2009 Part 1

The past 12 months have been intense ones for me. When I envisioned my life as a mother I saw peace and quiet and of course, I never yelled. And although I have whittled my life down to the bare necessities, it is still a mad dash. Between schools, therapy, YW, a husband who owns a busy law firm/title company, and now my early morning trainings-I've left most of our life unwritten.

So I purpose to do a pictorial recap--nothing fancy, mostly pictures that have sat lonely hoping to see their day in the sun. Maybe there will be some slight explanations-mostly for my memory.

(These will be in no particular order)



So I think this may be from the 4th of July, whatever it was it was awesome.



Let's take some Michigan. As a child I remember finding plenty of tree frogs among this myrtle. I don't find that I like to adventure among the Myrtle like I used to.





This photo pretty much sums up the essence of my year.



I never wrote about my grandfather--or about how extraordinarily large my hair was in Michigan-XXL.







My dad is a "subtle" fanatic.








Lake Michigan water is cold, but I consider myself incredibly lucky to have contracted skin cancer on that beach and in those waters.

Well, that's all the reminiscing I have time for today.

If you are really lucky, you may be able to view another installment.

Family Pictures...

Since we like to make it a nail biter...we waited until this last Sunday to have our family Christmas card photos taken by my sister in-law Kate. Taking family pictures with a bunch of little children is always something special.

But this year, it wasn't so horrible.

Kate is good at what she does, and my children were promised suckers, so I suppose you cannot go too wrong with a sugar incentive.

It has been ridiculously cold outside so because of our profound procrastination, we now have inside photos.

This is one of my favorites because only 2 of my children have their tongues sticking out. Score.

But oh my beautiful girls. I promised them sound of music hair.

You know, the family photos I love of my youth, are not the ones where everyone is perfectly positioned and behaved (as if those even exist), the family photos I love to look at are the ones that make me laugh and remind me of my siblings' young personalities.



So maybe family pictures aren't something to stress over,

maybe they should just be enjoyed.

And if all else fails we always have the photo below to beautify our 2009 Christmas card.

Thanksgiving '09

The dashboard read 28 degrees. My hands, toes and daughters said it was too cold to run the 4 mile turkey trot in Orem--but I could taste revenge.

For a year now, I've had my brother Tim in my sights. Last year Tim ran the trot in 22 minutes. How dare he. Who does he think he is anyway? Doesn't he know that I am the best runner even though I haven't trained to be the best runner in like...18 years?

So Thanksgiving morning, it was showdown time.

Sure, I had only started running 3 times a week 4 weeks prior to the race, and sure I am female--almost 13 years Tim's senior, and I had just had a huge chunck of flesh carved out of my big toe by the dermatologist, but no little brother of mine is going to show me up.

So the race began with the traditional segregation of the men and women. Don't ask me why. And try as I might, when we merged I could not find Tim. But my dad found me and no matter what I did I could not shake him. I would sprint ahead of a small crowd thinking I ditched him and then I'd see him at my heels again like some lost dog. He was ruining my game.

The above paragraph is a joke dad, I appreciated running with you.



The race ended with my dad at my heels and Tim finishing 10 minutes faster than I. I suppose that's not so bad for only a months worth of work.

But I'm still running Tim, and I'm not stopping...it's only a matter of time.

In other Thanksgiving news:







We partied and took really fuzzy phone photos.



We ate, we laughed, we thanked.








And when it's all said and done, I am grateful. What a good family I have. There are no people I look forward to spending time with more than you--that includes you, Sarah Louise. And you too Tim.

We missed you Nate, Sarah, and Cathy.

Mastitis

Red, burning, aches and chills mastitis on top of, an achy, chilly, depleting cold on top of, 5 extra large aching holes that the dermatologist decided to carve out of my body.

And YW in excellence is tomorrow.

Rock on.

I don't want to brag or anything...

but we were ten minutes early to nine o'clock church for no good reason other than we are super righteous. Top that!

Guess What?!

I'm not pregnant! And as much as I would love to have another baby (someday), this is seriously a record for me. And, it feels strangely good. A perfect reason to celebrate, right? Who would like to join me?

Life is full at the moment and as soon as someone doesn't need me right this second, I will write more.

A little bit of afterglow

I just got done hosting a neighborhood luncheon--I made a clam chowder. It feels like it went well and I have resolved to have more neighbors over no matter how busy it gets.




There is left-over chowder, my neighbor left me a loaf of homemade bread, the after party cleaning is complete, my baby and I are snuggling beside a window looking out over a dimmly lit valley and listening to an angry wind pound our hill top.



But it feels cozy and harmonious in here.