Friday Brain Dump. And Weekend Plans.

Welcome to my Friday brain dump.

On this Friday I'm thankful for a husband who looks forward to date weekends as much I do.  I think that's a good sign.

Lone Ranger anyone?  It's on our plan at some point in the next two days.

Also, we'll be buying more plants this weekend and finishing up our new front garden, which is super exciting.  Except we have some random vegetable vine plant that sprung up on its own so we're waiting to see if it's a pumpkin, a squash, or a watermelon.  I've ruled out cucumber because we planted a cucumber and the leaves are different from the one we actually planted.  

Of course I'm hoping for it to be a pumpkin vine because how cool will Halloween be with pumpkins growing in my front garden? 

Otherwise, we'll be eating a lot of zucchini bread...

I jumped at a dream, with a little trepidation because it's easy to dream and say, "I would be awesome at that," but it's a whole other issue to actually go for it.  When you go for it you face the possibility of facing rejection and being told to keep dreaming, honey, because you're just not going to cut it in reality.

Except, thankfully, I wasn't told that.  But I have two months for that dream to fully materialize and then I can elaborate on it more.  I don't want to count my chickens before they're hatched.  Mostly I'm just thankful that I wasn't told I'm not good enough.  

That makes me a happy girl.

Have you heard the new Miley Cyrus song?  It came on the radio while I had The Circus in the car and Brynn asks, "Is this Justin Bieber?"

I can see how she made the mistake.

Lately I've been itching to push my body again.  I was thinking of getting back into a routine to train for another half marathon but then I had a fabulous idea.  Hey!  I know, because the half marathon didn't kick my trash enough, maybe I should train for a triathlon?

But then luckily I remembered I don't own a bike so that saved me from that insanity.

Half marathon training it is.

Maybe next year I'll actually make it to Vegas to run with my cousin in the Rock and Roll Half.

Also, RIP fish.  We had good times, didn't we? (Here).  It died peacefully in it's bowl on my counter in it's sleep, and not on a camping trip, just in case you wondering.

This weekend is busy

Lone Ranger

Finish planting garden

homemade ice cream with my parentals and hopefully siblings

Girl's Camp meeting yo

The Man's tux fitting for his sister's wedding

Group project meeting for communications 1010 blah

dentist for the entire Circus

The great clothes clean out... times six.  Or in other words, the beginnings of school clothes shopping

What's on your plate this weekend?

Happy Friday ya'll.

Addicted To Sugar. And a Bunch of Other Stuff.

Hello.

My name is Stephanie.

And I'm addicted to sugar.

Hard core addiction and though I don't want to be opposed to sugar, I certainly don't want it to run my life either.

I have a lot of reasons for wanting to make a change in my eating habits.  I love to run and push my body to the limit, but when I get myself on a regular running routine, like I have been lately, the exhaustion settles into my bones and I'm ready for deep sleep bedtime at 4:00 in the afternoon.

This can't be normal.  It's not normal.  It's because I'm not giving my body the fuel that it needs to go.  I'm living off of sugar.  And a lot of Coke.  Those aren't going anywhere.  Yet.  They are my guilty pleasure but I don't want to need it everyday.  It's not the caffeine, it's the sugar.  I get hungry and I crave the sweetness.

I've been trying to make small steps so I can keep up with it.  When I made spaghetti I made a big pot of noodles for The Circus, and then made a smaller pot of whole grain noodles for me.  I've stocked my desk drawer with raw almonds and organic oatmeal and granola and popcorn.  If I'm prepared with a quick healthy snack I'm less likely to decide I need "something" and with nothing on hand, head out for a drink run just to get the sugar.

the dirty dash 2012

Sometimes when you're a good wife and put up with your husbands antics (here.  And here.  Just to name a few), he'll be a good husband and put up with your antics in return.
This year I got The Man to do the Dirty Dash with me (last year's dash here).

Can I just say that it was so much more fun having The Man there with me?  He makes everything better.

I learned a few things after last year. 
1. Spandex shorts are a must.  They don't rub in nasty ways when they're heavy with mud.  Also, they're easy to rinse out in a hasty fashion when you're in the freezing showers in the parking lot after the race.

West was very happy I talked him into them.

2.  After two years I do believe that tennis shoes are optional.  I think next year I'll be tackling this event in Teva sandals.  This way I won't have mud building up under my toes and instep.  And I'm hoping that way I can avoid the tiny rock that cuts into my heel and, no matter how many times I try to swipe it out with my finger, doesn't budge and ends up cutting a rather large hole in my heel. 

Don't worry, I'll spare you the gory picture of what is my heel this morning. 
But let's just say that I'm not going to be wearing shoes for a week or two while it heals.

human hamster wheel.

Heel heals...

I crack myself up.

I picked a later start time this year because last year we had to start this muddy, wet race in 40ish degrees weather.  Who wants to get wet in 40ish degrees?  Not to mention that also affected the temperature of the mud.  And it probably didn't help that it was the end of September.  So this year we signed up for the June race, and placed our start time in the afternoon.  I also did this because originally we were going to have The Circus join the piglet plunge for kids and that started in the afternoon.  I was aiming for us to finish about the time they needed to start so we wouldn't have to stand around too long in our drying mud masks.

Turns out it wasn't our weekend for kids so we didn't have to worry about those details.

There are pros and cons to starting later vs. starting earlier.

Temps vs. crowds and parking.

This would be all the cars that were already there as we were driving up

Our obligatory "before" picture:

Me, The Man, Aaron, Megan, Natalie

The first mud hole Aaron decided to go all out and did a canon ball.  It was all down hill from there for all of us.  Because if Aaron is going down, he's taking us all with him.

Megan and Natalie

If I ever find myself hanging off a cliff and I have to pull myself up to save my life...

I'm going to die.

But Natalie will survive.

And so will Megan.

Natalie

Natalie

Natalie... and me contemplating the situation on the other side of the wall

But then again... if it's not too big of a cliff, I might be able to do it after all:

At first we were just planning on doing the 5k course.  The only difference between the 5k course and the 10k course is that the 10k course breaks away to a marsh/swamp and then comes back.

We paid to get wet and muddy.  Natalie and Megan were set on tackling that marsh/swamp.

It stunk.  Reeked.  Made me want to wretch.

That didn't stop Aaron from doing the back stroke in it:

the slime monster that is Aaron, Natalie, Megan, The Man

We climbed walls, crawled through tubes, had mud fights in holes and ditches, conquered the sludge, slid down the giant water slide, and did quite a few canon balls into the finish line mud pools.  The mud was better than last year (last year it was a lot of dirty water, this year it was thick), and they had more obstacles than last year.

We, my friends, are Dirty Dash champions in our own rights.

Natalie, Megan, Aaron, West, Me

Natalie, Megan, Aaron, West, Me

Megan and Aaron

Natalie

Me

Us

I love this man.  Even if he does reek of muddy fish.  He did it for me.

Now that's true love.

I copped a feel.  Can you blame me?  That man is hot.



volunteering at a 5k, wyoming bound, cali's program, and a mom date

I try very hard to avoid any event or activity that requires me to use an alarm clock on Saturday.  Saturday is that one blissful morning when I can just let my body be on its own. 

It would seem though, that running has my number.  I have a love/hate relationship with running.  For whatever reason I seem to crave it.  I want to go.  Enough that I slide dinner, work, and even sleep, around to get a run in.

I can't seem to wrap my head around it while I'm out pounding the pavement and this is where the hate part comes in.  I wonder why do I do this to myself?  I'm not going to do this again.  I'm done with this hobby, let's find a new one. 

When I'm finished I'm on cloud 9 and already devising how I'm going to beat my own time, or go a longer distance on the next round.

I can't get away from it.

Our neighborhood put on a 5k on a bright, sunny Saturday morning.

I groaned as my alarm clock rang. 

Why do I do this?

I wasn't even running.  I had volunteered to help "run" the 5k with my friend Suzy, who looked a little wild eyed and desperate as she walked around with the sign up sheet, looking for names of people to help her. 

To be honest, if I'd not signed up to help Suzy, I'm sure my craving would have kicked in and I would have been there with my running shoes anyway.  Why not?  It was a free event.

Instead I drug Cas out of bed and walked around the corner to the local church parking lot where we met up with friends and cut fruit for the finish line.

To Suzy's credit, she had it mostly done already.

We had the fruit finished before the run started and it half crossed my mind to go home and change and join in, but on this particular weekend our schedule was a little skiwampus.  Instead of driving the circus part way to Vernal on Friday, I was taking them to Wyoming (again... here) on Saturday morning.  I'm not a fan of when these drives cut into my Saturday, but I suppose that sometimes it's just the nature of the beast.

After cutting up the fruit I had just enough time to walk home with Cas and whip the circus into a frenzy to get dressed (they were all awake by the time we got home), brush your hair and teeth, get your chore done, and get packed.  We're leaving in a half hour.

Do you want to know how amazing my kids are?  The got it all done in a half hour.

After we hit the road I received a text from my ex saying he was running behind because of some ordeal with the pilot car not being ready.  Again, nature of the beast.  Sadly I'm well acquainted with a trucker's life, so I had empathy in knowing he really couldn't do anything with a situation like that.  But this gave the circus and I some extra time on the road.  We drove around Park City but couldn't find anything fun to see.  I really need to brush up on how to get around Park City, there should have been a ton to see.

I think before the next drive I'm going to have to google Park City so I can at least find historic Main Street.

We did find a McD's for drinks...

Since Park City was  a bust due to my lack of knowledge of the area we decided to see what we could see in Evanston.  We ate lunch and then drove around looking for a park to untrap ourselves from the car.

Evanston is quite the sleepy little town. 

We never did find a park, but we found a cute stone church with a flowering tree so we stopped for a few pictures.

Luckily by that point my ex arrived and we headed to the truck stop.

At this rate I'm going to know every truck stop in Wyoming.

Cali had her 1st grade program on Friday.  To say she was excited about it would be an understatement.  She mentioned her program to me everyday for two weeks.

The night before she asked me five times to please put an alarm on my phone for noon so I wouldn't forget.

Does she know me or what.  I reassured her five times that I already had the reminder alarm in place.

My favorite part about these programs is when the kids are filing in, and they stand there in the noise and search the crowd in hopeful anticipation.  Did my mom make it?

And you sit there, stretching your back as straight as it will go and craning your neck to make you as tall as you can get so they'll see you, even though you took a seat in the front on the edge of the middle aisle so you'd be easy to see.

And then they see you and their face lights up.

I love that.

I also love the giant flower sitting front and center on Cali's head. *sigh*  The things that happen after you've left for work in the morning...

After the singing program we went into the classroom and the kids put on a reading presentation.  It was actually really entertaining.

This momma was busting with pride every time Cali read her parts.  I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face.

The 1st grade teachers had sent a note home asking that you either check your child out after the program or sign up to eat school lunch with them.

I opted to check Cali out and take her to lunch.  Her choice.  I was thinking she was going to pick Taco Bell or Subway.

Imagine my surprise when she dropped "Olive Garden" on me.

I'm trying to do that more often.  Take the circus out for one on one time. 

Maybe even for no reason at all.

tayler is 9 (and the color me rad 5k)

When I first got wind of the Color Me Rad 5k I knew I was in.  When I found out it was on Tayler's birthday I knew that she needed to go with me.  When I mentioned the idea to her she was ecstatic.

I tried to sign up for the event but found I had waited too long, the raise was sold out.  When I tried to register it gave me a box to add my email to be on the waiting list, so I did.  A week before the race I received an email saying some spots had opened up so hurry and register before they were gone.

So I did.  And I didn't tell Tayler about it.  I let her continue to think that we weren't able to run because it was sold out.

Bright and early Saturday morning I crept into Tayler's room and gently shook her.  She pried open her eyes and looked at me through her blurry eyelids.

"Happy birthday."
She was confused at why I had woken her up so early to tell her happy birthday.  "Thanks..." she whispered with a smile.
"Get up.  I have a surprise for you."
Understanding started to dawn on her and she quietly crawled out of bed.  I took her into the bathroom, did her hair, and told her to get her shoes on and go eat breakfast, you don't even have to get dressed.  Just shoes.
We got ready and as we were leaving she asked, "are we doing the color run?"

She was grinning from ear to ear.

I had made her a white birthday shirt the night before in hopes that people would see it proclaiming that it was her birthday and throw more color at her.  She got dressed in the car (where I had stashed her clothes to prolong the secret) and we drove to meet up with my friends Jen, Kim, and Sara.

waiting in the grocery store parking lot for everyone to arrive to ride down to the race

Kim, me, Tay, Jen, Sara

Kim had made everyone tutu's for the event.

we met up with my friend Jessie

And then the fun started...

And it just got worse from there.  The shirt worked, along with all of us yelling, "It's her birthday!" Every time we hit a "color bomb" section during the race.

I'm proud of Tayler.  She made it three miles to the finish line where we were met with a giant throwing of color (which she was cautious about so it wouldn't get in her eyes)

and fruit.

It was a very fun and colorful way to start Tay's birthday.

Happy birthday my baby girl.  How proud I am of the person you are. 

Tayler is the sweetest girl in the world.  She's kind and considerate and most usually mild tempered (come on, we all have our moments).  She's such a tender girl and has the world's best giggle.

After the race we came home and showered (I still, two days later, have a blue stripe on my back), made Tay's cake, cleaned up the house, visited with Grandma Julie and Aunt Kristin who stopped by, and hit Costco for pizza.

Then her friends showed up.  Tay chose swimming at the rec. center for her birthday party.  I loved it.  I fed them pizza and then drove them to the pool.  The end.  I dig birthday parties that are that easy.  Though of course The Man and I joined the kids in the pool.

abby, tay, ashliegh, cassie, noelle

and a random picture of cali ("Take my picture mom!")

I guess we should all be glad that my waterproof camera decided to not be waterproof anymore, otherwise I would have had quite a bit more pictures.

As it is I can say that the kids had fun on the water slide, learning to dive ("did I do it right? Watch me!), swimming, playing games, and trying to dunk West.  What a handsomely good sport he is.

You know it's a good birthday when you're all ready for bed by 8:00. 

Bed never felt so good.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my dear sweet Tayler!

p.s. our messed up cake was featured on Cake Wrecks (here) today!  Remember? The one from this birthday (towards the end)?  This is why I make the cakes myself.