365 Project - Day FIFTY FIVE

Today, I bribed the kids into cleaning their rooms by promising a trip to the drive-in to watch Night at the Museum 2. Jack was able to do a semi-decent job within 90 minutes and some goading. Mazie, on the other hand, needed 4 hours to do pretty much nothing. She was able to put her dress up clothes in the place they go and she formed some impressive doodles on her 'to do' list. I think it's more work for me to keep imploring her to 'finish up' or 'get your ass back in there' or 'just start with the stuffed animals' or 'if the stuffed animals are too much, put the dirty clothes in the basket' than it would be to just do the shit myself. I'm all about teaching some respect for your things. Mazie, she's a little sociopathic this way; she just doesn't give a shit.

Anyway, the drive-in is always fun and since I've become a parent, I just can't stay for the second movie. My kids watch 85% of the movie and spend the other 15% going to the bathroom and eating as much candy as possible.

The movie was good with a story line similar to the first version of this movie. It's fun seeing the historic figures portrayed. Amy Adams is a superbly sassy Amelia Earhart...

365 Project - Day FIFTY FOUR

Tonight, we have the pleasure of hosting the wee one.

Here's the pink girl, in her pink Bumbo seat, in my pink bathtub in the pink bathroom.

Thank goodness her eyes look dark in this picture or else it would be just one big blendy Pink Fest.

365 Project - Day FIFTY THREE

Today was the field trip for Mazie's kindergarten class. I had a group of 4 (which included Mazie), all of which had different agendas. One wanted to head straight for the water. Another was perfectly content quietly turning over each and every pebble in a 3 foot square patch of beach. Another could only focus on what time we were eating lunch. Then there was Mazie, bogarting the crabs and other local fauna and making the most of this social engagement.

I don't know how she did it, but she hiked her pant legs all the way into Daisy Duke position.

During our search, we found the slimy 'moon snail'. When Mazie dropped it on the beach, the snail pulled its entire foot into the shell and didn't do a single thing after that. It was a party foul of sorts...



These kids got so wiped-out from the trip, many of them fell asleep on the bus on the ride home. I was wiped-out too, but not for the same reasons they were I'm sure...

365 Project - Day FIFTY TWO

I know now where the term 'busy as a bee' comes from. This rhododendron was virtually ALIVE today with bee activity.

While I could only catch one of the buggers zooming off the blooms of this rhodie, this plant was full of bees. I wish I could've captured the sound of their work; hundreds of bumble bees zooming to and fro to each bloom.

They're kinda fun to watch. They have an obvious agenda, to gather pollen, and they let nothing detract from their mission. They courteously yield to the other bees already occupying a bloom and simply move on to the next. If I stood close to the rhodie, they didn't even notice me. They just kept on doing what they set out to do.

I wonder where they go when it gets dark? I was thinking they may have a little Jetson-esque landing hangar somewhere. They all go and back themselves up inside, deposit the pollen and get prepared by other worker bees for the next mission tomorrow. When the sun breaks in the morning, they fly out in a drove and find the best rhodie pollen they can find.

365 Project - Day FIFTY ONE

Yum.

365 Project - Day FIFTY

Today, we were supposed to go camping. We forewent the camping trip because of our upcoming trip to Texas. So, instead of camping this weekend, we were going to go to Oregon to visit Jason's dad. Well, Jason's dad had surgery a few weeks ago on his knee and he's still not in the best shape. Jason's step-mom called us last night to let us know it might not be a good idea to come down. Mazie was utterly heartbroken, so we tried to come up with something to do that would be fun. Why not go to the original place we were supposed to go camping and hang out with the people camping there? So that's what we did.

There were a few new additions to our normal camping circle; 2 families we knew through preschool. They happen to be next door neighbors to each other, but only live a few blocks from me.

ANYWAY. Kyle and Heather are some of the new campers and Kyle happened to bring this extra tall unicycle with him that he picked up at a garage sale. In Jack's unicycle club, this style of unicycle is known as a 'giraffe'. Jack wanted so badly to ride one this year, but his coach kept telling him 'next year' or 'when you grow a little' blah, blah, blah. Jack wanted to be the first 2nd grader on the team to ride one. Anyway, Kyle was nice enough (patient!!) to help Jack out and walk around the campground while Jack got used to the feeling of the taller unicycle.



After a few rounds of Kyle helping Jack balance, just as he usually does, Jack got the feel for the giraffe and started motoring around on his own. I love in the next pic, how there's a teenage boy turned around watching Jack ride this thing...



So, not to be outdone by a 9 year old, Kyle is trying to ride the unicycle himself. He's determined to be successful. Good luck Kyle and thank you for letting Jack ride. Even though Kyle lives 5 blocks away, the 3 hour trip down there was worth Jack learning this. Wait till we show the coach the pics...

365 Project - Day FORTY NINE

Yep, my daughter is six years old. She has an affinity for tight clothes. She doesn't care what the size is, she just feels comfy in clothes that are skin tight. If they are too baggy, she claims that she looks like a 'hippy'. I'm not sure where she came up with that summation, but that's her take.

Case in point; here's a pajama top that is clearly labeled 18-24 months. And yes, she's wearing it today.

365 Project - Day FORTY SEVEN

This mess that looks like a sawdust shit-stack is my new favorite PMS food.

It's a pile of s'mores created like you would rice krispy treats. The texture, the flavor...mmm - it's most excellent and quite satisfying.

And it'll be gone by the end of tomorrow.

365 Project - Day FORTY SIX

I'm tired of pee. My life revolves around pee. I want to be done with pee.

Every day, I sit on the pee that Jack left on the toilet seat after his morning go. I have conversations with Jack about 'keeping it in the water'. Inevitably, in the night, Mazie or Jack or both of them have had an accident in their sleep. This involves changing their pee bedding and adding it to the pile of pee things I have to wash. If I leave those things too long, well, the pee smell ekes out into my home. And, if I leave those things too long, my cat views this as an invitation to add her contribution of pee to the pile. Nevermind the place she's supposed to pee is literally 6 feet away.

My dog is easily excitable, so when we get home, he'll pee while he's jumping around and it gets drops on the floor and sometimes my shoes. So, I dutifully wipe it up with a paper towel and a cleaning wipe. I usually have to let him in from the back yard and blockade the door until he does his thing in the yard. If I don't, the aforementioned situation happens.

There are times when I sneeze or cough or laugh and pee invades me too.

Then there's the dirty laundry box in the bathroom. Mazie no longer notifies me when she's had an accident. So, grabbing that armload of laundry to take back to the washing machine inevitably wedges the offending pee clothes right up next to my face.

I smell pee daily. I can't keep up with the household pee. When will the pee madness end?

365 Project - Day FORTY FIVE

I simply got my ass kicked today.

Last month, Jack's cub scout leader set up a hike for the boys at Twin Falls, which is up in the North Bend/Snoqualmie Pass area. It sounded great - 3 miles round trip with a picturesque bridge over the falls on the way. The scout leader's email read, "terrain is up and down with an elevation gain of 300 feet". Sweet, I thought, I could do this hike. I told my sister about it and she said it was easy too - that she had done it in her red coat. It's a woolish dress coat. Easy peasy I though. Little did I know - my sister lied.

What exactly does up and down mean?

In this case, up and down means 'grueling hills and switchbacks up 300 feet, straight down for 250 feet'. Do this a number of times over and over for an overall elevation gain of 300 feet. Oh, and the trail (in spots) was only wide enough for 1.5 people. Couple this with a bunch of little boys and their siblings and parents with the 500 other people wanting to get around you or pass you on their way back. And, there's large river rocks exposed randomly in the dirt and they seem to pop up when you lease expect them; kinda like a whack-a-mole game.

I was sweating my ass off. Face red as a tomato. I was bitching in between gasping for air. Why the hell did I sign up for this shit? I came to this optimistic that, as a family, we'd have a leisurely hike through the woods, view some beautiful falls, walk back while sipping water, no chaffing in sight. I fumed at the women in cute hiking clothes with their little fluffy dogs passing us like they stopped here on their way home from church. My kids would occasionally run back from their position at the head of the pack to check on me and then turn back to RUN back to their position at the head of the pack. They did this so many times, they probably did the hike twice. At one point, while I was walking with Mazie, she looked at me and simply said, "Nevermind...". When I asked her what she was going to ask me, she said, "I was going to ask you to carry me, but it really looks like you can't...".

I'm not sure my knees will recover from this. It might take me a good week to recover overall. One thing that feels good, though, is I didn't sit down once or force myself to take a break. We paused to allow the group to regroup and there was the occasional pause on a corner, but there were other folks with us that took a genuine sit-down, get your snacks outta your backpack break and I just kept trudging away (we did take a break at a viewpoint while the boys did a geocache, but that wasn't my idea).

I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, but I think I was just pissed off and determined enough to not stop. I was afraid if I did, I would turn back any minute. Would I do it again? Maybe - but not unless I was in better shape.

365 Project - Day FORTY FOUR

Today, Jason and I bit the bullet and purchased a 'new to you' car. Now that we've made the final tuition payment for Mazie to attend full time kindergarten, we have room for the car payment. It's a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. We purchased it from Enterprise (who periodically pull them from their fleet) and as a deal between our credit union and Enterprise, they buy down the loan by 2%, so we got a decent interest rate on a used car. Yay!

Jack is convinced we purchased a limo. There are some interior lights running along the top that we didn't have in the old Caravan. It's good to set the standard low I think... :)



We later went to see Fife High School's version of The Wizard of Oz. These productions are usually quite entertaining and this one didn't disappoint. It was my cousin, Justin's, last performance as a senior and it was as entertaining as it usually is to see him in his costume on stage. He does such a great job and I think we've been to almost all of his plays. Justin played OZ (the guy in the black with Gallagher hair). There was also a wonderful witch that was actually a boy! Mazie is terrified the witch will come into her room tonight. She's either really scared, or really dramatic...

365 Project - Day FORTY THREE

Today, the E-I-E-I-Oops musical all the kindergarten classes have been working on came to fruition. Mazie had her own line that she got to speak in front of everyone and she spoke so clearly, I was impressed. You could tell she listened to my advice about enunciating every word. I'm such a stage mom.

I spent a long time tie-dying these 22 t-shirts and none of them turned out how I expected. Yes, they're supposed to be cows, but black cows with brown heads? I guess genetically it could happen, but not in Milton.

Jack also had his last unicycle performance of the year. They had to choose a larger venue (the gym at the Middle School) because Jack's entire school came to watch. He was beaming the whole time because there were over 500 kids there. What a guy...

365 Project - Day FORTY TWO

One thing Jack consistently gets compliments on are his eyelashes. He knows he's got the longest eyelashes in the family and has been told many times that the ladies are going to be smitten over his eyelashes when he grows into a teen-man. My brother took Jack to a basketball game one time and told him the cheerleaders were checking him out. He humbly told my brother that it was probably because of his eyelashes.

One of my favorite things when looking at Jack is the abundance of freckles that dot his face. While I know freckles are a sign of sun damage, I still can't help thinking they are the cutest thing ever.

Yep, he's a ladies man, with a penchant for a good pair of shoes.

365 Project - Day FORTY ONE

This is Eddie Ray, as you probably know. What you may not have known is that every day, he rides shotgun in the minivan while I take the kids to school. When he sees the backpacks come off the hooks and on to the kids' backs, he knows it's go time. He's so excited to go that he stares at the door as if it will open itself.

When the door finally opens, he bursts out into the front yard, finds a patch of grass and hops around on three legs, one in the air, peeing on whatever he can on the way to the van. He runs circles around the van until the driver door opens, at which time he takes up his spot in the passenger side. If we open the passenger side, he inevitably goes across to the driver seat, so that's why we let him in on the driver's side.

He's a fixture and a looker. He looks out for anything furry on the way and dutifully notifies us with a few bays and whines.

Highlight of this guy's day. I wish it was that easy with the kids.

365 Project - Day FORTY

So, I'm obsessed with SNL Digital Shorts today. Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg did a new song over the weekend called, 'Motherlover'. Hysterical.

While I was looking for the short on the SNL website, I came across this one here and it kills me that T-Pain is in it. Andy Samberg is hysterical.



My picture of the day, however, is my date for the evening. I'm struggling with a damn cold and I decided to breakdown and get a fresh supply of NyQuil, which usually kicks my ass in about 30 minutes.

That's why this is a short entry today!

365 Project - Day THIRTY EIGHT and THIRTY NINE

I am lumping these two days together. It was a weekend of celebration and remembrance.

Saturday, Mazie had a t-ball game in the morning. There were only 6 kids that showed-up and only 8 from the other team, so it was a quick game! I also went to Costco - fearing the crowds that are normally a Saturday occurrence, but also throw in Mother's Day and I thought it might be a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, there were few cars in the parking lot and many cashiers, so it was an easy, breezy trip! Yay!

Saturday evening, my sister arranged, for those who wanted to go, a birthday celebration for Brian's 30th birthday. The meager email she sent out the week before grew into a word-of-mouth mass gathering of around 50ish people. She decided on the perfect location, the Bonney Lake Tavern, affectionately known as the BLT. This dive of a joint was one of Brian's favorites as it was dingy, cramped and the food is insanely greasy, messy and really tasty. He loved to go there for breakfast on the weekends. The BLT did not disappoint and accommodated us with table reservations and patience.

I'll admit, it was an eventful night. Seeing faces that hadn't been seen in a long time, lots of loud talking over the music and lots of people setting up shop inside your personal bubble. I had many drinks, something I relished after the hellish week I had, and I sang the song, 'Desperado' by the Eagles to honor Brian as he had sang the same song at my 30th birthday, completely sober. The difference between Brian's rendition and mine was I had already consumed a lot of alcohol and my voice was on the verge of disappearing from the cold I've been fighting this week. The sound quality of our melodic key was equally bad. Our family has brought up his performance 5 years ago many times and it always gives us a good laugh. I was so excited to be able to sing it for him.

The evening wore on with many laughs, more alcohol, an eventful car ride home (of which we had a passenger that didn't know Kelby had an older sister) and lots of memories. My sister looked beautiful (she got her hair did earlier in the afternoon) and she was the consummate hostess. It was so much fun and I think Brian would have loved that people packed the BLT for his big 30th birthday.

Today was mother's day but more importantly, Brian's actual birthday.

For the first time, I took my kids to the cemetery to visit Brian. His beautiful headstone was recently installed and I wanted to wait for this moment to take my kids there so they could see it and not the small papery one that was on the ground. We stopped at the dollar store first to get some birthday balloons to take with us. I think the kids were markedly nervous and there were a lot of questions surrounding the visit. When we arrived, the kids quietly got out of the car, held my hands and we stoically walked to Brian. We sang him happy birthday, put the balloon down and had some conversation and more questions. I couldn't help myself and spent a good part of the time silently sobbing, but the kids were more than a comfort to have there. They patiently patted me on the back and waited for the moment to pass. It was apparent there were many visitors there before us because the bench that is Brian's headstone was adorned with plants, flowers and many balloons. My kids were completely silent in the car on the way to my parents' house. I think they were processing the visit. They handled themselves so well...

After that, we went to my mom's for mother's day dinner. My mom went and purchased all the goods and my brother barbecued the meat. We had hamburgers and salad and it was a nice, relaxed dinner.

There were, however, three things missing; my voice (which got lost sometime in the wee hours of last night), my husband (who was STILL in bed nursing a hangover) and most importantly, Brian.

Happy Birthday, Bri-guy...we love you so much.

365 Project - Day THIRTY SEVEN

First off - biopsy results tested as benign. I'll need to follow up in 6 months for a repeat mammogram. I'm so relieved. It's been a maniacal few weeks and suddenly my brain can relax. I can relax. I can sleep and think about my future again. I have many plans and now I can get on with them.

Now to our featured story:



What's this? Police activity on my street? Suspects apprehended?

Yep. And my daughter had a hand in it. She's CSI.

There was a little fender-bender between a car full of high school kids and an older gentleman coming down the road. Basically it was the kids' failure to yield that got them in the accident. I heard the accident and went out there to make sure everyone was OK. I took my phone just in case, but there were to old farts talking about tools in the garage on the other corner who called the police first.

When the kids piled out, there was a boy that exclaimed his intense need for a cigarette at that point and he casually strolled across the street and sat at the edge of my yard. I presumed at the time that he was pretty shaken and needed a breather. He got out his smokes, lit one up, put his backpack back together and then came back to 'the scene'. Soon after, the police officer showed-up to sort things out.

Enter Mazie.

Mazie came out of the front door, went over to the van and got her little hoodie out. I was standing on the corner helping cars that were coming down the road. I was the eyes around the corner. Mazie then came over to me from within the yard and said, "Mom, what's this?". She pointed at a black pouch that had ended-up in our St. John's Wort. I glanced over at it and instantly knew that pouch was the reason that boy was sitting at the edge of my yard earlier. I told Mazie to go back into the house.

When I had the chance, I went over the to police officer, who was just wrapping up with the kids, and quietly explained that my daughter watched the boy lob the pouch into our bushes. The police officer then got back out of his car and approached the boy. I then saw them come over to my yard together and grab the pouch. I strained to hear the conversation, but all I heard was, "Pipe?", "Yeah". Next thing I knew, the boy was in handcuffs. The officer then put the two girls in handcuffs. Then all the kids' parents showed up. The officer uncuffed them one by one after some interrogation and searching of purses and backpacks. One of the girls walked down the road, rivers of mascara rolling down her face, with her father and brother behind her.

I instantly felt bad. Did I really need to tell the police officer that? Obviously, it was something worth hiding or the boy wouldn't have gone through the oscar-worthy performance to conceal it. My first thought was my kids - what if they had found it and opened it? Had Mazie not seen the boy pitch the pouch, we would have never seen it and they would've come back later for it - no harm, no foul?

But, I felt in the interest of setting an example, I needed to show Mazie the right thing to do. What I really felt was like a putzy old lady. Telling on a bunch of teenagers. It makes you wonder if those kids will be pissed and come back to do something to our home, cars, etc...

All I know is, the chain of events completely ruined their night.

And now a word from my chingu...

365 Project - Day THIRTY SIX

Some time ago, Jack was contacted by his former preschool teacher, Mrs. Eakin, about attending their bike day this year. Jack was able to present a short bike safety speech and demonstration last year and the kids and teacher loved him so much, she invited him back again this year. It was cute when Jack got the phone call - Mrs. Eakin spoke with him personally about bike day and I heard Jack tell her he was 'available' that day. When he got off the phone, he was all puffed-up (as manly men do) and he casually told me about the conversation, like he did these things every day.

Mrs. Eakin's son, Kim, has a childhood background in BMX, which evolved into downhill mountain bike racing, sponsors and eventually a spot on the Cannondale racing team (if you are not familiar, Cannondale bikes are extremely engineered, top of the line bicycles). He now works for Cannondale and HAS TO ride bikes for a living. He's really got his dream job. Anyhoo, he took time out of his schedule to do bike day as well. This is Jack's second time doing bike day with Kim and Jack gets stars in his eyes when it comes to this guy. Kim did not disappoint and brought with him an expensive cannondale which made Jack's heart go pitter-pat. Kim also brought his 7 year old son with him and Jack was sort of a mentor to him (because of their vast 2 year age difference).

Jack put on his racing gear, grabbed his pit bike and unicycle and his prized plastic ramp. He gave his presentation to the class and then the whole class headed outside for bike day. Bike day consists of riding whatever wheeled item you bring from home (scooter, bike, trike, etc...), riding it in a tight circle around orange cones for the duration of class and occasionally stopping at the cleaning station or the decorating station.



Jack spent his time with Kim's son and gave him pointers for jumping the ramp. Kim graciously let Jack ride his muy expensive Cannondale bike. It was an adult bike, but Jack didn't care - the bigger the better.



Kim spoke with Jack randomly through the day and spoke with him like Jack had been riding just as long as he had. Jack kept up - acting like he had all the knowledge Kim did.

It was a fantastic day for Jack.

365 Project - Day THIRTY FIVE

I know - cop-out, right? Well, I didn't take any pictures today. It was a busy, crazy day and there was no picture taking going on.

I did go to new student orientation, where I found out that I have some prerequisite classes to take and there's prerequisite classes for the prerequisite classes. Then, after all that's done, I can apply for the Radiologic Sciences program....

Long road ahead of me...

365 Project - Day THIRTY FOUR

Cinco de Mayo. I'm not sure the history behind it, but I know it's an excuse to drink some yummy Dos Equis with lime. And party like you're hispanic.

It's also a reason to celebrate the dog's birthday. Today is Eddie Ray's 3rd birthday. I make him a hat every year and every year he hates the hat. Who doesn't love a festive party hat? Every year though, he's getting more tolerant of the hat, but he did need my assistance this year with holding it on. So, Happy 3rd Birthday Eduardo!

I also had my needle biopsy done today. It was fascinating watching it on the ultrasound monitor. Interesting how the biopsy needles get their samples. I likened it to spear fishing. They would count to three, then pull the trigger on a pinball plunger-like thing and you would see the needle shoot through the core of the mass (on the US monitor). They took 7 cores, but I didn't feel it - only pressure.

The radiologist told me that in her 25ish years of experience, she's seen many breast masses and can generally tell when one is cancerous. She said she is 95% sure (possibly more) that what I have in my boob is not cancerous. She also added the caveat, "However, sometimes the biopsies surprise us...". So, I'm not sure what the final prognosis is, but I'm feeling better about the whole situation. I hope all the tears and worrying will chalk up to nothing and once again, I fretted for nothing. I'll find out Friday if my worries were for naught.

I tried to convince them to take a picture of the procedure to add to here as well as the 'Anomalies" folder on my computer, but they weren't buying it. Most likely it's because the camera probably wouldn't tolerate a betadine swab.

365 Project - Day THIRTY THREE

Thank goodness for cell phone cameras. I hate the picture quality, but they sure come in handy in a pinch.

Tonight, Jack and I went to the walk-in clinic because we both had sore throats and a mild fever. With the news these days and the swine flu pandemic hype, I guess as a mom I felt it was better to be safe than sorry? I don't know. I knew in my mom way that this wasn't the case, but there was the little devil on my shoulder screaming, "WHAT IF?" So, me, Jack and Mazie trudged our way to the clinic.

When I explained what was going on to the less-than-receptive receptionist, she damn near threw these masks at us. The look of horror on my metrosexual son's face was priceless when he discovered that he had to wear one in PUBLIC. He asked if there was a special room that we could sit in. When the not-so-charming receptionist heard us discussing the possibility of not wearing the mask, she bitterly announced that if we didn't wear it, there was a big chance that they would not allow us in a clinic. In a show of solidarity, I boldly put on my mask and then put Jack's on his face (like I learned on the airplane).

We had to sit in the waiting room for about 45 minutes and watch the newcomers to the clinic make a wide berth around us mask wearers. While we were waiting, we entertained ourselves with taking pictures and writing our names in cursive. They had taken all the magazines and papers out of the waiting area in the interest of sanitation. We were pretty bored.

When we got back to the room, we had our throats swabbed. The kids got a kick out of hearing my garbled voice when I was told to say, "Ahhhh" while I got swabbed. The doctor then came in and told us that we tested negative for strep and discussed our symptoms with him. He then examined both Jack and I more closely.

When it came time to put the tongue depresser in my mouth to look at my throat, my kids nearly passed-out from laughing hysterically. They know about my extreme aversion to anything that could pass as a popsicle stick. If I even smell the stick smell or talk about it, I break out in goosebumps and my voice becomes so strained it's hard to talk about. IKEA has a lot of items that exude that same smell, therefore making it difficult to visit that store. My kids were clapping their hands worthy of a self-stemming behavior and gleefully laughed when the doctor brought out the giant stick from hell. It was as horrible as expected.

The doctor determined that our symptoms were far from being severe. He told me that we merely had a mild cold and not to be concerned. That was good news.

I think I can still taste the stick.

365 Project - Day THIRTY TWO

On our way home from the 5k, we stopped at the shopping outlets in Woodburn, OR. I immediately went to the Fossil outlet that I LOVE where Donna spied this shirt. She recognized the quotation as something I regularly say to my kids when they're fighting.

Maybe the whole world should adopt this concept of hugging it out in times of crisis.

I should have bought that red leather purse there that I really wanted. Dammit!

365 Project - Day THIRTY ONE

Wow, day thirty one. I'm proud that I've done this for a month now!

Day thirty one was a fun one. My sister and I met my cousin, Kaycee (who lives in Albany, OR), to participate in the 5k portion of the Eugene Marathon. It's an event we'd been looking forward to for a long time. At one time, I had aspirations to run the 3.2 miles, but that fizzled and I committed to walking faster than I usually do at the mall. I will build myself up to running a 5k and I will get it done. I'm determined to do it. All in all, we had a great time. Kelby ran most of the course (yay Kelb!) and my cousin Kaycee, coffee in hand and fanny pack attired, stayed with me and motivated me through it. There were times we even ran and managed to run across the finish line in Chariots of Fire fashion.


Pinning on the numbers...



Buddig in your fanny pack? I spied a mid-course snack in Kaycee's fanny pack. She wasn't sure if she'd be hungry or not.


The yellow-shirted nemesis. This woman had the gall to RUN ahead of me. Well POO POO on you courageous yellow jogger...I smoked you at the end.

Mile 2 - obviously

Mile 3 and where I began the run across the finish line...

365 Project - Day THIRTY

Who's the cutest backseat baby? We all know who...

Here's a shot of her from the backseat on her first road trip to Oregon. Myself and her mom were meeting my cousin, Kaycee in Eugene in the morning for a 5k. Aunt Donna graciously sat in the back and entertained the munchkin, who was incredibly well-behaved for a 5 hour car ride...