Thank you to my oldest son

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my eldest son Matt, for making me learn to do hard things. I would like to thank him for continuing to help Heavenly Father to teach me patience, by never choosing the obviously easier way. I would like to thank him for helping me run faster as I imagine pounding my feet into his silly notions... you thought I would say face didn't you. I would like to thank him for noticing and telling me when I need to wax my upper lip. I would like to thank him for pointing out that apparently my big hoop earrings are "slutty". I would like to thank him for helping me to know all the music I don't like by playing it in my car. And I would like to thank my family for rallying around me and sharing their stories and love.

And I ask again.... we shouted for joy for this plan???? Jk of course, hurrah for free agency. hip hip... hurrah.

Success

I shoulda wrote this post on Saturday when I was in the middle of my runners high! Well I still kinda am, but it's not as cool. I ran 14 miles on Saturday for the first time ever! I was super nervous but I didn't talk to anybody about it, I kinda needed to hold it inside until I was successful. Well my running buddy knew and one friend who got me some new GU type packets to try lime key lime and something kona, not bad but super sweet. The greenway that I run it exactly 7 miles long, and I've always wanted to run the whole thing, so i was really excited to get to the other side! And what does the other side have?? A bathroom, with automatic flushing toilets, running water and soap! Do you know how many trees I've had to stop behind? Let not mention them! Our side of the greenway has a porta-potty that I have yet to use! Anyway it was a wonderful pitstop before running back the other way! Not only did I run my first ever 14, but I ran it in my fastest time ever!! Can I tell you how double excited I was?? I don't think so. I walked around all day wishing I had a button on my shirt that said "yes, I did run 14 miles today, thank you for asking" not that anyone asked but they shoulda! Couldn't they see my post run glow??

Meanwhile todays 6 mile run, was stinky. We ran super fast and then I didn't have time to stretch so my legs felt like rubber all day. but I re-learned that I can do hard things and I don't quit!

More running mishaps

When I'm running my long runs I want to have everyone have a bubble over their head like a cartoon that says how many miles they are running and if they are training, for what race. Maybe thats because as I pass all these fresh runners and they see my dragging my butt they would see how many miles I logged and I could feel better. I have always wanted someone to ask how far I'm running so I could say something cool. Well it finally happened this weekend, my friend and I passed these 2 women and I hate to be rude so I said hi as we passed and commented on how nice it was the sun finally came up and they agreed and they asked how far we were running, feeling super cool I said 12, how far are you running? 20. What could I say to that, oh wow thats a lot of miles and then keep running by. Someone finally asked how far I was going and they were going almost double!!! thats so not fair! Oh course I could hear them complaining how fast we passed them as we left so that made me feel a little better. Some people run by me like I'm standing still and it drives me nuts! Once in awhile it's nice to be the fast one.

On that note, I totally tripped again today. LAst time as you may recall I tripped but caught myself on my toe, causing that toe to rip and and turn black and blue, well this time I didn't catch my toe so all 10 are ok. The bad news is that means I didn't catch myself which means I flew through the air like super man with arms extended and then slid several feet on the boardwalk. My friend said I looked like I was trying to steal a base I slid so far. I just laid there and hurt, maybe said a few words... then got up and kept running or I may not have been able to if my body cooled down. I put holes through both sleeves on the palms of my hands, glad it wasn't my skin. Did take skin of my elbow and it looks like I have 2 elbows and I'm expected a very colorful bruise on my thigh and hip. What is wrong with me? I'm starting to think something is wrong with my feet. I have to consciously keep track of how I'm lifting them! Maybe I should take a running posture class! Or have my feet shortened... is that possible??

whine time... not to be confused with hammer time...

It's been a frustrating few weeks with my running. I had to take 2 weeks off for a pinched nerve in my back, then this week I had the worst vertigo. I had trouble standing, walking, laying down, it was really awful so obviously I didn't run on Tuesday morning since I didn't know if I'd run off the trail. Then this morning my friend couldn't go so I thought, self you are tired and still recovering so get the extra sleep. But by this afternoon I was really crabby and I knew I needed to run. Luckily Kirk encouraged me or I still may have let it go. So I ran over at 7 to run my 5 miles. Now it's been months if not a year since i've run by myself, I've been so spoiled to have friends to run with! But I thought I would take advantage of my alone run to listen to my cute little tiny ipod player that Kirk got me for a birthday. I took the time to remember to charge it and I had headphones... I got on the trail and pushed play and it started playing some song i've never heard something like "i'm a banana" ( here it is for your enjoyment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH5ay10RTGY ) repeated several times, maybe some bongo drums in the back ground. I stopped and pushed buttons and turned it off and on but that was the ONLY song on my player!! Someone, who has yet to fess up took all my music off! It was funny but super annoying to run the 5 miles with only myself for entertainment! Needless to say since I started at 7, it got dark a lot faster than I thought so I ended up running the last 2 miles faster than i've run in the last year just to get back to my car! GO ADRENALINE!!

Happy birthday Connor!!

Connor was very difficult to choose a present for. We ran lots of ideas by him, birthday parties, air soft guns, games, paintball guns, bows. He would grunt at everything, he's gotten very good at the man grunt. So finally we narrowed it down to our 2 favorite, pulled them both up online and he went and studied both of them. He read reviews, looked at ideas and finally decided on the compound bow. Apparently sometime in the past he asked for one... So he went with Kirk to pick it out and have it weighted to his size and strength. At least twice Kirk commented on something being too big for Connor because it was Kirks size and Connor had to remind him that, well he's taller. We have a target in the backyard and he shoots it all day. I assume he's going to get amazing arm muscles, to go with his already amazing rowing arm muscles. His grandma Johnston bought him a birthday card with Edward Cullen on the outside, somehow she thought it was for a boy. It says 'you don't look a day over 17" yah I don't get why that would be a boy card either! Sunday he was ordained a teacher and looked very handsome in his suit. The Bishop likes to have everyone bear their testimony when he brings them to the stand so we practiced all morning since Connor isn't naturally a public speaker. He was mostly understandable, taller than our Bishop and had the Connor smirk type smile on the whole time. His Dad gave him a marvelous blessing, it was really sweet. His first dance was Saturday night but neither he or Matt would go. I don't know if I should have made him, but he doesn't really have a great friend who goes, so why push it?

Bird update

Our baby birds are looking like birds! They are around 5 weeks and not weaned yet but getting close!! They still sqawk like babys , no whistling yet. But the boys are trying hard to teach them some tunes. Both have flown around the house when we took them out to hold and did fairly well but not good enough to not give me a heart attack! We should really think about selling them or finding them new homes, but gosh they are just so cute!

Happy birthday Elle

Elle had a wonderful 9th birthday yesterday! Hard to believe my baby has only one more year till she's in the double digits! What a gift and blessing she is in our family! She wrote a list of things she wanted for her birthday which made it so easy to run by target before work walk down the aisle and look for her requests! She thought it was Christmas with that stack of presents! She mostly wanted Pet Shop bobble heads and their new creation little tiny bobbles, some scrapbook stuff and these pencil topper things I can't even remember the name of but end with achoo in the name. Her Parnell Grandparents got her 2 pairs of shoes for school and some Fancy Nancy books she couldn't wait to read! Johnston Grandparents gave her some cash and some school clothes that she had a great time picking out. It looked like my 7th grade closet recreated! When did the big shoulders and stripes come back?? She was really excited to have her favorite cake which is red velvet. All in all a good day for my baby girl!

Now if only Connor would make it easy for me on Friday. But it's not looking like that, he can't tell me a single thing he wants, what kind of cake he wants and what he wants for breakfast! All he makes are noncommittal grunts!! AAHHH