37th Birthday Party

It sure is good to be home! Spent Sunday - Thursday in Reno at the CMS convention and National Fitness Trade Show. Did my nutrition presentation on Monday at 11 am. It went well and looks like I have a job with CMS as their dietitian and setting up nutrition programs on their website. Should keep me busy. Met with a lot of club owners and signed up three more to do programs at their clubs. Looks like I may get to do a little more travelling as I train them. Working on getting Houston Gym aboard so I can write that off as a business expense. We had a long drive home Thursday from Reno to Preston. Not the most scenic views. Celebrated my birthday in style Friday! I went cycling, then taught yoga, then ran home with Dan. We loaded up the truck and headed to Lava's water park. I jumped off the 33 foot high platform for my 37th celebration of youth. Once in a lifetime experience (means I'm not doing that agian). Then we headed over to Soda Springs to watch Transformers at the drive in. We all cuddled in the bed of the truck. It was fun. The kids stayed in the bed while we drove home and slept there all night. Knocked off two items off my summer bucket list in one day. Still got a few more and summer is fast ending. What a crazy month!

IDEA Days 2-done!

Wow! Time flies by fast. I'm sitting at the airport waiting to go to Reno and can't believe it's all over. I don't think I've laughed so much in years or sweated so hard. We had some more great lectures and workouts. Some of my favorite was learning to fly on the Jakari trapezes by Reeok. I got a bit nauseous spinning but loved it. Also had a great Michael Jackson Cycling ride with all the music. We all had a great time swinging to our favs. Had some great dinners at the Cheesecake factory and ate way too much cheesecake. The best was the I-pod karaoke and watching Monta and the girls sing and dance. I know no songs so couldn't grace them with my lovely voice. We got to relax by the pool for a few hours today before trying to catch our flights. I speak in Reno at 11:00 am tomorrow and hope I just make it there on time! I did attempt dancing at the big IDEA party on Friday night but it was so loud & crowded I had to leave before I melted.

IDEA day 1

Thursday started early with a 7 am killer upper body workout with my favorite Mindy Mylrae, the author of Gliding. Even got my picture with her! Then had a great speaker Emceed by Kathy Smith, my hero. Matt Weinstein author & TV guy spoke on Laughter, stess, & Success. It was a riot. Then off to more classes until 7 pm. Ate at Bubba Gumps. We were all so hungry and tired that we stole an ice cream dish off of another table that they left, ate it, and laughed hysterically. Yuck! They also told them it was my b-day so they came & sang & made me dance for ice cream. The things we do when we are over tired. Everything seems funny.

The Beach

After waking up with a Disneyland hangover, we decided to take it easy on the beach Wednesday. We timed our walk from the hotel to the convention center (30 minutes) and registered for classes. Then changed to suits and headed to Hungington Beach & Ruby's on the pier. I had the most fabulous shrimp tacos. We also saw a bunch of dolphins while eating swimming in the ocean. I just wanted to dive in with them. We watched a street performer hammer a nail up his nose and pull it out (disgusting) and tried to relax in the sand. It was a little chilly so we had the great idea to run on the beach, do yoga, and then go swimming. It really was a lot of fun and the water felt great after the run. I so love the ocean. I wish I lived closer to one. We made it back in time to hit an hour or the expo and dinner at California Pizza. I could get used to all this yummy food! Missing my hubby and kids though. Wish they could enjoy this all with me.

Sunny California

Well, made it to California and survived Disneyland and California Adventure yesterday. I'm here with our instructors Vickie, Dennie, Lisa, Laurie, & Monta. I'm sharing a bed with Dennie & Laurie in our Worldmark condo. So cozy! I'm smushed in the middle. Disneyland wore us right out but was great fun. They made me go on all the rides I never do cuz of a wimpy stomach. I did the big Tower of Terror where they drop you 13 flights from the top of a hotel. It was nuts. My stomach is still at the top of that building. My favorite is still Splash Mountain. Loved the night light show though. Got back about 1:00 am. Today we are heading to the convention center to register for our IDEA convention and then relax on the beach before 4 days of classes. Kids are having fun in Texas with their cousins and poor Chris is home alone holding down the fort. Thanks honey!

Century night

Century day started off with a bang at the fun run. It was so cute watching he kids do the run and how proud they were. Dad set his personal 60 year old best. Happy Birthday Dad! I hope I am still running on my 60th! Then an awesome breakfast at Mark & Rosie's and over to the spa to get the girls nails done and Whitney's first eyebrow wax. She had a few tears as they yanked that hair out. Checked out Holly's cute house and had a yummy custard at the frozen custard place. We had a wonderful party night thanks mostly to Rosie, Sabrina, & Holly and all their hard work preparing for it! Lots of friends and family showed up. I realized I was the only one out of 7 kids who has not lived there in Houston. So sad. I need to move in with Mom and Dad for a bit so I can get to know everyone. I also realized how very lucky I am to have two parents that have made it this far. In talking to my friends, very few have parents still together or alive. I want to thank them for hanging in there for 40 years! I'm looking forward to a 50 year party too. I want to be just like them in 40 years, still happy and in love. I especially loved the book Sabrina did. Those love letters from Dad and Mom were very sweet. I had so much fun in Texas just being with the family. I love having a great big clan even if it is chaos sometimes!

The Lawton Clan Century Party

Thanks to my sisters, I am now a blogger and here in Texas enjoying the Texas sun (not so much) and the clan (a lot!) Dad is celebrating his 60 b-day and mom & dad are on their 40 anniversary. The big party is Saturday. We had pedicures today to prepare and then went to decorate and set up the church. Big dinner at Marks with everybody. Its a bit nuts with 7 kids, spouses, and grandkids (a total of about 19 grandkids and 34 total in one house). I love having a big family! I am really sad that Chris is not here to share this with us but every other person in the Lawton family is here. The kids and I arrived on Wednesday. We are camping out at Daniel and Sabrina's. I went for a 6 mile run with Mark and Dianna at 10:00 pm and it was still about 90 outside. Like running in a sauna. I was pouring sweat. Who knew I could sweat so much. Thursday we got up early and drove to San Antonio to go to Sea World. We spent a big chunk of the day in the water park because of the heat. It was great!