Princess Caroline

I looked back in the car and noticed she had her "Princess earrings " on.

Anyone that knows Caroline, knows that she is all about being a GIRL! My four year old asks on a regular basis:


Q: When can I get my ears pierced? A: When you are twelve.
Q: My nails have only been painted once today. When can we do it again? A: Once per day.
Q: Can I wear a dress to preschool every single day? A: Of course.
Q: My Hello Kitty lipgloss is clear. When can I get RED lipgloss? A: Maybe when you are twelve.
Q: I've decided exactly how I would like my hair today. Can you follow these instructions I give you? A: Probably not...I'm all thumbs. But I'll certainly try.


So it is with that background information that I share the following anecdote:


When I picked Caroline up from preschool today I was wearing sunglasses. I wore them into the house and then took them off. She looked at me and GASPED!!   She had a look of utter disgust and humiliation on her face.


"What's wrong," I ask?
She can barely form the words to say, "You, You, You.....FORGOT to put on your eye makeup today!!"
"I must have been in a hurry," I tell her.


She continued to give me wary side long glances until I finally agreed to go upstairs to apply the necessary creams and ointments to my unadorned eyes.


What a tragedy in her four year old life! I'm beginning to become a little worried about what just what kind of girl I'm in for in the years to come!


P.S. I've also decided that those little "Pageant Girls" you see....they aren't made. They're born!!!!

Run and Hike Canyonlands 2011

 The family indulged me by traveling to Moab so that I could run the Canyonlands Half Marathon.  This was my second year.  The course is so beautiful along the Colorado River!  I wish I could take pics the entire way.  I met up with Anne, Lisa, JaNae and Sheri at the start line.  It wasn't nearly as cold at the start as it was last year....twenty degrees warmer they said.  What a relief...cuz it sure was frigid last year!!  

I had a pretty good race.  I ran with Lisa and Anne until about 6.5, then Lisa took off.  There was a hill at around 9, and Anne does hills so much better than I do, and she took off.  I was really enjoying the run...until almost exactly 11.5.  Then both my stomach and my achilles tendon started to hurt at the exact same time.  I had to stop and walk a minute or two at 11.5 and about 12.5.  I was really hurting!!  I wondered if I would have to walk across the finish.  However, there is something about walking across the finish line that I just can't do, so I picked it up and ran across.  My final time was 2:16:39...about a 10:24 mile.  Pretty average for me.  Yep...I'm slow.

I had such a fun time though.  I really love being at the race with friends!!

Canyonlands Start Line

Me and Anne waiting for the race to begin--20 degrees warmer than last year.  Phew!!

Sheri, Lisa, Me, Anne and JaNae-Race Start  Actually quite cold and windy!!

Lisa and Me

High Fiving the Fam at the Finish Line

Anne, Me, Lisa, Sheri, JaNae-Finish Line!!






No trip to Moab is complete without a stop at the Rock Shop.  The kids brought their allowance and we spent a great deal of time after the race shopping for rocks and other souvenirs.
Sunday morning we got up and went into Arches National Park.  It was pretty cold and windy.  We weren't prepared for the weather, and really didn't stay long.


We walked around Balanced Rock, hiked the Windows area, and went over to the Sand Dunes.  The kids sure had fun with our neighbors and are looking forward to Mom's next race in an exotic locale!! 

Caroline Performing

Eldredges and Murdoch Kids-Corona Arch

I love that Will is helping Caroline.

Josh

Windows in Arches National Park

Josh's stunt shot.  Don't worry Grandma...it's just a trick of the camera.

Caroline

Emma charging down the Sand Dunes

Sand Dunes

Murdoch Kids at Balanced Rock

Emma and Megan

Josh-Sand Dunes

Will and Jake

Will and Jake

Taste This Milk....It's Sour

I found this cup of chocolate milk upon opening the fridge Friday and it made me really laugh.

Will wrote: I think this milk expired.  Please test and check your response in tallys.  

Apparently Dad thinks it's expired too.  I wonder if he tasted it.  Yuck!!

Josh the Skier Stunt Boy

Since our ski days are numbered the rest of this season, I took Josh up on Saturday.  I have to say that my most favorite days this winter are when I was able to ski with the kids.  Especially one on one.  Josh and I had a great time.  We took the clip off of his skis, and perfected his stunts.  He skied through my legs, up and through the half pipe, and even on a daring blue run.  I can't wait for next year to ski more with them!

Josh ready for the day in his stunt helmet.

Two runs in it started to snow pretty hard so he needed a hot chocolate break.

I wasn't sure if I should start drawing a chalk outline around his body.  FYI...he was faking it.

A treat at the end of the day.

Brace Face

Just when I thought the savings account was looking more plentiful, the orthodontist decided that we needed to use some of it to line his pockets.  Even though Will's teeth are fairly straight he did have a "slight bite alignment issue".  (That's ortho speak for yes, his teeth are straight, but I want to put braces on your kid anyway.)  Without further delay Will's teeth have been adorned with some new bling.  After biting off three of the braces and swallowing one (OUCH!) in the first day, he is now sporting his new hardware with nary a complaint.

I think they are trying to extricate and alien from Will's mouth.

Our summer vacation in Will's mouth.

Damn Soles in Distress

After a month long hiatus...I guess I should post again....

JaNae, Me, Lindsay, Lisa and Anne-Gunlock Start

So what do five housewives from Draper do towards the end of a long and dreary winter?  Why, drive south to run the Lake to Lake Relay, of course!  We were desperate to get away for a weekend.   The fact that there happened to be a race in St. George provided the perfect alibi.

This year JaNae, Lisa, Anne, Lindsay and I ran the 50 mile relay from Gunlock Reservoir to Sand Hollow.  Our team name:  Damn Soles in Distress.  After a chilly start it warmed up to a balmy 68 degrees.  A veritable heat wave compared to our neck of the woods.  We had a great time chatting, laughing, and supporting each other as we each ran 2 legs of about 5-6 miles each towards our goal.

Lindsay-1st runner at the COLD Start!

Decorating the Car

I loved my first leg!  I ran through black rock lava fields while I admired the snow capped mountains and red rock hills in the distance.  The scenery was spectacular. I ran almost a minute and a half faster per mile than I usually do. My second leg was also pretty good albeit hilly.  However, I wasn't used to running in the "heat" so it was more of a challenge.  There was a pretty serious hill towards the end as well.  I ran about 3/4 of the way up the hill, but it was so steep I had to stop and walk for a minute.

Leprechaun Lisa

Anne and Janae-Pink Tutus and T's.

Lindsay running the Red Rock

Lindsay, Me and JaNae

JaNae-Speed Demon

JaNae barely stops long enough for water

Lindsay and JaNae-

Anne at the Pit Stop

Lisa

Me

Me and Lisa

FINISH LINE!! 

My only complaint is that we only stayed one night.  After a post race dinner (my fav-Texas Roadhouse) we traveled home.  I could have stayed another couple of days post run...at least!  I could have used a book and some pool time for the effort!