"No really, she fell down the stairs."

This is Darrin and this is my first attempt at Blogging. I feel obligated to post this one only because if I didn't someone might turn me in for spousal abuse. For the record Darcy's eye was cut when we went with some of our friends to the lake. Our friend was teaching each of us how to surf the wake of the boat. It took me several tries but I was finally successful and managed to get up a few times. Darcy followed me and was much quicker at getting up out of the water but the problem was, that she doesn't sink like I do. When I would fall I would always sink very deep, I kept waiting to touch the bottom of the lake which never came. Darcy on the other hand dropped in and popped back up before her surfboard did and so as soon as she came up the board hit her right in the face, by her eye. Next thing I knew she had a thick stream of blood coming down the side of her face. She didn't even realize the severity of her injury because she was positioning herself to go again when one of our friends pulled her out of the water. Sadly, she spent the rest of the day in the boat while I rode on the tube with our girls.

The part that made this even worse is that the next day was the primary program and she had to sit up on the stand with this big white butterfly bandage on her face. I was asked by every member of the Bishopric what had happened. Trying to explain getting hit by a surfboard at a lake is a lot harder than it seems!

I still think that she is so beautiful.

Week-long bliss...

We just returned home (reluctantly I might add) from an amazing vacation in Destin, Florida. Five couples including us, left the kids at home (thanks mom!) and headed for a beach house. We had so much fun.

Good food, good activities and GREAT company.

Darrin and I on the plane, headed for Pensacola Florida.

This was the boardwalk that lead from our house to the beach, AMAZING!

Darrin and I enjoying the beach.

All the ladies; Johanna, Stephanie, Me, Sarah & Laura

Us ladies at the beach.

The men; Erik, Kenny, Dan, Ben & Darrin

(sorry the pic is so far away, just know they are adorable!)

Darrin getting ready to snorkel, yes...the guys did think taking kitchen knives was a good idea, I'm glad the ladies came home and talked some sense into them!

Go karting, need I say more...so fun!

Wave runners. This was one of the best activities that we did. Apparently I was the only one that didn't get the memo on not taking your camera so mine was shattered on this ride.

I just want to thank the Babbels for planning this trip. We also have some good sayings around our house now and our girls can thank Sarah for the rest of eternity for introducing them to "Put your big girl panties on and deal with it!" I love it...we miss all of you!

Bits and pieces

Jaya started Kindergarten! She insisted on wearing a dress. She was so happy that she got the "girl" teacher, because she's pretty. I have learned from preschool last year that Jaya doesn't talk much after school. Everyone keeps asking me if she likes Kindergarten, which I have to reply yes but it's funny because she's not that excited. I think she really is, she just doesn't express it much. She was the same way in preschool and some days I would press for more info, but I have learned that she talks more a few hours after school. At dinner is when we find out the most information. Sometimes it will even be 1 week later and I find out she has been to P.E.! It's always hard for me to hear all the stuff she is learning and going too and me not being there to see her go through this. I can see why parents home school, there is so much I don't want to miss, yet I do enjoy my downtime, plus I am completely to unorganized for home school. As for now I guess I will just have to settle for hearing the bits and pieces as they come.

Messy Summer - Take 3 - Glitter

We had one last hurrah before our Summer ended and this time the medium was Glitter. It wasn't really supposed to start out that way, it started with finger paints which are messy enough, but then the neighbor boy pulled out the large spice bottle full of glitter. This was all while I was on the phone, which is the story of my life. Anyway before I realized they thought it was a great idea to spread the paint then pour the glitter, who can blame them? It did stick, and that's what they were going for. I am not one to crush a child's dream so I said, carry on. The problem with glitter though is even after the initial mess is cleaned up, you have the lovely pleasure of finding it throughout your house for weeks. So I guess my messy summer will live on a little longer then I initially expected.

13 Miles of pure pleasure, I mean er...torture.

So my husband (Darrin) has been running. He started in May of 2007 and hasn't stopped. He has done a couple of 5k races (which I have blogged about) but most has just been him running on his own. He has been so diligent and I am so proud of him. I had heard from a friend, who is also a runner, that the Provo Half Marathon is a really good half. She said that most is downhill and so it's a good "beginner's race". I mentioned it too Darrin and he was interested but we did nothing about it. Well, 2 weeks before the race it got brought up again and I asked Darrin if he was going to run it. We made a few phone calls to find out how hard this could really be and how far he should have run before to finish this. We were told it's probably good to have run 10 miles before. Darrin had ran 6 miles so far.

He went back and forth (all in a days time) about whether he was going to do it or not. He had pretty much decided he wasn't. Then he called me from work and asked me to go to the website and give him the info again. As I was reading the info (which I must inject he seemed very much like he wanted to do this now) he gets a phone call and says he'll call me back. Bad idea. Never leave me waiting on website where I am 1-click away from registering my husband in a race that I think is an excellent idea. So like any good wife would, I registered him. As soon as I did though, he called back, a little stressed, asking if I had signed him up. I said "Yea, isn't that why I was looking at the website?" He then said, he still hadn't decided, which I cheerfully replied "Well now you have!"

So now he had 1 Saturday to get ready, and he had to do at least 10 miles (the actual half is 13 miles.) He did great, he ended up doing 11 miles that Saturday and I think he felt pretty good about it. Then he got sick that week. He did his best to recover, but it really did put his running on hold. Regardless, we drove to Provo the night before and got ready for the race. I had to drop him off at 4:30 am for him to be bussed to the starting line. Then I had the easy job of going back to our families house and tried to get a little more shut-eye till I had to wake up and get the girls ready to meet dad at the finish line.

So as we showed up at the race there were so many people. Over 1000 people ran, so imagine that many people with families ready to cheer them to the finish. As we waited the time that I thought he would come in came and went. We had a great crowd though and I found myself cheering for every racer, and the girls even gave some claps. Then they got anxious, Baylie insisted she needed food (which I hadn't packed any snacks) and Jaya had to pee so bad that she was telling me she would just go in the bushes. I insisted that is something we only do in private (like in our own yard), which she assured me that she would go a little farther back. But I wasn't budging, she would just have to hold it, there was no way I was going to miss him cross the finish line, after we had already been waiting for close to an hour.

All the while many, many people were coming in and still no Darrin. When I saw the old lady with the knee brace (I am not exaggerating) come in, I KNEW that something had to have happened to Darrin. I still continued to keep the faith and falsely alerted the girls 3 times that dad was coming (I really need better contacts). Then the blessed time came, around the bend came Darrin! He looked great, and I was cheering so much that I didn't get that great of photos. He crossed the line at 2 hours and 20 minutes.

With the race completed I fully expected grand happiness and wonderful bliss. I guess I didn't really know about the GROUCHINESS factor. Darrin was very solemn and tired. It quickly brought to my mind when I had my second daughter. I had no anesthesia and everyone kept telling me that it was such an accomplishment, and that I should be so happy that I did it. I on the other hand was pretty upset that I did. So that's what I tell people now, he did it, but definitely wasn't that happy about it. I also learned that you don't ask when they are going to run another one, right after they are done. Also a no-no in the delivery room, which my dad totally did ask me that right after I delivered our 3rd. So I guess I am slowly piecing together that running is like child birth.

I do have to say that now Darrin is very pleased he did it, and is planning another one, and this time I will be running with him in November!!

House Tag

So I have been tagged. The rules are - take pics of certain rooms in your house, the catch? Don't clean, anything.

Really? I think there is only certain type of people that would really do this and it's clean people! I did try and follow the rules for the most part but I will admit I did do a few little pick-ups.

My Closet -

As I took this picture I realized I didn't have to cheat at all, I just had to take a picture of the clothes a little higher, so you'll never know what the bottom of my MESSY closet looked like.
Kitchen Sink -

This one I did cheat, you really didn't want to see the before did you?

My Refrigerator -

It's pretty bare at the moment. Too bad you can't live off of condiments we'd be set, check out that the door!Laundry Room -

The word room is a bit deceiving when it comes to my house, it's more of Laundry Closet in the Living room. Thank goodness for bi-fold doors, they hide lots (as you can see)Self Portrait -

This is probably one of the worst days to be doing this. Okay, I usually do look like this, but it's still embarrassing to admit!Favorite room -

My living room is probably my fave only because it's where most of our time is spent. As you can see I clearly followed the rules on this picture, can you all relate to Laundry Day? The sad thing is I totally wash laundry everyday so it won't look like this, but I have a hard time with 2nd half of laundry which is folding.My Bathroom -

This is my 2nd favorite room, because I have actually decorated it. I painted and vinyled! (thanks Sarah) I love it. Do you think it's too girly? Darrin insists that I have to repaint it when we leave this house, I say Lime Green goes with ANYTHING!! (I just don't want to repaint)

My Bedroom -

Okay so this wasn't on the original tag but I had to add it because I have just painted this room too. This one I will definitely have to repaint but I still love it for now!Dream Vacation -

Hawaii, I'll send pictures when I go.

My Favorite Shoes -

I just got these shoes and I love them. I got to do a small shopping spree this summer for my 10 year high school reunion and these were one of my finds, love it!What my children are doing right now?

Raiding my vanity of course.

Okay Alison, I am so tagging you on this one, I can't wait to see your house!

Remember the rules =)

Primary Practice

I was recently called to serve in the Primary in our ward. I have been conducting a few times with our President out of town. It took our girls awhile to get used to Mom being in the Primary. After a couple of Sundays with Baylie coming up, while I am welcoming and giving announcements, she would tug on my leg saying "mom, mom, mom, mom." I politely asked her to go back to her seat, which then sent her into a yelling of... "I just want to talk to you!" It was pretty embarrassing. That day after church we had the talk. Darrin made it a game and told them that when they go to primary they must pretend that I am NOT their mom. They should call me Sis. Case and act like I am a teacher. Their quick response was "Okay, we will pretend that our mom has died." Not liking that, we said "No, your mom as not died, she is just not your mom in Primary."

The other day as I was making lunch Jaya and Baylie were sitting at the counter waiting, singing and laughing loudly. It took me a minute to tune into them (as much as I don't like to admit, this is often the case) when I did, I heard that they were conducting Primary. Jaya was welcoming everyone (Baylie and I) and she was also the music chorister. Baylie being the good little sport that she is was singing very loudly and well! I think they are catching on.