get dinner made. That kid has my number! But he's finally figuring out crawling on his own, much to my relief. He does it mostly when I'm not looking (because when he sees me look he reverts back into his rock and whine stance)... so I try not to look unless he's crawling away from me!

-Mason is 3 1/3... and not potty trained. I thought we almost had it there a few weeks ago, but the kid just doesn't seem to care if he walks around in a wet and/or poopy diaper (or underwear for that matter). If I kept on him, he'd pee on command. But if I missed an hour (say, we decided to go to the gym and we didn't go potty immediately after coming home) then he'd come and find me to tell me he had to go pee. After. He. Peed. His. Pants. Ugh. Three-four underwear changes each day and I was done. I think I'll wait a little longer before I try again. Maybe when he actually *wants* to potty train. Then again, we pretty much threatened Tyler when he was 3 1/2... I still have a few months.

-Tyler is addicted to Pokemon. Thanks to a little friend he had in Mtn Home who introduced him to Pokemon and to the 400 Pokemon cards I got for $1 at a garage sale this summer, my little man is hooked. He rattles on about how this Pokemon evolves into this other Pokemon, or how this one can be a rock Pokemon and a psychic Pokemon. I have learned to somewhat tune it out, but still appear interested. At first, Mark didn't want him to get into Pokemon at all, but I saw that it was harmless so I let it be. Now we're blown away with his sheer Pokemon Trainer knowledge, and how much of that knowledge little Mason is also picking up on. In the morning I find them having a "battle" with some Pokemon cards. This evening they ran around the main floor each pretending they were actual Pokemons battling eachother. It was actually kind of cute. Thanks to cousin Ben and a few older boys at school for getting him addicted!

-Business is good. And hard. And stressful. And ultimately worth it... right? Mark had to let go some employees several weeks ago and it was H-E-double hockey sticks. Add in the new year (and new benefits for everyone), the sluggish economy, and a series of temporary employees, and things could be going a lot better. No one told us how hard it was going to be... and I think we are doing it one of the hardest ways! Keep us in your prayers. We need it. Mark feels like all will be fine, that we just need to make it through the first year. I agree, I just wish it would be over sooner!

-As for me, after shepherding every member of my family through numerous colds, viruses, vomit, diarrhea, and general under-the-weatherness, I think that I'm finally succumbing to sickness. Yuck. I can feel it in my chest. These are the days that I wish family lived closer, so I could pawn off my kids for a day and not get out of bed. I'm fine tonight, but you know how you can just feel it yourself going down hill? I think I must have built up an immunity to Airborne, because it's not helping any more. *sigh* Maybe tomorrow will just be the day that I let the kids watch as much TV as they want. Then again, that makes them turn into ogres so maybe I won't...

So, that's an update in a nutshell. I know I've missed a ton, but that's what I get for not being more persistent. You'll forgive me, I know. Here are some cute kid pictures to make you feel better:

He does have a messy face in this picture, but in reality Jack did only have one front tooth for about six weeks. I called him "snaggletooth." Luckily, the other one is growing in quickly so he doesn't look too silly now!

Mason broke his glasses last week and now I'm out for another two pair... since I can't find his spare either! *sigh* I hope these next pair last him longer than 4 months!!!

Mason and the other two "wise men." We spent Christmas Eve with the bishop's family, and the kiddos recreated the Nativity. It was cute... my kids had no idea what they were doing, but had fun!

This is the face I get to see smiling at me every morning and after every nap. How lucky am I??? Of course now every time I go in there he is standing and smiling. Stinker.