Family Fun For a Few Hours

Yesterday my brother Bryson and cousin Sarah were making the long trek back to Idaho from Australia.  Unlucky for them, they had a 7 hour layover at LAX. Lucky for me, that meant I got to go hang out with them for the afternoon! 

I picked them up at 11 and we headed to, where else, but Cafe Rio for some lunch.

Then we headed to the beach so they could breathe in some fresh ocean air instead of that nasty recycled air they'd been inhaling on the plane for 14 hours. 

Bryson sported a new accessory for awhile, but he got some funny looks. Perhaps we should have made Sawyer hold a sign that read "He's my Uncle" I love that Sawyer is imitating Bryson's infamous squinty peepers in the photo below.  

Sarah, Sawyer and I soaking in the rays. We were only at the beach for maybe an hour, but my shoulders today say otherwise. They got fried! Sawyer ended up falling asleep and I was holding him the majority of the time in my arms all covered except for his nose was showing so he could breathe. Guess what got sunburnt? Yep you guessed it. He looks like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer today and I feel really bad I forgot to put sunblock on his little face. 

Bry and Sarah testing the water to see if California or Australia water is warmer. Australia won. 

Sawyer dipped in his toes and was in love with the waves. Sarah and I attempted at taking a video of him kicking his feet in the water, but we had some technical difficulties as in when I thought I was pushing the stop recording button I was really starting to record and vice versa. You'll see if you watch it. Still I had to post it just for the 2 second blip at the end where Sawyer is kicking his feet like crazy in the water because he does it so quick it looks like the video is on fast forward.

It was a lot of fun to hang out with them even if our visit was brief. Hearing about all their crazy adventures overseas makes me even more excited for our trip. They had a long list of things we needed to do and check out when we are over there. Thanks for spending your torturously long layover with me instead of the airport Bry and Sarah! 

Whirlwind Weekend

I'm so glad the weekend is over! It was crazy busy from the very start. It was filled with a lot of fun too considering my birthday was sandwiched in between it, but I was so exhausted come Sunday night. 

Friday after work we went and picked up some things from my mother in law Carol's house to sell at the garage sale we were having on Sunday to raise money for my fundraising.

Saturday morning (my 26th birthday) I woke up at 5:30 to get to the beach in time to run with my team. We ran 12 miles! Wahoo! It was actually a lot easier than I had anticipated. Don't get me wrong, 12 miles felt like an eternity while running it, but my body held it together better than I thought it would. I had to document the most mileage I've run so far and forgot to take a picture until after I was on the road going home, so yes this is multitasking at it's best. Hey, I had to snap a photo before my sweat dried to prove I'd actually ran that far! 

The rest of Saturday was a blur from when I got back from running until 7. I'm pretty sure it involved running errands, getting garage sale items donated from one of my coaches and making a bajillion garage sale signs.

Then before I knew it, it was time for my birthday date with my favorite guy. 

We went to the Sherman Oaks Galleria and gorged ourselves at The Cheesecake Factory, compliments of cousin Christine who gave us a gift card there in honor of both of our bdays. (Matt turns 30 on Aug 5th which is when we'll be in Australia. Luckyyyyyy!) After dinner we went and saw Inception at the fancy schmancy theater where you get to reserve your seats and they have a "greeter" come in before the movie starts to introduce the show. That movie was interesting to say the least. Dreaming fascinates me because I always remember mine and they are always bizarre. I really liked the movie and for the record, my vote is that it was reality at the end because I like happy endings. 

Went to bed around midnight which is about the time we got back and then woke up at the insane hour of 4:30 to go hang all my garage sale signs from here to Alaska.  Started hauling all the random paraphernalia out that we were selling and our first sale seeker showed up at 6:30. My signs said 7. But he redeemed himself by buying a whole pile of stuff, which would have been a whole lot of bigger if we had sold him all the items he kept asking about that were in the garage. No sir, my husbands road bike is not for sale and neither is the stroller, or the cooler or whatever else you are eyeing that it's in there. 

We also sold water, cookies, donuts, tea, coffee and juice and made about twenty dollars or so on that alone. Later in the afternoon Christine and her dad came over to help with the sale. We closed up shop at 3 on the dot and counted our loot. I would have been happy to get at least $200. That would have helped my fundraising significantly since I still had about $1900 to raise. 

Guess how much we made!  400? 500? 600?

Try $1,068 bucks!

I've never held that much cash before! It was amazing that we made that much. I can't wait to apply it to  my fundraising account! I was feeling confident that I have running 26.2 miles in the bag, but was a little more weary on whether I could raise the fundage. Now I know for sure it's achievable. What a relief!

Now that the weekend is over, I'm treating myself to a long awaited and much needed nap this afternoon after I do the laundry, empty the dishwasher, start packing for our trip, finish my math homework among a long list of other things. Perhaps my nap will have to wait until we are vacation. Only one more week!

Two of a Kind?

Yesterday at church a lady sitting behind us thought Sawyer was a girl. So far no one has said that, but it did make me wonder if he looks more like me than we think. I'll let you be the judge. 

(Don't mind the photos of me with the weird colorful edges on them, I had to scan them right out of my scrapbook)

I do know however, that S. definitely takes after me in the personality department. I was rummaging through my box of scrapbooks the other day and found the journal my mom had typed out from when I was a baby. I'm so grateful that she spent the time doing that because I was cracking up reading it now that I have kid of my own. It was so much fun to read about the unmistakable similarities between him and I as babies. Here are just a few exerts from it that describe S. to a T.

"Kristen Marie Howell is 5 1/2 months and is VERY active baby. She doesn't need much sleep and is busy all day"

"She can get pretty noisy when she's having a good time and extremely loud when she's mad"

"She sure does flirt with everyone, at the store, the library and church. She has a big smile for everyone!"

"People think Kristen is funny because she makes really strange sounds: loud crows, giggles, and screeches. She really likes to vocalize"

"She loves to say "aaah" and have you say it at the same time. She says Ma Ma Ma and Da Da Da and also something that sounds like "What is it?" She has almost 4 teeth through the top that are really bothering her."

That last one is so similar it's eerie because Sawyer says all 3 of those things and right now has 4 teeth on the top coming through at the same time that have been bugging him a lot too.

Brusha, Brusha, Brusha

We are having a garage sale this coming weekend to raise money for my fundraising and lots of family has donated items for me to sell at it.  We've got  comforters, pillows, tables, chairs, tools, literally hundreds of things to get rid of, but there's one particular item that has been claimed already. A Madagascar light up toothbrush that S. got his little  paws chompers on this morning.  I have Aunt Melissa now to thank for S. being cavity free. 

Make sure you get those hard to reach gums way in the back. 

  

Thanks S, but I only share toothbrushes with your dad, and that only happened once by accident. 

My brother Ben and I showing how to keep your whites pearly. 

Siblings

Yesterday I saw this. 

Then watched as S. did this.  

If he could talk I'm sure I would have then heard this:

"Mommmmmmmmmm, tell Moxieeeeee to get off my toy chest!"

Vroom Vroom

Just riding around town on my hog giraffe. 

New Trick

Saturday I had to go down to Ventura college to take my math midterm (blah) so we decided to make it a better day by going to the Camarillo street as soon as I was done (yea!) 

The weather was perfect and it was fun meandering through looking at all the tables of things to waste your money on, taking a gander at the interesting carni's running those pop up carnival rides that you just know people have died on, and eating uber greasy fair food. I loved every minute of it! 

We sat and listened to music while we ate our Johnny Rockets lunch of cheese fries and fried chicken. While we sitting there S. was busting a move to the music and then decided his tongue wanted to start dancing too. I think the culprit was really his 4 teeth that are coming in at the same time, but we were cracking up every time he stuck it out. Then we got him to do it every time we stuck ours out. He caught on pretty quick that we thought it was super hilarious that he was copying us so he kept on doing it. 

We should have set up a table at charged money for people to see the amazing tongue-sticker-outer. 

Meridian High Long May You Be Remembered

Last Thursday I got to hang out with a friend from high school, Jessica Hintz. We weren't super close in high school, but blogging and facebook have a way of turning just about anyone into good friends. I had so much fun with her that now I'm wondering why we didn't hang out more when we had the chance back in the day! 

Jessica was visiting her cousin in Hermosa Beach and I live in Porter Ranch so we met halfway in Westwood right by UCLA. We went to dinner at BJ's so she could try their infamous cider and pizookie's (Which by the way Leisy, I'm pretty The Chocolate got their idea for a cazookie from this restaurant. I think I'm going to make one tomorrow and call it the krizooski. )

We were at our table from 6:30 to close which was around 11 pm. Our poor waiter! We seriously couldn't help it though, we had 8 years to catch up on! I finally made it home around 1 a.m. which is way past my bedtime as my frequent yawning the next day made me well aware. I had such a blast that now I'm wondering if that means that:

a) I secretly wanted to be away from S. who is glued to my hip as of late

b) I need to have more girls nights out

or

c) Jessica is just a really fun person to hang out with and talk to.

I'm going with answer C (although a girls night out once a month I could definitely benefit from) 

Thanks Jessica for braving the insane traffic on the 405 just to meet up with me! Any chance you can move in with your cousin? Come on,  you know you want to trade Seattle rain for California sun! :)

My Goal

As most people know one of my biggest goals has been to complete a marathon. Now I'm finally making that happen this October in San Francisco. I joined a team called team in training who gets you marathon ready. We have practice every Saturday where they have teaching clinics on nutrition, injury prevention, as well as many others and then we do our long runs together. Last Saturday was 8 miles, next Saturday is 10, then 12, then 14....eventually we'll get to where we can run 20 miles and then come race day the idea is that the adrenaline and excitement will get you through the extra 6.2 miles. I really hope that's true!

In order to run the race I have to raise a minimum of $3,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I could have just flat out paid the $125 fee to do it, but I liked this idea better of joining a a team as well as raising money to help others. Initially I thought , 3,000? that should be easy! Boy, was a wrong. As anyone can tell you who has fundraised, it's a lot of work! 

So far I've almost reached $1,000 thanks to the generosity of so many! Thank you family, friends and even strangers who have donated thus far. It means more to me than you know! 

This Sunday at Pick Up Stix in Granada Hills I'm doing a fundraiser to help reach my goal of $3,000. For anyone who brings in this flyer and orders food, 20% of the purchase will be donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The fundraiser is all day from open to close. I won't personally be there all day (we are going around 6ish for dinner) but I really hope to have a good turn out! If you live in the area  please go have some delicious orange chicken and you can enjoy eating it knowing you are helping people like these.

If you don't live in the area and would still like to help please click here which will take you to my TNT website where you can read more about what The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's mission is and donate on line.

To Print Flyer

1. Right-click and choose "Save image as" and save image to your desktop.

2. Open the saved image and print the flyer.

3. Take flyer & go buy lots of good food!

He Makes Me Melt Like a Popsicle,

On the Fourth of July --Darla from Little Rascals.

We celebrated America's birthday by hanging out at Nana Carol's house, chewing on her things and chasing Sam the cat.

Then we went to the Starlight Bowl in Burbank with Carol where we met some other friends, had a picnic dinner and listened to a band called Stone Soul and the Burbank Philharmonic. Stone Soul did hit songs from James Brown and the main singer could move his feet around like nothing I'd ever seen before! All I could think of was the little penguin Mumble on Happy Feet. 'Whatcha doing with your feet, son?" "They're happy too!" (Fast forward to 1:55 to see the best part)

There was an Air Force recruitment table set up and a jet you could take pictures in. Sawyer was a natural. They tried to get him to enlist, but he needs a few more years to be able to maneuver those levers properly. (It looks like he has little air force horns. Nice.)

After the Burbank Philharmonic played songs from Raider of the Lost Arc and other epic tunes everyone knew, then the fireworks started. Sawyer had been asleep during most of the music, but was awake during the fireworks. Matt held him in case he was going to be upset from all the noise, but he actually seemed to like them. Apparently he likes sparkly, glittery things. A son of my own nature! You can tell he was one worn out puppy by the end of it. He's eyeballs are open, but he looks like he's a million miles away in dreamland.

And for those family members who are in a far away land and didn't get to celebrate with fireworks (namely Mom, Dad, Ben and Bryson) I took a video for you. Watch it on a full screen and it's almost like you were there too!

Enjoy!

Bike Ride

80 degrees. Nice cool breeze. 

Ride through the trees.

Sawyer at ease. 

The Koprowski 3's.