Surprise!

The party started this week when my sister Libbie came into town from S. Carolina.  In recent years she has become a personal trainer/boot camp instructor so she put her skills to use on Wednesday morning with a Zumba workout in my kitchen.

 

 

Even though it was just the 2 of us I felt like I got the full experience.  Libbie doesn't hold back when she leads a workout.

 

 

Post workout selfie--very Libbie"esque".

 

That afternoon we went out with a group of my friends for a birthday lunch for me and one of the other members of the group, Emily, who has a birthday the day after mine.  Because it was a big birthday for me Emily gave me 40 suckers with a sign that said "40 sucks". Very thoughtful.

 

 

Good thing Libbie is blonde or she may not have fit into the group. ha ha I never realized that I'm the only brunette in our lunch group.

Hilary,Carrie, Libbie, Erica, Emily and Lacie

On Monday I was trying to come up with something fun to do for my birthday.  It just happened to be during fall break this year and the kids would out of school.  I had the idea to take the family to Lagoon since it would be open because of the break, but after calculating the non season pass cost for our entire family for one day Adam just said, "Why don't you just go with Libbie."  I thought it sounded like a great idea so I pitched it to Libbie who said that my text about going to Lagoon made her laugh out loud but she was game. What? Don't most 40 year olds want to go to Lagoon without their kids for their birthday?? It's perfectly normal, right? Once Libbie and I decided we were definitely going I texted Heather to see if she wanted to "throw caution to the wind" and come down a day early for a girls Lagoon trip. It took some finagling on her part, but she made it happen and the 3 of us ran through the gates giggling like school girls at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday morning.

Frightmares at Lagoon

Heather showing off her amazing outfit. She got cold and used Libbie's extra shirt.

We left the park for lunch (best decision ever) and had a super delicious (and healthy) lunch at Zupas.

Back at the park the adventures continued, like when our car broke down in the middle of Dracula's Castle and the Lagoon employees had to push us out of the ride.  We were packed pretty tightly in the little car and were laughing so hard we were crying. Apparently when our car stopped it stopped the entire ride and they couldn't resume operations until they got us out of there. Hmm, maybe we shouldn't have tried to all fit in the same car. . .

 

It was definitely a first for all of us.

 

We ran into my cousins' wives Jenn and Cassie. What are the chances? Always nice to get caught up.

At the end of the day and after all of the roller coasters Heather finally admitted that her favorite ride at Lagoon is the Lady Bug Bop in kiddieland so we waited in line with all of the little kids and took our place next to them on the ride.  She was right, it really is one of the best rides at Lagoon. It is a bit silly to go on a kids ride without kids, but we were glad we did it and I promise I didn't push any little kids out of the way to get to it. he he

In line for the Lady Bug Bop

Our favorite ride of the day? The Rocket. I think we went on it 6 times.

 

The last time we rode the Rocket we pulled out the hoods since it had gotten a little nippy.

 

As we were leaving the park we walked past this photo op with Zombie Chainsaw people and thought to ourselves, "Why not?"

 

I concluded that there are still some things scarier than turning 40.

 

We left the park around 8:00 p.m. and when I walked in my house after dropping Heather and Libbie off at my parent's house I was more than a little surprised to find that Adam, my parents and the kids had spent the day painting the family room and kitchen. Surprise!

 

My house has needed to be painted forever, and has been bothering me for some time, but it seems that there is never a good time to start such a big project since my attention span for painting is about 15 minutes and I knew it was going to take a lot longer than that!  To put it lightly I was more than thrilled it was happening and that it was happening without me! They painted the ceiling white and the walls the same color we used in our basement.  It looks really good.

 

Not only was the painting getting done but my parents had an Electrician come to our house to install a chandelier that we have had sitting in our garage for a few years now.

 

 

For 8 years we have had this little dorky light fixture in our 2 story entry and now we finally have a honest to goodness chandelier.  It looks soo much better! Yep, my family knocked it out of the park for my 40th birthday.

 

As I dropped Libbie off on Thursday night she said she had a fun workout planned for me at 8 a.m. the next morning and then asked me if I had keys to the church.  I told her that my birthday present to myself was a long bike ride out to Porcupine Dam, but she told me it wouldn't tire me out too much and would be fun.  The next morning I picked up Heather and Libbie and went down to the church building for whatever workout Libbie had planned.  I was more than a little surprised when I walked into the gym and found this:

 

Lea, Lacie, Emily, Kristen, McKenna, Libbie, Hilary, Erica, Andrea and Heather

Libbie had planned a "Boot Camp Surprise Birthday Party" for me.  Since everyone around here goes out of town during fall break I was surprised they were able to find enough people to even have a party!  It was definitely a surprise because really, who would ever see this coming?? 

 

At the end of our workout led by Libbie we each took a shot of some super healthy green juice concoction and had some fruit and banana bread.

 

 

My friends were really good sports and we had a fun morning workout together.

 

After my surprise boot camp workout I did go on my long bike ride and my family finished painting the kitchen and family room while I was gone. It was awesome to come home and have it all done!

 

 

Then it was off for a session at the Temple.

 

 

It was just after 4 p.m. when we left the Temple and we were hungry, so on the way home we decided on a place for dinner and told Adam and my Dad to start getting ready.  By 5 p.m. we were at Kabuki Japanese Steakhouse waiting for our chef food show to begin.

 

 

It was so fun and the food was delicious. Definitely a good choice for my 40th Birthday dinner.

 

I don't think I could have packed more in or had any more surprises for my big Birthday. Thanks to my family for making it a very memorable way to start a new decade of life.

 

As luck would have it the Pumpkin Walk was on this week so Libbie and Heather got to experience small town America with us on Saturday morning before Heather left for home.

 

The theme was "American Heroes" and there was enough patriotism, guns and praying pumpkins to be a Kristen approved event.

 

Photo Op.

 

This display pretty much sums up how we all feel about the Presidential Election between the "Pathological Liar" and the "Narcissistic Buffoon".  It's a no-win situation and I refuse to vote for either candidate.

Obligatory picture in front of the Despicable Me height board.  Libbie just aced out Jameson this year.

 

It was a great week and hopefully not too boring for the kids who stayed home and worked hard during their break.  Our house looks so much better so I hope they enjoy the fruits of their labors.

Floods, PR's and Quick Trips

This has been a big year of "firsts" for us.  First time 2 major appliances have broken down at the same time, first time our car has broken down in the middle of nowhere and this week was the first time we have ever had to have a cleaning restoration company at our house. So many exciting events, so little time.

 

Tuesday morning I ran down to the storage room to grab something, but when I stepped in and turned on the light I knew something was wrong when my feet got wet.  I could hear water gushing into the room so I ran upstairs to get Adam.  We could see the drain in the storage room was not draining and found the water only gushed in when someone flushed a toilet.  Further investigation revealed there was also water in the utility room and it was starting to get into the cold storage room under the front porch. Long story short we had a pipe 17 feet down and away from the house that was partially collapsed so when someone in our house flushed a Thomas the Train toy (could have been any of the 10 young boys that have played there in the last week) it got caught where the pipe collapsed and caused a sewage backup.  Even though we caught the backup almost right away the fact that the water coming in was sewage meant that a full professional cleanup was required.

 

There is nothing like having a couple of guys in hazmat suits hanging around your house for a couple of hours.  I was kind of waiting for someone to say "E.T. phone home" but realized my kids were a little young to know the reference.

 

They had to cut the carpet around the 2 doors which means that now we will have to get new carpet in the entire basement.

 

On a happier note Britton ran in the Region Cross Country meet on Wednesday at the Cottonwood Complex and had a fabulous race.

The start of the JV boys race

He got a PR of 17:51 for the 3 mile course.  At first we thought it was only 2.9, but the official results said it was an even 3.0.  Whatever the case Britton was thrilled.  He finished his freshman year on a high note and even beat a few boys on the team he hasn't beat before.

 

RHS Cross Country Team

Ridgeline swept Region in all 4 races.  They took first place in JV boys, JV girls, Varsity Boys and Varsity Girls. Britton has really loved running cross country.  How could you not with such a fun team?

 

We made a quick trip to Boise this weekend for Terrika's "missionary opportunity to speak". We couldn't leave until after Britton's Saturday morning soccer game, but we still fit a lot into our overnight trip.

 

 

Korinne holding a pet bird on her finger.

 

Adam's sister Kirsti has 3 girls, the youngest of which is Sarah who is 15. Being a lot older than Jameson didn't stop them from getting out their big tub of toys and playing right along with him.  In fact, after finding them all deep in their play I wondered who was having more fun, the older girls or Jameson.

 

They all played together non-stop. They played soccer and volleyball outside until they got rained out, then came inside for games.

Britton, Korinne, Cassidy, Sarah and Jenna

Jenna, Korinne, Britton, Sarah and Jameson

 

They even had cool coloring books and design stencils.



Terrika and Jenna

Terrika was called to Russia the same week the news broke that Russia no longer allowed religious proselytizing and that missionaries would essentially become "volunteers".  A lot of missionaries who received calls to Russia have been reassigned to other countries.  Terrika is still going to Russia, but 2 weeks before she was scheduled to enter the MTC her mission call was changed to the Samaria Mission instead of some Mission that started with a V and had a super long name that I couldn't pronounce, and her MTC date was pushed back 3 weeks.   She now leaves Oct 26th.  She did a great job on her talk and we were glad we were able to spend some time with them during our short trip.

After church on Sunday Sarah was showing the snapchat app to my kids.  They were laughing hysterically at all of their funny pictures.

 

We are talking hours of entertainment here.

 

Sarah LOVES playing with cousins.  When Jameson was concerned that there wouldn't be any cousins his age to play with I assured him that Sarah would be more than happy to play with him the entire time and she did.  She really loved having Jameson around and wished we lived closer so she could play with him more often.

 

Sarah took Britton and Jenna with her to a stake dance Saturday night and they had a great time.

 

We were back on the road at 2 p.m. Sunday but were really glad we had made the journey especially since we were the only ones from Kirsti's side of the family who could be in attendance.  We wish Terrika well on her next big adventure in Russia!

Races and Mazes

I can always tell when one of my kids is attending preschool at the Child Development Lab because everything at home gets messier.  Since they are encouraged at school to explore and do everything hands on it doesn't take long before I find them playing with their food and making even bigger messes than before. I know it's supposed to be good and build their brains, blah blah blah, but for me it's kind of annoying and is definitely the down side of this type of curriculum. Yeah, not getting any Mommy points for this opinion, but it's the truth.

 

 

Jameson and another painting mess. :-)

 

I've tried to get a good picture of Britton playing soccer for 7 years and I still don't have one.  I guess running is just an easier sport to get a good action shot.

 

Britton had a race this week in Morgan.

 

Britton with a few of his fellow freshman teammates. 

 

It was a cold day so all of the parents were in coats while the kids ran in their skimpy uniforms. It felt mean, but what can you do?

 

Thursday night was our annual night at AWHC.  It was a beautiful night, but was cold so we broke out the coats, hats and gloves for the first time this season.

 

 

 This year Grandma and Grandpa came along for the first time.

 

They enjoyed the first minutes of the corn maze, but soon enough my Dad declared himself to be done and took my Mom with him as he walked off the path and straight through the rows of corn to get out to the road. Yeah, he can only be lost in a maze for so long before he starts looking for an exit strategy. :-)

 

We finally did make it out of the maze thanks for the navigation skills of Korinne and Britton.

 

On Friday I went to a Relief Society overnight retreat and Adam held down the fort.  I missed the first P City parade where Britton was on a float as part of the City Youth Council, but I know they all had a great time either throwing out, or receiving candy.  I love it when fall is in full swing.  It really is my favorite season of the year.