Is it Springtime Yet?

The snow is finally melting.

The town of Fletcher came by and chipped up the 500 yards of branches that our tree produced today.

We had the National Tree Climbing Champion in 2000 come out to our house and call me "girl" no less than 10 times while telling me that he and his crew would be glad to spend a day at our house cutting down trees sometime next week.

We took my car to the insurance adjuster just in case it was more than just a back windhshield problem that turned into a $3500 body damage issue to my Volvo.

Plus, Asher threw up this morning and didn't get to go to school. Awesome. But I don't think he is sick. I think he just got to much phlegm in his throat and he has my gag reflex and just "let it go".

That gag reflex? It is becoming a mighty weapon AND a mighty tool in his little three year old tool box. He wasn't sick for a MINUTE today. He ran around at full tilt the entire morning.

We watched an episode of Oswald on Noggin called "Big Banana Day" that had so many double meanings that I had to hold myself back from saying "That's what she said!" about 200 times. Seriously. Am I 31 or 12?
(If you want a gift, go ahead and look for it on YouTube. If you able to laugh at the fact that adults do in fact make children's shows and how this passed "the how can we get away with this test"- here it is, the quality stinks, but just listen to the song. You will get it. YouTube

Also, I got the first season of 30 Rock, a fun girly apron, Carabba's gift certificate, a beautiful leather photo album and an itunes gift certificate for my birthday. PLUS money to spend towards a new camera bag. *SQUEELLL*!!!!

All in all, a pretty decent week.
Plus tonight we are celebrating my birthday along with my friend Beth's birthday with a girls night at a chocolate lounge. Good thing I used my good sense this year and didn't give up sweets this year for Lent.

Oh and the best news of the week? Daylight savings time starts again this Saturday! Plus it should be around 70 degrees. Fire up the grill people! It is SPRINGTIME! I mean for Saturday.

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures from the tree.

You can see how big the tree is. Consider that Matt is 6"4.

Happy Birthday to You-Here's a Punch to the Mouth

I woke up this morning with Asher and got him watching some television and snuggled back in bed only to hear a "craaaaaack" and I knew immediately that a tree had fallen in our yard.

The first words out of my mouth were "That's a tree" and the next were "We would have heard my car smashing if the tree hit it right?"

Thank God it didn't fall back towards our house because it could have fallen right in line with all of our bedrooms.

Snow Night

It snowed so much at our house this afternoon and evening that it looked like Narnia outside tonight.

So around 11pm, we made sure the kids were tucked soundly in their bed and headed outside to do what normal 31/33 and 22 year-old roommates do together. Sled down a hill on boogie boards. What?

For Mom

It's my birthday on Monday and once again, I think it is time to thank my mom for helping me to make it to this point in my life.

I read this postcard on Postsecret today and it made me love what my mom does for middle school kids. (She's a school nurse for those of you who don't know)


I love you Mom!

Time for Praying

A friend through Young Life has been through one tragedy after another this year.

Last April, she anticipated the birth of her first child and at 37 weeks; he was stillborn. She became pregnant again this summer and was at 37 weeks on Friday.

She was induced and after birth the baby developed severe lesions and blisters all over his body. His skin began peeling and falling off. It appears as though he has a genetic disorder but they don't have a prognosis to offer the parents as of yet.

They have been through a really tough year and I would love for you to pray for them. You can more specifically pray for them by following their blog at: http://patriceandmattwilliams.blogspot.com/

My February Muse

The kids were about to come out of their skin yesterday and so we went to the playground and of course, I brought the camera along with my NEW sparkly "nifty 50" lens. It is a fixed length 50mm lens that people love for doing portraits because it has a short depth of field, it makes everything go out of focus behind your subject.
I am really excited to experiment since it is my first "extra" lens that I have splurged on and it makes me see the value of buying more lenses to take fun pictures and helping you to think more creatively. I can see how this might become a dangerous hobby.

Lucy was very excited about taking pictures and complied by hamming in up for me. Take a look.

The Biggest Loser

Although I haven't been posting about working out very much lately, I have been keeping up the routine four-five times a week and so have Matt and Ben. The benefit? None of our clothes fit the same.
The detriment? All of us are incredibly vain right now.

Just kidding. But seriously.
Just kidding. No really.

Anyway. I was at the Y the other night trying to squeeze in a last minute workout before The Biggest Loser came on because, well I feel disgusting if I just sit there and eat cookies and watch that show without working out. So I went to the gym while the DVR was getting a workout and Matt was putting the kids in the bed.

I arrived and the place was dead, but there was a small group running on the treadmills and I like running next to others so I joined them. Next to me was a guy who had been obviously running for a little while-he had worked up quite a lather at a pretty stiff pace. I jumped on the treadmill and my ipod cooperated in playing some very fun music and soon I was matching his pace.

My ipod then changed songs and I picked up the pace. The guy next to me adjusted his pace to match mine and this went on for about 18 minutes until we were running 7 minute miles. It was fun because he was matching me and we both knew it, but we never said anything about it. But WE were CRUISING. I mean, I was feeling good.

That all ended when I accidently hit the emergency stop rope magnet and my treadmill immediately came to a halt.

My sudden change in pace threw the guy next to me off so badly that he actually flew off the back of the treadmill into the elliptical machines, then the bikes and he was reeling in the fitlinxx staging area shaking his head.
It was hilarious! But more hilarious? How badly I felt. I actually apologized for ruining our workouts and then I proceeded to push my treadmill to the limit for the next 15 minutes and ruin us. I managed to pass the USC Women's Soccer 2-mile test for the first time since college. Two miles in under 14 minutes.
I was feeling pretty dang good about myself. I want to thank Bret Michaels and the rest of the boys from Poison for Unskinny Bop that helped push me through the final two minutes.

Something About This Made Me Feel Young

I have heard about this noise that supposedly only people under 25 can hear and some stores in malls are using it as a deterrent noise for teenagers and their ilk to keep them away *cough* Thomas Kincaide Store *cough* as if they needed a noise.

But I thought I would try to listen to it and lo and behold, I can hear it. Yay for young ears!

Can you hear it?

Created by Train Horn

The Oscars

I don't know how many of you watched the Oscars. I kind of had to "sneak" the Oscars in because we watched The Amazing Race and Matt hates award shows.

But I watched the red carpet and the last hour, which is when all the good stuff happens anyway.

Then I read the blogs which make fun of what the celebrities wore to the Oscars and I laughed outright at www.gofugyourself.com which is a blog that makes fun of celebrities and what they wear everyday. I hesitate to post it simply because of the name of the blog, but well...it's not MY blog, dadgummit.

But this post. This post about Kate Winslet and Reese Witherspoon is genius: Gofugyourself.celebuzzcom You will have to scroll UP to read the article.