Friday, August 29, 2008

Boot, scootin', boogie!

Amy broke her foot last week (I'll her share the story with you of how she did it!!!) and is now confined to a walking boot and a scooter (and our parent's house)! I don't know who enjoys the scooter more, Amy, the kids, or me!! Carter had so much fun riding a little bike while I chased him around the house on Amy's scooter. We hope your foot heals quickly Amy--just not too quickly so we can keep playing with your scooter!!

It is a convenient way to carry things through the house!


Thursday, August 28, 2008

Run for Nie

I know many of us have heard this family's story and the situation they are in. I am not sure why this family that I do not know has had such an impact on me. I had some time to think on my 3.5 hour drive to work this morning and was thinking about why this was impacting me so much. I realized that I have learned a great lesson from their accident. I have learned that I take too many things for granted; my loving husband who supports me in all I do-do I return the favor to him? My two year who has such a love of life-do I share his love of life or am I too impatient at times? Do I recognize what a great family I have that supports me in so many ways (taking care of Carter on a daily basis to name one!)? I realized I take it all for granted. I have been blessed in so many ways and do not show appreciation to those around me or to my Heavenly Father. The lesson I learned from the Nielson family has compelled me to want to help them in some way. I found this "Run for Nie" today and am definitely going to do it. It is still in the planning stages but check it out and let me know if you want to do it too. I cannot imagine what they will face in the next year but I hope that in some small way the sacrifices I will make to train for the run and then complete the run will help. 

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Soccer Time





Carter is playing on a soccer team right now and is loving it. Here he is at practice today. His favorite thing to say is, "Hi Coach."

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Drum Roll Please!

And the Bronze medal goes to...Jessica Jo Klippel!!! I thought I would let all of Jessica's Peeps out there know that Carter and I are so proud of her. She finished 3rd in her age group and 26th overall out of 68 women (last year she placed 48th.) Her time was 1:31:16, which is about 8 minutes faster than she ran it last year. Congrats Honey...keep up the good work!

Sean

Friday, August 15, 2008

Can I hide somewhere?



Only one more day until my triathlon. This is where it all began for me...Tri in the Pines was my first tri last year. Since then I have done 4 other triathlons. But I am more nervous for this one than any other one. Will I beat my time from last year? Will my chain come off my bike again? Is the fact that half of my lasagna dinner fell from the pan into the bottom of the oven as I pulled it from the oven last night a sign of what is to come for me this weekend? I sure hope not...

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Painting, Ranger Rides, An elk, and more...

We just returned from spending the last 5 days at my parent's cabin in Northern Arizona. I LOVE going up to the cabin. My grandparents used to live in their cabin during the summer. I have very fond memories of going up there for a week at a time to stay with my grandparents--playing games, playing outside all day, going for walks with my Grandma. I hope that Carter will grow up with these same kinds of memories. When we left the cabin it was 77 degrees. When we arrived home 2 hours later, it was 112 degrees! What a difference 2 hours makes...I want to go back already.


I had put Carter down for a nap and decided to paint some furniture for my mom. Of course Carter decided to only take an hour nap that day (must have been because I told him that after his nap he could go on a Ranger Ride. *see comments below* He was too excited--I guess I didn't specify how long his nap had to be!). When he woke up I was in the middle of painting. I thought (thought being the key word here) that he would sit outside and watch me paint. Uhh, when has my kid ever sat for more than 2 seconds?!? Needless to say, he ended up "helping" me paint. It took me twice as long to finish paining but he sure did have fun--and isn't that what it is all about anyways--or so I kept telling myself during the whole ordeal!! (I didn't bring any "old" clothes for him so he painted in his diaper)
Fun times with cheese and crackers and Dad. Who knew Sean was so creative?
On Sunday afternoon we were taking a drive and as we looked to the side of the road, here is what we saw...An Elk. It was crazy! The pictures look fake to me--but it is real! There were tons of people pulled over. Some people were even trying to pet it and feed it. All I could picture was it suddenly flipping out and attacking someone! (we had just seen an Episode of "world's most shocking moments caught on tape" the night before and saw several shots of "calm" animals going crazy without a moment's notice). Sean did get out with Carter and Cameron to take a picture.



My parents bought a Ranger for the cabin and Carter loved it. Everyday when he woke up he said, "Ranger Ride!" Even tonight as I was putting him to bed he asked to go on a Ranger Ride.I called Shotgun, but apparently Nana doesn't play that game. We packed a picnic and loaded into the Ranger for a ride into the forest. We found a great spot and had our lunch and the kids played ball. It was so much fun.