Kids for Kyla

I just want to take a minute to tell you about this non-profit that my boss and her friends are starting to help families with the costs of adoption and/or infertility treatments.  Please take a moment to visit http://www.kidsforkyla.com/ to read their touching story and why they are doing this. 

Currently they are attempting to get things started by raising funds.  Today Cafe Mexicali has agreed to donate 20% of their profits to Kids for Kyla from anyone with a fundraiser coupon.  Please let me know if you would like a coupon to eat some yummy food and support an excellent cause!

and the winner is...

Mel's mom.

Heh, Pat. That is amazing!!!!!! We are SO proud of you. I bet your Mom and Dad and bros are too. What a way to go! I'm so impressed, esp that you got on it by YOURSELF.

Love,


Mama Spud

Mom, we will be sending your prize through Reed.  It is a Wilton 20 piece cake decorating tip set.

Thanks and love to all who participated, stay tuned for more contests!



Treadmill Time

Just a quick update on Pat's walking.  Monday evening he walked 8 minutes on the treadmill, which may not sound like much but he kept an incredibly even gate the entire time he walked, even though he did take a few breaks for 10 or 20 seconds.  We figured out that at the rate he is going, he is currently walking a two hour mile.  Unless he wants to get run over by the Forth Of July Parade, he's going to have to step it up.  He walked about 0.07 miles.  Not bad after a few weeks (months) hiatus.  He also let me convince him to get into the pool afterward and do a little walking, not much, but enough to help his muscles loosen up a bit.

Now the part I am really proud of.  He got on the treadmill all by himself!  I was on an elliptical a few machines back and I was so impressed at the initiative he showed.  He didn't tell me he was going to do it, I just looked over and saw him halfway on.  It took a lot of self control not to run over to be his spotter and I had to close my eyes a few times when it got dicey but he managed to do it all himself.  In fact I had to yell over to him and ask him to wait to start walking until I got done with the elliptical.  It just goes to show how much progress he is making because usually it takes both of us to get him on, and usually there is at least one point where we both almost fall over.  Good thing our gym has nice wide aisles, right?

It's Blog Candy Time

I really want to boost Pat up and try to get him training now for our annual 4th of July Walk. We say annual because we are hoping to make it an annual event for our family.  The course is about a mile (give or take a little) and in 2009 he was able to walk the entire course with no breaks. Our great friends the Moses family met us at the end for a mini celebration at McDonalds.  The whole experience was a great ego booster for Pat and he was very excited to try again.

Fast forward to 2010 and the story is a little different.  Pat decided to not start prepping for the walk until two weeks before the 4th and it was pretty quickly evident that he would not be able to complete the course without serious injury.

So for this year, we want to make it the best ever for him.  I think he needs a confidence boost (and to start training for it now) and we want everyone to get this on their radar so that anyone who wants to can come walk with us or meet us at the finish line.

Our blog candy contest will run from now until Easter and we are going to give you several ways to enter.
1.  Send us an inspirational story about overcoming difficulties  We will post these on the blog for everyone to see.
2. Mention us and this contest on your blog and send us a coy or a link so we can check it out.
3.  Make a comment on this post to tell us what you like best about Pat.
4.  Make a comment on any post between now and Easter Sunday that we post about walking.
5.  More ideas to be announced later.

We will put your name in a hat each time for one of the ways you enter above, the more things you do, and the more times you do it, the better your chances.  We may also give away extra surprises for any thing that we really like.  So help us out, show Pat your love!

*** Sorry about the multipe versions of this post, I kept accidentally hitting the submt button because I am working from an awkward position on an unfamilar computer.

Celebrate!

Speaking of procrastinating, I have been considering a blog candy giveaway for quite some time but can't decide what I want to do.  I am looking for help motivating Pat with his walking and we want to celebrate the newly announced temples in Fort Collins, CO and Meridian, ID.  (Someone knew that both Mom and I must have needed a new temple at the same time. lol).  So send me your suggestions and I will see what I can do.  I have a fabulous prize already picked out, but I don't want to drop any hints yet.

Procrastinators Anonymous

Well, I am glad to say that I can finally get rid of my Procrastinators Anonymous membership and that I can now take the fast route to drive home.  Every year I start to feel the dread and pressure about filing our taxes.  It gets so bad that once the Statue of Liberty starts smiling and waving out in front of the local tax preparer, I find myself thinking of creative excuses to take the long way home so I don't have to see him/her.  I guess I am just afraid that we will owe the IRS lots and lots of money that we have no way to pay.  Why I think that I don't know, because if it were true, we would have had to make lots and lots of money.  :)

Anyway, the taxes are finally filed and I can sleep easy tonight.