In Summary...

This year has had some of the highest highs and unfortunately, the lowest lows. Spring came in with a bang. My bf Lori moved into our lonely and underused finished basement and helps quite nicely with the mortgage! My fun factor has jumped from a 4 out of 10 to at least a 9. She enjoys mowing the lawn and making me and Brandon go see movies while she watches Tyler. Who could ask for anything more?

Video games. Yep, all summer.

I went to some amazing shows in April. Lily Allen was up first. We met some old high school friends of Brandon's outside waiting in line. They are so cute and fun and I've been hanging out with them all summer! The Ting Tings played at the same venue the very next night...amazing. We had front row for both shows which gives it a surreal experience.

In May, Lori and I took off for an impromptu trip to Vegas to see Shiny Toy Guns. Not only did we get to rock out to them front and center, we met Chad and Jeremy of the band before the show! They were so sweet and cool. My heart was racing. I had a dream that we met them before the show...so it was bound to happen!

June was kind of interesting...the morning of our 10th wedding anniversary, Brandon was laid off. His company announced that they were closing their doors in October. Luckily, our good friends Sheri, Troy, Jon, and Rena celebrated our day with us and kept our spirits up. Ten years! Wow. I'm a lucky girl.

Ty Ty's first black eye. From slipping and knocking his eye on the toilet seat. ouch!

Camp 'n float with my favoritie-ist people ever!

Blowing my brains out trying to inflate the kayak!

Preview of what was to come at Daybreak

Dinosaur museum in Price...

Tee Pee...

Tanner's wedding in Price

Weenie party...my fav peeps!

Ty's bday with his fav girl and gf

August, Ty Ty turned 4! My sweet monkey, little man, my baby dinosaur. Brandon had the awesome idea to make a dinosaur cake and it turned out amazing! Ty got spoiled with lots of toys and clothes and had a great time with family and friends. One of his gifts was a Batman comforter set. We used this concept to get him excited to sleep in his own room every night. He's been doing so well, Brandon and I finally get our bed all to ourselves! The cheeky man sometimes sneaks in at night, but that's ok.

Opening prezzies...

Dino cake

Exciting candles!

New bed!

Going to sleep in his own bed!

But, underneath, I don't want him to!

Ty Ty's first camping trip. Albion Basin.

Ty Ty and Lori!

His custom camping chair!

First tent experience...

Chillin' by the fire

Goodbye marshmallow

Getting ready for bed

Chillin' with Lors. Thx for coming so it wouldn't have been just me and Ty!

Having fun! AND trying to stay awake!

The end of June through September was one word...hectic. Yes, three months worth. Herriman Days, bbq's, 4th of July, 24th of July, baby Cailen was born, camping, a wedding in Price, swimming, Incubus at Usana, floating the river, theme parties, FHE...the list goes on and on. Actually, this weekend will be the first weekend this summer that I don't have anything planned...and I'm keeping it that way!

Trying out the boxers!

Havin' fun with Dad!

September 11th, Lori, Rena, and I went to Zion National Park for Lori's and I birthday trip. It was such an amazing time. We hiked the beautiful canyon, had lots of good food and fun. They are the perfect traveling partners, so many funny things were said and done, I can't begin to remember them all!

I know I've forgotten a ton, but I'm impatient and it took me long enough to even post this. So much for having a thorough and comprehensive "journal". Anywho, we're still here. Who knows what our fate may be...jobless and terrified! We're keeping our fingers crossed that things will work out. Peace out and good night.

Eat Your Heart Out Vogue!

I couldn't help myself...I played with the buzzers again.

Kitty Likes To Scratch

I have so much to catch up on it's sickening. I have a draft going that should sum up some things from the last couple of months, but in the meantime, I had to post this cute little leopard. I picked him up from Nat's yesterday like this:

Auntie Natty Nat Nat and Uncle Aaron took the kiddos to Disney Days at the Gallivan Center. They take Ty to so many fun things, we are so grateful! Thank you Lori for the great pic!

Sunday Lazy Sundee

Sleeping in.  

Eggs, hashbrowns, and toast.

Snow?

Video games.

Haircut for Ty.

Baths.

Sunshine.

Lovesac.

PB&J.

Staring contests.

The gym.

Hot tub.

Spaghetti...oh yeah.

Horsey ride...thanks Lori.

WWF and Sumo wrestling.

Unkempt hair.

Picture session.

Jammies.

Until next Sundee!  Cheers!

Overdue

Final result

Freshly cut

Mrs. Lurlene is so professional!

Way too long!

Random...just too funny!

Chopped

Back to Tyler's hair issue. I'm over the surfer dude hair. I'm so over it, I took the liberty to chop 3 inches off myself with no permission! Sorry Lingwalls, but I'm the one who has to upkeep it. I have a very sensitive head, but Ty Ty takes it to a whole new level! I dread combing his hair, and so does he.

So, during his bath on Sunday, I went to town. I asked him if it was ok to cut his hair and he obliged. He wanted it short like his cousin's hair. I snipped a large chunk and he was stunned that it didn't hurt! He kept stating over and over, "Wow Mommy, that doesn't hurt!"

When all was said and done, it looked pretty good...wet. But when it dried, I realized that it didn't look too much like a boy haircut. I had trimmed his hair into a beautiful one length bob! Brandon was quite impressed that I managed to turn him into the little Dutch boy, like on the paint cans...minus the bangs. I thought it resembled more like Javier, the dude on No Country for Old Men.

So today, Auntie Shannon took Tyler to have his first "professional" haircut. I can't wait to see it! She sent me a phone pic, but I really can't tell what it looks like. She described it to me on the phone and assured me that it is very cute and short! The session took an hour and he sat very still through the whole thing. (anything for an ice cream cone!)

Unfortunately, he is staying with Shannon for two days and we won't see him until tomorrow after work. He will look totally different!

I'm Surrounded

I have 5 brunette sisters and one brunette brother. Something strange has happened recently. We are being phased out. Our genes have met our match with a newer, stronger sequence of DNA.

I was looking at my sister's in law blog and realized just how many blondes are in the family. But it's just recent. Abby started the trend - blonde. Then I had Tyler - blonde. Then Natalie had Braden - blonde. Then Kim had Jack - another blonde. Then Kim had Maxon - one more blonde.

Braden
Ty Ty

Abby, Max, and Jack

I'm outnumbered.

I married a blonde - now gray. :)

His family is blonde - and gray.

My basement dweller - blonde (most of the time)

Natalie's girl is on the way. Anyone care to bet on hair color???

We Rock Harder Than You!

The ultimate girl band.  Yes, I'm not in the photos, but I am ultimate too.  Lori, Lingwall, Lowder and Rena...Liquid Dreams forever!  If you are lucky enough one day to hear our sound, well...you're lucky!  GHWT is so fun, and when Rena isn't practicing behind our back, she's sharing it with us.  

Depending on the song, we shine in different areas.  Lori is best on drums and guitar and is always entertaining on the mic, gives the crowd a real show.  Rena can hold her own on the guitar and drums, but her strong voice should never be wasted during a gig. Lowder is usually our lead singer and can really get into it...even sitting down.  She's good on the drums too, but really shines at the guitar.  I, on the other hand, am usually the odd man out.  I am called upon when they fail a song and I can usually sub in and pull them through...mostly, the drums.  

I know it's a video game, but it makes me happy.  Let's rock!

Happy Sing Time

Christmas 2008

Christmas snuck up on us more than ever this year. We are known procrastinators anyway, and I can be a tad lazy, come to think of it! We put our tree up, decorated, and finished shopping just days before. I felt so unprepared! Brandon and Tyler did a fantastic job decorating the lower half of the tree and we all had a lot of fun.

Ty and Dad making the tree look pretty!

Ty only works alone

Trying to add my two cents

Photo by Bran, wrong setting I guess!

It starting dumping snow on us Christmas Eve. And referring back to the procrastinating thing, I hadn't food shopped in awhile. I decided to run to the store and pick up some things around 6:30. Everything was already closed! I felt a little panicky as we didn't have anything for dinner. Luckily, Dominos was still open and we made sure to give the delivery boy a hefty tip for driving in the snow. We played games and watched the 24 hour marathon of the Christmas Story, as we do every year.

Christmas morning!

Christmas Day, we slept in until 9! I actually had to nudge Tyler and remind him that it was Christmas and that we have some Santa presents to open. He had 6 or 7 presents to open and loved them all. His favorite toy was from our neighbor, a police station Matchbox set.

Couldn't even wait until it was out of the box!

I wish my hair looked like Ty's in the morning!

Improv french toast (rolls instead of sandwich bread...actually, it's better!)

We were 2 hours late to Centerville. I literally had to shovel our whole circle and the road to get out. I really didn't think we were going anywhere that day. When we arrived, everyone had already eaten. Turkey, ham, potatoes, and our old Australian tradition, Christmas crackers that contain paper crowns and toys. We quickly grabbed something to eat and got ready to open presents. Ty had a blast with his cousins and got immensely spoiled...again! His favorite present was from Braden, that actually attached to the police station he already had. But, this was the mega pack...so many different roads, garages, and other buildings!

His favorite cuz

And this is one of the reasons why... his favorite gift!

Can't get enough of Maxon! Getting my baby fix!

No time to relax, we had to be to Cottonwood Heights by 5:00. More food. I hadn't given birth to my first food baby but I didn't want to miss Shannon's lasagna. There were more presents to open...all for Ty! We all decided this year that it's much more fun watching Ty appreciate Santa than having the stress of buying and exchanging among us all. Plus, the Lingwalls have expensive taste! In addition, we all donated some money towards charity.

Gift from Kemp and Mary

Eating Christmas lasagna

Excited about clothes from Gma

For the Grand Finale, Marty, Ashley, and Shannon brought out Tyler's "big" gift...and it was BIG! A remote controlled dinosaur that makes funny and scary sounds. It fetches and spits out a bone, sits on it's hind legs, and sneezes.

Right after the dino was brought out...

Loving "Snoopy"

After packing up the car with gifts and leftovers, we began the trek home in the new snow falling, now on the east side. Riverton's roads were still terrible, so we were glad when we finally made it home. Christmas is always action packed! We were beyond exhausted.

Winding down

It was a really nice Christmas. We are very lucky to have each other and amazing family and friends. I think I'll start prepping now for next year...

Perfect Stangers

We finally decided to use my gift certificate I got for my birthday to the Cheesecake Factory on Sunday. We don't like crowded restaurants, but decided to brave it. It's not so bad on a Sunday afternoon, as the wait was only 5 minutes. A nice old man sat down next to us in the waiting area. He proceeded to ask our little girl's age. This throws me off every time. I always try to answer politely. I told him that our little BOY is 3. He apologized profusely as I told him that it is ok.

We were seated in a nice cozy corner. I struck up a conversation with an older lady and her mother seated next to us. It turns out, it was her birthday and was extremely embarrassed when the waiters came over to sing. Me, being silly as always, joined in singing, trying to make her situation worse. I felt a little bad afterwards as she was still blushing a good 10 minutes after the song. I exclaimed, "Happy Birthday" and decided to leave her alone.

Our appetizer arrived...chicken pot stickers. Yum. I felt a little poke in my arm. It was the birthday girl. She looked worried with her new dessert consisting of hot fudge and ice cream she got because it was her special day. It sat next to her mountain of unfinished cheesecake she could barely stomach. She offered the ice cream to OUR LITTLE GIRL! Yikes. Well, I cleared the second misunderstanding up in an instant and thanked her for it. Tyler was elated.

The ladies left and our waiter came around. Jorge or Jose asked if there was anything thing else we needed with our meal. Then he asked if our little sweetheart needed some more lemonade. Sweetheart? Oh no, he thinks Tyler is a girl. Argh! I told our waiter that HE is fine on the lemonade.

We were so sleepy and full. Tyler had missed nap time and was in a state of delirium so we got a piece of cheesecake to go. We had a whole tomato and basil pizza (Tyler's) and uneaten salad. Luckily, my MIL was hungry and was nearing a break time at Nordy's. We dropped off the food and headed for the car.

I started the conversation: "So, I think it's time to cut his hair." At this moment, I was thinking I would get an easy agreement out of Brandon. "No! Why?" he says. This lead us into the same old conversation we constantly have about his hair. But I couldn't believe he was resisting me after the recent events! I think I finally convinced Brandon that we should at least make it a "little" shorter...take away the guess work, but at this point, I'm ready to whack it. It's just a little too disheartening to hear strangers try and guess the sex of your child. On top of that, he has crazy morning hair! AND hates to have it brushed...WHAT DO I DO?

Gearing Up

I hate the snow...unless it's in the mountains.  And that's where we are going this year!  I don't know how well Tyler will take being strapped to a snowboard, but I have to find out.  

Here he is trying on my helmet.  It dang near fits his noggin!  I can't wait to shop for his own attire and board.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll like it!  

I'm a Twelve Year Old Girl

Can't wait!

Introducing Season of Poison

Today is a great day.

RICOCHET! from Shiny Toy Guns on Vimeo.

As Bette Midler Would Say, "Did You Ever Know That You're My Hero?"

LOL! My bro...you so inspire me. Your will and dedication in the last year you started running is amazing. Early mornings, bloody nipples...wow. I must post your words on my blog. Well done Ben, I'm so proud of you!

Marathon Day
3:00 AM

My alarm goes off on my phone. I lay there for 5 or 6 minutes, not wanting to get up. The thought of the task ahead was exciting and scary at the same time. I thought a little bit about my Mom and how she used to run. I was sure that she would be with me during the race and that got me out of bed. I had layed out my clothes and other stuff the night before so I didn't have to get up earlier than necessary. We wanted to leave the house early enough to catch the early bird buses by 4:00. If you were on one of these buses, you automatically got a sticker that allowed you to get to the front of the massage line after the race. You also got entered into a raffle. We thought it was worth it so we did it.

4:30 AM

We got to the starting line and chose one of the many fires to huddle around. We also had plenty of time to take multiple porta-potty breaks. The bad thing was that it was cold, windy, and starting to rain. The fires got a little out of control with the wind and blew some hot embers close to my face. Someone actually got one in the eye and had to see a doctor.

6:45 AM

The race officially starts but me and John decided to stay at the back so we didn’t cross the starting line until 6:55. This isn’t a problem in races like this because they give you a chip that you wear in your shoe that logs your start and end time as you cross the start and finish lines.

Mile 1

The rain kicked into full gear. I had no idea at this point that it would rain the entire race. I started out the race cheering. I was pretty excited to finally start this race that I had been waiting for all year. We soon realized though that starting at the back of the race wasn’t the best idea because we had to wade through the slower runners which included a lot of zig-zagging and excuse me’s. I lost John in the melee.

Mile 2

The slower runners seemed to be hogging the entire road. More crazy people navigating.

Mile 3

It finally started to get light, which made it easier to move around people.

Mile 4

Still wading through people. It was fun to see the wide range of people running the race. There were a couple of guys holding huge American flags as they ran. I couldn’t imagine doing that for the entire race. I cheered them on a little as I passed them.

Mile 5

At this point, I am still running pretty comfortably in the high sevens (around a 7:40/mile average) but I knew it wouldn’t last so I tried to enjoy it while it did. Still wading through runners.

Mile 6

This was a nice down-hill leg of the race. The worst part was coming up and over a little hill and seeing Veyo, a monster of a hill. I had looked at it on Google Earth with John and it didn’t look that bad. It looked a lot worse when I actually saw the real thing.

Mile 7

Veyo slowed me down a bit. My average went from 7:40/mile to 9:15/mile during mile 7. By this time, my feet were completely soaked from the rain. I started to wonder what condition my feet would be in at the end.

Mile 8

I was glad to be done with that hill. I was still passing a few people at this point but things finally started to even out. I saw the guy that pushes his son in a wheelchair and I patted him on the back. That’s pretty amazing.

Mile 9

Downhill, uphill. Downhill, uphill.

Mile 10

To me, this was the first third of the race. More gradual downhills and uphills.

Mile 11

I finally decide to grab a water as I ran by one of the aid stations. I didn’t slow down though. Not yet…

Mile 12

My legs were starting to get a little sore. Nothing big yet…

Mile 13

I hit the 13.1 mile mark at 1:50:00 which is right about where I wanted to be at that point. Things were still going well. I was hoping that Kim was okay waiting with the kids in the rain. That worried me a little because it was pouring at the moment.

Mile 14

Hills keep popping up, which is a little of a surprise to me because I thought that this race was mostly downhill. Each hill keeps taking a little out of me.

Mile 15

I’m starting to get worried about Kim and the kids. The rain is just coming down. I’m getting excited to see them.

Mile 16

I see Kim and the kids on the side of the road and I ran over to meet them. Kim looked a little surprised that I was coming over because I was in the middle of a race but I really wanted to stop and see them. I gave her a hug, patted the kids and said that I had to go. That kind of support really helps motivate you to keep going.

Mile 17

Now that I’m not thinking about seeing my family, my mind starts to discover that I’m starting to hurt in different places. My legs are starting to get tight.

Mile 18

Another hill. My legs felt like they were turning into stone. I had felt this before so I dealt with it just fine.

Mile 19

I start wondering how I’m going to keep this up for another 7.2 miles.

Mile 20

I now considered myself two thirds done with the race. I had finally come to the real test. The last 6 miles.

Mile 21

The inside quad on my right leg starts to feel like it’s going to fail on me. The only thing that I can think of comparing it too is it feeling like I had been stabbed in the leg. Each step made it tighter. It felt like it was within a second of cramping badly and giving out. I stopped in the middle of the road to massage and stretch it a little. That seemed to help a little.

Mile 22

The quad on the inside of my left leg starts the same routine. This scared me a little because I still had a good stretch of downhill (which pounds those muscles) and 4.2 miles left. I passed a woman who was puking in the middle of road. Her husband was holding her hair for her. At this point, I had convinced myself in my head that there was no way that I would reach my goal of getting to the finish line in under 4 hours. It was pretty disheartening.

Mile 23

My legs at this point felt worse than I have ever felt before. I had run three 20 milers during my training but never anything longer than that. It was all new ground for me. My body was screaming at me to quit. I cried out loud for my Mom, which probably was the first time I had done that since she was alive. I got the weird idea to push my legs harder. It didn’t seem to make sense to me but I did and it worked. My legs didn’t give out. I’m pretty sure that at times like that, the heavens open and amazing things can happen.

Mile 24

I was back in St. George by now. There were a lot of bystanders cheering us on which helped a lot. The pain was bad but I kept up a good pace because I could feel the end coming soon. I realized that I was wrong about not being able to meet my goal. I was well under it.

Mile 25

Torture. I had to consciously give my legs a command for every step to get them to move. The guy pushing his son in the wheelchair passed me. What an athlete.

Mile 26

I came around a corner and saw the finish line up ahead. For a short time, the finish line seemed to be getting farther away. I pushed it hard and decided burn up the last ounce of energy in my body.

The last .2

Everything went into a blur and I pushed it hard. The finish line was close and I wanted to cross it so bad. I crossed it in slow motion.It was over! I had finished in 3:53:17, almost 7 minutes under my goal. I wanted to celebrate but I was struggling to stand. I couple of guys asked me if I was okay and I told them that I was, but I probably didn’t look it. The put a medal around my neck and then I went straight to the guys with the popsicles. I sat down in the middle of the crowd of people for a few minutes to rest while I ate my popsicle. I saw John a few minutes later and then we both sat down for a while. We finally got up and found our families. I was proud to see that the kids had been so good. Kim explained to me all of the craziness with getting up to the 16 mile mark. I’m glad to have such a great family.

We didn’t get the massage that we had gotten up early for because the line was so long; it was longer than the normal line. Oh well. Kim massaged my legs later anyway.

When I got back to the house I said a prayer. I am blessed to have so many people watching over me. Kim let me take a long nap and I took it pretty easy the rest of the day. I couldn’t walk that well and my legs kept giving out but I felt great. I had reached the goal that I had been working towards for a year. All of those early, frigid mornings, running in the pitch-black dark. All of the long, hard runs. All of ‘on again off again’ pains in my legs, feet, knees, toes, and hips. All of the limping around, aching, and stretching. It all finally came together and meant something. There is no other feeling quite like it.