Finish Basement.

Finish Basement.

Jake and I are staying home and finally completing the two-year basement finishing project this Thanksgiving weekend. More than double the house--what are we going to do with all that space?

I went out a lot this past month and I've been thinking about it and maybe it's because once the house is finished, we may just never leave the house again.

Here are some of the new rooms:

Game Geek Room

A room completely dedicated to multiple computers and gaming systems.

Here Jake is at the exact moment he reached the esteemed Level 80 on World of Warcraft last week. I may never see my husband again once this room is complete.

Jake was out of town on business all week last week (which makes his Level 80 only nine days after the expansion release all the more impressive) and got back just in time for me to go see Twilight with some of my girlfriends. Not only did he make it home on time, he brought me back a Twilight t-shirt to wear to the show. How cute is that?

Saturday I was back at the theater with Jake and the kids to see Bolt. Super-funny, by the way. I highly recommend it for all ages. I had to soak it up though because beginning next month, I introduce:

The Theater Room

For $1 at Redbox the family and all our friends can see the latest DVD release in the comfort of our own home. Why ever go to the theater again?

After Bolt on Saturday and tucking the kids snugly in bed, I took off with my friend Sue to see Coldplay in concert:

(I was sans camera and this horrible phone picture only proves we were there.)

I stole this pic from a friend who was also there. It felt more like this. The whole thing was so surreal.

The best part? Thanks to an awesome well-connected neighbor, the tickets were free! Jake was torn between my begging him to be my date and reaching Level 80 before the weekend was over. You can see from the top photo which he chose. So he will be glad when we complete:

The Home Automation Room

This room's only purpose is to house all the equipment for Jake's dream: Every song, movie, light, alarm, sprinkler and thermostat in the house at his control with the touch of a screen. Who needs to go to a concert when you can pump their music through your house with the touch of a finger?

Which may be a good thing because after amazing performances by New Kids on the Block and Coldplay, the concert addict in me has resurfaced and it could get really expensive, really fast. Secondhand Serenade at Saltair this weekend? Gary Allen in Wendover next month? Two more loves of mine--I want to see them all!

On paper my life has seemed like the life of a single gal but in reality, 90% of my day is spent with my super-cute kids or helping out at their school.

This month Taylor worked on an art project for more than 20 hours and entered it the school "Reflections" arts contest this year again. We were a little nervous she would be upset if she didn't win after winning last year at both the school level and the next level and then having her work displayed at a local museum. She didn't win this year, but was thankfully content to have the distinction of "Honorable Mention". Here she is with her super cute art piece:

Think of all the great creations she will make for next year with the completion of the:

Arts and Crafts Room

One of the bests parts about finishing the basement though I think is the kids can finally walk out a door right into our backyard to play. This should give Chase a chance to work on his soccer skills. Not that his skills this year weren't top-notch:

As seen in the middle, Chase mastered the skill of not using his hands. (I also love the little girl on the left-hand side)

This was Chase's signature move. He would lift his shirt and distract the other team with his blinding white belly. Brilliant and very effective. He used it a LOT.

But we all know sports aren't just about mastering skills and signature moves. They're also about learning the value of teamwork. Here Chase is, displaying his grasp of the concept, enthusiastically raising his hand in response to the coach asking, "Who wants to sit out of the game first?"

Here is the team photo after the last game of the season. Chase posed again with his signature move. (You can also see another teammate unsuccessfully trying to mimic the "belly flash".)

While obviously highly skilled, there were times when Chase ran around in circles outside the ball huddle. It was almost like he had two left feet. I have to take responsibility here though as this might have something to do with me accidentally bringing to the game one of his shoes... and one of Taylor's:

Chase--literally--had two left feet.

All in all though, you can see we took the season very seriously:

Meet a New Kid.

Meet a New Kid.

I love these guys.



Don't know who this is? Maybe you know them better like this:



or this:



That's right. NKOTB 4EVA!

Seriously. The Block 2008: Best concert EVER. Not even as a joke. I truly, truly, LOVE these guys.

And Jordan, my love. I hope you noticed me in my vintage 1989 t-shirt, denim skirt, hot pink leggings, and big hair. Even though they confiscated our signs:



And security kept us from storming the stage. But I hope you still saw the five of us in all of our dedicatory dayglo glory rockin' out and singing along to every word for three hours straight.

You:



Me:



I'll be loving you forever,
Michelle

Celebrate Fall.

Celebrate Fall.

I love fall. And it goes by much, much too fast. October, I love you! It's now November which, though technically is still fall, is the month where I compromise that it can snow and though I will be mad, I won't yell at it.

Here's how we spent my most favorite month of the year:

The "World Famous" David Archuleta corn maze at Cornbellys. The kids love this place. Like last year, I forgot my camera. Actually, in true Michelle form, when we arrived I realized I forgot my camera AND my wallet, so we had to drive all the way back home for them. While I did remember my wallet, I forgot the camera again the second time out the door (I admittedly have brain damage) so all we got was a cell phone pic:

I bought this cell phone off craigslist when my old phone was stolen (and probably sold right back to me). When I went to send the pic to Jake off my phone, I found some leftover goodies in the photos section from the camera's previous owner:

We also made it down to Hee Haw Farms where the kids did basically the same things as they did at Cornbellys with the addition of petting farm animals and picking their own pumpkins:

And, the best part about October (besides the 5-pound candy weight gain), tons and tons of baking and crafts. These spiders were my favorite. The kids made forts one day and to my surprise, even wanted to keep their "pet spiders" in their forts:

To end the month, we also had our annual costume party with a small group of awesome neighbor friends. Jake and I were Shaggy and Velma. (Though Jake had trouble remembering the correct names and often referred to us as "Scabby and Wilma"):

Fun. But the real stars of Halloween:

Daphne and Scooby Dooby Doo! Love these guys. It wouldn't be Halloween with out them (and their easy-to-steal candy loot).

Plant.

Plant.

Our yard has been devoid of plantlife since we moved in, now over two years ago. With Lowe's clearancing shrubs after the first snowstorm for 62 cents, I couldn't resist bringing home a truckload.

Here's a picture of my friend Cami, helping me plant the very first plant in our yard.

This was, I realized, the first time I planted anything with the intent to keep it alive. (My only other planting attempts were science projects with the kids--projects I put our on the deck to get some sun and forgot about until the following day and all that remained after the nightly wind storm was a few scattered empty science project cups. Oops.)

I loved it! It was very Zen.

Then the boys got involved in the "planting" . . .

I just wanted to plant a couple shrubs, that's all!

I should note here that Cami is the one who actually maneuvered this heavy machinery for the majority of the day. She's awesome. As are my all neighbors who helped me pull of what turned out to be a complete yard rennovation.

My yard has plants! Now let's hope we can go a couple of weeks before it's all covered in snow.

Act more normal--for the kids.

Act more normal--for the kids.

Yup, snow this weekend. One of the eight months of the year I ask myself again and again WHY I live here. I do not like cold!

The kids love it though so I took a few pictures of them enjoying this weekend's snow storm. Looking through the photos, more interesting to me than how depressingly snowy it is for my favorite season, is what a nut Chase is turning out to be. Sadly, there is no mistaking he gets this quality from me.

Check him out in this series of photos:












Hmm. Looking again it seems I may need to feed them more often too.

See the SYTYCD Live Tour.

See the SYTYCD Live Tour.

My friend Sue and I went to see our favorite SYTYCD dancers live on tour last month. I loved the show, which was no surprise, but I was surprised that my favorite part, I think, was Sue's sudden, very loud, enthusiastic and apparentally uncontrollable outburst to break the silence in the arena after her favorite dancer, Will, came on stage:
"Will I love you!!!!! Your body is so hooooooooooot!"
A classic moment.

Heal.

Heal.

You know what's not a good idea when you haven't slept in a week because you have a sinus infection and can't breathe?

About 1/4 mile into the race, I knew the best answer to that question: run a marathon.

One near-asthma attack, one panic attack, a sneezing fit, and one second degree hip flexor strain later I had made it to mile 7.

It was all I could do to limp home the last little 19 miles. Dehydrated, no less, from crying the whole way.

I'm going to go ahead and put this out there so it doesn't surface as blackmail as some crucial date later in my life. This is me, stumbling toward the finish line, six and a half hours later. If I look like I'm about to give someone the finger, or throw up, or lifelessly collapse, it's because I nearly was:

Catch up on life.

Catch up on life.

Both because I've been both super-busy and super-sick as I endure the longest and worse allergy season of my life, I haven't blogged for a month and I'm going to catch up over the next few days.

This will come as a surprise to no one, but I have a little bit of a problem saying "no". Not because I'm afraid to, but because a million different things genuinely sound fun to me. And when I say "yes", I sincerely believe I will have the time and energy to do it all. And usually, I do. Every once in a while, though, my list gets a little too long and my stress level gets a little too high for any kind of peacable feeling in our home.

Chase started preschool this year and it has been a reality check that my time with these two little kids at home is quickly slipping away. My goal this year has been to scale back on on my million activities and focus for a while on being a mom and housewife and enjoying feeling fulfilled in just that. I love being a stay at home mom and wife have no doubt I can feel fulfilled being only that. So I don't know why it has been so hard to let go of other things.

One huge step in minimizing the clutter in my life was quitting my job at the paper. Although it didn't really take that much time away from home and I enjoyed the tangible accomplishment of seeing my writing in print, the stress of deadlines (and trying to sound professional while interviewing the mayor, locked in my closet with my four-year old banging on the door and screaming my name, then realizing I didn't bring my laptop or notebook for that matter into the closet with me and thus taking notes on a shoebox with a crayon...) had its affect on my life and as a result the lives of the rest of my family. It's been five days since my last story was submitted to my editor and I already feel lighter and more at ease with my kids.

Now the challenge will be resisting the urge to say "yes" to something else (or three something-elses) to fill its place.

Chase's first day of preschool (we're a month in and he LOVES it, and I love that he loves it):

Spray house for bugs.

Spray house for bugs.

As Taylor and I were completing a quick run around the block a couple of days ago, she was taken aback when suddenly I grabbed her, swung her behind me and took on a frozen, protective stance.

This is what I saw:

Ok well, not EXACTLY what I saw but pretty close.

No lie, a full-sized, full-on TARANTULA-- just walking down the sidewalk in the neighborhood.

I gasped. Taylor screamed.

Still frozen in a combination of fear and disbelief, my mind immediately identified it, but then dismissed the idea because I could not bring myelf to believe tarantulas wander our yards. I was too scared to try to kill it myself, so, with Taylor flying off my arm behind me, I ran to the neighbor's house whose yard it was in and rang the doorbell. No answer. Ran across the street. No answer. I don't know what I was looking for but probably one of the macho dads to come out and kill it so I didn't have to.

Letting it roam the neighborhood did not seem to be an option. I conceeded I would have to take matters into my own hands and ran back to the site of the initial spotting only to find two ladies with strollers stopped and watching the spectacle with a face of disbelief identical to mine. Then the brave one nonchalantly walked over, picked up a big rock, and dropped it on the specimen. Dead.

The three of us talked about it and convinced ourselves it was some child's escaped pet.

Later that night when my other neighbor informed me her husband had found one dead in her yard the day before, the comforting thought of an escaped pet vanished. Two escaped pets? Unlikely. Tarantula invasion? Now much, much more likely.

Yikes! My kids are now instructed to keep the garage and front door closed and inspect all shoes before putting them on.

Jake has been instructed to spray the yard. I can't help but think though it's not going to have any affect on a tarantula. If you have ever seen one in real-life, they are less spider and more some strange form of monster-mammal that would be better stopped by some sort of fencing than any spray.

The next day I went back and took a picture of the thing, now shriveled and dead and thus much less scary looking but try to imagine it crawling down the sidewalk toward you, about the size of your hand:

On the bright side, looks like no decorations neccessary this Halloween to spook the neighbor kids.

Pull weeds.

Pull weeds.

It made a very big pile.

So

Now what do I do with it?

Anyone filming a Western next month? I will have plenty of tumbleweed for the set.

Fill in my running resume.

Fill in my running resume.

I've completed dozens of 5Ks and one marathon in my lifetime but never any distances in-between so I thought this year it was finally time to change that.

Now let's stop right here and so that I don't give the wrong impression that I am a super-good runner who really has a resume, let's point out here I'm saying "completed" and not "competed in" because I am embarassingly-slow long-distance runner, am not competition to anyone, and have plans to apply for no actual running job. Just so that's clear. Don't make me any offers.

So before I was a Mom, I used to be motivated to run races by a bunch of petty things like t-shirts and medals and ambition and pride but I no longer collect any of that, so I'm pretty sure the motivation now is just the weekend getaways that running races more than two hours from home require. Luckily, some of my friends are also willing to run a 1/2 marathon as payment for a night away too so that's what we did.

So here is the run down of our slumber party, er, I mean half marathon!

Four of us cruised in high-class style up to Logan in Amy's natural gas Civic. Here we are filling up at the specialty gas station. Well, Amy is trying to fill up while I mock and take pictures. (This could have been a separate post because Jake is thinking of buying one of these status symbols too):

How does this work again? Hmm. Hmm? Hmm. Hmm!

It's working!

Oh wait, it's not, I have to pay first.


How do you pay?

Ok, NOW it's working! No, it really is! This is not another premature thumbs up! No, really, look, it's filled up $3!


Ericka was very scared while she watched in the car.

Sure it took us 20 minutes to figure out how the pump worked but what's a little pride when you can drive 8 hours on $6 of gas?

We then met up with more friends for the all-important carbo-load dinner. This is another major selling point to the whole race charade.

We then took over the basement of Amy's super-cute grandparents. I was a little surprised that a slumber party can turn you instantly into a bunch of 13-year old giggling girls but that it did. I think it was also a coping mechanism for awkwardly sharing a full-sized bed with your 30-year old neighbor. So is taking a picture of it:

We then woke up super-early the next morning and met up with two other bras from our "6 Bras and 6 Supporters" team and rode the bus for like 4 hours from the finish line to the starting line. OK maybe it was like 20 minutes but it felt like 4 hours when you know you're going to run it back. 13 miles is a long way!

Riding the bus:

Here are the four bras at the start. This run is soooo pretty! And mostly downhill. So awesome:

And here we are at the end!

My friend Liz ran it too and I saw her and her cute baby Hank at the finish line to cheer her on! OK well she finished it way before me so technically they weren't at the finish line any more they were like on their way out to their car but same thing.

There is a full marathon on the same course that runs down the same canyon and through the cutest little mountain towns next month. It's going to be fall foilage! So many of my favorite things--so tempting! Any takers?

Finish the Twilight Series.

Finish the Twilight Series.

Me and my friends went down to der Wal-Mart last week . . .

And waited at midnight with hundreds of other crazies for the fourth and (hopefully) final book in the Twilight series. We did not wear our prom dresses with the overly-obsessive high school girls. That's not to say I wouldn't have if I hadn't planned more carefully...

800 pages in 2 days. Darn you Stephenie Meyer and your literary cocaine!

Get into a routine.

Get into a routine.

The last 6 years have been glorious.

Sadly, those days are now over. That's right, people, I have to set my alarm clock again.

I stretched it out as long as I could by putting Taylor in afternoon kindergarten last year but first grade started last month and I'm afraid for the next 14 years--there's no going back.

We said goodbye to our days of luxurious lazy mornings with a "Mermaid and Pirate Treasure Party" to celebrate the kids' birthdays on our last weekend of freedom. I wish I had thought to take pictures of the kids sifting through a sand-filled plastic pool for buried treasure but here is a photo of some of Chase's booty.

I did get this photo of the pirates after the party:

After a treasure map hunt, a seaweed wrap relay, dress-up, presents and cake, the summer was officially over. And it was sitll July. Cruel, this year-round school, isn't it?

Also ending after 6 years is Taylor's tolerance of my obsessive picture-taking. She refused to pose for a first day of first grade photo so I had to be tricky and tell her I was taking Chase's picture. Then I placed Chase right in front of her so I could get her in the background. Sneaky, Sneaky!

Making it even harder to get out of bed in the morning, I hurt my back helping move a playset into our yard that we bought from the neighbors. The monster took ten people to relocate. Here is a picture of Jake's family moving the little piece:

Here is a picture of the whole thing. I couldn't even get it all in the picture but it is very big. And very, very heavy.

Because of a lingering guilt over the kids' stolen summer, I let them have a taste of those carefree months tonight. Literally. The ice cream man came into the circle and I couldn't say no.

This is Chase's before picture:

Aaaaaaand the after picture:

Taylor was still opposed to photographs so this was the best I could get from her (lucky for me the ice cream had an uncanny resemblence) :

But ice cream can do a lot of things for one's spirit and it wasn't long before she was smiling for the camera along with all the other neighbor kids:

Goodbye sweet summer and sleepy mornings. It was a good ride my friends.