Happy Birthday Shamel!

When one of my kids was little, I think it was Sophie, she could not say Michelle. She called my sister, her aunt, Shamel. And the name stuck. We still call her Shamel.

My little sister is 21 today - I guess she is legal now. She is in her 3rd year at BYU getting her degree in Sports Training and has to take anatomy and other gross hard classes. She does it well and gets better grades than I did - jeesh.

Michelle is getting married on December 27 - two months from today! Her beloved is Brady. I love these pics of her, so I posted one that had them both. Isn't she beautiful? Yet another thing to hate her for. Smart, skinny and cute - why can't that be me?

I am proud of Michelle. She has worked hard to overcome many obstacles in her life - she has issues with her ears. That just means she has to work harder, and she does.

Happy Birthday Shamel - and for goodness sakes don't study tonight and do something fun!!!

I Am Bad Sore

When you embark on a workout, there are two types of sore you can encounter. The good - you feel where you have worked out, but can still function. And the bad - you can't roll over in bed, walk, go to the bathroom. I am the bad.

I have been wanting to add pilates back into my regimen. I know the benefits. I know how it makes me feel. I know I run better when I am doing it. Time is not my friend, but I got myself to class on Friday. It is at 11:45 and we all know that time is horrible, but I did it anyway.

I knew I had to run 8 miles on Saturday, so I did not even PUSH myself to my breaking point. But I obviously, did push myself.

Saturday am I was sore, but thought I would run in off. By mile 7 I wanted to die and it was sheer will that got me in and done. I then spent 4 hours on the couch/in bed/in bath. Working out is supposed to give you MORE energy, not less. Another sign of bad sore.

So now it is Sunday morning. I still can hardly move. I HATE TO BE THIS OUT OF SHAPE! So, we begin another week. I will run my miles. I will even torture myself in pilates again this week - lets just hope I can walk next weekend...

I think I Am Pulling Out of It

My PTSD that is. This morning was one of those rare wonderful mornings where everything is clicking and you are just happy to be alive. It got cool here, 57 at run time, which is dang nice, fall is in the air and life is just moving along. Eric and I even sat down and had breakfast with the twins - something we never do. It was just a great morning.

So, enjoy your day. Hug your kids, and find something to be happy about!

Why BYU Sucks

The title is really erroneous since I don't have any answers. Just the knowledge that the wheels are falling off there!

We were true blue fans and drove up to the TCU vs BYU game on Thursday. We left at 1:00 PM and made it home at 2:30 AM. It was a long day, made longer by their poor performance on the field.

We did get to see some family. Melissa and Chris were there. We sat by Grandpa, Josh, Matt and Julie. The twins had a great time with their cousin, so I guess it was not all a loss.

This is Allie's note.

She made it for the team, and held up up like it was a sign.

In case you don't read Allie, it says Go BYU Cougars. Do not be a scardy cat. Be the cougar. DO it for hte cheletters. (cheerleaders) Go teme (team) lits go. You can bow (do) it. You gotta love Allie.

Kelsey ran in her district cross country meet on Friday and ran her best time. Ryan had a football game, and Kelsey performed in the 1/2 show. I was a lame parent and drove to the meet (all the way in Conroe I might add) and then did not go to the game. I had driven the last 1.5 hours of the trip the night before and I was tired. So, Eric was on football/1/2 time show duty. THS lost the game, but we are looking forward to this week.

I am bound and determined to break out of my PTSD this week, so lets hope I can make it happen!

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

While having lunch today with my two of my smartest friends, Dr. Kennington and soon to be Dr. Jones I commented that I have not really been back on track since the hurricane and that I must have some form of PTSD. Being the nice folks they are, they just agreed with me as opposed to telling me why it was not really traumatic. I just really have not been firing on all cylinders, and have been in a funk. So, that is my excuse for lack of posting PTSD - and so DAMN much I have been doing I don't have a free second!

I did fly to Utah last weekend to celebrate sisterhood with the sisters who love me - this becuase one of my sisters chose not to participate. As Megan says, she is dead to us now. This quote really seems to sum it up:

If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child. ~Linda Sunshine

We had a grand time, doing some of our sister traditions (don't you just love how after two times it can be deemed a tradition and therefore, must be done each time?) This includes The Brick Oven and a BYU football game.

It was COLD. Like 24 degree cold. Snow flurries cold, so I was dressed as Nanook of the North for the football game, but you will be glad to know each and every layer was BYU gear. I did not get many pictures because I was lame and my PTSD really kicked in.

I did get to experiece a J Dawg, which I hear is what all the kids are doing these days. A hot dog to the "old" people out there. It came in a blue bun, which once you got over thinking it was mold, was pretty good.

We FINALLY made it up to Music and the Spoken Word. I had never done that, and I loved it. It was pretty cool to be at the taping and feel the history of the tabernacle.

We had a family dinner Sunday night with Megan and Blake, Michelle and Brady, and Melissa and I - even though Melissa kept disappearing to the other room to talk to Chris (we will let that go this time). We played a mean game of Taboo (marrieds vs non-marrieds and the marrieds kicked some serious booty). Most important, I introduced all the next generation to the Julie's chocolate chip cookies, so now they can be pleasantly plump like me.

This was our only photo op since the pics taken outside the Tabernacle disappeared, and remember I have PTSD. I like to call this the little sister's revenge. Michelle looks like she is having WAY to much fun up there!

This is our rapper pose to embarass my kids. There was some discussion by the "boyfriends" as to what was appropriate dress for Sunday dinner. Uh we are Linfords - sweats is dressing up! You can see three of us understood that...

As always, at the end of the weekend I realized how blessed I am to have four sisters who I love dearly, and one sister-in-law who, even though she bailed on us this time, is pretty amazing herself! To quote Margaret Mead, "Sisters is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship." Amen to that sista!

It's Always Fun for Everyone

When grandpa (and grandma) comes! We had my parents here this weekend. It was the usual whirlwind, but it was so nice to see them. They were able to see Kelsey's cross country meet, Ryan's football game, Sophie's soccer game - and grandma took the twins shopping! They were sporting their new "Halloween" clothes to school today! I also put grandma to work on some accessories for the house. I can NOT do that stuff, and she can. Kelsey has now asked her to come and do the whole house.... Pictures to follow.

It was crazier than usual because as I dropped Sophie off to her birthday party on Friday night and was en-route to Kelsey's meet, Allie threw up all over the car. It was gross. We had to go home right then, and I missed the meet. I hear she did great! Eric then came home and missed Ryan's football game, they lost, so he could be with the twins and I could go to the game. Since BYU was on TV, I am not sure Eric was so sad to miss Ryan's game...

It was homecoming for Ryan, and I was at Sophie's soccer game (all the way in Friendswood), so I missed the big departure. I did not get to see his date, Kelsey. He promises me some pics - we will see.

This is one Kelsey (mine not the date) took. Do you notice the hat? There must be some Linford in him. Both of my brothers Patrick and Steven sported looks like this - as a matter of fact this is Steven's hat. He wisely did not take it to Brazil with him. Crazy boys!

Below are the twins individual pictures from this morning. They asked me if I could please take pictures of them by themselves, not just together. I guess we are working on our individuality.

Allie funny for the weekend. The adults went out to dinner on Saturday night. Eric had just showered and came out into the family room. He was wearing his tasseled loafers which embarrass the girls - they think they are so "old man". So Allie says, "Dad I hate to say it but those shoes make you look like an old man." She then turns and sees grandpa and tries to backpedal with - "not old like you grandpa!" She turned red, and everyone laughed. That one is a character!

In other unrelated family news, Megan and Black finished the St. George marathon on Saturday! Way to go guys. Anyone who can do a full marathon is my hero - or nuts one of the two.

Off to another fun filled week of real life...