Clean House & Happy Children

I am my mother.

I was sitting at gymnastics on Friday with one eye on McLaren making sure that every time he looked my way I gave him a double thumbs up and looks of encouragement...and one eye on Ella & her sidekick Lucy...and one ear on the mother's day discussion taking place among my friends. One was joking about her mothers' response to the question "What do you want for mother's day?" Her mom would reply "Clean rooms and happy children".

I burst out laughing! This is word for word MY mother's answer (even to this day :) - and this year I finally threw in the towel - took my OWN Mother's Day trip to L.A. to meet my mom & sister & Aunt & Cousin (the weekend before) - and told my family that today all I'd like is a "CLEAN HOUSE AND HAPPY CHILDREN...and a smoothie for breakfast..." And you know what? I got it.

The end.

Badger Blue

A quick sneak peek - his grandmother will be dying to see her 1st grandchild...surrounded by Badger Blue :)

Warrior Dash - INSANITY

Brace yourselves - This is going to be crazy - insane - and quite possibly one of the gnarliest things I've ever done this far in my life (except for the 2 nights spent in that Budapest Hostel...)

Warrior Dash 2011
When I first read about Trainer Momma doing the warrior dash - I knew I had to do it. I tried to round up as many people as I could. The men all whined the whole way until about an hour before - everyone started to get pumped up.

We got all the kids decked out (they did a great job as our cheerleaders - Ella licked the oreo icing and then handed the cookies to the Campbells' twins...a win-win.)

Have I mentioned how much Ella loves Greg? or how much I love his shirt??

Super sweet...

A little warrior craziness....

Most of the race is hidden but these obstacles were out by the entrance.

SOOOOO very very tired.

This chick got boo-ed big time..you don't skirt the mud! The crowd was chanting "push her in! push her in!"
Best couple shot of the day:

Favorite shot of the day:


Let's take a moment and admire this man...no idea who he is, but a great costume.

Sheris wins for best pose(r)

Taylor wins for best entry.

Taylors' BEST PHOTO EVER. He never poses for me...except here.

Taylors' face makes me laugh so hard...so very very hard.

These guys hauled this the entire way...it was hilarious! The crowd cheered for them - big time.

I was so worried that Greg was going hate me for roping him into this...but holy cow he threw down...literally! He's tied with Taylor for best mud of the day.

Things we learned:

1. TOWELS. Lots and lots of towels... we didn't bring any :(

2. BLANKETS. We brought none - I can't describe how cold it was after - even in Arizona!!

3. Big Shade tent (thank you Campbells!) & chairs

4. Stroller (need to haul "hidden" food)

5. Go for the late afternoon run so that you can justify staying in a hotel (because driving back to Prescott sitting in a pile of mud - would not be fun).

6. You can run at any time - they don't check numbers or runners and they send a group off every 30 minutes. We even brought an "unregistered" runner and she threw in and ran (she thought after the first 1/4 mile that it might not have been a great idea).

7. Fitness level does not matter - I approached a really high wall that had a rope dangling from it and the ladies in tutus that were in front of me said "nope - not going over that one" and they walked around it. There were all different ages - some ran -and most walked it.

8. The bigger the group & the better the costumes = MORE FUN! Seriously - you may feel dumb before hand (yes even I did) but once you get there it's a riot. We all ran at different times (photo ops :) but next year we will all run/walk together. Staying in a pack makes it more fun. I think I'll even let Indy come with us.

9. Walking the plank was the hardest for me - Matt didn't like the spider crawl.

10. The bigger the dive/canon ball at the end the more cheers from the crowd. One guy did a flip over every stretch of barbed wire.

11. The fire was really hot.

12. You don't have to race - we can always use cheerleaders - it was quite the spectator sport.

Can't wait for next year!!

Ellen & Portia

You'll never guess who we spotted at the LA woodbury fashion show!

Dash to LA

The metro in LA is a wonderful lesson on cultural diversity.

Taxis are boring...faster but boring. Just in case I don't make it to my destination - I'm on the blue line headed into downtown LA - just thought it a good idea to throw some coordinates out there...

Worth it.

Just one - because my sister called me crazy.

No more - until she takes it back.

(And I have to find my writing voice because I'm too emotional to post this session anyway - but I'd bet that Justin who's been waiting for a really really really long time -he he-would say it's "worth it").

From maui to mountains

Matt told the kids this morning that I was a jet setter - to which Laina said "oooo you get a private jet??!!" Then looked at me with a confused expression and asked "what's a jet-setter?"
Someone who flies 3 different flights to 3 different locations in less than 6 days.
Crazy - maybe - but I'll have some great photos to share when I'm tucked back in at home.