Bragging

So this past weekend was the annual Youth Olympics Track and Field Events and it was so much fun! This was the second year of my Ryan being involved. A Brief History:
*Youth Olympics is a three week long event held every year for the past 30+ years in our Stake.
*All youth ages 14-18 are eligible to compete.
*Events vary from chess, bike racing, public speaking, scholastics, racquetball, table tennis, volleyball, Fine Arts (a talent show), cooking, sewing, woodworking, sculpture, drawing, photography, track and field events, etc. Just about anything a person can be talented in they can display plus they have the opportunity to try something they may have never done.
*I did it when I was a young whipper-snapper but for some reason I think it's almost more fun to watch the kids participate now (I don't have to fret about hitting the dang volleyball when I'm awkward and 15 and have too many arms and legs).
*It is a lot of work for the event coordinators and the leaders but it is so much fun, the kids are so supportive of each other, even across ward boundaries.

So anyways, back to Track and Field. When I was a kid it was my least favorite event but now that I'm married to the fastest man alive, it is pretty interesting. Thanks to the event they tack onto the end of the Track and Field event, my sweetie gets to sprint and everyone stops and stares as he goes flying down the track. For the past couple of years they have done a "Leader Relay Race" and I think it is for this event that my sweetie is the YM President (that plus all of his wonderful leadership skills). A member of the bishopric has to run anchor and there have to be 2 men and 2 women each running 100m, preferably they are to be YM and YW leaders. Betty Merrill, Meggan Neilson, my Ryan, and Bishop McDowell ran for our team. It was a fantastic race, Betty did great, all the runners were about even when she handed it off to Meggan and Meggan was very fast with her long legs she was ahead when she handed it off to my Ryan who was like a rocket, he was amazing, I love watching him run. We had a very big lead when he handed it off to Bishop who chugged across the finish line well ahead of the Manistee Ranch team. It was so fun! People asked me what teams were next and other details but I had no idea, I watched Ryan, then I watched Bishop, then I started watching Ryan again and totally ignored the rest of the race. I like him. Amanda videoed it and I'll see if I can post it but I think I can find a picture. . .
One more thing, they have a 2 mile race that anyone can run in, even old folks and so I "ran" that race with Amanda. Well, she ran it then she came back and "ran" with me the last 1/2 mile. But I finished the race and I wasn't last and I'm not nearly as sore anymore. (I'm NOT in shape, but I'm resolved to fix that)

Congratulations to the Stevensons

Congratulations on your new baby boy Kirsti and Brad! We are glad everything went well :) We love you!

Holey Rusted Metal Batman!

Who knows why it took me so long to figure out that this poor old water heater was completely rusted out and leaking? To be fair to me, on the other side of the wall sits the washer that has historically not loved to drain so I thought the flooding was due to all the laundry. However, I eventually did figure it out and we had to get a new one (yeah). My genius hubby said he wanted to get a tankless one though so I had a feeling it was going to be difficult but it sounded like a good idea to me. So he did his research and found just the right one and it was on Craigslist for a good deal so he got it and now look at our nifty water heater, it is so small! But we took a nice long well deserved (after crawling around in the attic) shower after the installation was complete (at 11:30pm - way past our bedtime) and it was so very nice. Ahhh. . . how spoiled am I to get hot water, a comfy house and a genius darling husband who can do all this fancy stuff for us? Major thanks have to go out to Terry and Kurt Hess for their help, and minor thanks to Justin for his.

Interview Me

Here are my answers Machelle :) If any of my lovely blog readers want me to interview them, send me your email (unless I already have it) and I'll send you questions.

1.)What is the weirdest thing you have EVER done to impress someone when you were young and... "cough" old?
When I was young. . . maybe it was that I ate orange peels, maybe I've blocked out all the really weird things because I'm sure there were many much of those. Now that I'm old it's probably what I did a couple of weeks ago, for a Holiday White Elephant gift I got a pair of red tights with silver snowflakes on them, so I put them on after church one Sunday along with a pair of black shorts and a green shirt. . boy was I one hot mama, I had almost finished laughing at myself in the mirror when Ryan came in and looked at me and whatever serious thing he wanted to talk about was muffled in mocking laughter. I still wore the outfit all day and he secretly loved it. So now whenever he is getting frisky I just ask if he'd like me to go slip into my snowflake stockings. . .
2.)What is the grossest thing you would eat for $100.00, and swallow it?
I'd probably eat just about anything, I've got a strong stomach plus I'm so poor!!
3.)Who would want you to interview the most in the whole world?
One of the 12 apostles, they all seem so very nice and I'm sure it would be a lovely conversation. They probably have tons of neat stories to tell.
4.)If you were given a genie in a bottle what would your three wishes be?
New kitchen cabinets and countertops, always clean bathrooms, and kids that fight LESS (let's be reasonable people).
5.) What was the saddest moment in your life?
See, now that one is a bit personal, but it was when my sister got divorced.

Smile Pretty

We attempted a Livingstone family photo shoot while all the kids were in town over the holidays.

I think the pictures turned out very nicely considering they were taken New Years Day and many of the models had been out partying like it was 1999 all night! Rock On!

I won this cake at a service auction in our ward (RS Rocks!). Heather Simmons made it, she's super talented :)
And here it is in sepia tones because I think it looks nice, plus it took me silly long to figure out how to switch my new camera back to normal after Ryan fiddled with my Christmas present from my nice smelling sister Lindsey and my ruggedly good looking BIL David.

Jeffey is going to love it.

Happy Birthday!

My sweet Jefferson is turning 9 in about an hour and a half! Yikes! When asked what he wanted his birthday cake to say this year, he said, "Happy Birthday Jeff, now you're a Bear." He LOVES Cub Scouts. So here's a birthday tribute to my darling boy.

Happy Birthday Jeff!