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Michael Buble'

Ryan thinks he's funny and he really is pretty funny

On the whole, B is opposed to male singers but he makes exception for Chris Martin & Michael Buble' and for this I am grateful.  My friend Amy calls Michael Buble' HER Chris Martin so I can understand how much she really likes him.  We had a great night out with our friends Amy & Dave Park, Michelle & Ryan Relyea and Connie Duffin (her husband was in Europe with his 18 year old daughter so could not make it).  Connie totally scored being the only single because when we bought tickets, the website only let you buy 6 at a time and then go back and buy one more.  She was row 11 and we were all row 45 but he came back to a stage set up 4 rows from us so we ended up getting a better view of him.  My favorite part of the whole thing was in his last song he put down the mic and took out his ear things and belted out acoustic to the whole E-Center the last part of the song.  It was so quiet in there you could drop a pin and he sounded amazing!  It made horrid traffic & a slushy gross cold snowy day beautiful.  I love a GREAT concert!

Sometimes people watching is as fun.  We sat behind the tallest woman I have ever seen in person.  She should be in a circus because she had at least 6 inches on B.  Poor Dave sat behind her and said he got seasick trying to see past her because she swayed to the music the whole time and that he's never coveted a woman's height before last night. I have but I didn't! I snapped this with my phone just to prove she exists.

I Wonder How Pigeons Taste and other Profound Thoughts

I have bird issues...specifically pigeons.  I find myself daydreaming about taking aim and watching them fall off my roof as I revel in a self satisfied grin. I've even inquired about the best kind of gun to use and asked B to get me one for Mother's Day.   I am a bit disturbed by my thoughts because usually I feel really sad about the death of living things (With the exception of Roxie if she ever kicks off but really I can't even bring myself to take her to the vet to have her put down). BUT not only do I not feel sad, I really want to kill them.  Two in particular I think.  I wrote last fall about acquiring "Hooter", who is happily mounted on my chimney and only kept these disgusting flying rats from resting in my chimney for about a month.  Then one figured out he was fake, came back and sits right there next to Hooter tormenting me down the chimney into the fireplace by cooing "hahahahhahaha you thought you could fool me. I know that owl can't eat me so I'm going to sit up here and poop as much as I want all over your roof and I think I'll invite a friend to come over for some company and more poop".  I tend to analyze things and try to be introspective about my thoughts and circumstances in my life.  I think "Why do I feel this way? What should I learn from this?" Lelu has draw attention to the fact that I tend to do this out loud a lot and I also sort of narrate my life.... I have some theories about that too......

 Sorry, I'm getting off the subject.  I've been observing my neighbor's roofs and all around Draper and have discovered we are OVERRUN by these nasty things.  Just look at the underpasses of the freeway.  It's a freaking society of them.   All of a sudden I had this epiphany:  We can consider pigeons as part of our food storage and preparedness.  We should all get ourselves a nice little gun, take some target practice (maybe on our own roof) and then we have a great source of protein readily available in a crisis.  But how do they taste?  I imagine with enough spices, probably like chicken.  I'm not evil - I am receiving revelation!

Shopping & Star Stalking in LA; Boy's Night At My House

This is Katie, one of the American Idol top 9.  She and her Dad were really nice but after they gave us the scoop on on the judges (Ellen is a deer caught in the headlights and is about as qualified as you or I to judge, Kara is full of herself and Simon is by far the nicest and most helpful and genuine to all the contestants) and we snapped a bunch of photos - I jokingly said we were really tabloid reporters and the poor Dad looked truly freaked out.  I kept saying just kidding but they stopped being friendly and left.  I feel kind of bad.

  A few days after our half marathon I went to CA with 2 good friends to help them shop for their boutique.  The actual shopping part is a definite acquired taste.  We go to downtown LA fashion district, walk and walk around looking at racks and racks of clothes in little tiny old shops and try to negotiate a good price for stuff from a variety of foreigners.  It's dirty, hot and a little bit scary and not like mall shopping. Usually it's a very quick trip in and out, but this time they decided to make it a little less rushed and stay 4 days.  At night, we would go out to dinner or up to a movie in Beverly Hills where Kelly & I would star search.  Amy doesn't pay attention to who anybody is, but Kelly and I look at every face.  It's become kind of a game. This year we saw 3 "has beens", 1 "will be" and 1"star".  Believe me I understand how lame and shallow it is - but I rather enjoy it anyway.  

While I was gone, B told me he was having a bunch of his jiu jitsu buddies come over to watch the Ultimate Fighting match on TV - I laughed and said "haha you're funny".  In 21 years, he has teased me to the point of 'crying wolf' and I tend not to believe anything remotely shocking or out of character in any way.  But he was serious and sure enough when I got home late Saturday night he and 4 guys that looked to be in their 20's had a guys night complete with "wings" (never eaten wings in my life!) and were even talking about having a match in the backyard. (And he even cleaned the house before they came over) What?? I know you are all as shocked as I was - but he really loves this fighting/testosterone/wrestling/bloody/bruised new sport.  I guess if he can support my shopping that goes against his very nature - I can accept this base ridiculous immature manly pursuit. Isn't that what marriage is all about?

Brie The Most Amazing Babysitter Ever!

Once again, I broke with tradition this year!  The last 5 years we've taken the twins with us down to Moab for the run.  This year since I had decided to run, I decided not to take them with us.  As luck would have it, Brie was up here for the weekend from St. George & I asked her to stay with them.  B was very unhappy with me making that decision.  I knew I'd worry too much about who would get them to the park, the weather waiting for us to finish, their complaining about the drive down and Ari always gets in our bed on trips and I don't sleep.  With the stress of running, I didn't want that added stress.  Sharon's husband decided to come at the last minute and Brie agreed to watch her 3 little ones on Friday too until their older sister could watch them.  Brie is the most creative and fun girl.  She saw the leftover boxes from our treadmills in the garage and then went over to Ikea and asked for more so they could build a fort together.  It is truly a masterpiece!  They had a big slumber party too.  The twins couldn't have been happier and had more fun.  We are very excited that she is transferring to the U in the fall and moving back up here.  We love Brie!

Ouch It hurts to Run 13.1 Miles!

Lelu & B ran the 5 mile and both placed 2nd for their respective age groups.  Lelu finished in 38:04, only 20 secs behind the 1st place. She's in the 12 to 15 group now.  B came in at 42:42, 2nd place for 46 to 50.  Last year she ran it in 40:02 and she wanted to increase her time by 2 minutes.  She did it!  That little thing is a speed demon!

D, myself and my friend Sharon all ran the half marathon.  D was aiming for under 2 hours, but in the last mile his shoes were bugging him so much that he took them off and ran in carrying them.  He got a lot of attention for it from the announcers but since his shoes with the race chip weren't on his feet, it didn't record a time for him.  The clock wasn't working either so we don't know how close he came to 2 hours.  B thinks it was a few minutes past.

I was extremely nervous all last week, wondering what on earth possessed me to sign up for this thing.  I finally just decided to take it one step at a time.  I could always walk if I needed to.  Sharon has been telling me this whole time she'll run it at my pace.  She doesn't normally run at my pace - she's 5'9", is thinner and in much better shape than me.  Last year she trained with a bunch of other girls to run the SLC half and every single one of them injured themselves and didn't run it.  She didn't want to injure herself and kept telling me she just wanted to do it and finish.  BUT after the race, I found out she had ulterior motives!

I had thrown out my goal as 2:15, but to be honest I had no idea how fast of a pace I had to keep to get that time.  It just was the average time for my age and I thought that'd be a good goal.  Sharon figured it out, but decided not to tell me, just to try to keep me at that pace.  She has this really neat gadget watch that keeps track of our pace, mileage, calories burned, elevation, time etc.  The whole time I couldn't hardly keep up a conversation but I felt pretty good so I just kept up the pace we were going.  She was telling me it was about my pace, maybe a little faster.  The last training run was 11 miles and I thought 2 more miles would be no big deal.  It ended up being a VERY big deal to me.  At about mile 9 my foot usually goes numb.  I've handled numb many times, but at mile 11 numb went to severe shooting pain with every step.  I kept telling Sharon to go ahead of me.  She'd say to me "You did not train to walk the last 2 miles, push through the pain, the damage is already done, just finish and finish well", I'd say "please go ahead of me" and she'd say the same thing again "You aren't going to quit or walk, keep going"  I made the decision to stop complaining after about 1/2 a mile of it and just start praying.  I was seriously taking it one painful step at a time. We finished in 2:14!  I had to keep telling myself not to cry, I was feeling unusually emotional after crossing the finish line.  Mom & Dad came over from Aunt Donna's in Blanding and were there to see us all finish.  Definitely one of those memorable moments for me. It meant a lot to me to have their support.

 When we went back to the condo we were staying in, we went to go soak in the hot tub, Sharon says "I lied to you about our pace the whole time".  I don't think I've ever been more grateful to be lied to about anything ever in my life.  The first 9 miles we were running a 9 min 50 sec mile.  That's running about a 6.2 on the treadmill.  Then we hit a big hill and slowed to just under 11 min mile for the last 3 miles.  I didn't know my short little legs had it in me to keep that pace for that long. My comfortable pace is an 11 min mile.  She had decided she was going to pace me and just see how well I could do.  My quads and feet are unbelievable sore today.  I focused on using my legs the last 2 miles to compensate for my foot and I can really feel it. It must be like childbirth and thankfully the memory of the pain you've suffered fades. We signed up to run the Utah Valley half on my birthday and she is trying to convince me to register for St. George full marathon.  I can not in my most insane imagination see running another 13.1 after the first 13.1 - but I did learn to NEVER SAY NEVER.

I Can't Believe I Paid $$ to Meet a Politician

These are my good friends Amy and Dave, who invited us to go to a meet Mitt Romney event.  I am very skeptical and cynical about this kind of stuff, BUT it was actually a fund raiser for the Hinckley scholarship fund at the U, so I agreed to go.  I didn't care to get my photo taken with him, but I took a photo of Amy & Dave meeting him.  Dave is a surgeon so he wanted to talk to him about the healthcare reform crap going on right now.  He had exactly 20 seconds to get a word in.  Mitt was very polished and is promoting his new book - But I will concede that after listening to him and learning he doesn't agree with anything Obama has done or says and is being vocal about it - I would have voted for him given the chance.

I was more impressed with meeting Orrin Hatch.  My camera did some kind of freeze up so Amy took a photo of us with Orrin with her camera.  I haven't got a copy from her yet. He is a very tall man, maybe 6'3'.  We were all shocked. Amy even said to him "Wow you don't look very tall on TV". He said "I'm a big guy, I used to be quite a fighter" and he threw a couple air punches. When I walked up to get a photo, I went to his right side and B tried to stand on his left and Orrin said "Excuse me sir, will you stand back for a minute".  B backed up and Amy said "B get in there" and Orrin looks at me and says "Is he with you?" and I said yes.  B was little miffed, but I thought it was funny.  He talked to Dave and all of us quite frankly about healthcare and said Obama is trying his best to beg, borrow, steal and shove this bill down the throats of the House and if he does it the Senate can't stop it. I can't help but be scared of what this ridiculous President can and will screw our country with. We talked to Orrin for a good 5 minutes because everyone else was so into Mitt.
We went to dinner afterward and what I kind of dreaded ended up being a fun night.

Not Sure if Nietzsche Was Correct?

I sometimes wonder if what doesn't kill you makes you stronger or if sometimes you just need a good dose of humiliation every so often? This has been one of those weeks for me.  But what I can say is I've learned from at least one of them.  My running friend, Sharon, went out of town so I planned to run outside with a couple other girls from the gym.  Just because they are around the same height as me, one is a bit older and the other a bit younger, I falsely assumed they ran at the same pace as me.  Oh how wrong I was!  We planned to run 6 miles and they took off at what for me was a sprint!  First I thought they'd eventually slow down, as they didn't I began to wonder is it ego or competitive nature or what?? BUT I tried my best to keep up for about 4 miles before I gave in to my slower speed.  AND SO I came home with a foot injury and a good dose of humiliation.  I can say it did NOT make me stronger but it did teach me to recognize my limits.  A few days of icing my injury and some ibuprofen, I am on the mend.  I also realized I really like running and was very depressed to take a few days off.   

On Saturday, we had our 2nd piano recital. Ari played "Coming Round The Mountain" by memory and with a little bit of her own style without a mistake or any fear.

Lelu played "Spanish Fiesta" perfectly without a single missed note and even changed it up a bit with playing at 2 different octaves.

B was in charge of the camera when I performed and he was so mesmerized by my brilliance he forgot to snap a photo during it (in my fantasy world)- so D caught one afterwards.  While I was a proud mommy,  I knew I practiced far more than my girls did and I know "Viva La Vida" in my freakin' sleep, but once I got up there my brain and bodily functions belonged to fear. After I was done my hands were shaking like a drug addict in serious withdrawal!   I asked my teacher afterwards how many mistakes I made and she said "I didn't keep track, you did great." That's why I like her so much BTW.  But leave it D - He held up 4 fingers and said "4 mistakes, mom.  I counted".  Thanks Pal!
Glad it's over for another 6 months.

Seriously Grateful For Their Efforts!!

This time I missed getting a photo of Michele. Arggggg!   It was so so so nice of them to come up here to see D in his play.  Poor Dave missed his first flight up here by 5 minutes and then had to sit in the airport all day on Sunday on standy-by to get home.  It really meant a lot to us that they suffered for us.  Then Michele drove by herself with the 2 darling boys all the way here and back.  I had a lovely cold and I gave it to Taylor and Christian.  Oh geez.....sorry for being such a bad hostess! Please I promise we'll do better next time!

We absolutely love seeing them and don't see them enough.  Taylor keeps us laughing. He is such a boy!  He zeroed in on every toy gun, sword and wolverine arm in the house waging war on Mr. T.  Even Christian was trying to carry around a nerf gun bigger than him.   Michele kept saying how sorry she was for how noisy they are.  She must have rose-colored memories of my twins as toddlers.  It was also really fun for Lelu to have them go to one of her soccer games too.  Me & the twins babysat the boys and Ari kept asking me when she'd be old enough to babysit their kids and when they'll have another one.  I told her in 3 years she'd be old enough, so she'll be ready and probably calling them on her 11th birthday to ask to babysit and telling them to have a girl next time. 

D's Debut - Rev. Parris in The Crucible

Let me just say - This was not an uplifting play, D was a hideous character, his sweetheart's date, Taylor, was absolutely your worst nightmare young girl and D's best friend Dallin was an awful judge (I wouldn't have even recognized him) - but they all deserved Oscars!  And I'm very happy to have got to know all these kids before seeing them in this play or I may have been very scared in D's choice of peers.  It was pretty much fatal attraction in the 1600's, with a lot of yelling.  These kids are like rock stars too and didn't even lose their voices.  Very impressive for high school kids!

D and I were ecstatic to have Dave & Shel make it up to see him, Gma & Gpa, Becca & Sagan, Roma, Michelle T., Cherie, B's business friend Wally, his salesman Paul & his wife, Our old neighbors The DeTienne's and D's YM leader.  He felt very loved!  Thanks everyone!

A Twelve Year Old Girl's Happy Place

Morgan and Lelu, sun, swimsuits, green grass and top ramen

Cool Lava Caves & Hiking - a Super Romantic Valentine's Day

Our friend's The Maxwell's met us down there.  We stayed at another friend's second home that has an amazing backyard, pool, hot tub etc.  Since Sharon and I are training for the Moab half marathon, we needed to run 10 miles while down there.  It was in the 50's and we didn't have to wear gloves or ear covers and we took off our jackets and it was sooo nice.  I can't wait until spring!! 

On Sunday, we went out to Snow Canyon and hiked out to these Lava Caves.  You hike out and all of a sudden there's a pile of lava rocks and underneath is a cave.  I can't say they made me feel very comfortable - esp since that poor guy got stuck in those nutty putty caves and they had to make it his tomb. So not healthy for my already fully developed claustrophobia.  B and the kids and the Maxwells all thought they were awesome. 

B gave me a Valentine's card that was just so romantic and heartfelt that I nearly swooned with love in my heart - Oh wait that happened in my alternate universe and this is my reality blog.  Um then let's just say NOT!  Valentine's just isn't his thing - or Anniversaries so thank heavens I have a gold credit card with no limit;D

St. George, Soccer and Some Brie Time

Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend we headed down to St. George for Lelu to play in a soccer tournament.  (She's in the blue shorts directly behind the girl in red in the middle right of the photo, running down the field).  Our favorite babysitter lives down there going to Dixie and she came over on Friday and watched Lelu play in both games.  I think that may have had a little to do with Lelu making her first goal of the year.  She is usually a mid-fielder so she doesn't get many opportunities to shoot. So we were all very excited. The weather was absolutely beautiful - 60 and sunny.  Their team won both games Friday, so played Saturday in the play-offs.  In the first play off game neither team scored and we went into overtime.  There was this ref that kept calling fouls on our girls.  She even called one on Lelu and she's not the least bit aggressive.  I say "she" with a little doubt because the ref was a "PAT", if you know what I mean (ambiguous gender). With 2 minutes left in the second overtime, PAT called a personal foul on this girl who tripped right along with the other player and 'it' gave the other team a goal kick.  PAT basically handed the game to the other team.  Our coach wouldn't let any of the girl's shake PAT's hand after the game and he let Pat have it.  Even the other teams parents thought it was an unfair call.  It was our little glimpse into how Appollo Ohno must have felt being disqualified from the silver medal.  Okay, so it was a grain of sand on his beach of disappointment......but still - we'll be watching for PAT again.

Miracles Do Happen!

Last week my dishwasher decided to freak out. 3 days went by before anyone wanted to wash all of the dishes. I am embarrassed to admit, I didn't even have a dish strainer. From what I read on the internet, the dishwasher was supposed to be off to dry out because some water splashed underneath and then reset itself -so I was waiting for it to reset. Finally on Sunday, when we didn't have anymore clean dishes and I was making lunch, B started washing and washing and washing. I think he spent more time washing dishes that day than he has in the last decade. I promise I am not exaggerating! I am very grateful because I DO NOT enjoy handwashing dishes. But I did everyday until Thursday. Please throw me a pity party! I also watched Cherie's baby and changed his diaper last week too. It's been awhile for both and I can't say that I miss either one. My dishwasher has now been reset and the universe is back in alignment - in case you were worried.

MOM! WHY ISN'T OUR FRIDGE MAGNETIC??!!

Poor Mr. T - last week on Sunday he was very distraught that our fridge was not magnetic (it's wood) and our oven's are not either (stainless steel) - it just wasn't fair! Our last fridge was magnetic! Caden's fridge is magnetic! What is wrong with us?? I told him he could use the trash can but I guess that wasn't appealing to him. Monday morning, I got up and I have this routine where I sit on my chair and turn on my little lamp in the living room, read a few scriptures, drink my chai and meditate. I turned on my little lamp and was greeted by Darth Vador, Luke Skywalker and their cohorts. I couldn't stop laughing. I got out my camera so I could always remember his ingenuity! And they are still there.

What Was I Thinking Not Planning SUNNY WARM Girl's Trip This Year?

From the left back row Cherie, Amy, Jodie & Me - Bottom row Kelly & Connie (sorry about the glare behind us. I'm just proud I figured out how to set up my camera to take it)

This is up at Kelly's cabin for one night. She has a beautiful cabin about 15 minutes from PC. We went up for dinner on the first night of Sundance. The traffic was awful and it was snowing. It was fun to spend some overnight time with the girls, but I am really really kicking myself for not planning a getaway to some place warm, sunny with green and flowers. We've had more than our fair share of inversions this year. It seemed there was no one weekend that would work for everyone so I just didn't do it. But I've realized I need it for my sanity, to keep my Tourettes at bay so I don't completely fill up our swear bank and save my soul.

D's Dance Photos so Far This Year

So the girls in the first 3 photos on here are all cousins. That should be fun to talk about at family reunions, huh? I have no idea why Jessica is barefoot here. She is a tiny little thing so it's not like she was trying not to be taller than D. This Halloween Dance Photo with Kenzie is a perfect example of D's dramatic range of expressions. He uses many of them in daily interactions with his parents as well. Like we are yanking out his heart if he has to clean up dog poop or change some light bulbs.

Erin was able to bring out D's security with his masculinity. Lavender pajamas.......he is such a different breed than his dad! Of course, Andrew (in the pink) takes the cake. He plays a mean piano too!

This is Sweetheart's Dance last night. I keep telling D that he's going to have to be careful not to date any girls named Taylor because it could present a real problem. I would totally make an exception for this Taylor. She is a senior with a 4.0 gpa, Sterling scholar, got a 33 on her ACT, sings, acts and has 5 full ride scholarships to college to pick from and is, in my opinion, the cutest girl he's taken to a dance. AND she asked him. When he got home last night he said it was the funnest dance so far. There's nothing wrong with the name Taylor Taylor anyway, right? - she could be like really cool and go by Taylor (squared) (I can't figure out how to get the little 2 next to her name)