Yes, I Know

I suck at blogging. I am just so super busy, it's insane... I have been trying so hard to keep up with housework, laundry, cooking, bathing etc. that blogging is on the fun list, a list I rarely get to work on. Factor in preparations for Chandler's Senior year such as SAT's, football banquet, cap and gown orders, Senior pics, yearbook stuff etc. that I hardly ever get a moment's peace and when I do I am breastfeeding or changing diapers.
In addition- I have noticed my blog is getting under 20 views per day, ouch! Soon I will have a lovely new CUSTOM MADE header and SHINY NEW PICTURES which I hope translates into me being a better blogger. Crosses fingers... In the meantime, here are a bunch of totally random pictures of totally random stuff. Have a GROOVY day. I am off to decorate the Christmas tree. Oh joy!

hot cocoa bar, Starbucks eat your heart out! Love my CocoMotion all these years later, thanks Aunt Sarah!


YUM-O The Ashley Hot Chocolate Supreme


the Grinch Who Stole Christmas


Chloe and her trophy from Grands!


trying out hats...


every day...


to keep his male patterned bald head warm!

Stuffing!

I don't have a ton of time to blog tonight- one reason being that we are all sharing one computer... which is practically a national tragedy. So, I'm "stuffing" everything into one post. We made it to Oklahoma once again this year for the BMX races. The ride was interesting now that we have Camden- he did very well but when he got hungry or bored you knew it! We had to pull over so I could feed him twice, I did try once to lean over and feed him, which worked a little but made my back hurt and frustrated him. What is normally a 5 hour drive if we stop for dinner and gas took 7 hours this year. So far I am having an ok time- but I really miss Chan who stayed back in Texas. I guess because of Camden and my new routine I feel really weird being away from home in a hotel with a baby. Plus, I really wanted to be with as much family as possible this year and have a memorable first Thanksgiving for Camden. Don't get me wrong this is fun and I've enjoyed it the last few years but I think the novelty has worn off, so I am not sure what next year holds.... It is Chloe's first year to race and Hunter has kinda lost interest so I am wishing her, Jon, and Hayden good luck! I will definitely keep everyone posted. So funny- last year, Chloe and I had fun walking around the venue in our new sweaters and scarves just chillin' and people watching. We saw a lady with a newborn and I mentioned to Chloe how crazy that woman was to have a new baby in a dusty arena and to have to bunk in a hotel for 5 days. Gee, what a difference a year makes! Here I am hanging out with Hunter and Camden- people watching, bunking in a hotel but also stopping to rock, nurse and soothe a 10 week old baby while my Chloe girl races. Weirdness...
Anyway- we stopped for Thanksgiving lunch at Ruby Tuesday where I had a traditional turkey dinner and my family ate buffalo wings... dorks! Now, we are hanging in our hotel room watching Horton Hears a Who and snacking on junk- squeeze cheese on Ritz, pecan pie and birthday cake. That's right- my Hayden is 8!! Happy Birthday Hayden! Thank goodness we did a party at Trail Dust last weekend or I would have felt that he was cheated on his birthday. But really is he? I mean- road trip, junk food, BMX'ing etc? I'm sure he's having a ball! Anywho, I am off to watch the tube. I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving!

snacks!


Hayden and his mini birthday cake in our hotel



me and Hayden at Traildust last weekend


Hayden and his cake at Traildust


taking a bath in the hotel sink


Thanksgiving outfit

The Great and Crappy Weekend

So, I guess I've intrigued you long enough. Basically my husband and kids had a big BMX race in San Antonio this weekend. I decided I would tag along for part of it, but not until I had seen my sister Amy, her hubby Jesse, and baby Jonah. I was gonna shop my heart out in San Marcos at the outlets with Amy all day Saturday and then meet up with my family Saturday evening in San Antonio. Shopping was GREAT! I got a gorgeous red purse and wallet from Fossil for over half off, 4 pillow shams from Pottery Barn for $1.97 each(!), a top from Motherhood, and a super cute stuffed elephant for the baby. There was not near enough time to hit every store and it was 98 degrees! After shopping I was trying to decide where to stay- Amy's house, where I would have a nice air conditioned guest room all to myself or the RV with my family and 5 of our neighbors... Hmmm, seemed like an easy choice until Chloe called me in misery with a migraine. She needed her Mommy. So, I headed to San Antonio armed with children's Tylenol, a Milky Way bar for energy, and some awesome body wash. At the very least I could get a shower in the RV, right? Wrong! When I got there I discovered that the kids broke the shower knobs and my husband forgot to fill the water tank anyway... I sat on the lumpy "bed" in the recreational vehicle and cried. Fast forward to Sunday's happenings: I took a much needed "spit bath" in the bathroom at Whataburger, watched my family race a total of 5 minutes which took 8 hours to accomplish, babysat the neighbor's kids, and got one heck of a nasty sunburn. WOW!Such fun! When it was all said and done I was more than ready to go home. So, I packed Hunter into the van with me and headed for Ft. Worth. After a brief stop to have dinner with Amy and co. I hauled some boo-tay. I was less than 40 miles from home when Deputy Dog pulled me over and gave me a ticket for going 78 in a 70. I was in total disbelief. I even pulled the I'm pregnant and I have to pee card, and it obviously didn't work. So... needless to say there was some great moments and some crappy moments. I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with Amy and her family- Jonah is sooo freaking cute (I forgot to take pics, oops), shopping was awesome as always, I loved being with my husband and kids, and had some really good talks with Hunter- which lately is rare. The crappy stuff sucked, but oh well. I'll live, it's just gonna cost me a pretty penny. The ticket, the broken shower knobs, curtain and rod in the RV, lightbulbs with plastic burned onto them (don't ask) and the latch to the RV door. I also learned a lesson (I sure hope Jon did too): don't offer your neighbor and his kids the use of your RV. I don't care how big it is, 2 families are too much for one vehicle. Anyway, that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger right?

BMX Grand Nationals Day 4

Well, we're home. Trophy-less. Which stinks and is a giant letdown. I won't go into logistics, simply because it is super confusing, even to me. Hunter was able to advance the farthest and was a shoe-in for the mains (trophy race) until he was crashed into by another kid. He was thankfully not hurt, but his bike got tangled up with another kid's bike and his shoes were still clipped into his pedals. By the time he got up, it was too late. He easily had 2nd, possibly 1st. We left immediately after he was eliminated. He was very upset for the first half of the drive and finally cheered up after several hours. Jon missed his last race because we had like 30 minutes to to pack our hotel room, they wouldn't let us check out late. Bummer. And, we know how I pack. When we made it back to the track, his group was on the gate. He would have never been able to wade through all the people to get on the gate. Hayden had 1 chance to advance and couldn't pull it out. He needed to come out in 1st place and ended up 2nd. I am sad about the results, simply because you pump yourself up for it, spend the money, the drive, being away from family on Thanksgiving and BAM, it's over before you know it. We had fun though. The boys got really neat swag bags, I got a BMX MOM decal for my van, they each got T-shirts and caps, and most importantly- tons of memories.
So, til next year. Hopefully we'll have better luck. Especially now that Chloe wants to try and I am being begged to start racing as well. Not sure about that last one...


grossest snack ever! Chocolate dipped dill pickle. Positively obscene!


Chloe texting and I-podding


Chloe and Hayden in the shoe shine chair at the hotel


me in the car, trying to be cute and cheer up my kiddos


Jon on the phone


Hayden, oh so tired!


Hunter, being upset about today's race

BMX Grand Nationals Day 3

Here's our day in a nutshell. I wish it were longer and more exciting, but I am TIRED!

The kids and I slept til 9, which was heaven! Jon went to the track to check the day's schedule AND went to the laundromat to wash my jeans.

We missed the hotel breakfast, bummer. So, we headed to the track and Chloe and I watched one round of our boys racing. Then we went to Target for breakfast/snacks and me a book. We got granola bars, trail mix, pretzels, beef jerky, and bottled water. It was only a regular Target, that was all they had to offer. Oh, and I bought New Moon...

Back to the track for 3.5 more hours of racing. I watched my boys race, but passed on everyone else. I was reading, Twilight. I had never even heard of it til about 6 months ago and then this movie hype started, so I gave in. It's better than I expected and not quite as cheesy as I had heard. Being an avid reader who would read the phone book and who can finish a giant book in under a day, I rarely turn down books. Except certain cheesy drugstore Harlequin type novels. Twilight was pretty good, I finished it this evening. And I have New Moon in my purse for tomorrow.

Racing finished at 4:45, so we headed for a late lunch/early dinner. We were starved for "real food", having eaten only snack-y stuff all day. We chose a really neat little diner. Not exactly grilled fish and veggies, but charming and yummy nonetheless. I am so nervous to see the scale when I get back.... yikes!

We headed back to our hotel at 6. Jon and the boys watched football, Hayden watched Transformers, and Chloe surfed the net. The kids managed to roam the halls quite a bit. Tonight there was a pretty big football game on and the entire hotel was in a frenzy. Most people on all 9 floors had their doors open and you could tell who was rooting for who. Our team (OU) beat OSU and Jon is giddy.

On to the tub at 9:30 til 11:00 with my book. Laid out clothes for tomorrow, brushed Chloe's hair, and now I'm blogging.

I am way too tired to describe each and every picture like I normally do, so I'll tell you now in random order: boys, Jon and Chloe, Hayden's owie from yesterday's crash complete with description, and the diner and it's funny menu. Good night, thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow with a wrap-up and hopefully photos of the big fat trophies my boys won. Basically I am crossing my fingers and thinking positive.





















P.S. I was most baffled by "wet french fries" on the menu, which sounds all sorts of wrong. Apparently they are fries drenched in gravy. Terrible name for terrible food.

BMX Grand Nationals Day 2

Last night after I posted we stupidly stayed up way too late. Hayden had fallen asleep pretty early and woke up as the rest of us were going to bed. So, we put him on the sofa sleeper with the TV on. That didn't work so well. He was freaked out by noises in the hallway, a shadow he kept thinking was a coyote, and he kept trying to play musical beds with the rest of us. I was still awake at 12:45. I also woke up three more times. I was hot. I was cold. I had to potty. Our clock rang at 5:30. Which is a completely un-normal time to awaken, in my opinion. Everyone was so tired we couldn't stop laughing, not sure why? We were at the breakfast buffet (which is awesome by the way, they have everything and it's free!!) by 7 and at the track by 7:40. The boys (Jon included) all raced three times. Which isn't a big deal except there are over 300 rounds to wait through. Put it this way, we were there for over 9 hours. Today's race was the ROC race (Race of Champions) and was for the people who placed in the top 10 in their age and class. They are all three in the top 10. So, it's kind of a special pre-race. You have to qualify for it, which they have worked hard for. Unfortunately they didn't do so hot today. They tried, but this being a national competition, it's very intense. Today they were competing against the best of the best from almost every state. And, poor little Hayden crashed pretty hard. He is ok, but the sad thing is he was looking like he was gonna end up doing really good. Lucky for them, they have Saturday and Sunday to make up for it. Not so lucky for me and Chloe. Sitting on hard bleachers for 9 hours is rough. We each read four magazines, painted our nails, walked around, ate snacks, took pictures, etc etc. We are so planning better tomorrow. Not sure how, but I am working on it.

Myers' boys having a snack between races


me and the Chlo-meister taking even more pics of ourselves


Chloe, she was super proud of her new outfit


Hayden in action


Jon in action


Hunter in action


Hayden asleep early again tonight. He is awake and hyper. Help me.

BMX Grand Nationals Day 1

Today was looong and exhausting. Basically it was a practice day, to get used to the track, as it changes every year. One morning and one late afternoon practice each for Jon and the boys. Yes, Jon races now too. Basically I am just gonna put a little story by each picture so you get the idea of what's been going on. Too much for me to type and way too much for y'all to read. All the pics are interesting I guess you could say- No one was cooperating with me and my camera and the lighting was off so I chose the fun ones to post. Anyway, long story short: all day we (me and Chloe) pretty much walked for miles, the expo is huge! And, Jon and the boys rode their bikes ALOT. I managed to eat fairly decent, for being on the road. I did spend some $$, but just for T-shirts and caps commemorating the event. Oh, and we ate Ruby Tuesday twice, once for lunch and once for a late night snack. I did have a turkey burger, Happy Thanksgiving to me! Enjoy the photos!

In the car. Hayden eating his fingernails and Hunter SMILING! They were watching a movie while waiting on Jon to check us into our hotel, hence the no seat belts. Just in case you were wondering.


Best Western sign welcoming the BMX'ers. It was down the road from our hotel. (Which didn't have a sign welcoming us.) It was after midnight when we got here and I made Jon stop so I could jump out and snap this pic.


our broken bed. I called the bed by the window for me and Jon and as soon as we plopped down after dragging in our luggage it broke on one end. So, Jon lifted it up to investigate and the other side broke. Now it's even. It's also really short!


Chloe doing what she does best, surfing the internet...


this years track, it is HUGE!


Where's Jon? Can you spot him in the crowd of bikes and people?


Mom, can't you see the sun is in our eyes? No more pictures!!


me and the hubby. Our noses look rather large and we look so tired. We left for our hotel like 3 seconds later.


Chloe, keeping Hayden's hat safe. Good grief she's even beautiful in a baseball cap!


look at all those trophies. 1st place is like 6 feet tall. We would like to win a few of these bad boys, except we have no more room for trophies!

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Have a great day! Enjoy your families and stuff your faces for us... ;)
We found out that Ruby Tuesday next door to our hotel is serving an honest to goodness real turkey dinner, so we are heading there around 2. Cross your fingers it's not too crowded (TONS of BMX'ers!!) for us to get our turkey! Last years IHOP still haunts us... I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday! Christmas will be here before you know it...
P.S. We love and miss you Chan Man :(

I'm so tired!

So, this is literally like the first time I have been able to sit down today. I can't remember the last time I was this tired. Yes I can. Driving to Utah. All day long I have been cleaning, doing laundry, and packing. We are leaving for Oklahoma on Wednesday, and I should have started some of the items on my never ending to do list a long time ago. Used to when we went out of town we just did a quick cleaning, but now that we have so many animals I like to clean as perfect as possible. So we won't frighten the poor soul who comes to feed the herd. Heaven forbid that person find out that we're messy... This time we are having someone house/teenager sit for us and I want everything to look amazing. I am talking alphabetize the canned goods amazing. When someone is gonna be using your shower, microwave, stove etc. you wanna make sure it's just so. At least I do. Jon's sister Atalie is on medical leave from the Army and she and her daughter Cadence are gonna stay here and keep things in line. Chandler is only slightly annoyed. He really thought I would consider leaving him here alone, on a major holiday no less. I really don't like being away from him at all, especially in another state. Last year he had the broken leg/torn ligament problem and this year he would rather eat sheetrock than go to a BMX race. Anyway, I was having blog withdrawals and I know y'all were too. It's been over 24 hours since I posted. Tragedy! But, today I had good reason, I was trying my darndest to stay as un-idle as possible. Burns more calories. Here's what I did today, I started at 10:30 this morning:

cleaned Hunter and Hayden's room (as thorough as humanly possible, took 3.5 hours)
cleaned out my entry closet (took 1 hour, I found 15 pairs of gloves)
cleaned frig, microwave, and spice cabinet (took 1.5 hours)
cleaned out my make-up case (took 1 hour, it's BIG.)
washed, folded, and hung up every single article of clothing we own (took 5 hours off and on, if you've seen my laundry room you know that this in itself is a miracle)
cleaned Chloe's room (took 2 hours)
re-organized everyone's dressers and closets (took 1 hour)
sent 4 emails
painted my toenails
prepared and served 3 meals X 6 people = 18 meals
fed 5 animals- twice
made 5 phone calls
sent 13 text messages
broke up 3 fights
packed Hunter, Chloe, and Hayden's suitcases
made 4 beds
took out 3 bags of trash
loaded the dishwasher, and
changed 2 lightbulbs

So, you see why I'm tired? I feel like I am 90 years old. I really need to bathe, really. But I don't think I can make myself. Must sleep now. Tomorrow, I have to finish cleaning, shop and pack for me and Jon. I definitely am gonna sleep all the way to Oklahoma. That is if my kids don't fight over the TV all the way there...

BMX birthday

Even though he isn't quite 7, we went ahead and celebrated Hayden's birthday yesterday. Of course we had it at the local BMX track. We did it early since we will be in Oklahoma for the BMX Grand Nationals (biggest race of the year) on his actual birthday. And, after weeks of warm weather, it just had to turn cold and windy just in time for the party. It was the kind of cold that seems to go right through you. It almost seems difficult to think straight when you are out in that crazy wind. But, we survived. We had to park two SUV's in front of the food/cake/present table to stay warm and so nothing would blow away. Most of the kids divided their time between the bounce house and the race track, as did some of the adults. That was the only way to stay warm. We managed to have a decent time in spite of the wind and for sure Hayden had a blast. I had a hard time getting him to get dressed today, he was in pj's most of the day playing with his new toys. I want to thank those that came to join Hayden on his special day. We sent out 25 invitations and not a single kid from his class came, which is disappointing. But, what can you do? Because of the crazy wind and supervising the festivities, I didn't get very many pictures. I am posting the important ones: Hayden, presents, cake and me trying out the track for the very first time.


awesome cake, it was sooo good



Hayden and one of his new presents



funny present, we are gonna have a blast with this one



me on the gate, I was scared...



me, riding the track. My butt is huge! If I continue to ride on the track maybe I can shrink it?