The Secret to the Best Workout Ever

Have you ever tried jogging while pushing 50+ pounds worth of kids in a very large, heavy stroller? It is a true total body workout. Way better than any class or video.

As Luck Would Have It

Sometimes, Greg and I feel like the unluckiest people ever. Now, don't get me wrong, we are very blessed. We have four healthy children, a warm home, food on the table, and Greg has a good job. But so often things happen and we think, "Why did this have to happen to us?" It's nothing catastrophic or life-changing, just annoying. For example, since living in this house, we have had three tv's die and we've gone through three or four dvd/vcr's. I mean, seriously, is that normal? Whenever we bring something electronic home we're crossing our fingers that it will work. We even had to mail in our first TiVo box only a few weeks after getting it because it didn't work. Our camcorder stopped recording after it was only a couple years old. The list goes on and on.

We have had moments of luck, however. Like when I went to the grocery store yesterday to buy corned beef for our St. Patrick's Day dinner. The meat manager found me the very last one that was on sale for 99 cents. The rest were $2.49/lb. I was feeling pretty lucky. Probably our luckiest moment ever happened when we were in Salt Lake City celebrating our first anniversary. While we were there we thought we'd see if we could get some tickets for the upcoming Christmas performance (I don't remember the name of it) that was going to be at the Conference Center. The box office worker informed us that all of the shows were sold out...except for the dress rehearsal...which was starting in about fifteen minutes...and it was free. Since our only plan for the night was touring Temple Square it worked out perfectly.

So the other night as we were getting in bed, we heard a loud, slow dripping sound. Greg got up to check if it was coming from the girls' bathroom. It wasn't. The sound was coming from the vent in the hallway ceiling, as in from the attic. He climbed up there to find that we have a roof leak. Again, we thought, "Why does this have to happen to us?" We are so overwhelmed with getting the house ready to sell and now our roof is leaking?! Annoyed sigh.

But I've decided to look at it as a blessing instead of a curse. With all the soft, insulated places in our attic where that drip could have landed quietly, it was instead on a vent where we could hear it. It could've been there for a long time without us knowing it, until it caused lots of damage. Or it could have been found during a home inspection, threatening the potential sale of our house.

So, hurrah! We found a leak in our roof. We're so lucky!

I'm Such A Sucker for Free Food

Do you know what Friday is?

It's the first day of spring!

Do you know what that means?

It's free ice day at Rita's!

They are giving away free, regular size Italian ice to every guest. This is their 17th annual giveaway and it will be held from noon until 10 p.m. So gather up all of your kiddies because they get one too. And don't forget to sign up for their birthday club so they can email you a coupon on your birthday (or half-birthday if you were born in their off-season). Sorry western friends, looks like Rita's only goes as far west as Texas.

Call Us Crazy...

We've finally decided to put our house on the market after living here for almost seven years and talking about selling for probably about five years. We're going to ignore all the media hype about how horrible the economy and especially the housing market are. Interest rates are low, house prices are low (relatively), and we've just outgrown this house. I'm going to miss it though. All the work that's been done on it (which is A LOT) we've done ourselves. Plus this is the house that I brought three of my babies home to and the only house that any of my kids know.

We've started getting it ready to sell, chipping away at a long list of minor cosmetic repairs that will help it show better. I took all of our personal pictures off the walls and it is starting to feel, as Greg called it, "less homey." There is still so much to do. How do you get your house ready to sell and still take care of the needs of a family of six? I feel like I can barely handle the latter.

I am very excited, though, about finding our new house. Hopefully there is a fabulous house out there with a big yard so I can have an awesome garden and room for the kids to play, all within our modest price range.

Hot Dog!

Last Thursday, for the first time ever, Audrey said she needed to go potty. She's gone potty many times in the past, but it's always been something like this:

Me: Audrey, let's go potty.

Audrey: No, I don't want to go potty!

Me: C'mon. Let's go potty. I'll give you a treat.

Audrey: No, I don't want to go potty!!!

Then I proceed to pick her up and force her to go potty while she kicks and screams. So you can imagine my excitement when she actually initiated it. She's even been wearing panties most of the time since then too. And today, for the first time ever, she went poo poo on the potty!! (Yes, we had an unfortunate code brown incident on Friday night.) When she saw her #2 in the toilet she said, "I pooped a hot dog." Then she started singing the song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, "Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog."

Hot diggity dog indeed.

Yippee! Audrey's Three!

Audrey, you've always had a way of making people smile. You're my little girl that can light up a room.

With your boundless energy, imagination, and intelligence, I can't wait to see what you accomplish in life.

I love how you're always playing and singing. You're such a happy little person.


I love spending my days with you. I can't believe you'll be going to preschool in the fall. I'm going to miss you.

Happy birthday, Little Love.

Carolyn's Baptism

Everything went so well at Carolyn's baptism. I couldn't believe how many people came. How wonderful it was to be surrounded by so many friends and family. Greg's dad and my sister Kristal spoke and the girls sang "When I am Baptized." I could see Carolyn shaking when she was in the font and I thought it was nerves but it turns out that the water was really cold. Thank goodness I remembered to pack her a towel, unlike Greg who forgot his. I think he used paper towels to dry off! What a sight that would've been.

The classic baptism picture. I have one just like this of my dad and me at my baptism.