Monday, September 29, 2008

Alexa's 7th Grade Field Trip

We took the bus to Antelope Island for Alexa's field trip. It was a long ride but I got a lot of reading done. I am really glad I went on this one, it was really fun and the island is so pretty. The reflection of the mountains in the water was the best!!
 
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We saw some Buffalo but not too many, we saw a few antelope too. We took a little hike to this lookout point which was so beautiful and the weather was GREAT!! We ate lunch and then the kids went and got in the water and had so much fun!! I am glad that my kids like me going on their field trips, that must mean that they LIKE me!!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

My Day of Birth

Well today is the really day of my birthday. 32 years goes by fast!! We got up and went to church this morning and I had to teach the Beehives, the lesson went pretty well. They all sang Happy Birthday to me.
After church, Rich had a meeting and had to go Home Teaching. I read a book and tried to take a nap. We went for a picnic up at the reservoir. We had ham and cheese rolls, sun chips, carrots and dip, grapes and cookies. It was pretty up there and the kids had a great time on the playground. I wish I would have had my camera...all three of them were going down the slide on a blanket and they were laughing and having a ton of fun.

After our picnic we went to the Cope's house for Root beer Floats. His parents gave me a gift card to Red Robin and movie tickets (a great date night)!! His sisters got me the most beautiful purse...

I LOVE it SO SO much!! It is such a pretty color and the perfect size. They know me TOO well!! Rich got me a 3 day getaway to Mesquite for October. We get to have massages, that will be great.

Thanks to everyone for making my day so special!!

My Birthday (my sister Amy posted this on her blog)


To my sister Angela. Today she is celebrating, not with me, but still celebrating. I miss her. She lives in Spanish Fork and it is too far away! Seriously, have you ever driven to Spanish Fork? It takes a long time, especially when you are so excited to get there to see your sister that you haven't seen for at least two whole weeks! I for real miss her. So what if she is not on the other side of the country. She is not a ten minute drive away and I am still not used to that. Anyway, here is her birthday shout out:

- she has a great laugh
- she has a great outlook on life. she does not let things that she has no control over worry her
- she loves food
- she wil randomly pull out coupons for Marie Calendars when someone says they are in the mood for a pie
- she hits garbage cans when she is getting pulled over by police men
- she has always been easy to talk to and always listens
- she makes friends wherever she goes
- she loses her toenails when she runs
- her feet get bigger every year and she is liking it because she gets a better selection of shoes in the bigfoot section(i am laughing my head off, for real!)
- she is a great mom and such a good example
- she stays up and has late night talks with me
- she is a rad big sister

Hope you had a great day Ang. I love you!!!

Thanks Amy that was very sweet of you and very thoughtful. I am not sure where you came up with some of that stuff though...just kidding it was pretty much right on, you know me SO well!!!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Bday

It has become somewhat of a tradition for my Birthday to meet my family in Bountiful at Chuckarama. I think it all started because my Mom's bday is just about a week after mine and Rich doesn't let us got to Logan 2 weekends in a row and we always take my Mom for an overnighter for her bday. So a few years ago I came up with the idea of meeting halfway so I could still see my family for my bday.
It has been a great tradition, even though most of my family HATES the chuck. The Keller family is always so nice and they come too which makes me very happy!! They did just build a Texas Roadhouse down the street from the chuck so maybe next year we can try to change it up for all the babies in my family that whine about the chuck!!
We had a fabulous time and spent like three hours in the restaurant. It was great!! After we walked over to TJ Maxx and did a little shopping.

It was getting dark so we all went over to this bank and sat on the concrete and I opened my presents. It was a little weird but that's what makes it so fantastic!! I got EVERYTHING that I wanted and more!!
 
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I got Season 4 of The Office in a cool gift pack that came with a T-shirt, water bottle and wrist band, Baby Mama it's one of my favorite movies, an awesome Utah State Sweatshirt, a beautiful Lia Sophia necklace and cute ceramic pumpkin, a Halloween puzzle and the very best part a NEW CAMERA!! Thanks so much Mom and Dad it is just what I wanted!!


The following are just some random shots of the great time that we had in the bank parking lot. We missed Dave, Jake, Jason and Steve...they were busy with other things.
Thanks for the great party guys...we had a great time didn't we??

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken today up at Cascade Springs. It was a long drive but it was so pretty. A girl Rich works with is a photographer and she is really good. If you like what you see, go to her website here. I also have it on my sidebar, Marina's Photography.

Here are a few of the ones I really LOVE:

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Alex's 3rd Grade Field Trip

We rode the bus to Provo Canyon where we went on a nature walk from Bridal Veil Falls to Vivian Park. It was chilly in the morning for the walk and it was a pretty long walk but once we made it to the park the sun was out and it was great. We ate lunch and the kids played.
 
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We headed to BYU to the Bean Museum after lunch. I have been there on other field trips so I wasn't that excited about going again but Alex got to touch a snake and he thought that was awesome so I guess it was worth it!!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Max's 1st Haircut

Rich has been bugging me to get Max's haircut for a few weeks and I just don't want it cut yet. Well when we were in Logan Monica slicked back his hair and put it in a ponytail and I guess that was the last straw for Rich.


You can't see it that well in these pictures but he had a little pony tail in the back and Rich was NOT happy about it...

so I put him in the kitchen sink for a bath and cut off his precious curls. I was not happy about it and I didn't like the finished product. I did a pretty good job cutting it but I was sad cause it made him look so different. He liked it though and so did everyone else. I guess it will always grow back!!!
 
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Sunday, September 21, 2008

Party for Rich

 
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My family had a party for Rich after dinner, he got some books and treats and a new ipod nano chromatic in purple, he was really excited!!

Feeding the Ducks at the Dam

Sunday after church we decided to go to the dam and feed the ducks. We didn't have much bread so we weren't there very long.
Max loved it so much he was talking to the ducks and when they ate the piece he threw he would jump up and say "yes"...it was so funny.
 
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Amberly is scared of the big geese and when they came over and started walking toward us she took off and wouldn't come back. She went up on the dock where she would be "safe". We were laughing so hard!!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

My First Marathon Experience

I SURVIVED!!!!

It was the hardest thing I think I have ever done in my life. Yeah I know I have three kids but honestly I am sure that this was harder. I have wanted to run a marathon for a few years now and always knew that I could do it, I never thought it would be easy but at the same time didn't realize how hard it would be. I know I should have trained better and that would have helped but I am so glad I did it and I would recommend it to anyone. I think it's something that not that many people want to try but to all those out there who think it's crazy, I challenge you to try it for yourself.
I am so glad that I finished and can now say that I have completed a marathon. My friend once made a comment about how there is a difference between runners and joggers and that if you don't average a certain mile per minute then you were just a jogger. I took great offense to that comment at the time because I thought "I am out here trying my best and I think I am a runner." Well as I was running this marathon (I had several hours to contemplate things) I thought "she is right, I am a jogger." I was thinking about how Rich was running his butt off averaging 7 minute miles and then there was me at 13 minute miles and there is a HUGE difference. He is so dedicated and works so hard and is determined to meet a certain goal. I was just really happy to finish so I can't really be put in the same category as the people that "ran." This isn't a negative thing and I now understand what she meant and I shouldn't have been offended and neither should anyone else. The most important thing to remember is that you should never let anyone tell you that you can't do something.
I look forward to improving my "jogging" skills so that one day I may be able to call myself a "runner!"

Top of Utah MARATHON

It was an early start and I did NOT get near enough sleep. I had to wake up at 4am on Friday morning to catch my flight home and then this morning I had to get up at 5am so we could get on the buses. we slept at Monica's so we could get to bed earlier but it still wasn't enough sleep for me. My dad was kind enough to get up and drop us off so we wouldn't have to worry about parking.
We got on the bus and had a long hour or so ride ahead of us. It wasn't too bad, I closed my eyes the whole time but I didn't sleep.
Rich has been training hard all year for this and was really excited for this day to come. He ran it last year and missed qualifying for The Boston Marathon by 9 minutes and he was determined to qualify this year. He actually set a goal for 2 hours 45 minutes which was really ambitious.
Last year when he ran he didn't stop for water or anything until like mile 20...yeah I know that is CRAZY, his body was probably SO mad at him. This year he knew that he needed to take the time this year to hydrate himself. He said about mile 24 he wanted to give up. He said his legs were SO tired but he was so close that there was NO WAY he could stop.
He crossed the finish line at 3:04:46. It wasn't as fast as he wanted but he qualified and that is all that matters. Also he improved his time, last year he finished in 3 hours and 19minutes.
They were really worried about the way he looked as he was getting his medal and the paramedic made him lay down so he could get his blood pressure and pulse. They kept asking him if he wanted an IV and told him that would really help him recover much faster. He declined (he hates needles and would never volunteer for it he would have to be forced).
He went over to the tent where they were doing massages and was able to get worked on a little bit and felt much better after that.


Monica was next to finish. She was more diligent in her training than I was. She was following a training schedule and she goes to the gym with Amb several times a week. She is always faster than me. I talked her into doing this marathon and I hope she doesn't hate me too much!!
She started having knee pain (I can't remember what mile she was at) but she had to stop and have them wrap it for her. She had to walk for a few miles but she endured the pain and kept on going.
Monica got 1548th place. Her time was 5:37:44. She was hoping to finish in 4 1/2 hours and I know that if her knee hadn't caused so much trouble she easily would have!! Great race Monica, glad you survived!!


Then it was just me. I started out slow and wanted to pace myself at about 11 minute miles in the canyon since there was the downhill help but that didn't really happen for me. I didn't get any running in the week before because I was out of town and I just needed to be in better shape overall. I really enjoyed running in the canyon, it was so beautiful.
We gave my dad our cameras so he could take pictures of us on the course. We told him to wait where we came out of the canyon so I was looking forward to seeing friendly faces as I came out of the canyon but no one was there. I was a little disappointed and kept thinking I will see them in a few minutes.
Finally I saw my dad and he and Melissa and Alexa and Amb were waiting for me. He told me that Monica was just five minutes or so ahead of me and I thought he was lying so I would run faster. He wasn't lying. It was great to see them and I was glad that they were there to support me. Its amazing how much it helps to see familiar smiling faces.
I stopped 3 times to go to the bathroom and several times to rub icy hot on my thighs, my muscles were cramping and sore and it helped alot. I also ate some goo (not sure how you spell it) I have heard from people that is is really nasty but I didn't mind it. I don't really know if it helped any but it sure didn't hurt!
I got 1583rd place. My time was 5:43:26. I was really hoping for under 5 hours but when I saw my time coming out of the canyon I knew that was impossible so I just knew that I had to at least keep the pace I was going cause I didn't want to be over 6 hours.

As I crossed the finish line and started walking over to give my sisters high 5's it was more painful than when I was still going. I guess after 5+ hours your body gets in kind of a rythm and when you stop your body has to re-adjust. I was so happy to be done and was anxious to find out how Rich and Monica did.
Rich placed 3rd overall in his age category so he got a little moose trophy and I was so proud of him. I am so glad its over but so glad that I did it!!