Experiencing the Fall season in Idaho

We sure have been a busy family this past month making sure we make the most of the fall and Halloween season. Two weekends in a row we made sugar cookies, carved pumpkins and made caramel apples. It was great fun but waaaaayyyyy too much sugar for my family to consume. LOL.

Last night we went to an outdoor Halloween party put on by one our ward members and I must say . . . WOW!!! And that would be an understatement. We showed up at 6pm and not a minute sooner we found ourselves the target of Halloween candy. A small private plane flew over us three times and let a downpour of candy and chocolate fall like rain from the sky. The kids went crazy! How could you not, it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Inside one of the barns they had a huge screen set up to play a movie for anyone who would like to sit and watch along with face and pumpkin painting. This sweet little old man was in the corner popping popcorn for anyone who wanted any. I tell ya, they didn't pay him enough for all the droves of people who waited in line for it. Now when I say droves of people I really mean it. There had to have been close to 250 people there. Brave, brave family! Down the road a bit they had a haunted house set up for ones who wanted scary and for those who didn't. Ethan loved it and Chad admitted that Ethan (because Ethan never would) got a little jumpy. Wished I could have been there but Edyn would have nothing to do with it. The weather was nice when we had first arrived but by an hour and a half later the rain and wind came in like a hurricane which cut the party a little short. They ended up canceling the haunted hayride and a few other outdoor games. Unfortunate, but what we were able to do we had a lot of fun. I remember saying that it would be hard to top a Hoboken, New Jersey, Halloween but this is coming pretty darn close. Thanx Palmer Family we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Here's a few pictures of pumpkins that were carved, cookies that were iced and of course the candy plane.

CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

Birthday Boy turns 34!

Dang he's getting old! And of course, Chad would just say "Look who's talking." Still, it's nice to know I'm not alone! Ha, ha. When Chad came home from work on Friday he was greeted by two very excited children who were beside themselves waiting to wish him a Happy Birthday. It was pretty cute to watch how impatient they were. Edyn even spent a half hour making a card for him in which she didn't let go of until daddy got home. We then headed out for dinner which ended up being the longest dining experience ever and realized eating at home probably would have been just as nice. Oh well, maybe we'll rethink that one next year. I tried making this Nutella cake that I had found on one of the baking blogs I follow and it actually turned out really yummy. I always hate it when I try something new to serve to others and it doesn't taste so well. So thank goodness this one worked! So here's a picture of our family while Chad is embracing his age!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAD!
We love and adore you to pieces!

Here's to Half Marathon Number Two!

Chad and I were silly enough to get out of bed bright and early Saturday morning to go for a run! A long one at that. Really, who does that?! The whole drive to our Prison Break Half Marathon (10K for Chad) we kept saying all the things that we would rather be doing at that moment. Funny how running wasn't one of them. LOL. We were tired, it was dark, and really cold (which actually turned out to be in our favor).

Opening ceremony started at 9am and it was pretty darn cool. It started at the Idaho State Correctional Institution with a flyover of an old British WWII spitfire plane followed by a riot squad lining up just short of the start line to make sure they could control all of us escapees and to begin the race the prison's escape siren roared in the air. Then we were off! Chad and I ran together for just a short while and I then I looked at him and waved and started to take off faster. I wanted to hit that finish line and the sooner the better.

During the beginning of the race we were told to run off side the road while a convoy of army trucks drove by and I really wished Ethan was there to see it. He would have loved it. By mile 11 I was graced by the presence of uniformed soldiers handing me gatorade. I actually thought that was pretty cool. I asked a couple of them if they wanted to carry me the rest of the way and they said they would love to but noone picked me up! Their words meant nothing! Geesh. LOL.

The remaining 2.1 miles went really well except for the huge arse hill just off of the finish line. I ended up walking it when I realized that walking was about the same pace as my attempted run up the hill so why waste the energy. Pretty sad. But once I got past that I was moving pretty good and I think Chad was a little surprised when I saw him at the finish line taking pictures and he asked how I was doing and I smiled and told him "pretty good" as I ran past him. Actually, I surprised myself by that response. But boy oh boy once I stopped and started walking around the soreness hit like a ton of bricks! Nothing that won't be gone in a few days! I think Chad did awesome for his first race. He told me he felt kinda sheepish that all these older women kept passing him but I say who cares! He finished and he rocks!

I've Led a Sheltered Life!

Here's the latest project that Chad and I have been working on. Since we moved to Star I've been looking for an antique iron bed for Edyn's bedroom (very hard to find an inexpensive one). All I have to say is I love my CRAIGSLIST!

Shortly after moving here a lady had posted an old iron bed and luckily by time I called her it was still available. We went to take a look and it wasn't in the greatest shape. It was full of rust, painted bright orange on the rails, gold on parts of the bed and the iron slats on the headpiece were bent out of shape. But for $40 I couldn't just walk away. Now that I think about it, I really wish I had taken a "before" picture to show you the difference. Anyhoo, while looking at the bed trying to decide whether we were going to take it or not the lady asked us if we wanted to know where the bed came from. Well sure, we were up for a good story. She went on to tell us that this old bed came from Reno, NV and came from a Brothel. I felt a little dumb as I had no idea what a brothel was. So of course I just replied "Really!". Then Chad spoke up and said with the hugest grin ever "I guess we know it's been well used." And all I could think of was "Well, yeah dummy! It's an antique!". We loaded up the bed on top of the van and when we got in I quickly asked Chad "What's a Brothel?". He just looked at me and chuckled (I think because he couldn't believe that I had no idea) and then laid it all out on the line and dropped the bombshell. I was horrified!

After a good laugh we headed home and got to work on it. I must say, it turned out better than I thought it would and it's become one of my favorite pieces in our home with quite the story to go with it. A special shout out to my sister, Shaneen, for helping with the glaze! Thank you!

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Here's the Skinny!

How about that?! I went from reporting my exercise routine and weight loss constantly to not at all! I didn't think anything of it until I've had a handful of readers ask me how I've been doing and if I'm still losing weight. So why not make a post about it?

I'm happy to report that after my 1/2 marathon in April I did not revert back to my old ways. Yes, believe it or not, I kept on running. It really has become an addiction for me. Throughout the summer I was running 5 miles a day, 5 times a week. Now, you'd think I'd lose a ton of weight but I pretty much just maintained it. When you don't have a regular schedule, your camping, your hoteling it, your not living at home, and there is so much family stuff going on, I pretty much ate everything and anything. I'm sure if I watched what I ate, said NO to desserts, Canadian candy bars and licorice then maybe I'd be down to my goal weight (10 more lbs. to go!). All in all I was happy that I was at least maintaining and not gaining any of it back.


A couple of weeks ago I participated in the St. Luke's Women's Fitness 5K. What an amazing event! Yes, it was only 5K but to be a part of it was amazing. I took a shuttle to downtown Boise to the start line and WOW! There were thousands of women everywhere. Women in wheelchairs, women over their 70's, women with babies in strollers, women, women, women! The first wave, the wheelchair competitive timed, was very emotional as we watched them take off. After a couple of waves it was my turn. I was in the red wave which was a timed running wave. I came in 220/864. And for my age group I was 40/131. Not bad for only beginning running this year and this being my second race. Next year I hope to better my time. And now here I am training for another 1/2 marathon, the Prison Break 1/2 Marathon, which is October 24th. I'm really excited and nervous about this one as I don't have Kaycee to run beside me like I did for my first one. It's all me. Well, I did talk Chad into running the 10K for the same event while I run the half. Still not the same though but really excited for him to experience a race. So stay tuned for pictures and results.

Well, enough about my running. Here's what you've been waiting for--it's time for weight and inch loss results as of October 1st.

TOTAL WEIGHT & INCH LOSS
WEIGHT – 30 lbs.
ARMS – 2.25 inches each
HIPS – 6 inches
WAIST – 9 inches
THIGHS – 3 inches each

NYU College of Dentistry Graduation

May 26th, 2009, seems soooooo long ago. Just over 4 months ago . . . so I guess it kind of was. I can't even describe the overwhelming feeling we had realizing that Chad was finally done school and thoughts of NOW WHAT?!. We have been married for just over 11 years and 9 of it Chad has been in school. So, I'm pretty sure you can imagine how excited we were!

The ceremony took place at Madison Square Garden and it was so nice to have Chad's parents their to support him on this special day for him.

After the long ceremony (which my kids sat through amazingly well, shocker!) we decided to walk down to Carmine's for some dinner. Chad and I had always wanted to try it out but every time we went the line up was over an hour and a half long. I guess that's what we get for thinking we could get in before a Broadway show. Well, today we knew it would be our only chance to try again as we would be leaving Manhattan in a few days. Thank goodness it was mid day as we got right in and oh boy--it was so yummy! So it was a nice ending to an eventful day! Really what could be better than NO more school and DELICIOUS food!

Our friends for the past four years!
At School AKA "The Mormons".