Coldplay & Taylor Swift

I love it!
Thanks Karen for sharing!

Pic for Mikkel

Oh yeah,
PS. They got all the cancer out!!

TRAPEZE and SD!!!

OK, so crazy story...
I have always loved anything to do with gymnastics or cirque du soleil. I LOVE the feeling of being weightless. About a week before I left for my trip, Billy and I were talking in bed one morning and he asked what one dream I had that I really wanted to do. I think he expected me to say "go to Greece... or go to Australia" because if any of you know my husband, traveling is the only thing that enters his mind. Yeah, I said trapeze!I just want to be caught by someone in the air! He was SHOCKED! That was the last thing he thought I was going to say. I had been thinking about it A LOT the last couple of weeks. Then on the way to LA, I was reading a magazine about aerobic trapeze classes and told my friends I would really like to do something like that.
So fast forward 1 day later .... Our relay team had just finished running our legs of the race and we had time to hang out. After going to the beach, we went to our next stop, Santa Monica Pier. We had no idea what to do with our time... we just wanted to shower and sleep. All of the sudden we are looking up at a trapeze class in progress. My friends said, "You HAVE to do it!" After a few minutes of back and forth. I was like...here's my chance, if I don't do it now, I don't know when I will EVER do it.
Just telling this story, I am getting butterflies in my stomache again!!!
So Efe (the instuctor and amazing trapeze artist) gave me a two minute intro and told me to climb up this tall skinny ladder. When I got to the top, he swang out and showed me how it was done.



They did not give me much time to think about what I was going to do. The guy that was helping me at the top was NOT emotionally helpful. He turned this hat to the side and started talking like a hick and saying how this was his first time doing this and acting funny. I kept telling him to knock it off, but that just made him do it more. AHHH! REALLY! He was making me laugh and maybe that helped me....I don't know.
Let me set up this pic for you. The guy told me to reach out an grab the bar with one hand and push my hips forward with my toes hanging over the edge. But really I am thinking... "I am for sure going to pee my pants!!"



Then I had to grab on with the other hand and trust the crazy guy to hold me. They shouted orders to me and it was hard for my brain and body to work together. When they say "SET", I am suppose to bend my knees. When they say "HUT", I am SUPPOSE to JUMP. Easier said than done....."HUT"



On the first swing out they tell me to hang on by my legs, on the second time they are telling me to hang on with only my legs AND do a backflip. The backflip was the hardest. I do backflips all the time on the tramp and thought it would be no big deal...It was HARD, but I did it!



They said that most people only get to swing out and put their legs up on the bar the first class. But they said since I did so well, they were going to let Efe catch me!!!!!!! Yeah, I was EXCITED!!!



Efe told me to wait for him to grab on to my arms and say "I got you" and then let go with my legs. This was the easiest and funnest part!!!!!!!!!! I LOVED it. I want to do it again so bad!!!



I am so glad I had the opportunity to do this! I love thinking about it and getting the excitement all over again. My next dream I want to accomplish is......wait for it......Skydiving!!!



Not only did I get to fly throught the air with the greatest of ease, but I got to see my amazing sister Denise!!! She just had a little baby girl, Leah! She is so precious! I am so glad I got the chance to hold her while she is still little. Denise is the best mom! She wants to do everything perfect. I am so proud of her. Hopefully she we be able to get some sleep soon. Everytime I woke up at night, Denise was wide awake as if it were the middle of the day. I hope she had a good time while I was there, because I sure did. I LOVE seeing my SEESTERS!! Denise and I hiked Torrey Pines, went to the Carlsbad Outlet Mall, and went walking on Mission Bay. I miss SD so bad! It is wierd that I have lived in the Tri-Cities now longer than we lived in SD.
I also went for a bike ride with Patrick...so fun! Thanks again Denise and Patrick!!!

My Ragnar Race Post is a few posts below. If anyone knows how to change the date so I can move it up let me know. Thanks!

Crater Lake

I found a pic of Billy and Wyatt. They had a great time.

Late Post: April Spring Break

I know this is from over a month ago, but wanted to post some pics. Billy went snowshoeing around Crater Lake (picture to come later) for Spring Break, (I didn't want to be home alone with the boys all weekend) so I took the boys to Stoneridge. 5 other families went and the boys had a blast. They got to play racquetball, mini-golf, shuffle board, and of course SWIM! It was hard being alone with all 3 boys, but I'm glad they got to have a good time. They would wake up asking to swim and fall asleep at night exhausted! I love that my boys know how to play hard. I can't wait for North Carolina! They ask about it all year long....



Poor Jackson was in his stroller most of the time.





Landon and Carson playing racquetball.

Carson turns 5!!!!

Carson, Carson, Carson,
WOW! 5 yrs old! What am I going to do when you start kindergarten??!?! You are so much fun to be with! When you called me during my race in CA, I couldn't believe your voice had changed so much. You are usually attached at my side all day long. When you called, I could tell you really missed me..... THANKS...cuz I missed you!!
I love it how you say you love me more - then I say I love you more - on and on- until you finally call it a tie. Buddy, it will never be a tie! I can not express how much I love you and how much all the snuggling means to me! You are always concerned for me and that makes me feel so good!
You are such a crack up and will do anything for a laugh. You and Austin have been trying to sneak up and scare everyone lately. Well, you got me yesterday when I was planting corn. You truly scared me, but the smile on your face was just as good, when you realized how good you got me! Thanks for all the laughs and smiles.
I am glad you make friends easily. You and Mia can play for hours... and days... without fighting and the games you come up with take true imagination.
Carson, you are my buddy and I love you so much. Thank you for all you teach me. I hope you had a great birthday!

Love, Mom



Before Carson went to bed the night before his birthday, he said "I can't wait for you guys to shout surprise in the morning!" I'm glad he let me know! So, in the morning we put balloons everywhere and when he came downstairs, we all jumped out and shouted "SURPRISE". He didn't look surprised, but he sure was happy. Carson wanted a Ninga Turtle Party. He LOVED his cake and presents. I thought it was so cute how he wanted to invite his friends and their ENTIRE family. He said everyone by name. I am so glad we have such good friends that it is only natural for him to want families to come to his party.

Easter!

I thought I better post this before another month goes by. Yes, I know I have the cutest BOYS ever!!! How did I get so lucky!! (Poor little Jax, we had to wake him up for church.)

RAGNAR RACE!

What could be better than 12 girls running 178 miles in California?!?!

Not Much!

I was really excited about this race! I trained for 4 months. I went from running one mile and thinking my insides were going to fall out (I don't know why, but after having a third baby, my body did not bounce back the way it did before) to running almost everyday and sometimes loving it! I have a love/hate relationship with running. I love it cuz it makes me feel better about my self and is a big stress reliever. I hate it cuz it is hard! It does not come easy and sometimes I think "Why am I doing this?" BUT, there is nothing better than the first few energized steps listening to good music, getting my heart pumping, feeling the sweat drip down my elbows and the finish.....I really think I do it for the end of the run....my mind is clear, my stress is gone, and I feel like eating healthy because I want to, not because I have to!!

Any who.... we started the race on the 24th at 10am. in Santa Barbara with a lofty goal of reaching Dana Point. We were all so excited to run. It was hard for us to save our energy for our own legs of the race. It felt good to jog around at the check points, a few girls ran with me the last mile of my 1st leg.
We had 2 vans, each with 6 girls. One girl would run 4-10 miles and then pass off the wrist band to the next girl.
Van #1 Rocked! Everyone was so great!
Laurie, Annette, Brooke, Me, Penny and Noel!!




All the teams had team names and decorated their vans. It was fun to see all the fun ways people decorated their vans and wore costumes. We were the Ragnolians.

Ragnolian: (n.) A woman possessed with the wisdom of Athena (without the Heft), the beauty of Aphrodite (without the negative side effects), the hunting instincts of Artemis (road kill ahead), the speed of Nike (the goddess not the shoe) and the kick butt mentality of Medusa (but with better hair!)!!!

Oh yeah, and Noel was pregnant! She did so amazing... I could not believe her pace!





Here is our whole team at the finish! Below are some pictures Noel took. For some reason they are really small.
(Noel, Thanks for the pics and for letting us stay at your house!!!)



All in all a FUN race. I did not like all the waiting around and driving. I think I got a half hour of sleep that night. Which is 20 minutes more than Annette....she was our main driver and did an AMAZING job! THANKS Annette!!
I do not do well on no sleep. I found out on the 21st about the Melanoma Cancer and did fine during the day, but at night that is all I could think about. I know I would have liked my last leg of race better if I would have had a good nights rest.
I liked the night run. It was funny running at midnight and people were still out (Friday night and all). One guy yelled from his window, "Where are you running to?" I said, "Dana Point" he said "Where's that?" and his friend said "No way! That's FAR!" - Didn't get to tell him I was only running parts of it....
I ran a total of 16 miles (3 legs). I have been thinking about doing a half marathon, but I don't know.
Would I do this over? IN A HEARTBEAT!
Would I do again? .....
I don't know. I think I would prefer to just run straight instead of having long enough breaks to start feeling sore from the last leg.

Sorry if this does not make any sense... it is late and I need my sleep. More to come on the rest of my trip to CA.....