Pretzel Mania!!

Ok, today was a funny day.
The setting: I was doing laundry straightening up the house, Anna was eating a snack of pretzels and Caleb was just playing around the house quietly, for the 1st time all day!
I came into the house from doing laundry, and saw that the playroom door was closed. I open the door- and what did I find???
Caleb had taken the entire bucket of pretzels and dumped the WHOLE thing out onto the table in the playroom! Then, it seems that he decided that wasn't enough fun, he thought it would be better if some were on the floor and the rest were crushed into bits with salt all over the table!
So, I went in, yelled at him for about 2 seconds and realized, what am I yelling about? So I sent him out of the room, asked Anna to bring me the vacuum, and started picking up the pretzels and putting them back in the container for the next person to eat!
I was not about to waste all those pretzels! (there was a whole new bag in there!) Here is what I did for the next 30 minutes! The videos aren't really that long, I promise!
While I was still picking up pretzels, Caleb came in while I was cleaning up and was licking his fingers to get all the salt he could eat! I almost threw up! It was hilarious! This is a prime example of what life is like in my house on a good day!!! I love almost 3 year olds!

A Painting We Will Go...

We spent Conference Saturday painting our bedroom. For my birthday, Chad gave me a bunch of paint samples and a certificate that said, choose your color and we will paint the bedroom and bathroom. I have been wanting to do this for a few years, and just never did. So I went to Home Depot and chose a ton of different samples, took them home and narrowed it down to one. I LOVE IT! We didn't get to the bathroom, but that I could probably do in a day(if the kids were not around!) We will do that another day, but at least I already have the paint! We took a bunch of pictures and videos of the kids painting and Chad made it into a mini movie. Take a look at how we spent the weekend!!!!

Golfing with Bro's

It's always nice to spend a day with my brothers on a golf course even if I am no good at the game. A day on the course is always better than a day at the office.

Ragnar Relay Race 2009

This weekend I had the most amazing experience with 11 other people. We ran a 12 person relay race running from Prescott to Mesa totaling 202 miles and finished in a little more than 29 hours. I can't even explain what it is like to not sleep for 2 days, to run a total of 18 miles and in between cheering on your other team members as they run all through the day and night. We visited places I had never even heard of like Congress Arizona, or Skull Valley. This race had over 2400 people running and vans going everywhere, stopping all over the road to jump out and give their runner some water and scream encouragment to keep going. You can try to sleep but it just didn't happen. I never knew how good peanut butter and honey could taste even washing it down with Gatorade. Even though I can hardly walk today I can't wait to try it again next year. Team Skyline Hybrids you rock!

Random thoughts

I am just sitting here after dinner, avoiding cleaning up and doing the dishes. I really have no desire to do it tonight(how is that different than any other night in my house?) The kids are wrestling on my bed- guess I'll have to make it all over again for the uptheenth time today before I can get in it! Chad is in the other roon watching some sporting event, woo woo!
I was thinking earlier today how strange life is. I just joined the Facebook world and was looking up old friends and finding them! It was so strange the memories that came back! Most of the people I found were from High school, so I haven't seen them in over 12 years! It was just one of those, duh! moments I guess.
There really isn't a point to this post, just bored and avoiding the dishes, the floor that needs mopping, the kids who need to go to bed, the homework that Tyler needs to do, the laundry that needs to be folded, the toys that need to be picked up.... You get the point!

Snow Trip 2009

What a great way to start out the new year spending time with family in the snow. We went up on new years day to Taylor Arizona where Jody's sister Michelle and her family live for a few more weeks. We spent the night there and the kids had fun with their cousins making snow flakes out of paper and playing with toys. We then went the next day out near Sunrise ski resort and played in the snow. We had snow ball fights, made snow angels, and then even built a snow man. This was a challenge with the snow not being very wet and it would not stick together. The kids got a little cold but still had a great time.

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 was a lot of fun with family. My Brother Jared and his wife Christy and their 4 daughters came out to Arizona from Boston, MA and stayed for two weeks at my parents home in Scottsdale. We decided it would be fun to have all the cousins wake up together Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought them. Tyler got a razor scooter, Anna got a bike, and Caleb got a tricycle. We were able to spend some time with Jody's family also. We had a nice family dinner at her sisters home in Queen Creek and we saw the cousins act out the Nativity story. We also had the cookie jar party with her parents coming into town since the just returned from a mission in Africa. This is a Dow family tradition so we had corn chowder and opened some gifts together that fit into a cookie jar. All in all it was a great holiday season filled with great memories. We will miss the Jones crew from MA and their dog Dottie (our kids loved this little dog) and hope to see them again soon. We wish you all a very happy new year.