It's Spring!

Some people like to spring clean.....I am still trying to be good at regular cleaning. :)

I admit, I am a bad housekeeper. I have never been very happy and or good about cleaning. I have had my moments, we would never be chosen to be on an episode of hoarders or anything. But I know I need to be better at the small little daily tasks, because if I can keep control of the daily stuff the bigger stuff (like Spring Cleaning) will be easier, right?

While we were on vacation Ken and I did some planning and goal setting. One of my goals was to set up a Chore Chart and follow it! On our way home we stayed with the Nelsons, (thanks Nelsons) and Kristen showed me her Chore Chart. It had Once Weekly things and Every Day things, I liked that concept and last Monday I made "the Wheeler Family Chore Chart" (that's a pretty great name, don't you think?)

I deep clean one main area of the house each day, Kitchen, Living Room, Family Room, Bed Rooms, Guest Room and Craft Area, and Bathrooms. Plus on Monday and Wednesday I do a couple loads of Laundry. Each day I make sure that the dishes are washed and put away, the Counters and Kitchen Table are cleared and wiped after dinner and J helps to put all the toys away before bed. So far it has worked quite nicely.

It feels very, very, very nice to wake up to a reasonably clean house in the morning. I also have hope that if someone just "Stopped By" I would not be embarrassed out of my mind, but would be comfortable enough to invite them in to visit for a while. Feel free to check up on me once and a while, keep me on my toes.

Today I am cleaning bedrooms. Bedrooms (and Bathrooms) are the bane of my cleaning existence, mostly because I tend to hide things in my room that don't have a home..... so when cleaning my room I have to make lots of decisions about where things ought to go. I am sure I am not alone in this. BUT I also know that when my room is clean and organized I sleep much better, so there is a trade off, I guess. Well, I better stop procrastinating and get down to business. Wish me luck!

Back to the Cutness

Okay, so while I was packing for our trip J found me and told me that the baby was hiding! He then showed me this........can you see the baby?

There he is, thoroughly and whole heartedly enjoying playing with his brother.

Now to the Trip Cuteness, I didn't realize until just now that we didn't take a ton of pictures- WEIRD, I already showed you two really cute pictures and now you get to see the other kind of odd ones. We first went to Caldwell, Idaho, where we stayed with Tony and Emily (wheeler) Bradshaw. They have two very fun children and our boys had a blast! Here are J and M, they practiced wrestling with this giant blue mouse, that is what you would do with a giant blue mouse right?

And cousin L loved baby B, here she is making him laugh.

While we were in Caldwell we saw Tangled at the Drive-In Theater. It was fun!

A few days later we headed over to Meridian, Idaho, and stayed with the John and Tiff Wheeler family. Tiff helped her older daughter make a costume to wear while telling her school class about Pocahontas, J and little E had to get in on the feathered head wear action.

Yep, that is pretty much all the pictures. I guess I need to take another vacation so that I can try to remember to take more pictures.

More than just a Ride in the Chair

I know it may come as a surprise to some people, but Ken and I go to the dentist. In fact we have a wonderful dentist that we have been seeing for almost 6 years now, well it is really the hygienists Karlee that we spend the most time with. When J was about a year old I wondered when kids need to see a dentist and so I called the office and they told me that they like to see kids when they are 3- even if it just for a ride in the chair. Our little J has made no complaints about his teeth and so we didn't have any reason to bring him in earlier.......and amazingly enough, he turned 3! And today, J had his very first dental cleaning.

Here he is playing in the kids area- this is where he has spent time during my teeth cleanings over the past couple of years. I had talked to him all morning about how HE was going to the dentist and he didn't seem scared at all.

When it was his turn, he climbed up into the dentist chair and Karlee started to tell him all about what they were going to do, starting with how she was going to wear gloves....."Do you want to touch my gloves?" He was kind of shy, so very uncharacteristic, eventually he got a little more comfortable, touched just about every dental instrument possible, and even held as still as he possibly could for some x-rays.
He had a full exam and cleaning, which was surprising to both the dentist and our hygienist. I guess most 3 year olds aren't willing to do much more than ride up and down in the chair. Not J, he bites down on the tooth brush when I brush his teeth, but for Karlee, he opened wide and did everything she asked- including not swallowing the fluoride!
And the Verdict- No Cavities and Beautiful Little Teeth! He is an amazingly cute kid, don't you think?

While he waited for the dentist to come see him he watched "How to train your Dragon" which was playing on a TV attached to the ceiling. He also wore his sunglasses while the bright exam light was on (thanks Angie for giving us that tip- the office did have little sunglasses ready for him but he preferred his own).
And after it was all over he got to pick a prize. He chose a blue snake.
Hopefully we will have many more cavity free visits. My first little baby is not a baby anymore.

6 years!

That's right, 6 years ago two very good looking people got married....oh wait, that's us! Amazing!

In celebration of our Anniversary we spent a couple of (KID FREE) days in McCall Idaho last week. The lake was frozen and there was A LOT MORE SNOW than I envisioned in my head while we were planning the trip, but all in all it was a wonderful trip and though it was cold (we only had hooded sweatshirts), it was beautiful.

We spent an afternoon checking out the shops in McCall, our favorite was the Candy Shop. I had run 4.5 miles that morning and so I felt I deserved and needed a couple of treats, I had some yummy "Grasshopper Bark" and "Almond Butter Bark"....mmmmmmmmm.... Ken had some fudge. I love Ken and this picture shows one of the things I love about him. I saw the fudge and immediately said to myself "I am not going leave here with a 1/2 pound of fudge". Ken saw the fudge and asked the Candy Maker if you had to buy a 1/2 pound of fudge, she said no, so he ordered a couple of slivers. Caution, fudge looks larger in picture than it was in real life. Huckleberry Fudge......mmmmm.....

We had dinner at a place called Lardo's Grill and Saloon. I don't know that I have eaten at a saloon before, it was interesting......and funny. We were going all out and we were going to get fun specialty drinks, if you ask a waiter in Utah what Specialty Drinks they offer you will most likely be told all about the non-alcoholic drinks they offer. Our waitress at Lardo's just stared at us....then Ken said "Like a smoothie or sometime?" and she said "We have kiddie drinks? They are kind of like Smoothies" So we got some, I got a Cookie Monster! It was YUMMY, small but yummy, and they came in little commemorative cups- at least we took them home. I asked if we could take them home and the waitress once again was slightly taken aback but then said we could. I am guessing they don't get too many adults who order the Cookie Monster for themselves.

We also had breakfast at The Pancake House. We didn't have Pancakes but we did share a cinnamon roll that was bigger than both of our heads combined! We didn't have the camera, but believe me it was HUGE! And Yummy!

I love my Ken. I Hope (and plan and plot) to love him forever and ever and ever.

Their Back!

You know you've missed them, those pesky little Wheeler Boys. We've been gone, on a fun trip to Idaho, where we had lots of fun and visited with lots of people we love. I will tell you more about our trip another time, but for now, here are some cute pictures of the boys.

J-first he builds things, then he showers love on the things he builds (he will be such a good parent some day) Here he is hugging his tower.

Baby B, he just loves life. He has yet to build anything but a reputation. A reputation for being the cutest and happiest Baby EVER! He takes joy in the simplest things, like holding a block.

So, now you will just have to wait anxiously for another post about the boys. Hint, the next one is going to be about their parents. Don't worry, it will be a good one too.

Why Now?

I have been thinking lately about my health and my ability to do physical things. I think I may be in the best shape I have ever been. It is a nice feeling, it's invigorating. I am running and I enjoy it, I look forward to it. I am following a 10k training program right now that has me running 3 times a week and doing cross/strength training another 3 times per week. I have started using hand weights and I find that oddly enjoyable as well. If you had told me 17 years ago that I would not only be able to do these things, but that I would like it, I am pretty sure I would have smiled at you and in my head tried to figure out how to get away from you because you were CRAZY!

17 years ago I was a Junior in High School, I hadn't done any thing physical in PE for over 2 years, because my freshman year I discovered that if you were the Manager of a sports team it counted as a PE credit and you never had to run! I thought I was a genius and anyway running made me sick. I would hyperventilate, I had even thrown up at the feet of the track coach after finishing a 1/2 mile run. I also tended to sprain my ankles easily. Physical Education was not for me.

As the years went on I did start to walk. I am a very good walker. I can walk fast. Walking is good exercise. Eventually I did start to run and to my surprise I did like it, but I ran at my own pace and for the first few years that pace was kind of slow, about 4.3 miles per hour. I was passed by someone who was walking during a 5k once. I didn't mind. I knew I was doing my best and I enjoyed it.

Baby B did something amazing for me. He changed me. If it hadn't been for baby B I might never have gotten gestational diabetes and it is the diabetes scare that gave me the kind of push I needed to get it in gear and really get healthy. After baby B I can run faster and farther than ever, I don't know how he did it but I am pretty sure it is all because of him. I am currently running at a pace between 10:30 and 10:45 per mile, (I figure that is around 5.5-5.7 miles per hour?) and I have run over 6 miles and felt great. It feels like a miracle to me. I don't understand how it happened, why I feel like I have made such an amazing leap, it really must just be Baby B.

So I have been thinking about all these things and wondering, why now? Why could I not do these things when I was young? You are supposed to be in the best shape when you are young right? So why do I feel like I am in the best shape now. Why is it so easy now? I do not believe that life is just a series of coincidences, I don't believe that life is just one big chain reaction. I know that my life has its own definite plan, I am interested in discovering why this is part of my plan.

I am quite happy with it, I am not complaining. I feel very blessed that I have the ability to run, that I was given the opportunity to have a nutritionist during my pregnancy and that I have been able to change the way I (and my family) eat and that I am seeing some very good results from my efforts. I have just been thinking, wondering. I am interested in knowing how this will all work out. Maybe in the end I will just be healthy. Maybe I will be healthy and I will be able to help other people find a similar joy that I have found. For now, I just feel blessed.