Today's race

Here are some pics from this morning's race. I forget how to use HTML code to publish them here, so the links will have to suffice today.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30436405&l=ca41de61ad&id=1053764515


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30436404&l=14bcc4aa08&id=1053764515

My time was 26:02, which I wasn't super happy with because it was almost 10 seconds slower than my last 5k in March. However, this was a different course, and here's something that really bugged me. There was a 5k and a 1 mile "fun walk," and the "fun walk" and the 5k used the same last .5 mile, so for the last 4 minutes of the race I was literally zig-zagging between people who were walking, people who were walking slow, people who were walking even slower than the people who were walking slow, people who were stopped in the middle of the course, people with dogs, people with strollers, etc., etc. It was super annoying. I wish that I could blame my own slowness on them, but unfortunately maybe that cost me four or five seconds at the most. Well, hopefully next time I'll do better. Other than that, we are having a super weekend with Kyle's grandparents, and we are going to P.F. Chang's for dinner tonight. Mmmmmm. Have a great weekend everyone!

New pics! Hot off the press!

Here are a few cute Kyle pics from earlier today.

First, Kyle starts off the day by showing these Rice Krispies who's boss. I found all kinds of Rice Krispies on the high chair, a few on the floor, and even a few that had somehow gotten in his diaper!

Later, we went outside to play and to clean out my car. Kyle took his fire engine for a spin. What this picture doesn't show is, a few minutes after this picture, I got on the fire truck and he pushed me down the street.

Now, everyone says that kids grow up too fast, but this is ridiculous!

Before nap time, Kyle took a few minutes to show off his team spirit. Go Jazz!

Kyle has a new favorite pasttime...baseball! When we were in the airport last Sunday, a Brewers game was on TV. Kyle pointed at the screen and kept saying, "Baseball, baseball!" He was so excited. Then, yesterday, we were in Walgreens to buy some Ibuprofen. He was standing next to me at the checkout counter while we were waiting to pay, and I was afraid that he would get distracted by the C-A-N-D-Y on the rack next to the register. However, he started pointing and saying, "Baseball! Baseball!" I looked, and sure enough, there was a stack of baseball cards for sale, and each package had a baseball player on the front. It is so funny what Kyle picks out with his eyes. Vehicles and sports for the most part...he is such a little boy!!!

We hope that everybody is having a great Sunday! Take care!

Random Fun Pics

We hope that everyone is having a great weekend so far. I've got a ton of things to do, so I gotta keep this post short and get back to my real chores! :)

Here's a pic of Kyle scooping out the pond at my parents' house last weekend. He just loves to do chores; it's amazing. I just hope that his eagerness to do work around the house remains constant as he grows older:

This picture just cracked me up! We were driving in the not-so-nice area of Tucson and saw this sign in a strip mall not too far from the jail:

Here are my parents and Kyle in front of the fire station in Green Valley where they have their winter house:

I'll try to get some more fun pics today and tomorrow and do another post. We hope that everyone has a fantastic day! :)

Hoppy Easter!

Hey! We wanted to share a few of the best Kyle pics from Easter. We had a wonderful time at my parents' house in Arizona. Kyle had his first bona fide Easter Egg hunt. I think he did really well!

In other news, I was picking up the tax form from Kyle's school (nothing like waiting until the last minute, right?) and one of the school's directors, Mr. Cameron, mentioned to me that he thinks that Kyle should be a baseball player, and that he throws the ball better than most of the other kids. Sweet! Maybe I have the next Nolan Ryan on my hands!

Speaking of taxes, I finished mine today. I'm glad that's over! By the way, the photo on the front of the H&R Block Tax Cut software really bugs me. Tell me what's wrong with this picture:

I'll give you a hint. That guy is way too calm and serene to be doing his taxes. Look at that easy-going smile on his face, like he's never had a care in the world. That would never happen in real life. And where's all his paperwork? You can't seriously expect me believe that everything he needs to finish his return is in that wafer-thin blue folder with two pieces of paperwork under the coffee cup. C'mon, H&R Block. We need truth in advertising. Your software may make it easier to do taxes, but it's not going to make it so painless for us that we will all turn into simpering tax zombies like in this picture.

Lastly, the bar results showed up with my actual scores. However, before I go into details too much, I need to give a huge SHOUT OUT to all the people who helped me for the six weeks leading up to the exam (much like an Academy Award speech), because without you guys, this simply wouldn't have been possible:

My super-awesome boyfriend, Jeff: Thanks, baby, for being there for me every day during this crazy adventure! Thank you for helping me study, watching Kyle for me so I could focus (including one poopy diaper change!), listening to what I had to say, and just being there for me. You are my sounding board and voice of reason. You are the best! Hopefully, we'll never have to return to Obligor (hehehehehe!)

My parents: Thanks guys! You let Kyle and I stay with you and provided us meals and entertainment so that I didn't have to worry for an entire week about things like food, laundry, shopping, etc. We couldn't have done it without you!

Rick, best ex-husband ever: Thanks buddy! You volunteered to rearrange your schedule on several occasions to help me out with studying, watched Kyle for an entire week when I had to leave unexpectedly, and didn't stress when I got snappy (like that would happen. LOL!) Anyway, thank you so much for all that you do.

Kristol and Asa: These guys are awesome! They chipped in to help me out on a couple work things that I just ran out of time to do while being gone. They also went above and beyond the call of duty on overnight Kyle patrol when I had to go out of town and Rick was in California. Thank you guys! You're the best.

Etta: Best legal assistant ever! Thank you so much for taking the initiative on so many things, being there, covering, and just being your awesome self. You rock, girl!

Jim: Best boss ever!!! Thank you for letting me take the time off, being my advocate, giving me great advice, and for being you. You're the best!

Everyone else: Even if I didn't name you specifically, thank you so much for being there, whether it was spending time with me, helping me out with something, feeding us, or whatever...Kyle and I hope that we can repay the favor someday.

Okay, back to the nitty gritty on the scores. In Utah, you need 270 points to pass the bar (out of about a possible 350, give or take...the results are scaled on a curve...but no one hardly ever scores that high, anything above 300-310 is considered outstanding.) The average score is usually about 284, or about a 142 per component. I got 300.8! I got a 151.3 on the MBE and a 149.5 on the essays. I was shocked -- I thought that my MBE score would be higher, given that I spent so much time on preparing for that portion of the test and did exactly 2,000 practice questions. I was hoping to score a 160 on the MBE. My practice tests in the two weeks leading up to the exam were 144, 160, and 163. Likewise, I thought my essay score would be lower -- around 140 -- since I spent very little time prepping the state subjects (compared to all the work I did for the MBE) and was relying on all the writing experience I have in practice (i.e. winging it if necessary) to get around a 140-142. LOL. I'm still very happy though. I increased my MBE score from a 134.9 in 2004 to 151.3 today -- almost 20 points. Plus, with everything that I had going on (Kyle, work, travel, other stuff) I was pulled a million different directions. Anyway, it just goes to show you that (1) you can't ever prepare too much for those tricky-ass multiple choice questions, and (2) 10 years of BS artistry sure comes in handy for bar exams! Hehehehehehehe!

Have a good week, everyone!

Utah Bar Results Are Out!

Utah bar results came out this morning. Good news! I passed. It is such a relief to have that be done. I felt good about the exam after I took it, and would have been surprised had I not passed (and not in a good way), but it's good to have that be official. I don't have my actual scores yet. I am interested to see how I actually did. I'll post more details later, when I know more. We hope that everyone is having a great weekend! :)

Hey everyone! It's Monday! We hope that everyone is having a great day. Here are two cute pictures of Kyle with his "I See" from yesterday:

Some background with regard to what an "I See" actually is may be needed. For Kyle's 1st birthday last July, we got him a ride-on fire truck. When you push a button on the top of the fire truck, it plays a song that goes like this:

I see a fire truck

A BIG and SHINY fire truck

I see a fire truck

Coming down the street...

And there's a SIREN WAILING on that fire truck!

(special thanks to Asa for decoding what the song actually said.)

Well, about six months ago, Kyle would start to sing the first two words of the song whenever you asked him where his fire truck was. He'd say, "I See.....I See....I See..." And so on. Now, that's all he says when you ask him, "Where's your fire truck?" or anything about a fire truck. It is too dang cute! He is the best!

Also, I had a super fun dinner with my friend Darla who was in from Dallas. She has been living there for almost two years now and I miss her so much!!

Have a great week, everyone. Don't forget to vote in my poll! :)

Nevada Law Foundation's Silver Ball

Last night was the Nevada Law Foundation's Silver Ball. It was held at the Four Seasons, and our firm bought a table for 10. We had a great time! The dinner was spectacular. The first course was this salad in a baked cheese bread cup. It sounds weird but it was good. Then, we had a truffled raspberry risotto. Next up was a pear sorbet with raspberries. The main course was lobster tail and filet mignon. Dessert was an apple tart. Soooooo delicious! And, the best part was that I ran 9.5 miles in the morning, so I ate everything guilt-free! Haha!

Here are some fun pictures from the event. Here are Cami and I -- we were both date-less!:

The Four Seasons had the ballroom all decked out in silver:

All the H&S attorneys in attendance posed for the camera..Mark, Cami, me, Chris, Patty, Kristol, Asa:

Kristol, Asa, Patty's husband Ronnie:

Mark and his wife Anna...aren't they cute together?

We hope that everyone is having a great weekend! :)

Forgot to add!

So I had previously posted an entry on our calendar for May 12 called "J's birthday surprise." For his birthday, I got tickets to the Keane concert at Kingsbury Hall on the University of Utah campus. We both love this band so we are very excited.

Happy Birthday, Jeff! :)

Kyle and I (well, mostly me, because Kyle's sleeping right now) wanted to take a few moments and wish Jeff a HAPPY BIRTHDAY on the blog:

I know that this cake looks maybe a little girly, but it was the best I could do on short notice. ;P

Besides, doesn't the frosting look soooooooooo delicious? Look at all the colored roses! I love roses made out of frosting on cakes!!! When it's birthday time at the office, and whoever in charge of the party is cutting the cake, I always try to count how many roses there are on the cake, and estimate where the person's going to start cutting. Then, I position myself in the line so that I will be primed to get a piece of cake with a big fat frosting rose on it, preferably a side or an end piece. If the roses are in the middle, then I give other people "cuts" in line. People think I'm just being polite to let them get cake first, but really I have an ulterior motive! Some people may think that's cheesy, but I call it good planning! If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail...I say! I also cannot tell a lie! One time, at my office, I was alone in the kitchen just before the cakes were going to be cut. This was about three years ago. I skipped lunch before a deposition, and I got back the the office and I was super-hungry. The cakes and their frosting roses were calling out to me, like a siren song. I made sure that no one was looking, and I used a plastic knife to slice a frosting-rose off the cake and I ate it before anyone had a chance to cut it! Haha! I bet you didn't know that reading this blog was like True Confessions time. You got more than you bargained for!

This cake is so white and fluffy! I bet it would be like eating sweet fluffy clouds. I would love to have a piece of that cake with a big, delicious, 44-ounce frosty Diet Coke to wash the whole thing down with! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Kyle's been on-and-off with his naps at school. He did great early in the week, but the last few days he hasn't taken a nap. This is what happens when we pull out of the school parking lot:



This evening's big activities include (1) finishing sorting the stuff that is going to D.I. tomorrow and loading that into my truck; (2) laundry; and (3) possibly going to the library to drop off the book I finished and picking up a new one. Pretty boring but it will be nice to kick back. I finally finished "White Jazz" by James Ellroy. The going was tough through the middle, but I'm so glad I finished it. The last 50 pages was intense! I love James Ellroy! White Jazz was pretty good, but I'm still certain that American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand were better.

Also, there's a chance that Utah bar results could be posted tomorrow morning. I will keep everyone posted!