You know, like TUH-Mater, but without the TUH!

"I used to know this girl named Doreen. She looked just like a Jaguar - only she was a truck! I used to crash into her just so I could spoke to her..."

As I listened to Mater say this for the millionth* time today, I giggled for the millionth time.

Hudson loves Cars, and I especially love Mater. Watching him is kind of like being with my big brother Jeff, don't you think??

If you have to listen to a kid's show over and over, this is definitely not a bad one. Much better than Barney, Wiggles, or any of the Barbie ones...Never mind that he is obsessed with every bit of the merchandise and I have bought most of it, and that we - Dustin, Kennedy and I, not just Hudson - know the name of every single character on the show...even the ones with no lines. I kinda {heart} Cars, too...

Hudson, You Rock! Thanks for having such a fun obsession.

*Million is probably an exaggeration, but just barely. We are, after all, on our 2nd copy of the DVD. It has been very loved...

Heber Weekend...

The kids and I went up visit my brother Jeff's family in Heber last weekend. We seriously had the time of our lives (we did miss Dustin, who had to work). My sweetie niece Cortnie's birthday was Friday, it was so fun to celebrate with her! I can't believe she is 11, isn't she beautiful?

On Saturday we got up early and hit a few yard sales. Check out the deal of the day I got for Hudson...for $10!

Hudson's new Favorite Uncle Jeff put a brand-new 4-wheeler battery in it for him and it screams! He has been in absolute heaven with it ever since... He gave Preslie and the others lots of rides, but he had to be the driver!

After that the girls hit Swiss Days. I can't believe I've never been before, it was awesome! (although, as slowly it has come to light just exactly how bad I blew my budget, Dustin says it was my first and last trip...good thing I have a full year to change his mind) Tons of booths with everything fun you could imagine. We were too busy enjoying our selves to take any pictures, but it was a blast. Special thanks to Jami and Cortnie for the awesome babysitting!

We stayed in Heber until Monday and then cut the 5 hour drive home in half by stopping in Logan for a birthday lunch for Grandma Marcia and my adorable niece McKenna. McKenna is at Disneyland today for her 6th birthday, I am so excited for her I can hardly stand it!

Have a happy birthday with the princesses, McKenna!

(McKenna Kae with sweet little cousin Halle Kay)

Other highlights of the weekend included:

Fun deal-finding afternoon at the outlets in Park City
Jill's delicious pork tacos

Late-night soccer game "under the lights" in Jeff's backyard, followed by a raucous game of Add-On, tricks included the "In-air Shimmy" and Jeff's "Gassy-moon-walk."

Meeting minor scrap-booking celebrity Wendy Sue Anderson at Jeff's ward!

Fun horse ride Monday morning with Jeff and Cortnie, she is a great little cowgirl, I was so proud of how she handled her nervous horse...

Jeff let Tayler and Kennedy ride around on Bo for a while, too. They loved it. They are just two little peas in a pod. Don't they look so cute in their matching outfits? They love to be twinners!

Playing with Jeff's cutest little puppy Zeke. He's just like the Heeler we had growing up, so fun!

And the kids got to come home to a fun surprise from Daddy: the new sand box! What a guy! No wonder we missed him so much!

This is what we're doing today...

Wish us luck!

Nickelback!

Hey, hey, I wanna be a Rockstar!

We went to the Nickelback concert in SLC last week, and it was AWESOME! Hinder, Papa Roach and Saving Abel all opened for them. They all sounded awesome, but all of the bads except for Saving Abel kind of had potty-mouths. This is how Papa Roach opened: "What the F is up Salt Lake City!?! Are you Mother F - ers ready to rock?" Nice. Real nice. Oh, well, it was a rock concert, what did we expect, right?

We were so excited to go, Hinder and Nickelback are pretty much my two favorite bands, and they didn't disappoint. During Nickelback's set, they played AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" with the lead singer of Hinder. It was so cool. Jeff, that's why you go to the concert instead of listening to the CD in the driveway. That and so you can hear Chad Kroger sing "Friends in Low Places." Seriously, he did. Can you imagine my delight?? Oh, and for the awesome people-watching...we saw everything from mom-pants to pretty-much-NO-pants. Hilarious.

Nickelback put on quite the show...

Here's is Hinder's Austin...Something...rocking in the crowd...

Luckily my mom brought her good camera so we got some sweet shots. Notice me rocking out behind him :)

More Hinder...

We were having a good time, can you tell?

How awesome is it that my parents (and Jenna and Nate) went with us and both of my kids were TICKED they couldn't come (and won't be going for a really LONG time...seriously, a lot of the F word. I know, I know. It was a rock show). What can I say? We're a pretty cool bunch :) I love my family!

First Day of First...

I can't believe Kennedy started All-Day-School today. Whoa. I have been sitting here thinking about her all day, wondering how she has been...did she find her friends and class right away this morning? Did she carry her lunch tray ok? How did the recesses go? I can't believe my girl is going to be gone for this much of the day, for the rest of her school days. I miss her! I know she will do so great in school this year. She is so kind and nice, and already is an awesome reader. OK, I'm just trying to make myself feel better. I'm going out to wait for the bus now....

Correction...

My time was 2 hours, 7 minutes. Just sayin' is all... :)

And it was the sprint distance triathlon. The Olympic distances are 1 mile swim, 24 mile bike, and 6 mile run. Yeah, no thanks.

The biggest RUSH...

See Shelli finish the Rush Triathlon with her friends!
WOO HOO!
My time was 2 hours 9 minutes. Not bad for my first go!

Me, Lisa-Marie, Jaci, and Chris - do we look happy or what?

We thought our body markings were cool - right calf: age, left calf and right bicep: race number

We decided to do this about 8 weeks ago. We trained and trained and trained some more. I got up in the wee still-dark hours a lot. I did things I didn't think I could do and went farther than I thought I could go.

It paid off.
The day before, I was ready. Excited. Nervous, but ready. Kinda sad no one was coming to watch.

Then, my parents sent flowers. It was so unexpected, I got a little misty-eyed.

Then, at about 9:30 the night before there was a knock on the door, and standing there was every one of my Chambers sisters. Yeah, I was a LOT misty-eyed. I'm having technical difficulties and can't get the pictures of my AMAZING cheering section to get to the computer, but, take my word for it, they were awesome. I can't believe how much they inspired me and made me want to finish with a smile. They stayed for lunch and then had to drive all the way (2.5 hours for some, 4.5 for others) back home. Kim, Trina, Meg, Laney, and Cristen: You gals do not know what that meant to me. "Thanks" doesn't cover it.

This. Was. Awesome. I will do it again.