Vain Repetitions

Every time it's Jordan's turn to say the prayer (family prayer, dinner prayer, whatever), he never fails to ask Heavenly Father to help us "be nice and share our toys." He doesn't really seem to put much thought into it, so this morning I told him that today when he had trouble sharing, we were going to try to remember to ask Heavenly Father to help us. So today when he wouldn't share his precious monster truck with Jarrett, I had to intervene and try resorting to the prayer. I said, "Remember when you prayed this morning for Heavenly Father to help you be nice and share your toys...?" Before I could even finish the sentence, he interrupted with, "Yes, but I'm not going to pray for that anymore."

Happy Birthday to Me!

I guess it's about time for another post since it's been a month. In that month, we've been pretty busy. Arielle, me, Jordan, & Jarrett took a trip to Montana at the beginning of May to surprise her dad for his birthday. We showed up at about 11:00 at night as Lyle was just about to fall asleep, and I think he was pretty happy to see his grandsons and daughter. It was a fun little road trip and as always, fun for the boys to see their grandparents. We had some funny moments with all of Jordan's jabbering, but we really enjoyed the peaceful times when the boys were sleeping. Here we caught Jordan with a huge amount of drool and we thought it was gross, but funny, so we couldn't resist taking a picture. (You might have to look really closely to notice the drool.)

Josey's been busy every weekend with track. I've visited my parents a couple of times while he's been gone to try to get a dose of warmer weather. This past weekend it was the Richmond Black & White Days celebration. (That's the town where I grew up, and it's a Holstein cow show, not the most racist town in America, as Josey likes to claim.) It was fun to take Jordan & Jarrett to some of the things I used to think were so awesome when I was a kid, like the parade. I also decided to enter the Cowabunga race, just for a chance to run. I thought it was a 5K, but it ended up being only about 2 miles. I did win the female division, and took home the prize of two free tickets to the horse pulls. Too bad I had to go back to Kemmerer before the big event.

The Wyoming state track meet is this weekend in Casper, and I'm going to go with Josey and leave the boys with my parents. I'm a little nervous about this because I've never left them for more than a night, but I think it will be fun to enjoy some time with Josey and get to see some of the athletes he's been working with without trying to make sure my boys are not trying to run onto the track.

And finally...happy birthday to me. Yesterday, I turned 27. Can you believe I'm that old?

The best thing about my birthday? The beautiful weather! It was the most beautiful day of the year. I've been waiting for this, and I really hope it stays for at least a few days. My sweet sister-in-law and husband made me a delicious breakfast in bed. I can't show you any pictures besides this one because I look horrible, but just suffice it to say that it was delicious, and I didn't really need to eat for the rest of the day.

Josey also made dinner and got me some flowers. We have a little issue with flowers because one year for our anniversary (5 years ago), Josey bought me a dozen roses from this little flower shop, and I don't think he knew in advance that they were going to cost $100. Seriously, that's how much they cost. I flipped out, and since that time he's never bought me flowers. I guess he decided to try again. (I haven't seen the receipt yet.) I appreciate the gesture, and they are beautiful. My friend also made me some cupcakes. I thought that was really sweet.

I always feel spoiled in May because it's Mother's Day and my birthday. I am lucky to have a sweet husband who likes to do thoughtful things. This Sunday, it's my turn to spoil him because it's his birthday. Well, today is another beautiful day so I better stop blogging and go start enjoying it!

I Hope He's Not Allergic...

Today while Jarrett was napping, I was upstairs doing something and Jordan was downstairs where he was supposed to be resting and watching a TV show. When I came downstairs, I noticed our very large can of peanuts sitting on the couch next to him. I said, "Jordan, what are you doing?" He just looked at me and said: "Well, I was hungry, and I wanted a snack, and I thought peanuts would be a good snack." Okay, good logic. (I know this might not sound that funny, but if you got to listen to the way he said it, you would be laughing too.) I was a little concerned that half of the can was gone, and I just opened it yesterday. Later today he complained to me about a canker sore. Hmm, I wonder where he got that from.

Later he wanted a drink and I guess I wasn't fast enough because I noticed him drinking from the milk carton. He said "Mmm, it tastes good like that." Drinking from the milk carton is a definite no-no in this house, and I told him so. He said, "well, daddy does it sometimes." Oh, really? Now Josey's secret is out, and I'm not too happy about it.

Spring Break Recap

Last week was Josey's spring break, so he had a week off from school. Since Arielle had knee surgery on the previous Thursday, we spent the week at home, and Jan came down to help Arielle out. At the end of the week, Josey's brother Jesse also came down to spend some time with us. So we didn't do too much, but it was nice to have a little break. Here's a little of what we did:

The boys found a new best friend, their uncle Jesse. After spending the first day with them, he asked us if they were like this (energetic, hyper, etc.) every day. Yes, they are!

We went swimming at the Kemmerer pool. We do this at least once a week, but this time I took a camera. I would take them more, but the pool is FREEZING! They are fine with it, but I am not.



We visited the Easter Bunny that "lives" at the Fossil Country Museum.


We decorated Easter eggs!


The boys played with their new baseball "mittens" that the Easter Bunny left them. Yes, it was still too cold and windy to play outside. Maybe by next week it will be nice enough.


We decided to brave the cold and wind to try and get some family pictures. It didn't work too well! Maybe in a couple months we'll try again. I just have a good feeling that spring is almost here in Kemmerer, after this next snowstorm blows through.

SO Close...

Yesterday I ran the Provo City Half-Marathon. When I started training back in January or February, I set a goal for myself of 1:40. As race day got closer, I kept thinking there was no way I was going to come close to my goal. At one point, I was overtrained and fighting fatigue every day. My legs felt dead every time I ran, and I did not look forward to it. I took a few days off and felt quite a bit better after that. I backed off quite a bit, and was running my easy runs at a very slow pace. So when I started doing speedwork again, I felt a lot slower (not that I was ever fast to begin with, but still...). Then last week I pulled my groin muscle doing some lunges, and I took a few more days off to make sure it was better for race day.

I was still looking forward to the race to see if my hard work was going to pay off. We stayed at the Marriott in Provo (the race headquarters) and the boys had a blast swimming and jumping on beds. My mom came down to cheer me on and help with the boys. She knows they don't sleep when we're at a hotel and I needed some rest. Josey had a track meet in Salt Lake on Friday night, and so he didn't get down there until after we were in bed. But I'm so glad he made the effort to come and support me. It wouldn't have been so much fun without the support of my family.

Anyways...my final time was 1:40:44 (An average per mile pace of 7:41). I missed my goal by 44 seconds, but I was still very happy with my time and my performance. Like I said, I could barely sustain that pace for 5 miles during my training, so I was quite surprised. I got 5th place in my age/gender category, which I was very happy with. I guess the excitement of race day helps a lot. I also wonder if the altitude has anything to do with it. Kemmerer is at over 6900 ft. and Provo is at around 4500 ft. Also when running in Kemmerer I am always either running uphill or downhill, almost never flat (unfortunately, my treadmill is also stuck at an incline because I can't find anyone to get to Kemmerer to repair it, so really, I'm always running uphill). This course was mostly flat and I loved it. I got to run in some places that I used to run when we were living in Provo, so it brought back some memories too. The weather was the main disappointment. When I signed up for the race, I was hoping for some nice spring weather. Instead, there was light snow falling the entire time, and it was quite windy, though again, nothing compared to Kemmerer. So I guess I can't complain too much.

I really love race day. I'm on a little high for the rest of the day. After the race, we went to the BYU Bookstore and bought the boys some BYU shirts. After running 13.1 miles, I wanted something good to eat, but guess where we went? McDonald's with a Playland, of course. I couldn't help it. I thought my boys were being so sweet and happy that I wanted to do what they wanted. According to Josey, they weren't being very sweet or happy, but I guess my endorphins were making me distort reality. We had a peaceful drive home listening to conference. When Josey went to the priesthood session of conference on Saturday night, I turned on a show for Jordan at 6:30 so I could lay down for a minute, and I ended up falling asleep until Josey came home at 8:00. Oops! But I was exhausted, and a little sore. I feel a lot better today after getting a good night's rest.

Thanks for reading my race report. Now I'm hoping for a nice turn in the weather and some relaxing easy runs outside this week. I might consider training for another half-marathon later this fall. We'll see if I want to get another race in before I decide to have another baby.

Josey tried his best, I guess, but he is not the greatest race day photographer. Here's me making some sort of weird face (completely exhausted after a final sprint with a girl who was trying to beat me at the last second - she didn't beat me, by the way) with my mom after the race, and here's me running so fast that it's all a blur to Josey. :)

Snow Day

Since we woke up to this (at 5:45 a.m., of course - I really wish my kids liked to sleep in!)...

...we haven't gone out yet. It's one of those days when I really don't have a lot to do. I've done most of the housework, and I don't have anywhere to go, so I decided I better indulge Jordan and play some games with him. Candyland was pretty fun, although it only reconfirmed my suspicions that he is colorblind. He cannot tell the difference between red and green. Next came a rousing game of Hi-ho Cherry-o, which is my favorite because it goes quickly and Jordan knows all the rules. He does like to try cheating at this game. I don't know where he got that idea from, but he is very competitive and loves to win. I have to lay down the law sometimes when he doesn't want to spill his basket. Finally came the dreaded Chutes & Ladders. Whenever Jordan says he wants to play this game, I cringe. He knows how to count, but he just cannot seem to get the rules on this one. There are so many squares and pictures to get a kid like him very easily distracted. (Notice the picture - does he really look like he's concentrating on this game?) And it takes FOREVER when you keep landing on the chutes. I even have to admit that mommy had a little meltdown during the game, during which I fervently stated (whined), "I'm done. I've had it." But Jordan wanted to keep playing so I took a little break instead to take a couple of pictures. While I was taking the pictures, Jordan took his turn and magically ended up very close to the "Winner" square. I turned a blind eye. I just wanted this to end. And it did soon after. And the boys were happy. It takes so little to make them happy.

I think in a little while, we'll head over to the Rec Center. Jordan loves the Rec Center. He likes to run on the track, climb the climbing wall, and play soccer/basketball in the gym. We also play tag and he will keep chasing me for a very long time until he can catch me. He does not get worn out easily. I wonder what kind of an athlete he is going to be, because to me he seems very athletic, but of course I'm his mother and I have high hopes. He LOVES to run. He's always telling everyone how fast he is. He wants to wear his "running" shorts every day. The other day when we were telling him to clean up his toys, Josey told him that he needed to do some work around here. Jordan replied, "My work is running!" That made me smile. I'm glad he's got something that he loves so much, and in that he's not too different from me. In the past couple of years, I've found a great love for running too. It's the perfect time for me to unwind and have some time to myself. I'm running a half-marathon in a couple of weeks, and after that I just look forward to running outside again and running for the joy of it (not training) during the summer. I think I've worn myself out a little training for this race, and I'll be surprised if I meet the goal I initially set for myself (1:40) - we'll see how it goes.

All this talk about my Jordan runner boy makes me reflect on Jarrett. He's not quite the athlete, nor nearly as active as Jordan has always been. He's a clown. He loves to make people laugh. Josey gets mad at me sometimes because Jarrett will say some potty words, and even though I try my hardest not to laugh and encourage him, I can't help it!! I try to hold it in at the dinner table when he's being naughty, thinking he's funny, but again, I can't help it. He's hilarious, and he knows he can always at least make mommy laugh, so he keeps trying. He's a sweetheart most of the time, but has started to learn some stinky boy tendencies (probably from his older brother.) Despite the occasional fits and tantrums, I can't help but look at him and have my heart melt with love (and smother him in kisses). Sounds corny, I know, but it's so true!

Our Weekend Adventure

This past weekend we traveled up to Worland, WY to watch the Kemmerer girls and boys basketball teams play in the regional tournament. The girls won their first game, but lost their next two so they are not going to the state tournament. Josey's pretty bummed, but they had their best season in years, or so I hear. And he's looking forward to track starting next week, once he gets all the "what ifs" of basketball season out of his head. He's the head track coach this year, but he's having a hard time getting kids interested in coming out. I hope it goes well for him.

Lyle & Jan traveled down for the weekend too, so we got to spend some time with them. I think they miss Arielle a lot! Luckily they got a hotel room in Thermopolis that had some mineral pools so we got to take the kids swimming in warm water that felt great. We stayed with Josey in a stinky motel room. Luckily the motel had a good continental breakfast.

I forgot to bring my camera this weekend, but we had some really funny moments, thanks to my kids, who really drive me crazy, but are hilarious at the same time. (And thanks to Arielle, who finds the things they do and say very humorous, even when I'm ready to stop the car and throw them out.) One night we went to dinner at a little cafe. We walked in and the place reeked of cigarette smoke and something else really stinky. Jordan takes a big whiff and says, "Mmm, smells good!" He's so weird!! I still laugh when I think about that. And to top that off, there was an ashtray sitting outside of our motel room, and of course he'd seen the lady staying next to us chain-smoking nonstop, so he decided to give it a try. Gross!