Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Jake's Birthday

Happy Birthday to my Jake!

He's 22!  Gasp! 

Candles and cake with the family
(Of course I was working on his actual birthday)

I bought him a book of farts including sounds.  


Fart sounds really make my family laugh.  Weird!  It's like we stopped mentally growing at 5

Sami was dying!  

Sami and Austin.

 Emily (Jake's girlfriend) and Daniel.

The same Fab Four pic I posted yesterday.  
I have to take it when I get it!  I have a picture with all my kids I have to post it a couple of times!

Emily and Jake.  Aren't they adorable?? 

Happy Birthday Jake!  You were worth the emergency c-section and the years of Emergency Room visits!  I love you dearly!

Blog on....................



Thankful

I was browsing through all my pictures and realized how lucky I was.  I know that I have been down and cranky lately, but at the end of the day I really am very grateful for so much.

Despite my "break" from running, life is good!


So is this coffee.  Delicious!
Although not quite as delicious as this coffee:

Sugar free Caramel whole milk latte.  
Tastes like roasted marshmallows and my favorite after workout snack.

I am also grateful for this office view:
There are a lot of challenges to flight nursing.  I've been doing it for over a year now and really starting to feel like I have made it my own.  When I started it was just about the overwhelming amount of information and trying to keep it straight.  Now I've been able to process a lot of it and pick out my strengths and weakness and use those to improve my performance. 


I am also very grateful for my home.  I bought it 9 1/2 years ago when I first graduated nursing school.  
I'm even grateful for this fake tree.  
My parents gave it to me years ago and it takes me at least an hour to straighten out the branches and tape the top on, but I really do love it and it was FREE!

FRIENDS!
This is a few of the awesome gals I work in the SICU with.  They are the reason I miss it every day.  Luckily they let me work there once in a while and I get my fix.  I've known some of these girls for the 9 years I've worked there and really feel like they are family.  This picture was taken this year at the Christmas party (I was Nicole's) date.  Tera won MVP.  She so deserved it!

Of course I have lots of other friends that I am grateful for!  I could never name them all, but know they are loved.


My health! 

Sure, I have an injury now but I will get over it and in the mean time I've been able to do lots of other fun workouts.  As a nurse I am reminded of how important it is to take care of myself all the time.  I appreciate that I have great overall health too.

I will probably post this picture a couple of times.
Aren't they the cutest dogs EVER??
Zoe is the little one.  She is 12 and the vet told us she would die 2 years ago of cancer.  We are just loving her everyday and so far she is the same old Zoe.  
We adopted Ted from the shelter when he was three.  He's 8 now and is really the best big dog ever.  Friends come to my house to visit Ted.  I can almost overlook all the dog hair that we vacuum up every day. 
They are love every day!

These guys are pretty lovable too!

My kids are the best.  I only have Sami and Daniel left living at the house.  Luckily, through all the stress of working, growing up and living we manage to have a few giggle sessions here and there.  All my kids have grown up so well.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  They are a blast to hang out with! 

Most grateful that I get them all in the same room every once in a while.  This is a good as a family picture gets.  Daniel is always making faces and the way Austin is in the back he looks like he was photo shopped.  This was just on Sunday, for Jake's birthday.

Also, for Matt.
For the last 5 years he has given unselfishly to me and my kids. He's a great man with a very kind heart.

Too sappy?  Too much?

It sure made me feel better.  Sometimes we all just need an attitude adjustment to realize that life has so much good.  Even when I'm feeling really down and feel like life is "shit wall to wall" (Louis C.K.) there is always good, somewhere.  

PULL IT TOGETHER!

Bacon and cookies help.  Not always together. 

Blog on.............



Sunday, December 9, 2012

Barr and keeping busy

Today was Barrevo. A class that combines barre exercise classes with some good beats and kicking butt moves. I was really burning by the end, but it felt great.

I took a picture of our Pilates Reformers room. We didn't use them for barre but when I try to explain Pilates on the machine, it gets quite lost in translation.



Then there was the Christmas horse. (???)



After I went to the new Trader Joes in Salt Lake. I had to get some Puffins. If you listen to Tosh.o's stand up then you will get the reference. It's pretty wild stuff but I'm just sick enough that it makes me laugh.



I also bought some Kale and I finally gave it a try in a smoothie. There are berries in it and that is why it looks blackish purple. I also added a banana and almond milk. It was delicious! Getting ready to read the new Runners World. Am I the only one that gets super excited every time it comes in the mail?

I iced my foot while I drank my smoothie. Before I knew it I was freezing and had to grab my electric blanket. It doesn't help that it's below zero outside and snowing either.



I also picked up a delicious latte from this local gem. Naughty but so right. (Ps. There is no baby in that stroller. It's pretty crowded in there so they left the stroller outside and took the baby in, whew!)



Last but not least I wanted to try an eggnog martini. I didn't have all the ingredients but with some vodka, egg nog (from Trader Joes) and coffee liqueur I made it work! Boom! Loved it



Tonight we also opened presents and had cake for Jakes Birthday. I love my kids and really enjoyed having them all together at the house. It doesn't happen often, that's for sure!



Daniel, Austin, Jake and Sami.

It was a good day! I only dreamed of running briefly.

Blog on..........