Soma Tri

This is dedicated to the most amazing woman I know:

DARA

2 years ago, Dara was training for the SOMA Half Ironman. She was hit by a car while riding her bike (yep, training) and very lucky to be alive. After months of recovery and surgeries, she was able to start working out again. The woman's pain tolerance is unbelievable and I wish I had half the endurance she does. She completed the tri on Oct. 28 (her birthday) with 2 stress fractures in 1 foot, 1 stress fracture in the other foot. Oh and she was also still recovering from having pnuemonia 2 weeks prior to the race. Not to mention the injury to her knee from being hit by that dang truck! She truly is amazing and such an inspiration to me! I'm so very blessed to know this woman and to have such an encouraging friend!

Her cutest boy ever- Ron!

He finished 1 minute sooner than his old college days-

GO Turbo Husker!!

Dara, Madeline (cutest daughter) and Ron after the race-

1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run

Kauai

View from the Condo- here in Kauai. I will definitely update later. I took this photo a few hours ago. It is beautiful here though and I don't think I will want to come home.

What a day-

I had to share my Thursday, 18th day of October, 2007

I woke up this morning to a huge oil leak so I had to figure out how the heck I was getting to work on time and take my vehicle in. Mission accomplished- Rick (co-worker) picked me up at the shop and took me to work. Gina (co-worker) brought me back to pick up my truck after work and I drove blissfully home. A bit tired and I was suppose to meet up with Mel to swim. Well, we decided to put off swimming and the more I contemplated the idea, I decided that I would go tan and then head off to swim. Which leads me to the last 4 hours of my life....
I took Max (the psychotic dog) for a drive up to Warner and Gilbert so I could tan. Max waited patiently in the truck for me. 10 minutes later I come out to start my truck. In my happy little world, I put the key in the ignition... NOTHING! What the heck, I think. I just got it out of the shop. I try again, still nothing. The lights are on, the radio turns on but it will not start. So, I cheerfully call the shop knowing it is 2 hours after they close, why would they be there??? Well, my mechanic answers and I tell him my wonderful vehicle will not start. He kindly asks me to try a few things much to our surprise they do not work. I give him directions and he comes to save the night; however, he is unable to. With no luck, he cannot get the truck started. So Max and I load up into his truck and he drives me home, explaining that I should call AAA and have them tow the truck to the shop. PERFECT- I do not have AAA but- Melanie does! I call Melanie and she comes to my rescue. We are told that the tow truck will be there within 1 hour. They take the hour to arrive.
In the meantime I need to decide how to arrive restful and cheerful at work in the morning so I call my dear mother who is asleep. I wake her from her dreamland and explain what is happening. After the hour wait for the tow truck, Melanie drives me to my mothers to pick up her truck. I explain to my mother I will be back at 7 am so she can drive me to work. She happily agrees to help me out!
Now, the fun part. As I am driving home at 10:30 pm on US60, thinking about this eventful evening, the thought actually passes through my tired brain "wouldn't it be comical if I get pulled over, that would be the icing on the cake". Driving a little over the speed limit (don't ask Dad!) and the fact that I change lanes A LOT (something I do routinely). Oddly enough I look in my rearview mirror to see those lovely flashing red lights. Yep, I am being pulled over!
So the kind officer asks me where I am coming from and I politely explain from having my vehicle towed and picking up my mother's truck. He then asks if I have been drinking and again I politely explain that I have only had water and milk to drink (low-fat milk). What a nice man that police officer was because he states he is looking for drunk drivers and is only going to give me a warning. I thank him very kindly, get my warning, and drive carefully to my safe haven where I do not want to venture out of any time soon. Tomorrow will apparently be another day.

random memory- but a happy one

"It's not brave if you are not scared."



quote from the movie Bounce

Ok, so I just got done watching the end of the movie Bounce, with Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow. It brings back memories with Paula. We loved this movie, why???

The shower scene with Ben. We are such dorks that we would pause the scene (it was just a chest shot!). That makes me laugh.

Anyways, the quote above is in the movie and when Paula was in the hospital I wrote the quote on the little board in her room. It is so true, you can't be brave if you are not scared!

Faith's Birthday Pictures

Now for Faith's Birthday Pictures-

Morgan's Birthday Pictures

Here are photo's from Morgan's Birthday. Finally!

Her birthday cake was Pazookie!

Kauai

Erika and I are going to Kauai!!!

This is the resort we are staying at!


View from our condo!

It is going to be a great vacation to escape reality...

(we are hoping Mel is going too!!!)

We leave in 31 days!!

Just a random fact

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 50 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Faith turns EIGHT

Ok- so I am late at posting this... but Faith turned 8 on Sept. 15. I took cookies into her classroom and the next thing I know there were 10 kids around me asking question after question. It was a lot of fun- I miss being able to help out in both of their classrooms.
For dinner, I took Morgan and Faith, my mom, and Melanie to TGIFridays. Faith was completely amazed when they brought her out balloon after balloon. (yes, I'll post pictures soon- I swear!)
Morgan, Faith, and I came home later and the girls watched Snow Dogs. It was a fun birthday and I cannot believe how quickly time goes by.

Double Digit's

Morgan is offically 10. Yep, she hit the ONE ZERO. She had a couple of friends over last Friday night and they seemed to have a very good time. It was all Hannah Montana that night (oh to be young again...). She got the Hannah Montana CD, DVD, truth or dare game. She also got horses stuff because she is OBSESSED with horses and a few other fun items. I will post some photos later of Morgan, just have not loaded them yet.

1st Day of School

Ok- so I couldn't choose just 1 photo or even just 2- My gosh they are so stinkin cute!
They both had a good day at school. I talked with Morgan for a bit on the phone tonight- She had to write a paper about her first day of school. Faith said her favorite thing was something about a robot- I'm not really sure!

Fun Stuff

We started our day off with bagels from Einstein's and then headed for haircuts. Well- Morgan ended up getting highlights and let me say- she looks stinkin ADORABLE! She is seriously beautiful and I will get pictures of her and Faith posted ASAP. We went to American Eagle and bought Morgan's bag- it's the cute tan and hot pink one- you'll see the ABSOLUTELY, STINKIN, ADORABLLY CUTE hat we purchased too. After we purchased the hat, we had to go get a new outfit to match the hat and then shoes to match the outfit- Morgan found out today what it's really like to be a girl!

Faith wanted the same bag as Morgan and of course there is no way that can happen. So- we headed off to Old Navy and found this way too cute, extremely adorable bag that Faith adores {I do too}. Faith is just as beautiful as her sister and well be just as stinkin cute tomorrow too!
Finally, after the girls went to sleep, I went to work on Morgan's school binder. She has to have a 2" ring binder and there are not any cute ones available. So, I went digging through bags and came up with this. She has no idea I decorated her binder {she knows the paper is in there}. This is the end result!

Shoes and Girls

The girls came home yesterday and I took today and tomorrow off to spend time with them. We spent the morning shopping for Heely's {Pictured here}. They are both so excited; however, scard of breaking their necks so we haven't had the wheels in that much today- in time.

We also went to meet the teacher tonight. It was fun and the girls are excited to start school on Wed morning. It's been a tradition for me to get them ready in the morning and then take them to school on the first day- 4th and 2nd grade this year. They are getting so big.

Tomorrow we plan on more school shopping and then swimming. We have a movie planned for the evening and then early to bed because of the school night.

Big Purchase

I finally found a piece of furniture for my home. I have been living in this house for {let's not really count the number of years} we'll say a long stinkin time! And- I am slowly starting to make it more of a home. My first HUGE purchase is this sofa! I LOVE IT! You can see I still have the old one here {currently moving it to Erika's second home which her parents will live in when she comes home} The ottoman has cushions on top but then flip them over for trays- inside each of the 4 sections is storage! I have also been painting and not quite finished. Once it's finished I'll get more updated pictures.

I went shopping today because officemax has jump drives on sale for 8 bucks! {1gb}

While I was there, I found these cute folders, pencils, and erasers for the girls. I am so excited for them to come home so we can go shopping for school!

So a few weeks ago, I purchased a new Coach purse.
I LOVE, L.O.V.E, LOVE it!

FREEDOM

My friend Audra who is in Iraq sent out her monthly email this morning. As I did not want to face a day where we would hear all about the military and America (yes, me). I am bitter because of my situation, but then I received Audra's email. As I cried over things she talked about, pilots who have risked their lives to save others- the way the war has changed her and how much she believes in what they are doing over there. I admire her. Audra has been seperated from her 4 children for awhile now. I could not imagine. It's hard just being away from the girls right now. When Audra went into the gym this morning, she said that she looked up on the wall and this is what she read- it is embedded in the first paragraph of the Declaration of Indepence. I love this country and I am so thankful for our FREEDOM!

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

This is from Audra- "pray for us, for our Soldiers and Hero’s on this 4th of July 2007."

Happy 4th of July-

Happiness

I was sitting here tonight, a little sad, ok, A LOT sad when I recieved a phone call from Morgan! She is the cutest thing ever!!! She called from Kansas- yep, told her grandma she wanted to call me. Faith apparently said she wanted to call too and talk to me and tell me she missed me, but once the opportunity came up to talk on the phone she decided against it. Here is the thing, up until this summer, Morgan would not talk to anyone on the phone. Once she got on the phone with her dad, she realized that it was "like riding the horses, I was scared at first, but once I did it, I wasn't afraid and I liked it". {seriously, I have no idea what she was afraid of when talking on the phone} Anyways, Morgan and I talked for half an hour. It made my night. I was just thinking how much I missed them and wished they were here now.
They are having a good time. Morgan said she likes the little town because there are not as many robbers and kidnappers. She asked me if there was anything exciting happening here- she makes me laugh, she is so grown up- OH, and she said since she liked to talk on the phone, could she now have her own cell phone- then proceeded with the "pleeeeaasssse". I said no! So she asked if she could still get Heely's. I promised I'd get her and Faith a pair before school starts. Looks like we'll be doing some shopping when they get home.
Those girls ROCK! I absolutely love them and miss them so much!!! I can not wait til they come home.

New Beginnings

This is an update which will be taken off my site within a few days. I wanted to let my friends know that it's over with Edward and I. I am sadder than sad. I think we are both just in 2 different places in our life and therefore the only choice is for this relationship (not sure what exactly the type of relationship we had) to end. I never told him, but I fell in love with him. For some of you, I am sure you think that is crazy. I know I have pulled away from some friends because of this relationship and the pain they have watched me go through while I try to be supportive of Edward. I did what I had to do because I am not one to walk away from something or someone I care about. I know everyone comes into our life for a reason and I learned with Edward that I could trust and I could feel safe and I know someone can care about me. So, tonight- I say good-bye to Edward. My heart is broke but I know it will heal in time. People say God only gives us what we can handle. I guess I can handle this, doesn't seem like it, but I know I can. I have the support of my mom and my dad- my friends- and Erika even called tonight. I have not spoken to her since last Jan. We laughed- I LOVE laughing! I want to laugh everyday and I want to smile and be happy. In time.... I do wish nothing but the best for Edward. I may not agree with some things, but he is an incredible man. If he was not, I would not be typing this email, because I would never have let him into my life-


Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find
You and I collide

June 24 - 6pm

I am so grateful for my friendship I had with Paula. Over the last 3 years, so much has happened. The grieving process is not easy and I've done some things I regret. I never realized how hard it would be to lose my best friend. There is so much I miss. I just miss being able to pick up the phone and call when things seem so crappy. I miss her saying "Friend, hold on- I am going to make a call and I will call you right back. Everything is going to be ok." And- within minutes she'd call back and everything would be fixed. Or- those times I'd be all emotional over some stupid thing and she would sit and listen to me. I would apologize knowing she had so much more on her plate to deal with and she'd say "Friend, we all have issues and no one's problems are worse than the others." This from a woman who was facing death. I miss going to Papillion's and having wings {hot}, salad {no onions and no onions or tomatoes for her} with ranch, and 2 ice teas. Going to the movies and laughing because I knew she was going to talk through the entire thing at the actors on the screen. I miss just hanging out, talking, sharing, her smile, and her outlook on life. I miss her.

Today at 6pm is when she went home with "Sir"- that is what she called God, "Sir". I know she no longer has pain, no longer worries about bills {she was looking forward to that}- she is suppose to be living in a mansion with a few lots saved around for when some of us make it up there-

The picture was taken about 6pm 3 years ago out in Gold Canyon where the girls were at the time she passed away. It's almost like the opening of her world, watching down on her girls. I miss her most in this world and I so wish she was still here- Life is not fair and it really can suck! Thanks for reading- tonight, just remember for a minute an amazing woman who touched everyone she ever met. A woman who was an amazing mother, who taught me so much, and whose faith in God was unimaginable.

Lord, Help me step into that place of faith where your grace is beyond my imagining and miracles are common place. -Amen