Excited for the NEW YEAR!!

I don't know about you...but I am SO excited for the new year. 2009 was a tough one...and I'm very excited to move on from this past year.

Here are the top 10 reasons I am excited for the New Year...

10. Lucy, my little lover, FINALLY gets to start Kindergarten! This would be on the top of the list...but its Kindergarten...still a huge pain in the butt with the whole half day business. Next year...1st grade will make the top of the list for sure!

9. Kaibo is going to start either running, biking, swimming, rugby, soccer, baseball...SOMETHING! I am bound and determined to get that boy out and interested in something this year. Maybe get him to do a sprint tri!

8. Zoe will be hopefully getting her back tuck this year. That girl is stronger than she knows what to do with. She is so athletic...maybe get her doing a tri this year too!

7. I get to finally start my business/club/race idea! I have a website...but nothing built yet. I will have more time to get it going past the new year and am SO excited! More to come on this later!

6. Going to train and do an ULTRA relay this year! This is going to be tough...but DANGIT I want to do it!

5. I'm going to try to ski again this year. Its been a few years...but no time like the present.

4. I get to go to school full time starting the new year... Which means....

3. I will be graduating and will be a Master Esthetician in 2010!

2. I will finally be working in either a medical spa or hopefully for a plastic surgeon this year and can start my new career.

1. Doing my FIRST HALF IRONMAN!!!

Wait...is that really going to be the highlight of my 2010? Ok...so they may not be in order. Basically I'm really excited to get moving on with my life...wrap things up at my old job...get going to school full time...graduate...start working...play with my kids like crazy...and TRAIN like a mutha!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's Finally Over!

Christmas is OVER! Sorry to sound like a scrooge...but I am so glad to get the year moving on for a few reasons. I didn't get to have my kids with me this year during Christmas. I got to have them for 5 hours on Christmas eve and had to have them promptly back to their dads by 7 for a "family" party they had to get to. Interesting thing was that come to find out...it was some of MY "family". Huh...weird! Another story for another day:)

I really tried to maintain the attitude of "its just another day" so that I wouldn't get sad or feel sorry for myself not being with the kids. It was tough waking up on Christmas morning and not opening presents with them or doing the whole Santa Claus thing the night before...setting out milk cookies...and then seeing how crazily excited they were for what Santa brought them. That makes me sad that I missed that...but know that they had a great Christmas all the same. So at the end of the day it isn't about what I missed as much as if the kids still had a great day and just got to be kids.

I had a great day regardless. SO much yummy food at two different stops. Oh gosh...I love food! We also got to see the Hess family Christmas video which was hilarious as usual...even my best best friend Neil made an appearance!

The days to follow were so relaxing and nice I didn't want them to end! I went on a fantastic trail run with Shaun and Ziggy. It was beautiful, sunny, snowy, and bright! Ziggy was treating me like I was a sheep, herding me right up the mountain. She was RIGHT on my heels and wouldn't pass me. I loved the company since Shaun is much too fast and just leaves ya in the dust...always circles back around of course to make sure you're alive...but pretty much super fast.

Now back to life...work...school...and my most favorite cutest kiddos!

Family Progressive Dinner

Every year my family does a Christmas progressive dinner. We start at one house with appetizers, have a little program or talent by that family and then move to the next house for soup...salad...you get the picture. We had our annual progressive dinner last night and it was a hit! It was so fun to see everyone's festive houses all decorated...although when it comes to me and my sisters Christmas trees...when you've seen one, you've seen em all (Taipan decor)!

We had SO much food that by the time we got to the main course...no one was eating. We had a few games along the way...one that resulted in a 15 way tie. It was a pretty easy game apparently:) So my crazy sister decided that there was only one way to determine the winner....DANCE OFF! Which was to be judged by my 87 year old hip grandma. We also had our special guest Neil (33 year old cute as a bear autistic friend) who would be competing. For his solo, he did a few pelvic thrusts right at my grandma...oh it was fancy! She was laughing so hard she was crying. My dad pulled off a few awesome moves as well. I'm talking flash dance/footloose style! After a long battle of dancing to the death... the winner was Heather and Neil as a team. They won a pair of awesome holiday socks...which they determined they would just take turns wearing since Neil does reside in Heathers basement.

At my house for our talent, Zoe and Lucy did a few magnificent tumbling passes. Zoe showed off her roundoff back handspring that she will be doing at her performance tonight. Kai had a temporary moment of Christmas Kai (when Kai turns into a completely different kid...probably due to the overstimulation of sugar and fun during the holidays.). But all in all...it was fantastic! Can't wait for next year!

Ugly Sweaters Galore!

We had a first annual Ugly Sweater Party this past Saturday night. Oh it was a good one! We had lots of our friends come over to Shaun's..the requirement was to wear an ugly Christmas sweater. My mom has a plethera of holiday sweaters...none really were that ugly though...just more festive than anything. Cody and Nicholle had some pretty dang good ones...Cody's had a sweater that sported a pair of pom poms that tied at the neck...oh gosh that was good! Nicholle even had a tole painted wood necklace to top off her holiday outfit. And Shaun was the official "mistletoe tester". Well at least that's what his shirt said. We had SO much yummy holiday food...and so many laughs that night. So glad I have such good friends!

I actually got in a lottery!?

So...if you know me and my luck with getting in a race that has a lottery...its pretty bad. In fact so bad that I can say that there is not a single race that I have actually got in that has a lottery. But it looks like the race gods are smiling down on me now...because I actually got into a race with a lottery! The Canyonlands half marathon in Moab. We are going to head down with a group of our friends...Cody Nicholle, Carol, Pedro, Shaun, and Lisa. Its going to be a good one. I am going to try to set a time goal of under 2 hours. And since I havent been running AT ALL lately it will be a lofty goal to meet. I'm excited to have something to start training for again...and good friends to train with.
I'll be posting my progress along the way!