ISABELLE GRACE = 3

How's that for an algebra equation?  Our little Belly Cakes turned 3 on the 13th.  She has been acting like a 3 year old long before it was official.  For those who know her, you know how stinkin' adorable, temperamental, spunky, hilarious, feisty, stubborn and sweet she is.

She copies everything Jillian does and gets angry at the drop of a hat.  She loves, loves, loves to sing and dance around.  She has been 'shakin' it' since she could stand up.  Her hair has a personality of it's own and reminds me of the crazy snake hair of Medusa at times.  I love her little chubby buns and can't help but pinch them...at which she giggles and runs away.  She is Payton's little buddy.  She loves it when he gives her piggy back rides and gets upset when we won't let her sleep in his bed with him.

She loves books, my little ponies, dress-up, and attention.  She is not afraid to get dirty and her stained clothes and dirt filled finger nails prove that.  She tries so hard to keep up with her brother and sisters and wants to be included in everything.  "Guys...wait up."  "Guys, don't go without me."  And she is absolutely, "a big kid."

(She is 'twirling' in her new ballet outfit)

Happy Birthday!!

We love, love, love you... miss Isabelle Grace.

diligence;

I heard this poem read today under the topic of being more diligent.  I've heard it before...but it was different for me this time. So, I now share it with you.  You can thank me later.

THE RACE

They all lined up so full of hope,
Each thought to win the race,
Or tie for first, or if not that,
At least take second place.
~
And fathers watched from off the side,
Each cheering for his son;
And each boy hoped to show his dad
That he would be the one.
~
The whistle blew, and off they went,
Young hearts and hopes afire,
To win, to be the hero there
Was each boy’s desire.
~
And one boy in particular,
Whose dad was in the crowd,
Was running in the lead and thought,
My dad will be so proud.
~
But as they sped down the field
Across a shallow dip,
The little boy who thought to win
Lost his step and slipped.
~
Trying hard to catch himself,
His hands flew out in brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd,
He fell flat on his face.
~
So down he fell and with him hope,
He couldn’t win, not now;
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished
To disappear somehow.
~
But as he fell his dad stood up,
And showed his anxious face
Which to the boy so clearly said:
Get up and win the race.
~
He quickly rose, no damage done,
Behind a bit, that’s all;
And ran with all his might and mind
To make up for his fall.
~
So anxious to restore himself,
To catch up to win,
His mind went faster than his legs
He slipped and fell again.
~
He wished then he had quit before,
With only one disgrace;
I’m hopeless as a runner now,
I shouldn’t try to race.
~
But in the laughing crowd he searched,
And found his father’s face,
That steady look that said again,
Get up and win the race.
~
So up he jumped to try again,
Ten yards behind the last;
If I’m going to gain those yard,
I’ve gotta move real fast.
~
Exerting everything he had,
He regained eight or ten;
But trying so hard to catch the lead
He slipped and fell again.
~
Defeat: He lay there silently,
A tear dropped from his eye;
There’s no sense in running anymore
Three strikes I’m out, why try.
~
The will to rise had disappeared
All hope had fled away;
So far behind, so error prone
I’ll never go all the way.
~
I’ve lost... so what’s the use he thought,
I’ll live with my disgrace;
But then he thought about his dad
Who soon he’d have to face.
~
Get up -- an echo sounded low,
Get up and take your place;
You were not meant for failure here,
Get up and win the race.
~
With borrowed will, get up, it said,
You haven’t lost it all;
For winning is no more than this,
To rise each time you fall.
~
So up he rose to run once more,
And a new commit;
He resolved that win or lose the race,
At least he wouldn’t quit.
~
Three times he’d fallen, stumbling,
Three times he rose again;
Now he gave it all he had,
And ran as though to win.
~
They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed the line first place;
Head high and proud and happy,
No falling, no failing, no disgrace.
~
But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line last place,
The crowd gave him the greater cheer
For finishing the race.
~
And even though he came in last
With head bowed low unproud,
You would have thought he won the race
To listen to the crowd.
~
And to his dad, he sadly said,
I didn’t do so well;
To me you won, his father said,
you rose each time you fell.
~
And now when things seem dark
And hard and difficult to face,
The memory of that little boy
Helps me in my race.
~
For all of life is like that race
With ups and downs and all,
And all you have to do to win
Is rise each time you fall.

One DOZEN!!

There are a few things that come in dozens.  Eggs, for example...and doughnuts.  And now, our marriage!!

(I guess it doesn't actually come in a dozen...we've had to work for that.)

Doug and I celebrated our anniversary on September 11th.  The song you hopefully hear playing is the song we had our first dance to.  "To Make You Feel My Love"

Awe...sweet memories.

Yes, I can easily be all cheesy and say that these have been the best 12 years of my life.  That I am incomplete without this man beside me.  That he is my very best friend and my partner in crime.  He makes me laugh so much and makes me feel beautiful every single day.  I could go on and on.  I love being married to him.  I love the life we have together.

Here is just a short list of why...

A DOzEN of my FAV'S about BEiNG MARRiED to Douglas

1.  Comfortable Silence

The awesomeness of no pressure to converse with each other all the time to try and make ourselves seem more interesting or impress one another.

2. Telepathic Messages

Doug and I have this one joke (and he knows what I'm talking about) where we can just look at each other and know exactly what the other one is thinking.

3. Butterfly Moments

Yep...even after 12 years those butterflies in the tummy and chills up the spine still happen. This makes me smile.

4.  Quick Forgiveness

I don't know why...but Doug can never stay mad at me.  Maybe it's my sparkling personality, or the fact that if he doesn't just forgive me of my silliness and move on it would be much harder to live with me.  I do think this is finally wearing off on me though.  I tend to let things go faster and not hold a grudge as long.

5.  Brutal Honesty

Even though it hurts a little, we can ask the dreaded question "Do these jeans make me look fat?"  And answer honestly without the other one freaking out.  Truth is, we don't want the other one looking terrible, so we are going to tell each other if we do.

6.  Exchanging Favors

Well...I'm not sure if I should go into details about this one.  Let's just say it's sort of like "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine." 

7.  Athletic Supporters

Nope...not that kind. 

To me, Doug is the best dirt bike riding, Wednesday night basketball playing, fast running male around.  And to him, I'm the best running, duathleteing, yoga, pilates twisting woman around.

(In all actuality we are not.  But why would we think any differently of each other?)

8.  Sharing the Load

Most people know that Doug does the cooking in this household.  A long time ago we just decided that I would keep the house clean and he would take care of the dinner.  (Because apparently I am not a normal housewife that can do both.)  Most husbands that hear this think..."Dude, that stinks."  And most wives that hear this think, "Umm...are you serious?  That's awesome."

The only problem with this is when I don't get or keep the house clean...we still have to eat.  So Doug comes home to a messy house and he still has to make the dinner!!

9.  Love Languages

Knowing each others love languages is key in our relationship.  My love language is Words of Affirmation.  I love Doug to tell me how wonderful he thinks I am.  I love for him to notice when I have gone out of my way to do something and then have him say something about it.  Let me tell you...he is excellent at fulfilling this.  His love language, on the other hand is...Physical Touch.  He's a guy, enough said.  And I'm sure that he could tell you that I could be better at this!!

10.  Communication

We talk on the phone several times a day, text each other, leave each other little notes.  How mushy is that?  I don't care.  Bring on the mush. 

11.  Parental Control

This whole parenting thing is hard.  I'm glad that I have someone more level-headed then myself to figure this out with.  And I can't imagine figuring it out with anyone else.

12.  L.O.V.E.

I love being loved.  I love loving someone as much as I do Doug.  We have had some rough spots and challenges in this little relationship of ours.  But we have got up, brushed off the dirt and kept going.  And we will keep on going.  At least for another 12 years. 

Doug told me that he is ready to sign up for the next 12.  I said that he better be ready to sign up for more than that.  His response..."I am.  But I'm only signing up for 12 year terms.  That way I can renegotiate my contract."

Hmmm...maybe I should start cooking more often.

"But You're Here Doing It!"

Says the girl with two braids in a ridiculously chipper voice...every time we passed her.  She was obviously feeling pity for the girls in last place!!  I know she was trying to be encouraging and supportive, which is so awesome.  But hearing those words while you're barely able to pick your feet up off the ground is more like a swift kick to the seat of my padded cycling shorts!

"Oh you're last. You poor things!"

But, yes...we were there doing it.  And we finished.

Rewind to the beginning.

Me and miss Rachel.  Duathlon buddies!

ELMA, WA.

LABOR DAY DUATHLON

2.13.2

So we got there and we were nervous and it was cold.  It was our first duathlon and neither one of us really knew what to do.  Our mechanics (Doug and Greg) set up our bikes while Rach and I made a pit stop and I squeezed into my super hot padded cycling shorts.  Doug kept telling me it looked like I was wearing a diaper.  Thanks honey.

Rach gets frisky when she's nervous.

At the starting line.

The course was a back and forth course.  This is us on our way back from the first 2 mile run.

There was a triathlon going on at the same time.  The peeps that were doing that were out of the water and  passing us on their bikes before we were even to the half mile mark!!

Out for the 13 mile ride.

Back from the 13 mile ride.

Going out for the second 2 mile run.

(I had my pants on over my cycling shorts cause I was so cold!!)

This was the hardest part.  Trying to pick up my legs to run after riding on a bike for 13 miles was insane.  I felt like they weighed an extra hundred pounds each.  There is no exaggeration in saying that.  It may be different for other people and they may handle it better, but not for me or Rach.  It was difficult...to say the least.

But we kept going.

(and so did this guy!)

Back from the second 2 mile run.

Just about to cross the finish line.

All done.  And very tired.  It was hard.

And very touching.

Even though is was harder than we thought it would be and we finished last with times of  (me) 1:41:30 and (Rach) 1:41:35...we are so doing it again.  I still can't get over the feeling of accomplishment when I am done with any sort of race.  I worked hard.  I trained, I sweated, I doubted, I hurt.  But I did it.

WE DID IT!!

Thank you RR for doing this with me.  You rock sister!!  You know I love you!

So, on to more intense training. More sweat, more soreness, more pain, more adrenaline...I LOVE IT!!!  I can't wait.

P.S.

Olivia and Isabelle were having a little moment...

I stayed after...just in case...I were to receive something.  (Which actually makes me chuckle a little).   Low and behold,  I did.  But I assure you it wasn't because I placed.  I believe that they had some medals left over and they were just giving them out till they were gone.  I got the very last one.  But...a medal is a medal and you bet I ran up there like a giddy school girl and put that sucker on right away!!

P.P.S

Big shout out to Greg for letting me use his bike.  I promise that I will be getting one soon, so you will only have to loan it to me a few more times!!  ;)

And somehow those homemade chocolate chip cookies and package of Oreo's don't seem like a big enough 'thank you.'  I will have to come up with something else.

Back to School

The first day back to the books was on the 31st.  Savannah was super excited.  Payton on the other hand wasn't too thrilled about it.  We went to an open house the day before and met their teachers.  They both seem great and I am very optimistic about this year.  Not that I had a reason not to be.  So far, Payton and Savannah are excellent students.  So, no worries there.

As usual, I was running late so I snapped just a few pictures before their dad sped off to get them through the doors before the bell rang.

My fantastic 4th grader!!!

My sweet 2nd grader!!!

So another year begins.  My goals are; to get them there on time more often, be more on top of the information they bring home with them, and be more patient when I can't figure out my 4th graders math problems.

Our Last Hurrah of the Summer

The weekend before school started we hopped, skipped and jumped over to THE GREAT WOLF LODGE!!  The kids were ecstatic and enjoyed every last minute of it.  We were wet, giggly, and pruny for two days!!!  Here are some...ok, a ton, of shots from our adventure in water land.

It took a while for Iz to warm up to the whole water thing.

Crossing the Lily Pads

The Wave Pool

A little basketball

The in-between slides...

(Bigger than the toddler ones...smaller than the big ones)

The next morning the girls thoroughly enjoyed the best bubble bath ever.  The jets in the tub caused never ending fluffy bubbles.  The girls loved it!!

She sat there for a while...

Savannah's turn at the Lilly pads.

Jillian wasn't scared of anything here.  She went down every slide her little four year old body was allowed to go down. 

Savannah, on the other hand, didn't want to have anything to do with the slides that were bigger than the toddler ones.  But, she had a blast anyway!

Slip slidin away...

Doug and Payton on our favorite of the big water slides.  You will notice that there isn't too many pictures of Payton.  He kept disappearing, doin' his own thing.  I was surprised at how brave he was being.  He did all of the slides.  Even the ridiculous Howlin' Tornado!! 

The sun finally came out and they started up the outdoor 'tad pole' area.  I think Isabelle really enjoyed this part.  It felt so open and free out there.  Inside was so full of people and so loud that it was nice to get out and breathe in fresh air.

Payton didn't last too long out here...he bolted back inside where the fun was for him.

I think this was a fantastic way to end our summer break.  Going down the big water slides I kept hearing this funny, loud giggle.  I realized it was mine.  I had an incredible time with my amazing family!!!