Yee-haw!

This week Utah celebrated Pioneer Day! So like all good Utahns we went to a rodeo! The kids loved it until Gwen dropped her flip flop down the bleachers and had a total meltdown. We saw the mutton busters and the barrel racers and the bucking broncos.And even 2 buffalo! It was a lot of fun!

Ain't she a beauty?

So remember how I broke my finger in January... Working out. Lame. After having 3 pins put in, that was THREE, I said, I've had multiple follow up appointments where the doc has told me it's possible I would need the joint fussed together. Well today, at what WILL be my last appointment, he told me my sweet little pinky finger will always look terrible and the movement will never get better. And technically he thinks it would be best to fuse the first joint together so it would be straighter and not have any more pain. And to top it off, he said he would also release the tendon in that finger so the second joint would move more than 20 degrees. Who needs more than 20 degrees of movement?! Come on!

A beach in Utah?

Why yes! I've been really missing the beach lately so we decided to head up to Pineview lake to celebrate the fourth of July! It was a little trashier than I thought it would be but the kids loved it! Brett and I got some royally awesome sunburns too, so it was a win win for everyone.

am I invisible

Brett asks me that a lot when he's had a bad driving day. I feel like that lately just in everyday life. Numerous calls and FB messages and emails and texts to people that just ignore me. If I take the time to reach out to you in one way or another, how about you be a descent human being and acknowledge it. It's not that hard. A text takes 2 seconds. An email take 3. A phone call, I know is asking a lot, but buck up, be an adult. And don't try and convince yourself that you are too busy. I have 2 kids and I work from home almost full time. I'm not too busy to acknowledge someone. Just asking for a little reciprocity in my relationships lately. So there.

PS- I know I'm not perfect and I occasionally forget to respond to FB messages... it's just happened a lot to me lately so I'm complaining. Sorry if I've snubbed any of the 2 people that still read this nearly dead blog! Love to you all, of course!

What a real man is...

Happy Father's Day to the most amazingly wonderful man I've ever met. And thank you for 2 of the most beautiful, smart and wonderful kids ever!

Hello Mr. Officer?

Today as I'm enjoying a quiet afternoon there was a knock at the door. Who could that be, I asked myself. Oh well of course it was the Davis county sherriff's office. They were looking for the people that used to own my house. Interesting. So my question is.... Did I buy a meth house?! And when you find the previous owners can you let them know they left their vibrator in my basement!

You are my Sunshine

A few months ago, we took away Gwen's binky. She actually threw it in the trash herself. Ever since then she's had a very hard time getting to sleep at night. She used to go right down without any trouble. Now it's a few hour ordeal.

First it starts with brushing her teeth and going potty. Next, we have to read her a book and say prayers. This is how it used to go... since the binky has left the building we have added a few extra steps. Now I have to rock her in my arms and sing to her. I start with You are my Sunshine, throw in a little I am a Child of God and end with Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and maybe even a dash of Rock a by Baby. Then she lays down, we close the door and are done with it. Until the last few weeks she has started coming out of her room every 5 minutes or so for at least an hour. Sometimes 2 hours.

This week things have changed again. Now she requires that her door be left open and her lamp be left on. That help keep her in her room for 2 days and the coming out every 5 minutes started up again.

Tonight, after I put her down for the fourth time I heard her singing all of "our" songs. She drives me insane most of the time, but hearing her little voice sing I am a Child of God...? COME ON!!!

And now she is screaming because she has to go to bed.... the magic is gone.

Is it over yet?

The knee surgery went well. I'm sick of the discomfort already. Turns out I have significant arthritis and should expect a knee replacement in the next 10-15 years. I want to thank my mother for this!

I'm fallin' apart!

First, I broke my finger on my leg while working out and required 3 pins to repair it. It still doesn't bend, 3 months later. Pictures are on my other computer, so you are spared from that nightmare.

Now, my knee is screwed. I get to have knee surgery next Tuesday. I thought working out was supposed to make me stronger and better.... 

Can't wait to share some awesome post knee surgery pics!

A day with baby animals.

Too much has happened to even begin to update. So I'll just skip to these cute picture.

We tried to go to the zoo last week but when we pulled up the line was so long I thought we were at Disneyland. So we went to This is the Place. They have an awesome petting "zoo". The kids loved it.

She wanted to ride the pony. She cried in line because she wanted to be on the pony so badly. Then she got on the pony and immediately brokedown and wanted off. So like the good mom I am, I took a picture first, then got her off.

 

Such a happy family. I left the house in my workout clothes that day. I looked awesome. Sweaty and totally gross. Maybe that's why they look so happy... stinky mommy.

Yep, we bought it.

Alright, alright! I'll post something to this abandoned blog!

So we bought a house. It's awesome. Then I quite my job.... hopefully we get to keep this house! HA!

Here's a picture of the outside. We closed on Halloween, Brett was Star Man, he looks creepy.

Do I dare...

I'm afraid to write it on the blog, cause what if something happens?! But I guess I've put it on Facebook, so why not the blog? WE'RE MOVING!! We found and are buying a great house in Woods Cross, that is all we've ever wanted, except for maybe a bigger backyard. That's all it needs to be the perfect house. But it's great! 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and an unfinished basement that we can finish as we need. We close on November 4!

Pictures still to come.

Now we just have to find a renter for our townhome. Oye.

Zuma Beach, Tower 7

Here's the family photos we got taken while in California. My old friend's wife took them. She's pretty freaking awesome!

Pops!

Pops (my dad) has some weird power over all the grandkids. They all love him and mine are not immune from his power. I caught some great shots of him with the kids the other day.

This wash cloth is good

Seriously, have you ever tried one? It's gooood.

Family photos 2011

While in Westlake, I wanted our pictures taken. I've always wanted family photos on the beach and I realized, right before we left for CA, that this may be the only chance we get for them. So I asked an old high school friend's adorable wife, if she would take them. She did and they are amazing!!

Here's a sneak peek from her blog!



See a few more on her blog. Cassaundra Hull.

California Dreamin'

Oh how I love California.

We went to California for my friend's wedding in LA. We stayed at Brett's friend's house in Vegas on our way. It was really fun to see them. Then on to the wedding. It was beautiful and amazing and I'm still totally jealous that she got to be married in the LA temple.... it was closed for renovations when I got married. Yeah, yeah, I've told this sob story for the last 5.5 years and I will tell it for the next 50.5 years! Deal with it! Anywho, we went to the wedding, hung out at the Griffith Observatory and Griffith Park. Went to Dukes for dinner with Brett's cousin... ahhhh Dukes... ahhh... Had family photos taken AT THE BEACH! Then made our way up to Northern California to hang out for the week. On our way we stopped in Solvang and had some awesome food. We stopped in Half Moon Bay for dinner and walking the shops then finished for the night in Monterey. There we went to the aquarium, where Gwen lost her mind for all the fishies! We ate some really good seafood too. We were in Monterey for a few days then went to Carmel to walk around the AMAZING beach and then headed to San Francisco for the rest of the week. In the city we got to see Aaren... one of my all time favorite people in the world and Jared... one of my all time favorite people in the world. We stayed at a hotel just a few blocks from the pier. We walked over there and hung out and ate, a lot. We also went to see the Palace of Fine Arts, which if I could live there, I would.

Anyways, here's pictures. Enjoy!

Remember that one time I did that one thing

And I swore I would never do it again? Yeah, I'm doing it again, but let's talk about the first time first.

June 11, 2011
My first half-marathon started when Bos was about 2 months old. One of my besties asked if I wanted to run the Utah Valley Half with her.... she said she would come up to Utah from CA just to do it. I have always wanted to do one, so I agreed and started training right then. I had 4 months to get into shape enough to finish it. That's all I wanted to do. Finish. My bestie had something come up and wasn't able to make it to the race, so she gave her spot to one of my other besties, Kathy. I forced her to do it with me. She had, oh, 3 weeks of training or so. What? That's plenty of time! She had done one before.

The day before the race I went down to Provo to spend the night at Kathy's house. We had to wake up at 3am to catch the bus to the start line. The race started at 6am. We woke up, got ready and headed out. I was more nervous the week before the race than I was the day of. I just wanted to get it over with. We sat at the starting line, freezing, yawing and trying to get mentally prepared for it.


The course was down Provo Canyon for 8 miles, then 5 miles down University. When the gun went off, the crowd of a few thousand started running. There were a couple of people I wanted to push over because they were bugging me, but I managed to control myself. At mile 2 there was a hill that lasted a whole mile. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. We managed to run it without any problems. Then the real downhill started. It was awesome and soooo beautiful. At mile 6 we couldn't believe we had already gone that far. It didn't feel like we had done anything. Then we came out of the canyon and had 5 miles of straight, hot, boring road to run. Yuck. YUCK. By mile 10 I was done. I asked my friend if we could just walk the rest, not that I really would have, but I was sooo over it! Just about that time a motorcycle cop came up behind us and asked us to move to our right. I thought it was weird since we were inside the cones, but we moved. Then I heard this loud, FAST pace coming up behind me. I thought, 'Who the freak is running this fast NOW? They should have finished by now if they are running that fast.' Yeah, it was 2 of the FULL MARATHON runners. They had started 13 miles above us, at the same time as us, and were passing us at mile 10! It might have been our mile 9, can't really remember. They weren't the last ones either. We got passed by probably 7 full marathon runners before we finished. They were amazing. Not interested in getting any cheers from us lame half-marathoners though. I guess if I had just run 23 miles in 2 hours and only had 3 to go, I wouldn't be interested in it either.

The finish line.... I swear it moved farther and farther away from us as we ran towards it. Just before we got into the shoot I heard a girl yelling for me. I don't know anyone in Provo anymore so I had no idea who it could be. It was my old high school friend, Michelle! She and her husband had finished a few minutes before me and were cheering on others. It was so great! We also saw Kathy's family cheering for us. But we didn't see mine. We crossed the finish line as they called our names. I almost died as we crossed the finish line. I wanted to take a nap right there.


Kathy went to see her family as I went to visit the porto-potty. When I came back, no Kathy, no Brett, no kids. I couldn't find anyone. I walked up and down the street and started to cry as I was looking for my family. I couldn't believe they had missed it. One of the biggest accomplishments in my life and they missed it. I tend to see the cup half empty, in case you didn't know. Finally after about 20 minutes I found them. They had seen me and had a sign for me. "My mom can beat up your mom!" Unfortunately they had forgotten the camera, so no pics, except for the really awesome fat shots that the race took.


After the race I got so sick, I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital. I had trained, I had run 11 miles before the race and not gotten sick. But this day I got sick, and I mean SICK. I couldn't get out of bed for the rest of the day and had terrible stomach issues all day and night and into part of the next day. That's why I swore I would never do another. But then I realized I wanted to beat my time. 2:44 isn't a good enough time for me.

The next one.... September 10. Mt. Nebo Half. The whole thing is in the canyon. I think you only run .5 miles out of it to the finish line, so it should be fun! Less boring. Training has started for it, which I hate, but I'm excited to see how my speed training affects my time. I better do better.

1 in 20 black birds

Sure sure, it wasn't a black bird, it was a crow. And there weren't 20, but it sounded like there were. Brett and I... ok, maybe more Stella than anyone, found a baby crow today. I had seen a crow hopping around on our grass all day. But I didn't think much of it. But when Brett came home, we realized that it was a baby that had been pushed out of the nest. Brett wanted to just let it die (cause he's a bad person). I called Animal Control, who told me to call Wildlife something or other. They told me to bring it in to them. I wasn't about to touch a crow, especially with all of it's family members screaming at me (I've seen "The Birds" thank you very much). So I made Brett do it! We put him in a box and drove him all the way up to Ogden. They said he was in really bad shape and that he would have to stay with them for a year until new feathers grew in! Poor little guy hadn't been taken care of by his crap parents and would have died if not for me. Cause I'm a good person!

**No birds were baked in a pie either, just in case someone was worried**
***This isn't a picture of our bird, I didn't take one of him***

Amen.

-Adam Brackney.