no I'm not kidding...

he flooded the upstairs bathroom again. I was working on a craft downstairs with the girls. It's not terribly unusual for Charlie to play in the playroom by himself. Brenna left the room and when she came back she said, "Mom, Charlie flooded the bathroom again". Oh my, that little stinker. The bathroom is now locked!

Todd's List of 100

Hi all ... Todd here. I read Liz's 100 List post and thought it was a great idea ... here's mine ...

1. I get distracted easily.
2.

quick update...

1. Charlie flooded the bathroom this morning. He turned on the water, plugged the sink and watched the water rise. When he realized he was in over his head (so to speak), he started yelling. That's when we heard him and then realized that he had the water running too. Oh my! There was an inch of water in the bathroom. It all happened so quickly right before church so there are no pictures.

2. We got a dog! Yes...you read that correctly...we got a dog. I'm not sure I thought I would ever be able to say that. The guilt finally got to me and I felt like I was cheating my children the opportunity to bond with a dog.(whatever?)Todd rang the door bell and all the children got to meet Missy at the front door!

(check her out! she has an underbite with a little snaggle tooth! Cute!)

The kids are in heaven. She is an all black, nine month old Shih-Poo. Really cute! She has pooped in my house two times. Yikes! What have I gotten myself into. I've always said I would NEVER have an indoor dog! I'm coping okay though. You can send condolence letters to.... Just kidding! She is a really sweet dog with a great temperment.

3. Todd got a new calling in church today. Ward Mission Leader. He is really excited about it and both of us (mostly Todd) are having tons of ideas and thoughts about missionary work for our ward boundaries.

4. Hobby Lobby opened up 3 miles from my home. Need I say more?

5. Todd got a new job. He will be a Real Estate Attorney for Walton International. We are really excited about the prospect. I'm praying that the atmosphere(mostly the language) will improve. That was a big issue for us at Robson.

6. I have to run atleast 16 miles a week until the end of the year to make my 800 mile running goal. I found a new, more shaded course to run. Thank heavens because it is hot out there.

7. Todd was trying to help me out with my page header and put some goofy "Paris France" border on my picture. The "Paris France"thing I'm sure is great for something but not around a picture of Charlie and Eliza giving hugs. Oh...it's funny when husband's try to help sometimes. Gotta love 'em. I'll change the header as soon as I get around to it.

8. I took the girls to see "Kit Kittredge" Friday night with some friends and their daughters. SO GOOD!! We loved it! Really...I can't say enough good things about it. You've gotta see it!

9. One more thing about the dog...Last week Eliza's prayer went something like this..."Dear Heavenly Father...I want a dog..."

100 things about me...

33 years and counting...

I've promised myself for the past severals months that for my birthday I would create a 100's list. A list of 100 random things about me. Kristi did this on her blog and I thought it was a really great thing to do. So happy birthday to me! This took me almost all day. I guess I should have started on my birthday present earlier. Now I'm off for a date night with my hubby. I don't know what he has planned. This doesn't happen often(him planning a date) so I'm really looking forward to it.

Here's my list:

1. I have crooked pinky's. A trait I share with my mom and her mom.
2. I have blistex with me at all times. And if I don't, I'm sad.
3. I eat ketchup on my eggs and roast dinner.
4. I love the sound of running water. I try to be earth friendly in many ways but I use more than my share of water in the bath and shower.
5. I hate seafood of any kind. The smell of it makes me lose my appetite.
6. I sleep completely covered in blankets except for my feet. They have to out of the blankets!
7. I don't like drinking cold water. It has to be room temperature. And I always have a water bottle with me(sometimes 2 or 3).
7. I hate disappointing people especially my family(more especially my parents).
8. I don't like clutter. Clutter makes my brain feel cluttered and I can't think and then I stress.
9. I am taking piano lessons again. As an adult, I have regretted quitting piano when I was a teenager.
10.I hate my feet and have an obsession with looking at other peoples feet and judging whose feet I like. (I know...that one is kind of weird)

11. I love my babies feet. I squeeze them, kiss them, eat them! Charlie's feet are so yummy and chubby still.
12. I'm a little bit of a "home-body". I like the idea of traveling but I'm always glad to get back home to my own bed, my own space, and my own schedule.
13. I love a good deal from garage sales or goodwill.
14. I like to peel sunburns that are peeling and get really frustrated that Todd hates that.
15. I am obsessed with vacuuming. It takes a lot of self control to not get the vacuum out more. My children will need therapy from this obsession. They don't understand why their mom has to vacuum all of the time.
16. I don't like sandwich meats. In fact, I don't really like lunch at all. I would rather eat a cookie and call it lunch.
17. I don't save things a whole lot but I save almost every card that anyone sends me.
18. I get car sick and HATE it.

19. I love lightning bugs.
20. I hate boxed food like hamburger helper or brownies. Made from scratch ONLY!!
21. I'm a total food snob and my husband teases me about it constantly! It can be a terrible trait. I'm very careful which restuarants I go to(especially fast food) and don't eat just any dish from a pot luck. It mainly stems from my "germ" problem.
22. I am constantly coming up with ideas in my head but never find the time to actually make them or do them.
23. I think ribbon completes everything. If I could get away with putting a bow on Todd and Charlie, I would...just kidding!
24. I hate disappointing people especially my family(more especially my parents).
25. I cry whenever I read the Ensign or Friend.
26. I love children's books and could spend hours looking in the children's section of Barnes and Noble.
27. I have lived in Kentucky, Tennessee, Utah, and Arizona.
28. In my next life I want to perform on Broadway. Is that bad that I've completely given up any hope of developing any more of my singing and dancing talents? I'm too old!

29. I could sit in a Broadway theatre for hours just watching.
30. I worry way too much about what other people think about me...it goes back to that "not wanting to disappoint people".
31. I cut my baby dolls hair when I was young and thought it would grow back. Her name was Baby Beth.
32. I loved monkeys when I was a kid and was convinced that I should have one as a pet. I planned it all out in my head and tried to convince my mom but she was never sold on the idea. I had several stuffed animal monkeys. My favorite one was named David after my oldest sisters boyfriend.

Isn't he a cutie!

33. I remember being insanely jealous of my baby brother when he was a baby until about the time he was age 5. He was so darn cute and got way too much attention. I'm over it now and spoil him insanely myself.
34. My smile is crooked and I never noticed it until about 2 years ago.
35. My favorite smell is Sunday roast.
36. I am not all that good at keeping in touch with people. There are several people that come to mind quickly that I wish I still lived around and kept in touch with more.
37. I am very competitive. Not in sports. The closest thing to sports that I have ever done is run. But I like to be the best at making things, the one who goes to "full pose" in yoga, the first one dressed in the temple, etc.
38. I always sleep with a water bottle and blistex by my bed.
39. I like to fix my daughter's hair and bite my tongue when they insist on fixing it themselves.
40. I love Primary music.

41. I cry at the end of every general conference.
42. My first job when I turned 16 was at Baskin-Robbins. I gained atleast 10 pounds when I worked there.
43. I like desserts that are thick moist chocolate. Nothing boxed though!
44. I love to clean my house. Again, my children will all need therapy over my obsessive need to pick up all of the time.
45. I have always been blessed to have awesome neighbors.
46. I'm still getting use to having neighbors. Growing up my nearest neighbor was a mile away.
47. I love flowers and one day want to have lots of flowers, plants, bushes, trees in my yard.
48. I love walking into the temple and being greeted by the man who checks your temple recommend. At that moment, I know I've left the world behind.
This quilt that I made went to this family in Africa.
These are bags I made when I use to make and sell bags.
49. Once I learned to sew(well, I know how to sew a little bit), it opened up a ton of creative options and options for giving gifts.
50. I always think of tons of things I could do for people or things to give to people but then don't end up doing half of it.
51. Bad language disgusts me.
52. I am spoiled by having the best friends in the world.
53. My ideas always exceed my capabilities.


54. I like being with my husband more than anyone else in the world. Most of the time I feel like I'm living in a fairy-tale with my dream come true husband and then(record scratches!) the children start arguing, the house is a mess, laundry needs to be done and my husband runs off to work or church meeting...reality!
55. My hair has a really funky natural curl in it. Not the good kind of funky curl but the kind that would keep me from ever being on "Survivor" because I wouldn't be able to use a hair dryer or flat iron to look cute.

56. I admire my mom and dad.

57. I love tree swings.
58. One of my fondest memories....One summer while Todd was on his mission, my mom and I would get up early in the morning to ride horses together.

59. I love being around horses. I love riding horses. I still get a little nervous every time I go to ride.
60. I think making singers or actors your idols is foolish.
61. I know the tune to a ton of songs but I couldn't tell you the name of the song, the singer/band, or sing half of the correct words.
62. I love eating chocolate chip cookie dough. I almost always have frozen cookie dough balls in my freezer ready to cook.
63. I have a hard time sitting down to read. I have the constant need to be doing something. Cleaning, making something, doing something with the kiddos.
64. I have never been a consistent journal writer and wish I were.
65. Yoga is my sanity.
66. Running makes me feel like I've accomplished something.
67. I don't like my hips.
68. I don't like my profile.
69. I guess I better say something I like about my appearance...I like my lips,my legs, and my hands.(wow that was harder than it should have been...I better work on that)
70. I still have a scar on my right pointer finger where I burned myself as a teenager checking the Sunday roast. But the funny thing is that no one else can see it.
71. I didn't like my Senior year in High School except for being with Todd.
72. I always get a good parking spot except at Lifetime Gym(I've gotta figure that out).
73. My Grandmother(Ruby Doll) always called me Pumpkin when I was little.
That's McKay getting his Eagle(I wish I had a picture of he and I at my baptism)(That's my mom and dad with him)
74. My older brother McKay baptized me when I was eight.
75. I dream of serving a mission with Todd for the church when we're older.
76. Quite often I put a damp washcloth on my feet to go to sleep.
77. I want to afford to buy only organic foods.
78. I'm not very good at playing Barbie's and my heart sinks a little bit every time my girls ask me to play Barbie's with them.
79. I was surprised at how much I liked Disneyland.
80. I refuse to buy clothing that has characters on it. ie. Hannah Montana, Disney Characters, Hello Kitty, Dora
81. I get distracted easily.
82. I attended 4 Colleges/Universities and don't have a Bachelors Degree.
83. I get the hiccups everytime I drink carbonated drinks.
84. I hate cleaning out the refrigerator.
85. I try to act braver than I really am.
86. I don't like crowds.
87. I want to be a better photographer when I have more time to learn how. But I fear that I'm missing the best time to learn how to be a photographer while my kids are young.
88. I don't own lots of different shoes. I stick with brown, black and a pair of tennis shoes.
89. I don't like nick-nacks or collectibles.
90. I love coconut and chocolate combinations.
91. I love myself and am happy I can say it.
92. I love being with my children individually in the morning. (if one wakes up earlier than the rest and we can have one on one time first thing in the morning)
93. I love going to the movie theater to watch a movie but don't often do it. Blockbuster gets our business.
94. I habitually rub the same spot on my husbands hand when we hold hands and he's so tolerant of it.

95. Todd and I almost always go to the grocery store at the end of our date night.
96. I love creeks.
97. I really like for someone to brush my hair.
98. I want to be best friends with my sisters.
99. I expect things to always go well. (okay...I'm not always an optimist but I'm working on it)
100. 2007 was one of the best years of my life.

swimming like a fish

Emma Grace and Eliza took swim lessons at the very beginning of the summer from Susan Webb. Emma Grace is such a great swimmer and did so well learning all of the strokes. She let me know that the butterfly stroke was hard.
On the last day of swim lessons, one of the dads brought their pet bird with a bird diaper on. Who knew they made such a thing? But how nice of him to put the bird diaper on so the bird wouldn't go poo on us.
Susan was so great and consistent with Eliza who didn't want to do much swimming. Eliza can do most anything but it has to be on her terms.
By the end of the week she finally did this nice "superman glide". Now it's been a month since lesson and she is swimming like a fish whenever we go swimming. In fact, sometimes she gets a little too daring and makes me a tad bit nervous.

And, in true Eliza style, she wore her boots to swim lessons. I've since hidden the boots for the summer...it's way too hot for your toesies to be stuck in boots.

making jellyfish

This is a fun, fast, and easy summer craft for kiddos.

We invited our little neighbor friends, (Kendall , Ethan, Rachel and Lauren) over. We read a book about Jellyfish and then made our own Jellyfish out of construction paper, yarn, and google eyes. After they made the Jellyfish, they played a little game of tag using their jellyfish to sting each other.

Here's how you make them:

Cut 2 bodies out of the construction paper. Cut yarn the desired length. Glue the yarn to one piece of the construction paper body. On the other piece of construction paper, glue the googly eyes and draw a smile. Glue the two pieces of the body together with the yarn that is glued down on the inside.

ragnar relay

TEAM FEARLESS

"LIVE BY FAITH...NOT BY FEAR"

2 vans
12 people
1 mountain
180 miles

____________________
all adds up to one insane time!

Last fall when Tara asked Todd and I if we were interested in running a 180 mile relay, I was on board. By the time March and April of this year rolled around and I had already run 2 half marathons and injured my knee, I was not all that thrilled about the upcoming experience. But I continued to do my best at training without hurting my knee anymore. The last several weeks before the race we all began reporting our weekly miles to Tara. She then sent out an email telling us how much we had run collectively and who ran the most miles. The boys on the team{Brian, Gary, Brad, and Todd mostly} became really competitive about it. They each took turns winning the weekly miles. During that time I was lucky enough to wake up to Todd saying, "I hate running" almost every morning. But he was so determined to win the weekly miles that he kept going. He's a nut! He swore he was never going to run again once the Ragnar was over. It's been 2 weeks since the Ragnar and he's still running!

{Spencer and Ethan chowin' on some carbolicious fetteccini.}
The night before the race we went for the traditional "before the run" meal...italian carb loading. We met up at Robintino's in Bountiful, Utah.
There were 500 teams all made up of 4 to 12 people. We had 12 people on our team. There were six people in Van 1{Brad, Sarah, Liz, Todd, Ethan, Alexa} and six people in Van2{Gary, Tara, Brian, Julie, Brady, Spencer}. We were there bright and early for our start time. Alexa stepped out of the van that was parked next to the curb of the street. She didn't look down and she stepped into a puddle{a not so very clean puddle} of water up to her knees, literally. Oh, what a way to start this race. It was yucky but it was pretty funny. Even Alexa could laugh about it later. It seems like that ended up being the theme of the entire race. Kind of yucky while it's happening...but oh so fun and fun to laugh about.
The starting time for your team was based on your average minutes per mile for your team. This was a number that we had to give the Ragnar people before hand. The very first teams started at 7AM. Our team started at 8AM so we weren't the SLOWEST team there!! The team that came in first ran the entire race in 17 hours. Our team ran it in 32 hours. Our average mile ended up being 10:45 which is not too bad considering we were a team that was really in it for the fun of it all. So when all of the really fast track and cross country runner were passing you by you just had to keep that in mind.When we got there that morning we put our awesome car decorations on...vinyl lettering...hooray! Tara sells vinyl lettering so she made it all for us. The "insane-o-meter" was our favorite! {Todd's idea...he's a creative genious!} We got tons of comments on it and people wanted to take pictures of it. So we think other teams might try to copy it next year. So we decided that next year we'll have to put "the original insane-o-meter".




Sarah was our first runner in our van. She smoked the first leg of the race by running 8:30 minutes per mile. Good job Sarah!

Alexa kicked butt on her first leg too. You should have seen the hill she ran up! By the time we came to the hill{sitting in our nice comfy van} she had already passed it up. I couldn't believe it! Oh...I wasn't ready for what was in my future.

This picture gives you an idea of the exchange point that Brad and I were running to. We're running in different directions to the crowd on the left. The picture was taken from our van that dropped me off as soon as we were next to the park.
Brad took off after Alexa and had one of the most beautiful routes{there were lots}. He ran next to a lake almost the entire time. It was gorgeous! While Brad was running, we were hangin' out getting food for some people and rearranging our van. We got going and then we got behind a van that was going really slow. Brad was getting closer and closer to the exchange and we weren't there{so we didn't get any pictures of his awesome run}. We pulled up to the exchange just when Brad was starting to run in. So Brad and I both started sprinting to the exchange point. Okay...can I just say...Brad's legs are about 2 feet taller than mine. Holy run!! We exchanged but then realized that I didn't have a number bib on so he quickly took his off and I put it on while I was running. What a way to start running! It was funny! The crowd started cheering for us as we met at the exchange. Important lesson learned...don't waste time in between legs, get on the road so you can cheer on your runner, and don't be late for the next exchange.

{See my big red flower?}
During my first leg of the race there was a field of beautiful flowers right next to the road. I did that little game in my head, "don't do it!" "oh, just do it!". Then I remembered that this race was for fun and it would take me all of 5 seconds to pick the flower, so I did. I stuck it in my fuel belt and kept going.

During Todd's first leg of the race, there was a beautiful creek with really nice cold, fresh water. We all decided to stop and soak our sore legs since we had already run...well, everyone but Ethan so he took the picture.
While Todd was running, we stopped to wait for him to catch up to us so we could cheer him on and give him more water. While we were waiting, we started getting Ethan ready for his leg of the race which was after Todd. We were all standing at the back of the van, taking care of Ethan and talking. Suddenly we hear a voice yell, "Whoa, way to go Todd". It was Todd running past us. Oops! Sorry Todd!

Todd, Ethan, Gary and Brady all ended up with the dusty road legs of the race. Oh, I'm so glad that wasn't me! I felt so bad for all of the runners having to run behind cars that were stirring up all of the dust. Todd had a thick layer of dust on his glasses not to mention the rest of his body.

After the first 6 legs, we met up with VAN 2 and Julie started off their six legs. Van 2 was off and we took it easy resting under the big trees and eating some lunch. Then back into the van to find the next location that we would exchange with Van 2 again. The Ragnar t-shirt says"run.drive.sleep?repeat". Notice the sleep has a question mark next to it. These are pictures of us trying to sleep while we were driving to the next major exchange to meet up with our other van.
{Sarah trying to sleep.}
{Ethan trying to sleep. }
{Me trying to sleep.}
{ Alexa trying to sleep.}

The time in between runs seem to go by so fast and then you were back on the trail. The next exchange was at Snow Basin resort which is just beautiful. There was a great place to rest, get cleaned up and a restaurant that had cafeteria style eating. Yum! Then it was Van 1's turn to go again.
Oh, then the real adventure began. Sarah started us off again and had an 8 mile downhill. Killer! Without permission from Sarah, I better not go into any great detail. This part is the part where we say, "what happens on the ragnar, stays on the ragnar". But Ethan is on the video saying, "the Ragnar is disgusting". He was mortified!
During Alexa and Brad's next legs we could be found doing the funky chicken or the macarana. Even Ethan took a break from "cha cha-ing" to dance with us as we cheered on all of the runners.

My second leg was the best. 3 miles! Not too much uphill. Not too much downhill. It was in the evening so it was cool and the sun was just about down. In other words, it was an Arizona girl's kind of run.

After our van finished up our six legs, it was Van two's turn to take the middle of the night shift. Some of them said it was horrible and some said their runs went pretty well. Any way you look at it it's got to be a challenge to run in the middle of the night.

In Van 1 we were all so tired and ready to get some sleep. Brad gets a little goofy late at night so we had a great time laughing at all of the funny things he was saying. And to be honest, I was so delirious I couldn't tell you any of the goofy stuff we were laughing about now. We had a hard time figuring out where to go. Another lesson learned...go straight to the next exchange and camp out there. That's what we finally did but we had lost a lot of valuable sleep time. So after sleeping for about an hour and a half we got up and started running again. I felt really bad for Sarah because she had to run first. Wow...that's a tough run! She did it and by the end of her leg she was dancing to the exchange point. At the exchange point Brad was still being silly. He came out of the "honey bucket"{isn't that the greatest name for the porta potty?} and told the people in line, "get that one(pointing to the one he just came out of), the seat is heated". Everyone in line started cracking up. We were all running on very little{NO} sleep!

Alexa ran after Sarah and did what we called her "morning time shuffle". Poor thing! She is a teenager who likes to sleep in the morning. So getting up at 5:00 to go run 5 miles is not exactly her idea of vacation. So she woke up 10 minutes before she had to exchange with Sarah and started shuffling her way down the path. Too cute!

This hill was my moment of truth for the race.

My last leg of the race just about did me in...really! I live in Arizona and could not have prepared for the hill and the altitude of my last leg. The air was so thin and I could not fill my lungs enough to get a good breath. And I did not train on hills like I should have. {I know you can't tell but I'm about to die in this picture. Thanks for supporting me Brad!}

My last leg was really hard for me but it was nothing compared to the legs that Brady and Gary had to run. Both of their legs were roughly 3 miles at an 8% grade incline on a dusty road. They were amazing.

At one point, Brian threw a football to Brady to get his mind off the road. They had so much support during those miles. Both of our vans were there, my mom and dad, and my sister(Miralyn) with all of the kids. Everyone was cheering for them, spraying them with water, running with them, walking with them. It was so awesome and so fun to do something so hard together!

(check out the back of our team shirt that Grandma is wearing "live by faith...not by fear" we were "team fearless")

Mom, Dad, Nanny McPhee{Miralyn}, and our children were all at the finish line. Brenna, Emma Grace, Eliza, Callie Rae, and Ashlyn all got to run to the finish line with us. I was crying at the end of the race. So exhausting and emotional!

The best part of the Ragnar is though it is incredibly hard, you help each other and cheer each other on. I was able to bond so much with Brad, Sarah, Ethan, Alexa and Todd(of course). It made all of the ridiculously hard parts of the race all worth it.