Ariaism: errands

I told Aria that she couldn't play and had to come with me to run errands.

A: "Momma, you have ONE minute to change your attitude!"

I did it!!! For REAL this time!!!

Guess what?!! I totally ran my first official 5k on Saturday!! The race was to help fund the Best Buddies organization, which supports individuals with intellectual disabilities. I finished in the top 20 (men and women) with my best time ever. 34 minutes!! Yay me!! I totally did it!

My mom and dad came and walked it in 1 hour. Way to go! They were awesome and it was really cool to have them there. Check us out!!! Aren't we cool?!

This is my dad and me right before the race started.

This is me being WICKED FAST!!! Can you see the sweat glistening?

This is us, post-race. We did it!! Also, we match. How cute is THAT?! Yay us! :)

Skylerism: THAT sick

Skyler's had quite a high fever for the last few days. We just found him curled up on the floor of his room with a blanket and decided to move him to our bed for the afternoon.

D: "Come on, buddy, let's move you to Mom and Dad's room."

S: Groans. "Alright."

M: "Look, sweetie, I've got your pillow and Teddy. He can come with you."

S: "No thanks, I'd like some alone time."

Mini Vacation

A few weeks ago, Shelby had a conference in Provo at the Marriott hotel. It was an overnight, and since his roommate would not be staying over, we decided to bring the fam down for a little free vacation time. Now, because Xander refused to sleep in his Graco and because they gave Shelby a room with only one bed because it was "only him," the five of us didn't get much R&R, but we did make some great little memories...including when we got Xander out of the pool and dressed, only to watch him jump right back in, fully clothed. Are you sensing a Xander theme here(see two posts ago)?

Kids on the over-taxed bed :)
Kids doing something they can't do at home. NOT! (Note the unused Graco in the background).
At the Bean Science Museum at BYU. We "bearly" made it!! Har har.
We randomly ran into one of our most favorite people on campus. We LOVE Nique! Totally a highlight ;)Taking our family pic in front of that cute family sculpture at BYU. I totally have always wanted to do this. See how patient Shelby is being? This was not a planned stop on our golf-cart tour :)We had a great time. My favorite memory is Shelby explaining to the kids that when they go to college they can go to study anything they want. Skyler was excited that he could major in just science or computers or engineering. Aria was excited to learn that she could major in doing Grandpa Shows. Xander was just happy for the pizza at the Cougareat. Good times :)

"Helper"

We've been working on finishing the basement, and when I say "we" I mean Shelby, my dad, and Xander. Xander loves to work right beside the big boys, doing everything they do. Even when they're gone, he walks around the house with his drill and level saying, "helper!" Hey, every little bit of help helps :)

Bath time is NOT over!

A few weeks ago I got Xander out of the bath, toweled him off, lotioned him up, dressed him, and sent him on his way to play. I found him a second later right back where we started. I guess I was wrong. Turns out bath time was not over. Sooo not over. Sooo right back where we started.

Skylerism: sweet talker

Over breakfast this morning:

S: "Momma, I love you so much, you could never love me as much as I love you."
M: "But I do! I love you so much that I carried you inside of me for 10 months. I love you so much that I made you a body to live in. So much that for almost a year all my food and energy went straight toward making you!"

S: "Whoa, you must have eaten like 9 meals a day!"

D: "She did, mostly Oreos and ice cream."

S: "Wow, Mom, you're like Jabba the Hut!"

Just what every woman wants to hear.

Deep thoughts

So my kids were watching an old episode of Casper the Friendly Ghost this week. In the episode, Casper travels to Mother Goose Land where he encounters various nursery rhyme characters who all in turn are freaked out by the presence of the ghost.

Anyway, the point is that Casper comes across the old woman who lives in a shoe. It reminded me that as a child I had no idea what this lady's problem was. I remember thinking, "Man, get a grip! Don't you think you're over-reacting just a tad? They're kids for goodness sake!! And I'm sure it's by your own doing that they're there living in your little shoe-house. What do you mean you 'don't know what to do?' I mean, she 'gave them some broth without any bread, then spanked them all soundly and sent them to bed.' What kind of crap parenting is that?" I thought this lady was way off her rocker.

Now, watching this woman on the cartoon as an adult, I realize that I cannot judge her. Some of you may think that 3 children is a lot. Some of you may think that 3 is nothing compared to your 5. But I promise you that there are days when my 3 feel like 30 and I don't know what to do. So what do I do? I feed them the nothing-ist easiest filler food I can reach, punish their butts for some wrong-doing they either did or did not commit, then put them to bed early so I don't kill them. It's only now as an adult that I think that old woman living in the shoe was not only not off her rocker, but she had it allllllll figured out. I salute you, old woman. Your morals are timeless.

I did it!!

On Friday, I mapped out, measured and ran my very own unofficial 5k. I'm not kidding! I did it! And while truthfully, I've been a tad slack-y on my healthful eating, I've never been better at running, so I think it at least evens out, right?

While I was running, I just kept saying to myself, even in the very early stages of my run, "I'm going to be SO excited when I finish! I'm totally going to finish! When I finish, I'm going to call Shelby right away!" I guess my positive thinking really payed off.

I've also been thinking about making myself one of those fancy 5k t-shirts I see people wearing on the weekends. I'm sure they're from official 5ks, but mine was unofficial, so I think I can justify wearing an unofficial 5k t-shirt. Whaddaya think? Maybe just a plain white t with black Sharpie? Yeah. Now I'm talkin' !

My favorite deal this week

Albertsons has tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, and Banquet pot pies all for .33 each. I totally stocked up.

Also, I totally scored some free fresh salmon at Winegars by using their Gator Deal. Smith's has it this week for $3.99/ lb. I cooked it up and I did a WAY better job than last time. I dare anyone to tell me this week that it was "resistable."