B+C+B+C+B+C: Best Holiday On The Calendar.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Best Holiday On The Calendar.

A day off?! What's that?!

No obligatory presents, costumes, specific meals, traveling, ridiculous parading.... Brian gets the day OFF, I get to do a race, there's no guilt from turning a religious celebration into a secular consumer-driven superficial joke, the weather's always perfecto.... THERE'S NO HOLIDAY THAT CAN BEAT LABOR DAY!!!

We chose to spend our holiday morning out in the cute little town of Hooper (pronounced "Huper" by the locals). It was their Tomato Days Festival. Carnival, booths, crafts, activities, music, cookoff, contests, small-town-fair merriment!

(Should be Day not Days, since it's a one-day party...
but what do I know.
I say Hooper instead of Huper)

I have to be honest... we didn't journey out there simply for the sake of good family fun. I dragged the BCBCB crew to this town so I could do their 5K because there weren't any other races nearer our home. And my happiness is dependent upon the adrenaline rush of regularly racing. Not joking. And even though I'm not that fast these days (19:54 on this one), I can still win these small-town shows - and at this one the prize was $50! Which of course I immediately spent nearly all of at their beautifully inexpensive organic Farmer's Market.

Happiness.

I LOVE these swings, don't you?! So cute and secure. But they were putting the babies to sleep. I can't wait til they can make it past 10am before getting too tired to play anymore. We had to leave Huper/Hooper before fully enjoying the festivities for the sake of preserving well-rested kiddos.

Later on in the afternoon we had to ruin a perfectly wonderful holiday by pigging out at Sizzler. Oh believe me, we all enjoyed their lovely salad bar while there, and I enjoyed the zero price tag since I had won a gift card for it at a race a few weeks previous.... but we all left looking like we were pregnant. With twins.

I hate that "UGHI'MSOFULLI'MGOINGTOPUKEANDINEVERWANNASEEFOODAGAIN" feeling. You know you know what I'm talking about. We all spent the rest of the evening in a food coma.

We fondly refer to this look as her "stink face." She gives it to us more often than we'd like. We got it here for insisting she finish her veggies before dessert. We're such mean parents.

PS:

If all goes as planned, Brian will spend his next Labor Day doing something just slightly more exciting.....

Climbing up Mt. Kilamanjaro. Seriously. My brothers and father have invited him along on their crazy Smith-men journey to Tanzania to conquer the world's highest free-standing mountain (over 19K ft). I'm just a little jealous. But hopefully I'll also be having fun in Spokane fulfilling my 18 year goal to win the Spokane LDS Labor Day Fun Run (cuz there's no way I'm staying home alone if he's gone for a coupl weeks!). Ever since I got second place to Katie Graesser I've been wanting to go back and claim the title. That would be almost as cool as hiking up Africa's tallest mountain.

3 comments:

summer said...: congrats on your race - that is fantastic for you to get out there and still run for the adrenaline rush...I wish I was even close to feeling that and wanting to run to feel it more often. I need to work on that one :)

Love the stink face -- Jacob does something similar, and it always cracks me up....which, when I'm trying to be serious is not always the best thing!; September 6, 2011 at 9:52 PM
Jordan and Crystal said...: we saw an imax on that mt. crazy.... they didn't invite you? ha ha Thats too funny you remember the labor day run thing ha ha you can do it; September 7, 2011 at 6:05 AM
Becky and Brian said...: Chelsea I might have to join you in Spokane next year and cheer you on during your race! That would be a fun trip while our Brian's are gone on their BIG adventure!; September 7, 2011 at 8:26 AM

Quotes I want to remember

"The Lord knows our bearing capacity, both as to coping and to comprehending, and He will not give us more to bear than we can manage at the moment, though to us it may seem otherwise. Just as no temptations will come to us from which we cannot escape or which we cannot bear, we will not be given more trials than we can sustain."
- Neal A. Maxwell

"It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters. We become enamored with men's theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother's influence."
-Ezra Taft Benson

“Perhaps there has never been a time when we had greater need to pray and to teach our family members to pray. Prayer is a defense against temptation. It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own.
-Jeffrey R. Holland

"We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith."
-Neil L. Andersen

"Certainly there are times when getting the family together to read the scriptures does not stack up as a spiritual experience worthy of a journal entry. But we must not be deterred. There are special times when the spirit of a son or daughter is just right and the power of these great scriptures goes down into their heart like fire. As we honor our Heavenly Father in our homes, He will honor our efforts."
-Neil L. Andersen

President Hinckley admonished both men and women to be nurturers. He said, ‘How much more beautiful would be the society in which we live if every father . . . and . . . mother regarded [their] children . . . as gifts from the God of heaven . . . and brought them up with true affection in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord.’ ”
-Susan W. Tanner

"Children are like trees. When they are young, their lives can be shaped and directed, usually with ever so little effort. Said the writer of Proverbs, 'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it' (22:6). That training finds its roots in the home. There will be little of help from other sources. Do not depend on government to help in this darkening situation. Barbara Bush, wife of former U.S. president George Bush, spoke wisely: 'Your success as a family, our success as society, depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house.' "
-Gordon B. Hinckley

“I give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion.”
-Henry B. Eyring

“Reverent behavior is not a natural tendency for most children. It is a quality that is taught by parents and leaders through example and training. But remember, if reverence is rooted in love, so is the teaching of it. Harshness in our training begets resentment, not reverence.”
-Margaret S. Lifferth

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."
- M. Russell Ballard

“As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Do we live in such a way that a son or a daughter may say, ‘I want to follow my dad,’ or ‘I want to be like my mother’?”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Security for our families comes from learning self-control, avoiding the excesses of this world, and being temperate in all things.”
-Kent D. Watson

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Best Holiday On The Calendar.

3 comments:

Pageviews last month