Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from three wild Leprechauns.

One very excited-about-wearing-many-shades-of-green leprechaun, one green pancake eating leprechaun, and one who refuses to hold still long enough to be photographed.

No one's getting pinched around here today!

What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas...{Unless you Blog about it!}

My friend Nicole's husband is a genius! For her birthday he flew me to Vegas as a surprise birthday present for her. Have you ever been some one's birthday gift...It's pretty flattering to say the least.

Here's how it happened. Alan called me at the first of February and asked when would be a good time to send Nicole to RS for a birthday trip. We went back and forth between dates and times...when he realized, she would freeze to death in the subzero temps. So, instead he offered to fly me there. Like I said, genius!

I think it was a more of a gift for me than it was for them! We had the best most relaxing time. We shopped, we ate, we ran, we did nothing, we didn't have to get kids in and out of the car or feed someone else during meal time, and it was a dream come true.

Some of my RS friends are still confused by the "I don't drink" thing. Maybe not confused, but astonished. I had one such friend say to me the other day, "I would love to see you drunk, you don't have very many inhibitions as it is, so I bet you would be a great drunk." To which I replied, "I'm sure a half a beer would give me alcohol poisoning." Then much laughter, and more puzzlement... I really don't think I would be a good drunk...A giant helping of frozen yogurt, staying up way too late, and then setting the clocks forward even later...was enough for me!

We call this photo, "Yogurt Drunk"... I'm sure it's not quite the same as alcohol, but you get the general idea!

I LOVE these yogurt places where you can pile up your yogurt, toppings, and then pay by weight. Rumor {and the sign on the building} has it that there is going to be on such joint in RS very soon...I'll see you there!


We recovered from our yogurt hangovers just in time to get up bright and early for 9am church. We managed to pull ourselves together for a decent{ish} picture.


I'm already planning a July birthday trip for her to come to the country. I think we should make it a early thing. Vegas in March is perfect, and by July Rock Spring's 89 degrees is going to feel pretty awesome!

Six Tunnels 5K @ Lake Mead

On Saturday my friend Nicole, and my new friend Stephanie {her sister} ran a very fun 5K through the railroad tunnels at Lake Mead. During the construction of the Hoover Dam a railroad was built from Henderson NV to the dam. This rail line delivered supplies to the dam area, and when they were finished constructing the largest man made structure ever made, they ripped up the rail road tracks.

The race followed the graded road where the tracks used to be, along the shore of Lake Mead, and through the tunnels blasted in the rock to make way for the railroad. The scenery was amazing, the tunnels were massive, it was a great place to run!

Here we are getting ready for the race. The race starting line was about a mile hike straight downhill. So this is actually us getting ready for our pre-run hike. Once at the starting line we realized that we were very under dressed. There were people dressed up like leprechauns, green wigs, green tights...there was a lot of green!

All 400+ of us lined up at the starting line, and listened for the race gun to sound...I never did hear the gun, but I did hear the bagpipers. I always thought that the bag pipes were more a Scottish thing, but apparently they can be used to start a race with an Irish theme.

With about one mile to go we were feeling pretty great. Maybe a little too great. This is how serious a runner I am!

On the way up the trail about one mile into the race, I dropped my water bottle. I couldn't stop to pick it up because I was afraid of getting trampled. So, I just left it. On the way back down the trail at about the same place I dropped my water, I found it! It was perfect timing. No one kicked if off the trail, and Green Peace didn't throw it away, so it was awesome! A little water was all I needed to finish this bad boy!

Nicole and I crossed the finish line right around 27 minutes. Which, apparently isn't too bad. I finished 10th in my age division and 95/425. I still don't feel totally inspired to get out there and pound the pavement every single day, but will probably add a weekly run to my workouts. I will say this, running a race is WAY more fun than plain old running. I think it helped that I had my best friend with me!

Here we are at the end. That one mile hike down before the race, was also a one mile hike UP at the end of the race. You can't beat 70 degree weather next to a lake, through beautiful terrain with great friends, and good music. Make running this fun all the time and I will do it all day every day!

Double Rainbow

Nicole and I stopped by the largest-ever-in-the-history-of-retail-shopping-two-level Forever 21 in Las Vegas. There were a lot of very cute things, but there were also a lot of very, well, un-cute things. Thankfully she decided against this rainbow sweater {or as her husband described it "hippy kindergarten teacher"}. If you have to ask yourself, "Is this cute or ugly...or is it so ugly it's cute?" step away from the potential purchase!

It's so bright, so vivid...It's so intense...Double rainbow all the way across the sky...Ahhhhh what does it mean? It's starting to look like a triple rainbow.

If this isn't funny to you, you are not one of the 22+million people who do get this joke. You may need to click here or here.

Pretend It's Warm...

Today, amid our daily running around, we made it to Green River to register our car {it was only due in December}. We can't go to Green River without going to Arctic Circle, and we can't go to Arctic Circle without eating it at the park. So, even though the thermostat said 35 degrees, we stuck to our guns. Carter shivered a little when it was time to eat his shake, but Caleb thought eating outside was a dream come true.

The hot corn dogs steamed outside in the cold air, Carter thought his was smoking...which reminded him that he's NOT supposed to pretend to smoke. It was pretty chilly, even my cell phone camera captured Caleb's cold pink cheeks. All in all, it was a pretty fun adventure...it will be more fun in the warm summer sun, but at this point we just take one non-windy day at a time!

Also, I should note that I do feed my children things other than girl scout cookies, shakes, and corn dogs. However, it seems that those healthy normal foods are less fun to eat, and therefore less fun to photograph. At any rate, I assure you that these children are not on the fast track to obesity.

Scared...Relief...Scared {again}...Relief {again}

SCARED: Yesterday evening while Christian was getting ready to go to the rec center to work out, we had a scare. Carter thought he heard a knock at the door, so he jumped up to answer the door. I {was in the back bedroom} heard the door open and close. I walked down the hall and into the living room to ask Carter what he was doing. He said he thought someone was at the door, but there was no one, so he shut the door...

Then I asked him, "where's Caleb". He shrugged his shoulders. A little more panicked now, "did he go out the door when you opened it?" More shoulder shrugging from Carter. Very panicked now, "CALEB! CALEB! Where are you?" Nothing. Christian heard me yelling, so he went outside to see if he could find Caleb. Nothing.

Cali heard the yelling, she started looking all over the basement for him. Nothing. Carter laid on the couch and watched TV while we all ran around. He wasn't too worried. I ran up and down the hall, checked my room, my bathroom, the kids bathroom, his room, closets...Nothing.

RELIEF: After what seemed like an eternity and, with Christian down at the the other end of the block. I found him! In the laundry room, between the washer and the cabinets. It's weird, I found him in the very same place I hid the Girl Scout Cookies. All of us running around had created the diversion he needed to eat his weight in delicious cookies.

SCARED {again}: He had devoured an entire sleeve of Do-si-does, a very very peanutbuttery cookie. With Carter's allergy to peanuts, and the doctor's recommendation that kids avoid peanut butter until after their 2nd birthday, I started a new panic.

RELIEF {again}: Apparently Caleb is NOT allergic to peanuts, phew. There seemed to be no adverse affects of his peanut butter cookie consumption. Except spoiling his appetite for dinner and for any other food that isn't cookies.

Field Trip

Yesterday Carter's preschool teacher bravely conducted a field trip with both of her preschool classes. The kids had a great time at the Western Wyoming Community College Museum. There were dinosaurs, fossils, and stuffed wild animals.

Aside: We were right on track to be on time for this field trip, but at the last minute {at the rec center day care} Caleb had a giant messy diaper. So, I hurried to change his at the day care so that we could just get in the car and go. We missed the very first few exhibits, but Carter didn't notice, and was just excited to be with his friends. Ok, so, today I found the diaper that I threw in my bag yesterday...not good. Not good. At. All.

Miss Emily had a check off sheet for all the kids to work on while they searched for all the animals on the sheet. Here she is giving Carter some hints on where to look next, while he holds his crayon very studiously and ponders his next move.

He was very serious about this check off sheet, as you can see. He took a break on the floor to make sure he was circling and seeing all the animals on the page. Did I mention he totally forgot I was there, I didn't mind, I had fun visiting with some other moms. Carter is a very independent spirit, and the type of kid that other kids like to follow.
Caleb stayed in his stroller for the whole adventure, and was pretty amused by the whole thing. He tried to jump out of his stroller to get his hands on a stuffed wolf, but other than that, it was a good day for everyone.

It's So Hot, We're Sweating!

On Saturday morning we drove to Castle Dale to enjoy a weekend filled with family bonding. We forgot Carter's shoes and I brought one black boot and one very dark brown boot. So things started off pretty well. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day in Castle Dale Utah! The kids got to spend some time outside at the park with Grandpa Neal, and I got to sit around and visit with my mom. It was a win win for everyone.

Several times during the day Cali and Carter were heard to say, "It's so hot here! We're sweating!" Apparently the 45 degree weather {with no wind} was a tropical paradise for my poor children. They refused to wear coats, and protested at the very thought of coming inside. My dad taught them a game called "Mummy mummy kick you in the bummy". It's basically self explanatory. You run around chanting the "mummy mummy kick you in the bummy" when you get to the "kick you in the bummy" part, you try to kick another person in the bum. As you can imagine, it gets fairly wild, which may have contributed to their sweatiness.

Caleb got to experience the joys of sliding and climbing for the very first time. He chased a neighborhood cat for several miles in circles, and he loved every second of it. Lucky for me I've mastered some very advanced wrestling moves when it comes to getting him back in the car.
Carter also mastered some moves. He learned how to do the monkey bars for the first time. He is a very determined little thing, and wouldn't leave {or even think of leaving} until he could go from one side to the other without falling. There was cheering and clapping and lots of praise, we were all proud! We also purchased some new shoes for him at the local Alco store...The new shoes gave him a lot of "running power" so that may have helped as well.

Cali had fun too, she helped Caleb up and down the steps of the play gym. They were both a little too brave for my liking so I had to intervene. But, she really is a very helpful big sister. I love this picture of her and my mom.


And if that wasn't enough weekend excitement for one family, we still had more family togetherness with the Pollastro side of the family. That post and pictures {courtesy of my sister in law or any other family members that I can steal them from} will be forthcoming.

Girl Scout Cookie Season

Some people have hunting season, Christian is crazy for baseball season, but we have Girl Scout cookie season. Yes, it's an actual season. It starts when we order our cookies, and it doesn't end until the very last box has been devoured. This is me, just enjoying my very first {of many} thin mints of the season.

After being very sick for a couple days, Cali found a cure for her illness, cookies of course. She was on a strict sprite, cracker, banana diet for about 48 hours, but once the cookies were in the house she made a miraculous recovery. It was amazing.

Carter can't get enough Samoas he asks every hour if he can have one. Let's see, one an hour, he will easily finish off a box a day by himself. That's my boy!

And we can't forget Caleb's very first Girl Scout cookie. He was much too young last year to enjoy the deliciousness, but he's catching on quickly.

Story Books

Even if you can't officially read, you can still enjoy the magic of a simple story book. Carter "reads" to Caleb all the time, they both really get into it. Any book with a fish or ball, and Caleb is hooked. Carter has most of his favorites memorized, but if not, he just makes up his own story anyway.

Looks like I ruined their reading by trying to snap a few pictures. It only takes one glimpse of the camera and Caleb tries to grab it out of my hands. Here's the last picture I got before he pounced.