Just To Whet Your Appetite!

I am NOW way too tired, but LATER I WILL post more tantalizing pictures of Kylie at her softball tournament and ME receiving presents for my birthday. I'll have much witty commentary.

For now, I can't wait to brush my teeth, put on pajamas and go read a book.

I also have a post rolling around my head about Getting On The Sugar Free Train....it will be fun....really...powerful and conquering. Coming soon.

Thanks to Candice & Candice's Neighbor, OH & to Zak, Kerry & Quinn

On Tues, June 8th, Candice took me out to lunch for my birthday. She would not be in town to celebrate with me on that day. She said to pick a place, whatever! So, I picked Tokyo Wako! It was SO fun! It reminded me of a time many, many years ago (27??) that my mother took me to lunch at Shogun. I have always remembered that lunch, it was fun, good and when I remember that I have a happy feeling. After so many years, it was time to make another!

Ok, that picture is not the Candice that we know, but I couldn't find one quickly, and that Candice plays a Candice on TV.....

The lunch was GREAT! It was such a treat. Thank you Candice! We talked and ate; what could be better! I am sure we entertained the other guest at the restaurant too.

Two days later, on Thurs, June 10th, Candice called me at 5:00pm. Her neighbor had just come to her door, offered her 2 tickets to the Dodger game which started at 7 that night! Did Candice want them?? She was leaving the next morning to go out of town, but knew that We at the Cole's house LOVED the Dodgers!!

That night was the Laker's playoff game; Kylie also had softball practice; what to do?? I called Kerry and from talking to him and Zak....Zak said, "it's obvious, you and Kylie need to go! We will stay home, watch the Lakers and eat dinner in front of the TV." So, that is what we did!!

Kylie did go to her practice; we got to the Dodger game late...it was an adventure! We LOVED every part! We both said that we could go every night, come early, stay late and slurp up every moment.

Our seats were UNBELIEVABLE!! We were about 15 rows from the field!! Really, it was so great.

The picture is from my cell phone.

First, Last, 11, 49

If I had one hour a day where ONLY I had the power to move and do STUFF; then I could keep this blog up to date. BUT, I do NOT have that power, yet, so I shall continue to do the best I can!

Here we have Quinn & Zak's FIRST day of school for their 9th & 11th grade years:




















Have they CHANGED much?? Here is what they look like on their LAST day:


Kylie had her 11th BIRTHDAY!!
She had an ice cream cake! She loved it. She also got a nice party and a little sleep over. I hope she remembers it for 365 days.

I just love this picture of Quinn. Let's all enjoy it for a moment.

I had MY birthday!! A friend (Tammy Harvey) brought over this box....

This is what was in it! So delicious!! This is after me, Zak & Quinn all had samples.

Here I am with my BIRTHDAY CAKE!! German Chocolate. Yum.

Then we went to Paco's for Lunch...that is Kylie, Griffin, me, Zak & Quinn....more yum

I had the Taco Salad
Zak had the Burrito Grande
Quinn had the Enchilada
Griffin had Chicken Strips
Kylie had Taquitos
We all enjoyed the chips and salsa. I said the salsa was as spicy as I would ever want it; Zak & Quinn said it hardly had any taste.




What was I whining about??
that was so easy to post/do.

Guess Who?

These LEGS are now 21!!

Happy Birthday,

Heather!

Enjoy your day!

Griffin said today,

"finally, you remembered Heather's birthday!"

Appetizing?

While looking for a box-mix of flan for QUINN'S extra credit, I found the item on the right---->

The flan was at the third grocery store that I checked. This last one was Kings Market; in my mind know as a VERY Hispanic grocery store. It is filled with different and interesting items that I do not see at my usual grocery store.

I had to study the aisles, trying not to miss the item I was looking for when I came upon this Maizena...Fortified Corn Starch Beverage Mix. It made me laugh out loud. I use corn starch to thicken gravy. Is this what is in Quick, or Quick's "pink milk"?

Hmm

Shout Yooray!

She's 11 Today!

she's helpful & kind

she's learning how to cook

she'll do her own laundry

she tells me she loves me

she likes watching TV with me

she is a joy to have

Shocking (not appalling) Race Results!!

Zak won....he finished in 35 minutes 4 seconds
I finished in 38 minutes 6 seconds.
Zak was 2 1/2 lengths ahead of me by the end!

The 38 minutes was my best time.

In the beginning Zak raced out ahead of me (like I expected). He swam the first lap and a half pretty quick; then felt tired and a little worried. So he started swimming out freestyle, then back elementary backstroke. His backstroke was his resting stroke.

I was not worried. I thought he would tire out and I would be the "turtle" coming in to finish the winner! Zak never tired. He did great. I thought it was a great experiment. I guess it really does mean something to be 17!

Here are a few pictures, taken by dad...

Here I am coming for one of my 32 laps

Going out...again

Kylie keeping the official record!
(By the way, Mitch Michaelis {remember him?} was the life guard on duty.)

There Zak is in front and if you look way back on the lane to the left, I am there.

me fixing my goggles...they constantly filled with water! I guess I was nervous.

Here you can see Zak coming to Kylie doing his back stroke, I am swimming farther away.

close up of me

close up of Zak

The finish

Kylie's payment for officiating: Ice cream at Rite Aid. It really is the best.

The official score card

It was exciting and fun!

Glad we did it!

When my hip feels better we are definitely doing the 3 mile race!!

Runner

So I went running today. I found a cool app on my phone that will tell me how far I ran (using the GPS features) and how long it took. I figured I'd go 2-3 miles, and I could run them in an average of 7-8 minutes.

I ran 0.96 miles in 11 min 41 secs. I had to walk 2 or 3 times. I ran a mile my freshman year in under 6 minutes. It looks like I've got some work to do.

I think Mom would kick the pants off me if we ran together.

Guess the Winner

Check out the Payne blog and vote for who you think will be the winner of tomorrow's swimming race between Zak and me!

Last night I dreamt of Mandalay.....

That is the first line from the book Rebbecca.

I really didn't dream of Mandalay, but I did dream of FOOD!

I dreamt that we drove to Mexico and I was going to eat chili dogs!

I dreamt that Griffin had to give a talk in sacrament meeting. I was in the audience; had forgotten, got an idea that he could talk about heroes all the while I was mixing up cake batter! I brought Griffin up the the stand WITH my cake batter while I was licking it up with my fingers. There were so many props up on the stand that we couldn't make our way to the microphone to speak. I was glad because by the time we got there I forgot what I was going to tell Griffin to say.

I woke up this morning happy to know that I did NOT eat any of that food.

Goals today:

Wal Mart for household items

send Chase pictures of trip & return his memory card

take Griffin to swimming lessons

take a shower!<>