Tuesday's Birthday Splendor

  How strange it is at times to watch your children grow up...I know there are days that I simply can't wait for them to mature so we can meet for lunch, do a little shopping and perhaps plan a trip for the upcoming holiday.  However, I've also experienced those rare moments of clarity when everything else seems to disappear except my child in which they exist in a state of perfect innocence.  And in those moments I would do anything to keep them just as they are forever! 

The obvious theme of this party:

a Mexican Fiesta

 Ole!

 "thee" partY dress





CAKE...in all it's gLoRy!





Tuesday never ceases to surprise me. 
 I mean, out of all the themes an 8 year old girl would choose for her party and she wants a Fiesta.  I must say it turned out pretty fab!

Here's a shout out to my mom THE worlds greatest Nana!!! (as far as I'm concerned)  For she decided that each one of Tuesday's friends needed a tWirLy skirt for the party and made them all herself. 

              Papa putting on Lou's pArtY skirt :)

                                     tWiRlinG!!!

I want to tell you dear reader that it is because of this party I have songs such as: Mexican Hat Dance,

The Chicken Song, & La Bamba on my ipod ;)

Es muy bonita!

You bet your sexy sombrero there was a pinata!

Feeling so blessed to be your mom!

CuLtUrAL Anthopology

The summer between my sophomore and Junior year of college I was given the sentence of acquiring 6 credits by my councilor.  That is only IF I cared about being eligible to compete the upcoming season...Well duh I was going to compete soooo off to the dreary class room for many a precious, beautiful sunny day to carry out my sentence ;)
 
I honestly thought I was going to HATE every minute I was stuck behind a desk that summer that IS until I actually sat down for my first lecture...

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY turns out is right up my alley!  Professor "SoAndSo" (not that he was a horrible teacher but, it also wasn't that he was ultra charismatic that I fell in love with the subject) you know how that goes sometimes.  It was the substance of the subject itself that intrigued me.  I mean the first discussion we got into was about this tribe whose people believed they didn't truly know their gender until they reached the age of 12!  Whaat? And then if the boys at the time had come to the conclusion that they were in fact female they would from then on carry out the feminine roll even to the point of faking pregnancies by ingesting some herb that would cause first nausea then bloating and eventually they they would go into the woods to "give birth".  Which clearly was only ever feces BUT(as if it couldn't get anymore crazier) they would bury it as if it was a still birth and all the tribe would morn with "her" over the loss.
Okay, so I know I may sound like a bad anthropologist coming off like "these tribes are crazy" but I LOVE THEIR CRAZY.  Isn't it just mind blowing that we are here in the U.S. living out our suburban lives and there is another society out there that is celebrating a coming of gender age? 

Different is Beautiful 

"Culture is not genetically hardwired, we do not inherit it biologically.  Despite the power culture gives us it's a remarkably fragile phenomenon...  It is consistently changing and easily lost because it exists almost entirely in our minds." 

 

We have so much to learn about ourselves through the study of not only other cultures but our own.  "The idea of looking at others is to be able to look at one self with new eyes". 




Soooo What????  Well, I have decided it would be fun to take some time each month to research different societies/cultures throughout the world and learn from their lifestyles by embracing their different behaviors into my own life.  MY hope is that you would be interested enough to take on the "monthly challenge" with me from which we could share our own personal experiences on what it was like to practice these new habits within our own society....

TO BE CONTINUED :)

Clear Creek Camping

     Pack up the car, let's dissappear for a few days.

Here we are at Molly's for lunch in a tiny lil' town called Snowville.  To be honest I wasn't very excited that this was our only lunch option before we made it to our camp site.  However, I was proven wrong this lil dinner was delish and had plenty of character.    

I really enjoyed the small town feel, Molly's really was a perfect way to kick off the whole trip.....This trip came about in kind of a spontaneous moment. 

It was Saturday night and Dave and I were doing one of our favorite things to do... sitting down together over a pile of books we had pulled off the shelves of Barnes and Noble.  In the moment surrounded by beautiful books and the sounds of bosanova music playing in the background I had this intense feeling of being so small in such a grand world.  Then I began to have my own private pity party.  "My life is so plane, I don't travel as often as I'd like, I only speak one language, I don't play with my children enough" etc. etc.

  Before I knew it I was sitting in the middle of the cafe crying my eyes out.  Ridiculous I know but I was having a moment of... this is not my beautiful life living in my Victorian home with it's wrap around deck along with a Malibu boat sitting in the garage.  Where were the riding lessons for Tuesday and our own personal brilliant tutor for Jonah?  Oh the list went on and on of all the romantic ideas and dreams of the life I would have at thirty somethin' and the things I would do with my children came crashing down. 

O.k. so long story short I decided that what I had was enough.  That what really matters in this life I had in abundance.  I have incredible loving parents, a loving brother and sister, a generous and caring husband and beautiful, sweet children.   Soooo, it was time to get away from everything that distracted me from my true joys and embrace this time of my life.  And what better way then camping?

  As we turned off the paved road I enjoyed watching the dust clouds form behind us.  Heading into the open fields that lead to the Sawtooth mountain range I sighed a quiet sigh and found joy in that moment.

    

  Here we are on our way to clear creek campground 

 I find sage brush invigorating ; I think it must be related to childhood memories :)

Here is a pic of our camp site taken by Talula from inside our car while Dave and I were putting up the tent LOL. This is the only one of the many, MANY that she took that I didn't erase ;)  

Here is a picture of our "swimming hole" actually it's the run off from the mountains that has dug out the road that leads to the upper half of the camp ground.  This was such a beautiful setting so when the day was at it's hottest we would throw on our suits, pack some snacks, our chapter book we were reading as a family and a blanket and come here.

The kids decided to make a rock castle as there was no sand to be had :)

                                                   

LOL, later on that night Talula learned something new...Only boy pee standing up:)

Ever since this camping trip Talula sneaks out side (in the front yard non the less) to pee on the grass.  She quite enjoys it I'm afraid.

Our traditional family smore roast

 As much as I dislike the idea of bringing a well developed story to an abrupt end I'm going to do just that.  We have sooo many more great pics from the rest of our camping trip like our day trip to the city of rocks.  However, I also feel as though this in itself has been a pretty lengthy blog.  All in all the trip was a success, I came away feeling re-connected to my children and my husband.

                                                          

O' Christmas Tree

Christmas tree hunting has been a tradition of our family ever since I was a little girl. 

The adventure always took place the day after Thanksgiving with all my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins in Bear Lake.  Once everyone had finished the exhausting process of putting on layer after layer we would pile into grandpas truck and head for the hills.

Once Grandpas truck was sufficiently stuck in the snow the hunt would begin, well...that is for the adults anyways.  We would spend our time finding the best sledding hill and building a jump that was much bigger then necessary :)






lol, Here is the tree Dave cut down whilst he was not being supervised..It was like 15 feet tall!

Here are some pictures from the rest of the weekend on the farm..I LOVE these pics!



Helping papa feed the cows

                                                       

Talula loved this calf

Tiffany + crossfit

“An athlete gains so much knowledge by just participating in a sport. Focus, discipline, hard work, goal setting and, of course, the thrill of finally achieving your goals. These are all lessons in life.” — Kristi Yamaguchi, world champion figure skater


 I can't believe it's been one year...I guess time flies when you're having fun

I realize that there are many of you who will read this and think; what a strange girl, blogging about her workouts.  Well, you know how we all have our "thing".  Crossfit is my "thing" like photography is my girlfriends thing or quilting is my mom's thing.  It's my hobby, my passion, it's what I catch myself day dreaming about as I'm driving home from the grocery store.    

It was all out of curiosity really, I had only heard about the crazy videos on you tube and how intense the work outs were; so naturally upon finding out that there was a crossfit here in Layton I had to stop in and check it out.  And a year later people cant get me to shut up about it. 

um yes, it helps to make a face when lifting :) It's a technical thing you wouldn't understand.

This ability to conquer oneself is no doubt the most precious of all things sports bestows. ~ Oga Korbut

this pic was taken as I am coming up out of a burpee, and from the looks of things I'm guessing we've been going for a while.

Burpee:1.Begin in a standing position.

2.Drop into a squat position with your hands on the ground.
3.Kick your feet back while lowering yourself without a pushup.
4.Return your feet to the squat position while straightening your arms.
5.Leap up as high as possible from the squat position with your arms overhead (you may not clap your hands above your head at the peak of your jump).


"To give any less than your best is to sacrifice a gift" Steve Prefontaine, runner

So WHY, why push when you just want to lay down?  Why hurt when you can stop?  Why show up when  you're scared?  I do it because it's not easy... because it does intimidate me....and when I overcome those feelings it empowers me!  There is a euforic feeling that only comes after facing ones fear and continuing when everything inside of you is screaming to stop.                                

  "Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you." - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher & Writer                               Flip             

                              PUSH

JUMP!

I guess it's just in me, something deep down wants to know how much harder I can push, to find that physical limit.







Muhammad Ali: "There are no pleasures in a fight but some of my fights have been a pleasure to win."
                                                                                                       some of my girls from WCF

I'd be lying if I didn't say that I luv, LOVE to compete and come out on top. This pic was taken at my first official crossfit comp. I ended up with 5th which is not exactly on top but let's just say I came away with a healthy appietite for more.

Michael Jordan "My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength."