Favorite {work} day of the week....

Jared's favorite day of his work week is Wednesday. It's his surgery day. The day he does IV sedation and removes wisdom teeth.

We wanted to make sure we documented "a day in the life of Captain Condie" before they end in a few months and he becomes a civilian.

Jared giving a thumbs up for another surgery perfectly done.

Jared lives for Wednesdays. He loves oral surgery and he's really good at it. Plus, I think he looks mighty handsome in his surgery getup!

I love the rain. I love the way it smells, I love the way it cools things down on a hot day, I love the thunder and lightening that sometimes comes with it.

Easton loves the rain too. He was delighted to have been outside when the rain started to fall. Unlike his brother who immediately ran inside for an umbrella, a coat and his shoes, Easton couldn't be stopped.

Friday Night Fun!

Last week the carnival was in town for "crazy days of May". Ah, what fun $15 can buy.

We started the night walking to Subway for dinner. Right now we can feed our little family of 4 on one large Sub {$5} and since I don't cook on Fridays, we had to eat and we chose Subway over carnival food!

Gibson LOVED the ferris wheel. He was giddy the entire time he was on it.

This is Easton watching Gibson go round on the ferris wheel.

Look at his smile....worth 1 ticket? I think so!

Easton waves at everyone....I mean everyone, all the time. Too cute.

I LOVE this picture. Pure Happiness right here.

Easton loves horses but he wasn't buying this as a horse. He screamed the entire time.

Can you tell Gibson's making sound effects? I kept the price of gas in the background....for posterity.

I don't do stuffed animals...that's a post in and of itself...However, Jared spent $5 winning Gibson this little dinosaur. So now, dino lives in the garage.

We went and got ice cream after the carnival, can you tell Easton is excited?

Another joy of living in a small town. A little carnival pops into town for a few days and provides a few hours of fun and time together as a family. We'll take it!

Wind, Wind, Go Away.......

{this picture was taken at our Air Force Base....I'm not kidding when I say it really blows}

We've got a serious wind issue here. It amazes me how much the wind blows and how much damage it can do.

We've got so much wind here that Jared and I have seriously thought about investing in some windmills. Yeah, we have student loan debt up to our eyeballs but we want to spend a gazillion dollars to buy windmills and generate electricity and become mega gazillionaires....that's how much wind we have. {any one want to finance our windmills??}

It's been windy for the past few days. Gibson has cried a few times "make it stop, make it stop" and I'm not one to comfort him too much since I'm right there with him crying "I wish I could."

Last night the wind picked up and around 5:15 the power went out.....we waited for it to come back on....we waited.....and waited....then 7:00 rolled around and then I knew-- it wasn't coming back on for awhile. Yes, we missed the finale of Dancing with the Stars and American Idol....sniff, sniff.

The power was off for over 5 hours and the wind just didn't stop and hasn't stopped.

However, there is a golden lining with this sob story.

We went and ran some errands this morning and as we returned, my car came to a stop. You should see the shingles {or lack of shingles} on the roofs around ours. There are giant patches missing from almost every house on my street. I zipped home and before unbuckling the kids I ran around our house like a mad woman searching our roof for missing shingles....not a one. Yeah! This is what we needed since we're trying to sell our house! There's not an speck of damage to our house. Sadly, this can't be said for our neighbors.

Another golden lining? Our fridge was empty. I hadn't been to the store in ages and had intended to go yesterday but I've been fighting a cold and felt like crap so I didn't go. If I had, we probably would have had some food go bad.

Still we sing; "Wind, wind, go away, come again another day......"

...To be A kId AgAiN...

I looked over as I was weeding our garden to find Gibson leaning up against the tree, Popsicle in hand, shades over his eyes. He saw me look at him and announced "Good Day, It's a Good Day."

I have to agree. This weekend we're expecting our temp to hit the 90's. The Carnival is in town. There's sidewalk sales AND we have NOTHING scheduled, planned or due. It IS going to be a GOOD Couple of DAYS! {plus Jared has Monday off so it's a long weekend for us}

Preschool Fieldtrip, to the ZoO!!

We went to the zoo for Gibson's last fieldtrip with his preschool. Gibson woke up bright and early and was very eager to put on his bright yellow fieldtrip shirt and to meet all of his friends.

Our little zoo is, well, little. I think there's a good reason there's only 2 hour parking surrounding it!

Gibson really enjoyed the penguins. They were very active and doing all sorts of tricks in the water.

We both missed the sign that said "do not climb on penguins"- he can't read so that was his excuse, I don't know what my excuse was...

Easton enjoyed being bigger than something. He kept trying to sit on them.

I could not get a good picture of the boys. The zoo was pure chaos and filled with many preschool and kindergarten classes. So much to look at, the last thing they wanted to look at was the camera.

Our zoo doesn't have any giraffes.....we have a giraffe slide.....

This is the last picture before my camera battery died {you'd think I would have charged it the night before.....yeah, I forgot.} This picture cracks me up because this is Easton all day long. Climbing on things and staring at you with his eyeballs looking up. He's thinking of the next thing he's going to do and ready to pounce.

Gibson is steering the shell like a car, I believe he's making a car sound with his lips.

We had a fun time and enjoyed ourselves. This will most likely be the last time we'll make it to this zoo before we move. Now that's a crazy thought!

Camel's Back Duathlon!!!

I actually competed and completed in my first duathlon!!

It was SO hard and such an eye opener to me of how far I need to get in my running/biking abilities.

A few months ago there was great talk among my friends here about all of us doing it together. One by one they all dropped out which left Caleb, Gillian and myself to conquer the big race.

Here we are before the race began. Caleb did the long course which I would still be doing if I had chosen that one. Gillian was a rockstar and cruised through all the events (she credits the dye tie t-shirt) and then there was me.....

I did the short course which was 2K run/ 15K bike/ 2K run.


{picture from race photographer}

The first run was pretty easy. It was on a variety of terrain (grass, rocks, loose sand, hard dirt, loose gravel) but all in all it was a lot of fun.

Here I am coming in from the first run and heading towards the bikes. I had learned the night before that there was a "hill" that we had to do. Honestly, I thought it was going to be a nice stroll through the valley, I had NO idea that there was a hill.

Once I got to the "hill" I quickly decided that it was indeed a "mountain"- yes, the base of a ski resort!! It turned out that we had to travel up this mountain for 3 miles! Ouch! For someone who hadn't trained and who lives in a town with no mountains, this nearly did me in. Somehow, I mustered the courage and I kept riding and made it to the turnaround at the top. (I was encouraged by the 10 year olds and the 65 year olds who were cruising past me....note to self, get in shape!)

{picture from race photographer}

I finished the 9+ miles bike ride and dropped off my bike and returned to the running trail. My legs were burning, my throat hurt and I was ready to be done. It was a happy and joyful sight to see the finish banner and the streams of people cheering me on!

I DID IT!!! It was such an accomplishment to know that I conquered something that I had been dreading and fearing for several months!

We drug the kids out of bed and Jared and the boys were there to support me! Jared asked Gibson on the way up what they were going to do while I was running, Gibson said "we're going to yell "Go Mommy, You Can Do It!"

A race is a great chance to take a look inside one's self. I was my biggest cheerleader as I kept telling myself that I could do it each time I wanted to stop and turnaround. I learned that I am stronger than I think. I am more capable than I thought and that I actually enjoy it.

We've already signed up for another 5K in a few weeks and so I say, let the running begin!!

{An easy way to help others}

Go to www.freerice.com and practice your vocabulary words. For every word you get right, 20 grains of rice is donated to the UN world food program!! Easy as that.

A picture is worth a thousand words
{or thoughts}

AS I looked through my camera lens and took this picture, I really realized how important it is to document moments~for a picture really is worth a thousand words or in my case, several thoughts. Here's some of those thoughts I had regarding this everyday picture.

* the Toy Story shirt. I don't do character shirts, it's just not me. However, grandma does! She sent this to Gibson for St. Patricks day and he wears it EVERY Tuesday. Why Tuesday? He has preschool on Tuesday and he likes to wear his favorite shirt to school.

*the shorts. I always try and buy a season ahead. I get the best deals this way. Gibson has always been right on schedule as far as sizes go and as I dug through the bin of summer shorts I realized 2 things 1) I didn't get as many shorts as I thought I had (he only has 2 pair) and 2) he's not a 3T anymore, he's a 4T! My baby boy has had a growth spurt in the past few months and is growing out of all his clothes!

*those knees. He fell at preschool today while playing outside and wanted me to kiss his knees as soon as I picked him up from school. I'm glad he still thinks my kisses will make everything all better.

*his Shoes. I bought those shoes from ebay at Christmas. Gibson was wearing a size 9 at the time so I bought a size 10- we put them on yesterday and I don't think we're going to make it all summer in the same shoes....his feet have been included in the growth spurt!

*danimal with a straw. I love that my boys love Danimals. I love Costco even more because they started selling them. We can go through up to 6 a day! For Easton it's some of the only dairy he gets and I love that my boys think yogurt is a snack!

*The chair. Jared bought me that chair when I was pregnant with Gibson. I've rocked both my babies in it and both Jared and I have slept many nights in it. I think it's cute that Gibson is now sleeping in it.

For me it's these everyday moments that I treasure. I know I need to be better about writing this down and capturing the things my kids do and eat and say everyday. For this exact reason is why I blog. Why I let my dishes sit in the sink for an extra hour and why I'm okay with it. We are about everyday moments, like this one~ a tired, dirty, 3 year old boy in his favorite shirt, shorts that are too small and a snack in his hand. This is {our} life.

"911, where's your emergency?"

Were the words of the operator.......yup, I made my first 911 phone call tonight. It was all rather exciting, here's what went down....

Behind our house lives a slew of people. I mean a slew of people, in one house, with cars going all hours of the day. We can count on weekends being rather loud and "carnival" music as we like to call it being played very loudly from car stereos. Jared wants to call deportation but I keep telling him that the number of times the cops have been there, I'm sure they are legal or they'd be gone by now.

We have often wondered about a noise ordinance in our little town but never wanted to ruffle any feathers so we've never called the cops before....until tonight.

"push pause, push pause" I yelled to Jared as we watched some t.v. I could hear loud voices and I stood up and ran to the window and I could see a group of guys. There was yelling, swearing and a few chases around the yard. "I'm going upstairs for a better view"- I ran upstairs (with my bowl of ice cream) and peered out my window (as any good nosy neighbor would do) and then it got interesting......we had a love triangle, drunks, a mad momma coming to get her teenage {drunk} daughter, {drunk} teenage daughter running from said mad momma {back into the arms of drunk/stoned/drugged boyfriend}, rock throwing, hair pulling and fence jumping!! Oh yeah, this is better than Desperate Housewives any day.

I drew the line and got the cell phone when I saw the chasing happening while a 3 ft metal rod was being swung around and ready to be used as a weapon.

So, I called 911....guess, what?? I wasn't the first call, I was told "officers are in route"- and 9 (yes NINE) minutes later the officers arrived. Now, maybe nine minutes doesn't seem that long for emergency response but honestly, my town isn't 9 miles long (okay, it probably is but seriously, 9 minutes)- so we can hear the cops coming since their sirens are blaring and a weird thing happened. Everyone left.....yup, 7 cop cars showed up {amazing how they all arrived at the same time} and the house was deserted (they did pass 2 cars leaving the street as they pulled into the street (mad momma and teenage daughter) sure hope they waved to half the gang that was getting away!!!

So disappointing. Jared and I wanted to start flipping our light on and off in morris code so the officers knew that they were hiding in the backyard and the getaway vehicle was a white Suburban with Idaho plates but instead we went and finished our show.

Of course the neighbors didn't let us down.....an hour later they were all back, fighting, swearing and making threats. The cops came again, can you guess what they found????

Happy Anniversary Darling
(even if I am 5 days late)

I find it's only fitting that this post is late. I'm not sure Jared and I have ever celebrated our anniversary on our actual anniversary. Here's why...

1st Anniversary: We both graduated from college. Me from UVSC, Jared from BYU. Same day. Same time. My family joined me. His family joined him and we met up for lunch afterwards. Fun times.

2nd-5th Anniversaries: Jared was in dental school and this date always hit the week of finals.

6th- Okay, we may have gone to dinner this year.

7th- We celebrated a week late because we were heading to Utah and we had free babysitting. We went to dinner with our friends the Koffords:)

8th- I was in Utah. Jared was home.

In our 8 years of marriage we have moved 7 times. We have lived in 4 states. We have 2 beautiful boys, a mortgage and a car payment. We are happy, we are in love and we are best friends!

Love you Jared, Happy Anniversary!!