Apolo has some serious competition

I grew up with a pond in my back yard, don't ya know. All winter long we'd get home from school, put on the skates and wear ourselves out. I'd like to skate in my backyard here, but I live in CA, not MN. I'm not willing to move just for ice.

I settled for driving a few miles to the ice rink.

None of the girls had ever been on ice before our skating trip. Scott's second time skating was our first date. I thought he was lying when he said he'd only been once. You'd have sworn he was a Gopher Stater too. I was hoping the girls had been genetically blessed with his balance.

The girls did surprisingly well.

Not only that but they ALL loved skating!

By the end of the afternoon Emily was zipping around the rink and already making plans for the next trip.

Heidi wasn't exactly zipping, but she sure wasn't screaming, so it was a major success.

Who wants to come next time?

Rock ON!

Two weeks ago, at our church's give-and-get activity, I gave a bunch of clothes I didn't want and got a guitar that someone else didn't want. I brought it home and Emily went NUTS! She was so excited and wanted to start taking guitar lessons that day.

I know nothing about guitars, except that this one might be too big for her, but I know people. Luckily the lovely and talented Lizzie was able to show her how to hold it and how to play a few chords.

She's been practicing E minor ever since. Look out Swift.

Merry Christmas!

If we didn't have children FOR SURE this would be our Christmas card. For those of you who only know us with children, this is the kind of card you would have seen seven years ago. I am grateful we have children for many reasons. My mom, I'm sure is glad that we have children for many reasons also, but especially that this is not our Christmas card.

Kimbo Slice meets the two whitest people on the planet.

Scott and I were at a conference in Las Vegas earlier this week. One of the exhibitors had a area to meet some MMA fighters. We walked by the booth and both said, "Is that Kimbo?" Scott loves me even more now for that.

Is this guy not the scariest looking dude you'd ever not want to meet in a Pizza Hut parking lot? He is completely solid. I checked, of course, when I put my arm around him. He is also genuinely nice, which was kind of a surprise to anyone who'd seen his old fights on YouTube.

Scott has already sent this photo to everyone he knows. I might photoshop the girls into the photo. You'll know in December.

I'm driving the kids up the walls

Molly can't wait to become a Jedi.

The duathlete

Emily has been training for the last few weeks for her first big race - a duathlon! What's a duathlon? Well it's like a triathlon but without the swimming. Why is it not called a biathlon? Easy, that's skiing and shooting. See the biathlon for yourself on NBC starting next month. See Emily's duathlon photos below.

Here are Emily and Scott pausing from their warm-up for one of many photos taken by the mom. (How could I resist?)

About 40 kids, including about ten from our church, showed up for the big day. The event was free so a lot of the fair weather kids stayed home. It's been raining for a week straight here so it was no big deal to have a little raindrop on the head.

Find the following things in this photo:

1. Emily

2. The race winner

Here's a hint. Emily is the cutest and I had the winner picked out before they even hit the starting line. He smoked everyone! This may not have been his first event.

And they're off! Thanks to Alyssa for being Emily's pacing buddy.

Donavon and Kristen also came to support the cutest duathlete in the ville. The sisters were there too, although they were not as enthusiastic about the sprinkles.

Yeah Emily!

(PS - 1 mile run, 1.5 mile bike ride!)

Coming Summer 2010

I saw this quilt's photo on a friend's blog.

37 seconds later I had ordered the pattern.

Cute, right?

But I already did one with similar colors so I'm doing . . .

THIS!!!

I can't wait for the Tour de France to start so I can get started.

Step By Step

AKA how to paint a table in one Saturday morning

Step one! We can have lots of fun.

Once we bought a cool looking table. The color was a little off though. I actually like the color of the table in this photo but it never looked like this since the photo used a flash and the room is always dark. I thought it needed to be brighter.

Step two! There's so much we can do.

I saw a blog post about someone who silver leafed their dresser. I loved it. I didn't love how much money it was going to cost me and so I tried to think of another way to get the same look on one-tenth the price. Two words - spray paint. Here's the base coat. Adios verde.

Step three! It's just you for meeeee.

Taaaa daaaaah! It's lighter now!

Step four! I can give you more.

It looks even cooler in person. Just don't look at the top where I put the globe because it wasn't quiiite dry and now there's a lovely globe base-shaped circle. Oh well.

Step five! Don't you know that the time has arrived!

(Pause) Huuuuuh!

That "Huuuuh" noise is me hurling. Why are those guys dressed like the United Nations of sports teams? Also, um, gross, why were they popular? And the best question of all is WHY do I know the lyrics to their songs? My awesome sister (her words) swears she does not remember this song. She is 26. She needs to be schooled in bad music.