PLAYING CATCH UP!

Wow! These past couple of months have flown by! First off, Father's Day! I made these this year and thought they turned out pretty darn cute!
Awhile ago I recieved an email from Thanksgiving point announcing their annual princess festival. I have a niece who LOVES anything princess, so I thought it would be fun to take her (and her sisters) to the festival. We ended up going on a Thursday and it was SOOOO hot! The festival is held outside in the Children's Garden and basically consists of the kids going from princess to princess to get autographs and have pictures taken. I felt super bad for the poor actors who are in long sleeved velvet dresses (and coats in the guys cases), but they did a really good job. The highlight of the day? When we were leaving the girls found a splash pad. They had a blast!

On the way home we stopped at the Gateway Mall so my sis-in-law could exchange her iphone. I told her I would take the girls over to the fountain so she could go to the Apple store without the stress of kids. Again, highlight of the day! Should have saved the money and just went to a splash pad/pool instead! Love these girlies!

For the 4th of July we headed down to the Bubs aunts house for the annual family barbeque. Of course, the 4th of July wouldn't be the 4th without Julie's famous apple pie. The Bubs ADORES her pie and looks forward to it all year. It's became a tradition to take pictures of random people eating the pie and then posting it on facebook to rub it in the faces of all those who didn't partake that year!

Thanks Julie for hosting the barbeque this year (and making the pie)! And of course, what is the 4th without the fireworks? Boys will be boys! Sorry about the pics - it was late and my camera kinda sucks!
Finally (sorry - kind of a long post) this is what we've been doing the past couple of Saturday's - playing in the dirt!
We were having water problems and this is the first step to figuring out where the water is coming from. I won't get into the hole anymore because without a ladder, I won't be able to get back out! We've hit the foundation, so now it's a matter of scrubbing everything down and seeing if there are any cracks. Ahh! The joys of home ownership! Next time I'll hopefully be a little better at staying on top of things! Happy almost Monday everyone!
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TAKING INVENTORY OF YOUR GIFTS AND BLESSINGS

At work we are currently in a weight loss competition that I'm the facilitator of. It's been a ton of fun. I've started a weight loss blog for the company and try to post daily. Today's post was on taking inventory of our blessings and gifts. For some reason it hit home. It could be because I was stuck in traffic for over an hour due to the freeway being shut down. There was a man who was threatening to jump. I can't even imagine my life getting to the point where I even consider suicide as a way out. It's so easy to get caught up in life. The good, the bad, the busy and the crazy. It's not often we take time to really reflect upon our lives. It's usually when we have trials, or someone close to us is suffering from an illness or even death. Then it tends to hit home. So, I'm re-posting today's blog entry for just that reason.


"Should you find yourself at a loss, wondering what life is all about and what your purpose is, be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity to wonder."
- Unknown You'll probably spend some time this weekend thinking about the good things in your life and your loved ones. Before you do that, take a moment to just consider how lucky you are to be here in the first place. In the 21st century, we can experience more in a month than most people throughout history did in a lifetime. Instead of appreciating that fact, we usually just end up wanting to do and have more. We look at what's wrong rather than what's right. This is a perfect time to take a look at your life and priorities again. Can you make some extra time every day to just enjoy the moment and your loved ones? You've been given the gift of a lifetime of moments. Accept the gift and prove yourself worthy.

CROSS THE OCEAN

Don't know why, but this seemed very appropriate for today!

LASIX

Well, as of yesterday I'm on a new med. It's called Lasix. It's actually primarily used for congestive heart failure. Me? I'm using it to pee. Yep, you read that right. Pee (like as in a race horse!) Too much info? Probably. Why would I want to pee so much? One word - kankles.(and no, those are NOT my feet! I have better taste in heels than that!) Yes my friends, I currently have kankles. In fact, if you ask my lovely co-workers (note the sarcasm?) they'll be happy to tell you I have a new nickname at work. Miss Kankles. Lovely. For some reason my legs and feet have been swelling up the past two weeks. To the point where I pretty much have to wear flip flops every day. It's not super painful just annoying - imagine being stiff from the knees down for weeks on end. It finally got to the point the other night where the Bubs made me go into the doctor (after calling me sausage feet.) Even lovelier. Anyway, I refused to go to my primary care doctor as I've been there so much lately. So, I went to the Instacare. It was kind of funny. When the receptionist was checking me in she asked what I needed to see the doctor about. I told her the truth - kankles. The bubs (who was kind enough to go with me) started laughing hysterically. I got kind of a weird look, but hey, that WAS why I was there! After examining me, listening to my heart and lungs and squeezing the crap out of my legs and feet (I swear she did that on purpose just to see how much I would cringe!) the doctor was completely baffled. She ordered a blood and urine test. Guess what? Nada. Everything looks great. So, she put me on Lasix to hopefully get the fluid out and told me good luck with the kankles. She also suggested going to my primary care doctor in about a week if it doesn't clear up. Ummm, okay, thanks? I'll answer the questions I know you're thinking right now. Nope, not preggo. Nope, no increase in sodium or diet change. Well, small diet change. I decreased my caffeine intake (goodbye my beloved Red Bull) and increased my water intake. I actually asked the doctor if that could be it. She laughed and said, um, no - usually it has the opposite effect. I then asked her if she could right me a note saying it was medically necessary for me to DRINK Red Bull to prevent kankles. For some reason she laughed again and said no. Weird, right? So, I'll take a pic of the kankles and sausage feet tonight (we're going to be working in the yard today). They pretty much rock.

On a plus note! We've started a weight loss challenge at work that I'm in charge of. It's company wide and going to last for three months. I've got the blog up and going for it (it's under The Fit & The Fabulous). Check it out if you'd like. I post daily about weight loss & exercise tips, recipes and just about anything else I can think up! Yeah me! I'm so going to kick everyone's butt - especially when I start to lose my kankles!

WATER FUN (NOT!)

Well, this is what our basement currently looks like
This spring has been crazy with rain! I think they said for May alone we are 131% above what we normally are for water precipitation. It's kind of a double edged sword. We really need the water, but we've got WAAAYY too much right now. The dams are completely full and now the majority of the rivers are flooding. We were driving around tonight and came across a home that looked like a castle, complete with a moat. The home was completely surrounded by water. I have NO idea how these poor people get in and out. I also feel so bad for the farmers. Because of the rain they have completely lost all of their crops. We're talking millions of dollars worth of seeds and product. Because of that food prices will now be raised. Ugh! And, it's only going to get worse this week. We're finally getting a week of good weather, but it's going to be warm. Which means the snow pack in the mountains will be melting quicker than usual. Which means the rivers will be even fuller. Which means even more flooding. Luckily for us our water problem isn't from flooding. We think it's actually because the water tables are so high out here and the ground can't absorb anymore water. But, we need to figure out where it's coming from exactly so we can fix it via sump pump (which we don't currently have. Stupid? Yeah, pretty much. What idiot builds out here WITHOUT installing a sump pump?) But, there's a silver lining in every cloud........we needed to start working on painting the basement anyway. Now we actually have to paint. And install new carpeting. And new flooring in the kitchen. Anyway, we also had Super Tage out here helping as wellThanks Super Tage! This kid totally cracks me up! See? Like I said, a silver lining in every cloud! :)

U2 CONCERT

I have been waiting for this concert for SOOO long! I admit it, I'm a huge U2 fan. I'm not sure if it's due to growing up listening to them (nostalgia) or good music, pure and simple, but I've always liked U2. Originally they were supposed to come last June but with Salt Lake as their next stop, they cancelled the tour as Bono had to have back surgery. But, we held onto our tickets and were able to go Tuesday night. They held the concert at the U of U stadium and it was the biggest one I've ever been too (over 55,000 people). So, it was a little crazy to find parking (let alone get OUT of the parking lots) but so totally worth it. This is the stadium right before we went in The stage was massive. We kept calling it the claw because, well, it looks like one and I can't think of a better name! The middle rotated, it lit up, smoke came out of it and the 360 degree screens moved. What's cooler than that?The Fray was the opening band. I'm not a huge Fray fan, but they actually did a great job!
And here they are!

Overall it was such a fun night and totally worth not getting enough sleep for work the next day. I was worried because it has been so rainy, but the weather cleared up a couple of hours before and although cold, the night was beautiful. Such a great night with SUCH a handsome date!

OGDEN MARATHON 2011

So, this is the only pic I got of the Bubs coming in. He ran in his 9th marathon this past Saturday and did SUCH a great job! Especially for not really training! We initially signed up to run the full marathon together. However, after only two weeks of training I ended up straining ligaments and then getting sick. After not being able to train for over three weeks (and having limited time to train anyway) I decided to just have surgery instead! But, the Bubs decided he was still going to run. He did a couple of long runs, but other than that didn't really train a whole lot. He ended up coming in at 3 hrs 58 min. which surprised me. I didn't think he would come in before 4 hrs. Yeah him! It was a beautiful day and perfect weather for a marathon. Next up - the Logan marathon and hopefully (fingers crossed) qualifying for Boston.

WEBER RIVER & FLOODING

We had to go to Costco tonight to pick up some things for work and on the way home passed by the Weber River. Because of all the rain we've been having, a lot of rivers are flooding. So, we decided to stop by a couple of the parkways and look at the river. We stopped in Riverdale to see a lot of the parkway completely closed due to flooding(the bubs upset and oh shucks poses)


It's crazy how much rain we've had this spring. I really wish it would dry out for a bit though! Due to the high water tables and constant rain, we've been having problems with our basement and water coming in. On the other hand, we also really need the water! Ugh! Maybe one of these days we might actually get some sun and warmth around here!

FUN WITH THE NIECES

Last Saturday morning found us bright and early at the Ogden amphitheatre for my nieces dance recital. It was "Show your Appreciate for the Arts Day", so they decided to hold it then. I have three nieces on my side and two of them are in dance. They were so stinkin' cute! First up we have Reecer's with "Shake your Tail Feathers" (she has her back to me, so I can't see her face)but I did manage to snag a couple of pics before the recital. Sorry, it was super bright that day and we were looking right into the sun!
And then Ell-Bell with, well, I can't remember the name of her dance! It was set to a 50's song, hence the costume! (she's right next to the girl currently standing up)Later that day we picked up the two girls again for dinner and then headed to Deseret Book. Ellie just turned eight and was recently baptized. I'm so proud of her and what was even sweeter is that she asked me to give a talk at her baptism. Yep, one proud auntie! Anyway, I told her for her birthday gift we would go down and let her pick out her own CTR ring and take her to dinner. She was kind enough to let Reecer's join us. After an entertaining dinner at Chili's, we headed to Deseret Book and then walked around the Junction for a while (they have rock climbing and a flow rider, so the girls wanted to watch). Then we headed over to the Ogden Parkway to look at the river. Because of the snow pack and then the sudden increase of temperatures, a lot of rivers are either flooding or on the brink of. The Weber is super full and the girls had fun throwing sticks and rock into the water. The Bub's even taught Ell-Bell how to skip rocks.


Love this little girl!

HOORAY FOR HAIRCUTS!

Most of you have probably seen these pictures, but I thought I'd post them here for those that haven't. All I can say is it's about freakin' time! Yeah for haircuts! Here's our before:And, here's our after! I told the bubs he looks about ten years younger and SOOO much better looking! Yeah for having my handsome hubby back!