I'm blessed to have my body

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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,

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

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!