Like Father, Like Son

I love that my Andy is so much like his daddy. What a blessing!

Family Photos

Before I left for Utah a few weeks ago, my sister Robin was kind enough to take our family photos again. She's so talented--do you remember what she pulled out of us last year? I've loved having these on my walls. I don't ever tire of looking at them. Take a look:

Well, we had another delightful photo shoot this year. The only problem is that there are so many great ones, I can't decide. Please cast your vote in the comments to help me make my decision of which one(s) to blow up and put on my wall. And I'll also pass along Robin's email address to anyone who wants to hire her as their photog :)

110

047--I wouldn't actually put this on my wall, but I love that Joshy is trying to do just what his daddy does.

069--Photoshop the car out in the background

103--I love to show the kids personality in our family photos. I call this Andy's pirate smile.

108

071

154

136--the sun just came out, but I think we could soften those shadows

138

146

147

084--I can't decide which smile I like best

085

111--his hair started to frizz by the end of the shoot.

129

051--I'd zoom and crop it

Officially crossing into the Terrible Twos

Joshua turned two on Monday, July 6. I can't believe my baby is two years old already.

We helped him celebrate his birthday by throwing a fantastic party at Aunt Kristi's party house. Check out the fun we had with cousins and friends:

His birthday breakfast at Aunt Jen's house.

His birthday lunch of dinosaur shaped pbj's.

"Pupcakes" with candles

Aunt Krisiti's super fun water slide.

Thanks to everyone who helped make his 2nd birthday special while we were far away from home.

Help Needed

I need a few great stain-fighting suggestions. Here are my current losing battles:

1. Ketchup, ketchup, ketchup. We eat an obscene amount of Ketchup (good thing it's considered a vegetable in school disctricts). My children's clothes are constantly spotted with Ketchup, despite their bib-wearing efforts.
2. Chocolate. Andrew spotted one of his brand new summer shirts with a chocolate popsicle. I always make him take his shirt off with red popsicles. Who knows why I didn't think to do it with a melting chocolate pop.
3. Ballpoint pen. Both boys marked up their new Easter suits and shirts with pen at church. I've washed it all repeatedly with multiple treatments, but the marks are still there.
4. General little boy grunge. Andy's clothes aren't going to make it to Joshy if I don't figure out how to cut out these stains from everything!

So what are your tricks? I know a lot of you have boys and washing machines, so tell me what works! My old tricks aren't working anymore.

And here's a discussion question: What's up with Color-Safe Bleach? Does it really work? Does anyone use it?

You can teach an old mom new tricks

Mom came over tonight and we used up the last 12 cartons of raspberries in 3 batches of freezer jam. She did a great job for her first time making freezer jam. Dad was there, too , and had said he was going to help finish up their jam, but he fell asleep on the floor after playing with the kids. I asked mom if she wanted to wake him up so he could help and she said, "No. Then he'll know how easy it is." :)

Thanks for your help, Lady!

A Spoonful of Sugar

Maybe this is a new theme for my blog: All situations can tie back to a Julie Andrews song. Really. I can't get her movies out of my mind, this darn book...



Kraig's participating in a 2-day conference this week. He got the time off of work, but to make up for the extra days off, he's working long days at Classic. I feel like the kids and I have hardly seen him. I feel like I'm not being the best mom I can be because there's no relief in sight for a break for myself to recharge, let alone time with my honey. The house is suffering as I'm desperately trying to just manage the mess AND make jam from the 48 pints of raspberries I bought AND watch my friend's children AND entertain my own children AND get my exercising in so I don't feel like a blob on top of it all. Huh. I think I've over scheduled myself. Anyway...

Half the berries made into freezer jam. 24 more to go. I think I'm a woman obsessed with freezer jam.

I had mixed up Kraig's conference schedule and thought it was Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, but lo and behold he actually had today (Wednesday) off for his normally scheduled class down at Metro--no conference! Hallelujah! We had the whole morning to get things done around the house.


His "Honey-do list" has been getting longer and longer and with no extra time, I wasn't able to check things off of it either. So this morning we divided and conquered. Kraig took the kids with him into the backyard where they mowed, trimmed, chopped, weeded and cleaned. He let me have 2 hours to myself to weed the monstrous bed in the front yard. I've always found joy in weeding (especially if I get nice, long roots out), but this was so rewarding. We'd been letting the grass and weeds grow in the bush completely unchecked because we want to change that part of the yard, but haven't been inspired as to how. Our delay in deciding has left it completely out of control. Now that the weeding's done, we have to trim back the bush, but at least it looks much better in the mean time.

Before, side view. You can hardly tell where the lawn ends and the bed begins.

Before, front view. I should have been sitting back there so you could see how tall the grass was.

After, front view. Ok, it doesn't look great in the photo. The bush is atrocious, but there are no weeds!

I got something done that I wanted to do with no children taking my attentions elsewhere. That's my spoonful of sugar.

Sew: A Needle Pulling Thread

I'm reading Julie Andrew's autobiography right now, so all things tie back to a Sound of Music or Mary Poppins song.


Brenda came over Saturday afternoon to sew some spring skirts with me. We had a few equipment malfunctions with my serger and sewing machines, but after working those out we flew through the skirts. Here are some work-in-progress and finished product photos:



My sewing room/guest bedroom/nursery (when needed) gets pretty crowded. We ended up putting the ironing board in the walk-in closet to give us more space to move around. I think I'll do that again.



Kraig came home while we were finishing up Brenny's skirt. He came up to chat with us while we sewed and then we listened to a book on tape he'd been listening to called Hunger Games. It's pretty good. I love to listen to books on tape while I sew.


One reason I love this room as my sewing room is because I can put a gate on the door and the kids won't go in. That means I can leave my machines and half finished products laying around without fear of the kids messing with them. I also love my guest bed-cum-sewing table. It's up high enough that I don't strain my back bending over the material and fabric. Working at my kitchen table used to kill me.



Finished product. We used the same fabric and the same concept with the scalloped lining hanging down, but different patterns--Brenny's is more flouncy, mine's more fitted. We both added some fun top-stitching designs in a noticeable color to make the patterns our own.


Both of us also got a few compliments at church the next day, so the project was a success! When's the next project, Bren?

An Exciting Sunday Afternoon

After church today we all laid down for our normal afternoon rest time. I was upstairs reading a book, Andy was watching Dora and Josh was having a nap in his room.

My dear friend Julie disrupted the quiet with a phone call around 2pm telling me there was a TORNADO over my house!! What? I ran downstairs and looked out our sliding door and sure enough there was a tornado towards the north west (so from Julie's house, southeast from mine, it did look over my house). Here's a photo Julie took of the funnel cloud. My house is half hidden behind the pine tree--you can see my white garage and maroon roof)

Kraig was at church (he got off early and was able to go to another ward at my parents' building), so Julie said I could run over with the kids so I wouldn't be alone. I grabbed the kids and ran outside into a hail storm and crossed the street to her house.

All 9 of us (us 3 and their 6) huddled for a few minutes in their bathroom and then Nate, Julie's husband called our other neighbors who have a basement and so we ran outside one more time to the next house with a basement.

While all of this was happening Kraig was leaving church. He stepped outside and without knowing what was happening at home, had an impression, "There's a tornado, hurry home."

Thankfully, it all turned out just fine. There was no damage to our homes (Apparently it touched down and caused some damage at the Southlands Mall, 2 miles away), although the golf ball sized hail did some damage to the cars out on the street. What a blessing that my little family was protected and my prayers were answered, even when I didn't know I had need to offer one.

Workin' for the Man

A few months ago I stumbled on a part-time Registered Dietitian job on craigslist.com. It seemed ideal, so I applied and was hired.

I'm working for a company called Organic Bistro. They make gluten-free frozen meals high in nutrients (that are actually quite good!). They hire RDs all around the country to educate customers on the benefits of a gluten-free diet. Don't miss understand: I don't sell the product--you can buy the whole line of meals at the grocery store (or the health food store). I won't be sending out e-invites to any "Gluten-free meals" party anytime soon.

My first event is Saturday, 6 June, 2009 at the Sprouts Market in Parker, Colorado. I had to send in a bio on myself a few months ago that they were going to use in their promotions of the event, but apparently they didn't like the photo that accompanied it because I'm not mentioned by name (just joking. I don't know why they didn't mention me specifically). You can see the Upcoming Store Event in your Sprouts weekly circular or view it online at Sprouts.com

It's a "sign-up in advance" event, which I was surprised to learn. It makes me a little more nervous knowing the people coming to listen to me planned on coming to listen to me. I'd better know my stuff (ok, I do.)

Here's what Sprouts has to say about the event on their website calendar:

Delete the Wheat!

Parker Location (Parker Rd & Lincoln Ave.) - 11 a.m.

Living the Gluten Free Way By Organic Bistro

Research shows that many of us are choosing gluten-free foods to help improve and optimize our health conditions. In fact, gluten-free eating has been associated with helping to improve conditions such as, celiac disease, autism, attention deficit disorder, certain skin disorders and other compromising health conditions.

Understanding the nature of gluten-free foods can be challenging. At Sprouts, we want to help guide your journey to good health. Join Organic Bistro and learn:

The hidden gluten sources.

How gluten free can be tasty and delicious.

What foods are gluten free and how to incorporate them into your diet.

How to uncover the variety of health conditions that can be aggravated by gluten.

I'm pretty excited. I have a repeat even the following Saturday at the Sprouts in Westminster. I'd love to see a familiar face in the audience, so if you're interested, sign-up to be there!

Follow the Orange Signs

I hosted my first yard sale today! It was so exciting: the thrill of watching droves of people stop at my house to look at my treasures, bartering for a good price, selling the big ticket items (Adirondack lawn furniture, crib, bike, snow blower), making new friends (I met one lady who's the wife of childhood acquaintance--she stayed to talk for 20 minutes), and making money on things I didn't need anymore. It's so exciting!

We were cleaned out pretty good today, so if any neighbors or friends want to drop some stuff off, we'll sell it for you (and give you the money, of course). The best attended yard sales have lots of items at the beginning of the day, so to sell what we have left, we need your stuff! Bring it over!

Just follow the ORANGE signs!

A 10K is a 10K, whether I pay to run it or not

So all of the 5:30am running I've been doing for the past few months has been leading up to today: the Bolder Boulder. It's a famous 10K in Boulder, Colorado, that 56,000 runners run from all over the world. Who knows why it's so famous or what charity it sponsors, but it's a big deal here in Colorado.

It's a great time...if only I would have paid the $55 to register and run it. (Really? They wanted me to pay them? I don't love running quite that much. Maybe if they paid me I'd love it more). Donita had already paid, so she headed up there this morning, but I coaxed Kraig into doing our own 10K at 5:30 this morning. I mapped it out on www.mapmyrun.com and memorized the course (it wasn't really that complicated) so that we wouldn't miss any turns. My mom came over at 5:20am to be here with the boys and we headed out.

I love running with Kraig. He's so funny and is great at keeping my mind off what I'm doing. So here's how it went:




Starting from home (the green circle), we ran to Eaglecrest high school (via Picadilly St), lapped the track 4 times (the big oval that looks like, well, a track :), hopped a fence (that I didn't originally see on the satellite--I should have run Cross Country in High School)to Copperleaf Street and looped back home through the neighborhood (Tempe to Riviera to Picadilly to Netherland to home). We ran to the 6.5K mark, walked until the 7.5K mark (a nice loop around an elementry school), and then ran the rest of the way home. My original goal was to run 2 miles, walk 1 mile, run 2 more, walk the last 1 and then run in the last .2 of the mile (a 10K is 6.2 miles). But, obviously, we beat our goal and ended up walking less than 1 mile (.62 of a mile, to be exact).

My other goal was to finish in under 1 hour 10 minutes (70 minutes or 1:10). I don't think that if I would have run/walked/run/walked like I'd originally planned I would have made it, but as we ended up running it, here was our time:



Can you read my heart monitor? Our time was 1:11 (71 minutes) Not bad! I'm glad I did it AND that I didn't have to pay to run AND that Kraig did it too (it's the farthest he's ever barefooted before--there was just a little blood when he cut his toe hopping the fence at the high school).

So, is this the end of my running career? We'll see!

The Gift of Life and Breath

--Taken from http://www.thegiftoflifeandbreath.com/
"On April 29, 2004 our lives were to be forever changed ... Gary was diagnosed with late stage lung cancer. Having never smoked, the diagnosis came with shock and disbelief. But the biopsy and CT scan revealed a deadly disease that had gone undetected in its early stage and now left very little hope of a cure.

Determined to beat tremendous odds, Gary did everything he could to preserve his life for his family. This included standard cancer treatments as well as a rarely done double lung transplant. However, despite his heroic efforts, Gary succumbed to lung cancer September 9, 2007.

Lung cancer is a silent killer that takes life one breath at a time. Because symptoms usually do not occur until late stages, it is difficult to treat and cure. For this reason, there is a great need for an early detection screening.

Gary's journey with lung cancer began long before he was even aware of its presence ... long before chemotherapy, radiation and a double lung transplant. It was his greatest hope to give others the advantage of early detection, the best chances for treatment and above all ... the gift of life and breath."

I did it! I've done it before and I'll do it again, but this year's Gift of Life and Breath race was a triumphant success!

I raced with my dear friend Donita. She and I have been training together for a few months. We both beat our training times by MINUTES!

Cory, Creighton, Connor, and Zachary also raced. Zach was the winner out of all of us and it was his first 5K even. No longer can he ever use the excuse that he's too tired or slow :) We know how fast he is now. The kid should race cross country.

Kraig came to see us off, but couldn't do the entire race because he had to work. He did run a few blocks with me about a mile into it and raised my spirits and cheered my soul to push on.

This was Cory's second 5K and she beat her previous time by over 1:30. Well done! Keep up the good work.

My friend Chadlee also raced. It's always fun to see friends joined in a good cause.

So here were the overall race standings for my group of runners:

Zachary: 113th/629 entrants Time: 27:52 Pace: 9:00 minute mile

Creighton: 135th/629 entrants Time: 29:17 Pace: 9:27 minute mile

Jacqui: 162th/629 entrants Time: 30:29 Pace: 9:50 minute mile (When I did my math, I had a 9:30 minute mile, but this is ok too :)

Donita 167th/629 entrants Time: 30:46 Pace: 9:56 minute mile

Connor: 168th/629 entrants Time: 30:51 Pace: 9:58 minute mile

Cory: 308th/629 entrants Time: 40:10 Pace: 12:58 minute mile

Just so everyone takes note, I want to point out that I beat Connor, my 15 year old nephew. Not to rub it in or anything, but I feel pretty good about that :) All our hard work has paid off that I beat the teenager :)