Fat Fat Fatty Fat

Ugh. I don't know how much longer I can take being pregnant. A little advice: don't be pregnant during the summer in Kentucky. It's miserable.
I took a picture of my Nasty McNasty feet. They are SO fat and swollen. Sometimes they get so swollen that it feels like they are going to pop when I walk on them. I can't stand to look at them. I have always had issues with fat feet...they gross me out.

Disgusting, aren't they?

I hope you all save this picture on your computer so that you can use it as your computer background. Wouldn't you love to look at my sausage toes everyday? At least I make it a point to keep them painted.

Any advice on how to keep the swelling down. Unfortunately I can't spend all day with my feet up and ice bags on them. I've thought about leeches...do you think it would work?

Day at the Downs

Here we are...just one year out from Kade's graduation! Wow, I can't believe how fast this last year has flown by. Before you know it, we're going to have to decide where we want to live and set up practice. That sounds a little stressful for two very indecisive people such as ourselves. This weekend was the 2nd year Endo graduation. As part of the celebration of becoming real Endodontists, we had a little gathering this afternoon at Churchill Downs. Despite our really really really lousy gambling skills, we had a lot of fun. I had never been to a race at Churchill Downs (that's for tourists, right?), so this was a first time experience for me. What made it even awesomer was that we were up in Millionaire's Row!! Cool, huh? We are totally posh. Pretty much we had this nice air conditioned room where we had lunch, then we went outside on the balconies when the races started. I think they are getting us ready for that "my husband is a doctor" lifestyle. Come find me in 20 years and I'll tell you if it has happened for us yet. There was a bit of excitement/sadness...I'm not sure which...on the track today. During two of the races, a horse was injured. Somehow, Kade got a picture of the first event. That horse didn't ever get up. And if you look very closely at the picture below, you can see the jockey getting trampled under the feet of the horse ahead of the horse that was down. It was a little scary. At least the jockey was conscious and sitting up. They did take them both away in ambulances. I think the jockey was euthanized and the horse probably was injured badly....oh wait, that doesn't sound right.
We did put a few bets down on some horses. Oh, and just so you know, you shouldn't take betting advice from a three year old. She picked horse number 5 for two races in a row, and they both lost. Then, on the next race, we decided to pick number 1. Guess which number won that race! Number 5. Oh well. I think we lost all of 9$ on betting today. We've learned our lesson. Here I am teaching my three year old how to place a bet at the track.

I am so mother of the year.

It was a nice, relaxing way to spend an afternoon. I would hate to leave KY and never have been to a horse race. Now, we just have to make it down to Mammoth Caves and then I can feel like my journey here has been complete.

Happy Birthday, Maryn!!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY, MARYN!!!

Yesterday was Maryn's third birthday. We love her so much, and I can't believe it's already been three years since she came in to our lives.

We had a little birthday party for her with some of her friends out at the park yesterday. I must admit, I do enjoy spoiling and indulging her a little bit. I tried to do a little bit of a theme for her party. It was a park because I didn't feel like cleaning my house, then cleaning again after all the kiddos left. So, it was pretty low key. Maryn has an obsession with two things in life: The Cars movie and Monkeys. I didn't want to do the Cars thing...that would cost a lot of money, though I did put McQueen paper cups on her cupcakes, so I went with the monkey bit. It turned out pretty cute. I surfed the net and found someone who'd made really cute monkey cupcakes. I copied their idea and they turned out pretty fun.

They took a little bit more time than a cupcake should, but it was totally worth it. For the mussel, I used a cut vanilla wafer and the smile was drawn on with icing writers. The Ears were cut mini nutter butters and the eyes were mini m 'n m's. Then I just put some extra frosting into an icing tube and made dots for the nose and eyes. I was pleasantly surprised at how they turned out.
Going along with the whole monkey theme, we played a game called "Pin the Monkey on the Tree." Everyone got their own monkey to tape on the tree blindfolded. It wasn't a huge hit because it turned out that 3 year olds don't like to be blindfolded and forced to walk, hence the video below. But Maryn did like that she had a tree full of monkeys, and now it is adorning our refrigerator. Like we need one more thing on the fridge.

After some fun, we sang, opened presents, and ate monkeys. I had put together a big box of dress up clothes for her (I'll have to pull out the capes I made and take a picture...I even impressed myself with how well they turned out from freehand.) with all sorts of fun things I'd found at consignment shops, around the house, and some I made. From Kade's parents she had gotten some great lightening McQueen dishes that have already gotten plenty of use. Going with the dressup thing, my mom found her a cute princess dress with hat, gloves and necklaces. I think she will really impress the boys with this one! Kade got her some of the Cars cars that she didn't have yet. Yippee!! more cars to pick up!
Over all, it was a very successful birthday. I think she got lots that she can have fun with and will enjoy.
Now, here comes the cheesy part: I truly believe Maryn was meant for our family. She is such a special girl and has a great personality. She is so good and I wouldn't trade her for the world. I'm amazed, even now, how much I can love someone.
Here's Maryn in a nutshell.
Her Favorite things are: Anything Monkey and the Cars movie
Her fears are: automatic toilets and sometimes root canals
Favorite foods: Spaghetti and cucumbers with dressing
Foods she won't touch: Bananas and watermelon
I'm amazed by her: compassion for others
My favorite feature of hers: her beautiful hair and her blue eyes
Her first word was: Tickle
Music that she loves to listen to: Johnny Cash (Fulsom Prison Blues, Ring of Fire), Best of Queen, Jenny/867-5309, Oklahoma, I am a Child of God, and Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

High School Reunion

It's been 10 years since I graduated from High School. Wow, I'm old. I remember when I was 17 (graduating from high school), thinking that 27 was old. Now here I am. One of those people that teenagers look at think, "she's old." But 10 years from now doesn't seem so far away anymore. Weird, huh?
I debated within myself about going to this reunion for a very long time. It took a lot of courage to mail in my invitation. I never felt like high school was living my "glory days." They weren't aren't all that glorious to me. I was shy and really really awkward, and also I was shy. Painfully so. Don't get me wrong, I had plenty of good times and laughs with the few good friends that I had, and of course it was packed full of growing experiences. But, as I sat there last night amidst all my classmates, I realized how grateful I was that I am where I am. I'm glad I'm not the same person I was back then. I'm so glad that I've done the things I've done and made the choices I've made. I wouldn't want to go back for anything and do it all again. My life is so much better right now. Sure, it's full of different challenges (like keeping my sanity), but I feel like I have progressed so much since high school, and I'm glad that I have had that chance to grow.
It was good to go to my reunion. I enjoyed catching up with people I hadn't seen in years. Everyone looked good...some the same, some very different. There were several people I wished could have come so I could reunionate with them, but such is life. I was surprisingly not very nervous going. I think I had realized before had that I didn't really have to impress anyone, I'm happy to be myself. Overall, I had a good time and I'm really glad I went.

Victory Chili

Ah, victory...how wonderful it tastes. This time it really did taste good.
So, last week, we were having dinner with our friends, Paul and Janelle. It had been kind of a stressful, busy week, and I still had to produce some form of a talk for church on Sunday. Kade and Paul were joking about all the sacrilegious things I could say from the podium, and kind of giggling about how funny they thought they were. Then, Janelle came up with the brilliant idea of giving me a challenge. My challenge was that I had to use a specific phrase within my talk, and they would reward me somehow. The phrase they decided on: "vinyl siding," and the reward...dinner made of their yummy white chili.
Well, I am very pleased to announce that not only did I say "vinyl siding" once, but twice. And to top it all off, I pulled it off pretty smoothly and without a smirk. I couldn't look at them during my talk, because I knew they were laughing out there in the congregation. I'm sure people were wondering why I was smiling so smuggly up there on the stand after I was done...I was very proud of myself.
They made us dinner last night. Mmmmm, it tasted so good.

Watcher in the Woods

Back on Memorial Day, Maryn and I went out for a little hike in the woods at the Nature Center to let Kade get some studying done. We took a different trail than normal and found this cool hollowed out tree along the path. What was even more cool was that it was still alive and growing! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me (as always).

So, later that week we called up our friends, Sarah and her son Zach to go with us. Maryn was pretty sure it was the "Cave of Wonders," and Zach for sure didn't want to have his picture taken. These were the only semi-decent pictures I got. I'll probably have to go back and try again some day.

Maryn and Zach, apparently in awe

She just can't wait for the treat she gets for letting mommy take her picture!