Back To My Roots!

Ok... I know it's darker than my natural roots but I was due for my two year  color change and needed something way different!  I told my mom I was so sick of the blonde & to get me something in the mail quick so she sent this.  I was going to put it on my self but my mom was a little concerned I'd mess it up, so my friend cut & colored it for me.   Thanks Melinda I love it! Also, thanks for always knowing what I want mom (hopefully Shelley will help you get on the internet so you can see it:)

Finally, after nearly a 2 year hiatus I started playing tennis again this week.  Tennis has been a part of my life since I was 9 & I spent nearly everyday on the court since I was 15.  Then I went to PA school and it was all over.  It was like I had gone through a major break up in a serious relationship.  No really, you might laugh and think I'm a weirdo who's is in love with her tennis racquet,  well I was and I still am and we've reunited!  There once was a time my day wasn't complete without swinging the racquet. Well its back & I can't wait to start tearing it up in the old lady leagues!

YES on PROP 8

Funny how both V.P. candidates said they do not recognize gay marriage as a civil union & today on Ellen (yes I have lots of time on my hands) Senator Biden said if he was a California resident he would vote no on PROP 8.  This just goes to show politicians tell you what you want to hear and celebrities have more influence on people than anyone else which is so sad since most of them are idiots.  PROP 8 is not about taking away gay rights, its about restoring the definition of marriage which is defined in the US Constitution as only between a man & a woman.  If PROP 8 does not pass, gay marriage will be required to be taught in the schools, gay couples will be able to sue churches for not performing their marriage etc.  VOTE YES on PROP 8 to restore the definition of marriage,  keep church and state separate and protect marriage and families.   Gays have the right to their private lives but not to change the defintion of marriage for the rest of us.  For more information on PROP 8 visit www.protectmarriage.com

P.S. My love for Ellen & Oprah has totally diminished.  I feel like they use their celebrity power to influence people and these people take their word as if it were from God himself.

Confession!

Wow, 2 blogs in two days...I'm on a roll!  SO I need to confess something.  When Andy & I got home from church there was a package in the mail (yes we get mail on Sunday because we live in a community that believes the sabbath to be Saturday) any ways it was Andy's birthday jeans I bought from my sister.  Yes, his birthday is not until Nov 1 but I just love giving presents and I can't ever wait to give them until they are actually suppose to be given so I showed him.  I just get so excited!  Seriously, I don't know how I'm ever going to keep any christmas presents for my kids around the house.  I am terrible, my friend and I have told each other what we're giving each other for our birthdays and Christmas presents for the past 12 years.  I need help!

Pumpkinman TRI

I tricked Andy into going to Las Vegas this weekend so I could do the Pumpkinman.  We camped at Boulder Beach where the tri started instead of staying in a hotel.  It saved money and was way more fun being so rugged and granolaish in the woods.  Andy has turned me into a mountain woman!  Not really,  I'm just way more rugged than I use to be since we got married. Afterall,  my husbands dream is to live in a cave in Alaska and wear flannel shirts & grow a big shaggy beard.  How can he not rub off on me! 

The race was a lot of fun, but definately way harder than the sprint I did a while back.  A few weeks ago I had the option of switching races & I wanted to change to the sprint but Andy said if we were driving all the way to Vegas I had to do the full.  Go hard or go home right?  I about died on the bike portion and when I got to the transition area from bike to run Andy was nearby and I asked him "do I really have to run now ?"  I was so not looking forward to it after the bike felt like it was 99% uphill, my legs were jell-o!  I probably should have trained more, oh well. 

This is a pic of all the "weenies" in their wet suits.  I'm the one hiding wearing the tank and super hot spandex.  Basically, I can't afford a wet suit so I pretend that only weenies wear them to make myself feel super tough.

Anyways, I finished  & was glad I didn't chicken out and switch to the sprint distance.  In fact, I got home & found a full Ironman in northern Cali this coming summer that I am going to do so if anyone would like to join me I'd love a training buddy.  It's only 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run :)  Hey, you only live once right?  My philosophy is that if you're gonna die you might as well do it having fun.  

P.S.  I would like to add that I am very sad my Angel's lost in the first round to the stupid Red Sox.  I actually shed a tear after game 4 when they were officially knocked out.  I always pretend not to like them as much as Andy  but secretly I LOVE THEM!  Goodbye Reggie, until next season,  2009!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Isn't this the cutest cake ever!  My sister's friend made it for my mom.  Wish we coulda been there to help eat it! By the way, "Nano" is what the grand kids cal my mom...long story!

I LOVE YOU!

Things Worth Remembering

Get out your kleenex, this is going to be a tear jerker!  No, just kidding.  In all seriousness, since I'm no longer a student and currently unemployed I've spent a lot more time thinking lately.  Anyways, tonight I couldn't sleep and I was thinking about my grandparents, the ones who have passed on, the ones that are still here, changing, aging, not quite the same as they use to be.  I was thinking about my favorite times with them.  Watching "Matlock" and "Murder She Wrote" thinking it was the scariest show ever as an 8 year old.  Cleaning Granny's house for extra change so me and my cousins could walk down to AMPM because it was super cool to be so grown up.  Staying up until 3am with Grumpy, playing board games and then waking up to "Grumpy's Grand Slam"  which included waffles piled high with a slice of ham, poached egg and ketchup (can't believe I ate that!)  Granny & Grumpy taking the cousins to Pancho's & putting up with us all fighting over who got to raise the flag for more sopapias.  Spending the night at Grandma's, making "healthy chocolate milkshakes" (honestly, she puts flaxseed in everything)  while she helped me with my long division (man I hated math).  Sitting on Grandpa's lap out on the porch in Heber, AZ with our cowboy hats on while he sang me his favorite cowboy songs at the very home & porch he grew up at.  Racing Grumpy down the water slide at Sun Splash, thinking "I must be his favorite since I braved The Bonze Eye slide".  Playing Wii with Grandma Taylor, flinching after her every swing thinking she would surely throw the remote right through the t.v. screen.  Then laughing as she did her famous victory dance to rub her win in a little more! (this was my first experience with Grandma Taylor, she is Andy's grandma...I loved her instantly)  My grandparents were and still are very simple people.  They didn't spoil me with gifts or take me on elaborate vacations (heck, grandma's big outing is still going to the grocery store on Friday) Instead, they gave me a lot of great memories that will stay with me longer than any tangeable item. I feel like sometimes the world today doesn't remember the simple things in life, doesn't remember to take a little time for others.  We feel like things could always be bigger & better.  I feel like we are all so busy that we forget to take a step back and remember it's the simple things that can be the most fun.  

What's your favorite "simple" childhood memory?

Wow!  I feel like Dr. Laura or something, I must be losing me mind...need to find a job ASAP before I turn into some sentimental sap!

We Be Cruisin'

we just got back from our celebration vacation! (graduation & anniversary)  we had never been on a cruise before, it was a lot of fun!  everything is done for you, you don't have to worry about a single thing except what you are going to eat next!  yeah, that's real good for the waist line.  after a week on the ship andy & i decided we forgot what its like to be hungry, you're either stuffed or full! haha  our first stop was cabo.  we had spent a week there on our honeymoon & found a restaurant up out of the tourist area where the locals lived so we had to journey back when we got to the port for more of their delicious "totopos".  (this was in the dining room on the ship, not at our delicious "El Burro Loco")next stop was mazatlan, i loved this clean little city!  we paid a cab driver to give us a tour. Of course,  alfonso our cabbie & andy became good friends chit chatting the whole time...they definately forgot i was there & that i didn't understand much espanol except enough to know the topic of their convo which at one point involved "nalgas y chi chis". still not sure what that was all about!  

last we docked in puerto vallarta.  this was our favorite day of all!  all the people at our dinner table on the ship were telling us about an excursion they were doing, which involved zip lining in the jungle.  we wanted to do it so bad but it was pretty expensive.  when we docked in puerto vallarta andy made some more mexican friends and got us the zip line excursion for half the price all the people on the ship paid!  it was so fun, we got to hike all around the jungle and then go on these super fast, long zip lines like 200 feet above the ground.  the view was amazing!  i felt like jane from tarzan!  oh, & the tequila tour afterwards was fabulous too!  just kidding, we only watched & did not partake!