Halloween

The Cooks

Peter Pan & Company
Chad and I don't really get into dressing up...but the kids loved it!

Luke the cowboy and his side kick Tinkerbell

Blake the Pirate Skeleton, Londyn as Tinkerbell, and Luke the Cowboy.

We were able to spend Halloween in California at my brothers. We had a great time and I don't think Blake has ever got so much candy. Plus you can never beat the weather there. It doesn't get any better then trick or treating in flip flops!

Motivation.

Like many of you know I have started running. And I am proud to say I have made it to week 6!! Hooray for me, I can now run for a solid 9 mins! This sounds lame I know, but for me this is huge. I started out at only being able to run for 3 mins so this is progress. But now I am in need of a little motivation.

I started out with a short term goal of making it to the Turkey Trot 4 mile run Thanksgiving day. If I made it to this then I could get a new running outfit, sounded really nice at first because I found some cute running gear. But now the thought is fading and I am okay running in old sweats and random Noni shirts.

So here are my goals:

• Turkey Trot Nov. 27th


• Moab Half Marathon Mar. 21

What should be my reward or motivation? What do you people do to keep going? Oh, and I am also in need of some new music to run to, any suggestions?

Is The Search Over?

Well I have been on a vacuum search for about 5 months now and have tried out several options. I got my first vacuum when we first got married and I think we paid about $60 for our awesome Dirt Devil! It was actually an okay vacuum, no real complaints. But when it stopped sucking I thought that I would venture out and get one that worked on carpet as well as hard floors.

(I have a fair amount of tile)
So I tried out:
-Hoover Wind Tunnel- it was okay, but was not sure on the bagless idea.
-The Hoover Wind Tunnel Cyclonic-bought this one because of the online reviews, but didn't think it had very good suction, and once again bagless. I decided that bagless was too messy for me and there was no Clean way to empty it.
-Kenmore Canister Vac- really liked this little number, it did awesome on my tile floor and had a bag--all a plus. BUT my house is much to small to have something following me around I kept getting cornered by the thing.
-Oreck- well all I have to say is this thing is light weight which was nice but there is no way this thing could pick up an 8lbs bowling ball...it had no suction!
-Eureka SmartVac- this is the one I am currently the owner of. And it has all the things I wanted so far. Bag, good suction, and does hard floors.

Thanks to many of you who participated in the "vacuum survey" and to the good people at Costco for letting me return them. I think that I have found one that I am going to try and keep for more then a month now. Last night I got my new vacuum and this morning I went crazy and did my whole house...not hard to tackle about 1200 square feet. But I loved it! It has this stair attachment that is called the Power Paw, and tell me who doesn't want to clean with this little gem? It shaves all the little carpet fuzzies right off.

Heber Valley Century Ride

Chad and posse

(Chad, Steve, Craig, Casey)
Nice Hair!

This past weekend Chad did his 2nd 100 mile bike ride. I don't know how he does it. I would die sitting on that little seat for so long, we are talking six hours of being on your bike! When I talked to him right after he completed the ride he said it was awesome and he was ready to do it again. I think the man is crazy!! Chad I am really proud of you and so glad you have found ANOTHER hobby to keep you busy!

I Am In WAY Over My Head!

I did something on Sunday night that I think I am going to regret later. I did a pinkie swear with Kristi about running a half marathon with her in March. She tried to make it sound enjoyable by saying that it was ONLY 2 1/2 hours of running. Umm....lets see....I can't even do 2 mins of running so who knows how I am going to make it longer. I don't know why she thinks it is so darn funny to challenge me, probably because she knows that I can't say no to a challenge!

Here are just a few of things going on in my head about this:
1.Why do I already have a side ache thinking about doing this?
2. When am I going to find time to train for this? I'm a busy gal!
3. Shouldn't I start smaller...what happened to the 5k challenge?
4. Winter is coming and doesn't running in the cold hurt your lungs?
5. Why did I spent so much money on my new "walking" shoes, now I have to be a runner.

So if any of you have any tips for me about running or have any really good excuses that I can use to get out of this I would really appreciate it.

(p.s. Sister Walker--you are locked in for the Turkey Trot! No excuses!!)

He's a Cook!

This past weekend I was at my parents and was having such a good time going through old photos. Family portraits are the best. Even when you think you have just taken the best one and you think it will be timeless you always end up looking ridiculous a few years down the road.
So I give you the Cook Family 1980.....
And if you look close, or not so close, you can see Luke!!! I have a twin and had no idea. Take off that cute little curl on top and remove the dress and it's Luke. I always thought that Luke definitely looked more like the Cook side but I thought he looked like my brothers not me! Clearly I was wrong.


Well Luke....what can we say....we are pretty darn cute!!

A New Hobby??

So my friend Jamie has been coming to work with stories about her awesome finds at D.I. I had never really ventured out to D.I. before but with the stuff that Jamie was finding I thought maybe it was worth it. So yesterday was the big day and it was a success! We found this slide for $10 and last week Jamie found me this car that I have been wanting forever also for $10.

Things I learned:

• 1. Don't take your kids--or else you come home with someones junk for $.50.
• 2. Make sure your car trunk is empty or you'll have to decide between your kids or your new found treasure.
• 3. I saw A LOT of stuff there that I still own...is it time to get rid of mine too?