No More Diapers!!!!!

Well it's been a while since the last post, but I am not up to providing long narratives for the happenings of the last month. I will however hit the highlights!

Elayna turned two mid July, and though I know there were two more weeks to that month I can't remember at all how we spent them. I think John was gone for some camping in there, but it's all fairly foggy! . . . . The marvel of calendars.. I looked and John wasn't camping. We spent the weeks getting Elayna screened for her speach therapy that we will be starting and for some reason takes a whole lot of paper work that seems a little over board. And...

Big news, John took to Gmat. We are planning to go back to the world of starving students and spend approximately 4 years in Ohio so John can get his PHD in Business Marketing. He spent most of the summer studying, and the last few weeks of July finishing up and taking a few practice tests. Over all he did amazing (as I knew he would, he's such a smarty pants) getting a score of 750/800. He was a little disapointed because of some mistakes he knew he made, but paying another $250 wasn't worth his pride so there it is!

The next week we headed to Utah to spend a week with my family (Jenkins Clan) in Bear Lake at a cabin large enough to fit us all.. and being almost 50 (with missing members) that was a great feat! It was a great week. I enjoyed seeing and visiting with my family, Weston and Tyler loved being able to play with all their 'big' cousins who spent most of the time playing DS and Rock Band. Elayna had a U.T.I. which I didn't realize little girls got, but non-the-less she had one and after getting antibiotics in her system she was much more pleasant and had a great time playing in the water at the lake and the hot tub and doing most anything she wanted!




We bookended our Jenkins family reunion with quick visits to Alpine to see John's Uncle and Aunts. It was wonderful since Jan let us hotel there and being able to visit family after so long was a real treat!



The last weekend there, I did end up running the Provo River 1/2 Marathon. My training was less than consistent, but at times I was running up to 9.5 minute miles. It just didn't go over well when the rest of the time I couldn't run because I was either having major diahreah or such severe diaphram/stomach cramps that I wasn't mobile - or breathing! So after all that and basically no training I ran the 1/2 marathoon in 2 hours 35 min. I was actually up to mile 10 and was loving life when my lungs started to feel the effects of the elevation increase. (Sequim 146 ft - Marathon 5500 ft). I tried through most of the 10th mile to keep running, but my lungs stopped contracting out which meant I couldn't breath in. And after a while of that my lungs gave up. I have never felt my lungs before, but take it from me it was weird.. They hurt so badly. And not the inside either - the outside of my lungs were hurting so badly that I could make out their shape (or at least imagine it) inside my body. And with each breath I tried to take in my lungs felt like they were filling with lead. By that point, my sisters had caught up and were ready to keep going, but I could hardly stand up straight my chest hurt so badly and was litterally weighing me down.

So with all of that, I don't plan to run another marathon. At least not with a 5000+ elevation increase. But I did finish the race, and with walking the majority of the last 3 miles, I think 2.35 was a great time! The only reason I might try again is to see if running the whole time would take my time under 2 hours.

After the marathon we were able to visit with some of John's friends and Sunday we headed home. There was so much more we wanted to do, but the time just wasn't on our side! Who knows when we'll make it there again, but hopefully not too long. We truly miss our family and friends there.

Life sort of got back to normal after we got home. Tyler had a 'Thumb Cradle' glued into his mouth. (It's an appliance which deters thumb sucking - and seems to be working wonderfully). We will go down in November for a check and hopefully before the end of the school year we can get it taken out and Tyler will be free from his thumb habits!

The kids and I went to visit Brenda (John's sister) in Portland and spent a long weekend there. It was great to see Brenda and though it was good for the cousins to be together - they need more practice with it! We did fun stuff around the house, and were able to go to their Museum of Science and Industry which was awesome! I'd love to go to Portland just to visit the museum.. it's worth a 4 hour drive..

School has started and I think we are all apreciating that! Weston is getting used to his new teacher and classmates, and seems to be struggling most with getting up on time in the morning and not getting to play video games whenever he wants to. Otherwise he's doing great.

Tyler is doing well and is having a great time being back with Teacher Paula and Teacher Georgia - who in my opinion are the worlds best pre-school teachers and absolutely Heaven sent.

Elayna is enjoying being more independent and having some free time with just Mom. I'm loving being able to run errands with just 1 child, not 3! And having 3 quiet mornings a week.

Soccer season has started. Weston is now in U8 so they are actually practicing with rules and skill. Tyler is stillin U6 wich puts him in the group of kids 3-6, that basically you just point in the right direction and tell to run! Tyler is in his 2nd year so he seems to be doing much better with kicking and placing the ball where he intended it to go! John and I are coaching Tyler's team, so we'll have to see how the next two months go with 2 separate practices each week and 2 separate games each Saturday. Yeah caos! The best part is that Elayna feels like she should be in the games and practices - and is forever stealing any of the pink soccer balls she can find! I guess she'll need to get her own some time soon.

AND BIG NEWS!!! Elayna is potty trained. She was remarkably easy to train - in fact she sort of did it herself. She is completely self motivated and rather bossy about doing everything herself. Potty treats were gone about day 4 and I have no concerns in taking her anywhere..we are starting week 2 with no diapers... . I LOVE THIS INDEPENDENCE!!!


Other than that - life is normal and now you've been updated! I'll try to not get so far behind. This rush job really doesn't work for remembering the fun details to our family history. Oh well!