Stinky Parents

I'll start this with the quarterly review from Stella's teacher which always says something like, "I always like to hear what Stella has to say!"


Apparently we stink. Just ask her. On Stella's list of things to do, you might notice about 8 down that Stella thinks her Daddy stinks. And as for me, it's a whole different story.

May I just remind everyone that . . .

The other day when I went to pick Stella up from school I was waiting in the line of cars with other parents waiting to pick up their Kindergarteners. I had a little twinge of a stomach ache and it happened to not be pleasant. When Stella entered the car, . . .

STELLA: "WHAT STINKS!?"
MOM: "Me Stella, I farted."

She then completely changed the subject and I assumed the fart talk was over. As the line of cars started moving, I drove forward a few feet when Stella exclaimed,

STELLA: "Stop Mom! I have to tell Mrs. Cahill something!"

Not even thinking for a second about our short fart conversation not a minute before, I stopped the car and Stella rolled down the window for the whole world to hear . . .

STELLA: "HEY MRS. CAHILL!! MY MOM FARTED!"

Really Mrs. Cahill, you ALWAYS like to hear what Stella has to say?

My Little Gymnast

Not that climbing the tetherball pole has anything to do with gymnastics, but the girl is a crazy lady. She's not afraid of anything . . . except moths.

Stella loves gymnastics. She does cartwheels more than she walks these days.

After gymnastics today, Stella's coach motioned me over to talk and she informed me that Stella has mastered all of the skills, techniques, and form (she said she has the athletic body for the sport) of the "Grasshopper" level of gymnastics and wants to move her to Level Orange.

I don't really know what that means in the world of gymnastics, but Miss K (her coach) said that most of the girls in that level will be a little older than Stella, but there's nothing more for her to work on if she stays to finish the Grasshopper class.

We'll probably have to change times and days, but that's OK because Stella loves it! And as long as she loves it, she gets to do it . . . unless we have to take out a 2nd mortgage . . . we might have issues with that.

First Harvest

We just harvested some spicy radishes (which I almost tried, by the way) and a head of lettuce that I didn't actually plant this year. I planted lettuce 2 years ago and accidentally let it over-grow so now the dislodged seeds have found their way around the yard and we have randomly growing lettuce . . . not necessarily in the the garden.

Dishes

I don't know what's gotten into her, but I like it . . .

When Whitney Multi-Tasks . . .

. . . this is unacceptable people. Let me focus for crying out loud!

He's Famous . . . in Idaho

My sister Natalie is seriously behind in her blogging updates, so I'll brag about her husband for her. Here is an article about my brother-in-law Ian from Sunday's paper in Idaho!

http://www.journalnet.com/news/local/article_39f08306-5039-11df-8136-001cc4c03286.html

Growing Up and Moving OUT . . . no IN!

I've been trying to get Stella to take a shower instead of a bath for quite a while. She hates the sprinkling of water on her head in the bath, but loves it in a swimming pool. I don't get it.

Anyway, the other day she finally agreed to take a shower if I let her do it in my bathroom. She LOVED it! I thought this might make bath time shorter, but she's like me and loves the serenity of the shower.

After said shower, I asked her to get dressed. She usually does this in her bedroom, but she retrieved her pajamas and took them back to my bathroom to dress. Next time I checked on her, she had her brushes, combs, handheld mirror, toothpaste and toothbrush moved into my bathroom and she'd rearranged all of my stuff on the counter to her liking.

She's decided that my bathroom is now her bathroom and that Daddy and Mommy need to move out.

A Race to Daddy

Sometimes when I'm feeling fiesty I win, but Stella is quick.

Wipes

What did I even use to clean before these came into existance? I had to live without them for about 2 days and let me tell you, my kitchen counters suffered. I couldn't even fathom cleaning something without these wipes. I love them!

Happy Birthday Becky!

Crappy Shoes

These were the shoes Stella happened to be wearing the most when she learned how to ride her bike. She hadn't quite figured out the hand breaks, so her shoes suffered the consequences. They were only $3.00 at Target so I didn't care. I was about the throw them away, but then I remembered how she pretty much craps up her other shoes too. Might as well keep these as the crappers to play in and save the other shoes. Right?

So if I forget to make Stella change her shoes before she comes over to your house, please know that she is not an orphan and we can afford new shoes.

Next goal: Stop saying crap.

Good Mommy Day

Stella tries to be equal in her reminders to be a better Mommy and her praise. I love to find these notes:

It says, "I like my Mom and she can hug me and she can hug me all day and kiss me all day."

Girl knows I love her. That's a Good Mommy Day.

Pat Tillman Run

Elliot and I ran the Pat Tillman Run on Saturday, April 17, 2010. It was 4.2 miles because his football number at ASU was 42. I've never run 4 miles before (I've walked it).

We biked over to ASU because it's just a few miles away and didn't want to deal with the traffic and parking. It was a great warm-up for me as I was huffing it the whole way, but Elliot was going so slow compared to how fast he usually rides!

This was the 5th Annual race and has grown from 5,000 participants to over 28,000! We didn't get our cool race t-shirts (and they were really nice ones) because they were out of our sizes by the time we got to the table. They'll mail them because I refused to get a bigger size.

Pre-Race (Elliot's words, "We haven't even started the race and I already look terrible!")

Elliot and I acted like we knew how to stretch before a big run and then we headed to the starting area. They started us in "corrals" (offensive, right?) according to how fast we run a mile. Elliot started in 9 minutes, so I started with him even though I know I don't run that fast.

Throughout the whole first mile I keep wondering to myself why I pay to do this. Then the mile marker shows up and I realize that I can totally do this. I love mile markers. I got into my groove of running, dodging the glistening loogies on the ground and swerving around runners-turned-sudden-walkers. I got a cup of water thrown on my foot behind me, but that's alright because I'm sure I threw my water on someone else too.

The climb into the ASU football stadium to the finish line at the 42-yard line was the hardest part, but totally exhilarating! I found Elliot fairly easily among the thousands of other people trying to find each other and we rehydrated and found some fruit as we watched thousands of other people cross the finish line.

I'm glad Elliot runs faster than I do. He's sweaty. He's also sleepy.

YAWN! Oh dear, looks like I'm a little sleepy too.

We ran into some other friends (JR & Shae Thulin) from our ward who ran as well. We were going to wait around to hear Pat Tillman's wife speak after everyone finished the race, but I'm glad we didn't because JR & Shae said they waited over 2 hours and she didn't even speak!

Uh oh, Elliot's still sleepy.

Elliot finished in 36 minutes 44 seconds and I finished in 46 minutes 15 seconds. We biked back home which was a nice cooldown, but my legs had had it! I'm so sore! Next up . . . 10K! (Don't pressure me, gosh!)

Daisy's Kittens

I don't know if they are doing this on purpose, but our friends have a NEW BABY and now they have NEW KITTENS . . . two things Stella can absolutely not resist! If you want her over at your house all the time, all you have to do is ask. Geez.

So Daisy had 3 little kittens that Stella has named Flower, Tulip, and Max (even though they aren't our kittens, she thinks she gets to name them). Daisy had them during church, so we went to visit right after church.

EMILY: "Look Stella, Daisy is a Mommy now!"
STELLA: "When did Daisy get married?"

OK, I know how I answered her. But I'm curious to know how you would answer that question. Bring it.

Field Trip to the Zoo!

Stella's first Kindergarten Field Trip to the zoo also included her first ride on a school bus! I think she was more excited about the bus than she was about the zoo or the sack lunch with a Capri Sun.

Stella and Andrew (who is sometimes her future husband according to her . . . not me, I'm completely opposed to child set-ups, so don't try it!) were partners and I was their Zoo Guide (with 12 kids in the class and 6 volunteers, you don't have much to be responsible for).

WHAT I LEARNED #1: DO NOT let any of the kids drink their WHOLE water bottle on the way to the zoo.

Estevan, Donovan, Andrew, and Stella

WHAT I LEARNED #2: Ask someone who goes to the zoo more often which route to take to see the most animals with the least walking.

We were free to tour the zoo with the kids wherever we wanted, but because of a little incident when we first got to the zoo, we got separated from the people we were planning on hanging out with. I am not a zoo proficient, so we went the wrong way and saw horses and chickens with crazy hair instead of the good animals like the tiger and lion and rhino. We also waited too long to take the train, so we didn't get to do that.

WHAT I LEARNED #3: I will never have a desire to shake hands with an orangutan.



We finally found the giraffes, which is usually the first thing you see when you get to the zoo, but we went in the school entrance and I was totally thrown off!

WHAT I LEARNED #4: Don't ask the children if they need a potty break, TELL them they need a potty break.

Since we didn't ride the train, we spent the rest of the time at Sting Ray Bay. Stella was afraid to touch them because Andrew kept telling her that they had stingers. Though she wasn't afraid to touch the shark that was in there. She's a nut.

The Sting Rays swim by and would occasionally splash all the kids!

They thought that was great.

She finally stuck her hand in there and . . .

. . . SHE TOUCHED IT! I love that face!

WHAT I LEARNED #5: Take the children to the bathroom before you leave the zoo even if you just took them 10 minutes ago.

WHAT I LEARNED #6: Take Stella to the zoo more often. She loves it.

Happy Easter

Just because she knows the Easter Bunny is a hoax, doesn't mean she doesn't like the hunt for the Easter Eggs!

Stella's 1st love . . . her own reflection. Stella's 2nd love . . . babies.

Stella's 3rd love . . . being a barnicle.

Stella's 4th love . . . animals. We can't break her of it.

Stella's 5th love . . . flying!

(I didn't get my request in early enough for Elliot's tie to be a Springtime fun one)

Hope you had a Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday Patrick!

I don't know how old you are, but happy birthday!

Sexy

The other day we had a family outing for a rather large trip to Costco. Stella was sitting in the cart because the zig-zag through the aisles apparently made her legs too tired. Elliot and Stella were engaged in their playful banter when Elliot said something about biting Stella. Then he said that he wanted to bite Mommy's arm because I was a SEXY MAMA.

S . L . A . P !!!!

Stella smacked Elliot right across the face and said, "You can't say sexy!"

SUSAN'S RUN - 5K

(Saturday, March 27, 2010)
I've only done 2 races previous to Susan's Run, and both were very exciting. This one, however, was more personal. It was almost like a family reunion because I knew so many people and Elliot knew even more because he both works with some of them and grew up with most of them. What we all had in common was Susan. I didn't know Susan very well, but I really wish I did. She was a remarkable woman and I'm sure we would have been great friends. So we ran for Susan.

For the First Annual Susan's Run, about 400 people showed up to run. I think that's a great turn out. Also, just perfect for not getting run over by other runners. If you look closely, you can see Elliot and I, both not paying attention. We're real smart.

This was Elliot's first race and since I knew he'd come in WAY before me, I gave my camera to Grandma to catch his finish. He came in at 27 minutes 19 seconds for the 5K.

Of course there were several between us, but I came in next at 34 minutes 12 seconds. Stella came to meet me for the last few steps of the run. I was running right behind someone the entire time because she was at a great pace. As soon as I told her after mile 2 that she was my pacer, she sped off and left me in the dust . . . or asphalt. (FYI - My first 5K I ran at 43 minutes, second I ran at 40 minutes 54 seconds . . . I think I'm getting the hang of this!)

Beth ran the 5K too. I missed her finish because I was scrounging up some delicious fruit, but she came in at 44 minutes 54 seconds.

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for watching Stella (chasing Stella) while we ran for Susan.

We all need serious hair help. It looks like I'm wearing a toupee. I don't know if it was just the excitement of a race or if Susan was there helping us, but we all could have kept running! We're looking forward to adding 1 mile to our next race on April 17th!

Stella also helped Elliot's co-worker Curtis with some of his photography and videography for the race. She did the video below.