I just couldn’t resist posting this picture, although the 10k took place more than a month ago. I just recently put the picture on my computer. I just love how exhausted he looks. You can practically hear him panting. If you could’ve seen his face sprinting that last stretch you would’ve laughed as hard as Spencer and I did… he doesn’t mess around when it comes to any sort of athletic endeavor.  I opted to babysit Hudson & Beckham rather than participate (which shows how lazy I am), but well done to all of you who got a little more exercise than I did holding the twins up to see the horses.

Unfortunately, 3 weeks from today his real job starts, and the frequency of such sporting events will probably decrease significantly.

And a happy birthday to Ms. Asay and Mr. Fey today. Enjoy.

I think it’s safe to say I can bump my satisfaction level with Facebook: Round 2 up to a solid 94% or so. Kim has worked her Facebook connections and gotten the powers to be to approve a 2-capital first name. Thanks Kim and Lex. Maybe I’ll send you a gift on Facebook now to show my appreciation.

Do you want to hear my thoughts on Facebook? Why I left and why I’ve returned again? No, probably not. But you’re glad I’ve done something since Wicked so you’ll read on. You’re hoping there’s something entertaining in here, hoping you catch a glimpse into our usually boring lives, or that you’ll at least be able to find my newly reactivated profile on the book of faces. Well, my friends, read on.

On December 8, 2006 (Yes, I remember the date. That’s who I am.) I decided to sign off of Facebook, probably following the lead of my then-boyfriend-turned-now-husband who had done the same thing just weeks prior. I deactivated my account and never looked back. OK, I looked back, but not much. I had enough friends in real life rather than my cyber life to keep me updated on everyone and everything I needed to know. I would look at people’s profiles when I was with other friends who signed on to Facebook, but I was OK with being separated from it. In fact, I liked it. Part of why Facebook: Round 1 came to end for me is because I was tired of caring about other people. Does that sound totally heartless? Yes it really does. Forgive me, and I will explain. There were people I didn’t want to keep in touch with; I didn’t want to care what they were up to; who they were dating; where they were posing to take pictures they would later upload. Was it YOU? No, of course not. I’ve continued to talk to you since then! (And it wasn’t any one person in particular for all of you that are probably pegging it on that one specific someone.) I just felt like I cared far too much about people who weren’t a part of my life anymore. Now I haven’t explained myself well enough, and I haven’t made up for being so heartless, but I’ll try a little harder. (Meanwhile, listen to Kris Allen’s version of heartless just because it was so good.) I love that Facebook keeps you in touch with people who aren’t actively a part of your life anymore, but it’s also like an information overload on every detail of everyone’s life. I spent far too much of my own life caring about the minutiae of other people’s lives. I just needed a break. I judge no one for being a proud Facebook supporter since it’s inception. You just have more will power than I did to not live in the past.

Alright call me mean. But you know blogs make you seem colder than you really are, right?

So on to Facebook: Round 2.

Over the past 2.5 years we have had so many people ask us if we had heard about Facebook, if we were on it, and when we would be getting back on. I guess it finally hit home when Kim Allred Burch — as she’s known on Facebook.com — texted me “Your mom is on facebook and you’re not?! What is this world coming to?” I guess I couldn’t take the pressure of Kath being cooler than I am. So Ashton and I returned last Friday just in time to get our personalized usernames. And speaking of names, one of the only changes I have made to my reactivated account (because it keeps your account just as it was… friends, wall posts, messages, profile picture) was to change my last name. So as KC Wise tried to become KC Grewal — which was hard enough on it’s own in the real world — Facebook said, “Not so fast there with that unauthorized capitalization” and so I am stuck with Kc Grewal. Yes, it’s a little thing, but why can everyone else have their names capitalized correctly and I can’t? Should I blame my parents for giving me the name Katherine Candace with the intent to call me KC all along? Probably. They’re easier to get in touch with than Mark Zuckerberg. And despite my repeated attempts at capitalization correction requests, and nickname requests, I remain Kc Grewal. I had even planned to be KC Wise Grewal to make it easier for the stalkers of my past, but I thought that might get too confusing in my requests to the great Name Gurus at Facebook. They certainly do have a lot of rules.

And so I’m left feeling only about 75% satisfied with my return to Facebook. Hence, I still have not updated my profile picture or searched for any of the new friends that asked me repeatedly if I had heard of this so-called “Facebook.” I’m waiting for Facebook to do their part, and then I’ll put forth a little more effort. I have, however, learned to delete friends I couldn’t care less about — again, that’s not any of you — and hide the constant news feeds from the ones that I’m happy to be connected with, but couldn’t care less about their 27 daily status updates, which generally consist of why Obama rules and I drool.

And finally, anyone with connections over in the Name Request Department is welcome to help plead my case (or Kace if you will).

For those of you who have been dying to hear how my two brackets did, let me put your mind at ease by telling you that I did in fact win in both groups. In fact, in the Wise family group I took both the gold and the silver medal with my two brackets. And (to brag just a teeny tiny bit) I had UNC winning in one of my brackets and Michigan State winning in the other. Now neither bracket had them actually playing each other in the championship, but I’m still pretty impressed with myself. In the end, my UNC bracket ended up being in the 98.something percentile on espn.com, but as amazing as that sounds, it was still only ranked somewhere in the 70,000s or so…

Here’s the email Ashton sent out to his friends from BYU announcing my win. I felt it was appropriate to post it here as well.

So the tourney is over and we’re all sick of looking at our low scoring brackets… But I do need to recognize the winner of the inaugural year of Legends Bracketology.

As seen on ESPN the winner is KC… yep, that is not a typo. My wife took it all boys. If you are a little embarrassed that a girl beat you, don’t feel bad, at least you don’t have to be reminded of it every day until next year.

Thanks for submitting brackets! We’ll do it again in 2010. Until then I guess KC is queen of the brackets.

And here’s to a whole year of being the Queen…

Just a quick post to fill you in on the madness that was the month of March.

I participated in two brackets on espn.com. While filling out my brackets I asked my husband for his help and advice on picking the winning teams. Considering the difference in our knowledge of collegiate basketball, I thought he would take pity on me and shoot me a few tips. But no. He offered no help saying that I had to do it on my own. So I went on my merry way picking my winning brackets.

Now I know that we are only down to the final 4, so when this is all said and done, I very well maybe fall quite a few spots (which is why I have to blog about this now), but for now I am in first place in both of the brackets I joined. That’s right — first place.

I just tried to get a picture of the bracket standings in here, but I couldn’t do it, so just trust me. Numero Uno my friends.  In fact, on one of them, my bracket is ranked in the 99.25 percentile of all the brackets on espn. What what.

P.S. This isn’t even an April Fool’s joke, I promise.

(Photo courtesy of Ashton’s iPhone on the Ferry ride back from Bainbridge Island… you thought I scanned a postcard in, huh?)

We loved it. The city was beautiful, and any time we can meet up with Dan and Kristi, we’re pretty happy.

This drinking chocolate was the highlight of Ashton’s trip… Marie-Antoinette herself served it to him. But that’s Mackenzie in the picture. Unfortunately, she was a sorry excuse of a replacement for Ms. Marie-Antoinette.

Snoqualmie (the L is silent, right Kris?) Falls.

Space Needle. Pike Place Market. Ferry Ride. Does it look like I’m crying? I’m really not, that was just a layer of ice forming on my corneas.

Our romantic Valentine’s Day dessert. Chocolate Pasta. Seriously. We also had a romantic Valentine’s game of Scattergories. We couldn’t figure out exactly who won, but we did know for sure that Ashton lost.

If you happen to be flying on a Southwest flight and seated in about row 5 or so, would you mind checking the seatback pocket in front of you for a little black book? It will say “Ashton P. Grewal” on the front cover, and “Book of Mormon” on the spine. It looks pretty worn-in, and it probably has some fun surprises inside. Most importantly, the truth of course, but also maybe some quotes from John Bytheway, or some notes in Portuguese and probably a tiny airplane or two made out of a gum wrapper because he likes to make those during church. Just let us know if you find it. The good — and oh so helpful — people at Southwest have yet to track it down. I guess this is what you get for trying to make the most of your flying time.

Talmage Wise got a 28 on the ACT.

You may be reading this and saying, “Wait, do you mean Spencer Wise?” But no, no… I mean the 13-year-old seventh grader Talmage Wise.  He took a real ACT the other day, and his scores just arrived. And by now you’re probably thinking “I didn’t even get a 28 when I took it as a junior or senior!” I know, I know, don’t feel bad. He’s a genius of a kid.

The first Wise family birthday wishes I received today were from my dear almost-17-year-old brother Spencer.

Spencer: “Happy birthday. You’re like a quarter of the way to death.”

KC: “I hope I live to be a 100. It sounds way worse to think I could be a third of the way to death.”

Spencer: “Exactly. I was being optimistic.”

He’s such a sweetheart.

So it’s my birthday… happy birthday. So far 25 has been pretty fantastic. My husband has spoiled me far more than I deserve. I mean after all I’m a quarter way to death; he should probably just give up on me.