Lagoon

On Saturday we had a mini Proctor Family reunion at Lagoon. Mark and Sue planned it and it was a TON of fun. They took their trailor and camped out at the KOA and then the Skinners, the Curtis', and Mike and I met them up their Saturday morning. Having the trailor up there was way nice because it gave us a place to go to eat lunch and dinner without having to eat the way overpriced, greasy food you normally find up at Lagoon.

We were at the gates right when they opened, and rather then heading to the popular rides (like Wicked) first off, we went on some rides the older boys would enjoy and they LOVED it! After 2 or 3 of these, we made our way to the kids area where there would be some rides that Little Man and his little cousins could enjoy. This is the first ride they went on. Little Man loved it! He loved the stearing wheel, the new experience, and then the ride started.

Once the ride started, Little Man wanted OFF! The whole time the ride was going around all you could hear was Little Man crying. Once the ride stopped, I was able to go into the gate to get him, but for the little kid rides, the seatbelts need to be unlocked with a key (which is good so that little kids don't unlock them up in the air! He didn't understand why I wasn't getting him out of the ride right away. :( Poor guy, he started off not having a good experience on the rides. He cried on the carousel when he was on the horse that moved up and down. Sue did find when she took him on the carousel later that he was ok if the horse didn't move up and down. He liked feeling in control.

If I was able to get him on rides, he was ok until they started, enjoying playing with whatever item they had on them. But once they started....By the time we went on the ferris wheel, Little Man was exhausted. He wouldn't sit in the seat next to either Mike or I. He wouldn't look out at the view (we did notice that there were so many people there that they were parking cars in the field to the north of Lagoon) and he just snuggled against me. I think it was around this time we decided to call a break for lunch. Seriously, having a place to go was NICE! As we were walking back into the park from lunch we stopped by the fence right under Wicked and watched a couple of the cars as the people took the plunge towards the earth. We all laughed. I am sure that when Amanda, Cameron, and I rode Wicked later, our faces had the same look on them! That look that says the person doesn't know whether or not to be thrilled or terrified for their life!
We truly enjoyed getting to hang out with family and see the older boys discover what Lagoon was all about. The older 2 joined us on the white roller coaster, and for those of you who don't know, it is an EXTREME ride! Just beware! After the white roller coaster there was no way that we could get them on Wicked with us, although, they did ride Spider and seemed to like it. It also was extreme! But the Centennial Screamer is not extreme. Just ask the older 2 boys if you want to know which rides are good to ride on. :)
Although it was fun going on rides and seeing the exploration, and seeing Rosie get soaking wet in Rattlesnake Rapids, one of my favorite moments? Watching all the little cousins play tag with each other while the older boys were riding the Bat! Why didn't I take a picture of it? I don't know, but I did snap this picture after the game of tag. You might ask if Little Man cried all day long? No, he really didn't. When he wasn't riding rides, he was fine and was having fun. But he didn't get a very long nap and it was a long day in the sun and he was tired! But, he is never too tired to steal Grandpas hat!
Lagoon was really a lot of fun. I hope that the next time we have the opportunity to go the rides will not scare Little Man as much and he will find it to be even a more enjoyable experience.

The Half Marathon

A couple of months ago, Rosie told me she was doing the Utah Valley 1/2 Marathon and invited me to participate with her. I seriously thought about it for a few weeks, and then decided, why not? I had waited so long to register that it had sold out and I had to register by signing up for a team. I was a team of one. Yeah me!

As luck would have it, right before the marathon on Saturday, Rosie got sick and was unable to participate. Because of sickness, weather, and the fact that we both had small children, neither of us ended up getting much (OK none at all) training in. We had decided that we were going to go for it anyway and then Rosie had to bow out. The night before I was desperately trying to find somebody to walk that distance with me. My dad saved the day and decided to join me, although he was less than excited about the 3 AM wakeup call.

Saturday morning, June 11th, 3 am rolled around much faster than desirable. I rolled out of bed, got dressed, put on my 5 Fingers and headed out. My dad and I drove down to the Provo Mall where we got on one of many school buses and headed up the canyon. All you saw in front of our bus were more buses. Seriously, who else would be up at such a crazy time of day?

At about 4:40ish AM, we got off the bus to a nice little area with fires lit all over. Let me just say that the amount of fires they had did not match for the thousands of people that were there and it was COLD!
I have to admit, I am a people watcher and I love watching large gatherings of people. I tried to keep myself warm and watched all the people around us. After I got tired of standing, and not about to sit in the weeds, I made my way over to the guard rail and continued my people watching as I played Angry Birds. Seriously, why is that game so addicting?

This is me trying to stay warm before the start of the race

About 30 minutes to the start of the race there was a mass exodus down toward the starting line. There were so many people. There were volunteers reminding everybody that the race was going to start on time and to please make your way to the starting line. When the race started I would hazard to guess that we were about 1/8 - 1/4th of a mile from the actual starting line, in the mass of people moving forward. My favorite part of the start? The volunteer stating, "Please make sure that you get credit for this race, make sure your racing bibs are exposed, whatever you have to do to do that," over and over again as everybody crossed over the starting line. I crossed over at 6:03 AM.

Photo courtesy of the Daily Herald

As we started, my dad and I were making pretty good time. We were averaging about 4 miles an hour and we were staying up with all of the other walkers. Not so bad. Then, my shoes started giving out. Not good. Meaning that my feet were not as broken into my Vibrams as I thought they were. By about a mile and a 1/2 the balls of my feet started to burn. Oh pain. I started to walk on the outside of my feet just to give the balls a little bit of a break. By mile 3 I didn't know how I was going to finish the next 10 miles. I tried to call Mike to see if he would bring me some different shoes. No answer. I got a hold of my sister who met me at Canyon Glen (mile 5ish) where I changed my Vibrams for my good ol' broken in Merrils (also not walking shoes really) and I was good to start again. My feet still hurt, but not as bad as before. That would change, trust me.

Mile 3 was the first time I wanted to quit. Mile 5, the marathoners started to pass me. Mile 8, I wanted to quit, but just kept telling myself, it is only 5 more miles. Mile 9, my dad started stopping a lot to stretch his legs. He was having a hard time. I would stop with him, but it was so painful to start walking again. Mike and Little Man drove past me. They stopped with traffic, I passed them, they passed me. I spent about 5 minutes almost catching up to them as they inched their way forward, then they were gone. I guess the whole time, Little Man was yelling at Mike to stop because they just drove past me.

Mile 9 1/2, I tried jogging, but my feet seriously felt like they were just wooden blocks attached to the end of my legs. Mile 10, my dad stopped but told me to keep going. I kept turning around and watching for him (I was a bit worried about him.) I would see him walking behind me, then stopping, then walking until I couldn't see him anymore.

I called my dad at about mile 10 1/2 and asked him how he was doing. I was willing to stop and wait for him if needed, but he told my that my mom was on her way to pick him up. I stopped worrying and kept walking. Mile 12 (only 1.1 miles left!) I seriously wanted to stop. The only thing that kept me going was the thought of how much I would regret it if I got so close and didn't finish. I kept moving. I was seriously hobbling at this point. I called my mom to see if she had my dad yet. Nope, she didn't anticipate the horrible traffic situation and was seriously a couple of miles away. I tried calling my dad, his phone had died and it went straight to voicemail.

At 500 North (only 5 more blocks, I can DO this!) Mike called me. He and Little Man were parked and working their way toward me. We met up at 200 North. Mike and Little Man joined me to walk to the end until the crowd at the finish line got way to big and they dropped off. Here are a couple of pictures of me as I am coming up on the finish line. I don't know if you can tell how tired I am. Training would have been smart. I don't know if I would have made a good pioneer. :)

In the act of finishing the race, we lost my dad. He apparently finished as I was working my way out of the crowed to try to see if I could find him in the racers that were still coming in. We passed like ships in the night and didn't even see each other. We spent about an hour and a half looking for him (mostly Mike because the longer I went without moving a ton the less I was able to move) and never found him. In the meantime, he was passed out on the County Courthouse stairs with a dead phone. We are glad he was ok, but sad he had to walk a couple of blocks further to find somebody to drive him to his car.

I am glad I finished this race. I might have been one of the very last people to come in from the 1/2 marathon and about half of the marathoners finished before me, but I FINISHED! It was such a feeling of accomplishement walking over that finishing line. I don't know if I could have done it if it hadn't been for the following:

1 - All the people sitting along the route watching for their loved ones and shouting encouragement (You're doing good! You're Almost done!)

2 - All the marathoners who would encourage me as they passed me. Seriously, they were running further than I was walking and they took the time to encourage me. It was greatly appreciated and greatly needed.

3 - Mike & Little Man walking the last 2 blocks with me. Seriously needed that.

4 - The emotion of all the people at the finishing line cheering everybody in. Having some friends there also that called out to me by name. Awesome.

5 - Sheer determination and will power, coupled with the thought that I would be SO disappointed in myself if I didn't finish.

I paid the price. I hobbled Sunday but my body has forgiven me (except for the numerous blisters that abound on my feet, they are still there) and for the most part I feel back to my normal self. If, and that is a big IF, I ever do a half marathon again, I will train for it. Even if I only plan on walking, I have learned that I need to be training to walk that far. Our bodies are amazing gifts and can do amazing things, but would do better with a little more preperation. :)

Even though Rosie wasn't able to do the race with me, I thank her for asking me so many months ago if I wanted to do it with her. Now I know I can. :)

How many...

...shampoos does it take to get Vaseline out hair?Ten wasn't enough. Somebody sported the slicked back hair style that was popular in the 30's all day today. The 11th shampoo (with liquid dish soap) appears to have done the job!

Wow, I should have learned from other people's experiences that when Little Man is quiet, I should investigate. The best part? I was 7 feet away with my back turned, washing dishes. Yep. He did this all where if I had just turned around I could have stopped it sooner!

Just in Case...

...You thought April Fool's Day was on Friday, Mother Nature proved you wrong today. This is what we woke up to in Utah. It is really pretty, but I am missing the 60 degree weather that we had last week where I was mostly at work and cooped up on a building.
On the bright side, my plants are doing wonderful! I have moved my lettuce, spinach, and onions out to the green house to toughen up a little bit before I put them in the garden. After seeing outside this morning, I am glad that I didn't put them in the garden yesterday like I had wanted to. If I hadn't had to work, they probably would have gone in! So, be thankful I had to work on a Saturday. :) The plants that I still have inside are doing great! Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy. {grin}

I love spring! It is seriously my favorite time of the year!

Big Happenings

The last 2 weeks has been quite the adventure around here. It started off some trauma. E got a little bit of a diaper rash. I was in a rush as E was not having a good night and after his bath, in desperation because I couldn't find my bag balm (seriously the best for diaper rash) I used Vaseline. The next morning, everywhere I had put the Vaseline was bright red. It was 100 times worse than the diaper rash the night before. On the bright side, it didn't appear to hurt Little Man but it looked horrible. After a few days, it was not getting any better. I finally found my bag balm (we had purchased another product to use in the meantime.

After the weekend, it appeared to be getting better, ever so slowly, but there was improvement, until one day it was worse again. I called my doctor and got an appointment to take Little Man in. They thought it might be a yeast infection so we picked up a prescription and applied it for the next couple of days. No such luck. Instead of getting better, it got worse. After a call to the doctor they sent a prescription for a diaper rash ointment. This is an ointment put together by one of the doctors in the office and everybody swears by it. I guess there are mothers that ask for it and use it for any diaper rash. Well, we got it for Little Man and used it Friday night and Saturday morning. Did it make him better? No. It got much worse.

Poor little man got blisters on his behind. We don't know what caused it, we just know that diaper changes got very traumatic for him and diaper wipes went by the wayside for a little bit. I hope to never see anything that horrible again. It looked painful and Little Man started to freak out if he thought you were going to change his diaper. It was awful. We are so thankful that it is so much better now. In the last week there has been much needed healing that has happened on his little bottom.

Somewhere in the midst of this trauma, bedtime became a fight. Anytime we put Little Man to bed there was kicking and screaming, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. However, if we took his mattress out of the crib and laid it on the floor, he did fine. We were on the lookout for a toddler bed that wouldn't cost very much when our good Sis Rosie suggested we just convert the crib. Miracle of miracles. We took the drop side off and wala, a toddler bed! Little Man loved it! He loves running and climbing up on his very own bed, and for the most part, has done very good. He has only fallen out of the bed once (at 2:30 in the AM) and with a little comfort and love from Momma was good to go back to sleep.

However, our bedtime ritual has changed dramatically. We used to get ready for bed, read a story, lay down, hug glow-worm or sprocket (his teddy bear) roll over and go to sleep (until the kicking and screaming that happened earlier that is.) Now, we have the same routine, but it has stretched out, because instead of actually going to sleep, once we leave the room, somebody quietly slips out of bed and follows us. E has figured out that he would rather have Daddy find him first because Daddy will let him crawl up into our bed to fall asleep. This doesn't fly for me because I don't want to have my little toddler think it is ok for him to sleep in our bed. He knows that if Daddy isn't near and I see him, he has to turn around and run back to his bed. If he doesn't get into it first, Momma will pick him up and put him in.I really try the Super Nanny trick where the first 2 times you will talk and say, "E, it is time for bed. Let us go back to bed," as you take the hand and lead the little one back to bed. After that, you don't speak and just lead them back to bed. Well, somebody is still testing after almost a week how serious Momma is. Just tonight I think I have gotten up about 40-50 times while writing this post to lead (or most times) follow E back to bed. It makes for a long evening. I am smiling right now because it has been almost a minute since I have hear E slowly tiptoeing out of his room, or sliding with his tummy across the floor to see how long until Mom notices. Ah, spoke too soon, here are the whispers of slippered feet on the wood floor.I am loving to see my Little Man grow up, but it leaves an anxious pang in my heart. I remember him being so small and 100% dependent on me, but at the same time, I have trouble looking at him and thinking he was really that small. It is fun and exciting, all this watching as he explores his world and discovers fun things to do. But it is all a reminder that he is growing up. Everybody says how fast time flies when you have children and I never believed it until now. Time does fly. Yes, yes it really does.

Its about time...

...for an update. It has been way too long since I have paid any attention to this little blog of mine. Since I want it to be a record for myself, I better update it more often. Seriously! There has been a lot that has happened since I last updated. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years have all come and gone and life goes on. We had a lot of fun, and I do have pictures that documented the fun we had, but some of them are still on my other camera. Besides, with the pictures that I have right now, it may be a picture overload, but I hope you enjoy!

For Christmas, E made his presents for Grandma & Grandpa Proctor and Granny & Pappa Lewis. We got these little picture frames from one of the kid activities at Home Depot (seriously, I love them! First Sat of every month!) and E hammered on them with his toy hammer while Mike hammered on them with the real hammer. E LOVED it! Then, one night while Mike was at school, E and I painted them and E applied stickers. I learned that painting with a 15 month old is not the best idea as paint started to go into his mouth, and all over him instead of the frames. He was mad when I took the paint brush away. He was having fun! I loved that E could give presents that he made and that he had fun making them.
We went up to Temple Square twice to see the lights. The first time we went the week of Thanksgiving with my family when my sister was in town from Elko. It was COLD! We visited the planitarium and then Mike & I walked over to the Temple while everybody else rode Trax. Seriously, we got there about the same time and we didn't need to deal with taking a stroller down for the ride. A few weeks later we went back up with Amanda, Cameron, and the boys. This trip was so much fun! First, it was a lot warmer. Relief! Second, we walked down to the 2 News studio and Lyndsi Storrs gave us a tour. She used to live near Amanda and they are good friends. It was fun to see inside the studio and all the inner workings. I was glad it was warmer so we could really enjoy the lights and not be hurrying because we were freezing.

Little man loved getting out of the stroller and running around with his cousins. I love when E is able to get together with his cousins. He loves running around after them and loves watching them. This might not always be a good thing since he is into trying everything out and if he sees a cousin do something he will be trying it himself before too long. He is growing too fast!

On many mornings, you can find E and I crouched in front of my bedroom window watching this. We have a few bird feeders on our back patio and when E discovered the birds were there he LOVES watching them. I made the mistake of opening the window one day to try to get a picture and ever since then, the window has to be open for E to really enjoy his birdwatching. But look how beautiful these birds are! I love that spring is on the way!!

We have had some snafus with babysitting this week. There was sickness at the babysitter's house that we didn't want to spread. On Monday, Mike missed school and I went to work. We thought contagious periods were over by Tuesday, so we planned our normal day, but another outbreak caused me to get to stay home with Little Man a little longer. Mike has morning classes this term and so I was home with E until he got home from school. We went on a walk and had fun playing outside. I love the look he is giving in this next picture. He is so intent on whatever he is looking at.

I love it when my little guy smiles. He has such sparkle in his eyes and so much personality! Plus, he is just stinken cute! He can also be such a stinker!

E has taken to carrying our phones around saying, "Do?" That is his Hello. It is also sometimes accompanied by babble and I yearn to know what he is talking about. I love the face I captured here as he is in the middle of having his important conversation with the phone!

Somebody has learned to spit. He learned this by watching Mom & Dad spit toothpaste out into the sink when they brushed their teeth. He now has to "spit" into the sink when he brushes his teeth. He has now taken to spitting at other times also. It is something we try to stop and remind E, "We only spit into the sink," but I have to admit, it is also cute.

I cannot even tell you how happy I am to still see my baby have some baby fat cheeks. He is growing so big and so fast that he no longer looks like a baby. He looks like a little boy. I relish these chubby cheeks and can't help but to kiss them! It doesn't help that E is going through a stage where he thinks it is funny not to give you kisses anymore. If you ask for a kiss, he shakes his head no and laughs. But no worries, if he sees a dog, any dog, they get a kiss blown in their direction.

To be so young and so fascinated with this wierd flat thing coming out of the ground. He even forgot about his ball for the moment. This is the ball that he insisted on walking around the block carrying.

"Hi Mom. Whatcha doin'? I am glad you brought me outside to play! Can you put that camera thing down and come play with me?"

E loves 3 things. Balls, cars, and dogs. It doesn't matter the size of the ball, he will play with it, throw it, and carry it around. Cars, he is getting his "vroom" down. Really, it sounds more like an "mmmm" but the cars can go really fast when he makes the sound. Dogs, where do you even start. They get an automatic kiss, the finger pointing, "Do?" lean over, blow the kiss in the direction of the dog, and a squeal of laughter. He also loves his little buggy, which is a "bigger car" for him. It is a car he can sit on and scoot around rather than push around. And it sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," and "Do You Know the Muffin Man?"

Somebody is trying to get into the backyard to get their best friend, Jake. Jake got left home on our walk around the block and spent the time laying in the sun out in the backyard.

Here E is on his walk around our block. He is such a big boy, carrying that ball by himself. Heaven forbid Mom take it from him to help him out, then it is tantrum time. E is getting too good at throwing these tantrums.

At the top of our stairs we have some boxes that are waiting to go into the attic. E likes to play in these boxes, looking for treasures that will make cool toys. Last night, I heard him playing here and didn't think anything of it, until I decided to check on him to make sure he wasn't getting into mischief. Nope, he wasn't getting into mischief, he already was in mischief! Our storage flour bucket is also here. He got the lid off and there was flour everywhere! On Mike's bowling ball bag, in our box of picture frames, on our wreath from Christmas, and in our pine cones. I vacuumed about 7 cups of flour off the floor. That doesn't even cover what was on E!

E was covered! He had the little finger-sized flour patch going across his eye, flour caked onto his fingers, flour in his hair, on his clothes. He definately had fun!

"Am I in trouble?" E was trying to figure out why I was taking pictures of him. He sure made a mess for me to clean up. Listening to the vacuum, which he is scared of, was enough of a punishment for him.

After all that trouble he took to getting the flour just right, Mamma through E into the tub. But that is ok, E loves bath time! He had every single bath toy in the tub with him. He loves putting his letters on his tummy and seeing them stick! I wonder where he got that little trick from {grin}

I love my happy little boy!

And what could be better after a day of playing and mischief to see such peace? Seriously, he is the most precious blessing in our lives. Mike and I do love him a lot!

Love these!

So, 4 little men is a fun blog to read. Seriously, fun! Anyway, she is doing a give away on her blog today for some beautiful Amber jewelry. (I love amber!) If you want to check out her giveaway, go here.