Twenty Years Ago Today

Twenty years ago today Brent and I started dating. Ah, so young! So bright eyed and hopeful. Well, I would be if my eyes weren't closed.

Those Who Can....

....paint or draw or something like that. Those who can't get a Charley Harper art book and cut out a bunch of pictures, mod podge it onto poster board and frame it. This allowed me to finally finish this family room of ours. Well this and discovering after the kids rearranged the furniture to make a movie theater one day that I still had room to exercise at the far end of the room. This and that and some strategically placed sock monkeys placed at the far end to balance out the other wall since I couldn't put anything big on the wall over there since Brent and Noah discovered that empty space I will now use for exercising is also good for a fun game of hand ball with a red rubber ball too.

A Brief Summary of Summer

Summer was here! And now it's almost gone. It was a good summer.Thank you summer, we really needed (well wanted) a good summer. What did we do? We...

Had a week of cold and rain. Had swim lessons, with beautiful weather (not too hot, not too cold) I might add. We took lots of bike rides to the other side of town. Stopped for a few icees at the gas station along the way.

The kids ran the Run for Congo 5K run at Wheeler farm, half of it anyway. I helped out with kids activities (heel spur came back, no running for me.) Brent cheered us on. Followed it with a ride on Trax, exploring the SLC Library and visiting a park from my teen years.

We had girl's camp for Isabella (she had fun!); 11 year old scout day camp with Brent as leader; cub scout day camp, a first for Noah (and me as a parent volunteer).

Next up was a week off for Brent with some local fun. (We WILL NOT call this a staycation.) We rode the Heber Valley Railroad- got robbed by some train robbers, it was terrifying! We went to Lagoon. It ended up being the worst Lagoon trip in years. I got a small purse stolen. It didn't have anything in it but $25 but it was a cute little handy purse and I'd had it since 1990-something. I yelled at a girl running a ride. I think the purse theft was karma for my bad behavior. Then we got our stuff locked in the Lagoona Beach lockers and had to get a security guard to break our stuff free. The kids had fun though! Then the drive in of course, you have to hit the drive in once a summer.

Then there was the actual real vacation. We went to Lake Tahoe! Ah, beautiful Lake Tahoe! There was kayaking and playing in the water and on the beach, a sailboat ride, and horseback riding. The girls LOVED that. They'd never been on horses before so it was pretty great. My horse kept getting sassy and had to be separated from Zoe's horse.We stayed in a condo and did not eat at or from a restaurant once! Well, except for sundaes at the McDonald's drive up, but I don't think that counts.



Next I went on my own little adventure. I went to Seattle to visit and old, old, old, old friend. Okay, not old, because we're not old dangit (regardless of what my foot and back try to tell me). I spent three days there. It was great hanging out and seeing the sights. Did I ever tell you how much I love Seattle? Well I do. I belong in the Northwest somewhere. My friend Becky lives in a suburban forest. Huge trees everywhere. Paths that literally take you through the woods. I felt like Little Red Riding Hood. It was magical, I tell ya.


While I was off enjoying the cool weather and the water and the trees Brent took the kids camping with Grandma Cathy at a lake. I hear they had fun, not as much fun as I had, but fun still.


Then summer was almost over and it was time to get ready for school again. I signed up for a new program at a different school which I will talk about more later, I'm excited. I had to get four shots though. I wasn't sure which was worse, enduring the pain of the shots or realizing how much it must have hurt my kids to get all of those shots when they were little. Okay, my own pain was probably a little worse than my empathy for the kids. Back to school shopping with the kids went really well and I didn't even want to shoot myself in the head numerous times. A small miracle.


So there you have it. Summer 2011 in a nutshell. You were good to us summer. Thank you.

First Day of School 2011

School is back again! Summer went by so fast. My kids are growing up so fast. Isabella is in 8th grade, Zoe is in 6th and Noah is in 3rd.

Oh Yeah, That Birthday

Oh, blog. What will it take to get me to post more on you?

I'm wondering what I should do. Whenever I answer the phone people think I'm a teenager. Now they think I am my daughter. Should I start smoking? That ought to give me a nice husky voice. Like Natalie Merchant in her later albums. I don't care for those later albums. Smoking is so 1980s though.

I never even blogged about my fortieth birthday spectacular. (I finally got it in my head, just in time, that there is no "U" in forty. I still reject the spelling on a certain level, but I'm slowly accepting it.) What did I do? After telling 39 it could "suck it" and 39 saying to me, "Right back at ya, babe!" I decided I better show 40 a good time. It's been so long I've nearly forgotten. The original plan was to hike to the top of a nearby mountain. It sounded like a good plan for turning forty but then I discovered, especially in a year as wet as this one, that I would likely be hiking through waste deep snow halfway up the mountain. First, our weekend getaway plans (for Brent and me) got postponed. So on Sunday, my birthday, we just drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and watched the rushing creek and hiked around a bit. It was a beautiful day, I remember. Brent volunteered to make me a gluten free cheesecake which was delicious. The kids made me birthday videos on the ipad! I wish they were on you tube so I could post them here. The next weekend we had our getaway to the city (it was also our anniversary weekend-16 years!- so that worked out great.) We wandered around, saw some art, saw a movie, ate a reeeaally good hamburger and just had fun being together.

But the best part of the birthday extravaganza was the Tuesday after my birthday. This wasn't planned for months or a year or more like some had planned for this. Two weeks before my birthday I thought, nothing exciting is going on the weekend of my birthday, so why not buy myself some tickets to U2, dang it! And so I did. Invited Isabella to come along with me. I can't say I'm a U2 superfan but of course I like U2. And being the music lover I am I think I know more of their songs than the average non U2 superfan. All I can say is it was one amazing concert! The best show I've ever seen, maybe even! I think I knew all but maybe two of the songs and I think I love that Bono and his humanitarian loving ways just a little bit.

So it was a great birthday extravaganza, I have to say. And it's not even done yet. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm on month 3 of Chalean Extreme (a three month workout program). Lifting heavy weights. My muscles are huge! You should see them! I kid guys, but my arms are looking decent and I've lost the beginnings of armulite. You know, cellulite on the upper arms. So, there's that too. And in July the fun continues when I go to Seattle (oh Seattle, how I've missed you!) to celebrate with a dear old friend who will also turn forty. So we will be having a great time celebrating our forty year old awesomeness together.

Isabella had a great time at the concert playing videographer:

Happy Birthday To Me!

A Brief Religious Interlude (or what I learned from Jon Huntsman)

Over in primary land I am able to feel the spirit and never hear religion mixed with politics. It is a blessing. To be honest though, my ward is pretty good about steering clear of that. From what I remember anyway. The internets are a different story however. I know, don't go seeking it out if you don't want to read that. You don't have to go there. So true, so true. But I'm a glutton for punishment, among other things, occasionally. Today I went to a blog and there was a little fundraising for Mitt going on. Dear old Mitt. The fundraising was going on so "America can get it's dignity back". Uggg. I hate that. "We have a president I don't agree with, he's not my guy, so of course our country has lost it's dignity." (Not an actual quote, just my guessing what is going on in these heads.) Why so vitriolic? I still say there is good in everyone. Why does it always have to turn so hateful? I'm being a little sensitive today, I know. Nursing an annoying, sinus bothering cold.

Anyway, That's not even what I was going to write about. Mormons are in a bit of an uproar because potential presidential candidate and former Utah governor, Jon Huntsman, is unable to clearly define his Mormonism. I really don't care about Jon Huntsman's Mormonism. I liked him as a governor. Solidly moderate he seemed. He seemed friendly on the environment. I liked that. But as far as his religion goes, a lot of Mormons aren't happy he didn't boldly bear his testimony. Or at least renounce the church. "You're either in or you're out!" they say. Now I understand people who like to comment on newspaper articles and threads and facebook statuses (stati?) on the internet are often more opinionated that the average person. So there's bound to be a lot of "You're either in or you're out!" "There is no such thing as gray! It's all black and white!" I don't believe that. I hate black and white. You should see the walls in my house, nothing black and white there. The ceilings are white though.

I don't mind that Jon Huntsman, for whatever reason, can't be completely black or white or straight with a reporter (he has time to do that anyway, why bother getting too personal on a subject that is very personal to some people before you've even thrown your hat into the ring officially). And I don't believe "you're either in or you're out". Is that what stake missionaries say? Do they go talk to the inactive family down the street, develop a report, get them interested in coming back to church and then, BAMM! "You know, Brother and Sister Jones, we really would love to see you at church (even though you haven't been in ten years). Please come this Sunday at 11. But remember, once you get there, you are either in the church, OR YOU'RE OUT! NO EXCUSES! If you ever have a question or doubt, don't bother coming back until it's gone. So we'll see ya Sunday, k?" And I don't believe the church feels this black and white about things either. They know we are all on our own path in our spirituality. If such a black and white stance was the case I would not be in the primary presidency. I was married in a church. I haven't been through the temple. My own spirituality is very personal so I don't get into it much. But if it was that black and white I don't think they would have called me to the primary presidency. This isn't about me. The whole black and white thing has long bugged me. The world is a beautiful place for all it's colors and shades of each color. I believe in God and Jesus Christ and I believe they know that too.

Frustration

I'm frustrated. Hence the title. Isabella had a six months post diagnosis of celiac disease check up and she has gained weight and is feeling healthier, she isn't anemic anymore, but she's still getting unacceptable levels of gluten. So what do I do? Should I only buy whole foods and products from gluten free companies? I thought I was getting things down. I read labels but there is so much cross contamination that can be done in a food manufacturing plant. She wants to go to girls camp and youth conference for church this summer and I intend to let her go, but how much of a pain is this going to be? How risky is it going to be?

The other day we ate lunch at the only exclusively gluten free establishment I know of, Eleanor's Bakery. It was good, albeit expensive. We had these sandwiches on this cornmeal bread called arepas. We also had chips: Cheetos for Isabella and Doritos for me and Brent. These chips do not have gluten in them (I am becoming increasingly wary of food additives like MSG, however. Not because they contain gluten but because I think we should get away from artificial ingredients. We have a long way to go though.) These chips have also recently been changed  on the Frito Lay website. They are produced in facilities that produce other products that contain gluten (like Sun Chips). They aren't on the much smaller list of products that have been tested to have less than 20 part per million (the acceptable level of gluten). I buy quite a few products that say gluten free on the label or have no gluten in the ingredients but also say they are produced in a facility that makes wheat containing ingredients or just says "may contain wheat". Like Heartland Gluten Free Pasta or Reese's Puffs cereal. I do that because it makes life easier and Isabella can have more options. But I guess I can't do that anymore. I realize I sound very whiny here. But this is my blog and I need to complain about how this is a pain in the butt once in a while. Especially when I have confirmation that while we are making progress, it's not good enough.

Trampolining and such

One kid got baptized, one designed her own t-shirt, and one stuffed her face in a cake.

On the new trampoline:

Zoe made a cake at a party and decided the best use of it would be sticking her face in it:

Isabella went to Brent's work to job shadow him. She got to design and print her own t-shirt:

Noah was baptized by Uncle Matt:

What a handsome boy.

Twenty

Internet, I've been sick most of the month of March. I'm just now beginning to emerge from an ibuprofen popping, oozing, aching, constantly feeling like a two year old is squeezing my tonsils in his or her strong, tiny fist stupor. So I've been in bed as much as humanly possible learning how to redo my neighbor's bathroom with fabulous glass tile and carrara marble flooring courtesy of the kind givers of knowledge over at the DIY network. I'll have to do my neighbors bathroom because I simply don't care enough to do my own. Bathrooms aren't my top priority. It could use a coat of paint though. So my neighbors have really lucked out this time. Kudos to them.

Prior to being stricken with walking pneumonia/the plague/throat, lung and bone cancer (strangely not the flu though, I went to the doctor and got a couple of swabs stuffed up my nose that was all at once invasive and cleansing but came back with negative results) I was getting in shape. Working out like a mad woman. I spent the whole month of January successfully achieving results with my new years resolution: workout at least five days a week and eat good 5 out of 7 days each week. I even broke the birthday cake curse: When you make a resolution to eat healthy FROM NOW ON! at the beginning of January but you forget that two of your kids have birthdays in the first two weeks of the year and you're a big sucker for a good birthday cake.

So, now I'm on the road to recovery (fingers crossed). I need to get back with it. I'm taking it to the internets. Which means this here blog. I want to lose twenty pounds. My only goal is to eat all the healthy/whole foods I can and workout as much as I can (which will probably translate into about 4-6 times per week). I don't do calorie counting, that's for schmucks (unless you count calories, I would never call you a schmuck). Today I have begun my journey with my own Power Breakfast (plain yogurt, blueberries, sliced oranges, ground flax seed, oats, stir it all together and enjoy) and a good stretch (never underestimate the importance of stretching) followed by a walk to the elementary school to volunteer and back. I'm still kind of sick, so let's not get too crazy.

Here is my before picture, which I really don't like much, but in my defense it was the day I really started getting sick and wound up with a 102 fever that night. You try looking good doing yoga with a fever of 102.

The Dumbest of The Smart

If I ever write a memoir it will be called The Dumbest of The Smart....a Memoir. It's almost as cool as the name of Brent's future memoir, In The Shadow of The Squeegee. Very mysterious I know. These names are copyrighted of course. Sorry, you can't have them. I've always felt that way, dumbest of the smart. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. There's always room for improvement. If I were smartest of the dumb, well then I would have peaked. I'd have to say, this is as good as it gets. In high school I was in honors classes...just barely. I should write a memoir just to save all the timeless tales of my childhood for my children and my children's children to read someday. I think about it then I think, could I ever really put my most embarrassing moment on paper? Or on the internet? Or even in microsoft word? I've had the same most embarrassing moment of my life since I was 19 years old. So for twenty years. It was so embarrassing it has been difficult if not impossible to surpass. There I was, waiting for my date to pick me up in the afternoon. We were going over to the community college to play raquetball. There was a knock and Chuck (my step dad) told him to come in... Nope. That's as far as I can get. I've only told this story to two, maybe three people. Maybe it's not that bad, I just embarrass easily. Still. Some things are better left unsaid.

I could just start my memoir by telling how I got my name. Why did my parents name me Cindy? I'm not a Cindy in the '70's sense of the name. Cindy was always a dumb blond with a big chest on TV when I was growing up. I guess that is sort of appropriate. I am blond but anatomically I don't fit the bill. My dad had what I would guess was a small crush on a coworker. Why did he have a crush on this woman? Well, she'd had surgical augmentation, if you know what I mean. So yes, there you have it. My parents named me after a woman named Cindy who had a boob job. So glad I got that off my chest. Pun intended? I think my slight white trash upbringing streak is showing through. So back to my most embarrassing story. Could it really be worse than the story of how I got my name? I'm afraid so. It's funny if delivered properly. Funny and horrifying all at once. No, not yet. We'll save horrifying for later.