New York, New York

Back in November, we watched our good friend Ranell's kids for a week, so in May it was her turn to return the favor! I am so glad I have friends willing to do this kind of trade. We chose to go to New York because neither of us had ever been there and my Uncle George has a place in Manhattan and LOVES being the tour guide. We were told not to plan a thing, but of course I found a couple of things before we got there. The first thing we did was run a race through Central Park.

Running is my favorite way to see a new city, and what better way to do it, then to run it with 8,000 other New Yorkers! It was a beautiful race and the only bummer was that Jeff was running on a broken tibia (didn't know it at the time) and had to stop after 2 miles.

I had never been to an art museum, so I was very excited that our "tour" would include the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I could have stayed there for days. It is amazing!

The one plan I made was to go to a taping of David Letterman. I had emailed them months before and got the call 2 days before we left. All I had to do was answer a trivia question. I was reminded why I should never be in a situation where you have to think on your feet! Luckily they still gave us the tickets and we had a fantastic time. I even got emotional as I remembered all the nights I spent watching the show with my dad. Great memories.

Broadway was on the list and the first one we saw was Mary Poppins. We had great seats and I thought it was phenomenal! It was so much fun and even Jeff enjoyed it.

The only bummer about the week was the weather. I apparently took the rain from Oregon and brought it to New York. I left my little town with a week of sunshine (you're welcome Oregon) and we had pretty wet weather. We decided to take off for 2 days to my uncle's getaway in Pennsylvania and it was beautiful and peaceful. Some of my favorite parts of the trip happened there including having our own private chef who made us amazing meals! (and then wouldn't let us clean up!) It was heavenly. We had great conversation and I enjoyed spending time with my Uncle. He is intelligent and an artist and from Cuba and has had many amazing life experiences. He also had fun stories to share about when my dad was little.

The rest of the time in New York was spent enjoying the city sights. We rode on the Staten Island Ferry, took the subway, and walked everywhere you could think of. We ate great food every night and just enjoyed being together. One of the most emotional sites was the Ground Zero Memorial. I was awestruck and subdued thinking of all the lives that were lost on that tragic day.

Our last day we did a "crazy Kelly" trip and took a rental car to Boston. We walked around Boston, which was so cool , including seeing MIT and part of the Freedom trail. We then watched the Red Sox kill the Cubs 15-5 and drove straight back to New York to catch our flight home at 6am the next morning. Crazy end to an awesome week with my sweetheart! I love any time I get with him.

Thanks Ranell for making that week possible! We got back on Bryce's birthday and celebrated at Red Robin and then with our friends the Jensens. Bryce and Melissa share a birthday so it is always fun to see them.

Top 20 ways to move in a week and (mostly)survive!

This post is for Suziepetunia. She is one of my closest friends and is more like a sister than just a friend. We met briefly 8 years ago, but then 6 years ago became running partners and a lifelong friendship began. In March of this year, her husband was offered a great, exciting job opportunity, but the bummer for me is that the job is in another state. We had recently become next door neighbors and were enjoying the time together. I thought we would be next door for a couple of more years. I was very disappointed, but excited for them to have a new adventure. Her husband has already started his new job, so much of the packing and moving would be done by her- this week! They had a pod delivered to her house last Friday and the fun started! Taylor helped her over the weekend and then had to go do that work thing! She made a list of which area she would pack each day. She was very methodical about it and I was impressed with her optimism. :-)
Here are some of the highlights that made the move successful:

20. Let your neighbor's husband and your husband play Tetris with the boxes to get as much space out of that tiny pod. Finish with the beloved mattress!


19. Pass on some of your unwanteds to your good friend!
18. Somehow in the middle of all this, help your son earn his green belt!(figuring out that a good friend who also happened to be a 2nd grade teacher could help him write his reports! Thanks Trina!)

17. Find your son's DS that has been missing for 9 months and be able to laugh at the irony that it was found in its correctly labeled bin- where it should have bin!
16. Allow your husband to give away your perishables by first attempting to auction it off!

15. Let your neighbors light a big fire with your stuff you are throwing out! (wish I had a better picture- it was too awesome to take my eyes off to get the camera)

14. Have your kids help! (Even if they sometimes put boxes on their head.)

13. Give your 12 year old the label maker and she will have fun!

12. Go running 5 of the 6 days you are moving even if you are exhausted. Some of those runs will end up being walks, but they will all be worth it.

11. On the last run, do your most favorite(hard) run and take lots of silly pictures! (Spencer, you can see the view is much better on a clear day! Wish we had your mad photography skills to capture this! We had to ask random strangers driving by!)

10. Follow your list and when your packing for the day is done- celebrate with your friends and kids! Go bowling followed by Sonic (Although 10 kids under 10 really was a little crazy!) Enjoy having just 1 kid to get ready because another good friend (Ranell) had your other kids for a few hours.

9. On a beautiful day, even when your list isn't done yet, join your good friend at the pool (without your kids!) and get a break! Then let your kids come and swim while you get back to packing!

8. Let people take your kids and have members of the ward help you when you are about to have a mental breakdown when you realize how much you have left to do.

7. Stay up until 1am going through clothes and loading the truck with your best friend, and find things to laugh about. Such as boxes in boxes and bags of bags. Maybe you won't get these jokes later, but it helped us to survive!

6. Enjoy the meals brought by many good friends who love you. (Even share them with your neighbor!)

5. Get rid of your guilt by taking pictures of some of the sentimental items that you are throwing away.

4. If in doubt, throw it out. (Especially at the end!)
3. Find out how much you are loved by having a party on your own property the night before you leave and have over 100 people show up.

2. Have help from great family members who show up to help finish things off.

1. Let your neighbor do the fun stuff and take your kids to the Balloon Festival while you finish off the last of the cleaning!

I could go on and on about my friendship with Sarah. Very shortly after beginning to run with her, I wrote this post about her on her 30th birthday. We were instant friends. Spending hours a week running and talking sure cements a friendship. She has seen me at my best and worst and loves and accepts me as I am. She was there through an ADHD diagnosis, the loss of my father, my frustrations with my weaknesses, and all the fun stuff in between. We have some great memories that I will always cherish. Our families became entwined as our friendship grew. Living next door these last 8 months has allowed us to have even more experiences and makes it that much harder to lose them. I know we will keep in touch and I do look forward to hearing more about her new life with her family. I am just so grateful I had these last 6 years with her. The memory that sticks out to me that shows her dedication and love as a friend is when she offered to come with me to California to watch Bryce while I was at my dad's funeral. It was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me and I don't know if she knows how much it meant to me. That is one of the hardest, most awkward times to be around someone and she was willing to do it. Taylor took time off work also so she could be there. I knew then how special her friendship was. We were pregnant at the same time and had Bryce and Alice 6 weeks apart. That was also a special time to share. There are so many more memories I could share. I feel lucky to be her friend.
Good luck in this big step, Giles Family. We love you and will miss you so much. Sarah, I still look forward to many, many more years of friendship and memories, even if many of them will be long distance. You are amazing! There are great things ahead for you- I just know it!
(PS This started as a top 10, but there was too much to share! This process was not easy by any means, but with a good friend it is always more enjoyable. It was like a big slumber party without the frozen panties!)

Happy Mother's Day

Well, I am almost caught up! I have a trip to Utah where I was able to meet my new beautiful niece- but I didn't have my camera! So, I need to get Shelly's pics and then I will update those!

For now, I just want to talk about how grateful I am for my 3 munchkins who teach me how to be a mother. I learn so much from them every day. I am grateful that they were sent to me and that Heavenly Father trusts me to be their mom. They are all 3 sweet, special kids with unique personalities. I hope they know how much I love each one of them.

I made a big decision this week to quit my job at the YMCA. I have been there for 9 years (part time.) I started working in Child Watch, and then teaching Kids Gym and the Special Needs group, and then for the last 3 years I have been in Fitness, as a personal fitness instructor, running coach, 8 Weeks to Wellness teacher and most recently a personal trainer. I love it and I love helping others with their fitness goals.

However, I feel right now, the place I need to give my focus is with my kids. Emily will be going to first grade and I want to be able to use this last bit of time with her. I am thoroughly enjoying the stage that Bryce is in and helping encourage his love of reading. Dallin continues to amaze me with his maturity, and I don't want to miss out on time with him now that he is in school all day. They are the most important thing to me and I look forward to this extra time with them. I will miss the Y, but I am excited to just be "mom" for a while! I will go back to the Y when I feel the time is right. I am grateful that they were so supportive of my decision.

Tulip Festival 2011

Tulips are my favorite flower and I look forward to their (short) season each year. One of my favorite places to visit is the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival. We had not been able to get there, but I finally decided on Thursday just to up and go! I am so glad I did! We left Dallin since he wasn't home from school yet (and didn't want to go anyway!) and grabbed Alice from next door. I love watching kids play when there are no screens around! Their favorite part was the ducky races. They could have stayed there for hours. I was grateful that we got there late enough that the bounce houses were closed! :-)