Just a little crazy

 After a summer of hiking local mountain peaks every weekend...

This crazy kid decided he was up for a new challenge....

A full on marathon...

That he decided to run a few days before the event without any training...

Many years ago, Glen followed a training program called "Four months to a four hour marathon."   He followed it religiously and finished in just under four hours, which is just about the same time Adam got.  We are now teasing Adam that he needs to write "Four days to a four hour marathon."   

I'm sure everyone will be signing up...

PS  Blogging will be a little sparse around here for the next little bit.  Life is good...just a little insane.  

Running--then and now

Once upon a time there was a young teen who got talked into running on the high school cross country team.   She had never really run before.  Actually for that matter, she had never really participated in any sport before, but she decided to give it a try.     She pretty much hated it at first, but kept with it through all four years of high school.  She never did get to be very competitive, but she grew to love running and love the camaraderie of the cross country team.  It is still of my opinion that cross country runners are the smartest, nicest people around.  

Over the years, running has stayed important in my life and running and walking are still my preferred ways to exercise.   But I don't really like racing anymore.  I've done a few races over the years--

A couple half-marathons, a Ragnar, a bunch of 5k's, but for the most part I like to run slow and only a couple times a week. Any more than that and I tend to get injured.   So for the last couple of years I've had the routine of walking most days of the week and running on Mondays/Thursdays only.   It's a routine that keeps me challenged, fit, and uninjured.  And I like being uninjured.   

Fast forward a bunch of years and Cami chose to run cross country in high school too.  Watching her run always made me feel so nostalgic and I was proud of her for sticking with it all four years of high school too.  She also did lacrosse in high school and at BYU. 

Then she married into a crazy running family.  The kind of family where her mother-in-law has run like 20 marathons.  Her father-in-law has run 50 mile trail races.  Even Garrett is hoping to qualify for Boston.  You know that kind of crazy.   

So it shouldn't have surprised us too much when just a few months after she was married, she announced that she was training for a marathon.  And she actually did it.   She trained hard for several months, fighting off a couple of injuries along the way, but this past weekend she did it!   

Cami ran an entire marathon!   

And Garrett did it too.   It wasn't his first one though, so I'm mostly bragging about Cami this time!   

Neither one of them quite met their time goals, but Cami was within a couple of minutes, so she's already talking about trying it again!    And Garrett still wants to qualify for Boston, so I foresee many more long runs in their future.

Meanwhile...this runner here is still quite content with her 10-minute-mile pace treadmill runs twice a week and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. 

Where Our Brains Are...

I have more on my brain than usual lately and I've been feeling a little stretched.  And tired. And pulled in a 1000 different directions. 

What's on our brains, you ask?   

Well, here's a glimpse....

Glen's job (still in Philadelphia) has just gotten a bit more stressful.  It's still not a permanent job, but he does have new responsibilities that have allowed him the opportunity to make a bigger difference there, but it also means that he has more on his shoulders.  WE are exceedingly grateful for his job, but it really is stressful to have him so far away.   This is a picture of his office in PA, including the new calendar that Ellie got him for Christmas.  :) 

Spence is doing real life stuff....like oil changes, balancing a budget, and figuring out what girls to ask out!    It's still weird to have him so far away, but we are proud of him and all that he is doing to take care of the "big boy" stuff on his own! 

Cami just started a new semester, just applied to attend the University of Texas next year, started a new job at the community college she attends, and is training for her first marathon next month.  On Valentine's Day her and Garrett got to see "Anastasia" there in Austin.  We gave them the tickets for Christmas. :) 

Emma just started a nannying job, so she's staying very busy taking care of two cute kiddos.   Mostly though she is very happy now that she's heard back from BYU.  

Adam stays busy with his school stuff, planning dates now that he is 16, and trying to determine philosophically what is a sandwich, and what is not.  

For instance, a quesadilla has two breadlike objects with cheese in the middle....does that make it a sandwich?    What about a taco?   Or two waffles with greek yogurt and berries between them?  

If you know the answers to these questions, please call me quick, because there are ongoing debates about this at our house! 

If you can't find Ellie writing a book online with her friends, then she's probably dancing, reading a book, drawing pictures of characters for her book, or playing with Rocky...in other words...she's in motion!   

And me?   What's on my brain? 

Well, thanks for asking...here you go!  

In addition to all the every day stuff....like taking care of my family (spread out in four different states), taking care of myself (I need to do a post on this soon), and teaching my cute middle school earth science class...

My brain is really being overtaken by this kind of stuff...

 backsplash measurements 

 hearth measurements...

 entry way measurements...

and trying to pick out light fixtures, a range hood, bathroom vanities, railings, etc.  Pretty much we are just doing all the things we ever wanted to do to our house and were too lazy to do before....just in case we need to sell it this spring. 

Oh yeah, and there's this...

 Mice!!!!

We've lived in our house 18 years and have never had them like this before (I think a certain teenage driver crashing into the garage door {though it was actually a pretty small crash} may have allowed an easy entry point for them to come into our garage).  We have 20+ traps set up around the house and they're still around.  Last week, after seeing live mice scampering boldly around our house for the third day in a row, I officially decided I was in over my head (especially with Glen not here) and we are calling out the big guns.   What are the big guns?   Steel wool, caulking, some yard work, and a new bucket mousetrap that's supposed to be amazingly effective.  Here's hoping the "Death to All Mice!" rallying cry coming from our house will be heard soon and I will get back a big portion of my brain again! 

 In the meantime, please send any pied pipers you know my way...

******************

November 2017--Thanksgiving in Utah

We serendipitously happened upon great prices for airline tickets, so we decided to go to Utah for Thanksgiving.   It had been a number of years since we'd been there for a holiday, so it was extra fun to be there and have a good excuse to see lots of extended family as well.

One of my girls' favorite activities at Grandma and Grandpa's house is to play dress-up with the old prom dresses that belonged to me and my sisters.  I was excited to join them this year and was thrilled when I fit into my dress from 25-years ago!

We also took advantage and went on a few hikes.

We hiked the Y twice....once by ourselves....

and once with the Bournes.  The Bournes are good friends of ours from here in Virginia and now that Cami is married to their oldest son, I guess we're related too!  {NOTE:  Cami was still on her mission at this point}

Adam and I hiked up to Rock Canyon, where Daddy proposed to me all those years ago.  

Meanwhile, Emma hung out with friends from home on BYU campus--Miko, Rachel, and Diana.   They showed her around and got her extra excited to be a student there someday!  

We also discovered a fun new ice cream place.  It's inside the restaurant, "Good Thyme Eatery" on Center Street.  It's called, "Roll with It" and they make the best rolled ice cream around.  I ate a non-dairy version and honestly thought it was the best non-dairy ice cream I'd ever eaten.

They all start off as liquid and the worker makes it into ice cream on a super cold metal surface right in front of you.  Yum!

We spent a lot of time at BYU....

We went to Glen's cousin Stephanie's baby blessing....

We loved the opportunity to spend time with my sister, K and her family who were visiting from California...

The kids enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with their cousins...

We also got to see lots of extended family....including my Uncle Buddy, his family, my Nana....

and lots of my Mom's siblings that came to Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house.

We randomly decided to try running a 5K race on Thanksgiving morning.   I struggled in the altitude, but somehow still finished 2nd in my age group.  Granted, with my advanced age, that doesn't mean much, but I was still proud.  Don't laugh at my obnoxious running apparel....I did not come prepared to run a race and the pilgrim hats were part of the "costumes" that they provided.

Here are the goofy t-shirts we got from the race....

I made and ate lots of pie....

And just enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with some of my family that I don't get to see as often.

I'm sure that lots more happened in November, but this is all the blog is getting this year.  :)