picture was taken 4/09

Thursday, June 9, 2011

another year goes by...

I can't really believe it has been a year since I last wrote on here! Life has changed dramatically. I have been so busy with other stuff that my blog has gone away to the side.
We decided after much prayer to close our shop. It really was such a struggle financially and emotionally. We did this right before Christmas. Don was told he could come back to his old job but when it came down to it they wouldn't bring him back on. Because we never paid ourselves we could not collect unemployment and Don did what he could out of hour garage at home till he finally secured a job in March with Water Movers in Salt Lake. He has been happy there so far. Right before he started a job I got him out running with me occasionally and he has also taken up cycling. He ran a 5k in February and March with me, February I beat him and March he beat me and I haven't been able to catch him yet. I started bringing him to a running club I meet with and he has made some good friends and was able to join their team for this years Ragnar next weekend.

Jacob- Oh boy! He is growing up so quickly! He turned 12 in February and LOVES young men's and has really done well in school this year. He starts Junior High next year and really wants to play the Trumpet.

Cora -She is the same old Cora with a little more attitude-tween.. that's all I gotta say. She is loves going to school and has made some new really great friends this year!

Owen-Has finally put on a couple inches! He had a great year at school and has really started to become his own person. He is being baptised this fall! I can't believe it!!

Sadie-My baby, my last child. She turned 5 a month ago. And she starts Kindergarten this fall boohoo!! She is soo excited!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Ragnar

So a bunch of my running friends have blogs just for their running experiences. I have decided I want to so I will be moving this post over there as soon as I find a name I really like :)

So a few months ago I had heard about this race called Wasatch Back. I thought it was just a marathon lalala. Then I started hearing about this other race the Raganr relay. Hmm what is that. I soon learned (with some research) that it is infact the same race. (Ok I don't usually say race because I am not a racer but a runner and I don't necessarily run against anyone but myself so I call them runs). So I started readingabout it and checked otu their website and was REALLY wanting to do this. I didn't even know where to start. So early May I thought hmmm I do know a few people running it and if they know people that are running it maybe if someone gets injured or something I could take their place! (Horrible thought :( ) So I told one of my friends that if she heard of any to let me know. and then I told my cousin if she knew of any teams looking to let me know. Well I posted it on her Facebook wall an someone else commented back to me asking if I was serious. They had a team member that might be too injured to run! So I said YES I am totally interested. He told me the leg so I checked it out and he would let me know within a couple days. A few days later he emailed me and told me he still wasn't sure and would let me know soon. a couple weeks ticked by. we went on vacation over Memorial day Weekend and That sunday as I sat in my trailer I came to the conclusion it was NOT going to happen I wasn't gonna find a team and I needed to let go of the idea. Maybe next year. That Sunday night I got a text saying my cousin JaNae had sent me a message thru Facebook. My emails weren't really coming to my phone much and I couldn't get any webpages to come up on my phone. (not very good service where we were at) But I read about two lines. And I got the jist of it. They had an injured runner and were looking for 2 runners!! I imidiately texted back saying YES save me a spot!! I was sooo happy I could cry!! The next morning when i woke up my emails had come to my phone and I was able to read the whole message! Plus the other person had emailed me offering me a spot! I was dumbfounded. 24 hours before I had come to the conclusion Ragnar was not in my immediate future and now I had two teams to pick from!! I debated for 2 days which team to pick! I decided on an all womens team. One I could run with some one I knew! (plus it was $30 cheaper cuz we weren't renting a hotel) lol. I was sooo excited I could barely breathe! However I had to because I only had about 15 days to really train for this. School was now out for the summer and I hoped to get some longer runs in. The following summer I was struck with the stomach flu! I was out for 5 days! So the next friday I was able to run again and hoped to get two runs in that day but didn't. I didn't get any two-a-days in! The next week I did a run monday and wednesday and then was up bright and early Friday Morning to head off to Logan. Oh I love a good party and that is exactly what Ragnar is! It starts from the moment you pull into the starting area. looking at all the fun decorated vans! We parked next to the Bingham High school Seminary teachers and one of them took our pictures. we went over to teh starting gate and did our safety meeting got our goodie bags and wished Brenda a fond farewell as she headed off on the first leg of 36.

I asked fro advise from a formal Ragnar runner and she said to jouran it so the rest of this is copied from my journal.
Leg 1 (#4) 5.1 miles=54.48 11 kills
I didn't stretch. I started out to fast. getting up at 4am and not eating much I did abotu 54.48. So by starting too fast it slowed me, I got stitches and it took a while to catch my breath& OH it was HOT! I have not run in the sun for a long time and it about killed me!
I drank two bottles of water before & probably sweat 3! It was so beautiful!! Cache County is so gorgeous! Rolling green hill with beautiful purple snow capped mountains behind!
After the race again I didn't stretch. we walked for a few minutes, jumped in teh can & was onour way. I am not satisfied with my run :( I hope to make up for it next run. I was beat when we finally met up with van 2. I didn't lay down but we finally got to Snow Basin & I changed my clothes, splashed some water on me! YAY! Ate some dinner. It was so yummy. Penne pasta with marinare sauce and steamed veggies and a diet coke! I had energy again! I went ans for me a Ragnar running jacket. I can't wait to wear it! Not sure how the weather will be tonight but I won't wear it while running. So we left from Snow Basina few minutes ago. we were there about 2 1/2 hrs. Runner #1 is Brenda, She is hilarious!! She never ran double days either.
Debra #2 is awesome! she is such a good motivater!
Melissa-#3 She is small & fast!
JaNae #5 She is my cousins wife. she is fabulous
Laura #6 is the leader of our van! she is so fun and knows all the answers!
Oh ya. Joe found me at Snow Basin and came and chatted for a few minutes. He said we would catch them but I don't think so.
Leg 2 (#16) 4.1=42.35 6 kills
I wanted to write before my 3rd run but it was dark & I couldn't. So this leg was rated easy and it was beautiful again!
So this leg was fun My Mom, Sisters: Wendy and Bridgette, and all the kids: Mary, Michelle, Melanie, rachel, Tommy, Adam, Jacob, Cora, Owen and Sadie came up to cheer me on! It was soo fabulous to have BIG cheering section. They all made signs and yelled and hollered.
(written a little later )
This was the leg I was most excited for. I knew I would see my kids and not to long I could see Don. After I finished I was so happy because I knew I was 2/3's the way done. YAY! JaNae ran and then handed off to Laura. It got dark so fast! As we drove along the dark mountain road looking for her she was easy to pick out. She had butterfly wings on that lit up so we looked for the person with blue and pink lights on. She said everyone was saying "nice wings Tinkerbell!"
On to exchange #18. I had talked & texted don so I knew right where he was. There was soo much traffic. we only drove by, Said "Hi" and "thank you" I said "I love you!!" He was down the exchange a little bit calling in the runners #'s to the exchange lane so I could go see him. We quickly exchanged runners & drove to Debra's brothers cabin where we got a full 3 hrs of sleep. Not really. Right when I fell asleep Don called it was 2 am & we got up at 4:40. I did sleep inteh van on the way to the cabin for a little while too.
So at 4:40 we got the call Runner 12 was on the road running so we quickly packed up & left. Leg 3 (#28) 4.01=39.11 7 kills. I was excited for this run. It was mostly down hill. debra let me use her watch. It is a Garmin 305 which i LOVED and NEED! haha! It tells your pace, your time, your distance run and the date and time. It was so awesome!. I ran 3 miles downhill from the top of jordanelle Dam to the bottom. I was pacing about 8:30 miles!
I got to the bottom & knew I had 1 mile left. As I turned at 1/2 mile left I was shocked to see an up hill! It wasn't on my map & i was not expecting it. I couldn't get my mind & body set to run uphill & ended up walking!! I was so sad & dissapointed. But guess what i finished! Oh at the waiting areaof this leg I saw one of Owens friends mom & she started 3-5 minutes before me! She walked almost the whole way down hill since I could see her. (she was my target) I passed her! YAY!! haha!
Oh I love when I remember stuff! Exchange #24 (from van 2 to van 1) we ran into Joe again! We had passed them at some point too.
So it felt so fabulous to know I was done but sad too! When everyone was done running from our van we decided to drive the course on the way to the finish line. The last few legs looked horribly difficult! I felt sorry for our team members who had to run those. We pulled into The Canyons (finish line) between 11-12. We got some food, shopped, had massages at waitied finally at 2:30 we got the call! Lisa, the team captain & runner 12, had about 2 miles left. We all gathered and went to the finishing chute. we finally saw her at the bottom of the hill. YAY!! she got to us & we waited till the other van finally found us and we all crossed te finish line together. I'm not sure what our exact finish time was but it was about 3:00. so it took us from 7:30 am to 3pm saturday to run 188.2 miles 31 1/2 hours
this was such a neat experience. I really truelly hope I can do it again! And if I do I hope I have more notice so I can really train for it!


As an after thought I feel so blessed with my team! It was great to be ona team with all the same values and sooo thankful for their families and their support. we got a good nights sleep because Debra's brother let us use their cabin and Laura's DH came up to the finish line to take pictures!
Thank you to the best team ever!!

Our team name was Legs, Breasts and Wings (a take on KFC)
We got our results!! We were #54 in our division (womens)(99 womens teams) They also have the womens submasters, (women over 30) we were 13th out of 25! 32:11:30.2 was our finishing time! I can't believe I didn't get apicture of myself in my shirt with my medal :) I am gonna have to do that :)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

irritated.

I wrote up a catch-up blog and the window froze arg.. enjoy the slide show

Sunday, April 19, 2009

this long weekend was PERFECT!!

Don got off work Thursday at 2:30. after the kids were home from school the babysitter came over nad we were on our way! We left for Vegas about 4. didn't know where we were staying Thursday night. BIL Phil and he found us a cheap room online. Thanks Phil! We arrived around 8:30 their time it took us about 5 1/2 hours to get there. We spent the night at the Comfort Inn. It was across the street from the Hard Rock Cafe. Friday we got up and went to the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay and to the mall and shopped for a bit. We checked in to the Gold Coast about 3. I showered and started getting ready for the concert. After I was almost done Don jumped in the shower and got ready and we left to The Palms Hotel to meet up with some friends I met online (thecure.com forum) We met them at the Cafe there with really isn't a cafe at all but a really nice restraunt!! We sat for a while and played a game one of the guys made up and tehn they all got in line for the GA and we sat and talked to a couple from Elko. Cause we both had seats. so then we were getting abit anxious so we went over and bought my shirt and got in line we weren't even there 5 minutes and they opened the doors. We found our seats and I was a bit dissapointed but hey I was there and that was all that mattered right? the tickets said it was supposed to start at 8 they didn't come on stage till almost 9 :( It was sooo awesome though! they soorocked it all night! They played for 2 1/2 hours! rumors spread I don't know why they came out for the third encore. Robert Smith is such an amazing artist! We didn't get any great shots but did take some of the screen that were ok. HAlf way thru the show my throat was KILLING me ( I have a cold) so I went and got a Diet Coke Holy cow!! $4!! for a little cup! ACK! I hate paying $4 for a 12 pack :) The concert was amazing!! And not long enough! They could have gone all night and I would have been happy!
As we walked into the Gold Coast after the concert and Don started walking slow looking to the side of us so I glanced over and said Oh My Heck! It's phil, He said no I don't think so I said YES it is!! so we watched him for a second him saying no me saying yes. well we went to TGIFridays and had a banansplit still talking about it. While we were waiting for the split to come out Don said he was goona go ask him if he was Phil so he did!! He said Is your name phile he said yes, Don asked if he was from the deadliest catch he said yes! They chatted for a couple minutes and then Don came back to the table. I said I wanted a picture with him so we went and found him after we ate and I met him too!
We didn't get to bed til almost 2 our time. I was exhausted I shouldn't have walked so much Friday! we got up and checked out about 9:30 (we are such late sleepers you know) and hit the road by 11. got home about 5:30. it was such a great trip! I had a blast! I will make a slide show and post it later!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Goblin Valley

well ife is chuggin full speed ahead! Easter has com and gone now. We ventured south to Goblin Valley. We (We as in Don and I) haven't been there is 11 years! Anywho Back in Like Oct or Novemeber My sis and I were talking hwo she could finally camp now that she isn't working and that we should go somewhere for Easter well one of our favorite spots as kids was Goblin valley so I looked all the info up made reservations tha day I could (which was December 16 I think!) And the day finally came that we could go! We left Friday morning and got there Friday afternoon got camp set up just in time for it to rain! All night!! our tent blew over about 7am! Ya blew over, bent poles ugh! mom and dad had loaned us theres and they have two the same theres blew over a few minutes later. so we threw everything in the truck and sat freezing wet in the truck it finally let up and we went and had breakfast. the day was over all in and out of the truck cuz of the rain but we did go for a drive to see the valley between rain storms! we spent a little time there and then came back. oh ya. dad and mom were able to salvage one of the tents and they opted to sleep in it with the kids and gave us a smaller tent so Don, me, Sadie and Trixie slept int he smaller tent. any who we went to bed that night and it rained some more but when we got up the skies were clear. With it being Easter Sunday we got up to find the Easter Bunny had come and left little gifts for the kids, we ate breakfast, we went back down to the Valley, had an egg hunt and enjoyed the rest of the day! Don Fried a Turkey which was soo tastey!! anyway Bridgette and her family left after dinner and we went for a drive a gain and Don shot his bow to get ready for the pig hunt next week. so here are some pictures of our fabulous trip!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

2 down 4 to go!

two things down for the month that is if you read often or look down the page I listed my things to do for the month! Cora's fieldtrip was fun! and Don had a safe trip! I suppose I should pull out the new camera and figure out how to down load stuff. Today is the funeral of Norene Southwick. the neighbor that passed away last week. I felt selfish cuz I hoped the funeral was today so I didn't have to pull my kids out of school. But it is today which I am sure they did so the teachers could also come. I made cookies for the luncheon after. my kids have been begging for some and I would have doubled the batch but I didn't have enough brown sugar :(

Tomorrow we leave for Goblin valley I can hardly wait! it is going to be awesome even though there is chance for rain Saturday it should still be pretty warm! We bougth new sleeping bags last night! I am so happy about that it is silly!

ok I will post some pictures don took in Minnesota and then figure out the camera and hopefully post pictures from the aquarium! oops I forgot the pictures are ont eh other computer :)

Monday, April 6, 2009

Spring is here!

I love to see the ducks in the neighborhood. The couple just waddling around quacking at each other, flying in the sky together! call me crazy but I do love it! I hope this year I don't see a lonely mallard quacking for his mate not know it is the roadkill...

This weekend was General Conference. I think I cried thru most of it. It was beautiful and a lot really hit home. about a month ago We heard there was a special fast in the ward for one of our neighbors who had just found out she had a quick moving Lung Cancer :( She lost her battle this past Friday. It was quick and heart breaking, she was 54 yo, her youngest son is 13. So thru conference I heard a lot about loss. I know people hear different things but this is what I heard. And being comforted. Of course I heard more and with in 15 minutes of the first saturday session I went and hit the DVR cuz I knew I would want to watch it again. Oh another funny/weird thing. I tried to keep an eye on the clock so I wouldn't miss it but at 9:59 I started singing in my head "Come Listen to a Prophets Voice" and I looked at the clock saw the time and turned on the TV (It starts at 10). Sunday morning as the new sustained apostle Neil L. Andersen stood to talk the sweetest feeling came over me I got my comformation he is an apostle of God.
So Sunday afternoon We went to the SLCM egg hunt. It was supposed to be Saturday but it was snowing!! here are some pictures. We missed the last session but I am going to watch it when Don gets home.