lots of updates

Wow, I'm worn out. I don't know why I procrastinate getting pictures on here and getting blogs written. At least I was very productive today and got quite a few new blogs up. Mostly all about Elsie...actually all of them are about Elsie! She's much more exciting and cute than either Aaron or I.

I do have to add a little something about her that has been cracking me up lately. She has now learned that my name is Kim and is using it instead of Mom a little too often...especially when she really wants my attention. The other day in the car I was singing to her to try to cheer her up. She got very annoyed and said "Stop, Kim. Stop, Kim." (Except she says "Dim".) I guess my voice is even worse than I thought! So, yeah, she's using it all the time. I tried to teach her Aaron's name, but it's too hard for her to say. She says something close to "Een". That's kind of funny, too, because Aaron hates when people use the girl spelling "Erin" for his name. We used to tease him about it and say we are going to start calling him Ee-rin. Anyway, now this isn't sounding very funny, but it sounds like Elsie is saying that instead of Aaron. Well, it makes me laugh and bugs Aaron, and that's all that matters!

I had myself a little Michael Jackson tribute dance party this afternoon while Elsie was napping. So many great songs!! Check out Angie's and Jared's blogs. They give a much better tribute than I ever could.

orange bubbles

Elsie loves the color orange...can you tell? And she loves blowing bubbles! She's getting pretty good at it, too. Plus, my friend introduced me to these bubble bottles that have a spill-proof lid on them...genius!

Never a good angle when you're taking the picture yourself, but it is proof that I exist!

snacking in the pool

What a diva! She was swimming in her pool the other day and wanted a snack. Of course, she didn't want to get out, so we set it up for her in the pool. Nothing like a fruit smoothie and chips on a hot day.

"my blue pool"

I made Aaron drive me all around Nampa looking for one of these hard, plastic swimming pools. I was bound and determined to have one for Elsie this summer because I knew she'd love it and knew it wouldn't pop! It has not disappointed! She loves it, is constantly talking about "my blue pool", and loves having friends over to swim (or even Aaron and I...yes, we had all three of us in it the other day. It was a little carnie, but it felt good!)

Doesn't it always feel so good to lay on your towel in the hot sun and dry off from the pool? It reminds me of how we would lay on the cement around Grandma and Grandpa's pool to warm up. The cement was roasting hot, but it didn't matter when you were fresh out of the pool. Oh, those were the days. The little blue pool doesn't quite compare to that.

Olivia, Christian, and Elsie

Elsie loves her buddies, and is quite obsessed with "Baby Bumbo". Yes, she's very creative. The baby's name is Adelaide, but Elsie created her own nickname. She always saw in the Bumbo seat, so that's where she got it from. It has become a regular part of Elsie's vocabulary and conversation. Even Adelaide's own siblings have started calling her that!

Just a little pool video for your viewing pleasure. No, you won't get to see me in a swimsuit. Sorry, I don't like to disappoint you all!

playing with daddy

One of Elsie's greatest joys in life is playing with Daddy. I think he kind of likes it, too. :)

I don't want those cheeks to ever go away!

She's super fast...just like her daddy.

Those are two happy faces!

ponytails

Elsie is usually a stinker when it comes to letting me do her hair, but she let my friend, Diana, do her hair when she was over there the other day. She thought it was so cool and was requesting it the next day. I can't believe her hair is long enough for real ponytails...I can't believe how old she looks in these pictures!

I can't decide if I like camping

I got home from Girl's Camp on Friday afternoon. Elsie was taking a nap already because Aaron was able to come home early that day. I was able to take a long, hot shower, eat 2 bowls of cereal (which I missed big time...I've realized I need cereal in my life!), and looked on the internet. It was wonderful!


We really did have a great time at Camp. It's always such a neat experience for the girls and a great time to bond as a ward. We really needed that for our YW. There were a couple of girls that I was nervous about spending 4 days with, but, all in all, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.


One of my favorite experiences of the week was the "faith walk" we did with the girls. You do this by tying a long rope to several trees in the woods, creating a path that the girls must follow. They are blindfolded and told at the beginning to follow the rope. That is it. As the girls get going along the rope, you have people (in this case, us leaders and some of the stake YW leaders) whispering to them trying to get them to leave the rope or stay on the rope. I was a "good" voice trying to get them to stay on the rope or help them return to the rope if they left it. We weren't allowed to touch them, just guide them with our "still, small" voice. The leaders that were "bad" would say things like "Follow me, I know an easier way" and so on. Some of the girls held on the whole time, never leaving, even when they were stumbling over things and unsure. Others would be convinced to leave the rope once, find their way back, and hold tight the rest of the way. A couple girls left the rope a few times. One of the girls left the rope at the very beginning, got so flustered and confused about who to listen to or what to do, so she just sat down. We had three leaders, including myself, telling her to go back and trying to help her understand that she could do it. One other leader was still trying to get her to stay there. Anyway, it took quite a while to get her to move (admittedly, one of us had to grab her arm and pull her up to get her to move...she was so nervous about making any move). She made it back and held so tight to the rope the rest of the way. As the girls finished, they took of the blindfold and waited for the others to finish. When they were all done, the two leaders in charge talked to the girls about how the path represented their lives and the rope represented the gospel. They talked about the friends/people/things we have in our lives that can influence our decisions and lead us in good or bad directions. They talked about what happens when we leave the path and how we can always get back. They brought up so many good points and said some things that really touched me personally. The girls (and leaders) really felt the spirit and were able to relate so much to what they were teaching. It was one of the neatest experiences I had the whole week!


So, back to the camping. I'm still trying to decide if I like camping. I don't like being dirty. I don't like bugs. I don't like sleeping in a sleeping bag or living out of a tent. I don't like cooking outside. I don't really know how to build a fire (thank goodness we had a couple leaders up there that were "super campers"). I don't like that camping is so much work! I know I sound like I'm whining, and I kind of am. But, I've just realized that the things I like about camping our few. I like smores. I like sitting outside when it's not raining (we had only one day of drizzly rain). I like getting away from normal, every day life for a while. I think my idea of "camping" is in a cabin, with a firepit nearby!!


I had a great week. I'm so glad to be home with my hubby and Elsie. I missed them a ton! I got the best, longest hug from her when she woke up from her nap on Friday and I went up to get her. It made me so happy! I'm so glad I have such great friends that helped watch Elsie during the day while Aaron was at work. I know Elsie had a great time with her Daddy, too. He absolutely adores her and she adores him.


I have no pictures because I was too lazy during the week. Just about everyone else was taking a million pictures, so I'll have to get copies from all of them. So, no one gets to see how wonderful I looked all week.

goodbye bed, goodbye shower

Off to camp I go! I'll be back Friday! I know I'll have a good week, but I'm going to miss Aaron and Elsie...and eating the food I like, sleeping in my bed, going to the gym, wathcing SYTYCD...the list goes on. Wow, I'm pretty pathetic considering I'm only going to be gone for 3 1/2 days. Ha ha!

Oh, and I must give an early birthday shout-out (her birthday is on Thursday) to my sis, Angie. Hope you have a great day and remember how much I love you!!

my week

getting ready for girl's camp next week

staying up too late with friends

being sick with Elsie

exercising when I wasn't sick

planning a baby shower

making jam

watching SYTYCD (several times) :)

visiting with an old friend (Kyle Woodruff and family)

staying busy and having fun

(I'm not gonna lie. I will be happier when girl's camp is over. Not that I'm not happy to go and participate...there's just so much work that goes into it.)

Here's to our Vikingman!!

We went down to Burley this weekend for Aaron to do the Vikingman Triathlon (Olympic Distance - 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run). His brother, Jeff, has done them for the past few years and talked Aaron into doing it this year. He's been training over the last few months (and lost a bunch of weight while he was at it), so he felt like he was ready and excited to give it a try.

I had been watching the weather all week, and things were not looking too promising. On our drive down on Friday, it was windy, pouring rain, and, at one point, hailing really hard. We all crossed our fingers that it wouldn't be so bad for the race on Saturday. I was so worried about it, but Aaron was determined to do it no matter what. It turned out to be a little windy and drizzly for most of the time he was racing. It was really the best chunk of weather we had the whole weekend.

Aaron's parents came up to watch the guys race and hang out with all of us. We had a good time visiting with them and with Jeff, Nicole and Alexis. I was glad to have some company while waiting and watching at the event.

Aaron had a great time and did really well. He got first in his age group (and even got a cool trophy) and 16th overall. His big downfall was the bike, he said, because his seat was too low and he was trying to figure out how to adjust all the gears. Yes, most people would have done all that before the day of the race. Not Aaron! He bought this bike a couple weeks ago on Craigslist, got it tuned up, rode it around the block a couple times, and called it good. I kept telling him he needed to go on at least one bike ride before the triathlon (he had just been training on the spin bikes at the gym), but he insisted that he'd be fine. Well, he was fine and made it through, but it might have been a bit easier had he listened to me. There, did I rub it in enough??

So, here comes the pictures and video....and there's a lot! (I didn't get a whole lot of video because Gary was recording on his camera as well. But as it turns out, he hadn't actually pushed the record button when he thought he had. Yes, this happened several times. Operator error, as Gary said!)

I thought I was taking a picture here, but my camera was set on video. So it the shortest video ever, but you can see him coming in from his swim to the transition area.

We were able to get really close and see him at the transition area. This is really all we were able to watch (besides the ending), but it was still super exciting. I was so proud of him!

Always a smile!

I know you're all jealous of the tight shorts!



Aaron taking a deep breath as he was about to start the biking part.

Off he goes! At one point toward the end of the bike ride, his butt was cramping up so bad, he couldn't move his legs. He had to slow down and just fall over on his side. He couldn't even get his shoes out of the clips. After a little stretch his got back on and finished. What a stud!

It was a cool, drizzly day, but we stayed warm and snuggly. Elsie had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Here's Aaron coming in on his bike. I forgot I was videoing and started cheering and watching him...so, needless to say, it's not the best picture.

Getting ready for the run.

Ready for the last leg of the race.

Elsie snuggled on Grandma as we waited for Aaron at the finish line. She was getting so tired, but she was so excited to see Daddy when he finished.

Here he comes!!

Still had the energy to be dorky!

He's done!

He went straight for the watermelon.

We were so proud and in awe of of him. He didn't even seem tired or worn out. There was even a tiny, and I mean tiny, part of me that thought I should do it next year. That lasted about 2 seconds.

Aaron, with his trophy, and his brother Jeff. Jeff did the Half-Triathlon. Crazy!!

Goodbye, Wrigley...

April 2006-June 2, 2009

We lost our dog Wrigley this week. It happened Tuesday evening while Aaron and Elsie were out on a walk with him. He was hit by a car that was driving way too fast on the road right outside our neighborhood. We are so sad, and feel like a little part of our family is missing now. Aaron and I got Wrigley in June of 2006. He came into our lives at a very important time. He gave us something to focus on and to take care of. I, who am not a dog person at all, really came to love and appreciate him. He was so friendly, gentle, kind, happy, well-behaved. Wrigley was so wonderful with every person he came in contact with, especially kids. I never worried about him being around Elsie or others. In fact, Elsie absolutely adored him and loved having him around. We loved to take him on walks and hang out in the yard with him. I feel especially bad for Aaron. He was the one that really took care of Wrigley and spent the most time with him. He was his buddy!! It's going to take some getting used to not having him with us. We look out in the backyard to see him, and it's still so weird that he's not there. We love you, Wrigley.

(I feel so bad because I was getting so lazy about taking pictures of Wrigley over these past few months. I just hate that feeling of wishing you had done things differently. But these are a few of my favorite pictures over the past few years.)

And, yes, Wrigley died on the anniversay of my mom's passing. How do like that??

June 1st

It's my mom's birthday and that will always be something to celebrate and remember. That is what I'm trying to focus on. I miss her.