Finding Krissi

Something you may not know about me is that I ♥ Halloween.  Yes, out of all the holidays Halloween is my favorite.  It has a lot to do with dressing up to be whoever you want and the whole give me candy. "Big Sigh" on that one this year. Being as Halloween is my favorite my family goes a little overboard. (ok, ok, I go a little overboard) Much to Brent's chagrin, who frankly does not share my ummm, well, enthusiasm. Halloween usually turns into several days of celebration.  Starting with the city carnival.  This is usually the night the kids make their costume debut. S. went from being a cute witch to a pretty witch when did she get so old on me ? As you can see A. has moved into the I want to be something scary stage.  Al calls this a punk rock pirate . H. getting one more year out of his Army man costume.  I wish I could  keep him little forever .   The city carnival has turned into a family tradition. Attending has become mandatory and somewhere a long the line we actu...

If there is one thing that Brent and I both agree on.  One thing that we both believe is essential to the proper development, growth, and raising of a son. That no boyhood would be complete with out.  It would be participation in the Pinewood Derby.   Yes, on this one thing Brent and I are in total agreement.  A boyhood is not a true boyhood until a boy has built a pinewood derby car and then competed in a pinewood derby.  It is that important!  I'm sorry if you have never had the opportunity to live in a house filled with the air of pinewood derby. If you have never had the opportunity of watching a father stand to the side as his son uses HIS power tools. The opportunity to take a chunk of wood and see that inside the wood is the makings of a CAR.   You wonder why men are so obsessed with cars, with how there made, and how fast they go.  Well if you have ever brought home a pinewood derby box kit to a home with boys and men all your questions would be answered. Once the car is b...

You have all been so great.  I can't tell you how motivational it has been knowing that I am being watched.  Also, I totally don't want to punk out in less then 48 hours that would just be sad.   I  had to laugh tonight as I was walking out of pack meeting a friend's husband said, "Hey Krissi, did you see those cookies and donuts in there?"  I laughed and said, "You have been reading my blog haven't you?" I am going to make a promise to all my out of town competitors, I promise not to eat sweets right in front of friends who know about the contest.  That would just be unfair.  Nope I will eat sweets in the dark corners of my home.  Where no one can see me.  That is healthy, right? By the way I went no where near the cookies, donuts, Hawaiian punch and other soda goodness.   Nope, I'm still sugar free and amazingly it has been a little bit easier then the soda.  Of course no one had a night of door to door collecting of soda.  So Halloween might b...

This is a contest for you that serves me! Here are the rules: **Below is a counter of how many hours and soon to be days since I last ate sugar.   Currently my definition of eating sugar is: Candy, cookies, cake anything that you would call a goody also I am cutting "high fructose corn syrup" out of my breakfast and lunch menu. Amazingly, it is in pretty much everything we eat so to keep it simple for me I am just cutting it out lunch and breakfast until the new year. Here is the contest part for you. *If you catch this counter at less then 2 hours you win a 10.00 Wal-Mart gift card.  It is that simple.  Leave a comment and I will know I have been caught with my hand in the cookie jar. If after two hours I have not been caught  the contest is still going.  This contest will go until December 31 st if by then I haven't flubbed or you haven't caught me. I will mail the gift card to the person who has left the most comments starting today.   *I get three days to reset th...

I'm going old school with this post and will be writing it out with pen and paper first.  This is due mainly to the fact that I don't have a laptop and I am currently sitting at a swim meet. (Want to start a write in campaign to Brent to get me a laptop? Yah, I didn't think so.) Andrew's first time in a swim cap! Doesn't he look thrilled? This particular swim meet is being held in American Fork, Utah and is being hosted by the HAST team.  I have been told that during the college off season many BYU swimmers swim with them.  Are you impressed? Today the kids are competing in a 25 yard 8 lane pool that is actually housed in a bubble.  A bubble you ask? Yes a bubble a very large removable bubble.  This is so the pool can become an outdoor pool during the summer months and still be used once the weather goes south. If you look in the background of this picture you can see the walls of the bubble.  If you click on this picture you can see some pretty cool blur action of ...

So first I had to give up Diet Soda?  Which was and continues to be one of the most difficult things I have ever done.  I'm including giving birth because at least then I had an epidural.  Unfortunately there is no epidural for Diet Soda withdrawal.  Today I start giving up sugar. I'm aware that Friday is Halloween and my children will be bringing all kinds of goodies into the house.  But it has to be done.  Because as much as I was dependent on Diet Soda I am double that with sugar.  If I am going to give it up I might as well start on the hardest day of the year.  That way the rest of the year will seem easy.  Right? Right? Hello, right?  Oh well, I just wanted to warn you that the next couple of weeks I may seem a little, umm, angry? Turns out that is pretty much how I handle change.  I get really angry until I talk myself down from the ledge. But I know you are all there for me and promise to be nice and not send me chocolate to make me be nicer.   Well unless you really wa...

First of all I just have to say thank you for all your kind comments.  It is nice to know that we all have days like those. I have spent the last few days trying to figure out how to stop any more days like the ones we have been having.  But then I remembered something my mom has always said, "You can't stop a storm you can only weather it."  DANG IT!! I tell you one of these days Mother Nature and I are going to have ourselves one LONG talk.  Speaking of mom sayings, here is my favorite grandma saying (my mom's mom) speaking to her recently turned 16 year old oldest granddaughter. "You know Krissi you don't have to type on a lot of type writers to learn to type." I will let you ponder that one as you go through your day.  Last night we were lucky enough to attend Al's very first concert choir performance.  It was a very fun night.  Well as much fun as a soccer/swim mom can have when she can't jump up and down and cheer.  Can you imagine, "S...

Sometimes the best part of  "blog world," is you get to a post a cute picture and say, "Look how great my life is." You can go into denial for a moment or two that life can truly blow at  times.  You can go into denial that somebody decided that it was a good idea for "you" to be a mother, four times.  You can pretend that you know what your doing. (You get that when I say "you" I mean "me" right?) "See I know what I'm doing, look at all the cute pictures of my smiling happy kids. I must be the greatest mom ever to have all these happy smiling children."  What we rarely see or lets face it discuss is that some days we wish we could quit the whole "mom" thing and try another job for a little while.  Each of my kids have challenges that leave my head spinning and me wishing that somehow I just could figure out the magic answer to make it all ok.  Some days I think, "There not even teenagers and it's this h...

You know what number this post is?  It is my 100th post.  I would say it is shocking that I have posted that many post since the end of April but we all know how much I love to chat.  There is also that whole hiding from reality in cyber world thing going on. Never the less, I am thrilled that my 100th post landed on an, "Ask the SwimMom" post. It seems fitting doesn't it?  This week I am happy to bring you more questions from my favorite swim pal Willow. Who this week asked questions dealing with swim technique and improving your strokes.  So lets dive in shall we (umm humm "dive in," just giving you a little heads up on the pun.) The fabulous Willow asked.... Okay Swimmom... the question is this; I like to swim. I can swim laps for days. However, I am not a fast swimmer; basically I am to swimming as marathon runners are to running. How can I become faster? Answer: Lets start with me asking a question, what is not fast? How fast do you want to be? Are you trai...

It is sad but it is true the fall soccer season is officially over.  This picture expresses so well my grief on the subject. Well alright I'm a little more excited then I probably should be. Since my kids really do love soccer.  They love chasing the ball.... They love kicking the ball...... but most of all they love scoring goals.  However, what they don't like is "THE DREADED KEEPER JERSEY." None of my children are what you would call keeper friendly.  In fact when the coach says, "Who wants to be keeper?" My children are the ones that suddenly disappear.  Putting them in a keeper jersey usually ends in looks like these.  Keeping that in mind.. what was so amazing today is Andrew did an incredible job.  He ran, he jumped, he crashed into other players, he even took one ball right to the face saving the goal and not crying. I wanted to cry, I wanted to run out on the field and make sure he was ok.  But I've been told cool moms don't do those kinds o...

The kids are out of school today. They were also out of school yesterday.  Due to UEA.  Supposedly this is so teachers can go and do additional training and be better teachers.  It sounds like a good idea for no school right? Well that means the munchkins are home and the house is full of other munchkins.  Lots of fun stuff. However, I am starting to be concerned that one of Henry's best little pals, who is actually a girl pal, might have strange powers over him.  Resulting in things like this happening. Should I be concerned? On a completely different note.  Sam's last day of wearing braces was last Thursday.  This picture was taken as she was getting ready to walk in to the Ortho's office.   What a cute little "brace face." Here is a picture of her today. What do you think was it worth all that money?  That we are still paying.  That we might be paying until the day we have to pay for her wedding.  Of course maybe with these perfectly straight babies she will ma...

My friend over at Three's Company tagged me.  I guess she didn't read my last tag. I guess she hasn't figured out how long winded I am.  I guess she hasn't figured out that I love to talk and talk and talk.  I mean really I could have just condensed the last three sentences into one but you all know how much I go on and on.  So here we are with an all new tag game it is all called, "Name 6 of your quirks." To be honest I haven't figured out why she even tagged me.  It was extremely difficult for me to even come up with six quirks.  Being as I am so incredibly quirk free. (If you are not picking up on the sarcasm here, please realize that my voice is dripping with sarcasm.)  Ironically my very first (and boy did it take me a long time to come up with this one, you know sense I am so quirk free) quirk.  I have a difficult time communicating with out teasing, joking, kidding ok, ok, ok being sarcastic.  I am a very tongue in the cheek kind of person. Hard to ...

This week on "Ask theSwimMom," I will be answering Willow's disturbing yet relevant swim wear questions. Q. Okay SwimMom, why is it that beach volleyball players play in the smallest bikinis this side of Europe, yet the swimmers swim in full neck to ankle wear? Are those hideous suits really necessary? Also, how is it that Speedo thinks that all swimmers are horrible flat chested? Can a girl get a Speedo suit with some... support? Finally, How did Speedo become the brand of competition? A. All right lets start with the full neck to ankle wear. "Are those hideous suits really necessary?" Over the past year Speedo joined forces with NASA to concoct a cutting-edge, ultrasonically welded, body suit called the LZR Racer. It’s been wind tunnel tested and contains polyurethane panels to “reduce drag.” Drag can cost an Olympic swimmer the gold. The swimsuits cost about 500.00 and are only good for ten races. These "hideous suits" have dramatically changed...

Friday, I told you it was going to snow. Then what do I do, I show you pictures of wet, cold kids, but no snow. Well never fear, I am here for you. If I promise you snow pictures I plan on delivering to the best of my ability. Even if Mother Nature and I are not on the best of terms. Below is a picture of the snow starting. I know, pretty non-impressive. Nonetheless, this is what our trees and street looked like yesterday before bed. This is what they look like today. I know, right now you are dying of jealousy not to be part of this winter wonderland.  However, I would like to remind you of one or two things. #1) It is only October 12th and generally this stuff doesn't start until the end of November or the first of December. #2) If this persist our kids are going to be trick-or-treating in their winter coats, boots, and ski pants. #3) I work in a swimming pool and leave work wet!!!   I guess I should mention the good side which is Utah really needs the water and all the blah, bla...