Kristin's Contrivances

Been so busy...

2012-01-25T09:11:00.000-08:00

so this picture post will have to do.

off to a bad start~

2012-01-03T12:14:00.000-08:00

It's possible. Especially considering the tragedies that have already occurred this year.

1. Gwen came up to me crying January 1, asking me to pull a sliver out of her finger. No problem. I do have a couple of super human traits, and my eyesight happens to be one of them. I can read street signs way before anybody else in the car can! I pride myself on my 20/10 vision (I can see at 20 feet what "normal" people see at 10 feet). So then why in the world couldn't I get my eyes to focus on the itty bitty little sliver in Gwen's finger?!?!?! Face it Kristin, your vision is not what it used to be. (my other super human trait is that I have incredible sense of smell. Unfortunately, this is often to my own demise. Breath, B.O., stinky diaper, cup of old chocolate milk in your kid's room, you name it, I smell it so strong!! I'd never want to be married to someone with a good sniffer. I'm sorry Ryan. Last night Ryan took out the pipes under the kitchen sink so we could clean them out since the drain was so slow. I literally puked while trying to clean out the pipes. So Ryan had to take over. Awful I tell you.)

2. This morning I found my FIRST GRAY HAIR!!!!!!! Seriously, did this have to happen two days after I came to grips with my eyes? I'm aging faster than a banana. Why did I think it wouldn't happen to me? I don't know, but it's not cool. Not cool.

Christmas happened

2011-12-29T06:29:00.000-08:00

Here's the proof.

Enjoy the pictures, and my minimal narration. ;)

This year was crazy busy. I got out of school just over a week before Christmas, but at the same time, Tara and her kids were in a car accident that left both Tara and Aubrey in the hospital. So I flew out and spent a few days there helping Tara out who now has a couple of pins in her ankle and can't get around.

And poor Aubrey who now has a little metal plate in her forehead, finally came home after 4 days in the hospital.
But in other Christmas activities, there was a trip to the North Pole:
Mason smashing Katie -

And playing in the snow!
It only lasted 15 minutes before the kids were COLD and wanting to go home.
A trip to the Mesa Temple to see the lights.
This cute boy made me a Christmas gift that he kept asking me to open. I told him I wanted to wait for Christmas but finally gave in. A super duper cute ornament he made for me at school.
And finally Christmas eve:

Decorating cookies for Santa.
Ryan on the guitar, singing Christmas carols.
Christmas eve games.

And finally Christmas.
The kids were so cute, and on their own decided to use their own money to buy gifts for each other.
Gwen loved her "high heels" and has only taken them off her feet to wear her new roller skates.

All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas, and gave thanks for our many blessings.

Wassail

2011-12-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year! For the non-chocolate lover (such as myself) have a nice hot cup of Wassail when you get chilly. It's so yummy and spicy, and it feels awesome going down if your throat is starting to get sore (again, like me).

You can find some really good recipes out on the interweb, but here's a basic super easy recipe:

(picture courtesy of google)

Wassail -

2 C Tang

1 1/2 C Country Time Lemonade Mix

1 C Sugar

2 t Cinnamon

1 1/2 t Cloves (ground)

Add a couple of tablespoons to a mug of hot water and enjoy!

My School Budy

2011-12-02T09:13:00.000-08:00

Drake woke up with a horrible sounding cough and sore throat. So he didn't go to school today, but joined me instead. This is how he kept busy. And the class was entertained by his random little bursts of excitement when he did particularly well at one of his games.

Been busy!

2011-11-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

I've been out of commission. Scrambling to get things done before the end of the semester. That's right the END of the semester!!! Today is my last day of classes and then the dread of finals. This is always about the time that I'm tempted to just drop out of law school. Not really. But kind of. ;)

Ryan started a new job, the Taylors were in town for Thanksgiving week, and my washing machine broke. That's something I've taken for granted. When was the last time you hauled off eight loads of laundry down to the laundromat? Me? Saturday and the Saturday before. But my new one is super sexy, and it comes tomorrow!!!

Also, remember a couple of posts ago when I was running like crazy? I did the Nike Women's marathon, then five days later Ragnar Las Vegas, and then the following weekend the Red Mountain Half Marathon. It was a lot of running. Well wouldn't you know it, my crappy osteoporosis bones didn't love it. I tried to run hard for the half, but after four miles, couldn't keep up my pace because of the pain. Why? oh, just another stress fracture. This one in my left FEMUR!!! Yep, the biggest bone in your body. While stress fractures to the femur are not nearly as common as other bones, it's almost always because of endurance running.

That means it's time for a break. And while it's hard to come to grips with the fact that I won't be running the new course for PF Changs Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon this year (tear), I can at least still ride my bike and swim. And I really need to be serious about resting and getting healthy because I'm signed up for this:
IRONMAN ARIZONA 2012!!!!!!

I'm so excited, and scared, but mostly excited!!
So excuse my absence from posting again, but I'm going to buckle down and study and hope to not fail out of law school.

Vegan Butternut Squash Enchiladas

2011-11-13T15:49:00.000-08:00

I have been obsessed with butternut squash this season! Between my two pumpkin shakes a day, and all the squash and sweet potato fries I've consumed since the temps have dropped into the double digits, (Arizona fall) I can't believe I haven't turned orange yet. Oh well, I'm sure it'll come sometime before Thanksgiving!

This is so yummy!! And easy peasy.

So that's two plusses.

Now you have no excuse.

You need to make these!

1 Med Butternut squash cubed up (go to Costco and buy it pre-cubed!)

8 Flour tortillas (we go burrito size on these - also from Costco, the cook and eat ones)

1 can Black beans

1 cup Frozen Corn

1 med Onion

1/2 tsp. Garlic salt *

1/2 tsp. each Cinnamon and Nutmeg

1 tsp. Cumin

1 can Hatch green enchilada sauce

Shredded Mozzarella (we used Rice cheese and it was fantastic!)

I start by spaying a sheet with non-stick spray, dump the butternut squash on them, and then liberally salt and pepper. Throw them in the oven at 375º for about 25 minutes while you prep the rest of the stuff.

Chop the onion and sauté in a skillet over med high heat until translucent. Add the beans and corn and warm up.

Cook your tortillas if you bought the cook and eat kind.

Pull your squash out of the oven and sprinkle with your spices.

*I just dump the spices in my hand and guess to how much I actually use, but I think you'll be safe with these approximations. ;)

Then mash the squash all up. Oh man, it'll smell soooo good!

Then pour some enchilada sauce at the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Take your tortillas, and spread a good amount of the squash in the middle of them, then a couple scoops of the bean/corn mixture. Roll up and place in the pan, and when finished, cover with the remaining enchilada sauce.

Bake in your 375º oven for 30 minutes, covering with cheese for the last five minutes.

Enjoy your healthy enchiladas.

MONSTERLAND

2011-10-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

In honor of Hallow's eve, a spooky post.

Earlier in the month, we went with our friends, the Gannons, down to Downtown Mesa to check out the new museum, Monsterland. It was more of a haunted house, and I don't know if it was just set up like that for Halloween time, or what? But it was scary for sure! They have a bunch of scary props from movies, and monsters, and all sorts of spookies.

I like how Drake is just paused in front of the doorman to get in.
It was so dark and scary that I just had to keep snapping pictures so the flash would light the way and we'd get an idea of what was coming up/where to go.
Steve and Jack. Jack was a little scared!
Seriously though, can you imagine walking through a room with this guy?? In the dark?? I was so glad we had kids with us because I'm sure they went easy on their efforts to try to scare us because of them.
Creepy much?
How about the skull walls?

Afterwards, we had to take the kids to get ice cream in an effort to alleviate the scary tension. But the kids loved it!! They want to go back. So if you're looking for something to do tomorrow night besides trick or treating, go check out Monsterland!

Vegas Baby!!

2011-10-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

Ahh Ragnar, sooo much fun! This one was especially fun because it was a family affair. Tawnya and Kolby, Tara and Andrew, Ryan and I; and Cec and Clint, Misty, Justin, and our new friend Joseph.

And what do you do when you have kids and you all are going to be running all day, all night, and all day?? The Taylors and Collards brought their kids to Vegas with them and then had Grandma's watch their kids. We opted for leaving our kids home with a very responsible babysitter. (she really was awesome, and the kids LOVED her) That way the kids could still go to school, do soccer, and practice for the Primary program.

Also something to consider when you're doing a destination Ragnar. If you are starting first thing Friday morning, you'll have to spend the night there Thursday night. Well I, ever being the cheapskate, booked an $18 hotel room.

Well, not until we were driving there, and I was telling my mom about our sweet deal, did the gravity of the situation start setting in. She asked "Can they even wash the sheets and clean the room for that cheap?!" Umm, no way! Crap, what did I do? Then as we were driving to the hotel, in a seedy part of town, we kept passing bail bond shops, and XXX stores, I vowed never to book a hotel that cheap again.

But, much to our surprise, we walked into a nice new lobby, and we were so thankful when we found that not only was the lobby re-done, but the rooms too! Clean towels and sheets!!! Yes! So I'm happy to recommend the Plaza Hotel (the one in all the old Vegas movies) to anyone looking for a cheap room in Vegas.

Okay, back to Ragnar. Our team name was "How the West was RUN", and we dressed up as cowboys and Indians. (I realize that dressing up as Indians is offensive to some, and I apologize to you if you are offended... but we ARE Indians, and I'm proud of who I am, so I'm totally not offended. In fact I love it! Just like the team "Curry in a Hurry" who were the India-Indians team.) Our girly van was the first van, and the manly van was van 2.

One little, Two little, Three little Indians...

Ceci was our first runner, heading out an hour late. But we couldn't help it. Our sixth girly runner wasn't able to make it out because of flight delays and travel problems, so we got a late start after figuring that all out. That meant that us girls had to pick up her legs too! We ran A LOT!

And here's Tara coming in from her first leg. Tara did awesome! In fact it was Tawnya and Tara who talked me into doing this Ragnar. (not that I took much convincing) It's so fun to be able to go running with my sisters!

This was in honor of Destinee, who couldn't make it. We dubbed her the Wind Runner.

And here's our team (minus Justin who was running) at the first major exchange. By this time, the boys had slept in, ate breakfast and went out to lunch. Us girls had gotten up super, duper early, and hadn't had a single meal! We totally got the short end of the stick!

This picture was from my night run. It was off on some trail in the middle of NOWHERE in the pitch dark of night. I could only see what my headlamp pointed to. And this trail had CUH-RAZEE hills. But the cool thing about it, was that at the top of each hill, I had a spectacular view of the city. I couldn't get a picture to turn out, but you get the idea.

Can you tell we're sisters?
Why is Misty pulling up her skirt over here? What was going on?

Um yep, that's what you gotta do during Ragnar.

And yet again, it is us girlies who welcome the sun on day 2.

And here's Tawnya, finishing up the last leg for us females.

Do you have any idea how nice it is to see that blue sign?!
And finally, finished.

And then a nice relaxing night at the Paris (after hanging out with the Wevers) and an easy Sunday drive home. Thank goodness the kids didn't burn down the house while we were gone.

NWM 2011

2011-10-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

That's Nike Women's Marathon for the laypeople. ;)

Oh man, this race is glorious!

Running through San Francisco, with tons of other WOmen, great race support, fun expo, and the finisher's medal is a TIFFANY'S NECKLACE!!

And of course, the wall of runners. Right there is my little "Kristin McPhie" on the wall of Nike Town!

And so the night before the race. I always lay out what I'm going to wear the next day, and I wasn't sure what I'd wear. That meant a fashion show to get other opinions to help me choose. We settled on a fluorescent yellow shirt, black running skirt and hot pink compression socks for the purpose of me standing out. That way when my awesome cheering squad is waiting for me to run by, I'll be easy to spot. I'd totally stand out from the masses of other runners, right?

Well how about this?

I get to the race, and call my friend Jannah so we could meet up, and she says, "I'm in front of Swarvoski wearing a fluorescent yellow shirt, black running skirt and hot pink knee highs." Seriously?! The only other runner I know out of the ~23,000 runners is wearing the EXACT same outfit as me? So much for thinking that my outfit would be unique.

See, just look at this chaos!

And slowly herding our way to the start. I had lost Jannah by now. I crossed the start approximately 20 minutes after the start. Unfortunately, that meant that I was far enough back to be stuck amongst slower runners/walkers that I had to struggle to fight my way through. This really slowed my first two miles.

And check out my cool little Buster Brown shortly after the start.

I love this because I always wonder what they're doing while I'm running.

Without having to go into too many details, let's just say around mile four I started having some serious tummy issues that had me squatting behind a tree and thankful I had kleenex in my fanny pack. Seriously??? After my slow start, I was hoping to make up for loss time and this wasn't helping. Add in a couple more potty breaks over the next ten miles, and I gave up all hopes of having a decent time.

That is until I got a text from Ryan letting me know that him and the kids were waiting for me in the big park that we run through. I was so excited to see them, I picked up my pace. I was feeling better and finally felt like I could move! It helped that all the half-marathon runners split off from us in the park. Finally, just before mile 16, I got to see my cute kids screaming and shaking cow bells.

Here I am, mile 16. So happy, feeling good.

That good feeling didn't last long. 17-18 didn't feel so hot, but from 19 on, I felt much better. In fact the best I've felt at the end of any marathon! This was shocking to me since my training was poor. My highest mileage in my training was 17 miles, and I only had a few long runs in preparation. So I knew that my legs weren't prepared to keep running on tired legs. But I really think that my slow start helped to save my legs at the end, and for that I was grateful! I never felt like I hit a wall, so while my pace was slower, it wasn't nearly as slow as I've typically been the last few miles of a marathon.

My awesome family/cheerleaders.

(and Tara behind the camera)

I apologize for the swears on my blog.

Clearly I ran under the yellow side. ;)

Passing the fam around mile 26, heading towards the finish. Oh, that glorious finish line!!

And this is what awaits you at the finish.

Firemen dressed in tuxedos to give you a Tiffany's necklace.

Silly I know, but is this a girls race or what?!

Finally finished.

4:17:24

New PR.

Almost 11 minutes of it was time spent "not running", but I'll take the PR nonetheless!

Thank you to my amazing family for coming into the city to battle the crowds and sit around and wait to cheer me on.

I felt so loved!

2011-10-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

Fall break means a trip to Nor Cal in our family. We load up the car, and drive up to Sacramento for a couple of days so we can see Grammy and friends. Too bad I didn't find my camera until after we left there, so it is undocumented. Oops. (but is was so good to see you Desi and Jeppesens!) At least we do have these sweet pics from our drive up.

Check out Drake. He picked this outfit, if you couldn't tell. Because what goes better with red shorts than a slightly different shade of red for a shirt? And then the cherry on top is the Cowboy boots. And he wore them for the entire 12 hour drive!

These kids conked out for a lot of the drive. And I'll bet they now regret picking the small booster seats rather than the ones with backs and head rests.
We had so much fun playing with the Taylors. We did the usual, parks, parks, parks. While it was incredibly warm for San Francisco (85º), it was much cooler than the 105º it was back home.

This park in the city has these super high slides the kids loved. Here's Gwenny at the top.
And now all the way at the bottom!
Aubrey's turn! This little girl is so stinkin' cute! We drove with her in the car with us, and she busted out with just about all of the words to the Maroon 5 song, Mooves Like Jagger, especially the part where Christina Aguilara does the solo.
And these best cousins were so happy to be reunited again.
A trip to the pier to see the STINKY sea lions. The kids didn't believe that they were sea lions. Because they weren't covered in striped fur. Silly babies.
Here they are checking them out.
Alcatraz. I will do that swim some day you know. I don't know when, but some day...
And here the kids are checking it out too. And just after this picture was taken, Aubrey climbed all the way up on the railing, and teetered almost over the edge before a man hurried and pulled her back. Holy cow. We all almost had a heart attack! Let's face it, Tara and I probably BOTH would have dived in after her. All the way down into the cold water, with nowhere really to swim to but onto the docks that the sea lions were on. So thank you kind sir, thank you!
Pier 39 also had some high quality entertainment for us. Enter Jack Spareribs. For two boys who LOVE all things pirates, and a 7 year old who loves learning new jokes, this was a dream come true! And imagine their excitement when Ryan was called up on stage to participate. He participated by giving Jack a $20 bill that he proceeded to cut up and burn only to later pull it out of a box, inside a box, inside a box. What the?? That's impossible! No, not for Jack Spareribs!! The kids were astonished. It was pretty cute.
I also have to give a shout out to this delightful pizza place.
All left full and happy.
We love getting to come to San Francisco and spend time with the Taylors. Thank you Taylors! (and yes, those are my sunglasses Ryan's wearing thankyouverymuch)
And thank you Grammy for driving out to San Francisco to spend one more day with us!!

mmmmmm punkin

2011-10-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

I have been experimenting, and have mastered the pumpkin smoothie. I have at least one a day.

I have found that I like the almond milk a lot better in it (I was doing coconut before). That with the banana helps to make it nice and thick!

Pumpkin Smoothie:

1 Cup ice

1 Cup almond milk

1 Scoop vanilla protein powder

1/2 - 2/3 C pumpkin

1/2 banana

1/2 t pumpkin spice blend

1/2 T chia seeds

Ryan McPhie Esq.

2011-10-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

Guess what!?!?!?

This man worked off his little tush this summer, studying for the dreaded bar. And I am pleased to announce...

he passed!!!!!

Congratulations Ryan, I love you!

ughh

2011-10-06T08:55:00.001-07:00

This morning I was in a hurry to get to school. So for breakfast I just threw some strawberries and raspberries in a ziploc and figured I'd eat them while studying. Plan was working out great until I scooted away from my desk and saw a smashed raspberry on the table. I thought "wow, that's close!" Then looked down at my shirt and realized it was closer than I thought.

Poopy!!!!

Do you think anyone will notice?

Where is a Tide wipe when I need one?!

Hopefully it will stay cool enough that I can just zip up my hoodie and wear it all day.

you may be disappointed in me

2011-10-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

when you learn that I'm prejudiced.

I am. I'm sorry about that. But today on my way to school, I saw this guy, and I totally judged him without even knowing him.

But I saw his "Pink Cabaret" hat and the little silver testicles hanging from the back of his motorcycle, and I decided this is not a gentlemen I'd want to invite over to play Yatzee with my family.

I'll bet he has some good qualities, but he's not advertising them as well as he is his less than admirable qualities.

Monday funday

2011-10-03T20:19:00.001-07:00

Oh boy, if you could smell this little boy's feet right now, it'd probably clear your sinuses! But he'd still win today if I were to be the kind mom that would give awards away each day to whoever was my favorite kid that day. And I'm totally not that kind of a mom. ;) (messed up I know!)

This is why he'd win today. Early this morning (like 2 AM), Drake woke up and came and crawled into bed with us. I usually find out he's done this when a limb is flung in my face at high velocity. This morning was no different. Oh well, I fell back to sleep. Then after my alarm went off and I was laying in bed debating whether or not it was too dark to go running he starts sleep talking. And this is what he said, "you're gonna die because I stabbed you with my sword!" Oh my Drake. I hope that was a bad pirate you were talking to in your dream and not your mom! But I'll guess by the way you snuggle me in bed it wasn't me.

Then I go on said run, and cut it short because I remembered I needed to get home earlier to get Gwen up so she can go to school for early morning tutoring. So as I come in the front door, to my surprise I see Drake on the couch watching tv. He's watching a show on Mt. Everest climbers, and he excitedly says to me "MOM! These guys are climbing this high mountain, and if they slip they'll fall and DIE!" He was so into it. That silly boy.

Then later today I got an email from Ryan with this picture attached. School pictures are in! Yes!! These kids of mine are just about the cutest things ever!
And as I write this blog post, I'm listening to the new Jack's Mannequin. Andrew McMann is a genius. <3

General Conference Weekend

2011-10-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

Oh, how I LOVE General Conference weekend. It's a time to stay home and listen to inspired words. I always recommit to trying harder to be a better wife, mother, member of the community, and to try to live a life of service and charity.

It's also nice because we don't have to go to church on Sunday. Not that I don't like going to church, but I can do so much while watching/listening to conference...in my pajamas! For instance I cleaned off my atrocious desk. Really, my desk was so bad from late nights studying and snacking, the kids playing on my computer, sewing scraps, coloring, cords, etc.

So once it was cleared off, I was able to see my sewing machine and have a work space. So I attacked my mending pile, and I was a mending machine! I took care of three pairs of pants, a pair of shorts, and a race shirt.

Exhibit A: Drake's pants. The kids school dress code forbids pants with holes or tears. Too bad Drake has a special talent for putting holes in his knees. There were actually three pairs of pants that needed knee patches, but they had sat there for so long that two of them didn't even fit anymore! Well since these were some of Drakes favorites, I put a nice pirate canon patch on his knee. He loves it!

Then I did a pair of pants of mine and Ryan's.

Exhibit B: Some of my favorite denim knee length shorts. These were in high rotation until Ryan and I decided to go on a double date with Jake and Kaylani. They're so wild, they got us on a mechanical bull that bucked so hard, and I squeezed so tight that I ripped my shorts! Um how long ago was that?? I don't even remember. But now I have another pair of shorts!

Exhibit C: My San Diego Marathon tech-t. It really bugs me when you get your race shirt (especially for a marathon! come on, I worked hard for this shirt!) and you ordered a small, and sure the tag says small, but it's HUGE. So I dissemble the shirt and put it back together again in my size. Now I have a work out shirt that I'm not swimming in.

Also, do you see that back on the counter there? I also made a healthy pumpkin bread today too! And I'll even share my recipe:

PUMPKIN BREAD that's not terrible for you:

1 C Wheat flour

1 t Baking Powder

1/2 t Baking Soda

1/2 t Salt

1 t Cinnamon

1/2 t of each: Ginger, Nutmeg, Ground Cloves

1 1/4 C Pumpkin Puree

1/2 C Raw Sugar

1/2 C Brown Sugar

1/2 C Water

1 C Apple Sauce

1 Egg

2 Egg Whites

1/2 - 1 C Chopped Pecans (pronounced pee-cans thankyouverymuch)

You know how it goes from there, mix your wets in a bowl and your dries in a bowl and then stir together. Throw in a long bread pan and bake at 350º for about 1 hour, 15 min.

Okay, now back to studying. I have a Family Law mid-term this week. :( Oh well, at least next week is October break! San Francisco here we come!

infomercial

2011-09-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

My Gwenny is an advertiser's dream come true!!

When a commercial is on, she has all of her attention focused on the tv.

Then when I need something, she'll tell me all about a product that can help me.

For instance, one day she came up to me with a post it that said "life loc" and had a phone number written on it. Then she proceeded to tell me all about the services that Life Lock has to offer and told me that I REALLY needed it.

Silly girl.

So I hear it all the time, from Rainbow fish to super sharp knives to hair products, she's seen a commercial, and she will tell me that I HAVE to buy it!

So the other day I caught her and Drake watching TV, and she had her little notepad on the floor with her. When the commercials would come on, she'd pick up the marker and start writing down the info.

She's learned to write down the prices too.

I like the "clickn and reed". She figured out that the word and was missing from the phrase and threw it in. And it's "for Drake" of course!

Click'n'read cat.

Also, she realllly wants Stompeez.

These are Stompeez:

Slippers that when you stomp, the eyes pop up.

She said she NEEDS these slippers for Christmas this year.

Oh Gwenny, you crack me up!

question

2011-09-27T21:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever come home from school, lost total control of yourself, and ate three delicious pumpkin cupcakes?

No?

Me neither.

...soccer season's here...

2011-09-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

Ah yeah!

Ryan was quite the soccer player when he was a kid.

So it was very important to him that the kids get the opportunity to play soccer too.

Last year was their first year, and they loved it.

This year not so much.

Really? Why?

But Saturday was their first game and now they are all about soccer again. (thank goodness!)

Drake is a real wind up and kick kind of kid.

He needs to remember it's often more effective to just dribble the ball down the field and then kick it in the goal.

But even with his not-always-accurate power leg, he still scored a goal.

(not that anyone's keeping score right? At least we're not supposed to)

I love the sweat drip going down his face!

Gwen's on a bigger field this year. They have bigger goals and goalies too!

Also, it's 5 on 5 (for the younger kids it's 3 on 3).

She did great! She kept up with the other kids, and even scored TWO goals!!!

(at least that's what she said, we saw the first, and then met a fun couple that we got chatty with, and missed the alleged second. Sorry Gwenny!!!!)

I love how a lot of these pictures I took, she's running around with a smile on her face.

Taking her turn on the sidelines.

She's totally strategizing.

Ragnar Napa Valley

2011-09-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

When is the best time to blog?

When you're sitting in class. So no offense Professor Larson, I promise I'm super interested in the laws governing the Colorado River System, but I haven't blogged about Napa yet.

So a couple of weeks ago, I got the call from Tara. She said that her friends were doing Ragnar Napa and needed an emergency fill in.

No question.

I bought a plane ticket and planned my trip.

Did I mention that Ryan RULES? He is so dang supportive of me. Thanks honey.

So there I was with 5 girls I just met, about to live in this car for two days.

But seriously, I LOVE Ragnar.

This picture says it all.

When your brood of girls is living in a car for 2 days, access to the car is pretty important. So what do you do when the keys to the car are locked inside? Call the fire department.

Thank you Petaluma fire fighters for rushing over to help 6 crazy girls.

Running in crazy outfits is the norm for Ragnar. I'll spare you the pictures of Underwear man running in just his tiny little skivvies, but here is a pink person who DID run in that.

This was my version of crazy outfit.

Another thing about Ragnar, you go in porta pottys.

I think Marci's face says it all.

So basically you run for 200 miles non-stop. Our van gets a break while the second van runs, but essentially you always have runners running. So that means even in the middle of the night. So this is how you run at night:

You need a reflective vest, a headlamp, and an LED light on your back.

Safety first.

And should you get the opportunity to sleep, you can sleep on the floor of a school gym for $1.

Oh, excuse me for being so rude, let me introduce my new friends:

This is Rebecca.

And poor Allie, was sooo sick. But she is a trooper! She ran 9 miles in the middle of the night, and after she finished, she puked her guts out.

This is Charity. She was like me and just joined the group without knowing us.

Jenny.

And Marci.

There we are, us crazy Ladies from the 80s.

And the full team.

We smelled really good at this point.

Thanks for the fun ladies!

{34}

2011-09-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

Ryan had a birthday.

He's older than me.

And I like it!

I realize that some may read this blog because they know me, and they don't know Ryan.

Well let me introduce you.

Ryan is one of the best drivers I know. Not because he's good with directions (cause he's not), but because he's good with the car. He can parallel park a car in the tiniest spots. He can drive backwards, fast. He also can spin a mean donut.

Ryan loves to golf. During the summer, when the golf course is empty because it's 115º outside, he's on the course. Because you can golf a niiiice course for under $20. Golf is just about the only thing that he can actually wake before 6:00 am for.

Ryan knows sports. That's why I always have him as my Trivial Pursuit partner. (Also because we're both really competitive, so if we want to like each other afterwards, we have to be on the same team!) He knows just about all the answers in the sports catagory. If you see a random old sports clip on tv from the 80s or something, he knows who it is.

Ryan tooted in front of me on our first date.

Ryan went to Scotland on his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So naturally he loves just about everything about Scotland, especially the people. He even taught Drake this song and dance, and now Drake realllly wants a kilt.

Ryan is a super concerned person. If I ever drop a bottle of shampoo in the shower, Ryan will come running in to make sure I'm okay.

Ryan orders meatloaf anytime it's at a restaurant.

Ryan sings and plays the guitar. It's pretty darn cute. He wrote a song for me when we were dating. He used to sing to me but now it's mostly to the kids. He'll sing to them in bed...their favorite song is Sweet Baby James.

So there you have a few fun things about Ryan.

And here he is with all his candles.

That's his favorite cake. Boston Cream Pie.

And Drakey helping daddy blow out alll those candles!

my best boy

2011-08-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

Drake self-labeled himself as "my best boy".

And he's right. He is.

Did you know that everyday of his first week of Kindergarden he came home with his school work, and he didn't do any of the coloring? Instead, he'd flip his coloring sheet over, and draw a picture on the back.

All the pictures were of him and me!

Look at this cute one where he wrote "mom" all over it and drew hearts!

Oh, and we're pirates on a pirate ship.

And here we are holding hands

and a rainbow behind us!

This little boy is so so sweet.

A few weeks before school started, he was giving me hugs and then says to me,

"mom, I wish I married you before daddy did."

Awww.

Drake, you melt my heart!

I'm so glad you're my best boy.

Strawberry

2011-08-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

Back to school. Back to school,

to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool.

I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight.

Ya a little Billy Madison fun.

But seriously. It's back to school time at our house.

The kids are still adjusting. Daily homework, riding the bus, school lunch!

Uggh, and me. READING, READING, READING!!!

So we were more than anxious to take our first weekend get away.

I just ignored my many reading assignments, packed up the car, and we headed up to Strawberry with the Stewarts.

We love the Stewarts!

It was so nice to escape the heat too.

Did you know that we have been under an extreme heat advisory for over a week?

That means it's over 110º. Like 115º.

Yucky.

So when we got to Payson Friday evening to eat dinner, and it was 70º outside. My kids were cold, and had to get out their jackets.

Oh, my little AZ natives.

We went to a llama farm. There were goats too.

Drake and Merik got a kick out of feeding and petting the goats!

We also ate a lot of goat cheese, and goat fudge.

Look how cute Gwenny is holding Sophie. She LOVES Sophie!

Also, we could see all of Arizona from up here. Well almost.

But we were told on a really clear day you can see Mt. Lemon from this fire tower!

Don't you just want to kiss Drakey?

We also stopped by this swimming hole that looked more like chocolate milk.

If a kid went under, he'd be lost. Forever.

Luckily the dads were willing to get in and swim with the kids.

Ryan, of course takes the chance to jump or swing off of anything!

Then while they were swimming, a sudden down pour sent them swimming for shore.

So we drove home wet and stinky, but had such a good weekend!

Thank you Drew and Amy!!

duh-rama!

2011-08-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Remember that last post?

The one where Gwen lost her SECOND tooth!?

You know that was on a Sunday right?

So I sent Ryan out of the house Sunday evening to hunt down a store that had a silver dollar in their register. (tooth fairy at our house brings a sliver dollar)

He did, and came back victoriously with two.

Hooray!!

Then we cleaned up, put on a movie in our room, and FELL ASLEEP.

Monday morning we woke up to an inconsolable Gwen.

Poor thing was just broken up because the tooth fairy forgot her.

I told her that maybe a lot of kids lost their teeth Sunday, and she was so busy she couldn't make it to our house, after all, she's not Santa.

Gwen knew that couldn't be right and then started to worry that maybe she was captured- you know someone thought she was breaking into their house.

Oh dear.

It was 15 minutes before the bus was supposed to be there, so I quickly told her about how the same thing happened to Ryan when he was a kid (it didn't) and the tooth fairy makes up for it by bringing double. That worked. She got dressed, let me fix her hair, and was out the door in time to stand around and wait for the bus for 15 minutes.

Thank heavens I remembered to be the tooth fairy last night!!

She woke up so happy to show me her TWO silver dollars.

Good thing Mr. McPhie found me two.

Also, today is his birthday.

I love you Ryan.

I'm so glad you were born! ;)

..second tooth..

2011-08-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

This tooth has been wiggly since the day after she lost her first tooth... almost exactly THREE months ago! She really takes it easy on working the tooth out.

And I don't know why church is so magical, but again, she lost this tooth in church.

But this time she pulled it herself.

And in this picture you can see how her other tooth is already almost completely grown in.

Gwen's tally - two bottom teeth lost, at 7 years, 1 month.

first day of school 2011

2011-08-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

Getting the kids into school this year was quite an ordeal. I accidentally enrolled them at the wrong campus... after Ryan woke at the crack of dawn and waited in line for hours, and then found out they got in, only to find out later they're supposed to go to another campus - the one where all their friends go.

Well we wrote off all chances of a transfer this semester, but by some small miracle it happened! We got them in a week before school started.

They started 10 August.

Drake in all day kindergarden, and Gwen in second grade.

Doesn't my baby boy just seem too little to be in kindergarden?

It's so sad to realize that he's now on the path...that will last just about forever.

No going back to days of just us at home.

But at the same time, the freedom of the kids being at school has been unbelievably nice.

Cute Gwenny really misses the Montessori House, but also loves her new school. In fact she was so happy to already have three friends in her class.

And both of them were so excited to get to ride the bus home!

Look close and you can see Drakey in the bus.

They made it.

Next up, me.

I have one more week of freedom.

last trip of the summer

2011-08-11T21:32:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to get to go on a trip each month this summer.

When will that ever happen again?!

This last one we went up to Utah for a weekend with friends in Park City, and the excuse was that it was our anniversay. That's right. Eight years baby!!!

On our way up north we stopped in Flagstaff to go to the Cardinals training camp.

It was so nice, and they had fun games for the kids to play too.

Check out Gwen. She's trying out to be a wide receiver.

Almost! If she had her sapped up gloves on she would have had it! ;)

Next up was Drake.

He doesn't take defeat very well.

Then we continued our drive through the night up to Utah.

We drive through the night on most of our long trips because that way the kids sleep.

Because although my kids NEVER EVER fight or whine in the car, at least if you drive at night they have fewer potty breaks.

So the first day we took the kids, along with their much loved cousins, to BYU to douse them with goodies and build the BYU love.

Gwen rather inappropriately, dressed like one of Warren Jeffs' concubines.

And Drake got his Jimmer on.

The next day we kissed the babies good bye for the weekend and met up with our good ol' friends the Wevers. Seriously, we love Tod and Holly!

Also we love Molly and Darren for graciously taking Gwen and Drake for us. They had a good time.
We did as well, laying out by the pool (and getting BURNED - darn high altitude sun) and ordering double entrees at Taggart's Grill.

We also spent a day at the lake, but unfortunately, my killer wake boarding skills will have to go un-pictured. But I think it looked something like this...
Okay, maybe not.

We also hit up the alpine slides.

Way fun.

Oh, and happy anniversary to us.

Tod and Holly in all their glory.

We also had our friends Mark and Bonnie come out for the last night and day, and then also met up with our friends Jared and Holly2 for our last dinner. Too bad we didn't get a group shot. But at least we can look like dwarfs next to the Wevers.

Then we barely made it home for the kids to start school.

Also, you might think it is physically impossible to gain 5 pounds over one weekend. Well I guess my body just likes to be exceptional. Going to Ruth's Chris 2x doesn't help I'm sure.

The Book of Mormon

2011-08-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

I have so much to update, and I promise I will get to it.

But first, I can't shake the feeling any longer, and I just had to post this...

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We have the Book of Mormon as another testament of Jesus Christ.

This means we believe both the Bible and the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

These books together have brought me comfort in trials, and replaced fear with faith.

They can do the same for you.

...California tripping...

2011-07-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

This is the story of a vacation. A spontaneous vacation. Because we wanted to not be a distraction to Ryan while he was studying for the bar, and the kids wanted to see their cousins, and I wanted to be able to run in cool weather. So I decided I'd take the kids up to NorCal to play while Ryan could be home studying in peace. But that'd mean he'd miss Drake's birthday. So luckily Grammy came up with a good plan. He could stay at her house in Sacramento, while the kids and I would stay with the Taylors in the bay area. Genius. Then he'd be close enough to come over for Drake's bday. Done. After a 12 hour drive that I might have fallen asleep while driving a few times before finally pulling over to sleep! DUMB!! I just can't drive like I used to... now that I'm three oh.

First day, Gwen and Aubrey with their running cards.

They get a punch for each lap ran. Aubrey completed her 5 mile mark, and Gwen ran two that day!

Berkley Rose Garden park.

That's a huge cement slide that you slide down on pieces of cardboard!

It was chilly.... in July!!

Jelly Belly Factory.

A must.

Stinson Beach.

Yep, that's sand drool.

The boys were on bird patrol.

Karate will take care of those pesky birds.

And sticks.

Meanwhile Gwen and Aubrey dug a whole.

Then the boys were able to celebrate their fifth birthday together.

Tara made Jack this sweet pirate cake.

Drake wanted an angry bird cake - until he saw how cool Jack's pirate ship cake was.

Tara put together a darling pirate party at the Jungle.

Then afterwards we went home and played Angry Birds. Real Angry Birds.

Drake and his ice cream birthday cake in Sac.

We had a good time.

{five}

2011-07-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

This is my baby boy FIVE years ago.

This is him today.

I love him. So much.

{on vacay}

2011-07-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

We're out for a bit, relaxing with cousins in cool NorCal!

We play, Ryan studies. The Bar. Poor soul.

So to help you get your McPhie fix until we get home, enjoy this video of Drake exercising. I could hear him jumping around from the next room and came in to find Drake taking a couch break to shake it.

~SEVEN~

2011-07-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is 7! I don't know how I got so blessed to have such a good, sweet, girl like her. And I don't appreciate how fast she's growing. So Thursday night I made up her birthday cake and cupcakes for her party, then I kissed my six year old Gwenny goodbye forever, and went to bed remembering the night before her birth seven years ago. I didn't sleep that night. Contractions and excitement... I couldn't wait to hold my baby girl.

So now here we are, she's seven!!!

Ever since Yogurtland first got Red Velvet flavored yogurt, Gwen's been a bit obsessed. So I made her a red velvet birthday cake this year with cream cheese frosting. Decorating a cake with cream cheese frosting is so different from buttercream.

Breakfast in bed!! Also check out how sweet Drake's haircut is.

I love this picture, because Gwen is just beaming, and I look like such a dork!

Gwen had a bunch of friends come over for a waterslide in the back yard, water balloon toss/fight, and lunch. As we watched all the girls playing, I was so happy that Gwen has such good friends. They are all such sweet girls.

And later that night we went to Panda Express for dinner at Gwen's request. How funny huh? Ever since her school did a fund raiser with Panda Express, and she got to go down there and hand out fliers, and met some of the workers, Panda Express is her FAVORITE!! After that the family came over for cake, ice cream and more presents. Again, Gwen's blessed. She has good friends, and a great family. I'm so thankful for all of their love for her.

Then, Saturday night we went down town for the Mesa Freedom Festival.

The kids loved it! They had so much fun doing all the bounce houses and playing all of the carnival games. And while it was tons of fun, it's crazy how many people will go out there for it. At 8:30 at night, when we went, it was still 102º! We went through a bunch of ice water and frozen lemonade, and never once did the kids complain about it being hot. I guess that's how I remember it when I was a kid. I didn't know any different, you just accept the heat because what else can you do?

Daddy and Drakey watching the fireworks.

wooly braid

2011-06-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

Running in the summer in Arizona is hard. More than that. It's down right miserable! At least for me. Running in the heat does something to me (pounding headache/puke) that can only be undone by a cool shower and a good nap, and on days like today, 2 Excedrin Migraine. This morning we set out at 5 am and 85º. The run was gorgeous (Paradise Valley) and I had good company. I also took precautions to make the run the best I could - good music, water, skittles, hat, etc. One thing I also have to do, is put my hair in a bun or a braid. This is to prevent my hair from getting totally knotted up from the constant side to side motion. Today it was the ponytail through the back of the hat and braided.

So this run got hot! Over 90º by time we finished, but the sun on me just KILLS me! I try to keep cool by squirting some of my rationed water over my head, and of course I run through every lawn I see with sprinklers going. At about mile 7 I was out of water, but saw a house with a coiled hose out front. I ran over, turned it on filled up my water bottles and took a full on shower in this front yard, just trying to cool my body off. Holy cow it felt good! So then I was drenched, and finished out my run.

Once we finished, my friend Chrissie asked me, "how did you fix your hair like that?" Like what? A braid? Easy. Until I felt it. The water logged hair and the side to side swishing did a number on my braid! It full on shrunk up! (what is my hair, wool?!) The braid was probably was at least three inches shorter than it started out, just fro'd out!

When I got home and took off my hat, I realized something really wierd about it. My hair segregated! All the dark hair puffed out on top of the braid, and all the bleached hair puffed out on the bottom part of the braid. How weird is that???
It took me almost twenty minutes and half a bottle of conditioner to comb through that hair.

another Drake conversation

2011-06-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

We really have some good discussions on our way home from the gym. I think all the endorphins in the air really open up our lines of communication. Today it was this conversation.(as we were passing Circle K)

D: Mom, can we go to Circle K?

K: No buddy, I think we need to start eating healthier.

D: Okay! So QT?!

bday wish list

2011-06-18T22:52:00.000-07:00

I'm turning 30. That's right, the big three oh. I've heard it's all down hill from there, but I refuse to let that be true (that'd be really sad if it were true). I mean come on! Thirty's nothing. I'm still young.... right????? (crickets chirping) Whatev. I have two little ones, they keep me young. I'm in college, that makes me feel young. (Actually it makes me realize how OLD I am compared to the young partying college crowd) Okay, anyways thirty is some sort of milestone right?? And while I had planned to be on a cruise or something like that when I hit it, that's not how it's going to work out. You see Ryan is currently studying for the bar. That means all work, no play. Oh well, hopefully we'll get to celebrate when the bar is over at the end of July.

So for the KRISTIN'S BIRTHDAY WISHLIST 2011:

1. Yellow is my favorite color.

Ever.

It always has been too. Even when I was little and yellow was not cool. And when kids would ask me what my favorite color was, I'd reply yellow, and then they'd say, "ewww, yellow is the color of pee!" I still loved it then! Well look at this darling Williams Sonoma tablecloth.

That'd be perfect on my kitchen table with my tacky United States place mats on top!

(only at dinner time, besides, Ryan and I know our states like that!)

2. Beach Cruiser.

I had a super cute one with that Ryan got me for mother's day five years ago! And guess what? This is awful, you might not want to read.... it got stolen along with my two seater bike trailer for the kids.... right off my back porch!!! I shed a tear or two, and now I can't help but take an extra close look at every Phat Customs pink beach cruiser I see. It had three gears and a cute white basket, and oh I loved it!! So I'd love to have another. Because when the kids want to go out and ride bikes, I feel impractical jumping onto my road bike that doesn't even have pedals! Plus I take one pedal stroke and I'm to the next house while Drake's still spinning away on his bike. So a cruiser would be ideal for those family bike rides. Hopefully this curiser will be a cute color (seafoam green, robin egg blue, or yellow, etc.), have more than one gear, and have a bell! This one (I'm sorry the pic is tiny) is from Wal Mart! And look at the cool seat thing on the front. Can you just imagine Gwen sitting on the front holding on for dear life?

3. This Martha Stewart Cake Plate.

I LOVE that it's square and black and white. I do enjoy collecting cake stands. They make me happy. Even if not yellow. :)

4. Yellow pumps.

These would be my choice, but at $135, the next are more likely

These babies will only run you $30 at Charlotte Russe.

5. Marc Jacobs Lola.

This is my new favorite perfume. I got a sample a while ago that I have been rationing! I'm almost out, so either I need some more samples ;) or for my sweetie to get me this perfume. Isn't the bottle cute?

6. A MODEST tankini, like this one from Lime Ricki.

My tankini's I think I've got from before I was married! The one I wear the most has elastic rotting in it. I like this one because it doesn't have a plunging neckline and the top is long. Plus the hot green ruffle at the bottom is rad.

7. This Coach bag is from the new KRISTIN line!

I'm dead serious. The line is Kristin. Not Kristen. It's meant to be. I think it even said 30th Anniversary Kristin bags. Okay it didn't, but it might as well have. I mean come on! I turn 30 the same season as the Kristin Coach line?? MFEO.

8. Sport sunglasses.

Okay, this one is a legitimate need. If you haven't noticed from some of my race pictures, I run and ride in big ol' cheap sunglasses. They're more like a windshield. That's all good and fine, until I tried on some nice athletic sunglasses. Oh man, now I know what I'm missing! And how much easier my activities would be with a nice pair of Oakleys instead of some Target frames. (no offense Target, I still love you!!!) They are so stinkin' light, with arms that just hold your head without SQUEEZING it. No more having to keep pushing heavy sunglasses up my sweaty nose, or worse when I just have to resort to mouth breathing because my classes have slid down and just pinched my nose closed.

So I really like these - the Necessity. They're a little more stylie than the next ones...

but these ones, the Forsake, are supposed to be the ULTIMATE sport glasses for women. They're also really cute for sport glasses. (I'm not an idiot, I know sport glasses for women are usually hideous)

Okay, there you have it. My dream list for my thirtieth.

16 more days of life in my twenties.

D has Bieber fever

2011-06-16T23:01:00.000-07:00

A conversation with Drake on the way home from the gym:

D - Justin Bieber's a real boy.

K - Yep he is. But how do you know?

D - (In a "duh mom" tone) From the movie.

K - Oh ya.

D - Where does he live?

K - In Canada.

D - CANADA?!?!?!?! But that's far away!!

K - Yep, it is.

D - Can we go to his house?

K - No, we don't even know where he lives.

D - But you can call him.

K - No, I can't, I don't have his phone number.

D - (in his "I'm really getting frustrated with you" voice) Ughh! You can call every phone number and say, "is this Justin Beiber" and if they say no then call the next number!!

K - That would take WAYYY too long.

D - Does Justin Bieber have toys?

K - I'm sure he does.

D - I wonder what kind of toys. (And then he stares out the window, silently thinking about Justin Bieber and the kinds of toys he might have)

Summer's here!!

2011-06-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

I thought life would slow down now that summer's here. Wrong. Dead wrong.
This will be a quick attempt of logging our summer so far...

We went to Bisbee with our super cool friends the Gannons. I'd never been to Bisbee before. But this place is darling! It's an old mining town which back in it's hay day was the biggest city between New Orleans and San Francisco. It's built in this valley area where all the houses are up on the hills and there are crazy stairs everywhere. If you haven't been, you should go. Ryan and I are thinking we may try out the Bisbee 1000 this year. It's a 5k that includes over 1000 stairs, so it's definitely not your typical 5k.

We went to the copper mine while we were there for a tour. Pretty cool stuff. Like this here is the toilets that the miners used down in the mines. It's basically a hole in a cart that'd get carted out about once a month. Ryan couldn't hold it, so he tried it out the potty. Still works!

Also in our trip we went to Tombstone and happened to be there for Wyatt Earp days. Drake was loving watching the cowboys walk around and the re-enacted OK Coral gun fight.
Then, the next weekend we took off to San Diego.

Part of our trip was spent with some of our best friends the Stewarts. Unfortunately we never got a group picture. :( But we went with them to Sea World. The kids loved it! Gwen here with a porcupine.And the kids here are petting a baby kangaroo. Drake was absolutely mesmerized with Shamu. He took my phone from me and honestly took about 60 pictures of Shamu during the whale show.
Then after spending ALL Saturday walking around Sea World (what on earth were we thinking?!) Ryan and I got up at 4:00 Sunday morning to drop off Gwen and Drake at Amy and Drew's hotel so they could watch them while we were doing this.
We were NOT prepared for this. Ryan was trying to convince me all week that we should just do the half so we wouldn't get injured. I knew that was the smart thing to do, but I paid for the full darn it. I wouldn't let not training prevent me from doing a marathon! Ryan decided on our way to the marathon that he'd try to do it with me. So we stayed together the whole time, and found that nice and easy gets it done! I'm so glad he decided to do the full with me. I never want to run another marathon alone. (who wants to do Nike Women's with me in Oct????)

Then of course we went to the beach.

Also, we've had swimming!

Gwen is on swim team and synchro this year. That means every morning I sit at the pool for two hours while she's doing her thing. But she loves it. Especially synchro. So I push aside all my selfish thoughts of what I'd rather be doing, and look at this cute face who doesn't want her mom to miss a lap.

Gwen's already has had a synchro meet (a first and a third place ribbon) and her freestyle swim meet (a fifth place ribbon). Gotta love how everybody gets ribbons!

This cutie boy loves it too. Unfortunately his lessons are only a half an hour, so he spends the other hour and a half with my phone playing Angry Birds. He's become quite the expert. He's also excited for next year when he can be on swim team too.

Then this past weekend my mom was kind enough to have G and D for an overnight because once again, we got up at 4:00 am Saturday morning to drive up to Payson to do the Payson tri.

It's just too hard to pass up a Saturday tri.

Yurbuds

2011-06-09T22:40:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I have a lot to catch up on on the blog. Summer, swimming, vacation, etc. But here's what's on my mind right now:

That's right. Yurbuds. Last week while at the expo for the Rock and Roll San Diego Marathon, we saw the Yurbuds booth. I had heard about these earlier from an email, and the claim is that these ear buds will NOT fall out of your ears while running, or whatever it is that you might be doing. I was intrigued since I CAN NOT keep earbuds in my ears! They fall out for sure! I have to get the over the ear kind that will still work their way off my ears since my ears are basically just skin, no cartilage. (not really but they are so soft and floppy they can't support the over the ear kind for an extended period of time!) I've even resorted to taping earbuds in my ears with packing tape when I'm in a crunch. It works, but usually hairs get in the way, and when I remove the tape it's painful. :)

Okay, so back to the Yurbuds, I got the email, was super interested, but was skeptical since I've tried A LOT of earbud/headphones, and have had no success. That coupled with the fact that these aren't the cheapest out there (cost + shipping), I was too cheap to buy them.

Enter SD Marathon Expo.

I got to try them. It took them a while to try different sizes to fit my strange ear bud rejecting ears, but success!!!! We got some, and both wore them the next day at the marathon with no problems at all. No pain. No falling out of the ears. Just us and our tunes!!

If you have problems with ear buds while you run, you have to try these!

They have a money back guarantee.

And there you have it. My Yurbud testimonial!

nature appreciation

2011-05-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

I love it when I plug in my camera and I find a bunch of pictures taken by the kids. Most of them this time were of all the plants in our yard. All the bushes, trees, my dying flowers, etc. But this one was my favorite!

Do you see a cute little Drakey head poking up in there?

The other day while we were out playing in the yard, we saw a good ant hill buried in the grass. I had heard that a good way to kill ants is to pour boiling water on them. So we boiled up a big pot of water and took it outside to do away with the ant colony. Mass murder style. We poured out the water and watched the hill disappear. Later that evening though, we saw this...

do you see those little dark spots in the grass? (And the dead patch of grass from the boiling water?)

Those dark areas are piles of DEAD ANTS!! The ones that lived carry the dead ones out of the hole and pile them up! Those little hard workers were moving the dead bodies out of their home all day. (and never mind that I'm in my pajamas at 6:00)

See, look at these piles, all little dead ant bodies!

Nature is so cool!

Sorry to destroy you little guys, but we don't want you biting us while we play in the grass.

RIP.

10 things

2011-05-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

My friend Monica has a darling blog, and she did this fun 10 things post and tagged me. So let's be honest, who doesn't like talking about things that you like? And in coming up with my 10 things, I can't help but notice, that most of my favorite things have to do with food! But that's me, my life just about revolves around food.

#1. Newton running shoes. I love these! Land, lever, lift. These are geared for mid to forefoot running, and are made to not tire your legs so quickly, but work with your stride to conserve energy. They are extremely light, and come in amazing colors!!

#2. I'm a creature of habit. Really.
If I could eat pancakes every morning I would!! Those are my fav, but since they are calorie ridden, I chose a healthier option. So I have two, depending on summer/winter. During the months that strawberries are in season, I have yogurt, berries and granola...every morning! And then during the winter, I have Basha's cottage cheese (because it really is the BEST!) with a fresh orange peeled and cut over the cottage cheese. Oh, so yummy! I'm salivating as I type this. And somehow I don't get tired of these. I eat one of those every morning, and love it!

#3. Cute socks.

I don't know where this came from, but I have some belief that if I'm going to be wearing pants, I have to have cute socks on underneath. LIke if somebody got a peek of my socks, it'd be a treat, not just boring white socks. So I reserve white socks for the gym, and the rest of my sock drawer is full of fun patterns.

#4. Frozen yogurt. Oh dear, I have a problem. A serious problem.
I really have frozen yogurt almost everyday! Sometimes more than once a day. I know where just about all the frozen yogurt stores are, and can make any trip convenient. Among my favorite flavors - NY Cheesecake from Yodipity, Coconut from Yogurtland, White Chocolate Mousse from Mojo's, Tart Mango from Goldenspoon, and Butterbrickle from Mesa FroYo.

#5. Watermelon. Holy smokes, the summer is one of the best times of year, because of this.

Once I start eating watermelon, it's difficult to stop. In fact one time in college (not band camp) I challenged this guy I was dating to watermelon eating contest. This guy outweighed me by a good 70 pounds, but that couldn't help him, I totally won! I eat until the skin on my stomach is stretched and I feel like I'm gonna die, but it's so good I just keep going!

#6. Pantries and staples.
I lust after a nice pantry. This one is just a dream. But even a fancy, huge pantry wouldn't quell my anxiety for not having kitchen staples in it. I'm uneasy if I'm low on butter, sugar, flour, etc. Basically I just need to know that should I need to bake anything, I've got it on hand.

#7. Knife throwing.
I don't know why, or where this came from, but I have always had a fantasy that I'm a knife thrower. I want to take knife throwing classes so bad, and just think it is a vital skill to have. If an intruder came in my house, and I don't have a gun, I can still injure him from afar by landing a knife in his shoulder. Oh just think of all the possibilities!!

#8. Candy. Yes, another addiction.
mmmmmm! Red vines, skittles, cinnamon discs, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, Tootsie Rolls, Cinnamon Bears, Gobstoppers, etc. I have a candy habit. I carry it with me just about all the time. I have stashes through out my house. And I have the cavities to prove it. Despite my next thing...

#9. Dental floss.
I have to carry dental floss with me, because I have to floss many times through out the day. The more I floss, the more I feel like I have to floss. One of the worst feelings is needing to floss and not having any! Try not to think about it, you'll start to get the urgent I need to floss feeling.

#10. I love Tina Fey.
I want to be her! She is so witty and funny, I love her responses to everything! I also love just about every movie/skit she's in. Mean Girls, Babymama, 30 Rock. She's a genius!!

And there you have it.

Toothless

2011-05-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

So Gwen's tooth was loose for a month!! She was scared to work it too much, and couldn't try to pull it. At one point she let Ryan try to pull it, but he chickened out and couldn't. I asked her if I could, but she wouldn't let me. Sunday in church I left the nursery room to go fill our water pitcher when I saw Gwen in the hall with her cheeks full of water, excitement in her eyes and her tooth in her hands!! Our primary president was there with her too, Gwen let her try to pull it, and she did! Gwen said it didn't even hurt.Gwen was so excited she was begging to go to Gigi's to show her her missing tooth as soon as we got home from church. We waited until Sunday evening, and Gwen (against my strong warning) took the tooth out of the ziploc bag it was in, and put it in her tooth fairy pillow she had sewn together... with yarn mind you. I told her that the stitches were wide and her tooth could come out, but she insisted. So as you can imagine, after she had shown Gigi her little tooth, played around, and then checked her tooth purse again and it was gone! We checked everywhere - floor, tables, couch, but we couldn't find it. She was devastated!!! So she wrote a letter to the tooth fairy that went something like this:

Dear toothfairy, i lost my tooth, please give me money. -Gwen

Luckily the toothfairy still came to our house, she got a "golden coin". (a Sakajawea dollar)

Ryan McPhie, J.D.

2011-05-15T13:47:00.000-07:00

Five years ago, Ryan decided he wanted to go to law school. He applied late in the application process and got in to some schools, but decided he wanted to try again, to get into ASU. He did LSAT prep classes this time, took the LSAT again, and applied. He got into ASU, but got into McGeorge (University of Pacific) too. That one was in Sacramento, where Ryan really wanted to be. So I got a new job in Sacramento (I was working at Progressive here at the time) we got rid of almost all our stuff, and moved to Sacramento. A week later, Ryan decided he wanted to go to ASU. He packed up our now decreased amount of belongings, I put in my two weeks at my new job, and he moved out here just in time to start orientation. We joined him two weeks later. That was hard! But he was starting a journey that'd be even harder. Law school.

Ryan really did do well. He balanced school and family better than I can. He'd come home and play, and didn't even do homework over the weekends. On top of that he's held a couple of jobs to help support us (since I decided I would NOT get a job after moving back to AZ), participated in several competitions, and even has grown so much spiritually too. I'm so proud of Ryan and all of his hard work. To prove it I got this sweet sign that's still in our front yard-

These kids are pretty dang proud of him too. It was funny to think about how when Ryan was trying to decide if he should do law school, one of the things kind of holding him back was the thought that Gwen would be almost SEVEN and Drake almost FIVE when he graduated. I told him "well, in three years they'll be almost seven and five and you could be done with law school, or not." Well here they are, almost seven and five - and Ryan's finished with law school!

Ryan and his mom.

Ryan and brother, Gavin.

Ryan and sister, Emily. And Drake jumping in there too.

Gwen and Drake so happy to finally be out of the ceremony and see Ryan.

Ryan and his proud wifey.

Getting the party started! Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of his party. But thanks to everyone who came out and made Ryan feel special. It was a lot of fun!

Now on to the BAR!! He'll be studying like crazy for the next two months and will take it at the end of July.

no time to blog

2011-05-09T21:24:00.001-07:00

my last final is Wednesday afternoon. Hallelujah! Then I can have a life again! And put together a grad party for Ryan!!! So here's just a couple pics to throw up until I can really blog.

almost out!

new one's already coming in

Don't let you kids play with your ipod, cause it might get lost. And that's not okay.

But if they get you one with double capacity and with this inscription on it,

then it's okay.

I'm blessed to have my body

2011-04-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

That's my affirmation I keep saying in my head.

For the last couple months, running has sucked! I'm so slow and tired, and just don't have the energy to go. It all came to a head during Pat's Run. I just could run. My legs felt like lead. Lead that's on fire (if that's possible), and I couldn't get a breath. I just was remembering running before where I was pushing myself but I could still find a rhythm where my breathing was adequate for my level of exertion. That wasn't happening. I watched Ryan run away in front of me while I trotted and finally walked. When I saw the one mile to go sign I told myself, no biggie, I can pump out this last mile at a good pace with no walking. Nope. I was almost in tears as I couldn't go more than half a mile without walking again! I figured my heart rate must be though the roof and looked down at my watch to see it was at 89! Okay, something was wrong. I ran into the finish, sprinting the last little bit, and my heart rate was still in the 80s. :(

When I got home and plugged in my run, I saw that my heart rate started out good, I was in the 165-175 range, and then before I reached a mile, it dropped down into the 80s for the remainder of my run. I also counted the times I walked. TEN times in 4.2 miles. I cried myself to sleep that night.

Went to the Dr., he took my blood and referred me to a cardiologist. Blood came back that I'm anemic. That explains a lot - why I'm so tired (I've been blaming it on waking up super early), why I'm out of breath when I go up a flight of stairs (I thought it was because my backpack was so heavy), why my legs feel so heavy while I'm running (figured my legs couldn't support my added weight), why i've been getting so many headaches (figured it was all the reading and lack of sleep), and the light headedness (so I'm not just an airhead!). Sweet. Now I take supplements throughout the day giving me an additional 600% of the RDA for iron. Then to the cardiologist with my fingers crossed that the iron is responsible for the irregular heartbeat too. He did an EKG, but it was inconclusive for my symptoms. I'm scheduled to go back at the end of May for a stress test, an echocardiogram and an ultrasound, and he's guessing it's an intermittent heart block that's exercise induced. I'm still crossing my fingers that it's just the anemia, and that it gets better so I won't even have to go do those tests in a month.

So far, after a week of pumping my body full of iron, I'm already noticing a slight difference. Thank goodness too since I have a triathlon this weekend. (I signed up for it in Oct., and didn't realize it'd be RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of finals) I'm thinking of dropping from the Olympic distance down to the Sprint since my training has been so sparse do to the fact that my heart's going through a rough patch. The poor thing.

So there you have it. If you've seen me out running (or walking) and I was sobbing, now you know why.

**Oh, and I want to add, my time for Pat's Run was not terrible. If it was faster than yours, I'm NOT saying you are slow. I'm saying I'm used to being able to run faster than I did, and without such a struggle. That's all. :)

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

Oh man, Easter just isn't the same without our egg hunt at the cabin. :( But we make do. This year Tawnya and Kolby hosted the hunt at their house. (After last year when we tried it at our park and some punk kids took all our eggs! But I did chase them down, and get them back.)

Tara and her kids came to town for their spring break.

The grands with their egg hunt loot.

Gwen

Aubrey

Kit

Jack and Drake

Look how cute this chubby, fuzzy headed, little boy is.

Saturday we also had our "Jerusalem diner", where we eat on the floor (supposedly with our hands), and we eat traditional food that has symbolic meanings. It's pretty cool, and an excuse to eat lamb. Mutton for you brown peeps.

Also, a great time to get the family together to talk about the sacrifice made by our Savior, and how the atonement has blessed out lives.

Then Sunday, we took the kids to the temple for some pics. I just love Easter!

vocabulary

2011-04-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

Gwen and Drake fight a lot. I hope you're thinking "my kids do too."

Lately they'll call each other selfish.

So the other day as we were driving, and Gwen wouldn't share with Drake, and he said, "Gwen, you're selfish!"

To which she replied, "you don't even know what that means!"

I, overhearing the conversation, and seeing that Gwen wasn't sharing with Drake was proud of him because I figured he DID know what it meant.

He yells back, "yes I do, it means you sell fish!"

new me?

2011-04-12T11:07:00.001-07:00

This morning I took Drake to school and went to give his lunch to his teacher while he was washing his hands. She took a step back and then laughed and said, "Oh, you look so different today, it took me a while!" Umm, weird. But okay.

Next I hauled buns to make it to institute on time. I didn't, I was late. I quietly walked in and took an empty seat right in the middle of the class. My teacher then walked over to me to shake my hand and says, "tell me your name", I just figured head injury (my teacher was in a motorcycle accident years ago and had a significant head injury that affects his short term memory, and so that's often his excuse). Then a couple of minutes later, while he was teaching he says, "oh KRISTIN!!! I'm so sorry! Of course it's you, but you just look SO different! What's different about you?!" Umm, I don't know? Unfortunately I can't answer him by saying, "oh, I lost ten pounds!" or "botox!!". But honestly, why aren't people I see ALLTHETIME recognizing me today? Because I took a shower? (oh wait, I didn't!) I curled my hair? I lightened my hair like a month ago? Really, what's different about me today?

Okay, that one I have crazy eyes. If I walked around like that I'd understand.

Try again, dork in the library taking a picture of herself:

Does this look different than normal?

so fresh and so clean, clean

2011-04-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

Once upon a laundry day, I was washing the bedding from my bed. The comforter to be specific. Well I have an old school top loader washing machine, (oh how I miss my fancy washing machine!) so I can't put the fabric softener in when I add everything else. I have to listen for the rinse cycle and then go add the liquid softener then. (I don't trust the Downy balls to release all the softener at the right time) So when I heard he washer filling for the rinse cycle I went in to add the softener. Inside the washer, was the strangest thing, I found all these pulpy, masses. I reached in to discover that a brand new box of fabric softener sheets had fallen off the shelf into the washing machine apparently before I loaded it. I fished through the water and pulled out the dissolving box and almost all of the 80 sheets. I also figured I wouldn't need to add any additional fabric softener. Well, that was over four weeks ago now. And STILL, every time I climb into bed, I'm welcomed by the fresh clean smell of those fabric softener sheets! I just might have found a new way to wash my bedding!

Barrister's Ball

2011-04-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

That's right, we went to a ball.

A fancy shmancy ball where we got to dress up,

and go watch our law school friends get drunk.

Since Ryan's graduating in just over a month (seriously!?),

we figured we'd go to basically law school prom.

Aww fun.

So, we'll be sending out Ryan's graduation announcements soon, so email me your address should you so desire one

kmcphie at asu dot edu

home improvementifications

2011-04-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

We have a grapefruit tree.

A big, ugly, overgrown, half dead grapefruit tree.

Behold-

Ryan called up Kolby and asked him if he could borrow his chain saw.

Behold-

There was a little boy who was amazed by his dad and the chainsaw.

He wanted to play too.

Behold-

They worked hard, those two.

Behold-

Behold the before-

And behold the after-

Wow!

And still on the to do list,

building a block wall

installing a sprinkler system

But those things will have to wait since this weekend this happened:

I came home from school Friday afternoon, and our house was so hot!

This is what the thermostat read:

thankfully Saturday the blessed AC people came out to replace the old broken heap of junk on the roof.

A crane had to come out to lift the old one off and the new one up.

We are now basking in the coolness of our new AC.

And trying hard not to think of the price paid for that cool air.

meat

2011-03-31T21:20:00.001-07:00

Gwen had bologna at a friends house, and has been asking me to buy some for quite a while now. So I did. I made the kids bologna sandwiches for their lunches today. Drake is usually a PB&H kind of kid, but since he LOVES hot dogs (and I figured bologna is basically a flat round hot dog), I made him a bologna sandwich too. Apparently he didn't like it. So much so, he asked his teacher to write a note to me to make sure I knew it.

And yes, I still have Halloween zip-locks.

liar, liar, pants on fire!

2011-03-28T11:04:00.001-07:00

Drakey with his "boo boo." Don't make the mistake of asking how he got his bump, or his bruise, because he will sharply reply, "it's not a bruise, it's a BOO BOO!"

Drake's primary teacher must have inquired. Because as she brought him to me yesterday, she asked in shock, "you guys were in a car accident?!" I looked at her questioningly, then remembered the big bruise on his head. "Oh no," I replied, "he fell off his scooter." She looked at me shocked. "He told me you guys were in a car accident and your car flipped over." Oh my goodness Drakey boy. You made up a whopper! As I was picking my jaw up from the floor, Drake burst out laughing and yells, "ha ha, I tricked you" to his teacher!

Drake doing his "daddy smile".

in love

2011-03-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

I went to the mall today. For the first time this semester. So it's been a whiiiiile!

And oh man, I wish I didn't know what I've been missing!

I might be kinda nerdy, but I dream of cute tablecloths. This William Sonoma tablescape took my breath away. So fresh, so spring, so cute! I always say, someday, I will have an amazing collection of dishes, tabelcloths, placemats and napkins. (and somewhere to keep them!!) But until then, I'll dream.

b & a

2011-03-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

Over the summer, I thought I should finally get around to painting my cabinets before school started. I got all the top ones painted, and then school started, and my home improvement life came to an end. Then Christmas vacation came along. I had five weeks, surely I could finish the cabinets. But alas, no. So this week has been spring break, and I got wise and recruited the help of this hot handy man who actually happens to live with me. (I'm talking about Ryan people!!) He helped me a lot, and finally, after seven months, our kitchen cabinets are finished!!

Before:

After:

I thought my fridge was a mess then...

But with Drake in school now, there's not even enough room on the fridge!

The cabinets on the island were particularly nasty:

And the cabinets under the sink were so damaged!!

I just love my "new" kitchen!! Thanks for your help Ryan!

Now we just need new counters, sink, and to get rid of the dumb dropped ceiling/fluorescent lights.

Saturday morning

2011-03-12T11:11:00.000-08:00

The kids have soccer games every Saturday morning. I figured I'd run out to their fields and meet them there. On my way, I passed some garage sales, so naturally I had to stop and look real quick. One table had some magazines they were selling, and right on top was a Maxim. Really? You're selling your USED Maxim. Gross. So while I was on one side of the table, a guy on the other side starts thumbing through it. I said "NAUGHTY" in a I caught you kind of voice. And although I'm pretty sure he didn't speak English, he got the idea. Girls don't like porn. He sheepishly smiled at me as he closed it and I continued on my run.

Fat Tuesday

2011-03-10T21:12:00.000-08:00

Did you know that in the UK Fat Tuesday is also Pancake Day? Did you also know that I L-O-V-E pancakes!?? They are heavenly. Warm fluffy carbs smothered in fat and sugar. Yummmmmmmmmmmmm.

So naturally we had to celebrate. We had two styles, German Pacakes:

I have no idea what that thing is on the back of my oven, but it's not food

And Swedish Pancakes, or crepes if you prefer the French variety. Scrumptious! A new tradition in the McPhie home, Pancake day.

when you're a mom,

2011-03-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

and your 4 year old boy asks you to wear the necklace he made for you to school,

you do it with pride!

(as long as it's relatively cute, otherwise, just wear it out the door and take it off as soon as he's out of sight!)

life

2011-03-07T09:19:00.000-08:00

is flying by!!

Last weekend Ryan and I and five other couple got together to do Ragnar. It's a 200 mile relay made up of 36 different legs, so each runner runs three legs. Since we were all (with the exception on one couple ;) ) married, we were The Honeymooners.

Our tag line was "You've been Honeymooned!" and there might have been some mooning involved.

Kaylani, Jasmyn and I. We took our flagging job seriously. (you needed a flag while crossing the road - new safety regulations)

We had friends nice enough to let us use their huge Excursion, and we still managed to fill it to the brim.

Dunzo!!! It took us 32 hours. We might not have been the fastest team, but we sure had fun!

This picture cracks me up, not only because of what the boys are wearing, but because Ryan's furthest from the camera and looks tiny. Plus Joel just throws the scale off. hehehehe

When I picked Drake up from school Friday, he was still napping. I love it when I get to go in and wake him up, and he's all sweaty and tired. But I had to get a picture of him in all of his dirty boy glory. The back of his shirt was way worse. It had mud and dirt all down him.

Then Friday night we took the kids to the drive ins to see Rango. It was pretty cute, and we figured it was a good idea to see it at the drive ins because it's so dang cheap! (kids under 5 are free (Drake) and 5-12 are $1 (Gwen)) then Ryan and I had two re-admit passes, so we were free. So if Range stunk (which it didn't, it was okay) then we weren't out much. After Rango, Ry and I decided to let the kids sleep in their car seats while we stayed around for the free double feature. We saw Unknown. It was soo good! Then we were on a movie high, and SHOCKED that i was still awake, so we decided to push our luck and stay around for The Adjustment Bureau. Another good one, but Unknown was better. So we didn't get home til 2:15 am!!! We're party animals.

But we were feeling it Saturday morning when we had to wake up early to get the kids to their soccer games. It was Gwenny's first soccer game.

She's #24, and she did AWESOME!!

My cute little soccer babies.

After soccer we went to the Collards to party with Kit for his third birthday.

Then in the evening we took the kids miniature golfing at Golfland.

They were so cute and actually did pretty good.

You can't tell much in this picture, but Drake's trying to squint one of his eyes. Here's the story. About six months before Ryan and I met, he got Bell's palsy, which basically was damage to a nerve in his face which has affected the the left side of his face. The lasting effect shows when he smiles, his left eye squints. Well Drake has been trying to be like his daddy, and that means he's been trying to squint an eye when he smiles for pictures. Cute boy!

boys

2011-02-21T09:36:00.000-08:00

The retro run. I let myself down with my efforts to put together an 80's outfit. I meant to hit up the thrift stores Friday night, but I got to watch cute little Mason, and I'm no longer brave enough to go shopping with a newborn.

It wasn't my best 5k, but luckily it wasn't other females 20-29 either, so I ended up with second place. Ryan did well, and blew my time away. Unfortunately for him, the male folk 30-39 ran like the wind, so he didn't podium, but he did place 4th in his age group! Good job Ryan.

Also this weekend, my sister in law Molly, had baby number 5! Lewis Michael Jorgensen. He was 8 pounds 10 ounces, that was Drake's weight at birth. Also, my sister in law, Emily, found out she's having a boy! This is particularily exciting since they have three girls and Gavin's out numbered. All this has had me thinking how much I love having a little boy.

Here's my little monkey man, just a couple days old. He's such a little snuggler. And I figured out the difference between a son and a daughter, Gwen loves me, but Drake's IN LOVE with me. Aww, I love my babies.

I'm so retro

2011-02-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

I've aged myself. Yesterday I was talking to a friend at school about how I'd do my reading while watching "Must See TV". As the words were coming out of my mouth, I realized I hadn't heard it called that in a long time. I remember being in highschool and every Thursday night we'd go to Jasmyn's house for must see tv. You know, Friends, Seinfeld, Will and Grace, all those good shows. I could tell that he hadn't heard of NBC's Thursday night shows called Must See TV. Wow, didn't realize things have changed so much.

Also, tomorrow Ryan and I are doing the Retro Run, where you're supposed to dress retro. Okay, does that mean 'fros, bell bottoms, tie dye and peace signs?? No! They specified 80s! The 80's are retro now!

I have to face it, I'm getting old. The other day I heard a friend had to explain to her daughter what camera film is. Weird.

While I'm on a tangent, I'll take this time to inform those who might not know, when you say "et cetera" (etc.) the T is before the C! I'm currently in a training and the trainer keeps saying "excetera", and it's not giving her much credibility. Okay, now I'm going to start paying attention to her.

lovers day

2011-02-15T09:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I checked my phone, and unfortunately I only got two pictures from Valentine's Day. But they're good ones!

Here I was so excited to see this young man exiting the light rail on his way to school. He made my day even better (and mind you I woke up to my Valentine giving me a watch and perfume!!). This gentleman is probably about 6'3", but maybe you wouldn't have guessed by his 18" legs!! I mean his femur is almost non existent! His bum sits on top of his knees. Oh, wait, maybe his pants are just falling down? Anyhow, this made me happy.

Next up: Valentine pizza for my Valentines. Drake especially. He will poo poo just about everything I make, except for pizza and cookies. This was so yummy. If you can, never make pizza unless you use fresh mozzarella. It makes such a difference!

Okay, now back to school work.

metal mouths

2011-02-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

My friend Alison reminded me I totally forgot to blog about my poor babies dental trip. Last week they went in for a dental exam after Gwen chipped her tooth and we could see she had a huge (pronounced UGE, mind you) cavity. Nice. So they go in for a check up. Gwen has the one big cavity and will need a silver cap, and Drake has SIX freakin' cavities!!! So they scheduled an apt, for an early appointment so we could bring them in with empty tummies ready to be drugged.

Here's my boy, in lala land, watching Sponge Bob in the ceiling, getting ready to be drilled.

So two of Drakes teeth the dentist decided would need silver caps too. So he now has two "Iron Man" teeth. Much to Ryan's dismay. But really, how did it get this bad!?? We make sure they brush!! Although I concede that I should be more on Drake's sneaking food and candy into his room, because naturally if I know he sneaks it in there, he'll eat it at night after his teeth are brushed.

Oh man, was this girl funny! She was falling out of her chair, and talking and singing to herself. She even threw in some "mommmmmmmyyyyyyy, my face feeeeeeeelss funnnnnny!" Just look at her stoned out of her mind!

We had to get some Jamba Juice for these little ones since they weren't allowed to eat real food. After all, with how numb they were, they'd have chewed their cheeks to pieces.

Look at my Gwenny, passed out in front of the heater. These kids were loopy for hours. And the kids now have better brushing habits. (Like Drake brushes his teeth for longer than 5 seconds, and they HAVE to do a fluoride rinse after brushing)

weekends rule

2011-02-12T20:57:00.000-08:00

And it's not even over yet!!

I have some awesome friends! And we (and our husbands) all went out last night for a fancy schmancy Valentine's Day dinner at The Capital Grille. Too bad we didn't get a group picture. Why didn't we ladies?!?

Then this morning, I skipped my long run for Drake's first soccer game. Seriously, I'm so selfish!! It was so hard for me to give up running Ethan's Run with my friends to go to Drake's very first ever soccer game. Poor boy. Your mom will work on being a better mommy I promise. But it was cute, and Drake was such a good little player. His team was 4 year olds who have never played soccer before, going up against 5 year old pros. (okay maybe they weren't pros, but even though these games aren't supposed to keep score, and just have fun, after every goal they'd get, they'd yell out the score that they're keeping in there head anyway, and do jumping chest bumps!! I'll bet half of the kids on our team couldn't even count to 12) I think the last score I heard these boys yell out was 17 to 0. But Drake was a cute little soccer boy, and even Gwen is interested in playing now.

Then we came home and I yelled at the kids until they helped me clean the house.

Then I took them to cash in the cans they have been collecting for months. These kids have been so funny! A while a go, the kids were wanting to earn some money. I told them they should start collecting cans. They'd walk around looking for cans to bring home. They'd dig them out of garbage cans at the park, and even yell out for me to stop the car in the middle of the road if they saw a can in the gutter. Well, the GIGANTIC, black, plastic lawn bag that's been bulging with cans in my laundry room for months, was finally ready to go.

(feel free to click on the picture to see what Gwen's necklace says!)

(cute huh? she made it)

We went down to the local sketchy recycle place, and those babies made $9! They were ecstatic, and their desire to grab the random dirty half full beer can out of some stranger's yard has only been reinforced.

And now off to make more treats for the Vday.

Hope your Valentine's Day is full of hearts and pinkness.

Ours certainly will be.

XOXO

just jousting

2011-01-31T10:55:00.000-08:00

This weekend the law school had a family BBQ at El Dorado park. It was so much fun, they had bouncy houses, relays, toys, jousting, etc. The kids had a blast (until the water balloon toss at the end and Gwen got soaked). It was the perfect day to be out at the park.Drake even knocked over some huge kid jousting (not this little boy here).
And Gwen made a friend too, but needs to learn to not look at the camera when she's jousting.

Other weekend events took us to a good friend's birthday party where we were hypnotized!! Ryan had to pee really bad but his right foot was stuck to the floor. It wasn't really. I think the hypnotist was disappointed.

yumbelievable

2011-01-25T19:49:00.000-08:00

I made these Lemon Ricotta cookies tonight, (I'll just stay up til one to do my school readings now) and holy smokes are they good! Supposedly they're kinda healthy too (in a cookie way) because they don't have a lot of butter, and you use skim ricotta. So you've got extra protein, calcium, less fat, but just as much sugar. I suppose if you wanted to get crazy you could use some stevia and whole wheat flour, but then they might taste like poo. Just my opinion.

I love the citrus time of year, and that I can just go out and pick a fresh lemon to zest up. Plus, I think I've eaten four oranges a day for the last couple weeks. I always want to live close to citrus!!

It's that time of year again!

2011-01-21T21:47:00.000-08:00

VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

It's my favorite! Everything is just so cute, and it's so nice to celebrate your love for your friends and family.

But also, V-day candy.

I can't complain about being able to buy a bag of Tootsie Pops that are ALL cherry flavored. I mean that's my favorite flavor!!

I'm currently on bag 4. I eat 3-4 everyday at school. My tongue pays a price, but it's worth it.

Also, the cinnamon hearts! They're like super soft cinnamon bears, but even better. $1 a bag at Fry's. Also, on bag #4.

But these are my favorite!!

That may be a picture of cinnamon imperials, but that's not what I'm talking about. These are about the size of a quarter, and thick. I don't remember the brand, but you can get them at William's Sonoma this time of year, $12/bag, and again, sooo worth it!! They just melt in your mouth and have the BEST spicy cinnamon flavor to them.

I just may have to make a trip out to the mall tomorrow!

So in closing, I love V-day candy, and who needs new year resolutions anyway?!

Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon 2011

2011-01-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

Ryan did it!!! His first half.

And he did great! 2:01:42. That's on a week and a half of training people.

(and no I don't have a tumor on my back, that's my running fanny pack!)

We stayed together the whole time, listening to the mix that Tara and I stayed up the night before putting together.

Which brings me to my next thought. Apple needs to have blue tooth or something between ipods. We spent the first half of our run trying to synchronize our music. We finally gave up and gave in to my music being only a half a second ahead of Ryan's.

Next thought. There's a lot of nice people out there. Like the two guys that we had take pictures of us at the finish and then email them to us because we forgot our camera/phone. Thanks a lot anonymous photographer.

what I haven't been up to

2011-01-12T22:10:00.001-08:00

How we've spent our Christmas break:

School starts again on Tuesday. I'm not ready to go back. I've loved this break too much. I STILL haven't read Mockingjay, and still haven't finished my cabinets, I still haven't completed my internship application paper. But I've snuggled my babies like crazy.

But this break will go out with a bang. My girl friend and I were planning on running the Rock 'n' Roll half this weekend, but she went and got pregnant dang it. (I'm really jealous) So I've talked Ryan into doing it with me. (running, not baby making) This will be his first half marathon. I'm excited!

2011

2011-01-05T14:43:00.000-08:00

9:30pm, kids asleep.

11:45 pm, Martinellis and nachos!

Number of resolutions already broken: 2.

Christmas

2010-12-28T11:29:00.000-08:00

It's so strange. Since I've been out of school, I rarely get on the computer. It's been a surprisingly nice break from the internet. But I couldn't let Christmas pass without a little blogpost.

I'll just let this picture say it all.

One of the best Christmases yet!

Thanks and stuff

2010-12-01T09:47:00.000-08:00

Turkey day started with a nice little turkey trot with the McPhies in South Chandler. It was fun, but oh so cold!

Dad cutting the turkeys, he even BBQd one of them. Yum yum.

The Taylor's came down for Thanksgiving, and of course we love it when they come to town!

We took the kids to see Tangled (darling movie!!) and then to see the big tree at Tempe Marketplace.

And naturally the day after Thanksgiving we put up the Christmas tree! The kids were so excited!! I totally bribed them to clean up their rooms and the family room by telling them we couldn't get out the Christmas decorations until the house was clean.

Drakey boy got to place the star this year.

we sure have a lot to be thankful for this year, like all the stress right now because finals start next week. Thankful for that because it means the semester is almost over!!

El Tour

2010-11-25T10:23:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night we went to the Zoo Lights with our friends the Stewarts.

Apparently one of the monkey escaped and put on Gwen's clothes.

Then Gwen and Drake got to spend the night at the Stewarts because early the next morning Ryan and I loaded up our bikes and headed down to Tucson.

We had some good company. Gavin, Emily and Emily's sister Sari did it too.

And I know my helmet looks funny sitting up on the top of my head like that. But that's what you get when you have a $15 Walmart helmet.

At mile 6, we all had to get off our bikes and carry them through a dry creek bed. Even a 14 pound bike gets really heavy after a 1/3 mile hike.

At about mile 45.

People along the way kept telling me they liked my pony tail. I'd say thanks in a weird way, because what's so cool about a pony tail? Apparently this is what they were talking about. It was tucked into my number and didn't know it.

All done! We did the 66 mile course this year, but have our sights on the 109 for next year!

It was so much fun, but I missed my babies so much! When we finally got back into the valley, it was about 9:00 pm. The kids were with the Stewarts for 24 hours! But when we walked in, the kids were disappointed that it was time to go home, and wanted to stay longer. They had SUCH a good time! Thanks Drew and Amy!

just an average day

2010-11-17T10:41:00.001-08:00

at ASU!!

You might have to click on the picture to see that this guy's rear is entirely out of his pants! Pure boxer butt hanging out. But here's the best part. As they're passing me, (and there are several people around to hear this too) he says to her, "I can't wait to do you!"
Lovely.

oh dear

2010-11-14T20:39:00.000-08:00

Today, this...

led to this...

Don't worry, no one was hurt, and the monkey bread survived! But now I have burnt carmel sauce all over the bottom of my oven.

Oh, and my Shepherd's Pie was cooked to mush.

Mixing it up

2010-11-12T23:32:00.000-08:00

Okay, so the Ramblings of a Punk Rock Princess thing is way too old. I mean I never talk music on this blog, I'm so out of the loop with that anyway. I think the last show I went to was Owl City last year!? I just don't have time anymore. That should be the name of my blog! I don't have time anymore. Like right now, I'm wasting time blogging when I should be writing a memo about what constitutes "knowing possession" and "conspiracy". But to be honest, I'd rather chew my arm off. Well, only if I could grow another one back. Instead I'll just change up the blog and go to sleep. Good night!

go Ryan

2010-11-06T21:04:00.001-07:00

Casa Grande Triathlon 2010.
And I was on the sidelines. As much as it pained me to only be a spectator, it was Ryan's turn to do a race and have his family there to support him. And Ryan did really well. But I don't think we should take all the credit, although we were really good cheerleaders. ;)

Look at my adorable munchkins waiting for this thing to start. And notice the cow bell. I don't think anyone around us would have asked for more cow bell. Like I said, we were really good cheerleaders.

Drake kept making this face in all the pictures.

Ryan tearing through the water. Notice what a nice arm pit Ryan has. In his own words, "if you've got it, flaunt it." Well he's got it!

Coming in from the bike. And I know what you're thinking, "wow those water bottles coordinate with his bike so well!"

All done. My boys are silly. Good job Ryan!

And Ryan wasn't the only super star racer out there. Props also go out to Gavin (Ryan's brother who also did the triathlon) and Kaylani.

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T22:20:00.000-07:00

This year I was definitely not going to make costumes. so we picked these up at Costco back in August! I would not let them take the costumes off the hangers because i could just imagine them ruining them or what not. Still Drake managed to lose his helmet somehow. Oh well. Ryan took Drake to get a new helmet so his Iron Man costume would be complete. Gwen of course wanted to be a "pretty witch."

I don't know why our ward didn't do a Trunk of Treat this year, especially with Halloween being on a Sunday and all, so last night we crashed the other McPhie's Trunk of Treat. There was a Nanny McPhee there that the McPhies had to get a picture with.

And leave it to Emily to paint her girl's faces so cool. And too bad I didn't get a picture of Cloe's fish face! You would have died at how cute it was. These little monsters were adorable!

And then on Halloween we had to have our traditional Jack O'Lantern Stew.

Then since we didn't T or T tonight, the kids wanted to dress in their costumes and hand out candy. They had a blast.

We also watched Hocus Pocus a couple of times this weekend. I love that movie!! And now so do the kids. I love Halloween time.

video should work now

2010-10-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

Ragnar Las Vegas 2010

2010-10-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

Real Housewives of AZ. One of the most fun weekends ever! Loved it ladies.

Don't know what Ragnar is? It's a 200 mile relay. 12 people are on your team, 6 people in each van. Each person runs three legs of the race. We started at 10:30 Friday morning, and finished at about 5:00 Saturday evening...one runner is running the whole time! So we really didn't sleep at all. Can I tell you that there is something magical about running on a highway road at 2:00 am? Just your itunes and the stars. Oh, but watch out for tarantulas and snakes!

After the race ended, we headed to the Venetian for a relaxing night in the hot tub, ordering room service and a movie. Perfect way to end it. Oh, and I forgot to mention, we took 4th place for the women's teams!!

I'm a little embarrassed by how long it took me to make this video. I think because I had to listen to just about every song on my itunes before I finally picked my #1 running song anyway. I love Ben Kweller.

Also, don't hate the rose lenses people. They're totally hip. (and that's what happens when you buy your sunglasses from eBay)

Nike Women's Marathon 2010

2010-10-18T22:47:00.000-07:00

Oh man. This was awesome! Did you know my bones are like chalk? I mean really, everytime I try to prepare for a marathon I get hurt. So this time was no different. This time my right foot. So do you know what I did? I took the last 2.5 weeks off from running! And I babied my foot. I even wore my boot! And it totally helped!
So cool things about this run. It's in San Francisco, it's all (well mostly) girls, and you get a Tiffany's necklace for a finishers medal!!
Here I am again with my name on the wall of Nike Town in down town SanFran. It's real, I'm gonna do it. Oh haha. I just said DO IT, and that's Nike's motto, and it was while I was talking about my name on Nike's wall for the Nike marathon, okay I'll stop now. And is my face really this big in real life?

And here I am shaking because I'm so cold standing on some parking garage in down town San Francisco at 6:00 am. Can You Still Feel the Butterflies. (throwin' in a little Eat World tribute)
But here's what's even crazier. My Ry-man and Buster Brown are up with me in the coldness to cheer me on! What a lucky girl I am to have these boys supporting me!!

And as soon as we got there, I got in the humungo line for the porta potties. And low and behold, here I am STILL when the gun goes off for the race to start! That's me in the middle of the picture with the pink socks. In line for the bathroom. Race started.
But I snuck over to the front and was able to start only seven minutes later! Probably before the rest of the people in my coral even.
Cute cheerleader son in his See Mommy Run shirt.
Golden Gate bridge in the background, around mile 6. And yep, it really is that big. My face, not the bridge.
Here I am giving my little man a smooch at mile 16. Ten to go!
Oh ya, did I mention how cold this was? Not too bad for me since I was running (although my feet were soaked and numbed out which actually was good because after ten miles my foot didn't hurt anymore!), but my sweet boys sat in the freezing cold rain to cheer me on!! I mean look how ominous the sky is! And when the wind would blow over the ocean?! Fa-reez-ing!
But they had fun still. Just goofin' off.

And Drakey always finding a dog to pet. He wants a doggy so bad!
but the long wait is finally over! Here I am coming in for the finish! And Tara, Andrew, Gwen, Drake, Aubrey and even baby Leo made it out for it! Don't I have the best family?!
And the only post race photo since again, it was sooo cold, and the kids were anxious to get warm.
And here's my Tiffany's necklace handed to me by a fireman in a tuxedo. Seriously.
So I finished. Which I'm happy about. I let go of any time goals since my training was minimal at best, but I was still able to beat my SLC Marathon time! It helped not having torn ligaments in my ankle this time. ;)

And then after the marathon, we showered, ate, packed up, hugged the Taylors good bye and drove home!!! Made it home at 5:00 this morning. Just enough time to get 2.5 hours of sleep and make it to my morning class. But walking isn't such a successful story. My knees don't like me right now. I can't blame them. San Fran hills are brutal.

Baby Leo!!

2010-10-18T22:24:00.000-07:00

After we spent a few days in Sacramento, we headed out to Concord to spend some times with the Taylors, and meet the newest one, Leo. The kids loved him! (And notice Gwen's black eye that we have no idea how she got)

And I loved him too! Remember you have three years of school Kristin. There will be no time for a baby. Even a sweet scrumptious little boy like Leo. :(
These boys had a great time together too. They got along so well and loved all the wrestling they got to do. Ryan flew out Wednesday morning so although he's not pictured (yet) he was there too, and he loved him some Aubrey! This little girl was so dang sweet to him. Oh yah, I don't know what got into Drake, but he was busting out some sweet dance moves all week! Here he is showing off in the middle of the street. I like to call this move the Chris Angel.
We went to Half Moon Bay for their Pumpkin Festival. Holy smokes! We sat in traffic FOR-EVER to get there and get out! Honestly, at one point it took us 45 minutes to move maybe 100 yards!! Pure torture. But while we were there, we got to see Farmer Dave carve Megamind in a giant pumpkin. We had a hunky dory time eating over priced food and going through an over priced "Haunted House".

Apple Hill

2010-10-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's the dealio. Alotta updating to do, and alotta Contracts reading to do. The blog wins, my grades will suffer.

Last Monday, the kids and I made the llllloooonnnngggg drive up to Sacramento. We had fun though. I love road trips! I mean come on, who doesn't love eating junk food all day while jamming out to Bon Jovi and Let's Play Music songs, and seeing how long you can go with the gas light on?

Then Tuesday we went with Grammy up to Apple Hill. It's this darling area in the hills where there are a whole bunch of apple orchards. And of course my little monkey had to climb a few apple trees.

Could you just die? Look at my sweet little boy with his puffy hair all a glow.

How about this one, look at Drake's face. He was surprised when he realized that he was actually holding the horse and the horse was trying to walk away.

two little monkeys hanging from a tree

2010-10-04T20:59:00.000-07:00

This morning at 7:00, I was getting dressed and thought the house was awfully quiet. I went to go see what the kids were up to and couldn't find them anywhere in the house. I checked outside, and sure enough, they were out there...in a tree! They have recently discovered climbing trees, and now they spend most of there time in them. The orange tree is too scratchy, so they climb whatever this one is in the front yard.

It's pretty cool how it's toughened them up. My kids cry and need a band aid over any little poke, but now they're covered in scratches! And, no band aids, no whining.
Drake tells me he's going to bring his pillow up and live in the tree. He's my little Mowgli. But it's Gwen who's the super star climber. She got all the way to the top, where the branches don't even look like they could support her weight, and her little head was poking out of the top of the tree. I'm crossing my fingers we won't be in the ER anytime soon.

who loves Sparky?

2010-09-30T22:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we got to go to the ASU football game and watch them get spanked by Oregon. We brought the kids, and it was funny! And hot!! It was still over 100º when the game started at 7:30. This heat wave is killing me. It reminds me of the last 400 meters of a race, your exhausted and just pushing as hard as you can because you can see the end. Well we're exhausted from the summer and the cooler weather is supposed to be here and we're just holding on for the end of temps over 100.
It's just odd being at an ASU game, and having your 6 year old stand up and yell to everyone, "if you love Sparky raise your hand!"... several times. BYU I can picture it. But SKANK.S.U? Also, she'd start cheering "A-S-U" and then it'd morph into "U-S-A!" I just love that girl.
The kids loved the game, which is good but also worrisome. We're still working on brainwashing them to love BYU the most.
Once when I was doing my brainwashing routine and asked Gwen where she was going to go to college, she said ASU. I was shocked, the kids have always said BYU in the past. I said, "you mean BYU right?" And she said, "but you and daddy go to ASU". Touche. So I explained to her that undergrad is BYU or an ivy league school, and then she could go anywhere (like ASU) for grad work. I know. We're bad.

The kids took their turn with the camera:

And this was just before Drake got a high five from Sparky. He loved it. And again worry. Need to get them to love Cosmo more than Sparky. ;)

some advice from Mama Kristin

2010-09-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

I can call myself that because I'm an "older"student. You know, not 22 like most of my fellow 1Ls.

Hhh hhmm. While in class don't twirl your hair. In the midst of your hair twirling, your professor might think you're raising you hand and then call on you. Then in your .3 second internal debate, the thought of trying to just start talking while trying to think of what the question even was might win over just telling your professor that you weren't raising your hand, but just twirling your hair like a ditz. But now it's too late. You started talking, and as these words are coming out of your mouth, you'll realize that what you're saying isn't what your professor even asked, and you're just totally wrong. So no hair twirling please.

Monday

2010-09-20T13:36:00.000-07:00

Recovering from an amazing weekend with these wild ladies.
Oh ShowLow, thank you for showing us a good time. Thank you for having cool mornings so I was able to finally get in a long run. Thank you girls for helping me not think about contracts, torts and civil procedure. (now I'm scrambling to catch up!)

I was stuck in this slow traffic coming back into the valley. Aww. This is everyone coming back to reality from a fun escape.

But maybe the best part of the weekend (and this is saying a lot since we heard Elder Scott speak Sunday morning) was pulling into the driveway and seeing Gwen sitting at the window waiting for me with a "welcome home mommy" sign that she made.

Kristin's Contrivances

Been so busy...

off to a bad start~

Christmas happened

Wassail

My School Budy

Been busy!

Vegan Butternut Squash Enchiladas

MONSTERLAND

Vegas Baby!!

NWM 2011

{{SF}}

mmmmmm punkin

Ryan McPhie Esq.

ughh

you may be disappointed in me

Monday funday

General Conference Weekend

infomercial

question

...soccer season's here...

Ragnar Napa Valley

{34}

my best boy

Strawberry

duh-rama!

..second tooth..

first day of school 2011

last trip of the summer

The Book of Mormon

...California tripping...

{five}

{on vacay}

~SEVEN~

wooly braid

another Drake conversation

bday wish list

D has Bieber fever

Summer's here!!

Yurbuds

nature appreciation

10 things

Toothless

Ryan McPhie, J.D.

no time to blog

I'm blessed to have my body

Easter 2011

vocabulary

new me?

so fresh and so clean, clean

Barrister's Ball

home improvementifications

meat

liar, liar, pants on fire!

in love

b & a

Saturday morning

Fat Tuesday

when you're a mom,

life

boys

I'm so retro

lovers day

metal mouths

weekends rule

just jousting

yumbelievable

It's that time of year again!

Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon 2011

what I haven't been up to

2011

Christmas

Thanks and stuff

El Tour

just an average day

oh dear

Mixing it up

go Ryan

Halloween 2010

video should work now