You don't even have to say it. I know . . . we are hot! A few weeks ago we saw a post on a friends blog where they had gone to an "ugly sweater" party. We thought that it was hilarious. Well, our friend Dedra decided to host an ugly sweater party for our block, and was going to give prizes to the winners . . . and for a chance to go to the DI and pick out killer ugly clothes just for the fun of it, we certainly couldn't pass up the opportunity.
When Lamon put on his outfit at the DI we couldn't stop laughing, and then he insisted on wearing it around the store, and all the way home! It reminded me of the days when we were dating and Lamon would show up at my house dressed in shorts and knee high rubber boots hoping to embarrass me. Anyways, when we got to the party we were one of only three couples there; and we were the only ones under the age of 40. It's too bad that more people didn't decided to come. They missed out on seeing us looking so incredible. Honestly. I told Lamon that he should wear those pants more often. He's HOT!

FTF Getaway!!!!

This past weekend Lamon and I had a bit of a getaway.
Okay so maybe most people might not consider leaving our kids with babysitters in order to go run in a 50 mile relay and then come straight home to be a fabulous getaway . . . but it was so awesome.

We had a blast. Thank you to the saintly sisters who babysat the kiddies. And thank you to those who invited us to run in this race a couple weeks ago. I think we did pretty darn good for two weeks of training. We finished the 50 mile relay averaging 8 minute 22 second miles, came in 18th over all and 10th in the coed division. . . . So maybe there were only 38 teams . . . but hey . . . we rock. I was so excited at the banquet when they called out our teams name for 10th place. I yelled out, "Wahoo!" I was the only one in the entire room of people who yelled out, and people were looking at me like, "Ya . . . wow . . . 10th place . . . great job." Hey . . . I was excited. We even won water bottles and these like 10 cent fishing hats.

Meet the Feed The Fire Team

Sue Barksdale

Sue is so awesome. We only gave her one weeks notice for this race. She had never ran in a race before, and we were all thinking that she would be somewhat slow, but no. . . She pretty much rocked.

James Hodges

James was by far the most ready for this race. He recently did a half marathon, and he was awesome. I think that we all agree that the "Washington Dam Hill" Leg of death that we assigned to him was by far the hardest of all the legs, and he did awesome and didn't even try to kill anyone at the end.

Lamon Mack

Lamon was by far the hottest guy in the entire race. And if there was a prize for the best farmers tan he would have won that too. Oh ya . . . and he is super fast. He was passing people like crazy during his legs. And he was also our motivational team leader. He was the driver and stopped all along the way in order to cheer each team member on. Lamon is awesome!!!

Broc White

Broc is pretty much not human. We purposefully signed him up for the hardest legs in the race. When he saw the legs he was running he said, "How come you guys gave me the best legs?" He doesn't feel pain. He was flying up the hill on his first leg, chasing these two guys, and as he passes we heard him say, "I'm out of shape." Or something like that. We are all like, "Ya . . .um . . . right." He did the only leg rated 10 for difficulty and did it averaging 6 something minute miles. I think we would all like to be as out of shape as Broc!

Mary Mack

Mary Mack is pretty much the coolest person on the entire team. There would be more pictures of her but she was so incredibly fast. . . she got to the transistion before her team even knew what was happening.

Okay . . . so not really. It was actually because my leg was all on the trail system.

I would have been even faster if I wouldn't have had a little urinary incontinence episode. There were not a lot of porta potties stationed along the run . . . and well . . . I had to go! I did the pottie dance for a few seconds and then thought, "Oh what the heck!" Hey, it's not my fault . . . Mandy and I discussed our fears about the lack of toilets since we both have small bladders, and Mandy suggested having Bill follow on a bike with a 5 gallon bucket . . . but Mandy got injured and couldn't come . . . and therefore no Bill on a bike with a 5 gallon bucket. Anyway . . .

So I am just proud of the fact that no one passed me and I passed three people in leg four, and one in leg 7. And I am very proud of the fact that I didn't pee my pants in leg 7. Isn't that looking at the glass as half full as opposed to half empty?

This is me reinacting my experience for everyone!

And here is me and Lamon trying to look sexy. I think I'm better at it! :) j/k

I'm Thankful For . . .

Yesterday Lamon gave a talk in church, and he mentioned Jim. Throughout the rest of the day I kept on thinking about him. I miss Jim. I am so grateful that he is my brother, and that I could have the time with him that I did on this Earth.

Sometimes I think it will make it easier to just not think about him, and for a long time I almost got mad when Lamon would bring him up. But I have since found that the times I am most comforted are the times that I just let myself remember him, and laugh and share memories with others about him. Yesterday, as I was thinking about him, I just had an overwhelming feeling that I want to be better and live better than I am right now because I know Jim wants me to! I can't wait until I see him again.

On a different note . . . a bit less sentimental . . .

I am very grateful for Flatirons! :) Who wouldn't be if they had the thick monstrous hair that I do?

What a fabulous invention!!

Happy Birthday Hayden and Ada!!

It was Hayden and Ada's birthday this last week.Their birthdays are one day apart. We celebrated Lamon and Mary style . . . we texted everyone the day of the party inviting them to come over for some cake and ice-cream. And because our family is so wonderful . . . they all came even though it was last minute. But we did at least mention it to Mom and Dad Mack the Sunday before . . . that's improvement isn't it?
I love these two kids. They are so sweet.

I can't believe Ada is already one! She climbs around better than a lot of two year olds. She is so funny. She always wants to find something to climb on, like a box, a chair, a tote, tupperware, etc. and she will climb up on it and then just has to stand up. She makes me laugh. She is pretty smart too. If you show her something, she usually is pretty quick to mimick you. She loves to try to wipe my nose after she gets her nose wiped. And she is always wanting to feed people. It's just fun to have a little girl around the house. And the boys love it too. Hayden is always going up to Ada and hugging her saying things like, "Oh sweetie . . . Your my best friend" etc. in Hayden language which makes it even cuter. Not that the boys are always sweet. . . Ada is also pretty tough due to the boys wrestling around with her. She loves them though, and is always trying to participate in whatever they are doing . . . which generates a response from the boys that I am coming to know well. . . "Mom! Get Ada!" Hayden is three and I just love that little boy.

He is full of mischief, but can win you over pretty quick with his eyes, smile, his size, and his speech! Hayden is such a great addition to our family! He is so sweet. Sometimes I am just amazed at how happy he is. He is always dancing around the house, and his newest thing is singing. He doesn't make a bit of sense when he sings, but he will go off jibber jabbering and then he will come put his arm around me and say, "Did you like that song?" Before church started today he was sitting there with the hymn book open just singing a made up song with made up words, and it was so funny. It generated some laughs from the bishops wife sitting in front of us too. Hayden loves to say prayers, and wants to say every prayer in our house. I finally told him that if he says 'amen' after someone else says a prayer, it's like he said it too . . . and that has helped tremendously!
I sure do love my kids.

The cakes were Lamon's creations. He is the cake decorater in our household. This train cake is my favorite yet!

Anyway, I'm sure I have lost all of the readers , if there were any, by now . . . but oh well! I am cool okay! And everything I write is entertaining too. So if you aren't reading this anymore, it is because you are boring . . . not me! :)

Have No Fear, Lamon is Here

Okay, I'm cheesy, I know it. But if you're reading my blog you probably already know that I'm cheesy so I will just continue, alright?!

Lamon is so wonderful. I had a pretty stinky day. I NEVER get sick, so when I am sick I'm a little bit of a baby, and I am quite the sicky right now. It was a long day of kids whining, the house in desperate need of attention, and me sort of staring into the void. Well when Lamon came home the kids were so excited. He started rolling around playing on the floor with them and making them giggle and laugh. And then he helped them all get their shoes and coats on and he took them with him to go run errands and he sent me to bed. It was so nice to be able to just lay in bed and be surrounded by total silence. That doesn't happen very often. He came back like three hours later with some Fast Food, and then after dinner he helped all of the kids get in their pajamas and helped put them all to bed.

Lamon is pretty much the hottest guy ever, but it's moments like this that I just look at him and think, "How in the world did I get this guy?" I love him so much. I'm thankful for all that he does for me. I know he is not perfect . . . but if letting it rip occasionally (okay a lot) and leaving his shoes all over the house are the two biggest things I get mad at him for. . . that's a pretty amazing guy.

Ever wonder what Lamon would look like with Christopher Reeves Super Man Hair?

Well there you go.

Does anyone else have weird kids? Okay, I guess that "healthy" and "weird" are not exactly synonymous. But I just find it so funny that my kids love foods that I would automatically assume they would hate. Ada won't eat anything sweet. If I try to feed her applesauce or any other sweet baby foods, she won't touch it. But if I give her some peas or green beans she will eat them up in no time! And although Hayden and Drew love candy a deal more than they should, they take a liking to certain healthy foods. My kids love salad. I can load their plates full of it, and they will lick their plates clean. Today I got myself a grapefruit and as usual Hayden came running over to eat it with me. He even wanted to drink the leftover juice that I squoze out of it. Of course I am wondering a little bit if Hayden might have a problem with his taste. I am almost convinced that his taste buds don't work. The other day he came up to me whining leading me to the pantry pointing to the big canister of oats saying, "I want that!" in Hayden language. I was like, "You want me to cook you some oatmeal?" . . . More whining . . . "No! I want that!" I explained to him, "Hayden, you don't want that I promise." I took the lid off and showed it to him . . . "It's yucky unless you cook it!" . . . More wailing. "Here Hayden look . . . " I grabbed a bunch of Oats in my hand . . . "Here . . . taste it. I promise it's yucky." So Hayden grabbed the handful and stuck it in his mouth. He had the funniest look on his face, but he kept chewing . . . I of course expected him to immediately spit it out and cry. I said, "is that yummy?" He nodded his head up and down and finished eating the entire handful. I was like, "You liked that Hayden?" I was beginning to feel bad for doubting him, and starting to wonder if plain oats might be Hayden's new favorite snack food. Again he nodded his head and said, "Uh huh." . . . "Do you want some more?" . . . "Uh . . . No." :)

I guess we will stick to grapefruit and salad.

Sledding

We went sledding with Lamon's family and some friends the other day, and it was a blast! As you can seel from the look on the boys faces (including Lamon's) it was a lot of fun! I love seeing smiles that big!!