Pat Tillman Run

Today I ran in my first Pat's Run. It was the 6th annual Pat's Run in Tempe in honor or ex- Arizona Sun Devil (#42) and ex-Arizona Cardinal (#40) Pat Tillman, who quit the NFL to join the military and serve his Country after 9-11. He was killed by friendly fire in the line of duty. The Pat Tillman Foundation was started in his memory and this event raises HUGE amounts of money for this charity, and celebrates and honors a man who literally gave up everything for his Country. I was honored to be a part of it. The race starts at Sun Devil Stadium parking lot and loops 4.2 miles around the stadium and ends on the 42 yard line of Sun Devil Stadium. All the current ASU Football players were lined up to high five everyone on the way in! I felt like Rudy running onto the field of Notre Dame. ha ha ha...

Here I am before the race:

Here is Lisa before the race:

Who registers last minute for a race like this and gets the BEST number out there? Pat Tillman's #42??? Lisa- that's who!!!

or so we thought till we saw that everybody who registered the morning of got 4242!!!
Ha ha ha! We were thinking she was the luckiest bitch there!

His #40 Cardinals jersey

Us on the field after crossing the finish line!

It was a great race and I cant wait for next year's! Thanks for running with me Lisa!

Tri 2 Love Tri 2 Inspire Tri 2 Support...

...always Tri

This was my T-Shirt I was handed as my souvenir for my 2nd Tri For The Cure this past weekend. I loved the slogan so much I had to use it as my blog title. Not only because I believe it is an amazing slogan, but also because it is was my 2nd Tri (get it... Tri 2?)

The Triathlon was fantastic again this year. I love that it is women only. I love the camaraderie. I love the cause. What is not to love? This year it was a 400 meter swim (quarter mile) an 8 mile bike ride and a 2.5 mile run at the end.

My number was 445 this year. I went in the water at 9am and was finished in 1hr 11 minutes. This was almost 13 minutes better than my time last year! I was very excited and excited to see if I can achieve my new goal for next year of shaving another 11 minutes off to finish in 1 hr our less. It is pretty difficult to shave that much time off in one year (two years in a row no doubt) but I love a challenge. And lastly... I got another medal to add to my collection. Yeah!

My next Triathlon will be next Month at Seville Country Club in Gilbert. This one will be a 300 meter swim, 15.4 mile bike and a 2 mile run. It will be a little more difficult than the last one, but I am looking forward to it! Wish me luck!

Easter Festivities

There were a lot of Easter festivities this week/weekend. We had three egg hunts to attend, plus Ella had another one at school. I have never needed so many Easter eggs before! But there is some magic in those little eggs with their secret treasures. Their ability to make a child's eyes light up and their mouths widen in an innocent smile... that is a sight to behold, and I LOVE every second of it. I want to snap a photo of them picking up every egg and in fact I think looking at my flash card, that must be what I did. Hope you enjoy our assortment of photos, and that your Littles enjoyed their eggs as much as mine did...

On Thursday we met up with our playgroup for our annual Egg hunt playdate. Our friend Lisa hosted. We had a blast (this was the first of 4 egg hunts for the kids).

Here are some group shots of our playgroup kids and Moms (love them):

My kiddos hunting for eggs:


Love these photos of Ella and one of her besties Kendall:

And my favorite photo of the day, Me and my babies:

On Friday we met with our other playgroup friends for our second annual gg Hunt. We missed last year's due to a trip back to Boston so this was our first with them. Again, we had a blast! Love these ladies and kids too!

Here are all the kids lined up and ready to start!


Here are the kids enjoying their treasures after:


Dakota, Ella and Summer (I love their shy smiles)


And my favorite photo of this day too, Me and my babies :)

This was the first year that we had baskets for the girls. My parents had a little basket for Ella last year while we were back in Boston. Ryen was too young. So it was pretty much their first year getting a basket from us. They were excited when they woke up.


Every Easter Morning we meet up with our neighbors for The Connors annual Egg Hunt and Brunch. This year we moved it to the park due to the number of people (over 60+). There were eggs all over the park! It was great. The kids once again had a blast. Here is a group shot of the kids:

Jimmy and I with our beautiful little babies:


Our girls Hunting for Eggs:


My Angels:


And to cap off an already amazing and fun day Ryen went pee pee on the potty today for the first time. And now she wont stop sitting on the potty (in her clothes) and then standing up and saying "I pee-pee" again and again. It is so cute...

Failure or Success?

I used to see failure all around me. The stack of mail I hadn't gotten to in weeks, even though I tell myself everyday I will sit down and open it. The brown grout lines in my tile that should be light beige. The little dark circles on my floor from a juice box that was held too tightly, that I step over all week. The folded clothes on my girls' floors that need to be put in drawers or hung on hangers. The little pink rings that stare at me from the toilet bowl begging to be brushed away. The dirty foot prints in my bathtub from my black footed children climbing in it for their latest adventure...

I don't look at those as failures anymore. Cause now I see that the reason for those things is simple. We are busy living our lives. Enjoying our lives. Tasting our lives. There will always be toilets to scrub and tubs to clean. Laundry to put away and footprints to mop up. But maybe you wont get another chance to curl up with your babies to watch Snow White for the first time. Or to cuddle with your husband and dogs to watch Life on discovery in our big comfy bed. Or even to warm up with a hot coffee, a big blanket and a great book or a guilty tv pleasure.

Sure the taxes still need to be filed. And thank you cards mailed. And photos downloaded to the computer. And workouts to complete. And orders to fill, and blogs to post. But missing these things in favor of more important things in life... is beautiful. I have the best husband in the world. He is a clean freak, comes from a military family where everything has its place. Where you get everything done before you reward yourself with pleasures or lazy comforts. And yet he barely mentions our "dirty" house. Maybe because it is only dirty to us. Maybe because his friends ask him, how his wife manages to always keep the house clean. (even if he and I know- I cant take all the credit). I love that he offers to grocery shop for me so I can take the girls to the park instead. I love that he surprises me with clean toilets and vacuum lines in rugs, that I would take any day over flowers in a vase. I love that he dusts when he thinks it needs it, instead of complaining. I love that the only time he mentions my lack of cleaning (which sometimes can last over 10 days) is when I mention I am going to try to clean soon, and he chuckles and says "you actually clean?". I love that he does the laundry cause he knows I hate it and suck at is, and I love that even when I wash the dishes he ignores that I leave the silverware in the bin, cause I HATE washing silverware almost as much as I hate laundry. I am so lucky to have his help and his patience. I love you honey and I know I don't say thank you enough.

I think Jimmy understands what I am trying to do and how I am trying to focus on spending time with these little angels before they are gone 7 hours a day in school, 5 days a week. I think we are both finally starting to understand that sometimes it is ok for us to ignore the dishes in the sink for a couple more hours in favor of watching the girls bounce in our backyard bounce house, or so he can play a video game and I can surf Facebook while our littles watch Nick Jr. There are always chores to do to prevent you from enjoying life. And it is perfectly ok to ignore them sometimes so that you can.

This is not failure at all. It is unorganized, messy, chaotic, fun, perfectly beautiful success! Right now my house is clean. And Jimmy is taking Ella to Makutus island, so Mommy can take Ryen out to lunch, play and ice cream.

Life is beautiful... go live it.

A Worthy Journey

There is a couple I know here in Mesa whose little boy was born in June 2008. He was diagnosed with one of the rarest forms of Leukemia ever diagnosed in a baby of his age when he was around 3 mos old. It is aggressive and unrelenting. He has had two bone marrow transplants, numerous transfusions of donor blood cells, etc, radiation, laser spot treatments, chemo, etc. So far, every time the Leukemia goes away it comes back. And every time it comes back it seems to have gotten smarter and grown resistant to the last course of treatment. Eventually if you don't get rid of it for good, you run out of treatment options. And then what? Today I read the latest blog post of this family and was not able to stop my tears from flowing. This mother was actually trying to break the news to their friends and family that they may be running out of options. And it was heart breaking to hear how she was almost apologizing for the fact that they have to start facing this horrible reality. She kept clarifying that they were still gonna stay positive and still try to fight, as if she owed that to her friends and family. As if they owe anybody anything. It was amazing that at a time of such personal angst, she is worrying about not letting anyone down by admitting defeat or giving up. Almost like if she gives up everyone will. It should be the other way around. She should not be holding everyone up, we should be holding her up. She should be the one afraid, and finding it hard to stay positive, and having the rest of us step in and do that job for her, when she can't. But instead she is doing it for everyone, and she is in one word... amazing. One of my favorite quotes from her blog post today was this: "we still have fun - we laugh- we play - we sing and dance - we still love, no matter what." She also pointed out that her son has lived longer than anyone ever has with this form of cancer being this aggressive and she pointed out that everyday with him is a miracle.

I spent so many years being angry about why some things happen to some people. But now I have come to peace with the idea that, as they say, "shit happens". I can't believe there is a reason why some people are hit with tragedies and others aren't. Cause I think if there was "a plan" sophisticated enough to pinpoint who and where in the world to strike with certain tragedies and there was some deeper underlining meaning to the suffering, I think "shit" would only "happen" to "shitty people". And good things would happen to good people, and NOT the other way around. I think these instances or misfortunes in life are just as random as the person who just happens to have bird poop land on their shoulder when there are so many other targets near them. That is scary, but that is life. And it makes me want to look up or check my own shoulder. Maybe they should change the saying to "Life Happens" instead...

Humans are capable of the most sincere and amazing forms of sympathy and empathy. We are capable of shedding unimaginable tears for strangers we don't even know, as we watch planes crashing into buildings, or orphans devastated in a Tsunami or Earthquake. We are capable of amazing acts of selflessness and compassion in times of tragedy or crisis. It is one part of mankind that I love. Why though do we humans lack the ability to really learn from someone else's tragedies? How many of us get back to our own lives and forget the impact too quickly? How many don't learn anything at all from the experience? It is like seeing the way a man aches for the passing of his wife and agonize with regret over things said and things NOT said, but not learning to really appreciate your own spouse (flaws and all) while you are lucky enough to have them still. Or reading about this Mesa Mother who is fighting for her child's life every minute and has watched him suffer more in his short life then any baby should, and yet still being so angry when your child refuses to take a nap that day, and ruins whatever plans you had. We shouldn't need personal tragedy to strike our own homes to feel that every minute with our kids and loved ones is a miracle. We shouldn't need to lose someone to realize we should have loved someone more or treated them better. Yet this seems to be the state we live in, and it causes so much needless regret and sadness.

I am really trying to be one of those people that truly learns from other people's tragedies just as much as I am trying to learn from the positive ways people approach life. I think this is why Kelle Hampton's blog (which has now gone viral) has affected me so much. Or why this Mesa family's tragedy is affecting me so much. I don't want to be that person that grieves for the pain and suffering of others, but then doesn't apply anything to my own life. I don't want to be annoyed anymore when Ryen naps for only 30 minutes instead of 1 hour cause I may have had something better to do, or when she says Mommy 500 times in one day. Cause I can guarantee if my Bunny were not here, I would give anything to have that 30 minutes back or hear the word Mommy slip off her precious lips. I don't want to waste time getting angry at Ella for having a potty accident anymore cause she didn't want to stop playing or watching TV or when she throws a fit cause her blanket is not perfect. I would rather have Ella just as she is, accidents/tantrums and all, over not having her here at all or not having her smell on that blanket anymore...

I am not perfect and I will have to work on it everyday, but I can't think of a more worthy journey to take. In the meantime, I will keep hoping everyday for this boy's treatment and transplants to do their job and give him a chance at life.

What a busy weekend!

This weekend was crazy busy for us. Our weekends start on Fridays since Jimmy works 4/10's. On Friday morning Ryen and I were literally in the car for 3 hours straight! We had to leave the house by 8:30am to take Jimmy to his Lasik surgery. Then back in the car to take Ella to preschool at 9:30. Then we made couple stops, and headed back to pick up Daddy and then back to pick up Ella. Ryen never cried once. Such a sweet heart!! When we came home though all I wanted to do was nap, but couldn't cause Jimmy had to recover and nap from his surgery. So Daddy and Ryen napped while Ella and I hung out. Then it was pizza night for dinner, ice skating lessons *see previous post* and then off to bed... for the kiddos that is! I headed off to Happy Hour with my girls at Kona. I have not laughed that hard in a long time. We even managed to grab a photo op!

Michella, Sue, Jill, Lisa, Susan, Brooke, & Kim:

Saturday the girls and I woke up early to head to the zoo for a charity walk benefiting Helping Hands in Africa (click here for more info).

Here are the girls getting in the car excited for our adventure:
And during the walk:

We were at the zoo by 8am. I walked for awhile with my friend Christa who told me about the walk. And then we met up with some friends!

We finished the 2.5k and headed over to the finish line/celebration area for some complimentary milk, munchkins, and fruit from Dunkin Donuts. There was a band playing and the kids ran around and played. They went and saw the Elephants and then headed over to the play area. And then to the petting zoo.

Here are some collages of our day:

And we happened to be right next to Ella's favorite thing... the face painting station. She actually gave up a ride on the carousel to get her face painted instead. Here is her getting her face painted and the finished product. She picked the butterfly and she was thrilled all day with it... till bathtime. :(

On Sunday we woke up early (again) to get all dressed up for Breakfast with the DISNEY PRINCESSES! Skateland in Mesa was hosting the breakfast. So Ella and Ryen got "Princess-ified" and off we went. This was a great way to spend the morning. Everything was slow (line to get in, line to get food) and the food was cold. But no one really cared cause the girls were SO excited and thrilled to be dressed up and to see their favorite princesses. It was a great time. Here are some of my favorite photos!

Ryen, Ella and The Princesses

Ella with each of the Princesses

The best part of the morning was when all the kids got on the roller skating floor and started dancing to top 40 pop tunes. They were twirling and running around in their dresses. I did find it strange that they were not playing Disney music, and that for a less than 2 hour event, the Princesses all sat down (with each other) and had breakfast for about 30 min while the kids all entertained themselves. The event started at 9:30 you would think the Princesses could have eaten before hand so they could mingle and take photos the whole time.

But either way my two girls had the an incredible time, Ella couldn't wait to tell her best friends about it (so she told us on the way home) and I love that Jimmy was one of 6 Dads willing to endure it for the sake of his girls. That is what it is all about.

Enjoy your delicious moments...

Two weekends ago took the kids to the 22nd Annual Chandler Ostrich Festival. We went on Friday at around 3pm and stayed till 8pm. The kids LOVED it!!! This is a once a year event that comes to our city. Is it expensive? Sure. Is it worth it!? Heck yeah! We go into it knowing we are going to drop between $150-200 total for the day between food, ride bracelets, parking, admission and games. But for the four of us and for what we get out of it... priceless. So is the look on our kid's face when they are whizzing around on those rides, or when the sun goes down and the lights come on... and everything seems like ...magic.

By far my TWO favorite moments from the Carnival are here. These are scanned souvenirs so sorry for the quality:

Ella's face on this roller coaster ride is priceless.

And of course I took so many photos that this will be a ridiculously long post, but mostly filled with PHOTOS and not words. :) We started out on the Ferris wheel and then headed over to the mini roller coaster, where Ella was throwing her head back and laughing so hard. She was loving it and kept yelling "Hi Mommy" and waving as she came around. It was awesome.

Mommy and Ella on Ferris wheel while Ryen looks on with Daddy

Ella on the mini roller coaster:
Ella and Mommy riding all the rides:
I got to take BOTH my babies on the Carousel (the only ride for Ryen) We stopped to get some food and decided to order a pizza we could all eat instead of going to 4 different yummy vendor booths. I LOVED the quote on the front of the Pizza box so much that I had to steal it for the title of this blog, "Enjoy your delicious moments." I had a smile from ear to ear as I watched my babies eat NOT ONE BITE of our $20 pizza cause they were too busy running around and begging to go in bounce houses or on rides or eat ice cream and popcorn instead! And this truly was one of those delicious moments that I was enjoying so much. Below are the rest of the collages of the fun we had.

Ryen had lots of fun too, even though she was too little for rides:
The funniest photos of the evening for me:And the coolest photos of the night for me:
See you next year! :)