Wednesday, March 14, 2012



March 12 was Alicia's 10th birthday. She has now hit double digits! I really wanted to put balloons all over our yard ever since I had seen a house in town do it. So I went and bought 20 balloons blew them up and connected them to plastic knives.
Now I should let you know that March 12 was Monday and was probably the windiest day we have had this year. Windy. VERY WINDY. So I put one out in the yard to see how it would do. A few hours later it had lost a bit of air but was otherwise just fine.
So half an hour before Alicia came home I started putting them all out in the yard. Within minutes they were popping and flying away. For some reason I picked the time where the wind picked up and the rain started. I tried to chase the balloons down but they were flying way up in the sky and in EVERY direction. I took a fast picture when I realized they were not going to last. Pathetic picture.

I then took the last 5 balloons left and moved them to our walkway hoping they would last. When Alicia got home ONE balloon was left. Not actually what I wanted her to see.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Snow pictures

I was up early this morning. Ben woke me up to tell me there was snow at 3:30 and I never went back to sleep. Finally went to the living room so Ben could sleep. Luckily my sister (who lives in Germany and a way different time zone) called me when she saw that I was up so that helped kill boredom until my kids got up.

She asked for pictures of my house. (Well technically she complained about my blog not having pictures like her cool blog. :)) So I went out today and took some pictures for her.

So the first picture was last weeks snow coming down. This is looking out my backdoor.

The bird house hanging on the little shop is a family favorite.

A few weeks ago a birdy couple moved in. We love watching those birds. Last year the couple had chicks and it was so fun to hear them and then see them. THANK YOU to the previous owners who left the house for the occupants. This mugshot is from today. Isn't he cute! But it's looking like I need to go out and clean the poor house. Can you see the small bit of snow still hanging on to the top left of his roof?
For this picture I actually went across the street and stood in the culdesac this morning to get this shot for my sister! Too bad I hadn't gone out sooner. Now the snow looks all smushy and wet.

And this picture is taken from our dining room this morning. We have the most amazing views out this window. Beautiful sunrises.


So the last two days it has really snowed the kids have had to go to school. But the last "snow day" they had, March 1, we went out and played in our yard. Alicia made a snowman and Ethan played for a bit with our neighbor boy. Then we headed over for a couple hours to a friends house.
The kids were very disappointed to wake up this morning and hear they had school. When they finally got ready for school they decided to walk and Alicia wore her snow boots and put her school shoes in her backpack. Seems weird that she is doing that in Oregon in March

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Random thoughts

*Alicia's birthday is Monday. My baby turns 10. Surreal. She loves her new school but she just didn't feel like having a friend birthday party this year. She wanted a family one but this weekend was crazy for the extended family so my mom saved the day. She is coming to pick Alicia up and have her for the night. Some heavy spoiling is in store. Alicia also baked her birthday cake this morning. She will make the frosting and frost the cake tomorrow evening, when she gets home, for her birthday dinner Monday. She loves cooking and said this is what she wanted for her birthday.

*At the Stayton Christian School auction last night Ben and I won the tickets to Oregon Shakespeare Theater. Both the kids are planning on going to Tadmor this year and will be gone at the same time. So we intend to take off for a night and see a play!! I have been looking forward to this since we dropped Alicia off last year and realized that this year we would have a week without both of them.

*I have been very consistent in my running. I am feeling better and losing weight. I have been wondering why I didn't get my sorry bum out running sooner. I mean I hate running but afterwards I feel so proud of myself and I can see small changes already!! Well, it may not be all running as I have been really serious about watching what I am eating too. I am allowing myself one day off from running a week. I am debating if today is that day. Was planning on tomorrow but may swap them out. :)

*Our family trip to Hawaii is just 55 days away! We are spending the first part of our trip with friends on the Big Island! and the second half at Disney Aulani on Oahu! I am very excited about seeing some sun and feeling some heat.

Monday, March 5, 2012

People keep asking me how the running is going. I find this funny as I have only had the shoes 4 days but of those 4 days I have "ran" (run/walk) 3 days. I took Sunday off. Today I went out in the rain. I was actually feeling really good and then I turned around and the wind hit me and the rain turned to hail and I wasn't so good anymore. I was frozen. I finished a bit earlier then I had initially planned and came home to finish on my elliptical. So 3 of 50 days DONE!

On a side note I am so excited that Army Wives has started back up for their season. I love that show.

Friday, March 2, 2012

doing something I never thought I would!

Last year when I went to Disney my feet hurt, a lot. I saw people wearing shoes with built in toes and secretly envied them. I would never buy them because I would feel like everyone was staring at me but I wanted them. I love being barefooted. It's more freeing and my feet get really hot with shoes on.

Fast forward to last week. I was looking for shoes I can wear to Hawaii for hiking but also waterproof. I stumbled on a pair of Merrell Glove shoes and loved them. Problem was that they were not waterproof. So I went for the closest thing to them and bought Merrill Lithe shoes. They are as close to barefooted as I can get but still look good and ARE waterproof. This is my shoe. I adore the look.

I should tell you they are a running shoe. And I should tell you I leave for Hawaii in 63 days. So I told myself when these shoes came I would, well, RUN. They came today and I love them. I also took them out on their first run. Technically I think it also the VERY first time I have ran outside for pleasure. When I got back I had a headache and my lungs hurt but after some googling I realize I need to breathe thru my nose not my mouth, especially in this cold dry weather. So tomorrow I will try that.

So my goal is to run 50 of the 63 days until Hawaii. Now I am not running the entire time. I am running/walking but for me this is a huge deal. I am proud of myself.