fun news!

Up in the top right corner of my blog, I have a little paragraph that shares my roles, or titles, or whatever you call them. Christ-follower, roomate, friend, co-worker, daughter, college director, etc. Well, very shortly I will have a new title to add to the list...

AUNT!!!!!!!!

Yee-haw! It is with great joy that I share with you the news that my older sister Amy and her hubby David are PREGO. Their little bundle of joy will appear around the middle of November.

I can't wait to love on that baby...

Sincerely, Aunt Sarah
(Please everyone call me that from now on. Thank you.)


This is the picture Amy and David sent out to all their friends and family with the big news. It is them and their "bun in the oven". CUTE!

Top Ten Things Sarah is Looking Forward To This Summer

10. beach beach beach! (surfing, beach volleyball, bonfires, etc)

9. SF Giants games at AT&T Park

8. going to So. Cal to see Eddie Izzard at the Kodak Theater and spend time with the BFF

7. summer movies (already seen Iron Man, Prince Caspian, and Indiana Jones 4)

6. flip flops and "stunna shades" every day

5. best season for fresh fruit (peaches, cherries, strawberries, etc)

4. Mel coming to visit from Texas

3. cheap nights at the Boardwalk (75 cents for rides, hot dogs, cotton candy, soda, etc)

2. BBQ's and birthdays (with the sun staying out till 9 pm)

1. GREECE! (countdown: 28 days...)

David Cook wins American Idol!!

I AM SO EXCITED!!

It is midnight and I just left the college group where we celebrated our last Wed. night of the semester (and school year). It was awesome - we ended the night with a 2 hour dance party, complete with disco ball. And then I came in to quickly send an email on my work computer and I saw the top stories on Yahoo. "Who won American Idol?" was the first headline. I couldn't help myself. I had missed the show but I wanted to find out who won.

DAVID COOK!!!!!!!!

I'm stoked because now I know I will for sure get to hear more music from him. The winner automatically gets a record deal. Sweet!

you have got to be kidding me

I want to go puke.

moms = rockstars

I have always had huge respect for moms.

But after yesterday, my respect has multiplied ten-fold.

If you're a mom, HOW do you do it?!?!

So here's the sitch: I used to baby-sit these kiddos in my town back when Brett was 6 and Emma was 3. I was pretty much done with baby-sitting after college, but these kids were way too fun and awesome to say no. So they were my only exception. However, since I went full-time at my job two years ago, I have not baby-sat. In fact I've only seen them three times in the last 2 years. Sad!

Anyway, their mom (Clara) called me out of the blue and asked if I would be willing to watch the kids all day Saturday and spend the night (she and her husband were going to be out of town). I thought about how much I miss them (Brett is 12 now and Emma is almost 9) and said yes. I was really looking forward to it!

But oh my goodness. I am SO TIRED. My day started at 6 am yesterday morning and did not end till 11:30 pm last night. Observations:

* I am amazed at how much kids are involved in nowadays. There's piano, softball pratice, swim lessons, dance class, basketball, choir, school fundraisers, birthday parties every weekend, and tons more. And somewhere in there they are supposed to find time to do homework, eat, and possibly sleep at night.

* Our day looked like this: played some games, went for a hike in the redwood forest with the kids and their dog, home for breakfast. Emma then had a softball game while Brett worked on a school project. Came home and Emma and I jumped in their pool to cool off. Lunch. Got dressed and packed for what was next: Brett had a softball game, Emma had a try-out for a talent show and then I dropped her off at a birthday party. Went back to Brett's game. 2 and a half hours later Brett and I jumped in the pool to cool off. (Hot day yesterday!) Then dinner, more homework, showers, teeth, bed.

* I realized that a huge role of moms is "Taxi Driver". Holy cow, I felt like I spent the whole day carting them from one activity to the next. Pack up, go, drop off, park, go watch, pile back in the car, drive home, unpack, get cleaned up, eat, get dressed and pack up for the next event.

* Car rides are times for great conversation. Some of the topics we discussed: examples of Greek mythology, Prince Caspian, why it's not ok to leave dog poop in the forest, who decided which words would be "swear words" and why did they choose those specific words, and High School Musical 2.

* I really enjoyed both the kids' softball games. At Emma's, I felt a bit out-of-place. I was surrounded by moms in their Chanel sunglasses and manicured nails, holding their toddlers in their laps while they chatted with each other about their husbands and funny things their kids did recently.

Brett's game was much longer but highly entertaining. About 15 minutes into it, I realized I was totally sitting in the opponent's bleacher section. I had no idea...it was the only section in the shade. But I realized right after I got all these "stink-eyes" from the parents around me when I cheered for Brett's team that I was clearly in the wrong place. But heck with it! I wasn't gonna leave the shade. So it was SARAH vs. THE PARENTS screaming for our different teams.

It was actually kind of funny because Brett's team was getting crushed by the other team. So all the parents in my section were SUPER cocky and making all sorts of comments (ie: "I told Jimmy we'd eat the celebratory cake when they win the game. It's in the cooler..."). But then, Brett's team slowly started getting more runs and the parents got quieter. And then they started freaking out. I just sat there smiling to myself (is that wrong?) and cheering even louder for Brett and his team. And they WON! 11-10. I was surprised how into it I got. I felt so proud for Brett and he's not even my kid! =)

* Last observation: when the kids go to bed, the mom's job is still not done. There's all the clean-up from the day's messes. I tackled cleaning up the house, doing the dishes and trash, and some laundry. At 11:30, I literally dove into bed. I can't remember the last time I was so excited to go to sleep.

I left the kids in the morning to go to church (someone else would be coming by to watch them next) and I was exhausted. And that's when I realized, "Oh my gosh! Moms do this every day." I barely made it through my Saturday without falling dead asleep at the wheel.

So again I want to say, Mothers - you are ROCK STARS. Thank you for all you do for your children. I am beyond impressed and in awe of you.

ZZZZzzzzzz........

the character of Jesus

Right now I am taking a break from working on my talk for tomorrow night. I am SO INTO it. Sometimes, I totally get into the talks I prepare; other times I'm just not feelin' it (whether it's the topic or just where I am in life). But I am super stoked on this one. We've been doing a series on Jesus this spring - who is he? why did he come to earth? what does it look like to follow him? etc. And tomorrow evening I will be sharing about Jesus' character. We say we want to be "followers of Jesus" but what does that mean? What does it look like to follow Christ? What are the ways we can follow his example? So, we're focusing on 5 interactions Jesus had with people in the bible...and what we can learn about his character from those interactions. And then how that looks today as we strive to be more like him.

It's funny. When we teach at college group, it's to help these students learn more about Jesus. But I always feel like I'm learning so much myself just getting ready.

Love it.

BIG news

I am going to GREECE!!

Yesiree bob, I am going to Greece for two glorious weeks.

3 roomies and I expressed interest to go to Europe this summer. We were looking at maps and trying to find countries none of us had been to yet. And the one country that we kept coming back to....was GREECE. None of us have been and it somewhere we have all wanted to go. So we're going! I can't wait!

We bought our plane tickets, go team. Next up is figuring out where we want to visit while we're there. We're flying in and out of Athens so I'm sure we'll spend some time there. But oh, there are so many amazing places to go and so many beautiful things to see! I think some island-hopping will definitely be on the schedule.

Anyway, just wanted to share the fun news. We leave June 22nd.

*raise glass*

"OPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

update on my ticket

So I have an update on my ticket from the Mexico trip (when I went through a yellow light in San Diego and blocked an intersection? Yeah, that one.)

I owe $168 to the San Diego County Court. I am going to take an online traffic school course to get the "point" removed from my driving record. That's another 30 bucks. Then, after I've read all the info online, I have to go to a nearby UPS store and take the test. And then I have to go have it all notarized. Whew!

The plan is to do this all tomorrow. Yeah for not working on Fridays.

Wildflower Triathlon

Allrighty then, time to share about the Wildflower Triathlon. This is the annual tri that my roomates/friends and I do at Lake San Antonio the first weekend in May. This was my fifth time - woot.

I drove down Thursday with some buds and we claimed our camping spot. Friday was soooo nice. Because we did nothing. We had breakfast, chilled, biked down to the lake to pick up our registration packets, walked around, went back to eat lunch, took naps, welcomed other friends who were arriving, played with our friends' kids, made dinner with everyone, had a fire, and went to bed.

We woke up super early on Saturday - RACE DAY! We carbed up before we left. We got to the bike station (to rack our bikes) by 8:30 am. Our race didn't start until 10, so we had an hour and a half to get ready, drink as much water and Gatorade as possible, stretch, get numbers written all over our bodies in permanent marker, go to the porta-potty, set up our stuff by our bike for "transition time", etc.

Around 9:45, we headed to the lake to get in line with our fellow age/gender peeps. We prayed together and then put our caps and goggles on. Game time! There were about 100 women in each wave of women. So imagine trying to swim with all those other bodies kicking, flailing, slapping water around you. Crazy but never a dull moment! I really felt good about my swim this year. I jumped out of the lake and ran up the hill with my friends cheering on the sides. Wooooo! Adrenaline!

After I transitioned, I jumped on my bike and took off. The bike section was pretty good. It was fun to see my buds on their bikes at different times. Some of those hills were SO HARD. Yowsers. I dropped my bike off and then headed out for the run. This is the part that always kills me. I get so tired by this time, my poor feet are dragging.

But this year something funny happened that made my run a lot more enjoyable. I was about halfway through the run, when I saw a guy running toward me. He was a "Long-Courser" which means one of those crazy people who do the half-IronMan. They swim 1.3 miles, bike 60 (?) miles, and then run a half-marathon. No thank you!

Anyway, so this guy is probably 40, doing the Long Course, he's on the run section, which means he's close to the end. I was going to wave as I passed him, BUT I didn't get the chance, because just as we were about to pass, he suddenly stopped running, stepped to the left, and started peeing!! UM!!!! HELLO!?!?

The best part was that there was a tree two feet away. He could have taken 2 steps and peed behind the tree. You know, out of courtesy to the young woman who was about to run past him? But no. He couldn't be bothered. So he just whipped it out right there on the curb of the course, and I ran by chuckling to myself. And just as I ran by, I saw a HUGE group of runners coming in his direction, about to go by Mr. Pee as well. I guess after you've swam, biked, and ran that much, you just don't care. Because he sure didn't. He just kept going number 1 in front of the world. Gotta love it.

So anyway, great race. When you turn the last corner and start your way down the finsh line, it's SUCH a rush! There are tons of people screaming and cheering, the announcers are broadcasting your name, all your friends are there shouting for you, YEAH! I did a dramatic leap across the finish line and then immediately sought out the fruit/Power Bar/gatorade station to re-fuel.

If you ever have a chance to do a triathlon, go for it! It is great motivation to work out and there is a great feeling of accomplishment when you cross the finish line. Can't wait till next year!