Surprise!

I know this is not a post that any of you would have expected from me, but this morning I got up earlier than I wanted to and participated in my first 5K race. Yes you heard me correctly. The race was called Sleighbells on the Square and a friend from work was getting a group together. I decided it would be fun to go with the group and since my treadmill and I have been on many 5K's together, I knew I could do it. I will post the pictures at the event when they get e-mailed to me, but for now here is my shirt and number. :) It was a lot of fun. Maybe I have found a new hobby!

Here We Come!

I bought a printer, copier, scanner and this is one of the reasons I wanted to buy one. Recognize anyone? I can't wait for us to recreate this picture and add more to it.

Keeping Warm

Maryann asked if we could move the tredmill out of my bedroom and into the living room. I thought that was a great idea and decided that was fine, but the TV could only be turned on if one of us was on the tredmill. So far, OK. This was Maryann's turn on the tredmill. Flannel gown, no shoes and all. We decided that as long as you had walked for an hour you could watch all the TV you want. We will keep you updated. Let's just consider this the before picture. :)

I LOVE THE COLD!

Mom, Dad, and Megan came to spend the night on Thanksgiving. Meagan pulled the short straw and got stuck on the short couch. She thought it was just a little cold. Yes, she has on a fleece, two blankets, and a HAT! I think the temperature in our house is just fine. Sometimes I even get a little warm and have to turn on the ceiling fan. I took a picture of the thermostat to prove it was not too cold. :) You can see the heat is on. It is set at 56, I will admit that I thought I had it set on 58. I now remember the day I got too hot and turned it down some more. Anyone want to come for a visit?

Biltmore Trip

We took a Saturday and drove up to North Carolina. We had a great time touring the house. I thought Mia was too cute with her headphones, but we were not allowed to take pictures in the house. When we got to the end I asked the workers if we could step outside to take the picture of Mia. They saw how cute Mia is and so they said yes. This is the third picture I took. I told her to make sure she looked at me. You can see the silliness on her face.

My Official Retirement

I know I have been threatening for years to retire from the Halloween Party Scene, but tonight has brought me to the end. I am too old and faint of heart to continue. Some of you may sigh and say, it is about time. Others might wonder what could have possibly caused this tragic separation of Aunt Ruth and her favorite holiday. For those of you who say, it is about time, I say, don't read on. For those of you who are curious as to what happened, I will tell you.

I knew there was a problem when during a rather amusing pillow fight I had the worry that someone was about to get hurt. I quickly halted the excitement and brought the gang down a few notches. Now mind you, I have always worried about such things and I feel I have kept the children safe over the years, but this was just the start.

Henry requested a traditional game of hide-and-seek. I was hoping to avoid such traditions this year, so I put him off by saying we had to wait until it got dark. It no sooner got dark than there Henry was reminding me of the promised entertainment. I set the rules and helped Henry count. Chase was very inventive and crawled to the end of his sleeping bag. When he got eerily still I started to worry that he had suffocated. (Maybe I watch too many shows like CSI and SVU) It turns out he was probably just falling asleep.

During the same round the big event happened.

The lights were out, like they are during all good games of hide-and-seek. Josh had tried to shove his sixteen year old body between the chair and the table head first and had stopped half way. It didn't bother me until he was "found" and he didn't move. All number of kids were shaking him and telling him to get up just feet from where I had been sitting the whole time. Still no response from Josh. I began to panic, but didn't want to alarm the children, so I told him to get up. Still no movement. I told him he was scaring me while hoping he was just joking, (he is a lot like his Uncle Joseph). I told the kids to pull his pants down. I thought for sure that would get him up. Well, four and five year-olds don't know that you wouldn't just pull someone's pants down and so I panicked when I started to see skin and there still wasn't any movement from Josh. By now there was no hiding my fear when I called a halt to the derobing. I could just imagine my horror of explaining that I didn't know he was dead until we pulled his pants down. At this point I will tell you that Josh is lucky I did not kill him. Makayla said she was about to cry because she thought he was dead also. He never let her get close to pulling his pants down. Josh had decided he wanted to trick us and when he heard my order to pull his pants down he failed to take into account that the four year-olds would proceed. Long story short, my heart cannot take such close calls to failure and so it is with great regret and much sorrow that I must announce my retirement.

Lucky for all the grandchildren, Landon has offered his home as the site of the next family Halloween Party. I say this is a grand idea and honestly I think it is a winner. Maybe the party could rotate among the families so everyone could experience the excitement first hand. I always wondered who would throw the cool parties for my children and now I know it is all of you. What do you think?

Pictures to follow at a later time. NO!, not of this incident.

Happy Birthday Maryann

Maryann got her hair cut for her birthday. Here is a picture of it along with her gift from me (as if a car full of balloons wasn't enough). HeeHee!

Early Morning

I got up at 4:30 this morning. Tune in later to see what I was doing!

O.K. It is later and I am sure I will not be ruining the secret. So, we all know it is Maryann's birthday. I got up early to make her breakfast...

AND to fill her car with balloons! Happy Birthday Maryann :)

If you are wondering about the breakfast, it has crescent rolls on the top and bottom. The filling is a roll of sausage and one package of cream cheese. After tasting it, I would double the sausage and cream cheese or make it in a smaller pan. I will be trying it out again. I think I might also add some mustard :)

If you are wondering about the balloons, I started with 35 and one to grow on, but that was not full enough, so I put in 53. I just switched the digits (same number right?) I wanted to do more, but decided I would have to be happy with this full.

Episode III

Sorry this is so long in coming, enjoy!

Another One Bites the Dust

Another summer has come and gone and it is time to head back to school. Does anyone ever really want to go to work? Maybe it is just me. I am excited for this school year and the changes ahead of me. A new school, new co-workers, new students, and a new commute. At this point I really don't know what to expect. Hopefully by next Monday I will at least have a complete plan for making it through. Anyone have any good memories for what their teachers did on the first day/week of school?

Hawaii Highlights

Here are some of my pictures from Hawaii in no particular order. I had the trip of a lifetime. Thanks to Aunt Neva and Katie for being wonderful hosts.

My view from the air on my way to Hawaii

Lots of picture worthy clouds and flowers everywhere.

Black sand beach on the big island.

Controlling the Bowfin submarine

Our turtle hunt was a success

The Mighty Mo

Catamaran lunch cruise

Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial

Swimming with the wild dolphins

Hiking Diamond Head, including 273 steps by my count

Luau at the PCC, like the tattoo

Dole Plantation

The volcano is alive!

The southern most city in the US

Laie Temple

Me and the PCC

My first rainbow

Kayak quitter

Hanauma Bay from the air. What a fun place to snorkel!

My sunset few from the plane

Update for All the Helpers

I am working on a project in "The Room of Doom". Around the top of my room I am hanging pictures that I have taken during my travels. I got the first three hung on Saturday and I thought I would let all of you see what it is looking like. Thanks to all of you who are stalking your local Wal-mart to help me find enough frames. (If you want to be one of my stalkers, just let me know). I just love how it looks and can't stop looking at it. Even when I go to the bathroom before I go to bed, I take a detour to look at this wall before getting in bed. I hope you enjoy it as much as me. Please excuse the imperfections still on the ceiling. Here is the closeup of my Eiffel Tower picture that I have been told is an award winning picture. Of course it is in black and white on my wall and I just love it. All of you are invited to see the finished product when it is done.

Ode to Mustard

I love it with a hot dog
It's always great with cheese
Whatever I am eating
It is sure to please

It MUST be cheap and yellow
With no fancy label
Breakfast, lunch, or dinner
Just bring it to the table

On a sausage biscuit
Or with a chick-fil-a
I know I could eat it
Either night or day

I have even tried it
Just squirting on my finger
I try to use precaution
'cause the stain will really linger

And now some words of wisdom
For one little boy
Please don't treat the mustard
Like it is a toy

If you truly love it
Don't leave it on your face
Make sure that you put it
In its proper place

Guess What!

To be delivered July 3rd. I'm so excited!

When was the last time you enjoyed a popsicle this much?

Sunglasses and Bananas

Mia got some new Hello Kitty sunglasses. I think they are very styling. Dallin decided he wanted some more banana even though he still had some in his mouth. He never ate his dinner of course.

Dallin is into karate chops lately. When you hear "hiya" you better watch out. He also likes to say "not fair" and "ah nuts". When you take his picture, even though he asked you to, he grabs his eyes and says "my eyes" like he is now blind.

Naptime?

I tried to get Mia and Dallin to take a nap on Sunday afternoon, because I wanted a nap of course. They would not take the bait and fought it every minute. I told them they would be asleep in five minutes when we got in the car. Mia informed me that she does not nap, just Dallin. Dallin was asleep within 5 minutes and Mia was asleep in 10. I did not get a nap of course. I will never understand why children do not want to nap, but most adults would love a nap.

When we got to their house I woke them up to go in. They both decided to cry at the top of their lungs, just how Diane and Ben wanted to be greeted :) Dallin then promptly laid on the floor and went back to sleep.

Attack!!!

Before I took Dallin and Mia home on Sunday Dallin decided he needed to attack both his aunts.
Yes that is ALL of my school stuff in our dining room. Anyone want to have a dinner party?

Cami and the Gang

My first look at Cami Cami and Mommy
Cami and Aunt Ruth
Cami after enjoying lunch, she is a sleep eater :)

Dallin and Mia came for a spend the night party so I planned biscuits for breakfast since I knew that is what Diane normally feeds them. I asked Maryann to pick up a bag of biscuits when she went to Wal-mart. Mia told me she was hungry last night as a stall tactic before going to bed. I told her that was great because I knew she would be hungry for her biscuit in the morning. She asked me to wake her up when the biscuits were ready. When she woke up she asked if the biscuits were ready. Maybe she was hungry last night! I looked in the freezer, there were no biscuits and I started to panic. I calmly went to Maryann's room and asked her if she forgot the biscuits. She said she bought them, so I looked in the freezer again, no biscuits. Being the problem solver that I am I looked in the refrigerator to find a small can of biscuits. I cooked them up and went with it. When I served Mia her biscuit she looked less than thrilled. After a short time Mia looked at me and said, "My mom makes good biscuits." I told her I knew she did and these were good biscuits too, Aunt Maryann had just bought a different kind. Mia came to me a little latter and asked, "Did she go to the wrong Wal-mart?" :)