Count Your Blessings

I have been avoiding posting, due to the negative spiral I was in for a few days wondering whether my parents home was still standing. I am happy to say it is finally official that it is still there. The fire was burning on both sides of their street and unfortunately many neighbors' homes were burned. We are especially grateful at this time that they will have a home to return to, thanks to the sacrifice and hard work of many fire fighters. We are still not sure when that will be. Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers.

I learned a lot about myself last week. I learned that I don't handle crises very well. I learned that I don't know how to tell people what I need. I learned that I don't know how to cry in front of people. I learned that even though I love listening to others' problems and trying to comfort them, I am not quite sure what to do when I am on the other end. I learned that I have friends who love me and would do anything for me. I learned that I must learn how to be emotionally fragile and be okay with it.

Mostly I learned that I need to allow myself to grieve and be sad, and then I need to move on. I need to control the things I can and not worry about the things I can't. I learned that I need to take care of my little family the best I can and know even when I come up short I am still doing my best-for that moment.

I really am grateful for all of my blessings. Wonderful family, great friends, and the Gospel. I have learned that is all I need right now.

Evacuation

What a crazy day this has been. My mom called this morning to tell me that they were being evacuated due to threat of wildfires. It was a blessing that my sister and her boyfriend were visiting so they were able to help my mom pack her things and get my dad safely out of there. They will be staying with her near the beach indefinitely. I have not been able to stop thinking about the fires. Here is the map of where the fires are. It is within a few miles of my parents home. Please keep them and the firefighters in your thoughts and prayers. The last big fires were 4 years ago and many people lost their homes. It is happening again. It really starts to put things into perspective.

A Birthday Fit for a Princess

Happy Birthday Emily! So, this has been a long time in the making. This party was supposed to happen last Saturday, and she woke up on Friday throwing up. Lovely! How do you cancel a birthday party? Luckily, Emily does not have a real concept of time, so it was not too hard to put her off. I am SO glad we did! She was in princess heaven.

I feel like I say this all the time, but I really mean it when I say I have AMAZING friends. This birthday party would not have happened if it were not for my good friend Leslie. I will have to do a whole post about her sometime. She wanted nothing more than to give my daughter the birthday of her dreams and she did just that! She told me all of her ideas, I added a couple of mine, and she just made the magic happen. We were up til midnight last night decorating and I felt like it was prom. We had a beautiful ballroom for Emily when she woke up.

Emily always talks about "Belle's beautiful yellow dress" so that was one of her surprises. I LOVE the hoop that makes the dress puff out at the bottom. I really think Emily looked like a princess.



Leslie made the most incredible castle cake I have ever seen. I am sure you will all agree. The only problem was that Emily could not stay away from it!



So, we invited 10 little girls and 5 little boys and told them to dress in their finest. So cute! They decorated tiaras for the girls and swords for the boys. Leslie made sashes for each of the girls with their names written in Old English lettering in glitter. They loved seeing their names! Perfect!

We painted their nails and put glitter in their hair with the help of 3 of my favorite girls. (Thanks to all of you!!)





Then they danced at the ball with the bubble machine going.



(Another great friend story. I know, I am lucky! I was at Suzie Petunia's house the other day, and I said, "Can I use your curtains?" So, that is where the beautiful backdrop for the ballroom came from. Thanks!!)

It is not a 3 year old birthday party without one potty accident, so other than that, it was just as Emily could have imagined it.

She had so much fun opening each and every princess gift and Jeff and I enjoyed peace while we cleaned up as she played with her presents for the next 2 hours. (Have I said how much I love my new floors? This was such an easy cleanup. Thanks again, Jeff!)



I was tired, so we went to Red Robin for dinner. Emily kept her Belle dress on and it was fun to see everyone's responses to her. She LOVED having them tell her she was beautiful.



Oh, did I forget to mention that the entrance to my house was a castle? Yep, Leslie, you are "awesome!"



Did I also forget to mention that I had to look the part also? Jeff did too, but lucky guy, the pics of him are on my other good friend's camera. (Thanks Marie for being willing to take all the pics so I could enjoy the party!) He looked smokin' hot if I do say so myself.

Wow, what a day.

I can't believe she is 3 already. She has been so much fun and so different from her brother.

Things I love about Emily:

1. She always gives me kisses.
2. She likes to read books. (About princesses.)
3. She carries her princesses everywhere.
4. She loves to make Bryce smile.
5. She is very giggly.
6. She is rough and tumble and girly all at the same time.
7. She is very sensitive and will say sorry if she ever thinks I am upset with her.
8. She adores her dad.
9. She likes to watch superheroes with her brother.
10. She has beautiful big brown eyes.

Things That Make Me Happy

I have a lot to be grateful for today:

1. My new camera(bought it on sale-yeah!)
2. No more sick kids.
3. A new toy that is played with for hours. (building and rebuilding the track in many different ways.)



4. A feisty little princess. Some of my recent favorites of Emily's:

"I don't want to go to bed. I went to bed yesterday."
"I can't say prayer, I'm eating."
5. A baby who is sleeping through the night in his own bed again-yeah!
6. A husband who feels appreciated where he works.
7. Flowers- just because from said sweet husband.


Despite the blahness from last week- life is good!

I am not able to upload pics right now. I will add them later.

My first Meme

I have been tagged by Valerie, who has known me the longest, so here it goes:

4 Things About Me:

Jobs I've had:
1. Mom(which includes snuggler, book reader, disciplinarian, sometime housecleaner)
2. Taco Time (still the best burrito roller)
3. Research Scientist (very loosely at a multi-level marketing company)
4. Kids Gym Teacher at the YMCA
5. too many more to count

Places I have lived:
1. Highland, CA
2. San Bernardino Mtns, CA
3. Provo, UT (with 4 month internships to Texas and Colorado)
4. Portland, OR

Food I love:
1. Olive Garden Breadsticks
2. Spaghetti
3. Mexican
4. A good sandwich (made by someone else)

Websites I visit:
1. Blogs of my friends
2. Coolrunning.com
3. MSNBC.com (for the news updates, and I reluctantly admit, the gossip)
4. Newsnet.byu.edu

Places I'd rather be:
1. In Hawaii(someday)
2. At Lake Powell
3. Disneyland
4. With my Family (especially my dad)

Movies I love:
1. Little Mermaid
2. Princess Bride
3. Grease
4. While you were sleeping

TV shows I watch:
1. Scrubs
2. Biggest Loser
3. So You Think You Can Dance
4. The Office

People I tag:
I am one of the last of my blogging friends to do this, so anyone who hasn't done it, go for it!

Weekend Getaway-with a marathon thrown in!

Thanks to a great friend, I have a camera to use until my new one comes in. (Thanks Carrie) So, here is a cute pic of Bryce and his toes.

This weekend has been in the works since I was 6 months pregnant and agreed to run a marathon less than 5 months after having a baby. I should never be held accountable for a decision I make when I am pregnant. In fact, I should never make a decision when I am pregnant. :-) So, we found out in May that we were selected by a lottery process to run the St. George Marathon. (Isn't it crazy that people are actually TURNED AWAY from running a marathon?!) Anyway, I didn't really think about it until after I had the baby. I refused to commit until I knew that:

a. My baby sleeps through the night.
b. My baby takes a bottle.
c. My body remembers how to run.
d. My body remembers how to run long distances.

When all those things were in place (about a month before the marathon) I bit the bullet and bought tickets for Jeff and I. The only glitch was that I would be gone over Emily's birthday(the only FULL day we were gone), and , oh yeah, that I would have to run a marathon. Also, about 2 weeks before the marathon, Bryce conveniently decided to stop taking a bottle. Just to complicate things!

There was a whole group heading out there. We met on Saturdays to run (well, we met and then I ran by myself) and everyone was pretty pumped to run. Jeff and I went to Vegas on Thursday night and stayed with my great friend, Laura. It was the best sleep I have had (even after staying up til 1am chatting.) I ended up leaving something in her car, so Friday started out a little hectic, but once we met up with the group it was better. We rented a 15 passenger van and headed to Vegas. (Unfortunately Suzie Petunia and her hubby weren't with us yet because their daughter was sick. :-(

We showed up at a beautiful 5,000 square foot house in St. George. Jeff and I were lucky enough to land the master bedroom. (Thanks Bryce!) We headed to pick up our packets and all of a sudden it felt real. We had an awesome carb-loading dinner made for us by the brother of one of the runners. (He is also the one who lives in the house. Thanks Jason!) We went to bed somewhat early, but then Bryce decided not to sleep well. Eventually we had a little bit of sleep and then Saturday morning around 4am we were headed to the race. For the full report, go to my marathon mommies site.

After the run, I talked with Ellen for a little bit and then we headed out to lunch. We then headed back to Vegas where I was able to spend more time with Laura and meet her nice boyfriend, James. What a quick, lovely trip!


I missed my kids, but they were well taken care of. Thanks Heather and Steph. Heather made sure that Emily had a great day on her actual birthday and we will celebrate it "princess" style on Saturday. Now I just want to sleep...