who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

i found today to be very inspiring for several reasons...

first, my class of mostly juniors and seniors took their final fitness assessments and the majority of the class improved tremendously - their bright smiles filled up my morning. it's always good to inspire people to be healthier and in return happier. it just feels good down to the soul. i have gotten a lot of good feedback from those smiles and i truly feel as though i have done my job as their professor.

second, i found that teaching something new in my curriculum of striking and fielding was well worth the risk...my students really enjoyed learning new games that they could use with limited equipment and space. in fact the most negative student i have come to know in two semesters here at SRU, complimented me on introducing this new style of game play - it caught me off guard, but i was thankful.

and lastly, something i have been working on for the past couple of years is doing a lot less complaining about things that i have no real control over and being more accepting of the way things are...so i was thinking today that this past couple of weeks have been really trying at home for numerous reasons, but somehow having a positive outlook really has made a big difference in my whole demeanor. i have slept really well, continued to workout and have been able to concentrate better. it just occurred to me that it is probably because i have been able to abstain from complaining and just start living. it was quite profound.

needless to say, this old dog as adopted a new way of living and i hope to continue taking risks, accepting things as they are and enjoying life :-)

Danica finally does it...

i am not a big nascar fan, however, seeing as though it is a sport where men mostly dominant i thought i would send out a little shout to miss danica for her first ever major win! i guess she was embarrassed about the tears of joy, i guess she figured it was a little too feminine - i personally feel that acomplishments like that are few and far between so let it all out!

also congrats to lorena ochoa for her accompishments on the LPGA tour!


Men forget everything; women remember everything. That's why men need instant replays in sports. They've already forgotten what happened.
--Rita Rudner

sunday mornings

this particular sunday morning was special, we stayed in our pj's until 9:30am, a rare occassion in the ruiz house. but, it was fantastic! no hurry, no rush, no craziness for one whole day of the weekend :)

g l o r i o u s!

funny how the small things in life have a way of making such a difference!

Check out my Slide Show!

a day at the races....

here are some pics from the race today...i finished 3rd in the women's division and keith finished fifth in the men's. the hills were very challenging as there were 3 of them embedded in the 3.2 mile course. as for miss allyson, well, that is a whole other story...she had practiced all week ready...set...go! well, when she lined up at the starting line, she had a fit so we never ever got to see her run. unfortunately, that is the temperment of a 2 year old, you can't make them do anything unless they WANT to do it. jadyn also broke into tears seconds before the race...monkey see, monkey do i guess. it is a shame though, because they probably would have gave those front-runners a challenge :) i guess we got many years of training ahead of us!

special thanks to ashley for all the great pics!

ps. as you can see, mommy has started early training sessions with basketball too!

oh, those ears part 2

the procedure was a success. unfortunately, the tubes are now part of our daughter's anatomy! doc said that ally's ears were pretty bad from past ear infections and he firmly feels that she will be much happier now that she can hear clearly after all this time.

she did very well all day holding out without food and having no nap, but it did catch up with us all following surgery when she had a 45 minute meltdown. i mean the full deal...screaming, kicking, log rolling around, crying. it was pitiful. she didn't want either keith or i to touch her, it was very had not being able to console her but we both gave her a few feet of distance until the drugs wore off. she finally just snapped out of it and was back to being ally. shortly thereafter, she ate entire plate of egg noodles (her favorite).

needless to say it was a long, draining day for everyone. i decided that if ally couldn't eat, then mommy really couldn't either, so i think the effects of that were kicking in during the 45 minute melt down for us both - talk about a head ache - geeze. i celebrated with some much needed caffiene :)

i did manage to get us to enjoy the beautiful weather by planning a play date with karyn and the kids. it was nice and i have couple good pictures to share of ally playing with jadyn before surgery. they are like little mini-me's...it is so weird how alike they are.

thanks again for all the support and prayers for our family. they are so very kind and much appreciated. i am hoping the pay-off is HUGE now that ally's ears are fluid-free!

allyson

check out my shirt - yeah, my mom is a rockstar!

ally and her make-shift piano...such a devilish grin!

ally and i playing together...taken by ashley

thanks for all the support, kind words and prayers for ally tomorrow, you are all such wonderful friends.

she is officially going under the influence of "magic gas" at 2-ish...long day to wait it out, but other children before her are having far more dangerous procedures, so we are thankful ally's is so short and less serious.

just a couple of pictures to post of ally that i adore. thought you might enjoy them too.