The Skull Shredder

In an attempt to post more regularly I decided to write about yet another sno-boarding extravaganza. First of all I think people would pay good money to see me shred the mountain side and I am seriously looking into creating a new reality t.v. show starring myself. Second it is important to remember that my last outing was seriously traumatic. It is also important to note that while I am up for most anything, I am cautious and sensible.
So Claire and I went sno-boarding yesterday........
Lets just say we got off to a rough start, mostly I was scared shootless. But never fear, I am amazing and after several runs I was back to my old self again. Once confident in my skills I felt it the perfect time to break for lunch (I brought girlscout cookies). So Claire and I went and had lunch in the bar and since it was early and we had several hours before driving or kids we decided to have a Margarita..... I also think it is important to note that I gave up Diet Coke for Lent. Anyone who really knows me also realizes they probably don't want to hang with me until after lent. So I have been drinking bottles and bottles of water but I haven't found that thing that quenches my thirst like the diet coke does. So anyhoo, Claire and I have a rather large lunch, a big sandwich, a bag of chips, four girl scout cookies....I however, was still really thirsty and not responsible for operating any vehicle at all for the rest of the day. So yes, it is true, I had a second Margarita. (which oddly enough was quenching my thirst) So Claire and I left the bar laughing our butts off after changing our ring tones and calling ourselves over and over so we could hear the songs we put on our phones....I think you know where I am going with this. So then Claire and I went back to the bunny slope where we are famous for our styling. At this point my cousin Tanya, who I have been playing phone tag with calls. So of course, I take the call. I mention to her while talking on the phone and sno-boarding down the mountain that I indeed had a couple of drinks and now I am a super duper talented sno-boarder.....great!! She mentioned that may not have been a good choice....hmmm...I wonder if she has something there????? So at this point I get off the phone and convince Claire we are ready for a big kid slope. So we sno-board over to the highspeed Quad (may be a clue?) and we get on. As the chair starts moving up, I realize a key point about myself which I forget.....I am afraid of heights....So here I am on a lift I made Claire go on, and now I am having a small panic attack...AWESOME. Claire is doing what any good friend would do in that situation (Laughing hysterically). We made it successfully to the top of the mountain and began to ski down. We go the way we think looks easiest down a mild grade hill when we come to what appears to be a straigt down drop off, after another small panic attack we have no choice but to head down the mountain. Which we did, I went left, I went right, I went front edge, then back edge, I rocked that mountain like nobodys business, Claire was also rocking an rolling on the mountain and when we were done all the people stood up and cheered (ok there weren't any people but had there been they would have cheered). We came, we saw, we kicked that lifts a**. The point is last week, I was broken and defeated never wanting to shred again, but now I know I was born to shred. I was made to shred and I also should get fully loaded before going....... That end my totally irresponsible adventure sno-boarding. For those of you who are now seriously concerned about my mental stability know that I never sno-board without a helmet. Isn't that comforting.... The other point of the story is that in observation of lent I am sacrificing diet coke which I love and is difficult for me. It is a nice reminder for me to pray instead of drinking diet coke and is particularly nice at 1pm, when the kids are at school and I am sitting down to relax instead of diet coke, I am having a nice quiet moment....However, the down side is the one thing I have found to quench that thirst is a margarita....I am not sure that is an appropriate substitute or anywhere near what Jesus had in mind. Pray more, drink more. Just throwing that out there.

Eighteen Days

It has been 18 days since I last blogged which is crazy to me since I feel like I post everyday. As per usual nothing slows down here ever. Jonah has his last basketball game today. I love watching him play basketball because he is so happy and has such a good attitude. Chris and I took Max and Jonah night skiing the other night. The mountain kicked my butt in a big way but the kids had a great time. They are amazing jumping and racing, just having a good ol time. Max gotten taken out by a huge snowboarder racing down the mountain. Chris chewed him out and then Jonah scolded Chris for yelling at the boy. He told his Dad that he should "treat others as he would want to be treated" and he reminded Chris "the other boy could have been hurt too." Chris felt bad, it was a bad crash and he was really scared for Max but in the end Jonah taught him a good lesson. Jonah is seriously the most thoughtful child. He is soooo nice. Max is doing well, he is my cuddle boy. I took the boys swimming and Max just likes to hang with me. I used to think he was a Daddy's boy but I think he likes me OK. Christian is doing great. This whole broken leg has brought out quite a bit in Christian.. things I've noticed are #1 He doesn't talk much, people will talk to him and ask him questions but he won't talk to them. He answers them but he doesn't talk to them. (anyone who knows chris knows what I am talking about, unfortunately I can't give Christian a beer to fix the problem..HEEHEE) I am surprised to see he is a little shy because at home and with his friends he is NOT. #2 a softer side to Christian, he is hugging his mommy again. We went to visit my grandmother yesterday and he sat in my lap the WHOLE time. He was playing with my arms and driving me crazy but the fact that my nine year old boy was cuddling me outweighed the irritation from lack of personal space. He holds my hand when walking and just basically relies on me where for a long time he had thought he had outgrown me. #3 Private Christian, poor kid. He has been so private for so long but not any more. I guess when mommy has to take you potty and give you baths you just kind of loose that. I think overall he just is a little more vulnerable which might not be bad for a kid who is as confident and "naturally talented" as Christian. But never fear that driven Christian is still there. A week after he took off his cast he was swimming, playing basketball, practicing baseball and alter serving. He can stop wearing his boot at home next week and the whole thing comes off on the sixth.

As for me and Chris we are doing good. We miss our family and are really feeling the pressure of our busy schedule and how it affects the extended family. I have had the flu and Chris came home from work to take care of me. I love him. I went to Olympia yesterday to see my grandmother. Her health is failing and I have been really wanting to see her. It was a crazy day, my mom had all my brothers and their kids over at her house so the boys had a nice time with their cousins. We went to grandmas and spent an little time with her until she got too tired. It was nice, I hadn't seen her since my grandfather passed away a couple months ago. It is nice to see her spirits are up and despite the fact that she has cancer she was doing quite well. I missed seeing my grandpa sitting in his chair beside her. It was bittersweet.

It is snowing here again, I think we will just make a fire and stay in. Jonah has his game and then it is p.j time for us. Yeah!! I love relaxing.......

Crazy Dreams

Oh my goodness, I wonder what I ate last night. I have always said that my stress manifests itself in my dreams....no kidding. I had the most crazy dream that I took Christian to get his cast off. Not so weird except that the Doctor's office was exactly like the kindergarten class room and the art portable at the school. Not only that but everyone I have ever met was there with someone who had broke something. Even my friend Coleen and her family. I haven't seen her family since Max was a baby. So instead of being with Christian in the Dr. office I left him there alone while I socialized....nice mom. Then I finally decided to grace him with my presence when the Dr.'s were discussing the next coarse of action. They were leaning towards another cast and I was not happy. I begged them to take an x-ray to see how his leg was when they informed me the bone had slipped and Christian would need surgery....aggghhhhhh.

It was at that moment the phone rang and Chris woke me up. He was calling me because he had left a set of drawings at home. Not a good morning for him. In the mean time I made the family muffins and everyone is dressed and ready. Christian has less than two hours left in that cast buy I am still unsure of the fate that awaits us. I am obviously unconcerned about it too. Hee hee. Christian has a cold so he is in a bad mood and I am trying not to discuss the situation so he has no preconceived notions. He is a planner and if things don't go according to plan he gets stressed. Not unlike his mama. I took a pic of the boys saying "last day for this stinking cast."

News News and more News

Things are happening around here and I am starting to feel like we are on an up swing but I really don't want to jinx myself. I would say that the stress level of the last three months has been maxed out!!! However, the tide is beginning to turn. I will start with telling you my new name which is the SKULL SHREDDER. Chris bought me a snowboard a couple of weeks ago and it has skulls on it. It was the best board for the price. I have been going up to the mountain about once a week and shredding if you will. I find it is a positive way to release some stress. Last week I was feeling like I was hot stuff as I was rocking the bunny hill. Jay Buhner and Jeff Nelson were also on the bunny slope and I will give myself props for being able to "hang" with the big boys....(they are actually really big). They weren't too awesome on the hill though which made me feel like I was top dog on the bunny slope. Fast forward to the weekend when I met Chris up on the pass with Max and Jonah. (Thanks Kim for watching the Skip). The kids are all done with the bunny hill and I was feeling pretty confident so we went down gallery which is barely bigger than the bunny slope!!! I have to say the mountain wooped my hiney. Max and Jonah rocked and Chris ended up taking Jonah down some pretty major slopes after Max and I took off. Jonah rocks. I however will go back to ruling the bunny slope.
In other weekend news, Jonah was awesome in his basketball game with three hoops, four clean steals, several rebounds and his coach mentioned to me that he has the best team spirit and attitude on the court. Love that kid. Oh yeah and one huge rejection at the hoop. Jonah
However, our biggest news of the Week is that Chris passed his final test for his final license this weekend. He now has two initials after his name. Chris Duvall P.E. S.E. I like to tease him about that. This is huge news not just because of the initials but the test is really hard and time consuming and hard on everyone. The amount of time and studying Chris has to put in is unbelievable on top of being and awesome engineer, coach, dad and husband. It is with great relief to all of us to be past that chapter. I couldn't be more proud of my brilliant husband.
Finally, the countdown to the wheel chair is almost done. Tomorrow morning at 9:40 Christians full length cast will come off. We are hoping he is healed enough for the walking boot and not another cast. Pray that all the milk he drinks will pay off in this interesting time of recovery. Christians teacher mentioned to me that she was done with the wheel chair and I can only say, I know how she feels and neither one of us are Christian so I hope tomorrow will prove to be a positive day for him.
Other than that we were happy the Bears lost the Super Bowl and we are looking forward to the Seahawks going to the Super Bowl next year. We just have to get through baseball season.
Chris will be coaching Christians team, I am coaching Jonah's and Max will get his start in t-ball. I just want to know why God thought it was a good idea to give me Three boys. Oh yeah, he never gives you more than you can handle......I hope he knows what he is doing!!!

Teaching Christa how to blog

today my dear friend Christa drove a gazillion miles just to spend the day with me. Love her and her sweet daughters. So, I decided to show her how to blog so that I can keep track of her growing family better.