Marine Family Day

This was a couple weekends ago, but Max' Uncle Chris who is a Marine, invited us out for Family day out at the Naval Base in Port Hueneme. Max had a great time climbing through the Humvee's and checking out all the weaponry...(as a mom, I was a little nervous how much he liked it.) We all had a great time and we are all so proud of Chris serving our country!

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What has the world come too...

Ok, so this blog is just a rant and rave...so you can stop reading now if you don't want to hear it. I would consider myself a somewhat cynical person to begin with. I try and be all butterflies and roses, but that's just not me. So I already had a poor view of society before the following incident....
On Wed. I went for a run with Keely. We all know how much I just LOVE running to begin with, and I am not entirely convinced it isn't actually bad for my well being ;-) Anyways, we did about a 3 mile stretch that included going over some railroad tracks...which is very bumpy in a jogging stroller. So it was no surprise to me that when I got home, I couldn't find my cell phone and came to the conclusion that it must have fallen out of my stroller...see what I am saying about running being bad for me ;-) So I emailed Brian to call my cell phone in hopes that someone had found it. Well someone did...however that person was drunk or high and was not making sense. Brian tried to offer him something so I could get my phone back, but he kept insisting that it was his phone, and Brian had the wrong number. SO we cancelled the phone and went to the wonderful AT&T store to find out the cheapest replacement phone was $160!!!!!! So we bought a $15 cheap phone from Target, got a new Sim card and I was connected to the outside world once again. The next day I started the task of entering in all of my contacts back into my fabulous new phone. When I was to T, Brian's phone rang and it was a man who said that5 is brother had found a cell phone and wanted $10 to give it back to me.
Now lets think about this....he found MY phone, and wants ME to pay HIM to get MY phone back! Unfortunately all of my contacts and pics are worth this, so we agreed to meet him in front of his sleazy motel for the exchange. Being that it was 9am, I was a little surprised that when I was within 5 feet of the guy I could smell all of the alcohol on him! HE claimed that I was LUCKY that he found it and it didn't get run over by the train...I personally thought the train sounded better at this point! Then he proceeded the transaction like a drug deal..."give me the money and I'll give you the phone..." After getting the phone I added that "it was GREAT doing business with you!" And after sanitizing the phone, I am happy to have my old phone back, and now I have a back up phone just in case! But I now feel justified to be as cynical of society as I want to...at least through the weekend, until I go back to church on Sunday and regain some happy thoughts :-)
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Busy Busy

It's been busy for the last few weeks, so here is a hodgepodge blog of our events... Scott and Suzee came down to visit from Utah and we finally got to meet our beautiful new niece Emmery! Isn't she beautiful!?! what a change among all of the boys in our family!

Max and I went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. Definitely not as good as Monterey, but we had a goo time! A whole aquarium of just Nemo, Marlin and Dory!!
We went to the X-Games again this year and had a great time. This is a fun tradition we are starting and Max loves the Big Skate!
And to finish off our events, we just got back from a weekend in Carson, Nevada where our cousin Lindsay was baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

So this is what we have been up to for the past couple weeks. We posted a lot more pictures to our Picasa site under Summer Fun as well if you check out the link to the right labeled "Family Pictures" It has been fun and exciting, but we are looking forward to a little more laid back plans for now!
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Memory Time

I thought this was a cute idea. Feel free to participate if you wish.

Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I or Brian had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me/us a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you
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Disney Princess

I had to add this one after seing it everywhere else!


You Are Mulan!

Strong and spirited. You're no one's girly girl; actually you are very determined person with a strong sense of self. Never let go of that! The only thing that equals your sense of self is your family, but the traditions of society can always be bent to protect something or someone you love.

Which Disney Princess Are You?
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Race Day

So today I was in my first race. I feel this blog should start with a little preface first....

I am NOT a runner! I can't even say that I ENJOY running. For about six months now I have been trying to prepare for the Sheriff's Academy, but certain life events have complicated the matter...but to complete the Sheriff's Academy you need to run...A LOT! I could not even run 1 mile without stopping back in Feb, and everyone kept telling me that you just need to keep doing it. Well then I took some time off and in May started back up. Tania and I have been walk/jogging for a few months and our goal was to complete the Promenade ( about 2 miles) by the end of Summer. Back in the beginning of May when I first started running I got shin splints really bad. I have always felt like I was just a bad runner, and although it sounds stupid, I felt like I didn't know how to run. But when I went to go buy nice shoes this was confirmed when the man suggested not buying a pair of shoes until i see a specialist. Turns out I really didn't know how to run. After a little bit of physical therapy and re-learning how to walk properly ( heal to toe) I began running again...and went back to the shoe guy who helped me get a great pair of shoes! So I started running! My friend Keely suggested that I should sign up for a race so I had something to look forward to. Since I was happy to be able to run a mile I didn't think there was a race designed for that type of runner. But we found a race that was an Aquathon, which was a 3k (2.1 mile) run and a 400m Ocean swim. Having been a swimmer this sounded a little more fun. So we signed up. Amazingly I went from barely a mile without stopping, to 2 miles and then 3...while pushing "tubby" (Max) I also want to preface this with the fact that I am not a fast runner...and probably never will be. With Max I do about an 11 minute pace,and can run a 9 minute mile by myself (HUGE improvement over the 12 minute mile I started with!) But honestly I can say I am impressed that I have built the endurance to be able to run 3 miles, and figure if I can be a runner, pretty much anyone can do it.

So back to the race....

Keely and I were in the last heat and stayed close together throughout the swim, until coming around the second buoy. By the time I hit the beach I was pretty tired and was surprised at how much effort it takes to walk through sand when your muscles are sore. So I walked to the transition area ( wasn't the only one), and got out of my wetsuit. I can't say I am fond of the picture, but thought it was a good representation of the day! And then we headed out for our run. We kept a nice even pace, and at the end Keely even let me cross the finish line first since it was my first race! It really was a lot of fun to complete something like that, and who knows maybe there will even be a future race post! So thank you Keely for encouraging me to do the race, and staying with me. A huge thanks to Max for being so good in the stroller as I continue to run and train, and of course Brian who has been my coach and has always seen what I am capable of and helped me achieve things when I can't always see it!

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Two Trees...Again

So we decided to go to two trees again. My brother Jeremy was in town from San Francisco and had talked to my nephew Payton (4) about going on a hike. Being 4 Payton did not forget this and wanted Papa to go with him. So the hike turned out to be a family one. Nana, Papa, Brian, Max Tania, Payton, myself and Pippin too, all started up the hill to visit two trees. We are so proud of Nana and Papa for being such troopers. They say that we were not so upfront about some of the hills in the hike and may have claimed that it was a very easy hike to get them to come along. But we all made it and enjoyed such a beautiful day with our family.
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