Christmas Weekend

Phoebe's 10th!

Phoebe is double digits! I can't believe how old my little girl is getting. For her birthday, this year, she decided that she just wanted to take her 2 cousins, Lex and Bry, for a GNO. We started at my house with nail-painting and pizza and then went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks (riveting) with all the treats, stuffed animals and blankets that I had packed in their bags. After the movie, I took the girls to the Sugar Bowl for ice cream sundaes.
Thanks for letting me hang with you fun girls for the night:)

To a Lovely 13 Years...

Football Weekends

Cade has spent the last couple of months getting to know a game that his dad has practically BEGGED him to play since he was old enough to walk. Luckily, he has discovered that football is not something to be feared (thanks to flags) but a sport that he loves to play. (And, Lila and Sofia have discovered that football games are a great place to find puppies.)Next week, playoffs begin. Wishing my little boy the best of luck.

What We Look Like

A few weeks ago, I shared one of my favorite mormon.org profiles, Tessa Winger (see below). Today I had the privilege to hear the stories of more beautifully ordinary (and some not-so-ordinary), faithful Mormons. It always blows me away to hear the misconceptions about who make up the LDS church and what we look and act like. I believe that people and events are brought into one's life for a reason and to teach us lessons...about life, about ourselves, about God. For different reasons, these stories have touched and taught me.



Lila, The Spaniard

 

Ok, this is definately in contention for my favorite of my kids' costumes!

Our Kids In Disguise

Last night, we took the kids to the costume store to pick out their Halloween costumes and it got us to talking about what they had been over the last few years. My favorites were, hands down, Phoebe's hippie and Fia's Red Queen. I think we'll have some contenders this year, though:)

My Travel Diary

Mazatlan

Cabo

Cabo

Rome

Florence

Paris

Rocky Point

 

Kauai

Kauai

Kauai

Key West

Miami

 

My Monsters!

You gotta love the things you can do in picnik.

I am a Mormon

When I first saw this mom's story I cried. When I saw it again, I cried. I don't know what it is about her story. Maybe it's her humor. Maybe it's how loving her husband seems. Maybe it's her honesty in admitting her anger and then her ability to look past that to a profound understanding. Watching this video gave me something to aspire to. Thank you for that, http://www.mormon.org/.

Miami, baby!

In July, Casey and I and my cousin, Summer and her husband, Kam, flew to Florida for an ADULT vacation!! (Every parent needs one of those once in a while, right;))

We flew into Fort Lauderdale...

and checked into our Miami hotel, Circa 39, right across from Miami beach. Circa 39 was an Art Deco building turned boutique hotel that was built in...1939. It was a fun change of pace from the big hotels we usually stay in. Thanks for the reccomendation, hotels.com:)

We spent the next couple of days eating...

and beaching...

Then, on the third day, we drove down south through the glades, where we went on an airboat tour and watched a 250lb. man "wrestle" a 75lb alligator, and pulled into Key Largo...

Where we, again, ate...

and stayed up WAY too late holding our sides from laughter.

The next day we headed out to do some snorkeling, which is as deep as I'll EVER get in the ocean. We were lucky enough to get to see a couple of nurse sharks and unlucky enough to get stung by several little jellyfish. One amazing thing about Florida is the water temperature. It could not have been more perfect.

When we got back from the dive, we packed up our stuff, again, and drove further south, into Key West...my favorite stop. Our hotel was just a collection of little white cottages across the street from Ernest Hemingway's home, so cute.

In Key West, we ate dinner and listened to live music at a couple of little bars.

 And on day two in Key West, we rented Cruisers and rode around the entire island...mostly in the rain!

Of course we stopped to eat!

And had the best key lime pie at an outdoor Cuban restarant, that night, before wasting the night away singing along at a dueling piano bar. My favorite one was 'Pour Some Sugar on Me', by my request;)...

We had the best time! And don't feel too bad for my kids that were left behind. When we got home, my 5 year-old asked when we were leaving again so the babysitters could come back.

In-home Personal Training

After, deciding to take on more training clients, Casey and I created a home-gym in our seperate third car garage. Since I am a big believer in free weights and reactive training over machines, the space does all that I need it to. I'm loving training a little more with each new clinet that signs on. Altering programs for different needs is challenging and keeps me on my toes. I'll offer a new BOOTYcamp session when it cools down again but I'm loving the one-on-one.