We had a GREAT weekend here! Friday was card club over at my sisters house, and since they were fairly easy cards we all finished early. I had brought credentials over to my sisters to enlist help, and when we finished over 1,000 credentials in under an hour my friend Molly and I headed to my work to get more… except that there were hardly any left to complete. Regardless, most are done, so that makes me very very happy! They all said anytime I have work like that to bring it over and they’d help me out! Who doesn’t like eager volunteers? Saturday we woke up and headed over to the YMCA for Kirra’s first dance lesson. Us parents stayed out in the hall, but the studio has windows all around it so we can look in. She did ballet first, and spent most of the time rolling around on the floor. Not because thats what they were learning, but because Kirra decided to goof off. After a little “pep” talk from dad when she came out to change into her tap shoes, she did much better! THat… or because her tap shoes are so slippery she was scared to go running around! Later on Jason went to inspect our friends Lisa & Tony’s new house which is super cool! They move in – in a couple of weeks, and i’m excited to see it when they’re moved in. Its a very open floor plan, and they have a big fenced in yard! We got home and straightened up a bit for Kirra’s first sleepover at our house with a friend. Aiden’s parents (Alisa & Kevin) were going out to a party,and wouldn’t have gotten home until late – so I said to just leave him over night. It was a lot of fun, and we had so much fun having him over. The kids tried to wake up at 4:30 a.m. but I told them they had to stay in Kirra’s room and lay in their beds… they replied, “we’re not tired.. we want to play”. I said, it’s not play time, its bed time, so you don’t have to fall asleep, but you do have to stay in your beds, and be quiet! Eventually they did fall back to sleep, and slept until 7:30 a.m. We woke up and made a big breakfast for us and the kids, and then they spent the rest of the morning playing and running around. I threw a pork roast in the slow cooker, with garlic, brown sugar, pineapple, and soy sauce. I went to church with Kirra and Theo, which was amazing as always. We went to Lino where around 3,000 people were worshiping. Afterwards we came home, watched the Vikings loose and take a nap. (did I mention how much I love the slow cooker?) Woke up to a cooked dinner with hardly any effort from me, and we’ve been playing hard ever since. Mostly with Kirra’s life size pony/horse stuffed animal, and have been playing Rodeo….We’re winding down and are ready to put Kirra to bed,and mom’s ready to watch the Emmy awards, and see all the pretty dresses, and root for my favorite shows! Until next time. TOODLES!

Well after a two day work week who isn’t ready for the weekend? Although I didn’t get caught up at all from being on vacation, it was nice to wind down from my vacation. Friday Jason, Kirra and I enjoyed Chili’s dinner, and then had some friends over for a poker game. Early the next morning I woke up and headed down to National Camera Exchange to pick up a new 55-300mm lens, and then it was off to the wedding! If you haven’t seen the wedding photos I shot, head over to my photo site at: http://laimage.wordpress.com. Sunday I attended church with Kirra in tow, where she started pre-school services, learning bible verses, stories, and how to apply the stories to her daily life! Even at the age of 3! I held a moment of silence for those lost on September 11th. I still remember where I was when the world stopped! Do you? Our church did a really cool live flash dub for the opening to the service. It was a culmination on how our church started with a vision,and where its at today! Enjoy. (Definitely worth the watch)

Don’t Stop Believin’ Opener from Eagle Brook Church on Vimeo. Came home from church and napped until dinner time! My kind of weekend.

Woke up this morning… Got on my shorts- shoes – shirts and found my arm warmers since it was a bit chilly this AM. Thought I was going to be late for race morning sign up, so when I got there at 7:30 a.m. for an 8am race, and I was the ONLY one in the parking lot I knew something was up… I got my smart phone and typed in the race name and to my strong disappointment the race said AUGUST 20th, 2011….yesterday! Dumb online race calendar had it down for August 21, 2011. Last time I TRUST that source again. I will ALWAYS check out the race website when possible. I thought – well I could just run around from here, but i was so sad, I could run in Minneapolis, but again no motivation… I drove home and slept for 6 hours. So… I slept a 10K. On the bright side I received a letter in the mail from the dermatologist which I determined just by reading the envelope meant good news, because bad news is generally delivered by telephone or in person,not in the mail. No. My report card which I found in the envelope had a little check mark by the words BENIGN. Beautiful, beautiful words! Phew. I should really up the ante on sunscreen anyways, but now I can be rest assured I don’t have melanoma!

What an absolutely PERFECT day this turned out to be? I slept in after drinking a few too many wines and White Russians last night. My good friend Annie from High School stopped by for a little bonfire and to catch up. We were up until around 11:30 and she had to get going because she had to work today… I did not. After she left I stayed outside by the fire and watched Modern Family on the laptop. So. on to today- Kirra was asked by ME to clean up her TOTAL disaster of a bedroom. When she didn’t comply, 95% of her toys came out of her bedroom and are now down in the playroom. Her rooms looks 200% better! We were then off for Bunker Beach water-park, which Kirra likes to pronounce BONKER Beach. Man what a difference a year makes! Last year she was scared to go down any of the watersides, and this year she wasn’t scared of anything, including the wave pool! I could have stayed there all night, but I had to get going to my sisters for cards! (which was fun too)

What a wild week! Tuesday night I ended up running 6.5 miles! Wednesday I ran with Moms on the Run, and everyone did absolutely AMAZING! Today was a bit more eventful…. Since about May i’ve noticed a quarter size irregular shaped white patch on my back. Right on my cross tattoo in fact. So I decided I better go get it checked out – in addition to getting a full body scan from my dermatologist. She noticed there was a mole in the center of the white spot which she called a Halo Mole. She thought the mole itself didn’t look suspect, but wanted to biopsy it anyways. I think i’m certain that it happened when I severely sunburned myself in the tanning bed last April! Which can cause moles to become abnormal. I also told her about some painful keloid scaring in my ears from having my ears pierced all the way up several years ago, so she injected some steroids into my ear lobes! I will hear about my biopsy in 10 days to 2 weeks. Lets all hope/pray that its just the sunburn thing making my body develop a halo around the mole! Tonight I went on ANOTHER run with Moms run this town girls and it was AMAZING!!!! We went about 3 miles. So glad tomorrow is a rest day! So glad! I’m off to melt into my bed now and watch Jersey Shore!

Three recent happenings at the Little House in the Suburbs 1.) Started a North Metro running club chapter with Moms Run This Town I’m still coaching Moms on the Run for the next 2 weeks also. 2.) Recently ran 10 Miles at Relay for Life with my cousin Sara (and 6.5 today) 3.) This morning while getting ready for work (I was wearing a white skirt, and a white shirt) Kirra exclaimed, “Mommy! You look like an Angel!” It melted my heart completely!

Well – this past weekend was AMAZING! Not much going on – but still great. Friday I was off work at noon and brought my Rouge in for an oil change and a complete detail. They basically cleaned the car to brand new condition! My mom picked me up for lunch, and we went to Bambu in Maplewood. It was OUT OF THIS WORLD delicious! I got the Thai Fried Rice, and my mom got Lo Mein. They serve Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai dishes. After that I headed to Rick & Nicole’s place to get Kirra (since Rick picked her up from daycare). Kirra was SO funny. She asked Uncle Rick what he did for a living, and he said I’m a plumber… so Kirra said, “What’s that”. Rick replied, “well… like your daddy fixes cement…I fix toilets”. Kirra got a look on her face of deep understanding,and exclaimed “Oh! You fix Potties”…. “Yes” Rick replied… “I fix potties”. Kirra and I ate Nicole’s homemade Santa Fe Chicken Pizza which was also very delicious, and then the girl and I were off to get back home. She went to bed fairly early, and I sat out on my patio and read, watched some TV and went to bed pretty early myself. Saturday we woke up early for Moms On The Run, and then we hung out until Jason got home. Jason was exhausted from driving 5 hours, so he took a nap, and Kirra and I headed out to Lino Lakes EBC for church. Once I got home we made Margharita Pizza, and then watched a movie, and were all in bed pretty early since I had to wake up early for work on Sunday. Sunday I was up by 4:30 and off to the race! It was the Twins Territory TC 4K, an awesome race from basically the Metrodome to the new Target Field. I was home by 9:30 and then took a nap from 10am until 4pm! It was so awesome! Thank you Jason!!!! Once I woke up we had hamburgers on the grill… watched Hell’s Kitchen, and then went to bed by 10pm.