Good old Idaho

Well we have been greatly enjoying our vacation, although it was very sad to bid Angie and her children farewell (and Lynn we really missed you).  The time is just flying and soon we will be headed back.  The next thing on the list?  The winner of the Big Judd's bedtime challenge (Pat) will get a burger of his choice, probably the 2lb monster while the loser (Daniel) watches in shame.  Pat only one by a narrow margin, one day I believe though.  We are having a great time with our family, but we miss our family and our friends who are like family in Greeley.  We will see you all soon!

Aargh! Anyone want a loaner husband?  How about a dog for hire?  Did I mention that said dog has diarrhea because of something said husband fed the dog?  What do you think about the fact that when I went to get our Wet Jet mop to clean up the *ahem* mess I found that somebody, no names please to protect the not so innocent, had managed to break it.  Since I had never used it yet and said husband had solemnly promised never to use it, the only logical explanation must be that we have a ghost... 

I managed to gerryrig a temporary solution which involved a lot of extra work and unhappiness, which led me to my next discovery.  Someone had managed to melt the kitchen linoleum in a few places.  After ruling out our ghost or lack of air-conditioning (although it has felt hot enough) I think I have pieced together what happened.  Apparently someone had decided not to bother with a pot holder and just placed the pots directly on the floor.  Double sigh!

I won't go into any of my other sad woes but it has already been a very long and hard week and it probably isn't going to get much better.  Pat is at day 29 and so this is the week we talk to the guardians.  Wish me luck, I'm goin' to bed before I find any more "surprises"...

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.