Baby Leo!!

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

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

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?

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

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

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.

true story

Yes, I have a million other things to be doing right now besides blogging. Like reading for Torts tomorrow, or writing my memo outline which also is due tomorrow, or folding the mountain of laundry on my couch, or cleaning my kitchen that is a mess from dinner and cookies, but I'm not. I want to blog and go to bed. Too bad really I'm just waisting study time and I'll be up really late. Oh well.

Yesterday morning I did the Special Olympics Triathlon. It's really neat, they have a sprint for anybody, but then they also have events for Special Olympics athletes, and obviously it all benefits the Special Olympics program. I can not keep my eyes from watering when I see these amazing people trying so hard to swim, bike and run. They are so determined and happy it's so cool to be apart of it all.

Anyhoo, I was stoked for this race because it was my first with my new bike. But I was also worried because I have been sick all week! I've been hacking like a smoker, sore throat, congested, and all sorts of nastiness. So Saturday morning I woke up and felt so yucky I didn't even want to go. But I'm such a tightwad that I wasn't about to forfeit $75 in race fees, so I took some sudafed and left at the crack of dawn.

The race went well other than a few hang ups. Like half way through the swim, as I was swimming under a lane line, my goggles got caught and came off! I stopped and wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to tread water for too long to put them back on so I decided to throw them out of the pool and do the rest with out goggles. That was interesting. I collided with three swimmers head on because I could barely see. Sorry guys!

Then after the bike, once I started running, I was having some bad coughing fits, and had to stop to throw up FOUR TIMES!!!! I was considering walking the rest of the run portion, but half way in I got my second wind and was able to book it and make up for some of the lost time.

So with all of my hang ups, was sooooo surprised to see that I won my age group!!! Again!!! What the heck?!?!?!?! My last three races I've won my age group! I don't know what's going on. I'm just expecting to start hearing the Twilight Zone music playing or something.

So here I am getting my Special Olympics cowbell with a sticker on it that says first place. Like I said, this is a fundraiser for Special Olympics, so don't expect too much. :)
And then you get to pose with this guy. I think he's just a police officer. Cool. At least he had really soft hands.
And me with my new baby! I'm so in love.
Speaking of being in love, get this conversation I had with Drake yesterday:

D- Mom, you and dad were married a long time ago, huh?

K- Yep.

D- Were you brother and sister?

K- Nooooo.

D- Me and Gwen are brother and sister huh?

K- Yep.

D- Do you know who I want to marry?

K- Who?

D- You!

Awww, melt my heart Drakey! That's way better than winning a triathlon! Now I officially LOVE having a son. It only took four years. But Edipus Rex stuff is just so cute. (except when it's for real, and then that's nasty!!)

bad day

First, slide my 40 pound back pack down my arm and break my favorite watch.

They don't even make it in this color anymore. :(

Next, takes me three hours to get home because of this.

Good bye $$

Come home and find that the cat did this

on Gwenny's bed!!

Now my head is pounding from crying all afternoon.

Weekend please come soon!!

procrastinating

Let's face it, I'm just putting of reading. And I keep glancing over at this book:I haven't even read the first paragraph and it's killing me. I might have to wait until Labor day weekend, or even worse, fall break?

Things are pretty crazy over here. But great news- Drake LOVES his preschool. He's got all the kids in his class obsessed with pirates. Everyday he's building pirate ships, making pirate hats, and binoculars, and swords, and flags, and even a parrot. It's adorable! And I love that he's excited to go to school every morning.

Gwen is also doing fabulous and loving getting to socialize with the big kids. But I believe it was hanging out with the big kids that led her to wanting to do this:
We chopped her hair off last week. Ryan and I are still a little sad about it, but Gwen loves her hair and how grown up it makes her look.

Friday night Ryan and I did a 5k with our running club (that we have not been able to go to in ages!). And it was hard! Running when it's 96º out just gives me the worst headaches. And apparently it was hard for everyone else too because I won my age group!! Holy smokes was I shocked! I wasn't even dreaming of it, and in fact we were about to leave when I heard my name called. I didn't even know what place they were talking about and had to ask when I got my medal. If I hadn't peed my pants already, I would have when they told me it was first place. I'll just enjoy this last year of being in a different age group as Chrissie and Carolyn since they're way way faster than me!This is Chrissie who won her age group, and me. Carolyn won overall women. I believe her time was 20:07!!!

Ryan also did really well. Despite his not running for a while, was only 12 seconds slower than his last 5k-which was a really good time. Good job honey!
Some of our fellow Lightning Bolts who came out for the run. It was a great time!

And now back to reading about torts.

busiest of weeks!

This week has been cuh-razy!! I think I'm averaging 4.5 to 5 hours of sleep a night this week and here's why:

Ryan turned 33 on Monday! Unfortunately this is just about the only picture I have to prove it. We had family and some good friends over, it was a fun night.


We also had first days of school. Gwen's been in school for two weeks, but Ryan, Drake and I just barely started.

Naturally Drake had to wear an ASU shirt to school on his first day so he could blend in with 84% of ASU's population. Honestly, I can't believe how many people wear ASU clothing at school. It's everywhere!! And it's cool and all, you know high school morale and stuff, but still it's kinda weird too.

You know what else is weird? Girls totally get all skanked out to go to school there! Not even kidding today I saw a girl wearing a tank top as a dress!! What would she have done if she dropped something and had to bend over? Why would you dress to look so dumb when you're going to a university? Okay, I'll hop off my soap box now.

Here are my two cute boys on their first school day. Drake also wanted to wear his Yoda birthday pin. Silly boy. He goes to preschool at ASU with me. Well I don't go to preschool, but go to ASU, and he goes with me. You know what I mean. And good news is he loves it! He also has been taking naps there even though he tells me he doesn't like that part. But it's pretty neat because for example today he forgot to grab his lunch box from the counter on our way out the door. So at lunch time I just picked up lunch at the student union and walked over to the preschool to drop it off for him and steal some hugs and kisses before I headed back to class. It's fun being able to just go over and see him whenever I can.

And here I am, geared up to go back to school after a SEVEN year break. And holy smokes, it's hard to get back into the swing of it. I've been reading and re-reading like crazy. And even as I'm writing this, I'm feeling guilty for putting off reading and my first writing assignment. Ho hum, I guess I'll get to work now. This marks the end of my social life.