kids

Lily drew on some paper today and brought it to me. She said she made it for me and it said "Lily Bird love you, after you mean." Followed by "You need to be nice."
Does everyone have kids that think their parents are nice when disciplining? Am I really screwing up that bad?

Here is Jackson's latest hobby - taking off his diaper. During this post I have put it back on 4 times.
On the back porch at Grandma and Grandpa's new house. Jack is pleading for the railing to be removed.
And obviously cute! This is a favorite of mine:

Lily was leaning her head on my lap and started to make snoring sounds. After a few seconds she jumped up and yelled "Wait a minute! You're not a bed!"

thresholds, and a recurring theme of my quick temper

In high school, I took Adam to Preference. We were talking after the date and I had bruise on my leg that Adam kept on poking - it was getting annoying so I very lightly slapped him.A few months ago, we were on a date. I don't know how the subject came up, but I asked him if he thought I had a high pain threshold. He said no. I was about to walk out yelling "why don't YOU try giving birth to a baby over 9 lbs with no pain medication and see how high YOUR pain threshold is!" But curiosity (and the fact I hadn't gotten dinner yet) won so I asked why. He referenced the story above, which apparently in his mind made me pretty wimpy, no matter what happened after that.
A week before this triathlon, I got really mad at a van door for not closing all the way, and subsequently closed the door with all my might, hitting my knee in the process. Dr. Kim said it was a bruised tendon and to "ice it, ice it, ice it." I did a few times, and cut out running for the week. It still hurt.
During the triathlon, the swim was good, the bike was good, the run not so much. But then during the second lap, I connected the initial bruise that Adam thought was so trivial, to my bruised tendon, and decided if I stopped favoring my knee it would be like me enduring Adam's poking 10 years ago, and maybe he would be forced to admit I have a high pain threshold. He said I did a good job.
But being always hard to please, he followed that up with saying that I need to work on my transitions, as I took longer than Mindy both times. *shrug* There's always next November.

I was very pleased with myself. I cut off 8 minutes from last year. Here are the times:
400 meter swim - 8:22
transition 1 - 4:02
10 mile bike + transition 2 - 42:35
3 mile run - 30:33
Total - 1h 25 min

is that wrong?

For FHE the kids and I left Adam at home to study while we went to the mall. Lily carried my purchase for me, and then we spent some time going up and down the "moving stairs" in Dillard's. It took a few times for Jack to be confident enough to step on them himself, but he kept asking for more anyways.

So far this year, I have documented that the only time something blog-worthy occurs, we are in St. George. Three out of four posts, anyway. Hopefully I can get around to changing that.

In other news! I was released from my calling as Activities Day leader and transferred right over to the boys! I am now the Cub Scout Den Leader. I spent over a week complaining to everyone who asked me how it was going (sorry), and now that that is out of the way, I am very excited to get to work and learn everything I need to do. As a farewell, my girls made me some cards to say good bye. One of my favorites was Felicity, who said "To Subrina, I will miss you because no one else cares! Just kidding!" I laughed so hard. I was so lucky to work with such a beautiful and unique group of girls.

yes, my number was 1

All of us women who have married into the Bird family did the Tuacahn Duathlon on Saturday. 5K run, 24m bike, 5K run. I had such an enjoyable time: amazingly beautiful scenery, perfect weather, my body felt great, and I finished the race. In two hours and thirty-six minutes. I was shooting for under three hours so I was very happy. Courtesy of Ashley and Kurt, here are some shots:I don't think I could ever get enough of that Snow Canyon rock. You forget you are exercising it is so gorgeous!
Mindy looking awesome.Peggy waiting for us to finish - she came in at 2:09! Very inspiring.
Jana happy on her bike! We had a little scare when she almost collapsed after finishing - not enough calories. Made me feel a bit less embarrassed that during my huge breakfast Adam asked me if I was maybe eating too much? Audrey has a 3 month old and is 2 months pregnant. I kept on waiting to get a call from her saying she wasn't going to do the race. Pretty darn tough!Finished! At least Mindy and Peggy were at this point. I was about 13 minutes behind. All of us but Peggy, who was getting ready to leave us in the dust. Thanks to all of them again for going along with my idea. I am so grateful that I have such wonderful in-laws.

sweet week

I spent last week down in St. George to get out of this icky inversion. And Adam's busy season (he's not around much from February to May). It was wonderful! The kids got to see lots of their grandparents (especially Mimi), and I got a ton of stuff done. Highlights included going to the temple with Mom ("that doesn't look lone and dreary - that's beautiful!"); having a nice long visit with Amy, one of the bravest women I know; <$100 expense for townhome repairs; late night movie with Nancy with Mom calling at midnight telling me she's going to bed; attending Dad's social security hearings; hanging out with Becca, ReAnn and KelliAnn while our kids couldn't have cared less if we were around; Ashley's bridal shower (cake pops!); Krave for a girl's night out ("who wants a skinny, enhanced grandma?"); and to top it all off! I biked to the top of Snow Canyon in ~30 minutes with Mindy, Peggy and Audrey. So awesome I didn't die! Thank you to Sarah, I was using your bike. I hope that's okay.
We were all super excited to get home. Adam seemed resigned to the fact we were back - he spent part of the night reminiscing about all of the things he did while I was gone that I wouldn't have approved of...which is fine with me since he's working so hard all of the other time.

back to the beginning

Lily loves pasta. And cheese. :)

January has been a slow whirlwind - lots happening, but time is crawling. I can't wait for spring! Here is a smorgasbord of random pics:Stepping up the snow to get the mail with the delightful inversion as a backdrop. On a happier note - Jack helping Dad with shoveling during a storm. Can you tell he has an older sister and we're too cheap to buy him his own gloves? He is always opening the front door, then grabbing his coat and shoes and bringing them to me so he can go outside.Amanda posing for Lily, who loves taking lots of pictures. Amanda had an awful lot of baking energy for being pregnant! We made a crazy buttery chocolate cake for Adam's birthday (28! He informed me yesterday that this is the last year he is eligible to audition for American Idol). My hips still haven't recovered. The only nice thing about Amanda being gone was that I wasn't doing dishes 5 times a day. (Good luck, Tyler!) While she was here I found out that Britt is pregnant too! Being engulfed in all of these pregnancy hormones made me wonder if I should get going or something, but then 5 seconds later those musings ended abruptly.At the Spaghetti Factory, before the airport. Henry ate everything in sight, it was pretty funny. Shopping with Amanda in Salt Lake made me wonder less that people grow up and live in the same place as their family. She is so fun to have around! I was so spoiled to get her and Liz to visit, along with a big break in St. George, within two months.Matt's Homecoming dessert spread - this is after distribution of treat platters around the house. Nicole's mint brownies are some of the best things EVER. Family get togethers like this make me feel like I'm 12 again and should be running around the Hansen house with my cousins eating rolls and treats. Adam quells those reminiscings quick, especially since the football games determining the Super Bowl contestants were that afternoon....And here are our two bath-obsessed cuties. They will stay in there for so. long. It is wonderful.

welcoming gifts of 2010

Jack got a black eye. Symbolic of things to come? Probably with how much this boy loves climbing.
Lily is getting a week+ with Amanda, who is sick and pregnant and who I'm supposed to be taking care of, but like always she is doing much more for me.
And I got a midnight kiss from this charmer, who is posing for a shot from the front of the line for the blockbuster "Sherlock Holmes." We are such nerds for getting there so early, but we blamed St. George for having lines for movies that really shouldn't.