Stillwater Jamboree

Yes...I did enter the city limits of Stillwater...and yes it was difficult for me to say the least. I just have to remember it's for Ashtyn and know that she will one day remember the great pains she inflicted on her family & friends for the sake of cheering her on and be grateful. And if she doesn't remember, I will be sure to remind her :o)

This is, outside of their state championship meet, the largest meet they run during cross country season. There a schools from states all over that come to run in it. And I am telling you...there are people everywhere. They actually have the college meet earlier in the morning so it was fun for them to get to watch the college age compete. So I just have to take some time to

brag...Ashtyn is on a mission. The girl has PR'd at her last two races and has jumped from battling for the 7th and last varsity position to being 4th last week and now after the OSU meet finishing 2nd on varsity. She finished 27th overall, but when all the TX and other out of state runners were removed, she was 13th in the state. I am so proud at the level she is competing as a Freshman. Her coach is now wanting her to really focus on becoming All State this year! That is one of the top ten runners in the state. It makes me want to puke...but I will cheer her on even while I dry heave on the side of the course.

The girls did finish 3rd overall but of course the teams that beat them were from Texas...and so we will just say we are getting super excited about the State meet which is Oct 30th this year and barring any injuries or illness (just knocked on wood)...we are going in favored to win at this point! Our biggest competition was Jenks and Edmond North...which both tied with one another at the OSU meet...we beat them both by 50 points!!! I am just so proud and happy for this group of girls and just so glad for their coach that is such a tremendous example to them in everything she does!

Here are some more pics!

Hiatus

So I sorta took a little hiatus from blogging as the summer is just cuh-razy!! For the last month and a half...I've been hit and miss when it comes to even reading the blogs I follow. And ya wanna know what? I miss my blog people :o) Sometimes life can just become overwhelming and often times we do it to ourselves, don't we? Need one more event scheduled this week?...why not, throw it in...we can manage. But pretty soon we meet ourselves coming and going and we look back and think...wow-that was a blur!

Blurs become months and months become years and pretty soon you have a son who is a senior and your baby girl's in high school as well and the far off worry of "what in the world is going to fill up my time when they're gone" really isn't so far off anymore!

Don't miss it...I know its like a mantra of mine and believe me...I am chanting it to myself more than to anyone who happens by :o)

Refocus!

So its been a pretty eventful week for me. About 4 months ago, I found myself facing some medical issues that I had been ignoring for the better part of a year. It had come to the point that I was being told by my doctor that I would be admitted and given blood transfusions whether I liked it or not...It was just too risky to become anymore anemic since I was well below the limit they let most patients go. My response to this was to just double and triple my iron intake...treating the symptoms but not dealing with the underlying problem. You see, I am not one that really goes to the doctor unless I am just forced to. And when I had to call my husband from work one day because the pain had become so unbearable that it nauseated me to point of vomiting. I knew I couldn't wait anymore.

Of course that began a journey down a pretty scary path. Without getting too graphic there were some female problems that were causing the anemia which in and of itself probably wasn't causing all of the other symptoms I had been dealing with. My doctor was pretty frank with me and said that in these type situations, she always ran preliminary lab testing for cancer since ovarian cancer is known as the silent killer and it was very difficult to determine without doing surgery. So we went ahead and did the CA125 cancer antigen test which came back positive for cancer antigens. I am so thankful for my doctor and her reassuring spirit...while telling me that it was something to be concerned about and not something to ignore...there could be other things causing this to read high. For those females out there like myself...please don't wait when you know you are experiencing problems...but that is another post for another time. So for myself, we tried some hormone therapy in order to see if we could shrink or control some of the problem sites over the next month. Unfortunately, instead of shrinking, it grew, and this to my doctor was problematic as most generally, the hormone therapy always at least stops the growth. At this point, the only way to know for sure was to go in, take care of it and biopsy.

Of course...with my upcoming reunion...I only had one request...can I wait until after?? :o) So it was scheduled for Monday after :o) I've got my priorities in order huh?

My only prayer throughout this time has been that I could live with whatever the outcome. That God would receive glory through whatever the outcome was to be. But I have to tell you friends...everything becomes more poignant when you are faced with your immortality. I have known many who have lost ones they cherished to cancer and no ones wants their loved ones to have to endure that or have to watch it happen. And as I sit here and type this, knowing everything is fine and all pathology was benign...I can't help in my relief to remember those that did not receive good news. I can only imagine their breath catching as mine did when I said "hello" into the receiver...waiting to hear the words that would either release the weight or bring a whole new perspective to life as I have known it.

I am so grateful that God is always there...and thankful that the news was good! At the same time, I want to give God all the glory and not just forget the blessing but remember it daily in order to learn to see the blessings in my life so much clearer. This is a short life...am I living for just this short time I am here on earth or for the eternity that will never end in Christ Jesus! I am so privileged to be Saved by Grace! I know dramatic experiences naturally make us refocus...my prayer is that this experience does nothing less than provide me with a renewed perspective when it comes to this short time I have been given in order to love my Savior, husband, children, family and friends to the fullest!!

Still here...

Needing to post some kind of an update because life certainly passes by quickly doesn’t it? What has been going on with us? Well…..

Caleb cut his cast of like 2 minutes after he got it (more like 3 weeks but still)…xrays this week showed that it is healing good but still is about 3 or 4 weeks out from being totally healed. So of course Caleb’s list of activities since then has been softball…capture the flag…etc. “Mom…what are the chances that I would reinjure that one spot on my body causing it to rebreak?” blink…blink again… “Fine Caleb…do whatever you think is best…” “Okay then…capture the flag it is!” said with a little too much enthusiasm I might add. (Little does he know that if he does rebreak it…he may just have a thumb that points the wrong direction for life! I sound real mean huh?)

Caleb did however have a great time in Seattle where he went on a mission trip with the youth group. They were working with younger kiddos and two different churches there in the area. They put on a sports camp the week they were there which was right up Caleb’s alley since he loves sports and is so gifted with kids. He has now decided that we are all moving to Seattle…the end.

Ashtyn as you can imagine is as silly as ever and has just about played more basketball in the last two months than her whole life - combined…and as an old person…can I just tell you that bleachers are not easy on a person’s backside? She has also started cross-country practice, which consists of her running anywhere from 3 to 5 miles M-T at 7 am and lifting weights etc. She experienced her first ice bath this week and said she almost cried b-cuz it hurt so badly. While submerged…one of the football coaches asked her if she had watched Titanic…and said well now you know how Jack felt. She said it was awful but was sad they didn’t have it out the next day to do it again :o) I think the difference she felt in her muscles made a believer out of her and has in the end outweighed the pain in her mind.

Dave is loving his job right now and I am so glad for him! He continues to play racquetball almost every morning and now after playing for several hours, has started running at the indoor track. This is the man who has over the years adamantly refused to run with me…ever…for any reason! He now decides that for his birthday, he wanted Nike + shoes and since getting them has now started to log his running efforts. How awesome!

As for me, can I just confess that my garden is just a big ole mess!!! I have failed miserably and feel so so sad about it! Part of me wonders if I should just wait until my kids are out of school - when summer sports do not take up so much time…because I hate this feeling of failure! And I have to say…there are just not enough hours in the day…and if there were more hours they would be smack dab in the middle of the hottest most miserable times anyways…I’m a little sick of the hot weather…can you tell?

So long and short…life is good and we are, as always, so blessed! God is made evident in His daily blessings if we just make sure we are paying attention…I just pray I don’t miss the majority of what is going on before me and give Him the glory he so deserves! What a mighty God we serve! Sometimes I am just overwhelmed by the abundance that He provides while also wanting to understand and recognize this in all seasons of my life and not just when things are calm. For it is in the storms where His greatest work is done in my heart! Thank you for the storms Lord for you are always faithful!!!

Summer

So I printed next year’s school calendar today and while noting the day they start… when breaks were going to occur…their last day, etc…I skimmed over the graduation dates for all three Moore schools because that is what I have always done when I print this calendar every year…and then it hit me! This date is MY baby’s graduation date from high school! It is not a date for the parents of the Seniors to note, as it has been in the past…this year…it’s mine to put in the calendar and it just about breaks my heart!! However premature it may seem…it is killing me!!

On a little less depressing note…I haven’t had time to post in a while, even though I have several things to share…so I will start with my not so little baby boy. This summer started out like always…baseball and basketball every day. And what was really awesome is that even though Caleb had a few rough games the beginning of the season…he started just lighting it up! And for us moms who stress and get sick every time our son’s up to bat because we don’t want them to feel disappointment in themselves if they are not perfect in everything they do…or maybe that is just moms with perfectionist children and with a little bit of those tendencies themselves…okay – another needed post…anyways…life on the bleachers is so much better when they are just rocking the ball!!



I have more baseball pics to post...at a later date...when I have lots of time on my hands...what-ev!


And of course you know when things are rocking along and going well that something is gonna have to happen...sounds kinda pessimistic huh? (...sooo, that must be where Caleb gets it :o) Andddd...during the first game of a double header last week, Caleb was stuffed on an inside pitch and instead of just turning into it and wearing it...he had visions of driving it down the third base line...only that wasn't to be...and the pitch caught him straight on the thumb...broke the bone completely in two...and because he played the rest of that game (batting two more times) and 4 of the 5 innings they played in the next game...the bone was displaced and we were sweating it because we thought they were going to have to do surgery...but there was a good news when the ortho doc said he thought it would go ahead and heal without having to do the surgery...and were we ever so glad! Caleb is now sporting a black cast for the rest of summer...which now has silver flowers and pretties all over it thanks to his good friend Rachel!

I still think he is trying to figure out how to make wakeboarding happen even with the cast...Lord...I am needing an extra supply of patience! Thank you and Amen!

How is the eating more healthy going you ask?

Well let me tell you…I must say I am proud of both Dave and myself...if I do say so…which I do. We are really making an overall effort to be more conscience of our decisions concerning what goes into our mouths and you know what…I feel better…I am sure that Dave does too but I won’t speak for him as I am sure he wants to blog about it himself. Really? Noooo – not really :o)

Anywho…there have been a few issues I have had with our new way of eating… 1) I am not a meat lover…but in order to get the balanced meals we need and also the protein and so my husband does not go out in search of a new wife that will provide meat for him at his meals ;-) …eating meat is basically essential to my success & marriage, soooo I eat meat. I do try to find different ways to prepare it and that has been fun. But I have also dabbled in the world of veggie meat! As the rest of my family would say…EEEWWWW! But the funny thing is…I have liked it for the most part. I love the California burgers because to me, they taste like egg rolls. I know a lot of people don’t like egg rolls but I love them. And when I was comparing frozen egg rolls you buy at the store…I found they were almost identical in nutrition as the veggie burgers…I was pumped about that because I love them and I feel like I am getting to eat bread so it makes it even better. Of course, I just heat mine up in the microwave or the oven…sorry…no frying.

2) I don’t let myself eat hardly any bread…although I did buy some all grain bread in hopes that I can allow myself a slice or so per week…I really have been surprised at myself as to how I have been able to just walk away from bread…it was a large portion of my life people. But as I have said…it is my evil nemesis and therefore must be destroyed. Especially potato bread…I mean come on…I know that all the gyms and trainers of the world got together and invented potato bread in order to make sure they had never ending customers…I mean we don’t have enough carbs in bread or potatoes by themselves…noooo…we need to add them together! But have you tasted a piece of fresh potato bread??? Well enough thinking and talking about that!! If I don’t think or talk about it…it just doesn’t exist. Right? Everyone please nod your head! Thank you for understanding!

3) I love desserts and I do miss them tremendously! I not only miss eating sweets but I miss finding new recipes and experimenting…and also sharing my finds with others so they get that…’I am a slave to sugar too look on their faces’…makes me feel better about myself…not so alone but just a bigger part of the sugar freaks anonymous. So, yesterday, we went out with Steve and Jeannie Simpson…friends from college who live in MO now and whom we hardly ever get to see. (Miss you guys and had such a great time getting to catch up!! Caleb is already trying to plan which game he is coming to see :o) We decided to go to Orange Leaf (formally Orange Tree.) So here is a place where my children & friends frequent often and also a place I have avoided like the plague. But…friends are in town…we want to go out for ice cream…okie dookie…so off we went…while we were dvr’ing the Lost finale…which we all watched after we got home at 10:30…yes we did not go to bed until after 1am on a school/work night…okay…that’s a different post… Short and simple…peanut butter frozen yogurt…with bananas…with granola…with some caramel topping drizzled just so so…well my heart almost could not bear it. I have not had any dessert (well I did try to make cheesecake out of some weird healthy stuff and while it wasn’t like gaggy to eat…it wasn’t categorized as dessert by any stretch of the imagination and was pretty much all thrown away…) for over two months and I will just come out and say…
Hi: My name is Kristy & I am a sugaroholic. I have admitted myself back into the 12-step program and will be attending counseling sessions in order to block out the memories of what I believe to be the absolute yummiest frozen yogurt I have ever tasted!!! (Did I say I haven’t had any dessert in 2 months…okay…just making sure I clarified that :o)

So with that being said…I will leave you with this…yes I ate frozen yogurt this weekend (not to mention all the Starbuck visits…hey!! ~ all made skinny and with splenda…geesh…let me live a little will ya?) and NO…I did not do one bit of exercise outside of sitting my tail end on bleachers for most of the weekend. No I do not feel guilty in the least…because I did not get on the scale this morning therefore, there is nothing to feel guilty about. Thank you for not judging me…

Prom 2010

Well I haven't blogged in a while because life tends to get busy :o) But I also have guilt that Caleb's grandparents had to look at prom pics on Dave's phone...so I am going to post a few of the 400 pics I took :o)

This is the first one of them together at Lindsey's house. They're such cuties! And bless Lindsey's heart...and her mom and dad...she is an officer and therefore not only planned the whole prom with the other Jr officers but also had to be there to set it up and take it all down. Her parents and grandma were there for the setup and take down too...they are such troopers!!

At Lindsey's house before they all went to Jake's. It is really nice that Lindsey lives right around the corner...especially when it came to breakfast time :o)

Everyone meets at Jake's to take pics...their house and landscaping is so beautiful!

This picture makes me laugh...they were such sport for letting me play :o)

I rarely get Caleb to smile like this! He had such a fun night with Lindsey and all their friends. After prom, they all went back over to Jake's and had an after-prom party.

This is my most favorite pic!!

Caleb being Mr. Coolio

Before getting in the limo.

And then there was breakfast...at 4am...oh my geez! Ashtyn and I actually had gone to bed around midnight so were able to sleep a couple of hours. Greg and Lisa (Lindsey's parents) were such troopers because they actually were at the Cowboy Hall of Fame cleaning up prom at midnight and then came home and got all of the food ready for the crew. Ashtyn felt bad because she wasn't home to take pics before with Caleb and Lindsey so she told me that she would get up to help with breakfast. I thought...sure you will...but she did and didn't even go back to sleep afterwards. Not me...I went back to sleep after breakfast...no problem. But of course, it probably had something to do with the Rock Star she drank!


This is the last pic of Caleb for the night. I had bought him a case (4) of Monsters to drink so he would be able to stay awake all night. I don't usually like them drinking them but I also knew he would be a bear...and even though they did keep him awake...he was definitely done when breakfast was over...I think that was pretty much the concensus all around. They are such great kids and I am so glad they had a great night!

Injuries

So Ashtyn's track season was plagued by injuries...mainly due to basketball :o) (And you wonder why the track coaches discourage additional sports during track and xcountry season.)
She actually started track season with a sprained ankle and was not able to practice during the first of the season. Once she was able to start running again, she played in a weekend basketball tournament and pulled her quad muscle. That pretty much put her out for the second half of the season.


She was able to start running a week and a half before their conference meet. Only running in time trials the week before, she ran one event in that week's meet.

The following week was Conference and her first race in the meet was a 4x8. That is 4/800's - relay. Ashtyn ran the second leg and the girl had a 50 meter lead on her...by the time they finished their leg, Ashtyn had about a 100 meter lead. She created such a substantial lead, the coaches had the other two girls slow down who ran legs after Ashtyn, in order to save energy for the races to come. So WM girls started out strong and took first place in the 4x8 as well as a couple other short distance races early in the meet. Ashtyn also ran another individual 800 where she got 5th. The race was only a couple races after the 4x8, so she had little recovery time. I was worried she would be upset because if you know Ashtyn, you know she does not deal well with not medaling :o) But she was good because she knew she had put everything into that first race and for someone who hadn't basically trained all season...she had a great conference meet. The coaches also put her in a 200 meter race on the fly as well in order to try to obtain more points to secure the overall win. She placed 3rd! And even better...the Westmoore girls ended up winning the overall Conference!!! So proud of those girls!

Here are some pics of the season:


This is the Moore War meet!

Talking to coach Taylor. These three girls and Rylie who runs shorter distance during track season, have an awesome chance at winning State in high school cross country! They are beasts at long distance!!!

Conference Meet!

Nerves before her leg of the 4x8...

Just got the handoff...

This is where she catches the girl who had the lead and pulls ahead on the 4x8. So proud of her!

It's over? Really?

Room Redo

So about three years ago, we redid Ashtyn's room. It was fun but in order to put up the wall paper, I had to sand off all the texture on the bottem half of her room...and let me just say...I will never, ever, ever! do it again. Did I say never? First off, I didn't even think about covering the vents to her room and...well let's just say it was a mistake that I learned greatly from. Anywho...three, very short in my opinion, years later...Ashtyn is convinced that her current decorations are just too young for her. And guess what else..."I really want texture back on my walls too mom"...blink...deep breaths..."Do you remember what I went through to get the texture off your walls???" "Sure mom...but I need something that will look good if I want to antique over the paint..."which gave me another moments pause before I said..."go to time out!" Okay! So that doesn't work with a fourteen year old...fine!! Then I'll just go to my own time out!!!
So after much time spent in my personal "time outs" and about 30 eye rolls later...not Ashtyn's, mine!!...every time the subject came up...I relented and allowed her to start picking out paint. And while Dave was away, we started pulling down wall paper. (We have to plan major redo's to coincide with business trips...it is the secret to a long and happy marraige!

So here was the old...makes me a little sad...

And down comes the wall paper...what a messy job...border is easy...its the rest of the wall that gets ya. Border just pulls off all together...the bottom...you pull and get an inch and a half strip and you think how long is this gonna take if it comes off an inch at a time. Luckily we found better remover but I always remind myself during these projects that I am hiring out next time...yet somehow I forget the frustration and am ready to tackle another project in no time. I think women are made that way...the whole forgetting thing...or else we would never even dream of having a second child after what we go through with the first...it's the forgetting trait and it allows us to also believe our children when they tell us that redo'ing their room won't be hard at all...

I had to go ahead and take some pics of the decorations as they are all going...it's nice to have memories of what was...and this sign pretty much sums it up about Ashtyn. Her brother will confirm if there are any doubts.

This is one of her dressers...isn't it fun what a little paint and a sharpie marker will do?? I have no shame...if a sharpie marker will do the job...that's what I use :o)

That is what is fun about do it yourself furniture...you can pretty much do whatever you want and not feel bad about it....

Side view...

After all the wall paper was down...kinda sad!

And here is the new progress....

Yes...as you can see, she went from a hot pink to a now....RED RED RED.

Stay tuned for the finished product...