On me

Blogging seems like a bit of a chore right now. Is it just me or is there never enough time in the day? I feel like my day is so full all of the time. There are meals to make, kids to dress, clean and entertain, floors to clean, dishes to do, errands to run, bills to pay, shows to watch, crafts to do, callings to fulfill, etc. Anyways, I am trying to take the time to do it. I have a lot coming up soon too and I think if I can get in the habit of doing it, I will make sure to do it through a crazy schedule.

Anyways, I wrote a while back that I got on prozac. Well that didn't last long. Days after starting to take it, I went on my girls trip to Vegas. That was an eye opener for me. All this time I had forgotten who I was. I had lost myself in motherhood and was feeling lost. I had forgotten what I was all about. My rose colored glasses came off and my confidence was failing me. I was able to open up completely with my friends and tell them how I was feeling and they were able to relate. I was feeling alone and they knew exactly how I felt. It was great to be understood and take the time to be away from my responsibilities to just be me and get to know me again. As an added reason to ditch the prozac, my sensitive system was effected by the medicine. I was suffering all the side effects they warn you about. The worst has to be one called aorgasmia...I won't go into this, but leave you with the fact that if you are feeling bummed about life, the last thing you need is to be affected in that way! Oh, and having your arm randomly twitch wasn't cool either. I told you I have a sensitive system. Anyways, I realized that I need to take better care of myself in all this. I need to know who I am and enjoy time for me too.

September will be bringing a lot of changes to our house. We are going to be busy here. Micah starts school and soccer and I am pretty certain I will be tutoring again. I am excited and nervous. I know Micah is ready for school in a lot of ways, but in other ways, I am nervous. Sometimes he can pull an attitude that I know would get him in trouble. Where does he get that from? I am excited for soccer to start for him. I can't wait to see him play a game. i really hope he likes it. Sometimes he can be like his dad and decide he doesn't like something and that is the end. I want him to be a little more like me when it comes to sports. As for tutoring, I am glad to be going back. It is nice for me to do my own thing, bring in money to contribute to the family and enjoy the company of some fun kids. I guess we can say goodbye to lazy mornings like this for a while......looks like it will be a busy and exciting fall!

A trip to Utah!

Sorry for the lack of blogging. I honestly think I am not the only one who is losing their zest for blogging. I am noticing more people are blogging less frequently. What is up with that? Not sure, but I will work on it!

Anyways, Monday morning (more like crack of dawn) we made a trip up to Utah. My parents didn't like the idea of me traveling alone with the kids (Chad was getting alone time) so they had me jump in the RV with them and we hit the road. We took a stop in Las Vegas and I had to take the kids to the M&M and Coca Cola Factories. We did the Taste of the World sampler. They give you 16 flavors of Coca Cola products from around the world. My kids, who rarely get a sip of soda, were in heaven! By the way, something was wrong with the Beverly. It wasn't nearly as gross as I remembered it from last time.

We stopped at the MGM and saw the lions. Brooklyn loved them and wanted to pet them. It looks like she is in this picture, but they were behind thick glass, so no worries.
Then for lunch, we stopped into the Rainforest cafe (a first) and it was a hit. The animals kept the kids pretty entertained. Then it was back on the road again!
We got into Utah around 7 and sat down for a nice dinner and then the kids decided to golf in the backyard. Fore!

Tuesday was a full day. Don took Shelby, dad and I out quading. We actually took utility bikes (a first) and we got dirty! I wish I had taken my camera with me to catch it, but we decided to be minimal. We packed a lunch and headed out. We went into Pine Valley and then went on a hike (Jim wanted to kill us). We were heading home after lunch and Micah got to ride up and down the rode with Micah. Look at his face. Pure joy!

Oh the hotness of the next picture...by that I mean none at all whatsoever. Anyways, we took a quick rest and then we were off on our next adventure. We went shooting skeets in the desert. I shot a shotgun and hand gun (first for both). They are very powerful! I was OK at it. I think I would have been more into it if I wasn't so hot dirty and tired. Maybe next time.


Since this trip was full of firsts, I had to mention that on our way home from shooting, Don had a first. We stopped for a drink at Sonic. I can't believe he has never been! Anyways, Wednesday morning we packed up and headed home. Micah was all too happy to see us go. He reminded us several times that we were leaving and he was staying with Ghee and Papa. I am sure he is having a blast being the center of attention right now!

Project Playhouse

Last night we got to do yet another fun thing with our friend Carrie! She invited us to a private event for Project Playhouse. We went down to the Spectrum where there were eight amazing playhouses that major home builders create and sell for charity. Before they get auctioned off, we were able to run amok in all of them. The kids had a great time! Thanks Carrie! I would love to have one of these places in my backyard (aka tiny patio). They are so done up and one of them seriously has a better kitchen than I do! Can you imagine having a place like this growing up? Well, I think I have a new project for my handy father-in-law to work on next time he gets in town. Just kidding! I think they are spoiled enough as it is.

5!!!

So Thursday, my Micah turned five! I know I am a little late on getting around to blogging about it, but it isn't like this kid has gone neglected. In fact, this birthday seemed to drag on and on.

On Thursday he opened up presents from Chad and I then we went to the water park where my friend Al had made him cupcakes. He got to Skype with his Ghee and Papa to open his gifts from them. He has the best commentary. This time he said "Oh my crap!" when he opened a car track. I think that means its a winner. Then we took him out to dinner at TK Burger (his choice).

Friday we threw a low-key party of just cake and ice cream and had close friends and family come by to celebrate. Fortunately or unfortunately, my dad scored some great Angels tickets for the night, so he hustled the party. I don't think I have seen a party start and end so quickly. I actually had Micah say "OK sing to me!" Soon the guys were out the door and enjoying a baseball game. Too bad some of our guests arrived after Micah had left. Whoops!
Saturday, the birthday just kept coming. He got birthday money from my grandparents and from his Ghee and Papa, so we headed to Toys R Us to let him pick out a couple of things. Surprise, surprise, he picked out a car transporter and more cars! We won't be buying another car for a long time.

The next day he said it was still his birthday. That is when we had to explain that a birthday is one day, not a week, but this year seemed like the exception to the rule. That's OK because we love him and think he deserves to be spoiled. Micah we love you, you rock and we love watching you grow!

Let's Pretend...

First off, let's pretend I am a celebrity and I can take my own private plane to getaway for the weekends to places like VEGAS!!! OK, so the celebrity part is far fetched, but not the rest. I was ladynapped over the weekend by my friends and we took Val's plane out to Vegas. It was a BLAST!!! I felt like a kid again and I think all of our maturity levels dropped for the weekend. It was so fun! I won't even begin to go into all of it. The pictures would go on and on. Maybe in another post I will go into detail. For now, here is a shot or two.
Now, let's pretend we are grown up and can do all the things grown up can do. That is what the kids get to do at Pretend City. They love that place. Micah is usually in a car and Brooklyn enjoys the stage and garden. Time just flies when you are in that place!

Some thoughts

Nothing huge to post on, so I will give you a few thoughts.

I am getting ready for my ladynapping. My best friends are taking me away for the weekend (I don't know where yet) and I am so excited to get away. Chad is going to have the kids alone for three days. I think he will do great, but probably be happy to see me come home by the end. The only real concern I have is of Brooklyn wandering off.

Speaking of, I had to call 911 this week. My first and hopefully last time. I won't go into it too much, but give you the quick story. I was making dinner while the kids were watching Spongebob (or so I thought). When went to check on them, the front door was open and Brooklyn was gone. I hadn't even heard it open. I ran around screaming for her. Lucky for me, I have a great neighbor who chucked her shoes and went sprinting around the complex. She was found safe and sound. We are going to have to install a lock way up high now!

As another first, I got myself a library card recently and we have been enjoying checking out lots of books. We usually grab about 16 or so at a time. I think I have become somewhat of a children's book snob. I will usually like only 3 or 4 of the 16 we check out. The rest I read and when I get to the end I say "That was lame." The ones that I would recommend would be Toy Boat, Mars Needs Moms, The Dumb Bunnies, The Hallo-Weiner, How I Became a Pirate, Dog Breath, and a few others I can't think of right now.

I decided that I had had enough of the mood swings from the last miscarriage. I went and got a low dose of Prozac and it has really helped. I was hard to go in and ask for help because I am independent and stubborn and feel like I should be able to fix things myself, but hormonal imbalances are something I couldn't fix. I am feeling so much more like myself now and wish I had done this earlier.

I rediscovered my love of reading. Chad encouraged me to start reading the Harry Potter books. I don't like getting sucked into trends, so I guess I just wait until it isn't cool anymore. Well, I am already on the third book and I am looking forward to the rest of the series. I think I might read the Work and the Glory books later, I've heard good things about Hunger Games and think I will get around to Twilight (after it is totally uncool).

I am trying to be a coupon clipper, but honestly, I am not too good at it. I try though! In fact, I have a stack of them sitting next to me I need to cut out. If only the diaper coupons were for half off!

Our summer has been really mild until the last few days. It is warming up and that means my hands and feet are sweating like crazy. The computer keys are getting a bit of a bath. I am already looking forward to it cooling off again!

X Games!

Hello, Chad here! Rachel wanted me to do a quick update about the trip Micah and I took on Friday up to LA to see the X Games! I've always been a huge fan of the X Games and figured it was about time to make the best of the fact that they're always right in our back yard. I also figured Micah would get a kick out of seeing all the crazy stuff, so I bought us some tickets as part of his birthday celebration.

Here's Micah holding our tickets as we get on our way:



And here was our view, pretty great positioning, actually! We were at just the right angle to really appreciate the crazy things we were seeing:



Our tickets were for a couple of the Moto X (aka motocross) events, and they were super fun. One of the events was called Step Up, and it's basically like the track-and-field High Jump event but with motorcycles. They start on the flat ground about 25 feet away from the bar, and just crank it up a vertical ramp as they try to make it over the bar without knocking it off. This guy was clearly well above the bar, very impressive:



Being an event made for a TV audience, there was a lot of waiting involved. Waiting for commercials, waiting for other events to finish up so ours could go back on the air, that kind of stuff. Micah would get understandably fidgety after waiting an extended period of time, so at one point he stood in the aisle and started directing traffic. Here he is, waiting for more people to show up, so he could tell them to go THIS way to get to the bathroom:



I kept trying to get pictures of the other events we saw, but they were so fast-moving that all I could get were mid-air blurs. But one guy totally nailed a double-backflip in the Best Trick competition, and we saw a really nasty spill from a guy attempting to do a front-flip who only made it half way. He had to be carried out on a stretcher, but he was totally fine the next day.

So yep, that's our trip! Maybe next year we'll check out the Rally event!