Bruises worth pictures

I have started working out at CrossFit this last week. I have successfully made myself sore from head to toe and had my heart beating for all that it is worth. So far, so good. I feel like I am starting to make some progress in my flabby to fit goal. I am hoping to do a month of this program (boot-camp like) and then continue on my own with better activity levels.

I don't mind the sit-ups even though I have yet to finish an entire set, the lunges and squats are killing me, but I can do them. Rowing is about the most taxing thing I have done in a long time and I trip on the jump rope more than I hop over it. However, the one thing that may actually kill me is the jumping pull-ups. Basically, you hang forward of the bar on a wooden box and then jump and pull yourself around to above the bar. Sounds easy right? (Okay, not the actual pull up, but the idea). For some reason, I can't seem to make my feet land where I jumped from. I have fallen a couple of times, but Saturday was a doozy. I fell all the way off and skinned my shins and knees and bruised my thighs something awful. Take a look:

The pictures just don't do the bruises justice, they are all swollen and very beautifully purple....

Chris' BBQ
For everyone who has not yet been to one of Chris' work cook outs, you are missing out! He decorated his store all festive and put on a great luau for all the painters and customers. Don't they look great? And who is that girl in the bikini?

What?! Twenty days went by?

What happened? I swear I only missed a few days of blogging, but all of a sudden, the calendar says it has been three weeks! Talk about time flying. There is a mini gym by my house that I drive by everyday, and it has a count down to summer vacation sign out front. I am pretty sure it went from 12 weeks to 5 weeks all in an instant. I am pretty sure that when I was younger, it seemed like spring lasted FOREVER. Now, I am just scrambling to get my yard mowed before June :)

Anyway, we have been working like crazy to get our basement finished (YIPPI), the carpet is supposed to be installed Thursday. We are also getting our attic re-insulated so we can take advantage of the rebates this year. BTW, you have to get it done by May 1st to get the most money back. Hopefully, we will get to the windows this year as well. Might as well take advantage of as many energy rebates and tax credits as possible, right?

The girls have started soccer, Kaylee is doing pretty well; Taylor and her team run around like a flock of lost chickens. I was really impressed with Kaylee, when she was playing goalie, she dove onto the ball to stop it! Way to go!

We had a ton of fun over Easter, with three dinners and plenty of time spent with family and friends. (At least plenty for the adults, the kids would have taken more!) We are finally out of boiled eggs... I think we can wait another few months for summer egg-salads. The girls had a blast playing with Zeb's new rabbit, they haven't stopped asking for one of their own. NO IDEAS, Y'All. We have plenty of pets with the two dogs, thank you.

To top it off, it was Jody's birthday this last weekend. Happy happy birthday Jody! We really enjoyed getting together with the gang at Ruby Tuesdays. I always feel so much better after laughing for hours on end, I hope everone gets to do that once in a while.

Be sure to soak up some of this great sunny weather before it gets too hot and dry!

Another week flies by!

Wow, can you believe another week has gone by?!! I had to take my computer in to the shop because it kept freezing up (maybe it is tired of winter?) and after 2 days, they said: "There's nothing wrong with it." Hmmm. Seems to happen to everyone right? You make an appointment for your dog because it's been hacking all week and when you get it in to the vet; he acts just fine! Oh, well. At least it seems okay now.

Just a quick run-down of the last week: Chris took the girls to Jackson Hole with his parents to the snowmobile hill-climbs, they all seemed to have a blast!
I had to work :( but at least it was steady busy all day.

Since I didn't get to go to the hill-climbs, I did manage to watch a good movie with Cheryl and family.... Twilight! I can't say I was super impressed the first time I saw it, but it definitely has grown on me. The books were a bit drawn out so I figured they would have to seriously compress the story to fit in 2 hours, but they did a good job of it. I do really love vampire movies, Interview with the Vampire being one of my all-time favorites.

Going along with the movie theme, we also watched Fast and Furious this weekend. It was our date night, and we doubled with Cheryl and Jason. I thought it was better than the reviews, but you probably have to like cars to get the whole experience. But I would think anyone can appreciate Vin just standing there being cool and muscled. It was cheesy, but so are all his movies ;)

Kaylee and Taylor start their spring break this weekend. 10 days off school! How would it be? I don't recall getting more than 2 days off for anything other than Christmas all through school, including college. Not fair. They are SOOOO excited. Too bad it is still so cold.

Kaylee had her first soccer practice this week, it has been so wet that they had initially cancelled practices and games, but her coach set them up in the church gym to do a little practice inside. She had a ton of fun, but apparently we need to go over the rules a little more with her; she is all over the place. I wish I had a picture, she is so cute in her uniform! Taylor's coach is going to wait out the weather, hopefully they have a practice before the first game!

And because I am not busy enough, I also attended a gardening class taught by none other than Mark Anderson. He was great! I really learned (or remembered? since I took horticulture in school) quite a bit about gardening, fertilizing and soils. Wow! So much to think about, yet very exciting. I hope to get out and start on my flowerbeds this next week if it will stop raining and snowing for a day.... Is that wishful thinking or what?

Sorry for the super long post, that's what happens when the computer is gone. Maybe I will have to get a backup or fix that dinosaur cluttering up my desk!

Enjoy conference weekend, may the Lord be with you!

A trip to the audiologist

Taylor had her annual hearing test on Friday. Good news! No changes in her hearing :) Of course, to ask her, she would say it is bad news, she thinks she can hear just fine. The rest of us have some other ideas about her ability to hear. Especially when she is told to clean her room or put away her clothes. She can however, hear the sound of candy being unwrapped from the other side of the house!

This check up consisted of her going into the sound-proof room with the earphones on to listen for the sounds. She got to push a great big button to signal that she heard the sound. Wow! You would have thought it was the button for the space shuttle launch, she was so excited. Her new hearing aids are pretty cool since they don't fill so much of her ear anymore.

We have been waiting a few weeks for one of the aids since a certain little white dog chewed up the last one... Bad Dog, No Biscuit! It was especially irritating because it had just been replaced a couple of months ago after the old ones had worn out. I wouldn't mind so much except that they have to be sent to Switzerland for repair/replacement, then shipped back, reprogrammed at the office, and finally I have to make an appointment to come in and have them fitted. It can take weeks. Not to mention, they are REALLY expensive. Thousands of dollars expensive. Fortunately, our insurance covered them originally. I thought we would have to pay to replace them when they wore out, but the hearing aid company replaced them at a small (few hundred) dollar fee. So far the insurance has not returned that bill. I figured the severely mangled, chewed up, drooled on pile of plastic that I returned would be charged at full price but the hearing aid company charged an "abuse fee" of $125. Shocker! I am going to see if the insurance will pay that one.

A little funny note: I was talking to someone about how much the hearing aids cost and the fact that they had to go to Switzerland to get repaired. I said that they must be made out of some kind of "clear gold" to cost so much. Taylor later told everyone that her new hearing aids were made out of "PURE GOLD"! She was a little disappointed to see they were still clear plastic :)

Taylor wanted me to put up better pictures of her flower and butterfly projects because her hair was all "weird" in the curlers. So here they are:

Spring?

I guess mother nature was just teasing us with the nice warm weather last week! It has been snowy and blowy and cold! What happened to the 70's? My tulips were poking up out of the ground, now they are buried in snow.... We have tried to not let this cold snap dampen our enthusiasm for spring. The girls and I made garden decorations for when we get to start planting. They were so excited to paint! Taylor did hers all by her self, no help wanted, thank you. Kaylee did most of hers with a little finishing touches my me. Hopefully, we will get them "planted" soon.

Grand Lake Snowmobile Trip

Here are pictures from Chris' snowmobile trip to beautiful Grand Lake, Colorado.
The pictures really don't do the area justice!

Click HERE for more pictures on Hale's blog.

Although it was gorgeous, and a ton of fun to be in such big country, Chris is really grateful to live where he can be on the hill and having a good time in less than an hour from load to playtime! In Colorado, it takes several hours to get to the hill, then a WHILE to trail ride into where the real sledding starts. We are blessed!