Random Stuff

It has been over a week since my last blog post. I use this as our family journal so I feel like a slacker when I don't post, but every once in awhile I can't think of a single thing to blog about. So, here is a random list of happenings for the week:

1- I went with my Mom and sister, Heather, to the Women's Conference at the Conference Center. It was a party.

2- Korinne keeps going into Adam's office during the day and turning up the music really loud so she can dance to it. Sometimes she has it so loud I'm sure the neighbors can hear it. Unless Adam is on the phone he just tunes it out and keeps working--truly amazing.

3- Jenna filled in at the last minute for a sick kid and gave a talk in Primary on Sunday. She did a great job.

4- In Sacrament meeting on Sunday they announced a special session of Stake Conference will be held on November 15th. (They are going to split our stake) That is all well and good, unless you are the Primary President and the date announced is the date scheduled for the Primary Sacrament Meeting program. The only other date to have it is the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Should be interesting.

5- Britton put holes in 2 pairs of his jeans this week. Aghh.

6- The kids started yet another chore chart last week. They did pretty well, but there is room for improvement.

7-Adam made a fabulous Sunday dinner while I was attending meetings. When I got home it was on the table and ready to go. Awesome.

8-Korinne continues to believe that rules don't apply to her. Seriously, we've got to find a way to get past this.

9- I have been resting my IT band so I can run the Vegas Ragnar Relay in 2 weeks. Last Thursday I did something I've never done before-- I went lap swimming at a local pool. Wow. I have absolutely no swimming skills. The 40 people doing water aerobics in the other half of the pool probably got a great ab workout laughing at me. I felt like a fish out of water except I was actually IN water. Does that make sense?

10- I finally got texting on my phone. I was kind of surprised at how excited I was to get it. I've officially entered the 21st century. Go ahead, text me!

That is all. I'm hurting myself trying to think of other blog worthy events. Hopefully I'll be more inspired next week.

Run a Marathon, check!

Back in college I made a list of things to do before I died, and they weren't small things either, they were things like backpack through Europe, go skydiving, and learn another language (all of things I've done, by the way). 10 years ago I watched a good friend finish the 2nd annual Top of Utah Marathon and was so inspired that I went home to my college apartment and added, "Run a Marathon" to my list. I got close to accomplishing this goal 5 years ago, but had to bow out of the race with only weeks to go with a back injury. I decided that this was my year and I wasn't going to let anything keep me from reaching my goal. You can imagine my frustration when a few months ago I began having a lot of trouble with my IT bands (for you non-runners IT Band Syndrome is extremely painful and affects the entire outside of your leg--from thigh to calf with the knee being a particular painful section. It is also one of the most stubborn injuries to get over) After an 18 mile training run 4 weeks ago I have been on a skeleton training schedule and in the last 2 weeks only made it out on a 4 mile run, all in an effort to rest my leg so I would be able to finish the race. Last night it was hurting just from walking around the house (not good), but I was bound and determined to finish (one thing about ITBS is that while it is extremely painful, it won't cause any permanent damage if you "run through the pain" It will just take you a bit longer to recover).

After the race started this morning I began experiencing sharp pains throughout my leg by the 3rd mile. I kept going and a miraculous thing happened, it went partially numb! It still hurt like crazy, but I just kept going and going and going. I got clear to mile 21 before I hit the wall. I'm not going to lie to you, the last 5 miles were definitely not easy. I had pains in places I didn't even know existed, BUT I DID IT!! I finished and even lived to tell the tale. Since I was running injured I had no time aspirations whatsoever. I figured if I finished before 5 hours I would be happy as a clam. I came in at 4:45 so I'm pleased with that.

This is me taking an ice bath in the gutter. Definitely something I thought I would NEVER do, but my legs took such a beating I really needed an ice bath and it was my only option. (The water was running swift and was perfectly clear so I decided to chance it)

Click on this picture to see my expression when I first sat down. It was so coooooooold!

I plan on spending the rest of the day laying down with ice bags on my legs. Adam thinks this is all completely insane, but he has been very supportive. He makes a goal every year to NOT run a marathon and every year he reaches his goal. He's pretty happy about that.

Happy 1-year House-o-versary!

We have officially been in our house for a year. We love our house, neighborhood, ward, town, everything! It was a little random for us to just pick up and move where we did, but now I can see that it is definitely where we need to be right now. Love it, love it, love it.

All better

Jenna has started gymnastics and is really enjoying it. I wish I would have found out about it sooner. It really isn't that far from our house and she needed something that was just for her. Not one to be left out of anything Jenna was the last one to get our little flu bug last week. She missed church on Sunday and a day of school, but was well enough to make it to gymnastics in the late afternoon. Phew!

Korinne has been carrying around an empty bowl for 5 days now. I found her jumping on the neighbor's trampoline with her little friends on Tuesday afternoon holding an empty bowl in her hands. She was having the time of her life and wasn't feeling the least bit sick, but apparently she was so traumatized by her night of throwing up last week that she still won't be caught without a "throw up bowl." You know, just in case. Here she is yesterday watching Sesame Street with her big throw up bowl by her side.



She wanted to take it to preschool with her this week, but when I told her she couldn't go to preschool if she felt like she was going to throw up she was more than happy to ditch the bowl. I wonder how long we are going to be dealing with this throw up bowl thing. It is starting to get old. Not only that but she takes them everywhere and then leaves them in the most obscure places! Pretty soon I'm going to be out of plastic bowls.

Historic and Yucky--but not in that order.

The yuckies have made their rounds at our house this week. Adam was down and out on Wednesday with a fever and aches and then both Korinne and I have been out of commission the last couple of days with a nasty bug. When it comes to begin sick I would rather be down with a fever than be up all night throwing up, but alas it was not to be. Adam joked that I always have to "one up" him when it comes to getting sick. So, he got the fever and Korinne and I got to stay up all night throwing up. Don't worry, though, Adam paid his dues by staying up with Korinne and cleaning up every time she "missed." He's a good man.

This afternoon I thought I was pretty much over my sickness and I had heard about the CV Historic Home tour going on today. I thought it sounded like great fun to tour 6 historic homes around the town. My plan was greeted with so much enthusiasm that every member of my family opted NOT to go with me. (It is still Libbie-esque if I have to go solo?) So off I went on my merry way drinking in the history of our town. It was fascinating and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, right up until I got to the last house and realized that I had probably done too much too soon. It was clear I wasn't up to full strength after being sick for a couple of days. When I got home Britton said, "Where have you been?" I showed him all of my little pamphlets and papers which was promptly met with a look that simply said, "Yeah, I'm glad I opted out of that." Mostly he was disappointed that I was gone for 2 1/2 hours and didn't return with grocery bags or anything. "You were gone that long and didn't even go to a store?" Shocking, I know.

Bonk!

I got a call from the school this afternoon at about 12:30 p.m. It was Britton's teacher. Apparently when Britton went into the bathroom at school to wash his hands the floor was wet and he slipped and bonked the back of his head on the tile floor. If I know Britton (and I do) he was in a hurry and was probably running. Britton only functions in "fast forward" mode. Anyway, the goose egg was of considerable size and they could tell he was really hurting so they called me to come and get him. Even with his hair you can see the goose egg.


He wanted me to take a picture of his "Ouch! This hurts!" face.


He was more than happy to ice it while he watched a few episodes of "Scooby Doo." Since then he has been to piano lessons and is outside playing with his friends. Yup, I'm pretty sure he will survive.

Korinne LOVES preschool. Here are a few pictures of a recent field trip to a farm. She was petrified of the dog and cat, but couldn't get enough of the horse. Go figure.

The day she came home with this "K" hat I laughed out loud. I thought it was the cutest thing I had ever seen. All 6 kids in the class had their first initial sticking out of their hats. I'm sure it was quite a sight to see them all together.

I'm thinking of making one of these for myself.

Off to the beach. . .

I have a sister who has seen about every square inch of the northeast. She lives in Vermont and often takes her family out on little Libbie adventures. Her blog is replete with pictures of every factory in the entire region that offers a tour, any historical spot she can find (her heart goes pitter patter when she sees a sign that says "historical marker"), quaint village shops and every fair/festival/community gathering known to man. She must know Vermont like the back of her hand and she has only been there for a year! Well, today was Labor Day and just like usual we didn't have any plans, so I thought to myself, "Self, what would Libbie do?" Libbie, I concluded, would go to the gorgeous blue turquoise lake that is an hour from our house, which we had never even been to! It's true, it's only an hour from our house and has beaches and great swimming places for kids and we had never been there. So this morning I threw the swimming stuff in the car and we went exploring. It was so Libbie-esque that I just KNOW she would be proud of us. Here we are swimming in the lake.

Jenna loved collecting sea shells and the kids had a great time playing in the mud and building sand castles. It was a great day. Now if I could just figure out what Libbie would do next weekend. . .

Wanted: Reliable Tooth Fairy

Jenna is our little Jack-o-Lantern in training. In our family when the teeth start falling out in rapid succession our tooth fairy gets a little overwhelmed. This is code for "she sometimes forgets to come and then has to pay double the next night to make up for it." While this is great for Jenna, it's not so great for the tooth fairy's financial situation hence our search for a new, more reliable fairy. We'll let you know how that goes.

Watch out world!

Korinne was one excited little lady this morning. It was her first day of Pre-school and she was sooo excited. All morning she was running around the house saying, "Mom, it's time to go now!" Somehow she managed to make it until 10 a.m. and off to Pre-school she went. She was downright giddy and loved every minute of it. We are doing a joy school and even though she had never met the Mom that was teaching today she marched right into the house and didn't even look back to say good-bye.

My baby is growing up.