the monkey's off her back!

Last year, McKayla struggled through the entire track season to qualify for the State meet in the 1600m. That was unexpected and very frustrating for her. She'd have a bad meet or conditions would be poor or her hair wasn't parted right or something.  She was completely stressed about it.  She finally qualified in the last meet of the season -whew!

Imagine her relief when she qualified for it during her very first meet this year.  The Davis Super Meet was Tuesday and she ran the 1600 in 5:17.76 and the qualifying standard is 5:18.45.  She didn't make it by much but, heck,  in is in!

She finished 3rd out of 71 runners.

Welcome to a less-stressful 2013 season!

out of town

It doesn't look like I'm much for staying in town these days. Last weekend I went to Grantsville for the girls' weekend. This coming weekend I'm going to St. George with my mom, McKayla, and Shanley for Shanley's dance competition. The following weekend we'll all go to St. George again for Spring Break. The weekend after that McKayla and I are going to Arcadia, California for a track meet. So much fun but so hard on the pocketbook!

St. Patrick's

I pretty much went all out on celebrating St. Patrick's Day this year. Early in the week I made green, shamrock-shaped pancakes. On one day I sent the kids to school with a green sack lunch (i.e. green applesauce, green grapes, green drink, green gummi candies). I made shamrocks out of pretzels, Rolos, and green M&Ms and they enjoyed those one day as an after school snack. For my mom and sisters I made small Mason jars with Rolos topped with Skittles layered in the colors of the rainbow (super cute). For breakfast on St. Patrick's Day we had green milk on our Lucky Charms and green smoothies. Dinner was green-dyed pasta with green alfredo sauce, green beans, green jello, and green limeade. Even dessert with a green mint cheesecake.

girls' weekend

I spent Friday and Saturday with my mom, aunt, and sisters!  We had so much fun!  We went to my mom's house (my dad came to my home and stayed with my kids since Kevin was out of town).  Tonya fixed us all dinner.  We watched a chick flick and worked on our own projects.  We ate too much junk food and stayed up WAY too late talking (after 2 am).  My mom made us all breakfast and then we worked on our own projects while visiting.  Then we went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant.  Yum!

Kari and Tonya went home after that and so did my Aunt Vicki but Mom, Melissa, Jolyn and I met up with our families and went to the REAL soccer game.  That was fun even if the game only ended in a tie.  After the game we went to Jolyn's and enjoyed Hawaiian haystacks.  More yum!

I sure enjoy being with my family!  We missed Dawnette though.

holiday mishmash

This year St. Patrick's Day and Easter are too close together!  How can a person properly celebrate each one with so little time in between?

I've decorated for St. Paddy's but already feel the pressure to put that away and get out the Easter decor.

Also, I'm still working on fun St. Paddy's surprises/treats for my own children but I've had to make my Easter treats for my Young Women because tonight is the last time we meet as a class before Easter.

And don't even get me started on visiting teaching.  Do I take my sisters my cute jars of Rolos and Skittles or do I take them my cute jars of Bunny S'mores?  Do I take both?  Maybe something smaller for St. Patrick's like my shamrock pretzels alongs with something for Easter?

I need TIME to give each holiday its proper due.  Please, calendar gods, let next year's Easter be in April.

there's only 1 of me (sob)

It's that time of year when I start stressing.  You know, the season when there is too much going on.

Last night I sat down and calendered all of McKayla's track meets, all of Shanley's dance performances, and all of Chandler's soccer games. 

It is overwhelming, to say the least.  So many places to be.  I don't even think its the amount of driving and the scheduling nightmare that concerns me the most.  What really stresses me is that I like to be the supportive mom.  I like to be at every meet, every performance, and every game.  I like to be sitting in the stands, in the audience, or on the sideline cheering for my child (and his/her team).

However, when I calendar these events it becomes painfully obvious that there is 3 of them and only 1 of me. 

the tough decision

I'm so glad that it wasn't me that had to choose between my Junior Prom and a big race!

McKayla's coach really wanted her to run at Arcadia (a huge, prestigious meet that boasts lots of national records and like 182 athletes who have gone on to compete in the Olympics over the years).  McKayla's times qualify (and get accepted) in both the 1600 and the 3200.  Sounds peachy, right?  Especially when you consider it's held in southern California (can we say sunshine and warmth?)

The catch?

It's the same weekend as Prom.  In fact, the 3200 race (her best race) would begin at the same time as the dance.  hmmm....

Like I said, I am so glad it wasn't my decision.  I am pretty good at supporting whatever decision she makes.

In this case, that means the race.  I guess the decision was made easier by the fact that there are no boys that she is really interested in at the moment so...

"I'm a winner!"

Okay, not me personally but I listened to Kevin say it repeatedly earlier today.

The bulb on our projector went out last week.  That means no TV for the kids (not the worst thing in the world but they do like their friends over to watch movies or Psych).  Our projector is old enough that it is really hard to find new bulbs for it.  Plus, they are ridiculously expensive (like more than $200 each).

So, Kevin scouted out some school district surplus auction websites and found a newer projector complete with remote.  He bid on it today and WON!  Yay!

And, might I just say, that it was quite a bit less than we were willing to bid for it.  Double yay!

Resolution Report

It's time to check-up on my resolutions and see how I'm doing. I have a feeling it's not going to be too good.

Spiritual:

• pray daily to be led to someone to serve and then do it  - Doing okay but could use some improvement. It's too easy to get caught up in my own life.
• fill a new scripture study journal with thoughts, quotes, and insight - worked on it

Physical:

• lose 25 pounds - down 13.6 pounds total so that means I only lost 4.1 pounds this month. Not great but it's at least DOWN!

Social:

• express appreciation for someone at least once a week - Need improvement!  I am recommitting.

Family:

• spend one-on-one time with each child every month - Did it! 

Home:

• 1 home improvement/organizational project each month - I cleaned and organized the laundry room which had gotten so bad you could hardly move in there. That's about it although I did shop for bathroom curtains (just didn't find anything I liked)