How Hard Can It Be?

Jason and I spent a lot of years living in apartments while he was going to school.  We watched all of our friends we went to college with buying houses while he continued on the journey to become a doctor.  We were finally able to buy our first house when he started residency in Iowa.  It was a tiny house built in the 1950s but it was cute and we loved having our own place.  That is, until things started to break.  I still remember the first time it happened.  The air conditioner wasn't working (it gets awfully hot and humid without central air in the summer in Iowa!) and I didn't know what to do when I could no longer call a landlord to fix it.  Jason was spending at least 80 hours a week at the hospital and the few hours at home were normally spent sleeping so I called a repairman.  I think it cost somewhere around $100 to have him come out and discover that the only problem was a blown fuse!  Jason rarely had time to work on the house and I quickly grew tired of an old house that was constantly needing attention.  The climax was when the roof started leaking two days before Christmas!

When we moved to Utah I told our realtor that I wanted a house built within the last 10 years.  I was done dealing with constant repairs.  Every house that we seriously considered fell into that category except one- the one we bought.  We just fell in love with it and felt like it was our home from the first time we saw it.  It's definitely in better shape than our house in Iowa but it was built in 1986 and anything that is original in the house is starting to show wear.  We've always laughed about the old original microwave in the kitchen.  It took forever to heat food and looked awful.  It finally completely died the other day and I was glad for an excuse to replace it.

Saturday afternoon we dived into installing the new microwave.  The first problem we ran into was how to get the old one out.  We unscrewed it from the cabinet above and tried to lift it off the rack just like everyone had told us but that old thing wouldn't budge.  We tried everything imaginable and still couldn't get it to move.  That's when the typical home improvement conversation started.  Jason, "I have no idea what I am doing!"  Me, "My dad would probably..."  Jason, "Well, I'm not your dad!"  Me, "I know you're not my dad.  I don't expect you to be my dad."  (If you haven't figured it out yet my dad is a huge home repair guy that can fix anything.)  Jason, "Well you must have expected me to install it since you bought it."  Me, "I didn't think it would be this hard.  Do you want me to go back and pay for the installation?"  Jason, "Too late.  I'm already started.  I have to finish now."  This wasn't a serious argument but you get the gist.  We were awfully frustrated by that point.  Jason called my dad who suggested we take apart the old microwave.  This made me laugh because I have vivid memories of my dad taking apart anything imaginable in an attempt to figure out  how to take it out, install it, or repair it!  We started that but still couldn't figure out what was holding the blasted thing on the wall.  My story would end here with a torn apart microwave still hanging above my stove if it weren't for our awesome neighbor.  After an hour and a half of sheer frustration Jason went next door and asked our neighbor, Tim, who happens to be an electrician, for a hand.  He was a lifesaver and had the old one out and the new one installed in about an hour, including a trip to Lowe's and some rewiring that had to be done.  The good news is that Jason now knows how to install a microwave so if you ever need help you know who to call!

Tooth Fairy, Crazy Hair, Treehouse and Bowling

My baby lost her first tooth! I couldn't believe it when she showed me it was loose a few weeks ago. Four seems way too young to be loosing teeth but she was so excited about it. Jason for some reason has always wanted to pull our kids teeth out when they are loose and my boys would never let him. Kaitlyn has been asking ever since she realized it was loose if it was loose enough to pull out. Every time he checked it wasn't quite ready but Thursday he pulled it out. Jason was thrilled to finally get to pull one of the kids teeth out and Kaitlyn was ecstatic about putting the tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy. It was like Christmas Eve and she couldn't fall asleep. She was well rewarded by the tooth fairy for being brave enough to let her dad pull it out. She didn't actually show us the money though. She said she put it in her piggy bank as soon as she woke up so Dad wouldn't take it!

Crazy hair day at school. Andrew is way overdue for a haircut and it made for some really wacky hair. Thanks to my sister in law for saving the orange hair spray from Halloween!

Kaitlyn had a field trip to the Weber State bowling alley. It was a lot of fun and she had to have the pink ball every time. It took a lot of convincing that the other girls there liked the pink ball too and it was ok for them to use it when it wasn't her turn.

Kaitlyn has enjoyed her pass to the Treehouse Museum. Here are some pictures from a few weeks ago with her cousin Jesse. She loves dressing up and usually spends most of her time at this part of the museum!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Remember what it was like to be a child when simple things like food coloring made your day?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our Friend the Hospital

Last week I helped with Our Friend the Hospital at Ogden Regional. We were teaching 2nd graders about what goes on in a hospital. My part was presenting what goes on in the lab. It was a lot of fun and hopefully the kids learned something. I was a little nervous when the newspaper photographer showed up and started snapping pictures of me. Especially since I was feeling a little awkward wearing one of Jason's old white coats that was way too big on me! I would have felt a little better if I had known she was just taking close ups of the vial of blood I was holding! The next day I got to go with Jared's class. Kaitlyn had a great time too.

In the lab they got to practice giving shots to a doll.

The highlight of the trip was getting to see the life flight helicopter.

Pie Recipe

I must not have made it very clear in my last post that the picture was not of my pie. It's one I found on the Internet. I would have posted a picture of my pie but it got stepped on before I got my camera out. It looked a lot like the picture though!

As requested, here is my recipe. The strawberry pie recipe is my Grandpa Brown's who happened to be one of the best bakers and candy makers in the world!

2 big cups of strawberries ( I interpret "cup" to mean one of those green baskets. I used about 2 lbs. strawberries.)

1 c. water

3/4 tsp. red food coloring (I left this out)

1 c. sugar

3 T. corn starch

1 T. flour

2 T. sugar

1 T. lemon juice

Mash 1 cup berries. Add water and food coloring. Simmer 5 minutes. Combine 1 c. sugar, flour and cornstarch. Add to crushed berries. Cook until thick and starch taste is gone. Add lemon juice and cool. Slice remaining berries. Add 2 T. sugar. Add to cooked mixture. Put in baked pie crust and chill for 2 hours.

Pie Crust

2 c. flour

1tsp. salt

1 c. shortening

1 egg

1/4 c. cold water

1 T. vinegar

Mix first three ingredients until they look like fine crumbs. In a small bowl mix egg, water and vinegar. Beat well. Add to flour mixture and stir into a ball. Knead a few times. Roll out and place into pie plates. Bake at 425 for 15 min.

This isn't my grandpa's crust recipe but it hasn't failed me yet. Grandpa's advise was to handle your crust as little as possible. If you knead or roll it out too much it will be too tough. Enjoy!

Happy Pi Day 3.14

Doesn't that look good? I hope you enjoy some pie today in honor of Pi Day. My sister-in-law, Melanie, pointed out the mathematical significance of the date today and why not come up with any excuse to eat pie? After all it is one of the best foods in the world. Another favorite food of mine is strawberries so what could be better than combining them? Strawberries have been outrageously expensive this winter so I was thrilled to see them on sale this week just in time for our celebration last night.

I love to bake when I have time. I don't mean making meals every day. That gets a little monotonous. But baking yummy treats like pies is something I enjoy. I think one of the things that interests me about pie making is the challenge. Anybody can make cookies look good but pies are tricky. I'm a purest when it comes to pies. Everything is made from scratch. I don't use any ready made crusts, pie filling, or pudding. Getting them to look pretty is as important as how they taste. I've been practicing for years and my pies still don't look nearly as good as my Grandpa Brown's did. I did win a "most decorative pie" award at a pie contest once though so maybe there is hope. I made two pies yesterday. The banana cream one was delicious but not fantastic in the looks category since the crust collapsed while it was baking. My strawberry pie wasn't perfect but it was close. No, that's not a picture of it and that's what this post is really all about. I put the almost perfect pie in the van and was trying to find a place to set it where it wouldn't slide around. I finally put it in the basket on the floor between the two front seats. Jared got in the van first and decided it was funny to lock all the doors. He carefully stepped over the pie and then got back in his seat. When Kaitlyn got in she decided she had to climb in the front to unlock the doors and I watched in horror as she stepped right in the middle of the strawberry pie! I wish I could say that I laughed. Unfortunately along with my love for pie making I also inherited a not so good trait from the Browns-my temper. Yes, I yelled and I had to go cry it out in my bedroom for a few minutes before composing myself enough to go to the party. After all, that pie was a ton of work. In the end, we ate the pie anyway since it was covered with plastic wrap. It turns out that pies that don't look pretty taste just as good. Happy Pi Day!

Stiders Newsletter

I know I already posted a link to the spotlight Striders did on Jason and me but they just sent out their monthly newsletter with this article introducing us so I thought I would share it.

Jason Blackham will need to run a 3:15 marathon and Merrilee Blackham will need to run a 3:40 marathon to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but last year at the Boston Marathon, Jason clocked in at 3 hours and Merrilee was right on his heels at 3:08 -- amazing. Boston is definitely their race. Jason is an MD at the Calton-Harrison Clinic at McKay Dee Hospital and Sports Medicine Clinic. Jason specializes in non-surgical sports medicine, overuse injuries, endurance medicine and treats bone, joint, muscle and tendon injuries. Jason puts his knowledge to practical use; he competes and supports many of Utah's local running events. Jason and the other doctors at the Calton-Harrison Clinic have been very supportive of the Winter Racing Circuit; the WRC would be a series of fun-runs without their support. Jason is also on the experts' panel blog atwww.utahrunning.com; there's loads of great information there.

In 2009 Merrilee was 2^nd overall in the women's final cumulative results of the Winter Racing Circuit. She went on to run a 3:11 Ogden Marathon, a 3:08 Boston Marathon and last October ran a 3:00:17 St. George Marathon -- hmmm, maybe there is something to running all these hills JMy money says she'll break the 3 hour mark at the next marathon. Overall Women's Merrilee is in 2^nd place in the 2011 WRC; we're all excited to see how the rest of her year pans out.

Jason & Merrilee are great ambassadors to the sport, we're all fortunate to have them in our community. They are also our March Runner Spotlights; you can read all about them atwww.stridersrunning.com

You Don't Know Me

A few years ago my mother-in-law went to Washington D.C. and brought me back this t-shirt. It's been a joke between us for a while that no one knows who I am. It seems like everywhere Jason and I go he finds someone he knows while no one ever recognizes me. We've been in Disneyland and run into people he knows. Last year at the Boston Marathon we were at the expo and a runner knew him. Sometimes it is patients, colleagues, friends, acquaintances, but for some reason someone always recognizes him. Maybe it is his occupation; more likely it is his outgoing personality. Jason claims it is his hair. (No one forgets hair like that!) When we were flying home from Italy last year I joked with Jason that I had finally taken him far enough from home that we didn't bump into anyone that knew him. No sooner had we landed on U.S. soil than an old high school teammate ran up to talk to him at the airport still across the country from home.

Yesterday that turned into an advantage for me. I had just gotten home from church when the phone rang. It was the stake president asking for Jason. He asked him to speak at stake conference in a couple weeks. I commented to Jason that no one in the stake presidency even knows who I am. Public speaking happens to be way up there on my list of things I hate. So in two weeks when Jason is giving his talk I get to enjoy sitting in the audience not being recognized by anyone!

Dr. Seuss, Snowman Quilt, and Spotlight

Impromptu Dr. Seuss character costumes in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday. Andrew is a magician from Bartholomew and the Oobleck and Jared is Thing 1 from The Cat in the Hat.

As promised here is a picture of my snowman quilt. This is the first quilt I have ever finished. Thanks to my mother-in-law for all her patience in helping me! Since there are still two and a half weeks left of winter I guess I can enjoy it for a little bit before putting it away!

Striders, a local running store, did a spotlight on Jason and me this month. Check it out on their website here.

Smile

I love this smile!

I always have.

Andrew has the cutest smile. I know I'm his mom and so my opinion probably doesn't count but I have gotten so many comments from other people about how precious his smile is. You have to admit that he is one good looking boy. Those dimples have always melted hearts when he flashes a smile.

That's why I was so sad when the accident happened. Boys will be boys. A year and a half ago on an extremely hot summer day the boys decided to make a water slide out of the metal slide in the back yard by putting a hose at the top. Everything was fantastic until Andrew decided to run up the wet slide, slipped and hit his front teeth on the slide.

It usually comes in handy to have a husband that is a doctor. When Andrew ran in the door with bloody, loose, chipped front teeth all I could think was "Bones grow back! Teeth don't!" Jason can fix broken bones and stitch up cuts but there's not much he can do for teeth. While we were driving to the dentist one of the teeth actually fell out. The only advise Jason had was to put it in spit and get to the dentist as fast as we could. We were grateful that the dentist was able to put the tooth back in and save it but little did we know that was only the beginning of Andrew's tooth problems.

The dentist filled in the chipped parts of his front teeth but said eventually when he was older they would have to do a crown. Over the last year and a half he has continued to slowly chip away more of that front tooth thanks to candy canes, football, soccer, hard to open water bottles... I was beginning to feel like a broken record telling him not to bite anything hard with his front teeth. In January he chipped off an even larger piece of tooth when his friend suggested opening a juice bottle with his teeth. Immediately dollar signs started flashing through my mind and I reacted in a not very nice way. (HOW MANY TIMES have I told you NOT to open things with your teeth?!!) So our trip to the dentist wasn't a fun one. The dentist said there was no choice but to put a crown on so while he did the prep work for the crown the receptionist showed me all the dollar signs even after the insurance paid their part. I felt like Andrew was sufficiently punished when they told him not to eat any candy or gum for two weeks until the permanent crown was put on. I had no idea then how long "two weeks" was really going to be.

We went to the dentist two weeks later to get the crown put on and were surprised when they told us the crown was the wrong color. I really didn't know it was that hard to match teeth. They sent it back to the lab and we returned a week later to find out again that it was the wrong color. This time the guy from the lab actually came over when we were there to make sure he matched Andrew's teeth. He took it back to the lab and a week later we returned to get the crown put on. Wrong color again! By then Andrew was really getting frustrated! We went to a Weber State basketball game one night and Jared brought a friend along. Jared's friend bought some candy and Andrew was literally in tears that he couldn't have any. AR fun day came and he was the only one in his class that couldn't chew gum (they can pay money to chew gum for the day to raise money for AR). Valentine's day came and went and his bag of candy is still untouched. I kept telling him, "just a few more days" but every time we went in to the dentist the color was still wrong. I have lost track of how many trips we have made to the dentist but I'm sure it's more than 10. We even went to the lab a couple times so the guy could work on the crown while Andrew was there. Still no luck. I think he has made at least a dozen crowns and keeps trying to stain and bleach them over and over to get the right color.

So this morning we were thrilled that the crown was the finally the right color and they were able to cement it on! The good news is that with enough money I can still see the smile I adore and hopefully Andrew has learned to be a little more careful with his teeth!