Golden Spoon

My sister, Nora, worked at Golden Spoon for her last time last Saturday, so naturally we had to visit and taste. Sooo goood!

Above is my niece and nephew. It was kind of a family event. Yum.

Showing off

Still playing with my new camera. I take it just about every where I go. Especially if family is there.

This is Andrew and me on Skype with family in England.

This is Carol , Claire, and Rich in England.

I bet you wish you had this camera too.

Just one stop at Costco and you might be so lucky.

New Camera

I got a camera for my birthday/Christmas today so I'm going to bombard you with my favorite pictures of today.

I'm starting to get a hang of close up pictures like these but not so good at regular shots. I'm not sure if it's just this camera or if I need to actually read the manual to figure out what I'm doing wrong. Either way, I'm no longer camera-less!

Veteran's Day Parade

I've been so busy lately that today is the first time I don't have an agenda and it is nice! I have been taking full advantage of my break and even had a nap this morning with my kids. Actually, I don't feel very well today so my body needed the nap. Believe it or not, competing in my first triathlon and hosting my first boutique is draining!

Before I go any further I have to tell you my camera gave up the ghost. Bummer. These are the last pictures I took on it before it had enough so I'll have to share old pictures until we get another one from Santa. Oh well. We got the camera in England a few months before we moved to the states and it only cost 60 or 70 pounds so it had a good life *may it rest in peace*.

So did anyone else go to the Mesa Veteran's Day Parade? I hadn't gone in years but we had a lot of fun. I walked there with my parent's and my sister, Nora. My sister, Ruth, was marching in it with the Westwood marching band. I'm so glad we went!

Westwood Marching Band was the main reason we went. Can you see my sister? She's marching next to the Tuba and she plays the trombone.

AAvery, Nora, and Mom.

Walking home Nora kept bouncing Avery and she was laughing so hard. It was so funny!

After being on Nora's shoulders she insisted on walking. My littler girl is growing up. By the way, I mowed the lawn on the morning of the parade while kids stayed at my parent's but they only had their pj's so my sister put a big shirt on Avery to keep her a little warm and she wore it to the parade.
When the walking got tiring she insisted that only Grandpa could hold her. I wonder where she gets her stubbornness from? It couldn't be me, could it?

If you didn't go to the parade this year go next year. It's a great way to support the high schools and the City of Mesa!

Bubbles on Sunday

These pictures were taken on Sunday while I was still fasting. Have you ever fasted the day after doing a triathlon before? No? Well, I wasn't as hungry as I expected but I didn't have very much energy. Blowing bubbles was about all I could do to play with my kids. It was very diverting.

Miss Avery is becoming quiet the model. It's funny watching her pose for the camera. She'll stand there for a minute and make a cute face and then get distracted by a rock or the chickens and all my chances of getting a good picture are gone.

I think Avery loves this outfit as much I as I do. Especially the necklaces. Her outfit is so feminine with all the ruffles. Even her tights have ruffles on the bum.

cardigan - Old Navy

dress - Target, recent purchase

tights - gifted

shoes - Once Upon a Child

pearls - gifted

green necklace - D-SIGNS custom jewelery

So check this out. ^ ^ ^ The skirt I'm wearing is vintage and actually had a built in pantyliner or bloomer or something. Either way I had to cut it out to be comfortable and to wear a slip.
top - clothing exchange

under shirt - Down East Basics

skirt - clothing exchange

necklace - Miss Selfridge

shoes - ?

Of course, all of this is part of What are you wearing Wednesday. So what are you wearing?

Nerd Love

This video has been around for a couple years but it's really funny so I had to share it. If you've seen it before, I apologize. Andrew plays the "nerd" in this movie who is an exchange student from England. Being English, it was easy for him to play but the funny thing is, someone totally thought he had a fake accent. He was quickly corrected. Most people aren't familiar with northern England accents, mostly just the London area.

Isn't it so cheesy? Gotta love it. Is it weird seeing my husband hit on another girl in a movie? Not so much - she's my sister-in-law. Did you see me in it?

Desert Grande Triathlon

I did my first triathlon last Saturday and it's kind of a big deal. If it weren't a big deal I wouldn't be sharing these photos of me. How did Mr. Freeman make racing look so sexy when I look worse than ever? I can't believe he laughed at me for putting on mascara the morning of the race. I made the pictures small so you wouldn't have the pain of seeing me up close. This is not a fashion statement!

1/4 mile swim

I had the hardest time swimming in a straight line. Does anyone else have that problem?

10.3 mile bike

I felt like I pushed the hardest during the bike.

(bike to run transition^)

3 mile run

For some reason my running and finish line pictures didn't turn out.

My bangs are atrocious. I knew I should have pinned them back at the beginning.

I'm with my cousin, Elizabeth, in the above picture. We trained together but she did the duathlon (run, bike, run) for her first time.

My supportive sweetheart.♥

We all crashed afterwards.

All in all it was a great experience. I definitely want to do another triathlon. If I were to do anything different I would train harder, especially on the swim, and have a road bike - the mountain bike is too heavy and slowed me down.

If you've considered doing a triathlon just do it. It's not as hard as it sounds. For real! The only advise I'd give you is to train the transitions. Especially bike to run. It really takes about a mile to feel good running after biking. Also, have a good workout partner. Good luck.

Saturday Steals {week 1}

This is my first time doing Saturday Steals from my friend Camille's blog.

I've been wanting to do it for a while now so I'm excited.

So basically you just find a steal and blog about it.

Mine is from a few weeks ago.

I saw this cute picture and thought it would look so cute in Miss Avery's room but the frame needed painting and the plastic in the front was all scratched up and needed replacing.

Then I saw this frame below and thought it was perfect so I swapped it out. The yellow frame is a little smaller so I had to cut the other picture down but the result was great.

So, what do you think?

Right now it's just leaning on top of Miss Avery's toy kitchen.

The yellow is perfect because I just bought a yellow head board and foot board that I plan on using to build a bed to go in her room.

Since she's not ready to graduate from the crib that project will wait another few months and then I can share the finished product.

In the end one of the frames was only $3 and the other was $2!

Thrifted, of course.

Way cheaper than if I bought something like it at Target.

Right now I'm working on a project for the black frame. I'll have to share it when I'm done.

What steals have you had recently?

It's the simple things

My sister, Ruth, is in the Westwood High School Marching Band and my mom happens to be the head of the Band Boosters, or whatever it's called. I was asked to make some Texas Sheet cake for the band. It was a first so I tried two different recipes to see which one was better. The cake on the right was the winner! Recipe here. The difficulty in baking today was not trying a new recipe but trying not to lick my fingers all the time. It was so good!

This was not my first time being involved with Westwood marching band. Did you know I'm on the Westwood Marching Band Hair Braiding Committee? Alright, so I only did it once, but I want to help again - I've just been too busy. It's really a lot of fun.

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I mow my own lawns and because I do I have a lot of pride in them. Down to the last weed. Below are some weeds called Dandelions, I think. A lot of people think they're pesky but I think they're beautiful.

Below is the watermelon plant we planted from seed earlier this year. It produces flowers, but not fruit, but I don't care. The vines look so pretty.
This is the first time we've had winter grass. It looks so bright and fresh. I love it.
You may think it's silly how much I love my yard but it's the simple things in life that make it worth living.

Where it all began

So this is where it all began. Seeing Mr. Freeman and my brother, Chris, do their first triathlon last year made me want to participate in one.

At first I wanted to make it a relay and just do the running portion, but then it wasn't enough.

I wanted to be able to say I did a triathlon. Just me.

I can do it, and I will do it!

These pictures were from the Desert Grande triathlon in Casa Grande last November.

This is the same race I'm doing tomorrow.

Swim

Bike

He's so hot!

Run

I'll probably look worst than Andrew at the finish.

It took Andrew several minutes to recover so I could take this picture with us both smiling.

I can't help being nervous about the race tomorrow.

I'm

nervous,

excited,

anxious,

enthused . . .

the list goes on.

I just hope I don't wipe out and nothing will happen to the bike or something.

Wish me luck!