BFF's from across the Atlantic

Remember how we have awesome blog/pen pals?

That they live in Norway?

(she shared a typical tuesday, remember?)

WELL. 

On our way to Chicago for Thanksgiving we figured out from instagram that not only was she in the states, but in Illinois too!

On the way home we met up for a short visit/nice to meet you hugs in the middle of nowhere, Mechanicsburg, IL.

It was so amazing seeing Sarah and her beautiful family.

It was bitter sweet for me, cause now we miss them. Lily keeps asking to go play with "the other Lilly". Sarah and I, I think we could make the best neighbors ever. Our girls are the same ages OH AND her oldest is Lilly Belle, my oldest is Lily Belle WHAT. We like similar things and you know how you meet someone and just kinda click? Thats how I felt.

So...now we are planning and saving pennies for a trip to Norway in a the future. I mean, we have to now, right?

Oh and she totally spoiled us with Norwegian goodies, too.
God bless technology for connecting people and helping make friendships!

PS---Her dad made her bring a baseball bat in their car. For self defense. Incase we turned out to be psychos. I died laughing.

typical tuesday: Melinda Shimizu

A while ago Melinda sent me her typical tuesday, but I totally spaced it until a few days ago, (sorry Melinda!) I loved reading about her tuesday. Melinda is: a smarty pants (almost has her Ph.D!) A mom, and a wife...she wears many hats. Also, she is adorable. Check her out!

Hello! I'm starting to think there's no such thing as a "Typical Tuesday" in my house! I'm a Ph.D. student and until a few weeks ago my husband was a Masters student so our schedules were dictated by the school calendar. Which means that every semester it's different! I've given up hoping for stability and am learning to embrace this more fluid lifestyle.

My day usually starts about 6:10am. I want to start earlier to get in running too, but so far have been unable to do it. I love my sleep!! I thought I took a picture of the time on my iPad when I got up...but it looks like I was still too groggy!

I shower pretty much every morning - it's like coffee to me. Even if I showered the night before for some reason, I'll often still take my morning shower. It helps me wake up! And it usually is a good 15-20 minutes in the water. Terrible for water conservation, but so wonderful for my sanity. It's why I get up when I do! To make sure I can take a lengthy shower before my little fella (20 months) wakes up!

1. Shower. I may daydream a bit. So worth it.
2. Make up! Very simple.
3. Clothes - today I'm feeling very Waldo-ish.

Ready for the day!

After showering and getting dressed I nearly always stop in my office. So far, this Tuesday is very Typical.  I have my iPad set up because I'm about to Skype with my Ph.D. advisor. She's in Switzerland on sabbatical. (this is less typical...we usually Skype every other Tuesday at 11am my time, but I asked if she could "meet" at 7:30am my time instead this time. You'll find out why!) On the right is my video monitor of my little guy. Still asleep! He's had some sort of cold that's making him cough at night. We have a humidifier going, washed all his bedding, we bathe him before bed, and have even been trying Benadryl! But he's still coughing and oooh so very tired. So he's sleeping in a bit! 

Until my 7:30 appointment time I check my email, get my notes and files ready for the meeting, and then Camden wakes up! Yay! Erik and I go in to get him together and I get to play with him for about 10 minutes before I have to go. While I Skype with my advisor, Erik and Camden eat breakfast, get dressed, and I have no idea what else they did! But I heard a lot of giggling!

I was sad that I was missing out on the giggling - but it was a good meeting with my advisor. Turns out she thinks I'm in a "good place" as far as my dissertation is concerned. If she's happy, I'm happy! (she's basically my boss)

The meeting went way longer than usual (1 hour instead of the typical 1/2 hour) so when I finally emerged I found my little guy having his morning snack! He usually gets that at daycare, but we're running waaaay behind now!

He LOVES raisins. And blueberries. You can imagine how that looks in his diaper. (it's dreamy)

As soon as he saw me he wanted down! And then immediately started trying to sweep up all the food he dropped! He had just put the broom back when I finally snapped the picture:

He can be so tidy. But don't worry, he makes way more messes to make up for it. :)

Next, he asked for Baby?! This means go into the office, and watch videos of himself as a baby. I'm trying to compile a DVD of all the videos we have of his first year, and it's sloooow going. I only got the software 3 months ago, so I have a lot of catching up to do! But he loves watching that little baby! And seeing people he recognizes like his Daddy and Buh'Pa (Grandpa).

He also likes playing with the iPad, which I used to take this shot.

And then I saw the time - 9:15!! Good heavens! Camden's usually AT daycare between 8:30 and 9am! We needed to move! We quickly assembled everything we needed, got our shoes and socks, and were out the door and on our way to Camden's School. He loves his school so much. I was so apprehensive about putting him in daycare at all, but he really loves it. And I'll be teaching over the summer, so we need someone to watch the sweet boy!

After dropping C at daycare (sorry, no pictures! It's the rules!), Erik and I started our Adventure. (this is why I'd asked my advisor to meet earlier in the day) We had decided (that morning) to drive the Apache Trail! (okay, we'd talked about it the night before) A couple of things led to this very unusual activity for our now very A-typical Tuesday. Mainly, Erik had the day off from his part-time summer job (he's looking for work, so for now, we'll take what we can get!) and I haven't started teaching yet (I'm teaching at the community college this summer)...so we thought we ought to do something with this coinciding time of freedom!

Originally I'd thought we'd take little Camden too...but it was going to be a loooong day. And with his cold it seemed like a regular schedule with a solid nap was more important. So we left him at daycare. This actually gave me a lot of anxiety. I trust those people of course, but I've never left him in the care of someone besides Erik and then left the immediate vicinity (his daycare is about 15 minutes from where my office is at school). If our day went as planned, there would be times when we'd have no cell service. And for a few hours we'd be a good 1.5-2.5 hours away from him! What if something happened!?! I finally called my good friend to see if she'd be in town and around just in case. She was. That was enough for me to feel better about the situation, so away we went! (everything was totally fine, so no need to worry...but it's what I do. No matter how hard I try to shake the habit!)

First stop - gas and Treats! Mmmm...have you had Dunkin's Munchkins? Delicious. Totally worth it!

Oh yeah. So by now you know I have a husband, Erik, and a son, Camden. Please meet Pete. The blue walrus. That we picked up from a Geocache in Rome, Italy. He's our picture bomber, and he was missing for over a year! During that time we moved! I thought he was gone for sure! (on another adventure, likely) Instead, he turned up 2 weeks ago in our shoe bin!

Did I mention I live in Phoenix, Arizona? No? It's in the Sonoran Desert, so it's HOT down here. I kinda hate it, not gonna lie. And for a long time I really did not like the brown and the distinct lack of trees. But we've lived here going on 6 years now, and I've learned to love the desert. And appreciate it's unique beauty. And I've deluded myself into thinking there actually ARE 4 distinct seasons down here (they're just subtle). Anyway, if all goes as planned with the Ph.D. I'll be a Dr. this time next year and we won't be living here anymore! This has prompted a sudden urgency in doing things unique to our area. Unfortunately, it's HOT.  It kind of limits what you can reasonably do. For instance, at least for me, hiking is OUT in the summer. (we hike in the "winter") But we decided we could drive the Apache Trail (our car has AC!).

So off we went! It's a 2 lane road that was originally a stage coach trail built to provide supplies to build the Roosevelt dam from 1906-1911! It's about 50 miles long, and about 30 of those miles are unpaved. But well-graded. So our Civic could make it!

We started the trail by the Superstition Mountains (top images)

We got to a town called Tortilla Flat. It has a population of 6. We had lunch there, even if it was on the early side (about 11am). The "town" has a general store, a restaurant, and a gift shop. I believe there's a post office too? The buildings are "old West" style (lower left picture).

It was good!! The upper right picture is how the bathroom stalls are painted!

After lunch, we pressed on enjoying the scenery! One bonus to going in May: the saguaro cactus are blooming!

At one point the road is near a "river" - and there are trees!!! (lower left) Of course, the actual river bed is dry...the water is all running underground. We're in a bit of a drought, and there's been some overuse of the aquifer. Our Civic is getting dusty! (lower right)

We finally make it to Roosevelt Dam! It is pretty impressive! And I've seen a few dams in my life!

There are actually 3 reservoirs from dams along this stretch - the lake in this picture is Apache Lake.

After seeing the dam the trail ends, and you wind up back on pavement! Hallelujah! Now it's just a roughly 1.5 hour drive back to Phoenix! On the way, we saw a sign for Cliff Dwellings, so we turned and followed the signs! We estimated we had about 1 hour before we needed to go so we'd be on time to pick up Camden. We hustled up the trail to the dwellings. It was about 102 out. I do not recommend this at all. The dwellings were pretty interesting, but also full of gnats! SO annoying! I recommend this part of the trip at a different time of year! Namely, when it's not 102 out!

On our way back we got stuck on a 2 lane road, with no passing for about 15 miles, behind this guy (big truck in upper right). So that was fun. We made it back to civilization with enough time to stop at Bahama Bucks for a frozen treat! They make the BEST snocones ever! The shaved ice is soooo nice and we always get their Bahama Rama Mama, which means combining the shaved ice with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream! Yummmm!

I turned my tongue blue. 

We picked up Camden at 4:30! He was happy to see us! And ready to play! We...were pretty well tired. It had been a LONG day of driving!!

So we all went home, horsed around for a bit, and then had leftover meatballs and mashed potatoes for dinner:

Actually, super yummy!

We actually had a fruit salad too, but it looked even worse in the picture, so I'm going to let you imagine something delicious.

Soon after dinner Camden was cranky and rubbing his eyes, so we decided he needed an earlier bedtime. So by 7pm, he was tucked into his bed and nearly asleep! Our bedtime routine consists of bath, and then we "pat the baby dry" and "grease the baby" (grease him up with Cetaphil cream to keep his skin hydrated!), and then put him in jammies, read a story (sometimes he reads to us now!) and then we tuck him into his bed. That's it! He's really pretty good about it!

After he's in bed Erik and I looked at each other wearily. We were probably tired enough to go to sleep then, but have too much pride to ACTUALLY go to bed at 7:10pm. :) Instead we picked up the living room, played Draw Something (we're on a bit of a winning streak)

and I caught up on some homework and blogs, and then we watched an episode of Futurama, talked briefly about a book I'm reading (Raising Cain), and then finally decided it was a reasonable enough hour for sleep. Why is driving so exhausting, even for the passenger?!

Night Night!

Thanks Melinda!

Wanna share a typical tuesday with us? You know you do. Just email me, K?

rachel . meynders @ gmail . com

typical tuesday: Chandra Le

Today our typical tuesday post is from a fabulous mother, business owner and pilates queen, Chandra. She is a mother of three girls (sounds familiar!), lives in Las Vegas, and reading this post made me: want to get into way better shape and be friends with this girl:)

Take it away Chandra!:

Hi All!

I have been a fan of Rachel's blog for a while now and have always loved seeing how other mom's spend their day. It's nice to know that no matter where we are, we all kinda have the same crazy life!

Until recently I was a stay at home mom for my 3 girls. We recently moved back to our hometown of Las Vegas, NV (yes- people are ACTUALLY from here). It's been wonderful being back with family and old friends.

I was asked to partner in CORE Studios , a pilates studio, with these 2 amazing women. So, in a matter of 6 weeks I went from stay at home mom to business owner!

My typical Tuesday starts with the alarm waking me up bright and early at 5:00 am (insert eye roll and groan here.). I didn't get a picture of this because I'm not  a functioning human being until I walk out the door. And even then it's iffy until I get coffee. Which on most Tuesdays is not until after my 6:00 am class is over. Yes, you read that right. A 6 am class.

Did I mention that I am in no way, shape, or form a morning person??? My husband laughed when he first heard I had to start before the sun comes up. I'm a sleep 'til noon kinda girl. Or at least I was pre-kids.

My clock as I pull into the parking lot.

The beautiful view of the Las Vegas Strip BEFORE the sun comes up.

When I walk in Omar  is already hard at work making his clients sweat in our group fitness room. You love Crossfit and boot camp??? He's your guy.

 The sun is just waking up as I make my 7 am coffee run.

Ok, now the day can start. I got a grande pikes place with just milk and a hot green tea for one of my partners.

I enjoy my caffeine while checking class enrollment, double checking sign in sheets, and private training schedules. The one aspect of today that is NOT typical is that we have a celebrity training with us while she is in town filming a movie. 

While I won't say who it is...  I will say she is super sweet and an amazing dancer.

I also take a quick break and spend a little time on Pinterest before my 8:00 am client arrives because I love little diddies like these.

Our Studio and my home for the next few hours. If your not familiar with Pilates, what you are looking at is called a reformer. It uses spring tension to simultaneously lengthen and strengthen muscles. It is also occasionally called a torture devise by some of our clients.

  

Above: One of my clients working hard.
Below: It's never too early to teach your kids about fitness. A little miss checking out the Booty Barre class.

My private training schedule is broken up on Tuesdays by the Booty Barre class I teach. What's Booty Barre you ask? It's a barre, Pilates, dance, yoga blended fitness program that makes you sweat like nobody's business and turns your muscles into jello. And that's just what happens to the person who is teaching the class.

On a typical Tuesday I am done around 1pm. I get to head home and see 2 of my babies,whom I really miss spending my entire day with. It's a quick snack for me since I haven't eaten since 7 am. Usually it's a yogurt with sliced almonds or turkey rolled in smoked gouda. I was too hungry to take a picture and inhaled the turkey wrap in front of the fridge. Then it's off to get my oldest from school. Hayden, my  kindergardener, gets out at 10:20 am so either daddy or grandma picks her up from school.

The big hug I get from miss 5 when I get home.

I found the little one asleep on the couch.

This is very typical of my Ayla... A big smile and a book in hand. She loves it when daddy and I both pick her up from school.

After school its a whirl wind of snacks, gymnastics, baths, and dinner. Usually in that order, but not always. Dinner tonight is teriyaki chicken, brown rice, steamed broccoli, and apple pie. We usually have mangos or korean pears for dessert, but my mother- in- law knows the girls love apple pie so she brought one.

I don't know about your households, but after dinner my kids get hyper. Which makes getting them mellow for bedtime a bit challenging. this is them being "peas in a pod". Translation hysterical laughter.

Dilann's favorite game of "squish daddy"

Finally it's time for stories. This is a bitter sweet time for me. Sometimes the girls crawl into my lap so I can read them each a story. Other night the younger two want Ayla to read to them. Tonight was an Ayla night, so all I did was tell them when time was up, tucked them in, and kissed them good night.

I have to admit this is now my favorite time of day. The house is quiet and I get to relax on the couch while hubby and I watch t.v. We usually have something DVR'ed or we find a movie on. Tonight it's last weeks Scandal and yesterdays Smash. Finally, around 11 I crawl up to bed.

Thanks a ton Chandra! You have a beautiful family.

Wanna do a typical tuesday?

You know you do! Just email me, k?

rachel . meynders @ gmail . com

typical tuesday: Kelsey Navasard

Haven't been here in a while...who knew that three kids would keep you busy? HA! A lot has happened the past week, that I'll get to later. Aaaaanyways....

One of my awesome friends is doing a typical tuesday today. I have known Kelsey....basically since I was a really little. She actually used to babysit me and my younger siblings...then I got older and now we're friends! I always really looked up to Kelsey growing up, she was a few years older than me, I remember asking her a million questions about middle school when I was so nervous to start (lockers?! different classes?! older kids?!) and same thing with high school. Thanks for putting up with that Kels:) Now she lives in UT, has a couple adorable kids with another on the way and a awesome husband. Here ya go:

I love reading Rachel’s Typical Tuesday posts and getting a glance into other people’s lives. So happy she’s letting me add mine to mix!

Here’s a glance into what my life as a stay at home mom to a 5 year old and 2 year old is sometimes like:

Paul is up at who knows what time, he wakes me up and we say our morning prayer together before he heads out into the dark for work. 

Then it’s back to sleep for me, as I try to squeeze in as much as I can.  This morning though I was interrupted at 7:00 am by my neighbor getting new windows installed.  Oh joy.  So, I finally decided to roll myself out of bed and into the shower at the shockingly early hour of 7:15.  

After my hot, long shower I find Macey and Miles are still sound asleep, so I sneak downstairs to enjoy a very rare breakfast alone.  I’ve been on a crunchy Peanut Butter toast kick ever since I visited my bff in california a few weeks ago, so that, along with chocolate milk is what I settle on.  I also do a little online browsing, and find some pretty sweet graphic tees for Miles.  

Around 8:15 I finally hear laughing and giggling coming from upstairs, so I head on up to get the crazies.  

Miles’ choice for breakfast this morning is a pop-tart, yogurt, and kool aid.  Macey deicides upon yogurt, fruit loops w/ marshmallows, and kool aid.  Yes, we are healthy eaters around here. :) And Miles’ pop tart of course turns into a T-Rex and begins attacking everything. 

While they devour their food, I decide to empty the dishwasher, only to find we forgot to run it last night.  Awesome, hate it when that happens.  So, instead I run the dishwasher and then go to gather some laundry.  

Macey and Miles are dressed in record time, since I told them no show until they are semi presentable, works like a dream today.  Dora then does the entertaining while I attempt to make myself presentable.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I am 6 months prego and I guess Dora is over, because my helpers are back.  

Miles was suppose to have speech therapy this morning, but his therapist called to reschedule.  We now have an hour free, with nothing to do.  Luckily, I remember our toy room is completely trashed, so we head down to the basement to get to work.  With the promise to have a treat and play outside when we are done.

Now don’t judge, I don’t normally let people see my basement when it looks like this.  But, sadly it is quite typical.  I also do some laundry while we’re down there.

As a reward for all our hard work we head outside to enjoy the sun.  

My pregnant body decides it might shut down without a snack, so we head inside to see what we can find. Macey and Miles settle on Pirate booty, while I end up with veggies and dip. I turn on show #2, while I see what kind of exciting things are happening on facebook and pinterest.  

Now that I’m feeling refreshed and the sun is calling us, we go out to our neighborhood playset until lunch time.

I’ve noticed I have a hard time getting things done when the sun is shinning.  Does anyone else have this problem?  I’m sure I’m not the only one, right?  The good thing is no one is inside to mess my house up, the bad thing is no is inside to clean it up either.  Oh well, it's hard to beat a warm spring day.  

Since I’m a pretty lazy pregnant person, lunch for M&M ends up like this.  It’s what we call a “snack lunch” around our house.  Because apparently it’s way too hard for me to even bother making a sandwich or thawing out some chicken nuggets for them.  For me it’s a tuna, crackers, and a Dr. Pepper. 

As soon as we finish eating my visiting teachers stop by for a visit.  We chat for a bit and then they shared an awesome message about coming closer to Jesus Christ.  Aren't they adorable?

Nap time has finally arrived for Miles!  Macey has quiet time too, which today consists of the princess toy bin from the basement, followed by games on the ipad.  I then plop myself down on the couch for some trashy tv.  Today’s choice is 16 and pregnant.   And yes, I ate that entire chocolate bunny.

After it’s over, and I now feel slightly better about myself, I decide to clean up the kitchen and empty my now clean dishes from the dishwasher.  

I contemplate laying back down the couch, but instead I somehow convince myself to get Macey out of quite time and do “Mom & Macey Preschool”.  I opted out of sending Macey to preschool this year because:

First- I hate having a schedule

Second- this is our last year of living schedule free until real school starts

and

Third- I just couldn’t part with her.  

Today I’m pretty tired, so we end up just doing handwriting practice and then we paint our nails.  Macey obviously thinks our preschool is pretty awesome.  

Miles has decided to wake up early from his nap at 3:00 and I find myself looking into what seems like an endless afternoon.  I'm sure you know the feeling.  Luckily the sun is still shining, so we leave the laundry, dirty floors, and the dinner preparations behind and text our friends to meet us at the park.

After the park, I of course have to make a quick stop at Target. 

I went in for 4 things and came out with this, very typical.

I send Macey and Miles into the backyard while I put away our target finds and figure out what to do for dinner.  

I settle on Mac&Cheese w/ hot dogs for them and semi leftovers for us. While I’m dishing up their dinner, Paul gets home!!!  Yay, best part of the day.  

After lots of happy greetings, I put Paul to work helping to prepare our meal of homemade taquitos. While Paul finishes up dinner, I bathe children and get them ready for bed.

We then enjoy our meal while the crazies get the rest of their energy out.  It’s then time for Paul to finish up the bedtime routine while I plop myself down on the couch, where I plan to stay until I go to bed. Paul comes down at 7:24 and we now have the evening for ourselves. yay!

Lucky for me Paul decides he needs something sweet, so he runs to our favorite dessert place, The Chocolate, and returns with a delicious piece of cake for us to share. Since the sun is still shinning we enjoy it on our front porch, enjoying the peaceful feeling of knowing our children are sound asleep.

We then tidy up the house a bit (this consists of me laying on the couch watching Paul pick up), watch a few shows, read scriptures, and go to sleep at a very early hour for us: 10:00.  

And that is peek into what our life is like on a typical Tuesday.  

Thanks Kelsey! Makes me miss you!

Wanna share a typical tuesday with us?

You know you want to, email me:

rachel . meynders @ gmail . com