Spring Break Staycation Days 1-3

It's been a busy few days around here. The Staycation is going fairly well-despite one sick day spent at home organizing the boys' clothes and having the kids going stir crazy, we've spent some time at the Denver Science and Nature Museum, the Golden Train Museum, had a picnic in the park, and spent some time climbing trees.

But the real reason (I promise it wasn't to bore you with the details) for this post can be found in the last photo.

Blue Bell has made it's way to Colorado.

What a great day!

It's a good thing I'm running a lot...

Mid-Month Update

Can you believe it's mid-March already? Weird.

Orchid Update

Well, you'll all be happy to know that my orchid is alive and well. Check out all of these blossoms:

It has now officially been in my care for one month and two days. Hard to believe it's even alive, let alone gorgeous! For my flower friend BG, here's how you care for them: the more you ignore them the better. While they are blooming, water once every 5 days (pick up the pot to tell if they need water instead of feeling around the top of the dirt-if it's light, it's time to water). When they are not in bloom water approx. once a week. DO NOT place in the kitchen next to ripening fruit. DO place in a spot where they will get a couple of hours of direct sunlight. Spray flowers and leaves with water occasionally. It is better to under water than to over water.

Race Update

Fortunately (and unfortunately), my nine month bout with plantars fasciitis is coming to an end (knocking on wood right now). After buying almost every product on the market to treat it-massaging foot balls, calf exercisers, orthotic inserts, a hard boot to sleep in, I came across my new best friend (I feel like I should name him):

It's called a "Strassburg Sock". I don't know who Strassburg is or how he or she came up with this nifty little item, but I can walk again! I can run again! I have practically no pain. (if you ever suffer from plantars-don't waste your time on anything else, just order one of these babies).

That's the good news.

The bad news, that comes as a result of the good news, is that now I really have no excuse for bowing out of my portion of our relay race. No one else is dying to do it and so I have come to the realization that IT IS MINE. I am owning the 24.7 miles I will have to run in less than a 24 hour period.Oh, but wait-they've changed the route once again and increased my mileage up to 25.2; I know that's only a 1/2 a mile but it's on the last leg, taking it up to almost 10 miles. Not good.

This is a serious time drain for me right now because a) I'm trying to work out twice a day a few days days a week now so my body gets used to it and b) I can't sleep at night because I'm so stressed about it.

I will do it.

A Swimmer is Born

After what she thought was a horrible try-out, which included crashing repeatedly into a supposedly uber popular boy in her grade and being less than confident in her butterfly stroke, Margarita made the summer swim team. The girl is willing to be in the pool every morning of her summer at 6 am. I personally would NEVER opt to do a sport that would require me to be up at that awful hour-but more power to her.

I Saw The Jimmer

(This portion of my update is dedicated to my old roommates, Lynne and Steph-the two most loyal BYU fans I'll ever meet. I felt guilty being at those games being such a fair weather fan-they should have been there. Shhhhhh- I hadn't even heard of Jimmer until I read about him on one of their blogs recently (gasp! I know). What a lame Cougar I am.)


One of the perks of living near family is that my dad's bank has a suite at the Pepsi Center and they will often give him tickets and he often gives them to us. Four of us were able to go to the BYU game Thursday and Margarita and I went last night. We sat in the suite surrounded by Gonzaga fans and people making fun of BYU and Mormons, so it was pretty cool to win so decisively. (I guess you could say "they got Jimmered"-did I do that correctly?)

And "The Jimmer" is pretty awesome.

And now I must focus my attention on keeping my kids happy during their 10 day spring break (ummmm, I don't remember spring break being 10 days long) despite the fact that we aren't going anywhere.

Ideas anyone?

It's that time of year again

The two month span of time when 5/6ths of us get a year older.

My baby is now 4. My oldest is now a teenager (gulp!). How can that be?

Here's Pedro at preschool on his birthday wearing the birthday crown.

His day started off on the wrong foot-Julio had decided that since Pedro likes his mini-basketball hoop that's on his door in his room, he would upgrade his own using an Amazon gift card he got for his birthday in October, and then wrap up his old one for Pedro's birthday. He was so excited to see the look on Pedro's face when he realized he was going to have his very own hoop. I can't remember exactly what Pedro said when he opened the "used" present, but it was something along the lines of, "Why the heck are you giving me your old junk on my birthday!?!"

When it was bedtime that night and Margarita was NOT going to bed, he complained bitterly, "but, I'm four now!"

He has also started pointing out when I have bad breath.

The kid continues to be a charmer.

We had his birthday party a few days later at the place where he does his tumbling class. After 3 years in Brazil where parties cost a small fortune, it was nice to have a relatively inexpensive party for Pedro and 11 of his closest friends.

Margarita's party was even easier for me; two of her sweet friends planned a surprise party for her at their house-so I didn't have to do anything. Around 15 girls were invited and NO ONE spilled the beans-amazing.

This sight at her party cracked me up:

Margarita hitting the pinata-little did her friends know about the years of pinata training she'd had in Mexico. The dinosaur didn't stand a chance.

We were so relieved to find Margarita her normal, sweet self despite the fact that she's a "teen" now. She's always gracious, rarely back-talks, and never tells me I have bad breath.

Where does the time go?

Dilemma

So, when I signed up to do this 12-man relay race last month, I volunteered for one of the harder legs because although the mileage was pretty high (20.4 miles split over three legs), the middle of the night leg was designated "easy", was only 3.9 miles, and was completely flat. It sounded pretty good for the middle of the night portion of the race.

Well, last week we all got an email letting us know some changes had been made to increase the "safety" of the course. Almost everyone's total distance had been decreased, except, of course, for mine. Apparently my 3.9 middle of the night leg was "unsafe" because they re-routed that portion of the race and now, instead of the nice little leg which I could have finished in around 30 minutes, I have 8.2 miles with a nasty 600 ft hill smack dab in the middle of it, giving it a "very hard" designation. My other legs remained the same (7.3, "hard" and 9.2, "very hard")-so now I will run a total of 24.7 miles-the next closest runner will have 21.8.

Aggggh!

So, here's my dilemma. I have been suffering from plantars fasciitis (painful heal problem) for the last 8 months (doesn't that sound like an old person problem?). I'm pretty sure that wearing flip-flops for 3 years straight in Rio wasn't the best thing for my heal (oh, Havianas, how will I ever live without you this summer?). It's not terrible case, but it's not good.

So, do I play my "plantars card", damage my ego, and give up my leg to someone else, or do I suck it up and run it even though I'm pretty much terrified of it (especially the big hill in the middle of the night) and could end up hobbling around for weeks after the race.

(reading it I realize it looks like a no-brainer, but you have to understand, I pride myself on not being a wuss. It would be painful for me to relinquish the toughest leg-I'm one of the youngest runners in our group)

Help.

One of Those Weeks

Just a quick post to let you know I'm still here-I'm not abandoning my blog as I have in months past-it is just a crazy, crazy week. One of those where every minute of every day is scheduled and that allows for no wiggle room.. From now until Sunday after church I am booked solid-student teacher conferences, birthday dinner for my SIL, book club, pack meeting, long run, short runs, temple trip, piano lessons, sports practices, help in classrooms, visiting teaching, tumbling, playdates, taking lunch to a sick friend, doctor's appointment, basketball game.

Hopefully I'll make it to yoga with Tom tomorrow, I could use the laugh.

But, you'll be happy, and surprised I'm sure, to know that my orchid is surviving. Dare I say thriving (?!?) as a new bud has blossomed. It helps that the bishop's wife paid me a visit and showed me exactly how to care for it and gave me lots of encouragement.

So far, so good. (Thanks for asking, Maine Mom :) )

Have a good one!

Good Ol' Tom

I think I mentioned a while ago that I try to go to a yoga class once a week. The teacher and I have the same name in real life, so let's call her "Gabriela the Instructor". Occasionally Guapo goes with me because it helps his back. Occasionally another man goes with the same name (in real life) as Guapo (he, btw, is the best yogi we have ever seen so we'll call him "Guapo the Pro"). So, on any given day we have two Gabrielas and two Guapos in class.

The instructor is very into yoga-as might be expected of a yoga instructor. She starts every class with a lecture that she has prepared about how we can "take our yoga off the mat" and apply it to our lives. She says things that sound strange to me like, "imagine light beams shooting out of your heart/fingertips/head" and "let your butt blossom, I'm the only one can see" and lots of "hug muscle to bone". She is also very positive and supportive even when you know you look like a complete and utter dork and says things like, "Right on!" or "You're rocking it!".

Does this annoy me? No, not at all, she's lovely (with a name like Gabriela, how bad could she be?).

It should be mentioned that we have a fairly small class-but it's a rec center class, so there are always people coming and going. She likes it to be personal and to use your name a lot- I'd say 10-15 times during the hour long class.

Guapo hasn't been going lately since he's getting his new business up and running, but last week he decided to surprise me and show up at yoga without telling me. Problem was, I had a ton of errands to do that day and I didn't go, so I missed him. :(

He tells me after the class that although he corrected her a couple of times, Gabriela the Instructor kept calling him "Tom" instead of "Guapo". He finally gave up. A couple of times when she was offering up some yoga suggestions (calling him "Tom", of course) he didn't clue in that she meant him and she mentioned to the class how "Tom" was really into his practice that day-so much so that he was zoning her out.

After he related the story, Guapo tells me he's pleased with his new name. "Tom" is now his yoga alter-ego.

Well, today we were all there-me, Gabriela the instructor, Guapo and Guapo the Pro. Except for that Guapo is now Tom. And Tom doesn't correct Gabriela the Instructor. And she keeps calling him Tom like every 3 minutes. Tom was having a bad yoga day and Guapo the Pro was having a good yoga day (like always)-so she keeps saying things like, "You've almost got it, Tom!", "Beautiful, Guapo." and "Keep trying, Tom, you can do it!", "Perfect, Guapo.", "No shame in using the wall, Tom." And I can't take it-I am belly laughing every time-seriously shaking with the giggles and Tom is sitting there with a straight face. It's too funny. No more "zoning her out"-oh no,no- now he really is Tom.

And let me tell you- it's next to impossible to hold a decent tree pose when the man I've been married to for close to 15 years is now Tom.

And the best was at the end when Guapo the Pro, who is always way too cool to talk to anyone in the class, goes up to Tom and asks him, "Hey, isn't your name Guapo?" He replies, "Yes, but she keeps calling me Tom, so I'm just going with it." And he replies, "I get it. You've got bigger fish to fry." And Tom replies, "Yeah."

I dunno, maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious.

Oh, the Pressure of an Orchid

We had a great Valentine's Day yesterday. Gaupo and I had gone out to eat last Friday night-have I mentioned that my mom takes the kids for a sleepover almost every Friday night? How completely awesome is that? (please don't stop, please don't stop, please don't stop)

So, we took the kiddos out for burgers and shakes and had a grand old time.

In addition to a dozen roses, which would have been quite sufficient, Guapo got me some orchids:

Lovely, no?

I saw them and immediately tensed up.

How many times in Brazil did I attempt to keep an orchid alive? And, how many times did I succeed? That's right. NONE.

After he gives them to me he adds, "They weren't cheap, so don't kill them." Great. No pressure. (and super romantic)

He got them from our bishop's orchid shop (nursery? greenhouse?). I have orders to go into the store and buy special "orchid food" and try to keep the very much in bloom, very healthy orchids alive for an acceptable amount of time (is a week enough?). Help!!!

My sweetest Valentine came from Margarita, who will become a real live teenager in just a couple of weeks. People keep asking me how things are going now that she is quickly approaching the age when kids supposedly turn into a nightmare and I keep saying, "So far so good!"

I had originally posted what she wrote but then I felt funny about it-I don't want her to feel like things she tells or writes to me will end up on my blog. But, take my word for it, my eyes were not dry by the end of it. She is such a sweet girl and I am so lucky that she is my daughter. :)

It made my day.

Hope your day was wonderful.