Run Nathan....RUN!!!

Nathan participated in a track meet yesterday. He ran the 800 meter, 200 meter and the 3rd leg of 400 x4 relay. He did sooo good!! Here is a small bit of the beginning of the 800 (continue to read below to see why you only get a small bit---argh!!) Nathan is the one in blue shorts and blue/white striped shirt. He was so much fun to watch and he did amazing!! He had a smile on his face the ENTIRE time!!

Okay...so now that you enjoyed the video....let me tell you that I definitely win the Loser-ville Mother award for the month! Here's my list:

1. I didn't check the video camera tape....so when I turned it on to film....the "end of tape" symbol was flashing....well, it was accurate....I managed to film just the little bit that you just saw and then cla-ploo-eey.....the end. THAT'S IT!! 3 races and that's all I got!!!

2. Neither Nathan nor I realized that Nathan HAD to ride the bus right after school to the track meet. So, I was sitting at home wondering where he is and he was sitting on the bus still dressed in his school clothes....heading to the track meet. I finally figured out what happened and so took off to pick up Amanda and head to the track meet. However, I didn't think to bring Nathan some "running" clothes.......so, that is why he's out there running in his striped polo golf shirt and long, tighter walking shorts.

3. I didn't bring a bottle of water for Nathan. He was dying of thirst after his first race. We walked around and we couldn't find a drinking fountain. Finally I saw a box of water bottles on a bench. I asked a few people who they belonged to...they didn't know but thought maybe the school brought them.....Sooooo....I slyly swiped one....yes I STOLE A WATER BOTTLE!!!

4. And finally....just to wrap things up with a big slam in the face.....today I put the still camera card in the slot to download the pictures. There were 380 pictures that Bob took....he had it on that fast sports setting. Weeellll....about 6 pictures into it, a screen came up saying there was an error....so I pushed the button that said to "skip all with errors".....It did skip all with errors. I had also clicked the "delete after downloading" button before I began the download. Weeellll......apparently 374 out of the 380 pictures had errors....because ALL of them are GONE!! I deleted all 374 pictures.......they are poof-nada-zip! I only have pictures of him standing in the middle of the field waiting. NO RACE AT ALL!! My poor little boy....he's cursed with a pea-brained mom!! I just feel sooooo sick about it!

So, here's one of the 6 pictures that I got of Nathan. He's running to join his friends for the relay. Even though you can't see his face....I actually LOVE this picture. It shows my looong, white, skinny-legged growing boy! I have decided that having a boy going through puberty is one of the funnest moments of my life....their bodies and voices are so fun. (well...minus having to buy new pants and shoes every other month) It's a HECK of a lot better than a girl going through puberty.....argh! Boys are just so dang cute!!

The life of men (boys) without a woman

Well, this last weekend was the Father/Son's campout....hmmm....need I say any more? It's always fun to watch them get packed up and ready to go (the communication and equal partnership in packing is sometimes lacking).....and then to have them come home all stinky and dirty (just from 1 night!!)....and then to discover what adventures that happened over night. Here's some pics.

My Boys!

Nathan takes after his dad's way of camp food....no dutch ovens here! Oh, the other boy is Nathan's friend...his dad couldn't come so Bob and Nate adopted him for a night :)

The next day, the group was suppose to do some service by picking up garbage on the beach. Things started off great....look how nice they look with their garbage bags and gloves....but wait!!!

Ohhh...the temptation....it was just too great! How can you pick up the beach without taking the plunge. The water was freezing....no southern california up here!

And this is how they came home to me as. Couldn't be any happier!!

Total Laugh out loud comic! (Warning could be PG-13 material)

Okay...maybe it's the pain drugs from my surgery today....but this had me laughing out loud! I'm still laughing as I'm writing this. Although, maybe I shouldn't laugh...after my Del Taco experience, I just may be closer than I think!! Watch out!!!

Run Amanda....Ruuunnn!!

Last week (yes, I spaced putting this up...the pictures were in a different folder) Amanda ran in her first 1/4 marathon. She did it with her friend Maren. They had a blast. The event was called Hippie Chicks. It was an all women event.....super cool! We loved going down to it. Registration for it is in Novemeber and then the race is on Mother's Day weekendish. If any of you women out there want to join her next year...that would be super fun. There were also walkers so I just may do it also! Although, the time between Amanda's finish and mine....well, you could leave, go eat a pizza, watch a movie and then come back and I'll just be rounding the corner to the finish line :)

Ohhh yeah....you KNOW it's girl power! Notice the ankle bracelets. It looks like they're under house arrest....really it's just their timers.

Nothing's worse than trying to run a serious race and you have two goofy teenagers in your pack! This is about 3 1/2 miles into it. Amanda and Maren spy the camera and decide to look like they're giving it all they've got (Amanda's the one with the wild pony tail flipping...click on the picture so you can see their faces better. Crack me up!)

They did it!!! Still having just as much fun as ever.

Finally a nice and calm shot. And, just as friends would do.....They both wore their new shirts to school the next day....clever.

Forget China....Intel decides to outsource to Nathan!

Each year, Intel has a BIG finance conference for all the finance people up here in Oregon. There's around 500 finance employees. One of the fun things they do each year is a short movie/commercial competition between the groups. Basically, each group is suppose to come up with a clever movie that describes their group and why it would be good to work for them. This year, they were stumped. One of the members remembered seeing one of Nathan's lego movies (Bob is one of those proud dads and shows off his kids stuff all the time). They decided that they would outsource the movie to Nathan. Bob showed a picture of the group that he had taken at one of their quarterly activities and told Nate a little about what they did and what they're thinking of putting in the movie. Nathan closed the door (he likes to do things by himself sometimes) and then went to work. It was shown today at the conference with all those hundreds of employees watching. It won "best animated". Bob was swarmed after the showing by other employees complimenting Nathan and sharing tons and tons of praise. There were quite a few that said he should go into movies.....What an absolute riot! Here's the movie that Nate came up with ....another Lego movie for your enjoyment :) Make sure to pause that blog music that I have going ....sorry!

This is one HAPPIEST MOM day!!!

I truly am the happiest mom!! My kids are wonderful! I honestly have no words to describe how amazing they are!! I have to show off the wonderful gifts I got from them today. I LOVE homemade, from the heart gifts for mothers day. I still have all their drawings of me as a big head with little lines sticking out from the head (representing the arms and legs). They are priceless works of art. As the years have gone by, it has been fun watching the evolution of the drawings and gifts. This year is the year that tops it all....wow.....just take a look!

First is Amanda

Amanda is taking an advanced digital technology class at school. A few weeks ago the teacher announced that they needed to do a project with vinyl lettering. Well, Amanda went up to her teacher and asked if she could do something for mother's day. He agreed. This BEAUTIFUL display is the result!! Here's some background that makes it even more special.....a couple of years ago while we were visiting the Sacred Grove, Amanda took some pictures. The pictures turned out so beautiful. I decided to make them bigger and put them in some nice frames for our wall in the front room. I've been wanting to get some vinyl letters to put on the wall that had something to do with prayer. Amanda remembered this and came up with this project for school. I LOVE IT!!!! Now, in my front room I have an entire wall with my daughter's beautiful artistic talent on display. It is so peaceful and motivating. Thank you Amanda!!

2nd is Nathan

Nathan handed me a cool homemade card and inside the card was a DVD....WOW!! He stayed up late the night before creating this fantastic movie for me. Who needs to buy movie tickets when you have such a talented son! I love his talent. He is the most creative young man I know! He has come up with so many fun and adventurous lego movies. Nathan makes my life fun. He brings laughter and happiness all the time. Thank you Nathan!!!
Here's the DVD he made for me. (pause my blog music first)


Hopefully next year I'll have one, two, or three more amazing kids to add to my happiest mom day :)!!!!!!!! Keep us in your prayers....no news yet.

Confessions of a WACKY WOMAN!

So....Here's the current state of my mind.....I'm out running errands today and it's around lunch time so I think..."Hey, it's Cinco De Mayo...I should get something at Del Taco" So, I'm sitting there in the drive-thru pondering the menu board. After a while I'm thinking,"Goll-ly what's up with these guys they are super slow" Cars were lining up behind me...hmmmm....come on guys!!

All of a sudden I hear this mad voice from a distant car..."Hey, it's the NEXT ONE...MOVE UP!!". Oh my gosh, I was sitting at the menu board BEFORE the actual one with the microphone.....no wonder noone was helping me. I gunned my gas pedal so fast. After the initial shock I started busting up laughing. Which made me look even more wacked out because I was all by myself. Ohhh...sometimes I wonder about myself :0 Someone save me!!

16 years....we can now start dating (except on our anniversary)!

On May 1st Bob and I celebrated our 16th anniversary. Well, it wasn't much of a celebration....but, we figured it was a typical and perfect representation of our wonderful life of marriage.....and why we are so blissfully happy. It's funny because I go to other's blogs and read about this wonderful romantic weekend, or read all these wonderful dedications to their spouse. Well....I hope you feel the same warm and fuzzy from my anniversary! A few months ago we had wonderful plans....but, then as the time got closer, we realized that the kids had booked our calendar to the MAX. And, as time got even closer.....We also discovered that we couldn't even go out that evening because of Amanda's lacrosse and Nathan's band concert. So, we happily opted for a lunch date. But, the day before.....we discoverd that everything in our freezer was melting, and our fridge was quite warm instead of cold. So, I frantically went out shopping for a fridge and the place that could deliver it the next day won the bid. The anniversary day was spent installing the fridge and attending a piano competition for Nathan......no lunch date.....then we did the lacrosse and band concert in the evening. When we finally layed down to go to sleep we were exhausted! We love our busy life and the fruits of our marriage couldn't be any better. It's just were we wanted to be in 16 years. :) Just look how dang nice that fridge is!!!

The forgotten tile

Well, with all that's been going on....I forgot to put up pictures of the finished tile and carpet project.....NEXT!!! Ha....so.... Here's our AWESOME new floors. (I put in a HGTV before and after shot for your enjoyment!)

BEFORE

(yucky matted down and dirty carpet and linolium in the bathroom and laundry room)

AFTER

(nice solid tile...that I hardly have to clean and new darker carpet..that I hardly have to clean...LOVE IT!! Can you tell I'm into the no cleaning thing?)

We also got new carpet in the living room....once again....DARK. Here's a shot looking from the living room back to the tile. Can you see sneaky Toby? He is such a crack up!