My Reality... Flashback.

I was reading an old blog... and came across a post from 2010 with 10 bullet points about my life. 

In the last 3 years, not much has changed... except maybe the comment at the end of #10... I have not desire to be a swimsuit model.  I think I'm finally past the image issue and just want HEALTH, and I'm pretty sure I'm closer to health than most models!

Oh, and yes... I STILL listen to Limp Bizkit.


1. I'm not exactly a swimsuit model.
2. I never ever make my bed in the morning, even when my husband isn't still in it.
3. I love a clean house, but hate cleaning.
4. My kids do not take a bath everyday. Recently, I've struggled to get Ryan more than one a week.
5. I yell at my kids.  More than they deserve
6. Sometimes, I listen to "Angry" music, just to feel normal. (Limp Bizkit "Break Stuff" is a favorite.)
7. I have to talk myself out of a panic every time I let myself think about a natural disaster and how I would get to my kids.  One of many irrational fears that sometimes threaten to engulf me. 
8. I never wanted to be a mom, Evan was a complete surprise, Ryan was planned at my husband's pleading. And now that I can't have more children, I cry when people talk about being pregnant.  People need to stop asking about "when we're having our next one". 
9.  I really really want to be a "stay at home: mom, even though I know it would make me crazy.
10. Even with all of the above, and so much more that remains inside, I love my life.  I love my family, and I wouldn't really change anything... except maybe the swimsuit model part. 

Stage 4

Have I ever mentioned how much I love cycling? 

 

It's such a fun sport to watch... especially in person!

 

This year the Tour of Utah started out down south, and we weren't able to go to the first few stages, but last night's Circuit Stage TOTALLY made up for it! 

 

The boys and I road the train up to downtown and met Mark... then we hiked up the hill to the Capital and stood just past the start line against the gates. 

 

And this is what we saw...

 

At this point, all pictures turned into blurry close ups of "IN YOUR FACE riders" and even though my camera was just resting on the gate, I had to move it back because they were riding within INCHES of us. 

 

After the start, we walked a little further down the circuit to catch them come around again.

After that, we went further down and found a nice spot of curb to wait the 5 or so minutes it would take them to come around for lap two.  The boys had gotten some noise makers, and had a blast playing around with them.

 



 

HERE THEY COME!!!

 



Lap 3... from a different spot again!

 

This time, there was a break-away...

 



 

And Evan and I started cheering like fools when we realized that the blue helmet toward the back was none other than one of our FAVORITE riders, Jens Voight...

 



And here comes the peloton...

 



 

Lap 4...

 



And finally, lap 5... under the Eagle's Gate!

 



 

And we're off to watch Stage 5... the Queen Stage with Aunt Sara!

Summer "Car" Wash

Yesterday morning, the boys spent a good hour running a driveway "car" wash.

 

It all started when we used the wagon to haul weeds and dead flowers to the recycle bin.

And that, of course, got the wagon very dirty... so it had to be cleaned. 

 

 

And after it was scrubbed, they washed all the bikes, the scooters... anything they could find in the garage.

 

 

And after a morning of listening to them argue with each other, the collaborative imaginative play was a HUGE relief! 

 

 

Crack Pretzels

Don't make the mistake I made.  Don't sit down next to a plate full of these. 

 

I saw a recipe on Pinterest that was for Cinnamon Pretzels, which sounded good.

 

But, ummm... I didn't make those.

 

See, I made several cinnamon themed items recently, and I wanted something salty sweet.

 

So, I had some brown sugar that had gone hard, about 1/3 of a cup, so I put that in a sauce pan with about 2/3 of a stick of butter (it's what was on the butter dish... I eyeballed it), about 1/3 of a cup of granulated sugar and a good healthy dash of vanilla. 

 

I cooked that on low until if formed a nice thick caramelly mess.  Then I dumped in about 3 cups of pretzels and thossed them really well.

 

After that, I spread them into a single layer on a cookie sheet and put them on the bottom rack of the oven while I baked cookies at 350 for the duration of two trays of cookies... so about 24-30 mins. 

 

I am soooooooo good at writing down EXACT recipes, aren't I?

 

No matter.  I don't think you can really screw this up.

 

Unless you sit down at the table next to the still warm plate of them.

 

And then that's really just screwing up your diet.

 

For Christmas, I think I'll add some pecans or almonds.