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?"

Memorial Day

Macey picked a dandelion and put it on my Mom's grave all by herself... while I boobed like a baby, watching her.

My brothers and grandma. My mom's mom.

Macey and my nephew Tyler. They were so cute and tender, they knew it was a special place.

My mom's new headstone (right) is gorgeous! My sister's headstone is on the left. It was pretty amazing to see all the flowers that were placed. It was beautiful.

Growing up, Memorial Day was a special day. It was the day where we would all head up to the Ammon Cemetery, wash my sister's headstone and get it looking nice, and bring a whole bunch of flowers and talk about our memories with her. Now that my Mom has passed, Memorial Day is even more special. We spent the weekend with my Dad in Idaho Falls, and went to the cemetery on Saturday to place our flowers for the weekend and to wash my sister's headstone. When we pulled up, I was in awe. There were already lots of flowers around my mom and sister's graves. We joked that they were the most accessorized women in the cemetery! It was just beautiful, and very touching that people still care and take time out of their day to come pay their respects.

It was an awesome Memorial Day, there was such a spirit there at the cemetery. And it was so nice to be there with my siblings again. There are a lot of us (I am the youngest of 9), we got a lot of comments about how it is so neat to see a family of our size all get together for such an occasion. I just smiled, and nodded, and cried. Mostly cried.

My mom was super patriotic, so I made sure to pack us all red, white, and blue clothes to wear. It was rad. Randy was embarrassed, and my brothers made fun, but I knew my mom was proud. :) We are definitely keeping the Memorial Day weekend tradition with my family... and the red/white/blue. I don't want Macey to forget "Gamma Shudy" and the amazing woman she was, and she can hear stories of her Aunt Lori and the incredible example and fighter she was. And is.

Tag: I'm it!

So I've been tagged a few times, but I promise I WASN'T ignoring you all.... I'm just too lazy to do them all. =P So I chose one to do that should count for all of them, right? ;)

Jobs I've had...
1. Pretzelmaker (I can roll a pretzel like it's nobody's business)
2. Bear World
3. some Telemarketing company I don't remember the name of... in Rexburg. Yeah, it was that great of job. lol.
4. Miller Construction Services (it's a contracting company in Provo, I was office manager)

Movies I'd watch over and over...
1. Pride & Prejudice (Kierra Knightley version)
2. Anchorman
3. The Illusionist
4. Napoleon Dynamite

Favorite TV shows...
1. The Office
2. The Bachelor
3. Friends (I have all 10 seasons on disc and will watch re-runs on tv all the time!)
4. Best Week Ever on VH1

Favorite hobbies...
1. shopping, whether that be in the mall, at Target, online.... it's all good. or bad. for me.
2. baby bracelet making, love it!
3. digital scrapbooking
4. decorating and brainstorming about what I could do with my house

Places I've lived...
1. Idaho Falls, ID
2. Ucon, ID
3. Rigby, ID
4. Provo, UT (and possibly soon Lehi? oops! did I just say that!?)

Favorite Food:
1. Tepanyaki (that totally counts, Lyns!!)
2. Pizza
3. Pretty much any chicken with rice dish
4. bacon wrapped turkey (like at Tucano's...mmmm)

Places I'd rather be...
1. Sleeping peacefully in my bed
2. at the beach in Maui
3. Sleeping peacefully on the love sac
4. Disneyland

Websites I visit...
1. Various Blogs & bulletin boards
2. Gap.com
3. Digital scrapbooking sites
4. Facebook

I tag.... no one! You're all off the hook! :)


Anyway, I am headed to L.A. tomorrow with my wonderful mother-in-law and sisters-in-law, we're going to see WICKED and party it up all weekend! Woohoo!

Home sweet home!

We got back from our vaca on Thursday night, barely. You can never calculate enough time for California traffic! It was madness. We had to run the whole way in the airport while Macey is bouncing on my hip saying "run run daddy!". We made it at the gate just in time, the final boarding call had just been made. We had a fantastic time while we were away, but I sorely missed my bed back home. I had put fresh new sheets on it, because I knew when we get home that would be the first thing I would want to do: sleep. Funny how a vacation can make you more tired than you already were! Anyway, here are some highlights of the trip... I absolutely loved Hermosa beach, and Macey absolutely loved Disneyland! :) Randy just loved playing with his RC car that I bought him for his birthday. It was soo nice to have a week getaway. I would go back in a heart beat, if I could take my bed with me.

Anyway, sorry I am much too lazy to tell what each of the pictures are. Use your imaginations. :)