Latest & Greatest

Chris is hanging around home & earning money towards his church mission. Over the summer he worked a couple of different jobs & saved some significant cash. :) Always good news. He is currently practicing his burrito-rolling skills.

He went to lots of physical therapy to get his hip to the point that he could run again. He is training to run the Spinx half marathon at the end of October. (Scott is probably racing the marathon on the same day.) Running is going well & he seems to be getting stronger & stronger all the time.

He finished his mouth!! In fourth grade he first got braces. Three years later they came off for a while before he got another pha$e. He had to have some teeth pulled & a titanium screw implanted in his gum. He had to have a couple of crown$ made & have some tooth whitening. Now, he has the smile that we have always imagined. Perfect.

In August Chris got his Eagle Scout award. In May he graduated from high school & fully started attending institute & YSA activities. I am very behind on pictures & posting!! More soon.

XC Friends

One of my favorite things about attending cross country meets is running into friends new & old. I think the absence of referees and politics helps make the meets friendly places. The kids do their best & it's as much about beating your personal time as it is about a team effort.

Chris' team from last year has been attending more of the big meets - so glad for the kids to be able to run with lots of competition. It's a good thing & fun to watch the program evolve. When Chris ran, many of the meets were in cow fields & through parking lots.

Cross Country Update

Ryan has been running a lot this year! He is part of the varsity team & they set a goal back in May to run 500 miles per person over the summer. He got up early(ish) & ran at 7 or 8 a.m. every morning except Sunday. Once school started he continued running but now after school until about 6:00 every night - add homework & it's very busy. And he has extra mileage to log for the team & runs in between seminary & school.

Saturday was the Lake Murray Invitational. It has a reputation of being fast & flat & mostly paved - all good things. Ryan stuck with a few of his amazing teammates for the first mile and ended up running a 5K (3.1 miles) in 16:22. He took 13th place overall (hundreds of runners) & improved his PR (personal record) by almost 50 seconds. Even better, his team ran so fast that they took first place for the entire invitational. :)

Pictures:
1. Somewhere around the 1-mile mark - shady, paved trail - Coach H. knows the best spots at every meet so their team tarps are near this point.
2. The start is a figurative brawl - elbows flying & running as fast as you can to not get stuck in the corners or tripped up by someone else
3. Teammates - Sawyer, Zach, Marc, Charlie, Jeff, Ryan & Zach. Ryan & Zach (yellow shirt) are the only freshman.
4. Ryan approaching the finish line & giving 110% effort.
5. Ryan (tired) & Mom (happy).

Cocoa krispie shake

2 cups milk
2 cups ice cubes
1/4 cup protein powder
1 cup vanilla ice cream
1 cup cocoa krispies
1-2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

Ryan

Home Office Ideas - have you seen this place?

Traditional Home Office design by New York Interior Designer Prentice Interiors

I was going to show you what the "before" looks like but I can't figure it out. It's bad!!

 

I have slowly been plugging away at The Pit. I was inspired by Gretchen Rubin's message - "Suffer for Fifteen Minutes." I have baskets & baskets of stuff & I am going through a little every day. I have learned that the best solution for paperwork is to wait a while. (haha) Everything is outdated, expired, & doesn't apply. Horrible but true & definitely easier.

Hopefully my after will resemble the before in a month or so.

Running Around Like a Runner?

Ryan was also very busy in May (or at least until the last moment of April). He had a successful track season, even though he was bored running around in circles. He ran the varsity 4x800 meters and the 1600 meter (mile). His team was able to go to the state qualifier meet. They were ultimately disqualified - but there were a lot of really fast kids & wouldn't have been able to go on to state. Scott was the unofficial team timekeeper. He wrote down lap-splits for the kids so they knew when they were improving. Ryan's PR for the mile was 4:47 & their team 4x800 time was less than 9:00.

As much as Ryan enjoyed running track (with the end goal of being faster at cross country), he and the neighbor boy were SO EXCITED when track & baseball were over & they could spend every waking moment together. (only a slight exaggeration) 

scout campoutBYU lacrosse

He also spent time growing like a weed & stubbing his toe & ripping off toenails, jumping on the trampoline & playing the NO FAIR game with Jared. [I would clue you in on the rules of the no fair game, but I don't know them. I just know that whenever Ryan, M, & Jared play, Jared comes in & says, no fair! Jared calls it that now.]

Ryan graduated from eighth grade to no fanfare. He celebrated 8th Grade Day with his classmates & willingly skipped the dance. There was no graduation ceremony- he exempted all of his exams except his required high school Spanish test. When asked if he wanted a picture in front of the school or something, he just gave me this look as we left. (That's a no.)

May is the New December

There are so many activities in May  - it feels like running around at Christmas time. Guess where we want to go?

We lost the hat somewhere along the way. Jared thinks someone walked off with it. This is the only time he wore a serious face all season. His nickname is SMILEY. He is happy & smiling whenever he is playing. We missed coaches of years past and look forward to years in the future. We are proud of Jared for trying & doing his best with minimal instruction & encouragement from his coach.

Jared helped his dad & his brothers fix a GREAT Mother's Day meal for me. I was able to nap & enjoy the day while they made a masterpiece. Steak, baked potatoes, salad, and Chunky Lola cookies. (Recipe & pics another day.)

The end of the school year is always challenging. Lots of activities to fit in before it

s too late. Teacher gifts, awards day, baseball tournaments, and getting drug along to all of big brothers' events. Through it all, he is pretty easy-going.

Pre-Graduation Festivities

Christopher graduated on May 23, 2012. I am sad to say that I just sent his announcements out yesterday, failed to read directions and wondered why on earth there was not any glue or insert cards. I was happy with his senior pictures - I tried & tried to make a photo collage with cute little kid pictures and more mature now pictures but nothing was working. I finally said, "Hey bud, let's do a photo shoot." He excitedly agreed (!!!) & suggested a park downtown. We drove down, parked the car & walked to the first spot. RATS! No camera card. We quickly found a Staples & were back in business. The best of the rest ...

The week before graduation, the school at a senior picnic at a local farm/venue. Because the school is small & we don't go to church with or live by many people who attend, it was a quiet event for us. The food was good & it was nice to see a few of the kids that Chris has been in school with since third grade.

 

Drawsome is awesome!

One of my friends (Susan?) mentioned that Drawsome is really fun & I must agree! The game gives you three words worth one, two, or three coins. Sometimes the words are obvious & easy & other times they border on ridiculous. I usually plan on my iPad now because it's easier to draw bigger & more details.

Let me know if you want to play.

Perigee-syzygy

The moon has looked especially big this week. I tried taking pictures with my zoom lens and got some decent shots. It took some effort & an Internet search for the right settings. I put the camera on a tripod & turned off the porch light. (Bonus: no one could tell that I was in my pajamas!) I took the light readings off of the moon & turned off the flash.

It turns out that my first shot was the best.

The moon was so bright that it looked like a sunset through the clouds. The colors were really golden and pink. I ultimately stayed up until after 12:30 playing with settings for speed and aperture and the timer (no camera shake). I am happy I did because the clouds have covered the sky since.

 

Blogging. Or something like it.

I love to blog. It is not clearly evident from the recent posts I've made about Flour Bakery, Boston and the marathon, track season, senior project, or dealing with coaches that we don't always love. Or Drawsome or the moon. A wedding and a funeral. Genealogy and extractions. Bike riding on the bunny trail. Philadelphia. Florida and Easter. That about summarizes the last month. Looking forward to posting pictures soon.

Amazed at my Brilliance

Earlier in the day, I saved us from the predatory effects of an unnamed satellite giant with a name like a bowl. (Yes, thank you kind installer for charging me an additional $17+$5 per month for the last year for NOTHING. He just creatively hooked stuff up & billed us incorrectly so we had to pay through our teeth.) Because success at crazy feats seems to come in waves, I decided tonight would be the best time to tackle the problem of the wireless internet outage. The internet has been getting slower & slower & then finally it failed a few days ago.

Tonight, I sat down at the computer & reconnected the phone to the modem, the modem to the router, and the router to the computer. I may have been distracted for a few moments before I glanced at the router & noticed that the pretty blue cord looked like it wasn’t plugged in all the way.

Now the wireless internet works. I’m a genius!!! Seriously, what if all problems were that simple to solve???

Antiquing

I had excess energy this morning & decided to go "antiquing" in our food storage room. I unearthed many treasures & made quite a junk pile for the boys to take to the trash & the recycling bin after school, piano, track, and baseball practice.

I have decided that I need to use powdered milk at a more significant rate than heretofore. I have at least 18 cans that are from y2k. We won't drink it or use it on cereal but I will look at everydayfoodstorage.net for some great ideas - baking, pies, yogurt, smoothies, & Magic Mix.

BTW Magic Mix is a magic concoction to keep in the refrigerator to substitute for cream of anything soup. As a bonus, it has no modified food starch so I won't get a headache!!!

I un-boxed many cans for storage & put them on the handy-dandy shelves that Scott built for us a few years ago. And after a rancid experience with
Stored mayonnaise last week, I have discarded a few old (>6 months) bottles of mayonnaise, Miracle Whip and salad dressing.

As for antiques I found a case of corn from SAfeway in Washington State, chili mix from long, long ago, and other buried treasures. (Who stashed pop tarts in the basement? Hm?)

Do you store food? Do you use an inventory? How do you use the cannery soup mix? Let me know what works for you!

The Dentist

I did not mind going to visit the dentist until seventh grade. In middle school I discovered the wonder of the vending machine and SPC (sugary salted processed crap) including candy and soda pop. I suddenly went from having perfect teeth to having cavities. Ugh.

And about the same time my dentist started using student hygienists to do the cleanings. Ouch!!! The System must have worked differently back in the day because they were learning on my mouth. I still get nervous every time I have to check in, don a bib, and open my mouth.

We had talked about my wisdom teeth & decided that there was space. I made a deal with my first adult dentist that if the wisdom teeth unwisely chose to get cavities, they would be pulled. The dreaded day came and the teeth had to come out. Our insurance would not pay for me to be put to sleep. And since I was so anxious about the whole thing, we decided to have my dentist pull the teeth. He warned me that morning that he was low on happy gas. Okay, just be fast!

The dentist numbed me and gassed me up. Headphones on & John Tesh started playing for the last time. The dentist put his foot on my chair ... And he pulled & he tugged & he pulled. (One tooth down, one to go!) First he pulled hard & then he pulled harder & ... The tooth shattered leaving the roots behind & the gas running low. I muttered through my grimace, "I don't like you anymore." He numbed my mouth as well as possible & had his secretary call the oral surgeon for an emergency extraction.

Scott drove me home & I miserably waited four hours before I went to the oral surgeon. I don't remember much beyond sitting in the chair & then waking up in the middle of a different song. As we were leaving the front desk lady recognized Scott & said something to the doctor Scott had done a merit badge clinic or something else Boy Scout related for their troop. The doctor kindly (very kindly!!) forgave our bill beyond what the insurance company would pay.

And so here I sit waiting for the dentist to come and give me final clearance. The hygienist is sweet and patient with me & I think I had a good calm appointment. If the wrong dentist walks in (they rotate based on who's available at whatever time), I freak out. My friend Dr Rouse is gentle! Here's hoping for many many years of happy smile and twice per year panic-free sessions. :)

Amazed at my Brilliance (cough)

My wireless internet has been down for a few days. Earlier in the day, I saved us from the predatory effects of an unnamed satellite giant with a name like a bowl. (Yes, thank you kind installer for charging me an additional $17+$5 per month for the last year for NOTHING. He just creatively hooked stuff up so we had to pay through our teeth.) Because success at crazy feats seems to come in waves, I decided tonight would be the best time to tackle the problem of the wireless internet outage.

I sat down at the computer & reconnected the phone to the modem, the modem to the router, and the router to the computer. I may have been distracted for a few moments before I glanced at the router & noticed that the pretty blue cord looked like it wasn’t plugged in all the way.

Now the wireless internet works. I’m a genius!!! Seriously, what if all problems were that simple to solve???

Guess what?!

Jared just finished the entire Harry Potter series. He read every single book. Wow!

And so it begins...

Last summer and fall I visited granite stores and warehouses in search of the perfect granite to go with our maple cabinets. We finally went on a Friday after running and saw our favorite - Delicatus White. I am certain that the fabricator did not believe me when I told him the good news. (It took almost a year to decide!)

I love the granite - lots of variation of color & pattern & texture. Our white appliances are now getting gently phased out - gently because of budget not because of any soul-connection or anything. I picked out tile shortly after the granite was installed. It's called Bottocino marble.

And it has done a beautiful job of waiting for me to muster up enough courage to start the process. Today is the day!! I have a bridal shower at my house next week & what better incentive is there than public humiliation? One tile up and several hundred to go! Any advice is welcome.

I Love Technology. I Hate Technology.

A recurring theme of my real or imagined Facebook posts is about the troubles I am having with my toys. Yesterday, my iPhone was giving me grief! The GPS function wasn’t working well. I couldn’t look things up on the internet or Facebook (places & skills that are essential to my existence after all). I could not voice dial - a big deal!!! So much of my life is spent in the car running here & there that I need to be able to say, “Siri, call Scott!” and have her jump to attention & complete my request. It was not happening!!! I tried restore on my own but goofed at a critical moment & restored all the files that were giving me problems. I reset it again & everything was great today.

Today, I went to a photography class by my uber-talented friend, Michelle. See her work at http://michellerenaephotography.smugmug.com/ . I learned a lot and reviewed a lot and came home determined to figure out how to better use my camera. I spent the afternoon reading a Scott Kelby book that I downloaded to my Kindle app on my iPad. (How cool is that?!) For several hours this afternoon, I read the book & played with my camera. Today, I worked on aperture, focus & sharpness.

Michelle helped us figure out our tricky cameras.
It is absolutely perfect that this picture about using my camera is out of focus... meh!

Focus point in the center - I love the reflections on this one!!!

I learned how to change the picture!! Now the focus point is to the left of center.

My camera was sitting on the counter for the Moe's cup shots - I had a self-timer set for 2 seconds so I could press the button & move my hand away. The only change that I made to my camera was to change where the AF point selection spot was selected. I have a Canon Rebel XSi & the button to control where the camera will focus is on the back at the top right corner. I quite accidentally found it & I'm thrilled.

These bunnies were my photography subjects this afternoon.

This baby picture is one of my recent favorites. I know it is not of one of my kids - this is my friend's little girl & I've been hanging out with her for a few days while her mom gets over a ruptured disk. Isn't she precious? She is a very good-natured baby. I love taking pictures of little children - I don't want the pressure of making money doing this, but I love being able to capture a moment & personality.

So, the reason why I'm mentioning the photography class in a post about technology woes is because I had more troubles! My camera card did not download things correctly into iPhoto & I thought that I had deleted a few weeks of photos. Talk about pit of the stomach awful feeling!!!

And... if I could figure out how to upload pictures from Picasa or iPhoto without having to "upload to Blogger" ... I would be delighted & would share you what we're not missing because the pictures magically reappeared. Take my word!!