Happy 33rd Birthday Daddy!!

" You're the BEST dad in the whole entire world!" ~ Ashley

"Happy Birthday you are AWESOME!" ~ Cameron

"Thank you for being a GREAT dad and always being there for me." ~ Zachary

"We LOVE you...to the moon and back!" ~ All of Us

A Full Weekend...

Soccer Games, Block Party, Cleaning, Volleyball, Sleepovers, Olympics, Shopping...oh my.

The fall soccer season is offically underway. Zach's team played two games this weekend and won both of them. I still can't get over how tall Zach is...he's like a giant out there on the field.

Highlight of the weekend was Zach (#43) scoring his first goal since moving from defense to offense. Check out his awesome header above and look how high that ball went!

Jack enjoyed the game. It was pretty hot out so he just camped out in the shade under the umbrella.Typical sideline scene...John on his cell phone on his day off and Courtney reminding him not to take things so seriously.

After the game Zach's buddy and fellow team mate Tyler hung out with us and kept us all in stitches...that kid is so funny. We grabbed some lunch then went back to the house and played badminton and volleyball in the backyard.

Last night after the dinner dishes were done...thanks a million John...and the kids had taken their showers and were reading in their beds...thanks again hubby...John, Jack and I lounged on the couch in our quiet house and watched the Closing Ceremonies of the summer Olympics...which was pretty dang impressive.

I always love a good full weekend mainly because these two were passed out cold pretty early last night...how cute is that!

All is well!

33 Things About Me

Snap Dragons are my favorite flowers. I adore my husband. I could do yard work all day. My 11 year old is taller than me. I love taking naps on the beach. I miss living close to my parents. Right now I’m eating California rolls. My daughter is my inspiration. I love reading British chick-lit. I hate wearing socks. I really want to get my athletic body back. My eye color sometimes changes from green to blue. I wish I were more frugal. I love everything about being a mom. Going to Paris changed my life. I bake when I’m happy. I clean when I’m mad. I’ve watched Pride and Prejudice 20 times. My favorite color is Aqua. I’m so very proud of Zachary. I rarely remember people’s names. My mom is my best-friend. I love Christmas. I really need to de-junk my bathroom. I love cuddling with my kids. Right now I’d rather be sailing. I always listen to conservative talk radio in the car. I’m extremely self-conscious. Cameron always makes me smile. I burn Yankee candles everyday. I wish I saw all my siblings more often. Today I feel so incredibly blessed. 33 years ago today I came into this world.

Tonight is John's closing night so we decided to celebrate my birthday on Sunday. Courtney came along with us to Dave and Busters and we had a yummy dinner and then spent a few hours playing games...our favorite by far was Deal or No Deal...very addictive. Some of the pictures up top are from Sunday night and the others are just some of my favorites from the past. Speaking of favorites...check out the awesome birthday cake that Cameron and Ashley made for me...I love it!!



On a side note...if you have a second please click on the link on my sidebar to Nie Nie and C Jane. Nie Nie (Stephanie) is one of my very favorite LDS bloggers who I read everyday. This weekend Stephanie and her husband both survived a private plane crash in Arizona but they are now in critical condition with very severe burns which will require months of rehab. They have 4 small children at home and this sweet family could use all the prayers they can get...also their families have just set up ways to send donations if you can.

Bump, Set, Spike!

Everyone in our house has caught serious "Olympic Fever", so Thursday night John went out and bought the kids a volleyball/badminton set so we could have our very own Olympics right in the backyard. It was really a great idea and we were all totally pumped up for it...that was until the skies opened that night and it proceeded to POUR out very cold, sad rain for the next 2 days.
Thankfully, Sunday turned out to be a beautifully dry day and we took full advantage of it and got the net set up. Zach's friend Jeremy was over and the six of us (minus Ashley who was over at Bridget's house) played volleyball for 3 straight hours...it was SO MUCH FUN!! Then Cameron and I had to leave on a little preplanned date. So John, Courtney and the boys switched and played badminton for a few more hours...only coming inside once the last of the shuttlecocks were stuck up on the roof. We all had a blast and boy was it a workout...all of us were really feeling it this morning.

Change is good...

I have been debating cutting my hair for sometime now but always end up talking myself out of it. Then yesterday I was totally inspired by my friend Ashley who just chopped off her long blonde hair into the coolest most chic style ever! So I took the plunge and ended up cutting 8 inches off in the back...crazy I know...that's the longest my hair has been since I got married 12 years ago.

I’m all ready in LOVE with my shorter cut, which is super short in the back. Best of all it only took me 20 minutes to style this morning rather than the hour it used to take.

Here are some after shots...unfortunately once again it was taken under horrible office cubicle lighting...oh well you get the picture!

Powered by Wind

I spent yesterday up in Northeastern Colorado (just north of Sterling almost to Nebraska) working out in the nations 2nd largest Wind Farm. It was such a sight, there are over 250 of these giant wind turbines stretching across the plains and these things are huge...over 300 feet tall (not including the blades) and at least 20 feet across at the base, with each of the blades measuring 110 feet long.

You simply cannot grasp how incredibly massive they are until you are right up underneath one with those giant white blades spinning overhead. There was a point when the wind died down and all of them came to a stop...which was actually a little creepy...kind of apocalyptic. For about an hour not one of them moved and boy was it hot out there with no breeze...especially in jeans. We had to be on the look out for rattlesnakes while walking through the field...since one of my co-workers saw one when he was out there last week (see photo below). Thankfully we didn't come across anything other than a lot of harmless bugs and tons of crazy little birds.

Shoes make everything better...

These lovely beauties I just picked up on my lunch-hour make up for every crappy moment of my completely crap week.

Just another Wednesday...

It’s time once again for another random Wednesday post…warning not quite as chipper as usual.

Work is at a complete stand still right now…and it’s just driving me crazy. Both of my current projects are awaiting survey and I just know that all the data will come in at the same time and then I’ll be insanely busy trying to get everything done.

One of the good things about my slow work load is that it made it easy to take a couple sick days off last week to deal with a kidney infection…which was absolutely no fun at all. After struggling though a week of less than zero energy and nagging back pain I was actually quite relieved to get the diagnosis and take a few days off to recuperate in peace.

The kids have been back in school for a week and a half and so far all is going well…except for Cameron who is now in the 3rd grade and is having a hard time adjusting to the high expectations from his teacher and her much larger homework load. 3rd grade is the year when everything changes…the kids are expected to be a lot more independent than before and it’s usually a pretty big shock to these sweet little 8 and 9 year olds. Tonight John and I will be going to back to school night…YIPPEE (said with a note of sarcasm).

Zach’s soccer season is in full force again with evening practices and his first tournament, The Denver Cup starting tomorrow night and ending on Sunday. Zach has taken the last 5 weeks off to give his knees a rest and it seems to have paid off considering his performance during last nights scrimmage against the silver team. He played very well and even scored one of the 4 goals.

I recently read a new book by Martha Beck called The 4 Day Win…where you set smaller goals in 4 day segments rather than the great big daunting goals I’m used to setting and never achieving. My first set of goals were simple daily 30 minute workouts but so far I’ve already missed the first 2 days because of homework, late running soccer practices and basically being just too dang tired (mainly from the meds). Oh well maybe I’ll make it onto the treadmill tonight while I watch Project Runway…oh wait we have back to school night until 8:30, so maybe not!

Maybe I should write my own book called the 1 Day Win instead.

Growing up way too fast!!

Our Little Miss Ashley will be turning 8 years old in a month and John and I decided it was about time we gave her room a little update. I did a very brave thing and relinquished my head decorating roll and turned every design decision over to Ash.

We had a blast shopping together this weekend...just us girls. Ashley was so cute! She had her list and was so focused and she kept going back and forth over different styles.
Then she found this must have super cute Monkey rug and the whole room just came together. She ended up designing the entire room around it. (Ashley is a bit of a Monkey freak).Overall I think she did a really nice job and her room looks so much more grown up now. I'm hoping it will continue to grow with her for at least a few more years. These 2 white pieces of furniture are both 50 years old. They were my Mom's when she was a little girl and then I used them throughout my childhood...right up until I left home for college. John repainted them when Zach was born and then we replaced the handles once we had Ashley. Although the chair is new...we found it at Target but it fits the set perfectly.