The Iron Girl

So... I'm not an Iron Girl...  I'm a girl...  but...  the only iron I'm pumping these days is my curling iron... and that's only on the days that I'm feeling particularily less than lazy...  BUT...  I love to travel and when my cousin KC said that she was thinking about driving from Washington state down to Tahoe for an Iron Girl competition I jumped at the chance to take off with my handsome hubby for the weekend... oh and support me dear younger cousin.  So the plan was to make all of these signs and to hold them up screaming "You GO Girl!" but apparently my sign painting abilities are lacking because my glitter dripped and looked a mess so off we went without any outward expressions of support.

The race began at 7:30, specifically upon the Aflac duck quack... not a very impressive quack I must say.  The women went out in  waves broken down by age groups... the oldest first.  KC was in the largest age category and was in the third wave.... the wave of green swim caps. 

Goggles on and ready to swim!

You see her don't you?

We were worried for a few brief moments that she might be one of those green capped girls hanging for dear life on a canoe marking the way... but alas she emerged with a "That was really hard" and trudged on!  What a trooper!

Shoe change...  for the LONG quarter of a mile trek back to transition to bike!

The bike ride is on!

Headed out of the gate on the run...

And... AT LAST...  The FINISH!!!!!!

In two short hours it was all over... They headed back to Washington State... and Mike and I headed back home!  Nice little trip...  I hope that she does it again...  Next time... I will hire someone creative to paint me a sign and I will be having TEAM KC shirts printed up... so I'm expecting a few of you to join in on the fun next year...  OH... and someone pick up an air horn... I hear she likes those!

Until next year!

Hayden's 8th Grade Graduation

Well my baby is going into high school! Can you believe it? Graduation was a lot of fun... the decorating, making the slide show, class trip... great memories for those kids... and also for the few moms that participated. My darling son was the only boy with a camo tie... classic!

The family...

Hayden, Aziza & Lane

Hayden speaking at the podium.

The four of us. I am holding Hayden's President Award with President Obama's signature... Pretty cool! His science teacher said that he probably knew more about engines than she did!

Springtime with the Shadds...

Spring has officially arrived... my trees are bursting with life!

Happy Birthday Koltie Bear! OK so my baby turned 11 this month... I can hardly believe it! We had a great dinner & arcade playtime...

This photo is of myself and a bunch of nieces at the pizza party... From the top, Danielle, Alyssa, Me, Bailey, MacKayla, Bella & MacKenzie. Unfortunately missing Kaili & Ella... maybe we'll get everyone at EASTER! Yea!

So the house is coming right along... the exterior is prepped for the first coat of stucco... and they are finishing up the plumbing, gas lines, electrical etc. on the inside... very exciting stuff LOL...

This is my darling husband playing with a toy... He borrows it from my dad every once in awhile and moves 'stuff' around.

This is my wall of many colors... my previously red barn covered with various shades of greens & greys in an attempt to find the perfect shade for the new house... it's a challenge, but I'm up for it...

Life is Great!

Well, although life conceptually should be slowing down with all of the holidays passed, reality proves a bit different. Mike & I were led to believe that the process of building our home would take forever and we were prepared to go at it slowly, with plenty of time to make decisions. I, of course began going through magazines, and color charts knowing sometime down the road, I would need to have prepared decisions as to what I wanted where when the time came… I put all of my cut outs in a lime green binder… sort of a bright yet dreamy wish list for myself. My binder is only half filled and now, apparently… the time has arrived that I’m being expected to pull out all of my decisions and share them with the world. Panic time. I’m being forced to make decisions like window heights, arch depths, roofing shades, stucco styles, window shapes & colors, right down to the nitty-gritty of what size my tiled shower should be, and how wide should the little bench that I’ll need to shave my legs will be… dumb, dumb, dumb, but heaven forbid I should pick things wrong because this will be the only house that we will be building so if I want something special I need to speak up NOW! In the past I really didn’t care about the shape of rain gutters, and the process of deciding on a kitchen bar height just about killed me! What if it’s too high and blocks the view to the kitchen… and what if it’s too low, and you can see my dirty dishes in the sink that is on the other side of it? Will someone fall out of the low window if I build a bench across it for seating in my dining area? How much stone is too much stone? Does the stone outside have to match the stone inside? Should the window next to the front door be filtered or clear, and if it’s clear will someone be able to see me from the road if I decide to run around in my skivvies? Of course I never run around in my skivvies (I’ve got two boys, you know.), but what if I decide that in my old age I want to? Then my mind flits to the fact that maybe, just maybe, I could learn how to do stained glass and put that in there… and do I actually have the time to learn how to do stained glass, when I just got a classical guitar with the full intention of learning how to play it? My mind has constantly been on overdrive this past week, and I’ve probably called a dozen different contractors for prices on everything from central air systems to fireplace people, to a special window company that has the certain perfect window that I want with white on the inside & black/bronze on the exterior. My little green binder has spilled over to a storage tub and I have brochures coming out of the woodwork! My barn has 6 different shades of grey-green painted in large 3x3 squares on the front of it. All of my shoes are muddy from walking back in forth to the new house… It’s freezing out there and my nose is always pink… when are those windows arriving anyway? The breezes are making me miserable! And yet… through it all… through every little eye rolling, minute little choice that must be made, Mike & I will take a few minutes, walk up our new driveway, looking at our new home, thinking about all of the new decisions that need to be done… and a sense of contentment washes over us that all of this newness is wonderful, and that we are truly blessed to be able to do this for our family. So bring on those decisions! I laugh in the face of the decisions to come! WHAH- HA HA HA HA…. That was my maniacal laugh, if you can imagine droll little me actually touching the fingertips of both my hands together in front of me and manically letting loose. How cool is this? I mean really? Very cool. Life is great!