Chocolate? Yes, Please!!

How far would you run if you knew this was waiting for you at the end?

Chocolate Fountain

...AND if it's cold outside, this also welcomes you: 

Hot Chocolate - YUM!

In just a matter of one month, I will be running my next 5K with my running partner, Rebecca. I suppose running 3.1 miles isn't so bad when you've got chocolatey treats waiting for you at the end. Hot Chocolate 5K here we come! Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. I mean, come on, who would say no to this scrumptious treat?! ;)

I survived...

I survived my first 5K and had a blast in the process. I ran with three other ladies but Rebecca was my "running partner". This was the first 5K for both of us and we both had so much fun running together. The day was sunny and hot with lots and lots of color.

We ran The Color Run in ABQ. It's a 5K race that has 6 stations of color throughout the race. As you run through each of these stations, the color squad throws powdered color all over you. As you continue through the race, you become more and more colorful. At the end of the race there is a HUGE party where everyone throws color up into the air and you get even more on you as it falls. It's a lot of fun!

Enjoy:

Rebecca and Me - Before the race

Our Running Team (Before) - Me, Sarah, Rebecca, and Martina

Let the Color Party Begin...

Colored Chaos!

Ready, set....go! (Rebecca, Martina, Sarah, Me)

Yahoooo! We did it!!! (Rebecca, Martina, Sarah, Me)

Running Partners (Me, Rebecca) - What a fun accomplishment!

Spoiled...Spa Day

Ahhh, a spa day! I was so excited to get pampered. Here are some pictures of my glorious morning of getting pampered by the ones I love. :)

Some might assume the place I went to get pampered at was this:

A beautiful, relaxing environment...

That might be how I felt but this is more of what my pampered day looked like: 

Spa Crew: Isla, Simon, and Solomon

A little bit of makeup (on the eyes, of course) by Isla, blow-drying by Solomon and combing by Simon

Lots and lots...and I mean loooooooots of giggles

In action picture - the kids concentrating on Mama's hair

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhh, I love spa days!

Sometimes people are just too serious...

Sometimes people are just too serious...those people should hang out with us on a daily basis.

A whole lot of CrAzInEsS going on!!!

We Love LaLa

We couldn't get ahold of Lais to talk to her and the kids reeeaaalllly wanted to talked to her. Instead, we made her a special message with some paper and crayons. Here are some pictures of the kids' artistic way of saying "We love you to the moon and back, LaLa!"

Simon "We", Isla "Love", Solomon "LaLa"

Masterpiece

Three awesome reasons...

These are the three awesome reasons I love my job. Every. Single. Day.

Simon, Solomon, Isla - Three Reasons I Love My Job

The Road Vs. Me

So, surprise! I'm training to run a 5k with my friend Rebecca. The event is August 25th! The training has been going great...or, it was. I ran into a little snag (no pun intended) yesterday while on my run which definitely made for an interesting day. Let's just say it was the road vs me and the road won...

My Awful Morning:

I woke up extra early to get out and run in the morning (usually run at night). I was running at a good pace and felt great so I decided to kick it up a notch and run faster. Bad idea. (Such a bad, bad, baaad idea.) I got 1 mile from the house when...whoa, there I go. Without any warning (and not really sure what happened), my left knee slams into the ground, my right knee and both hands land a second later and my hands bounce (yes, I did write BOUCE) just to hit the asphalt again and when things couldn't get any worse, they slide and my right elbow meets the ground too. For whatever reason, I jumped up as quickly as I fell and just when I put my weight onto my left leg, I collapsed. I couldn't put ANY weight on my leg. What to do? What to do? Well, I sobbed (like a baby). Alone. On the street.

I am that runner that comes prepared so I pulled out my cell phone and called the house (in between sobs). I hadn't been gone that long and Ben said he knew something was wrong when he heard the phone. He was my hero that morning. He drove down the road to pick me up and as he arrived, he could see my fall wasn't a tiny one. Lots of blood. Lots.

I did eventually go to Urgent Care when the pain in my hand just didn't feel right.  They took x-rays of my hand and said it wasn't broken, cleaned up my hand some more, and sent me home with wound care instructions. After all, I lost all three layers of skin so I have weeks of wound care ahead of me. Nasty road rash.

I got home and Ben was just leaving for work when Urgent Care calls. "We're so sorry to bother you at home but you need to come back immediately. We just got a call from the radiologist that reviewed your x-ray and there's a foreign body in your hand next to your bone. If you don't come back soon, you will get a horrible infection." Grrrrr. We had no one to help us with the kids so Ben had to stay home while I ran off to Urgent Care again. Sigh.

Now for those that have sensitive stomachs. STOP READING. (Pete, I'm talking to you!)

The doctor began the process of removing the rock and he dug for quite a while. The nurse had to excuse herself from the room since she was feeling faint. The sound of the large tweezers and scalpel hitting the rock was similar to nails on a chalkboard. Five minutes of digging, lots of blood, and with a huge tug, the rock came out and I instantly felt relief from the pressure the rock had put on my hand. YAY! My friend is goooone!

Here's a picture of the rock. While it might look tiny (that's what Simon said) it was 1/4 inch wide and 1 inch deep into my hand. The incision is 1/2 inch wide on the inside of my hand and I'm missing all three layers of skin so I have a while before my hand will be back to normal. In the meantime, I saved the rock to show the kids (and Ben). (Although, this might have confused Simon because he found a rock on the floor that night and tried shoving it into the top of my hand while saying, "Rocks go into Mommy's hand." Um, not so much! Ouch!)

My pesky "friend", the rock

Play Dough and Puzzles

Play Dough and Puzzles....

We love to put our floor puzzle together and rip it apart as soon as it's completed. Here are some pictures of us helping Uncle Paul and Aunt Lucille put it together.

We love play dough. Now that we have these nice craft mats, Mommy lets us play with it more often. She says it's not as messy anymore. We love to make pies, pizza, animals, and crazy balls with our play dough and we really like to use the special cutting tools, etc. to make fun play dough foods. Here are some pictures of our play dough craft time with Aunt Lucille and Uncle Paul.

Uncle Paul even helped Simon learn a new game - Chutes and Ladders!!

"O is for Oregon" a book written by kids for kids

"O is for Oregon" has become a popular book in our house. Lucille and Paul brought it as a gift for the kids. (Thank you!) Here are a couple pictures of Lucille reading it to them.

In the evening...

...and first thing in the morning...

Ballet

It looks like ballet might be in our near future. Here's Isla with Aunt Lucille. Isla is wearing Adelle's (my cousin's daughter) old ballet costume. Mind you, this was literally 1 minute after Lucille pulled it out of the bag. She was just so excited that she couldn't wait to wear it. She LOVES it!

Thank you, Remi, Kristen, and Adelle!!

Nice Ride....

Nice Ride...what kind of engine does it have?

The kids at the park admiring this little guy's four wheeler

What does a 3 year old well-child check-up look like???

3 year old well child check-up:

That's a whole lot of baby:

Puddle Jumpers

When you live in the desert and it doesn't rain that often, you don't get the chance to jump in puddles. I grew up jumping in the puddles outside with my best friend, Sarah. We would get soaked but it was so fun! Great memories!

Today, I took my kids to the park and they found a puddle. A very tiny one. It didn't matter to them - they jumped, laughed, sat down, rolled around, and got soaked from head to toe. Yes, I could have stopped it but kids can be kids. I only put my foot down when Solomon and Isla decided to take their clothes and undies off too. Yep. Two of the three trying to become naked baby puddle jumpers. Don't worry, I didn't allow that to happen. :)

Stress....Argh!

I've always been a worry wart but I never knew how stressed I could REALLY get...now I do. I went through a tremendous amount of stress late June, early July and ended up having some heart issues. Yep. You read that right. HEART ISSUES. Irregular heart beat...I'm talking serious heart palpitations. Ugh. Anyway, as we speak (um, well...as you read) I am doing fine and awaiting test results (which I'm assuming are normal since I haven't heard anything yet). The long, boring story of what started this trouble will come later once I know my new security levels are working as they should for this blog. ;) Meantime, my palpitations have stopped in the last week and a half. PTL! Anyway, for those reading this that are also worry warts - no, it has nothing to do with my marriage (we're still lovebirds), the kids are doing fabulous, and NO...I'm not pregnant, Ben's job is great, etc. Hmmm, I think that should do it. Anyway, here's a pic of my latest fashion statement - a holter monitor...sassy, I know! ;)

Security Issue

To My Precious Blog Followers,

I had to add security to my blog. I've had a little bit of an issue come up (won't go into details here) so I needed to lock down my blog to certain people so it's not open to the public anymore. Not everyone in the world needs the details of our everyday life. If I am missing a friend, family member etc. that wants access, please email me. With the limited time I had to lock it down, I'm positive I accidentally left someone out. :/

Stay tuned for my "catch up" on the month of July. (Eek - I'm so far behind!!) You'll soon find out why...Don't you just love a cliff hanger? Feeling the suspense???...

Thanks for understanding!
Alicia

Remembering God's Promises

Beautiful moments like these you don't want to miss. The kids just stood there in awe as they watched the rainbow in the sky. As quickly as it appeared, it disappeared. What a great reminder of God's great promises.

Preschool Days at Home

I've started doing preschool at home with the kids. They are really enjoying it and I am too. Here are some pictures of our recent preschool days together.

This is the Day

This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Isla describing the beautiful sky God made for us today: