Now I know....

what the hype is about Twilight. I've been a little hesitant to start reading these books and finally started last week. I'm just finishing up the second book. I can officially say that I'm hooked. I'm excited to see the movie and I'm hoping that my mom hurries and finishes the first book so, I can see the movie with her next week. Hint hint Mom!

Totally MENTAL...

Sorry for another post about running, so if you don't really want to read it, stop now. I decided today that running is completely a mental thing for me. My body is strong and can run pretty well, but it's up to my mind to make it do so. I just about swore off running this week. I struggled to finish a few three milers during the week. Every time I left, I was in a really crappy mood and didn't really want to run. Thus, my body didn't want to do it and I had to drag my self through 3 miles and back home. Quite miserable. I knew that I had to run 8 today and was wondering if I could really do it. I woke up at 5:30 and after tossing and turning for a while I got out to get my '8' miler over with. Wow, positive attitude huh? When I walked out the door the weather was perfect and the sun was just coming up. The world (even in Vegas) was quiet. My mind was clear and rather than letting anything crowd it I decided to just enjoy my solitude. I turned on my IPod and blazed my 8 miler, which turned into 10 miles. Yahoo! I felt really good physically and even better mentally. That is the one thing I LOVE about running. It can be a great mind and soul healer. I needed it. Incredibly cheap therapy. My attitude has been adjusted and I guess I just need to remember that it's really 'all in my head'. Carry on!

P.S. We are having our family pictures taken this afternoon by my good friend Amy. So, I will have some new, fun pictures to share soon. :)

The antics of a two-year old...

For the most part my kids have been pretty good about not getting into mischief. With the exception of Alivia lately. Here is a list of her latest: Feel free to laugh heartily!

• Luring Daisy to the garden area with a piece of bread and then dumping dirt on her. (Keep in mind she is a white dog and was a grey dog after this incident.) Daisy in her attempt to escape the hysterically laughing Liv, shook all the dirt all over my kitchen.
• Taking my camera card out of the camera and inserting into the wrong slot on the computer. It is now stuck in the computer and I have to buy a new camera card. Luckily I had just downloaded all of the Halloween pictures.
• I took out the waffle iron yesterday and plugged it in. I didn't realize that I needed to check the inside of it first because she had lined the inside of it with chocolate chips. Very messy!
• I asked her to go brush her teeth the other night (I had her tootbrush all ready for her.) I went to check when all was too quiet and she had opened the toothpaste and made toothpaste handprints all over Ashlie's wall. (Flat paint and toothpaste do not mix.)
• She found Phil's scripture markers in his bedside table and colored her bed with them.
• Phil got up early one morning and went to Dunkin Donuts to surprise the kids. He brought home a dozen, of which 6 were left after breakfast. I put the box on the counter (away from the reach of little hands.) I was getting dinner ready later on and watching election news intently when I suddenly realize that Livvy has taken the box of leftover donuts. She is sitting at the bar (yes within my sight) eating leftover donuts. I asked her what she was doing and she laughed with a mouthful of donuts and said, "I love donuts Mom!" She ate probably two more donuts, while I wasn't paying attention. Funny thing is later on I left to go get Allie from her friend's house and she did the same thing to Phil. So, all in all she probably had 6 donuts that day. Yikes!!!! (She did eat some salad at dinner time.) I guess the donuts need to go up on top of the refrigerator. She'll somehow figure out how to get them down though.

She is just a typically curious two-year old but, sometimes her curiosity kills this cat! I had to edit this post to add the last caper.

Our little ghouls...

This Halloween I decided to opt for an easy costume fix. So, it was a Disney Halloween for us. Allie was Hannah Montana, Ashlie was Jasmine and Alivia was Ariel. They were all so excited and counted down the days. Ash had a party at school on Tuesday and Allie had hers on Thursday. They don't get to wear their costumes in public school here so, they had a carnival a couple of weeks ago where they could wear them. Then they had class fall celebrations on Thursday. Thursday night our ward did 'Trunk or Treat'. It was a really great party! They had soup and rolls and then of course lots of candy. We invited our neighbors and had a great time. Halloween Friday was also Nevada Day so the kids didn't have school. We spent the day cooking and then carving pumpkins and of course good old trick or treating. We have really great neighbors and enjoyed chili and scones and lots of fun!!!


This is Liv less than a minute after we got her buckled after the 'Trunk or Treat'. Notice her favorite thing she got was not the candy but, the princess tooth brush.

Allie was so proud of her puppy dog pumpkin!


Ash loving the pumpkin 'guts'.


Livvy with her Jack 'o Lantern smile!

Happy Halloween!!!

I'm back...

Running once again has become enjoyable. I was able to log 20 miles total this week. For my long run today I ran 10 miles. I felt really good. My last three miles I ran at about 8:00 minute miles, which is unheard of for me. I downloaded some new music to my IPod this week and I think that made a huge diference. I wasn't so bored and I could focus on other things other than 'how many miles do I have left?' Phil and our neighbor ran 12 miles and Phil felt really good too. It helps to have cool weather to run in. Now, I think I'll have a nap.