Hold on for the ride...

This picture has nothing to do with this entry, really, except for it conveys the way I feel sometimes when I am going a little out of my comfort zone with this photography stuff. Shooting weddings is definitely not in my comfort zone, but I really enjoy doing it. I so enjoyed getting to be a part of Maquel's big day back in June and was very relieved when things went very smoothly and the pictures turned out good. Everyone was happy - it was ideal. Last week, I had the awesome opportunity to shoot with my cousin-in-law, Eric. He is really naturally gifted at photography and does amazing work. You can see some of his pictures at his website http://www.izlas.com/ (hope you don't mind the publicity Eric (o: ) So of course, I was thrilled for an opportunity to take pictures with him for a wedding here in Portland. Eric really put a lot of trust in me, bless his heart. I was doubly nervous - a wedding, an awesome photographer's reputation on the line. Yikes.

The first night went something like this - Eric came and we talked about his camera equipment, how he does some of his pictures, etc. I could just pick his brain for hours. The bride and groom were to meet us at my house at 6:00 and we were going to head to Cannon beach for a pre-wedding shoot. At 6:45 they arrived, but without any wedding apparel. They didn't realize we were planning to do the pictures in the dress and formalwear. Oops. Things got a little crazy as they scrambled to get everything together, but by then it was too late to make sunset at the beach. After a lot of debating, gnashing of teeth - okay, not really, but there was some tension - we ended up at Pittock Mansion. It actually ended up being a cool place to take pictures - great view of the city, beautiful landscaping and architecture. By this time, we were still running out of light fast. The bride, with my help, changed into her dress right in the parking lot. Did you know a full-skirt wedding dress can double as a changing room? It's true - it was all modestly done and a funny memory for both of us I'm sure! So we finally get to start taking some pictures and it's fun, we're doing good - the good moment lasts for about 7 and a half minutes before some guy informs us that we need to be off the grounds in 10 minutes. We just had one obstacle after another! Even so, I think Eric was able to get some amazing shots - low light and all. I'm excited to see them. The night ended with some insane driving through the Portland streets at night - led by the least likely, directionally challenged person in the group - yep, ME. I think we were all grateful to survive my driving. We attempted to find a spot to get a cityscape shot with the bride and groom, but ended up calling it a night. In my defense, I had several counts against me - little experience driving downtown, it was dark, and we were on the infamously annoying road called Burnside which has signs on almost every road that say "NO TURN". Portland streets are so dumb. I love Portland, but man, the roads don't make any sense even after 8 years here.

The next day was fun. The wedding was at the Portland LDS temple - so we met up there in the morning. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I sincerely hope the pictures turned out good because I did most of the photography that day with Eric's camera. He did the videography and most of the posing and managing people - which made things easier for me. He also had a second shooter who drove down from Washington and did tons of candid shots with his telephoto. I think that would be the most fun and least stressful - just be a fly on the wall and get great shots from a distance. The reception that night was busy and fun. I really enjoy getting to know the people in the family and also ran into a few people I know and, of course, took their pictures. (o: It didn't all go perfect, but I learned a lot. There is one lesson that I never will forget, but I won't go into details. I had one of those REALLY big hit-yourself-on-the-head "Duh" moments. I am very anxious to see how things turned out. Thanks for the memories Eric - I learned a lot.

Top 10 Most Memorable Moments so far this summer...

10. Seeing Sarah and Natalie overcome their fear of water and playing in the pool with the whole family.
9. Our backyard makeover including the new "playground" and garden area. I love walking out to the garden and checking on it's progress. The girls LOVE the play structure.
8. A quick, but fun visit with my grandparents and Aunt Ann in June.
7. Getting the YW president calling - and our first activity doing karaoke will always be a fun memory.
6. Playing outside as a family - tonight we played hide and seek in the front. I love those moments together in the nice, warm weather.
5. Reaching 3.5 miles on the treadmill.
4. Angela's pooping incident outside during potty training. (I said memorable - not necessarily favorite) See "Potty Training Woes"
3. Taking pictures at Maquel's wedding - my first complete wedding photography "job". Very nerve-wracking, but also very fun.
2. Taking pictures with my cousin-in-law Eric at a wedding last week. More on that later... I'll just say it was a lot of fun learning and hanging out with Eric - (probably not as fun for him) - one of the most patient guys in the world. I keep thinking to myself, "these experiences shall be for your good" I'll just leave that as an inside joke. The two days of shooting were some of my most memorable.
1. Nearly getting blown away off the beach with my awesome in-laws and my girls screaming as we braved the hurricane force winds! (o:

That's our summer in a nutshell.

Birthday Girl

My baby is officially three! Some of her presents from the day included some darling clothes from her grandparents, new beautiful princess-y underwear, a soccer mom and Swan Princess Barbie (Angela can't get enough of Barbie's and princesses), Barbie Swan Lake (a movie), the Enchanted soundtrack, a very sparkly and pink purse, a "magic" baby bottle for her dollies and some awesome Sponge Bob pajamas! (o:

For Angela's birthday celebration we went to her favorite restaraunt - IHOP - followed by bowling. It was a fun night, but Angela didn't like the fact that she had to wait for four other people to bowl before her next turn. (O: The funniest part is that she actually beat all the rest of us - That's right, she scored 118 and left the rest of us in the dust - mostly scoring in the 80's. Pretty pathetic - and we had the bumpers up!

A House of Order

This is how I wish my whole house looked. This closet (I wish I had a before pic) has haunted me forever - it was a black hole. I now know exactly what is inside this closet and often leave the doors open because I like to look at it. (o: Unfortunately, some FHE/church visual aids I was hoping to find were NOT in the black hole. Maybe they actually were sucked into another dimension before I got the closet clean. I am baffled.

Sooo, my kitchen desk and cabinets above may be an eyesore (my next project), dishes may be overflowing from the sink and I might be way behind on laundry - but I have a clean office closet. Let's hope it lasts for more than a few weeks... Thanks to Shannan for taking the girls during the afternoon that I tackled this project.

Messy Messy Messy

Here are a few recent pictures of my messy Angela. The top picture of scribbles all over the counter and her arms were not done with washable markers. She had "tatoo" marks for a couple days and the counter was a joy to clean. The milk mess was when she wanted to be a big girl and pour her own glass. The last picture is after Natalie and Angela licked the bowl with Angela's birthday cake batter. It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but that's just because the color of the batter was close to her skin color.

I love my Angela - messes and all. (o:

Summer in the northwest

This picture was taken yesterday - that's right - July 29th. Natalie decided she wanted to play outside while daddy grilled some shis-kabobs in the rain. I'm not complaining - we've had the longest dry spell this year and my newly planted shrubs that Shannan gave me from her yard need the extra drink! We got a kick out of Natalie's attire to go play.

Jungle

We think that some of our vegetables look like they are from the Jurrasic era. The cabbages front left - are ginormous! The individual leaves are about 18 inches across. I used to be able to walk in between the two gardens, but they are growing across the divide. We've enjoyed a few cucumbers and zuchinni and soon they will be coming out of our ears. I can't wait for the tomatoes!

Sweet Sarah

It's Sarah's turn to be highlighted today. (o: I love the shirt she is wearing in this picture. It is a self-portrait she did at school. My little artist. I have been getting some photos ready to send in and enter the state fair. Sarah has been fascinated with the process and has been a great cheerleader. She tells me how much she loves the pictures and that she thinks I will win. She asked what I would win for a prize and seemed to think that just a ribbon was kind of lame. I tried to explain that it was just fun to try and enter so we can see my pictures when we go to the fair. (If they get picked to even be displayed.) She liked that idea and asked if she could enter sometime too. She has started dreaming about entering pictures, art and crafts - the wheels have started turning. I love that the whole world is open to Sarah - there are so many things to do - talents to develop, contests to enter, occupations to do someday. Today she said she wanted to be a shoe shiner (?), other days she wants to be an inventor, dancer, pianist, mom, teacher, cook, and so on and so on.

Sarah is a very stressed out girl lately. I think all the time being around her sisters is really getting on her nerves. She is constantly huffing and puffing about this or that being so annoying. Life is very difficult according to Sarah. Some days it just feels like to her the glass is half empty and it's everybody else's fault. She is a master at dramatic sighs and eyes rolling up so often I worry they will get stuck. I get in really big trouble when I point out that she sounds JUST like Napoleon Dynamite when she does a loooong drawn out sigh and/or says, "GOSH!" daddy and I sometimes add to her Napoleon-like drama, "Just make yourself a freakin' quesadilla." Word of warning - don't do this to Sarah when she is in a bad mood. Just a tip - from personal experience. Sometimes she laughs along with us, but there is a gray area that we have to tread through cautiously.

Despite Sarah sometimes acting so much like a teenager it's scary, she really is getting to be quite the young lady. I love Sarah's enthusiasm. I posted an update on the swimming lessons last week. Sarah is now in the second swimming lessons with Natalie and she LOVES it. She has learned to "dive" down head first in the water to retrieve pool toys and thinks it is the coolest thing ever. Natalie is not quite there - she'll put her face in the water but diving is terrifying to her. Sarah is trying so hard to show her just how exciting diving can be. You would think from listening to Sarah, that nothing in the whole world could compare to diving in the pool for toys. Hopefully she will convince Natalie someday. (o:

We went to Chuck E. Cheese's last night to celebrate Angela being completely potty trained - WAHOOOO! That has been our theoretical dangling carrot for each of the girls once they master this wonderful skill. I love that Sarah has not outgrown the little rides, games or even slide. And she still gets just as excited to count up the tickets and get some totally lame, cheap prize when we leave. Sarah was especially drawn to the air hockey game and played Jays and I. She is a very competitive girl and LOVES to win. She got ticked when her daddy beat her, but was thrilled when I offered to play. She had this smile like, "Yeah...someone I can cream!" And sure enough she beat me. She isn't very subtle about her excitement when she wins. (o:

Piano lessons are going well. I am so impressed with Sarah's progress. She learned and memorized "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" from Hymns Made Easy after practicing just over one week! She's only been taking lessons for a couple months! This song has up to three notes at a time and the fingering moves around unlike her regular lesson books. She is now working on "As I Have Loved You" with a sharp. This one has the hands moving around quite a bit and it is driving her crazy. She got so mad that she hid the hymnbook in the piano bench because she said she was mad at it. (o: That's my girl. She gets so mad when she can't be perfect the first time - then I push her to keep trying, there are sometimes tears and then she applies herself and she learns it super fast.

I love my sweet Sarah, even when she's not being super sweet. I try to use the method of just giving her a hug when she is having a bad attitude and this almost always works. Sarah is such a fun and smart girl - I thoroughly enjoy our conversations and time together. We are quite a funny pair because we are both a lot alike - perfectionists, sometimes over-stressed about things. It is a first born child complex, I believe. I am so proud of the young lady Sarah is becoming and can't wait to see her accomplish all the things she wants to do in life.

Happy Birthday Angela!!

Today Angela is three! Wow - I know everyone always says this, but where did the time go? I can't believe my baby is a big girl now. She has mastered the art of potty training just in time for her third birthday (hallelujah chorus). Today is the first day I put on a pair of My Little Pony underpants without hesitation. Due to our "Potty Training Woes" (see previous post) we resorted to Pull-ups for a while. After two days of no problems, I promised she could wear underwear on her birthday.

For lunch today, I let Angela pick a place to go - we rarely do this for lunch. She picked "Kizz-No's" or Quiznos and we took our food to a nearby park to eat and play. It was a nice idea, but as soon as we got settled to start eating, nature called. Angela had to go. There was no potty at the park. I had her go before we left, but her bladder can't handle much just yet. (o: She tried to pretend like she didn't need to go, but I insisted that we could just have a picnic at home with nice dry underwear instead. Sarah was the most disappointed. Hopefully our fun activities tonight with daddy will make up for that little flaw in my plans.

Since we didn't get anything too "big" for Angela's presents - she has simple requests - I thought it would be fun to get one of those big, outrageous Mylar balloons. I found the perfect princess-y one with all the Disney princesses in separate hearts all connected. Hard to explain - let's just say it's one of those splurges I'd never normally get - $9 for a balloon! I put the balloon in Angela's room when I knew she was asleep, so she would wake up and have a surprise. Unfortunately, my plan backfired when she woke up at 2 a.m. from a bad dream. I went to soothe her and hopefully hide the balloon from her view. As soon as she saw it looming behind me - her eyes popped open and she exclaimed, "My birthday balloon! - you tun de light on so I see it?" She practically yelled this for all to hear. This was the reaction I wanted, just not at the time that I wanted. I obliged and let her enjoy her surprise and then tried to get her to calm down and go to sleep. She tried hard, bless her heart, but she couldn't help but sing for a while before finally falling asleep.

Angela's only present she has opened so far today was her Enchanted CD. Boy has it been a hit. She LOVES the songs and just beamed when they started playing. I got some really cute video of her dancing and hope to figure out how to post a piece or two on here.

Now I have to wake up princess Angela from her birthday nap so we can go PAR-TAY!

Natalie's Joke

This was a funny joke Natalie told us today...

Natalie: "What animal likes to eat cheese?"
The rest of us: "Which one?"
Natalie: "A dinosaur"
The rest of us: Silence
Sarah: "I don't get it."
Me: "Me either, Natalie."
Natalie: "Me either."

Natalie's News

I intend to still try to highlight each of the girls, like I used to in our weekly, ahem, monthly e-mail posts. Above is a picture of Natalie and our first cucumber from the garden. She is the only one of my girls who will have anything to do with vegetables and fruit. She has always been more adventurous in many ways.

However, Natalie has not been so adventurous when it came to swimming lessons two weeks ago. I had her taking lessons the first week with my friend Kirsten, but by the third day, Kirsten suggested we let Sarah switch and give Natalie some time to get used to the water. She was just freezing up, refusing to try anything that would get her face wet, and not getting anything from her lessons. This was quite a different little Natalie from a couple years ago - she used to be fearless in the water - but age has brought on new understanding and fears. (Understanding that you can't breath under the water!) After several days of swimming with me and daddy a couple times too, Natalie was ready to finish her swimming lessons this week. She did awesome! She put her face in the water and started learning the basics of the front crawl. She is so proud of herself and so are we.

Natalie is always making me laugh. She is such a good girl too. When it comes to helping out around the house - she has her complaining moments, but for the most part, she will respond with a "Yes, Mom." I feel like she is a little soldier the way she says it - kind of in a "yes sir" tone. If someone didn't know me and heard Natalie respond this way, they'd think I had my kids well trained to respect me and do what I say. But it's not me, that's just Natalie's personality. She just takes things as they come and doesn't complain much. (Most days that is.)

Another little tidbit to share some insight to sweet Natalie was something that happened at the beach with grandma and grandpa. During our vacation with them, grandma had little presents for the girls she'd bring out every now and then. One afternoon grandma brought out new coloring books and crayons. The girls were excited to sit down and get right to coloring, but when Natalie opened her box she found the nice sharp tips broken off of about half her new crayons. It was just a random unlucky thing that probably happened before grandma even bought the crayons. But Natalie was the one that ended up getting that box. She pointed out the problem, but didn't really complain much - she went to coloring anyway with the other crayons and pieces of broken crayons. Grandma was very impressed, and so was I, at how Natalie just took what she was given and didn't throw a fit or complain that her sisters had nice crayons, but she didn't. I can almost guarantee that another little person would have been very sad and would have felt like life was very unfair if she had been the one to open up those crayons. Grandma rewarded Natalie with a new box of unbroken crayons, which Natalie appreciated, but would have been fine with her broken ones too.

Natalie does have her moments, but for her age, she is not much of a complainer - that is something I love about her. And she is very much a peacemaker in our family. Sure, she pushes buttons and teases Sarah to no end - because she is like her daddy and LOVES a reaction, but she is always the one to offer a toy first that is being fought over and she is ALWAYS the first to apologize when she has done something wrong.

Another little thing about Natalie that I have mentioned before - she is very honest. Sometimes a little too honest - pointing out my zits or "owies" as she calls them or commenting on how big my pants are when we fold clothes. But as soon as she sees that she has said something that might hurt feelings, she follows up with something to ease the pain, "But I love you mommy" is a common one. (o: How can you feel too bad after that. I may be large and have a zitty face, but Natalie loves me. (o: And I love her too.

Rah Rah Rah!

Every Tuesday for six weeks (we just did week 2) the girls get to attend a Cheerleading class through the Hillsboro Parks and Rec. They love it and get to use the looong gymnastics trampoline to practice jumping for about a half hour of the class. It is a great workout for them and they have tons of fun. There are about 8 other girls, mostly older. They wear leotards and shorts/tank tops - but not Natalie. Natalie wanted to wear her fancy, sparkly Barbie cheerleading dress up! A lot of the moms watching from the bleachers got a kick out of her outfit. What a fancy and fashionable girl my Natalie is. (o:

Sarah and Natalie both do pretty well considering the very uncoordinated genes they may have gotten from me. I really enjoy watching them do their tricks - as far as I can tell (sometimes it's hard to hear) and from what Sarah tells me - the tricks are called, "clean" - straight like a soldier, "T" "high V" "low V", "tucks", "stars" and oh so many more. (o:

Little Angela was very sad she didn't get to play out on the mat with her big sisters. It broke my heart when she heard me call the girls downstairs to go to cheerleading class and Angela, just like her big sis, came running down in a ravishing red satin and sequin cheerleading dress up. As a consolation I brought a box of Tic Tacs and let her eat the whole box during the hour class. (That sounds really lame - but she seriously LOVES Tic Tacs. Two bonuses with this treat - barely any sugar and great breath!) Luckily, this kept her satisfied, but I had to promise Angela that we'd find her own gymnastics or cheerleading class to go to. For now, she enjoys cheering for the girls with me from the bleachers.

Young Women

Many of you know that recently I was called to be Young Women's president in our ward. I got my new calling in June with mixed emotions. I was so excited to get back with the girls that I got to know over a year ago. We have about 30 awesome young women in our ward - (FYI 12-18 year old girls), but having to be in charge of the whole program (Sundays, activities every week, meetings, etc.) sounded intimidating. I like to be one of those people who supports others and I am not a big fan of being up in front of people all the time. However, I knew from past experience as primary president, that things would work out - I would not be alone in my responsibilities and the blessings would far outweigh the sacrifice of my time. It has only been a few weeks, but I feel my life so enriched because of my association with these awesome girls. Being with them makes me excited for the time when my girls are teenagers - I am so grateful for the standards the church provides to help the girls navigate this crazy world. (http://www.lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,6924-1,00.html) I am impressed at how great these girls have turned out so far - they are well grounded and really a joy to be around. We have a lot of fun. So far we've had a BBQ and karaoke night - hilarious, a free carwash at the church and a planning night for future activities.

The first week I got to attend Young Women's as the president, I issued a challenge to the girls to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover before school starts. It is 531 pages long, which might not sound lengthy, but reading scripture is different from reading, say, a novel. It is quite a challenge for the girls, but it has been a great experience so far. One, because I am doing the challenge too (I can't be a hypocrite!) and I am benefiting from "Feasting on the Word" as we've entitled the challenge. Second, it has been awesome to hear the experiences the girls are having reading the scriptures and the things they are learning. I am excited for our Break"feast" we will have in September to celebrate together and share our experiences.

When I issued the challenge, I brought up the story of my first time trying to run. I told them how I was just giving it a shot and didn't expect to get much out of it. I didn't really think I would get that far, but I kept going. Even when my legs hurt and I just wanted to stop, I kept going. Then I started to notice how it felt to be exercising my heart and my body - it felt good to be doing something good for my body and as I got farther and farther, I was so proud of myself. The rest of the day I noticed that I felt more energized and after running a few times, I didn't get winded so easy after running up the stairs or playing with the girls. A lot of times we limit ourselves from things we think we "can't" do. It is so liberating to break down those misconceptions about ourselves. I shared with them that this is just like scripture reading - it might sound boring and pointless at first, but if you can stick with it through the times when you just want to stop, you will have those "lightbulb" moments and recognize all kinds of miracles in your life. It has been neat to hear the girls talk about and realize how cool the scriptures are and how much they can get out of them. The scriptures are so awesome and the only way for the girls to find that out is for them to see for themselves. Maybe we'll move on to the bible next . . . we're on a roll. (o:

Decoding Angela-Speak

Sarah and I had a good laugh the other day when we were trying desperately to translate something Angela was trying to tell us. This is a common occurrence, unfortunately, for Angela. I feel so bad when she is trying to communicate something that is important to her almost-three-year-old mind. She tries so hard and gets frustrated when we say, "What?" for the fourth time in a row. I can't imagine - I don't think I would be as persistent and patient as she is. I'd throw my hands up in the air after three times and say 'never mind'. So Thursday afternoon, there was something important Angela was trying to say to me. It sounded like she was saying, "I want to Kae Kub". "What?" I said. She repeated the same thing. "Huh?" I said. Angela repeated again. "You want to what?" I asked. This time Angela said it slower with a tinge of agitation, but it still sounded exactly the same. I had no clue. "You want makeup?" I guessed. "Nooo." Angela sighs and emphasizes the last part, "Kae KUB!" Sarah sitting nearby throws out a guess, "Angela, do you want Jacob?" (our neighbor boy who was over earlier in the week.) Angela is starting to get really annoyed, "NOOO! I want KAE KUB!" I am baffled and just repeat the nonsense-sounding word, "Kae kub?" I ask. But when I say it the same way, Angela says, no, that is not right either. I can't remember all the other things we guessed, but this went on for some time. I apologized to Angela and Sarah and I assured her that we were doing our best to figure it out. She kept trying and, finally, I figured it out! "Kid's Club, Angela? Are you saying Kid's Club?" The look of relief on her face was priceless, "YEAH! Kid's Kub! We go to Kid's Kub?" Hallelujah!! I was as excited as Angela to finally have figured out what she was trying so hard to communicate. And even though we didn't go to Kid's Club that afternoon (the daycare at L.A. Fitness) we all felt better. It's tough to be two! (o:

Summer = Swimming

This summer, one of our family goals was to have the girls learn to swim. Last year we were too busy traveling to take any classes and the year before Sarah and Natalie basically just had that class where the kids get used to the water. I've felt like we were a little behind and this summer we are catching up. We've been at a local pool almost every day for the past two weeks. It has made a huge difference! Sarah and Natalie have taken turns doing private lessons with a friend of mine at her apartment complex. It has been fabulous because while one is having lessons, the rest of us swim in the other side of the pool. And many of thier lessons have been sandwiched between other friends' lessons. It's been a pool party every morning! We've started going more as a family too and the last six weeks of the summer, Sarah and Natalie have private lessons (just the two of them) at the Rec Center. Hopefully, we will have some good water skills by the time school starts!

Natalie has been more resistant to trying new things, but as she's watched Sarah try new things every day - and have fun doing it - she has been inspired to do new things too.

Sarah has really taken off. Once she got over the hesitancy of putting her face in the water - just a few days ago - she has learned quickly. She is learning the front crawl and just started learning the side breathing method. I am excited to see the girls getting more confident, having fun and most of all, learning skills that will help keep them safe. Angela, in the mean time, is revved up and ready to go - she will do awesome when she takes swimming lessons next year. (If I can get her potty trained by then!)

One funny side note ... Sarah found something that helped her feel more brave. It wasn't goggles, but a swim cap of all things! She loves not having her hair in her face and thinks it makes her float better! She even wanted to wear her new cap at home today - what a nut! She was being pretty silly this afternoon pulling it down over her face. (o:

We are Sowing....

In preparation for the big swingset installation, we had to relocate the garden bed we inherited with the house from the previous owners. I enjoyed the raised garden bed and wanted to keep it. We moved it to the east side of the house where we had more room, so we decided to take some measurements and create a duplicate raised garden bed. It turned out really nice and I love how they look in the middle of the grass. It is so easy to get right in and check on my little "babies" growing in the backyard. They are thriving in the good soil, except for one goofy tomato plant. I LOVE having my garden area. The whole east side of the yard is dedicated to our vegetables and fruit gardens. We have our fruit trees over there, our new raised garden beds as well as a section dedicated to raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. Yeah! I've been wanting to have a big garden for years. Our raised garden beds contain four tomato plants, several lettuce plants and cabbage plants, a zucchini, a cucumber, 2 green peper plants, sweet basil, cilantro and 6 or 7 green bean bushes. Not to mention several marigolds and a praying mantis egg (I hope it will hatch soon) to help with pest control. I think that's everything. It is so fun to check on my little garden every day - I have a cucumber nearly ready to be picked and we've already enjoyed salad from the fresh lettuce leaves. There is something so satisfying about doing a vegetable garden. I love it!

4th of July Review

We had a fun fourth of July, but we sure missed the Clarks this year when it came to the BBQ and fireworks! For the past 4 years we had the luxury of having family in town to celebrate this fun holiday. Thanksgiving and the 4th of July were often spent with Jeff and Kelly and the kids when they were going to dental school out here. We still had a good time, it just felt more lonely without them - we miss you guys!

We enjoyed good food - potato salad, BBQ chicken, fruit pizza and we even made fresh lemonade. Sarah helped me on this one and thought it was fun (and hard work) to squeeze all the lemons. We didn't get to set up the pool like we usually do because it was only around 70 degrees and sprinkled on and off during the day. Kind of weird 4th of July weather - I swear that summer doesn't really ever start in the northwest until AFTER the 4th of July. Then it's gorgeous through the end of September.

While the food was being prepared, the girls were being so cute and doing bubbles in the backyard. Angela was prancing around and laughing hysterically as she tried to pop the bubbles. It was so cute, I stopped my food prep and grabbed the video camera. Before I got outside the laughter turned to screams of terror. A dumb yellow jacket ruined the perfect moment. Natalie was the little hero - Sarah screamed, "get it off her" and apparently Natalie was the brave one who ran over and swept the dumb thing off of Angela as she screamed in horror. Unfortunately, it was too late, but I was proud of Natalie for forgetting her own fears of the dumb things and helping her sister out. She really is my little "mommy" in the family.

Angela was actually very brave once the yellow jacket was gone - the sting looked painful, but she just wimpered a bit while she held a little ice cube on it.

After dinner, Angela was all better once daddy put on his big firework show purchased from Costco. He loves fire and fireworks - such a boy. (O: I told him it would be faster to just light a bunch of money on fire we when purchased it, but he said it wouldn't be as fun. He was right. The girls got a little freaked out by a few of the bigger ones, but we had a great time and dad deserved a standing ovation for his skill in lighting more than one firework at a time and stacking them on top of each other to make them taller. (o:

One other fun highlight of the night was watching some of the Olympic swimming trials. We watched Phelps set a new world record in the trials! He has a new American competitor who really gave him a run for his money - they just pushed each other so hard - both several feet ahead of everyone else. It was very exciting. I can't wait for the Olympics!

Favorite Running Songs

I have a few people to thank for my accomplishment of running 3 miles (3.5 this week) as mentioned in the previous articles.

#1 my husband - for getting the treadmill and cheering me on
#2 my cute pink iPod nano
#3 Jim Steinman and Dean Pitchford (my good friends - just kidding, they are the guys who wrote "Holding Out for a Hero")

Seriously, that last song is the best running song! (o: When I was about ready to quit running last Friday at around 2 miles, Bonnie Tyler came on singing this song and got me through the next mile! (o: Dorky, I know.

A couple other favorites - Weezer's "Perfect Situation" and Celine Dion's "I'm Alive"

If anyone else has favorite workout songs - I'd love to hear them. Having some good songs to listen to REALLY helps!! (o:

One other little tidbit - Wanting to find tips on running, I checked out www.livestrong.com today - it's an awesome website with information on health, exercise, etc.

33 - Reinventing Me

Above are two pictures of things that I never would have defined myself with even just a couple years ago. I turned 33 this summer and life is great. As I get older, I have more courage to try things I didn't think I could do when I was younger. I had a limited definition of myself and just assumed that certain abilities just weren't my God-given talents. Now that I am older and wiser, I figure, who cares if I'm not a natural at something - I can still try. Five, ten, twenty years more are going to pass by no matter what I do. If I fill the time trying out new things and working on goals - maybe I'll discover and develop completely new abilities I wouldn't have if I just do the same old thing.

One of those abilities I am specifically speaking of is playing the piano. I never really had piano lessons growing up and for my teenage and early twenties I figured that meant I'd never be a pianist. I did take lessons for a short while in my twenties, but it was a time of transition and didn't last. Then came babies and motherhood - I had no time to think about developing a new talent from scratch. Then a year and a half ago, I decided I was tired of wishing I could play and envying the ladies who could sit down and play a song at church. I was in young women's then and there was not a single person - leader or girl - who could play the accompanyment for the hymns. I decided that even though it wouldn't solve that immediate problem - sometime down the road if that ever happened again, I wanted to be able to say, "I can play".

Now a year and a half later, I actually own a piano - something that was beyond what I ever imagined. Why spend thousands of dollars on something you can't really use? I had no idea how much I would LOVE playing the piano and how much I would LOVE hearing the sound in my home. It has been the best purchase - besides our house and maybe the van - that we have ever made. It has brought so much joy into my life. When I sit down to play - even though I am still quite a novice - I can't believe that it's me making the music and playing the notes. I am learning a song now that I heard over 12 years ago at a sorority talent show. I still remember the room we were sitting in, my friend Angie who played it and how I felt when I heard it. I was so envious that Angie could play something so beautiful. I don't know if I'm learning the same version she played (it's probably much easier (o: David Lanz "Return to the Heart" if your curious) but when I play it, I can't believe how far I've come. I can't wait to keep getting better and list "pianist" as one of the things that defines me.

"Runner" is another word I never identified with and never really cared to. My experiences running growing up were miserable - I hated running in gym, I never passed off running the mile in jr. high and any time I put forth an honest effort, my side would be in stitches. A few weeks ago, for father's day, Jayson decided he really, really wanted a treadmill. I thought that was great - something to help keep him healthy sounded good to me. Then a few days later, I decided to give it a shot, just for fun. I put on my shoes, but didn't even bother to get out of my pajamas - I was just trying it out. The first little bit was miserable, but for some reason I just kept going. After a little while, it wasn't so bad. I focused on breathing in a rhythm and soon I realized I had almost run a mile - hey!, something I hadn't ever really done before - so I kept going. When I finally had to stop to get Sarah to piano lessons, I had run 2 miles and felt like I could have kept going! This was a huge accomplishment for me! I could not believe it. The next day I wanted to see if I could go farther. 3 miles! The next day I ran 10! (Okay just kidding on that last one. (o: ) I literally cheered out loud after 3 miles - I had no idea I had that in me. I guess my workouts with Gilad (my personal trainer via FitTV) and my visits to the gym were doing some good.

I still don't love running - and don't know if I've completely felt the "runner's high" that everyone talks about unless you count my elation upon discovering that I could run 3 miles - something I never thought I could do or really had much desire to try. But after about three weeks of running 3 times a week, I'm starting to think about trying a 5K. I even have a friend who just did a local triathalon who is encouraging me to join her next year. A few weeks ago I would have laughed out loud. Now, I find myself asking her all kinds of questions about it and imagining what it would be like. Maybe I could actually do it... Above you see my new "running shoes" - who knew I'd ever consider myself a runner? I can't wait to see what other barriers I break in the coming years - what other things will I add to my definition of me? Opera singer? Auto mechanic, sky diver? (o:

Potty Training Woes

Well, we've reached that ripe old age of 3 - when I start thinking that enough is enough with the diapers. Angela has a late birthday and has another deadline - besides her third birthday. She needs to be potty trained for preschool in September. So, while I love the convenience of diapers and hate cleaning up all the accidents and spending lots of time running back and forth from the potty - I finally decided it was time to dive in to the potty training adventure once again.

In this picture Angela is holding her new Cabbage Patch doll that pees - an important element of the "Potty Training in a Day" method. (She is also sporting her new My Little Pony underwear - soo cute, but I didn't want to post the full pic on the blog.) Angela loved the dolly and all the hoopla that went along with her successes. Everything went fairly smooth for the first little bit. She did have a HUGE and I mean HUGE accident the first 30 minutes of training. The program instructs you to give your little student lots and lots of fluids for obvious reasons. I cannot believe just how much Angela's bladder could hold when the puddle beneath her kept growing to gallon-sized proportions. Okay - it probably just looked that way, but I was amazed and thought that we'd never get her to pee again because she must be totally dried out inside. Nevertheless, we did have success after the pee tsunami and things went well the rest of the day. She even pooped on the potty the first day!! Wahoo - Sarah and Natalie were freaked out about this at first when they were training. I thought we had the whole thing in the bag. Easy Peasy.

It's dangerous to think that way. Don't ever think anything with kids will turn out so easy - you will be disappointed about 96.4% of the time. I should never allow the thought, "Wow, that was easy" to cross my mind. Because then the next day came. Things went well until the #2 came. It hit when we were outside - Angela was riding around the garage and driveway on her scooter. Natalie came running over and informed me that Angela ran over some dog poop. You'd think I would have clued in earlier, but I was seriously mad and disgusted at whatever dog left us a little present in our yard. It turned out to be an imaginary dog. I don't know why it took me so long to put two and two together. When I started finding little droppings around the garage I started thinking, "What in the world was a dog doing in our garage?" Then the lightbulb turned on. Duh. It was MY little pet, Angela. The funny thing is that Angela got a little confused and was talking about the dog poop the rest of the day. I had to clarify that it was not a dog, but herself and wasn't that yucky pooping on the ground like a dog? She agreed, "Yeah, it's 'lily' yucky" (Angela says Lily instead of Really)

So, we are on day 4 and haven't had a successful #2 in the potty since day #1. I am getting tired of finding surprises upon inspection of Angela's Winnie the Pooh's. (Ha, no pun intended) Angela HATES the practicing we have to do as her punishment as prescribed in the "Potty Training in a Day" (HA - try multiplying that by 4, 5, 20) After an accident, the potty student has to help clean up and then "practice" running to the potty from the spot and various other locations when they get that "feeling". Here's my favorite "practice" Angela did with daddy yesterday. It went' something like this, Daddy: "What do you do if you are trying on a sombrero from the dress ups and you get that funny feeling?" Angela: "Oh man.." and some dramatic sighs. Daddy: "Angela, what do you do?" Angela: "Run to the Potty". (She used to say this with such gusto, but after practicing around 100 times the enthusiasm is gone.) After an accident when we've practiced 3-4 times Angela usually tells me, "Leave me alone." or exclaims, "Oh Dahn-it" (darn it). It is good that she doesn't like practicing - I'm hoping that will be motivating enough to stop having accidents. Oh please let it motivate her...

Wish me luck!