WEEK OF JULY 16, 2012

I got smart and ran around 6:30 a.m. this morning.  That was MUCH better.  We had a family potluck and game night and Erin and Russ's this evening that was loads of fun.  Can't wait until we live down here and can have regular family activities with the gang!

Nothing better than a good play in the toy box!

Uncle Russ what do you mean it's not all right to play in the toy box?

Cousin Bethany loving on Vona!

Briana chill-axin at Erin's

What is Uncle Russ doing?

Great Aunt Margaret

Super decadent-licious-ness Costco chocolate cake!

Happy Bethany

Happy Ivan too AND wonder of wonders his eyes are open!!

When you're tired, your tired!  Too bad I didn't get the matching shot of Ivan crashed with the kids crawling on him too!

Mommy Erin with flexi-baby Bryn

Great Uncle Doug getting some Vona lovin!  He didn't want to give her up! 

Aunt Ashley with our cute Cabbage Patch dolly Bryn

Jackson - Take One

Jackson - Take Two

Jackson - Take Three.  This boy is definitely related to his Nana!!

Karlee entertaining Bryn

Chocolate cake drugged!

FRIDAY - JULY 20, 2012
No wonder I'm having trouble running.  Last night as I went to run after 10 p.m. it was still over 90 degrees!!  It's definitely time to get a hydration belt!  I hope to get one today so that I can go on my long run tonight instead of Saturday night as we'll be heading to Erin's house for a potluck/game night.  And just to put the icing on the cake, my Garmin wasn't communicating with my computer.  I was able to program the Garmin itself to manage the run, but when I got home, come to find out the USB ANT stick is broken!  I found one for half the price of the ones on the Garmin site (including shipping) so got that ordered and should receive it in about a week.  In the meantime I need to contact Costco for my purchase information so I can return the original as Garmin apparently gives a one year warranty on them.

THURSDAY - JULY 19, 2012

I woke up this morning feeling a little off balance...BOOOOO!  Hopefully it's not those darn ear crystals again!  I finally researched and found the medical name for it: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV).  My chiropractor treats me using the Epley Maneuver, but obviously I'm not in Yakima right now!  So I'll just have to try to compensate by not bending my head down, sleeping on two pillows, not sleeping on my side, etc.  Today I want to work on getting photos posted to the blog and facebook.
I almost forgot to mention, I found out that I WON the individual competition for the Getting Healthy Challenge.  The prize was $100!  I think I'll buy a second pair of running shoes with the prize money so I can alternate using them with my current pair.  I lost a total of 17.6 pounds during the challenge and started developing some really healthy habits in my life.  I plan on continuing to follow the 7 week program on my own to help really cement the good habits.

This afternoon after I'd fed Vona and had her next to me trying to get her settled down for another nap, she lost her binky and I noticed that her tongue was black.  Uh oh!  So, I got online and did some research.  It looks like what she has is quite uncommon in infants but should resolve itself within a matter of weeks (took 7 for one case reported).  It's called Black Hairy Tongue and they believe it's caused by bacteria, yeast or fungus.  The only thing I could find online as a 'treatment' for infants is to brush or swab the tongue a couple of times a day.  Hopefully it won't freak Ashley out too much when she wakes up and finds out!

WEDNESDAY - JULY 18, 2012
And they're off!  After a rough start, their van had oil in the coolant overflow tank, Justin, Vicki, Rob and the rest of the Rude King band headed to Lubbuck for the first stop on their west coast tour.   They'll be gone for 2 weeks, so Ashley, Vona and I are on our own!  Ashley sent me to Briana's yesterday afternoon where I swam with Briana and the Pascual brothers at their apartment complex swimming pool.  The weather was supposed to reach 99 to 100 degrees and their air conditioner went out in their apartment.  The maintenance guys fixed it while we were in the pool, but it took the whole rest of the day to try to get the internal temperature down below 80 degrees!  Before I arrived when they were still waiting in their apartment Alex said to his Mommy, "Mommy it's hot out here!"  Silly little boy..Erin, Jackson and Bryn came over to play after Bryn's nap.  It was too hot to play too hard so the boys mainly watched movies together.  It's so fun to see the cousins play with each other!

TUESDAY - JULY 17, 2012
Sad day, I found out this morning that the house I LOVE in Denton is still actually available.  The realtor sent me a listing for a comparable that had a full price offer on it to give me an idea of what might be a reasonable offer.  Oh well, I still think we need to get Darvin established with a job so we can know which area to buy in so he doesn't have a long commute.

MONDAY - JULY 16, 2012

Today was a busy day.  I went house hunting with Margaret, Bethany, Avril Anderson and her husband who was our chauffeur.  It seems like we traveled all over Texas!  We went to an empty duplex in Little Elm first.  It helped me realize that I'd prefer not to buy a rental property first.  We went to other properties and found one that was perfect in Denton.  It had over 3600 square feet in the main house and an almost 400 square foot cottage in the back yard that is currently rented for $650/month.  The home was built in 1975 but was beautifully updated and had a wonderful outdoor space in the backyard.  Apparently there is a full price offer on it.  Oh well, after running around all day I came to the realization that I'm kind of putting the cart before the horse.  Darvin has not got his Texas license yet, so there's no way we can know where he'll be able to get a job.  He doesn't want a long commute, so I really need to know where he works in order to find a home nearby.  It's going to be somewhat difficult to find a house with a father-in-law quarters, there are not a lot of options.  We may need to find two separate houses that are in the same neighborhood.