I'm feeling a little faint

Flying with 2 children, across the country, is so ridiculous. Why on earth do children need so much crap. Not to mention, that Nate's fiddle and guitar are too valuable to check, so he had to carry them on. I also think we walked for about 20 minutes, just to get from our gate to the baggage claim at JFK. This was with me pushing Asher in the stroller, and carrying Sayer in his infant seat, along with 2 bags. Nate is somehow carrying his backpack, Asher's carseat, his fiddle and his guitar. Then, add 3 suitcases and 2 pack n plays to the mix, and we were quite the site to behold. I have been painfully exhausted since Wednesday night, there is still so much more to do, and I still don't have my beloved stroller yet (drama... ok, not drama, just annoying crap going on with the manufacturer... blah)

So, obviously, we made it safe and sound. The boys were absolute gems on the trip over here. Honestly, I think Asher was just thrilled to be anywhere but at our house, watching all of his toys mysteriously disappear one by one, having me lose my patience with him every couple of minutes, staying in his pj's all day long... the list goes on and on. He has been so excited though, since he woke up Thursday morning. When we walked into our apartment Thursday night, he was freaking out, he was SO excited. This is after he has already been so excited to be on the plane, to ride the airtrain at the airport, and saying "ba-bye train, I wuv you". The excitement has mercifully carried over into today's activities as well, which included: ikea, target, costco, and picking up a crib. I cannot tell you how it feels to live in NYC yet, because I honestly don't know. We have been going nonstop since we landed, and I have a splitting headache, and the thought of exploring the city sounds like the opposite of fun. I can tell you though, that I almost wanted to cry when we walked into our new apartment. I dramatically told Nate, "I don't know how long I am going to be able to live in this apartment.". It's defining characteristic is old. It's not as small as I thought it would be, which is definitely nice, but it is... old. There is just no other way I can put it. I am feeling better now, as Nate has given me the challenge of making it nice and homey and comfortable, and seeing as how I really have no other option, I am accepting that challenge, and can already see the possibilities. Good thing I was watching design on a dime on the airplane over here, eh?! I refuse to post pictures of the place until it is looking better, only because I don't want you to be feeling too sorry for me. ha HA! Just kidding, it's really not that bad. But I will post before and after pictures when I have it looking a little better.

Ok, now it is time for bed. Maybe tomorrow we will make it to the grocery store. Oh, it makes me tired just thinking about it.

Hobble Creek Half

Today, Whitney, Ben and I, all ran in the Hobble Creek Half Marathon, which was actually my first half marathon. It was great fun. It actually was a really great race. Whit and I started out together, while Ben sprinted on ahead of us. By the way, Ben finished in like and hour and 38 minutes!!!! Way to go Ben. Apparently, he didn't even really train, just think of what he could accomplish if he put some effort into it! So yeah, the first 8 miles FLEW by, which was fabulous. Whit stopped at about mile 6 or 7 to use the bathroom, and I went on ahead, and finished by myself. I felt great until about mile 10, when my stomach started hurting pretty badly. I kept going though, and was so proud of myself for pushing through it and not stopping like I SO wanted to. I felt like I finished strong, coming in about 3 minutes before my goal time of 2:11 (which would be 10 minute miles, I just wanted to get under 10 minute miles). My gun time was 2:09, but my actual time from my watch, when I crossed the start and finish lines, was 2:08:16. Yay! Way to go me. Oh, and FYI, not that any of you care, I decided not to do the Steamtown Marathon that I was going to do in October. I decided to wait a couple more months since we're moving, and all that good stuff, and I didn't really feel like stressing myself out. Ok, that's all. I think I will go eat some brownies or something, now, because I, deserve them! :)

And... a cute picture, just because. Look at Sayer, he has been practicing sucking his thumb. He is so cute!!

10 more days!!

Well folks, only 10 more days until we move from our 1800 square foot, 4 bedroom, 2 bath home, with a large front and backyard, to this...

Our own little 500 square foot piece of heaven, in the middle of Manhattan.  The only semi-ghetto thing about our apartment is that the kitchen, or kitchenette, rather, is literally the size of a closet.  It's so small, that the fridge doesn't even fit in there, it will be in the living room. HA!  So awesome, right?   But on the plus side, we have a 24 hour security guard, elevators, a huge community playroom with lots of toys, a laundry room, free internet, telephone and cable, and it's literally across the street from the Teacher's college.  It's all going to be so different, but we are so excited for this adventure.  We are actually starting to get a little bit nervous, and even a little sad.  Today we were on BYU campus, and it was sad, and weird, to think that that is the last time I will be on campus for a really, really long time.  But, we are so ready to move on, and can't wait to see what the next few years have in store for us.

So, now we just need to get our rears in gear, and start packing our house.  We have decided to just ship the bare essentials, instead of paying thousands of dollars for a truck, and will put the majority of our belongings in storage.  So all we have to do is get on a plane, check in to our apartment, hit up target and ikea, and wait for our packages to arrive.  So excited!  Don't forget to come visit us!!

Tri for Fun

Last weekend, we went to Sactown, so that I could do a sprint triathlon with the fam. It was originally just going to be me and Sayer that went, but Nate ended up getting hired for a gig in San Fran, and they flew his whole band out, as well as paid them, so it worked out perfect. He and Asher came out on Saturday, and we made it a little family vacation.

Getting set up in the transition area. Ben is in the red tank on the left by the tree, and Whit is in the blue tank by the bike rack.

Looking hot in our swim caps, right before the swim. Look how small my head looks... abnormally small if you ask me. This picture is my motivation for getting back to my pre-baby body, because all I see here, is BLAH!!

I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I liked doing the triathlon. My favorite part was, surprisingly enough, the swimming. I totally got in my groove, and felt like I could have kept going for another 1/2 mile. The hardest part about the swim was that I kept veering of course, as it was a triangle, and like I said, I was in the swimming zone, and didn't like to have to look up to see where I needed to turn. But all was well, and I made it in without having to backtrack too much.

The bike was by far the worst part. I guess I am not a fan of a sport where things besides my muscles are hurting. More specifically, my wrists and my rear. My muscles felt fine, though, so that was good. I guess if I had biked a little more, that wouldn't be as big of an issue, as I am told you get used to it. Yeah, but how long do I have to wait for that to happen??

Hailey

Lexi

Lazin' about after the race, looking glamorous as ever.

The run was great. It was of course, a little hard, as we were tired and hot by that point, not to mention, we were running on gravel and dirt, which isn't the easiest. But we came in at about 2:04, which, considering that we took our sweet time in the transition area in between each leg, was something we were pretty proud of for our first tri. I definitely see many more triathlons in my future, despite my lack of enthusiasm for the bike, I will just have to put a little more effort towards that next time. It was also fun doing it with the fam. Whit, Hailey and I stuck together for the most part, and Hailey and I had a grand time watching all the 40+ ladies pass us on the bike, along with some very interestingly dressed males. One guy was seriously wearing his banana-hammock speedo on his bike. Awesome!

My dad, our friends Doug and Danny Hansen. Danny got first place in his age division, 20-24, and 10th place overall. Way to go!!

Lexi got 3rd place in her division

Hailey got 4th place in her division. Me and Whit, sadly, did not place in our division. Oh well! ;)

The rest of our trip was very nice. Filled with lots of relaxation, reading, visiting, and good food. What more could you want out of a vacation? Oh, and we also went to the zoo, which turned out to be a much sadder zoo than I remembered from my elementary years. It left MUCH to be desired!

American Idol auditions

Wow, I am so behind on my posts. We've been kind of busy, so there are a few things that I need to catch up on. First things first... American Idol auditions. Ash and I got up to Salt Lake and were in line by 6:30 am, and we were towards the end of the line. Mind you, everyone already has their tickets and seat numbers, so there is really no reason to be at the front of the line, so why these people got in line at 5 am, I have no idea. But it was fun to chat with people around us, and let me tell you, we had some characters around us!

Waiting in line outside, the morning of

We saw Justin what's-his-face, Guarini or something?, from season one.

Once you get inside, you find your seat and they did a bunch of taping. They had people say "Welcome to Salt Lake City" and all that good stuff. It was kind of annoying, because we weren't in the section that they were filming most of the time, so we pretty much just sat there while these moronic girls kept messing up their lines. Hello... it's not that hard! But it was fun to see how that all works. Then they explained stuff and started the auditions. Ok, so the way this worked...

Everyone is in their seat number according to when they checked in and got their wrist band the two days prior to the audition. They started on one side and worked their way around. We were about 1/3 of the way in, so not too bad. After they did some auditions, Ryan Seacrest graced us with his presence, and they did a bunch of "we'll be back, after the break" and "this... is American Idol" takes, and then he left and they got back to the auditions. They probably started the auditions at about 8:30 am, and Ashley auditioned at about 3:00 pm, and like I said, we weren't even 1/2 way in, just to give you an idea of the long day the rest of the people were in store for.

Mr. Seacrest himself... not a very good picture, but it's him You can see him by the way he stands, and he's wearing a blazer!

So, they would take one section at a time, and lead them down to the floor, where they would proceed to put them in rows of 4 across. They would then send the rows of 4 to one of 11 audition booths, where the producers would listen to them sing one at a time. One person would sing, then step back and the next one would sing. After all 4 people were done, they would discuss and then call them up and tell them yes or no. I was SUPER shocked by how few people they let go on to the next round. You couldn't hear people sing, but you could always see when someone got through, as they would give them a golden ticket, and the person would then proceed to wave it in the air, soliciting applause. By the time my sister was up, they had probably let 40 people through, most of those being guys. And we're talking about 40 out of about 1000 people. I always had the impression that if you could sing, you would at least make the first cut, but tis not so. There were LOTS of talented people, as you could hear a bunch of them practicing, but I guess they have something really specific that they are looking for. After watching people audition, I am guessing that you have to either be good and really unique, super amazing, or really hilarious in a bad way. Even though, like I said, we couldn't hear the people singing, I was so fascinated and entertained just watching the people go through. I always like to guess who they were going to let through, and it really was so exciting when someone actually got to go on.

Waiting. How cute is my sis? They were crazy for not taking her.

By the time my sister went, they were only listening to about 10 seconds of people's songs, so I imagine it was really hard to show them what you can do in that short of time. Ashley said they smiled at her and seemed like they enjoyed her voice, and she also said that no one else in her row could sing. Sadly, she did not make it through, however, after seeing how few people were getting through, we weren't that surprised. It was still a fun day, and really fascinating to watch the process. It was fun to chat with and get to know the people sitting around us, and being bummed with them when they didn't get through either. Probably one of the funniest parts of the day, was when I was in line to get a ridiculously priced hot dog, there were these 2 guys next to me practicing, get this... I need thee every hour... a duet with harmonies. WOW! Only in Utah. I could be wrong, but I don't think that's what FOX is looking for.

Hard to see, but that's Ashley auditioning, in between booths 4 and 5, wearing a black sweater.

Discussion time...

Ok all you Twilight fans out there... I'm sure many of you have finished Breaking Dawn by now, and if you haven't, bookmark this post to come back and leave your thoughts when you're done. I am dying to know what everyone thought about this book.

WARNING... MAJOR SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW! PLEASE DON'T CONTINUE IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BOOK YET!! 

I admit, that I have gone online, and looked at MANY responses from people young and old, and the only reviews that I am surprised by, are the ones that say they "absolutely LOVED it!". Ok, so first off, I will say that I didn't HATE the book. There were parts that I enjoyed, and there were parts that I hated, and then there were parts that were somewhere in-between. I really enjoyed the first book. I was glad that Edward and Bella got married, and more than that, I was glad that she wasn't a total whiner the entire time. She was actually happy to be married, and it was so sweet, lovey and romantic. The honeymoon was great, and then... she turned into a total crazy person with her pregnancy. At first I was so excited that she was pregnant (even though it's even more impossible than many other things in this series), because I always wanted to see Edward as a dad, but then once I saw what it was doing to her, and that she was possibly putting others in danger because of it, and that she was drinking blood... through a straw!!!???!!!... I thought that she was a moron. But then of course, you see that she was inspired, or whatever. I still wasn't satisfied with Edward getting to be a dad, because they didn't even get to grow together as a couple, and experience all the challenges of having a new baby, and having to change it's diapers, and get spit up on, etc. Renesmee (the stupidest name in all of history, by the way. How do you even pronounce it?) was pretty self reliant, and then all of the sudden, Edward and Bella are like an old married couple, it was weird!  I did like it from Jacob's perspective though, he is funny and made me laugh, which was good, because the information he was presenting was so far fetched, I think it would have only made the situation more annoying coming from Bella.

After the craziness of all the baby stuff...

I was excited that Jacob imprinted on Nessie, then that whole relationship and love triangle made sense and came together, and Jacob was happy. Of course, that also meant that Bella didn't really have to sacrifice ANYTHING for true love... NOTHING! She got to have a child, got to keep her father and Jacob around, didn't have to struggle being a newborn, and of course, just happens to have the most amazing super power??... PA-LEASE! I understand that these were all things that we wanted her to have. It made me sad to think that she wouldn't be able to have a family, made me sad to think of her not seeing her dad or Jacob, etc. I guess the problem I have, is that it all just came together a little too perfectly... it was too convenient, and basically sounded like she was just pulling stuff from her rear. (like, oh yeah, FYI, vampires can impregnate humans, and FYI, half human half vampire children totally exist, and don't worry, Alice knows exactly where to find them and of course makes it back in the exact right moment). I know that the whole series is fictional and impossible, but I think what most of us loved about the first 3 books, was that even though it was impossible, she almost made it seem like it could be possible, and you wanted it to be possible. But this whole book was just super crazy.

I actually like Bella as a vampire. I forgot how much I had wanted to see what she would be like as one, so was excited when we got to see that. I was a little disappointed in the change in hers and Edward's relationship... he was no longer her hot and sexy protector, but her equal. They just seemed so different to me, definitely not the "Edward and Bella" relationship that I loved. I mean, Edward tearing Bella's uterus open with his teeth, is not exactly romantic to me.

Then... the fight-that-wasn't, at the end... huge let down. I know no one wanted anyone to die, but the end was seriously boring. I wanted suspense and action. From the moment Bella discovered she could extend her shield, it was totally predictable. I wanted to see Edward in some serious vampire action. Oh well, the book is what it is, and I will have to take it for what it's worth. At least there was resolution, I can give it that much. I will say though, that after I finished it, the whole series felt so different to me, almost like I couldn't remember the characters that I had fallen in love with. So I am now re-reading Eclipse, so that I can get a little of that feeling back. Hopefully I will like Breaking Dawn better the second time around, but as Nate has forbidden me from reading it again until we move, I guess I will have to wait to find that out.  I hope I didn't put a damper on the book for anyone, or ruin good feelings you had, I just had to share my opinion.  Feel free to put me in my place... nicely!

So please, leave your comments and thoughts, as I am dying to know what all of you thought. If you loved it, please share and please tell me why. Like I said, it's not that I didn't like it, it just wasn't what I thought it would be, or as good as it could have been, and, it was seriously crazy. But I am still a devoted Twilight fan, so no worries there, just a little disappointed. Ok, now...

Discuss!