Puke-a-thon

Just 48 hours prior to Coren standing in the bedroom doorway sick, Carson arrived.  It was 11pm, and Steve and I were watching a movie.

Suddenly we saw Carson standing outside of our door with ramen noodles and chewed up hot dogs handing from his head and arms.  His arms were spread out, and the noodles hung there looking just as they did when I put them in his bowl a few hours earlier.  He was very sad, and in obvious need of help.  I sat there frozen, wanting to help him, but knowing that I wasn't going to.  As usual Steve jumped up and grabbed him, throw up and all and carried him to the tub to start the scrub down.  I sighed, got out of bed, and went to check the damages.  We had just done this a week ago with Makanna, but she made it to the toilet.  I had a bad feeling I wouldn't be so lucky this time.  I was right.

The bed was a mess.  He missed the carpet (every Mom's dream) and left a trail down the tile.  I got to cleaning.  20 hours later, Carson was back to normal. 

11pm last night Coren appeared in our doorway.  Covered in red throw up.  Yes, red.  Turns out he had had some fruit punch before bed.  Unfortunately for me, fruit punch stains.  I had no choice.  I just started to laugh.  I had just finished sanitizing the house and washing everything.  I had two choices, laugh or cry.  As I laughed Steve jumped up, grabbing Coren throw up and all.  I sighed, and headed off to asses the damages.  Laughing all the way.

I have one word for what I saw.  Tornado.  He puked all over the bed, all over Carson who was sound asleep, on the carpet, and then... he hit the bathroom.  By the looks of it, he must have went in the bathroom and just spun around puking.  It was all over.  I have never seen anything like it.  Once we got things cleaned up, Steve and I got in bed with Coren.  Of course he immediately started to puke, missing the bowl, and let's just say hitting everything else.

Every 20 minutes he was up dry heaving, and sometimes managing to get up some fluids.  It was horrible.  At one point he puked on the side of my pillow, it looked pretty watery so I just laid back down exhausted. Seriously, that is one of those really nasty Mom moments, and I am not proud of it, but I am sure that most Mom's have been there.

I was going to talk about how bad I feel for my kids, but honestly I feel worse for myself.  They are both doing fine now, and I am left with more laundry than you can imagine, and a house that needs to be re-sanitized.  Oh, and I guess I should take a shower since I slept in puke.  Seriously, what happened to my pride??  

Maybe we should call this post Mother of the Year.  "Slept in puke all in the name of love."

Tulip Festival

Today me and Coren went with my Mom, my Aunt Janeen, cousin Kristen, and her cute baby Cadence to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.  It was amazing.  I LOVE tulips.  They are my very favorite, but I had no idea how many different kinds of tulips there are.

We had lots of fun.  Coren was obsessed with Cadence and rolling down the hills, and that was about it.  He drove me CRAZY!!  But it was a great day and the weather couldn't have been better.

A tour with Coren

Coren agreed to be my tour guide and show me through our new trailer.  It was so funny, because he acted like I had never seen it.  It was amazing how much he knew.  Luckily he knew how to get the stairs out, because I didn't!









Coren always winks.  It is SO CUTE!  I love it.

Home sweet home.  Hope Steve likes it!!!

The great escape.

Nothing beats a weekend away.  Especially a well needed one.  This weekend I was able to head to sunny St. George with my friend Angie, who dodged her photo opportunity next to the lovely mural on the hotel wall.  Rude!  A picture next to this art could be worth something someday.

I of course research hotels a little before staying, but usually price wins.  I read the reviews. They were OK.  One read, "At first appeared to be clean, but upon further inspection was actually dirty."  I thought this was such a strange thing to say and wondered who would waste their time saying it.  I booked the hotel.

Honestly it wasn't that bad.  It appeared to be clean.  The beds were comfortable, and the hot tub worked.  That was good enough for me.  The paint job sucked!  Walls were randomly painted, and paint was everywhere.  It was pretty funny.
We especially liked the A/C unit that had not been caulked so you could actually see outside.  HOWEVER, someone was nice enough to stuff toilet paper in the cracks, at least most of the cracks.
Luckily there was not a fire, because we would have slept through it.  Apparently someone had 'disabled' the smoke alarm.  Oh well, who needs um anyways.
It was such a fun weekend, and so relaxing.  Just what I needed.  I even learned a little bit about the Jazz and watched part of a game.  Go BOOOOOZER!!! (Right, Angie?)

Sadly, upon further inspection, our hotel was indeed dirty.  

Fish

Oh the life of a fish... Makenna had her swim championships and did a great job.  We are so proud of you Kenna!

Race Photos

Well, the proof is here.  Here are our pictures from the race.

Me trying to run on those dang cobblestones (it is worse than it looks trust me!)

Steve taking off and leaving me in the dust.

Me trying to catch him.

Finally catching him and crossing the finish line.

And of course me running the race.

My hero. Well sort of.

Well we did it!  We won the race...  I mean we finished the race.  But we may as well have won because we did so good!  It all started Saturday at 5am.  

I woke up feeling great, and so did Steve, the new lover of running.  We got out of bed and were ready for action.  I had my trusty toast, and him his Cheerios, and with that we knew deep down that this day was one for winners, champions really.  We left when it was still dark, the only low of the day, but soon the sun started to rise and I realized quickly that there could not be better weather for a race.

We took the Trax train to the start line, and chatted with a lovely doctor as we rode, who I can safely say was far more nervous than we were.  In fact, I didn't have an upset nerve in my body.  For once I was full of excitement and confidence on race day.  A great feeling.  Steve... he was feeling a little nervous, though he tried to hide it the best he could.

As the race was about to begin Steve was anxious to start.  I think I annoyed him with the calm and professional manner I was flaunting.  But, as his coach, trainer, and wife, I needed to set the proper stage.  And then we were off.

Off we were!  Things were great from the start.  What a strong runner he had become.  I did my best to keep him entertained, and keep his mind off of the race.  Each clock we passed brought me great excitement and I would cheer for him loudly and jump up and down.  What a motivator I am!  At one point I yelled, "You are my hero."  He looked over and said, "You need to meet more people."  This entertained the runners around us.

As with any race the last few miles are the most challenging.  I had to step up my motivating, and tried all I could to keep him on our amazing pace.  I tried jokes, I ran ahead of him (he hated that) and then I just gave him his space (after he told me to be quiet).  The last mile I tried as nicely as I could to tell him he needed to keep the pace I was setting so that we could get in under 2 hours.  I knew the pain he was in because I had been there so many times, but I knew he could do it.  He looked slightly deathish, but capable.  

I think that now is a great time to talk about how I was feeling during this race.  Can you say... LIKE A MILLION BUCKS??  I could have killed this race, and had an amazing time, but kept my end of the bargain and stayed with Steve.  Which I was just fine with.  Now, I will talk about the last 10th mile of this race.

As we came around the corner towards the finish line, I reached down to turn off my IPOD.  I like to hear the crowd... and the next thing I know Steve takes off sprinting like a mad man.  I wasn't sure where the fire was, but apparently it was under him.  For each step Steve takes, I take two.  Not to mention, that I HATE running on those stupid cobblestones at the gateway.  And sprinting on them... NO WAY!   So I did my best to keep up, while in shock.  I saw the clock and it said 1:59:30, but I knew that we started late, so we were in good shape.  No need to freak out!  

Here is where it gets good.  First, remember that I waited for him the WHOLE race.  As he sprints, he starts to reach his hand back to me.  Like he is saying, "Come on weakling you can do it, just a little farther..."  I was in shock.  How dare he make me look weak in front of hundreds of people!  I was the strong one... remember??  I finally caught him right at the finish line.  I cannot wait to see how the pictures turn out.  SHEESH!  But, I forgive him.  

It was such a great race, and to say that I am so proud of him would be a huge understatement!  He is so strong, and finished at 1:58:40.  A killer time.  That race just flew by and was a blast.  We are both so excited to do a marathon together this fall.  A marathon where I will be crossing the finish line first!  At least I better.

As I sat and watched other runners finish, I saw a man coming who was around 80.  He was giving it his all as he ran to the finish line.  He looked strong, and proud, though his legs were small and his body seemed tired.  The crowd went wild. My eyes filled with tears.  It made me realize that anyone can do this.  Anyone.  And really, any of us can do anything that we set our minds to doing.  It may make us tired, and it may be hard, these things often seem impossible, but if we set our minds to it we can do it.  Me and you, and everyone!  All it takes is the desire, and the determination.  

Work hard and rest later, but for heaven sakes... set a goal a hard goal, and JUST DO IT!

Last year Steve could barely run a mile.  Last year my leg was so hurt that I wondered if I would ever run again.  This weekend, we ran 13.1 miles together.

That's Coren!

Check out Coren on 

YOU TUBE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sluL3x-RCs8

Getting ready.

It's official, Steve and I are running the Salt Lake Half on Saturday. I waited until the last minute to sign up, because I have learned that things happen, and I wanted to make sure.  BUT... it is happening, and I can't wait.  For the first time before a race I am injury free, and stress free.  This is going to be a nice casual run, with no time pressure other than Steve's goal of a 10 minute mile, which he will totally accomplish!  It will be so much fun to run it with him.

Speaking of Steve my new trailer trash husband, he is gearing up to leave me.  Yes, he is going to go and spend some time in a trailer park.  We both decided that it would be good for him and that he would come home appreciating his life here even more.  Yes, I am worried that the toothless women wearing tube tops and cutoff shorts will tempt him, but such is the life of a white trash man.  I have given him strict orders to avoid drinking tons of beer, just to have the joy of smashing the cans on his forehead.  I told him to lock the doors at night, because most abductions seems to happen in trailer parks, and the last thing we need is an Amber Alert issued on his behalf.  I would probably have to act like I don't know him.

He is prepared for the the laid back life.  You see, people don't often care for their lots in a trailer park.  You can litter it up, let the weeds grow... in fact you may as well water the weeds and try to pass them off as plants, that's what the folks there do all the time!  He is in the process of learning tolerance for all kinds of music; country and rap, as well as people singing there own songs while drowning their sorrows at 2am.   Such noise will certainly be followed by all kinds of "Shut Ups" and "Be quiets."  It is so soothing it will likely put him to sleep.

As a favor to him, I have been waking up at various times during the night and beating him with a rusty old pipe.  He is seeming to like it now; so I think I might need to start chasing him around with my sawed off shot gun.  I think the fact that I don't know how to use it will scare him even more!!  We have the cops on speed dial, because he always beats me back.  BUT... when the cops get here I just tell them what a nice guy he is and that I will NOT be pressing charges.  I just feel like I deserve to be hit.  Don't all women??  Plus, I like black eyes, I think they add a certain sense of style, especially on the days I don't do my hair.

So, as sad as I am to see him go, I am equally excited to watch COPS each night and see if I can catch a glimpse of him.  And, when I go to visit, you can be sure that I will be causing some sort of domestic dispute (and yes, blogging about it).  That's just how I roll.

Tree Climbing.

After Easter dinner the kids all went out to play, with the exception of Carson who was not feeling well and had a fever.  Soon he was saying things like, "Mom, it sounds like they are having fun outside, can I go watch?"

First I found Makenna in the baby swing.  I am not sure how she got in or out, but her and Rachel had a great time.

Then it tuned into Makenna wanting to climb the big tree.  Zak loves to climb this tree.  When we were growing up him and his friends would climb it and hang there and drop and do all sorts of crazy things.  We would also move the tramp under the deck or the roof and jump.  It was a little crazy, but fun.  Zak is the only one who ever broke any bones on the tramp, but he healed.  He is still the king of the tree.

Once Makenna got up there she started jumping.  The tree is pretty messy, so Grandpa stood below and kept it cleaned off.


Of course, Coren had to get involved.  No fear in that boy!  He had some help from Zak, Steve, and my cousin Danny, but he wasn't afraid.






Soon Carson decided that it was too much fun for him to miss, sick or not, and headed up the ladder.  He got up and jumped right off, then went straight for the ladder to do it again.






The kids had a great time, and then Steve ended up taking them on the roof.  Coren was so proud.  He kept telling everyone, "I was on the roof!!!"  Give it a few years and Cadence will be jumping from the tree too.  Kids grow up too fast!