Fun Hart Family Photos

We are goof balls.  Huge goof balls.  Sometimes I can't decide if I can't wait to have kids so we can have so much fun with them (and not look like weirdo's playing) or if I'm scared to have them because then we'll have to grow up, and I never want to lose our goofiness.  (The "I don't want to grow up" Toys R Us song is playing in my head right now).  We've actually gone to playgrounds with just Kodi (our yellow lab). He may or may not have sat on my lap and slide down the slide with me.  There's no pictures, so who knows if it really happened!

Point being, we're goof balls.  So when I want to get DIY family photos, I really should expect nothing less.

Just to give you a first glipse of what our photo shoot looked like, here's Chris taking a few "practice shots".

Oops, need to re-adjust the camera angle...I chopped off the top of his head!

There we go, I got all of him!!  Love the concentration in his face too! (Isn't he H.O.T too?!?! ah hem...sorry...where was I?!?!)

I'm not normally a fan of showing anyone pics of me in my bathing suit, but I do play beach volleyball when I'm not running, so I'm not exactly not used to walking around in front of a lot of people in it either.  Everytime I look through these pictures, I can't help but laugh, and laughter needs to be shared, so I'm sharing!

Oh yes...so now that you've got a preview of what kind of photo shoot we were going for, let me tell you the deets.

I set the camera on a chair, set the timer button, pushed the take picture button, hauled bootay over to the other side of the pool, said GO, and took off.  Kodi, of COURSE, thought this was the BEST photo shoot EVER.

Here's my first shot...oops.  I forgot I had a motion / action setting on my camera.  Lets see if that helps anything!

Still somewhat blurry , but better.  Chris couldn't figure out how to hold his knees up for a cannon ball without using two hands, so he likes the smile from the side approach.  I think it's hilarious that we're both hamming it up for the camera.

We probably took 15-20 shots with me running back and forth.  Here's a blooper:

Chris kept Kodi on one side of him and the idea was that the three of us would jump TOGETHER.  Can you see how well that timing idea worked in this pic?!  Chris would say "READY?!" and Kodi would jump.  He didn't need the tennis ball to jump after (it's still in Chris's hand), he was definitely ready!  Kodi kept jumping right where Chris was supposed to jump too...this happened at least five times!!  I'd come up and find Chris dry and laughing hysterically standing on the waterfall ledge.  The above picture kind of symbolizes our family.  Kodi jumps in immediately at anything he thinks can remotely be fun, I hurry to get the finished product, and Chris analyzes stuff till he's blue in the face (Chris's Brain: wait wait wait, this picture isn't going to work...if I jump in at the wrong angle, I'm going to mess it all up...I'll just stand here, think it out, and try again next time.)

And this as the picture we ended on.  It was getting too dark after this shot, so we put the camera away with promises to have some more family fun with another photo op when there's more daylight out.  We're gonna get the shot.  We are.  And we'll both put our legs in cannon ball format, and it'll be fun and a fitting photo op for us!

Our good friends Erin and Chris actually gave me a really sweet birthday present this year of a photo shoot with them, and they're so talented, so THOSE will be our 'good' family photos.  These ones are our 'goofy' family photos!  Just keepin' it real!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Happy Friday...finally!  Hope I gave you guys something to laugh about!

Husband Help

I'm pretty big on having the house pretty clean when we have guests come in town or over to visit.  Since we have such a large family, this means I pretty much scrub the house every few weeks.  I know this will change when we have kids, but until then, guests get a pretty spotless house.


A few weeks back when my sister came to visit, Chris came home from work and found me scrambling around to get things finished up.  I had a busy week and ran out of time, so he came in and asked what he could do.  "CLEAN" I said.


Apparently my husband thinks my sister is really picky.  His idea of cleaning?  He took off all of the air vents, replaced the filters, and vacuumed and wiped them down.  Yes, it's something that needed to be done, but NOT right then!!!  I told him that if my sister would've said something about our air filters (they really weren't THAT dirty), then I'd tell her she was the most anal-retentive person I know!!  She's not, p.s. (love you Jenn!!!).


Then on Friday, I had Ashleigh and Erin over in the afternoon for Fun Friday with margaritas by the pool.  The house really wasn't that bad, but it needed to be picked up a bit.  Friday morning, Chris goes "oh, you're having the girls over this afternoon, aren't you?!  Here, I'll help pick up real quick." And then goes over to the living room, which is actually perfectly fine, and takes my exercise bike, which sits in a corner in the living room so I can watch TV while riding, and moves it down the hallway.  Then tells me bye, he loves me, and he'll see me later.  


Seriously?!  That's picking up?!  And do I really care if my friends see my exercise bike out in my living room?  No!  Ashleigh even made a comment about the bike being in the hallway.  She asked if I really rode it right where it was, and if so, that's a pretty depressing spot to ride in.


Oh...that man tries...he's just such a goof ball.  To be completely fair to him though, he hasn't had to do much house work since we moved in here.  Two weeks after we closed on the house, he started his Master's, and most of the typical house chores went over to me.  I do love that he tries, I really do.  And it gives me something to laugh about, which at the end of the day, is what's really important.


I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I've got a few projects to share this week that I've got to put the finishing touches on, so make sure you stay tuned to see them.


Happy Monday!

I can do anything...or so I think.

I saw this listed for FREE on Craigslist (sorry the image quality is poor...it's their pic, not mine!):



I've really been wanting to re-upholster something, so my first shot with something FREE sounded perfect!

Keep in mind that I think I can do anything.  While Chris supports most of my endeavors, he does reel me back into reality quite a bit.

I thought I'd give you an insight into our marriage.  I found this listing over lunch and IM'd it to Chris telling him I wanted to go pick it up...here's how the rest of the conversation went down:

Chris: the couch is kinda gross

me: strip down and recover

i want to recover something

Chris: have you forgotten about your allergies

me: no, i'll tear it all down outside

while wearing my cool mask

Chris: are you going to restuff it

me:yes

it's called batting not stuffing

i'm not making a durn turkey

i'm laughing though

Chris: with what

me: batting

Chris: you cant sew yet

me: staple gun

Chris: omg

me: don't omg me...i've seen it done!

Chris: dont you think you should start small

me: nah, go big or go home

Chris: not a whole frecking couch

me: well, because it's a frecking couch and not a freaking couch, i think i can handle it.

Chris: do youknow that will be serveral hundred for just the fabic..

me: no way

Chris: 14 yards

me: i'll find clearance fabric

clearance fabric is like 2$ a yard

so that's 30$

:-D

Chris: dude

me: don't dude me

Chris: where the heck do you want to put it

me: we have a 3400 square foot home. i'm pretty sure i'll find it a place. Perhaps the game room?

Or if we can't, I can sell it!

Chris: i dont know if we need a pull out if we are getting it for a game room

plus they are uncomfortable

me: you suck

Chris: thanks?

me: boo

So, I have no new/old couch to recover for this weekend...or the next month or two, or however long it would've taken...but, my hubs is a smart guy most of the time, and he's probably right on this one...sigh...oh well.

I'll just have to find something else to create after work!  Err...or, maybe I should just finish the doors...

Purple People Eater

For as long as I can remember, I've struggled with shin splints. I like to run, so I generally try to stick to only doing a few miles with once a week or once every two weeks 5 milers built in. I also try to stick to running on the grass instead of the sidewalks.

With all of this running I've been doing lately for my fundraiser, my shins are just going downhill.

My friend Jenny emailed telling me about these compression shin sleeves. I used them on Saturday for my run and loved them. I think I need to wash and re-shrink them though for this Saturday's run. I wore them on Tuesday, and my shins aren't happy with me at all. I think I stretched them out too much.

I do look absolutely ridiculous in them though. They're pretty good at "breathing", so it doesn't make me any hotter than the normal 100 degree weather with 100% humidity does.

For our run on Saturday, Chris couldn't stop laughing at me, and insisted on getting a picture before we headed out at 6 a.m..

Wanna see?

.....

Okay, I have no shame...

So do you like my new fashion statement?

More Space Cadet

Just because I got a new phone, doesn't mean that I'm going to be any less absent minded with it.

Chris: Ha, what the heck is your phone doing in Kodi's closet?
Me: Hahaha, I must've left it there when I gave him treats before we left. Oops!

Few hours later...

Me: Babe, have you see my phone?! I can't find it!
Chris: I already told you, it's in Kodi's closet.
Me: You just LEFT it there?!?!
Chris: Yeah, if I moved it, I might forget where I put it, and then I'd get blamed for losing it. This way, I know where your absent mindedness left it.

Chris 1, Kara 0.




P.S. The closet door was closed when I first walked in.

RIP Phone, RIP

I'm not good on the phone. I'm not good at answering the phone, I'm not good at returning phone calls, I don't even think I'm a good phone conversationalist. And while I'm not good at all of the above, that's still not my worst attribute when it comes to my cell phone.

...I can't take care of it. I lose it, I drop it, I sit on it, Kodi steps on it, I leave it places...the list goes on and on.

Finally, my poor phone had enough and died on me...



So, now if I don't return anyone's calls for a little bit, you all can agree that I actually have a very legit reason why!!

RIP phone...we had it good for almost two whole years before you left me...you will be missed!

It actually sort of still works. It initially worked on speaker today on the lower portion, but that was short lived. My car (which has blue tooth) still sees it and connects though. So, if I know your number, or if you're programmed in my car, I can sit out there and talk to you. Hmmmmm...

Goofy Chris

Chris can, on occasion, be just as goofy as I am.

When we returned home from the ski trip, we had TWO Mr. Bill's waiting in the mail for us. Apparently, 2 of our mom's really don't like us too much. Kodi's love for Mr. Bill has only gotten stronger over the past few weeks, which means that I have learned to tune 'oooh nooo' out. Good thing we don't have kids!

We've moved our mattress to the living room to sleep by the fireplace until Florida starts realizing it's Florida and warming up. Our heater is dumb and doesn't include a heat pump with it (yep, dumb), so it doesn't work too well. The three of us camp out every night in the living room.

Last night, I was watching the end of American Idol when Chris finished his school stuff and got into bed with me. The guy on TV was singing "My Girl", and Chris and Kodi decided they wanted to serenade me with the song as well. While Chris pinned me down and sang the lyrics, Kodi chewed on Mr. Bill. Every time Kodi / Mr. Bill would say "ooohhh nooo", Chris would add into his song "ooohh yeeah". I think Kodi finally got tired of his own game though. By the end of the song, Mr. Bill was back in his toy bin and Kodi was sleeping on his bed next to ours, with his paws over his face...looking embarrassed at his Dad.

And to think...one day we'll have for real kids!!!

Hope everyone's having a great week!

Ski Trip - Day 1: HELP, I've fallen and I can't get up!

The day started as any other ski trip day 1 that we've been on together. We woke up at the butt crack of dawn, like little kids on Christmas morning, and all got ready to head out to the slopes for our first day on the mountain! Chris and I had never boarded Keystone before, and were super excited to see what the mountain had to offer.

The cool thing about Keystone is that a gondola takes you up from the base. Our condo was pretty close to the base, which was super nice. Not having to ride a lift up before you're warmed up in the cold mornings is great.

What wasn't great was my gear. Since we've never boarded at Keystone, we didn't rent our gear from our normal place in Breckenridge. My snowboard and boots looked like someone had ran over them with a massive semi truck at least 500 times. The guy at the store said it was 'well loved'. Well loved = piece of garbage. I'm not sure why I got quiet and shy at the rental place and didn't say anything more about the POS they had just given me, it was completely out of character for me,

so I took the crappy gear anyways.

I spent the majority of day one on my butt, knees, and fists. A few runs after lunch (the pic is of us going in for lunch...I'm still smiling!), I decided to let the rest of the crew take a break from me and my pathetic falling and have some good runs without me. I sat in the warming hut, rubbed my shins that were throbbing and already bruising, and gave myself a little pep talk.

Motivation was not the issue. My mindset was not the issue. The crew came back to get me after a few runs, (the pictures below are the 3 of them coming in), and we started heading back to the side of the mountain that we were staying on, which was a few good, long runs away. Normally this is awesome. With defective gear and a throbbing body, it was not so awesome for me.

Brett

Chris

Jennifer

It was hard, but I tried (probably with very little success) to not be Debbie Downer and rain on everyone else's first fun day on the mountain. On the last run, I fell 4 times within probably 50 feet of the lift and decided I wasn't boarding down the rest of the slope (I still had a long way to go) and risking breaking anything because of my faulty equipment. When life hands you lemons... I took off my board, sat on it like a sled, and sledded down the entire rest of the mountain, laughing the whole way. Chris boarded right behind me so that no one took me out, and Jennifer and Brett watched from the bottom of the mountain, thinking I had hurt myself and that was the only way I could manage to get down to the bottom until I walked up, grinned, and said "that was SO much better than falling the whole way down!!!"

We finished our first day on the mountains with a few cold, much needed, brewski's. As I iced my shins that night, Chris and Brett looked at the weather report, and Chris and I decided that our 'off day' would be day 2 instead of day 3. The weather called for blizzardy conditions after 12 p.m., so between that, and my pathetic shins, we decided to take day 2 off, relax, and go back to the rental place and get some non-ghetto gear in the morning. I fell asleep to visions of me standing and falling and standing and falling dancing through my head.

Ski Trip - Takeoff

I'm a picture fanatic. I love to take pictures to capture everything. Printing out the pictures andputting them into albums is a whole other story, but I love taking the actual pictures.

Chris and I got to the airport, and I wanted to take a 'before the trip' picture while we were waiting in the terminal. Chris sometimes is a little stubborn when it comes to pictures, but for the most part, he plays along nicely. I can't just rag on him without saying my shortcomings, so in all honesty, I'm a little bit of a control freak in how I want the picture taken.

I do not like pictures taken from straight on or down below when it's a monkey arm shot. I have a bird face, and I don't like when the angle of the shot either makes me look like I have 3 chins or a witch nose. Chris decided that he wanted to take our 'self portrait' and kept clicking away and kept saying 'smile' in the middle of my sentences. He'd check the picture, see it was bad, and say smile again without adjusting anything.

Next time he turned the camera to look at it, this is what he saw:

Sigh...the love we have for one another...

Space Cadet

I'm the most absent minded person I know.

Last night, while I was in the shower, Chris asked for the toothpaste. I asked him why the toothpaste was in the shower, and he said "ask your self that question. Say Self, Why did I put the toothpaste in the shower?!"

I brushed my teeth in the morning and then went into the shower to grab the face soap to wash my face. I, absent mindedly, put the toothpaste in place of the soap. Face soap stayed on the counter, toothpaste stayed in the shower.

I'm also supposed to ask myself (according to my husband who remembers everything) why I put the milk in the pantry and my cell phone in the fridge.

I've just got too much on my mind...that's why, okay?!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

The Adventures of Kara and Chris - Part 1

Theoretically, if you enter a wooded area that has a No Trespassing sign, and get a few miles in to see another No Trespassing sign to go a different direction, does that mean the initial way you entered the area was NOT no trespassing? I mean, if there's a No Trespassing sign in the middle of the woods, does that mean you weren't trespassing before, but you are now if you continue?!

Explanation...

Kodi jumped a fence and chased a deer (wink wink) into a no trespassing area of the woods. Naturally, Chris and I had to hop the fence to go get him. Since we were already there, we just kept going for a few miles. We came upon a 4 way split in the woods that had No Trespassing signs posted on 2 corners of the woods, but the path straight forward was good. Why in the world would you put up No Trespassing signs in a no trespassing area otherwise, right?

In my mind, that made us legit. Sort of.

We kept going and enjoying the outdoors when all of the sudden Chris yells "Truck, RUN, FOLLOW ME". He went running from our path straight into the woods like a bat out of hell. Naturally, Kodi and I followed him. Kodi wasn't on a leash, but he did a great job keeping up. Chris saw the truck on one of the side paths that we had just passed, and took off in the woods FOR that path. Direct bee-line TOWARDS where the truck was coming from.

His logic was that we were never going to out run a truck, but normal people don't run AT what you're trying to get away from, so they'd never suspect to find us there.

We are, obviously, not normal.

We ran for about 10 minutes through the woods as fast as we could and then when we thought we were pretty safe, we stopped to catch our breath. Our conversation went something like this:

Kara: Gasp Gasp "What the hell are we doing back here?!?!"
Chris: Taking deep breaths "I don't know, this is kinda dumb."
Kodi: Pant Pant "This is awesome Mom and Dad, lets play in the woods some more."

Kara: "Why did we run AT the truck?!"
Chris: "He'll never suspect us here!"
Kara: "What are we, 12?!?! Are we playing Fing Manhunt?!"
Chris: Grinning "Yeah, stay low, follow me."

I guess after seeing the truck, my mind decided maybe we weren't so legit after all.

So we got our adventure for the day, ran a little over 3 miles back to the initial fence we weren't supposed to trespass, and went home. Thankfully, we managed to make it home on our own 2 feet without help from any police officers.

One day we'll grow up. Maybe.

<3
Kara

Goof Ball

I almost ruined my exercise goal by being a goof ball.

I love to dance and sing around my house. You can't be in a bad mood while dancing, it has to make you smile! I guess that's how I get to my happy place...that and running to music. Ha...most of the time I do both...I dance a little sometimes while running to music. I'm sure I look like the biggest dork ever, but I'm married and I really don't care!

So, how did I almost ruin my exercise goal?

On Thursday I ran 4 miles -- 2 fast (750 min mile) and 2 slow (10 min mile). My feet / ankles were a little tired. By the time Chris got home from work, it was raining. Chris doesn't do well with motivation for cardio exercise on his own, I'm sort of his cheerleader most of the time. Amazingly, he came home and went into the exercise room and started riding the exercise bike ALL ON HIS OWN. I was still working, so once I finished up and went into the exercise room, I was so impressed to see him riding the bike!

I picked up the 7 lb dumbbells and started dancing around the room, being Chris's cheerleader singing "Come on Chris, you can do it, put a little power to it...". I was never ever a cheerleader, and I definitely don't have the coordination to dance around with weights. Well, my tired ankle decided that was enough and gave out on me and twisted.

I iced my foot that night with the torture treatment (take a big 5 gallon paint bucket, fill it with ice and water, and put your foot in for 15 minutes, then take it out for 15 minutes, and repeat 3 times), which really does work miracles on injuries. I was not happy at the thought of not being able to play beach volleyball (which I've missed since NOVEMBER) because I was a goof. Good thing the torture treatment worked!

Erin told me I needed to come up with a better story on how I twisted it, but I'm a goof ball, and that's what happened! My ankle lasted through 7 games of doubles on the beach before I decided to call it quits. What's odd though is that I have a bruise up above my ankle towards the back of my shin. I showed Chris it and he said nothing surprises him with me anymore...he wouldn't be surprised if my butt started swelling from twisting my ankle. I'd be quiet peeved if my butt started swelling...I don't need any help back there!!

Hope everyone is having a great week!
<3
Kara