I finished the 1/2 Marathon...and I'm still ALIVE!

Before the Race

My awesome running buddy--Angela.

We made it! Hooray!  

Do I look thinner?  If not,  lie to me--I just ran 13.1 miles!!

Goal: 2:15   Time: 2:08 = Happy!

On the first day of December...

Halloween photos because that's kind of the way it goes at my house.

Our own Thanksgiving pilgrim...

Introducing the beautiful, talented, charming and Baptized-- Ella.

Some things that have happened since I last blogged:

1) The bleach bottle and I had a falling out.  I'm serious.  I'm not sure we can ever be friends again.  If only she had not spilled her self all over my newly folded basket of laundry.  If it were only my kids' clothes that were ruined, we might have been able to salvage our relationship.  But no, she went for my favorite shirts and destroyed them all.  Rude.

2) My computer got fixed!!  This is happy news indeed.  In fact, we took a jaunt down to the Apple store where Max rekindled his love of all things Apple while I lamented the damage he inflicted upon my sweet MacBook.   But alas, the Apple store employee took pity on me and fixed my computer for FREE.  Yes, all $755 of it was done for FREE.  Did I mention FREE?  I love the Apple store.  I might marry it--I love it so much.  Um, especially if my engagement gift was an ipad.  You hear that Apple store?  An ipad would seal the deal!

3) Ella got baptized.  Lots of people came.  Everyone got fed.  People had places to sleep.  The laundry got done and everyone went home.  Oh, and some lovely pictures were taken too.  I intend to post those next.

4) We spent Thanksgiving in the Frozen North.  Literally.  We flew up to Utah Wednesday night then drove 4 hours to Idaho the next morning to spend Thanksgiving with the Hayes side of my family.  It was wonderful to see everyone and laugh at all the family photos my grandma has on her walls.  Did I mention that my Grandma rocked the pumpkin pie?

Quotes by Kate:

At dinner tonight:


I don't want to have four kids.  I'll have to wash millions of dishes and drive to and fro--my life would be pandemonium.


Yep.  You've pretty much got it down, Kate.

Never leave home with out it.

Max threw a huge tantrum today.  He decided that he wanted a cracker as soon as I had all four kids buckled in the car (for the fourth time before noon, I might add) and I refused to go and get him one.  We were on a short jaunt to pick up a couple of playmates for the girls and I knew he could last.  The plan was to turn on the video and let him tune out for a few minutes.  Apparently the cracker was more important to him than I realized.  He screamed, cried, kicked the seat, wiped snot on my newly cleaned car all the while screaming his mantra, "I want a cracker!! I want a CRACKER!"  Over and over.  There was no reasoning with him.  The kid wanted his cracker.  But as I explained, I cannot produce something that I do not have.  This made no sense to him.  He felt strongly that if he screamed loud enough I would somehow acquire the power to rearrange molecules and produce a cracker for him.  Believe me, by the time the 20 minute drive was over, I was wishing that I could.  Anyway, he got his cracker as soon as we got home.  He calmed right down and thanked me politely.

A few hours later, we were in the car again driving to soccer practice.  After a few minutes, Max thoughtfully piped up, "Momma, I no want a cracker."

Well, thank GOODNESS for that!