To be continued...

I hope.

I'm going to be taking a break from blogging.  In a conversation with my husband, it came to my attention that I didn't really understand his level of discomfort (and dislike) with the idea of blogging and sharing things out on the interwebs...

While (obviously) I'm much more okay with this, I respect his reservations.  So, out of respect for him, I am going to take a break from sharing things here.  I hope I'll be back.

I will still be lurking around your blogs!  If you want to find me you can always look me up via my DailyMile linky on the sidebar or email me at palousemom at gmail dot com.

Looking forward to being back sometime soon!

Five Favorites (vol. 1)

This is my first time linking up with Hallie at the lovely Moxie Wife for Five Favorites Wednesday!  I love the idea! :)

http://moxiewife.com/category/five-favorites

Am I Crazy? {Tackle it Tuesday}

So, I'm thinking about joining the direct selling market... am I crazy?

I've thought of doing direct sales off and on over the last couple of years... with Pampered Chef, jewelry, Scentsy... each time I was interested but I really questioned whether I could see myself selling and being happy selling that product for a while.  I also questioned the time commitment to be successful when I have small children at home.

Prayer {Monday Meditation}

Fresh on my facebook page this Monday morning was the following:

Just the reminder I need to be more faithful in my prayer life.  There are several things weighing on my heart right now and I realized this morning that I've been trying to carry them alone.

How many times do I have to do this before I learn "the yoke is easy, and the burden light" Matthew 11:30 when I trust in God and turn all things over to Him?!

Halloween!

It has been a fun week leading up to Halloween!!

Why, you ask?

Well... because I've been able to hear Karen using words I didn't know she had.

7 Quick Takes - Randoms from the week!

--- 1 ---

Quote of the week from Megan.  My Mom stayed with us a couple of nights last week.  At six in the morning when Meg crawled into my bed, I mistakenly thought I might get a few more minutes of sleep if I reminded her that Grandma was upstairs.  Maybe she would go crawl into bed with her.  She left the room and came back 30 seconds later and impatiently stated: "Come on Mom, let's go visit your Mama who we call Grandma!!"  All I could do was laugh.

--- 2 ---

Karen and Megan are enrolled in gymnastics... it has been an absolute kick watching them!!  They love it.  They are both complete fruitloops out there sometimes!  But most importantly (especially for Karen) it is helping to teach them how to control their bodies.  We can't afford physical therapy for Karen, and I don't know that she REALLY needs it, but I can't understate how GOOD I think this has been for her.  I'll have to keep you updated on the progress I see in her.

 

--- 3 ---

Speaking of progress and Karen - She is doing FABULOUS in kindergarten.  The reports I continue to get are that she is a leader, likes to offer answers in class (I don't have specifics on how well they understand her), and that her willingness to try in speech and in other areas that she has struggled is so much better than last year.  It's amazing what age does!!

--- 4 ---

A second point on the above line of thought.  Her IEP review is coming up... EEK!!  It needs some work.  Very definitely needs some work on the goals.  I've been putting it off but need to get working on it.  I also signed off on the approval for them to begin retesting her.  It's been three years since the school has done any testing.

Is it horrible that I'm worried that she'll test too high and will therefor be inelligible for services through the school? 

Testing high would be a good thing! Right?!

I guess the truth is that I don't think she's ready to not have extra speech and OT through the school, but have this worry that somehow her tests will show otherwise...

--- 5 ---

I've fallen so completely off the exercise wagon, that it isn't even in sight anymore!!  I think I'm going on six weeks since I've done any sort of structured workout... lots of activity with the kids, but nothing specifically to workout.  Really need to catch back up to that wagon.  My clothes aren't fitting right!  (luckily, or rather unluckily, it's fall so I can hide behind more layers...)

--- 6 ---

Do you menu plan?  I've done it sporadically and have always liked the weeks when I've done it.  We are in a definite rut with regard to meals.  The kids are requesting pb&j nearly every day for lunch.  I've been doing a lot of eggs and pancakes for dinner for them because it gets to dinner time and I don't have a plan!

We've subscribed to e-Mealz for a year or more, but I've yet to follow their menu.  Any recommendations on how you approach meal planning would be welcome!!

--- 7 ---

Last week ended well.  The anniversary of Jessica's death was actually a pleasant one.  My folks were in town for a long weekend.  We all met for Mass at the Cathedral at noon.  Following Mass we decided to head to the park since it was a beautiful day and that sounded better than going back to Jen & Jeff's... It was a beautiful afternoon and the kids made some wonderful memories.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Evening Walks {Wordless Wednesday}

Our current routine includes plenty of outside time in the late afternoon. Or fall weather has been beautiful and we are trying to take advantage of every single day!!

Motherhood... {Monday Meditation}

I was catching up on some of my blog reading this afternoon, and came across a post by Meaghan on Catholic Mother's Online, titled Holiness in Motherhood.

It was in that moment that God tapped on my heart and reminded me of my vocation and of the many ways motherhood makes us holy. I wanted to say I didn’t have time for this. I needed to be cleaning or simply sitting down and regaining my sanity. Why didn’t my toddler hear the tick tock of my precious free time dwindling? The dishes were piling up in the sink ... [he] needed my presence. He needed me to say “I’m here and there is no where else I would rather be.”

We can make motherhood so complicated, but in many ways it’s really about doing simple things with great consistency. My children need my presence. They need a Momma who is patient. Our days require us to continually die to ourselves, and to let go.

Wow...

7 Quick Takes - Jessica

Linking up with Conversion Diary again for 7 Quick Takes. 

In memory of Jessica - here are seven memories.

--- 1 ---

I was on a work trip to Madison, WI the day Jess was born. I got the news by phone and had to wait a week to meet my new niece!!  She was worth the wait... such a sweet, little chunk.

Sweet Meg! {Wordless Wednesday}

Where have four years gone?!  My sweet Meg celebrates her 4th birthday today!

Missing Emily Rose

Nearly five years ago, we went in for our first ultrasound when I was expecting again.  Karen was just over one and we were SO excited to be expecting.  Imagine our surprise and joy when the ultrasound revealed we were having twins!!  Considering the amount of work it takes for me to get pregnant, we both figured this was an answer to a prayer of how our family was going to grow (by leaps and bounds)!!

Because of my history, my doctor sees me every two weeks when I'm expecting.  Until he can hear the heartbeat by sonogram, we does ultrasound to check the progress.  As each week went by, our excitement grew.  After we hit the thirteen week point, we began sharing our news with friends and extended family.  Our parents and sister's already knew, but now the world was finding out.

At this time in Carl's family, we were fairly girl "heavy".  It was fun to imagine how the family dynamic would change if we were to have two boys, or how much more girl heavy it would become if it were two girls!

A Day of Rest

Sunday's are called to be a day of rest.  

As God commanded us in Exodus: 

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work.

7 Quick Takes: Fall!

I thought I'd try something new.  I'm linking up with Jennifer at Conversion Diary for Friday's 7 Quick Takes.  We'll see how this goes!

--- 1 ---

Visit from a Pigeon - Caption This! {Wordless Wednesday}

One of the more strange visitors we've had.

Finding Balance with St. Therese

Today is the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux.  Her life, her dedication to loving Jesus, her approach to living - doing all things, especially the small ones, with great love - is an amazing example to reflect upon.  My struggle lately has been finding the right balance.

The balance of household responsibilities and prayer.  She reminds me that the two are not mutually exclusive.  I need to remember more often, in the midst of these responsibilities, to add a prayer.  To dedicate the action to Jesus.  To ask Him to sanctify my work.  To continuously look toward heaven...

Absent...

Sometimes I wonder why my blog has nothing new on it... and then I remember that I need to post what is in my head in order for there to be something new to read.  Would you believe me that I've written at least ten posts in the last six weeks during rides in the car, sitting through therapy sessions, sitting on the floor playing with the kids... But I guess those posts in my head don't magically appear here on my blog unless I sit down and write them!  If only there was a way to have those mentally composed ones write themselves...

Swimming Lessons

We haven't spent a ton of time at the pool this summer.  In fact, prior to last week, we hadn't gone AT ALL... the thought of trying to juggle three little ones around water was a little terrifying to me.  My sister-in-law mentioned that they were doing swimming lessons and I figured that I could only "avoid" so long... it was time the kids experienced the pool and started learning how to be in the water.

Pure Delight {Wordless Wednesday}

No words really needed here... just LOVING the expressions of joy that only kids can show!

Saying goodbye before I've said hello

*** Note *** I started writing the post below a month ago.  For a variety of reasons ranging from being extremely busy to just simply not knowing how to put what I'm feeling in words, I haven't finished it.  I've realized, however, that my lack of blogging is a result of not sharing this... my "elephant in the room" - so to speak.  I need to move past this, but to move past it... I need to finish processing it.

You would think at this point I would be good at saying goodbye before we've even had a chance to say hello... But I'm not.

Nine Years!

Nine years ago I married my best friend.  I can't believe where the last nine years have brought us and look forward to many, many more!!

I love you, HB's!

Happy 4th!!

Happy 4th of July!! Regardless of your feelings of the current state of our great country, yesterday was a day to celebrate!!!

Things were pretty low-key at our house.  Our plans had included a trip to visit my folks in south Idaho (leaving Wednesday morning).  It was going to be a fun time with all four of us girls home and crammed into one house - 15 of us!

Happy Lauren

After a month, you would think that our kittens would have started to catch on to who to love on, who to run from, and who to run and hide from... but not yet. 

Or maybe they enjoy being manhandled by an eighteen month old. 

Camp Candoo Graduation {Thankful Thursday}

After two long weeks, Karen "graduated" from Camp Candoo Speech camp today.  It was an intense, hard, long, but fun two weeks for her.  They pushed her harder than I thought they would be able to and the progress is amazing!! 

Karen and Hoang - the graduate student therapist Karen worked with for the last two weeks

Perspective

Life has been busy.  

Like crazy busy.  

And partially, just crazy (i.e. emotional roller coaster).

As in running around like a chicken with my head cut off crazy. 

As in starting to feel a bit sorry for myself ...

Then tragedy.

Kitties!

Aren't these just the cutest little things you've ever seen?

Minnie cat and Daisy cat

End of School Year!!

Time is moving so quickly!  I still haven't wrapped my head around the fact that summer is here!!  Karen finished up her preschool year last week.  They did not do any sort of preschool promotion, but she will be moving to kindergarten next year.  I'm excited and nervous for her.  I'll share more on my thoughts for this in the coming weeks (she is headed to a two week intensive speech camp starting next week - so there will be lots to share!).

37!

Sunday I celebrated my 37th birthday... wow!!  When did I get old?!  Ok... I don't feel old and I really don't lament adding another year to my age.  With a few exceptions, each year has been better than the one before it and I have never wished to turn back time.  And this past year was no different.  I happily ushered in 38!

Absentee!

I know I've been absent.  We've been struggling with our data usage on our internet plan (i.e. we are going horribly over and have no idea why as we don't do that much!!)... So I've been offline more than I would like!  Hopefully I'll be back soon.

First Ever National Apraxia Awareness Day!!

On May 14, 2013, the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA) invites communities worldwide to learn about the needs, challenges, and abilities of children affected by apraxia. Apraxia is among the most severe speech and communication problems in children.

So in honor of this day, I thought I would share some information about Apraxia. 

Happy Mother's Day!

First...

Happy Mother's Day!!

Perfect weather!

So, I've been a little absent this week.  The reason? Well, there are actually several, but the main one is this BEAUTIFUL weather we've been having. We have been in the upper 70's and low 80's since last weekend.  This is incredibly unusual for us - in fact, a couple of years ago we didn't even have an 80 degree day until mid-July!!! (Which was the opposite end of the unusual spectrum, but we tend to be more on the cool side than the warm one).

Short Hair {Wordless Wednesday}

Karen and Megan got their haircut yesterday.  Both are pretty happy with their new look!

Planning a charity walk {Tackle it Tuesday}

Planning a charity walk is not something I've done before. In fact, I didn't want to do it!!  I kept checking to see if CASANA (Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America) had a walk scheduled for my area this summer, and alas no... I kept talking with Karen's SLP in Spokane hoping that maybe she would find someone (besides me) to organize one since we both thought it was a great idea (and since she isn't already busy enough), and again no...

As summer kept getting closer and the details were finalized for the intensive apraxia speech camp that will be in Spokane this summer, I decided that I'd better get it done if I wanted one to happen.  So, here I sit, finding myself trying to figure out what all needs to be done to plan the "Inland Northwest Washington Walk for Apraxia"!!

All I can say is "ACK!!" 

Re-committing to Healthy!

Last fall I finally got fed up with my post-baby body and my lack of commitment to changing it.  I continued to feel down about how I looked but also continued to make less than healthy choices with my eating.  So, I committed to making better choices.  I gave up soda.  I learned how to stop myself from going into the pantry for a couple of goldfish, or a dried mango, or having two cookies with the kids after lunch.  I made "friends" with more vegetables and started adding spinach and kale into my smoothies.  It was also the first time ever that I had eaten eggs but limited the amount of yolks (I would make a scramble with 1 whole egg and three additional egg whites)...

I also committed to changing my workout routine.  I did more cross-training and less straight running.  The running that I did do, I tried to do high intensity intervals - focusing less on distance and more on effective fat burning.

and ... it worked!  I got back down to my pre-baby weight (pre-baby as in pre-Karen!).  I was back into clothes that I hadn't been in for several years.  I still did not have quite the same shape (my middle still has quite a bit of stubborn "stuff" hanging on) but I was finally feeling comfortable in my own skin!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

A couple of weeks ago we had our spring parent-teacher conference for Karen.  We met with her preschool teacher, the kindergarten teacher, and her school SLP.  It was one of those proud Mama moments for me.  Carl & I got to sit there for an hour while all three talked about how sweet, hard-working, persistent, and amazing our daughter was. 

http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/7/714/1CWA000Z/posters/lila-rose-kennedy-dear-teacher.jpg

They all shared in the joy of the progress she's been making (especially evident in the last couple of months) with as much enthusiasm as Carl & I!!  I feel so very thankful for the area we live, the small school that allows such one-on-one interaction between Karen and her teachers and between me and her teachers.

Breaking the routine - enjoying spring!

I love those moments when you break out of your normal routine to do something and it becomes a magical time with your kids.   I tend to get into a rut and think that in order to do something with the kids like go to a park, feed the ducks, take a walk... I need x amount of time and x amount of planning.  As any of you know life often just gets in the way of things you "plan" to do...  Sometimes you have to quit thinking and just do! (ring a bell? I talked about this in January - finally walking my talk!)

Disneyland Final Day

If you are still with me, my hat goes off to you!! I know my recap has been a little (ok a lot) on the long winded side, but I want to remember our trip.  Hopefully this is something my girls will read years down the road and it will bring back some memories!

Friday started off with everyone in great spirits. We once again ate in our room and then headed out for an (relatively) early start.  We rode the monorail in and decided to go on Nemo's Submarine ride.  It was not a hit... Megan really, really doesn't like thinking she is under the sea... Karen didn't like the loud noises (but really enjoyed the Nemo, Marlin, Dori sightings along the way).  To make things up to the girls, we headed from there to a Small World and smiles abounded!!

Disneyland Day 4

Wednesday afternoon I had walked to a grocery store to get some infant Tylenol for Lauren's fever and also picked up some breakfast foods.  So Thursday, we were able to start our day cheaply with breakfast in our room!  Then we were off to California Adventure.  We had an early start this day, so we headed straight for Radiator Springs racers, but it was again too busy.  As it was on Tuesday, it was broken down and they weren't even giving out Fast Passes since they didn't know how long it would be down.  We stopped for a quick photo op with Lightening McQueen.  The girls didn't like his racing engine noise... can you tell?!

Disneyland Day 3

Wednesday we had a much better start to our day.  All three girls enjoyed their Mickey shaped waffles for breakfast and then we were off to Disneyland!

First stop - back to see if Tinkerbell was home.  We had better luck this morning.  The girls were incredibly cute - they were so excited while waiting in line and so shy once we got up to meet her.  You can tell by their postures standing with her how shy they were acting!  It was neat that they thought we all shrunk as we walked in and then got big again.  Megan kept talking about "remember when we got small and met Karen's Tink?" (Karen plays with a Tinkerbell toy at home and Megan has a Rosetta).

Disneyland Day 2

We decided that getting to the parks for the Magic Hour wasn't as important to us as letting our little ones sleep, so we had a slower start to our day on Tuesday.  It was about 9:30 when we rolled into California Adventure.  We immediately headed for Cars Land thinking we would get a fastpass for the Races ride.  Unfortunately, the ride was broken down and the lines were already incredibly long and fast passes were being given out for the evening!  We tried talking the kids into Mater's ride or Luigi's tires... but both were a resounding No!  After checking wait times, we headed over to Ariel's ride.  I made the mistake of forcing Megan to ride with me (it was a mermaid ride, how bad could it be?!)... well, besides being WAY TOO LOUD, Megan didn't like "being under the sea"... we were both glad when it was over!

Finally the recap! Disneyland Day 1

Okay... it's taken me a month to get to this!!  This will be a little shorter than I intended since it took me so long to get it together!!

We started breaking them into the idea that we were going on a trip about a week before we left.  Without even knowing what "going to Disneyland" really meant, they were excited!  Whenever we see the Disney castle that shows at the beginning of Disney movies, Megan would excitedly exclaim: "Mommy, is that Disneyland?!"

Returning soon...

... To my regular (uh, irregular) blogging schedule...

My house has been fighting colds for the past two weeks and I'm the latest victim. Hoping to get caught back up over the weekend!!

In the meantime... Thankful today for my kiddos (as I am every day) and wanted to share some pics from the last week.

Had a day out alone with Karen (RARELY happens anymore!!).  We enjoyed lunch at Arby's - she is eating her deconstructed sandwich...

Disneyland recap - Part 1

First, let me start off by saying:

First ever family vacation (not visiting other family) = PRICELESS MEMORIES!!

Grandparents that agree to tag along to help = LIFE SAVERS!

Disneyland with a tired 3 year old = ready to send her home on the next plane, um, I mean... 
awesome when we finally see a face other than this...

Disneyland with a 5 year old that was a trooper =  SUPER AWESOME!

Disneyland - the many faces of Megan

I was going through Disneyland photos last night so that I could finally get my recap done and came across a couple series of photos of Megan.  They made me laugh out loud.  She knew she was being photographed and went into "crazy" mode...

She is an absolute ham!  Her little (or large rather) personality seems like it can barely be contained in her little body sometimes! 

For your Friday entertainment, I present miss Megan!

2013 Ultimate Blog Party + Giveaway!

**************************UPDATE*********************************
The winner of my giveaway is Dee L - comment #8!
Dee - please contact me before Saturday, April 20th to claim you prize!

*******************************************************************

Today is a fun day - it is that day when, once again, 5 Minutes for Mom throws their massive Ultimate Blog Party!!  Each year they host a this "party" to introduce bloggers to other bloggers and have a grand time while doing it.  It is my third year participating and I've got my drink in hand, my feet up, and I am ready to party!!

If you are new to Musings of a Palouse Mom from the ultimate blog party, Welcome!  I am excited to get to know YOU and hope that you stick around and get to know me as well!  My name is Renee and here's a little info about me and my blog!

Carl & I have been married for almost 9 years!

We have three beautiful little girls - 

which is nothing short of a miracle
(the beginning of this story can be found here, here, and here)

What will you find on Musings? ... well, I would consider this a Mom blog that shares my journey of being a farmer's wife, a stay at home mom, a (trying to be) woman of faith, a fitness lover, and even at times a try to be cook...

Musings on country living:  I LOVE being a farmer's wife, even during the challenges of busy seasons where my husband is out the door at 5am and not home until after 9pm... I wanted this life from my childhood and never thought it possible until God brought Carl into my life!  I write about the our many adventures in our country life.

Musings on faith:  My faith and religion are EXTREMELY important to me.  I am so imperfect but am striving and struggling to raise my daughters to be servants of Christ who love Him with their whole hearts, souls, and mind.  I share my struggles and successes at keeping Him at the center of our lives.

Musings on family:  My family is everything to me.  Being a mom of three girls 5 and under is an amazing experience, often challenging, but always entertaining. :)  Our oldest has childhood apraxia of speech and is still largely non-verbal.  I share about our journey to giving her a voice.  Our middle suffered from VUR and had multiple hospital stays with kidney infections until it was fixed, I shared about that and now just share about her antics as a typical but EXTREMELY strong-willed three year old!!  Our baby, is just, well, our first typical baby.  For the most part you get cute photos of her!

Musings on fitness: I am the mom of three kids and still struggling to get my body back.  I managed to meet my goal this fall of shedding all the baby weight and am back into pre-pregnancy clothes!! My over-arching goal is simply to get back to being comfortable in my own skin again!  Running is usually my go-to exercise, but I also have been trying to mix it up more.  I write about my journey in juggling fitness with motherhood, injuries, and house projects!

Musings on food:  I love to cook, bake, can... pretty much anything in the kitchen I enjoy.  I'm not necessarily very good at it - some things turn out great, most things turn out ok, and a few things go straight into the garbage... I have a hard time following recipes to the letter which could explain some of my kitchen escapades!  I want to share more about my adventures in the kitchen!

In honor of 5 minute for Mom's 2013 Ultimate Blog Party, I am doing a giveaway from a good friend's Etsy shop - My Sweet Potato 3.  She makes custom crochet hats and photography props.

Follow along and leave a comment on this post to be entered to win:  One item of your choice up to $30!!

Giveaway Ends at midnight April 12th and a winner will be picked via random.org!

Click HERE to go back to the UBP13 Linky List!!!

Welcome spring!!

Today was a marvelous spring day. It was in the upper 50's, so cool but not cold. The wind was friendly and stayed pretty gentle all day. I got in three or four hours of outside time with my girls!! They had a ball exploring and getting reacquainted with all of their toys that have been put away for the winter.

My camera (ie my phone) was put in a jacket pocket that I took off and then promptly forgot about, so no fun pictures to show. I can share Lauren's battle wounds though. She took two headers today.  One inside the house off a kitchen chair (I was right there, but still couldn't catch her in time) and the second happened in our driveway - I would say the driveway won... I'm not sure how it happened but I was there for the aftermath...

On another note - I saw the Orthopedic specialist today. Unfortunately, I'm not any closer to knowing what is up with my leg. He said that my x-rays looked good (the anomaly on my right leg is from where I had bone taken for a bone graft in my jaw several years ago - I had forgotten about it). I tested negative for any ligament or cartilage tears. His thoughts from the pain I'm having would be inflammation of the miniscus, but he also said that it shouldn't be taking this long to heal... So, the only remaining course (other than just more time off of it) is an MRI to see if I have a stress fracture. That isn't on the calendar yet because it has to be pre-approved by insurance.

Injury update, 15 months, and a new do!

Tonight I am discouraged.  It has been four weeks since my last run.  Four weeks since my last exercise induced boost of endorphins.  I feel like all the effort and work of the past six months is going down the tubes. 

Four visits to the Chiropractor - my body in general is starting to feel better, so I know that the adjustments they are making are helping me overall... but any effort at running, fitness videos, fast walking... same result.  Pain in my right knee that radiates up into my quad and down into my calf.  If I persist, this ache will stay with me (earlier this week when I ran a half mile, the ache persisted for 36 hours after that attempt!). 

I am seeing an Orthopedist next week, but I'm not sure what he'll have to tell me.  My chiropractor is pretty proficient at tendon and ligament injury detection.  He manipulated my knee pretty thoroughly through all the checkpoints for ACL, MCL, LCL, meniscus tears and they were all negative (which is good, but still frustrating that we can't pinpoint something)...

Anyway... forgive my whine.  Yes, I will take some cheese with that!

On happier notes...

My baby is 15 months old!  She is an averaged height, skinny little peanut!  30.5 inches tall, 50th percentile.  20lbs .5oz - only 10th percentile!  I looked back through my records of the other girls and she is right in the middle.  A half a pound heavier than Karen and about a half pound lighter than Megan.  I can't believe she's growing up so fast!

I finally made it in to get my hair cut.  It was really needing some attention!  I decided to go a little shorter this time around - shorter than I've been in a long time.  The front doesn't look that much different, but it is pretty short in the back.  No more ponytails for me!  (Check out my shirt - this is prior to the game yesterday - go Zags!!)

Go Zags!

I promise a recap of our time at Disneyland is coming, but today is the start of March Madness!!  This is a big day in casa-Crider!  My husband has been a basketball player most all of his life and this is a fun day in front of the tv for us annually.

This year however, is even more exciting.  Our beloved Zags are the number 1 ranked team in the nation and have a #1 seed going into the tournament.  Both Carl and I are Gonzaga alums and Carl played for the Zags from 95-98. 

It's been quite a ride the last eighteen years.  It started with our first visit to the "Big Dance" in 1995 - my freshman year in college.  I traveled with the pep band to Salt Lake City to watch the Bulldogs play against Maryland.  We were beat pretty handily but it was still a great experience.

The next visit to the tournament is the one that most people remember - the 1998-1999 team that shocked everyone by beating the #2 Standford Cardinal in the second round.  I was also at the  Sweet Sixteen games where we beat Florida by 4 in the final seconds and eventually lost to UConn in the Elite Eight (UConn went on to win the tournament).

Another memorable tournament showing was the 2003 game against #1 ranked Arizona.  Gonzaga came in as #9 and played Arizona in the round of 32.  A double overtime game that was decided by one point and a really good look by Blake Stepp that just didn't fall!  Carl and I had just started dating and I have vivid memories of our hooping and hollering at the tv and our utter dejection at the outcome!  I've seen them replay this game several times on ESPN Classics.

We've never made it past the Elite Eight - but there's always this year!  I filled out two brackets, one has them winning... yes, I made that choice based upon my heart.  The other bracket has them losing in the Final Four... some might argue that bracket was also chosen with my heart.  We'll see!!

Go ZAGS !!!

It was a "splash"!! {Wordless Wednesday}

Fun times!!

Can you guess...

... where we spent last week??

A preview of what's to come!  Recap coming soon.

Sidelined!

Yep, I've been sidelined by the darn injury bug. 

Last week I will admit that I probably (ok, considering I'm injured it would be obviously) overdid it.  I had several new Jillian videos that I was experimenting with, but also had a hard time giving up my runs.  So I had several days where I did a double workout.  My legs were tired, but I felt that and adjusted accordingly.  My calves and hamstrings were tight, but I adjusted for those, stretched well and made sure I warmed up well.  At no point in the week was there an odd ache or pain that made me worry about an overuse injury, or any injury for that matter.

My run on Sunday was just what my soul needed.  Outside, perfectly cool weather, barely a breeze, and I felt relaxed and strong.  Cut to about a half mile left of my seven-miler...  A twinge in my knee that hadn't been there before.  It was pretty sore by the time I finished, but not unbearable.  Over the next few hours though it went from sore to painful.

After talking with a couple of friends who are physical therapists, my self diagnosis is ITB pain.  I've been doing stretches several times a day and have been noticing a slow improvement.  Monday I was unable to walk up and down stairs on my right knee - let me tell you, it is slow going when you are taking every step with the same foot!  Tuesday was marginally better, I could somewhat navigate the stairs but it was still pretty rough trying to pack kids!

So far today it is tender, I feel it when I go up and down the stairs, but it is not debilitating.  I've tried a slow jog in my kitchen and the pain immediately returns.  I'm left with trying to figure out how long it will take before I can hop on the treadmill again.

*sigh* Lately it always seems about the time I get into a really good pattern something happens - I get sick or injured, kids are sick...  The most frustrating part about this is the suddenness of it.  If there had been a building pain that I ignored that led to this point, that would be one thing.  But I feel as though I went from 100% to 0% with no transition.

Well, I've been on the sideline quite a bit this last year, so I guess it's time to deal with it and move on.  God uses all things, right? So I should take my extra time that would be spent working out and use it to pray or read my daily scriptures and meditation.  I should take my frustration and offer it up for those that are permanently debilitated and won't ever be able to return to working out. 

Jewelry! (and a 40 bags update) {Tackle it Tuesday}

My Christmas present from Carl was a jewelry cabinet for my relatively new jewelry collection.  My jewelry was sitting atop of my dresser in the "pretty" silver boxes they came in or hanging from the mirror.  It was quite the heap!

This is only about half of the jewelry boxes - the rest are in a cupboard!

Well, after two months of sitting on the floor by my dresser, we finally got the jewelry cabinet hung up over the weekend.  I spent yesterday getting all of my jewelry into it and picking out pictures for the front.  Doesn't that look so much nicer?!

A quick update on my 40 bags... 5 bags for Goodwill down and 2 bags of garbage!  That's with only going through my closet & dresser, the kids toys, and three hall closets!  I took some pictures but they didn't look very interesting, so you'll have to trust me on the improvement it has made!