Hoover Dam...

We drove past Hoover Dam last weekend and stopped to take a gander at the new bridge! The kids wouldn't sit still for a picture and took off.


Here's the new bridge, view from the dam. It's hard to tell but it is massive! There's so much concrete and I was in awe.

We walked across Hoover Dam and Maxine kept trying to lean over the edge of the dam, despite signs everywhere saying, "Danger, Keep Off Wall."

Nobody died, although the wind was blowing really hard and Juliet was pushed by the wind a little bit. This is my favorite picture of the day.

When the wind blows...

There was a huge storm that blew through our part of town a few days ago and let's just say that I was afraid of losing some trees because of the wind. So now it's a calm beautiful day and I was driving and noticed something caught in the telephone pole wires. Right in the middle of the picture, can you see it?

Still can't tell what it is? How about now?

It's a tumbleweed. Now, generally speaking, tumbleweeds tend to roll along the ground. That must have been some ferocious wind.

Juggling abs...

So I've been learning to juggle this year. I used to juggle 3-8 times and then drop with a top count of 13. Now I juggle around 13 times without a drop and my top consecutive count is 33. I practice for 5-15 minutes a day, depending on my mood. So I've noticed that juggling is exercise. After 10 minutes, I'm sweating slightly, my abs are tight and my heart rate is elevated. What? Seriously? It's not super cardio but every little bit helps right? Merril and I have started joking that we could start a new areobic fitness craze called Juggling Abs by Jamie. "It's fun! It improves hand to eye coordination...and you can do it from the comfort of your own home! And you could have abs like these>>>(and then a stunt double with super awesome abs would provide the close-up shot because the days of showing off my abs are over.)

You heard about it here first.

Bikers...

My kids have wanted to ride their bikes a lot lately. Maxine commented that she, "...should really have a bike helmet..." *sigh* Maxine grew out of her first bike helmet a while ago and then we lost it. Jack or Juliet have never had bike helmets. The reason? They're expensive! They're around $15-25 a piece and I needed 3. I didn't want to drop $60 for bike helmets. But a recent discussion with a friend made me feel like a slacker parent for not providing safe riding gear for my kids. (It was a good thing Megan, at least someone is caring about children safety.)

So the last time I was at the D.I., I noticed a surprising number of bike helmets for sale. So I took all the kids down and sized them up. Total cost: $10.49 for all 3 helmets! The helmets were $3 each! Juliet's helmet was missing a buckle but I bought a 6-pack of buckles for $1.49. They're all in really good shape. Jack's helmet is the nicest and best looking. It's matte black with shiny red flames and a visor. Maxine and Juliet have average, run of the mill helmets.

I made them wear a shower cap while they tried on helmets. Hee hee hee. I love the D.I. but I always want to sanitize things before use. So here they are!

*They'd all be riding for a while and it was a really cold and windy day. Juliet was done riding but I made her pose for the picture. She wasn't very happy with me for it.

I've lost something...

I've always considered my hair to be one of my top 5 features. But lately, I'm struggling. It's not that I don't think my new haircut is good or cute, I just think I'm a dork at styling it. I stand in front of the mirror, puzzled, because my hair never ends up looking quite right. Maybe it's the bangs, maybe it's all the layers but I can't figure out how ladies with short hair do this!!

You know in the movies when the actress is pretending to be someone else and has a wig on with a bobbed cut? You know how she pulls the wig off later to reveal long beautiful tresses underneath? That's how I feel. I feel like I'm wearing a short wig and my real hair is hiding underneath.

Poor Merril, he's great. He's told me 900 million times that my hair looks fantastic. Each compliment is heart-felt and genuine. The problem is, I'm not feeling it yet! He said today, "So don't tie your self-confidence to your hair." I thought to myself, "What?!? That's what I've got going for me!" So while I'm trying to figure out my new do, I'm trying to appear self-confident and cute.

But inside, I'm feeling kind of lumpy. And eeks! I have to go get my driver's license renewed next week!! My awkwardness is going to be captured on my driver's license for the next 5 years. I'd better grow some confidence by then.