Week of July 2, 2012

Wow!  We're in the middle of an amazing fireworks display, the kind that only God can provide!  It started south of us with tremendous fingers of lightening.  It quickly blew our way and currently sheets of rain are pouring down, originally almost horizontally.  The thunder is now booming very near us making the house shake.  The dogs are going nuts!

An explanatory quote from a facebook friend here in Yakima:  Super crazy bizarre lightning storm going on right now!!  Wind, rain in every direction, lightning that won't quit/absolutely amazing!

Lindsey texted a few minutes ago that they arrived home safely.  It's back to a quiet house for us darn it!  I unplugged my computer to protect it from the power surges as we've already had one.  So I think I'll turn off the computer to save my battery.

SATURDAY - JULY 7, 2012
Another travel day.  This morning we're heading out to the Smith's farm to pick bing and rainier cherries

Aidan enjoying his outdoor adventures in Yakima

Mommy Donna giving Aidan a helping hand to pick the cherries on top!

Thomas the 'super cherry picker'!

There's goofy Nana!

and then we'll head over to Franklin park for the Folklife Festival.  The band Darvin plays in "Four on the Floor" will be playing there.

There's my handsome bass player!

Four on the Floor at the annual Yakima Folk Life Festival

 We plan on leaving from the festival to head to Seattle where I'll drop off Lance, Donna and Aidan.  It was wonderful having them come visit.  We'll miss the Aidanisms!  He's such a cute little stinker!

FRIDAY - JULY 6, 2012
Today has been hot!  It's reaching the 90's now and temperatures are expected to climb at least for the next 4 days or so.  Maybe it's God's way of preparing me for the heat of Hades in Texas next week!  Anyway, knowing that it would be hot and that we had plans for lunch and on I decided to take my run in the morning.  I've been following Lindsey's 1/2 marathon training schedule this week which meant a 4 mile run.  I didn't head out quite early enough and it was starting to warm up.  I had my 5 minute walking warm up, made it 2 miles running then walked 1/10th of a mile, ran another mile, walked 1/10th of a mile, ran about a 1/2 mile, walked .05 mile and ran the last 1/2 mile.  I felt like that was fine.  I would love to be able to run 4 in a row, but I won't be too hard on myself, as long as I persevere and make steady progress I won't let myself get down.  Next week on the long run I'll make it my goal to run past the 3 mile mark and then do the walk/run.

When I got home Donna was ready to go on her 50 minute walk, so I hydrated and ate a little snack and then headed back out with her and the two dogs.  There was a bit of adjustment walking them both.  The Gum's had loaned us a harness to harness 2 dogs together to walk.  Unfortunately Bear liked to run around a little too much which caused some entanglement.  We finally got the hang of it and were able to stay untangled from each other most of the time.  We walked the track and for the last 2 laps I tied them under the stadium seats because Bear was so tired and hot he didn't want to keep walking.  By the time we got home we had two hot dogs!  I wish I had taken a picture of Bear after the walk.  He threw himself down sprawling on the kitchen floor and stuck his nose over the side of his water dish to lap up water as he lay there.  It was hilarious, poor guy!  Both dogs have been pretty well pooped all day just laying around the house.
Lindsey had gone running in the meantime so after we all got showered and fed Aidan lunch we headed to the Indian food restaurant called the Taj.  This is the restaurant where Thomas and Lindsey had their first date on a Valentine's day.  They've been back many times and the owner recognizes and chats with them every time they come.  We had taken them to eat there last time they were in town and Lindsey was still pregnant, so Jessie was excited to see the baby and we even took a picture of them all together.

 Darvin was at work so we made a 'to go' box for him. Lance was kind enough to pay for all of us.

Lindsey and Thomas and I took Brooklyn over to Pops's work with the food so he could show off his Baby Beekee (as Aidan calls her).

Proud Pops always likes showing off the grandbabies when they come visit him at work!

Proud Pops!

 I gave him the choice of lunch from the Taj or Brooklyn and their was no question his first choice was Brooklyn!  He's such a sweet, proud Grandpa.  He always loves showing off the grandkids to his coworkers.  Stopped at Costco and then headed to Allan Neal's chiropractic office (Cascade Chiropractic) where Brooklyn has been getting adjusted all week.  She's doing so much better with sleep, pooping, and gas pain not hurting.  Allan wouldn't charge the kids anything for the 4 visits this week.  What an angel for our family!!

Lance, Donna, Aidan and I plan on heading out to the Smith's farm once Aidan gets up from his nap to pick U-pick cherries.  They're only charging .50/pound for Rainiers or Bings.  In the grocery store the cheapest you can find them on sale is about $2.50/pound.

Getting ready to pick cherries at the Smith family farm

This is kinda cool!

Ray Smith with the 'adopt a grandbaby for a day' program! lol

Aidan riding the broom-broom with 'Grandpa' Smith

Maybe this is too scary after all!

 We'll pick some for Lindsey and Thomas to take home with them too.  Then we're planning on making a stop at the Hot Rods and Harley's event they have every Friday night during the summer at the McDonald's on 40th Avenue.  We're all thinking that will be a big hit with Aidan.  Darvin indicated he should be able to get off early tonight at the patient count is really low again (it was yesterday too), so hopefully he'll be able to come with us, at least to Hot Rods and Harley's.

THURSDAY - JULY 5, 2012
What a wonderful fireworks display at Legend's Casino in Toppenish last night.  Unfortunately the new SD card that I used had an error message after taking many pictures.  Turns out it wanted to be formatted before taking pics and formatting erases everything that's on it.

Hiking adventures:  Lance, Donna, Aidan and I were going to take a short trip to White Pass meeting Mike Park and Molly dog there.

White Pass Ski Resort

Lance and Aidan chillaxin' on the ski lift

Aunt Denise, Aidan and Donna

 We were supposed to meet him at the Ski Resort area around 10:30 a.m.  We actually arrived on time and waited and waited for Mike.  Took a walk around the ski lift.  Lance and Donna took turns walking down the street to the gas station to use the restroom.  We changed Aidan's diaper.  In the meantime I'd left phone and text messages for Mike with no response.  He did call me back at one time but the coverage was spotty and the call was dropped.  We were getting a bit anxious after we'd waited about an hour for him since we'd only planned on spending about an hour on the mountain eating lunch and taking a short hike.  Aidan's nap time is usually 1 p.m. and most of the time he will not take a nap in the car.  So we knew we had a small window of opportunity for our trip so we could make it home in time.  We finally decided to head further west down the road to the site that we thought we'd be hiking at and try to keep our eye out for Mike on the way and when we got there.  We stopped at a lookout point.  I was scanning oncoming traffic looking for Mike.  When I thought I saw his car pass by I told Lance and Donna that I'd head back up to the ski resort to see if it was him.  I found that it wasn't him and returned to the Larkin's.  At this point I was in a quandry not knowing what to do!  We decided to head down the road a little more in the hopes that it would cut down on the time it took to meet up with Mike.  We found a nice lunch spot, I kept trying to text and call him.  We ate lunch and by that time it was getting quite late and so we decided to start heading back the way we came.

Larkin family with Mt Rainier in the background

Aidan enjoying the grasses at our lunch spot

Sharing our lunch with the neighborhood chipmunks

Aidan loves his Mommy!

When I got ahold of Mike he indicated that he'd come over Highway 410, Chinook Pass and what should have been a 2 hour trip took over 4 hours because of poor road conditions and road detours.  Then he missed the turn to Highway 12 to White Pass so instead he ended up in Yakima.  I felt bad, but didn't want to cut our trip too short since the idea was to lunch and hike.  I told Mike to head over to our house to chat with Lindsey and Thomas and we'd try to catch up with him in Yakima.  Lindsey and Thomas had intended to spend the afternoon at his parent's house as some of his siblings are still here from out of town, but they graciously hosted Mike instead.  Of course I was stressed about ALL of the changed plans, feeling like I'd messed up everyone's plans.

On our way home we stopped at the gas station across the street from the ski resort and inquired about hiking trails.  The lady told Lance that there was one around Leach Lake which she said was about 200 yards down the road.  So we stopped there and took a hike around the lake.

The Larkin family at Leach Lake

Aidan ended up falling asleep in his backpack on Lance's back!  So we extended our hike a little longer as it was supposed that he would wake up as soon as we tried to take him out of the backpack.  He got about a 30 minute nap.

Nothing like a nice hike to help a guy sleep!

We made a stop at the Clear Creek Falls overlook and enjoyed the beautiful waterfalls and view.

On the way home we got delayed with road construction in Tieton.  We waited and waited and waited all the while listing to Aidan grunt and watching him turn red in the face!  After this had gone on for quite a few minutes Donna happened to check and Aidan was have a front blow out of his diaper!  So we quickly pulled into the adjacent grocery store parking lot and had a huge 3 adult production cleaning up the boy, getting him out of his poopy clothes, etc.  Of course by the time we were finished our side of the traffic had proceeded through the construction zone and we were left to wait, again!  I'm guessing we waited for at least a total of 30 minutes to get through Tieton!  We finally made it home and Aidan got his bath.

WEDNESDAY - JULY 4, 2012
Happy Independence Day!  Today we went non-traditional.  No bbq with burgers and dogs, instead we had a yummy lunch of Rohn's Pistolette, Dirty Rice and Ratatouille and then Raspberry crepes for dessert.  Lindsey picked up Grandpa Clement on her way home from shopping for a 4th of July outfit for Brooklyn.  He really enjoyed getting out, eating and socializing.  I took some time to show him pictures of baby Vona and some of Brooklyn as well.

Tomorrow Lee's sister Pearl will be coming into town with her daughter.  They're taking Grandpa out for dinner, will spend the night and then head out again I guess.  I suggested that Grandpa call when they get in town to try to arrange a time when Lindsey, Thomas and Brooklyn could go over to visit with them.

TUESDAY - July 3, 2012
We took a picnic lunch and some stale bread to Randall Park today.

Ate our lunch and then took the bread over to the pond to feed the ducks and geese.  

Aidan thoroughly enjoyed watching the "dack-oo's" chase down the bread.  We gave him some bread to throw and he wanted to eat it instead! lol

Lindsey, Thomas and Baby Brooky hiding in the Moby wrap

I hear Aidan waking up from his nap downstairs and he's not a happy camper...we are hoping to take him across the street to the fire station for a visit with the "broom-broom's".  I guess we'll see if his mood improves.

Later today Lindsey and I will be climbing the hill on 96th Avenue for our exercise.  I'm NOT looking forward to it.  But I guess the truth be told I can't say that I ever REALLY look forward to my 45 minutes of exercise!

MONDAY- July 2, 2012
Today we headed to West Valley U-Pick farm and picked raspberries. Lance, Donna, Aidan, Lindsey, Thomas, Brooklyn and Thomas's family all went.

The Giles totally out-picked the Larkin/Clement's. I think Thomas's mom Sandee ended up buying about 22 pints of raspberries. I'm glad it was her and not me! We'll just eat ours by the handfuls! lol
Which is EXACTLY what Aidan did while we were picking.

He is the cutest little stinker. He figured out that if he stayed near Aunt Denise he didn't need to pick raspberries off the bushes, he could just pick them out of Aunt Denise's bucket! lol

This evening after Darvin got home from work, Lindsey and I got our run in and we got the little people to bed then the adults played the game Citadels.  It was great fun.  We'll try to have another game tomorrow night.

WEEK OF JUNE 25th - WE'RE GETTING A NEW GRANDDAUGHTER

Today is a wonderful family day. Brooklyn Brielle Giles will receive a baby's blessing this afternoon in Sacrament meeting from her daddy Thomas.

Lindsey and Thomas arrived yesterday evening around 8 or 9 p.m. They'd stopped in Grandview on the way from Boise to visit with Thomas's grandma and some of his siblings who are staying at his grandma's. Our Sacrament meeting starts at 1 p.m., so we'll try to be there by 12:30 p.m. to take some family pictures before hand and save some seats.

All of Thomas's siblings are coming including his sister and her son from Texas and of course his mom and dad and Darvin, and I, Darvin's dad, Lance, Donna and Aidan. After Sacrament meeting we'll come home and start bar-b-quing for a family luncheon. We're going to have hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, fruits, vegetables, soda pop, cake and ice cream. We'll also cook a couple of salmon burgers for Donna. It'll be nice to spend some time chatting with both sides of the family.

SATURDAY - JUNE 30, 2012
Wow, it's hard to believe June will be over after today. Time flies! Today is the 5k race at West Valley park. My goal is to run the whole thing. I can do it, I'm sure of it. I ran 3 miles earlier in the week without stopping I can run 3.1 miles too! This morning on my arm I wrote in permanent marker "Run the whole race - YOU CAN DO IT!"

I got up this morning about 2 hours before the race was scheduled to start. Made myself a protein shake and ate 4 strawberries. I've since had 32 ounces of water to drink with an hour to go before race time. We'll see if this agrees with me.
Back from the race! I DID IT! I completed my goal. I RAN the whole way, I didn't WALK one step! I sure appreciated the people that encouraged me. I had one woman I think in her 20's who had been walk/jogging. She and I finished the 2nd lap around the same time and she told me she wanted to try to run the last lap with me. She did a walk/run and she actually beat me, but I didn't care, my goal was NOT to walk, so I didn't care about my time. I was encouraging her to run as she walked up the last two hills on the last lap. It was nice to be accountable to her as I'd shown her my goal on my arm to run the whole race. As Haley Moon passed me on her last lap she told me I could do it! Bless Ethan Kimzey's heart. I had 3 or 4 of my seminary kids that ran the race and Ethan did a cool down lap and caught up with me when I had about 1/3rd of my last lap left and jogged to the finish line with me! I love that kid! He was so sweet, he kept encouraging me and telling me I was almost there. When we had about 100 yards left he asked me if I wanted to sprint it. I told him I WAS sprinting it! lol I'd sped up ever so slowly! I actually did better on my time than I expected. Here's the 'after' shot of my arm:

My cousin Jeanie Searcy posted a facebook message to me this morning after I finished the race. She indicated that she wants to start becoming a runner, that she's always wanted to and asked for some advice on how to get started. She was so sweet indicating that my facebook comments about my progress have been very inspirational to her. I told her that the hardest thing for me has been getting rid of my negative self talk, and all the doubts and reasons why I can't succeed. I still struggle every single time I go out on a run! BUT, I'm starting to feel like I WANT to run. When I go out just for a walk it's really hard not to start running! I told her how much I love the couch to 5k program. Another thing that has been really important for me is convincing myself that it didn't matter if I had a setback I just need to keep trying. It has been so emotionally thrilling for me to be able to accomplish these things that I never thought I was capable of. I plan on getting in the best shape of my life in my 50's! If I don't take care of myself, no one else will! I never set out to be an inspiration to anyone, I decided that by posting on facebook it would help hold me accountable. It has been very fulfilling to hear that other people have been motivated by my posts.
According to my Garmin I ran 3.26 miles with a 12:28 pace. Certainly not my best pace by any stretch of the imagination, but I was running in the grass and I DIDN'T QUIT! I'm a winner!
I am currently enjoying listening to Darvin and Aidan in the man-cave. Darvin is playing his guitar and 'teaching' Aidan how to play. It's the sweetest thing ever! I keep hearing Aidan saying, "Yeah", "Yeah"! So fun to have this sweet little person around.
Aidan enjoys bubble bath time at Aunt Denise and Pop's house!

FRIDAY - JUNE 29, 2012
It's another traveling day. I'm exhausted. The babies have had a rough time traveling. Between not being able to sleep in the car and having problems sleeping at night I think we're all worn out. Hopefully Lance, Donna, Aidan and I will do well on the last segment of our travel this week. We're heading from Boise back to Yakima today. I'm wishing for a quick and uneventful trip home today!

THURSDAY - JUNE 28, 2012
We returned from Salt Lake City to Boise today. We're were hoping to leave Salt Lake by 3 p.m. so we'd arrive in Boise about 9 p.m. We didn't depart until 3:30 and didn't arrive in Boise until about 10 p.m. We barely had enough gas to get to Boise. The warning light came on just as we were arriving in the city limits. Brooklyn had a bit of a rough time. She cried for about an hour straight at one point. We made 3 stops instead of the 2 we'd made on the way down to Salt Lake.
Lance drove the first half of the trip. As we were preparing to depart Salt Lake he was checking to see that the side mirrors were set correctly and noticed that the passenger side mirror had been broken. It was a very strange break as it was the plastic cover underneath the mirror. Apparently another car had knocked against the mirror at their hotel room. What a bummer!

I don't know why we seem to attract problems when we have rental cars. Fortunately what my primary insurance doesn't cover American Express will pay. In my experience it's just such a hassle to get the claim processed and deal with the rental car agencies! We'll see how customer service friendly Alamo is! When I returned the car this evening Javier the employee that was on duty said he was relatively new, so he suggested I call the manager back during normal business hours to get more details on the claim process. He said they wouldn't file the claim that they'd mail me a bill and I'd have to file my own claim. That just doesn't seem right. We shall see!

I'm really glad we were able to go visit Mom. Even if it was a very short visit! It was nice to be able to chat with her and do some catching up. She really seemed to enjoy seeing the grandbaby (Aidan) and great grandbaby (Brooklyn).

Lindsey and I were glad that we were able to stay at her apartment with her as we were able to spend more time visiting. Lindsey and I would both like to return in October to attend General Conference with Mom.

WEDNESDAY - JUNE 27, 2012
We made it to Salt Lake City yesterday with all 4 adults and 2 little people all in one piece!

Poor Aidan is not sleeping in the car, so he hasn't been getting his naps which makes for a very tired little boy. No big plans today. Mom would like us to visit the Family History Library where she works this afternoon when both shifts are working so we can meet the folks she works with. She would also like us to visit the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Other than that we'll probably just have a relaxing day visiting.

Lindsey, Brooklyn and I are staying at Mom's apartment. Mom spent the night with us at her apartment which was nice because then we were able to get up and spend time to chat. It's been nice to catch up.

Aidan's favorite part of exploring Salt Lake was the 'broom brooms' at the Joseph Smith Memorial building!

Yesterday evening Donna and I took a walk at the high school track that's a block from Mom's apartment. It had cooled off by the end of the day (it's been SUPER hot here) so it was a really nice 2.5 mile walk. Today is a running day. I plan on running this evening around 9 p.m. again after it's cooled off (hopefully).

Just returned from my run. I'm kind of proud of myself. I know, I shouldn't be prideful, but I don't know what else to call it. I have been tired since arriving in Salt Lake City and the elevation is about double Yakima's but it didn't stop me from my run late this evening. I didn't get out until about 10:30 p.m. I was determined to beat my last longest run which was 32:20 minutes. I have a head light that I use at night and at home I always take Abby with me when I run at night, but she wasn't here and everyone else was ready for bed, so I headed out by myself. I started running at the track, but after a few times around the track alone there was a guy that was walking between the track and the field. It was relatively dark on the track, so I decided it would be safer to run around the block on the sidewalks. I finished my lap and headed for the sidewalks. I was thinking I'd need to go around the block about 5 times to complete my time. I decided I wouldn't look at my watch until I'd gone around at least 5 times. My Garmin watch was set for 34:00 minutes. I decided I'd try to keep running even after the timer went off if I felt like I still had some stamina. I was excited when the Garmin went off at 34 minutes and kept running. I ended up running 37:08 minutes! A new personal record AND 3 miles which was a much slower pace than usual, but almost to the 5k mark so I'm not complaining! I should be in good shape to finish the 5k race on Saturday. Hooray!


TUESDAY - JUNE 26, 2012

Exciting news yesterday! Ashley delivered Vona LeeAnn Rush on Monday, June 25 at 9:20 p.m. CST. She was 21 1/4" long, 7 lbs 3 oz with a head circumference of 14ish". I think Ashley was in labor for about 18 hours (maybe Ashley can correct me if I'm wrong). They had a home birth. The plan was to have her in a pool provided by the midwives, but as 'luck' would have it Ashley had needed to get up out of the pool to walk around when she started feeling like if they didn't check her and tell her she was about to have the baby, then she wanted to go to the hospital. So she laid down on the bed. When they checked her the baby was crowning so she stayed in bed to have her.

Ashley had Justin, her two midwives, her mother-in-law Dolly and her Aunt Vicki there for the birth (and of course Bernice the proud big sister dog!). I knew that she was going to have quite a 'crowd' so felt like it would be more helpful if I came after the baby was born and Dolly had gone home, so we could extend the support. Ashley said that at one point in the labor all she wanted was for me to be there. I felt really horrible about that, but hope that we made the right decision in me coming later. I'll arrive on July 11th and will stay until July 31st. Justin and Vicki will both be gone from the 18th through the 31st on tour with their band, so I think it'll be good for me to be there to help.

On another happy note, Darvin received a letter from the Board of Pharmacy yesterday indicating that he was within the scope of practice in the investigation that they'd been conducting on a patient that had died at the hospital 3 years ago. So, case closed. Hooray! He knew that he'd followed hospital protocol, but you never know how crazy government agencies will act!

Now if we can convince Great Grandpa Clement that living near the grandkids is the thing to do, we can start working on getting our houses on the market so we can move to Texas!

MONDAY - JUNE 25, 2012

It looks like today will be the day the baby Vona makes her arrival!! I had a message on my answering machine that Ashley is in labor. Hooray! She decided not to wait for her Daddy's birthday on Wednesday. Ashley's contractions started sometime in the night. I think she'd been in labor a couple of hours by the time she called me around 7 a.m. Yakima time (5 a.m. Dallas time). It's now about 8 a.m. and the midwife should be coming over in about an hour to check Ashley. Her contractions are about 2 minutes apart and lasting about 40 seconds right now. Vicki's 'on call' waiting to get an update after the midwife checks Ashley, and Justin's mom is on her way up. EXCITING!!

Lance, Donna, Aidan and I will be traveling to Boise to Lindsey's later this morning. We'll spend the night there and then will head on to Salt Lake with Lindsey and Brooklyn tomorrow. It should be a fun week.

Darvin came home from work last night super frustrated. It will be so nice when we can move and he can get a retail job. He's really tired of working with the stress at the hospital.

Week of June 18, 2012

We arrived in Yakima safely. Poor Aidan, Donna and Lance. It was a rough day! Apparently Aidan did fairly well on their first flight from MA to Chicago, but had a total melt down on the Chicago to Seattle leg. They were all exhausted when I picked them up at the airport. Unfortunately Aidan does not sleep well when he's not in his bed with quiet space. He doesn't want to miss out on anything! lol So, he wouldn't even fall asleep on the 3 hour trip to Yakima. He did well though. Donna was in the back seat serving as head entertainer! Lance and I served supporting roles! We saw lots of broom-broom's (any truck or substantial size vehicle, tractor, etc) and wa-wa's (river's, lakes, waterfalls and the sippy cup with water in it). And even saw horses and cows and a couple of deer. As Aidan started winding down at the end of the trip the Bus Song was a hit and we all had a sing-a-long! No meltdowns in the car, hooray! And the puppies at our destination were well worth the wait,at least as far as Aidan was concerned! He was quite delighted at the tail wagging welcome party!

I put together a dish of Tex-Mex lasagna to bake and made a quick run to WalMart for french bread. We're having Middleton's over for dinner too and Wendy will bring a green salad. I'll probably wash and slice a bunch of fresh fruit to make a 'fruit salad' for dessert.

SATURDAY - JUNE 23, 2012

Today's the day! I get to pick up Lance, Donna and Aidan from the Seattle airport for their visit. It'll be so nice to have them here to visit and to let them visit Lindsey's family in Boise and Mom in Salt Lake City. Lots to do before I head to Seattle. Need to get my run in this morning before it heats up!

I'm already enjoying my new calling as the Valiant 8 teacher. It's really nice to only have to prepare one lesson each week AND because I'm team teaching with Wendy Middleton it won't even be that often once we get through the summer. We'll trade off.

Having so much time to prepare gives me an opportunity to take more time to think of creative ways to present the lessons. Tomorrow we're going to have a 'raft' in class. The kids will need to choose two items from a set of eight supplies that they'd like to keep with them in the raft. The lesson tells us to have the kids imagine that the raft is riding low in the water so they need to dump all but two of their supplies and to place a list of the supplies on the board. Instead of this I'm taking our blow up baby tub as the raft and will have sample supplies in the raft itself. Fun stuff!

HAPPY DAY! I worked through another mental barrier! I jogged 5 complete laps around Kissel Park this morning for a total time of 32:22 during the day. I prefer running at night, so this is a big deal for me. To run during the day AND to run for almost 1 1/2 minutes longer than my previous longest run. I'm sure for some this seems insignificant, but every new extra minute that I run is a true victory for me! I'm not sure how far I ran as I was into the 'recovery' segment on my Garmin, but I know for sure that I ran over 2.9 miles, another first! My pace was 11:17 which I think may be a PR. Almost to the 5k! Hooray!

FRIDAY - JUNE 22, 2012

When I got home yesterday after my visiting teaching appointment to Toni McBean's Darvin asked me if I wanted to go to Walmart. When I inquired about the purpose of the trip he told me it was to buy bike gear. He'd bought himself a bike from Jake's Bike Shop. I'd bought a used bike from Joan Fair a few weeks ago and we'd talked about biking together. Unfortunately a used bike big enough for a 6'4" guy is hard to come by, so a new bike it was! I couldn't find my bike helmet, so we bought me a helmet (he needs replacement pads for his helmet but they didn't have those at Walmart in the bike section), we bought lights and pumps and a liner for tire puncture resistance (only had one set unfortunately, etc. Darvin got everything put on and we're going to take a ride on the Greenway this morning.

What a delightful day! We dropped my car off at the Firestone dealer on the way to the Greenway, then took a 7 mile, 50 minute bike ride. It was cool and sporadically rainy, but made for a nice cool ride. All I can say is, burn baby burn! It was a great workout for the legs and wonderful to get to spend some time with Darvin.

Afterwards we went and picked up Grandpa Clement and took him to a belated Father's Day lunch at Red Robin. Apparently it's been a while since I ate there, they removed my favorite Asian Chicken Salad from the menu! Oh well, I found an acceptable alternative. Once we got Grandpa back home and reloaded our bikes into the truck Darvin took me back to pick up my car from the Firestone dealer.

I stopped at the Yakima Co-op first on my way home and picked up some more deworming medicine for Bear. Poor little guys (actually not really little any more, he's up to 39 pounds!) has had worms since birth. At first I think we weren't treating them close enough together to break the cycle, and now hopefully we're getting to the end of the process. He had one small worm last time we treated him. Yuck, YUCK, YUCK!! I feel like the parent of the child at preschool who has head lice! I know it's just a question of time, but come on now! At least he likes the medicine. He laps it right up!

I headed to K-Mart next to exchange some hair color. They'd had it on sale a while back and so I try to stock up, but they didn't have as much in my color as I had coupons to purchase, so they'd told me I could buy the wrong color and then exchange it later. Glad that's done because I'd had the color in the trunk for a while and kept forgetting or wasn't down in the area when I did remember. I use Clairol, Nice N Easy, 116A Light Golden Brown. My daughters are in charge of keeping that detail, so when I die if my roots are showing, they can cover them up! I'm not kidding girls!! One last act of vanity!! lol

Then I went to Costco to get gas for my trip to pick up Lance and his family, and some groceries and more rawhide for the dogs. Did I mention that my brother and his wife and son are coming to visit tomorrow?!!!! I'm so excited!!! They arrive about 6 p.m. in Seattle and then we'll head straight for Yakima.

When I got home and gave the dogs each a piece of rawhide Abby acted quite standoffish about hers. Now that Bears had his share, she's currently working on one. I'm not sure if it's hers or if she's stolen his, she always seems to prefer what he has and vice versa! lol

In a little while we'll go pick up the Gum's and take them out to dinner. They did puppy daycare and sometimes night care for us when I was gone to Boise and Darvin was at work.

THURSDAY - JUNE 21, 2012

I am extremely tired. I don't know if it's just the fact that I've never exercised so hard and so much in my life, or if I need to do some nutritional adjusting with my diet. Today I need to run. And I need to do it during the day since I have Bunco this evening. I need to take some Primary materials over to Wendy Middleton's (my team teacher). She lives out in the country with nice paved streets and not a lot of traffic so I think I'll drop off the materials to her and then get my run done.

Denise Gum and I have a visiting teaching appointment at Toni McBean's this afternoon. We'll meet her at her office today. Usually we schedule a temple trip each month for our visit, but it just didn't work out this month with everyone's schedules. Darvin is off work and feeling a little neglected. I try to spend as much time with him as possible on his days off but today is going to be hard.

Last night my visiting teaching appointment with Nancy Whalen was cancelled. So Darvin and I took the opportunity to attend the Bears season opener game against Salem-Keizer. The Bears won 8 to 2! Hooray! There were fireworks afterword that were REALLY good! Oh, and during the game I thought for a time that we must be at Walmart. We were sitting in the general admission seats behind home plate. There was a heavy set woman that was sitting in the reserved seats down below us. She stood up and we saw about a mile (ok maybe 8 inches) of butt crack! OH MY GOSH, I'm not kidding either! I think Dad and I were scarred for life by that, totally disgusting! I'm totally amazed at people's lack of modesty sometimes! Dad said that he considered telling the woman that he'd buy her a belt and some underwear. I think what she needed was a belly band (like those kind that pregnant woman wear, because he jeans were definitely WAY too low!

Tonight was Bunco. What a fun time! I love the women in my Bunco group!

WEDNESDAY - JUNE 20, 2012

Another milestone! Last night after I delivered the new printer to Darvin's dad (which won't work because the operating system on the computer is Windows Millenium) I stopped at Kissel park to run. I was 'supposed' to run 30 minutes, but decided if my watch advised me that I was done before I ran 5 complete laps around the park I'd continue on a little longer. It went off about 2/3rd of the way through the 5th lap so I decided I'd keep running until the end of the current song. When the song was over I checked my Garmin and I'd run an extra minute, so I ran 31 minutes in a row for the first time in my life as far as I know! I made it to 2.73 miles at an 11:20 pace (which is good for me-I think another personal record!). Hooray!!

My total mileage including warm up and cool down was 3.72 miles. I'm going to bump my run time up to 32 minutes for the next run day and every time I hit the goal time I'll add another minute. If I can keep the same pace I should be able to hit the 5k mark at just under 35 minutes! It's my goal to run 35 minutes and 5k by the last workout of next week. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!

I'm finally breaking through my mental barriers that have confined me all my life. The mental self-talk of what I CAN'T do. Well now I'm turning that self-talk around telling myself what I CAN do! It's AWESOME to be making new good habits and feeling healthier and stronger and more balanced each day.

Here's a quote that my nephew Jordan posted on facebook today: "One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his greatest surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't."
- Henry Ford

TUESDAY - JUNE 19, 2012

Darvin's on graveyard shifts which began Sunday night and end tomorrow morning. It's really hard for him (and me) to transition from a regular day shift to graveyards and then back again. It seems like he has to work graveyards at least a few times a year when the regular graveyard pharmacists go on vacation. So, being the night person that I am, I procrastinate doing too much during the day because he's sleeping and I'm trying to be quiet. I know, excuses, excuses! Last night was a typical late night for me and I didn't get my run in and it was cold and dark outside so I decided to do the Biggest Loser dvd workout instead. I was getting tired, but gave it my best shot and actually worked up a pretty good sweat! The dogs were down with me at the beginning of the workout getting underfoot. When it got to the point that I had to get down on the floor in plank position I knew that Bear was going to have to go to bed! Little stinker was up in my face trying to 'help'! So I ran upstairs with him and put him in his kennel. He must have realized it was after bedtime because he entered willingly! Then I headed right back downstairs and finished the workout. I'm so glad I bought that dvd because I've been seeing tremendous changes in my body since I started it such a short time ago. It's a full body workout so I'm burning maximum calories and lots of different muscle groups. Hopefully by the time of the half marathon in September I'll be looking and feeling a lot more like a runner instead of a fat couch potato! I'm really starting to see results in my hips and thighs and in my upper body, losing some of those disgusting flubber rolls! AND, I'm still in the lead for the Getting Healthy Challenge. I have 1364 points, Dadra Clement has 1354 and Tanya Permann has 1350 points. It's still too early to predict, but I might have a shot at winning this challenge! I have 'an edge' over the other two leaders because I have a lot more weight to lose. Both of them have lost some, but they're both super fit already so they don't have much, if any, left to lose and I have a bunch. Apparently I'm the only one of the 'fat girls' in this challenge that is trying to get maximum points every single day! lol

MONDAY - JUNE 18, 2012

As part of our Getting Healthy Challenge we're supposed to make a journal entry every day. Thus the reason for beginning a daily entry on my blog of late. Rather than posting daily I decided that it would be better to post once a week.

Yesterday we got to church right before Sacrament meeting started. I had a picture that I needed to hide in my classroom before Primary and needed to make a copy and get Book of Mormon's from the library. So I sent Darvin into the chapel with Wendy and Evan Middleton. We sit together and they'd arrived at the same time we did. The meeting had started by the time I finished and I knew they would have called my name to be sustained as a Primary worker since I was teaching that day! When I sat down between Wendy and Darvin Wendy said, "They didn't waste any time giving you a new calling did they?" Which had been my sentiments exactly. LOL I replied in the affirmative and she then asked if they usually had team teachers in Primary. I told her that they sometimes did, and that, in fact, they'd indicated to me that they wanted my class to have a team teacher. She started pointing to herself, which confused me a little bit because Brother Lonnie Ellis had told me when he came over to extend the call that they were going to ask Wendy to team teach with me. She was so emphatic that I asked her if they'd called her to team teach with me. She said, no, but she WANTED to! That delighted me!

After sacrament meeting I walked up to the stand to give a member of the bishopric our tithing. When Brother Ellis saw me coming he hopped up and rushed over and asked me if Wendy was planning on staying for the rest of the meetings. I told him I thought so and headed to my class.

A little while later I see Brother Ellis's head peaking through the window in the door of our classroom, he opened the door and in walks Wendy! She left early because Evan was creating quite a diversion with the kids, but she called me later that evening and we talked for quite a long time.

It is going to be so fun to team teach with her. She's a school teacher by profession, so that part doesn't worry her at all, but she is worried that the kids will ask gospel questions that she can't answer. So we brainstormed about how to handle that if it happens and I'm not there to help (since I'll be gone about half the summer!)

She told me that her mom and step-dad were ecstatic about her receiving a calling! Yesterday morning her step-dad had been thinking that it was nice that she didn't have a calling to worry about and then he changed his mind and decided that it would be better if she had a calling and that Young Women's would be a nice place for her to serve, but as he thought about it he decided that Wendy would probably worry about the girls knowing more of the gospel than she did, so he decided that a Primary teacher calling would be perfect! How about that for an outside confirmation.

I told Wendy it reminded me of when I was called to be Primary President the first time around. I was TOTALLY taken by surprise by the calling and although I accepted I felt so very inadequate. I kept thinking about all of the other women in the ward that were much more qualified in many, many ways than I was. I really had a sense of apprehension and anxiety about it until the day I was sustained in Sacrament meeting. The Sacrament meeting chorister came up to me after the meeting and told me that she KNEW that I was going to be the new Primary President. I don't know why, but that seemed to be a divine signature from my Heavenly Father letting me know that indeed HE was calling me to that position and whatever I lacked in qualifications He would make up the difference.

Speaking of divine signature, my dear friend and visiting teaching companion, Denise Gum loaned me a book on cd: Divine Signatures: The Confirming Hand of God. I listened to it on the way to and home from Boise. It is PHENOMENAL!! I highly recommend it to everyone that has ever had any struggles, struggles now or will have struggles in their lives. In other words, EVERYONE should read or listen to this book. You can get the kindle version on Amazon for $14.29. This is a must read!!

This is from the book description: "Heavenly Father, are you really there? As Latter-day Saints, we know God exists, but at some point we may wonder, Heavenly Father, are you really there for me? When trials seem beyond our ability to bear, some people lose their spiritual bearings, while others are made even stronger. How can we strengthen our faith and deepen our testimony to the point that we can endure whatever life holds in store for us and come out stronger than before? In this unique book, Gerald N. Lund Reminds us of how much God loves His children and that He is anxious to bless them, especially when they are striving to do His will. Teaches that God often sends blessings in such a highly unusual, dramatic, or precisely timed manner that its as if the Lord signs the blessing personally so we know with certainty that it came from Him. Relates stories from Church history, from his own life, and from acquaintances that illustrate the inspiring and life- changing insights he shares."

Traveling Day & the week after

IT'S WORKING!!

Between jogging 3 days a week and the cross training with the Biggest Loser dvd the other 3 days my body shape is finally starting to slim down again and the weight is coming off!!! The first week of the Getting Healthy Challenge I lost 7 pounds. I attribute much of that to water weight and just changing eating habits. The second week I lost 1 pound, this third week I lost 2 pounds. But the most important thing is I'm starting to see the results on my body! I had to tighten my heart monitor earlier in the week and my pj scrub pants are finally getting loose again! At first I wondered if exercising 45 minutes 6 days a week was sustainable after the 7 weeks of the challenge is over. I'm happy to report that I feel that it totally IS! Particularly if I am able to achieve similar results. I could get down to where I want to be in about 16 or 17 weeks! Especially since I'll be training for the 1/2 marathon next. My running mileage will be continually increasing until the end of September. I'm certain that as I keep losing the weight it'll help me a lot with my endurance to be able to run longer and longer. Hooray for making healthy changes!! After the 7 weeks of the challenge I'm going to make my own personal 7 week challenge. I can't wait to be in good physical condition with some stamina!

FAMILY IS COMING-HOORAY!! - Saturday June 16, 2012

My brother Lance, his wife Donna and their son Aidan are coming to visit a week from today! It will be so nice to have them! It's going to be a triple bonus too, because I'll be traveling with them to Salt Lake to visit Mom and we'll stop in Boise Monday, June 26th and spend the day and night with Lindsey and her family. Then we'll pick up a rental SUV on Tuesday and Lindsey and Brooklyn will join us on the trip to Salt Lake. Mom was able to get permission to take some time off her mission that week while we're there. We'll stay until Thursday when we'll return to Boise and spend the night and then head back to Yakima on Friday. The following day, June 30th is the 5k race the Stake is sponsoring at West Valley park. So we'll be back in time for that. Hopefully I won't be too exhausted by all the traveling. Later in the day Lindsey and Thomas will be arriving from Boise to spend the following week with us as well. We'll have a full house again. Hooray! They'll bless Brooklyn on Sunday, July 1st. I'll take Lance, Donna and Aidan back to Seattle on Saturday, July 7th and Lindsey and Thomas will head back home on Sunday the 8th. Only a week to go!

SUPER DUPER END TO THE DAY: I went out running with Abby this evening. This is the first time I've taken her since I've been back in Yakima. She was 'chomping at the bit' to go with me. Pulling on the leash to begin with. But it seems that maybe she got a little out of shape while I was gone because by the time we were done, I was pulling at her leash to make her keep up! :^)

I'm in the 9th week of the couch to 5k program and I was determined to run the full 30 minutes tonight. I DID it!! It was a snail's pace at 12:00/mile BUT that was a personal record for me. I don't think I've ever run better than 12:15/mile, and I've never run 2.51 miles in a row! I ran 12:20 for the first half and 11:40 for the second half (that's kind of strange!). Wow, maybe there IS hope that I can eventually run far AND at a respectable speed!

On a side note, I know I've had a good run when a few minutes after I walk in the door sweat starts pouring down me! The weirdest feeling is when it starts pouring from the top of my head!!

WORK DAY - Friday June 15, 2012

Today I met Barney Zauss down at the little house in Union Gap. There was some structural damage to an exterior wall and some of the floor joists that needed to be repaired. The wall in the back bedroom was bowed and loose as if it could just be pushed through. We didn't know the extent of the damage until we removed the cedar siding. After the work was all done Barney shared that once he realized how extensive the problem was he was concerned about what we were getting into. He actually had to jack up the house to get some additional support under the floor, and he pulled off and replaced a lot of rotten wood. It was an all day job, but he did it and he did a great job! Then I primed and painted the new siding. Whew! After opening up the wall we found that there's only 4" between the siding and the interior walls and no insulation in the walls. I'm going to check on youtube to see if I can find some do-it-yourself information on blowing insulation into the walls. The material itself isn't too expensive and Lowes and Home Depot will loan you the blower machine if you purchase a minimum quantity of the blow in insulation. I'd love to blow insulation into the walls and add more insulation in the attic. My current tenants Jill and Travis indicated that they'd be willing to repaint the house if I'd provide the paint. Travis said he'd measure the house tomorrow so we can calculate how much paint we need.

Today's supposed to be a running day, but I'm feeling too tired and it's pretty late, so I'll probably do my cross-training video for the 3rd time this week and run tomorrow. I picked up the video from Costco for about $8 it's The Biggest Loser At Home Challenge workout. They use the winners of an at home challenge that was given a couple of seasons ago to demonstrate on the video. It's a great workout. I follow the girl that does the wimpy version of the workouts and I'm still pouring sweat by the time I'm done!

SEMINARY PARTY AND DIVINE INTERVENTION - Thursday June 14, 2012

Well, my Seminary teacher responsibilities are almost done. The party's over, but I need to finish entering attendance on the computer, make sure everyone's completed their self-grading sheets, enter the grades online and mail out the sheets along with Scripture Mastery and Scripture reading certificates for the kids that didn't attend the party today.

There were about 13 or 14 kids in attendance. We had plenty of food, the kids played a few games, threw a few water balloons and seemed to enjoy just relaxing with their friends after finishing their freshman year of school. They are such a great group of kids! I certainly won't miss waking up early, or studying for lessons hours each day, but I will sure miss those kids and being with them each school morning next year.

In my new calling as Primary teacher of the Valiant 8 class one of my students is autistic. It's interesting because when he and his family moved into our ward years ago he was in our Nursery class! As I went to the church after the party today to 'put away' my room and gather up my personal supplies I noticed on the wall in the hall that they're having a workshop tonight at the Stake Center for Leaders, Instructors and families with Special Needs Children. Strategies for Welcoming, Teaching and Embracing Members who have Disabilities and Their Families. What fortuitous timing! I consider it Divine intervention or the Lord's tender mercies! I need to get changed into Sunday clothes and head to that in the next few minutes! Afterwards I'll stop by the Gum's to give them a thank you card and treat to let them know how much we appreciate them taking Bear while I was gone to Boise. I'll try to get a lunch or dinner date scheduled with them as a thank you too!

PREPARING FOR THE END OF YEAR SEMINARY PARTY - Wednesday June 13, 2012

Today was a weird day. Had a hard time getting myself moving. The motivating factor was when Darvin called wondering if I could buy some eye drops and deliver them to him at work. So I finally got moving. After stopping at the hospital I made a stop at the City of Yakima offices to pay the utilities on the Yakima rentals, bought some printer ink cartridges for Darvin's dad and picked up some energy bars and Clif shot blocks from Target and then went to the bank. Stopped at Darvin's dad's on the way home. He was walking on Mead headed toward the cemetery when I drove up, so he hitched a ride with me back to the house. I delivered his ink cartridges and read a couple of memory books that he'd put out for me and Darvin to read. One was copies of Christmas letters, the other was a poem book Vona had written to Lee for one of his birthdays. I ended up spending an hour or so there, Lee seemed happy for the company. When I got home I started prepping for the end of year Seminary party. I'm almost done with the Betty Crocker Traditional Brownie Goody Bars (a class favorite). I need to finish washing and cutting up fruits and vegetables and then need to try to get the grades finished so I can give the kids their certificates and self-grading sheets tomorrow. The kids will be coming after school (10 a.m.) except the kids that have driver's training, they'll come a little after noon. We'll eat when the 2nd set arrive. We're going to have bbq hot dogs, potato salad, sliced vegetables with ranch dressing, a fruit tray including strawberries, cherries and watermelon, Aunt Eva's banana cake and the brownie goody bars. We'll play spoons and the can game and whatever else we decide is fun. It sounds like one of the girls Kiera Dearinger will be bringing water balloons. It will be bittersweet for me, I love these kids and will miss them dearly!!

Apparently Bishop Kimzey didn't want any moss to grow under my feet because one of his counselors came over last night and issued a new calling to me effective on Sunday! AAaggh, I'm not even finished with my Seminary responsibilities yet!! lol I guess that will be motivation for me to get everything completed to close the Seminary year! It hadn't deterred the bishop at all to know that I'm going to be gone half the summer! Hopefully this will help keep me out of trouble! ;^)

SETTLING BACK IN AT HOME - Tuesday June 12, 2012

Whew! It's always an adjustment to come home after 2 or 3 weeks and get caught up and readjusted to 'normal' life! I got through the piles of mail yesterday evening and got bills paid. Darvin had yesterday and today off, so we've been spending time together, working on our to-do lists. We picked up our taxes from JV Accounting today. I won't use them again, they were very expensive and took longer than promised to get the taxes finished. But, at least it's done and we're getting a refund so no penalties for late filing. I'll be looking them over tonight, comparing to the information that I gave and then if all looks good I will get them mailed off tomorrow. I got the food planning done for the end of year Seminary party that's on Thursday. I had accidentally scheduled a project on one of the rentals with Barney Zauss for Thursday morning and just found out that the kids will be out of school at 10 a.m. so Barney was kind enough to reschedule for Friday morning, hooray!

Did I mention that Bear is HUGE!?! How can a dog grow so much in such a short period of time?! He's up to 29 pounds! He's mellowed out a lot since I left. We can now safely keep him out of his kennel with Abby for short periods of time when we have running around to do. Before we'd make him stay in the kennel for fear of accidents and the path of destruction that he would leave! It's nice that he's growing up and that he's such a mellow guy! I have high hopes that we'll be able to leave him with Abby and our regular pet sitter Erika when we go to Ashley and Justin's beach wedding in August. At least I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We need to give him longer and longer 'tests'!

Darvin's bbq-ing chicken and pork this evening and I'm making Lipton soup mix potatoes to go along with them. The bbq smells heavenly! I need to head to the grocery store tonight or in the morning to stock up on fruits and veggies and get the rest of the food for the party on Thursday.

TRAVELING DAY - Monday June 11, 2012

I'm heading for home today. I was awakened around 6:30 a.m. with noise from upstairs. The apartment is vacant and they've been doing work on it. But 6:30 in the morning? I thought it was 8:30, so I got up and went to the bathroom, then checked the time again and it was actually 6:30! So I went back to bed. Got up later and took a run/walk. No time records this morning, but I wanted to get the exercise done before I started for home. I'm going to jump in the shower and get myself ready and go.

Made it safely to Yakima about 6 p.m. this evening. I have never seen so many cars that had run off the road between Boise and Tri-Cities. There were at least 3 or 4 different locations and a couple of cars in 2 locations. The roads were perfect and the weather was beautiful, so I'm not sure why so many problems. I felt very grateful that my trip was uneventful.

It was really hard to leave that precious little Brooky! Today was Lindsey's first 'solo' day. Thomas left for work a few minutes before I left for Yakima. Lindsey said that Brooklyn was fussy for quite a few hours and then finally settled down for an afternoon nap! Silly baby just wanted her Nana and Daddy I'm sure!! lol

A Day of Rest

Sunday, a day of worship, a day of rest. Lindsey and Thomas's church starts at 11 a.m. I missed the last 2 weeks. The first week was the day after Brooklyn was born and then last week I took 'Emmett duty' for the night so that Briana could get some sleep before their long 12ish hour airplane journey home. He had a really restless night so after I took Emmett and Briana to the airport I came back to Lindsey and Thomas's and went back to bed. I didn't wake up until sometime that afternoon. So it was nice to be able to get back to church this morning, take the Sacrament and listen to the talks. It was High Council Sunday in their ward. Both of the High Councilmen that spoke gave really good talks. We found out from the second speaker that the first speaker Brother Krueger is an artist by trade. You could tell by the way he painted pictures with his words! He told us about his past struggles with studying the scriptures and saying his prayers. He then talked about how he recently committed to really studying his scriptures each day and formally praying on his knees twice a day. I love one of the insights he shared, "An intermediate dedication to something is no dedication at all." He told us that because of the commitment that he's made he feels stronger and more confident.

His message really resonated with me. As I've begun this Getting Healthy Challenge it's focused me on many different areas including scriptures, prayer, exercise and daily food choices. I am so grateful that I've had the opportunity to participate in this challenge because I feel like it's helped me to finally change from an intermediate dedication in these areas of my life to full dedication. Brother Krueger indicated that as he gave full dedication to these areas that he's been blessed to feel stronger and more confident. I'm certain that as I continue I will ALSO be blessed to feel stronger and stronger and more confident.

This afternoon Brooklyn had her second bath at home.

She enjoyed it much more than her first home bath!

I'm feeling conflicting emotions this evening as I prepare to return home tomorrow. It will be wonderful to be home with Darvin and our puppies, but I'll sure miss Lindsey, Thomas and our sweet little baby Brooklyn!



"Life starts at the end of your comfort zone."
Chris Powell Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition

Saturday is a Special Day

I got a phone call from my brother Lance yesterday evening. He inquired about our upcoming schedule. His wife Donna is among the finalists for a job with UNICEF in Africa. UNICEF will be making their decision within the month of June and the successful candidate will be reporting to work in Africa the first of August! Hopefully Donna will get the job, but if so we won't see them for a LONG time! Thus the possibility of Lance, Donna and Aidan coming to visit. It sounds like they're going to try to take the western United States tour. They want to visit Seattle (Lance's old stomping grounds), Yakima, Salt Lake City to see Grandma and Dallas to see all of the family down there. As we were talking about the options I suggested that we could take a drive down to Salt Lake to see Mom as opposed to having them fly down there. That way we could stop in Boise and they could meet and visit with Lindsey, Thomas and Brooklyn. We could spend the night in Boise which would split up the trip pretty evenly with about a 5 1/2 hour drive to Boise and about the same from Boise to Salt Lake City.
I was thinking about taking my run this morning before everyone else got up. But when I woke up it was raining. It's supposed to clear up this afternoon, so I guess I'll procrastinate and hope for the good weather later. I'll probably end up going this evening because we are planning on going to Costa Vita for dunch and then to the parade for Eagle Fun Days this afternoon if the weather cooperates. If we do I think it'll be best to take Brooklyn in the stroller. That way she'll be less 'accessible' to strangers. We can use the car seat cover over her.

Lindsey's been doing a good job taking it easy. She had a ton of energy the first week after giving birth. Then her energy level dropped and now I'm starting to see her energy level increase again. It seems like she's starting to go a little 'stir crazy' and wants to get out of the house more. Lindsey looks great, you'd never guess that she had a baby two weeks ago. My belly's probably bigger than hers at this point! Not fair! lol

I can't believe how fast time passes. It's hard to believe that Brooklyn was born two weeks ago. But it's true and I can see her changing already. She's starting to outgrow her newbornness (it's my blog, so I can make up words if I want to! lol). Her face and legs are starting to fill out. She's much more alert and stays awake for longer periods of time looking around the room. This girl loves the swaddle, her Daddy's bouncing and sh-shing skills and her Mommy's groceries! I have no doubt that she'll be a little chub-a-dub by the time they come for her baby blessing the 1st week of July. Precious, precious baby!

It's Friday already?

My arm is still sore from the Tdap vaccine I got yesterday. I'm guessing it's from the tetanus portion of the shot, because I seem to recall a sore arm last time I got the tetanus. I'm glad I got that done so I know I won't have to worry about passing on whooping cough to any of my sweet grandchildren! Darvin's had his too, so we're good to go in the grandparenting department!

Speaking of grandchildren, baby Brooklyn lost her umbilical cord stump this morning. When Thomas was changing Brooklyn's clothes this morning he asked Lindsey, "Brooklyn lost her umbilical cord stump?" "She did?" Lindsey replied. He found it in her jammies. Hooray! I love it when that icky stump is gone. So much easier to change diapers. Her belly button looks really good, no infection. They'd been cleaning the stump with rubbing alcohol every time they changed her diaper.

Lindsey's been having excruciating pain at the latch when breastfeeding. You know the kind that feels like a knife being stabbed from your nipple to your heart, that makes you want to give a blood curdling scream?! Totally normal and I remember it well, even though I haven't breastfed for over 22 years! I hope it passes soon for her sake! Poor Linds.

And a shout out for Thomas. He made the Dean's list at BSU!!!

Lindsey made sugar cookies with frosting last night. I LOVE sugar cookies with frosting and this morning they were sitting on the counter calling my name. I finally asked Thomas if I could put them in a ziploc bag and put them up in the cupboard. I didn't even lick my fingers after putting them away! I AM stronger than the sugar cookies! I'm sure my body appreciated the banana I ate a lot more than it would have appreciated those darn cookies!

Brooklyn took her second family walk today.