To Scuba or Not to Scuba

This is my debate. Guy was selected to go to a conference with his company in Australia this summer! Crazy huh! We decided that since we just had to pay for me (thank you tax return) that I could go too! I'm still pinching myself because I can't believe we are really doing this. Australia is a place I never thought I would ever go in my wildest dreams!! Anyways, we've been having a blast planning for this trip together and one of the things we have talked about doing is scuba diving. The Great Barrier Reef is right off the coast of Australia so obviously we want to see it. It's one of the best places to scuba dive in the world! Guy is all for it and is getting scuba certified right now. He has been training in the pool twice a week for 2 weeks and now just has to go out to a lake to do open water dives. So once he is done, the plan is for me to get certified next. But I am slightly freaking out and feeling a bit doubtful. In fact, ever since we talked about doing this I have had some sort of scuba diving dream every night. Haha, my imagination is a horrible thing! Anyways, these are my main concerns (they probably sound stupid, but oh well):

-I'm just gonna start with the obvious...I am afraid of sharks. haha, isn't everyone? I guess its pretty common to see them in the great barrier reef. Mostly like little reef sharks that are supposedly harmless but you never know. To me a shark is a shark. I'm almost going to guarantee if I saw one down there I would have a panic attack! And then I'm sure if I had a panic attack the shark would decide to become harmful and attack me since I will be drawing attention to myself. And from there I'm sure it would decide to eat me or at least bite off my leg. Which I have another question about sharks. What would you do if one was swimming at you? I mean, do you play dead? Do you swim away? Do you stare them down? See how much time I have on my hands!

-I think the Ocean in general just kind of makes me nervous. I blame a lot of that on Planet Earth... have you ever watched the Ocean segment? I watched it over at my Aunt's awhile back and some of the things I saw on there that live in the ocean are disturbing. I mean they look like your worst nightmares...and they are real!

-I'm afraid I might feel claustrophobic doing it. I'm not seriously claustrophobic in real life. Like the main thing is I hate feeling trapped. I'm afraid I'll get to the bottom and start to feel that way and want to get out but I think it takes some time to get back to the top because you have to let your ears equalize.

-The Great Barrier Reef is where the crocodile hunter died! I know the chances of that that happening to me are like one in a million but its still semi disturbing!

-I wear contacts so if water gets in my mask and it gets in my eyes, I'm pretty sure the salt water will sting and I will be blinded. And I'm pretty sure being blind under the water would not be such a good thing! I'll probably swim right up to a shark!

I could probably go on and on but those are my main things. I'm not really worried about running out of air or anything because everyone's dive tanks have extra mouthpieces on them in case someone's isn't working and they need to share. Plus I know we'll be down there with an experienced divemaster so I will just hang on to him. And I know Guy will share his air with me and fight off mean sharks and scary things for me, right Guy?? But I'm still a little nervous about it all. I'm going to do a session with a diving instructor in a pool next week and see how I feel, but I'm kind of nervous about that too! I'm just going to pretend that the ocean is exactly like Finding Nemo and its just a happy little place! :) And if I can't scuba I will snorkel for sure, but I just need to make myself try it so I won't regret it later! Has anyone else ever scuba dived or would you do it if you had the chance??

Here's is Brayden in some of Guy's scuba stuff. Brayden told me that he is not scared of sharks at all and if he ever "scupa" dived he would just go up to the sharks and pet them. But if it was a mean shark he would just pull out all its teeth and fight it. Guess I need to learn some bravery from my 3 year old huh :)

We'll see how it goes next week...

Country Music Marathon and Half

We had a great weekend in Nashville for the Country Music Marathon and Half Marathon. Everyone who ran did amazing and it was fun to watch and cheer them on. Here's my rundown of the race from a spectator's point of view since I didn't run! :)

We had some fun at the marathon expo the day before the race. It was huge and we got a lot of good free stuff! Gotta love free samples!

This mural was all made out of crayola crayons. I thought it was really cool!

We carbed up the night before at Fazoli's and got ready for the race the next day. Everyone was worried because the weather forecast for Saturday was not looking so good. There was talk of lots of rain, storms, and even possibly a tornado warning. So we didn't know what to expect but surprisingly the weather held off for most of the race. Guy, Jason, and my parents left around 5:00 AM to get to the race and catch the shuttle to the starting line. I stayed back at the hotel with kyle and my boys so they could sleep a little longer. I guess traffic getting to the race was insane. 33,000 people ran this and all of them trying to get into downtown Nashville at the same time didn't quite work out so well. But they made it and started just fine. I knew that with my kids, we wouldn't really be able to run around town and see them at all the spectator spots so we decided to just go near the end. I parked at what I thought was a convenient spot and it was, but we walked the longest way to get to the finish line area. If we had just went over the bridge to the right instead of left we would have gotten there in half the time but apparently I just like to do things the hard way. I have no sense of direction! Seriously, by the time we got there I felt like I had just run a marathon!

The place we parked was close to where the runners passed at their 2 mile mark so we stopped to watch for a few minutes. I wasn't sure if everyone had passed yet or they if were still coming but we figured out they had all passed already.

So we got to our spot at the finish line and waited. Guy was originally signed up to run the full marathon but decided a few weeks before the race that he was just going to do the half since he hadn't had time to really train for a full. Life has been crazy lately! So I figured he would be finishing the half around 1:30 or so. All I have to say, is that being a spectator is hard work! There were SO many runners and trying to scan through all of them to find certain people is hard. Not to mention doing that while trying to keep your kids out of the race! Tyler was happy at first that I was letting him play in the dirt but once that excitement wore off, his main goal was to join the half marathon. And when I wouldn't let him crawl into the street, he pretty much lost it. So that was great fun but I managed to still stay close and watch. I finally saw Jason running by and doing awesome! I was seriously so proud of him and we cheered but I don't think he heard us with his headphones in. Then I saw my parents run by and cross the finish line! Seriously, they did SO amazing! I was so happy they had run their first half marathon together...it reminded me of when Guy and I ran the St. George marathon together last October. It's a cool thing to do! But I still had not seen Guy so I just figured that I had missed him in the crowds and he would be waiting at the finish line.

Here's Jason running to the finish. He should feel lucky because he's the only one I was able to get a picture of during the race. I couldn't get to my camera fast enough when I saw my parents run by... sad! :(

I saw so many crazy people running...like these guys dressed up in costumes for the whole half. I can't even imagine running like that. We also saw a guy that juggled for the whole half marathon while running. Why someone would want to do that, I just don't know???

13.1 miles...piece of cake, right guys!! haha!

Well we finally found my parents and Jason at the finish line area. It was basically chaos back there because there were SO many runners. But we still hadn't found Guy so I came to the conclusion that he must have run the full marathon. I had a gut feeling he was going to do that from the start. The problem was that literally after my parents finished the half, it started to pour down rain. So we decided we better get Brayden and Tyler out of the rain and back to the car. Since I was the only one that knew where I parked the car, I went back with my dad, Kyle, and the kids while my mom and Jason stayed back to wait for Guy. They had a meeting area where you could wait by a sign with the first letter of your last name so they just stuck by the "H" sign. We drove back to the hotel and about 30 minutes later I got a call from Guy telling me that he had run the full marathon and they were driving back. Seriously I have no idea how he did the whole thing without really training for it, but he did and I was so proud of him. And he did it under 4 hours again which is even more amazing! I guess at mile 21 they were starting to divert marathon runners to the half marathon finish due to the weather. Guy had already passed that point before they started doing that but there were a lot of runners who weren't allowed to finish the whole 26.2 and they were mad! It really just rained and I can see their point as they let all of the half marathoners finish their race even after it started to pour. If you had trained really hard to run a full marathon it would be kind of disappointing to not get to do that. Guy said he wished they would have diverted him at mile 21 though because the last few miles were brutal!

So this is my only picture of Guy from the race...back at the hotel

And here's his medal...I forgot to take a picture of the half marathon medal but it was really cool too.

We ate a yummy restaurant after everyone had showered and relaxed a bit. Brayden was so worn out he fell asleep while eating...and Kyle pretended to be asleep too. All the runners were pretty sore but they still managed to get around ok. We spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out and having fun. We saw How to Train your Dragon at the movies and checked out the Nashville Zoo which was such a nice zoo. All the exhibits are so natural and not your typical concrete slab cages. I loved it and wished we could be regulars there!

My dad found a caterpillar for Brayden to hold and we loved how he called it a "caderpiddar"

Watchin the meerkats

So I guess, to fit in with all the "limpers" my back decided to give out so that I would have to hobble around too. Seriously I have never thrown my back out until this year. This is the second time and I hate it! I'm blaming it on Tyler because he is still not walking and that boy is heavy! Well, he took 10 steps this weekend which is the most he has ever taken but he he's still not steady and he still prefers to crawl. So since everyone else was so sore from running, I held Tyler a lot this weekend when he wouldn't stay in his stroller or when we didn't want him crawling on the yucky floors. And now I am paying for it...not fun. I've decided this must be what it feels like to get old and let me tell you, these little glimpses do not make me very excited about my future. Either Tyler needs to walk soon or I am going to need to invest in a cane!

Anyways, GOOD JOB to everyone in this race! I'm SO proud of you all and I'm glad we could all be together for the weekend! We had a great time! :)

GOOD LUCK

Good luck to all my favorite people running the Country Music Half Marathon this weekend!

Guy, both my parents, and my brother Jason will all be out there taking on the 13.1 miles. They have all been working hard and I know they will do awesome! The boys and I are excited to hang out with Kyle and cheer everyone on! I absolutely love races and the atmosphere around them. Its always so postive and I always get inspired watching so many people who have worked so hard accomplish their goals.  I'm excited for my parents and brother, who just got into running, and I can't wait to see them run their first race. They have caught the running bug and I'm sure they'll be hooked after they run this thing. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the forecast changes and those scattered showers stay away until after the race.  But rain or shine, we'll be there...but I would really prefer the shine if that is possible! Good luck guys and we can't wait to see ya! :)

"It's not me, its my Tummy!"

Brayden makes me laugh every day. I'm sure most moms with almost 4 year olds can relate because their little minds just come up with the funniest way of saying things at that age. I love it! So this is what has been making me laugh today...

I went grocery shopping yesterday and bought a few snacks for a trip we are going on this weekend. I don't really buy a lot of junk food anymore (because I end up eating it all if it's in the house) so Brayden was excited that I was letting him pick out whatever treats he wanted for the trip.  So after our trip to the store, I made a pile of the stuff we bought on the counter so I could pack it in his backpack for later.

This morning for breakfast, I asked him if he wanted cereal and he said yes. But then he spotted his little pack of cookies on the counter.  And so he said, "I think my tummy really wants cookies.  It keeps saying, "Cookies, Cookies" and I just keep telling it NO but it won't listen to me. I really do want to have cereal, but my tummy is just not going to let me!" 

The best part of all of this is he would use this low, husky voice to be his tummy talking and saying it wanted the cookies. And the little battle between him and his tummy was pretty hilarious. I sat and listened to the whole rundown and it just made me laugh. Especially when his tummy also told him that it was a cookie monster and it began to say "Me WANT Cookies!"

So what did I do? Yep, I'm a sucker and I gave in and let him have one cookie before his cereal. Not gonna hurt anything. I mean, it wasn't his fault that he wanted a cookie, right...That darn tummy of his :) But the trick didn't quite work in his favor later when his tummy insisted it needed to have the M&M's! Even though its cute, this tummy can't always get what it wants!! :)

Tyler's Throne

Guy came home with this chair that he got on sale at a store for $1.25.

I don't really consider us to be Texas Rangers fans, but for a dollar we are!

Last night I was reading the boys books in their room and we all attempted to squish on this chair.  It only took 30 seconds for Tyler to push me off. So I got on the floor and started to read the book to both the boys from there. About a second later, Tyler pushed Brayden right next to me with his feet. We thought it was hilarious. Especially since after Tyler had the chair to himself he lounged back, spread out his legs to take up the whole thing and just smiled this smug little smile. The baby always gets his way!

Whats funny is Tyler really has claimed this as his chair.  He will show no interest in it until someone else is sitting there and then he will race to take over his throne! We have decided now that the big "T" stands for Tyler! Brayden finds great satisfaction in sitting in this chair because he knows it will get Ty all worked up. He sits there and then says "Ty Ty, look where I'm sitting!" Yes, it has been an exhausting day since this chair arrived!

These are Great!!!

So I thought I would share these awesome movies for other moms who have kids and are interested. Awhile back, I was doing my usual browse every aisle of Target trip and I spotted these. I've always loved the Leap Frog brand of toys so I thought I would try out the movies since we had been working on letters with Brayden for awhile now.  All I have to say is the movies really work and I think it just made the concepts click for him. Brayden already knew the alphabet, but he still got confused about the sounds that each of the letters made and he wasn't really sounding out words at all. Seriously he picked it all up after watching these a few times and last night I was amazed that he was sounding out and spelling words on his own. He came in my room with a notebook and had written words on his own like frog, cat, hat, fast, etc. It was just crazy! He was sounding out each letter and figuring it out for himself. So I'm a believer in these movies and I just think its a fun way to teach them because they do things like sing catchy songs to help kids remember.  The Letter Factory one teaches about the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes. Talking Words Factory teaches more reading skills, like word building by sounding out letters, rhyming words and vocabulary. Anyways, just thought I'd share because Brayden loves the movies and its the kind that I don't care if he watches over and over! :)

Easter Fun

We had a great Easter weekend. The weather here was great so we spent a lot of time outside enjoying it. Here's BB with our easter eggs this year. I only had 6 in the fridge so thats all we did! On Saturday we took the kids to a local easter egg hunt that we have gone to the last 2 years. Its crazy how crowded it has become since the first year we went but it is still fun and something we look forward to every year. They have a really fun little petting zoo set up that we spent a lot of time in.

Have you ever seen a blue chick?? :)

BB wouldn't hold them because they had "freaky feet"

Hangin' out with Mr. Turtle

And Ty used him for a little help to stand up!

Here are all the baby chicks they dyed for Easter I guess

Tyler loved them until he almost knocked over the bin! It was a close call

This guy cracked me up! He had so much fluff you could hardly see his face!

And I could not get enough of this baby pig! Oh my gosh, it was seriously SO cute!

Can you tell I liked the petting zoo? I love baby animals!

Ty just enjoyed crawlin around with the bunnies

BB was in a hula hoop contest...he didn't last very long but he did a great job trying!

Here's a picture of the boys before the egg hunt in the 1-3 year old area. They rope off areas for different age groups so the older kids don't take all the eggs.

There were seriously so many eggs in there!

Brayden had a great time riding the rainbow pony! He smiled for the whole ride!

Here's a quick video of Brayden in action

He is officially an easter egg hunt pro this year!

Easter morning was great. The kids were both so excited about it, not that Tyler knew what was going on! He woke up and seriously crawled right to where his easter basket was hidden like he knew where it was all along. It was pretty funny!

Brayden with his basket be finally found in the dryer!

Ty needed a little help to get the easter egg way up high

We had cinnamon french toast bunnies for breakfast! YUM!!

Having a little alone time reading Easter books. He LOVES books!

Brayden got this bunny toss game in his easter basket and he decided to make it a little more challenging by using his feet. He thought it was hilarious!

And he picked out this cupcake the day before at market street...he licked all of the frosting off it and left the cake part. Grossed me out!

 Hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter!