First Day of Preschool

 I feel old today.

This morning, I dropped off my FOUR YEAR-OLD son at PRESCHOOL.

My carefree days of not having children in school are over (at least, for the next 20 years, give or take).

Taylor was so excited he could hardly stand it.

Last night, he mentioned his school preparedness checklist to me at least half a dozen times:

Can I choose my clothes for tomorrow?

May I pack my snack?

Where is my backpack?

Do you have my school supplies ready?

At 6:00 a.m., my little boy was knocking at my bedroom door, fully dressed in his prechosen racing shirt with backpack already on his back.  I wonder if he slept at all.

"I'm ready for school!" he told me.

I told him (and his little shadow, Russell) to go back to bed.

Try as he might, my little adrenaline-loaded boy couldn't manage.

So a little after 7:00, I rose myself from attempted slumber and dressed myself and Russell, fed my boys...and twiddled my thumbs a little until I could finally put the kids in the car to go to Mt. Carbon Elementary School-- a.k.a. "Taylor's Preschool."

His teachers Ms. Becky and Ms. Sarah were waiting for him.

So were tables full of building toys, some name tags,

and his friends.  

Madeline and Emmalee are in Taylor's Sunbeam class in our ward at church.

When I picked him up two hours later, my little preschooler had a smile on his face, but as is so typical of him, had little interest in conversation:

"How was it?"  I ask.
"Good. I could only eat one of my snacks, so I should eat the other one at lunch."
"That sounds like a good idea.  Why couldn't you eat both?"
"I don't know."
"What else did you do?"
"We ate snacks and read a book and stuff."

After prodding him, I managed to get a few more bits of info out: that the title of the book was Clifford's First Day of School, that he played on the playground, he sang a song about animals, and he learned that this month is called August.

My conclusion: that I am definitely raising a boy (aren't boys weird sometimes?), and I think that he likes school.   

Good outcome, I'd say.

Countdown to Triathlon: 12 Days

I am getting ready to participate in my third triathlon...in just twelve more days!  As usual, I am feeling anxious and excited as the big day approaches.

This tri will be somewhat unique this time.  

My friend Natali and I will both be racing for a cause of our choice.  I feel like my choice of cause was a no-brainer...after witnessing the most disastrous fire in Colorado's history this June, it just made sense to try to help those whose homes were among the 346 that burned in Colorado Springs!  I am still shocked and saddened that it happened to so many.  

Next Saturday, I'll be racing for them with help from an organization called "Colorado Springs Together."

To whoever is reading this, whoever is interested, whoever also feels like they would like to help the wildfire victims but don't know how, I would love to have your support. 

You can read more about my upcoming race and Colorado Springs Together HERE.

Devin's Graduation

The party doesn't end quickly in the Macfarlane family...

...the day after Kyle came home from Brazil, my youngest brother Devin graduated from Timpanogos High School!

We're so proud of him.

Getting his diploma.

 Dev and his adorable girlfriend Lisa before their graduation ceremony.

Me, Kyle, Devin, Larry

The four of us.

I LOVE these pictures of my brothers and me that we've been taking this week.  Words can't express how much I love all three of those guys.  And it's SO great to be together again!

Family. <3

Kyle is Home!

My little brother Kyle returned home from Sao Paulo, Brazil yesterday after giving two years of missionary service to our Savior.

It was such a happy day for me and my family.

Here are Larz and Andrew the night before...making "Welcome Home" posters in anticipation for our Elder's arrival.

My cousin Madison helping her super crafty mom and sisters decorate the outside of my parents' house before Kyle arrived.  (Megan, you're amazing!)

The decorating team at work

Here's our first glimpse of Kyle after two years...on the escalator at the SLC airport, with my parents and brother Devin--who were lucky enough to go to Sao Paulo to get Kyle and spend a few days with him before returning to the states!

Taylor at the SLC airport.  He was pretty happy to see his grandpa.

Larz is our family comedian.  It only took seconds after Ky's arrival to get him to laugh (at the funny poster he made for him on Sunday night).

Kyle and Grandma Mercer

Cousins Brittany and Bobby with Kyle, holding the fun poster Brit made for Kyle.

Kyle meeting my littlest guy for the first time--ever.  Russell was born only a few days before Kyle left home.

Siblings reunited!  Kyle, Larz, me, Devin.

Cousin love. Allen, Bobby, Larz, Brittany, me, Devin, Aaron, and Kyle

Russell insisting on helping Papa carry his suitcase out to his car.  Cute kid.  Sore grandpa.  Adorable pair.

Dad, Kyle and Mom at home.

We stayed up until midnight talking about Brazil, reminiscing, and just soaking-up every second of having Kyle here again.


I'm telling you, this guy is really great.  We've really missed him and are so proud of his great work and example.

Birthday Central

My baby is 2.

TWO!

That's amazing to me!  

For me, it seems like he got to two quicker than his older brother did.  Crazy how quickly these kids grow.

Russell and Taylor's birthdays are only ten days apart, so we plan to have a combined "buddy" celebration in June for both of them-- similarly to how we partied last year. 

When I greeted by boys yesterday morning with a "Good morning!" and "Happy Birthday, Russell!", I reminded Taylor of their party coming in the near future, in hopes that he wouldn't completly spaz over the absence of cake and ice cream that day. 


Okay, well, Taylor still had a cow.  But I'll give him a little credit--because his defensive reaction had nothing to do with cake.  He was trying to protect his brother.  Taylor made a clear argument that not having any celebrations for Russell on his birthday was definitely not an okay thing.

It was a good point.  Way to stand up for your little brother, Tay.

So we made plans.  After Russ's annual check-up with the pediatrician,

we would bake cookies so we could sing "Happy Birthday" to Russell and enjoy a special birthday treat together after dinner.

It was perfect, and Russell loved it...a lot.

We had to sing twice. 

It was a crazy time two years ago when I was in the hospital with just hours-old baby Russell.  Dare I admit?  In that moment, I had actually forgotten that it was Andrew's birthday!

Thankfully, I had a lot of help that year (thanks again to Donna, Andrew's mom, and my mom especially).  But hopefully that's as crazy it will ever get in our family of back-to-back-to-back birthdays.  I don't want to forget any of these three special guys in my life...even if it is just for a moment!

So here we are, two years later...and as I mentioned earlier, I am not pregnant or having a baby, so the Andrew Par-tay has been in full swing.

For starters, last weekend Andrew and I had a birthday dinner/movie date with two other couples in our ward (wish I had taken pics of that), and had a lot of fun.

Today, at Andrew's request, I managed to turn our favorite strawberry lemonade cupcakes 

into a delicious two-layer round cake in his honor.  It was just as tasty as the mini version.

And of course, we didn't forget gifts. :-)

I totally dig this guy! 

(and the little guy behind him, and the littler guy in his lap...)

I'll say for me, one good thing's for sure about having everyone's birthdays together: I am reminded about how blessed I am.  It can't get much better than this! 

I'm Alive

This blog has been on my mind for months now.  

Nagging me at the back of my mind, me knowing that I want to record my family's memories but somehow not being able to get myself to sit down for an hour and just post something....

...I realized that my neglect was getting really bad when MariLouise (who lives in Texas) called me just over a week ago to ask me if I was pregnant.  Our conversation went something like this:

ML: "I noticed that you hadn't been posting on your blog, hadn't been posting on Facebook, so I thought, it must be because Tiffany is sick and pregnant again!"

I laughed.  "Oh my.  No.  NO....I'm just a SLACKER!"

And after a very overdue, very uplifting conversation with my good friend, I hung-up the phone and began having visions of myself being back in the blogging world...

So, my dear friend ML, and all others who have been wondering if I've been morning sick or slowly dying (which would pretty much the same thing in my world), or something else rough-and-tough, here's proof that I am alive and kicking (and currently not expecting).  

Stay tuned...

Granny Shoes

My new running shoes came in the mail today.

I haven't run much since the Mudder because my right foot has been hurting a lot.  My gut-instinct has been telling me that it's because I need new shoes.


My gut was right.


I found out last week...


...when I went into a specialty running store where they recorded images of me running on a treadmill--pretty cool--and showed me how much my feet overpronate when I run.  


So that fun news, combined with recovering from a crazy run like Tough Mudder, make me feel like it's no wonder that my feet are killing me!


Well anyway, Boulder Running Company put me in these crazy expensive Brooks shoes that (of course), made my feet feel a zillion times better the moment I put them on.  What's a girl on a budget to do with that?


Why, get last year's Brooks model from Amazon, of course! :)  They arrived on my doorstep this afternoon. 


And they feel super nice.  Just one problem...


They don't look so sexy.  


These fat sneaks, complete with wide, un-tapered soles with those big gray "things" on the sides (as Andrew puts it), are so unattractive to my husband.  But man, they feel so great...


...maybe next time I run I'll put on a hot string bikini to keep his eyes off of my granny feet.  

('Cause the shoes are staying! :) )

28 Candles

I had a birthday again.  

Andrew took me out to celebrate the weekend before my big day, just the two of us.

We hired favorite babysitter Dillon to watch the boys, while we went to a restaurant around the corner that I've been itching to try called "Thai Bistro."

The Mango Sticky Rice--one of my favorite desserts--was heavenly.

Then Hubby and I did another first together: bowling at Fun City. 

First time for the place, but certainly not our first time bowling! (Remember our first date, ADrew?)

Fun City also had a clever game set-up in their waiting area called "Jumbo Jenga."  Super simple idea: just a bunch of wood studs chopped into pieces--and lots of fun too!

That was a special, rare treat kind of a date--that Hubby planned, I might add.  I love that man.

On birthday morning my sweet friend Jolene watched Taylor and Russell so I could attend the temple.  It had been a while since my last visit and felt nice to be there again.

When I came back to get my boys, I found them totally worn out, with lunch in their tummies.  Double bonus!  Jolene is so great.   

They were so worn out in fact, that even my resistant napper fell asleep.  

I savored that moment and took some time to be still-- watching sweet little Taylor's chest slowly rise and fall as he slept.  It was so rhythmic and perfect.  Children are such miracles.  I feel tremendously blessed.

When the World's Greatest Husband came home from work, he made Szechwan Chicken, at my request.  This delicious dish is my Aunt Robin's amazing creation--one that's quickly becoming one of my favorite meals.  

I can't resist...we eat it several times each month! 

(hope you don't my sharing your genius, Robin!)

After dinner, my grandparents and Donna & her kids came over for cake and ice cream (again, all the credits go to Andrew for that.  THANK YOU, Sweetie!)

I opened a few gifts too.  

A few are pictured here...don't my new shirt from Mom and vintage belt from Grandma make a cute combo?

This was a fun year.  I feel very blessed.  Thank you so much, dear family and friends, who bless and enrich my life so much!