The End Is Near!

Well hopefully this is going to be the last plea for some help. :) I am supposed to be done with nail school by the end of this month and I am behind on services needed to graduate on time. I have been doing regular tip sets for a couple of weeks now and they are turning out pretty dang good if I do say so myself. (see pictures below...) I need a few people to come into the school and have their nails done. It costs $18 a set and if you come at either 10am or 5pm mon-thurs or 9am on saturday it is only $9. If you would like to help me out or know anyone who would please have them call me at 801-455-5671 and I can schedule them at the school. Thanks for your help and hope to hear from you. I can do some pretty fun Christmas nails for the holidays.

I did these on myself so I promise they would look better on someone else. :) It is a red & green glitter.

These are on our wonderful mannequinn hands we use to practice on somethimes. ( also good to freak any 2 yr old out with)

Voting Time!!!!

So we have decided on some finalists for the business name contest. Please see the voting section on the right of the blog and cast your vote. The Voting will run through the end of November so please get as many people to vote as you can. Please keep in mind that we like quite a few of the suggestions but could only use certain ones that weren't already legal business names being used. Thanks again to those who participated. Happy Voting!!!

Nailed by Cristina, part 1

So by now you all know that Cristina is going to school to become a Nail Technicion. The school will last 3 months, give or take a week. This is something that we have been talking about her doing for a couple of years. She is about a third of the way done at this point. See her previous post for info on how you can help her get some credit.

Ok, now to the point of this post. Upon her graduation from school she will be running her own little business out of our home. Doing nails every chance she gets. To run a business you need to have a business and to have a business you need a name for your business. That brings me to my point. Here's what Cristina and I have decided to do. Since she doesn't like my idea for a name of her business (Nailed by Cristina) she wants to have someone out there in the blogger world suggest a name. So we want everyones idea on a name for the business. We will then pick a few of the favorites and post them on here to be voted on. The winner of that vote will be her new business name and the person whom suggested it will receive $100 of nail service from my talented wife. I'm sure some of you male readers are thinking that isn't fair, how does this benefit me?! Beleive me, if you gave your wife/girlfriend/mom/sister/girl thats a friend/etc. a bunch of free nail work, you will benefit. So please leave your comment/suggestion on this blog. LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!!

Nails! Nails! Nails!

On October 6th I started Nail School at the Color My Nails School. It has been going good. The first month sucks because it is mainly book work and not a whole lot of practice time. We have already learned how to do manicures and pedicures ( the easy part of being a nail technician). Needless to say it has been a big eye opener for me. I have had acrylic nails ever since high school and my nail ladies make it look so stinkin easy! Boy was I wrong. I am sure once I get enough practice under my belt it will be a lot easier, but man is it frustrating. I am enjoying having some adult interaction and learning so much! I think Ethan is enjoying going to his sitter and meeting new friends.

Right now we are only allowed to work on the public on Saturdays and we can only do manicures and pedicures. So if you would like to have a manicure or pedicure, please call the school and schedule an appointment and request Cristina Smith to do it. Below is some info regarding coming to the school. Please come and help me earn credit for doing services on clients. :)

Color My Nails School
Saturday: 9am - 3pm
85 E. 7200 S. ( 1/2 block east of Hooters)
561-9112
***ASK FOR CRISTINA SMITH***

Prices:
Manicure = $10.00
Pedicure = $20.00
***IF YOU ARE THE FIRST APPOINTMENT OF THE DAY @ 9AM YOU GET 1/2 OFF YOUR SERVICE****

10 years!!!

Friday night was Adam's missionary reunion! He has been home 10 years this year. President and Sister Rowe are always so sweet and caring. Ethan of course made himself at home and was sitting at their kids table and riding a tricycle they had out on their back patio. It was a lot of fun to see Adam's old companions and friends from his mission. After the reunion, a group of us always goes out to dinner. This year the group included John Maxim, Stayton & Nicole Barnes, The Smiths, and Rob & Ann Shirley. (The Daleys were greatly missed) :( We ended up at Carls Jr. and needless to say Ethan had a blast running around with the Barnes' two children in the playland. Here is a couple pics from after we got home and realized just how much fun he had playing.

Needless to say, he got a little dirty.

Unfortunately we forgot our camera so we don't have any actual pictures from the reunion. :( Better luck next time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!!!

Just wanted to take a second to wish my wonderful husband a happy birthday. 31 years ago this adorable boy was born. I am so blessed to have him in my life and thank my Heavenly Father every day that he chose me to be his wife. Thank you for always making me laugh and keeping me on track. I love you babe!!!!One of my favorite pictures of Adam!

I think this is where Ethan gets his mischievousness!

Caught Red Handed!!

Well Ethan has decided that he no longer cares about using the toilet. We decided to give him a little more reign of the house so we moved the gate that went into the kitchen and put locks on all drawers and cupboards. We started with the latch locks which ended up not working since his little arms fit right in the drawer gaps and he kept pulling out the vegetable peelers and pizza cutter. So we ended up having to pay a little more money and get the "tot locks" that the doctor's offices use, they are magnetized and there is no gap in the drawers for Ethan to stick his grubby little hands in.

Well the other day I heard him with something in the kitchen. I went to look to see what he was doing and found him with his hand in the cookies. He was pretty proud of himself! All he would say when I asked him what he was doing was " num num num ". I am not sure how he got them down since they were back far enough that he couldn't reach them by just standing on the ground. Needless to say, they are now on top of the fridge and there isn't much on the counters anymore. Kids are smart!!

Here are a couple of more cute pics of the crazy kid.....

The red things are nuts from his toy tool bench. They fit quite nicely on his nose and of course wanted mommy to do it also. Sadly, they fit on mommy's nose as well.

Don't lay on the floor unless you want some company.

Thought he was pretty funny walking around and banging the bowl on his head.

Public Toilets :(

So about a week ago Ethan decided he wanted to go potty on the toilet! I was a little confused as to what he was trying to tell me since this was the first time mentioning it at all. Also, the kid is quarantined to the living room (to save my sanity) so he had to try and tell me he wanted to go into the bathroom without actually going there and using normal words. Finally I let him through the gate so he could show me what he was saying. He ran right to the toilet and pulled down his pants. He sat on the toilet and held himself up just fine. Well as unprepared mentally as I was for this big step, I decided to go with it since he was obviously wanting to do it. He has no problem going poop on the toilet, which is really weird to me since everyone says how kids are normally scared of going poop on the toilet, but will go pee just fine. So apparently Ethan didn't get that memo, cause he doesn't mind peeing in his pull ups and goes poop in the toilet great.

Now a fun adventure that comes with potty training is getting your child to go on any other toilet than the ones at home. The other night we were at Outback Steakhouse and Ethan claimed he had to go "eewwww", which is what he says when he needs to go potty. So we make the trek all the way to the other side of the restaurant in a mad dash, dodging people who don't want to move as you say "excuse me please". We get into the stall and I am squatting down next to him trying to get him to pull down his pants and suddenly I notice every dirty little spot in the entire stall. Now I have no problem going in public restrooms, but when you are trying to keep a 2 year old from touching every germ infested thing in the bathroom, you suddenly think twice about public restrooms. Needless to say he didn't go potty. I know all of you moms out there are laughing because it has only been a week since he started going on the toilet, but time is running out for me. I have decided that I am going to go to Nail School starting October 6th, so if Ethan isn't fully potty trained by then, then it will probably have to wait. So wish us luck and any suggestions are welcomed!!

Proud Wife!!!

FIRST OF ALL IF YOU HAVEN'T READ ADAM'S BLOG ENTRY BELOW, PLEASE READ IT BEFORE YOU READ THIS ONE....

As Adam mentioned, his aunt Jody and I went to watch him do the triathlon. A huge thanks to my sister Sabrina for offering to watch Ethan, because I was planning on taking him, and now after having gone and seeing what it was really like, I would have gone insane had Ethan come with us. The website was not very good at really preparing spectators as to what they should expect.
Anyway, when Adam started talking about possibly doing the triathlon, I too thought he was out of his mind. But when he told me on the phone that he had signed up for the triathlon and that you had to pay a fee to sign up, I suddenly realized he was serious! So when I heard about the bets that were going on I kind of laughed. I now wish I would have participated in the bets myself. I would have won. I would have bet that he would finish, because when Adam really puts his mind to something I know he will do whatever it takes to get it done.
So needless to say, he finished! I was so proud of him when I saw him cross that finish line. I worried about him pushing himself too much to try to keep up with his buddies. When he finished he wasn't breathing as heavily as I had expected which was a good sign to me. I knew he would be pretty sore afterwards for a couple of days, but I then knew that he hadn't pushed himself to badly enough to be totally out of commission.
Overall, I am very proud of my husband!!!! Especially since he doesn't work out, except when he goes swimming on saturday mornings with the same buddies. (and yes they swim pretty hard, not my idea of swimming, but hey to each his own, right.) All three of his buddies work out pretty regularly. Anyway, it was a lot of standing around and waiting for each guy to cross each event but the nice tan/burn I received and getting to cheer them on was well worth it. Congratulations to all of them, Ryan, Dave, Nate, & Adam!!!

But I didn't finish last

For those of you that didn't know, I did my first triathlon this past Saturday. For those of you that did know I was going to do it, it happened this past Saturday. I'm pretty sure that those who did know about it and those that are just hearing were/are thinking something along the lines of "Geez, is Adam crazy? Has he looked at himself in the mirror lately. There is no way he will be able to do something like that!" Well you know what, you were right. However I did it anyway.

Let me take you back to the beginning of how I ended up in the predicament. It was just over a month ago, while Cristina and I were in Guatemala. I had some emails from a few of my best friends, whom I know at the time were planning on doing the tri. These emails came in good fun, yet with some mild mockery and gentle encouragement. They said things such as "come on Adam, lets not be tri virgins anymore" and "if you don't do this Adam, you will be the only one of our relay team (from high school swimming) not in it." A part of me wanted to jump on board and say yes right away, but the butterfly's in my stomach, just from the thought of it were screaming NO! I don't own a bike of any sort, so I told them that if they could find me a bike, I would do it. I knew there was a possibility of them finding me one, but there was the same chance that they wouldn't. Thanks to Ryan I was no longer without bike. His dad had one that might be considered an older style road bike that he said I could use. At that point I had to enter, even though my gut was still screaming NO don't do it, it's a trick! Needless to say, I signed up. The second I signed up I thought "Oh crap, I need to start training. I only have 4 weeks to get ready for this."

The tri consisted of a 750 meter (820 yards) open water swim, 20 km (about 13 miles) bike ride and a 5 km (just over 3 miles) run. For me, the swim was the least of my worries. Swimming has always come natural to me, once I realized that I wasn't scared of it. 820 yards, even in open water (Jordanelle reservoir) is nothing to me. It was the bike and run that terrified me. I don't think I have been on a bike since the middle of my mission. So that's about 11 years ago. And running, my philosophy is why run when you can drive. I hate running! Other than playing soccer a few years ago, I haven't ran for any significant distance or time since 2003 when I was still in the Marines, and for those 8 years I hated the running and wasn't even good at it then. 4 weeks is not long enough to get in enough good training for this, but I did my best.

I'm pretty sure a lot of you reading this are thinking that I'm a wuss and this doesn't really sound that hard. Well you're right, I am a wuss and it shouldn't be as hard as I am making it out to be.

The first 3 weeks of training went rather well. I was consistently increasing my distance on the run as the pain slowly decreased from sitting on a bike. Then came the week before the race. I'm not quite sure what happened. My body started aching constantly, I couldn't eat and my sleeping was almost nil. I couldn't do anything. Come to find out I was so stressed about this stupid race that I was causing all these problems myself.

It's race day and I'm standing at the edge of the 70 degree lake, shaking. Not because the lake is freezing but because I've scared myself to that point. I jump in the water... now I'm shaking because the water is so cold, but my nerves leave almost instantly.

When I signed up, I had 3 goals in mind. 1st, to just finish. B, to not finish last and 3rd, to beat one of my friends. 2 out of 3 isn't bad. On the swim, I was one of the first 20 or so out of the water in my age group. Beating one of my friends out of the water by about 2 minutes. Then came the bike. About 2 miles into the bike my buddy passed me and I didn't see him again until the end. The course was what they called a "false flat". It looked flat but if I stopped peddling I would slow down. That went on for about 8 miles, but the last 5 was pretty much down hill. A nice rest to get ready for the run. It turns out that I can walk 3 miles. OK, so I didn't walk all of it but I did walk some. Which I didn't feel to bad about since there were quite a few people walking. As I crossed the finish line, it was a great feeling. I had just accomplished something that I figured I would probably never do, even though I really wanted to. I didn't win the race but I didn't finish last either.

I have to thank my good friends Ryan, Nate and Clyde for talking me into this. Among all the naysayers who had bets against me, they always boosted my confidence and helped me finish. And for Cristina and my Aunt Jody for coming out to watch and support all of us in this. Sure it was hard but I can see myself doing it again next year.

Terrible Twos???

Saturday was Ethan's 2nd birthday. I can't believe it has been 2 years already. Time really does fly. He woke up with Adam telling him happy birthday, which got Ethan very excited. I am not sure if he really understood the whole birthday concept. But he did know that he had to wait to get his new basketball hoop until his birthday, so needless to say, the elephant never forgot!!!

I decided to be a little brave this year and make Ethan a real birthday cake. Ethan had a blast licking the beaters for me.

Then while he was taking his nap I was going to decorate the cake. Well after quite some time of not going to sleep, Adam went in to see what the problem was and this is what he found. NOT FUNNY!!

YES THAT IS POOP! He pooped while trying to go to sleep and instead of just telling us decided to show us. I was completely grossed out! Luckily the rest of the day got better. I was able to finish his cake which turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Over all I would have to say that he enjoyed his birthday. Here are a few pictures.

Ethan also had his 2 year check up today. The doctor said everything is great and he is growing good. Maybe a little too good. :) Here are his measurements:

Head: 51 cm=93%ile

Height: 37 in=94%ile

(good thing he is tall or he might fall over from his huge head)

Weight: 29lbs 14 oz=71%ile

Thank Heavens for Adrenaline!!!

So about a week or two ago, while my poor parents were still here, Ethan decided to test my dad and I's ability to not faint at the sight of blood. My dad and I had poured the cement slab earlier that day and I had still not showered and was covered in dirt and cement splatters. Dinner had just gotten ready and we were all in the kitchen, except Ethan, for like 2 minutes and we heard a huge crash. Then blood curdling screaming from Ethan. I knew it had to be bad because he has never screamed like that before. My mom and I ran to the gate that keeps Ethan out of the kitchen, and saw Ethan holding his head with blood running into his right eye. Luckily an adrenaline rush kicked in, because I do NOT handle blood very well. As I scooped him up to rush him to the kitchen sink to stop anymore blood from going into his actual eyeball, my first thought was to hurry and clean it up and cover it so if my dad came in from the office, he wouldn't see it. My poor dad, to me has always been a pretty strong man physically, but when it comes to blood or anything of the sort, he goes out pretty easy. ( I just don't think his circulation has ever been really good.)

Anyway, as I looked at his wound I could see the tissue inside his head and knew he needed stitches. My poor mom who was always the strong one with all of us kids' wounds started crying and freaking out. (Don't worry grandma, you are allowed one freak out and we still love you) :) Well needless to say, Ethan got 5 stitches going down his forehead. Which by the way, is horrible for a mother to watch, especially me. Luckily, Adam was there at the hospital because I couldn't watch or help to much while they numbed his forehead, washed out the wound, and stitched Ethan up. I had to stay there so ethan didn't freak out more. So I sat there talking to him while looking away so that I didn't pass out. They strapped him to the "papoose" that has a board and huge velcro straps to keep him still. Man was Ethan PISSED!! They only time he would calm down a little bit was when Adam would ask him for a kiss, then he would have to give me one too. It was really cute! Then the screaming would continue. The awesome 8-month pregnant nurse holding his head still while squatting next to the gurney was a trooper. After the whole ordeal, when they unstrapped him, he was drenched in sweat. As I was helping Ethan eat his popsicle the nurse gave him, I had to have Adam take over so I could put my head between my legs cause I was about to faint. Adrenaline rush was over apparently.

Every since it happened I had tried to get Ethan to tell me where he hit his head, since no one saw it happen. He wouldn't tell me or show me anything. However the other day, Paul & Janet Henderson were over at our house and Paul asked Ethan what happened to his head and Ethan ran over to the corner of the wall and pointed to where he apparently hit his head! I don't know if he didn't remember before or if he just likes Paul better, but I took advantage of it and took a picture. I am actually surprised that this is Ethan's first stitches, but I am not complaining. :)

Last Day in Guatemala

Our last day in Guatemala we went to Antigua. It is quite the tourist's place. They have kept the city in the old style buildings to keep the essence of the town. All the streets are cobblestone, which makes for a very bumpy ride. Antigua used to be the capital of Guatemala until an earthquake in the 1700's devastated a lot of the city, when the capital was moved to Guatemala City. Here are some pics:





In front of the main monastery that was damage in the earthquake.

Inside the monastery

Down in one of the catacombs

Us inside the 5 star hotel, Santo Domingo, in Antigua

We had a blast in Guatemala and were able to see things that we probably won't ever see again. Thanks to Shirley and Marlene for their great hospitality and chauffeuring. Thanks to Grandma Jan for watching Ethan so we could go on this wonderful trip. We love you guys!

Days 3 & 4 in Guatemala

On Saturday & Sunday, we went with Shirley & Marlene to Retalhuleu, Guatemala. Shirley got asked to speak at a fireside one of the stakes were having on saturday night. We had a church employee drive us for security reasons, which was great because he really knew the country and the roads. The roads at times can be quite scary. It was also a small world because our driver, Percy, who is Guatemalan, but served his mission here in kearns, west jordan, west valley, and south jordan. It was a lot of fun talking to him. Here are some pics:





Our Hotel for the weekend.

Breakfast at one of the restaurants at the hotel.

I thought this was kind of funny. These buses are all over Guatemala City. They are normally completely packed with people and sometimes have people hanging onto the outside of the bus. People jump on and off while the bus is still moving. The funny part is that these buses are really old and rusted, but the "mercedes" symbol is always nice and shiny.

Day 2 in Guatemala

On Friday (July 18th) we had our tour of Tikal. We left at 5am for the airport to take a plane to Flores, Guatemala. We then had an hour drive to the actual Tikal sites. Man was it humid there. They don't call it the rain forest for nothing. Within the first 20 minutes me & adam were so drenched from the humidity that it might as well have been raining. Our tour guide was excellant and quite the joker. Which made the 8 kilometer(they use the metric system in Guatemala, not sure how that transfers into miles) hike quite enjoyable. There were so many things to look at. So many types of trees and plants. The huge tree behind the sign (at left) is an "allspice tree". Apparently, allspice (the seasoning) is actually only one spice not several in one, don't laugh if you already knew that, I didn't. Anyway, our tour guide, Juvencio, tore off a leaf and broke it so we could smell it. It smelled just like allspice but much much stronger, our hands smelled like that afterwards.

The national tree. It was so huge it took 2 pictures to fit it all in. The roots themselves were massive. By the time we got to Temple 4 we were so tired. Temple 4 is the farthest away from the rest of the ruins. Adam, Cristina and Shirley walked up the wood staircase to the top of the temple. Here are a couple of pictures from when we got up there.

This was the farthest up you could go.

View of temple 4 from the ground. This is the only part that has been excavated so far. The rest is covered in jungle.

Us in the main plaza of Tikal.

After Tikal Adam & I went on what they call the "Canopy Tour" or otherwise known as a zip line. It was quite a rush and extremely worth the $25 fee. There were 7 stations, where we go from tree to tree and zig zag back and forth. There was a little price to pay, but still worth the ride. We got a little dirty from holding onto the cable above our head. We had to hold on to the cable to help stop our selves so we didn't run into the next tree.

The irony of Adam's shirt was great!!

All of us with our tour guide. We also found out that he has worked on several of the crews that create the challenges on Survivor, including the Guatemala season.