SchlegelRock

Every year Vargas Elementary has a Halloween parade.  The kids are allowed to bring their costumes to school and then by grade they parade around in a circle on the playground.  Siblings are allowed to walk so Oli walked with Max.  The picture of Tru’s head and hand is the only one I got of him actually parading about.  Bad photographer!  Bad!  The kids of course had a great time.  The rain stayed away too.  I sure hope it stays at bay tonight too.

We had our Church’s Halloween Party Friday  night. Max was Indiana Jones, Tru was Captain America and Oli was Iron Man.   A member of our congregation is a photographer and set up a little photo shoot.  Here are our results.

That’s right. Just this morning I ran the Marsh Madness 5k in Palo Alto. It was right off of Embarcadero on the trail through the marsh. It’s flat the whole way which is good because not only did I not train for this, I especially did not train for hills. So, phew. I’ve been running 3 miles once a week for a little while now so I knew I could finish the race. I also knew I would be near the back because I run really slow. Really slow. Like a tortoise, and I was running with a bunch of hares.
There was one lady who almost got herself shoved into the marsh by little old me because she kept run/walking around me. She would walk and I would pass her and then she would flat footed stomp up behind me like she was a monster attacking and then pass me just to stop right in front of me and start walking again. We did this for 3/4 of the race and I seriously wanted to scream at her. If only I had a different gear to switch into I would have left her in the dust. But alas, I have one speed. Tortoise.
I felt really good about myself at the halfway point because as I turned around to head back to the finish line I passed quite a few people. Then I got almost in sight of the finish line and almost every single one of those people passed me. I got so mad I started walking. Those people had been walking most of the time and then they just turned it on and easily overtook me. I was also mad because quite a few of the people who were running the 10k zoomed past me. They started 5 minutes before me and ran twice as far and were still finishing the race before me. So I walked for a little bit and had a pity party with myself then when I thought I was almost to the end I kicked it into tortoise gear again and finished the race.
It was so nice to see Scott and the boys waiting for me. Oli held out his arms to give e a hug as I ran past. They were so excited to see me running in the race. Before I started Max asked me if I was going to finish 1, 2 or 3 and I laughed and said this was just for fun and that I would be near the end. At least I told him the truth. I think there might have still been a couple of people behind me but not many. I’m just glad I ran this on my own. I would have hated to hold my friends back. Everyone seems to be avid runners and I’m just a once a week so I can justify all the junk food I eat kind of runner. I’ve heard that running is addictive but it hasn’t caught me yet.
Scott is very actively trying to get me psyched for the next time and I’m trying to buy into it. I know that running is good for my body and it is probably even good for my soul so I’m not hanging up the towel yet. I just expected some kind of adrenaline rush as I crossed the finish line and all I felt was disappointment. At least I know what to expect now, right? I know I’m slow. I know I’ll be passed by numberless concourses of people. I know now that I need to get my sensor removed from my shoe before I go to see my family so I don’t get yelled at next time. I know that I can get a sausage McMuffin with egg and and orange juice after the race so maybe that’s all that matters. A sweet reward for something I do once a week anyways. I guess I’m saying, bring on the next one!
What have your running experiences been like?

Btw, my time for the 5k was 48 minutes.  Goooooo me!

but this one I can do.  Take the fourth photo from your fourth album, no matter what it is, and post it.  This is Truman at Scott’s graduation from Cogswell (not the sprockets from the Jetsons, it’s a college in Sunnyvale).  He’s only a month old if I’m doing my math right.  That’s right, we had two kids when Scott graduated.  I promise you there was no one else like us there at the graduation.  What a fun time to remember.  Tag, you’re it.

Scott and I attended the funeral today for our friend Zach Cox.  It has been several years since we’ve talked to Zach and we only met his wife at their wedding reception so we’re a little removed but it was still hard to see his wife grieving and know he was the same age as us.  It was so hard to remember what a great guy he was and mourn over the time that we lost being caught up in our own dramas.  He was a ray of sunshine.  Really outgoing and very fun to be around.  Everything was fun with Zach.  I’m sad we didn’t spend more time with him when we had the chance.

Zach had some kind of rare heart disease that his wife Asia says could have only been detected if a relative of his had died of the same thing.  He was being treated for asthma but it turned out that one of his heart valves was 90 percent blocked and there would have been no way to treat him even if he had gone to the hospital.  Apparently it was just his time to go.

As you can imagine this has really started Scott and I to thinking.  We really need to seize the day.  Zach’s motto was, “Live life to the fullest, it’s all about the ride.  If not now, when?”  So to celebrate Zach’s life Scott has gone to the skate park.  

Every kiss and hug and touch just feels so important right now.  There was a point today when they were bringing in the coffin and it was silent except for Asia’s sobs.  I thought my heart would tear right out of me and I just held on tight to Scott.  I’m going to hold on as tight as I can.

Zach was a good kid will be missed.  I wish the best for all of his family especially Asia.  All of my best wishes go to Asia.

Obituary

Sorry it’s taken so long to post.   The kids had Monday and Tuesday off so that really meant no blogging time.  I took Truman in to get his cast on Tuesday and he did great.  Everyone we saw that day was super nice and it was obvious that they were used to dealing with kids.  Truman decided to go for a glow in the dark cast.  I tried to get some pictures of it glowing for you but the camera just wouldn’t pick it up.  Oh well.

The cool thing about the cast is it has a little plastic cylinder woven into it and the sling just hooks through the cylinder rather then trying to keep an actual sling on the cast.  Or the cast in the sling, I guess.  Truman took it off yesterday though and says he doesn’t need it.  It’s his arm so I’m going to trust his judgement on this one.  It is amazing how fast he has recovered.  Now that he has the cast on I don’t worry about him hurting his arm more.  He seems to know his limits pretty well.

I told you three days after breaking his collar bone Truman was totally fine.  Look at this.  I took him to the park this morning and he’s swinging on the kiddie “zip line”.  Now he totally can not use his left arm but he’s apparently just fine swinging around on his right.  Oh, to be a kid again.

Oh, and he goes to get his cast tomorrow (Tuesday) and would like a green one.  We’ll see what they have to offer in the morning.

So if you’re surprised by this post, I don’t blame you.  My last post was so cheerful and light but in fact, Truman broke his arm while playing at the park shortly after the swing pictures were taken.  I didn’t say anything before because he hadn’t been x-rayed yet.  The poor kid was climbing up the slide and Max decided to come down the slide and it hit him just right.  There’s a horse shoe shaped bone at the elbow that has broken clean off.  Needless to say, Max feels horrible.  The thing is, they’ve done that a million gazillion times before and never gotten hurt.  It was just the right angle, I guess.

Tru is on Tylenol with Codeine so he is so super mellow it’s ridiculous.  And he’s carrying his baby doll around with him and is always covered with a blanket.  Poor kid.  It’s like his body has totally shut down all unnecessary functions in order to heal itself.  I remember when he broke his collar bone he was down for about 3 days and then boom he was back to normal so I’m wondering how long it will take this time.  I’ll keep you posted.

That’s what I heard today at the park while the kids were swinging.  Over and over and over again until I finally grabbed my phone and started snapping. They were having so much fun.  Tru wanted me to get a picture of him jumping off the swing in the air but my action photo taking skills aren’t that fine tuned.  So, you get a picture of Tru preparing for take off.  We have park day every Friday afternoon so we were there playing with friends.  Our numbers are dwindling though as people move away so if you want to join us let me know.  We like playing with friends at the park.

It’s true.  I spend most of my time over at Blog the Day Away now but I would never leave you for too long without posting.  I took some pictures of the kid that’s at home with me now and thought I’d share him with you.  Oli is still having a rough time with all the transitioning we’ve asked him to do.  What with the older boys going to school and him starting preschool it’s a lot for one little 3 year old.  Plus we’ve given him chores and expected him to eat his meals (this is not a new one but an ongoing battle) and clean up his toys when he’s done playing with them.  He’s not enjoying all of the responsibility but by golly, who does?  Despite his growing pains he continues to be a very loving sweet boy.  He’s my littlest buddy and I love hanging out with him as long as he’s not screaming at me.

I had a nice time with my Mom this morning driving out to visit my cousin who just had a baby girl.  She is a  t-i-n-y little baby and oh so cute.  It’s babies like her that make me want to have a little girl.  She just had girl written all over her from her beautiful eyes to her delicate little mouth.  What a sweetie.  But I guess that’s what nieces are for huh?  I should really get on to spoiling them.  I just have no practice with girls and I never know what their mother’s will think is appropriate.  There’s no time like the present to learn though.  Operation spoil nieces will commence shortly.  Any tips?

We had a very nice time in Arizona.  It was nice to finally see Mark and Markaa’s house and meet Markaa’s family.  They even have two dogs that the kids kind of got used to by the end of our trip.  My favorite part of AZ is the cacti.  I love to go up and feel the spines of a cactus.  I love how some of them are blunt and some of them are ridiculously sharp.  I even found one that releases it’s spines into your finger if you touch it.  Luckily they were easy to pull out but could you imagine falling into one of those.  Really any of them.  The cacti aren’t enough to make me want to move to AZ but I felt like a little kid playing with them.

I also found two flowers that I thought were absolutely beautiful.  One of them I’ve seen in CA before so I know I could plant it in my own home but the other I’ve never seen.  I don’t know the names of either of them so if anyone knows let me know.  I used the call the first ones whirlygigs.  But I just can’t see that being their real name.

I can not tell you how happy I was to get home to cool Sunnyvale.  Still warm enough to wear shorts but cool enough to tickle your legs and arms with the breeze.  I have never been so grateful for green grass and trees on every lot.  I was walking around just marveling at the beauty.  I love green.  Love, love, love it.  It just goes to show there’s a climate and location for everyone.  Mark and Markaa found theirs and Scott and I were born into ours.  What a beautiful world we live in that you can find a place that’s right for you.

Mark and Markaa were married today in the Mesa, AZ Temple.  It was a beautiful ceremony that actually got me crying.  These two have way more than a fighting chance.  I’m really glad we made the trip out here to experience this day with them.  Definitely worth baking to be here for this.  Congratulations guys!  We wish you the best.

I’m not suggesting this as a life choice because these two families have been through hard times but it was so fun to see the kids involved.  It’s great to see them bonded already as a family.  They’ve got four really great kids.

And you would never believe what happened.  My friend Sarah who lives in Las Vegas was at the Temple for her mother’s wedding.  Can you believe that?  She stopped me in the hall and I just about freaked out.  How fun is that?  Sarah reminds me of Heather Locklear.  Only because she’s a drop dead gorgeous blonde and she could totally kick your ass.  Well maybe I should just speak for myself.  I think she could kick my ass.  Either way, it was so good to see her.  What a great trip this has been.

We got into Phoenix last night (Thursday) and drove out to Peoria to stay with Mark and Markaa.  Our flight went really well but let me tell you what we had to entertain the kids.  We had Batman on the laptop and on the iPhone, we had the Nintendo DS LIte with MarioKart and Super Mario Bros, and we had two iPods if you include the iPhone, which I am.  We were totally prepared for the trip.  It went smoothly.  The kids were a little loud for Scott’s liking but I felt they did great.  The only surprise of the night was the Phoenix Airport.  It’s huge.  Holy crap.

Today we went to the pool and had a great time.  The surprise of the day is how huge the pool is.  They have a “play” pool that’s at least three times as large as our pool and then a lap pool and some water slides.  You didn’t read that wrong.  They have water slides.  They weren’t open today   We’re thinking of trying to get back tomorrow to play again because it is over 100.  Of course it is.  What else would it be.  We’ve got a big family dinner planned for tonight and then the big day tomorrow.  So far so good.

Ryan got Student of the Month today so we went down to the school to visit him.  In case you’re wondering who is in the pictures it’s Logan, Maxwell, Jake, Ryan, Tru, Addi and Oli.

Well, yesterday went really well.  I actually enjoy giving talks and teaching.  I feel so good when I’m done it’s totally worth all the work up to it.  This is going to be a short post.  I just thought since I don’t share a great deal of my spiritual side I’d drop a note.  The meeting yesterday was about obedience.  I was asked to pick two principles of obedience and speak on them.  I chose being prepared (saving money, food storage) and Prop 8.  For those of you who don’t know what Prop 8 is I’m going to do a post on it soon but the gist is to amend the California State Constitution to state that “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”  I chose these two subjects because the Spirit prompted me and I am really struggling with them.  What better way to gain a testimony of a subject than to study and pray about it?  This ended up being a fabulous learning experience for me.

Just in case those family members that live far away are curious as to what I said here’s my talk.  Be warned it’s sloppy and I don’t have any of the quotes cited.  I didn’t end up using parts of it because of time but this is the information I started out with.  It’s a Word document (I’ve never done this before so I hope it works) talk

Well, this whole experience didn’t start out as a makeover but it ended as one.  So let me give you a brief history here on my weight loss.  You’ve all probably been wondering how I’ve done it so here goes.  First I was on so much medication that my body totally shut down and I wasn’t able to eat.  Then once I was able to eat I was in the habit of not eating so I didn’t.  I’m totally serious when I say I very rarely get hungry.  And when I do get hungry I just get cranky.  I still have no draw to actual food.  I’m kind of OK with all of this to be honest.  It doesn’t really bother me that I don’t eat.  I know it’s not healthy but I seem to be doing fine right now so I’m good.  Before anyone gets too alarmed, I do eat,

 just not very much.  On top of that, I increased my activity level by running and recently biking.  I don’t count swimming yet because I don’t do it consistently and I’m still scared to get in the water.  So all told, I went from 187 lbs to 140ish (I haven’t weighed myself in about 4 months).  Pretty cool, huh.  I’m happy with the results.  So that is a size 14 to a size 6.  It’s hard to believe that I’m a size 6.  When I try on clothes I always take an 8 with me just in case.

So that was the first step the rest of it happened just within the last week.  I have been wearing an old, saggy, too big bra.  Oh, this thing was awful.  Just disgusting and misshapen and horrible.  So I decided to go bra shopping on one of my free days and got the best makeover money can buy.  Turns out I went from a 38 GG (that’s right GG, as in Ginormous Gazongas) to a very manageable 34 D.  How spectacular is that?  My new bras lift me up and give me the most beautiful cleavage I’ve ever seen.  Thank your lucky stars I didn’t take a picture to show you.  The girls look that good.  Drop Scott to the floor good.  Oh yeah.  That’s how Alisa got her groove back.  All that from Macy’s.  Thank you Maidenform.

Then, Reul Parent called and asked me to give a talk on Sunday.  You know what happened then?  Scott said, “You need a new outfit, don’t you?”  Uh, yeah, I most certainly do.  So I spent my next free day at Target shopping for a new outfit.  I got a cute one including shoes and brought it home to show to Scott.

You’ll never guess what happened then.  Scott said something to the effect of, “Alisa, If you’re going to buy nice clothes I’d rather you didn’t buy them at Target.”  He actually told me to go to JCrew and buy a skirt and then get some better shoes.  So I got a skirt from JCrew and a really cute pair of shoes from Nordstroms.  Someone pinch me.  Is this actually happening?  Now I still have to give the talk on Sunday, but I’m gonna look wicked hot doing it.

Thanks Scott.