Numb-butt?

Just a quick post before I need to get my padooki a-movin'! Today is baby watching day and I decided to be ambitious :) I figured if I couldn't get to the gym, I might as well take advantage of the extra baby and use them both as my workout. I packed Marin in the baby carrier backpack and Maddy into the stroller and headed out (uphill first!). It's really a lovely day outside, sunny, not too hot, strong breeze is blowing, nice day to get out. About halfway into the walk, the baby carrier was getting really uncomfortable, but I kept pushing myself to keep going. And then I realized that the top 1/3 of my tush and my two outer toes on both feet were numb. Ack! I hastily rearranged the carrier and continued on with not much success. So I rearranged again and pushed on towards home (thankfully). No luck. If I adjusted too high, my ribs were squashed, if I went too low, my bum was squished. Ahh well, we made it home, and I can feel all of my extremeties...fortunately.

I do however need to get started on the laundry though.... Anyway, nothing too exciting this week. Kris has class tonight, and that means I have a lonely evening at home :( Ok then, off to the laundry!

Oh. . . . No.

Phew! What a long weekend! Glad to be done and back on schedule, before next weeks' adventures! My work schedule last week was a bit discombobulated (is that spelled right?). I typically work Fridays' and Saturdays', but this past week I worked Wednesday and Friday, and on Thursday I had a skills fair for work from 1-5, so it was a busy week. Plus, I took Marin to get her stitches out Thursday morning, and she did great, a few complaints and scared looks, but it was done pretty quick. ANYWAY! I had Saturday off, so went out and played! Of course, the weather for Saturday and Sunday hit 100 both days only to drop off into the 80's for the rest of the week (figures), but we had a good time anyway :)

Saturday we headed off to Floyd Lamb State Park and fed the ducks. I was hoping Marin would get into it a bit more, but she just kind of looked at the ducks and held onto the bread for herself. But Kris and I fed the ducks while Marin watched, and at least it was something new for her to do. We had fun feeding the ducks until the gi-normous scary geese showed up in hords. Holy cow those things are scary! They swam over with their big bulbous heads and they were literally quivering they wanted the bread so bad! Then they would let out this horrid nasal-y honk, it looked like they were going to eat Marin! So, we left the pond (afer chasing the geese away) and had a little snack on the grass. There was NO breeze, so it was stifling at the park, so we left and went to the mall to walk around.

The mall was nice and cool, and we went into the pet store to watch the puppies and kittens play, they were pretty cute. The had a little play area for kids, so daddy took Marin over to play. Such a big girl! We went into the Disney Store, and as soon as Marin walked in, she looked at all the pretty sparkly stuff and went "Ooooooooooh!", It was so funny, she had fun with all the stuffed animals. Then we went home to rest for a bit.

Kris and I had a date on Saturday night and let me tell you, we haven't been able to go on a date for quite some time, and I TOTALLY understand now, why people say that dating after your married is SO important. Not that I didn't think it was important before, but now I see what happens when you DON'T go on dates, NOT PRETTY! Anyway, we went to dinner at this hidden place called Vintner Grill. Honest to blog, from the outside, it looked like it was a corporate office building. We even parked under covered parking, it was so strange! But, when we opened the door, it was gorgeous! It almost scared me to walk in because it looked so fancy! It had this 1940's-Martha Stewart-clean lines look, just beautiful! But for as fancy as it looked, the prices were pretty reasonable, and the food was really yummy. We must have been at the restaurant for almost 2 hours just chatting. After dinner we headed to the movies and saw "Love Happens". It was good! Not what I was expecting but good! All in all, a great date with my hunny.

This week is pretty standard, nothing too exciting, I'll be working a 3 day weekend, and then it's off to NY on Tuesday! I'll need to make a stop at DI to get some warm winter clothes for Marin, she really doesn't have very many of those!

Ok, off to the gym for me, I've lost about 8 pounds! Hooray! I still have about 12 to go, but on my way!

The duck pond! Don't worry dad, Marin was strapped in and the brakes were locked on the stroller :)
Marin walking around at the play area in the mall. I would have to say she has been 100% walking now for about a week or more, no more crawling for this busy chica on the go!

Daddy helping her out.

Oh, and Marin's most recent word? No. Yeah, super, I had a feeling that one was coming, and it's here to stay. Blah. Have a great one!

The Extraordinaries: Behind the Music

Since I have had this blog now for, heck, over a year, I think it may be about time to explain the name, and why I chose a long and hard to spell URL address for our family. It all starts with me actually! Back when I was a young, single gal, I actually listened to music, can you believe it? Real music from adults, instead of little ditty's from baby toys that sing about Dinko the dancing bear. A few years ago, Liz Phair came out with a song called Extraordinary, and I fell in love. It became my theme song, and still is to this day. It talks about doing all of the ordinary things people do every day, while still being quirky and wierd and nothing sums my life up better than that song. Even now, I hear the song and I feel so energized and ready to tackle the world. I listen to it while I'm running and I feel like I could run for miles. That song IS. . . .my life. So, when I was looking for a name for the blog, I thought, what better way to personify our lives than with my theme song?! It keeps me remembering who I made myself into and how awesome, how. . . extraordinary I am and my family is. So, if you are wondering when I am going to change the address into something a little easier to type, the answer is: not soon! If you want to listen to the song, scroll down to the very bottom of the page and you'll see my playlist for the blog, click on track 12: Extraordinary, by Liz Phair.

Birthday Weekend Bumps and Bruises

We have brought to a close a very fun and . . . interesting weekend. Bestemor Trine's birthday was this weekend and Uncle Sam and Aunt Melodie came down with her to party it up! They stayed in a beautiful suite at the top of Mandalay Bay and we came down on Saturday for a a fun day. Trine was able to spend some one on one time with Marin while the rest of us played in the wave pool. If you have never been to the wave pool at Mandalay Bay, it is so fun! It's a football sized pool that has a giant wave machine and about every 45 seconds or 1 minute, it sends out a giant wave that carries you all the way to the beach if let it. Such a good time! That evening, the three of them went to see Lion King, and Kris and baby and I stayed at the hotel to clean up for dinner after the show was done. We had brought Marin into the shower to rinse off and after I got out and dried off, I was walking down the hall and Kris yelled for me. I walked in and Marin had blood gushing from her forehead! Poor girl had slipped and gauged her forehead on the marble ledge! I whipped her out and laid her on the counter and put a towel on her head, she was pretty upset, poor thing! We stopped the bleeding, and she was ok, but the wound was too wide to heal on its own, so we headed off the ER. 3 stiches later, she was all fixed! Poor girl had a long evening, we missed dinner, but headed home to tuck her into bed. Now we have hard time trying to keep the band-aid on in, she keeps peeling them off. Sunday we were able to go back down and spend the morning with everyone and head to a late lunch before they headed back to Salt Lake. We miss them already!

I brought breakfast on Saturday morning, and made a beautiful fruit platter, doesn't it look pretty?

I also made a really yummy raspberry pastry, it was so good! And, it looked pretty fancy too!

Saturday morning, pre-ouchie. Marin playing in a box that held her new toy from Bestemor, a little shopping cart! I'll have to post some pics of that later :)

You can hardly see Marin's giant band-aid.

Marin chomping on some animal crackers in the ER before the stitches.

The next pics are a bit fuzzy, so you can't make out the detail, but this is Marin's ouchie.

3 little stiches!

We had such a good weekend, but, we are glad that our little girl is on the mend and feeling better!

Just a funny kind of week...

This week Kris is working late pretty much every day, to he's usually gone until a little after 8, but he's home in the mornings until he has to be at work by 11, so it's been an odd week. The weather is cooling off during the day and it has been so nice. Although, when I say "cooling off", I mean it's been in the high 80's to low 90's. I'm such a pansy now, geesh! Anyway, it's been good because I have been able to take Marin out on walks, and today we had a nice long brisk walk-jog. It was great, but we got kind of warm towards the end, there wasn't much of a breeze today.

In the evenings it has been just lovely, and the other night we took Marin to the park. She had so much fun attempting to run around with the big kids. She did keep a pretty close eye on mommy and daddy though. It was amazing for Kris and I to watch our little girl toddle around the playground, I can't believe she is 13 months in a few days!

We have a big day planned on Saturday and we can't wait to post some pics! But now, for this weeks pics. I tried in vain to load a video and a slideshow, to no avail, to computer is horribly slow today, anyway, enjoy!

Marin and Daddy playing with grass.
Taking a walk with daddy.

A little snuggle with daddy, she gives the best hugs.

She was a little nervous to go into the tunnel, but daddy was there to help, she did great :)

And the swings, she loves the swings.

LOVE this pic, just the cutest split second candid amazingly caught on camera.

Swinging swinging, swinging. . .

Keep pushing thw swing mommy!

Have a good weekend guys!

I've Decided. . .

Today is baby watching day! Marin has been following Maddy around all day trying to stuff her pacifier back in her mouth, it's pretty funny. Such a big helper! She was also giving Maddy hugs earlier (without any encouragement from MOI), it was so sweet!

Anyway, I have decided that Kris and I need some Jesus pictures for our home. For those of you who may not be members of our church (check out lds.org), I'm sure it may sound a little wierd. Not many people today openly decide to purchase Jesus pictures for their home, but I grew up with a picture in our TV room (conveniently above the TV too....) with the Savior and his followers and those who were lost and wandering. I figure it was a nice reminder for me to have back then, and as of now, the only picture of Christ we have is on our fridge, hanging by a magnet! We can't get one right away, but soon. I did find another small framed picture as I was cleaning out the trunk of my car, and I'll hang that in Marin's room. But I have decided that it's something important to have in our home.

Speaking of cleaning out my trunk, I found the most wonderful little box of memories in the trunk. After I was done vacuuming, I scampered inside and sat down to flip through the papers, and I was almost giddy with excitement! The box was full of pictures and papers and letters and notes. Ah, just the BEST! I found pics from a YSA murder mystery activity and from a dance (ok, I was SO thin! You wouldn't think I used to be...). I also found a few pics from high school, ugh! If I put my mind to it, I can look lovely in a picture, but is high school especially, I was pretty funky looking :} I even found a note from a "boyfriend" I had in 6th grade! Plane tickets from when Kris and I got married, our hotel stub from our first trip to DC after we got married. One of the things I stumbled upon was a letter from a good friend Luke. I had met him when I moved into the Cortland Ward to go to nursing school, and he and Amy and I were the BEST of friends. We had SUCH a good time together. I don't remember a time when I have EVER laughed so much in my life than when I was with the two of them. Opening the letter just flooded my mind with so many memories. He had written me (and others) as he prepared to serve in Salt Lake on his mission, and wrote so many wonderful things about me and thanking me for so much. Luke isn't active anymore. I remember when that happened, and it broke my soul in two. I have never felt so much anguish in my life than when I watched my best friend slip away. I cried for days over this. Although it wasn't the first time I had watched a friend leave the gospel, this one hurt so much more. So. . . . hence the need for Jesus pictures! I want to make sure my little girl knows her Heavenly Father, always, so she can be strong. Anyway. . . .the box really did bring back so many wonderful memories, and I am grateful for the experiences, good and bad, that have made me who I am today. I thank the Lord for my wonderful husband and beautiful little girl every day. I wouldn't have any of this without Him.

Daddy Day

Saturday's are Daddy Day's for Marin, and I know how much she looks forward to them. This past Saturday, Kris took Marin up to Mt. Charleston and they went hiking with the dog. I was so jealous I couldn't be there, but I am do glad I have a great husband that loves his little girl and takes her out to do fun things. Marin loves her daddy so much and tries to run to the door when he comes home from work, yelling "Dadadddaddddaaaaa!". She doesn't make it all the way, she's not steady enough to run yet, but she sure tries!

I will teaching a lot more in YW now, they released the beehive advisor (as now there is only one lonely beehive!). This means a lesson pretty much every Sunday, but even though it'll be a a bit more work every week, I love teaching, so I'll have fun.

This weekend brings our Salt Lake Family to town! I always love having company, and we have a birthday to celebrate, so we will try to make it extra special. We have a little birthday surprise too! (No, not that!)

Ok, picture time!

Marin and Daddy heading out on their expedition, we have the best baby carrier, it is so great.

On the way back down, Marin fell asleep she was so tired! Sleepy babe, she makes me smile :)

Lunch! We have a dog pack for Mollie and she carried lunch up the mountain for Kris and baby, nice!

Such a sweet mug, I just love her.

I had Marin in one of MY baby dresses, and she was banging on the back door to get the dogs attention.

Such a cute girl, I love these pics of her in front of the window.

Doggy! Where are you!

Survey Says: You're an Idiot!

If there are any HomeStarRunner fans out there, you will know where I got my title. Anyway, today I dropped Marin off at my friend, Keli's house and headed to UMC quick care to find out what is wrong with my blasted leg. And the results? Nothing. Yeah, I felt stupid. Well, the doctor tried to pan it off as "lingering shin splints", but they sure as heck don't feel like any shin splints's I'VE ever had. They X-rayed my leg, in a very timely manner might I add, and no stress fracture, no hairline fracture, just "lingering shin splints". Yeah, ok. However, the doctor did say something that may account for why I am having all of this pain now as opposed to when I was running before I had Marin. She said that oftentimes, a woman's gait will change during/after pregnancy and cause her weight to shift. That does make sense. She said it should have nothing to do with weakening bones at my age and good health. So, as long as I know I am not about to sever my bone when I run, then it's back to treadmill for me!

Marin has developed a couple of new little. . . habits, and they drive me crazy! She now likes to see just how many pieces of fruit she can squish into her little mouth all at the same time. Who knew babies liked to play Chubby Bunnies? She also likes to stick her face in the bathwater at night. Rrrrr, this one makes me so nervous. I think she likes to try and lap up the water and take a drink, but it just makes me nervous, what mother wouldn't be nervous? Hopefully it is just a phase and she'll stop doing it. On the bright side, we have found a monumental new snack. . . the graham cracker! These things are wonderful, I'm telling you, whoever invented the graham cracker should get a medal or something. They are portable, easy for baby to bite chunks off, chew up easily, and they are VASTLY cheaper than baby snacks. Heck, I can get a box for $1.29! Nice! And Marin LOVES them, it is so great to just give her a cracker and she is on her merry little way. Her walking is improving also. She is walking about 70% of the time now at home. I am so proud of my little girl, she is growing up so fast. I will say, it'll be nice when she doesn't crawl at all though, her clothes get so dirty, blech!

And as a quick sidenote, I had the best bacon-less BLT last night. It was some South Beach Diet brand turkey bacon, and it was sooo good! Who knew! I didn't think it would get crispy, but it was wonderful and delicious and oh so enjoyable for less than half the fat of regular bacon!

Ok, picture time!

Marin with a mouthful of kiwi. Her mouth gets so full, she actually leaks from her pursed little lips, it's funny and gross at the same time.

Marin and her new favorite snack. It's so cute to hear her little chompers biting off pieces of cracker.

Ok guys, have a great one!

Cold S'mores

The weekend is over, and it's back to the daily grind again! It seemed as though the weekend was full, but very satisfying. Friday I was floated to post-partum, but not to take care of the mommys! I took care of the babes, and it was nice to see normal looking newborns for a change! Ususally I'm in half baked fetus-land but this time, everyone was healthy and happy, it was great! And the best part, was that I got to help moms with breastfeeding ALL-DAY-LONG! It was GREAT! I started the morning with 8 babes (don't even get me started on how crazy that is) and I went through with every single mom on the basics of breastfeeding and it was amazing how in just one day, these women went from being frustrated and about ready to give up (already!), to having a very hopeful outlook. It was sooooo satisfying. The part that frustrated me was knowing that the hospital states they support breastfeeding, and sure, they have a lactation consultant (who is mean and stuffy, by the way!), but the nurses don't know SQUAT about breastfeeding and could care less if the mom's breastfed. In fact, they almost prefer it if they bottle feed so they can keep track of how much the baby is getting. I actually had 2 of the moms tell me that they wanted to breastfeed exclusively but that they felt pressured by the nurses to give their baby a bottle! Anyway, I had the best time all day handing out nipple shields (which saved three of my mammas!) and encouraging little newborns, it was just great. It started me thinking that maybe I should become a certified lactation consultant and partner up with Medela (who makes nipple shields, amongst other things) and start getting more hospitals to educate on how to help mothers breastfeed. Anyway, I am always on a mission to change the world I guess.

Saturday I worked a full day also, the floor was chock full of kids (now that they are back in school and sharing the germs), and it was nice to be on my own unit. PEEEED-IATRICS is the place for me! (Green Acres tune!).

Sunday I subbed for Gospel Doctrine. Phew! I can't tell you how uncomfortable I was prepping for the lesson. I have been in Primary, I have been with the YW, heck, I've even taught a couple of RS lessons, but there is something so scary about Gospel Doctrine, knowing that there are so many other people that know waaaaay more than you do makes it a bit intimidating. But, I prepped as much as I could and told myself to just follow the lesson plan and you will be fine, and do you know what, I was fine! In fact, I was better than fine, I was really good! The lesson was on the death of Joseph Smith and the succession of the next prophet, and the beginning of the trek west, so I DID have good material to back me up. I don't know a time when a lesson has gone so smoothly for me! We started with a great object lesson, read some great stories, I got a few laughs, we felt the spirit, actually ended RIGHT on time and finished with a song. I couldn't believe how perfectly everything went! I finished and went over to Kris and he told me that it was the best he has ever seen me speak publicly, and the lesson was fantastic. Sweet man :)

Yesterday of course was Labor Day and we all headed up to Mt. Charleston. And by "we all", I mean Kris, myself, Marin and the entire city of Las Vegas. It was PACKED up there. Not a place to pull off and have a quiet picnic! We ended up pulling off the side of the road and eating our potato salad and grapes and finishing with cold s'mores (I'm laughing thinking about it). It was really sad. BUT, we did go to the ski resort and hiked around a bit. Marin liked playing in the rocks, of all things, but she had fun. We went home and cooked our hot dogs on the hibachi and roasted the homemade marshmallows (courtesy of Kris) and finally had a warm s'more. Mmmmmm!

Today is baby-watching day and the babes are napping for moment. This past week I haven't been going to the gym. My right leg last Monday when I got off the treadmill was just throbbing, I could barely walk. I should have had it x-rayed, because I suspect I had a very small hairline fracture, but the ever pig headed nurse I am, decided against it. Besides, I would be so embarrased to tell people that I broke my leg running. Who does that?! I would look like the biggest pansy EVER! So, this past week I have been taking it easy, and it seems to be feeling better. Although, I have not lost any weight this past week because of my leg, blah. I should be ok to go back tomorrow, although, I think maybe the half marathon is out, at least for this year.

Ok then, I will try and post some pics later tonight, but I have some laundry that needs some love and folding, so off I go. Oh! And I hope you enjoy the new mood music on the blog, I just loaded it into the HTML and I was soooo excited it actually worked!

Hello again, my friend!

After a summer without Baby-watching Tuesdays, we are back in the swing of things! Maddy came over and she and Marin had a blast chasing each other around the house and entertaining one another. It was actually a nice break, Marin didn't need me to entertain her all day and she got to work on her socializing skills! It was a good day, plus, it will save us a bit of money on childcare for Fridays when I work.

So Kris came home for his lunchbreak today and brought with him a spreadsheet of our expenses for this past month. It was really scary! We looked at the amounts we spent in certain categories and grimaced. So we made out a new plan! We took seven categories and alloted a certain amount of money for each one. The twist is that we are going to be pulling out all the money in cash every month and putting it into the appropriate envelope, this way, when the cash is gone, it's gone until next month. We may need to do some tweaking, but I'm really excited to see how things will turn out. If Paris is going to happen, we need to BUNKER DOWN!

Ok, picture time!


Marin and Maddy getting into the granola bars in the pantry.
Playing with the silverware in the dishwasher. Most of it got slobbered on, so it went for another spin in the soapy water when they were done.

Trying to read her book, looks like she's being distracted.

Lots of fun with Maddy!

Sunday morning helper!

I tried to load a video of Marin walking around, but it was just NOT loading! Have a great evening!