Ethan's run

This morning we got up nice and early to run a 10k called Ethan's run. It was set up to benefit babies who are born with heart defects and their families. And who doesn't want to help babies with owie hearts, right?

Plus, we need to do all the running we can since we're doing Ragnar next weekend! You're in right Julie?

My sister in law Emily, who is an "owie heart" survivor!!! Nice work Em!!

They had a 1 mile fun run, and this is Drake during it. He was taking a little breather. And I hear that Ryan carried him on his shoulders 75% of the time.

And here are my babies running in to the finish! Woohooooo!!!

So stoked to have finished their race! Don't you love Drake's Mr. T mohawk?

And must I always look like a dufus in action shots? I am actually really happy with my time, I pushed myself up all those Las Sendas hills that I thought would slow me down, but I got my best time for a 10k yet! And here's a true story:

Setting: food table just after finishing the race

other lady - You are really fast
me - me?!?! Thank you!!
other lady - ya, I was trying to catch up to you the whole time but just couldn't quite make it
me - really?! (I'm feeling REALLY good right now)
other lady - ya, you're not 40 are you?
me - NO! (in disgust)

Really lady? Do I look like a 40 year old? You had me feeling so good, and then slammed me down so fast!

Happy Arizona Day!!

Did you know Arizona's birthday is on Valentine's day? When I was in Elementary school every Valentine's day we would have the Arizona man come and we'd have an assembly where we'd watch slide shows and sing songs about Arizona.

But it wasn't until I came home from my first year at college that I really appreciated Arizona's beauty. I suddenly loved the sage brush and saguaros. I love Arizona! In 2012, it will be Arizona's 100th birthday, and we're going to have a huge party!

So you can be in the know about AZ:

• Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912.
• The bola tie is the official state neckwear.
• Turquoise is the official state gemstone.
• The original London Bridge was shipped stone-by-stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City.
• Located in Fountain Hills is a fountain believed to be the tallest in the world.
• At one time camels were used to transport goods across Arizona.
• The amount of copper on the roof of the Capitol building is equivalent to 4,800,000 pennies.
• In Arizona, it is against the law for donkeys to sleep in bathtubs.
• In AZ, it is unlawful to refuse a person a glass of water.
• Any misdemeanor committed while wearing a red mask is considered a felony.
• The world's largest solar telescope is located at Kitts Peak National Observatory in the city of Sells.
• The Grand Canyon is 227 miles long, 1 mile deep, and has an average width of 10 miles.
• There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.
• The hottest recorded day in Phoenix was June 26, 1990, when the temperature hit 122 degrees.
• The sun shines in southern Arizona 85% of the time, which is considerably more sunshine than Florida or Hawaii.
• In World War II, many Navajos enlisted as secret agents. Our enemies could never understand the Navajo language to learn our military secrets. (woowoot!)

donuts and candy

Well, the Pioneer Woman inspired me to make these today.

Tawnya came over and helped and we were just delighted at how they turned out. I LOVE homemade donuts. I'm just going to try not to think about the number of donuts/calories I've consumed today!

We used her recipe, and followed it pretty close up until we saw the directions had you refrigerate the dough for 8 hours. We wanted to eat them today so we just let them rise an extra time like making bread. Also, the dough was REALLY soft, so we added about an extra cup of flour! They turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

< With Valentine's Day approaching, we have been enjoying ourselves some delicious V-Day candy!! The Gobstopper HeartBreakers are my personal fav. We've been munching these for about the past month, but I haven't been able to find them at the stores for the last week and a half! Come on retailers, keep the stuff stocked until the holiday's here!
And Dots of course has their Valentine Dots out! The flavors are Cherry Vanilla, and Passionfruit Vanilla. The Cherry were better, and I still found myself eating them like how I eat my Candy Corn. I bite off the color and toss the white part.

And lastly, HAS ANYONE SEEN CINNAMON BEARS FOR SALE ANYWHERE? I've been craving these since Christmas, and I can't find them anywhere! I've checked Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, Fry's and Bashas, and apparently these are off the market! Oh BYU Bookstore, why do you have to be so far away? Right now I'd be buying the Cinnamon Lips that you have out for V-Day!

my valentine

When Drake saw me hanging up this heart garland, he got so excited and yelled "Valentine!!"
He tells me I'm his Valentine. And it's pretty cute. Sunday when I was getting ready for church, he was sitting in the bathroom watching me and said, "mommy, you're pretty." He also likes asking me for a "yucky kiss". He also likes hiding and taking pictures of me without me knowing.
Like this one of me cooking dinner. He's hiding under the kitchen table.
Well today I hid and took a picture of him when he didn't know. Here he is after he snuck a root beer from the storage room, then slyly snuck out a butter knife, then ran to his room to try to open the root beer. He later told me he was opening it for daddy. (Daddy wasn't going to be home for another 8 hours)

Welp, I love my little Valentine!

mommy venting

I have another blog that is mostly for the grandmas to read and stay on top of my kids. I have it private just to protect my kids and so I can really journal our family life. Well this post I thought I'd share to comfort any of you who might be having one of "those" days.

I realized last night as I was talking about Drake, that some of this stuff isn't on the blog. Like how his new favorite lunch item is a hot dog. ANd he doesn't like it cut, he wants it whole. But then he totally plays with it and rubs it all over his face and neck. Yesterday he told me he needed another one. So I got them out to start cooking him another hotdog and then he yells, "JUST KIDDING!!" and it rolls out of his shirt.

Also yesterday I was on the computer when I heard Barb who lives across the street come in and say Hello. I got up and she was with Drake. She said she watched him climb up the side gate, flip the latch up and swing the gate open, hop down and take off. She brought him back.

Also yesterday I mowed the lawn (which took an hour and a half!!!). THe lawn was so thick and in some places 2 feet high from all the rain we've had. I have blisters on my hands today from pushing the mower. Well Gwen was crying while I was mowing it because of the "flowers" (weeds) that had grown, I was mowing down. So she was out there trying to pick the flowers before I could mow them and Drake was chasing after me saying "you bad mom!" and trying to hit me or throw clumps of grass at me!! What a PUNK!!!! Seriously, can I send him away?

Then today I was cleaning my room and Drake asked if he could have an icecream sandwich. I said no and he starts yelling at me at the top of his lungs that he wants one and only quiets down once I tell him I said no because we were going to go get frozen yogurt later. Ten minutes later I heard his bedroom door close and I thought that was odd. SO I went out and in the kitchen I saw his ladder in front of the fridge and the freezer door was wide open. I checked, and the icecream sandwich was missing. So I went in his room and called his name. I didn't see him but heard russsling in the closet. I opened the closet door and found him eating an icecream sandwich. We had a talk about disobeying, and I"m sure it went in one ear and out the other. He drives me crazy!!! He disobeys 95% of the time!!!!

Like also yesterday we were going to get in the car to take Gwen to her singing class (she came home singing California Sun and it was sooo cute!!) but I couldn't find my keys. Oh that was because Drake had taken my keys to get into my car and go through my purse (huge no no that he ALWAYS is doing), eat all my gum, and turn on all the possible options and lights in the car. And he did the same thing like four days ago!

Also, Gwen's been hard. Like today I spanked her little bare bum so hard and felt really bad. But she was refusing to get out of bed, and then once she was out, refused to put on clothes and get ready for school! And her bum was bare because of course BOTH kids peed their beds AGAIN last night, so she had taken off her wet pants and underwear sometime in the night.

And on top of all this I wake up with pink eye today!

Yesterday on Facebook, Julie Kenney posted "Sometimes I don't like being a mom" And today I couldn't agree more. Good to know others can feel that way too.