2 MONTHS???!!!! OUCH!

I hadn't realized that it had been 2 months since my last post . . . I knew it had been awhile, but 2 months?!

UPDATES- sorry for the quick and dirty, but it's either this or nothin' because I doubt I'll ever have the fortitude to fill it all in in detail. :)

May 7th- moved into new place. LOVE IT. :) Actually have decorations up on some of the walls. woot woot.

May 9th- St. George Triathlon. I competed in the sprint distance again. Except that morning was windy and that kayaks couldn't hold their position in the lake so the swim was cancelled. SO- we did a Duathlon instead. Which was about a billion times harder for me. Run 5k, Bike 20k, Run 5k AGAIN. So basically I wanted to die. I was ready to leave when they announced the change-- if Jeff hadn't been there I probably would have! So needless to say, my time wasn't fabulous, but at least I finished it.

May 13th- 23rd- flew to Omaha for Derek's graduation from Law School. Then from there we flew to Kentucky to visit my parents for a week. The whole trip was fun- things were a little more interesting at my parents house since Elea could walk and get into (every)things!

Sometime in here my back got messed up. I had started upping my run mileage because I've agreed to do a half-marathon with Angie in August. Anyway, so it was making me incredibly ornery and the picking up and putting down of Elea and everything in between got to the point that I could hardly stand it anymore. I went to the chiropractor and it didn't help at all. Then Jeff had been shadowing at the Physical Therapist office so they told him to have me just come in. So I went in and did all the different movement tests, and he meaured this and that, etc. The determination was a) he had no idea what exactly was wrong and b) my hips/back/legs are all so squeewampous that he said that he was surprised I could even run at all, physically. AWESOME thing to hear when you've become addicted to Triathlons, etc. So did the hot zapper then the cold zapper and took a few days off of running. Then I went back in and the 2nd physical therapist came and took a look- same thing, neither could figure out exactly what was going on. So they gave me a heel lift for one shoe and an SI belt to wear around my hips when I run. So then on my runs for the next 2 or 3 weeks I wore them. My back stopped hurting but then my hips/legs started to ache really bad. Angie and I did our first "long" run one saturday and by the end I was aching bad- frustrating as heck. So I rebelled a week or 2 ago and didn't wear the SI belt. PRESTO! My back doesn't hurt, and my hips don't hurt- so I'm a happy girl.

MOTHER'S DAY- I don't remember the exact date of mother's day . . . but it was a good day. Jeff is always good about remembering "gift" days and making them special for me.

June 13th- Utah Summer Games Triathlon. This is almost identical to the St George Tri, except the run portion is on the pavement instead of dirt. Jeff had to work so my sister was a sweetheart and came to cheer me on. The weather was a little sketchy again but we made it in and out of the water before the rain so it was all good. It was my first race swim in the lake. I actually handled it a lot better than I expected too. I was 3rd coming out of the water in my age group so I am happy about that. Then the bike portion came-- As I was headed up the big hill it started to rain, at about that same time my front tire started to make this obnoxious squealing noise. I thought it had something to do with the water on the tires or something but I am an idiot and I actually had a VERY FLAT tire. However, I didn't even know this until I was headed DOWN the big hill at 30+ miles per hour and one of the refs off to the side at the bottom of the hill yells out- "YOU'VE GOT A FLAT TIRE!!" So I get over the cattle guard safely, pull over, and then begin to take the wheel off, etc. LUCKILY, that same guy came down and took care of the tire for me. I had stopped to by a tire pump for my bike the night before, but kind of like the 10 virgins, I was too late and so I didn't even have a tire pump. If he hadn't came along, I would have been stuck walking my bike until some kind hearted competitor pulled over to let me use their air pump. Anyway, after finally getting that tire taken care of I finished the bike course- the flat tire added a ton of time- so I'm not even paying attention to my time on that leg of the race. Then the run- I actually managed to run the entire 5k without walking AND I kept 10 minute per mile pace so I was happy with that. At the end when Angie gave me a hug I had an emotional breakdown for about 10 seconds. This was the first race that I actually felt like I ACCOMPLISHED something, so that combined with the realization that a million things could have gone horribly wrong with that flat tire (i.e. completely crashing into the wet pavement)- I had to cry for a sec. So in the end I finished 16th-- which is has about zero bragging rights attached to it, BUT all things considered- I'm okay with it. I wasn't planning on doing another tri until september, but I wanted a redo, so I'm doing the scofield tri next weekend. :)

June 19th- 2 of my nieces got baptized so my parents came to visit for a few days. It was fun to have them here. We went to the splashpad in downtown st. george and elea LOVED it.

June 21st- Father's Day. I got jeff the standard father's day ties-- I was inspired the friday before because he had me bring his church clothes for the baptisms and I couldn't a) find a tie without a stain on it, and b) figure out what were his real ties and what ones were his ugly tie contest ties from his mission. So my mom helped me find some sweet ties that I am going to confiscate if I ever see them within 10 feet of food or liquid.

During that time there was a bunch of birthdays so it felt like we were driving down to St. George about every other day! Angie & her fam are in St. George for the summer so that is pretty fabulous. It's gonna suck when she moves to AZ, not thinking about it, not thinking about it, not thinking about it.

Elea is walking like a pro now. She is such a fun kid- I spend half my time at home calling out "where's elea?? Whhheeerrrreeee'ssss EEELLLLEEEAAA??" and then she comes hurrying out from wherever she is in the house with a giant grin on her face. She's started eating more and more big people food. I love it. It's great to be able to put her in her highchair with a piece of bread and then unload and load the dishwasher in one attempt while she's eating. She turns 1 on the 13th and I'm so excited for her birthday. Jeff gets sentimental every time he thinks about her growing up-- I get excited because I love her little, I mean big, personality developing a little more everyday- it's fun for me. Oh, one other thing, I've taken her swimming a few times and the first couple of times she wasn't thrilled, but now she loves the water, and not just at bathtime!

Jeff is going to go to Occupational Therapy school instead of Physical Therapy school. What this means: Less pre-reqs, less school because it's a masters not a doctorate, less competition to get in to a good school, AND more stability job wise because face it, there are gonna be a lot of old people the next 30 years. (Occupational therapists work in a lot of different settings, with kids, babies, adults, disabled, etc.- so there are a lot of potential paths career wise). He did a semesters worth of Trigonometry during the first 5 week session of summer school. Let's just say we are ALL glad that is over. He got an A- which really isn't a surprise because he is a perfectionist so he studied like crazy the entire 5 weeks. And he is smarter than he gives himself credit for. :)

My sister-in-law Shanna taught me how to use coupons effectively. So if "couponing" is a skill then that's been my latest project. At first I started because it made grocery shopping more exciting for me, now I think I have become a snob-- I look down my nose at a box of cereal that's going to cost me more than 75 cents. This week was my first real trip to the grocery store that I only had to get produce and milk. It was almost a let-down in some twisted way because there wasn't the thrill of buying 5 things and having the total be $1.06--but I guess that's the whole idea.

Catching up: Omaha Trip

I flew to Omaha on Sept. 18th with Elea. I was stressing out about the whole airport situation because I didn't know how I would manage to get through security while holding her. Something as simple as putting on and taking off a pair of shoes becomes a task worthy of some long nights awake stressing out. (I'm not the seasoned mommy yet who can solve world hunger, vacuum, do the dishes, and fold laundry all while carrying a baby in one arm and dealing with a toddler hanging on to her pant leg).

So yes, I was stressed about getting through security because I didn't take her stroller or her car seat because I just borrowed one of angie's friend's car seat once we got there. But then the wonderful lady behind the counter asked if Jeff would like a companion pass to go through security and wait with us at the gate. HALLELUJAH! I was so relieved. AND I didn't have to worry about not needing to use the restroom until getting to Ang's house. (If I thought security was gonna be difficult-- using the bathroom would have been IMPOSSIBLE).

I didn't even know that they were allowed to do that-- it was great because Jeff was able to go with us to the gate and he waited with us for awhile but then decided to head back to Cedar cause he was tired and it was getting late. Elea was a sweet little angel until about 20 minutes before the plane boarded. Which is when all the seats in the waiting area are full so there are all the people who will be riding the plane with you-- all the people who have zero qualms about staring at the crying baby and the mother trying to calm her down. But I figured that if nothing else, it will make them hesitant to sit by me on the plane, which it did, so I had a whole row to myself which was pretty fantastic. She'd stopped fussing before we boarded and didn't fuss again until we were in Omaha.

When I was boarding the plane, the flight attendant stopped me and started rubbing elea's head. He was an older guy and asked her name, and how old she was, and if she'd had a hair cut yet. I answered all 3 questions and as I was heading down the aisle I hear over the speaker "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Elea, she is 10 weeks old and mom's not cutting her hair yet." Okay, AWKWARD. Random people asking and making comments is one thing-- but having it announced while trying to maneuver down the aisle with a huge diaper bag and a baby wasn't cool because every seated pair of eyes looked up and stared.

So enough about just getting to Omaha.

It was really good to be with my mom & sister. But it was even better to get to see angie's new baby girl Alexis. She's a sweet little thing. Growing up, every time my family was around my cousin Teresa's family, we were always lined up back to back to see who was taller, who was skinnier, who had longer hair, etc. etc. etc. There was never any judgment attached-- no "winner" was ever declared, but it always bugged me anyway. Well, it took about 2 seconds of having Elea and Alex together before we started doing the same thing.

Case in point:

Elea's legs are the shorter ones with multiple rolls. Alex has been bless with long leg and long fingers. She's like Derek, with a feminine flair.

Anyway, the first week I was there things were pretty hectic and crazy because they were moving from one townhome to the other. Traveling without Jeff was a lot more difficult than I expected. I have gotten spoiled by him bathing Elea every night because that is a guaranteed 45 minutes I have to do whatever I want. (Or at least it's 45 minutes that she's happy and occupied). She ended up sleeping on an air mattress with me because she WILL NOT sleep in a playpen. How the heck she knows the difference, I do not know. She got a stuffy nose a day or two after we got there so she woke me and my mom up a lot with her snoring and grunting. I don't know how parents do the "co-sleeping" thing-- I was so nervous about her being on the bed in the first place, plus her noises, it made sleeping difficult. But she did sleep in until 9 or 10 every morning because the basement was pretty dark-- so that was sweet.

My mom, Ang, and I were able to get away one afternoon for a couple of hours to go to lunch with just the 2 babies. It was good to spend time just the 3 of us because that hardly ever happens.

Jeff was supposed to come on Saturday morning (9 days after me) but Thursday night he called and it was all noisy. Earlier he had called angie and by the tone of her voice and her going outside to talk to him, I knew something was up. But he texted me and said that he'd gone gambling in Mesquite with his friend. So I asked why he called angie first and he said to find out if I was in a good mood or not so that he could decide whether to tell me that night or wait till he was home. He kept asking if I was mad that he went. I wasn't mad but I started getting riled up that he would act like I was his mom and going to ground him or something. Also, all day angie's laptop was missing and Derek kept saying he'd taken it to school. I felt like he was lying but couldn't figure out why he would lie about that. So then I was annoyed because I wanted to be able to check our account to make sure Jeff wasn't spending too much money gambling or to find out what else he'd been up to because angie was acting sketchy (he hasn't gone to a casino and gambled since we've been married, which should have been my first clue).

So finally I went to bed. My mom and I were staying at their old townhouse across the street. At about 1 or 2 in the morning I woke up to really loud footstomps across the floor upstairs. I was pretty freaking terrified because my mom wasn't back yet from Angie's house so I was alone downstairs with Elea. There wasn't a "fight or flight" response kicking in . . . mostly I just laid there and played dead, except my eyes were WIDE open. Then I see someone at the top of the stairs and hear Jeff say my name. Derek, the jerk, had walked over with Jeff and stomped across the floor on purpose to scare me. I was so relieved that it was Jeff surprising me and not some bad guy that I couldn't really FEEL surprised. If that makes any sense. But it was great to see him and I was pretty proud of him for pulling one over on me. Angie and I have this sick sub-concious determination not to ever let ourselves be surprised, we tend to ruin every potential surprise, almost by accident.

So that was why the lap-top had disappeared all day, Jeff knew I would check out what he was up to so he had them hide it. I thought for sure he would never miss a football game (which was why he wasn't coming until Saturday in the first place) . . . but he did so that was pretty cool. AND I was pretty pleased with myself for not getting upset with him about the faked late night gambling excursion.

Sunday was Alex's baby blessing. Her blessing was really sweet. It was fun for me to hang out with all the family. I don't think Elea was put down once the entire day so I am sure she loved it too. We flew home on Tuesday morning. This probably sounds random, but my favorite part of visiting angie this time was that we were both nursing. The babies were on similiar schedules so it was good for me that angie was forced to sit down and talk for 20 minutes (or more) multiple times throughout the day.

Omaha visit pics

Jeff & Alexis

Katie Kate. (Annie took this picture-- it's cute & at Kate's eye level!)

Me & Miss Annie. If there is a mini-me (personality wise) in the world. . . it's her.

Sam I Am.

Elea & Alexis giving each other rocks.

It's an almost guaranteed smile if you lift Elea up above eye level. Angie was able to get her to laugh/squeak a couple of times.

Me & Angie's sweet baby girl Alex.

Elea & Angie are buddies.

My mom & dad with Alex & Elea.

Jeff's Grandma Helen. I am so grateful that Elea has gotten to spend time with her Great-Grandma, even though she won't remember it. Helen makes a lot of effort to be at all her grand-kids special events and we love her a lot.

** I'd write more but just getting these pictures posted has been an all day project because Elea is not a happy girl today. At all. **

HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY MAMA!!

So my mom turns 50 today. She is a really young grandma and skinnier than both of her daughters-- pregnant or not pregnant.

So I think she is doing pretty dang good at all this aging business.

Even though she may want to kill me for telling the world how old she is . . .

busy signal

I have been trying to call my parents all afternoon. I keep getting the busy signal. The first time I called, it totally threw my off-guard because I don't think I have heard that noise in years! I'm guessing that they took the phone off the hook for some reason because both of their cell phones are going straight to voice-mail too. Heaven forbid they aren't accessible to me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But still. That stupid busy signal is driving me crazy!

pa.thet.ic.

I have finally been motivated enough to start walking on the treadmill. I walked for about an hour yesterday and it was really boring. But what is even more pathetic is that I woke up this morning and my legs were sore. Are you kidding me?! A little bit more than a month ago I was on my feet walking for 10 hours a day, no sweat. I feel like I have just turned to mush or something.

AND

My hair is in the horrible in between stage because I am attempting to grow it out like Olivia on Law and Order SVU this season. But, after looking at our pics from Kentucky, I'm thinking I need to just chop it off sooner than later and end the suffering. Probably Monday.

Mom and I are incapable of taking a really cute picture together because we start laughing or being stupid or something such that one of us always looks drunk or is making a dumb face or something. Needless to say I like the picture with mom's hand across my face the best out of the 10 jeff attempted to take of us together.

catching up. (on everything but sleep)

I can't sleep.

I haven't been doing too fantastic with blogging the past couple of weeks. I blame it on being sick and being out of town. Jeff and I are home from Kentucky now and will be here until a couple of days before Christmas so now I don't have any excuses.

Our trip back from Kentucky went fine-- it feels like a really long day when you drive for about an hour to get to the airport, fly for about four hours (if you're lucky) and then drive again for over an hour to get home. Thinking about it that way it is not a surprise I did some bawling on the phone to Angie on Monday about our parents decision to move across the country. I gave myself all day Monday to feel sad and sorry for myself and woke up Tuesday feeling okay about it.

I took my first machine quilting class on Monday morning. All I managed to accomplish during the class time was stenciling in about half of the blocks- I am going to machine quilt little airplanes, fish, sailboats, paw prints, etc. The funny thing is I walked into the class thinking I would be machine quilting straight lines in the seams of the blocks. And I am still doing that- but it became just an afterthought compared to all the rest of it! I bought material yesterday to make my nephew-to-be a baby blanket and teddy bear so that if I completely botch up the quilt I can just give them the baby blanket and bear and call it good.

My mother-in-law and I spent part of Monday looking in every craft store we could think of for foam pieces to make little turkeys as name placeholders or whatever they are called for Thanksgiving. No luck. Actually, there was hardly anything anywhere for Thanksgiving. So I was confused because do stores really think that people are that on the ball that they have Thanksgiving stuff planned and purchased over a week in advance? Come on! I was feeling pretty fantastic that we were looking as early as we were- and it was still too late! But I will say that a new Roberts Crafts opened up within the past few weeks and it is pretty awesome. It is also a very good thing that I do not need any sort of scrapbook supplies at the moment or my scrapbook supply purchasing addiction and checkbook would be in a world of hurt!

kentucky so far

I am not that smart sometimes-- when I bought our plane tickets I didn't notice that our flight consisted of taking off and landing 6 times and switching planes once. Luckily, neither Jeff or I am afraid to fly-- but it was stressful for me to worry about who was going to come sit next us 3 separate times because Jeff had to have the window seat. Of course it was a big guy on our longest flight because I am cursed- so when Jeff fell asleep I pushed the button on the arm rest just to see if it would make the chair recline. It did. Jeff didn't appreciate his head rubbing along the side of the plane as he reclined but it made it so his shoulder wasn't pushing me closer to the unknown old guy with hairy arms. I was happy because then I could actually sit back in my chair without feeling the hair on the old guy's arms sitting next to me. Needless to say on the next flight I was relieved when a not so big guy in a suit coat sat down next to me, once again, in the middle seat.

We finally got to *Louisville and then took about 2 hours to get to my parent's house because we needed to drop something off in another town so we took the long way home. The roads out here do not make any sense. They all seem to have about 5 names and change as you are driving on them. But the houses are awesome. As we were driving through the towns I kept picturing every house looking like a Pottery Barn catalog inside. So we were finally able to find the house we were looking for and then eventually made it home. Mom and I were cracking up at all the turns and U-turns and wrong turns we were making. Dad and Jeff didn't find it nearly as amusing.

Yesterday my parents drove us through the property they are developing. And then we mostly just drove around and hung out at the house. It is so quiet here. It is really pretty too.
And the houses don't have any fences between them. I keep trying to figure out what parent's do with their kids. Do they let them just run around? When I was asking my parents about this my mom brought up a very good point-- that just because you have a fence around your backyard doesn't necessarily mean your kids are going to stay within that fence.
I haven't taken any pictures yet but I will.

*I have always pronounced Louisville: Lou-ee-ville. On the flight into Louisville the flight attendant kept pronouncing it Lou-vull. I thought she was being funny, atleast until yesterday when I heard it pronounced that way about 8 times. So now I don't know if she was being funny or if that is just how everyone east of the Mississippi pronounces it.

change.

I've always thought that I adapt to change fairly well. I think that maybe I am not as good as I thought- I just have never given myself to actually think about the changes as they were occurring-- I just dealt with the aftershock. Sometimes with medication.

My parents moving to Kentucky just hit me tonight. My mom probably thinks that I am a callous wench because she has been emotional off and on since I got here on Monday night. I have been pretty stoic and level-headed about the whole thing. Until of course I was talking to Jeff on the phone tonight about spending conference weekend here (at my parents) instead of at his parent's because some friends were coming to his parent's for part of the weekend. I need to learn to just tell him how I feel about something rather than try to convince him why he should change his (our) plans. I should have learned by now that we are both equally stubborn but that he has such a kind heart that if he knows that I am hurting or sad he will do whatever he is capable of to eradicate my sadness. Or at least whatever it takes to stop the tears.

It has just hit me that I won't be able to just "go home" for the weekend anymore. Really, my home is wherever Jeff is, but I don't know if I will ever grow up from knowing that if I am sick of taking care of myself and want to be somewhere that I can hibernate or whatever- I can just go to my parents house.

My dad told me that I am bossy. He's probably right. But there is part of me that would love to just be somewhere for a little while where somebody else was making the decisions and worrying about things and I could be the one to be 'bossed' for once. Although who am I kidding- that would last for about 15 seconds and I would be outta there.

Maybe it's a good thing that I haven't gotten pregnant yet- cause here I am whining about having to take care of myself, let alone a baby.

I don't know- I'm tired. And I miss Jeff. But I am trying to somehow balance spending time with my parents and seeing him. I like to be the one who is leaving/moving. I don't like to be the one who is getting left. Living in AZ this whole thing wasn't as harsh because I wasn't able to be around much anyway. But now, knowing that my parents would have been a quick car ride away such that I could have driven down and back while Jeff was in school to go to a movie with my mom if I felt like it, but in less than 2 weeks it will be a long flight to see them, after making that drive. The timing just sucks.

I think I am going to go to bed, read a book, and feel sorry for myself. Speaking of which, my mom gave me a pair of ear plugs to try out- so that I don't end up on the couch every night before I get used to Jeff's snoring again.