A nice distraction.

So we've been camping this summer.... twice in the last 2 weeks. The first time was... interesting (we sold our trailer and so now we tent it, and don't remind me of the booger fiasco), we ended up going home the first night because Macey & I were so cold. We did stick it through the second night, though. When I told Randy it was time to go home (at midnight. up in the canyon) he looked at me in disbelief and asked "What happened to the Idaho girl I married?" Ha! I looked at him and said "You see hon, it's just that this Idaho girl is so specialized in camping... that she knows when to call it quits." It was FREEZING! So the next morning before we went back up to investigate if any bears had had their way with my s'mores, we went and bought a queen sized sleeping bag. **HEAVEN**! It made all the difference. If I can't have my trailer, by golly I WILL have a ginormous sleeping bag and a blow up air mattress.

View of Clifford's Mountain from the road

Anyway, since we had such a good time, we decided to go up to Idaho to camp with my family this last weekend... we celebrated my brother's 27th birthday at Clifford's Mountain. Clifford's Mountain is a piece of property that my Grandpa (Clifford) bought for the family to enjoy when my dad was just little. It's beautiful, totally my home away from home. Growing up we would go up and escape to Clifford's Mountain as much as we could... we have the 4-wheeler trails memorized, all the other mountains surrounding it named, and know exactly where to go to catch frogs. It's got it all... from cliffs to repel from to an awesome swimming hole (with a rock jutted out to dive from even), to spring water.... I tell you what, if there is ever a catastrophe (like when Obama or McCain gets elected... is there a better choice? Really?), you can find me at Clifford's Mountain... hiding. I told my Dad that we could easily start a commune up there and thrive.. he thought that was pretty funny, and I laughed along with him.. while my eyes darted back and forth on the property to see where would be the best place for a 3 acre garden that couldn't be seen from the road.

Ah, good times.

I'm still not able to laugh at this picture... we had just gotten back from a (dusty) 4-wheeler ride and Randy told me to make my Napoleon Dynamite face-- only to eager to get a laugh from my nieces and nephews, I did. (I didn't know they were already laughing at me.) Ah, now I see why they were laughing so hard when he took the picture. AHAHAHA. UNIBROW! :( Or should I type |:(

Ew, yuck.

While we were camping over the weekend, Macey slept in the middle of Randy and I in our sleeping bag. (it's a queen size, everybody should get one!) I was just rolling over to get more comfortable when I heard Macey say "Eww, yuck! A booger." I giggled to myself, thinking that she was talking in her sleep-- until I felt a little finger slide it's way down my back. (Shudder).

At least I can take solace in knowing that she doesn't eat her boogers... right? But now I am pretty paranoid about stepping on, sitting on, or brushing up against a certain slimy something. I am not looking forward to catching her in the act and teaching her that this is another time to use toilet paper or wipes. EW, YUCK!!

It's official.. ?

Fully fenced, fully landscaped, 3 car garage... ahhhh.... heaven.

This will probably be Macey's room. There is a room next to it that is just beige, but she really likes the blue room... even if I painted the beige one PINK... she still wants blue. What is this world coming to?

Fully finished basement, complete with a playroom for the Moo!

Well, to make a long story short, we have been looking at houses for over a year. Not actively looking.... just looking, you know. Well, the perfect house finally popped up. And in American Fork, no less! (We needed to migrate further North for job opportunities once Rand-o is graduated next Spring.) It was already priced really well, and we knew it wouldn't last long. As it was, we were just barely putting our house up for sale. We figured why not, let's low-ball the sellers, and see what they do. Surely, they wouldn't take it. They couldn't take it! But it's at least worth a shot. Well, what do you know... they took it. Oh crap. Here we are 3 weeks out of closing on this house and our house hasn't sold yet. HAHAHA, oh sorry, nervous laughter. We are pretty heartbroken at leaving the area we're in now... we have absolutely loved every minute here; but alas, we can't stay in P-town forever. Or perhaps we can, if our house doesn't sell. Oh crap. I'm almost scared to post this, in case I jinx something. It's been pretty stressful in our household as of late, and it seems like I have constant anxiety. HAHAHA. (see above.) Anyway, I am super excited about this house in American Fork. It is in a nice neighborhood up on the hill right by the Timpanogas Temple. We could live there forever... we'd never have to move! (knock on wood. see? anxiety.) So here are some pictures for y'allz to get excited with me! Don't remind me we still need to sell our house, like, ASAP! (We can still buy this house without selling our house {if worse comes to worse}... but who wants to do that? Uhh not me!!) Oh crap.

Shape up or ship out!

So, at first (second, or even third) glance, you wouldn't think of me as a runner. I'm short, pudgy, riddled with asthma, have short legs and a long torso. Heck, I take a good 3 steps for every one of Randy's strides! But believe it. Ok ok, so I may not be a "runner" per say, but I can jog up a storm like it's nobody's business. Ok ok, it's more of an uncoordinated trot, but whatevs. Point is, I try. Last year my 3 sisters and I trained to run a 5k together. 1 sister has run about a million of them, so you can imagine the pressure for the 3 of us nubes. It's a shame we don't live close since we are best friends, that would have been a blast; but we trained on our own. I ran my first 5k last year on Mother's Day weekend in Idaho Falls. Sure, I threw up 100 yards from the finish line (word to the wise... don't eat a banana and drink a gallon of water while running)... but I made it. It was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. My parents knew how hard we had worked for this goal (pshaw, I wasn't even able to run a mile in high school! and 3.1 miles now? nothing short of a miracle) and how physically draining it was on me especially-- thank you kidney stones and wacky thyroid -- so they wanted to make sure they were there at the finish line for us. Randy was there at the finish line as well, holding a sign that said "Nae is #1 runner!" Yeah, he's a sweetheart... but rumor has it that he kind of hid the sign behind his arm after he saw me throw up so close to the finish line. Anyway, I remember my mom wasn't doing too well last May, and was on oxygen. That didn't stop her, she had my dad park their car as close to the finish line as possible so she could watch and cheer us on. I had told her while I was training that she was my motivation to do this. I was running for her. I'll never forget meeting her teary eyes when I crossed the finish line. She was so proud of all of us.

So this year, running for my mom takes on a whole different meaning. My sisters and I are doing another 5k this year. Conflicting schedules and baby deliveries made it so we couldn't run a Race For the Cure, but we are making our own of the race that we are doing. I made these shirts for us to wear. If you can't read the front it says: Why we run... We run for you. We run with you. We run with Angels. The left is a picture of my mom last April, and the right is my sister, Lori, who died 20 years ago from Leukemia. On the back it says Project: Shape up or Ship Out 2008 -- No more cancer!! (The shape up or ship out phrase is a dear one to my sisters and I. My mom would tell us this growing up when we were getting out of line... and has since become the name of our sister blog. We use it to talk every day and to egg each other on with our training.)

So that is our new motivation. We run for them. We run with them. In every sense of the word, we are running with angels.

Everyone was Kung Fu fighting..

So, our new favorite family friendly fun activity is going to the drive in theater. Oh yes... the drive in theater... Randy and I have many a memory from our group dating era at the drive in. But these days, it is with a 2 year old wedged in between us with a bag full of popcorn. :) Macey sat through 2 whole movies, and was loving every second! First we watched the new Indiana Jones, and last night we watched Kung Fu Panda. Both were a delight. What makes a movie even more delightful is cotton candy... and popcorn... and soda... and a candybar. Mmmm. Now do you see why Macey sat so still? Ha! She was in hog heaven! Anyway, Indy was a little "out there" towards the end, but still... it is a must-see in the theater (yes, even an outdoor one). Kung Fu Panda was so cute. I have been singing the theme to it all day and Macey walks around saying "Pung Foo Bear" when she hears me.

I am just so excited we can actually watch movies now, the ones that haven't left the theater, even! That is unheard of for us. Next up is Ironman, I hear that one is terrific.

Anyway, here's a couple of attempts at a family photo op. It's kind of hard when you're scrunched in the back of a SUV sitting on a blown up air mattress and a gazillion blankets, trying not to spill your soda!

Wow, not even close!

Better... if it weren't for Randy's creepy face that he's making. And Macey really doesn't have a black eye... she was just having fun dabbling in some of momma's make up earlier that day.

This one's my favorite. I was having a heck of a time getting the darn camera to even take a picture cause it was so dark. This one caught me mid-yawn, I saw the button flashing and I tried to make a smile out of it!

Ahhh! Oh, no, that's just Macey... thinking she is so funny. (See how she puts her hand over her mouth when she is being sneaky?)

Oh, thank you sammich.

Macey is at such a funny stage. She tries to entertain me all day long. And she does a pretty good job. Her latest craze right now are sandwiches.... it's all the kid wants to eat! I don't even bother asking her what she wants for lunch anymore, because I will 99% of the time hear "uhm.... sammich" in a matter-of-fact tone. (The other 1% varies from nana's to spongebob... see what I mean? Entertainment.) My favorite though is when I do give her a sandwich at her little table, she will squeal with delight and say "Oh, thank you sammich!" Today she surprised me with a little something extra... we were at the grocery store checking out, and every time an item was scanned she would come up with something to say... it sounded a little something like this:

*beep*
Macey: sammich
*beep*
Macey: apple
*beep*
Macey: sammich
*beep*
Macey: care bear
*beep*
Macey: spongebob
*beep*
Macey: sammich

The clerk and I were laughing so hard, which of course, only egged Macey on more... and then inevitably the clerk asked Macey's name... I always hesitate to answer this question... especially when we are at... mmmhhhmmm.... Macey's. I tell her, "Macey is her name". The clerk gets a confused look on her face (like so many do) and I tell her with a grin... "it's where she was conceived". That is probably one of my favorite jokes to play on people. Especially at Macey's, the grocery store. This clerk had one of the best reactions to it, though... she laughed out "oh my gosh that's awesome!" .... I don't know if she thought my joke was awesome, or if she thought Macey was really conceived at Macey's and thought that was awesome. I didn't bother to find out.

Anyway, like I was saying... Macey is very entertaining. I love kids at this age. Especially when I can bring them back to their parents after two hours... like at Sunbeams. I love hearing their interpretations of things, and love their little stories. On Sunday one of my little Sunbeam girls got up to sing "I love to see the Temple" in front of everyone. She didn't miss a beat, she knew it word for word and I couldn't have been prouder. I especially loved the line "I'll prepare myself while I am young".... she belted out "I'll repair myself, while I am young". I couldn't hold back the giggles. What she didn't realize is- there is wisdom behind those words.

And to top off this blog entry of entertaining children, I just finished putting Macey to bed and when I laid her down she looked up at me and asked, "Momma? Sammich.... morrow?"