Gulp....

So, I was feeling great yesterday morning - no pre-triathlon jitters - just excitement as I was packing up to come to the beach. Then I arrived at the beach - and now - oh dear. I foolishly thought that training in the pool would be enough to prepare me to swim a half mile in the ocean. I forgot the minor detail that the pool doesn't have 8 rows of giant waves.

Here is a picture of the waves we have to fight through - yes - you can see FOUR rows of breaking waves here. (I have a picture of FIVE rows...but it wasn't nearly so pretty!)

The waves OWN me out there! Even after I FINALLY break through the surf (so the waves aren't actually breaking over my head), the swells still carry me backwards and fill my lungs with salt water.


Here is a picture of Brian and Merrill (both 6'4") so you can see how tall these waves actually are. After they came back in, Brian said to me, "Linds, if the waves are like this tomorrow morning, I'm not sure I want you to do this. It's rough out there."

Yes - I noticed.




I suppose the ocean is equally merciless towards everyone - so we'll all be fighting the same beast.

Wish me luck! If you don't hear from me again, just know that I fought a good fight and I tried REALLY hard not to drown. :)

Camping

Ah, autumn! What a beautiful time of year!

We went camping over the weekend with some good friends from the ward. I had so much fun enjoying the wonderful weather! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:














Josh and Harrison - what a team! Seeing these two attack monsters with their flashlights, fight with sticks for swords, and roll in the dirt made me so excited to watch Carson grow up. Little BOYS!!! An unknown world for me.....
I was going to fix the red in Josh's eyes, but they added so much to the picture, I just couldn't do it! This is a picture of them screaming at the monsters...... (you should click on the picture to see it full size!)
















Carson - what a sweet little boy!












McKenzie had SO MUCH FUN! We let her stay up until 10:30 - and boy was she wired (I guess a dozen marshmallows will do that to a 3 year old)! Her favorite thing to do was throw sticks into the fire. We had a big pile of branches that we'd throw onto the fire occasionally to keep it going - and she caught onto that really quickly! Finally I said, "Okay, Kenz...only throw small sticks into the fire now. No more big ones, okay?" she agreed. Next thing I knew, she was trying with all of her might to break the big sticks into smaller ones so she could throw them into the fire.

Carson was so funny stirring this fire! He fell in love with this big stick... he stirred and stirred and stirred and stirred...... and when he finally walked away, he had a hard time leaving the stick behind. Such a sad life!

Here's a slide show of the other pictures - enjoy! (You can click on the little speaker in the bottom left corner if you want to be serenaded while you watch! :) )

We've Got a Lot of Growing to Do

~












Time is a funny thing to me. Sometimes we want it to move along quickly, and other times we want it to stand still forever. Yet, it's never in a hurry - and it doesn't ever dawdle. Time is consistently marching...so regular, so unchanging. Perhaps this is why I take so many pictures, and spend so much time capturing little moments of time in scrapbooks and journals.

Someday, those shoes won't look so ridiculously cute on McKenzie's feet. Someday Carson might even fill them. I hope to always remember, through the sleepless nights and cranky kid phases, to cherish the good and learn from the bad, and to never wish away the time - so that the memories I'm making now, through these years when my kids are young, will be some of the best memories of my life.

It Made Me Smile...

*McKenzie singing at the top of her lungs*

"PUFF THE MA-GIC DIN-GO, LIVED BY THE SEA."
.....

New Tricks

OH BOY!! I just found a button that lets me upload videos! Let me know if this works...

Carson has been SO funny with this Elmo! I remember McKenzie adoring it for a while - and now Carson gets his turn, I guess. He sang with Elmo all day yesterday - it was adorable!

The Return of Elmo

And McKenzie couldn't wait to show off her new gymnastics skills!

Jumping, Somersaulting and Hopping

'Boring' Could Be Fatal

~
McKenzie: Mom! Do you know what's outside?
Me: What?
McKenzie: Ants! Tons and TONS of ants!
Me: Really?
McKenzie: Yep. But I've been killing them.
Me: Why? That's not very nice.....
McKenzie: But mom! They were so boring! I just really wanted them to stop being boring...
~

...Tag...?

I'm kind of new to this whole 'blogging experience' - I didn't know it would entail games like "tag". I get things like this in my email inbox occasionally, and I do enjoy reading them...however...I never respond to them. So, when I first saw that I was tagged (on my dear friend Jennie's blog), my initial reaction was to ignore it (sorry Jennie!). Yet, here I am, responding... funny how that happens sometimes... Maybe it's because I just got one of these getting-to-know-you things in my inbox from my mom and I was surprised about how much I learned about her. Maybe we all need to share a little more of our random thoughts and past experiences - you never know what can strike up a new conversation!

Jobs I've had:
*The earliest job I can remember is babysitting for ward members (unless you count mowing the lawn for $5.00 from my dad) - I never really enjoyed babysitting...but it brought in some candy-money.
*Cleaning houses - unfortunately, my bedroom never benefited from this...
*Sampler - you know, those funny people in the grocery store who hand out little samples. One time I had to wear an Oreo shirt and a tall, striped had that made me look just like the Cat in the Hat... in a word: demoralizing.
*Billing at a Netscape company
*Janitor for the sports arenas at BYU (YUCK! We had to get up at 5:00 in the morning to scrub toilets in the Marriot Center and the football stadium...it didn't last long.)
*Landscaping - probably one of my favorites. I had so much time to think about life as I pulled those weeds; I formed really great friendships with my co-workers; I was outside all day; and, every day I watched as we turned an ugly patch of land into something beautiful.
*Aide at an assisted living center - my other favorite. Even though the 10-16 residents could never remember my name, I still felt important in their lives. I loved being with them and I learned so much about what life should really be about.
*Mother - my very, very favorite. I won't go into any more detail here, because that's practically what my whole blog is centered around. :)

Movies I could watch over and over again:
*This is going to sound so cheesy and childish...but, honestly, I love Disney movies. I have Aladdin memorized word-for-word, I LOVE The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Anastasia is another great one (even though it's not technically Disney).
*My Big Fat Greek Wedding. ("It was my twin...")
*While You Were Sleeping ("You fell in love with me?")

Books I could read over and over again:
*Sad truth - I never read a book more than once until the last Harry Potter book came out. I read all six books before the seventh...and it's opened my eyes to a whole new possibility - re-reading! I really am starting to love books more now than I ever have in my life...

Places I've lived:
*Orem, Utah
*Dunwoody, Georgia
*Sandy, Utah
*Midway, Utah
*Provo, Utah
*Oahu, Hawaii
*Durham, North Carolina

Places I've visited:
*I'm not sure I can really remember all of the states I've been to...I won't count the ones that I've 'driven' through. California, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, Montana, Minnesota, Florida, Virginia, South Carolina, New York...that might be it.
*Canada (Vancouver and Niagra Falls)
*Mexico
*Sweden
*Thailand

Places I would like to visit:
*Oh dear - I would like to see it all.

Television shows I watch:
*Funny - I'm sort of in an 'anti-television' mode right now. *watch out! Abrupt switch to a serious mood...* This last weekend, I was affected very strongly by the General Relief Society Broadcast. As I listened to the new General Relief Society president, I was overwhelmed by the 'perfection' she was calling us to. And I remembered the scripture, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as I am." I am so far away from being perfect, but after listening to the broadcast, I felt like I could at least be better. In order to be better, however, I needed more time in my day. Time to spend in the scriptures and in prayer, time to be a good housewife - to make dinners, to keep the house in order, and time to serve others. I don't have a lot of extra time - but I realized that the extra time I do have is usually spent 'unwinding' in front of the television after the kids go to bed.
So, Sunday night after the kids went to bed, Brian and I heaved our huge entertainment center up the stairs and into our bedroom. (I'm sure we were a sight to see!) And now, without the television in our main living room, we have been using our nights more wisely.
With that said, however, I am not completely banning television from our house! My favorite shows are: The Office and House.

Foods I like:
*The only foods I don't like are Bell Peppers, ... that might be all. I don't really love Chinese food...
*I really love Mexican food.

I'd rather be:
Hmmmmmm.......I feel pretty good right now!

Websites I visit daily:
*Blogs
*GMail
*I don't have time for much else!

People I tag:
*Becky ( love ya! )
*I would really like to hear from everybody, however...(Katie, Robyn, Cami, Natalie, Brooke and Cindy!) But I won't go as far as officially 'tagging' you. :)