Princesses Need OSHA Too

This past Friday night I was a greeter/princess/hostess at a Daddy/Daughter dance at church.

I had on a bright yellow dress (I was supposed to look like "happiness") and found some fun legging/tights that matched perfectly at Clarie's. 

Now, as great as Clarie's is for finding the perfect princess accessories, they're really meant for the tween and under crowd. 

Luckily, I'm the same height as a tween...I'm just not the same body type.

So while I could get a size small (the only size they had) on my body, they really didn't fit well.

At all.

In fact, after awhile, I found myself walking straddle-legged and decided it was time to intervene before I was in the middle of a serious wardrobe malfunction.

I headed out a back door where an area had been blocked off to do a quick readjustment.

As I was about to open the door to go back in the dance, a teenage couple was headed out the door at the same time.

I guess the girl was super excited to be going wherever it was they were headed, because she flung the door open with so much gusto that when the door handle hit me in the hip, I literally doubled over.

Now I know I'm dramatic, but this wasn't the time or place for that.  And I was really trying to keep it together.

But it hurt so bad, tears came to my eyes. 

And now, 3 days later, it's still sore and looks like this.

So my safety moment of the day is:

If you encounter a teenage girl wanting to spend some time with her "man"...

Get out of the way....FAST!

Extreme Extremes

We spent yesterday morning and afternoon skiing. 

It was an exciting day since JR skied his first black run. (And he didn't even fall!)

He was so proud of himself.

 

Still cheering for himself

I took this picture of the run as I went over it in the ski lift.  It's called 'Limbo Alley", but our neighbor calls it "Torn Ligament Alley", which I think is a much more appropriate name.

And for a completely different way to spend the evening, we headed over to Farmington to watch Motocross.

JR brought his friend, Steven. 

As you can see, they're perfect for each other.

What's Motocross without a fight?

Oh, and there were motorcycles too.

Some watched intently

Others were really excited about their new monster trucks...

Fashion Fabulous Friday

Looks like somebody only got half the memo that it's Go Texan Day*

*Go Texan Day is actually today.  Houstonians all dress western for school, work, etc to celebrate the start of the Houston Rodeo.

I Believe I Can Fly

Even Better Than Black Swan*

*Not that I've seen Black Swan, but it's the most hyped movie of late I could come up with.

Every buisness unit in the West Region of Jason's company makes a video each year. (Farmington is the Southern Rockies Business Unit.) I'm still not sure why they make these videos..something about team building or yearly initiatives blah, blah, blah...but they take them very seriously. 

The first time I heard about these videos was right before we moved out here.  I'm sure the look on my face was priceless when Jason informed me he was flying to Farmington so he could be in a video. 

(Truth be known I probably said, "Can I be in it too?! )

And though I wasn't cast as I-Look-Like-I-Just-Ate-a-Lemon Renee' Zellweger, Jason did a great job as Tom Couch-Jumping-Crazy Cruise in a remake of Jerry Maguire.  His squeals of "Show me the money!" were right on point.

Last year he played another well know Scientologist when he donned the famous sparkly coveralls to lip sync and dance to Greased Lightning.

But this year they really outdid themselves. 

My dear husband (who I have begged each year to put me in the videos though he never does) took on an Academy Award winning role.

May I present to you...

Jason as Sir William Wallace in

Exterraheart.

(Jason works for Exterran.)

Oh yes, you read that right.

"Every man dies, not every man sells compressors."

And yes, he would be wearing his Exterran "field" shirt with a kilt!

And yep, that would be a hair extension braid hanging down the side of his face.

And the "staff" he's holding? That would be some kind of giant wrench thing.

Now if I could just convince them to dress him up like Bradley Cooper or Ryan Reynolds for next year!

Will The Story Ever End?

Toy Story 3 has hijacked my Netflix account.

It has been in nonstop play mode for about 2 weeks, and though I haven't actually "seen" it, (it's on repeat in the car) I could easily recite the movie for you.

The other day, Kyle was talking about Toy Story and I said, "Who's your favorite character? Buzz?"

Kyle: No! Not Buzz Light-lear

Me: Oh, then it's Woody! I love Woody.

Kyle: No! Not Woody.

I should have guessed...

Of course Kyle's favorite would be Jessie the singing cowgirl!

And yes, I've showed this next picture of JR before.

And it has nothing to do with Kyle's new found love of Jessie,

but it's one of my favorites.

So here it is again...

More With My BFF

So, as you remember, a few weeks ago Jason and I were in Reno to see my fantasy BFF, Sarah.

While we were at the fancy, schmancy "Sarah Dinner", my father-in-law, Gary, was in charge of a raffle that benefited taking kids with disabilities on hunting trips.

(On a side note, there's a great description of Gary's book about hunting here.)

It was a table raffle, so when you bought a ticket, you bought a ticket for the table.  The prizes were Weatherby shirts for the men and autographed Sarah Palin books for the women.

And though I was a bit peeved my husband had to run around selling raffle tickets during the shrimp cocktail course, (Jason loves shrimp cocktail more than anybody I know) it actually turned out great.

The winning table was a couple and then the military servicemen who were there to post the colors. 

Which meant....

there was only one woman at the table.

And since my father-in-law was in charge....

Guess what came in the mail for me last week?

One Month From Today

I didn't even realize it until Marcia posted on her blog this morning that we are running the Canyonlands Half one month from today!

I knew I needed to practice racing, so how perfect that I had signed up for the Animas River Trail 5K.
.

Now, like I've said before, running is a sad, pitiful afterthought to the other athletic biggies here in Durango.

(With biking being the king.)

But just because there aren't tons of runners, doesn't mean that the ones that are here aren't good.

They're amazing.

Which means the people who do show up for a 5K in the middle of February are insanely good.

Like today when I overheard a 13 year-old girl talking about how she averages 22 minutes for a 5K.

To say I'm out of my league is an understatement.

But, like always, you know I'm going to let you share in my out-of-leagueness.

Here I am pre-race.
(pre-pony tail and stocking cap) 
Cause as much as I love a hat, a stocking cap isn't the greatest look on me. 
I'm also make-upless...although since I'm turning more and more into my mother each day, I am wearing lip tint Chapstick.

It was a balmy 38 degrees this morning, so I decided to sit in the car til race time (since I wasn't going to run warm-up sprints with the others).

I try to blend in as much as possible, so I wore all black.  Except for my gloves.
 I've gotta have a pop of color somewhere!

(I didn't have my hand on the ground, it just looks that way)

Oh, and I just got some new running shoes.  I've made the switch from my MBTs to Asics.  They felt good, so I'll be wearing these at Canyonlands.

So how do you know when you're a serious runner?

When you show up to run in 38 degrees like this guy.

He came in 3rd.

All in all, I was satisfied with my run. 

I ran it in 31:21. 

When I told Jason he said, "Is that good?"
(It makes me feel better that Jason knows as much about running as I do about hunting.)
 I said, "Well, I was 21 seconds away from running 10 minute miles." 

So for me, yeah that's pretty good. 

Fashion Fabulous Friday

The Hat Chronicles of Reed

First thing in the morning:

Dressed and ready for the day:

Naked and ready for the day:

Out on the town:

And just so we're clear, Reed may or may not be sitting at the bar in Joel's after the Snowdown parade. 

Now, if he was sitting at the bar (which we haven't established if that really happened) it would be because I'm friends with the owner, Kylie, who texted me to bring the boys by for some hot chocolate.

And if we did take up the hot chocolate offer, It may or may not have been totally worth it just to get to embellish the best line ever from Sweet Home Alabama:

 "Look at you. You've got 3 babies...In a bar."

Maybe it was all the hot chocolate, but just like that,

 the black hat was replaced:

Reason 463 I Don't Like to Cook

I'm a much better planner than I used to be.

Having 3 boys tends to require some pre-planning to even leave the house. (Although I still never seem to have snacks, juice, Neosporin, or the occasional change of clothes at the ready.)

But I'm a terrible planner when it comes to cooking.
I always get right in the middle of it, and then I don't have something I need.

So reason #463 I don't like to cook: too much prep work.

(AKA: I'm never prepared!)

I bought some red velvet cupcake mix thinking I might make some for Valentine's Day.  I didn't buy cupcake liners because I was sure I had a million in the pantry.

I didn't make the cupcakes for Valentines, but I did need cupcakes for Cub Scouts last night.
(They decorated cupcakes to celebrate Scouting being 101 years old.)

 I started making cupcakes about 2:00 PM yesterday (during nap time, of course).  And guess what I didn't have?

Yep. Cupcake liners.

And since I had 2 children sleeping, and the grocery store is more than just a little jaunt from my house, here's how the cupcakes turned out....

Naked cupcakes!

I'm guessing this is why God gave me boys.

Little girls would have wanted to match their frosting and sprinkles to the cupcake liner.

I don't think the Cub Scouts slowed down long enough too even notice the liners were missing!

What They're Wearing Wednesday

Which is a lot like Fashion Fabulous Friday, except I've got so many FFFs lined up I had to add this post this week.

I made a Target run while we were in Farmington on Monday and everybody walked away with a new pair of flip-flops for our spring break cruise.

Some of us, like JR, have completely forgotten they even got new flip-flops.

Others of us are obsessed with their new flops.

Obsessed to the point that they are sleeping in/with them, and wearing them all the time.

I let our little flop fashionistas sleep in them for their nap yesterday. (I've got so many other things to worry about with these two that sleeping in flip-flops is not a battle I'm going to fight.)

So, of course, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth last night when Jason informed them they could not sleep in flip-flops.

Besides the end-of-times hysteria, they also threw in the ever popular, "But Mommy said we could!"

 (The flops sat right beside their beds last night.)

And since the flops were ready and waiting for them this morning, that meant I had a shoe slap to the face as a "good morning" as they climbed in bed with me.

That'll get you out of bed!

Morning flops at the "breakfast table"

Flops while dressed for the day.

(We're having naked issues with somebody.)

Valentines-ed Out!

I seriously feel like we've been celebrating Valentine's Day since Friday!

Friday was JR's party at school, and Jason and I went to an adult dinner with our friends Brad and Cassidy (and some of their friends from Houston).

Then Saturday JR met up with one of his Valentine's for some skiing.

(JR and his friend Emma)

But, being that JR's only 7, I'm pretty sure he was way more excited about running in to his friend, Steven, for lunch.

JR was out of school yesterday, so we drove down to Farmington to visit Jason at his office.

Durango and Farmington are complete opposites when it comes to restaurants.  Durango has quite a few nice restaurants, but only 2 chains (Denny's and Applebee's).  On the other hand, Farmington has all the chains.  So we picked the "nicest" of the chains for Valentine's lunch. 

Recognize those cheesy biscuits?

Popcorn shrimp all around!

When I got home I found a package on my front porch with this inside:

I know! Yum!

Let's have a little close-up, shall we?

Deeee-lish!