Today

Playing Outside

The boys and I pretty much worked all day outside. I handed L a hammer, some nails, a piece of wood, and some pipes to play with. Between that, their bikes, and gardening they were entertained all morning. (the final product was a trap to keep Cats out of the garden which basically was a long piece of wood with nails sticking out in a pattern and evenly spaced. nice job L)

I've told myself over and over to leave the yard work for Chris since I seem to always feel sore and injured after working in the garden. However, I can't resist. I love doing it and am satisfied with the work.

I usually do the trimming, weeding, and detailing of the garden. It just seems to be my job. Chris doesn't seem to care about that stuff.

I finally decided to add some color to the front yard and after all the weeding, trimming, and ripping out of grass in the flower bed, we headed to what the boys call "the dirty store." We picked up fall flowers from Home Depot and Lowes. All the boys planted a couple plants including K who did his after school.

Video Games

Something I've noticed is that the boys haven't played video games since Loyd moved out. It seemed to be the thing to do with Loyd. He left an old play station that the kids got bored of. Chris bought an x box years ago. The boys loved playing lego star wars on that. But, I don't even know where the game is now and they haven't asked to play in a long time. I can't even remember when the last time was. And I'm so pleased.

The boys do watch PBS. Some favorites include curious George, which A will drop anything he's doing to go see, Ruff Ruff, and CyberChase.

Most of the time they build, create, make, and play with stuff, not necessarily with toys. They keep real busy and seem to go from one room to another. K is always making stuff, drawing, cutting, designing (games, ideas, plans). Right now he's way into Yugioh cards and is constantly making stuff to organize them (arm bands, folders, boxes). He has made several versions of a game board. The boys are so busy and happy. I can hand them tape, glue, sissors, paper and they'll be entertained literally the whole day. I'm proud of them.

Just Me and K

K gets to stay up later than the other boys sometimes. Usually the other two crash after a certain point.

Alot of times this is when K does homework and reads. And I'm more than happy to feed him again since he eats so little during meals.

So we chatted and hung out. And it was nice.

October Activities

There are tons of things going on this month that you can do as a family. I'm so excited about it all.....corn mazes, haunted houses, wheeler farms festivities, gallivan center is having a party for kids, thanksgiving point festivities... I have a list.

Anyway, the boys are earning positive points to be able to go to these. It's my way to get them to do their part around here. Hey, we all work for food, including these boys.

Overslept

We usually are heading out the door at 8 a.m. to take K to school which starts at 8:15 a.m.

My alarm goes off at 7:15. I turned it off and do what I always do: go back to sleep. When L comes up to me and whispers, "mom I'm hungry." I gage how I'm feeling and realize that it's way past snooze and we may even be cutting it close.

I look at my time. 8:05.

K, we're late, it's 8:05, we over slept, get up, get dressed, you're having school lunch today, let's go guys.

I throw K some clothes, make him a sandwich to eat for breakfast, help him put his shoes on, smooth out his hair with some spit (jk).

Kids barefoot, with my morning hair, I put sunglasses on, drive with no hands as I fix my hair, and somehow we get K to school before that final bell.

Me to K...When we hit the driveway you need to get unbuckled, put your bag on, and when I say go, jump out and run.

I was feeling relieved but as I was driving home felt bad for all the things that didn't happen:

K didn't use the toilet
He didn't get a drink with that sandwich.
Didn't get gel and hairspray, chap stick, and moisturizer with sunscreen.
An "I love you"
Didn't get family prayer.

I'm sick of looking at my marathon post (Rated R, for language)

My camera broke, bummer or maybe not. Means I get a new camera in the near future? Maybe.

My foot is feeling uninjured, but I have yet to run on it.

A learned to urinate on his own since I was limping around. Usually I held him up a few inches and helped him aim. But, we found a better system. He tip toes and sits his penis on the rim of the toilet and makes it just fine. Of course I would never let him do that using someone else's toilet. gross. We found an even better system. The kids found a very heavy Accounting book that A uses to get him up a couple inches instead of tip toeing. It works great. If he has to go poop, he tells me and I say "o.k. call me when you're done." He sets his toilet insert and adjust things so he doesn't spray and calls me when he's done to finish business. What a kid.

My brother, his wife, and baby visited from Vegas this weekend. It was nice to have company. The kids seemed to enjoy the extra ears. They were pleasant company and I think his wife is great.

I played softball. I'm on a team with people from Chris' work. I've been showing up without Chris since he's been out of town going on 3/7 weeks. Every week someone asks me where he's at and I remind them "out of town." But they don't seem to mind me coming, in fact they ask me to come and so now I just make sure I have a sitter on that night. We've had a lot of close games under pressure which makes things exciting. This week my luck ran out and I need to head for the batting cages asap. Anyone wanna join me?

I found several cute shorts on sale that I purchased. I had one pair of shorts and really needed to add some to my wardrobe. I love shopping again. Dangerous.

Now that the marathon is past, I've moved some of my focus to our Yucatan trip this Fall. Yucatecos don't like to be called Mexicans. The term Mexicans are what they use for the people from Mexico City. In fact when I was talking to my grandma a few years ago, I asked her how Merida was and she replied that there is more crime now that Mexicans are moving in. Granted she is "Mexican" because she is from Mexico but she is actually from Merida and doesn't consider herself "Mexican." Does that make sense? And she speaks Mayan, because that's what they speak. I think that is soooo cool. I wish I could.

So the general outline for the trip will be to fly into Cancun, rent a car, drive to Merida (4 hours) to my parent's house on the first day. Visit ruins, the city, site see, from there. Now, I ask myself why not fly into Merida out from Cancun? I remember now, it was way cheaper to fly into and out of Cancun. On the fourth day, we'll stay in Tulum and explore that place. Maybe two nights there and the last night in Cancun. But as of yesterday, it was two nights in Cancun. Go snorkeling at one of those two places. My brother suggested to use a company because they boat you out to the coral reefs and know exactly where to take you. We wouldn't even know where to start. So it will cost a pretty penny for that activity but should be worth it. Don't be jealous if you weren't invited this time around. We've made Nate and Collete our "guinea pigs." There probably will be a next time and maybe you won't want to come depending on whether the trip was a flop or not. I'm hoping that no one gets sick; a very big concern for me since I always spend a great deal of time on or over the toilets when I go.

This week the boys had 5 birthday parties between the two oldest! It all worked out but yeah, at this rate I'm going to have to cut down on milk to buy birthday gifts.

L did awesome at his soccer game. Now that he's not playing in the nets and laying around, he's doing amazing. And I'm so proud of him. He was so happy today. He was pleasant and his emotional bank account was full and I really enjoyed him today since it was just him and I for a few hours. Sometimes it's hard to see their goodness when they're fighting over attention, all talking over each other and competing. It's so much easier to see them for who they are when it's just that one. And remember......oh yeah, this one is easy to shop with or this one is self entertained or really fun and easy going. I remembered that about L today. Such a good boy. All of them are.

September 20th has come and gone

Thank goodness! I would do it again as long as I know my body is healthy enough to do one again. I took it really slow coming in at the half way point at 2 hours 25 minutes. Sweet I thought. At this pace I will be under 5 hours. However, the last 6 miles I added a couple minutes per mile, slowing down quite a bit. I came in at 5 hours 3 minutes. Which I am both happy and disappointed about. Happy because I thought it would take me more than that and disappointed because I was so close to the time I wanted to come under.

At mile 10 my left ankle started hurting. I have never had problems with that ankle and was confused. I ran a few more miles on it and couldn't take it any more. I prayed. A minute later I moved the timing chip off my ankle and up my leg. The pain went away. I was able to continue the race as I had been doing. But, the damage was already done. So in the middle of the night I woke up and my foot was swollen. I thought maybe I broke/fractured my leg but today the swelling is down and I've been able to walk on it this morning. Everything else feels really good. I wish I would have known to keep the Velcro loose and I would have avoided that all together.

I did walk a short stretch between mile 23 and 24 but it hurt to walk so I decided to run again . The hill that people were warning me about was nothing compared to the hills I trained on. Cake to say the least.

Things I want to remember but you don't have to read:
Looked out the window and it was raining. I was worried because I didn't have rain gear. I did have a plastic rain Pancho in our emergency kit I took with me just in case.
The rain cleared and it was a gorgeous run with a few spurts of sprinkles to cool me down.
Sat next to someone on the bus and chatted all the way up. Glad for friendly people.
I was starving when we got to the top of the canyon. I was worried about not having any fuel to run when I found a lone banana perched on a light post. Should I eat it? I kept eying it and was feeling desperate and embarrassed that I would stoop so low. But, it was calling my name and everyone was in line to start the race. After looking around and asking the opinion of the guy next to me, he said "it still has it's cover!" So I devoured it with a smile on my face, thankful for this banana I found practically on the floor.
Someone lost a package of Gu (carbohydrates) and the guy cleaning up asked me if I wanted it. I took it and nibbled on it slowly, thankful for the carbs.
There were two guys walking/running around me. They'd pass me, I'd pass them. I swear they were trying to keep up. Finally, they told me to slow down because they were trying to keep my pace. They hadn't trained at all!!!!! Good grief. So we started jogging together. After a while they just couldn't keep up even though I was really slow and I never saw them again until after the race. They didn't do too shabby considering their lack of training.
Some lady dropped her shorts a few feet off the course to relieve herself in my perfect view. Just fabulous. There's no shame when you're desperate, as I've learned for myself.
Mile 14, I'm feeling really good. I lost my breath when I saw Chris and the boys.
After looking around, I thought that this might be the place for retirement.
Mile 16, if I can just get to mile 20 then I can think about walking.
Mile 20, I think I can still keep going. phhh. 6 miles left. that's nothing. one more hour. If I can just get to the 5 miles and counting down.
Mile 21, where is the next mile marker. Why is it taking longer to reach them?!! I hit the "wall."
Mile 22, just 4 more and counting down.
Mile 25, Ok, last one, picking up the pace, as fast as I can possibly make my body go towards the finish line, which was probably pathetic for a sprint.
Went and visited the Dameron's in Tremonton, who we were originally going to stay with. What a good family!

Walmart Trash

Yesterday we went to ShopKo to grab some things we needed. We were in the toy section because K wanted to pick up some cards when L starts pulling out pennies from his pocket. He wanted to know what he could get with them. So he hands some of them to me to count. I was thinking it wouldn't take me more than a minute to count when baby A says "peepee, bafrom." I was in the middle of counting, should I make him wait? So, I told him to wait, otherwise we'd never get out of the store! It was a dilemma. I was so stubborn, I was going to get at least one task done before moving on to the next, when A went all over the floor. All right guys, time to go, I say. I stuff the pennies I wasn't finished counting back into L's pockets.

I was trying to be discreet when I went to the front to ask for paper towels when L belts out, "I can't believe my baby brother peed all over the floor!" If you know L, he's never satisfied telling you once, so he said it several times. Needless to say he got a lecture for that. And I was feeling a little violent.

By the time we got back to the mess, someone had stepped in it. Folks, this is why you shouldn't wear shoes in the house because you never know what you or your kids have stepped in and you may be the victim of some wreckless and stubborn mother and desperate 2 year old.

When we were paying for our products, the boys start unloading their pockets full of pennies. Seriously?! I was so embarrassed. We counted over 300 pennies and I couldn't look anyone in the eyes after that.

Either I need to wear a paperbag over my head when I shop with these funny little boys or we should just stick with Walmart because truly we fit right in!!

By the Way, if you ever want to annoy your sister in law, leave her kids a jug full of thousands of pennies when you move out. Because the second they get it, they will empty it out and her house will forever be oozing pennies out of everywhere--the dryer, the washer, on the floors everywhere, in the bathtub. The kids hands will constantly smell like dirty money and she will have to count hundreds of pennies at the counter while other customers glare at her with hateful eyes and make the back of her head and face burn with fire.

Wow, I just typed up a lot. Can you tell my spouse is out of town? Usually I'd have this conversation with him but guess your stuck with me!! hmmmm, I wonder when he's going to call?

Cleaning and Purging

It took me almost 2 hours to clean our teeny, tiny bathroom downstairs today. It hasn't been thoroughly cleaned in months and was so disgusting I thought I was going to catch a disease. My brother, wife and my nephew are coming into town next week and oh how I love to welcome my guests with a clean and comfy place to stay!!

I also cleaned out our guest bedroom, cleaning all surfaces and going through our stored things in the closet. I took a car load to the D.I. and threw out so much junk. I'm really purging our home of garbage and it feels so000 good.

I organized our laundry room/storage room. It's quite spacious and is easy to dump things in. There's still a lot of junk but it's better now.

I've also been working on laundering all our blankets. They smell dusty and I much prefer the smell of detergent and dryer sheets. I do one or two here and there. Not like I didn't already have loads to wash and put away today.

Oh and I even IRONED. Shocking. I'm not anti ironing it's just that I'm miserable at it. I make more wrinkles, get annoyed with the lack of perfection, I make my iron spit out brown stuff and end up having to rewash the item of clothing, and I burn myself quite often. But for some reason I want K's clothes to be wrinkle free for school and have been making time for ironing. Since the iron was warm I did their church clothes as well. Let's see how long this lasts.

Besides cooking, cleaning, running errands (went to the library and shoe store), I added more music to my shuffle, which takes a lot of time and is very tedious.

And I'm hoping for a restful, more playful day with the kids the rest of the week.

My kids

My kids have a way of keeping me humble.

I was trying to sing along with my ipod when K says "Wow, you sound like an Indian." I'm assuming he's talking about the chanting at Pow Wows. If you haven't had a chance to hear the drumming and singing, it might be worth while. Then you'll know what I sound like when I sing without being able to hear myself.
I had sat down after working out and asked A to give me a kiss. He replied "Ewww, YUCK!" He'd never done that before, I must have smelt and looked pretty bad!

The other day L says to me "You look like you have a baby in your tummy." I'm not pregnant either. At the ward walk about, he looks at the Bishop and says, "You don't have any hair, I see that." We laughed, uncomfortably. Guess I need to work on our candidness.

L asked Chris to do something for him when he was busy so Chris asked him to ask me. He replied, "NOOOO, all she does is sleep and play on the computer." Wow, so not true but that's how he perceives me. I had a nice talk with him about that comment and made sure he knew all the things that I've done and do.

I was dancing because that's what I do around here sometimes, when A asks, "You Running, mom?" heehee. I look like I am running when I dance. just fabulous. Oh, how my kids remind me of how uncool I am.

Dreams

I'm getting excited and anxious about the marathon on Saturday. I've been trying to work out the details for the last few days trying to get the kinks out of everything. I think I've been overthinking it because I had the following dreams last night:

That I was at the race ready to go and realized I didn't have my race bib on and the time they were handing out the bibs and timing chips was past.

The following two have to do with triathlons but nevertheless I had them

That I was about to jump in the pool and realized I had forgotten my swimming suit so I was going through all the lockers trying to find something to wear, in a panic.

That I was ready to start the bike and I forgot my helmet so I grabbed someone elses with the intention of returning it later.
......................

Things I've done to get ready:
Got new shoes, my old ones were giving me grief.
Got jelly beans for carbs for the second half of the race.
Got tons of music from the library and have been adding new songs onto my shuffle. Let me know if there's a song you think is good to run with.
Found a place to stay the night by Logan so I don't have to do the drive the day of.
Since my last long run, I've run 15 miles (training on hills as well) and am hoping to put in another 10, although resting sounds like a good plan as well.
Went over the course

......................

Things I'm still trying to decide:
What to wear ( I hear it's pretty cold up there and the altitude is much higher than here)
Whether to hold a waterbottle in my hand like I've been doing on my training runs, wear a belt with waterbottles (which I've never done before), or not have anything and rely on the aid stations for hydration. hmmm what to do.

More of Today

Chris, Carson, and Micky went to the game today. These were a couple of the pics Chris took for me. As we all know UCLA was shut out by BYU. It was a good game so I heard. And while they were off having a well deserved time, the boys and I continued to work on getting the house cleaned up. They earned new things today for helping out.

Today

Yay, another shadow picture taken during L's soccer game this morning. We do a lot of soccer during the week including L's weekly games and K's weekly practices and games twice a week. We see a lot of friends at the park including Kara and her kids one of which had a game after L's on the same field. Between Kara and I, we have 7 boys. Kara and her husband both served with Chris in the same mission. We hit it off quickly and now are running together. If I have a daughter I want her to marry the little Aina baby I'm carrying in the picture below. I love what Kara had to say about this..."I would love to be related to the Ericson's. Sign me up for that program." She's been fun to run with and to get to know. She makes me look forward to having another baby boy if that time ever comes. Her boys are sooooooo much fun and well behaved. (one of her boys is missing from the picture, he was warming up).

Last Long Run

This is what Kara and I ran yesterday. Starting at Quail Run (the east point) down Falcon to Highland (which had a couple hills) to Fort Union making our way onto State Street to Draper City. Onto 12300 South to 7th East to 9400 S. up to about 2300 East. The last couple miles started with a hill. If you know where the new Walmart is, yup that's the hill!! What kept me going was that I felt so close to being done in the time I wanted to be done. But the thought came to mind "I could use a really good pain killer right now. It would be so nice to not feel the pain." We started about 4:45 a.m. and I got in at 8:52 a.m.

Projects

These are the places I've worked on in the house. For a while I could only do "recovery." You know, clean the kitchen, do laundry, pick up, clean bathrooms. Corners and closets were being neglected. So with Chris gone and the boys being away at school and the fact that I can never find anything I need, it was time to do something about my disorganization. The following pictures are of more areas that need attention. Gross huh?

Top of Utah, Logan Marathon, September 20th

I had been contemplating doing a Marathon for a few months before finally committing myself to it. My second half marathon was a stepping stone to the more rigorous long runs. I thought it would be cool to run one and since I'm at this point why not work a little harder to reach the next point. My rationale was that I'm in the most shape I've been in a long time and there may not be another opportunity.

The day came to register and I was seriously going to change my mind (training takes a lot of time and it can be costly physically and fiscally) when I looked at my calendar and saw that Chris would be out of town for 8 weeks in September and October. He would be home the first week in September and the last week in October, starting his business trips the last week in August. For my sanity, I decided to write the check out and register. I would not have committed to it if I didn't think I would be able to manage a training schedule but since Chris is home on the weekends, it's perfect for my long runs. He's home this next week so it'll be a very nasty week of running. And I only have to run with a jogging stroller for the week before the race, strength training, right?

Life as a wife and a mother has been really hard for me. Many times I've felt like I was sacrificing my life away and bitterly revolving my life around my husband's career and goals. Looking back I realize I've felt that way only when I'm down and not myself. Although I have and am in many ways sacrificing so much of myself for this little family, I realize that this is my true happiness. Thanks to this lifestyle we've chosen and have had the opportunity to live, I'm living a full life and hope for a fuller future.

For many years, I was so focused on kids and being pregnant or postpartum whatever, I was in survival mode and putting on a happy face for everyone else. So, it's nice to do something for myself, pick up a few hobbies and do more than just survive another day. My husband often suggested I pick up a hobby. But, I couldn't get motivated and get myself to do any more than I was already doing especially on the teeny, tiny budget I had to work on. I really felt maxed out. But, over the last couple years, things settling down with the boys and my health, I've been able to come out of my shell a little bit. I've actually got my motivation back (well some of the time). And I'm feeling more myself and wanting to do more for myself. Granted, most of my time revolves around everyone else around here but it's really nice to do one or two things for ME.

so with that here is what I ran this summer and what I hope to do in the next 13 days

August
9--Prov0 half Marathon, 13.1 miles (2 hours 15 minutes)
15--6.5 miles
18--5 miles (50 minutes)
23--16 miles (2 hours 40 minute)
30--18 miles (3 hours 30 minutes)
September
1--5 miles (50 minutes)
5--6.5 miles (65 minutes)
6--10 miles (2 hours 15 minutes, just wasn't feeling it)
planned Runs (I'm hoping to stick to it)
8--5 miles
9--20 miles
12--6.5 miles
13--10 miles
15--5 miles (with jogging stroller, Chris out of town)
17--5 miles (with jogging stroller)
19--3 miles (with jogging stroller)
20--Logan marathon
Since I typed this post
8--didn't happen
9--20 miles (about 4 hours 7 minutes, darn those bathroom breaks and the uphills)
12--5.5 miles (with hills)
13--5.5 miles (with hills)
15--5 miles/50 minutes at gym
I decided to rest the rest of this week and not do any more runs. I've worked out my feet issues and just making sure I'm good to go.
I would love to come in under 5 hours. At my pace, there is a good chance, I won't. But, I will be happy if I can get to race day uninjured and get done knowing I gave it my best shot.

School Lunch

K had his first hot lunch on Friday. He said he had pizza. Of course I was like "Just Pizza? No fruit or veggies or juice?!!" My thoughts included.....what a waste........so unhealthy........I didn't get my money's worth.....Just pizza. I was so disappointed. But then he said. "And milk. CHOCOLATE milk. And I drank every drop. It was sooooooooooooooo GOOD!"

Well, I'll be darned. A couple years ago, pizza and chocolate milk would have been a deadly combination for K with all his food allergies. If I would have known he was going to have chocolate milk and pizza, I would have been panicking around noon last Friday. I'm glad I didn't know and so now I know he can have chocolate milk and that he actually likes it. What a relief and what a happy Friday it turned out to be. Life's little pleasures and to think a few years ago I was panicking about scenarios just like this.

That Darn Tooth Fairy

She didn't come again!! Shameful. At first we thought it was because she doesn't like basements. So K spent the night upstairs with his brothers. But, nope that wasn't it because she didn't come again. *#$&. What kind of parent am I? My excuses included:

1. She must not like the basement.
2. The fairy economy must be bad right now.
3. Levi even said that she hurt her foot and it took a long time to get here.

The truth is, she's so darn tired at night she forgets to do her job. She came by this afternoon. Not the typical routine of a tooth fairy but hey it worked. K was very happy tonight. He's already dreaming about his next set of yugioh cards.

Some Observations

I just finished reading the Diplomat's wife. Loved it. I repeat. LOVED IT (although it had holes it was entertaining and suspenseful, the twists were awesome, I really liked the love story behind it, and overall had a good mix of sad and happy) . And so I must say that I can truly waste my life away reading. If it's such a good thing why do I feel guilty when I read. Could it be the screaming kids, or that my husband is making dinner again, or that my house is not up to par and things and people are being neglected? Perhaps, so I ask myself do I really want to start the Kommandant's Girl, Enna Burning, and River Secrets? The part of me that loves to escape reality and go off into another's world is wanting to read, read, read. But, the better part of me says, I must restore balance. How do you do it?

I was waiting in line to pay at a store. The lady in front of me had three daughters not much older than my three boys. As I watched her three daughters, "sitting ducks" came to my mind. While her daughters waited quietly, hardly shifting positions, my three boys were running circles around me, touching everything, constantly on the move, three different conversations going on at the same time. Wow, what a difference. Is it just my boys or is there truly a difference between girls and boys? Don't answer that first question.

Ipod shuffle vs. Sansa's MP3 player. I recently(3 weeks ago) got a shuffle and have been happy with it. But, I had to get a new one because it broke. We think it shorted. Chris got a Sansa and I think I like it better. It's small and has a clip as well. But it shows you what song and artist is playing. I like the feel of it and the ear phones it came with are much more comfortable and the quaility of sound I think is better. It picks up FM stations. It can hold twice as much music as my shuffle and it was on sale for 10 bucks less than what I paid. I'm really rethinking my shuffle but I don't want to face Walmart's customer service. Is the trade really worth going back to Walmart and dealing with those people? Is the Sansa that much better?