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Wearing Rain Gear and Hoping for Rainbows

I love when I participate in a Stake-wide fast with hundreds of Latter-day Saints, praying for a single purpose. Our Stake President had asked all of us during Stake Conference a few weeks ago to fast for moisture in our drought-ridden San Luis Valley, on the next Fast Sunday, so I went about my day with a prayer in my heart for that specific purpose. Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day, and Shane commented on how low the water level was and that we may not even get our "beach" of water next to the house. (Every Spring, it is a tradition for us to host a "Beach Party" with family and friends when the irrigation water approaches our house). While praying I wondered if it was still possible for the water level to increase enough to water the crops and fields that so many of my family and friends need to sustain their livelihood.

The area we live in happens to be home of many faithful Saints, and our fasts do not go unanswered. This morning was no exception, and when I opened the front door to take Emma and Shelton to school, I was greeted with a Spring rain, the first one of this season. "Rain!" the kids yelled excitedly, as they ran outside and looked up towards the sky, letting the faint drops moisten their smiling faces. Shelton immediately remembered that it was FINALLY time to use his Lightning McQueen umbrella that he got last August while we were doing our Back to School shopping. Unfortunately, the unused umbrella was broken, not unlike many umbrellas we have owned that are never actually used to keep rain at bay. This made me think of some pictures I took of Sasha during Winter Break with an umbrella that has also been prematurely broken.

Sasha is so sweet in her Gymboree outfit that Mommy gave her for a Christmas present.

Perhaps today, she will enjoy the rain in her rain boats, and be able to see a rainbow stretch across the sky above our home.

2011- Christmas Cuteness

For Christmas this past year, I splurged and bought my kids adorable Sunday outfits from Janie & Jack. I absolutely adore their clothes, and would love to buy things from there all of the time, but it is just too expensive. This year, as Christmas was on Sunday, I decided that Janie & Jack ensembles were appropriate, and used a 20% of coupon after the clothes were on their first markdown, and felt good about how cute my darlings would be, at the best price possible. They looked amazing! So cute, and so chic.

 So, everything's great, right? Cute kids in adorable clothes that they will wear plenty of times to warrant the cost. Not really. This is the last year for Emma to wear Janie & Jack, as she is growing up, and needs pre-teen clothes now. As for Shelton, I ordered his clothes way too big, and the hasty hem in his pants comes out every time he wear them, so he hasn't worn them very much this year. And then, Sasha, did the unthinkable: she drew on her dry-clean-only silk red dress with a ballpoint pen, and completely ruined it. When I told her that I wouldn't buy her any nice dresses from now on, and that may be they would all be cheap ones from Walmart, she snootily replied, "I like dresses from Walmart." Oh, brother.

2012- New Year's Resolutions

As you may have guessed, most of my New Year's Resolutions had to do with my health and fitness. I started the year off with a bang, and jumped right in to accomplishing amazing things. I was on a roll, and the weight continuously dropped, along with my body fat percentage. I was getting in 5-8 workouts per week, and teaching 14 dance classes per week, as well. My diet was on track, and I felt that I had made lifestyle changes rather than merely trying to "diet".

Ready for Zumba! Just let me enter my day's food selections into the "My Fitness Pal" app on my iPhone.

Everything was great, that is, until April came along. I started running as the weather improved, and really jumped into it, running a 5K distance in as little as 29 minutes. I might want to add that I am not a "runner" and that before April 2012, the furthest I had run was 1.5 miles, since 1995. I guess I pushed it too far one day, because I ended up unable to walk, with plantar fascitis and bursitis in my right foot. I also pulled the muscles going up the back of my right leg, my lower back muscles (on the right) and up to my right shoulder and neck. Why was the right side of my body so beat up, you ask? My left hip has been giving me a lot of trouble for the past 4 1/2 years, and I have been putting a lot of stress on the right side of my body to compensate for the pain.

Enduring an ice bath- ouch! On the floor are some new running shoes to replace the ones that were blown-out. That also contributed to my injury.

 I am in a great amount of pain after teaching a ballet class (where my feet are in a turned-out position), after sleeping on my side, driving or sitting for a long period of time, and also after certain workouts. During Zumba, I will sometimes feel that my hip is giving out, and that I have to use odd muscles to lift my leg. I also have the problem of my hip getting "stuck" while I walk, especially when it is cold outside. The pain comes and goes, but it has not changed in severity for these past 4 1/2 years. After my traumatic C-section delivery of little Sasha (4 1/2 years ago), I had to get used to standing and walking without using my stomach muscles. I can remember a few times, feeling my legs give out at the hip, and falling. For a few weeks it felt like my hip needed to "pop" which was pretty normal for my dancer-do-crazy-things-to-be-flexible body, but one night it "popped" in a really loud and painful way, and has been hurting ever since. As I have been unable to exercise and dance of late, I am finally going to see the hip specialist that will most likely perform hip surgery on me for a labral tear in my hip socket. It took me 4 1/2 years to call him, and once I did, it took 2 months to get in to see him. June 13th is the day! Just after I turn 36. Last week, my good friend, Melody Surat, sent me a little card in the mail, as she now lives in Georgia. In it she said, "I was beginning to think you were invincible! Best of luck on your recovery." It made me smile, and also made me realize that it's true, I have been able to go quite a long time, and have accomplished a great deal, before my body finally gave out on me. Time to take a little break and get better, so I can continue doing the things I love as soon as possible.

2012- Happy New Year!!!

It's already May, and I am wondering where 2012 has gone, already? So, I thought I would reminisce about the start of the year, and see how I am doing with my New Year's resolutions.

Here is Emma, welcoming in the New Year wearing her new sweater, and a pair of 2012 glasses that may make you think at first glance that we are celebrating 2002. I don't think that the "1" works very well, but we thought they were fun.

Cute girls are ready to party!!!

Papa & Sally-Mom were visiting, and offered to take the kids out to dinner (McDonald's) and a movie (Chipwrecked) while Shane and I had some friends over for a little New Year's fun.

Sally-Mom was a big help before the party: cleaning and preparing food items.

A few weeks before, my friend, Julie, and I decided it would be fun to have a New Year's Party to get together with friends. I offered our house, and we delivered invitations to 12 couples that we thought would enjoy a night away from the kids. Because so many people where we live usually spend New Year's Eve with family, we planned to have the party on New Year's Eve Eve. On the invitation, we specified that they need only respond with a regret, and by the end of the week, we had heard from most of the couples. A little disappointed that so few could make it, but grateful for our besties who would be there, we went on with our plans.

Julie & Shane McGinnis

Winners of our Newlywed game!

Jenny & Shane

Need to spend a little more time getting to know each other;)

Kent & Melissa Mortensen

I think they may have had a fight after playing The Newlywed game. Oops!

(Not pictured: Ginger & Austin Thomas- had to get home to the baby-sitter).

Spring Break- Hogle Zoo Adventures

For a fun outing, my Dad took the Sowards and Harris families to The Hogle Zoo. It was fun to go back to this little zoo, as I had taken Emma there many times when we lived in Salt Lake City. We took a picture of Emma in the same place as another picture taken when she was 3.

She's got the whole world in her hands.

Now, my Dad is very savvy when it comes to working the annual family passes at amusement parks, museums, and zoos. Earlier that week, he took all of the grand kids to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point with his Grandparents pass. (They absolutely loved it!) He acquired another Granparents pass (apparently, these are very popular in Utah) at the gate of The Hogle Zoo, which included unlimited rides on the zoo train and carousel, so we immediately started enjoying these attractions. 

 The kids on the Zoo Train.

Part of Emma, Kailey, Stratton, Sasha, Shelton, Austin, & Jordan

After riding the train we headed over to the playground to let the kids run around and get out their excess energy before we tried walking around and keeping track of them while looking at the zoo animals. While playing, we began to notice little, intermittent rain drops, but tried to ignore them, and hoped they would subside despite the heavy, gray clouds that hovered over the zoo.

All the kids & Papa

On a giant spider- kind of creepy!

Emma & Kailey

Captured damsels on the giant spider web that is probably where the giant spider is headed towards.

Jenny & Caroline

Hot Mamas enjoying talk time, and still wondering if it was a good choice to leave all of the coats in the cars so that we didn't have to carry them around, as we are no longer in the stroller stage of motherhood.

After what seemed like a very long time, we decided to move on to go explore the other zoo attractions, mostly because the raindrops started getting more concentrated, and we feared that our zoo trip was doomed. Caroline went to get all of the coats out of the car, and we decided to brave it out, hoping for the best. As we walked deeper into the zoo, it seemed like everyone was headed in the opposite direction, towards the zoo exit. You are probably thinking that our day was soon to be over, but alas, remember that Grandparents pass my Dad had bought earlier? Unlimited rides on the zoo carousel, which was completely covered! We probably rode on that carousel 15 times, and just when the kids were growing tired of this, the rain stopped, and we got to enjoy the rest of the zoo. Lucky us!

Shelton rides the elephant with a smile.

Austin & Shelton hanging with the giraffe.



A funny thing: when we were at the giraffe exhibit, I noticed that one of the giraffe's (pictured above) was avoiding me. When I was outside, he went in. When he noticed me inside, he went out, but hovered near the doorway, and would come in briefly to eat. I started to wonder if he didn't like the furry leopard print lining of my coat, and was amused to find that he stayed inside with me after I took it off and hid it in my bag. That is when I took the picture above. Too funny!

What a great day at the zoo!

Emma, Sasha, Stratton, Kailey, Shelton, Jordan, & Austin.



Spring Break- Sushi Date Night

One thing about living in a big city that I truly miss is getting to eat (good) Sushi. So, for our triple-date night, Sushi it was. Dad, Sally-Mom, Jason, Caroline, Shane, and I went to a cool little place and ordered some absolutely incredible food to indulge ourselves with. Thanks to Dad for treating us!

Here are some of the exotic rolls we ate, including The Playboy Roll.

Dad and Sally-Mom

Jason & Caroline

(Jason is wearing a good find from Nordstrom Rack, masterfully selected by all three of us girls,

earlier that day. He had an important job interview, and he got the job!

Shane & Jenny- always up for Sushi!