a list

i'll be honest. two kids, two classes, and working 20 hours a week is kind of a lot. but we do still manage to have a lot of fun, i just don't have much time to write about it! here is a quick list of some of what we've been up to over the last month or two...

1. firebirds soccer.

the star...

we loved going to joshua's saturday morning games. he is improving a lot, and had a great coach with excellent practices to help. it's been fun to see. one day joshua proudly said "dad, i was really focusing, and being agressive!"
the fan...

2. kindergarten fieldtrip to the zoo...

i was one of the chaperones, and so got to tag along with my little group of five for the afternoon. all i have to say is BOYS and GIRLS are so different! these cute little girls wanted to hold my hand and tell me everything. the boys are off and running. pretty fun.

3. the circus...

barnum and bailey at the center formerly known as delta. cotton candy. trapeze artists. clowns. motorcycles. elephants. good times.

4. jason mraz

my sister lorri, josh and i went to see jason mraz at the e-center. it was AMAZING. it's been too long since i've been to a good concert, but this one was well worth the wait. i love his music, his voice is incredible live, he's a super fun performer, and i loved having a serious dance party with lors! and yes, great seats. i took that photo, nice huh? there's something so incredible about live music so loud you can't even hear yourself singing along at the top of your lungs. the energy is just intoxicating.

5. halloween

joshua was a teenage mutant ninja turtle. jacoby a dragon. so cute. we had fun carving pumpkins the week before, seeing the witches at gardner village, and then the actual night was perfect. the weatherman gave us a perfect fall day--light breeze, beautiful leaves, but no coats needed for trick-or-treating! candy stash is still slowly dwindling

6. st. george marathon

we did it! josh and i ran 26.2 in st. george. it was freezing cold and rainy the entire time--we're talking SOAKING wet clothes, soggy feet, etc. my ipod died at mile 11 from getting too wet (luckily it revived the next day!). it was tough. but we finished it, and are so glad we did. we went down to st. george with my good friend from school/work lissy, and her husband dan ran it as well. such a fun weekend!

7. voting. and REVELING!

okay, i'm just going to say it...i love barack obama!

8. blogging about voting.
this was a cool little project. one of my professors does this election blog with some other collegues at caltech, MIT, reed college, and the european institue--called election updates. he asked myself and a PhD student at caltech to work on the blog the week around election day, since they were in new mexico observing election procedures. we read all the news we could possibly find about election administration, voting technology, any kind of polling place/pollworker problems, etc. it was CRAZY!! really busy. but the fun thing about it was that i felt very involved with what was going on around the nation. it was a great way to be really engaged in something i've been so excited about for so long.

here's a link to one of my my last posts. the blog got tens of thousands of hits that week, and is generally widely read by other election scholars and administrators--so kind of a big deal in academic nerd land.

9. the ER anyone who knows this adorable little guy will be sad to learn he needed 3 stitches on his eyebrow, but not at all surprised that he tripped at the playground and bonked his head. we've been anticipating this, and know it will not be our last trip to the ER. our pediatrician was AMAZED at how great the stitches look--and you probably are too because you can't even really tell they're there. bruise on the bridge of his nose, puffy left eye, three stitches on the end of his left eyebrow. when the accident happened i was pretty calm, despite blood everywhere, but i lost it when the stitches were put in and my sweet, happy little guy screamed and cried his head off. "hold me mommy! hold me!" rips your heart right out. after probably 5-10 minutes of screaming at the top of his lungs, he gave up and just said "i'm sad!" and sobbed his sweet little heart out. i was right there with him...

10. anniversary getaway at the beach!

7 years on monday. that's right. and we had the perfect celebration. a beautiful resort, perfect weather, a generous mother-in-law to watch the boys, and then days that pretty much went: run, pool, beach, beach, beach, get ready, fancy dinner out, hot tub. and again the next day. who could complain! i love you josh.

so you see we're still alive and kicking...