True Stories...

Last week.
So it's late.
My eyes are killing me.
Take out my contacts, grab what I think are my homeopathic eye drops, quickly squeeze them into both eyes...
The burning starts... Don't remember it hurting like that before???
I grapple for the lights, look closely at the bottle of "eye drops"....

They were homeopathic alright, however they were the kids' EAR drops..

Let's just say I finally got to use my 7th grade science lab eye flushing skills.

2nd mishap..
Note to self..
Don't leave out a brand new book of Christmas stamps that to a two year old resemble stickers. Thank you Kate for the $8 piece of Christmas art.

Spiritual Architects

So Carly & Kate are in the front room building towers out of Legos.

Kate was really struggling with hers toppling over.

Carly says, "Kate, first you need to build a "How Firm a Foundation".

(Thanks to Hailey Cox for teaching the primary that hymn for this years Primary Program.)

St. George Openings

Will be down in St. George for the weekend.
Still have some openings for photo shoots if you know of anyone down South!!
Friday Nov. 6th & Saturday Nov. 7th spots available.

Have 'em call me! 801.598.8180

JT

Hypnotic Plumber

So I'm driving down the highway into Salt Lake the other day... feeling a little overwhelmed as we all do sometimes.

Wife. Mother. Real Estate. Piano. Photography.
Love 'em all. But it had been a week.
I was pondering to myself how to "find the balance".

I look over and noticed a vehicle next to me, covered in writing.
A large picture of Merlin the Wizard graced the side of the truck.
"A little unusual", I thought to myself.
Beneath the wizard were the words Merlin Plumbing...
Clever play on words.

It got better.

As I proceeded to read the company name, they not only did plumbing, but heating too.
O.K., I can handle that.
Merlin Plumbing & Heating.

It was the words that followed that caught my eye however as I continued to read..
By this time, I'm adjusting my speed to parallel the plumber next to me.
He probably thought I was stalking him.

Merlin Plumbing & Heating & Astrology...
WHAT?
Did I read that correctly?
No, it couldn't be.

It got even better.

It kept going..
By this time the words are spilling down the side of the truck as there was not enough room.
Merlin Plumbing Heating & Astrology & Hypnotist.

I of course had to "Google it" upon my arrival home later that evening, as I was still laughing to myself about it.

Turns out that it's a local company right here in Park City!

Clogged toilets, leaky faucets? Pisces? Libra?
So yes ladies, you can now have your horoscope read to you by a man with plumber's crack.
Now that's a visual.

Point taken.
I guess my jobs aren't that bad after all.

6 AM Epiphany

So I've been doing the P90X thing. I know, the TV infomercial got to me. It was either this or that thing that juices, slices and prepares your meals for you while you watch Oprah.

So ever since I started, I couldn't for the life of me figure out who the instructor reminds me of? Usually about 45 min. into the Plyometrics DVD I'm certain he's Satan's brother; but it really was bugging me! So the other day it hit me. Robbie Rotten!! Did anyone ever watch Lazy Town on Nickelodeon? Back when we had cable the kids used to love this show, not sure if it's even still on. But for sure these guys must be long lost kin? What do you think?

A Trip to the Station...

Went and spent the day with daddy at the station today.

So fun.

The kids just love playing on the engine and going down the fireman pole.

Some cute pics of the kids hamming it up.

Carpe Diem

Just a note of thanks for all the support with the new biz.
Check out the blog for some new pics!

Ammon's Grouse Hunt

Ammon's first hunt with a shotgun...

Our favorite part was that he never took his eye off the bird..

"Did I get it?"... AWESOME...

He's a TUTTLE

Carpe Diem Imagery

It's finally here!! Check out my photography blog.
www.carpediemimagery.blogspot.com
Currently booking Fall Sessions
Family Package: $100
CD- 15 Images

Park City 1/2 Marathon

Setting the scene: Matt's gone hunting for 10 days. Hired a sitter to watch the kids. Left at 5:30 AM with the Midway Running Club Gang. Ran the 1/2 Marathon in Park City. (Breathtaking views would highly recommend it.) Great run. Was able to shave off 6 min. from my PR.
Come home to the kids...

Ammon:"You ran 13 miles, and all you got was a piece of plastic?"

End of An Era

The Tuttle Household is officially diaperless...
2 weeks ago Kate decided to wear some of Carly's "big girl" underwear, and we've never gone back. She now has her own princess unders and I apologize in advance if she decides to show them to you next time we're together..

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Happy Birthday Katie!! Katie's 30th Surprise Bday Bash.. So fun to see all the "girls" decked out. Lots of fun, food, dancing and laughing! Thanks to Amy and Tracie for all the hard work!

Tuttle's Tunes

Tuttle's Tunes is now back in business!!
Anyone interested in piano or violin lessons give me a call!
12 yrs. experience, A.A. Degree / Masters courses - University of Alaska
Lessons are $50 / month.
Current openings on Monday / Wednesday
I teach a traditional method using Alfred's books.
Tell a friend!
Thanks.
JT
801.598.8180

Princess for a Day

Matt took Carly up to the Homestead for their first annual Princess Tea Party.
She got to get all dressed up like a princess, have pink lemonade and desserts and watch beautiful ballet dancers and make a real crown! She loved feeling so special for a day and thanks to Dad for the Daddy Daughter Date!!

Tea Party Pics

Fun in the Sun

Summer 2009

Wasatch Back 2009

Wasatch Back was AWESOME! I've been waiting to blog until I got a team pic, however due to the downpour of rain at the finish line one has yet to surface.

This was my first year, can't wait to do it again..

Drove with a van of 5 amazing women.

My first leg was a hot 5.6 miles around 2 in the afternoon.

Second was at midnight, nice and cool, 4.9 miles in the dark, neat feeling to run at midnight.

Last leg was a soggy, windy 7.9 up the hill from Francis to Jordanelle.

Luckily my honey came to watch and had a spare rain jacket to lend me.

The best part of the whole relay was seeing my kids cheer me on at the top of the big hill, Matt parked his truck and they all sat on the tailgate and cheered "Go mom!"

Something about seeing their smiling faces kept me going.

Still not quite sure on why Carly was dressed like a ladybug....

4 Wheelin Fun - Camping Strawberry River

Baseball Season Fun

Hey Ammon will you hold my camera?

Funny thing is, he never even said anything.. Later that week I go to download some photos and see this... I guess that's what I get for asking a 7 yr. old to hold my camera..

2 Alarm Fire

And to think I was bugged, cause he wasn't answering his cell phone...
Proud of you babe.
JT

Thank-You Jesus

So a little background on the pics, we had a celebratory "late night" the night we got our swing set put together... The first pic is the cute well behaved cherubs posing for me, the second was taken not seconds later as I looked out our window, to find that they had all turned into monkeys.... It's ok if you don't trust your kids to play at my home anymore.. I wouldn't either..

So as many of you knew, a while back we were desparately in search of a wooden swing set for the kids..

I would check KSL like a madwoman, several times/hour, hoping to be able to catch the latest listing.. It turned out I wasn't the only mother in the state of UT hoping to save a buck in purchasing hours of entertainment for the little ones.. Literally thousands of people would view these ads within mintues of being posted..

We had alot of really bad experiences with swingsets being sold out from under us, (we had a scheduled 9 am pick up for one and a couple came to someone's house and paid them cash at midnight so they could take it.., etc. etc.)

Frustrated and tired of always being so anxious to "check KSL", and even then having deals fall through, I finally decided to relax and just post another ad in the wanted section...

By this point we had been looking for two months and it seemed almost impossible..

That week in family prayer the kids all got in on it and starting to pray for one and sure enough within a week we got a call from a lady that had a swing set that she was willing to let go for next to nothing! A little elbow grease, and it was as good as new!

The best part of it all is that night in our prayers, Carly kept it short and sweet..

Thank-you Jesus for our swing set..

Search & Rescue

The "Conner Kids"

So exactly a year ago Matt & I went skydiving.. So awesome, would highly recommend it..

LOVED IT...

Anyways, This evening I was going through some old pictures and I ran across these..

My mom, the only sane one in the bunch didn't go with us so she documented our feat in photos..

Have you ever done something in the heat of the moment and then looked back and thought, "What was I thinking"?
So I'm envisioning someone actually crashing/having an accident and the hippies from "Search & Rescue" coming to "like" rescue someone dude....

Let's just say it's a good thing all went well...

Soccer Season 2009

So the whole season has passed and still no goals for Carly..

It doesn't help that Ammon makes 3-4/game...

So its the last game and I overhear Matt telling Carly, "If you make a goal, I'll buy you a shake at Dairy Keen"..

Three seconds into the game Carly makes a breakaway, and as fast as she could GOAL!!!!

That's my girl.. The tradition continues, just like her mama, motivated by food..

Another "Heber Moment"

As all of you know we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Heber..
Matt and I have enjoyed experiencing our "only in Heber" moments..
Just to name a few...
We move in and meet the neighbors, their boys' names are Winchester and Remington..
Running into at least three people you know everytime you go to get groceries..
Having the guy behind the counter at Walgreen's know you by your first name..
The secretary at Old Mill, "You're Ammon's mom right?"
Being told by the Treasury Dept. of Heber City that they only accept checks because they aren't yet set up to receive credit card payments...
Waving to the old farmer in the red truck that lives on Mill Road, I swear every time I'm out running he's delivering a load of hay..
Chatting with friends as they've stopped their cars in the middle of the road to say hi...

But tonight has got to be my favorite..
Phone rings.. It's 10 P.M.
I over hear Matt laughing.
Hangs up.
"Hey Ammon, you'll never believe who's your baseball coach this summer!"
"Your doctor!!"
(Ammon was in just last week to have some skin tags burned off of a particularly precarious spot )
Ammon replied, "Well, I bet I'll know him the best out of any of the kids!"

We're hoping we can eliminate any copays over the summer and get our kids ears/throats checked on first base...

First Wasatch Back

SO EXCITED... I've always heard, you've never really ran until you've ran at 2 a.m. with a head lamp on.. This will be my first time ever, can't wait!

Is this a sign that Mommy eats out too much?

So yesterday out of the middle of nowhere we hear our four year old spontaneously yell out from the other room

FREEEEE MEEEEEALL!

Thank you Cafe Rio.

More pics from the big day

After the finish line

I got my "big hugs" the kids had promised me...

At the starting line

Salt Lake Marathon April 18, 2009

“I am a runner.”
This is what I told myself just four weeks after giving birth to my first child.
At 190 pounds I felt more like a circus elephant as I trudged around the block from our tiny apartment.
I had never ran a day in my life, let’s just say it didn’t come naturally.
At first it was simply a way to lose weight, it quickly became something much more.

I always thought that either you were born a runner or you weren’t, I would see those long legged beauties running around my neighborhood, they appeared as gazelles as they glided past me, as I struggled to even run a full mile, (and I use the term run lightly).
Having grown up in doctor’s offices I had never thought of myself as an athletic person, Autoimmune Issues, Fibromyalgia, Reflex Neurovascualar Distrophy, Severe Allergies, etc. they nicknamed me the “inside girl” as I swelled up most times just venturing outside..

Eight months later I ran my first race, a little 5K for our small town’s 4th of July Celebration.

I remember feeling “this is what it feels like to win” growing up I had been the orchestra/musical type, I’d never experienced a home run, a game winning basket, or the goal to save the game.. This was a moment, just for me. I remember after I finished, thinking
“I’m gonna do this again.”

And I did, the very next summer I did the 10K .. Matt ended up working that day and I remember thinking that I didn’t even mind, I wasn’t running the race for anyone at the finish line, this was for me…

The next year was the half marathon, I ran this with Matt and it was such a fun, neat way to accomplish it together.. Upon crossing the finish line I remember thinking, “next the marathon”..

Growing up I had had many priesthood blessings, I was told that I would not have to have continuing difficulty with my health, but that these blessings were contingent upon living the law of health.. and that one of the purposes of my being here was to learn to take care of my own body. Little did I know what this was to mean, or what the future held..I had often hoped that there would be some “miracle cure” or pill I could take to make it all go away..


Endometriosis & Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome were my newest struggles, after many shots, procedures, hormones, ultrasounds, drugs, charts, failed artificial insemination, miscarriages, struggling to conceive we finally had babies number 2 and 3. During my last pregnancy I was six weeks until my delivery date with gestational diabetes and fell and broke my tailbone. You can forget running, walking was a chore. I needed help to go the bathroom, bathe, everything hurt.. The week following the delivery the doctors found heart, liver and thyroid problems, this combined with post partum depression and three little ones was seemingly more than I could handle on some days.
It was then after being on this earth for 28 years that I truly learned the sacrifice that our Savior made during the atonement process.. I had always thought that he had only experienced the pains one experiences as a result of sin. But I came to understand that he also went through any physical pain that we could imagine.. I specifically remember one night pleading with Heavenly Father to take it all away and I was very clearly told “You’re stronger than you think you are”..
I remember being angry for about a week about this answer I received; clearly not what I was looking for. But I began to look back at all of my trials in life and see them as blessings, stepping stones to where I was.. This was a true turning point in my life, I saw clearly that I could go either way.. I chose to run.

It was July of 2008 that I officially made the decision, I said it out loud, “I am going to run a marathon in 2009”. I was going to be turning 30, and since the conception of my running days, it was my goal to have accomplished this feat by my 30th birthday. I remember the night I found the Salt Lake Marathon online, I couldn’t even sleep, I just laid in bed and daydreamed… I had been running since I had had baby 3, but only like 3 miles at a time… nothing big…

It all seemed so far away, so ominous, most people’s reactions when I told them was “Really?” followed by “Are you sure?”

Shortly after this time, we made the decision that our family was all here and that I could be done trying to conceive and bear children, I felt such peace and happiness at this time and was so grateful to have my body back, just for me. I didn’t feel selfish at all, I had bore three amazing children and now it was time to really show Heavenly Father how grateful I was for this body I had been given.. this gift.

I printed out these words and framed them, they sat by my bedside for almost a year…

4.18.09
26.2

They inspired me on those cold winter mornings, those late nights when I felt like I didn’t want to “squeeze in a run”..

Although I never found that “miracle cure” I was looking for, running had become my greatest coping mechanism.. I no longer defined myself by the ailments they had diagnosed me with, in fact I prefer not to even think about them, I sometimes convince myself that they have “gone away”, but if I slack off for more than 4/5 days they all start creeping back..
Running most certainly has nothing to do with vanity, I finally got to the weight the DMV always thought I was, and I remember telling a friend once that it seemed the more I exercise the less I look like Carrie Underwood, and the more I look like Mary Lou Retton.
Apparently there is no hope for us 5” girls…

So I started seriously training in September, the month we moved to Heber.
I printed out my 6 month training schedule and religiously followed it.

In the past six months I’ve…

Ran with the dog,
Ran with the kids,
Ran with Ammon on his bike,
Ran with the single jogger
Ran with the double jogger
Christmas Day – Running
Our 10 yr. anniversary trip to the Bahamas – Running
Camping in the desert – Running on the sand
Ran on the road, ran on the treadmill
Ran in the snow
Rain in the rain
Hot, cold, early, late
Ran at 5 in the morning
Ran at nine at night
I think at one point I even ate green eggs and ham.
For my 16 miler it was snowing too hard, so I drove to the local gym and got a free pass, and toughed it out on the treadmill (would not recommend it)

Things that kept me going..

Cold baths after long runs.
Ice water.
Started to think of food as fuel
Jolly Ranchers
Music
(I trained for a whole year with the free headphones that you get on Delta flights.)
Six weeks before the marathon was my 30th bday.
Matt told his parents to take his and my allotted bday money and combine them to get me a new IPOD/headphones to train with.. (Thanks honey.)

Thanks to…

My hubby for all the lost Saturdays, foot rubs, support and the words “I’m proud of you”
Thanks to my kids for understanding when “mommy had to run”
My friends for all the encouragement and well wishes
My family for coming to see me finish what I started

So finally after…

7 Years
3 Races
2 surgeries
3 miscarriages
3 pregnancies
1 broken tailbone
6 months of marathon training with
475 miles logged
2 pairs of running shoes


It was the big day,
We arose early and I was much calmer than I had thought I’d be.
As I dressed I started to become more excited, nervous, ready to run!
It was 4 a.m. and I felt like a bull in a pen.
The drive to Salt Lake seemed like an eternity.
Waited in line with all of the other marathon hopefuls.
A kiss goodbye to Matt, this is when it really sank in that I was doing this alone.
Gun went off and I started running, during the first mile my mind wandered and I thought,

25 more of these REALLY?
But I was able to focus and concentrate on my breathing, the rhythm of my feet hitting the ground, my music.
At the half point I was right on target of where I wanted to be time wise, felt great.
Mile 18 is where I started to feel tired.
I thought, “Note to self: Bring your own food on your next marathon”
(They had ran out of anything but water and Gatorade)
Don’t get me wrong, I love water, but for 26 miles you need a little something extra
So, totally my fault, it was almost comical, I found myself looking on the asphalt below for any scraps that someone had dropped below..
At mile 20 there was a friendly neighborhood group of people holding out paper cups on their lawn, I reached for one as I approached and it was then I realized a little something different, all of the people on the lawn were holding beer bottles, I then noticed the signs they had posted in their lawn. One read “Temptation Station” the next read “Why run when you can drink?” It was then that I realized that what I thought was water was really shots of tequila.. let’s just say I passed on that one..
My favorite sign was at mile 22 it read “If this was the finish line you’d be done”
When I finally was done it was a much different emotion than I had anticipated, no tears of joy, no exhaustion…just happiness.. I was almost giddy as I approached the finish line.
I saw my family cheering for me and I just had to do the obligatory raising of the arms.. I was done, I had finished, I had done what I said I would do.

And at last I could finally say… “I am a runner.”