Ellie's swim lessons....

We do have a son still....he's just in a "Mom has a camera.....RUUUUUNNNNNNNNN!!" stage.

Springtime...how could we not take some pics on this beautiful spring day. That's my new car. I'm taking a break from the van for a bit as much as I LOVED my van. It was aging and needed some work and I wanted a little respite before I go back to one again....thinking Shane will prob drive this new car after his dies and then Max will in 5 1/2 years when he gets his permit. It's a V6 Accord with all the bells and whistles - so fun! I love my last Accord and this one even more (but nothing yet beats my '86 Camaro...sniff sniff)

I'm quite behind obviously - here's the fun we had in our friend's front yard on snow day.

My baby's 4. Her bday party in no particular order. She's looking so much like her daddy these days (except the whole princess and make-up thing).

My 30th B-Day Bash (80's Theme) Thanks Everyone - You Rock!

My beautiful piano student just passed away at 15 due to complications from anesthesia after knee surgery. It was so unexpected and tragic. I have been heartbroken so I can only imagine what her family must be going through. She was a lovely, talented and sincere person that I adored. We had so much fun sharing our passion for piano and she was my children's favorite babysitter.

For our recital last May, she asked me with her big bright eyes if she could play "My Heart Will Go On". I informed her that everyone else was playing classical pieces at my request. She was persistent and her eyes spoke her plea clearly. I couldn't say no to her - she was convinced it was what she wanted to play. I look back on that moment with tenderness and in awe of the irony. Surely it wasn't a coincidence because that is exactly what will happen. Her heart will go on in all the lives she touched. I will take a little piece of it with me all my life and return it to her in the kingdom on high. I look forward to that moment and will miss her so much between now and then. My children will miss their favorite babysitter. You loved them like a mother loves her own. You are amazing. Til we meet again darling...

I got a flight to Utah as a birthday present to visit my high school friends there and took Max along with me so he could see his cousins. Unfortunately, we're missing a Musketeer - poor Emily had the stomach flu and couldn't make it out from Colorado :-( Here are our highlights...

Costa Vida - I LOVE food and I got to eat at restaurants I haven't been to in 3+ years - Rubios, Costa Vida and Cafe Rio received lots of my money while I was there. Here's my darling friend Melanie and I at Costa Vida. She's the pregnant one who ate a small salad and I'm the non-pregnant one who downed the largest one they sell.



So Melanie without any advance notice told her cute little Kaylee that a ballerina was coming. Within three minutes of entering the doorway I was requested to perform - in a dress mind you...sorry for flashing your children Mel but you asked for it :-) Poor girl here is getting the wedgy of her life I think - they were so fun and made me feel right at home...miss you guys! Our friend Erin got us some great tickets to the Flash and it was a blast - they are great family entertainment! I still haven't gotten the cheese whiz off my coat yet.

Max got to spend some great quality time with Papa Dave who showed us a great time! We hot tubbed, skiied, went inside some killer RVs (Max asked if I could charge more for piano so we can buy one....we had a great economics lesson)

My little man can ski! I was so proud of him - Papa did a great job teaching him the technicalities and was very patiend when Max went careening down the slopes at break-neck pace. We did 6 runs and he never got hurt - just cried as we were leaving because his hands were frozen to the core but he hadn't noticed before. He was constantly stopping to take his gloves off and eat snow - natural consequence sweetie.

Craig and Cynthia drove, no, ice skated a car down from Idaho to see us - thank you thank you thank you! We had a blast snowball fighting, sledding, playing Ticket to Ride, singing carols at the piano (they have great voices) and stuffing ourselves silly. I got to chat with their first unborn child - we are definitely bonded now.

Then we headed to Grandma Jinky's new house and took the train to Temple Square. It was fareeeeezing! We didn't last long, but I got in one picture for the books.

Thanks for the ticket honey!

Michael Kors store at our outlets 30 minutes away.....happy day.

Savannah Triathlon

Well, we had our official triathlon last weekend in Savannah, Georgia. It ended up being unofficial really, because the swim was replaced with a second run due to toxic levels of migratory bird poop in the lake. I was sooooo mad then grateful that they actually test the water before-hand. Otherwise I guess we might all be vomiting by the finish line. We had so much fun getting away by ourselves. Here are some highlights.


After we had a cajun lunch on the river we went to the fountain at Forsyth Park. Hundreds of years old - made of cast iron. "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" stuff.


I got kinda thirsty.....

This one is only posted to make the next one funnier....

Me wondering when I'm going to live on the beach. I'm definitely "at one" there. One of my dreams is to have a year's time to live beachfront and finish my novel....someday.

Yeah, I'm wearing heels, but I love fashion and we could only be there for a little while. We had dinner here on Tybee Island. The second best meal I've ever had...filet mignon, parmesan mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and onion straws. And dessert - don't even get me started. We took it to go and ate it right after our race the next day. I would drive the 4 1/2 hours just to eat there - the Sundae Cafe right in between a gas station and liquor store oddly enough.

On to a ghost tour the night before the race. Heard some cool freaky stories. We were bummed we couldn't go in the haunted houses though. Lots of downtown Savannah is built on mass slave graves who died of yellow fever and other reasons. It is known as the most haunted city in the U.S.

The morning of the race - very appropriate for Halloween Day. It burnt off by race start and ended up being in the low 80s. We were glad some of the run was shaded - the water station ran out during our first mile.

Pre-Race. Transition Area.

Post-Race. I like this one for some very obvious reasons. He stayed with me the whole race - it was so fun. I finished 8th out of 26 novice contestants. Since the swim was cancelled, we ran a mile, biked 13 (maintained an average of 24 miles per hour - yay!) then ran another 3.1. I think our time was 1:32. I'm sure he could've blown by me, but was sweet enough to be right with me and even hold my hand during one of the photo ops.

Happy Halloween from Pharoah and the leading lady of his harem :-)

The whole fam at a Halloween party - Pharoah's leopard didn't keep her ears on very long :-)

Surprise! Meet our new little one.....just kidding - Ellie would LOVE one though!