SPT--Loved Ones

Me and My Littles
I am realizing SP's don't capture the best of us.

It's not too often the FIVE of us have even a moment after school. We are normally grabbing snacks and booking it out the door to make it on time for x,y, or z. I decided to catch a rare 5 minute moment watching television none the less. But, hey it totally captures our after school ritual. As you can see Taylor couldn't spare a moment to smile (Sponge Bob has that kind of effect in our home). Such is life! I am off to scouts....

good deed: completed my online scout training. Phew!

SPT--Storybook Photos

1. 5:30 am wake up call to make a 7am session. Walking up to the temple watching the sunrise. Hence why we look a tad sleepy and a little dark.

2. Running over to mom and dad's to borrow a Pioneer book (in preparation for our upcoming trek). who offer to make a fabulous breakfast.

3. Came home to realize I didn't make my bed and decided to heck with it. (it's currently 3:15pm) Yes, miracles DO happen. AND, today IS a Federal holiday.

4. Displayed our flag, albeit small. My kids may look at this as a "holiday" from school, but we did talk about the importance of Veteran's Day. Thank you Veteran's of America, how blessed I feel to be a part of this great country.

SPT Olympics

THE OLYMPIC MOTTO:

citius, altuis, and fortius

{faster, higher, stronger}

these three words encourage the athlete to give his or her best during competition, and to view this effort as a victory in itself. so, this month, each week we will do the same challenge! each week, think about the Olympic motto, and how it can apply to our every day lives. citius. altius. fortius. are we giving our best? can we find victories in the efforts we make every day?

I found it appropriate to jump in on the SPT this week since we are now in to the track and field portion of the Olympics. I was open jawed the other day watching those men run the mile in nearly 3 minutes! I never did track, but those athletes are seriously amazing. Not to mention their bodies being so fit and tone. It has been nothing but a struggle to get myself on an exercise regiment since we moved here. The early morning (85 degree weather at 5am) wake up calls are not really my cup of tea. And since Doug prefers to exercise in the afternoon I decided to join him the other day. (I am not a big fan of running alone--so you do what you have to do) What in the world was I thinking???
Anyone who knows AZ heat pretty much can label us as crazy people running at 6pm in the afternoon. (approximately 104 degrees) It DOES NOT cool off here, so really if you want any type of "cool" weather you must get up before 7am. To sum up I would have to say all of these words applied to our run the other day. I would like to think I ran a little faster than my strength and definitely pushed myself beyond what I am used to. Sorry for the nasty visual, but I am one who really doesn't sweat like this and we were both drenched! Here is to pushing myself better to get up and run next time!

Aren't we so attractive with our glistening faces?? Ha.

SPT--Elements Of Summer --

To help channel our personal chi, let's take time this month to focus on the 5 elements of summer: sun, water, shade, grass and ice cream!! These can be as easy or as challenging as you want them to be...just get out there and take some pictures!!

**Water**

Perhaps the best way to become a Zonie is to take the plunge in the middle of the summer. Ha! We have been well into the 100+ teens the past couple of weeks. Add the dry desert, pavement and dust in that mix and you can imagine just how hot it is. Luckily we are surrounded by pools (I secretly can't wait to build our own) and have been living in water. Clicking around looking at the many beautiful waterfalls that some have posted it really makes me miss the greenery we had back in Texas. Not too far down the highway we were in the midst of running rivers and streams. Ahh....San Antonio hill country. Having said that, I obviously am no where near such gorgeous water displays, except I did find one on our evening walk. It dawned on me that I am just a walking distance away from this beauty. Granted I can't swim in it (and it smells like irrigation), but at least I can look at it right?

Another bonus is, I was able to sit in the grass and watch the sunset. There is just something about that Arizona orange glow.

And since we are on the topic of water, what I would do to fill this up tub up with some running liquid. I am currently on day 7 without a washing machine! I know it really could be worse, Doug informed me that in third world countries they hand wash their clothes. I never said I wasn't spoiled with my modern technologies! And in case you were wondering, we haven't been sleeping in dirty underwear. Thankfully I am a drive away from my MIL who has allowed me to borrow hers.

SPT--Something Blue

Last Friday we had a beachalicious weekend with the Gordon's and Wirthlin's. I couldn't think of a better SPT than our "blue" beach house we stayed in for the weekend. We traveled 2.5 hours South to Port Aransas, TX. For pure enjoyment here are some of my blue encounters.

Front of house.
Isn't it so charming?

We were greeted with a rather large blue fish on the blue wall as we walked in.

inside family room/kitchen area

The view from the street and other beach houses surrounding ours.
More details to follow.............

SPT--Something New

Our kitchen looking into the family room.

Doug and I have never owned a brand new house or piece of furniture. So you can imagine the excitement that is building up as our home will soon be complete. Just yesterday I was informed that the kitchen cabinets were in. The photo above is the kitchen in our new home. The one below will be a replica of what it will look like (with minor changes such as tile, counter tops, etc), but you get the picture. It's crazy to think I will be cooking in this by the 4th of July!

model home kitchen

SPT--Something Old

Courtney & Jenny
Canyon Lake, AZ

Feeling out of the loop and slacking on my SPT I couldn't go another week of missing. I have had several friends come and go in my life. One friend that sticks out in my mind is my oldest, dearest best friend as a child Courtney. I have written about her before. We have known each other since the age of 8. That makes us friends for nearly 25 years. How crazy is that? Growing up we met on year round swim team. We went to different elementary and junior high schools and reunited in high school.

Mtn. View Prom
1992

We kept in touch our freshman and junior year and did things on occasion. But, it wasn't until our senior year we started really hanging out again. In fact, I am the one who set her and her now husband up. (woo-hoo for me). We both started out in the same major (pre-nursing).

Jenny and Fred

A year into college I took the discussions, as she convinced me to become a member of the church and was baptized by her dad. For that alone I am forever grateful. My life has changed considerably since that day in my life.

Who doesn't love Contempo Portraits??

Courtney waited for Steve on his mission and I couldn't even get her to go out on a date or a group date for that matter. She was perfectly content hanging out at home or with girlfriends. (To this day I still don't know how she managed to stay so loyal) It just shows the type of person that she is. Her and Steve were married soon after his return from Boston, MA in April 1995. We kept in touch over the years on and off with Christmas cards.

Jessica, Jenny & Courtney

Mountain View Graduation

I always knew in my heart Courtney would be there no matter what. Even after several years of not actually seeing or speaking to her, we always can pick up where we left off. I remember when we were younger we made a promise that we would be talking about our children, husbands, and grandchildren and grow old as friends. I still believe that and am thankful for her friendship. After several years between our husbands attending college, medical school and residency I am FINALLY moving back home to Arizona.

March 2008

Better yet, after about a year of persuasion she started a blog, and now even participates in SPT. It looks like the tables have now turned and she is trying to persuade me into something BIG for 2009. I still am not sure about it, but after all my years of convincing her to do things I may have to break down. Any guesses to what it is? (and those of you who know can't cheat). I am forever grateful for crossing this girls path back in 1984, love you Court!

SPT- Extra, Extra

The spt challenge for next week is to photograph something that is extra special about you. it might be a physical feature, a talent, or an unknown secret. This spt is all about you!


I think my blog shows a pretty good portrait of who I am and this means I have written a lot about myself and my family. This SPT definitely stumped me, but as I was thinking today it dawned upon me a hidden talent. Some of my closest friends of course know this talent, if that is if I would classify it as a talent.

4th of July 2003
Supporting baby Luke with the baby biorn

I nursed all of my babies. I always wanted to and I was fortunate enough that all my kids were healthy and I was able to produce *free* lactose right from my body. Backing up a bit.... I started out with a decent amount of breast tissue when I got married. Of course after you have a baby those, lets call them "things" (because I don't really care for overly large breasts) get rather large and quite uncomfortable. I think watermelons is more of an appropriate term. So like a balloon they deflate and get large with each pregnancy. I use the word deflate loosely, because I now am below and A CUP. So after 4 successful pregnancies and nursing babies I announce my new talent. Before when I was more "womanly" I could multitask with my baby biorn. If my littles were fussy or hungry I could feed them right on the spot (with a blanket covering of course) If I was at Target walking around the store I could instantly feed them in this miracle worker. It's rather embarrassing, but can be quite convenient. Fast forward to today with my new size (deflated after 4 children) I am able to put on my workout clothes (without a support system) and be on my way. That's right you read that correctly I can run without support! The bra just seems to be more of a nuisance that early in the morning any how (and my jacket covers me) I can roll out of bed and away I go! In case you are wondering and frightened by the sound of that. I do place one on after the shower, I wouldn't want to scare anyone at the store. Ha!

SPT Scavenger Hunt

In honor of February, the month of L.O.V.E., all of the items begin with the letter "L" The words Lelly listed were: lips, light, little, laughter, lavender and lunch. This one was tough..... so along with some of the words we were assigned I added some of mine own "L" words.

The last part of my face always ends with the LIPS and I am out the door. Looking at this photo I realized how LIGHT and PASTY my skin is. Yikes! The bummer part is I can seem to find a brand OR color that seems to hold. Apparently I need help in that department! I ran several errands including one of the places I LOATHE, Wal-mart. My kids turn on the evil button in that store, seriously. We survived got the essentials and went on to the post office. As you can see from my post below I have received many LOVELY LETTERS LATELY, however some of my mail has been opened. In the past 4 weeks I have had 3 items stolen out of the envelope. (2 of which were gift cards for Jared's birthday #%&@!) The first one was disturbing, but after the 2nd and 3rd time--it was time to go talk to the Postal workers. I filed a complaint and it's under investigation. I am sure nothing will ever be recovered, but at LEAST I did my part.


Monday I LOADED up my LITTLES and headed to the movie theater to see Spiderwick Chronicles for their great report cards. It was actually quite entertaining. And as for today I am headed to the temple and then off to LUNCH for some LAUGHTER with my buddy Angie. Yay!

(our SPT from last year)

blessing: going to the temple

SPT--Pick Me Up

What do you turn to when you need a quick "pick me up?"

After feeling like such a Debbie downer for various reasons over the past couple of weeks. A pick me up definitely was a must. I have obviously been packing, slowly, but steadily. I am exhausted and still have a TON of work ahead of me. Last night happened to be our monthly GNO. I always look forward to chatting with good friends and the bonus is Sara hosted. Does anyone know what this means?? She not only does hair, but happens to have some fabulous wax. After 2 weeks of underarm growth (luckily no photo was documented) I now feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my arms (ha). Thanks to Sara I am no longer a man :)

hair be gone!

blessing: having Doug around during the evening so I can go play.

SPT--Love

I heart Doug!

And the big question of the week, drum roll please..................... What will you do for yourself this Valentine's Day?

Doug and I aren't really keen on the whole Valentines Day thing. I am not a big boxed chocolate fan, or stuffed animal person either. Sadly, I can't even remember a single significant Valentines Day. Sorry honey! I am however madly in love with this man, more than words can express. We both agreed that we would rather go out on a much less crowded night. Have you ever attempted dinner on this evening? Oh, my. Pure craziness. Doug has other ways and certainly more than one day out of the year where he will drop me an unexpected email, express his appreciation in several ways and of course who could forget the daily I love you's? Unfortunately, this Valentines Day will not go down in the worlds best holiday in the memory books. So, rather than roses and being serinated to on a gondola this Thursday I will be putting love into my home.

patching up holes and taking down frames
ah, the joys of making the house look like a "model"

I don't really "love" to fix things up or paint for that matter. It's a lot of work, not to mention the fumes you get to smell. (Don't worry Lisa it's not lead based) But, I am hoping to reap the benefits of this extra love I am putting into my walls when I put my house on the market in 8 weeks. Most of my house is neutral except for Taylor's room. Today I will be turning purple "princess" walls into a brown paper bag (well that is the name of the color) I have been wanting to do it for a while, wish me luck!


blessing: my car will be fixed in 19 days AND the my insurance is buying me a new car seat. Yay!

SPT--Fill In The Blanks

In honor of Mardi Gras I have my shirt and necklace on
Throw me somethin' mister!!

So how about a fill-in-the-blanks? We had some fun with something like this last fall. All you need to do is fill in the blanks and insert your spt. Ready?

My imagination literally ran wild on this one. I really wish I was screaming for beads on this Fat Tuesday. I had intentions of driving out to New Orleans for the weekend. My 2008 Mardi Gras or bust sadly didn't come to pass. *sigh* With our "revised" budget and Doug's work schedule it just wasn't feasible. We even had a free place to stay....... Anyways, as I was rummaging through old credit card statements (which have all gone paperless) I immediately cleared up some much needed space in my desk. The big bummer was I don't own a paper shredder, (note to self--buy one!) hence the manual ripping of paper. The best was during the process Luke proclaimed, "Mom do you have to tear up ALL of that paper?" I nodded my head and he shouted, "THAT IS GOING TO TAKE FOREVER!" It took a while, but not forever. The question I do have is why in the world does your statements have to have the account number on EVERY page? (*%#$!)

A few weeks ago I found a whitening kit in the back of my bathroom cupboard (which had expired). Instead of throwing it away--since they are so expensive I decided to use it. The strips were a tad gooier than they were supposed to be and I may have not rid 7 years of stain (like the box says). But maybe my teeth are a little whiter? I'll let you be the judge. :)

This one the first day of treatment, hence the weird looking tape on my teeth

After

(Is this not the most frightening SPT you have seen?)
Yikes-- this images are scaring me!


Happy Mardi Gras!

blessing: being a stay home mom, I wouldn't trade it for anything (even though I complain about it sometimes)

SPT--A Closer Look

Can you guess what I am doing?

Is there a part of you, a part of your home, a part of your creativity that gets more attention from you than anything else? When you look at your reflection, do you automatically zoom in on a feature you love or you loathe? When you are in your creative space, is there one project that gets your attention before all the others?

trying to get my juices flowing

The biggest deterrent for not creating on a more "regular" basis is lack of space. I have corners of bedrooms, and various closets full of stuff.(hopefully to soon change in the near future) I also don't come from a line of creative folk. Not that they don't have several talents, "creating" just doesn't happen to be the strong point (sorry mom-but true) Much of my creative juices began to flow when I got married. (if that is what you call them) Living in a pure LDS environment allowed me to learn more tricks of the trade. Just recently visiting Utah opened my eyes to how many of these women create fabulous things! In which most I looked at and immediately thought, oh, I can do that. San Antonio is not much of a "craft" city--I feel sheltered. Anyways, my son's baptism is coming up and I was feeling the pressure to make some nice invitations. I began searching through several magazines which left me more frustrated. There were several cards that looked doable, BUT I wasn't willing to buy every gadget to make such things. Do you all really have all of that on hand? After being persuaded by the scrapbook lady to buy a circle punch the other day, I came up with this. I am all about simple, simple, simple.

front of invitation

(inside)

I also did these ones for Angie

And speaking of creativity.... I couldn't have been more lucky to learn the art of sewing from an amazing group of women. Yet, another reason I love New Orleans. The beauty of sewing is, it is much like riding a bike something you most likely won't forget. I am no master at the machine by any means, but at least I can throw a baby quilt together now and again.

I LOVE the variety of colors!

Unfortunately, I am up to my ears in thread due to the baby boom that has occurred in my world. The downfall is creating in my house occurs in the late hours of the night when all the littles and hubs are asleep. I am afraid I am paying the price this morning! I definitely am in need of a room and maybe this would occur more often, instead of the kitchen.

pinning in my lovely pink pjs last night


**Are you creating anything?**

blessing: having hands to create things for others.

SPT-Me & My Shadow

After two weeks of MIA on Lelly's challenge....I'm back! This morning I woke up feeling slightly better than last night, but still not up to par. I haven't exercised in two days and I am seriously having withdrawals. So, I was in my pj's until noon today home with two sick children. My shadow and reflection make me realize how much I take being healthy for granted. I am not sick very often, and can't believe how much it hinders your daily routine.

There is nothing like a little chicken noodle soup, especially from ChickFila to make you feel better. Either it was mind over matter or I was really on the mends from a short 24 hour virus. Phew. I knew my strength was back when I started to clean all of the nastiness out of my house. For some reason it grosses me out when we are all sick to have those "flu bug" sheets on our beds. Each one of us was refreshed with clean sheets today and I even opened up the windows. Pure bliss! I was excited to pull out the flannel sheets and Taylor's Christmas sheets. I always admire Pottery Barn ads and the bedrooms they create for Christmas time. Unfortunately, that is not in the budget so these polar "winter" sheets are the closet rather than fancy ones. It comes in very handy for festivity purposes. (after Christmas special for $15 @ target) Aren't they cute?

Later this afternoon after the weather warmed up considerably I felt like I needed to get out and walk. I decided running probably wouldn't have been very smart. So, me, Bones, Jared and Luke took a little 3.5 mile stroll. I was feeling a little giddy so I..........

couldn't pass up taking this photo of me and my shadow clicking heels. It was much more challenging than it appears. (I have no idea why my shorts looked like that--nothing is between my legs I promise) but I was so happy to feel more normal by dinner time. AND I got the best news ever on my answering machine yesterday. One of the bishopric members called and said Doug and I weren't responsible for the Christmas party this year. (I actually pushed play two times just to be sure I heard correctly) I don't want to jump to the conclusion of a release, but yee haw for not being in charge for this year!! ") We ended the night with a pot of oh, so yummy chili. I have no idea why it turned out extra spicy, but it certainly cleared up the sinuses.

good deed: donated some of Taylor's clothes