Dear Crayola,

I would just like to send you a letter of thanks.

Thank you for allowing my children to express themselves.

Thank you for giving them a creative outlet.

Thank you for your brilliant colors.

Thank you for giving my children a means to decorate my whole house.

By this I mean:

Furniture

Walls

Clothes

Bodily parts

And most recently....................................MY CARPET!!!

Sincerely,

Lindsay Ruiz

Better than I had dreamed.

As I was pulling laundry out of the dryer and folding this morning in my unfinished laundry room, I was thinking about how this quirky little house was definately not the house I had dreamed of as a little girl. When you are growing up you try to imagine what life will be like. Remeber playing M.A.S.H....you pick your dream guy, with his dream occupation, where you will live, how many kids you will have, and so on and so forth. This old house did not make it on my dream sheet, however I started to think about the other things, and you know what...

My little family is better than I had dreamed. I couldn't ask for a more devoted husband. He has a job that allows him to pop in every now and again and have lunch with me. I couldn't have thought up cuter kids or that I would be lucky enough to have 3 girls. I live in a great neighborhood with great friends. I've had some great experiences, so you know what, I think the Lord's plan is much better than my own.

My latest creation.

The girls loved their Halloween dresses I made so much, that I decided to make them Valentine dresses. Especially since they insisted they wear their Halloween ones out and about. I think these turned out darling!

Dropping Hints

“I asked several bishops what self-reliance skills the sisters in their wards needed most, and they said budgeting. Women need to understand the implications of buying on credit and not living within a budget. The second skill bishops listed was cooking. Meals prepared and eaten at home generally cost less, are healthier, and contribute to stronger family relationships.”2
Spensor W. Kimball

This was highlighted on the church website today on my computer. I usually close windows left open by Miguel without paying much attention, but today I happened to take a look. NICE!!! What a way to start dropping hints. I love this man, but sometimes just have to shake my head.

Update on Everest.

Just thought I'd give and update on my triathalon training. Today I'm not feeling so hot. I went and biked the ten miles in 40 minutes. That's great. I've hit me goal there, however I then proceeded to jump on the treadmill and do the 5K. My legs were so ackward. I learned fast that you use totally different muscles when you run than you do biking. After walking for about 5 minutes and trying not to fall down I picked up my running. I was surprised that cardiovascularly, I was doing pretty good. I could breath and felt pretty strong. I ran for a good eight minutes (all of you marathoners don't laugh). That was so good for me. Up until this point I've only been running for about five before I have to stop and walk. I walked again and then decided to push it and run straight for the next half mile. I did it and at a fast speed. By the end I had shaved four minutes off my total time. I ended up doing a little over two miles before I had to jump off and then get the girls from daycare.

That was when reality hit. I felt so light headed and sick to my stomach. That was a wake up call. Somebody better have bathroom and a place to lay down when I finish this race, because WOW, I'm going to need it.

That being said, this was probably the most physically demanding workout of my life, so Woo-hoo for me! Onward and upward baby!

Now I'm at home and my muscles hurt and I discovered that the crimson tide showed up while I was running today too, so I'm in Miguel's sweatshirt, my sweatpants, on Advil, and laying on my couch. I don't think the rest of the day will be too productive.

Someday, I'm just going to check myself in.

It's true. The way I see it, one of these days I'm either going to check myself into a nice hotel, kick my feet up, go to the pool, slip on my sunglasses, and just fall asleep to the sound of the waves arriving on shore OR I'm going to check myself into the mental hospital.

It's just been one of those days. I want to make sure it's recorded so I can look back in five years and laugh. But in all actuality, I'll probably be writing similar posts like this in five years.

Here's how the day has gone so far:

I'm woken up this morning by my three year old requesting me to go and hunt down her lost pacifier which has fallen between the bed and the wall.

I start nudging Miguel and tell him to go find it. He never budges and the longer she stands there waiting for us, the less likely she's actually going to fall back asleep. If I ignore her and hope that he will go help her it just infuriates me all the more. He still doesn't budge. I usually fling back the covers and stomp to the room, making sure everyone knows (especially Miguel) that I'm tired of doing this all the time.

But this morning I think he eventually got up to go look for it. He never found it, which means she comes and gets in the bed with me and snuggles up and falls asleep. I don't mind her there. It's kind of endearing.

We had dance this morning and the PLAN was to get everyone fed and then into the shower. While I was in the kitchen making breakfast, Sophia calls me and tells me she needs my help. I go around the corner and there she is with her underwear at her feet and she's telling me she had an accident. She pooped her pants. I got onto her pretty bad for that and got her changed. I then go back to the kitchen to finish preparing breakfast for everyone. Sophia actually eats all of her food for a change. Maybe she was trying to redeem herself.

I then put Gabriela into the tub and lock the bathroom door. Once I've got her bathed I open the door, send her out to go get her clothes on, and then call Sophia in for her turn. Well she comes wabbling in saying she peed her pants. No, no pee, she pooped them again! That was it for me. She was getting the cold shower. She did not like that one bit, buddy, let me tell you. I wet her down from head to toe and then I eventually warmed it up. She knows that's what she gets if she has an accident, so it wasn't to big of a shock for her.

All the while, I'm thinking to myself, "is this really how my day is going to go?" Needless to say I didn't get a shower. I load all of us up and we are off to dance class. Julianne had a funky, slept on hair do, that was embarrassing. It looked more like long horns on top of her head, since the ponytail holders had slid out to the tips of her hair. We survive dance class. Gabriela did get in trouble from her teacher for picking up Sophia and carrying her around. Gabriela said, "I can't help it. I just love her sooo much!" She wasn't singing that tune earlier this morning.

After dance, I must have not been in my right mind, because I took them out to lunch by myself. Lately I just haven't been in the mood to cook, so we went and checked out a new restaurant that has noodles. I corral them into a booth in the back and I have to say Gabriela and Sophia, who are all chummy now, did pretty good. Julianne...NOPE. Nightmare. She was up and down and laying in the booth and staring at the people on the other side and then hits her head and starts screaming. I should know better, but no, I have to keep repeating my mistakes. What makes me think that I can go to a restaurant with three preschoolers by myself, when I won't even go near a grocery store with them. Maybe I think I'm being defeated if I can't go out. Maybe just stubborn.

Oh but it gets better. (Maybe I was on a suicide mission) I went to Joann's fabric store. I had to pick up a few things I needed to finish a dress and I must have sounded like an auctioneer as fast as I was talking. Don't touch that. Stay where I can see you. Be quiet. Put that back. And on and on and on.

Then I dared to go to a swim shop to look for some goggles. I threatened their lives if they didn't behave. Yeah right. It was a tiny little specialty shop and there were two dressing rooms in the back. There go Gabriela and Sophia, in and out of them, slamming the doors, touching everything. Hiding under the racks. Oh my word, I wanted to die. The lady is trying to talk to me and I'm apologizing. I tried to get them to sit down in the floor away from everything. I eventually gave up. I told the lady I would be back with three less people someday. Who knows when that will be?

So needless to say, I'm mentally exhausted. I sure hope one day I can check into that nice hotel on the beach and enjoy a little peace and quiet. Just for a day or two, and then I can come back reenergized and ready to dive into the mayhem again.

Images of Motherhood.

So I came across a photo contest asking for images of motherhood. The good the bad and the ugly. As I was searching through my photo archives, these are the pictures I thought most described me as a Mom. What a great adventure we have the priveledge to take in this life. They make us into better people!

You learn to comfort, when they are hurt.
You learn to join in all the mayhem.

You learn to just let go. Even if it means modesty ;)

You learn to be silly.

You learn to be serendipitous.

You learn to do embarassing things.

You learn to share your passions.

You learn to be smothered and to love it.

You learn to laugh some more.

You learn to see the good in others and to love unconditionally.

Thanks to my babies for teaching me so much.

I LOVE YOU!!!